The World Beneath (Joe Tesla Series Book 1) Kindle Edition by Rebecca Cantrell

WWII, a medical project gone bad. Post-war leftover tests, are they possible? are they safe? will they help or kill? This is a fascinating book that goes in many directions but the biggest concern at this point in time is an infected monkey, but just how deadly and what is the infection?

Looking for a safe place to work or store the paperwork on this infection, those in the know have reached a strong possibility; a location holding information on the war, and possibly the various testings, labs, no doubt even the doctors and patients involved. This location is probably not where these people expect to spend their last days.

There is a train car, a piece of history underground, a particularly interesting train car, the very car that US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt innocently traveled across the country in, a trip meant to buoy up the people at home during the war. Why is it here?

How is it here? Soldiers start bricking up walls in front and behind the famous train. It doesn't take long to realize the people and a caged monkey currently in the train that has just arrived are doomed as the last bricks are placed.

The author then jumps to present day New York Grand Central Station. In the present there seem to be some leftovers. Are these people with mental and physical problems infected? Were they given the infection all those years ago? The symptoms are all wrong, no two seem to be capable of a "normal" life, but they seem to have small differences of reactions to the infection. Could it be the result of how long ago infection occurred, or has the original been manipulated?

Joe Tesla lives his life in the subterranean tunnels with his psychriatic rescue dog, a probable victim years before and is trying desperately avoid becoming a victim again. This part of the story is fascinating and terrifying. This is one book I can truly say has lots of twists and surprises, especially where our psychologically handicapped hero and rescue dog live. Fantastic story, I could happily read it again! Rebecca Cantrell is a force to be reckoned with, well-researched, I loved this book.

Broken Arrow - America's First Lost Nuclear Weapon by Norman S. Leach

by Norman S. Leach
published by Red Deer Press

America's First Broken Arrow : A True Story of the Cold War, A Doomed Bomber and America's First Lost Nuclear Weapon

Have you ever seen a B36 war plane? Have you ever had an opportunity to see the "Fat Boy" atomic weapon? I have, and both of these are huge in comparison with the size I thought they would be. We had taken a car trip south and part of our route included the Atomic Museum at Alamogordo and New Mexico where "Fat Boy" resides. The reason I know about these combined is because it's an interesting story and by some freak of nature the crash site ended up in British Columbia (the "bomb" was dumped in the ocean when the plane became unstable). For years it was never known where the crash site ultimately was, until it was basically stumbled upon years later where it shouldn't have landed, on Mt. Kologet, north of Smithers, east of the small border town of Stewart and Alaska panhandle, and some of what was recovered ended up in our Smithers museum. 

Were we at war with the US? No, it was a mystery for years what had happened to the flight of this huge plane. How could any of the debris end up there? For an estimate of size, the tail alone was the equivalent of a five-story building and to get it in and out of the hangar, or even sometimes for take-off, the nose had to be lifted...in the hangar so the tail could dip down enough to get out, and on the tarmac to get enough speed for lift, because it was carrying so much weight, the weight of the very heavy atomic bomb, a very big bomb, "Fat Boy". Maybe not a complete one, but the equivalent weight and position. This was in the time of the "Cold War". The crash discovery was made 40 years after the event, but where was the bomb? Did it explode as a "dirty bomb"?

Because we had moved to Smithers, BC after the discovery of this crash site, it really intrigued us. It took so many years to be discovered, but that's not surprising because it was totally in the opposite direction than it should have been. It was assumed to have crashed into the Pacific Ocean. The good news is that several of the crew survived the terrible weather they had parachuted into on Princess Royal Island off the west coast of British Columbia.

This book is exceptionally well-written, Norman S. Leach wrote this with a passion and a lot of research and it immediately becomes a great non-fiction search and recovery, the product of an amazing piece of history between the flight from a frozen Alaska night, Valentine's Day, 1950 and during the years of the "Cold War".

A Premonition of Murder (Dream Club Mystery 3) by Mary Kennedy

by Mary Kennedy

published by Berkley

Mary Kennedy, you've outdone yourself. I loved this, the 3rd Dream Club Mystery, also the 3rd I've read. I find dreams so fascinating in the directions they go. The Dream Club is a perfect example. Beginning with a wealthy, elderly lady hosting a tea-party outside her mansion, she immediately stuns them with the news she dreamed she's going to die, that was the feeling she had from the dream. The Dream Club then tries to help her sort out the dream she had. Fascinating ideas. But are they a portent or a nightmare? The Dream Club is a very mixed group, so she will certainly get a variety of suggestions, though most concur her dream of death was not necessarily what the dream is about. So many different possibilities, especially when her house is a mansion, a beautiful old Savannah home, very large and housing some of her assistants. Are the people who are living there truly caring for her? or is there a darker side to some of them. How many can be trusted?

This dream seems to be complicated as the Club begins to consider the people in the house besides Abigail Marchand, since she is somewhat of a recluse and relies on these others. Of course, with the housekeeper having worked there for over 30 years, she will be receiving an inheritance of $30,000,000. Others appear to be non-threatening, but are they? Who are some of these people who have been showing up recently? Abigail falls to her death, but actually was pushed down the stairs. Finally some questions surface in the group along with Detective Sam Styles, a member of the Dream Club, as they really get to work on what the dreams of all of them have been leading them to, Abigail's housemates and yard-workers. Who is the family member Sophie, from another country? Is she really a relative? What was the real cause of death of Abigail's sister, Desiree? Who is the student recording the artwork in the house? Lucy, the housekeeper, has a son living in the mansion, what is known about him?

Lucy murdered, by whom? Sophie is supposedly Abigail's last living relative, is that true? Abigail has requested that Tracy and Ali record all items in the house after her death. A lot going on with this book. I found the views of the Dream Club very interesting, lives being lost strangely interesting as facts became clearer. I enjoyed reading the Dream Symbol Guide in the back of the book, I wonder what the dreams of floating mean?

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

by Erin Morgenstern

published by Anchor Canada (www.randomhouse.ca)

I am so happy to finally obtain this awesome and fantastic exciting book. I first heard of it a few years ago but wasn't able to get it until this month of October. I am thrilled that it went far above my expectations, and they were pretty high! Erin Morgenstern is a fabulous writer. This is probably the longest book I've ever read and yet I read it steadily, only stopping to sleep, eat and since it is frosty these days in northern BC, chopping wood for the fireplace, what could be more cozy for reading?

I loved this book, it's amazing and unexpected, characters clearly defined, the circus itself a character coming to life only at midnight and closing as the sun begins to rise. Not quite your usual circus, no animal acts, no Big Top, no clowns, but on the other hand, not like the famous Cirque du Soleil or the equally famous Russian Circus. A circus like no other. No, Le Cirque des Reves is something beyond, something living, something elegant. Yet, there is a dark side, too. Not obvious, but competitive, selective in its application of what the competitors, who remain unknown to most, will be compelled to do.

What impressed me was the flow of this book. I felt like I could just become one of the spectators, in fact, I think that is exactly what I was! The story is very unique with a style of its own.