If you can’t tell just by looking at my website with its pink and purple tones or some of my reading choices like Twilight and The Station Series, I’m a bit of girly girl. But true to my nature, I do actually read it all – including books that were written with guys in mind.
Johnny Shaw has written a couple books under the label “Jimmy Vedeer Fiascos.” His 2nd book, Plaster City was offered free as one of the Kindle First options about 6 months ago. So I decided to take a leap and read a book from an author I was not familiar with. Boy was I not disappointed.
Plaster City is technically a sequel to Shaw’s previous book, Dove Season. But it stands alone only slightly referring to the past book when it comes to protagonist’s kid and girlfriend. If you haven’t read Dove Season, you just get that there’s a lot of past there and it doesn’t take away from being able to move forward into this story which is a whole new adventure.
Jimmy is the main character of the book. He has a young son and girlfriend and is working towards living a straight life. His one obstacle is his childhood friend Bobby Maves. Bobby has never really grown up over the years. His teenage antics that he and Jimmy used to get into have now turned to drunken antics that include knocking out a cop, stealing his patrol car and filling it with frogs. And recently, Bobby’s “Mavescapades” have become more and more frequent – calling Jimmy away from his family to bail out his best friend.
In Plaster City, Bobby’s estranged teenage daughter goes missing and Bobby is hell-bent in helping her mom locate the girl and get her back home safely. Together Jimmy and Bobby scour Julie’s journals to see if they can’t figure out what she’s been up to since she moved to this new community with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend.
With a few inquiries and a couple of stiches, Bobby and Jimmy and believe that Julie may have not just run away, but may be held hostage by a Mexican motorcycle gang who makes videos of teenage girls beating each other unconscious. The “girl fight club” videos have been sold underground and online and are financing the motorcycle gang really well thanks to a partnership with a Mexican drug lord.
When Bobby and Jimmy finally locate Julie, they learn that Julie’s role may not be what they expected and more girls may need to be rescued than they anticipated.
The language, action and antics of Bobby and Jimmy are stereotypically for the entertainment of guys. From the drunken “Mavescapades” to the no-holds-bar, kick-ass-and-ask-questions-later style of their detective work finding Julie was written for the guy in mind. There is non-stop action from beginning to end and the story feels like it’s a sprint to the final pages of the book. Overall I give this novel 4 stars and recommend it to all my male bookworms out there who like an action-packed storyline.
What kind of books do you like to read? Would they be considered books written for men or women?
