Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: 5 Star Book Review

RETURN to MATEGUAS ISLAND by Linda Watkins – Literary Thriller/Paranormal/Occult

Return to Mateguas Island picks right up with the same intrigue, suspense, drama and mystery that Mateguas Island contained. A page turner from the beginning, this is a tale you will not want to walk away from. The story begins years later with, Karen Anderson along with her new husband Dex and her two teenage daughters returning to the island. Karen goes quite reluctantly, but daughters, Sophie and Terri, are on a mission to find out the truth about their father who went missing and subsequently declared dead.

Return to Mateguas Island would fit nicely in the supernatural genre but has enough suspense throughout to lean toward this genre as well. This mixture of the two genres makes the story more complex and holds the reader’s interest throughout.

In this second novel, author Linda Watkins has already established and developed her characters and yet goes deeper into development within these pages. The books do stand alone, but to get a full picture, it is advised to start at the beginning with Mateguas Island to fill in backstory and ascertain each character’s story arch as the tale continues.

This story answers many of the questions from the first book. By the end of Return to Mateguas Island, however, you are left with just as many new questions and just as hungry for a third installment.

Upon their return, Karen and the girls find the island relatively unchanged from the day they had left it behind. A day Karen hoped would have been the last they would see of this mysterious venue. The memories were too painful and too jarring for Karen and this quickly bubbled to the surface. As with the previous book, there is something just beneath the surface of things that happen on the island, subsequently, as readers dig into the second book, they will find themselves in a familiar environment.

The story unfolds rather quickly as Karen once again displays odd behavior as the family returns to their old home. The intense story continues as a well-paced read with many twists and turns. The book holds its own next to the first novel and carries the tale, skillfully and smartly weaving in events that serve to whet readers appetites for the third book.

High suspense and flashes of horror beckon American Gothic readers to Return to Mateguas Island, the second book in Linda Watkins trilogy –a stunning success leaving readers posed in anticipation for the next installment.

April 21, 2017
FRUIT of MISFORTUNE (Creatura #2) by Nely Cab – Science Fiction & Fantasy/Myth & Legends/Paranormal & Urban/Folklore

Fans of YA and supernatural fiction will not be disappointed with Fruit of Misfortune, Nely Cab’s second book in her Creatura series. It’s an adventurous romp through the paranormal with our heroine, Isis, a young woman whose destiny is intertwined with that of all humankind’s.

Isis is in a seemingly lovely place at the start of Fruit of Misfortune, flying with her adored and adoring boyfriend, David, to Greece to spend time with his family. Of course, all is not as it seems to be and therein lies the fun and the adventure. Eighteen-year-old Isis is only days away from transforming into a monstrous beast, the Creatura, and needs the help of David’s family, all of them Greek deities, to halt the mutation. They rise to the challenge by seeking out a doctor with cutting edge therapies and locating Isis’s long-lost father who knew how “special” his daughter was when she was born. While encountering demons and monsters, Isis will wonder repeatedly if she shouldn’t make life easier, and safer, for everyone by just calling it a day and ending her life.

While there’s plenty of intrigue and suspense, what makes this book positively hum with energy is Cab’s genius for characterization. Sure, Isis is on a quest to save herself and, by extension, the world, but she’s also a young woman, eighteen-years-old, who loves her boyfriend but can’t help being attracted to his friend, Eros (and with a name like that, who could blame her?). She has moments of insecurity about her looks, rails at her father for having been a dead-beat dad, makes friends with the splendidly blunt and spunky Galilea, and, oh, yeah, really misses her mom.

The dialogue is often humorous, full of quick-witted banter. There are references to The Exorcist, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four and Wednesday Adams. It’s easy to imagine ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ telling her friends, “I just read the coolest book about this chick named Isis.” While Isis will be very relate-able for young adult readers, she faces enough maturity issues in Book 2 to engage adult readers as well.

What also sets this book apart from the typical paranormal adventure is the impressive detail. Cab describes scenes in Greece with the expertise of a cultural anthropologist. Her writing is experiential; she makes the reader see, taste, and feel. When Isis undergoes the most bizarre of pregnancy tests, Cab manages to instill the scene with appropriately convincing details of the biological impact of the metamorphoses taking place in Isis’ body. Likewise, the author astutely chronicles a medical doctor’s reaction to patients with the most baffling symptoms. Such careful writing makes the pieces of her fiction fit together like an exquisite puzzle.

The book concludes at just the right moment. Some dire problems have been resolved while others are just beginning. That’s fine because we don’t want to say goodbye to Isis or her boyfriend and his divine family. We’ve come to love the whole gang and long to spend more time with them. You can do just that by starting the third book in the entertaining Creatura series.

Being eighteen-years-old can suck. Take heart readers, it’s not as if you’re eighteen and destined to turn into a monstrous beast! Nely Cab’s Fruit of Misfortune, Creatura #2 delivers everything you love about book one – and more. A must read for YA fans!”

April 20, 2017
AFTERMATH by Marilynn Larew – Mystery Suspense/Thriller/Female Sleuth

Mystery maven Marilynn Larew has devised a can’t-put-down thriller with a female lead who can handle everything from flying bullets, dead cats, and snakes in the jungle, with only the occasional meltdown in Aftermath.

It’s a normal day for private investigator Annie Carter when handsome, Irish, and possibly crazy “Don’t call me Charlie” Magee shows up at her townhouse/office/home claiming someone is trying to kill him. For one thing, a body fell out of a window and landed near him. But even more convincing, someone shoots a hole through Annie’s front window just as Magee arrives on her doorstep – and not long after that, they find a dead cat on the stoop.

But can Magee be for real? His stories are garbled, and sometimes he seems to be dodging the truth, but when she lets him move in (for his own protection) it turns out he’s a decent cook and, well, let’s say his interest in her is hard to resist.

Meanwhile, Annie’s lawyer daughter Elizabeth is bugging her because her boyfriend wants to get married, which is against Elizabeth’s feminist principles, and for some reason, it’s all Annie’s fault. Added to this chaotic, action-crammed and often witty mix is Annie’s newest client, Vivian Rowlandson, whose husband has disappeared without a trace. A complex inheritance means the client must find her spouse or lose all financial support for her over-sized mansion and ten horses. And just as all these mysteries build, Elizabeth is kidnapped.

Threading her way through other people’s bizarre problems is what Annie signed on for when she became a private investigator. It was the job best suited for a single parent. But now her mothering skills are questioned and her own life is in danger.

Eventually, the hunt for Vivian’s errant husband will take Annie to the shadowy, steaming jungles of Southeast Asia where human and reptile killers lurk around every tree—and where the charming Magee will prove a stalwart bodyguard—in more ways than one.

Practiced mystery novelist Larew (Dead in Dubai, The Spider Catchers) presents a plot that brings her expertise to the fore. With teaching and publishing credits in American and Vietnamese military history, she has also visited Hanoi and other far-flung places. Her Annie is a heroine for the mid-life generation: a gritty divorcee with a penchant for adventure and a secret passion for unruly older men. Larew sculpts Annie with just the right proportions of savoir-faire, guts, and a few moments of unabashed girly-ness.

Sure to please Larew’s fans and attract new ones, Aftermath is a welcome addition to the female detective mystery/thriller genre steeped in exotic locales, alluring hints of romance, bullets flying, people disappearing, and just enough humor to wrap it all together for the perfect read.

April 14, 2017
The Other La Bohème by Yorker Keith – Contemporary, Literary, Opera

Life is as complicated as an opera performance in Yorker Keith’s new literary work, The Other La Bohème. The setting is modern-day Manhattan, complete with a café that showcases singing wait staff and doubles as an art gallery, studio apartments full of painters and poets, and surprise performances are sung in Italian.

The Dolci Quattro, a group of four friends intent on making it in the challenging world of professional opera, is determined to stage a different version of this well-known work, doing everything they can to support each other when motivation is hardest to find. Luckily for them, wealthy patrons and loving family are always closer than they imagine.

Keith takes his novel into the realm of opera itself in many ways. The most obvious how the book is formatted – and the reader will notice this quickly, with each chapter heading listed as a “scene” and the book itself divided into “Acts.” And like any good opening scene, we meet the major characters immediately.

Four singers have been friends since college days and have dubbed themselves The Dolci Quattro, the sweet four. It’s through their singing, often in Italian and always translated, that readers who have no familiarity with this art form will be able to see its enduring legacy and relevance to modern life. Whatever personal situation arises, at least one of the four has an aria to help express the emotion.

By Keith using this technique opera, itself, takes center stage. Dialogue often swirls around what it means to sing or be a singer, becoming technical at times, yet exploring the emotional and physical demands of the profession, while descriptive passages can encompass many of the main characters at once, mimicking the most enlightening program notes.

Similarly, the main story line of The Dolci Quattro’s attempt to successfully stage a lesser version of the most famous opera performed in America, Puccini’s La Bohème, by performing the work of the same name composed by the lesser known Leoncavallo, echoes their frustrations as individual vocal artists. They are starting from near obscurity, each working in poverty–what was once referred to as Bohemia– but with passionate and undeniable talent.

Their gamble of performing a nearly unknown variation of the opera mirrors the often-difficult choices and explanations each character faces about their futures and their professional careers. Like many an opera production as well, the reader is asked to accept life for the Dolci Quattro in all of its most broad and painted strokes.

Tragedies are short-lived, triumphs universal, offering us all a glimpse into the unique world of lead singers and understudies and what it takes to make it to the top in a competitive field. In the repeated refrain of The Dolci Quattro, Keith’s work urges all of us to “Sing On!”

March 24, 2017
NIXON and DOVEY: The Legend Returns by Jay Curry – Antebellum South, Gun Slinging, Historical Fiction

Launch into a gun-slinging, horse racing, antebellum southern historical biographically-based novel in this larger than life surprise, Nixon and Dovey: The Legend Returns.

Imagine searching through the local archives in hopes of discovering a long-lost ancestor only to stumble upon a memoir written about the early days of the area in which this ancestor lived. And another find – an article about the ancestor that has alluded you for so long surfaces. As you read it, however, your stomach turns. The ancestor you have sought for so long turns out to be the most notorious murderer and villain of the day. In this page-turner, Jay Curry tells the story of his ancestor, Nixon Curry, and his sad end.

Curry opens his tale at the very beginning: Nixon learns to shoot and ride as a youngster and finds he’s quite good at it. In fact, he loves riding so much his one desire is to open a stable and breed thoroughbreds – just like the rich people in his town. Unfortunately, Nixon is not rich, nearly unforgivable in the antebellum south. And Nixon, much to the dismay of his father, has a temper.

He may have been able to climb his way out of the first tragic situation, by, perhaps winning the Governor’s Cup, the big horse race of the day. But the second, his volcanic disposition, he will never be able to escape. Now Jay Curry’s ancestor must come to grips with the fact that dreams don’t always come true and life doesn’t always go according to plan.

At its heart, though, this book is a love story. Nixon falls in love with a senator’s daughter, Dovey Caldwell. Unfortunately for the ill-fated lovers, her daddy has already set her up with Nixon’s arch rival and wealthy Southern son. Much like the sorry tales of love-struck couples of yore, the youngsters run off together and cause all sorts of consternation.

Nixon and Dovey: The Legend Returns is a heart-pounding, page-turning read straight from the pages of an 1800’s diary and family lore of author, Jay Curry.

March 23, 2017
Greylock by Paula Cappa – Mystery/Thriller/Paranormal

What’s in the music we create? When we say it lives – when we say it breathes – when, for one fleeting moment it seems to bridge the gap between one soul and another – what kind of existence does it assume? What does it feel? What does it think? What does it want? Such questions may reside in theory for most, but not for piano virtuoso Alexei Georg in Paula Cappa’s Greylock.

Hot off the release of what will surely be his magnum opus, October, Alexei has achieved the level of success found only in his wildest dreams. Hailing from a Russian family steeped in musical artistry, he has transcended all those before him and become something they never could: a legend. And that’s all thanks to October.

There’s only one problem: he didn’t compose it.

And that would have been fine for him, taking credit for pages found in an antique chest belonging to one of his ancestors, if it weren’t for the demons it conjured every time he plays those chords. If it weren’t for the shadowy figure haunting him, punishing him, coming for him. October may have surfaced through the Georg bloodline, but there is something far more sinister and mysterious hidden in each note that is threatening to break free from Alexei’s control.

Alexei wants nothing more than to move on, but the past will not let him. Add to his troubles the threat of fraud exposure from those he’s closest to and a string of grisly murders within the Boston music community that brings the police knocking on his door, he can only come to realize just how much October is at the center of it all. He’ll have to confront three generations worth of Georg family demons to overcome this evil before it claims everything he has and hopes to achieve.

Using music as a central motif and life force to drive the narrative, Paula Cappa defies the limitations of the written word and adds a new dimension in storytelling through the personification of music. The descriptions being so richly layered and animated, one might just imagine these nightmares dwelling in the punctuation, awaiting their chance to come alive themselves.

With just enough integral characters in place to create conflict, Cappa creates a compelling mystery that allows the reader to virtually hear the machinations of the plot grind away before they inevitably crank up to a satisfying crescendo.

March 18, 2017
The DRY by Rebecca Nolen – Middle-Grade Fantasy/Adventure

This middle-grade fantasy sends a determined 12-year-old into a coal mine to find his missing father. Instead, he finds a phantasmagoria deep inside the earth, where first appearances can’t always be trusted. Heads-up to insectophobes: You’ll encounter plenty of creepies crawling through this spine-tingling adventure for middle graders.

It’s 1895 and years before child labor laws when Elliot Sweeney’s father fears for the town’s children, who are being sold to the company running the coal mine and never seen again. When his investigation swallows him up as well, Elliot, apprehensive but resolute, sets off to find him. Along the way, he picks up increasingly strange objects, companions, and stalkers: a watch that runs backward, a fierce girl named Lefty, a mysterious key, a blind burro named Beulah, a rat-faced mine recruiter. But that’s nothing compared to what Elliot and Lefty find once they enter the secret entrance to the boarded-up mine.

Like Tolkien’s Mines of Moria, this underground realm is palatial and studded with stone carvings and gems. And like Moria, within the cold beauty of this place called Penumbra is an ugly truth. Here Elliot and Lefty discover the lost children living in brutal conditions, mining gems for the cruel and vainglorious Wicked Prince of Every Place. Forced to work with their hands and without their shoes, the children’s blood gives power to the prince’s Water Moon, which absorbs all water, above and below ground. Hence, the title of the book, The Dry.

Elliot’s father is here too, weakened and powerless to defeat the vast army of insects and amphibians under the prince’s command: giant wasps, salamander servants, evil beetles, stinging caterpillars, and more.

And here is one of author Nolen’s greatest strengths: creating talking critters who not only possess unique personalities but suffer moments of existential crisis as well. Chief among these is Morrigan Wasp, Foundress of the United Vespid Kingdom, who imprisons Lefty but, after much soul-searching, realizes she is as enslaved by the prince as are the children. Morrigan helps Elliot escape to the other side of the mountain, where he finds the diminishing water queen Tosia, whose watery world is receding. Emboldened by his escape, Elliot rallies the creatures there—otters, dragonflies, horses—into the climatic, and inevitable war between good and evil.

Kids, teens, and fantasy-loving adults will find much to marvel over in this classic hero’s journey through a strange land that tests his courage at every turn. While the myriad of invertebrates may at times overwhelm the youngest readers, we encourage you not to fear; Elliot Sweeney is a bona-fide twelve-year-old hero, one who perseveres in spite of his fears and because of his unwavering love for his father, his new friend, and justice.

March 14, 2017
Sidetracked in Silver City by Jacquie Rogers – Humorous Western

Stuffed with memorable characters, including a mule named Pickles and a donkey named Sassy, our heroine Honey Beaulieu navigates the difficult path of being a female bounty hunter in the Western territories, circa mid-1879.

As one might expect, all kinds of men get in Honey’s way, but it isn’t just Pickles who can show a stubborn streak. Jacquie Rogers’ newest release, Sidetracked in Silver City, is as full of humor and colorful western dialogue as any saddle bruising, gun-toting tale could be.

The story begins in crisis and with a familiar sense of frustration, as Honey Beaulieu, intent on leaving town as soon as possible and catching her next bounty, is confronted with problem after problem rooting her in place. Rogers is talented in keeping the dialogue moving, even as Honey is often lost in her own thoughts or speaking to a ghost that only she can see, named Roscoe who hangs out with a with a three-legged ghost horse named Luther, naturally.

Honey’s big heart is on every page as she strives to make enough money to buy a future for herself and others. Talking to her animal companions as if they are humans isn’t all that peculiar for Honey – especially when a racing mule, a bonnet-wearing donkey, a surprise goat, and more than one horse all seem to understand. And while carrying multiple guns and knowing darn well how to shoot them builds the tough outer layer the world sees when they look upon Honey, her aim is to never have to use them. It takes her big, handsome admirer, Sam Lancaster, to see that soft inside of her soul.

From Silver City to Fry Pan Gulch, Honey wrestles with being in the right place at the right time, whether it’s missing the morning train or being there in time to hold her sister’s hand when she gives birth. For anyone who has ever fought the clock and lost the battle, Honey’s exasperation is palpable. We want her to “get her man” no matter what it takes, and Rogers is quite good at building the dramatic tension with the many characters that both complicate Honey’s plans and endear us to her in this wild, wild west she calls home.

March 14, 2017
Spoils of Olympus II: World on Fire by Christian Kachel – Historical Fiction/War & Military/Post-Alexandrian Greece

Spy-craft, betrayals, and bloody battles infuse this historical novel of Ancient Greece in the chaotic years following the death of Alexander the Great.

World on Fire is the second novel in a complex historical saga narrated by Andrikos, a young man who started his fighting career on the streets of his hometown of Illandra. As a member of the underground cult, The King’s Hand, Andrikos and his traveling companion Vettias dedicate themselves to keeping Alexander’s lineage on the throne of Macedon. The pair is a study in contrasts: Vettias, the elder, is the more hardened soldier who teaches Andrikos the arts of espionage; while Andrikos maintains a youthful idealism that is sometimes at odds with the grim necessities of war.

The lessons Andrikos learns from Vettias offer gripping scenes of surveillance, stealth, and expeditious killings. Together they must help restore Alexander’s dynasty, often posing as enemy operatives. This infiltration creates a multi-layered plot with far reaching implications on and off the battlefield.

In addition to spy-craft and bloodletting, writer Christian Kachel makes room and time to establish Andrikos as a loyal, home-loving son whom his parents trust enough to guard Alexander’s widow Rhoxane and her young son, Alexander IV, within their household despite the obvious dangers.

The arts of war form a central element of World on Fire, with vivid descriptions of ancient weaponry and hand-to-hand combat. To our delight, Kachel does not neglect the feminine, as he presents two powerful young women, both wise beyond their years: the teenage Queen of Macedon, Adea, who becomes a willing player in the plots against the enemies of Vettias and Andrikos; and Mara, Andrikos’ first love, to whom he made prior promises that he is now able to keep.

By the end of ten years of travels and intrigues, Vettias and Andrikos will see the world differently and will have played their part in making positive changes.

Kachel has staged this epic skillfully. Placing Andrikos as the narrator allows the reader to see many political and military viewpoints held by others through a young, albeit, sometimes naïve perception, and to enjoy periods of respite from war and treachery in scenes of romance, home life, and some moments of stolen passion.

Kachel, three times deployed to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, is a student of warfare who has chosen to concentrate his novelistic mastery on a sometimes neglected period of history—the aftermath of the death of Alexander the Great and resulting internecine struggles for dominance in the middle eastern region. Historians disagree on many details of this troubled era, giving Kachel free rein to explore possibilities clearly grounded in fact and research, but also informed by the author’s substantial imaginative gifts.

“A master tactician and student of war, Christian Kachel brings history to life in The Spoils of War II: World on Fire; an engaging foray into the aftermath of Alexander the Great.” – Chanticleer Reviews

March 11, 2017
The Atheist and the Parrotfish by Richard Barager – Religious/Spiritual Fiction/Literary/Medical

Can the souls of the departed live on in their transplanted organs? Read Richard Barager’s edgy novel, The Atheist and the Parrotfish, and find out!

Dr. Cullen Brodie receives word that a donor is available for one of his patients, Ennis, a sixty-three-year-old cross-dresser desperately in need of a new heart and kidney. Cullen learns that the donor happens to be his boss’s daughter-in-law, Carla, who never recovered from a car accident.

At his three-month follow-up appointment, Ennis declares that his donor came to him in a dream and that Carla’s organs have exerted influences on him “beyond their intended bodily functions,” such as unexplained sweating and flushing, chattiness, a love for jazz as well as beets.

The possibility of Carla’s transmigration (passage of a soul into a living body) sends chills through Cullen. How can this be?

The uncanny “spiritual” experiences in Ennis’s life spark religious questions within Cullen’s mind, particularly ones directed toward an unresolved conflict embedded in his past.

Ennis has some other issues, as well. But his (or more correctly, Carla’s) take shape in an obsession with locating the donor’s family. When he does, however, that familial connection stirs up personality clashes between Ennis and Elaine (Ennis’s feminine side), and Carla.

Amid the turmoil, Ennis is aware of Carla desperately trying to relay a critical life-changing message to her family, but he needs Cullen’s help to deliver it. The real trick will be whether or not Ennis can convince Cullen before Carla destroys Ennis altogether.

Coming-out-of-the-closet late produces in Ennis a multitude of inner struggles and unsettling childhood memories. In the midst of his personal chaos, Ennis has amazing moments of clarity (with the help of Carla) to see through people and their faults.

Cullen, on the other hand, finds himself between a rock and a hard place dealing with Ennis’s ongoing commentary about Carla. “When all else fails, listen to your patient” is Cullen’s default motto to identify patients’ diagnoses. With Ennis however, Cullen finds this motto difficult to live by, especially since it is both extremely unusual and disconcerting for Cullen to even consider the possibility of life after death – or the very existence of a soul. As a result, Cullen’s attempt to apply reason to an unreasonable situation leads him to revisit conflicts from his own past.

Contradiction is a key narrative theme in this work. One story coiled within another builds while Barager slowly and masterfully weaves the two seemingly opposing accounts together. Chapters alternate between characters dealing with past and present situations, and scenes that include shocking, and at times, heart-stopping endings.

Pages are replete with rich descriptions of religious and ethical conundrums, philosophy, and theological ambiguities. The latter, readers may not recognize until much later in the story.

Rising author Richard Barager pulls from his daytime job experience as a nephrologist to create a gripping human-interest account packed with complex characters and spiritual paradoxes.

“A fascinating story, The Atheist and the Parrotfish, which merges age-old spiritual questions with the latest in modern medicine, is replete with complex characters and riveting pages that brim with religious and ethical conundrums, making Richard Barager’s novel a thought-provoking top-of-the-line read.” – Chanticleer Reviews

February 23, 2017