Category Archives: Reviews

Review: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, by Alan Bradley

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I Am Half-Sick of ShadowsI Am Half-Sick of Shadows, by Alan Bradley (Doubleday, 2011)

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows is the latest instalment in the life of 11-year-old chemical mastermind Flavia de Luce and her somewhat dysfunctional family in 1950’s England. Where Flavia is, death seems bound to follow, and her detective skills both aid and irritate the local police.

This time, a film crew leases the de Luce ancestral home and the family will be celebrating a quiet Christmas sequestered in their rooms. At least the intrusion shouldn’t interfere with Flavia’s plan to prove (or disprove) the existence of St. Nick.

The equipment and cast arrive in the middle of an escalating snow storm. Add in an impromptu performance for the local community which brings in half the town, turn the storm into a blizzard that traps everyone in the mansion, let Flavia discover a dead body, and you have a delicious murder mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie’s house-party type murders.

Oh, I think Dame Agatha would have liked Flavia! Hercule Poirot definitely would have enjoyed making her acquaintance.

This is book four in the series and although each title stands alone, there are ongoing relational threads. Flavia and her widowed father may be becoming a bit closer. She thinks her older sisters hate her, but one admits that’s not the problem – so what is?

Flavia makes a delightful narrator, with her child’s perspective and her propensity to view everything in terms of chemical compounds and poison. At one point she’s commiserating with her father’s faithful manservant-cum-gardener, Dogger, about forgetting things, and she says:

“Why, just yesterday I had a thimbleful of arsenic in my hand, and I put it down somewhere. I can’t for the life of me think what I could have done with it.”

“I found it in the butter dish,” Dogger said. “I took the liberty of setting it out for the mice in the coach house.” [p. 81, Doubleday Canada hardcover edition]

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows is a delightful addition to the series, every bit as enjoyable as the book that started it all, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Expect a good ‘Golden Age’ mystery, but also expect intriguing and understated relationships where all is not as it seems. And expect Flavia to make you smile.

For more about internationally bestselling Canadian author Alan Bradley and his novels, see the official Flavia de Luce website. I’m pleased to see there’ll be another Flavia novel in early 2013. You can read an excerpt of I Am Half-Sick of Shadows on the Doubleday Canada site.

[Review copy borrowed from the public library.]

Review: Crossfire, by Dick Francis and Felix Francis

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cover artCrossfire, by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Penguin Books, 2011)

The British army is Capt. Thomas Forsyth’s life. When he loses a foot to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, he reluctantly returns to live with his mother and step-father, with whom he’s never gotten along.

Thomas’ mother Josephine is an established trainer of race horses and a woman of strong opinions. He’s surprised to discover she’s also being blackmailed and is in danger of losing her business.

Perhaps because his injury is making him re-think his life, Thomas discovers he actually cares about Josephine and her husband Derek. Plus, there’s the principle of the thing: why should the blackmailer get away with his/her scheme?

Crossfire delivers everything readers have come to expect from a Dick Francis novel, in classic style. The soldier’s perspective adds something new. Despite some heavy-duty profanity in the beginning (after all, the man had his foot blown off) the language wasn’t too bad throughout. There was a small amount of sexual content.

Dick Francis died in 2010, and his son Felix is carrying on the tradition with typical Francis style. Crossfire is one of four novels the two co-wrote, and Felix Francis has written Gamble as his first “solo Dick Francis novel.” You can read a sample of Crossfire on the authors’ website.

[Book from my personal library.]

Review: Medical Error, by Richard L. Mabry, M.D.

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Medical Error, by Richard L. Mabry, M.D. (Abingdon Press, 2010)

Dr. Anna McIntyre is a respected ER surgeon in a Dallas hospital—until she becomes the victim of identity theft. Someone is prescribing narcotics under her ID, maxing out her credit cards, and more. And when her team loses a patient through what looks like medical error, she may be in for a malpractice suit too.

The hospital gives her a two-week “vacation” while their legal experts scramble. Faced with hostile investigators, Anna decides to find the truth and clear her own name. Following up on the autopsy of her dead patient introduces her to Dr. Nick Valentine, and attractive pathologist who wants to help—and soon wants to be more than friends.

Medical Error is a fast read that kept me awake past my bedtime to finish it. And that doesn’t happen often. I liked Anna, Nick and the others, and was sure I’d spotted the villain early on. Naturally, I was wrong.

The novel includes enough medical details for realism, but not enough to make my eyes glaze over. And it’s certainly got me thinking about identity theft and precautions I should take.

Medical Error was a finalist in the 2011 Carol Awards. You can read a sample chapter of Medical Error and learn more about Richard Mabry and his books.

This is the second novel in the Prescription for Trouble series. Different main characters let each title stand alone. I’ll definitely be checking out the other two. Dr. Mabry has also written the non-fiction Tender Scar. 

[Book from my personal library. Amazon link is an affiliate link from the author’s website, with no benefit to me.]

Review: The Last Target, by Christy Barritt

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The Last Target, by Christy Barritt (Love Inspired Suspense, 2011)

After her SEAL husband’s death in Afghanistan, Rachel Reynolds began a non-profit ministry writing letters to soldiers overseas. Hardly the sort of activity to put her on a terrorists’ execution list.

But she’s the last living target, and protecting her and her four-year-old Aiden may be security expert Jack Sergeant’s hardest assignment yet. Somehow the terrorists always know where to find them.

The Last Target is a fast-paced romantic suspense with believable characters. The first shot is shot fired on page one, and the danger only increases from there. Christy Barritt has a knack for writing chapter endings that propel the reader onto the next page without time to blink.

Award-winning author Christy Barritt has three new novels releasing this year: Suburban Sleuth Mysteries #1 Death of the Couch Potato’s Wife (May 2012), and two romantic suspenses: Race Against Time (April 2012) and Ricochet (September 2012).

[Book from my personal library. Amazon link is an affiliate link from the author’s website, with no benefit to me.]

Review: Fallen Angel, by Major Jeff Struecker and Alton Gansky

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Fallen Angel cover artFallen Angel, by Major Jeff Struecker and Alton Gansky (B&H Publishing Group, 2011)

Sgt. Major Eric Moyer heads an American Special Ops team sneaking into Siberia to reach downed US satellite Angel-12 and to rescue a second captured Spec Ops team. Also in the race are a covert Chinese military team and a Russian splinter group.

Fallen Angel has everything a good international military thriller needs: high tech, strategy and intrigue, bad guys, and a great cast of good guys with strong leadership. Moyer’s crew are efficient, experienced, and they have a change to pull this off despite terrorist pressure to abort the mission. Wisecracks keep them sane in a deadly mission and make the read more fun. Parts are a bit grittier than I like, but the worst is off-stage.

The authors successfully juggle multiple plot threads and points of view and pull it all together into a high-stakes, fast-paced race to a satisfying finish. Don’t start chapter 34 if you can’t read to the end in one sitting.

Fallen Angel is the third novel about Moyer’s team, and it mentions to the results of previous missions. Spoilers or not, this is one series I want to go back and read from the beginning. Major Jeff Struecker is a real life Black Hawk Down veteran, and award-winning co-author Alton Gansky is well-known in Christian fiction.

[Book from my personal library.]

Review: The Captive Heart, by Dale Cramer

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The Captive Heart cover artThe Captive Heart, by Dale Cramer (Bethany House, 2011)

Caleb Bender is a man of integrity and courage, and most of all a man of faith. Book one of the Daughters of Caleb Bender series followed the family as they fled religious persecution in Ohio and struggled to establish a new home in a fertile Mexican valley.

The Captive Heart is the second in the series, as more Amish families have followed the Benders to the new settlement. Caleb’s daughters Rachel and Miriam continue to be key characters. Rachel has been united with her beloved Jake and Miriam is conflicted over her feelings for her father’s Mexican farm hand/protector, Domingo. Especially when she prays for guidance and dreams of his death.

In Paradise Valley, Miriam convinced Rachel not to return alone to Ohio to join Jake, saying family mattered more than personal happiness. Now she takes her own advice and resolves to “get over” Domingo and find a nice Amish boy to marry. But her heart has another agenda.

Romance is only one of the plot threads, and the novel has a lot more action than much Amish fiction. There are bandits, kidnapping and illness. It’s frontier life in the 1920’s, and it’s skilfully told in true Dale Cramer style.

Faced with violence and death, Caleb and his family hold true to their commitment to not fight. Jake defies a bandit’s threats with “I fear hell more than I fear you… If you choose to murder this man in cold blood, it is between you and Gott. I will not throw away my own soul.” (p. 203)

As a non-Amish person accustomed to the philosophy of self-defence and protection of others, I found it difficult to relate to this, but these characters are as scared and hurt as anyone else would be. They simply manage to keep God in first place according to their understanding. I suspect we could all benefit from entrusting more of our needs to God and being less quick to act in our own defence.

Dale Cramer is descended from members of the actual Paradise Valley colony of Amish settlers in Mexico, although the Daughters of Caleb Bender series is fictional. For more information, read the publisher’s Q&A with the author as well as discussion questions for readers. You can learn more about Dale Cramer at his website, or check out his recent interview at the WordServe Water Cooler.

[Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group]

Review: Organized Grime, by Christy Barritt

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Organized Grime cover artOrganized Grime, by Christy Barritt (Princeton Halls Press, Smashwords Edition, 2011)

Clean enough crime scenes, and if you’re the inquisitive type you’re bound to find some clues and get drawn into a mystery or two. Gabby St. Clair is feisty, quick-witted and funny, and by this, the third novel in the Squeaky Clean Mystery series, she’s developed a reputation for investigating where she shouldn’t, endangering her life, and catching villains.

This time the mystery comes to her door, in the form of FBI agents hunting her animal-rights activist friend, Sierra, who’s suspected of arson and bombing a building. Sierra has tried rescuing crabs from restaurants before, but Gabby’s sure she’d never commit acts of eco-terrorism.

Gabby needs to find Sierra before the authorities—or the real criminals—do. A string of murders is good for her business, but each crime scene turns up evidence of Sierra’s presence. As Gabby follows leads, danger follows her.

Organized Grime is a fine wrap-up to a fun series that I didn’t want to see end. The mystery itself is fast-paced, and I enjoy Gabby’s sense of humour. At the same time she’s finishing her forensic pathologist training, discovering what her new faith means to how she lives life, and resolving relationship issues with her family and her cute neighbour.

If you haven’t read the first two novels in the series, Hazardous Duty and Suspicious Minds, you can jump in with book 3. But the first two are good reading too.

Christy Barritt is also the author of the non-fiction book Changed: True Stories of Finding God Through Christian Music and the romantic suspense novels Keeping Guard and The Last Target. She has three new books releasing this year: Suburban Sleuth Mysteries #1 Death of the Couch Potato’s Wife (May 2012), and two romantic suspenses: Race Against Time (April 2012) and Ricochet (September 2012).

You can learn more about award-winning mystery author Christy Barritt and her books at her website. See book trailers for the first two Squeaky Clean novels here. Organized Grime is available as an eBook in multiple formats through Smashwords, in Kindle format, and in print from Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

[Review copy provided by the author.]

Review: The Names of God Bible

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The Names of God Bible cover artThe Names of God Bible, Ann Spangler, General Editor (Revell/Baker Publishing Group, 2011)

Throughout the Bible, God is referred to by various names which reveal aspects of His character. The more we know Him, the better we can trust Him.

In The Names of God Bible, the most significant of those names are restored in the Old Testament text to their original Hebrew (but rendered in our alphabet). In the New Testament, other than referring to Jesus by the Hebrew Yeshua, His names and titles remain in English.

This Bible makes a great study tool for those wanting to understand more about the names and character of God. There’s a list of names, meanings and pronunciations at the beginning, as well as a reading path that allows you to trace the usage of a particular name through the complete text.

There are also focus pages for many of the names of God, with insights, devotionals, and promises related to the names. Standard features include Bible reading plans and introductions to each book.

The introductions are very helpful, giving an overview of each book’s events and theme and putting it in the wider context of the whole Bible (eg the introduction to Jeremiah gives where the book falls in Israel’s history, what was happening at the time, as well as the prophet’s message and effects, and it suggests other readings to place the content in context.)

Unfortunately, the first introduction I read was for Genesis, and it includes the line “… Noah, who commandeered a ship through a world-destroying flood.” (He commanded the ship, but he hardly commandeered it.)

The Names of God Bible is printed in the GOD’S WORD® translation (GW), which is new to me but has been around since 1995, ©God’s Word to the Nations Missions Society. The single-column layout is easy to read, and I like how any explanations of names are done within the text using brackets. It feels more natural than footnotes. Here’s an example:

So your name will no longer be Abram [Exalted Father], but Abraham [Father of Many] because I have made you a father of many nations.” Genesis 17:5, GW

The GOD’S WORD® translation is designed for clear readability, with shorter sentences and explanations of terms such as yoke and cornerstone making it ideal for those new to the faith or new to the English language. Contractions make the text flow easily although I prefer reading God’s own dialogue without them.

More information on the details and philosophy of this translation can be found at the GOD’S WORD® translation website.

General Editor Ann Spangler is well-equipped to head up this task, after researching and writing the books Praying the Names of God and Praying the Names of Jesus. For an interview with Ann Spangler and a deeper overview of The Names of God Bible see the Baker Publishing Group website. You can also view a sample chapter of The Names of God Bible.

[Unlike ordinary reviews where I read the entire book before reviewing, here I’ve sampled various selections and passages, introductions and focus pages. Bible has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller or from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.]

Picks from 2011

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I’m borrowing this idea from Laura Davis at Interviews and Reviews, and picking my favourites from what I’ve reviewed in 2011:

Books

Most life-changing (tie, listed in order I read them):

Most fun:

Most laugh-inducing:

Best dramatic novel:

Most personally helpful writing how-to:

Music

Favourite album of the year (tie, listed in order I heard them):

Review: Stranded, by Lorena McCourtney

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Stranded: cover artStranded, by Lorena McCourtney (Revell, 2006)

There’s not much better than a cozy mystery with a spunky heroine and a sprinkle of humour, and as such I always enjoy Lorena McCourtney’s Ivy Malone mysteries. Ivy is a self-proclaimed LOL—“little old lady”—and much like Miss Marple she uses her apparent harmlessness to solve the murders that keep happening around her.

Stranded is Ivy’s fourth case, set in the small, mountain town of Hello, Colorado. She and her travelling companion, Abilene, arrive after the murder—and after the townsfolk have decided who did it—but it doesn’t take long for Ivy’s “mutant curiosity gene” to kick in. Since they’re literally stranded in town until they can pay for a new engine for their motor home, she has time to indulge her curiosity and find the real killer.

Dead is one Hiram McLeod, a wealthy older gentleman about to embark on his ninth marriage. Hiram was a shrewd if not always upright businessman, and who knows how many enemies he had? It doesn’t take long for Ivy to discover a list of suspects. Unfortunately, she likes them all.

Fans of the series will welcome appearances by Ivy’s friends Magnolia and Geoff and her special friend Mac. Stranded is a pleasant read, not overly tense except for one scene near the end. Ivy’s always good for a few smiles, and I appreciate her practical faith. She may not know what’s going to happen next, but she’s sure God has something in mind.

Readers new to the series can jump right in with Stranded, but it may be wiser to start with book one, Invisible, which sets the stage and has this LOL staking out the local cemetery. Invisible is available as a free e-book through Christianbook.com, to get you started.

Lorena McCourtney has also written the Andi McConnell mystery series and the Julesburg Mysteries, as well as the women’s fiction/romance Searching for Stardust. She says there will be a fifth Ivy Malone book to answer some of our ongoing relationship questions about Ivy and Mac, so I guess I’ll have to be patient. You can find Lorena at her website or on Facebook.