Thin Air

I have a difficult time finding authors and books I truly enjoy reading. My favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Nora Roberts, John Grisham, Dan Brown, and Nelson deMille. These writers have kept me entertained and intrigued for many many many years with fascinating fiction that combines Mystery, Intrigue, drama, and much more.... I was hoping to find a new author who could hold my interest past page 10 and I think I found her.... Lisa Gray has written a masterful book that I could not put down. I started reading it yesterday and finished it today. Thin Air is a 5 star read -- and while it is touted as a "Lee Child" type book, it is more aligned with Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch. Her character, Jessica Shaw is a hard drinking, not afraid of anything PI off on adventures and I must say this first story was awesome - missing person? No spoilers, you have to read the book. I will say that I was impressed with the character development, the flow of the story and the fact that she kept me turning pages asking "who did this awful deed" and "how is it related to the other awful deed?" I will say that I was flabbergasted at who it turned out to be in both cases and the motive. Wow! Not who I thought. I like the back and forth between characters and time lines... that made it interesting and kept the flow going. If you like the intrigue of Michael Connelly or Lee Child, you will be unable to put this book down. If you're looking for another author who writes intriguing mystery/suspense/drama fiction... this is your gal. I will be excited to read her next book.

This month’s Amazon First choices was about the same as any other month. I decided to give the private eye novel a shot, finding that it was written by an up and coming writer, a journalist from Scotland. Read on to learn what I found intriguing and disturbing. As I read the prologue, I recollected my college English Lit professor extolling the virtues of writers in different societies. American writers portrayed crime fiction in a violent fashion, while British authors tended to do so in intelligent twisting stories that tended towards cunning villains who minimized the harsh violence. Well, the author of “Thin Air” certainly did not ascribe to the typical UK, (aka Sherlock Holmes) style evident through the seventies. BLUSH FACTOR: Lisa Gray is sure to make a name for herself in the coming years. “Thin Air” comes across as a work of a seasoned author. What this means, the book is replete with adult language (eff-words and so forth) and adult situations. Violence is as graphic as the language, but not in an over-the-top manner. The romance-oriented sexual situations are stimulating, also without going too far for most people. Suffice it to state that, although greatly intriguing, this is NOT the story for your young child. It also may be just a little too raw for a few elderly folks. Having warned of the mature content, there is no way I would caution against reading this for most adults I know. Just trying to prepare you by setting the scenes without giving any spoilers. THE WRITING & EDITING: As I mentioned, it is difficult for me to believe this is a debut novel. I suppose her journalism experience, and her editing experience is a factor in her skill, but I have not come across many new writers with the skill and talent displayed by Ms Gray. Editing, incidentally, is professional. I’m not sure where to add this point, so I’ll do it here. Although I’ve not been to Simi Valley in decades, I did enjoy re-visiting the area by reading this novel. I was easily able to recollect my memories of numerous visits to the valley just beyond Chatsworth. Then again, back in those days, before Ronald Reagan, it was a quiet, peaceful, sleepy berg just emerging from its days as the backdrop for western movies and television series productions. Her description of the valley made me homesick. Well, a little homesick… POV: Alternation point of view. The prologue is first person and, in my opinion, just a bit more revealing than I was accustomed to. Certainly, those among you who choose to sample the first 10 percent will be able to decide if this is the right story for you. If it is, I am confident you will leap to purchase and will find this to be a great page-turner. Of course, for those who find the prologue to be a turn-off, they Will be none the worse off, because they weren’t forced purchase it before glimpsing the quality and tenor of the writing. EXCERPT: No excerpt needed with this crime story. The prologue well sets the tone and gives a fair assessment to the curious souls. BOTTOM LINE: My one slight caveat is the prologue. Well-written, to be sure, but, combined with the rest of the tale, it leads to a confusion and, in a good way, a ton of surprises throughout. I almost want to shout from the rooftops about the quality and pace of the writing. It is ALMOST that good. Four, maybe almost five stars. Perhaps if it had gone a little deeper into character development, I would have rated it five. I was shocked and pleased at how well a writer from the UK could describe, without going overboard, the areas of Southern California that I called home the first 25 years of my life.

Thin Air follows Jessica Shaw- a transient alcoholic who makes a living as a private investigator. One day, while looking through missing persons reports (for reasons that are not revealed), she sees a picture of a little girl who vanished 20+ years ago. Jessica immediately knows that the girl is herself... because like who believes in Occams razor nowadays. Jokes, and minor plot holes aside, Thin Air is a pretty average mystery. If the synopsis sounds interesting, you will probably like it. If you want perfect writing and tight error-proof plots, then look elsewhere. Positives: + Characters. Jessica is interesting. I liked the setup with the journalist as well. + General Plot Arc. Neutral: +/- Short. Not a ton of leads etc. Minimum investigations and suspects. Negatives: - Plot holes. Un-explained actions. Cops doing stuff without warrants. etc. - Writing. The writing is not bad. But it could stand improvement. The two reoccurring issues that stood out to me were, 1) Off/on mechanical writing, Jessica did x, then did y, then did z. 2) Misplaced descriptions. This was something that i saw in almost every chapter. While the descriptions themselves were fine, their placement in the novel messed up the flow. For example: (jessica is on a phone call) "What was the name of the school?" The line was already dead. Jessica booted up her laptop. No one tried to jimmy the door or pick the lock during the night as far as she could tell. In this example the description/world building details have no connection to the two previous paragraphs or to the starting sentence of that paragraph. There is no transition. This information would of worked better before the phone call, or after a transition sentence.

I wasn't sure what to expect but man was I not expecting was what was in the envelope. Although, I feel like Jessica knew that all along. Some good twists otherwise and also a few things I knew before I read them. Overall very much enjoyed this book.

Couldve ended with some clarity and exposure to jessica of what kind of character was the antagonist, Expect that every thing was so attentive. Thank tou.

A great read: I found it difficult to put it down. Fast paced, great story with twists leading to a great ending

Jessica Shaw is a private investigator who finds out she has been on a missing persons list since she was a toddler. Has her whole life been a lie? She sets out to uncover the truth and meets some interesting characters along the way. A really original storyline with plenty of twists along the way. This is the first in a series and i will be buying the follow up to see where this goes. I couldn't put it down

Very interesting read and was surprised at the outcome. Intriguing and well thought and written. Nice winter read, page turner.

I enjoyed reading this book and it's worth the 5 star rating. Sex, lies and greed is the root for all blackmails and murder. In my opinion it is best not to know where you come from. I recommend this book. Great story !