Customer Reviews

The Root of All Evil (Colton Parker Mystery Series, Book 3)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

... it leaves you wanting # 4 in the series. To me, it was good, but not quite as good as the second one. I mean, close, but it was missing one part that has kept me very interested in the series. The characters personal life. Ever since the start of the series, Dodson has served up both Parker's professional and private life. Root of All Evil didn't touch as much on the personal side as the others. It may have set up some future developments, but the story itself didn't really develop it much, and that leaves me really depending on number 4.

All the same, it's a great series and refreshing reading among the usual big-shots of inspirational fiction. Way to go Brandt Dodson.

Once again, Brandt Dodson serves up a mystery in the grand tradition. "The Root of All Evil" reunites readers with Colton Parker, the fearless man of few words, the former FBI agent turned private eye. This time, Parker is hired to track down a possible heir to a fortune. There are others who have much to gain--and lose--in this scenario. Blackmail, corruption, and biker gangs converge in this tense story, and Parker is just the man to unravel the threads of deceit.

Like Raymond Chandler, Dodson has a way of writing tight dialogue that seems masculine and deceptively emotionless, while in actuality he is painting the undersides of his story with a true sense of humanity and pathos. Although I found myself more caught up in the personal drama of his last book, "Seventy Times Seven," this third installment is further proof that Dodson deserves to be around for a long time.

If you haven't yet discovered the world of Colton Parker, it's time to do so. Start here. Or go back to "Original Sin" and follow Parker's story in chronological order. Either way, you won't be disappointed.

This book is great, along with the others he has written. Brandt Dodson is new on the Christian Mystery scene and his books are hard to put down. He is quickly becoming a favorite in my 5000+ book library !

If you take what appears to be an ordinary guy who has been in detective work as a policeman, FBI agent and now a private investigator and take his missing person case which looks like a "Hum-Drum", but put a Gene Krupa doing the drumming you might get some of the feeling for the excitement of the building tension.

No dirty talk, excess gore, or descriptive sex but down to business exciting story plot. Colton Parker the detective is at home at the kind of fast food places most of us frequent. He has enough on his shoulders to crush a lesser man even before he gets in the investigation. His wife has recently died, he has a teenage daughter, he doesn't have enough money to buy didley-squat, and his girl friend has started dating another man.

The people he is trying to help want to kill him as well as the ones who kill for any reason. Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? His main nemesis is a shotgun wielder who doesn't seem to ever run out of shells. Well, you get the picture. You won't get bored reading Brandt Dodson's book.

A dying man wishes to see the son he's never known before he dies. Not gonna be easy. Brandt Dodson is good at taking concepts I'd seen in movies and read in books and putting them in a more practical and livable sense. That dying man? Rich beyond imagination, owning half of Chicago. The son he's never met? An all-out bike rider. The competition? The dying man's other sons, who will do anything to keep the business that belongs to them (yep, they feel threatened at the thought that their father may actually have a child they never knew about). When things get heated- threats going all the way personal (including a subtle threat against Colton's teenage daughter) and someone working way up there for the government that's also working with outlaw bikers, I could tell I was in for a ride of my life. So, what's the root of all evil? The love of money, and when you find out too what lengths people will go to have all the money they can possibly keep, you'd be shocked completely. That and have some funny moments between Colton and other good characters.

I LOVE these books!!!! I can't put them down! I ordered all four of them and have read the first three in 4 days time... just started book 4 this morning - they are all GREAT!!! Colton Parker is the type of character you can really believe in - he is human to the core and struggling to find God in his life after losing his wife - who was a Christian. Wonderful read!!

This new series are thrilling mysteries. Colton, as a detective, does not hold back in getting information from potential witnesses and he's not easily intimidated. Very much nail biting, humorous and action all rolled up in one. I recommend all four books in this series. I'm currently reading the 4th.