"Texas Ranger" Doesn't Crack The Case

 

I figured a book with the title “Texas Ranger” on the cover would be a fun read, and it wasn’t a bad read. It was a fun enough read, but the problem with this book is the central character, Texas Ranger Rory Yates isn’t that good a detective. After his ex-wife is murdered, Rory becomes obsessed with the idea that her boyfriend, Cal is the killer, and that’s it. He doesn’t really dig further than that. While the book did keep me turning pages, with its short chapters and somewhat compelling narrative, I still can’t recommend this book due to me not having any faith in the main character solving the murder.

Rory just sounds like a whiney high school kid, yet he’s in his mid-30s. The actual writing of the book isn’t bad, but the main character in insufferable and breaks a ton of laws taking this murder case into his own hands. Rory goes to the crime scene without permission, even at one point, driving from Texas to New Jersey to accuse Cal of the murder, as Cal is a truck driver.

The problem is Rory is a hothead. There’s also a subplot about Rory trying to decide between two women, Sara Beth who is his high school sweetheart and attractive local longue signer named Willow. There’s also another sub plot about Rory’s dad having cancer, but he only tells Rory and hides it from the rest of his family. The subplot about Rory’s various relationships becomes relevant with a twist at the end of the book. However, if I’m going to read a book about a guy solving an case, I want him to solve and not the events of the book. I want the guy I’m reading about to solve the case, and that’s the problem with “Texas Ranger”.

On a side note, this book did get me interested in why Texas has rangers while the rest of the country doesn’t. According to what I read, Texas Rangers have been around since 1835, and they still uphold this tradition. However, the idea was for these Rangers to defend then new republic of Texas from Native American and Mexican attacks. So, the actual root of Texas Rangers was racist sounding. I’m not trying to go all woke here in my review, but when you have a modern police force, why does Texas still need Rangers and why keep something with a racist history so alive in the first place? But I’m getting off subject.