An Unsolvable Mystery?

Nick Blake is hunkered down over his computer, feverishly working to prove his theory about the professor’s uncanny predictive ability. A sudden noise startles him, until he recognizes the source and relaxes, just long enough to die. Detective Albert Pryor is summoned to the scene, restored to active duty, and put in charge of the case with no explanation. He has no idea why until he learns his daughter and ex-wife are both involved in having the case solved. Then he gets to meet his new partner, Kevin Cummings, the grandson of the man who trained Albert when he joined the force. There is a lot of interaction with these characters and Blitz, a retired K-9, and more throughout the book.

I liked everything about this book. The characters are well developed, some more likable than others. There is a lot of banter, witticisms, and emotion throughout, and the locked-door mystery kept me turning pages to find out what’s next. This is the second book I have read by Ron Pennington and they have both been excellent. I’m hoping this book is the start of series starring Pryor & Cummings.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for an advance copy of The GAIA Incident.

What a great read! The author. Rod Pennington pulled me into “Pryor & Cumming the GAIA Incident” in a heartbeat with the book’s surprise murder of Nick Blake--I didn’t see that coming! As an author myself, I enjoyed Pennington’s wonderfully descriptive writing skills and character development.
I especially loved Detective Albert Pryor, a retired police officer, who spoke in a sarcastic and humoristic manner reminding me of Bluebloods, Frank Reagan. Pryor’s daughter Brooke also was another interesting character that I enjoyed. Along with being beautiful, there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do like work on cars and being a computer geek along with being obnoxious.
The book included several sub-plots to add suspense and twists to the story along with intense power struggles between the local police and the FBI. Rod Pennington has also included a well-written sci-fi into the story. This book has everything; mystery, sex, and a wonderful element of romance and deserves a five-star rating.
I can’t wait to read more of Rod Pennington’s books. Thank you, Rod Pennington and Net Galley, for the opportunity to read this great e-book.

Pryor and Cummings is quite a genre-bender! A young employee of a tech company, one of whose principals is famous for predicting when earthquakes will occur, is murdered as he sits at his computer late at night. The facility has high security, and no one entered or left the premises, so a classic locked-room mystery presents itself. An odd-couple pair of police detectives are assigned to the case. Detective Albert Pryor had been on suspension due to an incident in which he punched his ex-wife’s current husband but was called back for this case through the intervention of the wealthy tycoon who owns the company where the murder occurred. Kevin Cummings is a rookie whose tech skills make up for his lack of police experience. He also has a “history” with Pryor’s daughter Brooke, which does not bode well for their bonding as a team.
In addition to locked-room mysteries, the book also reminded me in a good way of noir detective stories in the characters’ actions and interactions.
The characters are most definitely the highlight of the book, thoroughly human and even sympathetic, despite having quite a few flaws. Pryor is cynical and does show his temper, but he also displays clever skills at manipulation, especially the federal agents who try to intrude on his investigation. He also shows kindness, like when he offers to take Cummings’ elderly impaired father to a ball game. His daughter, who can work on cars and computers equally well, shares his feistiness and is a player in their investigation, although I could have used a bit less carping on her sex life from everyone. Even the victim is shown as a bit of a jerk, taking pride in puffing away at his cigarette while grinning at the office No Smoking sign.
The author does beautiful character descriptions, such as this introduction to African-American FBI agent Michael Gottwald, “ His skin was the color of a sixteen-ounce dark roast coffee with a single creamer added. With his good posture, and an unblinking glare Pryor suspected he practices in the mirror, he projected ‘ you really don’t want to mess with me’ body language.”
As the story progressed, it morphed from mystery to technothriller to a fairly standard science fiction plot. A few of the aspects of the science fiction were not too plausible, even for a SF fan like me, but overall I think the book will appeal to many readers who can tolerate SF and can suspend belief and just go along for the ride.

Pryor & Cummings by Rod Pennington is a very fun read with colorful characters and a plot twist or two that keeps the reader guessing and ready to read on to see what is the next bizarre thing to happen. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

This was my first time reading a Rod Pennington book and it will not be my last! Pennington intertwines politics, artificial intelligence, and family dynamics in this book. He has a gift of humor that made me laugh out loud a couple of times. You get drawn into the story and don't want to put it down.

Just finished "Pryor and Commings (The GAIA Incident)" - It is a "who done it" type of read with overtones of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble meet the Jetsons as it pits seasoned police detectives against their very young and tech savvy counterparts. A young techie is found murdered at his place of employment and right away the owner of the firm becomes the number one suspect. The billionaire owner has made a name for himself by pinpointing earthquakes before they even happen, and he happens to be batting a 1000 in his accuracy. But is he a genius or is he the one responsible for causing these natural phenomena? To complicate matters the main characters all have a history - Father, mother, daughter, grandfather, just to name a few. There are a lot of twists and turns in the story and when the ultimate killer is unmasked, it will be totally unexpected. This was a Just finished "Pryor and Commings" - a very enjoyable read. It was a "who done it" type of read with overtones of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble meet the Jetsons as it pits seasoned police detectives against their very young and tech savvy counterparts. A young techie is found murdered at his place of employment and right away the owner of the firm becomes the number one suspect. The billionaire owner has made a name for himself by pinpointing earthquakes before they even happen, and he happens to be batting a 1000 in his accuracy. But is he a genius or is he the one responsible for causing these natural phenomena? To complicate matters the main characters all have a history - Father, mother, daughter, grandfather, just to name a few. There are a lot of twists and turns in the story and when the ultimate killer is unmasked, it will be totally unexpected. Just finished "Pryor and Commings" - a very enjoyable read. It was a "who done it" type of read with overtones of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble meet the Jetsons as it pits seasoned police detectives against their very young and tech savvy counterparts. A young techie is found murdered at his place of employment and right away the owner of the firm becomes the number one suspect. The billionaire owner has made a name for himself by pinpointing earthquakes before they even happen, and he happens to be batting a 1000 in his accuracy. But is he a genius or is he the one responsible for causing these natural phenomena? To complicate matters the main characters all have a history - Father, mother, daughter, grandfather, just to name a few. There are a lot of twists and turns in the story and when the ultimate killer is unmasked, it will be totally unexpected. This was a very enjoyable read.

"The Gaia Incident", which we can expect to be the first in a new series about Albert Pryor and his rookie partner Kevin Cummings starts out as a locked room murder at a university research center soon widens into a rollicking story with a huge cast of characters. The book has a Guardians of the Galaxy vibe even though it is not set in space. Everyone is painted in hyper colors with archetype after archetype including Albert's daughter Brooke, his ex-wife Melissa, uber hacker Crazy Norman, and a host of other actors from the police department, FBI, CIA, the University, and the Dark Web. And Blitz, Blitzkrieg IV to be exact: A hyper intelligent police K-9 (retired).

I had a great time reading it, an investment of only a few hours. It's great for the airplane or a beach. I really wonder, though, how any sequels can possibly be more fun.

To NetGalley ARC readers only: Note how the quality of copy editing plummets in Chapter 35 and the ludicrous placeholder cover. The ARC has a typeface / reveal problem that I hope is corrected in the final version, although I can't see how it possibly can be the way the text is written. And tell me, is the title: "Pryor and Cummings" or "The Gaia Incident" as the first in the Pryor and Cummings series?

This was a really great mystery/buddy cop book. Sarcastic and irreverent, machismo tempered by a strong family quotient, lightly romantic but not gushingly so. I really enjoyed Pryor and Holden's rapport, and the no-BS attitude Pryor exuded.
The book lost a little stream about 80% through, but picked back up by 85 or so and ended really well.

Thanks to Netgalley, Rod Pennington and ePulp Press for offering me this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Rod Pennington has a new book. Pryor & Cummings are the two main characters and The Gaia Incident is the case they investigate. Pryor is a seasoned cop and Cummings is a newbie, but he is well qualified in all things tech. This is the kind of Sci-Fi story I really enjoy. I know it isn't true, but very well could be in the future. One of the characters who melted my heart was Blitz, the retired K-9 German Shepherd. I want to thank NetGalley and ePulp Press for an early copy to review.

This is my second foray into the imaginative world of Rod Pennington books. I read the first one because a menacing duck was on the cover, and was captivated by the story. I was excited another book had become available by this author. This novel is decent, but I did a few eye-rolls with some of the character development. Let's start with the things I liked: Barracuda muscle car, retired K-9 dog Blitzkreig IV, bad-ass journalist reporter Sandra Hollis with a bit of a smart mouth, and let's not forget the mysterious dark-web. Things I didn't like so much: the cookie-cutter characters such as rookie-cop who needs a father figure, Mary-sue daughter who can do and say no wrong, debutante ex-wife, police chief riding all the cops, etc. The book tries to ride a wave between hard-boiled detective story and modern-times social media blitz and that's when some of the eye-rolls ensued. The epilogue had a lot of name-dropping and favor-giving to just shove in your face one more time just how important Brooke Pryor and her grandfather are in this world. Fast, enjoyable read with a few parts that just make you shake your head about why they were included. Book access provided by NetGalley in order to review.

Having never read anything by Rod Pennington before, I wasn't certain what to expect, but the description caught my eye, so I decided to give it a shot.

Despite the modern topic (artificial intelligence), this story has a film noir feeling. The detective is on probation for cutting corners (which he's comfortable doing when it suits his own needs) and displays grudging respect for the strong women in his life. The opening scene is a mysterious character smoking cigarettes in a no-smoking area, chugging Red Bulls like they're going out of fashion. Politics, power and corruption are heavy influencers in the storyline too.

I've always tended more toward Jessica Fletcher, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple when it comes to my mysteries, so this didn't really resonate too well with me. I also identified the culprit very early in the story, which was disappointing.

But there were still quirky characters, snarky conversations, and interesting developments that kept my attention. So, it wasn't a challenge to read through to the end, and I did enjoy the story despite the fact that it's not my usual cup of tea.

Thanks to Rod Pennington, Integration Press and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

This was my first experience reading a Rod Pennington book. It for sure will not be the last. A good mystery that keeps you guessing. I absolutely recommend this book.

When the body of a GAIA Institute graduate student is found in a locked computer lab, Detective Albert Pryor gets his suspension upgraded to probation so he can work the case. I wasn’t enamored with this guy right off the bat. He comes across as a sarcastic wise guy, so it didn’t surprise me that he might have, uh, stepped on some toes and gotten himself in hot water. Still, despite his problems with authority and perhaps some corner-cutting, he’s been a detective for 20 years. He gets a newbie as a partner on this case, Max Cummings. Cummings is about as different from Pryor as they come. Pryor is old school. Cummings knows quite a bit about techie stuff, which is a good thing, because this case will prove to be filled with computers and such. There’s also an awesome retired police dog, Blitz.

The dilemma is this: With the security codes, cameras, and the fact that the murder occurred at a time when no one had access to the building, there are no suspects. This should be quite a puzzler. Eventually the FBI is called in, and the FBI always gets their man, don’t they? Pryor doesn’t handle this well, and with his experience, he knows how to get around the guy assigned to the case.

As other reviewers have noted, there is a bit of technology involved in this story. Don’t let that scare you away. I am as un-techie as they come, and I was able to Google a few things to verify that, yes, they do indeed exist. And yes, the techie stuff is fun! This book is sort of R2D2/C3PO meets HAL. Okay, I might be aging myself here. 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In fact, the humans seem much more complex than the machines. There are all sorts of entanglements. Pryor’s ex-wife is married to the researcher who is at the center of the mystery. Their daughter Brooke, used to date Cummings. There are relationships on both sides with former cops who have some good stories to tell about Pryor. Then there’s the ABC News personality who has the hots for Pryor.

All in all, this was a fun ride.

Thanks to NetGalley, Integration Press, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Pryor & Cummings: The GAIA Incident is a really rollicking read. I had no idea what to expect from this book because I had never read anything by Rod Pennington before. I regret that now because this book was so darn good. Entertaining? Yes! Amusing? Yes! Colorful characters? Goodness gracious, yes! The book is a whole lot of fun. Pennington combines a genuinely good mystery with wonderful dialogue. I enjoyed the plot a great deal. I truly hope we see Pryor & Cummings (and gang) again. Thanks to ePubPress and NetGalley for the advance reading copy!

This was my first dip into the cozy mystery pond and I really enjoyed it. Fast paced, easy to read and interesting. A good mystery that keeps you guessing. What more could you ask for? Definitely read this if you enjoy mysteries. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Integration Press LLC and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Thriller that’ll have your heart racing.

Loved this book. It's funny and serious at the same time. While the issue is serious the by play between the characters is funny from beginning to end. I was hooked from page one.

Pryor isn't sure if his career as a homicide detective is over or not until there's a murder with a heavy fallout. And then he's sure he's been brought in to be the fall guy if this turns bad. But he's assigned a rookie who is also the son of the man who trained him.

Read their escapades during this case and the funny characters that are in on it with them. Enjoy this read because I certainly did.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pryor & Cummings The GAIA Incident by Rod Pennington starts as a murder mystery, but quickly escalates to something much more ominous that will keep readers engaged and often surprised as the story unfolds. Pryor is a long time detective paired with Cummings, a rookie whose main qualification seems to be his computer literacy. The banter between these two as they work together and learn from each other is fun to read. The supporting characters are well defined and present a cross section of current culture…from the sticklers for rules to some who are far out of the mainstream. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book. Most highly recommend.