What the critics say about the Jack McMorrow mysteries:
Deadline
Bloodline
Lifeline
Potshot
Borderline
Cover Story

Reviews for Deadline

From Publishers Weekly
First-novelist Boyle deftly transplants a big-city noir atmosphere to the western Maine mill town of Androscoggin, where the discovery of a freelance photographer's body floating in the canal leads newspaper editor Jack McMorrow into a series of intrigues. . . . The author, himself an award-winning columnist, uses his insider's knowledge of the newspaper business to give his plot plenty of texture; he also delivers realistic characterizations, diverting subplots and evocative descriptions of rural Maine. Turning what could have been a contrived ending into a powerful, scary denouement, Boyle shocks readers into the recognition that life, in all of its subtlety, will constantly contradict itself. A fine debut; one hopes to see more of McMorrow.

From Booklist
Boyle makes an auspicious debut, using his years of experience as a journalist and his knowledge of small-town Maine to create an entertaining mystery-adventure. . . . Boyle's characters are all engaging; his high-speed plot never bogs down; and his dry wit provides some welcome relief from the hard-hitting action. Fans of Robert B. Parker's Spenser will love McMorrow, a quintessential male who's tough, funny, macho, and intelligent, who thrives on danger, and who has a girlfriend who's almost as cool as Susan Silverman. All he lacks is a sidekick like Spenser's Hawk.

From Midwest Book Review
Filled with unexpected twists, the reader weaves with the reporter Jack McMorrow through a labyrinth of hidden relationships, murderous intentions and secret pasts. McMorrow is the editor of a weekly newspaper in Androscoggin, Maine who tries to get some answers to why his photographer downed in an icy mill canal, why doesn't anyone in the town care, and who, if anyone, can he trust? Deadline is a fast, lively and exceptionally well written mystery by a new author in the genre.

Reviews for Bloodline

From Publishers Weekly
Boyle's effective, low-key sequel to Deadline brings back ex-New York Times reporter Jack McMorrow, who is making a habit of getting in trouble in his new home in Prosperity, Maine. Jack has taken a high-paying assignment from New England Look magazine to write an article on "Kids Having Kids." Poking about a nearby high school leads him to Missy Hewett, who gave up her baby for adoption before moving to Prosperity where she intends to finish her schooling. . . . Boyle deftly establishes mood and setting, clearly defines his characters and offers lots of reflection from Jack, whose subdued first-person narration gives this solid mystery an intimate, small-town air.

From School Library Journal
"Kids having kids" is not a subject with which Jack McMorrow, a 38-year-old former New York Times writer transplanted to rural Maine, is familiar. Living a solitary existence off a steadily dwindling retirement fund in a bat-infested house and spending his days bird-watching and drinking beer, however, make the offer of a freelance job look pretty good. Jack accepts, thus setting out on a road that leads to harassment, violence, cover-up, and murder. Boyle writes evocatively of rural life in all of its manifestations and, along with his very real characterizations and sly, subtle humor, offers readers much more than simply a good story. Robert B. Parker enthusiasts will welcome the advent of Jack McMorrow.

From Booklist, Wes Lukowsky
Jack McMorrow is a former New York Times reporter mending his soul in rural Maine. But a man's gotta eat, so when an offer comes to do a story on teenage motherhood, Jack accepts. He starts with Missy Hewitt, a local girl who recently gave her baby up for adoption. She supplies Jack with several sensible reasons for her decision, but a couple of days later, she leaves Jack a message saying she wants to get her baby back. Then she turns up murdered, and before you can say phone trace, the cops are viewing Jack as a suspect. . . . This second entry in the McMorrow series is an improvement over the first, Deadline (1993). McMorrow is less a collection of traits and quirks and much more a fully realized character. There's also an intriguing cast of secondary characters who bode well for future McMorrow adventures.

Reviews for Lifeline

Amazon.com
After a grueling career as a New York City journalist rendered him cynical and sick of newspapers, Jack McMorrow thinks he's found a proper place to recharge--Kennebec, Maine. But what he finds is a small town with big problems. The bars are populated with the long-term unemployed, the river is polluted, and the downtown is crumbling. If that's not enough, as a reporter covering the courthouse, he is thrust into a messy situation in which a shoddy assistant prosecutor causes the death of a woman Jack has come to know. Though his intent was to escape such unseemly altercations, Jack jumps into the fray with a fervor, emerging with unexpected results.

From Publishers Weekly
Jack McMorrow, seen before in Bloodline and Deadline, is a former New York Times reporter now working for a small paper in Maine. Covering the courthouse, he senses a good story in Donna Marchant, a young woman complaining of domestic abuse but ignored by the autocratic assistant district attorney, Linda Tate. McMorrow writes about Donna's plight, arousing the wrath of her loutish boyfriend, Jeff Tanner. When Donna is murdered, suspicion falls not only on Tanner but also on McMorrow, whom police suspect of having become too close to his subject. . . . Boyle, a Maine newspaper writer himself, makes McMorrow a credible crusader, equally comfortable in the quiet woods and small-town courthouses. The narrative moves briskly as McMorrow eliminates several suspects on his way to a surprise solution.

From The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio
His style is poised and pointed when he is writing about the barren lives of the hopeless cases who rattle in and out of court.

From Booklist, Wes Lukowsky
Burned-out reporter Jack McMorrow has taken to the Maine woods, where bird-watching and beer drinking occupy his days. His nights are occupied by social worker Roxanne, who can't abide his laggardly ways, prompting McMorrow to take a part-time job as court reporter for the Kennebec Observer. It's in court where he first meets Donna Marchant, a single mother with an abusive boyfriend. McMorrow reports on Donna's case, and though he uses no names, the small-town citizens know who's who. Soon Donna is murdered, and McMorrow feels responsible. After some early tentativeness, author Boyle has found McMorrow's voice; it is only a matter time until he finds his audience. Expect the battle-weary reporter to become an old friend to his loyal readers much as Spenser or Dave Robicheaux have become with theirs.

From the Washington Times
Stay healthy, McMorrow. You're fun to have around.

From Kirkus Reviews
In his first day on the job as court reporter for the Kennebec Observer, former Times newsman Jack files a story featuring battered Donna Marchant. Bad idea. Jeff Tanner, the ex-boyfriend responsible for Donna's bruises and bite marks, returns to tell her he'll kill both her and McMorrow, and he and some friends pay a call on McMorrow, too. . . . For all his manly virtue, you can't help liking the guy.

Reviews for Potshot

Amazon.com
Gerry Boyle's uncanny eye for the dangers that can lie just beneath the sleepy surfaces of rural Maine makes his fourth book about freelance journalist Jack McMorrow a marvelously mordant mystery. It's not hard to swallow the back story that the impulsive McMorrow gave up a job with the New York Times to savor the charms and rigors of northern New England; he takes the same kinds of chances here as he gets involved with a strange bunch of advocates for legal marijuana. More McMorrow memoirs in paperback include Bloodline, Deadline and Lifeline.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer
Well-realized, believable characters . . . an interesting subplot . . . an unusual and suspenseful novel.

From Library Journal, Terrill Persky
In Boyle's fourth offering, the characters are fully realized, and the plot, if a bit contrived, moves along believably enough. Boyle has a wonderful sense of place--in this case, Maine--where Jack McMorrow has fled to escape the workaholic drive that led him to become a top reporter for the New York Times. Now he works as a freelancer, which leads him into places most reporters avoid. McMorrow is enlisted by a group of old hippies to do a story on the legalization of marijuana. What appears to be a worthy cause--and a quick $300 paycheck--quickly escalates into confrontations with violent gangsters. A parallel story involves McMorrow's love interest, Roxanne, a social worker who confronts danger as she attempts to rescue children from abusive parents. Along with snappy dialog that propels the story, Boyle presents an ensemble of likable characters. A sure thing for anyone who has enjoyed Robert Parker's Spenser novels.

From The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio
Now and then, even the best regional authors get a little maudlin about the beauty of their backyards. Not Gerry Boyle. His series hero, a journalist named Jack McMorrow, who traded his urban crawl space for a cabin in the Maine wilderness, is too honest an observer to sentimentalize rural life.

From Booklist, Thomas Gaughan
Jack McMorrow gave up the journalistic fast track for freelancing in Prosperity, Maine, and spending time with Roxanne, a beautiful Portland social worker. While attending a fair celebrating country life, Bobby Mullaney, a glib, likable hippie promoting marijuana legalization, catches McMorrow's attention as a possible story subject. But then Bobby disappears, apparently the victim of a drug deal gone bad, and the reporter must pursue a circuitous story to its dangerous conclusion. Author Gerry Boyle is a Maine journalist, and he knows his patch. His central Maine falls somewhere between the stereotype of laconic Yankees saying, "Ayuh" and fanciful mean streets in the woods. Potshot is the fourth installment in the McMorrow series, which deserves much wider recognition than it has yet received. Spread the word.

Reviews for Borderline

From Library Journal
While tracing the doomed 1775 journey of Benedict Arnold through Maine and Canada for a magazine article, freelance journalist Jack McMorrow encounters a more current story: a passenger "disappears"' from a bus headed for Quebec. When police seem adamantly unconcerned, Jack begins his own search, questioning witnesses, following others, and theorizing on motive. Research on the Arnold article continues, however, as do the ongoing woes of his girlfriend, who must contend with her mother's Alzheimer's disease. Historical tidbits about Arnold, thoroughly detailed descriptions of small-town Maine, and the missing-person case add up to more solid writing from the author of Potshot.

From Booklist, Thomas Gaughan
Freelance writer Jack McMorrow is retracing Benedict Arnold's ill-fated incursion into Quebec for a travel article when his nose for a better story twitches in Scanesett, Maine. It seems a man stepped off a tour bus at a comfort stop in Scanesett and disappeared in an instant. But the more questions McMorrow asks, the weirder the locals become. He keeps poking around and, in short order, is the target of a dangerous, extended family of mouth-breathers and a hostile police chief who hates reporters. Author Boyle's best work comes in lovely, evocative passages about rural, remote Maine; the horrific story of Arnold's doomed effort to bring Quebec into the war against the British; and McMorrow's ruminations about mortality.

From Kirkus Reviews
Freelance journalist Jack McMorrow thinks he's come to little Scanesett, Maine, to research Benedict Arnold's 1775 trek to attack the fortifications of Qubec. But when he picks up the scent of a mystery man--one "P. Ray Mantis"--who got off the tour bus from Boston for lunch in Scanesett and never got back on, he's off and running in a new direction, even though his editor's increasing anxiety about the Arnold article guarantees that Jack will be running in two directions at once. . . . Jack's fourth (Potshot, 1997, etc.) features as much sound and fury as a summer movie blockbuster.

From Publishers Weekly
Once a New York Times reporter, Jack McMorrow left the city in the 1980s after a virulent falling-out with the paper's management. A decade later, he's back in Manhattan, settling the details for his gig as the Times's new northern New England stringer before returning home to Maine. While in town, Jack has a drink with his childhood pal, former cop Butch Casey. The next morning a TV reporter informs Jack that New York's popular mayor, the Giulianiesque Johnny Fiore, has been fatally stabbed and Butch has been arrested for the crime. Boyle (Borderline, etc.) deftly puts Jack through his paces: Is Jack's work on the story a conflict of interest? Can he resist the decadent temptations of his old life and return to the woman he loves in Maine? Boyle's snappy prose stops just short of hard-boiled, letting some poignancy slip into his characters' plights. As the story pushes forward, he fashions a powerful study of New York City--of its glamour, of the tawdry hopelessness of so many who live there, and of the power-mad honchos who feed on them.

From Library Journal
Maine investigative reporter Jack McMorrow visits New York intending to work freelance for the New York Times. When news breaks of the mayor's murder and police arrest Jack's longtime friend, an ex-cop, as the perp, Jack's plans quickly change. Hoping to save his friend and track down the real murderer, he offers to assist the police, winds up under media scrutiny himself, then uncovers political corruption leading back to the mayor and beyond. Boyle offers potential movie material here: murder, intrigue, frantic chases, confrontations, ambitious women (and men), and hidden agendas--all told with crisp tension.

Booklist
[This] may be the one that puts him on the bestseller lists.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Surprising twists and turns.

San Antonio Express-News
Deft dialogue and detail.