Oh, this was fun! The writing was fast paced and so was my reading - I flew through this book and stayed up late in the night to finish it as I just couldn’t put it down. Great story with two fabulous main leads; an easy but thoroughly entertaining read. I didn’t know what to expect from this book but now I can’t wait to see more of these two PI’s. Thank you to NetGalley and Faber & Faber Ltd for this eARC.

This is a fun, fast-read detective story. Competing detectives are hired to find a woman each with a $20000 cash starter payment. But, of course, it is way more complicated than that.

Two compelling central characters and I guess the authors wrote alternating chapters from the male and female narrators' points of view. I quite enjoyed this.

No spoilers but the bodies and fight action mount up. It is in USA.

I read a proof copy provided by Netgalley and the publishers. recommended for a quick exciting read.

We start out meeting our Private Investigator MC’s, Mackenzie Cunningham
Jackson Jones, in their separate offices.
A lawyer visits each of them for the same job. If they find missing girl, Ashley, and reunite her with her dying mother, the first one to return her will receive a hefty finders fee.

What ensues is a fast paced action movie in book form.
Fights, car chases, shootouts, hitmen, sexual tension, murder.

Each MC is voiced by one of the authors.

There are a couple of questionable incidents in this book that probably should have been addressed earlier.

Thanks to NetGalley and Fabre and Faber Ltd for giving me a chance to read and review this eARC.

An enjoyable fast paced book containing a female Private Investigator as the central character in Mackenzie Cunningham a female. I wish some other popular authors would shorten their books to provide a novel with greater pace through the plot. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

This was a really great read. The dialogue was fast and furious and all the characters just came alive. The story had me gripped from the start and the interactions between the leads were smart and funny. I really hope this is the first in a series. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book.

Private Investigators come in all shapes, sizes, colours and sexes. In this entertaining tale we get a range that covers all these categories:
Jackson Jones is black, 35, fit and athletic, worked his way up from nothing, flash dresser, flash car, flash office, clients drawn from the idle rich of LA;
Mackenzie Cunningham is self-described as mocha, late twenties, petite, rebel from rich family, work clothes, old jeep, shared office space, clients drawn from the lower end;
Lance Brooks is white, older, chubby, ruddy, alcoholic, dishevelled, £200K Bentley, office in back of his strip club, clients possibly shady.
All three have been hired by an upscale lawyer to find Ashley Cross, estranged daughter of a rich but dying mother, and reunite her with her mother who only has a few days to live. The fee is $20K each, up front, plus a $50K bonus for the one who finds her. The race is on, although Mackenzie and Jackson are becoming increasingly attracted to each other, so feeling less competitive. Then people start dying, it all goes to hell and the couple end up being targets.
The plot has a couple of twists but basically it’s a chase story, told in alternating and overlapping chapters from the POV of the first two (Lance is unlikeable and doesn’t get the POV treatment). Reviewers often comment on identifying one’s self with the characters. I don’t match with any of these, but found it very easy to associate with Jackson and Mackenzie (especially the latter for some reason) because of the writing style, lightly comedic but moving at a fast pace. It isn’t perfect, of course, but the pace is so fast, and the writing so smooth, that I shot through the book on a tide of enjoyment. I make it 4.5, rounded up to 5,
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Although this book is marketed at a thriller (which it is) it is also written quite tongue in cheek and makes you smile when you are reading it. The death count is huge and there is a lot of sexual tension between the two main characters. They are both PI's who are given the same directive - to find a missing person. The plot unravels and eventually they begin to work together to stay alive.
An entertaining read from these authors.
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for the advance copy of this book.

Straight-forward pulp detective story - enjoyable and entertaining.

Jackson and Mackenzie are both sexy rival private investigators who end up having to work together in the hunt for a missing woman. Of course things get much more complicated and there's a bit of a death toll. There's a lot of sexual tension and we meet a few interesting characters. The writing is quite simple, devoid of involved descriptions, metaphors and comparisons. It's engaging and entertaining but doesn't really compare with the more successful American pulp mystery writers. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

A novel in two halves. PI's competing to find a missing young woman, reluctantly join forces, when each seems to turn up to the others lead. That's the first half. The second is where the misper is found dead. Then the pace really hots up. Undoubtedly when the shooting starts it's better to join forces than be exposed but there is chemistry between them too.
If you are looking for a light, good fun read, this is the book for you. A cerebral thriller it isn't. Like many novels these days, the writers like to segway one narration with another which gets tedious after a while. Is it to keep the reader from falling asleep I ask myself?
In awarding the following score, I base it purely on fun and entertainment value.

Sounds Like a Plan is a chaotic, action packed, fun and entertaining thriller by Pamela Samuels Young & Dwayne Alexander Smith, providing the back and forth of the distinctly different narrators, 2 super capable Los Angeles, California based, black PIs with their own firms. Jackson Jones comes from a poor background, is an ex-cop who projects a smart, successful exterior clothes wise and car, whilst the privileged Mackenzie Cunningham came up through the investigative journalism route, becoming a PI despite her mother's disapproval, a mother who has serious health concerns. Without being aware of the other, the pair are hired to drop everything else for a missing person case by a lawyer, Raymond Patterson.

Patterson wants them to urgently find Ashley Cross for her dying mother, giving them a substantial retainer with a big finder's bonus for the successful PI. It is inevitable the paths of the two would cross, fuelling a competitive rivalry, banter, and a building heavy attraction they are keen not to act on. However, the case is far from what it seems, and matters come to a head with the discovery of Cross's and another PIs tortured bodies, and Jackson and Mackenzie are horrified to discover they have now become targets of some well armed killers. With their lives in grave danger, they have no choice but to join forces in their battle to survive, and live long enough to find out what is really going on, whilst the attraction vibes threaten to overwhelm them.

This looks to be the first in a series by the authors who have created a wonderfully promising, thrilling and suspenseful series seemingly inspired by Moonlighting but with black protagonists. I enjoyed this far more than I expected and I would not be in the least surprised if this should end up becoming a TV series too! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.