Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Tuesday Book Reviews

The Brotherhood of the Rose (Mortalis, #1)



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.


ICE by Kevin Tinto


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.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Tuesday Book Review

The Motive (The Curtis Chronicles,#1)


The Motive: Cycle of Violence by Joseph Badal


Good plot about an Albuquerque doctor who’s called to Hawaii upon the death of his sister. He doesn’t believe it’s a suicide, as the police claim, and sets out to prove it. Along the way, he meets a woman his sister worked with to help kids, and when they’re both threatened, enlists the aid of a former pal. My only gripe is the novel spends too much time on the bad guys’ stories and also drags out the ending – which segues to the next book in the series. Still, it was full of action and adventure, tension and plot development and several great characters.