Tag: murder

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#BookReview: Ladykiller by Katherine Wood

Slow Start Leads To Rollercoaster Twists. This is one of those books that starts out almost disaster movie slow. Other than the prologue that reveals an intriguing setup, a lot of the front of the book is solid enough in slowly building tension in an idyllic setting. But it really is more the back half, or maybe even the last third, of the book where it seems to become more of a cat and mouse, what the hell is going on, who can the reader actually trust kind of tale, one that ends with a deliciously ambiguous ending that would be intriguing to see a follow up to – IF Ms. Wood can manage to replicate the almost lightning in a bottle feel she has going on here, particularly through the last bit of the book.

Ultimately, this tale won’t be for everyone, for a variety of reasons. But if you’re looking for an interesting tale in a beautiful location and aren’t averse to a fair amount of onscreen sex (and not always exactly of the missionary-position-only-with-lights-off variety), this may be a book for you.

Very much recommended.

This review of Ladykiller by Katherine Wood was originally written on July 5, 2024.

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#BlogTour: Made For You by Jenna Satterthwaite

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a quasi scifi tale that leans more heavily on the murder mystery and reality tv components. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Made For You by Jenna Satterthwaite.

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

For Some Reason I’m Having A Tough Time Writing This Review. I finished this book 5 days ago as I write this review. I’ve read three other books (that I also need to write reviews for) since then, and for some reason there’s just nothing flowing for this book.

To be clear, there is nothing technically wrong with this book. It is solid, with perhaps a misstep or two.

I think what it comes down to, for me, is that the most interesting question in the description: “That is…if Julia truly is a person.” doesn’t really feel as explored as I think I wanted it to be. And I don’t know if that is on me as the reader or Satterthwaite as the writer. I don’t know if it was that I was wanting a harder probe or harder questions or more forceful thinking on the subject or some such, or if Satterthwaite really did do more telling than showing or perhaps not enough telling to make me really think deeply philosophically as maybe I was hoping to be forced to or what.

Ultimately, more time was absolutely spent of the murder mystery/ reality TV side of the tale than the synth side, even as the synth side plays key roles and is genuinely interwoven with the other components of the tale. So if you’re looking for a more reality TV/ murder mystery tale than a scifi synth tale… yeah, this one may work better for you.

Perhaps most damning, particularly for a debut – although perhaps one that was never meant as a series starter – is that I’m also not sure whether I would want to come back to this world or not. I’m sure that I think Satterthwaite has done enough here that I’m willing to read the next book and see if she grows as a storyteller with more experience, I’m just not sure with what she leaves us with here if I necessarily want to come back *here*. Although if that is in fact where her sophomore effort brings us, I’m absolutely going to be back for the ride.

So read the book for yourself, reader of my review. And maybe tag me in your own review so I can see if my own questions are *me* or if others are having similar difficulties with this book?

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: Made For You by Jenna Satterthwaite”

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#BookReview: Under The Palms by Kaira Rouda

Sequel Perfectly Flows From Prior Book. This is one of those books where everything I said about its prior book, Beneath The Surface, still feels spot on for this book as well. This is the continuing saga of one family and their business empire and the machinations as the patriarch of the family faces his coming death and everyone else is biting at the bit to become his chosen successor. The atmosphere switches from a yacht off shore near Catalina Island to a resort onshore… as the Santa Anna winds kick up, with all of their usual effects on both land and people (at least per so many books and even some real life reports I’ve seen, I’ve never lived in Southern California or indeed anywhere west of the Alabama/ Georgia State Line).

Because this flows so perfectly from Beneath The Surface, you really do need to read that book first. But once you do, you’re likely going to be glad that this book is already available – I read almost 130 books between reading them both as Advance Review Copies.

Whatever you feel about dark family/ boardroom dramas is how you’re going to feel about this series as it currently exists, as both books have really identical feels. Rouda actually did a truly superb job in doing so well with the first book and then managing to clone the stylings so effectively in this tale while telling a similar yet distinct tale the furthers the overall universe – and even allows for some intriguing possibilities for any potential Book 3.

Overall a very fun book, and also on the shortish side at under 300 pages. Very much recommended.

This review of Under The Palms by Kaira Rouda was originally written on May 9, 2024.

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#BookReview: Summers At The Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

Not A Casual “Beach Read”. With the cover and even a common understanding of the description, one might think going into this tale that it is a breezy easy beach read. Well, I’m of the belief that any book you read at a beach is a beach read, but this book takes some effort. If you’re looking for a simple tale… this aint that.

What this *is* though is a solid tale of survival on so many different levels. Yes, you have the tale of the struggle to save the resort that the description points out. But there is also *so much more* here, and the problems at the resort go *so much deeper* than is initially believed.

At first, this seems to be a tale of the resort manager building her team, Nick Fury building the Avengers style. As this slow burn story continues though, we see that not everything is as it seems, and Nick may have found Loki posing as Thor rather than the actual Thor…

Ultimately, all of the separate characters and threads do come together in a wonderful tapestry, but it takes a while to see the full picture of all that is happening and why, but for those that demand books that wrap up everything… this *is* one of those tales, at least.

Very much recommended.

This review of Summers At The Saint by Mary Kay Andrews was originally written on May 8, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Mountain Mystic by Russell W. Johnson

Solid Second Book In Series. This is one of those tales where both the author and the reader are going on an adventure- ok, the first book was *awesome*, but I had all the time in the world to write the thing and now I need to produce a sequel in a timely manner since my name isn’t GRR Martin… so what do I do?

Johnson’s answer here is a thrilling ride that perhaps doesn’t have the same level of social commentary from the first book – though to be clear, there is still *some* here – yet manages to keep up with the action and even introduces some wrinkles not seen in the first book, going in a direction not often seen, but which makes perfect sense within this world.

And then… just when you think everything is all said and done… Thanos appears. No, not really. But there *is* that stinger scene at the end that reveals the storm clouds on the horizon… storm clouds that portend one *intense* battle coming up. Will we see that battle in Book 3, or will we simply edge closer to the storm? Yet again, I for one can’t wait to find out.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Mountain Mystic by Russell W. Johnson was originally written on April 29, 2024.

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#BookReview: Death Pact by Matt Hilton

Gruesome Crime Horror/ Thriller Starts With A Bang. Seriously, the start of this book feels like Hilton read Jeff Guinn’s Waco, because it truly feels like Hilton took Guinn’s hyper realistic descriptions of what actually went down there to scaffold his own fictional version.

Which is actually a *phenomenal* way to begin this particular tale.

The rest of the tale then flashes forward a bit and crosses the “pond”, becoming a UK based police/ crime tale featuring some particularly horrific murders that fans of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter trilogy or Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s Pendergast series will absolutely enjoy. The pacing of the investigation is solid, and the way the various characters meld together is done quite well.

Surprises late are well executed, and by the end you’re going to be questioning if this is meant to be a series starter afterall…

Overall truly a great crime story excellently told, and a solid change of pace from Hilton’s Grey and Villere thrillers in particular in that while the action is equally intense, the criminals here feel so much more decidedly dark and truly evil. Very much recommended.

This review of Death Pact by Matt Hilton was originally written on April 14, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Reaper Follows by Heather Graham

Copaganda Mars Exciting Series Finale. If you read my review of Danger In Numbers (Book 1 of this series), you’ll see that I read this series *completely* out of order… and yet it still somehow makes sense, even the way I read it. So take that comment however you will.

That noted, this was absolutely one of those tales where it seems like prior key characters are coming out of the woodwork to all join in the chase to the finale and the ultimate showdown of Good vs Evil in the Florida Everglades… but *who is it*? 😉

The pacing was solid, the murders gruesome, the mystery good enough, but ultimately what mars this tale is what another reviewer called the “love fest” between all the police agencies involved. Local, State, and Feds all get along perfectly (which goes against what virtually *every other source*, fictional and non, tends to say), and worse for this former anti-police brutality activist is just how often some cop shoots someone “but was forced into it” and “didn’t want to”. Bullshit. Police brutality is an all too real thing in this nation, and Graham exposes herself as just another Copaganda bullshit spewer that thinks that all cops are always saints and everyone in their crosshairs somehow “deserves it”, no matter what. This leaves a very sour aftertaste to an otherwise thrilling conclusion to the series.

This series had great promise, and *is* a legitimately solid enough story, particularly for those who agree with Graham’s position on policing in America, but it could have been *so much more*. Still, even with all of the Copaganda, this really was a fun read and is very much recommended.

This review of The Reaper Follows by Heather Graham was originally written on March 15, 2024.

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#BookReview: Danger In Numbers by Heather Graham

When You Can Read A Series Out Of Order And It Still Somehow Make Sense. Seriously, I don’t know what to say about a book series that you can read it completely out of order- as I will have, when I read book 3, Shadow of Death – and it still actually make sense. I read Book 2, Crimson Summer, as an ARC in 2022. Going in to read Book 4, The Reaper Follows, for an ARC due in a couple of weeks, I picked up what I *thought* was Book 3 but turned out, as I found out getting ready to write this review, to be Book 1. Yet I’ve now already read The Reaper Follows immediately after reading this book… and yet somehow it still manages to make perfect sense to me? As in, there were no callouts that I was blatantly missing in this book to book 3? Though perhaps it was a detail thing about toy horses and island vacations, as it could in theory be possible to end each book with both of those and begin each subsequent book with both of those, but different particulars?

Regardless of all of the above, this was a fast paced compelling creepy mystery set in and around the Florida Everglades, and it worked quite well on several levels. I thought it was thoroughly enjoyable – one of *very* few books I’ve read of late in one sitting without really stopping. (Which could in part be due to how I was trying to squeeze both this book and The Reaper Follows in with barely 48 hrs before I left before a week long vacation, and actually finished both books within about 30 hrs of starting this one.)

Overall I thought this tale was fun, interesting, and pretty well everything I expect from an action-packed mystery/ thriller. Very much recommended.

This review of Danger In Numbers by Heather Graham was originally written on March 15, 2024.

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#BookReview: Watch It Burn by Kristen Bird

Small Town Southern Mystery Reminiscent of Malibu Rising. As I begin to think about this book and my experience with it, Malibu Rising keeps coming to mind – which, given that *that* book was a bestseller, tends to be a favorable comparison for this book – or so Ms. Bird likely hopes. Up front, this book does have several different POVs, which is clearly something some readers don’t enjoy. So if you’re one of those, know this book probably isn’t for you. That noted, Ms. Bird actually uses those POVs quite effectively, with the grandma character very much feeling like an old school small town Southern grandma, particularly of the “knows everybody and their business” variety. On some other aspects, at times the tale gets perhaps a bit *too* blatant in its commentary, seemingly coming millimeters from using the actual names (NXVIM, Allison Mack, etc) it is referring to. At other points, it is perhaps a touch too *obtuse*, at times using a few dozen words when a single word or short phrase would have worked just as well.

But ultimately this was a fun book that managed to keep the pacing and mystery solid enough to be entertaining without being so serious and deep as to be dragging. The surprises were done well and the villains were sufficiently creepy, and the humor was just enough to keep everything refreshing. Very much recommended.

This review of Watch It Burn by Kristen Bird was originally written on March 14, 2024.

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#BlogTour: Her Last Hour by B.R. Spangler

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a compelling police procedural with a crime so horrific it would make even Aloysius Pendergast gasp. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Her Last Hour by B.R. Spangler.

Here’s what I had to say on the review sites (Hardcover.app, TheStoryGraph, BookHype, Goodreads):

Continual Innovation Compels Series Further. This is the first book in this series in a while to have some real innovation both in how the crime happens and in the domestic side of the police procedural format, and both the book at hand and overall series are that much stronger for it. This is one of those tales that tells a complete tale… and yet you’re going to be clamoring for the next book immediately, though in a very different way that prior books, including Their Resting Place earlier in this series. Truly one of the more horrific crimes of a series that has had some particularly innovative and horrifying crimes, nearly on a level that would make even Aloysius Pendergast gasp. And yet as always Spangler does a remarkable job balancing the crime and investigation with the domestic elements, and here makes both sides of the story equally compelling and exciting.

Overall yet another strong entrant in a strong series. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Her Last Hour by B.R. Spangler”