Tag: thriller

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#BookReview: His Truth Her Truth by Noelle Holten

Slow Front Builds To Frenetic End. This is one of those stories that starts out with a bang in its prologue before going back in time and achieving the pace of… well, probably a tired slug racing an exhausted turtle. In other words, it is rather S L O W in the beginning.

But hang around, because as things start picking up they also begin spiraling, and soon enough your heart is beating faster as your brain is getting a good workout trying to read at the pace of the plot.

There’s a lot going on in these pages, and a lot that a lot of people won’t like – particularly so much domestic abuse, among other issues. But there is also a lot to like overall here, and Holten does a solid job of telling exactly the story she seemingly wants to tell at exactly the pace she seemingly wants to tell it at.

Ultimately, this is one that will have you gripping the final pages, desperate to see exactly how it ends… and that is pretty much what most people want of our thrillers, right?

Very much recommended.

This review of His Truth Her Truth by Noelle Holten was originally written on March 1, 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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#BlogTour: The Younger Woman by Cate Ray

For this blog tour, we’re looking at . For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Younger Woman by Cate Ray.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookHype.com / PageBound.co / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com) and YouTube:

Editing Miscues Mar Otherwise Solid Suspense Story. The story told in this book really is quite solid. It may not work for *everyone*, but I found it enjoyable and it seemed to fit well enough with the characters as portrayed that nothing was so far “out there” as to be too distracting. There are several twists and turns and while I realized the link possibly before the author meant me to – or possibly much later than Ray meant me to, due to the aforementioned editing miscues – it wasn’t anything that harmed my enjoyment of the tale. More of a “I know something you don’t know” to hold over the main character until she finally realizes it herself.

But the editing miscues. Ugh. Not enough to deduct a star over, because it isn’t really an “objective-ish” issue, but it absolutely marred my enjoyment of reading this book. Specifically, the way the timeline bounced around with little warning and with even less differentiation. Nothing about the way the text was formatted or the way these jumps into the past were written gave any indication beyond the “x time earlier” at the beginning of the chapter, and while that can (and has) worked in other books… for some reason it just *didn’t* here, and I’m not overly sure why. It could absolutely be a “me” thing though, so read this book and see for yourself – and write your own review so I can have a more complete picture of whether or not this *is* a “me” thing. 🙂

Ultimately a solid story that shows promise for this author’s continued career, but I do hope the editing issues can be resolved (or shown at least to be just a “me” problem).

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 Younger Woman by Cate Ray”

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#BlogTour: Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a solid thriller that uses multi-perspectives from a rare type of character class to tell an excellent tale. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookHype.com / PageBound.com / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com) and YouTube:

Not For Everyone. Read It Anyway. This is one of those tales that with its focus on a distinct type of character – namely, elderly residents of a care home – and with its use of multiple perspectives to tell its tale won’t be something everyone likes. Well, not everyone likes [insert your personal favorite book here], so read this one anyway and maybe see some things from perspectives you might never have considered before. To me, Glass creates her characters well – yes, they are all old and have some stereotypical elder shenanigans, but they’re also all truly complex characters with their own secrets and motivations and connections, and this winds up working well to drive the narrative, particularly as we get deeper into the overall story here.

Ultimately a satisfying thriller that sits comfortably within its genre as far as overall story goes, and with the particular characters employed helps it to stand out a bit from the literal millions of other books within this general space. If you enjoy thrillers at all, this is absolutely one you should check out. And even if you don’t generally enjoy thrillers, this is still an interesting one to try out to see if you may be more open to the genre than you thought.

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: Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass”

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#BookReview: Spores by Michael McBride

Visceral Horror Thriller Sets Up Horrifying Series. When two different friends release a book with the same sky high general premise within a year of each other – in this case, fungi, with this book and Jeremy Robinson’s POINT NEMO – it is always interesting to see how divergent they will be. While Robinson’s has some horror-ish elements, it remains more of a pure scifi action thriller. *This* book however is absolutely scifi horror, on the level that will have you squeamish at best and potentially mind-melting at worst. Featuring elements similar to Greig Beck’s BENEATH THE DARK ICE and even Lee Child’s DIE TRYING, this book manages to combine a deep backstory from decades earlier with hot off the presses current issues of environmental protection in the Western US (and even specifically referencing the Centralia, Pennsylvania coal mine fire that has been burning for over 60 yrs now).

Truly a book horror fans, and particularly fans of multiple types of horror, will love, this one has everything from scenes that will make those suffering claustrophobia lose their minds to several great creature horror elements and scenes that will give creature feature lovers chills in the best possible ways. This book is going to make your heart pound *hard* almost no matter what makes you anxious or or terrified – it truly does have a bit of everything, including even elements of disaster stories.

And then that ending… wow. Blatantly sets up an ongoing series, but that is all that I will reveal about it here.

Truly one of the better books early in the year, and very much recommended.

This review of Spores by Michael McBride was originally written on February 4, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Hunt by Gregg Dunnett

Intriguing If A Touch Meandering. Will Be Divisive. I believe this is my first ever review with an asterisk on the rating as far as I’m concerned – because for the first time ever I may well come back and reduce it by a star, depending on how the next book plays out. My reasons here can’t be explained without delving into spoiler territory, but I’ve written about my thoughts on what happens here in other contexts in other places, so they are at least quantities that can be known – and which should be at least partially obvious to those who have read the book.

For what it is though, this book itself is truly a fun and intriguing look at a Sherlock-variant “super detective” who finds herself placed in a situation she refuses to believe is actually true. The story then meanders quite a bit before the big reveal, which then explains the meandering before leading into the final sequences here.

Even in the meandering, the plot is well paced with a lot going on in different areas around the globe, making this easily the most expansive book in the series to date. The characters all play their roles superbly, and the result is a book that reads at least as good as some of the movies that are of its ultimate form. But again, because of the nature of this book, there is really only so much that can be said without revealing spoilers of some form or another.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Hunt by Gregg Dunnett was originally written on January 10, 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 Business Trip by Jessie Garcia

Twisty Thriller. Maybe Not The Best Read The Day I Read It. Without spoiling *too* much, I read this book on the same day that United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered in cold blood – and given many peoples’ opinions of that murder, opinions echoed by one of our characters within this text… it was a bit much to read on that exact day.

But since *you* won’t be reading it *that* day (and, hopefully, not on any similar day), know that this book is actually one of the twistier, more inventive books I’ve read this year or even in quite some time, really. By the end of it, you’re going to feel very sad for certain characters and you’re likely to want to pull a gun on other characters yourself. Still other characters come off as incredibly sleezy basically every time they are “on screen”, and other characters you’re going to wind up actively cheering certain actions, at minimum.

If you enjoy twisty thrillers where nothing is ever as it seems… there is quite a bit to like here. If you’re a fan of more straightforward books… this may not be your cup of… well, whatever you prefer to drink. (As an American of the Southern US, the only tea I drink is sweet and iced, and I’m fairly sure the idiom “not your cup of tea” refers to that disgusting British stuff that we rightfully dumped into Boston Harbor all those years ago – which is all that stuff is good for. But I digress. :D)

Complex. Thrilling. Titillating (to a degree) even. If those are things you like in your books, congratulations. You’ve found a book that is *right there*. If a more Hallmarkie approach is more your speed… there are a lot of those stories out there, but this aint that.

Overall truly one of the more enjoyable and interesting books of the near 200 I’ve read this year, it will likely be on my Top 24 Books I Read In 2024 list. 🙂

Very much recommended.

This review of The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia was originally written on December 12, 2024.

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#BookReview: See How They Hide by Allison Brennan

Intriguing Crime Drives Solid Series Continuation. This is one of those FBI tales where the crime at hand really drives this particular story, even as Brennan expertly weaves the relationships between her team forward even throughout the investigation. Showing each teammate at their best – but also showing that they are not superhuman by any stretch of the imagination – this particular story is at its best when its villains are at their creepiest.

And yes, the crime at hand is particularly creepy on its face… which Brennan then spins into its own breathtaking and heart rending sub plot.

I wouldn’t *start* reading the series here, mostly due to the relationships between the teammates, but the crime itself isn’t tied to any prior tales, so it also isn’t a “you absolutely cannot start reading the series with this book”. So whether you’re new to this series intrigued by its premise and *want* to start here or whether you’re a long time fan of it, you’re going to have a good time with this book. Just be warned that there *are* situations that will make some uncomfortable here. Read the book anyway, and hopefully make such situations a touch easier from having dealt with them in the safety of fiction.

Very much recommended.

This review of See How They Hide by Allison Brennan was originally written on December 11, 2024.