Jake of All Trades by A.T. Mahon

This novella of about a hundred pages started with a lot of promise. Its theme is justice with an attempt at redemption for past sins. I was excited about the main character. He had a lot of potential. Jake Murray rode with the Fire Dragons, a Glasgow chapter of The Hell’s Angels. He served time and has been released, now hoping to walk a straighter path as an odd job man. His past gives him access to a lot of the underworld of Glasgow. I was also excited about the setting, as I’m not sure I’ve read anything set in Glasgow, Scotland. In that respect, the novella did not disappoint. In other areas, it fell short.

Jake is not a private investigator, as he doesn’t have a license. He calls himself an odd job man. However, he’s coerced into taking a case to look for a missing teenager. Through this case, he wanders the mean streets of Glasgow, encountering different types of bad people. For me, this was the highlight of the story. I enjoyed seeing a bit of Glasgow, even though it was mostly the underbelly.

The first half of the story moves along well. We get a look at the seedy side of Glasgow. Jake follows several leads, mostly dead ends. What I was hoping to get more of was his background and how that’s shaped the person he is. We get only glimpses. Nothing concrete to help us understand why he’s trying to be a better person other than to avoid being sent back to prison while on parole.

About chapter six, things start to get confusing, and mistakes are introduced into the text. Almost like the author spent a lot of time on the first five chapters, then rushed the last part to get the book out. The mistakes include a woman he meets in very strange circumstances, whose name is Fallon, but becomes Sarah (the girl he’s looking for), Sandra (maybe her first name?) then back to Fallon all in a paragraph. We’re introduced to a woman dressed as a nurse in a brothel. No name. Later a woman named Sylvia is mentioned. We don’t really find out until several chapters later it’s the same woman. And I never did figure out if she’s really a nurse.

The story is told in first person. However, there were several times the pronoun “he” was used for Jake. A school official greets Jake by his last name, then a couple paragraphs later asks him what his name is. Finally, he tells a ferry operator as well as the reader he only has ten quid but ends up paying the man forty quid. Not sure he needs to work odd jobs if he can conjure money from nowhere.

I found the ending confusing. It was hard to keep up with who was who and who did what and why this girl was missing. There were some odd items inserted in as well that didn’t really do anything for the story, like who killed a young man later in the book. The who made no sense, nor did the why and there was nothing leading up to that to indicate why.

Jake spoke standard English. However, many of the characters spoke a strong Scottish dialect. I found this added realism to the story. The story kept me reading. I wanted to find out what happened to Sarah. I did end up liking Jake, though I’d like to know more about him. The novella didn’t turn me completely off of the series, so maybe later, I’ll pick up the next novella and see if it’s improved. It’s worth the read, especially for only $0.99. Using Henry James’ criteria. I found the story interesting. It was entertaining where it wasn’t confusing. Instructive as far as the setting. Most of it was realistic. I can’t say it left a deep impression, but I did like the story. As far as the author accomplishing what he set out to accomplish, I’d say it fell short of compellingly introducing Jake Murray.

As for content, some profanity. The violence is not over the top. No on page sex, but some sexual situations, as Jake is dealing with traffickers and prostitutes. I’ll rank this one before Fireplay at number six for now.

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4. Citadel (Palladium Wars Book 3) by Marko Kloos
5. Barrier Island by John D. MacDonald
6. Jake of All Trades by A.T. Mahon
7. Fireplay by Steve P. Vincent
8. Wrong Place Wrong Time by David P. Perlmutter
9. Nowhere Safe by Kate Bold
10. Run for Your Life by C.M. Sutter
    

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