Dark Horse (Jim Knighthorse, #1)

by J.R. Rain

When high school student Derrick Booker, the only black student at a posh Orange County high school, is accused of killing his white girlfriend, ex-college football hero and detective Jim Knighthorse is hired to dig a little deeper into the murder. It doesn't take long for Knighthorse to realize that not all is as it seems at tranquil Huntington High, from a band director who preys on the innocent to a vice-principal with a secret agenda of her own. Not to mention someone's hired a professional killer to keep Knighthorse permanently off the case. As the investigation continues, Knighthorse's personal life is shattered by the discovery of new evidence relating to his mother's unsolved murder, a murder dating back twenty years. Reeling from the discovery, a determined Jim Knighthorse sets out to bring two killers to justice.

• ISBN10: 150587811X
• ISBN13: 9781505878110
• Publish Date: 16 January 2015 (first published 7 September 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 214
• Language: English

Reviews

I don't know how I feel about this one. It was just plain weird. He talks to God. Who's a hobo named Jack. That he meets at McDonalds. I was under the impression this was just a straight mystery thriller but I would apparently be wrong. And unfortunately I didn't really enjoy it. There were some funny lines but a lot of the plot just fell flat. The mystery kind of got lost the further I read. The main character was obsessed with football and his dad and his mother's murder and his girlfriend and it just seemed it was an awful long time before he went back to focusing on the main plot. There were just too many side trips.

It wasn't helped by the fact I didn't like Jim. Or Cindy. Or the other cop guy. Plus the cop and Jim - aren't they supposed to be best friends - how the hell did he not know Jim's mother was murdered? Doesn't really seem like they know each other well. There wasn't really any depth to any of the characters and without the mystery taking centre stage I was just bored. Plus the whole hitman plot was just ridiculous. It made no sense and was just overkill. And the cat?! Who killed the cat? I didn't even get that part. Why the hell would the hitman kill the cat? It wasn't even Jim's cat. And if not the hitman - why would the dad kill it and send it to him? It's still not his cat. I was just baffled.

2 stars.