Some Kind of Hero, by Suzanne Brockmann

I have said before that it’s generally hard for me to give up on authors I’ve stopped loving–though I hope I’ve finally learned my lesson there.

On the other hand, there are some authors I still very much like, but whose writing may have shifted in directions that, quite simply, don’t interest me. This was the case a few years ago with Ms Brockmann’s (then) upcoming series: I felt completely meh about the whole “not too distant future” thing.

Then, a couple of years ago. she wrote the first of what is supposed to be a spinoff series from the Troubleshooters and I was somewhat interested.¹

And then…then, this book was announced, and here we are.

Reader beware: adult language, some violence, graphic sex. If any of these bothers you, skip the book. Hell, skip the whole series.

Some Kind of Hero, by Suzanne Brockmann

While this is the 17th full length novel in the very successful Troubleshooters series, it absolutely stands on its own, giving a new reader a good taste of what Ms Brockmann’s writing voice is like: fast paced, with well drawn, three-dimensional characters, and set in the real world, very much right here, right now.

Neither of the main characters have appeared in any of the previous books in the series. And while a couple of the secondary characters have, the story is structured so that there’s no need for extensive backstory of previous events, and what little there is, is integrated organically into the narrative.

Here’s the blurb:

Something different: true crime podcasts

When I was a wee lass (just shy of turning nine), an older cousin started lending me all of her Agatha Christie novels, one by one.¹ I was already a reader, but this is what made me a fan of mystery. A couple of years later, when she moved away, she gifted me with the books, cementing my love affair with fictional sleuths.

It was perhaps two years after I started reading mystery, that I found my first true crime non-fiction book, An Autumn of Terror: The Crimes and Times of Jack the Ripper, at my father’s house.²

I’ve been interested in real crime, mostly cold cases (both solved and not) since, so when I ‘discovered’ the plethora of real crime podcasts available today, I started listening to a number of them.

Through trial and error, I’ve found a few that I really enjoy, and others that, frankly, annoy the bejesus out of me.

Content warning: I go into some detail about some gruesome stuff below the fold, including crimes against children.

Wild Embrace, by Nalini Singh

Wild Embrace, by Nalini Singh

This is the second all Psy/Changeling anthology, and the first with all new stories. (I reviewed Wild Invitation, the first anthology, here.)

Wild Embrace was released last year, after Allegiance of Honor came out; despite my utter disenchantment with that novel, I had already decided I would read the anthology, so I did at some point later in the year. I wasn’t awed by it, but I remembered enjoying it well enough.

After reading Silver Silence, I decided to re-read and review it, to satisfy my ‘completist’ tendencies.

I probably shouldn’t have done it so soon after, though, because I was hyper aware of all the worst of Ms Singh’s writing tics; none of these stories have aged well for me.

Reader warning: This anthology is part of a long series, so the review by necessity spoils some of the stories that came before. As with the rest of the series, there’s some adult language and explicit sex. Finally, I rant–a hell of a lot–about one of the novellas in this book.

After Dark, by Jayne Castle

For anyone who may not know, Jayne Castle is but one of Amanda Quick’s best known pseudonyms (see here for a mostly complete list of names and works). Turns out, it’s also the one I haven’t really read, which I’m now trying to rectify.

Caveats: there are a couple of murders, off-page, and some sex on the page, and a HFN ending.¹

After Dark, by Jayne Castle

I had a vague feeling that I read this when it first came out, back in 2000, but when listened to it I didn’t remember…well, anything except the bare basics of the world building premise: humans in some other planet a couple hundred years from now, psychic powers, extinct previous civilization. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that I had read the prequel, “Bridal Jitters,” in the Charmed anthology.

I learned later, though Fantastic Fiction, that there is also an earlier trilogy set in the same world, but a couple hundred years earlier, closer to the colonization of the planet.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

A little dog: an emblem of male fragility

(Originally posted to the Community section at MyMedia)

Male artist makes a statue of a little dog raising its leg to pee, and places it so that its aiming at the feet of the Fearless Girl statue on Wall Street.

He says it’s not an anti-feminist statement, but a protest because the Girl is ‘interfering’ with the work of another artist (the creator of the Wall Street Charging Bull).

Never mind that the Girl is there for a limited time (extended to February 2018), after which it’ll be shunted somewhere else, out of view.

Call me whatever you want, but I find it incredibly amusing that the little, innocent, peeing dog, was designed specifically to interfere (not interact) with the work of another artist (the creator of the Girl). Irony, dead.

Also endlessly amusing: the peeing dog creator didn’t get a permit, and removed his work after about three hours–presumably, just long enough for people to post images to social media, and to get feminists riled up–because he didn’t want someone (cops, maybe?) to ‘take it.’

Male fragility, what you gonna do?

Silver Silence, by Nalini Singh

Over the years, I’ve stopped being blindly loyal to authors I once adored.

Most often, because there’s some change in the direction of their writing that doesn’t align with my own growth as a reader. Occasionally, I grow increasingly unforgiving of their writing tics, to the point where I cannot longer enjoy the story.

Either way, I tend to continue buying and reading books in a well loved series, because there’s always hope that the magic will happen again.

Or, perhaps, I just don’t know when to quit.¹

Which brings me to the Psy/Changeling series.

Last year, I thought I was done. Finis. The End. Game over.

However.

I was already invested in getting the next four story anthology, which…didn’t suck too terribly.² Add another year of the horrible, terrible, no-good reading slump, that stubborn hope, some amazon reward dollars…and here we are.

Caveat: explicit sex and some adult language in the book; a lot of ranting and spoilers, for both the series and this book, in the review. And I mean a lot–particularly the ranting. Proceed at your own risk.

Silver Silence, by Nalini Singh

This book is the sixteenth full length novel set in the Psy/Changeling universe, but it’s supposed to start a new arc in the overarching storyline of the series. If I understand correctly, the first fourteen books were “The Age of Silence,” the fifteenth book was…whatever it was, and this one starts “The Age of Trinity.”

The cover jacket blurb:

An Unseen Attraction, by K.J. Charles

I’m cheating just a teensy bit by choosing this a my TBR Challenge review of the month. But hey, the novel was in the digital TBR Cordillera of Doom, so it counts.

While I enjoy Ms Charles’ online presence immensely,¹ and despite having at least three other of her books in the TBR Cordillera of Doom, I had not yet read any of her fiction. Then, our Queen Librarian of the Universe, Wendy the SuperLibrarian, reviewed this book recently, and I was most intrigued.

As it often happens, I discovered that I had already purchased it a few weeks before, and, since I had not only read a whole new-to-me book that week, but actually wrote a semi-decent review, I decided to dive right in.

And yay, I really liked it!

Reader, beware: there’s explicit sex and adult language; there are also references to sexual abuse of a character who is not in the story.

An Unseen Attraction, by K. J. Charles

This is the first book in the Sins of the Cities trilogy, set in Victorian London in 1873. There’s fog. Serious fog.²

Clem manages a lodging-house for skilled artisans in a very diverse neighborhood in London. Rowley, one of his lodgers, is a taxidermist, called a preserver (or stuffer) at the time.

And there they are, two gents going about their business as normal, until things…change.

Here’s the blurb from the author’s site: