Book Review of Ting-A-Ling (The Dev Haskell - Private Investigator: Case 7) by Mike Faricy

Synopsis:

Continuing the Dev Haskell - Private Investigator Series with Case 7 

After answering Danielle’s middle of the night phone call, private investigator Dev Haskell offers to help. It’s a simple task. All he has to do is deliver a message to her former business partner. The next thing he knows, Dev is involved in a missing person case and he can’t find his client or her business partner. That turns out to be the least of his problems when he finds himself on the hook for murder and all the evidence points toward him.

Meanwhile, an incident from his childhood continues to haunt Dev. With his very freedom hanging in the balance everything seems to be beyond his control. He’ll need all his skill and a good deal of luck to save himself. In a tale fraught with danger, Mike Faricy, Master of the Bizarre lays one twist on top of another until a murder rap becomes the least of Dev’s problems. 

Review:


Ting-A-Ling by Mike Faricy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author for an honest review.

This is the seventh book in the Dev Haskell Private Investigator series. I loved it!

Dev Haskell is a fantastic character. He may be a bit of a womanizing pervert at times, but he has a good heart. However, even his best intentions seem to get him into trouble! This character has wormed his way into my affections, even though some of his antics have me rolling my eyes at times!

This is another fantastic tale in the Dev Haskell series, and I was completely hooked from the first page. Dev somehow manages to get himself into trouble without trying very hard. However, this time it's because of a phone call in the middle of the night. There are several twists and turns in this story which kept things interesting, but I was a little disappointed with some of the plot. It seemed a bit thin in places and left me with a couple of questions regarding motive and why a certain character (Dev in particular) would do something completely out of character. Yes, he's been through some tough times, and he's emotionally scarred because of it, but the sudden violence didn't feel right somehow. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

I don't know if it's because Dev is maturing, or if the author is becoming a bit weary, but I found the tone of the book to be more dark and subdued; Dev seems to have lost his sparkle somewhat. Although his ogling of the female form is still there, it seems that his heart is not in it anymore and is just going through the motions. He is certainly not the same person I met in the first novel, Russian Roulette. I don't say this lightly because I would love to read another Dev Haskell adventure, but perhaps it's time the dysfunctional P.I. either settled down or retired. I think that it is extremely difficult for an author to keep getting ideas to keep a series going and, although Dev is a great character, and his antics have kept me entertained, an author needs to keep trying new things or face getting stuck in a rut and his characters and stories reflecting this which, sadly, seems to be the case here.

Mike Faricy is a fantastic author. I love his tongue in cheek writing style, but other readers may disagree. His books are fast paced and extremely exciting to read. He is one of my favourite authors, and I am looking forward to reading more of his books in the future.

I highly recommend this book (and the other Dev Haskell books in the series) if you love detective novels that are entertaining and extremely addictive. - Lynn Worton

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