Customer Reviews

The Dummy Line

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I just finished The Dummy Line (for the second time) and really enjoyed it. Great first novel. The charters and the various scenes were built with reality and suspense. I hated the bad guys and cheered for the good ones.

I did wonder how Bobby Cole knew how to fight so dirty. Knocking out the football stars' teeth on the bumper of the Jeep was rough. He also knew about "cut shells" and I always thought only poachers knew that trick (often used during bird season, before deer season). As a former game warden I knew that method. The authors' worldly knowledge of the "wild" shows up well in his writing and story.

Mr. Cole has a formula for success. Like the mystery thrillers from Harlan Coben and William Tapply, he has developed a character that has staying power. I also enjoy John Sandford and William Kent Krueger because of the state theme and location. Michael McGarrity has the SW theme and character, Kevin Kerney. Cole has all those elements with Jake and the south (West Point, MS). Plus he have woods wisdom and hunting knowledge.

I will be on the lookout for the next Jake Crosby novel. Good job!

What a great read! This book gripped me in the first chapter and would not let go until I finished it....I simply did not want to put it down. The action is fast paced and the vivid descriptions make you feel like you are right there fighting along side of Jake, Katy and the rest of the characters! I highly recommend this book!!!!!

Wow! Fantastic read . A great book for the entire family . Bobby Cole has brought as much excitement to the hunting camp as John Grisham brings to the courtroom . Before I finished reading Dummy Line, my 14 year old daughter had taken over the book and prolonged my suspense . Within a week our entire family had read it . 5 stars and 6 thumbs to Bobby Coles Dummy Line . Faye Bennett Pine Apple Alabama

I think I may give up hunting the deep woods of Wisconsin & Upper Michigan and crawl into a hole after reading Bobby Cole's first obviously successful mystery/thriller! Wow, what a thrill ride. The pace of the book and the obvious knowledge of the back country was way to realistic. So much for ever turkey hunting in the south! Keep writing Bobby Cole - you have a gift!!

Yesterday, while meeting with the retired District Attorney of Sumter County, Alabama, a copy of the Dummy Line was in my office. After I told him that much of the story takes place in Sumter County and that it is Bobby Cole's first novel, the DA wanted to read it. Today, he returned the book with the following note: "The book was excellent. I read it in one sitting. His style is great."

I agree!

"Johnny Lee was gurgling blood, and his breathing extremely labored ... He was dying and he knew it. Blood ran out of his mouth with his final word: 'Get him ... get that son of a bitch'." - from THE DUMMY LINE

THE DUMMY LINE is author Bobby Cole's first novel. If it didn't put me in so undignified a position, I'd beg him to write another as this one was pretty much impossible to put down.

Here, Mississippian Jake Crosby takes his nine-year old tomboy daughter Katy off on a turkey shoot into the Alabama woods where they run afoul of a group of good 'ol boys bent on having some rough, redneck fun. The plot quickly escalates to include grievous assault, attempted rape, kidnapping, a desperate flight on foot through the pine barrens, and, from the perspective of the local sheriff's department, total confusion.

He himself a resident of West Point, Mississippi, Cole's deft handling of his characters leads one to think that he knows real life counterparts - a scary thought when it comes to the good ol' boys; it's perhaps what makes THE DUMMY LINE so engaging and riveting. That and the hectic pace of the action.

I'm left wondering whether or not, from the author's perspective, Mississippi is, in the hierarchy of the states, on a higher rung of the social development ladder compared to Alabama.

I have no doubt that THE DUMMY LINE could be the basis for a hit movie script.

Bumbling, vicious rednecks. Small town Keystone cops. And a father fighting for his own safety and protecting others along the way.

I enjoyed "The Dummy Line" and I see real potential in a writing career for Bobby Cole. Was this first book of his perfect? No. It could have been tightened up by probably 30-40 pages and been a much cleaner read. Cole tended to be wordy (for example how many times does the reader need to have the lodge with its pinup collection described) and his characters made the same mistakes repeatedly, where once would have sufficed.

But...I still enjoyed the backwoods flavor of the story. I enjoyed the descriptive passages about an area I've never visited. I enjoyed the hunting backdrop. I could tell that Cole was writing about an area and activity that he knows well. This gave an air of authenticity to the work that is so often missing in books where the author gets background by offsite research only.

I thought character development was good on the main protagonist and most of the auxiliary characters. The bad guys were drawn well, ignorant yet feral. Actually I think some of their relatives live near me. I've really met some losers that are too similar. The sheriff and his deputies could have been toned down a bit. They were so bumbling to be almost caricatures.

But all that written, I enjoyed the story a lot. I was willing to overlook the weaknesses because I thought the story itself was strong.

Protective father, tomboy loveable daughter, vicious rednecks that want to cause trouble for trouble's sake, underappreciated sheriff and his Barney Fife squad, media hungry older sheriff and two teenagers thrown into the mix to pull on your heartstrings. Formulaic but a formula I like. I will be looking for future books from Cole because I think he'll just get better. I hope he keeps writing.

"The Dummy Line" is entertaining and full of suspense. It's an excellent book. Bobby Cole, the author, has done a great job in the creating and telling about a man and his nine-year old daughter and their horrifying experiences as they try to escape a bunch of redneck goons. Cole's expertise in hunting and outdoors lore is evident as the father he created has to use every survival trick he can think of to protect himself and his daughter. In my opinion, the best of this type of novel is "Deliverance." "The Dummy Line," while no James Dickey creation, is similar in its story line and appeal.

The story takes place in the western Alabama pine plantations and swamps. There is a confusing tangle of locations, characters, and law enforcement action that gets difficult to follow at times, but Cole does a good job of keeping it all together and, with a little patience, the reader can sort through it. What is apparent is that we are in the South. At the risk of being criticized, I have to wonder why it is that most outdoor chase novels have half-wit maniacal redneck killers running around and small-town law enforcement officers trying to catch them.

The book is an escape in the sense that it's an easy and entertaining read. It can also satisfy the need for suspense and graphic action that we, as readers, appreciate occasionally. All of the clichés found in this type of writing are apparent, but Cole has presented them in such a way as to make them fresh and strangely appealing.

There's a somewhat strained marriage. There's a comely girl who is threatened by a slobbering sex maniac. There's a smart-alecky nine-year old. There's a Sheriff's Department full of Barney Fifes. Snoopy would be a better canine cop than the dog the department has. The hoodlums wanting to inflict horrible hurt are bastard children of the "Deliverance" stalkers. And the black Sheriff appears to be a laid-back Mr. Tibbs. We've seen it all before, but Cole revives it very effectively.

You know I'm not going to tell you how it all comes out. I will tell you that you should read the book and let the author sort it out for you.

Wow!!! What a great read. I was glad to finish this book....my heart and my emotions needed a break!! The author does a great job of plopping you down in the middle of all the scenes; you're there! You'll see, hear and smell the characters. An exceptionally well written book; Buy it! Read it! You'll enjoy the breadth of emotions the book will induce.

This is a great read for anyone, not just an outdoors person. My wife read it first and couldnt put it down. I read it in two nights and loved it. This is an adreneline filled adventure story and anyone who likes Clancy, Crais or Patterson will love this book. Bobby Cole makes the woods come alive and made my imagination run wild. Thanks Bobby