Rogue Island Book

Thanks to my real life mystery book club for picking this for the month. I have not heard of the writer, Bruce DeSilva or about the series. It was great to read something completely unexpected and unknown!

Rogue Island had some good things about the book and plot

AND…

things that didn't work for me. I just can't rate this any higher.

On to the good points...

I liked the overall plot of Rogue Island with a weary, sarcastic investigative reporter named Liam Mulligan. Mulligan is trying to find out who's behind all the arsons in his old neighborhood of Mount Hope. This is set in Providence, Rhode Island and I definitely like the setting of the book.

In Mount Hope, someone is going around and torching homes. People are dying, kids are getting hurt and the fire fighters have no idea who the arson is.
Enter Liam Mulligan.
Can this reporter find out who's doing this by working his anonymous sources and patrolling the streets of Providence?

I liked the ending and how the arsons were solved. It felt very Providence and mafia like to me. This book is not for the light hearted. There's racial slang, there's a mob like feel to the book and it's definitely gritty at times.

I liked where Bruce DeSilva wanted to take this character and the overall noir vibe of the book. It had a Sin City vibe for me but there were times it just didn't work.

Here's why...

I don't think Liam Mulligan is going to be that irresistible to multiple ladies that he can just snap his fingers and attract 'em all!
For god sakes, he doesn't have any furniture in his place besides a bed, works all the time, can't quit talking about the Red Sox and can never be serious.
His constant sarcastic comments ended up working against me in the long run. I never felt that he was sad or mad about the fires and deaths.
And before all my guy friends on here start throwing darts at me, I like sports. His constant Red Sox dialogue took away from the overall plot though.

And the one major thing that bothered me the most about this character is this.

Honestly, if authors want me to feel ANYTHING for their characters, they need a better formula.

100% sarcasm + 0% emotion = Nothing
80% sarcasm + 20% emotion = You'll make me feel something! Anything.

Just make a character a bit more vulnerable and you've got the reader by the balls or girl parts.

And back to one of my earlier complaints, if you write about baseball and the Red Sox for half of the book, I'm deducting a star. I'm not reading a sports book, I'm reading a crime mystery.
All of the Red Sox and baseball took from the overall pacing and suspense of Rogue Island. It felt like filler. I just wanted Mulligan to talk about the arsons again or even how he was feeling with his old neighborhood going up in flames!

Recommended to fans that like crime mysteries and "noir" like books.