Without
A Trace
Mystery/Thriller
By Tim Miller
PageFree Publishing
ISBN 1930252722
192 pages
April 2002
Eighteen-year-old Jennifer Morgan is a freshman at Midwestern University in
Indiana. She feels safer at night having a security guard escort her to her car
in the university parking lot. She's followed. Gone.
Drew Kane is a jail officer at the Freeman County Jail in Davenport, Indiana.
He's a member of the Cell Extraction Response Team. He wants to get out of there
and make something of his life, but he'll need a promotion first.
Kane prepares to work with his team in removing an inmate from his cell. After
Sgt. Greg Benson yells at him for being late and getting briefed about the
inmate's attack on his cell mate, they march right into the cell to pull him
out. Because of the condition of the small space, both the inmate and Kane fall
flat on their faces. Bensen suspends Kane for the "mess up" and tells
him he can kiss patrol duty goodbye.
Detective Rex Thomas has logged in 20 years in the Department. Kane met him when
he was in high school. Actually arrested him for underage drinking. Now he's
Kane's mentor. Thomas is working on a series of suspected kidnappings of young
women. The difficulty lies in proving that these cases are kidnappings because
there has been no physical evidence: no witnesses, no ransom notes or demands.
The women have vanished without a trace and the administration wants to write
them off as runaways. When another young woman vanishes, Thomas digs deeper
unwilling to back out.
Criminal justice major, Angela Woods, joins the now recruited Drew Kane in
assisting Thomas in his investigations. The only lead they have is that all the
girls were Midwestern students who lived in Freeman County. The man they
suspect, a guard on duty the night the last girl disappeared, leads them no
where because they can't nail him.
With time as their enemy, they closely examine the sidewalk in front of the
first missing girl's home, find a bloodstain there and prep it for the lab. From
a distance, the killer observes the impact of his work on his victims' families.
He calls himself "The Gravedigger," and is aroused by the smell of the
earth and rotting flesh. His victims are carefully selected and studied.
Another girl is taken, this time from the parking lot of a discount store where
she works. Shortly after, a victim's car is set on fire on her parent's driveway
to prove that the girls weren't runaways. The clues were deliberately left. The
killer is playing a game with them. With only CERT training, can Drew help
Thomas ice the serial killer? How many suspects will it take before you guess
who murdered the young women?
WITHOUT A TRACE places you in a dark, horrifying room and leaves you there to
die with the victims. You feel their fear, pain and last breath. Miller builds
Kane's personality and shows how he is driven to find the killer. He captures
your interest in when the three investigators lock on to any form of evidence
not left by the killer. He's also got the dialogue down pat. Some of the
characters needed to be more dimensional and it seemed too easy for this
disturbed individual to grab a woman and kill her. Were there no witnesses to
their disappearances? All in all, the book has a fast pace, no-sheltered
perspective that wakes you up to the reality of the dark side of society.
--3 shovels out of 5
Denise Fleischer, GWN Book Reviewer
gottawritenetwork.com
12/14/2002
Unwilling
Killers
By Ayn Hunt
AmErica House
2002
ISBN 1-59129-184-4
Jessica, a 33-year-old teacher, promises her Aunt Alice that she will attempt to
solve the murder of the late James T. Harding. Though Jessica has no formal
investigative training, she is determined to stay in Harding's
turn-of-the-century mansion, now owned by Harding's housekeeper, Gertrude
Johnson. The crime has remained unsolved since the Roaring Twenties. Its mystery
has become an obsession to Alice. She hopes Jessica can unearth clues, which
have become dust covered and forgotten. Can justice be served if the killer may
already be dead? Or is he?
Mrs. Johnson rents rooms in the mansion in order to pay back taxes. Alice rents
one for Jessica, who quickly learns this is the room where Mr. Harding was
murdered. No sooner does Mrs. Johnson close the door behind her, does Jessica
establish her amateur sleuth mindset and get to work. Jessica feels she's being
watched within the room and outside the mansion, but finds nothing to prove her
suspicion. In brief interviews with Mrs. Johnson, she learns that since she's
been renting out rooms, she's been hearing voices, but not those of the guests.
The mystery deepens when Jessica is asked not to go in the other rooms, but for
what reason?
Cleverly disguising her questions as curious interest of a guest, Jessica digs
deep to reveal more about Mr. Harding's life. Apparently, he loved having big
parties where his guests would stay over the weekend. Mrs. Johnson believed that
they used him to enjoy his wealth. She confides that it was probably the
"skinny redhead" that ended his life. There had been a loud fight
between Harding and a woman. Something about him owing her jewelry. Then little
by little she reveals that they had an affair and that his spirit is still in
the mansion. She slides in the fact that Mr. Harding collected guns. Why an
affair with a plain, uneducated housekeeper when he was always surrounded by
beautiful women? Why so many guns in his home?
When a man breaks into her room, Jessica's own life is on the line. Though Brent
plans on killing her because she stands in the way of his true mission, he finds
himself torn between it and her. He informs Jessica that he's a cop looking for
a rapist possibly hiding within the mansion. His ID says he's a cop, but does
she believe him? Trust him? Is there something happening here that not even Mrs.
Johnson is aware of? Only time will tell.
UNWILLING KILLERS is a character-driven mystery that leads you one way, but goes
another. Hunt's use of description keeps you following Jessica down the barely
lit halls of Harding's mansion. She has you listening for voices, looking for
bugging devices and formulating hunches on your own. The only downside of this
book is that you want to learn more about Harding's murder and receive bits and
pieces of evidence. Something equally darker stands in the way of Jessica's
investigation.
Three out of five missing paintings
Denise Fleischer, GWN book reviewer
12/1/2002
Kickback
By P.M. Terrell
Chicago Spectrum Press
http://www.pmterrell.com
Mystery
Paperback
318 pages
ISBN 1-879260-41-7
Sheila Carpenter is a graduate whose true genius lies in computer programming.
Her skills have garnered her job offers from IBM, Microsoft and many
others, but she decides to go with the Washington D.C.based Douglas Murray and
Associates. They're a computer consulting firm, and they assign her to two
places, Friday afternoons she is to spend at Robinson, Michaels and James, and
the rest of her week she works for the trucking firm Metropolitan Trucking
Services. She's excited about both opportunities. In MTS, she likes
her immediate supervisor, Pam, and falls in love with her state-of-the-art
computer equipment and comfortable office. As with all books, such
happiness is short lived. Not long after the CEO and his crony enter her
office and demand that she create a program that essentially takes an invoice
from an order, processes it, and along the way causes it to completely
disappear, creating another invoice -- the final total su! bstantially less --
in its place. When she seems reluctant, they push her, threatening her
loved ones. They are insidious....a trucker begins dating her best friend,
her Aunt's property becomes the subject of Eminent Domain. Someone breaks
into her house, and she feels like she's being followed. She's falling
hard for Matthew, who works for the law firm. Pam often warns Sheila about
him, telling her that Matthew isn't what he seems. It creates a noose that
tightens the more she resists, and soon she'll have to use all of her wits to
keep herself from being killed.
Terrell, simply put, shines at pacing. She slathers on the tension, giving
the reader the shortest periods of relief, making a book that is nearly
impossible to put down. Her romance with the handsome paralegal, the
friendship she wants to have with Pam are just part of the excitement, since you
don't know what the true intentions are behind either of these character's
motives. Her frustrations with the authorities are cleverly done....the
policemen's reluctance to help are not written in a satiric way, but are very
realistic. I could go on and on about how cleverly she chains events
together so that they overlap just slightly, never giving the reader a point
where he or she can say, "OK. I can quit now and finish it
tomorrow." It seems each time that Sheila manages to extricate
herself from a situation, she lands in another worse than the one before.
Yet it is not her fault, the situations are created by her need to see
just! ice done, her unwillingness to go along innocently and trust that the
company is doing everything above the board. It is not just her sense of
honor that prompts this, but her certainty that if this program's true talents
come to light, she'll be the one held ultimately responsible.
Ms. Terrell has an extensive background in computers, one that serves her well
here. Writing a book where much of the focus is on the programming aspects
of computers, the author runs the risk of either making a mistake or boring her
audience to tears. Terrell uses her expertise with a light hand, carefully
stowing what we need to know in the background. She has a very solid way
of explaining things so that those of us who couldn't program our way out a
paper bag understand exactly what Sheila's doing. Since we're able to
follow along, we're also able to cheer her on.
Sheila is sharp, realistic, and very brave. The fact that she is such an
incredibly likable woman is part of the magic of this book, helping the pacing
along by making us need to now what's going to happen to her before we turn off
the lights.
5 out of 5 trench coats
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
9/3/2002
Vigilante
Justice
by Michael LaRocca
Published by Hard Shell Word Factory.
8946 Loberg Rd.
Amherst Junction, WI 54407
http://www.hardshell.com
Electronic book created by Seattle Book Company.
eBook ISBN: 0-7599-2640-9
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
PDF 254 pages $5.50 U.S.
eBook ISBN: 0-7599-2640-9
Paperback
ISBN: 0-7599-0494-4
Price: $10.95 U.S.
Principal setting: Cochrane, North Carolina
Vigilante Justice creates a gritty cop universe firmly anchored with realistic
details. Michael La Rocca's characters have to choose between obeying the law or
pursuing justice at any cost, a dilemma faced by his main character police
detective Gary Drake no less than the killer he trails.
LaRocca's bleak novel paints a powerful portrait of cops on the edge. Case in
point is Drake himself, who's living with a secret that's slowly killing him.
Death itself is hardly a stranger to Drake. From his years as a homicide
detective he knows death well on a professional basis, but now the Grim Reaper
seems to have taken a personal interest in Gary Drake. One by one his nearest
and dearest have died, deaths for which he feels responsible. Now he's
investigating the murder of his brother, the latest victim of a serial killer
who is murdering the city's crack users by selling them drugs laced with poison.
What's worse, the trail of tainted drugs leads back to police evidence lockers.
That makes it an Internal Affairs matter and puts Gary Drake on the job. A
member of the detested "Rat Squad," Drake finds himself isolated from
the very rank-and-file police officers he may need to call on for help -- and
some of them might just turn out to be members of a deadly conspiracy.
Honest, dedicated, obsessed with a job that has become more than a job to him,
Drake is used to going his own way. Now, he finds he's taken on a case that may
be more than he can handle alone. He reaches out to Detective Marjorie Brooks,
his new partner, who seems to want to be more to him than routine back-up. But
to keep her on his side he may have to set some limits on his work habits, and
that is the one thing he has never been able to do.
Though a well-paced novel with a lot of realistic detail about police work, as a
mystery Vigilante Justice is something of a letdown. A lot of potential drama
appears to have been sacrificed because LaRocca simply gives too much away too
early. By chapter three we already know who is behind the killing. The virtually
undetectable poison is revealed in a casual aside within the first few pages.
Even a shocking personal revelation about Gary Drake is dispensed with early on.
The rest of the book traces his struggle to gather the evidence to prove his
case and expose the killer before his secret nemesis can destroy him.
In Drake, LaRocca has created a detective with some fascinating dimensions, but,
while damaged, he never appears vulnerable and consequently never quite human.
Then, the story itself never quite kicks into high gear. What's missing is the
tension we look for in great crime fiction. That may be because Vigilante
Justice is more a novel about police work than a novel of mystery or suspense.
Though well written, this book really cries out for a subplot or two, and maybe
some additional development of some of the minor characters. Still, with a
fiendishly clever murder method and a detective with a problem that's probably
unique in the field of crime fiction, Vigilante Justice makes a good read and
readers who are fond of police-focused novels will probably appreciate this one.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
GWN Book Reviewer
bill_stephensca@yahoo.ca
Four bullets out of five
October 19, 2002
Final
Epidemic
By Earl Merkel
A Signet book
published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
Genre: Medical Suspense
369 pages
Paperback
ISBN: 0-451-20730-0
Price: $6.99 U.S.
$9.99 Canada
Earl Merkel's Final Epidemic takes us into a dizzying, action-packed nightmare.
An unstoppable plague has been unleashed by suicidal bioterrorists. Once before,
in 1918, the lethal Spanish flu struck mankind causing more than 40, 000, 000
deaths world-wide; now it's back, genetically altered by a doomsday cult to
enhance its killing power. When people start keeling over on Florida's West
Coast, the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta hits the panic button, alerting
the government to the fact that they are facing the most dangerous terrorist
attack ever unleashed on the United States. Then they find out that Russians are
dying too!
The one man who can help them make the tough decisions is ex-CIA bioweapons
expert Beck Casey. He's the man who wrote the reference book that outlines what
must inevitably follow in the wake of a killer plague capable of sweeping
through an entire nation: social breakdown, the disintegration of emergency
services and the collapse of military authority. Now, Casey watches helplessly
as his deadly predictions come true.
The horror moves at wildfire pace and every effort at containment fails. In
desperation Russian President Vladimir Putin is forced to use chemical weapons
on his own people in an effort to contain the deadly outbreak. Now it's the
President of the United States' turn to make the hard, politically ruinous
decisions that will inevitably result in wholesale deaths.
Meanwhile Beck Casey races against time to trace the disease back to its covert
origins. The trail twists and winds from a Japanese madman to American
paramilitary groups; then evidence emerges that some of the highest levels of
the Russian government may be involved. In the midst of facing up to his
greatest challenge, Casey discovers his own daughter may be squarely in the
center of the deadly outbreak. To save her and the rest of humanity he has to
confront both his deepest fears and his greatest failures. Meanwhile the clock
ticks and people are dying.
Earl Merkel has written a book whose horror transcends any imaginary creatures
of the night. Merkel's scientific hobgoblins are all too real and may even now
lie stockpiled in secret laboratories around the world. In Final Epidemic he has
succeeded in describing a viable biological threat and imbuing that disease with
the power of contemporary headlines. Merkel is asking the unavoidable question:
what if that technology were to land in the hands of a biological suicide
bomber?
The author carefully builds the framework of his threat on a foundation of
contemporary crazies and backs it up with the evidence of history. He not only
paints a vivid picture of how human society breaks down in the midst of an
epidemic but manages to take the reader right into the center of the action. If
he had also managed to resist the temptation to take Final Epidemic in the
direction of the conventional, post Cold War thriller, Merkel might have had a
truly powerful book on his hands. In the end, however, the reader is left with
little more than a spy-vs-spy novel married to a familiar catastrophe motif.
This is not to say that Merkel doesn't deliver a well-told, well-paced thriller,
but Final Epidemic falls short of the book it might have been, largely because
the author insists on making Beck Casey into a Clancyesque action hero. We are
told of his virtuosic powers of analysis but see no remarkable ratiocination in
progress. Instead the hero fills a largely reactive role, turning up where the
action is, but himself doing little to effect outcomes.
The low point arrives in the form of a positively hokey unmasking scene where
seasoned espionage professionals unaccountably develop an overwhelming need to
indulge in confessional boasting.
Final Epidemic is a good read with a blistering pace that matches the wildfire
spread of the epidemic. The main action occupies a mere five days, a time frame
that seems hardly credible for effective countermeasures from government
bureaucracies. However, it is completely believable for a lethal, bioengineered
disease, a chilling fact that hangs over the entire narrative. The effect
lingers long after the reader has closed the book.
Earl Merkel is asking some of the right questions about biological and chemical
weapons. He writes strong prose and he does a good job of storytelling. The book
is a fast read, and If it doesn't completely scare the hell out of you, you may
find it a pretty good story.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
GWN Book Reviewer
bill_stephensca@yahoo.ca
10/22/2002
Four bullets out of five
October 20, 2002
Dead
Run
by Erica Spindler
MIRA Books
Hardcover Original
$22.95 U.S./$28.95 Canada
June 2002
ISBN: 1-55166-914-5
Missing Pastor Rachel Howard's sister
Liz Ames comes to Key West to find out what really happened. The police
department thinks she left on her own, but Rachel fears something much more
sinister. Only former Miami cop Rick Wells is willing even to listen to her. He
sees similarities to a former South Florida case involving the incarcerated New
Testament serial killer.
Together Rick and Liz struggle with seemingly overwhelming odds to reveal the
serpent in the midst of this tropical paradise. But is their faith in truth
enough to overcome the malevolent powers that lurk in the shadows waiting for
the sun to go down.
DEAD RUN is a thriller/chiller with romantic undertones subtly interspersed
while Ms. Spindler takes her readers expertly into the little known areas of
crime scene investigation. Her incursions into the dark side of the human soul
are precise and disturbing, making this book a definite must read on anyone's
list
Mortal
Prey
By John Sandford
Putnam
http://www.penguinputman.com
Mystery
Hardcover
May 2002
354 pages
$26.95 US
ISBN 0-399-14863-9
Clara Rinker is the deadliest female hit woman to ever grace the pages of
mystery fiction. We first met her in Certain Prey, where she barely
managed to escape capture at the hands of Lucas Davenport. Since she left
Minneapolis she's been living in anonymity in Mexico, where she has a lover
named Paulo, who happens to be the son of a powerful drug lord. Neither
have any clue as to her true identity, so when someone shoots and kills Paulo,
they assume the attack was aimed at him. Clara knows better. It was
aimed at her. Now she's back in the U.S., desperate to get revenge against
the people who killed her lover and her unborn child. She figures the hit
against her was taken by her old boss and his cronies, and she has plans, some
elaborate, some simple, to give each and everyone of them what she thinks they
deserve. Soon the FBI are back on her trail, and they've brought in Lucas
Davenport to help track her ! down. At first he's interested, but not sure
he can go down to Saint Louis to help...he's busily overseeing the rebuilding of
his house, and his fiancee, the indomitable Winter, is in the middle of
preparations for their wedding. When Winter finds out that the FBI want
him to go, she's thrilled, because it'll get him out of her and the contractor's
hair for awhile.
Lucas Davenport is probably one of the best done serial characters of this
genre. He ages, he changes, and he has a personality that is both strong
and good to be around. His competence is very believable. He's not
some otherworldly superman, but he manages to come up with clever and efficient
ways of getting things done. Clara Rinker makes an interesting nemesis.
She's soft spoken, intensely loyal, and very smart. She knows how to
keep herself clean. I couldn't help liking her despite the fact that she
is, truly, a cold blooded killer. The fact that Sandford choose to return
her to the series in this way, by having her go after the very people who use to
employ her is a clever twist...as the reader, and Davenport, attempt to solve
the twofold mystery of why someone tried to kill her and when Clara will strike
next.
I thought this book was very inventive. The ways that Clara keeps her
trail clean, the somewhat frightening things she uses to achieve her goals was
fascinating. I was worried that after the last book, that perhaps this
series was coming to the end, but with this book Sandford bounces back, writing
a story that will demand your attention until the last page.
5 out of 5 trench coats
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
Change
of Heart
by Jack Allen
Burping Frog Publishing, 2001
(313) 383-6768
www.BurpingFrog.com
Thriller/espionage
315 pages. Paperback
ISBN 0-9703053-0-3
$14.00 U.S. $20.00 Canadian
Principal settings: Baltimore, Japan, Iraq, Moscow
A renegade scientist has developed a powerful new explosive undetectable by the
most sophisticated technologies. He gives the secret to the outcast remnants of
the Russian Communist Party. The communists quickly set up a manufacturing
operation, planning to sell the deadly material to any terrorist organization
with the money to pay for it, money they hope to use to finance their own return
to power.
Only Valeria Konstantinova, a former KGB prostitute, knows where to find the man
behind the bombs, and only ex-KGB Colonel Mironov knows where to find her.
Mironov offers his secret to U.S. Naval Intelligence on condition that the man
who brings in Konstantinova is his longtime Cold War adversary, agent Josh
McGowan. But before Josh McGowan can save the girl, block the distribution of
the explosives, and square off against a dangerous opponent, whose goal is
nothing less than the restoration of the Soviet Union, he has to take on
adversaries ranging from Iraqi terrorists to the Russian mafia.
Change of Heart certainly doesn't lack for adventure: Within the first
third of the book the hero survives a shootout, two car crashes, a plane crash,
a salvo from a Russian warship, and a swim in the shark-infested Sea of Okhotsk.
Jack Allen is an author who just can't resist the temptation to sidetrack his
story in favor of rip-roaring action sequences or military maneuvers.
Nevertheless, he manages to hold the reader's interest, because he truly excels
in his descriptions of weapons and aircraft, and he can really put the reader on
the scene. While Allen's writing suffers from weaknesses, when he's writing
about war machines his prose is almost flawless.
Unfortunately, not everything is equally convincing. The security his characters
encounter is, almost everywhere, incredibly lax. The military and intelligence
organizations described in the book almost always appear to be incompetent. For
example, Naval Intelligence, takes on a mission more within the realm of the
CIA, then finds itself duped by a counterfeit "defector" who finds it
laughably easy to deceive them. The Kremlin hardly fares any better. There,
armed characters can apparently pass through security checkpoints at will. Some
of the novel's implausibilities can be overlooked; others tend to weaken the
story. For example, a lot depends on the communist conspirators coming up with a
viable plan to discredit the Russian democratic government, and it just never
appears to be a credible threat.
A few of Change of Heart's minor characters have been given
interesting dimensions. The same can't be said for the lead. Josh McGowan
differs only from the typical steely-eyed action hero in that he doesn't appear
to be especially bright. In the very first chapter he instigates a pointless
gunfight; at another point, he literally walks in front of a bus. McGowan is
also morally unpredictable. Going against orders, he can spare the life of a
terrorist, then a couple of chapters later, brutally kill an enemy in cold blood
while the man's daughter looks on. The heroine objects to this callous killing,
but her protestations are hard to fathom, when earlier, she has herself gunned
down an unarmed man.
A good editor really could have done wonders for Change of Heart and it
would be a pity if Allen fails to tie up with one before he takes Josh McGowan
on many more adventures. Despite its flaws, the people who enjoy the
action/espionage genre may enjoy Change of Heart. It's probably worth
reading for the descriptions of weapons technology alone. Here Jack Allen
appears to know what he's talking about and has obviously done research. He's
less facile with his handling of the spy stuff.
Two-and-a-half bullets out of five
--Bill Stephens, GWN Book Reviewer
bill_stephensca@yahoo.ca
September 4, 2002
Maggie
Needs An Alibi
By Kasey Michaels
Kensington Publishing Corp.
Mystery
2002
ISBN 1-57566-879-3
Setting: New York
When mystery writer Maggie Kelly created Alexandre Drake, Viscount Saint Just,
she thought he would remain tucked away in her imagination and on the pages of
her novels. She thought wrong.
Not pleased with the direction Maggie's life has taken, Alex and his sidekick,
the loveable Sterling Balder, appear in her Manhattan apartment and decide to
become permanent roommates, regardless of what Maggie's cats, Wellington and
Napoleon, think about the situation. Once the initial wave of shock dissipates,
Maggie wonders how can the 6'2, 185 lb., well- built hunk be in the "real
world" and why? According to the Regency's greatest amateur sleuth, he is
only interested in a partnership with her. No tricks up the old linen sleeve.
Maggie finds Alex and Sterling's physical appearance and Alex's reasoning a
little bit hard to swallow, but she agrees to allow both men to stay with her.
One week later, Alex is following all the character traits she created for him
and adding a few modern ones as well. He thinks a servant will hang up his
clothes and take his dishes to the sink. He's ordering pizza everyday and has
become a CNN, PBS and History Channel 9-5 viewer.
Alex heads into the realm of boredom without a crime to solve. A walk in the
park leads to a change of scenery and a challenge. Sterling's motorized scooter
startles a carriage horse and Alex has to bring it to a halt to save tourists.
Soon everyone in the city is aware of the heroic act having watched it on TV.
While Alex and Sterling are at Maggie's agent's house, Maggie serves steak with
mushrooms to her ex-lover, Kirk Toland, publisher of Toland Books. In the middle
of the night Kirk becomes extremely ill and is rushed to the hospital. Shortly
after he dies, Lieutenant Wendell and his men begin their investigation. Did
Maggie kill Kirk after she learned he was wining, dining and sleeping with her
because she was shopping around for another agent? Was Kirk's ex-wife, Bernie,
responsible for his untimely death? Knowing your ex-husband slept around when
you were married does cause a woman to seek revenge. Then there's Trigg, who
handles the company's financial accounts, and who is eager to step up to the CEO
position. Maybe its none of the above.
MAGGIE NEEDS AN ALIBI is a character-driven mystery with characters so real an
author will think twice before whipping up a few of his/her own. Each had traits
that would wear down the patience of the best of us. Maggie is a gifted writer,
but low on confidence. Alex is an arrogant male with all the answers. Bernie is
fixated on prolonging her life and poor Sterling is dumpy and not so smart
because that's the way he was written. This mystery is worthy of Hollywood's
time and money and I'd pay full price to see it. The only drawback is the
author's missing description of how Alex and Sterling pulled themselves out of
Maggie's imagination and took on form.
4 out of 5 gold-rimmed quizzing glasses
--Denise Fleischer, GWN Book Reviewer
9/28/2002
Too
Big Too Miss
An Odelia Grey Mystery
By Sue Ann Jaffarian
2001
Writer's Club Press
ISBN: 0-595-17070-6
$16.95
252 pages
Costa Mesa - Southern California
When a live webcast star from an X-rated site dies, the first person to be
called is 45-year-old Odelia Grey. Odelia and the other members of the Reality
Check support group had no idea that their founder, Sophie London, had a secret
life. Sophie was an ideal role model for plus-size women often helping them deal
with their social and emotional problems, but now she's dead and many of the
Sassy Sophie webcast subscribers witnessed her death.
A different kind of reality check zaps Odelia when she is summoned to Orange
County's Coroner's office to identify the body. Being a paralegal makes her the
best candidate for acting as the personal representative of Sophie's estate.
Along with her friend, Zee Washington, who worked at the corporate firm
with her, she can wind up the affairs of the deceased and deliver the items
addressed in the will.
During Sophie's Memorial Service, Odelia is introduced to the people who loved
and used Sophie. There's Peter Olsen, the ex-husband no one knew about and their
mentally challenged 20-year-old son, Robert. Poor Robert was told his mother
died years ago, possibly for his own protection. He wasn't told differently
because he wasn't among the mourners. Causing a scene at the service was
Olsen and John Hollowell, who Odelia learns Sophie was obsessed with and in time
left her husband and son for. Sophie was the effective way to get Hollowell's
clients to sign on the dotted line. There's also Cruz Valenz, Sophie's maid who
found her body in her home office; Iris Somers, the nutty neighbor who thinks
that Sophie's home security system sends out dangerous rays and paraplegic and
Sassy Sophie webmaster Greg Stevens who says Sophie's death wasn't a suicide.
Also, Gloria Kendall, one of the mainstays of the Reality Check group.
With Greg's assistance and love, Odelia sets out to find the truth, which
Detective Frye has yet to uncover. No matter what slippery characters try to
manipulate her, she will find the person responsible.
TOO BIG TOO MISS is an intelligent mystery that reminds us that eventually our
buried secrets will surface. I offer Sue Ann Jaffarian a pat on the back for
selecting real-life characters that are overweight, have emotional problems and
physical challenges. As a reader, I stood by Odelia every step of the way
offering her support and confidence and I can't wait until the next Odelia Grey
mystery hits the Internet.
5 out of 5 cans of diet soda
--Denise Fleischer, Gotta Write Network Online Book Reviewer
9/8/2002
Dead
Reckoning
Robert
Furlani
c. 2002 iUniverse, Inc.
ISBN# 0-595-21960-8
paperback
suspense
3 dynamite sticks + 1 knife
If you like your suspense hot, hard and brutal, Dead Reckoning should suit you
fine. If it pushes the bounds of reason in a few of its survivals, it
compensates plenty in grit a gall. Its twists and turns are numerous, its
pace unrelenting and its body count appalling: a fast and breathless rush
which can scarcely fail to satisfy those with a taste for what my dad used to
call "the mud, the blood and the beer."
Jimmy Taggert lost his best friend in Viet Nam to the senseless violence of a
savage quartet of VC. And avenged him in spades. Thirty years later,
sheriff of a small town near the Canadian border, he loses his wife to the happy
trigger of sociopath Michael Baker during an opportunistic bank robbery which
had been meant to go much more smoothly. He takes that loss just as
personally.
Between Jimmy's smarts and good instincts, and Baker's arrogance, a
confrontation is inevitable. In fact, both being focused upon a small
area, they have several run-ins in which both take their lumps, and their
losses, neither of them gracefully. Luck and blind, bloody-minded
determination throw them together repeatedly, the last time for the culmination
of Baker's plans to commit an historic act of terrorism at nearby Niagara Falls.
Mr. Furlani shows us, in gripping and very effective fashion, the ugly side of
life in the second millennium, through two characters who will stick in
the memory long after you've laid the book down. In Baker we see the
destructiveness and random violence typical of those who take up killing as a
method of expression, and in Taggert we see the upholder of Society and all the
best values of Mankind. Neither of them is stereotyped, neither blunted or
fuzzy, and both are delightful in their own ways, though there's little to like
in Baker. Mr. Furlani's writing is literate and vivid, if a bit fraught
with favored turns of speech, an easy and lively read. You may gag in
places, rage in others, but you are unlikely to put it down until you've turned
the last page.
Kaththea, GWN Book Reviewer
9/3/2002
Someone's in the Kitchen with
Dinah
A novel of suspense
By Barbara Pearson Arau
New Century Books
2001
ISBN 0-930751-21-3
Hardcover
$19.95
Cooking columnist Dinah McKinnon has found herself at the crossroads of her
life. The death of her father and the last chapter of her marriage are behind
her. Ahead, lies Webb Key, south of Key Largo. No sooner does she begin to
unpack her belongings in the home she inherited from her father, is she
introduced to the local property owners and their lifestyles. Some are
descendants of those who lived off the land since the building of the railroad.
Others are captains and easily classified as eccentric individuals.
When Taylor, the lover of a retired businessman, is found with a fishing harpoon
sticking out of his back, Oscar is considered the main suspect. In an attempt to
prove his innocence, he asks Dinah to help find the real killer. The question is
who is the guilty party? Suspicions point to a young hitchhiker named Gordon
Miller, picked up by Oscar and Taylor a short time earlier. But there are a
number of locals who could have killed the artist. Carlyle Webb, a cantankerous
charter boat Captain with an unusual doll collection; Charter boat Captain and
architect Joe Mears or Bertha Webb and her family.
Offering a hand in solving the case is the loveable and outspoken Rena Schmidt,
who excels in gossip and eating. A new love interest is found in Mears, whose
wife was killed in auto accident. He's trying to put his life back together by
establishing a future project in the area. Starving for love is Amanda, a little
girl who lives next door who is neglected by her father's family. She's so
distressed that she refuses to talk, but in Dinah's home and heart she finds the
attention she so desperately needs.
A second storyline focuses on learning more about Amanda's parents. Finding out
if her father died in his boat during a storm or if he's still alive. Dinah's
investigation leads her to Key West to locate anyone with information about
Amanda's parents. The Webb's believe that she's interfering in their plan which
leads to more threats.
SOMEONE'S IN THE KITCHEN WITH DINAH is a character-driven novel which presents
eccentrics with attitudes. Everyone knows everything about his or her neighbors.
All are shocked by Taylor's murder and offer Dinah a tidbit of info here and
there and every step closer to the killer puts her own life on the line. Barbara
deals with her gay theme naturally and creates one unusual tale.
4 out of 5 cookbooks
--Denise Fleischer, GWN Online Book Reviewer
Netera@aol.com, gottawritenetwork.com
9/1/2002
Hot
Shot
By Charlotte Hughes
MIRA
Sept. 2002
384 pages
$6.50 U.S.
ISBN: 1-55166-941-2
Setting: North Carolina
Detective Frankie Daniels made a mistake. Though she didn't know it at the time,
she had an affair with a married man. The second strike against her was that Jim
Connors is the police Commissioner's son-in-law. Goodbye Jim, so long job and
all the work it took to become an equal in a male-dominated field. Frankie
offers her resignation feeling she's an embarrassment to the department. That
special connection she had with Captain Wayford appears to be gone, just like
her dad when a bullet ended his life. But Wayford works out a deal with the
Commissioner reassigning Frankie to a small town in North Carolina so her affair
doesn't go on record.
No sooner does Frankie enter Sheriff Matt Webber's territory, does a new kind of
trouble enter her life. A fire destroys the small house she was going to rent.
Frankie voices her frustration about this new job being beneath her. She quickly
learns her confession was made to the police chief. Talk about bad first
impressions.
Her temporary housing becomes a room in a hotel and dinner awaits her at
Virgil's Restaurant and Tavern. Virgil and his waitress immediately welcome her,
but throw peace out the window when the town trouble maker, Willie-Jack, spots
her alone. He makes his move and doesn't take "no" for an answer.
Frankie tells him to back off and when that doesn't work she knocks him
out.
First day at work introduces Frankie to how fast gossip travels in small towns.
She meets Velma Flatts, the receptionist who seems to hate her already and
Deputy Calvin "Cooter" Rines. When Willie-Jack is brought to the
station he promises Frankie that he's going to make her life miserable.
Frankie's mandatory physical leads to a little relaxation therapy. It also
introduces her to Alice, the doctor's wife. An extra room in Matt's cousin's
home provides a decent place for Frankie to live. A new job, two new friends and
you would think all would be "a okay" in small town USA. Not when
Frankie is living there, for trouble seems to be her constant companion. The low
crime statistics soon hit an all-time high with robbery, vandalism, domestic
violence and arson. Some secrets grow lethal. Some deaths are questionable. The
Purdyville police department has a lot of challenges ahead.
HOT SHOT doesn't paint the perfect picture of small town life. Instead, it peels
off the postcard image and shows the real layers beneath. It reveals
discontentment, behavior problems, how life can get complicated with one action
and that sometimes you make mistakes. I loved the humor, Frankie's big-city
detective attitude and the manner in which Sheriff Webber handled day-to-day
problems. I've seldom read contemporary small town novels, but this one seemed
to have a life of its own.
--three out of five barbecued ribs
Denise Fleischer, GWN Book Reviewer
8/17/2002
gottawritenetwork.com
Dating
Can Be Murder
By Jennifer Apodaca
Kensington Books
Mystery
272 pages
ISBN: 0-7582-0073-0
$22.00
May 2002
Knowing that her deceased husband, Trent, was a cheating liar was only half the
problem for Samantha Shaw. Now the Heart Mates Dating Service owner, romance
book reviewer and mother of two is being threatened by the darker element of
society. The unnamed party demands the money Trent owes. The question is why did
her condom selling dead husband owe money? Was he dealing drugs and didn't pay
up?
The first clue walks into her office one day alerting her to the situation and
knocks her out with a stun gun. He scribbles his threat onto her new Nordstrom
skirt and then disappears. The dangerous situation has her mother convinced that
it's time to get out of the matchmaking business and into real estate. Her
mother can't see Trent for what he was, but Sam's grandfather knows an illusion
when he sees one. He was a magician in his younger years. He's also no old fool
when it comes to securing information on the Internet. That knowledge, plus the
assistance of Gabe Pulizzi, a ex LA cop, now private detective, helps Sam in her
mission to find this mysterious sum of money and save her family. Gabe installs
a security system, gives her a beer drinking dog (but she's really a wonderful
protector) and teaches Sam how to protect herself.
The race is on to meet the demands of the men who may have helped her husband
into his grave. The mystery is, can Sam trust anyone? Can she trust Blaine, her
assistant, who knew her husband before his death? Gabe who becomes more than a
friend or Detective Rossi who is investigating the case?
The truth is that Sam is an obvious magnet for danger. She has several
individuals trying to kill her and when she's not in danger she's finding
bodies. This leads to neighborhood wives believing she's become a private eye
and hiring her on. Those that knew her husband was a cheating scoundrel are now
calling her because of missing sex tapes.
DATING CAN BE MURDER was one of the best murder mysteries I've read. Why?
Because it's protagonist was a "character." She's been taken for a
ride in the past and isn't going to stand for it anymore. Sam's got a sense of
humor and a killer attitude. She's got the fastest "in-your-face"
replies I've ever seen. The plot is very real to life in terms of criminal acts,
adultery and wives being the last to know. A word to the wise, write down
Jennifer Apodaca's name in your favorite author notebook. This gal is going to
sell some books and earn her way to the top.
4 lace panties out of 5
--Denise Fleischer, Gotta Write Network Online Book Reviewer
7/22/2002
The
Forgotten
By Faye Kellerman
William Morrow
Mystery
Hardcover
2001
http://www.harpercollins.com
374 pages
$26.00 US
ISBN 0-688-15614-2
Setting. L.A.
The Forgotten refers to the victims of the Holocaust. This book revisits those
horrors as Rina and Peter attempt to discover the truth of a troubled family's
past.
Rina Lazarus is called by the police one morning when the shul she takes care of
is vandalized. Rocked by the sorrow and horror that accompanies such a
hate crime, her police officer husband, Peter Decker, decides to look into it.
To make matters worse, original, never before seen pictures of Jewish
people in a camp are scattered about the scene, and a kiddush cup is stolen.
The trail will lead him through a local school, where he immediately finds
the teenager responsible. Proof is in his backpack --- the cup, which he
insists belongs to his own family. Hoping to find the answers as to why an
extremely wealthy and intelligent young man would do such a terrible thing,
Decker speaks with his therapists, the Drs. Baldwin. Six months later the
boy and Dr. Mervin Baldwin are murdered at Dr. Baldwin's nature camp, leading
Decker on a search for Baldwin's missing wife. This disappearance on Dee
Baldwin's part make her suspect numbe! r one, but Decker doesn't believe it.
The investigation will force him to view the ugliness of man's cruelty to
his fellow man.
Rina is a remarkably strong character, as she searches for the truth of what the
young man, Ernesto, was so upset about as a favor to the boy's father. She
is a well written character, but if you haven't been a long time fan of the
series, there are some things you might miss. Peter Decker is the stronger
character of the two, which makes sense since he is the main focus of the story.
He is interestingly complex, a Jewish man raised as a Christian, now
practicing what he feels to be his true religion. Ernesto is a likable
young man despite his anger and actions and one does feel bad for what happens
to him, and this makes the readers want Decker to solve the case. This the
only compelling part of the plot. Kellerman seems to be more concerned
with family troubles than the actual mystery this book is supposed to be.
I felt the ending was weak, and the twists and turns were not well enough
developed to make the story work. &nbs! p;This story's strengths are more
focused on Peter and Rina's own family. Decker is worried constantly about
his abilities as a parent, and Rina is more concerned with working against the
hate crimes that have so recently targeted her. While the religious and
cultural aspects of the book are marvelously well done and interesting, if you
are looking for a thriller or who done it, this will not satisfy.
I would recommend this book highly to long time fans of this couple, as it gives
a lot more insight into their lives. If you are trying to decide whether
you would enjoy Ms. Kellerman's works, I would suggest hunting down one of her
first books, then working your way back.
Two out of Five Trenchcoats
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
Black
River
By G.M. Ford
William Morrow
http://www.harpercollins.com
Mystery/Detective
Hardcover
August 2002
308 pages
$23.95 US
ISBN 0-380-97874-1
Frank Corso is a former reporter and crime book writer who has long desired to
see Nicholas Balagula behind bars. He has seen the best efforts of some of
the brightest stars of the Attorney General's Office try and fail to convict him
twice. Now he is the only outsider allowed to sit in on the trial that has
sparked so much public anger, on the third and last try. Balagula is said
to be behind the collapse of a hospital which killed 63 people, most of them
children. He allegedly made substantial cutbacks in the materials that
went into the building which, when the San Andreas fault made a tiny shift that
hardly anyone noticed, caused the building to topple like a house of cards.
Balagula has long maintained his innocence, and anyone saying otherwise is
effectively dealt with.
The book begins with an innovative twist. A pair of hit men are scouting
out their mark, who, according to his schedule, is sitting inside his truck,
about to go to work. They soon discover the man they're supposed to kill
has already been shot. Instead of being happy, they decide that they have
to earn their money by hiding the body and the truck according to plan.
The truck is discovered months later, which happens to bring Meg Dougherty
into the scene. She's Frank's ex-love, and a friend. When she is
discovered in her own wrecked car, he suspects that someone may be after her.
She's suffered terrible injuries, and he has to wait until she recovers
before he can find out what she knows.
These interwoven plots make for a really exciting story. The trial, the
hit men, and Meg are tangled together, and Frank's determination to figure out
why makes for incredible reading. He admits to having a high morality, and
so it makes sense that his love for her and his desire to see justice weigh
equally in his motivations. He's a good character. A little quick
tempered, but in a way that's a reliving factor, for the reader, rather than a
detrimental flaw in the character. He's chivalrous and driven, and these
attributes mixed in with the sort of wistfulness he feels for Meg make him
immensely likable. Meg is another interesting character, despite her
limited role. She has a very sad and unusual past...one of her ex-lovers,
when she dumped him, drugged her and tattooed every inch of her body in an
obscene act of revenge. This odd fact drew me to her more surely than her
already sad fate, because one cannot help but ! wonder how it would feel to live
with a body permanently marked like that. This, along with her other
character points, makes her an equally powerful character despite the fact she
only has enough "on page" time to seem like a minor one, and infuses
the actions of Frank, where they have to do with her, an air of credibility and
chivalry.
I spent the whole day reading this book. It really drew me in, and kept me
going. This is the second book Ford has written with Frank Corso as a
character, the first is called Fury.
5 out of 5 trench coats
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer and Fantasy Page Editor
Silver
Scream
By Mary Daheim
William Morrow
Mystery
Hard Cover
May 2002
www.harpercollins.com
306 pages
$23.95 US
ISBN 0-380-97867-9
Judith McMonigle Flynn, owner of the respectable Hillside Manor Bed and
Breakfast has had her share of eccentric visitors and their troubles. When
the head of the local Bed and Breakfast Association forces her to switch
reservations around so that a flock of Hollywood's finest can stay at Hillside
Manor, she is less than thrilled. Producer Bruno Zepf's first big
movie success came to him after staying at a bed and breakfast similar to
Judith's, and so he insists that he and his entourage stay there for the premier
of his newest movie, The Gasman. Ingrid sees this as a fantastic opportunity and
will not take no for an answer, so Judith must make preparations for her visit
from Hollywood.
The Gasman, based on an obscure book from 1929, is already brewing controversy.
A four hour long epic centering around the ascent of man from the
standpoint of a gasman in middle America, Zepf expects it to be a success along
the lines of Gone with the Wind. What he gets is something more akin to
Ishtar. The critics hate it, his cast and crew hate him, and Zepf is sure
his career is over. To make matters worse for him - and Judith - Zepf
turns up dead that same evening. What happened to him? Was it a
freak accident, a heart attack, or murder? What ever it is, Judith isn't
going to rest until she discovers the truth.
If someone where to ask me to give them an example of a cozy mystery, Daheim's
books would be one of my main choices. Fueled by characterization more
than violent happenings, the mystery unravels for us via careful
questioning and cast interactions. Daheim handles characterization in an
interesting way. The Hollywood stars are more like caricatures, with their
arrogant attitudes and extraordinary desires. None of them are all that
likable, except perhaps Chips, the director, who comes across like a well
meaning Ron Howard. All the characters, to an extent, are this way. Daheim
uses stereotypes such as that of the nosy neighbor and the promiscuous ex-wife
to create characters that are both satiric and true to life. I have a
feeling that she must really know people - you would have to, to be able to
successfully poke fun at characters yet make them still seem realistic, and
often sympathetic. Her main ladies, Judith and R! enie are not spared, but
their sarcastic barbs that they throw at each other sometimes seem to come from
a long life together, and a deep friendship. They're both real treats in
some ways - Judith with her empathy and sense, Renie with her refusal to back
down and her quick wit.
I enjoyed reading SILENT SCREAM. It's a very well done mystery, a light
and funny read. Daheim has 17 other Bed and Breakfast mysteries out, and I
look forward to reading them.
Four out of five cloaks
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
8/3/2002
Whalebone Junction
By Kathleen J. Stowe
iUniverse
http://www.
Mystery
trade
2001
317 pages
$17.95 US
ISBN 0-595-19456-7
Setting:
Jules Fiore is the landlord for a series of ocean side apartments. She
doesn't usually collect the rent personally, but in the case of her tenants Mark
and Gloria, she feels like she needs to make an exception. Mark has been
earning his rent by fixing up the little house he's renting from Jules, but when
the projects run out and he and his wife are two months behind on rent, Jules,
feeling sorry the whole time, knows she has to do something. When Gloria
finally answers the door she presents Jules with the fact that Mark is gone for
good, and with the rent, in a brown paper bag filled with greasy, crumpled
bills. For reasons she's not even sure about, Jules refuses, telling her
to bring a check or money order to her instead. She wants to find Mark,
and discover for herself what's going on. He has always been a good
person, and with a sick baby in the hospital, Jules can't imagine him leaving.
When a little girl discovers his b! ody on the beach, and the suspect the
police has is someone no one believes could have killed him, Jules decides to do
a little investigating herself.
While the mystery itself is simple, yet well done,
Stowe's cast of characters is the true reason to read this book. Fiore is
no ordinary character. She's a 45-year -old, body building mother of two,
rides a Harley, and, as mentioned earlier, has the unusual distinction of being
a landlord. These facets create an unusual heroine, and her personality
and pleasant sense of humor make her a really interesting character to read.
Her humor is really brought out when she stumbles across the beanie baby
underworld, a few scenes of sub-plot that I enjoyed. Stowe's
characterization of the tenants, the fellow body builders, and the others show a
very fine understanding of people. The gift shop owner in particular
reminded me of gift shop owners I'd met so perfectly that I wondered if Stowe
was inspired by the same woman. The characterizations are never cruel, but
done with a lighthearted humor.
Stowe is working on a sequel to this book, called Southern Shores. It'll
be nice to see Jules and co. again.
4 out of 5 Trench Coats
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
Wet
Grave
By Barbara Hambly
Bantam Mystery
June 2002
ISBN 0-553-10935-9
305 pages
$23.95 US
Setting: New Orleans, 1835
"You know what they say of white men in Louisiana," January told the
boy. "That they come here seeking their fortunes, but all they find
is a wet grave."
When Benjamin January is taken to a murder scene by his sister, the enigmatic
Voodooine Olympe, he never expected the victim to be the beautiful mistress of
one of Jean Lafitte's pirates. Her glory days are long over, and she is
much different from Benjamin's memory of their brief encounter. No longer
the wild beauty dressed up in silks and topaz, she has become a desperate drunk,
doing anything for the price of a bottle. When the police, caught up in
their own mysterious murder can't investigate, January decides that it's up to
him. He doesn't start his search simply because of his memories of her, or
because there was no real reason to murder Hesione, who lived in a run down
shack and begged for her food. It's the signs that someone waited a long
time for her to come home, and the handful of money found in her apron pocket,
more than enough to keep her in food for a month.
In this sixth installment of the Benjamin January series, Ms. Hambly more than
proves to us that Ben still has many stories worth telling. She takes us
away from the high elegance of the upper class to concentrate on New Orleans
during the summer, where all who can have fled the city for more amenable
climes. Benjamin and his dauntless Rose end up searching the Barataria, an
area of marsh and swamp that surrounds New Orleans. It is where many of
the plantations are, and where Lafitte and his Pirates are said to have hidden
their treasure. They follow rumors of slave uprisings and murders,
determined to answer their questions. She does a wondrous job with setting
- you can feel the mosquitoes buzz around, imagine the teaming and
dangerous life that swarms the waters around them. Every character is
carefully drawn - even if she only uses a few words, you can see each player
completely in your head, hear every type of dialect from the Kaintuck of head of
the city guards Abishag Shaw to the gentle Creole tones of Chloë St Chinian.
These characters are so round that people you heard of in passing in the
previous book and perhaps didn't care for are completely turned upside down so
that in this book, now that you actually meet them, you tend to like them.
The conversations are also very well done, in calmer moments filled with
that gentle sense of humor that can only come from good friends who are
completely comfortable with each other.
The pleasures of this book, and indeed, this series don't only come from the
mystery itself. True, the stories are exciting, the actual mystery of the
book clever and surprising. The thing that really draws me is the fact
that each book is like a bit of time travel, every part of it is well
researched, and the characters are an enormous pleasure to be around. I
always miss Barbara Hambly's characters a little, when I close the book.
WET GRAVE is my favorite of the series thus far, with many bits that will
please long time readers as well as people just starting.
--Five cloaks out of five
Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Online book reviewer
elaine_of_shallot@hotmail.com
5/05/2002
Final Cut
Myster Thriller
Billie Sue Mosiman
Five Star,
Sep 2002,
$24.95,
285 pp.
ISBN: 0786241756
Show business publicist Karl LaRosa enjoys his lifestyle that includes many
young women to make love with in his Malibu home. However, his perfect life
starts to break down when someone tries to run his Jaguar off the road and
vandalizes his house and office. Attempts to kill him follow. Karl assumes an
ex-girlfriend seeks revenge for some unknown slight, but has no idea whom or
why.
Unbeknownst to Karl is that the events in his life follow the script of the
filming Pure and Uncut, a movie being directed by Academy Award winning
Cambridge Hill. No one involved in the making of the movie breaks the confidence
by informing Karl what is happening as everyone is under contract. Karl needs to
uncover the truth soon because his unknown assailant is becoming bolder and more
dangerous.
The narration alternates between Karl, the culprit, and several of those working
on Pure and Uncut. This enables the audience to fully appreciate the strength of
the characters, but especially the lead protagonist. The suspense increases as
Karl struggles with solving who wants to destroy him even as his anonymous
opponent raises the pressure on him. The deep look into Hollywood filmmaking is
insightful and entertaining in its own right, but also slows down the pace of a
thrilling stalker plot. Billie Sue Mosiman provides her audience with a strong
suspense thriller that will keep the audience reading until the FINAL CUT.
Harriet Klausner, GWN Book Reviewer
8/8/2002