Rise of the Iron Eagle by Roy A. Teel: Book Excerpt

Hello, my darlings! Hope you are having a good week. Today, I decided to try something new on the blog - something that could be perfect to take your mind off of work for a few short minutes during your coffee break. This is, an extract from a new suspenseful crime thriller.

Written by Roy A. Teel, Rise of the Iron Eagle is just the first book from the Iron Eagle crime novel series. Based in Los Angeles,  it's main characters are Sheriff's Homicide Detective Jim O'Brian and FBI Profiler Special Agent Steve Hoffman. Their newest case concerns a serial killer who is preying on other serial killers - some known by law enforcement, others well off radar. Sounds like somethng up your street? You can read the excerpt after the jump!

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Dead Money Run: Review (and a Look at the Series)

Author: J. Frank James

Genre: Crime Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Pages: 293

Originally published in: 2013

A fast-paced thriller packed with action, Dead Money Run follows Lou Malloy as he has just been released after spending 15 years in prison for stealing $15 million from an Indian casino. However, even after so many years, the money he stole still remain hidden somewhere – and only he knows where, making him a target for a plethora of shady characters. Not only does Lou need to keep his money (and his wellbeing), but also he strives to find the people responsible for his sister’s death. On this dangerous journey of a man who is both a chaser and a chased one, Lou strikes an unlikely ally in the face of young Hilary Kelly – herself an enigma with a few secrets up her sleeve, she joins Lou from early on in his mission to vengeance.

The writing is easy to follow as all the actions are described from Lou’s point of view, making the whole story pretty straight-forward. However, this also means that all the events are perceived through his prism only and this is exactly what the reader gets from the story. Put in this context, it is no surprising that this is not a complicated thriller full of twists, grand philosophical statements, or complex characters. This does work when you consider that everything is perceived through Malloy’s eyes and through his eyes only. So, you can hardly expect him to spend time thinking or paying attention of anything else but his current situation – which is dealing with mobsters and coming to terms with his sister’s death (the circumstances of which remain unclear for quite a while). Considering this, the novel has to be written in plain language – the language of Lou Malloy as he has just left prison and is spending his newly found freedom on the run.

The author, J. Frank James has an extensive background in law which undoubtedly helps in his writing ventures – and it is obvious when reading Dead Money Run that he knows what he is talking about (as it often happens, it is in the details). The authentic nature of the book is what makes it come to life – while going through the pages, it is easy for the reader to plainly see every action described as if it were before his eyes. Ultimately, it has the feeling of an action-packed crime movie – strongly reminding me of Noise, which had a similar structure.

I was kindly send the prequel to the book, too, which at only 52 pages, gives a good origins story to the character of Lou Malloy, so I recommend if you decide on reading Dead Money Run, you do familiarize yourself with Lou Malloy: The Run Begins, too. Truth is, this is just a part of a series, dedicated to Lou Malloy’s adventures, also consisting of Only Two Cats, Blue Cat in Paradise, Rainbow Games, Two Birds to Kill, Last Flamingo, and Finders, Keepers.

As for The Run Begins, it gives Lou a good introduction as it sees him as a young 18-year-old boy, with ambition in his eyes, but wrong decisions in his mind. How did Lou end up in prison for 15 years? In 52 pages, James manages to explain his motifs and what drove him to commit a crime that would mark his life forever.

If you want to find out more about J. Frank James, you can visit his website or follow him on Goodreads.

I was kindly sent Dead Money Run and The Run Begins in an exchange of my honest review from the lovely Kelsey from Book Publicity Services.

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Twisted: Book Review

Author: Lola Smirnova

Genre: Fiction, dark, drama.

Pages: 314

Originally published in: 2014

A dramatic, dark story about sex work in Europe, Twisted had all the potential to be one of those depressing books that show some of the ugliest aspects of life, following truly disturbing events. Yet, it fails in this mission. Unlike other similar novels inspired by true events that can make your whole day miserable, Lola Smirnova’s Twisted is written with an effortless sense of humour, making the whole reading process an easy ride.

The story is centred on three young Ukrainian sisters – Natalia, Lena and Julia. Each of them completely different from the other two, what they all have in common is lack of opportunities within post-Soviet Ukraine. Dreaming of a better life and a job that can bring them quick money, the sisters set off to Western Europe, where they join the growing sex industry of Luxembourg.

The narrator here is the youngest sister – Julia – and she tells the whole story of how they decided to join the sex trade and what that life brought to them, from her perspective. Needless to say, Julia is not the most reliable of narrators, as she is just a naïve, teenage girl, quick to jump to conclusions. Her likeability is also questionable. I have to say I found it really hard to like her since most of her decisions were rather poor and her character pretty tough to connect with. Some might put this down to her young age, but this is certainly not an excuse of the way she treats other people, even her sisters. Anyway, I am not someone who needs to like the protagonist in order to enjoy the book, so this did not bother me at all.

Now, for the sex work and all the details. Twisted is very (very!) graphic – so, be warned! Smirnova definitely does not shy away from sharing with the reader sexually explicit images, and some of those images are going to be hard to wipe out, believe me! The way she describes the many sex scenes is very natural, making the scenes so alive that you can easily see them in front of you, even if you have never been in a similar position yourself (pun unintended). The descriptions come to live, the characters (the many clients that the girls see) – even more so. You might even get a little scared of visiting Luxembourg in case you run into one of those shady men (but then again, don’t forget that this is a beautiful, little European country!).

However, the strongest point to this novel is its humour. As Julia takes us on this ride, she speaks of all the things that happen to her (some of them truly atrocious) with such an easy-going tone and even self-irony, that she makes you feel as if she is telling you the whole story over a cup of coffee. The humour is what makes the book believable. After all, even in the darkest of times, the human mind manages to find some light. Maybe not immediately, but in time – definitely, by the time he or she, is ready to tell their story.

Finally, Twisted is a very interesting, fast paced book. Personally, I do not think it took me more than a couple of days to finish it – the story is too gripping to be put down. I wanted to keep reading and reading, and see what is going to happen to the girls; where is this life going to take them. Thanks to the easy language and the lightness of the prose, this was an easy task. As long as you know what you are getting into, and you do not mind some quite explicit content, you are probably going to enjoy it. And better make your mind up fast for Smirnova is preparing to turn this one into the first title of a trilogy!

I was kindly sent this book by Kelsey from Book Publicity Services & all opinions are mine. For more information on Twisted go here.

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Gone Girl Review

Author: Gillian Flynn

Genre: Thriller

Originally Published in: 2012

Pages: 463

Surprise, surprise! Guess who read Gone Girl and loved it. You might be tired of hearing how good that book is, but truth is stuff like that should not remain a secret. So, here I am joining the massive fan base that Gone Girl is enjoying today…

Important Note One: Usually, I am one of those snobs who prefer to read the book before they watch the movie. You know the ones: we prefer to be a step in front of everyone else so we can point and laugh at them. So that when we walk into the cinema, we know what we are getting ourselves into. And, of course, we are, thus, able to criticize the film adaptation on a whole more knowledgeable level – you know, we have read the book, and this entitles us of a certain opinion. However, in this case I watched the film first. That is due to the fact that I didn’t even intend to read the book – truth is, the moment I first watched the trailer, I was immediately hooked and could barely wait till the release date. Add to that David Fincher, Rosamund Pike, and a better-than-usually Ben Affleck, and my excitement was getting out of hand. Once I saw the movie…a different story.

Important Note Two: You read a book you love from start to finish. You:

       a)      Immediately write a review on it for your blog

       b)      Take a few days to carefully write a very honest and informative review, full of quotes and witty remarks

       c)      Rave about it for ages, keep postponing reviewing it, finally doing it in a month.

Answer: C, definitely C.

First things first, reviewing books like Gone Girl is a bit tricky since it is pretty easy to spoil them. That is, when there is a twist after twist, you can’t just go and talk about it with people who haven’t yet read it, because you will ruin the whole experience for them. So, I will keep this short.

It is the morning of the fifth anniversary of Nick and Amy Dunne’s wedding, when Amy suddenly disappears. The police’s prime suspect is Nick as everything points to the fact that his wife was growing scared of him. Although he denies it, his charming smile when posing next to the poster of his beautiful, missing wife, is not helping him. So, what really happened? Where is Amy?

The story is gripping – there is a reason I keep seeing people on the underground reading it. Once you start it, you just cannot put it down. What makes it so addictive is not just the mystery element to it, but the characters themselves – they feel real and utterly believable. What Gillian Flynn does in this book is a very honest portrayal of marriage and human nature. It is easy to put yourself on the place of these characters and ask yourself how you would act in such a messed up situation. Would you even put yourself in such a situation? Nick and Amy eventually fall in the traps of daily life – they turn into clichés, into stereotypes – but is that all they are? Sometimes turning into a cliché is what scares us the most and drives us into doing things we wouldn’t believe we would normally do.

“I was the embodiment of every writer's worst fear: a cliché.”

At the end of the book, I find myself understanding all of the characters involved – especially Nick and Amy. You get the feeling that everything comes into place, and even if you didn’t expect such an end – it somehow feels like the only real ending to their story.

Apart from the brilliant psychological side to the book and the very serious matters it reflects on, the story, as a whole, is entertaining. I found myself laugh on more than a few occasions – especially at Amy’s witty remarks. The book definitely did not make me cry, but it made me laugh. A lot. And it made me think about characters. Take the idea of the Cool Girl, for instance. I would not say this is just a description created purely for fictional reasons – the idea of a Cool Girl very much exists in our society. Here are just a few lines from her descriptions and tell me she does not sound familiar: “Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding.”

Another major issue in the book, is the media. In Gone Girl, the outcome of Amy’s disappearance hugely relies on the way the media portrays her, her husband, her parents, her friends and neighbourhood. During the course of the book, you can see both people and police falling in and out of love with Nick, hating him, then admiring him – all depending on the way he is represented in the news. Now, this is what makes the story even more believable and causes you to think about the media age we live in today. For is that not the way we shape our opinions nowadays? Especially when it comes to huge criminal cases: what you see on the news, is what you usually end up thinking.

I recommend Gone Girl to anyone who loves a good thriller, or just a good modern book in general. If you need a break from reading the classics – read Gone Girl. If you need a break from your marriage – read Gone Girl. I am not saying that everyone will love it. What I am saying is this: the book works on many levels and gives a very poignant portrayal of society today, of men and women, and their roles in it. I am pretty sure you will find something for yourself. I do not promise you will like that something.

Did you see my top 5 quotes from Gone Girl? Also, if you have read the book, let me know what you think of it and let's get this discussion going...

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