Knockout (A Holly Hands Cozy Mystery, #1) by Mia Gold

Knockout (A Holly Hands Cozy Mystery, #1) Reviews

• 
  Cathy

  Knockout by Mia Gold
  This is a quick, humorous read that grabs you until the end. Holly Hands takes a dive and finds herself in some deep dodo not just with the boxing community but also with her family. Excited to read the next in this series.
• 
  Barbara Hackel

  What you see: A woman boxer in need of money for her daughter's health and education. A promise that goes unfulfilled. An effort to collect what's due that leads to a new job. Welcome to Holly Hands' life.
  
  What you get: Dangerous yet somewhat funny employment risks. Quick thinking and focused woman. A single mother who will do whatever it takes for her daughter. You've met Holly Hands.
  
  I loved the excitement and thrill of Holly's new life and the author's characters with great descriptive details. I loved the sense of humor interspersed and assisted greatly by Frank! However some details really bothered me. How can you put an eight year old to bed, lock up the apartment, and leave her alone all hours of the night??? Especially knowing you could be arrested and not make it home?
  I felt the concept of time was stretched beyond reality several times. One in particular was when she follows a mark home from picking up his children, yet it's hours before she has to pick up her own daughter from school. Huh? I would have liked to see a better solution to leaving her daughter alone, and accurate time flow. It would help make the whole story more possible and real.
• 
  Jerry B

  “Knockout”, first mystery in author Gold’s now three-book Holly Hands set, really tested our resolve to finish every book we start. Holly is sort of an even dumber Stephanie Blum-type protagonist, mostly inept at managing her money despite a daughter who has serious (but never explained) medical problems. After throwing a boxing match (hence her nickname) so badly she was suspended for two years, she takes a job as a repossession expert with a crook she knows from high school, who shells out thousands in retrieval fees for little other than the daring required. Folly after folly grew totally tiresome, with the ongoing plot Holly’s attempt to clear her name when a Lamborghini she recovered is found with a dead body in the trunk. Meanwhile, with barely any money to her name, she’s taking her daughter to tour an exclusive private school – duh. The lame conclusion tops off a just silly story that embarrasses the term “cozy”.
  
  No more ink shall be wasted on this review, a wish we would express for the rest of the series.
• 
  Brianne

  Rating: 3.5/5 stars rounded down to 3 stars
  
  Highlights:
  🥊 strong single mother MC
  🥊 YA mystery
  🥊 female ex-boxer
  🥊 organized crime
  
  Despite this book being a “cozy mystery”, the mystery left a little to be desired. It was pretty tame and easy to solve in the end. The story was definitely more character driven than plot driven, but I loved the main character so I’ll let it slide 😉
  
  This woman was a complete badass! She is all about doing whatever it takes to protect her child and she is amazing. She kicked so many grown men’s asses in this book 😂 it was even funnier because she is constantly underestimated by them and then BOOM! They are on the floor and she is standing over them with all the power!
  
  Life lesson number 1: never underestimate a woman (especially a mother) 💕
  
  Anyway, despite the... less than stellar plot, I would definitely like to check out the rest of the books in this series! I am kind of attached to the characters now 😂
  
  (TW: death, violence, sick child, mentions of Child Services, toxic men, minor animal abuse)
• 
  LatishaLovesLit

  I started reading this book during a book club read-a-thon. If this hadn't been the case, I would have likely put it down less than halfway through. This isn't a typical cozy mystery, with more violent descriptions than most. I didn't find myself loving or even liking any of the characters throughout the story. Holly Hands is a single mother, recent former boxing pro who finds herself accepting a less than ideal offer of employment from an old friend. Overall, I wasn't a big fan of Holly's character and found her to be rather immature for the load of responsibilities she had. I will say that the discovery of the dead body was unpredictable and what kept me reading early on. I didn't find myself wanting to know more at the end of the book which is my reason for the 3 stars, it's rare that I don't want to continue on with a cozy mystery series because they are typically fun to read, but this one missed the mark for me.
• 
  Christopher Taylor

  A pretty fun mystery, with an engaging, and reasonable protagonist. Holly "hands" Aldren is a woman boxer that is in financial trouble. She takes a deal with a loan shark to throw a match in order to get paid an unstated amount of money, which she needs to help with her little girl's illness (a form of anemia).
  
  Through various circumstances, she ends up working for a minor (apparently unaffiliated) crime lord that has her do repo jobs, and in the process of these, she finds a dead body.
  
  The book swaps between Holly with her daughter, Holly trying to repo various vehicles, and Holly trying to solve the murder. At first she's ordered to by the crime boss, then the crime boss tells her to stay away but she keeps at it... because she's the prime suspect, according to the cops.
  
  It moves along fairly well and Holly's boxing training comes in handy because she's small and men keep underestimating her. And the huge unspecified dog breed she befriends helps out.
  
  Overall the book was entertaining, even if it seems as if the writer isn't 100% clear on how some things work and skates over them with few details to avoid having to give more information (like how a Lamborghini Gallardo works). The monetary troubles are really undetailed so you basically have to assume Holly knows what she's talking about when she cannot afford things, but then later is able to when she gets paid.
  
  She kinda is a bad mom, she makes promises she doesn't keep, she keeps shuttling her daughter off to a friend to do various jobs, etc. But she has a pretty good relationship with her little (unknown age) girl because the tyke is young and mom does really try even if she's not great at it.
  
  And of course, there's the evil ex, because there always has to be; the kind of guy this girl would never get involved with but somehow did because he has to be a terrible person.
• 
  Lena

  It was a solid story. I loved Holly as a fighter who was constantly underestimated but used her fighting knowledge in a realistic and logical way. Seeing the fights from her expert POV was great.
  
  Many of the other aspects of this book didn't ring quite as true. The medical issues around her daughter seemed kind of hand-wavy and served solely as Holly's motivation throughout the story. The guy giving Holly jobs seemed like he was supposed to be interesting, but there were only tiny hints and nothing to grab onto that made me want to know more. And the dog, who was supposed to be a major character, didn't do anything except for one single part of the book that was borderline cliche. I'd hoped for more to develop their bond, but I didn't feel it.
  
  I didn't really have any questions coming out of this book that I'd want answered in subsequent books. I assume she gets better at stealing cars, she'll deal with her ex, and maybe something interesting will happen with her new boss. I know part of this is because of the genre. Cozy mysteries typically don't have strong ties between books, but this one felt like it was trying and failed. Overall, not a bad read, but I don't plan to read any others in this series.
• 
  Amy

  Holly takes a dive in a fight to help pay for treating her daughter's illness, but the jerk skipped out on her. Her lead to find that loan shark and get her money leads her to "reposessing" a car with a dead body in the trunk. One thing leads to another and now Holly needs to find the real killer to get her money and stay out of prison.
  
  Here's what I didn't like: there was some continuity issues with Olivia's doctor appointments and surgeries. I felt the plot was a bit basic, and I kinda wished for once that someone wouldn't underestimate her and make her "jobs" a little more difficult. I was never worried she wouldn't get this figured out.
  
  Here's what i liked: She kicked major butt. I loved how she warned people. I believed she was a boxer. I liked Frank. So glad the pooch was rescued.
  
  Overall, this was a light cozy and easy to read.
• 
  Brittani

  Listened to most of this as an audiobook and had the ebook on the side to read also. I highly recommend listening because I felt more engaged with the story through that method.
  I enjoyed this book, holly is a strong female lead, a loving mom fighting and making sacrifices for her daughter.
  I feel like as a reader I never got the clues to figure out the case, it was mostly drama in how Holly was getting entwined in problems. Enjoyable for suspense but not if you want to be a detective alongside the protagonist.
  I loved how the author is so descriptive whenever you meet a person, you get a clear picture of what they look like. Which made the audiobook format better too.
  Overall a fun, dramatic, crime and mystery book.
• 
  Holly

  Kind of improbable even for a cozy mystery
  
  I won't summarize the story since you can get that elsewhere. I was intrigued by a main character who is a female boxer but Holly's boxing career ends early in the story. After that it's one improbable scenario after another. I was very perturbed by how often Holly leaves her 8 year old daughter alone at night in an apartment on a crummy part of Baltimore and during the day with a neighbor who has six kids of her own, never pays her because Holly is broke. On the plus side, the book is a fast read and complete, albeit with an abrupt ending. Just too much improbable stuff. I give it 3 stars for some originality but I won't continue with this series.
• 
  Joanne

  Actual rating 3.5
  A decent cozy mystery type of story. Holly is a boxer who throws a fight for a large payout that does not happen. She was doing it to get money for her daughter who has health problems and needs expensive surgeries that insurance will not take care of. She gets involved in repossessing cars to make money when she is banned from fighting. While I understand her motherly instinct to protect her daughter, she disappears a lot and depends on a neighbor to care for her child while she is out and about at different hours making money. The silly antics of her car possession stories makes the story enjoyable along with Frank a dog she gets in the adventures.
• 
  Delphia Von Heeder

  Knock Out is a cozy mystery that is a little bit different. Mia Gold has written a book where the main character is a lady boxer. Holly “Hands” has an eight year old daughter, Olivia, who is ill. Holly makes a stupid mistake that leads Holly down a dark hole which takes her to being charged with murder. Knock Out us fast paced with lots if twists and turns. I never knew what was happening next. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading book 2. I received an arc for my honest review.
• 
  Baca Buku

  For a mystery, this book is awfully slow and doesn't have much action. Holly is a disgraced boxer who takes a job as a repo person and has to solve a crime so she gets paid. It's her first time doing an investigation and yet she instantly knows how to go about it, never making any bad moves. And the police procedure - or what there is of it - is laughable.
  

  This book is in need of serious editing. Holes needed to be filled, and someone should have realised the 17 times Holly uses the term "rust bucket" describe her car.
• 
  Pat M

  The first in a new to me series, A Holly Hands Mystery, Knock Out. I gave it a 5 star rating; I enjoyed the plot, a woman fighter with an 8 year old daughter, needs a paying job fast. She gets a call from Steven asking her to come to his “office” to talk about a “job” he wants done. She is a fighter and Steven needs one of his clients, clients, to find a Lamborghini that was missing. Holly agrees. Following is an enjoyable fast paced tale with some twists.
• 
  Lorna Francis

  Refreshingly different, action packed with lots of punch! This is a truly gripping read with a strong female lead and interesting, complex characters. I will definitely be reading more in the series, the author has a great writing style and her characters are gritty and full of life. Brilliant read!
• 
  Laurel

  This was a good fast paced read with the main character being a repo person due to financial needs. It has a lot of shady characters, a little bit of language, but not too much. I was going to give it four stars, then I read the intro for the next book. I never trust an author who starts where the story ended, and calls the dog a whole different name.
• 
  J Shu

  3/23. While I admire a strong female lead, this book just didn't click with me. Holly is a female boxer with a boatload of sad situations to deal with. Granted, a sick child can cause folks to make poor decisions while trying to deal with the effects of those circumstances, but some chances aren't worth taking. I think I might pass on reading more Holly Hands novels.