Mind in the Clouds On Sale

In recognition for being named a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards (a reader-driven award), I'm putting Mind in the Clouds on sale for 99 cents (regularly $3.99) from now until March 22.

"Strong characters, intelligent attention to detail and a great plot ensured this was a quite riveting read. Highly recommended."

"… a touch of romance and a chuckle at the end. Overall, an entertaining read."

“… a crazy wild ride through modern day technology with a little advanced AI thrown in to create an action thriller par excellence.”

Buy:  https://books2read.com/u/mv2GOl

Or try a free sample: https://amzn.to/31uzQfG

Book Review: Last Star Standing by Spaulding Taylor

Character-Driven Post-Apocalyptic Fiction with a Timeless Theme

The Last Star Standing is set on post-apocalyptic earth … although, without a few references to places like Australia, it can be hard to tell. That’s because its cast of characters prominently features non-humans—a ruthless race of conquering aliens, their imported, brutish servants, robots, giant sea creatures, and so on. The humans, when they appear, are often augmented, including our protagonist, Aiden Tenten. And when not enhanced with technology, they are often depicted only as overheard comments in crowd scenes. The result is an earth that feels otherworldly.

The story has a character-driven element, although the starting point in the transformation of our hero is a bit unclear. On one hand, Aiden is insecure about … well, almost everything from his abandonment by his mother as a child to when he was picked for sports at school to his current-day relationships with women. As a result, reputation is everything to him and he’s reckless in his pursuit of fame. But at the same time, he is described as having a messiah complex, a belief that he is destined to save the world. It seems a strange mix of destiny-calling while dealing with imagined slights, but that’s Aiden. As to where his character ends up? Well, that might be too much of a spoiler, but it’s a significant shift.

At a very high level, the plot is based on a well-worn theme as undermanned humans mount a rebellion against their ruthless overlords. To counter the threat, Aiden gathers a band of misfits with conveniently appropriate skills and powers (of course). While the battle between the evil empire and the out-gunned rebels is the general drift, fully the first half of the book does little to advance this plot. Aiden is being held captive, recalling some of his life and his missions. The intent is probably world-building and character development, but it feels somewhat meandering. In the second half, the focus is much clearer, allowing the plot to advance more smoothly (and with greater suspense and intrigue).

The prose is solid, as you might expect from an author with a background as a ghostwriter. One element of his style, however, deserves mention. He frequently inserts two or more distinct thoughts into single sentences with each new idea set off with dashes.  “My cost was crippling – for I remained in rude health despite my birth mother’s best efforts – but Duncan Tenten had old-fashioned notions about his ‘line’– the irony being that most lines ended between WWIII and the invasion anyway.” This kind of interposition of ideas can make the text more interesting in moderation, but it can become tiring when overused. And it was, for my tastes.

Overall, the otherworldly feel of post-apocalyptic earth is well developed. And Aiden, as a damaged hero leading a vastly outgunned rebel force, is timeless and well worth the read.

I was given a copy of the book by the author. I elected to write this candid review.

See on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ey9jVR

(I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)

Audiobooks, Audiobooks, and More Audiobooks

Want to give your eyes a break from reading and your ears a chance to do more than hold up a mask?

Then, check out these two selections of more than fifty (yes, that's five-O) free audiobooks!

The first collection offers listens for markets across the globe. You'll find my audio version Of Half a Mind in this group.

https://storyoriginapp.com/to/d1goFSB

The second collection focuses on audio codes for the UK. I have Killer in the Retroscape in this selection.

https://storyoriginapp.com/to/60LzTl8

Listen, enjoy, and please consider leaving a review.

From the Mind of a Witch is Coming Soon

The release of book 4 in the Mind Sleuth Series, From the Mind of a Witch, is looming. It is, perhaps, the cause of all the recent dark and dreary days in St. Louis? (The meteorologists, of course, may have a different opinion.)

Synopsis:

When ex-FBI agent Rebecca Marte considered the possible challenges of her new career as a private investigator, she never thought one of them would be to clear a witch, Della Bergeron, charged with killing a man during a coven ritual. But that challenge became a near impossibility when six icons of the St. Louis business community, the rest of the coven, witnessed Bergeron standing over the body, covered in blood, declaring she’d kept her promise to be with him to the end.

The nearly open-and-shut case a took an even more bizarre turn six months after the killing, however, when Bergeron said there were extenuating circumstances. She hadn’t killed willingly. She’d been possessed by another witch.

Now, the means Rebecca knew to get someone to act against their will—threats of violence, emotional blackmail, drug-induced delusion—were less likely culprits in the murder than what laid in the witch’s mind. Thrust into this unfamiliar territory, she sought to involve her friend, Dr. Sam “Doc” Price, both to help her with the case and him with a losing battle to find his kidnapped fiancé.

Book Review: Double Shot (A Top Shelf Mystery) (Top Shelf Mysteries Book 4) by Lolli Powell

If Scientists Start Looking for the Self-Preservation Gene, They Shouldn’t Check Ricki

It’s not so much that Ricki Fontaine, the hero of the Top Shelf Mysteries, laughs in the face of death as it is that she wisecracks her way through peril. Take the bar owner’s thoughts as she stares down the barrel of a handgun in this latest installment:  If she died then her employees “… would be swamped at the Shelf. Murder always increased business, and I liked to think mine would draw more than an out-of-town real estate developer’s.” Of course, as a long-time reader of the series, I knew she was a bit low on the self-preservation trait (like into negative numbers), but I’ll deal with that because there are few fictional characters that make me laugh more than Ricki. I mean, all the life lessons she gives us readers for free! “Murder in close proximity to your person is not conducive to a good night’s sleep, so do your best to avoid it if you can.” Who would have thought that?

Of course, there’s a whodunit to be solved in this mystery series, and like the predecessor books, this one’s good. Mose Franklin and his grandson, Trey, are being evicted from their family home after the Savings & Loan makes an unprecedented decision to sell the delinquent mortgage to an outside developer. Trey gets arrested for the crime. Author Powell, however, keeps us guessing by introducing several other suspects with possible motives – mobsters, mean alcoholics, unscrupulous land developers, even law enforcement. Each is well portrayed through Ricki’s thoughts. But the book also gives us a double shot of mysteries, the second being of the romantic variety. Will Ricki let her past, detective boyfriend, Gabe, back in her life? Or will she take up with the newspaper editor, Logan? And, as the author’s synopsis says, “And then there’s that FBI agent….” I don’t believe it’s a spoiler to say that neither of these mysteries ends in a cliff-hanger.

I had only minor issues with the book (perhaps because it’s tough to have concerns when you’re laughing). There were some minor repetitions in the text, sometimes just a word, and sometimes between Ricki’s thoughts and the dialog: “Victor still had a few things to do, and I shook my head. ‘No, that’s okay. Looks like you’ve still got things to do.’” A more general concern was the emphasis on the Gabe vs. Logan backstory. For my taste, that quandary was repeated a bit too often during the tale. But I suppose if you’re going to live on the edge, it’s better to have someone special when you back away from it.

Overall, Double Shot is an excellent read. I look forward to the next installment in the series, wondering whose warnings Ricki will ignore and how I’ll get along without more of her life philosophy until then.

See on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3urPPYo

(I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)

Mind in the Clouds is a Finalist

I'm honored to announce that Mind in the Clouds has been selected as a 2020 finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

Try a sample for yourself: https://amzn.to/31uzQfG

Or pick up a copy from one of these fine retailers:  https://books2read.com/u/mv2GOl

Mind in the Clouds:  A suspenseful whodunit, where not all the suspects are human

Book Review: The Trafficking Murders (The Inspector Sheehan Mysteries Book 5) by Brian O'Hare

Another Formulaic Mystery? Not in this Series!
 
I’ve read several of the novels in The Inspector Sheehan Mysteries series. One of my favorites was The Occult Murders. But when reading it, I admit to wondering if it signaled an end to the police procedurals that I liked in favor of fantasy. The Trafficking Murders, however, is about as far from make-believe as possible, dealing instead with one of the gut-wrenching realities of our world—human trafficking.
 
Though no single book could cover all the forms of this horrific crime, author Brian O’Hare obviously did his homework, giving readers a couple of distinct looks into this illicit industry. On the one hand, Alina Balauru travels from a poor farm in Romania in search of a better life, only to be abused and beaten into sexual slavery. On the other, Lin Hui and Cheung Mingzhu come from more prosperous families in China. They, however, succumb to the glitzy life of call girls, held captive there by threats to their lives and their families. And though different on the surface, Inspector Sheehan gets to the heart of these women’s situation when he notes, “No matter how gilded their cages, these girls are victims.”
 
Though the subject matter is distasteful, the story is presented without grisly details using a vivid literary style that I’ve come to expect from O’Hare. The pace is typical of mysteries as Sheehan and his team systematically peal back the layers of clues and suspects. And there is no lack of suspects. Fortunately, the book provides a list of characters, which I soon bookmarked in my Kindle for easy and often reference. The mystery is engaging. Is there a connection among these victims that seem so different on the surface? Who is the sinister enforcer, the Shadow, who keeps these girls in line? As the police close in, can this individual be stopped before tying up all the remaining loose ends? O’Hare keeps the reader guessing.
 
A few things occurred in the book that seemed a little too convenient for my tastes. For example, Sheehan and his team decided to pressure a hardened criminal to help solve one of the cases. Not only does their scheme work, but of all the information this individual knew from his years in crime, he gave up the one thing Sheehan wanted. In another scene, when the Shadow couldn’t locate one of the intended victims, he/she tried blackmailing the police to turn over the woman. Other than demented serial killers, are there criminals who openly challenge the police? But while these unlikely occurrences reduced tension a bit, there was still plenty of white-knuckle material from the crimes themselves.
 
Overall, The Trafficking Murders is another outstanding mystery and without a formula to know where O’Hare is taking his characters next, I’ll just have to wait for the next installment in the series.
 
I was given a copy of this book by the author. I elected to write this candid review.
 
See on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ZmxBZW
 
(I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)