Reviewed By: Luke Croll - RAM
Scared Money
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
James Hime
Class/Genre: Mystery
Series: Jeremiah Spur and Clyde Thomas # 2
Minotaur, 2004, 305 pages
In this sequel to "Night Of The Dance", ex-Texas Ranger Jeremiah Spur and Deputy Sheriff Clyde Thomas are back. This time, Spur is investigating a case at the request of the CIA, whereas Thomas is looking into the murder of a local drug dealer. At first, it seems that there can be no link between the cases, but as the investigations progress, it becomes clear that there is a connection. Will Spur?s determination allow him to solve the problems?
In "Scared Money", Hime tries hard to make the novel as atmospheric as possible and one of the ways of doing this is to recreate the Texas style of speech. The book is littered with "howdys", "y'alls" and lots, lots more. Furthermore, he also uses speaking patterns employed by black Americans, which feel realistic. However, he has a British character whose figures of speech require some work. At times, they seemed correct, but at others, it was hard to imagine those words coming from a British mouth. Nevertheless, this does add to the atmosphere of the book, even if the dialogue is ropey on the odd occasion.
The plot is reasonable and Hime leaves the ending open enough to write a sequel. However, by that point, it may just be better to leave Spur to investigate a new case. There were certainly moments when I was rooting for one of the bad guys to escape and perhaps it might be nice for him to be allowed to walk away into the sunset.
"Scared Money" is a fun read and anyone who is a fan of an old-fashioned cop who sees things in a very black and white way is going to enjoy it. Spur's adventures may not be the blockbusters that Hollywood now loves, but there's enough action in here to keep people satisfied.
Luke Croll - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Luke Croll - RAM
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