Book Review: "Hazardous Duty" by Christy Barritt

Did you know crime scene cleaning can be a six figure job?

I knew this book was going to be interesting when I sat down to lunch with the book, opened up the first page, read the first line and promptly had to spit out my lunch. Fragments of skull and grilled chicken do not mix. Gaby St. Clair is a crime scene cleaner. During one of her jobs, she discovers what appears to be the real murder weapon. Since the police don't believe her at first, Gaby tries to find the real killer on her own. Along the way, amid several death attempts, she and her cute neighbor try to unravel whose actually behind all these sinister doings.

I knew knew there was such a job as a crime scene cleaner. Well obviously I realized that someone had to clean up the mess, but I didn't think that there could be such a profitable business doing it. I definitely couldn't do that job, my stomach couldn't handle it. This book ended up being a quick read because I couldn't put it down. This book isn't preachy at all. I felt it showed accurately how a frustrated a non-Christian could get with trying to understand how and why God acts. Why is though that guys always have perfect ex-girlfriends? Sure, they may saw she has a lot of flaws, but you never get to see them. I liked Gaby's reaction, because it's exactly how I would have acted.

Something else I personally enjoyed was the fact that I was familiar with all the settings in the book because I'm from that area! Normally books take place in New York, Chicago, LA, places where I have to use my imagination just to picture the setting. This time, I've been to Freemason Abbey, the Bier Garten, Scope, ODU; Gaby even takes a trip to my city. So it was great to see local places keep popping up. I'm looking forward to Gaby's next adventure and also seeing how her relationships are going to end up.

Hazardous Duty by Christy Barritt is published by Kregel (2006)