Category: Fiction

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RIPPLE EFFECT Because of the War

RIPPLE EFFECT Because of the War ISBN: 9781532398278 assumed published, copyright and written by Jenny Ferns.

Briefly, the story presents a quite in-depth picture of the horrific period encountered by Londoners especially, and other English residents through the ‘ripple effect’ of WW II – the bombings, the splitting of families with child evacuations to ‘safer’ areas where they were housed with unknown foster parents, extreme food shortages/rationing, petrol control and constant uncertainty with respect to life itself and that of loved ones. It extends further exploring the devastating post war period with its resulting bouts of extended depression, alcoholism, narcotic addition, and the debilitating results of PTSD. The tale is presented in five distinct parts. The first is in pre-WW II London and introduces sisters Veronica, a stable university graduate counselor in a Child Guidance Clinic; her more ‘flighty’ younger sister Rachel; Veronica’s flat-sharing mate and steadfast friend Heather; Suzie, Rachel’s out-of-wedlock daughter; Richard, senior RAF pilot who marries Veronica. Part II depicts war time civilian as well as military (air) activity. III is set in a small village after the war. IV follows a move of return to city life. Part V provides a section entitled Changes and depicts the results of changes finally initiated in an attempt to combat the hugely destructive influences the war had inflicted on countless family lives as exemplified here by providing one family’s horrendously distressing trials.

Discussion: the author has described one of the more devastating periods in modern history and has approached it in a quite sensitive manner from her personal experience as an Englishwoman and mother and later a clinical psychologist who in private practice had specialized in trauma, PTSD, addiction and family dynamics. The characters presented quite nicely reflect the activities one should expect from the flaws enclosed within each of them and the final outcome is totally credible. A caveat should be included for readers who might find certain references unacceptable. However, they must be reminded that this is a story set in a time when such references were quite routine.

5* Devastating effects of WW II on a London family; caveat required.

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Cursed: Dragon’s Curse Book One

CURSED: Dragon’s Curse: Book One, A pure fantasy, assumed published, copyright and written by S. L. Morgan.

Alex Oxley is the young prince of the peaceful Pemdei Empire, long designated as the protectors of earth from various intergalactic threats. He, like his father the emperor, is a trained warrior with many intergalactic missions and the capability to function as a Time/Space Traveler. He, like his twin sister Alysia share this unique ability along with other occult powers. In a short journey into the future he discovers that his mother has been adversely affected by an element that had been specifically constructed to guard earth. Stefon, a crafty villainous ruler from another galaxy suddenly appears saying he enjoys playing games and decides that he and Alex should play a game. He will send the young prince on a trip to attempt to find the cure for his mother’s illness and if he can survive, he will find the cure and return with it. It seems that Stefon’s occult powers are considerably more extensive than those possessed by Alex or any of his family. So, with a snap of his fingers, Alex is dispatched spinning uncontrollably in a dark void, eventually being brought to an abrupt and jolting halt against some very hard object. Here he is discovered by the young princess Kira of another, seemingly less sophisticated galaxy, where she has been wandering for some time to continue eluding capture by the evil invaders who had overthrown her family’s rule. From this introduction we follow the convoluted path of the two young royals as they attempt to restore her to her rightful place, allow him to find the required antidote for his mother’s illness and return for its administration. Unfortunately, accomplishment of these goals are impeded by a sizeable number of factors, most of an occult nature. This basic introductory plot provides a sound base for the ensuing action that no doubt will be set forth in the subsequent volumes.

Discussion: From this reviewer’s perspective, a certain amount of difficulty is encountered in following the story’s threads as they are presented. Similarly, the amount of emotional swing demonstrated by the protagonists as well as the unpredictability with respect to their purported ‘warrior’ and other abilities. However, the amount of dark magic, abundance of witches, winged horses, fairies, shape-shifters, fire-breathing dragons, space/time travelers and more, should be most appreciated by the true fantasy devotee.

5* For the tried and true fantasy devotee.

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The Ghost Shows the Way

The Ghost Shows the Way, A ghost Haven Mystery assumed published, copyright and written by Kristine Frost.

The story opens as highly successfully artist Tabitha Black is providing mental as well as still a degree of physical aid to her cousin and best friend Courtney Spencer. Courtney has just recently returned home from an extended hospital stay resulting from a nearly fatal automobile accident. Her already thoroughly shaken mental state is further disturbed by the fact that she recently also had been left a large estate by her uncle who was a most disagreeable person whom she hardly knew but who had hated her parents. The distress is exacerbated by arrival of a letter from the lawyer handling the will. It states that she must go to the estate, house all of the recipients mentioned therein and be ready for its reading by a specific date. It also stipulates that if she does not accept her gift and comply, all listed recipients will lose their inheritance. She feels forced to go so Tabitha accompanies her. The old home is a huge building looking every bit what would be expected of such a manor house constructed many years ago. Its setting is in a miserable and desolate area frequently enveloped in fog and with miserable changes in weather. A housekeeper/chef and a couple of servants who have been left to take care of the house are able to arrange matters adequately to deal with the influx of relatives. The plot progresses as the reader is made aware of the totally miserable, greedy and vengeful character of the deceased and the similarly abominably miserable characters of each and all of the relatives. Additionally a weather front moves through bringing thunderstorms, heavy drifting snow and other conditions that isolate the house and its occupants. The cars in which the various relatives arrived even mysteriously have been damaged so no one could leave anyway. Tempers flare among the irascible mean-spirited relatives and one of them is found murdered. Fortunately, they are able to get a useable line to the police, but here other problems pop up. Two constables disappear and more unpleasantnesses occur with more skullduggery encountered until finally Tabitha, aided by a family ghost is able to bring some closure to the entire affair.

Discussion: The author has provided an engaging murder mystery for the devotee – the setting, the miserable characters, the multiple suspects, plus the aid of an obliging ghost. The tale is a little slow in beginning but the entire story is quite well presented with important features doled out in a manner that exacerbates the suspense and mystery.

5* Enjoyably mysterious, suspenseful ghost story.

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Shattered Shield

Shattered Shield ISBN: 9781793114907 assumed published, copyright and written by Camden Mays.

The story opens with the crossing of the southern border of the U.S. by a group of illegals, one of whom is an Iranian whose activity includes killing persons here in order to effect his escape into the country. From this point the reader is shifted to the tale’s protagonist, a former Navy Pilot, recently divorced with settlement of their home in Virginia still contentious. He had left his prosperous consulting firm in California at the urging of a friend to become a member if the CIA. His wife had returned to California where their daughter was a university student. At present he has second thoughts as to the wisdom of his decisions and is about to resign when he is offered a new position of importance in a newly formed operation being established to nullify terrorist activity that had been initiated. The plot progresses from here to provide an interesting look at the step by step procedures taken by government agencies to foil terrorist plots and apprehend and/or eliminate the perpetrators.

Discussion: The author has set forth a fascinating picture of how the CIA, FBI, and Homeland Security departments might function to establish and jointly perform to successfully combat the work of a terrorist and/or his organization. The early contents of the book required to establish the basics of the plot move rather slowly, but gradually the pace accelerates. The characters are empathetic, romantic and familial aspects are credible as are the thriller/suspense aspects that gradually expand. The finale provides a natural entre to the next volume. Judicious editing would greatly enhance the story’s enjoyment.

4* 5* Enjoyable anti-terrorist thriller/suspense; -1 editing required to enhance.

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MATADOR

MATADOR, a Barrett Mason Thriller, Volume 1, published, copyright and written by Stewart Matthews.

Barrett is a former Recon Marine now working on clandestine operations for the U. S. under direction of his old commanding officer. The reader meets him as he is attempting to extract a microbiologist defecting from Iran. The defector is killed as the operation is underway and Mason must now save himself but there is another problem. The scientist, without informing anyone, had brought his daughter to be extracted with him. Mason feels responsible for saving this pre-teenage child who provides an additional problem in that she speaks only her native tongue. The story evolves as he eventually is able to get the two back to the states where the plot further develops as the very intelligent child is able to retrieve all of her father’s secretive data, shine light on a viscous world-wide operation to not only take over the U.S., but other nations, as well. This story ends with a degree of closure and entre to Volume 2.

Discussion: More pragmatic readers may need to overlook the question of how Barrett can make as many mistakes and often the inadequate moves as he does and still survive. If this has been his modus operandi through his numerous years in the Marines and subsequent clandestine activity, his survival has been amazing. His escapes in this volume mostly result from the intervention of good Karma and as a parenthetical aside, conversations within a helicopter are difficult, at best and many of the fight scenes here and elsewhere could benefit from editing. However, if one is addicted to thrillers regardless, this tale is replete with interesting characters with whom a reader can empathize as they proceed in a fast-paced plot that provides a base upon which to build the next escapade.

3* Fast-paced tale most thriller addicts can enjoy.

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Guns along the Weary River

Guns along the Weary River, an e-book listed as written by John D. Fie, Jr. in The Ben Culver Western Adventure Series Book 1.

The entire format presented here is confusing for a reader. This specific title provides a somewhat difficult to follow plot following the young son of a cattle baron who is killed by a bogus sheriff who actually is a criminal wanted in Waco Texas. A range war evolves that contains all of the confusion of these conflicts but the activities are poorly described and the ending is as much of a let-down as is the entire tale. This has utilized 74% of the book’s content, so this somewhat puzzling format then shunts the reader to “Will’s Revenge, The United States Bounty Hunter Western Adventures” with the remaining 26% spinning a tale with a most improbable beginning. SPOILER ALERT! A man is being hanged by a sizeable group of Banditos and saved by the arrival of a feminine bounty hunter who throws a hidden knife slicing the hangman’s rope and the two overcome the banditos with knives and brute force. Stretches in credibility are expected constantly, but eventually, like rubber bands, sometimes the stretch is just beyond limit.

2* Regrettably and perhaps 1* for the second tale.

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Returning the Guns

Returning the Guns, assumed published, copyright and written by Troy Lawson.

Kirk DeWolf is on the outskirts of a small western town as a stagecoach is being held-up. He is unaffected until he hears a child scream which changes his attitude. He spurs his horse down the hill to find 5 bandits, all of whom he rapidly dispatches with head shots. The boy and an older man are the only passengers and thank him saying he should visit them when and if he gets to their town. The man, although previously a passenger, ascends to the driver’s seat (not an easy task for anyone unaccustomed to handling a stage coach team of horses or mules) and wheels toward home. Kirk does decide to visit the town because he has been on the trail for some time without stopping anywhere. He enters the local bar/hotel but finds it very unfriendly, refusing room, food or even to sell him a drink. It seems the town has been taken over by Remus, a particularly vicious renegade and his hired guns, and the townspeople are afraid to offer anything to strangers. As he leaves he encounters Adam, the young boy he saved, who invites him home for dinner. Here he meets the beautiful Emily, who’s older brother had been the boy’s father. He also had been the town’s sheriff who was killed by Remus. The story continues as Kirk attempts to save the town and its residents as he leads by example and attempts to rally support from the townspeople.

Discussion: Upon introduction, Kirk seems to be an avenging gun fighter drifting from town to town to rectify injustices. This opening impression quickly vanishes, however, from the fact that, although he guns down 5 bandits with remarkably well-placed head shots, it is pointed out that he still has 1 round left in his revolver. Any user of a single action pistol, especially of that era, knows that only rarely does one load such a weapon with a sixth round because of the danger in carrying the weapon with a round under the hammer. Furthermore, he re-holsters the weapon without immediately replacing the spent cartridges – a definite no-no for anyone not knowing when the weapon might again be needed and there is no indication that he has a second weapon. So he definitely is a drifter, albeit remarkably proficient with a gun, on the prod and no doubt carrying a memory or memories that tend to keep him moving.

Summary: Accepting the fact of who and what he is, western aficionados should enjoy this story.

4* Interesting tale of a gun-savvy drifter in the old west.

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Blood on the Bighorns

Carson McCloud.

Brett Rawlins is a very young man who discovers his father, supposedly a suicide, a short time after his mother’s death. He is left with attempting to make a go of the Wyoming ranch that was his father’s dream. Picnicking with the girl he thought would be his bride eventually, he is shot and tumbles into a ravine where he is left for dead by gunmen who work for the expanding cattle baron who wants his ranch. He somehow survives, is nursed back to health by Lisa, part of a Mormon family living some distance away. He recovers and leaves to save Allie from the gunmen only to discover that she was part of the plan to do away with him. From this point the story evolves into his attempts to regain his ranch by any means he can devise and is helped constantly by Crow Indian Chief Red Elk and a Cheyenne/Crow Princess, Mourning Song. She is one of a group of Indian maidens whom he saves after they had been kidnapped by men working for the same employer as the gunmen who thought they had killed Brett. After numerous poorly thought-out attempts to nullify the plans of the viscous cattle baron, he finally discovers that his only recourse is to personally face him and his henchmen in a showdown.

Discussion: The author has set forth an interesting enough plot that regrettably from this reader’s perspective, has been peopled with characters with whom it is difficult to empathize. Little is offered with respect to Allie and her brief appearances and similarly Lisa. Mourning Song presents a rather enigmatic picture but some of her activity does not quite exemplify that of a Cheyenne/Crow woman, especially of her purported status. Red Elk, although briefly described, is of considerable interest but the rest of the characters are rather shadow-like. The Mormons are portrayed to exhibit all of the better qualities espoused by members of that religion, but their total surprise by, and quiet acceptance of the cattle baron’s brutality are difficult to accept with the amount of violence already absorbed and also delivered by members of their sect during that particularly chaotic period in history. With respect to the protagonist, it is granted that he is young. However, this reader’s reaction to his inability to think clearly or to devise plans other than those requiring him most frequently to be saved by circumstances and/or by others, is disappointingly irritating.

Summary: A chaotic historical era and place woven into an interesting fictional tale that, regrettably from this reviewer’s perspective, could have been enhanced by a little more thought with respect to the matters mentioned.

3* Reviewer’s thoughts on interesting tale of a chaotic time in history.

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Hunt for Harald’s Gold

Hunt for Harald’s Gold ISBN: 9780996657396, assumed published, copyright and written by Jack Dancer.

This book is sub-titled A Scottish DNA Love Story and appears in part to have some semblance to these elements. Ostensibly a group of twosomes has been gathered together who have been discovered to be DNA-matched lovers to journey to Scotland to search for a huge gold nugget that has been lost for centuries. The group’s leader is a physician specializing in DNA research who had spent time in Africa where she encountered strange characters who pop up later in the story while the couples are searching for the huge nugget. Simultaneously it seems that a large group of African school girls had been captured by Boko Haram, transferred to an evil woman doctor who dismembers them to sell body parts as requested, on the black-market. Her headquarters and laboratories are on the Isle of Skye. One of the recruited members of the DNA couples is Tucker, who is the designated partner of Billie, the DNA specialist leading the couples on the nugget search. The reader discovers that he has had a former encounter with the evil doctor that has left scars, in spite of being partially successful. The other group members are of varied backgrounds and many not what they supposedly represent. The body part suppliers and the gold hunters cross paths by design as we discover and the tale proceeds to no ending but rather this volume serves as a first installment for the next.

Discussion: On the good side, readers may find much of the book to be an amusing read with a mass of action contributing in a highly confusing manner. A caveat must be include however in that there is abundant, often irrelevant sexual activity and most graphic depiction of un-anesthetized anatomical destruction. Furthermore and regrettably, from this reviewer’s perspective, the author has written a totally confusing volume with a bizarre admixture of Scottish legend, the fairy world, romance, a bit of science, activity by an unusual transgender hero and many improbabilities typically found in the fantasy genre. It also apparently is the first in a series.

Summary: A multi-genre book for readers who enjoy zany tales and don’t mind reading serials.

3* 4* Multi-genre zany tale for devotees; others 3 – 2*.

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Pablo’s Apprentice

PABLO’s Apprentice, Where Revenge Meets Romance, assumed published, copyright and written by Richard A. DeVall.

The book open with a quote from Pablo Escobar: “Geniuses are always branded as crazy” and follows the life and escapades of psychopathic killer Rose Alvara who idolized his thoughts and actions, and how it affected her and the people her life touched. The story opens with the death of David Turner, a California police helicopter pilot and several other police officers at the expense of Rose and her lover and former cell mate, Little Bee as they escape a somewhat botched bank robbery. The reader then is introduced to Brandy Bednarz, David’s utterly devastated love which begins a second thread to follow in this lengthy novel of revenge. She is utterly despondent and moves east to live with her parents where she finally recovers enough to obtain a job and sentimentally begins training to become a recreational helicopter pilot. On her final instructor-accompanied flight, their flight plan takes them by fate over an area where Rose and Little Bee have just pulled another bank robbery and have evaded the police. However, Brandy and her instructor catch the police report, spot the escapees and give directions to the pursuers. Rose and Bee come close to downing their plane with long range rifles, but they escape. The two psychopaths continue their flight but Little Bee is killed and Rose decides to ‘make Brandy suffer’. The story continues on a complicated and hugely Karma influenced path leading eventually to foreign lands and ends in a most interesting manner.

Discussion: This is a fascinating, albeit chilling story depending upon development of a series of fate-influenced actions that severely nudge credibility. It consists of the development of a somewhat sadistic, unusually intelligent narcissistic psychopathic killer, and her resulting activities. It also presents the evolution of a second protagonist who is confused and greatly depressed from the series of fateful actions that she has encountered and eventually sees a psychiatrist. She also has acquired a new romantic attachment who is as confused a person as she is. The two, as a result of her being the recipient of Rose’s hatred, the ineffectual police activity, and being gradually nudged by the selected psychiatrist who also seems to have been psychologically injured, eventually evolve into thinking in a vengeful manner. The characters are well-presented but the action is slowed repeatedly by rather voluminous descriptions of the individuals during their introspective or soul-searching periods. Fortunately, most is mitigated by the fast-moving tempo so the reader’s interest is retained at a sufficient level to want to continue to read to the end.

Summary: A somewhat irregularly paced novel about interrelationships among several psychologically disturbed individuals with some performing particularly vicious activity. Regrettably from this reader’s perspective, judicious editing would have provided some reduction in the plot’s overly heavy dependence upon the influence of fate. The characters are well-portrayed and their indulgence in frequent periods of self-analysis are believable, relevant and well-justified, but again judicious handling could do much to enhance the pace

3* 5* Fascinating albeit unpleasant tale rated for reasons presented.