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Secrets and Lies

11/27/2014

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Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.

*****
Jade's father dies, then her mother commits suicide. Worried for her brother, Richie, whom she cannot locate and with whom she is to share her father's $30 million estate, Jade engages the services of private investigator, Nick Crane, in Cicero's Dead, by Patrick H. Moore. Nick enlists the assistance of his friend, Bobby Moore, a somewhat troubled soul, "225 pounds of rock-hard Vietnam vet, with an in-your-face attitude, who wears shorts 300 days a year showing off thick hairy thighs, and a titanium prosthesis, courtesy of a Vietcong Dole pineapple mine." Nick learns that Cicero, well known to have been drug dealing, did not die in the manner in which the reports indicated. Further, though Richie is found, the company he keeps, one Arnold Clipper, is of concern, as Clipper controls Richie, emotionally manipulating the impressionable and needy young man. Add in the family attorney, James Halladay, who may have an agenda of his own, a friend of Jade and Richie's who is murdered during the course of the investigation, complicated interpersonal relationships, and believable and engaging dialogue, and you have the makings of a great story.


Patrick H. Moore's Cicero's Dead, will keep you turning pages. Indeed, I was able to tick off all the points of a story well-told with this one: (1) I enjoyed my time reading and did not want to put the book down; (2) I looked forward to continuing whenever the opportunity presented itself; (3) the engaging story, complete with sometimes sympathetic, sometimes despicable, characters, lead me to a satisfying conclusion; and (4) I will look forward to reading more of Moore's work. If you are longing for an engaging adventure, well told, look no further than Cicero's Dead.


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Enjoying a Unique Voice

11/27/2014

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I received a free download of Phychophilia from Amazon.

As a writer myself, I know the sacrifices authors make to bring their work to others. There are the untold thousands of hours creating, planning, and perfecting their stories. There are the many hours and dollars spent to format, cover, and promote. Without listing all the expenses, there also are, of course, the lost potential revenues that might otherwise have helped the author recoup some of his expenses. These come when the author gives away copies, with the hope that readers will enjoy and will leave meaningful and thoughtful reviews that will encourage others to purchase copies. And so it is with these things in mind, that I leave this review in exchange for the free downloaded copy I received of Michelle Muckley's Phychophilia. Let me begin by saying that if you did not manage to get a free copy yourself, you might consider downloading one at whatever cost--today--because this one is absolutely worth it, particularly if you appreciate, as do I, a colorful "voice" to what you read.

Charlotte Astor is suffering. Depressed, and with an attempted suicide behind her, she tries to find peace in her troubled relationship with her husband, Gregory, who shows far too much interest in the Astor's housemaid, Ishiko. Then there is her doctor she must deal with, her pretentious neighbors, her former coworkers (whom she left behind at Gregory's urging), and Charlotte is lonely even when in the company of others.

My attraction to Psychophilia wasn't the story so much (though it is not lacking). It was due to Muckley's voice and her ability to so completely and believably "get into" Charlotte's troubled mind. I found myself highlighting line after line, just so I could find a passage later and thereby revisit a clever turn of phrase. Just a couple short and ready examples (of what must be hundreds) include:

"If we were a house, Gregory and me would never have made it past the planning stage."

"Occasionally I have felt the vomit rise in my throat but if I swallow down fast enough I can return it to a peaceful slumber, like a trained dragon, full of hot breath but no fire."

"It’s much harder to judge a crazy person when they know you too have been touched by the same affliction."

Consider this one:  "Cigarettes are not for show. They are to be hidden away, like he wishes he could do to me, but instead is forced to do to Ishiko."

Or this one:  "Dana’s compliments make you feel good, even if they are not always believable. Jemima’s always remind you of your flaws. To her I can’t look just nice. I have to look well, so that I remember at one point I didn’t. I don’t like her at all. She thinks of me as common, and I think of her as a bitch."

This one made me want to laugh and cry at the same time:  "I look like a moving version of a [f . . . d] up Picasso, my features out of line and two dimensional."

Finally, I note the insightfulness here:  "But by wanting out, trying to die, it was too much for him. It meant he was a failure. If I wanted to die, it meant he couldn’t be my everything. There was a better, more attractive alternative in death, than him. He can’t get past that idea, so he has found his own alternative. He didn’t even have to leave his home. But perhaps I shouldn’t be so hard on him. Coming second place to the finality of death? Perhaps there isn’t a man in the world that could understand or accept that."

There is an rough, yet elegant quality to Muckley's voice, a veracity to Charlotte's thoughts that give the story an almost "autobiographical" feel, and an honesty about life, relationships and feelings that is raw and real. A work absolutely and positively deserving of five stars . . . (so you might go get your copy now . . .)


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It's Ghostly

11/27/2014

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Reviewed for NetGalley. 

* * * * 

For those looking for a good ghost story, The After House, by Michael Phillip Cash, delivers. Captain Eli Gaspar, a whaler, left his young wife and family to go on a hunt, believing that the need to provide them with material possessions trumped the importance of simply being with them. On the final leg of his last-planned journey, he takes on a mighty bull whale that lobtails, surprising the crew. The hunt leaves him and a young boy who accompanied him on the journey, the sole survivors. The Captain is surprised when he returns home, to learn of events regarding his wife and children. Ridden with guilt, he inhabits his family home, where he remains for over a hundred years, unable to face what awaits him if he moves on. Enter Remy Galway, fairly recently divorced and the new property tenant, her daughter, Olivia, her parents, and Hugh Matthews, her new love interest. When strange goings on occur at the house, readers will wonder: is it the Captain? Or, is there something less ethereal--and more sinister--going on.

The After House offered a refreshing change of pace. Although the ghostly events seemed a bit stretched with respect to the Captain's ability to manipulate physical things, I was willing to believe for the sake of the story.  I liked Remy and Hugh. Their ability to forge a relationship, finally allowing Remy to leave her past behind, encouraged me. Olivia was a gutsy child. Finally,  the dog that Remy's father gave to her helped create a believable family dynamic. If you like your stories to "haunt" you after you have turned the last page, look no further than The After House.


 

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Caution to the Media

11/20/2014

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Reviewed for NetGalley.

*****
With the aid of many thousands of pages that Goebbels wrote chronicling events that transpired from Hitler's early times, though the years in which the Nazi party grew, and finally to the last days in the Bunker, Longerich presents a thorough step by step of the life and times of Joseph Goebbels.  He postulates that Goebbels was "driven by an exceptional craving for recognition by others. He was positively addicted to others’ admiration." The author's averment is substantiated through a survey of actions Goebbels's took as propaganda minister of the Third Reich. The extent to which he controlled other people and enterprises was extraordinary. That he considered himself a favorite of the crowds, however, appears to have been a figment of his imagination--one fed by the media that praised him--the same media he controlled.  The author concludes that Goebbels was "a narcissistically disturbed personality." By virtue of the passages Longerich shares from Goebbels's own chronicles, the assertion is utterly believable.

I was not surprised by the lengths to which Goebbels, and the Nazi party as a whole, were willing to go to grasp and to maintain control over others. The lawlessness, the willingness to manipulate, the falsehoods readily told--then just as readily "believed" by those telling the stories--is legendary. Even so, it is remarkable to read these things in Goebbels's own words. Also, I was not surprised by the "closeness" of the Goebbels family to the Fuhrer himself. Once again, however, when Longerich compares Goebbels's words with the reality of events at the time (based on other historic accounts and records), Goebbels clearly exaggerated the true extent of his relationship with Hitler. (Having said that, one can only wonder at the connection between Goebbels's wife, and Hitler.) All told, this work was a massive undertaking, one worthy of the attention of historians, the simply curious, and those dedicated to act as watchdogs with regard to any leadership, anywhere, at any time. The media has a sacred duty to seek out and to disclose truth--not to use its position to fashion events, to support a particular ideology, or to "cheer" for a designated "team." Take note media moguls: without a free, unfettered, and honest media, we cannot have a free and unmolested people. If you do not exercise your freedom when it is essentially unencumbered, you may well lose the ability to exercise it ever again . . .



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Some Deep Reading

11/10/2014

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Reviewed for NetGalley. 

* * * * *
My Battle Against Hitler, by Dietrich von Hildebrand and John Henry Crosby, was for me a bit of a stroll down memory lane. Back in my college days, I studied philosophy. I probably read some von Hildebrand in those days, though truth to tell, I do not recall for certain. At any rate, I appreciated the opportunity to read about his life in these pages, and the things he did to circumvent the propaganda of Hitler’s Third Reich.

Choosing exile to remain safe when the Nazi’s took power, von Hildebrand wrote extensively about the evils of the Nazi ideology. Much of the information in My Battle Against Hitler came from his 5000 page memoir—which he never intended to be published. Yet those writing set the stage for his story, as told by John Henry Crosby. Following it, are excerpts from some of von Hildebrand’s materials that were published in a variety of places over the years.

One of the things I found most interesting is that while von Hildebrand came from a family that considered “religion” only insofar as it might be represented in beautiful works of art, he showed signs of his personal belief and commitment to God from as early as the age of five. Eventually, he became a serious member of the Catholic Church and was highly influential in that community. Deemed a “personalist,” in accordance with which his philosophical thought centered around questions of human existence and the dignity of man, von Hildebrand focused much of his commentary on the evils of the Nazi ‘s, who stood opposed to the interests of the individual man.

For those looking for a unique perspective of the Nazi days, and for those who enjoy a good philosophical argument, I highly recommend My Battle Against Hitler.


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    Patricia Reding

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