Title: The Last Troubadour

Author: Derek Armstrong

Publisher: Kunati
 
ISBN: 9781601640017
 Price: $24.95
 

RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

 Reviewed by Karen Moyers
 
Premise and Originality: 10 out of 10
 Characterization:   10 out of 10
 Dialogue:   9 out of 10
 Storyline:   9 out of 10

The Last Troubadour is one of those unique gems. The epic historical has generated substantial buzz, but not for all the normal reasons. Yes, you pick it up expecting  excitement, adventure, romance and epic scope, and it delivers. Yet, here’s a new twist. More than just a twist, but an elaborate new story treatment idea.

Armstrong takes the tragic events of the Cathar Crusade — events which reshaped Europe, the Church and the history of the fledgling monastic Inquisition, all subjects just oozing with horror, anticipation and grim expectation — and delivers them with an ironic, satirical twist. Real historical characters, from notorious Pope Innocent to Sainted King Louis to the last of the living troubadours are imagined as Tarot archetypes. You don’t have to be a fan of the tarot — although there are, according to his website millions — to enjoy this fanciful take on history. Remaking Pope Innocent in the image of the Hierophant Tarot trump is sheer brilliance, but it also allows a romantic and light-hearted spin on an otherwise dark period in our history. Imagining the last living troubadour, on the run from the Inquisition, as the Tarot Fool allows us to smile and laugh along with this main character. Armstrong even builds a clever “tarot card inventor” sub plot which will have tarot deck fanatics begging for more. In fact, there willl be more. Although this story can stand alone as an elaborate quest to recue a woman from the flames of the Inquisition — the Priestess card in the tarot, if you’re wondering — a hope of an entire people, it promises more to come in Books 2 and 3 as the Diableteur, Death card in the Tarot, pursues the escapees across Europe.

What Armstrong has managed to do is take dark and horrible events and shine them up with zesty humor and clever imagery.  It’s a must read, a sizzling blend of satire, adventure, historical romance and comedy. This is as unique as novels come, and it seems Armstrong has found a remarkably distinctive style that crosses genres, a prose signature that is at once unique and approachable. The tarot-based characters are inspired. This is definitely an author to watch.

Addendum — Other Reviewers:

Library Journal:

“Tales about the Inquisition are not supposed to be amusing and entertaining, but Armstrong (The Game) manages to make them just that while keeping historical integrity mostly intact… recommended for all.”

 

 

Title: Ammunition
 Author:  Ken Bruen
 Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur
 
ISBN: 9780312341459
 
Price: $13.95
 

RECOMMENDATION: GOOD READ

 
Reviewed by Theodore Feit
 
Premise and Originality: 7 out of 10
 
Characterization:   8 out of 10
 
Dialogue:   8 out of 10
 
Storyline:   6 out of 10

In the beginning of this rambling novel, a contract killer shoots maverick inspector Brant in the back while he’s drinking in a pub.  Everyone is surprised it hasn’t happened many times before.  The question is who ordered the hit and why, of the many enemies Brant made over the years conducting his unusual  type of policing in southeast London.

The novel includes portrayals of the various police and their reactions to the shooting, from wondering why it hadn’t taken place before to glee as Brant holds on to life in the hospital, ornery as ever.  And it is obvious that another attempt will be made on his life.  But, of course, with Brant you had better succeed the first time—or else.

This reviewer’s reaction to the novel is ambivalent.  The writing is interesting, characterizations poignant.  Yet the story is confusing, except for the main theme of the shooting and Brant’s reaction to it.  But the other players and their stories are less meaningful, and, more important, perplexing, at least to me.

Title: Stalin’s Ghost

 Author: Martin Cruz Smith
 Publisher: Simon & Schuster
 ISBN: 9780743276726
 Price: $26.95
 

Recommendation: Excellent Read

 
Reviewed by Theodore Feit
Premise and Originality: 9 out of 10
Characterization:   9 out of 10
Dialogue:   9 out of 10
Storyline:   9 out of 10

Arkady Renko, senior Moscow investigator, who first made an appearance in Gorky Park, is confronted by a multitude of sub-plots in this novel.  First, there is a flash of Stalin’s supposed ghost seen in a Moscow subway station that served as his war room during World War II.  Then, Renko observes two detectives, reputed war heroes while they served in Chechnya, who he suspects of murders.  Moreover, Renko discovers evidence belying their Chechnya heroism.  Renko’s girlfriend leaves him for one of the detectives, who is campaigning for a Senate seat from a town a couple of hundred miles from Moscow.  And finally, there is the problem of his sometime ward, a young chess prodigy, who comes and goes like the enigma he is.
 
Complicated?  After all, this is a Russian novel.  It is full of present-day corruption, mafia-run casinos?and snow.  And, of course, the past, especially Arkady’s father, the WWII general, one of Stalin’s favorites.  It all comes to an overwhelming conclusion at Tver, the site of a last-ditch stand by the Russians against the invading Nazis.
 
An exciting read.
 
 

Title: The Secret Ever Keeps

Author: Art Tirrell
Publisher: Kunati Inc
ISBN: 9781601640048
Price: $24.95

Recommendation: Must Read

Reviewed by Karen Moyers, Book Review Editor
 Premise and Originality: 8 out of 10
Characterization: 10 out of 10
Dialogue: 9 out of 10
Storyline: 10 out of 10

The Secret Ever Keeps plays at being a great adventure novel, and it is, but the real buried treasure here is in the character saga glittering just below the surface. Tirrell lures us in with the promise of adventure and thrills, and he plays the “summer read” adventure adeptly, yet it is the fragile relationship between a granddaughter and her dying billionaire grandfather that takes Secret from  “excellent read” to “must read.” This is a buried treasure as mysterious and profound as the secret buried in grandfather-billionaire’s past, a dark history he decides to share in vivid and credible time-jumps back to the prohibition era.

Tirrell avoids flashback annoyance by delivering two story streams, one in the present, one in the rum-running days and both are marvelous. On the surface there is the treasure hunt in the present, a parable almost certainly for the granddaughter’s quest for family secrets, and a magnificent “past” adventure full of lost loves, lust, guilt, treacherous deeds and pure unadulterated high-speed thrills. This seamless blend of action and fun with heart-warming cross-generational character-story shouldn’t work, but here it does. A reader can enjoy this on both levels. A perfect summer read.

Title: For One More Day
Author: Mitch Albom
Publisher: Hyperion
ISBN: 1401303277
Price: $21.95

MUST READ

Premise and Originality: 8 out of 10
Characterization:   9 out of 10
Dialogue:   8 out of 10
Storyline:   9 out of 10

Reviewed by Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song

An emotional tribute to family bonds, love and forgiveness

I was totally absorbed by For One More Day by Mitch Albom, and taken back to a time when I, too, was young and everything seemed innocent, confusing and not always explainable. I highly recommend this read, but be prepared―you’ll need a box of Kleenex at your side!

Charles ‘Chick’ Benetto has reached the end of his rope, so to speak. He is divorced and has a daughter who won’t invite him to her wedding, a father who walked out on the family years ago and a mother who is dead. Chick is a washout as a baseball player and finds solace in one thing―alcohol.

Feeling that he has nothing left to live for, nothing to hold onto, he plots his suicide and returns to his family home where he finds it not as empty as it should be. Through his mother’s spirit, Chick learns that things weren’t always as they seemed. He asks questions about his life, about his father, and is surprised by some of the answers. Some of the conversations are bittersweet and sad, while others will make you laugh.

A cross between A Christmas Carol and Ghost, this is a beautifully wrought story that delves into the human psyche and into our yearning to go back and change things…if we had just one more day. For everyone who always wanted to go back in time, take back nasty words or find a sense of understanding, For One More Day is an emotional tribute to family bonds, love and forgiveness. One of Mitch Albom’s finest works! This novel is that one last chance to see things as they were…and to make things right. Don’t we all wish we had that?

Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of The River, Divine Intervention and Whale Song (ISBN: 978-1-60164-007-9 available April 2007 from Kunati Books)

Title: Cross
 
Author:  James Patterson
 
Publisher: Little, Brown
 
ISBN: 0316159794
 
Price: $27.99
 

RECOMMENDATION: GOOD READ

 

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Reviewed by Gloria Feit
 
 
The main characters in this book are Alex Cross, Michael Sullivan and John Sampson.  Alex, the protagonist in this very popular series by James Patterson, after three years of private practice as a psychologist, became a full-time Washington, DC homicide detective before joining the FBI, working primarily as a profiler.   Michael Sullivan is a serial killer/rapist/mob hitman, nicknamed The Butcher.  John Sampson is Alex’ former partner from his cop days, and still his close friend.  The book opens with the murder in 1993 of Alex’ wife, Maria, as she greeted him when he came to pick he r up after work – she died in his arms, and he has never stopped grieving for her.  Since her death, he has continued to work for the FBI, raising his three children with the help of ‘Nana Mama,’ Alex’ grandmother.
 
Fast forward to 2005.  In order to devote more time to his family, Alex quits the FBI, returning to private practice, but remains available as a consultant.  Things change when the police are told by a mob guy trying to broker a plea bargain that he can give them information on Alex’ wife’s murderer, but the man is killed while in jail before he can divulge that long-sought information.  Alex feels he may finally be able to catch the man who has managed to elude capture for over a decade, and he and Sampson go on the hunt.
 
Cliches abound – the psychopath who was abused as a child, who feels nothing but a rush as he adds victims to an ever-growing list.  The acts themselves will bring a grimace, at least, to the reader’s face.  Michael Sullivan is a man who enjoys his work.
 
Cross has already topped the bestseller list, and it is a fast and pretty enjoyable read.  Nonetheless it felt somewhat bloated to this reader and I thought the book, and the sadistic acts committed in it, could have been edited a bit more.
 

Title: Bad Blood
 
Author:  Linda Fairstein
 
Publisher: Scribner
 
ISBN: 0-7432-8748-7
 
Price: $26.00
 

RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

 

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Reviewed by Theodore Feit
 
Premise and Originality: 10 out of 10
 
Characterization:   10 out of 10
 
Dialogue:   9 out of 10
 
Storyline:   10 out of 10
 
 
Alex Cooper and her sidekicks, detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, have been with us now for several excellent novels.  In Bad Blood, they are fine-tuned to the nth degree.  Combining a fast-paced mystery with little-known facts about underground New York City, the author has created perhaps her best work to date.
 
The story starts off with Alex trying a murder case that is beginning to look hopeless, with the defendant likely to get off.  However, as in previous novels, the investigation is ongoing even as the trial progresses.  The defendant, accused of murdering, or arranging the strangulation of, his wife, a few days into the trial overpowers the officer guarding him and grabs her pistol, shooting her in the head, harming two other court officers and escaping custody.  [Not a spoiler – this happens very early on in the novel.]
 
Meanwhile, Chapman and Wallace uncover facts relating to a prior strangulation many years before following a blast in Water Tunnel #3, in which three workers were killed, one of whom was the defendant’s brother.  The body of the earlier victim is exhumed, allowing the author to discuss the latest forensic breakthroughs involving DNA evidence.  Needless to say complications abound, especially with a blood feud between two families of tunnel workers.
 
An exciting finish to this narrative takes place in a little-known subway station—the original—but abandoned—City Hall stop of the city’s first rapid transit system, still probably the most elegant ever constructed in the Big Apple to which nobody has access anymore.  This time there’s less courtroom drama, but more legwork to tell the story.  But the reader races along never tiring right down to the final page.

Title: The Commission
 
Author:  Michael Norman
 
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
 
ISBN: 1590583582
 
Price: $24.95
 

RECOMMENDATION: EXCELLENT READ

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Reviewed by Theodore Feit
 
Premise and Originality: 9 ou of 10
 
Characterization:   9 out of 10
 
Dialogue:   9 out of 10
 
Storyline:   9 out of 10
 

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The murder of the Chairman of the Utah Board of  Pardons sets off a wild and wooly story in which kinky sex throws Sam Kincaid, who heads the Special Investigations Branch of the Utah Department of Corrections, off on a series of tangents, before he and his counterpart, a female Lieutenant from the police department on the right track.  But not before two suspects, one of whom actually did the initial killing, also are murdered.
 
The mystery unfolds slowly, as each investigative step uncovers new facts, with twists and turns to keep the reader in suspense until the mystery’s conclusion.  This well-written and constructed  tale is very much worth reading.

 

Title: Lisey’s Story

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Scribner

ISBN: 0743289412

Price: $28.00

REVIEW RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

The master of all things horrific and gory has once again accomplished a tour de force in his latest novel, Lisey’s Story. Crossing the barrier of conventional suspense and horror―King’s regal trademark―this work shows a much deeper, more emotional and powerfully personal side of the author.

Lisey’s Story is one of supreme tragedy and destined fate, a character study of grief. Two years after the death of her husband Scott, an esteemed author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Lisey Landon discovers a plethora of clues that lead her deeper into her husband’s life and into the chaos of his past. The emotions that the author wrings from his main character provide a heartrending read, one filled with the inherent discovery of truth and the anguish over the loss of a loved one.

Flashback sequences take the reader on a journey of Lisey’s marriage, Scott’s near murder and ultimately his death. But along the road, we learn he hoarded secrets and a life of mental illness. Here is where King’s propensity for supernatural suspense takes over, moving the story along at rapid pace, with heart-stopping moments of sheer terror.

As strangers approach Lisey, desperate for Scott’s unpublished work, her life is endangered and she comes face to face with pure evil. Her journey takes her to Boo’ya Moon, where she finally witnesses what her husband had to face. And thrown into the mix, is Lisey’s own struggle with her sister’s mental illness and deterioration. It is her relationship with her family that pulls at the reader even more, drawing us into Lisey’s world.

Stephen King has demonstrated that his natural talent as a writer far surpasses creating works of horror or suspense, such as Carrie, The Shining or Christine. He is a prolific writer with a seemingly inexhaustible source of ideas that appear to take root almost effortlessly. His novels have noticeably evolved over the years, becoming profoundly more emotional and multifaceted, stockpiling layer upon layer of character development and story elements. Lisey’s Story is indeed a rich tapestry, woven with the finest threads.

A Must, MUST READ!

Reviewer Jack Anthony is a freelance writer, film and book critic, currently residing in Bermuda with his lovely wife, three spoiled children and a Siamese cat with attitude.

Title: The Collectors
 
Author: David Baldacci
Publisher:  Warner Books
ISBN: 0-446-53109-X
Price: $26.99
 

RECOMMENDATION: EXCELLENT READ

 
Reviewed by Theodore Feit
 
Premise and Originality: 9 out of 10
 
Characterization: 9 out of 10
 
Dialogue: 10 out of 10
 
Storyline: 10 out of 10
 
The Camel Club has reconvened in this sequel to the book of the same name.  The unusual foursome, led by Cemetery caretaker Oliver Stone (nee John Carr, former CIA operative), also includes Caleb Shaw, who works in the Rare Book Room of the Library of Co1ngress, which provides the starting point of this mystery.
 
Caleb comes to work one morning to discover the body of his boss, Jonathan DeHaven, dead, of undetermined but apparently natural causes, perhaps a heart attack (although he had received a clean bill of health the previous day at Johns Hopkins).  This death followed the assassination of the Speaker of the house, and the burning of his home.  These seemingly unrelated events set the stage for a haphazard investigation by the Camel Club.
 
Joined in their effort by Annabelle Conroy, con artist par excellence, the group encounters a master of murder who leads a spy ring selling secrets to foreign terrorists.  Along the way, Oliver is kidnapped, as are Caleb and Annabelle, by the opposition.
 
A couple of side stories provide some amusement.  Caleb is named executor of Jonathan’s rare book collection in which he discovers a very rare book—the first ever printed in the United States.  Only 12 are known to exist and this is the 13th.  Is it real or a fraud?  Then there is Annabelle’s long con in which she bilks a murderous Atlantic City casino operator out of $40 million.
 
Tightly written, this novel is as entertaining as its predecessor.  After it is all over, Oliver and Annabelle (who was married to Jonathan for a year and gave him the gift of the rare book), are left musing about the past and the future.  She came to Washington to attend Jonathan’s funeral, changing her plans to flee the country to avoid capture by the casino operator.  Why is she still there?  Perhaps to set the stage for a third Camel Club adventure?  If so, we’ll look forward to it.
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