Scan barcode
A review by ncrabb
A Hard Ticket Home by David Housewright
If you read this, you will experience a snapshot of the life of the fictional detective Rushmore McKenzie. He used to be a cop in Minneapolis, but you learn in the prologue about the circumstances that caused him to walk away from that job and embark on a career as a private investigator. He has no actual license to do that job, but if they get nasty about it, he can walk away from that as well. He certainly has enough money. Read the prologue for details.
Mac McKenzie is one of the most likable fictional detectives you'll meet anywhere. He lives alone, and he is coming off a hard landing from a bad relationship. He is if nothing else a survivor. You will see that as you read this book. He gets a call one day from a distressed family in a town not far from the Twin Cities. Their nine-year-old daughter has Leukemia. Without a bone marrow transplant from a relative, she will surely die. The problem is, her older sister, Jamie, left the town upon graduation from high school and never came back. The family begs Mac to find the older sister in time to benefit the younger one. He agrees, and the adventure begins! What seems like a simple cut-and-dried case becomes anything but. Before this book ends, the dead bodies will pile up. Mac is responsible for some of those bodies. But he had no choice, as you will see if you read it.
I admire the talent of this author very much. He pulls together several intriguing and interesting plot lines that join well at the end. I didn't see the final solution coming. That's always satisfying. There are also vivid scenes here in which you assume that all is hopeless for poor Mac McKenzie. I love authors who can craft that kind of scenario. It's a wonderful conflict. You can't see how that poor person is ever going to get out of that jam, and yet you know somehow it must happen since you are still several minutes or even longer away from the end of the book. I'm always impressed by anyone who can make those things come together without tweaking my disbelief meter too much.
In short, this is worth the time you'll spend reading it. If you do the audio edition, the narrator is phenomenal. He is perfect for the main character. There are no falsettos here, there are no stupid accents, it's just a glorious straight read with just enough drama built into it to draw you into the book without the messenger distracting you.
Mac McKenzie is one of the most likable fictional detectives you'll meet anywhere. He lives alone, and he is coming off a hard landing from a bad relationship. He is if nothing else a survivor. You will see that as you read this book. He gets a call one day from a distressed family in a town not far from the Twin Cities. Their nine-year-old daughter has Leukemia. Without a bone marrow transplant from a relative, she will surely die. The problem is, her older sister, Jamie, left the town upon graduation from high school and never came back. The family begs Mac to find the older sister in time to benefit the younger one. He agrees, and the adventure begins! What seems like a simple cut-and-dried case becomes anything but. Before this book ends, the dead bodies will pile up. Mac is responsible for some of those bodies. But he had no choice, as you will see if you read it.
I admire the talent of this author very much. He pulls together several intriguing and interesting plot lines that join well at the end. I didn't see the final solution coming. That's always satisfying. There are also vivid scenes here in which you assume that all is hopeless for poor Mac McKenzie. I love authors who can craft that kind of scenario. It's a wonderful conflict. You can't see how that poor person is ever going to get out of that jam, and yet you know somehow it must happen since you are still several minutes or even longer away from the end of the book. I'm always impressed by anyone who can make those things come together without tweaking my disbelief meter too much.
In short, this is worth the time you'll spend reading it. If you do the audio edition, the narrator is phenomenal. He is perfect for the main character. There are no falsettos here, there are no stupid accents, it's just a glorious straight read with just enough drama built into it to draw you into the book without the messenger distracting you.