Review: Smile of the Viper by Harry Dunn

Title/author: Smile of the Viper, Harry Dunn

Publication date: September 3 2012

Publisher: Caffeine Nights Publishing

Source: My library (now aha)

Rating: 4/5 Packs of cocaine


First off, Thank you Harry Dunn for sending Liz and I your book. We could not appreciate it more.

To get a taste of the book, here is the back description:

London private investigator Jack Barclay is on the trail of financier Tom Stanton who has disappeared with 1million of clients' money, leaving his desperate wife and children behind. Stanton's Parisian mistress, Danielle, is also involved with the boss of a drug smuggling cartel and Stanton is seduced into laundering money for them. When 4million of drugs cash goes missing and Tom is the suspect, he and Danielle go on the run. The stakes are raised with the kidnapping of Stanton's daughter, and Jack finds himself in a race to find Stanton before the mob do. As he hunts him down, he uncovers a nightmare world of torture, betrayal and murder, putting his own life in danger. Jack quickly realises those who enter the netherworld of the Russian mafia may not get out alive.

'I am glad I read this book'. That was my second thought when I finished Smile of the Viper. My first thought was 'Holy flip! This was the best ending ever!' while I was laughing my ass off. I don't know if it was meant to be hilarious but it was.

Now it took me a bit to get into the book, but as soon as I was in, I was hooked. I didn't like Jill (Tom's wife) for a couple of chapters because I felt like she was a whiner and couldn't do anything for herself even though there was no real reason for me to think that. But after a couple of chapters I felt sympathy for her. It wasn't her fault that her husband was a jerk. I felt sympathy for Jack since the start because of how lonely he was but it faded away as the plot started to thicken and action arose. 

When the plot thickened I was a bit confused at first but as soon as I figured out what was happening it was  awesome. Pieces were clicking into place every chapter it seemed like because of how fast I was reading the book. I liked that the story was told from more then just Jack's camera. Instead of following Jack the whole time, you got to follow the kidnappers, the viper, and Jill. I found this allowed me to make assumptions and conclusions on my own which made me enjoy the story more, even if they were wrong. 

What amazed me the most about this story was how complex the crime was. It took me a couple of times of going through everything in my head before I could see how everything linked together. It was insane.  Also it was nice to see that Jack ran into problems, that he wasn't all knowing. Jack ran into dead ends and had to circle back and look over everything again and again. If I was a investigator I would have said 'Flip it, I'm going to stay in Mexico and have a vacation' and I probably would have been lying in a sun chair while Tom drove right by.

Anyways the one part that is still confusing me is when Tom's time is up and his daughter is suppose to get an unwanted manicure (sorry can't remember the exact words). I'm not sure if she did or didn't get one because at one point she said her fingers hurt but if she would have gotten the mobs type of manicure then she probably wouldn't have been able to use her hands at all...

Back to the ending aha. It was probably my favourite part of the book. What happens at the end I found really ironic and funny. I'm grinning right now thinking about it. But other then finding it hilarious I also found that it was a good conclusion to the book. But I did wonder if there could be another book with Jack coming along. And if there is, I definitely would read it.

Overall the book was awesome. It had a great crime, and the characters seemed like real people. It kept me wondering till the end and it wasn't all serious like I thought it might be. There wasn't any romance for Jack... which was great! I wasn't looking for a good romance from this. Even though through the story I thought Jack and Jill (their names made me laugh) might hook up.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Smile of the Viper, be sure to check it out if you love a good crime novel.

- Meg

P.S. Happy Holidays everyone!!