Posts Tagged ‘book review’

This is clearly a book NOT designed for the squeamish but instead for the readers who love their daily dose of graphic, disturbing, sadistic adult horror, blood and murder, mixed up with a potent vidu_gilesandersonsyringe of hard drugs and alcohol – handed to them on a tray full of human skulls and gunpowder.

In this gritty dark tale, the main character awakes with a huge hangover, soaked in blood, and holding a gun he doesn’t recognise. We are then taken on a journey of self discovery as, via phone calls, dead bodies and bizarre rendezvous with a stranger, he pieces together a past that he has been trying so hard to suppress.

Indeed, it reminded me of an old James Herbert novel mixed with a bit of early Stephen King. My disappointment was that this plot has been done so many times before and this version didn’t offer anything new to keep me turning the pages. Despite being well written, it suffers from far too many annoying references to hangovers, blood and darkness as if I, the reader was some sort of horror virgin.  Perhaps to improve the readers experience, the writer could employ a wider variety of descriptions to avoid tempting the reader to become annoyed with the repetition.

Again, definitely not for the faint of heart, young and squeamish but, if this is your type of book , I personally recommend that instead of purchasing this, you go up into the dark attic with your fading torchlight, walk across those creaky floorboards and get all those old Stephen King novels out you haven’t read for a few decades.

3 Stars out of 5

~~~~~~~Review written by Roger Gerald Scott, best-selling novelist, author of 5 short stories, voted “Most Promising New Author 2012″ at EKAP and recently received “Clean Slate’s Most Promising Breakthrough Short Story 2013″ for “The Strange Case of Will Newman”. You can view his blog at http://rogerrgeraldscott.blogspot.no/  Also a team member of theprobookeditor.com, offering formatting and book cover design services for indie eBook publishers and a professional editor.

Author’s links:

http://gileswrites.com
http://facebook.com/GilesAAnderson

As a debut novel, Ms. Collins has definitely showcased her talents as you try to guess ahead what will happen next in each epic scene only to be surprised and then by the end, you just daughter-of-haukcan’t wait to find the next installment of this series!  The characters were very well defined, her use of flashbacks to develop the past while moving through the present was exceptional and as I read I was able to visualize everything as she did such an excellent job of weaving intricate details into fanciful imagery.

Arwenna is the elven main character of this epic fantasy and she is so well defined that she was easily endeared to my heart as I wanted to pick her up and help her along the way in her war against the Corse.  Alas, just as I felt like reaching into the page, she would surprise me with even more strength as she continued on her quest and I was mesmerized again and again by the writer’s talent for portraying the terror and the struggles all the characters faced or caused.

Filled with legends, secrets, epic battles, magic and the age old battle of good versus evil, this author has done an exceptional job with her magical writing talents.  This is a must read for any lover of good books, no matter your genre preference.  If you are a Dungeon’s and Dragons, World of Warcraft, Hobbit/Lord of the Rings fan as I am, you won’t want to miss this great novel!

– reviewed by Debra L Hartmann, Published Author of Fate Series and Professional Editor (www.theprobookeditor.com)

Stay tuned for an exclusive Author Interview scheduled for March 11th!

Buy now at http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Of-Hauk-KateMarie-Collins/dp/1475230338/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362587920&sr=8-1&keywords=daughter+of+hauk available in Paperback or eBook editions as well as audible book version

Learn more about the author at http://www.amazon.com/KateMarie-Collins/e/B008I67BBE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 and visit her blog site at http://www.katemariecollins.wordpress.com

 

This is a superbly written novel and a great read. If you are looking for a good healthy dose of crime with no grisly details withheld, look no further.AmbassadorsWifebkcvr

If you are familiar with Jo Nesbø or Michael Connelly, you will find the same expert craftsmanship and complex plot twists here.

Living as he does in Singapore, Jake Needham is well suited to provide a good location for the story which takes place in Singapore and Bangkok. You can feel the heat and humidity of Asia rising from the pages as he describes the architecture, people and culture of Singapore and Thailand. The story starts off with the discovery of a woman’s body on a bed in an empty suite in the Marriott Hotel. The second body is discovered in Bangkok, in a seedy apartment close to the American embassy. Both are American women and both have been beaten viciously and shot in the head, their bodies stripped naked and crudely displayed. Yet no one is really sure who or what is behind the killings whether it is international terrorism or the work of a serial killer. Inspector Samuel Tay of Singapore CID is the person assigned to the case because he is the best but Tay soon finds himself in a case that nobody seems to want him to solve , not even his superiors!

This novel is fast paced, engaging and an enjoyable read. I did find the main character a bit on the dull side sometimes. He seems to be such an intensely split character, so apparently cheerless and drab on one side and yet a woman magnet, wealthy and loved by everyone on the other. But enjoyable is the key word here and this book delivers loads of it.

4 and a half stars out of 5

Reviewed by Roger Gerald Scott, award winning published author, also published on http://rogerrgeraldscott.blogspot.no/

Drop a line to mrsdlhartmann@gmail.com to get your book on the review list and be sure to ask about the Author Interviews on my Radio Talk Show with NO Radio…you have to read an Author Interview on my blog to understand!

Sales links to the Kindle editions of all of Jake’s books:
THE UMBRELLA MAN
THE AMBASSADOR’S WIFE
A WORLD OF TROUBLE
KILLING PLATO
LAUNDRY MAN
THE BIG MANGO