Award-winning author Matt Cost brings us back to Brooklyn in the Roaring ’20s and introduces us to Hungarian private eye, 8 Ballo, who is hired to find the daughter of a wealthy businessman. The search will lead him to cross paths with Dorothy Parker, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Bugsy Siegel, Babe Ruth, and many more as he tries to uncover why Velma went awry.
8 Ballo’s mother was certain he was going to be born a girl, but when he comes out a boy, she writes down simply the number 8, as he has seven older siblings. She meant to change it to a real name at some point but never got around to it.
Now, in his mid-thirties, 8 is a college-educated man, a veteran of the Great War, jilted in love, and has his own private investigator business. He enjoys his friends, a good book, jazz music, and a very simple life. When he is hired to find the young flapper daughter of a German businessman, life suddenly becomes much more complicated.
His Review:
A young girl was raised by a step-father after her mother’s death at age 13.
Velma seems to be far off the rails of society’s norms and heading for personal destruction. 8 Ballo is a private detective hired by her father to find her and bring her home. Her father, Mr. Hartmann, is paying well and wants to have his daughter home and under his thumb.
Finding Velma is not so easy. She has protectors in the underworld of the city and some of her father’s competitors would love to see him eliminated. There is an ongoing struggle in the city for the continued dominance of the drug and prostitution trade. Velma is caught in between.
Detective Bello runs into issues when he is finally is able to track her down. She is exceedingly beautiful and has many admirers who would fall on their swords for the young lady. Meanwhile, her father’s competitors would like to control her and ruin her father’s hold on the drug trade.
Falling for the charms of Velma was not in 8’s plan, but she has him under her thumb and he is torn between his contract to her father and his affection for Velma. The story takes many twists and keeps the reader engaged. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams
This is Book 1 in a new series (we think). We’ve read his Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Mystery series as well as the Goff Langdon Mainely Mystery series. Each series has grown and the author’s writing style matured. We enjoyed each one. This one is off to a good start as well. Recommended!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.
The Author:Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.
Cost has published four books in the Mainely Mystery series, with the fifth, “Mainely Wicked”, due out in August of 2023. He has also published four books in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, with the fifth, “Pirate Trap”, due out in December of 2023.
For historical novels, Cost has published “At Every Hazard” and its sequel, “Love in a Time of Hate”, as well as “I am Cuba”. In April of 2023, Cost will combine his love of histories and mysteries into a historical PI mystery set in 1923 Brooklyn, “Velma Gone Awry”.
Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.
It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.
For Harry, this is that story at last.
Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.
At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.
Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .
For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
My Review:
You can say what you like about Harry’s book, but one thing it is is entertaining. Where is Snopes when you need them? So many controversial snippets contained within these pages, it’s hard to know if you haven’t carefully followed the royals all your life what is accurate and what isn’t. What we do know is that it’s extremely personal at times getting into the over-sharing, TMI zone of stories (a frost-bitten penis? mercy!).
You don’t have to be reading the National Enquirer to know that some of the stories out of the major news sources are ca-ca. We’ve long held that you can only “believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” So with that, I’ll venture to say that I found Harry’s book enlightening, while also confirming much of my impression of the monarchy. This is not, has never been, a loving, demonstrative family. It’s a major business and as such, now more than ever must rely on good press for validation.
Prince Harry was a casualty of birth—the second male—and told and understood from the beginning he was only a backup heir—the spare. He loved his mother and grandmother and the loss of his mother at twelve years of age was a tragedy he denied into adulthood. He tangled often with “the paps” (as he called the British paparazzi) who often made a healthy living off the photos they took by any means to sell.
In this raw memoir, he relates the struggles with his childhood, school, his brother, and those members of the royal family as well as the courtiers who dictated his life down to whether or not he could have a beard. He openly relates his experiences with drugs, alcohol, mental illness, and his failed relationships with women most of the latter of which were blamed on the paps. Of his school years, I wonder why he hadn’t been tested for ADHT and/or dyslexia, something, but then can’t explain his success in the military. It seems inconceivable that he could fly an Apache helicopter in combat if he had experienced neurodevelopmental symptoms.
1 – There were several stories in this narrative that I found most engaging and one was that of his military service (impressive!)—his struggle to find the proper niche—and his success with flying one of the world’s most advanced and proven attack helicopters into Afghanistan. If he could have chosen, it would have been his career choice—the military.
2 – His introduction to Africa and his love of the animals and experiences there where he also meets the people who would become those he escaped to in times of soul-crushing stress.
3 –His story of Diana and what she meant to him—how he finally—as an adult drove that last mile of her life into the tunnel and received the police report (and pictures) to which he was finally given access.
I cannot even begin to understand or walk in the shoes of Meghan Markle and this is a story that understandably was left near the end of the book. We certainly had enough press of Diana to see she had gained enormous popularity the world over. It was not the first time we were plunged back into the drama of the monarchy. And there again, the paps or press printed some of the most despicable stories and pictures imaginable—of both the Princess and Meghan.
There are times he comes off as a spoiled, entitled brat and I wonder how he could not, as he discusses the castles, the retreats, the summer home, the trips, the food, other accouterments of the wealthy. Then this is juxtaposed against the most simple of privilege being denied.
There are no free lunches.
Still, disinherited Harry has landed on his feet in one of the most expensive cities in California, beautiful historic Santa Barbara. Whether or not you’re a fan of him and his bride, you have to give him kudos for exposing a massive, unfiltered peek into the life and times of the business that is the royalty of Britain. Not exactly a touchy/feely hugging-type family but definitely one of fantasy or fairytales (the Grimm kind?).
His ghostwriter, J R Moehringer, did a smashing job. His narration—riveting. I found it open, honest, heartfelt, and emotional. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library (after a significant wait time!). These are my honest thoughts.
The Author:Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, is a husband, father, humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate, and environmentalist. He resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his family and three dogs. https://princeharrymemoir.com [Goodreads]
It’s not difficult to see the hand of Reese Witherspoon in this Netflix series. It’s a historical, somewhat nostalgic look at the age of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll well past its infancy, as well as a spyglass full of the 70s LA rock music scene. An almost faithful reproduction of the book.
Netflix TV Series
After listening to the audiobook and reading Reese’s bubbling promo of her series baby, I couldn’t help but tune in as soon as it was released. Admittedly, it began almost as sluggishly as the book and the CE ignored it—found something else to do. I think it was somewhere around the third episode he began to find interest.
With this type of unusual format, it takes a minute or two to get used to the interview technique that the book and the series employs to introduce each of the characters. It didn’t take as long for the general viewer to get hooked, however, exhibiting an impressive increase in demand on the most streamed TV series across US platforms. Even Rotten Tomatoes “reported a 70% approval rating with an average of 6.7/10*.”
The series is written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber alongside Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter. The author Taylor Jenkins Reid also produces the ten-episode series that examines the reason for the dissolution of the fictional band twenty years after their final emotionally charged concert.
Riley Keough as Daisy
There is a full-length album, Aurora, that was released by Atlantic Records in March. The lead vocals are performed by Riley Keough (Elvis’ granddaughter) and
Sam Claflin as Billy
Sam Claflin as in the series.
(The pricy album is available on vinyl on Amazon. I love the album cover!)
Daisy is played as a rich but neglected daughter, while Billy played the older brother (Dunne brothers) and band leader-vocalist in his garage-originated boy band. I couldn’t help but think of Janis Joplin—that same carefree boozy attitude (although I still prefer Janis). I didn’t care for either Daisy or Billy and knew the hate-to-love trope was working its magic and indeed, sparks begin to fly.
Watching the two steal glances at each other, you had to wonder how much is real and what is an act. The chemistry is amazing. Neither did I care much for other members of the band although I liked Teddy Price, the producer.
Early in the series, I thought I recognized passages directly from the audiobook, familiar phrasing they used and I particularly enjoyed these quotables:
Buddhists say, “Pain is inevitable—suffering is optional.”
“I think it’s easy to confuse a soul-mate with a mirror.”
My Thoughts
#2 this week
As most know, Daisy Jones & The Six was Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club of the month in March of this year, but the book was published back in March of 2019.
It reads like the story of a band on a rocket to the top of the rock band list in the middle and late 70s. It sells the idea through the interviews of each of the band members, examining their origins and their rise through the LA music scene twenty years after the abrupt split of the band following their concert in Chicago.
There is a decided division where the series and the book splits somewhat with what happens to the support characters. I love the outdoor scenes of the photo shoots and concerts. Watching the interviews with the characters makes it easier to remember who is speaking than does the audiobook, where I sometimes lost track.
The clothes, styles, hair was so perfect; absolutely puts you back in the decade along with the music. As the episodes progress, there is greater inclusion of the music, snippets of the concerts, and I hoped for more. 4.5 stars
Audiobook (Blurb)
Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Historical Fiction (2019)
A Reese’s Book Club + Hello Sunshine on Audible Pick
A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup.
Daisy is a girl coming of age in LA in the late ’60s, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s 20, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.
The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the ’70s. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.
My Thoughts
The unusual writing style threw me at first when I started this audiobook. There are interviews that started introducing the characters of the band and I finally caught on to the unique style of getting to know the individuals, their role in the storyline, and the inkling of who they are, how they got here.
Plunged deeply into the sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll era, Daisy quickly becomes iconic. She is the personification of a free love, braless society, with strong women finding their voice in more ways than ever before. Sometimes I envied their newly found freedom.
The ‘70s LA music scene is wild and as the characters took on more shape, more personality, it is obviously part of the whole societal revolt happening at the time.
Hubby and I missed much of the cultural revolution being outside of the country during his Naval service until 1970. It was shocking when we came home to see how our country changed during our absence. We were still the earlier generation’s sensibilities, married, working, paying taxes, and busy ignoring the craziness going on around us.
The bands—so many—and so many messages of resistance, peace, and love. This fiction saga is strongly rumored to follow somewhat loosely the story of Fleetwood Mac (and by extension, Stevie Nicks. We were not a fan).
Daisy is the product of a rich family, largely ignored or forgotten altogether, and drowned her stinging rejection with anything she could swallow. She manages, however, to become established locally on a low scale in the music scene and begins to write her own music. Equally largely unknown The Six (the Dunne brothers), evolving as the members aged, one going into the conflict only to die on ‘Nam soil. Billy, their leader is controlling, narcissistic.
The book explores several themes besides love, loss, and addiction and is an apparent hate-to-love trope soon after Daisy joins the band. Still, it can’t be denied that between them they manage to come up with some winning songs and begin to gain popularity, particularly after the band meets a producer/promoter.
Of course, it’s totally character-driven—certainly Daisy and Billy take center stage ramping up the tension between herself and Billy’s main lady (who births a daughter) and as each of the other characters are interviewed weigh in on how they impact the success of the band.
I did enjoy the little twist at the end, revealing the source of the interviews. 4 stars
The Author
Taylor Jenkins Reid is the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, as well as One True Loves, Maybe in Another Life, After I Do, and Forever, Interrupted. Her newest novel, Malibu Rising, is out now. She lives in Los Angeles.
Hooked and crazy engaging, totally entertaining after a slow burn entry. Riley sells it as Daisy—she is Daisy—in her expressions, sober or not. The production sells the time, location, atmosphere. It is so compelling. My only quibble was the ending—not as the book would have it—but searching for that happy ever-after feeling and perhaps not so realistic as the authenticity it earlier gained.
The Audiobook
The book keeps a steady pace for the most part, although it is somewhat slow to gain interest at the beginning. The narrators do a great job with their parts and as the book moves toward conclusion, ramps up the tension. It is such a unique writing style, but it works. Engaging and entertaining, into that era, that pop culture, those post-conflict ballads. The interviews gain a deeper understanding of what leads to the breakdown and quietly concludes but the switch between interviews can be confounding.
Conclusion
Watching Riley as Daisy is compelling. She sells her part, spoiled entitled brat that she is. I even began to like Billy near the conclusion. But it’s a visual feast for the eyes as well as the ears and edges out the audiobook. Even if that isn’t your generation, you can watch and be mesmerized by the birth, growth, and frenetic rise that once again, begins to sour under the weight of stardom. The depth of emotion is beautiful.
March was a big one around here—with the birth of a new great-granddaughter on March 7 and my birthday—a big one. Age changes perceptions, but it’s both encouraging and getting scary.
March is also a month of weather extremes; snow one day and warm enough to ride a bike the next. I’ve learned the hard way that I can’t start my garden until late April, so that’s a ways off yet but beginning to think I might be able to clean and prepare the deck. Living in the Rust Belt is a whole new experience.
Of course, around here, we also celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and for the last several years have participated in #ReadingIrelandMonth, so jumped on board with that as well. We read or listened to thirteen books in March, six of which were dedicated to #begorrathon23, and as many NetGalley books as audiobooks with some oldie but goodies as well. (Links below are to my reviews that include purchase info.)
Have you read any of the above? We narrowed the scope of genres last month but still included historical fiction, thrillers, fantasy, crime, and even a touch of horror (John Connolly).
Hands down—no contest. I’m a consummate fan of Kate Quinn—my second bookThe Rose Code as spell-binding as The Huntress, interested me so much I continued to research Bletchley Park after reading her Epilogue. So that is the March choice for Book of the Month.
I didn’t have a lot of time to do blog hopping in February, but I did catch several of my favorites, including those from Yesha at Books Teacups and Reviews. I particularly enjoy her personality which not only shines through on her blog posts but her stories on Instagram as well. If you haven’t already, check out her blog and follow her. She’ll lighten your day.
My Reading Challenges page… I have 38 books of a goal of 145 in Goodreads (three books ahead of schedule) and keep a 97% feedback ratio in NetGalley. Lagging behind on the others but hope to have it caught up shortly.
For us, March spells participation in Reading Ireland Month 2023 and just loved Cathy’s post on March 31 regarding the eventful month for Irish literature. If you haven’t had a chance to read that, I’d urge you to enjoy her list of Irish lit accomplishments along with her humorous comment regardingWild Mountain Thyme—somewhat of a “cult classic”. (Yeah, Christopher Walken has been seriously miscast in more than one film!) I love participating in this challenge and also posted a poem from my grandfather—which would totally confirm his story of kissing the Blarney Stone (maybe more than once?). I also included a post regarding one of our more inglorious St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations–here—in case you missed it.
Once again, thank you sooo much for reading and commenting on my posts. I always appreciate the participation!
High in his attic bedroom, 12-year-old David mourns the loss of his mother. He is angry and he is alone, with only the books on his shelf for company.But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in the myths and fairytales so beloved of his dead mother, he finds that the real world and the fantasy world have begun to meld. The Crooked Man has come, with his mocking smile and his enigmatic words: “Welcome, your majesty. All hail the new king.”
With echoes of Gregory Maguire’s and C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, author John Connolly introduces us to a cast of not-quite-familiar characters – like the seven socialist dwarfs who poison an uninvited (and unpleasant) princess and try to peg the crime on her stepmother. Or the Loups, the evil human-canine hybrids spawned long ago by the union of a wolf and a seductive girl in a red cloak.
As war rages across Europe, David is violently propelled into a land that is both a construct of his imagination, yet frighteningly real – a strange reflection of his own world composed of myths and stories, populated by wolves and worse-than-wolves, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a legendary book…The Book of Lost Things.
My Review:
Fairy tale turned fantasy turned horror. Yikes! I’ve read Charlie Parker, his signature detective/mystery series, and those narratives could turn dark, paranormal, deadly. But this one?
The storyline starts with twelve-year-old David and his newly minted step-mother (Rose) and half-brother. In an effort to avoid those two as much as possible, he pretty much sequesters himself in his room, burying himself in his books. His dad, a professional, is seldom around.
In an effort to improve the situation, Rose moves him to another room, vacated by an old uncle that is filled with books and baubles. But as time wears on, the fables, fantasies, and childhood tales begin to fuse with reality. Indeed, he loses himself more into the dream lately, which is becoming darker—there is, after all, a war on.
Definitely not a tale for children—and possibly not queasy-stomached adults either. Beginning with “The Crooked Man,” the characters grow into malevolent beings, many of which are not human.
Locked into a noir fairy tale, he must travel (as Dorothy did) to find the king who has the Book of Lost Things. Only then can he be returned home—to reality—and out of his marathon nightmare.
Fortunately, there is a kind and wise woodsman, but he must fight his own battles and is not keen on taking on the care of a young one. At each encounter, David must learn to conquer or out-think the creepy folk horror confronting him—most with the aid of the experienced woodsman.
Ewww, some of the descriptions were almost vomit-inducing encounters. Talk about a learning experience—enough to grow hair on the chest of a child. And he does gradually mature, begins to evaluate with a new reality or philosophy, and challenges appearances. My favorite quote:
“…listen closely to his words for he will say less than he means and conceal more than he reveals.”
Beautiful! And that’s the lesson is it? The story is as shocking as revealing, pushes tension, attitude, with awakening. Extremely imaginative, creative in prose, subtle in nuance—but oh, so, powerful (I’m sure enhanced by the narrator).
I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. Perhaps periodic issues of too bloody violence for me. These are my honest thoughts.
Book Details:
Genre: Coming of Age Fiction, Suspense Publisher: Recorded Books ASIN: B001J6XF2E Listening Length: 10 hrs 56 mins Narrator: Steven Crossley Publication Date: October 23, 2008 Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections) Title Link: The Book of Lost Things [Amazon]
Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars
John Connolly – author
The Author: I was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1968 and have, at various points in his life, worked as a journalist, a barman, a local government official, a waiter and a “gofer” at Harrods department store in London. I studied English in Trinity College, Dublin and journalism at Dublin City University, subsequently spending five years working as a freelance journalist for The Irish Times newspaper, to which I continue to contribute, although not as often as I would like. I still try to interview a few authors every year, mainly writers whose work I like, although I’ve occasionally interviewed people for the paper simply because I thought they might be quirky or interesting. All of those interviews have been posted to my website, http://www.johnconnollybooks.com.
I was working as a journalist when I began work on my first novel. Like a lot of journalists, I think I entered the trade because I loved to write, and it was one of the few ways I thought I could be paid to do what I loved. But there is a difference between being a writer and a journalist, and I was certainly a poorer journalist than I am a writer (and I make no great claims for myself in either field.) I got quite frustrated with journalism, which probably gave me the impetus to start work on the novel. That book, Every Dead Thing, took about five years to write and was eventually published in 1999. It introduced the character of Charlie Parker, a former policeman hunting the killer of his wife and daughter. Dark Hollow, the second Parker novel, followed in 2000. The third Parker novel, The Killing Kind, was published in 2001, with The White Road following in 2002. In 2003, I published my fifth novel – and first stand-alone book – Bad Men. In 2004, Nocturnes, a collection of novellas and short stories, was added to the list, and 2005 marked the publication of the fifth Charlie Parker novel, The Black Angel. In 2006, The Book of Lost Things, my first non-mystery novel, was published.
[truncated]
I am based in Dublin but divide my time between my native city and the United States, where each of my novels has been set.
In this standalone, Edgar-award winning author, Joe R. Lansdale, whom “few can match” (Booklist) beams a light on an East Texas town where a QAnon-style, evangelist cult is brewing trouble.
Charlie Garner has a bad feeling. His ex-wife, Meg, has been missing for over a week and one quick peek into her home shows all her possessions packed up in boxes. Neighbors claim she’s running from bill collectors, but Charlie suspects something more sinister is afoot. Meg was last seen working at the local donut shop, a business run by a shadow group most refer to as ‘The Saucer People’; a space-age, evangelist cult who believe their compound to be the site of an extraterrestrial Second Coming.
Along with his brother, Felix, and beautiful, randy journalist Amelia “Scrappy” Moon, Charlie uncovers strange and frightening details about the compound (read: a massive, doomsday storehouse of weapons, a leashed chimpanzee!) When the body of their key informer is found dead with his arms ripped out of their sockets, Charlie knows he’s in danger but remains dogged in his quest to rescue Meg.
Brimming with colorful characters and Lansdale’s characteristic bounce, this rollicking crime novel examines the insidious rise of fringe groups and those under their sway with black comedy and glints of pathos.
My Review:
I certainly remember well my first read penned by this author, a Hap and Leonard novella that I reviewed back in 2017. It was an unusual style of writing hard to forget, so when I saw this come up on NetGalley, couldn’t resist giving Lansdale another go—as I thought this might be the first in a new series. (Maybe not?)
Certainly intended to make a strong social statement regarding the seriousness of following a cult or cult leader blindly in an effort to redirect an unhappy existence—this just makes it worse. Or deadly even. If it wasn’t for the crazy characters and the dark Lansdale sense of humor imparted throughout the book, it would not be a book I’d pick up.
The hapless MCs are trying to do the right thing. Charlie is a mainly unsuccessful writer/former police officer while his brother Felix is a former psychologist now private investigator. Felix’s circle includes Cherry, an attorney. Charlie’s new squeeze is Amelia—better known as Scrappy. She’s a former dental hygienist who got very tired of dirty mouths and now wants to write a book regarding the “Saucer People,” a local cult being groomed to survive an impending invasion of aliens.
The depth with which the cult has pervaded the town and its people is revealed with the group’s investigation, finally winning over cynical Police Chief Nelson (one of the few not involved in the cult). The chief has a dog named Tag who is quickly among the characters you come to love. The storyline takes a serious turn as Charlie comes to believe his ex (Meg—whom he still has strong feelings for) and her new hubby are victims of the cult. It appears that their snitch has also been dispatched, obviously by a murderous monkey—okay, okay—not a monkey. A chimpanzee.
To say the plot turns deadly is not an over-statement—nor a spoiler. You’ll read it soon enough, which btw, (trigger alerts) is rife with crude language, violent description, and sexual innuendo. I guess it might be standard dialogue given the character’s backgrounds or may add some authenticity, but it’s the kind of humor that has you sniggering at the same time as your face reddens.
A biting scrutiny of a fringe compound that can hold a loyal but often deadly stranglehold on its followers searching for Nirvana. Written in the storytellers’ unusual writing style, this narrative will engage and entertain as many readers as it might turn off.
I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.
Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Southern United States Fiction, Southern Fiction, Hard-Boiled Mystery Publisher: Mulholland Books ISBN: 0316540684 ASIN: B0B5SD6P6M Print Length: 305 pages Publication Date: March 21, 2023 Source: Publisher and NetGalley
The Author:Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over thirty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in eighteen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies.
Lansdale has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others.
A major motion picture based on Lansdale’s crime thriller Cold in July was released in May 2014, starring Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Sam Shepard (Black Hawk Down), and Don Johnson (Miami Vice). His novella Bubba Hotep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story “Incident On and Off a Mountain Road” was adapted to film for Showtime’s “Masters of Horror.” He is currently co-producing a TV series, “Hap and Leonard” for the Sundance Channel and films including The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero.
Lansdale is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
Operation Storm King is an explosive alternative history about the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. It will take you on a heart-stopping journey, challenging your view of reality.
Historians tell us that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died of a stroke in Warm Springs, Georgia. Operation Storm King tells of a shocking, yet entirely plausible alternative version, an audacious Nazi raid to kidnap FDR from West Point.
Starting in January 1945, “Operation Storm King” follows a small team of Nazi commandos as they penetrate New York Harbor, and sail up the Hudson River in the revolutionary Type XXI U-Boat. Their mission: kidnap the American President and force the United States into an alliance with Germany against Russia. When FDR’s heroic but ultimately suicidal actions foil the plot, Vice-President Truman covers up the kidnapping, and creates the myth of FDR’s peaceful death to prevent public panic.
Seventy-five years later, Mai Zhao, a hard driving woman West Point cadet discovers the shattered U-Boat wreck in the Hudson River, and uncovers its shocking secrets. The U.S. national security apparatus goes on alert. Zhao’s unstoppable efforts to uncover the truth threatens to undermine the American public’s faith in government. Washington mobilizes powerful political and legal forces to stop her.
With fierce battles and sacrifices, action-packed scenes, and well-crafted characters, “Operation Storm King” is a must-read for fans of explosive wartime adventures, gritty historical war fiction, and riveting alternative history epics. For fans of best-selling authors like Philip K. Dick, Robert Harris, or Tom Clancy and those looking for a detailed techno-thriller, Operation Storm King is a book you won’t want to put down.
Follow the desperate mission, and decide for yourself what really happened!
His Review:
Attending the United States Military Academy at West Point is the pinnacle of a career in the army. Teaching at the academy is a high point in an educator’s career as well. The premier student is Kim Zhao and her history teacher is Professor Goldstein. They work well together in the classroom and enjoy time together in their off-time.
A weekend away, diving in the Hudson River sounds like a great release from the everyday tensions at the academy. The dive reveals an astonishing find, an old submarine in the river across from the citadel! They both know they will be famous after revealing this find. But they have to be cautious. What treasures could this sunken craft contain and how did it get there?
Anything of this nature awakens the thirst of the U.S. Government. The CIA and NSA become involved in ascertaining what the object is doing there. Dr. Goldstein and Ms. Zhao are sequestered and admonished to tell nobody of their find. The government agencies hint at lifelong imprisonment or worse! The most astounding find of their lives is now controlled by clandestine elements of the U.S. Government.
This book is fascinating and I could not put it down. Read and enjoy! 4.5 stars
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.
Rosepoint Publishing:Four point Five Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Historical World War II Fiction, US Historical Fiction, War & Military Action Fiction Publisher: Wolfhound ISBN: B0BYRPXN51 ASIN: B0BWFZ38G5 Print Length: 304 pages Publication Date: March 29, 2023 Source: Publisher and NetGalley
The Author: Dr. Elliott Sumers is a Harvard-trained radiologist. His father served on the U.S. Navy Destroyer Escort Niblack during the Battle of the Atlantic of World War II. As a child, Dr. Sumers was fascinated by his father’s stories of hunting U-Boats. Dr. Sumers lives in the Hudson River Valley of New York with his wife Dr. Anne Sumers and their Irish Wolfhounds. For many years, the Drs. Sumers have welcomed cadets from the nearby United States Military Academy, into their home. Operation Storm King is the natural fusion of his childhood interest in World War II submarines and tales of life at West Point, told to him by cadets.
My sister, apparently still going through some belongings our mother left behind, found a sea-worthy story poem written by Stanley McShane, our grandfather.
Quite lengthy, he divided it into five sections he called “Yarns.” While most of his books were written in the early 20s, this was penned a few years before his death some seventy years ago. The epic poem (an epic or long poem typically details extraordinary feats and adventures.) is the equivalent of a short story. I’ve chosen Yarn Four to publish here:
Smiling Pat’s Adventures
Introduction
Pat he sat on the dock one day
and heaved a gentle sigh.
I smiled at him; he smiled at me,
a twinkle in his eye.
“Oh tell me, jolly tar,” said I,
“of things that you have seen
Upon the mighty ocean blue, that
sometimes seem so green.”
He grinned at me; I grinned at him,
as he winked his weathered eye.
He shook a reef from off his tongue,
then yelled: “Yarn One, Ahoy!”
Yarn Four
The Bonny Belle
“’Twas on the Bonny Bell you see,”
again went on the tar*.
“She had no belles aboard of her;
she had no extra spar.
She took aboard her in her hold
one million tons of YEAST.
We broached the cargo of that ship
and had a jolly feast!
A feast it was, believe me, friend,
for we were rising high;
That ship became as light as air
and rose into the sky.
It rose so high that we began
to see things on old Mars,
We saw great men, all giants bold,
a juggling with the stars.
The stars began to shoot this way
and that, and then the other;
And then it was I longed to see
my poor old widowed mother.
We wandered through the Milky Way
and met a Movie Star.
She wondered why our yeastly ship
had traveled up so far.
“Twas then that I began to sense
some future kind of trouble;
for with a marling spike she pricked
our yeastly ocean bubble.
Then back to earth we fell again
and landed on the sea.
A passing steamer towed us in,
a saddened crew were we,
But shiver my old timber’s now,
I quite enjoyed that trip,
Aboard the good ship, Bonny Belle;
aboard that yeastly ship.
So here am I. Look through this glass,
for, as sure as I’m alive,
Unless I weary you, my friend,
you’ll like Yarn number Five.”
As I’ve noted before, he professed to be a “sailor, prospector, miner, and cowpoke,” and largely wrote about his sea-going years on various ships of the late nineteenth century from barques to whalers.
I created book trailers for two of McShane’s books,Cocos Island TreasureandLucky Joe without knowing what I was doing, but they convey somewhat a taste of his sailing years. The theme behind Cocos Island Treasure is from Marc Gunn’s album, “Happy Songs of Death” called “Won’t You Come With Me.” I’ve mentioned Marc Gunn before—love his happy podcasts full of Irish tunes.
8 Ballo’s mother was certain he was going to be born a girl, but when he comes out a boy, she writes down simply the number 8, as he has seven older siblings. She meant to change it to a real name at some point but never got around to it.
Velma seems to be far off the rails of society’s norms and heading for personal destruction. 8 Ballo is a private detective hired by her father to find her and bring her home. Her father, Mr. Hartmann, is paying well and wants to have his daughter home and under his thumb.
Falling for the charms of Velma was not in 8’s plan, but she has him under her thumb and he is torn between his contract to her father and his affection for Velma. The story takes many twists and keeps the reader engaged. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams
The Author: Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.
The Author:
March was a big one around here—with the birth of a new great-granddaughter on March 7 and my birthday—a big one. Age changes perceptions, but it’s both encouraging and getting scary.
Rosepoint Publishing 