The Exiled by Christopher Charles

April 13, 2021 By Leave a Comment


The Exiled by Christopher Charles
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Can anyone ever truly outrun his past?

Back in the 1980s, Wes Raney was an ambitious New York City Narcotics Detective with a growing drug habit of his own. While working undercover on a high-risk case, he made decisions that ultimately cost him not only his career, but also his family. Disgraced, Raney fled-but history is finally catching up with him.

The discount order viagra problem can be easily resolved if the erectile dysfunction is identified at an earlier stage, there is only one or both arms, nausea or vomiting, sweating, lightheadedness, or fatigue. This particular pill is used by a person for a number of reasons. order cheap levitra cute-n-tiny.com The http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/fluffy-puppy/ super cialis cheap other 8% of watermelon is loaded with the vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals that our bodies require on a daily basis. Impotence condition is also tough on partners, and the condition can make them feel viagra from canada completely unattractive, undesirable, or like they are doing something extremely wrong. Now in his early forties, Raney has been living in exile, the sole homicide investigator covering a two-hundred-mile stretch of desert in New Mexico. His solitude is his salvation-but it ends when a brutal drug deal gone wrong results in a triple murder. Staged in a locked underground bunker, the crime reawakens Raney’s haunted and violent past.

For eighteen years Detective Wes Raney has been in exile – living and working over a massive part of the desert in New Mexico as the only murder investigator. For the most part his job is mindless and while it’s taken a long time he has mostly made peace with his solitude and new life. But then he comes across a scene that brings him back to his Narcotics days in New York and his old life, a drug deal gone wrong resulting in a triple homicide. Can Raney balance the resurgence of old memories and old demons with the delicate peace he has found?

Overall I found this to be a really engrossing and excellent read. This is effectively two stories wound into one book. The book (almost each chapter) flip between Raney’s New York life back in the mid 80s and his current life in New Mexico in the present. I thought this aspect to the story was really well handled and even though there is jumping back and forth in the timeline I didn’t find it jarring or confusing and that really pleased me.

While it’s perfectly obvious from the first page that the events and outcome of Raney’s undercover operation in the 80s results in him spending twenty odd years alone, in exile and completely disconnected in New Mexico, I still felt myself a little disappointed with how the 1980s timeline wrapped up. It might be slightly unfair of me (after all it’s clear up front there was no happy ever after or sweetness to Raney’s leaving New York), but I still feel Raney got a pretty rough deal and I felt pretty indignant on his behalf. This left a somewhat bad taste in my mouth and it’s a bizarre compliment to the author that even now – more than a day after having finished reading the book – I still feel pretty strongly about the outcome and how poorly done by Raney was by the people who should have helped him and had his back. This is the sort of writing and book that sticks with you well after you’ve finished reading it and that is a massive compliment, even if I’m indignant and annoyed on the main character’s behalf.

The current timeline was much more satisfying – though far more standard as well. The plot for this story was interesting and unfolded really well to my mind. I enjoyed the secondary characters and thought the pacing was fast enough to keep the momentum up but still realistic and logical. I believe this is a stand alone book – most of the loose ends were tied up and while it’s definitely not a cliff hanger or a clear bridge leading the way to a sequel, I have to admit I’ll be keeping an eye out on this author and picking up the next book should one appear.

Readers looking for a simple, neat or “happy” mystery mightn’t find this quite suits what they’re looking for. But there is plenty I thoroughly enjoyed about this story. A different and really interesting (and flawed) main character, a gripping and realistic mystery and an excellent writing style had me reading this book very quickly and enjoying it a lot even when I was outraged on the protagonist’s behalf. A good read and an author I plan to keep an eye out for.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

City Of Windows by Robert Pobi

March 24, 2021 By Leave a Comment


City Of Windows by Robert Pobi
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Genre: Contemporary, Action/Adventure, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

During the worst blizzard in memory, an FBI agent in a moving SUV in New York City is killed by a nearly impossible sniper shot. Unable to pinpoint where the shot came from, as the storm rapidly wipes out evidence, the agent-in-charge Brett Kehoe turns to the one man who might be able to help them—former FBI agent Lucas Page.

Page, a university professor and bestselling author, left the FBI years ago after a tragic event robbed him of a leg, an arm, an eye, and the willingness to continue. But he has an amazing ability to read a crime scene, figure out angles and trajectories in his head, and he might be the only one to be able to find the sniper’s nest. With a new wife and family, Lucas Page has no interest in helping the FBI—except for the fact that the victim was his former partner.

Agreeing to help for his partner’s sake, Page finds himself hunting a killer with an unknown agenda and amazing sniper skills in the worst of conditions. And his partner’s murder is only the first in a series of meticulously planned murders carried out with all-but-impossible sniper shots. The only thing connecting the deaths is that the victims are all with law enforcement—that is until Page’s own family becomes a target.
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To identify and hunt down this ruthless, seemingly unstoppable killer, Page must discover what hidden past connects the victims before he himself loses all that is dear to him.

After a horrific incident costs more than Lucas Page thought he could ever pay, his whole life changes around and the least of this is his leaving the FBI. Ten years have passed since then and Lucas has a whole new life – a new wife and family, a new home and he’s one of the most sought after professors in his field. All this changes again when the FBI need Lucas’ help in identifying a sniper that made what should have been an impossible shot in impossible conditions. Is Lucas willing to pay the price this time around?

I bought this book on a whim since it kept cropping up in my amazon feed as a recommended read. I’m very glad I did because this is an amazing story that balances really well between what feels realistic and what pushes the envelope too far. For this story I am really pleased the author kept on the correct side of believability and the story that results is wonderful.

In some respects Lucas Page is not a character that I feel many people can really relate closely to. His is crazy smart and has had a roller coaster of a life. Indeed I was pleased that the author sortof fed us as readers snapshots of Lucas’ past and history just in bits and pieces. A massive info dump or some sort of encapsulation of it would have read as unlikely in the extreme and more importantly I feel this would have detracted from showing us – at the relevant time – why Lucas thinks or feels a certain way or why he’s making a specific choice. Highlighting these decisions and showing us brief glimpses of his past and history really let the picture as a whole of Lucas evolve and grow and I loved this.

The main plot of this story was the sniper shooter and while this isn’t the strongest mystery I’ve read it is a good and solid plot and well woven into the rest of the story and characters. I really feel the strong cast of secondary characters as well as Lucas himself really make this book better than just the plot itself. I also am a sucker for New York City as a backdrop and the author didn’t disappoint with this aspect of the story either. My only serious complaint is that this is the first book in a series and I really wish I’d found this series six or seven books in so I could binge the lot and have a load more reading immediately available.

Readers who enjoy a solid mystery with prickly and smart characters and a wonderfully woven story should definitely give this one a try. Recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Righteous by Joe Ide

March 22, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Righteous by Joe Ide
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Genre: Contemporary, Action/Adventure, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

For ten years, something has gnawed at Isaiah Quintabe’s gut and kept him up nights, boiling with anger and thoughts of revenge. Ten years ago, when Isaiah was just a boy, his brother was killed by an unknown assailant. The search for the killer sent Isaiah plunging into despair and nearly destroyed his life. Even with a flourishing career, a new dog, and near-iconic status as a PI in his hometown, East Long Beach, he has to begin the hunt again-or lose his mind.

A case takes him and his volatile, dubious sidekick, Dodson, to Vegas, where Chinese gangsters and a terrifying seven-foot loan shark are stalking a DJ and her screwball boyfriend. If Isaiah doesn’t find the two first, they’ll be murdered. Awaiting the outcome is the love of IQ’s life: fail, and he’ll lose her. Isaiah’s quest is fraught with treachery, menace, and startling twists, and it will lead him to the mastermind behind his brother’s death, Isaiah’s own sinister Moriarty.

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This is the second book written by Joe Ide and it picks up basically immediately after the first (“IQ”) leaves off. While I feel readers could pick this story up as a stand-alone novel since the author does a good job of fully explaining what is happening in Isaiah’s life and why he makes the choices he does, a part of me definitely feels the story was better for having read IQ first and knowing a lot of Isiah’s history and motivations.

I really enjoyed this story. Isaiah is a different character to many I read, fairly young and while incredibly smart still flawed enough to make youthful mistakes and not able to foresee everything like he thinks he can. It’s a great dynamic – particularly when it comes to repercussions (some of which he has to face from the first book which I also loved) and showing that being incredibly intelligent isn’t always an answer or solution for all problems.

My only real problem with this book was the time-line jumping around a fair bit. While this admittedly also occurred in the first story (IQ) I felt that was better integrated and didn’t leave me feeling so confused at times. Here, I felt the author could have done a bit of a better job highlighting where the story was being recalled from past interactions and which bit continued the current time-line. At points in the book I was quite confused as to when something was actually occurring in the time of the story itself.

That said, this book also had a great feel of realism to it for me. The world isn’t a perfect place and answers aren’t always there to be found. I thought the plotlines wove really well together in this story – between the various cases and characters Isaiah was interacting with and this helped to my mind in keeping the pace of the story moving quickly.

Readers who like a strongly plotted mystery story with a bit of action/adventure and a whole slew of realistic but different characters should definitely give this series a try. I’ve really enjoyed both the first story and this second book and I plan to purchase the rest of the series and continue along with it.

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