Review – The Devil’s Necktie by John Lansing (5/5)

[The following review is part of The Devil’s Necktie blog tour managed by Partners in Crime Tours.  For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page.]

By Kayla West

Click here for the Amazon listing

It usually takes me until about halfway through a book for me to truly know what I think of it. However, in the case of The Devil's Necktie by John Lansing, it only took me the first chapter. This book was exquisitely written and stimulated my imagination. It's characters were well fleshed out and the situation in the book was life-like. I felt as if it could have actually happened. Before I go on, let me give you a small snippet of what this book is about.

Jack Bertolino is the main character in The Devil's Necktie. He is a retired cop and lives alone in his loft in Marina del Rey. His life may not be perfect, but as stated in the first chapter of the book, 'he [is] at ease.' He can grill all he wants, drink as much wine as he wants, watch the planes fly into LAX till his heart's content...  Yes, he is very at ease.

However, that ease and contentment does not last for long.

Jack suddenly gets a call from an old informant named Mia. He got to know Mia when she was helping him years ago put away the head of a Colombian drug cell, Manuel Alvarez. Mia is beautiful, smart, and brings back a whole lot of memories and feelings Jack has not experienced in a long time. He is surprised to find that she is in the neighborhood and agrees to meet her at her current, and temporary, place of residence.

Upon seeing him, Mia informs Jack that she is being hunted. Someone is out to get her, and she wants Jack to help her disappear. Jack instantly agrees, knowing that he would do anything to keep her safe. He gets a gut feeling that he might have spoken too soon, and sadly, that feeling is correct.

John Lansing

Jack leaves Mia's side. He heads toward home, but something occurs that causes him to turn back just to check on her. Something is desperately wrong, and when he searches the house for her he finds her strung up and dead in the bathroom. The devil's necktie is her downfall.

Jack must fight throughout this entire novel against people who think he killed Mia and those that want him broken because of her death. He delves into his own past as a cop and revisits old enemies, trying to find out more about Mia's past as he does so. Can he find her killer(s), or will he eventually give up and let them win?

As I said before, this book is an amazing read. It is wonderfully written, and I look forward to future works by this author. I recommend this to anyone and everyone who loves thrillers and suspense for this is truly one of the best I have ever read.

5 out of 5 stars.

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About the Reviewer:  Kayla West is an avid reader who tends to read a little too much for her own good. By day she is a home healthcare worker and by night, or late afternoon, she is the lead character in any good story that can truly spark her imagination. She loves to read fantasy and historical fiction, but is ready and willing to have an open mind about any type of work. Books by unknown authors, or at least unknown to her, are her very favorites to read, because she believes that those stories, the unknown stories, are sometimes where the magic truly happens.  To learn more about Kayla, visit her blog at attackofthebookworms.blogspot.com.