Pennywise

Jill Brock
BookSurge Publishing (2007)
ISBN 9781419659362
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (7/08)

Odessa Wilkes has recently lost her job as the project head of a high-powered ad agency in New York City, and has been dumped by her boyfriend of two years.  As a result she is now working with her sister, Candace, in their family’s restaurant, the Blue Moon, as the dessert chef and bookkeeper.  As she is going over receipts in the restaurant one day, in storms her best friend Maggie Swift.  Maggie and Odessa are complete opposites.  Odessa is “a tall, lanky African-American, the color of creamed coffee” who loves shopping for designer clothes and eating at trendy restaurants.  Maggie, on the other hand, is “a pretty redheaded, alabaster skinned, five foot four diminutive housewife of Scottish-Polish descent” who shops at Wal-Mart, is on the PTA, and eats out at Burger King. 

The reason for Maggie’s visit to the restaurant is that her husband Roger is missing, and Maggie believes he is having an affair.  She wants to enlist Odessa’s help in an attempt to figure out what is going on.  Aided by the guidance of “Private Investigating for Dummies”, the duo embarks on a humorous journey to find Maggie’s missing husband.

“Pennywise” is a fun adventure and is the perfect book to bring to the beach or to read by the pool.  The plot is light and engaging and the book is a very fast read.  It is one of those books that are extremely difficult to put down.  The novel is so hilarious that you will be laughing out loud!  Jill Brock is also very skilled at writing descriptive passages as you can see from the examples provided above.  I can picture every character and setting so vividly in my mind, it’s almost as if I am watching the story unfold on TV.         

Brock’s style of writing reminds me so much of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels, so if you enjoy Evanovich’s writing I highly recommend giving Brock a try!  She is a very talented writer and you will not be disappointed.  I eagerly anticipate more from Jill Brock and she is definitely going to be an author to watch for in the future.