Loyalty

By: Ingrid Thoft

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Ludlows are a hard-charging family, and patriarch Carl Ludlow treats his offspring like employees - which they are. But his daughter, Fina, is a bit of a black sheep. A law school dropout, her father keeps her in the fold as the firm's private investigator, working alongside her brothers.

Juggling her family of high-powered (and highly dysfunctional) attorneys, the cops, and Boston's criminal element is usually something Fina does without breaking a sweat. But when her sister-in-law disappears, she's caught up in a case unlike any she's encountered before.

Carl wants things resolved without police interference, but the deeper Fina digs, the more impossible that seems. The Ludlows close ranks, and her brother Rand and his unruly teenage daughter Haley grow mysteriously distant from the family. As Fina unearths more dirt, the demands of family loyalty intensify. But Fina is after the truth - no matter the cost.

©2013 Ingrid Thoft (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"Loyalty’s Fina Ludlow is my hero. If I were in a bad spot, I’d want her at my back. Don’t miss it." (Catherine Coulter, number one New York Times best-selling author)

"In her debut novel, Ingrid Thoft gives us Fina Ludlow, the newest private eye to prowl Boston’s mean streets. Fina returns the female detective to the heart of the hard-boiled tradition: hard-drinking, hard-loving, moody. Writer Ingrid Thoft has given her a dysfunctional extended family that rivals the Ewings of Dallas fame, which adds a dimension not often seen in the PI novel." (Sara Paretsky, New York Times best-selling author)

"Loyalty, Ingrid Thoft’s strong debut, is gripping, and Fina Ludlow, the black sheep of her male-dominated family of ambulance chasers, elevates it to a must-read. A seductive combination of sass and smarts, Fina reminds us just how hard it is for women in a male-dominated world without ever giving an inch. Loyalty reminds me just how great a PI novel can be. This is the start of something big." (Ridley Pearson, New York Times best-selling author)

Masochistic Fina

I enjoyed parts of Loyalty, set in the Boston area and the main character Fina. The author Ingrid Thoft has a wicked sense of humor and a knack for snappy dialogue. If only Ingrid had spent as much time & energy developing Fina's personality as she did recounting Fina's junk food diet.

While I loved Fina's strength and determination, I winced when she was reckless, diving into dangerous situations without using her brains or common sense. I admired her devotion to her brothers, sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews. However, I found it totally ridiculous that Fina, a successful private investigator, worked mostly for her cold hearted father.

Daddy Carl was a sociopath, only interested in earning money and getting good publicity for his law firm. He didn't have an ounce of human kindness or compassion, not caring when Fina was injured several times on the job. It made no sense that Fina, as an adult, would take cruel insults and endless grief from Carl (without shooting him).

Note to author: don't create an intelligent, headstrong character, then have that person act masochistic and irrational.

Bought Book 2 before this one was over

GREAT! I loved her and the story and the narrator. I am downloading Book 2 in this series right now and hope that Book 3, which is already written, is recorded this week!!