Tag: #suspense #thriller

Feature Post and Book Review: Blood on the Wire by Candace Irving

Book Description

When a VA therapist is brutally stabbed, Kate Holland is stunned—the man had clashed with her own shrink days earlier. But the shock deepens when Kate discovers stolen military-grade explosives hidden in his home.

The victim had been investigating a war crime overseas, and now the fallout is erupting in Arkansas. With Ruger at her side and Arash in the fight alongside her, Kate follows a trail of secrets and corpses toward a killer who won’t stop until innocent blood is spilled.

To stop him, Kate must risk everything—including the fragile trust she’s building with the two allies she can’t afford to lose.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239425643-blood-on-the-wire?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=9kTzLQnFmZ&rank=2

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

BLOOD ON THE WIRE (Hidden Valor K-9 Mysteries Book #5) by Candace Irving is another outstanding action packed and thrilling addition to this series. I enjoyed every book in the entire series and Kate and Ruger’s journey, but I believe you could read this book as a standalone and still love it due to the strategically placed background information you may have questions about.

Special State Investigator Kate Holland and her K-9 Ruger are called to investigate the stabbing death of one of the Little Rock VA’s psychologists. When she gets to the scene, she realizes she met this doctor arguing with Kate’s own doctor just a few days earlier. As Kate and the local detective search the doctor’s home, they discover two safes. One has a cache of military grade C-4 and the other has a notebook filled with writing in code.

As Kate investigates the murder, she discovers the doctor was looking into a crime from two years ago in Afghanistan. There are suspects that are almost too convenient and many tangled stories of truth and lies. As the body count increases, Kate realizes someone is trying to get rid of all ties to the real killer and crimes of the past.

I love this series! I look forward to reading not only an intricately plotted suspense/mystery, but an intimate story of a vet’s healing journey through PTSD and a terrible wartime incident all while she navigates her current job, her work and personal connection to her dog, and finally her learned ability to open up in her personal relationships. The intricate plot and twists in this book left me continually guessing until the very end.

I highly recommend this suspenseful police procedural/K-9 mystery! This is a well written, engrossing series and I cannot wait for more.

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About the Author

A former US Navy Lt., Candace Irving is the daughter of a librarian and a retired boatswain’s mate chief. Candace grew up in the Philippines, Germany, and all over the United States. Her senior year of high school, she enlisted in the US Army. Following basic training, she transferred to the Navy’s ROTC program at the University of Texas-Austin. While at UT, she spent a summer in Washington, DC, as a Congressional Intern. She also worked security for the UT Police. BA in Political Science in hand, Candace was commissioned as an ensign in the US Navy and sent to Surface Warfare Officer’s School to learn to drive warships. From there, she followed her father to sea.

Candace Irving writes gritty military thrillers. She is the author of the Deception Point Military Detective Thriller Series and the Hidden Valor Military Veterans/K9 Psychological Suspense Series. She also writes military romance and romantic suspense as Candace Irvin (without the “g”).

Social Media Links

Website: https://candaceirving.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CandaceIrvingBooks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/candaceirvingbooks/?hl=en

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/blood-on-the-wire-a-kate-holland-suspense-a-hidden-valor-military-veteran-k-9-mystery-book-5-by-candace-irving

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Assassins by Mike Bond

Hi, everyone!

Today I am featuring my Feature Post and Book Review for ASSASSINS by Mike Bond on this book amplifier tour.

Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and social media links. Enjoy!

Book Summary

In Assassins, Mike Bond introduces Jack, an intelligence operative whose career unfolds alongside some of the most volatile geopolitical shifts of the modern era. His work places him at the center of covert operations that blur the line between duty, loyalty, and accountability.

For CIA operative Jack, intelligence work is never confined to a single mission. Early assignments place him close to local communities, creating personal ties that complicate later operations driven by politics and fear. As global terrorism escalates, Jack is sent into increasingly volatile environments to gather intelligence and stop emerging threats.

Doctors, journalists, foreign officers, and militants move through the same conflicts, each shaped by decisions made far beyond their control. Jack’s relationship with Sophie Dassault, a doctor who once saved his life, becomes a rare human constant amid instability. As former training programs begin producing unintended consequences, Jack confronts a career defined by secrecy, responsibility, and outcomes no one fully controls.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33789163-assassins

Amazon: https://amzn.to/49oZhSM

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

ASSASSINS by Mike Bond is a thought-provoking spy thriller that took me through many memorable moments, not necessarily good, in recent history and reminded me of many political debates I have had with family and friends. There are several viewpoint characters throughout the novel, but the main protagonist is Jack, a CIA agent, and the story begins with his parachuting into the mountains of Afghanistan to assist the mujahideen in their fight again the Soviet Union.

This is a very suspense filled and political story that takes the readers over the years from the Soviet war in Afghanistan to the Bataclan theater attack in Paris. Jack is a complex character who is tortured by the people he loses on operations but is also strongly accepting of that cost to fight terrorists. The thriller plot moves at a fast pace and is very good at showing not only both sides of those in armed conflict, but also the political greed and interference that uses both sides as puppets.

I enjoyed this book, the intricate plot, and characters, but it is heavy on military and political issues, and it is not just a fast-paced thriller. It appeals to those of us who like those intricacies and may feel too heavy for others.

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Excerpt

An Evening in Paris

November 2015

IT WAS WARM for mid-November. They sat on the terrace of a little restaurant. Anyplace in France, she said, how wonderful the food, the delicious wine, the gentle harmony of others there for love, food, friendship, ideas, freedom, the joys of life.

They had been through the wars together, fallen in love amid the hail of bullets and thud of explosions in cities drenched with blood. Knowing, as the cliché put it, any moment could be their last.

It gave an intensity to love, that this person dearer to you than life itself could be extinguished at any instant. Someone you cherished so completely, composed of neurons, cells, muscles, bone, tissue and memories, could be blown apart, riddled with bullets, any second.

“I love you so much,” she said. “But I think I love you even more in Paris.”

“France does that to us all. What was it Hemingway said –”

“Paris is a moveable feast.”

“Yes, and we will happily feast, in whatever life brings us.”

“As you’ve said, to follow the path with heart?”

 “Yes.” He caressed the back of her hand. “For us, the wars are over.”

“For us the wars will never be over. You know that.”

He looked out on the quiet street. “Let’s take time out. Then we decide.”

“Decide what?”

 “Whether we keep fighting or run for cover.” He smiled at the thought. Not once in all these years had he ever run for cover. Nor had she.

“Your buddy Owen said that people like us, once we’re in, we can never get out.”

“Look where it got him. You want that?” Again he checked the street. It was automatic, this watchfulness. On the edge of consciousness.

He scanned the passing pedestrians – happy couples hand in hand, an old man with a wispy beard, a little girl walking a black poodle, an ancient limping Chinese woman, a kid on a skateboard.

But it worried him, this something; he wished he’d brought a sidearm, but Home Office didn’t want you carrying one here. And everything seemed so peaceful. He sipped his wine, the raw ancient roots of Provence…

A black Seat slowed as it came down the street. A grinning face full of hatred, an AK barrel aiming at them out its window, a blasting muzzle as he leaped across the table knocking her to the sidewalk and covered her with his body amid the hideous twanging hammer of bullets and smashing glass and screams and clatter of chairs and tables crashing and the howl of the Kalashnikov and awful whap of bullets into flesh as people tumbled crying.

It couldn’t be, this horror, he’d left it all behind.

***

About the Author

Mike Bond is the author of nearly a dozen bestselling novels and an ecologist, war and human rights journalist, award-winning poet, and international energy expert. His work spans more than thirty countries across seven continents, often drawn from firsthand experiences in remote, dangerous, and war-torn regions. His novels are praised worldwide for their intricate plots, vivid settings, and explosive pacing. His reporting has covered wars, revolutions, terrorism, and major environmental crises.

Social Media Links

Website: https://mikebondbooks.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikebondbooksinfo

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/assassins-by-mike-bond-2021-01-21

Feature Post and Book Review: Fire Mountain by Dana Mentink

Book Description

In the shadow of a threatening volcano, long-haul trucker Kit Garrido wakes up in her crashed big rig, unable to recall what happened or why she’s suddenly in possession of someone’s baby. Fiercely independent, she has to admit that perhaps this time she could use a little help.

As the threat of eruption grows, former cop Cullen Landry refuses to leave his cabin in the evacuation area, which is why he’s the only one left who can help Kit escape the crumpled cab of her truck. He doesn’t want to get tangled up in the mystery of the beautiful woman with an abandoned infant, but when he sees the bullet hole in the windshield and the bloody handprint on the interior, he realizes that he’s in this thing, like it or not.

When two armed men with ill intent approach, the race is on to stay alive, discover the truth, and find the baby’s missing mother–all while a deadly mountain rains fire from above.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220543424-fire-mountain?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=06uvLcupGA&rank=3

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My Book Review

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

FIRE MOUNTAIN (Elements of Danger Book #1) by Dana Mentink is a fast paced, edge-of-your-seat Christian romantic suspense/crime thriller with the protagonists and a baby running for their lives on a volcanic mountain getting ready to blow. This is the first book in this new series and a new-to-me author.

Self-employed long haul trucker Kit Garrido wakes up in her overturned big rig with no memory of the accident and bullet holes in her windshield on a mountain road in the evacuation zone on a mountain threatening to erupt at any time. She is hesitant to accept the help of a stranger who offers help, but there is nothing else she can do. As they gather supplies to leave the truck, they discover a baby in a car seat in Kit’s back living area. It is not Kit’s, and she has no idea how it got into her truck.

Former cop Cullen Landry has been putting off evacuating until the last minute. He comes across an overturned big rig and helps the woman inside even though she is reluctant for his help. When they discover the baby, he does not know what to think of the surly, but attractive trucker. When two-armed men approach, they are in for a race for their lives and do not know whether it will be the men chasing them or the volcano that will end their lives.

This is one of those books that keeps you turning the pages because you just need to know if Kit, Cullen, and baby, Tot, will escape the mountain with their lives. The author does a great job realistically describing all the dangers a volcanic mountain can throw at these characters. Both Kit and Cullen are having difficulty dealing with their individual pasts and their belief in God and the author by throwing them together in dangerous and life-threatening situations which have them working together to survive also brings them to a new understanding of their pasts and of their faith. This is a Christian romantic suspense so there are no sex scenes. There are few secondary characters but the crusty old Marine, turned librarian, Archie was amazing and of course baby, Tot. The antagonists were necessary to be the foil to the main characters in the story, and their continued chase was necessary to the suspense and plot, but not realistic. That said, some suspension of belief makes this a story you cannot put down.

I highly recommend this Christian romantic suspense/thriller and look forward to the next book in this new series.

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About the Author

Dana Mentink is a New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty novels for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense, Revell, Poisoned Pen Press, and other publishers. She lives in sunny California with Papa Bear and close to her two cubs, affectionately nicknamed Yogi and Boo Boo.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.danamentink.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dana.mentink

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dana_mentink/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/fire-mountain-elements-of-danger-book-1-by-dana-mentink

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Blood on the Wire by Candace Irving

Book Description

Duty. Honor. Betrayal.

Kate Holland has a new case. A psychologist assigned to a Little Rock VA hospital was found brutally stabbed to death. Kate met the man mere days earlier…following his argument with her own shrink.

At the victim’s house, Kate’s stunned to discover a cache of military-grade explosives. Is there more deadly C-4 floating around out there—and does someone have plans to use it?

Evidence found in the victim’s safe suggests yes. The psychologist was conducting a private investigation into a heinous crime that occurred more than two years ago and half a world away…in an active war zone.

Back in Arkansas, connections and bodies have begun to multiply. Can Kate zero in on the killer before he obliterates the most innocent victim of all—with the rest of that stolen C-4?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Blood On the Wire by Candace Irving brings back Kate Holland and her loving furry partner, Ruger. She is a former US Navy Lieutenant who writes the “Hidden Valor Series,” and the “Deception Point Military Detective Series.”  Fans of Ruger get a bonus because there is now merchandise available for purchase at https://store.candaceirving.com/collections/hidden-valor-merch-collection

The plot of this book has Kate initially investigating the death of a VA psychologist who was brutally stabbed to death.  But during the investigation, Kate discovers a cache of military grade explosives. But the psychologist is not the only death, and the multiple deaths bring about multiple suspects including Gwen Lindt, someone brutally raped. Kate must put together the pieces to find out if there is a connection between the C-4 explosives, the rape, and the killings.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Candace Irving:  I wanted to put in this book where Kate will be in her PTSD journey, even after she finishes her therapy. The mystery involves multiple dead bodies including a psychologist and multiple suspects, one of which will be a worker in Civil Affairs. 

EC: You better never ever kill off Ruger.  Do you agree?

CI: Ruger will never grow old and will never die in the series. Never mind Kate, I could not handle it. This is fiction.  There is not a timeline in the series. Kate and Ruger are in a little bubble so it will take many books to get through a year.

EC: What about PTSD?

CI: Part of my goal for writing this series is to help vets and those who have PTSD. It is never just gone, even if someone finishes up their therapy. With Kate I took readers through the process of having PTSD and getting into the right therapy. The character is this story Gwen Lindt is the flip side who does not go to therapy. My consultant, Dr. Patricia Resick, and I discussed rape victims because the story centers on it. The victim in the story became promiscuous because of her horrific rapes. In her mind that is how she is dealing with her stress because she feels she can control it.

EC:  Why does Kate have PTSD about her capture by Islamists and being tortured but not about her being raped by them?

CI: Dr. Resick pointed out that Kate is not hung up about the rape.  I put in the earlier stories the reason. Because she was raped when unconscious she has no memory of it and therefore no PTSD regarding it. Kate will never lose control so for example she will never get drunk because she was raped while unconscious. She did kill everyone who raped her. What she did have is her physical appearance hang ups and conflicts.

EC: Why the Afghan smuggling plot of the story?

CI:  SIV means Special Immigrant Visas that were given to translators and families who helped US forces during the War on Terror. But in this story, there were some characters who charged Afghans to falsify documents who wanted to come to the US. I found through my research this was going on. This part of the story was one of the chess pieces of the whole chess board part of the plot. One of the characters was motivated because he wants to help those who helped US forces out of these deadly situations and is not concerned with getting money.

EC: How would you describe Gwen?

CI: In the scene where Kate is first interviewing her, Gwen comes across as a major jerk. But as the story progresses readers might understand why Gwen acted the way she did, having a lot of resentment toward Kate. She had displaced anger. Gwen comes across as arrogant but actually she is still living in her trauma. Kate seems to understand why Gwen is acting out, that she is punishing people she displaces for those who were involved in the rapes. The statistic I put in the book is true: 20% of the women in the US at some point in their life will either be a victim of an attempted rape or were raped.

EC: Was this book sort of a crossover since you have CID Special Agent Regan Chase making an appearance from the Deception Point Series?

CI: Yes. This book is as close as I have come so far. Kate and Regan are friends.  They can read each other, almost being able to finish each other’s thoughts. Kate was Regan’s mentor. Back when I wanted to connect “The Deception Point Series” featuring Regan and “The Hidden Valor Series” featuring Kate I decided that Kate while in Iraq realized that Regan is very good at doing investigative work.

EC: Why does Ruger dislike Dr. Manning, Kate’s psychologist?

CI: Ruger can sense Kate’s feelings and hurt. Ruger does not like men for obvious reasons.  The moment Kate and Ruger walked into Dr. Manning’s office Ruger realized this was a smell that is freaking my mom (Kate) out because he is so attuned to Kate’s feelings and has such a strong sense of smell.

EC: What is the role of Ruger in this story?

CI: He comforts, a partner of Kate, and a search dog. Anyone who has a dog understands how Ruger is a comfort to Kate. Ruger can pick up on all her emotions.

EC: What about Arash and Kate’s relationship?

CI: They love each other.  She wants to become intimate with him but initially pulls away because of the scars all over her body. They are honest with each other.

EC: Next books?

CI: There will be two books in “The Deception Point Series” that will finish off the arc. Pitch Black is the next Regan book and another one after it. These books will have a dual point of view, one from CID Agent Regan and one from NCIS Agent Mira.  

The next Kate book will be after the two books in “The Deception Point Series.” The working title is Into the Cold. There will be people readers know and love and hate in this story.

EC: Rumor has it that fans of the Ruger series can get some merchandise?

CI: True.  There are mugs with varied colors, T-shirts, and phone cases.  People can find it here: https://store.candaceirving.com/collections/hidden-valor-merch-collection

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Trust No One by Roger Stelljes

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for TRUST NO ONE (Agent Tori Hunter Book #8) by Roger Stelljes on this blog tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

In a cabin by a lake, a mother and father tuck their little girl into bed and kiss her goodnight. But they can’t enjoy the evening summer breeze—because this is no ordinary family on vacation. This is a family with nowhere left to run… and no one left to trust.

When FBI Agent Tori Hunter and Detective Will Braddock are called to a crime scene at a remote hunting cabin, they find blood everywhere. A small pink suitcase has been left behind, filled with children’s clothes and medicine. Has a family been murdered on vacation, or did they run just in time?

The team quickly tracks down the details of the family renting the cabin. But Braddock freezes at the last name. He claims to have never heard it before… but Tori can always tell when her partner is lying.

Furious that Braddock might keep something from her when lives are at stake, when two New York City detectives show up in Minnesota with questions for Braddock her fears are proved right… because there’s a murder case in Braddock’s past he never told Tori about. It took over his life just after his wife died, and forced him out of the city for good. Why did he keep it secret?

Tori has no time for games. Tracking down suppliers of the medicine from the cabin is her one lead to find this family before it’s too late. But with fingers pointing at Braddock, and her own instincts screaming that he’d never betray her or the shield, Tori will have to put her own career on the line to defend the man she trusts above all else—and find the real killer with a deadly score to settle.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239555373-trust-no-one?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=uRTxVkJLtJ&rank=1

Purchase link: https://geni.us/B0FKNJBZX8social

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

TRUST NO ONE (Agent Tori Hunter Book #8) by Roger Stelljes is an action-packed thrilling tangled web of a crime plot that intertwines flashbacks in Detective Will Braddock’s past in the NYCPD which seems to jeopardize his present life with former FBI agent Tori Hunter in Minnesota. This is the eighth book in this great series and can be easily read as a standalone, but I read the books in order to follow the two main protagonist’s growing relationship.

Detective Will Braddock gets a call from a snitch from an old case in NYC who has come to Manchester Bay for help. The case involved one of his friends from the NYPD who was killed while he worked the case because his nephew was involved. At the time, Will’s wife was dying of cancer, and he just did not want to work on it as he normally would. He refuses to get involved, but the next day Tori and Will get called to a hunting cabin riddled with bullet holes and blood everywhere, but no bodies.

Two NYC cops from Will’s past show up at the police station and accuse Will of being dirty. After leaving the station, they are both nearly killed. Tori has had enough and decides with the help of their friends to turn this hunt around and go after the hunters by becoming the hunters themselves to keep those she loves safe.

This series is amazing, and this book even topped the rest for me. I could not put it down. The book is intricately plotted and full of surprises, so I was never sure what to believe so I had to keep turning the pages. Tori is smart, strong, and intelligent and so is Will, which makes for head butting along the way, but it also is what made them attracted to each other. The beautiful descriptions of the lake they live on and all the different types of weather and terrain in Minnesota brings it to life.

This is an overall well written and very strong police procedural/crime thriller series that I highly recommend to all lovers of the genre.

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About the Author

Roger Stelljes is the acclaimed New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of pulse-pounding murder mystery and suspense novels, including the Tori Hunter and McRyan Mystery Series. Roger’s crime thrillers are noted for their fast-paced, yet intricate plots filled with layered and complex characters.

Roger started his first novel in July 2002 while on vacation in Minnesota’s Brainerd Lakes area and has been writing ever since. His debut book, The St. Paul Conspiracy, was nominated in genre fiction for the Minnesota Book Awards along with finalists Brian Freeman and William Kent Krueger. With his follow-up, Deadly Stillwater, where Vince Flynn hailed Roger as a “powerful new thriller voice”, he won the Midwest Independent Book Publishers award for commercial fiction.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Roger still lives there with his family. In addition to his work as an author, Roger is a partner in his law firm. Roger is an avid sports enthusiast and enjoys spending time outdoors boating, attending hockey games, and honing his golf game.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.rogerstelljes.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roger.stelljes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rogerstelljes/#

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rogerstelljes.bsky.social

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/trust-no-one-an-utterly-gripping-mystery-thriller-novel-agent-tori-hunter-book-8-by-roger-stelljes

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: A Kind of Hush by JoDee Neathery

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for A KIND OF HUSH by JoDee Neathery on this Black Coffee Book Tour.

Below you can find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

A Kind of Hush examines how life is seldom a tidy affair exploring whether there is a gray area between right and wrong. 

The Mackie family, after enduring an unthinkable tragedy with the death of their young son, finally moved toward a new life until one June day while enjoying an outing at a nearby rugged park, their lives again turned upside down. A plunge off a shale cliff left one parent dead and the other solely responsible for their teenage daughter and seven-year-old son. Was this an accident or something more heinous, and if so whodunnit and whydunit? The heart of the novel centers on how each survivor deals with the circumstances and subsequent revelations surrounding the incident while a mantle of ambiguity – a kind of hush – hangs between them like a live grenade without its pin.

Awards

  • 2024 FINALIST AMERICAN LEGACY BOOK AWARDS, Literary Fiction
  • 2022 SILVER MEDAL WINNER, READERS’ FAVORITE ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS, Literary Fiction
  • 2022 WINNER INTERNATIONAL FIREBIRD BOOK AWARDS, Literary Fiction
  • 2022 FINALIST, NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS, Mystery
  • 2022 MILLENNIUM BOOK AWARDS SHORTLISTED CANDIDATE AND CATEGORY WINNER, Literary Fiction

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58509546-a-kind-of-hush?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=d39Gx6kCnd&rank=1

Universal link for the book on Amazon

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

A KIND OF HUSH by JoDee Neathery is a fictional family drama and suspense story that follows a family through tragedy, family drama, healing, and compassion while trying to determine the correct choices and consequences of their actions. There are a lot of gray areas and complex circumstances throughout this standalone fictional story that kept me questioning what I would have done in the same situations.

This story starts awhile after a family tragedy. The Mackie family loses their middle son, Boo, to a choking accident while his older ten-year-old sister, Willa, is babysitting. The family is just starting to come back together, but there is still deep-rooted blame from mother to daughter and back from daughter to mother.

The family goes to a local park and waterfall where another tragedy occurs. Both parents and their teenage daughter, Willa fall down a shale drop. Their youngest seven-year-old son, Gabe, is hiding by a tree. Was this an accident? If not, who did it and why?

Each character in this story is given a voice. They discuss and react to the circumstances of the fall and the revelations surrounding the fall. There are other players involved in the family’s lives that work to help them heal and find justice for the dead parent. I have to say that the character I truly loved was Gabe. His sense of love, wonder, and innocence even throughout all the upheaval of the other characters gave me moments of laughter and a feeling of wonder. He is one of those children that is young but has an old soul and he was a good break from all the others. This book will keep you questioning decisions made and if you would make the same.

I highly recommend this fictional drama and suspense, and the conclusion still has me waffling.

***

About the Author

East Texas author, JoDee Neathery, has written two award-winning novels, Life in a Box, published 2017, and A Kind of Hush released July 2021. Both have won the International Firebird Book Awards for literary fiction and were awarded Readers’ Favorite 5-Star designations. A Kind of Hush received critical acclaim as one of five finalists in the highly contested mystery category of the 16th annual 2022 National Indie Excellence Awards, the 2022 Silver Medal Winner, Readers’ Favorite Annual International Book Awards, Literary Fiction, and was a shortlisted finalist in the 11th annual 2022 Millennium Book Awards and Winner in the literary fiction category 

Her journey to publication followed an unconventional path void of author credentials, but with the encouragement of her book club, a passion for the written word, a vivid imagination, a sense of humor, and a story to tell she plucked a few personalities off the family tree and Life in a Box debuted asking the question, how much would you sacrifice to hide a secret. “One of those all too rare literary gems.” Midwest Book Review and a 5-Star review posted on Amazon UK offered this assessment, “There is an understated audacity to her style of writing which I find quite spellbinding.”   

A Kind of Hush was born in the middle of the night when the first sentence, the ending, and a profile of a young boy appeared. “I didn’t know the whole story but knew Gabriel Edward Mackie had to be in whatever I wrote next.” Praise followed.  “This family drama is steeped in suspense, but its likable cast of characters is its main draw,” Kirkus Reviews. “Witty, warm, uplifting, and utterly heartbreaking.” Book Viral Review. “Poignant and emotionally rich.” Book View Gold Medallion. “Intelligent, crisp prose.” The Prairies Book Review.

JoDee chairs her community book club, is writing another novel, Dust in the Wind, and contributes a lighthearted look at life with her byline, Back Porch Musings, to a local newspaper. 

Social Media Links

Website: https://jodeeneathery.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoDeeNeatheryAuthor

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/a-kind-of-hush-by-jodee-neathery