Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Open Your Eyes by Heather Fitt

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the blog tour for OPEN YOUR EYES by Heather Fitt. This is an intense debut thriller that I could not put down even with the sensitive subject matter.

Below you will find a book summary, my book review and the author’s bio. Enjoy!

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Book Summary

A Scottish journalist enters a dark online world in this unsettling novel of men, women, resentment, and rage…

Edinburgh reporter Frankie has finally been assigned a high-profile crime story about a series of sexual assaults, and relishes her big break. Her article focuses on the issue of women’s safety, which doesn’t seem to have improved much since the era of the Yorkshire Ripper.

When she faces a torrent of abuse online, it leads her to discover the phenomenon of incels— and puts her in the sights of those trying to stop her covering the story. But she refuses to back down. What she doesn’t realise is that in this murky online world, one man is being goaded into a spectacular and shocking attack with Frankie as his main target…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61175847-open-your-eyes?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=lRPQKydnud&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

OPEN YOUR EYES by Heather Fitt is an intense debut thriller featuring a Scottish reporter who begins to cover a series of sexual assaults and finds herself becoming a target from a dark on-line group. This is a debut standalone novel that had me on an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end.

Frankie Currington is a junior reporter for an Edinburgh paper who is finally getting some recognition for her stories. She is anticipating her big break when she is given the chance to write a crime beat story after attending the press conference for a series of sexual assaults. What she does not expect is the torrent of on-line abuse.

Liam has been publicly humiliated by a girl he cares for in his high school. He turns from his few male school mates and finds a welcome understanding in an on-line group of young men known as “incels”. The group goads as well as indoctrinates its members into believing all girls and women should be in a subordinate position in society and deserve anything that happens to them if they are not.

While Frankie refuses to back down from intimidation and physical abuse, she does not realize that she has placed herself as a figurehead that Liam is being indoctrinated to hate. They are on a collision course which could lead to terrible consequences.

This is an emotional thriller from start to finish. The plot is fast-paced and well researched with believable dialogue. This story contains sexual assaults, on-line indoctrination, bullying, misogyny, and discussions of feminism. Frankie was a character that was naïve, selfish, and made some decidedly stupid decisions during the story. It was hard to empathize with her even when she was in danger. Liam was a sympathetic character even as he was being groomed to be a weapon. This story contains many thought-provoking situations and character discussions. I am impressed that this is a debut book from this author.

I recommend this intriguing thriller, but it does contain trigger issues for some readers.

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Author Bio

Heather was born in Scotland and after moving around Europe with her parents and sister, settled in Hampshire where she met her husband, Stuart.

After leaving the rat-race in 2018, Heather re-trained as an editor and proof-reader and entered the world of publishing. These days she works as a part-time freelancer and a part-time Commissioning Advisor for Bloodhound.

Heather was inspired to start writing her novel by the authors who have become her closest friends. Now the ideas are flowing she has plans to write several more over the coming years.

When she isn’t reading, Heather enjoys spending her time watching sport –¬ especially her beloved rugby – and exploring the British countryside with Stuart.

For regular bookish updates, you can follow Heather on Twitter: @LifeBookish

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Toxic Soup by R.R. Rowley

Toxic Soup

by RR Rowley

May 23 – June 17, 2022 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for TOXIC SOUP by R.R. Rowley on this Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, and excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy and good luck on the giveaway!

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Book Description

The Poisoning Must End

Toxic waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has been poisoning the environment, human beings, and wildlife for more than six decades. When her brother dies a horrible death at Hanford, Casey Long, a kayaker and windsurfer by day and bartender by night in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon/Washington, swears to put an end to the upriver contamination. But, how can she possibly take on the entrenched fortress of a facility?

After she confides in Little Bear, a bitter Native American fisherman, they contrive a dangerous plan. Joined by a peculiar mishmash of collaborators, they risk everything to save the environment and achieve justice for all injured parties, past and present.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60205349-toxic-soup?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=h160rRTxFo&rank=1

Toxic Soup by R.R. Rowley

Genre: Environmental Thriller
Published by: The Wild Rose Press
Publication Date: April 11, 2022
Number of Pages: 272
ISBN: 1509241167 (ISBN-13: 978-1509241163)

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

TOXIC SOUP by R.R. Rowley is an environmental thriller set in the area around the Columbia River Gorge with a protagonist on the path of revenge for the death of her brother.

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation has been slowly poisoning the environment in the Pacific Northwest for over six decades. The government has the facility locked down, but the volatile waste is unstable and continually escapes in the air and water. Casey Long receives a life-changing call that her brother and only sibling has died in a terrible accident while he is working on the nuclear waste site on the border between Oregon and Washington. Casey is devastated and after seeing her brother’s remains and the treatment of the men in charge she must deal with at Hanford, she decides she will not rest until she has revenge for her brother.

The once easy going and friendly bartender devises a plan for revenge. She cannot get into Hanford, but she can get to the men in charge. With the help of one of her roommates, her lover, an ex-con bar regular and Little Bear, a Native American fisherman who also hates the facility and its poison, she looks for justice for her brother and hopes to bring to light the environmental nightmare that the facility is to the area.

I enjoyed the scenic descriptions of the area and the watersport scenes that Casey and her roommates enjoyed in the beginning of the story. I felt the author did a lot of research and was able to intertwine it seamlessly throughout the story to get the ominous human and wildlife environmental foreboding into the story without being just an info dump. The plot moves at a steady pace throughout much of the story with the predicted climax, but with a tragic twist ending. As much as this thriller is an environmental wake-up call, it is also a tragic story of revenge. Casey changes into a person that you can feel sadness and sympathy for, but I lost my empathy for her. The secondary characters are interesting and unique, but none are able to or attempt to change Casey’s path of revenge.

I found this environmental thriller intriguing and sad, but well worth the read.

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Excerpt

When the abandoned reactor sites came into view, they swung their kayaks into a backwater eddy. Spooked ducks sprang into flight in front of them. Boats gliding, they studied the depth of the water, avoiding the chance of running aground. Before them, some sickly grasses appeared at the edge of the river. Was this it? Casey paddled closer, excitement rising. Pointing to a spot upon the bank, she called to Rex, “See that? See that? Is water trickling out of the ground over there?”

He removed his sunglasses and squinted. “You’re right. There is a wet spot over there.”

Straggly, yellowed grasses drooped away from the seeping water. They moved even closer to get a better view. A foam rose from the trickle of liquid and spread to a nasty orange and pink gunk smeared over exposed rocks. “I see it!” Rex cried out, a jolt of fear zapping through him. “Radioactivity!” he screamed, quickly backstroking. “You’ve got your evidence. Let’s get out of here! I don’t want to be anywhere near that stuff.”

She had her proof. Toxicity flowed into the river. How many other places existed? Perhaps beneath the water, the contamination was much worse. Untouchable Hanford is getting away with whatever they want. Something needed to be done, but what? Something not only for Charley but for the birds, the fish, and all the little creatures suffering at the hand of man’s dereliction of duty. She knew what she had to do.

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Author Bio

R R Rowley has lived coast to coast in the USA, in London, UK, and has spent many years on his farm in Grenada, West Indies. He has owned and operated several companies and was involved in start-ups. Currently, he resides in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.

Social Media Links

RRRowley.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @robroyukusa
Twitter – @rrrowleywrites
Facebook – RR Rowley/Author

Purchase Links

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

https://kingsumo.com/g/t8mdoq/toxic-soup-by-rr-rowley

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Bones of Amoret by Arthur Herbert

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn on this Blackthorn Book Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE BONES OF AMORET by Arthur Herbert.

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

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About the Book

In this enigmatic follow up to his critically acclaimed debut novel The Cuts that Cure, Arthur Herbert returns to the Texas-Mexico border with this saga of a small town’s bloody loss of innocence.

Amoret, Texas, 1982. Life along the border is harsh, but in a world where cultures work together to carve a living from the desert landscape, Blaine Beckett lives a life of isolation. A transplanted Boston intellectual, for twenty years locals have viewed him as a snob, a misanthrope, an outsider. He seems content to stand apart until one night when he vanishes into thin air amid signs of foul play.

Noah Grady, the town doctor, is a charming and popular good ol’ boy. He’s also a keeper of secrets, both the town’s and his own. He watches from afar as the mystery of Blaine’s disappearance unravels and rumors fly. Were the incipient cartels responsible? Was it a local with a grudge? Or did Blaine himself orchestrate his own disappearance? Then the unthinkable happens, and Noah begins to realize he’s considered a suspect.

Paced like a lit fuse and full of dizzying plot twists, The Bones of Amoret is a riveting whodunit that will keep you guessing all the way to its shocking conclusion.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60578363-the-bones-of-amoret?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=KMnwsKkSlr&rank=1

THE BONES OF AMORET: A NOVEL

By Arthur Herbert

Genre: Crime
Print length: 431
Age range: This is an adult book but suitable for mature teens age 16+
Trigger warnings: Homicides briefly described; murder of a child; brief drug references; discovery of a suicide; natural death of an adolescent

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE BONES OF AMORET: A Novel by Arthur Herbert is an intense read from start to finish with an intricate mystery plot set in the small Texan border town of Amoret in the early 1980’s. This is a suspenseful standalone novel.

Doctor Noah Grady is the 84-year-old protagonist of this story, and he is relating his tale from forty years ago to an unseen reporter which lends itself to comparisons from 1982 to present day in landscape, immigration, and medicine. Noah is educated, compassionate and a man ahead of his time, but by no means perfect. Not only Noah, but the majority of characters are written in a way that makes them neither fully good nor evil as in some mysteries, but as flawed humans who are doing what they believe is moral or necessary.

The mystery begins with the disappearance of a prominent local citizen and from there the suspects, as well as the dead bodies begin to pile up. The author’s intricately woven plot threads had me guessing and changing my opinion on the suspect throughout. The entire story flows at a steady pace that continues to build on itself with a final twist that was a complete shock, but it was also believable as I sat there and looked back on what I had read previously.

I highly recommend this extremely well written, compelling mystery with a memorable protagonist that I will not soon forget.

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About the Author

Arthur Herbert was born and raised in small town Texas. He worked on offshore oil rigs, as a bartender, a landscaper at a trailer park, and as a social worker before going to medical school. He chose to do a residency in general surgery, followed by a fellowship in critical care and trauma surgery. For the last eighteen years, he’s worked as a trauma and burn surgeon, operating on all ages of injured patients. He continues to run a thriving practice. He is the author of the acclaimed novel The Cuts that Cure, which was toured by Blackthorn last year.

Arthur currently lives in New Orleans, with his wife Amy and their dogs. Arthur loves hearing from readers, so don’t hesitate to email him at arthur@arthurherbertwriter.com.

Purchase link: http://mybook.to/Amazon_BonesOfAmoret

Book Review: Let Justice Descend by Lisa Black

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

LET JUSTICE DESCEND (A Gardiner and Renner Book #5) by Lisa Black is another exciting addition to this crime thriller series featuring a forensics expert and a detective who takes justice into his own hands. The crime plots in each book stand on their own, but I feel to understand the dynamics between the main characters, these books are best read in order.

With only three days before the contentious November election, Maggie and Jack are called to a unique crime scene. The current U.S. Senator Diane Cragin is dead on her own doorstep from electrocution. Cragin’s chief of staff is quick to blame the Senator’s Democratic contender, Joey Green Cleveland’s city development director.

With almost a million is cash found in the Senator’s home safe, Maggie and Jack must follow the money through the double-dealing politics of Cleveland and D.C. which only leads to more suspects. The investigation into the pending election exposes corruption at the highest levels and leads to more dead bodies as Maggie and Jack work to put the pieces together and catch a killer.

I love Maggie and Jack and the twist at the end of this book! The pace of the plot moves quickly with the election so close. Ms. Black does a good job of keeping the political players equally good and bad without favoring one side or another. The two political projects were good examples of how corrupt government officials and dark money work for the participants, but not the public and the government employee who was looking out for the public really had limited power. This story brings elements of political intrigue, police procedural and forensics all together into a thriller read.

I loved this addition to the series, the entire series and cannot wait for the next book to find out what Jack does next!

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About Lisa Black

Lisa Black’s books have reached the NYT bestsellers list, been translated into six languages and have been optioned for film. Perish was shortlisted for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award by Putnam and Mystery Writers of America. Lisa will be a Guest of Honor at 2021 Killer Nashville.

She is a certified crime scene analyst in Florida and a former forensic scientist for the Cleveland coroner’s office. She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and has testified in more than fifty homicide trials.

She still aspires to drive Nancy Drew’s convertible and marry Ellery Queen.

Website: https://lisa-black.com/

Book Review: The Bucharest Dossier by William Maz

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE BUCHAREST DOSSIER by William Maz is an international espionage thriller with romantic elements that is an amazing debut read. Intriguing and captivating from start to finish.

CIA analyst Bill Hefflin receives a summons from his undercover asset “Boris”, who will only deal with him, that he must come to Bucharest. Romania is on the brink of revolution in 1989 and while Bill has mixed feelings, since he spent his first eight years in Romania as a child, he has never been given bad information from this asset in the past.

If the political turmoil is not enough, Bill is also trying to find a lost childhood love. Bill finds himself in a political tinderbox and not knowing who to trust as he navigates the Romanian secret police, the KGB and his own CIA bosses.

I could not put this book down and I was very surprised to learn it was this author’s debut. Mr. Maz made me feel as if I was right there in the middle of the action. The historical facts were well integrated into the plot even as the plot has many twists and surprises. This espionage thriller also has a love story weaving through the story which was well written and left the reader with a satisfying ending. This book gave me everything I want in a fast-paced, exciting, one-sitting thriller read.

I highly recommend this thriller! I am looking forward to reading what is next from this author.

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About the Author

WILLIAM MAZ was born in Bucharest, Romania, of Greek parents and emigrated to the U.S. as a child. He is a graduate of Harvard University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Yale residency. During his high school and undergraduate years, he developed a passion for writing fiction. He studied writing at Harvard, the New School, The Writer’s Studio in New York City, and with Gordon Lish, and is now writing full time. He divides his time between homes in Pennsylvania and New York City. The Bucharest Dossier is his debut novel.

Website: https://www.williammaz.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/williammaz1

Book Review: The Silent Sisters by Robert Dugoni

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE SILENT SISTERS (Charles Jenkins Book #3) by Robert Dugoni is the non-stop high-octane conclusion of the Seven Sisters trilogy featuring ex-CIA agent Charles Jenkins. I believe this trilogy should be read in order to really enjoy it.

Having barely escaped Russia on his last mission, Charles is once again approached by the CIA when the two remaining Seven Sisters have gone silent. This time if he returns, he is on the Russia kill list, but he feels a sense of duty to assist in the efforts to find out if the two remaining sisters are still alive and need to be extracted.

When he gets to Moscow, he involves himself in saving a young prostitute being abused by a man in the bar where he stops to eat. His moral code will not allow him to just walk away. The man ends up being killed and Jenkins is blamed. To make matters worse it is the only son of the leader of the Moscow mafia. Now he is being chased by a matriarch out for revenge, a Moscow police investigator, a high-level assassin and the FSB as he attempts to helps the two sisters escape. This time though, he may have run out of luck.

This book was impossible to put down with everything that happens from the moment Charles returns to Russia. I did feel a few times you have to suspend belief, but no more than other spy/espionage fictional thrillers. Even when the stakes are high and the danger a step behind, the author was still able to intersperse a few moments of humor. Some of the Russian government leaders’ discussions felt very realistic and could have been right from current headlines. There are old friends from the previous book included and just the hint that they all may meet again.

I have really loved this entire trilogy and highly recommend it!

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About the Author

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 8 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, and the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award and the critically acclaimed, The World Played Chess; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.robertdugoni.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@robertdugoni

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