Customer Reviews

Doubleback (The Georgia Davis Series)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Doubleback," the latest from Libby Fischer Hellmann,is my first exposure to her work. Hellmann is the author of a series of suspense novels featuring video producer Ellie Foreman, and "Doubleback" is her second novel to feature Private Investigator Georgia Davis. Fans of the Ellie Foreman series will be pleased to learn that Ellie appears in "Doubleback" and helps PI Georgia Davis run down the bad guys. The relationship between these two very independent women is, in fact, so much fun to watch that I will be looking for Hellmann's earlier books.

It all starts for Georgia when Ellie asks her to speak with the mother of a little girl who, only hours earlier, has been kidnapped. Despite Georgia's advice that the police need to be called in immediately, the little girl's mother, Chris, fears for the safety of her daughter and refuses to make the phone call. Three days later, when the little girl is released unharmed and appears at the front door of her house things begin to get strange.

Just a few days after the safe return of her daughter, the brakes on Chris's car fail and she is involved in what the police, at least for the moment, are calling a traffic accident. Georgia, who at times seems to see herself as some kind of avenging angel, has continued to nose around on her own in hope of catching up with the villains who have so badly traumatized the little girl. Consequently, when the child's father, fearing for the immediate safety of his daughter, agrees to hire Georgia to find those responsible for her kidnapping, she is more than ready to continue her efforts. The pieces finally begin to fall into place for Georgia when she learns that Chris may have embezzled $3 million from her bank employer in a scheme that started not long before her daughter was kidnapped.

Georgia is a fearless and dedicated investigator and, with major assistance from Ellie, she begins to make the wrong people very nervous. Her investigation will carry her from Chicago, where it all started, to Wisconsin, and on to an Arizona border town where the rules of the Old West still seem to be in play while illegal immigrants and drugs cross into the U.S.

By the time "Doubleback" reaches its exciting conclusion, Georgia is already battered, bruised and having to compensate for a broken arm. Considering the hornet's nest she has stirred up, though, she is lucky to be alive. She knows that - but she is going to make someone pay, or she is going to die trying, maybe both.

Georgia Davis and Ellie Foreman make a winning team and readers of "Doubleback" will want to see the two work together again in future books. Author Hellman is in the enviable position of being able to continue with two individual series or to merge the two into a new one. Either way is fine with me because I am now a fan of both ladies.

Ellie Foreman, single mother of 18-year-old Rachel and an independent commercial video producer and the protagonist in one of the fine mysteries series by Libby Fischer Hellmann, returns in this novel in which she is reunited with another series protag of this author, Georgia Davis, Chicago p.i. When eight-year-old Molly Messenger is kidnapped, her mother seeks help from her neighbor, who in turn turns to her friend Ellie, who has some experience in these matters, and then to Georgia, an ex-cop. Almost incredibly, the child is released three days later, unharmed [other than being wholly traumatized].

The bizarre set of circumstances raises many questions in the minds of Ellie and Georgia, among them the position of the police department, which has marked the case closed, "no statements, no photos, no comment." The child's mother, Chris Messenger, is the recently promoted director of a local bank. There is friction between her and her ex-husband, each of whom is now involved in new romantic attachments. And when Chris' boss dies days later, in an apparent car accident, things get even murkier.

There are several threads to the plot, all of which are tied up adroitly before the end of the book, and include ethanol production, government contractors, and smuggling [both drugs and humans], and the investigative trail stretches from northern Wisconsin to an Arizona border town, holding the reader's attention all the way. Another enjoyable entry in the dual series.

This novel is great. It bursts out of the gate with an action packed first scene, and the action never lets up. There wasn't a single dry moment in the entire book, and it kept me on edge the whole time. Suspense is built masterfully, and the climax is phenomenal. 6/5 stars!!

Doubleback was the first book I read by Libby Fischer Hellmann which continues her series with PI Georgia Davis and Ellie Foreman, a video producer. The story starts with a kidnapping of a little girl who is returned after several days unharmed. The police are called in but think it is a cosed case. After the brakes of the car of the girl's mother give out and another tragedy occurs Foreman and Davis get involved. They each tell the story, one from a first person perspective and the other from third person which was the one thing I didn't care for that much.

Hellmann tells a good story with many twists and turns that kept me interested to the very end. The main characters, Georgia and Ellie are likable and I plan on reading the other books in the series. Before this current book was published Hellmann had asked for mystery readers to pick a cover for the book and I voted on it. While I read the ARC of this book with a white cover, I love the cover of the published book with the backwards B.

Excellent novel. It is not unusual for an author of crime fiction who has them, to bring together two or more protagonists from different series. It is less usual for the blend to be this successful, particularly when the two women involved are as different as are private investigator Georgia Davis, late of a North Shore (Illinois) suburban police department, and commercial television producer, Ellie Foreman. One is single, the other divorced with a teen-aged daughter.

Davis is a classical tough female investigator, although she lacks enough experience to avoid some fairly obvious traps the author throws at her. Foreman, on the other hand, the more cautious but more experienced mystery solver, is a good stay-at-home worrier. The point being the two women play well off each other. One of the interesting twists is the way the two become involved in this nasty thing.

Foreman drags a reluctant Davis into an investigation of the kidnapping of a child, little Molly Messenger. Davis knows the police have far better resources to handle this, but Foreman is persistent. Later, as the tension winds up and the question of why Molly suddenly reappears, her mother, an IT manager at a big local bank, has a questionable accident, and then her boss has a similar mishap. Suspicions rise and very quickly, PI Davis take the bit in her teeth, in a manner of speaking. The tables are turned and Foreman is unable to restrain her new friend from haring off on what is clearly becoming a dangerous case of the highest order.

Born of current mid-east activity, the novel carefully blends first and third points of view in a way that enhances the action and the mystery. This is a fine example of a novelist who stretches her talent and her vision to create a fast-paced, enthralling work of fiction. I for one hope we see more of these two tough competent women working together.

This was the first book I read by Libby Fischer Hellmann. I liked her writing but didn't have the background on the main characters whom she had introduced in other books. This book was told from the perspective of both main characters, which took some getting used to for me. Once I did get used to it, I realized that it worked well in this instance. I became interested in both Ellie and Georgia and will probably go back and read other books by this author in which these two characters are present. The action was non-stop and there were many side characters, sometimes getting me confused, but everything was tied together in the end and it all made sense. All in all, it was a good book.

I received a Kindle version of Doubleback in exchange for my review, and I have to say the book is just okay. The book description led me to believe I was in for a real thriller. This was not the type book that "hooks" you and you cannot put down. There was suspense although it was not by any means spellbinding. I found the writing style and prose to be a bit simplistic. I had difficulty staying in the story. Some of the plot connections don't quite make it and I really did not develop a kinship with any of the characters. This the first book I have read by Libby Fischer Hellmann and since I had difficulty getting to the end, I doubt I will read another by this author.

This book is a continuation of a mystery/suspense series by Hellmann featuring Ellie Foreman, a videographer who gets into lots of adventures, and her second book featuring Georgia Davis, a Chicago PI. Maybe if I had read some of the other books the characters would seem more three-dimensional and their actions would make more sense. As it was this hopelessly confusing mystery involving a kidnapped girl, bank fraud, cut brake lines, and drug smuggling was messy and honestly rather stupid. Side stories lecturing the reader on the evils of agricultural corporations and the dangers of identity theft were just weird.

I started out liking this book more than I did when I was finished. The main characters, Georgia and Ellie, are relatively interesting, but unfortunately they never really differentiated for me. Maybe if I had read Libby Fischer Hellmann's previous books featuring either character this wouldn't have been such a problem. Since the two take turns narrating chapters, not being able to tell them apart quickly is annoying.

The plot is timely, revolving around illegal immigration, the Mexican drug wars, and the military-industrial complex. But I wonder if there were too many things going on at once. For example, the kidnapping, billed as a key plot point, ends up being little more than a strategy to introduce a bad guy and the paying client. There's no real payoff for the reader here.

Doubleback held my interest until about the 3/4 mark, the I struggled to finish. I'm not sorry I picked it up, but I won't be checking out Hellmann's backlist either.

This face-paced mystery was thoroughly enjoyable. Georgia Davis is sometimes a little too independent for her own good, but her no-nonsense, straight to the point investigating method keeps the reader turning pages.

I love the idea of two series that exist in the same space, allowing them to intersect at will. I look forward to reading other books by Hellmann.