However Many More

Jake Houser #2

by Bo Thunboe

Suspense mass market book

327 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Bo Thunboe writes about regular people facing incredible challenges.

In the EMP Strike Series a family of four faces the end of civilization. As the world descends into chaos they are forced to fight to survive. How far will they go for food? For shelter? For each other? How far is too far?

Bo also writes the Jake Houser Mystery Series. Houser is a get-off-your-butt-and-knock-on-doors detective with a built-in BS detector who hates bureaucracy. Houser knows justice isn’t always found inside the system.

Please visit www.thunboe.com to sign up for news and to learn more about Bo, the Jake Houser Mystery Series, and the EMP Strike Series.

Reviews

[Vicky Peplow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story with great characters. You could really feel the heartache for Detective Jake Houser. He lost his friend and much more along the way.

I read this book as an ARC reader and really enjoyed it. Look forward to reading more.

[Martin Pingree · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a little different than your average murder mystery but is was very entertaining. A cop works to solve a best friends murder in a smaller town. The cast of characters is great, the story line has many twists and turns and there’s enough action to make you want to keep reading.

[Cath · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book centres around Detective Jake Houser and a case that comes his way. This time he has to deal with the murder of a long- time friend, Henry Fox, a well-liked local character. Everyone who talks about him, seems to like him and he is a straight forward man, with an ex-wife and daughter. He worked as an odd-job handyman and also wrote a book about what he discovered in holes he digs of ancient rubbish piles. Apparently, he had also started buying the contents of storage units, with the hope of finding items of value.

As Jake starts to investigate, rather than excuse himself, he finds Henry’s calendar and sees his handyman jobs have declined significantly. He then has to find out what else Henry may have been up to. Others, who may have known what Henry was doing, are keeping matters secret. Everyone involved is keeping secrets from those closest to them and it doesn’t help Jake in trying to discover who killed Henry.

Henry’s ex-wife is a prime suspect as she is desperate for money and is still receiving alimony from Henry, which she needs to continue paying her bills. Henry had a partner in the storage units and it seems Henry found some silver bars and the partner believes they came from a unit and Henry had tried to hide this find from him. It was thought there were only a few small silver bars found, but further digging uncovers the existence of a huge quantity of much larger bars of silver. It seems there are many who have a possible hand in Henry’s death.

Jake is kicked off the main part of the murder investigation, when his close links to the victim are discovered, but he still keeps up with the case as it is his friend who was killed. He sticks with the silver bars link and follows that to its conclusion. It rocks his beliefs in family and what friendship really means. It also takes him to the edges of the legal system as he strives to uncover the killer.

A good police mystery. There is an initial part of a story, that seems so separate from the rest of the story, but it will become clear later, what it actually describes and its part in the storyline. A good tale of the fact that you can never really know someone fully, whether they are a family member or a good friend of long standing. It was a good length, you had enough length to add in lots of twists and turns. Jake is a likeable character and although I haven’t read the first book in the series, this one was easy to read as a standalone book.

I will look forward to catching up with Jake Houser and any future books in the series. I received an ARC copy of the book from Hidden Gems and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

[Texas · Rating 5 out of 5]

However Many More #2 - Another good story that needs a tightening edit. Wordy appears to be Mr. Thunboe's style, but he does write a good story. The storylines are well thought out in this book, too. The characters are interesting and believable, along with their dialog. There's good intrigue and suspense, which keeps the reader immersed in the pages. The story is fast paced from the beginning and the descriptions are clear, and too precise in some of the details that don't matter, but the reader can visualize the happenings. It's an interesting, twisting journey to find the killer. I contacted the author to review his books and received this book through Hidden Gems. 4*

What Can't Be True #1 - A really good story but it needs a tightening edit. It's too wordy and a "Reader's Digest Condensed" style edit would keep the first few chapters from slowing the reading down and improve the rest of the story. It does take a few chapters before the story starts running like gangbusters. The storylines are well thought out, the characters develop as the story required their growth, and the intrigue and suspense are very good. The Detective is no dummy and has to battle on several fronts to solve the murders and the mystery behind the murders.

The twists keep the reader immersed in the story. The reader can't help but root for the Detective as he overcomes one hurdle after another. The descriptions are so precise (some details are the reason for the bulk) that the reader is there on site with the characters. The wordiness is the only thing I have to complain about since this book is in my preferred genre. I look forward to reading more by this author, after he does the condensing bit on his next book. I found this book on Hidden Gems. 5*

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in the Jake Houser Mystery series is... okay. A decent story that starts off great then sort of stumbles along in fits and starts for about the first third of the book before coming back to the plot and (mostly) redeeming itself.

"However Many More" by Bo Thunboe starts with an intriguing prologue then switches it up and jumps right into the story at hand but when a variety of characters is quickly introduced, with corresponding backstory for each, things pretty much slow to a crawl for a bit.

In a good news/bad news way the author seems very detail oriented. Good news: It makes it easy to picture things in your mind. Bad news: The story can get a little sidetracked with minor details.

Somewhere - either in another review, a blurb, or some such - I saw Jake Houser referred to as a "hardboiled" character. Not true. Not even close. At least not in this particular entry in the series.

Overall I would rate this as a slightly above average effort - 3 to 3 1/2 stars. The author has obvious ability and parts of the plot really zing along but it's too inconsistent for my taste.

There are a couple of mild passing references to sexual situations, a handful of words that quality as "adult language" and some not too graphic violence. It should be okay for all but the extremely sensitive reader.

***I received a complimentary digital copy of this title in return for my honest review

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jake's friend Henry is bludgeoned to death. There are many suspects that might have done Henry in. Why would they kill Henry? It seems he might have found a treasure in silver bars and not just a few. Can Jake find out if this is true and find the killer? There are many twists and turns in this story. I found it very interesting and easy to read that kept my interest. I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of this book from Hidden Gems.

[Tracy Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept me wanting to turn the page.

The beginning epilogue threw me off but the more I read it began to make sense. I loved the characters each one had a strong personality that I could relate with. The book had a few spots that confused me
The story kept me on edge and was hard to put down. It was a great mystery

[Dale Zweibohmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book, It had lots of twists and turns. I hated to put it down and do other jobs. I was a little surprised at the ending but it was as a should be. I will be reading more Jake Houser Mysteries.