A Reason to Live

Earlier this year, I read the eighth book in this series, Chasing the Pain , and enjoyed it enough that I had to go back to the first book and read the whole series.

“What’s your first move?”

“We’ve narrowed it down to Michael Wheeler or the rest of humanity,” I said. “So let’s start with Wheeler.”

WHAT'S A REASON TO LIVE ABOUT?
Twelve years ago, Detective Marty Singer investigated a murder. A police officer was in the home of a woman he'd been harassing and shot her. Singer didn't believe his story and arrested him, and worked as hard as he could to put the cop away. It didn't work, he was acquitted and then disappeared. In the ensuing years, this has haunted Marty.

Now, that woman's daughter, Amanda, has tracked him show more down—she's being stalked, harassed by someone—and all the evidence points to it being the man who killed her mom.

So she comes to the detective she learned to trust all those years ago—she needs his help to keep her alive. The downside is that Marty recently retired from the force so that he could focus on cancer treatment. But there's no reason to tell Amanda that—Marty feels he owes her (and her mother) a debt he can't repay, so he'll do the next best thing—keep her alive.

THE BIG C

I'd been treating cancer like it was the flu, an inconvenience that I’d have to put up with temporarily. Except cancer wasn’t just a sore throat and a fever, and chemo wasn’t just a shot in the arm. Cancer wasn’t a bump in the road—it was the road, and I’d better make plans to treat it that way. My life, as I knew it, had changed for good.

Sure, there's a murdering stalker out there, but the "Big Bad" of this novel is Marty's cancer. It casts a looming shadow over everything, it affects the way that Marty can work—how he can investigate, protect, and defend.

I don't know how many books will feature this struggle—I hope we get a couple more. I do know, thanks to starting the series where I did, that it's not a constant presence in the series. I just hope that it sticks around for a bit—it's refreshing seeing someone have to deal with things like this.

AMANDA

Amanda’s face was animated, happy. I realized I wanted it to stay that way. Why? Was it feelings of guilt from a job poorly done more than a decade ago? I’d probably done worse things to more people over the years and I wasn’t hustling to make amends with them. Was it paternal? Misplaced feelings for a kid I’d never had? Maybe. But the real reason was closer at hand. It didn’t take much imagination to wonder what I’d be doing right now, how I would feel, if she hadn’t had the guts to walk up to me

It almost feels like a creepy thing for Marty to find a reason to live in Amanda, but it's not. As he says in the quotation—it's like he found the daughter he never had—and he gets to do something for her that he couldn't do twelve years earlier—identify and then stop her mother's killer.

Add in the fact that Iden made her sweet and supportive, a nice person with a good heart, and obviously, readers will get invested in her quickly and will frequently be on the edge of their seats to see if Marty can keep her safe.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT A REASON TO LIVE?

And what became clear to me in that infinite moment is that, ironically, a man with cancer has more options than one that doesn’t. Having already stared my own mortality in the face, I couldn’t really be threatened with death.

When you have a thriller where the protagonist really can't be threatened? That adds a little something

Of course, Marty's lying to himself—there are threats that would make him stop everything—but as long as he believes he can't be threatened, it does give him more options and adds a little something to the novel. Throw in the complications of his varying amounts of energy and stamina with the added complication of learning how to act without a badge to back him up.

Sure, some of the tension was eased because I knew the outcome for most of the characters, I knew the relationships that were being created here—just knowing that the series goes at least eight books tells you a lot right there.

Still, it was a gripping read, and a good introduction to Marty and Amanda and Marty's retired life. A fast, enjoyable novel—it's easy to see why the series has been going as long as it has been. You should check it out. show less

A solid murder mystery about a detective who comes out of medical retirement to investigate a cold case. I don't usually read crime novels, so I'm not sure if the plot was original or predictable, but the action was evenly paced and I really like Marty Singer. He has a droll voice, in the style of hardboiled PIs like Spade or Marlowe, but the humanising angle of his illness rubs off some of the sharper edges. The ill-fated love interest, another classic feature of Hammet and Chandler, felt tacked on, like Iden was trying to prove Singer's manliness or something. Stick with the cat, Marty.

The case itself, of a young girl being stalked by her mother's murderer, is the type of crime that really scares me - betrayal of trust. What can you show more do when the enemy is also in a position of authority? I was hooked throughout, while relying on everything to turn out right in the end!

A tense thriller with an endearing detective. I'm definitely tempted to find out what draws Marty back out of retirement in the second novel. show less

From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

The story is classic detective mystery book. Iden's writing has a natural ease to it, and his characters are deep and well rounded. Just look at Marty, a retired homicide detective. Kind of cliche until you see that he's battling cancer.

I don't think Marty likes being retired either. He's a lonely man who is forced to look death in the face. This was a brilliant move because here is a guy who has dealt with the ugly side of death his entire career, now he has to deal with the possibility of his own.

Amanda, the daughter of one of his unsolved cases, showed up at the perfect time. He needed a project, to be needed. She needed help, and the police weren't an option. She knew the murderer was back, but it wasn't show more anything concrete and basically the police failed her the first time around.

This is a great book. If you like Michael Connelly or Jonathan Kellerman, you will love this. show less

Author: Matthew Iden
Published by: Createspace
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Book Blog For: GMTA
Series: #1
Rating: 5

Review:

"Reason To Live" by Matthew Iden was a very good 'riveting and entertaining' detective mystery read from the start until its finish. This is the first in 'The Marty Singer Detective Series' and it will keep you on the edge of your seat guessing what was coming next. I found "A Reason To Live" well written by the author at a fast pace with lots of twist and turns with many surprises. I find that "A Reason To Live" will keep it all alive for you with stakeouts,shootouts and along with 'chemo treatments.' Now, what is that all about...We find Marty Singer from Virginia, has recently retired as a policeman show more who is now battling cancer, when " A murder victim's daughter comes to him worried she's being targeted by the same man who killed her mother twelve years earlier. "It soon becomes apparent that someone is stalking Amanda...was this the same stalker that had stalked her mother? This was a old case where a former colleague of Marty's got away with murder, literally, and now seems to have returned to claim another victim. Now, this is where I say you must pick up the excellent read to find out what all this author has in store for the reader. You will find it a very intriguing mystery with some well developed and captivating characters that in the end will gave you a satisfied ending. You will soon see Marty's struggle with "cancer, and the requisite rounds of chemo, bring another layer of humanity to the retired ex-cop archetype." Would I recommend "A Reason to Live"...YES! show less

I read the first chapter as a "sample" and ended up spending most of today reading the rest of this novel. The main character, Marty Singer, is a Washington, DC, homicide detective of 30+ years who retires when he is diagnosed with cancer. This is the author's first crime novel, I believe, and he has done an outstanding job with characterization, plot, and dialogue. I am looking forward to reading more from Matthew Iden.

Good mystery. Retired cop, plagued with guilt over a rogue copy who killed a woman some years before and walked, is now contacted by the woman's daughter, who fears that the killer is back and is stalking her. Meanwhile the ex-cop is newly diagnosed with cancer. Good characters, good plot movement...

It was really wonderful to read a book whose characters were so well developed and humanized. While Marty Singer is battling cancer he still finds the energy to help Amanda Lane for the second time. I will not write about the plot because I recommend you read it and feel the sensitivity of the author and his knowledge. I found have found a new author.