Review: A Dark Mind

A Dark Mind by T.R. Ragan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Amazon-Prime-Lending (one book per month, this is for November 2014).
Thought about DNFing, but managed to finish it.
There are several interesting stories, but interwoven in an unnecessary complicated way, with flashbacks and the current stories.
In the end, all parts where concluded, and what I really liked, not all neat and clean.
But the problem I had with the book (and which I also saw reflected in some other reviews, maybe influencing me), there where to many parts.
It is a fast read, and you should not really stop (which I did), or maybe take notes. For the Kindle, X-ray is active and it should have helped, but did nothing for me, to many names, to many stories, to many cases and not all really interesting.
The romance was ok, not drawn out, but also no sex-scenes, rather a "when will this case be over, so we can have sex again", probably happening after the book, off-page/print?!
Also the character I like most is Haley, which is a minor character. Lizzy (the main heroine in the book) was a bit much, with her background story and while I can understand her, I think she is not a good P.I. and should consider a different job. Jessica I could not dig it all, she wants to be a Profiler, but sounds like she should be an accountant, chained to to 9to5 desktop-job. As a Profiler (read books from [a:John E. Douglas|54208|John E. Douglas|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-3fbaf32fc1fc48e6ffaf3f63a026f0ff.png]) she would do much more fieldwork than now, and she does not like it, nor is she too good at doing research, easily trumped by Haley.

The 3 stars given are solid, not rounded up or down, but also I cannot honestly recommend this to anyone. Having not paid for it helps, I cannot set a price value I consider right. In all probability I will sometime read another book by her to see wether it is better or not.



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Review: The Lost Island: A Gideon Crew Novel

The Lost Island: A Gideon Crew Novel by Douglas Preston

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Over the top action and a retelling of Homer's Odyssey (I do not consider that a spoiler!) did not save the book.
The duo authors entertain, but it would have been better with less action and more real discoveries and people.
The 3 stars are rounded up, more like 2.5 stars the book deserves. Regarding that the Gideon Crew books where always not as good as the Pendergast-Series, and even there I found the last few sorely lacking (Nazis? for real?), I think they have lost it. The next book by them, White Fire, is already on my new Kindle Voyage, but I will read other books first.
Not recommended.



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Review: Brilliance

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Amazon-Prime-Lending (one book per month, this is for September 2014), so did not buy it. Read other books which interested me more, in between so I did not finish it in September and had to struggle to finish it on the last day (Halloween, October 31st).
While the book is straight forward, it reminds me of a John Brunner Novel like Stand On Zanzibar or The Shockwave Rider or a film by Paul Verhoeven like Robocop or Totall Recall. Like these books&films there are short fake news and short ads for fake books. But unlike Brunner, there is only one story, and with only few twists, the main one I guessed early on - what would happen to the hero and John Smith, so I do not count that as a spoiler, I will not go into details.
Around the time after 60% (train-platform / meeting Shannon) the search for John Smith began and the book started to drag for me, I had trouble to get over that point, guessing how it might play out, not in detail - that was nicely done and very well written, saved this book getting 3.5 rounded to 3 stars. In some places it gets 4.5 stars, but as a whole and for being predictable (nearly from the beginning) 4 stars it is.
Recommended to fans of a believable alternative future, where in the past 9/11 has not happened, instead, part of population was gifted.
I will certainly read at some point the next book in the series (probably all, but the third is not published yet).



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Review: Stolen

Stolen by Allison Brennan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Not enough Twists for a 5 star, but still good, 4.5, rounded to 4 stars.
For me, with not too much romance, a short non-kinky sex-scene and the story about hacking and b&e in highly secured buildings, just my kind of story. Could even had more detailed descriptions of the tech, but ok.
In the end not enough surprises and twists to warrant 5 stars, still, highly recommended and I think so far the best one in the series.



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Review: Reckless

Reckless by Allison Brennan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Reading the beginning of Stolen, the next real book in the Lucy Kinkaid-Series, I thought I missed some storyline.
Through Fictfact.com (strong suggestion to all readers of Series register there for the easy following of Series) I found out, that I missed a Novella.
Usually I am reluctant to buy that, if it is too pricey - and this one was over my self-set-barrier of 1 Eur, but I caved and bought it nonetheless.
Just a strong suggestion: Novellas should be a cheap teaser and cost 0.89 Eur or just 1 Us$ - or be entirely free.
Or there should be a collection if a series is closed of all short stories and novellas - but also cheap.

Highly recommended before reading stolen, nice short read, before reading Stolen, the next full book in the series, I think it helps with some background but is not essential.



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Review: Stalked

Stalked by Allison Brennan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



As usual a fast read, true page-turner.
A little romance, but not too much, one side-story-romance was a bit much for me, but it is not clear, how it will play out in the next books (Suzanne/Joe). One short non-kinky (read boring) sex-scene.
The books is up-to-date with tech like surveillance and computers, does not go too much into details but never feels invented or over-top.
No real twists.
Still, I like the style, and recommend it to fans of the series and the writer. Should finish other books first, but just felt like reading this first.
And instantly bough her next book (Stolen) and started it.




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Review: Ghost Country

Ghost Country by Patrick Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Lots of action, but also in between a few things to think about.
Not much to add, read my review of the first book, sorry for that.
Will probably write a longer review of the third book Deep Sky - (Travis Chase, #3) Patrick Lee.
Highly recommended, fast-page-turner.



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