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John Rockne #1-3

Grosse Pointe Pulp

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The First Three Full-Length Books in a Bestselling, Award-Winning Mystery Series

DEAD WOOD (John Rockne Mystery #1)
In the exclusive enclave of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a woman who builds custom guitars is murdered. A disgraced ex-cop turned private investigator is hired by the dead woman’s father and immediately becomes the target of a violent ex-convict. An enigmatic music star performs damage control on her links to the dead woman. And a professional killer who idolizes Keith Richards is brought into town by a mysterious employer.

HARD ROCK (John Rockne Mystery #2)
Private Investigator John Rockne is determined to find out who is responsible for the brutal murder of a young man in Grosse Pointe. A contract killer known only as The Spook wants to keep the truth buried forever. Rockne quickly uncovers a series of dark secrets with ties to his own tortured past.

COLD JADE (John Rockne Mystery #3)
Once a cop in the well-to-do Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, John Rockne was dismissed from the force after making a tragic mistake that resulted in the brutal murder of a young man. Now working as a private investigator, John is hired by a man whose daughter is missing and he soon discovers the young woman was living a secret life under the name Jade. John quickly realizes the world Jade had entered was a dangerous one filled with thieves, drugs, pimps and murderers. He has no idea if he can find her…and bring her out alive.

640 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 7, 2016

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About the author

Dan Ames

219 books489 followers
Dan Ames is an international bestselling author and winner of the Independent Book Award for Crime Fiction. He is the author of The JACK REACHER Cases. You can learn more about him at authordanames.com

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5 stars
348 (47%)
4 stars
243 (33%)
3 stars
110 (15%)
2 stars
19 (2%)
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9 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
Profile Image for Louie the Mustache Matos.
1,427 reviews140 followers
May 7, 2023
Grosse Point Pulp is really the initial trilogy of Private Investigator John Rockne of Detroit novels by Dan Ames. I wrote individual reviews on each of the three novels starting last year. I didn't love the novels as standalones, because I hate cliffhanger endings, but I really felt they worked better as one cohesive story. In Book One, titled Dead Wood, the murder of a young artist initiates the career of John Rockne who was not a very impressive investigator. He stumbles and bumbles throughout the first book, but he solves the mystery. Book Two is called Hard Rock and it concludes the story begun in the first book, Dead Wood where John finally learns why Benjamin Collins was killed, and why he has been targeted by a professional assassin. In Book Three, Cold Jade has transitioned Rockne into an actual private detective worth his salt. He has actually solved some crimes, with the help of an interesting mix of satellite characters, not the least of which is his police chief sister. He is hired to find a missing 18-year-old. There are sufficient plot twists to make the stories interesting and unique. All told, the trilogy is a strong noir detective story.
2,102 reviews38 followers
July 1, 2018
Spoilers ahead! I have only read Volume 1 ~ Deadwood. I am pretty sure that I won't be reading the next 2 volumes in the future. This is just not my kind of thrill. Though it had enough mystery, suspense and action in it; I just do not like John Rockne. He is reckless, thoughtless and irresponsible despite his being a family man. For instance, after Molly's murder, why go to Memphis' lighthouse given his already burgeoning suspicions about her without taking someone with him? Then he goes into the secret meeting with Shannon after killing the twin bodyguards again without back~up given his conclusions about Teddy and what he is capable of with his mob connections and past criminal activities? Even if Shannon is innocent of the murders, Teddy is still her employee so it behooves Rockne to be cautious (and bring insurance to the meeting with Shannon). Talk about gung-ho and a magnet for Trouble. One more thing, since Grasso killed Jesse and took Shannon's guitar to give to Memphis as trophy? (Grasso could not give it to Shannon because then she would know that he had something to do with Jesse's death plus Shannon commissioned that particular guitar), so why was he back at Jesse's shop trying to look for something and had a violent encounter with Rockne instead?
689 reviews
December 23, 2018
Dead Wood: 3 stars-OMG! Chapter 7 is the first time we are introduced to ‘the spook’, and we know it’s him because we are told repeatedly. This is almost as irritating as ‘he/she said’ every sentence. “The Spook listened as footsteps echoed on the hardwood floor. Then the footsteps stopped. The Spook knew exactly what the banker was doing.” This is repeated ad nauseum, the spook this and the spook that. Since he is alone in the room most of the time ‘he’ could probably of been thrown in a few times to break up the monotony. The same thing happens towards the end of Chapter 10 when the author wants to surprise you as to who ‘the Chief’ (of Police) is. We have the Chief this and the Chief that over and over again.

Despite being beaten to a pulp, from the short time of going to the hospital and getting four stitches in his hand, then to the police station, the only comment his sister made was about the hand? The guy should have been black and blue and still have an eye swollen shut. And again, when he goes home, the only thing his wife looks at is his hand? What about his eye?
I’m not sure how I feel about all the ‘witty’ internal dialogue. Rockne sounds more like a stand-up-comedian than a PI.

Other than all that, the story-line was pretty good. I could understand the reasoning behind the killing of Jesse Barre. I kind of understood some of the violence it sparked. I could not understand how someone like Rockne could recover so fast from some of the horrendous beatings he took. The only character really fleshed out was Rockne, to a much lesser extent his sister (she was an excellent cop and liked to harass her brother). No one else really had any substance to them.

Hard Rock: 3 stars-Lack of continuity with the previous book: “I felt the pole plunge through his chest and bury itself in the softer wood of the deck… His arms went instead to the wooden spear, now rammed firmly into the sinking boat’s deck. He tugged at it, but it didn’t move.”
“He was bleeding from a jagged chest wound that had miraculously gashed mostly across his midsection, as opposed to through it. it. One sliver of wood had gone through the pocket of flesh just below the collarbone and out through his back… His chest was bare and the gash that had scraped across his torso stood out in all of its gruesome clarity. Higher up, there was an ugly little puncture wound still seeping blood. It looked minor compared to the gash, but most of the pain he was experiencing emanated from that tiny gouge.”

The first statement did not sound like a sliver of wood, nor did the wound sound like a tiny gouge.
Chapter 12 Talking about ‘the spook’: “he wiped down the steering wheel and the door handle, the only things he had touched.” Wrong. He drove the car, he touched the gear shift to put the car in gear and again in park.

Chapter 13 Needs a bit of editing but not too much. Some words left out, some sentences changed but not reread (i.e. “...I could practically could navigate it in my sleep.”)

Overall the storyline was good. It wrapped up the why for Benjamin’s murder. Rockne is the luckiest person alive, he ‘almost’ gets killed a lot.

Cold Jade: 3 stars-“He was cut in a hundred places and Clay thought he had bled out.” Several paragraphs later: “He took off his leather jacket and set it on the back of a chair, well away from the action. He didn’t want any blood to get on it.” Now he’s worried about getting blood on the jacket?

As usual, Rockne is rescued in the nick of time. Although he does a lot of questioning and following leads, he really doesn’t solve much. This story just unfolds and Rockne follows it where it goes.
2,445 reviews13 followers
March 26, 2021
Book 1 - Dead Wood: The police decided that guitar maker Jesse Barre was killed during a burglary. Her father disagrees and hires Private Investigator John Rockne to find evidence that her boyfriend had been the killer. The investigation has lots of twists and plenty of suspects. John gets shot at, bashed and knocked out but keeps following the trail to uncover the killer and the motive - and find Jesse's last guitar. Great story
Book 2 - Hard Rock: Although Book 1 - Dead Wood - resolved the murder that was the story line, it left open the issue of the contract killer. The killer was thought dead but his body wasn't found. He wasn't dead. He travels back from Canada to Detroit with the intention of killing John Rockne. John is told that the killer is still alive and so he returns to the task of tracking down the killer and finding out why the killer had been hired to kill Benjamin Collins in the pre-story. Dramatic and absorbing story.
Book 3 - Cold Jade: Complex mix - Father hires John Rockne to fine his missing daughter, Mother tries to stop the search, somebody hires a criminal to find the daughter. The daughter has been living a secret life which leaves Rockne digging into underground behaviours. The story has intriguing twists at the end. Terrific.
1,756 reviews13 followers
April 8, 2019
This set includes 3 books in which the 1st two correlate to each other.

The 1st story introduces John Rockne and how he became a Private Investigator. It also has him getting involved with a case where he is forced to look into the invents that occurred New Years seveal years earlier. While looking into this case he runs into an individual who he permitted to murder someone. In this story he is targeted and almost killed by this individual. The second story continues where the 1st one left off and again puts John in the killer's crosshairs again.

The 3rd story has him searching for a supposed runnawy and the are very few clues to help him find this person. The story gets into escort services, strip clubs and drug activities. He is not the only one looking for this individual. This puts him in danger. The ending was quite enjoyable.

I recommend this series very highly and you won't be disappointed.
Profile Image for Teresa Collins.
1,124 reviews19 followers
July 20, 2018
If you are interested in a more detailed review, please check out my review of each individual book in the series (if you are that interested, that is.). For the most part I enjoyed all the books in this series. Books 1 & 2 have severe editing/continuity issues and book 3 feels like it was rushed; but even with those flaws I still enjoyed the reading. They are the typical crime/private investigator stories and a very good way to escape your every day life for a few hours. I think Mr Ames is slightly heavy-handed with the profanity and while there is indeed violence included, I did appreciate the fact that he didn't parade out the details in all their gory glory. I feel fairly confidant in recommending the series. But don't be looking for any highbrow prose. There's a reason the name of the box set is Grosse Point Pulp.
Author 2 books1 follower
January 10, 2021
He's no Lee Childs, despite their photo together. Book 1 was nicely wound fairly tight with lots of different color strings in the bouncing ball that ricocheted around LOTS of storylines and people. But Book 2 weakened...book 3 even moreso. If three books are to be packaged together as sequential, they should have a strong continuity check so things don't keep "POPPING YOU OUT" of the stories (wasn't the Taurus totaled in book 1? Why is it back in book 2 without explanation, and then disappears, replaced by the family van in book 3? And WHERE exactly does it clarify in book 3 the "issue" (no SPOILER etc. as you'll have to read the whole thing for that to even hit home for you) which presumably ties all the loose ends together... seemed a bit deus ex machina) It's the "little" things that disquiet a reader and bump him or her out of the world of the story.
Profile Image for Susan.
535 reviews5 followers
August 27, 2018
John Rockne as a young man was a Rookie on the Police Department the night he made a terrible mistake. A young man was reported running around naked and when Rockne investigates it he finds the young man but another man is with him saying that the young man drank too much and he would take him home. Rockne thinks that he is cutting the young man a break but later when the young man is found dead in a lake Rockne realizes that he made a horrible mistake. He is let go from the police department and becomes a private investigator but the memory of that night never leaves him.

Later he gets involved in a case and danger is around every turn....and there is a connection to the past. Will Rockne be able to solve the mystery before it's too late??

3 reviews
October 18, 2018
Three Enjoyable Books

Rockne is a refreshing change from the P.I.s usually found in Kindle books. Not a divorced alcoholic with a chip on his shoulder. The characters are well developed, and the plot is as realistic as can be expected in a crime novel. My only criticism is that I can’t quite buy the relationship between him and his sister. Every time they communicate, I find it difficult to determine whether they seriously dislike each other, if they are having a typical sibling disagreement or if they are being sarcastic in a fun way. This seems to vary from contact to contact. Ellen is usually the antagonist with John being the victim. Bottom line is, for me, she is difficult to like
Profile Image for Mark Zodda.
801 reviews1 follower
September 3, 2018
I had previously read "Cold Jade," which is the third of the three John Rockne stories in this collection. Cold Jade was a good read so I decided to get this collection when it went on sale and I'm glad that I did. It is a strong collection featuring fast-paced often violent action. Unlike many mystery or thriller "heroes," Rockne is humorous, quick-witted and self-deprecating. He moves the story forward, sometimes by perceptive insights and sometimes through blunders that get him there anyway. I am a fan of Dan Ames and John Rockne and recommend these stories.
58 reviews1 follower
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July 29, 2024
Fast action

Grosse Point Pulp books are a compelling read with lots of action and well thought out quips. Example would be a reference to shop teachers who mostly have lost at least part of a finger or two. So a silent answer to a question about the time is two and a half fingers. Funny to me because my guy was a shop teacher. Slide comments like that in around the action and it kept me reading right along.
Only thing, just a bit gory for my taste, the third book especially. Guys may like that,go don't. 4 stars.
3 reviews
July 11, 2018
I find this story very interesting and quite witty with John Rockne a bit like Mr Bean (Rowen Atkinson) he is always causing himself more problems than he is supposed to solve, though for a happily married man with twins makes me wonder how he ever gets through life in one piece. The story keeps you guessing, which i like and it is hard at times to join the dots but that is a good thing when trying to solve a mystery. I am looking forward to finishing all the books so far written.
149 reviews5 followers
July 23, 2018
A PI with a twist.

Ame's Private Investigator John Rockne doesn't carry a gun (mostly). He's a homeboy of Grosse Pointe, Michigan and finds interesting cases. You will like this set if you are a fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series (the books not the movies with the 5'9 actor playing the 6'5" 240 lb Reacher). Nice plotting, fast paced, and interesting twists will keep you involved to the end.
144 reviews1 follower
March 13, 2021
Gross Pointe - A Town Without Pity

This being a series was more enjoyable because you could follow the thought process, storyline, etc. This is a story of a guy who does what he has to provide for his family while doing quality work his way. Does he always like what he has to do? Does he ever questin himelf? You see John Rockne as a family man and private detective as he shares with you his sibling rivalry.
395 reviews4 followers
July 30, 2018
Grosse Pointed Pulp: John Rockne Mystery Thriller Series Book 3: Cool Jade

Again, a very good read from author Dan Ames in this 3rd book in the John Rockne series. I now have to find more of this authors works. As long as he keeps writing, I will keep reading, and that is a very good thing.
Profile Image for Wendy Hearder-moan.
1,160 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2018
A good summer read—I polished off the compilation of three volumes in no time. The detective, John Rockne, is an engaging character with good intentions and some human flaws, but no super powers. He’s lucky in that his sister, the Police Chief, tends to have his back even though their relationship is characterized by constant sparring.
481 reviews7 followers
October 26, 2018
Repetitive

Too much on the side of sarcasm while too little with character development. Also a bit too violent for me. His relationship with his sister was way over the top to friendly sibling jabs. I believe he really does dislike Detroit but enough already with the slams on the city
3 reviews
May 23, 2020
Good read. Would recommend it I have read it through I thought it has an interesting plot . Not any thing vulgar in the book that I remember. I would recommend it as a mystery read

I enjoyed the book. As I said. It has a take off of some modern day stories and I just enjoyed the read. Recommend it to young adults
Profile Image for Sheila Walker.
463 reviews1 follower
December 10, 2020
He jumps in with both feet not always working out the consequent

Amusing stories of a private detective who at times doesn't think first just acts. There are twists and turns suspicion finger pointing and dead ends but regardless of the dangerous situation he manages to get the culprit in the end
Profile Image for Tom.
142 reviews
December 22, 2020
The first three in an entertaining series featuring PI John Rockne. A well intentioned mistake whilst a rookie cop leads to a fatality and results in John being kicked off the force. Many years later , when working as a private investigator, a new case stirs up problems which lead back to the events of ten years ago.
Profile Image for Suzanne.
131 reviews
February 13, 2021
Very entertaining detective stories with a bit of self deprecating humour throne in. John Rockne is a down to earth, kind of “the boy next door” He come es across as a really nice guy, sometimes a little slow on the uptake but eventually he gets there. I am looking forward to following his further adventures.
Profile Image for Ellen.
443 reviews1 follower
April 24, 2021
Wow! This series has it all. Humor, sarcasm and lots of action. The relationship between John and his sister cracks me up at times, and at other times irritates me. I suppose just like the characters themselves. Gets my heart rate going and keeps it going. What I want to know, is how many more "lives" does John have. He seems to squeak out of some pretty tough situations.
Profile Image for Jenna Golik.
100 reviews1 follower
July 5, 2018
Fast paced and witty each book stands alone. I enjoyed reading about his family

His sister the police chief. His friend the writer for newspaper. They are in all his books which is nice. Some people may be upset by curse words.
39 reviews1 follower
July 9, 2018
PI for All Seasons

It is refreshing to find a wholesome, non-drinking,married OK who does have a brain and can deal with his baggage. All the stories in this bunch were well worth reading. Dan Ames writes good solid stories.
Profile Image for Barbara.
6 reviews
July 19, 2018
The calmest Investigator I have ever followed thru a case with

Good read, twist and turns that kept me interested . Ready for another case! Really enjoy this author and this PI.
Profile Image for Monty Bates.
213 reviews18 followers
July 26, 2018
Great Read!

I really enjoyed reading these three books! These are from a best selling author and can see quite a bit of difference between these and some other authors I've read.
Read'em. You'll enjoy them as much as I did.
416 reviews1 follower
August 24, 2018
Great detective who never throw in the towel

Great writing to give main character reactions like everyday person. Simple plot that became a page turner as killer closed in to complete a job from beginning of book.
8 reviews
November 12, 2018
Great Detective

Finally a set of books that are not only fun to read, a like able detective, and great atmosphere, but very little if no grammar and spelling errors which usually plague the ebooks I have read recently.
79 reviews1 follower
June 19, 2019
Detroit

Detroit is the setting for these mysteries. I’ve never been there and know little about the city, so I enjoyed learning something new. I like the hero, also. He is a believable good guy. The plots are just complicated enough to hold my interest.
Profile Image for Cathy Jehnzen.
1 review
December 31, 2020
Fun detective stories

There's something about a story taking place in the area you were born and raised that always makes it more interesting for me. Love the humor and sibling sarcasm, along with page-turning detective stories.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews

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