Archive for Book Reviews

By Michael R Hicks

For those of you who have read either the first three novels In Her Name: Empire, Confederation and Final Battle or the Omnibus edition which told the story of the conclusion of mankind’s 100 year war with the first sentient alien species to be contacted, you will be thrilled to know that the authour has penned a prequel which tells the story of the first contact and the first battle fought between humans and a race who live only for the thrill of killing and dieing in battle by using their wits and only the most basic tools of knives, swords, whips, throwing stars, their bodies, etc.

It took a while for Earthlings to understand that the only acceptable response was to fight back with every once of strength and courage they could find within themselves. The only alternative was the slaughter of every man, woman and child anywhere in the Universe. The race which they came to call the Kreelans, although technologically millenia ahead of their opponent’s, always refused to use their superiority and fought and died equally as often as their opponents.

The Kreelans live to feel and hear the Bloodsong coursing through themselves which allows them to bring Honour and Glory to their Empress. This is how it has been for hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of years. From birth Kreelans are sent into the arenas of the worlds around their ten thousand suns to learn how to fight using every form of personal contact warfare possible. Over their history they have completely wiped out many races never finding one sufficiently able to challenge the supremacy of the Kreelan Way.

The Kreelans can do this because they can feel and hear the voices of every member of their race whether living or dead. They know beyond doubt that if they bring Honour and Glory to the Empress during their lifetime they will live on with all of their kind throughout eternity. Humanity does not have that comforting assurance and thus clings to life as their one and only existence.

These books are a thought provoking tale to make us wonder how we might react when faced with such a choice. Would you be a pacifist? Or a fighter for your right to live? Would you sacrifice so that others might carry on?

by Michael R Hicks

    There aren’t a lot of books which make you actually envision them as a movie while you are reading them but this one certainly does. Michael, of Mike as he prefers to be called, has a way of letting you really know and understand the characters he writes about. The detail of their thoughts add dimensions which make the story come alive.

The Omnibus edition is a compilation of three books which were written between 1991 and 1994. I found them really great to be printed together as they flow very well without a lot of repeating of the same information over and over as some series do.

What would happen if humans went out into space and found another sentient race? They might be technically light years ahead of us. But would they necessarily be friendly? Would they treat us like bugs or at best animals with little capacity for understanding? Could we possibly see their world and adapt and adopt or would we simply believe that they held magical powers which we couldn’t comprehend?

Add to this a penchant on their part for old fashioned pre-technology fighting with swords, knives, pikes and throwing stars and you have a real predicament for the human race. The aliens don’t just eradicate opponents with bombs and lasers from afar but prefer in-your-face combat where limbs are chopped off and blood and gore are ever present. When they leave a planet they usually finish, after killing every man, woman and child, by setting the planet on fire and leaving ashes and stone to mark the spot in space. To be fair, they don’t use weapons or technology which their human opponents don’t possess yet.

One of the planets which they attack after 80 years of such invasions contains a small boy of 5 named Reza Gard and his parents. Both his parents die fighting hard to protect their world from the invaders and Reza finds himself wandering alone when a huge fearsome warrior with blue skin, ruby red lips and very black hair and eyes towers over him. She grabs him by his hair and lifts him off the ground preparing to cut off his head with her extremely sharp knife when Reza surprises her by using his Father’s knife which he carried by instinct alone to slash her on the left side of her face from eyebrow to cheek. The amazed warrior is touched by this tiny animal’s courage and carefully marks him with a scar in exactly the same spot on his face and leaves him to survive if he can.

We meet Reza seven years later on a planet were orphans are housed and forced to work hard for their keep. Again, they are attacked by the Kreelan hordes who this time kill all the adults and take the small children with them for mysterious reasons of their own. By a stoke of luck, the warrior recognizes Reza’s scar after they have all been sedated and brings him along even though he is much older than the rest of those who are kidnapped.

The rest of the story tells how Reza is forced to survive in a completely alien and distinctly unfriendly environment and how he later returns to humanity when he refuses to fight against his own kind. This is a book full of action and daring deeds. Don’t put it down until the end.

By Carolyn McCray

Ever wondered what would happen if you took a historical person, turned him on his ear added some sci-fi elements and plotted it in modern times? Would the story be sophomoric? Could it be interesting? That’s exactly what this talented writer has done and it does work as a good tale.

Be forewarned though, this book is every bit as controversial as The Davinci Code. It takes Judas Iscariot, the one who turned Jesus over to the Romans and makes him into a likeable and understandable human being who relates this narrative. Impossible? No. She’s made it work.

It’s an odd age we live in these days. While many Islamics and Hindus are taking their religious beliefs deeper and deeper to heart, many Christians seem to be paying lips service only and are willing to explore the possibility that much of what they have been led to believe over the centuries may not be complete fact. People in this world are willing to kill because someone printed a cartoon of Mohammed. Fatwas are being placed on the heads of the sacrilegious. Yet Christians seem willing to consider other interpretations. I have no idea what that signifies but it’s a fact.

This book is full of globe-trotting adventure. The CIA is an instigator using a man who calls himself William or Will and his father to investigate some mysterious happenings in the Middle East involving Russians who are trying to find the original Garden of Eden. The plot twist is that things are very much not what they seem. Will is actually Judas Iscariot who has been condemned to live as an immortal until he can find the 30 pieces of silver which he was paid by Rome. His real reason for agreeing to go on this junket is to find the 22^nd piece. It turns out that his “father” is actually his mortal son who has reached middle age.

A Native American beauty who just happens to have a brother who went missing over a year ago in the same area and who might have been kidnapped by the Russians because of his archeological knowledge comes along on their search. She is sent by the CIA to keep an eye on father and son.

A parallel team of soldiers lead by one Sgt. Brandt and his squad of Special Ops agents have followed Dr. Rebecca Monroe who is investigating some ancient bones found buried beneath the Eiffel Tower. These bones are covered with ancient Greek writing which leads them on a merry chase around Europe and the Middle East. Her mentor. Professor Lochum. is also kidnapped by the same Russians to help them find the Garden of Eden. Rebecca needs him to help solve the mystery of the bones and find something even more important than the Holy Grail – the bones of Jesus Christ. She needs to find proof in order to become a believer. The very military, hard-boiled Sgt. Brandt is actually a Roman Catholic from his childhood and believes that Christ ascended to heaven and there could not be any bones to find.

They all meet and team there efforts in a non-stop action-packed tale. This is romance, danger and lots of mayhem crafted with imagination and mystery enough to keep you turning pages to the end. You may find it difficult to swallow the religious parts of the story as they are definitely not what is taught in Church but the tale may just grab you and draw you in with it’s page-turning excitement.

I found this book to be a most original story. I liked the idea and it drew me on to a very unexpected end. My only complaint is that I read my books on an e-reader and the book itself was full of editing errors and had obviously not been proofread very well. I have received two notices from Amazon lately sending me updated version of books I have purchased which have been re-edited. They do this for free but it is hard to read books the first time with misspellings and grammatical errors. It reminds me of stories I once read about the “dime novels” which were popular in the early 1900′s which were cheap reading for those who couldn’t afford anything else but similarly trashed the English language.

The Journey home begins with a middle-aged man waking in a strangers home and being unable to remember anything about himself. Gradually, he begins to remember only one thing. He once knew a beautiful woman who he feels sure is his wife and she is worried about him and where he is. That’s all he can remember.

A young teenager he meets offers to drive around in hopes of finding some familiar sights which may trigger his memory about where he lives and where his home and family are.

The next chapter introduces us to an elderly lady named Antoinette who is in a nursing home living out her final days and succumbing to dementia and melancholy over the death of her much loved husband some years before.

Antoinette’s son Warren has lost his job and his marriage and is now dismayed that he will lose his Mother soon. He decides to devote his time to trying to get her back by coming and making her favourite meals for her each day. Warren hopes that he may entice her to return to the world around her and become the Mother that he would dearly love to have back.

The story alternate’s back and forth between the two different sets of characters until we finally reach the point were they all come together in a climactic event.

Other than the editing this was a great story. I enjoyed it very much.

By Qanta Ahmed

Qanta Ahmed is a trained medical doctor born in Pakistan, raised in Britain and trained in New York City, USA. She was raised as a Muslim with love and encouragement by parents who never discriminated because of her sex.

Her story chronicles the two years spent living and working in Saudi Arabia. The seat of her faith. The land of great oil wealth. And the most claustrophobic place on earth for women.

From her first night in the Kingdom when a co-worker lends her an abayah so they can go and buy her own complete body covering which she will wear every time she leaves her home until her final flight away from the land where she found many good friends both male and female, we follow her as she learns about the people and the lives they lead.

One of her most memorable chapters deals with her trip to Mecca to make the Haj, a holy pilgrimage usually made much later in life. This renewed and revived her faith while listing all the restrictions placed on the conditions both mental and physical which must be followed during this special visit to the black rock which is the centre of their beliefs.

We learn about working in the ICU unit of a military hospital and how the many restrictions affect the interactions of all staff as they try to handle the many emergencies which pass through the doors of their ward.

I’m sure you will find much to learn from this very compassionate look inside the mysterious desert Kingdom of Bedouins and guest workers.

By John Grisham

John Grisham has been writing stories about lawyers and courts for a long time now. He writes so well because he worked as a lawyer himself in Southaven, Mississippi. Toiling for long hours during the day and writing during court recesses on his first novel. He chanced to hear the testimony of a twelve year old rape victim and was so moved that he wrote a novel about what might have happened if the girl’s father had killed her assailants. That was finished as A Time to Kill in 1987. although rejected by many publishers, Wynwood Press agreed to 5,000 copies and it finally was printed.

Mr. Grisham was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990. Since then he has produced a string of novels which let us all in on the world of law in the United States.

This time out he has written a very funny book about a struggling law firm with two small time ambulance chasers who have never made a real presence in any courtroom – ever! Finley & Figg call themselves a “boutique” law firm. Which means they are very small and don’t have a lot of clients and the ones they have don’t particularly trust them to prove their cases in court. The reason they chose to locate their office where it is is that a nearby intersection is one of the hottest spots in the city for traffic accidents. They fight with the neighbouring litigators over the scraps from the potential cases which result.

One day a very drunken lawyer from one of the biggest, richest firms in the city of Chicago stumbles into their quaint little location on Preston Avenue in one of the most modest parts of town. Just before passing out, he announces that he likes the place and asks for a job. The partners are bewildered and don’t believe him.

Th book revolves around how the three men manage to salvage their lives from ignominy. Finley, partner number one wants nothing more than to retire and get away from his harridan wife. Partner number two, Figg wants to become famous and hopefully rich some day. He always has a scheme on the go which will save them all.

Their new partner was so bored with his job which earned him a huge salary that he couldn’t take it any more. He needs to find purpose in his life and a reason for living.

Click on this link http://bit.ly/vygqp1 to see one of the funniest ideas which Figg has to save the firm and which his partners definitely want him to not do. I recommend this as great reading. Is it possible for lawyers to be funny? Yes! Apparently they can be.

by Richard Bard

The authour, Richard Bard, actually wrote this story from personal experience – sort of.  He was an American Air Force pilot 35 years ago when he was diagnosed with cancer and given only a few months to live. Needless to say, thatdidn’t happen but this harrowing event marked his life and stayed in his mind until he successfully used it to write an intriguing novel.

Part romance, part science fiction and very much psychological thriller, Mr. Bard has crafted his story which holds your attention all the way through. The story opens with Jake Bronson going in to the hospital for an MRI scan. While he is in the tunnel an earthquake traps him in place as the system malfunctions. When he is rescued, he finds that he has gained some extra mental powers. His reflexes are much quicker than before. He seems to be able to solve complex problems more quickly and he even begins to think that he can link minds with other people.

Through a stunt he and his friends performed at a bar, a TV station broadcasts his amazing reflexes worldwide which attracts interest from a mysterious group who are affiliated with Jihadist terrorists who want to teach America a lesson.

Jake is kidnapped and take to Venice, Italy where they hold him captive  subjecting him to  experiments to
try to learn what he is capable of and  how to duplicate his abilities in other people who believe in their cause.

While there Jake meets a lady psychologist named Francesca who has been innocently swept up in the care of the children who are unknowingly part of the terrorist plan.

You’ll have to read this one to find out what happens next but it is interesting and exciting reading. This book has already been grabbed up for a movie. I’m sure it will be fun to watch and this month there is due to be a second book from Richard Bard. It will be worth looking into when it comes out.

by Karin Slaughter

(a Kindle Single)

     For those who have a Kindle from Amazon, we know that beside books, newspapers and magazines they have also got a series of books which are featured as Kindle Singles. They are very reasonably priced books of varying quality which are cheaply priced and affordable for readers. Authors tend to try out new ideas here. Or those known for a certain type of literature, want to test the waters in a completely different genre. They are often very worthwhile.

This Kindle offering is not to be confused with the detective story by Sheila Quigley despite having the same title. Karen Slaughter`s take is nothing like it, nor about British investigators. Thorn in my Side is an imaginative study about Siamese twins . What would happen if two completely separate brains shared one body? Or, parts of one body? This interesting take on the idea explores what thoughts might go through each of the “halves“ of the persons. How they would cope with being believed responsible for the actions of each other?

It assumes some very different personalities can exist within one body. What would happen if one personality was a psychopathic killer and the other was a normal law-abiding citizen? This is the premise of Thorn in My Side.

Now imagine a court case in which only one of the dual personalities were guilty of a horrific crime How could a Judge decide the punishment knowing that an innocent person would also be paying the price for a crime they did not commit?

The story begins when the twins are in there 30`s and as it unfolds we learn about their past history and what has brought them to their day in Court. A little short story with a different quirk, Karen Slaughter has written about a moral dilemma which seems to be possible. It makes you think about justice in a different way. It points out how decisions are rarely black and white.

by David Baldacci

In a rural county in West Virginia mining country, a family of four have been found murdered and posed on a sofa in their living room. The bizarre crime scene is obviously staged as none of the dead were killed there.

The local police ask for help as the father was an employee high up in the military and privy to many national secrets. What possible connection could there be to spies and terrorists in this depressed and impoverished area? There’s nothing here worth fighting and killing over. Or is there?

In response all the government investigative agencies send in only one person. John Puller is a soldier’s soldier who works for the Criminal Investigative Department of the United States Army. He is an experienced fighter and well-trained investigator with many years served in places all around the world, lately in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Puller arrives to find that the lead police Sergeant is a strong, determined woman who is prepared to help solve a mysterious crime in her hometown. Together they delve into layers and layers of deception to find that the hidden motives of the crime will have far-reaching impact a long way from West Virginia. Plots within plots lead them to a stunning conclusion.

For fans of Baldacci, you will know that he writes an exciting and action packed story which is fun to follow and always a good read.

by Evangeline Anderson

For those keeping track this is the fourth book in the Kindred series. Ms Anderson writes erotic fiction for those of us who are not children. In real life she is an MRI technician who keeps her senses alive by writing these highly imaginative stories on the side. She even has a bumper sticker saying “I’d rather be writing”.

At the end of the third book, we were left hanging with Lauren being saved by Kat and her twin male lovers. She and Xairn, son of the AllFather, head of the Scourge must flee to a far planet so that they can disguise themselves enough to keep hidden from the their pursuers.

Lauren is the cousin of Olivia and Sophia from the original Kindred books. She is now believed by the frightening race of the Scourge to be part of the prophecy which says that a woman with a certain mark will be the one to save their race from extinction. It has been a very long time since the last female Scourge died and they have perpetuated themselves by growing sons in vats of genetic soup.

Xairn was raised by an unforgiving, cruel father who delights in the suffering of others. The Allfather wants Lauren for himself so that he will keep the Scourge race alive. He is terrified that he will continue his father’s ways and could never have a normal relationship with any female.

Xairn is frightened by his emotions which are growing toward Lauren and even though he has saved her from his father’s clutches he must find the strength to take her back to Earth and then leave her before he does her bodily harm. Will they both find peace and any happiness? Only reading the book will tell the tale.

There is a hint from the authour at the end of the book about where future stories in the Kindred series may go. I look forward to reading more of these strangely captivating tales.