Up To No Good

Author: Marsha Cornelius
Category: Crime Thriller, Amateur Sleuth, Humor
Suitable for: Adults
My Rating: 4 Stars
Format Read for Review: Kindle/Paperback copy provided by the author in return for an honest review.
Pages: 249

Description: Rachel is a busybody who can’t help but observe her neighbors behaviors. Maybe it’s what makes her a good writer and reporter; but amid a mid-life crisis she gets a little too invested in snooping on one particular house where the people who come and go from it don’t appear to really be living there. She convinces her husband to help her and in the process of investigating they break many laws and put themselves in danger. Will they be able to catch the bad guys and clear their own names or has this busybody gone too far?

“Even with all the walking I do, the sand is piling up at the bottom of my hourglass figure.”

In Short: Although not a whodunit, people who enjoy mystery and crime novels that have a dash of romance will like this book. A humorous crime thriller with a wacky plot that shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

“The only heinous crime here is your imagination.”

Pros: There were some very funny scenes in this book. Quite a few actually got good laughs out of me. The humor was one of my favorite things about this book and another is the twists of the story and the edge of your seat suspense of the constant danger the characters get themselves into. The ending was pretty wild. I like the way it all came together and there were some surprises along the way. The characters are well developed and believable. The main character was aggravating me because she was always doing the wrong, stupid, illegal thing instead of just being honest or doing the right thing. I did kind of feel bad for her at times but I also thought she had a cool job and a good life and she should probably be a little more grateful. Definitely very complicated characters and complicated mess they get into. I did like the love story between the husband and wife and I thought it was sweet when they worked as a team.

“I will never, ever do anything like this again.”

Cons: I didn’t find the characters to be very likable, because unfortunately for the wacky plot to play out, it required them to make terrible choices, which were too stupid not to annoy me. But that’s on me, stupid is just my pet peeve so I was being very impatient with their horrible decisions. I felt the main character was hyperaware of the state of her husband’s genitals at any given time. She seemed to always be analyzing the poor guy by his member. It unnecessarily made him come across as a pervert and her come across overly judgmental.

“We should take the brambles as a sign to stop but we both come from a long line of hearty pioneer stock-or is it morons-so we forge ahead.”

Parent’s Guide: Contains sex, violence, and drugs.