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Book Review of Damage Control (Joanna Brady, Bk 13)

Damage Control (Joanna Brady, Bk 13)
reviewed too many threads, much left unraveled on + 35 more book reviews


Now I love Joanna Brady. I love the series so much I drove hours from Tucson TWICE to visit Bisbee (trust me,it's worth seeing). I can't wait to visit AZ again this November and will certainly be back in Cochise County (Wonderland of Rocks here I come). But this book was a frustrating read. I kept waiting for the main story line to begin, only instead of a main story line, it was a series of fragmented stories. No mention of the beauty of the desert in Cochise County, no mention that Butch is apparently set for life after selling his restaurant in Glendale, no mention that Marianne Maculyea reconciled with her mother when Ruth's twin died years earlier. And how did Jenny get Kiddo to the Parks' old KOA RV park? Off the highways, it's all mountain and steep gorges 'round those parts.

Where to begin? Oh yes- a 4 month old does not get bottles at night any longer!! Especially if the 4 month is started on solid food- once the baby gets solid food it should be sleeping from midnight or earlier to about 6 am. It is not a newborn!

The opening chapter sets such a tone of terror but its denouement (for this strand of the story) is so unsatisfactory, I wanted to throw the book in disgust. Jance can set up a story with the best of them but this was lame.

The exposee of the managing company of the residential homes left one feeling that the bad guys got away with a lot more than murder.

And how did Larry Wolfe manage to drive from Cochise County to Hudspeth County Texas in something like 2 hours? Just to drive from Gallup NM to Albuquerque takes something like 4 hrs, and that's only half across NM.

Joanna's stepfather just ups and quits on her right after Frank Montoya tells her he's in for Chief of Sierra Vista- and she's down a deputy due to the death of the rookie! What will she do, hire Dick Voland back to be Chief Deputy? I don't think so. The entire shtick with Eleanor made zero sense (when did Eleanor ever?), but to wrap it up with George quitting and Eleanor and George motoring off, towing a Mazda Miata to Minnesota (at $4.50 a gal for gas) made me wonder if Jance is losing her zest for Joanna and wants to write more Ali Reynold dreck.

Maybe that's what happens when authors leave too much time elapse between books in a series. The Joanna Brady series is one of my favorites. Let's hope for resolution in the next installment and hopefully, that will come soon.