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Review: Back in Black (McGinnis Investigations #1) by Rhys Ford

There are eight million stories in the City of Angels but only one man can stumble upon the body of a former client while being chased by a pair of Dobermans and a deranged psycho dressed as a sheep.

That man is Cole McGinnis.

Since his last life-threatening case years ago, McGinnis has married the love of his life, Jae-Min Kim, consulted for the LAPD, and investigated cases as a private detective for hire. Yet nothing could have prepared him for the shocking discovery of a dead, grandmotherly woman at his feet and the cascade of murders that follows, even if he should have been used to it by now.

Now he’s back in the dark world of murder and intrigue where every bullet appears to have his name on it and every answer he digs up seems to only create more questions. Hired by the dead woman’s husband, McGinnis has to figure out who is behind the crime spree. As if the twisted case of a murdered grandmother isn’t complicated enough, Death is knocking on his door, and each time it opens, Death is wearing a new face, leaving McGinnis to wonder who he can actually trust.



This is 100% a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”.

‘Back in Black’ is a book for the fans.

And it’s not that I disliked the original Cole McGinnis series - in fact, I quite enjoyed the audiobooks. But Cole and Jae-Min just aren’t my favourite Rhys Ford couple.

‘Back in Black’, and presumably the entirety of the new McGinnis Investigations series, is for those fans who would absolutely love to know what happens next.

Jae-Min and Cole’s story got the happy ending that they deserved in book 6 of the original series.

It had a finality to it - the two men had finally worked through their demons and gotten the answers that they needed to truly move forwards in life together.

So for me, ‘Back in Black’ started dragging pretty early on and never really picked up.

In particular, I was not at all a fan of the repetitive monologues and introspections on the same few parts of Cole’s life. Off the top of my head, Cole’s thoughts seem to mainly cycle through these topics on any given day:
  • How loving Jae brought him back from the post-Rick brink
  • How he and Jae had crappy families
  • How he and Mike became better brothers
  • How Bobby became a surrogate brother
  • How Claudia became a surrogate mother

Again, these are all character and relationship dynamics that I’m sure fans of the series love and are more than happy to read about. But unfortunately, I just didn’t connect.

That being said - I did enjoy the mystery plot. I’m a fan of Rhys Ford’s brand. Give me all the explosions, gun fights, randomly-appearing corpses, and near-death scenarios you can throw at me!

The latest mess that Cole managed to get himself into was definitely entertaining.

Feel free to completely disregard this review, particularly for the superfans of Cole and Jae-Min. Your mileage may vary!



A review copy was provided.


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