Blog Tour: THE GROUP by Kevin Doyle

THE GROUP

by Kevin R. Doyle

 

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GENRE:  Mystery

 

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BLURB:

 

Sure, Ron Green had made a mistake, but it wasn't one that millions of other guys hadn't made before him. And maybe he deserved some sort of punishment, like his wife leaving him or his kids hating his guts. But this? Being the main suspect in a single murder was bad enough, but at the same time knowing he was a potential victim of a serial killer was even worse. However, before Green could convince the cops of his innocence, he first had to convince them the serial killer actually existed, and at the moment they weren't believing a thing he said.

 

 

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Excerpt One:

 

Hollis fell silent as the ME went about her business although even he could pretty much guess what had happened. With no exit wound, the small caliber bullet had no doubt buried itself somewhere inside the skull, probably after ricocheting around for a while.

 

“So how many does this make?” she asked without looking up. “Have you all hit the triple digits yet?”

 

 “Actually,” he said, “we passed the hundred mark at the end of last month. I’m not sure what number this one makes.”

 

“Well,” the ME said as she stood up and stripped off her gloves, “I won’t be able to put anything down officially till I get him on the table, but it’s pretty obvious what happened here.”

 

“One bullet back of the head,” Hollis said.

 

“Right. Which gets back to the oddity.”

 

“How did he end up lying face up?”

 

 “Exactly. Even a .22, in the back of the skull, should have sent him tumbling forward. This looks almost apologetic. Could it have been some sort of a robbery?”

 

 “That’s the nice thing about it, Hollis. My part’s easy. I just have to come up with the means. You guys get to do the whole motive and opportunity thing.”

 

Hollis grimaced as she walked off.

 

“Oh by the way.” She turned back to him. “I checked with the office before I left. This makes number one hundred twelve for the year. And only sixteen days to go.”

 

 

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 Review: All he wanted was a job. In fact, after months of unemployment, he really needed it. But the rejections just kept coming. No one would give him a break.

Meanwhile, Ron—father, husband, student, teacher—has just found out that his ex-lover was murdered and was worried about being the prime suspect.

The premise grabs you right away. Ron is practically nerve-wracked about being the prime suspect. When talking to the cops, we find out that Ron met the woman at a focus group. Ron tells his whole story about how he met her and how their affair got started. I wasn’t sure how the nameless guy looking for a job tied into all this. And what about the dead guy with a bullet hole in head in the first chapter?

At times, the story hit a lag, slowing the whole thing down. When a second woman was found dead, it becomes apparent that the deaths may be connected to the focus group they were all in. Supposedly, this group was for a senator at the time. At this point, the read starts feeling too long. I kind of expected a quicker investigation and a riveting mystery. I really don’t think this story needed 50 chapters. There were just too many holes that didn’t quite fill in all the way and I wasn’t sure how they fit the rest of the story. Primarily what interested me was Ron being the murder suspect and who the real murderer was.

This was a fairly nice read about murders that some crime aficionados might enjoy. I just think it could’ve been better. 

Rating: 3 stars

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

A retired high-school teacher and former college instructor, Kevin R. Doyle is the author of numerous short horror stories. He’s also written four crime thrillers including The Group and The Anchor, and one horror novel, The Litter. In the last few years, he’s begun working on the Sam Quinton private eye series, published by Camel Press. The first Quinton book, Squatter’s Rights, was nominated for the 2021 Shamus award for Best First PI Novel.  The fourth Sam Quinton book, Clean Win, was released in March of 2023.

 

Web site: www.kevindoylefiction.com  

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kevindoylfiction  

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6473241.Kevin_R_Doyle

 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CGB2QV4

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-group-kevin-r-doyle/1119265954?ean=9781509239351

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Group-Audiobook/B0BRQZZQGK

Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=LO-SswEACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=2

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-group-29

 

 

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