Server Down (Mad Dog & Englishman Mysteries) [Large Print] [Paperback]

J M Hayes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2008 | Series: Mad Dog & Englishman Mysteries (Book 6)

Attending the Yaqui tribe's Easter Ceremonies in Tucson should be a dream come true for a Cheyenne wannabe shaman like Mad Dog. But, immediately after his midnight arrival, he is accused of being a witch and blamed for a police officer's murder. Mad Dog's niece, Heather English, a part-time deputy for her father in Kansas, combs Tucson to clear her uncle. Meanwhile, someone has blown up Mad Dog's house. Sheriff English investigates, acting as a long-distance go-between for Arizona law enforcement and his daughter and brother. Mad Dog has been playing a massive online computer game, War of Worldcraft. There, a vampire wizard has made a habit of tormenting him. He recognized the monster as the cop killer at the Yaqui ceremonies. Somehow, he says, the creature has reached out of the game to come after him in the real world. The ghost in the machine promises death for Mad Dog and explicit and horrible tortures for Heatherhalf a country away, and all before dawn.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hayes's quirky fifth Mad Dog and Englishman mystery (after 2007's Broken Heartland) alternates between Sheriff English's rural Benteen County, Kans., threatened by an incipient ethanol plant, and half-Cheyenne shaman Mad Dog's madcap tour of the grungier neighborhoods of Tucson, Ariz. At a Yaqui Easter rite, Mad Dog finds himself framed for a policeman's murder, then chased by both the police and a cerebral contract killer. English's plucky daughter, Heather, and Mad Dog's wolf-hybrid companion, Hailey, try to save him from both parties. Meanwhile, the sheriff investigates the bombing of Mad Dog's Kansas home. The crimes, connected by the hypnotic War of Worldcraft computer game, ensure headlong pace and wrenching plot twists, but the book's real strength is the way it depicts computer gaming's destruction of the player's ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy, with such actual consequences as election fixing and police corruption. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Cheyenne would-be shaman Mad Dog arrives in Tucson, AZ, to attend the Yaqui tribe's Easter ceremonies but is accused of witchcraft and the stabbing death of a policeman. But Mad Dog knows who the real killer is, having spotted him in an online computer game. Meanwhile back in Kansas, Mad Dog's house is blown up and his brother, Sheriff English, investigates. Readers of this series (Broken Heartland; Prairie Gothic) know that when the English family is involved, nothing is what it appears to be and the outcome is never what anyone expects. Full of outrageous humor and a plot that will leave even the most jaded readers demanding more, Hayes's latest gives Janet Evanovich a run for the wackiest characters and most bizarre plots in crime fiction. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 1/09.]
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; Large type / large print edition (May 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159058628X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590586280
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,534,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Funny, Satiric Mystery Writer--too little known, December 17, 2011

By 

swreader (Tucson, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Server Down (Mad Dog & Englishman Mysteries) (Hardcover)

J.M. Hayes is a first rate mystery writer--and the Mad Dog & Englishman series (which seems to be going out of print) is a continuing joy to read. He is laugh out loud funny, weaves back & forth between story lines without missing a beat. This one takes place in Kansas and in Tucson, and outrageously funny and yet frighteningly all too possible.

5.0 out of 5 stars More, please!, December 24, 2010

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Cheryl A. Reynolds "Spuddie" (Minneapolis, MN, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Server Down (Mad Dog & Englishman Mysteries) (Hardcover)

#5 (and so far, the last) Mad Dog & Englishman mystery. Usually the series is set in fictional small-town Kansas, but in this book, part of the story takes place in Tuscon, AZ where Englishman's daughter Heather is attending law school, and where her uncle Mad Dog has driven off to in order to observe a sacred Native American rite. Unfortunately, MD doesn't get to see much of the rite as he is almost immediately attacked and accused of murdering a tribal officer and ends up on the run with his half-wolf Hailey. Meanwhile, back in Kansas, Mad Dog's house is blown to smithereens.

He subsequently learns that a character from the online video game he plays called War of Worldcraft--an evil Vampire Wizard named Fig Zit--is the one behind his frame-up and destruction of his home. Mad Dog has no idea how Fig Zit found out who he was in real life or why he would want to cause him harm, but he's certain that's what's happening. Everyone else, of course, thinks he's nuts--not that they hadn't already suspected as much before. It takes the adept play of Mrs. Krause (Sheriff English's office manager), a fairly good WoW player herself, to make the connection. Meanwhile, it's a madcap chase across Tuscon and the Internet with Mad Dog and Heather running into one scrape after another along the way.

I really enjoyed this entry in the series, since I myself play World of Warcraft, the game that the author based his spoofy game on. It's obvious he also played the game because so much of his characterization and game play was spot on--and very funny, too. This book was published in 2008, so not sure if there are going to be any more books in the series or not--I do hope so! It would be interesting to continue it on with Heather in the lead role, I think, since Sheriff English played a somewhat diminished role in this book anyway. Wacky, goofy, crazy, much under-recognized and utterly delightful series.

5.0 out of 5 stars Tells of wanna-be shaman Mad Dog who is accused of being a witch and finds himself under suspicion when a policeman is murdered, December 17, 2009

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Server Down (Mad Dog & Englishman Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Libraries will relish J.M. Hayes' SERVER DOWN; A MAD DOG AND ENGLISHMAN MYSTERY tells of wanna-be shaman Mad Dog who is accused of being a witch and finds himself under suspicion when a policeman is murdered at the Yaqui tribe's Easter ceremonies. He and his wolf Hailey are targets of a city-wide manhunt - and it's up to his niece to try to clear her uncle by finding the killer even as Mad Dog's world is invaded by violence.