Review: A Mountain of Untold Tales by Fleming J. Allen

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

“… a book of twenty-five unique short stories. They are split into two categories. One group of narratives tend to illuminate the everyday experiences and issues of childhood, motherhood, family, marriage, adventure, and so forth. The other set of tales, however, accentuate the gloomier aspects of life which imagination dictates. They invoke fear, mystery, the supernatural, malice, despair, and more. Regardless of the variety of these fictional storylines, this collection aims to provide reflections and impressions that can be enjoyed and shared for years to come.”

Author:

In addition to this collection, author Fleming J. Allen has written a novel and a work of non-fiction.

Appraisal:

The plot or underlying story in some of this collection was entertaining or interesting to a point, even if the presentation was often lacking. Other times I was left wondering what the point of the story was. While the stories in the first half were generally more upbeat and the second half tended toward darker subjects, I found my opinion was the same with both halves.

The issues I had with the presentation of the stories were numerous. I’ll hit on some of the high (or low) points in a quick list.

Proofreading was lacking. I found numerous sentences that were obviously lacking a word or had an extra word or in some other way didn’t make sense without reinterpretation. Homonym errors were also frequent.

It seemed like redundancy and long lists were the order of the day. While they increased the word count, they also slowed things down. An example of redundancy is the mention of a “snow blizzard” (snow is inherent in the definition of blizzard and specifying snow serves no purpose). Then there are sentences like this:

“He went to places like: the Washington Monument, Smithsonian National Museums, Lincoln Memorial, U.S. Capitol, Arlington National Cemetery, Old Ebbitt Grill, Ben’s Chili Bowl, Indian eateries, and pubs.”

Again, this is way more specific detail than is important. “While in Washington he visited the typical DC monuments as well as several eating establishments he’d heard of” or words to that effect would do the trick. Sure, name one or two examples, but an exhaustive list is only going to put the reader to sleep. This issue wasn’t just a one-time problem, but a constant. Most stories had at least one example of this. I didn’t go back to check, but suspect some had multiple examples.

Another issue was throwing in lots of information about characters or places in the story that do nothing to contribute to the story, so just bog it down instead. For example, “They also jumped into the bath or shower to clean up and changed into their warm pajamas. They had the footed kind.” If having the “footed kind” of pajamas figured into the story in any way, knowing this could matter (although there is probably a better way to let us know about it). But if it doesn’t figure into the story or tell us something important about the character, it’s just a bunch of useless noise.

Ultimately it was a struggle to read this to the end. The stories need a lot more polish.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Numerous proofreading issues that ranged from extra or missing words to homonym errors and various other problems.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 115-120,000 words

Review: Up to No Good by Nicky Matthews

Genre: Drama/Romance/Young Adult

Description:

“What happens when best friends fall madly in love with one another? Or the ex-boyfriend doesn’t take it nearly as well as you had intended that he would? That is exactly what Stephanie and Alexander have to decide. Will they manage to keep it all together or will they fall apart and no longer speak to each other? Can Stephanie manage to save her beloved family barn or let it fall to ruins? The answers remain to be seen and there’s oh so much more to decide, while getting up to no good.”

Author:

Nicky Matthews is, “A graduate of Ferris University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Integrative Sciences, she has always kept writing close. Throughout her program, she could be found either taking a writing course in order to keep her skills sharp or dabbling in a new project in between writing term papers, helping her fellow students and keeping an active social life going. She has actively participated in NANOWRIMO and Camp NANOWRIMO for 5 years now and continues to do so.”

To learn more visit Ms. Matthews website or follow her on Facebook.

Appraisal:

First of all the book file I read had a main female character named Sara. The book blurb above, from the product page, says her name is Stephanie. This happens to be the first of far too many proofing problems, such as missing, extra, and wrong words. I have to assume the book file I received never saw an editor, I can suppose Books and Pals was sent the wrong book file. The problem with that is I have to review the file that was submitted for review. 

Sara/Stephanie had grown up in an ideal family. The family owned a ranch where they boarded and helped rehabilitate abused horses. Sara/Stephanie loved working on the ranch and barrel racing. She has three older brothers who grew up and moved away. Then things started to go horribly wrong in her life. She had an abusive boyfriend and then her parents were killed in an automobile accident. At the beginning of this book Sara/Stephanie dumped her abusive boyfriend and is trying to put the pieces of her life back together and save the ranch. Alexander is a ranch hand who has worked on the ranch for several years, and had been learning the ropes about how the business was run. Alexander has had a thing for Sara/Stephanie for years, but has kept his distance because he valued their friendship and didn’t want to lose her. The devotion that these two feel for each other is repeated time and time again to the point it bogs down the story. Their growth on this journey is brain-numbingly slow and boring. Sara/Stephanie whispers most of her dialogue, I guess because she is so emotional that is as loud as her words get before she bursts out in tears. Alexander speaks softly and calmly to not sound judgmental or to send Sara/Stephanie running off crying behind a locked door?

I also never saw any correlation between the story, the title, or the book cover. The story centers on a budding romance and the love for horses. There is no way a dirt road conveys either of those. To top it all off, there is a cliffhanger ending. So be prepared for that.

There is an emotional story here that could be good, but needs a lot of work. It needs work not only in the proofing but with storyline consistency to improve the flow of the story.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Be prepared for the shock of a cliffhanger ending.

Format/Typo Issues:

More than acceptable on more than one level. See review.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words

Review: Undercover Siren by Ellen Mint

Genre: Romantic Suspense/Mystery/Speculative Fiction

Description:

“He was only supposed to be a job. Why can't she walk away?

Colton Davies, an ex-Marine turned cop, stumbles across a damsel in distress while working the beat and rushes to her aid. Unbeknownst to him, Kristen Trevelyan isn’t an old classmate who accidentally locked her keys in the car, but a spy working for a classified agency. She’s tasked with getting close to the police officer, but she never anticipated how close they’d become.”

Author:

“Ellen Mint adores the adorkable heroes who charm with their shy smiles and heroines that pack a punch. She recently won the Top Ten Handmaid's Challenge on Wattpad where hers was chosen by Margaret Atwood herself. Along with her husband and black lab, she spends a lot of time with her skeletons -- don't worry, they're just Halloween props.”

Appraisal:

Basically, this is a story of two broken people, in their thirties, looking for love and acceptance, which neither think they deserve. Lies and pride on both their parts get in the way of their relationship.

Ms. Mink has developed a war torn culture in which to weave racism, betrayal, espionage, intrigue, and romance. Then she throws in a large threatening fantasy element. This aspect becomes the fundamental storyline, which everything revolves around. Kristen feels like the weight of saving the world lies solely on her shoulders. Colton feels like it is his duty to try to protect Kristen, which is almost laughable. But, Colton has issues with Kristen that he won’t let rest. Colton spoke a little about being a Marine. However, towards the end of the book Colton said he was in the Army. Now that I’m getting picky I have to add a few other word oddities the author chose to use. Noses were describes as; puckering, curling, crumple, and crinkled inward. My nose can’t do any of those things. Also, here a few sentences quoted that I came across:

“…her lips began to crumble into what looked like tears.”

“That didn’t stop the woman from cranking her ruby red lips wide in a blinding smile.”

“Colton whiffled his lips while falling back into the seat.”

“Colton moaned while reverberating his forehead against the mirror.”

“Which was probably why he’d been suckered to his couch for the past three months.”

“Shrugging with a small swagger on her lips…”

“…and she smiled in her stomach.”

There is a decent, multi-faceted story here, but it requires a thorough editing job to polish up and remove the thesaurus puke.

Buy now from:     Amazon US     Amazon UK

FYI:

Undercover Siren is book 1 in Ellen Mint’s, Inquisition Series. This novel contains graphic sex scenes, violence, and lots of gore.

Format/Typo Issues:

Besides the regular missing, extra, or wrong words, are the problems I listed above in my review. The copy I received to review needs a good editor.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 160-165,000 words

Review: Julia’s Dilemma by Lyndsey Carter

Genre: Romance/Young Adult

Description:

“Julia is content with her no frills - no thrills life consisting of long, cubicled days as an accountant, and lonely nights spent watching her favorite soap opera, as she edges ever closer to her thirties.

Between constant self-comparisons with her married friends, a romantically traumatic past, endless bouts of self-deprecatory thoughts, and resentful exchanges with a domineering mother highly critical of her non-existent love life, she can't help but feel a tinge of apathy at the idea of romance...

Following a fateful accident, she crosses paths with Matt, a handsome, mysterious biker with biting sarcastic wit, and the irresistible charm of a serpentine tongue. There is an initial tingle of interest, but she fears a relationship with him might end in even more sunken depths of despair.

Can he prove to her that all men are not the same, as she learns to trust again? Will she open herself up to the possibility of a romance? Or is she just getting her hopes up as usual...”

Author:

I found no information on Lyndsey Carter aside from the fact she has one other book published on Amazon.

Appraisal:

Julia is a mess. She’s not really happy with her job as an accountant, but finds consistency and logic in numbers. Her life is boring because she is afraid to put herself out there. She lives in her head criticizing herself and others. She has a best friend, but only calls her if she needs or wants something from her. I don’t think that is the way friends treat other. Julia’s Dilemma is supposed to be a romantic comedy, but I found very little funny about Julia or her situation.

One day on a rush to get home after work she steps into the path of a cyclist named Matt. The book’s description calls Matt a biker, which is misleading and a little less exciting. At any rate Matt seems like a great guy with a sarcastic wit. Julia seems to try to sabotage this budding relationship. I honestly felt like she needed to be on antidepressants. As the story moves forward I did become invested in Matt’s story, which is slowly doled out in bits and pieces. All along I felt like Julia’s dilemma was just her mental state. But NO; a bombshell drops at the end of this story with a-hell-of-a cliffhanger. Which is Julia’s true dilemma.

Have I mentioned I hate cliffhangers before?

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

The book cover is also misleading. That killer hand of four aces has nothing to do with this story. The fairytale background in soft shades of blue partly cloudy sky with trees and kite? Well, I suppose Matt took Julia to the local park on a date.

Format/Typo Issues:

The only significant error I found was a mixing up of names at least once in this book.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Review: The Unstoppables: Food Police by Demetrius Sherman

Genre: Satire

Description:

“When the government bans foods people crave, modern Chicago becomes roaring, blasting 1920's Chicago. Speakeasies appear and gangsters war to become king. And to battle the most dangerous gangster of them all, a group of men assemble: The Unstoppables.”

Author:

In addition to this book, Demetrius Sherman is the author of three other novels, all appear to be thrillers although at least one includes vampires.

Appraisal:

I suspect a team of editors would have a lot of suggestions regarding this book. They’d tighten up some of the prose, possibly suggest that a few places were telling when maybe they should be showing instead. One of that team might also express an opinion that a few spots in the story were possibly expecting the reader to suspend disbelief a little too much although some might feel given the premise of the story and the genre that this wasn’t an issue. I’m sure a proofreader would spill a non-trivial amount of red ink for a book of this size.

The premise, that unhealthy food, those that are high in fat or sugar or other tasty ingredients like that, have been outlawed, is a good one. The underlying story, imagining what might happen if this law were to be passed in current times, satirizes the days of Chicago bootleggers during prohibition. It has potential. Unfortunately, it’s lack of polish means it fell well short of that potential.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

Serious proofreading issues.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Review: Climb Beyond the Crest by Don Defreeze

Genre: Personal Growth/Travel Memoir

Description:

“Separate yourself from the world’s hectic whirlwind and become part of an Appalachian Trail hike into enchanting wilderness. Buy into Don Defreeze’s personal narrative and be ticketed on a journey to supreme acuity. The thread is the hike while various trail segments jog thoughts ranging from philosophical to the practical, almost a discussion of reality’s nature. These ideas collectively create a frame of reference which walks the reader into symbiotic solitude and a personal challenge.”

Author:

Don Defreeze is a wilderness guide and owner of a guide service called Exchiking in Roanoke, Virginia.

Appraisal:

It’s tough to figure out how many of my complaints and issues with this book are valid complaints by any reasonable criteria and how much is “just me” based on taste, misplaced expectations, or something else. I’ll talk about them all and you can decide which might matter to you.

The first issue is the less than adequate copyediting and proofing job this book received. It was clearly lacking in this regard with missing or wrong words, homonym errors, and misspelled names, among other issues.

I also found the author’s writing style to be pretentious. It felt like rather than attempting to communicate his thoughts as clearly as possible that he instead wanted to impress someone by stringing together several obscure, seldom used words in a row. To be clear, there was nothing wrong with any of the words, but rather than using the perfect word to illuminate a thought more clearly the overuse of these words obfuscated the message instead. Here’s an example:

I can’t help or hold back a teary-eyed reaction to the emotional euphoria the John Denver song generates. While viewing the amazing scenery, my uplifted spirits share a remorse for the irreparable failure of mine to journey out into this realm during the lost, destitute years I spent filling the days subsisting within the Human Tree. Even the thrust of late to catch up with the wilderness experience has been besieged by economic objectives perceived to be more important, and I hang the loss of adventure on being hood-winked into chasing unessential goods.

Nothing wrong with any of those words, nor are any of them out of most of our vocabulary, yet the way they’re strung together feels like a whole lot of work to extract the meaning, at least to me. As a side-note, the long chapters (at least they felt long) with very few breaks within the chapters to create natural stopping points, gave me what I’ll call reader fatigue, trying to get to a good stopping point.

Last, after reading the book, I’m still left uncertain what the author’s message was intended to be. I’ve read literally hundreds of books based on a travel experience, probably forty or fifty of them based on a hike of some kind. These usually have two levels, the adventure of the experience and the lessons the author learned from the experience. It was apparent from the way this book is presented in its description that the author intended to focus more on the latter than is typical for these books, and that’s okay. At times I felt like I was being told what the lesson I should take away from the story was, rather than the story leading me to figure it out on my own. At other times I felt like I was completely missing the point. On this point, possibly other readers would react much differently. I just know it didn’t work for me.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Lots of copyediting and proofing issues that snuck through to the published version. These include missing or wrong words, homonym errors, misspelling of names (both people and song titles), and other sundry problems.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

Review: Checkmate by Curt Larson

Genre: Thriller

Description:

“Sebastien ‘Bass’ Masters loved technology and machines. He loved improving the output of machinery, making them sing. When his father passed away, he took over and grew the family textile business. When the opportunity arose to get into computer chips—semiconductors—with his father-in-law, he jumped in with both feet. He put his mechanical genius to work developing new and innovating technologies that launched their start-up into a contender.

When his father-in-law died unexpectedly, his wife took over the reins of the semiconductor company—then divorced him and shut him out of not only the semiconductor business but the textile factory as well.

When his son found him in Hawaii tending bar barefoot and asked for career advice, Bass realized it was time to get back into the game. With limited resources at his disposal, starting from scratch was out of the question. With no one willing to finance him in semiconductors, textiles was his best option. A path which led him right back to his old factory, closed and shuttered for years. But his ex-wife wouldn’t sell it to him.

Undaunted, he created a shell company and stayed in the background, working all the angles to buy and close the deal. Hiring his son to work for him infuriated his ex-wife even more and she was not about to let him win.

The game was now well and truly on. Who would win? Who would lose? Who would pull off the final Checkmate?”

Author:

A native of the Detroit area, Curt Larson has had a long and varied career working as a draftsman and engineer. He has two other novels available.

Appraisal:

The dedication to this book is to the author’s sons with a wish that “the business advice buried in these pages find them and serve them well.” There is some of that buried here. For example, the idea that “the guy who doesn't make a mistake is the guy who doesn't do anything” is a good one to understand. In broad strokes, the story is a good one. However, once you get into the detail there are major issues.

Some are technical. There are too many proofing misses. There are issues with redundancy – yes, repeating the same story points over and over again. (Yeah, I have that problem too.) Did I mention repetitiveness? There are words that add nothing to the story. There are words that tell the reader way more than they need to know (or care to know).

Some issues are with the way the story is presented. For one simple example, a private investigator is listening in as the protagonist and his son have a conversation in a restaurant. He supposedly overhears father and son mention the names of their girlfriends in the conversation. If he heard Angela and Alicia, I’d buy it. But instead we have this.

Hector listened intently, hoping for more tidbits. He duly noted the name Angela Vaquero, although the name meant nothing to him, and Alicia Henderson, during the course of the conversation.

Not only am I not buying it, but as it turns out knowing the last names isn’t needed for anything later in the story. This is just one of many examples of the story stretching credibility. Doing it while telling us something that isn’t even needed is even worse. As I said, there is a decent story buried here, but not without cutting about a third of the words and lots more polishing.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

An excessive number of typos and other proofreading misses.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 125-130,000 words

Review: Environmentally Friendly by Elias Zanbaka

Genre: Suspense/Short Story

Description:

“Out of seven billion people, one man has declared war on Mother Nature and plans to bring it to its knees.

Out of all the criminals in Los Angeles, he’s the number one target being hunted by the LAPD tonight.

And out of the entire LAPD, one officer is hell-bent on helping him complete his mission.”

Author:

Information on the author is sketchy, but it appears he is an Australian college student.

Appraisal:

As I sat down to write this review I read the book description above and said, “oh, that’s what was supposedly happening.” Sure, that the police were chasing someone was obvious. That this was an intense chase with lots of action was apparent as well. Beyond that the only feeling I had was cluelessness. I wasn’t following what was happening or why I should care. Sometimes with short stories you have to fill in the gaps with your imagination, but my imagination came up short on this one. I didn’t get it.

The author did show a flare for language to show the intensity of what the characters were experiencing. But too often it went overboard, stretching things a bit too far. For example, one character is chasing another when the person being pursued is described this way:

“His target’s crazed eyes glared in delight at the polluted sight.”

So, we have a guy running away and the guy chasing him sees his eyes? Maybe. But they’re crazed, they’re glaring, and showing delight all at once? Seriously?

I wasn’t sure what to make of a line that said, “a globule of nausea suddenly shot into his chest” and questioned whether saying a character “resisted the anger that wanted to lunge him forward towards his target” made sense. I’m confused as to what it meant when a character spoke with “blood-curdling calm.”

However, it is a quick read. Maybe you’ll understand what only confused me.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 5-6,000 words

Review: Adventures in Self Driving Cars 2025 by William M. Rea

Genre: Non-fiction

Description:

“The purpose of this article is to explore what might happen when autopilot automobiles become accepted and used in America.

This short book will stimulate your thoughts.”

Author:

No information available.

Appraisal:

The title sounds fun, if a bit vague as to what the adventures it refers to might mean. The short description clarifies. While I suppose someone could think they’ll be reading a short science fiction story of some kind, I assumed what I’d find would be non-fiction. I was right.

Strictly speaking the short (make that extremely short) book technically comes through on its stated purpose. I suppose it even stimulated my thoughts a bit. But those thoughts were as likely to be “isn’t that obvious” or “you can’t be serious” or “what’s the point of this book again?” as actual thoughts about self-driving cars.

The book is primarily a bunch of questions. Some of them, such as wondering on various aspects of how the insurance for self-driving cars will work, are valid questions. They need to be asked and answered before self-driving cars owned by an average man-on-the-street hit the road. Bringing this consideration to my attention might even be useful although it is something that will have to be resolved before you or I will be able to buy our own self-driving car. Whatever the resolution, the average person is unlikely to have much input into finding the answers.

But many of the questions seem to be stretching for things to be concerned about and either aren’t that big of a deal or will have to be resolved before these cars become widely available, just like with any new technology, like that horseless carriage Henry Ford invented. Won’t it scare the animals with all that noise? How are people going to refuel it? How will short people drive it if they can’t reach the pedals? What about really tall 8-year-olds?

This book’s premise is interesting. But why not answer some of the questions? I’m betting the answers are out there for some of them, or at least some possible answers. As it stands it feels like a pointless exercise in fear-mongering.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of proofing issues if we consider the term “self driving cars” correct. If we go with the usage that appears to be most common and think that this should be “self-driving cars” then we’ve got a big problem with typos. I wrote this off as a style decision rather than error.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 1-2,000 words

Review: Murders at the Fountain of Youth by Kevin Douglas Wright

Genre: Mystery

Description:

“What do you know about The Fountain of Youth? Did it really exist? Discover the story behind the Fountain of Youth. Where was it? Where is it today? Take a trip back in time. This is the story of a struggling private investigator hired to solve a murder mystery, challenged to be fair, and trusted to save a village full of innocent people including her daughter.”

Author:

“Kevin Douglas Wright is an author, screenwriter, film producer, film director, cinematographer, film editor, songwriter, and music producer.”

Appraisal:

There are two good things I can say about Murders at the Fountain of Youth. The first is that whoever proofread it did a good job. I only spotted a couple minor issues. The second good thing is, it was short. That's it.

Sometimes the writing is okay. Some of the story works. (That's lukewarm, right?) But there were also a lot of things that left me scratching my head, not sure what to make of it. For example the protagonist, a “struggling private investigator” referred to a case in South Florida she eventually tries to solve as a “dangerous job opportunity,” which turned out to be true, but nothing that had happened would lead a reasonable person to view it that way. Maybe it was foreshadowing, done poorly. Or I'd hit a line like this one ...

They admired the scenery and the many different kinds of happy people that walked around.

… and I'd get hung up on what this even means and what the point was supposed to be. Not to mention this gem of redundancy.

Seminole indians…you know, native americans.

In the end there was way too much clumsy storytelling and convoluted language use for me to recommend this one.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 9-10,000 words

Review: Paladine by Kenneth Eade

Genre: Men’s fiction/Vigilante

Description:

Robert Garcia--ex-special forces--is thrust into the spotlight when he is in the wrong place at the wrong time and kills a terrorist, thereby saving dozens of lives. A vindictive multi-millionaire hires him to kill jihadists whose names he found on a secret government list. Social media gives Garcia the name: "Paladine."

Author:

Kenneth Eade practiced law for 30 years before publishing his first novel, An Involuntary Spy. Eade has authored three fiction series: The "Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series", the "Involuntary Spy Espionage Series" and the "Paladine Anti-Terrorism Series."

For more, visit Eade's Facebook page or follow him on Twitter.

Appraisal:

I’ve gotten pretty skilled at weeding out books that don’t suit my eye. I quit on them pretty early. For some reason I kept expecting this story to improve. By the time I realized it wasn’t going to, I was in too deep, so I finished what I’d started.

Gosh, I disliked this novel. The characters, including the MC, Robert Garcia, all came across as flat and one-dimensional. Garcia’s back-story and his combat skills are painfully stereotypical (think Jason Bourne). I do like a fast-pace in my books, especially in this genre, but this was so rushed I couldn’t get involved. Yes, I was turning pages, but feeling more “so what?” than “so what’s going to happen?” In one “kill” Paladine spots seven heat signatures through his infrared goggles. One bad guy leaves which leaves five. Paladine then goes on to kill all eight bad guys.

Paladine is a brutal killer with a total lack of conscience. He’s more sociopath than hero, and he’s getting paid $50K for every hit, so he’s far from altruistic. It’s pretty hard to root for someone like that. His attacks (he hunts Islamic Terrorists), are always perfectly executed. There’s never a moment of tension because whatever happens to him, he has an immediate way to solve the problem: take a bullet in the shoulder, no problem, there’s a dentist a few blocks away who works on the side stitching up criminals. “How much will that cost, Doc?” “For you Robert, no charge.” “You’re too kind, here’s a thousand for your troubles.” In one early incident, he’s eating a burger in McDonald’s when he hears the click of an automatic weapon (coincidental enough for ya?). He swivels and puts three bullets into a guy standing in the doorway. You guessed it--an Islamic Terrorist. Paladine pulls his handgun and kills the bad guy--one bullet to the head and two in the chest. Then our hero leaves like a ghost.

The authorities are inauthentic and incompetent. They perform their investigations simply to suit the author’s plot. I just couldn’t suspend disbelief. But I did like the dog.

Buy now from:    Amazon US    Amazon UK

FYI:

Format/Typo Issues:

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words