Customer Reviews

Burst of Sound (Tony Caruso Mystery Series #2)

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Trevor Scott has three mystery series to his credit: the Tony Caruso series; the Hypershot series; and the Jake Adams International Series. Mr. Scott was a captain in the Air Force, where he was stationed in various missile units in Germany and the United States. He was also an aviation ordnance man on flight decks for the Navy.

Tony Caruso's home base is anywhere his truck will take him in the Pacific Northwest. He lives out of the back with his bilingual dog Panzer, who was trained to sniff bombs. An old Navy buddy's wife calls upon Caruso to find her missing husband. Simultaneously someone is setting off suspicious explosives disguised to look like environmental terrorism. Tony begins searching, only to run into an old FBI special agent named Bob McCallum, with whom he has a history. McCallum is investigating the explosion of a forest service building, where a dead body is found. Tony becomes suspicious that his old friend might somehow be mixed up with the Environmental Defense League, a radical group with a history of incidents. When Tony finally finds Caleb Hatfield, he isn't sure whose side Caleb is on:

"'So, you're not working for the FBI. Then who?'
'They think the FBI might have a mole,' he said.
Tony waited for him to speak. 'Caleb?'
'NSA.'
'What the hell does the National Security Agency have to do with this?'"

Trevor Scott chooses the gorgeous Puget Sound area of Seattle as a backdrop for his latest Tony Caruso mystery. Tony is still a loner, except for his dog Panzer. He is irreverent and wise-cracking, which endears the reader even as Tony takes on corruption of the alphabet government agencies. Scott's plot moves quickly, and this book is easily read in a short amount of time (preferably on the beach). Scott develops his characters nicely with his knowledge of the military and security. The action is non-stop, and of course Caruso's dog Panzer is one of the highlights.

BURST OF SOUND is another mystery/thriller that is highly entertaining and ends all too soon for the reader's taste. Caruso and Panzer are a great investigative team!

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

After reading Boom Town, the first book in this series, a couple of years ago, I was really impressed with the start of this series. The author has a strong sense of place. He uses the setting of the book as a character, and the reader gets to see different parts of the Pacific Northwest. Although this second book in the series, Burst of Sound, is not quite as good as the first book, it is still a great mystery. Also, both the Caruso character, as well as his side-kick dog Panzer, are developed further. I could see that Scott wants Caruso to be a complex person--much like the early masters did with their main characters. Burst of Sound is an outstanding addition to the mystery scene. Highly recommended!

This is only my second book by TS but I'm hooked and will definitely purchase and read everything he's written unless his other series aren't as pleasing. I enjoyed Boom Town but was pleased to see that Panzer got more action in this second one. In the first I kept waiting for Panzer to spring into action but that never happened. So happy that TS brought Panzer in as Tony's helpful sidekick. Like another reviewer stated, was disappointed that it ended so soon. It's definitely a quick but enjoyable read. TS certainly cannot be blamed for dragging anything out and there aren't a ton of twists and turns... Just a fast story that will fill a few hours of your free-to-enjoy-time! If you haven't discovered TS yet, I certainly recommend you give him a try. He knows what he writes about, and that's a plus in my book! Also, nothing so complicated a non-expert of Navy ordinance can't understand. Enjoy!

This author needs a editor, or at the very least, a proof reader. The story line is good. But the spelling and pronoun errors are a major distraction.