Mysterious Reviews Home

Jump

by Tim Maleeny

Jump by Tim Maleeny

Review: A hated landlord takes a leap from the top of his 20-story building — aided or unaided to be determined — in Jump, a most enjoyable summer thriller by Tim Maleeny.

Retired cop Sam McGowan lives on the 20th floor and is the first person his old partner Danny Rodriguez turns to when he arrives to investigate. Danny would just as soon label it a suicide and call it a day. But he feels obligated to look into the case and arm-twists Sam into making some unofficial inquiries, talk to the neighbors, that sort of thing. Sam quickly finds out everyone on his floor had a reason to hate the landlord. Between tales of blackmail, extortion, and attempted rape, there are no shortage of suspects who would like to have seen the man dead. But in a strange twist of fate, Sam becomes a target himself of a Mexican drug lord and he must balance finding out the truth about his landlord's unfortunate demise and keeping one step ahead of an assassin.

There are several remarkable aspects to Jump, from an extraordinary cast of characters to Maleeny's rapid-fire narrative style to a deftly plotted story that has a familiar ring to it yet feels uncommonly new.

Sam's neighbors (read suspects) are an eclectic bunch to be sure: a little old lady with a tongue as sharp as her mind; an aging movie producer who hasn't had a hit in, well, never; two brothers who make and deliver sandwiches with a side of weed to corporate offices around the city; two female roommates who operate a soft-core porn site from their bedroom to pay for their graduate education; and a mysterious woman who's a graphic designer by day, jazz singer by night. And, of course, Sam himself who's torn between his ingrained duty as a cop (albeit an ex-cop) and how to act as a private citizen. And though everyone seems to be doing something, if not outright illegal then acting in a grayish area of the law, these are truly engaging characters that readers care about.

The plot moves along briskly, switching between character points of view frequently but always in a fluid manner. It's clever and funny, at times even poignant. The ending is both anticipated and unexpected, and puts a refreshing twist on a conventional theme.

Though Jump is listed as a stand-alone thriller, it would be a shame not to bring Sam (and maybe some of his neighbors) back for another go round. It is one of the most entertaining mysteries to be published this year, and is a perfect reading companion this summer.

Acknowledgment: Poisoned Pen Press provided an ARC of Jump for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

Selected reviews of other mysteries by this author …

Mystery Book Review: Beating the Babushka by Tim MaleenyBeating the Babushka
Midnight Ink (Trade Paperback), October 2007
ISBN-13: 9780738711157; ISBN-10: 0738711152

Location(s) referenced in Jump: San Francisco, California

— ♦ —

Jump by Tim Maleeny

Jump by

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-574-0
Publication Date:
List Price: $24.95

Buy the Book (purchase options)

— ♦ —

Page Author: Lance Wright
Site Publisher: Mysterious Reviews

Mysterious Reviews is a Division of
The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books
and a Business Unit of the
Omnimystery Family of Mystery Websites