Review - Half-Inch by McCarty Griffin

Half-Inch by McCarty Griffin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Blurb from Goodreads

Pammy has had enough of Bobby, her abusive drunk of a husband. One lovely spring day, she decides to kill him, despite the fact that they will soon be divorced and he will, at least in the eyes of the law, be out of her life for good. Indulging in homicidal daydreams for years has led her to devise her own perfect and completely bizarre plan.

My review

For over a decade(and then some) Pammy has been married to Bobby, a violent nasty little thug who has done nothing but use and abuse her practically since they dated. Bobby has decided he is going to divorce Pammy and take everything he can get, she hasn't stood up to him before and he knows "Pammy Whammy" wont stand up to him now. But he is wrong! Bobby unwittingly goes too far and awakens in his wife a side neither of them knew existed and this side has had enough. Divorce won't cut it, she wants him dead and after years of Pammy fantasizing about it it is about to come true.

With her sassy confident lawyer Pammy takes up her part in the divorce and starts enjoying life as she has never known it before. Able to watch tv and drink as much soda as she wants without any repercussions from her husband.

Really easy to read and I think anyone who has been touched by domestic violence will be able to relate to Pammy. I quite enjoyed it and wish it had been a bit longer 3/5

This book is available on smashwords for $2.99




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Review - The Intruders by Michael Marshall

Blurb from Goodreads

For ex-cop Jack Whalen, it all begins with a visit from a childhood friend, a lawyer who needs Jack's help. The family of a noted scientist has been senselessly, brutally murdered, and the scientist is nowhere to be found.

But Jack has more pressing concerns. The past that drove him from the L.A.P.D. continues to haunt him. And his wife has disappeared during a routine business trip to Seattle. She never checked into her hotel, she isn't answering her cell phone. She is gone.

A third missing person, a little girl in Oregon, is found miles away. But it soon becomes obvious that she is not an innocent victim . . . and far from defenseless.

Something very strange is happening—a perplexing series of troubling events that's leading Jack Whalen into the shadows. And the secrets buried there are unlike anything he, or anyone, could possibly have imagined.

The Intruders by Michael Marshall Smith

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Jack Whalen is an ex LAPD cop, getting on with life in his own way, until his wife goes missing and everything turns upside down.

A ten year old goes missing although she is more than what she seems and can take care of herself and anything that gets in her way.

The two become tangled with many more people and the story unravels as it progresses.

This book is a mind boggle, it starts really well, a family is brutally murdered with the father being the main suspect but from there it just goes weird. Jack is contacted by an old school friend and it jumps back and forth between Jacks past and present and the other characters place in the here and now. It hints at what was the cause for the family being killed and why Jacks wife went missing and is behaving strangly.

Even after finishing the book there are so many questions and even if I got all the answers I still don't think I would be happy. It was too weird and long drawn out for me so a 2/5 for me.



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Review - Married Lovers by Jackie Collins

Married Lovers by Jackie Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The joy of getting over 100 pages in to realise this is another book I have read, the 3rd this week. I couldn't remember the end though so stuck with it.

Jackie Collins doing what she does best, junk food for the brain. Petty spoilt rich bitches, sex, drugs and skulduggery.

Cameron Paradise, Paradise the chosen name after running away from her abusive husband has fled to L.A to make a new life for herself as a fitness trainer with big plans on the horizon.

Ryan Richards indepndant movie maker, married to Mandy Richards daughter of a multi millionaire and the spoilt attitude to go with it is reasessing his life and love for his wife, does he want to pursue it try counselling or jsut go for a divorce.

Cameron and Ryans paths soon cross and there starts an attraction that neither of them want to admit. Cameron has a boyfriend on the quiet, a client who wants nothing more than to make her his and it is Ryans best friend.

It is the usual Collins classic, lives all tangled and linked and plenty of scandal and secrets to be reveiled. 4/5 for me. Decent paced and easy to read (I should think so I have read it twice).



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review - Death Row by Mark Pearson

Death Row by Mark Pearson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Blurb from the back cover

Fifteen years ago, when Jack Delaney was a beat cop not long out of Hendon, two children went missing from Carlton Row, a small residential street in Harrow. They were never seen alive again.

Two years later, Delaney rescued a young girl from the boot of an abandoned car, leading to the capture of Peter Garnier, one of the most horrific child rapists and murders in recent history. Although the bodies from Carlton Row were never found, Garnier admitted to murdering the two children and many, many more. He was sent to prison for the rest of his natural life.

Jack had thought the case was closed. But he couldn't have been more wrong.

This morning another young boy was taken from Carlton Row. Peter Garnier sends Jack the chiling message that they are both at the heart of the mystery, but Delaney has no time to figure out why, or how. Because tonight, the killings begin again...

My review

Well written, easy to follow and the story captures you pretty much from the first chapter (actually from the blurb on the back!)I haven't read any of his other books and think if I had read the one before this one (I would think there is one due to some things said in this book) I would have enjoyed it just that bit more and had a better feel for the characters.

That said I don't think you particularly have to have read it it just would have been my preference but as I was given this book I hadn't realised it was a series or part of one.

The characters are pretty strong and wether you like or hate them you get a strong feel for them. I quite liked Jack as a character and a cop. The story is a page turner and pretty good paced, before long bodies are piling up and the chase is on as to who the actual killer is and a few twists and suprises along the way. It took me the best part of a day to read and I couldn't put it down as I wanted to find out who done it and what was going on with the other characters. 4/5 for me.





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Review - The Lazy Crew by Jon KuCala

The Lazy Crew by Jon KuCala

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I received a complimentary copy of (The Lazy Crew by Jon KuCala) as a member of the
Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com
to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.

Buy the book here http://dorrance.stores.yahoo.net/lazycre...

http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+7XZRvv+index.html

Blurb from the Website

With a dark twist on the classic thriller novel, Jon KuCala reveals that evil wears many faces in this unforgettable experience of psychological terror.

During the uncertain, dwindling days of the late 1980s, the small community of Riverbank, Pennsylvania has fallen prey to a sadistic killer known only as “Jack-Man,” who is robbing the town of its solace and peace of mind, piece by gruesome piece. For a group of misbegotten friends, as well as the flawed detective who is obsessed with the one case he is unable to solve, the horror of Jack-Man is about to hit shockingly close to home.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, two equally brutal serial murderers, who share a terrifying link with Jack-Man and his Riverbank crimes, are on the loose. But what could that link be? And how can it ever be broken?

As the 1980s give way to the turbulent nineties, the surviving victims of Jack-Man’s bloody rampage try to put the past behind them and move on with their lives. But they are about to cross paths with the elusive maniac one last time, thrusting them into a harrowing battle of wills fought on Jack-Man’s own hellish turf that threatens to not only destroy their own lives, but the lives of those they love as well.

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My review

I received this book from Dorrance books at http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dor...



You can buy this book by using the direct link at the top of the page (next to the blurb) or go directly to the site http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+7XZRvv+index.html

Donna is obsessed with her father, believing him to be a monster and not human. He had to be after what he did to her, surely? On the 5th anniversary of his death she goes to the cemetary with her friend and boyfriend to prove this. If he was human then she will be able to pick up his vibes and if she can do that he was human and in turn so is she. Unfortunately the night doesn't work out like that and Donna falls victim to the serial killer Jack-man. So starts the hunt for the killer the town thought has disappeared two years ago.

For the first quarter of this story I didn't think I was going to like it. It jumped about a fair bit, present to past depending on which character the chapter was concentrating on but easy to follow whereas this method of writing can so easily confuse and put you off, not really the case for this story. There also was a bit of random swearing that at points didn't really seem necessary but as the characters develop and the story unfolds you get past this and tune into what is actually going on.

The murders are brutal and we get glimpses of the killer when the author concentrates on him through snippets in chapters throughout the story.

The books follows the survivors through their lives and how they cope and pull through the tragedy and when fate pulls them together again it looks like the whole lazy crew will be joining Donna or will they?

As I said the first quarter was a bit touch and go but once the storyline background was established I was hooked, couldn't put it down and read it in one day. 4 out of 5 for me

Available for $19 in paperbook in the US and $14 ebook format from Dorrance




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