Gears of War: Anvil Gate
Karen Travis
Del Rey, Aug 31 2010, $16.00
ISBN: 9780345499455
The Locust Horde has been apparently destroyed at a high cost to the victors (see Aspho Fields and Jacinto’s Remnant). Those who survived begin the arduous seemingly impossible task of rebuilding human civilizations using the fortifications of the defeated enemy as the anchor.
The survivors contend with pirates and outlaws, but having triumphed against a much stronger opponent, the Gears barely blink from a minor threat. However, the idyll of victory ends abruptly as Gears leader Marcus Fenix learned of a new menace much greater than the Locus Horde who feared this adversary. This beast is stalking sentient beings as it marches towards the remote island where the Gears and Stranded must cooperate in what could be last stand using the siege tactics of the Anvil Gate.
The latest Gears of War novel (see Aspho Fields and Jacinto’s Remnant) tied to the games is a terrific entry as Karen Travis provides a fascinating spin to the military science fiction saga. Marcus is marvelous as he is stunned to learn of the existence of a predator that frightens the fearless Locus Horde; whatever this species is he figures is bad news as your enemy’s enemy remains your enemy. Fans of the full Gears of War universe will want to read the exhilarating fast-paced Anvil Gate as things have gotten dramatically worse for Marcus and his crew.
Harriet Klausner
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Truth of Valor-Tanya Huff
The Truth of Valor
Tanya Huff
Daw, Sep 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9780756406202
The war between the Confederacy and the Others has been going on for a long time. Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr was proud of serving as a Confederacy marine because she believed in the cause. She eventually learns that both fighting forces were part of a scientific experiment by sentient plastic beings, who hide in plain sight amidst the abundance of plastic products. These insidious beings are exposed, but Torin leaves the marines anyway to become a salvage operator with her lover Craig Ryder.
The end of the war left a power vacuum especially in the outer reaches of space. Pirates filled the void; stealing and pillaging ships, Cho captured an armory that is code locked by the CSO officer and when he kidnapped someone who could open it, he used too much force on the mperson who died from the torture. Now Cho abducts Ryder; Torin vows to find and rescue him. Ryder knows what his beloved will do so will not abet Cho with the armor he wants to deploy. He waits for her to come and get him.
Having left the Confederation military, The Truth of Valor is Torin’s first civilian adventure and though no longer a powerful military science fiction, the heroine’s enthusiasm and diligence remains as strong as ever in this veteran outer space thriller. The spin from marine to vet refreshes the Valor Confederation series as Torin and Ryder begin a new phase in their lives together. Fans of the series will appreciate Tanya Huff’s talent as she uses the frightening premise of a rogue killer obtaining a nuke as the underlying premise of her heroine’s rescue attempt of her beloved while a psychopath pirate possesses weapons of mass destruction
Harriet Klausner
Tanya Huff
Daw, Sep 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9780756406202
The war between the Confederacy and the Others has been going on for a long time. Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr was proud of serving as a Confederacy marine because she believed in the cause. She eventually learns that both fighting forces were part of a scientific experiment by sentient plastic beings, who hide in plain sight amidst the abundance of plastic products. These insidious beings are exposed, but Torin leaves the marines anyway to become a salvage operator with her lover Craig Ryder.
The end of the war left a power vacuum especially in the outer reaches of space. Pirates filled the void; stealing and pillaging ships, Cho captured an armory that is code locked by the CSO officer and when he kidnapped someone who could open it, he used too much force on the mperson who died from the torture. Now Cho abducts Ryder; Torin vows to find and rescue him. Ryder knows what his beloved will do so will not abet Cho with the armor he wants to deploy. He waits for her to come and get him.
Having left the Confederation military, The Truth of Valor is Torin’s first civilian adventure and though no longer a powerful military science fiction, the heroine’s enthusiasm and diligence remains as strong as ever in this veteran outer space thriller. The spin from marine to vet refreshes the Valor Confederation series as Torin and Ryder begin a new phase in their lives together. Fans of the series will appreciate Tanya Huff’s talent as she uses the frightening premise of a rogue killer obtaining a nuke as the underlying premise of her heroine’s rescue attempt of her beloved while a psychopath pirate possesses weapons of mass destruction
Harriet Klausner
Monday, August 2, 2010
Resurrection in May-Lisa Samson
Resurrection in May
Thomas Nelson, Aug 2010, $14.99
ISBN: 9781595545442
In 1994, having just graduated from college, May Seymour feels lost as to what to do next with her life as she spent much of her academia as a party animal. When May stumbles onto a street drunk, septuagenarian farmer Claudius Borne hits her. He takes her to his farm near Harmony, Kentucky to heal. They become more than friends as she is the granddaughter he never had and he is the grandfather she badly needs.
A few months later, both are sad when May-May as he calls her leaves on a church a mission trip to Rwanda. When genocide erupts in the African nation, the United Nations begins to evacuate foreigners. May returns to what she considers home, Claudius and his Borne’s Last Chance farm. She becomes as reclusive as her beloved mentor until she learns Eli Campbell, her boyfriend from college, is on death row wanting to die.
This is an entertaining somewhat melancholy inspirational character study of an elderly male and a young female forming a strong relationship that each needs at a pivotal point in their lives. That warmth enables May to try to reach out to Eli in order to encourage him to embrace life and God with what time he has left. Although there is too many back stories detracting from the “present”, sub-genre readers will appreciate this realistic portrayal of joy and sorrow simultaneously as God works in mysterious ways.
Harriet Klausner
Thomas Nelson, Aug 2010, $14.99
ISBN: 9781595545442
In 1994, having just graduated from college, May Seymour feels lost as to what to do next with her life as she spent much of her academia as a party animal. When May stumbles onto a street drunk, septuagenarian farmer Claudius Borne hits her. He takes her to his farm near Harmony, Kentucky to heal. They become more than friends as she is the granddaughter he never had and he is the grandfather she badly needs.
A few months later, both are sad when May-May as he calls her leaves on a church a mission trip to Rwanda. When genocide erupts in the African nation, the United Nations begins to evacuate foreigners. May returns to what she considers home, Claudius and his Borne’s Last Chance farm. She becomes as reclusive as her beloved mentor until she learns Eli Campbell, her boyfriend from college, is on death row wanting to die.
This is an entertaining somewhat melancholy inspirational character study of an elderly male and a young female forming a strong relationship that each needs at a pivotal point in their lives. That warmth enables May to try to reach out to Eli in order to encourage him to embrace life and God with what time he has left. Although there is too many back stories detracting from the “present”, sub-genre readers will appreciate this realistic portrayal of joy and sorrow simultaneously as God works in mysterious ways.
Harriet Klausner
Never ending-snake-Aimée and David Thurlo
Never ending-snake
Aimée and David Thurlo
Forge, Aug 31 2010, $24.99
ISBN 9780765324504
At an airfield landing strip neat Shiprock, New Mexico, two men fire at Navajo Tribal Police Special Investigator Ella Clah, her former boyfriend and father of her daughter Dawn attorney Kevin Tolino and Afghanistan veteran turned Navaho lobbyist Adam Lonewolf. The trio was returning from D.C. when they were attacked. Ella and Kevin received minor injuries while Adam is severely hurt.
His two traveling companions are stunned to learn Adam had $75,000 in a Monopoly game he was carrying, but his condition does not allow Ella to ask him why. Ella and Chief Big Ed Atcitty wonder if the assault’s prime target was Kevin, who is working a legal suit against casino manager Alan Grady. Ella also considers the possibility the attack is linked to the controversial Prickly Weed alternative fuel project on tribal lands.
This is a terrific and powerful Ella Clah police procedural as the heroine works the assassination attempt as well as dealing with personal decisions that deeply impact Dawn. The case is difficult to resolve as any of the trio could have been the prime target so motive is hard to choose as each has enemies. Enhancing the story line is a profound timely look at alternative energy as Team Thurlo’s fifteenth Clah whodunit is a great entry (see Coyote’s Wife and Earthway).
Harriet Klausner
Aimée and David Thurlo
Forge, Aug 31 2010, $24.99
ISBN 9780765324504
At an airfield landing strip neat Shiprock, New Mexico, two men fire at Navajo Tribal Police Special Investigator Ella Clah, her former boyfriend and father of her daughter Dawn attorney Kevin Tolino and Afghanistan veteran turned Navaho lobbyist Adam Lonewolf. The trio was returning from D.C. when they were attacked. Ella and Kevin received minor injuries while Adam is severely hurt.
His two traveling companions are stunned to learn Adam had $75,000 in a Monopoly game he was carrying, but his condition does not allow Ella to ask him why. Ella and Chief Big Ed Atcitty wonder if the assault’s prime target was Kevin, who is working a legal suit against casino manager Alan Grady. Ella also considers the possibility the attack is linked to the controversial Prickly Weed alternative fuel project on tribal lands.
This is a terrific and powerful Ella Clah police procedural as the heroine works the assassination attempt as well as dealing with personal decisions that deeply impact Dawn. The case is difficult to resolve as any of the trio could have been the prime target so motive is hard to choose as each has enemies. Enhancing the story line is a profound timely look at alternative energy as Team Thurlo’s fifteenth Clah whodunit is a great entry (see Coyote’s Wife and Earthway).
Harriet Klausner
Body Work Sara Paretsky-
Body Work
Sara Paretsky
Putnam, Aug 31 2010, $26.95
ISBN 9780399156748
At Chicago's in Club Gouge, private investigator V.I. Warshawski is watching her troublesome younger cousin Petra. On stage, trendy performance artist Karen “The Body Artist” Buckley encourages her audience to join her in order to use her naked body as a canvas to paint on. One participant draws an elaborate design on the back of Karen; however, Iraqi War veteran Chad Vishneski is outraged with the picture and lets everyone knows as he shouts profanities.
Two nights later, the “Body Artist” whose body painting caused the outburst is shot dead near Club Gouge. The police name Chad a person of interest. His concerned estranged parents hire Warshawski to prove their troubled son did not kill the woman. Her inquiry drifts back and forth between the Chicago war zone and the Middle East theaters of operation, but each step the detective takes seems filled with IEDs.
The latest Warshawski Hardball noir is a strong entry as the kick butt sleuth takes no prisoners while working the mean streets of Chicago’s North Side. Action packed and tough on the case yet sensitive in her personal relationships, fans of the long running series will conclude V.I. Warshawski (and Sara Paretsky) still has it.
Harriet Klausner
Sara Paretsky
Putnam, Aug 31 2010, $26.95
ISBN 9780399156748
At Chicago's in Club Gouge, private investigator V.I. Warshawski is watching her troublesome younger cousin Petra. On stage, trendy performance artist Karen “The Body Artist” Buckley encourages her audience to join her in order to use her naked body as a canvas to paint on. One participant draws an elaborate design on the back of Karen; however, Iraqi War veteran Chad Vishneski is outraged with the picture and lets everyone knows as he shouts profanities.
Two nights later, the “Body Artist” whose body painting caused the outburst is shot dead near Club Gouge. The police name Chad a person of interest. His concerned estranged parents hire Warshawski to prove their troubled son did not kill the woman. Her inquiry drifts back and forth between the Chicago war zone and the Middle East theaters of operation, but each step the detective takes seems filled with IEDs.
The latest Warshawski Hardball noir is a strong entry as the kick butt sleuth takes no prisoners while working the mean streets of Chicago’s North Side. Action packed and tough on the case yet sensitive in her personal relationships, fans of the long running series will conclude V.I. Warshawski (and Sara Paretsky) still has it.
Harriet Klausner
The Unbelievers-Alastair Sim
The Unbelievers
Alastair Sim
Minotaur, Sep 14 2010, $23.99
ISBN: 9780312621698
In the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Queen Victoria, the Duke of Dornoch vanishes without a trace in Scotland. Chief Constable Sir Joseph Stewart, Her majesty’s Secretary for Scotland Viscount Dunstre, the Lord Advocate Lord Kinnordy, and Superintendent Burgess inform Inspector Archibald Allerdyce that this is a delicate matter so they must investigate with tact. Allerdyce and Sergeant Hector McGillivray begin their inquiries although the lead inspector publicly obeys but silently objects as he knows the foolishness of the aristocracy can prove a waste of time; he prefers inquiries into commoners.
The inspector quickly finds out that just before the aristocrat disappeared he received a telegram. On the Dornoch estate in Edinburgh, the two sleuths find his corpse in a well. The brass wants Allerdyce to find evidence that will hang a troublemaking mine union leader However, a second homicide has Allerdyce fearing the killer is someone he knows and cares about.
This is a fabulous Victorian era police procedural that brings to life 1865 Edinburgh as well as the workings of the British bureaucratic aristocratic leadership of that period. The inspector and the sergeant are delightful leads as they go from diplomatic low keyed inquiries into a missing duke to an assertive still discreet murder mystery and ultimately aggressive multi homicide investigation. Although readers will spot the killer before the cops, no one will care as Alastair Sim provides a strong historical whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
Alastair Sim
Minotaur, Sep 14 2010, $23.99
ISBN: 9780312621698
In the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Queen Victoria, the Duke of Dornoch vanishes without a trace in Scotland. Chief Constable Sir Joseph Stewart, Her majesty’s Secretary for Scotland Viscount Dunstre, the Lord Advocate Lord Kinnordy, and Superintendent Burgess inform Inspector Archibald Allerdyce that this is a delicate matter so they must investigate with tact. Allerdyce and Sergeant Hector McGillivray begin their inquiries although the lead inspector publicly obeys but silently objects as he knows the foolishness of the aristocracy can prove a waste of time; he prefers inquiries into commoners.
The inspector quickly finds out that just before the aristocrat disappeared he received a telegram. On the Dornoch estate in Edinburgh, the two sleuths find his corpse in a well. The brass wants Allerdyce to find evidence that will hang a troublemaking mine union leader However, a second homicide has Allerdyce fearing the killer is someone he knows and cares about.
This is a fabulous Victorian era police procedural that brings to life 1865 Edinburgh as well as the workings of the British bureaucratic aristocratic leadership of that period. The inspector and the sergeant are delightful leads as they go from diplomatic low keyed inquiries into a missing duke to an assertive still discreet murder mystery and ultimately aggressive multi homicide investigation. Although readers will spot the killer before the cops, no one will care as Alastair Sim provides a strong historical whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
The Ascent-Ronald Malfi
The Ascent
Ronald Malfi
Medallion, Sep 1 2010, $24.95
ISBN 9781605420677
Affluent risk-taker Andrew Trumbauer loves to take on an impossible challenge. His current quest is to climb an impossible Himalayan peak in Nepal that has never been achieved. He and his selected team of six will traverse the Himalayas’ Valley of Walls until they reach the Sanctuary of the Gods before crossing the impossible Canyon of Souls that none has successfully crossed. Andrew will fund the entire venture and also pay his comrades for the daredevil risk they take.
One of the chosen is renowned sculptor Widower Tim Overleigh, who quit art for extreme sports having never recovered from his wife Hannah walking out on him and before he could attempt reconciliation with her; she died in a car crash. He turned to alcohol to dim the mental anguish of loss, compounded by a caving incident. Now as he and the others make their ascent, Tim begins to believe that their fearless leader has two overlapping plans with one obviously to complete the unattainable and the other is pure sinister.
This is an exhilarating thriller as man challenges the Himalayas and each other on a quest that seems almost suicidal yet they try because it is there. Fast-paced, the story line spins from perilous mountain climbing into something more hazardous than hanging off a cliff at the top of the world. Readers will relish Ronald Malfi’s exciting tale as the men make a dramatic Ascent to the top of the world, but cannot ascend man’s insidious nature.
Harriet Klausner
Ronald Malfi
Medallion, Sep 1 2010, $24.95
ISBN 9781605420677
Affluent risk-taker Andrew Trumbauer loves to take on an impossible challenge. His current quest is to climb an impossible Himalayan peak in Nepal that has never been achieved. He and his selected team of six will traverse the Himalayas’ Valley of Walls until they reach the Sanctuary of the Gods before crossing the impossible Canyon of Souls that none has successfully crossed. Andrew will fund the entire venture and also pay his comrades for the daredevil risk they take.
One of the chosen is renowned sculptor Widower Tim Overleigh, who quit art for extreme sports having never recovered from his wife Hannah walking out on him and before he could attempt reconciliation with her; she died in a car crash. He turned to alcohol to dim the mental anguish of loss, compounded by a caving incident. Now as he and the others make their ascent, Tim begins to believe that their fearless leader has two overlapping plans with one obviously to complete the unattainable and the other is pure sinister.
This is an exhilarating thriller as man challenges the Himalayas and each other on a quest that seems almost suicidal yet they try because it is there. Fast-paced, the story line spins from perilous mountain climbing into something more hazardous than hanging off a cliff at the top of the world. Readers will relish Ronald Malfi’s exciting tale as the men make a dramatic Ascent to the top of the world, but cannot ascend man’s insidious nature.
Harriet Klausner
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