Showing posts with label #thriller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #thriller. Show all posts

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Review of Book Trilogy by Martin Crosbie


The My Temporary Life Trilogy by Martin Crosbie



My Temporary Life-Book One


A wonderful story with great characters and honest writing.
As a reader, I was easily drawn into the world of a young Scottish boy named Malcolm and stayed with him during his journey to manhood. This is an excellent story that's written in the first person.

It's a story about finding a sense of home, overcoming obstacles in which there is no control and still coming out a good person. We watch young Mal develop his relationships, his struggle against bullies, his confusion as he tries to connect with his father, and the lack of having a real relationship with his mother. We never know what life will deal us, the only thing we can do is our best with a situation and make choices that are true to our own nature.

As an adult, Malcolm goes to the extreme for those he loves, proves to himself who he is and where his loyalties rest, his true home. This novel is a great journey written by Martin Crosbie and I highly recommend it for those who enjoy reading honest characters, and if you are not afraid to face horrible realities.

I also recommend an open heart and a few tissues. On to the next book about Malcolm's friend, Hardly.

My Name Is Hardly-Book Two


Hardly understands the meaning of friendship...
We follow Malcolm's friend, Hardly, and his spiritual growth after he's away from his abusive parents when he moves in with Malcolm's father after Mal leaves for Canada. We readers see his career in the military and his strange assignments.

This is a unique story with lovable characters who grow and become better people as they experience tough situations and survive. Their strong bonds of friendship keep them going.

The plot is unexpected, entertaining, suspenseful, and delivers a rewarding finish - I highly recommend this book.

All Good Men Must Fall-Book Three


The final book in the My Temporary life series brings it all together.

Read them all, these stories won't disappoint. FIVE STARS for them all!

Available at Amazon in Kindle, print and audio format.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

The Missing Ones Book Review

The Missing Ones (Detective Lottie Parker #1)

Review of book one in the series

written by Patricia Gibney 
Michele Moran (Narrator)

Amazon Link for book

Goodreads Link




One of the best stories I’ve experienced in a long time.

I listened to an audiobook as I traveled to visit my daughter. Arriving before the book was finished, I had to pull out my headphones to finish the book, had to know what happened next. The audio version was great, good voice and great pace, I think reading would even be better.

Dark, mysterious, and creepy - this is a riveting story of survivors. Abused as children by the horrors of a monster of the cloth, their story unravels as the threads pull apart and the protagonist, Detective Lottie Parker, is the only person who can pull the clues back into a tapestry that makes sense.

Lottie pushes everything to the max- her work, personal life, and even her health when it comes to doing her job. She is a complex character carrying many crosses but is determined to fix the things she can fix, which is solving crimes.

This storyline is fresh with believable characters who step off the page with heart-wrenching truths, and real-life drama. The crimes are as different as the detective herself and will keep you guessing and glued to the next page.

Definitely worth your reading time.Yes - 5 big stars.

Looking forward to reading or listening to the next in the series.



Keep Reading! Keep Writing!

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Mountain Of The Dead

World's Scariest Places Book Five

Obsession about a mysterious past event turns into an unexpected horror.

I could not have predicted the action scenes with the racing for your life kind of momentum, literally the story took me by surprise. As original and unseemly the characters who banded together were, the last few scenes were even more unexpected.

I enjoy and appreciate the writing style of Jeremy Bates, like his descriptive narrative, his casual voice, and I have read most of his novels, but this story leaps ahead of the others in the Scariest Places series due to the intense historical background that was cleverly added as a thread against the current day's story plot.

The true historical event that happened in the Russian mountains back in 1959 that was named the Dyatlov Pass Incident, was well researched and smoothly intertwined that tale (which Bates totally expanded creatively) with the main story of the protagonist's search for answers. It was more than a search though, the protagonist was obsessed with the original mystery, compelled to do the trip.

More important, the old mystery was intriguing by itself, then add the current story of an obsessive man trying to come to grips with demons by throwing his all into a crazy expedition, dragging his BFF along, meeting up with unlikely climbing mates, who of course all have a reason for being there as well, and it makes for a stew of explosive scenes. There were moments I felt sorry for his dearest friend who faithfully followed Whitey and hoped things hadn't turned out the way they did for him, but .... it is a horror story.

There were extra horrors added to the story when the main character and friends stumbled across additional mysterious and deadly places, while on their way to the final peak/pass.

I enjoyed reading this story very much and highly recommend this novel.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

The Likeness by Tana French

The Likeness: A Novel

byTana French


A Good Story but . . . 

not as good as the first in the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, 'In The Woods'. The Irish murder squad worked a compelling plot, actually it was more like two plots that intertwine - it was excellent!

Anticipating the same type of plot movement in book two, I started 'The Likeness' and was quickly disappointed. French did a good job with setting and character development, however, the plot wasn't very suspenseful.

It was all based on the nervousness of being undercover and trying to fool the other characters (trick four close friends of the murder victim - unlikely).

The author used the writing style or technique (for lack of other words to use here) that other current authors are doing as of late; French was in the head of the protagonist most of the time. . . not my favorite type of writing POV.

Once in awhile being inside their thoughts in a tense situation is good, but when it's done too often, it takes away from everything else and it makes a poor substitute for a good plot. I was disappointed but will read Tana French again because her first book was excellent. I think this one was just a bit flat, it happens. Still, not a bad read, it will be appreciated by those readers who enjoy psychological thrillers without a lot of action. 

Keep reading!