Red Hot Steele by Alex P. Berg

Jake Daggers is the less humble version of “Columbo”.   He’s ditched his old partner, thinks he’s got it made until the captain pairs him with Steele.  Red Hot Steele.

Title: Red Hot Steele
Author: Alex P. Berg
Series:  Daggers and Steele #1
Publish Date:  October 16, 2014
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source:  purchased by reviewer

Publisher’s Description:  Detective Jake Daggers likes his murder investigations the way he likes his women–straightforward, easy, and with a killer body.

So when his older-than-dust partner throws his back out on a goblin raid, his captain assigns him a new running mate–a sexy young half-elf by the name of Shay Steele.

It seems like a match made in Daggers’ imagination, but Steele’s no pushover. She’s a powerful forensic psychic, and she’s got sass oozing out of her boots.

In a debut case teeming with fire mages, foundries, and a dead guy who’s crispier than bacon, it’s pretty clear Daggers isn’t the only one getting a heaping helping of RED HOT STEELE.

Nervous Nellie’s nervousness necessitates knowledge of the novel. In other words …SPOILERS. *BEWARE*

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Nervous Nellie says…

I listened to this story as well as read it with my own eyes.  I will say that I preferred the written word over the narrated one.  The author narrated his own book and while that may be fiscally responsible, it made the main protagonist less likable for me.  Jake Daggers is a chauvinistic jerk face.  He shouldn’t be because I would guess he’s not that old.  He’s got some good quips, I’ll give him that, but his attitude comes off as disrespectful more than funny.  Every woman is checked out for her bust and ass.  His coworkers, while being pretty descent guys, are disrespected.  I am very familiar with giving my coworkers a hard time and having fun with it, but go so far as hurting their feelings is too far.

I think I may be being too sensitive.  The male protagonist is probably being written as he is so that he can grow as a person in the later books.  I certainly hope that is the case.  Jake Daggers is the less humble version of “Columbo”.  He has worked 10 years as being a detective with the captain even complementing him on being his best closer, but he struggles to figure out who-dun-it.  Daggers was slow on the uptake for things a 10 year veteran should have known.  Either he just didn’t care to put in the effort or he’s burned out.  I don’t know which.

The next thing that I couldn’t get over was that everyone was hard of hearing.  It seemed like the dialogue had quite a few “Huh?” or “What?” questions that started a response.  And it was everyone.  Not just one character, they all seemed like they weren’t paying attention.  It was really obvious when listening to the narration.

I liked the story.  This does not qualify as a romance.  There is a degree of violence, but only really after the fact.  With all the complaints listed, I will say that I liked the secondary characters. This story really reminded me of noir detectives from the 1920’s who called all women “doll”.  The scenes were set in a universe where there are ogres, goblins, elves and magic users.

I give this book a 4 because it was good writing and the flow was good.  I wasn’t really bored.  There weren’t any spots that dragged where I felt I need to skip paragraphs.  The author did a good job and yes, I will read the next book.

 

Other reviews in the series:

• Dagger to the Heart by Alex P. Berg

 

 

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