A Hero to Admire; An Enthralling Mystery

In Bloodline, the second Jack McMorrow story, our hero continues to evolve—yet remain true to the character we met in the first novel. McMorrow is blessed with (well--- author-endowed with) curiosity, intelligence, honor, loyalty, bravery... and a wonderful sense of humor. I'd follow him anywhere--- and will continue to do so through the series.
The mystery in which he finds himself—how was the adoption arranged? who has raised the stakes to murder?—unfolds organically, compellingly, all set in a true-to-life rural Maine community. There is sadness and desolation--- but McMorrow imbues the landscape with hope.
I highly recommend this novel!
(Great reader, too! The Maine accents are well done and sound authentic. And having grown up listening to “Down-Eastahs" talk, I find many put-on accents grate--- these are a joy to the ear!)

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2 people found this helpful

Jacks dry humor

I like the character Jack and his dry humor. He can never stay out of trouble either

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1 person found this helpful

Good!

maine, reporter, murder-investigation, journalist

Jack is a smart aleck freelance reporter transplanted to Maine and kind of floundering after some years in big city papers. He certainly attracts trouble even when he can't figure out why. Good fast moving murder mystery contemporary to the 1990s!
Okay, so I already knew that I like listening to narrator Michael A Smith because I've listened to others he's narrated!
I won this audiobook in a giveaway!

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LOVED it

Great story! Truly fantastic performance. The ending was a surprise for me. The best work

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Love Jack McMorrow

I started with the later books in this series so the Jack McMorrow that I was introduced to is just coming into himself with this listen. That was nice to see. No spoilers though.

This mystery was a bit of a heart breaker. A young girl gets pregnant and, trusting the adults in her world, gives the kid up for adoption. Her mind gets changed (by Jack?) and then stuff happens.

Jack's quest to figure out the stuff was bittersweet.

The narrator is incredibly well-suited for this material. He brings the real and the weird to Jack (Jack is a bit of a jokester) and that kept me engaged with the listen.

I don't know which book this is in the series but I know how good things will be!

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Breaking the Cycle

Jack McMorrow, a reporter, is now living in the rural mid-coast Maine town of Prosperity. He is asked by a former colleague to write a story on teen pregnancy for a magazine. He manages to contact one teen, Missy Hewitt, who gave up her child for adoption. Missy decides that she wants her child back and asks to meet with Jack about this. The day after she phones Jack she's found dead and he finds himself at the center of a murder mystery. The story leads to many clues and fascinating characters. I quite enjoyed Jack’s sardonic wit and found the narration good. I look forward to the next in the series.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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too many loose ends need addressed

I found Roxanne to be an unnecessary distraction. It's a mystery not a romance story ann she's annoying as all get out. She doesn't add to the story, only detractors from important issues. Kenny should have been stopped asap. The local yokel cop did a crap job on a good day!! smh. The way this all ended was too abrupt. Why did the adoptive family get off scott free. At the very least, they obstructed justice, and made death threats!!!!! Not a good conclusion. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a good job.

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I love the sarcastic humor!

Great story. Well-written. Held my attention throughout.

Michael A. Smith did a good job narrating and bringing the characters to life.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Better than book one

My second time around with author Gerry Boyle and his investigative reporter, Jack McMorrow. I'm happy to declare that I enjoyed it a bit more than my first pedestrian outing, Deadline. Perhaps my expectations were lower, or maybe the pace wasn't quite so sedentary.

McMorrow is hired to write a piece on teenagers in the area .... low expectations, poverty, lack of ambition, lack of opportunity, delinquency, pregnancy, teenage parents, thirty something year old grandparents with the following generations repeating the cycle.

After a run in with a gang of lads - one in particular not too impressed as what he perceives is an outsider judging them - and lasses, he has a name to follow up on - a girl who despite an alcoholic feckless mother and an absent father, broke the cycle. She fell pregnant herself, had the baby, gave it up for adoption and went off to college to build a life. He contacts her, they talk.

In the meantime, McMorrow's house and vehicle are attacked in a drive by shooting and an arson attack. McMorrow feels the incidents are connected to the run in he had with the local youth. This reader didn't and was kind of frustrated at what I perceived as McMorrow's denseness. Maybe because I knew the book still had 7 or 8 hours to run and Jack didn't have that knowledge?

The girl he interviews gets dead, accidentally or not and McMorrow gets sucked into a police investigation where he feels like he is a suspect. He has a physical altercation with the guy he rowed with. Other things happen .... he carries on researching his article, he gets stonewalled by a fair few people, the dead girl's relatives subject him to some intense scrutiny, then satisfied want him to carry on digging and his on/off romance from the series opener with a woman who's name I forgot is resurrected.

I actually quite liked this. I enjoyed the dynamics of McMorrow's relationship with his friends up the road. They're good people who look out for him. I liked his interactions with the cops and I enjoyed the slow reveal as to what happened and why, even though I had twigged the raison d'etre for events. I knew the why, just needed to wait for the who.

Better than the first book and I'm quite positive about continuing with the series at some point. Lifeline, the third in a series currently running to a dozen books will be the next one up.

4 from 5

Read - (listened to) May, 2021
Published - 1995
Page count - 376 (10 hrs 55 mins)
Source - Audible purchase
Format - Audible

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Excellent reporter/detective story

well written. good plot. likeable characters. great narrator with good voice range. good description of the northeast and maine

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