Double Switch

Johnny Adcock #2

by T.T. Monday

“Monday’s  Double Switch  is a rocket ride of a sports mystery with a wicked curve ball on every smoothly written page. May Johnny Adcock’s careers as a relief pitcher and sleuth motor on for a very long time."--David Baldacci, #1  New York Times  bestselling author

Blackmail. Bullets. Deception. It’s time to play ball.

Johnny Adcock, the aging major-league relief pitcher who moonlights as a private investigator, returns in the thrilling follow-up to The Setup Man . 
     Johnny Adcock doesn’t have an office; he has the bullpen. That’s where he’s sitting shelling sunflower seeds after a game, when up walks Tiff Tate, the enigmatic, career-making PR/stylist behind the most highly marketable looks in baseball. Tiff needs Adcock’s special brand of expertise. Her new client is Yonel Ruiz, the rookie phenom who courageously risked life and limb in shark-infested waters to flee his native Cuba for fame, fortune, and freedom in Major League Baseball. Now that Ruiz has signed a record-setting contract, the Venezuelan cartel that smuggled him out is squeezing him for a bigger slice of the action and they’ve unleashed a ruthless assassin, known only as La Loba, to collect. Adcock takes the case, even though the front office wants to shut down his side job and has sent its no-nonsense corporate fixer and “director of security” to keep a close eye on him. Adcock is immediately swept up in a high-pressure game full of surprising twists, double crosses, and deadly gambits that will leave him fighting for his life and in danger of losing more than the heat off his fastball or a spot in the playoffs.
     Critics raved about The Setup Man : “A sexy mystery with a rakish lead” ( Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ), “This rookie thriller writer has homered his first time at bat” ( The Free Lance-Star ), and “Teems with sex, violence—and baseball . . . Monday deserves promotion to the starting rotation of thriller writers” ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch ). Double Switc h proves that Johnny Adcock is one of the genre’s most entertaining detectives in years, and gives readers a welcome return to the sexy,
action-packed, and thrilling world where high-stakes professional sports and life-or-death action collide.

Genres: Baseball, Fiction, Sports, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Audiobook

224 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

T.T. Monday is the pseudonym of novelist Nick Taylor, author of The Disagreement (2008) and Father Junípero's Confessor (2013). Double Switch (2016) is the second novel to feature the Johnny Adcock, following The Setup Man (2014). He lives in California.

Reviews

[Left Coast Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sophomore slump is a real thing. After the great fun of "The Setup Man," the first novel starring relief pitcher / volunteer detective Johnny Adcock, I was really looking forward to this one. This story quickly fell behind 0-2 and although it slowly got better, the tone was just off. Instead of treating baseball and sex as fun, we see more of the ugly sides of pro sports, and the women here acted like men. Or if not, it seemed like they're being used rather than acting as equal partners. (Hint: If circumstances dictate that you're going to have sex with two women in one night, figure out a way to shower between encounters. It's just basic respect.)

We also didn't get nearly enough actual baseball here. Monday understands the game and writes about it as well as anybody. The on-field portions of the first book were a large part of its greatness, but there just wasn't enough of it in this book.

It seems this series has drawn to a close, which is a shame, because Monday has real talent.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn't get past the sexism. It's not that the protagonist has sex with three different women, it's that he literally gets out of bed with one woman to go have sex with another. There's a difference between an open relationship and a lack of respect for women, and this narrator is full of the latter. There also was not enough baseball for a "baseball mystery." The plot was related to player recruitment, but any detective could've tackled it; the fact that the detective was a player added nothing, particularly since he missed games to investigate. Two stars for a decent plot.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A baseball relief pitcher, who moonlights as a PI gets in way over his head when a hitting coach asks for help.

It seems a Cuban baseball phenom is having problems, but won't accept help. Johnny Adcock makes a few calls, starts poking around, and finds a female Cartel assassin, sports agents, an MLB fixer, murder, mayhem, and he still has to pitch now and then.

Highly recommended, especially for sports fans.

[Simon McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Setup Man, the first Johnny Adcock novel, and indeed T.T. Monday’s debut, was a fine mystery starring aging Major League Baseball pitcher, Johnny Adcock, who moonlighted as a private detective to resolve the unique set of problems that afflict those in, and around, his elite profession. In its sequel, Double Switch, Adcock is up to his old tricks again — only this time, his opponents are even deadlier: ruthless South American smugglers lead by the female assassin known only as La Loba.

Adcock’s troubles begin when the beautiful Tiff Tate strolls into the bullpen. It’s a classic opening to a hardboiled tale, but in this setting, it comes off as innovative rather than archaic. Tate is a highly-paid stylist for some of the MLB’s biggest names: she defines appearances, refines personalities, and turns otherwise middling players into sportsmen with mass-market endorsement potential. But one of her clients has a problem: Yonel Ruiz, the rookie Cuban phenomenon, is being blackmailed by La Loba. His family is being held hostage, and if the kidnappers discover he’s gone to the police or the press, they’re dead. Johnny Adcock is the guy’s only hope. Only there’s more to Ruiz’s story – and Tiff Tate’s – than meets the eye.

The Johnny Adcock series is unabashedly T.T. Monday’s love-letter to hardboiled crime novels and baseball. The prose is crisp, with undertones of Chandler, but it never panders to the grandmaster. Adcock’s voice is distinct, reminiscent of the genre’s greatest hard-hitting but soft-hearted protagonists. Think Jack Reacher; only Adcock’s got to balance the pressures of life-and-death scenarios alongside a run for the playoffs! There’s a dash of sex, violence, and plenty of high stakes, both on the field and off, and Monday keeps the narrative moving at a rapid pace, deftly balancing the worlds Adcock inhabits.

Double Switch is chockfull of the elements that made its predecessor so darn good, but notched up to a higher level. So far, the Johnny Adcock novels have proven to be rip-roaring reads. Fingers crossed we are in for a trilogy, at the very least – readers will be left chomping at the bit for more.

** This review also appears on the Cracking Reads website: http://crackingreads.com/2016/01/revi... **

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was on my "want to read shelves" so when an opportunity to enter the contest for a free give away arose, I jumped at the chance. I won, hence the following review.
This is the second installment with the protagonist "johnny Adcock" a relief pitcher for a fictitious San Jose baseball team. Johnny is the relief pitcher who comes in, usually during the late innings, to face left-handed batters. In his spare time, he takes on part time investigative work for his fellow team members and others, never charging for his endeavors. I have not read the first book and, while I loved the baseball information found in this second book, I doubt that I will.
It isn't that the book isn't well-written because it is. It's just that this is the type of book that men might enjoy better than a 70-year old woman (me). The plot was good, but I had trouble with the explicit sex scenes (the hero's last name says it all) and with the fact that the protagonist has absolutely no regard for women, using them basically as sex objects. I skimmed over most of book, which meant that I finished it in a little under three hours. To be perfectly hones, however, I have given the book to a male friend who also likes baseball. He also seems to like the book.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really two books in one -- yes, there's a mystery to be solved, but it is also the work of an author who obviously loves baseball and knows a lot about it -- a hybrid of fact and fiction that is truly delicious and well informed. The series stars Johnny Adcock, relief lefty for the San Jose Bay Dogs, a fictitious major league team in the NLW who moonlights as an investigator, usually involving cases of wayward wives or family embarrassments. Scenes on the field or while Adcock is on the mound, may not be as intriguing to non-followers of the game (those in particular who claim baseball is boring), but for those of us who can't get too much of the mathematics, psychology, politics and above all, showbiz hijinx that go into the Game, it is good, juicy fun.

[William Mehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won on goodreads. Absolutely enjoyable. Johnny Adcock was a player to admire. His mixture of baseball and detective work was a homerun.

[Chip · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Good, not great.

[Ray Palen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Released just in time to coincide with the start of another Major League Baseball Spring Training season is the second baseball mystery by author T.T. Monday entitled DOUBLE SWITCH. Monday is the admitted pseudonym of novelist Nick Taylor and he combines his obvious love of baseball with terrific plotting and characters that spring to life on the page.

Veteran lefty --- or 'southpaw' --- reliever Johnny Adcock is resigned to the fact that his waning years in the big leagues will be spent as a set-up man. He is a situational relief pitcher typically called on in the latter third of the game to get out tough right-handed batters. Adcock pitches for the fictional San Jose Bay Dogs and they are in the middle of a pennant race in the National League Eastern Division.

Outside of the fictional Bay Dogs and their players the majority of the other teams and players are actual major leaguers. This brilliant blending of fiction with reality makes for an especially entertaining novel and readers will find themselves easily believing that the action transpiring in DOUBLE SWITCH really happened.

To make extra income on the side, Johnny Adcock works as a private investigator. Most of his work is assisting teammates and other figures from the game of baseball. Typical work for him is standard P.I. fare --- cheating spouses, dirty sports agents, gambling debts, etc. The case he gets involved in this time is something far bigger and considerably more dangerous.

Fans of MLB have witnessed the influx of Cuban professional ballplayers escaping their home country for greener pastures and success in the Major Leagues. Current MLB stars like Jose Abreu, Aroldis Chapman and Yasiel Puig instantly come to mind. The fictional ball-player at the center of DOUBLE SWITCH --- Yonel Ruiz --- has more in common with the former Cleveland Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona. After a few highly successful seasons the truth leaked out that Carmona was actually Roberto Hernandez and much older than the birth date on the back of his baseball card.

A professional MLB image consultant named Tiff Tate approaches Adcock about looking into the Colorado Rockies young Cuban star, Mr. Ruiz. Adcock reaches out to the current hitting coach of the Rockies --- a disgraced fictionalized former player who was involved in the steroids scandal by the name of Erik Magnusson. Mags shares some concerns about Ruiz but Adcock feels he is not getting the whole story. When Magnusson turns up dead in the Rockies clubhouse, Adcock realizes he was silenced by someone close to the Ruiz case.

Adcock's challenge is to stay alive and under the radar --- all the while playing a vital role in the Bay Dogs pennant chase. Who is behind the murder of Mags? Is it the woman who passed herself off as Ruiz's sister but was actually a mule for illegally transported Cuban players nicknamed La Loba? Tiff Tate, the image consultant who is making way too much money assisting MLB players? Or, could there be a double switch going on whereby Yonel Ruiz was not in need of protection but was actually the person everyone should be afraid of?

The pages will fly by like a nail-biter play-off game and this novel demands to be read in one sitting. Monday shows intimate knowledge of this great game and the credibility he lends to his characters and the plot-line consistently blur the line between fact and fiction. The result is an outstanding novel that is the perfect way to kick off another MLB season.


Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

[Gloria Feit · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is equal parts mystery and baseball. Johnny Adcock is a terrific protagonist. He is a no-longer-young baseball player, 36 to be exact, fourteen years in the big leagues, his assigned role to come into a game in the eighth inning, primarily to face left-handed hitters (as he is a southpaw himself), and retire them (working, as he says, ten minutes a night). Divorced and with a teenage daughter, he plays for the fictional San Jose Bay Dogs. In the opening pages, Johnny meets a woman with the unlikely name of Tiff Tate, who apparently has a following as a sports stylist – who knew? In effect she does makeovers on sports figures, upgrading their image, including hair, body ink, clothing and the like. We are told that “Her work is legendary, lucrative, and highly confidential.”

Johnny’s side job, so to speak, is as an investigator for friends and colleagues, which primarily involves cheating spouses, for which he charges no fee; he says that “an empty bullpen is the closest thing I have to an office,” seeing it as his job down the road after he retires from baseball. Tiff asks him for help with regard to a Colorado Rockies rookie outfielder who is as well known for his escape from Cuba as for his power at the plate. She says that he is being blackmailed by the Venezuelans who smuggled him out of Cuba, and are apparently holding his family at gunpoint in Havana as collateral.

At some point, dead bodies start to pile up, and Johnny’s sideline brings him into danger that he never anticipated. There is much about the less glowing aspects of the sport, with its history of steroids and humongous salaries. There are tidbits such as that the Coors Field equivalent of a no-hitter is four runs on eight hits, and Johnny pitching to a power hitter who is facing the possibility of leaving “a runner in scoring position against a thirty-six-year-old finesse pitcher who makes a fraction of his salary.” Oh, and to the uninitiated, the eponymous ‘double switch’ is a “maneuver that allows a manager to change two players at once and swap heir places in the batting order.”

Timing is everything, they say, and my reading of this novel on the eve of the new baseball season couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. It is a good mystery, with just the right amount of humor, and lots of terrific baseball lore and references. And I even learned a new word: callipygian! Of course, the final scene has Johnny coming into a critical game in the eighth inning with the bases loaded. One doesn’t have to be a baseball addict to enjoy the novel (although, to be fair and in the spirit of full disclosure, I am exactly that). This is an entertaining book, on any level, and it is recommended.

[Amy Sunahara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought a baseball mystery would be fun - it wasn't. Found the main character Johnny Adcock to be arrogant and crass; sleeps with any woman because she's there and he can - even when it makes no sense with the plot line (point made, though, if that's what the author is demonstrating about MLB players); and a complete disregard for MLB rules about his detective "hobbying" but conveniently gets out of paying the consequences when caught (he's just SO conflicted because he's an aging pitcher and loves the game he just can't quit but has no self-discipline to stop himself from possibly getting himself banned from the league for life - really?). Also his sort of "girlfriend" said she could deal with his travel schedule and the other women (riiiight), but once her life was in danger, that's where she drew the line in dating Adcock in a long-term situation. Sure. Totally believable. Other characters were just as nonsensical in certain situations. Mystery was basically solved in the middle of the book - just didn't know the whys until the end. Also disliked stereotypical portrayal/generalizations of Colorado with Rockies baseball and as a gun-toting state (they're basically "giving them out at the airport"). Whether it's true or not, it FEELS like the author just read a couple of newspaper articles for "research" and maybe attended one game (two at the most?) at Coors Field (though very specific details about when the games start, which are spot on). Found the descriptions of actual baseball playing was the most interesting and enjoyable of the book.

[Flirtmd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a huge Troy Soos fan I was excited to find this book in my local library. I loved the mix of Baseball history with the detective work of Mickey Rawlings (name a combination of his favorite baseball player and baseball mitt) and how they were woven together to make a remarkable story. This book however falls short of that combination. This book is neither a true mystery nor a baseball story. TT Monday is definitely a fan of the game and I wish he used it more in his story. I question as to why he used so many real teams and player names in the story he created a fictional team.

Another commenter on this site mentioned he disliked the way he degraded women. I agree. While I understand baseball players may gain the attention of women easily, the way he used sex in this story was somewhat offensive. He shows real tenderness for Connie even though he doesn't want to be exclusive but then goes to another women's hotel room within hours of sex. I am no prude but the graphic nature did not add to the story and wasn't done to arouse but more as power.

This was the first I read in the series. While I liked Johnny Adcock as a player I didn't like him as a person.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this in a Goodreads giveaway. My opinion is just that...mine...and completely unbiased.

I really liked this book and not just because I live in St. Louis where most of us are all about baseball. Monday gives us a great story line with entertaining characters and a believable plot. Adcock, as the pro baseball player/gumshoe, is cocky but lovable, and you can't help but wonder what he will get himself involved in next.

I do recommend this book, but especially to mystery-noir lovers who are into baseball. Knowing baseball terminology will give you a bit of an edge. If you don't know it, you might stumble just a bit on some of the references. I have not read Mr. Monday's first book in this series, "The Set-Up Man", but I will now.

[Sandy Kay Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in the series featuring relief pitcher Johnny Adcock. This is definitely a series for baseball lovers because there is at least as much baseball as sleuthing. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, mostly because Adcock is more of a horndog than I remembered from the first book. I realize professional athletes have a reputation for sleeping around but it got kind of ridiculous in this book.

Nevertheless, the mystery was interesting and I didn't see the twist coming at all.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double Twist by Stephanie Rowe is her first foray into writing cozy mystery and her vast experience at writing fiction shows. The main character is Mia Murphy who grew up traveling and working with her mother who was a con artist. For the past two years she has acted as an undercover agent for the FBI pursuing her husband who was a drug dealer. She has now testified and it is time to move on, if she can avoid assassins. Griselda, her name for Agent Shaw, the FBI agent who shepherded her through her assignment, had managed to wrest some of the confiscated cash for her. She plans to go to a small town in Maine and buy a marina in a town called Bass Derby. She had seen it online and plans to retire there. She couldn't wait. Things start happening immediately when she arrives in Bass Derby, most of it by accident.

Rowe writes amazing characters: Mia is one, but even a better one is her tenants, Hattie. Hattie is well up in years, has purple hair, and drives like a racecar driver. She is indomitable, mouthy, and above all, loyal. She is a fabulous character. Everyone in town admires her. She has helped most of them and she is, after all, a great cook. Good since she runs a cafe. OK, so the marina has seen better days. The picture is years old and the place is trashed. Turns out the realtor used an old picture of herself, too. There are all kinds of characters in this small town. The mystery is a good one, in fact, there are several. One surprises her when she thought they had everything sewed up. Mia is a magnet for trouble, but she is, deep down, a good person, interested in justice. There are so many twists and turns in this story that the reader has to stay on their toes in order to not miss something important. Great start, Stephanie Rowe.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Double Twist by the author. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #stephanierow #doubletwist

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double Switch by T. T. Monday is the second (final?) book of the Johnny Adcock mystery series set in contemporary California. Johnny is a relief pitcher for the San Jose Bay Dogs, a private investigator as a side business. He takes on cases for fellow ballplayers: all too often, cases where a player wants to know if his wife is cheating on him. Johnny's reluctant when a reporter wants to hire him as an investigator. But she explains the case is really for a player, who can't approach Johnny himself, due to his family being held hostage.

Of course, that isn't what's really going on, as Johnny soon realizes. "This job would be so much easier if everyone told the truth. The again, if everyone told the truth, I wouldn't have this job." The mystery is interesting as it unfolds, presenting Johnny with new, dangerous challenges. Doubts set in...."I wouldn't want a police detective pitching the eighth inning--what makes me think I can do their job?" And the "side job" conflicts with relief pitching, or at least the ballclub manager thinks so (and makes the obvious threats).

The delightful charm of the series is the baseball chat. For example, "The home run call is the trademark of a play-by-play man, and a memorable one takes years to develop." A "double switch" play is defined and strategy explained, as are the advantages/disadvantages to relief pitcher vs. batter of a bullpen call. Did you know ace pitcher Max Scherzer has "heterochromatic eyes"? Or what it means if a player is described as "callipgyian"?

Baseball history tidbit: "They play a lot of day games at Coors Field, more than anywhere but Wrigley. In Chicago, the reason is tradition: Wrigley Field didn't even have lights until the early 1990s, and by that time Chicago fans were accustomed to the Cubs' playing their home schedule under the sun. The Rockies didn't exist until 1993. The Colorado preference for day games is an attempt to create the best possible playing conditions in a place where nighttime temperatures in April can dip below freezing." In contrast, last August at the end of a night game at Coors Field, ~10pm, it was 90 degrees!

An "ah ha" moment: "Psychologists tell us that losing hurts more than winning feels good, and they're right. To hell with winning being the only thing - not losing is what really matters. Fear of losing, or more accurately, hatred of losing, is the secret behind all great athletes, from Michael Jordan to Mike Trout."

What I dislike about this series? It's too short. More, please!

[Greg Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second in an entertaining series starring an aging relief pitcher who also engages in detective work, sometimes violent. Johnny Adcock, at the request of a trendy makeover expert specializing in sports hype, tries to help a recent Cuban defector who is tearing up the big leagues but plagued by a powerful blackmail ring. Adcock is an enjoyable character, though Monday has trouble making up his mind whether or not he is supposed to be a cynical mercenary. He talks a cynical streak, especially about baseball, but his actions are the actions of a guy in love with the good things of life (which are showered on him in this book to a perhaps extreme degree).

The main positive I want to say about Double Switch is it kept me reading and I finished it in less than a week, which isn't the usual for me. Monday knows a lot about baseball (and indie music, and even controversies in the library business) and unlike the first book in the series, the central driver in the plot is really about baseball. On the negative side, I felt upon finishing the book that there was maybe one twist too few and the author indulged in some predictable tactics that I won't spoil but didn't make me think I was reading Agatha Christie or Jo Nesbo. The central plot twist helf up for me but most of the subsidiary mysteries weren't very convincing in their resolution.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnny Adcock, the aging left-handed relief pitcher who moonlights as an unpaid detective for baseball people, is back in another good read.

This time, he is asked to look into the extortion of a young Cuban player, whose family is being held hostage.

Monday's take on baseball is an intruguing blend of real players and teams and others that come straight from his imagination. It is, as he says, the ultimate fantasy baseball.

The on-field baseball is true-to-life, with Adcock thinking his way to strategically win against batters with superior skills. And the off-field yarn is a true, superior thriller.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

not as good as the first one in the series.
a good follow-up.
i read this one instead of listening on audio.

it was a bit wordy so i skimmed some of it.

like johnny. the story was crazy.
and i like that he's an older character so you see the baseball industry thru those eyes instead of a young guy in the usual romances i read.
appreciate that for an older guy, he's still a top guy in his field & sexy.

hope there'll be more books to come w/the further adventures of adcock investigations.

[Courtney Skelton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good effort. I like the characters, and picked up on the plotline pretty quickly. Some of the baseball terminology was dumbed down to the point it bordered on insulting. it would have been nice to have more baseball in the book. the bedroom scenes seemed forced, and the opinions of the main character felt had a self-indulgent feel to them. that being said- the descriptions are vivid, and it reads like a Saturday afternoon matinee- for adults.

[Tom Gase · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. Not as good as the first one by author T.T. Monday, but still a fun read even if a little predictable. Nothing too mind-blowing. Starting to really like the main character, so I hope the author continues the series. The story is about a relief pitcher for a MLB team that also works as a private investigator. Uses real and made up teams and real players and made up players.

[Chris Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty big letdown. It's a great set up, the setting is perfect and the mystery was interesting. But the main character did a number of things to make me not only dislike him, but be disinterested in him. And the book was too crass, a jarring juxtaposition to the laid-back style a middle relief pitcher turned private detective story should have.

[Joe O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent; Continuing character: Johnny Adcock; the relief pitcher tries to help out a Cuban player whose family is being held hostage unless he turns over his salary, but not is all as it seems; lots of behind the scenes baseball info; received this book in a Goodreads giveaway

[Ravi Krishnaswami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one day on a coast to coast 2 leg flight. Ignored all in flight entertainment. It's a page turner! If you love baseball, pick this mystery up.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the baseball, but not finding the mystery very interesting or well-plotted. Meh.

[Sally Channing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read if you like baseball, Giants baseball, which I do.

[Matt Castello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling, insightful look into the world of a professional baseball player. Johnny Adcock is a sympathetic yet Average Joe character in a scenario of intrigue.

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Struck out looking..

[Kara Westerfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the combination of baseball information with a realistic mystery. It was a little too sexually graphic in parts which is why I took one star away.

[Kevin]

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