The New Book Review

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Slum Dog Millionaire Writer Pens New Novel

Title: Six Suspects
Author: Vikas Swarup
ISBN: 878-0-385-60816-9

Reviewed by Aakanksha Singh, Mumbai, India
The dearth of Indian crime fiction has been partially saved by the novel 'Six Suspects' written by Vikas Swarup, better known for his novel, 'Q and A' that was adapted into the Oscar winning film, 'Slumdog Millionaire.' While 'Q and A' was a rather amateurish, not at all researched book with bits of faulty writing, 'Six Suspects' is a tad bit better. While it has its own flaws, it is nonetheless a pretty good detective/thriller story that exposes the corrupt India and has a story that will be lavished by detective fiction lovers/fans.

: Taken from fantasticfiction.co.uk

The plot revolves around Vicky Rai's (the son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh) murder that took place while he was partying at his farmhouse in Delhi to celebrate his acquittal in a Jessica Lall style murder case(only in the book, the girl who was shot dead by Vicky was named Ruby Gill). There are essentially six suspects that are detained by the police as they were found carrying guns. Then, aptly, Swarup goes on and gives elaborate descriptions about all the six suspects and their motives to kill Vicky Rai. The six suspects are a motley crowd-including a sexy actress, an American,a mobile thief, Vicky's own father, a tribal from Andaman and a former chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh. These stories are cleverly interconnected and intelligently converge at Vicky Rai's farmhouse. In the end, an investigative journalist, Arun Advani, solves this murder mystery and the end is, I might say, quite unanticipated! The murderer is an unexpected one.

The story is well structured, with quite a few twists and turns that are definitely surprising.

Along with giving massive details about the life stories of all the six suspects, which by the way takes up a large chunk of the novel, Vikas Swarup also highlights the corruption rampant in India's politics, displays the divide between the rich and poor and the different classes, the world of powerful contacts and influences and several more such instances that reveal the sleazy side of India.

Despite 'Six Suspects' being a good detective read, it still has certain weak spots. Firstly, Vikas Swarup tries to put in a lot of information about India in the novel and most of it is sadly lifted from 'breaking news' sessions of the Indian TV channels that can get monotonous. This aspect makes it look like 'Six Suspects was written for foreign audiences and Swarup was aiming for this book to be made into a film as well. It seems there is a lack of originality. Secondly, certain ideas are rather stereotyped like the American's view of India when he comes for the first time, the bit about Islamic fundamentalists is also very cliched(all Muslims are terrorists and all that crap). Although the story has an unpredictable end, there are times when the stories of the six suspects get predictable-for example, the tribal from Andaman has to be foolish and get duped by several people in India. Why can't the tribals be intelligent for once?And there are several such examples.

There are certain creative bits as well like the English Literature professor ,which the former Chief Secretary met in jail, who expresses himself by uttering book titles only.

So the final verdict would be that 'Six Suspects' is definitely worth a read, a good crime novel that unfortunately shows only a newspaper version of India and does not delve deeper into India's chaotic soul. From the writing it becomes apparent that the India of 'Six Suspects' though very real still has a touch of being seen from a distant lens. The lack of research shows through. So if one knows nothing about India, one can probably grab this book to know about its underbelly and get some background on all the wrong things that happened in the country in the past decade or so.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

California Journal Features Calaveras County-Flavored Works

Title: Manzanita, Poetry and Prose of the Mother Lode and Sierra
Edited by Monika Rose and Julia Holzer
Genre: Literary Journal
Website: www.manzanitacalifornia.org

Manzanita Features Author's Poetry

Los Angeles, CA--Editors of the literary journal Manzanita, Poetry and Prose of the Mother Lode and Sierra published an anthology of poetry including the work of of UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor Carolyn Howard-Johnson in its sixth issue.

The journal is an affiliate of Calavaras Arts Council. It is a printed literary collection of poetry, prose, art and photography of the Mother Lode and Sierra regions of California and features work that appeals to the sensibilities of readers in that area from writers and artists across the U.S. It is edited by Monika Rose and poetry editor is Julia Holzer.

Howard-Johnson's poem is "Sacred Lessons from the Sierra Madre" and features impressions from the poet’s travels in the Sierras in Mexico. Howard-Johnson’s poetry has appeared in literary journals like the Mochila Review, Banyan Review, Pear Noir, Solo Novo, and Poetic Voices. One of her poems won a reader award at The Pedestal Magazine.

Howard-Johnson has studied at UCLA with Suzanne Lummis, editor of Speechless the Magazine (http://www.speechlessthemagazine.org/ ) where work from her chapbook Tracings, winner of Military Writers Society of America’s Award of Excellence and published by Finishing Line Press, was featured.

The poet's literary novel, This Is the Place (www.budurl.com/ThisIsThePlace) , has won eight awards. Her book of creative nonfiction has won three. She is developing a new Celebration Series of poetry chapbooks with Magdalena Ball. Among them are She Wore Emerald Then: Reflections on Motherhood (www.budurl.com/MotherChapbook) and Cherished Pulse: Unconventional Love Poetry (www.budurl.com/CherishedPulse). She also advocates with authors as the author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers (www.howtodoitfrugally.com).

Learn more about the Manzanita and how to order a copy at: http://www.manzanitacalifornia.org/ .

Learn more about Carolyn Howard-Johnson at http://carolynhoward-johnson.com.

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Support Materials available on request. Contact: HoJoNews@AOL.com

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Editor Reviews New Jason Jepson Work

When We Were Young

By Jason Jepson

Authors' Website: www.jasonjepson.com

Genre: fiction, memoirs

ISBN 978-159858-757-9

Publisher: Doge Ear Publishing

Reviewed by Mike Wever, editor Wandering Magazine

When We Were Young

by Jason Jepson

When We Were Young is described by the author as a fictionalized account of his youth, and indeed it reads much more like a memoir of a common man than a novel. Although the main character Jonah learns lessons and grows from his experiences, there is not much sense that Jonah’s biggest problems are resolved and the man’s situation at the end seems little changed from that of the teen at the beginning.

More than anything, this book is an in-depth examination of Jonah. Nothing especially remarkable happens to him between the end of his time in high school and the beginning of his truly adult years, but the steady beat of mundane events work on him like water against a stone. Jonah’s roughest edges are smoothed while the central core of his personality remains intact. It’s hard not to admire Jonah for the convictions he sticks to and easy to forgive the faults he can’t escape.

The writing at times seems a bit self-indulgent, and the things that are important to Jonah come across more from sheer repetition of ideas than masterful description of his emotions or thoughts. Just like with Jonah, however, a number of admirable traits exist among the faults. At a number of critical points in the story Jepson turns a phrase that makes several pages worth of writing click, creating a firm, memorable impression. There are also a number of descriptive passages that rise far above the rest, suggesting that Jepson will be an author who will be even more enjoyable to read with each successive book.

When We Were Young is published by Dog Ear Publishing and is available now through Amazon.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Mystery/Romance Given Rave Review

FIRST STONE ON THE RIGHT

By B. J. Mohr

contact@glenedenpress.com

Genre: mystery/romance

ISBN: 978-0-615-47641-4

Reviewed by Vi Grimba, originally for Amazon. com

I loved this book; could not put it down. This was a beautiful love story. I could actually feel the passion between Jenny and Will. The character development was so vivid that I felt as if I personally knew everyone.

As far as the mystery: It was the best thriller I have read in a very long time. The ending was a complete surprise. I could definitely read this book again.

~Read the First Chapter of First Stone on the Right for FREE by request at: contact@glenedenpress.com."

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Title: Visions

Publisher: Sugar and Spice Press

Publisher's Web site: http://www.sugarspicepress.com

Author: Anna James

ISBN 978-1-936668-19-9

Available from Sugar and Spice Press

Reviewed by David Russell

Once again Anna shows herself to be a consummate ‘crossover’ artist, in this work fusing the genres of detective, horror and romance, with a bit of ghost story thrown in. It sustains drama and suspense throughout, with an intricate plot and fastidious attention to detail.

Very effective use is made of ‘flashback’ technique, which is highlighted in italics – highly reader-friendly. They combine dreams and visions with ‘real’ temporal flashbacks to Prus’s childhood.

This is a really fast-paced narrative – really dynamic opener of a nightmare vision of someone being murdered. My curiosity was immediately aroused as to what triggered off the nightmares. The setting is Salem, Massachusetts. This could not have been more appropriate. This was the scene of some notorious witch hunting in the 18^th Century, celebrated in the 20^th by Arthur Miller’sThe Crucible (Penguin Classics) (otherwise known as The Witches of Salem) which drew analogies between those persecutions and the activities of the Un-American Activities House under Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. Rightly, there are references to this context in the narrative.

Salem turns out to be the birthplace of the heroine Pru (Prudence). Pru revisits her birthplace, and is surprised to find it in good condition, although it has been deserted for many years. Pru has very belatedly discovered that she was adopted, and that her natural parents were murdered, reputedly in the same house. Pru is met by MaryEllen who tells her the place is haunted, and that the murders took place there.

Matt, the detective, had been resident in the vicinity since childhood. He had access to the case files relating to the murder. There had been a serial murderer, Joshua Adams; and after his death a ‘copycat murderer’ who repeated the pattern. There was one vital clue, a piece of plastic stuck to the victim’s shirt.

Excellent fusion of detective and romance with Pru immediately fancying Matt the detective. Highly dramatic when their first tryst is cut short by a violent storm which causes a power cut and a tree to be blown down. (Passion continues to rise in between the interruptions. Lovely sensual description later on, ‘her hips meeting his’. A touch of the domestic too; Pru helps entertain Matt’s parents when they come to dinner.) In the course of the storm, a wall board is damaged, to reveal a staircase leading up to the attic, which could have offered the killer an escape route. Because this route had not been discovered at the time of the murders, it was assumed that there had been a suicide-murder, of man and wife. An escape route called all this into doubt. I was most impressed by the thoroughness of the architectural details.

Pru is determined to go to the attic, to be confronted with a dream assailant, who accuses In her nightmare, of practicing witchcraft. The ‘encounter’ in the attic, to me, fuses vision and reality, past in flashback and present. Traumatized by her realization of the true murderer, Pru has a fall, into unconsciousness, and has to be rushed to hospital.

When she recovers, the killer is revealed. I won’t reveal the killer’s identity here: that must be discovered by reading the book in its entirety – though I’m sure some readers of this review will be making some good guesses. I’ll just drop a hint that jealousy took its part, and that a telltale pen was found in a key location.

After the revelation, the story has a conventional ‘happy ending’ in the form of Pru and Matt deciding to get married. To me this was something of an anticlimax after the intensity of the story itself.

Here is the blurb and short excerpt that can also be included with the review:

Prudence Bailey has just learned that Laura Bailey, the woman she has always believed to be her mother, is in fact a distant cousin. Laura adopted Prudence when she was four years old after her father, Joshua Adams, brutally murdered her mother, Jane, then killed himself.She has no memory of the past and, after Laura’s death, decides to return home to Salem Massachusetts to learn more.

Twenty years have now passed since the murder / suicide took place.

Almost immediately she meets Detective Matt Cavanaugh, her neighbor. Matt is gorgeous and sexy and Pru is instantly attracted to him. Matt is also linked to her past. His father, now a retired police officer, was first on the scene the night of her parents’ deaths.

From the moment she returns Pru experiences visions that lead her to believe that the circumstances surrounding her parents’ deaths are not as they seem. The facts don’t add up. And when a recent murder that Matt is investigating is linked to the past they discover that Pru is right and the killer is still on the loose.

Will they discover the killer’s identity in time or will history repeat itself?

Prologue
Sweat trickled down the sides of her face. Her eyes were huge with fear and tremors racked her body. “No! Please don’t.” Prudence Bailey could hear the terror in the woman’s voice as she begged for her life. Someone came toward the woman; he was holding a knife. Or was it a she? Pru couldn’t tell from this angle. She saw the woman’s arms shoot up to try and ward off her attacker. It was a futile attempt. He overpowered her easily. Then it happened. The knife plunged deep into her chest. The screams were terrifying. She saw the woman crumple but it wasn’t over. The knife plunged into the woman again and again. Finally, the screaming stopped.

Pru shot straight up in bed. She too was drenched with sweat and her body shook with fear. This was the third night this week that she’d had the nightmare. It was the same each time. She pulled the blankets aside and got out of bed. Why is this happening to me? she wondered as she went down the stairs to double check that the windows and doors were locked. She didn’t know but she was sure as hell going to find out.

Thanks you for your consideration.

Happy Reading,

Anna James

Visit me at: http://annajames1.wordpress.com/

Visit me at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001402819536

Friday, June 24, 2011

Deborah Hockenberry Reviews New Linda Nance Book

TITLE: Life Goes On

AUTHOR: Linda Nance
PUBLISHER: Createspace (October 5, 2000)
FORMAT: Paperback, Kindle
PAGES: 256
PRICE: $12.99 – Paperback, $4.95 – Kindle, C$12.64 (CA), £8.19
ISBN – 10: 1453780130
ISBN – 13: 9781453780138

Reviewed by Deborah Hockenberry

John and Becky had a wonderful life until one day disaster struck. John was laid off at the factory and they all had to move into a rundown apartment building in a very bad neighborhood. Unknown to their children, John and Becky have received an eviction notice to vacate the apartment in ten days.

Their two oldest children were caught up in the neighborhoods activities. Bobby was learning the tricks of the trade of running drugs with the gang he considered his family. The oldest daughter, teenaged Donna, was caught up in the wrong type of crowd constantly partying, doing drugs and drinking. The youngest child, Stacy, was still a good kid but was beginning to following in her older sibling’s footsteps.

It looks like all hope is gone for the family. Ah, but John has a plan. He secretly contacts a relative for help. The relative is more than helpful and offers John more than he could ever hope for.

Neither John nor Becky wanted runaway kids on their hands. They love their children too much and knew the life their kids would be running too. But John and his relative have a plan already in motion to prevent that.

I have to admit that at first I didn’t like Life Goes On since there’s so much attitude and disrespect from the kids. Although this is very realistic, it doesn’t make a relaxing read for me. So, I started it over and was pleasantly surprised after I read on just why Linda Nance started the book the way she did. Soon, I couldn’t put Life Goes On down.

I highly recommend action packed story for both adults and young adults. Life Goes On is a story about what real families can do in the toughest times. Even if the families are separated by states!

You can learn more about Linda Nance by visiting her blog at: http://linda-nance.blogspot.com. You can also find out about Linda at her Amazon Page at: Life Goes On.

Learn more about the reviewer at http://thebumpyroadtopublishing.blogspot.com and
http://debsbookreviews.blogspot.com

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Cross Genre Fantasy Presented by MuseItUp Publishing

Title: Magic Is Faster Than Light
Author: James Hartley
Author's Web site: http://teenangel.netfirms.com.
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-926931-42-5.
Genre: Science-Fiction Flavored Fantasy

" ... Once upon a time there was a spaceship full of witches ..."
Reviewed by Ginger Simpson

Magic is Faster Than Light is not your mother‘s normal romantic fiction. Or, maybe it is if she‘s a fan of quirky scifi stories told by a narrator instead of stepping into the character‘s shoes and seeing the story firsthand. This is my first experience with this style of writing, and I must admit that author, James Hartley, has a remarkable imagination. He has created a story bound to capture the interest of those who like books featuring more than one point of view in a scene. Witches traveling via spacecraft to a new world in a ship destined to kill them, use their magic to save themselves and their family members and land the vessel safely. You don’t have to follow the yellow brick road to get to Oz, and you don’t have to rely on Captain Kirk to steer the Enterprise to a land of people covered with blue fur. Romance? Of course. How else can they repopulate their new home. Magic IS faster than light, and James Hartley proves it with his latest release.