Jack Spade: Dream Detective - Carl A. Chase

                James lives a normal, everyday life but when he closes his eyes his dreams literally come alive. Most of us enjoy dreaming so that we can have a break from real life but James’s dreams become his reality when his dream alter-ego, Jack Spade, takes over. Jack is a private investigator in the 1940s who takes on cases such as missing and cheating spouses, all while juggling a new and tricky relationship with Jennifer, a lounge singer in a local mobster’s club. The dream part of the book reads like an old time detective novel or an old black and white movie. The author portrays this setting quite well with fairly believable dialogue and settings significant to the era. The problem is that the main case that the novel is based around becomes so twisted that it is hard to follow and keep up with the storyline. I almost had to make a chart just to keep the characters and plot twists in order. Very little of the book involves James in an awake state and probably would have read better had the whole book been only about Jack and his investigations. With a little more planning and clearer storyline, the basis for an entertaining novel is definitely here. At the moment it is just a bit too confusing to hold my interest for long. I read this on my ereader and it formatted well. The cover is not particularly alluring but it does portray a detective-based story.