The Ballad of Jack O'Dair (Timeswept) [Mass Market Paperback]

Linda O. Johnston (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Love Spell (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 050552404X
• ISBN-13: 978-0505524041
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,186,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Linda O. Johnston's first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the year. Since then, Linda has published more short stories, plus seventeen romance novels, including the Alpha Force paranormal miniseries for Harlequin Nocturne. Alpha Force is a covert military unit of shapeshifters, and the most recent book in the series is ALASKAN WOLF.

Linda is also the author of the new Pet Rescue Mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime which debuted in March 2011 with BEAGLEMANIA. The series centers around Lauren Vancouver, the dedicated administrator of a successful private, no-kill animal shelter who also finds herself having to solve murders. In the Pet Rescue Mysteries, "no-kill" means pets, not people! The Pet Rescue series is a spinoff from Linda's Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter, mystery series, also from Berkley Prime Crime.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ballad folk hero comes to life., March 20, 2001

By 

Affaire de Coeur - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ballad of Jack O'Dair (Timeswept) (Mass Market Paperback)

Jessie Jerome has always loved Jack O'Dair, but all Jack is to her is the hero of a folk song, and an incomplete one at that. Jessie searches for anyone who might know the end to the song, until she comes upon an ancient miner who knows most of the verses. Lizard Songthroat takes Jessie to a mountain cabin, which is fine, and leaves her there alone, which isn't. When morning comes, Jessie finds herself transported to the past and into the arms of the real Jack O'Dair. As she learns to love the man, she witnesses each heroic act which makes the verses of the song come true. But the last known verse, about the deadly avalanche, was never finished. Will finishing that verse be the end of her love and of Jack O'Dair? Linda O. Johnston has created a fine folk myth, in The Ballad of Jack O'Dair. Imaginative and clever, this book is a true page-turner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lively TimeTravel, April 26, 2007

By 

msbooklady "msbooklady" (Biloxi, MS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ballad of Jack O'Dair (Timeswept) (Mass Market Paperback)

Folk Singer Jessie Jerome travels to Alaska to find the author of a song she has heard all her life but the ending of the song is missing. Jessie has become obsessed with the song and with manager problems believes it will be the thing to salvage her career. She walks into a bar and greets "Lizard Songthroat" an aging musician who is rumored to know the words to the song. Lizard insists going to his cabin which was once owned by the subject of the song, Marshall Jack O'Dair, because he said it would help his memory. He abandons Jessie there and when she wakes up she finds herself 100 years in the past in the presence of none other than Jack O'Dair himself. Jack believes Jessie may have a few mental issues but takes her to town and gets her set up in a boarding house. Before long, Jessie is singing in the local saloon and Jack is there every night to listen. Jack and Jessie have an undeniable attraction and soon are involved. When several shop owners start reporting thefts, Jessie "helps" Jack in his investigations by suggesting modern day detective tools she's learned on TV CSI shows. Jack knows Jessie is hiding things, she knows too much about crime solving to be just a singer passing through. Jessie fears for Jack, because part of the song she learned is about his heroic efforts during an avalance on Palm Sunday, 1898, just days away. She must learn who wrote the song to find out the outcome and how to save Jack.

Jack and Jessie are delightful and the story interesting enough, but it just lacks the spark that makes a book worth five stars. Still very good read.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very special time travel romnce, October 17, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ballad of Jack O'Dair (Timeswept) (Mass Market Paperback)

Folksinger Jessie Jerome feels her quest is almost complete. She has obsessively been seeking the final verse to a seemingly tragic ballad that touched her years ago. In the Skagway South Saloon, she meets the very old Lizard Songthroat. He escorts her to a remote mountain cabin, but deserts Jessie there.

The next morning, Jessie finds she has somehow been transported back to the world of Jack O'Dair. As Jessie and Jack become acquainted, she observes him perform the heroic deeds of the verse. However, she worries about the outcome since the little she knows of the last stanza includes a deadly avalanche that could be the burial plot of the lawman she loves.

THE BALLAD OF JACK O'DAIR is a clever tale that showcases the story telling talent of Linda O. Johnson. The exciting story line fully entertains the audience due to the lead charcaters. Jack is a hero who lives up to his legend. Jessie is as much a hero as Jack as she tries to come up with a happy ever after ending to his ballad. With this astute tale, romance readers will sing the Ballad of Linda O. Johnson.

Harriet Klausner