I read another book by Sulari Gentill that didn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean I write the author off…and I’m glad I gave her another chance with The Mystery Writer. I love a good conspiracy novel and the mystery grew the more I read. Books about books add another level of interest.
Theodosia Benton left her career path as an attorney behind and came to the United States, showing up on her brother’s doorstep. She wants to be a writer, but she never anticipated the path she would travel to become successful…and neither did I. I knew there was a conspiracy, but those behind it and the way it unraveled, took me by surprise.
The characters came from colorful backgrounds and I fell in love with Mac’s wacko family. Sure, they were off the charts, but when it comes to family, they have their backs.
“…genetic predispostion to lunacy…”
Theo’s instincts are correct when it comes to Veronica and Day Delos and Associates. To save her brother from being charged with murder, she takes drastic action. The pacing creates a tension that had me racing through the pages
I want to tell you so much, but I don’t want to spoil the twists and turns hinted at in the synopsis. I will tell you…if you love a conspiracy, a mystery that has you scratching your head, and some danger to keep the thrills coming, you might want to give The Mystery Writer by Suleri Gentill a read.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
There’s nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory―until it turns out to be true When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother’s doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer? What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die. USA Today bestselling author Sulari Gentill takes readers on a rollercoaster ride in The Mystery Writer , a literary thriller that turns the world of books and authors upside down and where a writer’s voice is a thing to be controlled and weaponized, to the peril of everyone who loves a good story.
Expected publication March 19, 2024 by Poisoned Pen Press
ABOUT SULARI GENTILL
Once upon a time, Sulari Gentill was a corporate lawyer serving as a director on public boards, with only a vague disquiet that there was something else she was meant to do. That feeling did not go away until she began to write. And so Sulari became the author of the Rowland Sinclair Mysteries: thus far, ten historical crime novels chronicling the life and adventures of her 1930s Australian gentleman artist, the Hero Trilogy, based on the myths and epics of the ancient world, and the Ned Kelly Award winning Crossing the Lines (published in the US as After She Wrote Hime). In 2014 she collaborated with National Gallery of Victoria to write a short story which was produced in audio to feature in the Fashion Detective Exhibition, and thereafter published by the NGV. IN 2019 Sulari was part of a 4-member delegation of Australian crime writers sponsored by the Australia Council to tour the US as ambassadors of Australian Crime Writing.
Sulari lives with her husband, Michael, and their boys, Edmund and Atticus, on a small farm in Batlow where she grows French Black Truffles and refers to her writing as “work” so that no one will suggest she get a real job.
Leave No Trace (National Parks Thriller, #1) is a collaboration between Jon Land and Jeff Ayers. I am excited to be on the adventure, traveling coast to coast to sniff out the danger.
The headers for each short chapter include snippets of the history of the National Parks. I love the combination of fact and fiction.
First stop on our adventure…Danny and his family are visiting the Statue of Liberty. He is very observant and notices something is not right. Before he can say or do anything, there is an explosion. The Prologue set the hook and I am looking forward to hanging out at the National Parks, even under such trying circumstances.
Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is on the case and he’ll be working with Gina Delgado of the FBI. I love diverse characters. Michael has a prosthetic foot. Gina is the youngest FBI ASAC and a Latina woman to boot.
A young boy walks up to Michael and asks, “Have you seen my parents?” He becomes the most important witness because of the vital information he has. Does it put a target on his back? What do you think?
The more they investigate, the deeper, more terrifying the conspiracy grows. No one or no thing can be one hundred per cent protected. Michael and Gina will be mobile, putting out fires and defusing catastrophic bombs.
Jeremiah is out for revenge after his family’s home was taken by the Park Service.From coast to coast, no national treasure is safe from those that want to tear them down, not caring how many innocent lives they take with them. A conspiracy surrounds the investigation and reaches within the government. What is their agenda?
I’m getting a terrible feeling. Hold on to you ASS people! Knowing Jon Land, I was waiting for the danger and suspense to ramp up. I was moseying along before thinking these rogue military terrorists were not alone, but now…I quit taking notes because from here on out, mum’s the word.
I felt jaw dropping suspense, anger and rage, and outright shock at the depths people go to and the reasons for it..I don’t know who to trust.
Opposing forces will, eventually,collide. Who will be left standing? The addition of Danny appearing here and there, is a touch that I love. I feel there is a warning here. The government might want to rethink the selling of any old military equipment, bases, etc.
Explosive. Too real! I can let my mind go there.
The shifting points of view, can be a tool for creating suspense and a need to know, or a detriment, slowing down and interrupting the pace and tempo. For me, it was the former.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
In a daring, brutal act of terrorism, an explosion rocks and topples the Statue of Liberty. Special Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is awakened by his boss with that news and sent to New York as the agent-in-charge. Not long after he lands, he learns two things – one that Gina Delgado of the FBI has been placed in charge of the investigation as the lead of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and two, that threats of a second terrorism attack are already being called into the media. While barred from the meetings of the Joint Task Force for his lack of security clearance, Walker finds a young boy among the survivors with a critical piece of information – a video linking the attackers to the assault.
As a radical domestic terrorist group, led by a shadowy figure known only as Jebediah, threatens further attacks against America’s cultural symbols, powerful forces within the government are misleading the investigation to further their own radical agenda.
Genre: Action and Adventure, Conspiracy, Mystery, Suspense, Terrorism,Thriller
352 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication February 27, 2024 by Minotaur Books
Series: National Parks Thriller, #1
ABOUT JON LAND
Jon Land is the award-winning, critically acclaimed author of 36 books, including the bestselling Caitlin Strong Texas Ranger series that includes Strong Enough to Die, Strong Justice, Strong at the Break, Strong Vengeance and, most recently, Strong Rain Falling. The Tenth Circle marks the second return engagement of his longtime series hero Blaine McCracken on the heels of last year’s Pandora’s Temple which was nominated for a Thriller Award and received the 2013 International Book Award for Best Adventure Thriller. Jon’s first nonfiction book, Betrayal, meanwhile, was named Best True Crime Book of 2012 by Suspense Magazine and won a 2012 International Book Award for Best True Crime Book. He is currently working on Strong Darkness, the next entry in the Caitlin Strong to be published in September of 2014. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from Brown University, where he continues to maintain a strong volunteer presence, in 1979.
I was appalled when I saw the promotion for the film Killer Of The Flower Moon. I immediately went to my library app and put a hold on the book. I got access to it a lot faster than I thought and immediately began reading.
In May, taller plants creep over tinier blooms, stealing their light and water. The small flowers become buried under the ground and that is why the Osage refer to May as the time of the flower killing moon.
It was in May of 1921 when Mollie Burkhart began to suspect evil was afoot. She was right. The conspiracy was so widespread, the Osage never stood a chance.
It always amazes me when I come across such a brutal injustice in our history…that I knew nothing about. Shouldn’t this be part of the history we are taught in school? I mean, the conspiracy was so wide and tragic, it helped lead to the creation of the FBI. Of course, that creates a monster of its own. We all know the saying:
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
In the 1920s, the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma had the richest people per capita in the world. Greedy, power hungry individuals flock to the area like flies on s***. Racism is rampant and the Osage people were looked at as less than human.
I cannot begin to imagine their despair and sense of hopelessness, that no one would come to their aid. Not just to keep the white people from stealing their riches, but to keep them from being MURDERED. The people of the town turn a blind eye to the tragedy taking place right before them. We can see history repeat itself, over and over again, so I don’t know why I am so surprised. After all, if discrimination, racism, and inequality can exist as overtly as it does in the 21st century, it seems it would be even easier to perpetrate such violence in the 1920s.
I will be adding more of his work to my reading list. In fact, I just put a hold on The Wager.
The depth of David Grann’s research is displayed at the end of the book, where he has included all the materials, paper and human, he drew information from.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Goodreads Choice Award
A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.
In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, “the Phantom Terror,” roamed – virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. They infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most sinister conspiracies in American history.
In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. The book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly riveting, but also emotionally devastating.
DAVID GRANN is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books “The Wager,” “The Lost City of Z,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the author of “The White Darkness” and the collection “The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession.” His book “Killers of the Flower Moon” was recently adapted into a film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro. Several of his other stories, including “The Lost City of Z” and “Old Man and the Gun,” have also been adapted into major motion pictures. His investigative reporting and storytelling have garnered several honors, including a George Polk Award and an Edgar Allan Poe Award.
I am so excited to get my hands on Operation S&D by Ashley Fontainne and Janelle Taylor. This is the second book n the series and I have high expectations, seeing the first book was amazing, Operation DFC.
I am writing this review, without the benefit of a blurb or synopsis. I have already met some of the characters and know some of what is going on, but I am not sure what to share and what to keep to myself. So, here goes….
The characters are damaged and carry a lot of baggage, much of it through no fault of their own. In 1944 soldiers were experimented on. Could it be passed on to their children? The young men had no idea what life had in store for them, but they man up and do what must be done.
“That’s some paranormal, genetically fucked up shit for sure. I mean, cue the Twilight Zone theme…”
After reading the first book, I knew they would be out for revenge and would make the cartel pay. Along the way Rafe inserts himself into a situation to save an innocent, pregnant woman. I wept WITH him on more than one occasion. The guilt he carries is a heavy load. I hope he learns to ask for help, but right now he is on his own. My heart broke for him. The voices in his head….
Eduardo has no clue the creature he created is on a lethal prowl.
Rabid Wolfe three; cartel zero. I’m on a roll.
S&D: Those we seek…we will destroy. Those who betray them will pay the ultimate price. The problem is, who is the betrayer? There’s always one in the bunch. I thought of one person and….well…I’m not telling, but I was right and it will cost someone their life.
The action began from the opening pages, but when they got to Central America it ramped up to a frenetic pace. My head was spinning, waiting, anticipating the bad to come. The mental and emotional turmoil the four team members go through brings forth many emotions. The richness and depth of the characters make them come to life on the pages. I feel empathy, sorrow, anger, rage, fear, and compassion. I want them to come out of the war they are fighting whole, with hope and a future in store for them.
The ending…awesome! Yeah, I may have been able to figure it all out, but I never even tried. I was so into what was happening in the moment, I let the authors lead me where they wanted me to go. I never paid attention to where I was in the book. A lot of the time I will check to see how much I’ve read, how much I have left, but this time, I was in the moment and stayed there.
I found moments where the authors could have ended the book, but they kept giving me more and it kept getting better and better, leaving me very happy. I love it. That is the excellence of this powerhouse team, Ashley Fontainne and Janelle Taylor.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Justice is blind. Vengeance sees only red. I did not learn of the cold-blooded assassination of several CIA agents, who were part of the team on our previous mission, Operation DFC , until it was too late. Spencer “RedDog” Watkins and I are still alive, but our loved ones paid the ultimate price for being a part of our lives, leaving us heartbroken and consumed by an unquenchable thirst for revenge. Black Viper and Raccoon survived the first round of murders orchestrated by the de Santos cartel and were assigned to join us on a total black op, which I nicknamed Operation S&D – Seek and Destroy. With new cover identities issued by the Agency, we slip into Central America under the guise of Lobos del Diablo – Devil Wolves Motorcycle gang. Our mission in Nicaragua, which is a tinderbox embroiled in the illicit drug trade and the internal battle between the Sandinista regime and the Contra rebels, is to report on other field operatives who are suspected of going rogue. The unofficial mission is to take down the de Santos drug cartel and leave no survivors. The men Spencer and I used to be died with the slaughter of our loved ones, leaving us nothing more than snarling beasts stalking prey, undetected, until it is too late for the cartel to plan a counterattack. We are deadly, cold-blooded killers with nothing to lose—alive only to kill those responsible for creating us—and the damage to my soul is so severe, I trust no one. If successful in destroying our enemies, do we dare hope their annihilation heals our traumatic pasts, or is there not enough humanity left to salvage?
Expected publication October 31, 2023 by Georgia Girl Press
Series: Operation S&D
In honor of the upcoming release, the first book, Operation DFC, will be FREE on Amazon October 30-November 3, 2023, so grab your free copy, stay up all night reading, and then dive right into Operation S&D!
The legendary Janelle Taylor was born on June 28, 1944 in Athens, GA. In 1965, she married Michael Taylor with whom she had two children, Angela Taylor-MacIntyre and Alisha Taylor Thurmond. Ms. Taylor attended the Medical College of Georgia from 1977 to 1979 and Augusta State University from 1980-1981. She withdrew from the latter after she sold her first two novels. Today, she is the author of thirty-nine novels, three novellas, and many contributions to other collections. There are thirty-nine million copies of her works in print worldwide and she has made The New York Times Bestseller List eight times. Ms. Taylor’s works have also been featured ten times on the “1 million +” bestseller’s list at Publisher’s Weekly.
Some of Ms. Taylor’s most recent books include By Candlelight, Someday Soon, Lakota Dawn, and Lakota Winds (due out in paperback in May 1999). She has also made contributions to other books including The Leukemia Society Cookbook, Christmas Rendezvous, and Summer Love. In addition, readers can see her as co-host of the QVC/TV Romance Book Club Show.
Ms. Taylor’s interests include collecting spoons, coins from around the world, ship models, dolls, and old books. She loves to fish, ride horses, play chess, target-shoot, travel (especially in her motorhome and out West), hunt for Indian relics, and take long walks with her husband. Reading, in particular books set before 1900 and current Biographies, Thrillers, Horror, or Fantasy novels, is also one of Ms. Taylor’s favorite activities. She is also extremely active with charity work and was even featured on the cover of Diabetes Forecast in February of 1998.
She lives in the country on seventy-nine acres of woods and pasture with a lake and a catfish pond. She writes her novels in a Spanish cottage which overlooks a five-acre lake, a working water mill, gazebo, and covered bridge.
Award-winning and International bestselling author Ashley Fontainne enjoys stories that immerse the reader deep into the human psyche and the monsters lurking within each of us. She writes in numerous genres including mystery, suspense, horror, sci-fi and sometimes poetry.
Ashley lives in Arkansas with her husband and is the proud mother of one son and grateful daughter of co-author, Lillian Hansen. To learn more about her books please visit https://ashleyfontainne.net/
Looking for a ‘fresh’ and original take on zombies? Look no further than River Of Souls by T L Bodine. I am so happy that T contacted me about her Neverest story. I knew then that I would read anything she writes. The depth and details of her stories have me engulfed in her novels, not wanting to put them down for anything.
River Of Souls, the first book of the Lazarus series by T L Bodine, was so intriguing that I began reading almost as soon as I received it. I mean, considering Undeath a manageable condition as long as they have Lazarus, a life extension drug?
…the zombies are here, but instead of tearing down civilization, they’re standing in line at the Social Security office, waiting for their checks like everyone else.
In the small, sleepy town of Los Ojos, New Mexico, Davin Montoya struggles to care for his zombie father and his teenage sister. When a car accident turns him into one of the Undead, he hides it to keep his sister, Zoe, from being sent into foster care.
Davin begins to discover that things are not as they seem. He is unregistered, so getting access to Lazarus becomes a black market misadventure. Now he is dealing with dangerous drug dealers. The supply dries up, Davin becomes desperate, and questions arise.
I would share something in this review, then delete it. I don’t know how to say what I want without giving away too much. Are there lies? Sure. Is there a conspiracy? Probably. Is there more to the story? Absolutely. And, one thing sticks in my mind and makes me laugh…can zombies get it up? I mean…I get shivers and my mind just won’t let me go there. LOL
River Of Souls by T L Bodine is such a unique take on zombies, I couldn’t stop reading and am (im)patiently waiting for what comes next.
4 Stars
GOODREADS
Undeath is a manageable condition.
That’s what the media says, anyway: with the help of the miracle life-extension drug, Lazarus, the Undead can retain their humanity and live normal, happy lives. Without it, they become violent, mindless walking corpses.
Davin Montoya was eager to believe all of that. Forced to drop out of college to take care of his teenage sister, Zoe, after their father drank himself to death, he was more than happy to sign the no-good alcoholic over to the government’s Lazarus House for treatment. That was one less thing for him to worry about.
Until an accident left him joining the ranks of the freshly deceased himself.
Now, keeping his death a secret is the only way to keep his sister out of foster care. But to do so, he must venture into the underground society of Unregistered Undead – a dangerous world of drug deals and government resistance. But when their access to Lazarus begins to run dry, the truth starts to unravel…and it’s not what anyone expected.
Genre: Fiction, Halloween, Horror, Zombies
216 pages, Paperback
Published August 23, 2019 by Trepidatio Publishing
T.L. Bodine writes dark fantasy and horror. She’s interested in uncanny, fantastic things, and the way real people with real problems interact with them.
You can also read up-and-coming stories on Wattpad, or check out her Tumblr for writing advice, creepypasta, and more.
When not writing, she can usually be found watching horror movies, playing story-heavy video games, or experimenting in the kitchen.
She lives in New Mexico with her husband, David, and two small dogs.
“Daddy, Daddy! Can we keep him?” I could see her tugging at his shorts, begging for me like I was a puppy that she wanted for her birthday.
That put a huge smile on my face. The reason she thought he could be her gift was because he appeared as if by magic. He is a vanisher. He dies over and over and over again, only to appear in another city, in another state, on another continent, naked, with no memory.
At times, the story seemed to drag. He would die, come back, and struggle to remember who he was. Then he would die again and it would start over. After so many times, we need something else to happen…and it does when he meets Lilyanne. As he figures some things out, learns of the dangers that await him, falls in love..for the first and only time in his life. BUT…of course, one night he disappears.
I had wondered how the book would end and it took me by surprise. At times I was fascinated, at times bored, but Moses Yuriyvich Mikheyev would bring me back into the story. I wanted to love it. I found it original, different, and at times intriguing. The ending…well…I was satisfied and hopeful.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Vanishing Bodies by Moses Yuriyvich Mikheyev.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Many people dream of starting over. For Adam Micah, it is an unending nightmare.
On a February morning, a naked young man grabs the New York Times from a woman eating breakfast at a sidewalk cafe, scans the obituaries, uses her revolver to shoot himself, and vanishes.
He is Aristotle Zurr-McIntyre, also known as Adam Micah. He discovers he’s a vanisher—someone who disappears when he’s killed, only to resurface elsewhere with nothing but hazy memories. An entity known only as The Wisher is hunting him, and he’s involved in a game he doesn’t understand. Sometimes they shoot him outright. Sometimes, he does it to evade them. But each time, he loses a little more of himself.
When he rematerializes in Atlanta, he meets Lilyanne and, for the first time, is shown love. In her presence, he is home, and life finally makes sense. But Lilyanne has ties to a past neither one of them knows about…one that could destroy everything.
Taking on the boundaries of science, physics, and the catastrophic consequences of immortality, Adam takes a dangerous dive into interpreting mortality, conspiracy, desperation, and his own natural need for answers.
A highly original and suspenseful science fiction thriller with a romantic twist.
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction
407 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 26, 2023
ABOUT MOSES YURIYVICH MIKHEYEV
Moses Yuriyvich Mikheyev is a Russian American novelist who studied theology and philosophy at Whitworth University before obtaining his graduate degree in theological studies from Emory University. He is the author of numerous novels, including The Hack, Vanishing Bodies, This Time Next Summer, and the fantasy children’s book Olivia & the Gentleman from Outer Space. He is currently working on his sixth novel Of All Things Sacred, a collection of poetry A Fire in the Sunset, and a collection of essays titled The End of Human. He is also an alternative rock musician recording his debut album I Only Have a Hundred Years to Love You (forthcoming 2023). He lives and loves in Los Angeles.
When the lead that could save her law practice is destroyed in a suspicious fire, only her recollection of it remains. Tess can relive memories, but her gift comes at a cost. The last time she used it, she nearly died.
This time, she only takes a peek. A single moment spent in her memory of the defendant’s encoded document gives her a brutal migraine and a phone number.
Luke Broussard answers her call from the wreckage of his downed plane. His charter passenger is dead. And a mutated virus seeps from the man’s broken cargo, making Luke an unknowing carrier. When rescuers take Luke to an Atlanta hospital, the virus comes with him.
Tess follows her lead to Luke’s bedside, where she finds an instant connection. As they try to outrun a psychopath who’ll stop at nothing to retrieve the document, the city falls apart around them. The code hidden in Tess’s mind may be the only thing that can keep the outbreak contained, but using her gift to decipher it could kill her. If the virus — or whoever engineered it — doesn’t get to her first.
Praise for The Carolina Variant:
“Filled with compelling characters fighting not only for their lives, but humanity itself, you won’t be able to put it down.” ~ Jeffrey Jay Levin, author of Watching, Volume 1, The Garden Museum Heist
“The Carolina Variant is a taut thriller that terrifies with a too damned frightenedly plausible story about what happens when a deadly virus escapes. It’s the kind of book that makes you afraid to turn the page, but you will. You definitely will.” ~ Christopher Amato, author of Shadow Investigation and A Letter from Sicily
“What a ride! The Carolina Variant is Blake Crouch’s Upgrade with the pacing of Fox’s 24.” ~ Cam Torrens, author of STABLE
Book Details:
Genre: Thriller, Medical and Conspiracy Published by: Black Rose Writing Publication Date: June 2023 Number of Pages: 347 ISBN: 9781685132187 (ISBN10: 1685132189) Book Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads
Read an excerpt:
Prologue:
September 13, 2018
The girl on the video monitor stared up at the ceiling as blood trickled from her eyes and nose. Her only movement an occasional spasm of coughing.
Nothing unexpected, given the progression of the disease.
Dr. Edmund Haley shut off the overhead fluorescent lights and let himself adjust to the dim glow of the screens lining the back wall of the office. Only the girl’s monitor still played a live feed, but it lit the room well enough.
And, either way, darkness suited him fine.
He’d spent so much time stuck in this tiny godforsaken place, he could’ve found the desk and computer with his eyes closed. Haley dropped into a chair and adjusted his glasses, trying to ignore the sharp tang of antimicrobial soap that clung to his hands. It smelled like life in the hospital. Like the servitude of medical practice.
He hated it as much now as he had before he’d lost his license. But at least this time, he’d be well paid for his efforts. And soon, it would be over. He refocused on the girl’s image. The only question was when.
Light sliced into the room behind him as Margaret bumbled inside. He made no move to acknowledge the nurse, even as she pulled up a chair beside his. As idiotic as she otherwise seemed to be, she’d know by now not to bother him. He shifted his attention from the video monitor to the computer, where he pulled up the patient’s chart.
He scrolled to the section for his notes and, after a click of the mouse, entered the details of that day’s exam. “9-13-18; Liver and kidney function both continue to decline. Discrete purpuric patches expanding from face and trunk now merging. BSA involvement approximately 80%. Note third spacing.”
The third spacing, a condition where the skin separated from the tissue beneath and filled with blood, was something new. Margaret’s report of it had been the primary reason he’d put himself through the nightmare of protective gear and protocol it’d taken to do a physical exam himself. He wasn’t going to let it be said that he hadn’t been thorough.
Haley glanced back up at the monitor in time to see a bubble of blood form between Octavia’s lips. The thing grew with each shallow breath. When it reached the size of a small orange, it burst, splattering more droplets of blood onto her face and neck.
Octavia made no move to wipe them away. He’d given her enough morphine. She would be long past caring. And, more importantly, the extra dosage meant she’d finally quit staring out at him with that awful, confused look on her face.
He didn’t care. Not really. Except that it had been distracting, and he needed to focus. Needed to understand why was she still alive. What had he missed? Perhaps another round of blood work would—
The blare of an alarm sounded over the video feed and, more faintly, from the hall. Three more followed.
Octavia’s body spasmed, convulsing again and again as she vomited up a grainy black-red mix of blood and tissue. The progression was as repulsive as it was now familiar. The vomit mixed with the brighter red flowing from her eyes and nose as the virus moved into its final stage. Blood, still unable to clot, flowed until it covered her face and chest. Until the bedsheets were saturated and no longer white.
Octavia’s muscles tensed, seizing all at once before releasing. Her body too gruesome to look peaceful, even as she finally came to rest.
Neither he nor Margaret moved from their chairs.
The alarms echoed unanswered down the empty hall. Haley clicked off the monitor and most of the noise with it. “That’s better.”
God knew it had taken long enough. He turned back to the computer, closed Octavia’s chart, and opened another document saved to the desktop as “Subject Outcomes.” He scrolled down, missing Octavia’s name the first time, then tapped the cursor back up until he found it. She’d been number four of twenty-five subjects, and hers was the last empty field in the column marked TPOI for Total Period of Infection. From the time she had been exposed, it had taken four days for the disease to take its course. At least a full day longer than any other subject.
“About fucking time.” He spoke under his breath as he typed the final entry in with one finger. He still didn’t know why the girl had survived so long, but it was no matter. By any measure, his work there had been an overwhelming success. Haley pulled off his glasses and tapped them against Margaret’s shoulder. “Get me a copy of the subject files, including all of the relevant video footage.”
Margaret flinched away from him. “Yes, doctor.” She pulled a thumb drive from a desk drawer and plugged it into the video system. The system — which had been his idea — had not only allowed them to observe the patients from a safe distance but also recorded the progress of the disease in each subject.
Having such an accurate, time-stamped record of their experiments would be invaluable to his employer. As he had been. Haley cleaned the lenses of his glasses with the edge of his lab coat. Knowing what was coming, it didn’t hurt to have insurance. Which was why he had contingency plans stashed in safe deposit boxes across the city. It was a point he would be sure to make when he and his employer spoke.
No matter what, he wouldn’t end up like the others.
He pointed to Margaret as she collected the files. “Once you’re done, wipe the system clean.”
She looked at him, her eyes a question. What happens now?
He didn’t bother responding. Some part of her had to know already.
Stupid.
The kind of people who would hire her to do what she’d done weren’t the type to assume money would be enough to keep her quiet. She was a loose end who — unlike him — had no continuing value. Not that what happened to her mattered. And if she hadn’t been smart enough to see that going in… Well, she’d as much as made her bed, hadn’t she?
He put a layer of steel in his voice. “Do it.”
Margaret’s gaze flicked away. She pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and waited for the computer to comply, removed the thumb drive, and dropped it into his waiting hand.
He turned the small device over in his palm. Amazing that so many lives could be held in such a small device. But then, these lives weren’t the kind anyone cared about. Nobodies and throw-aways. The kind of people who would volunteer for a drug trial for pennies and not be missed when they didn’t come back. He’d done the world a service, really.
Haley slipped the thumb drive into a padded envelope, scrawled the address he had memorized at the outset of the project on the front, checked twice to make sure he’d stuck on enough postage, then slid the envelope into his briefcase.
“Take care of that, won’t you?” He tilted his head toward the hallway leading to the patient rooms, where the girl’s body lay waiting.
Margaret didn’t look up from the computer. “Of course, sir. Same as with the others.”
Haley tucked the briefcase under his arm, whistling as he left the facility for the last time. With his part done, the rest could finally could begin.
***
Excerpt from The Carolina Variant by Brooke L. French. Copyright 2023 by Brooke L. French. Reproduced with permission from Brooke L. French. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
Brooke L. French is a recovering lawyer turned author. Her debut novel, Inhuman Acts, came out in 2022, and her second thriller, The Carolina Variant, came out on June, 22 2023. Brooke lives between Atlanta and Carmel, California with her husband and sons.
Book Title: Copper Waters – A New Zealand Mystery (Annalisse Series Book 4) by Marlene M. Bell Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 340 pages Genre: Mystery-Suspense Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing Release date: October, 2022 Format available for review: print – softback, e-book (mobi file (for Kindle), ePub, PDF ) Will send print books out: USA Content Rating: G. Book is for general audiences. No profanity. No graphic scenes. Crimes described briefly after-the-fact. Mild and limited romance https://www.youtube.com/embed/PjDimoA2yQc
Book Description:
Annalisse Drury and Alec Zavos find themselves on opposing sides when an ex-lover from Alec’s past introduces him to his alleged son. With Alec distracted and their future engagement in limbo, Annalisse accepts a key to her dream cottage—situated on a picturesque sheep station on South Island, New Zealand—only this time, she travels alone.
But not long after her arrival she’s confronted by two peculiar deaths—either accidental, or the deliberate acts of a psychopath.
Local investigators are closing the cases too quickly and want Annalisse to exit the country before she reveals the town’s darkest secrets.
Will she return to Alec, or sacrifice their future together to expose it all?
Book Title: Stolen Obsession (Annalisse Series Book 1) by Marlene M. Bell Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 296 pages Genre: Mystery-Suspense Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing Release date: March 2018 Format available for review: print – softback, e-book (mobi file (for Kindle), ePub, PDF), audiobook (audible download) Will send print books out: USA Content Rating: PG. Subtle romantic interludes. No profanity. https://www.youtube.com/embed/EfPsyRPdIwI
New York antiquities appraiser Annalisse Drury’s best friend was murdered. The killer’s identity may be linked to her friend’s expensive missing bracelet—a 500-year-old artifact that carries an ancient curse, one that unleashes evil upon any who dare wear the jewelry created for the Persian royal family.
Weeks later, Annalisse sees a matching necklace at a Manhattan gallery opening. She begs the owner to destroy the cursed piece, but her pleas fall on deaf ears—despite the unnatural death that occurs during the opening. With two victims linked to the jewelry, Annalisse is certain she must act. Desperate, Annalisse enlists the gallery owner’s son to help—even though she’s afraid he’ll break her heart. Wealthy and devastatingly handsome, with a string of bereft women in his wake, Greek playboy Alec Zavos dismisses Annalisse’s concerns—until his parents are ripped from the Zavos family yacht during their ocean voyage near Crete.
Annalisse and Alec race across two oceans to save his parents, feared kidnapped or even dead. When the killer changes tactics and goes after Alec behind Annalisse’s back, can her plan to rescue Alec’s mother save them all?
Book Title: Spent Identity (Annalisse Series Book 2) by Marlene M. Bell Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 378 pages Genre: Mystery-Suspense Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing Release date: Nov 2019 Format available for review: print – softback, e-book (mobi file (for Kindle), ePub, PDF), audiobook (audible download) Will send print books out: USA Content Rating: PG-13+M. Main Character is accosted and fights an assailant in one chapter. Mild profanity. https://www.youtube.com/embed/bqwn2d2qBQU
Antiquities appraiser Annalisse Drury drives to her family farm in upstate New York to consult with Aunt Kate about her troubled relationship with Greek tycoon, Alec Zavos. When Annalisse arrives, she learns the beloved farm she expects to inherit is for sale.
That same morning, they find a stranger’s body decaying in the barn. Then her aunt vanishes.
In Spent Identity, Annalisse and Alec join forces for the second time. They must find the mastermind behind her aunt’s abduction before Kate’s health issues worsen. Was the corpse in the barn a coincidence or a warning? The clock ticks for Annalisse to find her aunt and repair what she has left with the man she loves.
Book Title: Scattered Legacy (Annalisse Series Book 3) by Marlene M. Bell Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 352 pages Genre: Mystery-Suspense Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing Release date: Oct 2021 Format available for review: print – softback, e-book (mobi file (for Kindle), ePub, PDF) Will send print books out: USA Content Rating: PG+M. Brief kissing/romance. mild use of profanity like “damn.” No F Bombs. Some violence and talk of an attack by villain that doesn’t materialize.
MY REVIEW
It’s wonderful to be back with Annalise, on another adventure. I went right from Spent Identity, Book II, to Scattered Legacy, Book III, in the Annalise series, eager to go to Italy and face a new danger, since Trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes.
I love the cover. Those slashes, and those eyes, what the heck?
Annalise has the ability to visualize who may have held a jewel or sat for a portrait. She sometimes sees others and their motives for acquiring or stealing oils and jewels. She is a partner with Generosa Zavos, her lovers mother, in the Sazos Gallery, specializing in antiquities.
Annalise receives an envelope and hesitates to open it. I think it may take us on our next murder mystery adventure…and I say…open it Annalise.
Before Alex and Annalise head to Bari, Italy, his mother’s birthplace, Generosa gives her a rosary, a very special rosary. The visit will be a working vacation. They reach a bump in the road in the sale of his sports car company. Since mystery and murder follow them wherever they go, I am waiting for a dead body to make an appearance.
Zavos’ father had went to prison for his part in dealing with the Mafia, but there is so much more to the story that will be revealed.
In Spent Identity, we learned Annalise’s family history. In Scattered Legacy, it is Alec’s turn, with the help of his chauffeur and bodyguard Brad, and his friend and private investigator, Bill. What’s so important about Stella the cat? I sure didn’t see that coming.
Marlene M Bell’s vivid descriptions make me taste the salt air and feel the sand between my toes. I can smell the aroma of garlic and broccoli rabo, tasting the deliciousness of the pasta.
She reacts as a sleek thoroughbred would react, ready to belt at the starting gate, unsure when to run how far the finish line is.
Delicious trouble (with a capital T) seems to follow her…
Now, on to Copper Waters and a trip to New Zealand. Grab a book and follow along. You won’t regret it.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Scattered Legacy by Marlene M Bell.
4 Stars
Book Description:
To outsiders, the relationship between Manhattan antiquities assessor Annalisse Drury and sports car magnate Alec Zavos must look carefree and glamorous. In reality, it’s a love affair regularly punctuated by treasure hunting, action-packed adventure, and the occasional dead body.
When Alec schedules an overseas trip to show Annalisse his mother’s birthplace in Bari, Italy, he squeezes in the high-stakes business of divesting his family’s international corporation. But things go terribly wrong as murder makes its familiar reappearance in their lives – and this time it’s Alec’s disgraced former CFO who’s the main suspect.
Accompanied by friend and detective Bill Drake, Annalisse and Alec find themselves embroiled in a behind-closed-doors conspiracy that threatens the reputation and legacy of Alec’s late father – linking him to embezzlement, extortion, and the dirty business of the Sicilian Mafia. The search for the truth sends the trio straight into riddles, secrets, and an historic set of rosary beads. Annalisse leads Alec toward a discovery that is unthinkable, and events that will change their futures forever.
Scattered Legacy is the third in Marlene M. Bell’s thrilling Annalisse series, which weaves romance, crime, and historical mystery into addictive tales to instantly captivate fans of TV show Bones or Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
Marlene M. Bell is an eclectic mystery writer, artist, photographer, and she raises sheep in beautiful East Texas with her husband, Gregg, three cats and a flock of horned Dorset sheep.
The Annalisse series has received numerous honors including the Independent Press Award for Best Mystery (Spent Identity,) and FAPA— Florida Author’s President’s Gold Award for two other installments, (Stolen Obsession and Scattered Legacy.) Her mysteries with a touch of romance are found at marlenembell.com. She also offers the first of her children’s picture books, Mia and Nattie: One Great Team! Based on true events from the Bell’s ranch. The simple text and illustrations are a touching tribute of compassion and love between a little girl and her lamb.
Join Us for This Tour from November 26 to December 17!
Book Details:
Book Title: Blind the Eyes: A Dystopian-Gothic YA Urban FantasybyK.A. Wiggins Category: YA Fiction (Ages 13-17), 300 pages Genre: Urban fantasy, crossover to dystopian, paranormal, contemporary fantasy, gothic and post-apocalyptic. Publisher: K.A. Wiggins (Imprint: Snowmelt & Stumps) Release Date: June, 2018 Tour dates: November 26 to December 17 Content Rating: PG-13 + M. No
on-page sex, low romance, minimal bad language, underage drinking,
significant fantasy violence, scenes containing emotional manipulation,
depression, and (light/brief) physical abuse.
Book Description:
A haunted teen outcast and her snarky ghostly best-frenemy outwit enforcers, monsters, and the scars of the past in a race to take expose a deadly conspiracy and escape a bloody end. A lush, award-winning debut to a captivatingly eerie YA Urban Fantasy trilogy. Discover a labyrinthine, post-climate-collapse dystopian Vancouver overrun by monsters and magic in this intricate and startlingly original journey of discovery, restoration, and revenge.
It’s hard not to be a little obsessed with survival when your only “friend” is an unruly ghost and the wrong thought could get your soul devoured by eldritch horrors. Haunted 17-year-old outcast Cole wants nothing more than to hide her forbidden fascination with the monster-taken and blend in with the (dreary) scenery. Her plans for a peaceful life take a turn for the deadly when a mesmerizing stranger and his dangerously tempting offer drive her into the middle of a grisly
conspiracy.
But Cole hasn’t yet uncovered the biggest secret of all, and it might just have something to do with the mysterious threads tugging her into horrifying visions—not to mention the shimmering boy at their dark heart. Uncovering the truth will cost her dearly as she fends off scheming enforcers, dreamjacking ghosts & soul-sucking nightmares in a desperate quest for survival and retribution. Can she escape the scars of her past and expose the lies before she’s the next to die?
Blind the Eyes is the first book in a lush and labyrinthine trilogy of paranormal-meets-gothic-dystopian YA Urban Fantasy filled with glittering underworlds, delicious-and-deceptive strangers, and facing down the voices in your head. This slow-burn fantasy with an edge leads readers on a captivatingly unexpected journey of self-discovery, reclaimed identity, and conflicted sisterhood for those who like a little sparkle with their monsters (it glistens so nicely on all the blood.) Fans of post-climate-collapse dystopias, monsters-and-magic, and genre-bending dark fantasy will love this award-winning series starter in a complete and 100% binge-ready trilogy.
K.A. Wiggins (Kaie) writes award-winning speculative fiction for young people and adults that explores the tangled webs of society, environment, and identity through intricate, dreamlike tales of monsters and magic.
Her debut novel was a Page Turner Awards 2020 Book Spotlight Prize winner and a Barnes & Noble Press “20 Favorite Indie Books of 2018,” kicking off a celebrated and recently completed YA Urban Fantasy trilogy set in a gothic-dystopian post-climate-collapse Vancouver. Her short fiction has appeared in small press anthologies, genre magazines, and in translation for international audiences.
She’s also the President of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia society, co-founder of marketing and business services consultancy The Creative Collective, and a creative writing coach with the Creative Writing for Children society, and was recognized in the 2021 Arty Awards, taking first place in Literary Arts category.
I love when a character is also an author…and writing the same genre I will be reading is even better. Then, we find everything she was writing about was true…aliens, conspiracy and danger.
WOW…I was quickly grabbed by the fabulous writing and P R Garcia never let me go.
As far as the government and how they handle aliens, there are no surprises.
Due to technology, the world is getting smaller and smaller and the borders are becoming blurred. The world in Guardians of Extinction, like in reality, needs to overcome their differences and mistrust and work together.
The Major General…so adversarial and narrow minded. Ignorant, greedy men who will put the world on the edge of extinction, caring only for themselves, letting their egos and desire to control everything lead the way. Does it sound familiar to you? It does to me. Shows how the actions of a few can have devastating consequences…but there are those who sill try to do the right thing. Will it be enough?
P R Garcia’s creative and highly imaginative writing fits me so well.
This review is kind of hard to write. Like her blurb, I do not want to give anything away, though I do hope to tease you enough to want to find out for yourself.
Exciting, riveting, science fiction, alien adventure, with hints of ecology and global warming. I like some reality in my fiction and if you read P R Garcia’s biography, you will know why she adds these realistic elements to her stories.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Guardians of Earth by P R Garcia.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Inspired by her dreams, science fiction author Sarina Spallings writes a book of fiction filled with aliens, a secret government agency, a moon base, and Earth’s destruction. What she doesn’t know is:
It’s all real!
As she prepares to leave on her book’s tour, the secret government agency in her book kidnaps her, and takes her to the underground bunker she so accurately describes. Accused of treason, she refuses to believe her book is factual. But when a message is received from the moon asking her to call her childhood home and her dead mother answers, she must re-evaluate what is real and what is fictio
Her only chance of survival is a father she’s never known, a father living inside the moon. Can he save her, her family, and Earth, before it’s too late?
ABOUT P R GARCIA
P.R. Garcia grew up in rural Michigan and is the youngest of three.
She became a lover of Science Fiction at an early age when her parents
took her to the movies. She was hooked the moment she heard Patricia
Neal tell the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still “Klaatu
barada nikto”. Inspired by what was possible, she and her dog spent
many days in the fields behind her home fighting aliens and
investigating unexplored planets. Her love continued to grow, and while
in high school, the series Star Trek hit television, boosting her
fascination with what might be out there. Her friends still comment on
how she skipped the football games to stay home and watch each episode.
When in her thirties, she became an award-winning basket weaver and
continued in this craft for three decades. Upon retiring from her job
of thirty years, she moved to San Diego, California. She volunteered
for five years as a guide on the Whale Watching Boats, teaching people
from around the world about the Pacific Ocean’s aquatic life.
At
sixty-two, Ms. Garcia began to write her Europa Saga, a tantalizing,
ten-part sci-fi series of intrigue, suspense, and mystery. Her saga is a
fresh retelling of the story of Atlantis and its inhabitants. The
books span six thousand years and four generations. Her story launched
her into the world of a best-selling author.
Global warming,
deforestation, pollution of our air and water, species loss, and the
devastation of Earth itself are all subjects dear to Ms. Garcia’s
heart. She has incorporated those themes into her later books,
including books seven through nine of the Europa Saga and Extinction
2038. Her upcoming book Guardians of Earth and the sequel Guardians of
Earth II, which should be released in early 2021, also deals with these
subjects. If you’d like information on ways you can help stop global
warming and other green topics, sign up for her newsletter.
Ms.
Garcia also writes children’s books. A Cat for William is based on an
authentic story about how a stray cat helps a man cope with a disabling
disease. She is working on two more children’s books: The Story of
Sudan: The Last Northern White Male Rhino and The Christmas Crayons, a
story about a homeless boy who finds happiness in a box of crayons on
Christmas Day. For more information, go to her web page: http://www.prgarcia1.com.
