Review of Beyond the Great River

Beyond the Great River

People of the Longhouse, Book 1

Written by Zoe Saadia

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

Trusting someone is hard when there is a language, religious, or cultural bearer. This still seems to be one of the biggest problems in our world today.

In Ms. Saadia’s Beyond the Great River series, she gets down to the basics of this issue, using a 14^th century Mohican Indian village being attacked by foreigners - the Iroquois. Each side thinks that the others are pagans, not really knowing anything about each other.

The link between the two warring tribes comes from an unlikely source – a woman. And in those days women had no say what-so-ever. This young lady by the name of Kentika is not passive like all the others of her tribe - she speaks her mind upsetting many. She is tolerated, because of her father's position.

Her strong tomboy personality, faith in humans, and her acquired language gift allowed her to become the link to the world Beyond the Great River. She pays a high price for who she is, during the adventure in meeting Okwaho of the attacking tribe on a romp through the woods.

Their story is at times strange, funny, and tragic. Where it ends, leaves the reader wondering what comes next. This is what makes this first book in a series a good one to read – it should go you thinking. This is an excellent example. 

I have read a few of Ms. Saadia’s books, and I recommend them highly. She gets to the core of her characters’ personalities and brings them alive in a no-nonsense writing style.

   

Purchase her books at http://amzn.to/1m2jZNO

Review of On The Rails

Review of ‘On The Rails’
By
Suzan Collins

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

The tedious and boring function of taking the train and then the subway (Tube in the UK) consecutively, is interwoven into this story of a woman named Nikki, whose quests is to find her soul mate. She has found him and commits to a venture that requires her to commute into London from her country home each time his sponsored charity’s organization needs her to be at meetings.

This feat happens three to four times a week – three to four hours each way. It’s a trip I would not undertake myself for any reason, never mind for love.

Nikki has money and time, because of an event that broke her heart and she is trying to fill that void by Volunteering. She tells her friends that the trips aren't bad; because she gets the charity’s work done while riding the rails.

She connects with the man of her dreams, a man she flirts with, and a man who wants her. Those storylines and that of a commuter’s trials and errors in trying to get from point A to point B are incorporated into what the author calls a Chick Lit. Adventure. There is romance, but I feel too much traveling.

The traveling back and forth seems overwritten at times, but it is the glue that brings Ms. Collins’ story forward because it is here we learn about how Nikki is coping with the world around her and the romances in her life.

To find out about those romances and how she deals with them and her traveling experiences, I recommend this adventure which will take a few sittings to understand all of Nikki’s rail adventures. Take the book on a long train ride or many trips in the Tube. It will be enjoyable that way.

Purchase at http://amzn.to/1m2eIpw

Review of Disappeared

Disappeared:  MANTEQUERO

Written by Jenny Twist

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

Can love or the lack of it, kill you? In Ms. Twist’s short novel, where a person disappears on vacation, many levels of love are deviled into. The love of friends, relatives, and an unknown Vampire type character are brought into the light.

An English teacher has not returned from her vacation in Spain. Her adoring cohort is surprised she has not returned and is flustered over the matter. It seems that no one else is concerned other than that missing teacher’s niece and the travel agent who sold her the ticket.

Alison, the protagonist, inquires getting no answers. She and the overweight travel agent, Heather, decided to do something about the disappearance of their friend June. After some investigation, they go to Spain together on holiday.

Alison, who speaks Spanish, and Heather, who has a European driver’s license, arrived in the town where June had stayed. What seems like a pleasant place turns into a Frankenstein event after they go to a local bar.

Infatuation leads one our vacationers into an unsafe situation. The unraveling of it changes their lives forever.

The reading was easy and not overburden with subplots. The story is a quick, entertaining read for a rainy or wintery afternoon.

Purchase at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1IuKntP

Review of UNBELIEVABLE

Unbelievable

A Cassie Baxter Mystery

Written by Cindy Blackburn

If only animals could talk, what a world this would be? Ms. Blackburn’s comical whodunit has animals in it that if they could talk, would have solved the case before Cassie’s antics, theories, and innuendos.

Escaping from her father’s breakfast, Cassie leaves in frustration early in the morning. While kayaking in her pajamas, Cassie comes across a woman’s dead body on Lake Elizabeth, Vermont. ‘Being in her pajamas,’ becomes the local small town joke when that body is not found.

Using hilarious and factual deductions, Cassie goes about trying to solve the case, stirring up the locals, who think she is a nut case. This upsets the Sheriff but intrigues the Captain of the State Police, who also thinks Cassie is a little odd.

Things do fall into place at the end of this enjoyable funny novel. Ms. Blackburn has presented a plausible crime that happens a very small town point of view.

Unbelievable is an engaging and pleasant novel that you should enjoy if you like animals and a good mystery story. And who wouldn’t like a well put together a humorous mystery?

Purchase at Amazon: http://amzn.to/11FrHTC

Review of Pope Joan

Pope Joan

Written

by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

Between the years of 853 – 855 AD, there was a Pope after the death of Pope Leo IV who is left out of the Book of Pontiffs. In the history of Roman Catholic Church, the story of a person who reigned as Pope John is missing.

Ms. Cross brings to life the story of a young girl with an inquisitive mind in a period of time when women were considered to be without the capacity think. They were subservient to man according to “God’s Will,” and did as they were told.

Joan’s brothers are preparing to go to religious school, and she dares to ask why she can’t go to. Her elder brother takes pity on her and shows her the way that only men can go – school to learn the scriptures.

Thrilling and educational circumstances lead Joan through a labyrinth of events which graduates her status in a man’s religious clerical system that does not identify her as a woman. It is her knowledge accumulated over the years which elevates her to prominence as Lord of the Roman Church.

Her love of a man, which she vowed never to be complacent in, brings her, as Pope John, to her fatal end. Her demise as Pope is horrific, leaving no doubt of her sex

Well written, researched, and presented, Ms. Cross tells a tale, some would say is impossible to have happened according to limited records – the story is a myth. Donna Woolfolk Cross’ detailed story is a compelling vindication of the Pope Joan myth.

Decide for yourself. It is a read not to miss. Purchase at: http://amzn.to/1m2fwKY

          

   

Review of Reprisal

Reprisal

Written by Alfie Robins

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

Law and Order, NYPD Blues, and many other American police TV programs have been my education into how a police department works. Mr. Robins, in Reprisal, give us an in-depth look into the workings of a detective unit in a North East England police headquarters.

Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Philip Marlowe is the “Boss” of the unit that has been confronted with a murder of significant pathology. When a second murder presents itself with the same M.O., the unit goes into overdrive, believing that they might have a serial killer at large.

The day to day procedures of looking for evidence and deciding where to move next is what propels this detailed story forward. Mr. Robin’s Marlowe is the focal point of his unit - an average bloke. The other characters in the unit are given their due per their relationship to the DCI.

Their investigation is slow moving until a van is tied to the murders. ‘Who is the owner? Where is the van?’ are the keys needed to bring their detective work to its conclusion. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. When these factors are accomplished, all hell breaks out.

This story has its twist that keeps you reading. Much is hidden from the reader, but the clues are there. Mr. Robin’s gives readers a surprising ending that they can live with. The novel peaks at the right moment – at The End.

Purchase on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1zvRjOn

Review of Book Clubbed

Book Clubbed

Written by Lorna Barrett

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

This story of murder is a layback whodunit. There is a killing, but a somewhat none violent one in the storeroom of a bookstore owned by the protagonist Tricia.

Tricia and her sister Angelica are business women in a small tourist town that is in the offseason. Angelica owns a restaurant. Hence, there is not much to do with few customers other than to solve the murder of Tricia’s employee.

The victim is not what everyone suspected which increases the interests of the sisters and propels the narrative forward. The case slowly moves forward to the end which goes up in flames.

Ms. Barrett’s story is a predictable one but intriguing pleasantly. There is no harshness in her writing which moves along smoothly explaining why the main character Tricia goes about doing the business of being involved without trying.

There was no heavy thinking to be done in the reading of this novel. So if you’re not looking for a messy murder story, this novel is for you.

Purchase at: http://amzn.to/1zMfZoS