You know what they say about the best laid plans. My schedule for this week was totally fractured due to a very busy weekend. It was fun - hosting a troupe of traveling actors who brought a show to our Art Center - but it did keep me away from my computer most of the weekend. So, let's pretend it is Sunday and the regular day for a book review. Cat Connor will be my guest this Wednesday, so I hope you will come back to see what she has to offer.
Today, I am over at The Blood Red Pencil with a post about writing short stories. Come on by if you get a chance.
Today, I am over at The Blood Red Pencil with a post about writing short stories. Come on by if you get a chance.
Flashbyte
Rebel ePublishers LLC
(March 7, 2012)
When this story rocks, it holds nothing back. Ellie Conway is a tough FBI agent who has been around the world, and then some. She is also talks to her dead husband and has music that plays in her head. In an instant she can transpose from this kick-ass field agent to a woman confused and uncertain when a piece of music or a flash of memory totally disarms her.
The main story line revolves around somebody who is sending body parts to Ellie, and a few other people she knows, and someone from her past that obviously wants her dead. Women that share her last name are being killed in Washington D.C., as well as in places connected to Ellie's past. Could the two be connected?
In the course of just a few days, Ellie is shot at. Her house explodes. And she is shot at again. This is nothing new for the agent who survived similar attacks when she worked undercover for the CIA. The action is superb and the pace relentless at times.
I liked this lady. She is the fantasy alter-ego for any woman who has harbored a secret desire to be a superhero. Load up that Glock, and march out to face the scumbags who threaten hearth and home. She also came across as totally believable as the lone female on a team that has worked together for years.
What didn't work quite so well for me were what I thought at first were flashbacks. Then I finally figured out that Ellie was literally stepping back in time. That really didn't become clear until toward the end of the book, which is why I found those scenes disconcerting. Granted, some of the history of what Ellie experienced in that undercover operation needed to be included in the story, but I found the jump into a full scene jarring. It always took me a moment to figure out that we had gone into the past. Perhaps instead of having her go into the past so often, some of those instances could have been handled with a very short narrative summary of the memories a certain name or place evoked.
The scenes that involved her seeing and talking to her dead husband worked better for me, and I could sense that her grief was a big part of some of the nonsense that went on her head.
While I am not normally a fan of paranormal elements in a mystery, this seems to be the month for me to jump into the sub-genre. First it was the Dead Detective story and now this one. The key to making this work for me is to give me a character that I can connect with and I will suspend my disbelief to go along for the ride.
And this was quite a ride with some characters I would be happy to take a trip with again.
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Cat lives in Upper Hutt, New Zealand (slightly north of the capital city, Wellington), with her husband and children. They share their home with Missy the cat and Romeo - a retired Greyhound.
FTC Disclaimer: The author sent me this book for possible review, but she knew that I would only write a review if I liked it. If I don't care for a book, I do not post a review. This is because I really don't like to be snarky about another author's work. Now, when I reviewed professionally, I could be as snarky as I wanted to be, but I have mellowed in my old age. Since this is not a professional publication and I am not getting paid, and the author isn't either because I didn't buy the book, nobody is benefiting in any material way from this review.
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