Mystery Books - Page 11

Lilah: A Forbidden Love, a People's Destiny

Marek Halter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Set in the magnificent culture of the Middle East more than four thousand years ago, Lilah is a rich and emotionally resonant story of faith, love, and courage.

Living in exile, Lilah is in love with Antinoes, a Persian warrior. They have known each other since they were children, and Antinoes dearly wants to make Lilah his wife. Yet Lilah does not feel she can marry without the blessing of her brother, Ezra. She and Ezra are close, and Lilah knows her brother well—he does not want his sister to have a husband outside their faith. Ezra is a scholar of the laws of Moses, and Lilah believes it is her brother’s destiny to lead the Jewish people back to the Promised Land. While Antinoes pressures her to accept his proposal, Lilah realizes that before she can consider her own happiness, it is her duty to help her brother accomplish the seemingly impossible task that is before him.

Putting herself in grave danger, and with the help of Antinoes, Lilah wins Ezra an audience with Artaxerxes II, the King of Kings, who grants permission to lead the exiles on their journey back to the Promised Land. After a hazardous trip across the desert, Lilah, Ezra, and the thousands who join them arrive in Jerusalem. But the hardship of rebuilding the Temple takes its toll, and the religious enthusiasm of some turns to extremism. Ezra, listening to the zealots, orders all non-Jewish wives and their children banished from Jerusalem. Lilah, whose love for Antinoes has never wavered, is horrified by this command. She knows she must now choose between her brother and her conscience, which tells her that the time has come to defy him.

Lilah is a timeless story of one woman’s stand against intolerance; it will linger in the reader’s mind long after the last page has been turned.


From the Hardcover edition.

The Whole Truth

James Scott Bell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A great beginning, a solid ending, a slow middle. A good book, not great. 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Steve Conroy, 30 years old, is the miserable lead character in James Scott Bell's new legal thriller, THE WHOLE TRUTH. Miserable, meaning his marriage is falling apart, he's a former drug addict, he's been evicted from his law office, and he has no money or clients. Steve's tragic adult life can be traced back to when he was five years old. One night, two strangers broke into his house and kidnapped his brother. Steve was too afraid to say anything until the morning. That event has haunted him every single day since then.

One day, a prisoner named Johnny LaSalle contacts Johnny and claims he is Robert, the brother that disappeared so many years ago. Steve knows it can't be possible because his brother was later found dead. However, Johnny knows things that only his brother would know. Then Johnny offers Steve a large amount of money to be his lawyer, and the lawyer to his religious group living at a mountain compound. The middle of the novel consists of Steve fighting to stay off drugs and trying to cope with the idea that Johnny could be his long lost brother. If Johnny is his brother, then Steve has to reconcile his sense of morality with Johnny and his friends' white-supremicist beliefs. Can Steve be the lawyer that the White Supremicist group wants him to be? Can he stay off drugs? Can he convice young law clerk Sienna Ciccone to take a chance and go out with him? Will ex-wife Ashley give him another chance?

In my opinion, this novel had a great beginning, a strong ending, and struggled in the middle, thus only 3 stars. Bell describes vividly the closeness Steve feels to Robert and how he idolizes his older brother. Then Robert is taken and Steve must live with the devestation that the kidnapping was somehow his own fault. Then the middle comes and Steve comes off as an obnoxious character. He tries to be funny, peppering many of his jokes with pop culture references that will soon be out of date. I feel like Steve needed more of a seriousness about him since his life was in such dire straights. Perhaps Bell wrote Steve as a comedian as a way of coping with his pain, but for me there was too much of it. Once the final act arrives, and the novel picks back up again. Steve has been attacked, betrayed, saved, shot at, rescued and lied to. He's been through the ringer. He meets a girl named Bethany that had been held captive at the LaSalle compound. He finds out the truth about his brother, and he even begins to believe in God. I liked the end. It had plenty of twists and turns and packed an emotional punch.

This book isn't as good as some of Bell's recent novels. The opening kidnapping is such an emotional tragedy and what follows just doesn't have the same feeling. However, the ending is good and makes the novel worth reading.

Editorial Review:

At the age of five, Steve Conroy saw his seven-year-old brother kidnapped from the very bedroom they shared. Now thirty years old with a failing law practice, Steve’s last chance to overcome his past just might come from a convicted criminal. But can Steve get the truth he needs from this con man?

Field of Blood (Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy, Book 1)

Eric Wilson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Simply Amazing 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Doubly Dead, or Doubly Alive?
With Field of Blood, Eric Wilson delivers another action-packed, yet thought-provoking novel. The content of this novel is not for the faint-hearted. Read with caution, for your very soul is at stake. The Field of Blood, or in Aramaic, the Akeldama, was the final resting place for Judas Iscariot. Or was it? When a freak accident opens up ancient burial grounds within the Field, an evil unlike any other is unleashed on all the world. Their purpose? To kill, corrupt, and destroy.

Enter Gina Lazarescu. A small, yet strong-willed woman with a shrouded past and a uncertain future. When she uncovers buried secrets about her past, her life is turned upside-down as she learns more about her heritage, and her purpose. Eric Wilson is truly in his prime with this novel. This is one of the rare novels that, quite literally, had me ripping through the pages as fast as I could. It seemlessly combines elements of the supernatural realm with our physical world, and the result? A novel that reads like the next blockbuster movie, all the while, scintillating with truths that pertain to everyday life. This novel will surely expand his fan base exponentially.

Editorial Review:

Judas hung himself in a place known as the Akeldama or Field of Blood.

But what if his death didn't end his betrayal?

What if his tainted blood seeped deep into the earth, into burial caves, causing a counterfeit resurrection of the dead?

Gina Lazarescu, a Romanian girl with a scarred past, has no idea she is being sought by the undead.

The Collectors, those released from the Akeldama, feed on souls and human blood. But there are also the Nistarim, those who rose from their graves in the shadow of the Nazarene's crucifixion--and they still walk among us, immortal, left to protect mankind.

Gina realizes her future will depend on her understanding of the past, yet how can she protect herself from Collectors who have already died once but still live?

The Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy takes readers on a riveting journey, as imaginative fiction melds with biblical and archaeological history.

Cry in the Night (Rock Harbor Series #4)

Colleen Coble

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Editorial Review:

Bree Nichols gets the shock of her life when her husband-presumed dead-reappears.

Bree Nichols and her search and rescue dog Samson discover a crying infant in the densely forested woods outside of Rock Harbor, Michigan. Against objections from her husband, Kade, who knows she'll become attached, Bree takes the baby in. Quickly she begins a search for the mother-presumably the woman reported missing just days earlier.

While teams scour the forests, Bree ferrets out clues about the missing woman. But she soon discovers something more shocking: Bree's former husband-long presumed dead in a plane crash-resurfaces. Is he really who he says he is? And should she trust him again after all these years?

An engaging, romantic suspense novel from critically-acclaimed author Colleen Coble.

Directed Verdict

Randy D. Singer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the face of injustice, one person committed to a holy cause can make a difference. This is the story of how one lawyer, confronted with the martyrdom of a Christian missionary, stands up to injustice despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, two American missionaries are targeted by the infamous religious police–the Muttawa. The man is tortured and killed; his wife arrested on trumped-up charges before being deported to the U.S.

Compelled by the injustice of her plight, young attorney Brad Carson files an unprecedented civil rights suit against Saudi Arabia and the ruthless head of the Muttawa. But the suit unleashes powerful forces that will stop at nothing to vindicate the Arabian kingdom. Witnesses are intimidated and some disappear, jurors are bribed, and a member of Brad’s own team may be attempting to sabotage the case.

As Brad navigates a maze of treachery and deception, he must gamble his case, his career, and the lives of those he loves–including brilliant co-counsel Leslie Conners–on the ability of his team to bring justice to one family, challenge the religious intolerance of a nation, and alter the course of international law.

Cage of Stars

Jacquelyn Mitchard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 85 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Wonderfully written.... 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

If the rating system was based on tears I cried while reading this novel, I would have to give it a thousand stars....

This is the first book I have read by Ms. Mitchard, and I was captivated from the first paragraph; as one reviewer observed, this book practically begs to be read. It is a story of redemption, vengeance, questioning one's belief system, forgiveness, love, hate, life, death and the choices we make. It is told from the perspective of Ronnie, a teenage Mormon girl who happened to witness the brutal murder of her two beloved younger sisters at the age of twelve. Interestingly, this horific act truly takes a back seat to the stories of the family itself - the lives of the people who were taken and those who survived. While we do learn about the killer and his life, the novel focuses more on the lives of those who are affected by his crimes. This is quite the antithesis of the way the media presents a story; if this happened in real life, the public would know every conceivable detail about the life of the killer, and have little or no information about the family who was so deeply and irrevocably affected by the crime.

This story is deeply moving and emotional (I cried a lot, which was quite embarrassing while reading in public); however it is not a "depressing" story; rather, it is touching and uplifiting. It restores one's faith in humanity, so to speak.

I recommend it highly, think it makes a great discussion piece, and am looking forward to reading more of this author's works.

Editorial Review:

12-year-old Veronica Swan's idyllic life in a close-knit Mormon community is shattered when her two younger sisters are brutally murdered. Although her parents find the strength to forgive the deranged killer, Scott Early, Veronica cannot do the same. Years later, she sets out alone to avenge her sisters' deaths, dropping her identity and severing ties in the process. As she closes in on Early, Veronica will discover the true meaning of sin and compassion, before she makes a decision that will change her and her family's lives forever.

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare

G. K. Chesterton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Boys are mysterious creatures, with rich imaginations and inner lives at which most can only guess. Luckily, a few writers have the talent to capture their fantasies of extraordinary adventure and epic bravery. Inspired by the success of The Dangerous Book For Boys, the six titles of the Penguin Great Books For Boys collection celebrate the adventurer within every boy with tales of shipwreck, murder, espionage, and survival. With a striking series look that is nostalgic and, at the same time, completely modern, these Great Books For Boys are sure to appeal to boys young and old.

In a park in London, secret policeman Gabriel Syme strikes up a conversation with an anarchist. Sworn to do his duty, Syme uses his new acquaintance to go undercover in Europe’s Central Anarchist Council and infiltrate their deadly mission, even managing to have himself voted to the position of “Thursday.”

When Syme discovers another undercover policeman on the Council, however, he starts to question his role in their operations. And as a desperate chase across Europe begins, his confusion grows, as well as his confidence in his ability to outwit his enemies.

But he has still to face the greatest terror that the Council has–its leader: a man named Sunday, whose true nature is worse than Syme could ever have imagined…

The Distant Beacon (Song of Acadia #4)

Janette Oke, T. Davis Bunn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Filled with passionate romance, betrayal, and a revolution 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Book four in Jannette Oke and T. Davis Bunn's "Song of Arcadia" historical fiction saga, The Distant Beacon is set amid the war for American Independence, as two women find themselves swept into different lives - one in Great Britian, the other setting sail for the American colonies. Filled with passionate romance, betrayal, and a revolution that will change the world, The Distant Beacon is a compelling novel that sweeps the reader away with its heartfelt emotion. Also highly recommended are the early volumes of the "Song Of Arcadia" series: The Meeting Place; The Sacred Shore; and The Birthright.

Editorial Review:

"Anne's sorrow over her husband's death has been eased by the unexpected discovery of his heritage in the Harrow family and by her marriage to a brilliant young theologian. But Nicole is as restless as ever and has decided to retutn to North America. Should she go to the Acadian family of her childhood in Louisiana's bayous? Or should she settle in Nova Scotia near her birth parents? The American colonies are in revolt against England, and Uncle Charles asks her to go to Massachusetts to oversee his extensive landholdings. The attentions of the ship's captain during the crossing touch a yearning deep within her, but she also realizes all her loyalties are about to be tested. Is she French? Is she English? Is she a supporter of the American cause? Nicole's unique legacy will allow her to play an extraordinary role in the unfolding historic events, but will she be able to find a home for her heart?"

When Did We Lose Harriet?

Patricia Sprinkle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Patricia Sprinkle is a very convincing writer 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book a couple of years ago. I didn't know who Patricia Sprinkle was at the time. I loved the book, and I loved the way each character is brought to life by Ms. Sprinkle. They all seem so real, like someone you've met, or known before. I also like the way that she put a list of each character's name, and the role that they each play in the story in the front of the novel. That was very convenient. I didn't have to wonder who was who, and who did what. It would be great if all writers would do that in their books.

Editorial Review:

A teenage girl has been missing from her Montgomery, Alabama, home for six weeks. What’s amazing is other people’s lack of concern. Just one person cares that she’s gone: a spunky amateur sleuth on the sunset end of sixty. Armed with razor-sharp insight, a salty wit, and tenacious faith, MacLaren Yarbrough follows a trail of clues -- a wisp of a hint, a shadow of a lie -- in search of answers to questions that come hot and fast and that grow increasingly alarming.

Shade

John B. Olson

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Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"You will not fear the terror of the night." —Psalm 91

A monstrous waking nightmare is pursuing graduate student Hailey Maniates across San Francisco to Golden Gate Park where she is rescued by a towering homeless man. She seems able to read her rescuer’s mind, but is it just a delusion? Doctors diagnose her as a paranoid schizophrenic and attempt to prescribe away her alleged hallucinations. But too many questions remain around Hailey and the man who saved her. He appears to suffer from her same mental condition and is convinced that some type of Gypsy vampire is trying to kill them both.

Against reason, Hailey finds herself more and more attracted to this strange man. But what if he is a fantasy? What if he is the monster?

Endorsements:

"From its stunning first scene to its heartwarming last, Shade is a striking tale of mystery and danger that kept me hooked. This is Olson’s finest work yet, and reading it, one gets the feeling he’s just getting warmed up."

Robin Parrish, author of Relentless and Merciless

"Unseen enemies. Questioned sanity. The weighing of reality. All the things I like in a book! The shadows are not silent. I lost sleep over this book. I got goose bumps from this book. The kind of scary that you crave and cringe at, Shade offers up a monster made more frightening by its originality. Thanks a lot, John Olson--because of you, I will not walk alone at night for a long time to come."

Tosca Lee, author of Demon: A Memoir and Havah: The Story of Eve

"John B. Olson is a seasoned storyteller, and Shade is quite a story! As the heat turns up, and as menacing tones and brooding characters abound, the theme of God's grace boils to the surface. A few years back, Olson gave us a new twist on Jekyll & Hyde; now he puts his own fast-paced spin on the Dracula story. I can only hope there's a sequel in the works!"

Eric Wilson, author of Field of Blood and A Shred of Truth

"Shade is a smart, gripping thriller. John B. Olson whips you along in a breakneck odyssey through a hellish paradise lost--and keeps you up all night doing it."

Melanie Wells, author of My Soul to Keep and When the Day of Evil Comes

"Things that go bump in the night are not all figments of overwrought imaginations or evidence of mental illness. As our heroine discovers, evil personified preys on the ignorance of its victims. Lock your doors and windows, leave the lights on, and hunker down for a splendid, spine-chilling read."

Donita K. Paul, author of the DragonKeeper Chronicles