Review: Blood Money by Doug Richardson

Sometimes it is the book cover that grabs my attention and makes me wonder what lies between the pages. That' is what happened when I saw BLOOD MONEY, the latest release from Doug Richardson. I was looking for something different and a bit edgy and I was ready for some fast-paced action. I thought the cover with the big rig on it was really cool. I've always had a fascination with big rigs, especially the pretty ones. I wasn't familiar with the author so I visited his website and was amazed at how successful he is, not only as a writer of books, but also as a Hollywood screenwriter. When I learned that he was behind such hits as Die Hard II, Bad Boys and Hostage, I knew I wanted to read his new novel.

About The Book:

This crime/action novel centers around Kern County (CA) Debputy Lucky Dey and his chase to track down the driver of a black-on-black refrigerated truck who has been implicated in killing his younger brother, also a deputy sheriff. The horrible murder was caught on the dash cam video of the patrol car that also shows the deaths of two other people at the scene. One of the victims was a popular teen TV star whose father has deep pockets and a questionable past and he soon uses his connections and power to find out who killed his only child. But he is very specific - he wants the man alive so he can kill him himself.

Lucky follows the truck's path to L.A. where he teams up with some of his former colleagues with the L.A. County Sheriff's office.  Because of the high profile case, Detective Lydia Gonzalez from the LAPD has been  assigned to 'babysit' the out of town deputy in his search. Gonzo, as she is called, soon figures out that Lucky is not your ordinary country cop. He knows his way around L.A. and he has connections within law enforcement that Gonzo suspects runs deeper than just former co-worker camaraderie.

Greg Beam is the former Marine turned murder suspect who is behind the wheel of the semi. He has simple plan of driving the stolen rig and it's contents of stolen frozen plasma to Southern California and get it shipped out of the country.  He'll collect his big payoff and be on his way to a faraway paradise. But his plan is quickly spiraling out of control.  He's getting tired, making mistakes and leaving too many bodies in his wake. His last move threatens his entire mission and has devastating consequences for an entire city that believes it is encountering a terrorist attack.

My Thoughts:

Admittedly, I don't read a lot of books in this genre. However, the premise, when I read it, sounded exciting and it didn't sound far-fetched, which is something I dislike in crime stories. This is basically a pretty simple plot with many twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. I was drawn to Lucky Dey for several reasons: he's a tortured soul, a loner and he's definitely a man's man. OK, so the female in me thought he came across as sexy.   The supporting cast of characters were also good, although maybe a bit cliche, but I didn't really let that bother me. They each brought something to the book that was positive. There were many characters that I thought may be difficult to keep up with in the beginning, but after getting into the story, was not a problem at all.  Also, there wasn't a lot of character backstory that sometimes bogs down a book of this sort. Sure, there was some details that needed to be given about certain characters but it in no way slowed down the pace of the storytelling.

I felt the plot itself was plausible and the constant action kept me on my toes. I had no problem at all envisioning the events in my mind. It was like a movie playing out in my head. In fact, I think this would make a great feature action film, which Doug Richardson is so well known for.

The bottom line is that I really enjoyed the action and thrills that this book gave me. It made me realize that I'd like to spend more time reading such books because they get my blood pumping and it's different than what I usually read. Trying different things is a good thing and this book was also a good thing.

I'd like to thank Doug Richardson and his team for asking me if I'd like a review copy after seeing me repeatedly talking about it here on my blog and on Twitter. I really appreciate the opportunity. I enjoyed reading it very much.

BLOOD MONEY (Kindle Edition)
Author: Doug Richardson
Twitter: @byDougRich
Publisher: Velvet Elvis Entertainlment
Published: January 2013
Length: 320pp
Source: Author