Short Stack of Suggestions for Reading Ireland Month

Short Stack

Reading Menu

Good Morning Friends! I’m excited about the review lineup I have for Reading Ireland Month22 and thought I’d share. It’s a full list of varied genres, so hang on–my short stack may turn into a full menu of great reads!

First, in case you missed posted March reviews: (Titles are linked to Amazon; covers are linked to my reviews.)

The Paris Network by Siobhan Curham

My audiobook review of a WWII Historical Fiction based on true events, the determination and many ways the women of the resistance provided support. Powerful, emotional statements of war heroes and my hearty recommendation. I gave 4.5 stars

Chasing Time by Thomas Reilly

A CE review of a medical thriller with a touch of fantasy. A talisman slips through time enhancing the lives of various individuals through two thousand years until one man’s desperate mission to save his wife. He gave 5 stars.

Wild Irish Rose by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles

Molly is a former private detective, now a mother and married to policeman Daniel. She would love to work with Daniel on the current murder mystery and befriends a new Irish immigrant. Good for fans of the successful historical and cozy mystery series.

Second Chance by Mike Faricy

A tried and true Jack Dillon Dublin Tales, Book 12, an international mystery and crime, cozy mystery read and reviewed by the CE. He gave 4.5 stars.

Wolf Catcher by Anne Montgomery

This Native American literature is split into a dual narrative spanning nine hundred years from the tribe that buries a magician to the current storyline of the looting of archeological artifacts. Gripping; I loved it—5 stars.

And Still to come: (Blurbs in Italics)

(Titles are links to Amazon. Covers are links to Goodreads.)

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter-mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in best-selling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.

The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly

On the night he celebrates a big win, defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a former client in the trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is immediately charged with murder but can’t post the exorbitant $5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge.

Mickey elects to represent himself and is forced to mount his defense from his jail cell in the Twin Towers Correctional Center in downtown Los Angeles. All the while he needs to look over his shoulder—as an officer of the court he is an instant target, and he makes few friends when he reveals a corruption plot within the jail.

But the bigger plot is the one against him. Haller knows he’s been framed, whether by a new enemy or an old one. As his trusted team, including his half-brother, Harry Bosch, investigates, Haller must use all his skills in the courtroom to counter the damning evidence against him.

Even if he can obtain a not-guilty verdict, Mickey understands that it won’t be enough. In order to be truly exonerated, he must find out who really committed the murder and why. That is the law of innocence.

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan

First Rule: Make them like you.

Second Rule: Make them need you.
Third Rule: Make them pay.
They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system.
They think I’m working hard to impress them.
They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row.
They’re wrong. I’m going to bury him.

Walking with Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne

As a young boy growing up in the outskirts of Dublin, Gabriel Byrne sought refuge in a world of imagination among the fields and hills near his home, at the edge of a rapidly encroaching city. Born to working class parents and the eldest of six children, he harbored a childhood desire to become a priest. When he was eleven years old, Byrne found himself crossing the Irish Sea to join a seminary in England. Four years later, Byrne had been expelled and he quickly returned to his native city. There he took odd jobs as a messenger boy and a factory laborer to get by. In his spare time, he visited the cinema where he could be alone and yet part of a crowd. It was here that he could begin to imagine a life beyond the grey world of 60s Ireland.

He reveled in the theatre and poetry of Dublin’s streets, populated by characters as eccentric and remarkable as any in fiction, those who spin a yarn with acuity and wit. It was a friend who suggested Byrne join an amateur drama group, a decision that would change his life forever and launch him on an extraordinary forty-year career in film and theatre. Moving between sensual recollection of childhood in a now almost vanished Ireland and reflections on stardom in Hollywood and Broadway, Byrne also courageously recounts his battle with addiction and the ambivalence of fame.

Walking with Ghosts is by turns hilarious and heartbreaking as well as a lyrical homage to the people and landscapes that ultimately shape our destinies.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man, faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery that forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent—but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own.

Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel.

Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall. . . .

Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso.

Okay, the short stack turned into a whole meal! But what do you think? Have you already read one (or several?) or have I enticed you into putting one of these on your #tbr? Let me know, please.

Wolf Catcher by Anne Montgomery – #BookReview – Native American Literature

Wolf Catcher by Anne Montgomery

A Reading Ireland Month book

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

“Gardening is not about growing food, but about growing children.”

Book Blurb:

A reporter seeks information on an eleventh century magician and discovers that black market sales of antiquities can lead to murder.

In 1939, archaeologists uncovered a tomb at the Northern Arizona site called Ridge Ruin. The man, bedecked in fine turquoise jewelry and intricate beadwork, was surrounded by wooden swords with handles carved into animal hooves and human hands. The Hopi workers stepped back from the grave, knowing what the Moochiwimi sticks meant. This man, buried nine-hundred years earlier, was a magician.

Former television journalist Kate Butler hangs on to her investigative reporting career by writing freelance magazine articles. Her research on The Magician shows he bore some European facial characteristics and physical qualities that made him different from the people who buried him. Her quest to discover The Magician’s origin carries her back to a time when the high desert world was shattered by the birth of a volcano and into the present-day dangers of archaeological looting where black market sales of antiquities can lead to murder.

My Review:

Boy, didn’t this one grip me quickly and keep me glued to the pages! I absolutely love reading fiction tales about the ancient history of our own beautiful United States—this one in the spectacular geographical area known as Arizona. Probably better known for searing summer desert heat, the state boasts a multitude of topographical diversity.

Chapel of the Holy Cross, Flagstaff AZ — Chapel of the Holy Cross

Flagstaff, north of Phoenix, is high desert at almost 7,000 feet, a little over eighteen miles from Ridge Ruin. When I was still riding my motorcycle, the girls and I rode to Prescott—and then a short ride to pricey but gorgeous Sedona, the artsy community not far from Flagstaff that features red-rock buttes, steep canyon walls, and inexplicably deep pine forests. Sedona (twenty-nine miles from Flagstaff) is unique and heart-poundingly stunning. While there, I’d recommend a visit to the (active Catholic) Chapel of the Holy Cross built into the red rocks that offer dramatic views.

So I was deeply and thoroughly embroiled in this imaginative novel that split the storyline in dual narratives: The current one and that of the eleventh century capturing a native people written so creatively, you’d swear it was taken from the pages of a diary.

Kate Butler is a freelancer working on an article regarding the discovery in 1939 of a tomb near Ridge Ruin where a man buried nine hundred years previously was obviously a magician and sacred member of the tribe populating the ridge. But was he of the tribe? If not, where did he come from? And here’s where it turns fascinating—enter the world of Kaya, Wolf Catcher, Deer Runner, Badger, and the white wolf, Spirit Warrior.

The Arizona high desert landscape in the tenth, eleventh century was changed by the active volcanoes of the area forcing tribes to abandon their villages and seek fresh game, water, and arable conditions. Some peoples were peacefully assimilated; some not so peacefully ventured to take by force the attractive conditions offered by distant communities.

Kaya, accepted to her village as a child, is a healer, but still not wholly one of them and keeps herself separate. Her skills, however, are unquestioned having learned from her mother. I loved her character and that of the support characters of the village. Their stories, their lives, come to life and breathe their circumstances to reality in the mind. Their experience as the storyline hurtles to conclusion is gripping.

The novel melds seamlessly much of fact with fiction. I love it when I’m moved to research the veracity of places like Ridge Ruin. Although to be accurate here, the author discloses her own discoveries when she was commissioned to write a feature article about The Magician by the Arizona Highways Magazine, and I must say managed to incorporate a complex tale here combining the tribal experience possibilities into an unputdownable account that includes a crushingly plausible antagonist bent on stealing artifacts.

“Our priority was the guys with guns, not the ones with shovels.”

Loved the cliff-hanging chapter endings. Well researched, well-plotted and paced, a historical mystery that raises still more questions about the migrations and origins of peoples and artifacts found in unlikely places.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. Trust me, you’ll love it. Totally recommended and out now!

Book Details:

Genre: Native American Literature, US Historical Fiction
Publisher: TouchPoint Press
ASIN: B09MV1H4N3
Print Length: 382 pages
Publication Date: February 2, 2022
Source: Author inquiry

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Anne Butler Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, and amateur sports official. Her first TV job came at WRBL‐TV in Columbus, Georgia, and led to positions at WROC‐TV in Rochester, New York, KTSP‐TV in Phoenix, Arizona, and ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, where she anchored the Emmy and ACE award‐winning SportsCenter. She finished her on‐camera broadcasting career with a two‐year stint as the studio host for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Montgomery was a freelance and/or staff reporter for six publications, writing sports, features, movie reviews, and archeological pieces. Her novels include The Castle, The Scent of Rain, A Light in the Desert, and Wild Horses on the Salt, Montgomery taught high school journalism for 20 years and was an amateur sports official for four decades, a time during which she called baseball, ice hockey, soccer, and basketball games and served as a high school football referee and crew chief. Montgomery is a foster mom to three sons. When she can, she indulges in her passions: rock collecting, musical theater, scuba diving, and playing her guitar.

Find Anne Montgomery on her website: https://annemontgomerywriter.com/

NB: Ms. Montgomery states she has “red hair and freckles” and is American of Irish descent.

Cathedral attribute: Red Rock Realty

Second Chance (Jack Dillon Dublin Tales Book 12) by Mike Faricy – #BookReview – #readingirelandmonth22

Second Chance (Jack Dillon Dublin Tales Book 12) by Mike Faricy

A Reading Ireland Month book

Book Blurb:

Second Chance – Jack Dillon Dublin Tales 12

US Marshal Jack Dillon is sent to the coastal village of Skerries to investigate a murder. Since his partner D.I. Paddy Suel can’t make it, Dillon is accompanied by D.I. Kevin Rafferty. Turns out the victim in the murder is an American.

What’s even worse is D.I. Rafferty is killed in a car accident returning to Dublin…

Or was it an accident?

Things get very complicated very fast.
Dillon is sent to the west of Ireland to investigate a case and to keep him safe. There’s only one problem – It doesn’t work.

Marshal Jack Dillon becomes the primary target of a killer who has been given a Second Chance!

His Review:

People are being executed for no apparent reason. When several of the deceased are part of law enforcement, it becomes personal for Ireland’s law enforcement. Finding detectives shot dead along major thoroughfares makes everyone nervous.

A young lady lays in a hospital bed clinging to life. She was suffering from a bad head wound. How could this happen in the sleepy Irish town called Sligo Town. Someone with anger issues had pushed her hard against a building and she cracked her head. Suspects were few and far between.

Another person had come over to Ireland to arrange for the burial of his wife. A bullet stopped his progress and another case was opened for An Garda Siochana Special Branch out of Dublin. The suspicion is that the target was probably Marshall Jack Dillon and not the person actually slain. Arranging for funerals in Ireland had suddenly become very dangerous.

Mike Faricy has a system he utilizes to develop his tales. This story was predictable as well but maintains suspense because of the amping risk to the investigating detective. Jack tries to solve the cases while keeping his head down to keep from becoming one of the victims. His movements are restricted due to the threat on his life. The banter between the higher ups and Jack are entertaining. This book kept me turning the pages. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – C.E. Williams

We have reviewed a number of Faricy’s novels (the last in this series being Dublin Moon), as well as the Dev Haskell series (the last being Silencio!) and all continue to be engaging and entertaining.

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Credit River Publishing: 12^th Edition
ASIN: B09R4QBBHQ
Print Length: 305 pages
Publication Date: February 23, 2022
Source: Author request
Title Link: Second Chance [Amazon]

The Author: [Mike Faricy] was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, I still live there as well as in Dublin, Ireland. I’ve been a soldier, freelance journalist, tended bar, sold designer cakes, owned a painting and decorating company along with a number of other schemes and scams. If that doesn’t offend you I also play bagpipes with the Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band. All my books stand alone, read them in whatever order you wish. They are filled with the sort of oddballs we are all curious about, but wisely, prefer to keep at a distance. None of my characters will be saving the world from terrorism, international banking conspiracies or coups to take over the government. Rather, they inhabit a world just below the surface of polite society, characters with one foot on either side of the law. The circumstances they find themselves in are usually due to bad decisions, but bad decisions lead to interesting stories. They serve not so much as an example but as a warning to us all. Thanks for taking the time, happy reading. [Goodreads bio]

⇒⇒⇒⇒

[Amazon] Faricy’s Jack Dillon Dublin Tales series was originally released under the pen name Patrick Emmett. US Marshal Jack Dillon is sent to Dublin to escort a prisoner back to the US. Things don’t go exactly as planned and trouble ensues. Dillon becomes permanently stationed in Dublin, just to get him out of his boss’s hair. Things take an entertaining turn from there, think of a cross between Dev Haskell and James Bond.

Visit Mike on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MikeFaricyBooks

Visit Dev Haskell’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DevHaskell

Email Mike” mikefaricyauthor@gmail.com

Follow Mike on Twitter @mikefaricybooks

Mike’s web site; www.mikefaricybooks.com

Have a great weekend!

TV Netflix Series Pieces of Her vs #Audiobook Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter and Kathleen Early (Narrator) – #thriller

TV Netflix Series Pieces of Her vs Audiobook Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Intro

After having listened to the audiobook that I then learned would be a Netflix original, I patiently waited for this one to debut, which it did on Friday, March 4. Again, I’m flummoxed by the difference between the original story and the Netflix series.

So if it’s well-received as a book title or audiobook, did it also translate well to the small screen? If you’ve caught a few of my previous audiobooks versus Netflix series, you’ll note my continued bewilderment. Is this actually better? Or worse. A radical departure from the Virgin River while a faithful reproduction of Longmire. (And I really loved the characters on Longmire.)

As you’ve no doubt read or heard by now, Pieces of Her is the story of a daughter who is just discovering that her mother hasn’t always been the person she thought was her mom.

Pieces of Her the Netflix thriller was developed by Charlotte Stoudt and Lesli Linka Glatter. The director for all episodes (and there are eight in the first series) is Minkie Spiro who directed Downton Abbey and Better Call Saul and while I’ve not watched the former, a solid fan of the latter, so I was excited.

Netflix Series

Pieces of Her (in the co?) leading role is Toni Collette as Laura Oliver with Bella Heathcote as Andy Oliver (her daughter). There are a number of other actors, of course, my favorites being Omari Hardwick as Gordon Oliver and Gil Birmingham as Charlie Bass. There is a lineup of actors portraying Laura as a child and as an adolescent.

The series is adapted from the novel (same name) by Karin Slaughter who is also acting as a producer on the show.

Andy (Andrea) is celebrating a 30s birthday out with her mother, Laura, in beautiful coastal Belle Isle when the quiet serene atmosphere suddenly turns tragic. While Andy freezes in horror, Laura springs to action in the protection of her daughter and is soon forced to make a deadly decision.

That split-second automatic reaction to the situation changes their lives immediately and forever.

Laura is hurt but following triage medical attention clams up and refuses to speak to anyone; not to the police, her ex (Gordan), or to Andy. To Andy, however, she barks quick instructions to speak to no one and leave. She is handed some money, a burner phone, and car keys but no explanation. YAY! So far, so good.

Well, but Andy hasn’t been doing so well with her life though; aimless, living off her mother’s generosity in her mother’s garage apartment. So I’m not sure how she can be trusted to follow the instructions.

And she doesn’t.

My Thoughts

But now, is it just me? Or did the Netflix version veer into it’s own interpretation? The constant flashbacks crippled somewhat the timeline from Laura’s childhood to the present situation, introduction of all the backstories, new characters and twists that spins wildly with 70s US history. Indeed, at times spun completely out of coherence, forcing the viewer to catch up and make connections in later scenes.

While Toni Collette (Laura) made a heroic effort at portraying a horrific history and her effort at escape, her wretched persona got a bit tiresome. Andy, what can I say about poor, dear Andy; not the brightest daughter ever to be delivered from a pseudo-protest child.

3 stars three stars

Audiobook (Blurb)

The number-one international best-selling author returns with an electrifying novel of devastating secrets and hidden lives that probes the fraught relationship between daughters and mothers and the lengths we go to protect those we love.

What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all? Andrea Cooper knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows Laura has spent nearly her whole life in the small beach town of Belle Isle, Georgia; she knows Laura’s never wanted anything more than to lead a quiet, normal life in this conventional community; she knows Laura’s a kind and beloved speech pathologist who helps others; she knows Laura’s never kept a secret in her life. Andrea knows that Laura is everything she isn’t – confident, settled, sure of herself. Feeling listless, with no direction, Andrea, unlike Laura, struggles to find her way.

But Andrea’s certainty is upended when a visit to the mall is shattered by an act of horrifying violence that reveals a completely different side of Laura – a cool woman who calmly faces down a murderer. It turns out that before Andrea’s mother was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly 30 years she’s been hiding from the woman she once was, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.

The assailant was a mentally troubled, teenaged scion of Georgia law enforcement royalty, and now the police want answers about what really happened in those terrifying moments at the mall. Though she’s being scrutinized at every level of the criminal justice system and her innocence is on the line, Laura refuses to speak to anyone, including her own daughter. She pushes Andrea away, insisting it’s time for her to stand alone and make a life for herself. To save her mother, Andrea embarks on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. Andrea knows that if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for her mother…or her.

Filled with intriguing turns, surprising revelations, and a compelling cast of characters, Pieces of Her is Slaughter’s most electrifying, provocative, and suspenseful novel yet.

My Thoughts

Okay, by now the well-plotted storyline has been laid out more than once. When Andy witnesses her mother in action, she is both stunned by her actions and also suffering from the disastrous circumstances that forced her mother’s reaction. She is not capable of applying what she knows about her mother with the person who so deftly ended the appalling scene. It’s shocking.

I was hooked by those opening scenes, narrated well by Kathleen Early. I quickly compared many of the headlines of the 70s to the circumstances dibbled out in little dabs, building the tension and whipping the listener from mother to daughter. As the old saying goes, make no conclusions until all the facts are disclosed, but mercy, that could be sooo slow sometimes.

Mainly told in Andy’s POV, there are the backstories, flashbacks revealing another tiny morsel of truth. Or was it the truth? Who can you trust?

The truth, the reveal, when it finally came, came as a knowing relief and combined several theories in the complex plot meant to throw the reader/listener off.

The setting is beautiful, the characters’ depths varied, most not wholly sympathic, the dialogue often blue. I listened to False Witness last year, my introduction to the author and her graphic writing style, but had to try one more. Perhaps I’ll try one in her signature series next time, rather than a standalone thriller.

4 stars

Overall Impression

While I enjoyed the book, the tension, drama, and thrill of discovery, there were times when I lost all faith in Andy, finding her making questionable decisions more than once. I had too early formed an opinion of the circumstances, having lived through those years and headlines, and was shocked at the jaw-dropping reveal when it came. Still, I questioned some of Laura’s early handling of Andy and wondered how that might have been better.

The Netflix series, usually following their well-received formula, took a slightly different tack this time, throwing in Andy’s quick romantic interest (not unusual), but making a hash of the flashbacks. They generally work to create an equitable R-rated series, but missed building the tension this time like the book did.

This time my vote has to go to the author’s book—and it’s been out for some time–and can be found at your favorite retail outlet.

Book Details

Genre: Women Sleuth Mysteries, Police Procedural Mysteries
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
ASIN: B07CLKPDWL
Listening Length: 16 hrs 5 mins
Narrator: Kathleen Early
Audible Release: August 21, 2018
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Pieces of Her [Amazon]

The Author: Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her 21 novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated COP TOWN and the instant NYT bestselling stand-alone novels PRETTY GIRLS, THE GOOD DAUGHTER, and PIECES OF HER. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta. Her stand-alone novel PIECES OF HER is in development with Netflix, starring Toni Collette, and the Grant County and Will Trent series are in development for television.

http://www.karinslaughter.com

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKarinSlaughter/

Instagram http://www.instagram.com/karinslaughterauthor/

Twitter @SlaughterKarin

#throwbackthursday

Info attributes, photos, and covers:
Netflixlife.com
Actress photos: Looper.com

Chasing Time by Thomas Reilly – #BookReview – #medicalthrillers

A Reading Ireland Month contribution

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Devastated by his wife’s terminal illness, retired teacher Tony Lucas seeks to recapture a lost magical key from his youth that has the power to predict the future and use it to unravel additional mysteries that could save her. Racing against time as the disease extracts its unforgiving toll, Tony embarks on an amazing quest involving a series of unexpected plot twists, cryptic clues, and memorable characters.

Driven by a strong male lead, this heartwarming book combines realistic medical elements with a hint of fantasy to create a gripping, suspenseful narrative. Reilly spins a compelling tale of a devoted husband’s resilience and perseverance as he pursues a life-saving mission that extends from Ancient Rome to modern-day America to the olive orchards of Spain.

His Review:

A strange talisman slips through time enhancing the lives of various individuals. Is time a continuous event with no beginning or no end? Lucius Fabius Antonius thought this might be true of the first century A.D. Lucius was an olive oil merchant in the Roman empire when disease ravaged the production in Italy. He was forced to look outside the empire and found a better product in Spain.

Two thousand plus years later Anthony Lucas waits patiently for a time capsule to be opened after it is discovered in a cornerstone of the old school. He is lucky to be chosen the recipient of the unusual talisman in the small copper box.

He discovers a five inch key-like object near an Italian restaurant which is intricately carved into the figure of a two-faced man. Tony tosses the key in his backpack and proceeds home. The box he won in class had an old newspaper clipping from 1906. The article included interesting happenings in that year along with some evidence of possible shady dealings from some of New York’s more prominent citizens.

Weird events continue to happen to the eighth-grader as he progresses through life.

This entire story is a very engrossing tale of what could be. As I read the book, I was drawn into the whirlpool of potential events in the confluence of time. I was so engrossed I could not put the story down but zipped through it. Start the book and you too will be all consumed! 5 stars – CE Williams

Thomas Michael Reilly—definitely of Irish descent—and my second novel by an Irish author or book about Ireland in participation with the eighth annual Reading Ireland Month. We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Book Details:

Genre: Medical Thrillers, Medical Fiction
Publisher: World Castle Publishing LLC
ASIN: B09DTJPPLR
Print Length: 160pages
Publication Date: September 13, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Chasing Time [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: Thomas Reilly is a retired biotechnology scientist and executive who holds a doctoral degree in microbiology. He is the author of numerous essays and articles on science and technology. CHASING TIME, his first novel, is a gripping medical suspense story with a touch of magical realism that captures many elements of the drug research and development processes. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware with his wife Linda.

Reading Ireland Month 2022

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay – #BookReview – #policeprocedurals

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

Book Blurb:

It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. A digital apocalypse. None of that happens. But at a Blockbuster Video in New Jersey, four teenagers working late at the store are attacked. Only one inexplicably survives. Police quickly identify a suspect, the boyfriend of one of the victims, who flees and is never seen again.

Fifteen years later, more teenage employees are attacked at an ice cream store in the same town, and again only one makes it out alive.

In the aftermath of the latest crime, three lives intersect: the lone survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive the horrors of her tragedy; the brother of the fugitive accused, who’s convinced the police have the wrong suspect; and FBI agent Sarah Keller who must delve into the secrets of both nights―stirring up memories of teen love and lies―to uncover the truth about murders on the night shift.

Twisty, poignant, and redemptive, The Night Shift is a story about the legacy of trauma and how the broken can come out on the other side, and it solidifies Finlay as one of the new leading voices in the world of thrillers.

His Review:

A youthful crew works at the Blockbuster Video and the unbelievable happens. They are all slain except one, in a brutal manner. Ella Monroe is the sole survivor and has suffered from trauma amnesia for many years. She has selected a career in law enforcement and still searches her memory to recall all of the details of that night.

Fifteen years later a similar crime occurs, so very reminiscent of that tragic night. Ella works with her fellow law enforcement team including FBI and local law enforcement. The similarities are bewildering and again three young girls have been taken from the community. The difference is that the current loss is at a Subway sandwich shop and not a video rental store.

Both crimes have occurred in the late evening on the three to eleven shift and are eerily similar, so much so that it seems the killer has revisited the community. How is this possible? All of the victims are young females with a very promising future ahead of them!

The author combines tense situations with the disbelief that comes from people in a small town doubting that any of their neighbors could do such a thing. A number of people are suspected, but the prime suspect is let out of jail on a technicality and has totally disappeared. Frantic searches lead nowhere and the family of the prime suspect is shunned by the community. The suspect’s father disappears at approximately the same time. What is going on?

I applaud the author and his manipulation of the plot. A very entertaining and engaging read and a page turner. The conclusion was a twisting surprise and I expect anyone who reads this narrative will agree with me. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Small Town & Rural Fiction, Serial Killer Thrillers, Police Procedurals
Publisher: Minotaur Books

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250268885
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250268884

Print Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s): The Night Shift [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: Alex Finlay is the pseudonym of an author who lives in Washington, D.C. His 2021 breakout thriller, EVERY LAST FEAR, was an Indie Next pick, a LibraryReads selection, an Amazon Editor’s Best Thriller, as well as a CNN, Newsweek, E!, BuzzFeed, Business Week, Goodreads, Parade, PopSugar, and Reader’s Digest best or most anticipated thriller of the year. Alex’s work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and optioned for film and television. Learn more at https://alexfinlaybooks.com/

The Paris Network by Siobhan Curham – #Audiobook Review – WWII Historical Fiction

The Paris Network by Siobhan Curham

Book Blurb:

Paris, 1940: He pressed the tattered book into her hands. “You must go to the café, and ask at the counter for Pierre Duras. Tell him that I sent you. Tell him you’re there to save the people of France.”

Sliding the coded message in between the crisp pages of the hardback novel, bookstore owner Laurence slips out into the cold night to meet her resistance contact, pulling her woolen beret down further over her face. The silence of the night is suddenly shattered by an Allied plane rushing overhead, its tail aflame, heading down toward the forest. Her every nerve stands on end. She must try to rescue the pilot.

But straying from her mission isn’t part of the plan, and if she is discovered, it won’t only be her life at risk….

America, years later: When Jeanne uncovers a dusty old box in her father’s garage, her world as she knows it is turned upside down. She has inherited a bookstore in a tiny French village, just outside of Paris, from a mysterious woman named Laurence.

Traveling to France to search for answers about the woman her father has kept a secret for years, Jeanne finds the store tucked away, in a corner of the cobbled main square. Boarded up, it is in complete disrepair. Inside, she finds a tiny silver pendant hidden beneath the blackened, scorched floorboards.

As Jeanne pieces together Laurence’s incredible story, she discovers a woman whose bravery knew no bounds. But will the truth about who Laurence really is shatter Jeanne’s heart or change her future?

My Review:

Paris in 1939 is getting scary.

Laurence Sidot is dispensing books with appropriate passages for her customers; those in need, those looking for something positive. She inherited the book store from her parents (now deceased) and is trying to carry on amid worsening rumors of the war reaching their area. Unfortunately, it isn’t long before the Germans arrive to confirm stories and demonstrate just exactly the shocking conditions and atrocities they rain down on the people in her little village outside of Paris.

When she begins to see the people of her town either taken away, shot, or hanged, she realizes she absolutely cannot stand by and do nothing.

She learns of the French resistance and creates a book club (which were banned), and conducts meetings at their peril. She learns of a banned books list and makes sure she has those available to the participants of the book club. She feels she can exert resistance pressure by printing small but powerful anti-German sentiments and coded messages and disseminates those in the middle of the night.

In addition, she is given small but clandestine missions by the French Resistance where she meets war paraphernalia airdrops in the middle of the night. One of these results in her meeting an American airman, slightly wounded, whom she rescues and protects and mends for his return to England.

Now switch to 1993 and the reader is introduced to Jeanne, a former detective who, following the death of her mother, learns she has inherited a book store in a village outside of Paris. Her father can tell her very little of Laurence, though it’s obvious he loved her and claims that Laurence was a hero. She and her father travel to the village to claim her inheritance, discover the truth of what happened to Laurence, and determine their mutual connection.

Yes, I loved the 1939 timeline, Laurence, who loved and knew her books well and provided peace and hope to her customers. Her pride and spirit were strong, her story gripping.

Jeanne, on the other hand, was still smarting over being “retired” against her will, unhappy in her circumstances. I’m not sure why she didn’t badger her father into telling her about Laurence (or he to just admit and spill the whole story), but the truth is fed in small portions, a revelation at a time. It’s an uneven timeline, heavily on the side of Laurence (thankfully) and almost aggravating coming from Jeanne. I didn’t particularly like her character, but once she finds out her mother was not her birth mother, things begin falling into place.

Based on true events, a revelation about the determination and the many ways the women of the resistance provided support. I loved the story and it hooked and kept me listening until the final heart-rending reveal. Powerful, emotional statements of the individuals on both sides of a war and my recommendation to all who enjoy historical fiction as well as the indomitable spirit of people in horrific circumstances.

We received a complimentary review audiobook from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: World War II Historical Fiction
Publisher: Hachette UK – Bookouture
ASIN: B09RKMDB4G
Listening Length: 13 hrs 50 mins
Narrator: Laurence Bouvard
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Paris Network [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Siobhan Curham - author — Siobhan Curham

The Author: Thank you for visiting my Amazon author page! It still blows my mind to be able to say that I’m an award-winning, best-selling author of over 40 books for adults, young adults and children, because I’m also a former council estate kid and university drop-out who gave up on my writing dream because I didn’t think I was from the right (aka posh enough) background. So I really am proof that miracles can happen!

It’s safe to say that my books cover very wide ranging subjects, from spirituality, love and friendship to World War 2, the refugee crisis and talking animals! One theme remains constant however, my desire to leave my readers feeling uplifted and inspired.

My first historical novel, An American in Paris, was published in 2021 and became an Amazon best-seller in the US and UK, which I was over the moon about, as it turns out I have a real passion for writing historical fiction. I love unearthing the lesser known facts and details from World War 2 and presenting them to readers in stories that will resonate today. My other World War 2 novels are Beyond This Broken Sky, The Paris Network, and the yet to be titled ‘Book 4’ – which will be published by Bookouture in August 2022.

I’m also currently writing two more books for my Moonlight Dreamers series for young adults.

Because my path to writing success has been such a bumpy one, I love nothing more than helping other people achieve their writing dreams via my online community, THE WRITING ADVENTURE (you can find us on Facebook).

You can find out more about my writing and sign up to my newsletter, GRIT, GRACE & GRATITUDE, at http://www.siobhancurham.com

And you can connect with me on social media here…

Facebook: Siobhan Curham Author
Instagram: @SiobhanCurham
Twitter: @SiobhanCurham

Thanks so much to everyone who has read my books and taken the time to leave a review here on Amazon, it really helps so I very much appreciate it.
Siobhan

Happy Thursday!

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The Bucharest Dossier by William Maz – #BookReview – #EspionageThrillers

The Bucharest Dossier by William Maz

Book Blurb:

Bill Hefflin is a man apart—apart from life, apart from his homeland, apart from love.

At the start of the 1989 uprising in Romania, CIA analyst Bill Hefflin—a disillusioned Romanian expat—arrives in Bucharest at the insistence of his KGB asset, code-named Boris. As Hefflin becomes embroiled in an uprising that turns into a brutal revolution, nothing is as it seems, including the search for his childhood love, which has taken on mythical proportions.

With the bloody events unfolding at blinding speed, Hefflin realizes the revolution is manipulated by outside forces, including his own CIA and Boris—the puppeteer who seems to be pulling all the strings of Hefflin’s life.

His Review:

First love as a child is often tragic. Torn from his birth country of Romania, Hefflin moves to Greece and finally winds up in the United States. Pusha, his childhood love, was left in Romania but certainly not forgotten. His first eight years in Romania imprinted the Romanian language in his brain for a lifetime. Love has left Pusha imprinted in his heart as a lost love.

Hefflin is recruited as an operative for the Central Intelligence Agency as a foreign operative. He is assigned to many posts in the communist block states. He has been recruited by Professor Andrei Pincus at Harvard University. Only the best and brightest for U.S. overseas C.I.A. operations!

William Maz has developed a very integral spy novel intertwined with love for a first homeland. Bucharest is showing signs of revolting against communism and release from Russian domination. Russia does not want to see a free and independent Romania. Hefflin is there to assist in bringing the country into a relationship with western powers. Meanwhile, his lost childhood love and memories broil just under the surface.

This is a very well-developed novel with believable characters. A spymaster pulls strings to push Hefflin into becoming a complete foreign operative. The story and description of Bucharest and Romanian culture are enchanting. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Espionage Thrillers
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
ASIN: B091G2FRM8
Print Length: 386 pages
Publication Date: March 15, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Bucharest Dossier [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: WILLIAM MAZ was born in Bucharest, Romania, of Greek parents and emigrated to the U.S. as a child. He is a graduate of Harvard University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Yale residency. During his high school and undergraduate years, he developed a passion for writing fiction. He studied writing at Harvard, the New School, The Writer’s Studio in New York City, and with Gordon Lish, and is now writing full time. He divides his time between homes in Pennsylvania and New York City. The Bucharest Dossier is his debut novel.