Good to Great: A review of Dead Reckoning by Warren Bull

 

Image from Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Good to Great: A Review of Dead Reckoning by Dawn Lee McKenna and Axel Blackwell

I read and review Dawn Lee McKenna’s Forgotten Coast Florida Suspense Novel series earlier. I rated her work very highly and looked forward to reading a series she wrote with a friend.

Dead Reckoning is a good to very good mystery. The setting, the same as in McKenna’s other series, is interesting – the panhandle of Florida. The writing is solid. The authors both play fair and surprise with the plot. The resolution is unexpected but entirely justified.

I recommend this as an above-average, competent mystery. I also recommend that you put reading this book off until after you read the entire other series. Life is short. Read the best books first.

I was not enthralled by the characters. I wanted to know what happened next to the POV detective. I liked him, but I would not stay up past bedtime reading to find out what happened next. The stakes were average. Good should triumph over evil. The supporting cast was more than cardboard but less than fully developed. Even the animal characters lacked the element of humor that enlivened the animals in the Forgotten Coast Florida Suspense Novel series.

I will probably read the next novel in this series, partly to see if the discrepancy continues.