Tag: action

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#BookReview: What She’s Hiding by Art Bell

Noir Thriller Blend Legal Thriller Reminiscent of Early Grisham. I think the most recent of John Grisham’s books I’ve read was Bleachers, and that was *far* from a legal thriller of any form. But I read a lot of his earlier works (The Firm, The Chamber, The Runaway Jury, The Pelican Brief, etc) many years ago, and here Bell brings to mind a question of “What if Grisham had taken a more noir tone with those books?” I honestly think the answer to that question is that you’d get something remarkably similar to what Bell has created here.

If you’re more a fan of small town / low stress tales… this one isn’t for you. If you prefer spice levels akin to a warm glass of milk… you’re gonna get the vapors if you read this book, as its spice level is more akin to a jalapeno or so. Spicy enough to feel, without necessarily making your nose run like Niagara Falls.

Indeed, another decent comparison here – without the sheer brutality of that book – is Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, where both romance and thriller elements combine to make the tale as strong as it is, and with both thriller and romance elements being essential to the overall tale.

Except that, to be clear, this is no White Knight hero the way even John Clark is portrayed as. Bell went to great lengths to use a normal guy in a normal (ish) job as his central character here, and he does a great job of sticking to that ideal throughout this. So yes, our main guy is going to make mistakes. Things are going to be confusing and scary and awesome and nearly surreal at times… but that’s because *life* is all of those things at times, and Bell is committed to showing at least elements of all of this.

Overall a solid tale within its type that bends and breaks enough conventions or even rules as to be refreshing, while at the same time conforming to enough of them to be comfortable for fans of its types of tale.

Very much recommended.

This review of What She’s Hiding by Art Bell was originally written on March 9, 2025.

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#BookReview: Bazaar by Miles Joyner

Pulse Pounding Thrill Ride With Non-Preachy Commentary. This is one of those books that *is* overtly political… *because it is dealing with political assassinations in and around Washington, DC*, among other topics. So while not all books are political and not all reading is political, this book absolutely is – though the act of reading and reviewing it is *not*.

Joyner’s background writing for the screen is evident here with his quick cuts to seemingly random groups of characters, which can be a bit hard to follow at first until you manage to get a grip on who everyone is, but at that point the story really does begin to flow quite readily.

And what a story it is. The action is relentless and seemingly non-stop, and yes, the aforementioned quick cuts actually help in this regard. The inventiveness of the reasonings, techniques, and tactics of both our bad guys and our good guys are truly something to behold – Joyner clearly has a lot of ideas here, and for the most part they tend to land exactly as desired.

There is quite a bit of class-based commentary baked into the flow of this story, though it never really becomes preachy and is even at such a level that trying to determine the author’s actual views are… not as clear as some would likely want them. For example, commentary on the dark web seems both technology-forward *and* pro-police. Similarly, commentary on class speaks to the lower classes *no matter* their race, and even points out how even some black characters would never face certain things in certain situations. And commentary about immigrants both shows their plight *and* cautions against the rise of illegal immigration. And yet every bit of this commentary is done well in-world and thus seems true to the characters taking each position as they take them, thus avoiding sounding preachy to the readers.

Overall truly an interesting book with a perspective and topic rarely seen in fiction.

Very much recommended.

This review of Bazaar by Miles Joyner was originally written on March 6, 2025.

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#BookReview: Viper’s Den by J.M. LeDuc

Contains Most Brutal, Most Sadistic Scene I Have *EVER* Read. Truly Even Better Than Reacher. With this particular entry in the series, LeDuc takes Sinclair O’Malley places that Reacher has gone – and beats him! – *and* gives O’Malley a depth of character that Reacher will never obtain.

And yes, it is via the said most brutal, most sadistic scene I have ever read. I’ve read some dark, twisted shit over the years, including books with on screen child sexual abuse, rape, and other brutalities. *NEVER* have I encountered one book that had all of that… *in a single scene*. Truly the darkest, sickest, most twisted scene I have ever encountered across reading literally thousands of books across nearly every imaginable genre and niche out there… and yet LeDuc *absolutely* makes it work to further his character and finally more fully explain some of her own more brutal – excuse me, “direct” – methods.

Then there is the one scene in particular where O’Malley takes on one of my absolute *favorite* Reacher scenes in that entire franchise (and yes, I read them all until a book or two into the Andrew Child books)… and LeDuc outdoes Lee in even that type of scene. The scene here is different than the Reacher scene, but to be clear, the scene I’m talking about in Reacher is the sniping competition Reacher has with the militia leader in Die Trying, where Reacher pulls off a particularly impressive feat.

There’s a LOT going on in this book, and a LOT – even beyond the scene above – that will be disturbing for some people, including some blatant on screen racism deep in the book (from the bad guys, to be clear), but revealing some of this stuff gets deeper into spoiler territory than I feel is warranted in this review. (I have no problems mentioning the types of stuff in the scene above, mostly because I understand how deeply traumatizing that stuff can be even in one scene, and because it is *only* in the one scene and doesn’t really give away much else about the book. I also spoke in generalities that don’t even fully give away that particular scene. The other things I’m alluding to here are far more central to the book, and thus even mentioning them would be too much spoiler.)

This may well be the best book in the series to date – and likely absolutely is. But there is also a lot of backstory here that you need to read *at minimum* Book 4, Eastern Drift, to be prepared for, and really you should start at the beginning of this series and work your way to this book, if you haven’t yet. Trust me, the reward will absolutely be worth it, *and* this book sets up the future of the series very nicely.

Very much recommended.

This review of Viper’s Den by J.M. LeDuc was originally written on March 4, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Gray Ghost by David Wood And Stephen John

Maddock AND Bones. Back Together! And Taking On A Civil War Mystery! This is what I love to see from Wood. Both Dane Maddock and Uriah ‘Bones’ Bonebrake back together again solving archaeological mysteries and kicking ass when needed.

The mystery – and adventure – here are awesome for this Son of the South who frequently notes how the Civil War is literally still visible in my home region between Atlanta and Chattanooga… and it isn’t even hard to find in that particular region. While this mystery starts in Virginia, it does in fact also find itself in a location I’ve been to a few times – even taken a date or two out there, *many* years ago. Atlanta’s Stone Mountain Park, home of the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world… and site of many anti-Confederacy protests over the years.

But even if you’re not from the Southern United States and haven’t grown up with this history all around you (as only certain regions of even the South have), the mystery here is still top-notch, and the action is even better. If you like say National Treasure, the 2000s era movie where Nic Cage steals the Declaration of Independence… now imagine Nic and his best friend are both former US Navy SEALs, with action – and danger – ramping up to challenge even them.

Ultimately this was the same type of dangerous (for the characters) yet fun (for the reader) action/ adventure tale that makes this series so excellent, and this was yet another truly great entry in this long running series.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Gray Ghost by David Wood and Stephen John was originally written on March 2, 2025.

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#BookReview: Sleepwalker by Xander Weaver

Imagine Ted Dekker’s Circle Series… Without The Christian Allegory. Now toss in perhaps a dose of Jeremy Robinson or Douglas Adams, and you pretty well know exactly what to expect with this particular book.

You’ve got the man who goes to sleep in one world… and wakes in another (Circle series). You’ve got pretty damn insane amounts of balls to the wall action with a lot of inventive scifi aspects all over the place (Robinson). You’ve got jokes ranging from so subtle you barely pick them up all the way up to slap the stick upside your head slapstick comedy. (Robinson and Adams). You’ve even got a version of one particular late 90s movie going on to an extent… but revealing *which* movie gets into spoiler territory I’ll not go into. Suffice it to say that the parallels here are as obvious as the Dekker ones, and anyone who has seen this movie should easily recognize them.

And yet, Weaver still manages to craft a compelling tale uniquely his own, one full of both action and heart and one that will make you ponder things you may have pondered before, but in newer ways.

Yes, at 600+ pages this is a tome – but it is a fun one that tells a complete story and doesn’t really feel repetitive or that any scene/ group of scenes could be left out and still tell the same story with the same depth, so I would thus argue that it is exactly the right length. Even if it *is* my longest read of the year so far, and even if Weaver *did* forget to warn me about its length before I picked it up. And even if the base apparently real science underpinning the entire book does sound like something out of Idiocracy. 😉

Seriously, this is easily one of the more inventive scifi books you’re going to read this year, so if you like the scifi genre at all, you really need to pick up this book. If you like action at all, you need to pick up this book. Truly one of the early standouts of 2025.

Very much recommended.

This review of Sleepwalker by Xander Weaver was originally written on February 25, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico

Aint No Way In Hell A Book-Accurate Movie Of This Tale Is Ever Made. There’s just too much that would cause people of most any era – even 1969 when this book was written – to walk out of the theater on. A few certain words beginning in “N”. A couple of uses of what was at least at one time British slang for a cigarette but which has largely meant something else entirely in the US. Repeated uses as a pejorative of a certain “Q” word that many now actively adopt as an identity. A rape where the victim then holds her rapist fondly *and wishes she is pregnant by him as the book closes*. (Literally, the last words of the book are this particular passage.) Possible statutory rape between a man in his 30s and a “girl”, as she is repeatedly described, who is clearly in the upper half of the teen years but whose age is never clearly established. Several racial stereotypes of varying ethnicities of varying shades of melanin, most all of which are now (in 2024) decried as racist. Even the smoking and drinking is frowned upon and/ or outright ostracized (in at least some circles) in 2024.

And yet… even the action is different than any of the movies, to a degree. For example, Gene Hackman’s character from the original 1972 movie? Yes, he falls into the water near the end, as he does in the movie (seriously, if you haven’t seen a 52 yr old movie by this point, that’s on you 😉 ) but unlike the movie, there are no flames involved in the book. Revealing other differences does involve true spoilers, so I won’t go there.

But if you’re a fan of the movies and can withstand all that I noted above (and more, really), absolutely read the book. The differences between book and movie add a *lot* more nuance to everything and everybody, even as they often take away from the action – and yet add in even more explicit horror/ gore than I’ve ever seen in any incarnation of the movies. (Even the rape scene starts as a seeming horror/ gore scene that is later, after the rape, explained away.)

So yeah, this book has a LOT of problems by 2024 standards and really even by 1969 standards. Read it anyway, if you can withstand those issues. If not, you’re not going to enjoy this, so truly, don’t bother.

Recommended. Particularly for fans of the movies.

This review of The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico was originally written on December 31, 2024.

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#BookReview: Storm Warning by Elizabeth Goddard

Christian Fiction Done (Mostly) Right. To know where I’m coming from, know that I grew up primarily reading Christian Fiction. I’m talking Frank Peretti, Bill Myers, Josh McDowell type stuff in the 90s Christian Fiction market. Hyper, *hyper* preachy… less focus on the actual action at times. As I matured, I found Ted Dekker and Randall Ingermanson and Jeremy Robinson – guys that were able to tell a Christian tale, but focused on getting the actual *action* and *story* right, and while the Christian elements were also important, they also didn’t overshadow the actual story. (Not that Peretti/ Myers/ McDowell don’t have powerful stories themselves – they absolutely do, and there are reasons those guys are legends in that particular genre.)

So now we get to *this* book and… it is far more on par with the second group than the first. This is a Frieda McFadden / Steena Holmes / Kimberly Belle / Hannah Mary McKinnon / Holly S Roberts twisty action-suspense that is going to keep you on your toes through literally the last words of the book… *and* it is going to have its main characters frequently praying and talking about God. (Jesus, not as much, Mary, not once that I remember – more of a general Judeo-Christian “God” than any specific denomination’s variant.) Where i say Goddard got it “mostly” right here is that even for my own tastes and with my own background, the God stuff seemed a bit forced and stiff *at times*, while in other situations was at least as believable as most Hallmarkie type tales and certainly more believable than bringing dinosaurs back from extinction or some galactic civil war long ago and far away.

I understand Goddard has had an extensive career before this book, but this is the first book I’ve read from her… and it absolutely won’t be the last. Mostly because I have to see exactly how this particular series goes now that I’m so invested in these characters and trying to figure out all that is going on. Because even after all these 350 ish pages, the story Goddard crafts here is absolutely setting up at least a sequel, and seemingly likely at least a trilogy. There’s just so many things left “open” – resolved enough for this particular story to feel complete, but dangling enough that it is clear the author intends to speak more on these matters… and as a reader, I want her to. Yesterday would have been great. 😉

Overall truly a well done action/ suspense type book that uses its overall concept and the titular storm well, if not quite in the evocative atmospheric sense that some writers make it a point to add in (sometimes at the expense of story, to be clear, and sometimes genuinely enhancing the story). Here, it is used more to enhance the sense of urgency and danger than anything… and that is perfectly ok and within expected norms. Truly a fun, fast paced book that may mention God too much for some – but I have seen at least some instances of this book being clearly labeled as Christian Fiction, so that should be warning enough for those types of readers.

Very much recommended.

This review of Storm Warning by Elizabeth Goddard was originally written on December 18, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Sentinel: The Complete Jane Harper Trilogy by Jeremy Robinson

Terrific Trilogy Puts A New Spin On Well Established Entities.

As this *is* a review of the entire trilogy, let me start by placing my reviews of THE SENTINEL and THE RAVEN (Books 1 and 2) here first:

THE SENTINEL:

A Long Time Coming. Let me tell you a story. It begins in 2010. Jeremy Robinson and I have known each other online for a few years now, having met in MySpace. I’ve read every book he’s written (just a half dozen or so at this point), and he is now releasing a book he calls TORMENT – his first outright horror book. So I read it too. And it literally gave me nightmares for YEARS after reading it.

A year later, Robinson releases his next horror book – The Sentinel. And it becomes the first of his books that I would not read… for 13 years. Until November 2024, when he is gearing up to release the completed Jane Harper Trilogy via writing a book called THE HOST and packaging it similarly to how he did FAMINE and HUNGER: THE COMPLETE TRILOGY earlier in the 2020s.

And now that my nightmares from TORMENT have faded – particularly after Robinson retconned it into his INFINITE TIMELINE event in the late 2010s/ early 2020s and weakened it significantly – I’m finally in a position that I can attempt to read THE SENTINEL.

And what I found… was nowhere NEAR the horror of TORMENT. Yes, it absolutely has its horrific moments – many times over. Its got an almost Carrie-type callback. Its got a ship sinking. Its got creatures. Its got the same irreverent wit that Robinson would come to develop more over the last 15 years. Truly, having read everything Robinson has released since THE SENTINEL (other than its sequel, THE RAVEN), this may as well be included in his “Origins” package, because you can absolutely see in this book the beginnings of his style to come for the next decade+ of his career.

So pick this book up, even now – or maybe wait until March 2025 when THE SENTINEL: THE COMPLETE JANE HARPER TRILOGY is released. You’re going to laugh. You’re going to cry. You might even puke a few times at the horror on the screen. But you’re going to have a blast doing it, and you’re going to want to have the next book available immediately at hand anyway.

Very much recommended.

THE RAVEN:

Second Book In Series Picks Up Weeks After First Book And Raises Stakes. This is one of those second books where we get direct (if a few weeks later) follow-up to the story from the first book – so absolutely read The Sentinel first, or wait until March 2025 when The Sentinel: The Complete Jane Harper Trilogy will be available, as you absolutely need that context to understand much of any of the insanity happening in this book. As has always been the case in a Robinson book, the New God of Science Fiction – a moniker I gave Robinson long after the original release of this book over a decade ago – takes a somewhat common concept in scifi (zombies, here) and makes it 100% his own while creating utterly wild action sequences that you’ll never see anywhere else. And boy do this book have a lot of those. Wow.

The one issue with this particular book – soon to *finally* be rectified – is that it very clearly sets up a sequel and likely conclusion to the trilogy… that Robinson then waited *over a decade* to deliver on. Though he’s still faster in concluding his stories than a certain famous “Game” / “Song” writer. 😉
So read this one now if you haven’t, to get ready for THE HOST, available in the aforementioned THE SENTINEL: THE COMPLETE JANE HARPER TRILOGY in just about 3 months as I write this review. Or pick up that book when it comes out in March, because I guarantee you that by the time you finish this book, you’ll be glad THE HOST begins on the next page.

Very much recommended.

And now, the conclusion of our trilogy:

THE HOST

Concussive Conclusion. Man, if you thought THE RAVEN hit hard and heavy, this book is about to feel like you went a few rounds with Iron Mike Tyson in his prime… in the best of ways. The action here, well, Robinson has had a decade since writing the last book to hone his craft even further. And with that truly demented mind… yeah, you’re in for some pretty awesome treats in this particular tale.

As a conclusion to this trilogy (finally, though still faster than that “Game” / “Song” dude), this works on many, many levels. You get the callback to using a particular name that Robinson used a few times in his earlier books, though in a completely different character here. (For those who don’t know, that name happens to be Robinson’s long time editor, assistant, and occasional co-author, and while those who *do* know now know he shows up, that’s all I’m saying here.) You get some of the more metaphysical discussions that Robinson has packed into a few of his books over the years to great affect (at least in my opinion, and hey, this is my damn review :D). You get the humor and action and heart that has defined Robinson’s career from the earliest books through now and presumably for as long as he is writing. And you get a conclusion for all of these characters that works within the story told to this point, without going all “Return Of The King” and ending hours after it should have.

The *one* issue I have with this book, and I told Robinson this personally shortly after finishing in a more direct way (as it involves spoilers to get *too* specific here), is that where the metaphysical discussion is happening, Robinson reaches to what I told him seems to have become a bit of a crutch these last few years, and that I hope he ditches that particular device in the next few books. At least for a few books. So we’ll see what happens there, but even still, it absolutely worked within the story told within this trilogy, so it isn’t like it was *completely* out there – just a personal preference that I told the author, whom I’ve known for many, many years, directly and am expressing in this review. Feel free to tell me to go to hell over this and that you *love* that particular crutch and hope Robinson uses it in *every* book. 🙂 As long as you’re reading and reviewing books, I’m happy. 😀

Ultimately, again, this really was a pretty damn perfect conclusion to this particular trilogy.

Very much recommended.

And with three “Very much recommended” ratings on three books in this completed trilogy… yes, the trilogy as a whole is thus very much recommended.

This review of The Sentinel: The Complete Jane Harper Trilogy by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on December 10, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Raven by Jeremy Robinson

Second Book In Series Picks Up Weeks After First Book And Raises Stakes. This is one of those second books where we get direct (if a few weeks later) follow-up to the story from the first book – so absolutely read The Sentinel first, or wait until March 2025 when The Sentinel: The Complete Jane Harper Trilogy will be available, as you absolutely need that context to understand much of any of the insanity happening in this book. As has always been the case in a Robinson book, the New God of Science Fiction – a moniker I gave Robinson long after the original release of this book over a decade ago – takes a somewhat common concept in scifi (zombies, here) and makes it 100% his own while creating utterly wild action sequences that you’ll never see anywhere else. And boy do this book have a lot of those. Wow.

The one issue with this particular book – soon to *finally* be rectified – is that it very clearly sets up a sequel and likely conclusion to the trilogy… that Robinson then waited *over a decade* to deliver on. Though he’s still faster in concluding his stories than a certain famous “Game” / “Song” writer. 😉

So read this one now if you haven’t, to get ready for THE HOST, available in the aforementioned THE SENTINEL: THE COMPLETE JANE HARPER TRILOGY in just about 3 months as I write this review. Or pick up that book when it comes out in March, because I guarantee you that by the time you finish this book, you’ll be glad THE HOST begins on the next page.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Raven by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on December 10, 2024.

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#BookReview: Arkangel by James Rollins

Solid Sigma Tale. Unlike a certain reviewer who claimed that this was a standalone book, I’m going to tell you right now that you need to read at *least* books 14-17 (ish) before coming into this one in order to fully understand and appreciate it. But once you’ve read those other books, you’re going to want this one anyway… and you *will* appreciate likely the very same things I liked about this book – namely, certain elements of its ending. Which is all I’ll say without going into spoiler territory.

Beyond those ending elements, this is a standard-ish globe trotting Sigma Force action/ thriller, emphasis on the action. And yes, it is about as plausible as the Fast and Furious franchise at this point, but you don’t come into these kinds of tales wanting or expecting the ultra-realism of say Andy Weir’s The Martian. You come into these types of books *wanting* to see the motorcycle vs attack helicopter fights, the desperate and last second escapes from traps of various forms, the ultra close quarters action where blades get left stuck between arm bones… and, yes, with now *two* very well trained war dogs, Tucker and Kane and Marco’s scenes damn near steal the show every time they come up, ala the “motorcycle ride with the raptors” from the first Jurassic World movie that Universal’s Islands of Adventures’ Velocicoaster captures so well with its initial launch. Because *that* is the kind of adrenaline rush you want in a rollercoaster and in a tale like this, and by God James Fucking Rollins is going to give you that in *spades*.

Some people like Hallmarkie romance books. Others like This Is Us level dusty-rooms-every-other-scene dramas. Others like more pure scifi ala the aforementioned Weir or the more scifi based Rollins type action of Jeremy Robinson. Some like their fiction to be ghost chili level damn near erotica spicy, others don’t like reading the word “fuck” at all in anything whatsoever. There are all kinds of books for all kinds of readers, in other words, and if you like the type of book that Rollins continues to write, well, you’re gonna like this one too.

Very much recommended.

This review of Arkangel by James Rollins was originally written on October 1, 2024.