Review: No Conscience

No Conscience by Phil M. Williams
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book was one I struggled to finish. It was just too quirky—too far left of center for me to find any real pleasure in the reading. The characters, particularly Wes and his mother Mary, are, from the start, just a shade of strange. There’s initially nothing overt, though Wes is portrayed as a spineless, immature young man with anger issues bubbling just below the surface, always threatening to boil over and destroy him. It’s more than that though. He was written in a way that made it near to impossible to either find interest or fully invest in him. As a reader, I found myself stepping back, fearing that he was about to implode. Mary Shaw, Wes’ mother, is also vaguely disturbing. It’s as if the author merged the perfect mother with a smidge of Joan Crawford, then threw in a little Norma Bates for good measure. It’s difficult to explain without spoilers, but the discomfort while reading is real, making this one unenjoyable and off-putting. The conclusion was just the icing on the “hell no” cake.

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Review: The Swallows

The Swallows by Lisa Lutz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This little gem, set in a private north-eastern co-ed boarding school, manages to merge the overtly sexual focus of hormonal teenage boys, with the insecurity of teenage girls and the consequences of no adult supervision. The result is a maelstrom of angst that results in violence that any attentive teacher or administrator should have seen coming from a mile away.

The plot focuses on a group of over-indulged, privileged boys who rate the performance of eager-to-please teenage girls as they drop to their knees to offer oral sex. At the end of the year, the girl with the highest blow-job score (who is almost always in the dark regarding the entire process) is then declared the winner of the “Dulcinea Award”. Though the admin and staff seem to have knowledge of this, it is with a wink and a nod that life on campus moves forward through the year. New teacher Alex Witt, however, can’t, upon discovery of this perverse campus tradition, look the other way and encourages a few girls who have also uncovered the existence of the Dulcinea to stand up for themselves, develop some self-esteem and fight back. As the war is waged, loyalties are tested, traditions are toppled and reputations, as well as lives, are ultimately lost.

This book takes a hard look at what happens when we pander to elite males and sweep under the rug the concerns of our young women; when we ignore what is the beginning of the practices that eventually lead to women identifying with the #metoo movement. It is a cautionary tale that is both timely and relevant. Though a bit heavy handed at times, any teacher or informed parent will appreciate the kernels of truth tucked into these pages. Lutz has tapped into the culture of male-dominance that is evident even in our teenagers and carried it to a conclusion that is frighteningly possible.



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Review: Date Night

Date Night by Samantha Hayes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One thing is for certain—Samantha Hayes can write! This book was a tad far-fetched, but if you make it to the ending, there’s an enormous payoff. I was left slack-jawed, and immediately went in search of more of Hayes work.

So many others have written summaries, plot points, character intros, etc., that I just don’t have much more to offer. Rather than be redundant, I will leave it at this—don’t give up. Finish this one. Seriously.

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Review: The Whisper Man

The Whisper Man by Alex North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 big gold stars for a magnificent, though disturbing, read! I picked this up with no prior knowledge of the content—and I initially set it aside. The title just reminded me of the tween-favorite “Slender Man”, and to be honest, only the book blurb saved it. I am SO GLAD I didn’t ignore this for one moment longer.

It is rare these days for me to read anything that moves me to tears. I avoid those pieces like the plague, as with age has come heightened sensitivity and dozens of emotional triggers. Blame it on menopause. At any rate, the rollercoaster ride North provides is one that found me grinning, speculating and ugly crying as I moved through the pages. Triggers include the deaths of children (not a spoiler, it’s the premise of the book), and the loss of a spouse (again, revealed in the first few pages). I have only one piece of advice if you find yourself cynically judging as you read—trust the work: trust that this author won’t resort to cheap stunts to tie things up. The payoff is there, and this is the real deal.

Well written, kept me turning the pages and reared up in my nightmares. This one will crawl under your skin and stay there awhile.

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Review: All For Love: on the charity dating show

All For Love: on the charity dating show by Cecelia Hopkins-Drewer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’m allowing two stars for an interesting premise that had tremendous potential. Think “The Bachelor” with a monetary twist. I also enjoyed the format this author chose—third person narration just objective enough to be convincing. The issues here are with the editing—or complete lack thereof. Not only are character names confused, substituting one for the other on NUMEROUS occasions, but the long and tedious pages of dialogue read like a teenager’s submission for a high school English class. For example, here’s a snippet of conversation that is representative of the entire work:

"I'm not really self-assured," Constance said slowly, "Especially about matters of the heart

"It's only a competition if you think of it that way," Vonda said. "Otherwise, it is an experience."

"We are all your friends," said Janny.

"Thanks girls," Constance said.

"The trouble is," said Janny, "There is only one Anthony, and he can't possibly end up with all of us!"

"I wouldn't expect him to," said Vonda. “That would be too weird for words. There are plenty of other guys in the world.”

"There must be someone nice out there for all of us,” Kendra remarked. "And we won't always be stuck on The Charity Dating Show."

Ready to read a tad more? The next excerpt appears just after one of the contestants, Kendra, finds a kangaroo to feed at a venue they are visiting:

"It's a male," Heddy said. "They develop very powerful hind legs-you wouldn't want to challenge it once it was grown."

"I am sure that it will always be treated well in here," Kendra murmured.

"I am sure it will too," Heddy said. She was obviously losing interest: "Let us wash our hands and get some lunch at the cafe."

It just feels stilted and forced, and it fills page after page with short, choppy sentences that no one would naturally speak. He said, she said, they said, and round and round it goes. The dialogue is so flat that the characters are rendered one dimensional. Sad, really, as there was potential here.

In the end, the mistakes with character names, the poor sentence construction and the droning dialogue combine to make this novel a contender for the worst of 2019. It now has a place of honor on my “OMG Bad” shelf.

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Review: Intercepts

Intercepts by T.J. Payne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book up after reading, and loving, My Father’s Basement, also written by author T.J. Payne. Unfortunately, Payne just failed here to live up to the expectations set by his previous work. Intercept attempts to combine elements of sci-fi and horror and never truly engaged me on either front.

The story centers around a facility that houses human subjects referred to as “antennae”. Their purpose, however, is revealed so late in the game that I had stopped caring what it was they actually DID or even why they were there. The institution supervisor, Joe Gerhard, emerges early as the main character, but his personae is one I just couldn’t bring myself to like. His focus is work, at the expense of family, and his eventual change of heart (the underlying theme of the book) is accomplished at great personal cost.

The writing here is profoundly different from Payne’s almost poetic approach to My Father’s Basement. In this piece, some of the techniques used are almost elementary in execution. The most excruciating example was Payne’s overuse of onomatopoeia. Auto door locks BZZZZZ, elevators DING!, and other objects WHUMP!, RIIIING! and CLICK. It’s a distracting literary device, utilized to the point of tedium.

If bloody horror is an allure, there’s plenty here to keep the reader up to his elbows in gore, as bodies are repeatedly shredded in great detail. Beyond that, however, I found the entire book an exercise in mediocrity.

Payne is a brilliant author, able to tell a tale that is both engaging and horrifying. Unfortunately, this just didn’t reflect that incredible talent.



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Review: The Perfect Son

The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Here we have a book that was, for me, a fairly mediocre read. The characters were standard—and in some cases flat out stereotypic, while the plot just never really engaged me.

Author Freida McFadden is certainly ABLE to write, but her attempt to build suspense was riddled with a fully distracting plethora of obvious red herrings. Any reader of psychological thrillers will see through these misdirects, which at times were almost amateurish and painfully transparent.

Beyond the troubling red herrings, the work also suffers in terms of character development. From the teenage bully to the bookish girl; the Xanax popping overwhelmed parent to the school principal, these characters never rose from the page in a way that made them particularly interesting. Instead of investing in any of them, I found myself mentally leaving the story, angry with the stereotypes.

If you search for the title The Perfect Son, the number of results is almost overwhelming. McFadden’s use of the title, in spite of the commonality, is almost representative of the entire book. The characters, plot development and even the attempts at setting tone, were all basic and, again, common—as if the author was somehow following a prescriptive approach straight out of “How to Write a Psychological Thriller”. All the boxes for necessary elements were checked, but without any flourish or particular creativity.

Three stars for a book that was solid, with a good foundation. Unfortunately the story itself was cookie cutter, lacking any real style to set it apart from a hundred others.

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Review: The Lies We Told

The Lies We Told by Camilla Way
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novel is a perfect example of a good author, with an interesting idea, losing her way. There are plenty of other reviews with succinct synopsis of plot, so I won’t reinvent the wheel. What I will say, however, is that the story held great promise—until it didn’t. In an effort to wrap things up, author Camilla Way takes the easy way out and has a character “tell” the backstory that led to current circumstances. This is a tool often utilized by writers who get stuck and still need to impart information either to further the plot or to tie things up. Instead of allowing the story itself to unfold naturally through the action, the narrative takes a passive approach, and the reader is audience to a character monologue that reveals events of the past. While this certainly works to bring closure, it feels like a betrayal of trust, especially so late in the game, when the reader has already invested so much time and effort.

Overall, a unique storyline that came apart at the seams when the tension was at its pinnacle.

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