Category: Fiction/Science Fiction

Fiction/Science Fiction · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

Assassin’s code – Jonathan Maberry

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Goodreads synopsis: In ASSASSIN’S CODE, the fourth book in New York Timesbestselling author Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, Joe Ledger and the DMS go on a relentless chase to stop an ancient order of killers from plunging the entire world into Holy War.

When Joe Ledger and Echo Team rescue a group of American college kids held hostage in Iran,the Iranian government then asks them to help find six nuclear bombs planted in the Mideast oil fields. These stolen WMDs will lead Joe and Echo Team into hidden vaults of forbidden knowledge, mass-murder, betrayal, and a brotherhood of genetically-engineered killers with a thirst for blood.

Accompanied by the beautiful assassin called Violin, Joe follows a series of clues to find the Book of Shadows, which contains a horrifying truth that threatens to shatter his entire worldview.

They say the truth will set you free…
Not this time.

The secrets of the Assassin’s Code will set the world ablaze.

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My thoughts: Dear Mr Maberry.

You broke me! You broke me to the moon and back and then you put me together with scotch tape and hot glue. Blood seeping trough the wounds, glistening in the night as I lay and think about Joe Ledger and his life. And then I read the last sentence in this book and it is all better again. Almost! So please, do not fuck it up. (Yeah I know you already have written like 6 more books after this one but I can still Wish because that guy need some happiness.)

If I ever was one of those people who wrote letters to musicians, actors, authors, serial killers or what not, this is probably how I would start a letter to Jonathan Maberry. After every book about Joe Ledger, I have felt a little broken, a little hurt but at the same time had this good, warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest. Maberry takes his readers on an exquisite ride through out the horrors of real life mix with the horror of the historical, fantasy, conspiracy tales and mad science. As a child I loved books like Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Dracula by Bram Stoker and every other “supernatural” book my little hands could get. This is just an modern view of old tales in a more exciting form. There to entertain, not to teach and with twist you would not be able to foresee.

I have not written an official review on any of Maberrys books before but they pretty much go the same. The story is phenomenal. The imagination and execution of the story is one of the greatest. This is not generally a genre I read much in and even less if there is not more of an Romantic suspense/horror type of book. Mostly because I often feel a get bored. Long descriptions, not enough dialog and so on is not always the best. But I do not get bored by this books. It is terrifying, exciting and lovable. And you as an reader are there with the characters. There have not yet been a full 5 star rated book (but The King of Plagues was pretty close) and that is because every time I feel i’m missing something. But I cant figure out what.

chapter.PNGJonathan Maberry is also a king on writhing short chapters with a punch and a total effect to wake your curiosity. This picture is the first chapter from the book “The King of Plagues” and I wrote this on my Instagram (this was before I created The Book Chick).

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And it is perfect for those of you who read by chapters and goes like “Just one more chapter” late in the night. 😉

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

Intensity – Dean Koontz

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Goodreads synopsis: Edgler Vess is a sociopath intent on murder. He lives for one purpose only: to satisfy all appetites as they arise, seeking ever more outrageous experience. To live with intensity.

When he attacks her friend, Laura, Chyna Shepherd is saved by the instincts developed during a dark and turbulent childhood. Not knowing Laura is already dead, Chyna follows, hoping to save her friend, as Vess carries her body to his motor home – a dungeon and morgue on wheels. The killer, unaware of her presence, drives away. But Chyna is now trapped in his dangerous orbit.

Her sole aim is to get out alive, but when she learns the identity of the killer’s next intended victim, she knows she must act to save that precious life – and take risks beyond any that she ever imagined she could endure.

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My thoughts: It is funny how years and experience can change your point of view and how you perceive the world. I read this book for the first time when I was like 11-13 years old. I think it must have been wrongly placed in the library because they where really strict about children under the age of 15, reading this types of books. And even now, I don’t really see this one as an young adult book. But anyhow, it was the first book I ever read by Koontz and it mesmerized me. Terrified me. Woke my love for thriller, horror and the mystery that is serial killers. Now, like 17 years later, I still like it a lot, but I do not feel the same mesmerized feelings for it as I did when I was younger.

And that is what I mean about how different your point of view gets with age and experience. I remember a lot from the book but there was some really important details that I did not remember an actually surprised me. It was nice to read a book, where I did not remember it all, but still did. Do you know what I mean? And I perceive the book completely different now and what I did then. And in my opinion, there is no horror. It is an thriller and it is great. But I have probably read and seen to much, gotten to jaded, to feel that this is an horror. It does not mean it isn’t good. But I just don’t see it as an horror anymore.

I have read a lot by Koontz but here you can really see that it is his earlier work of art. I feel he writes his book different nowadays and that his older works, usually is better. More real and terrifying. Vess is just such an weird killer, so different from what you usually read about in books. He is just so much more down to earth, smart and not insane and very logical. And THAT is certainly terrifying. Chyna is a little gray and I think that really was the point with her history and all. But it made it a little boring and somewhat repeatable until she got her fighting spirit going and refused to let some asshole decide over her life. Overall a great book, worth to be read by those who likes thrillers and getting in the mind of the characters and see the actions through the killers mind, not only the good guys.

Classic/Historical · Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis

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Goodreads synopsis: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy find their way through an old wardrobe into the world of Narnia. There, they unite with Aslan to fight the White Witch and save Narnia from perpetual Darkness.

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My thoughts: This is the second book (chronological order) in the children series about Narnia. I have never read the books before but I have seen some movies, which this is the one I remember the most. I did not expect that the book would be so short and actually a little meager. I remember the movie as so much more and even better now after I’m done with this book. I do not know if that is true so I need to watch the movie again.

But yeah, it went to fast, was a little meager and actually a little bizarre. I feel that the emotions of the children that was in the first book was more realistic and here, this kids just took it all a little to easy. But I do have to say that the movie (as I remember it) is a great and match the book perfectly.

I have to remember that these books are written for children and that I am not a reader of the genre children and young adult. I try but I cant lie to my self and you when it comes to the rating, just because everyone else loved it. I do however think that children to appreciates this book so much more than me, and that I will read this for my children in the future.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Blue Smoke – Nora Roberts

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Goodreads synopsis: Reena Hale grew up with an intimate knowledge of the destructive power of fire. When she was a child, her family’s restaurant was burned to the ground, and the man responsible was sent to jail. The Hale family banded together to rebuild, and Reena found her life’s calling. She trained as a firefighter and then as a cop, always with the end goal in sight: to become an arson investigator. Now, as part of the arson unit, she is called in on a series of suspicious fires that seem to be connected-not just to each other, but to her. And as danger ignites all around her, Reena must rely on experience and instinct to catch a dangerous madman who will not stop until everything she loves has gone up in smoke.

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My thoughts: I have said before that my biggest problem with Roberts books, is that they often start of slow. And we do not talk about just a couple of chapters but like 1/3 or 1/4 of the book is Slow. No difference here either, but this time it did not bother me as much. Maybe because it still happens a lot even though we have like 20 years to get through before we are the ace of the book. Or maybe it is because I was so prepared on the fact that it would start slow and I just need to have patience.

The story is great and as always I love all of the characters. That is something Roberts are very good at. Writing good and alive characters. And I love Bowen and how well he fit together with Reena and she is all thorns on the outside but he manages to sneak in between without getting stung to bad and that just makes it all so much better. But I have a huge problem with this book. And that is the red thread, the ending, the answers or what not I should call it. I knew it all from the start, and I mean all, through out the book but often thought for my self that, soon it will come an curveball. Soon something will happen and my thoughts will change drastically. It just can’t be this obvious. But yeah, it is that obvious which gave me an anticlimactic feeling in the end of the book.

To know it all, from the start off the book, and hope you are wrong, but are not, is just not a good feeling for me. And that only took of an star/heart in my rating of this book. That is how much it effected me. The story is still god and if I would have been prepared that it is somewhat clear water, it would probably not have affected me as much. But yeah, nothing to do about it now. Still a good book and I can still recommend it.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

Blood Harvest – Sharon J. Bolton

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Goodreads synopsis: Sometimes I wish that she’d just leave me in peace . . .

Psychologist Evi is worried about one of her patients – a woman who is convinced her little girl is still alive. Two years after the fire that burnt their house down.

Meanwhile, the new vicar in town is feeling strangely unwelcome. Disturbing events seem designed to scare him away.

And a young boy keeps seeing a strange, solitary girl playing in the churchyard. Who is she and what is she trying to tell him?

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My thoughts: I’m not one of those people who scares easily buy movies, series or books. I often feel them to much and quite exaggerated and overrated. I can enjoy an good scary movie but they do not affect me to that degree that I will have nightmares after. This book however did give me nightmares. And it is such a clever written book.

We get to meet Evi, Harry and the family Fletcher. They are like the main characters. Harry is the new vicar in town and the Fletcher’s are the new family who moved there not long ago. Then mysterious things begin to happen. Things they can not explain and one of the sons in the family is not believed by other than Harry, who is still trying to find natural explanations to it all. Then other stuff happens, children are disappearing and they are trying to find the truth to it all.

I think that the reason the book is so “scary” for me is the children. I cant go to close into it without give you an spoiler. But it is seriously terrifying and gives you that one bad feeling you cant really explain and put words on. It’s just sits there in you chest, sucking you dry of every confident feeling you ever had. I even woke up several times one night with the feeling that someone was watching me. However I do not want to scare you away from this book because it is seriously good. And in the end it is not really an horror story at all. I love the small English country town with there history and people but the very best ting with the book is that you get an explanation for EVERYTHING. Not a loose thread to be wondering about and it was great. Believable and fit the story perfectly.

I do however need to point out that on the absolute last page, it did happen one thing that I did not like and the story would have been better without it. But hey, you cant get it all and knowing Bolton, she is good to throw you curveballs in her books. So I should not be surprised.

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance · Young, New adult/College

Looking for Alaska – John Green

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Goodreads synopsis: Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .
After. Nothing is ever the same.

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My thoughts: Well, I’m so glad to be done with this book and i dont think that is a positive feeling. I totally understand that young adult, tortured souls, great minds and ideas and that feeling that you will never learn to know the light and love you only read about in books. Come on, I have been a teenager to. But after reading this book I definitely feel that I’m more near a death of old age than my teenage years.

The book is about Alaska. A girl I really do not like and the whole story is told by another boy that feels like a narrator than a real person. The whole story is off and it was really the Colonel who made me keep reading because I really liked him.

I have trouble seeing the point with the book. Is it to discuss religion and afterlife? Friendship? School and education? Maybe it is about that life really sucks sometimes and you need to take it as it is and keep going forward. Straight and fast!

Classic/Historical · Fiction/Science Fiction

To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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Goodreads synopsis: The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior – to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature. 

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My thoughts: This is an hard review to write. Trying not to step on any toes here. I dont really know how I should put my thoughts and feelings in understandably words. This is one of those classic books that “you just have to read before you die”. Well I haven’t read it before and the story intrigued me so why not? However I dont think it made the same impact on me like on the other millions of people. I have grown up with the learning that every human being, no mater skin color or sex, should not be treated different. We should treat all humans and living things, like for an example animals, such as we want our self to be treated by others. That is such an obvious thing for me that it is hard to think that this is not an reality all over the world. I have seen racism and I have friends who have experienced it. And quite frankly it is hard for me to imagine that people have been and still are, that mean, selfish and disgusting.

In that time period when this book was published (1960’s) the story takes on an really important topic that, at the time was highly discussed and Martin Luther King was on the way up. I know the books was banned from several states in the US and that really shows how close minded some people are and I wish to believe that this book did some great things with lifting some of the problems. Today I think it’s more used as an history novel and classic that shows us how it was and still are at some places. To not forget and to learn and understand and not do the same mistakes again. Do you understand what I mean?

To make a point with this review, the book is really great. Not an full five star rating from me because in this day and time, I do not perceives it as any greater than many other books about the similar theme I have read. I like the story, the characters and Lee has done a wonderful work with describing both the story line and surroundings so that me as an reader gets a feeling that I’m really there. I would totally recommend it to anyone who would listen and feel that no mater where in the world you are from, you should read it.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

The Darkest Corner – Liliana Hart

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Goodreads synopsis: The Gravediggers aren’t exactly what they seem. They’re the most elite of the world’s fighting forces—and all they have in common is that they’ve been betrayed by the countries they’ve died for. Because they are dead. To their country, their military, and their families.

Sometimes the dead do rise…

Deacon Tucker is a dead man walking. A former black ops agent, he was disavowed and stripped of all honor before being recruited as a Gravedigger. But his honor and good name no longer matter, because no one knows he’s alive, and he’ll never get the recognition he deserves. His mission is simple: save the world or die trying. And for God’s sake, don’t ever fall in love. That’s a rule punishable by death. The kind of death a man can’t be brought back from.

Tess Sherman is the only mortician in Last Stop, Texas. She has no idea how Deacon Tucker ended up in her funeral home, but she’ll eat her hat if he’s only a funeral home assistant. Deacon is dangerous, deadly, and gorgeous. And she knows her attraction to him can only end in heartache.

Deacon is on a mission to stop the most fatal terror attack the world has ever known—what’s known as The Day of Destiny—a terrorist’s dream. But when he discovers Tess has skills he can use to stop them, he has to decide if he can trust her with secrets worth dying for. And, most important, he has to decide if he can trust her with his heart.

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My thoughts: Okay book. I liked bits and pieces of it. But it was not an great book and frankly , i’m a bit disappointed. I have read like 13 books by Liliana Hart and for the most part I have really liked them. She writes characters who are fun, quirky and really lovable and you cant not love the male heroes. They are awesome. But there is nothing of that in this one.

Somewhat repeatable. Specially about Tess’s temper, read hair and white skin. About Deacons “undead” life and past. There is no real explanations to WHY Deacon is where he is and they all is a little boring. The only character that actually did anything for me was Eve and I completely loath her. So yeah.

I’m not even sure if I will bother to read the next book in the series. Since I have read so many books by Hart and know what she is capable to do, I feel thorn. Should I risk wasting time on another mediocre book or should I risk missing one great story?

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

Postmortem – Patricia Cornwell

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Goodreads synopsis: Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralyzed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman. But this investigation will test Kay like no other, because it’s being sabotaged from within—and someone wants her dead.

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My thoughts: This is one of those slow cooking, crime novels that are famous for a great story, strong characters and an explosive ending. And it is pretty much what I expected but was not entirely what i got.

The characters are great. You notice that this is an older book where the world was more of a mans world and as an woman you had to fight with teethes and nails. At first I did not like Kay that much. Didn’t like Marino either but Lucy, my god I hated her. Until I started to get to know all the characters and see more besides the shell them put out. In the end I still didn’t like Lucy but that is for other reasons. Really started to like Marino and Kay seams more human to me now. So in the next book I probably will not dislike them as much. And I feel it is a good thing. The author has succeeded to write characters that makes my nerves frassel and this time I liked it.

The story is slow cooking but it is exciting. You as an reader do not get much clues to who the killer might be so when that is revealed, there is no gasps or wonders about how me as an reader could miss it. The clues are just not there. The ending is pretty much predictable and as I had expected and that is quite sad. And it went by way to fast. 98% of the book was slow and interesting but the last 2% was like a blur of moments and story. To bad really. I think the book could be a 5 star if the ending had been a little more. Not faster but at least feel like it belonged to the rest of the book. Hard to explain with out giving out spoilers.

Really liked it though so will definitely look in to the other books in the series.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

The Magician’s Nephew – C.S Lewis

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Goodreads synopsis:When Digory and Polly are tricked by Digory’s peculiar Uncle Andrew into becoming part of an experiment, they set off on the adventure of a lifetime. What happens to the children when they touch Uncle Andrew’s magic rings is far beyond anything even the old magician could have imagined.

Hurtled into the Wood between the Worlds, the children soon find that they can enter many worlds through the mysterious pools there. In one world they encounter the evil Queen Jadis, who wreaks havoc in the streets of London when she is accidentally brought back with them. When they finally manage to pull her out of London, unintentionally taking along Uncle Andrew and a coachman with his horse, they find themselves in what will come to be known as the land of Narnia.

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My thoughts: I cant believe that I never have read any of the books in the Narnia series and when my mind finally discovered this, I thought that I should listening on them. They all do exist in my languish in the app Storytel that I pay for. I do prefer to listening on books in my own languish even though I prefer to read on English.

I did not know that there is two orders to read the books on. Either you could read in the publish order or in the order they are suppose to be. I decided for the later and that makes this book number One in chronological order, but really is book number 6 in publication order. Confusing right?

It is a good book and it is really funny to read about the beginning of Narnia. I have, as most people, seen the newest movies but cant remember that you get to know how Narnia first is discovered and how it came to be. Where the witch started and so on. This book is about the beginning. And it was great.

Torsten Wahlund, who is reading the book, is doing a great job with the characters. Specially Andrew Ketterley, who you really dislike from the very beginning.

I cant however give the book a full five star rating. This because I did not feel the magic. My heart did not pump any faster or my mind only thinking on what will happen next. I can see the good for what it is, but it is not great. Not in my opinion.