Austin S. Camacho

A guy walks into a bar, looks up and down the deli menu and says he'd like a ham and cheese on rye and an open-faced detective. Bartender says the only rye he has is in a bottle, but as to the open-faced detective? Hannibal Jones is right there in the corner, nursing a vodka and coffee...and several bruises.

"Russian Roulette" was my first brush with Hannibal Jones and the thing about the character that immediately struck me was his completely open and straightforward approach to a case. No show more Sherlock Holmes here folks, as Hannibal is not a master of deduction. If Hannibal wants to know something, he simply goes to the individual, tells them what he is about and asks for information. And while a couple of buxom manipulating dames are included in the tradition of any good detective story, he's no booze, broads and bullets dick in the style of Mike Hammer either. One could liken him, perhaps, to a steely black pinball with shades bouncing where his leads take him throughout the D.C. beltway and beyond.

That brings up one fun aspect of the story. You never know what interesting locations you might discover while searching out clues. After reading the story, I found myself wanting to check out a couple of the sites introduced therein. Another thing I discovered while reading "Russian Roulette" was that I really liked Hannibal Jones, so much so that I was willing to become invested in his personal life and get emotionally involved when both his girlfriend Cindy and Hannibal's relationship with her are threatened.

This was a good read, and one could deduce the mystery if reading carefully. Now that I have been introduced to Hannibal, I think that I'll go check out some of his earlier case files.

Chris Hober
Falls Church, VA show less

Virginia, Washington DC, action-adventure, friendship, abuse, crime, theft, coercion, thriller, victimization*****

Another terrific thrill ride, this one dealing with one of the nastier sides of human behavior, the world of submissives, BDSM, and gaslighting of women by twisted men. One in particular, the slime who victimized the daughter of a brilliant chemist and stole her inheritance is Hannibal's quarry. The assignment of finding the inheritance and restoring said daughter was bankrolled show more by another genius, this one with a solid set of personal ethics and a fortune to back it all up. There's a whole lot else going on, of course, and all of the characters are clearly drawn and confirm or deny what is human in people. It's really the kind of storytelling that grabbed me by the imagination and wouldn't let go!
Narrator Royal Jaye seems perfect for this series as he can easily delineate the multitude of male characters with apparent ease.
I won this audio in a giveaway! Yay me! show less

action-adventure, abandonment-issues, abusive-spouse, twisty, private-investigators, family-dynamics, friendship, lawyers, law-enforcement*****

A lot of action crammed into a midsized book! It's a race against time scheduled by the grim reaper and there's all sorts of twists, red herrings, and devious misdirection to find the vanished father of a young man dying of leukemia. Great characters and all that, but I was invested because I had read the first one courtesy of a giveaway! LOVED IT!

action-adventure, private-investigators, crime-fiction, thriller, Washington DC

Me, I loved it. But I am not ex-Secret Service or ex-dangerous military or even ex-Homicide Detective, but I do respect the work and dangers they are exposed to and the high degree of critical thinking that becomes a part of who each one of them is. Hannibal Jones has been all three and now is an independent contractor working directly for money, but still has the crusader mentality that goes with where he's been show more and done. All that said, this assignment is to remove illegal elements squatting in an apartment building working for the lawyer who owns it. Hannibal attracts and collects out of work men he knows from the soup kitchen he volunteers at who are capable and willing to work with him for a decent wage. Then they come afoul of a self-important fool who thinks he rules the world because he is the son of a mob boss. And the real action begins!
Justin Joseph is remarkable as the narrator of this story with so many interesting characters!
I won this audio in a Giveaway! show less