CLYDE WISHAM

This book starts soon after the end of [b:Blood Moon 24062705 Blood Moon (Huntress/FBI Thrillers, #2) Alexandra Sokoloff https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1419473723s/24062705.jpg 24999447]. The huntress, Cara Lindstrom, is in jail accused of murdering an abusive pimp. FBI special agent Roarke is, to put it mildly, conflicted about this as she has previously saved his life and furthermore his life and hers seem bound in some mysterious way. Then fresh murders start happening under circumstances eerily similar to those Cara is suspected of doing. Roarke and his team have a new case. Cara has a copycat. But, who is it and why are they copying her? The plot twists and keeps you off-balance and guessing. In the end – but that would be telling – I'll just say that no one ends where they started.As I have come to expect in this series, there is a dark and evil theme underlying the story. In this case, it is child kidnapping and forced prostitution.Good book. I want more, Alexandra.

What's not to like? Just look at the characters. First Tarr gives us a teenage ninja polymath and a magic psi wielding stranger from far in the past. Then she tosses in a living starship and a host of other quirky characters. Then she gives them a do or die quest involving an ancient mystery and a danger to the multiverse. Add in a sinister government agency bent on domination and you have all the elements needed for a rip-snorting space opera. Good fun.

[b:Come the Revolution 25110945 Come the Revolution Frank Chadwick https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1429097077s/25110945.jpg 44804686] is a worthy sequel to [b:How Dark the World Becomes 15803177 How Dark the World Becomes Frank Chadwick https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345678721s/15803177.jpg 21526591].The adventures of gangster turned guardian Sasha Naradnyo continue. He remains one of the toughest protagonists in SF literature. However, in this story he is trying really really hard not to kill people. He succeeds for a while.Good book.

A good and evenhanded history of the turbulent and bloody period when the Plantagenets lost the throne of England to the Tudors. It is a story of how a perfect storm of pride, misrule, greed, murder, betrayal, treachery, and plain old pigheadedness brought a proud nation to chaos and near ruin. Good book.(It is easy to understand why [a:George R.R. Martin 346732 George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg] chose to pattern his Song of Ice and Fire series after The Wars of the Roses.)

What an absolutely lovely cozy mystery. Bravo, Alan Bradley.
The story is told from the viewpoint of an eleven-year-old named Flavia de Luce. She is quite precocious and a bit mad about chemistry. The story is set in 1950 in England.
If you want to know more, please read the book.

In Liberator's Ruin Johns has written a damned good debut novel. The novel starts off with multiple story lines that seem unrelated. The first story line is about the adventures of airship captain Nathaniel An'Rieyr and his crew. Then we have Anna, a deposed princess who is obsessed with driving out the invaders of her country and regaining her throne. She is the leader of the Illum resistance. And finally there is Thomas Ras'Kar High Inquisitor of the Rhivellian Empire, who has the job of ending the resistance in Illum. As these story lines develop, with quite a bit of violence and more than a little skulduggery, we learn more about the world they live in. In the end the story lines all come together nicely in an exciting and action filled finish.
At first – because of the use of some standard tropes, especially airships – I thought Liberator's Ruin was an alternate history steampunk novel. However, as the story developed, it became apparent that it is something else entirely (cannot say more without giving spoilers). And, that brings me to the subject of P. J. Johns writing style. Johns doesn't do infodumps. Instead the back story of the planet and the people is slowly revealed by the dialog and action. This is a style which I quite like. (It reminds me somewhat of Vonda Mcintyre.)
All in all, I can strongly recommend this book to SF&F fans.

Unfortunately I do have a few negative comments.
(Please note that none of these hurt the readability of the novel. But they were slightly irritating and kept me from giving the book five stars.)
- Liberator's Ruin needs just a little more work. I think the right professional editing could have tightened up and improved an already good story.
- The whole book most certainly needs a pass by a good proofreader. I noticed a cut-and-paste error, some misuse of homonyms, and a few grammar/punctuation errors. Also, at one point a revolver transformed into a single-shot pistol within the space of a single paragraph!
- Finally, the cover is rather ugly, and I can't see that it has any relationship to the story.
I cannot help but think that a few hundred dollars invested in professional editing and a cool cover would really help this book.

Three point five stars for the first book in C.J. Box's Joe Picket series.
The main protagonist, Joe Picket, is a game warden assigned to the Twelve Sleep area in Wyoming. When he finds a body on a wood pile in his back yard, Joe gets involved in a murder investigation even though neither the local sheriff nor his own bureau want him to help. The investigation soon turns up two more murders. The supposed killer is soon found and the case closed. However, Joe isn't satisfied. When he finds a connection to the attempted extinction of an endangered species, he continues the investigation on his on. This proves dangerous for both Joe and his family.
The story seemed fairly predictable for much of the book. However, Box rescued the story by putting a nice twist and some thrilling action in the last part of the book.
In the end I found that I quite like Joe Picket the game warden and somewhat unwilling detective. I will continue the series.

(The Penguin eBook version I read has a formatting problem. It has a link to other books inserted after chapter 37. That seems to indicate that the story is finished, but it isn't actually the end of the book. You need to scroll past the link page and read the epilogue that closes out the story. Bad Penguin, bad.)

[b:Those Who Dare 19225603 Those Who Dare (Raiding Forces Book 1) Phil Ward https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1441989198s/19225603.jpg 11223742] should be of interest to those who would like to know more about the early days of British special forces operations and training during World War 2. You get action, lots of details of training, a bit of light romance, and quite a few interesting if rather improbable characters.

Frank Chadwick is best known of as a game designer. However, he also writes novels – and does it very well indeed. He seems to like mixing genres. His first book [b:How Dark the World Becomes 15803177 How Dark the World Becomes Frank Chadwick https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1345678721s/15803177.jpg 21526591] melds science fiction with noir crime. (My review) [b:The Forever Engine 17571515 The Forever Engine Frank Chadwick https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1376474722s/17571515.jpg 24511231] takes a different tack. It feels to me like H. Beam Piper's Paratime world mated with 19th century steampunk and had a very precocious offspring.The main protagonist, Jack Fargo, is a polymath. He is a linguist, a professor of ancient history at a prestigious university, and he also has a good knowledge of science. But, no simple scholar, prior to a life-altering tragedy he was a special forces officer operating in Afghanistan. In The Forever Engine he needs all his skills when he teams up with a British professor, a special agent of the crown, and a beautiful French spy to save the world from doom.This is a good, fast-paced story with lots of action and surprises along the way. Good book, recommended.

Those who like lots of action, will like The Runaway.
P.J. Johns is a talented writer. However, his cover art sucks dead puppies.

Another good cozy mystery featuring the 11-year old genius detective, Flavia d Luce.
In this story the precocious Flavia spends a lot of time in graveyards and crypts – places where she is quite comfortable, thank you. The story features dead bodies and chemistry of course. Additionally, the story of the de Luce family develops a bit further and we are left with tantalizing questions about the family's future and past.
Alan Bradley had some fun with the main mystery, giving it a nice Agatha Christie feel toward the end. All in all, a nice addition to the series.

“Zombie, zombie, zombie” is a line that repeats many times in this book. That sort of sums it up.
Good book for those looking for a desperate struggle against the zombie apocalypse.

This is a nice collection of novellas and short stories set in Eric Flint's Ring of Fire universe. The writing is consistently good, but YMMV depending on what rings your bell. Action, intrigue, and skullduggery abound. I especially liked 71 (what happened to those folks displaced from 1632?) by David Brin, Kinderspiel (something smells in Biberach's town) by Charles H. Gannon, Hide Trouble from Mine Eyes (a police procedural) by David Carrico, and Scarface (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) by Eric Flint.
Good book.

Good space opera. This is the second book in the Aurora Rising trilogy. Start with the first book as it is all one long story.

[b:West of Eden 983898 West of Eden Harry Harrison https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1329539583s/983898.jpg 969393] is a pretty good adventure story. That makes it worth a read, but that is about all I can say for it. The world that Harrison created doesn't appeal to me. I had trouble suspending my disbelief.

Three and one-half stars rounded up. This is pretty good military science fiction. As with the other books in this series, the story features a lot of action – much of it brutal.
Captain Eric Weston's mission is to find those responsible for launching the genocidal Drasin attacks on the Earth and its Priminae allies. He succeeds, but the cost is heavy.
If you like space battles, this is a book for you.

In [b:One Blood 29967480 One Blood (Argonauts of Space, #2) Sabrina Chase https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1461186882s/29967480.jpg 50362455] Sabrina Chase gives us another good space opera. This story picks up right after the events of [b:The Scent of Metal 17665340 The Scent of Metal (Argonauts of Space, #1) Sabrina Chase https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1364507781s/17665340.jpg 24658571]. Lea and Argo and their mixed team of Terran humans and Wiyert journey to the planet Beredul to free the Wiyert trapped there by the Fadohl slavers. When they get there, things get complicated and the action picks up. There are mysteries to solve, local chieftains to negotiate with, and very very badass monsters to fight.Good book. But the story isn't complete, so I give it 3.5 stars rounded up. (I will probably come back and make it a full four stars after the series is completed.)

Not as gripping as some of the earlier Flavia de Luce books, but still a solid story. (And, I am beginning to wonder if Bradley is ever going to let Flavia grow up a bit. She has been 12 for many years now.)
3.5 stars rounded up.

Another good story in the Joe Pickett series. In this one Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett has to go to Jackson, Wyoming to cover the area of a fellow game warden and personal friend who has committed suicide. Joe comes to suspect that it wasn't a simple suicide. He is soon caught up in trying to find out what caused his friend to become depressed and suicidal. While this is going on, trouble starts brewing at home, and Joe has to call on his dangerous friend Nate Romanowski to protect his family. This story features multiple villains, dangerous wildlife, sexual temptation, gunfights, assassins, and several unexpected plot twists. What's not to like?
Pretty good book. Three and one-half stars rounded up.

[b:Torchship 28169657 Torchship Karl K. Gallagher https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449787057s/28169657.jpg 48184170] is good science fiction – a solid four stars.I find it difficult to talk about this book without giving spoilers. It takes place in a future in which something has apparently gone very wrong. The main protagonist, “Mitchie” Long, is the pilot of the torchship Fives Full, a tramp freighter spaceship. She navigates and pilots using analog methods – really nothing much advanced over the methods used on WW2 warships. Why such methods are necessary in a far future situation is a mystery at first. One of the nice things about the story is the slow reveal of the cultural, technological, and military situation as the story unfolds. (There is a distinct lack of data dumps; it just isn't that kind of story.) The future depicted is very dangerous. Life is cheap and there is plenty of action.I can say no more. It was a fun story, and a quite well done first book.

Cornwell's [book:Waterloo: The True Story of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles 22007249] may very well be the finest single-volume account of that great and decisive battle.

Like much of Disch's work, Puppies has an odd, almost bizarre feel to it.
Powerful, almost god-like, aliens have taken over the earth. They think humans make good pets and most people accept that – many happily. Call them the happy puppies.
There are some, however, who resist domestication. Call them the wild dingos. This is their story.
A quick and pretty interesting read. (Found recently in a used book store.)

[b:Between Two Worlds 28586586 Between Two Worlds (The Lanny Budd Novels) Upton Sinclair https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1453019133s/28586586.jpg 628609] is the second of Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd novels.Like the first book, [b:World's End 28586585 World's End (The Lanny Budd Novels) Upton Sinclair https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1453019132s/28586585.jpg 197780], it provides a nice mix of history, adventure, and romance. It covers the period from the Treaty of Versailles up to the great stock market crash of 1929. There is a mix of historical and fictional characters with the fiction firmly rooted in actual history. The characters are witness to significant historical events including the rise of Fascism in Italy and of Hitler in Germany. This episode is rather heavy on the romance. In fact it could be subtitled “The Loves of Lanny Budd” as Lanny finds love, suffers heartbreak, and then finds new love. There is some suspense as Lanny's impetuousness and sense of honor land him in serious trouble with hostile authorities at one point. Sinclair puts in lots of detail about life in Europe and the USA during that period. The historical detail alone makes it a worthwhile read.

This the third of Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd novels picks up Lanny's tale shortly after the events of [book:Between Two Worlds 642423]. It is the early 1930's and the world has been plunged into the great depression. The book starts slowly, following the events of Lanny and his family as they cope with the changing times. As wealthy folk, they are largely unaffected by the economic turmoil. However, there are clouds on the horizon in the form of the rise of the Nazis. In the second half of the book, the pace clicks into high gear as Lanny struggles to rescue Jewish relatives from imprisonment and torture in Germany. In doing so he strains some relationships within his family and also places himself in extreme danger.While reading [book:Dragon's Teeth 28601293] I found it useful to keep in mind that it is a book of its time. It was published in 1943 while World War 2 was raging and the outcome was still in doubt. The events it depicts were still fresh in the memories of the readership of the time. The fact that it is still a good read 73 years later is a testament to Sinclair's skill as a storyteller. 4.5 stars rounded up.

[book:Torchship Pilot 31314997] takes up right where [book:Torchship 28169657] ends. The two books make up one continuous story. And a good story it is.Recommended for those who like space opera centered around a rag-tag crew and featuring high-stakes adventure.