Night Fall (Secret Histories #12), by Simon R. Green ~ 5 ++++++++++ Stars!

Tags

Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Humor, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and Ace for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now 

464 Pages

Synopsis: From the New York bestselling author of Moonbreaker comes the epic final Secret Histories adventure, where the Droods will take on the most unexpected of enemies: the inhabitants of the Nightside.

The Droods are all about control, making people do what they’re told for the greater good. The Nightside is all about choice: good and bad and everything in between. The Droods want to make the world behave. The Nightside wants to party. They were never going to get along. 

For centuries, ancient Pacts have kept the Droods out of the Nightside, but now the Droods see the Nightside as a threat to the whole world. They march into the long night, in their armour, to put it under their control. All too soon, the two sides are at war. It’s Eddie Drood and Molly Metcalf against John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie. The Drood Sarjeant-at-Arms and their Armourer against Dead Boy and Razor Eddie. More groups join in: the London Knights, the Ghost Finders, the Spawn of Frankenstein, Shadows Fall, and the Soulhunters. Science and magic are running wild, there’s blood running in the gutters, and the bodies are piling up.

Is anyone going to get out of this alive?

I have such mixed feelings about Night Fall. On the one hand (as you can probably tell by my rating), I absolutely LOVED it! On the other hand, this concludes not only the Secret Histories series, but also Simon Green’s Nightside and Ghost Finders series. So if you’re a fan of the author as I am, this is like the literary equivalent of Armageddon!

*Sniff.* Okay. I shall endeavor to pull myself together. As with the other Secret Histories books I’ve reviewed I need to warn interested parties that you need to read these books in order. If you don’t you’ll wind up helplessly confused. Eddie Drood is like a science fiction/fantasy/comic book version of James Bond. His alias is actually “Shaman Bond” and the previous titles are all clever plays on Ian Fleming’s books, ie:  The Man With the Golden Torc; Daemons Are Forever; The Spy Who Haunted Me… Well, you get the idea. While Eddie physically appears so ordinary as to melt into a crowd, you do not want to get on his bad side, especially when he’s accompanied by his former archenemy, now lover, the wild witch Molly Metcalf. Together they make a most formidable team which is a good thing as in this epic finale they face off against their Nightside counterparts, John Taylor (former private investigator, now the “Overseer” of the Nightside known as Walker) and his frightening wife, Shotgun Suzie (also known as Suzie Shooter and “Oh Christ, it’s her! Run!”) 

Without revealing any spoilers, let me just say that this is a non-stop thrill ride from beginning to end. Well known characters from all three series make welcome appearances and enjoyable new ones are introduced as well. The battles between the Droods and the citizens of the Nightside are bloody and epic, and leave many fan favorites dead. Underlying the story is the theme of how war can so quickly spiral out of control and leave a multitude of casualties of good people on both sides in its wake. By the end of the book loose ends from all three series are neatly tied up, which will leave fans shell-shocked but satisfied.

While I’m upset that two of my favorite series have come to an end, Night Fall is a spectacular finale. In my humble opinion, Simon Green is one of the most brilliant science fiction/fantasy authors out there, and if you’re a fan of these genres but haven’t tried any of his books you’re missing out. I don’t know what’s next for this gifted writer, but I do know I’ll be one of the first in line waiting for it. For now, please excuse me while I grieve.

 

 

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The Date, by Louise Jensen ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 21st, 2018

315 Pages

Synopsis: Something bad has happened to Alison Taylor. 

Her Saturday night started normally. Recently separated from her husband, Ali has been persuaded by her friends to go on a date with a new man. She is ready, she is nervous, she is excited. She is about to step into her new future. 

By Sunday morning, Ali’s life is unrecognizable. She wakes, and she knows something is wrong. She is home, she is alone, she is hurt and she has no memory of what happened to her. 

Worse still, when she looks in the mirror, Ali doesn’t recognize the face staring back at her. She can’t recognise her friends and family. And she can’t recognise the person who is trying to destroy her…

The Date is the third book I’ve read by Louise Jensen hasn’t disappointed me once. While you definitely have to suspend disbelief right from the beginning, as long as you’re willing to do that, this proves to be another exciting psychological thriller.

I was unfamiliar with the medical condition of Prosopagnosia (face blindness) before picking up this book, but it was an interesting twist on amnesia. I can’t even imagine not being able to recognize people faces, even those of your friends and family, or your own. It made Ali, who’s the victim of an assault even more sympathetic. She tends to run headlong into danger, but I liked her refusal to stay a victim.

As for the mystery of her assailant, I honestly had no idea until the big reveal toward the end. This, despite the tantalizing passages where you hear directly from the villain. There’s a well-rounded cast of secondary characters and all of them have moments of suspicious behavior, so I was kept guessing throughout the novel.

The action begins on the very first page and the pace never slows down which had me eating this up in one day. There are enough twists and turns to make the most talented armchair detective’s head spin. There were a few times I thought I had figured things out, only to be proven wrong. And although the ending completely caught me by surprise, it also made sense.

The Date is an exciting tale that will captivate fans of mysteries and psychological thrillers. Louise Jensen has fast become one of my favorite authors in these genres! 

 

 

Go Home, Afton (Afton Morrison, Book 1), By Brent Jones ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mental Illness, Mystery, Sexual Assault, Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and Brent Jones for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: June 25th, 2018

156 Pages

Synopsis: We all wear masks, and Afton Morrison is no exception.

A small-town librarian with a dark side, Afton,twenty-six, has suppressed violent impulses her entire adult life. Impulses that demand she commit murder.

Blending her urges with reason, Afton stalks a known sexual predator, intending to kill him. But her plan, inspired by true crime and hatched with meticulous care, is interrupted by a mysterious figure from her past. A dangerous man that lurks in the shadows, watching, threatening to turn the huntress into the hunted.

Go Home, Afton is the first of four parts in a new serial thriller by author Brent Jones. Packed with grit and action, The Afton Morrison Series delves into a world of moral ambiguity, delivering audiences an unlikely heroine in the form of a disturbed vigilante murderess.

Have you ever read a book and thought that the author seemed to write it specifically for you? That’s exactly how I felt after finishing Go Home, Afton. I first saw this reviewed on Nicole’s fantastic blog—The Bookworm Drinketh. If you’d like to check out her review, please visit: https://thebookwormdrinketh.com/2018/06/19/go-home-afton-by-brent-jones/ After reading her review I had an inkling I was going to enjoy it, but little did I know how much!

Afton is a complicated character. She’s definitely suffering from multiple mental illnesses including dissociative identity disorder, which stem from a certain incident in her past, but she stubbornly fights against her murderous impulses, before finally deciding to kill only those who deserve it. She has an alter she talks to who represents the truly violent side of her. Their snappy dialogue is one of the best parts of the book. I emphasized with Afton in a few ways, particularly her dislike of the some of the mothers who bring their children to storyhour. She isn’t a sociable individual, but she has a brother who she’s close to and reluctantly forms a bond with her young, teenage library aide, Kim. While Afton has selected her first victim, a sexual predator who has been charged several times with sexual assault yet remains free, things don’t go the way she wants them to. Adding to her troubles is the mysterious and sinister “Man in the Shadows” who seems to be stalking her. This first novella ends in a cliffhanger, but thankfully the 2nd book will be available 8/7/18.

I cannot recommend Go Home, Afton highly enough. It’s a refreshingly original thriller that I breezed through in a couple of hours. Afton is a snarky anti-hero that readers will find themselves emphasizing with and liking. And for a novella, it’s remarkable how much detail the author includes. I do warn you that while it’s not graphic, the story centers around sexual assault which could be a trigger for some. This is a fantastic start to this series and I can’t wait to pick up Book 2, See You Soon, Afton.

Bring Me Back, by B.A. Paris ~ 2.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

336 Pages

Synopsis: Finn and Layla are young, in love, and on vacation. They’re driving along the highway when Finn decides to stop at a service station to use the restroom. He hops out of the car, locks the doors behind him, and goes inside. When he returns Layla is gone—-never to be seen again. That is the story Finn told to the police. But it is not the whole story.

Ten years later Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen. Their shared grief over what happened to Layla drew them close and now they intend to stay together. Still, there’s something about Ellen that Finn has never fully understood. His heart wants to believe she is the one for him…even though a sixth sense tells him not to trust her.

Then, not long before he and Ellen are to be married, Finn gets a phone call. Someone from his past has seen Layla—-hiding in plain sight. There are other odd occurrences: Long-lost items from Layla’s past that keep turning up around Finn and Ellen’s house. Emails from strangers who seem to know too much. Secret messages, clues, warnings. If Layla is alive—-and on Finn’s trail—-what does she want? And how much does she know?

Bring Me Back is the second book I’ve read by bestselling author B.A Paris, and although last year’s The Breakdown left me with mixed feelings, I still knew I had to request this when it appeared on NetGalley. Unfortunately this book left me even more conflicted.

The beginning immediately hooked me and for the first half the fast pace made it difficult for me to put the book down. But then everything started slowing down and my attention began wandering. My main issue was with the characters. I didn’t care for Finn, the narrator, as much of what he did defied belief. Layla was so over-the-top that she became a cartoonish caricature. And the secondary characters were so bland and one-dimensional that they faded into the background. By the end, I honestly didn’t care what happened to any of them—except for Finn’s dog, Peggy. I really liked her. The storyline itself seemed predictable and soap-operish and even the big twist at the end not only failed to surprise me, but it was completely implausible.

Overall, Bring Me Back was a disappointment for me. I’m beginning to suspect that B.A. Paris just isn’t the right author for me, but I will still check out her next book to be sure. And although it’s getting mixed reviews, many are positive so I encourage you to check this out for yourself if you’re a fan of the author and genre.

 

Father Figure, by James Cudney ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Child Abuse, Contemporary Fiction, LGBTQ, Mystery, Rape, Romance, Suspense

Thanks to Shannon over at Reads & Reels for including me in this Blog Tour.

Release Date: April 2, 2018

Published By Creativia

415 Pages

Synopsis: Between the fast-paced New York City, a rural Mississippi town, and a charming Pennsylvania college campus filled with secrets, two young girls learn the consequences of growing up too quickly. Struggling to survive in a claustrophobic, unforgiving world, they embark on a journey to overcome all the pain, disappointment, and horror of their experiences.

Amalia Graeme, abused by her mother for most of her life, longs to escape her desolate hometown, connect with others, and fall in love. Contemplating an impending loss of innocence and conflicting feelings between her boyfriend and the dangerous attraction she’s developed for an older man, Amalia suffers devastating, life-altering tragedies. No matter where she turns, someone or something always steals her hope of finding happiness, protection, and love.

Brianna Porter, a sassy yet angst-ridden teenager raised in New York City, yearns to determine her life’s true purpose, conquer her fear of abandonment, and interpret an intimidating desire for her best friend Shanelle. All the confusion stems from desperately needing to find the father whom her mother refuses to reveal, but the unexpected discovery of a journal leads Brianna to a shocking revelation about her missing parent. Unfortunately, by casting the net to find him, she’s unleashed a tragic history that was meant to stay buried and might now completely change everyone’s futures.

Told in alternating chapters set two decades apart, each girl’s plight unfolds revealing the parallels between their lives and the subsequent collision that is bound to happen. In an emotional story filled with mystery, romance, and suspense, fate intervenes forcing someone to make a dreadful decision that will leave permanent scars.

Excerpt:

The red blouse is something important to Amalia, but she loses it when her mother takes another swing to knock down her daughter. This shows how awful Janet can be. Red becomes a theme in the book and aligns with the color of the cabin on the cover.

~ James J. Cudney

Amalia grabbed her bag and keys shuffling everything together to leave with her mother. In her rush, she dropped the bag to the floor. The red blouse spilled from its only protection unaware of the trouble its presence would generate. It was the only article of clothing Amalia owned that made her feel special, nor did it try to hide her body from the rest of the world.

“What is that doing here? I told you to get rid of that yesterday morning.” The room grew a few degrees cooler as Janet’s icy expression penetrated the waning of Amalia’s facade. 

“I…I just…forgot it was…in my bag when I brought it here today,” stammered Amalia.

“Give it here.”

“No, Momma. I’m bringing it home.”

“Someday you’ll understand girl.” Janet refocused her triumphant gaze from Amalia to her husband. “Have you got a pair of scissors in this store, Peter?”

Amalia closed her eyes and pictured what could have been if she’d met Bryan at the lake. She chastised herself for foolishly letting down her guard imagining the possibility of something positive happening in Brant. It was merely another one of nightmares masquerading as a silly little girl’s daydream. Fighting back was a lost cause, and so was her blouse. Amalia grabbed the scissors from the rusty mason jar and walked with unparalleled defeat toward her mother.

“Stay right there, child. I’m not gonna be the one to destroy it. Give those scissors to your father.”

Peter’s deep-set eyes grew wide with disbelief despite remaining glued to a pile of dirt in the corner. “Janet, let her keep the shirt, please. She’s not going to wear it anywhere.”

“Cut it up now, Peter. The girl needs to learn another lesson. Apparently, so do you.” Janet banged her fist against the nearest wall rattling the pipes. “Make it quick. Greg will be ready for dinner in three hours.”

As the harassment in Janet’s voice punched holes in his body, Peter’s courage went limp with burden. His shaky fingers, normally quite firm and adept from building his model trains and boats, slid into the scissors. Amalia turned away at the nagging graze of one blade against the other, grateful when the fabric muffled the awful scrape of her last hopes being dashed away for the summer. “I love you Daddy,” she mouthed to his despondent eyes and walked behind her mother to the car praying for silence on the ride home.

I’m not participating in many blog tours nowadays because of my health issues, but I just had to take part in this one for our fellow blogger, Jay Cudney’s sophomore novel, Father Figure. I absolutely loved his first book, Watching Glass Shatter so I’ve been eagerly anticipating this and I’m happy to say it did not disappoint. I was completely captivated from the very first page and finished this in two sittings because I couldn’t tear myself away.

Father Figure is both a character-driven and plot-driven story that’s emotional and powerful and will have you reaching for the tissue box more than once. As usual I’m not going to reveal any spoilers, but suffice it to say Jay has created in Amalia and Brianna two characters who you won’t be able to stop yourself from becoming deeply invested in. In the beginning I did emphasize with Amalia more because of some shared childhood experiences. I also loved how she persevered despite the horrible things she was subjected to. She became a strong, self-reliant woman and I greatly admired her. Brianna is quite different in terms of personality and to be honest, in the beginning, I thought she was a spoiled brat. However, I grew to appreciate her struggles regarding the secrets being kept from her as well as her questions about her sexuality and relationship with her loyal and sassy childhood friend, Shanelle (who is my third favorite character). I have to say that Jay not only captured the voice of sweet, innocent Amalia perfectly, but he also hit all the nuances of being a teenage girl with Brianna. I was really quite impressed. The secondary characters are equally well-rounded and all of them play large roles in the development of Amalia and Brianna. It amazed me how detailed Jay was able to make each of them without slowing down the pace of the story. 

Speaking of which…the plot has many layers made up of heartbreak and loss, mystery and suspense, and even some humor to balance the darker moments. There are some difficult issues including: child abuse, death, rape, and sexual identity. Some of these could be triggers for some readers, so I wanted to include that warning. Nothing is overly graphic and Jay includes each subject with sensitivity and as an integral part of the journey each of the main characters go on.

Father Figure is a wonderful read that I can’t recommend highly enough. Expect to get angry, cry and laugh while reading this and be prepared to gasp at the many twists and turns the story takes. I’d recommend this as a perfect choice for book groups not only for the amazing story, but also for the social issues it brings up. I’d also recommend this as a stellar pick for moms to read with their adult daughters. No matter what kind of reader you are, I promise that if choose to pick this up you won’t be disappointed. This is a story you’ll be thinking about hours, days, and weeks after you’ve finished it.

About the Author:

James is my given name, most call me Jay. I grew up on Long Island and currently live in New York City, but I’ve traveled all across the US (and various parts of the world). After college, I spent 15 years working in technology and business operations in the sports, entertainment, and media industries. Although I enjoyed my job, I left in 2016 to focus on my passion: telling stories and connecting people through words. My debut novel is Watching Glass Shatter, a contemporary fiction family drama with elements of mystery, suspense, humor and romance. To see samples or receive news from my current and upcoming books, please subscribe with your email address at my website: https://jamesjcudney.com

What do I do outside of writing: I’m an avid genealogist (discovered 2K family members going back about 250 years) and cook (I find it so hard to follow a recipe). I love to read; between Goodreads and my blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com I have over 500 book reviews which will give you a full flavor for my voice and style. On my blog, I started the 365 Daily Challenge, where I post a word each day that has some meaning to me, then converse with everyone about life. There is humor, tears, love, friendship, advice and bloopers. Lots of bloopers where I poke fun of myself all the time. 

A bit of humor: Everything doubles as something else when you live in NYC. For me, it’s the dining room, my favorite space in the apartment, where more than just my cooking is on display! As I look out the windows onto the 12th floor terrace, various parts of nature (trees, bushes, flowers, bugs & animals) inspire me to write.

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Purchase Link:

https://amazon.com/James-J.-Cudney/e/B076B6PB3M/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39678792-father-figure?ac=1&from_search=true

~ GIVEAWAY ~

One (1) randomly chosen winner will receive a print copy of Father Figure (Available in North America only)

 

For those of you who cannot enter the giveaway because you’re outside of North America, Father Figure will be available later this month on Amazon for only $0.99!

ENTER

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/0e7c6a8f37/

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Where Else to Find Jay:

Creativia – http://www.creativia.org/author-james-cudney.html

Twitter – https://mobile.twitter.com/jamescudney4

Facebook – https://m.facebook.com/JamesJCudneyIVAuthor/

Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/jamescudney4/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jamescudney4/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescudney4

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Blog Tour Organized By

https://rrbooktours.com

 

The Elizas, by Sara Shepard ~ 3.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Release Date: Available Now

352 Pages

Synopsis: When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness. 

Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fiction isn’t it? 

The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur, and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.

I have to admit that The Elizas started off a bit slow for me. Somewhere around the halfway point though, the pace picked up considerably and I wound up enjoying it for the most part. 

Eliza is not a particularly likable character, but then she’s not meant to be. I like unreliable characters as long as they’re interesting and Eliza was. The secondary characters are equally unreliable so I really didn’t trust anyone! Although the story didn’t have the excitement I was hoping for, I kept flipping the pages because I needed to find out what was really happening. The author is known for wrapping up all loose ends and inserting an unexpected twist at the end of her books and I’m happy to say this was the case here. 

The plot is a bit like a movie you’d see on Lifetime, and has all the melodrama of Shepard’s YA bestselling Pretty Little Liars series. If you’re looking for a book with lots of thrills and chills, you could probably skip this. However, if you like slow building psychological suspense that doesn’t require a lot of deep thinking, The Elizas might be a fun summer read for you.

 

The Crooked Staircase (Jane Hawk #3), By Dean Koontz ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

512 Pages

Synopsis: “I could be dead tomorrow. Or something worse than dead.”

Jane Hawk knows she may be living on borrowed time. But as long as she’s breathing, she’ll never cease her one-woman war against the terrifying conspiracy that threatens the freedom—-and free will—-of millions. Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane’s husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive, relentlessly hunted not only by the government but the secret cabal behind the plot. Deploying every resource their malign nexus of power and technology commands, Jane’s enemies are determined to see her dead…or make her wish she was.

Jane’s ruthless pursuers can’t stop her from drawing a bead on her prey: a cunning man with connections in high places, a twisted soul of unspeakable depths with an army of professional killers on call. Propelled by her righteous fury and implacable insistence on justice, Jane will make her way from Southern California to the snow-swept slopes of Lake Tahoe to confront head-on the lethal forces arrayed against her. But nothing can prepare her for the chilling truth that awaits her when she descends the crooked staircase to the dark and dreadful place where her long nightmare was born.

Like the first two books in Koontz’s Jane Hawk series, The Crooked Staircase is a wild ride from start to finish. For a quick recap: A sinister and secret organization calling themselves the “Techno Arcadians” are planning on reshaping society to their liking through the use of nanotechnology. They are implanting nanos into the brains of certain people who they feel, according to their computer’s algorithm, will “turn society in the wrong direction.” Once the nanos are in place the Arcadians use them to control the “adjusted” person. Some, they have commit suicide, usually taking other people with them. Others are enslaved and either forced into sexual slavery or made to serve the organization in various functions. Jane’s husband, a former soldier, was one of their victims and as Jane, an FBI agent, began investigating his suicide, she discovered the horrifying plot. Now she’s been publicly discredited and after some horrifying threats, has been forced to place her young son in hiding with close friends, she’s now determined to bring the Arcadians down. 

Before reading this series, you have to accept that reality gets skewed at times, particularly in regards to Jane. While this isn’t a fantasy and she doesn’t possess superpowers, given the sheer number of people she’s going up against, there’s no way she wouldn’t have gotten caught by now. The Arcadians have infiltrated virtually every segment of society, including law enforcement, the government, and the media. While she’s had several close calls, she somehow manages to not only escape but also to take out a few Arcadians as well. But Jane is such a phenomenal character, you really don’t mind suspending disbelief. The secondary characters, whether they be allies or villains, are always interesting and well rounded. In this installment, I was surprised that there were a few moments where I actually felt sorry for the main antagonist because of his backstory.

As with the previous books, this ends with a cliffhanger, but it seemed a little too abrupt especially given that what happens hits so close to home for Jane and her son. At the end there is the option of reading the first few chapters of the next book, The Forbidden Door, which is due out in October, but I personally don’t like reading excerpts in advance, so I’m just going to have to suffer until October. 

I highly recommend The Crooked Staircase to readers who love strong female characters and high octane thrillers. If you haven’t read the previous two books though you might wind up a bit muddled, so you should definitely check those out first.

 

The Precious Dreadful, by Steven Parlato ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Abusive Relationships, Dysfunctional Families, Mystery, Paranormal, Substance Abuse, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now 

352 Pages

Synopsis: Teddi Adler is just trying to figure out her life. 

When she joins SUMMERTEENS, a library writing group, she’s only looking to keep herself busy, not go digging around in her subconscious. But as she writes, disturbing memories of her childhood friend Corey bubble to the surface, and Teddi begins to question everything: her friendship with her BFF Willa, how much her mom really knows, and even her own memories. Teddi feels she’s losing her group on reality—-as evidenced by that mysterious ghost-girl who emerges from the park pool one night, the one who won’t leave Teddi alone. To top it all off, she finds herself juggling two guys with potential, a quirky boy named Joy and her handsome barista crush Aidan, who has some issues of his own. 

As the summer unfolds, Teddi is determined to get to the bottom of everything—-her feelings, the mysterious ghost-girl, and the memories of Corey that refuse to be ignored.

I have to give The Precious Dreadful kudos for being so highly original. It also had many other good qualities. I liked Teddi and completely emphasized with her desperate attempts to solve a mystery going back to her childhood. I also loved her BFF Willa who loyally stuck by her even when Teddi turned on her. I wasn’t fond of the romance between Teddi and Aidan however. Their relationship was verbally/emotionally abusive from the beginning, and even though Teddi would stand up for herself, she’d still go back to him. I don’t have an issue with abusive relationships in YA fiction as long as there’s a lesson imparted. But that’s not the case here. Aidan is never called out on his unacceptable behavior and that spoiled what otherwise would have been a 4-5 star read for me. At the end of the book something happens that I surmise was supposed to make the reader feel more sympathetic toward him, but it just didn’t work for me.

The plot itself is quite eerie and kept me guessing through much of the book. The more I read, the bigger feeling of dread swept over me as I wondered what poor Teddi was going to uncover in the end. I started this about mid-afternoon and couldn’t stop reading until I finished around 11:00 at night.

Except for the romance, I really enjoyed The Precious Dreadful and it’s intriguing mystery. I loved Steven Parlato’s writing style and the way the story flowed so smoothly. I also thought he did a fairly convincing job portraying a 15-going-on-16-year-old girl. The story has just a touch of the paranormal and is compelling and will keep readers wondering. Despite my issues with the romance, I think this would still make a worthy book discussion choice as readers could debate over what Teddi should have done in response to Aidan’s behavior. 

The First Family, by Michael Palmer, Daniel Palmer ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Medical Thrillers, Mystery

‘Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

352 Pages

Synopsis: Cam Hilliard is, in addition to being the President’s sixteen-year-old son, a chess prodigy. A year into President Hilliard’s second term Cam inexplicably stops playing the game he loved and becomes withdrawn. The First Lady is convinced that the senior White House physician is wrong in diagnosing Cam’s issue as a psychological one, and she demands that Dr. Lee Blackwood be brought on to provide a second opinion. Lee’s opinion is dismissed, until Cam’s spleen ruptures and it becomes obvious that something is horribly wrong. 

Lee informs the President and First Lady that to make a diagnosis they need to find other people with the same symptoms to conduct additional testing. From there, it’s possible to to identify the the gene defects and correlate those to the missing enzymes. Only then can a diagnosis be made and treatment begin. For now, they must face the harsh reality that Cam’s genes are producing a mutation that appears to be entirely new to science.

As Lee delves into this medical mystery, he comes to believe Cam is not the first case of this presentation of an inborn error of metabolism. But when two young people Lee has found, each with exceptional gifts, are murdered, Cam’s condition suddenly takes on a terrifyingly new dimension. Is someone out to murder the President’s son? If so, why? As Lee searches for answers he will uncover unimaginable secrets and dark betrayals that breach the highest levels of security.

I’ve made no bones (please forgive the pun) about how much I love the medical thrillers of Michael Palmer and although he sadly passed away in 2013, his son Daniel (a respected thriller writer himself), has been doing a wonderful job completing his unfinished manuscripts. The First Family is the third book after Trauma and Mercy I’ve read by the duo, and I enjoyed it every bit as much as the first two. My only criticism is that sometimes the medical terminology gets to be a bit much and slows down what is otherwise a non-stop thrill ride. There are also some eyebrow-raising implausible situations, but with relatable characters you can’t help connect to, and the way both writers manage to make things like genetic anomalies, brain enhancers, and neurophysiology fascinating, these are minor complaints. If you enjoy cutting edge medical thrillers with plenty of mystery and suspense, I can’t recommend The First Family highly enough!

The City of Lost Fortunes (A Crescent City Novel), by Bryan Camp ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Diversity, Mystery, New Orleans, Suspense, Urban Fantasy

Thanks to Edelweiss and John Joseph Adams/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Release Date: Available Now 

384 Pages

Synopsis :

The fate of New Orleans lies in the hands of a wayward grifter in this novel of gods, games, and monsters.

The post-Katrina New Orleans of  ‘The City of Lost Fortunes’, is a place haunted by its history and by the hurricane’s destruction, a place that is hoping to survive the rebuilding of its present long enough to ensure it has a future. Street magician Jude Dubuisson is likewise burdened by his past and by the consequences of the storm, because he has a secret: the magical ability to find lost things, a gift passed down to him by the father he has never known—-a father who just happens to be more than human.

Jude has been lying low since the storm, which caused so many things to be lost that it played havoc with his magic, and he is hiding from his own power, his divine former employer, and a debt owed to the Fortune god of New Orleans. But his six-year retirement ends abruptly when the Fortune god is murdered and Jude is drawn back into the world he tried so desperately to leave behind. A world full of magic, monsters, and miracles. A world where he must find out who is responsible for the Fortune god’s death, uncover the plot that threatens the city’s soul, and discover what his talent for lost things has been trying to show him: what it means to be his father’s son.

I have one word after reading City of Lost Fortunes: WONDROUS! I gobbled this up in two sittings, and the only reason why it took me that long is because my mean husband made me go to bed.

While I haven’t yet been to New Orleans, the city, people, and history have held a peculiar fascination for me since childhood. So, I was especially excited when I read the premise for this debut novel. Add in magic, mythology, and the supernatural, and my expectations went through the roof. 

There are several different mythologies mixed up in this book and one of the things I loved was how the author started each chapter with a short paragraph detailing how various mythologies describe a particular situation in their own way, but how they all share commonalities. With so many religions and myths being brought together this could have easily been a confusing mess, but Bryan Camp fuses everything together smoothly and efficiently. 

The large cast of diverse characters are brilliantly written and I already have several favorites. The hero, Jude, is someone you just can’t help fall in love with. He has many issues stemming from his dysfunctional childhood, the absence of his father, and the trauma of his “gift”. He’s made mistakes along the way but he also carries the weight of them and makes amends when he can. Jude winds up becoming a metaphor for New Orleans. The disruption of his magic ties directly into the destruction of the city, and as a reader you can’t help but feel these losses keenly. I have to be honest and say there’s a slight info dump in the beginning regarding Jude and his backstory, but I’m not taking any points off because it’s so minor and the rest of the book is so good, that it’s just not worth complaining about.

As marvelous as the supernatural and magical elements are, at its heart, this book pays tribute to the city of New Orleans and the resilience of its citizens. The descriptions of the music, food, architecture, and people bring the city to life and it literally becomes a character in its own right. In the afterward, Bryan Camp talks about how he began writing this in the back of his parents’ car as they were evacuating before Katrina hit. It’s worth reading because it gives you an additional sense of how much love was poured into this book. 

The City of Lost Fortunes is a literary feast for the mind and soul, and I cannot recommend it highly enough! If you’re a fan of  authors like Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher, Clive Barker, and Kevin Hearne, you need to read this ASAP! While I can’t wait for the sequel, I’m also keeping my fingers crossed that this is just the beginning of a long-running series.