Mystery/Thriller -- 4 stars
Audiobook Narration -- 2 stars
Highway 59 Mysteries - Book 1
Book: Darren Matthews is a Texas Ranger. He is also black. When the bodies of a black lawyer and a white waitress show up in the same canal just days apart, he is chosen to go and investigate. What he finds is homegrown racism, a sheriff eager to close the case--no matter who he arrests--and a white property owner hellbent on buying out the black business sitting across the highway from his home. ----- A deft portrayal of rural East Texas forms a solid background for characters who appear full blown with complicated back stories and their own degrees of prejudice, both black and white. The story is solid, the clues well thought out and logical, the solution satisfying. An excellent introduction to the Darren Matthews saga.
Narration: I have run across Mr. Jackson's narration a few times, with mixed results. This time, his idiosyncrasies were prevalent and completely annoying. His dialogue is smooth and natural; but his narration is studded with odd breaks in the middle of sentences that stop any narrative flow from developing. You're ready for the next thought, when suddenly you realize there is more to the sentence. "He wanted time to read the autopsy report himself (pause pause pause) before sharing it with her." "He turned just in time to see the taillights of the truck (pause pause pause) disappear around the bend in the road." "He had a little Ford Fairlane (pause etc.) that his daddy had bought him (pause) so he could cruise the roads." Picking up the pace and cutting out the unnecessary mid-sentence silences could have cut a good hour or more out of the listening time.
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