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Book Review: Lost Hills (Eve Ronin #1) by Lee Goldberg

cover image for Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg

 Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg (  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

Thomas & Mercer, 2020

 

ISBN-13:  9781542093804

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

 

Eve Ronin has only been in the Robbery-Homicide Department for three months.  Her partner, Duncan ‘Donuts’ Pavone, is counting the days until retirement.  He is training her in the ins and outs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and how to work with the other police organizations, something that is proving to be tricky since she already has a reputation.  She recently busted the action hero actor of a series of movies called Deathfist in a video that went viral, and then took advantage of  her unwanted notoriety to leapfrog over the officers that had spent years working toward the position.  It hasn’t gone over well.  Duncan puts Eve in charge of a new case.  An unwed mother, her two kids, and their dog are missing, and their apartment was drenched in blood.  It is a case that will either make her career or break it.

 

Lost Hills was a well-written procedural crime fiction story.  It had a lot of detailed police procedures built into it that gave it an air of authenticity.  At times, the level of detail was a bit much for me, but it didn’t break the story.  Instead, it gave me a strong sense of how complicated the legal system was at the police officer’s level.  The pacing and action flowed well, leading through the plot and its twists.  The plot wasn’t the most complicated thing, but it was full of great action.  I really liked the ending climax!  The characters were believable, and I could picture them as they went about the investigation.  The dialogue fit each of them well.  The descriptions were good, with just enough detail so that I knew what was going on.  A fun piece of set dressing was that the story was in Los Angeles, and the author worked in some interesting bits of trivia.  It started kind of slow for me, but once it got going, I had to hang on.

All in all, it was a great procedural crime fiction piece and worth reading.  Recommended for adult readers.

 

Contains:  Swearing, adult situations, gore, violence.

Reviewed by:  Aaron Fletcher

Posted on June 17, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Stranger Still by Michaelbrent Collings

Stranger Still by Michaelbrent Collings ( Amazon.com )

Written Insomnia Press, 2020

ISBN: 978-8615415890

Availability: Paperback, Kindle

 

Two ordinary people (young newlyweds, of course) are abducted by a psychopathic torturer-killer who plans to take them somewhere and make mincemeat out of them, for his own fiendish pleasure.  You’ve seen or read that plot a million times, probably more.   It takes a writer with the skill of Michaelbrent Collings to take an old plot, jazz it up with a few twists, and make it seem totally new.  Chalk this one up as another success for him in the horror/thriller genre.  If you’ve read Collings before, you know exactly what you’re getting into.  It’s the usual rocket-sled ride of excitement. Each chapter is a dopamine hit that leaves the reader wanting more, leading to another chapter…and another…and another… until you’re done with the book and start waiting for him to publish another one.  It’s a good thing he writes fast!

Danielle and Alex Anton are a newly married couple, driving across the remote highways of America on their honeymoon, when they are waylaid and abducted by Sheldon Steward.  This Sheldon is no lovable dork like the one on The Big Bang Theory. He is a sociopath of the highest order, with zero concept of right or wrong, and is equally adept at dealing pain or using chemicals to prolong agony.  However, Sheldon has made the mistake of abducting Danielle and Alex in view of the central character of the book, a man (or is he?) known as… Legion.  Legion is a sociopath also, but he’s like The Boondock Saints, he only “kills for good”. With his ability to withstand pain and destroy enemies in seconds (often in a wonderfully bloody way), Legion makes John Rambo seem like a sissy-pants.  Legion’s abilities are on full display in the first chapter, when he intercepts a convenience store stick-up.  One of the robbers is shot dead, the other gets her jaw ripped off.   As noted earlier, when Legion teaches people the error of their ways, it’s usually quite messy.

The basic thread of the story is Sheldon and Legion on a collision course, but as always with a Collings novel, there’s a slew of curveballs in the plot.  Without giving away the rest of the story, it involves the Russian Mafia and meth labs, plus Alex Anton may not be quite the person he seems.  It adds an edge of unpredictability to the story, and keeps the reader guessing while turning pages.  That’s what makes horror/thriller novels by Collings so much fun; they never stay on the straight and narrow path.  They always veer off to add new elements, and that’s what keeps the reader hooked.  Add in all the quirks of his characters that keep them from seeming mundane, and the whip-crack speed of the writing, and you have a book that’s hard, if not impossible, to put down

Like Stephen King and the tag team of Doug Preston and Lincoln Child, Collings is truly remarkable for two reasons:

  1. he produces a high quantity of output (seems like he gets out at least one a year)
  2. it’s always high quality

There aren’t many authors like that, they’re hard to come by.  Collings is one.  When he releases anything new, it’s a red banner day, and this book is definitely cause for a red banner.   Highly recommended.

Note: this book is a sequel to his 2014 novel Strangers, but it can be read as a stand-alone.

 

Contains: profanity, graphic violence.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

 

 

Posted on June 16, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Eden by Tim Lebbon

Eden by Tim Lebbon

Titan Books. 2020

ISBN-13: 978-1789092936

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook.

 

Lebbon’s back to nature horror again, which is where he shines the brightest. His novels The Silence to The Nature of Balance, set the bar for subsequent titles as Scott Smith’s The Ruins and the movie A Quiet Place. Lebbon’s skill at turning the natural world on its ear and creating believable, unique adversaries from both animal and plant kingdoms is unsurpassed.

Eden will undoubtedly draws comparisons to Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, but Lebbon’s tale veers into thriller territory rather than the straight out weird  of Vandermeer’s  world (althoughthat’s a stellar read itself). The pacing of the story is akin to the best thrill rides, replete with rocket-fast action scenes, balanced with smooth exposition that avoids the trap of  miring the reader in information dumps.

In Lebbon’s near future, the world has become almost unlivable due to pollution and climate change. Sounds familiar, in our age of disgusting deregulation of environmental laws and reckless destruction of pristine lands. Lebbon never preaches but doesn’t have to– anyone living through today’s world and its frightening descent into chaos will likely be chilled by the “news” clips preceding each chapter that describe life in the “Virgin Zones.” These zones were set up in thirteen areas across the world to jumpstart nature and give environments human-free time to develop.

Of course, men are never smart enough to follow directions.

These clips often feature the “guards” of each zone, the Zeds, a force to prohibit intruders that bring to mind ICE and border patrols here in the states, and these set up the tone for each scene.

Thrill-seekers Dylan and his daughter Jenn, along with his team, enter Eden, the oldest, most pristine, and dangerous of the zones, to race through it. Jenn also has another motive– to find her mother, Kat, who abandoned the family years ago and entered the zone with her own team, which Dylan and Jenn quickly learned was ill-fated.

The search also expands as the characters seek a legendary Ghost Orchid, which is reported to have miraculous healing properties. When they find a corpse that is growing within a tree and through it, the dread and tension become as thick as the humidity of the jungle. Lebbon creates a world both claustrophobic and horrific, almost as if Clive Barker set out to rewrite the book of Genesis.

When follows is a discovery of creatures that grew unencumbered by human involvement, possibly to halt it from tainting this new world. These new organisms will do whatever possible to keep their home free from the infection of humans.

Dylan and Jenn’s journey is a thrilling one that incorporates the best elements of suspense, horror, and science fiction and surpasses the high expectations set by previous efforts.

Lebbon’s recent foray into thrillers and his Relics trilogy are on display here with stellar description and characterization that elevates it in a gorgeously painted world– with teeth. This could be our future. Highly recommended reading.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

 

Posted on April 7, 2020 by , Reply
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