Dance with the Enemy, by Rob Sinclair

This novel was not fun to read. It was interesting enough, but the main character is not charismatic and I found myself not caring too much about him.

That character is Logan, a British spy for an a joint US and UK agency that works behind the scenes and disavows its agents should they need help. As the book starts, he's a drunk mess, recovering from a mission that had gone south. He's pulled into a new case, befriends a female FBI agent, and encounters chaos.

There was action enough, and the plot twists were good. But I never felt myself engaged with the hero. If there's a sequel I'll probably pass on it.


Dance with the Enemy: a gripping international suspense thriller (The Enemy Series)

Immortal Plague, by Aiden James

Another rather wacky novel. Our hero, William Barrow, is actually Judas, who is (for reasons not quite clear) immortal (ish), with a mission to find the thirty silver coins for which he betrayed his friend Jesus. He's up to number 22, and this book is about his attempts to retrieve it.

Oh, he looks around 30 years old. And, also has a son, Alistair. Who looks around 60 years old.

Oh, and William also does free lance spy work for the CIA. Which gets involved in his search for number 22 because it is in the Alborz mountains (in northern Iran, near the Caspian Sea).

If you're still interested: yes it was a fun and interesting read, and apparently the first in a series.


Immortal Plague (The Judas Chronicles Book 1)

Graveyard Shift, by Angela Roquet

This is a goofy novel. Suspend all notions of reality: the hero, Lana, is a reaper of souls. She lives in Limbo City. She hangs out with angels and demons. She's a slacker and a malcontent.

If you're still with me, yes, this is a very fun read. Not exactly what I'd call fine literature, but a great diversion.


Graveyard Shift (Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. Book 1)

The Getaway, by Tom Barber

Sam Archer is a British policeman with dual US citizenship. He returns to the US upon learning his estranged father, an FBI Special Agent, was murdered. He gets deeply involved in the case.

I won't say more to avoid spoilers. This was an enjoyable novel and I plan to read the next one from Mr. Barber.


The Getaway (Sam Archer Book 2)

Memory Man, by David Baldacci

In this novel, Mr. Baldacci introduces a new hero -- or perhaps reluctant hero -- in Amos Decker. The backstory: Decker is a former football player who suffered a severe brain injury in a game. That injury causes him to have a unique memory; he never forgets. Anything. Decker became a policeman, and a detective. But the brutal slayings of his family pushed him into a down spin since he can never forget what he saw at the crime scene. He left the police department, became homeless and let his physical health and hygiene deteriorate.

In this novel Decker cleans up just a very little bit, but enough to participate in solving a number of murders.

At first I was skeptical about this novel, in that it felt as though too much was revealed on the book jacket. And that it would be difficult to make this interesting. I was mistaken. The novel is very interesting. And the fact that there was no magical recovery to Decker's miserable situation was a positive.

Highly recommended. And I look forward to the next book in what appears to be a series featuring this main character.


Memory Man (Amos Decker series)

Darkness Brutal, by Rachel Marks

It turns out that this is a young adult book. (Amazon has it listed in both the "teens" and "romance" categories; had I known that ahead of time I'd probably have avoided this even though it was available for free. I guess that will teach me not to jump to conclusions.) Anyway, the YA category does explain a bit about why all the lead characters are teens and why some of their decisions are, well, the kind of decisions that teens make.

The hero is Aidan, who sees demons. Orphaned, he strives to protect his younger sister Ava who is in a foster setting while he lives on the street. It turns out his abilities are significant and the usual mayhem ensues.

I don't read much of the para-normal genre, but it seems to me unusual to find a lead character burnishing a Star of David to ward off a demon. So that was pretty cool.

There were some annoying aspects of the book, but overall it was quite interesting - enough so that I do intend to read the sequel, even if I can't get it for free.

Darkness Brutal (The Dark Cycle Book 1)

Hazardous Duty, by Christy Barritt

This is the first in a long series of novels featuring Gabby St. Claire, a wanna-be forensic scientist who runs a crime scene cleaning business and solves murders. Of course, she's constantly in danger herself, and woe to those who befriend her as the corpses pile up.

I read this for free and it was well worth it. But there are parts of the book that are a bit off-putting. Only when I looked the book up afterwards did I notice it is in the sub-genre of "Christian mystery and suspense." So those awkward parts where religion enters into the novel unexpectedly and without advancing the plot line -- nor character development, surprisingly -- well now it is explained.

The remaining volumes aren't free, which means I won't be reading any more about Ms. St. Claire.

Hazardous Duty: Squeaky Clean Mysteries, Book 1: An Amateur Sleuth Mystery and Suspense Series, Christian Fiction

Half the World, by Joe Abercrombie

Although this is a sequel, I haven't read the prior novel and that didn't cause much confusion. The primary hero of this book is the main character, a young lady named Thorn who wants to be a warrior, or at least to kill people. The slightly less fleshed out hero is Yarvi, a brilliantly scheming minister.

It would be easy to have complaints like why is the kingdom of Gettland having the issues it is, or why do the elf people and their technology feel so much like modern society. Perhaps some of this was addressed in the previous book.

While not a fabulous read, it is entertaining and interesting; I'm going to try to find the sequel at my public library.

Half the World (Shattered Sea)

Empire, by John Connolly & Jennifer Ridyard

I picked this book up at the library not knowing it is the middle book in a trilogy; the next volume is due in 2016. At first I was unsure I'd keep reading: the opening chapters seemed unpolished. Immaturely written. But I kept going, and am pleased that I did because the story hooked me.

How to summarize: Syl and Paul are the good guys, separated friends. Earth's been captured by the Illyri species who themselves are controlled by another species with dark plans for the planet. And among the Illyri there are political factions working at cross purposes.

This ended up a really interesting read and I look forward to the next volume. On the other hand, I'm not going to bother reading the first as it would feel like a prequel to me now, and although the story was excellent, the writing just wasn't enough to draw me to more.

Empire: Book 2, The Chronicles of the Invaders

Quantum Lens, by Douglas Richards

I enjoyed an earlier book by Mr. Richards, so thought I'd give this one a go.  This one is, however, less science fiction and more fantasy or para-normal. Somewhat interesting but it really didn't have a tight hold on my attention span; luckily I was on an airplane where I'll read almost anything.

The good guy is Craft who can do things with just his mind. The bad guy is Haddad who can do things with just his mind. The mandatory lovely lady slash brilliant spy type researcher is Aronson. Haddad is a cartoon version of an Islamic extremist. There are many plot twists. But not enough to make this book one I'd recommend.


Quantum Lens