Review: Sündige Opfer: Sex & Crime 3

Sündige Opfer: Sex & Crime 3 by Harry Hold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

German, felt too short, I read in 2-3 hours.
Also, as in most of the other books, some things where just too unbelievable.
The strong 4 star entry with the second book in this series (I read most out of order) looks like an exception.
Main reason for buying this was, that the price sank from 4.99 to 2.49 Eur, which also feels much more in line for me regarding the reading time (roughly 1 Eur/hour).


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Review: Descent

Descent by Celina Grace
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Received this as an ARC from the author for an honest review.
This is a short novella, so as expected a fast read, can be read in an afternoon.
Reading time displayed by my Kindle is off, I think it displayed 17 min. reading time left, as I had the story finished. The reason for this is, there are quite a few 2-3 page-previews in the book, I think seven or more. Which is too many and not enough reading material even for teasers, 2 longer previews would have been enough - and I had already read some of the books, so I did not even skim the previews.
For a short story (novella?) this could have been easily 4 stars - but again Kate's too meek as a heroine for me, and her situation as it was in the last book does not really get better. On a personal level she can not decide to talk with her lover about all her problems and fears to clearly commit herself. This is true both in her personal life and in her job.
Both take a little turn in the end, but by his action and suggestion, not by deciding for herself. Without him she would be indecisive and fret about more about these decisions, as she does during part of the story.
The case gets solved by a gut-feeling, and then by a little added police-work to prove that gut-feeling - not enough real work, and forcing a confession, while the scene is well written, it was not really satisfying - which Kate reflects on, so ok, even she thinks that was not really a solved case with a clear villain, leaving only a destroyed family and losers in the end.

While part of this too long review might read like I should have given 4 stars, I still think, 3 stars solid for this, also it is too short to think longer about it.
As I got it free for a review, and I think it is not yet published, the question is, how much the price will be, and will it be worth it, sorry to say, but even if you like the Kate Redman series, beware not to pay too much for it. For teaser for next book it should be given away.

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Review: Perverse Opfer: Sex & Crime 2

Perverse Opfer: Sex & Crime 2 by Harry Hold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Read this in German (my first language), this is not translated into English.
The price was half of what I remembered, so I bought this and the third together for the same price I think was the price of one book last year - and that is for the short reading length of the book just the right price.

Somehow I gave this 4 stars, while the others so far read got 3 stars.
As expected a nice fast, sexy read. Really liked the killer and the thoughts of the killer.
Very well done, this is a little above the others and warrants the fourth star.
Also this time the two MC's do not make obvious or totally stupid mistakes during investigating. The story from the first book (which I barely remember) swaps into this book with very well done behavioural change in one person after a traumatizing event.

Also the killer is traumatized, and this is well done without being too detailed, bloody or exploiting. The murders are gruesome, sadistic and brutal, with the killer relishing it's work and slipping into torture.

Recommended, imho the best in the series of those I read so far (1, 2, 4, 5). For a bloody raining weekend.


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Review: Operation Hail Storm

Operation Hail Storm by Brett Arquette
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Received an ARC from the author for an honest review. As the author indicated that a week or so after I downloaded this book there might be an update, I saved the spot in the book and downloaded a newer version and this review is based on this newer version.

Short version: too long, chapters too long, too many details. Not enough action, the real mission starts way too late in the book for me.

There is a short encounter with pirates that serves as a demonstration of the capabilities of the tech and the crew - that could have served as a free short-story / novella, and teaser.

Given the length of the book I thought it would be two missions, but it was only one, and that was well done, but could have been shorter and more suspenseful.
As it was, it is very detailed, with no logic errors or wrong technological details as far as I can tell (as a former IT-Helpdesk-slave, I do not know much about weapons, explosives and languages), there went a lot of work in these details, it is like the author tried too hard to got that right and while that is certainly important, there is just too much and too many details explained. So it also took me long to get into the book and I read several shorter books in between to keep me entertained.
This also reminds why I stopped reading Brad Thor, there where just the wrong kinds of decisions (torture, vigilantism). In this book this develops and is well explained, so you might feel sympathetic when the good guys/gals try to kill the bad guys - there are no women on the really bad side, if you do not count the US-president (a woman, but not based on Clinton, imho) or the female CIA-Agent.
So the actions with the MC basically promising to the US-President to kill the Top-10-FBI's-most-wanted are questionable and shortly discussed in the book, but basically the President just wants plausible deniability, nothing more. But if there are more books with this characters, there should be serious repercussions looming or at least someone voicing real discontent.

While a lot of characters are well developed and most (all, I think) have a little well done background, again there are too many, not all need background and also they are sometimes too simple black-white / good-bad.

Actions have consequences, but the actions in this book end just too neat, solved, explained and then business as usual, maybe. In a next book (if there is a next book) I would like to see repercussions and some failure in a mission. This one went a little too smooth.

Added later: just saw that this is the first in a series, so that was correctly guessed and I will probably read the next one to see how the people change and the series progresses.

Solid 3 stars. Recommended. Tech is up-to-date with a little slipping into near future, entirely believable.

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Review: Engel in schwarzem Leder

Engel in schwarzem Leder by Tawny Weber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(This book is in German, my first language)
Got this free thanks to lesen.net EMail-Newsletter, which I receive 3-4 times a week.
Do not expect too much, will probably be a steamy fast read.

Nice read, but real sex-scenes come only later in the book (after 50%?), before that they always get disturbed or break it off for different reasons. Sex-scenes are ok, real but not very kinky. Got this free, so checked the price today, and I do not think that it is really worth it for the sex scenes, the story is well writen and rather interesting. But, it is still free, so grab it while you can, if you are interested.
Solid 3 stars, nice short story, a little adult sex. Would give it to teenagers age 16 and above, but some would say it is for adults, so whatever. For a rainy weekend-read.

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Review: Rumors

Rumors by Erica Kiefer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Got this free (twice, as I did not realize I already owned it), once from the "Fussy Librarian" daily mail with free and cheap ebooks, the other time from "Bookbub", which is also sending a daily mail.
The book is ok, but sad, and does not really end, more ore less forcing you buy and read the next books if you want to know what happens.
Wanted something different, this book is about death, loss and how to cope with it.
Interesting, but except for the twist how someone drowns not very suspenseful. While the people are real, I liked only the heroine, some of the rest where blah or really bad and dragging her into dangerous shenanigans. Not so sure, I will buy and read the other two books in this series. A few chapters from the next book where given as a teaser and I read that, but it is more of the same.
Solid 3 stars, well written, just not geek-nerd-etc. enough, and too heavy without a real solution (in this book, that may change with the next too). Also though it was shorter, but with the theme it felt too long (it may have been described as a novella, which it may be, but it took me too long to finish it). Not to be read if you are feeling depressed, imho.

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Review: Dating on the Dork Side

Dating on the Dork Side by Charity Tahmaseb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Had to throw something in between reading all of End of Days books back2back. And then I got this for free, I began reading it, and it felt like had read it before. A quick search found the sampler for this book, which I had read the first few pages, so I was right. But now I am really reading it, and will finish it soon, probably today.
Nice fluffy read with no sex (so far).
OK, sex is hinted at but happening off-page. Could have been happening on page for me, but that may also easily have gone wrong, what with the problems the people have in this book.
Not so fluffy, I found it rather sad, but that may be just me.
Also the length was just what I needed, not too long, not too short. Heroine was great.

It is a solid 3 star, I never knew how they would solve this mess, or how it would end, and for that it is rather well done, the tech (facebook, videos, wiki etc.) is spot on and not too technical for the lay-person and very real, no uber-hacker, just a simple password guess possible through the use of an easily guessable password from a jock.

Recommended as fast rainy sunday or weekend read. This goes in the same direction as
#Nerd and Adorkable, even with the sport-theme.
The hacking and tech could have played a bigger role for me, or there could have been more suspense. But as it was and without violence, it was ok. Read between the 2nd and 3d book of the Penryn and the End of days trilogy to read something different. But somehow it was not as uplifting as the other books mentioned, more sad. So beware, there is a reason I only gave 3 stars.

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