Reviews

Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen

hollys_book_nook's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 ⭐️ rounded down

Annie McIntyre has recently graduated college and moved back home to the small town of Garnett, Texas. Biding her time until she finds a job, Annie waits tables at the local café. When a waitress at the café is reported missing, Annie is lured into the family business-a private investigation firm run by her “retired” grandfather, Leroy. An investigation begins that will take them through noxious oil fields and under the neon lights of honky-tonks to uncover the truth.

This book was good, but unfortunately not great. I enjoyed the small town setting and the Texas culture, which reminded me a lot of Friday Night Lights! The first 25% was slow due to a lot of character building but did pick up at the halfway point. I will say I wasn’t able to guess the ending and the writing was good! What ultimately pushed me to 3.5 stars was the fact that it kept me interested, but I never felt like it gripped me. Thank you to the author and publisher for my gifted copy!

emilyisoverbooked's review against another edition

2.0

While I really wanted to love this one, I unfortunately wasn't completely taken in by the story. In general, I think slow burn mysteries aren't for me. However, if they ARE your jam, you'll enjoy this book if you like character-driven novels, missing persons storylines and small town stories. The narration by Sandy Rustin was excellent and added to the atmosphere of the story.

Thanks to Minotaur for the ARC and RB Media - Recorded books for the ALC.

marbooks88's review against another edition

4.0

Annie is working the diner in her hometown after graduating from college. This is not how she expected her life to go. When another waitress goes missing Annie finds herself getting drawn into her grandfather’s private investigation firm. Can Annie uncover the truth before it is too late?

Thanks to Minotaur Books for providing an arc for my honest review.

theoutdoorlibrarian's review against another edition

2.0

...... 300 pages and absolutely nothing happens.

trisha_thomas's review against another edition

2.0

Right in the beginning, I did't love the MC. She's a bit rough. I didn't mind getting to know the town and the ins and out of who's who's (I love one of the first guys at the bonfire is the English teacher's son. Feels very small town!)

But soon the story felt very formulaic. Like it was just going through the motions of ticking boxes off so we could get to the next stage. It just didn't pull me in and make me root for anyone. Meh, wish I'd liked it more.

luckycharmedlovesbooks's review against another edition

3.0

I really enjoyed this novel. I did feel as though the ending was a teeny bit rushed, which is why I give this book three and a half stars out of five. The elocution of detail within the story that Annie uses about the people and Garnett, Texas really hooked me. The details of the actual mystery left a little to be desired, so it wasn’t a fun read for me to try to figure out the who-dunnit part of the story. I also wish there was a little more to the environmental aspect of it. Overall, I did enjoy reading this novel and hope the author continues more with Annie in the future as I would love to read her solving more crimes with her grandfather’s partner.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur for my copies of this in exchange for my honest opinion.

hendriana's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

steve_sanders's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 stars

shai3d's review

Too slow 

kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition

3.0

I liked this but I didn't love it. It's told in first person from the point of view of Annie, a twenty-two year old woman who has returned to small-town Texas after four years at a prestigious out of state liberal arts college. And, hey... this book actually was told from the same point of view FOR THE WHOLE BOOK, I'm not even kidding. Annie's co-worker at the local diner, Victoria, is found dead and partly buried near the property line of Annie's family's property out in the country. Annie's grandfather and his partner work as independent investigators, and Annie is inspired to work with them to uncover the truth about Victoria's death. It's kind of creepy, and very introspective as Annie considers what she's doing back in her hometown and what decisions she needs to make about her future. This is a character-driven, suspenseful book. I read it in one day. I might read another by this author.