Review: Jack and Colt Take Down Bugs
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 3, 2014
J. A. Konrath's Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels and Jude Hardin's Nicholas Colt tangle with a robber dressed as Bugs Bunny in a fast paced bit of charming silliness that should please fans of either author. It's Halloween afternoon, so the robber feels he can get away with parading around dressed as Bugs, complete with mask, and hold up a nearly deserted bar. What he doesn't figure on is that Colt and Daniels have both chosen that day to visit the bar to try to shoot a round of pool upstairs. When the robber's shotgun goes off, the simple robbery quickly turns into a not-so-simple hostage situation.This setup might have turned into a Dog Day Afternoon scenario, but Hardin and Konrath have something much simpler in mind, and the entire story wraps up in less than an hour and less than 50 pages of mostly one and two-page chapters alternately narrated by Colt, Daniels, and the unnamed robber. There's a good bit of tongue-in-cheek humor from both protagonists, and the way in which the bad guy eventually gets taken out (I doubt that will be much of a spoiler for readers) is highly original and completely hilarious.Readers who are unfamiliar with either main character won't learn too much here. Hardin and Konrath are interested in keeping a short story moving and not recounting the life story of their characters, but that's not really the point. Instead, we get a story that contains some obligatory but well done sexual banter and an oddball heist that, once it goes wrong, moves quickly to a highly enjoyable finale.It would probably be difficult to generate much suspense in a story involving a guy wearing a big bunny suit, and the authors wisely don't try (despite the slightly deceptive way the story is billed as a "thriller"). Instead, the story plays out as the type of war story either protagonist might tell one night after a few too many drinks with friends. As long as readers don't expect too much from this story going in, they'll have a good time watching Jack and Colt in action.