Sacred Night by Valerie Connelly

Reviewed for Review the Book
Publisher:  Nightengale Press

I love this book!  Valerie Connelly has an impressive imagination full of mystery and wonder that keeps the reader enthralled throughout. From gritty Chicago to the jungles of the Amazon, this book takes on a life of its own, and what a trip!

Two strangers, talented but unsuccessful in their lives, are "hired" individually to perform their music once a week at Rita's Bar.  Emily provides vocals with guitar and Dan is a pianist. This is their first performance and the place is packed. Unknown to everyone there, the Grim Reaper is waiting in the wings. Terrorists driving a car bomb for reasons we are not yet privy to, are about to come crashing through the front window.  Only two survive the horrendous blast. Our newly introduced musicians are found alive but unconscious. Rita has disappeared and no one knows if she was vaporized along with all the patrons, or left before the bomb detonation. No bodies are ever recovered.

In another part of the world, not far from Belem, Brazil, an elderly chief of the Tokablaki tribe is about to partake of a ritual which will return him to his earlier vibrant self. A form of rebirth, a kind of fountain of youth.  This ritual had been passed on through the ages, and soon it will be his "Sacred Night".  This ritual will involve the retrieval and ingestion of silt, Algala, from the bottom of the Amazon River. I like to learn something new in books I read and found the chapters about this ritual and its beginnings fascinating. Do I know if this really exists? No, but then this story is tagged a fantasy. Regardless, the author has given this part of the tale a plausibility and a sense of possibility bathed in tribal hierarchy, and therefore it plays a major role in our developing story.  Certainly there is factual information mixed with the fantasy.

Shifting back to our two survivors, they have been hospitalized in the same room and under constant surveillance. Emily is the mother of two girls and Dan is the father of two boys. It is decided for the present the four children would be best served by keeping them all together in a foster home while their individual parents either come out of their coma or pass on.

There is so much happening in this book all the way through.  Even with three stories weaving in and out, it keeps the reader riveted.  No one realizes that Emily and Dan are together in their comatose world and are trying to unravel puzzles in order to get back to "save" their children.  There is some mysterious substance found in their blood, unidentified. No one knows if this is compromising or helping their chances of survival. Emily's 16 year old daughter Miranda holds part of the key, but no one is listening to her.

Meanwhile, back in the Amazon jungle, many changes are taking place. The "business" that has been going on undetected for so long is in extreme danger, a type of danger that could mean death to our two unwitting  protagonists, Emily and Dan. The Amazon tribe who have been using Algala for so many generations and whose secrets were used to create this life-giving drug, are all killed.  Suicide bombers seem to be reaching out everywhere, and there is no hint of who is controlling them or who will be the next victim(s).

At the hospital, Emily and Dan appear to be losing their battle, they both seem to go through each step together. With so much going on in the book, it is difficult not to give too much away in a review. The tension which started the story has been building steadily, each bombing bringing a new flood of anticipation and fear to the characters and Ms. Connelly has a knack of transferring that anticipation and tension to her reading audience.  The various threads running through the book create their own kind of tension and bring together all the elements in the end, leaving the reader with a feeling of closure and relief, and yet is it the end? We are left with tantalizing possibilities in the future as the few survivors of the Tokablaki tribe hide in the forests of the Amazon.

This was definitely a thrilling ride for me, with lots to keep me interested quite aside from the mystery and thriller components. A complicated story that's easy to read, a difficult and unique challenge to an author and with Valerie Connelly at the helm, we ride out the tumultuous waves to safe harbor and enjoy the sail.

Dead Air: A Sammy Greene Thriller by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid

Reviewed for Review the Book
Publisher:  Oceanview Publishing

A rash of student suicides has hit the campus of Ellsford University! What can be the cause? Sammy Greene is determined to get to the bottom of things as a reporter and talk-show host for W.E.L.L., the campus radio station. She is tough, dedicated, and prone to exclamations in Yiddish, a result of being raised by her traditional grandmother. She plans a Memorial show for the most recent, a young man with a great future ahead, a talented musician and composer, and homosexual.

Interviews with professors, students, and friends trigger some questions as to whether these suicides are what they seem.  A fanatical religious group, with an overly zealous leader preaching, anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-corporate funding of research, she begins to investigate the group as possibly responsible for the "suicides".

Having left her purse at the home of her biology professor during an interview, she returns the next morning to retrieve it, and the tape from her interview. When she arrives, Sammy discovers Professor Conrad is dead from a self-inflicted bullet. Another seemingly unrelated suicide? But why then did his mentor commit suicide in the same manner with the same gun 3 years before?  Retrieving her purse, she realizes that it was running until it ran out, and possibly there will be some evidence on it.

Thus begins Sammy's thrill-ride as she battles against all comers including the police chief, her boyfriend, the Dean, other professors, and the Reverend Taft. No one will listen to her, and all warn her to leave it alone, they are satisfied with the suicide theory. Even Professor Conrad had tried to warn her off.  If he was going to commit suicide, why the warning?

This story is fast-paced, factual in many ways, researched thoroughly by the authors who are well-versed in their subject.  The suspense is high and the action continuous with little snippets of humor to ease the tension. Suspicions take sidetracks throwing Sammy and Campus Police Chief Pappajohn off course several times. Danger lurks everywhere. She is not even sure she trusts Pappajohn.  Now, two students are missing. What is the connection?

A strong story and very current, the dangers in the world of today as we lose control of who owns what in business, what conglomerate is supporting life-saving research, this is a medical thriller that satisfies. When Sammy's missing tape is located after a suspicious fire destroys the radio station, answers start flowing thick and fast and in several directions. Everyone seems to suspect the wrong person(s). The race heats up all through the book, to a heart-stopping climax.

Both authors have written thrillers before. Both are in the field of health care and research.  This is the first collaborative story by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid, and the first introduction of Sammy Greene, which appears to me to be the beginning of a series. If so, I will be watching for the next episode!

The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Wow! This is going to be a great trilogy! Written by two masters of the genre, this is book one in The Strain trilogy. This is also film-maker Guillermo del Toro's debut novel, co-authored with excellent, established author Chuck Hogan. Great writing, total attention grabber, completely absorbing. I was very reluctant to put it down. A story that will fit the genres of suspense, medical thriller, paranormal, horror and more. An ancient legendary tale with a twist, not my usual genre but I really enjoyed the book and am happy to review it. The book opens with a legend told to a young child in Armenia prior to WWII. The story begins in 2010.

A very large passenger plane arrives in New York City at JFK airport with a perfect soft landing, immediately loses all power, and nobody gets out. Everything begins for the reader from this unusual event and the tension and horror builds steadily throughout the book. Hundreds of instantaneously dead passengers and crew with no sign of trauma and no detectable reasons. A strange virus which doesn’t fit anything known and defies identification. Will the human race survive? I’m hooked, will definitely have to read the full trilogy and expect to enjoy every minute; I may even have added another genre to my list of favourites. There is not a lot I can write in this review without adding spoilers. That said, in this preview copy I love the way the sections are divided by black pages and a symbol, very impressive and fitting the drama well. The use of technology, mixed with ancient tools, is fascinating; the combination of heroes is interesting and fun, and perfect for the task. Each with their own talents and knowledge, this ragtag team must work together quickly while at risk by both good and evil. There is so much going on in this book, more depth than might normally be expected, it will carry you away, yet this first book in the trilogy only covers four, possibly five days and nights. Incredible story-telling, twists and turns, darkness and light, good and evil, all wrapped up tightly for our enjoyment. Exciting and disturbing, in a class by itself!

Running from the Devil by Jamie Freveletti

Jamie Freveletti has come up with a winner in her debut thriller. Taking place primarily in Colombia, there are far-reaching implications of involvement in Washington. Emma Caldridge, biochemist for a cosmetics firm, competitive speed runner and more, could give Xena (pop culture icon) a run for her money.

This book is action packed from Emma thrown clear of a hijacked jet passenger plane when it crashes, through a high-stakes race for her life through the jungles of Colombia. There are several survivors, all of them kidnapped and to be held for ransom by a maniacal terrorist, Rodriguez, a devil incarnate. But everyone from the drug cartels to special forces and a few with their own agendas, is searching for someone on that plane. Enemies are sometimes fighting each other and other times working together to find one person. The book delves into drugs, terrorism, arms smuggling, but also the medicinal properties and poisons found in the jungles of South America. Cat and mouse, three escapees on the run, give us the mystery of who is most important internationally that this whole scenario has been worked out. This is an enthralling book and I found it hard to put down long enough to sleep. A great debut! I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it.

Rupture by A. Scott Pearson

Reviewed for Front Street Reviews

A. Scott Pearson has written a rapid-fire, engrossing, and timely medical thriller, an amazing accomplishment for his debut novel. As a surgeon and researcher himself, he brings the world of surgery to life in a way others could not accomplish. His writing is reminiscent of early Frank G. Slaughter, and of Robin Cook. It grips you with the first page and doesn’t let go to the very last word. I believe the author has a brilliant career ahead of him in writing. The entire story takes place within one week.

Eli Branch is a newly hired surgeon-scientist at Gates Memorial Hospital, top in his field academically and the son of a well-respected anatomy professor at the medical school. His first call for surgery assistance brings him to the hospital at 12:03 a.m., although he is not actually on call. He arrives to find an extreme situation of an aortic rupture. Blown out above and below a previously inserted device placed precisely to protect the aorta from this possibility, the aorta appears to be compromised. Something familiar about the device catches Eli’s attention in the x-rays. When the patient dies, he decides to sit in on the autopsy, and between himself and Meg Daily, the forensic pathologist, they feel that something just simply isn’t right. Eli doesn’t know it yet, but he is about to be thrown into the dark side of medicine and illegal experimentation, and he is about to be thrown to the wolves.

There are many well-fleshed out characters, some dispensable, others not, and it is his self-appointed goal to save those who are victims, no matter what barriers are set up in his way. His own mentally disabled brother is suspected to be one of the victims. After being fired and banned from entering the hospital, with the help of Meg and other concerned personnel he must fight hard and utilize every sense and every clue in order to get to the bottom of the why. Why are so many people dying as a result of these devices? With friends in unexpected places he infiltrates the company responsible, stumbling onto the focus of what’s going on quite by accident. A brazen appearance at a press conference gives him the opportunity he needs. The book is a combination of medical technology issues, non-stop action and a likable hero. I wholeheartedly recommend this book, it’s a great thriller, current, scary and believable, and it’s an exciting ride at roller-coaster speed.

Note: not yet released as of Jan. 25/09