BigAl's Books and Pals

Review: Final Dawn by DV Berkom

2026-10-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Thriller

Description:

“When a messianic terrorist puts a target on the federal justice system, elite operator Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Reynolds is all that stands between order and total chaos.

Mac Reynolds knows how to read a room, spot a threat, and keep a client alive. What she doesn’t know is how to protect a federal judge when a domestic terror campaign begins and every layer of security starts to crack.

Victor Hale has activated sleeper cells, breached government networks, and turned the Pacific Northwest into a blood-soaked battlefield. But for Mac, the nightmare becomes deeply personal when her mentor and her father suddenly vanish—straight into Hale’s trap.”

Author:

“DV Berkom is the USA Today bestselling author of action-packed, riveting adventure and crime thrillers. Known for creating resilient, kick-ass female characters and page-turning plots, her love of the genre stems from a lifelong addiction to reading spy novels, action/adventure stories, and thrillers.”

For more, visit her website.

Appraisal:

If you’ve read the first two books in this series then you know what the protagonist of the trilogy, Mackenzie Reynolds, Mac for short, is up against and the stakes. If she doesn’t stop Victor Hale and his minions it won’t be good for anyone, no matter what some of his followers are deluded enough to think. Not to mention the much more personal things at stake with her father being at extreme risk. I wasn’t sure how this was going to shake out which kept me turning pages, eager to see how it worked out. Long time DV Berkom fans are going to have an unanticipated character show up to help out, which just made this that much better for me. As always with DV Berkom’s books, we’ve got strong female characters with an extremely engaging story.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

This is the end of a trilogy. While you could probably follow the story in this book without having read the first two books in the trilogy, to get a full sense of this book I’d advise not doing that, instead reading all three books in order.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

Reprise Review: The Field Where I Died by Melissa Bowersock

2026-10-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Historical

Description:

“Devon Muir has always been fascinated with the Civil War. When he discovers that his fourth great-grandfather fought at pivotal battles like Antietam and Gettysburg, he is compelled to follow in his ancestor’s footsteps and experience the battlefields on his own. What he doesn’t count on is dreaming about a battle every night—and being killed every time. Now his exploration of battlefields becomes a different kind of quest as he struggles to understand who is the soldier he becomes in his dream, and who is the woman whose face he sees as he lays dying.”

Author:

“Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: biography, contemporary, western, action, romance, fantasy, paranormal and spiritual. She has been both traditionally and independently published and is a regular contributor to the superblog Indies Unlimited. She lives in a small community in northern Arizona with her husband and an Airedale terrier. She also writes under the pen name Amber Flame.”

Appraisal:

A story with an interesting and unique mix of contemporary, historical, and supernatural genres. (It might feel a bit like time-travel figures in this as well.) This was a quick, fast moving, and entertaining read. I liked the characters, both the protagonist Devin, and the other supporting cast. Where the story was going was never clear as the mystery of why Devin was dreaming what he did every night slowly unfolded. If the story appeals at all, this is well worth your time.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

A small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

My review is based on a pre-release copy and I’m unable to judge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 35-40,000 words

Review: A Murder at Cheeseburger by David Vizard

2026-10-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Mystery/Crime Fiction

Description:

“When beloved Bay City nurse Terry Powers dies during Caseville's famous Cheeseburger Festival, his twin sister refuses to believe it was an accident. When his body goes missing after exhumation, reporter Nick Steele agrees with her.

Somebody killed Terry Powers. Somebody moved his body. And somebody is hoping Nick Steele minds his own business.

He won't.

The deeper Nick digs, the clearer it becomes — the greed and depravity behind Terry's death reach further than anyone in Caseville wants to admit. This story runs through layers of corruption, exploitation, and secrets that someone is willing to kill to protect.”

Author:

“Dave Vizard is a former award winning newspaper and magazine writer and editor. He has taught journalism and writing at the college level. Each of his murder mysteries is rooted in Michigan and revolves around the exploits of news reporter Nick Steele.”

Vizard and his wife live in Michigan’s Thumb region where his books take place.

Appraisal:

The latest mystery featuring newspaper report Nick Steele. Figuring out what happened along with Nick is an interesting experience as a reader. I like that many of the books in the series, this being one of them, happen in the “thumb region” of Michigan and have a lot of focus on the landscape and culture of that area which adds a lot to the story. I’ll admit that when Nick gets to the bottom of this story, what he finds isn’t something I’d have guessed, but the clues were there. If you’re into mysteries, this one might be worth checking out.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Review: The Building by Kevin G. Chapman

2026-10-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Thriller/Mystery

Description:

“For ten years, the Utopia Tower experiment has been a resounding success. Conceived by a tech billionaire, the state-of-the-art apartment complex offers a life-changing opportunity: rent-free living for residents who adhere to the ‘Five Pillars of Harmony’ and maintain the building's pristine reputation. It is a tight-knit community where neighbors look out for one another, ensuring that nothing endangers their sanctuary and their right to continue living there.

Antonio, a young lawyer, moves into the tower to care for his grandmother, eager to join this idyllic social experiment. But the veneer of perfection cracks when two young men—both considered bad apples and threats to the community's serenity—die in unusual circumstances within a single month. Despite warnings to leave well enough alone, Antonio suspects a connection and digs deeper. He discovers that, in a building designed for total harmony, asking the wrong questions can make you the next problem to be handled. Is there a killer hiding among the residents? Is the billionaire founder protecting his investment? Or is the truth far more terrifying?

In an environment where preservation of the collective is the prime directive, how far will the community go to protect itself?

Author:

A lawyer specializing in labor and employment law by day, Kevin Chapman describes his real passions as playing tournament poker, rooting for the New York Mets, and writing fiction. For more, visit Mr Chapman’s website.

Appraisal:

I’ve read and enjoyed many of Kevin Chapman’s thrillers featuring detective Mike Stoneman, so I was eager to give this one a try in spite of it being different. Literally after reading the first sentence, I made a note that the person it was talking about, the tech billionaire Jameson Z. Conrad, sounded evil. Yet when I saw what he was behind, The Building at the center of this book, it seemed like its name, Utopia Tower, was an excellent description. Mr Conrad was obviously doing what few billionaires are good enough to do, helping others, in this case by providing affordable housing for people who otherwise would at best be living in a slum and in many cases homeless and living on the streets. In addition, the rules of the community are designed to help lift everyone up and to encourage mutual support of others in the community.

But like many things that seem great on the surface, with the cosmetics on the outside hiding the rot on the inside, we find out that all is not as good as it seems. Antonio, a new resident who is helping his grandmother as he’s just starting his career in the law starts to question the things he’s seeing. Maybe utopia is more of a dystopia. But is stirring things up going to backfire in the worst way possible for Antonio? Or maybe he’s seeing things wrong. Possibly any issues will get fixed. That’s the mystery that kept me turning pages to the very end, enjoying every word.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

A small amount of adult language

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Review: Cipher by Allison Boley

2026-10-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Espionage/Thriller

Description:

“A burned out young scientist. An unbreakable code. Time counts down to an impossible choice.

Forget computers. How do you break a code based on human expertise?

Patrick’s life is upended when he’s recruited to decipher messages between two experts in his niche field, messages encrypted with a code they made up. But as he works undercover, he rediscovers the joy of curiosity and friendship, and the cipher reveals the bad guys may not be who he originally thought. Can Patrick reconnect with himself in time to know what to do when he finally breaks the code?”

Author:

A resident of Arizona, Allison Boley worked for a time in Los Angeles in various jobs relating to movie making before returning to Arizona and school, eventually earning a PhD in Physics. This is her first novel. For more, check out her website.

Appraisal:

This was an interesting read that while a thriller and a bit of a spy novel also gets into scientific issues that are pertinent in our current world and for nerds like me will really get you thinking and possibly learning a bit as well. Even for those just looking for a good spy thriller it will stretch your mind trying to figure out what is going on and how our hero protagonist can figure it out. For those who finish reading and have an urge to know more about the details of what happens in the story, there is an appendix that can help you go down that rabbit hole, but if you’re not interested, you’ll still get a good read and can move on to the next book.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four Stars

Review: A Bad Deal in Mormon Land by T.I.M. Wirkus

2026-10-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Historical Fiction

Description:

“It’s 1908, and itinerant spirit medium Madame Ilsa von Hoffmann is at the end of her professional rope, facing down two unappealing options: join an ill-conceived commune founded by some fellow trans ex-vaudevillians, or take on a high-paying but mysterious job offered by a religious extremist in Salt Lake City. Madame Ilsa opts for Utah and the employ of one Roger Marsh who, it turns out, wants her to summon the ghost of Joseph Smith, Mormonism’s founder, to give his blessing to Marsh’s fledgling offshoot of the mainstream church.

Unsure how she’ll pull off this near-impossible task, Ilsa finds an ally in Francie Bream, an East Coast journalist in town to profile Mormon women at the dawn of the twentieth century. Bream’s motives remain obscure to Ilsa, though she begins to suspect the journalist has an agenda far more sinister than she could have imagined. Complicating the situation further are an inept and volatile henchman, a relentlessly orthodox Mormon apostle, a copper magnate with a fetish for polygamists, Marsh's rogue third wife, and a vengeful private investigator from Ilsa's past. As dead bodies accumulate around her, Madame Ilsa worries less and less about saving her career, and more about making it out of Salt Lake City alive.”

Author:

T.I.M. Wirkus (they/them) is an award-winning author with several novels and novellas available as well as some short stories that have appeared in various publications.

Appraisal:

This story takes an interesting blend of historical reality (the early 1900s in Salt Lake City, a growing town, and the Mormon culture that permeated it) with some interesting twists and scams being perpetrated by Roger Marsh and others, like our main protagonist, Madame Ilsa von Hoffmann. Those familiar with Utah history and Mormonism will be amused in spotting the clever mashup of reality (some of which many would assume wasn’t true) with things that really are fictional. Sometimes the truth really is stranger than the fiction. I was never sure where the story was going to go or how it would resolve in the end which is what I’d expect from a story of this type. A fun and interesting read that isn’t quite like anything I can remember having read before.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

I’m sure some devout members of the Mormon aka LDS Church would be triggered reading this if they’re bothered by mixing things not so true (aka fictional) into a story about their church. They might also be triggered by some things that are true. The author has some references to articles at the end of the book that point to those.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reviewer copy, so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Reprise Review: Secret Relations by Rebecca Forster

2026-09-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Police Procedural/Thriller

Description:

“They're illegal. They're undocumented. They're disappearing. The last thing Finn O'Brien wants is to come between his partner and her daughter, but Amber Anderson is desperate for his help. Her new boyfriend, an undocumented immigrant, is missing. Uneasy about keeping a secret from his partner and hindered by the prejudice and politics of the LAPD, Finn is tempted to turn a deaf ear to the girl's plea - until the first body is found. Fighting a system that wants to turn a blind eye, Finn tracks a serial killer who preys on the most vulnerable, one with a gruesome secret that has been buried under decades of shame. To stop him, Finn O'Brien must navigate a shadowy world where life is cheap - even his own.”

Author:

The author of numerous thrillers in multiple subgenres, USA Today bestseller Rebecca Forster lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

Appraisal:

This is the third book in this series. I raved about the first two and this latest installment is no different. LA police detective Finn O’Brien and his partner, Cori Anderson, are great characters. They have faults and at times make questionable decisions that show they’re imperfect, but both strive to make their city a better and safer place.

The story in Secret Relations is an intense thriller that had me on edge throughout. Much of the story is focused on the undocumented alien population, targeted by the serial killer, and I found the story thought provoking as I considered their situation.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

While part of a series, each book in the Finn O’Brien Thriller series can be read as a standalone.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Review: Temperament by K. Aurum

2026-09-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Literary Novella

Description:

“The stroke took his hand. The implant gave it back. Then it kept going.

Jon Finn was a violinist before a stroke stole his right side and his voice. The experimental device his doctors offer is a quiet miracle: it restores his hand, his speech, his playing. His recovery astonishes the hospital. His bowing has never been cleaner. He and the woman he loves have never fought less.

And, note by note, word by word, he is vanishing.

The implant doesn’t take his life. It takes his self: smoothing the edges, finishing the sentences, choosing the notes he used to reach for. Everyone sees a man restored. Only Jon feels his own wanting drain away.

Spare, unsettling, and quietly devastating, Temperament is a debut novella about identity, illness, and the hidden cost of being made better; a story that grows shorter and quieter as its narrator disappears.

Written by a practicing physician, it lingers where medicine can’t answer: when everything you can do remains, and only the you is gone, is that still you?”

Author:

“K. Aurum is a physician and computer engineer who can’t sit still. Medicine, music, tech, games, books, he’s obsessed with all of it: one day perfecting his chess openings, the next drilling holes in wood to build a virtual pinball cabinet. Now, somehow, he’s writing books of his own.”

Appraisal:

This is an interesting read that should get you thinking. I’d just read a few nonfiction books about AI prior to reading this book and while from a technical standpoint the medical technology imagined in this story isn’t AI, it raises some of the same issues those who pay attention to such things are pondering. How far is too far when integrating new tech into a process currently performed by humans or, in this case, actually into a human body. If the choice is allowing a person to die or come back with greater skills obtained using artificial or unnatural means, is that okay? Where is the line? I don’t have the answers, but this story certainly started me pondering the questions.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

A small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reviewer copy so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words

Review: Fractured Dawn by DV Berkom

2026-09-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Thriller

Description:

“When elite close protection operator Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Reynolds learns her father didn't die in a Bangkok bombing three years ago, everything she thought she knew shatters.

A captured CIA asset delivers an impossible message: Chase Reynolds is alive and has gone to ground while he hunts a rogue intelligence network powerful enough to manipulate governments from the shadows.

Following a trail across Central Europe, Mac and her mentor, former Special Forces operator Jackson Jones, uncover Project Eclipse, a deadly conspiracy run by ruthless arms broker Victor Hale. With assassins closing in and allies becoming suspects, every move could be their last.

To stop a global catastrophe, Mac must decide who she can trust—including the CIA officer who also happens to be her mother.

Because if Hale succeeds, nations will fall.

And Mac may lose the last chance she has to save her father.”

Author:

For more, visit her website.

Appraisal:

Mackenzie Reynolds (but we’ll call her Mac like most people do most of the time) works in an interesting job. It’s to protect people who may be in danger from spies and the like. Both parents work in government intelligence so the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Unfortunately, her dad disappeared a while ago and she assumed he was dead. Then she finds out that might not be true … at least not yet. Mac gets involved in the effort to find him due to clues that someone, it appears to be her dad, have setup for her to find, but the deeper she gets into this search the more fatalities and unexpected stumbling blocks there are. Plus, the relationship Mac has with her mom, already stressed, becomes even worse, reaching the point where Mac isn’t sure her mom isn’t one of the bad guys in this whole mess. This story delivered on what I’ve come to expect from the DV Berkom books I’ve read in the past, intense reads that draw you in and just when you think it can’t get any scarier, it does. How it all shakes out, well, telling you would be a spoiler, but it’s an intense adventure to the very end of this book and sets things up well for the final book in this trilogy too.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

This is the second book in the Mackenzie Reynolds thriller trilogy. While it would probably work as a standalone read, I would advise reading the first volume in the trilogy to understand what has come previously for an even better read.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Review: Turquoise Walk by Melissa Bowersock

2026-09-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

Description:

“When Sam unexpectedly receives a beautiful yet incomplete Navajo cuff bracelet, he realizes very quickly that there’s a story behind it. In order to piece out the tale, he and Lacey must travel to Flagstaff, Arizona, where they are led to a fractured family, a labyrinth of lies, and a years-old murder case gone cold. The bracelet yearns for completion of its impassioned purpose, but is it too late? Only the spirits know.”

Author:

“Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: paranormal, biography, western, action, romance, fantasy, spiritual, and satire.”

For more visit Ms.Bowersock’s website and follow her on Facebook.

Appraisal:

If you’re familiar with this series and read very many of the prior books you’ve probably come to expect certain things. At a high level, Sam and Lacey will be called or otherwise exposed to a situation that Sam recognizes as a situation where a spirit has been unable to move on to the next life due to unresolved issues in this life. Through a combination of Sam’s ability to communicate with these spirits and Lacey’s detective skills, they help resolve the issue, whatever it is, in a way that allows the spirit to move on.

This newest book in the series throws a few twists into the previous high-level formula while ultimately staying true to the spirit of the series, combining the paranormal into a mystery that engages the reader and has them pulling for Sam, Lacey, and those poor spirits stuck between worlds. I never fail to enjoy reading these books and immediately start looking forward to the next one which, fortunately, always comes fairly quickly. If you’ve read and liked these in the past, grab this one. If you haven’t read them, you’re missing out.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Review: The Circus of the Vanishing Elephant by Tim Schooley

2026-09-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Historical Fiction

Description:

This is a story about an American circus in the Eighties (or thereabouts). The author’s first jobs were working as a clown with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circuses. The publisher of this interesting work of fiction is HTF Publishing, an imprint of History Through Fiction, which “seeks to provide readers with engaging historical narratives that are rooted in detailed and accurate historical research”. Schooley absolutely knows whereof he writes. The novel feels truly authentic. The vanishing elephant is a clever McGuffin: when the reveal finally comes it is worth the wait.

Author:

We’ve seen what Schooley did when he left school, but (as the novel makes clear) you need a particular mind set to want the live the circus life year after year. So Mr Schooley went to university and became an appellate lawyer: ta da! How’s that for a career swerve? He has been writing throughout his working life, but now that he has retired from the law he is putting his back into it. He has already published legal thrillers. And an historical novel which won prizes (The Wool Translator in 2022) But this is Something Completely Different.

Appraisal:

Well, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this. As a document of circus life during a particular period of the twentieth century, in America, it is delightful. As a story of how a peripatetic family copes with itself (or doesn’t) it is fascinating. As an early consideration of why animals finally disappeared from circuses it is wise. The strong bonds between the animals (elephants in particular) and their handlers are beautifully drawn for us by someone who understands them, but the downsides are shown to us too – the chains, the bull hooks, the tiny cages, and (from the other side of the ring) the occasional mauling.

An intriguing novel, well worth your time.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

As this is an advance reviewer copy we can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Reprise Review: The Death and Life of Dominick Davidner by Shawn Inmon

2026-09-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Science Fiction/Time Travel

Description:

“How many lives would you spend to find your beloved?

Dominick Davidner was murdered. Then things got worse.

Instead of going on to the afterlife, Dominick found himself back in his nine year old body, all memories of his previous life intact. All he can think about is Emily, the love of his life, left behind when he died.

Unfortunately, she is now thousands of miles away. How can Dominick find his way back to the woman he loves, and what will he say if he finds her?”

Author:

Former DJ, business consultant, and real estate agent, Shawn Inmon is now a fulltime author. A regular contributor at Indies Unlimited, Inmon can't seem to decide whether to write fiction (Rock'n Roll Heaven), or non-fiction (he’s written two travels books). Then there are his first two books that were novels based on truth or fictionalized memoirs or … I don't know what to call them, but they were somewhere in the middle.

Appraisal:

This is the third book in Inmon’s Middle Falls Time Travel series. Each book can be read as a standalone novel because while each of the protagonists spends some time living in the fictional town of Middle Falls, Oregon, knowing what happened in a prior story isn’t needed to follow newer books in the series. The main thing each book has in common is the protagonist dies. Upon his death the character is shocked to discover that they’ve gone back in time, to some point in their childhood. They have the body of a child, but retain memories of the life they led before, which gives some clue as to what might be coming, both for them personally and for the world in general.

The first two stories in the series focused on second chances with the main characters trying to live their lives better the second time around. In one case this was by avoiding a big mistake. In the other it was mainly by trying to prevent someone else from making a major mistake that effected many others.

This installment of the series is different in that Dominick, the protagonist, has only one goal when he starts his life over, to meet and marry his spouse once again. Easy, isn’t it? Just do everything the same as you did the first time around and it should work out fine. But it seems foolish to take the same boring route through life, especially when there is an obvious shortcut to get where you want quicker, right?

The premise of this series makes for some entertaining and thought-provoking stories. As they illustrate, maybe if we had life to live over again, knowing what we know after having learned a thing or two from the school of hard knocks, it may not actually be as easy as we think to get a better result. Just like my rewriting that sentence didn’t result in one that ran on less, sometimes things don’t turn out better, just different.??

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

This is the third book in Inmon’s Middle Falls Time Travel series. It can be read as a standalone novel.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Review: Love, Fail, Repeat: Part I - Not Safe by Alice Bohane

2026-09-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Psychological Thriller/Suspense

Description:

“Genna thought this house would be a fresh start.

After months of exhaustion, panic, and holding herself together for her baby son, she needs somewhere quiet. Somewhere safe. Somewhere that can finally feel like home.

At first, the house gives her exactly that.

Then, through the static, she hears a woman whisper:

‘He’s not safe.’

There is no recording. No proof. Nothing anyone else can hear.

But the warnings keep coming.

Someone has been watching. Someone knows this house.

As the signs move closer, Genna begins to wonder whether the locked doors are keeping danger out...

or keeping her exactly where someone wants her.”

Author:

Alice Bohane is a doctor, originally from London, who now lives in France. This is her first book.

Appraisal:

The story here is good, as far as it goes. This book is the first of a planned three book series. This first installment builds the suspense, ultimately leading us to know, or at least think we know, whether there is a potential threat and even where that threat is coming from. And then it leaves us hanging with no real resolution.

This first installment of the three book series is short enough that if the other two books are roughly the same size then combining it into a single book would have resulted in a book that is well within a reasonable length for a single novel. Based on how this book leaves the reader hanging, I wonder why the author didn’t do that. I’m glad I read this first part, but also wish I had the other two parts available to see how this ends.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

A small amount of adult language. Also, the author is a native of the UK and uses some terms that are specific to the UK although nothing that a reader from some other English speaking country won’t be able to figure out.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reviewer copy so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words

Review: Happy Like Coach Jack by John M. Simmons

2026-09-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Memoir

Description:

“Happy Like Coach Jack is a true story about a young man nobody expected much from — and what happened when a whole community quit making allowances and expected everything he had to give.

Jack Simmons has Down syndrome. Before baseball, most of his afternoons went to sports video games and a quiet hope that someday there might be more. When a traveling youth baseball team in St. George, Utah invited him on as an assistant coach, they wanted nothing more than to do something kind. Nobody expected what came next — not the players, not the parents, not even the father who thought he already understood his son.

Told through the eyes of Jack's father, Happy Like Coach Jack follows what happens when a community decides not to make room for someone, but simply lets him take his place in it. Somewhere along the way, Jack started working toward a goal nobody around him even knew he had.

This is a book about community, about youth sports at their best, and about a young man with an intellectual disability who was never told to stop reaching for more. It is funny, it's thoughtful, it's tender, and every word of it is true.”

Author:

John Simmons has written multiple books. Until recently he was also the President and CEO of a business he had started, but is now the head of a charity. He and his wife have several children, some their biological offspring and several adopted, both domestically and internationally. He lives with his family in a rural mountain valley in Utah.

Appraisal:

I viewed this book as a memoir since it is told from the viewpoint of the author, the father of “Coach Jack.” The actual star of the book. Jack, who has Down syndrome, is also a big sports fan. The book explores Jack’s life from a younger kid interested in sports and attempting to participate in whatever way he could until he reached his 20s where he still wanted to be a part and how his community came together and found a way to include Jack. In doing so the community benefited too, in many ways. If this doesn’t amuse you, warm your heart, and inspire you in some way, you need to read it again and pay better attention the second time around.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reviewer copy so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words

Review: Happy Iceland by Anne Marie Wells

2026-09-04T09:50:00.000-06:00

Genre: Travel Memoir/LGBTQ

Description:

“A simple question at Iceland's international airport-What are your happiest memories of Iceland?-sets off an unforgettable journey across the Land of Fire and Ice. Abandoning guidebooks and itineraries, a young woman on the precipice of turning thirty, newly unemployed and stuck in a faltering relationship, spends five weeks backpacking and hitchhiking to find the locations where Icelandic strangers' happiest memories took place. From childhood sports fields and family farms to hidden waterfalls and the remote Highlands, this intimate travel memoir explores Iceland far beyond what can be seen from a sightseeing bus tour. Part adventure, part meditation on what it takes to be happy in a volatile world, Happy Iceland is a reminder that some of the best journeys begin when we shut up and listen.”

Author:

Anne Marie Wells is an award-winning poet, playright, and author of a few books in addition to working as an editor and writing coach.

For more visit her website.

Appraisal:

I don’t remember the last time I read a book that felt so much like it was written for me specifically. Yeah, I’m an old white straight guy and Anne Marie Wells, the author of this book, is opposite of that in every way. However, we also connect on many levels.

One of those is that I’m an avid traveler. Although my travels have primarily been in the US I’ve done a little international travel. One of the things I enjoy about travel is in seeing how people, places, and the life led by the people in those places compare to what I experience where I live now as well as where I’ve lived in the past. This book, while focused on Iceland and what the author experienced there, also gives an idea of the author’s background, where she’s lived, and how they differed from each other as well as how they compared to what she was experiencing in Iceland. Many of the places in the US she mentioned were places I’ve lived or been to, so she got us on the same wavelength pretty quickly. (Her being a fan of Tim Hortons, the Canadian-based fast-food outlet, sucked me in even more.) I think our senses of humor are compatible as well.

But most of all, I loved her concept of exploring Iceland without an itinerary. I’ll admit, I was nervous that she was basically getting around by hitchhiking. In most countries I wouldn’t expect her to survive with that approach. That combined with her technique for picking her next destination by questioning the first person she interacts with after getting to one destination about where their happiest memory in Iceland took place meant she immersed herself in life in Iceland, not only meeting and interacting with a large range of people there, but seeing what the country was like from the standpoint of the people who are native to the area. Most travel memoirs focus a lot more on the travel and less on the memories created by the travel than this one does and ultimately that difference is what makes it standout so much for me. An incredible read.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

Adult language and some mostly mild adult content.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words

Review: The Luck Illusion by Martin Signorin

2026-09-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Non-Fiction/Self-Help

Description:

“What if luck is not an explanation, but simply the name we give to causes we have not yet seen?

Why do some individuals succeed while others do not? Why do lives with comparable potential end up taking very different paths? We frequently attribute these differences to a single, convenient explanation: luck.

But that word may conceal more than it explains.

The Luck Illusion investigates the unseen forces that affect human outcomes, including health, timing, location, education, wealth, relationships, and opportunities. It looks at how causality and probability interact to produce outcomes that might seem lucky, unlucky, deserved, or inevitable only after they occur.

Walsdos, a fictional character at the heart of the book, illustrates how unseen forces can slowly cluster around an individual. His life experiences challenge the notion of success and failure as isolated events, instead framing them as the outcomes of extended chains of cause and effect.

Inspired by psychology, philosophy, probability, and social sciences, The Luck Illusion is a serious yet approachable nonfiction book aimed at general readers. It questions common assumptions without sounding overly academic, technical, or prescriptive.

The book ends with the Setback Audit, a practical framework that helps readers analyse a challenging event in detail, identify contributing factors, and go beyond simple judgments of luck or misfortune.”

Author:

“Martin Signorin is a British nonfiction author who has lived in southeastern Bulgaria since 2005. Now retired from teaching, he writes about psychology, philosophy, causality, judgement, success and failure.”

Appraisal:

When I started reading this book, I actually anticipated that I’d get some interesting new insights that would be a positive, but that I’d disagree with the overall premise to some degree. I was wrong. Oops. It turns out that I agree with the point the author is making. Some things he points out I’ve always recognized as reality, although I might have described what was happening differently and in other cases the points made here adjusted my thinking for the better. I’m trying not to give any spoilers here, so won’t say more. You’ll have to read it for yourself if you’re curious.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 15-20,000 words

Reprise Review: Four American Tales by Jack Messenger

2026-08-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

“Secrets. Money. Love. Death. Sometimes they’re hard to tell apart.

Four American Tales describes a world of hopes and fears on the far side of the American Dream, in a quartet of evocative stories about love and loss, struggle and ambition from the 1950s to the present day.

Wichega is an atmospheric tale of childhood’s dreams and nightmares: when Sweet Pea and her family move far away, is it really because her father has quit the Navy, or is there something else going on – something to do with his new Oldsmobile and the monster that lives in the pond out by the highway?

A Hundred Ways to Live follows Nadine and Earle outside the Law as they travel across the desert in search of the stolen money they hope will give them a new life.

Ballbusters on Parade is an unconventional parable of work in the sex industry: Mike is persuaded by his girlfriend Yolanda to apply for a screen test. Success, however, leads him in unexpected directions.

Uncle Mort tells how a bequest gives rise to unforeseen problems. Helen and Thomas are successful and happy New Yorkers. News of her uncle’s death opens up the past and suddenly everything becomes uncertain – marriage, identity and what to do with a tumbledown house that no one wants.

All four stories feature great female characters, powerful writing and intriguing storylines – stories in which things happen and people change.”

Author:

A full-time writer and editor, Jack Messenger lives in the UK. He is the author of one novel and multiple non-fiction books in addition to this short story collection.

Appraisal:

Interesting characters and stories. In the foreword the author indicates that one of his aims with the stories is to “provoke thought.” The stories certainly did that with me. They have characters and storylines that make you wonder, sometimes forcing you to read between the lines and, in doing so, making the story your own since your interpretation will be different than mine. A good, fast read.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 10-15,000 words

Review: False Dawn by D.V. Berkom

2026-08-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Thriller

Description:

“She thought the mission was about protecting a defector. She was wrong.

Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Reynolds thought she was prepared for anything. But when her close protection team is wiped out in a surgical ambush, she realizes she’s been caught in a game much bigger than she imagined.

As Mac digs deeper into who wanted the defector silenced—and why—she uncovers a global conspiracy tied to black ops missions, encrypted intelligence, and a man she thought she’d lost: her father.

To expose the truth, Mac must navigate a deadly web of espionage, betrayal, and buried secrets—with the help of a journalist whose personal mission might just get them both killed.”

Author:

For more, visit her website.

Appraisal:

After reading the first few pages of this book I said to myself, “this is off to an intense start.” It turns out that it was just ramping up and relative to where things go from there it wasn’t so intense after all. The protagonist, Mackenzie, or Mac as she is known, is a strong female who gets things done, something that I know to expect when I read a book by D.V. Berkom and one of the reasons I always jump at the chance to read her books. Mac is a new character, but this book is the first of a planned trilogy, so I expect to see her kicking some butt (that has it coming) in some fashion again. As intense as this read was and how much it impacted Mac in many ways, both professionally and personally, this is the perfect read if you enjoy intensity in the stories you read. If you’re looking to relax, maybe not, although even then you can be glad that you’re not dealing with things as stressful as Mac does.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Review: Double Walk by Melissa Bowersock

2026-08-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Paranormal Mystery

Description:

“Talk about a double whammy. An executive jet is subjected to two catastrophic events in a row, and has now gone missing. Daniel and Dakota, vacationing in Fiji, find a floating object that Daniel feels came from that plane. The authorities might be interested, but not when they hear about Daniel’s psychic source. In the meantime, half a world away, Sam and Lacey are confronted with a case unlike anything they’ve ever encountered, another double whammy. As they work to tease out the reasons behind multiple ghosts attached to an ordinary housewife, the answers they uncover are too incredible to believe.”

Author:

For more visit Ms.Bowersock’s website and follow her on Facebook.

Appraisal:

This being named double has more than one reason for its name (at least two, to double up on the doubles). One of them is explained in the description. We actually have two mysteries that are resolved in this book. One of them by Sam Firecloud’s son, Daniel, who has the same ability to communicate with spirits caught between this plain and the next one as his dad. Daniel teams up with his brand new bride while they’re on their honeymoon, just to spice things up a bit. The second mystery is one that Sam and Lacey deal with that fits the normal high level storyline of the other fifty plus books in this series in some ways and in others really changes things up a bit. I’ll say that we’ve got a bonus double plus another bonus that is much bigger than that when compared to the normal cases that Sam and Lacey deal with. As always it was a fast and fun read that kept me guessing and buying into some supernatural stuff that I’d never go for in real life. Every time I read a book in this series I immediately start eagerly anticipating the next, but loving the read I just finished.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

Review: Seeing Sunny Again by Paul Clayton

2026-08-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:

Seventeen short stories that take a critical look at what life is like for an average middle class American these days.

Author:

The author of several books over the years ranging from short story collections to novels and genres from historical to fantasy and science fiction.

Appraisal:

A collection of short stories that have the common thread of featuring normal everyday people dealing with the kinds of issues that any of us might have to deal with at some time in our life. Odds of at least a few of the stories feeling like it could have been you or at least a friend or family member is there. But, like with any good story, most of them pulled me in wondering what was going to happen to the protagonist of the story and how their current situation was going to work out. I like to read a short story collection once in a while to add a little variety to my reading diet and this one did the trick well.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and mildly adult situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Review: Running From Herself by April Tompkins

2026-08-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Coming of Age/Contemporary Fiction

Description:

“Leah Branch just wanted the noise to stop. After years of watching her band splinter, she welcomes the quiet of Chance, Wyoming. Working shifts at the local saloon, she finally finds a rhythm she can live with—steady work, honest friends, and a shared connection with a local singer named Jared. For the first time in years, she feels safe.

But music has a way of pulling you back.

When a desperate choice to save the saloon forces Leah back onto the stage, a chance encounter changes everything. Suddenly, Nashville wants her. Still reeling from her fractured romance with Jared, Leah takes the leap, viewing the contract as her escape hatch.

Instead, it becomes her cage.

The label doesn’t want Leah's raw, acoustic soul; they want a polished product they can sell. Piece by piece, they dismantle her life. They swap her boots for heels, trade her honest songs for studio-engineered pop, and strip away her actual name.

Now, standing on the edge of a stardom she never asked for, Leah is a ghost to herself. With the industry tightening its grip, she has to decide: keep playing a part that is killing her soul or risk everything to reclaim her voice and find her way home.”

Author:

“April Tompkins is a professional daydreamer, author, and musician who has been spinning tales since she was a kid roaming rural Minnesota farm roads. A former North Dakota prairie girl, she now writes contemporary fiction about complex characters that take a little coaxing to reveal their true stories. She is the author of thirteen books, including the hit Running From Herself, and is a singer-songwriter with thousands of Spotify streams. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and her delightfully chunky cat, Sasha.”

Appraisal:

A fun and engaging read with a protagonist. Leah, that was likeable and as a reader I wanted to see succeed, which kept me engaged from cover to cover. If you pay any attention to the music business and what it takes to make a living in it, the story here feels all too real as Leah struggles to make it as well as dealing with the kinds of regular life issues that complicate things for most of us from time to time. How or if things were going to work out was up in the air and constantly changing in my mind which kept me reading, pulling for Leah the whole time.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 110-115,00 words

Review: The Feathered Tree by Allan Frewin Jones

2026-08-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Description:

Polly, a teenage girl – restless of spirit as, surely, are they all – is something of a loner, living with her feisty, luthier gran on the edge of Exmoor in Devon, father working ‘overseas’. She tells her troubles to “Tree” - a beech she can see from her bedroom window.

One night it is cut down. Polly is sure it has been done deliberately, out of spite, and that she knows who did it.

Thereafter malice and the nearby ancient sacred wildwoods aroused by the death of the beech, combine to put Polly in real and increasing danger. As she struggles to understand what is going on she begins to change from child to woman.

Yet more of Polly’s senses are awakened when she meets someone who might become special to her, in more ways than one.

Author:

Allan Frewin Jones has been writing fantasy since he was nine, and a professional author in the genre for around 40 years. He has a substantial back catalogue, if you find this one a good read.

Appraisal:

Interwoven with what it may or may not mean to harm a tree, and what may or may not be unleashed when you do, are several other strands. Frewin Jones explores what it is like to be on the outside looking in – something which happens to us all at least occasionally. He weaves in how creativity may be a balm for the soul and bring purpose, how carelessly humans are despoiling the only planet we have, how meat and game animals may feel about their slaughter. Such themes might make the book feel more worthy than entertaining. But Frewin Jones brings light and shade to each short chapter, and has a writing style which enables him to present even heavy material with a light, witty hand. He writes beautifully about that super-sensitive first love that can never be experienced again. It is, indeed, a lot of plot in a short book. The threads are cleverly twisted together and the ending is neat but far from trite.

This is a book for young adults, but does not pull its punches on that account. Adult themes are explored, violence is … violent. Tension and pace never flag.

If you like your fantasy grounded in the earth beneath your feet rather than spattered with odd made-up names and magic swords, then I recommend this to you.

The hundred year old tree cut down in Sycamore Gap, near Hadrian’s Wall, on the border between England and Scotland in 2023 inspired this story. The event is infamous in Britain. That sycamore tree was a famous and beloved landmark, and almost everyone who went to see it, or hiked past it, took a picture of it. It has a Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Gap_tree

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reviewer copy.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Review: La Petite Mort by Mark Coker

2026-08-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopian

Description:

“The year is 2043, and simple pleasures are hard to come by.

America struggles to recover following the Rare Earth Wars and decades of political turmoil.

A new invention out of Silicon Valley promises to bring safe and affordable pleasure to the masses. Days before the device enters manufacturing, a dangerous bug escapes that could bring the nation to its knees.”

Author:

“When Mark Coker’s not traveling, hiking, gardening, working his day job, or caring for his pet chickens and pure-bred homing pigeons, he enjoys writing short stories that shine light on modern day dystopias.”

“Mark is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and patent-holding inventor best known as the founder of Smashwords, the pioneering publishing company he founded in 2007 that helped catalyze the self-publishing revolution. Smashwords merged with Draft2Digital in 2022 where Mark now serves as Chief Strategy Officer and board member.”

Appraisal:

An interesting read. Sure, it takes place almost 20 years in the future, but in many ways it feels like the US. It and much of the world has gone down a slippery slope that our current leader and the billionaire class seem to want to happen. In fact, we’ve got at least one businessman who plays a big role who seems to take the same approach to things as a current leader in the US. The end result for his followers, well, it feels good for a while, but you’ll have to check out this quick read to find out what happens in the end. Ultimately a humorous, but thought-provoking read, for those who are capable of thought, of course.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and while not very explicit, adult subjects do come up in the story.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 18-19,000 words

Reprise Review: Every Wind of Change (Paths of Shadow Book 3) by Frank Tuttle

2026-08-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Epic Fantasy/Magic/Young Adult/Sci-Fi/Adventure

Description:

“Mage Meralda’s perilous airship journey across the vast Great Sea made her a hero.

Her discovery of the Arc may doom her world.

The Arc, a mysterious metal structure hanging ten thousand feet above the stormy Sea, is singing. Tasked by the King to decipher the Arc’s strange song, Meralda discovers plans for an outlandish machine hidden in the song’s mathematical lyrics.

With sharp-tongued vegetable familiar Mug at her side, Meralda embarks on an unexpected journey across the void. Together they face ravenous beasts, ancient engines, and the most diabolical creature of all – Meralda's own long-lost mother.

With nothing but her wits, her Sight, and her determination to return home and find a decent cup of coffee, Meralda vows to lead her tiny band to safety. But her long journey home also means facing an old sorrow, and a singularly unpleasant truth.

As monsters close in, can Meralda prevail where thousands before her failed and perished?”

Author:

“Frank Tuttle lives and writes in the perpetually humid wilderness of North Mississippi. Frank tried to be a proper Southern author and write about pickups and hound dogs, but trolls and magic kept creeping into his stories, so Frank is a fantasy author. Although hounds do make occasional appearances in his fiction.”

To learn more about Frank Tuttle you can check out his website and of course you may also friend Mr. Tuttle on Facebook.

Appraisal:

While this series, Paths of Shadow, has always had an element of steampunk and magic in its world, Every Wind of Change jumps into the realm of Sci-Fi after the “event.” Sorry, I got a little ahead of myself there. Meralda has been assigned, by the King of Tirlin, to decipher the sounds the mysterious Arc is emitting. He also bestows a pay raise and a promotion to Tirlin’s Secret Service. Her new boss is none other than Mrs. Primsbite. To put a cherry on top of it all, Meralda’s long-absent mother reappears and insists on insinuating herself, and her little dog too, into her daughter’s life again. Donchen attempts to arbitrate between mother and daughter, to Meralda’s dismay.

While Meralda is attempting to decipher the Arcs complicated song, King Yvin insists on seeing her results so far. Meralda has to oblige with an incomplete work. Unbeknownst to all, this exhibition initiates a standard tripping wheel transport protocol from the Arc bringing forth the “event” that hurls Meralda, Donchen, Mug, Meralda’s mother, and Mrs. Primsbite (Oh, and I mustn’t forget Nameless and Faceless in crow form as well.) into the embattled Hub of the Arc which is located in the void. Luckily our small band is befriended by an unusual robot named Skoof, who knows the Arc well and assists finding them a safe place to hide from giant carnivorous cockroaches, called Mags who are well aware of their arrival, before they can formulate a way home without magic.

The plot is cleverly crafted and engaging with twists and turns of the outlandish storyline, since they are all out of their element I found that fitting. The dialogues are intelligent, cunning, and witty. New characters are introduced who I hope to see more of in the next book. The scenery and surroundings are well described, which place the reader right beside the characters. The ending is epic and a lot more far-reaching than I was expecting. Meralda’s mother also gains a new larger pet, which fits her well. Readers will also be pleased that Mr. Reardon, mother’s ankle-biter, is still with her as well. Don’t miss this new addition to Meralda and Mug’s adventure.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

Every Wind of Change is the third book in a planned four book series from Mr. Tuttle’s, Paths of Shadow. Each book stands alone. However I have enjoyed watching each character’s growth as the series continues. The first book of the series is All the Paths of Shadow, followed by All the Turns of Light.

Format/Typo Issues:

I did find a small number of proofing issues, nothing that threw me out of the story.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

Review: The Serial Killer’s Fiancée by Beth Orsoff

2026-07-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

Genre: Legal Thriller

Description:

“She dedicated her life to locking up criminals. Now she’s engaged to one. From a bestselling suspense author comes a twisting story of love, law, and lethal deception.

Stella Brant, single mother, U.S. Attorney, and soon-to-be-bride, is used to controlled chaos. When she races to join her colleagues in the Moakley Courthouse conference room her only concern is making it to the meeting on time. The room is packed and everyone is staring up at the perp walk on TV.

The police finally caught the Lady Killer, the man who’s been terrorizing the women of Boston for the last six months. The press shout questions. The perp lifts his head. And Stella’s world implodes.

The police made a mistake. Stella knows this in her bones. Her fiancé cannot possibly be the Lady Killer. But Stella’s goal, her true belief, her north star has always been to obtain justice. That’s why she became a prosecutor. Now that belief is put to the ultimate test.

How far is Stella willing to go to see that justice is served?”

Author:

The author of thirteen books that vary from romantic comedy to suspense and now a legal thriller, Beth Orsoff has a long history as an author. She’s an attorney in Los Angeles and a mother, but finds enough spare time to write books too. For more, visit her website or you can check out the interview she did for this book blog in ancient times (aka 2012).

Appraisal:

The first paragraph, really just the first line, of this book pulled me in and never let go. It’s been a long time since I read a book that captured me so quickly and I hated to put down. I started it while on an extended road trip and found myself reading it every chance I got from lunch time at some fast-food joint or my motel at night when I should have been sleeping. I had opinions as to whether the fiancé would turn out to be a killer or not from that first paragraph too, but that opinion kept waffling as Stella dug into the details on her own and as a reader I observed what was going on. The thrills and suspense of a thriller are here. We’ve also got some legal things thrown in which are never too complicated for an average person to understand, but for someone like me who likes to say that he’s not an attorney although he sometimes plays one on the internet it just adds that more good spice to the story and makes it seem even more real. I wish every book I read was as engaging as this one. If you like legal thrillers checking this one out is a no-brainer.

Buy now from: Amazon US Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and mild adult content.

Format/Typo Issues:

While review is based on an advance reviewer copy it appear that there are no significant issues here.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words