Category Archives: Book reviews

Alana Woods’ book reviews: FADOESQUE by John L Work

March 12, 2017Book reviewsAmazon author pages, contemporary fiction, fado, fado music, intrigue, Islam, mystery, police thrillers, portugal, suspense, thrillerAlana Woods

I’ve read all of Work’s novels and without exception thought them classy thrillers, but this one is on a totally different level.

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The story grips, the writing is masterful, and the main character, Mike Donnelly, is oh-so-real. In fact, everything about the book is so spot on I can’t fault it.

Work’s descriptions in places make you pause, go back, and re-read them, the second time to savour the wording and muse on how perfectly the phrases are constructed.

And I dare you not to smile at the reasoning of why a man, any man, is incapable of resisting a beautiful woman; it’s priceless.

I wondered at the title before beginning to read but it was quickly explained and I have to say how absolutely perfect and poetic it is for the story.

A final comment is about Work’s usual habit of anchoring his stories with facts; it’s one of the reasons why his stories are so good.

I’m not going to give anything away about the storyline except to say that FADOESQUE doesn’t disappoint.

FADOESQUE on Amazon

The Sorceress and the Demon: Vampire Addictions, book 3 by Thea Atkinson

May 8, 2016Book reviewscontemporary fiction, fantasy, fantasy fiction, fantasy series, fiction, folklore, mythology, paranormal, supernatural, suspense, vampires, witchesAlana Woods

This is the third and final book in the urban fantasy VAMPIRE ADDICTIONS series by Thea Atkinson and I’ve read all three because the story’s a good one.

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The trilogy follows Jade Sanchez as she emerges from a bad relationship and falls immediately into the clutches of vampires and witches.

The books become increasingly darker with book 3 finally revealing the tragedies that have shaped Jade into the driven creature who believes she can exist in a world full of monsters who care nothing for humans. Except she finds one who makes an exception with her.

Book 3 is elemental and visceral. From the outset the pace and descriptions grab your attention as Jade is flung between the present and ancient Rome, not knowing if she’s hallucinating or revisiting a past life.

Over the three books the story develops, deepens and becomes complicated. The finale blazes along with the fires that consume Nero’s Rome. It’s a terrific ending to a terrific series.

SORCERESS AND THE DEMON on Amazon

Read my interview with THEA ATKINSON

Alana Woods’ book reviews: VIOLATED by Carolyn Arnold

April 28, 2016Book reviewsAmazon author pages, Canadian authors, contemporary fiction, FBI, police, police procedurals, police thrillers, thriller, thrillersAlana Woods

Carolyn Arnold can certainly tell a cracker of a story.
She’s a 5 star storyteller.

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What a terrific read this was. In the space of an afternoon I read the whole story, not wanting to put the book down until I knew the outcome.

Violated follows 31-year-old FBI agent Brandon Fisher who works in its Behavioral Analysis Unit. He’s just out of his probationary period and become a fully-fledged agent. His position in the unit and the present investigation into a murder is complicated by a past romance with a co-worker who is implicated in the crime. It rapidly develops into hunting for a serial killer with serious sexual and mental problems.

It’s the fifth in Arnold’s Brandon Fisher FBI series.

Given it’s the first one in the series I’ve read I was pleased to find it was a stand-alone story with just enough references to previous books for me to understand the back story and relationships.

I was intrigued by Arnold’s use of first person point of view for Brandon Fisher and the criminal the unit was tracking down, and third person for all other characters. I liked it. I felt I was in their minds, feeling and thinking everything they were.

The pace was fast, the characters well developed and real, and the dialogue no-nonsense and entertaining while also revealing depth of character.

Scene-setting is minimal; some authors can paint a picture with a few words and Arnold is one of them.

Anyone wanting more than a surface skimming of people’s intentions and motives should like these stories. Arnold obviously does a lot of research before putting metaphorical pen to paper, and it shows.

Buy VIOLATED: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple iBooks

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Take this link to my 27 March 2016 interview with Carolyn Arnold
Take this link to my review of Carolyn’s Assassination of a dignitary

Alana Woods’ book reviews: LUNA RISING, the full saga, by Claude Nougat

April 24, 2016Book reviewscomputing, contemporary fiction, crime, fantasy, fantasy fiction, fiction, horror, intrigue, Mafia, metaphysical, mystery, occult, psychological thrillers, Sicily, suspense, visionaryAlana Woods

I’ve read other works by Nougat and know that among her many talents she’s an artist. Believe me when I say she’s an artist with words as well as paints and brushes. LUNA RISING proves it.

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New York computer whizz-kid, Tony Luna, is burnt out at the tender age of 19. Working since his mid-teens as a video games developer he makes the sudden decision—against his mother’s wishes—to quit and investigate his late father’s Sicilian aristocratic ancestry.

So far, nothing unusual. As far as the story goes, anyway. The writing is a different matter. It’s lovely. The language embraced me and took me into the story, away from my own setting and into Tony’s.

This book is not a quick read. Originally three novellas the author has rolled them into one very-satisfyingly long read. I love a big book and much to my regret these are now hard to find.

Mind you, to keep you reading big books need to be good.

And this one is good. I found the phrase ‘tour de force’ playing around in my mind and I don’t think I’m wrong.

It has so many elements in its exploration of the present entwined with the past that presents lessons that Tony needs to learn for the future that I find it hard to put it into any genre. I notice that in Amazon’s best-selling lists it’s categorised under Visionary, Metaphysical, Horror, and Occult. One could add Fantasy, Computing, Crime—and probably more than I can conjure up.

This is a story that defies easy labelling and that’s part of its beauty and appeal. There is so much going on it totally occupies the mind.

LUNA RISING, the full saga on Amazon

Read my interview with Claude Nougat