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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent Jack Daniels police procedural, July 12, 2006
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
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not just another cocktail, September 11, 2009
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.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A little rusty this time around..., December 1, 2007
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.
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