Tipping Point by Terry Tyler #BookReview #NewRelease

How would we cope if all social media disappeared followed by Google and the whole internet, if family and friends fell ill and died and public utilities ceased to function?

“Only Twitter, the domain of conspiracy theorists, anarchists, artists and writers clung on.”

I have always enjoyed Terry Tyler’s character driven contemporary stories about realistic people I felt I knew but I was unsure of how I would react to a post-apocalypse novel, which is not my usual choice of genre. Well, I was blown away by how compelling I found this story. There are thrilling, edge of the seat events, a very likeable heroine and a convincing plot.

What struck me early in the story, when young mother, Vicky described events leading up to the “tipping point,” in August 2024, was that the book addresses the concerns we have now, of intolerance, reduction of public services and the burden of providing for an increasing population.

Vicky lived in a small Norfolk town on the coast with her partner Dex and teenage daughter, Lottie. Dex, a college lecturer, is concerned about covert Government intelligence agencies and advises Vicky not to give away too much about her private life, online. He belongs to an organisation called Unicorn who distrust government motives and action. As a new social networking site called Private Lives, promising absolute security, replaces the established websites, there is news of a lethal epidemic in Africa, which might spread.

After Dex disappears, Vicky soon loses her naivety and she and Lottie become closer as they escape military forces trapping them in their home. Travelling to a “Safe House” in Tyne and Wear where they hope to see Dex, they find themselves in extremely dangerous situations and have to make judgements as to whom they can trust. In the Safe House, a group of disparate individuals must learn to live together and become aware that twenty first century life is never going to be the same again.

In other chapters, we meet Travis and Aria, who have been working for the government on “Project Renova,” but discover that they too are trapped, partly as a result of the actions of a socially inadequate individual who has deliberately created chaos. There is also Wedge, an escapee from a high security prison who is the last person any of them would wish to meet.

This is a story of how we can stumble blindly into disaster, not just as individuals but also as a nation. It is highly relevant to the present day where we are only concerned about our own small world. It is also a damn good read with the feel of a film script where we are both observers and closely involved in the experiences of Vicky and Lottie. A must read and ….. there will be more to follow.

You can find Tipping Point on Amazon UK

 

 

Down and Out in Kathmandu: A Backpacker Mystery by Jennifer S Alderson #TuesdayBookBlog

Down and Out in Kathmandu is the first adventure of Zelda Richardson.  I came to it having already met the determined Zelda on her second adventure in The Lover’s Portrait.  In this earlier story, Zelda has just left her secure IT job in Seattle to volunteer as an English teacher near Kathmandu for 3 months.  Nepal proves to be a culture shock and the work a hard task for a young woman with no teaching experience or training.  She must live with a Nepali family who live a more western life than she had expected and yet she has to adapt to a very different diet including freshly slaughtered goat.

But first Zelda encounters Ian, an Australian backpacker who has taken a break in his teaching career to find pleasure and marijuana in Kathmandu.  They spend time together exploring the city, but part when Zelda commences her volunteer work.  With his dreadlocks and casual attitude, Ian seems less appealing than Zelda, but gradually I warmed to him.

The third character in the novel was a surprise.  Tommy is an unpleasant wastrel, bumming around in Thailand but wishing to return to Toronto as a successful man.  He decides to make his fortune by double-crossing the Greek, a gangster for whom he smuggles jewels.  He is doomed to fail but what can this have to do with Ian and Zelda?

The three threads are drawn together towards the end of the story after we follow Zelda’s failure as a teacher and her anger at the way the Rana family try to use her to further their ambitions for their children.  Jennifer Alderson’s knowledge of Kathmandu bring the poverty, dirt, danger and beauty to life and add credibility to the dramatic later chapters.  It is events in the city which most caught my imagination but Zelda’s experiences based on Jennifer’s life are very interesting.  I would like to have read more about her experiences but this would have weakened the structure of the dramatic events.

A very readable story set in a fascinating world and a great introduction to this likeable heroine and I will follow my interest in Nepal and Thailand by reading Jennifer’s book Notes of a Naive Traveler

You can find Down and Out in Kathmandu on Amazon UK or Amazon US

 

Jennifer S. Alderson worked as a journalist and website developer in Seattle, Washington before trading her financial security for a backpack. After travelling extensively around Asia and Central America, she moved to Darwin, Australia, before finally settling in the Netherlands. Home is now Amsterdam, where she lives with her Dutch husband and young son.

Jennifer’s travels and experiences colour and inform her internationally-oriented fiction.

Her first novel, Down and Out in Kathmandu: A Backpacker Mystery, is a travel fiction adventure through Nepal and Thailand.

The Lover’s Portrait: An Art Mystery, her second book, is a suspenseful ‘whodunit?’ which transports readers to wartime and present day Amsterdam.

Both are part of an on-going stand-alone series following the adventures of traveller and culture lover, Zelda Richardson. The third installment, another art-related travel thriller (working title: Smuggler’s Deceit) will be released in the Autumn 2017.

Her travelogue, Notes of a Naive Traveler: Nepal and Thailand, is now available as paperback and eBook. It is a must-read for those interested in learning more about, or wishing to travel to Nepal and Thailand.

Oath Breaker by Shelley Wilson #bookreview #Fridayreads

It’s a while since I read a YA book although they used to be my first choice of genre.  I was a little unsure of the werewolf theme but the text of the first page enthralled me.

The blue flashing lights pulsed through the fractured front window, illuminating the blood splatter on the walls.  The click-click of the forensic team’s camera ate into the sterile silence as the officers combed through the living room.

Like something out of a macabre horror show the blood covered everything, coating the threadbare rug in front of the fireplace with its crimson wash.  The splintered remains of the coffee table littered the overturned chair, and the smell of death clung to the walls.

Mia finds herself orphaned after the violent death of her father and is surprised at the sudden appearance of Sebastian Roberts, saying he is her uncle.  A smart, arrogant man, resembling her cruel father, he whisks her away to Hood Academy, his private boarding school, and begins to seem kind and considerate.  But Mia longs to find her elder brother, Zak, who has disappeared after running away from their home.  She begins to encounter others who warn her to be careful who she trusts.

There is something reassuring about the boarding school setting, where Mia finds a reliable friend, Elizabeth and a caring teacher, Miss Ross.  There is even a school bully, Felicity, but in this school the danger is life-threatening.  The girls have been chosen to train as werewolf hunters and Mia is surprised to discover she has fighting skills.  But there are mysterious goings-on behind locked doors and she begins to wonder if the werewolves are all bad.

In addition to the mystery and daredevil adventure there is burgeoning romance and loyal friendship which make this novel heartening to read as well as thrilling.  I am now tempted to sample Shelley Wilson’s Guardian series.

You can buy Oath Breaker on Amazon UK  or on Amazon US

You can read my review of Shelley’s motivational book Vision Boards for Beginners here

Shelley Wilson

Voyager by Carl Rackman #Bookreview #TuesdayBookBlog

This style of novel is not my usual choice of genre but it’s always good to try entering a new environment and adapt to a faster paced narrative. And I am really glad I chose Carl Rackman’s second book.

From the Prologue when Brad talks to his fiancé by phone as she tries to escape from the second tower on 9/11 to the culmination of this thriller on the day of the Inauguration of a new President in 2017, this fast-moving thriller keeps you guessing. There are a number of significant characters to meet, including Brad, a member of an FBI counter-terrorism unit, Dr Callie Woolf, Project Manager of the Voyager Interstellar Mission and Matt, a British pilot who freelances for MI5. Brad soon finds himself in disgrace, Callie fears her project will be cancelled and Matt may lose his freedom.

The plot is complex and offers “alternative facts” and there are acronyms and details of the workings of NASA and US Security staff to come to grips with. The characters gradually fill out into believable personalities and each of them becomes increasingly endangered. And then we meet Mirage, a mysterious superwoman. Is she good or evil? Is the world about to be invaded by creatures from another world, or is there a conspiracy? This tautly constructed suspense novel kept me turning the pages and hoping that Brad and Callie would solve the mystery and survive all attempts on their lives.

Voyager is available on Amazon UK or Amazon US

You can find my review of Carl Rackman’s first novel, Irex here

The Spyglass Files by Nathan Dylan Godwin #Bookreview

A few years ago I read the first of Nathan Dylan Godwin’s Forensic Genealogist series. This is the fourth volume and, in my view, the best.

Morton Farrier is a professional genealogist whose investigations into past events often lead him into trouble in the present. As he approaches the date of his wedding to Juliette he is trying to avoid new cases, but he is intrigued by the situation of a woman who was adopted soon after her birth, during the Battle of Britain. As he tries to locate her family, we follow parts of the story of her birth-mother, Elsie, who was a WAAF officer in the Y service, listening in to German pilots as they approached England.

It is fascinating to learn about the invaluable work of these young women and to observe the terrifying lives of the fighter pilots they encountered. It is understandable that they were living for the moment.

As Elsie’s story is revealed, Morton becomes aware that criminal activities which started in a cottage on the Kent coast in 1940, reverberate in the present day. We empathise with Elsie, an intelligent girl, threatened by her mother-in-law and seeming to have lost any chance of happiness. Morton’s investigations are intriguing, especially if you are interested in genealogy and the final chapters are surprising and satisfying.

Now I am hoping that Morton will learn more about his own family in a future book.

You can find The Spyglass  File on Amazon UK

Codename Lazarus: The Spy who came back from the dead by A P Martin #bookreview

Codename Lazarus takes us first to Germany in the mid-1930s as Hitler and the Nazis rise to power. We see the unpleasant changes through the eyes of John King, an English academic, whose friends include a Jewish family, the Bernsteins and a young German, Joachim Brandt, who has decided to join the SS.

Moving to 1938, King is recruited by his former professor to the world of espionage, in an attempt to foil the efforts of Nazi sympathisers in England. This requires him to cut off all ties with his former life and after another visit to Germany, he must disappear. However his under-cover activities take place in London, where he has to cultivate relationships with British nationals who wish to aid Germany. A significant relationship with a young German nurse is suspended, but old friends from the past will take a dramatic part in the denouement.

This is an exciting plot-driven story and although we gain knowledge of King’s feelings early in the story, he becomes increasingly more distant as other protagonists take a more active part in the storyline. One of the Nazi sympathisers gains our sympathy and we realise that she has trapped herself in a web of deceit. I was especially interested in the vivid description of pre-war Germany and in the realistic account of the evacuation scene at Dunkirk. The final scenes intensify in excitement and are real page-turners, but I was disappointed at the sudden conclusion which left questions about other threads in the book.

This debut novel is a fluent tale set in a fascinating time. Plotting and descriptions are sound but the earlier parts of the book lead me to expect greater knowledge of the hero’s emotions and confusion at his use of subterfuge and his abandonment of his friends and family. I look forward to reading the next book by this promising author.

Exposure by Rose Edmunds

The return of Crazy Amy in this nail-biting story, opens with drama and amusement. You have no need to have read Rose Edmunds’ previous book, Concealment as you will soon know a great deal about Amy and her devilish alter ego, Little Amy, within the first few pages. But Amy is a highly intelligent, talented lady who has discovered a conscience and after the loss of her well-paid, city career in London, she needs a project.

Returning to her life is old-flame Toby Marchpole, an investigative financial journalist. While prying into possible fraud at IPT plc, a distributer and retailer of plumbing components, he is shocked to see the firm’s finance director, Venner collapse in front of him, spluttering, “Tell Amy….” He soon discovers that Venner was a former colleague of Amy Robinson and realises that it’s time to renew their friendship.

I know nothing of city finance, but then I also know nothing about spies or murder, so what is important is that the thrilling events keep me reading and the complexities of the fraudulent actions are clearly explained. This is a story which is a worthwhile read for two reasons; Amy’s adventures keep you on a knife edge and at the same time you warm to her flawed personality, longing for her to find happiness.

Adopting a new identity, Amy is unsure whether to trust Toby and she is sometimes unwise in those she does choose as trustworthy. Once again, she encounters DCI Carmody, with whom she had hoped for a relationship, but he is chilly and judgemental, knowing her failings and trying to deny his own feelings.

This book stands alone as an enjoyable, exciting page-turner but I would also recommend Concealment either before or after reading Exposure, and you never know, Amy may return for another adventure after the exciting final twist in this story.

Exposure  will be published on March 24th 2017
I reviewed this book as a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.

You can read my review of Concealment here