Review: Big Jessie

Zane Radcliffe does not suffer from a sophomore slump. Instead his second book, Big Jessie, is tighter, cleaner and stronger. Kind of the bionic book. Except it doesn’t wear a track suit and it doesn’t cost a million dollars. One senses the author may have been diagnosed as hyper active as a child when one tries to keep up with the frantic pace of this book.

Rock journalist Jay (Big Jessie) Black was a tortured man. Or child, actually. As a well-blubbered ten year-old social pariah, he set off for a school trip solely to not be thought ‘gay’ if he didn’t go. What happened to him isn’t fit for family consumption, but I can tell you it involved a wet suit, a group of school bullies and an unorthodox yet moving way to warm the wetsuit up.

He had no choice but to grow up to be Ireland’s leading exposé expert. But, Jay Black has decided to settle into a comfortable job as the music reviewer for the Ulster News Letter. He’s still bent on revenge against those that humiliated him. But, there is a kink in his plans.

Despite all the dirt he has on other people, someone has dirt on him. Good dirt. Put him away and throw away the key dirt. Jay has no choice but to comply when he’s drawn into a plan to discredit the leader of the Sinn Fein, Martin O’Hanlon, by any means necessary.

Into the middle of this chaos walks Scarlet Harlot, lead singer for an indie band named, oddly enough, the Harlots. Jay is smitten. When pressed, a member of the band allows Jay and his photog friend Diggsy to join them on their way down to Dublin for a gig. Maybe Jay can kill two birds with one stone. Get the information he needs on O’Hanlon and get closer to Scarlet all in the same trip.

If it weren’t for whoever it is that wants Jay dead, this may well have worked. When shots are fired near the border, this plan goes down in snow.

But, who would want such a journalist phenom as Jay Black dead? From the guy with the gun that warns Jay off from Scarlet to the guy Jay blackmailed into to giving Jay his swank penthouse digs rent free to the man that’s blackmailing him, there is no shortage of potential assassins.

But, it’s only when Scarlet is kidnapped that Jay becomes emotionally invested in what’s happening. Yeah, he wants to live to write another day, but what’s life without the woman he’s terrified to admit his feelings for?

Jay Black is a trouble magnet with a nose for news. And I like him! Unlike Radcliffe’s first effort, London Irish (a good book), and that books lead, Bic (a good lead), Jay is a protagonist a reader can sink their proverbial teeth into. His cohorts (Diggsy and Karma) inspire me to ask, "Thank you sir. May I have another?"

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jennifer Jordan

Book Review: Big Jessie