Given that FUN HOUSE is the latest release in a series I have come to love and pokes pokes fun at a modern phenomenon I despise, reality TV, I was probably destined to like the book. However I have been let down by destiny once or twice before so it wasn’t a sure thing but happily the book met all my expectations. And then some.

It is the seventh book to feature former military policeman John Ceepak and his partner Danny Boyle who try to keep the fictional resort town of Sea Haven, New Jersey safe from the rather alarming number of criminals and murderers who frequent the place. It is summer again and the town has been been home to a new reality show which seems to be a hellish combination of all the reality shows ever to have aired, involving contestants who will do anything debasing for a few more minutes of ‘fame’, challenges designed to embarrass or titillate and voyeurism of the most puerile kind. On his night off Ceepak encounters several of the show’s contestants and is forced to arrest one of them. Footage of this event becomes an overnight You Tube sensation which results in Ceepak and Boyle being assigned to the show’s full time security detail, a ridiculous state of affairs that Ceepak only agrees to because it might lead to the apprehension of a drug dealer that has eluded the Sea Haven police for some time. As you might expect things don’t quite go according to plan and Ceepak and Danny are soon once again on the hunt for a killer.

One of the standout features of this book (and its predecessors) is the two lead characters and their evolving relationship. They are almost unique for crime fighting blokes in that they are both basically well adjusted human beings, though John Ceepak does carry some deep scars from his time in Iraq and Danny might end up with his own nightmares if his body count keeps increasing. The fact that they are engaging people despite not being alcoholics, loners, depressives, mavericks or any of the other things that the men of crime fiction often are does make a nice change (and not for the first time makes me wonder if the other kind of character hasn’t been a little over done). I enjoy seeing a ‘normal’ male relationship being depicted and realised with this novel that the quoting of Springsteen lyrics at critical plot points has become a favourite feature for me and not only because I’m a fan. It serves the same purpose as quoting poetry does in more literary novels and is, I think, a particularly good observation about the way men (in this instance) can struggle to communicate their feelings. When Danny and Ceepak don’t know what to say to each other about the scary or emotional situations they find themselves in they can at least offer comfort to each other via the words of their favourite songwriter. Surely it beats the oft-depicted alcoholic binges as a way to deal with life’s difficult moments.

Although it involves more than one gruesome death the plot of this novel is probably the lightest and funniest of the series though the deaths themselves are never treated too flippantly (at least not by Ceepak or Danny though some of the town’s political figures are a bit more cavalier). But the reality TV show setting offers Grabenstein many opportunities for poking fun at popular culture and he seems to relish the task. Even the normally taciturn Ceepak gets in on the act of ribbing the moronic behaviour of the contestants, the producers and the public who lap it all up. But while the book has lots of light moments Grabenstein does, as always, introduce some serious notes including the appalling fact that most policemen need to have second jobs in order to make ends meet financially (particularly poignant when juxtaposed with the ludicrous amounts of cash that ‘stars’ of reality TV might expect to make, especially if they are stupid, naked or a combination of the two). I like the way Grabenstein gently infuses his books with social commentary rather than ramming a point of view down reader’s throats.

Grabenstein really has carved out a sub genre all of his own with this series or at least I can’t come up with anything to compare the books to. They’re generally light but not cosy (too much ‘on stage’ blood and violence and a lack of predictability), comedic but not really capers and blend the procedural with the satirical in unique way. As always I listened to this instalment narrated wonderfully by Jeff Woodman and my only disappointment is that I greedily gobbled the whole thing up in one day and now have a two-year wait for the next instalment of this series.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Thanks as always to Belle for introducing me to this series (not only for this introduction but for the reminder that I don’t always know what I like because I never would have chosen the first book for myself).

I have reviewed all but one of the earlier books in this series TILT A WHIRL, MAD MOUSE, WHACK A MOLE, HELL HOLE and ROLLING THUNDER (I have also read the fifth book MIND SCRAMBLER but somehow missed reviewing it – perhaps I’ll do a re-read when I’m jonesing for a Ceepak and Boyle fix while I wait for the next book).

Oh and if you’re a fan of Ceepak and Boyle see if you can track down a copy of the short story RING TOSS which appeared in the June 2010 issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and was at least in November last year available from Amazon as a kindle single (I couldn’t find it today though).

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My rating 4/5
Narrator Jeff Woodman
Publisher Audible Inc [2012]
ASIN B007SP2OD6
Length 7 hours 44 minutes
Format audio (mp3)
Book Series #7 in the Ceepak and Boyle series
Source I bought it

This work by http://reactionstoreading.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Sometimes in life you have to do unpleasant things but I have found that when accompanied by Jeff Woodman reading me a Chris Grabenstein story all but the direst of circumstances are mitigated entirely. 

The fourth outing for John Ceepak and Danny Boyle, policemen in the fictional summer resort town of Sea Haven on the New Jersey shore, sees them inveigle their way into an investigation of the apparent suicide of an American soldier who is home on leave from Iraq. Things are not, of course, what they seem to be and Ceepak and Danny battle orchestrated misdirection on a grand scale and, for good measure, a couple of attempts on their lives.

As always the story is narrated by relatively inexperienced Danny Boyle who jumps to the conclusions that readers might jump to, asks the questions that readers might ponder and generally forms a link between the brilliant but reserved John Ceepak and the reader. He does this in a funny, self deprecating way that manages to make him appear less foolish than the offsiders of other famous detectives. Danny has matured a lot since the first book in the series which is evidenced when his partner’s drunkard father starts causing problems and Danny, realising Ceepak is not able control himself as he normally would, steps in to diffuse the situation.

I did find it a bit easier to spot the culprit in this book than I have done in the past although I hadn’t fathomed most of the details provided in the classic dénouement and the plot, as always, threw up a thought-provoking thread or two. Reading between the lines I’d guess that Grabenstein has an opinion about America’s war in Iraq but, unlike the couple of vitriolic reviews I found at Amazon, I didn’t think the book was trying to portray a particularly anti-war or anti-army stance. Heck Ceepak is a war hero as well as being the best detective in Sea Haven.

I love the way Grabenstein creates pictures of the people and places he writes about. He manages to use just the right amount of detail to enable me to create terrific mental pictures. Reading Hell Hole had me creating a vivid mental image of a public toilet with a gruesomely dead body in it but I guess you can’t always have sunlit beaches as a backdrop.

I am a confirmed fan of these books so perhaps not their most objective reviewer. On the other hand I have given up on many series that stopped meeting my expectations and I wouldn’t hesitate to do the same again should the situation arise. Happily there’s no need to here because Hell Hole as told by Jeff Woodman provides a thoroughly entertaining tale in which, after doing the hard yards, the good guys triumph. I read (and enjoy) plenty of books where that doesn’t happen but it is occasionally nice to have things work out the way you wish they would always do in the real world.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My rating 3.5/5

Narrator: Jeff Woodman; Publisher Audible Inc [2008]; Length 8hrs 16mins

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I’ve reviewed the first three books in this series too (all in audio format):
Tilt A Wirl
Mad Mouse
Whack A Mole

Title: Mad Mouse

Author: Chris Grabenstein

Narrator: Jeff Woodman

Publisher: Audible Inc [2007]

ISBN: n/a [downloaded from audible.com]

Length: 8 hours 10 minutes

Setting: New Jersey, USA, present day

Genre: Police Procedural

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My rating: 4/5

One-liner: Great narration of a light-hearted book that does make you think a little too.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

It’s nearly the end of summer in Sea Haven, New Jersey, but one last beach party is planned before the tourists leave for the winter. The party is threatened however when someone starts shooting the good people of Sea Haven, first with paint ball guns but then with real bullets. It appears that the targets of the sniper might be part-time, rookie policeman Danny Boyle and his friends so Danny’s partner John Ceepak has even more than the usual imperative to quickly find the culprit.

I read and reviewed Tilt-A-Whirl, the first book in this series, in October and it’s rare for me to read series books in such quick succession. However, I needed a book with broad appeal for a long car trip with a couple of friends and, frankly, I did wonder if my enjoyment of the first one was a bit of an aberration (it being such a ‘feel-good’ book and me being such a bitter old cynic). Happily I loved Mad Mouse just as much as the first book (as did my two friends, neither of whom read much crime fiction).

Whereas other ‘feel-good’ books drive me to drink and/or mutter under my breath I am quite entranced by this series. I think in part it’s the sense of humour displayed by the narrator, Danny Boyle, which nicely offsets the perfectness of John Ceepak. It’s also partly due to the fact that even though the books are somewhat light they do tackle some tough subjects. Mad Mouse, with its double-meaning title, explores the impact that people’s actions have on those around them, even relatively minor actions that are quickly forgotten by all but one person, and also takes a look at the damage parental expectations can have on their children. The three of us who were listening together talked for quite some time about these issues after we’d finished listening to the book.

The series also has a nicely developing partnership between Danny Boyle and John Ceepak and in Mad Mouse we learn a little more about their personalities . In the weeks since the events of Tilt-A-Whirl Danny has matured a little and is now certain he wants to be a full-time police officer. Ceepak hasn’t changed too much although he does start to poke a little gentle fun at himself and is also sweetly tongue-tied when the teenage son of a woman he’s met tries to convince him to ask his mother out on a date. There’s a nice mentoring role between Ceepak and Danny and I am already wondering what will happen to these two in the next book.

I’m quite chuffed to discover that my enjoyment of the first book in this series was no aberration as there are several more for me still to read. The story was engaging, the characters delightful and the narration superb.

Title: Tilt A Whirl

Author: Chris Grabenstein

Publisher: Audible Inc [2007]

ISBN: n/a [downloaded from audible.com]

Length: 8 hours 18 minutes

Setting: New Jersey, USA, present day

Genre: Police Procedural

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My rating: 4/5

One-liner: Brilliantly narrated and entertaining feel-good book.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Sea Haven, on the New Jersey shore, is overrun by summer tourists and the most serious crime is a stole bike. One Saturday morning two local police officers, John Ceepak, a former MP, and Danny Boyle, a rookie part-timer, see a hysterical young girl covered in blood. She tells them her father was shot in the local amusement park. Ceepak is asked by his old army buddy who is now the Police Chief to head up the investigation into Reginald Hart’s murder and he also gives his word to Ashley, the young girl, that he’ll protect her from the danger which still surrounds her.

If you had told me that every time I pressed stop I’d be itching to get back to a single-body whodunit narrated by a 20-something party animal and featuring a goody-two-shoes ex-soldier who lives by a corny moral code I’d have given you the look. The “I don’t think you have a clue and thanks for nothing” look. But, based on the infinitesimally small chance I might be wrong, I accepted a passionate audio book recommendation from Belle (of Ms Bookish) and was thoroughly entertained from start to finish.

First I must mention that Jeff Woodman is a superb narrator: managing to give a completely different yet realistic sounding voice (complete with regional accent) to more than a dozen characters of different ages and genders. I have no doubt that his skill is part of the reason I so thoroughly enjoyed the book and had such vivid images of the setting and characters in my head.

I thought the choice of narrative voice in the story was a particularly good one. Using someone who is an observer and a participant in the action worked well, especially when combined with the fact that Danny Boyle is a rookie working with a more experienced policeman. This provided plausible opportunities for the kind of explanatory scenes and missed bits of action that can become clunky in first-person narratives. Danny also turned out to be a likable, engaging young man with a good sense of humour and the story unfolded quite naturally through his eyes.

The use of a ‘Duddley Do-Right’ style character in the form of John Ceepak (whose life motto is ‘neither lie nor cheat not steal nor tolerate those who do) is a risk because I cannot possibly be the only potential reader who is wary of such fantasies. However, even though he is too good to be truly credible, I found myself interested in his back story and smiling at his all around good-guy-ness and rooting for him to triumph over the bad guys. Maybe even natural born cynics like me need to take a day off from being jaded every once in a while.

Although there were some corny, predictable lines the broader story kept me guessing right to the end, the New Jersey Shore setting felt realistic, the characters were charming and overall it was the literary equivalent of a feel good movie. I’ll definitely be listening to the rest of this series (though unlike Belle who gobbled them all up at once I’m going to space them out).

Other stuff

Here is a review by Belle (from Ms Bookish) (thanks again for the recommendation) and a review of the whole series by Beth (from Beth Fish Reads) who introduced Belle to the series. Don’t you love the way the book blogging world works?