Red Fish, Dead Fish

This is a read review and an audible review: Not only have I read this book, but it's the second book in the series I have listened to, and once again Greg Tremblay was amazing! He brought Jackson and Ellery to life for me. I thought my imagination was good but nothing like hearing Jackson an Ellery out loud. I hear their sweetness, the anger, the frustration, the snarkiness, they way the love and fight, and oh the loving. We again get to see Jackson's interactions with Jade, Mike, Kaden, Ellery's mom Lucy Satan and the most beloved cat there every was, Billy Bob. This was fast pace, gritty, edge, and so much pain and hurt from Jackson. How Amy Lane manages to rip my heart out and then put it back together again constantly amazes me. Well done!

I'm going to preface this review by saying this is the second book in a series that MUST be read in order. After the shenanigans in Fish out of Water, book 1, Jackson has moved in the Ellery along with his cat while he recovers and his house is refurbished. While Ellery is ready to add Jackson's name to the deed and write Jackson into his will, Jackson already has one foot out the door, waiting for the guillotine to drop on his head. You'd think these two have been through enough and it's time for their happy ever after, right? Yeah... not so much. Chaos erupts at Jackson's house and Ellery is in a panic, his perfectly planned life in disorder. And that's all before breakfast!

Holy crap this book kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end! I love the way Amy Lane can weave intricate plots and characters together and keep you wanting more in the middle of the maelstrom. Jackson's life has been nothing but miserable, one disappointment after another, so when Ellery starts making promises Jackson already has his running shoes on. Ellery's life is perfectly planned out, everything routine, normal and boring until Jackson comes along and pulls him out of his shell, makes Ellery want something more. Their relationship is like lightening, sunshine and an atomic bomb sewn together with barbed wire, duct tape and long stem roses with lots and lots of thorns.

The narration is nothing less than extraordinary. Tremblay has a way with words that truly brings the characters to life, makes them feel real. He totally nails Ellery's sarcasm and Jackson's internal struggle with his world falling down around him with tones, nuances and inflections.

This is an audio that I'll be listening to again. On a side note, can somebody tell Amy Lane that I really want Ellery and Jackson to work a case with Ian and Miro (Mary Calmes Marshall series)?! THAT would be an amazing story.

This book was reviewed for Will Reads: http://willreads.com/wordpress/red-fish-dead-fish-by-amy-lane/

My God, what can I say about this book? I am totally in love with Jackson and Ellery. They shouldn't work, but they totally do.

And Amy also shows some of my favorite characters. Billy Bob the cat, Jai from Racing for the Sun, and Lucy Satan.

If you haven't started this series, do yourself a favor and pick it up, Totally worthwhile.

Before I dove into ‘Red Fish, Dead Fish’, book two in Amy Lane’s awesome series revolving around a private investigator and a defense attorney, I thought I'd better skim through book one, ‘Fish Out of Water’, just to ensure my faulty memory wouldn't have me tripping over anything. Well, I should have known better. Instead, I ended up rereading book one. I'm not surprised though, because I loved it, and this author has a way of sucking me in and working me over until I'm a dried husk. And, between Jackson and Ellery, I also tend to be a bit of a limp noodle. Sigh.

“Ellery and Jackson had done their bit to get rid of the corruption, and neither of them suffered incompetence well. It was the other stuff they were having problems with, and the horrible, godawful fact of the matter was… More people were going to have to die before somebody besides Kryzynski looked up and saw the monster.”

And a truly horrible monster it is. Owens is still on the loose and both Ellery and Jackson believe he was more involved in the corruption they found in the previous book, and that he's the sniper who shot and almost killed Jackson, eight years prior. He was a cop and he's obviously very disturbed as they've narrowed down a link between Owens and quite a few murdered and grossly violated young victims. Of course, because he was a former boy in blue, nobody wants to look into these murders, or look too hard at finding him. Except for Ellery and Jackson.

I'm pretty certain that I've always been up front and honest about my liking for very psychologically damaged characters. Jackson is a doozy and I'm very glad that the author is showing me more of his issues, his vulnerabilities, and his strengths. So much of Jackson is tied up in a rotten childhood, a horrible parent (he doesn't call her mom because that title belonged to Kaden and Jade’s mother), and a self-destructive tendency based on his feelings of low worth. Some of the things Ellery deals with on the road to happiness for them both would have killed a weaker man.

“But first he needed… needed to get out of these fucking clothes. He couldn’t walk into Ellery’s house like this, covered in vomit and a serial killer’s semen. He couldn’t talk to Jade or Mike like this. His entire life felt like a violation right now. He’d been violated and soiled, and he soiled the people he loved just by breathing near them.”

If you read my review for book one, I called it murder light. In this second novel, the author pulled out all the stops and gave me a psychotic (BEYOND BELIEF) serial killer. One, originally trained by a sadist in the military, so he's smart and canny. But he's got nothing on Jackson and Ellery when they put their minds together. Two smart men, trying to do the right thing and bring justice down on the head of the depraved, is a very sexy thing.

I'm pretty much stunned after finishing this read. In my opinion, this book is even better than the first in the series, and now I'm really going to nag for another installment. I know Ellery and Jackson will want to look more deeply into Captain Karl Lacey, the man who may, or may not, have been responsible for creating what Tim Owens became. I'm also interested to see if I can get some more glimpses into two characters from another of this author's work - two men whose story captured my heart. You did yourself proud, Ms. Lane, this one nailed it all!

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews

*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*

Red Fish, Dead Fish is Book 2 in Amy Lane's Fish Out of Water series. This book is a continuation of the story and the MC's introduced in the first book, so I absolutely believe you need to read these in the appropriate order! The first book, Fish Out of Water, introduced us to Jackson and Ellery. This was no easy, quick overnight, happily ever after story. In fact, there was never an I love you in the first book. Jackson is a self-proclaimed tom cat, and thinks he can't be tamed. Of course, Ellery proved differently when he had Jackson's tom cat Billy Bob neutered. Tom cats can become loving lap cats with persistence and Ellery certainly has plenty of that. Ellery knows Jackson, he knows how his mind works and has to be a step or two ahead of him to keep their relationship going. Though no I love you's have been said, only a man in love would work as hard as Ellery does to keep Jackson from bolting at the smallest provocation. And though Jackson claims to be a tom cat, since being with Ellery, he's stopped sleeping with anyone who offers.

As shown in the first book, Jackson and Ellery (and Jade) are an amazing team, and are able to take all the clues and put them together. Unfortunately, they've put these clues together on serial killer Tim Owens and the police and DA aren't listening, leaving Jackson and Ellery to hunt down a serial killer. They are running down leads and working cases, but then people Jackson cares about are targeted, upping the pace of the case. And if you read Fish Out of Water, you'll know Jackson is also like a cat in having nine lives, though that number is running out as he survives everything he goes through. Jackson faces new personal struggles in this story, and Ellery, doing what he does best, continues to hold Jackson up, support him, keep him going, and loving him unconditionally. Even at the toughest moments, Ellery continues to prove to Jackson that he can be counted on, something Jackson desperately needs outside of his self-made family.

The hunt for the serial killer is not easy, and there are a lot of disturbing pieces that go with it, including drug use and rape. These are difficult topics for any book, but I think the author does a great job of not letting this be an overwhelming, heavy topic in this story. You know it's there, but for the most part, you aren't reading about the rape and killing.

As much as I love the main characters in this story, there are also a lot of strong secondary characters that I love. Jackson's self made family of Mike, Jake, Kaden and his family is always going to be a huge part of Jackson's life and they bring so much to the story. We continue to see more of Jackson's childhood which sucked until Jade and Kaden's mom brought him into their family. And I absolutely love Ellery's mom, Lucy Satan. She is a snob, wealthy, pure lawyer but man, she is just fantastic! Despite her being all business, she absolutely loves Ellery, Jackson and even Jackson's family. She is a great support to all of them!

This is a fast paced story! Once I started reading, I did not want to put the book down! I highly, highly, highly recommend you read this series! The author does such a fantastic job with this story. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series!

Rating: 5 stars!!!