The Mark by Jason Pinter

 

 

Things are not looking up for Henry Parker

His relationship with his girlfriend is suffering and his new job writing for the New York Gazette is not the thrilling dream he thought it would be.

But his luck looks as it’s going to change.

Jack O’Donnell, the New York Gazette’s star reporter, gives Henry Parker a chance. He needs a bit of help with a story he’s working on. Nothing too strenuous or exciting but he would get credit for the work.

For Henry, the chance to work with his idol is worth anything. But for Henry, it could cost him his life.

Jack is writing a story on the criminals of New York. Henry is given the task of interviewing ex con Luis Guzman. But when he shows up at the apartment, things go incredibly, horribly wrong.

When someone dies, Henry is fingered as the killer. Having no choice but to go on the run for his life, Henry gets help from the beautiful NYU coed Amanda. Together they must find out how Henry became wanted by the NYPD, the FBI and the mob.

Or die trying.

If you think this is your average run of the mill, cookie cutter thriller, think again. The Mark is an incredible book that pulls you in from page one and doesn’t let go. Pinter’s first novel did two things: it reinvented the thriller genre and gave voice to one of the most intelligent protagonists of our time.

What I loved about The Mark was that everything about it was unexpected. Unlike most thrillers, Pinter gives you the time to become emotionally involved with Henry and his troubles before pulling the rug out from under you.

He allows you into Henry’s life, into his mind and then turns the tables and changes all the rules.

Not only has Pinter given us a well great mystery, he’s also given us a well written thriller with a great plot and believable fleshed out characters. He also doesn’t give you a lot of time to breathe.

It’s also a wonderful study of what happens to someone in danger and what they are willing to do. It’s a look at what one man is pushed to do in order to find the answers and a thrilling portrayal of a shadier side of life that most of us will never see.

From page one you’re pulled along into one of the most emotionally charged suspense thrillers that I’ve read in years. Those that have overlooked the suspense genre in the past few years would be wise to pick up The Mark and enjoy it’s brilliance. I loved every twist and turn The Mark is amazing make your heart race suspense.  

Henry Parker is here to stay and I for one couldn’t be happier. I can’t wait for the next thrill ride.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

 

Connie Goodwin has just achieved her life’s dream: candidacy for the PHD program at Harvard. She must provide her mentor with a PHD dissertation topic shortly. He encourages her to look for a new, unheard of primary research source. But there are other things on her mind.

Her New Age mother, Grace, has asked her to clean out her Grandmother’s house. Not having anything to do aside from research, Connie agrees, despite a wish to do the exact opposite. While cleaning the house, she finds a key tucked inside of an old bible.

Inside the empty shaft of the key is a slip of paper. On the paper is a name: Deliverance Dane. As she digs into the story of Deliverance Dane, Connie realizes that Deliverance was a Witch, accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

But what she doesn’t know is that she is connected to Deliverance in an incredible way. And, though Connie doesn’t believe in Witchcraft, what does she do when she is given proof that Witchcraft actually exists?

As she delves further into the mystery surrounding Deliverance Day, she realizes that she is connected to her, and the Salem Witch Trials, in a way that she could not imagine.

This is by far one of my favourite books of 2009 and I can’t wait to read the authors next book. She deftly weaves history, romance, suspense, intrigue and magic into one of the most amazing novels ever written.

Normally, books set in modern day that have a historical background read like text books. The author tries to incorporate the history we need to know and ends up dragging down the storyline, making it lag. Not so in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Though we do come away with a thorough history of The Salem Witch Trials, and its causes, the book is written in a breezy, easy to read manner.

Connie is an incredibly likeable character who, though bookish, is a strong woman, a refreshing change from a lot of fiction out there today. I also love the fact that the author introduced the love interest, Sam, so well; their meeting and the build up of their relationship was incredibly natural and very sweet.

If you’re looking for the special book this summer, look no further than The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. With enough history, romance, magic and surprise twists, it’s writing at its best and is pure magic.

Who Gets The Apartment by Steven Rigolosi

 

 

FOR RENT
Central Park West & 72nd Street. Luxurious 3,000 sq ft. duplex penthouse: 2 bedrooms, fireplaces in LR & master BR, 3 baths, cathedral ceilings, all modern kitchen with DW & all new appliances, dining room, balcony overlooking the park, doorman bldg. with full security features, basement parking included. $600/month. Two-year lease. Available first of the month. Call 212-555-2997.

It all started with a newspaper ad.

Corrine Jensen’s life it about to change. And not for the better.  Facing eviction from her current home because she can’t afford the condo fees, she wonders if she will end up homeless and on the streets.

Untill she reads a classified ad on the “Bulletin Board” of the Clarion, a community newspaper published on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. At first Corrine can’t believe her eyes; a luxury apartment for $600 a month? There had to be some sort of mistake. Corrine contacts the rental agent, Andrew Weisch, who assures her that there is no mistake. The apartment can be hers for first and last month’s rent.

Corrine can’t believe her luck. She pays Weisch first and last and he hands her the keys to apartment 18D. He tells her she can move in on the first and Corrine is overjoyed and believes that her luck may finally be changing.

Until she goes to move in.

When she arrives at apartment 18 D, she finds that the apartment has also been promised to three other people: Ollie, and up and coming artist, Venice, an assistant district attorney and Ian, a computer expert. They’ve all been promised the apartment and each has paid first and last months rent. They’ve all been duped.

They examine their leases and find that each one of them is a legally binding document. But now the question remains: Who gets the apartment? Each of the four has no place to go, they’re all essentially homeless; and each of them wants the apartment very, very badly. So who gets the apartment? But more importantly…

….what is each of them willing to do to get it?

Be warned before you start reading: this is not your average run of the mill mystery. Who Gets The Apartment? Is a serious mind trip that just gets better with each page. A quick prologue gives you the impression that you are in for a wild ride but you have no idea what’s coming.

What sets this novel apart from other mysteries is that you are given four possible scenarios, each more puzzling than the last, and you have no idea which one is the real outcome of the situation until the very end. It’s almost like a choose your own adventure except you’re shown each outcome and the story won’t let you go.

I absolutely loved this book. It gives the mystery genre something to be immensely proud of. Rigolosi has crafted four very different scenarios of guile, suspense and pitch perfect humour that the novel moves forward at break neck speed.

The characters are unique and far from the usual cookie cutter talking heads that populate normal mysteries and you would swear you know someone exactly like them. Rigolosi is really an expert in studying the human mind and uses this to great flair within the pages of Who Gets the Apartment?

I haven’t had so much fun reading a mystery in eons. Who Gets the Apartment? is perfect for a day at the beach, a ride on the bus. It’s good for anywhere you want to be entertained because one thing is for sure: Once you start Who Gets the Apartment? you won’t want to put it down until the very last page.

Circle of Assassins by Steven Rigolosi

 

Revenge is Sweet

Every day we are brutalized by those who hurt us, take advantage of us, steal what is ours, mistreat our loved ones, destroy our property, terrorize us psychologically, criticize and condemn us, or trample our self respect. Enough is enough! It’s time to turn the tables. Write to A care of Box 270. (For entertainment purposes only) 

 

When five people answer the above ad, they have no idea that they have started a chain reaction that will result in the ultimate revenge: death. Each answers the ad in hopes to rid their life of an unwanted person. Someone known only as “A” offers to help them, if they kill someone else.

The deal is simple: Five strangers each assigned a letter and a colour. Each will receive details in the mail about the person they are to kill. Each of them must be careful to leave no paper trail and to destroy any and all communication.

Coordinated by “A”, they are each sent letters, pictures and address information in order to more effectively murder the person their contact has chosen. But why must these people die? There are all sorts of different reasons for someone to die; maybe this person is a drug dealer. Maybe he is a pedophile. Maybe he is not who he seems on the surface.

They become a circle of killers, a circle of assassins. Their identities are hidden, even to themselves. But, as with most secrets, something goes horribly wrong.

Each of them must reach deep down into their hearts, and their souls, in order to survive…

To tell you any more of the plot would be to ruin what is without a doubt the most engaging and ingenious mystery novel I have read in years. Make no mistake; this is not your ordinary mystery novel. Told in a series of letters, emails, book proposals, prose, newspaper articles and anything in between, this novel really makes you consider the question “What if?”

What Rigolosi has done is turn a mystery novel inside out. Through the correspondence, we get inside the characters’ heads. We know WHY they have chosen their particular person, what has driven them to such extremes. Normally, you don’t feel sympathy for a killer in a mystery novel. Circles of Assassins is the opposite of this; I felt nothing but sympathy for each of the characters driven to commit murder.

Because it’s told from each character’s point of view, you get to see them, really know them, and this makes Circle of Assassins different from anything you have read before. I found myself rooting for the murderers, hoping that their killings would go off without a hitch. Because you know the killers, you’re involved with them. It’s an emotional, page turning adventure that will leave you breathless.

Rigolosi has given us a case study of five people who are willing and able to commit murder. No other book I’ve read before has been able to see into the heart of a killer so effectively. He also shows us that even regular people, not just psychopaths, can be driven to kill.

What really threw me were the multitude of twists thrown into the novel. Nothing happened the way I expected it to, nothing went according to where I thought it should. And the twists are HUGE. I can’t tell you what any of them are but, suffice it to say, they will have you looking at the book in a new, frightening light.

This book is so good that I’m reading it for a second time, just to pick up everything I missed the first time. Circle of Assassins is an incredible read that sucks you in from the first page and then doesn’t let go until you’ve finished the last. If you haven’t read it yet, pick it up. It’s liable to be the best mystery you’ll read in years.

The Deadline Murders by Ron Morgans

 

I am not really a big fan of mystery novels.

I find that a lot of mystery authors kind of move their characters around, try to surprise us with red herrings or twists in the plot that aren’t really twists as we can see right through them. The other problem mystery novels have is that they’re boring. I just flat out can’t read most of them.

There are a few mystery authors that I do like however: Agatha Christie, Minette Walters, Mo Hayder. I know that when I see their name on the cover of a book I can (usually) expect a great read from them.

However: Ron Morgans blows them all out of the water. Really, he does.

The Deadline Murders is the freshest and most fun mystery I have read in years. It’s heroine, Henrietta Fox, is a paparazzo, a celebrity photographer. She’s tall, lean and has flaming red hair to match her Irish temper. At the beginning of The Deadline Murders, she’s pissed that she’s at the Farnborough Air Show instead of photographing some sort of celebrity mess up.

That all changes when a plane, a prototype Sumxu military transport plane from China nosedives and crashes, bursting into flames. Henrietta captures this all on film, not realizing that she has just started events in motion that could mean her death.

She teams up with newspaper reporter Cass Farraday and, as the two begin to dig further into events, they realize that five reporters have each been murdered and Henrietta might just be the next in line…

This is an absolutely wonderful mystery. If you read one good book this summer, make sure it’s this one. The Deadline Murders is fresh, funny, fast and furious. It hooks you from page one and doesn’t let go.

I can’t wait to read the other books in the series. 

Private Midnight by Kris Saknussemm

 

Inside all of us is something wanting to break free.

No one knows this better than Detective Birch Ritter. He is a man on the edge of himself and he doesn’t know if he can keep himself from falling. Divorced and alone, he lives for his job. His job is his life. The long hours keep him from thinking of what could be.

And especially what was.

While investigating a case where a business man was chained to the inside of his car and the car set aflame, he receives a visit from an old police buddy, someone he never thought he would see again. Someone who knew his secrets.

Saying nothing, the man leaves Ritter only a business card with an address written on the card in what looks like scarves. The words move and shift; Ritter knows this must be a trick of the light, or his mind playing tricks on him. The past can haunt you in many ways.

Knowing that he should just ignore the business card, something pulls at him to go. He knows that going to an address written on a mysterious card left by someone who knows his past could be dangerous.

But something compels him to go.

When he arrives, he meets Genevieve. A curvy red head with looks that won’t quit, he follows her inside her house, still not sure what he is doing there or why he came. He is entranced by her, almost hypnotized. Shocked by her beauty and what she wants him to do.

Genevieve introduces Ritter to the world of bondage. Shock collars and blindfolds, submission and darkness. She knows things she could not possibly know, knows secrets from his past that he has told no one about. Though he is frightened of her, he cannot stay away.

The deeper he follows her into the darkness, the more of his past confronts him until all he is left with is a choice: cling to his safe, boring, lonely life? Or embrace the midnight darkness that waits inside of him? As Genevieve strips Ritter physically, emotionally and physiologically, he knows that he has no choice.

He must submit and change his life forever…

My meagre plot description doesn’t even come close to describing how great this book is. Its part gumshoe detective story, part noir thriller, part erotica and part something else altogether. Combined, all these elements make one of the best and most frightening novels I have ever read. Indeed, Private Midnight is one of the best books of 2009 so far.

Private Midnight defies genre. There is absolutely no way to categorize this book. It is not simple fiction. Instead it is an incredible tour-de-force that defies all genres, transcends them all and becomes something all its own.

For me, reading Private Midnight was like being inside a train that was destined to crash. It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion; I knew what would come would challenge my ideals of what is normal and acceptable, that it would make me uncomfortable and leave me haunted. But I welcomed every blood soaked word.

Not only is Private Midnight an incredible mystery, it is also the ultimate study in human nature. What makes us tick? What are our desires? What frightens us? What happens when fear, pleasure and desire are mixed together? What drives us to stay away from the darkness or give into it and swim in its depths?

While reading Private Midnight I was shocked, uncomfortable, thrilled and frightened. Rarely has a book affected me in so many different ways. Many authors would not be able to write a book that transcends genre and make it good. Saknussemm does this and more and the result is a heady, incredible thriller that is seedy, sexy, thrilling and tantalizing.

If you read one good book this Spring, make sure its Private Midnight.

And discover the darkness inside of you…

Prelude to a Super Airplane by Brian Spaeth

 

 

Almost everyone has flown on an airplane at least once in their lives. They are huge and intimidating, able to conquer the skies and the power of flight. Everyone has fantasized about being able to fly, about being able to fly through the clouds.

But none of us have flown on a super airplane: 47 floors high and able to fly at incredible speeds. But it is the people concerned with the airplane that are our focus here, the ones that think about airplanes constantly that draw our attention.

The year is 2012 and America is on the verge of Civil War. One side wants flying cars to be the main method of transportation; the other wants the new super airplane to be the only method of transport. At stake in this war? The entire future of transportation.

Our world as we know it will be forever changed…

Prelude to a Super Airplane is unlike anything you have read before. More literary experiment than a novel, Prelude to a Super Airplane is essentially one hundred and seven little stories about airplanes. Some follow the plot that you’ve just read above.

Others, well…did I mention that this was unlike anything you’ve read before?

Spaeth wrote Prelude to a Super Airplane over a period of seven days. And man what a ride! Though the book zooms along and sometimes you’re wondering who you’re reading about, it doesn’t matter.

This is a book with a sense of humour that never takes itself very seriously. It’s a quick, roller coaster of a ride that is anything but boring.

In fact, I laughed out loud several times and enjoyed every word. It really is unlike anything ever before attempted and this is part of the novels strengths.

Though sometimes the stories of the characters get lost amongst the more autobiographical portions of the book, you’re holding on for sheer life as the pages seem to flip themselves.

Even though Prelude to a Super Airplane is more literary experiment than a novel, it’s one hell of a good time. I’ve never had so much fun reading a book. From the first page, I was intrigued and, by the third page, I was hooked.

Prelude to a Super Airplane promises to be the first comedy-political thriller – mystery- drama-romance-action/adventure-science fiction-showbiz insider- horror-family energy drink- industry insider- holiday autobiography, Prelude to a Super Airplane is one hell of a great ride.

At times confusing, intriguing, hilarious, bizarre and all kinds of wonderful, Prelude to a Super Airplane is THE beach book for this summer.

Read it and feel like you’re flying.

The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincon Child

Things are jumping at the New York Museum of Natural History.

 

When a mysterious package arrives addressed simply to The Rocks and Minerals Curator, it sets off a chain reaction of events so stunning that no one could have predicted it. The package is leaking a small amount of brown powder that looks strangely like Anthrax. It isn’t Anthrax.

 

It is diamond dust.

 

A mysterious criminal known only as Diogenes Pendergrast was kind enough to return the diamonds he stole previously; albeit not in their original form. Suffering in jail for the crime is FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. With Diogenes free to continue his spree of terror, he sets in motion his most diabolical plan yet.

 

Posing as a museum employee, he gains access to The Tomb of Senef. To counter-act the bad press from the diamond heist and their subsequent return, the New York Museum of Natural History decides to re-open an old exhibit long since closed.

 

The decision causes some outcry. There are some who say that the exhibit, a complete Egyptian tomb including sarcophagi and Mummies, is cursed. There are some who say that any who come in contact with the old tomb are doomed.

 

Diogenes plans to use this to his full potential to kill as many people as possible. The only person who can stop him is his brother, FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. There are those coming to his aid but they may be too late.

 

By the time he is released from prison, the whole world may be in jeopardy….

 

I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. Being that I’m a huge fan of Preston and Child’s books (especially when they write together) I really wanted to delve into The Book of the Dead and be swept away by a fast paced story line and a fantastic race against time.

 

That didn’t happen.

 

Though the usual well developed characters appear in The Book of the Dead, and the plot has been thought out down to the last detail, everything just kind of fell flat for me. Characters that before seemed so full of life now seemed like nothing more than talking heads. The plot, which before had been planned to such perfection, now seemed silly and asinine.

 

I really wanted to love this book. In fact, I had been looking forward to it. It is the last in what is an unofficial trilogy, the previous two books being Brimstone and Dance of Death. Though many reviewers insist that you can read The Book of the Dead on its own, you can’t. I found myself flipping through the other two novels so that I could remember what the authors were referring to in The Book of the Dead.

 

That’s not to say that it wasn’t a good book. It was. It just wasn’t a great book. While a little flat and a lot dry, it’s a good book to read if you’ve read the first two books and want to know how everything ends. Other than that, though I wouldn’t waste your money on this one in hardcover and would wait for the paperback.

 

It’s an unfortunate end to what could have been a fantastic trilogy. Don’t take my word for it, though. It’s still a good read, just not as good as it could have been. Here’s hoping that, for their next book, Preston and Child try something new instead of dusting off the same old characters.

Circle of Assassins by Steve Rigolosi

Revenge is Sweet 

Every day we are brutalized by those who hurt us, take advantage of us, steal what is ours, mistreat our loved ones, destroy our property, terrorize us psychologically, criticize and condemn us, or trample our self respect. Enough is enough! It’s time to turn the tables. Write to A care of

Box 270

. (For entertainment purposes only) 

 

 

When five people answer the above ad, they have no idea that they have started a chain reaction that will result in the ultimate revenge: death. Each answers the ad in hopes to rid their life of an unwanted person. Someone known only as “A” offers to help them, if they kill someone else.

 

The deal is simple: Five strangers each assigned a letter and a colour. Each will receive details in the mail about the person they are to kill. Each of them must be careful to leave no paper trail and to destroy any and all communication.

 

Co-ordinated by “A”, they are each sent letters, pictures and address information in order to more effectively murder the person their contact has chosen. But why must these people die? There are all sorts of different reasons for someone to die; maybe this person is a drug dealer. Maybe he is a pedophile. Maybe he is not who he seems on the surface.

 

They become a circle of killers, a circle of assassins. Their identities are hidden, even to themselves. But, as with most secrets, something goes horribly wrong.

 

Each of them must reach deep down into their hearts, and their souls, in order to survive…

 

To tell you any more of the plot would be to ruin what is without a doubt the most engaging and ingenious mystery novel I have read in years. Make no mistake; this is not your ordinary mystery novel. Told in a series of letters, emails, book proposals, prose, newspaper articles and anything in between, this novel really makes you consider the question “What if?”

 

What Rigolosi has done is turn a mystery novel inside out. Through the correspondence, we get inside the characters heads. We know WHY they have chosen their particular person, what has driven them to such extremes. Normally, you don’t feel sympathy for a killer in a mystery novel. Circles of Assassins is the opposite of this; I felt nothing but sympathy for each of the characters driven to commit murder.

 

Because it’s told from each characters point of view, you get to see them, really know them, and this makes Circle of Assassins different from anything you have read before. I found myself rooting for the murderers, hoping that their killings would go off without a hitch. Because you know the killers, you’re involved with them. It’s an emotional, page turning adventure that will leave you breathless.

 

Rigolosi has given us a case study of five people who are willing and able to commit murder. No other book I’ve read before has been able to see into the heart of a killer so effectively. He also shows us that even regular people, not just psychopaths, can be driven to kill.

 

What really threw me were the multitude of twists thrown into the novel. Nothing happened the way I expected it to, nothing went according to where I thought it should. And the twists are HUGE. I can’t tell you what any of them are but, suffice it to say, they will have you looking at the book in a new, frightening light.

 

This book is so good that I’m reading it for a second time, just to pick up everything I missed the first time. Circle of Assassins is an incredible read that sucks you in from the first page and then doesn’t let go until you’ve finished the last. If you haven’t read it yet, pick it up. It’s liable to be the best mystery you’ll read in years.

Reviewed for The Gotta Write Network. CLICK HERE to visit their site.

Inner Trappings by Barbara Williamson-Wood

Monica Payton wants her own life back.

After enduring years of abuse from her husband Charlie, she divorces him and leaves town, everything she owns packed into her car. With a broken spirit, she drives not knowing where she is going. All Monica knows is that she must be free of Charlie if she is to truly live and have her own life.

She finds herself in the small picturesque town of  Pine Lake. There, she meets local police officer Ben Johnson. She immediately feels an attraction to the handsome gentleman and finds herself thinking of what it would be like to love and be loved in return. Their attraction blooms and it’s clear that what is between them is more than an attraction.

Monica wrestles with what she should tell Ben; how much of her past should she reveal? Ben knows that Monica ran from something horrible, a secret that she keeps inside herself. He wonders if she will ever trust him enough to tell him everything.

But someone is about to destroy their new found love. As a child, Charlie Payton watched his father kill his mother. That act shaped what Charlie was to become: an animal bent on getting whatever he wanted, by any means necessary.  

Charlie wants Monica for his own and nothing will stand in his way.  He will do whatever is necessary to find her and make her see that she belongs to him. Even if it means murder.

Monica will have to learn to trust Ben with all her heart and, more importantly, trust herself, if she has any hope of surviving. Otherwise, Charlie will find her. And when he does, he will kill her….

Inner Trappings is a total page turner. From the first page, you’re drawn into Monica’s world, into her struggle for survival. Into her sheer will to live. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started Inner Trappings but I was finished in two days and left wanting more.

Monica is an incredibly well defined character. You feel for her right away and you ache for her as you read about her struggle to trust and to love again. Ben is loveable as the hero and the romance that blooms between them is better than anything Nora Roberts could ever write.

The book just feels so real, so true. It’s as if Williamson-Wood has placed herself in Monica’s body to tell her story. There is such truth in her words, such beauty that you can’t help but keep reading late into the night.

This is more than a simple tale of a battered and abused wife. Inner Trappings is about the healing power of love, about survival, about redemption. Ultimately, Inner Trappings is about forgiveness and trying to find a place for yourself in the world.

I loved every blessed word and my only complaint is that I wish the book were longer. Monica’s journey ended too soon for me and I can only hope that Williamson-Wood is writing another novel starring Monica Payton.

Amazing characters like Monica rarely make appearances in literature anymore. So all I can say to you is this: read Inner Trappings. You will flat out love it.