Broken Ground (Jay Porter, #4) by Joe Clifford

Broken Ground (Jay Porter, #4) Reviews

• 
  Marialyce (getting closer to Italia!))

  4 keep me going with a wonderful protagonist stars
  
  Jay Porter is a good guy. He might be a bit on the rough side, a recovering alcoholic, a divorced man, and a bit resourceful in using his fists, but deep down, he is a good man. While at an AA meeting, Jay is approached by a woman Amy, who asks for his help because her sister, Emily is missing. Jay is a man who brokers house possessions (in order words cleans out houses of dead people) but also dabbles in finding people who are missing. Jay is reluctant to pursue Emily but agrees and then the mystery of her disappearance takes on that sinister, bad guys journey through New Hampshire.
  
  This is the fourth book in the series and Jay has had run ins with a powerful family, the Lombardis before and of course this family again seems to be involved in the nefarious goings on and wonder of wonders there is also some political villainy (who knew that could ever happen???) The deeper Jay digs, the more he finds and even sees a connection between his dead junkie brother Chris to the happenings he is so involved in.
  
  Mr Clifford kept the action going and in Jay Porter he has developed a character one can't help but like and hope that if ever needed, Jay would be in your corner.
  
  Thank you to Joe Clifford, Oceanview Publishing, and NetGalley for an early copy of this book.
• 
  Linda Strong

  
  Jay Porter is a man beset by demons ... demons that he is doing everything in his power to dispel.
  
  Jay is an alcoholic .. although he's been sober for months. He's lost a lot lately ... his parents, his brother, his wife and son, his job, his best friend who drank himself to death, and two women who couldn't/wouldn't handle his issues.
  
  But he is on the right path. He's started his own business which is doing well. He attends his meetings religiously ... and that's where things get a little crazy.
  
  At an AA meeting, he is accosted by a woman who is also a recovering addict. She asks for Jay's help in locating her sister, who's gone missing. She checked herself into a new rehab center and then disappeared. Since Jay has been involved in some previous missing persons that he's discovered, Amy Lupus turns to Jay.
  
  When he goes to investigate, he finds out things that relate back to the Lombardi family ... influential in their community... but there are secrets that only Jay knows ..which makes him very dangerous to leave walking around. And then things really heat up when Amy's sister is found ... dead of a broken neck.
  
  Who would want Amy dead? What did she know that she shouldn't have? The deeper Jay digs, the more poisoned the ground gets ... and the danger may be closer than he thinks.
  
  Jay is a deeply flawed character, but a good guy underneath the rough exterior. He has a lot of regrets and feels a lot of guilt, but he keeps on the path to recovery ... one day at a time.
  
  There's a lot of suspense, with several suspects to look at ... all with one motive or another ..and who does not like Jay poking his nose in their business.
  
  Although 4th in a series, this easily reads as a stand alone. There's just enough information from previous books so the reader doesn't feel as though he/she is jumping in the middle with no directional help. After reading BROKEN GROUND, it's just whet my appetite to read the others.
  
  Many thanks to the author / Oceanview Publishing / Edelweiss for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
  
• 
  Benoit Lelièvre

  I could scream the merits of Joe Clifford's writing into the void until I lose my voice, but you couldn't possibly understand unless you dedicated yourself to the Jay Porter novels like you would to a television show.
  
  Broken Ground is rewarding in a way the first three novels weren't because it unravels mysteries you weren't sure were mysteries until this point: notably, what is the Lombardi brothers' endgame. It also has Shakespearean edges as Jay Porter comes to term with his fate. Gripping, moving and low-key cerebral.
  
  Joe Clifford is one of the best novelists we have, period. But read the first three before this one. This is the Breaking Bad, Season 4 of novels.
  
• 
  Dave

  Like Block's Matt Scudder, Jay Porter spends a lot of time in AA meetings now, but this rural noir is a distinctly different animal than a gritty city crime story. It's a cold, bare New England winter. Porter's lost friends to booze, his wife has walked out, and he's eking out an existence in an apartment that ought to be condemned. Half the town thinks he's half-mad and no one seems to believe a word he says. He's the classic pulp antihero out own his own with barely anyone to lean on and maybe a pair of hitmen stalking him unless he's as nuts as everyone thinks and he's just imagining all the big bad conspiracies. Above all, though, what makes this book - and this series - there's three earlier books in the series too, all worth checking out - what makes it tick is that it's got this "Everyman thing" going in the narrative voice and it's realistic. Porter isn't exactly Mike Hammer knocking off bad guys as he walks around the block and Porter deals with child custody issues, survivor's guilt over his brother's death, and endless everyday frustrations. Hard to put down without finishing. Review copy courtesy of Oceanview Publishing.
• 
  Tim

  I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley to read and review.
  
  BROKEN GROUND by Joe Clifford is the 4th book in the Jay Porter series, and picks up with Jay at an AA meeting as he gets up the courage to tell his story to the group, but his attention is distracted by a very attractive woman who seems to be eyeing him as well.
  
  Soon after he’s finished speaking, she approaches him and talks with him as if she knows him, but also tries to b.s. him at the same time. Amy is the name of the woman, and she pleads with Jay to investigate in order to locate her missing sister Emily, who’s allegedly fled a rehab center for substance abuse, and Jay reluctantly agrees to take on the case.
  
  Amy is a girl Jay knew in his high school days, but he doesn’t find this out until later, and he remembers he and every other guy having the hots for her, and his attraction to her grows until the two enter into a physical relationship.
  
  Jay finds out that Amy’s description of her sister doesn’t match up with what he learns from others, and discovers that Emily might be in big trouble for learning about things related to the rehab center, and it’s owned by Jay’s enemies Adam and Michael Lombardi who were instrumental in the murder of Jay’s brother Chris previously.
  
  Several things take place that make Jay aware of the potential dangers to himself, family, and pretty much anyone he communicates with regarding the rehab center, or anything related to the Lombardi family, and once again strains relationships with family, friends & local law enforcement.
  
  Does the missing girl tie in with much more than what’s on the surface, and is Jay seeing things others miss, or is his perception influenced by the apparent mania he seems to be in in the absence of alcohol and proper medication for his condition?
  
  Admittedly I had a hard time rating this one, as it was very good at times, and predictable and depressing at others, as well as not having an ending to the book as if it was the season end of a television series that says “to be continued” with nothing resolved whatsoever.
  
  3 stars.
• 
  Tiger

  #4 in Clifford's outstanding Jay Porter series set in new Hampshire and we see Jay finally starting to put his life back together. He's going to AA, he owns his own company.........but he just can't resist dabbling in another missing persons case, this one a young woman who has gone missing from a drug rehab facility, which makes no sense, since this is a woman everyone swears has never taken drugs. Well, of course, that leads to Jay knocking heads with several unsavory characters while the local sheriff, as well as Jay himself, question his sanity. And all the while, the aura of his nemesis, the Lombardi brothers, looms ominously over everything. Great book ! Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Bonnye Reed

  GNab Broken Ground is one of those fast paced well plotted mystery novels that keep you up at night. Jay Porter catches you first page as he does his 9 month anniversary share and receives his chip at an AA meeting, with a fresh re-introduction to high school hottie Amy Lupus. She needs his help finding her younger sister. But Jay isn't an unlicensed private investigator any longer. If he is going to keep his ex-wife Jenny and 6 year old son Aiden safe since their move back home to Ashton, New Hampshire with her new husband Stephen, he will abide by the advice of local sheriff Rob Turley and confine his interests to his recent buy out of his long-time boss Tom Gable in their estate clearing business, Everything Under the Sun. And to keep his nose out of the Lombardi brother's business. If he can stand to do that.
  
  Winter and early spring in mountainous New Hampshire is presented very viscerally. Obviously there are people who relish such bone-chilling beauty. Broken Ground was enough of a visual to assure me that I would only want to visit between the covers of Joe Clifford's novels. I am well placed in the mountains of the high plains desert, but I am looking very forward to reading Jay Porter one through three, and hope there will be many more with this interesting, quirky character.
  
  I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Joe Clifford, and Oceanview Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.
  
  pub date June 5, 2018
  Oceanview Publishing
  Reviewed under hard bound - in fact is mobi file.
• 
  Mike Hughes

  keeps getting better and better. this is the best one yet!!
• 
  Jennifer Nowak

  *I received this ARC from NetGalley and Ocean view Publishing in exchange for an honest review*
  
  Broken Ground is the 4th book in Joe Clifford's Jay Porter series and like its three predecessors, it definitely does not disappoint!
  
  Again Jay, who never seems to learn from previous experiences, is caught up in something he shouldn't be while trying to help someone else locate a missing relative.
  
  Clifford's descriptive writing style and in-depth characterization again take you to the book's locale and to feel what the characters are feeling. The story is compelling and ends with a cliff hanger that will make you eagerly await book number 5! I so want to know what will happen to Jay!
  
  Please pick up one of these Jay Porter books, because once you do, you too will be hooked!
• 
  Elite Group

  Compelling!
  
  This is the fourth in Clifford’s Jay Porter series and, in each book, Jay seems to have even lower self-esteem and even more righteous rage!
  
  Jay’s life hasn’t been easy and, based on his experience so far, he holds no hope for a better future; but he is basically a good guy trying to keep his head down and stay out of trouble. The trouble is that trouble follows him like a hungry and stray dog.
  
  When we pick up Jay he has just qualified for his first AA token, having not touched beer for a whole 9 months. He is attending meetings and building up his house clearance business whilst coping with his PTSD following his brother Chris’s death. He is also getting over the death of his only friend, Charlie; life isn’t exactly rosy but he is heading in the right direction.
  
  Then he meets Amy at a meeting who wants him to find her missing sister, Emily. Jay’s forays into private investigation have won him no points with the local sheriff, Turley, and soon he is again stepping on toes.
  
  I actually have a soft spot for Jay, whose problems have not always been of his own making, and who basically wants to make his town a better place. However, his methods are questionable at best and before long his enemies get wind of his enquiries and the death count rises.
  
  Clifford’s novels are always fast moving with well-defined plots, interesting characters, and a style of writing which fits the environment of Lamentation Mountain and Ashton town which are depressing places in themselves. You definitely get the feeling that, as long as Jay stays in this hick town, his fortunes cannot improve, and although he feels this himself he is unable to break free from the virtual velcro which binds him.
  
  No disappointments here; Clifford delivers another satisfying volume on the trials and tribulations of Jay Porter, who is, in fact, his own worst enemy.
  
  Pashtpaws
  
  Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review
• 
  Lou

  
  Read my Interview with Joe Clifford on his new Jay Porter novel, writing, and inspirations. | More2Read
  
  The tale starts with a thirty-six year old Jay Porter in a AA meeting, explaining the facts that he had been sober for nine months living alone, lonely, with cat, and his son he sees when it’s his day, a happy part of his life since his divorce, whilst battling his occasional panic attacks.
  He finds himself attractive to Amy, they have some things in common, parents dead, both in recovery, him for alcohol, her for drugs, both have siblings with drug problem, his is dead, hers she hopes not.
  She is after something else other than companionship, she heard of his investigating jobs and needs someone tracked and found, her sister Emily.
  Ever since his brother got hold of an incriminating hard drive of one prominent family, the Lombardis, his life fell apart with the web of lies and cover up, he lost his wife and son and all he had been doing in recent times was house clearing.
  Whilst swallowing down doses of lorazepam he finds himself up against the search for the missing girl and possibly some love with his client whilst finding himself entangled in the Lombardis realm again.
  Love lost and love gained, battling with PTSD from the time of his brothers death, and possible dangers arise in the search for answers and saving.
  All crafted well, a visceral and thrilling tale evoking great locations and memorable characters, with Ray Porter’s complexities with all the lies, coverups, loss, and death he is conflict with, problems he has to solve and put to rest, inner and outer battles and tragedies, storytelling with the things that people carry.
  
  
  https://more2read.com/review/broken-ground-by-joe-clifford/
• 
  Liam Sweeny

  I've enjoyed the Jay Porter series immensely, and Broken Ground did not disappoint. It begins with estate-clearer and sometimes private eye Jay Porter, in AA, where he meets up with an old friend, with whom he sparks up, not an old romance, but a new case--the disappearance of her sister from a rehab facility owned by local heavyweights (and Jay's nemeses) Adam and Michael Lombardi. The case takes Jay on a disjointed runaway train ride through mountain passes and secrets that have a body count... and a price tag.
  
  What I liked most about this novel was the fact that throughout the story, Jay's struggling with being a better person, not just barnstorming through the world on attitude alone. He's more reflective, more vulnerable and, in trying to quit drinking, he's trying to quit so much more. The fourth step of AA is to take "a searching and fearless moral inventory," and Broken Ground is Jay Porter's Fourth Step.
• 
  Reader Views

  Reviewed by Sheri Hoyte for Reader Views (2/18)
  
  “Broken Ground” is the latest book in ‘The Jay Porter Series’ by Joe Clifford. Recovering addict, Amy Lupus, needs help. Her little sister Emily has gone missing from Coos County Center, an addiction treatment and recovery center owned by Jay’s nemeses, Adam and Michael Lombardi. Jay is averse to getting involved in anything having to do with the Lombardi brothers, but somewhat reluctantly agrees to help.
  
  The thing is, Emily Lupus is no junkie – she’s a student, interning at a local newspaper, investigating a toxic secret buried beneath the grounds of the treatment center. With mega bucks at stake, several highly influential people are motivated to keep the dark secret quiet– at any cost. When Jay learns there is a missing hard drive involved, his interest in the matter piques – he knows this case is somehow connected to his brother’s death and will stop at nothing to find the truth. Jay’s already been warned to stay out of the investigating business, but he can’t seem to help himself, and as trouble follows him wherever he goes, his meddling continues to bring disaster to the people who dare to get close to him.
  
  “Broken Ground” is such an amazing read I devoured it in two days. The writing is electric, fresh and contemporary as Clifford draws his readers in with his candid characters, chilling suspense and sinister plotline. As this is the first book I’ve read in the series, I realize I am late to the Jay Porter party—but wow—I am now a fan. All said, I can tell you that this story is so well-told that there was absolutely no point in the narrative where I felt I was missing anything. It is a solid standalone novel, but I am inspired to go back and read the rest of the series because it is so good – not to play catch up.
  
  The characters really drive this story. Clifford’s intimate relationship with addiction brings an authentic representation of the protagonist and some of the side players in the story. Jay Porter is the first to admit his flaws and it is exactly those flaws that reach out to the reader and demand your devotion. His descriptions of life inside the halls of AA and dealing with the colorful personalities found within the rooms had me howling. From the lady who doesn’t have a place to live (or a job, or any money), yet thinks her biggest issue is moving through the grief of her cat (that’s been dead for six years), to the old-timer who is a jillion years sober handing out unsolicited advice on what constitutes sobriety when he sees Jay popping anti-anxiety meds, I just couldn’t get enough. As well, Clifford also hits on the darker side of addiction and those who succumb to the disease, and pay the ultimate price. These scenes are a thousand times more terrifying than anything that could be imagined, sending chills up my spine every time.
  
  With an intense, creative plot, vivid settings and multi-dimensional characters, readers will be hard pressed to put this book down once they start reading. Jay Porter’s revitalized determination for justice at the end of “Broken Ground” promises yet another exciting story to come. Five stars to Joe Clifford for a brilliant, entertaining thriller.
• 
  Chuck Barksdale

  Thanks to Oceanview Publishing and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.
  
  Broken Ground is Joe Clifford’s fourth book about Jay Porter in one of my favorite current series. With his former boss Tom Gable moving to Florida, Porter is now working on his own buying and selling furniture and other items mostly from estate sales. The good news for him is that he’s able to see his son more since his ex-wife and her husband have returned to the area. He’s also admitting to being an alcoholic -- attending and speaking at AA meetings.
  
  At one of the AA meetings, he meets Amy Lupus, an old high school friend who he doesn’t at first admit to remembering. She���s aware of his part-time investigator skills and asks Jay to help find her sister Emily, a drug addict who is now missing after admitting herself into a new area drug treatment center. Jay at first tries to avoid helping Amy, telling her of his unlicensed investigator status but she pushes, and he reluctantly agrees.
  
  Jay’s investigations lead him into some of his past demons as he realizes that the center was built by the Lombardi brothers. Emily’s part-time job as a newspaper reporter and her excellent recent college grades may be an indication that she wasn’t a drug addict but going under cover to investigate possible unethical work by the brothers. She had found evidence of toxic soil under the new treatment center that may not have been cleaned up properly before constructing the new center.
  
  Jay struggles with his past but most everyone around him believes he’s not thinking clearly since he’s always believed the Lombardis were responsible for his brother’s death and many other problems of his local town.
  
  Broken Ground is an excellent addition to this series although I felt it wasn’t as complete a book as the others and I need more (soon please). I also felt some of the toxic references didn’t quite seem correct to me but that’s more likely because of my experience as an environmental engineer cleaning up contaminated sites. Fortunately, I read Joe Clifford is finishing the fifth book in the series. This is in addition to the new contract he recently signed with Down and Out Books. Now, I’ll be able to read more about Jay Porter as well as other books by one of my new favorite writers.
• 
  InD'tale Magazine

  3.5/5.0
  
  “Broken Ground” is part of the Jay Porter series but stands well on its own and is written in first person point of view.
  
  Read full review in the
  2018 March issue of InD'tale Magazine.
• 
  Carolyn

  Once again Joe Clifford takes us into the freezing winter of his hero's heart. Jay Porter can't catch a break although his heart is pure. I hope the next book shows him on the lam in Florida, just to see how he takes the heat. Always a pleasure.
• 
  Erinne

  Great story, with a great thrilling plot!! Look forward to more by this author! Cannot recommend highly enough.
• 
  Pratibha Pandey

  This is my first book in this series but I am happy that I did not really feel anything odd ,reading this as a standalone. Good character development , just the right amount of drama , and good humor. The mystery part is not that much spectacular but I am still waiting to read more of this series.
• 
  Scott Cumming

  I read the third Jay Porter novel way back in pre-Pandemic times before I lost the will to keep up the books I was most excited about in 2020, so it seems only fitting as we move into a post-Pandemic world that I delve back into Jay's story.
  
  This fourth instalment sees jay trying to go sober following the death of his best friend due to their shared alcoholism. At an AA meeting he is approached by a figure from his past who looks for his help in locating her sister.
  
  I know this series is deeply personal to Clifford, but he manages to write with so much compassion for those with addictions and mental health issues. None of the characters are stigmatised by the writing, even if other characters in the book do so to them.
  
  There is little to no waste in his storytelling either and he even makes his sex scenes count for something as they progress the characters and simultaneously break your heart.
  
  The Jay Porter series is a phenomenal piece of crime fiction that stays with you. Jay is much more clear eyed in this instalment than he has been, but the scars of his past linger and rise to the surface throughout. Not only by himself, but as yardsticks with which he is judged and beaten.
  
  I'm excited for the final entry in the series even if whatever justice Jay gets might not ring true in a world that continues to grow darker.
• 
  Heath Henwood

  Broken Ground
  By Joe Clifford
  
  A Jay Porter novel.
  
  Slow, dragged out plot.
  
  A lot of time is invested in character development and rolling out the plot.
  
  While is provides very detailed story background, it does nothing to engage the reader.
  
  At an AA meeting, handyman and part-time investigator Jay Porter meets a recovering addict who needs his help to locate a missing girl. In the process he discovers incriminating evidence to Lombardi Construction, which links sinister secrets. The deeper Jay digs, the more poisoned the ground gets, and the two cases become one, yielding a toxic truth with local fallout—and far-reaching ramifications..
  
  Generally the book description is better than the book.
  
  #BrokenGround #NetGalley
  
  
  www.books-reviewed.weebly.com
• 
  Michelle

  Awesome read. Love it.
• 
  Lynn

  What a absolutely fabulous crime series and the character Jay Porter you soon won’t forget..man this would make a great cable mini series.
• 
  Michelle Isler

  Okay, I will start with I love Joe Clifford's books and I love his style of writing. There is a lot of intense dialogue and the atmosphere of the novel takes on a character in itself. I am not just talking about the Jay Porter series, I am talking about all of Clifford's books. They are intense and just pull you into the setting of the story.
  Broken Ground is my favorite in the Jay Porter series. It is raw and the story flows and keeps you so engrossed that you cannot stop reading it. I seriously kept saying one more chapter and then I will go to bed. I found 5:00 a.m. rolling in and I still could not stop reading this book.
  Jay Porter is content with having his own estate clearing business. He is clean and sober and attending his meetings to make sure he stays that way. The most important things in his life are his son and his ex-wife. They are at the root of keeping him sober. Unfortunately, real life will not let him stay happy. At a local AA meeting, a young woman approaches Jay and asks him to help find her younger sister. Jay listens to her plea and realizes that he knows this ex-heroin addict from high school. Her name is Amy. Even though Jay does not want to get sucked into the investigator life again, he agrees to check out why Amy's little sister is missing.
  Amy explains that her sister, Emily, was involved in drugs and that Amy dropped her off at the Coos County Center to help her get clean. The Coos County Center is the rehab that was recently opened by the crooked Lombardi family. Amy dropped Emily off at the center but did not walk her inside the building. That was the first red flag in Jay's mind. He remembers admitting his brother, Chris, into the rehab center. There was no dropping off and leaving the person at the front gate.
  Jay finds out that Emily is an intern at the local newspaper and she has decided to do some investigating on this new Lombardi building. Unfortunately, she is getting too close to the truth of the secret that the Lombardi family is hiding and Jay's deep distrust for the Lombardi's has started to rise to the surface. As the truth unfolds, danger and tragedy surrounds everyone that is near and dear to Jay. Jay Porter may seem like a dark and moody character but he has nothing but bad luck and trouble seems to follow him every way he turns. He just cannot find that light at the end of the tunnel.
  I love the Jay Porter novels and I love the character. He is so real. I can relate to his panic attacks. I feel his frustration at just trying to make things right again in the world. Usually, the weather and frigid temperatures on Lamentation Mountain take a priority in the Porter novels. I feel like we are getting closer to the root of Jay Porter's soul in this book. It is a dark and sinister novel, but it is realistic.
  Joe Clifford is very good at writing people that you can relate to . They are real. I always find myself holding my breath and sitting up on my feet while I try to get these characters out of trouble.
  Junkie Love was my favorite book by Joe Clifford, but I have to say Broken Ground is a very close second. Clifford has always been a great writer but I definitely find he is only getting better. I highly recommend reading Broken Ground. I highly recommend the whole Jay Porter series. It is just a good noir series of books. No glitz. No glamour. Just good, raw, real life stories. Go and buy these books now.
• 
  Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller

  If you seek an inspirational thriller in Joe Clifford’s fourth Jay Porter novel, look elsewhere --- unless you can read between the lines.
  
  At age 36, estate clearer (“a fancy way of saying I collected the leftover crap no one else wanted”) Jay has dug himself into a hole with addiction issues, and the earthen walls threaten to collapse. His life is “a never-ending cycle of trading one step forward for two steps back.”
  
  Jay rents an above-garage studio he can’t afford to heat during frigid New Hampshire winters. Brutal near-death experiences cause PTSD-induced panic attacks, for which he takes anti-anxiety meds prescribed by a shrink. Not scripted are the daily beers and cancer sticks. Jay’s “brother Chris found dirt on the Lombardis. Only he didn’t understand how muddy it got. Chris was a full-blown junkie” who chose suicide by cop to escape. As teens, their parents died in a suspicious vehicular accident. Jay’s erratic behavior further estranges himself from his six-year-old son, Aiden, leaving no hope to salvage the marriage he ruined. Lifelong friend Charlie Finn drank himself to death, in 2017’s GIVE UP THE DEAD. Now why would Jay need Alprazolam and a six-pack to take off the edge?
  
  At an AA meeting attempting alcohol recovery, Jay encounters Amy Lupus, a recovering heroin addict. Younger sister Emily learned from Amy never to touch drugs, and has checked herself into a rehab facility owned by the politically ambitious Lombardi brothers, Adam and Michael. Emily faked addiction to write an exposé about the corrupt facility, under the mentorship of Paul Grogan, a Berlin Patch reporter. Emily has gone missing and Jay speaks with her boyfriend, who winds up with a screwdriver stuck in his throat shortly after Jay leaves. Soon, everyone who knew Emily encounters bad things, prompting Grogan to change his name, abandon a lifelong career, and drop off the grid in another state.
  
  Jay is not paranoid; the Lombardi bastards really are out to get him. Did he hallucinate the stranger who sliced at him with a knife? Then how did his favorite jacket get slashed? Are the incomprehensible events drug-induced imaginations?
  
  I identify with addiction issues. Four years before my mom’s overdose death, the Rolling Stones released in 1966 Mother’s Little Helper, a song that portrays someone addicted to prescribed medications. I perceive that the author intends for Jay to hit bedrock when digging himself into a hole, where he can go no lower. There’s only one way to go: Up! I sense the next installment will feature a revitalized Jay, who finally will enact vengeance on the Lombardis. “The universe strives for balance, and karma has a way of coming back around to bite you.” Perhaps in the next Jay Porter novel, karma will have lost his dentures.
  
  A former homeless junkie, Joe Clifford dedicates his life to helping other ex-junkies construct platforms for creative endeavors. Clifford pulled himself out of a drug death spiral to become a successful author.
  
  Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy