Ceepak & Boyle are in deep trying to solve a suicide or murder of a corporal involving an Army platoon. Ceepak lives by the code & is having a hard time with the active military guys that are either lying, covering up or blaming others for the death. Enter in politicians, Ceepak's horrible father, a new partner for Boyle, & pirate thieves & drugs. There's a load of mystery, mayhem, and red herrings. We get a little more information on Ceepak's past and family. Can't wait till next book! ( )

Road trips, dog walks and gardening have given me time for several audio books including the two next books in Chris Grabenstein's John Ceepak mystery series. I enjoy the series, narrated by Ceepak's partner, Danny Boyle. Boyle has worked his way up from summer police support to a full-fledged member of the force. He has a fondness for his straight-laced partner and in Hell Hole and Mind Scrambler, we learn more about Ceepak's past, meeting his miserable, alcoholic father who exists just to make Ceepak's life miserable. I'm sure we haven't heard the last from him either. Hell Hole dealt with the wars in Iraq.

Both books were good although the latter, Mind Scrambler, was darker than the others in the content, perhaps because it was set in Atlantic City, rather than the sleepy hamlet of Sea Haven where Boyle and Ceepak normally do their work.

Just be aware that, while these books have elements of a cozy mystery, they are much more hard-boiled.

The mystery itself is pretty good, but the dialog is unbelievably bad. Danny Boyle talks like a teenager who is immature for his age. I don't know what Cheepak is supposed to be like, but he talks like a computer with a limited set of stock answers to all questions and situations. Even when Cheepak encounters his father, where there ought to be some emotion, he has none. It's like a comic book: Very good, Danny! Use logic, Danny! Here's a pat on your head, Danny. Danny: Wow! How did Cheepak figure that out?

Duh.... The whole is LESS than the sum of each part. I will not be reading any more in this series.

I listened to the audio version about 5 years ago, leaving a review on audible but not here. The narrator, Jeff Woodman, turns Cheepak into a blockhead, but I cannot fault him too much. He isn't given much to work with. ( )

If you’ve read any of the John Ceepak series, you already know the setup. If you haven’t read any of the series, what are you waiting for?

The book opens with Danny and another officer investigating a noise complaint. When they arrive, they find some soldiers celebrating a bit too zealously. While there, a phone call comes in that one of their troop has been found dead in the bathroom at a rest stop nearby, an apparent suicide. Danny offers to drive the soldier to the rest stop to identify the body. While observing the scene of the crime, something about it bothers Danny and he takes the opportunity to take a picture using his cell phone. The next day Danny shows the picture to his partner, Officer John Ceepak. The two officers proceed to launch their own investigation and quickly determine the soldier did not die of suicide but from murder.

I was relieved to find that John Ceepak is still a man who does the “right thing”, someone you can rely on and admire. And the secrets of Ceepak’s past are being slowly revealed with each book. Danny is slowly growing as an officer and a man, but retains the “golly gee” enthusiasm that makes him such an appealing character. And I’m glad he seems to have finally found a girlfriend. The setting of the book, a New Jersey resort town called “Sea Haven”, is just fun to read about. I look forward to the next book, which I’m now assuming will be set mostly in Ohio. I can’t wait.
( )

My love affair with this series and with the characters of Ceepak and Boyle continues. In this fourth book, Danny is beginning to show how much he's learned from the veteran Ceepak, whose stepson sometimes thinks of him as a combination overgrown Boy Scout/ Dudley Do-Right. Danny is beginning to shed his lackadaisical beach dude - good time boy persona. Oh, he still wants to have a good time, but he's finding that he has a knack for being a good cop, and he wants to be an even better one. Even Ceepak has mellowed a bit with the change in his home life, and readers get to see why he's been estranged from his father for so long.

This series has a lot of heart, and a lot of humor. It has two characters who can easily charm their way into readers' hearts, and these two do not remain static; they've been gradually changing from book to book. Heart, humor, characters-- and action sequences that grab you by the throat and don't let you go until they're good and ready. Add all those to a first-rate "locked stall" mystery filled with twists and turns and characters that are difficult to decide if they're in the Good Guy or Bad Guy categories.

My only complaint is that these books read much too quickly. Once I start, I don't want to stop, and when I come to the end, I immediately want to grab the next one and sink right down into the pages. You can start this series anywhere, but if you love marvelous characters like I do, you're going to want to start at the very beginning (Tilt-a-Whirl) so you can watch Danny Boyle grow up and John Ceepak mellow. Whichever path you choose to take, all I really recommend is that you read one. You'll be glad you did. ( )