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 - 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!

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 - Wrapped in Pleasure by Brenda Jackson

Full Description:
A classic and an original Westmoreland story from New York Times Bestseller BRENDA JACKSON. When a mix-up forces Delaney Westmoreland to share her vacation cabin with irresistible sheikh Jamal Ari Yassir, they both get an unexpected lesson in passion. Seduced by a Stranger Johari Yassir wants adventure—not marriage to a stranger in her homeland. Handsome stranger Rasheed Valdemon offers her a whirlwind romance. What will happen when she realizes she’s been seduced by her husband-to-be?

©2010 Publication date: 01/01/2010

About Author:
Brenda Jackson was born in Jacksonville, Florida. She is married thirty-seven years to her high school sweetheart, Gerald, and have two sons, Gerald Jr. and Brandon.
She is a member of the First Coast Chapter of Romance Writers of America. She began my writing career in the eighth grade at Northwestern Junior High School. She began her professional writing career began in 1994 when she signed on with Kensington Arabesque. Her first book, Tonight and Forever, became a huge success. Since then she has introduced the Bennetts, the Westmorelands, the Savoys, and the Steeles. A listing of my books can be found on her website; http://www.brendajackson.net/

Review:

What a hot story! There was no lack of romance in this book. It was so hot, I felt my own temperature rising. The characters were fun, and I enjoyed the bringing together of two cultures. There were so many good points to this book, and am happy that I am continuing with the next in the series, Seduced by a Stranger.

A very entertaining read, for any romance lover out there!! Definitely on my recommendation list!

- by Freda

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]

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

Whilst responding to a call, newbie policewoman Amanda Sachs (who has never worked on a crime scene before) discovers a hand sticking out of some railway tracks! In her efforts to secure the scene, she manages to attract the attention of ex-head of NYPD forensics Lincoln Rhyme, who was forced to retire after being made quadriplegic during work on a scene. By combining Lincoln’s criminologist mind with Amanda’s body, the pair set out to gather as much evidence as possible about the crime. However, even as they work on this new scene, they discover another and, before long, they are tailing a brutal serial killer who manages to stay one-step ahead throughout, all the time luring the duo along behind him.

This tale is masterfully put together; the story of a physically disabled master-criminologist, striving to catch a vicious killer by making use of an inexperienced but dedicated new cop. By the time the end comes draws near, the terror becomes almost overwhelming as the physically helpless Lincoln finds himself a target of the sadistic Bone Collector. Widely considered Jeffery Deaver’s finest work and one of the greatest horror books of all time, The Bone Collector is clearly a masterpiece of the modern genre.

Probably not one of his King’s best books, Under The Dome is nevertheless a nice idea for a story.

A small community in Maine is going about its everyday life when, immediately and out of apparently nowhere, a colossal dome appears, surrounding them all and cutting them off from the rest of the world! As time goes by, the predicable consequences arise; the water starts running out, the air quality falls dramatically and, of course, a degree of anarchy starts bubbling up, fueled by the leadership of a morally dubious character, but in the name of safety and security. Of course, the religious extremists all pop out of the woodwork as well and go a little more nuts – Mist-style, though less frustratingly.

No prizes for spotting the satirical take on Bush’s America so far. Of course, however, it’s Stephen King – so it’s less political and far more horrifying that my short summary makes out. It’s also very cleverly written and filled with smart references for the more well-read Stephen King fans out there. What it also it, however, is very…very…long. Too long, one could say. So it’s definitely not something for the novel-a-day types; you could easily spend so long reading Under The Dome that you’d find somebody had actually built a dome around you as well – but by hand…using tissue boxes…having first blown their nose on each and every tissue. It’s long.

By Stieg Larsson

Amazon.co.uk Review
Stieg Larsson gleaned a remarkable degree of success before his too-early death in 2004. He had delivered to his publisher three remarkable crime novels; the initial book in his ‘Millennium’ sequence, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, had enjoyed an unprecedented success in his native Sweden before the translation took the UK by storm. Larsson had made a considerable mark as a crusading journalist, with a speciality in tackling political extremist groups. But he offered assistance to many people and groups who he felt were vulnerable – something of a modern hero, in fact.

One of Larsson’s key achievements as a writer was to create an innovative kind of heroine for the crime novel. His unconventional sleuth, the highly intelligent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, is a confrontational young woman, whose Goth accoutrements sometimes alienate those around her (except the individuals she opts to have sexual relations with – strictly, that is, according to the rules she lays down). In the second book in the Millennium sequence, The Girl Who Played with Fire (as in its its predecessor), Lisbeth’s closest ally is the older journalist Mikael Blomqvist, even though she has abruptly ended her emotional relationship with him. Lisbeth has left all she knows behinds her and has begun a relationship with a gauche young lover. But after a grim revenge run-in with a man who has abused her, she becomes a suspect in three murders, and is the subject of a nationwide search. Blomqvist, however, is convinced of her innocence (he has just been responsible for a blistering report on the sex trafficking industry in Sweden), and is determined to help her – whether she wants his help or not.

As with Larsson’s earlier book, this is highly compelling fare, with tautly orchestrated suspense; it’s often grisly and uncompromising (not a problem for many readers), and the massive text may be longer than is good for it, but Larsson admirers won’t begrudge the late author a word,and will be impatient for the third (and, regrettably, concluding) book in the sequence. –Barry Forshaw

Review
‘Intelligent, complex, with a gripping plot and deeply intriguing characters’ Philip Pullman, Guardian. ‘A frighteningly suspenseful mystery’ Harlen Coben. ‘Brilliantly written and totally gripping’ Minette Walters. ‘As vivid as bloodstains on snow’ Lee Child. ‘In her (Salander) Larsson has created a heroine unique to detective fiction. Where else can you find a bisexual female detective with punk-era fashion sense who just happens to be an expert computer hacker?’ Independent. –Reviews

Star of the show is, once again, the brilliant and misanthropic computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander, an eccentric and unique heroine…it is tightly orchestrated, with all the twists and turns of an old-fashioned spy novel, and the most jaw-dropping ending. It s a perfect summer read. –Kate Mosse

Pascale Frey, Elle
Warning – addictive thriller. All who taste it get hooked!