5
star review of The
Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell
This
book taught me more about creating tension and writing action scenes
than all the talks I’ve seen David Morrell give. Two orphans, Saul
and Chris, were mentored by the mysterious Eliot and trained to be
assassins, supposedly for the CIA. Years after Eliot gave the boys
their first Baby Ruth candy bar, they are being hunted by every
espionage group in the world. Loyalty is tested by betrayal leading
to revenge. The story moves swiftly from the rockies in Colorado to
Washington, D.C., Bangkok to London, Paris to the Canadian rockies
and other places along the way. Most
of the time a page-turner with a few sections of exposition.
4
star review of Ice by Kevin Tinto
From
the cliffs in the Gila Mountains of New Mexico to Antarctica, this
novel was full of action and emotion. The
Native American mystery starts
with the discovery of an unknown dwelling at the bottom of a cliff
and kept
my interest through this story. The main characters of anthropologist
Dr. Leah Andrews and her mountain-climbing husband Jack are
only partly rounded, and
I expect will continue to show what their made of in book 2.
The geography and history of southwestern New Mexico are skewed
somewhat. A cliff dwelling is known in
the area,
and
the muddling of Navajo and Pueblo Indians is
disturbing, but
since the novel is part science fiction, I can accept that, as if it
was alternate history. I’m
interested enough to read on to find out what happens to the Native
American girl.
