Showing posts with label Thriller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thriller. Show all posts

Monday, August 27, 2012

Hell's Fury by P.D Martin

Rating: 4 out of 5
File Size: 608 KB
Print Length: 256 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B0083UX3B2 (ebook only)

Hell's Fury is the first book in the newest series released by P.D Martin. It is about Ally Logan (an alias that she is referred to as through most of the book) who is a CIA agent abandoned by her Government to an Afghanistan prison. She is rescued by a mysterious organisation who offers her a new life, a new identity and a new job. Her new job? to assassinate targets given to her by the mysterious Committee.

I have really loved reading P.D Martin's Sophie Anderson series so was keen to read this one when I learned of it. One thing I have liked previously about P.D Martins writing is how she can write strong, down to earth female lead characters who are most importantly believable.

Ally Logan (aka Jane Calloway, Ms Paige, or RB as we have yet to learn for certain her real name other then it begins with R) is a really well rounded character, and by well rounded I mean she is messed up enough due to her experiences to make her believable. Her back ground is that she was a CIA field agent who worked under cover and had been imprisoned in Afghanistan enduring weeks of torture. So if she didn't have issues I would not have bought into her character, but thankfully (from a readers perspective) she did. Her character really struggled with so many emotions, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Plus on top of that was rediscovering who she was and where her moral compass pointed.

The struggle Ally has internally makes her ideal to present the really tough and meaty issues that the author Martin raises in this book. Issues such as vigilantism, assassination, people trafficking, drug abuse, prostitution, exploitation of minors, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, morality, corruption and more. There is no sugar coating the issues raised and certainly no answers given and this is reflected through the main character as she struggles to reconcile what she could do, would do, wouldn't do, her past life and her current life.

But having said all that this book does not get bogged down in detail, idealism/morality, or leaves the reader feeling lectured. It is a fast, action packed read, that is hard to put down. The characters are well written and the story is complex with out being information heavy. If you like spy, thriller type stories this should hit all the right buttons for you.

I look eagerly towards the next book in the series.

Extras
If you would like to read an excerpt here is chapter one of Hell's Fury at Smashwords.com.


Thursday, November 24, 2011

Freaks (Rizzoli and Isles Short Story) by Tess Gerritsen

Rating 4 out of 5 
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 148 KB
Publisher: Transworld Digital (August 31, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B005JXBJFI

I am a big fan of the show Rizzoli & Isles and didn't even know it was based on a book series till a friend of mine kindly pointed out. Ever since I have been curious to read the books. I am not a fan of these more hard boiled crimes books even though I like the shows (I love the Show Bones but do not like the book series it is based on), weird I know. So when I saw this book being offered for free on Kindle I jumped at the chance. In my mind a short story set with all the characters was the perfect place to get a feel for Gerritsen's writing and her characters.

In this book Rizzoli and Isles are called to the scene of an emancipated murdered 17 year old girl in a church. The case takes a supernatural turn when her friend and now suspect Lucas informs Rizzoli that they were both vampires. Now another life is being threatened and Rizzoli is in a race to solve the case and save a life. Is Kimberly Rayner really vampire? did Lucas really kill her? how does Kimberly's angry father tie into her life?

As I said previously this is my first Rizzoli and Isles book. I am not sure about the tone of the other books but this one was pretty light and not serious at all. It had a great mix of action, humour, and crime drama. All the characters were similar to the tv series so they felt comfortable even though this was the first time I was reading about them.The supernatural twist made the story very interesting.

This was a great short read and a wonderful introduction to the world of Rizzoli and Isles. I will definitely be starting this series and seeing if the proper books are as enjoyable as the short story.

Note
As at the date of publishing this post Amazon still had this ebook listed as being free.