REVIEWED by Jay V.
TITLE: School of Fish
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
SERIES: Fish Out of Water #6
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 368 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 15, 2020
BLURB:
Jackson Rivers has been learning how to take care of himself so he can be there for Ellery Cramer, but after eight weeks of healing, body and soul, he’s itching to get back to work. Finally Ellery gives him a simple task: pick up a file on a kid who probably didn’t commit murder but who refuses to participate in his own defense.
Nothing is ever that easy.
A horrifying game of connect-the-dots leads one case to another, to the mob, to the local high school… and a bottomless list of potential suspects and victims. The case has a lot of moving parts, and Jackson and Ellery have to work fast to make sure the machinery of the mob doesn’t mow down everyone they care about—or rip them apart.
After a year of living together, Ellery is learning to accept that Jackson can’t let an injustice stand. Together they fight to keep kids out of jail while the streets of Sacramento threaten to explode. They’d better hope they’ve learned enough about each other to keep it together, because for this case, school is the most dangerous place to be.
REVIEW:
Jackson and Ellery are back at it again. Jackson really needs to recover from their last adventure and he’s pushing to get back to work. Trying to ease into their business again starting with a simple errand, but we all know nothing is easy when Jackson is involved.
I have to admit why my review is so late from when this released: I had not read book five and needed to catch up. And I realized that I was reading the series oh-so-slowly because I really love these guys and the universe they occupy and never want it to end. As a side note, if you haven’t read the bonus story at the end of book five, I highly recommend you not miss it – I love me some Lucy Satan. And so I slowly savored both books for far too long.
Writing a review on book in a longer series isn’t easy as I never know whether to plow right in with the assumption everyone has read the others or pitch reading this as standalone, which you can. You can be either, but if you’re the later, I highly recommend you start from the beginning, though where that is can be a muddled affair. The series weaves so many of Lane’s books outside the direct series it’s almost mind blowing. She’s taken the best of her characters and thrown them all together – some references you’ll get immediately – the tie in with Racing From The Sun (one of my faves from Lane), Shades of Henry and the Johnnies series come to mind. It would almost seem ludicrous that there’s that many weave ins from other books, but Lane is a master at her craft and makes the stories seem seamless. I don’t think there’s a map out there that shows the relationships to all the books and a good reading order but if you know of one, let me know here or in FB. And if no one has a post or file outlining it, I’ll volunteer to be tribute and create it. There are so many tie ins amongst her series. Maybe just read all of her work? That would cover it.
Oh, and reading her books almost makes me want to move to Sacramento (almost, I said….)
Now to get to the real story in this book. Lane weaves a wonderful tale of a case that seems to be fairly straightforward but goes sideways pretty quickly, bringing in ties and relationships to other not so savory groups. As we get some very strong cross over from Racing, it always make me happy as I love me some Sonny and Ace – I’m still vying for those guys to keep the love going against all the odds.
You’d think we’d get tired of Jackson and Ellery getting themselves in trouble, but Lane is always creative in creating new sticky situations for the couple. It has a fun and snark that is signature to the series. The same things keep happening to the two, but in such different ways makes it more comical. Having them run their own firm has been a great set up for them, as they can tackle the cases that need their care and focus. I won’t say much more about the story itself, since half the fun of these books is finding out for yourself as they unfold. I’m not always trying to guess the end but just hanging on white-knuckled for the crazy ride that is their lives.
When will the series end? I have no idea but I hope that Lane continues until they are both in walkers – they are just that much fun.
RATING:
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