9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Done With This Series, February 19, 2010
This review is from: Howl Deadly (A Kendra Ballantine, Pet-Sitte) (Paperback)
Kendra Ballantyne has never been a very likeable character, but the premise of this series was interesting enough to keep me reading. However, this installment will be my last.
The author claims to be such a dog lover, but I find it hard to believe a dog lover would portray a pet sitter in such an unbecoming light. Kendra is an embarrassment to the profession and every pet owner's worst nightmare. She thinks nothing of pawning off her charges and neglecting her business so she can run around playing amateur sleuth. And I guess we're supposed to be forgiving of this and excuse her because she tells us constantly how bad she feels about doing it. To make matters worse, she gets permission from her pet owners to use a different pet-sitter on occasion and then takes that as carte blanche to do it whenever she feels like chasing criminals or having sex with her boyfriend. The thought of a pet-sitter like Kendra is the reason I won't travel unless my mother is available to watch my dogs.
In this installment she's particularly despicable, none moreso than when she slips out of bed in the middle of the night to take her boyfriend's cell phone to see who he last talked to, calls the number the next day and proceeds to threaten the Department of Justice in order to get the agent to tell her confidential information so she can satisfy her own nosiness. A close second is her using her ex-boyfriend's employee to snoop for her and not only agreeing to have dinner with him, but hiring him as her personal bodyguard while she meets with the DOJ, when she has absolutely no intention of getting back together with him, despite the fact he still wants to, in order to investigate her current boyfriend. She also neglects her law firm and those cases so she can chase shadows and feed wolf puppies. The whole thing was ludicrous.
The author also resorted to what seems to be her favorite trick several times during the book -- evasively letting us know that Kendra had obtained some pertinent information, but not revealing it until some random group of people had been assembled so she could tell them what she'd found out. I find it totally annoying how you're following along with what's going on and then suddenly you're left scratching your head because the main character has decided to stop sharing information for no apparent reason.
Finally, the author's writing style has gone downhill since she started this series. She's very repetitive -- for example, every time she mentions Rachel she tells us that's her pet-sitting assistant and tenant's daughter, or every time she makes a call she mentions she's using her hands-free car phone. The dialogue for many of the characters was inane. The storyline was predictable and the outcome expected.
It seems that the author didn't plan long-term when she started this series and has finally figured out that there's only so much murder a pet-sitter can be involved with before you have to totally suspend belief, so she's branching out for more story topics while trying to hold onto something that no longer works. All it does is make for an annoying and unsatisfying read.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
enjoyable amateur sleuth, December 18, 2009
This review is from: Howl Deadly (A Kendra Ballantine, Pet-Sitte) (Paperback)
When she was a big shot Los Angeles attorney Kendra Ballantyne hated her on call 24/7 life. She reengineered her lifestyle becoming a pet-sitter who also works animal rights cases. Adding to her belief she lives the near perfect harmonious life is her boyfriend Dante DeFrancisco, owner of HotPets pet supply chain.
Dante sponsors HotWildAnimals sanctuary in the San Bernardino Mountains. Everyone is ecstatic over the birth of three wolf pups. However, the elation is tempered by the fact that the mother is missing, which means feeding the infants from bottles. The biggest concern is that for the wolf to vanish from the compound required a human letting her out or perhaps abducting her for ransom. Kendra meets Dante's friend, movie star Brody Avilla, who seems to exclude her when the men talk seriously with one another. She conducts an inquiry starting with Dante's computer that leads her to employee Jon Doe, who's found dead in the wolf enclosure.
The latest Pet Sitter amateur sleuth whodunit (see Double Dog Dare and Never Say Sty) is an enjoyable tale with two mysteries; first there is the missing she-wolf and second identifying a killer. The shift in locale refreshes the fun series as Kendra's enthusiasm is catching. Although she has success in catching criminals including murderers, readers, especially newcomers, will have doubts that the pet sitter should investigate the homicide even with the missing mother mystery seemingly tied to the murder. Still fans will enjoy Kendra's latest whodunit as her energy, élan and love of animals (as well as Dante) make for an appealing investigative story.
Harriet Klausner
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Missing wolf and murder, April 26, 2010
This review is from: Howl Deadly (A Kendra Ballantine, Pet-Sitte) (Paperback)
The mama wolf goes missing at the wild animal sanctuary Dante runs. Kendra jumps in to help find her. Since a human would have had to help her escape, everyone related to the sanctuary is a suspect. An employee is found dead. He doesn't seem to be who he said he was. Can Kendra figure out who killed him and why as well as who kidnapped the mama wolf and why?
I really enjoy this series. Kendra is such a likeable sleuth. Dante DeFrancisco, the new man in her life, is growing on me as well. I like the other regulars in the series. I always look forward to reading a book in this series. I highly recommend this book and series.
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