Westlake Soul, emotional writing of the highest order

Westlake Soul dwells in a permanent vegetable state following a surfing accident and he is now lives (if you can call it living) back home with his family. Although he cannot communicate, through his mind and his thoughts we travel with Westlake as he spends what remaining time he has in the presence of those he loves and who in turn love him....there are so many poignant moments in what undoubtedly is a memoir of a young man who constantly asks....what if? Nadia, the girl he was with, on that fateful morning cannot bear the pain and suffering and so there is one final visit....

" Those two words again: if only. She put her ipod and headphones back into her beach bag and stood up. The soles of her sneakers squeaked on the floor as she walked toward the door. One final look over her shoulder, the last wedge of snow sliding from her roof. I lay among my tubes and lines like a torn parachute. My cardiac monitor chirped. The door closed softly behind her." The family decision is taken to stop intravenously feeding Weslake and to grant him release from this living death, and so they gather around his bed in one final show of strength and love...

"This is going to be a night with Westlake," Dad said, parking my chair in the middle of the room before taking a seat next to Mom. They clasped each other's hands and that was nice to see. "A night for Westlake. We don't know how long we're going to have-" And here he stopped and his face stiffened and Mom rubbed his back. "We don't know how long Westlake has got, so we're doing this tonight, as a family, united in our love for him, and with a wish that our beautiful son and brother finds everything he wants in the next life."

There is a location at the midway point where Westlake uses the analogy of a plane crash to describe the situation he finds himself in…..

“ It wasn’t this fabricated news scene, or the thought of the crash itself- of dying- that unsettled me…but rather the thought of the time it would take for the plane to slam down to earth. Three minutes- or however long- of knowing you are about to die, of hearing the screams of the people around you, complete strangers, who know the same. A different timbre of scream. Harrowing. Pushed out on the final breaths. That’s what unsettled me. The time. And that’s what I’m experiencing now. My plane has lost all four engines and I’m nosediving toward my doom. I used to think that three minutes was a terrifying long time to know that you’re about to die, but it’s nothing – positively heaven- compared to one whole week. Or two”……..

Amidst all this pain there are some lighter moments of humour…Yvette is Westake’s permanent help/nurse and quite often displays bruises from yet another impromptu beating from her boyfriend Wayne. “I’ve told you very little about Wayne, but I’m willing to bet you’ve a fairly accurate picture of him in you head. The kind of guy who has Kimbo Slice wallpaper on his cell phone, and who thinks The Expendables should have won ten Academy Awards.”….

I truly love this story it is a story of sadness, a story about human nature and the bonds of family and love, and a story that ultimately can only have one ending…..but travel with us, travel with Westlake as he rides the big wave and sets out to meet his destiny and embrace his maker….

Dark and twisted tale from Kealan Patrick Burke

Kealan Patrick Burke has that rare ability only few good authors have and that is the ability to shock and surprise an unexpected reader. Jack and Jill is not an easy read and the complete antithesis of the rather bland and simple title. Gillian has been abused as a child by her father and this story is her quest for answers and salvation....to this end she decides to visit her father in the hope that by facing that which has gone before she may find some peace in her present life with her husband Chris and her children Jenny and Sam. The writing and the tension when the father and daughter meet is unbearable and for me KPB has described better than any author I know, the hatred and indeed twisted love that still exists, and the open wounds that will never heal. If this was not enough there are some shocking revelations...."He touches me, Mummy" and with those four words Gillian's nightmare has returned. When husband Chris seeks forgiveness "I've done something I'm not proud of, honey" the readers is taken on a last roller coaster ride to a conclusion that is brutal and sudden in its execution. This is brilliant writing from a true master of his art, a dark and twisted tale that will leave you breathless for more.

Thor by Wayne Smith

Thor"oughly enjoyed this wonderful tale that takes place through the eyes of Thor the family Alsatian. It is warm, tender and at times will make you smile with a story that can be read by child or adult alike. Thor is the family protector and he looks after mum, dad, Teddy, Brett and Debbie until one day this peaceful existence is shattered when Uncle Ted comes to live with them. Ted is recovering from a personal tragedy and he has a secret that will test the strength and will of Thor to the limit. The story is told with such warmth and indeed humour as the mysteries of the world and everyday occurrences are described through the eyes of Thor...."When Thor was young, the phone had been a bottomless source of mystery. Of all the strange things the Pack did, talking to the phone was the strangest. Sometimes the phone chirped, and they went for it like it was the last piece of meat in the world. Sometimes they picked it up unbidden, poked it a few times and waited. In any case they talked and listened to it as if it were another person"

There is a lovely scene of the family on the way to the seaside for a fun packed day and Thor resting his head on the car window "More important things occupied this mind, like the thrill of hanging his head out of the window at sixty miles an hour, and the distant smell of brine that was already finding it's way to his nostrils and making him squirm in anticipation". But horror lies underneath this warmth and soon Thor will be called upon to protect the family when an unspeakable evil comes to visit..."It was utterly mad. Their eyes met, and Thor froze. The Thing's eyes were neither canine nor human, but resembled both. It looked straight into Thor's eyes, and Thor looked back as he would never do as a human. It's eyes seemed to beckon to Thor. They bore an invitation to join the Bad Thing in its wildness, in its freedom, in its madness. To enjoy the taste of blood and the smell of death, to revel in the power each of them possessed in such abundance - the power to kill"

To me this story shows the very close and loving relationship between man, and dog and what both will do to protect and secure that love..it's wonderful in its simplicity and brilliant in its execution. I would however once again ask those responsible for the kindle edition to pay more attention to "grammar"...."Thor lay of the floor a few feet from the table"...should surely read "Thor lay on the floor a few feet from the table".....or..."The best way protect the Pack" should read "The best way to protect the Pack" Why let simple grammatical errors ruin an otherwise wonderful story.

Silent Voices by Gary McMahon stunning study of horror and decay...

At the heart of Gary McMahon's second outing to The Grove is the stinking underbelly of working class citizens etching out a living in the harsh and unforgiving landscape commonly known as The Concrete Grove. We meet again Simon Ridley, Brendan Cole and Marty Rivers who have never been able to escape an incident that occurred some 20 years ago and in this forced reunion they hope to do the business and rectify that which has gone before. What the author achieves here is creating a picture of the harsh realities and life style of those who have nothing and have no hope of ever having anything, and the premise that we are moulded by our childhood we can never escape from that and it makes us the person we have become today. Our 3 heroes have battled to achieve some meaning in their lives with limited success and as we learn they share a common bond of brutal upbringings....

"But it was too late for Marty to do anything but continue his assault. He kept punching, his fists aching, his fingers crunching, and could do nothing but wait until his terrible rage was spent. Anger drove him on, fueling his body and inuring it to the pain in his hands. He was once again the child whose father had beaten him for no other reason that to toughen him up, who grew into a teenager who burnt and lacerated his own body so that nobody would ever cause him pain or beat him in a stand-up fight."....and later "It's not so much that his father hits him, but more about the way the bastard treats Marty's mother. He knows that his father beats her at least once every two weeks - sometimes more often, if he's been drinking a lot. He rarely leaves marks, but there was that time last summer when they had to tell everyone that his mother had fallen down the stairs. She had two black eyes and her top lip was split and swollen. The skin around her jaw was red and tender to the touch."

"A hundred yards along Grove Crescent was the Arcade. The row of shops had always been here, ever since Simon could remember. The retail outlets renting the premises had changed, of course, but these were minor adaptions to the demands of the economy rather than any kind of improvement in consumer choice. The people round here did not want quality goods they wanted cheap and cheerful products that would do for the time being. These days, the shops were tenanted by a DVD rental outlet, a pizza and kebab takeaway service, Grove Grub (which was the only constant factor in the Arcade, having been there since Simon was a boy), a flower shop, a betting shop, a butchers-and-grocers, a small hardware store, a hairdressers with a solarium place in the flat above, and a grimy newsagent with faded advertisement for chocolate bars and comics in the chicken-wire-covered windows. More local kids in sports apparel hung around on the steps outside, mums stood smoking and chatting over prams, shady-looking men ducked in and out of the betting shop doorway, clutching or dropping onto the pavement creased slips of paper."

These are very powerful descriptive passages that add substance to "Silent Voices" and blend beautifully with the drabness and living hell of life in The Grove itself and the horror contained therein. The story leads us effortlessly through the present lives of Simon, Brendon, and Marty as they prepare to meet their nemesis for a final and frightening confrontation at the centre of The Grove.....The Needle..."The boys cross the road, walk along Grove Street and step into the Roundpath, the narrow walk-around circling the Needle.  The large building hovers above them, as if cast adrift from its concrete foundations. It seems to totter and sway and as they approach the place they feel a sense of dislocation, as if they have ruptured something, broken through an invisible wall....."

I began to wonder could Gary McMahon maintain this frightening pace, this unputdownable read, until the end..... until the last page.....I need not have worried, in the hands of a professional author anything can happen and most surely will. All I will say is that the ending when it occurs is totally unexpected and clever in it's execution, leaving the way open nicely for the final installment of this wonderful trilogy. Highly Recommended.

Janus Legacy medical thriller with ethical overtones!

This book surprised me, having read The Genesis Code and thoroughly enjoyed I expected to find similar satisfaction in this latest offering from Lisa von Biela. It's not a bad book but the subject matter ( the illegal harvesting/use of human parts) has been done much better in the past. Two good examples being the somewhat dated Coma by Robin Cook and the more recent Harvest by Tess Gerritsen. The storyline in The Janus Legacy is different from these two predecessors but the central issue of transplant and the associated ethics remains. The story revolves around Jeremy Magnusson, crohn's disease sufferer, and the vast wealth he inherits from his father Ivan on his unexpected death. However as part of his inheritance Jeremy must endeavor to continue with his father's experiments into this dreaded disease even though he may dispute the methods used, and perhaps by continuing his fathers work he may find a cure. Although Jeremy has my sympathy most of the supporting characters were bland and tedious in the extreme: his ex partner Amanda decides to leave the pompous Rick and return to Jeremy, Tim ( very dim!) and Glen ( self absorbed egotist) two supporting surgeons at the SomaGene institute and the rather pathetic figure of "The Subject" who drifted somewhere between a human existence and the great beyond....This book would probably have worked much better as a novella as I found myself wishing for the end to happen and Jeremy's fate, whatever that may be to please happen soon....before I drifted off to sleep zzzzzz....

Fun but in no way outstanding.....

This was a fun read, not an outstanding read, and certainly a happening that was more suited to "novella" than story. Charlie and her baby Hayley have been car kidnapped by the somewhat deranged Simone. So we travel with them on a short journey and nervously await what outcome Simone has in store for the unfortunate two. There is a incident just after the midway point that I question just where the author was going.....A state trooper stops the car and perhaps this is the chance that Charlie has been waiting for?..just before the state trooper leaves the following happens..." The baby uttered a few fussy cries and Charlie, through  sense of maternal instinct, scooped the baby out of Simone's arms to soothe her. Simone caught off guard, relinquished the baby with a small gape of the mouth and a half word that might have been "hey"....Instantly, she felt a surge of relief that Haley was safely away from traffic. She felt fairly certain that Simone wouldn't do anything to create a scene or arouse suspicion. For that moment, she and the baby were safe.".......So why did she not alert the polieman? He was closeby and Simone would never shoot them in front of the state trooper? This was the ideal moment to escape...this was the opportunity and Simone for the present had the gun hidden in her pocket. Yes it was not a perfect situation but the best that Charlie could hope for. Instead the threesome continue their journey and a more unlikely ending (in my opinion) occurs. I am sure that the author has her reasons for introducing this "escape route" and then refusing to acknowledge and use it? As I said at the start of this short review...a fun read but in no way outstanding.

Magnificent Midnight Rain by James Newman

Where do I begin to talk about a book that I thought was magnificent and that brought with it such colourful and personal memories of childhood. For a short time I rode with Kyle Mackey on this trusty bike "Burner" (mum and dad would not allow him a dog) and I felt his pain as the world of a young 12 year old boy collapsed and all his dearest and trusted friends betrayed him...where does a young mind go when trust and truth no longer exist?
One day in August of 77 Kyle Mackey witnessed an event that changed his life forever, the murder of Cassie Rourke and how was he to respond when the perpetrator of that murder was non other than the respected Sheriff Burt Baker. "Later, as I lay in the darkness not daring to close my eyes, I heard the high-pitched warble of a police siren peaking and fading somewhere across town. I wondered if it was him. Out there, doing his thing, roaming my town under the guise of upholding the law.

Kyle's brother Dan has gone to university, his mum drinks to forget the sad death of his father and the only person Kyle feels happy to confide in is deputy Sheriff Mike Linder "Linder was a big man but he possessed one of the kindest, gentlest faces I ever saw. His bright blue eyes seemed to sparkle with kindness.....That was the thing I like most about Mike Linder. He always spoke to me as if I were his equal, not just another dumb kid." However very soon as the story takes a shocking twist, Kyle finds himself adrift with no where to turn and no one to help in his quest for justice and as we ride with him on the back of "Burner" through the streets of Midnight we hold our breath in hope and anticipation that the murderer will be brought to account for his wicked deed.

I think for a "coming of age" story to be successful the tone of the book and the believability of the lead character must be beyond reproach. I totally believed in Kyle, I wept with him when events and situations seemed to be spiraling out of control, and I rode with him as he raced around town in his attempt to enlist support and uncover the evidence that would see Burt Baker entrapped and strangled by his own lies. This book is  a great achievement by the author James Newman. He has succeeded in writing a story of the highest quality, a story that will overwhelm you, a story that will make you smile, and a conclusion that will encourage you to applaud the resilience of young Kyle Mackey resident of Midnight North Carolina......