Review - The Prophet by Ethan Cross

Book summary from authors website

OLD ENEMIES

Francis Ackerman Jr. is one of America’s most prolific serial killers. Having kept a low profile for the past year, he is ready to return to work – and he’s more brutal, cunning, and dangerous than ever.

NEW THREATS

Scarred from their past battles, Special Agent Marcus Williams cannot shake Ackerman from his mind. But now fully integrated into The Shepherd Organization, an underground law enforcement agency, Marcus has to focus on catching the Anarchist, a new killer who drugs and kidnaps women before burning them alive.

HIDDEN TERRORS

Marcus knows the Anarchist will strike again soon. And Ackerman is still free. But worse than this is a mysterious figure, unknown to the authorities, who controls the actions of the Anarchist and many like him. He is the Prophet – and his plans are more terrible than even his own disciples can imagine.


My Review - 4 1/2

Ethan Cross has made a name in the crime genre, I think he will be known as the likes, Thomas Harris and Jeffrey Deaver.  He knows how to write an edge of your seat thriller.  This series will get your heart pumping with exciting rage.

I really enjoyed the debut The Shepherd and novella The Cage.  This also lived up to expectations.  I was wow'd in December and kind of wished I had just read this right away.

Marcus is the main character, an unorthodox detective that has a mysterious connection to Ackerman, the serial killer from Shepherd.  I enjoyed how this tension was used in the book and when Ethan Cross reveal's it towards the end they slam you with another, enough to keep you excited for the next.  I am sure there will be another..........

There was lots going on in this installment, action packed thrills, mystery and suspense.  A new serial killer on the loose with a connection to a cult, where the leader was known as The Prophet.  Marcus was running against the clock to save many but had the continuous distraction of Ackerman calling him, trying to manipulate the investigation and continue his torture games.

Ackerman is the craziest, cruelest killer I have ever read about so to mix it up with sadistic cult killers also, terrorizing to say the least. 

If you want a taste to see if you will enjoy it, go for The Cage, the thriller novella, a perfect taste of madness.

I highly recommend this series.

Quotes

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.  19% on Kindle

Marcus wondered how someone that could appear so normal to the outside world could actually be so utterly insane.  85% on Kindle

That kind of joy and contentment was so elusive and rare.  He had been born without a soul.  But soon he would steal a piece of hers.  He would feel what she felt.  He would taste her happiness and make it his own.  11% on Kindle


Here is my review of The Shepherd - 4 1/2
 

What are you reading on this Monday

Sheila over at Book Journey has an incentive for networking so go over and have fun while adding to your 2013 Wishlist.

I never realised how bad stress can affect someones life.  I feel so behind in everything including reading and blogging.

My last book and review here, great debatable bookclub read

 

 

I'm currently reading

 

The debut The Shepherd was an amazing serial killer story, highly recommend.

 

 

 

 

I look forward to downloading this one next, releasing tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review - Blindness by Jose Saramago

Book Summary

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century, Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Publication - Oct, 1999

My Review - 4 stars

I have been sitting on this review for a week, I couldn't find the right words immediately and wanted to see what I would remember with the details not being fresh.

A dynamic thought provoking novel that is not for everyone.  This is a book I would not know who to recommend to other than those that want to think about what the bigger meaning the author is trying to get you to consider is.  What would life mean to you if you and the country was struck by the epidemic, blindness.  I enjoyed the real life feeling of this book and would categorise it as an intense thriller.

The main character is the wife of an eye doctor who does not go blind but lies to stay with her husband.  She is the voice and site of reason, most of the victims trust her without knowing she still has her vision.

An interesting style used was there were no formal punctuation used only commas and periods, so there were paragraphs of dialogue and description in a very long paragraph.  I found this easy to understand and it added to the effect of the blindness epidemic for me but would confuse or irritate others.  All the characters did not go by name but more, the girl with the dark shades, the doctors wife, the first man blind etc.

All those infected were put in quarantine and those that were in contact with the blind also but on another ward until their fatal day of becoming blind.  With no site, how quickly morals and integrity go which is a complete new reality for humanity.

The fear and torture everyone had to go through was amazing.  The woman with the site was a powerful character and the book only worked because of her really.  To see how humanity had changed was her own torture to deal with.

When the epidemic hit everyone they were free to the streets again, I enjoyed this change, it allowed some to have hope and believe again.

I am not one that usually enjoys details but I really wanted to know and understand each moment.  This book did take me 2 weeks to read, I was engaged but it was a hard dark read and the tiny words on paperback didn't help, wish I had read on my Kindle.

I found this to be a mind blowing read, a really good debatable book club read.

I have read some debates on the ending, I have to smile as I believe the author achieved what he wanted, discussion, also, for us to make some personal conclusions.

A favourite quote and example of paragraph without true punctuation

....If we cannot live entirely like human beings, at least let us do everything in our power not to live entirely like animals, words she repeated so often that the rest of the ward ended up by transforming her advice into a maxim, a dictum, into a doctrine, a rule of life, words which deep down were so simple and elementary, probably it was just that state of mind, propitious to any understanding of needs and circumstances, that contributed, even if only in a minor way to the warm welcome the old man with the black eye patch found there when he peered through the door and asked those inside, Any chance of a bed here.  Page 116


 

Top Ten Books I Recommend The Most

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

 

 

My Top Ten Books I Recommend the Most and Why

 

 

The Manufactured Identity, favourite of trilogy, recommend trilogy

 

Why I recommend - this is my favourite psychological thriller ever.  Reading the whole trilogy brings it all together but The Manufactured Identity left me breathless and I immediately wanted to reread it with the knowledge I had at the end.  Beyond impressed even 3 years later.

 

This currently is an all time favourite.

 

 

 

 

Still Alice

 

Why I recommend - Anyone that has been touched by Alzheimer's should read this, just an amazing story.  Lisa Genova has a style which teaches you why emotionally engaging you also. 

 

This currently is an all time favourite.

 

 

 

Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls

 

Why I recommend - I never had interest in reading memoirs, it was my first, WOW, definitely a great taste of memoirs.  A remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, an intense family love you can't believe as they are so dysfunctional. 

 

 

 

 

 

Night Road or Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

 

Why I recommend - So far Kristin Hannah can do no wrong in my eyes, the best emotional engaged contemporary author for me.  If you haven't read Firefly Lane, do that now as her new book Fly Away is the new beginning after and will be released end of April.

 

 

 

I am not a Serial Killer, favourite of trilogy but recommend whole trilogy

 

Why I recommend - The main character John blew me away, I love him - he is not a serial killer ;-)  It is the best mix of genres, mystery, paranormal, dystopian, science fiction and YA.

 

 

 

 

Secret Garden

 

Why I recommend  - I can't wait for my daughter to grow up so we can read this one together.  Some books are timeless and magical, this is a gem.

 

 

 

 

We Need to Talk about Kevin

 

Why I recommend - This is the best book club read.  You will want to discuss and debate it so choose to read with friends.  It may be hard in the beginning, keep at it until the end.

 

 

 

 

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

 

Why I recommend - I only read this classic last year but I am a forever fan, this is the best classic suspense story every in my opinion and everyone wants to read a classic, right.  Read this one.

 

This currently is an all time favourite.

 

 

 

I heart you, you haunt me - Lisa Schroeder

 

Why I recommend - Verse novels became my simple pleasure. I find Lisa Schroeder's to be magical, beautiful writing that touches your soul. I recommend for all ages. If you have a teen that doesn’t read you should try one of these for them.

 

 

 

 

What you reading on this Monday?

Sheila over at Book Journey has an incentive for networking so go over and have fun while adding to your 2013 Wishlist.

I have been reading the same book for over a week and only 60% but I am really enjoying it, just a hard book to read in my life of multiple distractions.

Have you read Blindness, seems like a love it or hate it kind of book.

 

 

Also, this is a paperbook and small print, omg, I so haven't missed reading that way, I can't wait to get back to Kindle reading.

 

What is next, no idea.........

 

 

 

Review - Children of the Fog by Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Book Summary

A supernatural suspense that will leave you breathless and nervously checking your doors and windows. Sadie O'Connell is given a horrifying choice--she can let a kidnapper take her child, or watch her son die. Which would you choose?

My Review - 4

A fast paced great suspenseful ghost story with an unreliable narrator.  Sadie was a recovering alcoholic, clean for 7 years but when her son is taken from her and her marriage is finally broken she starts drinking again.  Can you imagine fighting for your child and being threatened by the kidnapper and only give in so you can save his life?

Sadie's son is mute from a tragic incident, I had figured out part of the tragedy but when it was revealed, wow, just wow.  Once your child has been kidnapped nothing can be worst.

Sadie was a mystery writer but I understood how she couldn't use those skills to try to find her son, she was broken.  It all became about fate.  All readers will not be able to embrace the supernatural and fate dynamics but I enjoyed them, definitely took the unreliable voice to another level.  Is she drunk, dead already, crazy or slightly tipsy sane?

The characters were good but I did feel like the book could have been longer, the side stories more drawn out as they were interesting, like the husbands work crime with the undercover agent.

Sadie was a great mother and I enjoyed the motherly instincts even though with the alcohol made her seem a little crazy.  Mysterious fate brought it all together, very rewarding sad ending.


Children of the Fog is a free ebook for Prime members.

I recommend to those that enjoyed:

The Lovely Bones
Primal

100 Day Happiness Project

I have officially signed up for the 100 Happiness day project.

I realised I was emotionally disengaging with family, friends, colleagues and blogging.  I started to become angry and maybe even slightly depressed.  Grieving over the loss of my brother, dealing with my partners grief from the loss of his mom, my living arrangements, new boss etc, to name the direct triggers anyway.

I had to do something.  I am known to be optimistic, happy, the go to person that always listens and gives advise personally and career related, well I needed to look in the mirror and do for myself.  I have to be in control of my own happiness.

I thought the 100 day happiness project would be perfect, kind of a basic 101 for me.  I decided to think about the things I have done in the past that always made me happy and make time for them again but also keeping a balance of responsibilities.

The project is being hosted over at the Partyka project blog.  I initially saw it on Christine's blog, The happily ever after......

So here is my challenge,  I started on March 3 and 100 days end on June 11.  Wish me luck.  I will update once a month to let you know how I am doing.

                                                               Have friends over for dinner

                           Complete personal Appraisal goals for work

                                                               Plan a Minute to Win it party

          Go for a walk at Spittle Pond Park

                                                   Create Intimate memory to celebrate anniversary of buying home together

                                                 Cook a New recipe

         Go Jasmines Lounge for some Earl grey tea

                                              Go to the Spa

               Take the day off and go to Sports day to support daughter

This book also helped me to 'check myself'.  I will review when complete, some amazing quotes I can't wait to share with you.

Monday's come fast and furious

Sheila over at Book Journey has an incentive for networking so go over and have fun while adding to your 2013 Wishlist.

In Bermuda, our time sprung forward, did yours?  Months are going by quickly but these Monday's are coming fast and furious, slow down life, please........ :-)

I just read an amazing book, I am sure many of you have overlooked it, don't, I highly recommend. Let's pretend the title is The Manuscript Tragedy, not The Human Bobby and forget the cover, honestly just go read it.

My Review - 5 star

 

 

Today I finished a great ghost suspense, review up this week.

 

 

 

I have been in such a reading rut but these 2 books have me excited again.  Maybe I will choose from networking today. 

 

I also realised, I have read every book on my Kindle this year so far, usually I feel a pull towards a book but I haven't.  I know I love my Kindle but wow I'm starting to feel a little guilty.

 

Have an amazing week.

 

 

Review - The Human Bobby by Gabe Rotter

Book Summary

THE GRIPPING STORY OF THE UNRAVELING OF ONE MAN’S SEEMINGLY PERFECT LIFE, AND HIS STRUGGLE TO GET EVERYTHING BACK.

A new baby, a loving wife, a solid career, a dream house in Beverly Hills: Dr. Bobby Flopkowski has it all. Until a complicated series of events snowball into a disaster that changes the course of his life forever. Now, with a tent on the beach as his only home and an addiction that has cut him off from everyone he once loved, Bobby has a revelation that could put him back on track: he believes he has solved the puzzling crime that led to his downfall. But as the reality he’s always known slips farther away, will he be able to convince someone—anyone—that his suspicions aren’t merely the pleas of a desperate man?

My Review - 5

A quote by Paul Simon is the intro to the book - losing love is like a window in your heart, everybody sees you're blown apart.

This book is labeled a novel but it is a fascinating tension building thriller, I highly recommend to psychological thriller fans.  This is one of the best unreliable character driven books I have read. 

I really enjoyed reading about Dr. Bobby and how he met his lovely wife and then their charmed life together.  It is amazing what a tragedy will do to a person and a relationship. If you have ever known someone you was trying to help and finally the only way was that they had to hit bottom, but watching and waiting was brutal.  The tension in this book is shocking and you just say Dr. Bobby, what will it take, stop and put your  life back together.

Dr. Bobby's father committed suicide and left him his manuscript and a gun.  Dr. Bobby lives his life just not wanting to be like his dad but in the end it all ends with the manuscript and the gun, in what way is the question,

Such a thought provoking read and as it is labeled a novel you don't try to figure out the mystery.  And one suspenseful part we figure out before Dr. Bobby starts solving his tragic crime but I think this adds to the dilemma.

I cannot say more other than go read this.  This is one I think more bloggers should read, put it on your soon to be read shelf, it deserves to push a few back down to wait longer. 

I do think the title doesn't draw you in and the cover doesn't help even though both are relevant. For those that have read it, what are your thoughts on a title? Mine are My Dad's Manuscript, The Manuscript and the Gun or The Manuscript Tragedy.

I did go back and fourth from 4 1/2 or 5 but Goodreads and Amazon do not do half and it is much better than a 4 so a 5 it gets.

Some may remember my love for The Manufactured Identity by Heath Sommer, I would categorize them the same but I still have love for TMI even after 3 years.

My blogging friend Christa recommended The Human Bobby to me 2 years ago, go read her review here.


 

Monday - What are you reading?

Sheila over at Book Journey has an incentive for networking so go over and have fun while adding to your 2013 Wishlist.

I'm currently reading and loving

Book Summary

THE GRIPPING STORY OF THE UNRAVELING OF ONE MAN’S SEEMINGLY PERFECT LIFE, AND HIS STRUGGLE TO GET EVERYTHING BACK.
A new baby, a loving wife, a solid career, a dream house in Beverly Hills: Dr. Bobby Flopkowski has it all. Until a complicated series of events snowball into a disaster that changes the course of his life forever. Now, with a tent on the beach as his only home and an addiction that has cut him off from everyone he once loved, Bobby has a revelation that could put him back on track: he believes he has solved the puzzling crime that led to his downfall. But as the reality he’s always known slips farther away, will he be able to convince someone—anyone—that his suspicions aren’t merely the pleas of a desperate man?


I finally completed a book.  I would only recommend to YA fans

For those interested in what to read from Kate Morton. 

My poll says to start with:

1. Forgotten Garden (7 bloggers)
2. Secret Keeper (6 bloggers)
3. House of Riverton (2 bloggers)
4. Distant Hourse (1 blogger)

I do not know what is next, I'm just excited to be reading something great, finally.



 

Review - The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Book Summary from Amazon

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.
Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

My Review - 3

I am very disappointed that my expectations were not met.  I will not be continuing this series.  This book has been on my TBR list for awhile and when I saw the kindle version on sale last year I went for it.  The first chapter I just knew I was in for a treat SMACK - reality, this is a true YA book.

I have to be honest YA is not my cup of tea but most thrillers I love in any genre, this to me was not a thriller but I would highly recommend to the YA genre fans.  Young love, finding themselves and each other, high school stuff, blah blah, sigh, the normal YA expectation.

There were a few chapters from the mind of the serial killer.  I enjoy this style so thought it was good and added another layer to the story. 

The thriller was the minor story and just never got my heart racing enough to care.  I actually considered it being a do not finish read but completed it because the writing is good and overall probably an amazing YA read when competing with others.  This is not for the suspense fans like me.

Sentence teasers to share......

They were bodies at peace.  Ripped from this world before their time, but laid to rest by those who loved them most.  And they were in harmony.  47% on kindle

Her first thought was that there was a body nearby.  The intensity of it didn't speak to what it was so much as when it might have been left behind.  77% on kindle

 

Groovy Monday, what are you reading?

Sheila over at Book Journey has an incentive for networking so go over and have fun while adding to your 2013 Wishlist.

Last week was such a weird one.  I started 4 different books.  I am a one book at a time reader, I give one my complete attention.  Well last week none were grabbing my attention, I knew it was a mood issue but felt the same about them all, they were ok, possibly 3 stars, I moved on, got bored came back, they picked up a little, repeat, repeat repeat again.  So here's to hoping I get my groove back.

I am currently giving my attention to

 

 

I expected so much more from this one, but I can't get into it.  If I complete it, I doubt I will go on with this series.

 

 

 

I found a great inspiration book.  Very much needed as I realised with my life being in transition mode - work, living arrangements, grief, studying, I needed a pick me up with solutions.

 

 

Kate Morton is an author I want to read this year, please participate in my sidebar poll.  You can go to my post here to read the summaries if you need or want to.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great week, I have time to network again, yaaaay, I look forward to visiting you.

 

 

What Kate Morton book should I read 1st?

I have heard so many great things about Kate Morton's books and really want to try one this year.  I would like you to help me choose.  Please participate on the poll, seen on my sidebar.

Here are the descriptions of Kate Morton's works below. For the audio book lovers, she has peaks of her reading chapters.  You can also download free chapters.

All the info on the books below I took from her website here, it is dynatime, I'm impressed.

Thank you for the recommendations.

 

The Forgotten Garden

A lost child...

 

On the eve of the first world war, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but the Authoress has disappeared without a trace.

A terrible secret...

On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell O'Connor learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.

A mysterious inheritance...

 

On Nell's death, her grand-daughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold - secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.

The Distant Hours

Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon

with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.

Evacuated from London as a thirteen year old girl, Edie’s mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe, and taken to live at Milderhurst Castle with the Blythe family: Juniper, her twin sisters and their father, Raymond, author of the 1918 children’s classic The True History of the Mud Man.

In the grand and glorious Milderhurst Castle, a new world opens up for Edie’s mother. She discovers the joys of books and fantasy and writing, but also, ultimately, the dangers.

Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother’s riddle, she, too, is drawn to Milderhurst Castle and the eccentric Sisters Blythe.  Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiancé in 1941 plunged her into madness.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected.

The truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time
for someone to find it.

The House at Riverton 

Within its four walls lay a secret that would last a lifetime.

Summer 1924: On the night of a glittering Society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, onetime housemaid of Riverton Manor,is visited by a young director making a film about the poet’s suicide. Ghosts awaken and memories, long-consigned to the dark reaches of Grace’s mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge; something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

The Secret Keeper

1961: On a sweltering summer's day, while her family picnics by the stream on their Suffolk farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel hides out in her childhood tree house dreaming of a boy called Billy, a move to London, and the bright future she can't wait to seize. But before the idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed a shocking crime that changes everything.

2011: Now a much-loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted by memories, and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a secret history. A tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds--Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy--who are brought together by chance in wartime London and whose lives become fiercely and fatally entwined...
 

Review - Dangerous Voices by Rae Carson

Book Summary

Errik has been a prisoner–and alone–for a long, long time. He lives for the moment each day when the window of his dungeon cell shines a bit of light onto his bearded face. But everything changes when he gets a new neighbor–a young girl with a voice as beautiful as the springrise.

They both know the rules: No singing. No speaking. Voices are dangerous. But they can’t help themselves. And soon enough, Errik begins to remember himself, why he’s here in this dark place, and why his captors will stop at nothing to ensure his silence.

My Review- 4

I have started to read short stories before reading a full work of an author I don't know, I really enjoyed this one.  What a surprise to realise this is a known author, The Girl of Fire and Thorns.  I would never have considered reading a fantasy novel but the writing style of Dangerous Voices has definitely intrigued me. 

I enjoyed the suspense of what was going on.  Why are they locked up, why can't they talk or sing.  Are the guards coming and what will happen? 

I think a conspiracy is going on and wish this short story gave us more.

A favourite quote

If I stand against the wall on my tip toes, I can bathe my face in that spot for a few moments - or maybe longer; I'm not sure anymore - before it disappears. 

For those that have read The Girl of Fire and Thorns, do you think I would enjoy it?