Thriller | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Garden of Locusts by J.T. Ruby

A vicious murderer, two twin boys, and a determined sheriff swirl at the center of Garden of Locusts, a gripping new novel from author J.T. Ruby. In the pressure cooker of small-town Alabama in the 1970s, this family drama is a sweeping Southern epic that embraces everything from young love and parental loss to fraternal conflict and institutionalized racism.

Ben and Owen Hood are twin brothers trying to find their own ways in the world, deeply connected but also vastly different. Simon Singleton is a detective now sheriff from across the pond whose nose for serial killers and penchant for […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-04-14T10:25:15+02:00April 13th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: J.T. Ruby, Thriller|

Review: The Seavers Conspiracy by Travis Pearson

A surprisingly spry auditor faces down the corruption and violence of a disintegrating town in The Seavers Conspiracy by author Travis Pearson. Steeped in modern-day, close-to-home themes and stacked with a vivid cast of characters, this is a swirling mystery that moves quick and twists often.

When Becka calls her Uncle Randall for help in her small town of Seavers, she doesn’t know that she is placing him directly in the crosshairs of a vicious and powerful cabal controlling the city government. Randall isn’t just an old man with a good heart – he is also an entertaining protagonist that […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-04-09T09:19:13+02:00March 11th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller, Travis Pearson|

Review: Where’s… Eli? by Alex S. Avitabile

The disappearance of a less-than-trustworthy lawyer kicks off a hectic crime-solving spree in Where’s… Eli? by author Alex S. Avitabile. This second book in the Al and Mick Forte crime series is just as authentically penned and suspenseful as the first, but can also stand alone as an entertaining piece of crime fiction.

Al and Mick are cousins who go way back, their childhoods, neighbors, lives and relatives tangled up in the complex social web of Brooklyn in the 50s and 60s. Having your bloodline brush up against organized crime is far from unusual, and despite Al now being a […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-28T04:45:24+02:00February 5th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction, Thriller|

Review: Joe’s Odyssey by Nick LaTorre

Sent on a seemingly harmless client meeting for his boss, Joe Kerson has no idea that his life is about to take a wild turn in Joe’s Odyssey by Nick LaTorre. Dreaming of making a drastic change in life is something to which most readers can relate, giving this wild and unpredictable adventure broad appeal.

Joe Kerson is used to people walking all over him, but with a single shove, he finds himself the new owner of a luxury yacht, and eight suitcases overflowing with mob money. The only problem is that he has no idea what to do next, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-17T08:20:54+02:00January 24th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Nick LaTorre, Thriller|

Into the Suffering City by Bill LeFurgy

Baltimore from a century ago gleams under a sinister spotlight in author Bill LeFurgy’s electric Into the Suffering City.

Dr. Sarah Kennecott is a gifted medical examiner, but eccentric behavior and a brilliant mind in a woman is not appreciated in such misogynistic times. Finding herself an unlikely ally in a local private detective, Jack Harden, she is determined to see that justice is done for a murdered showgirl, even if that means doing it outside the boundaries of the law. In a town where violence, corruption, brutality and ignorance still reign, Sarah is a fiercely independent light and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-01-23T08:22:26+02:00January 23rd, 2020|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Historical Fiction, Thriller|

Molls Like It Hot by Darren Dash

Molls Like It Hot from author Darren Dash is a fast-paced and oddly heartfelt thriller, featuring a cabbie with a surprising toolkit, a worldly gangster, a trigger-happy target, and a decidedly dangerous offer.

A young woman lies at the heart of this tangled mess of a story, as one so often does, but Toni is far from a plot device. She’s a hard-drinking badass with a psychopathic soft spot for violence and a dangerous temper. Protecting this gangster’s lover in the seedy streets of South London leads Eyrie Brown into a weekend of gunfights and bloodshed that he’ll never forget […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-12-09T07:18:56+02:00December 6th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Crime Fiction, Darren Dash, Thriller|

Review: Shadow Tag, Perdition Games by L.E. Fraser

The Perdition Games series by L.E. Fraser continues with Shadow Tag, a brutal and unpredictable thriller that will keep readers looking over their shoulder, and questioning the sage advice of their medical professionals. The tangled threads of this plot are brilliantly woven into a web of corruption, cruelty, revenge and perseverance.

Tasked with investigating a sinister crime under the guise of an internship at a psychiatric hospital, Samantha McNamara is dragged back into a dark, cult-filled corner of her own past. Reece Hash, Sam’s fiancee, is simultaneously investigating a string of cases that may have been perpetrated by a […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-01-28T10:50:21+02:00November 20th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: L.E. Fraser, Thriller|

Urgent State by Larry Pratt

It often feels like the end of the world is fast approaching, and Urgent State: One Route to Saving our Species by author Larry Pratt is a pragmatic piece of fiction that may help readers understand our imminent global crises a bit better.

In this third book of the Urgent series, an effort to save mankind from itself is launched – a small coterie of thinkers and philanthropists hole up in secret to fund critical research and push science forward in the hopes of rescuing the planet from annihilation. However, to overcome the fundamental crises of corruption, greed, narrow-mindedness, and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-11-15T09:27:45+02:00November 15th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Thriller|