Bea Reviews The K Team by David Rosenfelt

Series: The K Team #1
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 24th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
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Blurb from goodreads:

From bestselling mystery author David Rosenfelt comes a new series – a spinoff of the much beloved Andy Carpenter mysteries – about a dynamic new investigative team featuring a determined former cop and his loyal German Shepherd.


Corey Douglas and his K-9 partner, Simon Garfunkel, have recently retired from the police force. Not ready to give up the life yet, they come up with a proposal for fellow former cop, Laurie Carpenter, and her investigating partner, Marcus. Laurie and Marcus – who help out Laurie’s lawyer husband Andy on cases – have been chafing to jump back into investigating on their own, so they are in.

They call themselves the K Team, in honor of Simon. Their first job as private investigators comes to them from Judge Henry Henderson, who's known as a very tough but fair judge, and they've all come up against him in court at one time or another. Though it's hard to believe, Judge Henderson is being blackmailed and extorted, and he doesn't want to involve the police--he needs the K Team to figure out why.

My Thoughts:

What can I say about The K Team? Well, it didn't wow me. I liked it okay but it wasn't anything special. If I continue with the series, I'll check the books out from my library. I admit, the dogs on the cover were a selling point for me when I requested the book. Sadly, the dogs, including Simon, are a small part of the story, secondary characters at best. Also, the blurb says the team is named in honor of Simon, the former K-9 dog, but that's not actually mentioned in the book.

What I liked:

1) The main characters are all middle aged, 40s and 50s. Hell yeah! Older characters are more common in mysteries than they are in romances but it still makes me happy to see them.

2) Realistic pacing. While the pace of the story sometimes frustrated me, it seemed real for what was actually happening.

3) Grounded in reality. I read this after several suspenseful, action filled mysteres. I enjoyed them, but they didn't always feel real. This had one heck of a criminal conspiracy that sometimes stretched credulity, but even so it felt more real-life and plausible.

What I disliked:

1) The main character, Corey, was in some respects a cliche - single, afraid to commit, a player, a loner. He evolved a bit during the story but it was hard to warm up to him at first as he was...bland. He could have been any cop turned PI in any mystery novel. We don't get POVs from the rest of the team, but we got them from some of the villains, and a couple times from the K Team's client.

2) The pacing. I know, I know, I said earlier that it was realistic, and it was, but it was also slow as heck. I expected a more action oriented mystery, and there is action, but it's much more a procedural. SO if that's your jam, this is your book.

3) I didn't actually care what happened. I mean, I did finish the book so I guess I was mildly interested, but I wasn't invested. It wasn't a page turner, it's not a must read.

Verdict:

"The K Team" is a decent story with a pretty clever mystery. It's a not a must read but it will help you while away a few hours.