Tag: Book Review
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State of Terror by Hilary Clinton & Louise Penny
STATE OF TERROR, a taut, tense, whiplash-inducing thriller, is so up to the minute in world events it seems like the authors, Hillary Clinton and crime fiction author, Louise Penny, had a crystal ball to look into scrying possible scenarios … no, wait … they did. In the form of Ms. Clintons and her years…
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Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith
This chess-inspired 8th outing of the cranky melancholy police investigator, Arkady Renko, is a fast-paced romp through the underbelly of corrupt police/politicians/media in Putin’s crumbling modern Russia. Where just about everyone has an agenda hustling from the streets to the highest office, for everything from stolen goods to billion ruble contracts. And where Cruz Smith’s…
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Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
Let me just say up front, this is not a book for the faint of heart, and would definitely be PG-13 if not higher given some of the content, themes and descriptions. Including some grisly deaths. But that said, all of it is within context to the world in which this story is set. It’s…
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The Silence of the Bones by June Hur
I truly had high hopes for this debut novel from author, June Hur, given its subject material, late 18th to early 19th century Korea, in a period of scandal and turmoil. Catholic priests were risking life and limb to infiltrate Korea and spread the word of the One God. And while Hur uses this as…
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Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe
First of all, let me start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed Velocity Weapon from beginning to end. And, like any good roller coaster ride, this one starts off with a few gentle reveals, and slowly—at first—builds up to a number of startling revelations, as you crest a peek, wondering what the hell is coming next…
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Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds
This incredibly short novella by Alastair Reynolds—all 176 pages of it—offers so much promise but, for me at least, it failed to deliver. I think if the author had bothered to write a full-length novel and added better depth to both the story itself never mind the characters, it might have been an over-all better…
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The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor
THE ASHES OF LONDON by Andrew Taylor is a well plotted murder-mystery set amid the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, in 1666, and the political turmoil following the Civil War. Wherein a number of the ‘Fifth Monarchists’ continue to fan the flames of sedition long after the failed Commonwealth in the belief they…
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Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire by Dan Hanks
From the minute I saw the cover for Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire by Dan Hanks, I fell in love with it and knew I had to get my hands on a copy. Well, the cover conveyed everything this brilliant piece of escapist fun promised, and then some. A blisteringly fast-paced archaeological…
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Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh
It doesn’t get any better than this! Steve Cavanagh has done it again, pulling out all the stops to bring another fast-paced, thrilling, rollercoaster read. A thoroughly compelling story in which the devil truly is in the details. Eddie Flynn is back in the arena, the courtroom that is, playing the ‘fall’ guy and sitting…
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Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The premise for SCYTHE by Neal Shusterman is a really good one. It comes across as being unusual—here we have people who train to deal death as a means of culling the growing population in a world were everyone is, technically, immortal. This is a story that should have everything going for it. Sadly, however,…