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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing suspense set in Indianapolis, February 26, 2007
This review is from: The Root of All Evil (Colton Parker Mystery Series, Book 3) (Paperback)
The plot to this PI mystery is filled with twists and turns that keep you guessing and wondering if Colton will be able to protect his charge and his child while unraveling who's behind the threat to one of the areas richest families. I liked how this book was not predictable and took the plot places I'd hoped it wouldn't go. The book had the hard-edged feel of a PI novel without diving into language to convey the coarseness of the characters.
The characters - even the antagonists - had facets that made them human. Dodson didn't fall into the trap of making the characters cardboard props to the plot. And I wasn't expecting the son of an extremely wealthy man to be so far removed from his father's world. Yet he still had that hole in his life that made him long to know if his father could love him.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it is not the last book of Dodson's I will read.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Root of All Evil, April 27, 2008
This review is from: The Root of All Evil (Colton Parker Mystery Series, Book 3) (Paperback)
In THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, the third book in the Colton Parker Series, Brandt Dodson engages us once again with suspense, murder, and corruption. When Colton Parker is hired to find the illegitimate son of a dying multimillionaire, he is faced with sorting through back alleys, biker gang hangouts, and the offices of a political official in order to get to the bottom of what seems to be a tangled web that has no boundaries.
Colton Parker is a modern-day gumshoe. He uses his tough exterior and dry humor to cover the pain he feels at the loss of his wife and his constant struggle to maintain a relationship with his teenage daughter. There's not a lot of flash or fancy dialogue in this series, just good old private investigative work. Though Brandt hints at Colton's feelings for his former FBI partner, Mary, there is little romance played out in the Colton Parker Series. These novels are definitely geared toward the armchair detective who wants to follow along as Parker pieces together faint clues and barely-there evidence. A great read. Especially for men who want a straight forward suspense novel without getting bogged down with the romance that most women readers prefer.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Colton Parker continues to shine, gets bogged down in mystery, December 6, 2007
This review is from: The Root of All Evil (Colton Parker Mystery Series, Book 3) (Paperback)
Detective Colton Parker is back for a third time in Brandt Dodson's hard-boiled detective series. Parker is still low on cash, struggling to find a bond with his teenage daughter, and full of attitude. The novel opens with Colton hired to by Berger Hume. Hume is rich, old and dying. In his youth, Hume fell in love and fathered a child, but never married the girl. Now, on his deathbed, Hume wants that long lost son found, and believes Parker is the man to do it. The man he is looking for, Miles Poole, is a thug operating at the fringes of the law and is involved in motorcycle gangs. One particular gang, Satan's Posse, wants Poole, also know as Pork Chop in gang vernacular, killed. Parker faces the problem of letting Hume know he has found his son and not bring Poole's problems to Hume. To make matters worse, Parker finds himself right in the middle of the action when he and his daughter are threatened.
I really enjoy this series, it is easy to read and Parker is a great character, full of tough guy attitude and action yet with a soft heart for his daughter and former co-worker FBI agent Mary Christopher. To me, THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, struggles in the area of plot. The connections between the bikers and the Hume family and other shady characters seemed confusing at times. The book excels during the personal moments, when Parker has to reconcile his violent profession with the disinegrating remnants of a family life.
Dodson ties up all plot threads at the end and some good things actually happen to Parker for a change. I have the LOST SHEEP (4th book in the series) sitting on my shelf at home and can't wait to read it. THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL is a good book, but probably the worst in the series because of the confusing plot. Of course, with so many 5-star reviews, maybe I was the problem and not the book.
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