SOUTHERN POISON by T Lynn Ocean
SOUTHERN POISON is another in the series of “Jersey Barnes” novels from T Lynn Ocean. Once again the “retired” security specialist living in Wilmington, North Carolina tries to tone her life down a notch; but every time she thinks she is out the government pulls her back in.
So in SOUTHERN POISON Jersey is back working for the government as an undercover “observer” or so the government thinks. But our Miss Barnes can never just be an observer; she has to be in the thick of things. In this book things get pretty thick.
In addition to her security work Jersey also has a pub to run, a father to tend to and keep out of trouble, a boyfriend to keep happy and his daughter to guide along the way. That’s a lot of irons to have in the fire and Jersey is one busy woman.
The undercover work turns up a local terrorist who plans to make a big explosion in the near future. Jersey enlists the help of Ox, her boyfriend and Pub manager. Ox’s daughter has moved to Wilmington to be near her Dad and Jersey ends up with the girl at her place.
Her father has stumbled into a career as an artist of sorts and manages to intrude on Jersey’s private life and her business. Ox’s daughter has been selected as model and spokesperson for a type of temporary tattoo set and this leads to complications. In this book if one plot line is good then five more must be even better. The way they are all given proper coverage is a testament to Ocean’s writing skills.
Jersey Barnes just keeps getting better and so does T Lynn Ocean. This writer has always been good at plot development but she is now hitting her stride in character building. In this book there is a large cast of characters and by book’s end you feel as if you know each one of them in depth.
There is a lot of action in this book, a lot of suspense, and thankfully a large dollop of humor thanks to Jersey’s father. When a story is this well rounded it has to be enjoyable and this one certainly is. You will have one heck of a good time reading SOUTHERN POISON.
If you are like me when you finish this book you will already be anticipating the next Jersey Barnes adventure. Let’s hope it isn’t too long a wait. You hear that, T Lynn.
SOUTHERN POISON is published by Thomas Dunne Books. It contains 310 pages and sells for $24.95.