Sock Monkey Blues [Paperback]

John Laurence Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2002

Joe Box is in trouble again.

Product Details

• Paperback: 265 pages
• Publisher: PublishAmerica (April 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591290201
• ISBN-13: 978-1591290209
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,338,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Midwest Book Review - delightful read, fresh voice...., June 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sock Monkey Blues (Paperback)

This book was a delightful read in every way. If it isn't a best seller by now, it surely ought to be.

Mr. Robinson writes in the first person, from the perspective of Joe Box, Private Investigator. Joe is a transplanted Kentuckian, a Southern Gentleman of the old school, living and working in Cincinnati. Joe Box is a reluctant hero, a man who uses wry humor and his granny's old time wisdom to make sense out of a life gone dead some time ago. That and his taste for Cutty Sark is all that gets him through each empty day.

Early in the book we meet the inhuman nemesis, "Boneless Chuck". Our hero is outgunned, outmanned, and hopelessly trapped by the horrible aforementioned Chuck. Chuck has a taste for blood, for mind and body wrecking torture. Chuck likes to hurt, maim, and kill. It's at the point where Joe waits helpless for his life to end that we learn what got him into this predicament.

...

At first I expected this to be a humourous, tongue-in-cheek book with a Thomas Magnum, P.I.-type hero. I was wrong. The author DOES write with self-effacing humor and pulls it off effectively. But I was not prepared for his range, his ability to set a mood, for the sorrow that Joe Box wasted half his life reliving. And I learned that the title I thought so humorous represents a heart breaking episode in Joe's past - a revelation that caught me quite off guard.

John Laurence Robinson writes in a fresh style, with a distinctive "voice". He and Sock Monkey Blues are one of a kind. If the reading public is fortunate, he will follow this book with another, very soon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mickey Spillane meet Frank Peretti, December 11, 2002

By 

Diane Davis (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sock Monkey Blues (Paperback)

I gotta tell ya, I'm not a Mike Hammer fan. Opening a book with a prologue often annoys me, even if shrieking bullets and first person narrative ARE outstanding hooks...when well done.

Be warned: this tale is done well. Fast paced, well balanced, and completely absorbing, this hard-boiled detective's confrontation with questions of faith, while racing to save the girl, (what else?), challenges every reader without detracting from the entertainment. And when Boneless Chuck grins, you really can feel the ice pierce your heart.

The good news is that this is the first book in a series. Don't be surprised if Joe Box becomes the new icon in Christian fiction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sock Monkey Blues, August 10, 2011

By 

John Robinson "John" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sock Monkey Blues (Paperback)

Hello. I've since gotten the rights back to this book, and soon plan to have it up on Kindle (and for a whole lot less than fifty bucks! *G*)