Reprise Review: An Elegant Theory by Noah Milligan

Genre: Contemporary Literature/Psychological/Suspense

Description:

“Coulter Zahn sees reality differently than others. Much like light can theoretically be in all places at once, Coulter sees multiple versions of his life… An existential psychological thriller, An Elegant Theory explores how the construction of memory and consciousness can shape motive, guilt, and identity through the lens of a modern-day mad-scientist motif.”

Author:

“Noah Milligan splits his time between words and numbers and is a longtime student of physics, prompting him to write his debut novel, An Elegant Theory, a draft of which was shortlisted for the 2015 Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize. His short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines, including MAKE, Storyscape Literary Journal, Empty Sink Publishing, and Santa Clara Review. He is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Central Oklahoma, and he lives in Edmond, OK, with his wife and two children.”

Appraisal:

Coulter Zahn is a promising PhD candidate at MIT with a wife and a baby on the way. Understandably, he is under a lot of pressure writing his dissertation. When his hypothesis comes under criticism and his estranged mother (who suffers from mental illness herself) returns, his life starts unraveling or perhaps fracturing would be a better word? As Coulter loses control everyone’s life around him becomes irreparably changed forever.

Mr. Milligan uses a style writing An Elegant Theory that I have not experienced before. There are sudden time-warps where the story will jump either back in time or into a future you are not quite sure is real or imagined. He has employed this style to keep the reader as off balance as Coulter is feeling as his own mental health is deteriorating. And it works. At one point I was convinced Coulter was suffering from schizophrenia, however if you consider the subject of his dissertation it’s likely he was experiencing different planes of existence altogether.

The plot is character driven and not linear. The twists in the story are extreme and well thought out. The most important people are well developed and realistic. I’m wondering if I should warn the readers they may come away from this novel with a taste of quantum physics and string theory as well as what it may feel like to go slowly insane.

I think if I re-read this book, it’s possible, I may come away with a totally different theory about what was actually happening here. After saying that, this would be an excellent novel for discussion with a group or book club. Egads! I don’t think I have ever said that before in a review. I believe Noah Milligan is an author to keep an eye on in the future.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

**Warning** this book may change the way you see yourself, those around you, or life in general, forevermore.

Original review was posted on December 16, 2016.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant proofing or formatting issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words

Review: Not to Spoil the Ending … But Everything is Going to be Ok by Naomi Brickel

 

Genre: Memoir

Description:

“Not to Spoil the Ending… but everything is going to be ok takes you through a mother's harrowing tragedy and deep reflection in order to reveal simple, yet profound insights about making the world more hopeful and heavenly. Starting from her own foundation built on the wisdom and writings of Brene Brown, Eckhart Tolle, and Richard Rohr, Naomi goes on to present Adam’s unique, playful and poignant principles about happiness, ‘#Adamsworld: Hashtags for Livin’ Yzy’, developed through the recollections of kids who knew him and their recorded messages in a funeral visitation book. This uplifting narrative offers simple yet profound examples - so uncomplicated they could only have come from a boy - for making this world more hopeful and heavenly.”

Author:

“Naomi Brickel has spent her adult life dedicated to raising her large family, volunteering in her community, and a career in non-profit service. In her work, Naomi helps families in the practical and emotional aspects of navigating disability service systems across the lifespan, building capacity with professionals for more inclusive communities, and working with individuals themselves to promote their self-determination and empowerment.

She is a wife and mom of six children (one in heaven) and lives in New Rochelle, NY where all of her kids attended the public schools.

Naomi’s resonating happiness is rooted in her awareness of the loving energy driving the universe and of the individual light and dignity of each person she encounters – lessons she learned in the process of grieving the sudden death of her blessed son Adam.”

Appraisal:

As a rule, if a book I’m considering reading looks like it is going to have a lot of content that pushes religious or “spiritual” ideas it will get sorted into the “nope, not reading this” stack without even opening the (usually virtual) cover. Abandoning the read early on due to too much religious content isn’t out of the realm of possibility either. For those who feel the same, consider this a warning, but be aware that there are other qualities that might make this a worthwhile read in spite of any misgivings you have. For those who see these qualities as positives, then it gets even better.

If you’ve had a family member pass away way too young, you know how difficult dealing with that is. This book is a memoir, taking us through the author experiencing the death of her 15-year-old son, Adam, and the aftermath, both the pain and the outpouring of support. As the story progresses, we get to know Adam, both from the viewpoint of his mother, but also from his friends and acquaintances. In Adam’s story are some lessons we could all learn about how to live life. (And for those looking for something more spiritual, there are a few more lessons for you too.)

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues with the exception of a small number of minor spelling or grammar issues when directly quoting another person, which are justifiable for that reason.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Review: Blood Sentence by Keith Nixon

 

Genre: Police Procedural/Thriller

Description:

“Three bodies, one suspect. That suspect is you…

When the unidentified corpse of an apparent suicide victim is found hanging above a complex pattern of forty photographs of children, Detective Inspector Jonah Pennance of the Met’s specialist Sapphire Unit is brought in to investigate.

A post-mortem reveals the suicide was murder, and Pennance realises he knows the man. But as the body count rises, all the signs point to a care home in Kent – a place that Pennance is all too familiar with.

The problem is the only person connecting the victims is Pennance – and he has a solid motive for wanting them dead… Can Pennance prove his innocence?”

Author:

“Keith Nixon is the best-selling author of sixteen novels and one million words in print, including the Margate based Solomon Gray series of over 250,000 copies in circulation and reached no.1 on Amazon in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

Keith lived near the gritty seaside town of Margate, where many of his novels are based, for 17 years before relocating to the edge of the Peak District with his family where he lives today. Keith works in a senior sales role within a high-tech industry and has regularly travelled all over the globe.”

For more, visit his website.

Appraisal:

Reading the first book of a new series is always going to be different from reading the subsequent books in the series. In the first book you’re getting to know the main characters, in this case Detective Inspector Jonah Penance, the protagonist, and a few of his cohorts that will presumably appear in subsequent installments. As you continue the series that sense of discovery will lessen, but instead you’ll be getting the latest from an “old friend,” which still appeals, but in a different way.

This story is unique because the evidence points towards Penance as the obvious suspect. We know (okay, we’re pretty sure) that he didn’t commit the crimes. If he did then he doesn’t remember it and we’ve got much bigger issues and little chance of subsequent cases, so we can probably rule that out. However, in investigating the case we find out much more about Penance and his personal history than is typical for a fictional police detective. With things hitting so close to home it makes for a much more intense case than the typical detective story for both the fictional detective and the reader. As with all good mysteries, it kept me guessing the whole way.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

This is the first book in a new series.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Review: Shadow Shinjuku by Ryu Takeshi

Genre: Thriller

Description:

“Ryu Takeshi’s first novel is both a noir crime thriller and urban fantasy. It's a…blend of the imagery of Japanese animation and film…”

Author:

“Ryu was born in 1983, has a beautiful wife, a funny little dog, and a lovely daughter. He adores sumo, practices traditional kenjutsu, sometimes plays basketball (Go Denver Nuggets!), relaxes playing video games, watching anime and reading books.”

Appraisal:

Shadow Shinjuku is essentially a manga presented in the format of a novel. While the artwork is missing, readers are given a vivid noir atmosphere to paint their own mental canvas of Tokyo streets.

It also helps one forgive the cartoon bubble dialogue:

‘Whoa! What’s this?! I’m freaking out!’

‘What are you thinking?’ ‘What am I thinking?’ ‘Yeah, like, what thoughts do you have in your head?

While the physical imagery is strong, I would have liked more Japan flavor in the characters, who come across as U.S. citizens with Japanese names living in Tokyo. Frequent Americanisms jar the ear when they come from Japanese speakers.

“I had to wrap my own head around the fact that I wouldn’t see her again.”

A character “gives the finger” as an insult, a gesture that has no meaning in Japan. Japanese casually use the middle finger instead of the index finger to point. There is nothing equivalent to the “F” word in Japanese, but it is used liberally in the dialogue. At a small exclusive restaurant, the main character praises the sushi rolls, a bit like praising the hot dogs at Delmonico’s.

That said, the characters are a colorful lot, the story is creative and the ending ultimately satisfying. Don’t skip the epilogue.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Bits of graphic sex and lots of strong language

Format/Typo Issues:

None

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Sam Waite

Approximate word count: 105-110,000 words

Reprise Review: Call Me Daddy (A Cass Adams Novel Book 2) by Kelly Stone Gamble

 Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Woman’s Fiction

Description:

“Cass Adams comes from a long line of crazy, and she fears passing that on to her unborn child. Also, she’s run over Roland and Clay’s surprise half-brother Britt, landing him in the hospital. With her inner demons coming out to haunt her, she doesn’t know if she should keep the baby.

Clay Adams has his own decisions to make. His half-brother shows up to tell him their father, Freddy, is still alive but needs a liver transplant. When Freddy blew out of town thirty-five years ago, secrets were buried. But it’s time for them to be dug up, because only then can Clay hope to lay the past to rest.

Call Me Daddy is a story of family, the secrets they keep, and to what lengths someone would go to protect them.”

Author:

“I want readers to take something away from my books and short stories: something memorable, whether it be an interesting protagonist, an emotion or a moment in time. Depending on what characters decide to sit beside me on a particular day, I may write historical fiction or quirky, dark humor.

My interests are as diverse as my writing. I am at home fishing on a river, riding horses in the mountains, reading on a beach, hiking through the desert or playing pirate with my friends. I don't believe in growing old and I refuse to grow up.”

To learn more about Ms. Gamble check out her website or Facebook page.

Appraisal:

Call Me Daddy is above all a story of family, much like the novelty song “I’m My Own Grandpa” written in 1947 by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe. They got the idea for the song from a book of Mark Twain anecdotes. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist the reference because it made me laugh.

Honestly, though this story isn’t nearly that complicated, but it is tangled, and is certainly not nearly as funny. However, there is a lot of dark humor employed with complicated emotions throughout the story. Ms. Gamble slowly unravels secrets of old friends and family in a delft manner using multiple points-of-view that are clearly marked by chapter headings. This style choice also produced some repetition of facts. I tried to overlook those instances because it lets the reader know that the character was also aware of those same secrets.

Deacon, Kansas is a small town with many memorable quirky personalities. Most are longtime residents that grew up in the area and know everyone else’s business. The twists in the plot are realistic and surprising. There were times the book was hard to put down. Hard decisions had to be made by the Adams’ family members. While others could only watch and be there to pick up the pieces in case things went awry. Call Me Daddy is a poignant story where skeletons are forced out of the closet to dance on the graves of those passed and at times the souls of the living.

I look forward to more stories from Deacon, Kansas. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that this setting is almost in my neck of the woods and the residents seem like family to me. Which may be why I prefer to escape into fantasy and paranormal books. However, Ms. Gamble is quickly becoming a favorite author.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Call Me Daddy is the sequel to They Call Me Crazy, and can be read as a standalone novel.

Original review posted on December 23, 2016.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant proofing or formatting issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

Review: Hopi Walk by Melissa Bowersock

 Genre: Cozy Mystery/Native American/Paranormal

Description:

“Navajo police officer John Stoneburner is a tough cookie who hates to rely on anyone else, especially Sam Firecloud with his ‘woo-woo’ abilities. So when John asks Sam to investigate the death of his own brother, Sam knows John is totally out of ideas. The investigation centers on Blue Canyon, a scenic and spiritual area of the Hopi reservation. When Sam walks the location, he not only connects with John’s brother, but also with other enraged spirits that are out for revenge, and that don’t care who they exact it from.”

Author:

“Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: biography, contemporary, western, action, romance, fantasy, paranormal and spiritual. She has been both traditionally and independently published and is a regular contributor to the superblog Indies Unlimited. She has a tattoo on the inside of her left wrist that says IMAGINE. In her next life, she plans to be an astronaut. She lives in a small community in northern Arizona with her husband and an Airedale terrier. She also writes under the pen name Amber Flame.”

Learn more about Ms. Bowersock and her other books on her website or on Facebook.

Appraisal:

Although I’ve been aware of them, this was my first time reading one of the books in the Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud mystery series. It was a nice change of pace. They’re likeable characters, as are most of the others in the story (with a few obvious exceptions). The mystery being solved kept me engaged. What sets this series apart from a typical cozy mystery is the settings, often in or near Navajo or, in this case, Hopi, country in northern Arizona with lots of natives playing a role in the story. (Firecloud is a Navajo himself.) There are also a lot of supernatural aspects with Firecloud having the ability to, for lack of a better word, communicate with the spirits of those who are no longer alive. This adds a twist to the story and the approach Sam and Lacey use to get to the bottom of the mystery that makes for a fun, unpredictable read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI

This is book 33 of this series. It’s also the first I’ve read. The books can be read as standalones with each installment taking a particular case from start to end.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 45-50,000 words

Review: Zennfinnity Was Here by Jeff Pearson

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

“Grab your favourite mood-enhancing beverage, place a traffic cone on your noggin, and mount your lumbering elephant for a wild ride through trials and tribulations you’ll recognize and others you possibly didn’t know existed. Life and death, love and hate, freedom and the walls of the prison that haunt us all: yin and yang out the rang-a-tang. From the flickering flames of a remote wilderness bonfire, bursting with the embers of ubiquitous sexual tension, to the rhino-rich plains hiding in the shadows of the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas—and the long, long road in between—come eleven stories of mischief, mayhem, suffering, and survival. Oh, the humanity of it all.”

Author:

“Jeff Pearson was born in Pembroke, Ontario, Canada, in 1963, and attended Carleton and Lakehead Universities where he mostly majored in Maximum Intoxication / Fiasco Production. Then he went vagabond—rambling / exploring / travelling / working—for years, all over Canada and beyond. For the past twenty years, he has been honing his writing skills while manning various fire towers deep in the Canadian wilderness.”

Pearson has several books available, most short stories or memoirs that read like a series of short stories, all humorous.

Appraisal:

The eleven stories in this collection have a lot of differences from each other ranging from stories that read like memoirs to tales that stretch your ability to suspend disbelief, but manage to draw you in anyway. The thing they all seem to have in common is I found myself constantly surprised by the unexpected direction the stories seemed to take, lulling me into thinking I saw where they were headed and then discovering I really had no clue.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Uses Canadian spelling conventions.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words

Review: Unbalanced by Jason Parent

 Genre: Psychological Thriller/Police Procedural/Suspense

Description:

“By-the-book Detective Asante Royo can only clean up Fall River’s filth for so long without getting dirty. When he’s called to an apparent suicide at an apartment complex notorious for its prostitution and drug trade, he doesn’t shed a tear for the life wasted. Yet something about the scene haunts him, and when his investigation gets swept under the rug, he has a hard time living with the stain.

Jaden Sanders is an unstable loner who lives across the hall from the crime scene. When three men break into his apartment, Jaden is ready for a fight. He kills two of his attackers in self-defense then stalks and stabs the third in the back. Jaden is soon arrested for murder.

With no clear motives for the home invasion or Jaden’s violent response, Royo must uncover the true story before more people get hurt. His only leads are derived from the version of events extracted from a truly unbalanced mind. Is Jaden a victim being steamrolled by cold justice or a murderer capable of killing again?”

Author:

“In his head, Jason Parent lives in many places, but in the real world, he calls New England his home. The region offers an abundance of settings for his writing and many wonderful places in which to write them. He currently resides in Rhode Island.”

For more, visit the author’s website.

Appraisal:

As the description explains, there are four deaths and two different cases that detective Asante Royo is working on in this story. One of these is a case already closed as an apparent suicide, yet that resolution never sat quite right with Royo. Then this new one, borderline in some respects, but a case of three dead that he sees as a valid instance of self-defense, in spite of what the prosecutor says.

This was an intense story that kept me guessing, as I’d hope from this kind of tale. Even when I thought I knew who had actually done what, there was still a question as to whether the ending would be satisfying, which kept me engaged. But what set this book apart from many I’ve read was that those I perceived as the good guys (or gals) were much more flawed than the stereotypical good guy, sometimes crossing lines I wished they hadn’t. At times I found myself sympathizing with the bad guys (or those I perceived as fitting that category). At least a few of the characters kept me guessing as to which category they actually belonged in. Then the ending had a twist I’d have never predicted which brought us to a conclusion I by then expected although with no idea how we were going to get there. What a ride.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review based on an ARC (advanced reader copy), so I can’t judge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Reprise Review: Cargo by DV Berkom

 Genre: Thriller

Description:

“Haunted by memories of an op gone bad, former assassin Leine Basso travels to Bangkok in search of a missing backpacker. With help from an old contact, she discovers the man responsible for the girl’s disappearance is connected to a violent Hong Kong triad and is the linchpin of an extensive trafficking network—both animal and human.

Making enemies isn’t new for Leine, but making one in the triad is—she soon finds herself a prisoner on board a cargo ship headed for sub-Saharan Africa. To ensure her survival and to continue her hunt for the missing girl, she must join forces with Derek, an ivory poacher who promises to help her.”

Author:

“DV Berkom is the award-winning author of two action-packed thriller series featuring strong female leads (Leine Basso and Kate Jones). Her love of creating resilient, kick-ass women characters stems from a lifelong addiction to reading spy novels, mysteries, and thrillers, and longing to find the female equivalent within those pages.

Raised in the Midwest, she earned a BA in political science from the University of Minnesota and promptly moved to Mexico to live on a sailboat. Several years and a multitude of adventures later, she wrote her first novel and was hooked.”

For more, visit her website.

Appraisal:

Cargo is the fourth book featuring Leine Basso. The short review: this book is like the others, intense.

Leine has a talent for getting into tight situations that will have you on the edge of your seat, wondering how, or even if, she'll manage to accomplish whatever she set out to do. How is she going to manage to get out of whatever dangerous situation she's stumbled into? As in some of Leine's past adventures, in Cargo she finds herself dealing with human trafficking and having to find her way in foreign environments in what I thought was her most intense case so far.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Original review posted August 24, 2016.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words