Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

  • An Editorial Review of “His Father’s Eyes, His Mother’s Manners” by Kenneth Stokes

    An Editorial Review of “His Father’s Eyes, His Mother’s Manners” by Kenneth Stokes

    In 2003, an inaugural flight took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, bound for Los Angeles. On board was a group of passengers who had nothing in common except that they were on a doomed flight. Few survived the crash on a remote island, but those who did would face the greatest challenge of their lives. His Father’s Eyes, His Mother’s Manners by Kenneth Stokes explores the nature of survival and the theme of inheritance in this literary work.

    The details of the crash and the reasons for it are never revealed to the reader, because they aren’t important to the story. Why the downing of the flight isn’t immediately detected by search and rescue teams, and why, after days, no help has arrived, are inconsequential questions. Rather, the author uses the crash to examine in depth the aspects of each character’s personality characteristics along with revealing past events and experiences. Stokes explores the impact they have on the ability of each character to survive when faced with catastrophic events.

    In the face of such extreme adversity, each character’s personality, their reactions to the situation in which they find themselves, affects the safety and survival of the entire group. Skills that are revered by a modern society are useless in this situation. People who have been led to believe that they are successful and deserving of the accolades they have earned in a more material, commercial society are now virtually helpless.

    Stokes has chosen as his main character Glen Reyes, a man who travels the world in search of rare plants and understands how to survive without the trappings and conveniences of modern society. Reyes is a teacher and a seer, capable of leading others. His constant companion is a small boy who has lost both parents—his father prior to the crash, and his mother as a victim of the crash itself.

    The boy sat next to Reyes during the flight, and from the beginning, he was thrilled to find in Reyes a man patient enough to answer the boy’s questions and to tell him stories from his family’s history. Once orphaned by the crash, he quickly comes to trust Reyes and then entreats Reyes to adopt him once they are rescued.

    Through Reyes’ work to create shelter and sustenance, and to teach the other stranded victims survival skills, he helps them face their own weaknesses and turn them into strengths. As time passes and no one comes to rescue them, those who haven’t learned to assimilate and work together become more at risk, as well as more of a risk to the others.

    The author presents a unique perspective on what might have been a more typical disaster story, weaving together truths taught from the harsh conditions the characters face, and from lessons learned from Reyes’ re-telling of ancient myths and historical events. Through his diverse cast of characters, Stokes reveals truths certain to resonate with his readers in “His Father’s Eyes, His Mother’s Manners.”

  • An Editorial Review of “Tree: One Life that Made a Difference by Norman E. Kjono

    An Editorial Review of “Tree: One Life that Made a Difference by Norman E. Kjono

    It is clear that Norman E. Kjono, author of Tree: One Life That Made a Difference, cares deeply for the interconnected nature of all living things. In his book, he takes us on a journey to a small valley in the Pacific Northwest where the “lifes” of this sacred place are in trouble—the inhabitants of this valley consider themselves to be lifes.

    “In the valley they thought of themselves together as “lifes.” This preserved their individual identity yet acknowledged the plural sense of them together as more than one.”

    The core message in Tree: One Life that Made a Difference, is thought provoking. That all lifes would work toward being the best they can be, and helping others without thought of reward, is ideal. This is a story that mixes form—interspersing prose,  poetry and songs; the poems dispersed through the story are to be read like proverbs.

    Valley culture is built on the idea that all lifes are interdependent, and that by each individual doing his or her best, the purpose of the Cosmos and Creator will be best served. Few characters in this novel are human, and a few are even inanimate, like Stream and Rock. Owls, deer, beavers, mushrooms, frogs, raccoons, and other creatures including Tree and the Ancients (redwood trees) make up the cast of characters in this inspirational work that asserts that one life can make a difference. And that difference begins with one positive act that in turn inspires another and another.

    The valley thrives and draws human visitors who leave their negative energy behind when they return home. All the lifes come together to try and figure out a way to deal with the negative energy produced by visitors to the valley. A toll plan is put forth by Elizabeth Jay and Harvey Crow. At first, this seems reasonable, but soon any life that disagrees with the plan is attacked and threatened by Jay and Crow, showing their intentions to be about controlling Life rather than helping it. The lifes of the valley quickly decide the toll plan is not for them, and the rest of the book takes place largely in dialogue over the best possible way to exist.

    Most of the book deals with examples of why interdependence works best. The tale that best shows this is about Randolph Raccoon, an ambitious life who almost destroyed his people and caused a war. Randolph’s tale shows how greed and the desire for power can destroy a life’s internal spirit and their community as well.

    Kjono shares his core belief of interdependence based on love and compassion with more than 300 pages of philosophical debate that extends from the local lifes of the valley to Arthurian legend told to them by the Ancients to a brief introduction of other-worldly aliens to the valley lifes. What begins as an interesting thought experiment quickly becomes a homily. However, Kjono’s supposition of doing your best to support not only yourself, but others around you, without regard for how you benefit, is a noble one.

    Norman E. Kjono has put forth a beautiful philosophy that if one of aspires to do what is best for one’s world, that others will follow suit. And,  as Tree said, “If we start out thinking it can’t be done, the we’ve lost before we begin!”

     

  • An Editorial Review of “Foresight” by Deen Ferrell

    An Editorial Review of “Foresight” by Deen Ferrell

    Willoughby Von Brahmer hates high school, feels restless at home, and fumbles awkwardly around girls, yet is fascinated by the charismatic celebrity violinist his own age, Sydney Senoya. He seems like a pretty typical sixteen-year-old. But when the reader begins to untangle the mysterious web of Foresight, it becomes clear that Willoughby’s life is anything but typical. Foresight is Deen Ferrell’s artful and ambitious first Cryptic Spaces novel.

    Willoughby’s quasi-ordinary life begins to unravel during a routine visit to the barber. Not so ordinary, really: Willoughby is a math prodigy who at twelve solved The Riemann Hypothesis, a puzzle that had stumped mathematicians for centuries. His barber, Antonio Santanos Eldoro Chavez, has extraordinary expertise in architecture. All vestiges of routine evaporate when, during his haircut, Willoughby spies a string of glowing numbers suspended in the air in the corner of Antonio’s shop. Then, everything in the shop freezes except Willoughby himself and a skeletal-faced man appears, nods to Willoughby, and then just as quickly disappears leaving Willoughby shaken but intrigued.

    The story picks its way deliberately through Willoughby’s gradual discovery of a secret society of time travelers, Observations, Inc., apparently headed by the brilliant yet cryptic Hathaway Simon (H. S.), with the support of the enigmatic Sam, who Willoughby has known for years as his family’s chauffeur. Willoughby signs on to join a team of handpicked savants who will explore time itself, but soon learns that Observations, Inc. is not alone in the time-travel business – and their competitors are far less benign.

    The story kicks into high gear during Observations, Inc.’s initial team-building exercise on a “cruise” ship with unusual capabilities, where Willoughby and Antonio meet the talented and mercurial Sydney, as well as James Arthur, an aura-reading healer, and T. K., the cabin girl who, like Sam, is more than she seems. Before the cruise ship’s team embarks on their first mission, a gang of supernatural crooks stages a mutiny.

    Ferrell’s gifted descriptions, from Sydney’s music to the experience of time travel, bring the story to life. The cast of characters is deftly drawn and admirably diverse. Some younger readers may find the density of the plot daunting, but others will revel in the richness of the history and science brought to the subject of time travel and prognostication.

    As the Observation, Inc. team’s voyage of exploration becomes a battle for survival, Willoughby, Sydney and their friends realize they are bound together by more than curiosity. They need each other’s talents, commitment, and compassion if they are to get through time and space alive. Foresight is a rich and complex YA sci-fi story.

     Cryptic Spaces: Book One: Foresight earned  a First in Category position in the Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult Fiction, a division of Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.

  • An Editorial Review of “Daddypaul and the Yo-Yo War” by Karl Larew

    An Editorial Review of “Daddypaul and the Yo-Yo War” by Karl Larew

    It is June 1946. Major Paul Van Vliet turns his 1940 maroon Buick Super sedan into Gunter Army Air Field grounds, just outside Montgomery, Alabama, where he is to teach at the AAF Communications Division. He is welcomed by his superior, Lieutenant Colonel Matt Wentz, who takes him to see the house Paul will occupy with his new bride, Betty, and stepdaughter, 11-year-old Rosalie.

    Thus, Karl Larew introduces Part II of his trilogy, Paul’s Three Wars. In this second installment, Daddypaul and the Yo-Yo War, Larew documents the life of Paul over almost a decade, as he begins a new stage of his life.

    Paul eagerly meets the train bringing Betty and Rosalie to their new home. There is an abundance of love in this new family; Betty and Paul exchange a romantic hello, and Rosie excitedly greets her “Daddypaul!” Not long after the family is settled in, young Rosie is inspired by a concert violinist’s performance of Robert Schumann’s “Violin Concerto in D Minor” to begin violin lessons. But the thrill of learning to play under the tutelage of a Hungarian violinist soon sours. Pre-teen Rosalie must somehow find the courage to tell her family that her violin teacher has molested her. When she does, unforeseen consequences arise and Rosalie is distraught.

    A year later life is again changing for Paul and his family as they move to Falls Church, Virginia so Paul can work at the Pentagon. They also soon welcome a son, Daniel Evan Van Vliet. A healthy mother and son come home from Walter Reed Hospital, but Betty, usually so resilient, falls into post-partum depression. Rosalie, wise beyond her years, one day says, “Daddypaul, I think it’s time Mom talked to a psychiatrist.”

    Soon, it’s Paul’s turn to worry as a creeping fear settles into him that his career might have been jeopardized by the self-serving, gossipy tongue of his former second in command, Major Don Goffe. The worry is soon relieved, but this is not to be the last time that Major Don Goffe appears in Paul’s life.

    In spring 1949, the newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Van Vliet is assigned to temporary duty in South Korea to assess the ROK army’s communication needs in the “U.N. Police Action” against North Korea and the capability of the U.S. Army Signal Corps to meet them.  He returns home dismayed by the paucity of U.S. communication equipment and personnel.

    North Korean troops cross the 38th Parallel in the spring of 1950 and the “Police Action” intensifies. President Truman orders General MacArthur to send in 8th Army forces from Tokyo. The Van Vliets’ family life is interrupted when Paul is permanently assigned to the Signal Corps in Korea.

    Paul’s job is to “make sense out of the VHF relay radio system…banking radio waves off mountains and bending them around hilltops.” But he finds himself in actual combat at one relay station, attacked by North Koreans in the middle of the night. “Aim low, squeeze slow,” he instructs a young signalman-turned-rifleman. After an injury involving a mine, Paul is sent to Tokyo to recover, and once he has he is assigned to a desk job in Tokyo, only to find that his nemesis, Major Goffe, is again his second in command. Goffe again seeks to jeopardize Paul’s career. Paul learns from a retired Col. Mummert, now working for the Senate Armed Services Committee investigating how Senator Joseph McCarthy is getting military information to support his anti-communist witch hunt, that Goffe is one of McCarthy’s snitches.

    Larew expertly blends fact with fiction, using “letters” between Betty and Paul to keep us abreast of personal events in Falls Church and Pusan, Korea. The well informed and well written narration of historical events and figures blends well with the fictional accounts of Paul’s activity in the Signal Corps. The ROK army’s communication needs in the “U.N. Police Action” against North Korea and the capability of the U.S. Army Signal Corps to meet them.

    What a “yo-yo” war! – UN troops pushed south to the Pusan perimeter, North Koreans routed and driven north almost to the Chinese border, UN forces chased south again, North Korean/Chinese troops forced north beyond the 38th Parallel. The outspoken General MacArthur’s 52-year career ends when he is relieved of his duties by President Truman, and General Ridgway is commanding the 8th Army when Paul leaves for home in mid-summer 1951, returning to the Pentagon as Executive Officer of the Army Communications Service Division.

    Meanwhile, in Falls Church, Rosalie, a high school junior, beautiful with satiny red hair, continues her meteoric rise as a violinist, though her undivided attention to music leads to a slightly problematic social life. Betty has a full schedule of piano students and still makes time for Army wives activities and Danny is thrilled to have his dad home.

    Military and political history buffs, particularly military family members, and even romance lovers will find Karl Larew’s novels engaging reads. Karl Larew introduces Part II of his trilogy, Paul’s Three Wars, which follows “Paul, Betty, and Pearl,” a historical novel set in the WWII era, beginning at Pearl Harbor. Larew’s personal experience, as the son of Brigadier General Walter B. Larew (1904-1973), greatly enhances the accuracy of his description of military life as well as the military and political history of WWII and beyond in this American family saga.

  • An Editorial Review of “Where is Home?” by Anneros Valensi

    An Editorial Review of “Where is Home?” by Anneros Valensi

    Anneros Valensi, in Where is Home? shares a seldom seen perspective of WWII—the side of a young German girl, along with her mother and siblings, trying to survive behind the front lines of the war raging in Europe.

    Born in Falkenau, Silesia, East Germany, in 1938, Valensi was just six years old when one day all the children in her village were ordered to greet everyone with “Heil Hitler” and a raised right arm. Her world took on ominous overtures from her pre-war, ordinary family life: the girls playing with dolls, learning to sew, being teased by the older brothers, playing hide-and-seek. At Christmas, we see her in a black velvet dress with puffy sleeves and tiny red bows, black Mary Janes on her feet.

    Now, her father would come and go without explanation. In January 1945, her family was evacuated, allowed to take only what they could carry. Three months later they returned home, now under the Russian regime. Their nice, comfortable, home was confiscated and they were left to find shelter where they could. Soon the family was being evacuated again, a mother with five children ranging in age from one and a half to eleven, put on trains and relocated to one place after another, living a life of uncertainty, hardship, and hunger. That was her life for many months. The after affects for the twelve year-old girl were traumatic and the loss of home and relatives haunted her and she kept hoping to find home again. We also learn of the Red Cross providing food, clothing, and temporary living quarters for those in need regardless of battle lines.

    A shy and quiet child, Valensi was now afraid of her own shadow, living in a state of numbness, but through it all held onto dreams of a better life. At age eight, she had had very little schooling and had a lot of catching up to do. Her small school had two teachers and the students were divided into two groups, grades one through four on one side and five through eight on the other.

    At twelve, she took a test to enter high school and felt that she was slowly growing up. She rejoiced in going to a real school, studying Latin, English, and French. She started to see a future in which she could be her own person.

    In 1952 the Red Cross located Valensi’s father and the family was reconnected. She had not seen him since she was a small child and didn’t recognize him. A bookkeeper before the war, her father got a position doing payroll for the US Army in Mannheim.

    Valensi, now a young woman, meets Wolfgang, a young man visiting from Bochum and learns what love feels like. Wolfgang will be going to university to become a lawyer, but she is already studying to become a nurse and she wants to see the world.

    With the goal of improving her English, Valensi moves to London as an au pair for six months, and then takes a nursing position at St. Mary’s hospital. Life in London opened up more opportunities for the better life she was seeking.

    Valensi gives us an inside look at her life a different perspective of what life was like behind the “enemy” lines as a child. She chronicles her childhood filled with fear and uncertainty of growing up in a war torn country to her young adulthood filled with pride and achievement in Where is Home. Her inspirational account will draw you right into the heart of a strong young person who never gave up the search for a better life.

     

  • An Editorial Review of “Soccer Dreams” by Clare Hodgson Meeker

    An Editorial Review of “Soccer Dreams” by Clare Hodgson Meeker

    Score! Clare Hodgson Meeker’s simple but sweet story about soccer and what it means to one young boy will touch kids of all ages and levels of experience with the game, and maybe even a few parents. Kids who already love soccer – especially fans of the Seattle Sounders – will be riveted, and those who’d never played could be inspired to start.

    The book follows Todo, a young boy who moves with his family from his old home in Kenya to a new one in Seattle. He loves soccer and feels a special connection with the Sounders from the beginning, and in Seattle he is quickly sought out by the coach of a local team. On the team Todo makes friends, helps the others learn teamwork and cooperation, and navigates a rivalry with an antagonistic boy who is also in his class at school.

    When Todo strikes up a friendship with a player for the local girls team, Todo’s sister Adila wonders if their parents would allow her to play on a team as well. Throughout the story, Todo’s skill and love of the game helps him find friends and community, and to forge a special connection with his new home. Meeker’s writing makes this simple story heartfelt.

    The main story is interspersed with short profiles of different players on the Seattle Sounders, including favorite position and a short quote from each. If you are a Sounders fan, you will find these profiles interesting, but for reader who doesn’t follow the Sounders, the profiles may distract from the central story of Todo and his love of soccer.

    For boys and girls enthusiastic about soccer, sports, or the Seattle Sounders, this book is a shoe-in. It effectively communicates the fun and importance sports can have, and deftly touches on issues of sexism and racism that middle-schoolers may have to confront without becoming moralistic or overly dark. Most importantly, young readers will come away from the book with the message that sports can be a way to forge connections across social boundaries and make dreams come true.

    Well-written and touching, Soccer Dreams could serve as a starting point for a conversation about some serious real-world issues, or simply a fun way to share a love of soccer. Either way, it’s a winner.

  • An Editorial Review of “Once Upon a Wager” by Julie LeMense

    An Editorial Review of “Once Upon a Wager” by Julie LeMense

    All his life, Alec Carstairs, the eighth Earl of Dorset, has been under pressure from his father to behave in a manner becoming of his station. Alec is expected to follow in his father’s footsteps; settling into the political career that is his legacy by succeeding his father in the House of Commons, and perhaps most importantly, choosing a wife who will be a boon to his career. Unfortunately, the list of candidates that meet the elder Carstairs’s approval most decidedly does not include the unsuitable yet lovely and spirited Lady Annabelle Layton, Alec’s childhood friend.

    Annabelle is everything Alec’s father fears: a headstrong and undeniably beautiful young woman from a family with a certain reputation in London society. Annabelle and Alec, along with her rakish brother Gareth, spent their childhoods together, playing on the Layton estate, but in recent years, Alec has done his best to avoid Annabelle, appalled to have discovered that his feelings have grown into something far stronger than a mere childhood friendship. Not only does he believe such feelings are improper, he is determined to do his duty according to his father’s wishes.

    An invitation to Gareth’s birthday party at the Layton estate threatens to dissolve Alec’s determination to keep his distance from Annabelle. In defiance of his father, Alec spends the weekend with Gareth, determined to keep an eye on his friend who has acquired libertine habits and new, unscrupulous friends. The chain of events that is set in motion during that weekend will affect the lives of all involved for years to come.

    Ms. LeMense has created a cast of characters with whom the reader can immediately identify. The author’s attention to historical accuracy paints a vivid picture of the culture of that timeframe—a society in which honor, duty, and misunderstandings were frequently dealt with according to rigid rules of behavior and communication. Alec and Annabelle’s strength of character carries them through this austere and strict world.

    With a naturally gifted writing style, Ms. LeMense has written an engrossing novel about love, honor, and betrayal. This reviewer looks forward to reading more from this very talented author. Ms. LeMense has penned a nearly flawless debut Regency Romance that will have fans of the genre begging for more.

  • An Editorial Review of “The Politician’s Daughter” by Marion Leigh

    An Editorial Review of “The Politician’s Daughter” by Marion Leigh

    Petra Minx may look young, but she is a Sergeant in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with over ten years in the Marine Unit and Special Investigations. Her qualifications and good looks make her the ideal person to go undercover to find the missing daughter of an influential Canadian politician. Emily Mortlake is young woman known for partying and getting into trouble. Her father can’t bear the thought of her creating more public scandal that he will have to handle.

    Marion Leigh’s book, The Politician’s Daughter, takes us from Canada, to Southern England, and then down to the Mediterranean where she applies for a “hostess” position on the mega yacht Titania, the last known place Emily was seen. Once Minx goes undercover as a hostess, she discovers her old friend Carlo, who now works with Interpol, is posing as a bartender on the mega yacht.

    We follow Minx’s investigation into a criminal underworld that centers on the mega yacht Titania and her owner, Don León. Minx is initiated into the sordid excesses of Titania’s clientele who are used to getting what they want–no matter what the cost in this action thriller.

    During her mission, Minx focuses on Carlo’s drug investigation, the potential to get close to the ruthless Don León, and dealing with the wealthy sexual perverts she encounters only to find out that everyone has a different theory as to when, why, and where Emily left the yacht. Meanwhile, we, the readers, are taken to Monte Carlo, Italy, Spain, Morocco, and other Med destinations of the rich and famous. Leigh’s images and descriptions of the seascape, Spanish cities, and boats, are well-realized and easy to visualize as Minx seeks answers to what has happened to Emily in this action thriller. Is she dead? Has she been kidnapped? Is she still alive somewhere?

    The mega yacht Titania and its clients asserts a certain allure to the innocent and the glamour seekers. Leigh’s scenes jump between subtle power struggles, drug wars, and the ever-returning sexual perverts. There is a juxtaposition of glamour and depravity. Be prepared for violence, sex scenes that are not “lovemaking,” and perversions.

    What keeps the mystery going throughout the novel is the question of why Emily Mortlake disappeared. The novel is kept interesting because each character sees himself or herself as the good guy. All characters act to protect their own interests, and put those they love or want to possess above their own needs. This reviewer would have liked to have read more about Leigh’s characters and have their personalities showcased.

    The Politician’s Daughter’s mix of mystery, puzzles, unexpected twists, and potential villains makes it an entertaining adult read. Even Minx is seduced by Don León’s worldly charms even as her life becomes more endangered and she realizes that time may running out for Emily. Marion Leigh’s use of imagery sets up scenes well making The Politician’s Daughter a vacation read accompanied by a cosmo or a gin and tonic.

  • An Editorial Review of “Raven’s Run” by John D. Trudel

    An Editorial Review of “Raven’s Run” by John D. Trudel

    A covert CIA mission gone sideways, a harrowing post-WWI transatlantic flight, and a research facility with “remote viewing” capabilities: three seemingly separate stories woven across time and locations bring us to the brink of an attack that would annihilate North America in this entertaining and suspenseful novel titled Raven’s Run.

    John D. Trudel researched actual historical archives to tell the escapades of his uncle, George O. Noville, a Navy officer who made historical flights, explored Antarctica, became an oil executive, and eventually settled in Mexico to retire. It is through his voice that the reader ‘hears’ the story of forgotten U.S. history.

    Josie is a gentle soul with an incredible psychic ability (as well as a penchant for marijuana and going braless). All she has to do is have physical contact with an item to see its history, location, and actions occurring around it. The government, needless to say, sees her as a valuable asset and has her working in secrecy. Her viewings have sometimes left her comatose – she is especially sensitive to violence, and sees her own future in a mental institution if she doesn’t change the path she’s on.

    Wayne, who has been given the boot from the CIA, is given a second chance along with a new identity as Raven. He is tasked to protect Josie. While on his failed yet explosive mission in Iran, Raven had uncovered a diary belonging to Noville, with the title “Operation High Jump,” a major Antarctic expedition that occurred right after World War II.

    All evidence from the mission was destroyed, but the significance of the notebook is unclear. Josie is tasked with viewing the events surrounding the notebook, but the vastness of the great white ice continent makes finding any worthwhile data a huge challenge. While her talents are great, they are not unlimited.

    Meanwhile, Islamic extremists are racing toward a mission of their own in Antarctica, allowing nothing to stop their quest to rid the world of the “Great Satan” and infidels. With ties to oil executives, high level U.S. government officials, and a nuclear-powered icebreaking vessel, not much can stop them, not even one of their own. The suspense builds at a breakneck pace.

    Josie and Raven form an unlikely bond, breaking down the walls that he has had to build around himself out of necessity. Raven gains Josie’s trust, and she his. They start envisioning their own future together, but first they must complete this last, dangerous mission: solving the mysteries surrounding Noville, his death, and his diary. Will their love give them the strength to survive the ordeal, or add to their vulnerability?

    Mechanical techies will enjoy Raven’s Run’s detailing of weaponry and engine mechanics on airplanes and ships, in both military and private use. Trudel challenges some widely held positions on climate change, Islam, the JFK assassination, Vietnam, international incidents occurring between WWII and today.

    While this reviewer didn’t do any fact checking, Trudel offers a “Factoids and Fantasies” section to help the reader sort through historical fact and what is inspired in this work.  A post on Trudel’s blog sums it up nicely: “There is a lot of truth in fiction these days, and we live in interesting times.”

    Reviewer’s Note:  All in all, I give Raven’s Run five stars. The ending is awesome! I tried not to give too much away in the review because the unfolding and braiding of events adds to the reader’s pleasure of discovery. This reviewer is looking forward to reading Trudel’s sequel, Raven’s Redemption which will be out in 2015.

     

  • An Editorial Review of “Cornered” by Alan Brenham

    An Editorial Review of “Cornered” by Alan Brenham

    Detective Matt Brady of the Temple City police is up to his eyeballs with work. He has too many kidnapped women, no leads, and the chief of police is breathing down his neck with reminders of how the last time he worked a case like this, a woman died. As the kidnappers are always ten steps ahead, it’s looking like the time has come to hand the case off to the FBI, which would end Brady’s chance at redemption. So begins Alan Brenham’s detective novel, Cornered.

    Burt Smith and his henchmen, Weaver and Chiles, appear to be more than a match for Detective Brady at the start of the novel. The villains are loose-cannons, capable of anything, but they still have their own personal lives to deal with. Smith is attempting to escape an unhappy marriage, hounded left and right by his ex-wife, while Weaver and Chiles are cons trying to put their lives back together. It would be easy for the reader to feel sympathetic for them, if they didn’t spend their spare time committing heinous criminal acts. The focus on all the characters, not just the protagonists, is what sets Brenham’s story apart.

    The development of characters who would usually go unnoticed in other stories adds dimension to the novel. Brenham gives the reader an opportunity to connect with a little old woman yelling at Chiles and Weaver as they speed by her house, and to join Brady in reviling his least favorite detective who never shuts up. In giving the story that extra bit of depth though, Detective Brady and his romantic interest, a veterinarian named Tracy Rogers, lose a bit of the development they could have received in exchange for a fast and furious read.

    Since the reader knows from the get go who the villains are, the overriding theme is how far is too far for the detective to use his position to thwart the villains’ next attempt and what the reasons are for the kidnappings. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking; Brady’s ex-girlfriend has gone all “Fatal Attraction” on him; and anyone involved in any way with the kidnappings—innocents, hit men, criminals, good guys, or opportunists are all in the crosshairs.

    The switch between so many characters, whom the reader knows decently, keeps the excitement burning in the ever present question of what happens next. Moments where the reader expects to loathe the antagonists can elicit sympathy, where other scenes show their irredeemable qualities in vicious detail. The question of who will be saved and who will die, who will cut a deal and who will stick it out to the end, drives the story keeping the pages rapidly turning.

    Cornered is definitely a story that moves against the grain. The reader spends equal time with villains and heroes, making the story focus more on the people than the criminal acts being committed. The tension Brenham builds through the switching of viewpoints creates a novel that commands the reader’s interest, along with giving unique perspectives of the individuals involved.

    Cornered, Alan Brenham’s thriller novel is a winner and we look forward to reading more from this criminal law attorney and former law enforcement officer turned author.