Review: Target Pool by S. A. Black

 

Genre: Technothriller

Description:

“When ad exec Diana Lane scores a hot new sales lead, it seems like her string of bad luck has come to an end. But the new ad campaign exhibits odd behavior, prompting Lane to suspect it's linked to a recent assassination attempt by political extremists. As she investigates whether the client's ads are being used to distribute surveillance software, Diana is torn between looking the other way for an easy payout and risking her own life by trying to uncover the truth.

In this debut novel by a real advertising technology exec, the mechanics of the surveillance economy are laid bare. Inspired in part by real life events and actual technology vulnerabilities, Target Pool examines how advertising exists in a grey area between necessary — and necessary evil.”

Author:

“S. A. Black is a veteran leader in the advertising industry. Target Pool is their first novel.”

Appraisal:

This book gets you thinking in lots of ways, from advertising in general and how it works, to how it feels like we’re being targeted for ads on social media (okay, are being, it isn’t just a feeling). Then we throw in the current thing that is giving people concerns, for good reason, artificial intelligence and how that might figure into this. The result is something that should get you thinking, put you on guard, and just might make you feel a little bit paranoid, but justifiably so.

But woven in with this scary stuff is a lot of fun stuff. I’ve never been surfing nor will I ever be doing that, but the protagonist is an avid surfer and you’ll feel like you’re on the waves with her at times which is quite an adventure. If you love the city of San Francisco and surrounding area as much as I do then the descriptions of it as the protagonist enjoys her city and describes different parts of it will pull you in. If you aren’t already a SF lover, this might help you realize that you’ve been missing out and want to visit someday. This all helped offset as well as contrast with the more intense parts of the book and helped make the story even better.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of proofreading misses.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words

Review: Menagerie in the Dark: Stories by Chris Kauzlarich

 

Genre: Short Story Collection/Speculative Fiction

Description:

“In Menagerie in the Dark, Chris Kauzlarich immerses us in a speculative journey that explores the darker aspects of the human condition before bringing us back to the surface with the light of a new day. Through fourteen stories, this menagerie of characters faces trials of sorrow, death, loneliness, regret, deception, murder, delight, wonderment, and bliss, revealing what will either strengthen them enough to survive or plunge them to their demise. A boy’s home burns down, forcing him to confront a terrifying new world. A man enters a door where he witnesses his wife’s death, leaving him devastated; yet, he cannot stop returning to the scene, convinced he can save her. A nurse’s patients continue to perish under her care, but she harbors a dark secret—an administered cocktail for nefarious purposes.

These and other stories will stretch the limits of your emotions, from heartbreak to horror, leaving you yearning for more.”

Author:

Chris Kauzlarich lives with his husband and daughter, splitting their time between Chicago and Naples, Florida or traveling in their RV. He’s also written a horror novel called Lazarus.

Appraisal:

These were stories that were entertaining, thought provoking. While the characters often go through difficult things I still found myself amused and laughing at some of the stories, at least when they resolved in an unexpected and good way.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some mildly adult-ish content.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance copy, so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Review: The Regression Strain by Kevin Hwang

 Genre: Thriller.

Description:

“Dr. Peter Palma joins the medical team of the Paradise to treat passengers for minor ailments as the cruise ship sails across the Atlantic. But something foul is festering under the veneer of leisure. The brig fills with felons, the morgue with bodies, and the vacation becomes a nightmare.

Peter and his staff face a vile affliction that pits loved ones against each other and shatters the bonds of civil society.

With the ship hurtling towards an unprepared New York, only Peter can neutralize the threat, but he’s hallucinating and delirious.

And sometimes primal urges are impossible to resist.

The Regression Strain is a fast-paced, cerebral medical thriller that'll grab you from the first to the last page.”

Author:

“Kevin O. Hwang, MD, is a professor of internal medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston where he sees patients and teaches residents. His academic work has appeared in leading medical journals.”

Appraisal:

This was a fun read. Dr Palma, the doctor who is the protagonist of this story, thought being the doctor on a cruise ship would be much less stressful than his last job. It was a great theory, but turns out to be far from the reality of what he experiences in this little adventure he finds himself in. What was going to happen next and how it was going to work out in the end kept me engaged and guessing the whole way. A fun read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 65-90,000 words

Reprise Review: Shadowed Places by Smoky Zeidel

 Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

A collection of 4 short stories.

Author:

“Smoky Zeidel is a novelist and poet, whose love of the natural world is thematic in all she writes. She taught writing and creativity workshops for many years at venues throughout the Midwest before--in lieu of having a midlife crisis when she turned 50--she succumbed to her bohemian urges and moved to Southern California. Her work has earned her five nominations for the prestigious Pushcart Prize.

Smoky lives in the Coachella Valley, which is part of the vast Colorado Desert in Southern California, with her husband Scott, two cats, and a Chihuahua named Tufa (who considers herself the Boss of Everything). She is an avid desert gardener, an orchid grower, and monarch caterpillar rancher. When she isn't writing, she spends her time hiking in the mountains and deserts with Scott, creating funky yard art, and resisting the urge to speak in haiku.”

Appraisal:

Four short stories with four very different protagonists. But each is going through something difficult and is doing what they deem as best for them. That and a dark edge are two things these stories have in common. Being entertaining, thought-provoking, and well written are three more commonalities. If you’re a fan of the short story form and looking for a few good ones, this collection would be a good choice.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 9-10,000 words

Review: Dark Presence by John Turiano

 

Genre: Thriller/Paranormal

Description:

“It was never an easy life, but when Kimbra's best friend is killed it takes a bizarre turn for the worst. An old boyfriend is a suspect in the murder, but when she seeks the help of a psychic, another person winds up dead.

As Kimbra digs deeper, she suspects a connection with her job researching paranormal phenomena. An experimental drug giving people paranormal powers is being tested and it soon leads to terrifying consequences. Test subjects are sending signals telepathically, controlling their victims thoughts. The drug is causing people to change.

Someone is stalking Kimbra and killing the people around her. But who, and why? There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no one to trust. Dark Presence is one thriller you won't want to miss!”

Author:

The author of a few speculative fiction novels as well as a non-fiction camping guide, John Turiano lives in western New York with his wife.

Appraisal:

This story not only kept me on edge, but guessing where things were headed. What was going on and who or what was responsible would seem so obvious, and then something would change, I would realize my guess was wrong, and the answer would be a mystery again. The only thing that remained the same throughout was I was pulling for Kimbra to make it through this challenging time. All in all, a good read.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

A small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

Not quite enough proofing issues to impact my rating, but right on the edge of doing so.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Review: Nameless River by Albert Crepet

 Genre: LGBT, Bildungsroman, Literary fiction, Historical fiction

Description:

An unfrocked Catholic monk looks back on his life as a lonely boy, teenager and young man, and makes up the life of his namesake great-granduncle whom he never knew.

Maurice returns to his childhood home (now derelict) in Normandy for most of December 1993. He squats in the old house, and writes this book. Maurice mines his memories deeply and the lives of the two Maurices become increasingly entwined. Both Maurices are gay. Neither found that easy, nor came to terms with their sexuality. But both find acceptance and peace within themselves as the younger Maurice recreates his own past and that of his imaginary, long-dead relative. I suspect there is a substantial element of autofiction in this book.

The novel is set in Normandy, Paris and Toronto during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, moving fluidly between times and places.

Author:

Amazon’s biography of Albert Crepet tells us he was “born in Normandy, France, then in 1978 made his home in Toronto. His first love was poetry. A number of his poems have been published in Compass Magazine and the New Times. Nameless River is a novel Albert carried in his heart and worked on for many years.”

When not working, Albert can be found gardening, or walking through a forest, or sitting by a lake.

Appraisal:

This is a fascinating book on a number of levels. And beautifully written. Perhaps oddly, it reminded me a little of Michael Carson’s ‘Benson’ trilogy. Set in the Sixties, written in the Eighties, those three books also deal with a catholic boy trying to make sense of his sexuality. This book is less pratfall funny than Carson’s work, but perhaps more empathetic.

I couldn’t put it down. I, a heterosexual woman born in Britain in the Fifties, nevertheless found many resonances with my own childhood in this book. Dear god – how did any of us turn out able to function at all?

It is set largely in France, but is not a translation. So there isn’t that clunkiness one often gets with work which started life in another language. Much of it is set in the French countryside and shows us the way of life there in the Fifties (when de Gaulle was in power, Communism was a real force in French politics, and to own a television was a mark of status). Plenty of French phrases are used, for colour, but each is translated (so you can practice your rusty French, secure in the knowledge that a proper translation is imminent). The placenames of the villages deep in la campagne are themselves a joy.

Women are not neglected in this book. Crepet draws the characters of Maurice’s sister, mother and grandmother deftly and with great tenderness. In the times in which the book is set, women had little conventional authority and had to make a niche for themselves however they could. I still shudder when I recall how little notice anyone took of women and girls in the Fifties and Sixties in Britain. It was no better in France.

At times the novel moves back further in time and to Paris, where the author draws a picture of gay life during the first decade of the Third Republic. In 1878, foreshadowing the younger Maurice’s exile from holy orders, great granduncle Maurice is sent away from his monastery at Saint-Benôit-sur-Orne and has to find a new place in the world. These searching sections become more frequent, longer and more intense as the book unfolds.

The book is profound in the questions it asks about gay men in the two time periods it switches between: how can, should, and must an individual conduct himself when society treats him as an outcast?

Towards the end the two threads (Maurice and great-granduncle Maurice) become so agitated and enmeshed that the only way to ride the flood to the end is to let go of one’s own sensibilities and just go with the flow.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

None. A beautifully written and presented book.

Format/Typo Issues:

No issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words

Review: Behind Closed Doors by E. S. Silversmith

 

Genre: Memoir

Description:

“Young, broke, in college.

What’s a girl to do?

Dive into this deliciously absurd and darkly humorous peek inside the world's oldest profession.

Told through a series of encounters with real clients, this unhinged nonfiction recounts the misadventures of a socially awkward college student as she fumbles her way through the salacious world of escorting.

While recalling unforgettable stories, Silversmith shares her unique insight into the business practices of call girl agencies and the everyday lives of American sex workers.

At times tragic, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, this is a book you won't be able to put down.”

Author:

The author has written just this book under this name, but has several short erotic short stories published under a different, but similar pen name, Essis Silversmith.

Appraisal:

Were it not for the need this book has for a through proofread, I’d have given it a four star, possibly even five star ranking. But the proofreading issues I had to trip over or reword in my mind as I read it far exceeded what I can ignore. The interesting contents is all that saved me from going with a two star ranking instead.

The story here when you get past the poor proofreading is interesting in many ways. The various experiences the author chronicles from her time spent working in what is often called “the world’s oldest profession” was interesting. It gives a different perspective on it from the standpoint of the worker. But it also gives some insight into her customers, both good and bad aspects. The book is arranged as a set of stories although following a rough chronological order so that as the author’s experiences and approach changed over time it was reflected in the stories. If you can get past the atrocious proofreading, there is a good read and lots of thought-provoking story here.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

It should be obvious, but this contains lots of adult content and language.

Format/Typo Issues:

While the story is well put together if this book received any significant proofreading, it fell extremely short. The issues I spotted were numerous, ranging from missing a word, having an extra word, using one name for a person in one place and another name a few paragraphs later, incorrect verb tense, and many others.

Rating: *** Three Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 115-120,000 words

Review: Political Party & Government Leadership & Succession Globally by Mandla Skhosana

 

Genre: Non-Fiction/Politics

Description:

“Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump, Trump-Biden (Part 1&2), the demand by niinenteen Democrats Representatives and one Senator for Biden's withdrawal as Democrats' presumptive nominee for the November5, 2024 presidential election, Rishi Sunak- Keir Starmer, Jacob Zuma-Cyril Ramaphosa (Part 1&2), Bolsonaro-Lula Da Silva, Uhuru Kenyatta-William Rutto (Part 1&2), fragmenting, fracturing and splintering political parties and countries like Sudan and the DRC, which are in ICU, become comatose and live off oxygen and await medics' decision to turn off the machine (their demise), and the military leaving the barracks for political office all share one thing in common: politicians involved in a fight to death gladiatorial contest for conquest of power within political parties, the engine of democracy, and governments, the voice of the people in a representative government, a government of the people by the people, regardless of consequences..

The gladiators' fight to death in the arena downplays and disregards completely the truism that whenever two elephants fight the grass suffers. It begs these questions: Why so much bloodletting? Is there no middle ground (third way)?Is the tail wagging the dog?

Should ordinary members of political parties and citizens (Joe Soap and Jane Soap) not come first in leadership and succession contests because politicians, political parties and governments were made for the benefit of rank-and-file members and citizens, and not vice versa?

Leadership and succession processes mimic the multi-headed Hydra Hercules had to conquer. The elephant in the room merits re-examination and re-setting to put people first.”

Author:

Through years of experience in different work environments Mandla Skhosana has observed how leaders approach leading. He is married with six children and five grandchildren.

Appraisal:

In this first of a planned five-volume series the political landscape in multiple countries on at least four different continents is explored. Both how they function and malfunction, from the US, to UK, to a few countries on the African continent, as well as Brazil, the author looks at different methods and ways power gets passed from one leader to the next. It is, as the subtitle of the book, “Ascension-Exit-Ascension-Exit-Never-ending-Cycle,” indicates, the same kind of things over and over again. I found this to be an interesting read. While intended to be aimed for an average person, not an expert in politics and related subjects, I did find the language to feel more like a textbook at times than the books I normally read, but also interesting and something a person like myself, who is interested in politics around the world, would learn and get some new perspectives from reading. For those who want to dig deeper than this goes or question one of the facts provided, extensive footnotes are included to point the way for digging deeper and validating the facts presented.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 15-20,000 words

Reprise Review: Swerve by Mike Markel

 Genre: Police Procedural

Description:

“The Central Montana State community has waited a year to learn whether Syclone Systems, a maker of self-driving car technology, will enter into a long-term R&D partnership with the university. At a live demo on campus, where the company is expected to announce its decision, its man on campus, Bryan Orville, is run down by one of his experimental cars. Whoever altered the car’s computer code to kill him also erased all the forensic evidence. Because Orville had some nasty habits--fooling around with grad students, stealing promising research ideas, and publicly humiliating professors who didn’t meet his standards--Seagate and Miner are swamped with suspects. When a second body turns up, and then someone hacks Syclone and threatens to put them out of business, the detectives devise a plan to lure the killer out of hiding with a phony reward for solving the hack. But the killer knows there is much more money to be made selling the company’s trade secrets on the dark web. Besides, the killer is quite busy planning one last murder.”

Author:

“Mike Markel writes the Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery series, which is set in the fictional small city of Rawlings, Montana, home of Central Montana State University. That university is somewhat like Boise State University, where Mike taught writing, but in Rawlings the weather is colder, the football team less successful, and the murder rate much, much higher.

Mike lives with his wife in Boise.”

Appraisal:

I’ve read several of the Seagate and Miner book. I’ve liked all of them, but realized that my main reasons for liking each book has varied a lot. That’s a good thing. In some installments, in addition to the mystery at the heart of every book, I’ve been focused on Seagate and Miner’s relationship, how their flaws and idiosyncrasies tend to offset each other, making them a strong team. In other books, my focus is on something different. For Swerve that was the concept of self-driving cars and what some of the complications of these might turn out to be. But, as always, the mystery kept me guessing and Seagate and Miner kept me entertained as I tried to solve the case with them.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

While this is the eighth book in the Seagate and Miner Mystery series this can be read as a standalone.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Review: Growing Season by Rebecca Hale

 

Genre: Poetry

Description:

“Growing Season is an introspective collection of poetry about the ups and down of teenage years and early adulthood. This book discusses themes such as self discovery, depression, abusive relationships, looking for love, and overcoming trials. This book is perfect for anyone who finds themselves in the middle of a messy growing season, when they're still trying to figure out who they will become and what kind of life they will live.”

Author:

“Rebecca is a wife, mom of two, and a writer. Besides writing and reading, Rebecca loves to bake, spend time with her family, work on her garden, and be outside. She lives in the desert of Southern Arizona with her family, two dogs and a flock of chickens.”

Appraisal:

If you like poetry this collection is one that should speak to almost anyone to some degree. While it is reflecting on the author’s experience growing up, so is likely to connect best with a younger female who has gone through these experiences recently, or maybe is still going through them. However, an elderly old man like me can remember similar experiences and feel the message in these poems, even though it was many decades ago when he passed through that phrase of life.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

As the author’s note puts it “there are mentions of depression, suicidal ideation, struggles with body image, and emotionally abusive relationships, which might be triggering topics for some readers.”

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 6-7,000 words