Category: Crime

Categories
Crime Thrillers

ARC Review: The Hiding Girl by Dorian Box

  • Title: The Hiding Girl
  • Series: Emily Calby, #1
  • Author: Dorian Box
  • Publisher & Release: Friction Press, 6/15/2020
  • Length: 304 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ yes for entertainment value

Thank you so much to BookishFirst and Friction Press for my advanced copy of The Hiding Girl by Dorian Box! All opinions are my own!

Here is the synopsis from GoodReads:

Twelve-year-old Emily Calby was a good girl from a religious family in rural Georgia. She loved softball, her little sister and looking up words to get her allowance. Then two men came and murdered her family. Somehow Emily escaped. Only the killers know she survived.

On the run in a fugue, she makes an unlikely ally in a ruthless ex-gang member who takes her in. Overwhelmed by guilt for failing her family, she persuades him to train her to kill before setting out alone on a terrifying journey for justice. Nothing will stop her—not cops or creeps, not even her own splintering mind.

Through it all, Emily fights to hold onto hope and the girl she once knew, kept buried deep inside. A testament to the boundless limits of love, sacrifice and the will to survive, The Hiding Girl is the first book in the Emily Calby Series.

While it is no literary masterpiece, all three hundred and four pages of The Hiding Girl had me hooked. Emily’s family is brutalized and murdered, although she manages to escape before the criminals set the house on fire.

Weeks later Emily meets Lucas, a giant of a man who sells her a masterpiece of a fake drivers license. Lucas might be a 6″5 ex-army turned murderer and etc, but he is a good person at heart and sees some of his sister in Emily. He takes her in off the street and teaches her how to defend herself, use a knife, and shoot a gun.

While I really don’t ever see this happening in real life, it made for a great story. Emily started working out with Lucas’ girlfriend, Kiona, and became at least a little more formidable if not still naive. Lucas doesn’t seem like a typical criminal, he even gets Emily a birthday present. Which is a gun. And Kiona smacked him. I really enjoyed their dynamic. Also found/mismatched families is one of my favorite tropes in any genre!

Emily just wants to find the two men who savaged her family and extract justice. Can she do it after only a month of training in Lucas’ house? The pacing just flies too – I think I read the whole book in two sittings.  Emily is resourceful and interesting while on the road too, the second half of the book takes her on a search for the bad guys.

I don’t think Lucas was supposed to be hilarious, but watching him try to deal with an annoying 12 year old white girl was pretty funny at times. She should have been terrified of him. I think this is a good race-transcending book for the current day and age too. There is also a psychological element involving repressed trauma, which I appreciate as a fan of psychological thrillers.

This is book one of a series and I definitely can’t wait to read the next.  A good series intro has to present the main character/s with an interesting background and a purpose going forward if nothing else.  Box definitely accomplished this. I 100% want to spend more time with these characters and hopefully see Emily grow up and into herself.

Recommended for people who can suspend disbelief long enough to watch a very brave, broken, and determined little girl learn the ways of life from a gun waving not-quite gangster. Some mature content involved.

Have you read it? Want to discuss it? Let me know!

Categories
Crime Suspense Thrillers

ARC Review: The Nemesis Manifesto by Eric Van Lustbader

  • Title: The Nemesis Manifesto
  • Author: Eric Van Lustbader
  • Length: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Forge Books
  • Release: May 19, 2020
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ probably

Thank you to Bookish First and Forge for the raffle win ARC! I loved his work in the Bourne series and was psyched to have a chance to read this one early.

Here is the description from GoodReads:

Russian meddling, American fragmentation, and global politics collide in this action-packed, international thriller.

In The Nemesis Manifesto, New York Times bestselling author Eric Van Lustbader, “the master of the smart thriller,”* delivers an epic and harrowing adventure of the predatory forces that are threatening the very fabric of democracy and kicks off a compelling new series with a singular new hero for our time.

Evan Ryder is a lone wolf, a field agent for a black-ops arm of the DOD, who has survived unspeakable tragedy and dedicated her life to protecting her country. When her fellow agents begin to be systematically eliminated, Evan must unravel the thread that ties them all together…and before her name comes up on the kill list.

The list belongs to a mysterious cabal known only as Nemesis, a hostile entity hell-bent on tearing the United States apart. As Evan tracks them from Washington D.C. to the Caucasus Mountains, from Austria to a fortress in Germany where her own demons reside, she unearths a network of conspirators far more complex than anyone could have imagined. Can Evan uproot them before Nemesis forces bring democracy to its knees?

As the description makes obvious, The Nemesis Manifesto has a massive scope.  It is a classic spy novel with modern day conspiracy theories and such a tangled web of operatives and agencies that I could hardly keep track of the layers of intrigue. It was very well written and so full of action that it was quite hard to put down at times. From Washington D.C. to Russia, Georgia to Germany, arching eyebrows to immaculate suits and a Russian mafia style  blood feud, this is a huge sweeping MUST for fans of spies and international intrigue

The book introduced Evan Ryder.  She is a truly kick ass agent, proficient and deadly and wanted all over the world.  After a small dissertation on why females do or don’t work as agents, the book smoothed out and let her do her job. There was a fairly slow start in general but once the action started it moved so quickly.  The other female agent, Brenda, seemed to be there to serve as an example of a bad female agent.  She was a bit of a mental loose cannon which issues that seemed to stem from seeing her dad in a compromising position.  For example there was some clearly consensual sex going on in her adult consensual relationship, but then as soon as she found out the guy was a double agent she started on a rape tirade and made all sorts of terrible field agent decisions.  Crying rape is never cute and omg did I want to reach through the page and shoot her!  Thankfully throughout the book a handful of other agents, and ultimately Evan was there to bail her out.

Other than a few analogies and similes that seemed a bit over-written, the writing was fantastic and I don’t have much to say about it. The author is a strong storyteller.

Other than Brenda, my other small qualm is that I don’t know if quite enough loose ends were wrapped up.  We were dealing with everything from a hilariously childish interagency blood feud to some fucked up family ties to Nazis, and somehow the DOD got thrown back in at the end.  Nemesis seemed to provide a lot more questions along with their answers, and I never quite understood how things pieced together.  Why were they ever targeting Butler, and what happened to him?  I think, maybe these questions are going to be the basis of book 2, which had it’s own can of worms opened up by a minor cliffhanger.

The most impressive part was how relevant the plot is to today’s world.  The American left and right are so obnoxiously far divided that it almost feels believable that Russian based dezinformatsiya is fueling it.  Why not?  They were alluding to a Trump type of POTUS as well, and it was even more interesting to consider who else in the international committee could be involved.

Last but not least – it’s time for the @OneReadingNurse infamous medical rant.  The book states a patients IV was pulled, and the nurse rushed to “put the needle back in.”  Guys that is not a thing, once we get it into the arm THERE IS NO NEEDLE, just a plastic cannula.  There is NO way to reinsert it.  Huge cringe moment but otherwise the book passes inspection.

Overall I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes international thrillers and spy / black ops novels.  There’s even a little agent holding a gun on the cover.  Thank you again to BookishFirst and Forge for my copy.  It releases in May so keep an eye out for it or preorder now!

Categories
Author Interviews & Guest Posts Crime Thrillers

“Alone Under the Lights” – Guest Post by Author Alan Orloff!!

Alone Under the Lights

I grew up in a sheltered environment. Wasn’t exposed to much crime (thank goodness). So when I decided to write crime fiction, I quickly realized I needed to do some serious research. And not just book or internet research. I needed to get some hands-on experience (no, I didn’t rob a bank!). I took a Citizen’s Police Academy. 

Many jurisdictions offer these programs; if you’re interested, check with your local PD. Most require an application, but I don’t think the admission requirements were too stringent (I believe they conducted a background check—I got in anyway).

The academy was about twelve weeks long and consisted of a weekly meeting and several field trips. At each meeting, we’d learn about a different aspect of police business. The undercover gang cops told us what their jobs entailed. The drug unit showed us a display of all the illegal drugs available on the streets. We got a K9 demonstration. We got to use radar (LIDAR) guns on actual vehicles (alas, we couldn’t arrest anyone). We went to the shooting range (I put all my shots right in the center circle—don’t mess with me!). We toured the county jail, which was fascinating in a terribly depressing way.

And we got to go on a Saturday night ride-along.

At first, we handled a few routine incidents. A too-loud party. Some possible gang activity (nothing there). A DIP (drunk-in-public). Interesting and a little exciting.

Then we got a call over the radio. “We have a report of individuals running through the Community Center parking lot with rifles.”

Things just got a lot more interesting. And a lot more exciting.

The police officer flipped on the siren and we went screaming through the streets, then roared into the Community Center parking lot. Another cruiser was already there, it’s doors flung open, empty. My officer unstrapped the shotgun from between the seats and said, “Don’t go anywhere!”

“Don’t worry,” I croaked.

Then she jogged off across the neighboring ball fields. Leaving me. Alone. Under the bright lights of the parking lot. Did I mention I was alone?

With armed individuals running around?

I shimmied down in the seat until I could barely see out the window. And waited. Alone.

After what seemed like two hours (only about fifteen minutes, in retrospect), the officer came back with a few teenagers playing around with air rifles. 

Crisis averted. Luckily. But I often think what might have happened, and it still makes me shudder. Those kids could have been shot!

I prefer writing about crime over being involved with crime.

Alan Orloff’s thriller, PRAY FOR THE INNOCENT, won the 2019 ITW Thriller Award for Best E-Book Original. His debut mystery, DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD, was an Agatha Award finalist; his story, “Dying in Dokesville,” won a 2019 Derringer Award (“Happy Birthday” was a 2018 finalist); and “Rule Number One” was selected for THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2018. His first PI novel, I KNOW WHERE YOU SLEEP, was released from Down & Out Books in February

Alan loves cake and arugula, but not together. Never together. http://www.alanorloff.com

A note from OneReadingNurse: I want to thank Ellen at Booksforward PR for making this guest post possible, and Alan Orloff for writing on his experience at the Citizen’s Police Academy!   My review of his most recent book, I Know Where You Sleep, can be found at https://onereadingnurse.com/2020/03/17/book-review-i-know-where-you-sleep-by-alan-orloff/ !  Thank you guys for checking out this guest post. Show your support by liking or dropping a comment so I can keep bringing you guys more great content!!

Categories
Crime Suspense Thrillers

Book Review: I Know Where You Sleep by Alan Orloff

Thank you so much to Ellen at Books Forward for the review copy of I Know Where You Sleep by Alan Orloff!  The book published in February through Down & Out Press so pay attention if you enjoy private investigators and crime solving!

I don’t read a ton of private investigator novels but I love The Rockford Files.  Any time I read a PI story I am picturing Jim, and when the author mentioned The Rockford Files not once, but TWICE in the press release interview, I said “OK sign me up!”  I will elaborate on this at the end of the review as well but I have a guest post from Mr. Orloff coming on Thursday!

Here is the description from the rear cover:

“I know where you play,” rasps an ominous voice on the phone at Jessica Smith’s gym. “I know where you pray,” whispers the same voice at her church. The police are no help, so Jessica, tired of fleeing and unwilling to be cowed into hiding, turns to her last resort — P.I. Anderson West.

West dives into Jessica’s case, pro bono. With some overzealous help from his loose-cannon sister Carrie, he unearths a horde of suspicious men in Jessica’s life — vindictive ex-beaus, squirrelly co-workers, skittish boyfriend wannabes. But are any twisted enough to terrorize her?

After the stalker breaks into Jessica’s bedroom — “I know where you sleep” — and she goes missing, West must find her before the stalker does.

Anderson West seems to be a moderately successful P.I., running a firm with his otherwise unemployable sister as his office manager.  When Jessica Smith starts getting progressively creepier and more frequent phone calls from a stalker, she turns to West for help.  With perfect chapter length and easily flowing language, I managed to get sucked right into the story and finish the book in a day.

West is a likeable enough character. He is in decent shape for chasing and intimidating suspects when needed, but he seems to prefer a more intellectual approach.  Carrie, his sister, drove me absolutely nuts as a vigilante type character who abuses Megan’s Law and breaks into people’s houses, getting West in trouble multiple times with various suspects.  She was almost comically terrible and should probably have shown some gratitude that she’s still employed while risking her brother’s license on a daily basis.  My favorite character might have been their mom, a selectively deaf momma-bear who keeps the family together.

The pacing of the book was perfect for me.  There were plenty of suspects including a few red herrings, well spaced clues and investigation, some interrogations, and just enough action and truly suspicious activity that I always wanted to keep reading.  One thing that drove the story was Jessica playing an unreliable victim – as readers we know that she’s hiding her past and won’t come clean about it, so we get to watch Carrie & West run down a bunch of false leads while the past catches up to the present.

The action heats up as this meshing of storylines occurs, and does get a little breakneck after the stalker breaks into Jessica’s house.  I think that I would have liked to spend some time inside the stalker’s head but his viewpoint was not included.  I did like how the reveal was done, even if the whole story got a little muddled at the end with a LOT of new information coming out.  A good mystery crime reader might have guessed who the stalker was based off a clue or two but I definitely didn’t.

I would definitely recommend the book to any fans of P.I. novels, thrillers, crimes, and stalker type bad guys.  I’m sure there are some girl-power type readers who will love Carrie too, but she just seemed perpetually ungrateful to her family and broke some pretty vulnerable laws.  I will 100% recommend any book I am compelled to read in one day though, and I really do hope to see more of these characters in the future!

Last but not least I have a guest post coming up from the author!! It will post on Thursday so that everyone can be looking out for it!  Alan Orloff talks about his time spent at citizen’s police academy, including a ride along and an incident with rifles!  The guest post can now be viewed at https://onereadingnurse.com/2020/03/20/alone-under-the-lights-guest-post-by-author-alan-orloff/ ❤

Categories
Contemporary Crime

Hands Up by Stephen Clark

Thank you so much to Stephen Clark for providing me with a free copy of his book in exchange for an honest review!

Hands Up is Clark’s second novel. It is a mix of police procedural, black lives matter activism, political, and social commentary – tackling the highly controversial topics of white on black shootings, police brutality, casual and overt racism, gang violence, complicated family ties, and confronting one’s own fears and biases.

Here is the synopsis from GoodReads:

Officer Ryan Quinn, a rookie raised in a family of cops, is on the fast track to detective until he shoots an unarmed black male. Now, with his career, reputation and freedom on the line, he embarks on a quest for redemption that forces him to confront his fears and biases and choose between conscience or silence.

Jade Wakefield is an emotionally damaged college student living in one of Philadelphia’s worst neighborhoods. She knows the chances of getting an indictment against the cop who killed her brother are slim. When she learns there’s more to the story than the official police account, Jade is determined, even desperate, to find out what really happened. She plans to get revenge by any means necessary.

Kelly Randolph, who returns to Philadelphia broke and broken after abandoning his family ten years earlier, seeks forgiveness while mourning the death of his son. But after he’s thrust into the spotlight as the face of the protest movement, his disavowed criminal past resurfaces and threatens to derail the family’s pursuit of justice.

Ryan, Jade, and Kelly–three people from different worlds—are on a collision course after the shooting, as their lives interconnect and then spiral into chaos.

So the story is told from the three alternating points of view of Ryan, Jade, and Kelly, and the book puts us in Ryan’s head as his story is the only one told from the first person POV. Ryan is immediately painted as a bit of a crooked cop, then I found myself with a very neutral to indifferent attitude towards him throughout the rest of the book. The three characters are, as the synopsis says, essentially on a collision course.

The story and plot itself kept me rapidly reading throughout. I didn’t so much care for Kelly’s point of view except for how he seems to represent the circle of violence coming to an end. Then starting again. Uncovering how the shooting actually occurred and following the family’s quest for justice both seemed real enough. I could respect Regina (the victim’s mother) for originally not wanting to be in the spotlight, and Gail represented that loud minority of people who blow these things sky high. Regina was probably my favorite character in the whole book as she had some of the most reasonable lines and felt like the most relatable character to me.

The whole book from the family ties to the protests was pretty excellent until the romance aspect – I will not elaborate due to spoilers but even though I could tell and appreciate what the author was trying to do, it didn’t work for me. it didn’t seem plausible. Ryan doesn’t seem like the type who would be on such a moral high ground, then act with frank infidelity no matter how you spin it, then act on impulses like that? It worked for the plot but really threw me from reality to …. “really?”

Also regarding the ending of the book…would Ryan really trust Jade after all that happened? The ending just seemed so implausible that it dropped me from a five to about a three star rating. Still the book is important and feels very necessary in today’s world. It is a brave and diverse topic to handle and I think it was done well; both sides were represented with equal biases. One example is that the pastor in the book mentions that blacks are killing more blacks than white cops. The book recognizes where the real problems in society lie, and acknowledges that a few very loud people can absolutely blow up an issue that is definitely important, but maybe not the biggest overall thing that people are facing at the time.

Even with the ending throwing me off so hard, I think I can tell that Clark was a journalist because my mind is pretty clear on what issues are relevant to him. I feel like this review is a jumble but I fully encourage everyone to read this book. I have daily opportunities at work to examine my thoughts and feelings on various peoples and situations, but this book could be so important for those who don’t have that chance. Especially in America where there is so much debate over these issues and a sense of unity is needed more than ever.

Thank you again to the author for providing a copy of the book for review! Here are The author and the book’s social media links, and at least as of 11/21/19 the book is free on Kindle Unlimited so I would really encourage everyone to check it out!

https://twitter.com/StephCWrites

https://www.facebook.com/stephcwrites/

https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Up-Stephen-Clark-ebook/dp/B07X36LH8Z

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47642331-hands-up?from_search=true&qid=awTpkHztaV&rank=3

Categories
Crime Mysteries Thrillers

The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman

Title: The Wedding Guest

Author: Jonathan Kellerman

Release Date: 2/5/19

Rating : 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis are at it again, this time solving the murder of a lovely young woman at a wedding reception. The problem? She wasn’t invited, and none of the guests knew who she was.

This book had plenty of friendly banter between our long running characters. Characterization is one of Kellerman’s strongest writing points, but I felt like the villian was totally disconnected. I never felt the psychological pull, the urgency, the fear for the next target. The detectives seemed almost lackadaisical when the action finally happened, and the bad guy flopped out of the blue.

There are plenty of misdirections and wrong turns, although the detectives never had to get too frustrated.

Will you read it if you are a long time Kellerman fan like myself? Absolutely. Objectively, was it one of his best? No, but I would still recommend it to fans of his style. I enjoyed it as a quicker, easy read, but it is not the most gripping of his thrillers.

Thank you again, so much, to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the chance to review The Wedding Guest!