Day Shift

Book 2 in the Midnight, Texas trilogy.

This book is completely different than the second season of the television show, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. While I very much enjoyed Season 2, the book had much more mystery surrounding it. (The only thing the same with the show vs the book is the building of the Midnight Hotel - nothing else, which makes me wonder if perhaps Season 2 was actually based on Book 3? Guess I will have to find out.)

This book is much more character driven than the first book, expanding on what was laid out in the first book, and as I already mentioned, there is a good mystery within the story. Also, there are two different tie-ins with the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) series, which I loved!

Looking forward to Book 3!

The Line Between

The Line Between is a fantastic book! An excellent adventure/thriller that continues to move along at a faster and faster pace. Tosca Lee has created a wonderful story inhabited by fabulous characters, and the science behind her epidemic is fascinating!
Highly Recommended

Another thing that I want to mention is that this is a clean read. I am passing it along to my youngest daughter (14) to read next, as I don't have to worry about explicit language or sexual situations.

Also, unless I am mistaken, I remember reading somewhere that this story has already been picked up as an upcoming television series. If so, it has the potential to be amazing!

5/5 Skulls

Here is the book's synopsis:

In this frighteningly believable thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tosca Lee, an extinct disease re-emerges from the melting Alaskan permafrost to cause madness in its victims. For recent apocalyptic cult escapee Wynter Roth, it’s the end she’d always been told was coming. 

When Wynter Roth is turned out of New Earth, a self-contained doomsday cult on the American prairie, she emerges into a world poised on the brink of madness as a mysterious outbreak of rapid early onset dementia spreads across the nation. 

As Wynter struggles to start over in a world she’s been taught to regard as evil, she finds herself face-to-face with the apocalypse she’s feared all her life—until the night her sister shows up at her doorstep with a set of medical samples. That night, Wynter learns there’s something far more sinister at play and that these samples are key to understanding the disease. 

Now, as the power grid fails and the nation descends into chaos, Wynter must find a way to get the samples to a lab in Colorado. Uncertain who to trust, she takes up with former military man Chase Miller, who has his own reasons for wanting to get close to the samples in her possession, and to Wynter herself. 

Filled with action, conspiracy, romance, and questions of whom—and what—to believe, The Line Between is a high-octane story of survival and love in a world on the brink of madness.

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ICE

Generally, I prefer physical books over digital, but since the last couple of novellas that I have read have been on my Kindle app, I decided to look through my library, before choosing my next physical book. I came across this one, purchased back on September 1st! (I do eventually gets to books I buy!) I will also admit that it was the "Indie Award" sticker on the cover that stuck out.

Here is the book's synopsis:

Archaeologist Leah Andrews stumbles upon something inexplicable in southwestern New Mexico: inside a dark cavern lies an undiscovered, Native American cliff dwelling abandoned for 800 years. While twisting through one of the narrow underground passageways, Leah's flashlight illuminates the remains of a violent massacre.

Ancient human remains--all slaughtered in a long-ago massacre--cover the cavern floor, along with a number of brilliantly colored, granite crystals. The rare crystals are native to only one place on earth: a frozen mountain range in central Antarctica.

Could Native Americans have traveled to the frozen continent of Antarctica 800 years prior to the first known human exploration? If so how? And why?

There's only one person who can get Leah to those mountains in Antarctica: her estranged husband and climbing guide Jack Hobson.

At their destination they make a stunning discovery that will change history and science forever. But Leah's team is far from the only interested party.

As her secret makes its way to the highest levels of government, a race to seize the Russian-claimed Antarctic territory brings the world to the brink of nuclear conflict.

This is an interesting, fast-paced, fun read that  has great, likeable, characters and is full of action and suspense. An excellent debut novel! (worthy of its Indie Award)

This is Book 1 of a trilogy. Book 2 is already out, and Book 3 is due out next month. I will definitely be reading the next two books.

4/5 Skulls

The Sky People & Crazy Wanda + The Scribbly Man

Amazon is slacking! The reason that I follow authors on Amazon is so that I can be notified, ahead of time, when they have forthcoming releases. Earlier this week I was looking up to see if Goodkind had plans for a new Angela Constantine novel this year, only to discover that he has written two new novellas with a third on its way! Amazon never notified me of these releases. (Grrrrrrrr)

The 1st new novella is The Sky People - something new and unrelated to any of Goodkind's prior releases. (it was released on January 12th) Here is the synopsis:

Raging River, priestess of the Sun People, has just done the unthinkable.

The Sun People are bound by an ancient law, left by the long-vanished Sky People: they must never kill. To other tribes, who have no such law, the Sun People are easy prey who will not defend themselves. Their game is poached, their stores are raided, their women abducted, their men killed for sport.

But when Raging River and her sister are attacked by a Wolf People raiding party, River fights back and kills one of the warriors. Worse, she has killed the son of their chief.

Now, with the Wolf People vowing revenge and her people facing annihilation, River must do the impossible. She must prove herself as priestess. She must find the mythical Sky People.

That pretty much sums up all that you need to know. It is only 111 pages, and without giving too much away, if you have ever wondered what a Goodkind sci-fi story would be like, this one comes close.

Goodkind has created another riveting story that makes time fly by!

The second novella is Crazy Wanda. This one actually ties into the Angela Constantine stories, which is what I was looking for in the first place! (It was released on November 26th - the day before my birthday - which would have been nice to know, Amazon!!) This one is only 86 pages. Here is the synopsis:

Trouble always finds Angela Constantine.

And Angela's impulsive, hot-tempered colleague Wanda is about to cause more trouble than anyone could know.

Except Angela.

She's not like the rest of us. She sees things we don't - she can recognize a killer just by looking in their eyes. And Angela knows that sooner or later, one way or another, everyone pays for their sins. 

She'll make certain of it. 

Follow Angela Constantine in this thrilling novella of revenge and justice, as she goes down the rabbit hole after a serial killer in the making.

This one has the perfect title and is a great story! It helps you understand the importance of thinking before acting. Wanda really is crazy!

Both stories get a solid 4/5 Skulls from me.

Now, you may have noticed the third book cover. The Scribbly Man This is an upcoming novella (releasing 4/04/19) This one has me super excited, as it is continuing Richard & Kahlan's story (which ended in Warheart) Here is the synopsis, in case you want to pre-order it:

From the internationally bestselling author of the Sword of Truth series comes a new Richard and Kahlan novella.

"They are the monsters under the bed when you are little, the shape just caught out of the corner of your eye when you thought you were alone, the shadow of something in a dark corner that surprises you and then isn’t there. They stop you dead with a knot of unexpected terror in the pit of your stomach. We have all seen fleeting glimpses of them. Never long enough to see them as I saw them, but it was them. I recognized it the instant I saw it.

“We’ve all seen flashes of them, the dark shadow just out of sight. They could briefly terrify us before but never hurt us because they came from so far distant. They were never able to fully materialize in our world so we saw only transient glimpses of them, the shape of them if the light was just right, if the shadows were deep enough . . . if you were afraid enough.

“I think that the star shift has brought us closer to their realm so that they now have the power to step into our world and hurt us.” — Kahlan Amnell

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Island of the Flesh Eaters

The first novella that I've read this year has the potential to be the best novella of the year!

Just released yesterday, I read this one last night, and it is a near perfect read! There isn't a slow point in the story. Coming in at just 100 pages, it reads like a movie playing in your head (and you can read it in the amount of time it would take to watch a movie).

The story is totally engaging, as are the characters, and the descriptions are nauseatingly wonderful. I enjoyed this one even more than Flower's Planet of the Dead.

5/5 Skulls

Here is the synopsis:

THE DEAD HAVE RISEN TO EAT THE LIVING!

From the author of Planet of the Dead and War for the Planet of the Dead... 

Houston, Texas, 1985, while investigating the affluent and seedy Gasper family, Rachel Hawkins, a junior reporter with the Galveston Daily News, stumbles upon a story that will make her career. 

Billy Gasper, son to the billionaire tycoon Gasper Family is missing. His yacht found near the Port of Galveston, abandoned all but for a seemingly deranged captain. Where are the crew? And where is Billy?

Meanwhile, while searching for his missing sister who was last seen with her boyfriend Billy Gasper, RadioShack manager Mark joins an ex-military security team hired by Mr. Gasper to find his son. Hidden away, Hawkins joins Mark and the hired goons as they race across the Gulf of Mexico to a private tropical island resort. 

All attempts at radio communicate with the island have failed. Its as if the entire resort with hundreds of vacationers and staff have disappeared.

What is really going on? And what will the rescue team find when they get there? 

For fans who love Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE and Bruno Mattei's HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD comes... ISLAND OF THE FLESH EATERS!!!

Midnight Crossroad

I am one of the few who enjoyed watching Midnight, Texas when it aired on NBC, and I was disappointed when they cancelled the show, after only its second season, a few weeks ago. So, I have decided to just read the books that the show is based on. This is book one (of the trilogy).

I am just going to come out and say it. As rare as it is, in this particular situation, I feel that the show is actually better than the book - believe it or not! (Note: I did not feel this way with True Blood. In that case, I felt that the Sookie Stackhouse series was far better than the show.)

First of all, whoever cast the show basically threw the book out the window! (Not really an issue, just saying.) The first season followed this first book very closely, so there were really no surprises. My biggest issue with the book is that the character's supernatural abilities were hardly touched upon. There was only a lot of subtle foreshadowing. For instance, when a woman entered the Rev's church, she immediately ran out "as if a tiger were chasing her". Or with Joe & Chuy's angelic Halloween costumes, their wings looked so realistic. . . (fans of the show will get these subtleties without spoilers)

All in all, I still enjoyed the book. I am just hoping that the next two will expand more upon the characters.

4/5 Skulls

Siege of Stone

After reading Shroud of Eternity (Volume 2 of Goodkind's 'The Nicci Chronicles'), I was slightly concerned that Siege of Stone would seem just as repetitive. I need not have worried! Not only is this book the best of the series so far, it is right up there with some of the best of the Sword of Truth series as well.

This one is perfectly paced and an extremely exciting read. The next book cannot come soon enough!

Here is the book's synopsis:

Set in the world of the Sword of Truth saga, the ramifications of New York Times bestseller Terry Goodkind's Shroud of Eternity extend throughout all of the Old World as familiar allies, dangerous magic, and creatures created by twisted sorcery all work at cross purposes to either save or destroy Ildakar in Siege of Stone.

The Sorceress Nicci, the Wizard Nathan Rahl, and the young swordsman Bannon remain in the legendary city of Ildakar after a great internal revolt has freed the slaves and brought down the powerful wizards council. But as he fled the city, capricious Wizard Commander Maxim dissolved the petrification spell that had turned to stone the invading army of General Utros fifteen centuries earlier.

Now, hundreds of thousands of half-stone soldiers from the ancient past have awakened, led by one of the greatest enemy commanders in history.
Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon have to help Ildakar survive this unbreakable siege, using all the magical defenses of the legendary city. Even as General Utros holds Ildakar hostage and also unleashes his incredible army on the unsuspecting Old World, an equally powerful threat arises out in the sea.
Nicci knows the battle won’t remain in the city; if she can’t stop this threat, two invincible armies can sweep across the Old World and destroy D’Hara itself.