REVIEW: Killer Rumors by Antonello Foire

Received a free copy courtesy of the author.

Finished: September 02, 2013
Rating: 1.5 stars

The Book
336 pages
ebook (PDF)
Father D’Angelo and Bakeman, two devoted priests were brutally murdered while going on one of their nightly walks. Detective Frank Rinelli is called to the case- not only due to his close friendship with the priests, but with his expertise of tracking psychotic killers.
Rinelli suddenly discovers these murders were based on a scandal that occurred several years ago at the same Church where the two murdered priests preached. And it doesn’t stop there. The list of people being murdered in connection with the scandal continues to grow until the killer has his ultimate vengeance- and the truth released.

My Opinion
I accepted this book from the author because I liked the storyline and also because the average rating on goodreads is 3.72 from 40 ratings. I was terribly disappointed.

There were a lot of things wrong with this book:
*The homicide detectives, and their LT. were like rookies when it comes to basic investigation skills. (When Rinelli and his partner were interviewing the nuns, they could have just asked them to list all the people involved in the scandal instead of going to visit them one million times.)
They were also missing a lot of blatantly obvious information.
* A lot of details, were stated, then completely changed pages later.
* A lot of the scenes are definitely not humanly possible.
Although this is a work of fiction, it's also a police procedural and should be as close to reality as possible.
* Repetition of words. A lot of times, a pronoun or an article would have done the job.
The sentences are too long with unnecessary details and descriptions.
* Wrong word choices, typos and switching tenses made the whole book a lot more annoying to read.
There are basic grammar mistakes
and words used in the wrong context.

This book had a lot of potential. It has a great storyline. Better editing would have done a lot for this book.

I honestly can't recommend this book to anyone but if you want to form an opinion yourself, you can

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**image and blurb from goodreads

REVIEW: Faith, Hope and Murder by Elise M Stone

I received this book free courtesy of the author

Finished on: 6th August, 2013

Rating: 3.5 stars

The Book
This is the first book in the series and is a debut novel by the author.

We follow Faith Andersen, web designer, who is unsure about God and is now suddenly unemployed.
Faith has promised to help Ursula, a German immigrant, prove that her fiancee (Michael) is innocent and not responsible for the murder of Carlos Fuentes who before his death sold Mexicans dreams of a better life in America.

Enter Pastor John Menard, divorcee and father of one, who wants to update his church's website for a little bit of romance.

My Opinion
This is a nice, well written book with a great plot. The characters are distinct. We see most of the story from Faith's POV. John and Hope's POV come up sometimes but it's never confusing.

The story line is easy to follow. The pace is good and steady. Not too fast. Not too slow. There's no rush. Everything is well thought out.

I liked that it's not preachy, yet there's the underlying theme of faith/belief in God.

All in all, Stone put together a well written piece with everything you’d see in a regular mystery.

Recommended for readers who are squeamish but enjoy a good mystery. And who don't mind a bit of religion

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REVIEW: The Lily Branch by Carole Pitt

I received this book free courtesy of the author

Rating: 2.5 stars

"Elizabeth stared at Jerome. Even in death, she appeared to be posing for the camera."

The Book
In the midst of tackling her personal problems, DI Elizabeth Jewell investigates her biggest case, the murder of top fashion model Lily Jerome.
After a second body turns up on an isolated farm, Jewell searches for a link between the crimes.

My Thoughts
This book fell very flat. There was no excitement in the chase. It didn't feel right. It just didn't flow. I was terribly disappointed by the book. I expected better.

The writing isn't bad. The book is well written and the sentences coherent but I wasn't getting any feeling off the book. I was easily distracted. The details were
often irrelevant. Too much information that didn't add anything to the story.

Too much was happening and the end of the book felt too rushed.

It wasn't a terrible read but it could have been a lot better.

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REVIEW: Angel Killer by P.J. Nunn

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

Received a free copy from the author

Read: July 30, 2013 to August 1, 2013
Rating: 4 stars

The Book
This is book 1 in the Shari Markham Mystery series.

Two bodies have been found. One boy and one girl. The girl has been identified and there is no identification on the boy. Luke, an FBI agent is called in to help the DPD solve the case. A number of bodies turn up across state lines and then things become more intense when Shari -a profiler for the DPD- and her family are threatened by the killer.

My Opinion
It was an interesting and well written book. I liked the characters. There was enough suspense to keep you on the edge and there was also enough romance as relief. The story had a great plot and it's progression was good.

I didn't like that I couldn't play investigator and have people as suspects and try to eliminate them and there were some things that didn't gel in my opinion.

SPOILERS

Like how old was Shari when she married and had her kids and when her husband died. I think it would have worked better if Angel was her niece and not her granddaughter. I don't know. Shari's age just bugged me. How old is Frank that his daughter is not too young for Luke to be in a relationship with and Luke has known him for 20 years. I think he'd be retired.

P.S.
I searched everywhere for links to get the book. I didn't find anything :(

REVIEW: Dead Before Morning by Geraldine Evans

Free copy

Read: July 29, 2013 to July 30, 2013

Rating: 2.5 stars

The Book
Dead Before Morning is the first book in the 15 book Rafferty & Llewellyn series.

Investigating his first murder since his promotion, Detective Inspector Joe Rafferty is dismayed that the victim is a girl with no face, no ID and no clothes, found in a private psychiatric hospital.
With the staff and owner of the hospital denying all knowledge of her, Rafferty has to dig deep to solve the case.

My Opinion
I don't really know about this book. rating it was really difficult because sometimes I liked it, sometimes, I didn't.

it's not a terrible book. I like the major characters - Rafferty and
Llewellyn. The book has humour, murder and a good mystery and tthe plot is very good but something put me off.

I didn't really like the writing. nothing spectacular about it. It could have been a lot better.

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