Bob Cook

The author graduated from Florida Presbyterian College, now Eckerd College, in St. Petersburg Florida, with a degree in Sociology. He began his career as a counselor in a residential program for serious and habitual juvenile offenders in Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to Florida in the late 1960’s and made a career with the State of Florida in all manner of children and youth programs including delinquency probation, parole, detention and commitment facilities, as well as child abuse and neglect investigations, protective services, foster care, adoptions, domestic violence and subsidized day care. When he retired from the state after thirty years, he was serving as a manager, responsible for almost all of these programs in the Florida Panhandle.

The author will tell you that his head is filled with many stories from those years. It is from this well of memories that he draws inspiration to write. He and his wife have been residents of Pensacola, Florida since 1976.

A Different Kind of Killer
This is a compilation of stories that centers loosely around the theme of men who would be boys, that conflicting combination of behaviors that often mystifies both significant others and themselves. Enter the secret world of close friends free of wives and children, free to their own devices to play or to take up more serious matters.

Joe was being stalked by a different kind of killer, but with the help of long-life friends, he formulated a plan to end the threat. At the poker table, Joe dropped a bomb right in the middle of the cards and chips, which would prove to test him and his buddies beyond their imagination. Their plans would take them into Gulf Coast casinos, cross the open waters of Escambia Bay, into the swamps of Louisiana, and on through rugged western country to meet the monster head on. But, as they struggle together, they came up with a different sort of solution.

Some People Need Killing
Working out of Pensacola, Florida, Beth Jacoby, a child abuse and neglect investigator, and her coworkers fly about town in and out of the living rooms of folks accused of hurting children. Her path into the private domains of rich and poor alike crosses that of her once teen lover, Jack, a California cool cop and his partner, a thunderous loose cannon who dearly loves the war on crime. Beth begins to realize that she and the homicide detectives are intertwined in the web of a particularly violent marauder who is hunting down salacious creeps who prey on children. Beth and the lawmen are tossed about like crash dummies as they careen down a twisted trail leading to a startling collision of good vs. evil.

This is a work of fiction and a little over the top to keep the pages turning.  Both male and female adults who are looking for a good read, a rollicking thriller laced with serious social issues, cops, murder, and sex should enjoy this book.  But, I sincerely hope that the reader comes away with a better appreciation for these hard working people and the extremely important job they do out there every day to help protect children. 

Some Boys Never Become Men
Working out of Pensacola, Florida, Beth Jacoby, a child abuse and neglect investigator, and her coworkers fly about town in and out of the living rooms of folks accused of hurting children. Her path into the private domains of rich and poor alike crosses that of her once teen lover, Jack, a California cool cop and his partner, a thunderous loose cannon who dearly loves the war on crime. Beth begins to realize that she and the homicide detectives are intertwined in the web of a particularly violent marauder who is hunting down salacious creeps who prey on children. Beth and the lawmen are tossed about like crash dummies as they careen down a twisted trail leading to a startling collision of good vs. evil.

NOTE: This work is a sequel to Some People Need Killing. It is recommended that it be read first although it is not necessary as this sequel does stand alone as a complete story.

This book will follow the same group of characters, cops and social workers. Once more they end up working together as they cross paths on the trail of creeps that define their masculinity with abuse and exploitation of women and children.