“Dark Prayer” by Natasha Mostert

A fantastically intriguing story! This is the first book I have read by this author and I am so impressed with the creativeness of this story that I will definitely be adding her to my go-to list.

Jack is a rich kid with no direction to his life. His dad is about to drop all support unless Jack does what he asks. What he wants him to do is go to London and befriend a young lady named Eloise who is the ward of a friend. Eloise was raised as Jennilee to be prim and proper but after a traumatic incident she lost her memory and became Eloise. Jack has been told she is experiencing what is called a “fugue state” where she remembers nothing of her previous life. As Eloise her main occupation is parkour. Jack has some experience with parkour and uses this as a way to get to know her.

As he gets to know her Jack realizes that she sees apparitions which feel like memories to her but not her own memories. Eloise’s mother was part of a group of scientists who were studying memory and drugs that could either erase memories or restore them. Jack also discovers that his father had been part of that group and had been having an affair with Eloise’s mother. Jack and Eloise are able to track down a member of the group who is willing to talk to them and they find out that Jennilee was being used by her mother as a human test subject for her experiments. Jennilee was also a witness to her mother’s murder. She remembers none of this now but the figures she sees in the apparitions are part of the memories that her mother programmed into her. There is a way to unlock the fugue state but does she really want to go back to being Jennilee?

I found the memory research to be a fascinating component in this story. The descriptions of the parkour run were also beautifully written. This is a sport I knew nothing about before reading this book and I learned something with this story. When a book can teach me about something and do it in the context of a good story it’s just that much more worthwhile a reading experience. This book should be on your reading list.

http://www.natashamostert.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1909965219/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1909965219&linkCode=as2&tag=alinefromaboo-20&linkId=SYTTY5N3Q7PRJMJ5

“Castle Cay” by Lee Hanson

I love finding a good story and this definitely is one.

The star of the show is Julie who is an expert in body language. This makes for some interesting interviews of people involved with the victim. The victim is Marc, Julie’s best friend and it gradually becomes apparent that the motive centers around an island called Castle Cay which Marc inherited from his mother but which the family had not used for years. Top of the suspect list is Marc’s brother, Avram. He’s a nasty character who’s pushing for the sale of Castle Cay, but he doesn’t inherit the money from the sale, so why would he want Marc dead? Or was it Marc’s lover David, a quarrel maybe? Or could it have been suicide? Marc did have AIDS. So many questions, so few answers. Helping Julie to answer the questions is Joe, a private detective that she rents office space from. But is this more than just professional? To find out you’ll just have to read the book.

This story was obviously well thought out and for the most part well paced. I felt like the writing got better with each page and kept me intrigued and wanting to see how it would all turn out. After a slow start I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it for those who like mysteries. The body language analysis aspect adds a nice little twist. I look forward to reading the next one in this series.

http://leehansonbooks.com/

Buy on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Julie-OHara-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B004KZP1WS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419538621&sr=8-1&keywords=Castle+Cay

“Dead in the Water” by Dana Stabenow

Another mystery solved by the amazing Kate Shugak. I know I’m behind the eight ball with this series of books but in my defense, I only discovered Dana Stabenow this year so I am working furiously to catch up.

This is book three in the Kate Shugak series and I thoroughly enjoyed it, just like the first two. This time Kate is out crab-fishing in the Aleutian islands and hunting for murderers. I myself have never been to Alaska but Dana’s descriptions almost make me feel like I’m there. I felt like I was right there with Kate as she was hauling up crab pots and pounding the ice. I also love the way that the native culture is incorporated into the books. In this case, Kate encounters an old woman who is full of the old stories and also a basket-weaver. I really enjoyed how as part of the story I was also able to get some of the history of Aleut basket-weaving technique and it all just feels natural the way the author writes.

So Kate has once again been hired by Jack, this time to be a crew member on a crab boat and try to discover what happened to two previous crew members who have disappeared. Along the way she has a very amusing encounter with a group of Russian sailors, a young California surf dude out to discover Alaska (who by the way saves her life), and a group of men who care for nothing but how much money they can put in their own pockets.

Finally, I appreciate Ms. Stabenow’s ability to tell a gripping mystery story in less than 200 pages. These are books I can really enjoy without investing weeks of my time.

Kudos to Dana Stabenow on another job well done. I can’t wait to read book four and I recommend everyone give these stories a try.

http://www.stabenow.com/

Buy from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Water-Kate-Shugak-Novels-ebook/dp/B004Y1QBUO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1419539038&sr=8-3&keywords=Dead+in+the+Water

“Beowulf: A Bloody Calculus” by Milo Behr

A truly captivating story. I was completely engrossed from start to finish. Milo Behr has created the kind of sci-fi story that not only entertains but leaves you thinking about the possibilities that the future may hold for mankind. Beowulf’s job is to carry out the sentence of a jury when a crime is committed. Too often, the sentence is death. When a string of killing sprees begins he begins to question the cause. The character of Beowulf is well thought out and beautifully presented. He is not only the hand of justice in this future society but a complicated individual who wants to understand why things are happening, what is causing the killing. I also really enjoyed the technological innovations incorporated. While they are futuristic and a little hard, for me at least, to visualize how they would work, I nevertheless believed that they were a possible direction that our current technology could go in.

I think anyone who enjoys sci-fi would definitely enjoy this book. This would also be a good starting place for those who are new to science fiction and want to give it a try. I would highly recommend it and while the ending leaves you hanging a bit there is a sequel coming soon which I hope I get the chance to read. Good job Milo Behr and keep it coming.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8546557.Milo_Behr

Buy from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-Bloody-Calculus-Milo-Behr-ebook/dp/B00NH0PFH8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419539232&sr=8-1&keywords=Milo+Behr