I might only have one match, but I can make an explosion.

Greenfield by Stephen Krammes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Jack Clayton is retiring from the police force and dreaming about a calm life in retirement. All that changes when he meets Officer Yolanda Tilden, a young hotshot officer on the force he's just left. Once a prospective FBI Detective, Yolanda had to leave the FBI after getting injured and she's not happy about it. Jack's former boss, Chief Varner, convinces (tricks?) Jack into coming back for a special assignment to work with Yolanda for thirty days as a mentor. At first, the set-in-his-ways Jack and the angry Yolanda clash, but eventually the two work together on a drug case and start forming a true partnership.

Full disclosure - I only read this book because the author is a friend of a friend, and my friend bought the book for me. I knew the author wrote the book in his spare time, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

The first part of the book wasn't my favorite. It lagged and was totally unrealistic (let's completely solve the drug wars in 48 hours!), but did a good job of setting up Jack and Yolanda's friendship and partnership. The writing can be a little stilted at times (must Yolanda say Jack's name every time she speaks to him?), with a few typos. Still, as I thought about it, the plot certainly wasn't any more outlandish than the New Adult romances that are all the rage right now.

Things certainly improved with Part 2, and I found myself staying up late to find out what happened. Part 2 sets up what appears to the "Cold Case Series" that Krammes writes (he has several books after this one). I really enjoyed Part 2 and found the plot to be engaging and interesting. While Jack and Yolanda's relationship is still a little far-fetched, the two are rather endearing at times, and amusing. The mystery portion was interesting and very solid. Overall, it was a fun book and Part 2 probably pulled it to a solid 3 to 3.5 stars. I look forward to reading the next one, since it's basically set in my hometown!



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