Category Archives: fiction
The Willing (Crayder Chronicles Book 2) by C.S. Splitter
ISBN-13: 978-1469902425
Fiction, 232 pages
Source: Author for review
About the book:
How far would you go to protect your friends and family? Tom Crayder is the All-American guy next door with a business, a wife, a son, a mortgage, and an expensive hobby. He is also a politically incorrect, wisecracking, operative working for a shadowy organization dedicated to administering justice outside of a broken system.
Our Two Cents:
The Willing is the second book in the Tom Crayder series so reading the first one will give you the backstory. That being said, not reading the first one first will NOT take away from the excitement of this story at all. It may leave a few holes but trust me, you will enjoy filling them in yourself as you read.
I truly like Tom Crayder! He is a fun guy that I would love to be neighbors with. He may not be the perfect husband and father but he does his best and there is no doubt that he loves his family. In this book Tom and his partner Lorna are working to fix a mess of trouble caused by Tom’s wife. Old friends come back from the first book to lend a hand.
The action and excitement was high and steady! I can’t help but root for the bad guys. The author brings them alive and while I know they are dirty, meanies, I still can’t help but love them! I love a book that shows all sides of a person, good, bad and ugly and this book certainly delivers. There are twists and turns aplenty but never do you get lost or confused. It’s a stay up late and finish it book because you will need to know what happens next, right now!
The Crayder Chronicles is a wonderful, fun series with characters that become friends. I can’t wait to meet up with them again in the next book.
Oath of Office by Michael Palmer: Book Review
Publisher: St Martin’s Press (February 14, 2012)
Genre: Fiction, Medical Thriller, 384 pages
Source: Author for honest review
Get Your Copy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound
IMPORTANT FACT:
Mr. Palmer is donating a percentage of PRE-ORDER book sales to: The Food Project. This includes E-book and hard cover. The Food Project is an organization near Mr. Palmer that is engaging the youth in social and personal change through sustainable agriculture. Read more about it by clicking the link above. Then go PRE-ORDER your book and help out.
NOTE From Mr. Palmer about entries..
In order to track entries, I am asking readers to post that they have pre-ordered the book on my Facebook page, or by tagging @michael_palmer @TheFoodProject and #OathofOffice on Twitter. You can learn more about why I support The Food Project and find more information about the initiative on my Facebook page.
About the book…..
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Heartbeat Away and The Last Surgeon comes a shocking new novel at the crossroads of politics and medicine.
What if a well respected doctor inexplicably goes on a murderous rampage?
When Dr. John Meacham goes on a shooting spree the office, his business partner, staff, and two patients are killed in the bloodbath. Then Meacham turns the gun on himself.
The blame falls on Dr. Lou Welcome. Welcome worked with Meacham years before as a counselor after John’s medical license had been revoked for drug addiction. Lou knew that John was an excellent doctor and deserved to be practicing medicine and fought hard for his license to be restored. After hearing the news of the violent outburst, Lou is in shock like everyone else, but mostly he’s incredulous. And when he begins to look into it further, the terrifying evidence he finds takes him down a path to an unspeakable conspiracy that seems to lead directly to the White House and those in the highest positions of power.
Our Two Cents….
WOW, how is that for a review? Pretty much sums up my feelings on the book! I love Medical Suspense and Michael Palmer writes the best ones. His characters are ‘real’ people, people who I have no problem identifying with and Dr. Welcome is awesome. He is a dad, an ex-husband, a brilliant doctor who hit bottom and climbed his way back up to now help other doctors suffering the same fate. He never hides from his past or tries to sugar coat it and I admire that. I truly enjoyed his interaction with his teen daughter and the way he handled his ex-wife’s new marriage and husband. I felt that he still loved his ex but he knew it was his fault that he lost her and respected and supported her chance at a new life and happiness. I wish every divorce was this way.
Now for the story……OMG, it was scary and not scary like a horror book. Scary like IT COULD HAPPEN and may be happening. Would we even know it? Read the book, google some terms and get your mind going. I only hope things never get this far. I for one will be watching the corn that I buy. LOL
I was addicted from page one and could not put the book down. UNTIL the termite scene. I am going into no detail because I don’t want to give spoilers but I actually had to put the book down and ‘recover’ from this chapter before moving along. It was written brilliantly, vividly and way too real. I needed a shower. “Nuf said!
Oath of Office is a wonderful book and no review can do it justice. Get it, read it, you won’t be sorry!
Michael Palmer 
Website: www.michaelpalmerbooks.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/michael_palmer
Facebook: www.facebook.com/michaelpalmerbooks
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The Retribution by Val McDermid Book Review
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (January 2012)
Genre: Thriller/Suspense Fiction 416 pages
Source: Netgalley
Author Website: Val McDermid
About the Book:
There is one serial killer who has shaped and defined police profiler Tony Hill’s life. One serial killer whose evil surpasses all others. One serial killer who has the power to chill him to the bone: Jacko Vance. And now Jacko is back in Tony’s life. Even more twisted and cunning than ever before, he is focused on wreaking revenge on Tony – and DCI Carol Jordan – for the years he has spent in prison. Tony doesn’t know when Jacko will strike, or where. All he knows is that Jacko will cause him to feel fear like he has never known before? and devastate his life in ways he cannot imagine…
My Two Cents:
It is no secret that Val McDermid is my all time favorite Suspense/Thriller author. It is no secret that meeting her at the 2011 BEA was the highlight of my trip.
It's really us! Happy Dance
Yes I did have to post this picture again. I look like a loon but I was on cloud nine!
Ok, about the book. I LOVED IT!!!!! I have read ALL of Ms. McDermid’s books and I feel like Dr. Tony Hill and I are good friends. Especially after watching Wire in the Blood which is based on these Tony Hill books. I can identify so much with him it’s scary at times.
In Retribution one of the meanest, cold-blooded killers is back, Jacko Vance, he has escaped from prison where Tony and Carol put him and he is not happy. He is out for revenge on Carol and Tony and the ways he does it will shock you. Yes, shock you. Even you die-hard serial killer fans who have read it all will still be sitting on the edge of your seat, holding your breath and biting your nails waiting to see if he will be stopped.
I was saddened by parts of the book like the fight between Carol and Tony. I feel she treated him so unfairly but I can also almost understand why she felt the way she did. Tony will always be my favorite character in these books. He is a great doctor, but as a person he is more than a little off. As we read the series we learn reasons why he is the way he is but it still tugs at my heart-strings. To me, in many ways he is like a lost boy and I just want to have a coffee with him and give him a hug.
The suspense is high, very high. I was turning pages so fast (better said, swiping pages since I read on my Nook) to find out what this bastard Vance would do next. Would Tony be able to figure things out this time? How many more people are going to die in horrible ways before he is stopped? WHO stopped him was awesome! I NEVER saw it coming and actually cheered out loud when it happened. The book like all of Ms. McDermid’s books is not for the faint hearted and it is quite disturbing. Not with blood and gore but because we are inside the head of a maniac who things nothing of killing. No one does it like Val McDermid, no one!
The only thing I was disappointed in was the ending. This was not the author’s fault, it was not a bad ending just a sad one in my eyes. I am hoping there is another book coming. Though next in a series, this book can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone novel. The author does a great job of filling in the blanks so you don’t feel confused or left out. It’s always fun to have followed characters from the start, then you are really part of their lives but again, not necessary to enjoy this book.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough. If you have never read any of her books… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR???
If you are a huge fan like I am you will love this book!
Did I mention that Val McDermid is my favorite author and that I met her at BEA? 
She signed Trick of the Dark for me!!!!
5/5 Great Book
Challenges Met:
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The Safehouse by T. Thomas Ackerman: Book Review
Telly Says….
“Every nine seconds in this country another woman becomes a victim of domestic violence.” (p. 17)
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King -Audio Book Review
- Listening Length: 30 hours and 44 minutes
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Narrator: Craig Wasson
- Source: Purchased
About the book:
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back?
In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King – who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer – takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
It begins with Jake Epping, a 35-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away: a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life – like Harry’s, like America’s in 1963 – turning on a dime.
Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession – to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in a different world – of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there’s Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading, eventually of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful – and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
Telly Says….
I can’t say that I loved this book nor can I say I hated it. I am in the middle. In my opinion it was not our typical King and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It was long like a lot of his books are and I love that. It had multiple stories which I also loved.
What I didn’t love was that it took a long time to get to the ‘real’ story which was stopping Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating Kennedy. There was a ton of stuff leading up to it, some of it added to the story, gave it background but other stuff could have been another book. I found it to be more of a love story between Jake/George and Sadie who he meets when he goes back to the 50′s and 60′s.
I am going to go against the majority as usual. I loved Jake/George, I cared about him and felt like he could be a great friend. I loved Al who got the ball rolling with the time travel stuff. BUT, I just did not like Sadie! I found her to be just a little more than annoying and whiny.
The narrator was awesome and made those long chapters of background so much more enjoyable. The book held my attention but just was not what I thought it would be. Again I say, not a bad book, but not my favorite either.
If you are a King fan give it a read. It was a nice step back in time.
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| 4/5 stars |
