Help Wanted

Pinx Video Mysteries

By: Marshall Thornton

Narrated by: Jackie Meloche

In the sixth Pinx Video Mystery, it's January 1994 and Noah is thrilled that it's been months and months since he's been involved in a murder... but then, the boys learn that Javier O'Shea (tall, dark and LAPD) has been arrested for theft of evidence. As the bodies pile up, they learn that Javier may, or may not, have run afoul of rogue cops at the notoriously corrupt Rampart Station. But what does all this have to do with a major earthquake, a poorly maintained Nissan Sentra, and Leon's mysterious past?

©2023 Marshall Thornton (P)2024 Marshall Thornton

Listen, Marshall

In my country 10 US dollars is no little money. It's the eighth of my monthly payment from the government as a student. I live alone.

The overarching story takes the main stage on this one, which I welcomed. But clearly our author has lost some of the steam that made the other five so readable. I mean you Marshall, yes. It felt like a movie-special for a tv series. Some of the warmth has disappeared, the interactions are not as organic or magnetic. I feel like the long-gap between this one and the one before is responsible for that.

On the other hand this one is clearly the most well-plotted one of the bunch. The story is much more meaty, the brisk pace of prose is replaced by a sense of purpose. I feel like you finally have an endgame or finally have decided to pave our coarse to the said endgame.

The twist at the end has a lot to do with police brutality--and I feel like you've tried to tie it to the rest of the storylines. And honestly, it didn't work. Because the rest of the story is not about police brutality. It was about corruption through strictly monetary reasons, which could tie in but you didn't go that way. Without even the thematic build-up, the impact of the scene is just: "huh." You can't expect people to feel things in a novel where people die left and right just because "conscience". You have to rile them up first. And I mean it when I say, it could have been just so much more. Both its political resonance and narrative role.

Now, the reason I brought up the 10 dollars is that I'm a fan. I want to see the rest. I want to hear the rest. I thought this was the best I could do to support that. Thanks for everything.

Love the series but…

I love this series but this book falls short of the series’ normal excellence. I would pass this one up.