Tag Archives: thriller

Chaos Unbound

Book Review of Chaos Unbound, by Brian S. Leon

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I received a copy of Chaos Unbound, by Brian S. Leon, from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
The hunter becomes the hunted.

Framed for the murder of a high ranking member of the Unseelie Court of Fae, Steve Dore–also known as Diomedes, Guardian and protector of mankind–goes on the run. He’s determined to uncover the real culprit and clear his name.

But the assassination may be the beginning of a more sinister plot that involves not just the Fae and Humankind, but all the races of the world. And what if the real assassin is a boogeyman even the Fae don’t believe is real?

Review:
I’m finished, Lord above I’m finally done! My goodness, that book seemed to go on forever. It’s not even a bad book. The writing is fine. It’s funny and the author seems to understand military stuff well enough for it to read as realistic. But the book is so darned long and it’s just running and fighting nonstop. I got so tired of the main character and his perfect friends killing things and being told about this gun or that tactical vest, or this military vehicle or that battle in 82BC or this mythical creature or that country and conflict. There was no time for any character development in and amongst all the running around, fighting and being attacked.

The blurb says it can be read as a standalone and it can. I haven’t read book one and I followed this one just fine. But I definitely felt that I was missing something in having not read the preceding book. The characters refer to the events of book one and the events of this one tie into it. Plus, I kept thinking, as new people were being introduced at 80% into the book, that all the character development must have been left there, since it wasn’t here.

The plot is pretty simple, a man is wrongly accused of a crime and must find the real culprit on order to clear his name. I’ll say this book was ok, but it didn’t need 350+ pages to tell the story. If you like non-stop action though, this might be a good book for you.

Book Review of Blood Stained Tea (The Yakuza Path #1), by Amy Tasukada

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I was sent a copy of Amy Tasukada‘s Blood Stained Tea for review.

Description from Goodreads:
A bloody past haunts him. A devastating present calls him back…

Nao hides from his violent past in the Japanese mob by opening a teahouse in Japan’s cultural center, Kyoto. His past comes flooding back when he discovers a gravely injured man with a tattooed chest, a bloody knife, and a Korean business card.

Saehyun would’ve died if not for Nao’s help. He knows nothing of his savior’s connection with the local mafia, but Saehyun has his own secrets. He commands the Korean mafia, the mortal enemy of Nao’s former syndicate.

As Nao and Saehyun grow closer, so does the strength of the Korean mob. A shocking murder pulls Nao back into a past he’d all but abandoned. War is looming, and Nao must choose between protecting Saehyun or avenging the honor of his old mafia family.

Review:
Blood Stained Tea was a fun book to start the year with. I really appreciated that it contains a romance featuring a Japanese and Korean man, one of which is bi-sexual. Plus, being set in Kyoto, Japan is a nice change. Overall, I quite enjoyed it. I liked both the main characters, appreciated the difficult positions they found themselves in and was left wanting more when it ended.

However, Nao’s logic often made no sense to me, nor did his constant assumptions about Saehyun. In fact, they were made so frequently and asserted so firmly that I felt very much like the author was trying to convince me of something I should be able to sense without being told (repeatedly). It was like they were both keeping themselves willfully ignorant and I’m afraid that just wasn’t something I could buy into, considering how much both of them had at stake. Even when all but incontrovertible proof was presented, the two of them (Nao especially) somehow remained clueless. I just couldn’t believe it, which meant a lot of the plot felt contrived.

Similarly, the decision and twist at the end was utterly unbelievable for me.  When the book was presented to me for review it came with this note: “…this is a m/m thriller. Though there is a love story throughout the novel it’s NOT a romance, nor is it for the faint of heart. Lots of bloody violence and death.” So I get that this event at the end is what makes the book a thriller rather than a romance. But I think the story tried too hard to straddle the genres and compromised itself. It would have been stronger, in my opinion, to pick one or the other. Especially since so many readers will be disappointed. Romance lover will be let down by the ending and thriller fanatics will likely be put off by the romance. Because for 99% of the book the romance is front and centre, even if it is practically an insta-lust.

Honestly, if not for the ending, I would call it an M/M romance using the Yakuza and Jo-pok for plot. Admittedly, a romance of the tragic, Shakespearean sort—very Romeo and Juliet—but a romance all the same. In fact, I’d call this a mix of Romeo and Juliet and The Godfather. Nao makes a very convincing Michael Corleone.

The writing is pretty good. The first chapter or so is a bit rough, but it smooths out fairly quickly. The editing also never grabbed my attention, which is what editing should do, and it was well-paced. All sex is off-page, so it’s not particularly steamy, and the book has an awesome cover. Lastly, I totally agree with Nao about Oolong tea. It’s my favorite too, especially the darker, heavily oxidized ones. Yum. I look forward to reading more of Tasukada’s work.

Book Review of Déjà Dead (Temperance Brennan #1) by Kathy Reichs

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Deja DeadCurious about the series that spawned the TV show Bones I borrowed Déjà Dead (by Kathy Reichs) from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Dr. Temperance “Tempe” Brennan spends her days in the autopsy suite, the courtroom, the crime lab, with cops, and at exhumation sites. Often her long days turn into harrowing nights.

It’s June in Montreal, and Tempe, who has left a shaky marriage back home in North Carolina to take on the challenging assignment of director of forensic anthropology for the province of Quebec, looks forward to a relaxing weekend.

First, though, she must stop at a newly uncovered burial site in the heart of the city. One look at the decomposed and decapitated corpse, stored neatly in plastic bags, tells her she’ll spend the weekend in the crime lab. This is homicide of the worst kind. To begin to find some answers, Tempe must first identify the victim. Who is this person with the reddish hair and a small bone structure?

Review:
I used to read a lot of these sorts of forensic thrillers, but I guess my tastes have changed as I’ve aged, because now I read them and can’t help but notice that it’s a whole genre basically dedicated to the death and mutilation of women and I’m just so very very over it.

Other than the fact that the vast, disproportionate majority of victims in books like this one are female I also struggled through Déjà Dead in other areas. I found it dry and a bit on the slow side. There are a lot of technical info-dumps as Temperance talks to various professionals. I thought Temperance did an amazing number of truly stupid things. She was bordering on To-Stupid-to-Live territory. I thought it unlikely that the police would allow her to come along with them as they did. I thought the book’s attempt to be edgy by including prostitutes and such just came across as stereotypical. And the book is quite dated (which is not really something it can be faulted for, but still bothered me a bit).

I did really appreciate that Temperance and the detectives were all older people. It’s so refreshing to find professionals as experts in their fields who are written as actually old enough to have earned their degrees and the requisite experience to become experts. Not to mention having and dealing with true adult problems. I liked the anthropology. I liked the characters; even the jerks had their moment of redemption. I liked that it’s set in Quebec. So, in the end, I’m gonna call this a so-so read and not make any effort to continue the series, but also not boycott it or anything.