Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard is the second book in the Red Queen series, following the first book titled Red Queen. This young adult dystopian fiction with elements of magic, paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy, adventure and romance is lavishly mounted on a gigantic scale, with thrilling action sequences, some nerve-wracking scenes and quite a few memorable acts. I’m in awe of Victoria Aveyard’s ability to stitch together a plot that not only reinforces the scope and ambition of Red Queen but takes the story forward to a new and higher level.

In this well-written and wonderfully conceived follow-up, Mare Barrow is still unable to come to terms with the treachery that infiltrated her ranks, and she almost paid for it with her life. However, she realized that she must quickly come to grip with the unexpected situation and carry out an almost impossible mission – to save her friends before they are found and destroyed by the King. Mare is also bent on taking revenge for the harsh betrayal she suffered. But it is easier said than done. As the Silver king unleashed his wrath on the Reds, Mare knows that she must act quickly, and act decisively. Only if the Scarlet Guard were on her side, she would stand a chance of winning…

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard is a riveting read, and in more ways than one an exhilarating sequel to Red Queen. With a strong female character who is prepared for deathly duels with dangerous enemies as the main protagonist, the story is as electrifying as it can get. Glass Sword is every reader’s fantasy coming true with strong and unforgettable characters, flowing narrative, breath-taking landscape with an array of characters planted to inhabit it and a story that is free-flowing and difficult to forget. While opinions may differ if weighed against the scale with the first book, I can safely conclude that Glass Sword is one thrilling read that you won’t want to miss.

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The Long Shadow by David Reynolds

With the centenary of the First World War, a global war concentrated in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918, fast approaching, there seems to be a deluge of books and memoirs about war. One truly outstanding and extraordinary book which takes an insightful look at the impact of the Great War, gives a detailed account of what happened during and after the war, and which makes for a mesmerizing reading is The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century by David Reynolds.

Author David Reynolds needs no introduction. He is one of the finest & leading historians writing in English today, a professor of International history at Cambridge University historian and winner of the Wolfson Prize for his 2005 monumental work In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War.

The Long Shadow scans the indelible bearing The Great War had on the cultural and political landscape of five combatant nations – Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France and the United States. Taking a very British view of the issue, the author also explores the impact The Great War had on The British Empire and Commonwealth Countries. While the subject in itself is vast, the book is not voluminous as the author has a clear defined goal of what to bring to the reader’s attention. Divided into two parts – Legacies and Refractions, the first part of the book Legacies contained six chapters - Nations, Democracy, Empire, Capitalism, Civilization and Peace. The second part of the book, Refractions, consists of Again, Evil, Generations, Tommies and Remembrance.

Full of facts, figures, information, insights, illustrations, and useful references, David Reynolds in writing The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century has set a bench-mark for all future works on this particular subject.

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The Wolf in Winter by John Connolly

The Wolf in Winter by John Connolly is the twelfth book in the lethal private detective Charlie Parker series, and comes after a long wait of more than two years since the release of the last book, The Wrath of Angels. The Charlie Parker series has come a long way since the publication in 1999 of Every Dead Thing, the first book in the series. Both lyrical and terrifying, the series follows Charlie Parker, a former detective with the New York Police Department, now a private eye, as he is on the trail of a serial killer known as ‘The Collector’ who is responsible for the brutal murders of his wife and young daughter. Though it is a cold case, Parker is determined to track down the killer and bring him to justice.

In The Wolf in Winter, John Connolly who is an extremely gifted author crafted a compelling plot that revolves around the death of a homeless man who is keen to find his missing daughter. As Jude was found hanged, the local police termed it as suicide but a close friend is far from convinced. He tracked down Parker and persuaded him to investigate. The trail of the dead homeless man led Parker to the small, closed and secretive town of Prosperous in Maine where he stumbled upon secrets that the townsfolk have zealously guarded for long. Can Parker uncover the whole truth or pay the ultimate price for his misadventure?

Author John Connolly’s characterization and compelling plot aided by his masterful writing allows the reader to embark on an epic journey of suspense, mystery and crime with elements of the supernatural which borders on the edge of horror. It is a mishmash of fantasy and thriller, a real page-turner that will delight long-time fans of the series. Unlike many other long-running series, the Charlie Parker series is showing no sign of is meandering and continues to be as sharp as ever. Absolutely mesmerizing and suspenseful, The Wolf in Winter is destined to be a bestseller.

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The Burning Room by Michael Connelly

The maverick Los Angeles Police Department homicide Detective Harry Bosch has come a long way since he first made his appearance in the 1992 detective mystery thriller, The Black Echo. In that premier book of the series a man found in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam was just another statistic for the police department. But when Harry Bosch stepped in it became personal because the murdered man was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who had fought side by side with him in a hellish underground war.

Twenty-two years later in his nineteenth avatar in Edgar-winner Michael Connelly’s superbly crafted The Burning Room, Harry Bosch and his new partner, rookie Detective Lucia Soto, are tasked with an unenviable job of solving a very old case with a lot of twists and impediments. It concerns a case which begins almost ten years earlier with the drive-by shooting of Orlando Merced as he played with his band in Los Angeles's Mariachi Plaza. The bullet that struck him in the spine caused grievous damage leaving him paralyzed.

When Bosch and Lucy get to work they are confronted with lack of evidence which make the investigation all the more difficult. They got a vital lead when an anonymous tipster informed Detective Lucia Soto that the shooting of Orlando Merced is connected to the 1993 devastating fire which took place at the Bonnie Brae apartments that killed nine victims, mostly children. Incidentally, Soto could have been one of the children consumed by that raging fire twenty years ago but survived while some of his friends didn’t. The mariachi musician was a victim of a conspiracy to bury the truth behind the arson as he was believed to have known the people involved. Bosch and Lucy also unearthed connections between the two incidents with the robbery of an EZ Bank.

With powerful people coming into the picture, master storyteller Michael Connelly skillfully maneuvered this compelling police procedural with a lot of unexpected twists and turns. Juggling between suspense, crime and mystery, there is no dull moment as Harry Bosch just simply refused to fade into oblivion and reinvented himself through the deft handling of his character by Connelly. Beautifully written and wonderfully paced, The Burning Room is not only for die-hard fans of the series but also for new readers who want to explore the world of Harry Bosch.

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The Escape by David Baldacci

Bestselling author David Baldacci returns with a thrilling new suspenseful, action-packed story full of mystery with military CID investigator John Puller. Just the third book in the John Puller series following Zero Day (John Puller Series) and The Forgotten (John Puller Series), The Escape is a book that will entertain and enthrall readers from cover to cover, with John Puller heading an eclectic cast of characters. The Escape follows the trail of a war hero and top US army investigator extraordinaire Puller and his partner US intelligence officer, Capt. Veronica Knox, as they are hot in pursuit of an escapee from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

But for Puller, the assignment is fraught with professional and personal dilemmas. The escaped convict is none other than his brother Robert Puller who is a major in the US Air Force. Robert has been convicted of treason and national security crimes. As John digs deep into the case, he realizes that there are many others pursuing his brother, and will resort to any means to either bring him to justice or silent him permanently. John races against time to find Robert and unearth the truth behind his brother's conviction where nothing is what it seems to be.

And finding a man who doesn't want to be found is a tough proposition. As Puller pieces together the jigsaw puzzle, Robert is also determined to clear his name and hacks into the national database. To throw off his pursuers, he has also changed his appearance, but for how long? Will John find his brother before the others? David Baldacci masterfully weaves an interesting an interesting story full of suspense and surprises. Puller's character has gone from strength to strength, and is likely to become one of the most fascinating fictional characters in recent years.

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The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss

With fans baying for blood, err the third book in The Kingkiller Chronicle series - the working title of which is Doors of Stone - bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss has come out with an ingenious quickie in the form of The Slow Regard of Silent Things, to soothe and appease frayed tempers. While some are mistaken that this is the third book in the series, it is not. Unlike The The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle) and The Wise Man's Fear: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two which were both a mammoth tome, Pat's latest offering is far removed from them in comparison, just running a little over one-hundred and fifty pages.

The dissimilarities apart, The Slow Regard of Silent Things has a lot of similarities with the author's other works as the story, despite its limited length, is written on an epic scale. It is a fantasy science fiction full of adventures that will leave his fans clamoring for more. It is an astonishingly short but charming story of one of Patrick Rothfuss' favorite characters, Auri, of whom fans are well acquainted.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a supplementary story to The Kingkiller Chronicle series and throws much light on the Four Corners realm and the University as it follows the story of Auri, a former student, who is preparing for a visit from someone dear, perhaps Kvothe, though no name is mentioned. If readers leaf through the pages of this short story without expecting too much, many will find a story that grabs their attention, well-worth their time and helps to better understand the world of The Kingkiller Chronicle series.

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The Yid: A Novel by Paul Goldberg

Many of us are familiar with the saying, There’s no lock on a mouth or There’s no one as deaf as he who will not listen. Yiddish proverbs and saying are very popular. Thieves and those in love both love darkness, Things can’t be bad all the time, nor good all the time, Things may get worse before they get better, Thistle sticks to clothes and disease to the body, Three things cannot be hidden: love, coughing and poverty, Time brings wounds and heals them, To be miserly is worse than to steal, To every answer you can find a new question, To every new song one can find an old tune, To fall down you manage alone but it takes friendly hands to get up, To have money is a good thing; to have a say over the money is even better are some of the more popular ones.

Well, what has the above got to do with The Yid by Paul Goldberg? Well, actually nothing but a lot as I’m fascinated with Yiddish sayings, proverbs, phrases, and clichés. I was immediately able to connect the two, and the resulting entertainment which I derived from this well thought-out historical novel as a disorderly and motley group of people come together to plot the assassination of Stalin was absolutely worth the time. It is a fun and drama-filled story, a rollicking ride from start to finish.

The Yid by Paul Goldberg is set in the year 1953, and the place is Moscow. Stalin was making his own plans but a ragtag group were equally determined to stay a step of him, and plotted to have him assassinated. These characters are quirky but interesting. Author Paul Goldberg writes in such a style that there is never a dull moment. The novel also serves as a commentary on the period, and readers get to take an inside look on Russia during the period. While the mischievous nature of the book may not go down well with some readers, the incongruities worked fine with me as an entertaining read. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes a light read!

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Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben

If you want an effortless but entertaining read, Fool Me Once by bestselling author Harlan Coben just might be the right choice. This stand-alone suspenseful and intensely compelling mystery thriller is one of the best from the author in recent years. A master storyteller par excellence, this novel reaffirms his status as a top-notch writer who has the gift to turn a simple-enough premise into a page-turning excitement, and an ordinary character into a memorable one. And he left the best for the last - may be, may not be the perfect ending, but this was one of the most unexpected endings I have read in a very long time.

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben is the story of a discredited soldier who also suffered the ignominy of losing her sister and her husband within a short span of just four months. Her humiliation in the line of duty was painful, yet what followed was unthinkable. But Maya Burkett is no ordinary woman. Home after a whistle-blower website charged her of targeting a car of civilians while on a rescue mission, her sister Claire was murdered, and then her husband Joe Burkett was shot in front of her. But Maya is determined to stay strong for the sake of her two-year-old daughter, Lily. The twist in tale starts when a friend out of concern gifted Maya a digital picture frame that doubles as a hidden nanny-cam. When Maya decided to watch footage from the nanny-cam she was horrified to see her husband Joe playing with their daughter two weeks after his death.

In Fool Me Once, author Harlan Coben crafted a twisted tale where things are not what they seemed to be. Though a strong character, Maya is in an unenviable position. She has her hands full. She’s a single parent who can’t neglect her deceased sister’s children. She is still reeling under post-traumatic stress disorder, and, believe it or not, she’s a suspect in her husband murder case. Yet, she is able to take things in her stride, and when the odds do not add up, she decides to take things into her own hands and get to the bottom of it. I think Maya is an exceptional character, and there are several secondary characters who are well-defined. There is a sense of poetic justice as author Harlan Coben brings the story to its climax. You won’t want to miss this for any other book!

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Monument Road by Charlie Quimby

Charlie Quimby is a natural and masterful storyteller which comes through in his debut novel, which is a gem of a beauty. It makes reading pure pleasure as the reader is transported to the world of Leonard Self unwinding his ranch for his tryst with destiny - to take the ashes of his wife, Inetta, up Artists Point and scatter them to the wind. It was a year and a day ago that his wife died of cancer. Before her death she made him promise what he's planning to do today. And he has made up his mind to take his promise a step further - to throw himself off with her ashes. And that day is today!

Since the day of Inetta's cremation, Leonard has been making arrangements for this day. He was withdrawn, reclusive, and secluded which was a far cry from the time he was with his beloved wife. Along their life's journey, they had touched many lives, notable among them being Inetta's brother Elliot and a young alcoholic called Vaughn with lofty dreams, compelling Leonard to think aloud: "If you did your best and persevered, good things might happen, but goals were better left to kids playing games, where the baskets were nailed down and the posts were buried. In real life, things moved on you."

Think of yourself as Leonard trying to explain why he's giving away his dog, you would fumble too. And Inetta's friend becomes suspicious. Though he has withdrawn into a shell of his own, they deeply cared for him. And think of Leonard snaking down Colorado National Monument, with the ashes of his wife in a ceramic container next to him. And the thoughts going through his mind!

Written in simple but beautiful prose which amplifies the mood of the story, Monument Road with its memorable and unforgettable cast of characters, rich landscape and sweeping storyline delivers a powerful tale that will leave readers clamoring for more. It is a must-read for everyone. If you are planning on reading just one book this month, this should be it.This is a work of fiction set in a real place, which means the author has allowed the maps to be wrong on occasion, the characters were granted permission to turn up where they never did in life, and a girl in 1989 may read a poem from the 13th century no matter when it was translated, screams the disclaimer to songwriter, playwright, blogger, essayist, journalist and now author Charlie Quimby's debut novel Monument Road. It is a hilarious start to a novel that is anything but that.

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The Last Girl (The Dominion Trilogy Book 1) by Joe Hart

A mysterious worldwide epidemic reduces the birthrate of female infants from 50 percent to less than 1 percent. Medical science and governments around the world scramble in an effort to solve the problem, but twenty-five years later there is no cure, and an entire generation grows up with a population of fewer than a thousand women.

Zoey and some of the surviving young women are housed in a scientific research compound dedicated to determining the cause. For two decades, she’s been isolated from her family, treated as a test subject, and locked away—told only that the virus has wiped out the rest of the world’s population.

Captivity is the only life Zoey has ever known, and escaping her heavily armed captors is no easy task, but she’s determined to leave before she is subjected to the next round of tests…a program that no other woman has ever returned from. Even if she’s successful, Zoey has no idea what she’ll encounter in the strange new world beyond the facility’s walls. Winning her freedom will take brutality she never imagined she possessed, as well as all her strength and cunning—but Zoey is ready for war.

REVIEW: How much is a life worth?

This question is the first that enters Zoey’s mind each morning, and it is the last she thinks before falling off to sleep every night. Can a price be put on such a thing? And if it could be, would one ever be able to pay for it?

Opening with the oft repeated quote attributed to Henry David Thoreau, “The savage in man is never quite eradicated,” this hard-boiled dystopian thriller set in the near future with a dynamic cast of characters headed by a female is quite fittingly dedicated by the author to his wife, mother, daughter and sister, whom he labelled “the strongest women I know.” Though I’m not that familiar with author Joe Hart, all I know is that he has an impeccable record as an author with seven novels to his credit, most of them bestsellers. He has also written a novella – Leave the Living, four short stories and a collection of short stories entitled Midnight Paths: A Collection of Dark Horror.

The first book in the planned Dominion Trilogy, The Last Girl by Joe Hart, reads like a doomsday prophecy with the world facing the scourge of drought of women. In less than a quarter of a century, the world’s women population has dwindled down to a thousand, and with no baby girls and women, there seems to be no hope, and the world is ravaged by uncertainty. The National Obstetric Alliance (NOA) was set up to determine the cause but it has failed to come up with a satisfying answer. Known as “The Dearth,” the world witnessed a noticeable drop in female births in 2016. It grew to an alarming rate in 2017.  By 2018, despite an unprecedented scientific undertaking by NOA, it recorded less than one in one hundred million. It resulted in chaos, uprisings and rebellions leading to a full-scale civil war which lasted for five years.

Under the guise of protecting and sheltering the surviving women, the NOA has been running a program, conducting experiments, at a facility known as Advance Research Compound. The surviving women are holed up - Terra, Zoey, Grace, Halie, Rita, Sherell, Penny, Lily, Meeka and many more expectantly waiting for their turn to be “inducted” as they believe that the program isn’t something to be afraid of but something to embrace as it is for the greater good. They believe that they live for the chance to rebuild the world, each waiting for their turn to be inducted into the program, after which fulfilling their long-cherished dream of living in the safe zone with parents. But Zoey knew better, and she decided to act before more of her friends are “inducted.” Author Joe Hart cooked up a chillingly terrifying scenario, leaving me breathless. Mesmerizing and unsettling, , The Last Girl by Joe Hart is a thrill-a-page read which fans of science fiction, mystery, suspense and futuristic novels will enjoy.

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