All The Turns of Light / Frank Tuttle

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Urban Fantasy / YA / Magic / Adventure

Approximate word count:80-85,000 words

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Author:

“Frank Tuttle first began writing under the woefully mistaken impression doing so would release him from the burden of ever doing honest work. ‘It turns out writing is hard,’ said Frank as he pulled out great handfuls of hair. ‘That was never mentioned in Strunk and White’s Elements of Style.’ Frank’s first published works appeared in print magazines such as Weird Tales and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine in the late 1990s. Since then, Frank has published eight Markhat novels and a variety of shorter works. Frank rarely resorts to hair-pulling these days, preferring to weep inconsolably while affixing his toupee.”  

To learn more about Frank Tuttle you can check out his website. However, I suggest following his blog, it is always entertaining.  Of course you may also check him out onFacebook.

Description:

“Join Mug and Meralda as they take to the skies in the long-awaited sequel to All the Paths of Shadow!

The airship Intrepid, fitted with Mage Meralda's flying coils and bearing a crew of a hundred and sixty-two souls, sets out to cross the treacherous Great Sea. If the Intrepid survives the voyage, she will be the first craft of the Realms to ever reach the mysterious Hang homeland. But as Meralda soon discovers, storms and sea-serpents are not the greatest perils she must face. There are powerful forces opposed to the Intrepid's crossing, and the most dangerous foe of all may lurk deep within Meralda's own heart.

If you've a taste for airships and intrigue, magic and more Mug, then climb aboard the Intrepid and dare the vast Great Sea…”

Appraisal:

Meralda is a wonderfully intelligent young mage who refuses to compromise her character or magic. She also has the patience of a saint when given what seems like impossible demands from the King of Tirlin. Before liftoff of the airship, Meralda receives a warning message from Phillitrep’s Thinking Engine about the possibility of a final Cosmic Event that will be caused by her in the near future. The whole mission starts off with a series of mishaps that almost lead to devastation of the Intrepid before she even gets out of the hanger. Luckily, Meralda is able to keep a cool head and averts disaster.

The King is sure that the Vonat’s are out to sabotage the Intrepid on its maiden flight and takes extreme measures to thwart their efforts. When strange magical things start happening around Meralda, she slowly starts losing her grip on reality. It is all she can do to keep her head straight and maintain the Intrepid as chief maintenance officer. The last thing she needs is Mrs. Wedding Primsbite, chief penswift for the Tirlin Times, requesting interviews with her. Then Donchen, Meralda’s ever devoted ex-Hang boyfriend who stowed-away onto the airship, learns about an ancient Vonat prophecy that directly affects Meralda and everyone on the Intrepid.

The characters are all well rounded, the dialogue is outstanding, and the non-stop events on board the airship are suspenseful. Luckily, Mug is keeping a journal and is able to keep us up to date on all the other minor details at the end of each day. I loved that his cage now has its own flying coils and he can make himself mobile to travel around the airship as he pleases. He just needs someone to open doors for him occasionally. He is a wonderfully intelligent character that is full of snark and sees truths about Meralda that even she has a hard time admitting.

This is an exciting story full of adventure, danger, and untold magic that will keep you reading late into the night. Mrs. Primsbite turned into quite a unique character that I really enjoyed and I expect Meralda to keep her as a friend and confidant. She needs an older female figure around that she can trust in this male centric wizarding world.

Even though the Intrepid has succeeded in crossing the Great Sea there is still the mysterious Arc that Meralda feels she must find answers for. And the adventures in Hang territory are just beginning.

FYI:

This is book two in Paths of Shadow series, and I would recommend reading All the Paths of Shadow first.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found no significant issues in proofing or formatting.

Rating: ***** Five stars

A Change of Setting: A guest post from Kelly Stone Gamble, author of They Call Me Crazy

After twenty years of living in Las Vegas, I recently moved to Idabel, Oklahoma, a small town with a population under ten thousand, and am frequently asked "Why?" Who would leave the glamour, the beautiful weather, and interesting nightlife of Sin City for a town that is an hour away from a Starbucks? The easy answer is that I was offered a job that I couldn't resist, but in order to get that job, I had to apply, and I did so with the willingness to move if need be. So in effect, I did choose Oklahoma. Although I enjoyed my time in Las Vegas, I felt I needed a different view of the world, maybe a different way of viewing life in general.

When I write, setting is one of the first things I decide upon. I think where we are in the world, at any time, influences who we are, and, in a novel, setting helps us build our characters. The plot of "They Call Me Crazy" could have taken place anywhere, but the characters and the story itself would have changed.

Although I wrote the book while living in Las Vegas, I chose southeast Kansas for my setting. I am originally from the area so I was familiar enough to use the geography to my advantage. I needed rain, I needed a river and I needed characters whose lives were tied closer to the land than to the hustle of traffic or the bright lights of Las Vegas. I didn't want to dump a body in the desert; I wanted to bury him in wet earth.

This morning I sat on the front porch of the hunting lodge where I live and watched the sun rise. In Nevada, it was the sunsets that were amazing to see, but, now, the early morning has become my favorite part of the day. Usually, the sun hits the 1,800 acres that make up my backyard, and it looks like someone has sprinkled the trees with gold glitter. But this morning, with a storm moving in, the sun lit up the clouds and set them on fire.  I watched them go from a deep red to a brilliant purple.

Yes, I could watch a sunrise from anywhere in the world, but it would be a different sunrise, and just as I could have used my basic plot in any setting, it would have been a different story.  In my novel of life, I am the protagonist, and, when I moved to Oklahoma, it was because I needed a new setting. As the sun topped the clouds, it was as if someone had turned on a prowler light. The fiery display went through a spectrum of color, like a rainbow, as it tried to settle on one.  And at that moment, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else in the world.

Get your copy of Kelly Stone Gamble's new release, They Call Me Crazy, from Amazon US (paper or ebook), Amazon UK (paper or ebook), or Barnes & Noble.

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The Beauty of a Second Chance / Lori Jones

Reviewed by: Sooz

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Availability    

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Author:

Lori Jones had a 16-year modeling career that allowed her to travel the world. She kept journals throughout the career and wrote her first book Growing up Beautiful, a fictional account of young models growing up in a foreign country.

Description:

Casey, Star and Joanne meet up after nearly a decade since the last time they have seen each other. Each woman is at a crossroads as they deal with huge challenges. Their friendship couldn’t come at a better time.

Appraisal:

The Beauty of a Second Chance takes place about 15 years after Lori Jones’s first book Growing up Beautiful takes place. It follows the lives of three women who modeled in Italy when they were 18, but now they are all grown up with bigger problems on hand.

When the story picks up in the present day, the woman haven’t seen each other since their time in Italy. When their paths cross in Malibu, they have a lot of catching up to do. They each have their own issues to overcome and the support they receive from each other helps. However, there isn’t much overlap between the three stories other than the women having brunch and calling each other. While each story was kind of interesting, I would have enjoyed if the stories intertwined more.

Unfortunately, while their individual stories were OK, I couldn’t find myself relating to any of them. In fact, I found the women to be selfish.

It was well written and flowed well, but it was not the right book for me. Those that enjoyed Lori Jones’ first book will probably enjoy catching up on the lives of Star, Joanne and Casey.

Even though, I didn’t enjoy the book, I am still giving it four stars. The book is well done, but made for a different audience. 

FYI:

Despite being a sequel, The Beauty of Second Chance reads as a standalone.

Format/Typo Issues:

No major issues.

Rating: ****Four Stars

#Free for your #Kindle, 1/29/2015

The author of each of these books has indicated their intent to schedule these books for a free day for the Kindle versions today on Amazon. Sometimes plans change or mistakes happen, so be sure to verify the price before hitting that "buy me" button.

No Perfect Secret by Jackie Weger

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Fledge by Penny Greenhornd

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Author's interested in having their free book featured either here on a Thursday or a sister site on a Monday, visit this page for details.

Home Owner with a Gun / Samuel Hawley

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Thriller

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Availability    

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Author:

Samuel Hawley taught English in East Asia for many years before becoming a full-time writer. His books include the novel Bad Elephant Far Stream and the nonfiction works Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties; I Just Ran: Percy Williams, World’s Fastest Human; and The Imjin War: Japan’s Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China. He lives in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Description:

Jeff is a quiet family man who works at the local grocery store. At home, in the middle of the night, he’s awoken by noises downstairs. Armed with a gun, he surprises two men in his kitchen and kills them both. The story follows Jeff as the ramifications of that night’s events change his life forever.

Appraisal:

Jeff is an unlikely main character—just an everyman, really. His deadly shots on the night of the break in had no malice about them. He was as terrified as he crept downstairs to protect his family as I would have been.

Initially, I thought maybe Jeff would have problems with the police believing his story—I was worried for the man. The problems that did ensue, however, were of a quite different nature, and, for me, totally unexpected.

I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t go into detail, but a second thread that runs through the novel involves some local gangstas. The author drew these characters as vividly as he did Jeff and his family. And the juxtaposition between these two wildly different groups of people was what made the novel so compelling.

I read this in two sittings, staying up late. From an unlikely beginning, the novel grows and develops into an action-packed, well-written thriller.

Format/Typo Issues:

Well edited.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Six Months to Get a Life / Ben Adams

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Humor

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Availability    

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Author:

This is Ben Adams first book. He lives in London with his two sons and a dog. He also has a sense of humor. A prime example is in his “bio.” Rather than copying the whole thing here, go to his website and click on the button that says “Ben Adams” at the top of the page.

Description:

“Graham Hope had it all – a wife, two perfect children, a detached house in the suburbs and a huge TV. Until today. He now has an ex-wife, lives in his parents’ spare room and gets the kids and the dog at weekends. He might be lost and lonely, but Graham is not a victim. Six months from today he will be forty-three. He vows to sort this mess out by his birthday. He gives himself six months to get a life. Will Graham play a meaningful role in his boys’ lives? Will his mates take him under their wing? Will he move out of his childhood home? More importantly, will he ever have sex again? For Graham, failure is not an option.”

Appraisal:

Graham Hope’s basic story is one that’s played out an innumerable number of times. A couple gets divorced and now both halves of the former couple have to figure out how to adapt to seeing their kids much less than before, new living arrangements for at least one, and how this is going to change their lives in other ways. Plus, you know, that sex thing (or lack thereof). It’s a story that’s been done before. (Most commonly in women’s fiction or chick-lit from the viewpoint of the female.)

This basic story can take two directions, a serious look at the difficulties (those are the women’s fiction) or a more humorous take, which is where the chick-lit version typically comes in. Ben Adams takes the humorous route. At times farcical, yet never going so far that the underlying seriousness of the issues the protagonist Graham is facing are ignored. Anyone who has struggled with the aftermath of a divorce will recognize themselves in Graham with more than one knowing chuckle escaping as they’re reading Six Months to Get a Life.

FYI:

Adult language and mild adult content.

Uses UK spelling conventions, word usage, and slang.

Format/Typo Issues:

This review is based on an advance reader copy so I’m unable to gauge the final product in this regard.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Heads You Lose / Rob Johnson

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Mystery/Humor

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

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Author:

Rob Johnson worked as an administrator and publicist for touring theatre companies before turning his hand to writing plays. Then the author undertook a series of jobs. He now lives in Greece. Lifting the Lid is the author’s second novel.

You can learn more about the author at his website.

Description:

Trevor and Sandra are running a detective agency, but it’s not doing too well, they’re just about out of funds. When Trevor’s latest assignment goes off the rails and he ends up in hospital he jumps at the offer of a seemingly simple baby-sitting job in Greece.

But when the baby he’s looking after is a seventy year old ex-con called Ingleby with a dubious sense of humour whom everyone seems to be after for one reason or another suddenly the job isn’t so easy after all. And when someone tries to frame Trevor and Sandra by leaving various body parts in their van and freezer, life gets even more complicated.

Appraisal:

Heads You Lose is the follow up to Lifting The Lid and picks up pretty much where the other left off. That being said it is relatively stand alone and it’s not entirely necessary to read the first novel (but you’re missing out if you don’t).

It takes a little time to get going, with Sandra and Trevor going through the process of leaving England, but once they end up in Greece and the other protagonists are in place it really motors.

Johnson excels at setting up multiple story arcs and inter-weaving them in increasingly intriguing and amusing ways. In this case a couple of ex-cons are looking for the third man, the guy who got away with the proceeds of the robbery the trio was involved in. Trevor and Sandra are bystanders.

However in parallel Donna is trying to get revenge for her husband’s death (an event in the previous novel). She blames Trevor and Sandra. Here Ingleby is the by-stander, but each arc affects the other. Throw in some local cops and this is a highly entertaining, well-constructed screwball comedy that is as enjoyable as it is well written. It ranks alongside Declan Burke’s work in terms of quality.

To say any more would ruin the story, I strongly recommend you give it a try.

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reprise Review: The Cookie Dumpster / Shana Hammaker

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Memoir

Approximate word count: 8,000 words

Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO
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Author:

Shana Hammaker is the author of the Twelve Terrifying Tales for 2011 series, where a different short thriller is released each month. We have reviewed the first three of these. Follow Hammaker on Twitter.

Description:

At seventeen, Shana Hammaker was a street kid named Denise.

During the time she spent homeless, living on the streets of Santa Cruz, California, Denise experienced a rough and wild life. Longing for the comfort of home, she found it, in the dumpster at Pacific Cookie Company.

Appraisal:

There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. – Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith

Although an overused quote, to the point of becoming clichéd, anyone who has tried writing of any kind also recognizes its truth. It applies to almost any kind of writing. Red Smith was a sportswriter, which doesn’t seem that personal, yet all writing, even something as easy as a review, can still feel this way. It is one reason authors sometimes react emotionally when someone doesn’t like what they’ve written.

In The Cookie Dumpster, it feels like Shana Hammaker sat down at her new-fangled typewriter and opened an artery instead. She gives us a glimpse into the people and culture of the homeless, a situation most of us can barely imagine. Hammaker’s writing voice or tone seemed different from her fiction, somehow more personal. Maybe this is something I imagined, or possibly that she is telling her own story rather than acting as a go-between for her characters made the voice more authentic. In many ways, this is a story of contradictions, of highs and lows. It is a story of freedom from many of society’s norms and of slavery to the requirements of survival. Ultimately, it is a story of overcoming obstacles.

If The Cookie Dumpster has any faults, it is that I wanted more. The period covered starts and ends at logical and natural points for the story Hammaker wanted to tell. But I can’t help thinking there is a prequel and possibly a sequel with much different, although just as compelling, stories to tell.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Reprise Review: The Time Travel Journals: Bridgebuilders / Marlene Dotterer

Reviewed by: Michael Thal

Genre: Science Fiction

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: YES

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Author:

Author, geologist, chef, and frustrated gardener, Marlene Dotterer writes “to silence the voices” due to her obsession of other worlds and other times. Born in Tucson, Arizona, she migrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1990 with her five children. Her writings include The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder, Moon Over Donamorgh, and Worlds Apart. Keep an eye out for the third book in this series, Time Travel Journals: Honor System.

Description:

In 1977 Sam Altair, fresh out of graduate school, learns he has inherited the life work of Dr. Sam Altair, an older version of himself. The older Sam transported back in time in 2006 with Casey, a young coed, to 1906. It was a physics experiment gone awry, and it created a new universe. From the older Sam’s notes, the help of Jamie, and Sarah Andrews, Casey’s descendants, Sam constructs a bridge back to the future and the original Sam’s universe

Appraisal:

In this exciting sequel to The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilders, Marlene Dotterer brings us its sequel, The Time Travel Journals: Bridgebuilders. In an easy reading fluid style we learn how Casey and Sam affected their new universe in positive ways. The universe they left behind is ruled, in 2080, by an oligarchy headed by the Sun Consortium. The earth is dying, individual freedom is but a memory, and many of its citizens work secretly to overthrow the shackles of their government’s tyranny. To add to the mess, scientists uncover neutrinos, a signature that a race of beings may be invading their world.

The invaders are Sam and Sarah testing their invention, but when they crossover to the First Universe a hundred years in the future, they are in for an unwanted surprise.

Whether you read Dotterer’s first novel in this series or not, Bridgebuilders is a wonderful science fiction thriller revealing the evils of religious zealotry, the effects of global warming, and the triumph of reason over fear.

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Reprise Review: B-Sides and Broken Hearts / Caryn Rose

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Literary Fiction

Approximate word count: 100-105,000 words

Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: YES
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Author:

A writer and photographer, Caryn Rose writes about baseball and music. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her boyfriend and Jackie Wilson, her cat. For more, visit her website.

Description:

The email said, “Joey Ramone is dead.”

At thirty-seven, Lisa Simon is still passionate about music. When one of her teenage heroes dies, she re-evaluates the direction her life is headed.

Appraisal:

B-Sides and Broken Hearts should have universal appeal for its main story line, with the protagonist, Lisa, faced with a major life decision, and forced to decide what is important to her. While the specifics may be different, the struggle is one most of us have faced.

However, for me, the most significant message is the power of music. If you’re like me, there are songs that can lift you up and those that will put you into a funk, while others take you back to a specific time, place, or person. An idea epitomized midway through the book by this paragraph.

How can this happen? How can a song that meant so much to me when I first heard it at fourteen, a song about dreams and hope, suddenly mean just as much right now, suddenly the words apply exactly to my life twenty-two years later? And how can it affect me in the same way, how can it lift me up, transport me, elevate me, inspire me, give me meaning and, well, hope?

On her website Rose says her goal was to “write the woman’s version of High Fidelity.” (A book by Nick Hornby, later made into a movie starring John Cusack.) Rose said she, “wanted to read a book where a woman could like music as much as a guy and not be called a groupie or be told that she sure knew a lot about music for a girl.” I think she did it. Rose knows a lot about music for anyone, regardless of gender, and this knowledge permeates the pages of B-Sides and Broken Hearts. The music geek will love this book for that reason as it smoothly integrates mentions of songs and bands from big (The Rolling Stones) to relatively obscure (I’ve heard of Eddie Spaghetti and his band, The Supersuckers, have you?) If you’re not a music fan, B-Sides and Broken Hearts is still a good story, but if you are, it is a can’t miss.

FYI:

Some adult language. Limited and mild sexual situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of typos and other proofreading issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Reprise Review: Strictly Analog / Richard Levesque

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Science Fiction

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

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Author:

Richard Levesque has spent most of his life in Southern California. For the last several years he has taught composition and literature, including science fiction, as part of the English Department at Fullerton College. His first book, Take Back Tomorrow, was published in 2012, and he has followed it with other science fiction and urban fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories..

Description:

California has won the war and is controlled not by a government of the people, but by Cal-Cor, an all-powerful corporation that controls information and whose shares are the only trading currency. Cal-Cor develops new technology that will deliver not only total control to information, but also to the minds of everyone who is plugged in. Lomax, a private detective, gets pulled into the mix when his daughter is accused of murdering a key Cal-Cor employee.

Appraisal:

I skipped my normal selection routine for this book after I read the opening sentence: “I was dreaming about Las Vegas when the ferret woke me.” Yup, no contest, I was all-in.

This was a fun read. Told in first person, Lomax, our main character, is a cool guy carrying a lot of baggage. The world Mr. Levesque builds, set in some not-too-far future, is a believable extension of modern-day American. The States have gone to war. California won and is where the party is. The other states are where you get shipped to if you screw with Cal-Cor--the corporation that runs the Sunshine State.

Lomax lost the use of one eye in the war of independence, which prevents him from operating iyz. Iyz are a potential extension of Google Glasses. Everyone who’s anyone wears them to stay connected. The Iyz hook to the web, and information is projected from the iyz to the user. Images and information are manipulated using two thimble-like devices. Some folk even have their finger controllers embedded. Because our hero has only one eye, he can’t operate iyz, so he’s digitally impaired—hence the title of the book, and the name of his detective agency—Strictly Analog.

I love sci-fi that builds worlds populated with interesting social and technical possibilities. Here are a few concepts I particularly enjoyed:

Lomax and many other people can only afford to live in one of those storage facilities where you rent by the month to store your surplus junk. His front door rolls up.

All purchases are made with ‘shares’ on a card—no money, honey.

He may be analog-only, but he uses a banglight to save his daughter when she’s attacked by a gang of thugs—illegal, and no bigger than a lighter, this neat device sends crippling pain through a pair of iyz—handy if you don’t wear them.

Cars are all electric, but they come with noisemakers to simulate an engine, or perhaps a purring cat, or roaring tiger.

And, of course, iyz. And therein lays the plot, because some techno genius has developed a better and more direct way of communicating and controlling everyone who uses them. Finding this renegade sucks Lomax into a vortex where his teenage daughter’s life is at risk. Lomax may need to go digital to save her.

Format/Typo Issues:

Too few to mention.

Rating: ***** Five stars

#Free for your #Kindle, 1/22/2015

The author of each of these books has indicated their intent to schedule these books for a free day for the Kindle versions today on Amazon. Sometimes plans change or mistakes happen, so be sure to verify the price before hitting that "buy me" button.

The Picture of Cool by Laurie Boris

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Mazie Baby by Julie Frayn

Amazon US

Amazon UK

The Princess, the Pea, and the Night of Passion (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales Book 1) by Rosetta Bloom

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Author's interested in having their free book featured either here on a Thursday or a sister site on a Monday, visit this page for details.

Reprise Review: A Day in the Life of Jason Dean

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Crime Fiction

Approximate word count: 15-20,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Ian Ayris has had a love of writing since childhood and has had some forty short stories published, most recently a novel, Abide With Me. Ian is currently studying for a degree in English Literature. He lives with his family in Essex in the UK.

Description:

Jason Dean is going to have his worst day ever. First, he has to collect some debts. Then he has to kill a man.

Appraisal:

This is one of the best stories I’ve ever read. There, I’ve said it. And I’m not taking it back. I’ll explain why…

We wake up very early one morning with Jason, he’s in bed with his wife who loathes him but we’ve no idea why. He tells us he’s going to have a very bad day, in fact Jason must have one of the longest faces in literature. He’s truly unhappy. Whilst having some food and a coffee in perhaps the worst café in the world Jason reveals he’s got to collect some cash for a local hard man, Micky Archer, then kill a guy.

Jason goes to see Micky to find out the names of who has to pay. In an incredible scene, the two hard men argue about Wagner and Shostakovich of all things. It transpires that Jason, despite living on one of the worse estates in the country (which Ayris deftly paints, a perfect backdrop) is extremely well read (although not well schooled which comes over in the narration).

Jason proceeds on his debt appropriation mission with mixed success, including witnessing a suicide. Whilst walking around this hellhole dealing with the locals, the hard man treats us to insights on the classical music he listens to, the books and poetry he’s read, and how they make him feel. Like Sylvia Plath and the parallels she draws to Jason’s life. It’s totally at odds with the person we’re reading about, adds real dimension to Jason’s character, and throws his surroundings into stark contrast. He doesn’t want to be who he is, but Jason feels he has no choice. He doesn’t want to murder a man, but he must. Another brilliantly written scene.

Throughout the story, Jason is also thinking about his daughter, Sophie. Towards the end of the book he reveals why he has such a heavy heart in a truly emotional, heart-wrenching scene. I really wish I could tell you more, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise. It completely caught me out and brought everything to a well thought out conclusion.

The characters, besides Jason, are excellent. I particularly like Micky. Finally Jason’s monologue and the dialogue are both excellent, for example the classical music argument:

I know he’s only kiddin, cos we been mates for years. But it don’t make it no fuckin easier sittin here in his comfortable three bedroomed semi, drinkin tea out of a china cup and listenin to him bangin on about fuckin Wagner, whilst at the same time he’s beratin the fuckin genius of Shostakovich…

‘Nietzsche was right,’ I says, quiet, sort of under me breath.

Micky’s eyes start to bulge. He puts his tea down.

‘What did you say?’ he says, leanin forward, squeezing his eyebrows together.

The pair then proceed to fight over Nietzsche’s interpretation of Wagner - this incredibly rough, violent pair arguing over classical music and philosophy having discussed debt collection and murder.

And back to the beginning. This is a superbly written novella. I can’t find a fault anywhere with it. One of the best stories I’ve read. Ever.

Ever.

FYI:

Adult language, some scenes of violence.

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: ***** Five Stars