Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Chanticleer Book Reviews

The Spider and the Stone: A Novel of Scotland’s Black Douglas by Glen Craney – Historical Fiction/Scottish War of Independence

Steeped in the early struggles for Scottish independence, Glen Craney’s The Spider and the Stone combines fact, folklore, and imagination to recreate the life of one of the country’s most storied heroes, James Douglas.

As a young teenager, James was confronted with the barbaric cruelty of the English occupiers. King Edward, known as Longshanks, would stop at nothing to quell Scottish rebellion—humiliating, torturing, and slaughtering innocent civilians along with Scottish combatants striving for the freedom and the right to rule themselves.

Just as he begins to grapple with the reality of his country’s plight, he meets and falls in love with a girl named Isabelle Macduff and determines to win her, despite the fact that she is promised in marriage to a rival of the Douglas clan.

The book opens in the middle of scenes depicting the exploits 0f William Wallace – Braveheart, followed by a heartbreaking loss to Longshanks at Falkirk, ending with the gruesome murder of Wallace.

Cue the return of James, who is back from France where he learned the art of war from the Knights Templar and is ready to fight. He and Robert the Bruce step into the breach and continue the assault on the English invaders.This is the stuff legends are made of, and Glen Craney does an excellent job bringing the tale to life. Written in lush prose with battle’s gore informed by the historical record and a scattering of erotic scenes with the decorum appropriate to the times, Craney’s offering keeps the reader solidly immersed in the late 1300s-early 1400s. He deftly crafts the coldness of the castles and the warmth of campfires sprinkled with colloquialisms redolent of the time and place.

Craney admits having taken some liberties with the known facts, which are few, about the Scottish Wars of Independence and the major players; he has matched Isabelle with James, for example, though others have postulated an affair between her and The Bruce.

The book’s title references two important elements of Scottish lore: the Stone of Scone, a necessity for the crowning of monarchs and sometimes said to be the Biblical Jacob’s Pillow; and the “spider” whose industry and apparent refusal to stop spinning her web no matter what obstacles she encountered so impressed and inspired Bruce (and in this version, James also) while in captivity.

Craney’s attention to detail in both high concepts and simple conversations, make history come alive.

“Cinematically enthralling and historically compelling, Glen Craney’s The Spider and the Stone is a must read for lovers of James Douglas, the fight for Scottish Independence, Braveheart, or Robert the Bruce.” – Chanticleer Reviews

February 25, 2017
Ghost Toasties (Good Vampires Book 4) by Karl Larew – Humour/Satire, Vampires, Literary

Volume 4 of a trilogy? That’s no typo! It’s just that those Bad Vampires had more mischief up their sleeves—and of course our Good Vampires couldn’t let them get away with it, especially when it seemed the Baddies had a Plot to Destroy Civilization as We Know It! Readers of Volumes 1-3 know that author, Karl Larew couldn’t leave his readers in the dark…he had no choice but to write a Volume 4. Say hello to Ghost Toasties!

You Newbies, who haven’t YET read the first three volumes, need to know that there are, indeed, vampires on our planet. The Bad Vampires engineer criminal plots to get human blood (which they cruelly gorge on, leaving their victims dead), creating really weird sorts of mayhem throughout the globe. Even Good Vampires have a metabolic need for small amounts of blood, but they have good human friends or, in some cases, human spouses who willingly, even lovingly, meet their needs in a sexy way – and sometimes by serving real Bloody Marys!

The Good Vampires do their damnedest to halt the Baddies’ criminal schemes and to extinguish the Bad Vampire population. That’s why the Association of Good Vampires was created. It’s headquartered in New York City, in the Manhattan mansion of their chief, millionaire Mr. Arleigh Granville. The New York Association’s highest-ranking special agents are Mr. Granville’s vampire wife Inge (converted from Bad to Good Vampirism), Lance and his human wife Carol, and Nigerians Nigel and wife Becky, who are aided by bodyguards Gladdy and Dizzy, along with their wives, twins Helovah and Delivah.

This cast of characters was considerably expanded at the end of Volume 3 by the arrival of five(!) babies—Arleigh Jr., Mary Jane, Reginald, and Pixie and Trixie—born within minutes of each other to the three special agent couples and the two bodyguards and their wives!

Our story begins with Lance wakening Carol from a nightmare. As Lance tries to calm her, they hear a knock at the door. It is their friends and fellow agents, Nigel and Becky, inviting them to go out for a drink. But, as often happens, the phone rings. Inge, Arleigh’s assistant as well as wife, asks the agents to attend an emergency meeting the next morning. “Bring the babies,” she tells them. “Miss Overy (Arleigh’s secretary) can take care of them.” (Isn’t that what secretaries are for?)

Somehow the Baddies have learned about the meeting and two men with pistols kidnap the two couples as they walk to HQ with their babies in strollers. Gladdy and Dizzy, of course, come to the rescue, followed by their wives and babies. Once at the meeting, they learn that at least part of the Baddie plot is in its early stages in Hawaii. But how can the special agents go to Oahu when they have babies needing to be fed and diapered?! It is decided that only the two primary agent couples, and Becky’s pet wolf, Wolfie, will fly to Hawaii in Mr. G’s private plane, leaving Mary Jane and Reginald at the mansion with the Granvilles and Miss Overy. Once in Honolulu, they will enlist the aid of Molly Houlihan and her mother, Holy Moly (friends of the Good Vampires from earlier adventures who now run a whore house called the Ukelele Girl) and Beatrice, a prostitute with a heart of gold (well, maybe silver).

But first they visit the laboratory of Dr. Lester Griswold, Ace Scientist of the Good Vampire Association, who presents them with his newest gadgets, including an Ectoplasmic Dissolver Ray Gun that toasts ghost ectoplasm to a crisp, turning it into “ectoplasmic ghost-toasties” (Aha!). It can also destroy the electronic triggers of nuclear bombs, which the Baddies are apparently collecting for their plot to blow up special targets around the world.

After the agents pick up their reinforcements at the airport, they head for Bernie Ernie’s house near Opana, where they find a machine labeled Ectoplasmic Synthesizer. When Bernie unsuspectingly arrives, they capture him. He agrees to help, spilling the beans, including news that the Big Boss is called Mr. Very Big (big help!). But who is Mr. Very Big, where is he, and will he continue with his plan to destroy the world? There’s only one way for you, dear reader, to find out, and will you ever be surprised!

No need to bite your fingernails, however. You know you can trust Karl Larew’s Good Vampire special agents to complete their assignment and get home to their BABIES, especially after an urgent call from Chief Granville: “All the diapers are dirty, and the washing machine’s broken down… COME HOME AT ONCE!”

“The Bad Vampires strike again, but this time our Good Vampires have a secret weapon to make Ghost Toasties in the much anticipated and hilarious fourth “spooks and spoofs” book in Karl Larew’s Good Vampire trilogy.” –Chanticleer Reviews

February 25, 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
Thieving Forest by Martha Conway – Women’s Historical Fiction

The story is set in 1806 and follows five sisters who are on their own after the recent passing of their parents. The five are faced with the choice to remain and run the family store in the tiny settlement along the edge of Ohio’s Great Black Swamp or pull up stakes and join the youngest sister living with their aunt in Philadelphia.

By the banks of the Great Black Swamp, one woman fights to save her sisters caught between two cultures in Martha Conway’s tale, Thieving Forest.

The world is filled with such events that when the right author develops characters and plunges them into a real-world timeline, history comes alive. Martha Conway has succeeded in doing this in her debut novel, Thieving Forest.

Conway turns the story up a notch early as four of the older girls are kidnapped by a band of Potawatomi Indians who raid their home. Seventeen-year-old Susanna is left behind, and though shaken deeply, quickly comes to her senses and determines to rescue her siblings.

Trust is the theme as the story unfolds. The kidnapping is somewhat of an unexpected occurrence as the family had good relations with the natives. The issue is complex and Susanna finds herself questioning who she can trust along with the sad realization that sometimes people are not always who they claim to be. The sisters are eventually reunited, but as is true in real life, things can never be the same.

Martha Conway paints a stunning portrait of life in the early days of the United States expansion into the West. She has done her research, and it shows as she delves into Native American tribes and the relationship they have with the European settlers.

Detailed descriptions of day-to-day life, including the hardships experienced, are fleshed out with complex and engaging characters. A tale of self-discovery, personal growth, romance, family ties, loyalty and more in this book readers will find hard to put down.

February 22, 2017
A River Divides by Michael J. Roueche – Historical Fiction/Civil War

Like the first book in Beyond the Woods Series, the second, A River Divides, offers a complex view into life during the Civil War era. This multifaceted book has the same engaging characters found in the first and includes a few new ones, that when combined, will keep readers riveted to the pages.

The story resumes in winter of 1864, where Betsy Henderson remains outside Staunton, Virginia with a freshly bruised face, worrying whether she’s revealed too much. Will the sheriff find out about her affair with Union soldier Hank? Does the sheriff have enough evidence to capture Walthorpe, the man who gave her the bruise and nearly made away with her fortune? Walthorpe, meanwhile, has another plan up his sleeve, one that will force Betsy to grapple with her southern loyalties, including the secret she’s keeping from Hank—one she won’t be able to hide for long.

Author Michael J. Roueche does a great job introducing esoteric terms while giving them proper context, thereby helping present-day readers immerse themselves in the historical tapestry he’s created. All the characters in this story demonstrate authentic shades of good and bad, making their choices (and their consequences) even more intriguing. Especially William, the former slave from Betsy’s plantation, whose bond with a new family makes his objective of joining the Union Army a lot more complicated.

Reading the first in the series isn’t required here but doing so will certainly enhance the experience. Roueche’s ability to sprinkle in enough detail to keep the interest of readers of Beyond the Wood while enticing those who are yet to pick through its pages makes this bittersweet story more than palatable. The sheriff’s point-of-view not only enlightens new readers to the necessary backstory found in the first book but also offers some surprises along the way. Readers will also get a glimpse into Walthorpe’s past and gain insight into his character that will suggest his villainy isn’t as cut-and-dried as it originally appears.

Roueche writes each character’s voice so distinctly that the reader may not notice the point-of-view shifts within the scenes, a small, but present, distraction. On the whole, Roueche’s beautifully written imagery and ability to immerse readers in place and time will delight and hook readers from the very beginning to the very end.

By the close of A River Divides, it’s clear that a river divides no more. And the cliffhanger in the final chapter will whet readers’ appetites for the next book in the series.

February 21, 2017
Ghost Horse by Thomas McNeely – Literary Fiction

With a firm sense of place and time, Thomas McNeely creates a tableau of class and race segregation juxtaposed with the frailty of youth: One young boy exists in the tormenting forces of his own personal hurricane of a broken family and a broken society that throws him down and swirls him around without regard to their tragic effect on him.

Eleven-year-old Buddy Turner’s understanding of what it means to be normal hangs in the balance. He’s facing the trials of growing up and a family unit in shambles and his whole world is about to change. It’s the 1970s, Houston, and most kids don’t expect to be thrown into the nasty realities of a broken home. However, this is Buddy’s reality in Thomas McNeely’s debut novel, Ghost Horse.

Buddy’s mother spends much of her time working in a hospital laboratory while his absentee father comes back to town leaving Buddy with a fresh set of empty promises and his mother with a request for a divorce.

Buddy’s only escape is working on an animated film with his best friend, Alex Torres. Together, the boys create a film about a ghost horse. Entering into the work helps Buddy avoid the painful realities at home and serves as a buffer for his heartache. Indeed, the movie the boys create is a metaphor for the upheaval Buddy is experiencing in the real world.

McNeely expertly weaves an intricate and darkly complex story of a boy trying to gain a foothold in a world–a raw, and sometimes, painful coming-of-age story. The book took ten years to pen through the author’s own turbulent waters and his father’s untimely death and at points the reader can see his internal battle emerging in his writing in this heart-rending coming-of-age tale set in the turbulent 1970s.

In the broader spectrum of the novel, McNeely unleashes his questions about class and racial prejudices, and how adult behavior informs children who are expected to follow suit. Ultimately, however, McNeely’s storytelling is rich with texture and the soulful portrayal of a lost boy, who is un-moored by those whom should care for him the most. Ghost Horse has the weighted emotional cache and heartfelt pertinence that enables the tale to tug at the reader for a very long time.

February 21, 2017
Sati and the Rider by Winslow Eliot – Cozy Mystery/Woman Sleuth

Do you need a little mystery in your life? It may be in your cards with Winslow Eliot’s new book, Sati and the Rider!

Just when she thinks she’s lost her juju, Satyana, the heroine of Winslow Eliot’s new mystery series, finds it in a most unexpected way.

Satyana and the Rider opens with Satyana – just Satyana – a fortune teller, coming to grips with the possibility that she has lost her ability to tell fortunes. After a horrendous loss, misdirection, and failed attempts to rescue a child, she has packed her bags and moved into a brownstone smack dab in the center of a posh neighborhood in New York City. How does she afford the home? A wealthy client willed it to her when she died.

But with no money to speak of, no clients lining up on her steps, and grappling with her gift that seemingly has flown the coop, Satyana is lonely and depressed – until a sexy young delivery man slips on her stairs and fractures his ankle.

Cue motherly instincts – or a keen sense of responsibility – or an instant attraction – cue whatever you like, Sati (Satyana) is bound to care for the hapless delivery man, Percy is his name, until he can to walk up the five flights of stairs to his apartment across town… which, you know, he never does!

This is the set-up for Winslow Eliot’s first book in the Satyana Mystery Series. A cozy, fast-paced, fun read, Eliot has set the stage for future adventures. Is it perfect? Not quite. There are some continuity issues, but not enough to stop a reader cold. The author, a card reader herself, utilizes the troupe of cards in her title and throughout the book. Here, the Rider indicates the following: News, a delivery, a young man, perhaps a lover. A new person or situation entering your life. A visit. A horse, a car, or other means of transportation. Opportunity. Things moving quickly. A vibrant social life. Elegance. Energy. Comings and goings. 9 of Hearts: a wish fulfilled. Timing: Soon, in a day, next week, in January.

The above description is mentioned at the beginning of the book and skillfully woven in throughout the work. Ultimately, Sati and the Rider is well-written and engaging. A perfect escape from reality for readers of the cozy mystery genre.

February 19, 2017
St Louis Affair: The Adventures of Herbert Falken by Michael Scheffel – Historical Thriller/Detective

This tantalizing whodunit is set in 1899 St. Louis and revolves around the heinous murder of a prominent wealthy citizen, Charles Garrett, whose body is discovered on the banks of the Mississippi River. Because the crime scene is devoid of clues and political pressure for a fast resolution abounds, the city police turn to professional Inquiry Agent, Herbert Falken, for assistance.

Falken, also known by the public as Major Falken from his heroic exploits fighting renegade raiders along the US – Mexican border, is well respected for his deductive abilities and previous success in solving a perplexing string of grisly crimes. What the public doesn’t know is that Falken is haunted by his own personal and professional demons.

Not long after departing from this crime scene, however, Falken discovers a curious fact: Charles Garrett’s public and private personas are polar opposites. Faced with a growing list of suspects and demands from the Governor on down to the average citizen for an immediate arrest, Falken feels the pressure. If it weren’t for James Westfall (former army officer mustered out due to a permanent leg injury) Falken’s aide-de-camp, our hero would be in dire straights. Westfall not only records critical crime scene and subject interview information, but he also cares for and tries to protect Falken—sometimes from himself.

A strong cast of well-drawn and individually distinctive characters who aid, circumvent, and forestall Falken’s pursuit of justice adds richness to the story.

Scheffel’s use of architectural design, clothing and accouterments, individual and class attitudes, and various character traits and dialects to resurrect old St. Louis is a true highlight of the book. He deftly crafts different scenes in smooth, articulate detail without hindering the story’s pace. Whether it’s inside Falken’s dining room, traveling across uneven paving bricks in a horse-drawn buggy, trudging along the muddy banks along the river, descending into a seedy opium den, or watching Falken get his butt kicked in a bare-knuckle brawl, the reader is right there. Another treat is the seamless placement of real-world news events into dialogue, which adds both authenticity and consistency to the setting.

Overall, St Louis Affair: The Adventures of Herbert Falken is an entertaining turn-of-the-century page-turner with plenty of twists to keep the reader guessing to the end. Michael Scheffel grabs the reader’s attention from the first sentence and doesn’t let go until the very last in St. Louis Affair: The Adventures of Herbert Falken, a fast-paced, page-turner that will have the reader hoping that he is hard a work penning a new tale involving Herbert Falken, Inquiry Agent.

February 19, 2017
Fire Call! Sounding the Alarm to Save Our Vanishing Volunteers by George De Vault – Memoir/Fire Science

In his first job as a newspaper reporter, DeVault attended many emergencies – and firefighters were always on the scene. Gradually he discovered that the vast majority of America’s firefighters are volunteers, often leaving their regular jobs by prearrangement or rushing out from home in the middle of the night to respond to every conceivable crisis, from a simple kitchen fire to a multi-car crash to the cataclysmic events of 9-11-01.

With the encouragement of empathetic wife Melanie, also a reporter, De Vault joined the firefighting ranks as a volunteer in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, while fully immersed in his journalistic career with Rodale Inc. He answered every call, about 5,000 over a thirty year period, no matter what else was going on in his life – even on a day when Melanie was in the hospital dealing with her own emergency.

He describes such harrowing experiences as realizing that the blazing floor he was standing on was about to collapse, to loading corpses into body bags after the mid-air crash of two small planes, to rescuing many traumatized victims, their children, and their pets from burning homes. One of the more memorable and terrifying incidents described did not involve fire: the author was called upon to pull out a man stuck in a pond drain, battling pressure that threatened to suck him and the man he was rescuing into watery oblivion. Some events involved animals, notably the blaze in a pet store where volunteer firefighters gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, chest compressions, and oxygen to puppies and a chimpanzee.

DeVault, most recently the local Fire Chief and an eco-conscious family farmer, uses this action-packed memoir to make us aware that if a fire or other disaster should strike our home or place of work, the people who rush to our rescue will almost certainly be volunteers. They will have gone through exceedingly rigorously training, including chopping a log with a 14-pound sledgehammer, carrying a fifty-pound weight 400 feet, and “wrestling a 100-pound rescue dummy out a second-floor window and down a ladder by yourself, while wearing bunker gear and an air pack.”

Unfortunately, it has become nearly impossible to attract young people into this work that involves great personal sacrifice; many of our first responder volunteers now are over 50. DeVault hits us with the facts: every 23 seconds, there’s a fire call somewhere in our country, or about 1.6 million calls a year. He lists at least 16 jobs that we can perform voluntarily to assist the firefighters in their valiant and valuable efforts, from grant writer to cook to performing the duties of a chaplain. Or, he suggests, “write a bigger check the next time your fire department has a fundraising drive.”

George DeVault is a former reporter/writer who has turned his volunteering into a full-time job and now, a one-man crusade to fire up national interest in our firefighters – who they are, what they do, and why they merit our support. Readers will be thrilled, and at times chilled, by this up-close view of the sacrifice, guts, and skill displayed on an everyday basis by volunteer firefighters who perform their duties with no thought of recognition or reward. Professionally composed, fast-paced and thought-provoking, Fire Call! has already garnered the Charles A. “Chet” Henry Fire Service Advocacy Award in recognition of the book’s important message.

February 16, 2017
Age of Order by Julian North – YA Dystopian SciFi

In the not too distant future, one girl races to save the ones she loves in Julian North’s Age of Order.

Daniela Machado, a young Latina from Bronx City, is smart and successfully athletic – especially on the track – but she has more than a few secrets. She’s learned to be very protective of herself and those she cares about, her blood, in an environment where others frequently die. Aba, her grandmother, and her older brother Mateo, along with her sister of choice, Kortilla, are the only ones she fully trusts.

Daniela knows something must be behind the sudden offer she receives to attend a very prestigious and selective school in another part of the Five Cities, and she’s reluctant to accept. Attending the new school and leaving Kortilla behind, however, may be the only chance Daniela has to save Mateo’s life.

In this school environment, North skillfully weaves in multiple references to other dystopian works frequently taught in high school. The reader will be reminded of Orwell, Huxley, and William Golding, as Daniela reads them for class. Something else becomes abundantly clear: Daniela and most of her classmates don’t get along.

It’s more than just a question of money and social standing, though. It’s genetics.

Set in the near future of the United States, the action is often thrilling, complete with high-tech rivalries, partisan politics, chase scenes, and class conflicts. While most of the major characters are teens, North’s insights into their thoughts and feelings can apply to any age, lending an ageless quality to this otherwise clear morality tale. Their conflicts, confusions, and pain are more than any child should have to encounter. But in this world, those lucky enough to survive must grow-up quickly.

Daniela finds her one solace in running, and she fights her way onto the school track team. No one, not even the school star, can easily beat her when she runs. Daniela, it becomes apparent, has a gift which, after being honed throughout childhood, is now formidable.

It’s on the track when she feels completely free, even when the competition seems unfairly rigged against her. North does a fine job of writing these athletic scenes and the reader will feel their feet pounding and gasping for breath as Daniela runs against others – and her hidden past.

As that past comes into conflict with what she is experiencing at school, Daniela and her allies (the other misfits at school) begin to see the true shape of the reality around them. Only through courage and steely resolve will they be able to do what must be done to prevent the genocide those in power have already begun. It’s up to Daniela to find her true self, when she needs it most, to save the people she loves.

Age of Order is powerfully charged with rich characters and a dynamic storyline. One of the BEST new YA books we’ve reviewed!

February 9, 2017