Gruff

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Five years ago, the whole country knew Howl as the face of a national public safety initiative that encouraged kids to say no to drugs, keep away from firearms, and not talk to strangers. He had just made a dramatic exit from the corrupt pit of the Hot Type City Police Department and kicked off his own private investigative agency. He was geared up to start helping people for real.

Then some punk put Howl’s nephew in the dirt, and everything came to a screeching halt.

Now, after a long downward spiral, Howl is one half-empty bottle of scotch away from complete destitution. His shot at redemption comes just in time when a former model struts off the page of a golden-age girlie mag and into his office. Her missing son’s disappearance knocks Howl back into a world full of the drugs, guns, and predators he wasted his youth fighting.

This time it will be different. He’s got nothing to lose but something to prove. This time, he will win.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2022
Author: NeilAdamRay

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 5
Views: 9,616

Chapters(30 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(1)

JetlagburgerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I've never done a review like this for a story before, but considering the sheer lack of attention this story has garnered, I feel like it is necessary to give this story the praise it deserves.
Covering an intense manhunt for a missing child and a litany of hidden clues scattered throughout, this story is a gritty detective novel in the noir genre, grim undertones permeating the story. Overall, I found this story to be extremely enjoyable and a breath of fresh air from the types of stories you typically find on royal road. The characters are excellently written, the narrative is tightly woven with a satisfying conclusion for the setting, and the characters all play off of each other in captivating and engaging conversations. If you have the time to read through a short novel, engage in a bit of mystery, and feel the oppresiveness of a grim yet realistic world, then I'd seriously reccomend reading this book.
Overall, this book contains an elegant use of vocabulary and writing, but has the occasional minor spelling error. For major critiques, if there is one, then it's the lack of capitalizing on the anthropomorphic animals of the setting and not using them to their fullest. You can see attempts at doing so here and there, but for the most part their animalistic appearances could easily have simply been humans, and the story would not have suffered in the slightest. Besides that, I believe this book is top class amongst the other books on royal road, and should seriously be considered for your next read.