Pocket-47 (A Nicholas Colt Thriller) [Kindle Edition]

Jude Hardin (Author)

Book Description

Fifteen-year-old Brittney Ryan has taken to the streets. Leitha, her older sister and legal guardian, hires private investigator Nicholas Colt to find her and bring her home. Piece of cake, Colt thinks. With Brittney's forbidden boyfriend's address in hand, he plans to make a surprise visit and put this one in the scrapbook.But something more sinister is behind Brittney's disappearance, and Colt soon finds himself in an ever-widening maze of deceit, betrayal, and murder. When Colt learns what the mysterious phrase Pocket-47 means, he is haunted even more by the plane crash that killed his family and rock band twenty years ago-a crash he now realizes might not have been an accident.Determined to save Brittney, Colt struggles to untangle the threads of his own tortured past. Unfortunately, one of the most heinous and violent criminals in modern history has other ideas.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

(Starred Review)--Hardin gets everything right in his powerhouse thriller debut, which introduces rock star–turned–PI Nicholas Colt. The sole survivor of a plane crash that killed everyone in his band as well as his wife and baby daughter 20-some years earlier, Colt now works out of an SUV in north Florida. Strapped for cash, he agrees to help 23-year-old Leitha Ryan track down her missing 15-year-old sister, Brittney. Leitha is reluctant to involve the police out of fear that they will return Brittney to foster care. What appears to be a straightforward case proves to be anything but. Colt uncovers several murders as it becomes clear that Brittney disappeared in order to hide from someone who wants to kill her. The violence, while sometimes extreme, is never gratuitous, and Hardin crafts a well-constructed plot and conjures up a flawed protagonist who's more than capable of carrying a series.

From Booklist

Meet Nicholas Colt, a PI with an intriguing past. Once guitarist for the renowned band Colt .45, he's the sole survivor of a small-plane crash that killed his wife, daughter, and the rest of the band. After that, he renounced music and set up shop as a detective in his Airstream trailor near a lake in north Florida. When orphaned Leitha Ryan hires him to find her runaway 15-year-old sister, Brittney (eschewing police for fear of losing Brittney to foster care), the trail leads to a white-supremacy sect and connects to Colt's earlier life through SWAT sniper and former SEAL Roy Massengill, who once worked for the band. Pocket-47, Colt learns, is a pilot's expression that can mean not only an unexplained glitch but also sabotage. Colt is a physical, no-holds-barred PI, reminiscent of Robert B. Parker's Spenser and Lee Child's Jack Reacher, and his debut is action-packed. With a hefty toll of dead bodies, some described in cringe-inducing detail, this is crime fiction at its rawest. Hard-boiled connoisseurs should make Colt's acquaintance now.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 399 KB
• Print Length: 236 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1608090116
• Publisher: Oceanview Publishing (May 2, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004XIZLM2
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,569 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #93 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Private Investigators

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nonstop Suspense! August 9, 2011

By BookAddict VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

This book had me hooked right from the start. Nicholas Colt was a happy, successful musician, until the day he lost his band, his wife, and his baby daughter in a plane crash. He survives and somehow stumbles into a less than stellar career as a private investigator. When he is hired to find a fifteen-year-old runaway, he expects the case to be quick and easy money. But each step he takes drags him deeper into a tangled mess.

Nicholas is flawed and driven by emotions even he refuses to acknowledge. I connected to his story and couldn't help but hope for him to come out on the winning side. The mystery and suspense kept me guessing. Just when I thought the plot had reached the point where the story had to wrap up, something else happened and took me in a new direction. This is a dazzling first book by Jude Hardin. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

** I received this ebook as a review copy from Oceanview Publishing, via NetGalley. **

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Pulp Detective Page Turner!! July 7, 2011

By Music Fan

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This exciting and suspenseful novel in the "pulp detective" genre is a great debut from author Jude Hardin. Definitely not for the faint of heart or squeamish. It is a real page turner with scenes of sometimes graphic violence. But despite the serious nature of the story, the real treat is Jude Hardin's great sense of humor which is generously laced throughout the story from start to finish. Told in the first person perspective of hard drinking, Private Investigator Nicholas Colt, we get all the action and plot twists straight from Colt's sarcastic and witty point of view. Hardin definitely has a unique voice but you could say that if your a fan of both Mickey Spillane and Quentin Tarantino, you'll probably enjoy this book. It certainly had me up late at night. We all know that with this genre, you have to be prepared to suspend your disbelief at times. All in all, a real page turner and a fun time. I will definitely look forward to the next Nicholas Colt book.

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars An empty 'Pocket' June 23, 2012

By R. Malm

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't know where all these rave reviews are coming from. I was very underwhelmed by this book. It read like a watered down Lee Child/Jack Reacher novel (and even those are not as good as they used to be). Missing girl turns to prostitution? Check! Sexual sadist murder? Check! Rough-around-the-edges with a tortured past PI protagonist? Check! Oh, and throw in a neo-Nazi, virgin-sacrificing cult while you're at it. The whole thing was thin and implausible, and the plot hopped all over the place from one thriller cliche to the next. Nicholas Colt is a mass of awkward one-liners that never come together to form a complete character. I finished it to see if it would ever get better, but sadly it didn't. 'A' for effort, but the results fall short.

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Nicholas Colt Thriller #1: COLT (a prequel to POCKET-47)--Coming Soon!

Nicholas Colt Thriller #2: "POCKET-47 sucked me in and held me enthralled. Author Jude Hardin keeps the pace frantic, the thrills non-stop, but best of all is his hero, the wonderfully ironic Nicholas Colt. This is a character I'm eager to follow through many adventures to come."
--Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of LAST TO DIE

Nicholas Colt Thriller #3: "With CROSSCUT, Jude Hardin takes the PI novel and psychological suspense to a new, unrestrained level. Fast, fierce, and relentless."
--David Morrell, New York Times bestselling creator of RAMBO

Nicholas Colt Thriller #4: SNUFF TAG 9 is "Pure, batshit crazy awesome!"
--Anthony Neil Smith, author of ALL THE YOUNG WARRIORS

And June 25, 2013, Jude Hardin's critically acclaimed series rocks on with Nicholas Colt Thriller #5: "KEY DEATH hits you hard and fast with crackling suspense, hair-raising twists and stunning revelations. Word of advice: don't start on this one unless you're prepared to stay up all night."
--John Ling, author of THE BLASPHEMER

You can learn more about Jude and his books at http://judehardinbooks.com/

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