Thursday, January 31, 2019

K-9 Suspense...

"Megan Jennings ignored the water squelching noisily in her soggy hiking boots and focused instead on the black Labrador running ahead. Hawk ran with his nose skimming the ground, his thick tail held stiff and high. The chase was on, and he was in his element. Pausing briefly, he pushed through the broken underbrush, following a path that meandered through the trees, a path that nearly wasn't, unless you knew what to look for. ... They were looking for a killer."

Lone Wolf: An F.B.I. K-9 Novel by Sara Driscoll -- Meg and Hawk are part of the F.B.I.'s elite K-9 unit. They track criminals and are well-trained in search-and-rescue. And when a government building is bombed, they help locate any survivors in the debris. When the bomber strikes again, Meg is determined to help track him down, even if it means enlisting the help of the journalist who was recently contacted by the bomber himself.

So, here's the truth:  I didn't love this one, but I didn't hate it either. On the plus side, it reads fast. And Hawk and the other dogs are amazing. But I felt the humans' character development was a little lacking, and I questioned the role that the K-9 handlers ended up playing in the F.B.I investigation. Still, I liked it enough to want to give this series another try because I think Driscoll's premise has a lot of potential. (The second book, Before It's Too Late, sounds especially good.) And I did really love the dogs. 

Happy Reading!

Other K-9 reads:


22 comments:

  1. Sounds like an average read but at least it read fast. :) Hope the next book will be better.

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    1. Hi, Melody! This one did read fast. (Maybe because I started skimming in the middle.) Fingers crossed the next one's better. :)

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  2. The last book I read with a dog in it, the dog died and I quit the series in a bad mood!!!

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    1. I hate when the dog dies! It totally ruins the book for me. And I really think authors shouldn't do it.

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  3. I recently tried a K-9 mystery that I abandoned because it wasn't really a K-9 mystery. I want good characters, human and canine, and I want the dog to be a genuine participant not an accessory. Since you are willing to give the series another try, I'll add the series to my list. ")

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    1. I'll give this one another go and hope for the best. The Margaret Mizushima series is really good if you haven't tried that one. :)

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  4. That's too bad this wasn't better. I want to read this one for the dogs. Hopefully the series will get better.

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    1. I hope it gets better, too. The second book certainly sounds good. :)

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  5. I have a couple of these and think I've heard they get better. You need to read The Last Woman in the Forest. It has dog handlers but they are doing ecological tracking and there is a mystery involved. I think you'd like the character development in it.

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    1. Thanks for the recommendation! I'll look for The Last Woman in the Forest at my library. :D

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  6. I love books featuring K-9s. It's a bummer this one wasn't a great one, but hopefully the next one will be. :)

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    1. Hi, Ashley! Yeah, this one could've been better. But it was good enough for me to give this series one more try. :)

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  7. Your comment about questioning just how far a K-9 handler would be allowed to be involved in an FBI investigation is a good one. That is one of those points where the author needs to really work to make it plausible for the reader...and when they don't...oh well.

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    1. Little things like that kept pulling me out of the story and made me question what would really happen in that situation.

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  8. Sounds like if the series is to be a success the character of Meg and the other K-9 handlers will need to be developed more because the dogs can only take one so far in a novel. That said I have Call of the Wild in my Backlist pile and I've wanted to give it a read for some time.

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    1. I definitely needed more character development, because the people take center stage over the dogs, and they weren't always that well drawn. And I'd be interested to know what you think of Call of the Wild. :)

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  9. Well, at least the dogs were well done and it was a fast read :)

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    1. Right? And the second book in this series might be really good. ;D

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  10. Sorry this one wasn't great but the K-9 elements sound fun (now if they can just get the investigatory roles right sounds like)! :)

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  11. Not so sure if I'd enjoy this one but hopefully the next one is a more solid read for you!

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    1. I hope so, too. Otherwise, I'm done with this series and this author.

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