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Mara Cunningham Series #2
Too Hard to Handle
"Running for the rest of your life isn’t a plan ..."
The last time Mara Cunningham saw her older brother Jimmy was ten years ago, when he jumped bail after robbing a bank in Salem. Tonight, he showed up on surveillance footage at the scene of a police officer's murder.
Now every cop in Boston wants his head. Every gangster in the city wants the money he stole. And Mara wants answers to the questions Jimmy ran from. But she'll have to find him first.
Too bad Jimmy Cunningham has plans of his own ...
TOO HARD TO HANDLE is the second book in the Mara Cunningham series. It follows Boston's most dangerous photographer as she solves mysteries, uncovers corruption and busts some heads. It's dark, gritty and action-packed.
The last time Mara Cunningham saw her older brother Jimmy was ten years ago, when he jumped bail after robbing a bank in Salem. Tonight, he showed up on surveillance footage at the scene of a police officer's murder.
Now every cop in Boston wants his head. Every gangster in the city wants the money he stole. And Mara wants answers to the questions Jimmy ran from. But she'll have to find him first.
Too bad Jimmy Cunningham has plans of his own ...
TOO HARD TO HANDLE is the second book in the Mara Cunningham series. It follows Boston's most dangerous photographer as she solves mysteries, uncovers corruption and busts some heads. It's dark, gritty and action-packed.
- GenresMystery
221 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2012
1 person is currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
John Perich
4 books28 followersWhile working in a variety of Boston-area tech startups, John Perich has still found time to write and publish several gritty crime thrillers, particularly the Mara Cunningham series (Too Close To Miss in 2011; Too Hard to Handle in 2012).
A Baltimore native but a Massachusetts resident, John teaches and practices jiu-jitsu, turns a winking eye to pop culture on Overthinking It, samples whiskey indiscriminately but responsibly, and rocks a mean karaoke mic.
A Baltimore native but a Massachusetts resident, John teaches and practices jiu-jitsu, turns a winking eye to pop culture on Overthinking It, samples whiskey indiscriminately but responsibly, and rocks a mean karaoke mic.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 21, 2018
What better time to catch up with a friendrade’s thriller e-book series than when working the tail end of a tedious, low-energy temp job? The second installment of the adventures of Mara Cunningham, a news photographer with a knack for getting into sticky situations, moves along at a propulsive pace and delivers the genre goods.
Mara finds herself up against two seemingly insurmountable forces: cop pathos and disappointing family. Her older brother, a small-time hooligan and many-time loser, had been missing for a decade after a score gone bad, but he seems to be back. He’s tied to a string of cop-killings that send Boston and it’s police into the sort of heightened state of vengeful paranoia that the police (and, arguably, the city, proportions of it anyway) seem to be always waiting to jump into.
The truth is considerably more complicated than “improbably daring hoodlum suddenly becomes cop-assassin” or “innocent man framed,” and its into that murk that Mara must dive. That’s a dangerous place to be- immersed in a besieged-victim mentality, the police, including “good” cops with whom Mara has long-standing relationships, are in no mood to parse subtleties or put up with someone outside of the tribe looking into matters. That Mara finds a trail of police corruption and violence as she tries to bring her brother in peacefully doesn’t dissuade the blue wall very much.
The denouement — the exact scheme the crooked cops and Mara’s brother were in on, and how and why it went wrong — is a little foggy, but the takeaway is clear enough. Vengeful unaccountable power calls forward poorly-conceived revenge (which makes power more vengeful and less accountable), and we’re all caught in it, one way or another. ****’
https://toomuchberard.wordpress.com/2...
Mara finds herself up against two seemingly insurmountable forces: cop pathos and disappointing family. Her older brother, a small-time hooligan and many-time loser, had been missing for a decade after a score gone bad, but he seems to be back. He’s tied to a string of cop-killings that send Boston and it’s police into the sort of heightened state of vengeful paranoia that the police (and, arguably, the city, proportions of it anyway) seem to be always waiting to jump into.
The truth is considerably more complicated than “improbably daring hoodlum suddenly becomes cop-assassin” or “innocent man framed,” and its into that murk that Mara must dive. That’s a dangerous place to be- immersed in a besieged-victim mentality, the police, including “good” cops with whom Mara has long-standing relationships, are in no mood to parse subtleties or put up with someone outside of the tribe looking into matters. That Mara finds a trail of police corruption and violence as she tries to bring her brother in peacefully doesn’t dissuade the blue wall very much.
The denouement — the exact scheme the crooked cops and Mara’s brother were in on, and how and why it went wrong — is a little foggy, but the takeaway is clear enough. Vengeful unaccountable power calls forward poorly-conceived revenge (which makes power more vengeful and less accountable), and we’re all caught in it, one way or another. ****’
https://toomuchberard.wordpress.com/2...
November 5, 2012
Full disclosure, I might know the author. Really well. However, please don’t feel that because of this you can’t trust what I’m about to write. We know each other because we’re willing to be honest with one another.
And with that said, this book is really good. It’s the second installment of the Mara Cunningham series. One thing that I like about it is you don’t need to have read the first book to follow this one. It’s the same character, and the same author’s voice, but the two books have very different tones and purposes. Where the first book is a straight up thriller and love note to Boston, this book is an exploration into Mara Cunningham.
The author’s writing has matured since the first installment. In terms of character, this means a more mature Mara. That doesn’t mean she loses any of her endearing recklessness. Mara tries to act with more subtlety in her detective moments, but she can’t seem to get over going in heart first. What this matured voice means is that we get a Mara of great emotional depth. The author takes us on a well paced journey through Mara’s feelings dealing with the mystery. There are also some genuine and moving flashbacks to key experiences in Mara’s youth.
The other characters aren’t quite as dimensional, but they do get some nice moments. One that I especially liked was Sandy’s flashback to the incident that lead her to focus on studying and teaching self-defense.
I read the last book like it was a bag of chips, just popping a chapter one after the other. This is a much more substantial read. Not only did I keep going to solve the mystery (an incredibly complex and surprising one by the way), but getting to know Mara kept me turning the pages. A truly enjoyable read.
And with that said, this book is really good. It’s the second installment of the Mara Cunningham series. One thing that I like about it is you don’t need to have read the first book to follow this one. It’s the same character, and the same author’s voice, but the two books have very different tones and purposes. Where the first book is a straight up thriller and love note to Boston, this book is an exploration into Mara Cunningham.
The author’s writing has matured since the first installment. In terms of character, this means a more mature Mara. That doesn’t mean she loses any of her endearing recklessness. Mara tries to act with more subtlety in her detective moments, but she can’t seem to get over going in heart first. What this matured voice means is that we get a Mara of great emotional depth. The author takes us on a well paced journey through Mara’s feelings dealing with the mystery. There are also some genuine and moving flashbacks to key experiences in Mara’s youth.
The other characters aren’t quite as dimensional, but they do get some nice moments. One that I especially liked was Sandy’s flashback to the incident that lead her to focus on studying and teaching self-defense.
I read the last book like it was a bag of chips, just popping a chapter one after the other. This is a much more substantial read. Not only did I keep going to solve the mystery (an incredibly complex and surprising one by the way), but getting to know Mara kept me turning the pages. A truly enjoyable read.
October 26, 2012
Wow!I certainly enjoyed the first in the series-it was good for a debut novel from a new author, but this second in the series was great. I have to confess that I spent a few years in Boston, and this book series is making me miss it terribly (the description of the curvy Jamaicaway really took me back to my commute from the western suburbs!) But that was what this book was all about - attention to detail. That is certainly what separates the professional from the amateurs.
The character development was fantastic, and where the protagonist sometimes felt flat in the first novel, that problem was corrected here. The depth and detail provided by the flashback scenes was perfect (what child of the 8os doesn't have a soft spot for the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine?) to develop the main character, her motivations and relationships.
I have only one criticism and that is that if you are writing a series, not every loose end has to be neatly wrapped up by the end of the current book (the treatment of the boyfriend situation at the end felt like an afterthought and wasn't really necessary - it could be explained away or incorporated at the beginning of the next book).
I am anxiously awaiting the next in the series!
The character development was fantastic, and where the protagonist sometimes felt flat in the first novel, that problem was corrected here. The depth and detail provided by the flashback scenes was perfect (what child of the 8os doesn't have a soft spot for the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine?) to develop the main character, her motivations and relationships.
I have only one criticism and that is that if you are writing a series, not every loose end has to be neatly wrapped up by the end of the current book (the treatment of the boyfriend situation at the end felt like an afterthought and wasn't really necessary - it could be explained away or incorporated at the beginning of the next book).
I am anxiously awaiting the next in the series!
October 17, 2012
Another solid outing for John Perich! Well-paced, tight dialog, and a new cast of secondary characters that was easier to keep track of than those in Too Close to Miss. The grand climax got a little confusing as far as who was on what side and where, but I powered through and it all got wrapped up in the end.
The ending did feel a bit rushed to get it all tied up and I wish Sean had been fleshed out a bit more. I'm glad this didn't rely on the old have the main character figure the entire complicated mess out on her own and, in fact, had her miss some key details, but Sean felt a little flat to me. I don't want to go so far as to call him a convenient plot device, but I hope he continues to develop in the next book.
Still a great read and a worthwhile addition to the genre. Read it.
The ending did feel a bit rushed to get it all tied up and I wish Sean had been fleshed out a bit more. I'm glad this didn't rely on the old have the main character figure the entire complicated mess out on her own and, in fact, had her miss some key details, but Sean felt a little flat to me. I don't want to go so far as to call him a convenient plot device, but I hope he continues to develop in the next book.
Still a great read and a worthwhile addition to the genre. Read it.
January 5, 2014
John Perich is one of the contributors to the website Overthinking It and Too Hard To Handle is his second book, a sequel to Too Close To Miss. Mara Cunningham is a Boston-based photojournalist whose deadbeat criminal brother comes back to town. Soon a cop is dead and her brother is seen on surveillance tape.
This leads Mara on a hunt to find her brother before the cops do. But the story is more complicated and there are secrets people don't want uncovered.
In both the Boston setting and the gritty realism, the world of Dennis Lehane is evoked. There is a reason that most thriller series feature people in jobs which brings them into contact with the underworld. In trying to expand the Mara Cunningham series, the problem for Perich it to come up with additional plots which raise the stakes while creating a sense of intrigue
This leads Mara on a hunt to find her brother before the cops do. But the story is more complicated and there are secrets people don't want uncovered.
In both the Boston setting and the gritty realism, the world of Dennis Lehane is evoked. There is a reason that most thriller series feature people in jobs which brings them into contact with the underworld. In trying to expand the Mara Cunningham series, the problem for Perich it to come up with additional plots which raise the stakes while creating a sense of intrigue
May 6, 2013
I enjoyed the first Mara Cunningham book, but this second entry in the series was even better. Each page was gripping and the flashbacks were a great way to give backstory. The character development felt more nuanced than the first novel and the mystery easier to follow.
I'd read Too Close Too Miss first, but don't stop there.
I'd read Too Close Too Miss first, but don't stop there.
November 14, 2012
Great fast fun read. Really enjoyed it. Look forward to the next one.
Spoiler?... Maybe she will end up with detective Ivey?
Spoiler?... Maybe she will end up with detective Ivey?
March 20, 2014
Realistic writing style feels like you're in a movie
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews