Novel Nerd Blog - Book Reviews by Smitha

MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW  RG Belsky and Bonnie Traymore in their new novel SWIPE has put together all the troubles those dating apps or online dating can bring. Especially to anyone looking for love in the wrong places. This story has looked in depth at the unsuspected danger, risk, threat and guilt that comes to married people who think it's casual or normal that they can cheat their spouses behind their back. It's very evident that they are lonely, desperate or unhappy in their lives or relationships.  Jake, a Journalist at New York Banner is hellbent to prove the mysterious death of Matt Furman. Matt a hiker and a married man who dated women online behind his wife and children's back ended up falling down accidently to the Hudson river. Was Matt's death a tragic accident or murder? The irony is that Matt was dating Sonya online. Sonya disliked Matt at their first encounter at the Palisade trail. Jake who covers stories desires to know why Matt committed infidelity...

MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW The legal thriller Midwest Lawyer by Peter Kirkland takes the reader to the county courtrooms and Donahoe county jails in Kerry, Ohio, drama filled with twists and intrigue in every trial conducted. It's just not the suspense but also the legal jargons and arguments used by lawyers in their daily fight in the court with  judges portrayed through the well developed characters Carol Becker and Maggy.  In the narrative Maggy takes up two crime cases where Troy Weaver is accused to have committed with his own guns and  have been send to Jail for shooting his son Benny. Mr. Troy is Maggy's client and an old school mate.  Her determination and win win attitude even when she gets nowhere in finding evidences to prove her client Troy not guilty is quite impressive and captivating. Terry Weaver of Kerry, Ohio, turned himself on to arrest warrant for aggravated murder as the county prosecutor's office alleges that Mr. Weaver is responsible for the d...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW  Set in Paris shortly before the Cold War ends and the Berlin Wall falls, Alice Graham's Red Lily is a brilliantly written, wacky spy thriller. It's 1989 summertime. Carl Box is a paint and varnish consultant from Disney Florida who finds out about the death of his Parisian aunt, who is the family's black sheep but whom he has never seen. Aunt Lily is still alive after someone tried to poison her with iced tea, and he finds out this when he flies to Paris. The two then go out to find a smuggled stockpile of KGB dossiers while Aunt Lily poses as her nephew's mother. Box narrates the events as he and Lily avoid suspicious cops, dangerous spies, and cunning assassins in a crazy trip filled with spy craft. A cast of quirky, engaging characters, such as a debonair French police investigator, a seductive environmental activist, and a false priest, keep readers interested in this unhurried book. The protagonist's opening statement of Paris is ...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW This guide has a lot to offer to those true crime loving readers and tourists alike wanting to know more about the crimes happened in New England  region,  northeastern United States , including the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.  Author Dawn M Barclay has included a rich list of resources that are crime books, website links to crime reports, crime statistics, summary of serial killings, mass shootings, cold cases, unsolved crimes, crime/justice related accommodations, police, courthouses, museums and other attractions in this guide. For example, explore the neighborhoods of these regions like Boston and its suburbs and use this guide to stay at a hotel that was also a crime site mentioned in this guide. If you are more interested in the justice aspect of true crimes that happened you may also visit the courthouses in this book. It was truly amazing to read the statistics and number...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW This memoir is way beyond my expectation, Henry Oster has included every tiny detail of his Holocaust survival and moments of his growing up in Concentration camps with pain and strength. He has recorded the places he lived and worked during 1939 - 1945, the connections and friendships he made where at Buchenwald, an organized hell made him see death at his near eyes - unending scene of filth, despair, decomposed dead bodies in chlorine and impossible place to live in after he was shipped from Cologne to Buchenwald in Train at the age of 11. A German Jewish boy's Holocaust survival story told in a clear and poignant manner. I have read several WW2 books, to understand the horrific persecution and suffering and killings of thousands of  innocent men, women and children at the night of Kristallnacht, Buchenwald and Auschwitz. I never understood this precisely and what happened during this historical period of time closely before and a Germany that b...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW When Riley MacLeod arrives at the upscale Jeopardy Falls Retreat in the remote expanse of northern New Mexico, she expects a typical skip-tracing case. But the disappearance of a young woman during a couples' retreat is anything but ordinary. The case is murky, the clues minimal, and the resort staff are less than cooperative. Complicating matters further is Riley’s reluctant partner: Greyson Chadwick, a private investigator with a shadowy past and secrets that make her question his every move. Two Seconds Too Late is a thrilling blend of danger with an atmospheric setting in New Mexico, romance, and emotional depth. Dani Pettrey once again proves her mastery in romantic suspense, delivering a novel that keeps readers turning pages late into the night. Her characters are intense, cold and independent building tensions throughout the read. From the beginning itself I felt that the author's action sequences have tight pacing that puts readers on edge...

  MY THOUGHTS AND REVIEW After Pearl is a captivating historical mystery set in 1942, during the turbulent months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The novel follows Nicholas Bishop, an alcoholic private investigator and shell-shocked WWI veteran, who wakes up in a seedy hotel room with a hangover, a foggy memory, and two bullets missing from his revolver. Worse still, lounge singer Pearl DuGaye is dead, and Bishop is the prime suspect. As he stumbles through a haze of forgotten days, Bishop—assisted by the sharp and capable Gia Alessi, a loyal sidekick who may or may not still be on his payroll—dives into a web of deceit and danger. His investigation leads him through Buffalo’s underworld, rubbing shoulders with crooked politicians, high-society elites, and an underground group of American Nazis. All the while, he’s haunted by flashbacks from the Great War and shadowed by a one-eyed dog named Jake. The pacing is tight and energetic. The mystery unfolds gradually but never drag...