Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Action

LIFE FORCE PRESERVE: Book 1, Anna and the Resurgent of Precious Blood by Courtney Leigh Pahlke – Mystery, Thriller, Conspiracy

What is lurking in the shadows? When did these footprints appear outside her house? Anna is sure she’s being followed again in Courtney Leigh Pahlke’s mystery thriller, Life Force Preserve.

What is it that follows her? She’s still recovering from the last dire, grave accident. Now Anna can only wonder if that dark day, the worst day of her life, even was an accident. Someone or something is after her. With no idea why, Anna doesn’t know where to turn for help. How will she find her way, now that something beyond her control has knocked the life she loved out from under her?

Anna is suffering from disabling injuries after a shocking car accident that killed her beloved mother. Her father, brother, and best friend are all a phone call away and dedicated to helping Anna recover. Sometimes it’s surprising how far away that phone call can be. When Anna takes a terrible fall in the snow outside her house and regains consciousness, there’s a figure rushing nearby her, moving erratically and watching her. She can’t get a good look at it. Is it her imagination? She has to get away, to find safety. She has to get herself back to the hospital where they can help her.

Anna is able to make it to a cab and the hospital. What she discovers there is good news and bad news.

Tests reveal that her healing is miraculously ahead of schedule. It’s truly a mystery to the doctors how she is mending. They order more tests and procedures to be sure what they’re seeing is real. For Anna, this heartening news is quickly overshadowed by suspicious strangers in the hospital corridors. An ominous movement in her direction, a watchful stare, several others giving her too much attention and Anna is once again on the alert and on the run.

Anna’s fears are confirmed when she’s approached by Bryan. He’s a stranger yet knows about her situation. His concern and his actions to help are puzzling, but he convinces her to trust him. They leave for a safe place where Bryan introduces his associates. That’s when he explains what is after Anna and why. Her only hope, according to Bryan, is to join them in their own desperate fight against these brutal beings. Their efforts are the last chance to stop these villains from achieving their terrifying goal. Bryan offers no guarantees, and Anna must decide if she can trust him.

Author Courtney Leigh Pahlke’s Anna is a most thoughtful and courageous protagonist confronting a life altering crisis.

Now we see how Anna has to rethink what remains of her life and gather her remaining strength and judgement to find her way forward into a turbulent future. The author skillfully immerses the reader deep into Anna’s point of view so we can see the world around her as she does, feel her emotions, and weigh her choices right along with her. Anna is surrounded by an engaging group of characters. The plot pacing builds subtly at first, then intensifies with the suspense of what may be following Anna. The excitement compounds with the revelation that the risk is even bigger than Anna ever imagined. As threats close in, Life Force Preserve stands guard.

Life Force Preserve by Courtney Leigh Pahlke won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBA Global Thriller Book Awards for High-Stakes Thrillers.

May 11, 2022
LEGACY of LIES by Janet K. Shawgo – Suspense Action, Mystery Action, Action Thriller

The question is not if history will catch up with you but instead, when will it attack with a vengeance. Characters with a Legacy of Lies discover they can run, but they can’t hide from past actions. When Caren Johnson sees her family and life literally explode in flames, her uncertain future falls into the hands of a mysterious Irishman. His name is Declan Malone, and he claims he’s been sent by her brother to save her from assassins determined to kill her too. How can that be when her brother’s death was reported ten years ago? Declan’s reasons for a hasty departure from Ireland appear suspect and put a target on his back too.

A sequel to Archidamus, the intrigue thickens. Aaron Caydon made many enemies in his life, and some are highly motivated for revenge. Declan claims he’s hired to go to Boston, Massachusetts, and save Aaron’s sister and her suburban family. When he arrives, things go terribly wrong, with tragic and deadly results. The plan to make it to the protection of Aaron Caydon blows up right before Declan’s eyes. Now Caren joins him in a race to somehow find this ghost man, her brother, and hope for safety. Declan and Caren are on the run from unknown and hidden enemies. It’s a fast-paced pursuit from Maine to mysterious cemeteries in New Orleans, and on to the lone state of Texas, with imminent danger lurking around every plot twist and turn.

Declan is happy to find that Caren has many useful skills of her own, including fighting strengths and an eidetic memory. As they battle forward together, they realize one person who might be the missing link to Caren’s brother. Bevan Benjamin was the last man they know of to have seen Aaron. It’s a long shot and a long journey to reach Bevan. If they can get to him alive, will he even believe their story or agree to put himself and his own family in danger to help them? As Declan and Caren run toward this destination, they find a growing attraction between them, igniting a new threat. Can they trust each other completely?

This tightly paced thriller is full of mystery and fueled by very worthy opponents who match wits ruthlessly against skilled protagonists. It’s a chess game played on steroids that stretches across the cities and countryside of small towns across the USA. The vivid settings provide unique and haunting clues to the intrigue that the reader discovers in the characters. Surprises and setbacks encountered by both the protagonists and their enemies bring out the best skills and cunning in each. It’s fascinating to read the motivations that bring together people to fight for a cause, both for good and for diabolical. “The mistakes men make in their younger lives tend to return at some point and demand retribution.”

No wonder author Janet K. Shawgo’s settings are so skillfully described and play such an integral role in this well-developed and intricate plot. As a travel nurse, she’s worked extensively across the United States for twenty-three years. She shares a great imagination in her books that plots a spellbinding story, with characters who show great heart and courage.

Legacy of Lies won First in Category in the CIBA 2019 Clue Awards for Thrillers and Suspense novels.

February 24, 2021
The SUNKEN FOREST by R. Barber Anderson – Thriller & Suspense Action Fiction, Literary Fiction, Military Thrillers

American timber company, NTI, flies over a remote area of the Congo with sophisticated instrumentation. Data shows an immense, deep depression in the jungle floor, a giant caldera from an extinct volcano. Despite the depth of the crater, the canopy level above remains constant and gives no clue of what lies below. To NTI, this could be an indication of tropical hardwoods beneath, potentially the size of mature redwoods. To the indigenous tribes, the sunken forest is a forbidden zone guarded by a legendary black devil who brings sure death to trespassers.

NTI sends a group in to explore and determine if their data is correct, that what lies beneath is an untapped bonanza of timber. The group persuades a few local tribe members to guide them. They make it to the edge of the caldera and are never heard from again. When the tribal guides return home, they suffer banishment for showing strangers the way to the forbidden zone.

Zora de Rycken, an outdoor adventurer with exceptional jungle survival skills and Special Forces training, is enlisted to guide NTI scientist Carver Hayden to discover the fate of the first group and to complete their unfinished mission.

Once in their expedition staging area in Brazzaville, Congo, the second NTI team encounters an unscrupulous Russian billionaire, Oleg Levkov, with a timber company of his own. Though it would seem they are in competition, Oleg assures them his only interest is in the legendary black devil. Oleg is a big game hunter with a fascination for big cats. He is sure through his own research that the black devil is a giant black lion no one has seen before, and he wants to be the first to kill one.

When the NTI team arrives at their basecamp, the nearest open ground in the vicinity of the caldera big enough to land a helicopter, and the starting point for the previous NTI team, Oleg is already there. Oleg’s team has secured a native guide, Ngiome. Oleg’s helicopter departs just as the NTI team arrives, and Zora is sure she sees members of Ngiome’s tribe aboard. Has Oleg kidnapped these people to secure Ngiome’s services?

One thing is certain, no matter which company wins the timber rights to The Sunken Forest, the result will be the same. Pristine jungle unlike any in the world will be laid waste leaving nothing but an empty muddy scar on the Congo.

Barber Anderson weaves a captivating tale that lays out the consequences of Industrial greed and conservation set against a thrilling backdrop of jungle, violence, and sex.

November 21, 2019
BRITFIELD and the LOST CROWN by C. R. Stewart – Action/Adventure, Coming of Age, Mystery/Caper

Tom and Sarah are best friends who reside in a dilapidated English orphanage housed in a 16th-century castle. Only this castle isn’t the kind that inspires romance or chivalry; Weatherly orphanage is run like a maximum-security prison where children are forced to work, creating goods that are sold in the local village.

Many orphans have tried to get beyond Weatherly’s gates and have failed. Mr. Speckle, a scurrilous caretaker, prowls the grounds, keeping constant surveillance, ensuring the children are working and staying in their place. But Tom is a daring lad, often going on “raids” to steal books from the private library of Weatherly’s owners for his friends to read. Mr. and Mrs. Grievous, a dreadful pair who frown upon any sort of learning, run the orphanage.

One day, Tom and Sarah resolve to get out of Weatherly – forever. Ahead of them, the path is long, twisting, and dangerous, filled with a whirlwind tour through the English countryside. Here, author Stewart sharpens his focus and showcases the beauty and mystery of Great Britain. Readers will discover the places that are dear to the author’s heart as Tom and Sarah travel far and wide, including places such as the Midlands, Canterbury, Windsor Castle London and many more. But trouble is always nipping at Tom and Sarah’s heels, and when the renowned Detective Gowerstone takes up the case, the pair are nearly captured. They only escape by commandeering a hot-air balloon!

As we follow them on their clandestine route, we begin to learn more about who Tom might be—and why some highly placed operatives would like to see him eliminated altogether. It all goes back 150 years to the disappearance of the mysterious Britfield dynasty and the ascendancy of Queen Victoria, leaving one to wonder, Did the wrong person get the crown?

Britfield and the Lost Crown delivers as a detailed and intriguing first-in-series read that is sure to capture the attention of the middle grade and young adult crowd and those who love the Y/A action and adventure genre. Readers journey through the English cities and countryside beautifully rendered in the narrative. The book also includes maps and intelligent background information about the setting and history with access to online illustrations and commentaries on castles, villages, and towns where our heroes visit. Overall, Britfield weaves plot, texture, storytelling, and fascinating characters into a winning combination and enriching experience for adventure fans.

April 1, 2019
PALADIN’S WAR, The Adventures of Jonathan Moore, Book 3 by Peter Greene – Historical Fiction, Y/A Action/Adventure, 19th Century

The magic of living in 19^thcentury England comes to life in the early chapters of Peter Greene’s delightful, but also exciting, story—with British Navy Midshipman Jonathan Moore and daughter of the Governor of the Bahamas, Delain Dowdeswell, enjoying the fashionable new treat of ice cream, then joining their friends and family members at the boat race in Dover on a beautiful day. Granted, that wasn’t how everyone lived, and even these special few lived daily lives far less comfortable than do most ordinary people today. But they didn’t know that.

Jonathan is the son of Admiral Nathaniel Moore, who had been imprisoned in France during the Napoleonic wars. This happenstance orphaned the boy, who lived a sorry few years on the streets of London until he was found by his father’s friend, Captain Walker. The admiral was eventually rescued, and he and Jonathan were reunited. Delain and her sisters, Penelope and Rebecca, had been sent by their parents to live with the Walkers, who, with the help of Barbara Thompson, were tasked with teaching the sisters to become ladies. That seems unlikely for the irrepressible, fourteen-year-old adventuress, Delain, who once stowed away on the HMS Poseidon, from which she fired more than one cannon shot in battle!

Shortly after the race at Dover, however, the young midshipman, also fourteen, boards the HMS Paladin, along with his former street friend Sean Flagon, soon to become a Marine captain, board the HMS Paladin, leaving their friend Delain behind as they head straight into an adventure way beyond their expectations. Not surprisingly, Delain soon finds herself in a spy adventure right in London. And perhaps not so strangely for these three musketeers, their adventures overlap.

Greene paints not only the scenes in London but those on the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even the Black Sea with vivid color and action. He allows us to experience life on the sailing ships of His Majesty’s Royal Navy, telling us what the officers and crew wear, what they eat, where they sleep, how they talk, and especially what they do. As Peter Greene writes in his Acknowledgments, he “hoped to create a series that would capture the excitement and thrill of being on one of His Majesty’s wind-powered warships in the [Lord] Nelson era.”

The action on the HMS Paladin, as well as her sister ship, the HMS Echo, mostly unbeknownst to each other, rise to a fever pitch as they find themselves engaged in an explosive battle not with the French, but with the Russians and even the Turks! As you might guess from the overall tone of Greene’s story, the British, at least most of them, live to return to England.

This book was such fun to read. I’m hoping Peter Greene will give us a Book Four. Meanwhile, those who haven’t read Books 1 and 2 of The Adventures of Jonathan Moore, Warship Poseidon, and Castle of Fire, as well as a number of earlier books, will have some good reading to tide them over.

January 4, 2019
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
DRAGON SPEAKER – Book One of The Shadow War Saga by Elana A. Mugdan – Fantasy, Family Saga, Action/Adventure

Dragon Speaker, Book One of The Shadow War Saga by Elana A. Mugdan won the CIBA 2018 Grand Prize in the OZMA Awards for Fantasy Books! Congratulations!

A young girl is charged with rescuing a dragon and, ultimately, saves her world in this wide-reaching fantasy conception of love, war, danger, and magic. Massive amounts of magic!

Keriya is a simple girl of no great pedigree who lives in Aeria where everyone except her wields some form of magic. At age 14, she knows she will not be selected to prove herself worthy of a greater destiny in the annual Ceremony of Choice. But she has to try. Even though the consequences of failure will be a life of slavery, she yearns for the opportunity. She approaches the selection committee and begs ─no, demands ─ a chance.

Like the others chosen in the Ceremony, she goes alone into the forest to seek her destiny. There she meets the great god Shivnath who assigns her the task of locating and protecting the last of the dragons, Thorion. She must fight against the most pervasive evil; a monstrously powerful force named Necrovar, skulking in the land of Allentria. In giving her the necessary, but unnamed, gifts to accomplish the task, Shivnath gives her shining purple eyes that mark her as unique, perhaps dangerously so.

However, no one believes Keriya’s claim that Shivnath has given her the ability to fight Necrovar without help. But Keriya knows her destiny. She takes the name Soulstar to give herself inner strength, and the adventure begins.

Keriya’s journey is longer and more crooked than she had envisioned, and soon she is joined by her childhood rival, Roxanne who has many magical powers and by Fletcher, whose magic, like his personality, is rather weak. Dangers surround the trio at every turn, and they soon learn that trust must be earned and friendships must be carefully guarded.

Author and award-winning fantasy film-maker Mugdan has been writing this intriguing saga since she was in high school, and perhaps because of that, has retained a remarkable empathy for her teen heroine. Keriya is a multi-faceted character, capable of getting fed up with her shortcomings and ashamed of her failures while maintaining in her spirit the belief that she will have what it takes to act courageously in a crisis. Mugdan movingly depicts Keriya gaining the skills and confidence she will need for cosmic combat. The author also shows this growth in Keriya’s companions Roxanne and Fletcher, who are themselves facing challenges they never dreamt of; and the three are gradually gaining respect for each other.

Mugdan also manages to make the dragon a sensitive, likable player in this fantasy, while at the same time creating some super-unlikeable evil-doers: shadowbeasts, giant slugs, bogspectres, and of course the almost unconquerable Necrovar. Add to this a bit of romance, some supernatural magic, and at least one acrimonious enemy lurking in the background, and you have the recipe for a highly successful first in series fantasy novel.

September 28, 2018
MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT by Ann Charles – Action/Adventure, Mystery, Romance, Thriller

Ann Charles has another true winner on her hands as she reunites the intrepid band of archeologists led by Angélica García for the second installment of her crackerjack series A Dig Site Mystery. From the very first sentence, Make No Bones About It is an entertaining thrill ride of the first order.

Top-notch archaeologist, Angélica García, admits that after her divorce she “suffered from trust issues—as having no faith in her own ability to judge character.” She leaves her university teaching job for a change of pace and heads to Mexico where she is hired by the National Institute of Anthropology and History to clean up and prepare derelict dig sites (ruins) for the current tourism boon— archaeo-tourism.

Angélica’s latest project has a few challenges she must overcome. It is located in a remote part of Mexican jungle infested with a myriad of hazards: scorpions, spiders, toxic fauna, bloodthirsty insects, hungry Jaguars, mounds of skeletal remains, and a seemingly endless supply of deadly rattlesnakes. Oh, and it is the same place where her mother, a top archaeologist in her own right, was killed in a helicopter crash—some say because of a curse.

To accomplish her mission, Angélica is joined by her father, Juan, a brilliant man nursing a leg injury who is saddled with his fair share of superstition anxiety. Quint Parker, a handsome photojournalist that jets off across the globe on assignments on short notice, but returns to lend a hand and tug on Angélica’s heart strings: she is ready with open arms and a razor-sharp machete! Pedro, her quasi-adopted brother and helicopter pilot, and several others round out a solid cast that adds color, context, and pathos to the story.

Angélica leads the team to unlock and document the secrets of the ruins, but she is consumed by a quenchless drive to complete her mother’s unfinished work. As the team delves deeper into labyrinth warning signs abound and it becomes clear that they are in mortal danger. The book’s first sentence states, “The Mexican jungle had devoured the remains of the dead, bones and all,” and so for those who ignore history could become history.

At the beginning of the book, Ann Charles discusses her extensive research, which pays off tremendously and adds incredible depth and texture to a well-crafted story. Additionally, C.S. Kunkle’s fabulous illustrations are dramatic, prescient and add substance to the story.

Make No Bones About It, simply put, is one of those books you pick up and cannot put down.

June 20, 2017