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Featured New Release Of The Week: A Fire In The Night by Christopher Swann

This week we’re looking at a mystery/ action book that evokes Mitch Rapp, Henry McCord, and John Rambo and is set in the same Smoky Mountain region as Deliverance. This week we’re looking at A Fire In The Night by Christopher Swann.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Mitch Rapp Meets Henry McCord With A Dash of John Rambo. If you’re a fan of Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp or the CBS drama Madam Secretary, you’re going to like this tale. If you’re not… you should still give this one a try, as it is a fun action tale set in the wilds of the lower Appalachian Mountains in the Carolinas featuring a former “history professor” who has a few skills history professors normally don’t. And the way Nick Anthony *uses* his skills in this book… well, when the action starts up you might start getting flashes of one of America’s action icons. 😉

I happen to be a fan of all of those things named above (well, the earlier Rapp books anyway – which were some of my very first Kindle reads as I began making the transition to my now eReader Era), and for me as a native of the foothills of the region in question, this was truly great. This is the same general region I’ve gone to many vacations into over the years, and in fact is the same general region that Deliverance was filmed in. And for this Southern boy, finding novels set here that don’t disparage our people and are kick-ass to boot… well, that’s just awesome.

This book is set up primarily as a standalone, but with these characters and with at least one or two things dangling by the end, it could easily be seen as the beginning of a series that could potentially be as good or better than the Rapp series, so this reader in particular certainly urges the author to at least consider the possibilities. Very much recommended.

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#BookReview: Alamo Gold by David Wood

Another Fun Bonebrake Conspiracy / Action Tale. Secret societies. Texas history. Haunted graveyards. A Knight’s Tale reference. Battle inside a Duck Boat. And even some cave diving to boot. Seriously… what more do you want in 120 pages of fun action/ adventure? This one has it all, including a couple of hot/ steamy scenes… both in the naked sense and the literal one. 😉 Another wild romp, this time through a fair swath of Texas, and featuring Bones’ usual witty banter and bone-shattering physicality. Very much recommended.

This review of Alamo Gold by David Wood was originally written on August 27, 2021.

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#BlogTour: The Witness by John Ryder

For this blog tour we are looking at the newest inventive action thriller from John Ryder. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Witness by John Ryder.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Solid Action Thriller. If you haven’t been reading John Ryder… you need to be. This is just the second time I’ve read a book from him, and he has clearly established a pattern of solid action thrillers with heroes who are conflicted and yet have solid and even innovative ideas on how to do their jobs. The house scene early was truly brilliant in what Ryder has Roche do to prepare the scene, and a few other actions late were nearly as good – if a *touch* more typical.

Indeed, the one flaw – which again I’m chalking up to “maybe British people don’t know their way around guns as well as Americans do” and even “most Americans also think this, but it is a myth” – is one point where even as Ryder uses the correct terminology – “suppressor” rather than “silencer” – he still gets the actual effects more Hollywood than real-world. Without giving a whole hell of a lot away, Roche is across the street when a suppressed shot goes off inside a building. *Roche doesn’t hear the shot.* In *reality*… everyone within at least a quarter mile is hearing that shot, even with it occurring indoors and even if they are indoors themselves.

Still, this was the only actual flaw in the writing and story here, with everything else being more “no one is perfect and this actually makes the story seem even more real” level. Truly an excellent action thriller, and one you won’t want to miss. Hell, even as this book is (currently?) listed as a standalone… let me say right here right now that I for one would like to come back to this world. 😀 Very much recommended.

And below the jump, the “publisher information” including the official description of the book, an author bio, social media links, and a link to buy the book!:)
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#BookReview: Blood Kin by Matt Hilton

Tess And Po With Elements Of Reacher And The Lottery. This is only my second Tess and Po book, but I’ve quickly fallen in love… and noticed the basic pattern. (Which is the same basic pattern most books of this type have. Brief interlude of “normal life” leads into some inciting incident – in this case, Tess and Po stumbling into a mother and child in peril – leads to an investigation which leads to action. It is a successful pattern given how often it is employed across so many books, and it is well executed here.) When we get to the investigation/ action stages is when this book evokes one of the more memorable Reacher tales due to the similarity of the enemy faced (controlling militia type). And then we bring in elements of the ultra-creepy The Lottery to boot. Completely a Tess and Po story, but the common elements serve to enhance it even more (assuming you’ve read those tales, anyway :D). A final note: This *is* deep in a series of investigative/ police procedurals. It can work as a standalone/ entry point as long as you don’t mind seeing more advanced stages of the investigative team’s life together, but if you’re a reader that doesn’t like any level of spoiler of previous books, you’re going to want to start at Book 1 and get to here. Because if you do start at Book 1… just go ahead and buy the entire series. You’re going to want to have them on hand as you finish each one anyway. Hell, I’m already wishing I had Book 9 in my hands, and this one doesn’t even release to the public for nearly a month! Very much recommended.

This Review of Blood Kin by Matt Hilton was originally written on July 7, 2021.

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#BookReview: Unthinkable by Brad Parks

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO MARCUS SAKEY IS??? Ok, so this was a fun rib at a fellow author that Parks tossed into this book, and if you’re in the know, it was genuinely hilarious. I don’t know if Parks and Sakey know each other or have any kind of relationship at all, but it was hilarious regardless. And great levity in an otherwise pretty heavy tale that asks the classic trolley problem in a much more personal and yet global context: If you knew that one singular person was going to be the thing that ultimately tips global warming beyond repair and that billions of lives would thus be lost, could you kill that person? What if that person was your wife? Through the first 2/3 of this book, this is the primary driver and raises a lot of thought provoking questions, as Sakey’s own books tend to do. The back third goes more to direct action tale (as the back parts of Sakey’s own books tend to do), but the interesting connection here given the ribbing is that there are elements that *could* tie this tale to Sakey’s own Brilliance Saga. Whether this was the intent, this reader has no clue. But again, an interesting thought experiment. Ultimately this is a fun mystery/ action tale that mostly sticks to the realistic – even the exact scenario of the finality of global warming is plausible given the facts recorded in After Cooling by Eric Dean Wilson, which releases just weeks before this book itself does. If you’re looking for *purely* mindless action, eh, there are other books better suited to that. If you like “action with a brain”… this is going to be *exactly* what you’re looking for. Very much recommended.

This review of Unthinkable by Brad Parks was originally written on June 30, 2021.

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#BlogTour: Trouble In Big Timber by BJ Daniels

For this mid-week entry in the Slide Into Summer Romance Blog Tour Series, we’re looking at a romantic suspense that while deep in a series actually works quite well as a standalone book and entry point to the series. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Trouble In Big Timber by BJ Daniels.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

Solid Romantic Suspense. This book is listed as Book 5 in a series, but I can tell you from having read it without having read any of the other books that it works totally fine as a standalone as well. The existence of people from the prior books is mentioned, but I didn’t actually note anything that could even really be a spoiler about those books in this one (other than the not-really-a-spoiler-due-to-genre-rules mentioning that certain people are together, possibly). Overall a truly solid book mostly on the mystery/ suspense side – it opens with a man attempting suicide and being stopped by what he believes is the butt-dial of a long-lost friend being murdered by his long-lost ex-best friend. But this *is* a romance, and that *does* develop, it just mostly develops later as our leading man and leading woman are largely approaching the investigation into the phone call and what it revealed from two very different angles that later become more intertwined. One of those with twists almost until the very last page (other than the epilogue). Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt and the publisher details! 🙂
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#BlogTour: False Allegiance by Nick Thacker

For this blog tour, we’re looking at an explosive action/ mystery that looks into an oft-neglected global topic. For this blog tour, we’re looking at False Allegiance by Nick Thacker.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

False Promise? Let me be extremely clear: As far as “facing constant threat of death from mysterious operators” plot lines go, this one was solid. After what has become a usual opening chapter establishing Jake Parker just trying to live his life, we pretty well immediately go into “constantly running from the bad guys while trying to solve a global mystery” mode, and in this part Thacker is excellent. We even get a bit of real-world discussion on yet another oft-neglected topic, in this case … well, revealing that is a bit of a spoiler. But an interesting one, for sure.

But no, the “False Promise?” question from the title more has to do with the ending of Book 2 and my own expectations for this book based on that. I was expecting a lot more direct involvement from Parker’s dad, leading up to a direct confrontation between father and son where guns would be blazing both directions. That… doesn’t happen here. Though Parker’s dad *does* play a role in most of the tale and there *is* (eventually) a confrontation and even a resolution. It just wasn’t the all encompassing explosive type I for some reason was expecting/ hoping for.

But Thacker does in fact do an excellent job of telling yet another globe trotting Jake Parker tale and both wraps up this current version while allowing for new possibilities down the road. This reader, for one, hopes we eventually get to explore some of those. Very much recommended.

Below the jump, the publisher information, including a book description and buy links. 🙂
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#BlogTour: Third Kill by John Ryder

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a story of a war between assassins… playing out on the streets and in the casinos of Las Vegas. For this blog tour we’re looking at Third Kill by John Ryder.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Assassin On Assassin Action. In Las Vegas. This is a semi-weird (in a good way) mashup of a police procedural and a straight up shoot-em-up action thriller. On the police procedural side, one half of the “problem solving” team is an FBI agent with the usual FBI agent problems, plus at least a hint of a personal life. On the shoot-em-up action thriller side, the other half of the “problem solving” team is a former Royal Marine turned mercenary turned private assassin. Now, this team is tasked with tracking down and assassinating an assassin who has been let loose on the Las Vegas strip – and whoever is paying them. It is an intriguing premise in that it hasn’t been covered a thousand times in a thousand variations of the exact same thing, and when this British author is focusing on things *other* than guns in his action, it is at minimum plausible and seemingly realistic. But his British blind spots shine through in his repeated – pretty much every time – use of “clip” when he should be using “magazine” to denote where in the gun the bullets are stored and what is replaced when you need more bullets. This is where having an American fan, particularly of the “uses guns semi-actively” sort, would come in handy in the proofreading process – a technique I’ve known even American authors who are still less familiar with guns to use to polish their texts before publication. And this *is* an ARC, so there is at least the possibility that this can be corrected in the month or so before publication – in the Kindle variant, at minimum. Still, a truly strong story such that other than this particular point, all other British to American linguistic differences are easily explained away as the one lead character being British himself. Very much recommended.

Update exclusive to BookAnon.com: I’m told that the “clip” v “magazine” issue did in fact get resolved pre-publication. 🙂

Below the jump, the various publisher details including book description and author bio. 🙂
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#BookReview: The Elimination Threat by Michael Laurence

Ho Lee Schitt! WHAT A RUSH! With this book, Laurence again ups his game and introduces a weapon that is arguably scarier than any he has unleashed yet… particularly since it seems plausibly real. The action, stakes, and sheer terror here are all off the charts, and Laurence pulls no punches. That so much of the backstory is based on documented real world events is arguably among the scariest elements of this book, even if at least some of it is in fact fictionalized so that Laurence can craft the story the way he wants. With all of this noted, this isn’t one of those books that you can just pick up this Book 3 in the series and go, you really do need to read both Book 1 (Extinction Agenda) and Book 2 (Annihilation Protocol) first. At which point you’re immediately going to want this book anyway. And when you finish this one, you’re going to want Book 4 immediately… which is going to make you rain curses of mild inconveniences down upon Laurence as you will likely have to wait a bit for it. 😀 Very much recommended.

This review of The Elimination Threat by Michael Laurence was originally written on April 21, 2021.

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#BookReview: Faithless by Steven Ramirez

Gender Swapped Universal Soldier Meets Deeper Unique Lore. This book *very* much has a Universal Soldier feel through much of it – which isn’t a bad thing at all for this particular reader, since I *loved* that movie for *years*. And yet, these sections can still feel so… “well trod”… just because it *has* been done so often before. Even the gender swapping has been done to a slightly lesser extent.

But then the book connects to a much deeper lore, to a world that it seems that the author has been developing across at least a few books – and a quick perusal of Amazon confirms this suspicion. So even while setting up a seemingly routine-ish (with a few nice wrinkles) Book 1 of a new action series, the book does well to advertise the author’s prior works and encourage an exploration of those tales as well. Great marketing strategy, and a solid storytelling technique.

Overall the tale is interesting and the ending truly does leave the reader wanting more… this reader in particular simply hopes that it does more to stand out in future endeavors. Very much recommended.

This review of Faithless by Steven Ramirez was originally written on April 11, 2021.