Tag: action

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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.

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#BookReview: Heroic Measures by Joel Shulkin

So You’re Investigating A Dead Body – That Moves. What Do You Do? And thus, the critical hook here. Shulkin combines his own military experience generally with his general medical knowledge as a working MD and spins a tale he openly admits (in the Author’s Note) was designed to pay homage to some of the great comic book tales of old – and it absolutely works. The Nick Fury level spy story, the Purple Man horror of not being in complete control of your own body, in addition to the far more obvious Captain America and Hulk aspects here. Indeed, Shulkin takes nearly the entirety of the Marvel *comic* stories – where *oh so much* of the villains’ actions revolved around some version of trying to recreate the Super Soldier program that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America – and manages to use that as inspiration for a plausible-enough real-world tale of how those things could actually play out.

Thus, for those looking for a fun action read with balls to the wall “total nonstop” action… this is going to be a ride you’re going to love. For those needing a palate/ mind cleanse from the seriousness of whatever drama/ suspense/ thriller had your brain in a twist or from the latest bubblegum pop saccharine sweet romance (with perhaps some ghost pepper spice, if that is your thing)… this is going to give you exactly that. A fun few hours of engaging your brain just enough to follow along with all the twists here – and shutting it down enough to simply enjoy the ride. (At nearly 400 pages, this is on the longer side for many readers, though perhaps fantasy readers will enjoy the “speed read”, since their books generally double that length. 😉 )

Overall a fun read that does everything Shulkin set out to do and likely then some, this is absolutely one to check out almost no matter your normal preferences.

Very much recommended.

This review of Heroic Measures by Joel Shulkin was originally written on September 18, 2024.

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#BookReview: Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman

Pulse Pounding Nail Biting Thriller With Some Powerful Dusty Rooms. Wait. An author known for *airplane* tales is writing a book that takes place 99% *on the ground*? Yes. And she does a damn fine job of it to boot.

As someone who has actually worked in the nuclear waste disposal area (at the Savannah River Site, where I sat yards away from tanks containing tens of thousands of gallons of nuclear waste and worked on putting the information-and-control spreadsheet (yes, spreadsheet) online), having a *touch* of knowledge of the field only made it that much more terrifying… because I knew exactly what some of the devices Newman speaks of were. (Specifically, the dosimeter badges. Never had to wear one myself, despite going into certain areas a time or two, but remember the training all too well – the “Kiss Your Ass Goodbye” badge in particular.)

Even without having worked a touch in an adjacent area of the tale though, this is one of those disaster tales that starts off in the middle of the action… and never really slows down. After the introduction where we see the plane going down, from there the tale takes place entirely ground-based, but with a strong countdown clock that is actually calculated within the tale and is used to great effect, going down to the final moments.

Perhaps Newman’s greatest strength in this particular tale though is in *not* making any “superheroes” but instead showing everyday people in every day situations (yes, including nuclear power generation and nuclear waste management) doing their best with what is in front of them and trying to avert catastrophes big and small. Newman even manages to “humanize” her (fictional) President of the United States in ways not often done well, yet here is.

And about those dusty rooms… man, the hits just keep hitting. There are *several* points here where if your eyes don’t get misty, I question whether they *ever* do. Newman sprinkles these moments throughout the book, but in a couple of scenes are particularly strong indeed – nearly to the point of needing an audio version of the text to get through them.

Overall truly an excellent and fast read – despite being 300+ pages, you’re not going to want to put it down.

Very much recommended.

This review of Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman was originally written on September 13, 2024.

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#BookReview: A World Of Hurt by Mindy Mejia

Fast Paced Action Thriller Featuring Atypical Hero – Yet Set During “Real”-World Collapse. Straight up: This would have *easily* been a 5* book for me had it been set in literally any period of human history *other than* 2020 – 2022… unfortunately, where it as actually set. Kara is awesome as a non-straight (it is never made clear in *this* text exactly what her sexuality is, though it may have been clarified in the preceding book, To Catch A Storm, which I read 20 months and 300+ books ago) badass with a certain condition that Mejia works with well to show its uses and detriments. Max is excellent as the more by-the-book cop just trying to do his best to do his job and get back to his wife and son, particularly during the period the book is set in. Together (and separately), they’re going to find themselves in some pretty cool to watch action sequences that would get most of us real dead, real fast in real life. But ultimately, that is exactly what you’re coming into a book like this for – escapist action of a near cinematic quality, and other than the time period this is set in (which, to Mejia’s both benefit and detriment, she *does* show all too realistically and all too well), this book *is* that very action first with solid backstory and drama kind of tale that is generally so pleasing to read.

So for those of you who can withstand a book set entirely within the COVID lockdown period… this is one of the best books I’ve seen written telling a story within that period. But for those of us who – for whatever reason – *don’t* want to read a story set in that period… unfortunately you’re going to miss out on a truly fun, kick ass book unless you can overcome that particular mental objection.

Very much recommended.

This review of A World Of Hurt by Mindy Mejia was originally written on August 19, 2024.

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#BlogTour: When The Sky Falls *AND* When The Dawn Breaks by B.R. Spangler

For this blog tour we’re doing something I don’t think we’ve ever done in the history of this blog – we’re looking at *two* books at once! For this blog tour, we’re looking at the Dark Skies Apocalypse series, When The Sky Falls and When The Dawn Breaks by B.R. Spangler.

First, the review for When The Sky Falls I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

Explosive Opener Leads To Survival Epic. One of the first things you need to know about this particular (now) duology of When The Sky Falls and When The Dawn Breaks is that this is now the third time this story has been revised and repackaged – thus, when it feels like the book suddenly switches gears and becomes seemingly an entirely different book at around the 2/3 mark or so… that’s because in its original forms, it *was* a second book at that point.

But taking that into consideration and reading this duology back to back, effectively reading what was formerly a four book series all at once, feels a bit like reading a shorter version of Douglas Adams’ epic five volume romp through space in The Hithhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy… but in a far more grounded, survival scifi type story. As with The Complete Hitchhiker though, this story actually works quite well in this form.

Part I has the explosive opener reminiscent of the opener of Brett Battles’ SICK, the opening salvo of his seven volume epic apocalyptic survival series PROJECT EDEN, and in some ways – the mall scenes in particular, but also some of the scenes between the opening and that point – really challenge Battles as to which is truly the more compelling story.

Part 2 of this text is set a bit “down the road” from the events of Part I. The Apocalypse has effectively happened, and the survivors have set up what civilization they can. Here, the story becomes more of an exploration-survival story, where we learn how the world has changed from the one we know… and how humanity, in many ways, never really changes much.

While Part I has its heart wrenching moments and makes the room a bit dusty at times in certain ways, Part 2 manages to twist these things a touch and do a bit of its own thing – which is why it can be jarring to read it in the same book as Part I – but also manages to up the stakes a bit in its own way, before finally leaving the reader almost literally begging for the continuation of the story – now to follow in When The Dawn Breaks, with both books being released together.

Very much recommended.

Next, the review for When The Dawn Breaks I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

More Consistent Yet Less Grounded Storytelling Than Predecessor. When The Sky Falls, for all of its faults in rather clunkily combining two prior books into one, was a very grounded story of survival in both the immediate aftermath of an Apocalypse and several years later. Here, we continue not long after the events of Part 2 of When The Sky Falls leave off – indeed, seemingly just hours after the events of that book’s finale.

And we wind up getting a far more consistent – if also much more fanciful – tale in this book. Without going *too* deep into spoiler territory, I’ll say that some elements of the ending of When The Sky Falls are continued and continued quite effectively, but the newer elements of this tale are where it becomes far less grounded and much deeper into the realm of scifi than simply a post-Apocalyptic story. We get some versions of some answers to some questions, and we’re left with a lot more questions… seemingly leaving room for Spangler to come back to this world, if the third time revising and rereleasing these stories is indeed the charm and sales truly increase such that this may be an option for him.

While When The Sky Falls had a few dusty rooms, this tale has a very different feel that taps into a very different but nearly equally visceral emotion – particularly in some more blatant moments. It is hard to describe this part while avoiding all spoilers, so I’ll just leave it at that. I enjoyed this stretch and thought it well done, but admittedly it could be a bit much and perhaps a bit complex for some readers.

So come along for the ride and see what happens after the sky falls and when the dawn finally breaks. 😉

Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” for both books – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: When The Sky Falls *AND* When The Dawn Breaks by B.R. Spangler”

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#BookReview: Shades Of Mercy by Bruce Borgos

Wildly Divergent Storytelling From First Book In Series, Still Great. The Bitter Past, the first book in this series, was a dual timeline almost historical fiction/ spy thriller, and it worked beautifully – to summarize my review of that book. This time, we get a lot of solid character work and even more solid action pieces (particularly towards the end, but also an intriguing prologue to bring us into the tale), with plenty of “what the hell is going on here” in the middle. Whereas the first book looked to the past to tell its tale, this one actually reads as though it is bringing the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war into a tale set in rural Nevada. There’s some innovative action sequences one would expect more in a Vin Diesel XXX movie or one of the GI Joe live action movies than in a tale of a small town Sheriff… even if this particular Sheriff *is* a highly trained former soldier. (And yes, this comes into play as well.) Borgos does well to show Beck’s strengths *and* weaknesses, and it is the combination of both that make Beck feel like a fully “real” human rather than just another action hero.

Overall a solid tale more in the mystery/ action space than its predecessor, and yet it does its job of making the reader *need* the next book perfectly.

Very much recommended.

This review of Shades Of Mercy by Bruce Borgos was originally written on July 31, 2024.

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#BlogTour: The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle

For this blog tour, we’re looking at an action packed thrill ride for the War On Terror era. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

Action Packed Thrill Ride For The War On Terror Era. If you’re like me, you see a title like “The Paris Widow” and you’re thinking this is going to be some WWII historical fiction novel that tends to blend into each other because it has both been done so much and because you’ve read so many of them.

Well, you’d be wrong, in this case.

Because *this* is actually one of those “who can I trust” action packed suspense thrillers where everybody has secrets and literally no one – not even the maid – can be trusted. It is one you’re going to sit up reading well past bedtime because Belle has mastered the art of leaving the chapter on just enough of an edge that you *need* to read the next chapter to see what happens next… only to now find that you’re a dozen chapters and a couple hours after you said “just one more chapter”.

Set primarily in Paris, with some flashbacks to earlier interludes in Atlanta, Georgia (US) and others in a few different locations in and around the Mediterranean, this is one of those tales where while the settings don’t become characters themselves, they are described so beautifully that you’re going to wish you were there yourself.

Fans of the “ho hum this is just another story that oh fuck oh Fuck Oh FUck OH FUCK!” type of tale are going to have a particularly fun time with this one. (And let’s be real here, that sentence was also fairly fun to write. 🙂 )

So pick this book up, sit down in that beach chair right there on the pool deck, and prepare for the sunburn of your life as you get engrossed in this book for several hours until you finish it in one sitting. You’ve been warned. 🙂

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle”

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#BlogTour: One Deadly Eye by Randy Wayne White

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a tale of brutal and effective violence that Jack Reacher would be proud of. For this blog tour, we’re looking at One Deadly Eye by Randy Wayne White.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

Brutal And Effective Violence That Jack Reacher Would Be Proud Of. Admittedly I stepped into this book not realizing when I signed up for the blog tour that this was number 27 in a series, so there are likely elements to this tale that I completely missed out on.

That noted, the tale as told works within itself to tell a complete tale + a couple of open ended teasers (not really “cliffhangers” as at least one other reviewer described them) such that it *is* possible to enjoy this book for itself, but obviously if you are an “absolutely no spoilers of any minute kind” type of reader… eh, start all the way back at book 1 here. 🙂

As for the story told… I wasn’t joking in the title of this review. I’ve read more graphic violence than this (hello, Code Alpha by Joseph Massucci and Without Remorse by Tom Clancy), but this is certainly up there. Hell, even the modern Mortal Kombat games with their ultra-realism and X-ray moves sometimes seem less graphic than some of the violence White gives us here. And yet the expected quippy banter is still present as well, providing just enough smiles to keep this from going to near slasher level action.

Set during a Cat 5 hurricane, some of the stuff described seems a bit implausible… but then, this is an action book, so meh, already suspending disbelief for the rest of the plot, might as well suspend it a bit more there. Otherwise, the hurricane doesn’t provide much “atmosphere” to the book, but *does* provide quite a few set pieces for the action sequences to look that much cooler.

Ultimately, this is one of those books that as long as you approach it as you would say WWE or the Fast and Furious franchise – ie, just go with the flow and enjoy the spectacle – it absolutely works. If you’re looking for anything more serious than that, you’re going to be disappointed.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: One Deadly Eye by Randy Wayne White”

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#BookReview: Good Boys: Unleashed by Jeremy Robinson

Explosive Sequel With Humor And Heart From The New God Of Science Fiction. This is one of those sequels that does its jobs quite well indeed. Picking up shortly after the events of The Lost Tribe, we find our team testing out new strategies and techs when the action suddenly finds them. Splitting up the team ala his much earlier Chesspocalypse novellas, but within one book, we get a variety of mix and match scifi based action and adventure in a similar vein as some of the best sequences from Avengers: Infinity War.

And then… that final battle and its outcome. Robinson has crafted some truly action packed and mind bending sequences for this part of some of his recent tales (such as in 2023’s FAMINE, available only within the HUNGER: THE COMPLETE TRILOGY collection), and this one at minimum matches the insane and inventive action sequences there.

Finally… particularly if you pick this trilogy up after Book 3 (whose title is revealed at the end of this book) is released… you’re going to want that Book 3 in your hands *immediately*, because the setup for this winner-takes-Earth-and-likely-the-universe battle royale is excellently done.

Overall truly yet another really fun tale from The New God Of Science Fiction, showing just how he has earned that title. Very much recommended.

This review of Good Boys: Unleashed by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on May 25, 2024.

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#BookReview: Point Nemo by Jeremy Robinson

Immersive And Inventive Tale Of Survival Horror From The New God Of Science Fiction. This was yet another fun scifi action thriller from the New God of Science Fiction, Jeremy Robinson, that manages to combine certain aspects of a few different comic book tales (Venom’s origins in Spiderman, the current(ly ending) era of XMen, early Greig Beck books, and even another classic tale whose name alone would be a massive spoiler and yet tell a tale entirely its own. Hell, knowing how Robinson writes from having followed him since basically the beginning (and now nearly 100 books later…), he is probably generally aware of the stories I referenced, but I doubt he would actually label them as “influences” on the story.

Some of his detractors who think they know his personal politics will probably have some more ammunition here, as the story told actually also brings forth certain aspects of US history (and, some would argue, even its current actions).

But ultimately this is simply an inventive and fun horror-based tale of survival, a well Robinson has dipped into a few times before and yet always manages to create an entirely fresh take on the general idea every time he comes back to it.

Truly a wild ride that will leave you breathless… and wanting to come back to this world or at minimum see if it plays into his *next* “Avengers Level Event” (which likely won’t be actively seen for at least 2-3 more years).

Very much recommended.

This review of Point Nemo by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on March 15, 2024.