Seizure

Seizure
by Nigel Mitchell
(5/5 stars)

We all know the Internet is a great place to waste time and it can even be addictive, but can it kill you? A computer giant, who's like if Steve Jobs had become a Bond movie villain, designs a computer virus that can actually kill people. When it kills his old friend, Kent Reynolds springs into action to find the culprit.

While this isn't a direct sequel to "Dead Links" it's another Internet-themed technothriller that will please those who have been missing Michael Chrichton. The story is taut and well-written with characters who are likable--and some who are pure evil.

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Tripler

Tripler
By Neil Vogler
(5/5 stars)

This book features a unique premise:  what if you could split yourself into three--basically creating two clones of yourself?  Would you just use it to get all your chores done?  Would you use it to fulfill all your kinky desires?  Or would you use it to take over the world?  In Tripler we see pretty much all the possibilities in what is a pretty taut thriller.

The basic setup reminded me of Blade Runner a little.  Harry is a "Tracker" who hunts down rogue Triplers, like the Harrison Ford character hunted down rogue androids.  The similarities pretty much end there.  In large part because Harry himself becomes a Tripler, though probably in Ridley Scott's fifteen versions of Blade Runner is one where Deckard is an android.  Harry is kept alive and given some medication to keep him from going rogue by the British government.  If you want to compare it to another movie/book it's like Harry is James Bond and the rogue Triplers are SMERSH/SPECTRE; he even has his own numerical designation of 00.

Except the assignment soon gets a lot tougher once he encounters the enemy agent Osprey, who vows to destroy everyone and everything Harry loves.  As Osprey wreaks havoc, Harry is forced to question pretty much everything.  And there's a nice twist at the end that promises a lot of mayhem for Book 2.

Overall this is a taut, well-written thriller that will keep you guessing.  Even if you're not a fan of science fiction, the sci-fi elements are not so overwhelming that readers of Ian Fleming or Robert Ludlum couldn't enjoy it.  Other than the idea of Tripling, it's a pretty ordinary setting; there are no flying cars or robots or aliens or anything like that.  So if you want a thriller with a twist, give this a try.

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Overpowered

Overpowered
by Cheyanne Young
(4/5 stars)

This is the second book of the "Powered Trilogy."  I really liked the first one in that it presented, to my mind anyway, a unique superhero universe.  I mean most superhero stories just rip off the familiar DC and Marvel heroes, only changing costumes and powers a little.  (Even I'm guilty of that, though intentionally so.)  Basically the genetically superior "Supers" have their own nation inside the Grand Canyon where they live and use as a base to defend the world from Villains.  In the first book, Maci Might, daughter of the president, came into her powers only to realize she has an identical twin and that she (Maci) is probably the evil twin.

So in book two Maci finds her sister Nova and tries to hide her from the heroes who want to capture her for being a villain.  At the same time a new drug called Strike is giving humans the power of superheroes, which they mostly use for underground fight clubs.  Who's behind the drug and can anyone stop it?

For the most part I enjoyed this book, though maybe a little less than the first one.  Maci is a fun character, especially now that she has a goody-goody twin to play off of.  The writing is sharp and as with the first one, I like the uniqueness of the superhero world.

The thing I didn't like is that the plot is too obvious.  It's so clear where Strike is coming from that I sat there for much of the book waiting for the heroes to figure it out.  But maybe that's just me; maybe the younger people who make up the target audience will be more surprised.

Anyway, it's still a very enjoyable book and I'm looking forward to the conclusion of the trilogy when it sounds as if the [stuff] will really hit the fan.

That is all.

Temporary Anne

Temporary Anne
by Briane Pagel
(5/5 stars)

Another chilling tale from the author of The Scariest Thing You Can't Imagine. This novella is about a formerly beautiful woman who becomes a ghoul in order to avoid going to Hell. The lengths she goes to in order to avoid her fate defy the imagination. Since I've read a lot of Vonnegut this year, I kept thinking Pagel's style reminds me a lot of Vonnegut's work in that while the narration seems jaunty with its humorous asides and such, there's a lot of hidden depth to that narration.

Besides the novella, there are also short stories from Andrew Leon, Rusty Carl, Nigel Mitchell, and some guy named PT Dilloway.

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The Whole Bloody Affair

The Whole Bloody Affair
by Tony Laplume
(4/5 stars)

This omnibus captures the whole trilogy of a young girl named Yoshimi who has to uncover who murdered her parents and then take her revenge.  In kung-fu movie style this is accomplished by working with various masters on technique and then applying those techniques on hapless would-be assassins.  This ultimately leads her to learn about herself and to question some things she had taken for granted.

Most of the story is good, especially if you like kung-fu, Tarantino's "Kill Bill," or the Flaming Lips's "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots."  At times, especially before the final battle, it gets a little too windy, to the point that a lot of the air goes out of the drama.  It could also use another editing pass.  Overall though it's a good read.

I was also relieved that in book 2 there's a pink robot reference.  Finally!

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Cloak of the Shrouded Man

Cloak of the Shrouded Man
by Tony Laplume
(3/5 stars)

Since I'm familiar with the author's love of comics from his blogs, I was really expecting more from this book.  This is as they say a "hot mess."  After about 35%, the Eidolon, Cotton Colinaude pretty much disappears from the book.  Wasn't he supposed to be the main character?  That last 65% is largely a bunch of philosophical dialogues that cause the story to grind to a halt.

It's hard to do a plot summary because so much of the plot is murky.  When it starts off there's a Batman-type hero named Cotton Colinaude who goes by the hard-to-pronounce handle Eidolon.  (I was glad to be listening to this on the Kindle so I would know how to actually say it.)  There's another hero called Godsend who's a Superman-type.  Godsend does not approve of the Eidolon's methods, especially as he goes after someone referred to as "the Cad."

And then...I have no idea.  The middle section seems similar to Grant Morrison's "Batman R.I.P." though I think this book predates that.  Then it turns into the Iliad.  Throughout it there's a lot less action than you would expect and far more philosophical rambling.

To say something positive, it's obvious the author spent a lot of time assembling the world's mythology.  There's a lot of background information on the characters and the city of Traverse, Alabama.  There just needed to be less background and less philosophy.

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Sinai

Sinai
by William Smethurst
(4/5 stars)

When a German tourist dies of dehydration in the Sinai desert in only hours, Dr. Richard Corrigan begins to suspect something odd is going on.  He joins forces with an American scientist, who shows him the body of an Egyptian boy recovered in 1973 but believed to actually come from the time of the Biblical exodus.  Thus Richard begins to look for answers.

If you ever wanted a da Vinci Code involving physics then this is your book.  It's lacking a little in terms of chills and thrills, though it has its moments.  Mostly what holds this book back are the ancient Egyptian scenes.  These weigh the narrative down considerably and for what they contribute to the end, it could have been compressed into a prologue.  Really, we didn't need to hear the entire Exodus when all that mattered was what happened around Mount Te.

Another problem was the author clearly did not reference his military aircraft.  At one point he mentions an American Sabre going down; Sabres became obsolete by the mid-1950s.  Another point someone is flying in an SR-71 Blackbird; the last of those was retired in the 1990s.  Then he mentioned something being tested on a Phantom; I'm pretty sure the Israeli's stopped using those a while back as well.  In this age of Wikipedia it's pretty easy for an author or editor to research details like that.  And as I always say, if you don't get the little things right, it worries me about the big things, especially in a book that involves so much history.

Anyway, as I said if you liked the da Vinci Code and like physics then this will be a great book for you.

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Superhero (An Action Thriller)

Superhero (An Action Thriller)
by Victor Methos
(4/5 stars)

This is definitely in the mold of grim and gritty 80s style comics like "The Dark Knight Returns" instead of the more traditional Golden Age of comics.  The plot is sort of like "Robocop" meets "The Greatest American Hero" in that our hero Jack is pretty much killed, but thanks to alien technology is able to be rebuilt into a cyborg with superpowers.  He uses these to go after Agamemnon, the guy who nearly killed him and who has pretty much the same abilities as Jack.

Overall it's a pretty serviceable superhero tale if you like the grim and gritty stuff.  Unfortunately an M. Night-style twist at the end ruins what would otherwise be a 5-star yarn.  I do appreciate that the author at least tried to create a different hero with his own backstory, as so many other authors seem content to just mimic Superman or Batman or Iron Man, etc. and set them in play.

For the price I got it for on Amazon I'd have to say it was worth the money.

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Whores

Whores
by Nicolas Wilson
(5/5 stars)

Obviously it's a lot less subtle than The Handmaid's Tale. At one point one of the main characters is compared to Robin Hood and that seems an apt comparison. Only if Robin were a girl and all the Merry Men were Merry Women.

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The Unforgetting

The Unforgetting
by Jenny Mounfield
(4/5 Stars)

A decent psychological thriller, but the ending sucks. First the "Twilight"-esque way the final action is skipped over when the main character passes out. Then when she says to her boyfriend, "I got this great new job but if you don't want me to take it then I won't." What is this, the 50s? Why do women of all people write that kind of sexist garbage? Don't get me started. Anyway, this also needs another editing pass.

That is all.

The Scariest Things You Can't Imagine

The Scariest Things You Can't Imagine
by Briane Pagel
(5/5 stars)

I don't read a lot of horror books, but I have watched a number of horror movies and I'm a big fan of the original "Twilight Zone." I found "The Scariest Things You Can't Imagine" to be a riveting collection of horror/suspense stories, each one compelling me to keep reading.

Like the best "Twilight Zone" episodes, I kept reading, wondering, "What's the hook here?" In "The Deal", an 11-year-old boy is tormented by nightmares. But are really nightmares or something more? In "Astrid Forever" a man is haunted by his dead wife. Why? What does she want from him? People gather outside an old man's house in "fer de Lance." What do they want? And is the old man a monster or a victim? In "Rage" a woman comes face-to-face with the son who was abducted many years earlier. What is he going to do with her? And finally in "The Grave-Robbers" a boy discovers his fundamentalist parents are hiding some dark secrets. But what is "the Engine" and what are his parents up to?

Like any great storyteller, Mr. Pagel keeps the reader engaged from start to finish, adding one layer after another to each mystery to keep the reader guessing.

But be warned, there's some intense action especially in "Rage". These stories are not for the faint of heart!

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Blackbeard's Treasure

Blackbeard's Treasure
by Lizzy Stevens
(3/5 Stars)

This probably would have been many times better if the author had simply slowed down and let the reader catch his/her breath a little. The way it plays out, I felt as if I were watching a movie with the fast forward button on.

Here's how it goes: Cassie drives from San Diego to her grandpa's house in Branson, Missouri because he's dead. (Did she love him? Did she know him? Who knows?!) She's cleaning when a big strong guy named Levi comes over to give her some papers and stuff. She cleans up the attic and finds a journal about the daughter of Edward Teach. Though apparently she's a diver, Cassie knows nothing of pirates, so she doesn't know Edward Teach was the infamous pirate Blackbeard. But Levi knows and tells her that.

Then for no good reason they drive back to San Diego, where Cassie teaches Levi to dive in the ocean. They drive back to Missouri. They track down where Teach was buried. For no good reason Cassie falls and hits her head on a board.

As I said, it's all told in such a rush that there's just no time to get involved with the characters or story.

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Shedding Skin

Shedding Skin
by Julian Darius
(4/5 Stars)

I'm not really a horror fan, so I didn't go into this with high hopes. But I found both stories to be good, the first more than the second. They're more suspense/psychological, not the gross-out splatterfests some people may expect from horror stories. A lot more "Twilight Zone" than "Human Centipede," which was fine with me.

The first story involves a man who has to rush to New Mexico, where his wife has give birth prematurely at her aunt's house. Her aunt is Native American and the narrator witnesses some kind of bizarre ritual. But no harm comes of it and five years go by without any problems. Then one day his wife and daughter vanish. The narrator has to return to the aunt's house, where he's greeted by some shocking revelations. It definitely ties into the book's title and cover picture.

That first story takes up the first three-quarters of the book. The second story then is what in comic book parlance would be a "backup story" or in boxing terminology the "undercard fight." This much shorter story involves a son who goes to visit his dying father. His father tells him a ridiculous story concerning his family and vampires. (No it's not anything like "Twilight.") Is the story true? If nothing else the story found a creative new use for vampires I hadn't thought of, something maybe they could use in that "True Blood" show.

Anyway, I liked both stories, though the first one was better because it was longer and thus more developed. There are a few typos and it bugs me when the author puts D---- instead of the actual last name, but otherwise no serious problems.

It took me less than an hour to read it, so it's something you can read on your lunch hour--if you dare, cue scary Vincent Price laugh.

That is all.

Dead Links

Dead Links
by Nigel Mitchell
(5/5 Stars)

Can the Internet kill you? That's the question posed in Dead Links, an exciting and engaging thriller that hooked me from beginning to end.

Internet addiction has become a problem in recent years thanks to the boom of the World Wide Web, but (to my knowledge) no one has actually died from it. In Dead Links that starts to change thanks to a site called Araknee. It's sort of like what you'd get if Facebook and Amazon merged--a gigantic social network and marketplace. To some people it's more than just a website--it's a religion!

Ace reporter Amanda Katt visits Araknee's headquarters and gets a creepy vibe from the place. When she asks one question too many and refuses to turn in their prewritten article, she gets tossed out. In turn she writes a scathing article about the place for her magazine. This sets off a firestorm for Amanda, leading to several assassination attempts by Araknee cult members. Worse yet is when her own fiancee becomes an Araknee addict. Can Amanda stop the site before it takes over the world?

I don't know how plausible the scenario actually is, but the author makes it feel plausible enough. Amanda is the kind of plucky, take-charge heroine more books should incorporate, one who doesn't need bailed out by a big strong man all the time.

I'm not sure if Amanda is going to have any other adventures, but I would read them.

That is all.

A Sudden Vengeance Waits

A Sudden Vengeance Waits
by Nik Morton
(5/5 stars)

There's a whole subgenre of revenge stories out there, running the gamut from ancient times to Westerns to distant worlds. "A Sudden Vengeance Waits" is far more contemporary and closer to home, taking place in a small British community that nonetheless is plagued by crime thanks to the recent recession.

That crime hits close to home for the Knight family when their grandmother is killed during a break-in. There are four Knight children: police officer Paul, college student Lisa, mechanical genius Stu, and rebellious young actor Mark. Soon after the funeral (like pretty much the same night) someone beats up some burglars and leaves a note proclaiming him(her)self as the Black Knight. Now can you guess which Knight might be going out at night to bust criminal heads?

The answer is kind of obvious, but I won't spoil that. Anyway, "A Sudden Vengeance Waits" is a decent entry in the revenge subgenre. It's not as gory or violent as some more recent entries. Really there's no gunplay at all, just one brief sword fight and some martial arts stuff. That doesn't make it fun for the whole family but it does mean you probably aren't going to lose your lunch either.

Overall this was a quick and satisfying read on the Kindle. And being an American the good thing about reading this on the Kindle is that I could look up some of the British slang in the dictionary, which was very helpful in figuring out what a trilby is for instance. (It's a hat.)

My only complaint, a minor one, is that there were so many names to keep track of. Besides the Knight family there were police offices, criminals, victims, and so forth. It was sometimes confusing.

That is all.

Escape From Ensenada

Escape From Ensenada
by Harris T. Vincent
(4/5 stars)

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find another novel that could blend together sailing, The Da Vinci Code, dirty bombs, 9/11 conspiracies, shadow governments, Michael Jackson, the fabled city of Atlantis, and Satan.  Really all that was missing was an alien invasion and ninjas.  But I bet the author is saving those for the sequel.

It starts fairly ordinary enough.  Three old buddies--Tom, Emmett, and Ernie--are going to Ensenada, Mexico to complete purchase of a boat called the Swan.  Before they leave, Tom runs into Jeremy Princeton (a thinly-veiled Michael Jackson) who explains he's been having a run of bad luck thanks to an artifact known as the Black Piper.

Half a world away in Stockholm, Interpol agent Joy Heather is investigating a break-in at the art museum there involving the theft of some valuable old paintings--or so the thief thinks.

And meanwhile Navy man Tony "the bull" D'Anato is plotting to steal some uranium from a Navy base in--wait for it--Ensenada, Mexico.

Through some strange alchemy, these plots all come together in what becomes a prelude to Armageddon.  It's hard to put the book down because despite the factual errors and formatting problems, I just wanted to see what sort of fantastic things the author was going to throw at me next.

The genius of Escape From Ensenada then is that by combining all these elements that don't seem to fit together, it creates a story that is exciting and riveting.

That is all.