Running Down Gigi’s Ex
It’s a bit bittersweet reading Swift Run. On one hand, it’s nice to have a series that’s been sitting on my to be read pile for years completed. On the other hand, three books wasn’t enough time to spend with Charlie and Gigi.
If you’ve missed this series, Charlie Swift is the owner of Swift Investigations. She’s a one woman shop and quite happy that way until the day that Georgia Goldman, Gigi for short, walks in and announces that she is Charlie’s new partner. Gigi’s husband, Les had been a silent investor in Swift Investigations, but now Les has run off with another woman, embezzled money, and all he’s left Gigi is their house, their two kids, and his share of Swift Investigations. Naturally Charlie isn’t happy about that, but she has no choice but to take Gigi on as a junior investigator.
And yes, all this background is necessary. See, as this book opens, Charlie is out recovering from an injury (see book two for more details about that), and Gigi is in the office by herself when Heather-Anne walks in wanting to hire Swift Investigations. Gigi wants to say no since Heather-Anne is the woman Les ran off with. She’s even less interested when she finds out that Heather-Anne wants them to find Les, but they need the fees. What is he doing back in Colorado Springs? Will Gigi be able to track her ex down?
The earlier books in the series were written from Charlie’s first-person perspective and Gigi’s third-person perspective. This book flips the script, which makes sense. Considering we are looking for Les, this is really Gigi’s story more than Charlie’s. Don’t worry, we still get plenty of scenes from Charlie’s third-person point of view. These changes only happen at chapter breaks, so it is always easy to know who we are following in each scene.
Likewise, Gigi and some of the characters in her life get the most character development here. Since Gigi can come across a bit flat at times, this was welcome development. But Charlie gets her own growth. By the time the book is over, all the characters in the book have turned into fully developed characters.
And the mystery is fantastic. I’m specifically not talking about any more than I have because I love how it unfolds and the directions it goes. I didn’t see the ending coming, but it made perfect sense.
One thing I enjoy about the series is the humor. The characters, especially Gigi, wind up in some fun situations. You can’t help but laugh at what happens. Yet, when the times comes, the suspense is also perfect.
As I hinted at earlier, I am not ready to say goodbye to these characters, but since this book came out in 2012, I suspect we won’t be seeing any more of their adventures. A thread or two from the series is left dangling, but there are no major cliffhangers here. I like the ending, and I can easily picture the characters moving forward in their lives in the direction I think they should go.
Swift Run ends a fun series. If you are looking for a lighter mystery, be sure to read these books.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for stopping by. In order to combat spam, I moderate most comments. I'll get to your comment as soon as I can.