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Jackdaw Court
When they invented the word pragmatic, they were probably thinking about Alysson Kowalski. She had never had a romantic impulse in her life until the day she fell in love... with the tower apartment in a brand-new development called Jackdaw Court. Can this love affair end in happy ever after?
368 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2017
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Jane Jago
93 books169 followersI live in the beautiful west country with my big, silly dog and my big sensible husband.
I spent the first half of my working life cooking and the second half editing other people's manuscripts.
At last I have time to write down the stories that have been disturbing my sleep for as long as I can remember.
Writing my first title took two years, because the characters kept doing unexpected things. I've since learned that they are always going to break out of the mould. So I just sit back and enjoy the ride.
For more writings and musings see:
http://tinyurl.com/t9pkll3
I spent the first half of my working life cooking and the second half editing other people's manuscripts.
At last I have time to write down the stories that have been disturbing my sleep for as long as I can remember.
Writing my first title took two years, because the characters kept doing unexpected things. I've since learned that they are always going to break out of the mould. So I just sit back and enjoy the ride.
For more writings and musings see:
http://tinyurl.com/t9pkll3
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 8, 2018
This book cost me a couple of very late nights because I couldn't put it down. It's actually two tales for the price of one, and both are entertaining.
October 23, 2018
Few can get me to read outside my comfort zone like Jane Jago can. I chalk that up to engaging dialogue that flows so naturally, it's near impossible to step away.
October 26, 2024
Mild spoilers (maybe)
Alysson Kowalski is a magnificent character. While she herself is petite, she is very skilled at getting Goliath-sized men to run her errands, particularly her potentially violent ones.
Fans of Janet Evanovich’s work could fall backwards into this book like a cloud of bubbles and luxuriate as they float along with the twists and turns of a woman who has dangers flying at her from all angles but who is never out of her depth.
The story starts with Alyson treating herself to a piece of real estate.
She has always wanted to live in a tower, and this building has one. It also has the leader of a Greek mafia living in one of its wings and an angry ghost in its parking garage.
Alysson, among other things, is a math genius who can get right to the heart of any technology or system. She is also slightly sensitive to the paranormal.
Her many assignments, troubleshooting for banks, governments, and architects, have left her well paid and connected to several powerful people.
Seeing her from afar, the Greek mafioso becomes enamored of Alysson, but when conventional means of courting (the title? (pinky to lip)) prove fruitless, the mafioso gets unconventional, and Alyson soon has problems piling on top of each other.
She likes her tower, and she likes her life there. She won’t move, and so she gets unconventional too.
One of the fun things about this character is that she’s so smart and so clever that she rarely has to leave her kitchen table. From there, she marshals her gorilla-men (her father, her boyfriend, and his uncle) and improvises great meals for her drop-in guests – investigating police, her personal assistants, her gorilla-men, and even her enemies. When events are too insane to cook, she knows the perfect restaurant, and a phone call puts all the right pieces in motion for her.
In the story, Alysson contends with mafia goons, undercover police, conventional police, an ex-husband, a large boyfriend, an angry ghost, human-clone sex-toys, and then something truly serious in the story’s second half.
This book is a pleasure to read. It’s funny. It’s intense, and it’s always interesting. It even pulls off an amazing trick. At the midway point, it wraps up all its storylines, well, almost all of them, and yet it keeps floating along. It never misses a beat, and very quickly we have a new set of issues to contend with. I won’t go as far as to say that it’s two books in one, but it isn’t a story structure you see every day, and you certainly never see it done as well as this.
This was a summer where I had the new Stephen King book of short stories on my nightstand, as well as some personal homework reading the current superstars of YA - but it was this book, Jane Jago’s Jackdaw Court, that wound up being my summer read.
It’s terrific. It’s great fun. And it’s probably not even close to Miss Jago’s greatest work. I picked it at random. I’m glad I did. I highly recommend it!
Alysson Kowalski is a magnificent character. While she herself is petite, she is very skilled at getting Goliath-sized men to run her errands, particularly her potentially violent ones.
Fans of Janet Evanovich’s work could fall backwards into this book like a cloud of bubbles and luxuriate as they float along with the twists and turns of a woman who has dangers flying at her from all angles but who is never out of her depth.
The story starts with Alyson treating herself to a piece of real estate.
She has always wanted to live in a tower, and this building has one. It also has the leader of a Greek mafia living in one of its wings and an angry ghost in its parking garage.
Alysson, among other things, is a math genius who can get right to the heart of any technology or system. She is also slightly sensitive to the paranormal.
Her many assignments, troubleshooting for banks, governments, and architects, have left her well paid and connected to several powerful people.
Seeing her from afar, the Greek mafioso becomes enamored of Alysson, but when conventional means of courting (the title? (pinky to lip)) prove fruitless, the mafioso gets unconventional, and Alyson soon has problems piling on top of each other.
She likes her tower, and she likes her life there. She won’t move, and so she gets unconventional too.
One of the fun things about this character is that she’s so smart and so clever that she rarely has to leave her kitchen table. From there, she marshals her gorilla-men (her father, her boyfriend, and his uncle) and improvises great meals for her drop-in guests – investigating police, her personal assistants, her gorilla-men, and even her enemies. When events are too insane to cook, she knows the perfect restaurant, and a phone call puts all the right pieces in motion for her.
In the story, Alysson contends with mafia goons, undercover police, conventional police, an ex-husband, a large boyfriend, an angry ghost, human-clone sex-toys, and then something truly serious in the story’s second half.
This book is a pleasure to read. It’s funny. It’s intense, and it’s always interesting. It even pulls off an amazing trick. At the midway point, it wraps up all its storylines, well, almost all of them, and yet it keeps floating along. It never misses a beat, and very quickly we have a new set of issues to contend with. I won’t go as far as to say that it’s two books in one, but it isn’t a story structure you see every day, and you certainly never see it done as well as this.
This was a summer where I had the new Stephen King book of short stories on my nightstand, as well as some personal homework reading the current superstars of YA - but it was this book, Jane Jago’s Jackdaw Court, that wound up being my summer read.
It’s terrific. It’s great fun. And it’s probably not even close to Miss Jago’s greatest work. I picked it at random. I’m glad I did. I highly recommend it!
April 23, 2020
A fantastical, yet all too real-world, tale
A tiny little spitfire who holds her own against all comers, lives life on her own terms, and loves the same way.
Crosses paths with shady folks, some after her brains, some after her unique beauty, and some wanting both.
Some very bad people engaged in very, very bad acts.
Had to read the entire book in one sitting.
A tiny little spitfire who holds her own against all comers, lives life on her own terms, and loves the same way.
Crosses paths with shady folks, some after her brains, some after her unique beauty, and some wanting both.
Some very bad people engaged in very, very bad acts.
Had to read the entire book in one sitting.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews