ERIC BEETNER - THE YEAR I DIED SEVEN TIMES (2015)

Synopsis/blurb.....

Deaths = 7 Body count = 1

Well, okay, there were more bodies than that once the year was over. But for me, I wasn't going to let a little thing like death stop me from finding out what happened to the girl of my dreams.

* * * * * 

In this one-of-a-kind novel, amateur investigator Ridley tests the limits of what a man will go through for true love. With the help of trained assassins and a stoner best friend, Ridley is thrown head-first into a dark world of drugs, kidnapping and violence. As a detective, he's not the best. Not even close. But Ridley is determined to find his girl -- or die trying.

I've covered this on the blog in seven separate posts from reading episode one back in November, 2016 to finishing the last installment in October.
So more for my own amusement than anyone's else.....

Overall impression - a solid 300-odd pages of entertainment; enjoyable, amusing without always being laugh out loud funny with a touch of profundity at times as our hero, muses on life and death all the while investigating his Japanese girlfriend's disappearance.

Our main man Ridley dies seven times in all, (perhaps he's in possession of some feline DNA) as these minor inconveniences, prove a mere irritant in his relentless quest for the truth. Relentless, apart from the times when he kicks back and tries to relax and forget Miho.

To get the best out of this, park your skepticism at the door, buckle up and enjoy the ride..... death and lots of it, Japanese gangsters, best friends, spiteful flatmates, the shadow of a long time dead father - one with a legendary status as an FBI agent, his one-time partner now a hit man, an invitation to star in a porno film, some intimidation and torture.........and lots more beside. All presented with a deft touch and some disarming humour, which stops this being just another read with an insanely high body count.

I'd definitely sign up for some more Ridley adventures should Beetner choose to give us the next chapter or two in his life.

4 from 5 

I do like Eric Beetner's work, although to be fair there's more of it unread than actually enjoyed to date. Hopefully 2018 will be the year of reading Beetner, as well as a few other favourites.

11 unread plus bits... so I'm a fan then!

4 to come on here!

I thought I had enjoyed more from him than this one, but maybe not - Over Their Heads - with J. B. Kohl

Eric Beetner's website is here and you can catch him on Facebook here and over on Twitter - @ericbeetner

Read in October, 2017 (as well as November, 2016 and a few months in-between)
Published - 2015
Page count - 310
Source - purchased copy (albeit in a sprawling 7 episode format)
Format - Kindle