Untreed Reviews: HIS NAME IS JOHN by Dorien Grey
The Blurb:
Elliott Smith wakes up in the hospital with a head injury…and an invisible companion. At first, he’s convinced “John” is just a figment of a damaged brain, but when he’s fully recovered John is still around; and desperate to find out who he is. Reluctantly, Elliott agrees to help, and discovers Chicago PD has a John Doe on their hands with six bullets in him—who died in the ER at the same time Elliott was there.
As Elliott digs deeper into the mystery of John, he stumbles on a body hidden behind a wall for 80 years, meets a sexy artist who could become more than just a one-night stand, and uncovers a deadly secret that has haunted a nun for two decades.
The Review:
I used to love Starbucks. I mean I REALLY loved Starbucks. Had to visit every day, had to try every new thing that came out on the menu…I was an addict.
Then, one day, I realized that there just wasn’t anything new about Starbucks and I was bored, so I ventured into the wonderful realm of the Large Sugar-Free Vanilla Iced Coffee from McDonald’s. For a long time, that was good. Then, I got bored.
So now I get my coffee from a great local place called Zizzo’s. And it’s not that I don’t occasionally still get a jones on for a Venti Soy Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks or a need for a Vanilla Iced Coffee from McDonald’s, but they don’t seem to hold the same sway for me that they used to.
So what does this have to do with this review? Well, for a long time I was a big fan of Dorien Grey’s mystery series featuring detective Dick Hardesty (some published from GLB Publishers, some from Zumaya Publications). I really got into every ebook. Then, I started getting bored. It didn’t feel new or fun anymore. I didn’t get the same enjoyment out of the stories that I used to. And Grey wasn’t the first time I had this problem. The same thing had happened to me with authors such as Patricia Cornwell, Lillian Jackson Braun and Diane Mott Davidson. Where I used to collect all of these authors, now I just….well….wasn’t really all that excited about getting the next one in a series.
Much like launching a new caffeinated beverage to grab both my nerves and my attention, when I heard that Dorien Grey had launched a new series featuring protagonist Elliot Smith, I decided it was time to try something new.
I’m very happy to report, Elliott Smith and His Name Is John is to the Dick Hardesty mysteries what McDonald’s and Zizzo’s was to my coffee addiction. It is has completely brought me back around to loving Grey’s work.
I know it probably isn’t fair to compare this work with Grey’s previous series, but what I love about the new one is what I fell out of love about the first. Where I felt the humor and character development had started to fall flat in the Hardesty series, it is regained and in full bloom with Elliott Smith. All I can say is…dammit Dorien Grey, why the hell did you wait so long to bring me something so fantastic?
His Name Is John is actually a very original mystery story. Elliott Smith isn’t a detective or a cop or easily pigeon-holed into one of a million repeat plots of mystery novels across the literary landscape. In fact, Smith is highly reminiscent of Cary Grant in North By Northwest. He’s the innocent bystander suddenly thrust into something he can’t understand, explain or extricate himself from easily. Smith isn’t a one-note character either. Grey has fleshed him out fully to have interests, desires, needs and a passion for fixing up buildings. Smith has depth, humor, agony, loneliness and passion. And a sister that drives him crazy and is completely enjoyable in her sisterly poking into his love life.
So when you take an Everyman and put him into such an unlikely situation as trying to solve the identity of a ghost that follows you around and communicates with you on the edge of sleep, you’d think that the believability factor would drop significantly. Nope. At no time during the reading do you doubt that Elliott is encountering SOMETHING. Is it a ghost? Is it his own paranoias? You may not be sure, but you WILL care whether or not Elliott is successful in seeing his way to answers about his mysterious ‘guest.’
The city of Chicago plays its own role in this book as a character, and I swear I could feel myself walking the same streets as Smith, encountering the same buildings and craving deep-dish pizza. OK, I was probably craving that anyway but reading the vivid descriptions of the city only heightened my need.
It’s difficult to say too much about the story without also giving too much away, but the various subplots involving people from Smith’s past, John’s relationship to a well-known photographer and a possible killer boyfriend are all very neatly tied together, believable and not haphazardly resolved in the end. The story has a terrific resolution that doesn’t seem convenient, and you may not actually see it coming. I know that I had some surprises in the end that I wasn’t expecting.
As a jumping-off point to a new series, His Name Is John is an excellent first entry. All of the humor, descriptive sections, character development and plotting that fans of Grey’s earlier works have enjoyed will find it all here, only better and brighter than ever.
The Bottom Line:
Welcome back, Dorien Grey. His Name Is John is well-worth purchasing, ingesting, digesting and telling all your friends. A welcome addition to the mystery genre for it’s humor, creative plot and well-written scenes and descriptions. This one isn’t just for fans of Grey, it’s a terrific entry point for new readers to discover a true talent.
HIS NAME IS JOHN is published by Zumaya Publications, and is available in ebook format from most ebooksellers in a number of formats.
