Fatal Strike - A Review

Fatal Strike

by

DiAnne Mills

Snakes and Leah Riesel do not go well together. The problem is that the latest serial killer striking Galveston, TX, is using snakes to hunt down and kill members of the law enforcement community. That wasn’t that was not her only problem - she was not a people person. But her new partner was so attractive and single and she wished that she was more of a people person. But Leah’s problems did end there; she also had issues with her family in Brooklyn.

As both Leah and Jon Colbert, her partner, look for the killer, they will both have to begin to face their spiritual lives and the God that is seeking them out.

The plot is well-executed, the characters appear real, and the book is one that this reader could not put down. Leah will face her fears and her history and will be touched by a God is full of grace and hope. My only concern is that the author wraps up the story with an epilog when a follow-up book could have done a better and moe complete job of bring closure to these characters and their lives.

The book will find a place on the shelves of many church libraries and in the homes of believers. I would hope that it would find a spot on the shelves of many public libraries as well.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Hope Rides Again - A Review

Hope Rides Again 

by

Andrew Shaffer 

Andrew Shaffer has written another fun political thriller starring Joe Biden and Barack Obama. The parody centers on Obama’s old hometown of Chicago. We see a host of characters that are part of Chicago’s and Obama’s history - Rahm Emmanuel (Chicago mayor) and Michelle Obama. At the center of the plot is the attempted murder of a young man who is attempting to break away from the gang lifestyle Biden and Obama task themselves with tracking down the person who pulled the trigger and the person responsible for ordering the hit. The plot has more twists and turns than a sidewinder living in the desert, taking the reader from rail yards in the city’s southside to the top of the huge Ferris wheel on Navy Pier. Not a politically motivated book, the story is set in the weeks preceding Biden’s deciding to run President for the third time.

For the reader looking for some light reading during the summer months, Hope Rides Again may just fill the bill.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Mind Games - A Review

Mind Games

by

Nancy Mehl

Which of your most trusted family, friends, or associates, is trying to kill you? That is the question that Kaely Quinn and her colleagues must answer before more people die. They have clues - a poem, the timing of the messages, the choice of victims - but it would take the combined work of the FBI, the BAU, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and a variety of concerned citizens to arrive outside the warehouse where they would find Kaely’s phone, but not Kaely. Could they find her in time?

The author has created a thrilling story that could easily compete with Criminal Minds for my TV viewing time or for my weekly movie watching dollars. Whether the reader is looking for a well-written FBI thriller or a faith-based novel woven into the fabric of the 21st-century world, Mind Games may easily fill the bill. This reader could not put it down. The characters will be forced to examine their own faith (or lack thereof). The questions are not easy and the answers will only partially be answered in this book. Hopefully, the sequel’s Fall 2019 release will provide more answers.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Read and Buried - A Review

Read and Buried 

by

Eva Gates

A nice and friendly library mystery with a library cat to boot filled my days at the beginning of summer. The sixth book in the series, it is easy to read without the background material that may have been present in earlier books. The lighthouse housing the library actually exists in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, though the author has added a full-service library and a fourth story apartment to the contents of the actual building. The author compares the library to Dr. Who’s Tardis - larger on the inside than it is on the outside. The lighthouse/library is supposed to be haunted - but only one rather strange library board member really believes that story.

The mystery begins with the discovery of a strange tin box containing a diary, a hand-drawn map, and a cryptic note. Dating from the time of the Civil War, no one is sure whether the contents are significant or just the result of a young boy’s imagination - but, regardless, it leads to murder.

The story is a great cozy mystery with enough history woven in to allow the reader to follow his or her own research path if they choose to do so. Though understanding the history is not critical to following the story, it meant spending a few extra minutes in Google in order to better understand the history of the Outer Banks.

Whether the reader is a cozy mystery lover, a civil war buff, or library connoisseur, the book will be a fun read for a couple of days and nights.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.