Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

GOOD LOOKIN’: A Joe Turner Mystery by T. L. Bequette – Legal Thriller, Murder Thriller, Thriller/Suspense

T.L. Bequette’s debut novel, Good Lookin’: A Joe Turner Mystery, delivers a wallop from the first page to the last.

The murder mystery sucks readers in from the first page when an inmate attacks two guards and then Joe Turner – defense lawyer and protagonist. Bequette builds a high-stakes world in a gang-riddled neighborhood in Oakland for this fast-paced story. The odds and evidence stack against his client, Darnell Moore. Turner works through each witness and processes each piece of evidence, building suspense and sympathy for Darnell.

The problem centers on the power of the gang’s influence on his witnesses. Darnell claims innocence but won’t talk, afraid of backlash from the Iceboyz, a fearsome gang. Is he an initiate with a first kill gone wrong, or is he the fall guy for another gang member? He’s not talking.

With each interview, Turner sees Darnell go from a happy-go-lucky teen to a grim-faced inmate looking at twenty years behind bars.

Enter Chuck, a flip-flop-wearing old hippie P.I., and Turner’s sidekick. Chuck speaks in “a Southern drawl of movie lines and country idioms,” which adds a layer of humor to the tough court scenes. Chuck’s connections make him the valuable resource Turner needs to help him find the tiniest glimmer of hope in a case that threatens to bury Darnell alive. Bequette’s ability to develop unique and exciting characters will satisfy murder/mystery fans one and all.

Prosecutor Deputy District Attorney Nathan Didery, aka Jittery Didery, rises as another brilliant character with traits that will delight and infuriate readers. Bequette’s expertise and experience as a criminal defense attorney shine through on every page and elevates the credibility of this book. Bequette puts Turner through his paces, and the resulting authenticity is felt in every scene.

Turner’s office mate Andy Kopp, a personal injury attorney, sets him up with a woman named Edna between hearings and court proceedings.

She supposedly has a great personality. Reluctant but curious, Turner soon learns that Edna, aka Eddy, is a smokin’ hot babe, his match intellectually and in other ways. She becomes a permanent fixture until she applies for a job and gets it. The problem? The job’s in Rome, and as an archeologist, how can she refuse?

Even in the title, Bequette shows an understanding of the gang scene above the average person. The gang-slang “Good Lookin’” means to have someone’s back or to look out for them, but the double entendre is not lost on the reader when we meet Eddy.

Bequette juggles Turner’s love life and court appearances with expert craftsmanship and introduces each trial item and each relationship progression with a deft and sparing hand. We care about Joe and Eddy, and we care about Darnell, but is Darnell as innocent as he claims to be? And will Turner go to Rome with Eddy? Bequette keeps us guessing on both counts until the final pages of this extraordinary novel and very satisfying read.

August 16, 2021
CARNAGE in SINGAPORE (The Bedlam Series Book 3) by Randall Krzak – Global Thriller, Political Thriller, Political Suspense

Carnage in Singapore, the third volume in Randall Krzak’s Bedlam counterterrorism thriller series, takes the team to the Far East for action against Muslim terrorists with a ripped-from-the-headlines plot to destroy Western influence by any means.

The terrorists’ idea unfolds as simple, even ingenious. Terrify residents and non-Muslims in major cities such as Jakarta and Singapore with a series of spectacular bombings designed to kill as many people as possible. Follow up with kidnapping ambassadors from Great Britain, Australia, and the United States – with such ruthlessness that Western-leaning nations will cease repression of Muslims, curtail training police and soldiers who hunt Muslim terrorists, and end support for anti-terrorism activities around the world.

The plot grows into actionable items among different Indonesian terrorist groups working together – if somewhat uneasily – with a common goal.

Their scheme calls for launching near-simultaneous multiple attacks against unsuspecting citizens, destroying the illusion of safety in daily life. By making the attacks in this way, they cripple the police and other civic services. The first strike uses rockets launched from a small obscure offshore island. The rockets explode in a crowded grandstand watching a Formula One Grand Prix auto race in Singapore. Other sites bombed or strafed include an amusement park, a traffic-laden bridge, and a Chinese cathedral.

All schemes execute without a hitch. All hit their targets with devastating accuracy. Hundreds are either lost or become hostages. Next comes the kidnapping of the ambassadors.

Some Indonesian groups come under suspicion. The ruthless Detachment 88 interrogates the suspects, but their brutality yields dead suspects instead of interrogated suspects.

Into the melee comes Bedlam Charlie, an international team of anti-terrorist experts trained in all phases of investigation and apprehension. Their mission? Simple – to stop the bombings and free various prisoners in the attacks. They must deal with a mélange of bad investigations and spies within the police ranks who thwart their moves and even place team members in mortal danger.

The political motives behind the governments involved in deploying Bedlam Charlie don’t lack complexity. Will the Indonesian police accept their help? Will the governments behind Bedlam Charlie allow the team to get involved and risk the political outfall if they fail?

The terrorists come well-armed and tactically highly skilled, able to break through even the most sophisticated protection schemes to kidnap their high-profile targets.

Naming real sites as the intended targets of the terrorist attacks helps to separate this book from several others of this genre.

If a novel about terrorism in New York City named the Marriott Hotel on Times Square, Nathan’s Hot Dogs, and Yankee Stadium as successful targets, the gut-level effect here would be similar. The fictional terrorists’ logic matches actual attacks on cities and nations around the world including our own.

The novel also explores the aspirations and the politics within the terrorists’ ranks. Various factions and individuals find themselves looking for their own moment of glory as they both complete their missions and compete for attention.

Thriller fans will devour Krzak’s modern us-against-them take on storytelling. Of course, what makes Carnage in Singapore such a strong novel is its plausibility. It’s terrifying and terrific at the same time – and definitely holds its own among modern thriller authors of today. Randall Krzak took home 1st Place for Carnage in Singapore in the 2019 CIBAs Global Thrillers Book Awards.

Read our review for Dangerous Alliance, here.

August 14, 2021
TRINITY’s FALL (Vu-Hak War Book 2) by P.A. Vasey – First Contact Sci-fi, Religious Science Fiction Fantasy, Sci-fi Anthologies

Trinity’s Fall, the second book in the science fiction thriller series (Vu-Hak War) by P.A. Vasey, delivers the story of an alien invasion as seen through the twisted, heart-pounding lens of a Twilight Zone episode, complete with invisible mind-controlling alien monsters, nuclear explosions, hidden lunar bases, and secret wormholes with “Men in Black” playing both sides.

As this entry opens, the protagonist has no idea of her true identity—and no memory of her first encounter with either the monstrous alien Vu-Hak—or her relationship with humanity’s presumed savior, Adam Benedict.

Although this is the second book in the series, the first half of the book does an excellent job of bringing the reader up to speed. Looks can be deceiving. When the FBI knocks on her door—and knocks her out of her amnesia-induced rut—she begins to remember who she is and what’s at stake.

Kate gradually rediscovers the truth—and Vasey cleverly allows new readers to discover it with her.

The action pounds readers with thrill-a-minute suspense as Kate races to recapture the threads of a life stolen from her. She then takes charge of an around-the-world hunt for the one person who might be able to stop the alien invasion. Stakes are high, and no one wants to believe the invasion is further along than previously thought.

Once Kate and Adam reunite, Vasey slows the pace a bit.

The characters and their colleagues must reckon with the harrowing possibility that the aliens will succeed. Questions arise about whether the ends justify the means, and what they will do to ensure the human species survives. Do they have the right to set humanity on a different course? Vasey develops the plot, including the paradoxes of time travel, the ethical implications of human cloning, and even the ultimate question of where life begins.

Fans who love their sci-fi with a serving of ethical discourse on the side will love this series. No doubt, the Vu-Hak War saga overall will amass fans in both the sci-fi world and literary circles as well. Book two closes with a universe-altering surprise that bodes very well indeed for the third and concluding book in the trilogy. Stay tuned, much more is on the way!

Trinity’s Fall won 1st Place in the CIBA 2020 Cygnus Awards for Science-fiction novels.

August 13, 2021
TRAITORS for the SAKE of HUMANITY: A Novel of the German Resistance to Hitler by Helena P. Schrader – Historical World War II Fiction, Political Fiction, World War II Fiction

Traitors For the Sake of Humanity by Helena P. Schrader may be more terrifying today than when first released in 2008 as An Obsolete Honor and re-released in 2012 as Hitler’s Demons.

The chilling story reveals the means used under the leadership of Adolph Hitler to spread insidious Nazi socio-political ideology before and throughout WWII. Although a work of fiction, the grim, dehumanizing social transformation the tome reveals brings to mind the caution in George Santanya’s oft-quoted posit, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Schrader masterfully utilizes the setting as an unseen, omnipresent character. Scenes imbued with equal parts of detached cruelty, greed, and hunger for power – acting as a control agent affecting everyone within its grasp.

By Christmas, 1938, when the story begins, the Nazi Party dominates the German Parliament for nearly six years, and its influence alters the nation’s face. Within that period, during which Hitler becomes Chancellor, both welcome and unwelcome changes occur and spread beyond Germany’s large cities into and throughout the countryside.

The German citizenry is conflicted.

Many poor, disenfranchised citizens consider forfeiting their faith, culture, and free will for materially improved living standards and restoring their national pride as an acceptable trade-off. Others grow dismayed by the denigration and annihilation of traditional values, virtues, and mores. Residents find the mandated, unfettered obedience to the state’s authority and the flourishing of Machiavellian values an abomination.

Within this setting, we meet the aristocratic, well-educated, and cultured Baron Phillip von Feldburg. Phillip, the eldest of three children, is an officer in the prestigious German General Staff and has been imbued from childhood with the importance of honor, integrity, and allegiance to his country.

In the first chapter, Baron von Feldberg is juxtaposed with his immediate family, characters Schrader utilizes to reveal some of the varying socio-political views prevalent in Germany.

Christian, his handsome, devil-may-care Luftwaffe fighter pilot brother, lives in the moment, exhilarated by his conquests and the thrill of adventure. Theresa, an envious, entitled, and defiant “youngest child,” marries an uneducated, self-made man with a knack for doing business in the Nazi regime and little use for breeding, manners, or culture. Their widowed mother, the Baroness, gracious, kind, and concerned – but not enough to make waves—completes the family circle.

Phillip’s sense of honor and duty dominates his life, both personally and professionally.

As he advances within the military and is given more and more leadership responsibility, he begins to have troublesome questions about the decisions coming “down,” along with the ongoing, less-than-honorable actions and events he witnessed while serving on the front lines against Russia. Not until he meets the astute and savvy secretary with connections, Alexandra Mollwitz, that he begins to act upon his inner conflict, and his life begins to change in ways he could never have imagined.

Presented in multiple points of view of the von Feldburg family members, cohorts, and supporters, Schrader breathes life into some of the historically documented events occurring in Germany before and including WWII that forever changed the world. Each of their voices reflects their social status, belief systems, and loyalties—and their angst and fears as change turns evil and evil turns deadly.

Traitors For the Sake of Humanity, based upon documented historical events and personal memoirs recounted to the author by individuals who lived through that time.

In the end, the importance of this book cannot be underestimated. Traitors for the Sake of Humanity rises as a critical, provocative, and timely book that perhaps we would all benefit from reading. The Glossary and documentation alone impress.

Helena P. Schrader puts a human face on some “monsters,” and exposes the monster faces of others. Kudos, Dr. Schrader.

August 11, 2021
SAVORING the OLDE WAYS SERIES: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, Book One by Carole Bumpus – French Cooking with Food and Wine, Culinary Memoir and Biographies, Culinary Travel

The retired family therapist turned travel writer and culinary memoirist, Carole Bumpus shares the delicious first book in her new series, Savoring the Olde Ways: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table.

In this first book, Carole takes readers on an intimate food tour of the Champagne, Alsace, Lorraine, and Paris regions of France. After being introduced by a mutual friend, Carole builds a special friendship with Josiane and her mother. Wanting to understand what brings and keeps European families glued together through generations of happiness and hardship, Bumpus begins by interviewing Josiane’s mother. Hearing about traditions passed down and the challenges of cooking during the war, the plan for a culinary tour of France is born among the women. Unfortunately, after travel delays out of their control, Josiane’s mother passes away before they can make the trip. Determined to make a dream trip a reality, Carole and Josiane set off to start a journey of a lifetime in honor of the woman who inspired it all.

Savoring the Olde Ways: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, takes readers along on an intimate view into the culinary lives of the people in Northeastern France.

Mouth-watering descriptions of food and heartwarming traditions tempt readers through every chapter, where history has had a powerful impact on both. Culture does not stop at borders. Bumpus encounters recipes from Italy and French recipes influenced by German cuisine. Following World War II, people from surrounding countries came to France in search of work and brought their traditional recipes with them. The Alsace and Lorraine regions of France went back and forth as being part of France and Germany. Carole and Josiane spend an evening with three generations of a family that experienced this flux of their nationality over the course of a century. Family and tradition helped to keep families strong during troublesome times in history.

The French have a reputation for being rude, but Carole finds everyone she meets to be nothing but warm and inviting.

Residents eagerly share their recipes, memories, and traditions with the visitors. Josiane brings Carole to the regions she and her family grew up in, and they take part in the long tradition of Sunday family dinner. Traditions like this may seem less common in modern culture, but still, very important to the families who keep it alive. The importance and similarity of the family traditions that Bumpus encounters show that we all aren’t that different.

Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBAs – Instruction & Insight Awards.

Full of the warmth of family, mouthwatering food, and the importance of history, readers will relish this tome of culinary arts and a good home-cooked meal. The journey continues in Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table: Book Two and Bumpus’s Italian adventure in September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table.

August 9, 2021
DANGEROUS ALLIANCE Randall Krzak – Political Thriller, Action/Adventure, Thriller/Suspense

Dangerous Alliance, the second volume in Randall Krzak’s Bedlam counterterrorism thriller series, takes the team to the Middle East to disrupt an unholy alliance between North Korea and Somali pirates to hijack oil tankers in exchange for weapons.

Talk about a thriller ripped from the headlines!

Once again, in severe straits because of the maniacal rule of its dictatorship, North Korea finds itself running out of oil. It turns to its “friends” throughout the world—Russia, China, and Iran—but it finds that those friendships have limitations. Shipping oil to North Korea is one. Desperate for answers, the country’s Dear Leader turns to one of its own, an ambassador, and threatens him with the decimation of his family unless he comes up with an answer. Pushed to the limit, the ambassador comes up with a wild but plausible scheme: hire Somali pirates to snatch oil tankers sailing from the Red Sea through the treacherous Gulf of Aden. The ships get repainted, their transponders turned off, and countries friendly to North Korea allow the purloined oil to reach its final destination.

As world events demonstrate, stopping the Somalians is no easy task. But an international intelligence group headquartered in London, calling itself Bedlam, plans to dispatch members of its elite, multinational strike force to the Middle East to fight the pirates and restore order to that part of the world. Neither Bedlam nor the North Koreans know each other’s plans add to the certain knowledge that the two forces will clash in a major confrontation.

That’s one of the threads in this multilayered fully engaging novel, the second in the Bedlam series of thriller novels.

Two other stories run parallel to the North Korean oil hijacking. One involves Soo, the North Korean ambassador, his aide Kim, and their attempts to stay alive by fulfilling the Dear Leader’s wishes knowing that they face certain death if they fail to do his bidding. And the North Korean leader doesn’t help things, changing the nature of the offer to the Somalian pirates at the last moment and ultimately cheating the pirates when and if they actually receive the promised weapons.

The other story follows the Somali pirates as they plan and execute their schemes to secure the tankers. Part of their plan involves creating bloody diversions to keep police forces engaged in fighting acts of local terrorism and focusing less on the pirates’ activities in the waters off East Africa. Their diversionary attack on the Somalian capital of Mogadishu is fierce, well-executed, and gripping reading as the pirates race from site to site, blowing up key structures in the city to keep police attention on terrorism, not on piracy on the high seas. Things, however, do not go smoothly. Diversions go tragically wrong, leading a few to suspect a traitor among them.

The theme of “Who can you trust?” hangs heavily over the actions of the North Koreans, the Somalis, and the forces of Bedlam itself. A few significant characters turn out not to be who readers think they are—don’t even try to guess who they are—and the twists add an extra layer to the tension of this well-crafted novel.

Krzak’s unique knowledge of this world shines throughout this book. The missions undertaken by both good and bad guys feel authentic; the locations feel real, the political and social conditions reflect the author’s obvious understanding of these worlds. The story doesn’t rely on distractions such as one single character to follow; i.e., no James Bond, no George Smiley, or a love affair, a hot-blooded night between the sheets to offset the action. Dangerous Alliance relies on solid storytelling with events so plausibly terrifying that readers may not be able to sleep – for weeks.

If you like your action hot, if you enjoy thrillers with some relationship to the real world, if you enjoy well-written complex stories with some good twists and turns, Dangerous Alliance deserves a place on your reading list. This title won 1st Place in the 2018 CIBAs, Global Thrillers Awards.

August 6, 2021
MATAMOROS: Civil War Adventure, Romance and Espionage in an Old West Border Town by James Kahn – Action/Adventure Romance, Westerns, Western Romance

With the American Civil War as a grisly backdrop, James Kahn shines a light onto the real old West in his latest novel, Matamoros: Civil War Adventure, Romance and Espionage in an Old West Border Town.

The tiny Mexican town of Matamoros becomes a haven for traders, traitors, ex-slaves, and card sharks. Bring the war into the mix with Northern and Southern agents, both self-appointed and official, and the result is perfect for plenty to go wrong.

Clayton Wilkes owns the Brave River Gambling Emporium and can smile and shoot almost in the same breath.

One day he demonstrates his wit and daring for all to see as he confronts a man suspected of cheating at a high-stakes card game. In so doing, he draws the attention of a Northern operative.

Enter Isaac, an ex-slave and Clay’s closest confidant. Isaac’s talented and educated, able to speak the King’s English when called upon, or revert to slave jargon when necessary. After all, southern slavers and rebel spies lurk about in Matamoros and its Texas counterpart, Brownsville – and freed slaves can never be too careful.

There are fortunes to be made at the large shipping port. Those aligned with the rebel cause trade raw cotton to Europe and receive payment in much-needed weaponry. But they’re not the only ones making money. Clay’s riches stand to be boosted by the conflict flaring around him, including Napoleon III’s interest in conquering and controlling Mexico.

In the middle of it all, Clay’s personal life transforms with the unexpected return of his erstwhile partner in scams.

The alluring Allie, a self-made woman with whom Clay shares romantic but somehow inexpressible feelings, arrives on the scene. Allie employs her fascination with the art and science of photography, séances, and other con artistry as she and Clay try to get a handle on what’s going on in Matamoros.

In his varied roles as author, medical advisor, TV and film producer, and novelizer of iconic films like “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” Kahn comes well qualified to identify and explore the dichotomy that makes the best stories even better.

The action in this broad panorama of love, crime, and war rises to a cinematic fever pitch as plot streams swirl and splash. Matamoros brings some real people to life, notably John Wilkes Booth, styled as Clay’s distant cousin. In the end, Kahn’s deftly drawn “postscript” begs for a sequel.

There’s nothing quite like a shady border town to spark larger-than-life characters onto new adventures. The ever-evolving goings-on in Brownsville on the American side and Matamoros across the river, in such tight sequence at such a significant time and so masterfully arrayed by Kahn, will excite and engage all fans of Americana, Westerns, and Romances. What can we say? It’s a thrill a minute set for success – and one book we can highly recommend. Matamoros won 1^st Place in the CIBAs, Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction.

One more thing, for a multimedia experience, Kahn has produced a Matamoros CD of original Americana music, each track about one of the characters in the novel. Click here to find out more.

August 2, 2021
B is for BAYLEE by Kay M. Bates – Middle-Grade Fiction, Middle Grade Blindness Books, Middle-Grade Adventure Books

Kay M. Bates delivers an inspiring middle-grade reader focusing on a young girl who suffers a severe injury that takes her life in a new and surprising direction in B is for Baylee. Along the way, she faces opposition, ridicule, and challenges. Still, she discovers the importance of determination and the actual value of friendship and acceptance when life throws you an unexpected curve.

Twelve-year-old Baylee Harker plays first base in a Stoutland city league softball game when an errant ball strikes her. The unfortunate incident sets in motion a series of events that take her on a physical and emotional roller coaster ride of dealing with sudden vision loss and its life-changing repercussions. Between the hospital, emergency surgery, and subsequent visits with eye specialists who offer little hope for improvement, Baylee’s diagnosis: legally blind. Though she can see illumination and washed-out color with her right eye, she lacks visual acuity. The left eye offers fuzzy vision with black splotches across her visual field. Soon she’s wondering, “Will I be like this the rest of my life?”

At home, Baylee is a typical “tween,” but her blindness compounds frustrations. Bates presents loving, though sometimes over-protective parents and close-knit siblings who help Baylee adjust to the situation. Bates smartly delivers Baylee’s mix of emotions and allows readers to feel it all: angst, fear, and exhilaration. Baylee’s disappointed at the closing of a favorite taco eatery; she’s concerned about descending a staircase on her own, and her anger at the disastrous results in attempting to make mac & cheese drives the story forward. But it’s joining a family sledding excursion that revives her exhilaration for the outdoors.

Returning to school may be fun.

A return to school and the world-at-large soon has Baylee realizing the frailties of human nature. Comments from a hair-flipping, so-called friend Margaux like, “Poor thing” and “… just faking it,” or a tense but ultimately humorous encounter with a parking lot bully emphasize the lack of knowledge and often little respect towards physically challenged individuals. In counterpoint, encouraging comments from a teacher suggest that Baylee’s injury might lead to other opportunities. “Keep your chin up, stay tough,” prove well-meaning words with an advantageous edge. With the help of a compassionate braille instructor and classmate, a mentoring track coach, and newfound friends, Baylee learns to navigate both life’s literal and figurative hurdles as she works to regain the parts of her identity she lost along with her eyesight.

The story is heavy on conversational dialogue, which seems appropriately reflective of the subject matter. With limited vision, Baylee must adapt to a world where sound is now at the forefront of her life. Here a moment of sitting against an amplifier proves a stress reliever. She even turns her reliance on audio/verbal cues into a game by matching the voice of a person.

Bates drew on her own experience to write a story that focuses on the main character’s loss of sight. Bates herself once dealt with severe vision impairment due to rare complications occurring after eye surgery. She now has full vision.

While visually impaired individuals must face their unique journey, this book offers particular insight and perspective for those newly coping with such a sudden life change, as well as those around them. Triumphantly ”B” is for Baylee reflects not only the harsh realities of a blindness diagnosis, but it positively showcases the opportunity for hope and winning achievement.

”B” is for Baylee placed semi-finalist in the CIBA 2019 Gertrude Warner Awards for Middle-Grade Fiction.

July 30, 2021
EUDORA SPACE KID: The Great Engine Room Takeover – Book 1 by David Horn – Science & Math Adventure Children’s Books, Action/Adventure Books, Sci-fi Series Children’s Books

Young readers with a penchant for math, science, and engineering are sure to fall in love with David Horn’s new Eudora Space Kid series. With the premiere story of The Great Engine Room Takeover, readers meet a precocious third-grader and her mad-cap adventures in outer space.

Eudora Jenkins lives aboard a multi-level Astroliner called the Athena and hopes to be its chief engineer someday. The Athena is the flagship of the Astrofleet, a science and defense force for the Planetary Republic, which comprises twenty planets working together to make the galaxy a better place for all living things. Early on, we learn that aliens adopted both Eudora and her older sister Molly. Their new Mom resembles a beautiful gray wolf from the dog-like species of the planet Pox, and their father, Max, looks like an octopus and hails from planet Pow.

Through an imaginative first-person narrative, this “most awesome girl” draws us into her space domain.

Looking for more than a typical childhood existence aboard this flying craft, Eudora’s latest desire is to figure out how to increase the speed of the Athena. After hacking into the spaceship’s PA system, Eudora’s enticing birthday party announcement works as a ploy to empty the engine room. Here she applies her formulas and makes adjustments at the computer terminal in an attempt to break the Astroliner’s speed record.

In Eudora’s funtastic, futuristic world, we meet all types of innovative technology and fabulous new friends.

For example, her pet drago named Bologna appears as a cross between a bunny and a dragon. Young readers will discover electropad devices that hold all the students’ books, notes, and work – and hear tales of exploding pumpkins that wreak havoc on a fuel storage chamber. Not only is this a book that fits in well with the STEM programs now in many educational curriculums, but the story quickly touches on an array of themes, from sibling rivalry and family variations to lessons about learning from our mistakes.

Laced with humor, Eudora comments to her audience, “And you thought your parents were weird!”

An opening illustration by Talitha Shipman sets the stage with a spaceship flying amidst a star-studded galaxy.

Readers will see lion and octopus-headed creatures and a being with Spock-like pointed ears. Details in the artwork throughout the book capture the extreme facial expressions of these spacecraft residents. Eudora’s gleeful look while destroying an asteroid at the push of a button changes to a disgruntled frown when the captain reprimands her. The final pages offer a creative word search puzzle, and the audience also learns that more cosmic adventures with Eudora are on the way.

Eudora Space Kid: The Great Engine Room Takeover will indeed win an audience among inquisitive, inventive-minded youngsters who like to push boundaries and reach for the stars.

July 29, 2021
A SONG of VENGEANCE (Call of Vengeance Book 3) by John Stafford – Global Thriller, Christian Suspense/Thriller, Supernatural Thriller

A Song of Vengeance: A Novel (Call of Vengeance book 3) by John Stafford begins right on the tail of where A Sword of Vengeance left off. In this novel, much like the two before, Stafford displays his talent for weaving in real-world individuals into his Global Thriller tale.

Reeling from the damage inflicted on the Forces of Darkness by Brady, the young American master of The Light and his compatriots, the Evil One seeks revenge. It is now 1980. The Temple Mount in Israel, now consecrated with Christ’s blood after Brady’s successful mission, literally vaporizes any soldier of the Darkness who enters its doors. At a meeting at the Temple Mount, Iranian loyalists—in this telling, Iran seems to be the headquarters of the Devil on Earth—receive instructions by the Darkness to hunt down Brady, capture or kill his wife, Michelle, and kidnap her unborn baby.

One of those at the meeting is a young Imam named Rouhani. Current events fans will recognize the name as the powerful former President of Iran. Also attending is the Banker, a treacherous Vatican priest who controls funds purloined from the Holy See used to fund Darkness missions across the globe.

A new agent of the Darkness emerges.

Meet Gudren Himmler, daughter of Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler, a historical figure who assisted Nazis on the run after World War II. In this book, she connects Nazis and anti-Israel Arabs. Among her many activities, she accuses Saudi Arabia of desecrating Mecca, which she hopes will bring about the fall of the Saudi family and its ties to the United States. She explains this to an Arab who will deliver her messages to the appropriate people and whose lover, unfortunately, winds up being a barbecued lunch for Gudren and her guest.

Such are some of the forces of evil arrayed against Brady and his friends. In this newest volume, quite literally, the Devil is in the details.

Meanwhile, back in Ohio, Brady and company now live on a fortified farm, with detailed plans for their protection that include both military-like fortifications as well as assistance from their Heavenly protectors.

For the first time in the series, Brady’s grandfather, Giovanni, one of the many ongoing characters in the series, helps Brady understand his role as the leader of the anti-Darkness forces. Giovanni spells out the historical war between the forces of good and evil. He directs Brady’s attention to recovering mystical stones that fell from heaven at the same time the angels fell. The quest for the stones becomes the main adventure in the remainder of the book. As the men ready for their journey, the Army of Darkness cooks up plans of their own.

In contrast to the Darkness followers, Stafford develops Brady’s circle of supporters with strength, mission, and clear focus of purpose.

Brady’s family expands as other people join their Catholic family, including growing support from the Mighty Men of King David, an Israeli militant group. The daughter of its commanding officer has now married one of Brady’s brothers. Marriages and details of rich family life take the edge off some of the novel’s more violent passages. There’s even a surprise visit at one of the weddings from a VIP. Since this is a Catholic-themed book, it’s not hard to guess who shows up.

All the books in the series relay credible details, whether in the construction of Brady’s fortified farm, military-style attacks by the forces of both good and evil, or acts of vitriolic violence by the Darkness. As the Devil wages war on human society and uses major historical events and figures to do his vile deeds, readers will be relieved to know that the Evil One may have met his match. Fans of Paranormal Global Thrillers will surely devour this series. Start at the beginning with A Prayer of Vengeance.

July 26, 2021