Rating: 
Summary: DISTURBING AND GRIPPING
Review: Sheriff's Det. Sarah Pribek's daughter is raped and murdered. Then perpetrator Shorty gets away with it. Then Sarah's husband goes missing and Sarah has to investigate and goes back to her husband's past to find clues as to what happened to him. The ending is grim. The whole read is very haunting and disturbing, but in the right way. I would like to see this become a series.
Rating:
Summary: An Emotional Wrench
Review: Starting out as a missing person story this debut novel by Jodi Compton slowly evolves into a wonderfully emotional hunt that raises some difficult questions of whether ethics should prevail over grief. It's a story that builds up the momentum until reaching a climax that, although not earth-shattering, unearths a few surprises.Written in the first person perspective of Sarah Pribek, a detective with the Hennepin County sheriff's office, we meet a capable yet vulnerable woman. The reason for her vulnerability stems from the recent semi-retirement of her partner, mentor and friend Genevieve Brown. Genevieve had recently suffered a mother's worst nightmare when her daughter was raped and murdered. To make matters worse, the man who did it escaped punishment due to a legal technicality, a technicality that Sarah feels responsible for. But that is just one sub-plot. The other main sub-plot involves her husband Mike Shiloh. Shiloh is also a cop who was working with the Minneapolis Police Department until he was recruited by the FBI. From early on it is established that he and Sarah are very much in love and go out of their way to show how much they care for each other. Which is why Sarah thought it was unusual when Shiloh left for Quantico without so much as a note to say goodbye. By this time it has also been established that Shiloh tends not to do the expected all the time, so Sarah is not particularly concerned. It's only when the FBI ring to ask why Shiloh hasn't shown up that the alarm bells start to ring. Fortunately, Sarah happens to specialise in finding missing persons and immediately begins to track down his last known movements. What's not so fortunate for her peace of mind is her knowledge of the probability of finding a missing person alive after they've been missing for longer than 36 hours. The tension brought about from searching for her missing husband soon consumes all other thoughts and takes over the mood of the book. Even though this is first and foremost a mystery story, it's main focus turns out to be about relationships. Starting with the husband and wife relationship displayed by Sarah and Shiloh. Although it appears strong at the start, and indeed it probably is, Sarah soon comes to the realisation that there is much about her husband she doesn't know. The next relationship spotlighted is the friendship forged as fellow police officers by Sarah and Genevieve. But this too is revealed to be fragile as Sarah fells she is unable to supply the support Genevieve needs in her grief. Finally there is a brother / sister relationship that is revealed towards the end of the book that holds secrets from Shiloh's past. The way the book finished gave me the strong impression that this was the first of a series featuring Sarah Pribek. If this is the case then Jodi Compton will definitely be an author to look out for by readers who like a bit more depth to their characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Not my usual...
Review: Suspense/thriller is not a genre I usually read...I'm someone who does not like to be scared or put on edge by my reading. The edgiest I get in suspense/thriller is Nora Roberts when she's writing in her romantic suspense personae...Carolina Moon, for example. However, even though suspense is not my cup of tea, I stuck with The 37th Hour and, in the end, realized I had really liked the book. I'm looking forward to the next book from Jodi Compton to find out more about Sarah Pribek and to see how this character is developed.
Rating: 
Summary: A Stay Up All Night Nail-Biter
Review: The book opens with Minneapolis Sheriff's Detective Sarah Pribek, who specializes in finding missing persons, trying to talk a runaway from jumping from a bridge into the cold Mississippi River. The girl jumps, Sarah jumps in after and saves her. Sarah is one plucky gal. Sarah's husband of two months, Mike Shiloh, has been accepted by the FBI and is about to leave for training at Quantico, but even though this is his last weekend before he has to go, he urges Sarah to comfort her friend and partner, who had been on leave as her fourteen-year-old daughter and been raped and murdered by a man who escaped prison on a technicality. Sarah does as her husband asks and promises to be home in time to take him to the airport, but when she gets home, she finds that he's already left. She's angry that he'd leave without saying goodbye, but her anger switches to alarm when she gets a call from Quantico wondering where he is. Now she finds herself investigating the disappearance of her own husband. She tracks down his family to see if she can find a reason for his vanishing act and as she learns more about his past, she sees the man she loves, the man she thought she'd known, turn into a stranger. Ms. Compton has written a nail-biter that will keep you reading throughout the night. Her characters are real and flawed, the story is dark, sometimes violent with plenty of suspense. This was a mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed. Reviewed by Judith Ann Cole
Rating:
Summary: a journey into the past
Review: The debut novel of Jodi Compton takes much of its pages to introduce the new characters in this first book of her series. Sheriff's Detective Sarah Pribek comes home one morning from a trip to find her husband of two months, Michael Shiloh, gone. She did not think too much of it since he was starting his FBI training at Quantico. Only when the FBI calls to ask why he did not show up and Sarah finds his packed duffel bag under the bed does she realize that he is really missing. Sarah usually specializes in missing person cases so she puts her skills to personal use. Much of the story is told in flashback where we learn of Michael's background, the case that brought Michael and Sarah together and of their early courtship. Intertwined into the story is also another plot point of Sarah's partner, Genevieve, who is on compassionate leave after the murder of her daughter. The characters were well developed and interesting. The story really kept me reading. The ending was weak and not in keeping with the rest of the book, but it did spoil my enjoyment of the overall story. I will look forward to the next book in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Must have friends who are publishers
Review: This book is a disgrace. It breaks just about every rule of fiction writing, but in the end its most major flaw is that the story is pathetic and never comes close to garnering the reader's interest. It takes eighty pages to get to the plot, which is painfully obvious before then. There is no action ever in the book, nor is there suspense or real mystery. The mystery, when solved, is out of the blue. Then, wasting eighty pages to get started and after a hundred pages of story, we get long, boring tell-not-show, backstory upon backstory that again has no bearing on anything.
I'm dumbfounded that a book like this gets published. As for the three people who are quoted on the back cover--they have guaranteed I will never read them because to praise this book so shamelessly is proof of their ineptness. Don't waste your money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: a very disappointing book
Review: This book..the 37th Hour, had a interesting idea as it's central theme, which was the disappearance of the husband of Detective Sarah Pribek, the main character in the novel. . The author completely floundered with her attempt at developing the "reason" for his being missing and she finally staggered to a totally unbelievable, pitiful ending.
Rating:
Summary: Great Start for a First Author
Review: This first book by a new author got very good reviews in the journals I read, so I gave it a try. From page one, my interest was peaked and I had a hard time putting the book down to go back to work after breaks and lunch time. The character was believable, her anguish and fears were palpable. Her hunt for the missing husband was a jouney into another person's life that left her wondering if this was really a place she wanted to go. The ending blew me away. I usually try to pick out the perp, solve the crime, decide the jury outcome, whatever the destination of the novels I read. And I do pretty well. But this one blindsided me. Even with the clues right out front, I still missed the ending. In my book, that makes a great author. If you stump me, I will read you again. I hope this author does write more novels. I'd like to see more of Sarah, and how she evolves after this incident, but I'm not sure that path is open. Good luck to Jodi Compton, and to anyone who picks this book up, be sure you have nothing planned for the next few hours. This is one that will keep you up past your bedtime.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: This is perhaps one of the most boring, long winded and stiff books I have ever read. The description on the back made you think it was going to be a good thriller, but once I got started I had to force myself to finish, I bought, I'm reading it. Her writing style leaves a lot to be desired. All I can say is that this is my last book by this author.
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