Customer Reviews

False Positive (Joe Daniels)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

J.J.Dare's "False Positive" certainly starts in style, with first-person present-tense narration pulling the reader straight into Joe's upended world. Did someone get hurt? Did he kill his wife? Who is he, and what's going on?

And why? That's the question Joe asks himself at the end of the first chapter, and promises to find out. It's a hook that certainly keeps those pages turning.

The story cuts back to past events where Joe and Beanie meet, fall in love, marry, and create a life together. They become real people, characters that the reader really cares about. It's clear why Joe is so deeply in love. And then things start to change.

J.J. describes events very fluidly through Joe's eyes, leaving the reader as unsettled as the protagonist. We feel Joe's frustration, follow his search for explanations, and clutch at the same clues and straws while fighting down the same suspicions.

Halfway through the book the story catches up with itself and Joe begins his lonely quest to discover not only what has happened, but also why. He travels from unlikely ally to suspicious friend to former colleague, wondering if he's the watcher or the watched, and if his very presence is betraying those he meets. Along the way he learns of secrets and lies, evil plans that are tied to the pages of history and legend, going back to the dawn of mankind.

The story slows down as the various plots and machinations are revealed. I almost wished Joe had been given an ally, so he could have shared his journey and perhaps bounced ideas off someone else. But I was certainly intrigued. And by the time I read the final, curiously disturbing chapter, I found myself thinking of an old TV favorite---"The Prisoner," with Patrick McGoohan. I wanted to analyze what I'd learned and extrapolate its meaning, but I'd have to go back and reread more carefully to fathom it out.

Which I will, but probably not until I get the next book in the series.

This book is a page turner from start to finish! I literally could not put it down. (I read it in one sitting.) The ending leaves you hoping the author won't take too long to publish the 2nd book so we know what happens next in Joe's life!

One of the best thriller/adventure/mysteries I've ever read, False Positive is the first
in a trilogy.

I'm not going to give anything away, but it's inventive and well-written, in fact, it's
done better than the last 15 or 20 best selling books of this genre that I've read.

You won't be able to put this book down, trust me.

This book has a very good plot line and characters that grab your interest. Several geographic areas are involved and they're all described beautifully so the reader feels the atmosphere of each place. The end really made me crazy!