Coldwater Revenge

Coldwater Revenge by James A. Ross

Book Reviewed by Dianne Woodman

Coldwater Revenge takes place in 2002 with the setting in a lakefront community along the Canadian border. Tom Morgan, a high-powered New York lawyer, has taken a break from his job to spend time with his family. He is at a crossroads in his life and trying to choose the path he wants to follow. Shortly after his arrival in the small town of Coldwater, the body of a local man is discovered in the lake. Sheriff Joe Morgan, Tom’s younger brother, recently lost his staff and is the sole police officer in the town. Joe enlists Tom’s help in what turns out to be a high-profile murder case. During a meeting at Tom’s law firm, he finds out that a case from years ago in which he was only peripherally involved could cost him not only his job but also jail time. Time is critical for proving his innocence, but Tom refuses to leave Joe without support. Purchase Here.

When Joe becomes critically ill due to his exposure to a deadly toxin, Tom takes over the investigation, and his theories and probing questions put him in the uncomfortable position of questioning the likelihood of whether his brother or Susan Pearce, the sister of the victim, could be involved in the complicated case in which a bio-research company is also entangled. Career choices along with personal and family relationships all point toward Joe’s and/or Susan’s possible guilt. While working on the case, Tom not only is dealing with inner turmoil, possible career implosion, family differences, and his feelings toward Susan, his ex-girlfriend, but he also winds up in precarious situations that lead to life threatening danger. Will Tom escape perilous predicaments and identify the killer? Is there a potential bio-terrorist plan afoot and can it be stopped? Will Joe’s body succumb to the poison?

James A. Ross has put together a disparate group of compelling characters, each with their own agenda, who share a connection with one another that include positive and/or negative relationships. Readers gain insight into the motivations behind characters’ behaviors and reactions. The story is true-to-life in painting a picture of how a small-town sheriff skirts the edge when it comes to following the letter of the law by allowing some illegal activities to go unpunished and the subsequent fallout. Ross does a terrific job in the use of imagery and figurative language to bring the characters and storyline alive and make for a richer reading experience.

Ross draws readers in with a terrific opening line and holds them spellbound while reading this spine-tingling and suspense-filled page turner. It is a roller coaster ride for readers as they are shocked, mesmerized, and fascinated all at the same time. This riveting story includes lies and betrayal, violence with intent to maim or kill, alleged clergy misconduct, ups and downs of family relationships, secret oral language, suspected bioterrorism, moral and ethical issues, underhanded dealings, personal dilemmas, and a small amount of swearing. Coldwater Revenge is most definitely a top shelf-worthy read and a great debut of the Coldwater Mystery Series. I look forward to the release of Coldwater Confession, the second book in the series.

Princess Reigns

Princess Reigns by Roger Williams

Book Reviewed by Timea Barabas

Princess Reigns is a story that puts all of the seven deadly sins on display. Ava Edwards (aka Princess Ava) is a young, ambitious minister from the city of Del Toray. Her ambitions, however, do not align with any spiritual path of spreading God’s love. Instead, they are ambitions for money and power. Ava does not believe the messages that she preaches. Instead, she sees her place in the church as a stepping stone to greater things. Purchase Here.

Ava is guilty of many of the seven deadly sins herself. Her wrath is on display immediately, as the book opens with Ava chasing an employee around the room, attempting to attack him. Her lust takes the form of sleeping with her ex-con church employee, Joe, behind the back of her husband, Henry. Her greed is visible in her desire to get a hold of her stepdaughter’s trust fund. Her envy is clear in her hatred for Reverend Holt, the leader of the church down the road. Her pride is shown in her self-praise for her looks and intellect.

The only two deadly sins that Ava does not display are gluttony and sloth. In fact, with the level of work she puts into her evil plans, sloth is the last sin of which Ava could possibly be accused. While she might not be guilty of these two sins, her ten-year-old son Jimmy certainly is. Mother and child are not the only villains of this story. Ava’s lover Joe and his brother Robbie certainly carry their fair share of wicked intent. Both brothers can check off several of the deadly sins themselves. Even our protagonist, private detective and stepdaughter of Ava, Tori Edwards, is guilty of wrath. She is constantly at odds with Ava over the way Ava treats Tori’s little sister, Susy.

In Princess Reigns, Roger Williams once again taps into the darkness to bring us a story with twisted characters looking to prey upon the innocent for their own gain. We see the depths that the worst among us are willing to stoop in order to gain money and power. We also see the lengths that the best of us will go to for the ones we love.

This book is another battle between the light and the dark from Williams. Few characters can be said to occupy any of the gray space in between. While Ava may pretend to be a member of the light, her secret soul is pitch black. The characters that Williams creates are either horrifying or admirable, and choosing sides is easy.

The Ray Bright Caper

The Ray Bright Caper by B.B. Teeter

Reviewed by Daniel Ryan Johnson

If you are looking to start a new modern detective series with a feminist twist, consider “The RayBright Caper” the debut novel of the “Kirby Mack Series.” The story revolves around the classic tale of thieves trying to pull off a heist and an underdog investigator trying to catch them. However, in B. B. Teeter’s version, this involves a secret military device as a prized possession, an unlikely band of two misfits, and an underappreciated female private security investigator. Purchase Here.

Harvey, the man who came up with the grand plan, recruits an unlikely associate, a tech-genius kid named Mark. The start of their professional relationship is a particularly enchanting part of the novel. The tension between the two is palpable, as they each try to size up the other without giving too much away about themselves. Nevertheless, to obtain trust, one must first offer trust.

The two make a great team by complementing each other nicely. There are plenty of moments where they show complete trust in one another. What is more, they seem fully dedicated to the plan. However, throughout the pages, there is a lingering tension, which erupts occasionally.

As their carefully thought-out plan is set in motion, so is Kirby Mack, who is playing for the other side. She is hired by the targeted RayBright Labs, a San Diego Defense contractor. The founders of the company catch on to the fact that something is about to happen but that something seems to elude them.
Kirby proves to be far more resourceful and skilled than her employers thought. Her intelligence and deep knowledge of human psychology enable her to see things in a different light and generally obtain what she wants. In the end, it might even turn out that she was too good for the job.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the novel is its triple narrative line. Chapters are alternatively dedicated to each of the three main characters, Harvey, Mark, and Kirby. This allows the reader a truly unique perspective on the unfolding events. It is truly fascinating to compare a singular event from multiple viewpoints as it brings into focus different details (which go unnoticed by the other participants). Therefore, the reader somehow rises above the events and has a wider view over and deeper understanding of the action.

“The RayBright Caper” promises to be a great read for adults who wish to go on a thrilling adventure. B. B. Teeter is masterful at giving the suspense momentum and also at keeping events unpredictable. These are just a few of the traits that make the book particularly hard to put down.

Horde

Horde (Zombie Apocalypse: The Chad : Halverson Book 6) by Bryan Cassidy

Book Reviewed by Daniel Ryan Johnson

Horde is clearly a product of the times. It’s a zombie apocalypse book written with a heavy influence from the COVID-19 pandemic. With people worried about things like face masks, quarantining, and social distancing, the zombie apocalypse sounds like an event with which we are all too familiar. Purchase Here.

Bryan Cassiday takes on the oft overplayed zombie apocalypse novel. However, he mixes in current events to give the zombie tale a unique twist. He combines everything that this last year brought us. Most of the novel takes place in an encampment in Arizona, where mistrust runs high. The camp is filled with confusion regarding the nature of the plague. There is much debate on whether the zombie plague can be transmitted through spores released through the breath of zombies and if there are symptomless human carriers of the disease.

Horde does not limit its scope of yearly commentary to pandemic-related affairs, however. There is also a president who seems to be losing his grip on reality as he declares himself president for life and begins to nuke cities across the United States in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus. Not to mention, an attempted overthrow of the government by a group of armed vigilantes.

The anger and confusion of people trapped in what feels like a neverending nightmare is very relatable for modern-day readers. Chaos rules in the world created by Cassiday. He shines light upon all of the senseless arguments and endless fighting that occurs in our world with nobody willing to really listen to the point of view of anyone else who disagrees with them. The protagonist, Box, is more confused than anyone. He is taken into the camp after being found out in the desert. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there and is completely shocked to learn of a zombie plague.

The characters in Horde are typically representative of various outspoken groups and portrayed with much exaggeration. While on the surface, it is a zombie apocalypse story, the threat posed by humanity is far more in the forefront than the danger of the plague. The zombies mostly serve as background for a tale about how bad things can get between people when our everyday lives get turned upside down. It serves as a mirror to show us how easily we can all become lost amid the difficulties of the world we live in today.

Forbidden Brownstones

Forbidden Brownstones by Clifford Browder

Book Reviewed by Lisa Brown-Gilbert

Author Clifford Browder, prolific in both his knowledge of New York history and its people, affords literary enthusiasts with another journey into historic New York with the fifth title in his Metropolis series, Forbidden Brownstones, a work which artfully portrays life from the perspective of its central character, Junius Fox. Purchase Here.

As a young black male living in mid 1800s New York City, Junius Fox and his family, although free, faced political, cultural and social constraints of a society stuck in the throes of the system of slavery. Living in a world alive with rampant instances of overt racism and easily provoked violence towards blacks created an overall environment for blacks living in New York at the time a struggle to thrive in and very often dangerous to live in.

However, Junius witnessed something shining in the midst of his limited life sparking a deep desire within him for the seemingly unattainable, a Brownstone. For Junius his longing for owning a Brownstone became an obsession since the age of twelve, when he became initially entranced by the enticing visage and mystery of the buildings, fomenting a desire that continued to burn within him into his adulthood. However, Brownstones were not owned by black people at that time, not even those considered Black gentry. Instead, the sought-after homes were only owned and lived in by the white gentry in the city, who refused to sell to monied blacks. Blacks could only work in the buildings. For Junius to own a Brownstone as a black man was a fantasy that he wanted as a reality.

Meanwhile, determined Junius was not deterred from his desires by his station in life. Alternatively, he sought to be the best, as he makes his way into the world of gainful employment through jobs available at the time. Eventually, fate brings him closer to finally satisfying his Brownstone obsession with finally working and residing in a Brownstone not once but twice.

Aside from working and living in the lavish homes, he also finds romance, gains invaluable insights, and learns lessons concerning the intricacies of life as a Black male. As well as insights into life for the white elite but most importantly he also learns that he can have power in a world where he thought he was powerless.

Overall, with Forbidden Brownstones, author Clifford Browder delivers an articulately, authentic and entertaining culmination of history and fiction ingeniously traversing a time in New York’s history within which, unfortunately, prejudice for black people abounded on many levels, even from Irish immigrants. I thoroughly enjoyed this adult-themed read; the story flowed easily, while the narrative provided as much food for thought, as it did historical tidbits. Additionally, as a character-driven story, I found myself engrossed from the story’s outset, as the interesting characters both historical and fictional, especially that of Junius were brought into focus. I heartily recommend this book as well as the others in the series they are all well worth the read.

Ellipsis

Ellipsis by Kristy McGinnis

Reviewed by Timea Barabas

“Ellipsis” by Kristy McGinnis is a wonderful piece of fiction that reads like real life. The novel tells the story of a girl becoming a woman. And through this not so out of the ordinary life are presented some of the horrors of ordinary life. Purchase Here.

The novel opens up with the blossoming of Nell Sanger, a college student who has all her future mapped out. She took on some side jobs to help support herself, one of which was modeling for art students. That is where she met Narek, a gifted art student from Armenia. The two immediately felt connected by the many things they have in common and were intrigued by each-others cultural and personal differences.

But this is not a simple love story. It is a complex tale about the many forms love can take and the challenges that these bring. The love for and of a boyfriend, former lover, child, mentor, fellow women, the love of self. As you go through the pages of the book, there is an overwhelming sense that tragedy, loss is inescapable. Happiness, on the other hand, is harder to hold on to. Will Nell be able to experience joy, or will all her happiness end up being trapped somewhere in the past?

“Ellipsis” also brings into question the nature of personal time. In the face of a great loss and the crumbling of a future carefully constructed over years, the past is drastically re-evaluated. When put in this situation, Nell oscillates between two alternatives. As the future crumbles, so does the past upon which it was built. It becomes obsolete. However, she is also tempted to invest past events with additional value. Her memories, at least, are there and she cannot be robbed by those.

The author gets straight to the point. She sticks to a leisurely language but masterfully uses it to shuttle her message to the inner being of the reader. The story itself and the raw emotions take the center stage in the book. Kristy McGinnis brings into focus rather big and very important themes, dangers that still lurk in society. While violence and tragedy blow into focus, the underlying narrative focuses on prevention.

“Ellipsis” is an emotional read that might easily steal a few tears from the reader. The author succeeds in holding the reader captivated and on the edge of each sheet, eager to read what will happen next.

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Araya by E. Detorres

Book Reviewed by Dianne Woodman

An elite team of Gundogs has been trained by Ellis Fast to hunt down and kill Gluttons for their armor. Gluttons are the deadliest and most ferocious creatures in Hell’s Heart, a Black Forest filled with trees that can influence people through music and lyrics and cause them to lose their sanity. While on a mission, one of the team members is killed in a particularly heinous way by a Glutton. The remaining members make the trek out of the forest before they lose touch with reality. After returning to their mountain abode, they are hired to retrieve an asset that the military believes could change the tide of an ongoing war, and the secretive weapon is located deep in the Black Forest. Ellis along with team members Alex Bright and Smug embark on a mission fraught with threats from sadistic creatures that live in the forest, the trees that invade people’s minds and cause horrifying reactions in behavior against themselves and/or others, and soldiers from warring factions. Will the team find the asset and make it out of the forest to safety or will they succumb to the call of the trees and/or be killed by the minacious life forms before they can complete their mission? Purchase Here.

Whenever characters recall events from their past, the transitions are smooth and seamless. All of the memories not only have had a lasting impact on the characters’ lives and the motivations behind the ways they react to the life-threatening circumstances in which they find themselves but also affect how they deal with the deadly mental attacks that could upend their lives at any moment. Ellis taught special needs children before taking on the task of hunting Gluttons, and his memories involving some of his students are an integral part of the storyline. E. Detorres is well-qualified to write about special needs children and their behavioral responses and the best ways to communicate with them. The use of adapted sign language in the story serves an important purpose.

Araya is a gripping dark thriller in which psychological terror plays a big part, and it never lets up in tension and suspense. The expert use of imagery and metaphors by Detorres ignites readers’ imaginations so that they can easily picture images in their minds of the setting and the characters, while also experiencing the action in the story. The violent scenes and material depicting sexual behavior are described in graphic detail. There are a number of heart-pounding incidents in Araya that will leave readers wondering how things will turn out for the characters. Detorres has penned an excellent book that superbly illustrates the resilience of the human spirit and is well-worth reading.

Windfall

Windfall: A Henry Lysyk Mystery by Byron TD Smith

Book Reviewed by Daniel Ryan Johnson

Windfall: A Henry Lysyk Mystery is a well-researched story interweaving real-world intrigue into a fictional tale full of questions. Windfall is not an over the top mystery thriller where every moment is filled with high suspense and the pressing need for action. Instead, it quietly tells a tale about an unassuming former banker, who is somewhat reluctantly drawn into the maze by a love for puzzles and at the urging of his precocious niece and captivating neighbor. The distraction might be exactly what our protagonist needs to pull him out of a dark period in his life – unless the danger catches up to him. Purchase Here.

While the book may move at a more casual pace than many modern mysteries, which feel the need to fill every page with excitement, that does not mean it is lacking in tense moments of suspense. The first chapter of the book will hook you before the following chapters reel you into the world surrounding one of the most infamous unsolved crimes. Author Byron TD Smith does a terrific job of balancing these moments with wonderful character development, that leaves the reader feeling connected to those who live between the pages. All the characters feel real, and their actions are believable, which is not often something you find in the genre.

Mr. Smith’s writing flows smoothly across the pages and can make it difficult to find a place to pause your reading session. This can pose a hazard for late-night readers as they may find a short sleep ahead of them. Smith doesn’t rely on the high-octane world of sex, drugs, and rock & roll to sell the reader on his story, although all three do lurk around the edges. Instead, he relies on the compelling storylines and mildly eccentric characters he has created to keep readers engaged. He doesn’t attempt to write down to the reader to appeal to a larger audience, nor does he alienate readers with overembellished sentences.

After finishing the book, I was surprised to discover that Windfall was Mr. Smith’s first novel. The polished storytelling and literary presence read like an author who has honed his craft for years. I look forward to seeing what he will bring us next, and based on the subtitle am hoping to meet up with Henry and his friends again before too long.

Cooking for Cannibals

Cooking for Cannibals by Rich Leder

Book reviewed by Daniel J. Ryan

Cooking For Cannibals is your classic love story. Boy meets girl. Girl gives her mother and her mother’s friends a miracle drug that makes them young again. Corporate hit-men come in search of miracle drug. Drug comes with the side effect of craving human meat. Youthful 90-year-olds start killing people of questionable character. Boy starts cooking up a cannibalistic feast. It’s a tale as old as time.  Purchase here.

Rich Leder takes us on a wild ride in this darkly comedic thriller and if you are willing to suspend your disbelief a bit you will be joyfully swept along. It’s not the drug that takes the elderly back half a century that is hard to believe. Nor is it the fact that a side effect of the drug is cannibalism. Rather the most unbelievable part of the book is in the insane luck that our protagonists seem to be blessed with as they are constantly jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire while remaining unscathed, with death and destruction looming all around them.

Leder mixes his dark humor with a compelling storyline full of twists and turns that is immensely readable and hard to put down. Cooking For Cannibals is ideal for lovers of fast-paced high-concept thrillers. As the insanity continues to build exponentially throughout the book it becomes more and more difficult not to read “just one more chapter” as you find yourself craving to find out just how crazy things are going to get. This is the perfect book for a binge read. A great choice if you have a long flight.

The book is filled with a slew of incredibly compelling characters, from Carrie, a nerdy scientist girl gone bad, to love interest Johnny, an ex-con cook with a short fuse trying to get his life together, to the hedonistic young again group at the old folks home, to the starkly contrasting corporate hit-men. There isn’t a dull character to be found.

Generally, Cooking For Cannibals doesn’t dive down too deep in the emotional spectrum, preferring to keep things light and breezy and on the humorous side of a story, which, if told with a different tone and few small changes, could easily be a horror-thriller rather than a comedic one. He does however touch on the surface of a few deeper ideas, such as “What would you do if you had a second chance at life?”. Hopefully for most of us though, the answer wouldn’t be cannibalism.

 

 

 

The Killing of Faith

The Killing of Faith by William Holms

Reviewed by Timea Barabas

If you are looking for a fresh suspense/thriller, you should look no further than “The Killing of Faith” by William Holms. This book will take you on a thrilling journey of the rise and fall of a woman. Purchase Here.

It all starts and ends with Faith. The story, narrated in the first person by Faith herself, opens to a very grim but vague present setting. A setting that is periodically revisited throughout the chapters and which is in stark contrast to the past. She takes us back to her childhood and patiently goes through the main events of her life: engagement, marriage, motherhood.

Faith is the kind of beautiful girl that is well aware of her good looks and does not hold back from using this to her advantage. She finds little interest in school, instead, she prefers hanging out with her friends, shopping, and boys. One boy in particular. So, she enters into a tumultuous relationship that eventually leads her to drop out of school and move out from her parents’ place to a different city. Faith leaves everything for a man and a fresh start. But she doesn’t get either. Her dreams crumble and so does she. At least until another man walks into her life and she rebuilds herself through him. This becomes a pattern that repeats with some minor variation. Faith seems to have an innate drive to seek out completion in somebody else and this drives her to the edge of life.

The brilliant thing about the book is its growing suspense. And this suspense is a testament to the skills of William Holms. It all starts with the title, “The Killing of Faith”. So, naturally, the reader expects Faith to be killed at some point. But there are so many questions that arise: why? How? By whom? And as the pages of the book seem to run out and Faith is still very much alive, one starts to wonder if it will still actually happen or was it all just a ruse. This tense anticipation is the main driving force that keeps you flipping page after page.

This is not one of those books that get you hooked by a nurtured love for the main character, quite the contrary… yet the author manages to elicit feelings of sympathy and compassion for Faith as she is met with hardships. Also, her childish naiveté remains an endearing quality. The character carefully balances on the verge of a charicaturistic depiction of women and this is one of the elements that awaken such strong feelings of ambivalence toward her.

“The Killing of Faith” is a captivating read, but it is not a book for all ages, as there are some explicit scenes and vulgar language. What is more, the sequel is already in preparation by William Holmes.