Hell to Pay by Lora Beth Johnson (Review)

Posted on May 17, 2026 by John

Hell To Pay - Lora Beth Johnson (cover)Hell to Pay
by Lora Beth Johnson

Pub Date Jul 28 2026

Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Sci Fi & Fantasy | Teens & YA

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

Oceans Eight meets Six of Crows in this YA fantasy heist novel about a teenage con artist and her ragtag crew teaming up for their toughest job yet: stealing a soul from the Afterlife.

Elle Fields comes from a long line of thieves who specialize in breaking into the Afterlife to steal secrets—and magic—from the dead. But after her parents’ disappearance and her brother’s death, Elle is left adrift, without even her crew to rely on.

Until a mysterious stranger offers her a job she can’t refuse: stealing a soul from the Afterlife. If Elle can get it done, it could be the key to restoring the life she lost.

The only problem is getting her crew back together. Oh, and the fact that the job’s impossible—but Elle is confident that she’ll be able to work it all out.

After all, how hard could it be to raise the dead?

REVIEW:

While I’m not usually a big fan of the “heist” genre in general in any form—books, TV, movies—I did love Money Heist on Netflix and I want to read Six of Crows (which is on my Kindle’s virtual TBR pile), Hell to Pay is a fun and engaging cross-genre mix of heist, horror and fantasy, with a snarky heroine and an interesting crew. In this world, trips to the underworld are possible, even though gangs, endowed with magic from repeated such trips, rule above and below, and trace their lineages to living gods rooted in our so-called myths. On an apparently fruitless and solo quest to bring her brother back from death and the underworld due to her guilt over his death, Elle finds a client whose interests overlap with her own and give her the opportunity to have the client (inadvertently) fund her own supernatural reclamation mission.

Elle manages to reassemble her disbanded crew to accomplish both goals, but first they must steal a frustratingly magical book (er, grimoire) rumored to contain the spell needed to resurrect the dead, then invade Tartarus to free the client’s sister’s soul as a sort of proof of concept that they can bring back her brother, the former leader of the crew. Elle and her crew have a fun esprit de corps, filled with enough humor (and a dollop of angst) to go along with the dark subject matter (death and eternal torment) to keep things moving along for the inevitable twists to catch you off-guard.

The last book I reviewed ended in a clear cliffhanger. I almost expected a similar situation with Hell to Pay, but rest assured the author definitively ends this story, while leaving the door open to turn this into an ongoing series. If she does, I’ll be sure to check out the further adventures of Elle and her crew.

Note: I received an eGalley of Hell to Pay from the publisher via NetGalley in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nonesuch by Francis Spufford (Review)

Posted on May 3, 2026 by John

Nonesuch by Francis Spufford CoverNonesuch: A Novel
by Francis Spufford

Pub Date Mar 10 2026

Scribner

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

A spellbinding tale about an ambitious young woman who must thwart an occult plot by time-traveling fascists during the chaos of the London Blitz—from “one of our most powerful writers of wayward historical fiction” (The Washington Post).

It’s the summer of 1939, and the air in London is thick with the tension of impending war. Iris Hawkins, a fiery young financial secretary, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a genius engineer from the new technology of television. What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into a nightmare of otherworldly pursuit—into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread.

Soon there are Nazi planes droning overhead. In a time when death falls randomly from above each night, when the streets are darker than the wildest forest and all the men are away in uniform, the defense of the city is in the hands of its women. But Iris has more to contend with than just the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, through the vast night sky and across the tiny screens of early television, a fascist fanatic is traveling with a gun in her hand, and only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history forever.

REVIEW:

Nonesuch took me longer to get to than I had hoped but I really enjoyed reading this novel from an author unfamiliar to me. The supernatural-mixed-with-World-War-II-London premise seemed interesting and drew me in. I haven’t read much at all about what England experienced during the bombing in the early days (months) of the war, though I had seen it portrayed in various films. It comes across as simultaneously surreal and terrifying, yet the Londoners adapted to the nightly horror of random death and destruction while maintaining their daily routines with admirable courage. Watching other countries fall to Hitler’s forces one after another like a row of falling dominoes getting closer and closer to their home and country is a recipe for encroaching dread even without the supernatural threat of the timeline being wiped out of existence and being replaced with… what? A world in which defeat has not only come, but without a whimper of protest.

Iris, a thoroughly modern woman for her time, decides that uncertainty in the face of war is eminently better than having the world rewritten with surrender a fait accompli. Despite her own modern sensibility, she falls for Geoff, an earnest, old-fashioned young man who is a talented engineer but spends much of the story fighting for the country by employing his technical acumen. This leaves Iris on her own, by day working for a financial investment firm where she demonstrates her own talent in the world of finance, attempting to rise above the expectations of her gender, and by night trying to thwart those who want to rewrite the timeline to accommodate the fascists. Seems Geoff’s father was a functionary in a cult that stumbled in the ability to imprison angels in architecture, specifically large sculptures adorning large buildings, to serve their own purposes. A daughter of one such cult member becomes Iris’ nemesis in the battle to preserve/rewrite the timeline.

Iris is an engaging and involved protagonist, while her nemesis is suitably frightening and determined despite her comparatively diminutive stature. Though the tension of the encroaching forces of the Third Reich is mediated by our knowledge of how the war ended, the possibility of someone changing the timeline creates an existential threat that makes such knowledge irrelevant and adds considerably to the tension. I was expecting more in the way of time travel during the course of the story, rather than preparations to allow time travel to occur, but the difficulties of setting the pieces in motion was effectively suspenseful throughout.

As I neared the end of the novel, I sensed a poignant ending approaching — and I was prepared to absorb that as the end of Iris’ story… but, I must reveal, the book ends in a cliffhanger! A promised second book is coming. Stay tuned…

Note: I received an eGalley of Nonesuch from the publisher via NetGalley in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sibylline by Melissa de la Cruz (Review)

Posted on February 21, 2026 by John

Sibylline Sibylline
by Melissa de la Cruz

Pub Date: FEB 03, 2026

Penguin Young Readers Group
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Romance | Sci Fi & Fantasy | Teens & YA

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

Three teens infiltrate the magical ivy league in this heart-stopping dark academia romantasy from #1 New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz.

Raven, Atticus, and Dorian have dreamed of attending Sibylline for as long as they can remember. But when the magical university rejects them, the friends’ plans for a future studying the arcane together begin crashing down.

Until they decide to steal an education.

Getting jobs on campus, they sneak into lectures and swipe forbidden texts, dodging the administration’s watchful eye. In the quiet of night, in the thrill of secrecy, their magic awakens. And so do long-buried attractions that turn their friendship into something more.

But like magic, love can create, and it can destroy. As unrequited feelings and resentment threaten to fracture their bond, the trio discovers an insidious magic that has sunk its claws into Sibylline, killing students and corroding the very bones of the university. Now the three intruders may be the key to saving the institution from wreckage . . . if they don’t wreck one another first.

REVIEW:

I’m of two minds about Sibylline by Melissa de la Cruz. I thought the premise was clever. We’ve all read or heard about books detailing student life at a magical school or university. Many readers grew up waiting for the next installment of a very famous series about a young orphan with a lightning scar on his forehead, to name one of the most prominent magic school series. So, right away, Sibylline flips that on its head. The three main characters have all applied for admission and all three are summarily rejected. But, rather than taking ‘no’ for an answer and going to a backup non-magical school, they decide to get jobs on campus and absorb-by-proximity whatever magical lessons they can covertly attend or magical books they can beg, borrow or steal.

A mystery grows as all three discover they have magical abilities that exceed those of many actual students, and that something nefarious is going on with one of the school’s buildings. They team up, exchange ideas, and take it on themselves to find out what’s going on and how to fix it. All that stuff was sufficiently compelling.

But—yes there’s a ‘but’ here—when the story switched to the relationship track, my attention and interest waned. Because the story comes with a love triangle of sorts, but it’s almost circular: Raven is in love with Atticus, while Atticus only has eyes for Dorian, who is smitten with Raven. My issue with all of this was that they’ve all known each other since childhood, but only now is this an issue. And each one reacts with pouting disappointment when the object of their individual affection rebuffs their interest and advances, or expresses feelings for the member of the trio they desire. Oddly, the book reads like a New Adult novel until the relationship drama takes center stage, whereupon the story feels more YA than NA. It’s not so much that this circular triangle exists, but that it seemed to be in stasis until it was needed to add drama to what was already an interesting story. Eventually, the evolution of this relationship dilemma serves a plot purpose, but it almost seemed too convenient that it waited to be an issue to address until the worst possible time, given what was at stake with evil roaming the halls of magical academia. So, come for the inverted premise and magical plot but, as far as the relationship melodrama, your mileage may vary.

Note: I received an eGalley of Sibylline from the publisher via NetGalley in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Leave a comment

Pendergast: The Beginning by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (Review)

Posted on January 2, 2026 by John

Pendergast: The Beginning - Preston & ChildPendergast: The Beginning (Agent Pendergast Series)
by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pub Date: January 27, 2026
General Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling duo Preston and Child comes the Agent Pendergast origin story—a golden opportunity for longtime fans and new readers to learn about Agent Pendergast’s strange and shocking first case.

It only took six months for the life of Special Agent Dwight Chambers to crumble around him. First, he lost his partner, and then, tragically, his wife. Returning to work at the New Orleans Field Office, Chambers is dismayed to find himself saddled with mentoring a brand new FBI agent—a certain A. X. L. Pendergast. As Chambers tries to pull himself together, his enigmatic and exasperating junior partner pulls an outrageous stunt that gets both of them suspended.

Pendergast welcomes the banishment, because it gives him the opportunity to investigate a peculiar murder in Mississippi that has captured his fancy. Chambers grudgingly goes along. What starts off as a whimsical quest swiftly turns into a terrifying pursuit, as Chambers and Pendergast uncover a string of grisly, ritualistic killings that defy any known serial killer profile.

Thanks in large part to Pendergast’s brilliance and unorthodox methods, they solve the case and find the killer… and that is when the true horror begins.

REVIEW:

Pendergast: The Beginning is billed as the origin story of Agent Pendergast. As a long-time fan of the Agent Pendergast series, I was thrilled at the opportunity to get an advanced reader copy for review.

The story begins with A. X. L. Pendergast already working as a junior agent for the FBI. There are hints about his time in the “Ghost Company” performing top secret black ops but only a shading of information, though this does reveal the connection to Pendergast’s ‘sponsor’ in the FBI and how he met met Proctor who, as those already familiar with the series know, becomes Pendergast’s competent factotum.

A lot of the early going in the story deals with Proctor’s abduction and imprisonment by an apparent technically detailed, surgically trained serial killer, which ties into the cold case that Pendergast and his FBI mentor, Agent Chambers end up investigating after they are kicked out of the New Orleans field office due to Pendergast’s unsanctioned but successful corruption sting. Initially, Pendergast’s mentor is more than willing to let Pendergast take the lead in interviews, etc., then pointing out course corrections for the young agent. But eventually Pendergast’s out-of-the-box investigative skills and penchant for skirting rules and regulations drivers Chambers to distraction, to the point where he wants to wash his hands of the young agent.

It’s apparent early on that Pendergast, despite his verbal deference to the older, more experienced agent, will not be constrained and will, ultimately take on cases that hold special interest to him. His personal wealth, derived from his notorious family, allows him to treat his FBI role as a moral hobby rather than a needed vocation. The FBI badge can open investigative doors that would otherwise remained closed to him.

Soon, the case investigating the serial killer who abducted Proctor takes a surprising twist which suggests a much deeper evil to Pendergast, who senses something nefarious hidden behind the obvious ‘facts,’ but he is unable to convince his partner that they need to keep digging to get to the truth. Nevertheless, Pendergast is relentless in his own investigation. From this point, the novel shifts into an exciting one man campaign against superior forces, basically Die Hard on a steamboat. And Pendergast’s time in Ghost Company has prepared him for high risks and high stakes with low odds of success.

In summary, Pendergast: The Beginning is an exciting prequel to the main series, complete with a paranormal conspiracy, and reveals new layers of Pendergast—though not all of them. (Maybe some day we’ll get the Ghost Company stories!) And yet it seems as if FBI Agent Pendergast has always been the highly competent Agent Pendergast we’ve witnessed in almost two dozen thrillers so far, even dating back to his time as a junior/mentored agent. Would we expect anything less?

Note: I received an eGalley of Pendergast: The Beginning from the publisher via NetGalley in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Reviews: The Reformatory (Tananarive Due) & Worst Case Scenario (T.J. Newman)

Posted on March 24, 2025 by John

In honor of Women’s History Month, I thought I’d post reviews of two recently read books by women authors. These were books from my own TBR, not galleys/ARCs from publishers or NetGalley. Spoiler: I enjoyed them both!

The Reformatory by Tananarive DueThe Reformatory: A Novel
by Tananarive Due
S&S/Saga Press, 573 pages

DESCRIPTION: Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

REVIEW: Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory has a definite Stephen King vibe, so I’m not surprised Mr. King was a fan of the book and provides a solid cover blurb. Due mixes two kinds of horror with dramatic effect. The story begins with the terrifying racism of Jim Crow Florida in 1950 where a small offense sends twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr. to a meat-grinder of a reform school run by a sadistic pedophile warden. Children under his ‘care’ are treated worse than hardened criminals in a maximum security prison, whipped mercilessly for the slightest reason, worked as virtual slaves, and subject to unspeakable abuses by the psychotic warden.

Even those who die by fire, torture or failed attempts to escape, continue to suffer after death. And this is where the supernatural horrors kick in, because the reformatory is haunted by these ghosts, called ‘haints’ by the locals. Children are more likely to see them or feel their presence than adults, though the warden is keenly aware of them and wants them banished — or, more accurately, extinguished and captured. These haints function as a sort of external conscience for the warden who has no internal moral compass. Robbie often sees the haints and is particularly fine-tuned to their presence, even experiencing echoes of their pain and endless suffering. When the warden learns that Robbie can track and find the haints, which will allow him to effectively neuter and bottle them, he places the young man in an untenable situation: inflict further harm on the dead or suffer additional punishment himself. Robbie navigates a delicate balancing act, trying to appease the warden without betraying the haints while awaiting the dangerous opportunity to finally gain his own freedom.

Despite its supernatural aspects, The Reformatory is a powerful reminder that humans are all to capable of inflicting horrors on those they view as “other” or “less than” out of hate or their own unbridled depravity.

 

Worst Case Scenario by T.J. NewmanWorst Case Scenario: A Novel
by T.J. Newman
Little, Brown and Company, 321 pages

DESCRIPTION: When a pilot suffers a heart attack at 35,000 feet, a commercial airliner filled with passengers crashes into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota, which becomes ground zero for a catastrophic national crisis with global implications. The International Nuclear Event Scale tracks nuclear disasters. It has seven levels. Level 7 is a Major Accident, with only two on record: Fukushima and Chernobyl. There has never been a Level 8. Until now.

REVIEW: I’ve read all three of T.J. Newman’s exciting airline thrillers (Falling, Drowning, and now Worst Case Scenario) and Worst Case Scenario was a definite change of pace in that the plane in question, along with the crew and passengers, is a lost cause right from the beginning, which almost qualifies as a ‘twist’ beginning. From that point, the thriller aspect takes place on the ground with the fallout, in the form of the physical wreckage of the plane and in the potential and escalating radioactive fallout from the damage done during the crash to a nuclear reactor scheduled for decommissioning. First responders race to save the lives of locals trapped and injured throughout the town and, more importantly, fight a ticking clock to stop a nuclear event with the potential to be an extinction level event.

Worst Case Scenario pulls no punches. Nobody is safe. Really. I was surprised and impressed by Newman’s commitment to the consequences of dealing with such a high-level threat. Newman raises the stakes with this one and delivers a brutal nail-biter of a novel.

 

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi – Review

Posted on March 17, 2025 by John

The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip FracassiThe Third Rule of Time Travel
by Philip Fracassi

Publisher?:? Orbit
Pub Date: March 18, 2025
Time Travel/Science Fiction

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

Rule One: You can only travel to a point within your lifetime.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.

In this electrifying science fiction thriller from acclaimed author Philip Fracassi, a scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning.

“Tense, fast-moving, surprising, and above all else, entertaining.” – Owen King, New York Times bestselling author

“Part Crichton, part Bradbury, and all Fracassi, The Third Rule of Time Travel further demonstrates why Fracassi is one of the best writers working today, regardless of genre.” – Tyler Jones, author of Midas

Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She’s built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time—to any point in the traveler’s lifetime—and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it’s not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the past. They can only observe.

After Beth’s husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella—their only daughter—and continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology.

Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp.

As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future.

REVIEW:

With The Third Rule of Time Travel, Fracassi puts a unique spin on time travel. Instead of physically traveling to any time period in the past or the future, the time traveler can only travel to the past, only within their own lifetime, and only to revisit their own experiences. Further, only the consciousness of the traveler makes the trip, becoming a new layer on top of their past self’s consciousness, with no ability to change the past, merely to observe. With that premise, the safety of time travel seems assured — and the ability to tell the story as a thriller made all the more difficult. Nevertheless, Fracassi succeeds. The science behind the time travel feels speculatively possible, certainly within the context of the novel. And, after a slow ‘proof of concept’ type of opening to the tale, the dangers, internal and external, begin to creep in.

Looming within each time episode is the need to keep the trip to 90 seconds or less to protect the mind of the traveler, skirting the possibility of mental damage or the inability to retrieve the traveler’s consciousness from the past event. Second, Beth always travels to times where she experienced tragedy and intense grief, which exposes another variable in the travel. She and her team don’t know how to control which WHEN the traveler experiences. So each trip for Beth is a harrowing experience, suffered in hopes of advancing the science and learning how to control which experience is revisited. Further, budget cuts have added stress to the operation while the lack of funding puts pressure on Beth to perfect the process before she loses her lab. All the while, her relationship with the CEO of the company providing the funding deteriorates throughout, eventually taking a dark turn.

The story kicks into high gear when casual comments by Beth’s daughter and her own experiences suggest the ghostly presence of her dead husband, and soon Beth realizes that the Third Rule has been broken, but she has no idea how. Despite being an observer only, she has somehow changed her own timeline in a horrific way. Everyone in her orbit believes she’s delusional, suffering hallucinations either from mental deterioration or overwork. And, appropriately, time is running out for her to restore her timeline. She’ll need to risk her life, in more ways than one, to fix her past to preserve her present.

I’m not sure if there will be a sequel to The Third Rule of Time Travel (the story has a satisfying conclusion), but the ending really expands the idea of time travel in a way that’s as exhilarating as it is frightening, providing a cautionary note about messing with things we don’t fully understand.

 

Note: I received a physical galley (ARC) of The Third Rule of Time Travel from the publisher in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Related | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deadbeat by Adam Hamdy – Review

Posted on January 6, 2025 by John

DEADBEAT -Adam HamdyDeadbeat
A Novel
by Adam Hamdy

Pub Date: Dec 03 2024
Atria Books
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

The author of the “moving head-spinner of a novel” (John Connolly) The Other Side of Night returns with a taut thriller following a desperate single father as he searches for the anonymous employer who hired him as a hitman.

Peyton Collard was a good man once, but his life changed after a horrific car accident. Divorced, drunk, and severely damaged, Peyton is offered a life-changing sum of money to kill an evil man. But as he goes on a vigilante journey that leaves a trail of bodies across California, Peyton wonders about the identity of his anonymous patron. Soon, his questions become an obsession, and he embarks on a tense and potentially deadly investigation to discover the truth about the murders he’s committed.

“A superb, white-knuckle thriller . . . Surprise explosions make the pages shake.”
—Booklist

“Once again, Hamdy has delivered a standout work of smart, tough crime fiction.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

REVIEW:

How much you enjoy DEADBEAT might rely on how well you can suspend disbelief and overlook logistical issues. Deadbeat is a fast-paced thriller with breezy prose that carries you along from one dire situation to another and at that level, it really satisfies the suspense and thriller itch. What tugs against that fast-forward plot current is the continually mentioned anchor of Peyton’s guilt over becoming what is, in essence, a serial-killer. On one hand, he takes to the role of a hitman with relative ease while agonizing over his own choices throughout. Initially, he’s convinced he’s doing the world a favor by ridding it of nasty actors (i.e, people who deserve it) based upon what he reads about them on (planted) search result pages. He’s paid incredible sums of money to kill his victims, but becomes victimized (and brutalized) himself by petty criminals. I kept wondering why he didn’t think about hiring bodyguards. And having sudden large sums of money on hand doesn’t seem to raise enough eyebrows as he buys an expensive car and a new home in a new, ritzy neighborhood, along with hiring a very expensive lawyer. Since he can’t put the money in the bank without raising IRS flags, he spends time storing it in furniture in a home he doesn’t own (yet), or underground, like a pirate. Then there’s the hooker with the heart of gold who seems way too eager to accept his murderous choices. She seems put in place to provide Peyton with the potential for a happy ending—no pun intended. There’s a revelation (not exactly a twist) that gives a reasonably satisfying reason for everything that’s happened to Peyton, but there are still a lot of “oh, really?” moments throughout that stretch credulity. And yet, if you’re willing to cruise along with the story without stopping to ask too many questions, on ponder the implausibilities, you’ll enjoy the ride.

 

Note: I received a free eGalley of Deadbeat from Net Galley in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sunderworld, Vol. I: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs – Review

Posted on September 22, 2024 by John

Sunderworld Vol1: Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry - Ransom RiggsSunderworld, Vol. I: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry
by Ransom Riggs

Pub Date: Aug 27 2024
PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Dutton Books for Young Readers
Sci Fi & Fantasy | Teens & YA

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

The instant New York Times bestseller from visionary storyteller Ransom Riggs!

Weaving the familiar with the peculiar, this stunning tale of loss, triumph, friendship and magic, will remind readers everywhere that true heroes are made, not born—and when you’re never the chosen one, sometimes you have to choose yourself.

Seventeen-year-old Leopold Berry is seeing weird things around Los Angeles. A man who pops a tooth into a parking meter. A glowing trapdoor in a parking lot. A half-mechanical raccoon with its tail on fire that just won’t leave him alone. Every hallucinatory moment seems plucked from a cheesy 1990s fantasy TV show called Max’s Adventures in Sunderworld—and that’s because they are.

Not a good sign.

In the blurry weeks after his mother’s death, a young Leopold discovered VHS tapes of its one and only season in a box headed for the trash—and soon became obsessed. Losing himself in Sunder was the best way to avoid two things: grieving his mother and being a chronic disappointment to his overbearing father. But when the strange visions return—at the worst possible time on the worst possible day—Leopold turns to his best friend Emmet for help. Together they discover that Sunder is much more than just an old TV show, and that Los Angeles is far stranger than they ever imagined. And soon, he’ll realize that not only is Sunderworld real, but it’s in grave danger.

Certain he’s finally been chosen for greatness, Leopold risks everything to claim his destiny, save the world of his childhood dreams, and prove once and for all that he’s not the disappointment his father believes him to be. But when everything goes terribly, horribly, excruciatingly wrong, Leopold’s disappointments prove to be more extraordinary than he ever could have imagined.

How do you battle darkness when no one believes in you—not even yourself?

Welcome to Sunderworld.

REVIEW:

As a huge fan of the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series, I was excited to get the opportunity to read the first book in this new series by Ransom Riggs. With Sunderworld, Vol. I: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry Riggs has primed us for another exciting YA/Fantasy series. Sunderworld is a parallel world running alongside—or, more accurately, a world overlaid onto—our world, invisible to normal folks, but visible to Sunderworld natives (called Sparks), within which magic works… But it’s kind of rundown and neglected. Magic can’t make up for infrastructure deterioration.

In short, Sunderworld feels like a world in need of a renaissance, or at least a savior of some sort to return a spark (pun intended) of life to it. Leopold (mostly called Larry in the normal world) seems to be the chosen one, but he lacks faith in himself. He lost his devoted mother (who had secrets of her own related to Sunderworld) at a young age and his father does nothing but criticize him for every perceived failure to live up to his exacting standards. Leopold is a round peg his father wants to shove into a square hole.

At one point, after discovering Sunderworld, Leopold takes a leap of faith in himself, but fails and is basically exiled from the ability to live his one enduring dream scenario. Another failure. (Note: readers are forewarned by the subtitle to this book, i.e., ‘Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry.’)  But Leopold is loyal and doesn’t give up when barriers are thrown in his path. There’s a clear sense that Leopold will eventually succeed, just as there’s a clear sense Sunderworld will recover from its own crises—no doubt with ‘extraordinary’ help from Leopold. But that does not happen in Sunderworld Vol. 1. While I enjoyed this book, and look forward to all the developments to come, there is definite sense that this volume is a long prologue of sorts, a table-setting volume hinting at lots of fun things to come rather than feeling complete in itself. I definitely recommend this first volume, but go in knowing it’s very much a ‘to be continued’ ending type of book.

 

Note: I received a free eGalley of Sunderworld, Vol. I: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry from Net Galley in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Angel of Vengeance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (Review)

Posted on August 12, 2024 by John

Angel of Vengeance - Preston and ChildAngel of Vengeance
by Douglas Preston; Lincoln Child

Pub Date: Aug 13 2024
Grand Central Publishing
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

Preston & Child continue their #1 bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they take a final stand against New York’s deadliest serial killer: Pendergast’s own ancestor…and Constance’s greatest enemy.

A desperate bargain is broken…

Constance Greene confronts Manhattan’s most dangerous serial killer, Enoch Leng, bartering for her sister’s life – but she is betrayed and turned away empty-handed, incandescent with rage.

A clever trap is set…

Unknown to Leng, Pendergast’s brother, Diogenes, appears unexpectedly, offering to help—for mysterious reasons of his own. Disguised as a cleric, Diogenes establishes himself in New York’s notorious Five Points slum, manipulating events like a chess master, watching Leng’s every move…and awaiting his own chance to strike.

A vengeful angel will not be deterred…

Meanwhile, as Pendergast focuses on saving the unstable Constance in her fanatical quest for vengeance, she strikes out on her own: to rescue her beloved siblings from a tragic fate and take savage retribution on Leng. But Leng is one step ahead and has a surprise for them all…

REVIEW:

And so, with Angel of Vengeance,  the “Leng Quartet” comes to an end with a grand flourish. I’ve mentioned previously that The Cabinet of Curiosities was one of my favorite Agent Pendergast novels from the prolific Preston & Child. Angel of Vengeance puts a bow on the whole series-within-a-series. I know some long-time Pendergast readers balked at the science-fiction (arguably science-fantasy) turn at the conclusion of Bloodless, but as a multi-genre reader I loved the commitment. And it pays off handsomely. Angel of Vengeance is a thrill ride for Pendergast fans. We get prime Diogenes and Enoch Leng, along with Pendergast and Constance, swirling in each others often-deadly orbits in what amounts to a high-stakes historical thriller. I don’t want to risk any spoilers, but I will say: Angel of Vengeance is appropriately titled, in more ways than one; Diogenes basically steals the show; and, going forward, there may finally be some progress in the ongoing tension between Aloysius and Constance.

 

Note: I received a free eGalley of Angel of Vengeance from Net Galley in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke (Review)

Posted on July 28, 2024 by John

A Short Walk Through A Wide World - Douglas WesterbekeA Short Walk Through a Wide World
by Douglas Westerbeke

Available Now
Avid Reader Press | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
General Fiction (Adult) | New Adult | Sci Fi & Fantasy

DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS:

“Imagine The Life of Pi, The Alchemist, and The Midnight Library rolled into one fantastical fable.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“An epic adventure…rich with all the possibilities the world can hold.”
—People

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A dazzlingly epic debut that charts the incredible, adventurous life of one woman as she journeys the globe trying to outrun a mysterious curse that will destroy her if she stops moving.

Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death.

When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days—nor return to a place where she’s already been.

From the scorched dunes of the Calashino Sand Sea to the snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and ultimately, to truly live. But the longer Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s…

Fiercely independent and hopeful, yet full of longing, Aubry Tourvel is an unforgettable character fighting her way through a world of wonders to find a place she can call home. A spellbinding and inspiring story about discovering meaning in a life that seems otherwise impossible, A Short Walk Through a Wide World reminds us that it’s not the destination, but rather the journey—no matter how long it lasts—that makes us who we are.

REVIEW:

A Short Walk Through a Wide World feels like an instant classic. Not bad for a debut novel. Before reading A Short Walk (excuse the abbreviated title), I was intrigued by a description comparing it to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, a book with a similar structure I really enjoyed. Where Addie LaRue is doomed to never be remembered by anyone she meets, Aubry Tourvel is doomed to never stay in one place more than three or four days. If she stays anywhere longer than that limit, she begins to bleed out, stricken by convulsions to the point of helplessness. While there’s more poignancy in Invisible Life, A Short Walk is often just as bittersweet. Aubry is forever discovering new places and meeting new people, regularly depending on the kindness of strangers, despite her hard-earned resourcefulness. But her lifelong journey is one she must travel alone. And where Invisible Life embraces the fantastical elements early, A Short Walk teases them out a little longer, with the exception of the puzzle ball, which launches the story. Aubry’s lifelong travels take her across the globe and through the changing times, but Westerbeke doesn’t give much page-time (as opposed to screen time) to her travels through North America, with the exception of a few mentions. That choice gives A Short Life more of an exotic, fairytale feeling, which seems appropriate given the subject matter. Aubry becomes something of a celebrity, which helps endear her to many of the strangers she is destined to meet (and eventually leave) by the nature of her ‘curse.’ While Aubry is often alone, she is never lonely, as there is always someone to meet just over the next rise. Best of all, despite not answering all the questions a reader might have had along the way, A Short Life Through a Wide World manages a satisfying conclusion, making one glad to have experienced her journey.

 

Note: I received a free eGalley of A Short Walk Through a Wide World  from Net Galley in consideration of an unbiased review.

This site is a member of the Amazon affiliate partnership program. As such, any sales resulting from links to Amazon products on these pages might generate a small commission for the site, which helps keep the proverbial lights on—but does not affect the price you pay at Amazon.

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment