Customer Reviews

Black Jack Point

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jeff Abbott's "Black Jack Point" is a well-deserved PBO nominee for both the Edgar and Anthony.

Justice of the Peace Whit Mosley is a laid back, low key type who is honest, straightforward and to the point---he does not suffer fools.

His sidekick Gooch is easily one of the most colorful cronies in print. Gooch's penchant for violence and inclination to work outside the law gets results.

The crooks have committed a double murder in their search for treasure buried along the Texas coast by privateer Jean Laffite.

One of the vics is the uncle of Whit's gal pal---turns out she is sole heir to his valuable waterfront property.

The arrogance of the villains leads to their eventual undoing. They make lousy partners, as they do not trust one another and are busy double-crossing each other as they engage in hijacking, kidnapping and ransom.

It is an exciting, suspenseful crime thriller---where it is impossible to tell the good guys from the bad guys and the bad guys from the really bad guys. Lots of wonderful misdirection.

The finale is a total shocker.

The research into Laffite and his escapades is extensive and an eye opener.

Whit Mosley is a judge- locally elected with no legal background, as well as, coroner in a small Texas coastal community. Whit's girlfriend, Lucy, is distraught over the deaths of her uncle and his girlfriend. They were murdered and their bodies were found on the uncle's property at Black Jack Point. Buried with the bodies were old bones and rusted hinges dating back almost two hundred years. Whit thinks the murders may have had something to do with the buried treasure of Jean Laffite, the Pirate King.
Meanwhile, Claudia Salazar, a police detective, is kidnapped at sea with her boyfriend, Ben. When a ransom is demanded from Ben's brother, the brother refuses to pay and places Claudia directly into harm's way. The question is why? Eventually, Whit and Claudia cross paths as they pursue the same criminals.
Jeff Abbott has written five previous well received novels. A problem with this one is the lack of realism in the characters, of which few are likable. For example, the kidnappers of Ben and Claudia discuss their plans directly in front of the victims allowing them to plan their escape. The plot is clunky in that near the conclusion numerous expositions are required and, of course, the overused stock device of the villain holding the hero captive with a gun while divulging all. The plot is too lengthy as interest wanes near the end. A tighter effort in the future may make the next work by the talented Jeff Abbott truly excellent as this one most definitely is not.

Plowing through this book and hoping, (against hope as it turned out), that at some point it would gain traction and my interest, I reached the ending and realized I'd simply wasted most of an afternoon ..... even if it was a rainy one. A multitude of haphazardly developed characters centered around a double murder, a kidnapping and a treasure hunt can't disguise the lack of a coherent or entertaining plot in this book. The "bad" guys are straight from the comics and the "good" guys are even tough to take. Edgar nominee aside, I missed the magic in this one.

It might have just been me, but I couldn't keep the characters separate! It might be because they all seemed so cardboard and boring. The evil guys are just plain whimps, the plot (pirate's treasure) could have been exciting but here it seemed weak and boring. It's buried on a modern day beach front 6 feet deep, no erosion on this beach, no people running around with metal detectors on this beach that has long been rumored to be holding Lafitte's treasure??? The whole book was a real task to read, maybe as a short story it would have been entertaining, but toward the middle of the book, you frankly just don't care anymore!!!!

Crooks don't make good partners because they almost always try to cheat each other. Jimmy Bird and Alex are digging for treasure on Patch Gilbert's land in Black Jack Point, Texas. Patch and his significant other return early surprising the thieves. When Patch's niece Lucy reports him missing, the police drive over to his home and unearth their remains.

Also dug out of the grave is older bones and parts of a treasure chest. Lucy's boyfriend Judge Whit Mosley tries to console his lover especially when the police zero in on her as a suspect since she is the sole beneficiary to Patch's estate. While Whit deals with one aspect of the crime, his friend police detective Claudia Salozar and her boyfriend are hijacked and held for ransom. The thugs want Ben's brother Alex to turn over the treasure, especially the famous emerald once belonging to Jean Lafitte, otherwise the hostages are going to be killed.

BLACK JACK POINT is an exhilarating crime thriller that is an exciting read because one really doesn't know who are the good guys or the villains. Their actions are designed to confuse the evidence and enables Jeff Abbot to show he is an expert at his craft. This fast paced story line has a shocking climax that the readers will never figure out until it's over. The crime thriller genre has a winner with this strong novel from Mr. Abbott, a rising star.

Harriet Klausner

This is a pretty unrealistic book with borrows the bad plot points from B grade movies such as talking too much to the victims of a crime you are committing about your life and the very crime you are committing. Although the kidnapee female police detective Claudia Salazar was a well developed character the same effort wasn't put into the other characters whose actions most of the time was pretty predictable. The pace of the pages with Whit Mosley and the police investigation dragged in comparison to kidnapped action.

Black Jack Point is the tale of criminals all after the treasure of a pirate, who cheat each other, kidnap their rival family members and really have not thought through their plans enough before acting. Meanwhile Texas Judge Whit Mosley from previous novels is investigating the murders of his friend and friend's lover whose bodies are found on top of relics and bones adding to the mystery.

I recently read Abbott's novel Panic which was although also unrealistic a lot faster paced, more enjoyable and more entertaining read. If you are going to buy an Abbott book I'd recommend getting that one instead.

Here we have an example of an author who has risen in prominence due to gone good UK marketing, eye catching covers and the success of `Fear'over here. I very much enjoyed Fear and thought Paranoia was okay, so when I saw this cheap, I jumped in..
Black Jack Point is a thriller based on a blend of murder, bad guys and a treasure hunt. Elderly couple killed discovering treasure hunters and the story and characters twist around in circles from that point.
I must say that there are obviously previous novels to feature local JP Whit and his chums and I have not read them and that may be a reason that I did not enjoy this. Far too many characters and a tired old plot with not that many thrills made this a bit hard to churn through and I have to confess I was quite relieved when I finally completed it.
Not recommended.

I got this book when Jeff Abbott came to Rockport, TX and did a book signing. So, my book is a signed edition. This book takes place in a fictional town between Rockport and Aransas Pass, TX called Port Leo. Living in this area, myself, made the book come to life in way that was beyond other books. I stayed up late finishing this book and actually thought that someone was tailing me when I drove somewhere the next morning. The book was so real that it was as though I was part of the action. Once I got over my paranoia, I decided that I wanted to read more about Whit Mosely in Port Leo and hope that Jeff Abbott keeps writing these books. It's so neat that the characters go to places that I visit and even read our crappy newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller Times.

I am rating this book based on the genre and what I expected when I purchased it. Whit is a very likeable character. The various quasi-villians were believable and kept the book moving at a good pace. This is my first Jeff Abbott read and the author did not go overboard in attempting to create the ultimate sinister villians. The background and ties to the pirate history of the area gave the story the extra edge it needed.

Lots of action, but stretches credibilty more than the last episode. Whit Mosley is an interesting character and is going to be fun to continue with. Pirates and betrayal enough for all.