novella series – Rosepoint Publishing

Sam Wick Rapid Thriller series by Chase Austin – a #BookReview

Introduction to the first three in the Sam Wick Rapid Thriller series of pulp fiction books.

Titles: Wicked Storm-Book 1, Wicked Deceit-Book 2, Wicked Hunter-Book 3 – Sam Wick Rapid Thrillers by Chase Austin

Genre: Pulp Thrillers, War Fiction, Political Fiction

Wicked Storm-Book #1 – ASIN: B07P833GN5

Print Length: 76 pages
Publication Date: March 28, 2019

Wicked Deceit-Book #2 – ASIN: B07PKDRRN6

Print Length: 183 pages

Publication Date: May 1, 2019

Wicked Hunter-Book #3 – ASIN: B07PNK69PP

Print Length: 195 pages

Publication Date: June 1, 2019

Source: Direct author request with Advanced Reader’s Copies

Title Links:

Wicked Storm

Wicked Deceit

Wicked Hunter

Book Blurb-Book 1- Wicked Storm: A Thrilling Short Story

A girl’s life at stake. A cage match. Only one chance.

Task Force-77 (TF-77) is a black ops team of NSA and the US Military. This is the team, the U.S. government calls when it needs to get people out of the most dangerous places on earth.

Sam Wick.Task Force 77’s best. Master Extractor. Perfect Assassin. Where the government cannot and will not go, he will.

My Review-Book 1:

Talk about fast and furious! This is a short story, long on action, short on character development. The action is apparently meant to garner interest in the series that is coming with promise to develop characters as the entries progress. The last 30% of the first book is a series teaser along with introductory chapters of Wicked Deceit.

Sam Wick is a baddie to the bone. Interesting premise here and well-plotted with a cute twist you may not have suspected. No rules, no harm, no foul. (Okay–forget about the “harm” part.) You’ll have to suspend some disbelief, but otherwise, a fast read. Fun to read a short story once in a while! Of course, we used to call them “dime novels.” And there were some edit problems.

Book Blurb-Book 2 – Wicked Deceit: A Pulsating Race-Against-Time Thriller with High Body Count

What do you do when your own President wants you dead?
You call Sam Wick.

His mission: Extract Carlos Cruz-Diez—a New York Times reporter from the clutches of death.

Location: Venezuela Consulate in Vienna, Austria.

The Obstacle: Venezuela’s National Intelligence Service has sent sixteen of their best to execute this mission.

Timeline: Twenty-four hours. Time is running out. Bullets are flying. Bodies are piling up. Nothing is as it seems.

My Review-Book 2:

Sam Wick, our protagonist, is the returning main character and this is the second in the series, but easily read as a standalone. The reader is being fed little bits of information about Sam Wick. In this entry, Sam joins team Vesuvius who is headed by Jessica, the logistics liaison. There is some chemistry between she and Sam and the team heads into Venezuela on a bloody mission. Once again, the plot kicks into high gear and zooms to conclusion. 007 on steroids. Wick likes to play the strong, silent type, opting to dazzle with pregnant pauses and clear-eyed stares. (At least he won’t bore you with babble on a long flight!)

Some support characters here, not a one-man band, including Jessica and Henrique, the Venezuelan intelligence service director. Not a lot of humor, these missions are played out seriously, fast, and deadly. I saw some improvement in the second of the series in storytelling, but with minimal editing this also exhibited many problems from awkward English to repeated descriptions and punctuation errors. Hopefully, these problems were corrected prior to publication.

Book Blurb-Book 3 – Wicked Hunter: A High Octane Action Thriller

The Taliban have abducted a CIA agent. No one knows where he is being kept. Time is running out. Can he be saved?

His mission: Extract Josh Fletcher, a CIA operative, from the Taliban Backyard

Deadline: Less than twelve hours.

My Review-Book 3:

Okay, down to business, the author is finding his writing chops and this well-plotted storyline is enjoyable to read. Well, another caveat, if you are squeamish, may not be your cup of tea. This is another entry that gets serious very quickly, and Sam actually reaches out to his go-to sharp-shooter for help. We get additional details on Sam, a little more description of the scene and a more thorough introduction and description of the mission. And again, functions just fine as a standalone.

Definitely a more relaxed, cohesive writing style with points of interest well-described. Sam takes the time to plot out the mission control areas and timing, logistics and personnel. Set up more thoroughly, the storyline lays out smoothly although you are still actively ignoring some disbelief. A quotable: “Master your breath, master your mind.”

Unfortunately, again, an ARC rift with edit misses that is hoped were found and corrected prior to publication.

With the third entry to the series and the improvement noted, it would appear that these might continue to be of interest to those who enjoy a fast and furious read, no-holds-barred type of action. A throw-back to more pulp fiction days, just read for fun.

The Author: Chase Austin Get your FREE Starter Library http://www.thechaseaustin.com

Hope you would like my new series – Sam Wick Rapid Thrillers.

Book 1- Wicked Storm
Book 2- Wicked Deceit
Book 3- Wicked Hunter
Book 4- Wicked Blood
Book 5- Wicked Ghost

Welcome to my world.

Series Sampler-What’s Your Pleasure? Crime Thriller or Sci-Fi-Fantasy

OMG, it’s not often I get in depth in a single series, let alone two!

This time, however, I began The Afton Morrison series with #1 and glad I did! This one is just plain hardcore. I am now reading #2, See You Soon, Afton by Brent Jones. While there are some series in which the individual novels could function as a standalone, these two series, as widely different as they are, should both begin with numero uno, number one. Fortunately, it’s not too late into this series to start reading number one as the author plans to release number two August 7, 2018.

See You Soon, Afton #2 Afton Morrison series

I will be presenting my review of See You Soon, Afton on Friday, July 27, 2018, and I’ll warn you up front, this series is not for the faint of heart, tender ears, or PG eyes–it is definitely “R” rated. Amazon classifies as mystery, thriller, and suspense. The thing about Brent’s books–despite the delayed gratification is that there is generally a surprising, often shocking, moral to the story–and the reading is worth it. If you missed my review of Go Home, Afton, number one in the series, you can find it here, or see it on Amazon here.

See You Soon, Afton – Book Blurb:

Somebody is watching. Somebody is always watching.

A teenage girl in Wakefield has been abducted, and tracking her down not only tests Afton’s moral limits, but threatens her freedom and her life.

Suspected of murder by local police, and under the watch of a menacing figure in the shadows, Afton’s search and rescue effort unravels dark secrets from her own past. Familial secrets her mother took to the grave, more than a decade ago.

See You Soon, Afton is the second of four parts in a new serial thriller by author Brent Jones. Packed with grit and action, The Afton Morrison Series delves into a world of moral ambiguity, delivering audiences an unlikely heroine in the form of a disturbed vigilante murderess.

Thank heavens I had a little help with this one–the C.E. taking the helm at the sci-fi police procedural techno-thriller, The Invisible Mind – Murder by Munchausen #3 by M.T. Bass . OOH! That’s a mouthful, huh? Seems I have a habit of coming into a series at #3 or even #7–it’s happened before. Amazon classifies it as sci-fi-fantasy and cyberpunk, and I’ll just mention here that it is definitely some hardcore science. Electron Alley plans to release the novel on August 25, 2018.

The Invisible Mind-Murder by Munchausen #3

The C.E. was asked as a condition of the book review for Sage’s Blog Tours that he read number one and two prior to reading number three, which is the subject of the book tour. That was quite the undertaking! I will be presenting the C.E.’s review of The Invisible Mind on Sunday, July 29, 2018.

The Invisible Mind – Book Blurb:

A police procedural thriller ripped from future headlines!

Now unleashed, the “Baron” is resurrecting history’s notorious serial killers, giving them a second life in the bodies of hacked and reprogrammed Personal Assistant Androids, then turning them loose to terrorize the city. While detectives Jake and Maddie of the police department’s Artificial Crimes Unit scramble to stop the carnage with the Baron’s arrest, the cyberpunk head of the Counter IT Section, Q, struggles to de-encrypt his mad scheme to infect world data centers with a virus that represents a collective consciousness of evil.

I’ve argued the whole series or standalone novels before, and will just point out that the Afton Morrison series are novellas. You can whip through them–just possibly not late at night, alone, quiet. Or maybe quiet is good–you’ll want to be able to hear.

Tired of reading your same-o-same-o? Look into one of these. They are not one of your average cozy mysteries. You’ll thank me (or not).