The Only Suspect (ISBN 0758208006)

Don't believe the reviews:
This book is a sophmoric version of a who dunnit. I always read a book in one sitting, it took me 3 days to get through this one even though I skipped the boring pages. The author spends many chapters setting up a character's character, yet still points out his actions (as if we wouldn't recognize the conservative person doing something conservative)everytime he does something within character that is important to the plot. I read more sophisticated books in the 4th grade.

exciting story, memorable characters:
I found this to be an engaging and quick-paced book. The story line moves along swiftly with many twists and turns (yes, some of them not so surprising in retrospect, but heart-stopping nonetheless), but it was the characters that really hooked me and stayed with me after the fact. Sam is a down-to-earth, believable guy who finds himself caught in a situation he doesn't know how to deal with. Hannah, the cop, is believably flawed and human, and all the more likable for it. I'd love to see a sequel to this book but I know it's a single title. I'm going to search out the author's previous books because I think I've discovered a new favorite.

The Only Suspect: Do you really know who you are married to?:
Story: Dr. Sam Russel is trying to move on with his life after his first wife was found brutally beaten and stabbed behind his house 7 years earlier. Of course with him being the only suspect the case turned into a bitter court battle that almost cost him his freedom and young his daughter. Sam is a free man only because one juror could not make up his mind which resulted in a hung jury. 7 years later Same has tried to move on with his life, he has a thriving medical practice, he has a new wife and it looks like smooth sailing ahead. That is until the day that Sam wakes up with his car in a ditch, blood under his finger nails and brusies on his face. Having no recollection of the past 24 hours, Sam assumes that he fell off the wagon, proably afer a fight with his new wife and drove around drunk until he ended up in the ditch. He figures that he will buy some flowers, apologize to his wife for driving off mad and all will be well again. Unfortunatley his wife is nowhere to be found and the local cops think that all signs are pointing to Sam being up to his old tricks again. With the walls closing in Sam will need the help of his AA sponsor (a retired lawyer) and the one cop that wants to give Sam a chance (and maybe a little more)to escape being the only suspect in a slam dunk murder case. ------------- This is a great murder mystery book. The characters are interesting and I did want to keep reading to find out more about them as the book continued. The author does a great job showing how Sam's panic makes him make bad decesions that drag him deeper and deeper into the killers game and makes him look more and more guilty to the police. The central mystery is a bit confusing and convulted (especially toward the end of the book, there where some scences that made me go *really?*)but in a reverse of most of these types of books the getting to the ending made up for it. I would recommend this books to anyone who likes fast paced murder mystery books and those that like complicated endings that (in my case) can make your head hurt.

Not Bad:
This book isn't bad. It's not great but it's not bad. I enjoyed how the author developed the characters. I feel like Ms. Jacobs didn't fully explain the back story but that's ok you get enough of it to figure out what's going on. I felt the ending was a little too out of the blue. It was weird. I think a lot of people will think they couldn't figure it out because it comes out of the blue. I enjoyed the female lead detective and her back story. You feel really connected to her and want her to come through in the end. I just felt it was wrapped up too fast without much explanation. I enjoyed it but not as much as I could have.

Filled with twists and turns:
This was my first novel by Jonnie Jacobs but I look forward to reading more by this author. The beginning chapters of this book started off on a solid foot. It had mystery and suspense right off the bat. By the second quarter, I was getting bored because it seemed that the police were never going to explore any other possible suspects and therefore the mystery angle would not develop. I almost put the book down, but decided to keep reading. By the half-way point, the author finally gets into more clues, more twists and turns and the suspense builds. The ending is somewhat unbelievable and hard to follow from time to time, but it is a FICTION novel, so readers should not expect a true to life scenario. Mostly, the author keeps the story line moving along and keeps the reader interested up to the very end with all the plot twists. Sam Russell wakes up one morning in the middle of nowhere with no memory of how he got there or the past 24 hours. He soon discovers his wife is missing but he can not remember when he last saw her or what might have happened. The scene is all too familiar. His first wife disappeared one day too. Her body was found a few days later and Sam was accused of murdering her. Was history repeating itself and was Sam responsible for yet another woman's death? With no memory, and the police convinced he is guilty, Sam will have to unravel the mystery himself, or face the possibility that he is THE ONLY SUSPECT. Is it worth buying? For the price of the paperback, why not? It is not the best book I have read and readers who like a story line that is close to reality, may not enjoy this one. There are parts in it that seem extremely far fetched, but the pace only continues to build up to the end. So, I know my answer is a bit vague, but I'm still a little up in the air about this one. I liked it okay, but it probably isn't one I would keep in my library.