Flowertown-S. G. Redling

Flowertown


S. G. Redling

Thomas & Mercer, Jun 19 2012, $14.95

ISBN: 9781612183022



Six years ago, Feno Chemical spilled an experimental lethal pesticide in rural Penn County, Iowa. Many residents of what was then Dalesbrook died and not long afterward the army barricaded the survivors inside a containment zone. Medicine is provided to those quarantined to combat the deadly toxin; the flowery odor of the meds has led to the PennCo Containment Area being derogatorily called Flowertown.



Raging Ellie Cauley is sick of brown water and dwindling supplies. Her best friend Bing believes there is an avarice conspiracy to exploit what is going on in Flowertown, but Ellie is uninterested as she only wants to stay high and make love with her Army sergeant boyfriend Guy. However, she cannot ignore what is happening when people die in a bomb blast and vanish via an underground railroad. Ellie finds evidence that supports Bing’s contention, but is unsure whether Guy is her friend and ally or a mole spying on her and the other quarantined. As she begins to uncover what the outside plans for the Flowertown imprisoned, she remains hesitant as to what she should do even as her rage explodes and she finally takes a stand.



Fans who relish an exciting cautionary conspiracy thriller in which it is nearly impossible to figure out what is going on inside and outside the fence will want to read until S.G. Redling’s first published work. The suspenseful storyline grips the audience starting with the eerie front cover and never loses that hook until the final confrontation. The cast seems plausible as paranoia, self-pity and anger are prime traits of the residents while the premise also works reminding readers of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. Flowertown is a taut tale.



Harriet Klausner

Bride of the High Country- Kaki Warner

Bride of the High Country


Kaki Warner

Berkley, Jun 5 2012, $15.00

ISBN: 9780425247501



In 1855 New York City, brothel owner Mrs. Beale sells children to her patrons. A fire guts her place just before the latest auction. Father O’Rourke finds twelve year old Cathleen Donavon in a nearby alley. He takes her to a friend Judge and Mrs. Throckmorten.



In 1870 railroad mogul Doyle Kerrigan and Widow Ida Throckmorten’s ward Margaret Hamilton are engaged. Doyle’s partner Tait Rylander regrets not courting Margaret first as he is attracted to her. Margaret intercedes when she sees a man abusing a woman with a child. She also sees pedophile Horne who she knows from her Beale days; he is running for governor. Doyle says he will take care of the woman who accuses him of murdering her husband. Later she overhears servants talk that the mother and child were dumped in the East River. Margaret learns Doyle was a runner; an occupation that has destroyed many Irish lives including her family.



On the wedding day, Ida tells her to go west. At the ceremony, Doyle gives his bride railroad stock. However, before they sign the documents that would legalize their marriage, Ida shams she cannot breathe. She persuades Margaret to leave giving her a pre-packaged valise. Margaret takes the stock with her and leaves. Doyle is angry and Tait confused as they fail to find Margaret. Tait soon follows her as she flees the city



The latest Runaway Bride historical romance (see Colorado Dawn and Heartbreak Creek) is a wonderful tale that brings to life Post Civil War America through the eyes of the super survivor heroine and a strong secondary cast. Fans will appreciate this deep drama as Margaret proves her mettle.



Harriet Klausner

The Scarlet Bride-Cheryl Ann Smith

The Scarlet Bride


Cheryl Ann Smith

Berkley, Jun 5 2012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780425250815



Simon Harrington hears a woman cry and sees two footmen accost a female. He rescues Laura and takes her to a home where sisters Eva and Noelle sponsor a school to rescue courtesans. Laura fears her patron Earl of Westwick who held her prisoner for fourteen months in a locked room while torturing her; she expects him to kill her. He was selling Sabine as he called her at an auction when she escaped.



Two weeks later, Laura feels good as her enemy has not found her. Simon asks her to come help him decorate an estate he just bought. She agrees but is shocked as the estate was owned by her cousin and she and her late dad lived there. She even married here but her husband said they never wed as the parson was a fake. He used her as his sex prisoner. Simon admires Laura’s spirit that was not broken. A storm forces them to spend the night there. Laura and Simon make love. Later Laura learns Westwick was murdered allegedly by his missing courtesan Sabine. Simon plans to find the real killer.



The third School for Brides Regency romance (see An Accidental Courtesan) nicely sets the time and place mostly through how much power a male exerts over a female. The heroine is a courageous person who suffered terrible abuse, but never lost her spirit; while the lead male is a strong person. Although the killer gets in and out of secure places too easily and two early major coincidences involving random encounters seem improbable, fans will appreciate this investigative historical thriller.



Harriet Klausner

The Family Corleone-Ed Falco

The Family Corleone


Ed Falco

Grand Central, May 8 2012

ISBN: 9780446574624



The Great Depression has left most people ruined. However, one of the most thriving market businesses is fuelled by the Prohibition that has led to crime families making a fortune selling bootlegged liquor. However, the social experiment since the end of WWI has been repealed by 1933. The crime families will compete for control of other illegal activities as their government sponsored great profit maker comes to an end.



In New York, Don Vito Corleone worries about his children’s future. His three youngest kids (Michael, Fredo, and Connie) attend school while his adopted son Tom Hagen goes to college, but alienates lunatic Luca Brasi. However, Vito is upset with his oldest offspring seventeen year old Sonny. He wants Sonny to become a businessman, but his son prefers the old fashioned violent way to affirm he is next in line to run the family business. The Don knows his son is too ragingly violent to head the family though he lectures him to know when to use your heart instead of always your gun or fists. Meanwhile in the boroughs, Corleone’s enemy Giuseppe Mariposa teams up with Emilio Barzini and Phillip Tattaglia to destroy the family.



This is an engaging Godfather entry that takes place when Vito is a relatively young Don with small children and a volatile teen. The key is that the personalities that make up Mario Puzo’s saga remain consistent as for instance Vito uses the Teddy Roosevelt mantra to “speak softly and carry a big stick…” Fans will appreciate Ed Falco’s strong entry, which hopefully leads to more 1930s prequels.



Harriet Klausner

The Other Romanian-Anne Argula

The Other Romanian


Anne Argula

Caravel/Pleasure Boat Studios, Jun 15 2012, $16.00

www.pleasureboatstudio.com

ISBN: 9781929355853



Seattle Police Detective Sergeant Beckman calls the number he finds written on a Copper Gate matchbook cover possessed by a murdered John Doe without any ID. Former Spokane cop turned private investigator Quinn answers the call. The cop asks her to ID the corpse; she does not recognize him nor know how he got her number. At the Copper Gate, Quinn chats with the bartender and receives a text message from Bruno that states: “Stefano must die.” She does not know either man.



Shelly Lavender, wife of missing and presumed dead famous Hollywood screenwriter Alex Krapp, asks Quinn to investigate what happened to her husband who vanished while biking two years ago. She explains an unknown person sent Krapp’s last cassettes to her; she chose Quinn because she knows the sleuth loved Krapp whom she met when he hired her (see KRAPP'S LAST CASSETTE). Quinn listens to the cassettes until a clue leads to a young female biker Krapp met on the road. Soon the missing person’s case, the strange Bruno calls, Beckman’s homicide investigation, and a Hitler 18 Karat bookmark has Quinn wondering whether she should become a full time writer.



Quinn's fourth fabulous mystery (see WALLA WALLA SUITE and HOMICIDE, MY OWN) is an excellent thriller filled with twists that keep readers wondering what next as nothing is quite like it seems. The heroine has a need to know re Krapp though she wishes that wasn’t so while the Bruno scenario just will not go away. With Beckman encouraging her to get involved and help on his case while assisting her with the calls, readers will appreciate Quinn’s adventures as she is caught in the crosshairs by The Other Romanian.



Harriet Klausner

Everything Zing: Winter-Grant Stone

Everything Zing: Winter


Grant Stone

Tate Publishing, Nov 29 2011, $21.99

ISBN: 9781613466827



On December 24, 1999, George Everest of Manhattan believed in a big spectacular entrance. He just was unprepared for this one when he looked out his apartment window. He was falling rather fast through a colorful spectrum until he stopped and began moving horizontally. Finally he landed on a soft surface after having fallen through the roof of Grand Central Station. However, when he opens his eyes he sees a Christmas pageant with animated figures singing; that is until the tree fell in his chest. George Everest believes in a big entrance and this one was a doozy.



However, his adventures have just begun when he ends up on the Train of Thought until he reaches Ozilline’s cottage on Lake Englehook. There Marnie and Ozilline discuss how the survival of the Imagine Nation Kingdom rests with George because Landon believes his teacher George owns the unexplained hourglass that means only doom. All these Pursesands children wonder how life can pathetically twist to make an adult hold the Key to saving their kingdom from their nemesis.



This whimsical odd fantasy grips the audience from the moment readers feel we accompany George on his mystical journey. Fast-paced and filled with action, fans will appreciate this turn of the millennium adventure as George feels like a sort of Gulliver working a dangerous holiday gig in which two adversarial camps know he is the key to victory or defeat.



Harriet Klausner

Terminal Point-K.M. Ruiz

Terminal Point


K.M. Ruiz

Dunne, Jun 19 2012, $25.99

ISBN 9780312681555



Two and a half centuries have passed since the global nuclear war eradicated much of the population. The planet has not recovered from the radiation battering. However, one thing remains the same from the pre-war; a small group of wealthy "registered" as the five generations of throwback purebred humanity World Court led currently by Nathan Serca rules over the short lived Stryker force psions who possess psi skills.



To escape the dying planet that he cedes to the psions, the gene trash and his son by leaving for the Mars Colony of the Pure, Nathan hides his psi powers. His traitorous son Lucas has joined a rebel syndicate of former Strykers led by Threnody Corwin. She and her team hope to save the world for the humans while the World Court wants them dead so they can continue to exploit psi and human. However, Threnody is unaware that the Pure Lucas and his warhounds are of her kind.



The second Strykers Syndicate futuristic post-apocalyptic thriller (see Mind Storm) is an exciting gory military science fiction thriller that continues the blood and guts flow as the countdown to earth’s demise is running out. Fast-paced and loaded with feral action, the storyline never digs deep into what any of the prime three surviving groups think re a dying planet except tor the World Court leaving behind what they wrought as they reject accountability. Still fans who enjoy blood and guts will want to read Terminal Pont as mankind’s reign is through.”



Harriet Klausner