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Mercury Falls: Robert Kroese

2010-02-08T15:26:07Z

Christine Temetri writes for the Banner, a monthly, evangelical publication. Christine fell into this job after a failed attempt at writing a scathing expose on a cult, which the staff and readers loved. Christine was given her own column about end-of-the-world predictions, appropriately named "End Notes".

]]> Harry Gidding is the owner of the Banner who claims to hear voices of angels in his head. One of the angels told Harry that he will play a role in the Apocalypse. Harry isn't sure how valid this proclamation is, as the angel who told him was drunk and a bit damaged. Just to be on the safe side, Harry uses Christine to keep an eye on any developments.

Christine goes to Berkeley and finds Mercury Galileo, a cherub, playing ping pong. Mercury is quite tall, laid back and says he has a part in the Apocalypse—although, he’s not sure what that part is, as he missed the meeting. So while he waits for events to unfold, Mercury drinks beer, practices ping pong and makes Rice Krispy treats with Peeps (the marshmallow treat, not the entourage).

Meanwhile another Charlie Nyx book (i.e. Harry Potter) is being released and the publisher is having a contest to pick the new anti-christ. Christine dismisses this as a PR stunt, but it actually is being orchestrated by Satan (the publisher is just a front). The winner of the contest is Karl Grissom is a 37-year-old film school drop-out who lives with his mother.

Now all the elements are together for the Apocolypse and a few "fallen" angels are trying to change destiny by removing pieces of the puzzle--starting with Karl.

Christine is a great character, with whom many of us can relate; her frustrated and disgusted attitude is a great compliment to Mercury's witty and sarcastic personality:

Fallen Angels to Mercury: "You know what we want"... (Karl Grissom).
Mercury: "Well, if you’re like me, a Styx reunion tour is pretty high on the list."

Mercury also validates what many of us suspect--that life is predetermined. Apparently, we’re given a certain amount of freedom, but if we go too far off course, cherubs (like Mercury) get us back in line.

Mercury Falls is Piers Anthony meets Dogma. Entertaining, imaginative; although a bit on the verbose side. You'll laugh, you'll think, you'll ponder--but, mostly laugh.
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Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: St. Culain Press (July 13, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0578032146

Vampire Diaries: Three-some at the Sock Hop

2010-02-04T01:48:10Z

Vervain for everyone! Stefan gives Elaina enough of the plant to keep everybody vamp-free for the foreseeable future. Later, Elaina and Jeremy order pizza and the delivery guy turns out to be Elaina’s road kill—we’ll call him Hoody (he has a name, but won’t be around long enough to matter). Jeremy searches for his three-fitty to pay the man, inviting him in as he slowly works out the math.
Stefan gets on Damon about putting precious Elaina in harms way in Georgia and that he knows he’s trying to get in Katherine’s tomb; he even promised to help—later telling Elaina that he lied.

Hoody calls Elaina and she gets away in time. Going over to Stefan’s for more “why me” whining; he then give her the old watch, explaining that it points to vampires.

Elaina gets the low down from Jenna on her adoption as they get ready for the 50’s dance at school (yes, Aunt Jenna’s coming to the high school dance). Turns out a 16 year old girl showed up at Elaina’s father’s office about to give birth. Elaina popped out, the girl was gone and her parent raised her. The girl’s name was Isabelle.

Elaina is waiting for Stefan to pick her up when the watch starts going crazy. Thinking it’s Stefan, she fails to notice Hoody crouched on the ceiling. Of course Stefan gets to her just before Hoody devours her.

Damon comes over and the three go to the dance, using Elaina as bait. The history teacher sees Damon, but Aunt Jenna cock-blocks him; randomly bringing up his dead wife—whose name was Isabelle. Anna stalks Jeremy at the dance and gets all vampy when asking for his journal.

Hoody finally gets to Elaina. There’s a low speed chase before he catches her. Lucky for Elaina there’s a stack of #2 pencils close by to stab him with. The Salvatore brothers show up and Stefan tortures him for info before killing him—he was invited in after all. History teacher gets caught in the halls by Damon, who interrogates and glamours him—Teach passes the test, but is clutching vervain…

Caroline is back and annoying as always, she and Bonnie have ditched the dance and are now back at the bar. Bonnie is eyeing the hot new bartender, Ben, before asking him out. Matt and Caroline get into a fight, break up and she stalks out. Matt goes after her. Jumping out of his truck and they passionately kiss. Zzzzzzzzz

Bartender, Ben, locks up the grill. Anna is waiting in the shadows and attacks, but Ben throws her against the wall – then they kiss; surprise, he’s a vampire too. Bonnie’s date is going to be interesting.

The Gray Man: Mark Greaney

2010-02-02T21:25:00Z

Meet Court Gentry. When Court was a boy, his father was a SWAT instructor. Court trained with tactical officers on a daily basis and was instructing S.W.A.T. teams in close-quarters-battle techniques by the time he was sixteen. At eighteen, Court fell in with a bad crowd and was thrown in jail for the shooting death of three Cuban drug dealers.

Snatched out of prison by some CIA big shot, Court was sent to work in a secret division within the Operations Directorate working covert ops around the world; mostly black bag jobs. For years Court was a member of the CIA’s best wet unit until he outlived his usefulness--now there is a shoot on sight directive with his name on it.

]]> Out of work with the CIA, Court has gone to work for Sir Donald Fitzroy, owner of Cheltenham Security Services who provides employment for those who have Court-Gentry-like skills, under the guise of a normal security outfit. At Cheltenham, Court builds a legendary name, "The Gray Man", by carrying out impossible missions with great success. The legend of the Gray Man grows with every hit he completes and so does the intensity of the mission along with it. The Gray Man isn’t just a low-life hit man though; he has a criteria that has to be met before accepting a mission. An assassin with a conscience, the Gray Man only targets those he believes committed crimes which demand the ultimate punishment--death.

Enter Mr. Lloyd. A barrister for the Laurent Group, Lloyd has a major deal that will fall apart if they can't provide the head of the Gray Man to the Nigerian Minister of Energy. It seems the Gray Man’s last successful kill was the minister’s brother and he wants revenge. Lloyd contacts Fitzroy about bringing in the Gray Man so his company can close the big deal but Fitzroy will have none of it. Lloyd kidnaps Fitzroy’s family in an attempt to get him to do his bidding. This is where all the games of cat and mouse, deception and kidnapping begin and the book really takes off.

Follow the Gray Man from one side of the world to the other, as he attempts to save his children and the only part of his life that has (momentarily) been normal. The story provides an exciting ride from one page to the next, as Court Gentry tries to evade the CIA and crack hit squads that have been provided to Lloyd for a chance at an incredible payout; as well as bragging rights as to who killed the Gray Man. The accuracy of the weapons and the incredible fight scenes are done in such detail one would think they're literally watching it unfold; the only thing is, you have to stop and turn the page, reminding you this is a book and not a movie.

The Gray Man is a fast read that you can’t put down once you open the cover. Move over Jason Bourne, we now have a new action hero with heart!
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Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Jove; Original edition (September 29, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0515147018

Dead Air: Deborah Shilan and Linda Reid

2010-02-02T17:00:00Z

The story takes place at Ellsford University, a quiet yet posh New England college. You're introduced to Dr. Palmer who is conducting a scientific study at Ellsford. Palmer is a very detailed orientated individual that has decided to switch from testing on monkeys to testing on humans.

The only thing is, his field of expertise is AIDS research; he's developing a new vaccine for the disease. With an unsuspecting and trusting source of test subjects his studies go unnoticed at the college.

]]> Sammy Greene is a tough-nosed New Yorker and the host of the "The Hot Line", a show on the campus radio station WELL. Sammy tackles tough and controversial topics on campus that affect the students. Following up on a story, Sammy discovers the body of one of the campus's most esteemed professor's, Dr Burton Conrad; a suicide. After speaking with her boyfriend, Reed Wyndham, whose completing his internship, as well as Dr. Conrad's ex-wife, Sammy's doubts about the professor's death begin to surface. When students start to die--also the result of suicide--Sammy finds herself not only trying to deal with current events around her but also the ghosts of her own past.

Sergeant Gus Pappajohn, an ex-Boston detective who relocated to Ellsford to finish out his career after being shot on the job and losing his wife to cancer, has a strong dislike for Sammy as she's always sticking her nose in his investigations. Pappajohn treats Sammy with anger and resentment and doubts her findings, as they don't match his. Both Sammy and Pappajohn have one thing in common--a dislike for each other--along with Taft, a televangelist who is bent on having the world agree and live by his Traditional Core Values, round out the main characters.

The authors have put together a tale of adventure from the everyday struggles of the people involved to corporate deceit and money hungry visionaries that will stop at nothing. This book has something for everyone. On the inside cover, the publisher states "If it's on Oceanview's list, then it should definitely be on your shelves" and after reading this book I would have to agree with that statement. An imaginative yet realistic story, with a plot that leaves you thinking what if? This is a must read.
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Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Oceanview Pub (December 7, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1933515502

The Black Train: Edward Lee

2010-01-30T21:33:14Z

Justin Collier is the prince of beer. He has been living the "good" life in L.A. for several years, but something has to give. Justin's Food Network show has paid handsomely for the past three years, but the network has now dropped his show in favor of something new. Now Justin yearns to get back to life before the show.

]]> Tired of L.A., the network, and the semi-celebrity that it all brings, Justin wants to get back to where he started; writing books on craft-made beer. Hearing some colleagues rave about a small brewery in Nowhere, Tennessee, Justin decides that it will be his next stop and hopefully bringing the final entry for his book on classic old American beers. At the airport, Justin gets stuck with an ugly rental car and sets off for the small town of Gast, Tennessee.

After an inexplicable four hour drive, for what should have been a short trip, Justin finally arrives at the Branch Landing Inn; upon his arrival, things get a little strange. Between his heightened sex drive and seeing and hearing the inexplicable, Justin discovers that something is not right at the Inn. Justin soon discovers a great deal about the town's rich and colorful history, one with deep civil war ties. Beginning with the mini museum at the inn and the railroad tycoon who built the mansion in the 1800's, he follows with the history of the railroad. The characters include Harwood Gast, the tycoon, his promiscuous, sex-crazed wife, and Lucifier's minion, Fecory, with a gold nose. The most realistic dreams plague Justin as he stays in the inn. In each dream, he is looking through someone else's eyes, someone from the 1800s.

With rich flashbacks, dreams, and historical detail, The Black Train has an interesting flow and good plot. It is a gory story with detailed scenes of torture and sex far from what is found in conventional fiction. Believable characters bring you into the story and keep you focused through each change in pace with the story itself, the dreams and the civil war era flashbacks.

Not for the faint of heart, The Black Train ponders the question, "Does evil really exist?", and then showcases the argument throughout. A chilling read that will spook you far into the night with an ending that leaves you wanting more. You will journey to hell and back with The Black Train.
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Mass Market Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: Leisure Books; Original edition (October 27, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0843962277