Binge Reading – again

Yes, it is a bad habit.  I know that.  Maybe as bad as my addiction to dark chocolate – though I see that as therapy that keeps me from killing annoying authors.

The computer caught that damn keylogger again and 4 days later I finally am back up and running.  So there are a lot of books to get through as I try to once again forget that day 15 years ago when our lives changed forever.

 Lest we forget

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Let’s start with a new author that impressed me – Chelsea Field  – with her first two books.

Here’s the setup in Eat Pray Die – Isobel (Izzy) Avery is an Aussie hiding from a loan shark her scumbag ex-husband owes money and expects her to pay up.  So she takes a dangerous job.  One person in hundreds of thousands can taste poison and poison has become the weapon of choice for assassins.  So the rich hire tasters – like kings did in the Middle Ages where the condemned often became the King’s taster.  The difference is the odds of survival for these rare people are much higher thanks to their weird genetic anomaly, the same one that lets them taste and identify poisons.  Izzy just finished training and has her first case – or so she thinks, but he’s really her final test, until a client dies and he has to reveal himself as part of the investigative branch   So as he recovers from the poison he deliberately introduced into her food at breakfast, Izzy finds herself caught up in an investigation and trying to avoid the legbreaker, Mr Black, sent the by the Aussie loan shark and dealing with her easy going male apartment mate and the horny older woman across the hall.  Her ‘client’ turned trainer and Taster investigator, too handsome for his own good, Connor, all get introduced while she tags along on the poison investigation of one of the Society’s client’s.

Izzy turns out to have a knack for trouble and her attraction to Connor is sort of like cuddling up to a glacier.  But she also i good at unraveling puzzles, like murders – in her own stumbling fashion.  AT over 300 pages, it stayed a fast paced, amusing read with likable and believable characters.

Book 2 – Hunger Pains – has Izzy on her first real assignment as a taster for a blogger about to blow open a huge tech story – making him a target and keeping him away from heroin – the addiction he gave up 18 months ago, are as much a part of her job as tasting his food for poison and just laying around getting bored – and a tiny big plump.  He was as also agoraphobic and addicted to spicy cheese doodle from Mexico Izzy often went to buy at a local bodega.  Then he sends her home to sleep and he tests his new freedom and walks to the bodega himself – and she finds him the next day, dead from an overdose.  Not her fault, yet she’s treated like a suspect because she didn’t stop it.  But Izzy is convinced nothing is what it seems and she once again finds herself working with Connor.

The mystery here is more complex with more pieces on the board than in Eat Pray Die and a bit better done.  both are done with a light touch, but absent the OTT screwball situations and real mysteries driving the plot with the character stories wrapping around it.

Eat Prey Die gets a solid B (4*) and Hunger Pains gets a B+ (4.2*).  Highly suggested reads for fans of light, but not cozy, humorous mysteries.  Good characters and Izzy is fun.

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The Witch PI books by Adele Abbott, an English author using English setting range from very good to a jumbled, annoying mess.

Witch is When the Penny Dropped was the setup for Jill Gooder, adopted as an infant, she knew her mom was alive.  With her adopted dad, a PI, as her mentor, she learned the business and looked for her birth mother only to be told to never contact her again.  Her adopted parents now dead, she’s running a shoestring PI agency in her dad’s old office with his knitting crazed secretary – who works for free just to get out of the house – and her older sister, Kathy, (a bit bossy) and mellow BIL plus niece and nephew round out the core cast.

Jill gets a message her dying mother needs to see her, but after two rejections, she’s unwilling to go till sis insists it’s the right thing to do and will bring her closure.  At the hospital, her mother wakes just long enough to yell, “You’re a witch” and dies.  Her aunt tries to get her to come to the funeral, but she arrives late and refuses all overtures from family and leaves.  Aunt Lucy comes to town and meets Jill for tea – and it turns out, Jill is a witch, one her mother hid among humans for years to protect her, but now she must fast-track her learning because someone is out to get her.

It all seems like such foolishness till she tries a spell from the book and finds she and her cat can talk.

Not the best in the series, a bit confusing in that it felt like a few key elements were left out, but over all, a C+ (3.3*) effort.

Witch is When life Got Complicated picks up with Jill training with Grandma – not a warm and fuzzy one either and cousins Amber and Pearl, Lucy’s grown twin daughters, are annoying distractions. and spends way too much time with Amber and Pearl and frankly, the signs of the plots holes big enough to drive a truck through appear.  We get and evil witch, and icky guy friend, and cousins more irritating than my own – and trust me, that takes a LOT.

With each book, you get a small mystery Nancy Drew could solve between English Lit and Trig classes.  The humor gets strained and so does the oddly rapid pace of Jill’s powers.  About book 8 I got the, “Kill me now and let this be ober with!” speed read mood.  Subsequent books did not encourage me to slow down.  It wraps with a none to shocking reveal about who is the ‘Big Bad’ and ends with the evil witch assuring her she has yet to meet her real enemy, The Phoenix.

That is it, the whole 12 books that get increasing annoying with talking cats doing semaphore and naked ghosts and such.  What had a decent start became a choppy mess of piecemeal life that frankly, you just stop caring about it all.  Mrs V, the ever knitting secretary is sane.  The rest are suspect.

The books ranged from D+ (2.4*) to B- (3.6*)  All are short – and trust me, that’s a good thing.  Price is too high for what you get.  If you want to read them, borrow them from a friend.  DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY.

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Unraveled is the 15th outing for Gin Blanco, the Elemental Assassin and unwilling nominal head of Ashland’s underworld, she, her sister police detective sister Bria, adopted brother Finn (Bria’s boyfriend), and her lover, Owen Grayson.  Finn’s conniving mother left him one thing, the deed to a poor man’s western theme park in Georgia, so off they go, much to Gin’s disgust.

But once there, it gets pretty obvious things aren’t what they seem and it’s a good thing Gin came prepared – she packed all her knives.  The Christmas spirit is lacking when people start trying ti kill Gin.  Now, after being the most feared assassin in Ashland for years and now nominal head of the underworld – while she rather just run the diner, Finn is hellbent on this and she won’t disappoint him after what happened with his mom.  And more importantly, Gim hopes to learn a bit more about her mother’s involvement with The Circle, the real power in Ashland.  She’s not disappointed as a lot comes out here, and not all of it is good.

Estep keeps this series fresh and brings what should be a tired group of people into new and interesting stories.  I like The Circle concept and we’ll see how she handles it.  The book ends with the usual showdown, with Gim once again almost dying.  (She does that a lot)  Overall it was a good read and good addition to one of the more reliable series out there, and less uneven than most – though the story lines need a new ending, not yet another fight from which Gin barely escapes alive.

I give Unraveled a solid B- to B (3.8*) losing just a little ground for her constant use of the fimal ‘big fight’ scene in every-damn-book.

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The Sight is book 2 in the Devil’s Isle post-apocalyptic world where supernatural being broke through The Veil (bk 1) and the main battleground was New Orleans.  Anyone showing any sign of magical power is banished to live in ‘Devil’s Isle’ a community in partial ruins.  Full humans fear magic, all magic, and it can, if the human isn’t trained, turn them into monsters.  Yet it is magic that protects them from what’s on the other side, many of whom are not interested in anything but war.  Not all sups are evil any more than all humans are good and Claire Connelley is just slowly learning the ropes.  She’s a ‘sensitive’ some with signs of magic.  Enough magic that a fallen angel is helping train her so it won’t drive her mad.

After the war, the city, or what’s left of it, is closely monitored by magic detectors that go off with the slightest evidence of magic use or the presence of a sup.  Claire teams up with Liam Quinn whose mother still lives in what is now Devil’s Isle as that where the family home is.  He knows about Clair’s ‘gift’ because she closed the veil through which the Fae and other magical creatures tried to again attack.  Try as she does to just run her old family merchantile store, she keeps getting drawn into problems, this time with an ‘evangelical’ type that wants all sensitives and sups killed to cleanse the world.  As an apprentice bounty hunter with Liam, they discover just a little too much and become targets of the believers.

The Devil’s Isle books are more older young adult than true adult UF and fast easy, rather predictable reads, especially if you’ve read her Chicagoland Vampire series – which is far more complex and original.  The Sight has a predictable end and frankly, while good, it never passed into ‘very god’ or ‘can’t put down’ territory.  It gets a C+ (3.4*) rating from me with a strong suggestion you borrow the book and if you MUST buy it, get the print.  It’s cheaper than the ebook.  (go figure)  This is NOT a series that you should go out of your way to read.

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Well, once again, Leslie Langtry is hitting on most cylinders – BUT – this writer needs a damn good continuity editor.  Movie Night Murder picks up a few months after Riley is declared a ‘rogue agent’ for murdering several Yakuza to protect Merry in the choppy and messy Marshmallow S’more Murder  – where he declares his love for Merry and leaves her confused and torn between Rex and Riley.  Three months later at the baptism of Finn, Merry and Riley’s goddaughter to best friend and co-scout troop leader Kelly’s daughter.  And has to get to know the ‘mommies’ of the girls in the troop thanks to whole Evelyn Trout fiasco in DC.

But it’s movie night with a twist – just as the girls and mommies settle in, Merry opens the door to a banging sound a woman falls dead on the floor.  Not just any woman, Evelyn Trout.  The mommies are horrified, the girls are thrilled and sit discussing poisons that can cause heart attacks.  The new Medical Examiner, a beautiful Asian woman called Dr Body, makes her debut – and arouses Merry insecurity issues with Rex.

Evelyn Trout was no girl scout mom, but a rogue CIA black ops assassin working for whoever paid best.  What she was doing with the troop is anyone’s guess.  But her death brings Riley back to Merry’s door because the CIA wants them to steal her body.  But someone beats them to it.

The positives – it’s amusing even though the author keeps making key plot errors from prior books making continuity beyond annoying.  It has a better ending for who is the bad guy.

The Negatives – it’s like a retread with tweaks.  Kelly is getting annoying, throwing a baby in the mix is weird, and suddenly Philby has 3 kittens who look different from the first two kittens – and one must assume neutering a cat is unheard of in Merry-world.

Movie Night Murder is between a C and C+ (3.3*) Langtry needs to pay more attention to her own plots because there were a LOT of discrepancies from where we left off on the last book.

That’s all for now gang and you might not get review next 2 months as I need my eyes worked on and doing computer works is tough right now.  But I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Witness Protection?

No, not hiding and not on vacation and I am not incarcerated for attacking any presidential candidate, though both have provoked me to rages at various times.  (Though I wish I was able to avoid our election coverage, it seems impossible.  It makes me want to move Australia, except they too have a huge problem and turn prime minister over faster than pancakes.)  I have been enjoying the expensive pleasure of a hard drive crash – from which they thankfully were able to save my data, followed by getting a keystroke logger that kept crashing the OS.  So it had to be lobotomized.  And it happened again.  And again.  And finally, I had them reformat the SSD and start from scratch, changed a bunch of settings, passwords, my firewall, and – much to my eternal joy – my bank account.  In all, it took almost 3 weeks and I did buy a rebuilt backup computer JIC.

Now getting a new checking account is more fun than root canals without Novocaine.  The banker was surly and treated me like scum, and despite her pinstripe suit, the young customer service person had attitude to spare and NO understanding of the bank’s rules.  I did discover my driver’s license had expired 5 days earlier and landed at DMV with 5,000 pieces of ID to prove I’m me.  Not a seat in sight (and they have over 100) I point out I’d be happy to wait, but cannot stand that long.  I end up over in an area for mobility impaired and basically get first rate service – after I filled out a form that had been copied to many times the print was pale gray on white and just barely legible if you sort of tilted it the right way.

You know, the day you can say the DMV treats you better than your own bank says so much about how big banks now treat customers.

The upside to so much computerless time, I did a LOT of reading.  The downside, I’m still fixing all the damn EFT autopay accounts.  Technology cuts both ways.  (And that damn snotty bank associate didn’t fall in a ditch.)

Well, here go the books.

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Cash Landing was on my PBS wishlist and came through quickly.  It didn’t take long to understand why.  I was a good 70+ pages into it and kept muttering, “How many times have I read a variation on this trope?”  Too many.  It was at best a pedestrian and uninspired book from a usually decent author.  The story arc was such a familiar tale I know what each character would be before it happened.  It made a tedious and unexciting read.  I mean a robbery staged by a chef, a criminal, and druggie with the IQ of a turnip was a train wreck waiting to happen.  Making them Cuban does NOT make then interesting.  Even worse, he used names that confused characters.

Cash Landing was a crash and burn and certainly not up to Grippando’s usual level.  My grade D+ to C- (2.4*) and with nearly 40% of the Amazon reviews and 3* and down, you’d be better off reading an old Hardy Boys book.  Free through PBS and will depart that way or to the food pantry.

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Stealing the Countess was the second disappoint Housewright delivered in his last 2 books.    When Paul Duclos approaches Mac about helping him ransom his stolen Stradivarius, you can tell immediately what’s wrong.  No insurance company would pay a claim on a violin of that value with offering a reward, no questions asked, for its return.  But the violin belongs to the Foundation his wife runs with her family money.  Like all Strads, it has a name, the Countess Borromeo, or Countess, for short.  Duclos is a local boy who ended up a world class violinist was asked to do a benefit in his hometown.  The violin was stolen from the suite at the B&B where he stayed and someone wisely unloaded the case with the GPS tracker on the property of one of the now richest women in the town, and Paul’s old HS flame.

Mac gets a letter forwarded from his old address that warns him away and learns the insurance investigator he knew from his initial windfall and occasionally shows up in the books, Vincent Donnatucci, sent it.  But why?

You can figure out who has the violin fairly fast, but the rest of the story, including murder and infidelity (that was obvious) and well-drawn characters keep it interesting along the way.  My score, C (3*).  Borrow the book from the library, though I bought the print book and thought it way over priced.  Stealing the Countess is NOT a keeper, just a very a very average read.

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Book 4 in the Laura Black series, Scottsdale Scorcher, is another good outing for Laura and her police and mafia love interests as a major drug gang war starts brewing and she gets caught in the middle.  Billed as a ‘romantic humorous mystery’, it all 3 elements, but the mystery part does take center stage.

Laura gets hired by Mistress McNasty, Scottsdale’s leading Dominitrix and a friend of Laura’s as well a college professor part time, to find her favorite client.  Then Tough Tony DeCenzo her to find is long time friend, former bodyguard, and now driver who has gone missing – the same man she’s already hunting for Suzie.  Hot on her trail is the Mexican drug Carlos.  She and her friends at the law office when Ms McNasty (Suzie Lu, a neighbor to Laura) is officially a client of her sleazy boss and the girls are on the case.  Using the super-secret DEA software left behind, Sophie finds four very hidden accounts that suggest the Mexicans have been paying him to tip them off.

As is often the case, there are plenty of twists and turns and the whole thing ends in a shootout that ruins Maura’s decision between Reno the cob and Max the mobster that kind of had my ‘shallow bitch’ alarm going ding ding ding.  Even with that annoyance, Scottsdale Scorcher gets a solid B (4*) rating.  Read the ebook, like did.  Available on Amazon and the author is NOT prolific.

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Yet another entry in the seemingly bottomless well of paranormal cozy mysteries to hit the market is Tonya Kappes’ Spies and Spells.  She also authors the rather blah and uneven Ghostly Southern mysteries.

Let’s summarize the whole mess this way, Maggie, our ‘heroine’ suddenly can’t make the gravy for the biscuits, sausage and gravy sold at the family restaurant.  That means her ‘witchy hour’ is there whatever her powers are, they won’t include taking over the restaurant.

Then she gets recruited by some secret agency called SKUL (no, I did not make that up, so don’t blame me.) and ends up posing as the top saleswoman for a privately held cosmetics company, a loosely cloned copy of Mary Kay with red as their signature color.  The whole thing is akin to asking a dog groomer to do brain surgery.  Seems her Witchy Hour was this hottie guy in the diner.

Oh yeah, her ‘familiar’ is her car,  Vinnie, who does NOT like the hottie SKUL agent Mick, the guy that triggered Maggie’s Witchy Hour.

Now the Amazon readers LOVED this book.  Damned if I know why.  Even for a fluff read, it was not well done.  A slight, silly, not especially entertaining, except for Vinnie, Spies and Spells gets a C- (2.8*) from me.  If you must read it and like chick lit fluff, you’ll enjoy it more.  Bought the ebook from Amazon for an insanely overpriced $4.99.  It’s now sells for $2.99 and is worth about 99 cents as a beach read.

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J. C. Daniels is one of Shilo Walker’s pen names, so Blade Song carries her usual style, just in UF.  Her lead character, Kit Colbana, a one woman all-purpose crime player, assassin, thief, investigator, whatever work come her half-breed way.  Being half human makes her an outcast, but her sword makes her damn dangerous one.  Except she also has panic attacks that all but paralyze her thanks to her abusive family upbringing.  This is classic Shilo Walker trope, a strong woman with a fatal flaw that keeps interfering with her life.

The other problem is the Walker inability to fully command her world building.  She sketches it in as needed, but never fleshes it out and breaths life into it.  It becomes a 2 character drama, Kit and Damon, her shifter ‘bodyguard’, watcher, and apparently love interest.

But no matter what name she writes under, Shilo Walker goes for the traumatized heroine and the ‘hero’ who tends to infantilize her.  It does not sit well with me.  Neither did the angsty plot.

Blade Song gets a D+ to C- (2.5*) from me because I found Kit just not a very believable character and the romance bit more icky than romantic.

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Another Neurotic Hitwoman book for JB Lynn, Hitwoman Under Pressure.  One again, the whole, ‘white hats’ and black hats’ secret organizations as well as one angry mobster, are all converging on Maggie.  It’s a very convoluted tale that bordered on incomprehensible at times with all its various detours.  In fact, too convoluted for here without a lot of spoilers.

Suffice it to say that Maggie’s sister’ kids, and her whole family are in danger over a code in a book Maggie has.  Her supposedly dead sister’s  kids are kidnapped and Maggie had to get them back while keeping the rest of her family safe – with the help from her lizard, cat, dog and now a bird that talks like he too many Soprano’s episodes.

Unfortunately, there is a sameness to these plot lines that regular readers will like or find tiresome, especially all the family crap she puts up with and unanswered questions about her brother – the one she never knew about and no one will talk about.

Hitwoman Under Pressure was a quick, light read and moderately entertaining, though I hear, One more, “We can’t discuss that,” and I’m DONE.  this overarching plot is an endless loop of non-answers.  My score is C+ (3.5*) and suggested for series fans in ebook, preferably borrowed from the library.

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 The First Hostage is the second outing for news correspondent J.B. Collins.  Covering the President’s secret visit to Jordan he is in the convoy that is returning the president to Air Force One when they are attacked by a well-organized group of ISIS soldiers who take the president hostage.

OK, that part might faintly be possible, but who gives a journalist automatic weapons and trusts his instincts over their own intelligence service?  And Collins immediately falls under suspicion as the leak to ISIS or ISIS i trying to get even for his provocative and incendiary articles about them.  One exception is a Jordanian Captain who tends to believe him that the leak is somewhere in the US chain of command.  Very few people knew the president was there, so the list of suspects is short and very high ranking.

An untrained journalist fighting with battle hardened elite soldiers is a bit of a tough sell.  SO was convincing me saw things no one else saw in his ‘reporter instincts’.

The initial pacing, taking place mostly in various intelligence bunkers in Jordan, is slow, and it doesn’t pick-up speed till the end.

While plot has some credibility issues with me, especially at the end, Rosenberg’s skill as a writer shines and his knowledge of the area and the key people, including the King of Jordan, gives it authenticity most books lack.  He writes fiction and non-fiction, so his style is professional and finely honed.  It’s the plot I found issue with.

The First Hostage gets amazing endorsements from Action/Thriller fans on Amazon with over 1,000 reviews with 85%+ at 5*.  It gets a B- (3.7*) from me because honestly, a newspaper reporter did all that?   I bought it on pre-order for just over $13.00.  Some used copies are less + shipping and Amazon’s current price is just under $18.  The paperback is tentatively set for Sept 6 and is over $9.  My suggestion, buy used or get it from your library to keep cost down.

Hot Off The Press

This installment is mostly recent releases of ebooks and DTB’s in various series and one that can be viewed as a stand alone, and a few ebooks.  I’ve noticed I’m gravitating to more humorous mystery in ebook than paper.  Only a few series are worth the cost of a print copy for my bedtime reading.  And since it’s summer, I will also tell more about Reacherfan Groundhog and Trey Dupress – their first major adventure – Murder at The Myrtles Plantation.  It’s a long story that had many authors about half written by me and then I edited the tale into a finished product.  I’m doing another polish and then I’ll post installments during those lazy summer months.

But right now, it’s all about books.

Many times I’ve said how good this series is and how creative and funny Darynda Jones can be spinning multiple story lines at once.  I supposed that’s why I was so disappointed in Eighth Grave after Dark.  Jones set the bar high and held it there through seven books – then she wrote this.

Eighth Grave has several issues – first was the stagnant setting.  In the other books, Charley was moving around, checking on things.  Her she’s near her delivery date for Beep and essentially trapped in an old nunnery on hallowed ground to keep the Hellhounds from killing her and Beep.  Second is the rather insubstantial mystery plots that run thru this book.  ‘Kit’ Carson is working on a serial kidnapper/killer case involving an old lover’s niece.  There’s nothing there, just ordinary data checks.  Next is the crying nun’s ghost and what she wants. (Jones always runs a ‘live’ mystery in tandem with a ‘ghost’ case.) And then there’s the elephant in the room – Beep.  And there was the whole Beep’s birth scene, not to mention the sob story from the evil step-mother explaining her DECADES of bad behavior.

Now al lot of information is finally disclosed in this entry, but it’s done without excitement or tension.  But the worst part – and I mean ‘throw the book at the wall’ annoyance level – is the ending.  I won’t spoil it for you, but I sat there yelling “WHAT?  WTF IS THIS CRAP?” at about 3AM when I finished it.  I just hope none of the neighbors heard me.  Between her father’s ghost and his not believable tale, to “You really don’t remember!” – I wanted to set the book on fire.  Since this was about the over-arching plot of Charley’s existence that’s key to the whole series, it’s unforgivable.

OK, my seething anger aside, the book was far from her best effort.  Tension levels were off, the whole pregnancy plot kind of fizzled, so did the wedding, and bland ‘mysteries’ that could have been solved by any armchair Nancy Drew, resulted in the kindest description of this effort as LAME – and the ending insulted the intelligence of the readers.

Eighth Grave After Dark gets a D+ to C- (2.8*) from me.  It is nowhere near the quality of the first seven books and the ending has me wondering if I want to pay the HC price for the ninth book that’s already on order.  Fans will love this book despite all the plot, the data dumps, and character issues.  Try and get it cheap because it’s far from her usual quality.  My copy is off to the next owner in Hawaii.

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Cold Burn of Magic is the first book in Jennifer Estep’s latest young adult series.  Young Adult is a very hot market for paranormal writers as The Hunger Games and other proved.  Her previous YA series, the Mythos Academy books, I never read, so I can’t say how they compare, but here, her 17 yr old female and 19 yr old male leads acted more like adults than teens.

Lila is a 17-year-old thief who is stealing a necklace to order for her sort of friend, mentor, and fence, Mo.  We catch her as she eludes guards armed with swords – why not guns and swords, but apparently only swords.  Like her Elemental Assassin series, people here often have ‘Talents’.  And like her Spider assassin, Lila has two talents.  She is also a high school student trying to avoid getting put back in the foster care system.  After school, she heads for Mo’s pawn shop and ends up getting in the middle of an assassination attempt on the heir to one of the two most powerful families, Devon Sinclair.

Lila’s interference saves Devon’s life and forces her to change her own and take a job as his bodyguard.  Lila hates the Sinclairs because her mother died as a result of protecting Devon years earlier during a chance encounter in the park.  Now here she is doing the same thing and risking exposure of her rare Talent to people powerful enough to rip it from her.

The plot of Cold Burn of Magic is basic and had limited tension.  At just over 300 pages in trade size, it was a very fast, easy read.  Too many of the ‘world building’ elements had common ground with her Elemental Assassin series, and Lila was a bit too much like Gin Blanco – tough, talented, independent, and shrewd – and the setting just adds ‘magical’ creatures to the list.

While not impressive, Cold Burn of Magic is suitable for young adult readers while having just enough substance for many older adults.  I give it a C+ (3.3*) and suggested read if you can find it cheap.

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I admit that Craig Johnson is a favorite mystery author and Walt Longmire is a marvelous character, so I am predisposed to love his writing and sly wit.  Dry Bones delivers plenty of entertainment but is far from his best mystery.  Johnson’s biggest weakness is the emotional elements between Walt and his daughter, home to visit with his granddaughter.

At the heart of Dry Bones is the discovery and ownership of a huge T Rex skeleton found on disputed land and a dead Native American found by Walt’s enigmatic friend Omar while out fishing.  Danny Lone Elk’s status in the tribe means no autopsy can be performed, but Walt is convinced the old man was murdered.  Caught in the middle of the dispute between the tribe, the family, the discovery of the bones, and the state, Walt also has to deal with his exhausted, cranky daughter and granddaughter.

Johnson creates characters that seem so real that you feel you know them, but Walt’s emotional disconnect from his daughter is on full display.  When the call comes about her husband, Vic’s brother, Walt is, as always, tied up with the case.  Fossils of T Rex skeletons sell for big bucks (Johnson acknowledges he used the fight over another fossil as his inspiration here, so if that seems familiar, that’s why.) – money all different parties are claiming.  And murder is usually about money – only this time, not from the auction of the skeleton.

While I figured out who did it early on, Johnson’s writing and characters made the story too entertaining to put down.  The ending had a very clever twist.  “Save Jen!”

I give Dry Bones a C+ to B- (3.6*).  My SIL who also read it, voted it higher, but I’m tougher on books than she is.  We both liked the ending.  A short read, it really isn’t worth the nearly $20 discount price, so wait any buy used or borrow from the library.  My copy went right to my brother and SIL and then off to the book swap games.

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In the latest installment of the Lexi Carmichael series, No Woman Left Behind, Moffet opens with a hysterical scene where a nervous Lexi is trying to explain to Slash why having dinner with her parents will be a disaster.  The part about her father looking at them and knowing they were having sex, including that ‘innovative maneuver’ he did on the table cracked me up.  But dinner is interrupted by gunshots and Lexi and Slash are drawn into a battle of wits with arch villian Broodryk from No Test for the Wicked – a man she defeated and deprived on millions of dollars.

Xavier is in a Greek hospital fighting for his life and twin, Elvis Zimmerman, is being held captive by Broodryk and only Lexi and can play the game to free him.  From a private chat room, Lexi finds she must swallow her fears and go to Africa to get the next clue.  Broodryk wants to play on his home turf.

Slash and Lexi fight about her going, but she feels responsible for what’s happened to Elvis and if she doesn’t play his game, he’ll just kill him and kidnap another person, maybe her brother or mother.  She knows even with SEALs and the help of Grayson, the CIA analyst, she probably won’t live, but off she goes.

There are several hysterical scenes – the one finding Gray and ‘Hands’, the SEAL sniper team leader, in flagrante delicto while running from a ‘spider’ and then the tandem jump from 12,000 feet with Hands are both priceless.  The plot has tension and wit and is just a damn fun read.

No Woman Left Behind gets a B+ (4.3*) from me.  Available ebook only and worth the price.  This is a fun series.

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Book one in a new series my Melissa Olsen, Boundary Crossed was offered free in the Prime First plan on Amazon.  Can’t beat free, so I gave it a shot as ebook.

Allison Alexis Luther ‘Lex’ to her Army buddies, spent two tours in Iraq until she walked out if the desert after an IED got her squad in the Humvee.  The Army gave her an honorable discharge and funny looks, because she should have died.  Now, the only living child of the Luther family, second largest employer in Boulder,CO, is a night clerk at a convenience store building a floor display in soda 12 packs when she hears a young couple debating diaper sizes.  When she goes to help them, she sees the baby is her niece – and the couple has kidnaped her.  She screams for the other clerk to call the cops and proceeds to use her best combat skills against them.

Something strange happens in the fight and even though she gouged out the mans eyes, he seemed to grow them back.  Badly wounded, Lex dies.  Again.  Then 4 more times in the OR, but each time she comes back.  She wakes in the hospital getting the same strange looks she from the Army doctors.  Her world goes sideways when ‘Detective’ Quinn comes in to question her and she relates everything to him.  Then she feels the same pressure on her mind she felt from the kidnapper.  Quinn tells her she’s a witch, so does a young man name Simon, who is also a witch.   he’s a vampire Welcome to the brave new world.

Finally grudgingly accepting the whole witch thing, she seeks protection from the vampire ‘dominus’ for the state.  Her niece is a null.  The story centers around Lex’s slow acceptance of her power and the fact most witches hate and fear her – she’s a Boundary witch, or death witch, with a special affinity for vampires, since technically, they’re dead.

In print, the book is just about 300 pages.  It’s a fast, easy read and the UF world building minimal since it all happens here and now.  Lex is an interesting character, but only she and Quinn are well-developed.  The supporting cast is minimal and kind of sketched in.

Boundary Crossed gets a C+ (3.3*) from me.  Not essential, but give it a try if find a cheap print copy or buy the ebook.  At $5, the ebook is pricy for what you get.

Paranormal New Releases – Book Reviews

This being prime release months for all kinds of books, a bunch of various paranormal types have hit the shelves.  Now these are not the heavy hitters like May and early June, these are all mmpb type books.  They range from romance to mystery to …….. hard to say.  It’s hot out, so sunning on a beach, by a pool, or staying cool in the shade or a/c, here are few choices for less weighty reads.

 

Juliet Blackwell (Julie Goodson-Lawes) writes two series under the Blackwell name, the Lily Ivory Witchcraft series of books about a witch running a vintage clothing store in San Francisco and the Haunted Home Renovation series set in Maine featuring Melanie Turner.  The Witchcraft series start in 2009 and each installment has been good.  This series is a bit harder to slip into an easy category.  The themes are darker and more complex than a typical cozy, yet cozy readers are the target audience.  With A Vision in Velvet, the plot goes very close to UF territory, but manages to just stay inside the lines enough to keep her largely female audience happy.  Perhaps that’s why it appeals to me – the series has less fluff, a strong lead character, good supporting cast, and better writing than the usual lightweight cozy.

Lily is negotiating with a local ‘antiques’ shop owner Sebastian Crowley in her hunt to see the contents of a trunk he’s just bought.  He spins the usual yarn about it making the westward trek back in 1850, so it’s really old.  Lily can ‘read’ clothing and there’s something in that trunk.  Finally, he let’s her look and yes, it’s full of very old clothes, but like a LOT of very old material, it almost crumbles when you touch it.  Nothing here is salable and it all should be handed to a museum with the skills to preserve natural fiber clothing.  But there is a golden velvet cloak with a shattered silk liming that all but vibrates power.  In the end, she buys the trunk – and ends up getting more than she bargained for.

When she gets back to Aunt Cora’s Closet, she finds Conrad, the homeless man who often acts as her store guardian, getting petition signatures to save an old oak from being cut down.  But Con looks worse than usual and complains of bad dreams, even though he and others sleep in the park under that dying oak.  Then a bus load of tourists show up and all Lily’s plans go out the window.  That evening she gets another surprise, Sailor is back.  Her sort of enigmatic boyfriend disappeared after a falling out with Aiden, the most powerful warlock in the Bay area.  Now he’s back, his powers still dampened, but still as sexy as ever.  After a good night enjoying their reunion, Lily heads to Golden Gate Park to see this oak tree ……….. and finds a dying Sebastian Crowley instead.  This brings another man into her life again, Inspector Carlos Romero.

With a cloak that gives her vision of a woman burned at the stake, a dead ‘antiques’ dealer, and Con gone missing, Lily is off investigating the trunk, the family it came from, a supposed curse laid on them, and the abduction of her familiar, Oscar, a globgoyle who appears as potbelly pig in public, by what seems to be a malevolent oak tree.

The plot was rich and complex with the kind of attention to detail on various topics usually missing in cozy mysteries.  A Vision in Velvet gets a B (4*) rating from and the series as a whole comes with a recommended read, this being one of her best entries.  The series need not be read in order, or even all books read.  This can be read as a stand alone without confusing a reader.

Purchased from Amazon and it was worth the price.

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One morning Robin Owens woke up and said, “Oh, what the hell, let’s do a paranormal mystery,” without developing any original, colorful, characters, or a clever plot, she then wrote Book 1 of a new series, Ghost Seer.  It was promoted as paranormal/UF, but read far more like a straight forward paranormal mystery, only duller.  The paranormal mystery world would have been a better place if she’d just gone back to bed with a headache and forgotten all about it.

Don’t be mislead by the cover, Claire Cermak, the lead character, is a conservative former CPA that inherited more from her eccentric Aunt Sandra than a whole LOT of money and huge house full of antiques, she inherited the ability to see ghosts and the obligation to help then pass over.  Her sane and sensible mind rejects the fact she has a ghost dog, Enzo, who actually TALKS to her.  And it’s not just apparitions at night.  Driving into downtown Denver becomes impossible as she sees ghosts everywhere.  Unfortunately, Claire herself is as bland as white toast.

Convinced she’s losing her mind (that would have been so much more interesting!), she sees a psychiatrist.  She’s freezing cold all the time, can’t eat, and see ghosts everywhere.  Then she meets Zach.   Jackson Zachary Slade is a deputy sheriff wounded in the line of duty by a drunken former police detective who wanted to shoot his way out of a DUI from a probationary cop under Zach’s training.  He’s left with a permanent limp, the offer of a desk job, and a chip on his broad shoulder.  But the sheriff has another job offer him, down in Denver, with a highly respected private security company.  Since they hire mostly ex-spec ops, what would they want with an ex-cop that needs a cane to walk?  (OK, pity party at 5PM in the bakery.  Bring your own beverage.)

The first ghost to appear to Claire is a famous gunman/outlaw, Jack Slade.  She has to find the ears he cut off the man trying to kill him and return them to where that man died, not by Slade’s hand, but at his men’s hands, by a certain time for him to pass over.  One of the things she must get is a wooden box up for auction in Denver.  As she researches Slade while in a diner, she says his name out loud and a tall, handsome man with a cane walks over – he’s Jack Slade, though he prefers Zach.  There’s no questioning the attraction, but Zack is called back by the head of the security company he visited earlier.  They need him for a job that night.

At the auction, Claire and Zach meet again with his elderly client who is delighted to meet Claire AND Enzo, who she also sees.  Turns out Zach has a ‘touch of the sight’ too, something he’s in denial about as well.  But not in denial about the con man trying to palm off faked ‘antiques’ on Mrs. Flinton, his very nice client.  One look at Zach and his ‘cop eyes’. and the con man disappears. (YAWN!) Claire gets invited to tea.  She finally accepts her gift when a cowboy ghost warns her and Zach about a robbery at a check cashing place just a few doors up.  Despite his cane, Zach gets all three robbers, Claire accepts she sees ghosts and voila – the world is righted.  There’s a sleazy a guy looking for Jack Slade’s treasure and the search for the second ear, but basically, it’s blah.

Taken as a whole, the story lacked zest – oh hell, it was lifeless – SOMEONE CALL THE CRASH CART!  I CAN’T FIND A PULSE!  It wasn’t really original, nor did it have a creative spin on a traditional cozy trope.  (That’s a polite way of calling it BORING!)  Substitute a witch or psychic and POOF, reuse the plot with just a few modifications.  Unimpressive.  It was written well enough, but held not a single surprise in character or plot.  It could have done with a livelier, more spirited (no pun intended ….. OK, that’s a lie) style, witty dialogue, a more observant and acerbic lead character, but Claire was so bland she all but blended with the scenery.  Zach too was kind of straight from central casting.  I never even formed a mental picture of either character.

Ghost Seer gets a C- (2.8*).  It was ok, without actually being particularly entertaining or enthralling or offensive in any way.  I’m certainly not yearning for more, so her next two are NOT on pre-order.  There are better series out there.  Give this a pass.  Purchased from Amazon and not worth the money.

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Molly Harper takes a break from her vampires and witches in Half Moon Hollow and tries her hand at a paranormal mystery, or maybe paranormal romantic suspense is a better classification, set on a private island just off the coast of Rhode Island.  This is another ghost story, but the difference between Better Homes and Hauntings and Ghost Seer are significant.  Ms Harper builds an interesting and lively cast of characters living on the island to renovate and rehabilitate a family estate now owned by the tech billionaire heir, the only member of the family that went out and made the money prior generations lost.

Here’s the setup, Nina Linden is at desperate for work due to cascading bad luck and identity theft.  Somehow, she wins the contract to redo the Whitney grounds on the private island with the run down mansion that social media billionaire Deacon Whitney is restoring.  His best friend and GQ cover model material, Jake Rumsen, is the architect in charge at the Crane’s Nest restoration, as well as the yacht operator.  The blonde bombshell is Cindy Ellis, a business woman like Nina, except very successful, running a cleaning agency and professional organizer service with the efficiency of drill sergeant.  Now Jake is eyeing Cindy like a kid in a pastry shop looking at his dream cake.  She’s giving him the cold shoulder.  Deacon, as befitting his billionaire status, and the fact he was late, arrived by helicopter.  While Nina was grateful for the job, one she hoped would pull her company out of looming bankruptcy, the catch was having to STAY on the island.  And oh yeah, seeing that woman’s ghost on the window’s walk as the boat approached the private dock.  That wasn’t a Hallmark moment she expected.

Turns out not much was.  Deacon is a geeky guy, but really just a nice super smart man with a deep attachment to Star Wars and what might be a crush on Nina.  Cindy turns out to be smart, funny, self-assured, and planning to get even with Jake for forgetting he dated her twice and ditched her.  Jake is a funny, fairly down to Earth son of privilege who became the best fried of Deacon many years ago and a good architect to boot.  That big catch, they would all live on the property while doing the renovation so Deacon could be sure to have their undivided attention – in the renovated servants quarters they’ll share has another little problem ……. ghosts. Yeah, and the whole ghost thing ……… there was a possible suicide or, ahem, murder that was the cause of the fall of the family fortune and, you know, maybe the ghosts haunting the place.

Where Ghost Seer was all formula, Better Homes and Hauntings did a nice job of folding together multiple story lines with some real creepy bits, enough clever dialogue and smart characters that it was entertaining, though not the same level of amusement as her Half Moon Hollow series.  This is Ms Harper’s first shot at something that could be considered a paranormal mystery with some romance, as opposed to paranormal romance.  There are none of the hysterically funny made-up quotes at the beginning of each chapter, but she keeps things moving and the story unfolding at a good pace.  The characters are likable and entertaining and the plotting solid.

Better Homes and Hauntings isn’t the best paranormal mystery/paranormal romantic suspense out there, but it was very good.  I’m just not sure how her Jane Jameson and Half Moon Hollow folks will react as this is not ‘paranormal’ except for the ghosts, and lacks much of her trademark humor, being a bit more on the serious side while staying light and spritely, rather than laugh out loud funny.  No vamps or shifters or witches.  If someone bought it expecting another ‘Hollow’ story, they are due for a disappointment.  I was a bit surprised when I checked and saw it WASN’T in that series, but I let the order stand.  I’m glad I did.  Ms Harper pulled it off with verve, if not the rollicking style of her other books, and it was still a better than average paranormal mystery/paranormal romantic suspense.  I don’t say this often, but I think she might have been better served to publish this book under a pen name.  Too many readers will be looking for the signature Molly Harper writing style, rathen than what was delivered here, and that will disappoint them.

I’m giving Better Homes and Hauntings a B- (3.8*) and a suggested read, with the clear understanding this NOT one of her paranormal romances, so it should not be compared to them, but to other paranormal mysteries.  The book was purchased from Amazon and is currently selling for $6.29 making it a bargain for prime members.

Four Short Reviews: Paranormal and Paranormal Mystery

Well, when you get lots of heat and humidity – though nothing like they’ve had in the mid-west and south – it does encourage loafing around and reading.  I was the mood for mysteries and paranormals and we have some winners and losers and a couple of recommended reads.

• Title:  Dead in the Family
  
• Author:  Charlaine Harris
• Type:  Paranormal/fantasy
• Genre:  Sookie Stackhouse #10 – the never ending story
• Sub-genre:  Fae, vamps, shifter and their coming out of the closet
• My Grade:  C- (2.7*)
  
• Rating:  PG-13
• Length and price:  Novel – about 100,000+ $15-$17
• Where Available:  Available at most bookstores
• FTC Disclosure:  acquired through and online book swap site

OK, I haven’t read a Sookie Stackhouse book in years and now I remember why.  I just got sick of Sookie.   What is it with her and men – or perhaps males would be better?  It’s like she allows herself to be emotionally abused – not to mention physical abuse and misuse.  I know lots of folks follow this ft the ‘love story’ aspect of the novels, but jeeze, if this is ‘love’ with vampires, spare me.

The ‘two natured’, namely were, have come out to the public.  Werewolves, being the largest group, have taken the brunt of the backlash.  Vamps are already out, but the weres seem to worry folks more because they work and live like ordinary humans.  Sookie, a telepath with some fae blood, is not quite unique, but she talents are very rare.  The plot, such as it is, revolves around Sookie and her efforts to to keep her romance with Eric going under difficult circumstances.  Mostly, he’s off the radar for one reason or another for much of the book.  First because of concerns about the new leader for Louisiana, Victor, who is looking for reasons to force Eric out, and second because Eric’s maker, an ancient Roman called Appius, shows up and demands his assistance with his ‘young’ vampire, the last living Romanov.

A ‘child’ of a vampire must do its makers bidding and Eric is drawn from Sookie into trying to control the vicious Alexander Romanov, so looks frail and childlike, but is actually an insane killer.  Sookie is also involved with the Long Tooth Pack of werewolves and the fact that Sam, the owner of the bar where she works and a long time friend, has come out as one of the ‘two natured’.  Despite his family’s long time history and his own military service, he gets a lot of backlash.

The ending is bloody and inevitable, but the plot is weak and lightweight.  The real question is ………….. Is Dead in the Family worth the $15-18 hardcover price or the $9.50 to $11 trade paperback price?  Nope.  Obviously, if you are a dedicated fan, you’ll disagree, but this is a family drama that has run its course and is, thankfully coming to an end soon.  Get it from the library or buy a cheap used used copy.  Nothing original here.

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Short Reviews: 4 Mysteries/Thrillers from Paranormal to Historical

I like mysteries in general, and their frequent partner, action thrillers.  I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew and Dame Agatha so it’s  no surprise really.  I admit that I am a bit particular about them, though.  I have little patience with certain tropes and character types.  Here are 4 very different books, and my reactions to them.

• Title: A Glimpse of Evil
  
• Author:  Victoria Laurie
• Type:  Paranormal mystery
• Genre: Amateur sleuth; Psychic Eye series; meddling psychic works for FBI
• Sub-genre:  Meddling profiler violates FBI procedures and gets in trouble
• My Grade: C  (3.0*)
• Rating:  PG-13
• Length and price:  Full length novel; about 90,000+ words for $7.99 discounts available
• Where Available:  book available at any book store
• FTC Disclosure:  purchased book from online bookstore

A Vampire Mystery and a New Action Thriller

Every once in awhile, a book title is just so intriguing you simply MUST have it regardless of the fact it’s out of print and the publisher is defunct.  Such was the case with The Case of the Virtuous Vampire.  How did I stumble across such a niche market book from a tiny publisher?  Paperback Swap.  Yes, despite what many publishers think, book swapping online actually increased my purchasing of books, it didn’t reduce it.  It does the same for many others.  Why?  Because you find many new authors and/or genres and the waiting lists move too slowly because there aren’t millions of copies sold.  But I’ve bought a hundred paperbacks – trade paperbacks (those $14-$18 oversized paperbacks) and mass market paperbacks, many by new or new to me authors.  I’ve also bought more than my fair share of hardcovers.  SIGH!

I wonder sometimes just how much the current paranormal/UF craze owes to J.K. Rowling and her brilliant Harry Potter series.  You have a whole generation of kids growing up enjoying the story of the ‘boy wizard’ in the books and the movies.  A lot of today’s Twilight reader’s probably cut their fiction teeth on Harry and his friends.  It’s only natural they would find a touch of the supernatural appealing.   I think the predictions of a waning interest in paranormal and UF that many publishers predicted were a bit premature.

Book Review: Hex Marks the Spot by Madelyn Alt

• Title: Hex Marks the Spot
• Author: Madelyn Alt
• Type: Mystery
• Genre: Paranormal cozy series
• Sub-genre: Gifted human witch with a talent for crime
• My Grade:  B- (3.6*)
• Rating: PG-13
• Where Available: Everywhere books are sold

Madelyn Alt writes very likable, if rather predictable, cozy mysteries with unusual settings and very limited ‘woo-woo’ factor.  Her Bewitching Mystery series feature Maggie O’Neill, a woman discovering her empathic ‘talent’ with the help of her older friend and mentor, Felicity ‘Liss’ Dow, a witch.  Between them they run a ‘gift sop/antique store/witchy emporium’.  Today Maggie and Liss are off to the first fair of the spring season looking for stock for the store and perhaps something for themselves.  The book is set in Stony Mill, Indiana and the area plays host to both Mennonite and Amish communities.  Lissa buys much of her furniture and other handmade articles from them.

BOOK REVIEW: Death Perception by Victoria Laurie

About two years ago I started reading the Psychic Eye mysteries written by Victoria Laurie. They start as bright, breezy, light weight mysteries; entertaining, very readable and charming, pretty much what you want in this kind of cozy. Like many readers I don’t always want to be hip deep in blood, bodies, killers or clues and I enjoy good fun fluff with a decent story. The psychic angle was a clever hook. I’d put her early works as a C+ to B- grade. Death Perception is the 6^th in the series and the first where Laurie tries to get into a meatier, more complex mystery plot.

Abby Cooper is a psychic. She does her readings in person and by phone (so does Laurie, by the way). Her ‘crew’ are those spirits on the ‘other side’ nudge her in her readings. Lately, her crew have been very quiet. So quiet that Abby is concerned that her gifts might be leaving her somehow.

Dutch is having a family crisis, his cousin Chase has been kidnapped and his family has asked for his help. Dutch, who has finally accepted that Abby has ‘special gifts’, he asks for her help. But Abby’s visions turn dark and deadly – for Dutch.  Things don’t improve when they arrive in Las Vegas and check in at the Wynn.

Then Dutch goes out and Abby’s visions turn ever darker and more frightening. She grabs a cab and follows the GPS signal of Dutch’s phone. She lands at the scene of a car accident. A bad one. Panic seizes her. A body is

BOOK REVIEW: The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo

The lurid title of this first book in Mario Acevedo’s vampire detective series made me curious enough to give it a go. It kind of reminded me of the titles of Craig Shaw Gardner’s Cineverse series. This book, though, is an off-beat black humor, paranormal, noir-mystery. Acevedo has an unusual resume – an attack helicopter pilot in the first Gulf war, an engineer in civilian life, then an IT professional, then teaching art to prisoners and finally a published author. His off the wall stories are not for everyone. Take a bit of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, some of David Boreanaz’s Angel, and a dash of Terry Pratchett’s humor and Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe and you have this rather bizarre hybrid. Tough to be neutral about it and you’ll like it or it will leave wondering, “What the hell?” And oh yes, it isn’t XXX material. Actually, I’ve read his 3 books, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, and Undead Kama Sutra, in the series and none get much beyond PG-17 to maybe NC-17.

It’s the Second Gulf War and despite the president’s, “Mission Accomplished”, Sergeant Felix Gomez and his platoon at fighting fedayeen guerrillas south of Karbala. In the nighttime mission Gomez mistakes a 12 year old girl as the enemy and kills her while the platoon takes out the rest of her family. Gomez, stricken by what has happened, wanders off, inexorably drawn to a room with a man who asks what he wants. In his guilt, Gomez says he should be held accountable. Punishment is what he is given – he is made into a vampire.

Chapter 2 finds Felix, after a medical discharge, working as a PI in Denver. A request for help and $20,000 from an old college roommate and friend, Gilbert Odin, a manager at a government installation, send Felix to Rocky Flats Closure Project – formerly a nuclear weapons facility. Gilbert has a very unusual problem. An outbreak of nymphomania among female employees. Every man’s dream, right? Maybe not. In no time at all nymphomania becomes the least of the problems.

Now, the title might lead you to think that the nymphos play a major role, but you would be wrong. An array of mythical and paranormal creatures put in an appearance. Even aliens. You know – the flying saucer crowd. Not even Gilbert is who he seems – and why does he smell like cabbage?

The story moves at a fast pace, but some of it is aided by all these ‘vampire powers’ that Felix has which gets a bit irritating at times. Acevedo also tends to hit all the notes from X-Files while he’s at it. Not a whole lot of new ground here, but a moderately fun ride. The story is no match for the far more complete, realistic or tightly plotted stories of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Felix is a likable character and his first person narration has the kind of one-liners you’d expect from Robert B. Parker or Robert Crais. It’s the plots that need some work. In my opinion, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, about the porn industry, is better and I’d call it a C+ to B-. Undead Kama Sutra gives “Sexual Healing” a whole new meaning and it’s also a C. The fourth book just released, Jailbait Zombies, will determine if Acevedo has the right stuff to grow and improve as a writer from merely OK to really good. Certainly the potential is there and this series has a lot of promise if the plots tighten up and there are fewer ‘magical’ answers and more plausible ones.

My Grade: C

Who would enjoy this book: Fans of X-Files, Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV shows. Harry Dresden fans are doomed for disappointment.  The rating for this book is NC-17