Girl Jacked: Detective Jack Stratton Mystery Thriller Series, Book 1

If you enjoy crime thrillers set in the USA that feature loads of action, a damaged hero and a cast of characters, many of whom have atypical character traits, then this book should appeal. If, on the other hand, you prefer crime thrillers that focus more on atmosphere and which have a particularly complex plot, then you may find this novel less to your tastes.Girl Jacked is the second novel I have read that features Jack Stratton as the central character, and in many respects it is better than its prequel 'And Then She Was GONE'. Jack is now a police officer but he remains a very troubled soul. In this story we discover, through flashbacks, more about his time in the US Army when he was stationed in Iraq. Now, back in the USA, he is either suffering from a PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) or he has certain personality traits that make him a slightly unpleasant and unstable individual - I prefer to see him as suffering with PTSD! A number of the other characters that feature in the prequel are present in this story, but they are now several years older. As with Jack, many of them have unresolved problems that result in atypical behaviour.The story opens with Haddie Williams reporting to the police the disappearance of her foster daughter Michelle. Unfortunately as Michelle is an adult, the police do not take Haddie's concerns too seriously, so she calls on Jack, who she had fostered for a while and who knew Michelle, to see if he can help find Michelle. The problem is that if he gets involved in an official capacity then his involvement would create a conflict of interest, so he initially goes about it as surreptitiously as possible.The plot basically follows Jack's investigation. He is aided and abetted by Alice who goes by the name of 'Replacement' (you have to read the prequel to fully understand why she prefers to use this name rather than Alice). Between them they get into lots of scrapes and one has to suspend belief about the amazing healing & recuperative powers of their bodies! The story is a little slow and tedious at first but I was flying through the pages by the 75% mark as the action by this point comes thick and fast. In fact many of the 'action' scenes are described so well, they are quite easy to visualise. As I mentioned earlier, there are quite a number of characters in the story to keep track of, something which I found a little challenging.So, if you enjoy your crime fiction to contain lots of action, a flawed and seemingly indestructible hero and a hint of romance, then this novel may well appeal ... and to fully enjoy it you will also need to suspend belief and remember it is a work of fiction!

I'd had this one downloaded for years and hadn't got around to it but spotted it again on Amazon and realised I had it so decided to give it a go. However, I just got a bit bored with it and wasn't really a fan of Jack, the main character, who of course features in the whole series. I found him a bit insipid and none too likeable, really. He treated people in his personal life pretty atrociously !The main thing bothering me was the name of the girl helping him to look for his foster sister....Replacement. I got to 30% and they'd not started using her real name and it bothered me a lot each time it was mentioned. It is disrespectful and a bit dumb, to be honest.There were some odd parts I happened across, too. At one point he tells Replacement he didn't remember her but we'd already established a few pages back that he did. The same occurred with her telling Jack that Michelle had a full scholarship. This had already been related to him a few pages before ! I didn't know who Jimmy Olson was so looked on Google and it should be Olsen. He lost me here-"He figured that after the Army, he'd be a cop for two years while he finished active duty". I don't understand this at all.There was way too much grabbing of heads when we met Marisa, enflamed should be inflamed and it got pretty tiresome that Replacement was always coming out of the bathroom !! I gave up when Jack was having what he refers to as one of his "blended memories" as I was finding those a little confusing too at times as he just launched into them while being in the here and now....Unfortunately, I just wasn't enjoying it in the end.

Jack Stratton, now a cop, lived for a while in a foster home with brother and sister,Chandler and Michelle. He and Chandler go on to be soldiers in Iraq where Chandleris killed. Jack can't get over this enough to visit the foster home and Michelle.Now another foster "sister" (about 19) turns up to ask Jack to find Michelle, who has gone missing.The girl was nicknamed Replacement (stupid name!) which Jack used, at her request, throughout thebook. Replacement really annoyed me as a lot of the time she acted like a petulant 12 year old - shouting,sulking, throwing tantrums, putting her foot in it, etc. Then there were the countless showers at Jack's apartmentwith either him or her being surprised naked or in a towel.I found it a bit slow in places while he tried to trace Michelle's last movements. It did speed up towards theend when Jack and the "baddies" encounter each other, but I was pleased this was a free book and I will notbe reading any more in the series. I see many others loved it though, so maybe it is me!

I simply loved this series and can not praise the storyline and writing enough. This is book one in a five book series and reading each one has been a real treat. It is true that each of these books can be read independently as the author covers essential information very effectively. However, I feel that the best experience is to read the books in order and that the best book to start with is not book one, but the book that precedes the series: And Then She Was Gone. This initial storyline sets the scene for the whole series and introduces Jack Stratton as a young eighteen year old. It narrates his early life, his friends, relationships and family and this background permeates the five following books and makes the reader instinctively understand, and feel involved with, the characters development and why they act and react to situations. This series is a must, in my opinion, it has drama, humour, action, mystery and romance....what more could anyone ask for. My hope is that the author is writing book six....My thanks to Christopher Greyson for such an enjoyable and memorable series.