Name the last three books you have read...

[Tamstrong]

The Red Empress is the only home Erzelle has known since the day her family was lured aboard and murdered, victims of a grisly ritual meant to make the elite immortal. Erzelle plays her harp for the diners inside this ghoul-infested riverboat, knowing her own death looms, escaping through the music that’s all she has left of her parents. Her nightmare’s upended in the space of a day by the arrival of Olyssa, a fellow musician, but so much more. Erzelle is swept up in Olyssa’s quest to find her ensorcelled sister Lilla, a journey across a mutated landscape that leads them to an enemy responsible for the deaths of millions. To stop the slaughter of countless more, the pair has no choice but to draw on the deadly magics that reshaped the world ... a power that’s as dangerous to its wielders as it is to its foes, one that’s killing Erzelle even as she fights to control it.

Pretty good.

John has given up his ordinary life to find wisdom traveling the country and enjoy the freedom of living as a nomad. But when he stumbles across a mysterious town tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains, walled off from modern society, he discovers a group of people who could use some freedom of their own. Are they a harmless religious sect, or is there something malignant beneath the surface?

I enjoyed it, but I felt like there was more story potential that wasn't put to use.

On a chilly November afternoon in 1998, a tearful 36-year-old man walked into the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department in Eureka, California, and confessed to something horrible. “I hurt some people,” he said. Inside his pocket was the ghastly proof of his statement. But there was more to Wayne Adam Ford than the trail of mangled victims he left behind. More, even, than the twisted predator inside, which drove him to increasingly perverse sexual appetites.

Pulitzer Prize–nominated author Caitlin Rother draws on previously sealed testimony, interviews with the key players in the case, and the killer’s shocking confession to explore the demons that drove a damaged man to his unspeakable crimes. Her book is a harrowing psychological portrait and a haunting, unforgettable true-life thriller.

Worth the read if you're into true crime books.

In The Underworld, Kevin Canty tells a story inspired by the facts of a disastrous fire that took place in an isolated silver mining town in Idaho in the 1970s, in which almost everyone in town lost a friend, a lover, a brother, or a husband. The Underworld imagines the fates of a handful of fictional survivors and their loved ones?Jordan, a young widow with twin children; David, a college student trying to make a life for himself in another town; Lionel, a lifelong hard-rock miner?as they struggle to come to terms with the loss. It’s a tough, hard-working, hard-drinking town, a town of whores and priests and bar fights, but nobody’s tough enough to get through this undamaged. A powerful and unforgettable tale about small-town lives and the healing power of love in the midst of suffering.

Not bad.

Frank Rodriguez, a much-loved counselor of troubled teens, lies dead on the bedroom floor. His wife and step-daughter are in shock, and so is the medical examiner when he performs the autopsy. Aside from being dead, Frank is in perfect health. Demanding to know the cause of her husband’s death, Angie Rodriguez badgers the police, insisting that Frank was murdered. The cops attribute her assertions to overwhelming grief, but soon they too believe that Frank didn’t die of natural causes. When the police enlist their number one suspect to help in the investigation, things spiral out of control until police are dealing with a daring plot to murder Angie’s best friend, and allegations of another homicide so evil and perverse that even seasoned L.A County Detectives are shocked beyond belief ... and so will the readers!

Another interesting read for true crime fans.

Once upon a time, there was a toy store filled with magical playthings and fantastical stories. But not anymore. That was a long time ago.

When Marie arrived, the place was cobwebs and empty shelves. Little dry pellets covered the floor. Aunt Rinks called them dirt balls. They weren’t dirt balls.

The place didn’t feel like Christmas. Nothing did anymore. What Marie wanted, she couldn’t possibly have. A leaky air mattress and a self-absorbed aunt was all she got. But Christmas wasn’t about what you wanted; it was about what you needed. Godfather told her that. That was when he told her the tale of the nutcracker.

“You must find the princess,” he told Marie. “She’s been waiting for you.”

It was a story, nothing more. Marie didn’t believe in fairy tales or Christmas spirit anymore. Certainly didn’t believe in a wooden soldier and a cursed princess who needed saving. Until she discovered the gift.

Marie and her brother, Fritz, find a small box hidden in the old toy store. When they open it, the real journey begins. Marie discovers the nutcracker is more than just a silly toy. The princess isn’t a metaphor. The nutcracker shows Marie a truth hidden inside her.

They’ll have to hurry to save the princess. When Aunt Rinks finds the gift, she aims to take everything they’ve discovered for herself, to leave Marie and Fritz with nothing and the princess still cursed. The journey, however, isn’t a game. It will reveal Marie’s true nature.

What happens next is not what anyone wanted for Christmas.

As usual, this author doesn't disappoint. Another great addition to the series.

 

[Tamstrong]

I am where dead children go.

Okiku is a lonely soul. She has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the spirits of the murdered-dead. Once a victim herself, she now takes the lives of killers with the vengeance they're due. But releasing innocent ghosts from their ethereal tethers does not bring Okiku peace. Still she drifts on.

Such is her existence, until she meets Tark. Evil writhes beneath the moody teen's skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. While his neighbors fear him, Okiku knows the boy is not a monster. Tark needs to be freed from the malevolence that clings to him. There's just one problem: if the demon dies, so does its host.

The darkness will find you.

Seventeen-year-old Tark knows what it is to be powerless. But Okiku changed that. A restless spirit who ended life as a victim and started death as an avenger, she's groomed Tark to destroy the wicked. But when darkness pulls them deep into Aokigahara, known as Japan's suicide forest, Okiku's justice becomes blurred, and Tark is the one who will pay the price…

Enjoyable 2 book series.

Deep in a dark, snow-covered cemetery, a terrifying, moaning apparition rises from the same grave night after night. Even the most hardened caretakers won t go near the Spooner gravestone on their midnight rounds. Only one ghost hunter has the will to face the unknown, but at what price? In the chilling blackness, only Jessica Backman is prepared to answer the spectral cry from beyond when the graveyard speaks.

Yawn. This barely qualifies as a short story IMO. It's like the author wrote a few chapters of a novel, got bored, and decided to end it before going anywhere with it.

 

[Tamstrong]

The unforgettable story of a young woman's odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes on her journey to redemption.
Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery - but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison. White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent world can become.

Pretty good. It makes you think a lot about the hell foster care can be for the children whose parents who've already made their lives hell enough as it is.

Gathering of Waters is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi--a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families.

Tass Hilson and Emmett Till were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit.

Forty years later, after the death of her husband, Tass returns to Money and fantasy takes flesh when Emmett Till's spirit is finally released from the dank, dark waters of the Tallahatchie River. The two lovers are reunited, bringing the story to an enchanting and profound conclusion.

Gathering of Waters mines the truth about Money, Mississippi, as well as the town's families, and threads their history over decades.

Definitely worth the read, but hard to review. The fiction and truth are all stirred together in a way that's weird but fascinating.

Tea can raise the dead, but resurrection comes at a price...

When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother, Fox, from the dead, she learns she is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy means that she's a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community. But Tea finds solace and guidance with an older, wiser bone witch, who takes Tea and her brother to another land for training.

In her new home, Tea puts all her energy into becoming an asha—one who can wield elemental magic. But dark forces are approaching quickly, and in the face of danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles…and make a powerful choice.

Not bad but a bit too slowly paced. It's the first book in a series, so I'll have a better idea what I think after I read the rest of them.

 

[Tamstrong]

First they chase him through the mountains for days. Then they murder his grandfather. And just as seventeen-year-old Silas Ainsley is about to escape his nameless enemies, he is killed. This is where it should end, but Silas' journey is far from over. He wakes up and finds himself in a realm called Marenon; a place where humans are not the superior race, where magic is a way of life, and war is threatening to destroy it all.

Not a bad trilogy. All three books were put together in the version I bought, so the pics below are the names of the different books.

 

[Tamstrong]

Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon — these are our guides through the Wastelands... From the Book of Revelations to The Road Warrior; from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today’s most renowned authors of speculative fiction, including George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King, Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon.

Excellent anthology. I highly recommend it. There are also two more books in the series I've added to my reading list.

Stanley and Richie, two naive teenagers, entered the woods in search of a haunted house. The pair hoped to capture evidence of the supernatural for their classmates. It was supposed to be a fun and simple weekend excursion. Unfortunately, the friendly pair were unaware of the terror lurking in the woodland – a family of savages, a family of violence. Only one of them would emerge from the woods unscathed, only one would be allowed to join the family in a shocking crime spree...

Jon Athan, author of Mr. Snuff and Butcher Road, brings you an uncompromising vision of provocative horror. Are you willing to join the family?

WARNING: This book contains scenes of graphic violence, disturbing themes, and some sexual references, including references to sexual abuse. Many of these scenes involve minors. This book is not intended for those easily offended or appalled. Please enjoy at your own discretion.

Another story with potential, but it turned out to be a big ol' pile of meh.

This one is a snoozer, but it was free. lol

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

The wealthy seem to exist in a different, glittering world from the rest of us. Almost as if by . . . magic.

Stephen Oakwood is a young man on the edge of this hidden world. He has talent and potential, but turning that potential into magical power takes money, opportunity, and training. All Stephen has is a minimum wage job and a cat.

But when a chance encounter with a member of House Ashford gets him noticed by the wrong people, Stephen is thrown in the deep end. For centuries, the vast corporations and aristocratic Houses of the magical world have grown impossibly rich and influential by hoarding their knowledge. To survive, Stephen will have to take his talent and build it up into something greater—for only then can he beat them at their own game.

Vampires and humans live side by side thanks to an uneasy peace maintained by the Assembly. As an Arbiter for the powerful organization, Miles Watson is authorized to act as judge, jury, and executioner for anyone—living or undead—who breaks the law. But now Miles is up against a threat more sinister than anything he’s seen in his centuries as a vampire.

A criminal network in London is offering wealthy humans the chance to become vampires without the Assembly’s consent. When the process goes disastrously wrong, the Boss wants to eliminate any trace of the fiasco. But a rogue enforcer refuses to play along, and trouble quickly escalates out of anyone’s control.

As Miles sets off searching for the illegal vampires, he finds himself on the trail of a monstrous serial killer. The twisty investigation takes him from London’s deadly underworld to the rural backwaters of the Pacific Northwest—where an even more devious criminal enterprise threatens all of vampire-kind . . .

Known for his terrifying tales of urban fantasy, author Steve McHugh goes even deeper into the shadows with this noirish vampire thriller, which masterfully combines suspenseful plotting and intricate world-building.

Civil War tore across the Union Empire, leaving countless dead in its wake. It was a war started by one man, once beloved by the Empire. His betrayal still lingers in the memory of those who lived through it.

Decades later, his son, Felix Drake, is a Warden tasked with both protecting the ruling members of the Union Empire and its Council, and bringing those powerful and influential people to justice should they break the law.

Drake protects the very Empire his father sought to destroy.

When two members of a Council family are murdered, Drake and his team investigate, only to uncover corruption, resentment, and yet more death.
As the case deepens, Drake is forced back into a life he’d left long ago, bringing with it the same disdain and anger from the very people he’s sworn to protect.
However, he’s no longer a helpless child, and the people who try to intimidate him now are about to discover that Drake is so very much his father’s son.


All three books are Book Ones for planned ongoing book series with Benedict Jaka's Book Two of his Magic series coming in October & Steve McHugh's Atoned actually being a follow-up to his novella Blackcoat, which set up the story's universe and featured one of Atoned's supporting characters as the protagonist for that particular story. All three books were entertaining reads.

 

[Tamstrong]

Something sinister is happening inside the New Leaf Building.

Olivia wakes on her bedroom floor in a pool of vomit, head spinning. The power is off and her husband is missing. A vicious storm assaults the building, but it is nothing compared to the storm raging outside her apartment door. A parasite has begun invading--possessing--the residents. Transforming them into twisted, murderous versions of their former selves with one thing on their mind. To kill.

Screams echo from the darkened hallways as Olivia, desperate to find her husband, ventures unknowingly into a world of violence and mayhem. Trapped within the New Leaf’s endless corridors, she must face her fears and discover the dark, ancient secret behind the insanity. She must face the Infested.

Aside from a few editing issues, this one was pretty entertaining. If you like horror, it's worth the read.

For two sisters, confronting the past could come at a terrible price in a riveting novel about a family tragedy—and family secrets—by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author Elle Marr.

Fiona and Violet Seng were just children when their family’s Cessna crash-landed in the Washington wilderness, claiming the lives of their parents. For twelve harrowing weeks, the girls fended for themselves before being rescued.

Twenty-five years later, they’re still trying to move on from the trauma. Fiona repurposes it into controversial works of art. Violet has battled addiction and failed relationships to finally progress toward normalcy as a writer. The estranged sisters never speak about what they call their Alone Time in the wild. They wouldn’t dare—until they become the subject of a documentary that renews public fascination with the “girl survivors” and questions their version of the events.

When disturbing details about the Seng family are exposed, a strange woman claims to know the crash was deliberate. Fiona and Violet must come together to face the horrifying truth of what happened out there and what they learned about their parents and themselves. Before any other secrets emerge from the woods.

I found a new author I like. This was well-written and engaging, and a solid thriller/suspense novel.

What makes a psychopath? A young woman delves into her family’s shadowy legacy in a terrifying novel by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Strangers We Know.

Psychology student Olivia Eriksen’s family is notorious among true-crime buffs. Faced with a legacy of psychopathy that spans generations, Olivia has spent much of her academic life trying to answer one chilling question: Nature or nurture?

Although she’s kept a safe distance from her blood relatives for years, Olivia agrees to attend a weekend reunion. After all, her fiancé is eager to meet his future in-laws, and the gathering may give her a chance to interview her elusive grandfather about the family traits.

But nothing is ever peaceful among the Eriksens for long. Olivia’s favorite cousin is found dead in a nearby lake. Then another family member disappears. As a violent storm isolates the group further, Olivia’s fears rise faster than the river.

And an uninvited guest is about to join the party. True-crime podcaster Birdie Tan has uncovered a disturbing mystery in her latest investigation—and she’s following it right to the Eriksens’ mountain resort. There’s a deadly twist in the family plot that even Olivia doesn’t see coming.

Another well-written book by this author.

 

[Tamstrong]

In Paris, her twin sister has vanished, leaving behind three chilling words: Trust no one.

Shayna Darby is finally coming to terms with her parents’ deaths when she’s delivered another blow. The body of her estranged twin sister, Angela—the possible victim of a serial killer—has been pulled from the Seine. Putting what’s left of her life on hold, Shayna heads to Paris. But while cleaning out Angela’s apartment, Shayna makes a startling discovery: a coded message meant for her alone…

Alive. Trust no one.

Taking the warning to heart, Shayna maintains the lie. She makes a positive ID on the remains and works to find out where—and why—her missing sister is hiding. Shayna retraces her sister’s footsteps, and they lead her down into Paris’s underbelly.

As she gets closer to the truth—and to the killer—Shayna’s own life may now be in the balance…

The search for a serial killer leads a woman into the twisted tangle of her own family tree.

Adopted when she was only days old, Ivy Hon knows little about her lineage. But when she’s stricken with a mystery illness, the results of a genetic test to identify the cause attract the FBI. According to Ivy’s DNA, she’s related to the Full Moon Killer, who has terrorized the Pacific Northwest for decades. Ivy is the FBI’s hope to stop the enigmatic predator from killing again.

When an online search connects Ivy with her younger cousin, she heads to rural Rock Island, Washington, to meet the woman. Motivated by a secret desire to unmask a murderous relative, Ivy reaches out to what’s left of a family of strangers.

Discovering her mother’s tragic fate and her father’s disappearance is just the beginning. As Ivy ventures into a serial killer’s home territory, she realizes that she may be the next victim of poisonous blood ties.

A novel about secrets and revenge. It’s only by confronting who she was then that she can understand who she is now.

I was born in captivity…

Two decades ago Marissa Mo escaped a basement prison—the only home she’d ever known. At twenty-seven, Marissa’s moved beyond the trauma and is working under a new name as a freelance photographer. But when she accepts a job covering a string of macabre murders in Portland, it’s impossible for Marissa not to remember.

Everything is eerily familiar. The same underground lairs. Sad trinkets and toys left behind, identical to those Marissa had as a child. And then there is the note meant just for her that freezes Marissa’s blood: See you soon, Missy.

To determine the killer’s next move, Marissa must retrieve her long-forgotten memories and return to a past she’s hidden away. But she won’t be facing her fears alone. Someone is waiting for her in the dark.

I enjoyed all three.

 

[Tamstrong]

In this debut thriller, a troubled child psychologist returns to a small Louisiana town to protect her secrets but winds up having to protect her life.

Dr. Willa Watters is a prominent child psychologist at the height of her career. But when a viral video of a disastrous television interview puts her reputation on the line, Willa retreats to Broken Bayou, the town where she spent most of her childhood summers. There she visits her aunts’ old house and discovers some of her unstable mother’s belongings still languishing in the attic—dusty mementos harboring secrets of her harrowing past.

Willa’s hopes for a respite are quickly crushed, not only by what she finds in that attic but also by what’s been found in the bayou.

With waters dropping due to drought, mysterious barrels containing human remains have surfaced, alongside something else from Willa’s past, something she never thought she’d see again. Divers, police, and media flood the area, including a news reporter gunning for Willa and Travis Arceneaux—a local deputy and old flame.

Willa’s fate seems eerily tied to the murders. And with no one to trust, she must use her wits to stay above water and make it out alive.

It's well-written, a good story, and I'm looking forward to her future novels.

A tragic and riveting true crime story of teenage obsession, torture, the 1992 murder of a twelve-year-old Indiana girl, and its aftermath.

Twelve-year-old Shanda Sharer carefully selected what she would wear on her first day at Hazelwood Junior High in New Albany, Indiana. She wanted everything to be perfect. Yet two days later model student Shanda was in detention for fighting with another girl. Within a week, Shanda and tough, swaggering Amanda were best friends. Slowly, Shanda began to change, and her worried parents transferred her to another school. But the girls’ relationship didn’t end, sparking homicidal jealousy in another girlfriend. Then, one night, after a rock concert, a clique of four teenage girls did the unimaginable: they drove to Shanda’s home, lured her into their car and committed horrific crimes. Afterwards they drove to McDonald’s for breakfast.

Worth the read for anyone into true crime.

Six naïve guests plus revenge served cold equals a recipe for disaster…

Lila Carmichael may be a rich and famous comedienne, but she’s hidden her greatest talent from her adoring fans - her ability to simmer, spice and serve a carefully constructed tour de force at a cozy reunion on her private island in the Pacific Northwest.

Six unsuspecting guests have forgotten the innocent little crimes they committed against poor, gullible Lila fifteen years ago in college. All are teetering on the brink of ruin, hoping the famous Lila will come to their rescue. But their desperation plays them right into her hand.

One by one, Lila's guests are figuratively killed off in a vicious parlor game called Wolves. And revenge turns bittersweet when the weekend is over…and one guest is dead for real.

This one was okay. Some parts are engaging and others are downright corny.

 

[Tamstrong]

That was the simple yet groundbreaking question William T. Vollmann asked in cities and villages around the globe. The result of Vollmann's fearless inquiry is a view of poverty unlike any previously offered.

Poor People struggles to confront poverty in all its hopelessness and brutality, its pride and abject fear, its fierce misery and quiet resignation, allowing the poor to explain the causes and consequences of their impoverishment in their own cultural, social, and religious terms. With intense compassion and a scrupulously unpatronizing eye, Vollmann invites his readers to recognize in our fellow human beings their full dignity, fallibility, pride, and pain, and the power of their hard-fought resilience.

Highfalutin garbage.

It begins on the shaded town square in a sleepy Southern town. A spirited seven-year-old has a brisk business at her lemonade stand. But the little girl’s pretty yellow dress can’t quite hide the ugly scar on her chest.

Her latest customer, a bearded stranger, drains his cup and heads to his car, his mind on a boat he's restoring at a nearby lake. The stranger understands more about the scar than he wants to admit. And the beat-up bread truck careening around the corner with its radio blaring is about to change the trajectory of both their lives.

Before it's over, they'll both know there are painful reasons why crickets cry . . . and that miracles lurk around unexpected corners.

Excellent book and beautifully touching story.

They thought it was a simple flight home. The pilot had other plans…
A moment of calm
Heading home after a conference, the senior leadership of a global corporation relax on their private jet ahead of their Christmas break.

A flash of fear
But their peace is shattered when they realise their jet isn’t taking them home. Instead, it’s heading east—out over the Atlantic Ocean.

A journey of terror
And things go from bad to worse when their pilot tells them she is going to crash into the ocean if one of them doesn’t confess to murder…

It got off to a slow start, but overall it was a solid story.

 

[CAKicker]

Highfalutin garbage.

Excellent book and beautifully touching story.

It got off to a slow start, but overall it was a solid story.

I have to applaud you for your discipline of reading Tam, I'm trying to read more often

 

[Tamstrong]

I have to applaud you for your discipline of reading Tam, I'm trying to read more often

Thanks. If I was actually disciplined though, I'd be writing a lot more than I'm reading. lol I read a lot more when the mood strikes me, and when I have a lot of downtime for whatever reason. I also tend to get more out of reading than I do a lot of other things.

It helps if you read topics/genres you enjoy.

 

[Tamstrong]

Charlie Trace, professional thief, is no stranger to deceit and violence. But nothing in his life on the knife-edge of London's Underworld could prepare him for the horror of Demogorgon.

It is centuries old: Satan is its lord and master. It walks the earth in the guise of a man, but it is not a man: it is the very essence of evil. Across many years and nations, Demogorgon has sown the seeds of hell...now, it is calling its children home. Demogorgon's power grows with every soul it devours--and if Charlie Trace can't stop it, he will be its next victim!

This one was good. There were a few moments of sloppy/poorly edited writing that were distracting, but overall I enjoyed it.

Bent on taking over the Earth, the deadly Thone have planted a monstrous device on our planet's surface. Trapped inside is a group of scientists, spies, and innocent bystanders. Part maze, part torture chamber, part laboratory, the House of Doors is a test. If its captives survive, the Thone will withdraw from Earth and leave us in peace.

Survival seems impossible. At every turn of the labyrinth the prisoners encounter alien world and terrifying monsters ripped from their own subconscious fears. Only by defeating the demons within can these men and women escape the House of Doors and save the Earth.

I enjoyed the story, but the writing was generally sloppy as hell in this book. Sometimes it seems like he was drunk when he wrote it and said to hell with proofreading. Hell, maybe whoever was responsible for editing was also drunk. Still a good story though.

Alien beings bent on our destruction have seeded the world with horrible machines capable of transforming our planet into a hellhole where only they can live.

Our only hope is to solve the puzzle of a four-dimensional maze, an alien thing that is part building, part machine, and part psychological torture chamber. A few brave men and women--and one fearless dog--dare to enter the maze. What they find there will change their lives forever, as the alien machinery creates terrifying worlds based on their worst nightmares.

Part 2 wasn't bad. The quality of the writing was a million times better, so the reading experience was that much better as well.

Even with the author's inconsistent writing, the stories themselves still have me looking forward to reading the rest of what he's written.

 

[Tamstrong]

Khai begins life in ancient Egypt as the son of Pharaoh Khasathut's chief architect. Believing Pharaoh to be a god, Khai is stunned to learn that the supposedly great and wise leader is a shriveled, ancient fossil of a man whose chief desires are to deflower young virgins and achieve eternal life through the powers of his black magicians. When Khai dares to raise a hand to Pharaoh, he is condemned to be a slave.

Escaping, Khai flees to neighboring Kush where he earns the rank of general in the army of Queen Ashtarta . . . and a place in Ashtarta's bed. In the heat of battle against Pharaoh's armies, Khai is betrayed by his best friend and falls victim to the evil spells of Khasathut's magicians, who send his soul winging centuries into the future.

In modern America, Khai searches for the reincarnated souls of his love, Ashtarta, and of his betrayer. Khai is amazed by many of the wonders of the modern world-television, air conditioning, and especially guns, bombs, and other weapons.
Returning to his own time, Khai uses the technologies he saw in the future to rewrite the past. But will he and Ashtarta be in time to prevent Khasathut from attaining immortality and using newly-gained alien powers to destroy all of Khem and Kush?

This is my favorite book from this author so far. The story was awesomeness, and an action-packed read. Just an FYI, the synopsis above isn't entirely accurate.

In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family’s vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys the family—her father commits suicide, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil for the lost child.

Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person who might care: her grandniece, Justine. For Justine, the lake house offers freedom and stability—a way to escape her manipulative boyfriend and give her daughters the home she never had. But the long Minnesota winter is just beginning. The house is cold and dilapidated. The dark, silent lake is isolated and eerie. Her only neighbor is a strange old man who seems to know more about the summer of 1935 than he’s telling.

Soon Justine’s troubled oldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily’s disappearance, her mother arrives to steal her inheritance, and the man she left launches a dangerous plan to get her back. In a house haunted by the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children.

An excellent book.

It’s been thirty years since the terrifying abduction of twin sisters Rebecca and Molly Underhill by a deranged man who lived in a cabin behind their house in upstate New York. Fearful of retribution against their family, the girls kept the incident secret.

Rebecca, now a painter and art teacher, and alone since Molly died of cancer, suddenly begins getting strange and anonymous text messages—the first with just her name. Is Molly trying to communicate with her? Not possible, thinks Rebecca, who’s never believed in God or an afterlife.

And it couldn’t be their attacker from so many years ago; he was imprisoned for a similar crime at about that same time. Surely, he’d still be in jail or dead by now—wouldn’t he?

But things get stranger. Rebecca’s art student Francis, an autistic savant, gives her a series of paintings he’s done. Rebecca, with increasing dread, realizes the sequence of scenes depicted in the paintings match the nightmares she’s had every night since the horrific ordeal three decades earlier. How could Franny know? Is it a ghostly warning of some kind?

Unnerved, Rebecca spills the whole frightening account of the abduction to her ex-husband and friend, Michael, who, dismayed by the story, vows to help sort out the mysterious texts and disturbing series of paintings.

What happens next is a frightening rollercoaster ride that builds up to a soul-shattering climax that will leave the reader checking the locks on their doors and windows…

A good read.

BTG's Tomorrow, extends his remarkable reputation for creating profound books from life's most basic and enduring questions. Tomorrow reflects on staying sane in a world of change, conflict, confusion, and seeming madness. More than dealing with change, though, Tomorrow advises readers on how to maintain their footing and optimism even when the very ground seems to shift beneath their soles.

Another cute and uplifting book by this author.

First published amid controversy in 1937, then rescued from obscurity four decades later, the novel narrates Janie Crawford's ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny.

Although reading the dialect used in the book took a little getting used to, the story was touching and powerful.

Josephine Hurst has her family under control. With two beautiful daughters, a brilliantly intelligent son, a tech-guru of a husband and a historical landmark home, her life is picture perfect. She has everything she wants; all she has to do is keep it that way. But living in this matriarch’s determinedly cheerful, yet subtly controlling domain hasn’t been easy for her family, and when her oldest daughter, Rose, runs off with a mysterious boyfriend, Josephine tightens her grip, gradually turning her flawless home into a darker sort of prison.

Resentful of her sister’s newfound freedom, Violet turns to eastern philosophy, hallucinogenic drugs, and extreme fasting, eventually landing herself in the psych ward. Meanwhile, her brother Will shrinks further into a world of self-doubt. Recently diagnosed with Aspergers and epilepsy, he’s separated from the other kids around town and is homeschooled to ensure his safety. Their father, Douglas, finds resolve in the bottom of the bottle—an addict craving his own chance to escape. Josephine struggles to maintain the family’s impeccable façade, but when a violent incident leads to a visit from child protective services, the truth about the Hursts might finally be revealed.

A well-written story about a narcissistic parent, and the damage it does to her family.

 

[Tamstrong]

Adam Merkel left a university professorship in Reno to teach middle school in Lovelock seven months before he died. A quiet, seemingly unremarkable man, he connected with just one of his students: Sal Prentiss, a lonely sixth grader who lives with his uncles on a desolate ranch in the hills. The two outcasts developed a tender, trusting friendship that brought each of them hope in the wake of tragedy. But it is Sal who finds Adam’s body, charred almost beyond recognition, half a mile from his uncles’ compound.

Nora Wheaton, the middle school’s social studies teacher, dreamed of a life far from Lovelock only to be dragged back on the eve of her college graduation to care for her disabled father, a man she loves but can’t forgive. She sensed in the new math teacher a kindred spirit--another soul bound to Lovelock by guilt and duty. After Adam’s death, she delves into his past for clues to who killed him and finds a dark history she understands all too well. But the truth about his murder may lie closer to home. For Sal Prentiss’s grief seems heavily shaded with fear, and Nora suspects he knows more than he’s telling about how his favorite teacher died. As she tries to earn the wary boy’s trust, she finds he holds not only the key to Adam’s murder, but an unexpected chance at the life she thought she’d lost.

Weaving together the last months of Adam’s life, Nora’s search for answers, and a young boy’s anguished moral reckoning, this unforgettable thriller brings a small American town to vivid life, filled with complex, flawed characters wrestling with the weight of the past, the promise of the future, and the bitter freedom that forgiveness can bring.

It's a pretty good story.

Is it possible to infect a place with evil? Are some atrocities so awful that the land itself becomes contaminated? And what would happen if you found yourself trapped in such a place?

What begins with a car crash on an ancient bridge ends with the ultimate sacrifice.

Tom and Sophie Sumner have been married for ten years. They won't make it to eleven. Infidelity and neglect have torn their relationship apart and today they part ways forever. Sophie is going home to the village she grew up in. Cottontree. If there's any chance of Tom persuading her to give their marriage one last chance, it's now.

But Cottontree is a place with a much darker past than anybody knows, and the Sumners are about to have much bigger problems than their marriage.

It was an entertaining read, and I'll for sure be checking out the author's other work.

Set against the backdrop of the 2002 World Cup and rising anti-American sentiment due to a deadly tank accident involving two young Korean girls, The Korean Word For Butterfly is told from three alternating points-of-view:

Billie, the young wanna-be poet looking for adventure with her boyfriend who soon finds herself questioning her decision to travel so far from the comforts of American life;

Moon, the ex K-pop band manager who now works at the English school struggling to maintain his sobriety in hopes of getting his family back;

And Yun-ji , a secretary at the school whose new feelings of resentment toward Americans may lead her to do something she never would have imagined possible.

The Korean Word For Butterfly is a story about the choices we make and why we make them. It is a story, ultimately, about the power of love and redemption.[/QUOTE]

This one made no real impression on me. It wasn't bad; it just was.

A deadly virus has been unleashed aboard a passenger ship.
Soon the ship will be overrun with blood and death.
There's nowhere to escape.
But there are heroes onboard too.

Heroes like Jack Wardsley, a disgraced police officer with nothing left to lose, or the mysterious 'Pathwalker,' a stranger with the power to see the the future and alter the passage of time. Saving the passengers onboard will be next to impossible, but they will have no choice but to try. Failure might mean the end of the world.

Not bad. It's the first of a trilogy, and I do plan on reading the next two at some point.

When Harden Campbell wakes cold and beaten in a dirt-floor cell, he finds only three other things in the room with him: the mutilated body of his good friend, an ancient typewriter, and a stack of blank paper, the top sheet of which has a single, typed sentence.

Tell me a story.

He knows the message is from Coyote, his brilliant, megalomaniacal roommate whose lust for power and reverence has recently revealed him for the true sociopath he is. Now, as the founder of a new religion with disturbing roots--Revelation--Coyote's most evil side has emerged. From the moment Harden sees that stack of paper, he knows his one chance of escape is through his own words, and only his ability to successfully recount the dark story of what happened over the past year at Wyland University will determine whether he lives to see the woman he loves once again--or is silenced forever.

This will be the most difficult story Harden has ever written, and each word must be chosen with the utmost care. Because Coyote will be reading each and every one of them.

It's a highly entertaining story, and I'm looking forward to reading everything this author has written.

How far are you willing to go for Mister Tender?
At fourteen, Alice Hill was viciously attacked by two of her classmates and left to die. The teens claim she was a sacrifice for a man called Mister Tender, but that could never be true: Mister Tender doesn't exist. His sinister character is pop-culture fiction, created by Alice's own father in a series of popular graphic novels.

Over a decade later, Alice has changed her name and is trying to heal. But someone is watching her. They know more about Alice than any stranger could: her scars, her fears, and the secrets she keeps locked away. She can try to escape her past, but Mister Tender is never far behind. He will come with a smile that seduces, and a dark whisper in her ear...

Inspired by a true story, this gripping thriller plunges you into a world of haunting memories and unseen threats, leaving you guessing until the harrowing end.

This is another great story by this author. It's inspired by the true story of the Slender Man stabbing.

 

[Tamstrong]

In 1981, three fourteen-year-old boys witness a horrific murder in the Oregon woods near their homes. Sucked into becoming accomplices to the subsequent cover-up, they swear never to talk about what happened.

Thirty years later, Tommy Devereaux has become a bestselling author, using writing as his therapy. Finally, he is ready to tell the world what happened, even if he disguises the killing as fiction. But his life is set to unravel when he is approached by a woman who asks for his autograph, leaving behind a note which reads: “You didn’t even change my name.” Tommy’s worst nightmare has come true. A figure from his past has returned, threatening to divulge his darkest secret unless he agrees to do everything she asks of him. Thus begins a deadly cat-and-mouse game that can only end with one or both of their destructions.

Rudiger doesn't kill because he wants to. He kills because he needs to. When the sadistic Preacherman stole the last bit of Rudiger's already troubled childhood soul, Rudiger lost himself forever. He has committed atrocities even he cannot explain in his quest for the End of Days, a release from his pain by finding and crucifying The One.

Jonas Osborne, an Army Ranger and Senatorial Chief of Staff, recognizes Rudiger’s disturbing capacity based on a terrifying firefight in Somalia almost two decades earlier. Now Jonas—and the beautiful psychic criminologist he’s enlisted to predict Rudiger’s next brutal attack—become targets. Only on the biggest international stage—a summit for Middle East peace talks—will Jonas and Rudiger meet again for one final confrontation.

Though they seem to have everything, Hannah Parks has watched her husband, Dallin, become increasingly distant. Her hope is buoyed when the couple decides to start a family, but what Dallin reveals in his sleep one night rocks Hannah to her core. As she starts to investigate a much darker side of Dallin than she ever knew existed, Hannah peels away the layers of a diseased relationship closely tied to her own abusive past. When Dallin attempts to have Hannah abducted, she is forced to run, doing so with the aid of a man named Black--an ex-con and expert at helping people disappear. Together they must keep Hannah safe from her husband's far-reaching grasp, all the while trying to solve the mystery behind Dallin's sudden violence. Does Hannah's dark family history hold the key to her survival?

I enjoyed them all.

 

[CAKicker]

I enjoyed them all.

Glad you don't run out of books to read.

 

[Tamstrong]

Glad you don't run out of books to read.

Thanks. Me too.

 

[Tamstrong]

How do you go on living when you've lost everything?
How do you keep on going when there is no place to go?
When salesman Nick Adams turned up for work today, he had no idea things would be so quiet. It's almost like the end of the world. In fact, just one single, solitary customer has walked through the door all day...

And he looks very, very sick.

Nick's world is about to turn upside down, and the upcoming horror will send him on a frantic journey from the place he used to call home to a hilltop amusement park that might be the only safe place left on earth. But Nick isn't alone--there are others with him--and as the tension builds tempers will begin to fray. They are only human after all...

The survivors at the top of the hill might just be worse than the monsters below.

WELCOME TO RIPLEY HEIGHTS, WHERE THE FUN NEVER STARTS.

The infected hunt the living...
The dead walk the earth...
Mankind is dwindling...
The world has crumbled, but all is not lost. A group of survivors led by weary veterinarian Anna and gruff loner Garfield seek salvation at an abandoned pier where the dead can’t get at them. It's a place they might just be able to call home. With a little bit of time and cooperation they might even be able to make it safe.

But is anywhere truly safe anymore?

Savage, the world may have changed but people haven’t.

These are the last two of a trilogy. Not bad for a zombie apocalypse series.

They told us he had been missing for nearly two days, that he probably drowned. They told us a lie.

Megan was ten years old when her older brother, Zac, went missing among the cliffs, caves and beaches that surround the small seaside town of Whitecliff.

A decade later and a car crash has claimed the lives of her parents.

Megan and her younger sister Chloe return to Whitecliff one summer for the first time since their brother’s disappearance. Megan says it’s to get her parents’ affairs in order. There are boxes to pack, junk to clear, a rundown cottage to sell. But that’s not the real reason.

Megan has come to confront her family’s past after receiving a postcard on the day of her parents’ funeral. It had a photograph of Whitecliff on the front and a single letter on the back.

‘Z’ is all it read.

Z for Zac.

Not bad.

 

[Ol'Skool Classic]

With the monsters of old wiped out, Daniel and Tina of Hyde, Inc., face a greater foe— from beyond the stars.

Whatever happened to all the old monsters?

The vampires, the werewolves, the ghouls . . . Daniel & Tina Hyde wiped them out, to make the world a safer place. But nature abhors a vacuum, supernature even more . . . Something’s got to fill the gap left by all those monster clans. The question now is, what happened to all the old aliens? The Martians, the Bug-Eyed Monsters, the Reptiloids and the Greys?

They’re coming out of the shadows with a vengeance, and Daniel and Tina Hyde are about to discover there are much worse things than monsters. Fortunately, Hydes love a good fight.

Daniel and Tina are in for the fight of their lives, with the whole world at stake.

Quick & straight to the point horror/action story. Decent enough read if you are looking to fill some time.

Porter is missing, Bug doesn’t know where he is, but she’s going to find out.

Someone has kidnapped Jericho Porter.

After destroying the Gatekeeper HQ, the list of enemies is long.

It doesn’t matter.

Bug is going to find Porter even if she has to leave a trail of bodies in her wake.

When Corman tells her there’s a group of rogue Gatekeepers called The Black Riders who may be behind Porter’s disappearance, Bug does everything possible to locate them and get Porter back.

What she uncovers will challenge everything she thought she knew about Gatekeepers and companions. Secrets will be revealed, and lives will be threatened, starting with her own.

She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Companions are being hunted…and killed.
When the Black Riders obtain a death list revealing their identities, companions start dying mysteriously.

Officially, the Gatekeepers are condemning the deaths.
Unofficially, a new purge has begun, targeting blood-bonded companions.

Now, Porter and Bug must uncover who controls the Black Riders, sanctioning the deaths of companions. They must step into the shadows, unravel Gatekeeper secrets, and destroy the Black Riders, before it’s too late.

Together, they will step into a world of darkness and death, where only the lethal survive.

Second & third of the Tales of the Gatekeepers Trilogy (the first book I read some time ago). All are decent compact action sci-fi/fantasy reads.