Book Review - Long After Midnight

Moved her father’s terminal illness, scientist Kate Denby is young, but has already dedicated years of her life to the development of anti-rejection formulas. Knowing she is on the verge of a breakthrough, Noah Smith – CEO of a pharmaceutical firm – implores Kate to help him make his new drug ‘RU2’ rejection-proof, so it can be brought to market. Not wanting to leave home and uproot her young son Joshua, Kate refuses Noah’s pleas time and time again…until her ex-husband is blown up in front of her eyes.

Kate is in terrible danger; the attack that killed her ex-husband was intended for her! It transpires that RU2 could cure a great many people of the illnesses that keep rival pharmaceutical company, Ogden, in business. Hence, Ogden are trying to destroy RU2 and anybody who could aid the project, including Kate, Joshua and Kate’s mother-in-law Phyliss. The pharmaceutical giant have a variety of tactics up their sleeve to get the job done, including blowing up Noah’s facilities, arranging protests against genetic research and, most terrifyingly, the use of Ishmaru; a Native American motivated to kill Kate in order to achieve the ‘coup’ of taking the life of a worthy victim.

To protect Kate and her family while they work on RU2, Noah calls on his friend Seth Drakin; a mercenary who will go to extraordinary lengths to protect his charges. So the story unfolds; the race to bring RU2 to market creating an almost tangible feeling of suspense that makes an intriguing backdrop for the developing relationships between Kate, Noah and Seth, as well as the emotional turmoil of young Joshua, who saw his father killed and now knows his mother is in danger as well.

Book Review - Singing Boy By Dennis McFarland

In case the sudden descent of spring upon the country has raised your spirits too high, today I bring you a brief review of Singing Boy by Dennis McFarland; a tale of such crushing misery that not even the longer, sunny days could cheer me as I read it!

Playing to his skills, McFarland’s Singing Boy is another insight into the emotional turmoil of the survivors of tragedy; in this case the death of a loved one, which occurs in the very first chapter of the book! As Malcolm and Sarah Vaughn wait at the traffic lights with their young son Harry, they notice the car in front fails to move, despite two green lights. Concerned for the wellbeing of the driver, Malcolm goes to check the car, but is gunned down – seemingly at random!

So begin three individual, yet related stories of coping with Malcolm’s death; Sarah’s struggle to cope with being left alone, Harry’s traumatic nightmares that continue to haunt him during the day and the equally harrowing experiences of Malcolm’s best friend, Deckard, who returns to Vietnam to deal with his loss by surrounding himself with death. Although a little over the top – Deckard in particular – McFarland’s tales are skillfully told and certainly tug at the heartstrings. Possibly not light bedtime reading, but certainly worth a look.

Book Review - Blind Sight, by James H Pence

AshBooks Review for Blind Sight by James H. Pence:

Blind Sight is about a man who finds his way back to God after being dragged out of hermitic life. He lived in blame for the death of his family until mysterious communications regarding two young children finds him as the caretaker of Michelle and Micah. As the story unravels, we find that Thomas’ purpose in looking after these children has to do with a cult that their mother has rejected and gone into hiding. Readable and compelling, Blind Sight follows the journey of a man who eventually comes to accept God again.

User Submitted Reviews:

The ending was peculiar. Most books leave you with a satisfied smile on your face. This one, not so much…You know what will happen in the future, and because of that he doesn’t have to spell it out for you. Once I sat back and thought about what God had in store for these characters and watched it play out in my head, I grinned. It’s wonderful!

Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer

AshBooks Review for Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer:

Cost of Dreams tells the tale Kate Bowman a wildlife biologist and Flora Enriquez a young Mayan who has lost her lover during the civil war in Central America  and their struggle on the healing and search mission.

Gary Stelzer wrote this book working full-time as a doctor so you cvna be sure that the medicla and survival hints in here are accurate.

User Submitted Reviews:

“Flora, the main character in the story, she was amazing. Her story is one of constant struggle, and yet she stays so positive throughout it all. A woman to be admired if ever I read of one. I found myself drawn to her”

Book Review - One Scream Away

AshBooks Review for One Scream Away by Kate Brady

A tale of domestic violence that has gone horribly wrong. A pyschopath released from prison, hell bent on finding his former wife, Beth, and the FBI agent roped in to protect her, and..-  you guessed it, they fall in love.

User Submitted Reviews:

One Scream Away was one of those books that you stay up late reading and that you can’t put down, and that you yell at whoever interrupts you because it was so addicting good

Book Review - 9 Dragons

AshBooks Review for Nine Dragons (Audio) by Michael Connelly, read by Len Cariou

A fast paced, gripping and dark novel about an LAPD detective immersed in the underworld to find the killer of a shopkeeper in his neighborhood. A world of triads, crime rings and illegal immigration carried out  by chinese gangs…

User Submitted Reviews:

“A good crime thriller, the plot keeps you guessing this is not a title to be missed.” – review by Haley

Book Review - Lucifer Rising

AshBooks Review for Lucifer Rising by Barbara Fifield

Elsa Eldridge is a journalist sent to check out a religious semi-satanic mysterious cult leader, Tyrell. She unwittingly falls for this man’s charms but the cracks started to show on his almost perfect personality and she soon discovers more and more stuff about him  that she doesnt like.

What do we think about this book? Its a bit far fetched, hard to follow, mostly tells the story of a goody-two-shoes know-it-all who finally met the biggest challenge of her life and realise that she is still quite naive. The book is implying that what we dont know, makes them evil and give us a right to be suspicious and wary.

Read with an open mind.

User Submitted Reviews:
Though at times using sensitive topics, I rather enjoyed this book.

Book Review - Triangle of Deception

Summary (from goodreads):

How do you penetrate the world’s most secretive and tightly knit terrorist organization? Dan Gordon’s only option is deception. Working undercover in a joint CIA/Mossad mission, he’s on the hunt for the source of funding to Hezbollah. He has infiltrated a Lebanese network in Paraguay, only to realize the operation is far more wide-ranging than he’s been told.

And when Dan finds himself locked in a grim Romanian prison cell, he wonders if there’s still more that he hasn’t been told. Was it a security leak that got him arrested? Did the CIA make him a sacrificial lamb? Or has he stumbled on a much bigger plot, one with the potential to disrupt Al Qaeda’s operations in America?

Triangle of Deception is one of those sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat books. It’s book four of a series but it makes a wonderful standalone. I don’t want to say too much for fear of giving anything away! Fast paced, energetic, and exciting, this is one that any crime-thriller lover won’t want to miss.  – Hayley[haleymathiot[at]yahoo.com]

Book Review - Better Part of Darkness

AshBooks Review for The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay:

Set in the not so distant future, where aliens live together with people who sometimes have supernatural power has been discovered that a drug that has been leaving everyone in comas and it is now up to two cops, Charlie and her partner, to get on the case. A sci-fi storyline meets detective thriller. Lots of sexual tension.

User Submitted Reviews:

Charlie was my kind of girl—totally kick-butt in every way, shape, and form. She was tough as nails, rock-hard, dedicated to her job, but she had her soft spots for those that she held closest to her.

Fans of War Thrillers will already know Tom Clancy as a kind of demi-God, so won’t be surprised to hear that The Bear and The Dragon is nothing short of spectacular. This exceptional combination of intense action involves politics, economics and (of course) military forces, in what is definitly one of Clancy’ most exciting books since Red Storm Rising.

When Chinese police officers kill two clergymen in Beijing, the world’s attention becomes focused on China’s lack of civil rights. Europe and the USA respond by boycotting all Chinese-manufactured goods, forcing the PRC to seek an alternative source of wealth. The discovery of a gold deposit and huge oil field in Siberia leads the Chinese Government to form a ruthless solution…

With more and more contemporary thrillers being geared around disposable and often shallow characters, The Bear and The Dragon is Clancy’s reminder to us all that long-term projects always have much more to offer. With well over a dozen of his established, fascinating characters backing up this fast-paced and intriguing novel, Clancy makes use of every method and tool for which he has become famous, to create a masterpiece of the thriller genre.

Buy The Bear and The Dragon, by Tom Clancy