Review: The Deadfall Project is a traditional spy thriller in the same vein as the books of Robert Ludum and Jack Higgins. Deadfall Project starts off with Grey Stark, a CIA agent who has a messy past so the government sends him somewhere so he can be quietly forgotten, until a nuclear Bomb almost goes off in Paris. Grey Stark wants to get back in with the CIA and sees the bomb as his chance to prove he still has what it takes to be a great spy. When his soon to be ex-wife Leigh busts in on a important meeting to get some papers signed because she has had enough of the "It's classified" rhetoric, little did she know she was about to be dragged into the life her husband had tried to keep secret.
The author created his character, Grey Shark, with imperfections. He couldn't shoot straight and his past was dark and seedy, a past he couldn't hide or run away from. Leigh, Grey's soon to be ex-wife, was a former police officer and a great shot which helped balance out her husband lack of shooting ability making them a great team. Leigh is a strong willed woman who wanted to love her husband but he makes it hard to get close. The author creates a character Leigh that most women can identify with or want to be like. She was strong and unwilling to fall helpless to a man. In fact sometimes she was the one who saved her husband. I enjoyed the love story because it was about being open and honest, and when that happened their marriage found a reason to exist.
The author creates a wonderful world of old vs new with the planned demise of the older spy agencies and the birth of a new breed of espionage. He creates a story that men and women can enjoy and the fast pace of the book makes it almost impossible to put down. I will say the book does feel at times like it was written to be a screenplay but that being said it also made it a very easy and fun read.
This spy thriller has everything you love about that genre with beautiful locations, car chases and shoot outs. The author is very descriptive with locations without boring the reader and gives just enough background to the characters without a lot of unnecessary details that do not apply to the story. There were a few grammatical and spelling errors, but I was able to look past them because this book was so much fun to read.
For a first time author I am very impressed and extremely excited to see what comes next.
Synopsis: Iranian terrorists plant a bomb in Paris, nearly killing millions, and one man must track them down before they strike again. CIA agent Grey Stark is back from two decades of retirement, searching for an elusive bomb that could level a city in seconds.
Author Biography: Brett James is a member of the New York-based art collective, The Madagascar Institute, and has installed his art in New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Croatia. He has written and directed six films, and been honored at a dozen festivals. He was raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Review: This is a quick read about an Amish family that faces a tragedy and then a miracle. The characters are heartwarming and real, I think I could be friends with a few of them. I liked the way that Miriam was determined to do what God wanted her to do even as she prayed for his guidance and help in her life. She wanted to stay with her faith and yet also with her livelihood. Micah is a man I could really get behind; he cares about the women his life and shows it in his actions. The rest of the little village is a mixture of good-hearted characters trying to help or hinder depending on their role in this plot. It won’t take a couple of hours to read and will leave you with a good feeling at the end. God does care and really is there even when we think he has left us high and dry.
If you enjoy clean romances with a bit of mystery to boot you will enjoy this fast paced telling of a family in need of a few miracle. This is an Amish romance/mystery that is well paced and enjoyable to read.
Why I Read It: Sent by the author for review and a book tour.
Synopsis: In the bestselling tradition of Beverly Lewis and Jan Karon, Hubbard presents a beautifully drawn new series, which follows the charming residents of Willow Ridge and the conflicts involving the old Amish ways in a modern world, and the temptations of leaving this plain heritage behind. Original.
Author Biography: Many moons ago—like 1983 while I was still a school librarian—I sold my first story to True Story. This launched me into writing about seventy of those “true confessions” stories over the years, and I’ve been a slave to my overactive imagination ever since.
The next big step was selling my first historical romance in 1990, a Zebra Heartfire called COLORADO CAPTIVE. Then came GAMBLER’S TEMPTING KISSES, COLORADO MOONFIRE, MISSOURI MAGIC, SAHARA SPLENDOR, and OUTLAW MOON. They’re all out of print now, but available from used book stores or on Amazon.com.
After a long dry spell that entailed major changes in the publishing industry and an agent who fritzed out on cocaine, I resurfaced in a new genre, with a new publisher, editor, and agent who were so excited about my Angels of Mercy books! And now, with the first book of my series, The Love Secret, I move into new territory once again—and once again the setting is a place I love to spend time: the Oregon Coast.
Review:I am not a smoker and really find it to be a rather gross addiction in others, but if I am outside on a hot summer day and smell a cigarette in the air, I am almost immediately drawn back to my childhood and playing little league baseball. For me that smell experience is strongly tied to sitting in the dugout while various parents smoked in the bleachers. It never ceases to amaze me how easily my mind makes that transition; and more importantly it is the only thing that does trigger it. Not even playing baseball will do it, just that smell.
What if you could smell something so powerful, so tied to you that it made it possible to not only take you back to your childhood, but beyond. The overlaying theme of the book (and the series) is reincarnation, that we have spent multiple lives here on earth. If you could find the right blend of fragrances you could access those memories that you keep buried, you could truly understand who you are. As I said, fragrances can trigger specific memories; the only question is how many memories do we have?
The author is a little to ambitious in this book, telling a love story over time, plus a history book (of perfuming, Egypt, and Psychology), a suspense thriller, and Buddhism thrown in too. So the story could have been a little tighter or the narrative a lot longer (to do all the subplots justice) than it was. But even with all that the plot it was simply marvelous, making the me want to know more about everything. What do I think about reincarnation? What is going on with the whole underground tunnels in Paris? What is the history of perfume? How does Carl Jung interpret it? And so on. This book will tickle your interests and leave you looking for more.
Thanks T Steven for this review.
Publisher: Atria Copyright: 2012 Pages: 347 ISBN: Quick Review:4 stars out of 5. Why I Read it:I love M.J. Rose’s plots Where I Obtained the Book:Sent to me by the publisher for review
Synopsis:A sweeping and suspenseful tale of secrets, intrigue, and lovers separated by time, all connected through the mystical qualities of a perfume created in the days of Cleopatra—and lost for 2,000 years.
Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances—and of her mother’s suicide—she moves to America, leaving the company in the hands of her brother Robbie. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing—leaving a dead body in his wake—Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind.
Back in Paris to investigate her brother’s disappearance, Jac discovers a secret the House of L’Etoile has been hiding since 1799: a scent that unlocks the mysteries of reincarnation. The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac’s quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past. The ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.
Author Biography: M.J. Rose, is the international bestselling author of several novels including Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, Sheet Music, Lying in Bed, The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex, The Venus Fix, The Reincarnationist, The Memorist and The Hypnotist.
The FoxTV show Past Life, which premiered Feb 9th, was based on her Reincarnationist sereis.
Rose is also the co-author with with Doug Clegg of Buzz Your Book.
She is a founding member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She runs the popular blog; Buzz, Balls & Hype.
Getting published has been an adventure for Rose who self-published Lip Service late in 1998 after several traditional publishers turned it down. Editors had loved it, but didn't know how to position it or market it since it didn't fit into any one genre.
Frustrated, but curious and convinced that there was a readership for her work, she set up a web site where readers could download her book for $9.95 and began to seriously market the novel on the Internet.
After selling over 2500 copies (in both electronic and trade paper format) Lip Service became the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club as well as being the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.
Rose has been profiled in Time magazine, Forbes, The New York Times, Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek and New York Magazine.
Rose has appeared on The Today Show, Fox News, The Jim Lehrer NewsHour, and features on her have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including USAToday, Stern, L'Official, Poets and Writers and Publishers Weekly.
Rose graduated from Syracuse University and spent the '80s in advertising. She was the Creative Director of Rosenfeld Sirowitz and Lawson and she has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
She lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and their very spoiled dog, Winka
Disclaimer for all reviews sent by the publisher, publicist or author for review.
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