Gunning for Trouble

A Jo Gunning Thriller

By: Renee Pawlish

Narrated by: Erika Calvert

Ex-Army Civil Affairs specialist Jo Gunning is a loner. No commitments. No fixed address.

She's enjoying her anonymity in Virginia when she crosses paths with a runaway teenage girl in need.

Assisting the girl in getting home leads to a phone call for help, and a claim from the girl that her father is holding her hostage. As Jo searches for answers, she finds that nothing is what it seems, and no one is telling the truth.

With both Russian assassins and a shady government agency watching her every move, Jo must use all the skills the military taught her...and some they didn't.

Walking away would’ve been easier, but Jo is always willing to help someone in trouble.

©2022 Renee Pawlish (P)2023 Renee Pawlish

Do they have a pool?

This series was compared to the Reacher series. No. A vs C.
Teenager Brooke (who is being considered as a possible college scholarship recipient-so she's 16 or 17) is told that her mother's life is in danger and the people looking for her may be coming after them as well. Hours later, they go to a hotel to stay for protection. She asks"do they have a pool?" A couple hours after that se sneaks out of the hotel room because she can't stand for the drinks available in the room. She HAS to have a Diet Coke. She sneaks out of the room and is chloroform by the bad guys and kidnapped. Really?
Reacher vs Jo Gunning? No.
Glad I purchased the whole audible series.

A new path for Renee Pawlish

This is the first novel in the newest series by Renee Pawlish. It is quite different from her earlier series which were located in the Denver area and feature an establish cast of characters. It is almost more of a thriller and less humorous. Nevertheless, for any listener willing to invest the time, it is well worth the purchase price.

Jo Gunning is an emotionally detached former humint agent of the federal government and military who remains scared by a mission that went horribly wrong and left fellow team members with serious physical injuries. Unable to move forward she is detached for much of her former friends and unable to settle on a path forward in life. Then one afternoon she encounters a young runaway in a DC area park who is being "befriended" by other runaways and a pimp. Unable to allow such a violation to take place, she takes action and is slowly but surely led into a complicated situation very familiar to her former self.

The narrator, Erika Calvert, does not have a lot of fiction titles to her credit on Audible, but her tone and infliction are serious enough for this type of female led thriller without many of the overtones in more romantic works. The only possible improvement might be a different approach to the machine generated voice associated with the fellow agent from her past life more in line with modern AI and speech generation.

If you are looking for a serious female led thrillers with plenty of baggage reminiscent of the works by Mark Dawson you do not need to look any further than the Jo Gunning novels.

Female version of Reacher

Good story if a bit predictable. Narrator wasn’t great with character voicing, maybe I will read the next in the series instead.

Not pleased.

The narrator leaves a lot to be desired. This book could have been half the length, very drawn out.