Sounds Like a Plan

• Author: Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith
• Genre: Mystery
• Publication Date: July 9, 2024
• Publisher: Atria Books

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reluctantly joining forces after discovering they’ve both been hired on the same missing person case, two rival Black private investigators find their mutual dislike evolve into an undeniable attraction in this rollicking, romantic thrill ride told in alternate perspectives from award-winning authors Dwayne Alexander Smith and Pamela Samuels Young.

Jackson Jones and Mackenzie Cunningham have a lot in common. They are both hard-working private investigators with their own firms in Los Angeles. They are both Black, happily single, and very good at their jobs. But when they’re together, they are like oil and water.

When they find themselves working the same missing persons case, the idea of collaborating seems about as likely as a blizzard in Beverly Hills. But once it’s clear that they have been set up to take the fall for a murder, they have no choice but to work together.

Bickering their way from Century City to Malibu and beyond, it becomes increasingly hard for them to deny the sparks flying between them. But with a small army of killers in hot pursuit, there’s no time to sort through their complicated feelings in this witty, fast-paced, and swoon-worthy mystery.

To me, this initially seemed like it might have a similar vibe to the Finlay Donovan series—fun, fast-paced, witty, and a story that crosses genres, combining mystery with romance, action, and what I hoped would be plenty of humor. 

One of the perks of having two authors writing a book together is that when you have two perspectives, the character voices are almost guaranteed to sound different. And in this story, they do sound quite different. I found myself enjoying Mackenzie’s chapters a lot more than Jackson’s, mainly because of the misogynistic overtones to his chapters. It’s really hard to get to like a guy who makes misogyny kind of his thing, and I caught myself drifting off during his chapters and having to reread sections in multiple places. Another thing that I absolutely despised was the way that Jackson was trying to insult someone’s intelligence, but instead of just insulting their intelligence, he said that they must be “on the spectrum,” leading to a really harmful (and blatantly wrong) ableist belief that people on the autism spectrum are intellectually impaired. It was at that point that I completely lost all hope for Jackson to be redeemed in the story.

The story is a fast-paced one and it moves quickly right from the start. I was intrigued enough to want to learn why these two great private investigators wind up in this situation, although it’s clear that they don’t get along well. It makes sense, because I’d hate to have someone watching over my shoulder as I work, thinking that they could do a better job and offering all kinds of feedback when they aren’t my boss. The plot gets a little over the top, but that’s part of what made the story kind of fun to follow along with. 

There’s a slow-burn rivals to lovers vibe that runs throughout the story. Right from the start, it’s clear that Mackenzie and Jackson are destined to hit it off, but I never really shipped them as a couple. The connection between them developed naturally, but I felt like Mackenzie deserved better, and could easily do better than Jackson. Aside from his casual misogyny and ableism, he also had another characteristic that I personally despise in a potential partner: a fixation on brands and name dropping them. Every time that he mentions his car, he mentions the make and model, which frustrated me. I got the memo that it was a Mercedes the first time, and hearing eleventy billion more times got old really fast. 

Overall, this was a decent read, but it wasn’t a favorite. It was a good fit between heavier reads, but there are some issues that I had with the story. Misogyny and ableism are always gross, and it wasn’t any different when Jackson was doing it. Additionally, the romance seemed like it was heading in one direction, but then it never really ended up going anywhere, which was sort of unexpected. I was a little disappointed, but maybe this is simply the start to a new series. If you’re looking for a light, fast-paced read with a few surprising twists, this could be a good fit for you, as long as you can handle some murder, suicide, gun violence, and Jackson’s abrasive personality.