Cover Image: The Hubley Case

The Hubley Case

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Member Reviews

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A great story wrapped up in extremely poor formatting/editing. Possibly because I downloaded the free copy in a format that is not 100% compatible with my e-reader, but the formatting was all messed up, no chapter breaks, inverted commas instead of apostrophes and other items which were a major distraction for the first half of the book. Having got used to the formatting, and once the story started to pick up, I really enjoyed it. Definitely out of the Jack Reacher "box", Ben Siebert is ex-military and finds himself recruited through a personal connection to investigate the brutal slaying of an American business man in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Siebert stumbles into a strange symbiotic relationship with FBI Agent Nikki Benton and between them they become embroiled in a major conspiracy headed by a genuinely bad "Bad Guy" with his various henchmen and conspirators.

The pace of the tale picks up towards the last third and really rips through to a satisfying conclusion. Would have been 4 stars if not for the formatting & editing issues.

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This book takes off running with the murder of Peter Hubley while in Brazil. Who is Peter Hubley and why was he murdered is not the only mystery. Everything surrounding this murder is bizarre.

FBI Special Agent Nikki Benton is assigned to this confusing case for unknown reasons. Ex
marine Ben Siebert, friend of Peter Hubley and his family, gets a call from the new widow to find answers she’s not getting from anyone. Benton and Siebert are both investigating this devastating crime. Turns out the murder of Peter Hubley is a symptom of a much bigger crime. Bodies are piling up. No one is cooperating with each other.
Friction builds between Benton and Siebert. Siebert is increasingly frustrated over the constant dead ends and the fact Siebert seems to always be ahead of her in the investigation. Why is Benton’s concern.

There is a lot going on in this book. Unknown covert operations are thrown into the mix. Who’s innocent? Who’s at the heart of this turmoil? This is a complicated page turner that will keep you guessing.

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Lindas Book Obsession Review of "The Hubley Case" by J. Lee  

J. Lee, Debut Author of "The Hubley Case" has written a captivating, intense, riveting, suspenseful,  mystery and thriller.   An American businessman, Peter Hubley is killed publicly in a Brazilian airport. The two killers suddenly go into spasm, and collapse, and the ambulance taking the killers away disappears. This certainly is perplexing, and suddenly becomes an international incident.

The FBI becomes involved and  Nikki Benton is the agent that is looking for information. Peter Hubley's widow asks her brother Ben Siebert, a former Marine to look into why her husband was killed. The author describes his characters as complex and complicated.  Many of the characters are suspect and it is hard to determine who can be trusted. Agent Benton and Ben Siebert manage to work together at times to solve this case, which has more danger than any one could have predicted.

The search for the master-mind killer is a global one, with many false leads.  At one point a story  appears in the newspaper the accuses Peter Hubley of being involved with a serious gang. Ben Siebert is determined to give his sister closure and prove he is innocent.There are twists and turns.  This is a great adventure with espionage, murders, and the chase. I would recommend this thrilling and suspenseful mystery to those readers who enjoy sitting on the edge of their seats.

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If this is the first novel from this author, it's a good start. It's well written with a good story and OK plot. The things I didn't like were some improbable actions, a few factual mistakes and some "dead meat" (2 pages about why a journalist wanted to be a journalist seems unnecessary). But all in all a good read!

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In The Hubley Case, J. Lee keeps up the action as ex-Marine Ben Siebert teams up with an FBI agent Nikki Benton to investigate the highly public murder of Peter Hubley in a foreign airport. The story is fast-paced and keeps a steady flow of drama and action. Ben is clearly supposed to be a Jack Reacher type of figure, but although there is a hastily sketched humanizing back-story, the overall effect falls into video-game/superhero comic territory. Despite a decade of experience as a tough FBI investigator, Nikki is apt to dissolve in tears when spoken to sternly and is basically useful only for providing the hero with access to confidential information. Ben shows the little lady how it’s done by taking a tough line with various other characters. This involves speaking harshly to them (his eyes turn a darker blue to signify that he means business), and the bad guys suddenly quail in fear and give up their secrets. It’s a little over the top, but if you can suspend disbelief you can just enjoy the action-filled ride until the inevitable triumph of the good guys.

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