Thr Prophet of Marathon- Bob Waldner

   An interesting plot centred on a rich wastrel from a well-to-do family, who in the end sort of comes 'good'. There are two very powerful male characters in this book and neither of them are the failing gambler that is at the centre of this story. One is his father, and the other a preacher of dubious reputation. There is a strong female role as well.
   The book reads well and is in the main well edited. The plot is believable, unlike many thrillers, with all of the individual elements pieced together from behavioural patterns that really do regularly pop-up in the real world. There are some nice twists that kept refreshing the book without over stretching one's credulity.
   The book's strongest elements, the difficult relationship between a highly successful father and a son that at thirty still hasn't fully tested his potential, the shenanigans of the evangelical preacher, and the preacher's daughter that seems to like existing on the seedy side of life, might be in a sense formalistic, but believable characters have to be, don't they? They certainly aren't ridiculous inventions.
   The story dynamics lack some of the power of Waldner's first book, 'Peripheral Involvement', but I preferred the first person writing that was employed here. We need to get inside James's head in as personal way as possible, we need to understand why he was so easily manipulated, and that is perhaps only possible by engaging through his mind and his eyes. The third person style would have been far too remote for us to build any genuine sympathy for this patsy. I was sort of left doubting that James's father would have trusted a dime given past history between the two, but he did, and thinking about it as I read on, the father's assumed feelings of guilt made that element seem believable.

   So, so far, two great five star reads, from Waldner, with I assume plenty more to come. If you like believable thriller fiction then these books might well be your cup of tea as they are mine.
AMAZON LINK

Commentaires

Enregistrer un commentaire

Posts les plus consultés de ce blog

The Lives and the Times- Amit Verma

Image
  First, please don’t be put off by some rather dubious reviews. Authors have no say over who reviews their work, whether they wish to flatter with stars or trash with their absence. I took the trouble to make contact and ask the author about what had happened. He had a book signing event on his own academic institutions campus. We can’t control our popularity. I admire Verma’s honesty, especially in this world where the honest authors have to compete against an overwhelming pile of deceit in the book marketing business. Some or all of these over egging reviews may not be on other popular reviewing sites, in which case this opening paragraph is of only obscure relevance. (I read on Amazon.com)    This book is written with a very Indian voice, with a common rhythm of English spoken on the sub-continent. That style is exactly right for the book, however, a good edit to internationalise the sentence structure, and improve some word choices, is needed. There are also gramma...
Lire la suite

The Wake of the Dragon: A Steampunk Adventure- Jaq D. Hawkins

Image
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wake-Dragon-Steampunk-ebook/dp/B0080UVQIW This was my first Steampunk novel; immediately I'm wondering my neglect. Hawkins writing is good enough that I was unaware of reading, as the words flowed so effortlessly into the adventure. Some writers can make me feel I'm watching film, I felt that. Hawkins crafts a wonderful adventure out of her genre inspired distortion of 19th Century History. We read about a fictitious battle for wealth, conducted by industry, traders and outright crooks. In particular we observe a battle for the trade in opium and other nefarious goods between all parties from the huge East India Company, down to the lowest of pirates. We are not though, as history would lead us to expect, at sea. We are in the skies above East Anglia, London, Cornwall and eventually Paris. Pirates in airships and other inventively interpreted steam age technologies add a magical layer to Victoriana. Imagine Montgolfier balloons with wooden...
Lire la suite

A Tale of Moral Corruption- Marsha Cornelius

Image
This book is as unique as all Cornelius books. Those that prefer their authors' scripts predictable might not. I loved it, even though I'm a bit of a prude, preferring sexual content to be more implied than graphic. If one is going to lean towards porn, while still keeping the serious content on top of the page, one had better do sex scenes well. In too many books porn is included for the sake of commercial successful without regard to plot. Cornelius includes vivid porn without losing sight of her intellectual idea. There is also a little fairly graphic violence, which in its case the story simply couldn't have worked without. Both sex and violence were written with realistic efficiency, and with a great deal of gymnastics. Cornelius represents everything that is best about self-publishing, going places with her scripts that the established publishers generally fail at- genuine originality. This is inevitable because businesses have to make commercial decisions. True,...
Lire la suite