Book-Review-Degrees-of-Darkness

~~~~~

Degrees of Darkness

by

Tony J. Forder

Tony J. Forder’s Degrees of Darkness, was the first book I have read by this author.  And I must confess that it was one which I wish I had never read, not because of any writing flaws, rather because it is so dark.

Strawberry blonde twelve or thirteen year old girls are being abducted after the rest of their family is murdered in the dead of night.  Laura is one of those abductees.  She is the daughter of an ex-detective (Frank) who had separated from his wife and family.

Frank is asked to help police track her abductor and killer of his son, ex-wife and several other families.  With virtually no leads to follow Frank and friend Nicky, also a detective, set out to track down and hopefully save Laura’s life.  During the investigation the killer contacts Frank and then begins to leave him ‘gifts’ in the form of bodies of the earlier girls he has tortured and murdered.

Fans of the thriller genre will enjoy Degrees of Darkness, although should you have twelve or thirteen year old strawberry blonde females in your family, prepared to be disturbed.

I rated

Degrees of Darkness

 

as a solid

read.

At the time of writing my review

other Goodreads readers had awarded

Degrees of Darkness

an average of 4.38 stars,

from 418 ratings

and 43 reviews.

Degrees of Darkness

can be purchased online at

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book-Review-Scream-Blue-Murder

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Scream Blue Murder

(Mike Lynch #1)

by

Tony J. Forder

Scream Blue Murder is the first of the Mike Lynch books by Tony J. Forder and the first Forder has written in the first person.  Generally I avoid ‘first person’ books like the plague, however, as I write this review I have nearly finished the second Mike Lynch book.

Mike Lynch is ex military, divorced and has one daughter who lives with her mother and step-father in California.

One cold English night, Mike because of traffic accident detour finds himself on a lonely back road where he pulls over to answer the call of nature.   In a few minutes another car pulls over.  Two men alight, one kneels and is executed by the second.   Anymore information will contain too many spoilers.  Well worth a read if you are into this genre

From there on the book could be described as a helter skelter fast paced series of chases and shootouts with various bad guys.  If not for the help of an old military mate Mike would probably not have survived.

I thoroughly enjoyed fast pace of Scream Blue Murder.  

I rated

Scream Blue Murder

as a solid

read.

At the time of writing my review

other Goodreads readers had awarded

Scream Blue Murder

an average of 4.18 stars,

from 355 ratings

and 56 reviews.

Scream Blue Murder

can be purchased online at

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book-Review-Dead-Mans-Switch

 

Dead Man’s Switch was my seventh Tara Moss book and does not rate anywhere the top half of my most enjoyable list.  However, I will concede that I was listening while working at my PC.  I often listen while working and I find an audiobook helps pass the time of day.

 

Set just after World War II in and around Sydney, Australia, the best way to describe Dead Man’s Switch is disjointed.  Billie Walker (a wartime reporter) has returned to Australia and reopened her late father’s private enquiry agency.  The agency is just making ends meet until she retrieves some aboriginal girls from the hands of a Nazi war criminal.  That seemed to be a climax or end of the book, if you will.  But no!  Instead of every one living happily ever after there was another sixty to ninety minutes before ‘The End’ could be proclaimed.

After a mid-story car chase the novel seemed to take on a new life.  Chapters appeared to be following one another which made following the story line easier.  Dead Man’s Switch should/could have finished with the capture of the war criminal.  However, had it done so we would never have known what relevance the Dead Man’s Switch had to the story.

I know of several people who would have tossed it after the first chapter.  Ninety-three percent of Goodreads readers have rated Dead Man’s Switch as a three to five star book, so maybe I  need to listen to it again….sometime!

 

I have rated

Dead Man’s Switch

as a

book.

***

At the time of writing my review other Goodreads readers

had awarded Dead Man’s Switch

an average of 3.87 stars,

from 456 ratings

and 117 reviews.

Book Review-Camino-Winds

Camino Winds

(Camino-Island #2)

by

John Grisham

***

 

Camino Winds is the second of two books (so far) by John Grisham, in the Camino Island series.   It also contains some of the Camino Island characters plus a few additions.  However, author Mercer Mann is not central to this story line. Fortunately Camino Winds has little in common with Camino Island, except for a few carry over characters, which play minor roles, and the setting.

Camino Winds focuses on the aftermath of once in a lifetime Cyclone Leo and a murder which takes place during Leo’s presence on the island.  With the exception of Bruce, lead characters from Camino Island play smaller roles in Camino Winds.   That was a big plus, in my opinion, as it allows the introduction of new characters to take on roles within the community or, in this case, the investigation.

Camino Winds moved along at a good pace which had me reading ‘the next chapter’ into the wee hours of the morning.

 

I rated

Camino Winds

as a solid read

*****

Camino Winds

is a solid

 

star read.

At the time of writing my review,

Goodreads readers have rated

Camino Winds

an average of 3.96 stars

from 9,183 ratings

and 813 reviews

Camino Winds

can be purchased on-line at 

Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon

Book Review-Little-Secrets

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Little Secrets

by

Jennifer Hillier

Little Secrets was my fifth reading of a book written by Jennifer Hillier.   The focus of Little Secrets is the mother of four year old Sebastian.  Mother (Marin) and typical four year are at a fair with Sebastian demanding a lollipop and trying to get free of Marin’s grip.  Sound familiar?  Her phone rings and she briefly releases her grip of Sebastian’s hand and he is abducted.  A parent’s worst nightmare, isn’t it?

Fast forward eighteen months or so and distraught Marin hires a private investigator to try and solve the mystery of her missing son.  In the course of investigating everyone involved, the private investigator discovers that Derek, Marin’s husband, is having an affair with a much younger woman.  Marin is, however, not alone.  She has a school friend who comforts her.

 

Little Secrets is a fast moving easy read with a much unexpected ending.  Are friends really friends?  Is the affair just an affair?  Will Marin ever see Sebastian again?  Will he be alive or dead if and when she does see him?  The answer to all these questions will be revealed in Little Secrets.

I enjoyed reading Little Secrets; however, I felt it was not quite up to the standard of The Butcher, my first Hillier read.  And again like many other books carrying the ‘thriller’ label Little Secrets is only a mystery, albeit one worth reading if your children are not toddlers.

I have rated Little Secrets a solid 4 star read.

 

 

At the time of writing my review

other Goodreads readers have rated

Little Secrets

Little Secrets

an average of

4.28 stars

from 4,093 ratings

and 1,665 reviews. 

I rated

Little Secrets

as a solidread.

Little Secrets

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

 

Book Review-Girl-With-A-Rose

Girl With A Rose

by

Leslie Wolfe

(Tess Winnett  #6)

Girl With A Rose is book 6 of the Tess Winnett series.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed Girl With A Rose, it is a novella and I am not a great fan of novellas/short stories.  The Tess Winnett character lends herself to write so much more than a short story.  However, a Tess novella is far better than no Tess.  I just hope Book 7 is the real deal….a novel.

It is a well-known fact in our family that I would have liked a daughter.  We have two wonderful boys.  However, after reading several books featuring teenage girls, Girl With A Rose, being the latest, two rowdy boys have been easier to raise than some of these girls.

It’s good that Tess was free when fifteen year old Kaylee went missing.  Was Kaylee going to become another victim of a drop dead gorgeous psychopathic serial killer not known to police or public?   Would Tess be able to find and safely return Kaylee to her mother without the help of Alice, Kaylee’s best friend and the governor’s daughter?

I love the Tess Winnett character and really hope she can star in another novel.  As with all short stories, or novellas, this one ended rather abruptly.

As I never award a novella five stars Girl With A Rose will have to be happy with a four star rating.   However, fans of Tess Winnett and Leslie Wolfe will thoroughly enjoy Girl With A Rose.   If you happened to be reading a Leslie Wolfe review for the first time and like the crime genre why don’t you give Tess a try?  I stumbled across Dawn Girl while surfing through Amazon and  Girl With A Rose was my sixteenth Leslie Wolfe read.

At the time of writing my review other

Goodreads readers have rated

Girl With A Rose

an average of 

4.53 stars

from 107 ratings and 20 reviews 

 I have rated 

Girl With A Rose

a  solidread.

Girl With A Rose

can be purchased

online at 

Amazon

I purchased my edition from Amazon. 

It appears

Girl With A Rose

 is not available

at Booktopia, and Fishpond 

 

Book Review-Camino-Island

Camino Island

(Camino-Island #1)

by

John Grisham

***

 

Camino Island is the first of two (so far) by John Grisham, in the Camino Island series.

Mercer, who has written and published two books, has just lost her teaching job and is asked to help an insurance company’s recovery team discover if their suspect, Bruce, who owns and operates a book store on Camino Island, has any stolen hand written manuscripts hidden in his store.

Camino Island turns out to be home or many authors of various abilities and styles, some of these authors knew Mercer’s grandmother and all are friends with Bruce.

Initially I thought this may be a bit slow but any of those thoughts vanished and the true Grisham style had me reading in the wee hours of the morning and all too soon I had completed Camino Island, book 1.

I thought Camino Island was an easy and enjoyable four star read and I eagerly await reading, or listening to, Camino Winds (book #2) when it is released in late in April 2020.

I have not read a John Grisham novel for some time as I have been busy discovering other authors.  The return to a Grisham tale was a thoroughly entertaining experience.

At the time of writing my review other Goodreads readers had awarded Camino Island an average of 3.73 stars from 78,619 ratings and 77,6602 reviews.

 

Camino Island

is a solid

star read.

At the time of writing my review,

Goodreads readers have rated

Camino Island

an average of 3.73 stars

from 78,872 ratings

and 7,617 reviews

Camino Island

can be purchased on-line at 

Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon

Book Review-Fatal-Impact

 

Fatal Impact

(Dr. Anya Crichton, #7)

by

Kathryn Fox

 

 

 

Fatal Impact was my sixth of Kathryn Fox’s however, it was book number 7 in the Anya Crichton series.

As usual Fatal Impact commences with Anya speaking at a conference.  This time the conference is in Tasmania where her mother lives.  After the conference Anya is asked to assist local law enforcement where she finds a dead child in the home of a missing person.

Postmortem results conclude that bacteria from food poisoning was the cause of death.  However, was it accidental or foul play?

From this point forward Anya becomes entwined with international corporations, genetically modified foods, murders, cold cases, conspiracy theories and, almost, the death of her mother.

Having spent fifty-five years living in a rural community I felt I was able to identify with some of the issues raised in Fatal Impact.  This made it all the more enjoyable to listen to.   Again, I enjoyed this Anya Crichton novel and rated it a three star read plus one more for the topic.

Fatal Impact

is a

star read.

At the time of writing my review,

other Goodreads readers have rated

Fatal Impact

an average of 3.66 stars

from 424 ratings

and 60 reviews

Fatal Impact

can be purchased on-line at 

Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon

At time of writing my review Fatal Impact

was not available on Booktopia.

Book Review-The-Store

 

The Store

by

James Patterson

&

Richard DiLallo

 

 

The Store is about a huge online store which delivers your heart’s desire to your back door…for a price of course.

Nearly unemployed writers Jacob and Meagan decide to go undercover and work for The Store while digging up its secrets to include in a new book.

They move from New York to a small town, in rural America, where The Store’s main office/warehouse is located.  They are, upon arrival, greeted by name by residents of the town who are all total strangers.  This unnerves both of them.

Upon moving in to their home, provided by The Store, they discover it is contains many surveillance cameras which they remove.   The next day the cameras are replaced even though their house was locked when they left for the day.  And that sets the scene for The Store.

While reading The Store all I  could think of was some of today’s online stores which, to my knowledge, have no physical presence.  Were the authors making inferences?  Or is it my furtive imagination?

I rated

The Store

 as aread.

At the time of writing my review,

other Goodreads readers

had awarded

The Store

an average of 3.25 stars

from 8,526 ratings and 1,204 reviews.

The Store

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book Review-Hunter

 

 

Hunter

 (Timothy Blake #2)

by

Jack Heath

Jack Heath’s, Hunter was the first I have read of this series and as I had never come across Jack Heath previously it was, obviously, the first of his works also.

One of the first things Timothy Blake, our star, did was to take a bite out of the arm of a villain and then stow said villain in his freezer.  I wasn’t quite sure, for a while, whether our hero was a vampire or just plain cannibalistic.

I found this book difficult to follow and was not interested in the cannibalistic theme.  In the last minute of the book, Timothy meets Fred.  Timothy wants to kill and eat Fred, until…..  And we are left hanging wondering.

Other reviewers give Book #1, The Hangman good reviews and ratings.  I don’t think I will try it and if I do, it will need to be much better before I go searching for a book #3 in this series.

 

I will, therefore, be joining a select group of 18 who have rated Hunter as less than three stars.

I did listen all the way to the end and,

therefore have rated Hunter as a audio book.

Other Goodreads readers have awarded

Hunter

an average of

4.08 stars from

519 ratings and

160 reviews.

 

Hunter

may be purchased online at

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon