J.D. Barker: The Fourth Monkey

The first in a series, J.D. Barker gives new meaning to See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil:

Det. Sam Porter receives a phone call that he never thought that he would, the 4MK killer is dead. As the lead detective on the task force, Porter knows that he has to go to the scene and Porter knows that even in death he is going to cause problems. He has a victim that is still missing and within the 4MK's pocket is a dairy that unravels the twisted history of them. Porter hopes that understanding the killer will help him find the missing, victim but time is running out for that has been done to the victim is not something one can survive.

WOW, I do not know why I slept on this book for so long, but I totally regret it as this book was simply fantastic, and one of my favourite reads this year. This book 100% lives up to its hype, and I think more people should read this book, and I will keep recommending this book. It grabs ahold of you from the very beginning and never lets you go. I mean how can you not be hooked when the beginning starts with the death of a serial killer that our lead detective has been chasing for 5 years.

This book is dark and descriptive when it comes to the bodies found and how the victim dies and who the killer chooses as a victim is just downright disturbing. This book had the mystery and thrills that I look for in these types of books. Barker knows how to flirt with the line that takes this book from thriller to horror and I am here for it.

I really enjoyed that Barker included a POV from the killer in this book, even if it is in dairy form from when the killer was a young boy. This gave an insight in where they came from and the whole idea of nature vs nurture aspect of creating a serial killer.

I love that the main detective, Porter, he is very real and is not made pretty by the book but just an old grizzled detective who is great at what he does. Porter just feels real throughout the book, from what he is dealing with the case, as well as in his personal life. Porter and his partner Nash, have a really good rapport with each other and it does add some comedic relief in the book. I like how Porter treats his teammates and does what he thinks is best for the team, investigation and the victim have been taken.

Barker keeps the reader guessing throughout the book and I will completely admit that I did not see all the twists coming in both the present time as well as the diary one. This made me turn the pages faster and faster as I got further and further into this book.

I was so engrossed I did not want to put it down, and I don’t think that you will want too either. I highly recommend this book if you like mystery, thriller books with serial killers. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Enjoy!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

      

Carissa Broadbent: The Serpent & the Wings of Night

The first book in a series, Carissa Broadbent pits a lone human against the vampires in the fight for one wish:

Oraya is the adoptive daughter of the Nightborn Vampire King and while she has carved out some sort of existence surrounded by Vampires, she wants more. Her only chance is to enter the Kejari, a tournament where the winner is granted one wish by The Goddess of Death. Oraya knows that to stay alive she cannot trust anyone but herself but she needs allies as well. Raihn is not only ruthless and dangerous but a threat to her father’s crown as he from a different vampire kingdom. Oraya will be pushed past her limits, past her guards but she must always remember to guard her most important thing, her heart.

This is the first book that I have read by Broadent and I personally think that this book deserves the bype that it has received. You will want to make sure that you are able to dedicate some time to this book as I bet that you are going to want to read it in one sitting. This book grabs you from the beginning and takes you on a great ride. 

I loved the games and trails (though I thought they felt over a bit too quickly for me, I wanted more of that action). I loved the relationships that were formed and the heartbreak that occurs not only to the main character but side/enemy characters as well as more people die in the trials and awaiting the next game. I acutally thought this book would be a bit darker than it was, though carnage is there, it was either over really quickly or not expanded upon.

I like both main characters, but I am sure that I am not the only one who wished to have a POV from Raihn. I understand why there is not but man i wish i could have known what he was thinking for quite a bit of the book. Oraya and Raihn are very similar characters, and probably why they butt heads alot, they are determined and know what it means to fight to survive.

We have shiny vampires in this book but damn are they ruthless. The maiming of their children so that they are unable to take their place at head of the family is just dark and the whole idea of when one Vampire line is in control the others all suffer. Also human are basically cattle in this book, they are needed to stay alive but that is about it so they suffer deplorable conditions and situations.

I was able to predict the twist at the end (I actually thought it was a bit obvious but that may just be me) but this did not make me enjoy the book anyless, especally what happens right before things are revealed and after. I would have like some sort of backstory as to what started the games, as we know the games represent trials that God went through but why did she start the games? Was it jsut to ensure there was always a way to transfer power from one Vampire Type to another? I guess more world build a bit and information would have been nice.

This book was great and with the ending how can one not pick up the next book in the series. I know I cannot resist. Highly recommened if you like vampire with bite, games/trails and fantasy.

Enjoy!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

    

B.R. Spangler: When the Sky Falls

In the first in a new series, B.R. Spangler show what happens when humans mess with the environment:

The machines were supposed to help, they were supposed to save the world from Climate change, reverse the damage that humans had caused to Earth. When the machines are turned on, the unthinkable happens, the Machines do the opposite of what they were supposed to do and release a toxic fog that not only burns those who touch it but it has the ability to tear apart anything that was made from organic material. Emily has one job given to her by her parents is to take her sister Sammi to the mall, where they will be safe. Her father is trying to fix the machines make the fog go away and he would meet them there. But you can never see anything Fog and something the Fog is the safer than humanity.

As the first in a new series, I think that the premise that Spangler has presented here is one that had me instantly sold. I will say I did not realize that it was a YA book, so that took me a bit by surprised and I had to readjust my expectations for the book and this did take me a bit. The majority of the book also takes place in about few days after the Fog emerges and a lot happens in that time, frame very fast paced as everything is going to shit, which i feel is very realistic, but then when get a huge time jump.

I'm on the fence with the 15-year jump in time that occurs, part of me wishes that we got to see how Emily and Peter were able to survive but at the same time, I'm happy for the time jump to see how far the colony has come. However, there are some Significant events that happened in those 15 years that are not addressed. Also the time jump occurs around the 75% mark of the book, so it was almost like a teaser for the next book especially with the cliffhanger at the end.

I liked the idea of the Fog coming from a man mad machine that was supposed to help but the opposite happens. I feel like this is the premise of many dystopia books, so not that original but I appreciate that Spangler took the route of Fog causing the earth to be uninhabitable outside and trying to find places that the Fog could not eat through.

As with any end of the world type book there are tragedies in this book, and most of them I did not see coming. Spangler did a great job of showing that no one is safe and heartbreak can happen to anyone.

I liked the characters and felt the heartbreak with them but never really knew the characters as the reader is with each of them for only a short amount of time between the two timelines. This is more of a plot driven book than i thought it would be.

There are A LOT of unanswered questions by the end of this book, from the Outsiders to the Machines, there are many things that need to be resolved or explained further. I have so many questions and I don’t really like that Spangler left so much unresolved/unexplained.

This book was okay. I think if you like plot driven books, end of days and YA book then you will enjoy this book. I am unsure if I will continue on with the series, I mean the cliffhanger is pretty big but I don’t like all the unanswered questions in this one and if Spangler continues this, I know I would not enjoy the second book.

Cheers!!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

    

Rachel Caine: Stillhouse Lake

In the first in a series, Rachel Caine shows how far a mother will go to protect her children:

Gina Royal has an ordinary life, two kids and a husband who loves her, the white picket fence is where her life it, that is until a car accident changes everything. It reveals that her husband is a serial killer. Now Gina, now Gwen, is forced to run, not from her husband who is behind bars, but from the internet trolls and family members of the women who her husband murdered, not believing that she could not have known. Gwen finally feels that she has a found a place where her and the kids can settle down for a little while but when the first body shows up and then threatening letters from a familiar address, Gwen does everything she can to keep the truth of who her and are kids are hidden, but you can only hide from evil for so long before it finds you.

This book/series has been on my TBR for a very long time and I should not have put it off this long. I was hooked right from the beginning, I mean it is hard not to be, as it is not every day that your FMC discovered that her husband is a serial killer and just the night before there was a woman strung up in your garage who was being tortured to death. I mean if you like thriller books, that is a hard start to stop reading at. Caine did an amazing job of keeping the story flowing and fast paced that you do not want to put this book down.

I liked that there were multiple mysteries that Caine presents in the book and you wonder are they connected are they not connected, who could be involved, things like that. Although, I was able to figure out some of the twists that Caine was going to do, I did not figure out all of them. I certainly did not think that Caine was going to end the book the way she did and it left be wanting for more.

You cannot help but feel and root for Gwen who has everything stacked against her, and there are those out there that not only want to hurt her but her children as well. All she is looking for is a place and a way to keep them safe. I appreciate that she tries to balance safety and normalcy for them even though it is restrictive at times.

You better believe that after I finished this book I went right out and got the next book in the series. If you have been eyeing this book/series, don’t wait any long pick it up and start reading it, you'll probably want to get it done in one day.

Enjoy!!!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

    

Catherine Mack: Every Time I go on Vacation Someone Dies

In Catherine Mack's debut novel, it shows how a vacation can turn from good to bad to worse:

All Eleanor wants to do is get through the latest book tour. The Pros is that it is taking place in Italy, the MAJOR Con is that her ex and blackmailer and muse for the male lead in the series, Connor is also going to be on the tour. That is why Eleanor has decided to finally Kill Connor, well not in real life, but in her series so that she can move on and start writing something different. But when someone tries to kill Connor in real life, and the only thing they know that there is only 10 days to figure out who the killer is, but as other bodies start falling, the suspect list keeps getting shorter. This is the vacation to die for, literally. 

As a debut novel I appreciate that Mack was trying to do something a bit different here with the format of the book and how all the information is laid out and I think that Mack succeeded on some points but not on others. I really enjoyed the ideas that Mack presented of an author who's first book is based upon real events of her vacation as well as that the book was only told from Eleanor's POV. However, I wasn’t a fan of the format of Eleanor talking to the readers instead of just telling the story and the never-ending footnotes. I can say that I did not read all the footnotes. Also how does this translate in other formats like audio, are the footnotes at the end of each chapters?

I did like the overall plot of this book and I think that Mack did a good job of placing people against each other, and determining that the killer was in or connected to their group in some ways. I also thought that the methods of murder were different from a lot of books that I read. I was able to figure out most of the twist before the end.

I’m not sure a ever like Eleanor as a character, she was annoying a lot of the time, and pretty selfish throughout the book, even when she realizes that she was being selfish she never changes from being so. But I did like she is an unreliable narrator as we only get her POV and there are always 2 sides of the story you know as the reader you are not getting all the information or sides to the relationship and story.

This book really took me down memory lane from a trip to Italy 10 years ago and that was probably the best part of the book, getting to relive some of my own memories.

This book was just not for me. I think that Mack tried to do a bit too much with this book and that lead it to not be for me.

Cheers!!!!!

Instead of This,

Check These Books Out: