📚Set in Philadelphia. Sandra reviews #thriller Easy Street by J Gregory Smith for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Sandra.

Sandra blogs here https://www.firthproof.co.uk/index.php/book-reviews

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Sandra has been reading Easy Street by J Gregory Smith.

Easy Street is the third book in the Reluctant Hustler series featuring Kyle Logan. Kyle did not set out to do what he does, but inherited a ready-made ‘business’ from his former partner, Ryan. By helping out desperate people with no one else to turn to, he is able to call in favours when he needs assistance. As this is the third book in the series, the team are well established and need all their combined skills to defeat the criminal elements they are up against.

While it is always satisfying when the bad guys get their comeuppance, the best thing about this story is the characterisation. They are an unusual bunch of misfits, but they work well together. Fortunately, they have skills and a plan to extricate themselves from the serious situation they find themselves drawn into and hopefully stay alive. Set in Philadelphia, Easy Street is a fast-paced, tense and extremely violent story, but the black humour and banter between the characters takes the edge off.

Although you could probably read Easy Street as a standalone, I decided to read the books in order (I don’t like starting a series in the middle if I can help it). I found it well worth taking the time to read Quick Fix and Short Cut as I understood the characters and backstory a lot better as a result. I really enjoyed this book and hope there will be a fourth one before too long.

Book description

Walking the Tightrope
Nearly two years after the death of his friend, Ryan, Kyle Logan finds himself the unlikely leader of a group of misfits who operate outside the law as they target crooks and scammers. In the past, Kyle had to rely on his friend’s shady contacts just to survive violent competitors and complete prior deals.
Now he’s starting to realize that these connections earn him power and respect but also drag him deeper into the life. Every favor he receives comes with strings and cutting those strings usually involves fresh obligations.
In order to help others who have nowhere else to turn, Kyle sometimes works with criminals like the Philly Irish Mob but he tries to avoid getting involved with the gangster’s more intense activities.
When not running his hustles, Kyle has taken the opportunity to leverage his connections to finance and acquire a legitimate (if dull) import facility at the Port of Philadelphia. The port represents a great opportunity to rebuild his life but he’s about to learn the hard way that shady friends come with enemies who see Kyle as one more obstacle to be crushed.

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Terry Reviews #Thriller If She Wakes by Erik Therme, For Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Terry. She blogs here https://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.com/

Terry has been reading If She Wakes by Erik Therme.

3*
I didn’t realise when I opened this novel on my Kindle that it was a sequel, as I don’t look a book up on Amazon after choosing it for review so I can’t be influenced by others.  I gather that in the first book, Tess and Josh’s daughter Lily was killed in an RTA by Brady, after which Tess stalked his family (wife Meg and daughter Amy), and Meg faked Amy being kidnapped.  Also, Tess’s brother Colin died of cancer – he was married to Torrie, and they have a son, Levi.  I learned this from a prologue and first chapter that contained a little too much exposition; a brief ‘story so far’ in the introduction might have worked better.

The title refers to Torrie, who falls into a coma early in the story, the rest of which centres around Tess and Josh’s necessary but difficult relationships with Torrie’s family members, as care for Levi is of prime importance.  Mysteries abound concerning Torrie and her family.  Although certain conclusions are reached by the end of the book, it’s clear that it’s making way for a third novel as the story is by no means finished.

I’m afraid I found this novel a little ‘flat’; it flowed well and is professionally presented; the author has thought up a reasonable plot and delivered it, and the characters are fairly well represented.  The emotional problems within Tess and Josh’s marriage are well written and realistic, but none of the characters are likeable (you need at least one person to root for!) and I felt that the conversation and narrative lacked spark.  An example: ‘I nod, as if I didn’t already know this. “Better to go tonight and get it done, as something might change in the morning, and we wouldn’t have time.  I’ll go.  I just need a few minutes to relax after I finish clearing the table.  It’s been a long day”.’  It’s all like that.  Nothing wrong with it, but it just didn’t grab me.  A couple of times I got a little excited by what appeared to be the beginning of a good plot line, but each time it fizzled out quickly. The twist at the end was over-explained and a bit tenuous, I thought.

It’s not bad, but for me it was just ‘okay’.  This is, of course, always so subjective, and others might feel differently, particularly if they loved the first book.

Who do you trust when everyone is lying?

My name is Tess Parker.

Two days ago, I was in a car accident with my sister-in-law, Torrie. Before she slipped into a coma, she asked my husband and me to care for her four-month-old son, Levi.

Yesterday, a woman claiming to be Torrie’s estranged sister knocked on our door. But Torrie has no siblings . . . or so she said. She and my brother were only together a short time before he left, and Torrie has clearly been keeping secrets.

Today, another of Torrie’s “sisters” has come to town. Both say the other is lying about who they are.

Neither of them is telling the truth.

Both of them want Levi.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

Book #2 of a #thriller series. Frank reviews If She Wakes by Erik Therme, for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Frank. Find out more about him here https://franklparker.com/

Frank has been reading If She Wakes by Erik Therme

Imagine a situation in which a woman tells you that her sister is mentally deranged and not to be trusted. Then the sister tells you that it is really the first sister whose mental health is questionable. Add to that a narrator who exhibits signs of being paranoid. Sound like a recipe for an excellent psychological thriller? I’m sure it is. I’m not so sure that Erik Therme has pulled it off with this one, however.

To be fair, I kept reading, needing to find out what was really going on. To that extent the author succeeds, by keeping the reader guessing. And it was a pleasant surprise to find, in a book set in what is supposedly one of the most gun loving states in a gun loving nation, a protagonist who hates guns and is horrified when she discovers one of the characters owns a pistol. Most of the other characters seem to be equally ill disposed towards such weaponry, exhibiting a preference for the use of a handy rock as weapon of choice.

The book has two problems from my perspective. The first is my fault. I should have realised that it is the second book in a series and that I needed to have read the first in order to fully understand what was going on. There are two parallel plots: the first is continuing the story that I suppose was begun in book 1. The other was a new story involving the narrator and the family of her late brother’s widow.

For me there were too many references to past events that were never fully explained, The other problem with the book is that too many characters are permitted to delay the action by being given long monologues in which they explain their motivations while the protagonist patiently waits to be attacked or kidnapped.

Those are my reasons for rating “If She Wakes” at only three stars. If you have read and enjoyed the first book in this series, then I have no doubt that you will also enjoy this one. Don’t, however, make the mistake I made and try to read it as a stand-alone novel.

Who do you trust when everyone is lying?

My name is Tess Parker.

Two days ago, I was in a car accident with my sister-in-law, Torrie. Before she slipped into a coma, she asked my husband and me to care for her four-month-old son, Levi.

Yesterday, a woman claiming to be Torrie’s estranged sister knocked on our door. But Torrie has no siblings . . . or so she said. She and my brother were only together a short time before he left, and Torrie has clearly been keeping secrets.

Today, another of Torrie’s “sisters” has come to town. Both say the other is lying about who they are.

Neither of them is telling the truth.

Both of them want Levi.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT #Fantasy GHOST (The Justice Chronicles, #1) by @mjwebbbooks

Today’s team review is from Karen. She blogs here https://mytrainofthoughtson.wordpress.com

Karen has been reading Ghost by Michael Jack Webb

The story starts in a hospital; Kate Justice wondering about the latest victim of the Ghost in the Darkness killer – a victim that looks familiar and does not fit the usual prey.

With “Ghost”, Michael Jack Webb has created an expertly woven plot, an intriguing story of investigators chasing an unusual serial killer. “Ghost” comprises authentic main characters with sufficient depth – they gain complexity throughout the story. I had a great time reading – this is a very compelling read; I was drawn into the story after the first chapter, close to Kate, FBI profiler and her detective partner Chris. The plot offers food for thought, still keeps me thinking. I truly liked Kate’s thoroughness and mindfulness, the in-depth knowledge both she and Chris apply. I was surprised by the amount of biblical reference throughout this first book in a series – given the circumstances, this is pretty suitable. I consider “Ghost” a fantabulous mixture of thriller, urban fantasy, and biblical fiction. Having read the final page, I felt exhausted; exhausted because I felt close to Kate.

Reading this book made me want to watch a movie mentioned throughout the book; in addition it made me read one of my favourite classics for the umpteenth time.

I could imagine this a perfect plot for the “Fantasy Film Festivals” (they are known for unusual stories).

The cover is great – perfect for this story.

This is for you if you like thought-provoking stories and psychological as well as biblical fiction.

A remarkable story that requires reading the next in the series as well.

Enter a world where nothing is what it appears to be, and every clue leads an extraordinary young woman deep into the heart of darkness and beyond.
Kate Justice, FBI’s youngest Profiler, is assigned to find a serial killer with supernatural abilities.
The killer is elusive, cunning, and seemingly invincible.

Kate races against time to discover who or what is behind the gruesome murders and prevent another brutal killing.
She soon fears she’s in over her head as stunning revelations about her mysterious ancestry surface.
Hunter becomes the prey as the Ghost in the Darkness killer plays a vicious cat and mouse game, drawing Kate into a deadly confrontation.
Uncovering the truth will challenge her beliefs about the world around her and her understanding of what is real, what is a myth, and what is something in between.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS