Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: No Deal by J. D. Allen

The latest of Jim Bean’s adventures as a Las Vegas private investigator may be the best of them all. Released last week, I raced through No Deal by J. D. Allen (Severn House, 2022) in a single sitting. It should have been a routine assignment for Bean, to escort Zevah Relan, 17-year-old daughter of corporate mogul Manish Relan, around Las Vegas for a day or so while she shops and her father is occupied with business meetings. Zevah is Relan’s oldest child from his first marriage to a U.S. citizen. After the divorce, Relan fled back to a traditional arranged marriage in India and had two more children there.

As Zevah and Bean are leaving the luxury hotel in Las Vegas where the Relans are staying, three men grab Zevah. In an instant Bean handcuffs himself to Zevah so that the snatchers have to take him too. They reward his quick thinking by tasing him twice, then drugging both of them.

He awakes in pain in a locked room with barred windows, Zevah still secured to his arm. Bean is sure he’s dealing with professional kidnappers. On the one hand, he knows they cannot be reasoned with, on the other hand, they will be businesslike about the arrangement and release the pair as soon as Relan pays their ransom demand.

When he explains this to Zevah, she is devastated. Her father has firm ideas about extortion. He has told his children repeatedly that he will not pay for them if they are kidnapped and that they need to watch their surroundings so as not to be seized in the first place. (Relan cannot be considered for any kind of good parenting award.)

While Bean works on a way out, law enforcement in Las Vegas is searching for them and Bean’s PI trainee Sandy Gupton decides to help, adding a second narrator to the story. Her interactions with the FBI and the local police manage to convey a good bit of information about corporate kidnapping without sounding like a data dump.

I really liked this story. It is a classic combination of mystery and adventure, packed with action, a great setting, and lots of surprises. It’s always a pleasure to visit Jim Bean, Sandy, and their friends. The final couple of scenes were completely unexpected. Highly recommended for thriller fans and anyone who is just looking for a good read.

 

·         Publisher: ‎ Severn River Publishing (August 26, 2022)

·         Language: ‎ English

·         Hardcover: ‎ 244 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎ 1648752969

·         ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1648752964 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Body Zoo by J. D. Allen

 

J. D. Allen is an accomplished writer, having published a number of romances before turning to crime fiction. In addition to contributions to various short story anthologies, her first full-length novel introduced the Sin City Investigations series and Jim Bean, former cop, now private investigator in Las Vegas, in 2018. Bean’s third adventure is Body Zoo, published by Severn River in June 2021. Number Four is scheduled for release in August 2021.

Bean is hired by an insurance company to look into a possible arson involving an old trailer. The trailer park in question has filed two claims already this year, and the insurance company is understandably cynical about a third one. They believe the owner is upgrading her rentals on their dime, but they need proof to deny payment. Bean visits the torched trailer and interviews the arson investigator as well as the owner. He’s struck by the lack of interest in the tenant, who has disappeared. Emilee Beck seems to have evaporated, which worries Bean. A young woman alone should have someone interested in her wellbeing. Bean decides that person is going to be him.  

Tracing her associates leads Bean quickly to her boyfriend AJ Ward, son and nephew of a pair of brothers who run a profitable sports, hunting, and taxidermy emporium in the area. AJ disappears soon after Bean starts inquiring about Emilee, and his worried father retains Bean to find him. Everyone assumes that he’s joined Emilee, so locating one will locate both. They learn that Emilee is on the run from a motorcycle gang who kidnapped her as a child and pimped her until someone helped her escape. With a price on her head and strong memories of the abuse she endured, Emilee is desperate to avoid capture.

Alternately told from Bean’s perspective and Emilee’s, the story becomes intense. It is a realistic and grim depiction of a human trafficking survivor, a subject of deep concern to Allen, with good cause. I was shocked to learn a couple of years ago that the county I live in is the fifth most likely locale in the United States for human trafficking and that a nearby shopping center is an ongoing focus of law enforcement investigation because of known criminal trafficking activities there.

The seriousness of the plot is balanced with ingenious settings and offbeat characters. For instance, Bean’s favorite greasy diner converted into a vegan café, but he continues to eat there despite not really caring for the food. His associates are great. My favorite of Bean’s sidekicks is a Vietnam-era veteran who can hack a computer with the best of the teenagers around. Well written, fact based, fast moving, intricately plotted. An absorbing book but may trigger more sensitive readers.

 

·         Publisher: Severn River Publishing (June 8, 2021)

·         Language: English

·         Paperback: 370 pages

·         ISBN-10:  1648750958

·         ISBN-13: 978-1648750953

 

Aubrey Hamilton ©2021

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.