Rating: 
Summary: Not to be missed if you're a mystery fan.
Review: Jeffrey Cohen has a winner with Minivan. The debut book in a series can either make it or break it for a series character. After reading Minivan and meeting Aaron Tucker, wife Abigail Stein, and their two children, one can't help but wonder what future adventures lie ahead. Cohen's characters are thoroughly thought out, the plot proceeding with a...well, a delightful, smooth roll. And the mystery itself keeps the pages turning. Cheers to what is sure to be a popular series.
Rating:
Summary: It Rolls for Thee
Review: Stay at home father and free lance writer Aaron Tucker is surprised when he's asked to find a missing house wife. Surely there's someone better qualified them he is. But when he's offer a thousand dollars, how can he refuse? But when he follows the few leads he has, he keeps hitting dead ends. And the supposedly distraught husband is not co-operating at all. What is really going on?I really enjoyed this debut novel. I did have a couple complaints, however. First, while I mostly enjoyed Aaron's sarcasm, occasionally it was over done. Second, I was getting as frustrated as he was by his lack of progress for a while. But half way through, the plot really picked up and the twists kept coming. At that point, I had a hard time putting it down and stayed up late last night to finish. I liked Aaron and his family, and it was nice to see a basically happy man struggling with the day to day trials of life in addition to the mystery. If you enjoy the lighter side of mystery, this is definitely a book to check out. I'm already looking forward to spending more time with Aaron and his family and friends.
Rating: 
Summary: promising but flawed
Review: The author needs to learn to resist making every "cute" and "smartass" comment that comes to mind. I think the "wit" comes off as too studied. I can forgive it in the title, but not in every paragraph. More annoying, the protagonist's character is marred by snideness. Now, you can say that an author may surely write a character with flaws deliberately, which is of course true, but IN GENERAL I think we are supposed to like this guy Aaron, and indeed, sometimes we do. But then when he acts like a total [jerk], I for one find it very jarring. Just one example -- he meets a guy who is an English professor, and is trying to interview him. The interviewee is in the middle of gardening. Aaron (to the reader) makes snide comments about the fact that the guy is wearing gardening gloves (as though only a sissy would wear gardening gloves) and the fact that the guy is careful in digging a proper sized hole for the plant. HUH? Aaron has contempt for plants? for gardening? for men who garden? what's the story here? Does he hate everyone? This bugged me a lot. In fact, it seemed to me that Aaron was contemptuous of every character in the book except his wife, his kids, and his two existing buddies. If this is who the author WANTED Aaron to be, I don't much like him and don't want to know him through more books. On the other hand, this attitude may be an unconscious product of overly cutesy writing.
| 
