Decompression
By Juli Zeh
Anchor
c/o Penguin Random House
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
www.anchorbooks.com
978101910504, $16.95, www.amazon.com
Sven Fiedler has a perfect life. He and his girlfriend live and work on the Spanish island of Lanzatote. He is a diving instructor who loves where he is in life. Everything is ideal until a tourist couple enter into his life that changes everything he has worked so hard for.
Decompression is a tense page turning novel of suspense that starts like a slow moving train. then roars along to its final pages.
Runner
Patrick Lee
St Martin’s Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
www.stmartins.com
9781250030740, $9.99, www.amazon.com
Patrick Lee’s “Runner” opens with a simple situation. Sam Dryden, ex- Special Forces is on a daily run when he encounters a girl who can’t remember very much about herself. Once he begins to help her he finds that his whole quiet life has suddenly been turned upside down. Now on the run he and the girl can trust no one as Sam tries to protect her. He also has to learn who and why they both have been put into the position they are in. “Runner” is a complicated plot that twists and turns until the very end and is suspenseful all the way through.
Butterfly Waltz
Jane Tesh
Silver Leaf Books LLC
P.O. Box 6460 Holliston, Ma 01746
www.SilverLeafbooks.com
9781609751241 $17.95 www.amazon.com
I am often asked “how important are the front and back covers? In the case of “Butterfly Waltz” Very. I had no interest because the information on the back cover is very difficult to read, while the front gave me no idea of what to expect inside. The first few pages did not help either because writing was very confusing. New authors should realize that their book is a presentation that should get people interested in reading what they have written. Sadly “Butterfly Waltz fails on many different levels.
Foreign Affairs
Stuart Woods
c/o Penguin Group USA
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.penguin.com
9780399174674, $27.95, www.amazon.com
Stone Barrington is back in another great thriller. This time he crisscrosses Europe in a cat and mouse game that could get him killed. Woods has always delivered a page turning novel and “Foreign Affairs” is another excursion into the high roller world of Stone Barrington.
Dark Tales Ghost Stories
Dark Tales Phobia
Robert A Reese
www.roerareese.com
9781514836255, 9781517109349, $12.00, www.amazon.com
“Dark Tales Ghost Stories” and “Dark Tales Phobia” are excursions into the world of ghosts and ghouls guaranteed to send shivers down any reader’s spine. Some of the chilling tales are, a family can not escape a hearse that continues to follow them, a shadow man with sharp claws and glowing yellow eyes, and other things that go bump in the night.
Seize The Night New Tales of Vampiric Terror
Christopher Golden, ED.
Gallery Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.simonandschuster.com
9781476783093, $18.00 www.amazon.com
For a long time vampires in fiction have been popular. Presently there is a competition in horror fiction between zombies and vampires as to which is most popular. It is a neck and neck rivalry that does not seem to have a winner anytime soon. “Seize The Night” evens the field with its bitingly cold stories that will keep fans of the genre reading deep into the night. Golden has chosen some of the best writers in the field of horror fiction to grace the pages of this chilling collection.
God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy
Mike Huckabee
St Martin’s Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
www.stmartins.com
9781250060990, $26.99, www.amazon.com
Mike Huckabee talks about many things in “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy.” His prose takes you along as he comments on many different aspects of our lives with a common sense approach to solve many of the problems we face. He deals with a reasonable approach to guns, respect for other people, rational approaches to tackle problems in this country, the culture of many years ago and now and how it has changed for the worse, are some of his observations. While other candidates for public office tell about themselves and their views of how to solve the country’s problems Huckabee gives the perception that he is talking directly to the reader in a laid back manner about many things that he has realized about our world. “Gods, Guns, Grits, and Gravy” is perfect reading for this political season.
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
Jill Lepore
Alfred A. Knopf
c/o Random House
www.aaknopf.com
9780385354042, $29.95, www.amazon.com
Wonder Woman has thrilled audiences for a long time but so many of us have not known the history of her until now. “The Secret History of Wonder Woman” is not just a study of the character but also a very revealing look at her creator and the many influences on him and his creation. William Moulton Marston had an interesting career before he authored Wonder Woman. He is credited as being the inventor of the lie detector. Perhaps that is where the idea for the magic lasso came from. The author goes into many other things like why he wrote Wonder Woman under the name Charles Moulton, his views of women and their place in the world, how the costume, and the art was developed, the tough road to getting into print, and the even more difficult route to film. Fans of comics and Wonder Woman will love reading the history behind the character and her creator in ‘The Secret History of Wonder Woman.”
The Adventures of Zealy and Whubba A New Life Begins Book 1 Series 1
Created by Roen de Pinto
Outskirts Press Inc
10940 South Parker Road, #515, Parker, CO 80134
www.outskirtspress.com
9781478754602, $16.95, www.amazon.com
Zealy is a seal pup who goes out into the world to have adventures. Along the way she meets Whubba a baby orca whale. The two become best friends. The story is short and to the point but a nice beginning for a series of kid’s book.
The Bird That Didn’t Want To B A Bird
Anne Toole Illustrated by Richa Kinra
Outskirts Press Inc
10940 South Parker Road, #515, Parker, CO 80134
www.outskirtspress.com
9781478756378, $12.95, www.amazon.com
A little bird goes on a quest to explore the possibility to be something else in life. On the journey the bird encounters many different kinds of animals before making a decision of what it wants to be. Geared to kids as a cute children’s book “The Bird That Didn’t Want To Be A Bird” is so much more with an underlying premise to teach people to look into themselves and think what they would like to be in life.
Reviews by Gary Roen
