Review: Used Car Dealer of The Year
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 15, 2012
We have all heard the jokes about 'used car dealers', and in this new e-novel we meet one, John Ray. John has a fascinating history, he comes from a family of crooks. His dad was a big crime boss in the city of Leeds, and the entire family seemed to be wrapped up on the wrong side. John, it seems, did not want the life of crime, and had gone away and returned only when his brother was murdered and his father needed assistance. He put his father in a nursing home, and took over the used car dealership. It seems all was going well, John was making enough money to survive, he had a girlftriend he met when his brother died. The girlfriend, Denise Danson was a 'copper' as the police are known in Leeds. Everything looked rosy, until..After a big night for John, he was given a party and celebrated as the Used Care Dealer of the Year'. He and Den celebrated and, then in the morning Den was called out on a call. A young woman was found dead in the trunk of a car. In the tire well, $40,000 in counterfeit money. From that day forward, nothing was right for John. The car was his, and one of his employees was implicated in the murder. John is not well liked by the police. He came from a crime family and once a criminal always a criminal. John spends much of his time following up on leads and trying to prove his employee innocent, and at the same time, to clear his name.This is a story of old, a man trying to clear his name, but there is nothing old about this book. It takes place in present day Leeds, and from the writing we can picture the dark, and often dank streets of the city where crime occurs, and the streets that John inhabits. The writing is intense and specific. The story told from John's perspective as he meets the police team and follows the leads where ever they make take him. The story is about the man, the people he meets, the relationships he makes, the murder and the counterfeit money. As John Barlow has said in  a recent interview,"Just as some people try to evolve the `perfect murder' in their minds, for years I racked my brains to devise the perfect `passing off' operation. It would have to be ONE person acting alone, and it would have to be almost risk-free. I think I managed it."John Barlow has written about his alter-ego, I think, the man he would like to be. He plans a series of nine novels- some to follow John Barlow, and maybe Denise Danson will have a chance to fulfill her desire to be the best woman detective. The writing is superb and pulls you in immediately. The charcters are sharp, and we get to feel their vision, and what they are made of and how they are incorporated into this novel. This is a terrific first novel, and I want to know how John Ray recovers, does he stay in Leeds, does he develop new relationships, does he follow the straight and narrow path?Highly Recommended. prisrob 02-15-12Everything but the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern SpainIntoxicated: A Novel