Jugs & Bottles

Author's Summary

Jami Unice Gamble, a woman deaf since birth, is targeted for murder after witnessing a Mafia style killing and identifying the two killers to the police. She, along with her hearing aid dog Bottles, becomes involved in a story of romance, chaos and murder by organized crime as the Morgan brothers, a contracted two-man hit team, tries to kill her.

The brothers, Vinnie and Bennie Morgan, are petty crooks and amateurs at trying to commit murder, having never killed anyone before. They make several bungled attempts on Jami’s life and get themselves into a series of comedic situations. Jami’s dog Bottles tries to befriend the criminal duo each time he meets them, but fear of the dog and the brothers’ reactions in trying to avoid him only causes them no end of embarrassing moments. The ongoing encounters between the dog and the brothers are oblivious to Jami because of her deafness.

Lt. Randall Casey, a handsome police officer, is the only one in the police department who can communicate with their key witness to the mob style execution. He takes on the responsibility to protect Jami and soon begins a romance with her. His twelve-year-old son Joey is also deaf, and he too likes the woman and her dog, forming an immediate bond with both of them.

During a failed attempt to kill Jami, the Morgan brothers end up in the hospital and another Mafia mobster tries to fulfill the murder contract in order to meet a deadline ordered by mob bosses. He too fails because Bottles goes through an instant metamorphic personality transformation from a docile and gentle pet into a primeval attack animal, killing the assailant in a necessary act to save the members of his adopted pack.

After the death of the assailant, Lt. Casey and members of the police department wonder how to keep Jami safe from the Mafia in the long term, but an unknown ally solves the problem and for a reason that will never be known by the police.

MWSA Review

Ottenhausen has written a Thriller encompassing all that makes the reader keep turning pages. Murder and intrigue are woven together with threads of humor and love. Jami Gamble deaf since birth is the central figure having witnessed a mob murder, now she and her sidekick (a dog yes, but more than a dog) are in danger and Lt. Casey becomes her protector/boyfriend. What is not to like about this well written thriller. Bumbling hoods that in the end wind up victims of the mob they felt a part of. Bottles, Jami’s dog is called on to approve of the Lt. as her husband, almost fairy tale like the ending clearly a beginning. This is a book you will read again.

Reviewed by: Greenwald, Jim (2012)