To Catch a Bad Guy (Janet Maple #1)

Janet Maple, graduate of Columbia Law School, four years in the DA's office, with a prized job in the investigations office, along with a handsome boyfriend, Alex, working alongside her, thought she was on her way to the promotion and the career she wanted, bagging Wall Street bad guys.

Then Alex gets the promotion, she gets laid off, and she's struggling to support herself and her dog, Baxter, and find a new job without using her ex-boyfriend as a reference. When her oldest and once closest friend, Lisa Foley, calls her with an off of a job as Assistant General Counsel at Bostoff Securities, she accepts. She's working on Wall Street instead of hunting Wall Street bad guys, but she can play a role in keeping Bostoff Securities on the show more right side of the law, right?

It's not long before she realizes there's something wrong at Bostoff. Their five biggest customers are hedge funds with dubious reputations, and their documentation seems to be incomplete--ownership data, for instance, is missing. Yet her ability to investigate is limited, because most of the legal work is done by outside counsel Tom Wyman. Even her friend and boss, Lisa, the General Counsel, has very little real work. Why was Janet even hired?

Dennis Walker, undercover Treasury investigative agent, is working at Bostoff as an IT specialist, under the name Dean Snider, because Treasury has questions about Bostoff, too. The normally suave and perfectly groomed Walker is posing as a dorky IT guy. It grates on him, but the job is his main concern--his only concern, until he meets Janet Maple.

What follows is a complicated interaction, where Janet, once burned, likes "Dean" but is set on avoiding romance at work, and Dennis likes Janet, but can't get involved brecause of his job--except that he also soon realizes that Janet might be the inside source he needs.

They move together and apart, repeatedly, and meanwhile we get to know the Bostoff brothers, Jonathan and Paul, sons of the largely retired founder, Hank Bostoff, and more complicated than one might expect from their assigned roles in this story.

It's a fun story, and I like the characters and the plot, yet it never completely gelled for me. Also, the cute dog on the cover, Janet's dog Baxter, does arrive at the end of the book unscathed, but also barely plays a role in the story at all, which did disappoint me. Honestly, I was in need of a dog in a story, and clearly didn't do enough initial scouting of the story.

It is enjoyable, though, even if not very deep or entirely solid.

I bought this book. show less

I loved how this story came together effortlessly. It was a little verbose in places but I didn’t find that a distraction. In fact, I enjoyed the feeling of complexity by the in depth explanations. In other words, more word for me here.
The characters were great and fit the plot. There was a good balance between the plot and characters with enough drama to move things along.
Great start to a series and I look forward to read more from this author. For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com.

To Catch a Bad Guy by Marie Astor

So, I like to look at the reviews before I decide on a book. It really helps when there are more than a handful of bad reviews. I suppose there must be some thing odd about admitting that I took a closer look at this book because it had such bad reviews. But, really, I'm not sure I would have read the sample without that bit of discouragement. It didn't work out poorly either. I liked the bit that was there and I picked it up for my kindle. Besides the bad reviews were only 25% of the whole.

Usually I recall seeing people start out with, I picked this up because with all the good reviews I thought I'd have to love it. Then there's at least one more sentence to explain how horrible it was.

I usually don't show more pick up a book by its cover but this is what caught my eye. Who can't resist the terrier with the pencil in its mouth.

So, like everyone else I was disappointed by being misled. Oh, there is a dog, and it plays some small part but really I was hoping it was going to help solve the case. But, that's the other problem. Hmm, The case.

Okay, I must agree with some others this is not a romance and this is not a mystery. It's almost a white collar crime novel. There is just a hint of romance but it just doesn't quite take off. So, that would qualify, at best as a tease.

Let's get to what it is:

It is good writing with solid editing and consistent plot and characters. The characters have flaws, yes, don't we all. Maybe this could be considered satire if you consider the complaints about the characters being wrong for their perceived intellectual level. If I were to complain my one complaint would be that the portrayal of women in this book, professional women, seems a few years backwards yet. I'm wishfully hoping that the educated women are not so shallow as to be using that education just to land a good husband so they can kick up their heels. But, that's just one character. The other just seems to have this blind-spot toward, well a lot of things including the man who might really be interested in her.

Dennis Walker aka Dean Snider seems your regular guy who's been caught up into the white collar intrigue by his own accidental venture into the criminal end. He's fully aware of he possibility of being innocent while yet nearly being proven guilty and should have some sympathy for some of the people he has to set up.

This is where the major conflict for this story comes from and this white collar crime thing goes deeper than the surface area that this novel touches so it's almost understandable that it comes off as just a bit blase at the end. The reason that Janet has ended up in the situations she is in has something that remotely intersects with the matter at hand and her own expertise in the field is what brings her and Dennis together and create those teasing little sparks that I suspect will go on into the next novel.

So, while this is not a satisfying romance nor a deep convoluted mystery to thrill the reader it is an entertaining read about a couple of people trying to stay within the law and catch the ones who have stepped over the line while trying to clear their own names and reputations.

It's more than that though because this type of crime seems conducive to creation of characters that have stepped over the line who are otherwise likable and who you almost might feel sorry for.

Almost.

This is a great read for anyone looking for light entertainment. The crime is mostly out there to see without a lot of deduction so it's mostly a matter of how are we going to sink our teeth into these guys kind of story. I look forward to reading more and hope the terrier has a bigger part next time. Hmm, maybe he's just the 'cover' story.


J.L. Dobias show less

Twenty-nine year old Janet Maple has spent the last four years as an NYC Assistant District Attorney in the Investigation Division, when her position was "downsized" by her ex-boss Alex Kinglsey, who happens to also be her ex-boyfriend.

Janet's childhood best friend, Lisa Foley, offered her a position as an Assistant General Counsel at the prestigious Bostoff Securities investment/trading firm. Janet thinks her career is on an upswing, but as she learns more about the firm, she discovers questionable practices and has to decide what to do with her findings.

Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator in the Department of Treasury's Investigations Unit. Dennis' current assignment has him infiltrating Bostoff Securities by show more going undercover as Dean Snider, Chief IT Analyst. He is responsible for gathering additional evidence for their investigation into Bostoff Securities. So far everything that he has learned about the firm indicates corruption with deep financial violations. The most difficult part of his assignment is to remain undiscovered and not allow his cover to be blown.

When Janet discovers the firm's questionable practices, Lisa blows them off as nothing, so Janet turns to the sympathetic ear of Dean Snider, not knowing his true identity. An attraction and friendship forms between Janet and Dean, but Dennis/Dean becomes torn between his professional obligation and his personal attraction for Janet. Can Dennis/Dean have the best of both worlds, or does he have to choose? What will Janet do when she discovers Dean's true identity and profession? Can Janet and Dennis work together to catch a bad guy?

To Catch A Bad Guy is an intriguing romantic suspense story. This is the first book in the Janet Maple series, written in the third person narrative with alternating points of view from Janet Maple and Dennis Walker, with a side story into the Bostoff family empire. Set in the Wall Street financial world of New York City, author Marie Astor weaves an entertaining tale surrounding the areas of white collar crime investigations and the financial world of stock trading/investments. The author does a great job of engaging the reader with a fast-paced storyline full of intrigue, suspense and romance.

Author Marie Astor provides a storyline that is thoroughly researched into the complicated financial world of stock trading and white collar crime, and makes it easy for the reader to follow along. I really enjoyed the mixture of suspense and romance in the story, it had a good balance that kept me interested in following Janet and Dennis' story.

With an engaging cast of characters; sassy dialogue and interactions; rich in detail and descriptions of the financial corporate and law fields; and enough romance to spice things up; To Catch A Bad Guy is a fun romantic suspense story that will keep the reader turning the pages!

To Catch A Bad Guy is a pleasant diversion from author Marie Astor's usual chick lit contemporary romance novels. It is a fun, sassy, intriguing, and sizzling romantic suspense novel that is part of a new series that she has written. I look forward to reading the second book in the Janet Maple series.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours.

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2012/11/to-catch-bad-guy-by-marie-asto... show less

Marie Astor has written a series of novels starring Janet Maple. This is the first one, "To Catch a Bad Guy" and this novel introduces the characters of Janet and Dennis who it appears are in the subsequent novels.

Janet, after several years working in the prosecution's investigative division is lay-offed by her then boyfriend of several years. Janet goes to work with her old childhood best friend as general counsel at an investment firm. While working there Janet feels as if some things are amiss with the running of the firm, however, when she meets Dennis, an IT technician at the firm she starts to realize that her initial feelings about the firm are very true.

First the positives. Ms. Astor explanation about IPOs and hedge funds show more shows that she definitely has some background in these financial matters. I know that some reviewers said they found typos and grammatical issues in the novel, but I honestly didn't find that in this novel.

However, I ended up ranking this only two and half stars since there was some definite issues with this novel.

1) The most important issue for me and why I ended up disliking this novel is that though this was touted as a Janet Maple novel, it really should have been called Janet Maple and other people. The points of view for this novel changed constantly. Sometimes it was Janet, Dennis, Lisa (Janet's best friend growing up) or one of the Bostoffs (heads of the investment firm).

In the end I realized that the main point of view readers received in this novel was actually Jon Bostoff. We get to hear more about his upbringing, his insecurities, his life than we did Janet's. If the novel was purporting him as the main character that would be fine, but this was supposedly a Janet Maple novel and I found myself getting distracted by the constant back and forth between characters.

2)The novel was often quite stilted when it came to dialogue between characters. I don't know why most novels these days have characters just thinking thoughts all of the time. When you get through the novel and realize that most of the characters often do not talk to each other it is quite maddening.

3)The attraction between Janet and Dennis was just not there for me. I could tell the author was trying to set it up that way but I honestly did not feel any sparks between them based on the writing. Frankly I really didn't care for the character of Dennis and hope that Janet stays away from him in the next novel.

4) There needs to be more descriptions of things besides people's clothing and hairstyles. This novel takes place in New York. Well I didn't get that from reading this novel. This novel could have taken place anywhere in the world due to the author not providing enough descriptions.

In the end though this novel definitely has an interesting premise I don't think I will buy any more novels featuring this character. show less

Having already read a chick lit novel from this author I was under the assumption that this book would be similar however I was pleasently surprised to discover it could still be classified as chick lit but definitely a more intelligent version. The story centers around the world of business in finance, wall street and law. Janet Maple is an appealing character who has had to climb her way up with good old fashioned hard work and for her efforts has been knocked back down to square one in both her career and her social life. As she tries to climb that ladder once again we see she is a person of integrity and hope for her success. An enjoyable story particulairly if you like those that lean a little heavier on the corporate/legal side.

Marie Astor has written a series of novels starring Janet Maple. This is the first one, "To Catch a Bad Guy" and this novel introduces the characters of Janet and Dennis who it appears are in the subsequent novels.

Janet, after several years working in the prosecution's investigative division is lay-offed by her then boyfriend of several years. Janet goes to work with her old childhood best friend as general counsel at an investment firm. While working there Janet feels as if some things are amiss with the running of the firm, however, when she meets Dennis, an IT technician at the firm she starts to realize that her initial feelings about the firm are very true.

First the positives. Ms. Astor explanation about IPOs and hedge funds show more shows that she definitely has some background in these financial matters. I know that some reviewers said they found typos and grammatical issues in the novel, but I honestly didn't find that in this novel.

However, I ended up ranking this only two and half stars since there was some definite issues with this novel.

1) The most important issue for me and why I ended up disliking this novel is that though this was touted as a Janet Maple novel, it really should have been called Janet Maple and other people. The points of view for this novel changed constantly. Sometimes it was Janet, Dennis, Lisa (Janet's best friend growing up) or one of the Bostoffs (heads of the investment firm).

In the end I realized that the main point of view readers received in this novel was actually Jon Bostoff. We get to hear more about his upbringing, his insecurities, his life than we did Janet's. If the novel was purporting him as the main character that would be fine, but this was supposedly a Janet Maple novel and I found myself getting distracted by the constant back and forth between characters.

2)The novel was often quite stilted when it came to dialogue between characters. I don't know why most novels these days have characters just thinking thoughts all of the time. When you get through the novel and realize that most of the characters often do not talk to each other it is quite maddening.

3)The attraction between Janet and Dennis was just not there for me. I could tell the author was trying to set it up that way but I honestly did not feel any sparks between them based on the writing. Frankly I really didn't care for the character of Dennis and hope that Janet stays away from him in the next novel.

4) There needs to be more descriptions of things besides people's clothing and hairstyles. This novel takes place in New York. Well I didn't get that from reading this novel. This novel could have taken place anywhere in the world due to the author not providing enough descriptions.

In the end though this novel definitely has an interesting premise I don't think I will buy any more novels featuring this character. show less