A few weeks ago, our library received Bobby Cole's three outdoorsy thrillers, and last night I got the chance to start reading them; I quickly read "The Dummy Line" (Jake Crosby # 1) and have to say Cole really did a good job -- executed his plot with a professional finesse. Surely it's a tale of outdoorsy violence; a papa from West Point, where the author lives though is not FROM -- he takes the reader to rural Alabama for the world and characters he knows best, I'd say -- takes his 9-year-old daughter, Katy, to his camp so they can hunt turkeys. There's a lot of hunting to happen, though nary a turkey do the pair find. Exciting, and the juxtaposition of the characters that also show up in the telling, is well done. A little tweaking of some pompous political and law enforcement types doesn't hurt, either, adds a bit of needed humor, and the bad guys, or BADDEST, get to experience the ultimate. Now, I'm checking out the second Cole novel, published in 2012, trade paperback: "Moon Underfoot". The hook is very promising--a man and his nine-year-old daughter on a hunting trip, trapped by a gang of blood-hungry ruffians in the middle of the night in a swampy, remote wooded area with no cell phone service. The suspense is well done. Several times, just when it looks like they are about to escape, the unexpected happens. This novel covers some mature themes, but Cole doesn't get as vulgar as other suspense novels--say, Ace Atkins for instance. He doesn't handle descriptive language as well as Atkins though.While character development is not typically a major part of a suspense novel, the little summaries that introduce the characters and their personalities are a little too neat. The good ol' boy who doesn't want to hurt anybody, just protect his daughter. The beautiful, helpless cheerleader. The sadistic heartless criminal with nothing but rape on his mind. And most overdone, the incompetent, bumbling, egomaniac police force. Unlike real people, these characters rarely do the unexpected.The conclusion is a bit anticlimactic, and there are too many "filler" scenes that feel more like padding than anything else. And it needs more closure at the end.
What do You think about The Dummy Line (2011)?
Loved this book. Total action and suspense. I couldn't put it down!
—Emalotus
Pretty good read, long story that at times felt it would never end
—carpe
