suspense reading Archives - fundinmentalfundinmental

I am a member of Book Sirens, and when I saw Killing Dragons by Kristie Clark, I had to have it. I love anything to do with water, but adding monsters is even better.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

For all the fans of sharks (like in Jaws), dinosaurs (like in Jurassic Park), dolphins, intrigue, danger and adventure, I think you will love diving into the Order of the Dolphin series and Killing Dragons by Kristie Clark.

As soon as I saw the cover, I had to grab it. No doubt in my mind, I had to have it.

I had a bad feeling in the opening pages and I have my fingers crossed that I m not right about Lars.

Eva is the sole supporter for her family, so the grant for her dolphin research is vital. Wouldn’t it be cool, if not talk to dolphins as humans, but still be able to communicate by building a vocabulary?

A human body bit in half, a fin cut from a dolphin found on the beach…Eva would have to investigate the legend of the Lusea, a sea dragon.

A monster. A fish farm. Greed. Drugs. Need I say more?

Kristen Clark did a great job of pumping up a familiar tale with stories within the story, keeping it fresh and exciting. The pacing and intrigue kept me flipping pages. With all the doom and gloom, we do have some chuckles. Some romance. The complete package. Her research makes the blend of fact and fiction difficult to tell where one stops and the other starts. Some parts are very familiar and play out like a B movie, but that is just fine with me.

The story could end here, but I am sooooo glad it doesn’t. I can hardly wait to read more.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Killing Dragons by Kristen Clark.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos — 4 Stars

P. S. I also read Hatching The Dragon, a short story the explains the origins of the Caribbean sea dragon. You can find it HERE. You can also get Dragon of the Sea by following her newsletter HERE.

GOODREADS BLURB

On a tropical island, a sea dragon strikes terror. Marine Biologist Eva Paz is a survivor. Growing up in rural poverty, she loses her family after her brother dies in cartel crossfire. Mistrustful of others and more comfortable around animals, Eva throws herself into her work. When a sea dragon attacks her lead dolphin, Taffy, it threatens Eva’s dreams of cracking the dolphin communication code.

A man from Eva’s tragic past arrives on the island to lead a dive school; Geneticist Thomas Sternberg’s sabbatical soon turns into a nightmare when the sea dragon assaults one of his divers. Eva doesn’t trust him. On his watch as a former Navy SEAL, others died, and an injury left Taffy terribly scarred.

Drug lord Ignacio makes Eva an offer she can’t refuse. He’ll fund her research if she’ll help him catch the sea dragon. She needs the money. She lost her grant. Her dolphins could be turned loose in the Caribbean with that dragon. There’s a catch. Ignacio would capture and control the sea dragon at any cost.

To stop the dragon, Eva must decide if she should ally with Thomas or Ignacio. Or she could go after the dangerous dragon alone.

Can a haunted scientist slay the dragon in time to save her dolphins?

For fans of Jaws and Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Killing Dragons is book one in Kristie Clark’s Order of the Dolphin series.

ABOUT KRISTIE CLARK

KRISTIE CLARK, a pediatrician, lives on the High Plains with her husband, sons, border collies, and a cat named Bonsai. An avid scuba diver, she holds a Roatan Marine Park Bay Islands Lionfish Spearing License.

You can see more about Kristie on her WEBSITE.

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The cover for Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin told me all I need to know.

I am a sucker for a great cover and the book design by Dana Leigh Blanchette evokes feelings of mystery and intrigue, making it a book that I want on my shelf.

What do you think of when you look at the cover?

MY REVIEW

I won Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin in a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway and I was very excited to get my hands on this character-based psychological thriller. I love reading about serial killers and Black -Eyed Susans has enough twists and turns that it kept me guessing to the very end. To delve into the minds of Tessie and Lydia shows the games our mind can play with us and how nothing is ever as it seems on the surface. Being buried alive is one of the creepiest things I can imagine and even though Tessie survived the experience, the emotional scars are much deeper than the physical ones. Lydia… Is her entire story told…or does she keep some secrets never to be brought to light? Doesn’t matter to me, I love her anyway. The death penalty…O J Simpson…guilt…innocence…If you want to jump at every noise in the night, every doorbell ringing…you will want to read Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin.

4 Stars

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GOODREADS BLURB: For fans of Laura Lippman and Gillian Flynn comes an electrifying novel of stunning psychological suspense.

I am the star of screaming headlines and campfire ghost stories.
I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans.
The lucky one.

As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there. Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving “Black-Eyed Susan,” the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave. Tessa’s testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row.

Now, almost two decades later, Tessa is an artist and single mother. In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans—a summertime bloom—just outside her bedroom window. Terrified at the implications—that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large—Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution. But the flowers alone are not proof enough, and the forensic investigation of the still-unidentified bones is progressing too slowly. An innocent life hangs in the balance. The legal team appeals to Tessa to undergo hypnosis to retrieve lost memories—and to share the drawings she produced as part of an experimental therapy shortly after her rescue.

What they don’t know is that Tessa and the scared, fragile girl she was have built a fortress of secrets. As the clock ticks toward the execution, Tessa fears for her sanity, but even more for the safety of her teenaged daughter. Is a serial killer still roaming free, taunting Tessa with a trail of clues? She has no choice but to confront old ghosts and lingering nightmares to finally discover what really happened that night.

Shocking, intense, and utterly original, Black-Eyed Susans is a dazzling psychological thriller, seamlessly weaving past and present in a searing tale of a young woman whose harrowing memories remain in a field of flowers—as a killer makes a chilling return to his garden.