Customer Reviews

Rusty Nail [With Earbuds] (Playaway Adult Fiction)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Rusty Nail is my first foray into the world of Lt. Jack (short for Jaqueline) Daniels, a forty-something police detective who cares about her job. She recently nabbed the uber-sadistic Gingerbread Man serial killer, but some recent developments are giving Jack a sense of deja-vu. Someone is delivering horrific snuff videos to her door, complete with personal taunts and death threats. Others who had been involved in the Gingerbread investigation feature prominently in these sick flicks.

What I liked:

Jack. She's a good, honest cop and a strong woman. Sure, she has her problems, but who doesn't?

The basic plot.

The attempt at humor and levity, although some of it fell rather flat.

The Chicago setting.

Mr. Whiskers, Jack's adopted cat.

The final battle.

What I disliked:

Some of the characters descended into the realm of caricature.

The sickening details of torture, which were heavily overdone to the point of becoming gratuitous.

Final rating: Just OK. Will have to check out another in the series before deciding one way or the other on this series.

Chicago police lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels receives an anonymous snuff video that appears to be the classic work of serial killer the Gingerbread Man, Charles Kork. The only problem with holding the Gingerbread Man culpable is that he is already a guest of the state. Jack assumes it is copy cat with insider information. Since her partner Herb Benedict is hospitalized, she decides to go it alone looking closely at Kork's relatives and friends.

However, though she finds perversion, insanity, criminality and worse as the norm, Jack fails to get any closer to identifying and catching the killer. Instead the unknown murderer seems to target those related to the beleaguered cop who leaves taunting clues like toes in the cookie jar for Jack insisting he is back. Jack knows she must stop this brilliant but psychopath copy cat killer before he toasts the deaths of her loved ones because he seems to be fixated on her.

The killer ironically is obvious to the reader early on while Jack remains clueless as the culprit outplays her at every turn in their cat and mouse encounter. As always with a Jack Daniels police procedural (see WHISKEY SOUR and BLOODY MARY) gore and humor are mixed together often in the same scene. Fans will laugh and groan as Jack battles against a diabolical lethal lunatic, who seems always one step, make that multiple steps, ahead of her.

Harriet Klausner

Jack Daniels is back, and she is glad that things around the office have quieted down. But they aren't calm for very long. A videotape of a woman's murder arrives at the office and the investigation begins.

Even with Konrath's excellent writing style and witty dialogue, Rusty Nail still disappoints compared to Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary. It has the most gore out of the three, but the gore didn't seem to serve a purpose, as if it was thrown in to make up for a lack luster plot.

The plot was a little too recycled and predictable. Some events that happened in Rusty Nail already happened in the first two books, such as Mr. Whiskers attacking the killer, Jack calling Latham to get back together, and Jack having several near-death experiences and miraculously living through them. It is like an action movie where the protagonist gets shot at twenty times and is still alive to shoot the bad guy.

Honestly, my empathy for Jack is running low. She is much more whiny this time around. She complains that she is lonely yet pushes away the man she loves, and the worst part is she knows she has no one to blame but herself. At work, she constantly makes stupid decisions that put her life in danger, and rarely takes measures to protect herself before charging into seriously risky situations.

Jack endures much emotional and physical pain at the hands of the Kork family and yet when she is faced with death she feels nothing but apathy. That seemed out of character for her, but she is tired, and at some point the reader must ask - how much can she go through before she cracks? Who knows.

Fans of the first two books will appreciate Konrath's humour, such as Harry's wisecracks about lockjaw (a rusty nail/tetanus reference) and Jack's verbal hits to Harry's ego. So if you enjoyed Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail is still an okay read, but let's hope Dirty Martini will be better, if only to see Jack prevail one more time.

Okay, another unhelpful rave review. Sorry, but Konrath just writes great.

RUSTY NAIL was a hoot. I grinned and laughed all through it. Now writing funny isn't that hard of a trick, but Konrath went on to make this a very dark and scary novel. How in the hell can you make dark and scary blend with gut-splitting funny?

The word needs to get out. I've written a fancier review for CEMETERY DANCE magazine, but I thought I'd throw in my two bits here. RUSTY NAIL is a great read. So are Konrath's other two books. I'm pleased as all get-out to hear that there will be more Jack Daniels. We all need to get drunk on this man's writing.

Konrath nailed it!

Steve Vernon

You need to start with Whiskey Sour and then read Bloody Mary before you start Rusty Nail. If you haven't it will be a little confusing but still a good read. If you are already caught up on your Konrath Jack Daniels series, you can't miss this one! Jack's mom is still in a coma from Bloody Mary, her partner is in the hospital so she has to turn to her ex-partner, his fiance & her ex-con drinking buddy for back up. This book does the same twists and turns and keeps to guessing until the very end!

This was an excellant read. Keeps you glued to every page. J.A. Konrath is an exellant author, I have read his first two novels and enjoyed those as well, I highly recommend anyone to read him. With each novel it just gets better and better. Looking forward to his next novel.

Although I wasn't thrilled with the first two of the series, WHISKEY SOUR and BLOODY MARY, they were okay, and I thought Konrath just hadn't hit his stride. However, after RUSTY NAIL I can't wait any longer. I don't know if the torture and mutilation were more extreme in this book than the first two or if there was a cumulative effect. Whatever it is, I've had enough.

I don't really care what happens to Jack Daniels, her partner, her mother, or her boyfriend. I do like Mr. Friskers, the cat, but even he is a caricature. Phin is the only slightly interesting character, but Konrath says he isn't in the next book. Her partner, Herb, is the requisite fat cap. Her boyfriend Latham is plain goofy. Her ex-partner, Harry, is sometimes funny, but now that he is mutilated, I don't think I'll be able to laugh at him anymore. If Jack were better at her job and followed the rules, her friends might not die so often. Her life sucks so bad that I don't know why she hasn't already eaten her .38 Colt.

There was no real mystery in this book because the killer was evident from the prologue. Always referring to "Alex" and never using a pronoun makes the sex of the killer pretty obvious. I hoped there would be a twist and I would be wrong, but no such luck. I'm really tired of the Gingerbread Man, but his story keeps coming back. If fact, I'm tired of this series, but I'm not coming back.

I read the first two Jack Daniels novels and couldn't decide if I liked them or not so I decided to go ahead and try Rusty Nail. I was just barely able to finish it and won't bother to read any more in the series. The same things happen in each book: Jack disobeys orders, gets wounded and somehow survives, gets dumped and then her idiotic boyfriend comes back, and she tracks down another serial killer.

I don't think of myself as squeamish but the gore in this book got to me. It is just gore for the sake of gore.

I gave the book one star in but in all honesty, I don't think it even deserved that. Don't waste your time on this book. Life is to short to waste on such garbage.

The friends of and people know to Chicago Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels are being targeted for torture and murder by someone connected by the convicted "Gingerman" serial killer.

I really did enjoy Konrath's first two books. But this one left me with a hangover. I love the characters of Jack and her partner Herb, and the humor in the writing. I did get tired of constant description of every item of clothing Jack was wearing and the label attached thereto. I don't even mind dark and gruesome as long as there's a real purpose to it. But this felt, to me, as though the author couldn't think of an original plot so he merely picked up on a theme and had a joyous time describing as many ways possible that one human being can torture themselves or another. It is a quick read, it does have humor, it is absolutely not for those who don't like graphic violence. I think it's time for me to go on the wagon where Konrath is concerned.

this is my first jack daniels book and i liked it except for the violence, cruelty and gore.....to get through it i would just skip those parts....it was the only way to go on......i am not sure if i want to read another one of these books or not becuz of this.....the rest of the story was well done.....parts of it were funny......there was lots of action and a variety of subplots that all tied in at the end....