Author 'Nathan Burgoine posted this simple, direct method of not getting paralyzed by the prospect of having to write reviews. The Three-Sentence Review is, as he notes, very helpful and also simple to achieve. I get completely unmanned at the idea of saying something trenchant about each book I read, when there often just isn't that much to say...now I can use this structure to say what I think is the most important idea I took away from the read and not try to dig for more.
Think about using it yourselves!
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Trans-Mongolian Express by David L. Robbins
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: In the harrowing aftermath of Chernobyl's meltdown in 1986, the fate of Eastern Europe hangs by a thread.
From Beijing, American radiation scientist Lara, once a thorn in the Russian mob's side, is drawn back into the shadows of the Soviet Union on the Trans-Mongolian Express. She isn't alone. Anton, a Soviet scientist exiled for predicting Chernobyl's catastrophe, is on a quest to expose the truth. Amidst them, Timur, a Chechen giant fueled by vengeance, plots to destroy the already crumbling Soviet Union.
Suddenly, a murder on the remote tracks of the Gobi thrusts them into a deadly game of cat and mouse. As Chief Sheriff Bat races to solve the murder, their lives are thrown into jeopardy. Lara finds an unexpected ally in Gang, a reluctant assassin sent to end her life, and an illicit romance blooms amidst the chaos. But Gang isn't the only killer onboard. A hidden menace lurks, threatening to unravel all their plans.
In this electrifying ride across a historical backdrop, suspense and passion collide in an unyielding dance of survival and redemption. Who will survive the Trans-Mongolian Express?
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Set in 1986, the time of Chernobyl, this "Murder on the Orient Express" story grandchild is mostly successful in its aim to entertain and, incidentally, inform the reader in the same vein as Warren Adler's Trans-Siberian Express, which I reviewed two years ago. Not telling tales out of school! The same publisher brought this book out, and is marketing it as insired by Adler's earlier work.
Again, as with that book, one knows what's in store because thriller, and because it is set at the time the US and USSR were fighting their Cold War. Like Adler's book, this is another richly embroidered atmospheric-detail-heavy read. The characters are unmemorable, the situation is familiar to thriller readers, but folks needing a few hours off from coping with the Real World should give it a go.
So, if you like that kind of read, here you got a good one.
Kindle editions are $5.99 (non-affiliate Amazon link).
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Ink & Sigil (Ink & Sigil #1) by Kevin Hearne
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: Al MacBharrais is both blessed and cursed. He is blessed with an extraordinary white moustache, an appreciation for craft cocktails – and a most unique magical talent. He can cast spells with magically enchanted ink and he uses his gifts to protect our world from rogue minions of various pantheons, especially the Fae.
But he is also cursed. Anyone who hears his voice will begin to feel an inexplicable hatred for Al, so he can only communicate through the written word or speech apps. And his apprentices keep dying in peculiar freak accidents. As his personal life crumbles around him, he devotes his life to his work, all the while trying to crack the secret of his curse.
But when his latest apprentice, Gordie, turns up dead in his Glasgow flat, Al discovers evidence that Gordie was living a secret life of crime. Now Al is forced to play detective – while avoiding actual detectives who are wondering why death seems to always follow Al. Investigating his apprentice’s death will take him through Scotland’s magical underworld, and he’ll need the help of a mischievous hobgoblin if he’s to survive.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I am in two minds about this read. I thoroughly enjoy Author Hearne and his world built around Celtic mythology. Moving from Ireland to Scotland did nothing to diminish my enjoyment. The issue I have is, the world building has been done in the Atticus and Oberon books, nine or so in number. I do not know if this story truly stands apart from those enough to ensorcel a new reader who does not wish to go through that much initiatory reading.
I think, on balance, you know yourself best...read the story, because it is really, really fun to do, or wait until you are caught up on the kind of world this is. Mythology based fantasy reads are certainly popular enough that they are not fresh to your eyes. If you enjoy the idea of the Fae and the gods interacting with mere humans, and exacting prices from those humans for their patronage, this story will delight you.
If you are a fan already, the trade paper edition is $18.00 or there is a Kindle edition for $12.99 (non-affiliate Amazon link) for toe dippers.
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The Old Man in the Corner (Teahouse Detective #1) by Emmuska Orczy
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: A classic collection of mysteries by the author of The Scarlet Pimpernel
Mysteries! There is no such thing as a mystery in connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon its investigation.
So says a rather down-at-heel elderly gentleman to young Polly Burton of the Evening Observer, in the corner of the ABC teashop on Norfolk Street one afternoon. Once she has forgiven him for distracting her from her newspaper and luncheon, Miss Burton discovers that her interlocutor is as brilliantly gifted as he is eccentric—able to solve mysteries that have made headlines and baffled the finest minds of the police without once leaving his seat in the teahouse. As the weeks go by, she listens to him unravelling the trickiest of puzzles and solving the most notorious of crimes, but still one final mystery remains: the mystery of the old man in the corner himself.
The Old Man in the Corner is a classic collection of mysteries, featuring the Teahouse Detective - a contemporary of Sherlock Holmes, with a brilliant mind and waspish temperament to match that of Conan Doyle's creation.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: The stories are much of a muchness when read at a gulp, so don't do that! Space them out, one a week or so, and they become less predictable and more pleasantly familiar. I made the mistake of gulping and paid the price of thinking, halfway through, that I would not be finishing the read. I took a long time off, and mirabile dictu, returned with a happy heart.
Pushkin Vertigo does a lot of excellent mystery publishing, though I suspect these very old-fashioned tales won't be bestsellers. They should please us Golden Agers who read Mary Roberts Rinehart.
Kindle editions are only $9.99, and honestly if read as they were originally published...occasionally...you can have better value for money spent.
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The Ingenious by Darius Hinks
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: Political exiles are desperate to escape from the impossible city that imprisons them, in this bloody and brilliant epic fantasy
Thousands of years ago, the city of Athanor was set adrift in time and space by alchemists, called "the Curious Men". Ever since, it has accumulated cultures, citizens and species into a vast, unmappable metropolis.
Isten and her gang of half-starved political exiles live off petty crime and gangland warfare in Athanor's seediest alleys. Though they dream of returning home to lead a glorious revolution, Isten's downward spiral drags them into a mire of addiction and violence. Isten must find a way to save the exiles and herself if they are ever to build a better, fairer world for the people of their distant homeland.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: It was okay. It hit almost all its beats. It had a nice, dark, uncelebratory tone that I liked. The characters got a bit whiny for my taste, but that is a feature of every grimdark story I have read, literally all of them. What lifted the dead weight of whininess from my opinion is the way the author constructed his shifting, mobile city: he did not explain it, or introduce it explanatorily, just put its effects into the tale. Kudos for that. There are nuances in the way this world full of truly crappy people is run that had me nodding along approvingly.
Did not lift my dissatisfaction with the whinging, sorry.
If you like Robert Jackson Bennett, China Miéville, and Scott Lynch, this is a winner for you.
Angry Robot wants only $5.99 for the Kindle edition (non-affiliate Amazon link), which seems like good value for you fantasy aficionados.
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Bone Park: The Golden Girls Meets The Godfather by Sandy Robson
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: In 1991, the quiet Florida retirement community of Cicada Hollow was the perfect place for seniors to relax and enjoy their golden years. It also was the place where four retired women joined together out of necessity, to become the biggest crime syndicate in American history.
Love, sex, dreams, revenge and regrets have no age limit. Friendship and loyalty get stronger with time and these four bad-ass broads are about to draw a line in the Florida sand that no one will ever cross.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Decently entertaining, and while I *abominate* the use of long, promotional subtitles that read like advertising copy written by an overeager intern, I can't fault this one for accuracy.
Approached with the expectation of having some good-spirited chuckles with your revenge fantasy fulfillment, this is a very successful read. The hole in ones heart left by The Golden Girls and the yawning gap of Jessica Fletcher's, (of Murder, She Wrote fame) endless supply of keen observation and devotion to justice are herein plugged. My very favorite thing about the read was the series title: Grand-Mafia Series! Apt, appropriate, and very much on brief. Book 1 will not, and should not, be book only, I predict.
A Kindle edition is $5.99 (non-affiliate Amazon link), and it is available via Kindle Unlimited as well.
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Mission Churchill by Alex Abella
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: In 1933 Cuba, a deadly game of cat and mouse unfolds. An IRA sharpshooter, driven by vengeance and a relentless mission, has Winston Churchill in his crosshairs. But just as the assassin is about to strike, Churchill's tenacious bodyguard, Walter Thompson, intervenes, forcing the killer into the shadows.
Years later, amid the fiery rain of the German Blitz on London, Thompson locks eyes with a ghost from Havana—the very same assassin. But now, the stakes are higher. As Thompson dives deeper into the city's underworld, he uncovers a chilling conspiracy within the British government, threatening to topple Churchill and hand victory to Hitler.
Racing against time amidst the backdrop of a city in chaos, Thompson must decipher the twisted web of treachery to save his nation and the man he's sworn to protect. But at what cost?
Dive into a high-octane thriller where history hangs in the balance, alliances are tested, and one man stands against the darkness.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Top-shelf prose and superior grasp of the telling detail, and the timing necessary to deploy them together. I had to go look up stuff to see how much fiction and fact resembled each other...a really high compliment from me. I don't give it more stars because the antagonist is a cipher to me, and that really seriously reduces the internal tension of the narrative.
I recommend the read to Alan Furst and W.E.B. Griffin readers. This is one y'all will be glad to read by a writer most of y'all won't have encountered before.
At $5.99 on Kindle, you will get good value for your money (non-affiliate Amazon link).
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This space is dedicated to Nancy Pearl's Rule of 50, or "the Pearl Rule" as I've always called it. After realizing five times in December 2021 alone that I'd already Pearl-Ruled a book I picked up on a whim, I realized how close my Half-heimer's is getting to the full-on article. Hence my decision to track my Pearls!
As she says:
People frequently ask me how many pages they should give a book before they give up on it. In response to that question, I came up with my “rule of fifty,” which is based on the shortness of time and the immensity of the world of books. If you’re fifty years of age or younger, give a book fifty pages before you decide to commit to reading it or give it up. If you’re over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100—the result is the number of pages you should read before making your decision to stay with it or quit.
So this space will be each month's listing of Pearl-Ruled books. Earlier Pearl-Rule posts will be linked below the current month's crop.
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PEARL RULED @ 29%
Bad Axe County (Bad Axe County #1) by John Galligan
The Publisher Says: Dennis Lehane meets Megan Miranda in this tense, atmospheric thriller about the first female sheriff in rural Bad Axe County, Wisconsin, as she searches for a missing girl, battles local drug dealers, and seeks the truth about the death of her parents twenty years ago—all as a winter storm rages in her embattled community.
Fifteen years ago, Heidi White’s parents were shot to death on their Bad Axe County farm. The police declared it a murder-suicide and closed the case. But that night, Heidi found the one clue she knew could lead to the truth—if only the investigators would listen.
Now Heidi White is Heidi Kick, wife of local baseball legend Harley Kick and mother of three small children. She’s also the interim sheriff in Bad Axe. Half the county wants Heidi elected but the other half will do anything to keep her out of law enforcement. And as a deadly ice storm makes it way to Bad Axe, tensions rise and long-buried secrets climb to the surface.
As freezing rain washes out roads and rivers flood their banks, Heidi finds herself on the trail of a missing teenaged girl. Clues lead her down twisted paths to backwoods stag parties, derelict dairy farms, and the local salvage yard—where the body of a different teenage girl has been carefully hidden for a decade.
As the storm rages on, Heidi realizes that someone is planting clues for her to find, leading her to some unpleasant truths that point to the local baseball team and a legendary game her husband pitched years ago. With a murder to solve, a missing girl to save, and a monster to bring to justice, Heidi is on the cusp of shaking her community to its core—and finding out what really happened the night her parents died.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Competently written, uninspiringly typical example of a man-designed and -aimed plot centering on a female law-enforcement officer discovering girls are being sexually exploited by a cabal of sociopathic rich men. This is subject matter that is not my personal choice for entertainment reading in 2024. The style is, as noted, competently executed but I recall not one sentence as a sentence.
There are four novels in the series, so I am the outlier in finding this not to my taste.
The publisher’s website offers trade paper editions for $17.99.
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PEARL RULED @ 44%
The Old Sex Symphony by Vincent Kane
Rating: 2.5* of five
The Publisher Says: The auditorium is hushed. The conductor raises his baton…
Chaucer meets Masters and Johnson in a humane and hilarious novel about overage sex—including the joys, aches and fearlessness that it entails
Middle-aged people wonder what sex will be like over 60.
Young people think that sex is against the law after 60.
All are agreed that old age does not come alone. It brings with it aches, pains and illnesses—which are either peculiar to old age or more deadly, even fatal, than at other times of life.
But libido remains. It never goes away. Can I still? Should we really? Might she, perhaps?
The answers to these questions make for a symphony of differing moods, tempos and movements. Bawdy, Pathétique, Mock Heroic, Tristesse, Farce. These are the movements of The Old Sex Symphony.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Mawkish. Not as funny as the very relatable subject matter...after all I am an old man, in a relationship with a young one. Instead it felt to me as though the "movements" were more excretory than celebratory, even if they were meant to be in a light, jesting tone.
Very, very disappointed because this is very much an idea aimed directly at me.
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PEARL RULED @ 85%
And Throw Away the Skins by Scott Archer Jones
Rating: 2* of five
The Publisher Says: Bec Robertson is starting over. She's broke, recovering from breast cancer, and lives in a rundown cabin in northern New Mexico. Her husband is deployed in Afghanistan as a chaplain, and can't stand to touch her.
The people she meets, her villagers, are batty if not wacko, and her hawk Amelia can't keep up with the mice. She lives next door to a dubious veterans' center. As if she hasn't invented enough problems for herself, she has a love/hate connection with an unstable Marine. Being Bec is tough, but survival is in her bones—and she lives under the numinous skies of New Mexico.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: That is not a typo above. Nor am I a complete nutter. I threw in the towel at that late, late date because it was clear that Bec was a man-centered fantasy girl, one whose marriage being sexless was hurtful to her so she starts a sexual relationship with a wholly inappropriate man. One whose damaged mental health should have warned her off ANY intimacy. More especially since she is involved in the care home he is living within.
CWs for past rape, PTSD, breast cancer used as a Plot Point only.
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