Review: Rusty Nail by J.A.Konrath

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Actually, it's one big spoiler. I rated the first book in the series 5 stars even though there were things that didn't seem realistic/logical. But in this one they hit the whole new level, so even though I'm a fan of Mr. Konrath's style and I instantly fell in love with the characters in the first book, I just can't give this one 5 stars. The mystery was too obvious, the characters were a caricature, and I began to dislike Jack. The worst thing, most of the time I was just irritated with the characters. Holly was ridiculous, from the moment she began to brag about her shooting skills, I knew she was the one who shot Jack in the burning house. With the killer named Alex without mentioning whether it was a he or a she, I instantly knew it was a she, otherwise why bother? It didn't take me long to connect her with Bud's daughter. Jack saw her sneering, ugly glances and still continued dragging her everywhere with her wh why WHY, because a 30-something woman suddenly gushed about how lonely she was? Omg, the only thing more suspicious was how she practically attacked Jack to force her to chase her to the redhead's basement. It didn't look like curiosity, and neither did her eagerness to see a man stick needles up his b... Jack was a total idiot not to see that Holly was sick to the core. Besides, the mere fact that a gorgeous woman like that fell for Harry, mentioned 100500 times, I didn't even need to think to know that there would be a different role for her in the book. How quickly she took off to call someone when Jack realized who was the tattooed guy, it was obvious she was calling someone so they'd change the plan. Another big irritation was how repetitive the plot was. Maybe, if there were some hints on Charles having a partner, it would look only logical and would all come together. But it was out of blue and totally disconnected, like another episode of a soap-opera when a character suddenly gets an evil twin brother and oh here we go again. Maybe if the first half of the book wasn't a re-run of the Gingerbread Man's mystery, it wouldn't have put me into this very critical mood where all I did for the second part was trying to guess everything that would happen. Maybe if I was just enjoying the book without thinking... but no, the second part was just too comical. The few things that just killed me: Jack accepting the old maniac's invitation to check the cellar without any Police support. Nice way to get your head blown off by a hidden grenade or something. Jack digging with her bare hands when she had a shovel. Why, just why?? Jack using the shovel with one hand burned and never mentioning it. Jack contaminating the crime scene without witnesses. Jack contaminating the whole city of crime scenes. Bud, who could barely walk and had a late stage of Parkinson, shooting cops and climbing out the window and crossing the parking lot in less than 10 secs. (With those needles up his a..., yep). Bud shooting a cat sitting on his beloved's head (IDK, maybe he really was that stupid, but it was really annoying). Oh, the biggest one! They needed FBI agents to tell them that Charles had a partner and realize that someone zoomed in on that video! I believe Jack mentioned that someone else had watched the videos. I don't think she mentioned that someone had an IQ of 10 not to see the zooming before. The only nice twist was with Lorna (and again, more stupid cops to be so nonchalant about taking a dangerous killer out for a ride). By the end of the book I had so many emotions about it, mostly negative, that enjoying the final scene was out of question. Besides, I started to dislike Jack, because her lousy job got too many innocent people killed and while I didn't mind reading about her miserable life, I don't like characters that are lousy at everything. Maybe if she seemed like an actual cop and thought before doing something and still trained not to be useless most of the time - maybe then I'd respect her enough to keep reading about her. I still give the book 4 stars because I still love the author's writing style. I did enjoy the dark humor and the characters development. There was plenty of wisdom and irony. I do think it's an ok book in this genre. It's just, too much attention was paid to the clothes brands and gore than actual plot and creating a believable cop character. I really hope the next book turned out better than this one, but I don't think I want to start reading it.