Malasz

The IRB's Celebrating 10 Years of Intelligent Reviews October 2007-October 2017 Fiction Scrape his balls with a holystone THE BLOODY BLACK FLAG A Spider John Mystery By Steve Goble 237 pp. Seventh Street Books Reviewed by Eric Petersen Journalist turned novelist Steve Goble makes his debut with the first in a series of mysteries featuring one of the most unusual sleuths ever to grace the printed page – an 18 th century pirate. It’s October of 1722, and honorable pirate Spider John Rush is rowing off the Boston coast along with his best friend Ezra Coombs and some other men on their way to the pirate ship Plymouth Dream , where they’ve signed on to work: As they rowed, in a rhythm they’d reached without the aid of a cadence or chantey, Spider threw many a nervous glance shoreward. He sought signs of a lantern or torch, and listened for shouts or musket fire. They were well away from the Massachusetts Bay Colony coast now, and the full moon showed nothing but its own ...

The IRB's Celebrating 10 Years of Intelligent Reviews October 2007-October 2017 Fiction Family betrayals DESERT REMAINS A Gus Parker and Alex Mills Novel By Steven Cooper 400 pp. Seventh Street Books Reviewed by Eric Petersen A new mystery writer makes his debut with the first in a series of mysteries featuring an unusual pair of sleuths. The novel opens with Phoenix homicide detective Alex Mills at the scene of an unusual crime. A young woman named Elizabeth Spears has been brutally murdered, her body deliberately placed in a cave in the Arizona desert. Her meticulous killer left behind no murder weapon or incriminating evidence of any kind – only a bizarre calling card. Carved into the cave wall is a huge mural depicting the murder and the victim’s last agonizing moments of life. Alex Mills has never seen anything like it, nor have his fellow detectives – not even star detective Timothy Chase, who used to work as a criminal profiler for the FBI. To help solve this ghastly and baf...

Fay and Danny are madly in love and it's all Fay's ever dreamed of. But she left everything - including the delightful cake shop she used to run - to be with Danny on his cosy canal boat The Dreamcatcher. And as she soon finds out, making delicious cakes on the water isn't always smooth sailing! Then Fay gets a call from her friends, a call that sends her back to her friends and the Cake Shop in the Garden. It will be hard being away from Danny but their relationship is strong enough to survive . . . isn't it? Fay soon falls happily back in love with her passion for baking - especially now she's on dry land again! - and starts to wonder if she ever should have left. With Christmas around the corner, Fay is determined that her friends will have a very merry time, but does that mean even more time away from Danny? What could be more exciting than a new Carole Matthews book? How about a new Carole Matthews Christmas book? Even better……….. A new Carole Matthews Christma...

The IRB's Celebrating 10 Years of Intelligent Reviews October 2007-October 2017 Nonfiction THE UN-DISCOVERED ISLANDS: An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes By Malachy Tallack, Illustrated by Katie Scott 144 pp. Picador Reviewed by Lynne M. Hinkey Un-discovered islands, those that once appeared on maps--either through an accident of navigation, an overabundance of imagination, or blatant lies--are the subject of this entertaining breeze through history and geography. Author Malachy Tallack explores two dozen islands that have shown up in cartography, literature, and mythology, many of them complete with elaborate and detailed accounts of their topography, flora and fauna, inhabitants, and culture, that were later discovered to be non-existent...un-discovered.   Beginning with islands of ancient legend and myth and continuing to the present day, the book provides brief vignettes of twenty-four islands that appeared on maps, but were eventually shown to not be ther...

The IRB's Celebrating 10 Years of Intelligent Reviews October 2007-October 2017 Fiction One giant leap for womankind ANDROCIDE INTEL 1 Series, Book 5 By Erec Stebbins 339 pp. Twice Pi Press Reviewed by Eric Petersen Techno thriller master Erec Stebbins is back with the fifth entry in his INTEL 1 series, (the previous entries are also reviewed on this site) taking it in an even darker and more compelling direction that reflects current events in the United States. At this point in the series, INTEL 1, once the FBI’s top counterterrorism unit, headed by former agent “Mad John” Savas and his wife, former agent Rebecca Cohen, has become a super secret “black ops” group, answerable only to President Elaine York, restored to power after a right-wing military coup had ousted her. The coup nearly plunged the United States into a full-scale second civil war, but thankfully, the insurrection was put down and the right defeated after INTEL 1 (and a mysterious computer hacker ca...

When child psychologist Imogen Reid takes on the case of 11-year-old Ellie Atkinson, she refuses to listen to warnings that the girl is dangerous. Ellie was the only survivor of a fire that killed her family. Imogen is convinced she's just a sad and angry child struggling to cope with her loss. But Ellie's foster parents and teachers are starting to fear her. When she gets upset, bad things seem to happen. And as Imogen gets closer to Ellie, she may be putting herself in danger... The Foster Child is the first book I have come across by author Jenny Blackhurst but after reading the synopsis for this book I couldn't wait to get stuck in and see what havoc this dangerous little girl was going to create in this book. Imogen has clearly has something bad happen in her career recently which has resulted to her moving back to her childhood town on Gaunt but her past is kept hidden from us throughout the majority of the book which adds to the suspense. When she starts her new job ...

The IRB's Celebrating 10 Years of Intelligent Reviews October 2007-October 2017  Fiction An easy chair and a martini LET THE DEVIL OUT By Bill Loehfelm 302 pp. Picador Reviewed by Alan Goodman   The longstanding attraction of detective mysteries speaks to the easy read. If you're looking for a book to accompany you to your favorite easy chair, a nicely turned martini, and that rare evening that promises quietude, nothing beats cozying up to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot or Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch. Always on the prowl for a new detective, a new crime, and new characters of dubious moral persuasion, this reviewer jumped at the chance to accompany Bill Loehfelm's Maureen Coughlin through the dark alleys of New Orleans. Rookie police officer Maureen Coughlin and I are actually old buddies. That shadow you saw transfixed to her every motive and move in Loehfelm’s previous book, Doing The Devil's Work , was none other t...