Review: Beneath Cruel Fathoms

Beneath Cruel Fathoms by Anela Deen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First in a Norse-like epic fantasy series, BENEATH CRUEL FATHOMS features as protagonist Isaura, a Healer, who has set sail for a distant land after the sudden unexpected dissolution of her marriage. Unfortunately, this is a time of multiple dangerous tempests on the sea, as never before known, and the ship capsizes, all crew lost. Rescued by the last of the merfolk, Isaura joins with Leonel to uncover the truth behind these terribly dangerous storms. Part fairy tale, part fantasy, all delight.

View all my reviews

Review: A Book of Bones

A Book of Bones by John Connolly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What could possibly outshine a new entry in John Connolly's meta-exceptional Charlie Parker Series? I'd be hard pressed to judge, because this is my equivalent of Christmas and birthdays rolled into one. I think Paradise would consist of rereading this entire, lengthy, always engrossing, series again in consecutive order from the very beginning. Private Investigator Charlie Parker of Scarborough, Maine: a former police detective, widower, who also lost his first daughter, parent of a second daughter who walks between worlds and regularly converses with her father's murdered first daughter, a mortal man who has died and returned...I can think of no protagonist to compare. And Parker's friends, the indombitable Louis and Angel....An incredible, delightful, irresistible trio.

In this 17th novel in the series, the trio continues to track the odd English lawyer Quayle, and his Pale as Death associate, the morally corrupt Pallida Mors, following their trail of brutality from Indiana to Maine, and on to England, where numerous ritual sacrifices are undertaken in pursuit of reviving an ancient Earthbound evil. At the heart of the matter is the infamous Fractured Atlas, a living entity which will remake this world for the much, much, worse.


View all my reviews

Review: Deep Past: A Novel

Deep Past: A Novel by Eugene Linden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When, early in the first few pages, I read that something has been uncovered in a forlorn, isolated, region of the world (specifically, the Kazahk Steppes), immediately I knew I was embarking on a suspense-laden thrill ride. What was revealed? Why shouldn't it have been discovered? What does this mean for humanity and the world at large?


All these burning questions ignited my intrigue, and this thoughtful (and thought-provoking), literate exposition in a thriller maintained my close attention throughout. Afterwards, I found myself lost in the possibilities: What If? DEEP PAST is a novel we all ought to read and consider.

View all my reviews

Review: The Night Window

The Night Window by Dean Koontz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THE NIGHT WINDOW is the conclusion to Dean Koontz' enormously riveting (and realistically terrifying) JANE HAWK Series. As this is the final novel in the Quintology, I really feared the ending, so throughout the novel I remained on tenterhooks. This series is so terrifying because IT'S ALL SO POSSIBLE, both in terms of the technology (if not already, soon) and even more intensely, because of the human failings and foibles, the Narcissism, the immense drive for power over others, the greed. Think Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great cloned into one, then that one multiplied. Such is the nature of the Arcadian conspiracy: to enslave all but a tiny percent of humanity, to erase individual freedom and free will. This horrifying prospect drives former FBI agent Jane Hawk to wage war against all Arcadians, no matter how high in government nor politically connected nor wealthy beyond comprehension.

View all my reviews

Review: All the Pretty Brides

All the Pretty Brides by Marian Lanouette
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An engrossing suspense thriller, ALL THE PRETTY BRIDES is the third installment in the Detective Jake Carrigan Series. Set in a city of 100,000 population in Connecticut, the series protagonist is a Homicide detective, now Lieutenant, with tragedy in his past--the murder of his sister at fifteen. Commitment-phobic, he is trying to reestablish a relationship with psychologist--author Mia, when a horribly tortured murder victim is discovered, capping a series of brides-to-be kidnapped on July 6, one each year for the past five years. Then the killer targets both Jake and Mia.


I was riveted. ALL THE PRETTY BRIDES is a marvelous, although gory, page-turner.

View all my reviews

Review: SO FIGHT I

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45021531-so-fight-i" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="So Fight I (Echoes of War Book 3)" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1554993537m/45021531.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45021531-so-fight-i">So Fight I</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18165458.Daniel_Gibbs">Daniel Gibbs</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2821052564">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
 This is Book 3 in author Daniel Gibbs' ECHOES OF WAR Series, consistently one of the most fascinating and exciting science fiction series I have read over many decades. Excellently composed, with endearing characters, suspenseful actions, aliens, and a wonderfully compelling religious and moral stance different, refreshing, and heartwarming, each novel in the series expands its characters and demonstrates winningly the character arc of the series' admirable protagonist, starfarer David Cohen.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7302570-may-fungi-from-yuggoth">View all my reviews</a>

Review: ENLIGHTENMENT by Reno Ursal

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41458934-enlightenment" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Enlightenment (The Bathala, #1)" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1535231963m/41458934.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41458934-enlightenment">Enlightenment</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7323449.Reno_Ursal">Reno Ursal</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2820989102">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
First in a series, ENLIGHTENMENT follows young Filipine Dorothy Dizon, a resident of Las Vegas, and her unexpected protector Adrian, scion of a secret society. A contemporary fantasy weaving today's glitter society with the hidden history of the Philippines, this is a story like none I have encountered, an eye-opening and imagination-expanding novel.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7302570-may-fungi-from-yuggoth">View all my reviews</a>

Review: Enlightenment

Enlightenment by Reno Ursal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First in a series, ENLIGHTENMENT follows young Filipine Dorothy Dizon, a resident of Las Vegas, and her unexpected protector Adrian, scion of a secret society. A contemporary fantasy weaving today's glitter society with the hidden history of the Philippines, this is a story like none I have encountered, an eye-opening and imagination-expanding novelm

View all my reviews

Review: The Ironclad Covenant

The Ironclad Covenant by Christopher Cartwright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THE IRONCLAD COVENANT is a terrifically engrossing and exciting historical adventure which kept me riveted from Page One to the end. I've always found the American Civil War a fascinating subject in all its ramifications, and to get a close-up look, plus an incredible mystery, plus deep characterizations and extraordinary imagery, make for a completely riveting story, both in the historical era and in the subsequent contemporary adventure.

View all my reviews

Review: The Dead Girls Club

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

From the very beginning I did not like the protagonist/narrator. I find her selfish, self-centered, egotistical, and a drama queen. Almost immediately she goes into the "huff, puff, I'll swoon" stage like a well-bred Victorian noblewoman on her fainting couch. I'm reminded of the antagonist Kate in Robyn Harding's HER PRETTY FACE; I could not abide her character either (though I adored the book). Heather also reminds me of the unreliable narrator of GIRL ON A TRAIN. This protagonist has no reason I could see to be as she is: she didn't have an abusive childhood; she had supportive and loving parents, a best friend, and two other almost-best friends. They seemed to have much freedom as far as being able to roam and go about, separately and together. Perhaps she is one of those cases of "damned by faint praise," a person whose life is too stable so she gets spoiled and seeks out excitement, then blames her failings on others (including the victim).

All that aside, the novel did catch my interest about 18% in, and the plot is intriguing, especially certain events which begin to occur in the life of the protagonist in an odd but compelling sequence, so that the reader wonders if the protagonist is having blank spells and acting thus herself, or is being gaslighted, or is in actuality being threatened. Throughout the story, the past is interwoven with the present, so that we see why events in the past happened as they did, and in what I think is the denouement, we find out exactly what was and was not done that fateful past night, and why, and what were the intents. I will only say how tragic, for all, but especially for some.

Despite my strong and persistent dislike of the protagonist, Heather Cole, the story line did maintain its intrigue and keep me turning the pages till the end.

View all my reviews

Review: The Dead Girls Club

The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

From the very beginning I did not like the protagonist/narrator. I find her selfish, self-centered, egotistical, and a drama queen. Almost immediately she goes into the "huff, puff, I'll swoon" stage like a well-bred Victorian noblewoman on her fainting couch. I'm reminded of the antagonist Kate in Robyn Harding's HER PRETTY FACE; I could not abide her character either (though I adored the book). Heather also reminds me of the unreliable narrator of GIRL ON A TRAIN. This protagonist has no reason I could see to be as she is: she didn't have an abusive childhood; she had supportive and loving parents, a best friend, and two other almost-best friends. They seemed to have much freedom as far as being able to roam and go about, separately and together. Perhaps she is one of those cases of "damned by faint praise," a person whose life is too stable so she gets spoiled and seeks out excitement, then blames her failings on others (including the victim).

All that aside, the novel did catch my interest about 18% in, and the plot is intriguing, especially certain events which begin to occur in the life of the protagonist in an odd but compelling sequence, so that the reader wonders if the protagonist is having blank spells and acting thus herself, or is being gaslighted, or is in actuality being threatened. Throughout the story, the past is interwoven with the present, so that we see why events in the past happened as they did, and in what I think is the denouement, we find out exactly what was and was not done that fateful past night, and why, and what were the intents. I will only say how tragic, for all, but especially for some.

Despite my strong and persistent dislike of the protagonist, Heather Cole, the story line did maintain its intrigue and keep me turning the pages till the end.

View all my reviews

Review: Section Roads

Section Roads by Mike Murphey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a gloriously twisty mystery packed within a combination coming-of-age plus aging-and-looking-back literary feat! In a tiny little community inexplicably founded by settlers in Eastern New Mexico and homesteaded at the turn of the 20th century, a locale without rivers, mountains, or canyons to recommend it, life is slow and entertainment sometimes found at the expense of others. In October of 1966, a group of high school kids create a prank, causing injury, and inevitably as the consequences roll out, fatality and the ruination of a life.

As time passes, the high school graduation class reunions bring some of the former classmates back to little Arthur, New Mexico, and during the 40th reunion of 2009, trouble wakes its ugly head. From that point on, a series of unreliable characters, each of whom keeps secrets from the others, from the community, and even from themselves, reveal little by little a plot which has to be read to marvel at. I had to wonder how some of these folks managed to live to 40 years after high school graduation, because some of them are their own worst enemies. Nonetheless, their entwined troubles make for a fascinating novel.

View all my reviews

Review: Inside The Asylum

Inside The Asylum by Mary SanGiovanni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

INSIDE THE ASYLUM is the third book in Mary SanGiovanni's "Kathy Ryan Series," after BEHIND THE DOOR and CHILLS. I marveled at the first two in the series: Kathy Ryan is an incredibly complex character, vulnerable yet tough, horribly abused in childhood so empathetic to other victims, wise in the ways of the Otherworld. Her foil is her horrible brother Toby, once her protector, then her assailant, a man who committed multiple brutal rape-murders and threatened the same to his sister.

In INSIDE THE ASYLUM, Kathy, who is a bit of a roving consultant on the occult, is called into the hospital for the criminally insane where her brother Toby is incarcerated. Another inmate, Henry Banks, who suffered an incredibly horrific childhood and adolescence at the hands of family members, long ago created for himself a fantasy realm into which to retreat; but Henry's imagination is so powerful that it has created "tulpas," entities which now are determined on living for themselves, not as illusionary "imaginary friends" anymore.

View all my reviews

Review: Inspired by Murder

Inspired by Murder by Audrey J. Cole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Psychiatrist and hopeful novelist Dr. Eric Leroy is about as feckless a protagonist as I've encountered. He is also a dangerous one, because he is incredibly self-centered and Narcissistic, with no capacity for self-analysis. Early on he decides his future bestselling, Pulitzer Prize winning novel-to-be is insufficiently vivid. Since it's a murder mystery, he decides experience is essential and sets out to get it: by murdering, setting off a comedy of errors (and deaths) worthy of Rube Goldberg.

View all my reviews

Review: The Ouroboros Lock

The Ouroboros Lock by Mark William Chase
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An enormously engaging Victorian-era Steampunkish Urban Fantasy presented as as a framework of three linked tales, this collection is eminently readable and yet reminds me of the best classic Gothic literature in its very compelling resonances.

View all my reviews

Review: The Lost Girls

The Lost Girls by Sarah Painter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

THE LOST GIRLS is a dark supernatural thriller about a university student in historic Edinburgh who inadvertently commences experiencing realistic visions of the deaths of young women much like herself, and of a young man trained by his father since the age of seven to be a demon hunter. A sensorily engaging novel, readers easily empathize with Rose and desire to solve the puzzling mystery.

View all my reviews

Review: The Lost Girls

The Lost Girls by Sarah Painter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

THE LOST GIRLS is a dark supernatural thriller about a university student in historic Edinburgh who inadvertently commences experiencing realistic visions of the deaths of young women much like herself, and of a young man trained by his father since the age of seven to be a demon hunter. A sensorily engaging novel, readers easily empathize with Rose and desire to solve the puzzling mystery.

View all my reviews

Review: The Death Chute

The Death Chute by Ambrose Stolliker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An engrossing horror novella set in Vermont's mountains, THE DEATH CHUTE deftly and winningly combines both contemporary events and the not-so-distant past. A Vermont native and reality producer of little note in L.A., Jake Porter has returned to his home state in order to place his mother, suffering from senile dementia, into a care home. Unfortunately he selects a lovely institution with a sad and tragic past.

As Jake grieves his mother's decline and fears she is sinking faster than expected, he also begins to develop a relationship with the physician who is the Home's administrator. These three individuals and a resident who has been at the Home a year, gradually unravel the tragic history of the building, which was once a much-needed sanitorium for Tuberculosis patients in the early 20th century.

The background history is fascinating and the story line kept me riveted through to the end, and delivered a satisfying sense of, if not mercy, at least poetic justice.



View all my reviews

Review: Hellrider

Hellrider by J.G. Faherty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really anticipated this novel when I saw it available at NetGalley. In some ways I ended up liking it a lot, in other ways not so much. I found myself empathising with the eponymous character, Eddie Ryder, from the beginning, until nearly the end. He's had a rough life, bad genetics, but he does love his ailing mother (emphysema) and his younger (very intelligent) brother. He tries his best to support them and himself in a tiny little "backwater" community next to the Everglades. He's made mistakes, he's paid for them; but seems like either due to genetics or his own attitudes or his reputation, he's still paying...And then comes that fatal moment...

Except: for Eddie, it's fatal but it's also a second chance. So he decides to repay everybody that's done him wrong. That was fine for a while; I enjoy vigilante justice as much as the next person, but before too long, Eddie's spirit or ghost or whatever his afterdeath energy is called loses its hold on sanity; and from there it was just over the top. Too many people get hurt who really were "innocent bystanders." Like a war zone.

Finally Mr. Flaherty ties off the tapestry with a really neatly done ending and epilogue. Scary, but neat. And apropos to the story.

View all my reviews

Review: The Invited

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading any novel by this author is a sure ticket to adventure, and THE INVITED is one of her best (although I love them all). The character evolution of multiple individuals in THE INVITED is to die for (sometimes literally). The friction between the Skeptic and the Believer as trouble builds, each character begins to take on the stance and characteristics of the other, the many ongoing and historical mysteries, and the umbrella and foundation of the supernatural elements involved here, make for an extraordinarily compelling, can't stop reading, story.

View all my reviews

Review: The Invited

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading any novel by this author is a sure ticket to adventure, and THE INVITED is one of her best (although I love them all). The character evolution of multiple individuals in THE INVITED is to die for (sometimes literally). The friction between the Skeptic and the Believer as trouble builds, each character begins to take on the stance and characteristics of the other, the many ongoing and historical mysteries, and the umbrella and foundation of the supernatural elements involved here, make for an extraordinarily compelling, can't stop reading, story.

View all my reviews