Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Silent Came the Monster by Amy Hill Hearth

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Silent Came the Monster by Amy Hill Hearth:   Reviewed by Jeanne   The summer of 1916 was hot—very hot.   Those who could afford it left the cities and headed for the mountains or ...

FFB Review: Tilt A Whirl: The John Ceepak Mysteries Book 1 by Chris Grabenstein

Sea Haven, New Jersey is an eighteen mile long barrier island consisting of motels, beach houses, bait shops, etc. For twenty-four year old Danny Boyle it is home and he works part time as an unarmed summer cop who helps with the influx of tourists in the muggy summer months. He just never expected to work a murder scene.

 

But, that is exactly what quickly happens because Danny also serves as the driver for John Ceepak. Ceepak used to be a military policeman, spent time in Iraq, and has been forced to deal with some really bad guys on more than one occasion. War is hell and Ceepak has lived it and has the memories. Ceepak is the man you want to follow into battle and is the man you want on your side. He lives by “The Code” that few these days can understand let alone follow.

 

The blonde girl, about thirteen years old, wearing a blood soaked dress and screaming as she comes up an avenue towards The Pancake Palace early one morning is a reminder that few live by Ceepak’s code. She is Ashley Hart, the daughter of Reginald and Betty Hall Heart. Betty Hall used to be on the local TV as the bubbly weather person. Reginald Hart was a businessman and real estate developer who did some rather unorthodox things and was very wealthy. Now, he is very dead having been gunned down on the Tilt-A-Whirl ride while sitting next to his daughter. The fact that the ride at the Sunnyside Play Land wasn’t even open yet this Saturday morning isn’t going to matter to the media or scared tourists. The fact that a crazed killer is wandering around the area is a chamber of commerce disaster and Chief Cosgrove wants it solved fast. He puts Ceepak and by extension his driver, Boyle, on the case. Murder is just the start of a twisting tale that ultimately leads to a horrifying conclusion.

 

Told at a fast pace, this is a read that quickly pulls the reader into the quirks of location and character. Both elements quickly come to life for the reader as back story is skillfully woven into dialogue and the occasional flashback. In a departure from most mysteries, the story is told in the first person from the Danny Boyle’s perspective while the real protagonist is Ceepak. This allows readers to get deeper into the Ceepak character because he is being observed while also getting a good idea of Danny’s character. It also works with the other characters that are never cardboard cutouts and instead are usually realistic and sometimes a bit quirky.

 

As some have noted, the cover does not remotely do justice to the book. Hot pink in background the cover prominently features a rollercoaster and not the ride depicted in the book. Though, there is a rollercoaster ride at the mythical Sunnyside Play Land so there is a vague link. While the design created by Michael Fusco seems very wrong, it does bring glances and inquires from folks when the book is out in public. More than one neighbor came over to see what I was working on now because they had spotted the cover as I sat reading on my apartment porch. Sometimes they came over at the most inopportune times.

 

The bottom line here is this is a book that fires on all cylinders and takes the reader on a very good ride. Sometimes funny, sometimes dark, this is a novel that quickly becomes riveting and one of the best I have read in a very long time. Start of a series, this is a very good one and a book you simply have to read.

 

Book provided by the author in exchange for my objective review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2009, 2016, 2021

Guest Reviewer John Stickney Reviews Bad Boy Boogie by Thomas Pluck

A taste of Cajun revenge served up hot in New Jersey

Bad Boy Boogie (featuring Jay Demarteaux) by Thomas Pluck  

Down and Out Books

March 20, 2017

“You’re an animal.  A hate machine.  Killing’s all you’re good at.  Aim you at something and you tear it apart, don’t find nothing but shreds in your teeth…”

“Reckon so.”  The corner of Jay’s mouth curled…

Sentenced to life as a teenager for killing the school bully, twenty-five years in, Jay Demarteaux is released to civilian life.  He returns to the scene of his crime and the crimes which led to it, Nutley, New Jersey.  His mission, first to find his family and then to attend to some righteous revenge.  Righteous, you may ask.  Pluck answers that question with a novel full of disturbing flashbacks of child molestation, sexualized teen bullying and assault, and rape/sodomy, silences and cover-ups.  This material is handled in a thoughtful, non-exploitive manner.  The consequences of the abuse are graphically illustrated with broken damaged lives.  Some people, as Demarteaux believes, just deserve to be killed. 

Thomas Pluck is an action writer, fight scenes, break ins and car chases are rendered with believable cinematic precision.  He also keeps a sense of humor about things, it is not all darkness.  Whether describing a mobster – “Dante Mastino had hound-dog eyes, a forehead that recalled Easter Island moai, and hands fit for scooping gravel pits.  His hand-tailored suit hung off him like cave bear pelts.” Or thoughts on a high school reunion, “They say it gets better,” Brendan said, eyeing the room. “That’s a load of shit. It gets bitter, if anything. You get used to it. Most people turn into bigger versions of the little assholes they were in school.”  In another instance, his characters consciously recall the Blues Brothers while they rip up a country club with their vehicles.  It is not a linear story but as told we see Demarteaux as an exploited child, as a fall guy induced like many juveniles to confess with false promises, a fresh fish in prison guided and educated by an older con, after release, used by the mob and his former girlfriend, and hunted by corrupt police and a powerful politician. Armed with his father’s Vietnam era Hatchet and a Case Rebone Trapper, Jay Demarteaux sets out to make things right.

Plucks writing has an edge of artful realism, when he makes you laugh and when he makes the reader cringe.  If you are a fan of AC/DC, you are doubly lucky.  Bad Boy Boogie is further proof that Thomas Pluck is the real deal.

This book was received from Down and Out Books via NetGalley for review.

John Stickney ©2017

John Stickney is a writer formerly from Cleveland, Ohio now residing in North Carolina.  His fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Demolition, Needle, among others.

FFB Review: "Tilt A Whirl: The John Ceepak Mysteries Book 1" by Chris Grabenstein

Back in July 2009 in the dark ages of this blog I first told you about Tilt A Whirl: The John Ceepak Mysteries Book 1 by Chris Grabenstein. Mystery, humor, and more are at work in this book and series. For Friday’s Forgotten Books today hosted by Patti Abbott I remind you of this very good read and very good series.

Sea Haven, New Jersey is an eighteen mile long barrier island consisting of motels, beach houses, bait shops, etc. For twenty-four year old Danny Boyle it is home and he works part time as an unarmed summer cop who helps with the influx of tourists in the muggy summer months. He just never expected to work a murder scene.

But, that is exactly what quickly happens because Danny also serves as the driver for John Ceepak. Ceepak used to be a military policeman, spent time in Iraq, and has been forced to deal with some really bad guys on more than one occasion. War is hell and Ceepak has lived it and has the memories. Ceepak is the man you want to follow into battle and is the man you want on your side. He lives by “The Code” that few these days can understand let alone follow.

The blonde girl, about thirteen years old, wearing a blood soaked dress and screaming as she comes up an avenue towards The Pancake Palace early one morning is a reminder that few live by Ceepak’s code. She is Ashley Hart, the daughter of Reginald and Betty Hall Heart. Betty Hall used to be on the local TV as the bubbly weather person. Reginald Hart was a businessman and real estate developer who did some rather unorthodox things and was very wealthy. Now, he is very dead having been gunned down on the Tilt-A-Whirl ride while sitting next to his daughter. The fact that the ride at the Sunnyside Play Land wasn’t even open yet this Saturday morning isn’t going to matter to the media or scared tourists. The fact that a crazed killer is wandering around the area is a chamber of commerce disaster and Chief Cosgrove wants it solved fast. He puts Ceepak and by extension his driver, Boyle, on the case. Murder is just the start of a twisting tale that ultimately leads to a horrifying conclusion.

Told at a fast pace, this is a read that quickly pulls the reader into the quirks of location and character. Both elements quickly come to life for the reader as back story is skillfully woven into dialogue and the occasional flashback. In a departure from most mysteries, the story is told in the first person from the Danny Boyle’s perspective while the real protagonist is Ceepak. This allows readers to get deeper into the Ceepak character because he is being observed while also getting a good idea of Danny’s character. It also works with the other characters that are never cardboard cutouts and instead are usually realistic and sometimes a bit quirky.

As some have noted, the cover does not remotely do justice to the book. Hot pink in background the cover prominently features a rollercoaster and not the ride depicted in the book. Though, there is a rollercoaster ride at the mythical Sunnyside Play Land so there is a vague link. While the design created by Michael Fusco seems very wrong, it does bring glances and inquires from folks when the book is out in public. More than one neighbor came over to see what I was working on now because they had spotted the cover as I sat reading on my apartment porch. Sometimes they came over at the most inopportune times.

The bottom line here is this is a book that fires on all cylinders and takes the reader on a very good ride. Sometimes funny, sometimes dark, this is a novel that quickly becomes riveting and one of the best I have read in a very long time. Start of a series, this is a very good one and a book you simply have to read.

Book provided by the author in exchange for my objective review.



Kevin R. Tipple © 2009, 2016

Review: "The Fraud: A Carter Ross Mystery" by Brad Parks

The latest in the Carter Ross Mystery series finds investigative reporter Carter Ross nervously awaiting the birth of his first child. Thirty-three years old he is the investigative reporter for The Newark Eagle- Examiner. With more than a decade on the journalism beat, Carter Ross is all too aware that the newspaper industry is in crisis.

So too is the city of Newark, New Jersey, in some ways. Carjacking has always been a problem primarily because of the ease of access to the nearby port where a vehicle could easily disappear into a cargo container on an ocean bound ship. Such a common occurrence that the locals know not to stop for a red light in the middle of the night.  A white bank executive, Kevin Tieymeyer, seems to have forgotten that while driving his Jaguar. He is now dead as a result of the latest carjacking. Local media is all over the story and his paper has to cover it as well while also giving readers something different than what they are seeing on television or hearing on the radio.

His editor, Tina Thompson, (also the mother of his child to be) wants him to cover the story as well as expand the reporting.  Kevin Tiemeyer isn’t the only one to recently lose his life in a carjacking. Being rich and while does not mean his story is more important than the story of another victim and his grieving family. Carter Ross has a recent carjacking murder victim in mind and intends to develop backgrounds on the people involved in both cases and illustrate how economics and race does not play a role in being a victim.

That is if he can get the families and friends of the recently deceased to cooperate and he is allowed to focus on the story. That is if he isn’t sent off to do a feel good piece on a local charity. That is if Tina will keep him fully updated as to how the baby and her are doing by actually sharing information and not walling him off as is her tendency. Tina and Carter have a complicated relationship and have had for several books. Having a baby is not going to uncomplicated it.

What began with the award winning Faces of the Gone is still powerfully good four more books later. Complicated mysteries coupled with Carter Ross’ occasional cynical humor and observations on life as well as his life’s work make this series well worth the reading. While one could easily start here with The Fraud a lot of the nuance and side joke humor would be lost. Instead, work your way up from the beginning and get here when you can. It will be worth it. 

The Fraud: A Carter Ross Mystery

Brad Parks

http://www.bradparksbooks.com/
Thomas Dunne Books (Minotaur Books)
http://thomasdunnebooks.com/
2015
ISBN# 978-1-250-06440-0
Hardback
352 Pages
$25.99


Material provided by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2015

WELCOME TO HELL ~ by Glenn Walker: The Silverball Museum

WELCOME TO HELL ~ by Glenn Walker: The Silverball Museum: After seeing this place on the New Jersey episode of "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" (which we talked about on The GAR Podcas...

Via Bookblog of the Bristol Library: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich: Reviewed by Kristin Going back to the classics—well, the  Janet Evanovich classics anyway—is quite entertaining.   I rarely bu...

Review: "FREE FALL: A JOHN CEEPAK MYSTERY" by Chris Grabenstein

Scheduled to be released this May Free Fall: A John Ceepak Mystery takes readers back to “sunny, funderdull” Sea Heaven. Like the rest of the coastline nearby, the eighteen mile long barrier island that holds Sea Heaven, New Jersey, was seriously damaged by Hurricane Sandy last fall. The residents survived, rebuilt, and are more than ready to put the past behind them. It is June and that means the start of the tourists and the start of the summer season. It also means the past is never gone especially when the living remind Officer Danny Boyle of it.

Christine Lemonopolous easily reminds Danny of the past and it comes with pain. Back in the day she was good friends with Katie who was Danny’s love of his life until she was killed. Like a lot of the people Danny knew when he and Katie were together, he lost track of Christine.  Instead of being a nurse in a local hospital, these days Christine works as a home health care nurse for the elderly, disabled, and those who need her help. She struggles to make ends meet and relies on several jobs with living arrangements to barely get by.

She also is now going to rely on Danny and by extension John Ceepak to save her from an escalating legal situation. There is no question she was fighting the wealthy Shona Oppenheimer when police arrived on scene. The facts behind the situation and whether it truly was an assault are in question. It doesn’t help that Christine has a less than stellar mental health reputation these days; some of her patients have died in the past, and other issues.

This latest in the series is another fun read featuring Danny Boyle, John Ceepak, and others that readers know and love. As always multiple story lines are present here and include references to families and politics with much familial angst present. It wouldn’t be one of these mysteries without references to Ceepak’s rules, Bruce Springsteen, and a few other things. Free Fall: A John Ceepak Mystery is another fun read, on and off the boardwalk, and an excellent way to start the summer.

Reviewer Note:  Sharp eyed readers may note the brief mention of a very minor character by the name of “Kevin Tipple.” I had the honor of having my name selected by the author for his use as he saw fit in the book.  While the character and I share a name, we share nothing else in common and that very brief use did not impact this review.

FREE FALL: A JOHN CEEPAK MYSTERY

Chris Grabenstein

http://www.chrisgrabenstein.com

Pegasus Crime

http://www.pegasusbooks.us

Scheduled release May 2013

ISBN# 978-1-60598-475-9

Hardback

320 Pages

$25.00

ARC sent to me by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013

Market Call--Hurricane Sandy Anthology

I have seen Thomas Pluck talk about this on Facebook a couple of times when I briefly checked in online this week. Deadline is the 31st to contribute something to this anthology designed to raise funds in the wake of the horrible devastation. All the details are at http://www.ohsandybook.com/


Kevin

Review: "FUN HOUSE: A JOHN CEEPAK MYSTERY" by Chris Grabenstein

The last thing police officers Danny Boyle and his partner wanted to be were some kind of celebrity jokes. However, thanks to the alcoholic fueled antics of contestants in a The Jersey Shore type reality show that is what they have become. Thanks to a recent widely publicized incident Ceepak and Boyle have not only been on television, but now also have the T-shirts to prove it.

It has also brought them to the attention of the show’s producer Marty Mandrake. Seeking to make his version of good TV while keeping his stars out of trouble, he wants Ceepak and Boyle to head up the security detail. Not only are the contestants clearly a danger to themselves and others as the court charges that will be filed after the show is over make clear, they are also in danger from an outside threat. At least one of the contestants apparently is taking anabolic steroids and is getting them from a very bad guy nicknamed “Skeletor.”

For roughly the last two years Ceepak and the Sea Haven Police Department, as well as a joint federal and state task force have been trying to capture Skeletor. So far he has proved elusive as well almost killing Ceepak and Boyle last summer. Skeletor is a much bigger deal than some punks on a stupid television show so Ceepak and Boyle agree to do what the TV producer Mandrake wants. That also keeps the Mayor and others happy. Ratings will soar, tourism will increase, and dollars will flow into city coffers.

Nobody expected that a couple of murders would happen too.

This is the seventh novel in a good series that is stylistically a bit different from the earlier books.  Officer Danny Boyle is older now and the books, told from his point of view, reflect that older adult viewpoint. Boyle has lost loved ones, seen others die, and isn’t the happy part time summer cop that he was when the series started. As a result, there is far less humor in this book though there are some very funny parts regarding the reality TV show industry and those involved.

Unlike earlier books in the series, foul and very graphic language is highly prevalent here. Not just among the reality show contestants but also with numerous other characters. Just like some folks in real life, many characters in FUN HOUSE seem to have no ability to say anything without graphic and coarse language. The use of the language really stands out in this novel as it hasn’t reached anywhere close to this level before.

Despite the issue with the language FUN HOUSE: A JOHN CEEPAK MYSTERY is another solidly good read.  It deals with some strong themes in both the main storyline and the secondary one and deals with them well. While the young fun loving Danny Boyle of the series is long gone, this Danny Boyle is still pretty good though not quite nearly as laugh out loud fun. You can’t undo the march of time as Danny Boyle knows very well.

FUN HOUSE: A JOHN CEEPAK MYSTERY

Chris Grabenstein

http://www.chrisgrabenstein.com

Pegasus Crime

http://www.pegasusbooks.us

May 2012

ISBN# 978-1-60598-336-3

Hardback

296 Pages

$25.00

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System. Again this year the summer reading challenge for adults and kids is now underway. For more information go to

http://www.plano.gov/Departments/Libraries/Pages/default.aspx

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

Reviewing: "Faces Of The Gone" by Brad Parks

Newark, New Jersey has seen senseless killings before. But, the latest is a new low and one made to order for media sensationalism. Four victims, each shot in the head, are left on public display in a vacant lot. The television media, always quick to go with visuals over story depth, quickly tag the victims as “The Ludlow Four.”

Carter Ross, an investigative reporter with the newspaper Newark Eagle-Examiner, is supposed to take a different tack to the story. Instead of profiling the victims like a couple of other reporters at his newspaper are doing, his editor wants him to take a look at why the killings happened. More of the societal angle with a focus on how society needs to change to prevent such a needless tragedy.

The police are putting out for public consumption that the four recently robbed a local bar and were killed as retaliation. Ross is able to slowly identify all four victims and realizes that they came from varied walks of walk, far different parts of the city, and gradually comes to the realization that the explanation generated by the Police doesn’t make sense. In digging into their backgrounds, Ross not only proves the bar theory wrong, he proves that a theory advanced by the feds doesn’t work either.

The search for the common link between the four murder victims and the truth drives the events of the novel. A novel that occasionally, as all crime/mystery books and a majority of thrillers seem to do these days, shifts into the point of view of the demented mastermind behind all the killings. Something that this reader is very tired of and yet, as long as all the writer advice out there seems to encourage the practice, the annoyance will continue.

Other than those weak moments which border on the clichéd (the name of the evil master mind is laughably named “The Director” for goodness sake) the novel rolls steadily along with a cast of somewhat over the top characters who are allowed to grow far from their stereotyped beginnings. That fact, along with an interesting central character in Carter Ross, plenty of humor and action make this a highly enjoyable debut mystery. The ending is a little too rushed and our hero is easily saved by outside forces and yet the overall read is good one.


Faces Of The Gone: A Mystery
Brad Parks
http://www.bradparksbooks.com/
Thomas Dunne Books (Minotaur Books)
http://thomasdunnebooks.com/
2009
ISBN# 978-0-312-57477-2
Hardback
330 Pages
$23.99


Material provided by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.


Kevin R. Tipple © 2010