What would you do if you came to visit your mother one day and found her huddled in the closet, rocking back and forth, clutching a baby blanket tightly in her hand? And how does the confused and fearful woman connect to a mafia like-gang, drugs, a baby ring, sleazy cops, and an unknown assassin? These are questions which send Ian McCormick on a quest to find out, and he’s scared to death he won’t figure out the answers in time.

After he found his mother, Corrine, that fateful day, Ian moves in with his mother to care for her. While she does have times of lucidity, she frequently reverts into her own world, losing track of time and rationale, to the point where Ian feels like he will go crazy trying to deal with her. He has been faithfully taking her to a psychiatrist, Dr. Endicott, whom Corrine refers to in her own mind as Dr. Hartley from The Bob Newhart show. Dr. Endicott counsels Ian to find a happy place in his mind and go there when the stress becomes too much.

Ian stopped trying to make sense of the words. Now and then she fell into this pattern of incessant chanting. Repeating words and phrases until he wanted to rip out his eardrums to keep from hearing another sound. Eventually she would stop as quickly as she’d begun.

At times they even had normal conversations. Oddly enough, those were the times that hurt the most. Because that’s when he remembered what his mother had been like before their world had been tipped upside down.

Corrine is convinced that someone is watching her and tells Ian about the men who watch her from across the street. At first Ian believes these men to be a figment of his mother’s imagination and part of her psychosis, but then wonders if she may be telling the simple truth. After several months of dealing with the problem of his mother’s insanity he wonders what could have caused such a drastic and seemingly overnight change. Since therapy has produced no appreciable results in over the months, Ian decides to take matters into his own hands and hires a private investigator to piece together the past to see if they can determine the catalyst for the change in Corrine. Enter Lucianna Martel, the private investigator, and her uncle Vinnie. As the investigation proceeds, Ian and Lucianna discover there is more going on than meets the eye, and thugs and cops alike may be part of a hit list which includes Corrine.

Hit List is a good suspenseful read, and Darcia Helle does a masterful job at painting the character of Corrine in the depths of her insanity. The story primarily alternates between Ian’s point of view and Corrine’s point of view, with some sections written from Lucianna’s point of view. The sections you spend with Corrine are well done, and as the reader you experience Corrine’s confusion, and her knowledge which surfaces periodically that she is blocking out a life-changing event. Unfortunately, once the reason for Corrine’s behavior is known, it is a little bit of a let down, as Helle has done such a good job in penning Corrine’s fear of remembering and apparent paranoid delusions, the cause simply does not support the results. Despite this, the read up to the reveal is compelling and will keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next.

Preview Hit List on Amazon.com

Reviewed for the LL Book Review

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A phone rings in the middle of the night, and former police detective Tony Marcella knows who will be on the other end. His friend and partner for thirty years on the force, Carlos Rodriguez, is calling Tony because of a case, which isn’t really a case and he needs his former partner’s help. The women of New Castle are commiting suicide at an alarming rate. Three women in three weeks, and detective Rodriguez doesn’t believe the women, who seemingly have everything to live for, killed themselves, but in the case of the most recent suicide, eyewitnesses attest to the fact and the locked door provides the only exit. Tony is inclined to tell Carlos that things may just be as they seem until he finds out the identity of the third victim; someone he knows, one of their own, a cop.

Donovan sets up Eye of the Witch as a locked room murder mystery, where the question of how the murders were committed, especially when it appears they were self inflicted, becomes of equal importance with trying to figure out who committed them. In addition, there is the question of how the victims are linked together. At first glance it doesn’t seem likely. Bridget Dean, a lawyer on the rise who just accepted a lucrative partnership with a prestigious law firm. Anna Davalos, a Cuban born waitress who worked in a coffee shop. And Karen Webber, a bright, vivacious cop who had recently transferred to New Castle.

At first the victims seem unrelated, but a little detective work brought to light that Anna Davalos worked in the same building as Bridget Dean and Karen Webber was secretly investigating their deaths. More digging unearthed the fact that all of the women were linked because they attended a parnormal workshop several years prior. And the workshop was through the same paranormal research facility which figured prominently in Tony Marcella’s last case before retiring. Bridget and Anna also shared the attentions of lawyer Ricardo Rivera, and the women who at first sight had little in common become entwined with one another by the end of the book, with motives, suspects, and red herrings abounding.

The character I enjoyed the most in the book, was Lilith, the witch of the piece. Lilith is irreverent, sarcastic, and has a single purposed focus. Detective Marcella attempted to nail her for murder during his last case, and in the process became the possessor of the witch’s ladder, an object he denied having. Lilith needs the witch’s ladder back so she can perform a ceremony and her aim throughout the book it to get Tony to admit that he has it and to coerce him into returning it. Here’s a sample of her snarkiness while she goes after what she wants:

“Yes. Nobody in your stinking precinct would tell me where you went or what happened to you.”
“Really? Lilith, I’m touched. I didn’t know you cared so much.”
She made a face as if a sour nut had just come up her throat. “Hardly. You have something I want.”
I straightened up in my seat and pulled the kink from my tie. “Do I? Frankly, I didn’t think I was your type.”
“P—leeease, Detective. I’d sooner sleep with Fidel, over here.” She jabbed her thumb into Carlos’ side, hitting his holstered gun. They turned and looked at each other, equally surprised. “Yeah, you,” she said. “You can just forget about it, my little Copacabana boy. You are already about as close to me as you are ever going to get. So, take a deep breath and savor it.”

As detective Marcella gets further into the heart of the mystery, more ties keep cropping up with his last case, including a tie to Leona Diaz. Leona had been kidnapped the previous year by the Surgeon Stalker and during this time, Tony Marcella learned of her gift of bilocation or out of body experience. The more things tie to his last case, the more Marcella questions his ability to help his ex-partner solve the mystery surrounding the deaths.

Eye of the Witch is a fast paced read, with lots of twists to keep you guessing right up until the end. While there was much about the book I liked, there were also parts I felt could have been done better or cleaned up a bit. Donovan has some structural issues with the text due to changing tenses and some loose ends at the conclusion, meant as red herrings, but I wanted them integrated a little more instead of left hanging. Another issue I had was with the depiction of Marcella’s former partner, Carlos Rodriguez. Tony tells us how respected Carlos is, but there are portions of the book where Carlos is characterized as a buffoon who can not think beyond what to next fill his stomach with. Suspension of disbelief was also difficult in some areas of the book, but not in the arena of the supernatural, as one might expect. At the beginning of the book there is a reference to Marcella not having talked to his ex-partner Rodriguez for six or seven months, since he retired after the last big case, but then later the time reference from the last case is referred to as being a year ago. In light of the time frame, whether 6-7 months or just at one year, the changes Donovan depicts as occurring to make Tony feel uncomfortable with a return to police work seem not quite believable.

I saw one of the biggest, brightest, shiniest glass covered buildings New Castle had ever constructed. It wasn’t just a police station; it was an ultra-modern criminal justice center, complete with jails, courtrooms, administration offices and state-of-the-art crime lab. It had everything a small town cop could want. Hell, it had everything a big town cop could want, too. I told Carlos if he threw in a couple of suites, a swimming pool and valet parking, he’d have a five-star resort for law enforcement and could charge for it on weekends. To this, he laughed, and when he took me past the workout center, complete with pool and sauna, I understood why.
“It’s really different here, Tony,” he said. “This facility serves the entire county. We all share resources now.”

I felt that it stretched the bounds to believe that such a state-of-the-art building could be constructed from the ground up within that time frame as well as integrating all of the different law enforcement agencies under one roof. But aside from those issues, Eye of the Witch takes you on a wild ride to a thrilling conclusion.

Preview Eye of the Witch here

Originally reviewed for the LL Book Review

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This past weekend I had the pleasure of participating in the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books held at UCLA. This particular event is awesome as an author to see the number of people all excited about books. It helps give me faith in the path I am pursuing in continuing to write and produce stories for readers. I love having the chance to talk with my target readers and find out some of their interests. One of the additional joys of participating in book festivals is the opportunity to meet other authors face to face and talk with them. I was delighted to meet Natalie Tinti in person at the festival. Ms. Tinti is a poised, professional, 10-year old, who has written and illustrated a book about friendship. She not only had books, but also had colorful illustrated posters from her book to help promote her product.

Sewing a Friendship starts with a picture of each of the characters in the book and character profile of each, answering the questions of birth date, age, family, eye color, hair color, favorite food, favorite color, and specialty. For the target age group Natalie is writing for, I found this to be a nice way to start the story. The reader then knows who the characters are that they will meet and have a visual they can refer to if they need to during the course of reading the book. As a young reader, I always loved character profiles, just a little snippet about the character outside of the actual text. Then I would compare throughout my reading experience to see if the author kept true to the profile, or whether I could spot any discrepancies.

The story starts with the wind blowing through town and checking on each of the main characters at each house along the way. Ms. Tinti has very unique character names. Along with the wind, you meet the four friends, Sokron Blossom, Nina Key, Meeka Venya, Jonsy Jipsy, and the outcast Kiki Shaver. In addition to the friends and Kiki, there is Sokron’s grandma, Babushka and her dog, Dogon.

The four friends get together to have a beginning of summer sleep over. Then they find out about a fashion show and are excited to participate. However, Kiki Shaver threatens to stop their participation. The girls find because of the rules, they need Kiki and Kiki needs them and through working together they are able to become friends by seeing the value in each other. My favorite character is Dogon, as he snoops on the girls and helps to ensure the friendship is knit together.

The illustrations are delightful and highly colorful, and each chapter has a different border, which makes it a happy read. I look for a bright future for this young author and illustrator.

Originally reviewed for the LL Book Review

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For as long as I can remember, I have loved reading mysteries. The idea of discerning clues as I read the story and trying to come up with the answer before the detective does has always given mysteries a little extra spice for me. I’ll admit I read more cozies, having cut my teeth on Agatha Christie, than police procedurals, but I enjoy a good story with a lot of plot twists. 

As The Twig is Bent opens with George Spiros, an aging manufacturer of wrought-iron furniture, on the way home after a successful business trip, anxious to see his wife, Melina. Scenes of George on his way home to his beloved wife, while on a flight threatened by a storm, are interspersed with scenes of Melina being brutally raped and killed. Melina Spiros is not the first in the string of deaths, but her death and the commonalities of another determine the murderer is a serial killer, who must be stopped. A heart carved on the breast of the victims with four initials, the initials of the victim and JC, and a bible at the scene with a specific passage underlined are the only clues Detective Lieutenant Matt Davis and his team have to unravel the mystery surrounding these brutal murders.

When the case lands in the lap of Matt Davis, he is not pleased. In the twilight of his career, trying to keep his current marriage from going south due to the pressures of the job, a serial killer with religious overtones is the last thing he wants to face. The primary team consists of Davis, his partner of seven years, Chris Freitag, and the recent transfer to the station, Rita Valdez. Rita has a history of inappropriate relations with colleagues, and is trying to live down her past as a homewrecker as well as prove she is a good cop. Rita’s biggest problem is that she is lonely. The investigation takes the team into the realm of the local church because of the bible connection and their attempt to determine whether the JC stands for Jesus Christ, giving the murders a religious twist or whether they are the initials of the perpetrator.

Joe Perrone, Jr. takes the reader on a ride through the cyber world where the killer is active in online chat rooms, searching for his next victim; something Melina Spiros found out to her detriment.

The man she had arranged to meet this evening was someone she had met several weeks ago in an Internet chat room, called “Manhattan Singles.” He had intrigued her from the start, and when he had invited her to meet him for a drink, she had been pleasantly surprised, accepting immediately. Privacy was important, so they had agreed upon a small tavern, just out of the neighborhood, where no one would know either of them, especially her. Inviting him back to her apartment had been a risk, but she never intended to do anything more than talk, so she had taken it.

Perrone switches back and forth throughout the book from Davis’s point of view to that of the killer, bringing out the murderer’s background and what shaped him to be the twisted wretch he has become. While appreciating the background information and the glimpses into the psyche of the murderer, I feel these sections were, at times, a little heavy-handed, telling me the how’s and why’s instead of showing me. The best of Perrone’s writing shines through in his depiction of the relationship between Davis and his wife, Valerie. In particular, their trip on a rare day off to go fly fishing. Perrone’s own love of fly fishing imbues his descriptions and I felt like I was standing next to Matt and Valerie as they cast their lines.

As The Twig is Bent is not for the squeamish. There are sections containing brutal details of grisly murders, and glimpses into the mind of the insane. Although I would like to see Perrone go back and polish this novel a little more, removing the passivity, the base story is a good one and is satisfying for murder mystery fans.

Preview As the Twig is Bent

Review of other book(s) by Joe Perrone, Jr. – Review 10 – Escaping Innocence

Originially reviewed for the LL Book Review

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Sixteen is a pivotal age, stranded between childhood and adulthood. At sixteen life ranges from ecstasy to despair and the cause of the emotion can be trivial or momentous. I remember wanting to be taken seriously, to be treated more as an adult than a child. To be free to make my own decisions for the course of my life. But of course, along with the freedom of decision, comes responsibility and consequences for those choices.

In Katherine Marple’s novel, Okay, the sixteen-year-old unnamed female protagonist makes choices which swiftly alter the course of her life, and takes her best friend, and protector, London with her. After setting up the pair as best friends, living in the same neighborhood, in the same style homes, the differences are revealed. London has a loving, supportive family to come home to, while the protagonist fears her alcoholic, abusive father. Coming home late from a graduation party with London, the protagonist attempts to sneak into the house avoiding her father’s wrath, unsuccessfully. When he has beaten and choked her, and threatened her with more abuse and potential rape, the protagonist runs to her best friend to enlist his help.

“Please,” I begged. “Let’s go now.”
He solemnly nodded his head, stroked my hair, and whispered, “Okay.”

Having convinced London to abandon his loving home, his college career, and essentially his future to run away with her, the protagonist wastes no time in making bad decision after bad decision along the way. Drugs, alcohol, and sex with relative strangers, and all the while London is there to pick up the pieces. The protagonist is on a roller coaster of emotion from the freedom of living a life she has never known before to the despair over some of the choices she has made.

Marple presents a strong, clear point of view with her unnamed protagonist, and while I found the pacing to be a little quick, lacking in emotional depth with the heavy topics the book covers, the voice is unwavering and draws the reader along. For the bulk of the book, the lack of a name for the main character was not an issue, but a few times felt a bit gimmicky. The narrator herself explains the lack of name.

My name isn’t important. What is important is helping someone hope for a better view, at the end of his pain. That is the purpose of my story; to help someone heal.

Originally reviewed for the LL Book Review

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Paperback Cover

T’Aragam
By Jack W. Regan
CreateSpace (April 2009)
ISBN: 978-1442114593
252 pages
$11.95 Paperback
$ 0.99 Amazon Kindle

Jack Regan captured me from the get go with his young adult fantasy T’Aragam, which is aimed at the tween age group (9-13). What was it that captured me and made me want to keep turning the pages? A cheese obsessed medgekin, named Gramkin Truly. I am a cheese lover, and couldn’t resist phrases such as: “I have a high cheese requirement.” and “In the name of Gouda.”

T’Aragam opens with the medgekin, Gramkin, running through the woods toward Ransome Hall on an important mission to obtain cheese to supply for the annual medgekin games. It is the first time he has been in charge of supplying the cheese, and because of the aforementioned cheese requirement, Gramkin had eaten the medgekin supply. He was hoping to acquire some cheese from Ransome Hall as the medgekin games had been played for a millennium with no lack of cheese and he would be disgraced should he fail to provide. While he is running through the woods, and being laughed at by chucklebugs when he falls, he becomes alarmed as it appears that someone is following him. On the verge of panicking, Gramkin runs in to Zohar, a great wizard, who is also on the way to Ransome Hall to deliver news of disaster which approaches T’Aragam.

Kindle Cover

T’Aragam takes the reader on a fast paced adventure beginning with Ransome Hall being attacked by phantors. During the attack, thirteen-year-old Max Ransome, watches his father, Lord Ransome, die because Max disobeyed his father’s instructions to stay in the armory. Orphaned and a pawn in a game whose stakes he did not fully understand, Max has to save T’Aragam from destruction. Assisted by the wizard, Zohar, and the medgekin, Gramkin, Max travels beyond the confines of Ransome Hall for the first time in his life. He finds himself in battle against Zohar’s evil wizard brother, Zadok, who was behind the phantor attack on Ransome Hall. Zadok is determined not to stop until the kingdom and all it contains is his.

Regan pens an adventuresome tale sure to capture a reader’s imagination. I laughed out loud through much of the book, as the action is interspersed with humor. What tween could resist such names as Lord Stench from Dankwater, or the pirate Captain Baggywrinkle? Or how about monsters named Gloom and Doom? We also meet the viscious equuraptor named, Dresden, and the sea monster named, Bob. In fact, the humor in the piece is taken to such a degree that I would classify this book as a fantasy parody or spoof. A prime example of this is the following, which takes place at the Luscious Lemur:

    Leading the way inside, Zohar shut the door behind them and bolted it. A hat rack stood left of the door and the wizard leaned his staff against it. To Max’s surprise, he then removed his beard and also hung it on the hat rack.
    “I don’t really have a flowing, white beard,” he explained, seeing their curious faces, “but it seems most people expect wizards to have them and without it people refuse to take me seriously. So I put it on whenever there’s a chance I may need to perform wizardly deeds.”

Regan’s main goal is to Get Kids Hooked On Reading by making books exciting and attractive. He believes that a “fluency in reading” is vital to a young person’s development and success, while “a love of books is one of the most valuable gifts anyone could give a child.” With T’Aragam, the first book in the Max Ransome Chronicles series, Jack W. Regan achieves his goal. A delightful, fast paced read, with enough humor to entice the most reluctant of readers, T’Aragam hits the mark.

Preview T’Aragam on Amazon.com

Originally reviewed for the LL Book Review

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Copyright © 2009
Riverbend Publishing
$14.00 paperback
ISBN: 978-1606390139

One of the things I enjoy most about the independent author scene is the fluidty of the background in which we work. The process can be dynamic and it is fun to watch some of the iterations that books go through. For example, a book may be released under a one cover and then the author receives some feedback which sparks another idea, and shortly thereafter the cover has been changed. Or based upon reader feedback, the author may subtly change the focus or emphasis of a book. And there are the triumphs as well. Back in August the LL Book Review posted reviews of the winners of our review contest, and there was one conspicuous entry missing. Six-Hundred Hours of a Life by Craig Lancaster was reviewed and should have been the third review posted in August, however, we were contacted by Craig and requested to hold back the review as he had some very exciting news. Six-Hundred Hours of a Life had been picked up by a small publisher, Riverbend Publishing, who specializes in books about Montana, and Craig was in the process of working out the details with his new publisher. We were very excited and pleased for Craig and held back the review as per the wishes of the author. The book has now been released under Riverbend Publishing under the title of 600 Hours of Edward and we are able to publish the review of this fine book. One item of personal preference before jumping into the review. The new cover created for the title under Riverbend Publishing is pictured at the top of the review, but I prefer the original cover (right) which was created for Six-Hundered Hours of a Life.

What would life be like if you were a 39 year old man plagued with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and Asperger’s Disorder? What would happen if your routines were upset and suddenly life seemed to be spiraling out of control? 600 Hours of Edward takes you into the heart and mind of Edward Stanton, and through 600 hundred hours, or 25 days, of life with Edward. As a prelude to the story, Edward sets up the framework for why the book was written, which I have included in Edward’s own words, so the intention can not be misconstrued. Edward would prefer it.

This is a story of how my life changed. That is what one could call a dramatic statement. It‘s like when people find God; they say, “I found God, and it changed my life.” I did not find God. I am dubious that anyone can. When someone says he has found God, he doesn‘t mean it in the way that one would say he found a penny or something else tangible. He is talking about inner peace or something like that, I suppose. I don‘t know. I haven‘t found God, and I don‘t like supposition. I prefer facts.

Even without God, my life did change, and Dr. Buckley suggested that I write about it. She said that writing about it would be a good project for me and one that might even help me understand how it happened and why. Dr. Buckley is a very logical woman, and I always need a new project.

In looking back, I can fit what happened into 25 days, or 600 hours. I prefer to think of it in terms of hours, as I live my life more by a clock than a calendar. I will tell it as it happened, from where I viewed it. Others may have seen it another way. They can tell their own stories if they want to.

I‘ll start with the last day that everything was normal, or what I believed normal to be. That‘s the problem with belief: If you rely on it too heavily, you have a lot of picking up to do after you find out you were wrong. I prefer facts.

Edward Stanton has his days rigidly mapped out, with several rituals to complete as milestones throughout the day. Every morning upon waking, he must record the hour and minute of his waking, and then later, after retrieving the Billings Gazette, the actual temperatures from the previous day, as well as looking at the forecast which is not to be trusted, because Edward prefers facts. He breakfasts on corn flakes while reading the newspaper, frustrated by the way certain features, such as Dear Abby, appear in different sections of the paper and have no pattern as to where they will appear.

Edward is frequently frustrated by the rest of the world’s inability to keep to a precise schedule, and lack of consistency. When he becomes frustrated he writes letters of complaint. Prior to what is referred to as the Garth Brooks incident, Edward would draft his letters of complaint and send them out. At the culmination of the Garth Brooks incident, Edward’s father, Ted Stanton, bought him the house he now lives in after persuading Garth Brooks to drop the restraining order against Edward.

I think that my letters of complaint to Garth Brooks were entirely justified. If you look objectively at country music, you cannot come to any conclusion other than he ruined it. He also ruined a lot of pop music, especially when he pretended to be that Chris Gaines person and when he covered that song by Kiss. I merely wrote to him and let him know about the damage he was doing, because I thought that maybe he didn‘t know and would stop if he did. I had to write to him 49 times before he wrote back, but it wasn‘t really him. It was his lawyer.

Being a lover of country music myself, I laughed out loud about the Garth incident, and I have to agree with Edward on the whole Chris Gaines thing. Since the Garth Brooks incident Edward’s therapist, Dr. Buckley, convinces him to continue writing his letters of complaint, but to file them instead of sending them. In this way, he is able to alleviate some of his frustration with whatever incident caused his ire, and yet not bring himself any grief from repercussions. So the writing of complaint letters has become part of Edward’s ritual to follow his nightly viewing of Dragnet episodes (just the color ones between 1967 and 1970). In 2000, Edward recorded all of the episodes, in order, on videocassette, and watches one episode a night at 10:00 p.m. sharp, starting on January 1st with the first color episode and continuing throughout the year. They are all one of his favorites. Edward identifies with Sergeant Joe Friday’s love for the facts and his detachment from those he is dealing with.

Taking a leaf out of Edward’s book, I would like to document a complaint, albeit a minor one.

Dear Edward,

I’m sure you have your reasons for telling the reader each time you recorded your waking time during the course of the book that it was the XXX day of the year (287th – 311th) because it is leap year. While this repetition is entirely consistent with your character and I understand you gain some comfort from the repetition, I didn’t know if you were aware that for some readers, this tends to be a little monotonous. I realize you are chronicling the 600 hours where your life was turned upside down, but there are mundane parts which have been left out. Perhaps you should trust that the reader will know that it is leap year after the tenth or so iteration, and no longer need to tell us.

Respectfully, as always,

Your Reader

During the 600 hours chronicled in this book, Edward makes a foray into online dating, makes friends with a nine year old boy while painting his garage (three times because the unhelpful clerk at Home Depot couldn’t help him come to a single selection, which triggered a letter of complaint), later becomes friends with the boy’s mother, and feels helpless as his relationship with his father deteriorates. Due to the Asperger’s, Edward lives an isolationist life, so to actually take steps to reach out to connect with another human being through the online dating process represents a huge step forward for him. Through his growing relationship with Kyle, the nine year old boy, we are given a glimpse of Edward’s social developmental level as well, which is on par with Kyle or even a little lagging. I fell in love with the character of Edward though because while he has quirks in his view seemingly the rest of the entire world lives without, he tries so very hard to overcome those, and he has a good heart. Edward is truly an endearing character. He is simply confused, or to use one of Edward’s favorite words, flummoxed, by social interaction conventions, and has never had any practice with them.

In my own personal life, I am very familiar with the traits and symptoms of someone with OCD, as I have a brother-in-law who is afflicted with this disorder. Edward’s ritualistic behavior with recording his time of awakening, the weather, watching Dragnet precisely at 10:00 p.m. each night, eating the same foods week in and week out, are all very recognizable as traits of OCD. Lancaster touches very lightly on the fears which are associated with a break in these routines, and does not allow us into the twisted rabbit warren of rationale which is entailed in the compulsions. The obsession with Dragnet is well portrayed. It started around the same time Edward was forced to leave home and live on his own. Sergeant Joe Friday, with his non-emotional (normally) delivery and liking for the facts, is someone with whom Edward can gain a measure of comfort. Edward feels Sergeant Joe Friday would be more patient with him, and listen to the facts of the issues at hand, than his father, who increasingly communicates with Edward through a lawyer. The greater the divide with his father, the more Edward replaces him with the surrogate, Sergeant Joe Friday.

My familiarity with Asperger’s was limited to the character of Jerry on the TV show Boston Legal, so I took the opportunity to educate myself as to this disorder after reading 600 Hours of Edward. I was very interested to find that Asperger’s is actually a mild form of the Autistic Disorder, and here in the United States is classified as Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). As I read the diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s, I marveled anew at how beautifully Lancaster penned the character of Edward. The characteristics of Asperger’s were clearly evident, but subtly drawn so as not to get in the way of the story itself. It is humorous to look back upon a scene where Ted Stanton rushes in to save Edward, and is telling someone Edward has OCD. As Edward hears this, he thinks:

This shows what my father knows. The full story is that I‘m obsessive-compulsive and that I have Asperger syndrome.

After reading up on Asperger’s I realized how clearly evident this fact is and again paid homage to Lancaster’s pen. I could go on and on about all of the really fine points of this book, to the point where I might rival the 80,000 words of the novel itself. The bottom line is this is a book which should be experienced. It is a wonderful read, and since this is his debut novel, I eagerly await Craig Lancaster’s next offering. It’s time for you to pick up 600 Hours of Edward. What are you waiting for?

Preview 600 Hours of Edward on Craig’s Blog

Originally reviewed for the LL Book Review.

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Copyright © 2008
Lulu.com
$17.50 Paperback
132 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4116-4226-3

As I Rode with Cullen Baker opens, we are met with a scene evocative of Gone with the Wind with Tara burning in the background. Set in the South in the midst of the civil war, fifteen year old Jessica Linville watched while the Federal cavalry burned her house to the ground. When I was younger, I used to love a story set in the south during civil war times with a feisty female character at its center, so this book drew my interest immediately. Let me clear one thing up right away, despite my reference to Gone with the Wind, the character of Jessica Linville is nothing like the character of Scarlett O’Hara. Jessica is a proper young lady with manners, a sense of propriety, and has a genuine caring attitude toward her fellow man. And Scarlett had none of those qualities. However, the character of Jessica is a strong one, and she has a strong voice which carries the action of the book as seen through her eyes.

In order to escape the renegades who are taking the very last that Jessica had, Joshua, who has worked for the family Jessica’s entire life, hacks off her hair, dresses her in slave clothes, and they run off through the night. Jessica lost her mother six years previously to fever, and her father recently in battle, so she lived with the family servants, all of whom, except for Joshua, ran when the soldiers arrived. Joshua didn’t want to let down the memory of her father by running out on her, but did his best to try and get her to safety.

      With bluecoats in the wide drive, he’d forced me into the darkness, saying, “We can’t stay, Miss Jessica. These renegades would harm you.”
      Now, silhouettes of a dozen riders trampled the lawns, cheering as my home burned. I threw myself prone in the dirt in despair, and felt the thudding hooves beat like devils’ hearts in my chest.
      Joshua seemed gone a long time before I saw him returning through the neglected cane rows. Sporadic shouts broke through the diminishing roar of flames, and I prayed that none of those men would notice the hunched figure dodging flickering bands of firelight.
      He knelt beside me, gasping, “Here’s the shirt you got to put on.” Disentangling part of a bundle, he didn’t wait for my approval but began tearing at stubborn dress hooks, uncovering me to the chill air.
      He slid the correct arm into place as if I were an infant. “Step outen them clothes, shimmy an’ all. No— don’t stand up—”
      Pushing at the pale green dress material, then the white linen, I stripped to the skin and shoved first one foot, then the other, into the legs of a slave boy’s britches. They were limp with being worn, and though I was small for fifteen, tight through the hips. Joshua set a hat, rank with sweat, on my disgraced head, and I realized he was disguising me as a boy.

Unfortunately, the color of Joshua’s skin turned out to be a problem in the town where he attempted to send a wire to someone to come and pick up the boy, Jess. In one of the senseless acts that abounded during that time period, a mob of men attempted to lynch Joshua, but then shot him as Jess was trying to remove the rope from around his neck. Before the mob could turn on her, Cullen Baker rode up on his horse, scooped her up, and rode out of town. Thus began Jess’s adventure with the notorious outlaw, Cullen Baker.

Although Cully knew from the very start Jess was not a boy, he does not blow her cover, and goes to some lengths to help preserve it because he takes her to the camp of the Independent Rangers, who specialized in pursuing and capturing men who deserted the Confederate Army, but which more often than not took advantage of the fact that most of the men in the Arkansas and Texas areas were away at war, leaving mostly elderly men, women and children. This left the door open for acts of intimidation, rape, theft and violence for groups of well armed men like the Independent Rangers. Jessica’s feelings toward Cully are ambivalent. She can’t seem to reconcile the fact that he would save and protect her from a mob, but also steals. But then Cully gives the money away.

      The next place we stopped was a frame shack that a big wind would blow into Cass County. The rusted tin roof must have leaked considerably, and the cracks where chinking had fallen out were wide enough for a ferret to crawl through. A dirty-faced boy about ten answered the knock. He looked cold, in a thin shirt, trousers which struck his shins two inches above his ankles, and barefoot. Saving his shoes—if he had shoes— for winter, no doubt. More of the money passed to him. He beamed at Cully and threw a cheerful wave to me. I waved back.
      “Consumption,” Cully explained, settling himself in the stirrups. “Won’t last till Christmas.”
      I was sorry for the boy, especially because he had to live his short life in such poverty. At least, before the war ruined things, I’d known comfort and plenty and the love of respectable people. “Cully.”
      “What?”
      “Which do you think is worse—to have nice things and lose them, or never to have them in the first place?”
      “You tell me,” he said shortly, and then we came to a settlement of three houses together, none looking like it could withstand a hard rain. He parted with more currency at all of them.
      When we were on our way again, I couldn’t help asking, “What will we do for money?”
      “There’s ways of getting more.”
      “Stealing it!”
      “How the hell else would I get it? You see anybody around here going to give me a job and pay me a wage?”

I Rode with Cullen Baker is a fast paced read, somewhat short in length as is necessary for the target age group. While some of the story line is somewhat predictable, RLB Hartmann spins an engaging tale and keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next. Hartmann uses the historical figure Cullen Baker, and weaves a story set during a time when his whereabouts were unknown, making the story potentially feasible. The Cully in the story is a much more romanticized version of the historical figure than you will find in the Wikipedia information about Cullen Baker. However, it was fun to suspend my disbelief and take a journey back to the south of the civil war times and take a ride with a wild desperado with a not often seen softer side. I think Hartmann’s target audience will love the adventure.

Preview I Rode With Cullen Baker

Originally reviewed for the LL Book Review

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Copyright © 2008
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$13.15 Paperback
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I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t Dan Marvin one of the reviewers for the LL Book Review? Of course his book is going to be reviewed. It’s an obligation isn’t it? To answer those unasked questions: Yes, Dan is one of my fellow reviewers and No, there is no obligation. We review the books which interest us based on where we are at the time. That being said because we’ve built up a relationship as reviewers we are interested in each others work. I’ve been waiting all year for Dan to finally post his review request for Bogo’s Revenge. Late last year, when I knew Dan was going to join the LL Book Review team as a reviewer, I took the opportunity to check out his writing and noticed Bogo’s Revenge right off the bat.

What made this book so appealing to me? The illustrator. I enjoy children’s books, especially because of the illustrations. When I saw Bogo’s Revenge was a joint father/daughter project where Dan wrote the book and had his nine year old daughter, Cassie, illustrate it, I loved it. What a wonderful dad!

Dan Marvin is well suited to writing childrens books because he’s had plenty of practice with brevity through his love of flash fiction, which brought us the growing in popularity, Briefs for the Reading Room which was featured in Review 52 for LLBR. Marvin’s ability to get to the crux of the story without leaving the reader wanting more works well in this tale.

In Bogo’s Revenge, Bogo is a chipmunk who is continually harrassed by two racoons, the Rascal brothers. All Bogo wants to do is get to his favorite sunny spot so he could eat his fill of seeds in peace, but the Rascal brothers thwarted him at every turn. So, Bogo decided he needed a plan.

Bogo wished he had a big dog for a friend. Raccoons didn’t like dogs, and dogs didn’t like raccoons, always it had been this way. But Bogo didn’t have a dog for a friend, or any large animal that would make the Rascal brothers leave him alone.

Bogo ultimately comes up with a plan to lead the Rascal brothers away from his precious seeds on a merry chase through the brambles. The Rascal brothers get into trouble and its up to Bogo to help them out.

Bogo’s Revenge is a good old-fashioned story which teaches us that the best revenge against bullies is to do them a kindness. The delightful illustrations help bring the characters to life and it is a story which can be enjoyed by children and parents together.

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Originally reviewed for the LL Book Review

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Copyright © 2002
179 pages
$31.95 Hardbound edition
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ISBN: 978-1-4357-2132-6 (Hardbound) ISBN: 978-1-4116-0345-5 (Paperback)

From the very first word, Death at Disney evoked a strong sense of the 1950′s cop show, Dragnet. Not because the story is a period piece, but while I read the opening I could hear the narrator for Dragnet in my mind, becoming the voice of the main character, private investigator, Albert Cummings. The story opens with Cummings visiting the world of Disney, “the happiest place on earth”, as it is billed. And we enter into the thoughts of Cummings as he spends his time alone observing he is not the only unhappy person there. This was to be the dream vacation of a lifetime; it’s just too bad he is unable to share it with his wife, who is now an ex, and his daughter. Through the introduction, we see Albert Cummings as a jaded, tired, professional, who didn’t see how his job destroyed his family until it was too late. He is fast becoming irritated with the ubiquitous Disney cheer, and has found nothing to distract him from his own depressing thoughts.

Death at Disney is written primarily in first person present tense, which works well for this story because Albert has come to a cross-roads in his life. What he has lost is left behind, and he doesn’t have a good sense of what’s ahead so he is living in the here and now. That all changes when he meets Sarah Williams, a teenage pickpocket, trying to scrape together enough money to sustain herself by fleecing tourists at Disney World.

I now take a look around me and notice the direction in which the majority of the throng around me is heading. With a small gleam in my eye, I notice most of them carrying various guides to the park and following the directions like sheep. I turn to the left at the first intersection I can, avoiding the sea now turning right. As I make the turn, I feel a bump at my side. A hand snakes into my jacket with a fleeting touch. It feels almost like a butterfly kissing a rose petal, but I’m trained to be very conscious of my surroundings and my body. I grab the arm before the person can leave my side.

Up until Sarah was introduced into the story, the writing style was a stream of consciousness monologue for the most part. It establishes the character of Albert Cummings and provides some of his back story for the reader. When Albert catches Sarah attempting to pick his pocket, he decides not to turn her in to the park police, but instead works a deal with her. If she turns in all of the wallets she has lifted, which she has stashed in her purse, he’ll let her go. Albert even goes a step further and tells her to call him Uncle Frank and he’ll vouch for her by showing his private investigators license, and will say his “niece” just found this purse full of wallets. And of course, part of the deal is that she not steal any more so he isn’t put into the position of having to turn her in later in the day. The upshot is they both enjoy each others company so well, they spend the rest of the day at the park together experiencing it like a father and daughter, enjoying it to the hilt. Until, during a stunt show, one of the audience members collapses dead to the ground. Albert is roped in to help find the killer, with Disney footing the tab. Will Albert find the killer before the killer turns the tables on him and Sarah?

While I normally don’t mix critiques and reviews, there are just a few minor issues which keep this very good book from being an excellent book, and I value the strength of Julio Vazquez’s writing enough to point them out. First off, the cover does not do the book justice. While I do like the mouse ears on the headstone, the pink background simply doesn’t work for the semi-hard boiled private eye mystery story within. Even something like the legs of a crowd walking behind the (smaller) headstone would work, with a bolder, larger title. There also needs to be some attention given to the line editing of the manuscript. It may be the copy I was reading; however, occasionally there is the number one at the beginning of a line, such as 1Anywhere or 1″Yes.” In addition to those strange instances, on a few occasions Albert Cummings, who has assumed a pseudonym of Frank Cousins when dealing with the suspects for the murder, calls himself Cummings to the suspects, or one of the characters who only know him as Cousins, calls him Cummings.

One final observation, which is purely my personal opinion, Vazquez intermittently brings sexual overtones into the thoughts of Albert Cummings about Sarah, and it felt forced, did not advance the story line, and would be better to have been left out. It made me uncomfortable with Albert’s character at times because it just didn’t fit the character I knew throughout the rest of the book. And while I understand his loneliness, and needing to feel loved, I would have been much more comfortable with his having those types of thoughts about another adult, rather than a teenager. It sullied the close father/daughter development that was building between Albert and Sarah with pedophile overtones, and I don’t believe that was the intent of the author. That being said, those passages are brief and very few. The book would just be better without them.

I thoroughly enjoyed my read of Death at Disney. Mr. Vazquez has the gift of turning a phrase. One of my favorites was in the quote above of almost like a butterfly kissing a rose petal. What a beautiful image, especially in juxtaposition to the sad overtones of the previous passages. The development of the relationship which springs up between two lonely people, who meet by chance, is done very naturally. I like a character with spunk and it is Sarah’s spirit which helps to bring Albert out of his funk. And helps him to see the world from a fresh perspective, through the eyes of someone, who with her experiences, could be jaded, but isn’t. Through the pages of Death at Disney, Julio Vazquez establishes himself as a talented author with a strong voice, who crafts a suspenseful tale. Death at Disney is an excellent choice for anyone who enjoys a good old fashioned murder mystery.

As a side note, Death at Disney marks the first book that I have read for review on my Kindle 2. I converted the PDF to the Kindle format, loaded it to the Kindle and was able to enjoy the experience completely. I even played around with some of the Kindle features, such as playing some of the book as an audio book using the Text to Speech feature. While the voice is not quite as robotic as I would have expected, if I listened to it reading fiction to me for any extended period of time, I would go absolutely crazy. There are, for obvious reasons, no inflections to the words or sense of dramatic timing, but I think for a textbook, or some other business related writing, it would not be as bad. I was also able to highlight text and make notations so that they were easy to find once I was done reading the book. The Kindle also kept my place for me, when I had to turn the unit off during the course of reading this book. I remember the eagerness I felt when turning the Kindle back on to get right back into the story, exactly where I left off.

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Originally reviewed for the LL Book Review

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