Desecration

Review of Desecration by J. F. Penn 

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Death isn't always the end.

LONDON. When the body of a young heiress is found within the Royal College of Surgeons, Detective Sergeant Jamie Brooke is assigned to the case. An antique ivory figurine found beside the body is the only lead and she enlists Blake Daniel, a reluctant clairvoyant, to help her discover the message it holds.

When personal tragedy strikes, Jamie finds her own life entwining with the morbid fascinations of the anatomists, and she must race against time to stop them claiming another victim.

As Jamie and Blake delve into a macabre world of grave robbery, body modification, and the genetic engineering of monsters, they must fight to keep their sanity, and their lives.

My Review:

I return to another book by J. F. Penn with the novel, Desecration, which by the way is a very appropriate title considering some of the things that happen in this book.

Our main character is a young woman named Jamie who is also a police officer. But we don’t begin with Jamie the police officer. Instead we first glimpse the Jamie who is the mother of a dying child. This is a side of her life that she keeps secret from most of her colleagues.

She the children’s hospice for work, hoping to leave the disturbing images of her daughter dying behind. When she gets her next case though, all she gets is even more death, and we are not just talking about the murder victim, Jenna.

Digging deeper into the murder victim’s investigations she finds out about the underside of a morbid death worship type culture. One suspect, the love interest of Jenna’s, makes a living by posing dead bodies in provocative positions and then selling them to the highest bidder.

Others, Jenna’s parents, use the dead bodies for the advancement of science. At least that is what they claim but after seeing the freakish specimen’s in jars at a local museum Jamie begins to wonder how any of this can be legal.

For me it seemed to be more of a cautionary tale about how even art and science can go too far in their effort for pleasure and the greater good. This is what could happen when someone makes art or even science their god. The ends can justify the means in the eyes of such people and even make them forget their own humanity.

I will warn you. This story is macabre and downright creepy but there are some scary possibilities. I hope I don’t live to see this reality but it is something to think about, and possibly give you nightmares. Also, like the last novel I reviewed by Penn, the language is sometimes a bit strong.

It is a good book to read if you like mystery and thriller novels that make you think, and if you can stomach the dark aspects of it. In fact, you might not want to read this when you are eating. It is up to you.

I am not really sure whether I want to recommend this one or not. Just remember, you have been warned.

Blind Justice

Review of Blind Justice by James Scott Bell

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: His wife has left him. He's drinking again. And his five-year-old daughter is in the middle of it all. When a judge calls him "a disgrace to the legal profession," Jake starts thinking things might be better for everyone if he wasn't around anymore.

Then a childhood friend's mother phones him. Her son, Howie, has been accused of murdering his wife. Jake takes the seemingly hopeless case in a last-ditch effort to save his client and his fading career.

Meanwhile, Howie's little sister, Lindsay, has grown into a beautiful woman. Though Jake is drawn to her, there's something about her he doesn't understand, even though it may be the very thing he needs to reclaim his humanity.

With the evidence mounting against his client, and a web of corruption closing around them both, Jake Denney faces the fight of his life--not only in the courtroom, but in the depths of his own soul.

My Review:

The way this book starts out is just a little bit sneaky. We begin with Howie. I presumed that he would be the main character. But I knew that our author wrote Legal Thrillers and Howie doesn’t sound at all like a lawyer.

Looks can be deceiving but as the opening continues on it becomes apparent that Howie is probably a murder suspect. No lawyer in the first scene.

Enter Jake. Ah, here is our lawyer, or rather a sad excuse for one. He apparently hasn’t had any paying clients in a long time since his rent is and has been due to his office land lord for quite some time. His friend/landlord has just gotten to insisting that Jake give it to him which Jack knows isn’t easy for him.

Then the last straw. His ex-wife threatens to take his daughter away from him.

Meanwhile Howie becomes a murder suspect after being stabbed himself. His parents remember Howie’s old friend Jake and ask him to represent him in court.

Things go from bad to worse though when Howie confesses to the murder from his hospital room just as a police officer walks into the room.

Jake still hopes that he is innocent. After all, Howie admits that he doesn’t remember stabbing his wife and he remembers the presence of another person in the room. Unfortunately for Jake, Howie is convinced that the other person is the devil.

Certain that the devil was nowhere near the crime scene, Jake thinks that maybe he can somehow prove that Howie might be crazy. Maybe he did see someone else in the room but not the devil. Maybe it was just someone who looked like him. Or just a defense mechanism.

As the trial continues, Jake must also confront his own personal demons. His alcohol problems, his inability to relate to his father or anyone who reminds him or his father, his attempts to relate to his daughter,  and his growing attraction to Howie’s sister are just a few of the problems he faces in addition to trying to when Howie’s case.

I dare not say too much more about what happens next but I will say that I highly recommend this one. I had high expectations going into it too after reading Mr. Scott Bell’s writing books (which I really liked). “Let’s see what he’s got,” was the attitude I had in reading it. “Let’s see if he writes as well as he tells his students to.”

I can honestly say that he delivers. I wasn’t disappointed.

The Roswell Conspiracy

Review of The Roswell Conspiracy by Boyd Morrison

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: After the 1908 Tunguska blast levels a Siberian forest the size of London, a Russian scientist makes an amazing discovery amongst the debris.

In 1947, ten-year-old Fay Allen of Roswell, New Mexico, witnesses the fiery crash of an extraordinary craft unlike anything she's ever seen.

More than sixty years later, former Army combat engineer Tyler Locke rescues Fay from gunmen who are after a piece of wreckage she claims is from the Roswell incident. Incredulous of her tale, Tyler believes the attack on Fay is nothing more than a burglary gone wrong. But when he finds himself locked in the back of a truck carrying a hundred tons of explosives and heading for a top secret American base, Tyler knows that he has stumbled onto the opening gambit of something more sinister than he ever imagined.

Because disgraced Russian spy Vladimir Colchev is after an Air Force prototype code-named Killswitch, an electromagnetic pulse weapon of unprecedented power. Although Tyler is able to avert catastrophe at the US facility, Colchev gets away with the bomb and plans to turn it on America itself. To complete his mission, he needs only one other key component, a mysterious object recovered from the Roswell crash.

In a desperate race against time, Tyler must unmask a conspiracy a century in the making to rescue the United States from electronic Armageddon.

My Review:

I must again apologize for not posting a review last week but I wanted to give the book I was reading a fair chance in spite of its disappointments. It turns out that I was wrong to do that. I got half way through it and wanted to scream so I stopped. Unfortunately the next book I read was even longer so I am just now posting my review.

The story begins with our main character Tyler (and his partner Grant) who has an assignment which he is only grudgingly accepting. He is in New Zealand to look at some artifacts that the elderly Faye claims to have taken away from the Roswell crash site. She also claims to have had an encounter with an alien that day and wants Tyler's help in verifying that a hunk of metal she found there came from an alien space ship.

Tyler arrives thinking he is merely there to take a look at her stuff and tell her that any test he might run will probably only yield inconclusive results. He instead hears a gun shot coming from the woman's house and must now help her get out of there and away from some would be assassins.

Thus begins the young man's quest to discover what it is about Faye Turia and her Roswell artifacts that made someone want her dead. He doesn't quite believe her story about the aliens but knows that there must be something special about what he has and after some pleading from her and her granddaughter, who also happens to be his ex girlfriend Jess, he decides that he will do what he can to find out and hopefully protect her in the process.

The plot has many twists and turns which I will not detail here. Not only am I hoping to avoid spoilers but it would also take too long. It is a very interesting story with lots of twists and turns as well as plenty of comic relief.

I particularly loved Tyler's bravado as well as his partner Grant's sense of timing and humor. You couldn't help but liking them even if they sometimes seemed a tad over the top.

In fact, I think my only disappointment in the whole story was the way things turned out for Grant. He just didn't seem to get a fair shake with his dream girl.

Other than that I loved it. And I even liked the connection with Roswell and how it was explained in the end. It all seemed very likely to have happened the way the book described it. But most important it kept me entertained the whole time. It would be really cool if they made a movie about it. As long as they didn't mess it up.

Contains: some sensuality, language

Sidetracked

Review of Sidetracked by Brandilyn Collins

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Thirty-four-year-old Delanie Miller has fled her dark past and is now settled into a quiet life in small-town Kentucky. She has friends, a faux "family" who lives in her house, and a loving boyfriend who may soon ask her to marry him. Her aching dream of a husband and future children are about to come true. But protecting this life of promise means keeping a low profile and guarding the truth of her past-from everyone.

The town's peace is shattered when Delanie's friend, Clara, is murdered, and Delanie finds her body. The police chief quickly zeroes in on Billy King, a simple-minded young man whom Delanie knows would never hurt Clara. Delanie can hunt down evidence and speak out publicly against the chief-only at great risk of her own exposure. But after suffering such injustice in own her past, how can she keep silent now? Delanie must find a way to uncover Clara's murderer yet save the life she's created for herself-the deceit-ridden life that will forever distance her from others and God.

With page-turning intensity, Sidetracked hurtles between Delanie's trauma in Redbud and the chaos of her past. Those experiences forced Delanie to reinvent her present-but at what cost to her future?

My Review:

Delanie Miller has spent years rebuilding her life after her mother’s murder only to have it torn apart by the murder of her best friend. This is the point where the story begins, well, almost.

The book is really two stories in one. The first tale is the one where Delanie finds her best friend dead, apparently murdered, and sees a suspect in the vicinity. The second is Delanie’s own story from her past of being falsely accused of murder herself.

Delanie’s story alternates between these two equally captivating stories. Both involve her though the one involves her as a suspect while the other features her as an eyewitness.

I have to confess that I was captivated by them both. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go back to one story when I was in another one and the best part of the story was how the two mysteries were connected to each other. Each one was not isolated from the other one but it was necessary to understand Delanie’s earlier life to understand what was happening in the present.

I also liked the way the author didn’t just change point-of-view from one chapter to the next but allows the reader to always at least get two chapters of both of Delanie’s story. And we know where we are not only by the name that Delanie is called by but also the point-of-view. Third person is Delanie as a young teenager and first person is Delanie telling her story as a friend to a murder victim who comes upon the body shortly after death.

The characters in this book are also interesting. Delanie’s housemates are not like most characters that I have read in previous books. The town of Rosebud itself also seems to live and breathe like a separate character all its own.

And while the plot is mostly believable, I like that there is not a lot of swearing in the dialogue or first person narration. Not much in here could be found objectionable I think, other than the crime scene details.

Underlining the entire story is Delanie’s dilemma about living a life that is lie. She can’t tell those she loves about her deception for fear of getting hunted down by her nemesis Tina. She even feels that she can’t talk to God about it as she desperately wants to and that hurts her the most.

When she comes face to face with the truth, she wonders if she will have to turn away. Or can she face it head on and finally stop running from the past? Read the book to find out for yourself.

Contains: some violence but not excessive

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Review of Darkness on the Edge of Town by J. Carson Black

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Laura Cardinal: Packs a SIG Sauer P226 9mm. Investigates homicides in small towns that have limited resources. Brings justice to murder victims—and to their killers. Laura’s job description: Criminal Investigator with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. But maybe it should just say “Troubleshooter.” 

Used to be kids played outdoors until time for dinner, now social media’s the new game in town. These days, they play on their smartphones. But with more freedom comes greater danger. Mobile devices are a conduit into a child’s life, not just for friends but for those who intend harm. This is the message of J. Carson Black’s Daphne du Maurier Award-nominated thriller, DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN.

My Review:

J. Carson Black was the author of a book I previously reviewed though I don’t remember the title. I do remember that it also featured this Detective Laura Cardinal because I not only remembered the protagonist’s name, but also this habit she had of seeing her deceased mentor, Frank Entwistle, show up out of thin air whenever she seemed to need extra help.

Laura Cardinal works for some type of Arizona state police agency that is called out to smaller locations whenever a crime is committed that is too much for local authorities to handle. The murder of Jessica Parris is one of those cases so the Bisbee PD calls for assistance and Laura dashes off to the rescue.

At first there is nothing to go on, other than the strange doll-like dress that the girl is found wearing and a note on a matchbox that reads CRZYGRL12. Laura is convinced from the start that the guy is either a beginning serial killer or that there are other victims but why were they not reported?

After a lead from Riverside County, California, she discovers she just might have found a link yet some of the modus operandi from the Indio murders are different from her own. To prove her hunch correct, she takes off for Florida where her alleged suspect lives, hoping that she is not wasting her department’s time and money. Can she stop him in time?

Of course I am not giving away the ending but here’s my two cents about the book. As before, I like the protagonist Laura Cardinal and I think the idea that she still talks to her dead mentor is really unique but also makes her relatable. As she hunts down bad guys who are no doubt insane, her encounters with Frank leave us wondering if she is even sane herself.

Then with her dilemma about allowing her boyfriend of two months to move in with her we see that she has trust and security issues. Given her past experiences with men though as well as they type of work she does, I can’t really blame her.

The negative for me was mainly the language. The f word appears a little too frequently for my taste. And then there is the serial killer bit. I know that there are probably many people who like serial killer mysteries but I usually find them too gory for my taste. This one however was not as bad as I thought it would be.

In any case, if you don’t like a lot of bad language and are entirely adverse to gore, I would skip this one. For everyone else however, I think it is a pretty good story with well-developed characters that make for an entertaining story.

Contains: language (including the f bomb) and violence with mild gore.

One Day in Budapest

Review of One Day in Budapest by J. F. Penn

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: A relic, stolen from the heart of an ancient city.
An echo of nationalist violence not seen since the dark days of the Second World War.

Budapest, Hungary. When a priest is murdered at the Basilica of St Stephen and the Holy Right relic is stolen, the ultra-nationalist Eröszak party calls for retribution and anti-Semitic violence erupts in the city.

Dr Morgan Sierra, psychologist and ARKANE agent, finds herself trapped inside the synagogue with Zoltan Fischer, a Hungarian Jewish security advisor. As the terrorism escalates, Morgan and Zoltan must race against time to find the Holy Right and expose the conspiracy, before blood is spilled again on the streets of Budapest.

One Day In Budapest is a chilling view of a possible future as Eastern Europe embraces right-wing nationalism. A conspiracy thriller for fans of Daniel Silva, where religion and politics intersect.

My Review:

I finally got a chance to read (and thus review) J. F. Penn’s work. It was enclosed near the end of a special e-book edition containing twelve mystery stories for ninety-nine cents. I had bought a while ago but had not idea that any of her books were in there.

This book, however, was only a novella. I also did not know that. But maybe it was best that start on a small sample rather than a full length novel.

I think that this novella was either number four or three in her series featuring Morgan Sierra as its protagonist. I believe that it is part of the ARKANE series. The author does have at least one other series.

The story starts with a bang. Dr. Morgan Sierra, whose father is Jewish, arrives in Hungary to deliver an old Jewish relic to a local synagogue on very same day that a priest is murdered nearby. An ancient relic from Hungary’s past is stolen by the murders and a Star of David is painted at the crime scene.

Feeling that they have been betrayed by the Jewish population, Hungarians begin to riot all over the city of Budapest, many of them closing in on the synagogue. Joining up with a man named Zoltan who she meets at the synagogue, Morgan determines to find this holy relic to prevent as many deaths as possible.

When some Jewish citizens are later symbolically killed by the river, Morgan knows she cannot leave without stopping whatever chaos the Nationalists are trying to exploit. When she finds proof of where the relic is and who is involved, she will stop at nothing to make sure that she can prove it to the Hungarians before the violence escalates. But will she make it in time?

I won’t give away most of the story but here’s my two cents. The good parts of this story are almost everything. It is fast paced and mostly believable. The story keeps you turning the pages. The characters seem to be mostly well done also.

The negatives was that the f-bombs were used a little too frequently for me taste and the ending seemed somewhat abrupt for my taste. I realize that part of it was the set up for the novel but somehow it felt like something was missing at the end of the story.

Overall though, I recommend it but with some reservations due to the language and some general grossness.

Contains: language, some sexuality, and cannibalism (yuck)

Beneath a Navajo Moon

Review of Beneath a Navajo Moon by Lisa Carter

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: The search for a woman who disappeared in 1906 has lead cultural anthropologist Erin Dawson to Cedar Canyon, where the iconic terrain of red rock walls and mesas keep Navajo traditions—and maybe criminal evidence—well hidden. When Erin’s search leads her to cross paths with tribal policeman Adam Silverhorn, it’s hardly love at first sight. But everywhere she turns, Adam is already there.

Fighting their feelings for each other, the two are suddenly thrust into a battle far more dangerous—a common quest to rout an insidious drug cartel that has spawned the recent rise in gang violence on the reservation. Adam’s position of authority gives Erin a rare glimpse into Navajo life few outsiders like her ever see—and into a crime ring that no one dares to imagine. As danger mounts, Adam and Erin begin to wonder if they will live to tell how they really feel.

My Review:

This week's story surprised me since it wasn't at all what it seemed. It had its thriller element to be sure but when it came down to it, it really seemed more of a love story, a story of forbidden love. 

Our main character, Erin Dawson comes to the Navajo Res to investigate what happened to a female ancestor in her adopted family. I don't remember exactly who was adopted but I think it was her father. Still the fact that they were not blood-related in no way diminished Erin's enthusiasm to find out what happened to Olivia.

This was the part of the story that held my interest as well. Olivia and her life at the mission school in Arizona and later as the bride of her Navajo captor was interesting to say the least. In a time when a white woman who married a Native American and had children by him would probably have been considered disgusting, Olivia was bound and determined to her husband and life on the Res. What Erin wanted to know was, did she succeed?

The downside for me was that most of the story focused on Erin and her troubles in the here and now. This part wasn't as interesting except for the little tidbits about Navajo culture. Her man troubles bored me most of the time. Her interest in Olivia didn't but Olivia was not the focus of the story which was too bad because I think I might have enjoyed her story more.

The race around the canyon and the cave for the Mexican drug dealers and the discussion of their threat to the people did interest me but I found myself wondering whether the author was trying to jam in too many characters' stories into one book. I guess it worked overall but as I said I like some parts better than others.

Overall I think this story would be a better fit for someone who likes Romance stories about all else and Christian Romance at that, with just a little bit of history thrown into the mix. For me, it had its good points but it wasn't my favorite. I would to hear someone else's opinion on this story though, especially if they have some background in the Navajo culture. Let me hear from you please.

Contains: some action violence and sensuality

Fatal Distraction

Review of Fatal Distraction by Diane Capri

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Relentless victims' rights advocate Jess Kimball and Jack Reacher both deliver justice when the legal system fails. Reacher waits until trouble finds him and then he does whatever it takes. But Jess pursues legal justice and draws lines she will not cross. How can she win against killers who refuse to follow the rules?

Three years ago, beloved Florida Governor Helen Sullivan's world shattered when her only son died in a senseless car crash, killing his best friend, too. Helen quickly discovered Eric's crash was no accident and lured the killer to her son's funeral to be caught.

When the shooting ceased in the small country church, Helen believed her nightmare was over. Instead, she'd unwittingly escalated her duel with a cunning and patient assassin.

Now, investigative journalist Jess Kimball is driven to find the horrifying truth. Is the Central Florida Child Killer guilty? Or is the real killer still out there?

Helen and Jess together face the determined killer in a pitched battle of wit and nerve. Who will survive?

My Review:

This week’s story is a Thriller written by Diane Capri whose work I have reviewed before. Last time it was part of the Jack Reacher series I think though I later discovered that it was told from the perspective of different characters than the Jack Reacher stories were. Anyway, it confused me a great deal so in the end I didn’t like it.

This one, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. The story starts us off with Helen Sullivan, governor of Florida, who is contemplating a run for the senate when her term as governor is over which will be in a month or so.

Governor Sullivan is very resolute woman who has endured more than her fair share of tragedy. Many years ago her son died in a drunken driving accident that appears to be his fault. And his best friend was riding in the car with him.

Now she and her husband are trying to put the tragedy behind them but the more recent stroke that her husband Oliver suffered has left him distressed and in desperate need of therapy. Unfortunately Oliver’s mental recovery seems to be taking much longer than expected.

One night he contemplates suicide, even going so far as to right a note when something makes him change his mind. Yet while he sleeps, an unknown killer is planning his death by fire in an attempt to get Helen to crack. From there things just continue to get worse and worse for the couple.

Meanwhile a reporter named Jess discovers some new evidence that suggests that Sullivan should consider granting a reprieve in the execution of one Tommy Taylor who was convicted of murdering several children. But Helen is determined to see it through and not to leave the problem for the next governor. Jess and Helen then start to become convinced that there might be a connection between the attempted murder of her husband and the children who were allegedly killed by Tommy Taylor.

I don’t want to put any spoilers in here so I leave the rest of the plot for the reader to discover but I liked this story much more than I expected. The ending was refreshingly different and yet it made sense.

The characters were also likable. I was able to understand Helen’s apparent stoicism as much as Jess’s sudden displeasure in discovering that Tommy Taylor might just be innocent of some of the crimes he is accused of. The all seemed relatable to some degree, though perhaps the villain was a little less so but that’s the idea isn’t it?

Also, while the story has a few words of profanity in it, it was not so bad that I stopped reading and there were no fbombs that I can recall. I think this story would also make a great movie, probably PG-13 so I don’t know what those Hollywood executives are waiting for. If you like Thrillers, you could do a lot worse than this one.

A Reason to Live

       


Review of A Reason to Live by Matthew Iden


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: In the late nineties, a bad cop killed a good woman and DC Homicide detective Marty Singer got to watch as the murderer walked out of the courtroom a free man. 

Twelve years later, the victim's daughter comes to Marty begging for help: the killer is stalking her now.

There's just one problem: Marty's retired...and he's retired because he's battling cancer. But with a second shot at the killer--and a first chance at redemption--Marty's just found A Reason To Live.

My Review:

Retired Detective Marty Singer of the D.C. police has settled down to a quiet life of early retirement due to his recent cancer diagnosis when he is once again thrust back into the police work he left behind. First he ends up smack dab in the middle of a fight outside of a coffee shop. Then he is approached, immediately following the fight, by former victim Amanda Lane.

Ms. Lane tells him that she believes she is being stalked by the man who killed her mother years ago and got away with it. That’s when he knows that she has him. This case has been eating away at him for years. He had always wanted a second chance at it and now it seems that he has it.

Against his better judgment, he agrees to take it on. Only he can’t do it as a cop. It is strictly protection detail only. While he’s at he’ll do a little behind the scenes detective work. The sooner he finds the killer, Michael Wheeler, the sooner his job as a body guard/unlicensed private detective is done.

But is he up to the job? He enlists the help of a few detectives on the force but after his first chemo treatment wipes him, he wonders how he can protect young Amanda if he can’t even stay awake during the day. He gives Amanda the choice to keep him on or get someone else and she chooses to keep him. He continues investigating and hopes that he won’t let her down.

The plot is the strongest feature of the story. It was engaging and kept me turning the pages wanting to know what happened next. The ending was also not what I was expecting but didn’t seem too much out of left field.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense coupled with believability. I lived in the D.C. area for a while and from what I know about it most of it seems to be accurate, especially the part about the terrible drivers. The only caveat is that there is some of strong language in here. If the story weren’t so good, that might have stopped me. Readers who don’t mind this so much would probably like this book.

Contains: strong foul language, including f bombs; some sexuality, violence

Terminus

       


Review of Terminus by Joshua Graham


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Having witnessed one too many senseless deaths, Nikolai, a disillusioned Reaper 3rd Class, resigns his commission with the Angel Forces after a tedious century of gathering souls.

Immediately, another division recruits him with the promise of a more rewarding career, and issues his initial assignments: To bring down a few very dangerous threats to the human race. In the process, Nikolai falls in love with one of his targets-Hope Matheson, a woman who will lead thousands astray.

Caught between conflicting agendas, Nikolai chooses to "fall" from his celestial state and become mortal in order to circumvent angel law and be with her. But for angels and humans alike, things are not always as they appear. Still a target, the threat against Hope's life intensifies.

Now, in order to save her, Nikolai must rally the last remnants of his failing supernatural abilities to prevent her assassination, as well as the destruction of an entire city by a nuclear terrorist strike.

But his time and power are running out...

Terminus is a perspective-altering saga that delves into ageless themes of redemption, destiny, and the eternal power of love.

My Review:

The title of this one comes from the name of the “construct” where the main character, an angel named Nikolai, or sometimes Nick, takes the souls that he ushers into eternity. It is constructed as a duplicate of Victoria Station in London as it would have appeared in 1910. Nick thinks it makes it easier on the souls who pass through there if they can think of their journey as just another train trip.

This Thriller was unlike any that I had ever read before. As I already mentioned we have an angel as a main character. We are introduced to him as he takes a little girl to the construct and puts her on the train.

He then decides that he is tired of being a reaper and wants a job that makes more sense. That is when he ends up in Angel Resources and is recruited by an angel by the name of Morloch for a more top secret assignment. His first job is to stop a preacher from reading his Bible and following his usual routine.

But when the man’s child is about to be hit by an oncoming car, Nick can’t help himself. He jumps into the street to save the boy. And thus begins a series of jobs where Nick seems to do the opposite of his assignments because they just don’t make any sense but when he stops Hope Matheson rather than encouraging her to commit suicide, everything changes.

The stakes get higher and higher as Nick finds himself falling from grace and falling for Hope. She becomes a target of Nick’s new boss and Nick must find out why so that he can protect her from the angel Lena who still wants Hope dead.

The positives on this one are this one are many. The characters are great, even if they are not always Biblically accurate and yet the author does manage to keep remarkably close to the verses in the Bible that speak of this subject. The plot is not at all predictable. In fact, it is quite engaging. And the supernatural setting is interesting.

As for negatives, I had a tough time coming up with any. So there are none listed here. If you do read this, I suggest that you also read the final note from the author as it explains the thought process of our author. I found it very interesting and informative.

Shadows Wake

       


Review of Shadows Wake by Robyn LaRue


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Gold Hill is a peaceful place with a dark secret and forgotten calling. In ancient times, a native tribe trapped evil inside the mountain. That prison is now weakened, and the tribal blood line responsible for its maintenance is dangerously diluted. One girl and her friends are all that stand between the mountain demon and the outside world.

Lillian, a social outcast with secrets of her own, will learn about love, friendship, and loyalty, but can she save Gold Hill and all she holds dear?

And if she does, can she then save herself?

Shadows Wake is a coming of age story with supernatural elements and is set in historical 1952.

My Review:

Once again I will review a lesser known author after at least two weeks of interviewing NYT Best-Selling Authors. I came across Robyn LaRue, author of Shadows Wake, on Twitter, the same way I have met at least one other author whose work I have reviewed on this blog. I am not really sure exactly how we met but I wanted to explain that as well as get the whole self-disclosure thing out of the way.

Ms. LaRue gave me a copy of her book for review on this blog and I believe it is her first. Her genre is the Thriller genre which is interesting but not my favorite so imagine my surprise when I start reading only to find out that it takes place in 1952. Thus it could also be considered Historical Fiction which is my favorite. And I really like the way she combines it.

Lillian, a young teenager with a bad reputation, is our main character. She lives in Northern California and is not well-liked in town but not because of anything she’s actually done. It is her family name that provides her with her undeserved reputation. That and the fact that she lives above a bar with her uncle since her parents are both dead and her grandfather is in prison.

Lately Lillian’s life has been changing in ways that she can’t entirely understand.  A bear dies near the famous mine/mountain and Lillian is determined to tag along with some other students to find out what exactly is going on up there.

Along the way, she manages to make friends with one of the town’s most popular girls and two other guys. They decide to meet at the mountain to try to see if it might be the thing that is causing all the nightmares they have been having as well as figure out if it is the reason for the angst and anger among the townsfolk.

The story has its set of twists and turns but most of them are different from the ones I am used to seeing in thrillers. The evil lies beneath the surface of the mountain. There are some scary characters but we get the sense that the mountain is behind their behavior and perhaps there is not some kind of sinister plot to sell the land cheap or murder someone who is standing in someone else’s way. But what is this evil?

I can only suggest that you read it for yourself to find out. I don’t like to give spoilers in my reviews, especially those with a mystery so I won’t tell you what it is. But it is definitely worth reading. The characters are well-drawn, the writing is good, and the story is not what you’d expect. Plus, I loved reading more about life in the 1950’s and did I mention that it is overall a good, clean read? Well, it is.

Contains: some violence

Breaking Steele

       


Review of Breaking Steele by Aaron Patterson & Ellie Ann


Overview from www.bn.com: Sarah Steele has a lot to prove. Foster care brat turned successful Assistant District Attorney, she's enjoying her magical pumpkin carriage ride but knows she is only one mistake away from landing on the curb. When she's given an open-and-shut case regarding multi-millionaire Hank Williams and his murder of young Tracy Mulligan, Sarah's determined to win. But when everything goes wrong, and there's a killer on the loose, she isn't prepared for who the real battle is against: herself. Is she really willing to do anything to take Hank Williams down?

My Review:

Breaking Steele was my first introduction to what looks to be a new thriller series featuring ADA Sarah Steele, a young twenty something lawyer with a horrible past. Her case against Hank Williams (not the country singer) seems air tight so why are the defendant and his lawyers so jubilant in court?

It turns out that her case is not what it seems. First, she will have to contend with having her DNA evidence thrown out when a crime lab technician is suspected of working while high on drugs. Then there is the strange relationship between the defendant and his daughter.

Of course things just get weirder from there. They always do in these types of stories.

To be clear, this is more of a thriller than a mystery. That disappointed me a little but there were enough mystery elements in the story to keep me reading.

Sarah Steele was also an intriguing character and I think she has all the makings of a great protagonist who could not only successfully carry the series forward but also has potential to grow and change as a women as well as an attorney.

I can’t say that I loved this one. It was worth the read but perhaps not as good as some of the others I have read.

The other thing that I didn’t like about it though was that it looks like the writer might be pulling a James Patterson on us by having someone else write his book. Notice that his name is in big and bold letters but another author, Ellie Ann, is listed in smaller letters underneath. I hope her involvement will help get her name out there though I have my doubts.

I still recommend it but I consider it more of an “I like it” book rather than an “I love it.”

Contains: violence, sexual violence

Greyson Gray: Camp Legend

       


Review of Greyson Gray: Camp Legend by B. C. Tweedt


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: At Morris College All-Sports Camp, Greyson Gray discovers intense athletic competition, quirky huddlemates, and budding romance to distract him from the loneliness he has felt since his father's mysterious disappearance. The lighthearted camp atmosphere turns, though, when Greyson stumbles upon a terrorist's sinister plot brewing in the observatory - a place already haunted by a chilling camp legend. Suddenly, Greyson toils with two dueling worlds - one of lurking danger and mystery, the other of competition and hormones. Spurred on by his father's words to do the good that ought to be done despite the danger, Greyson and his faithful friends must mount a cunning and coordinated heist on the observatory in order to save thousands of lives.

My Review:

Delving back into the world of YA, I have read Greyson Gray: Camp Legend as my book for this week. On first glance it seems strictly to be one of those summer camp/coming of age stories. But this summer camp has a strange twist to it.

Greyson, our twelve-year-old main character, comes to summer camp in Iowa at his mother’s insistence, presumably to help him forget his father’s strange disappearance. Instead he stumbles into a plot to cause havoc in the world and the whole thing is going down in the camp’s observatory.

It all starts when Greyson has an altercation with a fellow camper. The other boy puts his prized hat (given to him by his father before he left) on the cafeteria conveyor belt and Greyson dives for it, ending up in the back room where he overhears some references to the plot though he doesn’t know what it means.

He is then threatened by one of the same workers who insulted him earlier to keep quiet or else. Of course, he doesn’t listen and decides to sneak out at night and find out what is going on and to stop it if he can, convinced by the words of his dad who told him “to do the good that ought to be done.”

Meanwhile he becomes the camp heart throb to the eighth grade girls but he only has eyes for one them, a girl named Sydney who his new friend Jarryd has dubbed as “Deer Girl.” He tries to distance himself from the other girls but they are infatuated and refuse to leave him alone. He will later use their devotion to him as an asset to stop the evil plot of some of the camp workers to cause massive death and destruction.

I liked this one a lot. And I was reading the other reviews on the above website; I discovered that there was a sequel which I am probably going to buy.

The character of Greyson as well as Sydney and his other friends kept me laughing even though the story has a lot of serious elements. For example, I cried when Greyson cried, remembering his last conversation with his father. I laughed at Jarryd’s crazy remarks. And I loved Sydney’s efforts to understand Greyson as well as how she jumped in and tried to save him from himself and the camp plotters who wanted to kill him.

One of my favorite funny lines from Jarryd is as follows: “’Seriously, boys. Are you hiding something?’

“The tension was thick. No boy wanted to break, but if they had already been turned in, breaking would be the best thing to do.

“’Okay, okay.’ Jarryd sighed and looked Brandon straight in the eyes. ‘I am hiding something. I will confess…..I… have a third nipple.’” P.51

Contains: some violence

Stranger in Town

       


Review of Stranger in Town by Cheryl Bradshaw


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Six-year-old Olivia Hathaway tiptoes down the center aisle of Maybelle's Market, stopping once to glance over her shoulder and make sure her mother isn't watching. But Mrs. Hathaway is too preoccupied to notice her daughter has slipped away. Minutes later, a frantic Mrs. Hathaway runs up and down the aisles, desperately searching for her missing daughter. But Olivia is already gone. Will PI Sloane Monroe find her before it's too late?

My Review:

A young girl is taken from a local store. The only witness to the kidnapping, an elderly woman, is dead, stabbed and run over by perpetrator’s car. As the years go by, the community never forgets.

But when another girl is kidnapped, her father is convinced that the same man has kidnapped his Savanah. He doesn’t trust the police any longer so he hires our protagonist, Sloane Monroe, a private investigator, to find his daughter and follow up on the lead he thinks he’s found.

Though this story is in many ways a typical thriller/mystery, the kidnapping is different angle from most of the novels in this genre that I usually read. For one thing the crimes are years apart from one another. And for another, two of the victims are children.

The progression of the story didn’t hold many surprises. In a way, it was probably more realistic than most thrillers since Sloane seems to know what she’s doing. She has solved every case she’s taken on or so says a police detective named Cade who later teams up with Sloane. He checked her out before making the offer apparently.

The same characteristic makes her somewhat less interesting of a detective however. She comes up against a few walls but all in all she’s a regular, modern, female, version of Sherlock Holmes. She just searches for the evidence to back up her assertions.

What kept me reading was the plot. I wanted to see if Sloane would be right or way off the mark and have to start all over again. Most of all I wanted to know why once I knew who. It didn’t make sense to me, even the way Sloane explained it Cade. Maybe that’s why no one takes her theory seriously, at first.

I didn’t want to say more since I am trying to avoid any spoilers here. Of course you can find out more by reading it. I liked it but only for readers who aren’t expecting any big surprises in their mystery/thriller novels.

Contains: some language

Cry Wolf

Review of Cry Wolf by J. Carson Black


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Laura Cardinal: Packs a SIG Sauer P226 9mm. Investigates homicides in small towns that have limited resources. Brings justice to murder victims--and to their killers. Laura’s job description: Criminal Investigator with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. But maybe it should just say “Troubleshooter”.

Tell me no lies.

Laura and her aspiring-film-director partner, Anthony, catch a homicide case where nothing is as it appears. When pathological liar Sean Perrin is found dead in his car at a trailhead in scenic Madera Canyon, he leaves behind a skein of lies and half-truths that are impossible to untangle. From violent death in a sordid motel room to a high-end prostitution ring in Las Vegas, Laura and Anthony follow Sean’s trail across a landscape of broken dreams and convincing lies—until they confront the true evil behind the mask.

My Review:

This week’s review comes to us courtesy of a Nook book that I bought for .99 cents which features twelve mystery/thriller novels. The first one was Don’t Know Jack which I reviewed a few weeks ago. I enjoyed Cry Wolf by J. Carson Black much more.

It was also one of a series, though strangely, the last one instead of the first one. It seems like most of the cheap or free books on the Barnes & Noble website nearly always feature the first book in the series.

Our protagonist on this one is one Laura Cardinal, homicide detective for some police department near Tucson. Her blissful Saturday with her man is interrupted by the call to duty when Las Vegas resident Sean Perrin gets himself murder in nearby Madera Canyon.

She and her partner, Anthony, a screenwriter in training, must now unravel the mess of lies that Mr. Perrin has told about himself. For example, was he really a Navy Seal? Did he really have a model for a wife? Well, you get the idea.

It turns out that at least some of Mr. Perrin’s stories were true but which one got him killed? While searching for the answer which seems always just out of reach for Laura, she has to contend with the occasional appearances by her former, deceased, mentor, Frank. He points her in the right direction but he can’t solve the case for her.

This story seemed short to me but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I appreciate how the author wisely didn’t load it down with a bunch of crap just to make it longer. The ending was different from what I expected but not unlikely, as were the characters.

I recommend it as a great read for summer, light and entertaining. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to enjoy this one.

Contains: some language and sexuality

Don't Know Jack

       


Review of Don't Know Jack by Diane Capri


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: It’s been a while since we first met Lee Child’s Jack Reacher in Killing Floor. Fifteen years and sixteen novels later, Reacher still lives off the grid, until trouble finds him, and then he does whatever it takes, much to the delight of readers and the dismay of villains. Now someone big is looking for him. Who? And why? Hunting Jack Reacher is a dangerous business, as FBI Special Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar are about to find out. Otto and Gaspar are by-the-book hunters who know when to break the rules; Reacher is a stone cold killer. Reacher is a wanted man, but is he their friend or their enemy? Only the secrets hidden in Margrave, Georgia will tell them.

My Review:

Don’t know Jack had me confused. I’d never read any of the Jack Reacher novels ever. I only heard of him through the recent movie that came out with Tom Cruise which I have not seen. After reading this one, I really didn’t want to see the movie either and not just because I am not a big Tom Cruise fan.


I thought, mistakenly as it turns out, that this was the first Reacher novel. According to the Barnes & Noble reviews that I read, that is not the case. No wonder I was disappointed. Guess I should have read them first.


The main characters, Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar, are FBI agents who have been given the assignment to find Reacher. Their mysterious, and unnamed, boss says that is what he wants. Unfortunately, a local murder in the small town where they are sent gets in the way of all that. Or does it? Could Reacher be the culprit or is his connection with the town of Margrave, Georgia merely a coincidence?

But, spoiler alert here, they never find him. Sorry for that. I don’t usually like to give spoilers in my review but in my mind this was a major downfall of the story for me since I have not read any of the other Reacher novels. The story would probably have been more interesting to me if I had but I didn’t know that going into it.

As you might be able to guess from this, I am not a big reader of thrillers and I don’t believe that I have ever read a Lee Child story before so I guess this snafu was partly caused by my ignorance. Still it would have been nice to have some kind of forward or something that told me that I probably should read Mr. Child’s Reacher series before this one.

It turns out there is something in the parenthesis that says that it is written for Mr. Child and John Grisham fans but it is not exactly the same thing.

Anyway, that problem aside, the story is entertaining. There is something of mystery involved. The main characters are so engaging that we want to know if they will find out who killed a local Margrave cop and why. Was Reacher involved? I won’t spoil that part of the story for you in case you still want to read it but just know going in that it might help to have read at least some of the Reacher stories, or maybe even all of them, I am guessing.


The other plus for me was that although there is some foul language, it is not excessive, not like many other thrillers I have read. There are however some references to the sex trade.


Anyone out there with a different opinion? Any Reacher fans in particular? Let me know what you think.