Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: 5 Star Book Review

  • RAINBOW MONSTERS by Sylva Fae – Children’s Activity Books, Stories in Verse, Poetry for Learning

    RAINBOW MONSTERS by Sylva Fae – Children’s Activity Books, Stories in Verse, Poetry for Learning

    It is a “mixed up rainy, sunny day” and that means that the rainbow monsters have come to play. The Rainbow Monsters race each other on clouds leaving behind traces of their colors, creating the sequences of colors we’ve all learned of the rainbow.

    Readers will get to meet each of the colored monsters and what makes them unique. Red loves sleeping and sweets, and orange loves bouncing around. Yellow plays music, while green has beauty. Blue is a funny trickster, while Indigo glitters. And lastly, violet just loves to play in the rain and splash around in muddy puddles. Once we get to know all of the colorful monsters, the sun goes behind the clouds! Here is where young readers must say goodbye to the rainbow monsters until the next “mixed up rainy, sunny day.”

    Sylva Fae is a mother to three wonderful little monsters who inspire the stories she creates for them. Rainbow Monsters is a family endeavor since the illustrations were created by Sylva and her daughters, Scarlett, Sienna, and Sylva. Readers will see and feel the love and care that went into creating this story to share with other families and their little monsters.

    Sylva Fae’s Rainbow Monsters is perfect for the young child who has yet to enter school. From this book, they will learn about the weather, colors, simple rhyming, and the different interests monster – or, people – can have. At the end of the story, Fae includes some fun games and activities to do that include word scrambles, line tracing, counting objects, maze, and a word search. This smart addition allows the fun of the story to continue even when it is over, and any child will enjoy doing these activities.

    Sylva Fae’s Rainbow Monsters is a fun and simple story that little monsters will want to be read to them again and again, as well as its sequel Mindful Monsters.

    Rainbow Monsters won 1st Place in the CIBA 2017 Little Peeps Awards for Children’s   Literature.

  • The TIME TRAVELER PROFESSOR, Book Two: A POCKETFUL of LODESTONES by Elizabeth Crowens – Alternate History/Sci-fi, Time Travel, Steampunk

    The TIME TRAVELER PROFESSOR, Book Two: A POCKETFUL of LODESTONES by Elizabeth Crowens – Alternate History/Sci-fi, Time Travel, Steampunk

    A musician-turned-time-traveler is in for more than he bargains for during his World War I experiences in book two of Elizabeth Crowens’s The Time Traveler Professor, Book Two: A Pocketful of Lodestones.

    John Patrick Scott volunteers for the Royal Scot Army. His life drastically shifts from one of comfort in Germany to misery in no-man’s-land trenches in Belgium and France. Fortunately, he has in his possession his grandfather’s heirloom timepiece (his time-travel device), his journal, and the mysterious red book, which is the essential item that connected him to Arthur Conan Doyle in the first place. Now separated from the famed author, John uses his middle-of-the-night sentry duty to delve into the metaphysical and psychic world, while Arthur does his time-traveling in hopes of finding the red book.

    Because of John’s prophetic abilities, he is known by his fellow soldiers as a fortune teller and Le Conteur (storyteller); the latter due to the red book’s magic of creating impending tales (often horrific) veiled in allegory. Strange things occur when John begins seeing soldier ghosts, and the name Aliskiya Lleullne, his future self, pops up in various situations, especially among an enigmatic man who goes by the moniker of Benedyct Boniface. A battlefield accident produces more supernatural weirdness for John. After recuperating, he takes on a military-intelligence position in London, where he and Arthur reunite. The two reignite their time-traveling passion, intending to go back to feudal Japan. Instead, they are in for a big surprise when they end up in London’s Elizabethan era.

    Award-winning author, Elizabeth Crowens, opens A Pocketful of Lodestones with an author’s note, explicitly encouraging steampunk readers to read Silent Meridian, book one of the Time Traveler Professor Trilogy, before probing into book two. While Crowens sprinkles aspects of Silent Meridian’s plot, the references are too light and do not offer an in-depth understanding. Thus, her cautionary note warrants merit.

    That said, there is a lot more going on in this novel compared to the first book. Having first-hand experience with the horrors of war, John’s arrogance all but disappears. He spends more time meditating on humanity—focusing on the plight of his military comrades—and less on himself, except unresolved issues from his past and future time travels. John also discovers that his penchant for predicting the future and storytelling acts as a healing balm for his struggling troop.

    A Pocketful of Lodestones is a meal of a read, which will surely satisfy Sherlock Holmes and history aficionados.

    Author, Elizabeth Crowens won 1st Place for her novel in the CIBA 2017 Paranormal Awards.

     

  • GOODBYE to MAIN STREET: A Family Memoir & Sequel to Prairie Son by Dennis Clausen – Memoir, Family Relationships / Saga, Multi-Generational Memoir

    Growing up in an estranged family atmosphere brings questions that beg for answers in this complex multigenerational memoir.

    Author Dennis M. Clausen recalls his early years growing up in the latter half of the last century with a detached, mostly absent father and a disabled, emotionally conflicted mother. In his tribute to small-town America, the author eloquently sketches the Minnesota village where he spent most of his youth, a place where the awnings on Main Street were opened and shut at the same time each day, and family secrets were hinted at but never discussed. Among the secrets was the enigma surrounding Clausen’s father, Lloyd, a wanderer who could never settle in one place, keep one job or stay with one woman for very long.

    There are many idyllic elements to Dennis’s upbringing. Though poor and often struggling for basic necessities, his mother and siblings got by, sometimes helped by the largesse of the community. On occasion, a visitor might sleep on the couch, and tuck nickels or dimes strategically into the sofa’s cushions, leaving Dennis and his brother, Derl, the means to go to the local movie theater. The boys also managed a paper route together.

    Reaching college age, there was no money, so Dennis stayed in his hometown at a newly created branch of the university. There he was fortunate to have as a mentor a legendary professor of American literature who recognized what the town’s librarian had noticed years before: that Dennis had great zeal for reading.

    As Clausen matured and closely observed the clan he was born into, certain flaws appeared in the pleasant but rather fuzzy picture that had been painted for him. He felt increasingly guided by hints – and finally by some handwritten memoirs from his father – to explore their shared past. In the years of Clausen’s youth, polio was a killer stalking the country and then was miraculously eliminated, but the psychological concept of “attachment disorder,” which undoubtedly afflicted Lloyd, was unheard of. In sifting through his father’s memorabilia, Clausen learned that Lloyd’s adoptive parents always regarded their charge more as free labor than loved one. In Prairie Son, Clausen has written vividly of Lloyd’s life as a mistreated orphan. The many remarkable results of that investigative work comprise the second portion of Goodbye to Main Street, complete with documentation and photographs in what can be seen as Clausen’s second vocation as the family detective.

    Clausen’s work has garnered a following among family both here and abroad who have contributed to his diligent search for his ancestry and among orphans and children of orphans who sense his empathy. There are many poignant moments in his coming-of-age account that will resonate with the experiences of an earlier generation of Americans. Perhaps this is the pull of Clausen’s memoir, the story of how one boy grew to manhood and overcame the odds, to become something other than what he was born into: from grinding poverty to successful academic.

    Now, after making numerous nostalgic visits to the old hometown and to various gravesites as part of his delving into family lore, he has come to see life as “a journey” and to respect its mysteries.

    Goodbye to Main Street won 1st Place in the CIBAs 2018 Journey Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction.

  • CASTLE of FIRE (Book 2 of The Adventures of Jonathan Moore series) by Peter Greene – Sea Adventures Fiction, War & Military Fiction, Children’s Action/Adventure

    CASTLE of FIRE (Book 2 of The Adventures of Jonathan Moore series) by Peter Greene – Sea Adventures Fiction, War & Military Fiction, Children’s Action/Adventure

    Midshipman Jonathan Moore scrambles aboard just in time for the departure of the HMS Doggard (a horrible name, soon replaced with her original name, the Danielle). The latecomer is welcomed by some of his friends from an earlier voyage on the HMS Paladin, including Seaman Sean Flagon, Lieutenant Thomas Harrison, Bosun Steward, and even Captain William Walker.

    Jonathan had not expected to be on this voyage, as he was only recently reunited with his father, Captain (soon to be Admiral) Nathaniel Moore, who had been captured and imprisoned by the French earlier in the Napoleonic Wars. This left Jonathan orphaned on the streets of London until he and Sean were pressed into service on the Paladin. But Captain Moore escaped and returned to England. While loath to see Jonathan leave, he eventually realizes that he must allow his son to follow in his footsteps in the Royal Navy.

    After meeting with Captain Walker, Jonathan finds his quarters in the cockpit, shared with the other midshipmen, a rude Wayne Spears, and his sidekick Timothy Lane. Jonathan thinks he will simply avoid the two and spend time with Sean and his other friends, but when Spears pushes Sean to the floor, enmity ensues.

    The Danielle’s arrival in Nassau brings relief. Delain Dowdeswell, whom Jonathan had befriended on an earlier voyage to Nassau, is spotted rappelling down a cliff overlooking the harbor—the adventurer that Jonathan and friends already know. Delain’s sisters, Rebecca and Penelope, deliver an invitation to Captain Walker from their father, the governor, to dine at the mansion, bringing his officers and Sean. At dinner, Jonathan is paired with Delain, Harrison with Rebecca, and Sean with Penelope, whose company they enjoy even more than the scrumptious food. Lady Dowdeswell asks the captain if her daughters can be accommodated on the ship for its return trip to London, where they are to receive further education—a request happily agreed to by all except Delain, who fears an end to her adventuring.

    On the balcony after dinner, Jonathan gives Delain a silver necklace with a dolphin pendant that he had bought in London for her. Her delight is interrupted by Spears’s intrusion. Harrison approaches, fearing trouble, but Jonathan remains cool. It is Delain who finds revenge by “accidentally” tromping on Spears’s toe with her sharp heel. Spears will not forget this, nor his desire to end Jonathan’s career in the Navy, or perhaps his life altogether.

    Before the Danielle departs in search of pirates, the captain agrees to take Delain and her teacher, along with Jonathan and Sean, to a nearby island where they hope to see turtles hatch and make their run to the sea. They are rowed ashore by marines Hudson and Hicks, who will stay overnight with them until the Danielle returns. Delain and Jonathan arrive in time to help the tiny turtles reach the sea by chasing away the seagulls. Delain is a delightful, resourceful young woman who manages to be at the center of everything that happens. What the trio of Jonathan, Delain, and Sean discover in the ancient “Castle of Fire” and its secrets will have readers holding their breath!

    Peter Greene has done it again—another well-penned, colorful, action-packed tale to be read for pure pleasure. Make sure you don’t miss Books 1, Warship Poseidon and 3, Paladin’s War. Highly recommended!

     

     

  • ANGEL on ASSIGNMENT by Wanda Carter Roush – Children’s Christian Holiday Fiction, Children’s Cut and Assemble Book, Children’s Christian Bedtime Book

    ANGEL on ASSIGNMENT by Wanda Carter Roush – Children’s Christian Holiday Fiction, Children’s Cut and Assemble Book, Children’s Christian Bedtime Book

     

    During the holiday season, it’s easy to become distracted from the true meaning of Christmas. In Angel on Assignment Wanda Carter Roush tells the story of this holiday and the important role that angels play.

    Borrowing from the idea of Elf on the Shelf, this charming Children’s book teaches that angels are sent on assignment to help people. If you are ever scared, you need not be afraid because an angel is there to protect you. Children will love rolling up their sleeves and getting busy as they take the story to the next level and create their very own angel, and thus begin their own family tradition of having an angel on assignment.

    Wanda Carter Roush is a former Sunday school teacher and children’s church director. She is the mother of five and was inspired by her youngest daughter to write this story to instill hope and peace of mind in children when they are scared. Angel on Assignment also challenges children to act as angels on assignment and always be on the lookout for those who need help because even the smallest deed can have a strong effect.

    The book ends with instructions on how to make your very own angel. Imagination is an essential component to inspire children to be creative in creating their angel.

    What makes Angel on Assignment truly special is that it encourages families to start a new tradition that serves to remind them of what they cannot see. What families can see are the wonderful illustrations by Mike Motz that bring the story to life.

    Roush creates a wholesome tale with great lessons for children on how to deal with being afraid and encourages them to do selfless acts of kindness. Children, as well as parents, will love Angel on Assignment!

     Angels on Assignment won 1st Place in the CIBA 2017 Little Peeps Awards for Children’s Literature.

     

  • UNSIGHTLY BULGES (A Trailer Park Princess Cozy Mystery, Book 2) by Kim Hunt Harris – Cozy Mystery, Animal Cozy, Female Sleuth

    UNSIGHTLY BULGES (A Trailer Park Princess Cozy Mystery, Book 2) by Kim Hunt Harris – Cozy Mystery, Animal Cozy, Female Sleuth

    Salem Grimes has a lot of goals – lose more weight than her friend Trisha, find a dress for the upcoming date she doesn’t really want to go on, and keep her dog, Stump, from throwing up on the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, solving a murder (again) isn’t on her to-do list, but Salem is thrown into another mystery completely against her will when she sees a body in a Sonic dumpster.

    When her BFF Viv, an 80-ish firecracker of a woman with a penchant for expensive shoes, hears about it, she can’t wait to get started cracking the case. After all, she and Viv have already solved one mystery, and Viv is convinced their unofficial PI firm, Discreet Investigations, can find the murderer. But the ladies quickly realize they have their work cut out for them when the victim is identified as CJ Hardin, golden boy physician and local Hope for Homes organizer who recently “came out” in a very public way and stirred up a huge controversy in Lubbock, Texas.

    Controversy and theories swirl since CJ was thought to have run off days earlier with the $200K in funds from a recent Hope for Homes fundraising effort. When the murder is labeled a hate crime, Salem, Viv, and their newest partner Dale find themselves in some scary situations, including an altercation with Rambo the fighting rooster. Between being laughed at by one hot police detective she’s had crushed on since fourth grade, fighting her urge to drink herself “cool” in order to keep from throat-punching Dale, Salem has to find a killer before the community implodes.

    The struggles of the LGBTQ community are front and center in this novel. CJ, the murdered man, is a victim before he is the victim. CJ has spent his life as so many LGBTQ people have, playing a role, pretending to be something he is not in order to fit the required societal mold. The son of a prominent family, a prestigious doctor in his own right, and the perfect fiancé to a woman he has always been expected to marry, CJ never truly got to live his life in his own way. Not long after being caught in a passionate embrace with a man, CJ is more or less forced to come out in a very public way and then he is murdered, labeled another casualty of hate, and though his murder doesn’t quite turn out so cut and dry, his story is nonetheless tragic.

    A Christian novel highlighting the struggles in the LGBTQ community is an anomaly, and Kim Hunt Harris expertly handles the issues smartly by placing them front and center in her lead character’s lap. Salem feels a strong connection with the LGBTQ message boards she studies after being swept up in CJ’s death. She understands the dark loneliness of never fitting in, of being a victim of abuse, and of hiding what she truly is, burying her true self.

    Damaged by a selfish, abusive mother, Salem is determined not to let that define her anymore. After ten years of drowning her feelings in booze, she has found her footing in Christianity, but she is confused about her feelings, uncertain how to reconcile her blossoming faith with the reality around her – what she thinks and feels about the LGBT community around her.

    Salem’s story is one of redemption – hers and everyone else’s. She wants to be a person who can look herself in the eye, and she fights daily to become that very person.

    Through common sense, humor, and her daily prayers in her self-made devotional room (aka the guest bedroom in her trailer at Trailertopia), Salem navigates the world in a “human” way. She struggles to justify God’s love with the church’s condemnation against homosexuality. She struggles against her complete dislike of Dale with the Biblical edicts of patience and kindness. She struggles with wanting to feel God’s presence in her life versus her all too real feelings of pettiness and anger.

    Salem’s battles aren’t black or white, right or wrong. She’s human and that’s why we like her so much. She understands that “contempt and disrespect for another person’s most precious beliefs” don’t make the world a better place.

    Unsightly Bulges (A Trailer Park Princess Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Kim Hunt Harris took home 1st Place in the 2017 CIBA M&M Awards for Mayhem and Mystery.

     

     

     

  • HARD CIDER by Barbara Stark-Nemon – Women’s Literature, Literary, Women’s Fiction

    HARD CIDER by Barbara Stark-Nemon – Women’s Literature, Literary, Women’s Fiction

     

    Somerset Grand Prize Winner Badge for Hard Cider by Barbara A Stark-Nemon

    Abbie Rose Stone is a woman determined to follow her newly discovered dream of producing her own craft hard apple cider while navigating the ups and downs of family life with her grown sons and husband.

    Abbie Rose knows how to deal with adversity, and dives headfirst into this new chapter of her life with energy and passion. She describes her early adulthood years of infertility struggles and the hardscrabble way she built her young family through invasive medical procedures, a surrogate attempt, and adoption barriers.

    After finishing a successful career in education and raising her three sons, Abbie Rose now sees an opportunity to create a new segment of her life’s work in a blossoming business venture. She’s set to take on this new venture by herself, determined to succeed, with or without her husband’s support. Yet, while she lays out her meticulous plans for her cider business, life keeps happening around her, attempting to derail Abbie Rose at every turn.

    Hard Cider is a well-researched second novel for Stark-Nemon, providing intricate details on everything from orchard planning and cider creation to knitted handicrafts. Stark-Nemon leaves no stone unturned and is meticulous with her descriptions of the lands and seasons of Michigan. So much so, that readers may leave this story ready to travel to this Midwest region and will find familiarity in the real-life scenes based on her elaborate imagery.

    The story builds slowly, relying upon richly descriptive settings to create the Stone family and the world in which they live. The tidbits of information presented about infertility, a shocking house-fire, parenting a troubled child, and marital woes are intriguing, and some may find, too brief, leaving the reader wanting more. Which isn’t altogether a bad thing. In fact, the strength of this work is that the reader is left wanting more, imagining what might happen next for this cast of characters we’re not quite ready to leave behind.

    A central theme of this down-to-earth story is the word new. New business ventures, new life changes, new family mixed with old, and new lives for the Stone family. Abbie Rose handles each of these life-altering adaptions with courage and a reflecting thoughtfulness. She teaches those around her what it means to manage life with a grace we can all hope to emulate.

    All in all, Hard Cider is a thoughtful literary novel of one woman and her ambitions to rise above what life has handed her to create an experience of beauty, one that is formed not void of hardship, but despite it. Recommended.

    Hard Cider won Grand Prize in the CIBA 2018 Somerset Awards for Literary Fiction.

     

  • BLOSSOM – The WILD AMBASSADOR of TEWKSBURY by Anna Carner – Wild Animal Rescue, Memoir, Nature & Ecology

    BLOSSOM – The WILD AMBASSADOR of TEWKSBURY by Anna Carner – Wild Animal Rescue, Memoir, Nature & Ecology

    Author Anna Carner was living in a horse-friendly farming area of New Jersey in 1999, when she encountered a newborn fawn, barely breathing, near her home. The animal seemed to be communicating its need to her, and, with some experience of animal and human care, Carner set out to revive the fawn.

    She took the baby deer into her house and nursed her back to health. When she and her husband, Pino, saw the fawn curled up asleep with the family dog, the couple knew they had a new pet. Her name, Blossom, seemed suited to her sweetness and soft, gentle beauty.

    But the couple lived in an area where some people consider the deer population a problem; pests to be eliminated, hunting a necessary and enjoyable sport. As Blossom grew and began to range out with other, wilder kin, Carner realized she would have to take extreme methods to shield her from danger.

    Carner and Pino created posters with the animal’s picture and a plea not to hurt Blossom. Some neighbors were sympathetic, but others were cynical. Some even made a practice of stalking Blossom and harassing Carner. One man claimed to have the deer in captivity, demanding a ransom for her return. Carner’s efforts to protect Blossom gradually took root in the community and soon neighbors joined in; other stray deer were saved and adopted. A widespread movement was started that included the possibility of spaying by vaccination to limit the deer population without the violence of hunting.

    In writing her memoir of the years with Blossom, Carner revisits her own past and the violence she suffered as a baby at the hands of her father; injuries that required hospitalization and subsequent treatment for much of her youth. These recollections give her empathy for Blossom and other suffering creatures, and no doubt the reason she is passionate about her role as a rescuer.

    Blossom, as she so vividly describes her, was an ideal patient and pet that seemed to speak at times, and to obey commands almost like a canine. The deer’s sensitivity to her human caregivers is perhaps extraordinary or may reflect what many “wild” creatures are capable of, given a chance. The chapters are interspersed with poems by Jeanne Hamilton Troast, a fellow animal enthusiast. Through action and rich, well-crafted dialog, Carner highlights her endeavors to promote better care of all animals based on the experience she and Pino shared as they cherished their time with Blossom.

    Carner writes both for convinced animal lovers and, additionally, for those who may never have given the issues much thought, offering strong evidence of the worth of living in harmony with deer and other creatures whose perceived harmfulness has been to some extent created by our human rules and boundaries, not by their natural inclinations.

    Not just a sweet deer with a fantastic story, Blossom is the subject for the Nat’l Geographic NATURE documentary. To view a 4-minute video of Blossom’s story please click here.  Blossom was also featured in National Geographic’s Nature presentation, “The Private Life of Deer.” Please click here to see the film.

     

     

  • A PRINTER’S CHOICE by W. L. Patenaude – Sci-Fi/Cyber-Tech, Mystery, Literary

    A PRINTER’S CHOICE by W. L. Patenaude – Sci-Fi/Cyber-Tech, Mystery, Literary

    W. L. Patenaude’s suspenseful and philosophical novel, A Printer’s Choice, opens in the near future, 2088, and not all is well in the universe.

    Earth is plagued with famine, war, and violent religious extremism. Oceans have risen to deadly levels, and wildfires and storms continue unabated. The world’s resources are being strained and no recovery is in sight. In fact, things are so dire that parents can opt to have themselves euthanized in exchange for the government’s providing for their children’s health and education.

    Elsewhere in the cosmos, a murder has rocked “upside,” a conglomeration of locales in space that are being rapidly developed through a tense and volatile collaboration between engineers and builders. This murder is a first in the “New World” and the circumstances surrounding it set the stage for an investigation that will not only uncover the murderer but also will cause readers to ponder the very essence of human existence.

    Enter Father John Francis McClellan, a Roman Catholic priest in this thirties with a military background. He has been summoned by the Archbishop of Boston and the Vatican to travel to the New World to investigate the homicide. From the outset, the case presents enigmatic details. For example, the victim, Father Tanglao, a Dominican priest, had inexplicably been working as a laborer in the orbits.

    Like everyone else, Father McClellan wonders why a priest was upside where any expression of any faith is strictly prohibited. Was Father Tanglao’s murder connected to one of the engineers or a fellow builder? Could there be a connection to the murderous zealot with a messianic complex, Juan Carlos Solorzano?

    McClellan does know that Father Tanglao had dealings with a high-tech 3D printer, a machine with recesses of “Deep Intellect.”  McClellan has his own history with these sentient machines, encounters that have given him the experience necessary to delve into relations between people and devices possessing artificial intelligence.

    The printers have the ability to design their own upgrades as well as reproduce themselves. “New Athens” was built easily and rapidly by the printers and, given the disasters on Earth, there is an imminent need for worlds to be built in space as quickly as possible.

    The engineers argue that the checks and balances those in charge wish to implement will only hold progress back because they believe they can regain control over the machines down the road. The question will arise, what separates a human programmer from a mechanical one capable of critical thinking? And who “programmed” people? What transpires between McClellan and a specific machine includes a riveting and deeply thought-provoking discussion of trust and free will.

    Clearly, Patenaude is well versed in the readings of Aristotle, St. Thomas, St. Augustine, and Descartes, for starters, and likely a host of philosophers and theologians. His ability to draw upon multiple disciplines and to weave religious and philosophical allegories into characterization and plot put him at the forefront of literary thinkers. Suffice to say, this novel is profoundly deep and thought-provoking.

    While this book will appeal to sci-fi lovers and anyone game for a murder mystery in outer space, it should also spark the interest of anyone interested in grappling with theories of existence and the ultimate power of free will. A priest traveling to an entirely new world in the cosmos and finding that it’s still necessary to wrestle with the age-old questions of faith make for a powerful tale.

     

     

     

  • The ACCOUNTANT’S APPRENTICE by Dennis M. Clausen – Magic Realism, Mystery, Philosophical/Apocalyptic

    The ACCOUNTANT’S APPRENTICE by Dennis M. Clausen – Magic Realism, Mystery, Philosophical/Apocalyptic

    Philosophically sophisticated, the supernatural mystery of Dennis M Clausen’s The Accountant’s Apprentice is reminiscent of the classic apocalyptic comedy Good Omens while bringing its own unique and serious take on the fight against good and evil.

    Justin Moore is a priest on leave after witnessing a murder in his parish office. He is haunted by the events and struggles with making sense of what happened and why the assailant spared him.

    Living in a small rundown studio apartment, Justin makes ends meet by becoming the driver of a mysterious neighbor who calls himself A.C. and claims he is an accountant. But Justin quickly becomes suspicious of his new employer when he fails to find any information about A.C or his company. To make matters worse, Justin attracts the attention of local police after not one, but two neighbors die while living in the apartment across the hall from him.

    As Justin investigates the strange events he is connected to, he begins to question his state of mind, unable to pinpoint the agenda and motives of his mysterious employer. Whenever Justin finds answers, several more questions appear as more and more people connected to him end up dead. In the end, Justin learns that there are forces at work above his understanding and that he has an important part to play in it all.

    Dennis M Clausen is a masterful writer that creates a full and multi-faceted story in a relatively small package. In what starts out as a mystery with a spiritual backdrop, the plot quickly brings in philosophical questions about the good and evil of our capitalistic society and what effects artistic genius has on the world. There are also touches of the supernatural that come into play as Justin tries to make sense of the mysteries around him.

    Clausen develops Justin Moore with a level of mystery to the character, who can arguably be seen as an unreliable narrator. Not much is known about Justin and his life before the traumatic incident he witnesses, and the details of that event change ever so slightly every time he goes back to those memories. These changes and other events cause Justin to question his reality and make him an interesting narrator. Even less is known about the characters A.C. and Ilsa, but they both undergo their own satisfying character development by the story’s end.

    A compelling novel, The Accountant’s Apprentice, leaves many areas of the story unexplored and underdeveloped in a way, perhaps to maintain a mysterious atmosphere. Certainly, its effect will leave readers longing to know what happens next. Perhaps a sequel? (We hope!)

    Clausen employs multi-genre storytelling here, and this approach makes the book a screaming success. In that complexity, there is a literary feast. It is spiritualistic, philosophical, supernatural, mysterious – and apocalyptic. In other words, this story has a charismatic appeal for everyone.