Loss of Carrier by Russ White

Here is another without a Publisher icon we have www.booksurge.com which we are told is soon to become CreateSpace. Ah well...

The premise for this story is definitely intriguing. It has all the great elements of a murder mystery including a grusome without being graphic murder scene without an adorable amatuer sleuth who is actually a software/computer geek. He is adorable because he has quirks and is unsure of himself beside the "girl next door" real sleuth who works for ???

However...

After asking some questions of my own while reading this novel, I turn the page and voila! the questions I asked are there in black and white. Wonderful! They are on the right track, I smile and keep reading... and reading... and reading. After a reasonable amount of time, I flip over about 50 pages and Lo! there are the same questions all over again with no progress at all. Why have the 50 pages if there is no progress? There really isn't an answer for this hypothetical question. It is one of those things that make you go... HMMMM, why am I reading this?

This would be a great novel if it were trimed about 20,000 words. It would be a super made for TV movie. I wouldn't mind spending a couple of hours watching this, but please... let's make some progress if I'm going to spend several evenings before I sleep on a novel.

One character (the protag) is very well developed. You know how he will react in any given situation. He's a great guy. He's a geek. He's adorable. I wouldn't change a thing about him. And the villian, is enormously a villian even incognito, although you can figure out who he is within a few pages. The problem is there is no real interplay between the two. There is no tension buildup. There is nothing really to make you want to hate him or, on the flip side, like him. He's just some guy inserted in the story line to literally be the villian.

I just read that last line and I wonder at myself. Have I read so much drival in the past several years that I've become iron-skinned? Do I expect too much? Then I think of some of the greatest novels I've read in the past 50 years and think, "No."

If someone is going to spend hard-earned money on a story, then why isn't it the greatest story that can be told? Why? if stories like Pride and Prejudice and Shakespear's plays, and The Three Musketeer's, The Man in the Iron Mask, Prisoner of Zenda et al are told and retold and printed and reprinted? it is because really good storytelling cannot be disguised.

It is good storytelling that we find hard to come by in these days and times. That is because it is too easy to turn on the TV and zone-out.

A good story has 3-dimensional characters. It has a good build up. It has good tension among the characters. It has staying power down through the ages.

This story has 1 3-D character. It has excellent build up. It has passable tension in the love angle but it does not have staying power. I do not think this story is worth the money.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Loss Of Carrier
BookSurge Publishing (October 27, 2009)
by
Russ White


ABOUT THE BOOK

Bright yellow cables against a blue shirt? Carl never would have approved of that color combination. Why was his face so white? His eyes should be closed, not open. Why hadn’t one of the security guards seen this and reported it to the police? The lights were off, the cameras were useless in the dark.

Of course, the cables wrapped around Carl’s neck explained why the server wasn’t working. Loss of carrier.

Jess Wirth lives a dreary life. He spends most of his time crammed inside a cubicle, toiling as a network engineer and stewing over the details of his ugly divorce. But when he finds his co-worker dead in the basement of their office, Jess’s life takes a surprising—and unpleasant—turn.

The police quickly declare the death a suicide, but Jess isn’t so sure. Not long after he begins digging into the victim’s work, another co-worker turns up dead, convincing him once and for all that something sinister is brewing behind the cubicle walls.

His investigation leads him to a mysterious woman name Leah, who pushes him to entrust her with the information he’s collected about his dead colleagues. Wary of Leah’s motives yet inexorably drawn to her, Jess keeps her at arm’s length...until an attempt is made on both their lives. Realizing they are close on the trail of a dangerous criminal, the pair race to expose a data theft ring before they become the killer’s next victims.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Loss Of Carrier, go HERE

Eternity Falls by Kirk Outerbridge

I just spent 30 minutes writing my review which completely disappeared on me. That hasn't happened in years! What a pain!

I'll never remember everything, but I'll try.

This story has plenty of twists and curves. One thing that bothers me is there is no publishing house imprint on the thing. Another thing that bothers me is that there is no real reason why the protag falls in love with the girl who happens to be as irritating as any character I've met. I guess it's a guy thing.

I really like the main character, though. He is very well developed and matches the story line. There's no out of character experience. The support cast, however, seems to be rather shallow which gives them a two-dimensional feel. While the villians are evil and there's a lot of betrayal, their motivations are not fully developed which gives the story sort of a crackling, brittle feel.

The gadgets are fun, though, and very convenient.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Eternity Falls
Marcher Lord Press (October 1, 2009)
by
Kirk Outerbridge


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kirk Outerbridge developed a passion for storytelling at an early age. Through years of reading Fantasy and Science Fiction novels, comics, table top gaming and watching endless hours Japanese anime, he developed a keen sense for what made stories enjoyable and more importantly—what didn’t.

While pursuing an engineering degree in college, Kirk endeavored to tell his own stories, choosing writing as the easiest and cheapest medium to master—or so he thought. Several years and several hundred thousand words later, he produced a Sci-fi trilogy that shall never (God willing) see the light of day, but that did teach him much needed lessons about the craft of writing fiction.

After college Kirk returned to his homeland of Bermuda where he reunited with his childhood friend and future wife, Ria. But before marrying his lovely wife, Kirk entered an even greater marriage and devoted his life to Christ in 2002.

With a new found direction in life, writing fell by the wayside but the urge to tell futuristic stories never left. After much prayer and contemplation, Kirk purposed his writing for God’s Will, seeking to draw to Christ those who shared his passions for all things futuristic and Sci-fi.

Kirk currently lives with his wife Ria and 18 month old son Miles in beautiful Bermuda. He is a faithful member of the Church of Christ and is a professional engineer employed by the government.



ABOUT THE BOOK

In the future, death is only a problem if you can’t afford the price. Such is the promise of Gentec Corporation’s “Miracle Treatment”, a genetic anti-aging elixir that grants eternal life—or does it?

When a Gentec client suddenly dies of natural causes, the powers that be will stop at nothing to ensure their version of eternity remains unchallenged; even if it means concocting a religious sabotage conspiracy to cover a lie.

With the media about to blow the story wide open, the credibility of Gentec and the lives of millions of clients rest on one man’s ability to uncover the truth.
Enter detective Rick Macey, religious counterterrorist expert and Gentec executive Sheila Dunn’s last hope for salvation.

Now with the clock ticking and the corporate brass seeking their own solution at any cost, Macey must track down a religious zealot out to destroy the Miracle Treatment for good.

But when Macey finds himself not only falling for his client, but confronted with the possibility that the culprit could hold a connection to his shaded past, the truth suddenly becomes a dangerous thing.

Only through a test of faith can he stop the crisis before it’s all too late and eternity falls.

If you would like to read an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Eternity Falls, go HERE

Fit To Be Tied by Robin Hatcher

This one is truly more like Robin Hatcher. I so much enjoyed the way each character developed, how values of what is truly important built into pillars of faith. This is reading pleasure. You start to care about the tomboy hoyden right at the beginning. You enjoy the flint sparks as dust and grit vs prim and proper collide.

The minor characters are so enjoyable as well. As the story unfolds, each page gives the reader some new nugget to savor like a Worther's Caramel Candy. Go buy this book. It is worth the money and is a keeper for sure.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Fit to Be Tied
Zondervan (November 1, 2009)
by
Robin Lee Hatcher


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robin Lee Hatcher discovered her vocation as a novelist after many years of reading everything she could put her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and ketchup bottles. The winner of the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction (Whispers from Yesterday), the RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance (Patterns of Love and The Shepherd's Voice), two RT Career Achievement Awards (Americana Romance and Inspirational Fiction), and the RWA Lifetime Achievement Award, Robin is the author of over 50 novels, including Catching Katie, named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.

Robin enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies. She is passionate about the theater, and several nights every summer, she can be found at the outdoor amphitheater of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, enjoying Shakespeare under the stars. She makes her home outside of Boise, sharing it with Poppet the high-maintenance Papillon



ABOUT THE BOOK

Cleo Arlington dresses like a cowboy, is fearless and fun-loving, and can ride, rope, and wrangle a horse as well as any man. In 1916, however, those talents aren’t what most young women aspire to. But Cleo isn’t most women. Twenty-nine years old and single, Cleo loves life on her father’s Idaho ranch. Still, she hopes someday to marry and have children.

Enter Sherwood Statham, an English aristocrat whose father has sentenced him to a year of work in America to “straighten him out.” Sherwood, who expected a desk job at a posh spa, isn’t happy to be stuck on an Idaho ranch. And he has no idea how to handle Cleo, who’s been challenged with transforming this uptight playboy into a down-home cowboy, because he has never encountered a woman succeeding in a “man’s world.”

Just about everything either of them says or does leaves the other, well, fit to be tied. Cleo Arlington knows everything about horses but nothing about men. And though Cleo believes God’s plan for her includes a husband, it couldn’t possibly be Sherwood Statham. Could it?

Their bumpy trot into romance is frustrating, exhilarating, and ultimately heartwarming.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Fit to Be Tied , go HERE.

Watch the book video Trailer:

Watch Over Me...

As promised... the review of Watch Over Me.

It was about two years ago that I read a book as depressing as this one. I realize that the strains that problems put on marriage. I realize that our soldiers who are in combat zones for any length of time have huge problems to deal with. I realize that some women have psychlogical problems with weight control and self-worth. But when I read a novel that has all those problems, I would like a tiny bit of comic relief or hope or something to keep me from going to sleep with a heavy heart and no hope. This novel will suck you dry. Christa Parrish also uses some deeply graphic scenes to make a point which I thought were a bit over the top for it to be deemed a Christian novel.

I can get all of this from secular, worldly novels. I don't pick up Christian novels to read stories without hope until the very last page. Life is full of problems and stresses. We Christians find it hard enough to cope with the world without succombing to harsher realities such as this novel depicts. All of this, of course, comes from my personal, emotional response.

The story is well written, however. It is slow with character development, although the protag's friends do provide some wise guidance and a small amount of relief.

This is not a fluffy, Sunday afternoon read. It hits hard, which some may truly like.