Nantucket Penny

by Steven Axelrod

It's wedding season on Nantucket, and two unwelcome guests are crashing the party… When people begin disappearing from the island, Nantucket Police Chief Henry Kennis is baffled. The victims are not random―they're all Nantucket High School alumni. And the only clues left behind are pennies dropped at the sites of the kidnappings. There's an old island tradition of tossing a penny from the ferry as you depart to ensure your eventual return… Has someone come back to the island with a sinister grudge to settle? Sippy Bascomb and Doug Fraker were childhood best friends―bonded as fellow victims of bullying at the hands of their classmates. The two men hadn't seen each other in years, but when Sippy comes across Doug's blog airing grievances from the past, the two reconnect and hatch a plan to return to the island. Both seek revenge, but Doug wants their tormentors to face a tribunal and appoints himself judge, jury, and executioner… When Henry's fiancée joins the missing, he enlists the aid of former intelligence agent Mitch Stone, a native who has returned to the island hoping for a peaceful retirement. The two men know they must find where their friends are being put on trial for their childhood crimes―before their deadly sentences can be carried out.

Genres: Mystery

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2020

About the author

Steven Axelrod holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of the Fine Arts and as a former Hollywood screenwriter is still a member of the Writers Guild of America. A father of two, he lives on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, where he paints houses and writes.

Reviews

[The Sassy Bookworm]

DNF

Unfortunately, I am calling it a day on this one. It is just not working for me. I find the story all over the place, with 5 million characters, and half the time I find it hard to follow who is saying what. 🤷🏻‍♀️ It happens...

**ARC Via NetGalley**

[Linda Strong]

Police Chief Henry Kennis has noticed that people are disappearing. At first glance, they all seem random. But Kennis has found a link ... they're all graduates of Nantucket High School and the only clues left behind are pennies dropped at the sites where they were last seen.

When Henry's fiancee joins the missing, he calls upon an old friend, a retired intelligence agent, Mitch Stone. Whoever is taking these people, the are being held and put on "trial" for their childhood crimes .. and then carrying out a sentence resulting in death.

What exactly were these childhood crimes? And who is the judge, jury, and executioner?

The plot is well-written with an intriguing story line. However, it bogged down in the middle .. probably because the "who" and the "why" were revealed at that time. It left the rest of the pages with little suspense, other than will the men rescue Henry's fiancee and the others. Although 6th in the series, this is easily read as a stand alone. However, I think I would have benefited more had I read the first ones.

Many thanks to the author / Poisoned Pen Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this police procedural. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

[AC]

I'm afraid this one wound up as a DNF for me. Why?

There are a ton of characters introduced right off the bat. There are also conversations and musings by a couple of characters that were boring and mentioned even more people, and it was difficult to keep track of them. Mike, Mark, Mitch., Cindy, Vicky, Larry, Cody, some guy whose name I've forgotten while typing this, Sippy, Doug, the Australian detective whose email the chief ignores, and so on.

In one of the opening chapters, we also get a story on how the chief has moved his mother out of a retirement condo building in California back to his house in Nantucket. Why? Who knows? As I've said about books that detail a character's every transition from point A to point B, unless we absolutely need to know about what they were doing or the details of their actual move, leave it out.

I gave up at about 25%, as I was getting fairly annoyed. I skimmed through a bit from there, found the reveal at the halfway point, and reckoned I was happy to have stopped when I did.

Sorry, this one just did not work for me, and lands in the DNF list. Two stars out of five.

Thanks to Poisoned Pan Press and NetGalley for the reading copy.

[Susan]

DNF there were too many characters, too many flashbacks, too many subplots. I couldn’t keep it all straight. Dialogue was stilted.

[Gail C.]

I've read books in this series before and really enjoyed the sly humor of Police Chief Henry Kennis. There are some sections here that offer that same sly humor along with his interesting style of policing, I just wish there were more. The occasional by-play between him and family members could also be increased and would add to my appreciation of the book.

The book itself is told in a choppy, disjointed fashion which made it less enjoyable and more difficult to concentrate on what I was reading. There was more information on the events leading up to the culminating event by the primary perpetration than I wanted or perhaps even needed. It brought the entire tone of the book down for me.

In addition, I didn't enjoy the bigotry and racism that took place in the book. While I'm aware that this is still a problem in our society and, in recent years, has become more pronounced, when I read a book, much of my desire is to escape into something more intriguing than current world problems.

Toward the end I was doing more speed reading than sitting and savoring the prose, mostly because I wanted to get through the book. I believe Axlerod has and can write books more entertaining for me than this; and I would be willing to try another in the future before I abandon the series.

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy for review. The opinions here are entirely my own.

[Edwin Howard]

In NANTUCKET PENNY, by Steven Axelrod, residents of Nantucket start to disappear. As Police Chief Henry Kennis starts to put together the pieces on what is going on and who is behind it all, it becomes clear his fiancee is being targeted. Can Kennis figure out who is behind the kidnappings, who he can trust to help him, and how he is going to find the suspects and the victims before whatever diabolical plan is executed?
Chief Kennis is a likable hero, equal parts serious and laid back. He is constantly processing information presented to him and yet is very calculating in how he determines next steps. There is a plethora of supporting characters who have overlapping histories and I found it a struggle to keep everyone straight. I think having read the earlier books in the series would have given me a better understanding of all of the other characters. I felt like I was playing catchup the whole book. There was also random tangents to give vague backstories that not only were confusing and incomplete, but also took away from the momentum of the book. I was more engaged and interested as the book reached it's exciting ending. It just felt like the book stumbled and bumbled to get there.
NANTUCKET PENNY has a nice resolution and provides a satisfying closure to the story, but it was a bumpy ride to get there.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press, Steven Axelrod, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Brian Williams]

"Nantucket Penny" is a gritty police detective story set on Nantucket Island, south of Cape Cod off the coast of Massachusetts. The island is favoured as a summer resort which supports and is supported by a year-round local population, "the townies". They tend to do the less glamourous grunt work for the affluent seasonal residents. Then there's the small-town secrets that are the topic of the coffee shop gossip. Nantucket Police chief Henry Kennis is a transplant from Los Angeles and is therefore considered to be a newcomer and an outsider by the townies. He's facing a series of mysterious disappearances, which are the subject of this story.

A dark suspenseful thriller emerges after a puzzling busy set up in the first half of the novel. Many characters are let loose on readers with little or no back story or connection to the narrative. Seasoned or loyal fans of the series may be able to figure out who's who and how they relate to the action. After some false starts and much running around, there's an exciting "made-for-television" conclusion, all set against the atmosphere of the island setting.

Poisoned Pen Press gave me a complimentary copy of an advance reading copy of the eBook via Netgalley for my independent review. The comments about it are my own.

[Jean-Luc]

Everything that ails the US today can definitely be found on the island of Nantucket and this gritty but often disjointed novel is standing proof of that.
A cast of vapid characters all jockeying for the title of most unappetizing dimwit on the island, lots of idiotic grudges and too many abhorrent urges to kill someone, I definitely struggled when it came to find one single person worthy of any morsel.of empathy from me, the patient reader. The plot zigzags all over the place and never manages to really take off. It must be because of the characters' dumbness, their stupid first names (Cindy, Cody, etc) & their utter lack of redeeming human qualities.
I usually enjoy Axelrod's tense and powerful thrillers but unfortunately this one left me wishing to see beautiful Nantucket being wiped out by a huge tsunami. Too many witless scums and drug addled morons of both genders ruined it for me......

Many thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen for this ARC

[Sharon Grow]

Revenge is taken too far in this sixth visit to Nantucket. Police Chief Henry Kennis is called to the school in regards to a paper his son wrote which will be the least of his problems in the coming days. Someone is vandalizing the town with racist markings and a woman has gone missing. As others go missing, he learns that they are all Nantucket High School graduates…is someone settling an old grudge? Henry is an expert at looking beyond the obvious; will he be able to find those that are missing before it is too late, especially when his fiancée becomes one of them? Although I have read the entire series, this story was a little more difficult to follow. I did enjoy Henry’s ex-wife’s “visit” to the school superintendent as well as Jane’s “talk” with her son’s teacher. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

[Kathleen Gray]

Nantucket Police Chief is not a native of the island- he came from Los Angeles to take the job. That puts him at somewhat of a disadvantage when old feuds and mean behavior resurface and result in the kidnapping of a variety of people including Henry's fiance. Sippy and Doug had miserable youths but is this revenge the way to go? Luckily, Henry has an ally in Mitch Stone. I think this will be much more enjoyable for those who have read at least one of the earlier installments in the series- Axelrod doesn't provide a lot of backstory and some of the characters might seem hazy. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[Mike]

The sixth of the Henry Kennis mystery series, Nantucket Penny by Steven Axelrod was read as a standalone and was enjoyable reading. The outsider sheriff is back to deal with missing people, although he is slow to see the danger despite a penny being left at the kidnapped site. When his fiancée is taken despite her protective bodyguards, the action heats up and an action-packed finale ensues. A poetry writing police officer who enjoys riddles as they assist his crime solving is a hero to behold. With a suspenseful build up and island setting with a three-star read rating. With much thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and the author for an uncorrected proof for review purposes.

[Beth]

Probably really a 2.5. I’m being kind. Too many characters, confusing trying to connect. Stuck with it and did come together at end.