This was a really enjoyable, gritty mystery. Set in Philadelphia, Quinn has recently been released from prison where he was serving a term for art forgery. Now, working as an insurance investigator, he becomes involved in the mystery of a stolen painting. I liked the main character, Quinn. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy who wants to stay on the straight and narrow but isn't afraid to get his hands a little dirty if he needs to. As an ex-boxer, he knows how to use his body to his advantage and gives as good as he gets. At the same time, he has a heart. When it comes to women he's got a blind spot but that only makes him more likeable. I also liked that he has a soft spot for Nora (his childhood love) and doesn't just jump into bed with anyone in a skirt. The neighborhood and the supporting characters set the scenes nicely. In fact, the neighborhood could almost be considered a supporting character in itself. The author includes a lot of details that make you feel how close-knit the community is and does a great job giving you a glimpse into it. Irish mothers who expect you home for Sunday dinner, brothers who are cops and priests, a local bar where everyone hangs out - all of these things set the stage but also make you understand Quinn all the more. I didn't really care for some of the dialogue and the accents the author used. He tries to use a local "Philly speak" while I see what he was going for in trying to submerge the reader into the world, I don't think it came off as totally authentic. There were a few moments that seemed cheesy to me. When Quinn himself speaks it drove me a little crazy that he went back and forth between using proper speech and falling into local accent. It didn't seem to me that he was consistent. As for plot, I enjoyed it. I didn't know where the story was going which is nice. It's always a little frustrating and disappointing to me when I can predict the ending way ahead of time. Here, I had no idea where things were going until the final reveal. Everything was resolved nicely but also set up well for the next book in the series. All in all, this was a very enjoyable first entry in the series and I would be interested in seeing where Quinn goes from here. It’s not often that I would use movies as a reference but this book reminded me of a more PG version of Boondock Saints, except that it was set in Philadelphia, PA, instead of the Boston Area. The reason to why it reminds me of this movie is because of the fact that you’ve got a tight knit community. Where a bar or pub, whichever you prefer to call it, where your treated like family. And the good guy goes out to catch the bad guy that is messing with someone in his community, differences are that, Quinn isn't a vigilante, his father wasn't harmed in anyway, and it's only one guy instead of two. I think it was the tight knit community, and the pub, and the fact Quinn goes out and kicks some major tail. This is basically set in neighborhoods that are filled with Blue collar workers, most of them being cops whether retired or active. What surprised me most is that Quinn, who is obviously the main character was an ex-boxer, ex-con, who loves art and painting. It’s not very often that you see character such as this. Which in the whole made it more intriguing to read this book; it starts off with him finishing up one of his cases. Then goes into where he picks up a major case, and then picks up another case which is slightly minor to the bigger case, also pays out more. With Quinn being an ex-con his job resources were highly limited so his childhood best friend’s dad, had given him a chance as an Insurance Investigator that only works on commission. So he starts working on both cases the major one being an art gallery robbery, the minor being a robbery at a stadium, with about a dozen kegs stolen. Throughout this story Quinn meets up with some interesting characters and some quite scary (like mob scary). He runs through putting puzzle pieces together about both cases, plus kicking some major ass in the meantime, and all done without guns, quite masterful if you ask me. It’s like Jason Statham without his guns, but still kicking major ass. All in all its one hell of a book, it’s got some crime drama, some mystery, some action, and it also kind of reminds me of Scooby-Doo when Velma figures out the bad guy and goes to unmask him. And I LOVE Scooby-Doo! This is not my typical genre that I read, but I’m going to say I am quite excited about Quinn’s next book. Wonder what trouble he’ll get himself into this time, and maybe JUST maybe he’ll finally tell Nora what he feels. So we shall see.
What do You think about Quinn Checks In (2013)?
This was really good! I'm looking forward to reading the rest in this series!
—bookworm
