The Carousel Seas-Sharon Lee

The Carousel Seas

Sharon Lee

Baen, Jan 6 2015, $15.00

ISBN: 9781476736969

In sort of Maine but more accurately the Six Worlds’ Changing Land, Kate Archer the Guardian of the Land of Archers Beach, risks everything to free those otherworld badass felons incarcerated in the animals of the Fantasy Menagerie Carousel that she is the keeper.  Though she knows the Wise will be irate with her liberation, Kate assumes all those locked away have left earth.  Thus she believes she has time for her personal life starting with seeing the Guardian of the Gulf of Maine, Borgan. 

However, her assumption proves false as one of those she free stayed behind in the sea where she recalls that at one time she reigned there as a Goddess.  She has two goals: to regain her former regal status and to make Borgan hers.  When she kills goblins, the sea turns hostile to everyone living nearby starting with a massive jellyfish invasion and a sudden ceasing of waves.  She next attacks those her beloved cherishes like Kate, and challenges Borgan for control of Gulf of Maine.  The two guardians and other allies need to find a way to end her tyranny before this evil takes full control.

The third Archers Beach urban fantasy (see Carousel Sun and Carousel Tides) is a spellbinding contemporary filled with action and a caring heroine who learns that good intentions do not always lead to good outcomes.  This magical Maine thriller hooks the audience due to the fabulous lead triangle.

Harriet Klausner

Death In Nostalgia City-Mark S. Bacon

Death In Nostalgia City

Mark S. Bacon

Black Opal Books, Sep 23 2014, $12.99

www.blackopalbooks.com

ISBN: 9781626941748

In Arizona, retired Phoenix cop Lyle Deming drives a 1973 Dodge taxi in Nostalgia City; a town that targets baby boomer tourists with its authentic 1970s replication.  With two passengers, Lyle brakes at a stop sign when he notices a driverless vehicle picking up speed while heading towards him and his fare.  He accelerates though the runaway scrapes the back of his car.  Chief of Security Clyde Bates arrives to investigate what turns out to be murder when a firefighter finds a corpse.

Nostalgia City President septuagenarian Archibald “Max: Maxwell hires Lyle to investigate surreptitiously.  Max also persuades his former employee, well over six foot relations guru Kate Sorenson to leave Vegas for Flagstaff at a time when the press is all bad.  Although both have major personal issues, Kate and Lyle form a cohesive unit looking into the lethal occurrences.  When more deadly incidents happen, Lyle and Kate begin to believe investors with an insider quisling or two are sabotaging Max’s efforts; which leads them diagonally across the country to Massachusetts where they deploy methods a cop could never use.

The investigation engages the audience especially with a six foot plus female trying to be inconspicuous.  However, the exhilarating storyline belongs to Nostalgia City’s early 1970s theme that captures much of the era’s pop culture; especially baby boomers who heard "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan on AM and watched the first showing of the soaps and All in the Family. 

Harriet Klausner

Murder-Sarah Pinborough

Murder

Sarah Pinborough

Jo Fletcher Books, Jan 6 2015, $26.99

www.jofletcherbooks.com

ISBN: 9781623658663

Several years have passed since police surgeon Thomas Bond turned to opium to dull the images of the Ripper and Torso victims (see Mayhem) although he still sees his once serene London as a nightmare.  His fears delayed Thomas telling the Torso killer’s Widow Juliana Harrington that he loves her; but feels the time is right to present his heart to her.  However, his paranoia that more vicious lunatics stalk the streets especially since he knows dormant Jack remains out there intensifies when visiting American Edward Kane shows him letters that the deceased Thames Torso Killer James Harrington sent him in the late 1880s.  Adding to Bond’s discomfit is the foreigner courts his beloved.

When several murders of children left floating in the Thames occur, the police believe Ripper is back though these are not the same demographics of his previous victims.  While the cops hope this time to catch the elusive slasher, Bond looks back at the evidence from the Thames Torso and the previous Ripper cases.  This leads him to what his rational mind rejected back in ’87 as unreal.

Once again using a genuine historical person to tell the dark sequel, Sarah Pinborough provides a taut late Victorian crime thriller with the same stunning Eastern European spin.  There is less focus on the victims than in the predecessor, as the early focus is more on the romantic triangle.  Like a magician Ms. Pinborough pulls away the comfortable cozy rug and replaces it with a very grim and gory Murder drama only to pull that rug away too leaving a stunned audience with an incredible unexpected climatic twist.

Harriet Klausner

The Empty Throne-Bernard Cornwell

The Empty Throne

Bernard Cornwell

Harper, Jan 6 2015, $27.99

ISBN: 9780062250711

Although a dozen years have passed since his father King Alfred the Great died, in 911 King Edward the Elder still hopes to achieve his dad’s dream of uniting all the Saxons under his rule.  However, achieving his aspirations seems impossible as Danish invaders and Viking raiders plague the land.  Adding to his fears of failure is learning that his staunchest supporter, his brother-in-law Mercia ruler Lord Æthelred, died in combat. 

Æthelred left no heir so several individuals claim his throne.  However, Æthelred’s widow Lady Æthelflaed has the most support to include that of her brother and many Mercians though whether the warriors will follow a female into war remains questionable.  She persuades the ealdormen lords to back her assertion though they fail to crown her.  Still with her greatest ally, her lover Uhtred the Pagan having her back, Æthelflaed leads the Mercian forces in combat against several adversaries.  However, the biggest threat to the Lady of Mercia’s rule comes from a betrayal from within.  At the same time wounded Uhtred falls in love with his healer Eadith.

The eighth Saxon Tale (see The Pagan Lord and Death of Kings) is a great entry as Bernard Cornwell transports his audience to early tenth century England.  The storyline is filled with action yet also brings to life the tumultuous times (is there any era not tumultuous?) through a fully developed deep cast; as once again Mr. Cornwell makes a strong case that the island could easily have become Scandinavian instead of Saxon.

Harriet Klausner

Strands of Sorrow-John Ringo

Strands of Sorrow

John Ringo

Baen, Jan 6 2015, $25.00

ISBN 9781476736952

Having developed a vaccine, begun mass production, and inoculated the fleet; US Wolf Squadron chief Steven John Smith changes the mission emphasis from island hopping to a North American land invasion to take control of the continent from the insane diseased.  The deployment initially focuses on finding survivors on military bases in order to increase the trained warfighting force.  As such Chief of the Pacific Fleet Commodore Montana leads his ships in the San Diego area where he encounters unexpected obstacles like an active unmanned reactor.

However, as military personnel are liberated, the transition of bringing them into the zombie-fighting force leads to conflict between the pre-apocalypse and the new order.  Few if any career soldier or sailor accepts orders from teenage girls even if they are Commander Smith’s commissioned officer daughters and elite experienced anti-zombie warriors.  This political in-fighting slows down the efforts to take back America and if not resolved may end the world’s last hope.

The fourth Black Tide Rising apocalypse thriller (see Islands of Rage and Hope, To Sail a Darkling Sea and Under a Graveyard Sky) is an engaging military tale especially made fresh by John Ringo satirizing the internal war between old and new Navy.  Although over the top as the first daughters have become the equivalent of DC comics Wonder Girl, series fans will appreciate the Smith family and associates efforts to take back the United States.

Harriet Klausner

You’re So Fine-Kieran Kramer

You’re So Fine

Kieran Kramer

St. Martin’s Paperbacks, Dec 30 2014, $7.99

ISBN 978125009920

Lacey Clark’s Hollywood résumé was a string of bad movies and two former boyfriends.  A loner since her mom and stepfather never had time for her, Lacey surprisingly adopts Henry.  Knowing her failed time in Southern California is over, Lacey, accompanied by five years old Henry, moves into the lighthouse in Indigo Beach, South Carolina that her recent ex Callum leased for six weeks while he and her former boss are filming on location.

Superstar actor Beau Wilder has performed in several successful romantic comedies.  However, when his contract requires him to act in an indie, Beau expects several weeks of artsy torture.  Thus he temporarily leaves Los Angeles to reside in a lighthouse in Indigo Beach, South Carolina that he traded Laker tickets for with Callum.  Beau and Lacey are attracted to each other and he likes the child, but knows they deserve much more than he can offer them.  As he falls in love with mother and son, Beau gives them as much as he can.  However, morally his equal, Lacey accepts since she is a purebred GRITS while her beloved may be a product of the south but belongs in SOCAL; she must send him back to the other coast.

This pleasant romantic screwball comedy contains a serious element involving relationship phobia as the two adult leads have bad histories.  Like those madcap 1930s films, You're So Fine is over the top (of the lighthouse), but also flows with zany southern charm starring a Hollywood superheavyweight and a single mom whose most memorable film role was in Biker Aliens.

Harriet Klausner

Unbound-Jim C. Hines

Unbound

Jim C. Hines

Daw, Jan 6 2015, $24.95

ISBN: 9780756409685

Five centuries ago, Gutenberg learned to master the magic of Libriomancy.  To keep the world safe, he formed the elite Die Zwelf Portenaere Doorkeeper Porters to prevent the spread of magic.  Recently in Copper Lake, Michigan teenager Jeneta Aboderin introduced a new spin when she released a snake from her Smartphone.  Gutenberg assigned Porter Isaac Vainio to mentor the fourteen year old girl with unique e-book Libriomancy talent (see Codex Born).

Exiled for a millennium, Meridiana returns and possesses Jeneta’s body with a short-term goal of obtaining Pope Sylvester II’s artifact that would enable her to lead her dead minions in her quest to achieve her long-term objective of ruling the world and beyond.  Though Gutenberg took away his Porters’ power, and deeply depressed for failing his ward and his assigned mission, Vainio vows to rescue his former apprentice.  He knows this means his Porter peers will join their adversaries to hunt him down, and that he and his loyal allies (Smudge the fire-spider, Lena Greenwood the dryad warrior and Dr. Nidhi Shah the psychiatrist) must enter the darkest black market to find the means to rescue the adolescent.

The third Magic Ex Libris urban fantasy is a terrific thriller due to the deeply developed cast; especially the troubled hero who comes across very realistic as he struggles to overcome his sense of loss and his paralyzing guilt.  Filled with action, pathos and humor, this is an enchanting entry; but newbies first should read the opening act Libriomancer to understand Hines quantum physics and Codex Born to know how far Vainio fell from grace from being the envy of the other Porters to their scorned foe.

Harriet Klausner