Rusty Nail  - J.A. Konrath

GRAPHIC VIOLENCE WARNING. Ok, you have been warned. I was warned by the author (thanks Mr. Konrath, I really do appreciate it!) that this book has the most graphic violence in the series. Having been warned, I was able to blip over sections where that violence occurred. It was pretty easy to see them coming. So why would I even read a book with stuff I don’t like in it? Well, I really wanted to know what happens to Jack. I was starting to get fairly invested in her after the first two books, and having been told that the violence decreases after this book, I wanted to keep up with her storyline.


The first book involved Jack’s investigation into the Gingerbread Man. He pops up again here and let me say that he is not someone you want to deal with more than once. Jack is once more being personally targeted by a serial killer. Her partner is having to deal with some health issues, her mom’s in a coma, her ex-boyfriend has a new girlfriend, life is not fun.


As with the first two, there are excellent descriptions of police work. I like hearing about some of the nitty-gritty of an investigation, the leg-work involved. I don’t like cases being solved purely by intuition or a sudden revelation. We see plenty of good detective skills here. As with the first two, there is plenty of humor. Great one-liners, good relationships between the characters. Jack and her partner have a real warmth to their relationship that I enjoy. For all the things that are wrong in her life, Jack has a great group of people that like and help her.


Bottom line-if you don’t want the violence, avoid this book. If you can jump over it and are interested in following Jack’s story, you’ll find this quite satisfying.