Mailbox
Monday is a weekly meme started by Marcia at Mailbox Monday in which
bloggers can ramble on about the books they received/bought/stole over a given
week. Each month a new blogger hosts the meme, and this month it’s Lori’s Reading Corner.
We got quite
a few books for review this week, so let’s can the jibber jabber and get down
to business.
--- The Books ---
The
Witches of Jericho by Sam Hammack – The Witches of Jericho is the first in the four-part Edenwitch series
set in a fantastic world known as Eden—but it’s not the Eden of Genesis. Not by a long shot. It’s a fantasy/paranormal/steampunk-ish type
world with Victorian-era technology (think steam power and locomotives) and
witches. In this world, witches have
been hunted nearly to extinction, and those that are left fight tooth and nail
for their own survival. At the same
time, explorers search for a way through what is known as the “Eastern Edge”
into another world, and a new railroad under construction will unite the land
like never before. Most disturbing of
all, the Devil (yeah, that old coot) tempts Eve (don’t ask, ‘cos I don’t know)
with the device of knowledge and power as he plots his escape from the Land
Beyond Eden. I don’t know what half of
that stuff means, but it sounds cool as hell.
If all this has piqued your interest, learn more at edenwitch.com.
Dillinger
by Jack Higgins – If you don’t know much about John Dillinger, it’s
safe to say you’ve at least heard of him.
He was a notorious outlaw and bank robber who operated in the depression-era
Midwest .
He was called “Public Enemy Number One” by J. Edgar Hoover, and his
multiple prison escapes inspired the name of the band Dillinger Escape Plan. Dillinger
is a fictionalized account of the months following John Dillinger’s 1934 prison
escape. How he spent his time during
these months has always been hazy for historians, and there were Dillinger
sightings in all corners of the U.S. ,
which has lead to speculation about what really happened. Jack Higgins’ 1983 novel cashes in on this speculation,
imagining Dillinger as having fled to Mexico to escape the heat from the
law. Higgins’ book follows Dillinger as
he navigates a land full of corrupt federales, savage Indian tribes, devious
banditos, and one Mexican robber baron hell bent on mastering the notorious
outlaw. The book was republished in 2010
by Open Road Media (whom I
love). I got my copy as an audio book
from my local library.
The
Wicked Wives by Gus Pelagatti – Gus Pelagatti, a lawyer by
trade, has penned a novelization of a fascinating and gruesome event in local
Philadelphian history. The native
Pennsylvanian tells the story of the 1938 Philadelphia
poisoning scandals in which 17 women were arrested for poisoning their
spouses for insurance money. The novel
follows the Philadelphia
district attorney as he starts the prosecution of the wives accused of
poisoning their husbands. The
twist? All of the women have been having
affairs with the same man, a local tailor and womanizer who hides a dark
secret. The Wicked Wives may not be 100% historically accurate, but it
sticks pretty close to the real events.
And from what I can tell so far, Pelagatti does a great job of bringing
these historical events to life. For
more info, check out the author’s website, guspelagatti.com.
Blood Money by Doug Richardson – For a
writer you’ve probably never heard of, Doug Richardson has a pretty stellar
resume. He was a screenwriter in Hollywood for a while—wrote
the screenplays for a couple little movies called Die Harder and Bad Boys. More recently, he wrote the screenplay for
the movie Hostage. And now that he’s writing books, he’s got four
titles under his belt—thrillers, all of them.
Blood Money is set to be released in April of 2013 (which is why I don’t
have an Amazon link for the book). It’s
the tale of a former marine who concocts a plan to steal a truckload of frozen
blood product and sell it for a million dollars. But in the process he manages to kill a bunch
of people, and a county sheriff’s detective’s brother is among those
killed. The detective, Lucas Dey, goes
after his brother’s killer, but the plot is further complicated by a
knee-breaking private detective, the feds, an LAPD detective tasked with
babysitting Dey, and an entertainment mogul whose daughter has just been
murdered. Like I said, complicated—but promising. Very, very promising. Check out Doug’s work at www.dougrichardson.com.
Kaleidoscope
World by Tomica Scavina – A collector of kaleidoscopes and lousy
relationships, Dahlia Kasper leaves her possessive alcoholic mother and moves
from New York to Barcelona . In search of lost bits of her
childhood, she starts living in an apartment where her father was murdered when
she was four. As soon as she enters the apartment, strange things begin to
happen. Her favorite kaleidoscope
becomes a gateway to another dimension where she encounters a ghost of a famous
physicist from the 19th century who tries to persuade her that reality is like
a moth-eaten sweater - full of holes. He needs her to help him plug up these
holes and save the world from vanishing, while the only thing Dahlia really
wants to save is her sanity. I
love “trippy” novels that distort the line between sanity and insanity, and Kaleidoscope World looks like it’s right
up my alley. For more info about the
author, visit tomicascavina.com.
And now
that we’ve shown you ours, it’s time to show us yours. What did you get
in your mailbox this week?
They all look good, especially The Witches of Jericho series. Happy reading :)
ReplyDeleteThank you ma'am. And the same to you as well.
DeleteYou always have a great Mailbox Monday images! Enjoy your books!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pat. I do try!
DeleteI LOVED THE WICKED WIVES. It is a bit on the sexy side, but it is sooooooooooo good. Enjoy it and your other books.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My Mailbox Monday
I think all of these are new to me. Enjoy!
ReplyDelete2 Kids and Tired Books MM