Nikki Griffin isn't your typical private investigator. In her office above her bookstore’s shelves and stacks, where she luxuriates in books and the comfort they provide, she also tracks certain men. Men who have hurt the women they claim to love.
Nikki is a dangerous woman, sort of a Lisbeth Salander, but with a lot more heart ... Lelchuk takes readers on a rock-’em-sock-’em motorcycle ride to a surprising conclusion. Along with the action, this outstanding series debut boasts a well-developed supporting cast whose interactions with Nikki make her bookstore as inviting as Louise Penny’s Three Pines bistro.
If you are looking for a new literary heroine who does not fit any of the stereotypical P.I. molds, and breaks a couple of them while she's at it, S.A. Lelchuk’s Save Me From Dangerous Men should be at the top of your reading list ... a suspenseful page-turner. Perhaps with an eye on an eventual series, the author makes Nikki and her backstory the book's focus; the plot, at times, seems secondary. But that is not to say the plot is second rate. Rather, it is original and inspired. The who-done-it and why are meticulously built, with bread crumbs carefully laid out to give the reader an aha moment not a moment too soon ... Nikki Griffin is anything but boring but totally believable ... Lelchuk has set the stage for both a heroine and a world to which we will gladly return.
... a helluva ride: a fast-paced neo-noir with a stellar new heroine at its core. Comparing Nikki to Lisbeth Salander is inevitable—a supporting character even calls her Lisbeth—but she also owes half of her DNA to old-school, hardboiled private eyes like Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe ... Her California is more technologically advanced and affluent, a little brighter, more colorful, and cleaner, than Raymond Chandler’s was. But the same seedy underbelly of greed and brutal violence lurks beneath the surface ... Lelchuk does a fine job of making Nikki complex, real, and relatable. She’s not just an ass-kicker ... With its balance of terse dialogue, real stakes, literary love, and thrilling badassery, Save Me From Dangerous Men is a must-read for fans of neo-noir and powerful women. Nikki Griffin is far too compelling and exciting to be a one-off character, and we can never have enough vigilante ladies—with any luck, Lelchuk will oblige us with a full series.
