8 1/2 out of 10
I enjoyed this book very much. I love the characters and incorporating the dogs. Excellent series. Keeps you guessing all the way through. I just started on book 2!
This book was a page turner right from the start. Looking forward to getting a copy of the next book in the series.
SO... what makes your skin crawl? Being tied up and staked to the ground over a fire ant hill? Being dropped into an underground room filled with poisonous scorpions? How about trapped in a car with the most venomous snakes known to mankind? And spiders ... big, hairy spiders?
That's what you get in this book and a whole lot more. For those who have followed Alex Kava's Maggie O'Dell series, you will not be disappointed in this book. Although a start to a new series, Maggie plays a very important part in introducing you to Ryder Creed ... an ex-military man who now trains and handles dogs.
Some are cadaver dogs, some are drug sniffing dogs, and some are just dogs that his business partner rescues just to be dogs.
The case that Maggie is investigating bumps right into the young girl that Ryder rescued and is hiding and who is being used as a drug mule.
Engrossing book ... terrific author .... compelling characters.... riveting action
5 stars from me
That's what you get in this book and a whole lot more. For those who have followed Alex Kava's Maggie O'Dell series, you will not be disappointed in this book. Although a start to a new series, Maggie plays a very important part in introducing you to Ryder Creed ... an ex-military man who now trains and handles dogs.
Some are cadaver dogs, some are drug sniffing dogs, and some are just dogs that his business partner rescues just to be dogs.
The case that Maggie is investigating bumps right into the young girl that Ryder rescued and is hiding and who is being used as a drug mule.
Engrossing book ... terrific author .... compelling characters.... riveting action
5 stars from me
I enjoyed this installment in the Ryder Creed/Maggie O'Dell series. When I began the book I was afraid I had read it before, because this is listed as Ryder Creed #1, so being a long time since I read another book by this author, I found Ryder familiar and thought I read the book before, which was not the case. Ryder apparently is now having his own series spin off from the Maggie O'Dell series. She plays a huge part in this one so it is hard to justify the Ryder Creed #1. That being said, it was a quick read with a lot of thrills and really a strange plot that I didn't think could ever come together, but it did! Can't wait for more.
I'll start with I really enjoyed the book. BUT... could we leave a few more loose ends? I think it should have ended with, stayed tuned next week. Talk about leaving a reader hanging yikes! The next one better come out soon!
The beginning of a new series by Kava, Ryder Creed is ex-military and now has a business and a partner that train dogs for different aspects of helping the law find evidence etc.
As always in a new series you have to introduce the characters, give them a background, etc. so it might get into more details than you want but I didn't think so, I think Kava did a good job of sticking with the story and making the chapters short, which makes it easier reading, and keeping the book under 350 pages, that makes for a tighter story without unnecessary descriptions and page filler.
As always in a new series you have to introduce the characters, give them a background, etc. so it might get into more details than you want but I didn't think so, I think Kava did a good job of sticking with the story and making the chapters short, which makes it easier reading, and keeping the book under 350 pages, that makes for a tighter story without unnecessary descriptions and page filler.
Last September, I happened to read an article about the top mystery series featuring working dogs, and Alex Kava's Ryder Creed series was on it. I've already sampled the others on the list and thought that it was high time I cracked open Breaking Creed. Boy howdy-- once I did, I didn't want to stop reading!
Breaking Creed has all the hallmarks of a thriller: the breakneck pace, lots of action, multiple locations, and just the type of loathsome bad guys that made audiences boo! and hiss! in the old silent movie theaters. If that was all it had, it would be a good book, but it has a lot more.
I loved getting to know Creed and seeing the perfect set-up he has for his dogs-- the kennels, the fact that he trains rescue dogs, and that he's building facilities for a veterinarian. I pretended that I was part of the audience in one of those old silent movie theaters when I learned what many of his neighbors were doing, and then there was the pleasure of seeing Creed at work with his dogs. I'm the type of person who believes one of the best things in life is to find oneself in the middle of a romping pile of puppies, so you know I'm thrilled with the burgeoning subgenre of working dog mysteries.
There are some interesting secondary characters as well, like young Amanda and Jason, a vet who served in Afghanistan. Having Maggie O'Dell make an appearance from Kava's other series undoubtedly brought many Maggie fans over, but I'd never read a Maggie O'Dell mystery before. Guess what happened? Now I've added the Maggie O'Dell series to my Need-To-Read list.
What can I say? I'm the type of reader who is disciplined enough to put my book down when it's necessary, but I was enjoying Breaking Creed so much that I read until I finished the book at 5 AM. I'm certainly looking forward to reading the other books in the series, but in the meantime... anyone got a couple of toothpicks so I can prop my eyelids open?
Breaking Creed has all the hallmarks of a thriller: the breakneck pace, lots of action, multiple locations, and just the type of loathsome bad guys that made audiences boo! and hiss! in the old silent movie theaters. If that was all it had, it would be a good book, but it has a lot more.
I loved getting to know Creed and seeing the perfect set-up he has for his dogs-- the kennels, the fact that he trains rescue dogs, and that he's building facilities for a veterinarian. I pretended that I was part of the audience in one of those old silent movie theaters when I learned what many of his neighbors were doing, and then there was the pleasure of seeing Creed at work with his dogs. I'm the type of person who believes one of the best things in life is to find oneself in the middle of a romping pile of puppies, so you know I'm thrilled with the burgeoning subgenre of working dog mysteries.
There are some interesting secondary characters as well, like young Amanda and Jason, a vet who served in Afghanistan. Having Maggie O'Dell make an appearance from Kava's other series undoubtedly brought many Maggie fans over, but I'd never read a Maggie O'Dell mystery before. Guess what happened? Now I've added the Maggie O'Dell series to my Need-To-Read list.
What can I say? I'm the type of reader who is disciplined enough to put my book down when it's necessary, but I was enjoying Breaking Creed so much that I read until I finished the book at 5 AM. I'm certainly looking forward to reading the other books in the series, but in the meantime... anyone got a couple of toothpicks so I can prop my eyelids open?
I enjoyed this book very much. I have not read the Maggie O'Dell series yet, but I loved reading the Ryder Creed series with Maggie O'Dell in the books.
This was my first Alex Kava and, therefore, my first Ryder Creed book as well. I enjoyed how the dogs were interjected into the storyline. The crime(s) and solving thereof were also well written and kept me interested right up to the very end, which was somewhat of a surprise. I look forward to reading Ryder Creed Book 2.
Very good read!!!
