‘Class Of 2008’ by Patricia Asedegbega

Synopsis

After surviving the near-death experience at the hands of her husband, “cold eyes,” Rosario and her feline friend Balou are trying to get some semblance of normality back into their lives A new home, new surroundings, old friends, and plenty of rest is just what the doctor ordered, had he been consulted. Balou’s law of minimum effort means days spent licking his paws in the sun, but Balou’s practice is soon shaken to its very foundation. When a dear friend’s innocent class reunion goes horribly wrong, their peace is shattered. In a race against time, the amateur sleuths navigate the muddy waters of old secrets and friendships to try to save the day, but the clock is ticking and it might very well be too late…

 

My Review

If there’s one thing that I like to do, it is discovering new authors to read.  Patricia Asedegbega is certainly a new author to me and I eagerly looked forward to reading ‘Class Of 2008’.  I was not to be disappointed as I really did enjoy it but more about that in a bit.

I loved the wide range of characters in this book.  I especially loved the closeness between Rosario and her companion Balou, who is actually a C.A.T.  (I can’t say the word out loud because my youngest dog would go ballistic which is why I have spelt it out.  I think I might have got away with it).  The close relationship between Rosario and Balou and the reasons for it were explained in the first book in the series ‘I Stand Corrected’.  I haven’t read the first in the series but from what I can gather Balou protected Rosario when she was in serious danger from her husband.  Rosario & Balou’s latest case involves investigating a school reunion that goes so badly wrong.  What happens that makes the reunion go so wrong?  Will Rosario and Balou survive the case?  Will Rosario and Balou manage to catch the culprit?  Well for the answers to those questions and more you re just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.

I have to say that ‘Class Of 2008’ has to be one of the most uniquely written books I have ever read.  The book is really well written and the story is told in alternating chapters as written by Rosario and Balou.  There can’t be too many books that are part written by a C.A.T.  This way of telling the story works really well and the story flows seamlessly as a result.  I loved the way in which the author has captured what I would imagine a C.A.T to come out with if it could talk.  Those chapters occasionally made me chuckle away to myself.

It didn’t take me long at all to get ‘into’ the story and to become addicted to reading this book.  Indeed the author’s writing style is such that you can’t fail to be drawn into the story and before long you feel as though you are actually part of the story and investigating the case along with Rosario and Balou.  At least that’s exactly how I felt.  The more I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages turned.  At times, the pages were turning that quickly that it was almost as if they were turning themselves and before I knew what was happening I had finished the book, which I was disappointed about.  I was enjoying the writing style, the storylines and the characters so much that I just wanted the book to continue for a lot longer.

‘Class Of 2008’ is the second book in the Rosario and Balou series as I mentioned above.  The first book in the series is called ‘I Stand Corrected’ and was released a few years ago.  ‘Class Of 2008′ reads perfectly well as a standalone but because I am a bit OCD and like reading series’ in order, I fully intend to read ‘I Stand Corrected’ and then re-read ‘Class Of 2008’.

In short, I really, really did enjoy reading ‘Class Of 2008’ and I would definitely recommend it to other readers.  I can’t wait to read what Patricia Asedegbega comes up with next.  The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.