Saturday, March 3, 2012

Author Spot: Ken Follett


One of the greatest things about reading is being introduced to different styles of writing from different authors. Ken Follett is one of the easiest to read writers I've came across. The yarns he spins are some the best I've read. I just finished one of his books titled Hornet Flight. It's a great read if you're looking for something right now though he has a stack of books in his writing bag.

He also has a great web site with a bundle of links from what he's written to writing help to movies.

Ken Follett

Internet Service...


After years, yes years, of not having cable or internet service I am back to the modern age of computers, internet, tweets, posts and blogs. Thank you sweet Jesus!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Level 26


Level 26
Dark Origins
2009 - Hardback $26.95
By Anthony Zuiker & Duane Swierczynski
406 Pages

Sqweegel, the name given to the monster of all monster serial killers, by the FBI. He will attack and kill anyone, kill them by any means, and he is now the only serial killer classified as a level 26. The FBI typically classify killers from one to 25 but Sqweegel is so hianus in his crimes, he's given his own category and he has been killing for decades.

Steve Dark the only agent who has come eye to eye with the killer and not die or go insane refuses to go back into service, but is dragged back into the cat and mouse game world of the killer after a few years of retirement. Mind games, action, introspectin are all part of this fast story that will keep you turning the pages.

Warning, this is a very violent, explecit novel. If that's not your game take a pass on this one.

This being a "digi-novel" is the reason I gave it a shot. The concept is to go to a web page and log on with codes from the book and you get to watch short video clips from sceenes from the story. Some of the clips were truly creepy, but others flat and cheesey.

The story is fast paced but lacking in the plot line and a few holes in the research. The setting is ok and the dialog is good. I like books that make you turn the pages and this one did although it is predictable. On a five star rating system I would give it a solid 3.

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Sandburg Connection


The Sandburg Connection

By Mark de Castrique 2011

Poisoned Pen Press

The Sandburg Connection opens in Flat Rock North Carolina. Sam Blackman and his partner/lover Nakayla Robertson are on the investigative trail of Professor Janice Wainwright. Janice claims a recent back surgery gone bad is the cause of her intense pain and is suing for 5 million dollar, thus the reason for the investigation. While following Wainwright up the trails on Glassy Mountain, Blackman hears a cry and reaches Wainwright to find her nearly dead but still conscious. Through her dazed mental state she tells Blackman “it’s the Sandburg verses”.

Of course since Sam and Nakayla are the first to find her they are the prime suspects. Later, after her death, through autopsy reports it’s found she had narcotics in her system but there is indeed evidence of the surgeon’s botched surgery.

A break-in at the Wainwright home and a stolen book of Sandburg’s volumes from Sam’s vehicle, lead Sam to believe there is something more to the death of Wainwright than meets the eye.

Sam and Nakayla travel the country roads of North Carolina and the mountain trails of the Glassy Mountain seeking the truth behind the death of Janice Wainwright and what the “Sandburg verses” is all about.

This is a great story unfolding methodically, and interesting to readers who enjoy southern history with a twist of treasure hunting to boot. I enjoyed the character Sam Blackman who reminds me of a mans man. He’s got an artificial leg and a smoking hot lover that is sure to please any fan of good character development.

The setting is real with plenty of detail for the imagination but doesn’t burden the reader with so much it makes for a tedious read. The dialogue is one of the best in the business as far as I’m concerned too. The only downfall of the story is I feel it needed a bit more development and detail thrown in for the treasure hunt, but then again, this is not supposed to be an adventure it’s a mystery. A great mystery it is!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Reviews on the Horizon


I'll be doing reviews for Stealing Souls and The Affair of the Wooden Boy soon. Both are by Ian Doyle and are sure to be great reads!

The Great Stephen King

I jumped over to SK's site and found some exciting things going on over there. He has a lot of new stories coming out in the next few months. The first like I'd like to mention is Mile 81.

Mile 81 - ripped from SK's site:

THE NEW E-BOOK FEATURING AN EXCERPT FROM 11/22/63

At Mile 81 on the Maine Turnpike is a boarded up rest stop, a place where high school kids drink and get into the kind of trouble high school kids have always gotten into. It’s the place where Pete Simmons goes when his older brother, who’s supposed to be looking out for him, heads off to the gravel pit to play “paratroopers over the side.”

Pete, armed only with the magnifying glass he got for his tenth birthday, finds a discarded bottle of vodka in the boarded up burger shack and drinks enough to pass out.

Not much later, a mud-covered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn’t been any rain in New England for over a week) veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that says “closed, no services.” The driver’s door opens but nobody gets out.

Doug Clayton, an insurance man from Bangor, is driving his Prius to a conference in Portland. On the backseat are his briefcase and suitcase and in the passenger bucket is a King James Bible, what Doug calls “the ultimate insurance manual,” but it isn’t going to save Doug when he decides to be the Good Samaritan and help the guy in the broken down wagon. He pulls up behind it, puts on his four-ways, and then notices that the wagon has no plates.

Ten minutes later, Julianne Vernon, pulling a horse trailer, spots the Prius and the wagon, and pulls over. Julianne finds Doug Clayton’s cracked cell phone near the wagon door – and gets too close herself. By the time Pete Simmons wakes up from his vodka nap, there are a half a dozen cars at the Mile 81 rest stop. Two kids – Rachel and Blake Lussier –and one horse named Deedee are the only living left. Unless you maybe count the wagon.

With the heart of Stand By Me and the genius horror of Christine, Mile 81 is Stephen unleashing his imagination as he drives past one of those road signs...

Sounds like a keeper to me!

Next, is the one I can't wait to get my hands on. It's titled 11/22/63




On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed forever.

If you had the chance to change the course of history, would you?
Would the consequences be worth it?

Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.

Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

Click HERE and scroll down for the link to get to the pre-order page.

Amazon Kindle


My dear wife bought me a Kindle for Fathers Day! She truly is a wonderful, beautiful person. Ok, enough with the brown nose and on with the post!

On one hand I absolutly love the Kindle but on the other hand I miss the feel and smell of the real thing. Maybe they could make a book scented candle...

The thing I like most about the Kindle is the portability of an entire library. The second perk is the wireless downloading of books. With my old Sony book reader you had to hook to your computer then download the books. I don't know off hand how many it will hold but it's enough for me. Belinda bought me the version with advertisements for around $115.00. I like getting the ads because sometimes there are some great deals. One time they were offering 20% off Apple products through Amazon with your Kindle code. Just so happeded my college age daughter was looking for an Apple computer at the time.

My plan here is to start posing again since our kids are leaving the house for college. We only have one left and things are starting to slow down a bit for us.

I'll go into a more in-depth review of the Amazon Kindle later.