Foreign Deceit (David Wolf Mystery Thriller Series)

I’ve come back to book 1 to leave a review for the series - you won’t want to miss any! I’ve enjoyed this intelligent, engaging, and entertaining series more than most. There’s a smattering of bad language but I was too invested to stop for the handful of objectionable words. These are well written and well edited. There’s no predictable phrases, scenarios, or storylines. Characters are well-developed and fleshed out. I only wish Jeff Carson could write them as quickly as I read them. I’m glad golfing didn’t work out for him 😁

Colorado Deputy Sergeant David Wolf's life is suddenly interrupted with news that his brother, who has been living and working in northern Italy, has died. He is at a crucial point in his police career, being just days away from potentially being voted by the town council to replace the retiring Sheriff for the County, and he is faced with a serious conflict with his rival for that job, the son of one of the council members. Still, he has no choice and travels to Italy, quickly becoming suspicious as to the cause of his brothers death. The local police (carabinieri) have already ruled that the death was a suicide, but they reluctantly agree to cooperate with him for a short time as he looks into his brothers recent activities leading up to his death. Wolf soon finding a suspicious Romanian underworld in the small Italian town that he comes to believe had something to do with what he now considers to be his brothers murder. The Italian aspect of the story adds an unusual atmosphere and flavor, and the attractive female carabinieri officer who is assigned to work with Wolf is also an interesting element to the story. I found this to be an easy and enjoyable read, not particularly sophisticated, but good enough to cause me to obtain further books in the series and see how Wolf's life will develop. The one frustration with the story is the cliff-hanger ending, requiring the reader to pick up book 2 in the series in order to find out what happens next: The Silversmith . I did that, and am hoping that I will not be disappointed.

Jeff Carson is one of my new favorite authors! All of his David Wolf books are great! In the first book,Foreign Deceit, we meet Deputy Sergeant David Wolf, a smart detective in a small Colorado mountain town. He is a local boy whose father was previously the local sheriff, killed in the line of duty. David has grown up, played football, served in the Army, joined the local force, and is recognized among his coworkers as their hope/choice for the next Sheriff appointment that will be voted on during the town council meeting next week. A missing teen is found dead at the base of a cliff on one of the local trails, and in the middle of the death investigation, David is attacked and nearly killed by another deputy who is competing with him for Sheriff . Before David can deal with what happened, he receives word that his brother who living abroad in Italy has committed suicide. That both awful and suspicious because David has recent email from him in which he seems happy. David drops everything to fly over to Italy to bring his brother home and to get some answers about what really happened. He has just a week to figure out what happened to his brother and to solve the suspicious death of the local teen. The book is full of action and twists that will have you not wanting to put it down. I highly recommend reading this and all of the books in this series.

The writing was good and the storyline straightforward (minimal twists or turns) but very enjoyable. This is book 1 in a series and I will be interested to see how the main character develops.

Ex-army Ranger, cop David Wolf, in the middle of an investigation in Rocky Points, Colorado, learns his brother John was murdered in Italy but the local police have ruled it as a suicide. So, without knowing a word in Italian, he travels to Lake Como to investigate, and gets mixed up with an international crime cartel. Foreign Deceit is great escape fiction written in the tough guy style of James Patterson. A fast-paced cliffhanger. I was racing though it until the wee hours to see whoudunit. The conclusion took me by surprise, though clues were embedded throughout the story. I loved the idea of an American cowboy cop meets the Italian carabinieri, and the story within a story framework (plot, sub-plot). So, I was willing to overlook the fact that the protagonist couldn't really solve a crime in one week in Italy. It's clear that the author has spent time in Colorado and the Italian Alps, and his veracity shines through in his writing. There's wit and intelligence. No fluff n' stuff; lean meat-and-potatoes prose. But too many awkward sentences spoiled the flow--especially in the scene where Connell tries to kill Wolf. Inadvertently comedic: "There were definitely three pairs of shoes pointing up the trail.." made me laugh. Shoeprints? But Jeff Carson's new professional editor missed a few errors and typos. Wrong words and verbs: "Burton...had...given over the reigns to Wolf" and "Rossi took the reigns...". Reins, Dude. Reins. A horse bridle has reins, a king reigns. " Wolf laid back fast, grabbed underneath the log," and "He laid back and rolled..." Laid? Really? Cluck, cluck, cluck. How about "leaned"? She..."laid down some coins.." is OK, but how about "tossed"? Avoid the layed/laid controversy altogether. (Lie is intransitive. lie, lay, lain (animate); lay is transitive. lay, laid, laid (inanimate)--two different verbs.) Weak words: Jeff repeatedly used the word "property" several times, when he should've used "grounds" to describe the observatory setting. It's not a real estate listing up for sale. There are other level words besides 'flat." Wrong punctuation. "No dad." needs to be capitalized to "No, Dad" when it's a direct address. (Otherwise, it means he has no dad!). "My dad" (a generic noun) is lower case. Jeff also needlessly capitalized generic nouns, (the Upper trail). Needs another edit. Amazing first novel debut. I look forward to reading The Silversmith (David Wolf #2), Alive and Killing (David Wolf #3), and Deadly Conditions (David Wolf #4). David Wolf is an interesting, compelling character.

I started with Book 7, now I'm compelled to read all of them from the start. Book 1 down, I've just bought 2 and 3 I'm sure they won't disappoint.

Good read. Will purchase others by this author

I'm slightly confused as to the start of this book. It opens with a dysfunctional family, a couple of missing kids, a found body, that all leads to a suspicious death - and that is what is confusing me. It all sounds so familiar! This book has been sitting in my carousel for some time, I think it's the only Jeff Carson book I've ever read, yet when I started to read it from 0% I really thought I'd been there before! Is it me? I am not citing plagiarism, it is just that it reads so, so familiar. This has no negative effect on this book. Well the book itself I found quite engaging. From the opening few chapters set in the USA we are suddenly whisked off to Italy, along with our hero / lead character for a completely separate and unconnected storyline. This is the main body of the book, although our hero does keep in touch with back home and ultimately the book returns to the opening to close off that part of the story. I found it easy to read, to pick-up and put down, which for me is how I like a book to be and the story links itself together as the clues fall into place, with a few distracting red herrings present to occupy the mind, but I don't want to give anything away. Overall a nice book as a bedtime read, to carry around or take on holiday.

Bought as a gift, but enjoyed apparently

Quite enjoyable, basic sort of theme, but looking forward to reading some more in the series.