G954 Book Review of the monkey house by Boyd Taylor

Name of Book: The Monkey House

Author: Boyd Taylor

ISBN: 978-0-9894707-1-1

Publisher: Katherine Brown story

Part of a Series: Donnie Ray Cuinn Story

Type of book: Austin, Velda, suspense, old vs new, monkey, discrimination, lawyer, family, old friends and new

Year it was published: 2015

Summary:

In this, the third Donnie Ray Cuinn book, Donnie returns to Austin from his law practice in the Texas Panhandle to confront All-American football player Wesley Bird, his former best friend. In the company of beautiful, athletic Anna Kaye Nordstrom, Donnie experiences the “new” Austin of glitzy condos, trendy restaurants and social media. He also revisits the “old” Austin of barbecue, power politics and greens versus developers. Donnie finds that not much has changed.

Characters:

Main characters include Donnie Ray who is a lawyer at a town called Velda.  Donnie Ray hasn't been back to Austin in ages and sometimes doesn't make the smartest decisions, although he does try to fix them. For some odd reason Donnie Ray's family is reluctant to ask him for help when it comes to Wesley Bird, his former friend. Unfortunately Wesley Bird wasn't as prominent in this story as he was in the first book. Aside from Donnie's family, his ex girlfriend and some friends from both Austin and Velda, it became difficult for me to recall other characters and if I've met them in previous books. I personally think that a character sheet might be of benefit to the story if there are going to be so many characters.

Theme:

There isn't a lot of redemption

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative, mostly from Donnie Ray's point of view, although other characters such as his adopted father also come into the picture. Reading the previous books is a must because the reader doesn't really get the background of the characters explained very well, especially how they were in Donnie's previous life. There are some quirky characters in the story, but they weren't drawn as sharply as I would have liked, which made it difficult for me to try to recall them.The story takes few years later, I believe after the events of Monkey House. 

Author Information:
(From iRead Book Tours)


Buy the Books:
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble
Add to Goodreads
Meet the Author:

BOYD TAYLOR lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and their Havanese dog Toby. Necessities is the fourth novel in the Donnie Ray Cuinn series. In a former life, Boyd was a lawyer and a corporate officer. A native of Temple, Texas, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in government and an LL.B. from the law school.

​Boyd's first novel "Hero" was prescient in its story about fake news. His second novel, "The Antelope Play," dealt with drug trafficking in the Texas Panhandle, an unfortunately accurate forecast. The third, "The Monkey House", involved commercial development of a large green space in the center of Austin, all too familiar to Austin residents. Whether his upcoming novel "Necessities" predicts future events with the accuracy of the earlier books remains to be seen.

Connect with the Author: Website ~ Facebook
Opinion:

Two things I enjoyed about the Monkey House is the title which is pretty apt for the story, and I loved the book cover, which I'm sure my little boy enjoyed a great deal. For me its a bit embarrassing to admit that I'm in the minority of reviews and didn't enjoy the story. For one thing I wasn't sure how the racism case connected to going back to Austin as well as how it related to Donnie Ray's former friend, Wesley Bird and the Ponzi scheme he set up. I really would have liked to see more of Wesley Bird and for more of legal aspects of the story explained. Aside from that, welcome to the monkey house

This is for iRead Book Tours

BOOK REVIEW TOUR SCHEDULE:

Jan 3 - Library of Clean Reads - tour kickoff / spotlight all 4 books / giveaway
Jan 4 - Library of Clean Reads - review of Hero / giveaway
Jan 5 - Literary Flits - review of Hero / giveaway
Jan 8 - Svetlana's Reads and Views - review of Hero
Jan 9 - Olio by Marilyn - review of Hero / author interview / giveaway
Jan 10 - Library of Clean Reads - review of The Antelope Play / giveaway
Jan 15 - Library of Clean Reads - review of The Monkey House / giveaway
Jan 17 - Olio by Marilyn - review of The Antelope Play / giveaway
Jan 18 - Books for Books - review of Hero
Jan 19 - Literary Flits - spotlight of The Antelope Play / giveaway
Jan 22 - Svetlana's Reads and Views - review of The Antelope Play
Jan 23 - A Mama's Corner of the World - spotlight of Books 1, 2 and 3
Jan 24 - Hall Ways Blog - spotlight of Books 1, 2 and 3
Jan 25 - Books for Books - review of The Antelope Play
Jan 26 - Olio by Marilyn - review of The Monkey House / giveaway
Jan 30 - A Mama's Corner of the World - review of Necessities / giveaway
Jan 30 - Rockin' Book Reviews - review of Hero / guest post / giveaway
Jan 31 - Hall Ways Blog - review of Necessities / giveaway
Feb 5 - Literary Flits - spotlight of The Monkey House / giveaway
Feb 6 - Books for Books - review of The Monkey House
Feb 7 - Bound 4 Escape - review of Hero / giveaway
Feb 7 - Rockin' Book Reviews - review of The Antelope Play / giveaway
Feb 8 - Olio by Marilyn - review of Necessities / giveaway
Feb 9 - A Page Before Bedtime - review of Necessities / giveaway
Feb 12 - Svetlana's Reads and Views - review of The Monkey House
Feb 13 - Rockin' Book Reviews - review of The Monkey House / giveaway
Feb 14 - Bound 4 Escape - review of The Antelope Play / giveaway
Feb 14 - Library of Clean Reads - review of Necessities / author interview / giveaway
Feb 15 - Books for Books - review of Necessities
Feb 15 - Booklove - review of Hero
Feb 16 - Fantastic Feathers - review of Necessities
Feb 19 - FUONLYKNEW - review of Hero / giveaway
Feb 19 - Literary Flits - review of Necessities / giveaway
Feb 20 - Booklove - review of The Antelope Play
Feb 20 - FUONLYKNEW - review of The Antelope Play / giveaway
Feb 21 - FUONLYKNEW - review of The Monkey House / giveaway
Feb 21 - Bound 4 Escape - review of The Monkey House / giveaway
Feb 21 - Rockin' Book Reviews - review of Necessities / giveaway
Feb 22 - JBronder Book Reviews - review of Hero / guest post / giveaway
Feb 22 - FUONLYKNEW - review of Necessities / giveaway
Feb 23 - JBronder Book Reviews - review of The Antelope Play / giveaway
Feb 23 - Books are Love - review of Hero / guest post / giveaway
​Feb 23 - Booklove - review of The Monkey House
Feb 26 - Svetlana's Reads and Views - review of Necessities
Feb 26 - JBronder Book Reviews - review of The Monkey House/ giveaway
Feb 26 - Books are Love - review of he Antelope Play / giveaway
Feb 27 - JBronder Book Reviews - review of Necessities / guest post / giveaway
Feb 27 - Books are Love - review of The Monkey House / giveaway
Feb 28 - Bound 4 Escape - review of Necessities / giveaway
Feb 28 - Books are Love - review of Necessities / giveaway
​Feb 28 - Booklove - review of Necessities
3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)