This book made me want to put it down several times and other times made me want to keep reading. It had a little Jeckyl and Hide to it. It had sufficient tension and the plot moved along at a nice pace, but there were so many ridiculous aspects to it, that it was hard to read at times. For starters, the father of the girl who got abducted was wildly inconsistent. At first, he's a crazy drunk, and then at the flick of a switch, he becomes this no-nonsense tough guy. There was no progression to his character. His friend, Mike, a private investigator who seems to know how to do everything, can't hotwire a car. The villains in this story were just down right atrociously drawn out. And yet again the evil pharmaceutical conglomerate is the bad guy. You would think based on the work's of fiction writers that the primary interest of drug companies is to kill people off in order to push their products. This is so cliche it makes me ill every time I read it. Come on, get some imagination all ready. Not horrible but also not worth the time reading.
Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity ( )

Jane Redmon, reporter for the Washington Post, is working on a potentially explosive story about Senator Michael Gleason. Gleason wants Jane stopped at all costs and has her kidnapped. Her father, alcoholic attorney, Tom Redmon, was once a cop who knows that if most crime victims are not rescued within 48 hours they are usually found dead. Tom will do anything to save Jane (including kidnapping Gleason) and enlists the help of his friend, ex-biker, Mike Tubbs. Together the two set off to save Jane before it's too late.

The plot of "The First 48" sounds intriguing, but Tim Green never quite makes it work. The 48 hour scenario gets tired fast, as Tom endlessly counts down the minutes (and astute readers will be able to guess what happens at the exact minute the 48 hours are up). Outside of Tom and Mike, the characters are not fully developed, especially Jane, which hurts the book, since readers really don't care what happens to her. She is resourceful at times, yet does some incredibly stupid things like leaving her clothes on a porch after escaping from the bad guys who are still chasing after her. Luckily for her, the bad guys are pretty incompetent and never fully inject the fear that readers are looking for. The plot devise of Tom's alcoholism and talking to his dead wife are never fully developed and his and Mike's constant quotations for war admirals grows tedious. The book also needs some editing as Jane blows up a cabin by starting a gas fire in the kitchen yet later cooks pancakes on the stove in said cabin. Green does his best to tie up loose ends but it's hard to believe that Tom and Mike received no punishment for kidnapping a U.S. Senator.

This was a quick, if implausible read. ( )