Dale Robert’s crime mystery novel, Irrefutable, is like that car you know you should buy. It’s well built, has a good consumer rating, drives well, and gets good mileage. However, the minute you get behind the wheel you get a sense something is missing, but for the price you might as well give it a spin anyway. 

Irrefutable centers around Florida Detective Alex Mendez: a decorated cop, father, and widower. He struggles with coming to terms with his wife’s death while raising his sixteen-year-old daughter alone. He’s also trying to catch a serial rapist. Someone is abducting women, drugging and raping them. They all wake up naked near a local marina with few memories of the ordeal. Detective Mendez quickly finds common threads connecting the crimes, but can’t follow them to a suspect. Alex must stop the rapist, but the rapist is also trying to stop Alex. Oh yes, he also talks to his dead wife Allyson, although I can’t figure out if she’s a ghost or a figment of his imagination. 

A myriad of borderline cliché characters surround Alex, including Rachael, the beautiful district attorney. She helped Alex deal with his wife’s death and is the love interest. There is also Kathy, the rookie detective eager to make a name as Alex’s partner, even if it comes at Alex’s expense. The characters are well written and could have been one of the book’s strongest points. However, we’ve seen them all before, in one form or another, in other crime stories. I kept waiting for them to develop, but like the plot, they never grew beyond the predictable. And this is really the crux of the problem for Irrefutable.

Roberts keeps the plot moving by effectively building tension, making the ride interesting for the reader... mostly. Like the characters, the plot was very formulaic. The somewhat original twist, Alex talking to his dead wife, is suddenly abandoned mid-book and then reintroduced at the end as sort of an afterthought. In doing so, Roberts loses an opportunity to make the book truly stand out. As for the “who done it” aspect, it’s not hard to figure out by mid-book, though Roberts treats it like a bombshell at the end.

For such a professionally written novel, Irrefutable suffered from a surprisingly strong case of the Indie Writers Curse - mechanical and grammar errors. IWC afflicted this novel throughout, but wasn’t enough to detract from the enjoyment of the book.
This novel is suitable for ages eighteen and up, for sexual content, violence and suggestive themes.  

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this book. Roberts is obviously a talented writer. My main critique is it could have been so much more. Irrefutable is soundly written, but flat. The cookie-cutter plot and near-cliché’ characters give this book a predictable and mechanical feel, as if it were manufactured, not created. However, with all this said, I still recommend Irrefutable for crime mystery lovers. It kept me involved, even if I kept waiting for it to break out into the original. While I knew this book could have been so much more, it was still adequate (especially for the Kindle price). All-in-all, Irrefutable falls short of great, but settles for practical. If crime mystery is your thing, take Irrefutable for a spin. It earns 79 out of 99 cents. 

(Author’s Note: When I started reviewing Irrefutable, the Kindle price was 99 cents, now it lists for $1.99). 

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TITLE: Good Neighbors 

AUTHOR: Ryan David Jahn

PUBLISHER: Penguin Group

GENRE: Crime Novel

PAGES: 280


THE RUNDOWN

Good Neighbors is a crime novel that exposes what’s lacking in humanity: the raw, gritty details of impersonal city life. Over the course of one night, it tells the story of the neighbors who stand by and do nothing while an innocent woman, Katrina, is raped and murdered outside her Queens apartment. The novel is based on a true story, which makes the vividly violent scenes even more potent.

What I liked about Good Neighbors was the range of voices, from the innocent murder victim to the murderer himself. Every voice was unique, and no matter how despicable the person was, there was a touch of humanity, buried somewhere underneath the monster. Ryan’s writing was clear and to the point, vibrant and well-crafted without being flowery or overdone.

I was dubious about starting a book in which I knew the ending: Katrina dies. Read the back of the cover, and you know what’s going to happen. However, the side-plots introduced keep an element of suspense throughout the book, and I found myself still rooting for Katrina at the end of the book, even though I knew her demise.

When I finished Good Neighbors, I can’t say I felt refreshed or satisfied. But I don’t believe that was the point of the book. I found myself contemplating what makes people do evil things, and how many people would rather look the other way. When I finished Good Neighbors, the story and the images stuck with me like a recent nightmare.

I don’t like nightmares much, but I’m a sucker for dark novels like Good Neighbors.



THE RECOMMENDATION

If you’re looking for a pick-me-up or a feel-good story, look elsewhere. If you’re squeamish, you probably won’t enjoy the detailed accounts of violence. But if you want a harshly realistic picture of humanity, and a well-crafted page turner, pick up Good Neighbors and buckle up for the ride.



WANT TO BUY IT?

Ryan David Jahn’s website

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