When Bane Flowers Bloom [a Bane County Short Story]

If you have thus far enjoyed the first three books in the Bane County series, then you will be happy to know that author J. R. Rice has just released a new short story to help hold us over until Book 4's release. 

This short story takes place during the 3rd book (and also references back to the 1st book). In Book 3, if you wondered what the deal was with the abandoned red car, then this story explains what happened, (with Rice's signature expertise on ratcheting the tension throughout) while also surprising you with a twist ending that introduces a mysterious cult(?) into the Bane County mythos. 

I am definitely looking forward to Book 4's release!

4/5 Skulls

Pushing Brilliance

Pushing Brilliance is Book 1 in the Kyle Achilles series. Here is the book's synopsis:

Some people are naturally brilliant, others have to buy it. What would you pay, to be one in a million?

Framed for murder and on the run, former Olympic biathlete Kyle Achilles is also in the crosshairs of assassins' guns. Why? He has no idea. He's fighting blind against two master strategists and one extraordinary invention -- known as Brillyanc.

Achilles' only ally is the other prime suspect, a beautiful Russian mathematician who is either the best or worst person to ever enter his life. Katya was engaged to Achilles' brother -- before he died.

Chasing clues while dodging bullets, Achilles and Katya race around the globe, uncovering a conspiracy conceived in Moscow, born in Silicon Valley, and destined to demolish both the White House and the Kremlin. Along the way a lost soul finds purpose, a broken heart confronts forbidden love, and America gains a new hero.

Packed with heart-stopping surprises, paced by razor-sharp plotting, and populated with richly rendered characters, Pushing Brilliance will leave you breathless and longing for more.

This author/book was recommended to me by my parents, and I was not disappointed! The characters are well developed, and the plot is fast-paced - one of those books that reads like a movie playing in your head. What I loved most about this book is the learning aspect gleaned in certain situations. (You will understand once you read the book. You see, Tigner writes from personal knowledge/experience.) Here is a synopsis on the author himself:

International Bestselling Author Tim Tigner began his career in Soviet Counterintelligence with the US Army Special Forces, the Green Berets. That was back in the Cold War days when, "We learned Russian so you didn't have to," something he did at the Presidio of Monterey alongside Recon Marines and Navy SEALs.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tim switched from espionage to arbitrage. Armed with a Wharton MBA rather than a Colt M16, he moved to Moscow in the midst of Perestroika. There, he led prominent multinational medical companies, worked with cosmonauts on the MIR Space Station (from Earth, alas) chaired the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and helped write Russia's first law on healthcare.

Moving to Brussels during the formation of the EU, Tim ran Europe, Middle East, and Africa for a Johnson & Johnson company and traveled like a character in a Robert Ludlum novel. He eventually landed in Silicon Valley, where he launched new medical technologies as a startup CEO.

Intent on combining his creativity with his experience, Tim began writing thrillers in 1996 from an apartment overlooking Moscow's Gorky Park. Twenty years later, his passion for creative writing continues to grow every day. His home office now overlooks a vineyard in Northern California, where he lives with his wife Elena and their two daughters.

Is that impressive or what?!?

Needless to say, I will definitely be reading the other books in this series as well as any other books written by Tigner, and I recommend that you do the same.

5/5 Skulls

Wasteland [Children of D'Hara: "Episode" 3]

My brain is in turmoil right now. . .

I generally sleep like a rock, however after I finished this book, around midnight last night, I just could not fall asleep! I kept tossing and turning, knowing that I have to wait another three months for Book 4 to be released, and to see the resolution to this book's horrifying cliffhanger.

Richard has been in some bad places before, but nothing like the situation he is in now! Goodkind is a master of his craft!

The good news is that these novellas keep increasing in size (this one is 233 pages). The bad news, like I stated above, is that after an already horrendous event, the end of this one will leave you winded from the brutal gut-punch that Goodkind delivers! And Book 4 is not scheduled to be released until January 6th. (I seriously recommend waiting to read this one, closer to that date, so you will not have an agonizing wait!)

All I will say about this one, is that this is one of Goodkind's absolute best! (hands down the best of this novella series) The title of this book is deceiving, in that the Wasteland is not what you expect/imagine.

The book begins with Richard & Kahlan preparing to leave the People's Palace (where they have been under constant siege from the Golden Goddess) and travelling to the Wizard's Keep in hopes that they will be safer there. (Kahlan is unable to travel through the Sliph due to her pregnancy...)

Before they can head out though, Goodkind introduces yet another new villain - Moravaska "the Butcher" Michec - a Warlock.  (If you thought that Emperor Jagang "the mad dream walker" was bad, you haven't yet met Michec!)

5+ Skulls