Campaign Trilogy book 2
ISBN: 978-1409241256
I was given this book to review.
Jobe, his possibly angelic, possibly demonic reflection, Wendy and her ghostly twin brother are all back, hot on the trail of the people who kidnapped Wendy’s father, who are hopefully the same people behind a virus that creates serial killers. Both are odd characters. Jobe is a full on anti-hero, the servant of god-style serial killer who punishes the evil doers around him. Wendy is a thirteen year old girl, smart beyond her years and yet vulnerable to the horrors she’s caught up in. And yet they are the heroes, the only ones with the ability (both supernatural and non) to hunt down and stop some pretty insidious bad guys.
One of the stand out elements in this book is its antihero lead, as readers will find themselves conflicted about and uncomfortable with Jobe’s methods, but it’s absolutely clear that he is in fact the hero of the story. Also Wendy is a precocious young girl, who knows and understands far more than she should. But rather than being unbelievable her grown up mentality is explained by the role she’s played as parent in her messed up family for so long, and tempered by some emotional strife in reaction to the first book, The Lesser of Two Evils, and events in this book, which serve to remind readers that despite her capabilities she is still a teenaged girl.
The only flaw Trail of Madness suffers from is lack of tightness. Not yet flabby, it remains that some shaving could have been done to firm up this 400 page tale.
One of the most interesting serial killer tales I’ve read in a while with the most vivid characters, I recommend this one to readers who like the serial killer concept, but want to see something new done with it.
19
Jan
ISBN: 978-1935142058
I was given this book to review.
Silver is a tome, one hell of a book, in scope, complexity and power. Twinning a secret religious cult made up of the descendants of the misunderstood Judas and a handful of highly organized acts of terrorism that begins with 13 people burning themselves alive at the same moment in time across the world, Silver pits a team of secretive investigators against a worldwide religious-political threat.
Move over Dan Brown, Saville threads in more flavor, texture and dimension into a story than most authors dream of. Moving from the U.S. to Israel, Rome and Germany and including a vast cast that will make other international thrillers appear pale in comparison, Silver is a hefty read.
The pace is even, but not always speedy and the layered details might not be intriguing to all readers. The emphasis here is strongly on large scope character and world building. Silver would appeal to readers who enjoy more of a mainstream slant to genre fiction, such as those who find Stephen King and Michael Crichton’s detail and character-oriented styles to their taste. Even readers who might find this storytelling method slow will have to admit that Saville backs it up with a lot of plot interest and intrigue and a twist on the Christian theological mythos that’s edgy and new.
30
Oct
ISBN: 9780060506650
I received this book free through the LibraryThing Early Readers Program.
Manny Rupert, an addict, a cop kicked off the force, an the ex-husband of a murderer, is back for round two. This time he’s been hired to go undercover in San Quentin and determine whether a sick old man in for vehicular manslaughter is really who he claims to be—the infamous Nazi Doctor of Death, Joseph Mengele.
That’s where Pain Killers starts, but where it goes is on an insane, gritty, noir venture through the darkest parts of society. Pain Killers is a humorous black romp if by humorous you mean “Oh my God they went there” and by romp you mean going by limo from prison snail back love shack to Christian porn sets to meth houses and mansions and back again. This novel is, to steal a line, truly, truly outrageous.
Stahl’s humor is not for everyone, possibly not for anyone that possesses an iota of sensitivity about religion, psychology, the human condition, addiction, sex, or just about any subject. But there’s a sort of victorious feel to seeing character so truly messed up still intelligent and stubborn and taking on the face of human evil. There’s more talking than action, so the pace is not forceful or fast. At times the conversations while interesting and amusing come off as off topic, when the point is to solve a mystery. And the WTF factor is, at times, very high. But it’s a wild ride, different from everything else out there which certainly has an audience in today’s marketplace.
16
Oct
ISBN: 9780061625121
From the back cover of Amberville one might expect a cross between Sesame Street and The Sopranos. Eric Bear, years after leaving behind a life of drugs and a job as a runner for a mafia king, opens his apartment door to find his former boss, the mafia head Nicholas Dove visiting with a request—take Dove’s name off the infamous Death List (literally a list of those slated to disappear from the world) or he will have his gorillas tear apart Eric’s beloved wife, Emma Rabbit.
This kicks off the reforming of Eric’s small gang, Tom-Tom Crow, Sam Gazelle and Snake Marek, who have all moved on from their criminal pasts in their own ways, and a desperate hunt for the society’s biggest secret, the Death List and its writer.
But after finishing Amberville readers will find it to be a very peculiar book. Somewhere between a mafia mystery and a higher-brow literary work addressing the nature of good and evil in the world, Amberville balances a deep mystery and action with deep, soulful contemplations (by mad men, or mad bears as the case may be). In fact the literary, contemplative sections which can, at times come off as lagging bits in the pacing of the plot, genuinely serve to distract and set up the reader, a sign of some truly clever writing.
Yes, the characters really are stuffed animals, living in a world where many things are very clearly defined for them (such as the good areas of town literally being painted different colors from the bad ones). And that analogy doesn’t go very far, in that the type of animal a character is doesn’t necessarily define who they are. And there aren’t really any musing on the nature of man versus beast. But each animal is a full, fleshy—or stuffed—whole with a parallel personality type in our world.
Amberville is the kind of book you wouldn’t think about reading, or you’d expect to not like, only to discover it has a lot more to offer than can be explained on the book jacket. It absolutely keeps you guessing, up to the last sentence, and asks questions but never presumes to offer answers, making it a very good read indeed.
30
Apr
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Paperback: 9780446535939, $6.99
- Governmental experimentation on U.S. citizens is nothing new (in the fictional world). In Afraid, the debut from Jack Kilborn (alias of JA Konrath, author of the excellent “Jack” Daniels mystery series) the products of these experimentation, an elite, psychotic team tagged “Red-ops” have crash landed in the small U.S. town of safe haven. Worse than the thought of deranged, programed killers carrying out orders on a town of innocent people is the thought that they might not have landed on accident.
- Compared to his other work, Afraid is just as brutal, but the tension is less over the top and nail biting and more of a complex reveal, not slow, but building on itself in levels until the full depth of the situation (and the plot) is realized. There is less humor involved, almost because there isn’t time for the characters to begin to adjust to facing their own, painful, deaths and get cynical.
- Kilborn makes a solid showing in the horror/thriller genre with a tale that’s genuine and engaging enough to keep people reading, but neither over the top, or stodgy with attempts to build up the characters to make the audience sympathize with their plight.
- Fans of David Morrell and Michael Crichton should take note, Kilborn is capable of holding his own against thriller veterans, delivering a solid, tension filled book that rates high on the readibility scale.
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Paperback: 978-1435732490, $19.95
Valerie McCormick believes in family above all else, a fact that’s obvious when she wins a trip to Seattle and ends up spending it doing research on a boat for her husband’s company. However, on her free trip she witnesses the murder of two FBI agents and is thrust into a multinational court case against a cartel that puts her life in terrible danger.
Dead Witness is a self published debut thriller with a touch of love story. Valerie is understandably upset by her predicament, and surrounded by daughters who seem sweet, but oblivious, a husband who is using her and various FBI agents who bumble around and ruin her life. The bad guys are evil. The heroes are not quite perfect and over all the book is close, but not quite ready to be on the must read shelf.
Butler is a solid writer, with good potential, but there are several things that end up distracting from the story. To begin with it’s hard to connect with Valerie, the lead character. Her personality seems less than three dimensional and while she’s understandably emotional, hearing her upset over being in protective custody, and her willingness to be dead rather than without her family made her hard to sympathize with. The FBI procedure in the storyline isn’t entirely convincing, leading to mistakes that certainly add to the plot, but can make a reader question the storytelling. Readers will likely also wonder why Valerie’s brother, an intelligent, skilled investigator, is smart enough to consistently break through the FBI’s cover, but doesn’t consider that the bad guys might be watching him.
Finally, it’s clear that Valerie is the main character, not just because the story is her story, but because all the secondary characters seem to reiterate what she thinks and feels, as well as that she’s a strong, lovely person, in the sections of the story told from their point of view as if they, too, are trying to convince the reader of Valerie’s worth. Unfortunately, this ends up feeling insincere, contributing to a disconnect between the picture readers have of Valerie, and the picture Butler is trying to paint.
Butler shows promise, however, and is likely to show up with a stronger work down the road.
Guest Review by Jason Lush
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One hundred and ninety pages of political masturbation disguised as a supernatural suspense story. Of the three main characters we have; Dorian Gray, who is a brainless puppet the personifies vanity; Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the fabled portrait and represents the sorrowful conscience; and Lord Henry Wolton, who is the quintessential 19th Century fop whose sole purpose in the book is to act as Wilde’s voice on politics, religion and homosexuality and as a driving corrupter of everyone else in the book.
The pacing is horrendously slow, the chapters devoted to explaining Gray’s hobbies and the pictures of his ancestors in his hallway don’t help with the lousy pacing. The whole story could have been condensed to a 30 page novella and would have been enjoyable.
And, as a side note to the posthumous Mr. Wilde, forty is not old and hideous.
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Paperback: 9781603130912, $13.95
Ebook: 978-1-59374-092-9, $5.99
With the death of her long time friend and male role model, Tavas, looming Anna leaves school and heads back home to the Devil’s Gate ranch. Once there she has to face not just her fading friend, but also her childhood crush, Ivan and his textbook nasty wife, while she’s still not quite over him. Except that things aren’t quite as Anna left them at the Devil’s Gate. It’s been haunted over the summer by the strange ritualistic killings of the livestock.
After almost revealing a dark family secret Tavas passes, leaving Devil’s Gate to Anna. He also leaves her with a mystery to solve, not to mention leaving her to settle her own issue of the heart.
The Devil’s Gate mixes many familiar themes; a ranch on the edge of destruction, suspicious and dangerous people afoot, the best friend who loves the girl, the bad boy who never treated her right and many, many secrets that must be discovered before they claim Anna’s sanity, or her life.
While it reads similarly to older cozy mysteries, like the Nancy Drew books, and features plenty of events to keep the world expanding and solid writing there’s also a slow pace to the story. Anna finds herself undeniably drawn to the dark, broody and married Ivan. Even when best friend-for-life Brad asks for a chance to court her Anna seems to spend all her date time brooding over Ivan. Ivan’s wife, Colleen, is pointlessly mean and cruel, but Brad keeps falling for her manipulations, even to the point of letting Colleen force herself into their big date to the fair. No one’s to be trusted, of course, especially when Colleen shows up dead and just about everyone is hiding something.
The romance angle is muddled as Ivan is married and potentially dangerous and Brad is unsafely desperate. But in the end the strings come together and the tension skyrockets. The Devil’s Gate is more Murder, She Wrote than fast paced car-chase-and-explosions fare. There’s no gore or sex, making this a good tale for readers who shy away from horror and erotica. And the western flavor adds a bit of spice that might be missing from romance or cozy suspense diets.