by Kathryn Amurra Rating: **** Val Nikolov was a skeptical nineteen-year-old when his Bulgarian grandmother gifted him an amulet, claiming it had magical properties. Seventeen years later, Val is wealthy and successful, thanks to the amulet, and about to oversee a lucrative acquisition of his company, Span Global. Temp contract attorney, Alex Weaver, is helping Span Global with the due diligence process. When an employee's departure places the acquisition at risk, she has to travel to Israel with Val for a vital meeting.  As Val and Alex work closely together to save the deal, both b ..read more

by Chas Halpern Rating: **** The Physics of Relationships is a lovely novel that I found a light, easy read although it explores subjects far from light or easy. Halpern examines issues including loss, relationship dynamics, and forgiveness through the reflections of Lexi, a recently widowed sixty-three-year-old. Using the immediacy of the first-person perspective, Lexi shares her thoughts, opinions, and internal conflicts as she navigates unexpected lodgers, strange proposals, adult children, an ex-husband, and the aging process. All these mini-dramas are set against the backdrop o ..read more

by P. C. Darkcliff Rating: ***** The final battle is on the horizon for Baard Thon and Company but the magical battleax, Tarroth, which can only be used by the Archmage to summon every hero, past and present, to fight against the Dark Overlord has been stolen from the Magic Circle palace. In the wrong hands, Tarroth’s power can bring about the end of days, for everyone and everything.  And, it’s in the wrong hands…. Darkcliff’s Magic Circle series just gets stronger*. The Warrior’s Call is first-rate and, as with all the books, shows branching maturity within the characters and ..read more

by Mark N. Drake Rating: ***** Falls the Darkness opens with Private Detective Jack Glennison and his assistant, Josine, keeping busy in their Manchester office with routine cases after the horrors they witnessed on Darkisle at the end of 1922. Their uneasy calm is soon disturbed when friend and Darkisle native, Lord Charles Deverby, requests their help to find missing man William Short, whom Deverby had hired to oversee land excavation to the north of the island in the hope of discovering more of the rare meteorites, known as “thunderstones”.   Back to Darkisle it is for Glennison ..read more

Edited by Donald K. Hartman Rating: **** The Hypnotic Tales of Rafael Sabatini, edited by Hartman, contains two stories originally published in the early 20th century by Rafael Sabatini, a writer who gained immense popularity in the 1920s and 30s for his swashbuckling romances. These earlier stories deal with hypnotism, a theme he did not revisit in his career although he introduces the character of Dr. Roger Galliphant, an eminent authority on hypnotism, to help solve the mysteries posed within each tale. I read Hartman’s other book containing two Victorian-era stories dealing with Jack ..read more

by George Veck Rating: ***** Conniving Wendy Billings gives a whole new layer of North Wales meaning to the syndrome of Munchausen by proxy as, when not half-sloshed or nursing a killer hangover, she can be found dragging her fifteen-year-old son, Justin, to every benefits office within a three-mile radius of their Minffordd home to cheat the system by pretending Justin is so far along the autistic spectrum as to be “chronically disabled”   As Justin nears his sixteenth birthday, he begins to fight against Wendy’s coercion and control, moving out for, what he thinks will be a brief ..read more

by K. C. Fusaro Rating: ***** Fusaro brings the reader more of Joethan Wolfe’s derring-do and heroic exploits in this third outing* for the man also known as Captain Sedition. This time Wolfe’s role is that of envoy and observer, charged with discovering what exactly is delaying the American invasion of Canada and reporting back to General Washington.  But when has Joethan Wolfe ever been a mere bystander to action and intrigue?... The Fever of Conquest opens in wonderfully measured and elegant style as Benjamin Franklin gives a recital on his glass armonica in the Fall of 1775. Imm ..read more

by Simone Pertuiset Rating: ***** When Simone Pertuiset chanced upon a painting by Edouard Manet, “Monsieur Pertuiset, Chasseur de Lions” in an Art History class, her curiosity was piqued given the relative rarity of her surname. Family investigation confirmed that the subject of the painting, Eugene Pertuiset, was an ancestor. Although interesting, Simone did not think much more about Eugene until fate intervened again when she happened upon a journalistic piece exploring La Belle Epoque that included an intriguing depiction of him, prompting Simone to delve deeper to discover exactly w ..read more

by PD Alleva Rating: **** From the Carnival of Chaos to the Carnival of Souls, Jigglyspot, the half-human, five-foot clown presides over both and more for his demonic paymasters. There is nothing Jiggly won’t fix or arrange aided by his loyal troop of fiendish clowns and, with the Summer Solstice at the Cannibal Café approaching, he needs to find bodies, lots of bodies… Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect is an intense and gore-splattered epic psychological horror that moves between murderous thriller and contorted cosmic fantasy along the way. It’s a heft of a read but the short chapter struct ..read more

by John James Minster Rating: **** The Vengeful Dead is a collection of 11 short horror stories, which, overall, as the title implies, have the connecting theme of revenge from beyond the grave. The Vengeful Dead is an addictive and readable anthology. The book will not change your life, but it will afford you a solidly entertaining, full-throttle, gore-laden few hours, and I enjoyed galloping through it. The stories do occasionally lack depth. However, there are contrasts in form and perspective and the acts of vengeance are certainly inventive and frequently loaded with a tongue-in-cheek, d ..read more