Whiskey Sour

✍ Scribed by J. A. Konrath

• Book ID: 109115410
• Publisher: Hyperion
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 192 KB
• Series: Jacqueline ''Jack'' Daniels 1
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

From Publishers Weekly

Except for her name-Jacqueline Daniels (and, yes, she's known by her colleagues at the Chicago Police Department and by her friends as "Jack Daniels")-there's not an original trope in this competent, fast-paced thriller by newcomer Konrath. A lieutenant investigating a particularly gruesome series of homicides, Daniels is like every other hard-boiled fictional cop-obsessed with work, afraid to commit emotionally and overcaffeinated. The other characters also follow formula: her partner is an overweight glutton with a heart of gold; her boss is tough but fair; the federal agents assigned to help her are territorial, superior and ineffectual. And the criminal himself, a serial killer who calls himself the "Gingerbread Man," only differs from others of his ilk in his methodology, not his psychology. He tortures and kills attractive young women, leaving their mutilated bodies in public places. Konrath, who has "performed improvisational comedy" according to his bio, likes to toss off one-liners, and while they're occasionally clever, they lend a jokey tone that jars with the seriousness of the almost gratuitously horrific crimes. Reading like an ill-conceived cross between Carl Hiaasen and Thomas Harris, this cliché-ridden first novel should find a wide audience among less discriminating suspense fans.
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Review

" . . . Whiskey Sour a literary cocktail that'll knock you off your chair." -- Ridley Pearson, author of The Art of Deception

" . . . a police procedural dashed with romance, mixed with a shot of sharp-tongued commentary, and . . . an acidic sprinkling of spoof." -- Andrew Vachss, author of The Getaway Man

"Whiskey Sour is on game from page one to the last . . . The future of suspense thrillers . . . is J. A. Konrath . . . " -- Robert W. Walker, author of the Instinct and Edge Series

"A compulsive page-turner populated by real people, a heroine, and a monstrous villain . . . " -- George C. Chesbro, author of Shadow of a Broken Man

"A fresh, fierce and frightening new voice, and a delightful heroine . . . Jack Daniels is funny and resilient . . . feisty and determined." -- David Wiltse, author of The Hangman's Knot

"From electric excitement to laugh-out-loud humor, this book has it all . . . " -- Warren Murphy, two-time Edgar award-winner for Grandmaster and Pigs Get Fat

"This superb debut goes down smooth and will leave readers demanding a refill." -- Michael Prescott, author of Next Victim

"[Blend] Donald Westlake, James Ellroy, and Dorothy Parker, and you've got the hilarious, horrific world of Lieutenant Jacqueline 'Jack' Daniels." -- Jay Bonansinga, author of The Sleep Police