Joe's not a big deal but he gets things done and he has everybody wanting to kill him
582411
Sara King doesn't mess around. She gets right to the action, right into the story and slams the reader right into the future universe she created in which earth has been invaded, subjugated and forced to integrate into Congress, a league of worlds so diverse and complex that humans are just a minor player. King's protagonist is Joe Dobbs, who was recruited or forced into service as a kid into the Congies, or congressional army. The first book in the series is all about how Joe deals with the intensity of becoming a soldier when every other life form is tougher and more bloodthirsty than the soft humans. This second installment "Zero Recall" picks up the story of Joe Dobbs 53 years later. He's been a soldier the entire time. Now he's an old guy, still kicking because of technological advances provided by the alien races that belong to Congress. Dobbs returns to earth to find the brother he saved from going to war. But mostly he finds himself in a bottle, wallowing in self pity. King lets this part of the book drag a bit, but she does it to make a point and set up the rest of the novel. Joe really has nothing to live for. And his brother turns out to be some sort of notorious criminal. The two don't get to connect before Joe's redrafted into the army after a planet is blown to pieces and the Dhasha have decided to break with Congress. The Dhasha are a nasty but powerful and brilliant race of dragon-like beings that have natural near-impenetrable armor, making their demise very difficult. Joe is teamed with various alien beings to root out the rogue Dhasha on a planet where they've made a stand. The assault results in massive losses for the Congies, but Joe and his crew find a way to work together. The characters and dialogue is fascinating. King has a real ability to travel in directions the reader cannot easily predict. Meanwhile she plots intrigue in a secondary plot that pulls all the pieces together. There's a major play going on and Joe's simply a puzzle piece. He's not anything special. Yet, he's important beyond measure. King makes this the best part of her story. An old soldier holds the fate of the known universe in his hands. And the action is nothing short of totally intense. This is among the best military science fiction I've read. In fact, King is so intense and her stories so graphic and personal that I've got to take them in moderation. Not that I'm going to pay attention this time. I will read the next installment very soon. Maybe that has something to do with the Alaska thing. I remember being a kid in Fairbanks on cold days, stoking the wood stove and day dreaming some super weird stuff back then.
2560680
London psychologist Joe O'Loughlin is a family man who has just received some devastating news about his health. Joe is at a meeting providing counseling for a group of prostitutes and is interrupted by an aggressive Detective holding a photograph of a murder victim. DI Ruiz believes the victim might have been a prostitute and he invites Joe to assist in his investigation. Joe soon learns the dead woman is a nurse, a former patient of his, and one with whom he shares bad history.

When Joe learns the identity of the dead woman, he fears exposing the connection he shares with her, aware it gives him motive. As the killing occurred near his home, he also had opportunity. As DI Ruiz uncovers the connection, he soon looks at Joe as the primary suspect. This would have been a great suspense plot by itself. However, the author introduces several other characters into the first chapters and the plot turns much more convoluted.

Joe believes one of his especially disturbed patients is behind the killing, but he can't find enough evidence to satisfy Ruiz. The more Joe hunts for the evidence, the guiltier he looks, until he finds himself alone and on the run, with his whole life crumbling around him. Joe could turn it all around if only he would admit to his alibi.

For the well-respected psychologist, the situation becomes dire. The DI appears to want Joe to be guilty. Ruiz is an aggressive detective and does not seem willing to look at any other suspects. As more killings occur, the plot becomes far-fetched and a little incredulous. For the most part, the story moves well and the characters well developed and mostly likable. The writing is tight and  the dialogue is crisp. Suspect is a decent, perhaps a little over dramatic, thriller.
794817
Someone is causing havoc and committing murder at the hotel manages. Luckily, the police aren't the only ones on the case!
2859641
This is the first book in a series by this author. Charlie Parker is an ex NY cop, now a private eye. His wife and daughter were brutally murdered and he left the police force afterward. Now he is chasing a brutal serial killer.

I have enjoyed other books by Connolly but this was not my favorite. It was his first and he does get better. There was almost too much going on in the book, 3 different stories. I felt that there was so much description that at times it slowed the story down. This book will keep you up at night. The violence is brutal, but there is also some humor. The characters are great. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars. Thank you to net galley for a copy of this book.
2018453
Quinn finds out an old friend has been killed and he takes on the task of finding the killer and helping the widow. There is  lot of family and friends involved with his life. He is still trying to make amends for his criminal past. There is some strong language and fighting along with shootings.
4302743
Protagonist is low energy, average Joe satisfied with very little and exerting no initiative to change his circumstances. Becomes tedious because he is not interesting and neither are the people he knows.
940031
Well written, with a strong plot and powerful sense of conflict.  The only gripe I have is that the main character seems to be his own worst enemy.  He is continually snapping at people and psychologically brutalizing them, all in the name of his "god" (basically the rules of the navy) and then moaning about what a terrible person he is and how everyone hates him and how he hates himself.  He'll do something bad, agonize over it, and then turn around and do it again.  I find myself wondering if he will ever grow as a character.
3159013
This guy brought on all of is own problems, his wife was no better and we're all supposed to feel bad for him because he made himself into a target for the government.
4777815
Sorry but i read his profile and hes a wrestler, would love to get a hold of a cobra and squeeze thier neck, and is built. all he needs is a renegade squad and hes set :)  anyways the figure is pretty nice. he comes with 2 shotguns which is awesome when hes running down the field in a rain of fire and blasting away at BATs or something. I could see him leading a great squadren and winning many battles. I just wonder what the chain of command is nowadays with the joes as seems almost everyone is ranked so high yet some of the joes that have been around for a while come back and are still low. this guy comes in and hes a major and a leader which is ok for his past, but you'd think the joes would be structured differently with new recruits that experience within the joes would be better than experience in any other branch of service. Just something i wondered for no real reason. anyways a great figure to get and collect them as long as you can.
3276014
You will want Bobby safely out of it because he has only Olive and there is a fiendish evil taking notice of him. Murder doesn't look like murder. Nothing makes sense. He's an outsider and resented. He plods on, putting together a case so bizarre he is afraid to make it and afraid not to. He must choose whether to save lives or wait to satisfy justice
2675521
Of course various people do amazing, career-threatening favors for Jack for very little reason. Corruption is uncovered. No big insights, the plot moves along ok. Fortunately not as much gratuitous violence as some.  Not to worry, there is violence.  Nothing new in this series, probably time to move on to other authors.
408962
I ain't mad at Puff Daddy he was protecting his family but when it comes down to Biggie he had something to do with it.
3747470
The only person who comes out not a total scum bag is Michael Anthony. The others well not so much.
2026062
Disclaimer: I obtained this book through the Kindle Unlimited program. Therefore, even though I paid for the book and the author was paid. It won't show as a Verified Purchase. This is the greatest injustice since Henry VIII killed his wives.
We have three major characters in this book who hold positions of authority or respect in the community, and are not worthy of that. They all get what's coming to them.
That is satisfying.
One is an incompetent and crooked sheriff; One is a prosecutor who is a braggart and bully, and the third is a former member of the Judge Advocate General Corps, assigned to the 101 Airborne Division. He's just an evil person.
A couple of lesser evil people get what's coming to them as well,and that's also satisfying.
However, Joe Dillard, semi-retired, but still working as a criminal defense lawyer, puts himself, legally and physically, at risk in all these cases. It's what he does..
Once again, though, what sets these books apart, and incidentally providing Joe with much of his motivation for his actions, is his love for his dear wife. Caroline's cancer is back, with a vengeance, and he comes close to losing her, partly because it's the nature of the disease, and partly because an incompetent physician makes a mistake in reading test results.
It's a really understated scene: it's written calmly. Joe tells the oncologist who made the error, and then didn't order a standard follow-up test: "Before you tell someone to take their loved one home to die, make sure of your facts. And if you come around my wife again, I'll break every bone in your body. "
Okay, I read that, and I get the cold, calm determination that has sustained Joe to this point. By way of contrast, several chapters earlier, he loses it with a high school quarterback who has hit one of his wife's ballet students; pulling him from the car in a rage and beating him almost without restraint. These are two aspects of the man: one fire, the other ice. Of the two, the ice is the more deadly.
And that's what makes this such a great series; it's about a person, not a super-hero, and the happenings, although carrying their own excitement, merely serve as a mechanism for us to understand what kind of person Joe is.
The happenings ARE exciting, by the way. Someone is killing federal judges, all of whom have some kind of flaw in their administration of justice. When the body of one is found chopped up in a couple of ice chests in the back of a pick-up truck, Joe is intrigued enough to take the case, and discovers dark doings, which will not only get the charges dropped against his client, but exonerate him and end the careers of a couple of the incompetents mentioned earlier.
But remember: it's about Joe and Caroline, not the murders.
727143
Jerry Speziale is a talented operative and his accomplishments in busting big-time drug smugglers can't be doubted. But the book put me off because of the tone. Speziale is really full of himself and has a massive ego. He seems more interested in trying to flash his bravado than in protecting the public. He did make great strides in worming his way into the workings of the Colombian drug cartels, but I wonder what it was worth. When you bust a major drug smuggling ring, another one will take its place. As long as there's a market for drugs, there will be people interested in smuggling them. As long as a country (like Colombia) is poor and has a high birthrate, there will be no shortage of criminals who will kill for pennies.
2770129
This book explores evil as a mundane, workaday series of events by a character whose view of the world is doing what it takes to get him where he wants to go. It is not the evil a Hannibal Lecher or even the real life Jeffery Dahmer. Rather it is the evil of ordinary folks, offered up in a folksy way. Jim Thomson shows us people he knows and knows of. The victims are victims of life and sometimes their own foilbles and sometimes just the bad luck to come accross those who have no qualms when it comes to taking a life as part of getting ahead -- even if the rewards for a death are so small for those who commit murder. It trivializes the lives taken and scares the living daylights out of the reader long after the book has been put away.
950347
This is a disturbing read but a good one about a man with a rage who is out of control. The thing I liked the most about this book is that it moves right along without getting bogged down in a trial. Very good detective work and a great example of the victim's spouse relentless push to keep this monster in jail.