Angela Marsons: Lost Girls

You need to read the first two books in this series, Silent Scream and Evil Games, in order to really appreciate the main character DI Kim Stone. Additionally the books are amazing reads, some of my favourites from last year, and I highly recommend them:

Angela Marsons is back with her next DI Kim Stone novel, where two girls are missing and only one will come back alive:

This kidnapper has a to play, two girls will go missing and only one will return alive. Family versus Family will ensue and close friends will no longer be able to trust each other as only the family that can come up with the most money will see their daughter again. As Kim and her team dig into the families' past to try and find the perpetrator hidden secrets will come out. The kidnapper is playing a deadly game where not only the girls are in danger of not coming back alive.

There are many thriller/mystery authors out there that follow a formula book after book where you can basically predict what is going to happen after you have read a few of their novels. I can say that this is NOT the case with Marsons' DI Kim Stone series. Each book (this is the third one so far) has had different cases, focus and dynamics applied to each novel. This allows us, as readers, to not know what is going to happen next and with Kim's unpredictable personality things occur that no one expects. I personally love that Marsons has had three different cases across her three books, and that she always has a secondary case that also needs to be followed up and in this book it is the murder of a gang member who was trying to get out.

Marsons has a great imagination from book to book, and I like that Marsons did not a have a typical kidnapping with a ransom or else. I liked the almost "game" aspect that Marsons had the kidnapper have with the parents of the children. I think this added to the overall suspense of the book as you start to think what would you do in this situation if it was your child that went missing (I say this as a new mom) and that you would do anything to get them back. I think the reactions that the parents had and couples had internally were spot on.  I did not want to put this book down, there never seemed to be a "good" place to stop reading, I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next.

When you compare this novel to the previous two you will notice that there is less character development in regards to Kim. I think that Marsons did this on purpose as in Evil Games Kim is really rocked to the core by a sociopath. Kim is still anti-social (really has no social skills at all), is really far from a perfect and has such a dark past that has shaped her that she almost feels too much in this book because it involves children. I think that is the one thing that we really get a glimpse of in this book it Kim's weakness for children victims that she cannot see straight, and even does things that hinders her standing with her team. We do get a bit of insight into Kim actually through one of the parents of the missing girl who grew up in one of the foster homes that Kim attended but I do not think there was anything new learned about Kim through this interaction.

I liked that Marsons decided to focus more on the secondary character Darwin in this book. The team is a very important aspect in this book and each team member does have their own strength and weaknesses so I appreciate that Marsons is also starting to develop them into more prominent and well defined characters. It was also interesting to add new members to Kim's team with the inclusion of a profiler (which Kim lets know she does not believe in that "science"), a negotiator (who has a similar personality to Kim) and a family service worker (who Kim feels obligated to have but learns to appreciate her, as I said above Kim does not have the greatest people skills). This expanded team adds some additional dynamics that not only define the case and how it is handled but also test Kim as well.

I love that there have been three books in this series so far and none of them have been the same. This to me is the key to having a great series. Keep these books coming Marsons and I will be reading your books for life :) I cannot wait for the third book in this series to see what Marsons comes up with next.

Enjoy!!!!

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Suzanne Collins: Mockingjay

I figured I needed to read this book before the second part of the movie came out and I'm sure everyone knows by now that there are two book before this one, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire that you do need to read in order to understand this book, world and series.

In the conclusion in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Game series, Collins shows what someone will go through in order to protect those they love:

Katniss has survived the Hunger Games (Quarter Quell) for a second time, but she lost someone very close to her in the exchange, Peeta was left behind and by all accounts he is the hands of the Capital. Katniss was rescued by the "rebels" from District 13 and she has been told that she is the key to the revolution. Katniss does not want to be the key, all she wants is to get Peeta back and attempt to forget the Hunger Games and the pain that it has brought her. Katniss soon realizes that to save Peeta she must become the Mocking Jay for real, to be the face of the revolution and to start the fire burning, no matter how many lives it costs, there is only one way to save the people in the districts...War.

I was surprised at how dark Collins decided to make this book in the end. She really puts Katniss through some very tough situations and events. Collins puts a lot on Katniss' shoulders and expects her to perform through them all, and there are times when she succeeds and times she did not. I was also surprised at some deaths within this book (yes that is plural deaths) of individuals who you think would be off limits to many authors where put to an end here and I appreciated that Collins made it feel as though no one was safe and this added to who will be gone next feel.

However, overall I felt that there were times that Katniss was not really part of the story even though it is told from her point of view; and by this I mean the premise is all about the revolution and her role in it, but there was so much time spent in Katniss' head that the revolution aspect of the story took a back seat. While I really really I appreciated that Collins showed PTSD in this book (as it is very fitting with everything that Katniss went through) I think there was a little bit too much time spent in the hospital wing when the fight was going on around her and we as readers only get a glimpse of it till that latter part of the book when Katniss chooses to be more involved. Therefore, I think that it is safe to say that this book was a lot slower than I expected it to be.

Katniss as a character in this book does at times pale in comparison to who she was in The Hunger Games, but I think that this is to be expected for everything that she has gone through and the people she has had to kill. I think people forget this when talking about/reviewing this book. There was no way that Katniss could stay the same from the first to the third book and for character to have a real feel about her.

I'm really satisfied about how Collins decided to end this series, and once again I was shocked at how dark that Collins decided to take this book. Collins also not leave anything unanswered to leave the door open for more novels (which I'm sure some people are not happy about based upon the following these books have). I'm not sure what Collins has done since writing this trilogy but after reading this one (such an improvement over the second book) that I want to find out :)

Enjoy!!!

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Lawrence Block:The Sins of the Father

In the first book in a series, Lawrence Block introduces readers to Matthew Shrudder, who does favours for his "friends" that no one else will:

A brutal murder of a woman by her roommate, who is found raving covered in blood the middle of the street. This is an open and shut case as the roommate confesses and then kills himself while in police custody. But the woman's father cannot let it go, he was estranged from his daughter and wants to know who she was before she was murdered. Enter Matthew Shrudder, a former police officer who has become an unlicensed PI, who has a talent for uncovering information and in the seedy underground of New York, Shrudder's skill set is one that you want working for you.

I became aware of Block as an author because of the move Walk among the Tombstones, which was a darker detective movie with Liam Neeson as a the main character Shrudder. I was intrigued about the book that it was based upon but I am never one to start i the middle of the series so back the beginning I went with this book. I will say after reading this book Neeson was the perfect casting to play Scudder. This book is a mystery one as Scudder attempts to find out who Wendy was before her murder as a "favour" to her father. He father wants to know if he had any responsibility towards her death as they had fallen lost touch with each other and he did nothing to get back in contact with her. 

It is hard to describe who Shrudder is as I think you really just scratch the surface of his character in this book. I promise he is one of the good guys (just very rough around the edges), despite the techniques he may use to get the job done. He is an alcoholic, divorced (who rarely sees his kid), it's above using a bribe or intimidation to get his way and well really bend the law in general to find what he is looking for. So basically Shrudder is a very interesting character that I cannot wait to see developed further.

This is an old school modern detective book, well private eye book as Shrudder is a former cop, and by old school modern i mean it takes place in the 80s. This book shows the corruption that used to be every day occurrences in the police forces back in the 80s which is when this book took place. Shrudder knows how this system works and he uses it to his advantage (and does even state he wasn't beyond taking a bribe when he was on the force as well). It was also interesting to see how mindsets have changed even in the past 30 years, as homosexuality plays a prominent role in this book and back to the corruption part, there are talks about police raids on gay bars.

I actually appreciated the placement in time for this book as there are no computers, or cell phone or internet for that manner (or one that is used by the every day person) that Shrudder is forced to look for answers the old fashioned way. It was a nice change of pace from all the technology that is in newer books and how easy information is accessed. Shrudder really has to hit the streets and talk to people in order to get the information that he seeks, plus have a keen mind to put it all together as he is not working as part of a team.

This was a good start to a series, and I liked the mystery aspect of it. I thought, based upon the premise there might be more of a thriller aspect, however, there is not, but I still enjoyed the book as it is well written and does not muddy the waters with side stories. I'm looking forward to continuing on in the series.

Enjoy!!!

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Amy Miles: Wither

In the start of a new series, Amy Miles takes the reader to America two weeks after the world has gone to hell:

Avery has been sitting by her mother's hospital bed knowing that she is not going to wake up but she has no where else to go. The streets are crawling with the Withered ones and though they do not seem to be the brain eating zombies of the TV shows and books Avery still does not trust them and their eerie shuffling around. Avery has learned that right now the Withered are not to be feared but the gangs who now own the streets and she knows that it is only a matter or time before the hospital is taken as well. She has heard some stranger rumours about what the humans left alive are looking for, blood. Blood of those who are still alive they believe that blood will save them, and Avery is about to see first hand the lengths they will go to get it. Don't fear the Withered, Fear the Humans.

I was first attracted to this book due to the cover as it portrayed this book as a darker read and while that may be true on some instances I never really felt the suspense or thrills that I think this book should have contained. Yes there are some action scenes but they were not overly descriptive and due to the fact that Avery is a calm and collective character (most of the time) we never get a sense of urgency from her. I found the world building really lacking in this book. I'm not really sure how the Withered ones came about, i think it was first a disease and then people tried to fix it but that mutated people into zombies, but not zombies. I'm really not sure how far the mutation went or if that is just rumour, like the humans need to find fresh blood. So i guess you could say I was a bit confused.

I think my favourite part of the book is that Miles decided to focus more on the degradation of humans and what we would do to each other in this situation other than the withered ones aka zombies. I think Humans as a whole can be way more scarier than any zombie can be. I mean a zombie people feel they can just kill, they are already, technically dead, but a human can be more cold calculated and we see glimpse of this cold calculation throughout the book. Personally I wish there was more.

Avery at times is a hard character to like but yet you like her all the same. She is mistrustful of everyone even people who have proved themselves to her time and time again. She just has learned to question everything and everyone around her but I think that this stems from before the world went to hell and not after. Avery's past is still a bit of a mystery as you only get bits and pieces of it throughout the book but it is enough to know she was not happy then. On the flip side of this is that Avery is not whiny character and is able to take care of herself. She may not make the best choices at times but she makes her own based upon the information she has and she is smart as she seems to take everything into perspective that is happening around her.

I really have to applaud Miles for not taking the easy way out and having a happy ending, which lets be honest really shouldn't occur in this type of novel. Miles really does show some major aspects of how we change when faced with survival and some people are just better at it than others when being civilized is really no longer an option.

Even though this was a short read, I still think that Miles could have done a better job with the world building. There is a bit of a lull in the middle of the book, which I don't think was needed as we didn't really receive an additional information about the characters or the world that Miles has built. There is no question that Miles was able to entertain me and keep it that way to the end with her characters and her desire to keep the book  real as to what happens to us as humans when the world goes to shit. I look forward to see where Miles decides to take this series (at least I hope there are more books in the works).

Enjoy!!!

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Brad Taylor: One Rough Man

In his debut novel and first in a series, Brad Taylor shows what a man is capable of when he has nothing left to live for:

Pike Logan was one of the most successful leaders of specialized off the books black ops task force but he is about to embark on his last mission, as his instincts seemed to never be wrong and he was okay with asking forgiveness later in order to get the job done. Serving his country has always been important to Pike, often putting it before his family. He has promised his wife that this will be his last mission, but when unforeseen events up the timeline of when Pike needs to leave there are disastrous consequences. Pike is now a man with nothing to live for except for the first 30 seconds when he first wakes up in the day and the drinks he has at night. He doesn't care about himself or country, he just wants to be left alone. Although Pike to suffer just wants to waste away suffering in his own demons, there is a new terror that has been discovered that was centuries in the making. Pike is going to have save his country, world and maybe even himself one more time.

I have seen the name Brad Taylor many times at the book store, but this is my first read by him and I am extremely happy that I picked this book up. This is a great action adventure/thriller book that plays on the the fears of the USA and the war on terror. I also appreciated that while the main terrorists plot that they are aware of stems from the Middle East (very current events, even though the book is a few years old now) they were not the only bad guys that Pike and Jennifer had to deal with. There were some homegrown terrorists as well that would stop at nothing to have them both dead. I will say that the homegrown terrorists were far more scary that the Middle East ones, and what they were trying to accomplish. I think you can tell that Taylor may not have been impressed with the politics involved in the war on terror and military in general. And speaking of Taylor and the military, you can also tell the Taylor knows what he talking about when he has Pike planning and executing missions (though I'm sure it is stretched a bit at times) as he served for 21 years in the army and served in many places around the world. Always nice to read an author that has some sort of expertise in the field that they are writing about as it makes the story that much more real.

I really liked the desperation that Taylor forces on his characters; they are given a no win or only one option in order to survive many times in the book especially as they could only rely on each other and at times they question that partnership as well. This added to the overall suspense and there were times when you as a reader question who of the two main characters will survive as well as the secondary characters as well. There are 2-3 torture scenes that occur within the book, and while they are not described in great detail, they are pretty descriptive in the aftermath.

I questioned Pike's thought process to begin with in Part 2, it seemed to go against everything that he knows is smart. But the more I think about it the more I realize that this was just part of his downward spiral of not caring about his life or whether he died or not. Pike will not always be a character that you like, he's not really the anti-hero but there are times when he questions whether he should help Jennifer out or just leave her to her fate which would leave her dead. Pike has an amazing skill set that I think those who enjoy the action adventure genre will appreciate. I enjoyed that Taylor had Pike participate in mainly hand to hand combat in this book and had him rely less on guns, added to the danger and the suspense of the situations that he finds himself in. Plus Pike did not have any resources on this mission, did not always have access to guns and those that he does get his hands on he had to take someone out first.

Jennifer was an interesting character, that was fairly well developed (I was surprised that Taylor gave her as much book time as Pike) but there were times when I thought that Taylor just pulled an ability that she had out of no where when it was convenient for him. I liked that Jennifer was able to contribute something to the mission so she was not just the damsel in distress all the time but I though that Taylor could have introduced her "abilities" in a different way. I really liked that Jennifer was able to learn new skills as the book went on and Pike did not have to carry her throughout the plot.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat throughout and I loved Pike as a main character. I'm glad that this is the first book in what seems to be a fairly established series and I look forward to picking up the next book as this book satisfied all my needs in an action adventure novel.

Enjoy!!!

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Aimee Hyndman: Hour of Mischief

In her debut novel, Aimee Hyndman takes the reader to a steampunk world where the Gods are never finished meddling in the human's lives. 

Seventeen year old Janet Redstone has had to fight for everything she has in her life, which has lead her to become the leader of one of the famous thief gangs within the city. Janet prides herself in her planning ability and keeping her friends and accomplishes in line and getting them out each job. When a job of stealing from the Clockwork God's temple goes wrong and Janet and her friends end up in prison she is willing to do anything to get them out. The God of Mischief  has comes calling right when Janet is the most desperate and offers her a deal that she knows she cannot refuse. Janet is going to have to use every skill she has developed in over the years in order to succeed as not only her life and that of her friends are at stake but that of the human race are all hanging in the balance

I liked this book, it has been a while since I have read a book that had Gods meddling in with humans' life, so for me it was a nice change. I also think that Hyndman did a good job at world building, it has a steampunk fantasy feel to it especially it seems like there are a lot of mechanical aspects in the world and also the main character, Janet's arm. I will say that the Gods at times became a bit confusing as Hyndman seems to mix a few different Gods from throughout history, but this was a minor point in the world building. I did like that the Gods that Hyndman did feature in the book were different interpretations of the classics, for example the God of love being Male and really more of a man whore than about love, lets say love is loosely interpreted in this book.

This book is a fairly fast paced read with Janet trying to complete the tasks that Itazura, The God of Mischief, has set out for her, in order to save her friends from prison. However, there were times when the tasks or trouble that Janet would get in were over too quickly and really Janet no worse for ware because of Itazura's power. For me this caused the suspense and at times the mystery to falter as you knew Janet was going to make it out alive and well, there was really no cause to worry over her. There is a hint of romance in this book, but it does not dictate the story (yet, I have feeling there is more to come) as Janet is all about loyalty to her friends and wanting to save them.

Janet is an interesting character and I loved that she had a mechanical arm, such a cool idea, and it gives her something special to rely on when dealing with gods and thugs as most of them do not expect it. I like that Janet has had to struggle to obtain everything that she has in life including her friends, who she is loyal to, to a fault. Janet is very street smart, able to think on her feet and while she may only have a rudimentary education she does not allow this to hold her back. It is also interesting that Janet scorns all the Gods, especially the God of love because of her mother being a whore but prays to him nonstop for the love she seeks but never receives it, and yet it is Janet who the God of Mischief seeks out. I do wonder how he chose Janet and I hope that this is explained in future books (I'm pretty sure this is going to be a series) as I am also pretty sure that Itazura rigged the job that Janet got caught for.

This book ended in a weird place. I mean I'm all for a cliff hanger but in this book it felt like a strange place to end in a way that it felt like I only got half the book. Overall, this is a good read and I really liked Janet as a character as well as the steampunk world that Hyndman created. I would continue on in this series but I haven't seen any news for the next book to be released. I would recommend this book to those who like the steampunk feel and/or like books with Gods meddling with humans.

Enjoy!!!

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