Blog #5 The Corruptible: A Ray Quinn Mystery (Not from X Factor Fame)

Ray Quinn.... Ray Quinn.... "I know that bloody name from somewhere" I told myself when I selected this book to review.

iPhone on, tap safari, type in Ray Quinn. Que bout of laughter....

Do the same, you will. Any who, I thought that I would not be able to read The Corruptible. I could not get the Freddie Munster look-a-like out of my head. However, as with many books I was surprised as I slowly became engrossed in the story.

Ray Quinn is an ex-cop who is now a private detective, living with a painful and permanent injury to his leg and has the customary side-kick in the form of Crevis, "pronounced like the ice-sheet", apparently.

Not meaning to give the game away but the private eye premises is usually the same; ex-cop, down on cash, hard on drink, bored of their work, dingy office, looking for one big case, out of love and out of luck and so on. I was not really geared up for this book as I thought it would be all these cliches, however I wanted to give it a go anyway and for it to prove me wrong and in some ways it did.

Ray has been assigned by a mysterious big time money maker to find another ex-cop (Logan Ramsey) who has stole some sensitive information from Ray's current employer. Ray acts like its going to be tough to find him, however Ray used to know of Logan and is excited by the prospect of being able to solve a case pretty efficiently and with a huge pay check, all in time to have a large whiskey on the rocks before bed.

Logan Ramsey is found murdered in a motel.  (I rolled my eyes and continued to read, the twists are predictable but its a decent read none-the-less) This is where the book takes off, not like a fighter jet, more perhaps like a struggling swan.

The Good: Takes time to get into the story but it is part of a series, so I guess the author is giving a bit of a back story somewhere along the lines. I did like this book actually. Its really not that bad.

The Bad: Its no Grisham, new characters appear and disappear and are as boring as one another.

The Summary: As the title of the book suggests, the author tries to make the reader guess who is actually the 'bad guy' The writer is an ex-cop and this is particular evident in the book. But, I have to be honest, I have read better and gritter for example Birdman by Mo Hayder. I give it 3.5 out of 5.