Blog Tour: Review & Excerpt from Deadly Depths by John F Dobbyn

Deadly Depths

by John F Dobbyn

July 24 - August 18, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

The death by bizarre means of his mentor, Professor Barrington Holmes, draws Mathew Shane into the quest of five archeologists, known to each other as "The Monkey's Paws", for an obscure object of unprecedented historic and financial value. The suspected murders of others of the Monkey's Paws follow their pursuit of five clues found in a packet of five ancient parchments. Shane's commitment to disprove the police theory of suicide by Professor Holmes carries him to the steamy bayous of New Orleans, the backstreets of Montreal, the sunken wreck of a pirate vessel off Barbados, and the city of Maroon descendants of escaped slaves in Jamaica. By weaving a thread from the sacrificial rites of the Aztec kingdom before the Spanish conquest of Mexico through the African beliefs of Jamaican Maroons and finally to the ventures of Captain Henry Morgan during the Golden Era of Piracy in his conquest and sacking of Spanish cities on the Spanish Main, Shane reaches a conclusion he could never have anticipated.

Praise for Deadly Depths:

"Deadly Depths gives readers characters they care about and gets hearts pumping as the mystery and adventure unfold!"
~ Janet Hutchings, Editor, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

"Deadly Depths is an exciting mystery novel that asks who has the right to seek and exploit lost treasures."
~ Foreword Reviews

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery, Crime Thriller
Published by: Oceanview Publishing
Publication Date: August 2023
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781608095483 (ISBN10: 1608095487)
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Oceanview Publishing

My Thoughts:

    Deadly Depths is an adventure story involving law professor Matthew Shane.  When his friend and mentor dies under mysterious circumstances, a cryptic note sends him on a journey to figure out what happened.  I thought this was a solid adventure.  It's a bit out of my comfort zone, but I just let go and went along for the ride. I loved the various locations that the adventure took Matthew to.  There is also a little romance thrown in for your enjoyment.  I do recommend this one.  

Read an excerpt:

We arrived at an area of private docks in a town called Oistins. The driver stopped at the base of a wharf that anchored power boats of every size, speed, and description. One power yacht stood out as the choice of the fleet. The Sun Catcher. My guide hustled us both directly to the carpeted gangplank that led on board a vessel that could pass for a floating Ritz Carlton.

The engines were already revving. I was escorted to a padded deck-lounge with maximum view on the foredeck. I had scarcely settled in, when we were slicing through late-afternoon sea-swells that barely caused a rise and fall.

My guide, still in suit and tie, brought me, without either of us asking, a tall, cool, planter’s punch with an ample kick of Mount Gay Rum. For the first moment since Mick O’Flynn told me that someone was asking for me, I made a fully-considered decision. This entire fantasy could easily turn into a disaster that could outstrip New Orleans and Montreal together, but to hell with it. It was just too elating not to accept it at face value – at least for the moment.

My mind was just settling into a comfortable neutral, when I heard footsteps from behind that had more heft than I imagined my guide could produce. I made a move to swing out of the padded deck-chair, when I felt the touch of a hand with authoritative strength on my shoulder. The voice that went with it had the same commanding undertone.

“Stay where you are, Michael. I’ll join you.”

A matching deck-chair was set beside me. I found myself looking up at a shadow against the setting sun that appeared double my bulk and yet compact as an Olympic hammer-thrower. The voice came again. “You’re an interesting study, Michael. I may call you ‘Michael’, right? I should. I probably know more about you than anyone you know. You might have guessed that by now.”

An open hand reached down out of the shadow. I took it. The handshake fit the shaker. It took some seconds for the feeling to come back into mine.

Before I could answer, the voice was coming from the deck-lounge beside me. “No need for coy name games. You know that I’m Wayne Barnes. And you know that I’m one of the, shall we say, associates in that little clique we call the Monkey’s Paws. In fact, your escort here, Emile, tells me it was the mention of my name that swung your decision to get on that plane.”

He nodded to my nearly empty Planter’s Punch. “Another?”

Before I could answer, he gave a slight nod to someone behind us. Before I could say “Yes”, or possibly, but less likely, “No”, a native Bajan in a server’s uniform was at my left taking my empty and handing me a full glass.
I was three good sips into the second glass before I said my first word since coming aboard. I looked over at Wayne. I seemed to have his full focus. His engaging smile seemed to carry a full message of relaxed hospitality, and none of the threatening undercurrents I was scanning for. “You have an interesting way of delivering an invitation, Mr. Barnes”

He raised a hand. “Wayne.”

“’Wayne’ it is. You must have an interesting social life.”

“I do. Do you find it offensive?”

I looked over the bow, past the deepening blue crystal water to the reddening horizon. I felt the soothing caress of the slightly salted ocean breeze. I took one more sip of the most perfectly balanced planters punch of a lifetime, and looked back at Wayne. “Not in the slightest. Yet.”

“Ah yes, ‘yet’.”

“Right. I’m sure this won’t impress you, Wayne, and it’s not a complaint, but I’ve had a week full of enough tragedy to fill a lifetime. Hence the ‘yet’.”

His smile and focused attention remained. “I know more about your week, perhaps, than even you do. But go on.”

The second planter’s punch was having a definitely mollifying effect. “I have no idea what you mean by that last statement, Wayne, so I’ll just pass on. Given that week, and the abrupt transport from hell on earth to . . . paradise on earth, I’d have to be Mrs. Shane’s backward child not to listen for a second shoe to drop.”

The smile expanded. Still no alarms. “Or perhaps you’ve come into a sea-change of good luck, Michael. Why not go with that?”

“Why not indeed? For the moment. Just one question. ”

“Alright. One question. For now. Make it a good one.”

“Oh it is. It’s a beaut. Ecstatic as I am with all this, why the hell am I here?”

That brought a bursting laugh. “I think I’m going to enjoy having you around for a couple of days, Michael. You have an instinct for the jugular. No chipping around the edges. We won’t waste each other’s time.”

“Thank you. But that’s not an answer.”

“No it isn’t.” He looked out to the diminishing sunset. “The only answer I can give you at the moment that would do justice to the question is this. And you’ll just have to live with it for now. You’re here for a quick but depthful education. I think you’ll find it well worth two days of your life. Are you in?”

“Do I have a choice?”

We both looked back at the rapidly diminishing shore-line behind us. “None that comes to mind. Now are you in?”

That brought a smile from me, another healthy sip of the planter’s punch, and a deep breath of the ocean-fresh breeze. “I’m in.”

We chatted through the sunset on far-ranging subjects that had no association whatever with Monkeys Paws, Maroons, murder-suicides - in fact nothing that gave a clue as to why my gracious host had chosen my company over the undoubtedly vast range of his acquaintances. By then, the moon had risen.

At some point, I was aware that the engines had stopped. The splash of two anchors could be heard on either side. The sun had set. The shift from twilight to a darkness, penetrated only by a quarter moon went unnoticed.

I was slowly sipping away at my third or possibly fourth Planter’s Punch, when I became aware of a bobbing light approaching from the port side. Without interrupting the flow of conversation, I noticed that Wayne was following its approach with more than the occasional glance until it reached the side of the yacht.

Within a few minutes, my original guide, still in suit and tie, approached Wayne’s side with an inaudible whisper. I sensed that a bit of steel crept into Wayne’s otherwise conversational tone. “I’ll see him.”

I began to get up to provide privacy. Wayne held my arm in position. “Stay, Michael. Let your education begin.” My guide nodded to someone behind us and lit his path with a small flashlight.

I settled back, as a fiftyish man with narrow, cautious eyes and thinning grey hair that might have last been combed by his mother came up along Wayne’s right side. The loose wrinkles in his ageless cotton suit indicated that he might have been close to six feet, but for a constant stoop as if to pass under an unseen beam. The stoop caused his head to bob and gave him the look of one asking for royal permission to approach.

Wayne’s eyes turned to him. I noticed the stoop of the back became more noticeable. Wayne’s voice was calm and soft, but it commanded his visitor’s full attention. “Do you have it? I assume you wouldn’t be here without it, yes, Yusuf?”

The thin mouth cracked into a smile that conveyed no humor. “Of course. Of course. But perhaps our business . . .”

Wayne nodded toward me. “No fear. Mr. Shayne is here for an education. We shouldn’t deprive him of that, should we?”

The smile on the man’s lips did not match the apprehension in the tiny eyes, but he nodded. “As you say.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

The man gave a slight glance to either side as if it were the habit of a lifetime. He reached into some deep pocket inside his suitcoat. I noticed a slight but tell-tale hesitation before he slipped out what appeared to be a hard, flat, roundish object, about seven inches across. It was wrapped in several layers of ragged cloth.

He held it until Wayne extended a hand and took it onto his lap. He laid it on the small tray on his stomach. He looked back at the man, who simply forced a smile .

“I assume it all went well?”

“Oh yes, Mr. Barnes. No problems,”

Wayne smiled back. “How I do love to hear those words.”

My eyes were glued to Wayne’s hands as he carefully peeled back one layer of cloth after another. When he turned over the last layer, the object in the shape of a disc sent out instant glints of reflections of the rising moonlight.

I could see Wayne running the tips of his fingers over the entire jagged surface of the disc. He took a flip cigarette lighter out of his pocket, opened it, and lit the flame. When he held it close to the object, I could make out the resemblance of a human face, coarsely pieced together from chips of green stone.

Wayne held it up toward me and ran the flame in front of it.

“Do you recognize it Michael?”

“I’m afraid not.”

He nodded. “Most wouldn’t. Your friend, Professor Holmes, would spot it immediately. The Mayans made death masks to protect their important rulers in their journey to the afterlife. They go back to around 700 A.D.”
“What stones are these? They look like jade.”

“Good spotting. The eyes were made of rare seashells.”

“And I assume valuable?”

He laughed again. “Right to the crux of the issue. Right, Michael.”

He turned the object over and ran his fingers over the back side of it. “One that apparently goes back as far as this, and belonged to the ruler we have in mind, the right collector will pay half a million. Isn’t that right, Yusuf?”

Yusuf’s grin was beginning to become genuine. “Oh yes. Oh yes. And more, as you would know, Mr. Barnes.”

Wayne swung his legs over the deck-lounge toward me. He sat up and very carefully replaced the wrapping that had covered the mask. He stood up and walked toward the man. “And the key to its value is that it is absolutely authentic.”

Wayne looked down at the grinning eyes of Yusuf for several seconds. I think I let out a yell that came from the pit of my stomach when Wayne hurled the wrapped object over side of the yacht, into the pitch blackness that absorbed it with barely a splash.

I thought that the man would crumble to the deck. He barely held his balance. In the blackness of the night, I couldn’t make out his features, but I know to a certainty that every drop of blood left his face.

Wayne called a uniformed attendant.

Before the man moved, Wayne took hold of his arm. I was almost as frozen to the spot as the man. I think we were both certain that he would be following the object into the blackness below.

Wayne held him close enough to speak directly into his ear, but spoke loudly enough, I’m sure, so that I could hear.

“It’s a fake, Yusuf. I’m sure you know that. But you’ll live to do me a service. You’re a delivery boy. Nothing more. I want you to take a message back to Istanbul. I want you to say just this. ‘You had my trust. I give it sparingly, and not twice. Rest assured, we’ll speak of this again.’ Do you have that Yusuf?”

The man had all he could do to nod.

Wayne signaled his attendant. “Take him back.”

The man was escorted, practically carried toward the back of the vessel. In a few minutes, I could see running lights heading away from the yacht.

Wayne sat back down. “What do you think, Michael? One more Planter’s Punch before dinner?”

I could only smile at the abrupt change of tone and subject.

“No? Then shall we go in to dinner. The chef should be prepared by now.”

When he stood up, I saw that he took something from under his deck-lounge. My mouth sprung open when a glint of light from an opening door of the yacht cabin lit up the death mask. I could see amusement in the smile of my host.

“What on earth did you throw overboard?”

“Oh that. I substituted my lap tray in the wrapping for the desk mask. I’ll keep the mask.”

“But if it’s a fake.”

“It is, but a fake by a well-respected forger of these antiquities. It has enough value for that reason alone to pay the expenses I’ve already incurred in acquiring it. Shall we go to dinner?”

***

Excerpt from Deadly Depths by John F Dobbyn. Copyright 2023 by John F Dobbyn. Reproduced with permission from John F Dobbyn. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

Following graduation from Boston Latin School and Harvard College with a major in Latin and Linguistics, three years on active duty as fighter intercept director in the United States Air Force, graduation from Boston College Law School, three years of practice in civil and criminal trial work, and graduation from Harvard Law School with a Master of Laws degree, I began a career as a Professor of Law at Villanova Law School. Twenty-five years ago I began writing mystery/thriller fiction. I have so far had twenty-five short stories published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery magazine, and six mystery thriller novels, the Michael Knight/Lex Devlin series, published by Oceanview Publishing. The second novel, Frame Up, was selected as Foreword Review's Book of the Year.

Catch Up With John F Dobbyn:
JohnDobbyn.com
Goodreads
BookBub - @JohnFDobbyn
Instagram - #JohnFDobbyn
Twitter - @JohnDobbyn
Facebook - @JohnFDobbynAuthor

 

 

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Blog Tour: Leaving Blythe River by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Date of publication: May 2016

Seventeen-year-old Ethan Underwood is totally unprepared to search for his father in the Blythe River National Wilderness. Not only is he small, scrawny, and skittish but he’s barely speaking to the man after a traumatic betrayal. Yet when his father vanishes from their remote cabin and rangers abandon the rescue mission, suddenly it’s up to Ethan to keep looking. Angry or not, he’s his father’s only hope.

With the help of three locals—a fearless seventy-year-old widow, a pack guide, and a former actor with limited outdoor skills—he heads into the wild. The days that follow transform Ethan’s world. Hail, punishing sun, swollen rapids, and exhausting pain leave him wondering if he’s been fooled yet again: Is his father out here at all? As the situation grows increasingly dire, Ethan realizes this quest has become about more than finding his dad.

From the bestselling author of Pay It Forward comes a story of nature revealing human nature—the trickiest terrain. Navigating an unforgiving landscape, Ethan searches himself for the ability to forgive his father—if he finds him alive.

Leaving Blythe River is a coming of age story involving seventeen year old Ethan who decides to search for his missing father after forest rangers abandon the search for him.  Joining him are three locals who help him in the search.  After finishing and thinking about the book, I have to say while I did like some of  it, I didn't love it.  I have seen rave reviews, so I must be in the minority.  

What I did like about the book was the way the author was able to draw you into the adventure.  Her descriptions of the wilderness helped place me right into the search along with Ethan.  I also liked Ethan's character.  I enjoyed watching him grow as he searches for his father.  I also thought the side characters added some nice flavor to the book.

So while I liked those things, I felt there were other things that kept me from fully enjoying the book. I felt like there was not enough background information on Ethan and his parents as a whole.  I found it odd that his father all of a sudden goes from being a businessman (?) to moving to the mountains and running 20 miles a day.  It isn't until toward the end of the book that we find out he climbed Mount Everest when Ethan was born and likes extreme sports.  That is when we also find out his mother is into all of that stuff as well.  Also, what happened to Jennifer? I found the ending to be a bit over the top and I didn't really buy into it.  I also got kind of tired of people always questioning Ethan's age.  I think after the first couple of times I got that he was short and young looking.  

This is the first book by this author that I have read.  I never had the pleasure of reading Pay it Forward.  I feel like this book would do well with the YA crowd.  Pick it up and give it a shot.

About Catherine Ryan Hyde

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of thirty published and forthcoming books. Her bestselling 1999 novel Pay It Forward, adapted into a major Warner Bros. motion picture starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, made the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults list and was translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in more than thirty countries. Her novels Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA’s Rainbow List; Jumpstart the World was also a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards and won Rainbow Awards in two categories. More than fifty of her short stories have been published in many journals, including the Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, and the Sun, and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts and the bestselling anthology Dog Is My Co-Pilot. Her short fiction received honorable mention in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, a second-place win for the Tobias Wolff Award, and nominations for Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have also been cited in Best American Short Stories.

Ryan Hyde is also founder and former president of the Pay It Forward Foundation. As a professional public speaker, she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with AmeriCorps members at the White House, and shared a dais with Bill Clinton.

Connect with Catherine Ryan Hyde

Website | Blog |Facebook | Twitter

Catherine Ryan Hyde’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Tuesday, May 24th: Peeking Between the Pages

Thursday, May 26th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Friday, June 3rd: Write Read Life

Monday, June 6th: Just Commonly

Monday, June 13th: Puddletown Reviews

Tuesday, June 14th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Wednesday, June 15th: The Magic All Around Us

Thursday, June 16th: Book Dilettante

Monday, June 20th: FictionZeal

Tuesday, June 21st: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, June 22nd: Hoser’s Blook

Thursday, June 23rd: I’d Rather Be at the Beach

Friday, June 24th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Monday, June 27th: Bibliotica

TBD: Sweet Southern Home

The Prey by Thomas Isbell

by:  Thomas Isbell
published by:  HarperTeen
publish date:  January 20, 2016

After the Omega (the end of the end), 16 year old guys known as LTs discover their overseers are raising them not to be soldiers (lieutenants) as promised, but to be sold as bait because of their Less Than status and hunted for sport. They escape and join forces with a girls’ camp, the Sisters, who have been imprisoned and experimented on for the "good of the Republic," by a government eager to use twins in their dark research. In their plight for freedom, these heroes must find the best in themselves to fight against the worst in their enemies.

I've had this book on my To Read list for quite awhile.  It finally hit my library's audiobooks and I went ahead and snapped it up.  So, of course, this is the start to a trilogy.  It's YA, of course it is...will this trend EVER STOP??  Anyway...

So, there's been some kind of "event", nuclear in nature, because many of the kids have birth defects.  They are forced to live in camps.  The camps are ranked based on the abilities of the kids.  The kids that are living in Camps Freedom/Liberty are being used for bait and medical experiments.  These are the kids that have birth defects, the orphans, the children of political dissidents, and twins.   Eventually, they figure out what their fate is and decide to escape.   However, their escape is far more difficult than expected in a post-apocalyptic landscape.  

I ended up quite liking this book.  I really enjoyed the characters.  I also really liked the fact that even though there was chemistry between the two main characters, and you knew they would end up together eventually, there was no insta-love.  While, there was a bit of jealousy between two boys, it wasn't really a love triangle either.  It was kinda like normal teenage stuff.    

I would recommend this one for the post-apocalyptic fans and the action/adventure readers.  

Hold the Dark by William Giraldi

by:  William Giraldi
published by:  Liverlight Publishing Corporation
publish date:  September 8, 2014

At the start of another pitiless winter, the wolves have come for the children of Keelut. Three children have been taken from this isolated Alaskan village, including the six-year-old boy of Medora and Vernon Slone. Stumbled by grief and seeking consolation, Medora contacts nature writer and wolf expert Russell Core. Sixty years old, ailing in both body and spirit, and estranged from his daughter and wife, Core arrives in Keelut to investigate the killings. Immersing himself in this settlement at the end of the world, he discovers the horrifying darkness at the heart of Medora Slone and learns of an unholy truth harbored by this village.

So I picked up this audiobook from the library.  I have to say it's one of the most messed up books I've read in a long time.  There were so many parts that I had to stop and rewind because I was like "wait, did I seriously just hear what I heard??"

Core is wolf expert, but he's old and retired and estranged from his dying wife.  He gets called to the remote village of Keelut by Medora Slone because her son was taken by wolves and she want his help to retrieve whats left of his body.  She wants to be able to give her son a proper burial because her husband is a soldier away at war and wants to give him at least that when he gets home.  

Well, Medora is a crazy nut job.  She wanted Core there to discover that she had killed her son not the wolves.  She takes off before the police show up.  Then Medora's husband comes home early and take off after her.  He cuts a big blood trail across Alaska looking for her.  

I don't want to give away the ending, but Oh do I want to talk about it.  Seriously, if you've read this, email me or something because how crazy was the ending of this book??

The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall

by:  Maggie Hall
published by:  Putnam Juvenile
publish date:  January 15, 2015

Avery West's newfound family can shut down Prada when they want to shop in peace, and can just as easily order a bombing when they want to start a war. Part of a powerful and dangerous secret society called the Circle, they believe Avery is the key to an ancient prophecy. Some want to use her as a pawn. Some want her dead.

To unravel the mystery putting her life in danger, Avery must follow a trail of clues from the monuments of Paris to the back alleys of Istanbul with two boys who work for the Circle—beautiful, volatile Stellan and mysterious, magnetic Jack. But as the clues expose a stunning conspiracy that might plunge the world into World War 3, she discovers that both boys are hiding secrets of their own. Now she will have to choose not only between freedom and family--but between the boy who might help her save the world, and the one she's falling in love with.

First of all, I love this cover.   Props to the designer that came up with this one.  Secondly, I liked this book, but I was disappointed that it was once again part of a series/trilogy.  Can we please get some stand alone YA books??

Avery isn't a typical teenager, her mother is employed by a government agency that she doesn't know much about but her job is dictated by "the mandate".  They move frequently so Avery is never settled in one area before they have to move again.  So, when a handsome boy shows up to show her who her real family is, she jumps at the chance to go.  She finds out they're part of a secret society that rules the world.   They've been looking for her because they think she will fulfill an ancient prophecy that will give one part of the secret society more power than the rest.  

This book is filled with all kinds of YA goodness.  Teenagers with endless money and no supervision.  There's a love triangle of course.  There are big shadowy conspiracies.  And bad guys of course, there are always bad guys chasing them.

Overall, I liked the story.  It was a fun Dan Brown kind of YA adventure novel.  I'm still a little aggravated by the cliffhanger.  I would recommend this book to the YA readers, I think most will like it.

Divided We Fall by Trent Reedy

by:  Trent Reedy
published by:  Arthur A. Levine Books
publish date:  January 28, 2014

Danny Wright never thought he'd be the man to bring down the United States of America. In fact, he enlisted in the National Guard because he wanted to serve his country the way his father did. When the Guard is called up on the Idaho governor's orders to police a protest in Boise, it seems like a routine crowd-control mission ... but then Danny's gun misfires, spooking the other soldiers and the already fractious crowd, and by the time the smoke clears, twelve people are dead.

This was an audiobook that I got from the SYNC program that audiofilemagazine.com does every summer.  If you haven't signed up for that, I'd say go for it!  You get the option of downloading 2 YA audiobooks every week during the summer, one classic book and one new book.  

Divided We Fall was really great book.  It turned out to be a lot better than I was expecting!  Danny signs up for the National Guard out of honor to his father and help out at home.  He gets involved in Idaho trying to stand against the will of the President.  His National Guard unit is called in to protect the downtown area during protests when Danny's weapon accidentally discharges.  That incident starts a war between Idaho and the government of the United States.  

Trent Reedy did a good job covering a lot of the arguments that I kept coming up with.  So hats off to him.  Again this is the start of a series, but this is one that I'll probably keep up with.  I'm interested to see what happens.

Phoenix Island by John Dixon

by:  John Dixon
published by:  Gallery Books
publish date:  January 7, 2014

A champion boxer with a sharp hook and a short temper, sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman has been shuffled from foster home to foster home. He can't seem to stay out of trouble, using his fists to defend weaker classmates from bullies. His latest incident sends his opponent to the emergency room, and now the court is sending Carl to the worst place on earth: Phoenix Island. 

Carl is the ultimate defender of the weak.  However, he once again used his boxing skills to protect someone else, instead of going back to juvie a judge sentences him to Pheonix Island.  Carl quickly finds out that Phoenix Island is about the worst place to be.  It's totally cut off from the rest of the world except for occasional supply planes.  The guards are cruel and sadistic.  His fellow inmates are just as terrible.  However, Carl makes a few friends and is holding out hope that he can make it until his 18th birthday and get released.  Until Carl finds out that might not be what happens to inmates on their 18th birthday and he realizes he has to do everything in his power to escape.

I thought Pheonix Island was a pretty good YA book.  It was a little darker and more rough and tumble than the typical YA novel.  It would probably appeal to the male readers because of that.  I say that, but I liked it, so it would probably have wide readership.  I would recommend this book to readers that like the dark and gritty adventure books.

Review: If We Survive by Andrew Klavan

by:  Andrew Klavan
published by:  Thomas Nelson
publish date:  November 6, 2012

Will Peterson is part of a mission team that has traveled to Costa Verde to rebuild the wall of a school. It's been a great trip-until a revolution breaks out just before they board their plane to go home.

But then it becomes a desperate race to escape: from a firing squad, from savage animals in the depths of the jungle, from prison cells and revolutionaries with machine guns.

One of the girls is showing Will amazing things about what it means to be truly fearless. And one of the guys has the makings of a real hero. None of them will go home the same. If they only survive.

This was one of my random audiobook picks from the library.  I didn't know anything about it or the writer going in.  I definitely didn't realize it was going to be Christian Fiction.  However, my thinking throughout the whole book was that, this was the right way to do Christian Fiction.  The concept of God and Faith was present throughout the entire book, but it wasn't presented in an overbearing manner.  I thought Andrew Klavan did a super job with presenting this aspect of the story especially in a YA format that would be acceptable to most readers.

The story is about Will and a group of students and missionaries that travel to Costa Verde to help repair a wall.  While there civil war breaks out and they get caught up in the cross fire and draw the ire of some of the revolutionaries.  Will and his group must escape the tiny jungle town they are in and try to get back to a city with an airport so they can make their escape. 

The story was very well written.  The action was tense and nerve wracking.  If We Survive was one of my surprise 5 star books.  I give those out very few and far between, so that's a testament as to how much I thought of this book.  I definitely recommend it.

Crossed by Allie Condie

by:  Allie Condie
published by:  Dutton Juvenile
publish date:  November 1, 2011

Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by the Society to his sure death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of a rebellion.  But even as Cassia sacrifices every thing to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.

Narrated from both Cassia's and Ky's point of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever.

The YA trilogy rears its ugly head again!  This is one of those times when it's just not working.  Crossed could have been condensed into a couple of extra chapters at the end of Matched or the beginning of Reached (which will be the title of book 3).   But the publishing company would have lost out on how many book sales?

Crossed wasn't terrible.  It's just that it didn't really go anywhere.  Ky runs away to the desert.  Cassia runs away to the desert.  They find each other in the desert.   They love each other, but Cassia still has a bit of feeling for Xander and Ky still has a bit of an issue with it.  They find stuff that helps them find the rebellion.  They join the rebellion.  That's pretty much the whole story.  I told it in one paragraph.

If you read Matched, you'll have to read Crossed I'm sure to know what's going on in Reached.  Is it worth it to start the series?  I'd say so, I like it pretty well.  The last book is slated to come out this year, so you won't be sitting around waiting forever for it to wrap up.  They're quick, easy reads.  I recommend the audiobooks, they're well done.

The Raft by S.A. Bodeen

by:  S.A. Bodeen
published by:  Feiwal & Friends
publish date:  August 21, 2012

Robie is an experienced traveler. She’s taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there’s a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn’t panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.

And then . . . she’s in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that’s when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there’s no sign of help on the way.

Normally, I read books closer to their publish date, but this book was way too tempting.  I love fight for survival books.  And stranded on a deserted island?  Oh yeah, that's right up my alley.  So, I let this book cut way ahead in line.
I read it and then my first thought was "I need to read that again".  It wasn't because it was really awesome, but because I was thrown off by the ending and wondered if the whole rest of the book could have made sense with the information given.  I don't want to give it away and ruin it for you, but it was rather important information.
Younger people, I suspect, will appreciate the ending more than adult readers, which is ok because it is a YA book.  I found it all to be YA appropriate, except for the fact that she's island hopping on planes without telling anyone really where she's going, but I guess there's a message in that as well.  If you do that, you'll end up stranded on an island with no food. 
This was the first book I've read by SA Bodeen.  I picked up The Compound at the Scholastic Warehouse sale.  I'm going to have to read it soon to see how it compares.

Throwback Thursday: Artemis Fowl Series # 2,3 & 4 by Eoin Colfer

 

Eoin Colfer's final Artemis Fowl book, The Last Guardian, is coming out this summer.  Since Autumn and I reviewed the first one(with very differing opinions) in March, I thought I would read and review the other ones to catch up to be ready for #8.
 

I wasn't too happy with the second book, The Arctic Incident (pub. 2002 by Hyperion) .  I didn't think it was as good as the first one. In the end it ended up being just OK for me.  I couldn't quite put my finger on why I didn't really like it as much.  It seemed to have less humor and was much more serous.  I also felt like I as getting a science lecture on radiation.  Too much technical stuff bogged down the story for me and I though that as a kid, I would have gotten bored with it pretty quickly.

The one thing that I did like was the Artemis seems to have grown a little more as a person.  He truly does care about his family and wants to rescue his father.  Holly and him have also started a tentative friendship of a sort.  

I liked The Eternity Code (Pub 2003 by Hyperion) a lot more than the 2nd book.  It was lighter and much more interesting.  It was more of an adventure that I thought a kid would like  There was a lot less scientific information crammed into the book. Artemis is going legit, he just has one more thing to do.  He has created a supercomputer cube that is made from stolen fairy technology. Even though he is a genius, he discovers that he hasn't thought of everything.  His plan sets off events that threaten not only his world but the fairy world as well.

In The Eternity Code, we see a nicer side of Artemis.  He has started to really care about his friends.  When Butler's life is in jeopardy he is willing to whatever it takes to bring him back. I also think having his father back and seeing a new attitude in his father contributes to this change.Artemis and the fairies work together as a team once again and their bond deepens.  I was a bit surprised by the ending and looked forward to seeing how it played out in the next book.  This is a great addition to the series.

The Opal Deception (Pub. 2005 by Hyperion) continues the adventures of Artemis Fowl.  In this book, Artemis and his family have been mind-wiped.  They have no recollection of the fairy world. Holly is being accused of murder and she must convince Artemis that they once knew each other in order to save his life.  This installment was pretty good.  There are some pretty intense moments and plenty of action. Most of the main characters are back.  I was surprised at the loss of one of the key characters in the book.  I wonder at the author's motivation for that when the murder set-up could have been anyone.  I'm not usually a fan of major characters being killed off, so I this was one element of the book I didn't like.

For the first part of the book, Artemis is back to his old plotting self, yet he seems to have developed a conscience that tries to tell him to do the right thing.  I was glad to see Artemis change significantly in toward the end of the book.   Now that I'm halfway through the series, I am curious to see how it all ends. I just hope the author doesn't kill anyone else off that I like.

Blog Tour - Marysvale

Author: Jared Southwick
Publisher:Brigham Distributing (October 2010)

John Casey was ten years old when his mother was murdered…and ten when his father hid the truth from him. Without that knowledge, he has no idea of the enemies that lie in wait.

Now grown up, John lives a solitary life, in a world enslaved by ignorance and superstition, at a time when anyone unusual is treated with distrust and even killed…and John has some very unusual gifts. When he is accused of witchcraft, John does the only thing he’s ever done—Run! That is, until he meets Jane, who lives in the bleak, imprisoned town of Marysvale. Life outside the safety of the town walls means certain death from the brutal monsters that hunt there. However, life inside, under the rule of a tyrannical leader, means no life at all.

As the love between John and Jane grows, the dangers of Marysvale unfold; and for the first time in his life, John discovers that there is something worth dying for.

A fun, clean, action-packed story filled with monsters and tyrants, heroes and heroines.

Marysvale is definitely good clean fun...in a monsters want to eat you kind of way. John Casey has no memory of his past. He only knows that he has a unique gift that many people see as evil. He can see into the souls of living things. After being accused of being a warlock, he runs and this leads him to a place where he can begin to find answers about his past. Along the way, he also finds something to live for.

Marysvale did start out a bit slow for me, but it quickly picked up the pace. I enjoyed reading it. This book has everything that a good adventure needs: mystery, damsels in distress, and monsters. I enjoyed all of the characters, especially Jane. I love a strong female lead. Jane and John's relationship is very sweet. The monsters, called the Brean, are truly creepy beings. I wouldn't want to meet one of these things walking through the woods!

While I enjoyed the book, I felt like I was left with a lot of unanswered questions in the end. I wanted to know more about the monsters and why they attack humans from the surrounding towns. As this is the first book in a series, I think it is a good foundation book, but I want more. There is a second book, Alyth, coming out soon and I look forward to reading it to get some answers.

I definitely recommend this book. I think it would be good as a YA, maybe even upper MG read.

--Kari

About the Author:

Jared Southwick enjoys traveling and experiencing different cultures, cuisines, and associated foodborne illnesses. He once went night diving in the Pacific Ocean where, although he didn’t actually see it, he’s sure that a great white shark almost ate him. Jared petted an alligator in the Okefenokee Swamp, and a wild, heavily sedated black bear in her den. He explored the islands of West Africa, where his foot was attacked by a very ferocious, tiny octopus. However, he has never encountered a Brean…

He and his wife live in a quiet, friendly city, in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains, where strange monster sightings are uncommon.