Second Chance by David Perry Review

Title: Second Chance

Author: David Perry

My Rating: 2/5

Part of a series? Not yet. 

Genre(s): Mystery, Thriller.

Description/Blurb:

Pharmacist Alex Benedict’s career and personal life are collapsing around him. Battling his own exhaustion, a powerful physician and an unforgiving boss, he fights to uncover the reason behind a series of mysterious deaths in his hospital while preparing for a life-altering crisis. The suicide of a colleague thrusts Benedict into a hunt for clues leading to the ultimate, improbable answer. In the end, Benedict discovers the unthinkable and in a climactic, unforgettable scene must make an agonizing, life-defining choice that will haunt him forever.

My review: 
It's taken my quite a while to read this, I think it's been weeks which (if you read my blog) you'll know is quite unusual especially considering this isn't exactly a lengthy novel. 

The novel starts off quite well, it seems like the standard mystery that I expected from reading the blurb, mysterious patient deaths, a suicide and possible someone behind it all. Later things started getting a bit more unusual, more like sci-fi than mystery which I can live with, plenty of authors manage to blend the two dramas together nicely but it didn't feel quite right here. I struggled to do the whole suspension of disbelief thing as the universe didn't seem to follow it's own rules. I mean a character can be shot, be in serious pain and a few chapters later (and the whole book only seems to span a week or so) the same character can be in a fight with the pain from the injury and even the injury itself not even being mentioned. The story itself had a lot of promise and the characters themselves appeared to be consistent it's just the little niggles where the author doesn't follow the rules of the universe the characters live in made it a bit difficult for me to enjoy the book.  

The Caregiver by Astrid 'Artistikem' Cruz Review

Title: The Caregiver

Author: Astrid 'Artistikem' Cruz 

My Rating: 3/5

Part of a series? Yes

Genre(s): Crime, Thriller

Description/Blurb:

Scarlett Lang always dreamt of becoming an Interpol agent. When her hard work pays off and she's given the chance to work as an undercover agent with London's biggest drug lord, Armand Sayer, she can't help being ecstatic about it. She's employed by Armand's sister (to aid in his recovery from a gun attack) as both caregiver and bodyguard. Her resourcefulness in both areas helps her win much more than Armand's trust, to the dismay of both his right-hand man and her ex-boyfriend / colleague. As she makes her way into the business she swore to help tear down, she's faced with the dilemma of choosing between being loyal to her profession or her heart. And we all know it can't be both.

My review: 

This book deals with more violence than the average crime novel with a female protagonist  Scarlett isn't an investigator really she's more of a hit-man (hit-woman?) which made a nice change. There's not really an overly complicated plot or loads of detail for the reader to get bogged down in which makes it a nice light read, easily readable in an hour or two.

I did have a couple of issues believing that the book was set in London though, it felt a lot more like some of the American cities I've read about. I'm not sure if it's because I'm more familiar with London than cities in the U.S. so it's harder for me to just go with the flow of the plot or something along those lines. I felt that maybe there was a bit too much gun crime going on, normally you read of more stabbings than gun crime in the papers so that didn't really feel right with me. There also weren't many landmarks mentioned so you could easily have been in any generic city. 

Anyway despite that little niggle I still found the book enjoyable, it was good for a quick read. I might even end up reading the sequel to learn more about Scarlett's past as I don't think we learnt enough about it in this book, I love to know what motivates a character when I'm reading but I appreciate that because this book is a rather short one an in-depth run down of Scarlett's history would have felt out of place and slowed down plot development massively.

I would quite happily recommend this book to anybody who wants a short, fast paced thriller or somebody who fancies a break from traditional romance novels. 

Misery Loves Company by Rene Gutteridge Review

Title: Misery Loves Company

Author: Rene Gutteridge

My Rating: 3/5

Part of a series? No.

Genre(s): Christian fiction, Mystery, Thriller.

Description/Blurb:

Filled with grief, Jules Belleno rarely leaves the house since her husband’s death while on duty as a police officer. Other than the reviews Jules writes on her blog, she has little contact with the outside world.

But one day when she ventures out to the local grocery store, Jules bumps into a fellow customer . . . and recognizes him as her favorite author, Patrick Reagan. Jules gushes and thoroughly embarrasses herself before Regan graciously talks with her.

And that’s the last thing she remembers—until she wakes up in a strange room with a splitting headache. She’s been kidnapped. And what she discovers will change everything she believed about her husband’s death . . . her career . . . and her faith.

My review: 

This book threw me off for the first few chapters; a blogger who reviews the odd book gets kidnapped not long after posting a negative review… I really don’t want any authors who read my reviews to get inspired from that little idea. So yes, I was a little thrown off but luckily I don’t need to write a negative review for this book. I have tagged this book as a piece of Christian literature, mainly because a few characters in this book question their faith throughout the course of the plot leading to a few mentions of God, Jesus and Heaven. The references aren't too heavy though, I'm not a Christian myself and I didn't feel like the book was trying to preach to me which can sometimes happen when a book has characters who find faith important.

 I don’t want to go too deep in reviewing the plot as it would be so easy to give something away, the author keeps adding little points that may or may not be important to the main plot. For example; was Jules kidnapped because of that bad review or was there something else behind the kidnapper’s actions.

I’d like you to trust my judgement on this one rather than listen to me ramble on and on about the description and strength of the plot whilst trying not to give anything away.  I gave this book a 3/5, meaning that in my opinion this book was above average but was a fair way off being my perfect read. I found some of the switching between scenes a bit unnecessary and almost distracting at times, usually I seeing the story through the eyes of different characters but sometimes the writer changed character in a way that was far from smooth leaving me feeling like maybe I’d missed a paragraph out somewhere. That’s not to say that the book wasn't enjoyable, it was, there were interesting concepts and as a Psychology student I do enjoy looking at how authors take on mental health. Here Gutteridge takes on grief and shows us people reacting to it in different ways, we get to see how the characters’ development is affected by their mental state while still treating the matter delicately. 

Dukkha Reverb by Loren W. Christensen Review

Title: Dukkha Reverb: A Sam Reeves Martial Arts Thriller

Author: Loren W. Christensen

My Rating: 2.5/5

Part of a series? Yes, this is book two of the Sam Reeves series. 

Genre(s): Thriller, Martial arts.

Description/Blurb:

Up until six weeks ago, Sam Reeves, a respected Portland, Oregon police detective, martial artist, and teacher, had a good life. That is until a series of unimaginable events turned it upside down some good, some very, very bad. Still reeling from this maelstrom of fate, Sam takes a leave of absence and heads to exotic Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam seeking refuge with his family, and to reflect on his deadly past. Sam is captivated by the contrast of beauty and struggle of a country still recovering from war, and by the warmth of his newfound family his father Samuel, wife Kim, half sisters, and the beautiful enchanting Mai. But the grief-crazed mob boss, Lai Van Tan, seeks revenge against Samuel who he holds responsible for the death of his son. Ever the protector, Sam Reeves joins the fight to thwart Lai Van Tan s deadly attacks on the family. Dealing with a crazed mob boss is difficult enough but when the family learns that Lai Van Tan s people have kidnapped 27 young girls to be sold into the sex trade, and that the corrupt police and government won t help, Sam, Samuel, and Mai, along with a bizarre group of seemingly old and disabled Vietnamese soldiers with unique fighting skills, join forces to rescue the young girls. Enraged, Lai Van Tan strikes back with a fury that tests the mettle of these warriors. Before it s over, the family is forced to defend themselves again and again, including in a warehouse full of life-sized Buddha statues. The results well, if you re going to fight the bad guys you might as well make them really mad at you.

My review: 
Before reading this I'd never found myself reading a martial arts thriller before, I didn't even know a lot about the genre itself and I'm slightly ashamed to admit this but pretty much all of my (extremely limited) martial arts knowledge comes from watching films, so I apologise now in case my ignorance insults somebody.

This book had considerably less violence than I expected, that's not saying there was no violence as this book has its air share of fights, murders and distressing content at times, but the author concentrates on more than the violence, and he would be forgiven for doing so in a thriller book, instead he focused more on the chi, state of mind and energy required in a fight. This did lead to the book feeling a bit like a fantasy at times due to the frequent talks around chi, moving faster than the eye can follow, 'mind reading' and other skills displayed by Samuel and 'Sifu'. Other elements were a lot more realistic, Sam's post traumatic stress following the events of the previous book (which I have not had the opportunity to read) showed that the main character was in fact a human being, the post traumatic stress as well as adding some realism to the novel also allowed the reader to learn enough of the key elements if the previous book to understand this one without having read the first book in the series.

I loved the authors description of the traffic in Saigon, it was so easy to imagine the close shaves that I found myself gripping my e-reader a bit too tight whilst reading these passages almost as if I was gripping some car part for dear life. I didn't have such an intense reaction to the fight scenes despite them being equally as well written but it is much easier for me to imagine crazy traffic which I have experienced  than mortal combat, which I hope to steer well clear of.

Anyway, back to the point. I would recommend this to somebody who is interested in martial arts and interested in thrillers as they would perhaps appreciate the more spiritually components more than myself. I'd also recommend this to somebody who fancies a bit of escapism, there are plenty of points where you could easily put the novel down for a few hours making this a suitable read for a commute.