Got the Look - James Grippando (audio)

I'm always on the lookout for a good crime novel to get my heart racing. This can be the perfect genre for an audio book - lots of action and thrills to keep your attention - so I was very appreciative that Kathy (@ Bermudaonion) offered me her copy of Got the Look. I was a little bothered knowing it was #5 in a series of 8 novels about legal eagle Jack Swytek, but it was only five discs. I called it a sampler. Not a huge commitment, so if I liked it, I could go back and read the rest. If I didn't, I wasn't in it for more than a few days.

Jack has found a new love interest, a hottie named Mia. She seems to have dark secrets in her past, but after only eight weeks, it's all stomach flutters and marathon bedroom sessions. So when Jack finds out Mia is actually married to a wealthy Hispanic businessman, he is heartbroken. But not as heartbroken as when Mia is kidnapped, with a random note left behind for the jilted hubby that says "Pay me what she's worth". Kinda clever, eh? Apparently this guy has struck before, and if the husband undervalues his beloved, she's dead meat. Problem is, Mia's husband thinks she's worth about a buck after he finds out she had been sleeping with Jack.

So it is Jack to the rescue; he can't leave her fate in the hands of her unloving, machismo spouse. With the assistance of FBI agent Andie Henning, he gets involved, and the more he digs, the more ugliness he discovers about Mia and her past. The conclusion builds up to an appropriate level of action, cat & mouse hi jinx, and the big bad-guy reveal, almost Scooby-Doo style. And Jack lives to see another day.

As you can probably tell by my description, this story follows a very predictable template for crime thrillers. There are 3.4 plot twists, an antagonist that comes out of the blue, a sidekick buddy, and a steady flow of clue-following. Perhaps because I'm coming into Jack's life midstream and I missed out on character development, I didn't connect with him as a person. I didn't like him, I didn't dislike him. I actually enjoyed his side-kick Theo, but he was a small part of the story.

It was a mildly entertaining book, with plenty of running around. But I fear this is one of those crime thrillers that I will forget in a month or two. I will admit, I may be jaded when it comes to this genre, as I've read hundreds of them. For me, it really takes something special to grab my attention and commitment to pick up a series.

On the bright side, the audio was narrated by Jonathan Davis (yes, the very same that narrated the intoxicating "Shadow of the Wind"). He has a "thing" for Spanish accents, it seems. He is an excellent narrator.

2.5 out of 5 stars