Review | 99 PERCENT KILL by Doug Richardson

99 Percent Kill by Doug Richardson
Contemporary Crime/Thriller Published August 15, 2015
Velvet Elvis Entertainment
Author's website  |  Goodreads  |  Buy the Book on Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

99 Percent Kill follows Lucky Dey, an on-again/off-again Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detective who is both willful and acerbic to a dangerous fault. While in a holding pattern for official reinstatement, Lucky accepts a one-time gig to track down the missing teenage daughter of a Midwestern software millionaire. The novel is the first in a series, but also lives as a stand-alone thriller, winding its way through an L.A. landscape where the lights are bright, but the edges can be dark, perilously frayed, and populated with mix of human predators, amusing losers, and ambitious fringe dwellers. 

My Thoughts...

As much as I enjoyed Blood Money, my first taste of Lucky Dey, and as much as I was looking forward to reading this new book...it just didn't quite meet my expectations.  To that end, I am going to keep this review pretty short.

So the synopsis pretty much sums up what the story is about.  It's set in the seedier parts of L.A. with a glimpse of classier places like the Biltmore Hotel, but the bulk of the story happens far away from that.  Lucky is on a missing teenager case at the behest of Conrad Ellis who we met in the first book.  It kind of baffles me that Conrad is associated with Andrew, but what do I know!  As with the first book here is a whole cast of extremely unlikable characters with questionable motivation.  Herm is in search of his "unicorn" when he gets a glimpse of Karrie. He spends the whole of the book trying to get his hands on her.  He is more or less a pimp on the lookout for the really young girls that no one will  look for when they disappear, but he doesn't count on Lucky.

It may be because I got an ARC and maybe there was still editing to be done, but I had issues with the pacing of this story.  There were a lot of scenes that didn't really add to the story, characters that didn't necessarily need to be there to further the story.  I got an icky feeling from Andrew from the beginning and that was warranted, but it was overdone at times.  Then when you get to the end of the story all the final conflict takes place in just a few pages and then there is a cliffhanger ending!

I do still really like the character of Lucky but was a little disappointed to see that his relationship with Lydia was already over when this story started.  That was one of the better parts of the first book and what made him so likable for me.  My other favorite character in the book was Cherry Pie, she was a great character and added so much to the story.  She really had so much more potential than she was given.

I would like to see where this story goes so I will probably continue to read the series, but I think in the future I will wait for a finished copy.

XOXO, Shelly

*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the author in exchange for my honest review.*

Crime Thriller Review "Blood Money" by Doug Richardson

Title:  Blood Money
Author: Doug Richardson
Publisher:  Velvet Elvis Entertainment
Publication Date: April 2, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Crime/Thriller
Format:  Paperback 320 pages  |  Kindle 830 KB

Buy this book on Amazon:  Paperback  |  Kindle Edition
Author's Website:  http://www.dougrichardson.com/
Author's Goodreads Profile:  Doug Richardson 

Synopsis from Amazon: 

The disillusioned Marine’s plan seems simple enough: steal a refrigerated tractor trailer loaded with frozen blood product; drive the pirated cargo from Reno, Nevada to the Port of Long Beach; collect a million dollars. Yet even the most deliberate plans can go sideways. On his campaign south, the Marine’s “inner idiot” takes charge, leaving a smattering of dead bodies in his wake. 

In the dark before dawn, a telephone rings. Kern County Sheriff’s detective Lucas “Lucky” Dey, no stranger to being awakened with bad news, answers the call. But this time, the voice on the phone tells Lucky that his ill-fated younger brother has been gunned down on a blackened desolate highway. 

As Lucky chases the former Marine and his black semi-rig into the bowels of Los Angeles, he’s thrust into a landscape of competing agendas. Conrad Ellis, the multi-millionaire entertainment mogul, demands justice for the murder of his starlet daughter. Ambitious federal attorney Lilly Zoller is determined to turn any opportunity into her personal spotlight. Rey Palomino, the morally challenged contractor, colludes with the former Marine hoping to crawl out from under a crushing debt. LAPD detective and dedicated single mom Lydia "Gonzo" Gonzales, reluctantly accepts her assignment to "babysit" the unrestrained Kern County detective hell-bent on avenging his brother's death at any cost. 

A knee-breaking private detective, some unwitting feds, and a coterie of gang-busting L.A. Sheriff’s deputies further complicate the scenario and round out the cast of characters in this explosive and unpredictable thrill ride.

My Thoughts...

This was a pretty good read!  It's fast paced and it's pretty much non-stop action from the very first page.  This is a book that has a pretty big cast of characters, with the exception of "Gonzo" and Lucky, they are all pretty unlikable.  Really, Lucky isn't written as an overly likable character, but I still liked him!  This is the type of book that would make an excellent action movie.

Overall, the story is pretty upfront.  There is no mystery to solve per se, we know from the very first chapter who the "bad guy" is and it's quite obvious that he has issues.  Beemer leaves behind a trail of bodies that starts with the death of a police officer and a high profile TV teenager.  

For me, this was a quick read because it was so fast paced.  It's full of high speed chases,  explosions and murder.  This luxury big rig full of stolen plasma leaves a trail of destruction in it's wake.  Readers who like crime drama are sure to be intrigued by this story.  It's hard to do a good review because there was just so much going on all the time!

I did like Richardson's writing style.  It's clear that he can tell a good story.  I didn't realize that Lydia "Gonzo" Gonzales' story was started in another book, but I think I will have to look for that one.  I really did like her character and she is definitely one I would like to know more about.  I am also hoping, based on the ending, that we haven't heard the last of "Lucky" Dey.

*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the author in exchange for my honest review.*