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The Penis Files
The Penis Files
Someone wants Sylvia Juarez, a crime reporter at a small daily newspaper, to uncover a scandal exposing the darkest secrets of Kentucky's Capital City power brokers.
After a powerful senator is murdered, a mysterious phone call directs Sylvia to a flash drive containing a copy of a videoblog called "The Penis Files." Her anonymous source tells her a woman named Katrina Collins was the creator of the videoblog. Katrina used to be a bartender at Saylor's Bar & Grill in Frankfort until she drowned mysteriously last year. Police quickly closed the case calling it suicide.
But Sylvia soon learns Katrina also pretended to be a part-time massage therapist to cover her intimate relationships with a number of powerful and prominent men in the Capital City.
In fact, Katrina was in the midst of uploading snippets of video of her sexual encounters with these men to her blog where she used coded descriptions of them and described their sexual preferences and performances when police claim she suddenly decided to take a dive into the Kentucky River to end her life.
Sylvia knows better.
None of these men would have wanted to be discussed in a sex blog for public view but one obviously wanted to silence Katrina enough to kill her.
Sylvia tries to keep her knowledge of "The Penis Files" a secret from both the cops and the killer while she uncovers the identities of the men in the blog. But when she finds a dead rat on her back porch, she realizes she's not only been found out but has become the killer's next target. She's forced to turn to Officer Kent Matthews, the only cop she thinks she might be able to trust, to help her solve the mystery and get the story of a lifetime...if she can live to tell it.
Someone wants Sylvia Juarez, a crime reporter at a small daily newspaper, to uncover a scandal exposing the darkest secrets of Kentucky's Capital City power brokers.
After a powerful senator is murdered, a mysterious phone call directs Sylvia to a flash drive containing a copy of a videoblog called "The Penis Files." Her anonymous source tells her a woman named Katrina Collins was the creator of the videoblog. Katrina used to be a bartender at Saylor's Bar & Grill in Frankfort until she drowned mysteriously last year. Police quickly closed the case calling it suicide.
But Sylvia soon learns Katrina also pretended to be a part-time massage therapist to cover her intimate relationships with a number of powerful and prominent men in the Capital City.
In fact, Katrina was in the midst of uploading snippets of video of her sexual encounters with these men to her blog where she used coded descriptions of them and described their sexual preferences and performances when police claim she suddenly decided to take a dive into the Kentucky River to end her life.
Sylvia knows better.
None of these men would have wanted to be discussed in a sex blog for public view but one obviously wanted to silence Katrina enough to kill her.
Sylvia tries to keep her knowledge of "The Penis Files" a secret from both the cops and the killer while she uncovers the identities of the men in the blog. But when she finds a dead rat on her back porch, she realizes she's not only been found out but has become the killer's next target. She's forced to turn to Officer Kent Matthews, the only cop she thinks she might be able to trust, to help her solve the mystery and get the story of a lifetime...if she can live to tell it.
201 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
3 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 18, 2014
This was an OK book, nothing more. I am rather happy I got it for free.
The thing is, as a Scandinavian, I think I'm spoiled with good crime. A typical Scandinavian mystery, is dark and confusing, and you actually have to think to figure out who did the deed (and most of the time, you are wrong). This, however, is too "glossy" for my taste. It's too much focus on how the main character thinks she is fat, and drinks low-carb beer, and how all men are jerks. It's too transparent, you don't have any surprises. You don't really have to think to figure out most of it, and you just get irritated that the characters, who are supposed to be clever, are really rather slow. For me, it feels like a way to flatter the reader, that we can feel intelligent that we see something the clever detective and journalist don't. It's not as horribly obvious as in say, the Da Vinci Code, but it still bugs me.
Also, the entire last chapter would have been best left out.
The main character also whines too much. All men are bad, and it started with her father who was the reason their family wasn't like on TV, and the mother wasn't at home to make breakfast and clean the house. (Yes,this is what it actually says in the book.) And her husband left her, and no one will ever love her again. I just want to scream at her!
However, the story is a good one, and the pace is good. If you don't think about the typos that start showing up rather often after about 70%, it's really not bad. A nice break for the brain.
The thing is, as a Scandinavian, I think I'm spoiled with good crime. A typical Scandinavian mystery, is dark and confusing, and you actually have to think to figure out who did the deed (and most of the time, you are wrong). This, however, is too "glossy" for my taste. It's too much focus on how the main character thinks she is fat, and drinks low-carb beer, and how all men are jerks. It's too transparent, you don't have any surprises. You don't really have to think to figure out most of it, and you just get irritated that the characters, who are supposed to be clever, are really rather slow. For me, it feels like a way to flatter the reader, that we can feel intelligent that we see something the clever detective and journalist don't. It's not as horribly obvious as in say, the Da Vinci Code, but it still bugs me.
Also, the entire last chapter would have been best left out.
The main character also whines too much. All men are bad, and it started with her father who was the reason their family wasn't like on TV, and the mother wasn't at home to make breakfast and clean the house. (Yes,this is what it actually says in the book.) And her husband left her, and no one will ever love her again. I just want to scream at her!
However, the story is a good one, and the pace is good. If you don't think about the typos that start showing up rather often after about 70%, it's really not bad. A nice break for the brain.
June 14, 2011
Loved it! Great premise involving the murder of a woman keeping a sex blog and a senator who had his winky whacked off by the killer. Also liked that the heroine was a single mom with a real job in her mid-30s and not another 24-year-old beauty who constantly whines about her latest dating dilemma and need for a latte while she sits in her Manhattan office. Another plus is that this is a fully-developed novel and not just a short story posing as a novel in ebook format. Best of all--I couldn't figure out the ending in advance like I can 99 percent of the time. Kudos to Morgan Donahue for writing a decent mystery and offering it for only 99-cents!
February 8, 2014
Better Than The Title Suggests
The Title is suggestive, but the story is actually a good thriller. The story follows an reporter who is looking for her big story that will make her career; what she finds can hurt her or give her all that dreams of. For people who like political thrillers.
The Title is suggestive, but the story is actually a good thriller. The story follows an reporter who is looking for her big story that will make her career; what she finds can hurt her or give her all that dreams of. For people who like political thrillers.
August 5, 2014
Started off promising. Then so much information and possible action happens in the second to last chapter, that when the book ends it seems that the author had to write a 200page report and ran out of pages.
December 31, 2013
Good Plot
Several twists and turns in this who done it, with a small slice of romance. Nice quick read, I would have liked a more detailed wrap up, but still enjoyed it.
Several twists and turns in this who done it, with a small slice of romance. Nice quick read, I would have liked a more detailed wrap up, but still enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews