Killer by Jonathan Kellerman

 

Blurb:

The City of Angels has more than its share of psychopaths, and no one recognizes that more acutely than the brilliant psychologist and police consultant, Dr. Alex Delaware. Despite that, Constance Sykes, a sophisticated, successful physician, hardly seems like someone Alex needs to fear. Then, at the behest of the court, he becomes embroiled in a bizarre child-custody dispute initiated by Connie against her sister and begins to realize that there is much about the siblings he has failed to comprehend. And when the court battle between the Sykes sisters erupts into cold, calculating murder and a rapidly growing number of victims, Alex knows he’s been snared in a toxic web of pathology.

Nothing would please Alex more than to be free of the ugly spectacle known as Sykes v. Sykes. But then the little girl at the center of the vicious dispute disappears, and Alex knows he must work with longtime-friend Detective Milo Sturgis, braving an obstacle course of Hollywood washouts, gangbangers, and self-serving jurists in order to save an innocent life.

Review:

I normally don’t review best-sellers like Killer, because they don’t need a boost in sales from reviewers like me, but when you pull a book off the Net Galley website, you’re required to review it. Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware books are among the books I would recommend to new authors who want to write series. I believe I first picked up a book somewhere in the middle and then went back to the beginning—not because I felt I’d missed anything, but because I liked it. I read every book in the series and then waited for each book to come out until I got too busy with my own books, editing jobs, my review site, and the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter to read much for pleasure. I’m not sure how many Delaware books I’ve missed, but when I picked up Killer, it didn’t matter. Each book stands on its own as books in a series should.

What can I say about a master storyteller who just gets better with each book he writes? Mr. Kellerman drew me back into Dr. Delaware’s life on the first page of Killer, and kept me on the edge of my seat through the whole book. It was so nice to revisit Alex, Milo, Alex’s girlfriend Robin, and their French bulldog, Blanche. And I can’t believe I’m saying this two weeks in a row, but I didn’t know who did it until Mr. Kellerman revealed it. I usually figure these things out at least half way through, but he threw in enough red-herrings that I truly did not know who the Killer was.

Length:  353 Pages

Prices:

Print (Hardcover):  $28.00

Print (Paperback Lg. Print):  $28.00

Kindle:  $12.99

Audible (Unabridged):  $26.95

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Delaware-Novel-Jonathan-Kellerman-ebook/dp/B00EMX9QQA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393703709&sr=1-1&keywords=killer+jonathan+kellerman

Thanks for visiting. RIW

Lust, Book One of Lust, Money and Murder by Mike Wells

Blurb:

This book begins with a young and naive Elaine Brogan as she initially pursues her dream of a career as a photomodel. After becoming entangled with a sleazy modeling agency, she decides to become a Secret Service agent, struggling through the arduous training academy. After her first disastrous assignment, she is transferred to Bulgaria. There, she meets Nick LaGrange, the love of her life.

Review:

I received this book in return for an honest review.  Beware what you ask for.

Lust, Book One of Lust, Money and Murder is approximately 106 pages long, and is the first book in a trilogy.  Elaine Brogan was an engaging character and the subject of counterfeiting was either well-researched or one with which Mr. Wells was very familiar from his day-job.  The book was fast-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat, but there were continuity and grammar issues, info dumps and point-of-view jumps that I found very off-putting and distracting.  I know what free-lance editors cost, but they make the difference between a polished, professional book, and the kind of amateurish presentation that gives independent publishing a bad name.

Finally, these pieces should not have been published as a series.  Three hundred pages is not a long book.  Most of the big publishers won’t look at a manuscript of fewer than a hundred thousand words and that runs about three hundred pages.  When writing a series, each book should be able to stand on its own.  Look at Patterson’s Alex Cross books or Clancy’s Jack Ryan books, any of the Kellerman’s series (Jonathan, Faye or their son Jesse’s), or Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden Files.  You can pick up any one of those books and they stand on their own.  You can read one or all in each series.  Yes, The Hunt for Red October made me want to see more of Jack Ryan.  Storm Front made me want more of Harry Dresden.  But each book had a beginning, middle and end.  Lust does not have an end.  It just stops at the beginning of Money.  That makes me crazy and makes me feel manipulated.  It’s not like this book would have been a couple thousand pages and needed to be split into manageable pieces like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (which was originally written as one book, but was split in three by the publisher).  If you still want to read this book, buy the bundle and read the trilogy as one book.  Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with only part of the story.

Length:  106 Pages

Price:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Lust-Money-Murder-Book-1-ebook/dp/B005638LWK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388515299&sr=8-2&keywords=lust+money+and+murder

Thanks for visiting. RIW

Redemption by C. J. Barry

Blurb:

Reya Sinclair is the last person a man sees before he dies. As a Redeemer, she offers the soon-to-be-departed one last chance to atone for their sins. It's a painful job, but it's her only shot to secure her own salvation. She won't let anyone stand in her way-not even a ruggedly sexy cop hot on her trail. Bound by her duty, Reya must shake him before he ruins her—but her heart can't seem to let him go.

Detective Thane Driscoll has watched too many criminals get away. The man who murdered his father was no exception. Now Thane carries out his own brand of justice, even if it means compromising his soul. When a string of deaths leads him to a beautiful woman in black, he discovers there's more to his father's murder than meets the eye.

As fate brings them closer together, Thane discovers that only Reya's touch can calm his rage. Racing to uncover an evil plot, they must fight together to stop the coming storm. But when the time comes, can Reya sacrifice her own redemption to save Thane?

Review:

It appears authors are finally vamped and shifted out.  Books these days seem to be focusing more on ghosts, angels, spirituality and reincarnation.  Redemption touches on all of the above, and I truly enjoyed the spiritual message embedded within the romance.  Reya gives people a chance to atone for their sins before they die.  Otherwise, they have to come back and learn those lessons again.

Thane Driscoll isn’t exactly a dirty cop.  He just gets tired of watching the bad guys’ lawyers find loopholes that allow their clients to walk out of the courtrooms.  “Go, my son, and sin no more,” is a foreign concept in the New York City justice system.  Criminals walk out the door with their buddies and often commit more crimes on their way home from the courthouse.  So maybe Thane takes a few shortcuts to clean the streets—and he doesn’t exactly use a broom.  But he becomes more than a little intrigued by the black-clad beauty who shows up on the security videos in several suspicious deaths.  Who is she, and what does she have to do with these deaths?  Why does the violent death toll in New York City seem to be accelerating suddenly?  And how does it relate to his own father’s death?

Redemption grabbed me from the first page and kept me in my seat for the full ride.  The characters were fully fleshed out and compelling, and there were no major editing glitches to pull me out of the book and make me want to hurl my Kindle across the room.  (Yea!)  I recommend Redemption.  It’s a good read.

Length:  289 Pages

Prices:

Paperback:  $17.00

Digital:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/c-j-barry/redemption/9781455554300/

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting.  RIW

Critical Mass by Cyrus Keith

Blurb:

Jenna Paine is a super spy, genetically enhanced to be more than human. Nadia Velasquez is a living weapon of mass destruction. When the secret organization who built them both decides they are no longer useful, two enemies are thrown together for the only purposes they could have in common: survival and revenge.

There's only one way out of The Pinnacle, and that's on a coroner's slab. Jenna lives through a treacherous attack vowing to exact her vengeance on the people who trained her to be the most deadly agent on the planet.

Wounded and on the run, she turns to the man who's sworn to make her face charges for her involvement in The Pinnacle's nefarious schemes.

After years spent hiding from The Pinnacle, Nadia runs into the one thing she never counted on: Shelf life. As her body breaks down, she realizes it's only a matter of the short time she has left to redeem her existence and give her daughter a chance to live free.

In the final showdown, the two transhumans join forces against a common enemy, and The Pinnacle comes to know the deadly significance of…

Critical Mass

Review:

Critical Mass is the final installment in the NADIA project series.  The Pinnacle is a shadowy group of king-makers.  Or should I say king breakers?  Their vision of peace on Earth is an Earth united under one government—run by them.  In order to accomplish their goal, they create two transhumans: Jenna Payne and Nadia Velasquez.  Jenna is enhanced to be a super-agent.  Her senses, speed and reflexes are all super-human.  Nadia is a weapon of mass destruction.  Her bones are filled with anti-matter instead of marrow.  The Pinnacle's mistakes?  They allowed Jenna to grow up in a normal environment, and when they downloaded the personality of a dead woman into Nadia's brain, she also received the woman's memories and morals, and when she realized she was a living bomb, she refused to carry out the assassination for which she was designated.  Instead, she vowed to find the members of The Pinnacle and bring them to justice.  Of course, they wanted their multimillion dollar weapon back so they could repair "its" "defects" and send "it" back out on "its" assignment.

I've said it in my reviews of the first two NADIA books and I repeat:  these books are as good as if not better than Tom Clancy's early Jack Ryan books.  I burned through Becoming NADIA, eagerly anticipated and was not disappointed by either Unalive or Critical Mass. Well, I did have that feeling of bereavement at the end of Critical Mass one gets at the end of a really good series when you know you're saying goodbye to characters you've come to know and care about.  It's almost like moving away from your friends.  Oh, you'll keep in touch, but it won't be the same as that everyday kaffeklatch-in-the-kitchen, over-the-fence, Sunday barbecue relationship you've had.  These books are keepers to be read and re-read, even though I know how they turn out.  I'm sure you'll feel the same way.

Length:  323 Pages

Price:  $5.95

Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/museitup/critical-mass-detail

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting.  RIW

Zero Separation by Philip Donlay

Blurb:

Donovan Nash has a secret he'll do anything to keep. But he's the prime suspect after someone steals a fifty million dollar executive jet, and FBI agent Veronica Montero puts him squarely in the crosshairs. As she digs, she discovers

Nash's secret—a revelation that, if made public would stun the world. Operating on her own agenda, Montero blackmails Nash into helping her hunt down a man she wants dead.

Powerless against the information Montero holds, Nash is forced into a situation far deadlier than either of them could ever have imagined. The man they are after isn't the criminal they expect, he's a terrorist with a plan to use the stolen jet to carry out an unthinkable and devastating act that could plunge America into the most heinous conflict since World War II.

When Nash and Montero are taken prisoner aboard the stolen jet, they will have only one opportunity to execute a daring midair attempt to stop the attack. Success could cost them their own lives, but failure could cost millions of innocent lives.

Review:

The world has changed since September 11, 2011, and it seems as though everyone is now writing books depicting apocalyptic terrorist attacks foiled by heroic Americans.  What distinguishes one from another is the writing.  Who are the heroes?  Do I care about them?  Are they fully drawn?  What drives them?  How do they get caught up in the terrorist/s plot?

Nash and Montero are broken people.  Each of them has lost a loved one.  In many ways, Nash’s loss cost him his own life—at least life as he knew it.  He’s managed to build a new one, but Montero is an FBI agent who has discovered his past and she uses that knowledge to blackmail him into going after the criminal who killed her partner/lover and shot Nash’s best friend of the past twenty years.  She pulls him away from his wife and child at a time when they need him most, placing all of them in more danger than even she realizes she is conjuring up.

Montero’s out for revenge; she has no idea the world is at stake.  All Nash wants to do is wrap up this case, get back to his family, and get as far from Montero as possible.  Saving the world is not on his agenda, either—until he realizes his family is sitting at Ground Zero, and the only way he can save them is by sticking with Montero, even if it means losing his life or his family in the end.  He can hear it in his wife’s voice.  She needs him.  She, too, knows his secret and what it will do to their lives if it comes out, but she also knows she’s living in an armed camp. And worse, Nash was drifting away before all of this began.

Zero Separation was a fast-paced book with fully-drawn characters who drew me in and made me care about them.  Yes, it was another “terrorists attack America” book, but it was one of the good ones—an engaging rollercoaster ride that kept me on the edge of my seat turning the pages to see what happened next, and it will keep you there, too.

Length:  320 Pages

Prices: 

Paperback:  $25.95

E-Book:  $14.95

Buy Link:  http://oceanviewpub.com/zero-separation

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting.  RIW