A Darkness Absolute - A Review

Miss Armstrong had me hooked from the opening sentence.  Her ability to create unique “worlds” for her novels and characters never ceases to amaze me.  This second book in the “City of the Lost” series took me once again to the middle of nowhere, Rockton, Yukon Territories ... the place people go when the want or need to disappear from their everyday lives.

A DARKNESS ABSOLUTE by Kelley Armstrong

Yup … Rockton is where people come to disappear but unfortunately they don’t check their natures at the door.  What Casey very quickly finds out is that when you populate the town with troubled people often their troubles come with them.  This means sometimes people DIS-appear from Rockton too.

Tracking a town runaway through a blizzard is not an easy feat but you have to know when to call it quits.  Casey and Deputy Will Anders come to just that conclusion when they can no longer see each other on the trail.  Taking shelter in a nearby cave they come across a surprise – a woman thought to be another town runaway thought lost and dead – here in “their” cave, where she has been held captive for over a year.  Despite being taken care by someone she cannot identify her captor.  When they bring her back to town she seems to be all right despite her ordeal.  Maybe a little too all right?  Was it someone from town or one of the hostiles living in the wilderness?  Casey Duncan and her (now) boyfriend Sheriff Dalton are determined to find out but just how do you do that when the whole town could be suspects.

In the first book of the series we got a brief glimpse of the “outsiders” and the “hostiles”; those people living, to varying degrees outside the town.  Bad enough trying to identify suspects when all your neighbours are living a lie but how do you go about finding people who have no desire to be found and are not shy about letting you know that. 

A few new characters were introduced in this book and a few from the first were fleshed out a little bit more – all interesting and unique.  And, the new puppy was a nice touch.  Another page-turner that kept me guessing to the very end.  Looking forward to the next in the series.

* I'd like to thank Minotaru Books and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy

of the book at no charge*

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her web page)

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She lives in south-western Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Congratulations to Andre Alexis and Fifteen Dogs

My book nerd side is really going to be showing now but I have to post a special shout out to Toronto author Andre Alexis. His book, "Fifteen Dogs" (one of my favorite reads in 2015) won the "Canada Reads 2017".

 
Fifteen Dogs won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2015, making it the first Giller recipient to also win Canada Reads. Alexis was recently honoured with the Windham-Campbell Prize, which recognizes an author's body of work and is one of the world's richest literary awards.

I so loved this book and would highly recommend it. 
My review HERE


Congratulations to Mr. Alexis ... very well deserved!

Checking Out the Katie Maguire Series

For me Graham Masterton is synonymous with “The Manitou”.  Mr. Masterton has been responsible for some of my most cringe-worthy horror reads and his Night Warriors books still remain some of my favorites.  For a long while he sort of dropped off my radar and then I came across his crime thriller series featuring Katie Maguire.  I started the series with the most recent book so I knew I wanted to go back and check out the first few.

WHITE BONES by Graham Masterton

When some construction on a farm building unearths bones D.S. Katie Maguire gets called to the scene.  It quickly becomes obvious that this is not a recent crime scene and after the forensics it turns out that the bones date back to 1915.  But why so many dismembered bodies in one grave – each with a piece of lace tied through the thighbone.

The crime is passed on to an anthropologist to puzzle out until a new murder victim surfaces, oddly enough with a piece of lace tied to the thigh bones as well.  Now Katie has a recent and a decades old murder to investigate.  Is it possible that it is the same killer?

I can’t say Katie Maguire is a fresh take on murder detectives … women have been taking the leading role in a lot of crime fiction lately but she is an interesting leading character.  She has a shady husband and some pretty questionable “friends”.  What made this book a little different is Mr. Masterton takes some pretty fascinating Irish folklore and ties it into a crime thriller. 

Oh?  Those cringe-worthy moments I mentioned?  Yup – still there.  I’ve read some pretty gruesome crime fiction in my day but this one had me grimacing, had it been a film I was watching I definitely would have been peeking out through my fingers.

4 Stars.

BROKEN ANGELS by Graham Masterton

If you are out fishing on a chilly spring morning it’s because you hope to land a big one, but not necessarily as big as a human body.  Father Heaney’s bloated, tortured and garrotted body snags the fishing line and it’s quite obvious that he didn’t accidentally fall in the river.  When Katie Maguire is informed about the murder of a second priest, also similarly tortured she has to amp up the investigation despite the Church trying to throw red herrings and cover-ups in her way.

Again, the story line of this thriller is not an entirely new concept but he does give it a fresh spin, once again drawing in some myths and legends.  The manner in which Mr. Masterton has his crimes executed it pretty bloody and leaves no doubt as to the reason for the killings.  I had that part figured out before it was explained, but that in no way took anything away from the rest of the story. 

Reading this book immediately on the heels of “White Bones” I immediately noticed a pretty serious continuity flaw.  One of the characters that very definitively died at the end of the first book was very much still alive at the beginning of this book.  It sounds a little petty but with 35+ books under his belt Mr. Masterton’s uncaught discrepancy set my teeth on edge.  I found myself reading the rest of this book anticipating other inconsistencies as I did so.  It was a bit distracting.  Mr. Masterton also likes to use the hospitalization of a family member as a distraction for Katie, once or twice I can accept, so I will pick up the third in the series somewhere down the road  - hopefully some of those personal peeves will be left out.

3 Stars

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from his website)

Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.

Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys. At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.

He lives in Surrey, England (sadly his wife, Wiescka died in April 2011). He has just finished writing a black thriller featuring Ireland's only female detective superintendent, Katie Maguire, set in the Cork underworld; and a dark fantasy, Jessica's Angel, about a girl's search for five supposedly-dead children.

He has written several new short stories and is currently working on a new horror novel, as yet untitled.

The Hidden Keys - A Review

After I read “Fifteen Dogs” several years ago Andre Alexis became on author on my “need to read more by him” list.  If you saw my TBR you would understand why that hasn’t happened until now.  When I read about the release of this book in 2016 I knew I wanted to pick it up.  It took me this long to get to it.  Shame on me!

THE HIDDEN KEYS by Andre Alexis

Tancred Palmieri is an enigma – an honourable thief who also happens to have a detective as a best friend.  He lives in and mixes with the people in a shadier area of Toronto, not somewhere you would expect to meet Willow Azarian, a billion dollar heiress with a not so secret heroin addiction.  Tancred knew nothing about Willow but she knew him by reputation.  A chance(?) meeting sitting on the bar stools in a dive bar prompts them to start a conversation.  Tancred took Willow to be what she appeared, a slightly eccentric addict with possibly delusions of grandeur – until she shows him her “mad money” bank book containing a 6 figure balance.  After saving her from some thugs Willow tells Tancred a fantastic story about a treasure hunt her father arranged for her before he died.  Each of the five Azarian siblings received an unusual gift bequest in their father’s will.  Each gift individually was simply a memento but combined they were an intricate series of clues.  Willow is convinced there is a pot of gold at the end of the hunt but her siblings believe otherwise.  Willow wants Tancred to steal each of their mementos and help her solve the puzzle.  He gives his word and Tancred is nothing if not a man of his word even when it means completing the task without Willow’s help.  He quickly finds out that others are also on the same quest but is he on the mother of all treasure hunts or the wildest goose chase of his life?

As he did in “Fifteen Dogs” Mr. Alexis gives his reader an extremely entertaining story. This one is filled with eccentric characters from all parts of the economic spectrum, he gives us moments of almost slapstick humour and at other times nail biting suspense, all combining to ask the reader to question what the true meaning of family, friendship and promises might be.  Amazingly enough he does this in an unobtrusive way.  Never obviously preaching the subtle undertones, it wasn’t until I read the last page and closed the cover that it occurred to me how meaningful this entertaining story really was. 

If I was pressed to find fault with the book I would have to admit that in one or two instances it dragged a little, more than likely because I was impatient to find out if there was a treasure.  It was fun to read a book set in Toronto, a city I know well so it’s still five stars for this one.  Mr. Alexis hit another one out of the park.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from the Wikipedia)

Andre Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada.  His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize.

Alexis began his artistic career in the theatre, and has held the position of playwright-in-residence at the Canadian Stage Company. His short play Lambton, Kent, first produced and performed in 1995, was released as a book in 1999.  His first published work of fiction, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa (1994), was short-listed for the Commonwealth Prize.

Alexis published Ingrid and the Wolf, his first work of juvenile fiction, in 2005. Alexis wrote the libretto for James Rolfe's opera Aeneas and Dido, which premiered at Toronto Masque Theatre in 2007.  His novel Asylum was published in 2008, and is set in Ottawa during the government of Brian Mulroney.  Fifteen Dogs, was published in 2015 and won both the Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Award that year. The third novel, The Hidden Keys, was published in 2016.

In 2017, Alexis was announced as a juror for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Alexis lives and works in Toronto, where he has hosted programming for CBC Radio, reviews books for The Globe and Mail, and is a contributing editor for This Magazine.

City of the Lost - A Review

Casey Duncan has three things in her life she cares about: being a detective, her best friend Diana and her no-strings-attached sometimes lover.  She also has one big secret.  When it seems like her past is catching up to her and Diana’s present is getting dangerous she realizes that they both have to disappear.  No place better than Rockton …

THE CITY OF THE LOST by Kelley Armstrong.

Rockton is a unique place.  It’s in the middle of nowhere and you will not find it on a map anywhere.  Somewhere in the Yukon, Rockton is filled with people who found it necessary to disappear from their lives … some for their own protection and some to evade the law.  Each must go through a vetting process and possess a significant amount of money to be accepted but only the Sheriff knows who is there and for what reason, yet even that information may not be trustworthy.  As each person arrives they are given tasks according to their particular skill set so Casey quickly becomes a deputy … just in time to help solve a gruesome murder.

In this, the first book of her new series, Ms. Armstrong once again does what she does so well – build a fictional world that is believable and unique.  Whether it’s her “Otherworld” or Rockton she takes us just far enough out of reality to make it ring possible.  An isolated town, a murder mystery and a little romance thrown in make “City of the Lost” an excellent read.  Originally published as six mini novellas I’m sure the reader was kept in suspense from one installment to the next.  I waited until all six parts came out in book form and am glad I did so.  Although, let’s face it, it’s a great marketing ploy but I would have found it frustrating to read it in bits and pieces.  Can’t wait for the next book in the series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her website)

I’ve been telling stories since before I could write. My earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, mine would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to my teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make me produce “normal” stories failed. Today, I continue to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in my basement writing dungeon.

Why Did You Lie - A Review

Yrsa Sigurdardottir has been a fave of mine since I read the first book in her Thora Gudmundsdottir series.  This standalone novel showcases what Ms. Sigurdardottir does best … chills up your spine and not just because of the cold Nordic setting

WHY DID YOU LIE by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Nina’s life has slipped off the track a little bit.  She is a pariah among her fellow police officers for filing a sexual harassment suit.  Now she is working on dead files in the basement of the building where she has entirely too much time to think about her husband who is lying in a coma after attempting suicide.

Helgi is a photo-journalist doing a photo shoot on a very small, very remote island where a team was sent to refurbish a defunct lighthouse.  Helicopter troubles keep them on the island longer than usual and during a raging winter storm one of them disappears. 

Noi and Vala return from a trip to the United States where they had house-swapped their home with an American couple.  Coming into their house they sense that something is off but cannot put their finger on what it is. 

What do these people have in common?  At one intersecting point in their lives they lied!  Now, someone or something wants them to pay for those lies.

I enjoy Ms. Sigurdadottir because she give me the all the thrills and chills I love without the “in-your-face” horror.  In “Why Did You Lie” she tells four seemingly unconnected stories that each hold your interest independently but when she brings them together at the end of the book it is in the most deliciously unexpected way.  If you enjoy mystery thrillers with a touch of what might or might not be a supernatural element I highly recommend you add Ms. Sigurdardottir to your TBR.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from the book cover)

Yrsa Sigurdardottir works as a civil engineer and lives in Reykjavik.  She is the author of six novels in the Thora Gudmundsdottir series and two previous stand alones, “I Remember You” and “The Undesired”.  All of her books have been European bestsellers.

In 2011 "I Remember You" was awarded the Icelandic Crime Fiction Award and was nominated for the Glass Key.  The most recent Thora novel, “The Silence of the Sea”, won the Petrona Award in 2015.

The Woman in Blue - A Review

THE WOMAN IN BLUE by Elly Griffiths

This book made me want to continue on with the series.

Reading a series (this is the 8^th entry) means having an investment in the characters and I like Ruth.  I like the fact that she has flaws, that she questions herself and her choices despite the fact that she is smart. I enjoy that she is middle aged and carries the baggage that comes with experience and that she is loyal to her group of very diverse friends.  One of those friends, Cathbad (and shouldn’t everyone have at least one Druid friend?), is cat sitting for a friend on the grounds of St. Simeon’s in Walsingham, a popular destination for religious gatherings and pilgrimages.  Cathbad and the cat have a love/hate relationship and late one evening while he is out looking for the once again errant feline Cathbad sees a woman in blue standing near a grave marker in the cemetery.  Believing it to be a vision of the Virgin Mary Cathbad retreats in awe.  The next morning a young woman clad in a blue cape is found in a nearby ditch, murdered.  Obviously it had not been the vision Cathbad had assumed.

DCI Harry Nelson is called in on the case.  There is no archeological mystery to be solved here, just a straight up murder, so Harry breaths a sigh of relief that there would be no reason to call Ruth in on this case.  Meanwhile, Ruth has received an email from a University friend – a fellow archeologist now turned Anglican priest – asking if they can meet when she comes to St. Simeon’s on a female church leader’s retreat.  She has been receiving threatening messages denouncing the right of women to become church leaders and was hoping Ruth could help her try and figure out the sender’s identity.  Another murder takes place and Ruth feels she needs to enlist Harry’s help as the notes and the murders could be related …

… And the circle closes!

Are the murders related to the mysterious notes?

Having been slightly disappointed with “The Ghost Fields”, the last entry in this series, “The Woman in Blue” was a welcome surprise.  This book broke out of the pattern of having a major archeological mystery to solve (although there was still a little flavor of one and I do enjoy those. They were, after all, my reason for initially beginning with this series).  Without the history to explain around an archeological find it allowed Ms. Griffith’s to tackle a more contemporary issue facing religious institutions today.  Some readers may find this entry a little heavy on the religion issue, but I felt it was integrated well into the story.  On the plus side for me, we become a little more acquainted with Cathbad and his new family.

Ms. Griffiths gives us wonderful descriptions of the countryside, as usual, and takes the reader along the twists and turns that make for a good mystery.  She also (seemingly) ties up a tension filled situation, which has been prevalent in the last two books.

I am not certain this book would work as a stand-alone for first time Ruth Galloway readers but it is definitely a strong entry into this series for fans.

I would like to thank Quercus Books and Netgalley for providing a review copy of this book at no charge in exchange for my honest opinion.

HOW I BECAME ELLY GRIFFITHS (from her website)

My name is Elly Griffiths, except it’s not really.  My real name is Domenica de Rosa and I’ve written four books under that name.  I was born in London in 1963 and my family moved to Brighton when I was five. I loved Brighton and still do – the town, the surrounding countryside and, most of all, the sea. I went to local state schools and wrote my first book when I was 11, a murder mystery set in Rottingdean, near the village where I still live. At secondary school I used to write episodes of Starsky and Hutch (early fan fiction) and very much enjoyed making my readers cry.

I did all the right things to become a writer: I read English at King’s College London and, after graduating, worked in a library, for a magazine and then as a publicity assistant at HarperCollins. I loved working in publishing and eventually became Editorial Director for children’s books at HarperCollins. All this completely put me off writing and it wasn’t until I was on maternity leave in 1998 that I wrote what would become my first published novel, The Italian Quarter.

Three other books followed, all about Italy, families and identity. By now we had two children and my husband Andy had just given up his city job to become an archaeologist. We were on holiday in Norfolk, walking across Titchwell Marsh, when Andy mentioned that prehistoric man had thought that marshland was sacred. Because it’s neither land nor sea, but something in-between, they saw it as a kind of bridge to the afterlife.  Neither land nor sea, neither life nor death. As he said these words the entire plot of The Crossing Places appeared, full formed, in my head and, walking towards me out of the mist, I saw Dr Ruth Galloway. I didn’t think that this new book was significantly different from my “Italy” books but, when she read it, my agent said, “This is crime. You need a crime name.”

And that’s how I became Elly Griffiths.

I Remember You - A Review

I REMEMBER YOU by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

I am always in the market for a chilling ghost story and this is certainly a good one … part ghost story, part thriller.  The setting – Iceland – makes it chilling in more ways than one.

As Katrin, her husband Garoar and their friend, Lif accompanied by her little dog, disembark from a boat onto the lonely island in the Icelandic Westfjords the captain warns them, not for the first time, that cell phone reception is sketchy at best and the weather can turn nasty in minutes as he again reminds them that he will return in one week to pick them up.  Their reason for being on the island is to renovate an old house they purchased in the hopes of turning it into a successful guesthouse for summer tourists to the island.  Now, in the dead of winter, was the only time to get the renovations done.  They had heard rumors about the tragic history of the house and the previous owner, also in the midst of doing renovations had mysteriously disappeared, but this did not daunt them.  Neither curious nor superstitious they were determined to make this venture work.  The dog seemed to be the only member of the party even remotely apprehensive.

At the same time, on the mainland, a primary school has been broken into and vandalized with the word “Dirty” left scrawled on the walls.  Psychiatrist, Dr. Freyr is on the scene to help the police make sense of what has happened.  Having just moved to this small town from Reykjavik to try and move on after the disappearance of his son, Freyr is just glad to be busy.  Interestingly enough, an elderly patient of his attended this very school and it seems the same time of break in/vandalism happened some sixty years ago.  As Freyr investigates further into the crime some very astounding “coincidences” arise involving not only his son’s disappearance but also that of a boy sixty years before.

Admittedly this sounds like two different stories, but this is where Ms. Sigurdardottir shines.  The chapters alternate between what is happening on the island and what is happening on the mainland … after some cleverly distributed clues and elaborate twists and turns … everything eventually coming together in both a most chilling and quite unexpected manner.

While part of the book definitely falls into the thriller category I consider this book a good story of a haunting.  “I Remember You” does not rely on “in your face” apparitions and gore, but rather on those things that you just catch out of the corner of your eye; the smells that assault you unexpectedly and the mysterious stains that no amount of scrubbing removes.  All the wonderful elements that give you goose bumps.

I wanted to rate this book at 4 ½ stars.  Unfortunately, in the case of “I Remember You”, Ms. Sigurdardottir took the story a couple of pages too far for my liking.  I felt that rather than having a more than satisfying ending I closed this book slightly upset … not the way I wanted to leave the story.  Despite that if you enjoy an excellent haunting that will keep you turning that pages I do recommend this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her GoodReads profile)

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic writer, of both crime-novels and children's fiction. She has been writing since 1998. Her début crime-novel was translated into English by Bernard Scudder.

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir graduated from high-school in 1983, finished a B.Sc. in civil engineering from the University of Iceland in 1988 and M.Sc in the same field from Concordia University in Montreal in 1997.

Yrsa now works as a civil engineer for the company Fjarhitun, as well as being a writer.

Blackout - A Review

BLACKOUT by David Rosenfelt.

Crime boss Nicholas Bennett orchestrated the murder of someone very close to New Jersey State Police officer Doug Brock.  Ever since that day Doug has made it his personal vendetta to bring down Bennett, which led to Doug being suspended from the police force.  Despite his suspension Doug never gave up his investigation and on the brink of an important break in his case Doug is shot.  The wound is not fatal but it does cause Doug to fall of a second story balcony.  That fall left Doug with retrograde amnesia – no memory of anything that happened in his life for the last ten years.

The only clue to what Doug uncovered was a hurried telephone call to his ex-partner apparently asking for help from the force.  He can’t remember why anymore but Doug is non-the-less determined to continue his quest to bring down Bennett even though it virtually means retracing every step leading up to the point he was shot.

I’m torn in my review of this book.

THE PROS

I like Mr. Rosenfelt’s writing style.  It flows and is easy to read, punctuated by the sense of humour I have come to enjoy in the “Andy Carpenter” series. 

He always gives me a good story that I enjoy; populated with characters that I like enough to care what happens to them.

Mr. Rosenfelt gives me a quick, fun read to wile away a couple of hours without being too emotionally invested.

This story had an interesting twist at the end.  I did see one coming, but not the one the author gave me.  It was a good surprise.

Mr. Rosenfelt usually has a dog featuring prominently in his books and this one has only one short mention of a character owning a dog.

THE CONS

It states right on the cover that the book is a thriller.  Okay, it is – but it’s definitely “thriller lite”.  It has some tense moments, some good investigating but nothing heart-stopping.  Not quite cozy, but not “edge of your seat” either.

Lately, it seems to me, that Mr. Rosenfelt has been on a little bit of a terrorist/save the world binge.  I’ve seen it in the last two Andy Carpenter books and again in this stand-alone novel.  I’ve had enough for a little while.

Mr. Rosenfelt usually has a dog featuring prominently in his books and this one has only one short mention of a character owning a dog.

OVERALL

It’s a decent read if you are in the mood for a light thriller by an easy to read author that makes his story fun.  Three stars.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from his website)

I am a novelist with 27 dogs.

I have gotten to this dubious position with absolutely no planning, and at no stage in my life could I have predicted it. But here I am.

My childhood was relentlessly normal. The middle of three brothers, loving parents, a middle-class home in Paterson, New Jersey. We played sports, studied sporadically. laughed around the dinner table, and generally had a good time. By comparison, “Ozzie and Harriet’s” clan seemed bizarre.

A number of years ago, I left the movie marketing business, to the sustained applause of hundreds of disgruntled producers and directors. I decided to try my hand at writing. I wrote and sold a bunch of feature films, none of which ever came close to being actually filmed, and then a bunch of TV movies, some of which actually made it to the small screen. It’s safe to say that their impact on the American cultural scene has been minimal.

About fourteen years ago, my wife and I started the Tara Foundation, named in honor of the greatest Golden Retriever the world has ever known. We rescued almost 4,000 dogs, many of them Goldens, and found them loving homes. Our own home quickly became a sanctuary for those dogs that we rescued that were too old or sickly to be wanted by others. They surround me as I write this. It’s total lunacy, but it works, and they are a happy, safe group.

The Masked Truth - A Review

THE MASKED TRUTH by Kelley Armstrong

As Riley Vasquez was babysitting one evening, upstairs entertaining the little one so the parents could leave the house without the crying scene, masked intruders broke in.  Riley, hid under the bed as shots were fired downstairs, discovering later that the little girl’s parents had been killed.  Despite the fact that by hiding she undoubtedly saved the child’s life Riley suffered survivor’s guilt.  Her therapist suggested an overnight therapy group may help her open up about what happened in order to deal with her trauma more effectively.  Things did not quite happen that way.  Just as everyone was arriving for the “therapy weekend” masked intruders broke into the facility holding all the patients and the two counselors hostage.  That is until the shooting started.  Riley has only herself and Max Cross to depend on to get them out of there.  Unfortunately, Max is schizophrenic and has a hard time discerning what’s real and what’s imaginary.

This YA novel is a step away from Ms. Armstrong’s usual paranormal fare.  It was a well-written book that kept me turning the pages.  Yes, a little reality suspension was necessary.  Yes, the characters were a little cliché – the strong (thinks she’s not) heroine, the flawed hero, unbelieving parents and bad guys that were a little over the top.  Some of the action was a little repetitive as well, but the book certainly gave you action.  I’m rating this one three stars.  Being a constant reader of Ms. Armstrong’s books, including most of her YA books, this story felt like a bit of a rehash of “The Darkest Powers” trilogy without the paranormal edge … teenagers running from the bad adults, hiding, running and finally having to deal with everything one their own.

It was still a good read just, in my opinion, not one of the most original of her books.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her website)

I’ve been telling stories since before I could write. My earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, mine would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to my teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make me produce “normal” stories failed. Today, I continue to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in my basement writing dungeon.

29/30

Otherworld Secrets - A Review

OTHERWORLD SECRETS by Kelley Armstrong

If you are an “Otherworld” fan and still suffering from withdrawal symptoms because the series ended this is definitely the book to pick up.  It is comprised of six short stories (I would dare to say novellas) and each was a nice (re)visit with the main characters from the book series.  As I was writing the short synopsis of each story I also got to thinking that these stories stand pretty well on their own too ... if you have not read any books in the "Otherworld" series they still make sense and it may whet your appetite for the series.

LIFE AFTER THEFT (Hope and Karl) 

With baby number two on the way Karl has retired from his life as a werewolf jewel thief, but one of his clients has one more heist that only Karl can pull off – the theft of the ultimate grimoire containing ancient dark magic spells. 

MORGAN (Elena and Clay)

Morgan Walsh has been living with wolves in Alaska – living with them as a wolf – but now he has decided to come to Stonehaven to consider Elena’s invitation to join the pack.  (Elena being the only female werewolf thanks to Clay's impulsive bite and now Alpha in training for the pack)  While on route he stops in Westwood for a bite to eat.  How he resist stopping in a town that advertises itself as “Home of the Werewolves” and the diner gives a 10% discount to all Werewolves and their families … of course the town is talking about their football team ... but Morgan stops anyway.  It’s not too long before he discovers himself in the local jail with barely any recollection of how he got there.  A map with Stonehaven circled and Elena’s telephone number written on it is the only identification he has, so the sheriff calls.  It’s not too long before Elena and Clay realize that things are not quite right in Westwood.

ANGELIC (Eve and Kristof)

With her latest case resolved Eve is ready to join the ghost realm with Kristof for some much needed R&R.  The fates however have a slightly different idea.  They want her to wrap a quick case involving a demon uprising.  To save time she enlists the help of a couple of other avenging angels only to find that she is not the only rule breaker in the “angel corps”.

THE UNGRATEFUL DEAD (Jaime)

While performing one of her on stage séances Jaime is visited by a ghost with a mission and no amount of vervain is going to repel this determined spirit.  Not wanting him hanging around as she is getting ready for a weekend visit from Jeremy she decides to see what his request is all about.  Well, she can certainly put her necromancer skills to good use when she uncovers his little secret.

ZEN AND ART OF VAMPIRISM (Zoe)

Zoe has always been the only vampire in Toronto and she likes it that way, but when two new vamps come to town with the idea of taking over Zoe gives them a tour of the city they will not soon forget.

COUNTERFEIT MAGIC (Lucas & Paige, Adam & Savannah)

Carlos is still trying to get Lucas to leave the Cabal and a new client shows up to hire Winterbourne Investigations to look into the death of her brother … somehow these two incidents are related.  Not until things in Paige and Lucas’ marriage take a turn for the worse and Adam is possessed by a demon do they get the bottom of what is really happening.

Each story was wonderful, but because they featured my favorite characters from the series I must admit to enjoying “Counterfeit Magic” and “Morgan” the best.

As I was reading this book I realized that I have been quite “brainwashed” by the “Bitten” television series, because every time Clay’s name came up all I could picture in my mind was Greyston Holt.  Not a great hardship, darlin!

("Clay" walking up the stairs after changing out of wolf form ... sorry - not really - but couldn't resist)

 THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her website)

I'm married with three kids and live in rural Ontario, Canada. After graduating with a degree in psychology, I switched gears and studied computer programming. Currently, I'm a full-time writer and parent. Could I make this section any more dull? Probably not.

28/30

Happy Birthday to One of My Faves

And may he go on to write many more books ...

 

... Losers, Weepers

FINDERS, KEEPERS by Stephen King.

From an interview for Rolling Stone Magazine:

When asked why he started out in the horror genre when it was widely considered “less than respectable” …

“And I have to say this: To a degree, I have elevated the horror genre.”

A few times Mr. King has contemplated retirement, but he always keeps writing …

“It fulfills me. There are two things about it I like: It makes me happy, and it makes other people happy.” 

Morris Bellamy could probably have made his living writing critiques about his favorite book series featuring Jimmy Gold, his literary hero.  But life has damaged Morris quite a bit so he has difficulty channeling his energy in a socially acceptable manner. Instead, he is angry with the author John Rothstein, because of the way the books series ended (whew … slight personal flashback to the Dark Tower Series) and he decides to pay the reclusive author a visit.  The visit does not end well for Mr. Rothstein or Morris’ accomplices.  Morris himself couldn’t be happier; not only did he make off with tens of thousands of dollar in cash, but more importantly to Morris, a treasure trove of moleskin notebooks containing the rest of Jimmy Gold’s unpublished story.  What does Morris do with his ill-gotten gain?  He knows he cannot keep it with him so of course he buries it.  Unfortunately for Morris his life spins slightly out of control and he cannot get back to recover his prize.  That was in the 1970’s.

Now it’s present day and Pete Sauber is walking through the woods when he stumbles upon a buried travel trunk.  This discovery is like “manna from heaven” because things have not been going so well since the recession hit and his father was injured in the Mr. Mercedes massacre.  Peter doesn’t think twice about helping his family with the money but he squirrels away the notebooks for his own enjoyment and he is also becomes a Jimmy Gold fan.

Morris inconveniently reappears at about the same time the money runs out and Pete needs to make some decisions about what to do.  They turn out to be not the best decisions he could have made so young Pete’s life takes an (un)expected turn for the worse.  Through a fortuitous set of circumstances Bill Hodges, the retired cop/now unlicensed PI, and his cohorts from the Mr. Mercedes case become involved, but can they piece things together quickly enough to save Pete?

“Finders, Keepers” is the second in the Bill Hodges trilogy, and as was Mr. Mercedes, this book is a step away from the “horror” genre for which Mr. King is known.  This book is definitely an action/thriller. 

When asked about his foray into the suspense/thriller genre Mr. King told Rolling Stone Magazine, “Do you want to do what your heart is telling you you should do, or do you want to do what people expect? Because if you only want to write what people expect, what the f*** did you do all this for? Why don’t you write what you want to write?”

Mr. King is my go-to author for horror but this book does not disappoint – it may just not be what you are expecting.  “Finders, Keepers” gave me an antagonist I could really despise – everything from his appearance to his demeanor was reprehensible and a protagonist I felt for every step of the way.  Most of the suspense in this book comes from Pete’s angst about what his is doing and the decisions he is making.  It was written well and it was believable.  Every time something worked out for him I felt like cheering.  The driving factors moving this story forward were the coincidences that kept cropping up, but rather than detracting from the story they made me sigh and think “poor Pete, what else could possibly go wrong”.

I know this is Bill Hodges’ series so it was unusual that he did not make appearance until well into the book, but that worked too.  The story had me captivated and I didn’t really miss him until he came along and gave me that “oh, yeah” moment.

Was this King at the top of his game?  Maybe not quite, but it was a good read.  I’ll definitely be picking up the next book because there was just enough of a kiss and tease in this book to make me think there will be some kind of horror element in the final book of the trilogy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from his website)

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King.  Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS.

He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students.  Stephen and Tabitha now spend winters in Florida and the remainder of the year at their Bangor and Center Lovell homes.

The Kings have three children: Naomi Rachel, Joe Hill and Owen Phillip (both authors themselves), and four grandchildren.

Favourite Authors - Christopher Moore

I enjoy author events and try to attend as many as I can when they come to my little corner of the world.  Not living in a major metropolitan area and in Canada to boot, well … its kind of like a double whammy in the “missing out” department.  That being said, every once in a while a local Chapters store, small independent bookseller or my Public Library will manage to snag someone and they make the trek.  Unless they are from Ontario I’m quite sure once they get off the 401 Highway they have no clue where they are headed.  If I manage to find out about it before hand – and not the day after it happens, which has sometimes been the case – I make a point of trying to attend.

These events usually follow a pretty standard format that runs something like this:

·        Introduction

·        Short biography by the host of the event or by the author about him/her self

·        A short chat about the newest book

·        The reading of an excerpt from the newest book

·        A question and answer period

·        Then, if I’m really lucky, there will be a book signing and possibly a photo-opp.

It’s my idea of a fine evening out doing something I enjoy,

I usually attend these events by myself.  Oh, despite the fact that they may not be quite as enthused about the event as me, there are any number of people who would gladly join me if I asked.  I choose not to.  I ENJOY going alone.

Invariably one of the questions posed to the author during the QandA is “Where do you get the ideas for your books?”  Definitely not the most original of questions but one that everyone is very interested in.  If no hands go up at the beginning of the QandA, it’s also a pretty good icebreaker.  The answers are always interesting and varied.

Every since I randomly picked up a copy of “A Dirty Job” (without knowing what I was in for) Christopher Moore has been on my “favourite authors” list.  His books make me laugh out loud.   If pressed to describe them in one word I think that word might be “wonky” – they’re just a little off kilter, really original, filled with over the top characters, some unusual situations and quite often (for those of milder dispositions than myself) could be considered slightly offensive.  Yup – Mr. Moore has pretty much bastardized Christmas, Angels, the life of Jesus, Impressionist Art, Shakespeare, vampires and death/dying, to mention a few – usually with gratuitous sex and profanity thrown in, just for good measure.

I few years back (quite a few - I was still dying my hair) I had the good fortune to

win an opportunity for a “meet and greet” with Mr. Moore.  Authors truly ARE my rock stars, so needless to say I was thrilled.  At the great risk of repeating from a previous post, I just want to take the opportunity to say that Mr. Moore was as charming and humorous and clever and smart as I suspected he would be after reading his books.  He was also very down to earth, damn tall and … pretty handsome too.

Crap, I’m getting off topic …

I suppose in much the same way as nothing ever beats that first kiss, no book ever measures up to the first book that made you enjoy a new (to you) author. Since I enjoyed “A Dirty Job” so much I am looking forward to the release of the sequel, “Secondhand Souls” (August 25, 2015).

I KNOW  "Secondhand Souls will not disappoint.

Whenever there is new book being released it is accompanied by the usual media blitz.  In that vein Mr. Moore made a Facebook post praising the art of Monique Montil as the inspiration for some of his characters.

It does however provide an answer that pesky “Where do you get your ideas from?” question and it proves that ideas for characters (or other things) can come from any source if you give your imagination some free reign.

Posing with Mr. Moore are these little works of art created by Monique Montil that inspired the “squirrel” guys in “A Dirty Job” and I’m assuming they are making reappearance in “Secondhand Souls”.  They are displayed at Paxton Gate in San Francisco and Portland.

Myself?

I find them a equally whimsical and creepy – the perfect combination for characters in a Christopher Moore book.

Other Christopher Moore Books include: