The Dogtrot Murder A Carter A. Johnson & Kate Menke Thriller

The Dogtrot Murder

Title – The Dogtrot Murder
Author – Robert Schobernd
Genre – Thriller, Suspense, Vigilante Justice
208 Amazon Pages
Rating 5 stars out of 5 Posted 7/11/17
No. – 29-1 2017

My Impressions: Carter - tough, competent, intelligent, compassionate, tenacious.
Kate: afraid, disappointed, liberal, betrayed - rejuvenated, fair, unafraid, revenge.

Main Characters:
Carter A. Johnson – the vigilante sent to investigate the conviction of a wife currently in prison.
Kate Menke – convicted of murdering her husband, serving a life term in prison.

The Dogtrot Murder opens inside the antagonist’s thoughts as he prepares to murder Gerhart J. Menke, Kate Menke’s husband. The following segment switches to Kate’s incarceration at the Kansas State Prison for Women at Topeka, Kansas. Her feelings and reactions during the admissions segment invoked compassion for the woman who claimed to be innocent of the crime. Then we meet her cellmate Mercie, and watch their relationship develop.
Next the scene switched to Carter at his girlfriend’s cabin in Oregon discussing their fledgling relationship. They’ve each been married previously and are cautiously defining the extent of their new arrangement.
Back in prison, Kate is getting threatening looks from a fellow prisoner wannabe gang leader and questions why the woman’s anger is focused on her.
The scenes continue to switch back and forth as Carter and Mattie are making love while Kate is accepting the reality and danger of life in prison, quite a contrast in life styles.
Both main characters are written in first person, and due to their separation of scenes, it works well.
As Carter begins his investigation he gets too close to the truth of Gerhart’s murder and a series of attacks to silence him begin. The action scenes are intelligently choreographed and vividly portrayed. Watch especially for the scenes with Kinky Stillbrink.

The editing and sentence structure in this story are not perfect but approach excellent.
Development of main and supporting characters is above average. I clearly understood who and what each important character was.
Details and research are thorough, especially for Kate’s time in prison and the procedures enforced there.
The plot is involved and held my interest from start to finish.
Crisp and complex describes the writing style. It’s not wordy or loaded with excess details that would constitute filler.

This review was provided in exchange for a free book.
Vigilant Reader Book Reviews.