Elevation
Stephen King
Scribner
Fiction, General Fiction/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Castle Rock resident Scott Carey has been losing weight lately - a pound or more a day. Only he's not growing any thinner, and he hasn't lost any stamina or strength. Even stranger, his clothes or whatever he carries don't affect the scale. It's as if he's becoming immune to the force of gravity itself. Running the numbers, he realizes it's only a matter of months before "Zero Day", when he is effectively weightless, and after that... who knows?
He could go into a clinic, to be poked and prodded and experimented on as a medical marvel for the rest of his days, maybe even become a national sensation... or he could decide to embrace the time he has left and make amends with friends and neighbors, including the newcomer lesbian couple down the street.
This audiobook also includes the short story "Laurie": mired in depression after his wife's death, Florida widower Lloyd's worried sister gives him a puppy, hoping it will bring him out of his funk. She has no idea that, soon, little Laurie will save his life...
REVIEW: From the main character's name to the overall concept of a man undergoing a miraculous and strange transformation with metaphysical overtones, Elevation has clear nods to the classic Richard Matheson story The Shrinking Man (source of the cult classic film "The Incredible Shrinking Man"), only unlike Matheson's tale, King's main character chooses to avoid becoming a subject of national attention by seeking medical help. Instead, Scott decides to accept whatever is happening to him, as both he and the retired doctor friend he consults consider the likelihood of a cure to be found even if he were aggressively studied and pursued to be negligible. In choosing to embrace and accept the strange phenomenon (only the vaguest hints are given about what might be causing it, as the cause is less important than its effects), Scott's final weeks build bridges and friendships that will last long after "Zero Day", particularly in helping the town of Castle Rock accept his new neighbors and their vegetarian Mexican restaurant. Given that King is primarily known for horror and darkness, Elevation is a milder, even sweeter story, with more wonder than fear.
"Laurie", too, is a little off the usual Stephen King path, with no hints whatsoever of the unusual or supernatural. Lloyd, an older man stuck in a holding pattern of despondency after his wife's death, is almost physically dragged back to the land of the living by his older sister and her impulsive gift of the Border Collie/Mudi mix puppy Laurie. While initially resentful of the burden of caring for another creature, it isn't long before the healing - and protective - power of dogs works its magic to change his perspective. Not much about it lingers, but it does its job and paints decent portraits of its characters.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Swordquest: Realworld (Chad Bowers and Chris Sims) - My Review
Going Bovine (Libba Bray) - My Review
I Am Legend and Other Stories (Richard Matheson) - My Review
Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts
Saturday, November 15, 2025
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend (MJ Wassmer)
Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend
MJ Wassmer
Sourcebooks Landmark
Fiction, Humor/Literary Fiction/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Dan Foster's life hasn't gone nearly how he hoped. Pegged as an advanced student from an early age, he should've been a grand success. Instead, he's staring down his thirties from a barely tolerable job, with little but a barely tolerable future stretching ahead of him. The best thing in his life is his girlfriend Mara, so this couples vacation to the brand-new, all-inclusive Tizoc Resort on a private island in the Bahamas should've been a dream come true. Maybe he'll even work up the nerve to propose.
The sun exploding put a definite damper on the fun.
With communications cut off and the wifi down, there's no way to call for help... or even know if help is available. Tensions are rising, the resort guests are fracturing into tribes, and a power couple consisting of a televangelist and the charismatic head of a popular personal improvement franchise/pyramid scheme are making a bid for absolute control, starting with a midnight raid that seizes all of the resort's food and medical supplies (and compromises the security team). Someone has to stand up and fight back, or at least find a way off the island. Will that someone be Dan Foster, or is he doomed to spend the end of the world as he's spent the rest of his life - failing?
REVIEW: Part social satire, part apocalyptic thriller, this is the kind of book that could easily fall flat on its face. Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend actually pulls off the balancing act it sets out to accomplish, creating quirky yet generally interesting characters and moving fast enough to glide over a few weak spots and logic holes while shining its spotlight on class warfare, social stratification, and other ways humans find to distract themselves from the bigger dangers threatening our world and species survival.
Dan isn't always the most likeable guy, but he is a fairly relatable one, at an age where society tells him he should be at his zenith yet feeling like he hasn't even tackled a molehill, let alone climbed a mountain. He takes out his frustration too often on other people, not in a violent way or even an intentional way, but tending to make judgements and sarcastic comments that cut off any potential to actually connect and relate. An exception is his girlfriend Mara, a woman who, as he says more than once, is always her: always compassionate, always acting to help people - even people she doesn't like, always thinking on how to do the best good, never dissembling or presenting a false front. Dan isn't even sure why someone like that would be interested in a guy like him, an insecurity that plays into more than one of his decisions: he becomes so fixated on proving that he's worthy of her love that he nearly destroys the part of himself that attracted her to him, so fixated on protecting her that he fails to realize she doesn't want or need his protecting, so determined that she, at least, will survive long enough to get back to her family that he almost sells out himself and everyone else at the Tizoc. He's not even quite sure himself what he's trying to become, chasing some nebulous, society-endorsed idea of a "real man" that he feels he has failed to embody; only later, after much disappointment, does he finally figure out who and what he needs to be, not just for Mara but so he can live with himself. He finds friends and a few enemies in the dark at Tizoc, including the gay couple next door, an older pair from New Jersey, a trigger-happy guard who seems all too eager for a chance to unleash his inner monster, an astronomer at an observatory on the island with a unique perspective on things, and more. Lillyanne Collins and her husband Pete quickly seize the opportunity presented by the apocalypse to become the presumptive rulers of the island, using a potent combination of charm, religion, gaslighting, social pressure, and strongarm tactics to smash down dissent among the less-affluent resort guests and preserve the power and luxury of the wealthy. Never mind that, without a sun, the rich are ultimately as doomed as the poor; so long as the poor die first and die miserably, the rich will go to their heavenly rewards happy. It's almost a reflex action, a last nerve twitch of a dying body, for them to take one last grab at preserving social inequality, one last kick to stomp down the masses. Dan inadvertently becomes the face of the resistance, despite his protest that he's no radical. Indeed, the first chance he has at shedding the role and possibly buying Mara safety, he reaches for it... but, still, something within him recoils at accepting this too-familiar status quo. Maybe Mara is right and there really is a better way... but how is he going to find it, let alone convince the people around him of it - and will they even have time with the temperature dropping and survival odds dimming?
There are plenty of places where Wassmer could've slipped in this story, but he manages to give the tale and the characters just a little more depth than one might expect, offering a little more insight and some genuine surprises along the way. The ultimate resolution had me waver on the rating a bit, but it plays into the ultimately satirical nature of the overall story; the human reactions might be all too plausible, but the setup was always supposed to be straight out of a B-grade thriller, and the ultimate explanation leans into that. All in all, considering that I had minimal expectations going into it (this was another impulse borrow via Libby, chosen primarily because its runtime would take me through most of a work day), I found myself pleasantly surprised.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Douglas Adams) - My Review
Beauty Queens (Libba Bray) - My Review
The Collapsing Empire (John Scalzi) - My Review
MJ Wassmer
Sourcebooks Landmark
Fiction, Humor/Literary Fiction/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Dan Foster's life hasn't gone nearly how he hoped. Pegged as an advanced student from an early age, he should've been a grand success. Instead, he's staring down his thirties from a barely tolerable job, with little but a barely tolerable future stretching ahead of him. The best thing in his life is his girlfriend Mara, so this couples vacation to the brand-new, all-inclusive Tizoc Resort on a private island in the Bahamas should've been a dream come true. Maybe he'll even work up the nerve to propose.
The sun exploding put a definite damper on the fun.
With communications cut off and the wifi down, there's no way to call for help... or even know if help is available. Tensions are rising, the resort guests are fracturing into tribes, and a power couple consisting of a televangelist and the charismatic head of a popular personal improvement franchise/pyramid scheme are making a bid for absolute control, starting with a midnight raid that seizes all of the resort's food and medical supplies (and compromises the security team). Someone has to stand up and fight back, or at least find a way off the island. Will that someone be Dan Foster, or is he doomed to spend the end of the world as he's spent the rest of his life - failing?
REVIEW: Part social satire, part apocalyptic thriller, this is the kind of book that could easily fall flat on its face. Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend actually pulls off the balancing act it sets out to accomplish, creating quirky yet generally interesting characters and moving fast enough to glide over a few weak spots and logic holes while shining its spotlight on class warfare, social stratification, and other ways humans find to distract themselves from the bigger dangers threatening our world and species survival.
Dan isn't always the most likeable guy, but he is a fairly relatable one, at an age where society tells him he should be at his zenith yet feeling like he hasn't even tackled a molehill, let alone climbed a mountain. He takes out his frustration too often on other people, not in a violent way or even an intentional way, but tending to make judgements and sarcastic comments that cut off any potential to actually connect and relate. An exception is his girlfriend Mara, a woman who, as he says more than once, is always her: always compassionate, always acting to help people - even people she doesn't like, always thinking on how to do the best good, never dissembling or presenting a false front. Dan isn't even sure why someone like that would be interested in a guy like him, an insecurity that plays into more than one of his decisions: he becomes so fixated on proving that he's worthy of her love that he nearly destroys the part of himself that attracted her to him, so fixated on protecting her that he fails to realize she doesn't want or need his protecting, so determined that she, at least, will survive long enough to get back to her family that he almost sells out himself and everyone else at the Tizoc. He's not even quite sure himself what he's trying to become, chasing some nebulous, society-endorsed idea of a "real man" that he feels he has failed to embody; only later, after much disappointment, does he finally figure out who and what he needs to be, not just for Mara but so he can live with himself. He finds friends and a few enemies in the dark at Tizoc, including the gay couple next door, an older pair from New Jersey, a trigger-happy guard who seems all too eager for a chance to unleash his inner monster, an astronomer at an observatory on the island with a unique perspective on things, and more. Lillyanne Collins and her husband Pete quickly seize the opportunity presented by the apocalypse to become the presumptive rulers of the island, using a potent combination of charm, religion, gaslighting, social pressure, and strongarm tactics to smash down dissent among the less-affluent resort guests and preserve the power and luxury of the wealthy. Never mind that, without a sun, the rich are ultimately as doomed as the poor; so long as the poor die first and die miserably, the rich will go to their heavenly rewards happy. It's almost a reflex action, a last nerve twitch of a dying body, for them to take one last grab at preserving social inequality, one last kick to stomp down the masses. Dan inadvertently becomes the face of the resistance, despite his protest that he's no radical. Indeed, the first chance he has at shedding the role and possibly buying Mara safety, he reaches for it... but, still, something within him recoils at accepting this too-familiar status quo. Maybe Mara is right and there really is a better way... but how is he going to find it, let alone convince the people around him of it - and will they even have time with the temperature dropping and survival odds dimming?
There are plenty of places where Wassmer could've slipped in this story, but he manages to give the tale and the characters just a little more depth than one might expect, offering a little more insight and some genuine surprises along the way. The ultimate resolution had me waver on the rating a bit, but it plays into the ultimately satirical nature of the overall story; the human reactions might be all too plausible, but the setup was always supposed to be straight out of a B-grade thriller, and the ultimate explanation leans into that. All in all, considering that I had minimal expectations going into it (this was another impulse borrow via Libby, chosen primarily because its runtime would take me through most of a work day), I found myself pleasantly surprised.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Douglas Adams) - My Review
Beauty Queens (Libba Bray) - My Review
The Collapsing Empire (John Scalzi) - My Review
Friday, May 12, 2023
Monster (Walter Dean Myers)
Monster
Walter Dean Myers
Amistad
Fiction, YA Crime/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Sixteen-year-old Steve knows just how he'd film his life if it were a movie. He tries to keep thinking of it that way, as a movie, because the reality - sitting in prison, on trial for felony murder, facing the very real possibility of life in jail or even the death penalty - is just too much to bear. The law says everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but even his own defense attorney seems to have doubts, and half the jury probably took one look at the Black kid at the defense table and made up their minds on the spot. As the trial unfolds, testimony and flashbacks fill in the story of how Steve found himself here, with his fate resting on the competence of a lawyer and the judgement of twelve strangers and a system that has sent so many other young Black men away.
REVIEW: As one might expect from the title alone, let alone the description, this is a harrowing and often bleak tale of a young future gone awry - not just in a single fateful moment, but in the many steps leading up to that moment, for all that Steve himself never touched a gun or pulled a trigger. Using the ongoing film script format to show his current life moving between the courtroom and prison and the past that led up to the incident in question, he may not be an entirely reliable narrator in a story where there are few absolute villains or heroes. Society itself has failed on some level, for this to be happening at all, but society itself is not on trial: Steve and a co-defendant are, for the robbery that turned into a murder. What emerges is a stark picture of the dehumanizing nature of the incarceration system, and the slender, imperfect promise of the justice system that decides guilt and punishment with a less than impartial hand. Guilty or not, Steve will never be the same boy he was before, indelibly marked by his experiences. Once in a while, the interrogations, and particularly the summations, in the trial room felt a little long, but overall it's a powerful and unflinching look at a part of modern society many would prefer not to examine.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Under an Outlaw Moon (Dietrich Kalteis) - My Review
Long Way Down (Jason Reynolds) - My Review
The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas) - My Review
Walter Dean Myers
Amistad
Fiction, YA Crime/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Sixteen-year-old Steve knows just how he'd film his life if it were a movie. He tries to keep thinking of it that way, as a movie, because the reality - sitting in prison, on trial for felony murder, facing the very real possibility of life in jail or even the death penalty - is just too much to bear. The law says everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but even his own defense attorney seems to have doubts, and half the jury probably took one look at the Black kid at the defense table and made up their minds on the spot. As the trial unfolds, testimony and flashbacks fill in the story of how Steve found himself here, with his fate resting on the competence of a lawyer and the judgement of twelve strangers and a system that has sent so many other young Black men away.
REVIEW: As one might expect from the title alone, let alone the description, this is a harrowing and often bleak tale of a young future gone awry - not just in a single fateful moment, but in the many steps leading up to that moment, for all that Steve himself never touched a gun or pulled a trigger. Using the ongoing film script format to show his current life moving between the courtroom and prison and the past that led up to the incident in question, he may not be an entirely reliable narrator in a story where there are few absolute villains or heroes. Society itself has failed on some level, for this to be happening at all, but society itself is not on trial: Steve and a co-defendant are, for the robbery that turned into a murder. What emerges is a stark picture of the dehumanizing nature of the incarceration system, and the slender, imperfect promise of the justice system that decides guilt and punishment with a less than impartial hand. Guilty or not, Steve will never be the same boy he was before, indelibly marked by his experiences. Once in a while, the interrogations, and particularly the summations, in the trial room felt a little long, but overall it's a powerful and unflinching look at a part of modern society many would prefer not to examine.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Under an Outlaw Moon (Dietrich Kalteis) - My Review
Long Way Down (Jason Reynolds) - My Review
The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas) - My Review
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
On My Honor (Marion Dane Bauer)
On My Honor
Marion Dane Bauer
Clarion Books
Fiction, MG Suspense
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Joel and Tony have been best friends since they were too little to remember, though sometimes Joel wonders why. Joel's a responsible kid, honest almost to a fault, with his own paper route even, while wild Tony never met a rule he didn't bend or outright break, or a dare he didn't take. His latest scheme - climbing a dangerous bluff in the park - is so outrageous that Joel's finally considering putting his foot down... but, of course, somehow Tony smiles and charms his way through, and Joel finds himself talked into it.
They never get to the park.
Along the way, Tony gets another one of his wild ideas: to stop and cool off in the waters of Vermilion Creek. Joel's dad tells him the water's filthy, plus it's dangerous; there's no way to tell in the cloudy river where the dropoffs or hidden rocks are. But, naturally, Tony doesn't care, and if Joel can't stop him, well, he might as well join him.
It was all great fun - until Tony disappeared...
REVIEW: This isn't a bad story, for what it is. Joel and Tony have the kind of relationship that may not make sense from a distance but is all too recognizable: despite their different personalities, or perhaps because of them, they're almost inseparable. Tony's wildness appeals to straight-laced Joel, and without Joel to coerce into things and tag along Tony wouldn't have nearly as much fun taking risks and pushing boundaries. Even from the start, there's a sense of foreboding about their day, as Joel struggles and fails to find the courage to say no, for once, to another Tony stunt that he's sure will end up with one or both of them in the hospital... or the cemetery. He'd much rather go swimming in the city pool than climb dangerous cliffs - which is part of why Joel finds himself, despite his misgivings and the warnings of his parents, following Tony into the murky red waters of Vermilion Creek. Joel's a strong swimmer, after all, so swimming doesn't seem nearly as dangerous as rock climbing... until a dare turns unexpectedly deadly, and Joel realizes he's all alone in the river. From that moment, Joel begins to spiral, starting out in denial, then determination to find help - someone else to make it so this bad thing that happened didn't happen - then to rationalization and panic. Joel's initial reluctance to face the truth moves from simple silence to outright lies (to himself and to others). Tension builds as evasions compound, his own twisted feelings threatening to turn into outright psychosis - but by then, coming clean may almost be worse, at least in Joel's increasingly-unbalanced mind. By the end, he's a different boy than he was at the start, having undergone one of the most trying rites of passage a young person can endure.
The tale stumbles now and again when Joel's decisions don't always ring true, even given his age and situation; more than once, I felt manipulated. The wrap-up feels a trifle abrupt, too, for all that it's surprisingly, starkly honest about the aftermath of the kind of tragedy he's experienced. The whole thing seems compressed, squeezed into a shortened time frame. All in all, though, it generally does what it sets out to do, and doesn't sugarcoat Joel's experiences (or his not-always-honorable impulses when faced with the unimaginable).
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wolf Rider (Avi) - My Review
The Canyon's Edge (Dusti Bowling) - My Review
Killing Mr. Griffin (Lois Duncan) - My Review
Marion Dane Bauer
Clarion Books
Fiction, MG Suspense
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Joel and Tony have been best friends since they were too little to remember, though sometimes Joel wonders why. Joel's a responsible kid, honest almost to a fault, with his own paper route even, while wild Tony never met a rule he didn't bend or outright break, or a dare he didn't take. His latest scheme - climbing a dangerous bluff in the park - is so outrageous that Joel's finally considering putting his foot down... but, of course, somehow Tony smiles and charms his way through, and Joel finds himself talked into it.
They never get to the park.
Along the way, Tony gets another one of his wild ideas: to stop and cool off in the waters of Vermilion Creek. Joel's dad tells him the water's filthy, plus it's dangerous; there's no way to tell in the cloudy river where the dropoffs or hidden rocks are. But, naturally, Tony doesn't care, and if Joel can't stop him, well, he might as well join him.
It was all great fun - until Tony disappeared...
REVIEW: This isn't a bad story, for what it is. Joel and Tony have the kind of relationship that may not make sense from a distance but is all too recognizable: despite their different personalities, or perhaps because of them, they're almost inseparable. Tony's wildness appeals to straight-laced Joel, and without Joel to coerce into things and tag along Tony wouldn't have nearly as much fun taking risks and pushing boundaries. Even from the start, there's a sense of foreboding about their day, as Joel struggles and fails to find the courage to say no, for once, to another Tony stunt that he's sure will end up with one or both of them in the hospital... or the cemetery. He'd much rather go swimming in the city pool than climb dangerous cliffs - which is part of why Joel finds himself, despite his misgivings and the warnings of his parents, following Tony into the murky red waters of Vermilion Creek. Joel's a strong swimmer, after all, so swimming doesn't seem nearly as dangerous as rock climbing... until a dare turns unexpectedly deadly, and Joel realizes he's all alone in the river. From that moment, Joel begins to spiral, starting out in denial, then determination to find help - someone else to make it so this bad thing that happened didn't happen - then to rationalization and panic. Joel's initial reluctance to face the truth moves from simple silence to outright lies (to himself and to others). Tension builds as evasions compound, his own twisted feelings threatening to turn into outright psychosis - but by then, coming clean may almost be worse, at least in Joel's increasingly-unbalanced mind. By the end, he's a different boy than he was at the start, having undergone one of the most trying rites of passage a young person can endure.
The tale stumbles now and again when Joel's decisions don't always ring true, even given his age and situation; more than once, I felt manipulated. The wrap-up feels a trifle abrupt, too, for all that it's surprisingly, starkly honest about the aftermath of the kind of tragedy he's experienced. The whole thing seems compressed, squeezed into a shortened time frame. All in all, though, it generally does what it sets out to do, and doesn't sugarcoat Joel's experiences (or his not-always-honorable impulses when faced with the unimaginable).
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wolf Rider (Avi) - My Review
The Canyon's Edge (Dusti Bowling) - My Review
Killing Mr. Griffin (Lois Duncan) - My Review
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Race for the Escape (Christopher Edge)
Race for the Escape
Christopher Edge
Delacorte Press
Fiction, MG Sci-Fi/Suspense
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Ami's been looking forward to visiting The Escape since forever, and can't believe her father finally brought her. It's supposed to be the ultimate "escape room" adventure: along with a group of strangers, she'll have to find clues and solve puzzles to get out of a series of locked rooms. Even getting into the building itself is a puzzle. She can hardly wait to get started! But the host's directions - "find the answer, save the world" - are strangely ambiguous... and the first room nearly incinerates them before she and her four companions, all children about her age, manage to figure it out. Maybe The Escape is something more than just a fun game to solve. Maybe to fail here is to die for real - and possibly doom the world.
REVIEW: Race for the Escape has a fairly straightforward premise - five strange children thrown together in a "game" that turns out to be somewhat more dangerous than advertised, with only their collective wits to get them out alive. It generally delivers on its promise of an action-filled adventure tale, playing out like a real life video game, only without save points or cheat codes or extra lives (as Ami finds out when a fellow companion fails to escape one puzzle room). Themes of extinction and environmental degradation start sneaking in to the puzzles, adding extra layers and urgency to the host's cryptic demand that the kids "find the answer" and "save the world". From the start, there's a surreal edge to things that makes one question just what is real and what is staged, and things get increasingly strange the further Ami ventures (and the more companions fall by the wayside), and making the disbelief harder to suspend. Then it reaches the ending, which I'd guessed before then, but the reveal still felt a bit like a bait-and-switch... and the Answer itself has a logic hole that the target audience might not see, but this obsolete child does. (I can't discuss specifics without spoilers, though I will say it both saddened and irked me.) For what it is, it's not bad, and there are some nicely-done sequences and suspense (when it works), but ultimately I felt let down by the story as a whole.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Willodeen (Katherine Applegate) - My Review
Only You Can Save Mankind (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Full Tilt (Neal Schusterman) - My Review
Christopher Edge
Delacorte Press
Fiction, MG Sci-Fi/Suspense
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Ami's been looking forward to visiting The Escape since forever, and can't believe her father finally brought her. It's supposed to be the ultimate "escape room" adventure: along with a group of strangers, she'll have to find clues and solve puzzles to get out of a series of locked rooms. Even getting into the building itself is a puzzle. She can hardly wait to get started! But the host's directions - "find the answer, save the world" - are strangely ambiguous... and the first room nearly incinerates them before she and her four companions, all children about her age, manage to figure it out. Maybe The Escape is something more than just a fun game to solve. Maybe to fail here is to die for real - and possibly doom the world.
REVIEW: Race for the Escape has a fairly straightforward premise - five strange children thrown together in a "game" that turns out to be somewhat more dangerous than advertised, with only their collective wits to get them out alive. It generally delivers on its promise of an action-filled adventure tale, playing out like a real life video game, only without save points or cheat codes or extra lives (as Ami finds out when a fellow companion fails to escape one puzzle room). Themes of extinction and environmental degradation start sneaking in to the puzzles, adding extra layers and urgency to the host's cryptic demand that the kids "find the answer" and "save the world". From the start, there's a surreal edge to things that makes one question just what is real and what is staged, and things get increasingly strange the further Ami ventures (and the more companions fall by the wayside), and making the disbelief harder to suspend. Then it reaches the ending, which I'd guessed before then, but the reveal still felt a bit like a bait-and-switch... and the Answer itself has a logic hole that the target audience might not see, but this obsolete child does. (I can't discuss specifics without spoilers, though I will say it both saddened and irked me.) For what it is, it's not bad, and there are some nicely-done sequences and suspense (when it works), but ultimately I felt let down by the story as a whole.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Willodeen (Katherine Applegate) - My Review
Only You Can Save Mankind (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Full Tilt (Neal Schusterman) - My Review
Friday, February 10, 2023
Killing Mr. Griffin (Lois Duncan)
Killing Mr. Griffin
Lois Duncan
Little, Brown Books
Fiction, YA Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: High school is one of the most stressful times of a young person's life, and one bad grade can derail a teen's future. In Mr. Griffin's English class, failure isn't just an option, it's almost a given. Nobody pushes students harder, with a zero-tolerance policy for everything from tardiness to late assignments (even with legitimate excuses, such as family emergencies). Nothing is ever good enough for him. He doesn't actually seem to like anyone or anything, and never bothers explaining what he actually wants or clarifying his demands. He's the kind of teacher many students wish would just drop dead.
Nobody actually expected him to die...
It was just supposed to be a prank, a way to rattle the stiff-necked man, maybe remind him that everyone - even he - has a breaking point. Five of Mr. Griffin's students - shy good girl Susan, basketball star Jeff, senior class president Daniel, head cheerleader Betsy, and troubled teen Mark - conspire to kidnap him after school and take him to a remote spot in the hills, make him beg for his freedom, so he can feel one ounce of the desperation and helplessness that kids feel in his classroom every day of the semester. But something goes terribly wrong. Now Mr. Griffin is dead. The more the teens try to cover up the truth, the more comes undone, a snowball that will destroy far more than a failed class ever could... and possibly claim even more lives.
REVIEW: Every high school has at least one teacher that nobody likes, the relentlessly strict one who seems utterly incapable of conceiving of students as human beings and never has a kind or even neutral word to offer, who walks a fine line between setting "high expectations" and outright tormenting and degrading their classes (and would step over that line more than once). Killing Mr. Griffin plays out the secret fantasy of more than one student of said teachers, showing how they're pushed to the brink even as it shows his (somewhat faulty) reasons for being so harsh that he often openly crosses into cruelty. It's one thing to set high standards, but it's another to completely ignore students who are flailing and asking for help, or to forget that teenagers are still kids, and also humans, and therefore perfection at all times and in all things is an unrealistic expectation. If you keep kicking kids while they're down, flaunting your power over their lives and futures and setting up "damned if you do, damned if you don't" as their only experience, something is bound to give.
What starts as a somewhat impulsive act spurred by frustration quickly snowballs out of control, little things going wrong at every step to accumulate into much bigger problems down the line. The five teens each have their own reasons for feeling justified in taking vengeance on the teacher, but once they find themselves with a dead body on their hands, momentum and peer pressure keep them bound together in an increasingly ugly and messy conspiracy, dragging even good girl Susan down to levels of deception she never imagined herself capable of. The story unfolds at a decent pace, establishing why each kid feels justified in seeking vengeance against the teacher, what they think they'll get out of it, and what they have to lose - and how everything goes sideways when the prank becomes more than just a simple kidnapping. This being from 1978, there are some tinges of sexism that date the story, particularly the assumed roles and capabilities of women (especially mothers), but the core high school experience hasn't changed much in the intervening years; it's still a pressure cooker of hormones and confusion and bewilderment over a future rushing headlong at kids who feel (and often are) entirely unprepared for adult expectations that are about to be thrust upon them. I also found a few elements of the finale a bit too neat, given how everything else was falling apart by the climax. Overall, though, this is a solid, decidedly dark tale of suspense and plans going terribly awry in the worst possible way.
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Wolf Rider (Avi) - My Review
Scat (Carl Hiaasen) - My Review
13 Minutes (Sarah Pinborough) - My Review
Lois Duncan
Little, Brown Books
Fiction, YA Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: High school is one of the most stressful times of a young person's life, and one bad grade can derail a teen's future. In Mr. Griffin's English class, failure isn't just an option, it's almost a given. Nobody pushes students harder, with a zero-tolerance policy for everything from tardiness to late assignments (even with legitimate excuses, such as family emergencies). Nothing is ever good enough for him. He doesn't actually seem to like anyone or anything, and never bothers explaining what he actually wants or clarifying his demands. He's the kind of teacher many students wish would just drop dead.
Nobody actually expected him to die...
It was just supposed to be a prank, a way to rattle the stiff-necked man, maybe remind him that everyone - even he - has a breaking point. Five of Mr. Griffin's students - shy good girl Susan, basketball star Jeff, senior class president Daniel, head cheerleader Betsy, and troubled teen Mark - conspire to kidnap him after school and take him to a remote spot in the hills, make him beg for his freedom, so he can feel one ounce of the desperation and helplessness that kids feel in his classroom every day of the semester. But something goes terribly wrong. Now Mr. Griffin is dead. The more the teens try to cover up the truth, the more comes undone, a snowball that will destroy far more than a failed class ever could... and possibly claim even more lives.
REVIEW: Every high school has at least one teacher that nobody likes, the relentlessly strict one who seems utterly incapable of conceiving of students as human beings and never has a kind or even neutral word to offer, who walks a fine line between setting "high expectations" and outright tormenting and degrading their classes (and would step over that line more than once). Killing Mr. Griffin plays out the secret fantasy of more than one student of said teachers, showing how they're pushed to the brink even as it shows his (somewhat faulty) reasons for being so harsh that he often openly crosses into cruelty. It's one thing to set high standards, but it's another to completely ignore students who are flailing and asking for help, or to forget that teenagers are still kids, and also humans, and therefore perfection at all times and in all things is an unrealistic expectation. If you keep kicking kids while they're down, flaunting your power over their lives and futures and setting up "damned if you do, damned if you don't" as their only experience, something is bound to give.
What starts as a somewhat impulsive act spurred by frustration quickly snowballs out of control, little things going wrong at every step to accumulate into much bigger problems down the line. The five teens each have their own reasons for feeling justified in taking vengeance on the teacher, but once they find themselves with a dead body on their hands, momentum and peer pressure keep them bound together in an increasingly ugly and messy conspiracy, dragging even good girl Susan down to levels of deception she never imagined herself capable of. The story unfolds at a decent pace, establishing why each kid feels justified in seeking vengeance against the teacher, what they think they'll get out of it, and what they have to lose - and how everything goes sideways when the prank becomes more than just a simple kidnapping. This being from 1978, there are some tinges of sexism that date the story, particularly the assumed roles and capabilities of women (especially mothers), but the core high school experience hasn't changed much in the intervening years; it's still a pressure cooker of hormones and confusion and bewilderment over a future rushing headlong at kids who feel (and often are) entirely unprepared for adult expectations that are about to be thrust upon them. I also found a few elements of the finale a bit too neat, given how everything else was falling apart by the climax. Overall, though, this is a solid, decidedly dark tale of suspense and plans going terribly awry in the worst possible way.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wolf Rider (Avi) - My Review
Scat (Carl Hiaasen) - My Review
13 Minutes (Sarah Pinborough) - My Review
Friday, April 15, 2022
The Mountain Between Us (Charles Martin)
The Mountain Between Us
Charles Martin
Crown
Fiction, Suspense
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Top surgeon Ben Payne was headed home from a medical conference. Journalist Ashley Knox is mere days away from her own wedding. When a snowstorm grounds them both, they take a chance on a small private plane beating the weather out of Salt Lake City... until the pilot suffers a heart attack mid-flight. Now Ben and Ashley are alone, injured, in countless miles of snow and raw wilderness - and nobody even knows they're missing, let alone where to look for them.
REVIEW: It looked like a decent concept (and I remember being intrigued by the previews when the movie came out), so I grabbed the audiobook. One one level, it delivers on its basic promises, serving up one traumatic plane crash, two somewhat damaged people who become significantly more damaged during said plane crash, and a daunting journey of survival against steep odds. Unfortunately, it does this by dropping its characters into the heart of a national cliche preserve, where masculine men can handle any situation and are incapable of articulating pain or emotions (and have suffered greatly because of it), fragile women are helpless in their own survival (Ashley is dropped by a busted femur and is mostly helpless through the journey save as incentive for Ben to push himself, all while she's pushing him to open up about his feelings; she's not the only woman in the plot to suffer from being a cliche, though further discussion ventures into spoiler territory), and apparently nobody has read Gary Paulsen because the doctor with minimal hunting experience decides it's a great idea to take on a moose with a compound bow he's not too familiar with. Some plot "twists" are blatantly telegraphed, then strung out long past the point any tension could be derived from them. There's also a dog who serves little plot purpose (though it does at least survive). Some of the survival situations are indeed harrowing, if occasionally repetitive, plus it starts to stretch credibility how they keep getting out of certain situations (or, rather, how Ben keeps getting them out of certain situations, because not only is he the only one with any mobility, he's also the only one with any sort of relevant experience; even with some mountaineering under his belt and some dusty scouting badges, there's some serious turbulence in the suspension of disbelief at some point - and, seriously, did Ashley have to be completely incapable of offering any input or possessing any basic survival knowledge, even if she's too injured to use them? Ben has to not only be the doctor but the wilderness expert and navigation whiz, while she just talks as her contribution to the team? How stereotypically "strong man saves weak woman" can you get, here?).
Along the way, as is typical for survival-based stories, the immediate external crisis serves as a mirror (or at least a useful time-out from regular life) for characters to reflect upon greater problems in their lives... though, again, Ben gets the majority of attention, here, as he dictates recordings to Rachel, the childhood sweetheart who became his wife and savior who became the source of a greater plot-driving trauma. Meanwhile Ashley... well, she has some generic pre-wedding jitters and questions about whether True Love, the sort that lasts forever, is even a thing worth holding out for, so once again she's second fiddle to Ben's pain and Ben's story. At some point, these issues really started to bother me, and by the somewhat drawn-out ending I was hard-pressed not to roll my eyes as long-ago-telegraphed revelations are breathlessly revealed and long-ago-drawn conclusions are finally, painstakingly reached. While there's some decent survival material and some not-bad personal chemistry and trauma, the whole just fell flat to me.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Breaking Wild (Diane Les Bequets) - My Review
I Am Still Alive (Kate Alice Marshall) - My Review
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Charles Martin
Crown
Fiction, Suspense
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Top surgeon Ben Payne was headed home from a medical conference. Journalist Ashley Knox is mere days away from her own wedding. When a snowstorm grounds them both, they take a chance on a small private plane beating the weather out of Salt Lake City... until the pilot suffers a heart attack mid-flight. Now Ben and Ashley are alone, injured, in countless miles of snow and raw wilderness - and nobody even knows they're missing, let alone where to look for them.
REVIEW: It looked like a decent concept (and I remember being intrigued by the previews when the movie came out), so I grabbed the audiobook. One one level, it delivers on its basic promises, serving up one traumatic plane crash, two somewhat damaged people who become significantly more damaged during said plane crash, and a daunting journey of survival against steep odds. Unfortunately, it does this by dropping its characters into the heart of a national cliche preserve, where masculine men can handle any situation and are incapable of articulating pain or emotions (and have suffered greatly because of it), fragile women are helpless in their own survival (Ashley is dropped by a busted femur and is mostly helpless through the journey save as incentive for Ben to push himself, all while she's pushing him to open up about his feelings; she's not the only woman in the plot to suffer from being a cliche, though further discussion ventures into spoiler territory), and apparently nobody has read Gary Paulsen because the doctor with minimal hunting experience decides it's a great idea to take on a moose with a compound bow he's not too familiar with. Some plot "twists" are blatantly telegraphed, then strung out long past the point any tension could be derived from them. There's also a dog who serves little plot purpose (though it does at least survive). Some of the survival situations are indeed harrowing, if occasionally repetitive, plus it starts to stretch credibility how they keep getting out of certain situations (or, rather, how Ben keeps getting them out of certain situations, because not only is he the only one with any mobility, he's also the only one with any sort of relevant experience; even with some mountaineering under his belt and some dusty scouting badges, there's some serious turbulence in the suspension of disbelief at some point - and, seriously, did Ashley have to be completely incapable of offering any input or possessing any basic survival knowledge, even if she's too injured to use them? Ben has to not only be the doctor but the wilderness expert and navigation whiz, while she just talks as her contribution to the team? How stereotypically "strong man saves weak woman" can you get, here?).
Along the way, as is typical for survival-based stories, the immediate external crisis serves as a mirror (or at least a useful time-out from regular life) for characters to reflect upon greater problems in their lives... though, again, Ben gets the majority of attention, here, as he dictates recordings to Rachel, the childhood sweetheart who became his wife and savior who became the source of a greater plot-driving trauma. Meanwhile Ashley... well, she has some generic pre-wedding jitters and questions about whether True Love, the sort that lasts forever, is even a thing worth holding out for, so once again she's second fiddle to Ben's pain and Ben's story. At some point, these issues really started to bother me, and by the somewhat drawn-out ending I was hard-pressed not to roll my eyes as long-ago-telegraphed revelations are breathlessly revealed and long-ago-drawn conclusions are finally, painstakingly reached. While there's some decent survival material and some not-bad personal chemistry and trauma, the whole just fell flat to me.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Breaking Wild (Diane Les Bequets) - My Review
I Am Still Alive (Kate Alice Marshall) - My Review
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
The Girl in the Well is Me (Karen Rivers)
The Girl in the Well is Me
Karen Rivers
Algonquin Young Readers
Fiction, MG Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Eleven-year-old Kammie had hoped that starting in a new school, albeit one in the geographic middle of nowhere, Texas, would be a chance to start over. She could use that, after everything went so very wrong with her life at her old home - after the police took her father away, after the trial, after the bank took everything that wasn't nailed down, after her best friend stopped talking to her even. But her plans to join in with the popular girls fell through... literally. During her initiation into their club (it was a real club, right, and not just a joke on the new kid?), she fell down an abandoned well and got stuck. As she waits for a rescue she's not even sure is coming, Kammie's mind drifts back over the events that brought her where she is, and what will have to change when - or if - she ever gets out of this cold, dark place...
REVIEW: Like other stories where people must face internal disasters by being stuck in external ones, The Girl in the Well is Me turns Kammie's greater life predicament into a metaphor made literal, having her stuck and sliding down a deep dark hole where nobody can reach her. Her tale unfolds in a stream of consciousness narrative, drifting into waking dreams that weave in fragments of stray thoughts and various incidents in her past. Along the way, she must come to terms with what has gone wrong, and how terribly complicated life can be, with no guarantees of happiness even when you're doing your best. She also learns that the deepest well in the world isn't far enough to fall to get away from herself, so she either needs to learn to live with who she is - the good and the bad - or... not. (There is some talk of self-harm and depression, and the catharsis of well-used curses.) The ending feels a little bit drawn out, but all in all it's a decent, occasionally trippy journey through a girl's mental and physical crisis.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Canyon's Edge (Dusti Bowling) - My Review
Adrift (Paul Griffin) - My Review
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Karen Rivers
Algonquin Young Readers
Fiction, MG Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Eleven-year-old Kammie had hoped that starting in a new school, albeit one in the geographic middle of nowhere, Texas, would be a chance to start over. She could use that, after everything went so very wrong with her life at her old home - after the police took her father away, after the trial, after the bank took everything that wasn't nailed down, after her best friend stopped talking to her even. But her plans to join in with the popular girls fell through... literally. During her initiation into their club (it was a real club, right, and not just a joke on the new kid?), she fell down an abandoned well and got stuck. As she waits for a rescue she's not even sure is coming, Kammie's mind drifts back over the events that brought her where she is, and what will have to change when - or if - she ever gets out of this cold, dark place...
REVIEW: Like other stories where people must face internal disasters by being stuck in external ones, The Girl in the Well is Me turns Kammie's greater life predicament into a metaphor made literal, having her stuck and sliding down a deep dark hole where nobody can reach her. Her tale unfolds in a stream of consciousness narrative, drifting into waking dreams that weave in fragments of stray thoughts and various incidents in her past. Along the way, she must come to terms with what has gone wrong, and how terribly complicated life can be, with no guarantees of happiness even when you're doing your best. She also learns that the deepest well in the world isn't far enough to fall to get away from herself, so she either needs to learn to live with who she is - the good and the bad - or... not. (There is some talk of self-harm and depression, and the catharsis of well-used curses.) The ending feels a little bit drawn out, but all in all it's a decent, occasionally trippy journey through a girl's mental and physical crisis.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Canyon's Edge (Dusti Bowling) - My Review
Adrift (Paul Griffin) - My Review
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Sunday, June 6, 2021
Nine Perfect Strangers (Liane Moriarty)
Nine Perfect Strangers
Liane Moriarty
Flatiron Books
Fiction, Suspense
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: A romance novelist whose career may be over, a divorce lawyer whose relationship may end over the matter of starting a family of his own, a single mother obsessed with weight, a past-prime footballer coming to grips with his mortality, a young couple whose lottery win has driven a wedge between them, and a family struggling to deal with a teen son's suicide. These nine strangers have all come to Tranquillum House, a health resort deep in the Australian countryside, for a ten-day program that promises complete transformation and renewal. The treatments are supposed to be revolutionary... and possibly on the fringe of legality and sanity, as the resort's owner teeters on the edge of a breakdown.
REVIEW: Yes, I do read books beyond my genre comfort zone. Usually, when I hit an iffy streak, it's a sign I need to branch out and shake up the reading (or listening, this being an audiobook) list. This promised to be a decent suspense novel from a popular author, with a great setup and lots of promise. Unfortunately, I think it was misbilled when it was pitched as "suspense". Or maybe my impression of the word has been skewed by my tendency to read more genre fiction than general novels. This was much more an exploration of characters than what I would consider a true suspense tale; for a very long time, there are only mild and vague hints of something being wrong (a key part of suspense, or so I figured, the idea that the normal has become abnormal, the expected about to be subverted in unsettling and potentially terrifying ways). Very little that I would consider truly thrilling or suspenseful happens until past the halfway point. Before then, things meander wordily though the various guests and staff members, setting up backstories and establishing (borderline overestablishing) their personalities and the problems that brought them to Tranquillum House, and what they hope to accomplish while there. The characters sometimes feel more like tropes, with toes poking over the cliche line, than rounded, grounded people, with some themes becoming repetitive across the ostensibly-different characters. The actual suspense portion of the story feels short-changed, and I found myself irked by what felt like bait-and-switch and deux ex machina resolutions at the climax, followed by a meandering tail end as the characters cope with the aftermath of what happened, and what they learned about themselves. The descriptions could be decent, some moments and scenes were very solid and effective, and the characters (tropes notwithstanding) had potential, as did the setup of an isolated health spa run by an unstable guru, but I mostly found myself frustrated that there wasn't more actual escalating suspense in what I'd been told was a suspense novel, seeing chance after chance to build up the tension or unsettle the characters pass by or be brushed off uneventfully. Maybe I would've been less disappointed had it just been billed as general fiction, but even then I think I'd have hoped for a little more tooth, because that's just the kind of reader I am.
You Might Also Enjoy:
And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie) - My Review
In An Instant (Suzanne Redfearn) - My Review
Rough Draft (Michael Robertson Jr) - My Review
Liane Moriarty
Flatiron Books
Fiction, Suspense
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: A romance novelist whose career may be over, a divorce lawyer whose relationship may end over the matter of starting a family of his own, a single mother obsessed with weight, a past-prime footballer coming to grips with his mortality, a young couple whose lottery win has driven a wedge between them, and a family struggling to deal with a teen son's suicide. These nine strangers have all come to Tranquillum House, a health resort deep in the Australian countryside, for a ten-day program that promises complete transformation and renewal. The treatments are supposed to be revolutionary... and possibly on the fringe of legality and sanity, as the resort's owner teeters on the edge of a breakdown.
REVIEW: Yes, I do read books beyond my genre comfort zone. Usually, when I hit an iffy streak, it's a sign I need to branch out and shake up the reading (or listening, this being an audiobook) list. This promised to be a decent suspense novel from a popular author, with a great setup and lots of promise. Unfortunately, I think it was misbilled when it was pitched as "suspense". Or maybe my impression of the word has been skewed by my tendency to read more genre fiction than general novels. This was much more an exploration of characters than what I would consider a true suspense tale; for a very long time, there are only mild and vague hints of something being wrong (a key part of suspense, or so I figured, the idea that the normal has become abnormal, the expected about to be subverted in unsettling and potentially terrifying ways). Very little that I would consider truly thrilling or suspenseful happens until past the halfway point. Before then, things meander wordily though the various guests and staff members, setting up backstories and establishing (borderline overestablishing) their personalities and the problems that brought them to Tranquillum House, and what they hope to accomplish while there. The characters sometimes feel more like tropes, with toes poking over the cliche line, than rounded, grounded people, with some themes becoming repetitive across the ostensibly-different characters. The actual suspense portion of the story feels short-changed, and I found myself irked by what felt like bait-and-switch and deux ex machina resolutions at the climax, followed by a meandering tail end as the characters cope with the aftermath of what happened, and what they learned about themselves. The descriptions could be decent, some moments and scenes were very solid and effective, and the characters (tropes notwithstanding) had potential, as did the setup of an isolated health spa run by an unstable guru, but I mostly found myself frustrated that there wasn't more actual escalating suspense in what I'd been told was a suspense novel, seeing chance after chance to build up the tension or unsettle the characters pass by or be brushed off uneventfully. Maybe I would've been less disappointed had it just been billed as general fiction, but even then I think I'd have hoped for a little more tooth, because that's just the kind of reader I am.
You Might Also Enjoy:
And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie) - My Review
In An Instant (Suzanne Redfearn) - My Review
Rough Draft (Michael Robertson Jr) - My Review
Saturday, February 15, 2020
I Am Still Alive (Kate Alice Marshall)
I Am Still Alive
Kate Alice Marshall
Penguin Books
Fiction, YA Mystery/Suspense
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: After the car accident that killed her mother, sixteen-year-old Jess Cooper struggled to recover, physically and mentally. Now she's being sent to the Alaskan wilderness to live with a father she barely remembers. She can hardly manage a paved sidewalk without her damaged leg giving out on her: how is she supposed to manage living in the deep woods, let alone get along with a man who hasn't bothered to send so much as a postcard for a decade? Despite his insistence that she'll grow to love the life as much as he does, she's determined to leave as soon as possible.
Then the men in the red plane come - and everything falls apart in gunfire and flames.
With her father dead, their cabin burned to the ground, and nobody even aware of where she is, Jess finds herself facing near-certain death. But she's grown used to pain and desperation... and she's not about to die when there's even a sliver of a chance to exact revenge.
REVIEW: This book is a conscious tribute to Gary Paulsen's classic survival tale Hatchet, with an older female protagonist and a vengeance angle. Jess starts out with both emotional and physical baggage; not only is she still scarred and damaged from the car crash, but she carries vast reserves of anger and abandonment issues. Her father is not a perfect man, and the fate that befalls him is at least partly due to his own poor judgement and decisions. Still, Jess is able to pull herself together, relying (like Brian in Hatchet) on scraps of memories, the world around her, and a growing gut-level intuition to claw survival from an unforgiving wilderness. Her education isn't without some mistakes, compounded by persistent complications from her bad leg and back; she is not miraculously cured by getting back to nature, nor do her mental scars vanish overnight. She also learns more about the father she hardly knew, and - by extension - aspects of her late beloved mother. Her parents loved her, but they were people in the end, ultimately as fallible as Jess herself. Numerous crises and setbacks arise, all with the ever-present threat of the return of the men who murdered her dad (and the question of what she'll do when given the chance at revenge), making for a fast-reading and intense tale. A few stumbles at the climax held the story back from a solid fourth star in the ratings. I can't get into specifics without spoilers, but one element in particular came close to dropping the story another half-star. Those issues aside, I Am Still Alive lives up to its promise of suspense and wilderness survival and a heroine who, though knocked down numerous times, somehow keeps finding the grit to climb back up.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Call of the Wild and White Fang (Jack London) - My Review
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
The 5th Wave (Rick Yancey) - My Review
Kate Alice Marshall
Penguin Books
Fiction, YA Mystery/Suspense
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: After the car accident that killed her mother, sixteen-year-old Jess Cooper struggled to recover, physically and mentally. Now she's being sent to the Alaskan wilderness to live with a father she barely remembers. She can hardly manage a paved sidewalk without her damaged leg giving out on her: how is she supposed to manage living in the deep woods, let alone get along with a man who hasn't bothered to send so much as a postcard for a decade? Despite his insistence that she'll grow to love the life as much as he does, she's determined to leave as soon as possible.
Then the men in the red plane come - and everything falls apart in gunfire and flames.
With her father dead, their cabin burned to the ground, and nobody even aware of where she is, Jess finds herself facing near-certain death. But she's grown used to pain and desperation... and she's not about to die when there's even a sliver of a chance to exact revenge.
REVIEW: This book is a conscious tribute to Gary Paulsen's classic survival tale Hatchet, with an older female protagonist and a vengeance angle. Jess starts out with both emotional and physical baggage; not only is she still scarred and damaged from the car crash, but she carries vast reserves of anger and abandonment issues. Her father is not a perfect man, and the fate that befalls him is at least partly due to his own poor judgement and decisions. Still, Jess is able to pull herself together, relying (like Brian in Hatchet) on scraps of memories, the world around her, and a growing gut-level intuition to claw survival from an unforgiving wilderness. Her education isn't without some mistakes, compounded by persistent complications from her bad leg and back; she is not miraculously cured by getting back to nature, nor do her mental scars vanish overnight. She also learns more about the father she hardly knew, and - by extension - aspects of her late beloved mother. Her parents loved her, but they were people in the end, ultimately as fallible as Jess herself. Numerous crises and setbacks arise, all with the ever-present threat of the return of the men who murdered her dad (and the question of what she'll do when given the chance at revenge), making for a fast-reading and intense tale. A few stumbles at the climax held the story back from a solid fourth star in the ratings. I can't get into specifics without spoilers, but one element in particular came close to dropping the story another half-star. Those issues aside, I Am Still Alive lives up to its promise of suspense and wilderness survival and a heroine who, though knocked down numerous times, somehow keeps finding the grit to climb back up.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Call of the Wild and White Fang (Jack London) - My Review
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
The 5th Wave (Rick Yancey) - My Review
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Incriminating Evidence (Rachel Grant)
Incriminating Evidence
The Evidence series, Book 4
Rachel Grant
Janus Publishing
Fiction, Romance/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Rootless archaeologist Isabel only ever had one point of security in her life, her brother Vincent... until he was murdered eleven months ago while working with the mercenary group Raptor, a death quickly covered up by the new CEO as an unfortunate training accident. So she's come to the small town of Tamarack, Alaska, ostensibly surveying timber land but actually sneaking onto Raptor territory (in spite of a restraining order) to seek evidence. This is how she stumbled across the wounded man - and into more trouble than she could've imagined.
Former Army Ranger Alec scarcely remembers the past day. He'd come to Alaska to see to his newly-acquired business, Raptor - only to wake up, wounded and disoriented, in the middle of nowhere with a strange redheaded woman. When he finds out who she is, he wonders if she's the one who landed him there to begin with: it's no secret that Isabel blames Raptor for her brother's death, and even got the compound shut down for two months, a black eye on both the company and his own ongoing political campaign back home in Maryland. If anyone has a motive to attack him, it's her. But he soon becomes convinced that there's more to her and her claims than he first realized. A rival mercenary group, an experimental infrasound weapon, a possible stalker, rogue agents in their midst, and more create a recipe for disaster - though the greatest risk may be to a pair of hearts who pick the worst time and place to fall in love.
REVIEW: I've only read one other Evidence novel, which I enjoyed enough to prompt me to pick up this one when the ebook was on sale. (I have no idea why Book 4 was offered at a discount and not others, but that's why I'm just a reader and not a publisher, I suppose.) Like many romance series, it's not so important to read them in linear order; aside from some character crossover and thematic resonance, this works as a standalone. It has many of the same elements I enjoyed about Concrete Evidence, the first book in the series: strong yet flawed main characters who balance rather than overwhelm each other, crackling sexual tension that progresses naturally, a suspense-filled plot that stands on solid research, and enough unpredictability to keep things interesting even if the relationship is a foregone conclusion. It reads fast and comes to a satisfying resolution, which is what I wanted when I picked it up. I expect I'll keep an eye peeled for the rest of the series, if they ever decide to show up on sale.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Fix-Up (Tawna Fenske) - My Review
Concrete Evidence (Rachel Grant) - My Review
Bound to the Bachelor (Sarah Mayberry) - My Review
The Evidence series, Book 4
Rachel Grant
Janus Publishing
Fiction, Romance/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Rootless archaeologist Isabel only ever had one point of security in her life, her brother Vincent... until he was murdered eleven months ago while working with the mercenary group Raptor, a death quickly covered up by the new CEO as an unfortunate training accident. So she's come to the small town of Tamarack, Alaska, ostensibly surveying timber land but actually sneaking onto Raptor territory (in spite of a restraining order) to seek evidence. This is how she stumbled across the wounded man - and into more trouble than she could've imagined.
Former Army Ranger Alec scarcely remembers the past day. He'd come to Alaska to see to his newly-acquired business, Raptor - only to wake up, wounded and disoriented, in the middle of nowhere with a strange redheaded woman. When he finds out who she is, he wonders if she's the one who landed him there to begin with: it's no secret that Isabel blames Raptor for her brother's death, and even got the compound shut down for two months, a black eye on both the company and his own ongoing political campaign back home in Maryland. If anyone has a motive to attack him, it's her. But he soon becomes convinced that there's more to her and her claims than he first realized. A rival mercenary group, an experimental infrasound weapon, a possible stalker, rogue agents in their midst, and more create a recipe for disaster - though the greatest risk may be to a pair of hearts who pick the worst time and place to fall in love.
REVIEW: I've only read one other Evidence novel, which I enjoyed enough to prompt me to pick up this one when the ebook was on sale. (I have no idea why Book 4 was offered at a discount and not others, but that's why I'm just a reader and not a publisher, I suppose.) Like many romance series, it's not so important to read them in linear order; aside from some character crossover and thematic resonance, this works as a standalone. It has many of the same elements I enjoyed about Concrete Evidence, the first book in the series: strong yet flawed main characters who balance rather than overwhelm each other, crackling sexual tension that progresses naturally, a suspense-filled plot that stands on solid research, and enough unpredictability to keep things interesting even if the relationship is a foregone conclusion. It reads fast and comes to a satisfying resolution, which is what I wanted when I picked it up. I expect I'll keep an eye peeled for the rest of the series, if they ever decide to show up on sale.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Fix-Up (Tawna Fenske) - My Review
Concrete Evidence (Rachel Grant) - My Review
Bound to the Bachelor (Sarah Mayberry) - My Review
Saturday, July 16, 2016
And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie)
And Then There Were None
Agatha Christie
HarperCollins
Fiction, Suspense
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: Mysterious invitations summon ten strangers to the mansion on Soldier Island, just off the Devon coast of England. Each were promised something different - a job, a vacation, a reunion with old friends - but what they find instead is a devious trap rigged by a madman, a trap intended to render long-overdue justice. Can they unite long enough to outwit their tormentor, or is the murderous mastermind among them from the start?
REVIEW: Agatha Christie is considered one of the all-time great writers of mystery and suspense, but I haven't tried reading her works until now. I'm used to classics being somewhat disappointing after the hype. Here, I was pleasantly surprised. Christie manages the tricky feat of establishing ten distinctive characters. They start out as name soup, but become their own people remarkably early on, each with their own burdens of guilt and their own way of handling the situation and the stress. Inner demons come out to play as impossible murders stack up, keeping the reader (well, me, at least) guessing the whole way through. It holds up very well today despite being 70-odd years old, and it reads fast. This story may not be the first of its kind (I haven't researched, and am not a huge mystery/suspense fan to know such things), but it set a very high standard for all subsequent tales of secretive strangers gathered in a remote location to be picked off. I found it quite enjoyable, and expect I'll be catching up on more of Christie's classics.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Study in Scarlet (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) - My Review
Rough Draft (Michael Robertson Jr) - My Review
Agatha Christie
HarperCollins
Fiction, Suspense
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: Mysterious invitations summon ten strangers to the mansion on Soldier Island, just off the Devon coast of England. Each were promised something different - a job, a vacation, a reunion with old friends - but what they find instead is a devious trap rigged by a madman, a trap intended to render long-overdue justice. Can they unite long enough to outwit their tormentor, or is the murderous mastermind among them from the start?
REVIEW: Agatha Christie is considered one of the all-time great writers of mystery and suspense, but I haven't tried reading her works until now. I'm used to classics being somewhat disappointing after the hype. Here, I was pleasantly surprised. Christie manages the tricky feat of establishing ten distinctive characters. They start out as name soup, but become their own people remarkably early on, each with their own burdens of guilt and their own way of handling the situation and the stress. Inner demons come out to play as impossible murders stack up, keeping the reader (well, me, at least) guessing the whole way through. It holds up very well today despite being 70-odd years old, and it reads fast. This story may not be the first of its kind (I haven't researched, and am not a huge mystery/suspense fan to know such things), but it set a very high standard for all subsequent tales of secretive strangers gathered in a remote location to be picked off. I found it quite enjoyable, and expect I'll be catching up on more of Christie's classics.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Study in Scarlet (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) - My Review
Rough Draft (Michael Robertson Jr) - My Review
Thursday, April 28, 2016
15 Minutes (Jill Cooper)
15 Minutes
(The Rewind Agency series, Book 1)
Jill Cooper
Jill Cooper, publisher
Fiction, YA Sci-Fi/Suspense
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Teenager Lara Crane would give anything to change one thing in her life: the day her mother, Miranda, was killed. The Rewind agency offers anyone the chance to revisit moments in their past for 15 minutes at a time, but only as a hologram, unable to touch or change anything... or so they claim. But Lara discovers she's different - and, against the advice of her boyfriend Rick, she heads back to take the bullet meant for her mom.
That's when everything goes wrong.
One moment, she's dying. The next, she's back in high school, and everything's different - even her. Instead of growing up in a run-down brownstone with her father John and neighbor Rick, she's living with her mother in a fancy home across town, along with two younger half-siblings and Mom's new husband, Jax. This isn't the life she bargained on, and it only gets worse when she finds out she's dating rich boy Donovan instead of Rick, and that John Crane's been convicted in the attempted murder of his own wife. When she learns what Miranda does for a living, illegal research in memory alteration at Rewind, and that she's somehow tied up with a powerful senator intent on changing the laws governing time travel, things go from merely bad to dangerous. The longer Lara lives this new life, the more her memories of the old one fade... and the slimmer her chances of stopping a threat not only to herself and her family, but to the whole world.
REVIEW: This starts with a nice concept and a compelling situation: a girl risking everything, even her own life, to save a loved one and get a chance at the family she always dreamed of, only to discover that she's lost more than she gained. Living a different life, she finds she's not the same person she was before the jump; her personality, her fashion tastes, even her emotions are all different. How can she call another man "Dad" when her real father is stuck in prison for a crime he didn't commit? How can the love she once felt for Rick be replaced by equally powerful feelings for Donovan, a boy she always considered a rich snob in her old life? Her admittedly selfish motivations didn't even net her a close bond with her workaholic mother, whom the alternate Lara came to resent and ultimately distrust... a mother who isn't as perfect as Lara imagined, even without her illegal research. This alone could've made for a compelling story - but then things go full-on suspense with the revelation of ties to the corrupt senator (Donovan's mother, no less), dangerous mobsters, and abuse of time travel and memory-revision technology, in a conspiracy that only Lara, with her peculiar talent for time travel, can bust open. For a while, the teen angst and time travel thriller plotlines fight each other, with Lara doing some rather careless things as she struggles to understand just what she's up against and whom she can trust. Most characters aren't as obvious as they first appear, though the ultimate baddies are cackling, hand-rubbing cliches. There's even an evil twin trope. The story feels crowded at this point, and the further things go, the more convoluted and hard to swallow the plot becomes. At some point, it just collapses under its own weight, especially as time travel and false memories come further into play. At the end, instead of a conclusion, I found a (telegraphed) "twist" that was supposed to lure me into the next book. Despite the early promise and some interesting examination of how much of our core selves depend on our memories and experiences, I just plain lost interest through all the forced twists; to have it all invalidated by a non-ending only reaffirmed my decision not to follow this series further.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Found (Margaret Peterson Haddix) - My Review
Forbidden Mind (Karpov Kinrade) - My Review
(The Rewind Agency series, Book 1)
Jill Cooper
Jill Cooper, publisher
Fiction, YA Sci-Fi/Suspense
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Teenager Lara Crane would give anything to change one thing in her life: the day her mother, Miranda, was killed. The Rewind agency offers anyone the chance to revisit moments in their past for 15 minutes at a time, but only as a hologram, unable to touch or change anything... or so they claim. But Lara discovers she's different - and, against the advice of her boyfriend Rick, she heads back to take the bullet meant for her mom.
That's when everything goes wrong.
One moment, she's dying. The next, she's back in high school, and everything's different - even her. Instead of growing up in a run-down brownstone with her father John and neighbor Rick, she's living with her mother in a fancy home across town, along with two younger half-siblings and Mom's new husband, Jax. This isn't the life she bargained on, and it only gets worse when she finds out she's dating rich boy Donovan instead of Rick, and that John Crane's been convicted in the attempted murder of his own wife. When she learns what Miranda does for a living, illegal research in memory alteration at Rewind, and that she's somehow tied up with a powerful senator intent on changing the laws governing time travel, things go from merely bad to dangerous. The longer Lara lives this new life, the more her memories of the old one fade... and the slimmer her chances of stopping a threat not only to herself and her family, but to the whole world.
REVIEW: This starts with a nice concept and a compelling situation: a girl risking everything, even her own life, to save a loved one and get a chance at the family she always dreamed of, only to discover that she's lost more than she gained. Living a different life, she finds she's not the same person she was before the jump; her personality, her fashion tastes, even her emotions are all different. How can she call another man "Dad" when her real father is stuck in prison for a crime he didn't commit? How can the love she once felt for Rick be replaced by equally powerful feelings for Donovan, a boy she always considered a rich snob in her old life? Her admittedly selfish motivations didn't even net her a close bond with her workaholic mother, whom the alternate Lara came to resent and ultimately distrust... a mother who isn't as perfect as Lara imagined, even without her illegal research. This alone could've made for a compelling story - but then things go full-on suspense with the revelation of ties to the corrupt senator (Donovan's mother, no less), dangerous mobsters, and abuse of time travel and memory-revision technology, in a conspiracy that only Lara, with her peculiar talent for time travel, can bust open. For a while, the teen angst and time travel thriller plotlines fight each other, with Lara doing some rather careless things as she struggles to understand just what she's up against and whom she can trust. Most characters aren't as obvious as they first appear, though the ultimate baddies are cackling, hand-rubbing cliches. There's even an evil twin trope. The story feels crowded at this point, and the further things go, the more convoluted and hard to swallow the plot becomes. At some point, it just collapses under its own weight, especially as time travel and false memories come further into play. At the end, instead of a conclusion, I found a (telegraphed) "twist" that was supposed to lure me into the next book. Despite the early promise and some interesting examination of how much of our core selves depend on our memories and experiences, I just plain lost interest through all the forced twists; to have it all invalidated by a non-ending only reaffirmed my decision not to follow this series further.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Found (Margaret Peterson Haddix) - My Review
Forbidden Mind (Karpov Kinrade) - My Review
Monday, October 6, 2014
Evidence of Trust (Stacey Joy Netzel)
Evidence of Trust
(The Colorado Trust series, Book 1)
Stacey Joy Netzel
Stacey Joy Netzel, publisher
Fiction, Romance/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Brittany Lucas came back to the Highlands ranch in Colorado to clear her head and heal her heart. She thought she'd finish her degree and join her father's Chicago firm with Daniel by her side... until Daniel cheated on her, and her father decided he'd rather keep a promising protege than side with his own heartbroken flesh and blood. She feels more at ease in the mountains, working summers as a ranch hand and even discovering a flair for training horses, but it seems she's doomed to return to city life and city stresses after the season's over, to make good on that degree. For now, though, she means to enjoy this last summer... at least, that was the plan, before a suspicious stranger turns up, making her question everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and what she truly wants.
Ranger Joel Morgan rarely sleeps in the same bed for more than a few months at a time, traveling from wilderness to wilderness attempting to uphold the law beyond the reach of civilization. It's not so bad; burned first by his mother and, later, by the love of his life, it's not like he's looking to set down roots, and the few relationships he does indulge in have a built-in escape clause with his job. A poacher stalking the Rocky Mountain National Park brings him to Colorado - and right to the camp of the most stubborn, irritating, and beautiful woman he's met. If he didn't know better than to trust anyone, a girl like Brittany could steal his heart.
As Brittany and Joel fight a powerful attraction, the poacher grows more brazen, moving beyond trophies to pure thrill kills. Such a monster is only a heartbeat away from setting their sights on two-legged prey... and they may have a very personal connection to the Highlands ranch.
REVIEW: This story hits all the right notes for a romantic suspense title: two scarred characters, an unwelcome instant attraction that challenges their personal barriers, and an ongoing threat just strong enough to propel the story forward between bouts of friction. Brittany's almost exasperatingly stubborn at times, but she has a decent excuse, and she doesn't spend her time pining over how she can't commit or how much danger she might be in. Joel suspects everyone he doesn't know, which presents a problem when he's perpetually the stranger in any given town, but he eventually (and inevitably) warms up when his heart simply cannot be ignored any longer. The core relationship takes its time to build despite the requisite lust-at-first-sight sparks, each encounter ending in ambiguity or outright disaster as their insecurities trip them up. They seem fairly evenly matched in their flaws and strengths, not to mention their ability to deny themselves happiness. Meanwhile, the poacher stalks the periphery of the plot, one of a group of side characters who were mostly a tangle of names to me; there seemed to be too many ranch hands and rangers, with too few distinct personality traits or roles to keep them straight in my head. But, then, this book is primarily a romance with a side of suspense, not the other way around, making side characters intrinsically less important. Sometimes the teasing and the self-flagellation of the leads grows thick, but overall Evidence of Trust delivers on its promises.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Concrete Evidence (Rachel Grant) - My Review
Burned (Amber Kallyn) - My Review
Surface Tension (Christine Kling) - My Review
(The Colorado Trust series, Book 1)
Stacey Joy Netzel
Stacey Joy Netzel, publisher
Fiction, Romance/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Brittany Lucas came back to the Highlands ranch in Colorado to clear her head and heal her heart. She thought she'd finish her degree and join her father's Chicago firm with Daniel by her side... until Daniel cheated on her, and her father decided he'd rather keep a promising protege than side with his own heartbroken flesh and blood. She feels more at ease in the mountains, working summers as a ranch hand and even discovering a flair for training horses, but it seems she's doomed to return to city life and city stresses after the season's over, to make good on that degree. For now, though, she means to enjoy this last summer... at least, that was the plan, before a suspicious stranger turns up, making her question everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and what she truly wants.
Ranger Joel Morgan rarely sleeps in the same bed for more than a few months at a time, traveling from wilderness to wilderness attempting to uphold the law beyond the reach of civilization. It's not so bad; burned first by his mother and, later, by the love of his life, it's not like he's looking to set down roots, and the few relationships he does indulge in have a built-in escape clause with his job. A poacher stalking the Rocky Mountain National Park brings him to Colorado - and right to the camp of the most stubborn, irritating, and beautiful woman he's met. If he didn't know better than to trust anyone, a girl like Brittany could steal his heart.
As Brittany and Joel fight a powerful attraction, the poacher grows more brazen, moving beyond trophies to pure thrill kills. Such a monster is only a heartbeat away from setting their sights on two-legged prey... and they may have a very personal connection to the Highlands ranch.
REVIEW: This story hits all the right notes for a romantic suspense title: two scarred characters, an unwelcome instant attraction that challenges their personal barriers, and an ongoing threat just strong enough to propel the story forward between bouts of friction. Brittany's almost exasperatingly stubborn at times, but she has a decent excuse, and she doesn't spend her time pining over how she can't commit or how much danger she might be in. Joel suspects everyone he doesn't know, which presents a problem when he's perpetually the stranger in any given town, but he eventually (and inevitably) warms up when his heart simply cannot be ignored any longer. The core relationship takes its time to build despite the requisite lust-at-first-sight sparks, each encounter ending in ambiguity or outright disaster as their insecurities trip them up. They seem fairly evenly matched in their flaws and strengths, not to mention their ability to deny themselves happiness. Meanwhile, the poacher stalks the periphery of the plot, one of a group of side characters who were mostly a tangle of names to me; there seemed to be too many ranch hands and rangers, with too few distinct personality traits or roles to keep them straight in my head. But, then, this book is primarily a romance with a side of suspense, not the other way around, making side characters intrinsically less important. Sometimes the teasing and the self-flagellation of the leads grows thick, but overall Evidence of Trust delivers on its promises.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Concrete Evidence (Rachel Grant) - My Review
Burned (Amber Kallyn) - My Review
Surface Tension (Christine Kling) - My Review
Monday, July 14, 2014
Concrete Evidence (Rachel Grant)
Concrete Evidence
(The Evidence series, Book 1)
Rachel Grant
Janus Publishing
Fiction, Romance/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A year ago, trusting the wrong man ruined Erica Kesling's life. An underwater archaeologist desperate for money, devastated when her own mother stole her identity and racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, she foolishly signed on with the treasure hunter Jake Novak... and wound up blackballed on the West Coast for his artifact smuggling venture. Fortunately, the rumors haven't spread as far as the East Coast giant Talon & Drake - and it's here that she may finally have a chance to bring down Jake and clear her own name. Even better, she might bring down some of Jake's customers with him, in addition to doing important work for Talon's Menanichoch tribe. At least, that was the plan, before she got saddled with the world's laziest - and sexiest - intern, Lee Scott.
Lee's ties to the Talon family go way back. When Joseph Talon, Jr. suspected someone of using the company to smuggle artifacts out of war-torn Iraq, he called in a marker and sent Lee in to investigate, posing as a twenty-something playboy slacker. The name Erica Kesling is at the top of his suspect list, but the rot runs deep, and it's Lee's job to quietly root it out before the senior Joe Talon announces his run for presidency. A tall order, but nothing Lee can't handle, if he keeps his cool. The problem is, the moment he meets Erica, the job turns red hot.
Brought together by lies, bound by an unexpected and undeniable passion, how much betrayal can two hearts withstand?
REVIEW: This title promises danger, deceit, and sizzling passion, and it delivers in full. Erica and Lee get caught up in an intricate dance of half-truths, each unknowingly sharing a common goal as they try to ignore the sparks that fly whenever they're in the same room. Though both are wounded souls, they can and do stand on their own two feet, instead of the old idea of a fainting flower waiting to be swept up by a savior who solves all their problems. Most everyone in the cast turns out to have a hidden agenda, playing out in a tautly-written plot incorporating smuggling, money laundering, Native American history (and our country's shameful efforts to eradicate whole cultures), archaeological investigations, war crimes, and murder... not to mention bucketloads of sexual tension. Everything ties together in a thrill-ride of an ending. I enjoyed it more than I expected to, and wouldn't mind reading another title or two in the series, time and budget willing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Scoundrel for Hire (Adrienne deWolfe) - My Review
Surface Tension (Christine Kling) - My Review
Time Treasure (Sheila Raye) - My Review
(The Evidence series, Book 1)
Rachel Grant
Janus Publishing
Fiction, Romance/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A year ago, trusting the wrong man ruined Erica Kesling's life. An underwater archaeologist desperate for money, devastated when her own mother stole her identity and racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, she foolishly signed on with the treasure hunter Jake Novak... and wound up blackballed on the West Coast for his artifact smuggling venture. Fortunately, the rumors haven't spread as far as the East Coast giant Talon & Drake - and it's here that she may finally have a chance to bring down Jake and clear her own name. Even better, she might bring down some of Jake's customers with him, in addition to doing important work for Talon's Menanichoch tribe. At least, that was the plan, before she got saddled with the world's laziest - and sexiest - intern, Lee Scott.
Lee's ties to the Talon family go way back. When Joseph Talon, Jr. suspected someone of using the company to smuggle artifacts out of war-torn Iraq, he called in a marker and sent Lee in to investigate, posing as a twenty-something playboy slacker. The name Erica Kesling is at the top of his suspect list, but the rot runs deep, and it's Lee's job to quietly root it out before the senior Joe Talon announces his run for presidency. A tall order, but nothing Lee can't handle, if he keeps his cool. The problem is, the moment he meets Erica, the job turns red hot.
Brought together by lies, bound by an unexpected and undeniable passion, how much betrayal can two hearts withstand?
REVIEW: This title promises danger, deceit, and sizzling passion, and it delivers in full. Erica and Lee get caught up in an intricate dance of half-truths, each unknowingly sharing a common goal as they try to ignore the sparks that fly whenever they're in the same room. Though both are wounded souls, they can and do stand on their own two feet, instead of the old idea of a fainting flower waiting to be swept up by a savior who solves all their problems. Most everyone in the cast turns out to have a hidden agenda, playing out in a tautly-written plot incorporating smuggling, money laundering, Native American history (and our country's shameful efforts to eradicate whole cultures), archaeological investigations, war crimes, and murder... not to mention bucketloads of sexual tension. Everything ties together in a thrill-ride of an ending. I enjoyed it more than I expected to, and wouldn't mind reading another title or two in the series, time and budget willing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Scoundrel for Hire (Adrienne deWolfe) - My Review
Surface Tension (Christine Kling) - My Review
Time Treasure (Sheila Raye) - My Review
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Surface Tension (Christine Kling)
Surface Tension
(The Seychelle Sullivan Suspense series, Book 1)
Christine Kling
Ballantine Books
Fiction, Mystery/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Seychelle Sullivan grew up on the waterways of South Florida. Now nearly thirty, she runs a salvage operation with her late father's custom boat, struggling to keep her dream and her independence alive. When the distress call came from the luxury yacht, the Top Ten, Seychelle was just thinking of the salvage fee... and, yes, the fact that her ex-boyfriend Neal was the skipper, but she'd been over him for months. Then she finds the drifting yacht... and the body.
With a young woman dead and Neal vanished, save a pool of his blood, the cops focus on Seychelle. But how can she have killed a man who may not be dead? Even as she struggles to deal with being a prime suspect, her world takes another blow when her brother suddenly wants out of his part of the family business, demanding she sell the boat or buy him out with money he knows she doesn't have. Now she needs that salvage fee more than ever. But the Top Ten's owners seem every bit as elusive as her possibly-deceased ex-boyfriend. The more she investigates, the more trouble she finds - for herself and everyone around her.
REVIEW: As one might expect from a suspense title, the story starts quickly. Seychelle may not always be the brightest investigator, but she's dogged in her pursuit of the truth, even as she worries about how she seems to be endangering her friends. She does most of her investigating on her own; her friends provide mostly moral support and off-screen research. Along the way, her own character flaws come to light, revealed by the stress of the situation as matters quickly spiral out of her control. South Florida comes alive almost as a character itself, a patchwork, changing world of everglades and canals, old kitch and new money. The whole thing builds to a tense climax with a decent payoff. I came close to shaving it a half-star for some wavering on Seychelle's part - knowing there's danger about and nobody can be trusted, she nevertheless lets her libido cloud her judgement - but overall I was satisfied with the story. I don't know if I'll follow Seychelle's further adventures, but this was a decent, fairly fast read on its own.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Seeing Eye (Jack Ellis) - My Review
Chomp (Carl Hiaasen) - My Review
Time Treasure (Sheila Raye) - My Review
(The Seychelle Sullivan Suspense series, Book 1)
Christine Kling
Ballantine Books
Fiction, Mystery/Suspense
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Seychelle Sullivan grew up on the waterways of South Florida. Now nearly thirty, she runs a salvage operation with her late father's custom boat, struggling to keep her dream and her independence alive. When the distress call came from the luxury yacht, the Top Ten, Seychelle was just thinking of the salvage fee... and, yes, the fact that her ex-boyfriend Neal was the skipper, but she'd been over him for months. Then she finds the drifting yacht... and the body.
With a young woman dead and Neal vanished, save a pool of his blood, the cops focus on Seychelle. But how can she have killed a man who may not be dead? Even as she struggles to deal with being a prime suspect, her world takes another blow when her brother suddenly wants out of his part of the family business, demanding she sell the boat or buy him out with money he knows she doesn't have. Now she needs that salvage fee more than ever. But the Top Ten's owners seem every bit as elusive as her possibly-deceased ex-boyfriend. The more she investigates, the more trouble she finds - for herself and everyone around her.
REVIEW: As one might expect from a suspense title, the story starts quickly. Seychelle may not always be the brightest investigator, but she's dogged in her pursuit of the truth, even as she worries about how she seems to be endangering her friends. She does most of her investigating on her own; her friends provide mostly moral support and off-screen research. Along the way, her own character flaws come to light, revealed by the stress of the situation as matters quickly spiral out of her control. South Florida comes alive almost as a character itself, a patchwork, changing world of everglades and canals, old kitch and new money. The whole thing builds to a tense climax with a decent payoff. I came close to shaving it a half-star for some wavering on Seychelle's part - knowing there's danger about and nobody can be trusted, she nevertheless lets her libido cloud her judgement - but overall I was satisfied with the story. I don't know if I'll follow Seychelle's further adventures, but this was a decent, fairly fast read on its own.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Seeing Eye (Jack Ellis) - My Review
Chomp (Carl Hiaasen) - My Review
Time Treasure (Sheila Raye) - My Review
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