My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Book Review: The Way Out by Craig Childs
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Book Review: Bonegrinder by John Lutz
Book Synopsis:
A bloodthirsty lake monster menaces a small town in the Ozarks.
When the men find him, the boy’s legs look like they were run through a wood-chipper. He’s bleeding heavily and near death, but he still has strength to tell them of the monster that attacked him: a dark, massive creature that emerged from the bottom of the lake. The child dies before he can say more.
Sheriff Billy Wintone has seen too much superstition, drunkenness, and rage in this small Ozarks town to believe the delirious boy’s tale of a monster lurking under the lake’s dark waters. Like it or not, however, Wintone must scour the woods for the man or beast who killed the child before the start of fishing season. When another body is found chewed to pieces, the Sheriff begins to wonder what evil lies at the bottom of Big Water Lake.
My Review:
Bonegrinder had me hooked from the opening pages.
Reminiscent of Peter Benchley's "Jaws", a small, one sheriff town goes from being very quiet to busy and popular and back to very quiet again, as a result of the malevolent monster that soon comes to be known as the "Bonegrinder". At first the curious draw of the monster brings people to the town, incentivised by the offer of a reward it becomes almost as dangerous just to be in town, as to be a victim of the Bonegrinder.
I loved the characters; they are alive and called from the pages. Sheriff Billy Wintone (the equivalent of Chief Brody), is a troubled but no nonsense lawman, I wanted to know more about him than came out of the book, but even so he was wholly believable and realistic. Being under the pressure of the Mayor, the towns-people and those who have other interests in the Bonegrinder, it was difficult not to be on his side. He and the other characters, along with the captivating town of Colver it's nearby lake and surrounds make the story a very complete tale.
Very real moments of suspense, tragedy and action move the adventure on from page to page. I wanted to know what was going to happen next, who would be the next victim of the Bonegrinder and who would survive. It was never clear whether or not they would all make it to the end, and this kept me reading late into the night.
There was a slightly distracting sub-plot, that didn't really fit. It was a nice idea, but detracted from the overall story, and I'd worked it out before it was revealed, (I read too many crime novels I guess).
Overall this was a very enjoyable and captivating tale, and I would recommend to anyone who wants something with a bit of suspense and some good characters.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars, I really liked it.
About the author:
John Lutz's works may be categorized as political suspense, private eye, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller—virtually every mystery sub-genre. He is the author of more than forty novels and over two hundred short stories and articles. His novels and short fiction have been translated into almost every language and adapted for almost every medium.
He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, the Trophée 813 for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the Eye Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in St. Louis, Missouri, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series novels. His SWF Seeks Same was made into the hit movie Single White Female, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel The Ex was made into the HBO original movie of the same name, for which he co-authored the screenplay.
When Lutz isn't writing, he's reading, following baseball, dining out with friends, or going to movies or plays.
Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis, Missouri, and Sarasota, Florida. His latest book is the suspense novel Mister X.
Review Disclaimer: The nice people at Open Road Media, provided me with a free e-galley in return for an honest review. I have received no other incentive for this post.
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Book Review: Gods And Fathers By James LePore
PUBLISHED BY: The Story Plant
Publication date: 7th February 2012
300 pages
ISBN-10: 1611880297
ISBN-13: 978-1611880298
GENRE: Suspense
SYNOPSIS: Nationally bestselling author James LePore has established a reputation as a writer whose vividly drawn characters and morally complex plots have kept readers up to all hours turning pages. His new novel promises more sleepless nights and more nonstop thrills.
Matt DeMarco is an accomplished Manhattan attorney with more than his share of emotional baggage. His marriage ended disastrously, his ex-wife has pulled their son away from him, and her remarriage to a hugely successful Arab businessman has created complications for Matt on multiple levels. However, his life shifts from troubled to imperiled when two cops – men he's known for a long time – come into his home and arrest his son as the prime suspect in the murder of the boy's girlfriend.
Suddenly, the enmity between Matt and his only child is no longer relevant. Matt must do everything he can to clear his son, who he fully believes is innocent. Doing so will require him to quit his job and make enemies of former friends – and it will throw him up against forces he barely knew existed and can only begin to comprehend how to battle.
GODS AND FATHERS is at once a powerful mystery and a provocative international thriller, all of it presented with LePore's signature fascinating characters placed in dire circumstances where every choice poses new and potentially fatal challenges.
Book Excerpt:
“Why can’t you stay at your mother’s when they’re away?”
“I told you, Basil’s worried about security.”
Though this statement was challengeable on several levels, Matt let it pass. The marriage six years ago of Debra DeMarco, nee Rusillo, and Basil al-Hassan, a rich and handsome Syrian businessman, had marked the beginning of the end of Matt’s long and tortured fight for a place in his son’s heart. Armed with the ultimate weapon—-her new husband’s money—-Debra had made quick work of destroying the last vestiges of Matt’s hopes. A penthouse on Park Avenue, a beach house in Easthampton, a flat in Paris, a “cottage” in Bermuda, clothes and cars virtually on demand, Matt had no way of competing with all this, and no way of expressing his anger—-until tonight.
“What about Mina?” Matt asked.
“What about her?”
“Why aren’t you seeing her?”
“She’s studying.”
“Studying?”
“Yes, studying. You keep repeating what I say. She’s a student. Students study.”
This statement was delivered dismissively, not sarcastically. You’re stupid, Dad. I’m tired of you. Why am I bothering with you? are what Matt heard, and it occurred to him, with a clarity that shocked him after all these muddled and painful years of effort and rejection, effort and rejection, ad nauseum, that he could not hurt Michael, that his own son was indifferent to him, and this was a blow, and strangely a release.
“Well, your friends are assholes, and you are too, Michael. You’re an arrogant, shallow asshole. Where you came from, I don’t know. But not from me.”
“That could be. Maybe Mom had an affair–like you did--and I’m not your son. Do I care? No, I don’t. Can I go upstairs now? I’ll leave in the morning.”
In the kitchen, Matt poured himself another scotch. He took the pizza out of the refrigerator and sat down to eat it, surprised to find that he actually had an appetite. Until tonight, despite the bad cards he had drawn, he had never stopped trying to break through to his son. It’s over, he said to himself, over and done. He’s not your son. He’s Debra’s son, Basil’s son. You lost him a long time ago.
He finished the pizza and was wrapping the garbage to take out in the morning when the doorbell rang. Looking out the kitchen window he saw that it was snowing heavily. Those idiots, he thought, they’re probably stuck someplace. No choice but to let them in. But when he swung open the front door, it wasn’t Adnan and Ali, but his friends Jack McCann and Clarke Goode, homicide detectives who he had worked with for many years, standing facing him. He could see their unmarked car at the curb, and behind it, blocking his driveway, a Pound Ridge patrol car, its engine running and headlights on, two uniformed officers in the front seat. McCann, a florid Irishman whose blue eyes were usually lit by some inner secret joke, looked grim; and Goode, a gnarled black man who never failed to greet Matt with a big smile, was not smiling. Far from it.
“Come in. What’s up?” Matt said. Then, nodding toward the street where the patrol car sat: “What’s with the uniforms?”
The two detectives stepped into the foyer.
“Take your coats off,” Matt said. He could see they were dressed for work, sport jackets and ties on under their trench coats.
“Matt...,” McCann said.
“Talk, Jack,” Matt said. “Is somebody dead?”
“Is Michael home?” Goode asked. He had not taken off his coat, and neither had McCann.
“That’s his car out there,” Matt said. “You know that.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s upstairs.”
Matt looked from McCann to Goode, then back to McCann; looked in the eyes of each, and did not like what he saw. “What about Michael?” he asked.
“We’re here to arrest him,” McCann replied.
“For what?” Drugs, Matt thought, good, let the kid get a taste of the pain he’s always inflicting on others. Him and his two Arab suppliers.
“For murder, Matt,” Goode said.
My Review:
From the book's start the author paints a very cleverly confusing picture of who is on the side of good and bad. There is sufficient truth and sufficient doubt that the author doesn't reveal, exactly what happened or who did what, until much later in the story, making for a tale with many a twist and turn.
There's a murder that seems to suggest that all is not as it first appears, that the evidence of guilt may not be all that it seems, that there is more than meets the eye. That murder might be part of other crimes too; but don't expect to find the answers too soon, they form part of a very intricate, international plot.
This is done through a series of well written scenes and characters who on first glance are basic, but on more detailed exposure are very complex. This is no simple tale and the reader needs to keep up as the action switches between the different characters, revealing pieces of the puzzle, while no one person (except the reader), has all those pieces together. Even then the reader is kept in suspense, and needs to keep reading. The way the story hooks you in though, that is exactly what you want to do. The more pages I turned, the more I wanted to find out the truth, it became important to know what was true and what was a false lead and deception.
The way the characters are written they are complex, they appear basic at first, but for the most part it is clear what motivates them, there is also good use of current affairs to make them realistic and grounded, I'm not sure how this will stand up to the passage of time, but this is a very clever device.
All of the characters and the story build up to bring a fast paced ending where all will be revealed. So as to what happened? Who's really guilty of what? How does it all end? Well you'll have to read it for yourself, I'm afraid, no spoilers here!
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - I Loved it!
James LePore is an attorney who has practiced law for more than two decades, and an accomplished photographer. He is the author of three previous novels, A WORLD I NEVER MADE, BLOOD OF MY BROTHER, and SONS AND PRINCES, as well as the story collection, ANYONE CAN DIE. He lives in Westchester County, NY with his wife, artist Karen Chandler.
Author website: www.jamesleporefiction.com
Monday, February 06, 2012
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Killer Bytes (a novella of intrigue) - One Week In
This time last week, I uploaded the final version of my novella Killer Bytes to Amazon. By the following morning it was available for purchase.
I am pleased to say that it's been selling too. It's a little early to say whether or not I'm going to make my fortune (probably not I suspect, at least not quite just yet), but some people have bought copies.
As it's self-published, it's just me, and my twitter friends, facebook contacts etc who have been promoting the book for me. If you're one of them, then thank you, I appreciate your support.
To date it's also had two reviews on amazon, one four stars and one five stars! Being described as:
"Nifty Police Procedural With Sharply Drawn Characters"
and
"Fun and fast-paced read".
And now, the breaking news is I can expect a few more reviews too, as Killer Bytes and I are going on tour, across two continents! All of this will actually be happening without me having to leave the comfort of my keyboard, working with Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours.
PICT is one of the companies who I regularly review for, and they are very kindly now taking my book on a tour of the blogosphere.
In the meantime you can of course buy an electronic version of Killer Bytes via:
Smashwords (which has both Nook and Kindle versions available).
What a week!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Book Review: The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Back To The Classics Book Challenge 2012: Anton Chekov - The Seagull
I kicked off this challenge with one of the books that I was most unsure about, I thought I'd get at least one of the ones that I thought I would be least likely to enjoy out of the way first.
This one sits in the Classic Play category, and is a play that I have never seen performed or read before but one that I have heard many people talk about. It's a complicated tale between multiple characters set on a lakeside in Russia. As a straightforward read, it might be considered a bit dull, but I think seeing it performed would be something quite different. The dialogue is quite glorious, but as a play it lacks the scenery and intereaction between the characters that you would get were it say, a novel. However from the dialogue alone the complexities between the characters and their loves and losses kept me engaged.
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars, I liked it.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Books of 2011 # 1 Top Read of 2011!
Well here we are, after a month of looking back over my reads of 2011, at my top book recommendation for the year. As I said yesterday each one of the top three is worthy of the top spot in it's own way, but what gives this one the edge is two-fold. It's a collection of short stories, and it is the first and the last stories that push it that little bit higher than all of the other thirty books that have come before it, and above all seventy-one others that I have read this year. If you've read it, you'll know what I mean, if you haven't then I recommend you get hold of a copy without delay (but you really should read the book that is a number three first).
Friday, December 30, 2011
Books of 2011 # 2 - Lake Charles by Ed Lynskey
The top three books in this review are exceptionally hard to separate. Each in its own way is worthy of the top spot, and Lake Charles is a very worthy runner-up.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
Thursday, December 29, 2011
What's In My Bag?
I though it was time for another comparison to the last time I posted this here.
There have been a few changes, most notably an iPad has replaced the small laptop I used to carry, and the backpack itself is now a larger version than the previous one. I love SwissGear kit, it's well thought out, functional and tough as nails.
Here's the full list for now:
- Pencil case, contains mainly markers and other presentation pens
- Tissues
- Moo business cards and stickers and work business cards
- Notebook and post-its
- Rail season ticket
- Access pass and keys
- Emergency dog biscuits
- Paracetamols and ibuprofen
- £1 coins in film cannister (for car parking machines and emergency coffees)
- iPad
- Sunglasses
- iPhone 3Gs & i-Phone charger
- Assorted memory sticks & extension cables
- Power Monkey Explorer and power tips
A version of this photo with annotations is available on flickr here.
Books of 2011 # 3 - Adventures of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles by Edward A Grainger
Essentially a collection of short stories, this book is for Western novels, what Unforgiven was for the Western movie. Worth every one of it's Five Stars!
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Books of 2011 # 4 - Macbeth by David Hewson & A J Hartley
The only audiobook in the top thirty-one, but what an audiobook. As the review says think you know Macbeth? Think again.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Books of 2011 # 5 - The Road to Somewhere by James A Reeves
OK the top 5, and this is a nomadic road trip and a look at a country that I'm not sure if the author fully recognised. Great pictures and words, well worth a read.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Monday, December 26, 2011
Books of 2011 # 6 - Carnival for the Dead by David Hewson
Just outside the top five spot, and a book that only had a limited release in 2011, with it's major release coming in January 2012.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Lupo has travelled to Venice to look for her Aunt Sofia who has mysteriously disappeared, leaving little explanation as to why, or her current whereabouts. It is the time of the Carnival, as Teresa tries to find her Aunt, and a series of events unfold that lead the reader on a tableau of adventure across the great city of islands, and where those dressed in Carnival costume may not be all they appear to be. This is the tenth novel in the “Costa” series, and the third time that David Hewson has taken us to Venice (The Lizard’s Bite & The Cemetery of Secrets, being the other two, and it is nice to see some homage to both of those novels within the pages of this latest one).It is rare that a book makes me change my plans or keeps me reading up late into the night these days, but Carnival for the Dead has done both of those things over the last three days. Keeping me turning the pages and setting the standard for crime novels, this story unfolds a tale of mystery, history and culture set in one of the worlds great cities. The history is well researched and the author manages to weave the history and culture into the pages, bringing the story to life. It brings a depth and colour to the pages that it is easy to picture oneself in the great city, with the same sights, sounds and smells as the characters on the pages. David Hewson is a master storyteller, and this book is no exception, it is one of his best and finest to date and this series has been getting better and better. If you are looking for a great story, and want to transport yourself to another place, then I strongly recommend this book. View all my reviews
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Books of 2011 # 7 - Dumb White Husband vs The Grocery Store by Benjamin Wallace
Trust the Dumb White Husband to make an appearance, and on Christmas Day of all days! Well if you're feeling a little overfull from too much Christmas Dinner, you could do worse than going on to Amazon and downloading this little short, particularly if you got yourself a new kindle for Christmas!
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Books of 2011 # 8 - Meet The Dogs of Bedlam Farm
The only children's book to make the list, but of course it is also a doggy book!
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Friday, December 23, 2011
Book Review: Ark by Charles McCarry
About the book:
Earth’s wealthiest man attempts to save humanity from an impending apocalypse
The planet’s first and only trillionaire, Henry Peel, did not make his fortune by being a fool. A gifted inventor and scientist, he possesses an imagination on the scale of history’s greatest thinkers, and he has turned it to the problem of Earth’s core. Two decades ago, scientists learned that the core spins faster than the rest of the planet, storing up a cache of energy that, if released, could cause an earthquake that would obliterate human life. To begin mankind anew, Henry Peel is going to lead us to the stars.
He gathers the world’s leading physicists and engineers and asks them to design a spaceship large enough to safeguard a sample of humanity and durable enough to survive a thousand-year voyage. Money is no object, but time is short. The apocalypse is on its way.
My Review:This is the first book by Charles McCarry that I have read but I wasn't disappointed. It cleverly mixes fiction and science fact to deliver an intriguing tale that kept me turn the electronic pages of my kindle into the night. Told in the first person, or rather observed by the narrator the story takes the reader around the world and presents and develops characters that make the book very real and give a tremendous amount of depth.
The book was a little slow to begin with, but quickly picked up and the detail of the tale was great. It was this attention to detail, and the combinations of genres that worked well, it's never quite clear where fact and fiction blend together to create something quite different.
I was reminded of the late Michael Crichton at his best, reading this novel, and Charles McCarry can weave a tale in the same way that Crichton could, keeping the reader guessing what's going to happen next but making the outcome believable.
A strong and intriguing read, recommended.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars.
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