New Book Review: Play Dead

Tags

frasier, voodoo

Rated 3 of 5 stars

Listened to this on a car trip. It had our attention throughout the trip for sure! Lots of weird murders and a good protagonist with her own back story. The narration was great as well. Overall, the story was a good start but lost a star for the stories details needing to bigger for the book. If you insert the idea of magic, voodoo or some type of power but never really show it…that just pisses readers off! If you tell me someone has a power and I’m waiting anxiously to see said powers…then I’m mad if at the end of the book I’m lost as to what they were referring to throughout the book. Elise Sandburg is a detective with “powers” because she is kin to some voodoo priest or something to that nature. Non-spoiler…you won’t see any powers or magic from her though.

The story has many twists and will surprise you but it’ll also leave you wondering like….that was so left field there’s no way I feel satisfied for following along. Lol. It has potential to be really great but definitely needed to be longer to get into some details that would tie the story up with a bow. Right now, it’s just pieces of string everywhere. Overall, great setting, great characters but faulty twists and thin back stories.

Raging Book Reviews

*Audiobook purchased by me.

Advertisements

New Book Review: Projekt 1065

Tags

gratz, hitler, spy

Rated 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of a young boy who is a spy in the Hitler Youth, an army of young boys preparing to wreak havoc for Hitler. He is the son of an Irish dignitary (ambassador). His mother is a very skilled spy that has saved him from more than one near death experience. She has the utmost respect and encouragement for her son while her husband (not a spy) is more fearful for his family and only hopes to keep them safe.

In the book, the reader follows Michael and his budding friendship with Fritz. Fritz is an unlikely friend and in the beginning, an unwanted friend. But Michael soon learns that Fritz has more information at his fingertips and Michael getting his hands on it could change the scope of the war.

I enjoyed the playfulness of the youth boys but also felt the palpable fear of being outside the Hitler Youth. For any boy that did not make the cut, his family would be in danger or even his own life. This was like many of the mafia stories but with children! I think readers who like historical fiction and especially appreciate this time period of the Nazi reign over Europe will like this book. Not too stuffy with facts and just enough history to take you to the place and time.

Raging Book Reviews Recommended!

*Purchased with my own money.

 

New Book Review: Hope to Die

Tags

Abduction, alex cross, patterson

Rated 4 of 5 stars

I’m a huge fan of Alex Cross so my opinion is a bit bias. I love the tough but family oriented professor/detective created by Patterson. He’s been able to build many relationships and stories with such a layered, engaging and intellectual main character. This book does not disappoint!

When a madman sets his sights on Dr. Cross’ family and steals them away leaving only pictures of their dead bodies…he goes into a winding spiral into suicidal, homicidal and mental anguish. He has everyone searching for the madman…except the madman’s identity changes frequently. He can’t get a handle on WHO he is and moreso, WHERE he’s taken his family if they are still alive as he hopes. With a killer who leaves no witnesses and a mind hellbent on being the perfect criminal (up against the perfect foe…Dr. Cross)….Cross has a lot to learn about what motivates this criminal.

As a listener, the narration was spot on and both narrators were excellent. I loved the tone of their voices and the distinction between the two story lines kept me on task. Very good read!

Raging Book Reviews Recommended!

*Audiobook purchased with my own money.

New Book Review: Dark Matter

Tags

blake crouch, dark matter, quantum, Sci-Fi, science

4 of 5 stars

I found Blake Crouch’s, Dark Matter, to be an enthralling read! It had me sitting on the edge of my seat, wondering what I would do in the same situation and questioning what type of integrity I really have. This novel touches on scientific quantum studies, individuality (or lack thereof), emotional ties, psychological and post traumatic stress as well as a host of other really deep mental mysteries.

At the start of the book, I wasn’t sure if I was going to entirely like it due to the slower start but it ramped up pretty quickly when I wasn’t expecting it. Then it never let go. As a reader, you journey with the main character through his own mental and emotional struggles but also into the world of science. I’m no science nerd but this book made me really interested in quantum physics and the capabilities of a multiverse. Anyway, before I start, nerding-out completely, let’s get a brief synopsis.

The book follows Jason Dessen, a professor at a local college, as he spends an evening with his wife, Daniela and son, Charlie. You feel the comfort between Jason and his wife immediately. They have a really great bond. Later, as Jason sits with his buddy whose just won a prestigious award at a local bar, he questions whether his life would be different if he’d moved forward with his scientific invention related to quantum physics. He wonders if he could have been an all-star like his friend. He brushes this off as a simple “what if” and begins his walk home. While on his way, he is ambushed by a masked man and his life changes forever from that point on. When he wakes, he is in a lab. The people are acting strangely and even though he doesn’t recognize any of them, they seem to know him quite well. This is the start of Jason Dessen’s journey back home to his wife and son.

The scientific appeal of this novel is sci-fi to the max. But the suspense is just as strong a motivating factor for the reader. You want Jason to win. To find his family. But then there’s an extreme twist that makes you go “what the…”. That’s when you know Crouch has pulled you deep into the rabbit hole.

Raging Book Reviews Highly Recommended

*This book was purchased with my own money. Purchase a copy with free shipping through my Book Depository affiliate link CLICK HERE

New Book Review: The Argus Deceit

Tags

grossart, Sci-Fi, space

Rated 4 of 5 stars

The Argus Deceit by Chuck Grossart is Quantum Leap meets Stephen King-esque style of creepiness. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Grossart whose writing I’ve come to love. In the beginning of the story, we meet Brody Quail as a 52 year-old man who has gone through terrible unthinkable loss. The weird thing is…his life always ends at the same point. He never knows what happens before or after the day he’s living. Shortly after, Brody Quail is a ten year old boy playing with his buddies with the unthinkable, yet inevitable lurking around him and his little brother. After that day ends, you meet Brody Quail as a 26 year old, disabled veteran that relives his lackluster life and hard outer appearance until he’s met with three guys that want to rearrange his future. The last Brody Quail is sixteen and full of quiet admiration for a girl he likes, who actually may like him too. But that love is very short lived as he is thrust into the cycle all over again. That is, until he meets Constance “Connie” Drake…and things change forever (or do they?).

This story was very confusing in the beginning because the lives were so different. The years were all over the place so it wasn’t any type of foundation for the reader to hold on to. In the end, that is all explained in a glorious fashion. When I say, you must read this book to the VERY end to get every bit of nugget…you’ll be so curious as to the why, what and who…that you will zoom through the pages just to find out. You are not let down by the ending which is not quite one dimensional, but multi-layered.

Grossart writes with exploding action, heartfelt emotion and clever mystery. Even though in the beginning the stories repeat (to show the importance of how each day is the same for Brody Quail in each “life” he is in), you’ll enjoy the subtle changes as things start to crack and fall apart while Brody starts to realize that he is in a loop.

This story is for folks that like sci-fi done with a bit of mystery and suspense. If you’re tired of the same ole alien stories masquerading as sci-fi, then try Grossart for a refreshing sci-fi change.

Raging Book Reviews Recommended

COVER REVIEW

So I’m trying something new for writers that send me ARC’s…I’m going to review your book cover and back copy. I thought this would be a good addition to help for the final release. So here goes!

COVER: The cover is well balanced but doesn’t give the reader a good idea what the story is about. It doesn’t pull me in off first glance. It has a very sci-fi edge to it but after reading the story it doesn’t quite align. Maybe showing Brody Quail since he’s such a big factor of the story? Not sure if that’s the style you like. Just a thought. Leave a message below if you agree with my assessment of the cover.

BACK COPY: Back copy reads well! It doesn’t give away the story too much but definitely lets the reader know that they will be getting multiple lives of Brody Quail. Well done.

*This ARC was sent by the author for an honest review. The novel releases MAY 9, 2017.

 

New Book Review: The Woman in Cabin 10

Tags

cruise, female lead, ruth ware

Rated 2 of 5 stars

This is my second Ruth Ware book and will likely be my last. The hype behind this book alone has made me question whether there will be any really great book from her that aren’t hyped to the max. It makes me not trust the publicity behind this author and that sucks royally for me as a reader since I spent my hard-earned money on both of her books because everyone LOVED them so much and I saw it practically everywhere. Well, now that I know that she has a good publicity team, that’s about all I have to quantify my spending because the books were not great, not even that good. So let’s get into it…

Ruth Ware has a way of creating the weakest, shrinking violet female leads that make me think she lives in some bubble somewhere. A place where the average woman is sobbing 75% of the time and the other 25% she is drinking her troubles away. This to me is a very annoying and demeaning trait for female leads to have. Therefore, I absolutely hated the main character in The Woman in Cabin 10. Laura “Lo” Blacklock is a travel writer sent to a luxury cruise liner to do a write up on all the rich and influential people attending the first voyage. Before she attends, she is robbed in her apartment. Not at gunpoint or knife point…he just locked her in her bedroom while he took everything. Of course, this has sent her reeling and paranoid that someone is out to get her…even though she has no security on her place. Anyway, this robbery stays with her and makes her feel unsafe so she heads to her boyfriends place. He returns home and helps ease her mind even though she ends up fighting with him and basically calling off the relationship in a fit of misplaced anger. At this point in the story, I’m wondering what the hell is wrong with this woman? Her reasoning for fighting with her boyfriend seems very sudden and dramatic. So I rolled my eyes constantly during their exchange. I guess the author didn’t want them to be on great terms before the cruise because it was sooooo forced.

Anyway, Lo finally makes it to the cruise and its pretty fancy. There’s only a small group on the ship. The cabin next to hers is supposed to be empty but she sees a girl in there when she asks to borrow mascara before dinner. Later that evening, while in bed after a night full of too much drinking, she hears a scream and splash. When she rushes to look out the balcony, she sees what looks like a hand going beneath the tide and sees a blood smear on the next patio door. She calls the security team who inspects the room next door to find nothing there about 5 minutes later. No blood. No signs of struggle. Nothing from the girl who was staying there that lent her the mascara. So she is tossed away as a drunk that was dreaming but she believes what she saw.

Throughout the rest of the story, you follow Lo’s quest to figure out who the person was in the cabin next to hers that no one seems to know about. The story gets really boring at this point. She finds something then someone steals it, erases it or loses it. It’s like “oh look what I found…then where’d it go?” for about 150 pages. In between all this, there’s lots of drinking, crying and weird interactions with guests, including an ex boyfriend. There was literally no one likable in this story.

In the end, there’s a few twists but none that are easily believable. It gets interesting at about 275 pages up until the end but who wants to wrestle through 275 pages of mediocrity ? So if you read this book, just skip to 275 and start there. You will still be asked to suspend your logical mind when they explain what has happened and how a person gets away with it.

If you prefer weak, drunk female protagonists…then have at it. Otherwise, save your pennies and get a book with a real woman leading the charge.

Raging Book Reviews Not Recommended

*This book was purchased with my own money.

New Book Review: The Body Reader

Tags

audible, detective, female lead, novels

Rated 4 of 5 stars

Anne Frasier has a mind like a killer (and thus, someone should check her basement frequently and without warning). The way she creates scenes of torture are second to none. Throughout this story, I found myself cringing and thinking, “God, how do you survive that?”. I was completely swept up into the story of Jude Fontaine and her descent into what some think is insanity while she sees it as gifted in her craft of reading people (dead or alive). Jude was held captive for three years in a secluded, dark basement with no other stimulation than the visits from her captor. Over that time, she’s learned to read his facial expressions and body language in order to prepare for or hopefully escape torture.

When she escapes from her personal hell-hole, life is so different. Her senses are heightened. Her sense of smell and ability to read people’s feelings is intensified. Before she was abducted, she was a detective. When she returns to her old precinct, Uriah is there in her place, the position she left when she was abducted. He helps her find herself in this new world and she helps him find a piece of himself that was missing after suffering his own tragedy but only after the bumpy start to their relationship. Jude has fleeting thoughts. Why was she abducted? Why did he let her live so long? Why are girls dying around the city with uncanny similarities? The ride doesn’t stop there and there’s no stopping the twists in this story once you start.

This book is a hell of a ride. I found myself attached to Jude and Uriah. I like that Frasier keeps the main thing the “main thing” and doesn’t force romance in places where there isn’t any. I give her kudos for that. I felt she did an exceptional job of creating characters that were easily identifiable throughout the story. There was one hole left in the story at the end which left me questioning so I took a star away due to the story not being completely transparent at the end. Overall, Frasier knows how to write strong women and she excels at defying my suspenseful expectations. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Raging Book Reviews Highly Recommended

*This book was listened to on Audible using my own dinero. 😉

Interested in snagging a copy? Use my Book Depository link HERE to get free shipping! (Oh, and I get a couple cents for sending you there…hee-hee.)

 

New Book Review: Made Safe

Tags

arc, books, bosnia, Crime, drama, moses winter, mystery

Rated 3.5 of 5 stars

Sparks gives readers a glimpse into the underworld of human trafficking in his novel, Made Safe. We follow a cast of characters that are flawed and courageous as they fight to first understand what crime is being committed, then stop the heinous act from happening. All the while, the larger implications of such a scandal does not escape the reader. Human trafficking is happening everywhere, even in Des Moines, Iowa. We start the story with Moses Winter, a private investigator, helping to catch a cheating husband in the act. Little does Winter know, the angered wife has more up her sleeve when she finds her husband bedding down a Bosnian immigrant. Sharon, the wife, pulls a gun, threatens the lives of both adulterers and then in a scuffle to maintain control, her husband, Fred is subsequently stabbed. When the cops come, Rakic is introduced to the story, as he is the agent in charge of homicide. Ironically, when he steps in the room and notices his scantily clad cousin (the mistress) in the corner…he tries to quiet the case in order to ensure she isn’t imprisoned for attempted murder of Fred. Rakic soon realizes there are three stories, not including the truth with what happened in the room.

Rakic wants the case to go away so he can protect his cousin. Moses is a curious guy that feels something is going on that he missed with the husband. So Rakic tries to distance himself from the case while Moses dives deeper in and finds that what’s going on is actually far worse than he anticipated or was prepared for. The readers are taken on car chases, stake outs, spying, foot chases, break ins and lots of falling in the snow/smoking cigarettes and other small redundancies.

I enjoyed the story up until the very end. Throughout the story, I felt there were many different storylines and liked how they tied in together later in the story. Unfortunately, the ending was a bit far fetched in certain scenes and I rolled my eyes a time or two when people would escape pretty dismal endings. Moses Winter is a likeable main character but as smart as he was in his fact finding, he was equally as dumb about Majka and using her for answers. It grated my nerves that he would sleep with someone then not grill them on a case he is totally invested in. That didn’t translate to good sense in my opinion. Also, I thought throwing Claudia in was a bit rushed and forced.

Another thing, could just be me since I’m not a smoker but…there was a hell of a lot of references to smoking in this novel. I despise smoking so it just made me grimace each time it was brought up and unfortunately, that was very often. That’s a personal preference though. I’ve read some books that use smoking and don’t explain it in much detail and I much prefer that method. Other than that, I really liked Sejla and the Wildcat and wished that we’d felt more of their personality in the story so that when it came to the end, we as readers, could really feel triumphant for them. Majka was very well written. I knew her as a character by the end and could understand the kerfuffle she was in coming from another country and wanting to be successful, albeit in the wrong area. Overall, I enjoyed the story and give it a strong 3.5 because it is fast paced, action packed and a solid detective story.

Raging Book Reviews Recommended

*This book ARC was sent by the author for an honest review and releases on January 17th!

Keep in touch with this author:

Francis Sparks

www.pandamoonpublishing.com

www.francissparks.com

@writingsparks on Twitter

 

New Book Review: Widowmaker

Tags

doiron, mountains, skiing, snow, widowmaker

Rated 3.5 of 5 stars

Widowmaker takes the reader on a trek through the snowy, mountainous regions of Maine. A place I know absolutely nothing about with its hunting, skiing and small town secrets. This is my first Doiron book but likely won’t be the last.

The story follows a game warden, Mike Bowditch, on a journey to find a missing man that he’s been manipulated into finding while he’s on off time from his normal duties. Mike is smart and had great attention to detail that keeps the story moving along on pace with clues and questions in various storylines.

First, there’s a storyline of a wolf dog or hybrid wolf that had been discovered and captured. Mike must find a home for the rare creature that had captured his interest with its intelligence. Next, Mike has his demons he’s battling with a dead father that was notorious for being a charismatic yet heinous poacher, womanizer and all around problem. He wants to mourn for his dad but finds it hard when everyone he knows reminds him that he’s born from a man like Jack. Lastly, there’s the mystery of the missing boy and the story behind a big secret the entire town is hiding.

In the story, we meet some colorful characters and are taken down various storylines that make the reader feel like they know this town and its people and have been there. Doiron does a good job creating links to storylines which was helpful because at certain points I wondered why we were going down so many lanes.

All in all, I liked the story but it was slow in certain points so I took a star away. I also took half a star because I didn’t love any one character enough in the story to make this book memorable. So it’s a solid read at a 3.5 star rating.

Raging Book Reviews

Purchase this book on Audible or use my Book Depository affiliate link for discounted rates HERE (you get a great rate, free shipping and I get a few cents for sending you there. Woo-hoo!)

New Book Review: In a Dark, Dark Wood

Tags

creepy, ruth ware, twists

Rated 2.5 of 5 stars

This is a first for me, Ruth Ware, that is. I have her newest novel and plan to read it soon. In a Dark, Dark Wood was a stretched out story of a teenage feud gone long overdue. In the story, Leonora goes to Clare’s “hen party” which is basically a bachelorette party. She wasn’t quite sure why she was invited because they hadn’t spoken for over ten years (the reason is actually quite vague as to why they stopped talking) . But still, Leonora attends with her pal, Nina. The hen party is a hodge podge of Clare’s friends from throughout her life. Leonora being the oldest friend, Nina (a brash, outspoken female doctor), Tom (a gay, theatrical guy she’s known through her fiance), Flo (her new “bestie” with a serious case of obsessive compulsive disorder) and Melanie (a friend from college who has a new baby and leaves the hen party quite early). Anyway, they embark on what is supposed to be celebratory until Leonora finds out that Clare is marrying her ex-boyfriend and first love. The story unravels from there. There’s dark shadows, footprints in snow, creaking doors and a host of other things meant to make you scared…even a Ouji board type game. All a bit overkill in the story to me.

Leonora will irk the hell out of anyone who values strong or smart lead characters in a story. She’s incredibly dense and in her shell which stifles the reader throughout the story. She harps on how beautiful Clare is…OVER and OVER until the point you want to pluck your eyes out. Not to mention, Clare is (shocker) a blonde and slim and incredibly charming. Why does this have to be the anecdote of perfection in every freakin’ novel?! Ugh.

I digress. The story itself was written well. I just didn’t like the characters or the ending very much. Therefore, I finished reading with a strong urge to start the next book. I didn’t wait…I just put it down and flipped open the cover of Saga, in the hopes that I’d get to see a strong female and male lead…hell, even the child is strong for that matter. Anyway, this book is for those that don’t mind reading about a whining twenty-six year old talk about breaking up with a boy when she was 16.

Raging Book Reviews

Purchase your books using my Book Depository link HERE (you’ll get free shipping and I’ll get a couple cents for sending you)