Thursday 7 July 2016

Book ~ "Last of the Independents" (2014) Sam Wiebe

From Goodreads ~ Twenty-nine-year-old Michael Drayton runs a private investigation agency in Vancouver that specializes in missing persons - only, as Mike has discovered, some missing people stay with you. 

Still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of a young girl, Mike is hired to find the vanished son of a local junk merchant. However, he quickly discovers that the case has been damaged by a crooked private eye and dismissed by a disinterested justice system. Worse, the only viable lead involves a drug-addicted car thief with gang connections. 

As the stakes rise, Mike attempts to balance his search for the junk merchant's son with a more profitable case involving a necrophile and a funeral home, while simultaneously struggling to keep a disreputable psychic from bilking the mother of a missing girl. 

Mike Drayton is a former cop and is now a private detective in Vancouver, BC.  He has a couple cases open ... an ongoing one of a missing girl who disappeared years ago and the other is to figure out who is having sex with dead bodies in a funeral home.  He is then hired to find a young boy who disappeared a couple months ago.  The boy's father is abrasive but Mike promises to do what he can, picking up where the first private detective the father hired and the cops left off.  Also on Mike's team is his part-time assistant, Katherine, who is a student, and Ben, a bored video game designer and the brother of the girl who disappeared years ago.

Mike lives with his grandmother and his dog.  He loves his dog, which is old and sick and should be put down but Mike doesn't have the heart to.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it.  I liked the writing style ... it was dark and humorous.  It is written in first person perspective from Mike's point of view but at times it's also written in third person perspective when Mike wasn't around.  As a head's up, there is swearing, violence and adult activity.  I liked the characters.  Mike has a big heart and doesn't take any crap from anyone.

I look forward to reading other books by this author.

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