Now You See Him

Roy Ballard, Book 4

By: Ben Rehder

Narrated by: Johnny Peppers

Jeremy Sawyer was having a great time on a party barge on Lake Travis, and then he was suddenly nowhere to be found. Had he jumped? Fallen off? Been pushed? Roy Ballard - an expert in catching insurance cheats - intends to find out. After all, Jeremy Sawyer was the nephew of one of his biggest clients, and she can't shake the suspicion that it wasn't an accident. It isn't long before Roy and his partner Mia Madison begin to draw the same conclusion.

©2017 Ben Rehder (P)2017 Ben Rehder

come on Roy. You knw better thsn that.

i enjoy Roy Ballard mysteries, and this one is pretty typical. But ol'e Roy gets a tad over the top with the "this is a really really bad idea so I think I'll go for it" routine. Mia is a fool to stay with that boy. He could do with a dose of common sense in this story.

Excellent novel in an offbeat series!

NOW YOU SEE HIM is the 4th novel in the Roy Ballard series. I have previously listened to and reviewed the first three series novels. Ballard and his partner Eve have a video business working for insurance companies to document people with faked injuries. They are not licensed to be private investigators and they are not cops, but in each novel they manage to get involved in and solving criminal cases. I seldom complain that a publisher's summary does not set up a novel adequately, but that is true with NOW YOU SEE HIM. Unless the listener is familiar with earlier books in the series the summary provides no useful information. The novels in the Roy Ballard series are set in Austin, Texas. Johnny Peppers' narration is first rate.

Another 5 Star Roy Ballard... Great Series!!!!

This is the forth book in the Roy Ballard series. I've listened to the other three as well and they are equally as good. I had been hesitant about purchasing another book from this author because I had originally purchased a book from his "Blanco County" series and I couldn't even finish the book. This series is written so differently if I didn't know better I would swear it was written by a different author.
Anyway, in this book a young man goes overboard off of a party barge in a very large lake. After that all of the party goers claim no knowledge and no one sees him again. Later that night another man who was at the party is assaulted in his home. Little is stolen but his cell phone is one of the items.
Roy Ballard is a videographer who films people committing insurance fraud. That is not the case here but a relative of the missing man is one of Ballard's clients and she doesn't believe it was an accident.
Ballard picks up clues a little bit at a time, each clue points his investigation in a different direction giving the reader multiple plausible scenarios throughout the book. It's not until almost the end when he gets the final clue pointing to what really happened on the barge that night and whether or not a crime was committed.
Johnny Peppers narrates this and the other Roy Ballard books. He does an excellent job.
This book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Roy & Mia

Now You See Him by Ben Rehder pulled me in immediately. I have recently started this series and enjoy the author's writing style and the characters of Roy and Mia. I find the twists are excellent. Johnny Peppers is wonderful bringing the characters to life with his voice. He adds the right emotions.

Mia humanizes

I liked that Mia advocated for Dennis and his needs. Mia is having blind spots and rose colored glasses where Garland is concerned AGAIN!!! FIinally a reason to like Mia when she starts adding up the clues to where's Roy at!!! lol. What an abrupt shocking ending!!! Kudos. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job with voices and expressions.

Another great Ballard story

This is a completely solid entry in the Ballard series. I think the sub-case in this story, one focused around a medical problem related to a vaccine, is both timely and the real highlight here. One note - eventually, I'd like to see something of a focus again on the subplot from the first two novels about Roy's strained relationship with his daughter and ex-wife. I think there's some potential there for a strong plot. Maybe that's addressed in other novels, but it does feel out of place that it was such a central focus in the first two books and then doesn't get much of a focus again.

That said, the meat of the novel is superb, as always. Looking forward to starting the next one.