From Goodreads: Not much could drag Jim Booker out of a peaceful, if lonely, retirement and back to late nights, crime scenes, and chases. Jim Booker is done with detective work and would just like to enjoy a cup of coffee on a sunny day. But when an old friend shows up with a case about an old flame, Booker can’t say no.
What starts as a missing persons case soon delivers more than he bargained for, and when Booker’s own past offers clues, it’s clear that no one else can solve this mystery. But there’s a catch: Booker was given six months to live eight months ago.
Author J.R. Rain shows us that when it seems there’s nothing left to live for, there’s also nothing left to lose. His characters will take a chance on danger, doubt, even an unlikely romance—as long as they get a cup of coffee first.
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I think this novel had a lot of potential, but I was highly annoyed by the main character, which made reading it rather anticlimactic for me. Jim Booker is dying, and I do understand that, but it seemed that every other page found him talking about his impending death, and not in a way that readers are able to sympathize with him, either. Truth be told, he was a jerk to everyone around him, so he never really endeared himself to me, and in the end, I couldn’t have cared less what happened to him, which is unfortunate.
The mystery itself was well done, and it took me a while to figure out who the murderer was, though looking back I think I should have picked up on it a lot sooner than I did. In this respect, I think Rain did a good job presenting his murder mystery, and having a main character willing to take any and all chances due to their own impending death was a great idea. Overall, I was highly interested in the mystery aspect of the novel, but I really would have liked to have been able to care about the main character a little in order for this to be truly enjoyable. Two stars.
Kindle First was extremely gracious in allowing me to read an ARC of this novel for free, prior to its release December 1, in exchange for an honest review.