Zeus, Inc. by Robin Burks

Biting Dog Publications, 2013

ASIN:  B00DONI6LA

Available:  eBook(Kindle)

Alex Grosjean is a private investigator.  She spends most of her time investigating cheating spouses and insurance fraudsters.  Lately though, the jobs just haven’t been coming her way.  As she wrestles with the panic caused by unpaid bills, she gets a call from her friend Aliesha. Aliesha’s father, Joseph Brentwood, who is also the CEO of of Zeus, Inc., has been missing for two days.  Alex takes the case, and as she digs in, she finds a lead; an email reference to a meeting Mr. Brentwood had just before his disappearance at Club Tartarus.  Alex goes to the club, and before she knows it, she is investigating Greek gods.  What could possibly happen?

 Zeus, Inc. combines the hard-boiled private eye story with Greek mythology in a science-fictional setting.  The author did a good job blending the elements of Greek mythology into the classic private eye investigation.  Each of the characters had good voices, distinct from one another.  The plot moved along at a steady pace, with tension  building as the investigation runs into twists.  The pacing was okay and generally worked well, and the descriptions gave enough details to keep the story moving forward.  All this being said, I feel this story needed more work.  It just was a little too out there for me to really suspend disbelief and get into it.  There were repetitive and overly cutesy elements; it got old to hear Alex constantly referring to her car as, “the Phoebe”.  It felt like the author was trying a little too hard, and stretching just a little too far.  In the end, it was an okay story, but not an exceptional one.  I have not read any of this author’s work before.

Contains:  Swearing, Adult Situations, Sexual Situations

Reviewed by Aaron Fletcher