GOTU by Mike McNeff - a review

Guardians of the Universe (GOTU) makes this book sound like some graphic novel starring Captain America and his ilk when it is nothing more than a superb smash-and-grab police procedural starring protagonist Robin Marlette, a true blood and guts super hero.

McNeff, a forty-year veteran of law enforcement draws upon his intimate knowledge of how to combat drug smuggling on the Arizona/Mexico border. He introduces us to a squad of DPS officers that is reminiscent of The Dirty Dozen, the washed up, down-and-out degenerates that are about to be frog-marched out of law enforcement only to be salvaged by a great leader and turned into an elite unit.

When Marlette and his men roust a smuggling ring, seizing millions of dollars and killing the drug cartel boss’ little brother, the retaliation is fast and furious. The cartel strikes at Marlette personally; not only by sending soldiers to shoot up his house and family but to kidnap his eldest daughter too.

With his daughter in the hands of the bad guys south of the border, Marlette does what any father would, he violates every known international law to rescue his child. With all his men recklessly following his lead, he charges into danger, guns blazing, consequences be damned.

Full of hard-hitting details and realistic action scenes, McNeff leads us into the middle of a no-rules fight where the hard-charging victors wear a white hat and experience wins out every time.

The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published - a review

They’ve done it again. Talk about taking the mystery out of getting your book in front of a publisher. This is the bible every author should read while thinking of writing, writing, and every aspect of post-writing that involves your book.

This is the step-by-step whodunit of how to write, sell, and successfully market your book. In a fun upbeat fashion this husband and wife team, literature agent and writer, explain everything you have ever wanted to know about what to do next. Turning over every stone along the way, they leave no clue uncovered to help you get what you have written in the hands of the publisher.

Interspersing humorous and realistic examples and lessons on what to do, or not do, and supplying sample proposals and query letters, there is nothing left to chance. This is an updated version of a prior self-help tome, “How to Turn Your Passion Into Print,” their last joint venture that has been updated for the 21^st Century with details on social networking and e-publishing.

Need to find an agent, use an editor, understand your contract, or write an elevator pitch? The answer to everything you could possibly need to know is here – and a lot more besides. This is the book that demystifies every step of the publishing process and should be in your reference library.

Island of Silence, Lisa McMann - a review

In the second volume of this incredible dystopian young adult series, we find the story picking up right after the battle of good vs. evil has raged. Airtime has defeated the Quillens and the two tribes are struggling through an unsteady truce. Since the Quillens placed these Unwanteds in Airtime thinking they were condemning them to death, it takes a little adjustment to realize that not only are they alive but are great at magic spells, and just defeated them in battle.

Airtime is run by mage Mr. Today, whose evil twin sister was killed, as leader of Quill. Now his young prodigy, Unwanted Alex Stowe, has to face a similar destiny. His Wanted twin brother Aaron has devised a way to recruit a team of those unhappy with the turn of events since the battle who are seeking revenge. By controlling his team with food supply and managing to use a little of the magic back on those that conjured it up in the first place, he has found a way to weave his dastardly deeds on the unsuspecting inhabitants of Airtime.

Spies abound on both sides, the newly appointed high priest has been taken prisoner, but these are all unknown to Mr. Today, who decided that after the troubling times, he should take a few days of vacation and leave Alex in charge. While he is in charge, the worst possible circumstances happen. Three of Alex’s best friends sail to a neighboring isle and are taken captive, the whole of Airtime mysteriously disappears with all the buildings and magically created creatures disintegrating, and Mr. Today appears to be dead. It just couldn’t get any worse, or could it?

Alex has to turn to two shipwrecked creatures from the island where his friends are being held for help and McMann leaves us twisting in the wind as a new spell left for Alex by Mr. Today is discovered. Hope shines its smiley face on the troubled times in Airtime. I have it on good authority—the author herself—that book number three is in the editing process as we speak, which is a good thing as I can’t live without finding out how our heroes get out of this one. They do, don’t they? Hey Lisa!

Pig, by SBR Martin - A review

Lilith’s plight in life was plotted out for her from the day she was born. Her name alone, provided by her teen mother’s lesbian partner, evoked in her the ability to be a non-conformist in a man’s world. Whether by knowledge or nature Lilly embraced her heritage and took from men just as men took from women.

When Ben entered her life she learned too late what is was that made him so different and by the time the discovery was made it was too late. Martin’s novel of life takes us down the road of sex, death and abandonment, through great dark forests of abuse, lies and sweet revenge.

Pig starts in a funeral home where we are introduced to our protagonist Lilly as she welcomes visitors as her husband lies dead in the next room and she lets us, the reader, into the secret that no one else suspects, the accident was not ‘accidental’; she murdered Joe. From a writers standpoint the idea of a funeral home is a great concept to introduce life as it was. The idea of seeing people from the past and building the storyline that leads through them to the present is masterfully presented by Martin.

We don’t know at the moment how Joe died but through compelling side stories we learn what led to his untimely end. Domestic abuse is a subject that constantly raises its ugly head and Martin paints us a picture of how Lilly’s life was again plotted out for her, this time by her controlling husband and reminds us, as do many police blotters, why so many women stay in these types of relationships.

As the mourners at the funeral continue to flock into the room so the story unravels and the suspense builds. Evidently Lilly is clutching in her hand the one piece of damning evidence that will bring to the fore everything to show what really happened on that final ill-fated night.

This is a passionate voice from an emerging young writer that  presents us with a thrilling novel of contemporary fiction flavored with a little erotica and suspense that makes it hard to peg this tome in one particular genre and makes a compelling case for that cross-over genre style that is so pervasive in the modern novel. The final chapter presents a jaw-dropping twist that makes it all worthwhile.

The Laughterhouse by Paul Cleave - A review

Spooky, empty, a shell of its former house the slaughterhouse rendered its last victim years ago until someone bought young Jessica here one last time. Cold, abandoned, and all alone was no way for a young girl to spend her final moments, bleeding out on the floor of the building that local jokesters christened the laughterhouse by removing the ‘s.’ In fact there was nothing funny about it at all.

Theodore Tate was there to witness the depravity of this sad story, one of his first cases. Fifteen years later, he finds himself back at the scene as a new killer stalks the streets of Christchurch. Four more bodies lie on the slab at the morgue until the police figure out there is a link to Jessica’s death fifteen years before. And the fifth victim—a psychiatrist who testified in the original trial—is missing, along with his three young daughters.

Battling his own demons and injuries Tate finds himself accepted back into the police ranks in order to bring this new killer to justice, and time is running out. If he doesn’t find them soon the doctor will have to choose the order in which his young girls die. With the voyeuristic press hard on his heels, his commanding officer suspended and the city’s psychics all offering an opinion Tate not only has to solve the crime but do it all in time to get to the nursing home where his wife, who has been in a coma for three years, has suddenly gained consciousness. With everything on the line, Tate will stop at nothing to find salvation, sanity and put the bad guy away for good.

Paul Cleave has made a believer out of me. Christchurch is a city I never want to visit. This dark, gripping thriller, the latest in the Tate saga, is as hard-boiled as it gets. The surprise ending suspends all belief. Like a TV series that ends its season on a cliffhanger, you won’t want to wait until next year. This will leave the reader clamoring for the next book in the series now!

A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois - a review

It is hard to process that this is the debut work of an author. She has taken what is traditionally been a heavy involved subject, life in Russia and created a dirge to the Cold War era, embracing the “interminable stretch of a Russian winter” evoking the cold and dark weather and showing life in Eastern Europe as Dostoyevsky did. Her mind pictures are dramatic, each paragraph as if a postcard into the sole of her characters.

She takes the well-worn subject of Russia’s mastery of modern-day chess, creates a character steeped in the game, Aleksandr and shows us how someone of meager beginnings can build a protected empire through the country’s one-upmanship with America for personal gain and advance through the corrupt political system to mount a run at the presidency against Putin in a quixotic and valiant attempt.

Irina, an American student who was brought up playing chess with her father, and is now preparing to her life to Huntington’s disease, just as her father had done takes on her own impossible dream, and meet the chess-player that her father had sent letters to, and in a role of finding purpose in her life leaves everything behind to chase her lost cause.

Their paths tangle and mesh in the most highly improbable fashion and both help form a lasting impression on each other’s fate as well as Russia itself. An improbable tale of endurance and love that will guide the reader down a path of unrequited expectation.

My Bad Tequila by Rico Austin - a review

Most of us have experiences in life we wish we could forget, or did because of alcohol-induced blankness. Austin calls these ‘bad tequila’ moments, as imbibing in that particular libation seems to have more bad consequences than others. This novel, loosely based on his real-life experiences—or those he can remember anyway—is his ‘bad tequila’ moment.

When a young jock on a college football team is cut and down-on-his luck, he is given the opportunity to travel to Mexico with a group of students and take a moment to reflect on his recent bad luck, or to get totally wasted while brooding over his own stupidity. He takes it. Life is grand, not a care in the world, white beaches, surf’s up and pretty woman and alcohol are on the menu.

When tragedy strikes and a motor vehicle accident kills several members of their party, the close-knit group unravels. Rico and Tina, at one moment considering young love, suddenly turn on each other and Rico drowns his sorrows with tequila. The next day when it is time to leave, Tina has vanished. When he arrives back in the States, Rico finds himself under arrest for the murder of Tina. Her father, a US Senator, is baying for his blood, his friends from the trip are all turning evidence against him and by the end of it Rico finds himself in jail facing five long years on a trumped up manslaughter charge.

Rico takes the time to reverse his ‘bad tequila’ moment and rebuild his life, creating a successful life after his prison sentence, until one fateful journey leads him back to San Carlos and the scene of the crime. Faced with his past, he begins drinking again. With a surprise ending, Austin takes us on rough-hewn journey on his debut novel, a 2011 Readers Favorite award winner.