SoWest So Wild, A Desert Sleuths Sisters in Crime Anthology - a review

These twenty tales of the American South West are brought to us by a chapter of the Sisters in Crime organization based out of Phoenix, AZ and are stories linking our past to our present through charlatans and sheriffs, housewives and trail hands. Regular readers of Suspense Magazine will already be familiar with a couple of the authors whose work has been highlighted in the pages of the magazine previously: Deborah Ledford and Leslie Kohler.

From the streets of Tombstone in the south, to the far reaches of Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly, we are treated to stories of murder and mayhem, myth and malice. Old Indian tales of the spirit world, Pinkerton agents and family squabbles make up the entertaining stories in this anthology of the Wild West.

The Southwest has seen its share of troubles and violence, stories we have seen documented in the movies on the silver screen to the current news headlines on our televisions, and these twenty authors have managed to fan the flame to keep alive in an anecdotal way, the stories that have helped fashion the South West.

“So West, So Wild” takes us from the comedic to the noir, modern day methodology to the past’s practicality, and shows us why many Arizonans still find a reason to strap on a six-shooter in this desolate and wild part of the United States.

Cryers Cross - a review

The ghosts of the poor children virtually abandoned and many beaten to death in the confines of one of Montana’s worst reform schools over a hundred years ago, are crying out from the grave to be saved. The teenagers from Cryer’s Cross, a small, one-room school town, are disappearing, two are gone, Tiffany and now Nico, leaving no trace or clue. They simply just vanished.

Kendall, Nico’s lifelong friend is distraught after his disappearance. Her whole life is interrupted, the school’s soccer team is disbanded, Juilliard turned her down and two new teenagers have moved into town, as if to take over the place of the missing teens. At least it keeps order in her OCD-riddled mind.

Unable to rest with her friend gone, Kendall finds herself drawn to the new boy, eighteen year old Jacian, when they are thrown together as the town imposes a curfew and travel restrictions on the teens in town until the mystery can be solved.

As school continues, Kendall keeps noticing the desk Nico sat in keeps getting out of place each morning. She would notice since she has to align them all in correct order every morning. She realizes this is the same desk Tiffany—the other missing teen—sat in last year and graffiti is scratched in the desk top that she doesn’t recall seeing before. It reads Please Save Me. Sitting at the desk she too is put under a spell as the voices of the past call for her help. Will Jacian be able to figure out the town’s secret in time to save Kendall from being the next to vanish forever?

McMann is again at her top-draw best as she weaves another young adult novel into a story that crosses all ages and simply becomes a great yarn that anyone will want to read.

Room - a review

This novel takes us into an eleven foot by eleven foot storage shed that Jack and his mother call home. Jack was born in this room and it is his reality. Mother has known the outside world however, and until his fifth birthday Jack never knew that once, a long seven years ago, Mother was lifted from the streets and kidnapped to be held hostage by their nightly visitor, Old Nick.

Told entirely from the point of view of this intelligent little boy, “Room” shows us the great love that Mother has for Jack. They have a few books, the TV, a wardrobe—where Jack sleeps so Old Nick will never see him—and whatever they can beg for as a Sundaytreat. In return for Old Nick never seeing her son, she has given up all attempts to escape and allows her body to be sexually violated whenever he needs her. Jack, awake in the closet at night, counts the number of times Old Nick makes the bed squeak.

After explaining to Jack how she actually got in the shed, the two make an audacious attempt at escape, and miraculously pull it off. I don’t want to spoil the surprise except to say it was the fastest I have ever read, skipping paragraphs and pages to get to the finale which brought me to tears. The book, if written as a novella, could have ended at their freedom. However, Donoghue has gone on to feed us a second well-crafted story, still from Jack’s point of view to show the adjustments that the child had to go through to adapt to what we all think of as our reality.

This is a bright uplifting story that takes us from the near depths of a hellacious existence to a new life. I loved the imaginative, original work Donoghue placed in my hands. It is one for the ages, a plausible, but dark story with the light of hope shining as a beacon for all who dare read it.

The Unwanteds - a review

On the island of Quinn your future is decided at the age of thirteen. Once a year all the youths and their families gather for final judgment. By this point most know what role they will be assigned to. If you have been reported to the council as one who has expressed undesirable qualities, artistically inclined, then you are one of the Unwanteds. Alex had known for three years, his parents kept him informed that he was an Unwanteds. So, as he and his twin brother Aaron sat waiting for their names to be called out, he was reconciled to being sent on the Purge.

Aaron was a “Wanted,”he had a bright future at the university and probably in the future government. Many of Alex’s friends joined the ranks of the Wanteds and the Necessaries, the rest of them where loaded on to the bus for the drive to The Death Farm.Once the Eliminator got their hands on these Unwanteds they would join a succession of generations of poor souls cast into the Great Lake of Boiling Oil. Shaking in their shoes and ready for the worst, they were surprised as their shackles magically fell to the floor and a white-haired, old man strode toward them and delivered the news, that he was Marcus Today the ruler of Artime, and they were all now part of the biggest ruse of all time.

By the time they met all the other residents however, it did not take long to assimilate into their new life. Now circumstances happen—as they always do with twins—that brings to the attention of the residents of Quinn that something is just not right behind the gate to The Death Farm.

“The Unwanteds”is the first in a series of a delightful world of young adult stories that feature a young male wizard. For my money this story is actually better than the other wizardry tales that came before and is an absolute gem that should not be missed by adults or teens.

The Unconquered - a review

Perhaps our last frontier is still here on earth with tribes that have yet to have contact with others humans. Scott Wallace, attached to the National Geographic, went on one such excursion into the Amazon jungle in search of a lost tribe, trying to find the inner sanctum of the mysterious People of the Arrow, the flecheiros; Wild Indians.
An ancient tribe of Brazil, it was rumored they had not made offical contact with the outside world. Sydney Pussuelo, president of Brazil's Indian affairs agency, known under the Portuguese acronym of FUNAI led an expedition, not to contact these people; an encounter would mean a disatrous end to a way of life thousands of years old. In fact they where there to protect the Indians, to ensure the land they lived in was saved from the destructive activity in the Amazon, logging and gold mining, both of which are causing awful destruction to the land and forcing the natives to move from their tribal areas. Many tribes had been close to wiped out with white man's disease and subsequent way of life. Nature needed to be left alone.
In a harrowing journey, half of which was conducted on foot, a group of over thirty men helped map out the land area to conserve, while fending off attacks by snakes, piranha, and the potential of a curare-tipped arrow, eating monkeys that reminded them of cannibalism just to survive. This rugged group of men where bought to their knees, scourged with disease and hunger, willing to give of their lives in order that others might maintain theirs.
A magnificant story ripely told in colorful language that delves into the politics of South American countries and the rape of the Amazon forest that will leave you aghast and full of wonder of what men will do the harm and help others. A most impressive report.

The Secret Soldier - a review

The Saudi government is in trouble. One of the princes of the kingdom is undermining the King in an effort to seize the throne. So, who do the King and his trusted henchmen turn to? Former CIA operative John Wells. This demonstrates the fiction in this incredulous turn of events; as the prince says “You think this pleases us? To ask an American we don’t know for help.” What else would you do though when your own secret service is compromised?

Once Wells gets his head in the game, he and his partner Brett Gaffan go deep undercover, with literally a king’s ransom at their disposal, to race to find out who the secret operatives are, where they are and what diabolical plot they’re hatching against the government. From New Hampshire to Montego Bay, South of France to Milan, or Lebanon to Cyprus the pair race against time to discover the truth.

When the leader of the rebel force goes rogue and inflicts pain not only on the king, but on ‘the American infidels,’ the CIA gives it’s blessing to send in the secret soldier while government red tape holds up any involvement from a Delta Force unit confined to the embassy grounds. Using the latest satellite technology they are able to pinpoint the location of the missing Ambassador. Since a video of impossible demands has already been broadcast over the airways through Al Jazeera, it is a race against time before a video of his decapitation is shown next, leading to the scenario of an American invasion and the downfall of aging King Abdullah.

Berensen takes his time establishing his characters credentials in an effort to make this a fine stand-alone novel for those not already introduced to his protagonist John Wells. His work is as much a historical and political fact finding tour of the Middle East as is it a spellbinding page turner and espionage thriller, one that his hard to put down.

The Target - A Review

When a dirty-bomb explodes at Chicago’s Union Station killing hundreds of commuters taking the train home from work, Maggie Curran is one of the deceased. Her husband, Mike, an Iraqi war veteran, disillusioned in the government’s ability to protect its citizens confers with a group of like-minded ex-military types and scientists who decide to do something about it themselves.

Starting with the revenge for his wife’s death Curran arranges for the one living bomber to be assassinated, brings into his confidence the money-men and the group decide to strike back at the Muslim world during Ramadan, and launch a nuclear missile near Mecca to show that the Western world also has the opportunity to strike deep in the homeland of it’s perceived enemies.

One member of the inner circle has other plans for the bomb, deciding to strike at Mecca itself and the groups plan gets unraveled as the seat of power changes at the last moment. Will the conscience of the bombers win out or will the dissent member wreak havoc in the Middle East.

In a thought provoking counterpoint from both sides of the world that leaves us with eye-opening propositions, Bowen shows his expertise in the fields of military intelligence and international security. The political philosophies expressed appear to be meant as what is needed to force both sides to give consideration to the final option but also shows what could happen if that same solution was left to the well-meaning but ignorant masses disenchanted with what our government is doing. As the suspense builds I found myself with just as many questions as the book leaves answers, and I think they could have been addressed in the portions of the book that cried out for more dialogue. It is used effectively in places, but to delve more deeply into the family situations, into what makes each of the characters act the way they do, I would like to have read a little more discourse. This lack of dialogue in key places does not distract from the melodrama of this thriller however I felt it would have enhanced the storyline if we read what they said rather than being told how the characters felt.