This book has several great storylines woven throughout. It’s full of mystery, adventure and there are many plot twists. Thank you to NetGalley and to Level Best Books for providing me with an ARC of this novel for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This book has a great storyline. It’s full of mystery, adventure and twists. This is the second book in the series, so it would be helpful to read the first book before reading this one.

Hooker Avenue is the second book in the Queen City Crimes ( Jesse Martin Series) Series featuring Jesse Martin, Detective Ebony Jones, and Ebon'ys partner Zander. Jesse is on her way home from shopping and comes across something in the ditch on the side of the road. She investigates and finds that there is a person lodged in the ditch. She calls 911 and Ebony and Zander arrive on the scene.

Jesse is a disgraced attorney but is clawing her way back up to the top. She agrees to take a position with a fellow attorney. She is also being stalked by a man she helped put into prison, in the previous book The Midnight Call. The man is calling her and harassing her.

Detectives Jones and Pulaski are investigating a case that has numerous women missing. These women are all hookers, no one has investigated their disappearances so the two detectives take it upon themselves to find out what has happened to the women. They are hoping to find a pattern that will lead them to a serial killer hunting the streets of Poughkeepsie NY. They eventually find more than they had bargained for as the killer is very elusive.

With Jesse her fiance Hal, and the two detectives put themselves in danger to confront the killer. This is a fast-paced character-driven mystery book that is a continuation of the story set up in the first book, The Midnight Call. We learn a bit more about the lives of the characters, including the missing women.

I always enjoy a good mystery thriller and this author does an amazing job telling a story that is gritty and could come right off of the headlines. Personal dramas and secrets come forth in the telling of Hooker Avenue. I enjoyed the book immensely and eagerly await the next in the series The Empty Kayak which comes out May 30th, 2023

I give the book 5 stars!

This sounded like a book that I was going to love. I did not realise that it was the second book in a series and I felt that I missed alot by not reading the first book. I hate reading books out of order

There was some recapping but I felt that that took away from the current story too much. There was alit going on and it was too much to keep track of.

Tha ks to the publisher and Meryl Moss for my copy of this book to read. It just wasn't for me.

I started out enjoying this crime drama, but quickly became disenchanted with all of the characters. The mystery was all right, but I found the writing relied on stereotypes, and I never really felt like the characters had depth.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Level Best Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Thanks Level Best Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free advance copy of this book in return for my honest review.
There is a lot going on here in Jode Millman's 2nd installment of her Queen City Crime series. Currently unemployed attorney Jessie Martin discovers the body of Lissie Sexton lying in a roadside ditch that is filling with water. Lissie is saved and that brings in police detective, Ebony Jones into investigating this case. Could be a serial rapist/killer, as she matches up another case with very similar MO. The author will weave a plot into how all 3 of these threads will come together as there is a race to solve the case. Set in Poughkeepsie, NY, this is a very busy book that will capture the readers attention. Really liked the Ebony Jones character.

This book has a great storyline. It’s full of mystery, adventure and twists! Quick read for me! Highly recommend!!

This is the second book in the Jesse Martin mysteries and then this one she is driving home in a thunderstorm when she finds a badly beaten prostitute lying in the ditch when she calls it in to the station her estranged friend Lexi who is a detective comes to investigate. The two women were friends for a long time but I’ve had a falling out and will now have to collaborate to solve the murders that seem to be affecting only the poor side of Poughkeepsie. Not to mention Jesse is getting divorced and she has a stalker and he’s in prison and oh yeah she also has an 11 month old baby. There was a lot to unpack and more than enough to keep you turning the pages in this Jesse Martin thriller. I was so excited to read this book especially when I found out it was based on a real true crime trust me when I say I wasn’t disappointed. I am always leery when someone says this is totally a page Turner it will keep you up late at night because usually it’s not but this one totally dead. A true five star reads. If you love mysteries you’ll love this book. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own oh I was given this book by net Gally and I am leaving this review voluntarily#Hooker Avenue, #Joe Day Milman

In Hooker Avenue, author Jode Millman transports the reader to the tranquil Hudson Valley town of Poughkeepie, New York, for an intriguing story that will keep the reader guessing and turning the pages.

Jessie Martin is a disgraced attorney who is trying to get her career back on track after having her baby daughter Lily.

Detective Ebony Jones is intrigued by the near death of prostitute Lissie Sexton, which draws her and partner Detective Zander Pulaski into searching a series of missing women cold cases, looking for a pattern that will lead them to a serial killer.

Jessie and Ebony are estranged best friends, and when their intertwined connection to Lissie surfaces, they need to put their issues aside, and search for the serial killer before he can strike again.

Author Jode Millman weaves a fast-paced and suspenseful tale that follows attorney Jessie Martin and Detective Ebony Jones' investigation to search for a serial killer after discovering a pattern of cold cases involving missing women.

I loved reading this slow-building and action-packed story. I was kept intrigued by Jessie and Ebony's investigation, as well as the traumatic backstory into each of their pasts. The reader will be easily drawn into this multi-layered story with a richly descriptive plot that interweaves police procedure with the legal process, and a dangerous cat-n-mouse game that will keep them guessing as personal and professional dramas, past histories, a growing list of possible suspects, motives, and clues are uncovered.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much I loved the richly vivid description of Poughkeepsie, that makes me want to take a roadtrip to the picturesque Hudson Valley region.

Hooker Avenue has enough drama, tension, action, dark secrets, intrigue, and unexpected twists and turns that will take the reader on one heck of a thrilling roller coaster ride.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest book review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours.

https://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/2022/06/hooker-avenue-by-jode-millman-vbt-book.html

This was just okay.

Jessie and Ebony are interesting characters with their history and current work.

The plot wasn’t as interesting. Between political wrangling, personal drama, cold cases, and legal issues there is a whole lot going on.

It start off strong but lost my interest. The whole thing is sort of meh overall.

Those that connect with the writing will enjoy this.

It was quite a ride watching these two women wrap their heads around themselves and become more .. better ... Amazing.

Plus... The MYSTERY! I grabbed Hooker Ave because I thought the promise was interesting and it is based on a true crime.

I've been waiting for a new series to capture my interest but I want expecting it to be this. You need to grab a copy and experience this for yourself.

I loved that this was written by an actual attorney! I feel because the author is an attorney that their representation of everything was accurate. I loved all the surprising twists and turns. If all her books are like this then you'll never be disappointed reading them. I'm going to go back and check out the author's other works. HIGHLY RECOMMEND! I think you'll love it.

Disgraced lawyer Jessie Martin is driving through the rain when she is distracted by a shiny object. It’s a shiny jacket in a drainage ditch, and the woman wearing it is barely alive.Her childhood friend Ebony Jones is the officer on the case and wants to know how the woman ended up there. Jessie and Ebony want the attacker to pay, but Acting District Attorney Hal Samuels won’t prosecute until there’s more evidence. The victim, Lissie, is a prostitute who wants to get as far away as she can from law enforcement and her attacker, so it’s tougher to get evidence when she keeps disappearing. Add in Hal’s relationship and Lissie’s connection to the police chiefs further complicate matters. Throw Hal’s reelection campaign, stalking, some strange legal pairings, and cold cases in for good measure.

Wow. That’s a lot to pack into one story. It takes a skilled writer to pack so many moving pieces into the plot without it falling apart. Jode Millman manages to layer all of the pieces together in a compelling, satisfying way. At first, I felt like it was a stretch for so many characters connected to each other, but it allowed a familiarity between them that helped move the plot forward quicker. The characters were well-defined and developed reasonably as the book progressed. Seemingly random scenes were reasonably tied together as the story plowed to the finish. Most importantly, the strong finish made sense because of Millman’s sharp writing.

I enjoyed Hooker Avenue, and I will happily read more of Jode Millman’s books.

Thank you, NetGalley and Meryl Moss Media Group for providing a review copy of the book.

A legal thriller written by an actual attorney? Be still my lawyer heart. As an attorney, the best part of this book was the accurate representation of folks involved in the criminal justice system, particularly the main character, attorney Jessie Martin. Plus, it's based on an actual true crime (where are my fellow muderinos?) Just awesome.

Jessie Martin is a criminal defense attorney - and a newish mom, looking to divorce her jerk of a husband. Driving home one night, she comes across the body of sex worker Lissie Sexton, who just happens to be the key witness in Jessie's estranged best friend's - Detective Ebony Jones - cold case. (Oh, and Jessie's boyfriend? He's the DA. You got all that?!) When Lissie disappears, Jessie is caught between a proverbial rock and a hard place - her ethical duty to her client and her feeling of responsibility to her best friend/the police department/the other victims of a possible serial killer.

I found this book to be full of action, twists, and turns. If you like police procedurals and true crime, you will enjoy this book. I really enjoyed the examination of the friendship between Jessie and Ebony, and the tough situations in which modern women often find themselves (friendships, motherhood, romantic relationships, career). Again, totally personal to me, but the attention to detail when legal issues and procedure are discussed and portrayed is just perfect and really makes the story that much more enjoyable - it really keeps the storyline tense and the action moving forward.

Technically Hooker Avenue is a standalone, but it does revisit some characters from Jode Millman's first book, The Midnight Call, and after reading this one, I'm going to go back and read the first in the series (I think series should be used loosely here).

Overall, I had mixed feelings about this book. Except for a few spots the dialogue is okay, and the plot is helped by the actions taken by the characters. Character building is a huge facet of “Hooker Avenue,” and the author spends much time explaining the feelings of the characters. It can be difficult to not fall into the telling rather than showing habit, and although readers are given heavily detailed paragraphs about the characters, the plot slowed in areas when it should have been moving into the faster gears.

A writer may occasionally pull out the soapbox and have a character present a speech reflecting the author’s personal views. Where this can get out of hand is when multiple characters are spouting the same trains of thought, especially if the repetition creates a melodramatic feeling. There were instances of this in the book.

The obligatory twist at the end did not contain the “oh my, you fooled me” feeling and for me was a bit of a letdown. I felt the book had been progressing well with the overall plot and the twist did not add to it. It appears that author Jode Millman plans to make this a series. There are multiple characters featured in “Hooker Avenue” who could carry a book on their own, and this would allow Ms. Millman to take her series in different directions. There is enough in this book to convince me to take a look at the next entry. Three stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Meryl Moss Media for a complimentary electronic copy of this book.

“Being a good Samaritan is hazardous”



Based on a true-life crime investigation which must have been so distressing, soul destroying and utterly devastating for so many families, I am almost loathe to admit that I enjoyed this book so much. However, whilst place names are real (and yes, there really is a Hooker Avenue in Hudson Valley, PA) and many of the pertinent facts surrounding the case are correct; all other names and references appear to be fictional, which does help to absolve my conscience somewhat, and justifies my treating this as a work of fiction for review purposes. The blending of fact and fiction has been so sensitively and seamlessly executed, that it is impossible to know where one ends and the other begins, and purely from a police procedural point of view, I haven’t read such a well constructed, immersive and engaging interpretation of the genre, for some time now.

…

Just to bring you up to speed with the story…

Disgraced attorney, Jessie Martin, finds herself playing the Good Samaritan whilst driving home in the dark, during a particularly wild storm. She comes across what looks like a body in a roadside ditch, although when the inert form suddenly moves, she realises that she must act quickly, as this is now a life-saving mission which she cannot undertake alone. Along with the emergency rescue services, Jessie’s one-time best friend, Detective Ebony Jones and her partner Zander, are in attendance. In an atmosphere of tension and discord, the former ‘besties’ can hardly bare to speak to each other, setting the pattern for a case which grows exponentially and will eventually involve several State forces and the FBI, forcing Jessie and Ebony to call a truce to hostilities, in the name of justice.

When it becomes clear that this is no accident, and although initially reluctant to cooperate with the authorities, a very feisty victim begins to let her mouth run, divulging more than she ever intended to and enough to lead Ebony, Zander and Jessie to believe that her beating is certainly no isolated incident. To complicate matters even further, Jessie and her baby daughter are living with District Attorney Hal Samuels, so law enforcement from all sides of the spectrum are jostling for position, in trying to unravel the whys and wherefores of an angry woman’s ranting and raving, but from their own individual perspectives, not as a single cohesive team. The victim Lissie, eventually gives enough information away to cause a sudden scramble to coordinate similar unsolved cases and disappearances from across the region, which to everyone’s shame, have hitherto been pretty much treated in isolation and ignored, given the various and unorthodox lifestyles of drugs, alcohol and prostitution, led by the victims.

It soon becomes apparent that Lissie’s partner Kurt, although he is abusive, was not her assailant and is not a suspect for the most heinous of crimes, however his major drug and larceny ring also comes in for unwanted attention, which yields a great result in itself and will see him removed from circulation for some time to come. Lissie is keeping tight-lipped about the identity of her attacker, for whom she genuinely has no name, and despite the inter-service rivalries and individual tensions in the room, which are beginning to spiral out of control, it is only Jessie who is ultimately able to reach out to her for help in bringing the perpetrator of so many potential cases, to book. Lissie drives a surprisingly hard bargain and has been quite astute at deceiving a thoroughly obnoxious and nauseating Kurt; so recognise her spirit, decry the way of life she thinks she had no option but to take, or applaud her resilience and strength; you can’t help but admire her strength and tenacity. When, from the details Lissie is able to provide, the search is narrowed down to a mere handful of suspects, it doesn’t take long for the team to find their man. Despite Ebony potentially jeopardising the entire operation, an arrest is made, although the horrendous and ghastly discoveries which follow, will test the mental and physical stamina, and well being of the entire team and haunt them for some time to come.

For the victim’s families, closure is going to be all they have to cling to, although for everyone else involved a good result is heralded and rewarded, with all of them living to fight a new battle another day and maybe, just maybe, some of those old rivalries and wounds can be healed, if not entirely forgiven just yet.

…

This well structured, powerful and highly textured, multi-layered storyline, was intense and full of atmosphere from beginning to end. Even though I didn’t want the book to be finished, I found myself reading ever faster and turning the pages more quickly, in my haste to see what twist the author had added in next, which was going to change my way of thinking all over again. I suppose I missed the very obvious connection between Jessie and Lissie and that was even more scary, because I could see how that kind of scenario might actually happen in real life, with potentially devastating consequences. It certainly shook Jessie to her very core. Relentless and face paced, told in short well signposted chapters, with a crisp no nonsense narrative and dialogue, replete in descriptive detail, which afforded a very visual sense of time and place, this infinitely tangled web of lies, deception, manipulation and control, definitely kept me on my toes. Everyone was looking for the angle, in their attempts to avoid revealing their own individual secret agendas and weaknesses.

As with so many fictional detectives, lawyers and investigators, Jessie is really carrying an awful lot of baggage and secrets, although I get the feeling that this case has really set her back on track a bit, both professionally and personally, so it will be interesting to see how she develops in her role, assuming of course that the series is expanded and continued, which I sincerely hope it is. On the whole, the cast of characters were quite authentic, compelling and believable, despite their emotional complexities, which often made them rather raw, passionate and prone to being volatile, when they could have done with keeping their cool and using their heads a bit more. I found myself being able to relate to them, in a strange way, even Lissie, whose background only came to light right near the end and was one of those jaw dropping, ‘never judge a book by its cover’, moments. Even Duvall Bennett, although definitely the disgusting and reprehensible perpetrator he is portrayed as, has a motive which if examined, would surely constitute some form of PTSD, in modern day mental health developments. It didn’t make me detest him any the less, and yes, he knew exactly what he was doing making him cold and calculating. Once again, some fictional license was brought to play around this character and I may not have had quite so many ‘what if’ thoughts about the real life offender.

I also really want to go back and read and author Jode Millman’s previous book The Midnight Call where we are first introduced to the character of attorney Jessie Martin. Don’t get me wrong, although there are references to Jessie’s first case in this book, the backstory is filled with more than enough detail to keep any series reader happy, yet without short-changing any new reader just joining the journey. It’s simply that the case sounds really intriguing and I want to know more!

Jode Millman's second book of the Queen City Crime series starts off rather slow for me. There are many references to catch you up on the first installment and then this story doesn't really get kicked off until almost halfway through the book.

The characters are well developed. Each are very knowledgeable in their areas of employment of the law. There are some interesting twist as soon as the book gets going, so it was not a total let down. There are some scenes where you are left hanging and then the situation is never mentioned again.

Overall, this was a quick and enjoyable read. A good way to pass the time.

Thank you to Level Best Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

It’s a race against time! This book had amazing plot twists, back stories that kept me interested all throughout the book, and two very strong female characters LOVED Ebony and Jessie. They used to be best friends, but when Jessie is literally in the middle of an investigation that Ebony is a part of, everything goes wild. Jessie is just starting to get her life again after it got ruined, and Ebony has a feeling that this investigation is connected to a ton of sex workers disappearances, Ebony is looking for her main witness and can’t find her. Being a crime enthusiast, this book had me all excited, there were times in the book where it dragged and I had to skim a little, but overall i enjoyed the book. Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

When Jessie Martin finds a person half-drowned in a gutter, she has no idea how much it will affect her life. Still trying to bounce back from the last debacle she was caught up in, she soon finds herself in the middle of a criminal investigation while trying to revive her career, ease the tension in her love life, and decipher her best friend’s attitude.

Things I LOVED about this book:

*The story line. Millman is so close to being an excellent writer. She’s well on her way to being a unique combination of Megan Miranda and John Grisham.
*Grasp of legal concepts and procedures. I prefer my legal thrillers to be written by attorneys because they know the law and don’t annoy me. She was accurate without being boring. Extra credit for that.
*The main character - so easy to root for. If Ebony doesn’t get her act together, I’m happy to be Jessie’s new BFF.

Things that didn’t work for me:

*Dialogue. Some of it was okay, but a lot of it was forced, awkward, and flat.
*Weird chapter cliffhangers that went nowhere. I had an ARC, so this may have been fixed for the final copy. For example, the second chapter ends with a serious accident that potentially includes our main character, but is never mentioned again. We quickly learn she wasn’t in the accident (this isn’t a spoiler), but the “suspense” isn’t suspenseful. It’s awkward and unnecessary. Later chapters end with dramatic conversation openers….but the conversation never happens? This really affected the flow of the book for me.

This is the second installment in Millman’s Queen City Crimes series. It hits shelves April 19. Overall, I definitely recommend grabbing a copy. Millman has the ability to take the legal thriller genre by storm if she so chooses. Better editing (which again, may have been done, so my apologies, if so) would have made this a 4.5 star review.

Thanks to the author, Level Best Books, and Meryl Moss for this ARC in return for my honest review.

Jessie Martin, after stopping to help a woman badly beaten on the side of the road, finds herself entangled in the search for a predator of women, particularly sex workers. Lissie Sexton, one of those sex workers, is on the run, from her boyfriend/pimp, from the man who beat her up and from the police. Ebony Jones is following her police instincts to stop a dangerous man, fighting for women that society often times discards as less than.

Overall the book was entertaining. A decent police-crime novel. The alternate point of view storytelling did help the pacing of the book and kept my interest. I haven't read The Midnight Call yet and some of the storyline was a carry over but it didn't distract from the current novel. I would have and probably should have read the first just to get a better feel of the backstory.
Well written and believable characters. I recommend for those that like crime novels, police adventures and detective narrations.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and provide my honest opinion.