Hit the Road Jack (Jack Ryder, #1) (2024)

I almost quit this book several times. I think I carried on with it just to see if I was correct about the twist ending. I was, to a point. The nonsensical red herring kicked in very close to the end, along with the inept cops solving the case by doing the exact thing they should have done right at the start of the investigation but somehow completely overlooked.

The author desperately needs an editor, and perhaps figure out a few different ways to describe the same action, for example instead of saying "tears streamed across her cheeks" how about saying "down"? Down is perfectly good word and doesn't make it sound as though the character was caught in a high wind. (Also, tears pool in people's eyes, they do not pile up.)

Also it would be nice if she maybe met some children sometime to see how they REALLY speak, as the young children in this novel all spoke like adults.

Willow Rose is a prime example of people who think they are authors because they know how to use a word processor. I've always been tempted to write a book of my own and as it seems the bar has been set pretty low, why the hell not?

What could have been a mediocre book turned to the ridiculous when a five year old going on fifty something pointed a gun at his father and gave a diatribe about the evils of murder. Unbelievable as well as predictable. Whereas a good story will grab you by the throat and push you through the pages, Hit The Road Jack sort of ambled along tripping over it's own feet on occasion.

A comedy????? A mystery?????

This book was so full of holes you couldn't help stumbling through. Very unrealistic crime story. Jack was a one man police department that knew everything. This writer needs to do more research than watching TV crime. I must say even TV is more realistic.!!

Setting: Florida, USA; 2015.
Police officer Jack Ryder is a detective in a small police force based at Cocoa Beach, Florida where he looks after his teenage daughter and six-year-old twins after his wife left home and never returned. Serious crime is unusual in the small community so, when a man is drugged and his wife murdered beside him, Jack is immediately summoned due to his experience as a homicide detective in Miami. The case is initially baffling - and it is not the only murder suddenly occurring in the area. Also arriving in the community is country and western star Shannon King who, with her young daughter, is trying to escape the violent abuse of her husband Joe and ends up staying in the motel run by Jack's parents....
Despite several poor reviews, I personally liked this better than the first Rebekka Franck novel by the same author. Telling the tale from the point of view of several different characters, including the murderer himself, together with flashbacks to previous years seemed to work for me. The storyline was quite complex and there were several great twists towards the end that were totally unexpected for me and I am looking forward to reading further books in this series to discover what is in store for Jack and his family - 9/10.

Good story.

Read many books written by Willow Rose and I'm sure will read the next one in this series. But she needs a good editors, also needs to check it out after book is put on the Amazon. One good thing it was free . Yes English is my second language too, and this was my 226th book for this year and I write book reports too.

Sweet baby Jesus this was bad!! I've read a few of her other books and they were ok but this one was not! I have so many issues with this book I can't even list them.

I can't begin to tell you how much I seriously enjoyed this novel, it is by far my most favourite series by the author.
Sets a cracking pace, and despite the number of chapters, was a remarkably quick read. Warm characters and an interesting psychological plot more than holds your attention. And don't forget the stunning reveal at the end ..... flabbergasted!

Hit the Road Jack, by Willow Rose. Oh wow! I am so glad that I have finally gotten the chance to read one of the most anticipated books from the popular author, Willow Rose. This book so did not disappoint me. I was hanging to every suspenseful corner that the writer took me in this thriller.
I loved that there were a couple of scenes that had me shocked. I say I may have whiplashed my neck a couple of times, but those were the best parts to the book. I still do not know how Jack closed four cases at the same time. I mean dang, that’s a lot of paper work. The writer did a wonderful job with providing detailed information that explained actions or scenarios in the book.
This definitely helped me understand things more clearly in the book. I though having Jack as a single dad with three kids is a good action hero to have. I was happy to read that Jack spent a lot of time with his kids. His character is very close to them. I would have like seen him have a closer relationship with Emily, and share conversations with her just as he does with the twins.
I am still on the fence with introducing Shannon in as a love interest when Jack hasn’t connected that father daughter bond with Emily. Plus Emily’s character seems to except Jacks family, and it’s been ten years. I still believe that the book was a hit. I was excited to read the book and I was very much entertained by how all the stories tied together giving me a Big Bang in the end. I give this book two snaps and a, I will never look at toilets the same way again.
Until next time my fellow readers… read on!

3,5 stars, not quite 4.

I know some reviewers ripped this book apart, but it honestly wasn´t bad. Maybe it got revised since first published, or re-edited. It´s a quick reqd, nicely paced, and even though it seems a bit scattered at the beginning, in the end it all comes together.

“Ben is supposed to be in school. It's Monday morning but his parents are still asleep after a night of heavy drinking. Ben Waits patiently, even though he knows he is missing out on today's field trip to the zoo. But, when his black Labrador suddenly runs upstairs and comes down with a finger in his mouth, Ben knows he's not making it to school today at all.”

My advice, in addition to keeping your eye on the dates in the chapter headings, is to take a big breath before you start as you are going to need it! The first three chapters are intense; a murder in each! Then the plot continues with a date rape, a suicide and some gruesome murders they’re attributing to Snakecharmer, a serial killer causing havoc with women who cheat on their husbands.

The protagonist is Detective Jack Ryder, a single dad with three children; twins and the daughter of his former partner. He’s been with the Cocoa Beach, Florida Sheriff’s Department for 7 years. He’s a likable surfer and a great dad with a good heart.

The thread I think the author intends to follow through with is that childhood trauma, if not addressed, leads to a myriad of problems later in life.

Areas to be addressed:
-For characters to be believable, they need to have actions that correspond to their age group.
-A seasoned detective should have been more alert to clues.
-The police drama aspect needed more research to be believable, i.e. amber alerts needed issued

Told from many different points of view, this book has lots of characters, lots of action, lots of drama and lots of potential. Unfortunately, I won’t be reading any more in this series.

I think Ray Charles said it best, “Hit the road, Jack and don’t you come back no more…”

I was gifted this copy by Willow Rose, Buoy Media and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

"Unimpressed"

It was light on the wicked, and suspenseful. The frantic switching of point-of-view, and time-line made things disjointed and messy. The final outcome was predictable and rushed. I really didn't need the excerpt from another story; by the time I'd finished this one I was done. Nice cover though.

Choppy writing and poor character development.

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (11/10/2019)! 🎁

A bit confusing with the introduction of many characters, but they were all tied together nicely at the end. Can’t wait to read more of this series.

As a fan of mystery/detective stories, I never heard of this author, Willow Rose, and as I understand she’s been writing more in the Horror, Paranormal Romance, and Fantasy genre – and this is her first foray in the temporary detective genre.
I like Jack Ryder, Homicide detective for the county sheriff's office of Brevard County, living in Cocoa Beach, a small, quiet beach-town in Florida, bordered by water on both sides; that is the Atlantic Ocean and the Banana River, and also by Cape Canaveral and Crescent Beach. I can easily imagine it as described by the author and it sounds truly lovely and peaceful.
The main character, detective Jack Ryder is an adoring and dedicated father of three, who loves surfing and helps out as often as he can at his parents' beach hotel. Jack’s wife left him and their three children four years ago, but things are not what they seem, on that front, we later learn.
As the book starts, Cocoa Beach loses its tranquil reputation, when a woman gets murdered in her home, and her husband lays asleep beside her.
True, I find the plot to be a bit unoriginal, but the author does a good job setting the various scenes and building the multiple characters. I especially enjoy the scenes with the children – they are very credible. I love the fact that Jack’s is proud to be called a “family man”.

I read a free book by this author when I first got a kindle 6-7 years ago. I was absolutely fascinated that a person would submit a book to be published when it had obviously been thrown together with no organization, editing, or thought whatsoever. I’ve avoided getting any more of these books since then, but decided recently to download this series. The writer seems to have improved slightly since that time; she’s more prolific than James Patterson, cranking out book after book, claiming to be a “best-selling author.” The book still reads like it was written by a very precocious 12-year-old — very imaginative but with zero attention to word choice or organization. I wish Goodreads had a category for books/authors to avoid.

The author seems to be in a hurry to finish off the book. I guess even she couldn't keep up with it any longer.
The character development is non-existent in this book. When someone died, I felt nothing. And I am hella sensitive!
Characters meet for like two minutes and they start miraculously falling in love. While romance is not the focus of the book, there could have been something to explain why people seem to just fall in love when they don't even know each other. I have heard of teenage romance stories which have a better romance plot than this.
The idea seems to be nice. I wish the author had taken enough time to put in the details.

Another Willow Rose mystery/suspense only this one is set in Florida where a Police detective is caring for his young twins and the teen daughter of his police partner who was killed on the job. Living in working in a small beach town there is little for a Homicide Detective to do until a rash of unusual murders take place. As with her tales set in Denmark, this one has many twists and bounces between the here and now and earlier happenings to some of the characters, but all merging in the present. Takes a bit to get used to, but the tales a pretty good.

Despite the claim that this is a gripping serial killer thriller, I found myself thoroughly unimpressed. "Hit the Road Jack" plods along through a largely forgettable plot with charicatures instead of characters. The dialogue never sat well with me, nor did the story.

That said, it might just be that it's the wrong book for me. Plenty of people seem to have enjoyed it, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. But personally, I won't be reading any more of Rose's books.

What a tedious book

I cannot for the life of me understand why this author is popular. The lead detective, Jack Ryder, is so busy surfing and telling us about his lost wife, twins, parents, their motel and his condo that he doesn't seem to have any time to investigate. So, how to end a book about a killer without actually looking for him? Not a problem said killer jumps out in the second last chapter: yoohoo it's me, I'm the bad guy. Somebody please shoot me now.....

Not fun

It just seemed to be one grizzly murder after another. No real police work. Nothing interesting and the way it was solved was a realization that should have happened immediately on getting the test results.

If I could write and publish, that would be the day.....The author Willow Rose just did that, and for me, that’s something, so kudos!

The plot was promising, and better writing could have made this into a really, really good book. I read a lot of books that have formulaic plots, but I look past that because the writing style is both engaging and non-disruptive. Those are the things lacking in this book. Too wordy- I could have done with less words, as I know how to read between the lines. Another is the multitude of characters, that I had to go back and forth in the book - good that the Kindle has an x-ray feature! I would’ve passed off the comment on characterization but I couldn’t - there was more than one John; I think I counted three!

Anyway, when it comes to creating a story, the author definitely has it. Only because I’d like to see how Willow Rose will further evolve, I might still pick up her future works.

3.5 Stars!

This is my second Willow Rose book. I love the Cocoa Beach setting. I love the characters. The only reason I'm docking stars is due to the fact that as cute as the children are, it's hard to believe they speak in such adult language or take such adult actions. Otherwise, the story is a win. The twists and turns and tying the story up into a nice bow at the end was great. Jack Ryder is a great character. The killer and their motive was interesting. I didn't have it figured out until almost the end. I'm looking forward to continuing on with this series and checking out the rest of Willow's books.

A special thank you to NetGalley, Buoy Media, and Willow Rose for providing me with a reader copy.

This is the last book that I will read by this author. It is so ridiculously impossible for this many murders to coincide with one detective's search for a killer, all in one small area of Cocoa Beach.

Wow, what an intense ride that was. Jack is a police detective in Cocoa Beach and lands a case that takes him on a life changing journey. Definitely loved this book and how the psychology and secondary story lines always feed into each other. Willow Rose is the master of the complex plotline. Definitely another winner series here.

I definitely enjoyed this thriller of a read. The ending was predictable in my eyes, but it was still very good to hear about all these different characters stories and how all these different people got murdered. I think it all came together pretty great but the ending was just predictable.

Decent read

3.5 stars

A new series to enjoy. Likable, developed characters and a plot that kept me guessing until almost the end.

Great introduction to the Jack Ryder series! Can't wait to start the next one