Rating: 3⭐️

I’d seen these books and series advertised on FB and other media sites and thought I’d check them out as they were in my wheelhouse for the types of books I enjoy reading.

But Unleashed (Sydney Rye Mysteries Book 1) by Emily Kimelman turned out to be disappointing, and I’m not going forward with the series. 

Even though it’s written in 2011, that’s not the issue here. It’s with a character that, while currently being pushed as a feminist journey is not actually about that at all. 

The character of Sydney Rye (not her real name) could be any gender, because the story is about a person who has made horrible choices and continues to make them. She is in an abusive relationship, quits but goes back to him because she can’t stop, no will power. She acts, gets drunk , has regrets , continues her knee jerk behavior, reactively just goes making more impulsive ,thoughtless emotional decisions. A wrecking ball has a better plan than she does. Quits her job, signs on for an another job with no experience or research into it. Gets an enormous dog from the shelter, one that exhibits certain aggressive behaviors, and still does nothing about training. 

In fact, the dog, Blue, which is also a big aspect of the character and series is also one of the worst. Adopted by the main character with no thought of to the dog, she gets it out of total impulse. Not a single thought goes into this story about training, vet care, what happens to Blue when she’s off dog walking or whatever she’s doing related to the murders. 

Unfortunately, Blue is the author’s answer when Sidney needs a big dog to walk when being threatened.Then Blue is narratively “put away” until the next time he’s pulled out for the same type of purpose. He’s not layered in as a real dog character or factor here.  He’s just a “scary dog” element. As in “When did you get a scary dog?”

Sydney herself is equally unbelievable, one note character. In her 30’s, she’d be more understandable as if the author had written her as a former substance abuser or someone with mental health issues. But as crafted , she is just an empty-headed person who flows along with life. As enormous events happen to people near her and eventually to people she cares for, she decides to investigate. Which she does as she does everything else, poorly.  She asks questions about the victims from people who have questionable backgrounds or relationships with the victims. She’s surprised at being threatened by both police and the bad guys. 

Is the reader? No, no we’re not. We’re starting to root for the other side.  

She has no decision making process and leaves everyone around her in danger.  Which to no one’s surprise ends badly for her friend and family. 

I didn’t like her, the entire layout of the situation and the ending is just not satisfying or interesting. 

Blue should have shook his head and found himself another owner and a way out of the series. 

Heading illustration: Autumn Whitehurst 

Cover Design: Christian Bentulan

Buy link 

 Book 1 of 20: Sydney Rye Mysteries 

Blurb 

The first time I realized how weird it was for a guy to tell me to smile, I was working behind an incredibly busy bar. We had patrons pressed up against the wood, all wanting drinks. 

There was a male bartender working with me. Neither of us were smiling because we were concentrating on getting drinks out, making change, grabbing our tips off the bar before someone snagged them. You know, being bartenders. 

And this stranger, this f***ing a**hole, told me to smile. I was opening a beer, and I looked over at him confused. I didn’t understand why this man was telling me what to do with my face.

This was back in the early 2000s before YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram, or a collective discussion about how f***ed up it is to tell women to adjust their facial expression to your personal preference.

I just moved on—I was busy. Obviously, I let that guy wait for a drink…wait until the male bartender took pity on him to be more exact. I thought he was a jerk, but I didn’t realize nearly every woman has a story of when a man told her to smile.

I recognized it was a putdown, a not-so-subtle swipe at me. A correction, if you will. I wasn’t being pretty enough, pleasing enough, woman enough for him, so he tried to put me in my place—to tell me how to present myself for his viewing pleasure.

My boss would follow me home in his car every night from that job. He’d wait for me to get in my front door. He didn’t do that for the male bartenders.

At the time, I was writing the first Sydney Rye Mystery and the sense that men were out to get me—physically and mentally—went into that book. It carries through the entire series.

I’m not the only woman who’s noticed this phenomenon. 😂 In the Barbie movie, when she and Ken come into the real world, they both see people noticing them. Barbie immediately clocks the violence in the air—the way men looking at her is edged with danger.

It was SO relatable to me.

Being a woman means you live in a shadow of danger, and when I wrote Sydney Rye I wanted her to be the thing that went bump in the night. I wanted to write a woman who was deadly.

I didn’t want to flip the script and have her telling men to smile, but I wanted it to be really f***ing dangerous for a man to suggest Sydney adjust anything for his personal preference.

I pulled it off, by the way. If a man told Sydney Rye to smile, she would f*** him up.

And also, for the record, I’m at a point in my life, where I would too.

Want to see a woman scare the crap out of men while also being a flawed, messed up human like the rest of us? Start my Sydney Rye Mysteries today.

Sydney Rye and her dog, Blue, exact justice with a vengeance. The dog doesn’t die, but the bad guys do.