Review: Jack Gilmour: Wish Lawyer by Ed Ryder

Description:

“As Las Vegas' first and only demonic contract lawyer, Jack Gilmour protects his clients from deals too good to be true.

An urgent case of misplaced lust sends Jack on a collision course with Lucia Oredis, a dangerous and seductive demon from his past. To cancel the contract and save his client, Lucia demands that Jack investigates a conspiracy in the corridors of demonic power.

As the clock ticks down, Jack gets in way over his head with the human and demonic underworlds in a battle for dominion over the city. With only his wits and a gambling wizard for help, can Jack save the day and both worlds?”

Author:

“Ed Ryder is a research scientist by day and author by night.

When not spending time working or writing, Ed is either horse riding, playing video games, or watching science fiction movies and TV shows.

His favourite author is Clive Barker, and he loves pizza.”

To learn more visit Mr. Ryder’s Blog or his Facebook page.

Appraisal:

Jack Gilmour Wish Lawyer, is suitably set in Las Vegas where people get caught up in the glitz and glamour of a freewheeling lifestyle. He is surrounded by beautiful people who may not be as they outwardly seem. Eddie Malfitano, who owns a couple of casinos a few blocks off downtown, is visibly upset when he drags his nephew, Benny, into Jack’s office. Benny has just finished college and is visiting his uncle Eddie for the summer to get a taste of the business. Benny has been struck with a major case of lust at one of the downtown casinos, when all of a sudden there is a man that says he can fix Benny up with this sultry beauty and all he has to do is sign on the dotted line. So, Benny does.

At first Jack assumes Benny signed a karmic contract which is a simple matter. In reality Benny signed a soul contract, which is a whole different story. Did you know that demons have Demonic Precepts to live by? Well they do, and Jack is an expert in demonic law. As it says in the description, this case sends Jack on a collision course with Lucia Oredis, a dangerous and seductive demon from Jack’s past. Lucia will cancel Benny’s contract if Jack investigates a conspiracy in the halls of demonic powers in the underworld.

There are layers upon layers as the plot twists and turns, in the streets of Las Vegas as well as in the underworld. The characters are multi-dimensional, some are twisted and pure evil, others not-so-much. The dialogue is intelligent, conscientious, and at times humorous. The descriptive prose at the beginning is beautiful and sets you right there with Jack. The noir twists are totally enjoyable, especially when we meet Gloria, Jack’s secretary. She is a gloriously strong woman who got satisfaction in the end, and I would like to see more of her.

If you need a break from the routine urban fantasy, take a walk on the wild side of Las Vegas with Jack Gilmour: Wish Lawyer for a unique and witty roller-coaster ride.

Buy now from:            Amazon US          Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language. Uses UK spelling conventions.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Review: An Object of Desire by Jenny Twist

Genre: Short Story/Thriller

Description:

“Hannah and Rea, on holiday in Tangiers are disturbed to discover that two sinister looking characters are following them. Then they meet the mysterious Toby who is himself following the stalkers. He wants to know why the men are interested in the girls. But the girls have no idea. They are not too worried, since they are moving on to Chefchouen. He says he will take them himself, secretly.

But who is Toby? What does he do? Is he a policeman? A spy? A treasure hunter?

All seems well until one of the girls disappears.”

Author:

A native of the UK, Jenny Twist is the author of several books and short stories. She lives with her husband in Spain.

Appraisal:

Two young ladies, Hannah and Rea, are on a vacation in Tangiers. They’re on a shopping trip at the local bazaar, a few guys being chased by the police run through, and they head back to the hotel in search of a gin and tonic. Little do they realize that inconsequential shopping trip has set them up for more than they bargained for. What that was is a mystery, to the reader and to Hannah and Rea. The story is short, intense, and just like Hannah and Rea, I spent the whole time trying to figure out what the heck was going on and why. I guess that’s why it is called a mystery.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 12-13,000 words

Reprise Review: The Liar's Guide to South America by Michael Delwiche

Genre: Travel/Humor

Description:

Andrew Mozart is twenty years old, naïve, shy, financially self-sufficient (thanks to a life insurance policy that paid out when his father died) and in love with Sarah, a work colleague. When Sarah leaves for a trip to South America before Andrew has declared his love, he elects to follow her. The book recounts his journey.

Author:

Michael Delwiche is a screenwriter living in the UK. The Liar’s Guide to South America is his first novel. He has a second novel (Wait Until The Robots) due out later this year.

Appraisal:

After Sarah has left on her trip, Andrew checks her computer terminal at work and finds her email program still open. He peeks at her inbox and her sent folder and finds out where she is staying. Then he flies to Brazil to try and meet her.

Such a simple premise, but what a great read.

I got through the story in three sittings—never wanted to put it down. Andrew’s naive attempts at backpacking and staying in hostels and trying to fit in among others far more travel savvy than himself makes for a fun journey. His trip was built on a deception, and the longer he continues to track Sarah, the more wrapped up he becomes in the web of lies he has to spin.

His travel decisions are based on what he believes he is understanding from Sarah’s emails (which he continues to look at as he tries to track her down) and as we know, emails don’t always mean what they appear to say. His lack of even a modicum of travel-wisdom (this is his first time away from home) has him making dumb decisions that lead him into one problem after another. But no matter how unlikely the characters he meets and the situations he gets himself into, it never seemed far-fetched to me, quite the opposite. At twenty, I’d probably have done much the same — a scary thought!

Some sections of the book are laugh-out-loud funny, and no matter that he’s a cheat and a liar, I defy you to not like Andrew—I found myself rooting for him throughout.

This gem of a story is what self-publishing is all about. It’s well written, well structured, clever, and wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of being picked up by a mainstream publisher.

I recommend you read it and see how Andrew sets off to South America to find Sarah, and, in the end, finds himself.

Buy now from:    Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

English Spelling.

Added for Reprise Review: The Liar's Guide to South America by Michael Delwiche was a nominee in the Humor and Satire category for B&P 2013 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran September 26, 2012

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Approximate word count: 60,000-65,000 words

Review: The Judas Goat by Adam S. Barnett

Genre: Legal Thriller

Description:

“When does self-defense become murder? Kyle Morrison is about to find out.

Kyle is an ordinary guy living a life he chose for himself. He has his own diner. He has a great girlfriend. He has his privacy and a reputation for being a good, hardworking man.

That all changes the day Kyle kills a 15-year-old would-be robber. The prosecution thinks he went beyond self-defense. His girlfriend doesn't know what to do. The Internet has made Kyle an unwilling poster child in the nation's gun control debate. His attorney knows this case can launch his own career into the stratosphere and wonders where his own lines are.

The Judas Goat is a legal thriller told from the perspective of the accused, the victim, the accomplice and the attorneys on both sides. It dares to ask the question of who we are as a society... and who we are going to be.

Who will follow the Judas Goat?”

Author:

“Adam S. Barnett has been an attorney since 1994. His focus has been on children's rights and therapeutic alternatives to incarceration. His popular humor blog, Comics Make No Sense, ran for over 10 years. He lives in the Plains region of the United States with his wife, Laura.”

Appraisal:

The preface to the book has this note from the author:

This book addresses the issue of gun control. I did my best to present characters on both sides of the debate in a fair and respectful manner. Please be mindful that just because I put words in characters’ mouths, I don’t necessarily agree with what they say.

I wrestled with what to rank this book because I think it does some things well and other things not so well.

The not so well category includes the setup of the robbery. The “15-year-old would-be robber” wasn’t at all credible to me. His kind-of-accomplice along with the story of how they came together and why the attempted robbery happened was only slightly more believable. While I understand why knowing both of them and what got them to the point of trying to commit the robbery is important for the setup of the rest of the story, this got the story off to a weak start for me.

Although I’m not an attorney I often pretend to know what I’m talking about in regards to legal issues on the internet and, to me, how this case should end was obvious from the beginning. (Whether it does end that way is an entirely different question.) However, I think the author did do a good job of making a case from all sides. Although I didn’t change my position, I came to understand other points of view better, which I think (based on the preface) is one of the author’s goals. I’m also not sure what the author’s opinion on the various issues raised is, which is indicative that he met his goal of presenting both sides in a fair way as promised in the preface.

I did like Kyle, the main character, and thought his story was mostly credible, both his backstory and how the story played out for him in court and afterwards. But too much of the setup was weak, which made for a story that was hard to believe due to the weak foundation in the beginning.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of proofing errors. One issue that I spotted multiple times was an issue that attorney authors seem to have a problem with, using the word waive when what they intended was wave. As any attorney should realize, once you’ve waived your hands, you’ll never be able to do it again. (Yes, I’m going to continue using that bad joke every chance I get.)

Rating: *** Three Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Review: Soap on a Rope by Barbara Silkstone

Genre: Cozy Mystery/Humor

Description:

“When Nelson Dingler is found dangling from a chandelier—feet-side up—Grams Dingler determines to find her son’s killer. Can Olive help her best friend save her feisty grandmother from suffering the same fate? And can the Cold Cream Shop survive while Olive psyches out the killer?”

Author:

“Barbara Silkstone's most current series is Florence Nightingale Comedy Mysteries...The Giggling Corpse, The Killer Corset, and The Cheeky Coroner. Cozies all.

Silkstone is the best-selling author of both Regency Pride and Prejudice variations, including the popular the MISTER DARCY SERIES OF COMEDIC MYSTERIES ~ PRIDE AND PREJUDICE contemporary variations. All her books are light-hearted adventures based on Jane Austen's timeless tales of love denied and love discovered. ‘Feel good’ tales to warm your heart.

She is also the author of the Wendy Darlin Comedy Mystery series. Five coffee-snorting tales that combine cozy with outrageous adventures.”

For more from Barbara, visit her website and her Facebook page.

Appraisal:

If anyone ever said solving cozy mysteries were too simple, Soap on a Rope would prove them wrong. In this novel Olive and Lizzy try to solve Nelson Dingler’s murder, keep their new shop open, find a sponsor for their products, and keep Grams’ secret all while avoiding the police detective, Kal. Those who think cozy mysteries are simple haven’t read Barbara Silkstone’s novels.

Nelson Dingler is Grams’ son and Lizzy’s father, he was a rotten, angry soul who had many enemies. However, the position he was found in narrowed the search down. This is where Grams’ secret comes into play about Nelson’s early years. As rotten as Nelson was, she is still his mother.

The shop is being minded by Ivy LaVine, one of Olive’s grandmother Nonna’s elderly friends who lives upstairs from Olive. Ivy and Myron Myers, are becoming quite an item. Ivy used to work at Macy’s in the cosmetic department and has some big ideas for the little shop. This becomes a thorn in Olive’s side, which she will have to deal with carefully.

Solving Nelson’s murder becomes a three-ring circus when Irma, Nelson’s ex-wife, shows up in the mix. What a character she is! As always, no stone is left unturned as Olive makes sense of this oddball case. I do wish she would stop pushing Kal away. I like him and would like to see more interaction between them. I know it would add a bunch of complications, but hiding it from Lizzy is not the way to go.

I enjoyed this caper and meeting Nonna’s idol, Sophia Napoli, an Italian film star, was fun. I also liked meeting Sophia’s handsome bodyguard, who was always in the background if Olive needed him. It was a fun element to add the Italian bodyguard along with Myron, Olive’s ex-patient whom may have been a mob boss, who followed her from New York to Starfish Cove, Florida, and a dejected detective all looking out for Olive’s wellbeing. Oh, and how could I forget about Wonder Dog, who is right there by Olive and Lizzy’s side? Honest, if you enjoy cozy mysteries with humorous elements, don’t miss this one.  

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Soap on a Rope is book 3 in Ms. Silkstone’s, COLD CREAM MURDERS series. At the end of the story is a recipe for heavenly lavender lemon honey soap.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 45-50,000 words

Reprise Review: Being Light by Helen Smith

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Literary Fiction/Comedic

Description:

“When Roy Travers doesn’t come home his wife begins to suspect he has been abducted by aliens, and she enlists the help of a private detective to find him. But Roy was not taken by aliens. The truth is far stranger.”

Author:

Recipient of an Arts Council of England Award, Helen Smith is another author who started out traditionally published and is now choosing to release her books as an indie. She’s written novels, children’s books, poetry, and plays. In the works are a play she was commissioned to write and a pilot for a TV series in development. In addition to this book, Smith has four additional books available for your Kindle, including Alison Wonderland, which was picked up by Amazon’s Encore imprint.

For more, or to learn what Smith is up to right now, visit her website.

Appraisal:

It is unlikely Being Light is anything like any book you’ve read before. There are multiple casts of characters, which in the beginning seem unrelated. Keeping track of them all is a challenge at first. One thing they all have in common is they’re … I want to say crazy. Maybe not in the sense that they’re certifiable, although we do have some belief in alien abduction, so I won’t rule it out. But each has plenty of quirks and eccentricities. Although not a sequel in the normal sense, Alison Wonderland (from the book of the same name) and her boss, Ella Fitzgerald (how did that name slip past me when I read Alison?), each reprise their roles.

I’ve read all of Smith’s books that are available for the Kindle. Each time the same things stand out for me. The plots are original, inventive, and (quick, find another word for quirky) idiosyncratic. But it is the characters and the humor that draw me in, not just in their situations, but also in how Smith describes them. For example, when I read, ‘We don’t have a leader, here,’ says the leader of the group…,” I did a double take and laughed. When Smith explains the reason for the conditions inside service station lady’s restrooms, I flashed on several stories from women complaining about the same, and couldn’t help but chuckle. I was amused by one character’s concept of heaven as being “exotic and unfamiliar, the sort of place that is unattainable for ordinary people, like Richard Branson’s island in the Caribbean.” These subtle humorous moments accumulate into a fun, enjoyable read.

Buy now from:    Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Uses UK spelling conventions and slang. A small amount of adult language and situations.

Added for Reprise Review:  Being Light by Helen Smith was a nominee in the Literary Fiction category for B&P 2013 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran April 19, 2012

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 45-50,000 words

Review: The Final Life of Nathaniel Moon by Shawn Inmon

Genre: Time Travel

Description:

“Nathaniel Moon is the reluctant messiah.

He has powers that define the word miraculous. But when he used those powers to help others, he brought about a world of trouble.

Now Nathaniel lives a life of quiet obscurity, performing anonymous miracles. But, his anonymity has to end, because evil is coming to Middle Falls, Oregon, and threatens the people Nathaniel loves most.

It's going to take a reluctant messiah to put things right.”

Author:

Married to his high school sweetheart, Dawn (a romance chronicled from both Shawn and Dawn’s point of view in Inmon’s first two books), Shawn Inmon lives in southwestern Washington where he writes fulltime, or at least as fulltime as he can without interfering too much with grandkid and pet obligations. You can follow him on Facebook.

Appraisal:

I’ve read a few of the books in this series and thus far they all had the same basic premise. The lead character dies, then comes back to life at some point in their past, but with memories of their past life or in some instances lives as they can die multiple times and return multiple times. In all cases, the new lives are all restarts from the same point in their past. Probably needless to say, this basic premise has an almost endless potential for unique characters and possibilities for how they use their new lives. Some try to get things right that they didn’t get right the first time (or first three or four or five times). Others try to prevent something bad from happening to someone else the next time around. Given the number of successful romance books published that are built around one basic story, I’m confident Inmon could have done many more time travel stories without messing with his formula here. But he has.

This time around we have a character (actually we have two) who fit the basic premise, but the main character is different. Yes, he appears to be living another life (his last one according to the title) but there are some differences in him that make a big difference in the story, where it can go, and where it does go. The places it sends the reader’s thoughts are also a lot different than the prior stories, no longer wondering what you might do differently if you could “do it all over again” but also wondering about the concepts of good and selflessness as well as the difficulty of balancing your personal needs with those of others. Shawn Inmon’s books, especially those in this series, have a way of prompting thought which to me is one of the main reasons I read, to see and consider things from different points of view. If you feel the same, this book should hit the spot.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Part of the Middle Falls Time Travel series. These books largely take place in the same fictional Washington town and may sometimes have characters that show up from other books, but all of them also stand alone.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Reprise Review: The Obituarist by Patrick O'Duffy

Genre: Crime/Humour

Description:

Kendall Barber is an Obituarist, a social media undertaker who cleans up the electronic trails of the deceased. Kendall’s day doesn’t start well. First he’s beaten up by a Hell’s Angel and told to stay away from Tonya Clemmens. The trouble is he’s never heard of her. Then Tonya herself arrives at his office – she wants Kendall to find her missing brother. Against his better judgement Kendall agrees and it’s then that things really start to go wrong as local maniac, D-Block and, worse, the police, all show an interest in the case as well.

Author:

Patrick O’Duffy works as an editor for a major educational publishing company. When not working Patrick spends his time writing. His output includes over thirty role playing books, however more recently he has turned to short stories and e-books. The Obituarist is his most recent work. He’s also a Batman fan.

You can read more about Patrick O’Duffy on his website.

Appraisal:

I really enjoyed The Obituarist. It’s clever, sharp and funny. The dialogue is great and the characters well described, from the grubby policeman, Grayson, who uses Barber to get what he wants, through to the maniac bikers, Kowalski and Ploog, who are trying to permanently silence him, they’re vivid and full of life. The location for the story, Port Virtue, is as grimy as its residents. The pace clips along with the action starting at almost the first page and doesn’t let up to the last, helped by The Obituarist being written in the first person. I really appreciated the sense of humour and the direct style in which O’Duffy tells the tale - there isn’t a wasted word, the sign of a well written novella.

However, just when I thought I had the story figured out (and so did the characters!) The Obituarist delivered a couple of wrenching twists and surprises that were very cleverly done…I’d love to say more but I don’t want to give anything away.

At just over 20,000 words it’s a quick read and could be taken in one bite (you’ll want to once you start). In fact, I did read it all over again, even though I knew what was going to happen, just to look at how everything unfolded from a different perspective.

In the near future I’ll be happily tracking down Patrick O’Duffy’s other works. If they’re as good as The Obituarist I’ll be a happy man.

Buy now from:    Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Reasonably frequent strong language.

Added for Reprise Review: The Obituarist by Patrick O'Duffy was a nominee in the Humor and Satire category for B&P 2013 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran December 26, 2012

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Review: The Father by Andrés Cruciani

Genre: Literary Fiction/Noir

Description:

“The story goes like this:

One day, Savage comes home to find his girlfriend, Sarah, crying, holding their shrieking daughter over a bath of steaming water.

That afternoon, Savage takes their money, their baby, and jumps on a bus. When he calls Sarah, she threatens to call the police.

‘If you do, you will never see her again,’ he proclaims.

He begins a life on the lam. But is a life of hiding really the greatness Savage had always dreamed of?”

Author:

“After graduating from Cornell, Andrés Cruciani earned a Master's in Education from Brooklyn College and an MFA from The New School. He has been a teacher for 15 years and has taught writing at FIT and the Hispanic Center for Excellence at Albert Einstein College among other places. Andrés has had numerous pieces nominated for awards and published in The Westchester Review, Pamplemousse, Green Mountains Review, and Welter among other magazines. He served as editor for LIT magazine and is the current senior editor of Brooklyn Aikikai Journal. He recently founded Toho Publishing. When not writing, Andrés trains in Aikido.”

For more, visit his website.

Appraisal:

As explained in the description, the man who calls himself Savage (among many other names over time) kidnapped his young daughter, leaving her mother, because he felt it was the only way to keep his daughter alive. You can decide for yourself whether that was a reasonable interpretation or the most appropriate reaction. I’ve decided that he believed it and that’s what matters. 

This is their story as Savage tries to provide his daughter a life that is as normal as he can make it, even though it is far from normal, all while trying to hide from his daughter the reality of their life. The author has a way with words, with his turns of phrase varying from the lyrical to the literary. Savage’s love for his daughter comes through loud and clear as well. While in many ways this is a dark story, it’s also the opposite, with its chronicling of a father’s love and the lengths this father will go to for his daughter.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Reprise Review: Drawing Breath by Laurie Boris

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Description:

“Students often fall in love with their teachers. Despite warnings from her mother, that's exactly what 16-year-old Caitlin Kelly does. But Daniel Benedetto isn't just any art teacher. Not only is he more than twice Caitlin's age, he rents the Kelly’s upstairs apartment and suffers from cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening disease.”

Author:

A freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and former graphic designer, this is Laurie Boris’ second novel. Her first, The Joke’s on Me, was published by 4RV Publishing in 2011. Boris lives with her husband in the Hudson Valley of New York.

For more, visit her website.

Appraisal:

A well-written and thought provoking story, Drawing Breath may be a disappointment to those who jump to conclusions after skimming the description and seeing mention of a 16-year old girl, an adult man, and something about falling in love. But those who don’t come to the story with misplaced expectations will discover a tale that should stick with them long after the afterglow of satisfying their prurient interests would have faded. Drawing Breath is a coming-of-age story that raises questions of how we relate to those with serious diseases or handicaps and the roadblocks that even well-meaning people may create for them in leading the most normal lives they’re able.

Buy now from:    Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Added for Reprise Review: Drawing Breath by Laurie Boris  was the WINNER in the Contemporary Fiction category for B&P 2013 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran July 19, 2012.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 45-50,000 words