ARC Review: Good As Gone by Douglas Corleone

Good As Gone

Author: Douglas Corleone

Publication: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (August 20, 2013)

Description: Former U.S. Marshal Simon Fisk now works as a private contractor, tracking down and recovering children who were kidnapped by their own estranged parents. He only has one rule: he won’t touch stranger abduction cases. He’s still haunted by the disappearance of his own daughter years ago when she was just a child, still unsolved, and stranger kidnappings hit too close to home.

Until, that is, six-year-old Lindsay Sorkin disappears from her parents’ hotel room in Paris, and the French police deliver Simon an ultimatum: he can spend years in a French jail for his actions during a past case, or he can work with them now to find Lindsay Sorkin. So, Simon sets out in pursuit of the missing child and the truth behind her disappearance. But Lindsay’s captors did not leave an easy trail, and following it will take Simon across the continent, through the ritziest nightclubs and the seediest back alleys, into a terrifying world of international intrigue and dark corners of his past he’d rather never face again.

With lightning-fast pacing and a twist behind every turn, Douglas Corleone's Good as Gone is a gripping race against the clock for a young girl with her life on the line and a man who has nothing left to lose.

My Thoughts: Simon Fisk has lived through every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter was abducted and has never been found. His wife committed suicide but Simon,. former US Marshal, now locates children taken by non-custodial parents and brings them home. He is stopped by the police in Paris and forced to help them locate six-year-old Lindsey Sorkin. The French police don't want the scandal of losing another foreign child. Simon doesn't care about the police but he does care about the little girl.

Simon begins a chase that will take him from Paris to Germany, Poland, the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia as he tries to track down the missing child. Along the way he gets involved with the drug culture, with human trafficking, with child pornography, and with the devastation caused by the Chernobyl. He deals with corrupt police and dirty lawyers. But he also find help from old friends and a possible new love interest. 

The story was very fast-paced and filled with danger and violence. Fisk is a driven hero who is still deeply damaged by his own childhood when his father took him away from his mother and sister and from the horrible loss of his own child. 

Fans of fast-paced thrillers will enjoy this story and be looking for more about Simon Fisk.

Favorite Quote:

"Have you ever thought that maybe your daughter could still be alive?"

I felt my lower lip tremble.

"I lost hope that she was alive long ago, and I'd never want that hope back. Not in a million years. Not for one second. But I will forever be looking. In every shop, every café, every open home window in every city of town in every country on every continent. I can't help myself. I want to know what happened to her and why. And I want to know who took her."

I got this eARC through Minotaur Books' eGalley program. You can buy your copy here. 

Book Review: Hush (Tangleheart) by Carey Baldwin

Hush (Tangleheart)

Author: Carey Baldwin

Publication: Carey Baldwin (July 6, 2013)

Description: A romantic suspense novella from award winning author Carey Baldwin.

Coming home has never been this sexy...or this dangerous.

Reformed bad boy Charlie "Drex" Drexler returns to his hometown of Tangleheart, Texas hoping to make peace with his dark past and make amends to those he's wronged. He's also looking to reconnect with an old flame. But Anna won't cooperate, new questions tear open old wounds and his best friend's wife and baby disappear. Can Drex and Anna mend their broken hearts while fighting for their lives and racing to bring mother and baby home safely?

My Thoughts: HUSH stuffed a novel's worth of plot into a novella. The story was fast-paced and exciting. But something has to give and what seemed to give in this story was the building of the motivations of the villains. Ms. Baldwin seemed to be leading me to a certain conclusion and then brought the villains in out of left field.

Charlie Drexler left Tangleheart, Texas after the suicide of Megan, a girl he had dumped. He left behind the best friend that he was just admitting to himself that he loved. Anna was left behind without a word. When Charlie comes back six years later, he has grown up and wants to make amends for his fast departure.

Things don't turn out quite the way Charlie had planned. Anna has moved on and isn't interested in having her heart broken again. She treats him with indifference. And when he goes to apologize to Megan's mother, he learns that she had been running around on him with another man. He also learns that someone has been sending her mother $500 every two weeks. 

When a reporter who was looking into Megan's death also seemingly commits suicide, Charlie wonders about Megan's death. Who was it that Megan was seeing? Could it have been Anna's sister's husband and Charlie's good friend Nate?

When Anna's sister and nephew run off, Anna and Charlie have one more thing to investigate.Anna and Charlie find themselves on the run from someone shooting at them as they try to solve Megan's death and find Anna's sister and nephew.

This was a quick read and an entertaining one. 

Favorite Quote:

As the sheriff paraded around the circle, raising an eyebrow here, shooting a distrustful glance there, Charlie couldn't help but think the only thing necessary to complete the whole mystery-movie atmosphere was Colonel Mustard brandishing a candlestick.

The author gifted me with the novella for review. You can buy your copy here.

Teaser Tuesday: Good As Gone by Douglas Corleone

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week my teaser comes from Good As Gone by Douglas Corleone. I received this eARC through Minotaur Books' eGalley program. Here is the description of this August 20 release:

Former U.S. Marshal Simon Fisk now works as a private contractor, tracking down and recovering children who were kidnapped by their own estranged parents. He only has one rule: he won’t touch stranger abduction cases. He’s still haunted by the disappearance of his own daughter years ago when she was just a child, still unsolved, and stranger kidnappings hit too close to home.

Until, that is, six-year-old Lindsay Sorkin disappears from her parents’ hotel room in Paris, and the French police deliver Simon an ultimatum: he can spend years in a French jail for his actions during a past case, or he can work with them now to find Lindsay Sorkin. So, Simon sets out in pursuit of the missing child and the truth behind her disappearance. But Lindsay’s captors did not leave an easy trail, and following it will take Simon across the continent, through the ritziest nightclubs and the seediest back alleys, into a terrifying world of international intrigue and dark corners of his past he’d rather never face again.

With lightning-fast pacing and a twist behind every turn, Douglas Corleone's Good as Gone is a gripping race against the clock for a young girl with her life on the line and a man who has nothing left to lose.

Teaser:

Davignon stepped out of the living room and returned a moment later with a thin manila folder. He dropped it in my lap, and remained standing next to the sofa across from me. He didn't remove his jacket.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (August 12, 2013)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

First the personal stuff:

I went into the hospital on August 1 to finally have an operation to resolve some issues I have been having with my Crohn's Disease. They removed better than 25 centimeters of my small intestine, Most people are hospitalized for 3-4 days after the surgery. However, my digestion didn't want to start working again and I am still here. We have fairly high hopes that I will finally be able to go home on Monday, August 12. (I am writing this from my hospital bed on Sunday morning.)

The hospital stay was not relaxing nor did it give me time to catch up on my reading. Between NG tubes, various IVs, and other indignities, I just didn't feel well enough to read until yesterday. Once I get home things should get back to normal, except for not being able lift, push or pull more than 10 pounds for six weeks and not being able to drive for another week.

What I read since July 28:

• Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon - enjoyable fast-paced technothriller
• Cast in Sorrow by Michelle Sagara - latest entry in a long-running fantasy series
• The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle - wonderful story of first love
• Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews (my first hospital read)
• Seduction in Death by J. D. Robb - comfort read
• Reunion in Death by J. D. Robb - comfort read

Currently:

I am reading Purity in Death by J. D. Robb which is the 15th book in her In Death series. I love following this series because I adore the relationship between Eve and Roarke. (I just bought books 16-20 for my Kindle. So I have lots of comfort in my future.)

On the stack:

Once I get my health more regulated, I need to tackle some review books for late August release.

• Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington will be released on Aug. 20
• Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas will be released on Aug. 27

On the adult side, I don't have any review books that need to be read immediately and plan to continue my In Death marathon and see what else I have on my Kindle that looks interesting.

Luckily, I had quite a number of posts scheduled ahead which means that my blogs kept posting reviews and memes without my direct intervention. You can see what I reviewed for the past couple of weeks by checking the archives here or at Ms. Martin Teaches Media.

What do you have planned for the coming week?

Stacking the Shelves (August 11, 2013)

Tynga of Team Tynga's Reviews has a meme to spotlight the books we receive each week. Visit her site to check out the linky and see what everyone gets. I guarantee that your TBR pile will grow.

Here is my quick and non-graphic version of this meme for the last two weeks. I am preparing this using my Chromebook and siting in my hospital bed, It isn't pretty - but I didn't want to get further behind.

I bought all of these this past two weeks:

• Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews in print and for my Kindle
• The Griffin Mage by Rachel Neumeier - Kindle Daily Deal
• Heart of Briar by Laura Anne Gilman
• The Risk-Taker by Kira Sinclair - Kindle Daily Deal
• Burn Out by Traci Hohenstein - Kindle Daily Deal
• Asylum Harbor by Traci Hohenstein - Kindle Daily Deal

I have two more packages from Amazon to open at home. I got sick and had to be rushed back to the hospital. Hopefully, I'll be spotlighting those titles next week.

What did you get?

Book Review: Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton

Affliction

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Publication: Berkley Hardcover (July 2, 2013)

Description: Some zombies are raised. Others must be put down. Just ask Anita Blake.

 
Before now, she would have considered them merely off-putting, never dangerous. Before now, she had never heard of any of them causing human beings to perish in agony. But that’s all changed.
 
Micah’s estranged father lies dying, rotting away inside from some strange ailment that has his doctors whispering about “zombie disease.”
 
Anita makes her living off of zombies—but these aren't the kind she knows so well. These creatures hunt in daylight, and are as fast and strong as vampires. If they bite you, you become just like them. And round and round it goes…
 
Where will it stop?

Even Anita Blake doesn’t know.

My Thoughts: AFFLICTION is the 22nd book in the Anita Blake series. As with many long-running series, certain things can be expected of any new book. Anita will have issues juggling all the men she is sleeping with and handling her powers. both of these are true in this story. 

All the men - It is lucky that Hamilton has the writing quirk of physically describing each man each time he is part of a scene. Otherwise, they seem to be pretty interchangeable. Most of the men she is juggling in this episode are weres since she is away from St. Louis at Micah's home town and had to bring a number of guards with her.

Micah's father has been bitten by some sort of a zombie and has an infection that is going to kill him. The doctors have found a way to slow it down but not stop it. Coming home raises all sorts of issues for Micah. He had alienated his family to protect them from the being that controlled him. His return means he as to deal with the anger issues that created. It also doesn't help that some of his family are religious fanatics who believe that weres are abominations. He also has some anger issues himself about his parents' divorce and his mother's remarriage. He is also unsure how to tell his family that he, Anita, and Nathaniel are romantic partners. 

Anita quickly gets involved in the problem of the flesh-eating zombies and the infections. This story had an overabundance of zombies! Add rotting vampires into the mix and you have a really creepy plot. Anita and crew, including Edward, have to track down the vampire making the new vampires and zombies before he manages to overwhelm Boulder, Colorado. It seems that he is necromancer like Anita and, like Anita, got some extra powers when the Mother of All Darkness was defeated. 

The story was exciting, especially for fans of zombies. The sex scenes were frequent and graphic. One in particular really made me uncomfortable. Anita seems to have better control of the Ardeur now but still needs to feed it frequently. I did start to find the sex scenes a little boring and skimmed to get back to the zombie part of the plot. 

Fans of the series won't want to miss this one but I don't think this would be a good entry point for newcomers. 

Favorite Quote:

Sometimes love isn't about being smart. Sometimes it's about being stupid together. I hated those moments, but I'd grown to understand that love, real love, is full of choices that make no sense, that should go horribly wrong, but you make the choice anyway. Why? Because love is about hope, you hope that this time it will be different. 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

This week I am spotlighting a relative newcomer to my TBR mountain. Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton was just released on July 2. It is the 22nd book in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series which I have been reading since 1993. Here is the description:

Some zombies are raised. Others must be put down. Just ask Anita Blake. 

Before now, she would have considered them merely off-putting, never dangerous. Before now, she had never heard of any of them causing human beings to perish in agony. But that’s all changed.

Micah’s estranged father lies dying, rotting away inside from some strange ailment that has his doctors whispering about “zombie disease.”

 Anita makes her living off of zombies—but these aren't the kind she knows so well. These creatures hunt in daylight, and are as fast and strong as vampires. If they bite you, you become just like them. And round and round it goes…

 Where will it stop?

Even Anita Blake doesn't know.

Not being a fan of zombies, I am a little apprehensive about this one.

Beginning:

My gun was digging into my back, so I shifted forward in my office chair.

Friday 56:

"Trust me," Dev said, "there is a trail of brokenhearted boys back home who wish so much out luscious Micah liked men better than he does. Sadly, where men are concerned he's a one-man boy."