The River by Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Published by Imajin Books

There are many legends about the Nahanni River in the Northwest Territory, many of them featuring headless corpses and skeletons, and disappearances, a river of ghosts. Cheryl Kaye Tardif has placed her paranormal techno-thriller in this beautiful and awesome part of northern Canada. I love how she describes everything so well that each scene is vividly implanted in the reader's mind, so much so that one can almost hear the falls, the rapids, and boiling currents of the river, the rustling of the leaves in the wind. This descriptive mode is captured throughout the book, even through the horrors to be found when Del, with a team and guide, searches for her father. He was believed dead for several years, after disappearing in the Nahanni area, but now Del has reason to believe he is alive.

It all begins when an elderly man shows up in her classroom with a message and a journal. She recognizes the message as something her father always said, and finally discovers that she has known this man, he is a friend of her father's and he also disappeared from that ill-fated group of men. He appears much older than he should, and very ill, but he says her father is alive and gives her a journal with instructions to "follow" her heart. He is taken away to a hospital where he is rapidly aging and dying. Del turns to the journal and discovers it has been written in some kind of code. There also seems to be a map of some sort. She knows she will do anything to find her father, and her ex-boyfriend is ready to assemble a search team and make the arrangements.

What a mixed bunch of characters make up the team! Del (Delila) Hawthorne is a Professor of Anthropology and her young assistant Peter insists on going along. Jake, who she meets first at the hospital and again at Bio-Tec where her father had worked, and TJ, her ex-boyfriend. Peter brings Miki, who is a math savant and may be able to break the code, and Jake brings his assistant, the fiery and fiercely jealous Italian, Francesca. A lone vacationing computer programmer, Gary, is stranded when his wilderness party doesn't show up, and Hawk, the Dene guide adds him to their party.

It doesn't take long for problems to arise, both natural and man-made. Who is trying to sabotage their trip? When Del's medication for MS disappears, who would have taken it? Was it the feisty Francesca? A romantic connection seems to be building between Del and Jake. Could Gary be someone other than who he supposedly is? Will finding the secret river give them answers, or more questions? The river is very hazardous as they near the falls, but Miki and Del believe they have to pass this spot to arrive at what they think will be the location to find the secret river. Hawk does not believe there is a secret river, but he does recognize what the landmarks are on the map. As they portage up the falls, they think the worst must be over, but will soon rethink that.

A tense, strange trip to destiny lies ahead. Not just their destiny, but the destiny of the human race. Can they stop the inevitable? Layers of horror lead to more danger for the team. I won't tell. This book is character- and action-driven, terrifying, and yet tender at times even in its intensity. Cheryl has a knack for writing the gamut of human emotion, and in this case even inhuman. A good thriller, graphic in some places, but deftly written. A real nail-biter.

Burned: A Tragic Mystery by J.A. Nevling

Published by Outskirts Press, Inc.
Reviewed for Review the Book

Being burned is a very tragic event, especially when it is a baby who is badly burned, even through the efforts to keep this to a minimum by her father who is also burned. A tragedy which could so easily happen through a brain focusing on the wrong thing at the wrong time. An overtired brain, a stressed brain, or in this case, a distracted brain.

The big game is on TV and Jim, the father, is baby-sitting his nine month old daughter, Anna, who is currently sleeping, to give his wife, Sharon, some time out with her friend Katie. When he hears Anna fussing, he does all the right things, cleaning her, changing her, and putting her bottle on to warm. What he doesn't realize is going to change all their lives in the next several minutes. A gas explosion is going to set the house on fire, not a small fire but a raging fire. Jim's efforts to get the baby out of her crib are next to impossible. The crib is burning and as he tries to bring her out avoiding the worst of the flames surrounding her, she falls through the side of the fiery crib. He does the right thing to try to protect her, stumbles outside and passes out.

When Sharon arrives at the hospital she learns both that her husband will survive, but Anna has been so badly burned it will mean a long recovery at best, but they don't know at this point if she will survive. Though the doctor does not want Sharon to see her at this time, she absolutely insists, and this action will clinch the effects that soon will engulf the whole family. Sharon will soon turn her back on her husband and they will be separated. The stage is now set for the mystery part of the book.

J.A. Nevling certainly knows how to write emotion. He also knows how to write a sequence of awful proportions in a way that the reader knows what is going on, but is not horrified to the extent that he/she will find the book so upsetting it will be impossible to read further. The reader instead will stay focused on the story as it unfolds and will have trouble putting it down. This book is meant to be read. It will be emotional by its nature, but there is so much more than the fire and its results. Once Sharon has moved away, Anna is going through her various treatments, and Jim is dealing with his feelings of guilt, remorse, and the loss of Sharon, the mystery portion of the book begins to unfold.

Sharon has found a small apartment and a good job at Prescott Industries, a new life she can not quite separate from the old. When a marriage is based on real love, it doesn't separate easily. Yet soon it becomes apparent that a transition has happened in Sharon's personality. She can't understand it, she often sleeps too much and feels strangely different. She seems to lose time, her ability to focus has changed, and she has some memory lapses. When she is run off the road as a car rams her from behind, she begins to feel someone is out to kill her. The detectives she talks to have some doubts but decide they should look into it. This is a real mystery, and there are several suspects, but the ending is shocking, and at the same time satisfying. This book is a definite adventure in reading. It speaks to the fallibility of people, love in its truest form, runs the gamut of several emotions, and is well worth the read. I enjoyed the book, which seems strange in light of the difficulties involved, but that is how well-written it is.

Under the Fifth Sun by Jeffrey Osburn

Reviewed for Front Street Reviews

This novel by Jeffrey Osburn takes place primarily along the Mexican/American border, predominantly the Texas/Juarez area, a place of great activity of all kinds and an excellent locale for this exciting debut. As might be expected, the drug cartels of Mexico play a huge role in this story, but also the devastating use by the warring cartels of Mexican innocents who believe a better life for their families await them in the USA. Mix this up with the generations of mostly-corrupt vs honest politics, the plot of the ousted president to overthrow the current government, and ultra-high technology, and you have a captivating winner of a story. Jeffrey Osburn, with his personal and professional experiences is just the author to write it.

Although the story and action takes place interactively from separate locales, it flows much more smoothly than one might expect. The activities of the military, US and Mexican government agencies working together, drug cartels who are also warring for control, and others are told in "real" time keeping the story compact and updated. The use of satellite technologies by the Americans is fascinating and amazing. The ingenuity of the drug cartels is astounding, and the plight of the Mexican population is heartbreaking. There is one very important person on loan to the American team who is stranded in Mexico and on the run which brings the reader into some very interesting history of the still largely untouched Rarámuri tribe, existing for millennia as part of the Tarahumara, indigenous to Mexico. Here he is able to remain unnoticed for a few days. His run is not without a couple of miscalculations on his part, putting him and others into more jeopardy. His journey is also played out interactively with the rest of the plot and everyone appears to be looking for him.

This book demonstrates the brutality of the cartels, the fear of the people, the corruption of many governments in Mexico. It also demonstrates dependency on oil, the hopes of the Mexican government, and the hopes of the American government to be a part of the production in Mexico. But it also shows the kindness offered to Vega, the man on the run, by people he meets, even in this hostile environment where Americans are not welcome.

A very tightly woven and sophisticated novel, an excellent debut. My congratulations to Jeffrey Osburn.