Robert J. Ray

Glitzy, tense, fast-moving, and a private investigator I won't forget. Matt Murdock's a lump of coal amid southern California glitter, a sod house among the palaces, an old Plymouth, albeit very well kept, among the Porsches. He's an ex-Army cop who knows how to use his weapon. If you've just offed a beautiful young starry-eyed Hollywood hopeful, you don't want him in your neighborhood. His creator, Robert J. Ray, is a writer's writer, one who can turn a sentence with the best. I will now show more read every Matt Murdock mystery I can lay my hands on. show less

Murdock Tackles Taos is an any-time summer read, a murder mystery fueled with action: a missing woman and a corpse, good guys and bad guys, love and sex, all flavored with evil I will not reveal. Also, Murdock Tackles Taos examines privilege and the extremes that mega-wealth can afford. When you can buy anything or anyone you want, what more is there? What games do humans play when the thrill is gone? When human life loses all meaning or value?

Through it all, Murdock makes me smile. He’s show more not a suave, sophisticated James Bond. He’s not a disheveled, bumbling Colombo either. He’s real. He’s kind. He’s somebody to share a good adventure with. Helene Steinbeck, retired town marshal turned successful author, is Murdock’s new sidekick and lover. She makes me just a tiny bit jealous.

Robert Ray’s novel tossed me back and forth between the feel of a summer read and a study in human nature – either way Murdock Tackles Taos is a read you won’t want to miss. show less

This novel is so bad that I hardly know how to express it. Nothing in the information I received for the review suggested that it is unfinished or unedited work, but it isn’t even a decent first draft. Characters appear from nowhere with no introduction, no antecedents, and not the slightest hint about their motivation. To call them cardboard characters would be higher praise than they deserve. Their thoughts are vacuous, their dialog is stilted, and the plot is contrived. If I hadn’t show more agreed to review it for Library Thing, I wouldn’t have finished the first chapter. By the 70% point on my Kindle I completely lost patience with it. show less

I found this to be thought provoking but It was not one of those that hooked and pulled me in to not put down. A decent fill in read till the next James Patterson, etc. book is released. I had the reason why humans were hunted figured out early on but not so much what caused the reason. The book gave a glimpse into a very dark side of human nature but the depth of the characters seemed lacking and never deeply touch on their thoughts or the way of their thinking. I understand there are more show more Murdock books ,he was a great character but learn very little about him show less