![Book review: Recycled Love]()
review, Thriller |
What is the worst thing that could happen to you while traveling abroad? Dan Palmer and his group of tourists see them all when they travel across India. The story takes us through the beautiful country along the story line. Read Recycled love to join the journey with them.
Book Name: Recycled love
Author: George Henry
Genre: Fiction – Thriller;
Characters: Dan and Duncan Palmer, Charlene O’Neill, Shira and Cruella Jacobs, Dipak Kapoor,Tshering
Setting: India, Nepal
A group of multinational tourists takes a trip around Northern India and Nepal with a local tour operator named Loki. Dan Palmer, a middle-aged Canadian doctor quickly hits off with Karen, a popular author from Australia. He is also attracted to the sexy bombshell Shira and her fiery cousin Charlie who are traveling with their aunt Cruella.
In Mumbai Superintendent of Police, Mr. Kapoor is investigating the deaths of the Koepkes and suspects that the killer is traveling with the above-mentioned group. The plot intensifies when Kapoor falls for Dan, while he is interested in Charlie.
Dan realizes no one is what they seem to be and there is more than one person who is trying to kill. Is it someone from his dark past or is it someone from the group? Is he even the target or just a pawn in the much bigger picture?
A brilliant premise and tightly wound plot line make reading Recycled love a thrill ride. Dan Palmer’s character is quite the alpha male who attracts the attention of not only all the female characters but also the male ones. He is caring, broken and macho and a man fleeing for his life.
The other characters are also well written, though most of them were unlikable. Especially the lead Charlie who was annoying and I tried to feel sorry for Dan but failed. Maybe he did deserve it for trying to ‘date’ an emotionally disturbed young lady barely out of her teens. But then I should care enough for either of these characters, which I couldn’t.
I liked Karen, Duncan and a bit for Shira. I loved the repartee between Karen and Dan. The story behind Dan’s leaving Canada could have been stronger. The relationship Kapoor and Dan was quite a change from the usual gay love stories that we see in fiction, though it came out a tad too filmy for my liking.
Is there such a thing called too many subplots in a story? YES there is. Many authors fail to realize these. While I may not be able to tell how many is too many, but having a subplot for every character you meet will definitely be exhausting to the reader, especially in a 400+page novel.
The book could use a lot of editing and proofreading. There were several typographical errors, words missing and even issues with continuity. There were times when it became a little confusing as to whose voice we were reading. Out of nowhere Dan’s thoughts and Charlie’s thoughts get mixed up. And also, it becomes kinda frustrating to read ‘bang bang’ (to indicate the gun has been fired) after the first ten times.
I love trying new books and new authors, especially indie authors. So thanks to George Henry for letting me read his book in return for a review. If you want to read a fast paced action book, Recycled love could be your choice.
![Book review: Recycled Love]()
Thriller |
Who can survive the mighty Amazon jungle – The strongest or the smartest?
What determines your survival – teamwork or the survival of the fittest?
How far would you go to survive and where would you stop and let go?
About the book
Book Name: Feel Me Fall
Author: James Morris
Genre: Fiction – YA, Thriller
Characters: Emily Durant, Vivian, Derek, Molly, Nico, Ryan
Setting: The USA, South America
Disclaimer: Thanks to the Author for the Review Copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The plot
Six American teenagers are pushed to answer these questions when their flight crashes over the Amazon forest. The lone survivor Emily has PTSD, and her therapist asks her to write about her fateful journey. How the trip, her survival and her truth affects her life forms the rest of the story.
Emily Duran forges her mother’s signature to take the trip of her lifetime to South America with her high schoolmates. The school trip didn’t go as well as it was supposed to and their plane crashes over the Amazon. Now you see why I was hooked? – there are deaths, lots of it.
Emily and five of her classmates are the only survivors of the crash. Fortunately (or was it?) Emily had her best friend Vivian and her boyfriend Nico to fall back on. The teenagers decide to walk away from the wreckage in search of some village. (Why? Who does that?)
Where there are high schoolers, there drama usually ensues, doesn’t it? That is true. The status quo of the survivors changes all of a sudden, thanks to the new environment. The popular ones do not have much to rely on anymore, do they? Lies, deceits and secrets catch up and pit them against each other.
How does the average, crowd-pleasing Emily become the only one who stays alive? Read Feel Me Fall to know more.
My initial thoughts
The story travels between the pages of Emily’s diary and the thrilling past from the tropical forest, making it a fast-paced compulsive read that will impress readers of all ages. I have had the opportunity to beta-read some of the other works of the author, and it took all of me (and failed) not to have a ‘fangirl flail moment‘ when I got the request to review his books. And he did not fail to impress me, despite my expectation being high.
I loved how every character was different from the other and how the author handled the dynamics between them very well. Be it the failing mom-daughter relationship or the more scandalous student-teacher relationship, they made sense and fit into the grand scheme of things (you know, not thrust in, just for the heck of it) and had depth in them.
Things that worked for me
- The author’s writing style is crisp and to the point, without having too many descriptions, yet I could visualize everything that happens in the story.
- The story has its share of unexpected twists, and an unreliable narrator makes it all the better.
Things that didn’t work for me
- The book’s premise might remind you of other survival books but I can assure Feel Me Fall is better, even if you vehemently hate high school drama.
- Spoiler: The story contains a teacher-student relationship, and it is vital to the story and dealt in detail, so if you are not comfortable with this or they turn you off from the book, you might have to skip Feel Me Fall
Bottom-line
If you are on the lookout for a thriller with twists and unexpected turns which would never let you put the book down. Feel Me Fall is the book for you. Be prepared to be shocked and surprised pleasantly with this tight knitted YA.
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review, Thriller |
Don’t you hate it when life creeps up on you at unexpected times? That is exactly what happened to me and Blood in the Paradise
. I had received from The Tales Pensieve a few months ago for a review. I read it almost immediately. But then life happened. Shifting my residence and then moving out of the country took its toll on me, and I missed reviewing it. So here I am to review a book that I read months ago, would my memory be able to do justice for this whodunnit?
Book Name: Blood in the Paradise – A tale of an impossible murder
Author: Madhav Mahidhar
Genre: Fiction – Thriller
Characters: Madhumitha and Vikas Nandan, DCP Vishwaroop, Anupriya Gautam
Settings: India
Disclaimer: Thanks to the Author and The Tales Pensieve for the free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The story begins with a suicidal note and the eventual suicide attempt of Madhumita Nandan and her husband Vikas calls up for help once he gets to the place. But before the police could reach the area, Vikas is murdered. On a surprising turn of events, Madhu bounces back while Vikas does not. The case is handed to DCP Vishwaroop, a perfect combination of intelligence, honesty, and diligence.
He is suspicious about Madhu’s involvement in her husband’s death, and her persistent marital woes don’t help her either. Her friend Anupriya, an activist herself comes to her rescue by bringing in media’s attention and involving a competent lawyer. To add to the DCP’s problems, he has not found the weapon involved yet. So is it a murder at all? Or is there a simple explanation to all of these and it was indeed just an accident. Read Blood in the Paradise to find out more.
Blood in the Paradise is steady paced, and the author’s efforts to do the ground work on the plot shows well. The characters are etched to perfection, and no one acts out of character which made the plot grounded. The part about Madhu and Vikas’ marital troubles sticks to the reality of the life in an Indian society and is commendable.
Even though guessing the murderer was anyone’s game, the writing kept me through the end. Except for the dialogues that kept interrupting the flow of the story and could have done very well without. Some things were bit of Bollywood-ey, while I agree that there is an audience who might like it, it just didn’t appeal to me.
Blood in the Paradise could have used another round of editing to weed off those typos and errors and could have ended 15 pages earlier, with the right editing effort. The author has made it a point to talk about the meaning of feminism and the impact of media and activists’ intrusion into the legal system. If you like to solve an impossible murder, then you should pick Blood in the Paradise this weekend.
![Book review: Recycled Love]()
review, Thriller |
I don’t like people telling me to do something that I was already gonna do anyway. I am sure this one would irk everyone. Most of the time, the reinforcement is well meant, but it seldom works in the intended direction. Do you remember the joke about keeping a secret? Warn them not to tell anyone and you will have people hearing about very soon. Newlyweds Alice and Jake face such a conundrum. Read the review of Amazon’s bestselling psychological thriller The Marriage Pact
to know more.
Author: Michelle Richmond
Characters: Alice and Jake, Vivian, Declan and Diane, Orla Scott, Finnegan, JoAnne and Neil Charles
Everything seems perfect for the newly-wedded Alice and Jake. The perfect couple receives the almost perfect gift from an acquaintance. An invite to join an exclusive and secret club called the Pact. The goal of the pact seems very simple: to keep their marriage intact, with few simple rules and a little help from their like minded ‘friends.’
Jake and Alice accept that they both want their marriage to last and accept to be a part of the Pact. When they are presented with a manual with bylaws for their ‘happy marriage,’ the couple take it in a stride. Some of the rules ask them to pick the spouse’s call whatever may be the circumstances, gift each other every month, get away on holiday once in every three months, etc. This practical prescription works very well for both of them very well for a while, and then life happens.
Alice’s firm requires her to put in long hours, and she faces the consequences of neglecting her marriage and the bylaws of the Pact. The ‘punishments’ make them reconsider their allegiance to the Pact, only to realize that ‘no one ever leaves the Pact.’ They work hard to follow the rules, which does help their marriage but the pressure to follow the rules gets overwhelming. How far would you go to keep up your commitment? Give up your marriage? Or the Pact? Grab The Marriage Pact from here, right away.
First off, the premise is entirely new and made so much sense – what could go wrong when you have friends to fall back on to keep your marriage on track? Well, we Indians do know how that works. The family replaces friends in case of our arranged marriages. So yeah, I kept drawing parallels until I read the part about the bylaws. Oh, families are much better – at least they don’t punish. But the comparison stopped right there; the story moved in a fresh direction that I hadn’t expected at all (Yes, I don’t read the blurb before I picked the book). For once I was not predicting all the twists, that came out of nowhere.
The fast paced writing is well appreciated, making The Marriage Pact last in the top 20 of the Amazon bestseller charts for more than ten weeks now. The book with 400 pages could have been cut shorter, but the racy narration mostly made up for it. The statistics from Jake’s work (he is a therapist *eye roll*) could have been avoided, all it did for me was to wonder why he was not doing a better job with his marriage.
At about 3/4ths of the book, I couldn’t wait for the book to end because I felt the story went off the rails and there were too many things making it a mumble jumble. It somehow turned from a psychological thriller to a sci-fi action to self-help(?) in about 100 pages.
There are a few questions left unanswered, and the ending left me wanting for more and better. But of course, either of the ending that was possible would have left me asking more. There were times that I wanted to push the manual against their faces to make them read it. Yes, they had signed off the documents without reading the terms and conditions, and one of them was a lawyer, for God’s sake. If you overlook these flaws and take the plot as such without questioning its credibility, you might enjoy this psychological thriller better.
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review, Thriller |
Series: Book of The Eleanor Raven Series
Author: Karen Long
Characters: DI Eleanor Raven, Laurence Whitefoot, Lieutenant Eddie Myles, Dr. Seb Blackmore
Disclaimer: Thanks to the Author for the free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The story begins with DI Eleanor Raven undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to she certify that she was fit enough to get back into her groove. She and her partner Laurence Whitefoot are called in to attend a domestic hostage situation that involves an army veteran, where they find a human hand. What they find in the autopsy reports is more than they bargained for, and to make matters worse for them the military is stopping them from digging deeper.
Soon the city has another weird case where dead carcasses of dogs are strung in a boiler room. And add a few more dead bodies, and the Toronto DI Raven has too many things on her plate. Are they all interconnected or is it just her mind that plays tricks on her? Her visits to her psychiatrists are becoming more and more upsetting, and she begins to be wary of him as well. As the body count keeps increasing, her ability is questioned, and it is a race against time.
The only way for to solve the murders is to do what she has been fighting against. Re-visit the demons from the past. Will she be able to conquer her inner conflicts and find the killer on time? Spoiler: she does. Read on The Cold Room
to find out more.
The Cold Room is the third part of the The Eleanor Raven Series
. I have not read the previous works, yet the book worked its charm on me even as a standalone. The writing is tight and makes sure that you would not want to skim down any line. Though there were quite a few cliches, they did not hamper my interest in the story.
I didn’t find any character likable at all, especially DI Raven. I found her too annoying and reckless for my taste. The other characters, which were too many, were not developed to their potential. But that is understandable given the pace that book was set in. And of course, they might have been already dealt with in the previous parts.
I liked that the author doesn’t dumb it down for the readers by explaining every clue and boring them to death. She understands that the readers of this genre would be able to catch up with her thread of thoughts without too many explanations. That being said, wait to be surprised at the end.
You might have read quite a number of thrillers and DI stories. While the premise of this book may not surprise you, the crisp writing and the killer storyline would. If you are looking to read a fast paced thriller that would keep you reading through the midnight, The Cold Room could be very well your choice.
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Thriller |
How well do you know anyone? You might meet people every day, but still, do you know the real them? Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine takes us for a wild ride making us question the very thing,
And it is not a surprise to know that it has been on the Amazon Top Charts for more than eight weeks now. Read on to know more about the top selling serial killer novel Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine right ahead.
About Stillhouse lake by Rachel Caine
Book Name: Stillhouse Lake
Series: Gwen Proctor #1
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: Fiction – Thriller
Characters: Gwen Proctor, Melvin Royal, Lancel Graham, Sam Cade
Setting: The USA
Plot Summary of Stillhouse lake
Gina Royal is a happy stay at home mother for her kids and is happily married to Melvin. Her life falls apart when a drunk driver wrecks their garage, exposing the remains of the heinous murders her husband had committed. She is tried as an accomplice and acquitted later, while Mel is sentenced to death row.
Fearing the Internet threats and the trolls, that she dubs as Sicko Patrol, Gina renames herself Gwen Proctor, a fearless mom who will do anything to protect her teens . Gwen could have been her last identity change until the serial killing starts again just around her neighborhood. She continues to fear her husband’s threats and doesn’t know whom to trust.
What length would she go to save her kids and her own sanity? Read Stillhouse lake by Rachel Caine to find out.
Book review of Stillhouse lake
Stillhouse Lake is a fast paced thriller that is not your breezy summer read. The well placed twists would keep you hooked until the last page. The reader is as confused as Gwen about the people she could trust and things she should stay away from.
Stillhouse lake talks a lot about the dark side of the Internet. It is terrifying that all the threats and abuses she and her kids have been facing are possible in today’s world.
There are a few plot holes that I am trying hard not to nitpick, but the whole premise works only on those flimsy grounds. For instance, Gina was married for ten years and she has never been into her husband’s garage, where he hid, raped, abused, and killed several women.
Gina trusts someone who had been against her from the beginning. And this baffles me: is it even possible in this real life that there are thousands of people who want to kill a family when they were not even related to the murders, especially in this self-absorbed world where we talk about any social issue only until the next one crops up?
The creepy serial killer angle works great, but no other characters are likable. Usually I like women protagonists who are stong and fight back, but Gwen did nothing of that sort, except being so predictable and stupid.
The book ends with a cliffhanger which may or not work for you. Though much has been said about Stillhouse Lake ending with a cliffhanger in the book world, the book works well as the first installment in a series to come and as a standalone too. I didn’t mind that some questions have not been answered.
While the plot and premise are refreshingly new, the writing leaves a bad aftertaste in your mouth. If keeping the story moving was all that the author aimed at, well she succeeded. There are girls tortured and killed, kids kidnapped and one character is sent to death row and yet I am thinking about the bad writing. Yes that was the level of emotional connection I had to the characters.
The badly written monologue that repeated in every chapter annoyed me. The author commits more than once the cardinal sin of telling but not showing. She tells the reader what to see, what to feel rather than letting us learn by action or context. It irritated the crap out of me.
Bottom line
Despite all these misgivings I was not able to put Stillhouse lake by Rachel Caine down until the last page. So if you are looking a fast paced thriller like The Girl on the Train this is your poison, pick it right away.
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