Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

BEYOND CONTROL by Lawrence Verigin – Eco-Thriller, Spies & Politics, Thriller/Suspense

Now we reap the bitter consequences of what was diabolically sown in the first two books in the award-winning, exciting Dark Seed trilogy. In author Lawrence Verigin’s third book, the agents of The Club have implemented their evil plan and drive forward in complete denial of the unintended consequences that are now Beyond Control and threaten all human life on earth. Can these perils be stopped and reversed? Nick Barnes and his team have been left discredited and seemingly powerless to vanquish the dark forces behind this ecological thriller.

Nick Barnes finds himself victim to his own circumstances that are now also Beyond Control. At the start of this book, he struggles against convincing evidence that cleverly frames him for a serious crime, landing him in jail.

The twisting tale turns as the enemy runs its ominous empire unchecked. There is no guarantee that Nick’s plan will work, yet as the group sets out to track the evil conspirators across the globe, tragic environmental dangers loom on the horizon. The Club follows the trail of chaos left in the wake of the enemy and are able to understand the global catastrophic events that will ensue if the evildoers cannot be stopped. However, not everyone is able to see the truth in what these few see. Denial is powerful and feels safer than the dire truth Nick and his companions offer.

In fact, the members of the Club see the lethal dangers growing quickly because their foes’ inexcusable misuse of the science they are now wielding without understanding and without conscience. It’s up to Nick and his band to act, but their fight is against deluded fanatics, and in such fights, painful losses are inevitable. Is a final showdown with The Club something Nick’s group can win?

Author Lawrence Verigin writes to entertain while bringing attention to socially relevant subjects. His research into agricultural science is impressive, seamlessly weaving information into the narrative of the story, giving readers a satisfying and captivating set of novels.

Beyond Control is a fight to save the earth’s population from the seeds of devastation. It’s a thrilling portrait of our hero’s will to treasure life. However, Nick is up against a completely different worldview, and the stakes in this venture are high. Against him, greed is being led by a brutally selfish, power-hungry adversary who coldly explains his evil actions as justification being in the eye of the beholder.

December 31, 2018
The SUGAR MERCHANT by James Hutson-Wiley – Medieval, Historical Fiction, Spy & Church

Narrated by a boy who grows up in a monastery and is trained to be a spy, The Sugar Merchant is set in the late 11th Century when the Great Crusades were on the verge of erupting in Europe and the Middle East.

When Thomas is forced to flee after rebels attack his family, he is finally discovered, ragged and starving, by a giant of a man named Leofric. Taken under the wing of the monks at Eynsham Abbey, Thomas is educated while accepting the strict discipline of the Benedictine order. In his late teens, he is surprised and disappointed to learn he will not join the Order but will be employed as an agent and spy. His task will be to find, secretly copy and send back manuscripts written by Islamic scholars. These documents contain knowledge that the Catholic Church needs to maintain its control.

Accompanied by Leofric, who taught him the arts of war based on his own checkered past as a mercenary, Thomas travels to Spain, to the city of Granada (called Gharnatah at the time). His travels will take him through the known Catholic realms and beyond, and, paradoxically, afford him the chance to meet, befriend and be aided in the abbey’s mission by good men of other faiths, both Muslim and Jew. As a cover for his work for Eynsham, he adopts a persona as a merchant of sukkar, or sugar, a commodity that will soon have excellent trading value. When a beautiful Muslim girl crosses his path, all that he has been taught will come into question as he strives to do what he believes to be right.

James Hutson-Wiley writes about places he knows, having traveled in the Near East and Europe in his career in international finance. And he has obviously done extensive and intensive historical research to compose this multi-layered story. The plot, and Thomas’s peregrinations through it, encompasses subjects as vast and diversified as the burgeoning sugar trade to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

The author paints a vivid picture of such ancient places as Lundenburh (London), Al Mariya (Almeria) and Granada. But he has also created an empathetic hero in the young Thomas who, without the burden of bias though mindful of his moral duty, is able to see beyond religious differences and choose genuine friendships with people of other beliefs.

The Sugar Merchant combines medieval lore with adventures on land and sea, stirring romance, arcane information about daily life in Europe in with the time frame, and all-encompassing religious tolerance that has significance for today’s world.

December 26, 2018
OUR DUTY by Gerri Hilger – Friendship, World War II, Military Romance

Our Duty opens with a group of nursing students sunbathing on the roof of their apartment. Pauline Garrity, aka Polly, has a little bit of fun and decides to sunbathe sans robes. While this stirs some of the girls up a bit, others know Polly is only being Polly. When a fighter plane does a fly-by on a training mission, Polly has a little more fun.

Here’s a story of World War II with a slightly different bend. Rather than focus on the horrors of what was happening in the trenches, Gerri Hilger centers her novel around Polly and her close-knit group of friends who are attending nursing school together. Our Duty is a novel for fans of lighthearted historical fiction with a sprinkling of cozy romance and a thread of Christianity.

The first part of the novel follows Pauline Garrity, aka Polly, alongside her close friend Aggie and their schoolmates as they navigate their studies and personal lives while attending nursing school in the early 1940s. There are inter-peer rivalries to contend with, gossip that occasionally falls into the mean-spirited category, and the looming presence of the war which begs the question—which of the young women will choose to enlist after graduation?

Polly and friends persevere through nursing school and graduate with their degrees, and then each promptly goes her own way. Aggie enlists in the service while Polly stays in the States and works in a maternity ward, often calling on the Lord to give her strength as she helps new mothers whose husbands have enlisted. Life continues on, however, despite the war, and Polly soon finds herself becoming more and more involved with a charming young man named Johnny.

In Our Duty, Hilger tackles the hefty topic of why some people enlist while others try their hardest to stay home. It should be noted that all of the characters’ reasons for avoiding war have everything to do with family responsibilities and less to do with worrying about whether or not one may die as a result of enlisting.

Our Duty is largely based on the lives of the author’s family and ends with Hilger discussing what happened to the characters after the story’s end as well as her family’s ties to one another and the war. And while the book focuses on the nurses, the war is never out of the minds of our characters, as letters and news come in detailing the horrors and heartaches of life and death on the battlefields of war. In the end, Hilger has gifted us with a WWII historical fiction with a lighthearted side and an enjoyable sweet romance on the side.

December 19, 2018
To DREAM the BLACKBANE: A Novel of the Anomaly by Richard J. O’Brien – Paranormal, Mystery/Caper, Fantasy

If you liked Alice in Wonderland as a child, To Dream the Blackbane: A Novel of the Anomaly may captivate you now. While not suitable for children, this dark fantasy engages the reader with strange and unique characters, gritty, Sam Spade-like dialogue, and fanciful imagery.

In 2063, sixty years after The Anomaly, during which everything changed, in a world now populated by pedigreed humans, hybrids, and a whole gamut of imagined and legendary creatures from other planes of existence, the canis sapien, Wolfgang Rex, operates as a private eye in Chicago’s hybrid ghetto. He is assisted by his secretary, Sally Sandweb, a fun-loving faerie with blue and black wings, and green-tinged skin.

One evening, two locally venerated vampires barge into Wolfgang’s office to enlist his services. Like the Templar’s treasure was stolen from Jerusalem, a sacred vampire scroll was taken from their lair atop the Sears Tower whilst they slept. After they make him an offer he can’t refuse, Wolfgang agrees to recover the scroll, and a disapproving Sally draws up the contract.

Shortly after, he has another visitor, Charlotte Sweeney-Jarhadill, from Beggar Creek, Louisiana, who wishes to hire Wolfgang to exorcize the ghost of a Confederate soldier who’s been hanging around her home and bothering her. After another offer he can’t refuse, and deciding he has some leeway on time with the vampires, Wolfgang agrees to do the exorcism.

Little does he know that these two cases would involve life-threatening danger, and ultimately change the course of his life forever—whatever and wherever forever may be.

The ensuing story takes Wolfgang to stygian places in Chicago, and to rural Louisiana where Wolfie learns that reality is elusive, whom you can trust isn’t always clear, and there’s no safe place.

Like the 2063 reality imagined in this story, its tone and mood fluctuate. At times, Richard J. O’Brien’s story seems merely a dark fantasy—a kind of 21st century American gothic with unique settings and characters that keep the reader engaged. At other time, it feels more like a tongue-in-cheek, “gotcha” kind of yarn where the author uses satirical humor, exaggerated characters, and intriguing situations, to entertain fantasy fans. The story’s ambiguous ending contributes to this perception. We hope this means there is more to come!

One thing is certain, though, when you close the book a haunting suspicion may just well remain: has O’Brien used this genre as a vehicle for a symbolic allegory, addressing certain long-held religious beliefs and currently trending social and political events? In short, To Dream the Blackbane: A Novel of the Anomaly is a curious, provocative read that lingers on. One that we recommended.

December 17, 2018
CATARI: A Novella by Karl G. Larew – Mystery, Psychological, Literary

Maxwell Roux introduces us to his story with a Prologue, beginning with a minds-eye picture of a grand house in New Orleans. It is a soft, blossom-scented spring evening. From his hiding place behind a tree, he sees Catari step out on the wrought-iron balcony, fan in hand. Her gown is unbuttoned at the top, revealing her pale complexion glowing in the moonlight, contrasted by her dark-brown eyes and hair. Max had flown down from New York late that afternoon to surprise her, but he chooses to enjoy her beauty from the solitude of the dark garden for a moment before their blissful reunion ensues—marred only by the unpleasant gaze of her step-father.

This sketch is now a memory of what had been a happy engagement—until Max unforgivably accused Catari of having an ungrateful heart, as Enrico Caruso sang of in “Core n’grato,” a song both of them knew and loved.

The story begins when Max is called to another grand house, in Fontano, Italy, the home of Catari’s beloved Gran’papa, Il Barone di Fontano. He hears the Requiem Mass sung by a local choir at the funeral of his beloved Catari—only 27 years old—and sees her casket placed in the Fontano Crypt on the grounds of the family villa. It is there that he hears the gossip that Catari was drunk when she fell into the pool at 2:00 AM, as well as the comment by her step-father, Hugh Fontane, that Max, as nothing but an “ex-boyfriend,” has no right to be present. But the Baron had invited him to come, and then to stay at the villa. Later that evening, he and Max talk as friends about their beloved Catari. Max had visited the villa with her several times, and the two men like and trust each other. Finally, fatigue sends them to bed—Max in the room where he had slept before.

Max awakes at 2:00 AM, somehow urged to go to the pool. He senses Catari’s presence and hears her voice, “I did not want to die. I did not want to die like this.” He hears his own voice, “I’ll find out…how and why, Catari.”

Thus is this sad love story transformed into a murder mystery, its solution sought by Max, Darlene (Catari’s close friend), and the Baron. Larew’s tale is filled with family history, dating back to the Fontane brothers who fought in Napoleon’s Army in the conquest of Lombardy and were rewarded with the land on which the villa stands; the Fontano brothers who served in the Italian Resistance during WWII; and the Fontano family’s current history in the making. The Three Musketeers, as they decide to call themselves, question the servants and several villagers and search the property inside and out. They engage the help of the family doctor, who had examined the body and found a lesion on the back of Catari’s head. The doctor does not believe that she was drunk. They work with the Chief of Police, who is intrigued when he learns about the pilfering activities of the servants.

As he has done in previous books of greatly different natures—their characters ranging from WWII military families to Good and Bad vampires—Karl Larew skillfully brings his characters to life. In Catari, he artfully draws not just their natures, but oddities of their physical features, speech, and movement, such as town gossip Madame Cavalli, who finally runs out of words, and the rude and overbearing Hugh Fontane, bursting into the villa declaring that he will have the Baron declared incompetent, thereby revealing his own incompetence. Larew’s knowledge of military history stands him in good stead, as well.

Max fulfills the poolside promise he made to the ghost of Catari, to “find out…how and why,” but I won’t spoil the how and why for the reader. Nor will I tell you what happens to the Three Musketeers. I’ll say only that, for many reasons, this book offers a good read.

December 15, 2018
PRIVATE MONEY LENDING: How to Consistently Generate a Passive Income Stream by Gustavo J. Gomez, Ph.D. – Budgeting & Money Management, Analysis & Strategy, Personal Finance

Are you in retirement, or close to it, wondering how you’re going to make ends meet pulling from your portfolio? Well, you’re not alone if you’re staying up at night thinking about how low-interest rates are killing your investments.

In a practical and easy to read format, Gomez explains to investors the particulars of a little known, yet potentially lucrative investment technique that can handle the ups and downs of the stock market. Unlike stocks, the underlying security of private money lending is a tangible asset – brick and mortar, so there is another layer of protection for you, the investor.

But what is Private Money Lending? According to Gomez, it refers to a private individual or organization that lends money. Typically, when you’re looking for financing, you would go to a bank. With private funds, on the other hand, you’re going to an individual or organization that specializes in this type of lending. The upside of private money lending is that it’s less regulated, which means less red tape. The icing on the cake, he says, is that these investments have consistently generated 9 to 12 percent returns* – not bad considering stock market investments have averaged closer to 7 percent, and with much more fluctuations. We can’t forget the economic crash of 2008 when many stock market investments plummeted close to 40 percent.

In a nutshell, amid the 2008 economic crash, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to help boost the US economy, the author explains in fluid and well-organized chapters. The general thinking was to reduce interest rates to encourage people to borrow money, who then would go on to buy more products – all good for the American economy. However, those same low-interest rates translated to less growth for those in retirement. Private money lending offers an alternative strategy that could generate a “predictable, safe, and consistent income stream that this low-interest rate environment does not currently permit,” Gomez says.

No investment comes without risk, Gomez reminds his readers, so his bottom line advice for investors: do your homework (start with this book), find out who is offering the loan, and check they have a good track record.

Even though the content derives from Gomez’s doctoral research and dissertation conducted at Florida Christian University in Orlando, it’s not academic in style. In fact, you will find it conversational and accessible, with a thorough glossary of terms (e.g., origination fee, negative amortization, and Private Mortgage Insurance) and recommended reading to further your knowledge.

Whether you’re in your golden years relaxing on a sandy beach or fast approaching retirement, you will want to read Gustavo Gomez’s Private Money Lending: Learn How to Consistently Generate a Passive Income Stream.

*as of the book’s publishing (2015)

Private Money Lending Learn How to Consistently Generate a Passive Income Stream won First Place in the 2017 CIBAs for Instruction & Insight!

December 13, 2018
The GIFT of the TWIN HOUSES: Book One, The Perils of a Reluctant Psychic by V & D Povall – Ghosts, Mystery/Suspense, Psychic

Six-year-old Sarah Salas blurts out a piece of information she could not have known at a friend’s birthday party. The neighbors begin to gossip about this, calling wee Sarah “evil” and “witch.” In a jiffy, things get uncomfortable. So uncomfortable, in fact, Sarah’s parents to sell their home and relocate to protect their daughter.

From that moment on, Sarah’s parents beg her to ignore and suppress her natural psychic abilities. Completely. What’s a six-year-old to do?

Sarah, eager to please her parents, buries her abilities throughout her life. As a consequence of suppressing such a strong aspect of her character, Sarah inhibits the most essential part of herself: the ability to be transparent, intimate with another living soul. So much so, that her first fiancé leaves her at the altar. Suffering the humiliation, she shuts down another part of herself: her sexuality.

And the story would end there, but for the fact that upon her early retirement, Sarah heads out to parts unknown, driving with a purpose, but lacking conscious intent. She is, for the first time in decades, allowing that ‘other’ part of her to lead the way. It is only when she truly lets go of the restraints set upon her in childhood that she finds herself in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington state.

Following a private path, she stops her car in front of a beautiful and compelling home. The house has a note attached to the door indicating it is for sale.

This house, she knows, must be the reason why she’s here.

What follows is a whirlwind of characters, both living and deceased, that import their stories into a meaning narrative that forms the basis of the book. And there are a lot of stories to be told: from forbidden love to murder and more. As Sarah opens up to her long, supposedly dormant psychic talents, she creates a path toward understanding the people who once lived in this house – and its twin – and how they wove their DNA into the rooms, floors, and wall, and moreover, how they affect the lives of those still living. The gift is in the telling, and how love conquers all.

Husband and wife writing team, David and Victoria Povall, bring their talents to the page to introduce the characters in book one of The Perils of a Reluctant Psychic series. The writing is fine with a sweet romance set in the middle of it that lovers of paranormal romance books of a certain age will relish. What is clear, is there are plenty more storylines and adventures in store for Sarah Salas and her rediscovered psychic abilities – and more romantic adventures with her handsome soulmate. A paranormal romance with a happy ending and a promise of more to come! A win!

The Gift of the Twin Houses by V&D Povall is also available on Barnes & Nobles and iBooks.

December 13, 2018
The ONE APART by Justine Avery – Family Saga, Fantasy, Metaphysical/Visionary

A perfect blend of realism, fantasy, and deep spirituality awaits those who open Justine Avery’s novel, The One Apart. It is what readers bring to the novel – faiths, belief systems, philosophical dilemmas – that will influence and shape their perceptions of this fascinating and compelling read. Avery’s book, like life, is full of instruction for those who want to be fully aware.

Aware of what?

Everything—including awareness itself.

This is certainly the case for the main character, Aaron, a remarkable boy who lives with his mother, Sancha, and his grandmother, Maria. Although she’d planned to give Aaron up for adoption, Sancha bonds so deeply with her son at birth that she can’t fathom life without him. His grandmother realizes his uniqueness, too, as the newborn communicates with her through blinking his eyes. He makes astonishing progress through developmental milestones, walking and reading within the first months of life.

As a toddler, he speaks with the wisdom of a timeless soul. Maria suspects that these physical and mental feats indicate that her grandson is chosen for a special purpose, but she hopes he’ll live as normal a life as possible. He’s distracted, however, by a malevolence that only he can see. As Aaron comes of age, he strives to act normal and blend in, but his very few close friends and girlfriend notice his preoccupation, his never being fully present in this world.

There’s a reason for Aaron’s constant distraction, for his never feeling a part of this life; he is connected to “the Apart,” the other-worldly dimension that is both removed from human existence, “corporeality,” but ever at hand. Since childhood, he has sensed that his true name is Tres and that his existence as Aaron is somewhat play-acting. His hyper-awareness alerts him to his “OnLooker,” a sort of guardian angel who’s a liaison between Aaron and the sagacious luminary beings of the Apart that consult and advise on Aaron’s tutelage.

Much of the book involves Aaron learning, with the instruction of his OnLooker, how to fully experience awareness, to understand that every moment is this moment despite previous lives and the variety of life’s experiences. At a critical juncture in the novel, Aaron is given a choice, one that will impact his own existence dramatically but also that of all other beings. The author adroitly merges Aaron’s worldly existence and his relation to the realm of the Apart in a poignant and satisfying conclusion to the novel.

This is a quiet book, one that allows the reader the time and space to experience life with its main characters. The stillness is at times deeply peaceful, at other times eerie and ominous. The novel illustrates the power of compassion and empathy, but also the chilling consequences when power is exercised for self-serving purposes.

While the character of Aaron has similarities to various religious and mythic figures, the author has also imbued him with a uniqueness and a relevance to our times. This book will stay with you long after you finish it, a hallmark of excellent literature. Justine Avery’s The One Apart inspires deep contemplation of self, community, and individual and collective purpose.

The One Apart won First Place in both
OZMA and SOMERSET Awards in 2017!

December 10, 2018
The SHAPE of the ATMOSPHERE by Jessica Dainty – Literary, Psychology, Women’s Fiction

Jessica Dainty’s, The Shape of the Atmosphere is remarkable for its startling realism, its gritty young heroine, and its hopeful conclusion.

When Gertie’s father and sister are killed in an accident on Gertie’s sixteenth birthday in 1957, she is left with one cherished memory: viewing the heavens with her father on the night of the world-changing Sputnik flight.

After the funerals, Gertie wounds herself as a way of coping with her inner anguish, after which her alcohol-addicted mother commits her to an insane asylum. Such institutions were considered modern and scientifically advanced for their time, but as author Jessica Dainty frankly depicts, Gertie’s new home is a combination prison and torture chamber. The naïve but intelligent girl soon becomes acquainted with such therapies as immersion in icy cold water and electroshock (both designed to calm the inmates), as she gradually gets to know her fellow patients, the women on Ward 2.

Gertie observes that some of her companions are not mentally ill at all: one has a speech defect that he is struggling on his own to correct, and another has Down Syndrome. Yet such people – anyone not wanted by family – are consigned to such asylums and often get lost in its labyrinthine system. Gertie slowly gains inner resolve, becomes an advocate for her rights and those of her companions, and starts an in-house newsletter that tells their stories. But when her compositions find their way outside the walls of the asylum, she is forced to take even bolder measures.

Dainty writes this traumatizing tale as though she’d lived it, so starkly painful and remarkably poignant are her portraits of Gertie and her fellow sufferers. She portrays the doctors as caring only up to a point, mainly interested in maintaining a full house of captive mental “cases” to keep the income rolling in. One staff member is sympathetic toward Gertie, but most are cold and indifferent, strictly allowing only 3-minute bathroom breaks, a single towel at communal shower times, and almost no time spent unmonitored.

Treatments such as electroshock (Electro Convulsive Therapy, ECT) are performed differently today for the treatment of severe depression, treatment resistant depression, severe mania, catatonia, and agitation and aggression in dementia patients (Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/electroconvulsive-therapy/about/pac-20393894), for example. But today, this treatment is done under general anesthesia and at reduced levels. This was not the case in the 1950s or in Dainty’s harrowing novel. ECT was conducted without any form of anesthesia and often without patient’s consent.

Reminiscent of the less enlightened times also is the blatantly denigrating attitude shown towards people of color and other minorities. The author’s descriptions of daily life in a mental institution of the 1950s are filled with scenes of mistreatment tantamount to torture. But many readers will find the story inspiring, especially as Gertie, sustained by images of space travel, finds her own stars to aspire to and reaches out to help others. Debut novelist Dainty is a high school teacher with many points of contact with the teens she hopes to engage with this evocative coming-of-age saga.

The Shape of Atmosphere won First Place in the 2022 Goethe Book Awards for Post-1750s Historical Fiction.

November 29, 2018
WINDHOLLOW and the AXE BREAKER, Windhollows Book 3 by Trayner Bane – Children’s Books, Action/Adventure, Fantasy

Part Three of the Windhollows series takes off with a bang, as we find an evil female on our hero’s trail and a sneaky scientist up to his old nefarious tricks.

The book opens with a stirring encounter between the glimmering being who was once Billy Molskin’s girlfriend, Skylar, in a contest of wills with Nila Windhammer. Nila previously transformed the schoolgirl into a monster called the Spent of Jealousy, using Dr. Rip Stinker’s toxic Essence of Ripinum.

Into the fray comes Blast, a once-powerful creature who had been given the task of guarding Skylar. His failure makes him more determined than ever to intervene, but Nila forces him out into the Formidable Fields where he is doomed to lose his memory or his freedom. To accomplish his banishment, Nila wields the Malus wand, a gift from her father and her weapon of eternal vengeance against those who killed her parents.

Meanwhile, Stinker and his faithful pet Pootrick are entering the Silent Pass where Stinker plans to enslave its inhabitants, the nomadic Silencians. But after disabling some of them with Ripinum, he is confronted by Nila, who informs him that they have a far more important mission. They must locate Billy, who is on a quest to find a mystical staff that contains powers she wants for herself.

Billy, with help from his friends Teddy and Wendy, is indeed looking for the staff, finding clues from ancient books and soon realizes he also needs to get possession of four magic stones. Could these be connected to a bracelet of three orange cubes found by Stinker when he attacked the Spent of Hatred? Could they be the work of the immortal Stonehammer?

Billy’s determination is temporarily sapped by the lingering illness of his father, who may have a clue to the missing stone collection. When his father passes away, Billy will finally access the inner strength he needs to put the legendary weapon, Axe Breaker, to its proper use and win a momentous victory.

Fans of the Windhollows series will note this story is taking on topics of significant proportions. Themes of the death of a parent, the coming-of-age of the young hero and the hard-fought triumph over evil give this volume greater gravitas, perhaps moving it towards a perception of Billy as a kind of Beanian Hobbit: ready to take up the call to duty, even if it means putting himself in harm’s way.

All in all, this is a perfect read for those seeking adventure!

*Special note: Author Trayner Bane has a delicious recipe for BackFire Cookies on his website! He’s requesting his readers try the recipe and post a photo on the Windhollows Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheWindhollows

This book can be ordered here.

Please follow the links to read the Chanticleer Reviews for Air of Vengeance and Darkness Falls

November 21, 2018