#BooksFromTheBacklog – Fifth Avenue by Christopher Smith #ChristopherSmith

Posted on October 10, 2019 by fundinmental

Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks.

If you would like to join in, swing by Carole’s Random Life in Books.

Fifth Avenue by Christopher Smith is one of those thrillers that reads like a true story. I downloaded this from Amazon on 6.5.12.

Amazon / Goodreads

GOODREADS BLURB

Look beneath all the power and all the wealth that represents New York City’s Fifth Avenue, and you’ll find greed, blood, revenge. In the thriller Fifth Avenue, each intermingles within a revered society that is unprepared for what’s in store for it when one man finally strikes in an effort to destroy another man for murdering his wife thirty-one years ago.

Louis Ryan is that man. George Redman, his wife, two daughters and their close friends are his targets. Both men are self-made billionaires who came from nothing to stake their claim to Fifth Avenue. But when Louis Ryan hires an international assassin to literally rip the Redman family apart, a series of events that can’t be stopped catapults them all through a fast-paced, hard-edged thriller in which nobody is safe. Secrets are revealed. The Mafia get involved. And George’s two daughters, Celina and Leana Redman, come to the forefront. More than anyone, it’s they who are caught in the throes of their father’s past as Louis Ryan’s blind desire to kill them all takes surprising turns in his all-out effort to see them dead.

Fifth Avenue by Christopher Smith is one of those books that tugs at my conspiracy theory bug. I mean, Fifth Avenue, all that money and power. I downloaded it on 6.5.12 and it averages a 3.6 on Goodreads.

You can see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

#Books From The Backlog – Lethal Circuit by Lars Guignard @Lars_Gu

Posted on August 29, 2019 by fundinmental

If you would like to join in, swing by Carole’s Random Life in Books.

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

GOODREADS BLURB

A Chinese satellite is on crash course with Earth.
It contains enough plutonium to irradiate a large city.
And that’s the good news…

In the tradition of Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, and Robert Ludlum, comes a new hero.

Michael Chase is a twenty-six year old backpacker, a recent college grad, an amateur. He flew to Hong Kong to find his missing father. Four hours later, he’s running for his life. The Chinese Secret Police want him dead. The Conspiracy wants him dead. And the one person who he thinks is on his side, may want him dead too. If Michael is going to live, he’ll need to find a hidden piece of Nazi technology lost since World War II. And he’ll have to do it before anyone else. Because if he doesn’t, a little plutonium is going to be the least of his problems.

I do love my mystery, suspense/thrillers. Lovin’ this cover and the ‘written in the tradition of Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton and Robert Ludlum, authors I am very familiar with. How can I possibly resist?

You can see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

A Kidnapping & A Conspiracy – 3 Lies by Helen Hanson @HelenHanson

Posted on January 3, 2019 by fundinmental

Continue reading →

Horror of the SciFi Kind – Nomad by Matthew Mather @phuturenews

Posted on October 5, 2017 by fundinmental

Nomad by Matthew Mather is Book I of The New Earth Series.

This is one of those books that left me with tons of questions and what ifs.

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Action packed, thought-provoking, could this really happen novel that held my attention as the clocked ticked down.

“At most, we have a year, perhaps only months, until the anomaly reaches us.”

It’s the end of the world and I can’t imagine the fear and panic. All kinds of questions came to mind. Would I want to know, seeing as how there is nothing I could do? Would I want to be one of the last ones standing? How would I spend the last moments of my life? Who would I spend them with?

I quickly became involved with the characters, especially Jess. I love a strong, independent, kickass female, and she surely fits the bill. She is into extreme sports, served in Afghanistan, and left a leg there because of an IED. She may be a bit more than self-confident, maybe a bit reckless, but she does not have a death wish.There is nothing that will stop her from doing the right thing.

My first thought would be to let bygones be bygones, but would others think that? What about other countries? Would they want to take the last shot before the Earth ceases to exist?

A free for all, no holds barred human slaughter.

Matthew Mather did his research for Nomad. I don’t understand all the technical jargon, but he broke it down into easy to understand language. Well enough for me to me to be totally engrossed in the story, instead of thinking of it as a school subject.

The end of the world is coming and I felt it on every page, especially after watching the Solar Eclipse on 8.21.17. The danger and suspense just kept increasing, and it wasn’t just because of Nomad.

There is no ending. There are four books in the series, and I WANT THEM!

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Something massive is coming…

And it’s heading for Earth.

That’s what Dr. Ben Rollins, head of Harvard’s exoplanet research team, is told by NASA after being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night. His first instinct is to call his daughter, Jessica, who’s vacationing in Italy with his wife. “Something’s coming,” he tells them. “A hundred times the mass of the sun. We can’t see it, don’t know what it is yet, but they’re calling it Nomad–and in just months, the Earth may be destroyed.”

But what is it? And how did they miss detecting it until now? In a frantic race against time, Dr. Rollins must unravel Nomad’s secrets. A mysterious clue surfaces in his old research papers from the end of the Cold War, more than thirty years earlier…

The world erupts into chaos as the end approaches–and Ben discovers that his wife and daughter are trapped in Europe. The key to humanity’s survival rests in the final answers Dr. Rollins pieces together, in the midst of his desperate scramble across continents to find his family before Nomad swallows the planet.

MORE ABOUT NOMAD

A story of family and redemption set amid a brand new category of cataclysm–all the more plausible and terrifying as the science behind it is vetted by a team of world-class astrophysicists from CERN, SETI, the Keck Observatory and more. It even has its own simulation video, included at the end of the book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matthew is the million-copy bestselling author of CyberStorm and Darknet, and the hit series Nomad and Atopia Chronicles. He started out his career working at the McGill Center for Intelligent Machines, going on to become one of the world’s leading members of the cybersecurity community. In between he’s worked in a variety of start-ups,everything from computational nanotechnology to electronic health records to weather prediction systems. He spends his time between Montreal and Charlotte, NC.

Website / Twitter / Facebook / Google+ / LinkedIn

You can see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

TechnoThriller – The Masters’ Key by Helen Hanson @HelenHanson

Posted on August 18, 2017 by fundinmental

The Masters’ Key by Helen Hanson is FANTASTIC!

This is one of those reviews that, if I was on my toes, would have been written back in May of 2015, and is part of my Blogging Shame Challenge.

Helen Hanson is firmly on my grab-every-time-I-see-one-of-her-books list.

Goodreads / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA

MY REVIEW

I love conspiracies and political thrillers. The Master’s Key by Helen Hanson is filled with over the top suspense.

Technological terrorism that is terrifying to even think about.

We have betrayal, computer attacks, revenge, malice, and so much more.

The characters run the gamut. From good to bad: the evil bitch that’s pissed she didn’t get her way, the greedy partner, the CEO whose demands cross the line, the sick woman who’s heart is pure and the man who loves her.

The Masters’ Key is very frightening…filled with the technological implications and disasters that can occur when a psycho has you in his sights. I love trying to figure out characters motivations, but this psychos thoughts are so far past my understanding. Would anyone be safe, anywhere, if he wanted to get to you? I don’t think so.

I would like to reach into my Kindle, grab him around the throat, and…

Action packed. The tension level is off the charts, as I see the bad guys in every shadow, around every corner, and behind every door.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Masters’ Key by Helen Hanson.

5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Clint Masters returns from the pit of disaster . . .

With his allies at the CIA, Clint battles a mysterious new threat targeting his company and the citizens of Boston who now live in fear. Under a gag order from his last confrontation, Clint can’t reveal the truth about the tragedies.

In spite of city-wide panic, Clint sees the terror attacks as personal. And he learns that not everyone at the CIA wants to catch the killer. With public suspicion at redline, Clint must fight to survive.

But can Clint capture the elusive and ruthless maniac? Or will he become the next victim?

An espionage and suspense thriller with a techno bent, THE MASTERS’ KEY is set in Boston and DC.

The Masters CIA Thriller Series: RECOMMENDED READING ORDER:

3 LIES $3.99
THE MASTERS’ KEY $3.99
DEAD STORM $3.99

A BOX SET IS AVAILABLE FOR $9.99

INTERVIEW WITH HELEN HANSON:

Q: What does Helen Hanson bring to the thriller genre?

HH — Heart-skipping pace, life-critical stakes, and broody, looming danger wrapped in a twenty-first century skin. We live in a time when technology surrounds us. The kid down the street has instant access to information unfathomable a century ago. Consequently crime had gone digital, online, and victims rarely see what hit them.

Because of my background, I present the technology employed by my characters in a fluent way to readers. They say I write about techno topics in a way that makes them enjoyable. I don’t burden the prose with jargon. Most readers want to know what kind of gun is fired, not how to field strip it.

Q: Tell us about your characters.

HH — My characters are unique beings, each requiring a different spark to light the fire. I explore their sparks.

I create believable characters with realistic dialogue engaged in page-flipping action. I like to watch ordinary people find the extraordinary in themselves when facing adversity. No one is surprised when Jason Bourne takes out a detachment of Marines, but we can’t say that about waitress Maggie Fender.

My protagonists don’t possess the Special Forces skills of a super spy. They stumble into dangerous situations and use technology to advance their position even if it isn’t strictly legal. The stakes have to be worthy of a fight.

Plus, they’re witty people who possess veins of humor. As in life, it punctuates disaster.

Q: Where do your thrillers take place?
HH — The action in my thrillers takes place in a variety of locations around the globe. So far, we’ve landed in: Russia, Boston, San Francisco, Pakistan, Washington D.C., Santa Cruz, Venezuela, Half Moon Bay, and Mongolia. Since the characters across my novels exist in the same story world, they often appear in other works, though the current titles are not a single series.

Q: Do you write your thrillers in series?
HH — At the request of my readers, I have. The sequel to 3 LIES is now out and called THE MASTERS’ KEY, with a third volume on deck. After that, I’ll expand from DARK POOL and OCEAN OF FEAR because those characters are bound to find new adventures. With an FBI agent, a hacker, and a robotics expert in the lineup, they offer continuous fodder for action and suspense

ABOUT HELEN HANSON

Bestselling author Helen Hanson writes thrillers about desperate people with a high-tech bent. Hackers. The CIA. Industry titans. Guys on sailboats. Mobsters. Their personal maelstroms pit them against unrelenting forces willing to kill. Throughout the journey, they try to find some truth, a little humor, and their humanity — from either end of the trigger.

While Helen writes about the power hungry, she genuinely mistrusts anyone who wants to rule the world.

Helen directed operations for high-tech manufacturers of semiconductors, video games, software, and computers. Her reluctant education behind the redwood curtain culminated in a B.S. in Business Administration with concentrated studies in Computer Science. She also learned to play a mean game of hacky sack.

She is a licensed private pilot with a ticket for single-engine aircraft. Helen and her husband spent their first anniversary with their flight instructor studying for the FAA practical. If you were a passenger on a 737 trying to land at SJC in 1995, she sends her most sincere apologies. Really.

Born in fly-over country, Helen has lived on both coasts, near both borders, and at several locations in between. She lettered in tennis, worked as a machinist, and saw the Clash at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium sometime in the eighties. She currently lives amid the bricks of Texas with her husband, son, and a dog that composes music with squeaky toys.

If you enjoy her books, please consider writing a review. If you don’t, please be kind.

For a FREE Thriller, visit HelenHanson.com

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Bookhub

You can see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

One Sentence Review – After The Shock by Scott Nicholson @eScottNicholson

Posted on December 10, 2016 by fundinmental

After: The Shock is not my first Scott Nicholson story and it will not be my last.

The cover tells a lot about what’s inside.

Amazon / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I was so caught up in The Shock…An apocalypse brings out the best and worst in some people and Scott can make his characters shine as they step up and grow up after being thrown into turbulent and dangerous times…and I was pissed when it came to an end, leaving me needing the next book, and the next, to find out how it will end.

4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB: A massive solar storm erases the world’s technological infrastructure and kills billions. While the remaining humans are struggling to adapt and survive, they notice that some among them have…changed.

Rachel Wheeler finds herself alone in the city, where violent survivors known as “Zapheads” roam the streets, killing and destroying. Her only hope is to reach the mountains, where her grandfather, a legendary survivalist, established a compound in preparation for Doomsday.

Other survivors are fleeing the city, but Zapheads aren’t the only danger. Rogue bands of military soldiers want to impose their own order in the crumbling ruins of civilization. When Rachel discovers a 10-year-old boy, she vows to care for him even at the risk of her own life.

And the Zapheads are evolving, developing communal skills even as they lay waste to the society they will eventually replace.