Ice-Linda Howard

Ice

Linda Howard

Ballantine, Nov 10 2009, $24.00

ISBN: 9780345517197

 

Gabriel McQueen drives up from North Carolina to spend the holidays with his family in Wilson Creek, Maine.  The widowed soldier looks forward to time with “Gran”, his dad the sheriff and his son Sam.  However, his father asks him to take a quick run up to the Helton family cabin to make sure Lolly Helton, who went up there to pick ups some items, but should have returned by now and is out of phone contact, is all right as a nasty storm is coming.

 

As Gabe muses back to his icy childhood rivalry with Lolly while driving to her cabin, she is in danger trapped by two irrational meth addicts.  Gabe quickly assesses the situation on the ground and uses his military training and experience to extract Lolly from the house and the enemy.  However, as covertness as he was, the two maniacal thugs go after them.

 

This is an exciting fast-paced romantic suspense with the frozen isolated location enhancing the perilous situation.  Gabe is a terrific heroic protagonist although it is convenient to have his background in extraction and survivability under harsh conditions.  Lolly still rips skins form him as he discovers how to melt the Ice and prevent further epidermis loss by kissing her.  Although the addicts are stereotypes fans will enjoy Linda Howard’s quick by exhilarating survival of the fittest thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Under the Dome-Stephen King

Under the Dome

Stephen King

Scribner, Nov 10 2009, $35.00

ISBN: 9781439148501

 

In Chester’s Mill, Maine Big Jim Rennie runs the small town through underhanded extortionist politics and illegal drug dealing.  His son is a bully throwing his father’s influential weight at others.  Few overtly counter this pair of leading citizens, but army veteran Dale “Barbie” Barbara and newspaper editor Julia Shumway lead the opposition.

 

Already somewhat isolated due to its location, an invisible dome suddenly falls over the entire remote New England village; dropped by the Overlords who live amongst us and have chosen this place apparently for one of their experiments.  Things begin to happen rather quickly starting with the plane crash and the tractor explosion.  Nothing can enter or leave.  Over a short period of time the infrastructure begins to collapse and survival means enemies teaming up.  Some claim this is God’s punishment and wait for the Rapture; others believe that Big Jim made a bad deal with his drug overlords, but some like short order cook Barbie insist it is something else.  As conditions deteriorates rapidly, the townsfolk fail to unite; instead remain splintered into two major groups led by Big Jim who invokes marital law and Barbie who searches for who and why, and  several smaller factions who mostly choose inaction using diverse rationale to defend their position.

 

This is a strong King thriller that returns the great horror author to his Stand roots of good vs. evil.  Although somewhat stereotyped characters, fans will not care as morality takes center stage with the cast’s differences of opinions negatively impacting survival.  Good vs. evil on a bigger stage looks inside as on the smaller platform of Chester’s Mill good vs. evil plays out in a reality version of survival.

 

Harriet Klausner

Breathless-Dean Koontz

Breathless

Dean Koontz

Bantam, Nov 24 2009, $28.00

ISBN:  9780553807158

 

After being a military sniper, Grady Adams lives in an isolated part of the Rockies where he works as a craftssman.  One day in the forest he sees a strange light and knows musingly nothing will be the same.  Grady observes two white creatures playing and knows they sense his nearness somehow.  Frightened by what he has seen, he and his Irish Wolfhound Merlin race home.

 

At the same time on a horse farm, veterinarian Dr. Camilla Rivers is shook by what she sees.  All the horses seem in some sort of trance as if they sense something big is coming.

 

Grady calls Cammy to come over to his house to look at something strange.  The two creatures he saw in the woods make themselves at home in his cabin as Grady is entranced by them as they seem beautiful, pristine and pure.  Cammy arrives and knows they are a different species.  They name the pair Puzzle and Riddle.  However Homeland Security learns of the existence of the due and come to confiscate them in order to test them.  Conny and Grady refuse to allow the rendition of the odd pair, but remain unsure how to prevent it.

 

Animal lovers will especially relish Dean Koontz’s latest thriller that insists evil must be dealt with and can come in various forms; just because something new and different is found does not make them malevolent.  Instead something familiar can be the wicked and those with ethics will step up to prevent the heinous from inheriting the earth.  The creatures slowly reveal who they are to their adopted human pets, which makes Grady and Cammy even more resolute to keep them safe.  With plenty of mysteries at the core of the exciting story line, Dean Koontz is at his best with this thought provoking thriller as the monstrosities are not always obvious.

 

Harriet Klausner

Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan- Ali Eteraz

Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan

Ali Eteraz

Harper, Oct 2009, $25.99

ISBN: 9780061567087

 

Ali Eteraz was born in Pakistan but raised also in the United States where his family moved to when he was ten years old.  His father prayed to Allah that if God granted him a male offspring, he pledged that son would be a servant of Islam.  As a child he is taken to Mecca where is further pledged to God and attends the Madrassa Islamic school where teachers abuses the children in the name of Allah.  Ali rebels as a teen, but also begins to embrace his religion.  However, as he grows into adulthood, he begins to understand his religion is also a culture, but struggles with how strict should one adhere to scripture in a shrinking world?

 

This is a fascinating intelligent memoir that focuses on the author finding his identity in a western culture that thrives of individual freedom that on the surface seems contradictory to the dogma of religion, in Ali Eteraz case Islam, but could have been the other major religions too.  Mr. Eteraz feels his niche is to fight from the pulpit the two extremes of Taliban-al Qaeda deadly extremism and the uninspired event worshipper.  How he reached his conclusion is a terrific personal journey of the soul that is easy to follow and admire.

 

Harriet Klausner

The Good Plain Cook-Bethan Roberts

The Good Plain Cook

Bethan Roberts

Serpent Tails, Nov 1 2009, $15.95

ISBN: 9781846686658

 

In 1936 in rural Sussex affluent American widow Ellen Steinberg advertises for a cook at her new country home.  Nineteen year old Kitty Allen, needing to find a place to stay, applies for the position and to her shock though she lacks any experience gets the job because of her résumé filled with lies.

 

Ellen expects Kitty to make whatever meal she orders for herself, her poet lover George Crane, her eleven year old daughter Geenie and George’s tweener daughter Diana.  Her employer also insists on openness from everyone as she knocks down interior walls to affirm her beliefs.  Ironically she hides her feelings of guilt re her husband’s death from her daughter.  Meanwhile George begins writing bad poetry to Kitty while bewildered Geenie and confused Diana observe his actions with both unhappy about it.  Geenie also blames Kitty for her inability to get the attention of her negligent mother.  Like everyone else except perhaps Arthur the gardener, Kitty struggles with her place in this dysfunctional household.

 

Filled with symbolism of breaking down barriers to relationships in order to build stronger affinities, the aptly titled The Good Plain Cook is a terrific character driven historical nove;  Kitty and the two children are innocents with the newcomer becoming an object of affection of the poet who sees her as his symbolic muse yet can’t seem to write poetry while his benefactor assumes he is writing an ode to their love; the kids are watchers of the adults using pretense to conceal feelings behind self built defense mechanism, which they emulate in differing manners as Geenie is overtly angry and Diana introvertly fearful.  All five players are fully developed in this well written depression Era drama.

 

Harriet Klausner

A Conflict Of Interest-Anna Adams

A Conflict Of Interest

Anna Adams

Harlequin SuperRomance, Nov 2009, $5.50

ISBN: 9780373783434

Dr. Maria Keaton testifies against a teenage client Griff Butler accused of murder in court, but his lawyer accuses her of having an affair with his client.  She is suspended over the accusation of sexual misconduct.  Her peers kick her to the curb and her reputation torn to shreds as she is temporarily barred from practicing psychiatry.

 

Maria turns to Judge Jake Sloan, who was hearing the Butler case.  He has doubts about her professionalism, but quickly turns around convinced she is innocent except for being a good citizen.  As they begin to fall in love, he pulls back when he learns she was his daughter Leila’s shrink.

 

A Conflict of Interests is a great contemporary romance as Anna Adams looks deeply at psychological issues, court proceedings, and extended family.  Her mom and sister, and his daughter as well as Griff enhance the relationship between the lead couples as he is a control freak and she is an independent freak; their underlying respective philosophies of life are total opposites. Fans will relish Ms. Adams strong tale with a fabulous twist to the Butler case.

 

Harriet Klausner

Alaskan Renegade-Kate Bridges

Alaskan Renegade

Kate Bridges

Harlequin, Nov 1 2009, $5.99

ISBN: 9780373295685

 

In 1899 Victoria Windhaven provides nursing services to injured miners and others in the Skagway vicinity of the District of Alaska.  Her work requires her trekking into some dangerous wilderness so a bodyguard is assigned to escort her.

 

Her current protector is Brant MacQuaid who jilted Victoria’s sister at the altar in St. Louis.  He has been hired as her bodyguard and that of her associate medical student Cooper Sullivan as they tend to injured miners on Glitter Mountain.  Victoria remains outraged with him and wishes someone else would escort her.  He can feel the anger she emits at him, but refuses to allow anyone else replace him even the rival Philadelphian medical student as he needs her as his cover to capture a nasty felon besides being in love with her although keeping her safe comes first before the criminal and his desire.

 

This is another great Kate Bridges Alaskan Territory late nineteenth century police procedural romance.  Fans will feel they are on Glitter Mountain assisting Kate and Cooper with the injured and observing the Mountie Brant as he gets his man (and more important his woman).  Cooper is a strong likable support character who offers Victoria every quality trait she wants in a husband while Brant provides everything she detests in a spouse.  Their spirited rivalry make for a fun historical.

 

Harriet Klausner

Apocalypse Happens-Lori Handeland

Apocalypse Happens

Lori Handeland

St. Martin’s, Nov 2009, $7.99

ISBN: 9780312366025

Hell has opened the portal to earth so warrior Elizabeth Phoenix heads to Los Angeles to close it before the Apocalypse Happens.  However, as she battles to control her dueling nature, the leader of the light Liz is stunned as someone long dead is alive.  Still she must prevent the Varcolacs half dragons from causing the ultimate eclipse that will plunge the earth into total darkness as the sun and moon will be destroyed.  Sill even if she wins, Liz sentences many to death.

At the same she struggles with simply saving the world, she wonders about her relationships.  Her former lover Jimmy Sanducci returns and her mentor Navajo shaman Sawyer seems to want her on a more personal level.  Perhaps it is all her doomsday fighting, but she is unsure whether she trusts either of the men in her life.

The latest Phoenix Chronicles (see Doomsday Can Wait and Any Given Doomsday) is a gritty urban fantasy starring a kick butt heroine who finds her world turning uglier and darker as she has reached the point that she distrusts the two men in her life.  Although at times the story line feels overwhelming to Liz and to the reader with so much going on, fans will enjoy her latest escapades as the heroine knows that even delaying doomsday does not prevent Apocalypse Happens.

Harriet Klausner

Three Days to Dead- Kelley Meding

Three Days to Dead

Kelley Meding

Dell, Nov 24 2009$7.99

ISBN-0553592866

 

Triad supernatural bounty hunter Evangeline “Evy” Stone is confused when she wakes up naked on a slab in the morgue.  Worse yet she does not know who she is or why she fails to recognize her bruised body; that of Chalice Frost.  Her only memory is that of her handler Wyatt Truman; so she must find him in a city of a half of million.

 

Wyatt explains he brought her back to life; her Triad partners long dead.  She had been tortured, but died before she could explain what she learned of an alliance between The Bloods vampire gang and the Goblin horde.  If true, humanity is dead.  She also learns she has 72 hours to live in this body before dying again.  Three days to find out if the unholy alliance is true and who killed her and her partners at a time when her former bounty hunter peers believe she had her two teammates murdered.

 

This is a terrific urban fantasy starring a fascinating lead protagonist back from the dead to complete a mission before she returns to the dead while her former cronies want her dead (talk about finding a life).  The story line is fast-paced and vividly descriptive so that the audience will believe in this paranormal realm, but setting the physics of the Meding mythos somewhat detracts from the investigation by Evy-Chalice.  Still Three Days to dead is an exciting first tale with a solid premise that should contain strong sequels.

 

Harriet Klausner

Spellbent-Lucy A. Snyder

Spellbent

Lucy A. Snyder

Del Rey, Dec 29 2009, $7.99

ISBN: 9780345512093

 

In Ohio, Jessie Shimmer and her lover Cooper are magic practitioners commonly called Talents.  They come under the authority of the Circle who police witches to insure they remain insider the rules.  The two go to the Grove in Taft Park to perform a spell chant that farmers are paying them to end a debilitating drought.  The spell misfires and Cooper vanishes into an intradimensional portal that opened up.  Cooper’s familiar Smokey returns to his true form of a dragon and tries to kill a demon, but Jessie stops the malevolence at the cost of an eye and an arm.

 

She awakens from her unconscious state to find Mr. Jordan, head of the Circle forcing her to sign a contract that orders her not to search for Cooper if she wants to remain as a legal member of the magic community.  She refuses to sign so he places an anathema spell on her that repels Talents away from her.  With the help of her familiar Pal the ferret and Cooper’s half brother Warlock, she seeks the portal that leads to Hell; sheenter knowing the probability is that they will not return especially since Mr. Jordan makes the odds exponentially worse.

 

This opening act of a wonderful urban fantasy is filled with intrigue, romance and plenty of magic that blend together to make an enticing Spellbent tale.  Lucy A. Snyder makes her realm feel genuine as she mixes a Donna Quixote – Joan of Arc heroine into a world that has a Lovecraftian feel to it.  Jessie goes “willing to march into Hell for a heavenly cause”(The Impossible Dream) with her courageous adorable sidekick Pal; each knowing if they fail they are condemned to remain in Hell for eternity while if they succeed they are condemned to live in a hell outside the Circle of their peers.

 

Harriet Klausner