3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another book in the Noah Braddock series, July 12, 2006
WICKED BREAK by Jeff Shelby
July 12, 2006
Amazon Rating: 4/5 stars
This is my second novel by Jeff Shelby and as with the previous book, WICKED BREAK was very entertaining as well as a fast read. WICKED BREAK is another thriller featuring private investigator Noah Braddock, who grew up and currently lives in the San Diego coastal area of Southern California. His love of surfing and the ocean is a big part of these stories, as they define his personality and is what is unique about this protagonist.
In this second novel, Noah is approached by Peter Pluto, asking him to locate Peter's missing brother Linc. Nearly the entire novel is Noah's search for Linc, while all around him dead bodies are being found. Noah as always gets into a lot of trouble by taking the law into his own hands, and not letting the police know what is going on. A few times he comes close to being a dead body himself, but with dumb luck he always survives.
Carter, his best friend, helps add to the comedy relief and the two of them get into trouble together, nearly losing their lives a number of times before the story is over. The main gist of the story takes the reader to an Aryan Nation type of group, a San Diego based racial hate group that is somehow involved with the missing Linc (pun intended). There is a twist at the end, which I didn't see coming but it made a lot of sense, knowing how the story began.
There are two small subplots which involve Liz, a San Diego cop who was once romantically involved with Noah, as well as the story of Noah's relationship with his alcoholic mother. These two story lines aren't too important to the main plot of the missing young man, but they do help define Noah, allowing the reader to get a better picture of who he is and therefore have more interest in the series as a whole.
I think Jeff is doing a good job slowly building up this series. He's a new author but I can see he's got talent. It will be interesting to see how this series evolves. I will be interested to read the next book in the series!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Breezy good time, December 4, 2006
I'm starting Killer Swell after reading Wicked Break--so I can say that Wicked Break was good enough to make me want to read another Noah Braddock mystery. For years I lived in San Diego, and Shelby has the ambience down just right, and he doesn't over- or under-do it. The characters make a good ensemble to work with the main character for a good series of novels. Braddock is conflicted enough to make him human, but not so much to make the reader neurotic. The story carries the reader along, but near the end it seems a bit contrived and ends on a somewhat disappointing note. However, it's not disappointing enough to keep me from reading more of these novels.
I'd really like to see an OTL tournament novel with the main characters.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Liquid Smoke, December 8, 2011
I have to admit I read Liquid Smoke because it was offered free by Amazon but after I read it, I immediately went on-line and purchased Jeff's first two books. Even though I read them out of order, I was blown away. It takes alot for me to say "I was sad when the book ended" but that is exactly how I felt about Jeff's Noah Braddock Mysteries. Now he needs to get cracking and get a new one out.
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