Snakes & Ladders by Matty Dalrymple

On Episode 92 of the GSMC Book Review Podcast I had the pleasure of welcoming Matty Dalrymple back to the podcast. Matty was originally on back in November when she came to talk about her Ann Kinnear mystery series. This time we spoke about the new (second) book in her Lizzy Ballard series, Snakes & Ladders, which came out on June 19th. 

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Rock breaks scissors. Scissors cut paper. Paper covers rock. The rules are simple--except when it's people's lives at stake.

By the time Charlotte and Patrick Ballard discover the damage their daughter, Lizzy, can do with her mind, it’s already too late for Charlotte. They hide Lizzy away, trying to save others from the same fate, and trying to save Lizzy from life as a human lab rat. But they can't hide her forever.  Little do they know that respected Philadelphia businessman Gerard Bonnay is responsible for Lizzy's ability. And Bonnay is willing to eliminate anyone who gets in the way of his goal of turning that power to his own ends.

 ​As her protectors are picked off one by one, will Lizzy be able to escape from Gerard Bonnay’s deadly zero-sum game? (Source)

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Lizzy Ballard and her godfather Owen McNally are on the run after their fatal game of rock-paper-scissors with Vivantem’s head of research, Louise Mortensen, and her enforcer George Millard. They find themselves in the Red Rock Country of Arizona, and Lizzy finds a mentor in Philip Castillo, a psychic counselor with his own dark past.

While Lizzy works with Philip to try to control her deadly ability, Millard is hot on her trail, and Lizzy’s power will be no defense against the weapon he has chosen.

When Lizzy makes her way back to Philadelphia, Louise and George strike at Owen, and in a bid to protect her dwindling band of allies, Lizzy takes the fight to Louise’s turf.

​In this deadly game of snakes and ladders, will Lizzy be rewarded for her virtues or punished for her vices? (Source)

Genres:

• Suspense/Thriller
• Crime
• Science Fiction/Paranormal

What I enjoyed:

• I love Lizzy as a character. She is headstrong, smart, and mature, but also naïve and sheltered from her upbringing. It makes for an intriguing combination in a main character, especially one faced with the challenges Lizzy faces.
• The relationship between Lizzy and her godfather, Owen. Neither of them are prepared for the circumstances into which they are thrown, and they both cope the best way they know how. What they always have is each other, and while they don't always agree, they do always have each other's backs.
• That no character is all one thing. Even though I don't always like them, and I rarely like their actions, the bad guys have layers just like the good guys. The good guys make plenty of questionable choices. I like that Matty makes them human.

Quotes:

• "Control - that was why Lizzy was here. Because with control came the possibility of a normal life. A life filled with all the things that any other seventeen-year-old would take for granted, not the isolation and guilt she knew."
• "And as she talked, she felt as if the constriction she had felt for most of her life - like the thorns that had held her down on the Sugarloaf Trail as the angry biker railed at her - were plucked free, one hooked barb at a time."
• "Owen had a sudden, heart-breaking vision of what life might have been like if it hadn't been for Gerard Bonnay and Louise Mortensen: Patrick and Charlotte, flanking their daughter Lizzy and her date for the prom or homecoming or whatever dress-up dances kids went to these days, the proud parents beaming, the teenagers self-conscious and anxious to be on their way, and himself snapping pictures."

Where you can find Matty online:

Website: http://www.mattydalrymple.com/

Blog: http://www.mattydalrymple.com/blog

Facebook: @matty.dalrymple

Twitter: @mattydalrymple

Amazon Author Page: Matty Dalrymple

GoodReads: Matty Dalrymple

BookBub: @MattyDalrymple

Author Bio:

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Matty Dalrymple is the author of the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels The Sense of Death and The Sense of Reckoning, the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts, including Close These Eyes and May Violets Spring, and the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers Rock Paper Scissors and Snakes and Ladders. Matty lives with her husband, Wade Walton, their two Labrador Retrievers (Juno and Sophie), and their terrier (Griffin) in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which is the setting for much of the action in The Sense of Death and Rock Paper Scissors. They enjoy vacationing on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, where The Sense of Reckoning takes place, and Sedona, Arizona, the setting for much of Snakes and Ladders​.

 Matty is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Brandywine Valley Writers Group. (Source)

If you love thrillers and suspense, especially with dashes of paranormal and science fiction, then Matty is someone you should definitely check out! Want to read Snakes & Ladders? Matty has been kind enough to provide 3 copies of his novel, and one of them could be yours! All you have to do is go to either our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages and comment on the post with Matty's interview. It's as simple as that: just comment on Episode 92 on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and you'll automatically be entered to win Snakes & Ladders! The last day to enter is July 7th and winners will be announced on July 9th. (Giveaway is for US only)

To hear the interview with Matty, please click here.

Fade Out and Deadly Misfire by Laurie Fagen

Episode 78 of the GSMC Book Review Podcast features an interview with Laurie Fagen. Laurie is the author of the Behind the Mic series, as well as being a contributor to the Tawnee Mountain Mysteries. Laurie has led quite the interesting life (just take a peek at her bio below) and is now channeling her experiences into writing. She was such fun to talk to; I hope you'll enjoy the interview and check out her books!

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A young radio reporter, Lisa Powers, covers the crime beat for her Chandler, AZ station. She helps the police department solve cold cases, and for fun, she writes and produces a mystery theatre podcast.

In Fade Out, book #1 in the “Behind the Mic Mysteries,” Lisa investigates the arson death of a prominent socialite, but finds herself threatened by a woman with a deadly knife; she helps a bereaved family look for a missing man; and in her “Murder in the Air Mystery Theatre” podcast, the “Frightful Fun House” isn’t so fun anymore when a young couple gets trapped inside with a dead body. (Source)

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KWLF-FM crime reporter Lisa Powers’ boss sends her to a radio news conference in New Jersey, in the dead of winter, and far away from her beloved crime beat in Arizona. She goes to the Tawnee Mountain Resort begrudgingly, afraid she’s going to miss a big story.

But at the convention, where she is up for an excellence in reporting award, an unknown stalker torments her for several days. When she takes the stage to learn the winner, the stalker antes up the stakes – with deadly force. (Source)

Lisa is a crime reporter, helps the police department solve cold cases, and writes and performs a mystery podcast. You might say she has a singular focus when it comes to her interests. This focus, though, makes her very good at her job and very effective at her work helping with the cold cases. She's young and a little over-eager sometimes, which gets her into situations she probably could avoid if she wasn't such a go-getter.

I read, and Laurie and I talked about, the 2 books described above, but there is also a prequel and a 2nd book in the Behind the Mic series. Deadly Misfire is part of the Tawnee Mountain Mysteries, so can probably be read as a stand-alone novella, but it does fit into Lisa's story as part of the series, and comes chronologically after the second book.

Genres:

• Mystery
• Thriller
• Suspense

What I enjoyed:

• The layers of mystery. Each book in the Behind the Mic series is 3 stories in one with the main story, a cold case, and the podcast. Deadly Misfire doesn't have a cold case since Lisa in New Jersey at a conference, but does still have a mystery and the podcast episodes.
• Related to the first point, it's amazing how much Laurie fits into a novel that's only a little over 200 pages. The writing is fast paced and the action draws you in immediately.
• Lisa's relationships. She's a workaholic and not always great with interactions, but she is loving and loyal and I'm interested to see how she and those relationships evolves as the series goes on.
• Another author's take on the Tawnee Mountain Resort. I find the concept of this collection truly interesting and have really liked seeing how each author puts his or her own spin on the location and characters.

Quotes:

• "I can't quite explain the gut instincts or hunches that tend to pop into my head. Sometimes I dismiss them, but most of the time they turn out to be pretty accurate." -Fade Out
• "Also in the [evidence] box is a long skinny plastic bag containing strips of traditional silver duct tape...Do today's criminals ever get caught using purple or zebra-striped duct tapes on the market today?" -Fade Out
• "My co-worker, Dean - dare I call him my boyfriend - is always trying to get me to take some time off to see parts of Arizona where I've not been, but with little success...he talks me into a weekend in Sedona, which I admit was beautiful, but how long can you sit around and gaze at red rocks? Adrenaline junkie that I am, I know I need a lot more stimulation, and shopping for crystals just doesn't cut it." -Deadly Misfire

Where you can find Laurie online:
Website: http://www.readlauriefagen.com
Facebook: @ReadLaurieFagen
Twitter: @LaurieFagen
Amazon Author Page: Laurie Fagen
GoodReads: Laurie Fagen

Author Bio:

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Laurie Fagen is a long-time “writer by habit,” who has written for commercial and cable television, commercial radio, corporate video, magazines, newspapers and is now delving into the world of crime fiction.

While she was getting her bachelor’s degree in radio and television at Arizona State University, she worked for KTAR Newsradio in Phoenix, providing live traffic reports from a single-engine aircraft above the city. After graduation, she worked as an assistant producer with Preston Westmoreland, booking guests for his talk show, while continuing to report on Valley traffic.

Television called, and Fagen returned to her home state of Iowa to work as a reporter/photographer for KWWL-TV, an NBC affiliate in Waterloo. She initially covered the state capital, then later landed the crime beat, covering the Waterloo Police Department, Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Department and Courts. She was also an anchor and editor in addition to her reporting and videographer duties.

Remembering why she left Iowa in the first place, Fagen returned to the Valley of the Sun to work for the City of Phoenix Public Information Office. Finding a video camera in another department, she lead the city’s efforts in creating internal employee training and other video programs, and later founded The Phoenix Channel, the City’s government access cable television station. She created, wrote, produced and anchored a number of the shows that still exist today, discovering that there is life after television news.

Fagen started her first business, Word Painting, as a writer, producer and director for corporate video, which led to a 13-year career providing marketing, sales, training, informational and other types of video programming for businesses. She also wrote magazine articles, a Fiesta Bowl parade script, murder mystery plays, two documentaries and other projects that included for KAET-TV, KPNX-TV, Phoenix Suns, Educational Management Group, Randy Murray Productions, and more. She was an adjunct professor at Scottsdale Community College, teaching a corporate video class.

She started her second business, Fagen Designs, as a fiber and jewelry artist, just before she and her late husband, Geoffrey Hancock, purchased a community newspaper in Southern Chandler. The couple published the Ocotillo News, which was later renamed SanTan Sun News, for 13 years. Under their ownership, the paper grew from 16-20 pages with a circulation of about 7,000 to an average of 80 pages twice a month with more than 38,000 printed.

At the same time she was overseeing the news division for the SanTan Sun News, she and a business partner operated a contemporary art gallery in downtown Chandler, AZ, called Art on Boston, for three years. The gallery also had studio spaces for artists to work in and provided art classes, until the economic downturn of 2010, but she continues to promote fine art and fine artists on her Art Online AZ Facebook page.  She is also a jazz singer around the Valley as Laurie Fagen & Friends.

Fagen and Hancock continued the newspaper operation until Hancock’s death in 2013, at which point she sold the paper to a local publishing company.

Organizations she has been involved with include three chapters of Women in Communications, and she was president of the Phoenix chapter; she was co-founder of the former Arizona Film, Theatre & Television, which later merged with two other similar groups to become Arizona Production Association, of which she was the second president; Arizona Quilters Guild, where she handled publicity duties; and she was the 2014 president of Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths chapter in Phoenix.

Fagen has short stories published in the past three Desert Sleuths’ anthologies, and is an Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine honorable mention winner.

Fagen has published Fade Out, the first in a series of crime fiction novels with a young radio reporter protagonist who covers the crime beat, helps police solve cold cases and for fun, writes and produces a mystery theatre podcast. It’s available in e-book, print and audiobook. Book #2 in the series, Dead Air, is available in e-book, print and audiobook. Equalizer, a prequel novella to Fade Out, is also now available in ebook only. Fagen is writing book #3, Bleeder,  as well as Deadly Misfire,  part of a multi-author series called “Tawnee Mountain Mysteries,” to be released in spring 2018. (Source)

Do you love mysteries, cold cases, and podcasts? Would you like to read Fade Out? Perfect, because we have a giveaway! Laurie has been kind enough to provide a paperback, an e-book, and an audiobook of Fade Out and one of them could be yours! All you have to do is go to either our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages and comment on the post with Laurie's interview. It's as simple as that: just comment on Episode 78 on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (and indicate which format you would like), and you'll automatically be entered to win Fade Out! The last day to enter is May 12th and winners will be announced on May 14th.

To hear the interview with Laurie please click here.

Sunday Rewind: Waypoint Kangaroo and Kangaroo, Too by Curtis C. Chen

In June of last year I interviewed Curtis C. Chen on Episode 20 of the GSMC Book Review Podcast. Curtis is the author of a series of science fiction books about a character named Kangaroo. Well, Kangaroo is his code name, we as readers haven't yet learned his given name. Kangaroo is a spy with an unexpected ability.  The 2 books that are currently out are Waypoint Kangaroo and Kangaroo, Too.

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Kangaroo isn't your typical spy. Sure, he has extensive agency training, access to bleeding-edge technology, and a ready supply of quips and retorts. But what sets him apart is the pocket: a portal that opens into an empty, seemingly infinite, parallel universe. Kangaroo is the only person in the world who can use the pocket, and he's pretty sure his agency only keeps him around to exploit this superpower for their own purposes.

After he bungles yet another mission, Kangaroo gets sent away on a mandatory "vacation." While trying to make the most of his exile aboard an interplanetary cruise to Mars, two passengers are found dead, and Kangaroo risks blowing his cover to investigate. However, it turns out he's not the only spy on the ship—and he's just starting to realize that there is a massive conspiracy to unravel.

Now, when a hijacker takes over the ship and threatens to crash it into Mars, Kangaroo has to stop the disaster which would shatter the delicate peace that's existed between Earth and Mars ever since the brutal Martian Independence War. A new conflict could devastate the entire Solar System. Billions of lives are at stake and it's up to Kangaroo, and Kangaroo alone, to save them.

Weren't vacations supposed to be relaxing? (Source)

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On the way home from his latest mission, secret agent Kangaroo's spacecraft is wrecked by a rogue mining robot. The agency tracks the bot back to the Moon, where a retired asteroid miner—code named "Clementine"—might have information about who's behind the sabotage.

Clementine will only deal with Jessica Chu, Kangaroo's personal physician and a former military doctor once deployed in the asteroid belt. Kangaroo accompanies Jessica as a courier, smuggling Clementine's payment of solid gold in the pocket universe that only he can use.

What should be a simple infiltration is hindered by the nearly one million tourists celebrating the anniversary of the first Moon landing. And before Kangaroo and Jessica can make contact, Lunar authorities arrest Jessica for the murder of a local worker.

Jessica won't explain why she met the victim in secret and erased security footage that could exonerate her. To make things worse, a sudden terror attack puts the whole Moon under lockdown. Now Kangaroo alone has to get Clementine to talk, clear Jessica's name, and stop a crooked scheme which threatens to ruin approximately one million vacations.

But old secrets are buried on the Moon, and digging up the past will make Kangaroo's future very complicated... (Source)

As the first book description says, Kangaroo isn't your typical spy. The pocket aside (and that's atypical enough), he's not the smooth, always together, one-step-ahead-of-the-game type of agent that is often portrayed, but he's also not that character's counterpart of the bumbling, never-knows-what-they're-doing character, either. He's both of those and neither. He's what I would imagine a lot of agents would be like: skilled, intelligent, a little headstrong and stubborn, and human. He makes some questionable choices, occasionally leaps before he looks, but also has a very ingrained sense of values, and his own strong code of ethics. He also has a huge advantage with the pocket. A. because it gives him the ability to store things he might need on missions, and B. because he's the only one who has it, making him invaluable to the agency.

Genres:

• Science Fiction
• Mystery
• Thriller/Suspense

What I enjoyed:

• There is a lot more to Kangaroo than meets the eye, and we've only scratched the surface of his backstory in these two books. I'm looking forward to more of his adventures and finding out more about him.
• The books are set in a not-too-distant, but unspecified future. Curtis creates a world that is at once recognizable, fantastic, and yet still believable.
• These books made me appreciate science fiction. I've always loved watching science fiction, but have had trouble reading it because I felt too bogged down in the complicated science parts. Curtis manages to find the balance between explaining that science while still making it enjoyable and understandable for those of us for whom science might not be our best subject.
• The books are fun and funny. Serious things are happening, but Kangaroo has a snarky, cynical sense of humor perfectly suited to the situations he finds himself in.

Quotes:

• "But it’s not the guns that really put me wise to Fakey Impostorov. I can also see into his body, and simple checkpoint guards don’t have an unmistakable spiderweb of ground-to-orbit comsat antenna surgically implanted in their left shoulder. If this guy’s not a field agent for a national intelligence outfit—a spy like me—I’ll eat my shoe. And shoes taste terrible. Trust me, I know. Long story." -Waypoint Kangaroo
• "I’m Kangaroo because I have a universe-sized secret pouch. I call it “the pocket” because I named it when I was ten years old; Science Division calls it a “hyperspace shunt” because they don’t know any better than I do how it works or why I have this ability. They’ve been testing me for more than a decade, and we’re still no closer to any real answers.
  My code name is KANGAROO. That’s the only name I have within the agency. Not because my face resembles a large marsupial mammal, or because I used to be an Olympic hurdling champion—though I have, oddly enough, used both of those ploys in bars to get through some sticky social situations. Well, I tried, anyway. They are both apparently too ridiculous for anyone to believe." - Kangaroo, Too

Where you can find Curtis online:
Website: https://curtiscchen.com/
Blog: http://hotsheet.snout.org/
Facebook: @curtis.c.chen
Twitter: @Curtis.C.Chen
Instagram: sparckl
Amazon Author Page: Curtis C. Chen
GoodReads: Curtis C. Chen
BookBub: @CurtisCChen

AuthorBio:

Source

Once a Silicon Valley software engineer, Curtis C. Chen now writes fiction and runs puzzle games near Portland, Oregon. His debut novel Waypoint Kangaroo is a science fiction thriller about a superpowered spy facing his toughest mission yet: vacation. The sequel, Kangaroo Too, lands our hero on the Moon to confront long-buried secrets. (Source)

To hear the interview with Curtis, please click here.

Dark Side of the Mountain by R.J. Rosatte

Like Episode 74, Episode 75 of the GSMC Book Review Podcast features an interview with one of the Tawnee Mountain Mysteries series authors. The Tawnee Mountain Mysteries is a set of 7 mysteries by 7 different authors, all taking place at the final destination of the Tawnee Mountain Resort. This time I spoke with R.J. Rosatte about his book, Dark Side of the Mountain.

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Katie Douglas thinks doing a mechanical inspection job at the Tawnee Mountain Resort is going to be a working vacation. But that’s before three young mountain bikers go missing while riding the trails of the mountain and a ransom note is delivered.

Partnering with a charming guest of the resort, novelist Casey Malone, Katie soon discovers there is a twisting plot possibly involving the missing men’s girlfriends and perhaps even the FBI.

When their investigation is complicated by the discovery of bomb making material in a cave on the mountain and the threat of an approaching hurricane, Katie and Casey go into overdrive to find the missing men and prevent what could be a devastating attack on an unknown target.

As Hurricane Patrick pays a rare visit to inland New Jersey, the story reaches an explosive climax as they and the staff of Tawnee Mountain Resort deal with both of these threats. (Source)

As with Cassidy's Deadly Exit, Dark Side of the Mountain is a standalone novel, so can be read with  or without the others, and the series doesn't have to be read in any particular order. This book introduces the characters of Katie Douglas and Casey Malone (Katie and Malone), and R.J. has already written two more novellas with these characters, the first of which was released the same day as the Tawnee Mountain Mysteries (April 16, 2018).

Katie and Casey haven't met before their separate trips to the Tawnee Mountain Resort. They fall into an easy rapport and are soon amateur sleuthing their was through multiple adventures. As characters they compliment each other well, and while there is definite chemistry between them this is by no means a romance (maybe that's the next book!).

Genres:

• Mystery
• Thriller/Suspense
• Anthology

What I enjoyed:

• Katie and Casey's relationship. They are one of those couples, whether romantic or platonic, who fall very quickly into an easy and comfortable relationship and seem to have known each other forever.
• In the interview R.J. spoke some about all of the traveling he has done and how this has helped him with locations for his books. You can also see that trait in the character of Casey, who seems to know a little bit about seemingly everything, but remains charming rather than condescending.
• The fact that Katie is an engineer with Master's Degrees in both mechanical and electrical engineering. Go women in STEM!
• Getting to know some of the secondary characters that appeared in Marla's book, but now from R.J.'s perspective. This was a little strange, actually. It was also quite fascinating to see how two different authors wrote the same characters.

Quotes:

• "'Would you like to go spelunking?' he asked.
  'What?' Katie raised her eyebrows. 'Go wandering around in dark caves when who knows what is lurking around up there?'
  'We could solve a mystery,' baited Casey.
  'Or get killed.'"
• "When are you ever going to get a chance to write.'
  'Oh, I'm doing that now,' Casey answered. He glanced around at the resort and all the guests. 'Lots of material, all over the place.'"

Where you can find R.J. online:

Facebook: @rosattewriting

Twitter: @PaxusKing

Amazon Author Page: R.J. Rosatte

GoodReads: R J Rosatte

Author Bio:

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A native of Prince Edward County, Ontario, his careers have included being an infantry officer in the Canadian Army Reserves, economics teacher at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, a long-haul truck driver and businessman.

He has travelled all forty-eight lower US states, eight Canadian provinces, Italy, Mexico and most of the Caribbean. He currently resides in Bayside, Quinte West, Ontario with his wife, Wendy, and their Westie, Molly. (Source)

If you're intrigued by the Tawnee Mountain Mysteries and Dark Side of the Mountain then today is your lucky today as I have 3 copies from R.J. to give away! All you have to do is go to either our Facebook or Twitter pages and share the episode with R.J.'s interview, or go to Instagram and comment on that post. Simple as that: just comment on, share, or retweet Episode 75 and you'll automatically be entered to win Dark Side of the Mountain! 

To hear the interview with R.J., please click here.

Nailgun Messiah by Jim Heskett

On Episode 68 of the GSMC Book Review Podcast I spoke with Jim Heskett about his book Nailgun Messiah. This is the first in a series of (currently) 8 books about a man named Micah Reed. Micah is a man with a complicated past, a recovering alcoholic, and someone who makes questionable choices as he navigates life.

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Micah Reed has a knack for ticking off the wrong people at the wrong time. When his latest attempt to do the right thing angers some drug dealers, he takes refuge in the sleepy mountain town of Nederland. He plans on finding his sister Magda and disappearing into obscurity with her. Micah is in for a big surprise…

When he learns his sister lives on a commune, Micah immediately butts heads with Lilah, the ever-watchful woman in charge. As the cult leader turns her menacing attentions toward him, Micah senses an even greater threat that no one else sees coming…

Can he convince Magda to flee to safety before it’s too late, or will he lose her forever in the process?

Nailgun Messiah is the first book in the Micah Reed series, a set of edge-of-your-seat thrillers. If you like complex characters, realistic dialogue, and layers upon layers of suspenseful tension, then you’ll love Jim Heskett’s cult classic in the making. (Source)

This book starts off in a kind of crazy situation and goes forward from there. Throughout the book Micah has run-ins with cult leaders, drug dealers, murderers, and a priest. He gets a job in a hardware store, learns how to snow-shoe, and goes to the Frozen Dead Guy Festival. He gets kidnapped, beaten up, stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver, and almost shot with a nail gun. And yes, it is just as bizarre and intriguing as it sounds, Which means it keeps you engaged while you read because you're never quite sure what might happen next.

As already mentioned, Micah has a complicated past and makes some questionable choices, but this just makes him more human and relatable. Even when I was thinking, "WHAT are you DOING?!" I could recognize the fact that Micah makes decisions like the rest of us do: from emotion, from selfishness, and from a million other factors. Many protagonists in this type of book seem like they know everything and are always 2-5 steps ahead of everyone else. There's a certain kind of appeal in those characters, but having a protagonist who reacts like many of the rest of us might is a nice change of pace and makes for a different kind of reading experience.

Genres:

• Suspense
• Thriller
• Mystery

What I enjoyed:

• Micah's humanness, even when his choices occasionally made me shake my head.
• The dry humor of the book. It's not a funny story and it deals with some fairly heavy subjects, and yet Jim's writing is witty and slightly snarky in a way that is engaging and fun to read.
• Boba Fett's head. Yes, you read that right. Micah has an action figure (minus the body) of Boba Fett that he carries around with him. He even talks to it. As a huge Star Wars fan I appreciate both the quirkiness of this characteristic and the shoutout to a franchise I love.

Who should read Nailgun Messiah?

• Fans of suspense and thrillers.
• Fans of books with characters who aren't super-human, who make some occasionally questionable choices, and who make us root for them in spite of everything.

Quotes:

• "Living in Colorado had been a lonely experience for Micah Reed. When he'd met cute Allison at the grocery store he sought a real connection with someone, but then she turned out to be a coke runner for that shithead Seth who'd stabbed Micah in the leg with a screwdriver. Once again, Micah's judgment wasn't quite inside mature territory."
• "Now, he had to resort to something drastic. An idea formed, but one so crazy, it seemed like the brainstorming of a mental patient. And once he did it, there would be no going back. Everything would blow up and he'd have to leave it all behind."
• "The world was a puzzle and she didn't have the box to know where to start. Didn't have the corner pieces."

Where you can find Jim online:
Website: http://www.jimheskett.com/
Blog: http://www.jimheskett.com/category/blog
Podcast: http://www.jimheskett.com/thrillerpodcast
Facebook: @authorjimheskett
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/authorjimheskett
Twitter: @jimheskett
Tumblr: @jimheskett
Google+: Author Jim Heskett
GoodReads: Jim Heskett
BookBub: @jimheskett
Amazon Author Page: Jim Heskett

Author Bio:

Source

Jim Heskett was born in the wilds of Oklahoma, raised by a pack of wolves with a station wagon and a membership card to the local public swimming pool. Just like the man in the John Denver song, he moved to Colorado in the summer of his 27th year and never looked back. Aside from an extended break traveling the world, he hasn’t let the Flatirons mountains out of his sight.

He fell in love with writing at the age of fourteen with a copy of Stephen King’s The Shining. Poetry became his first outlet for teen angst, then later some screenplays, and eventually short and long fiction, plus some dabbling in the video game industry. In between, he worked a few careers that never quite tickled his creative toes, and hasn’t ever forgotten about Stephen King. You can find him currently huddled over a laptop in an undisclosed location in Colorado, dreaming up ways to kill beloved characters. (Source)

Do you want to learn more about Micah Reed? Does Nailgun Messiah sound like a book you'd like to read? You're in luck as I have 3 copies from Jim to give away! All you have to do is go to either our Facebook or Twitter pages and share the episode with Jim's interview, or go to Instagram and comment on that post. Simple as that: just comment on, share, or retweet episode 68 and you'll automatically be entered to win Nailgun Messiah!

Facebook: @GSMCBookReview

Twitter: @gsmc_bookreview
Instagram: @gsmc_bookreview

To hear the episode with Jim please click here.

Instrument of the Devil by Debbie Burke

I chatted with author Debbie Burke on Episode 66 of the GSMC Book Review Podcast and we talked about Montana, fictional murder, Chubby Checker, and (of course) her book, Instrument of the Devil. The book is suspense and thriller featuring Tawny Lindholm, a recent widow living in a small Western Montana town.

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A dashing terrorist targets the electrical grid, framing a small-town widow.

Tawny Lindholm only wants to live a quiet life in Montana, recovering from the death of her husband, and hoping to find solace with a handsome widower she just met. But nothing is as it appears when she receives a new smartphone that does everything except make a call. Mysterious cash appears in her bank account and surveillance video shows her making deposits she knows she didn’t make. While the feds suspect her of illegal activity, her son, a soldier serving in Afghanistan, is kidnapped and held for ransom. Can Tawny save him? Or will unseen tentacles of a terrorist plot destroy her? (Source)

 Having grown up in Western Montana, not far from where this book is set, it was awesome to read a book set in a familiar area. It was also extremely strange to read about a terrorist plot  being hatched in that area. But Debbie does a great job in creating a plot that is plausible and terrifying in that plausibility.

Tawny gets caught up in this plot partly because of her lack of understanding of smartphone technology, but mostly because she is honest, believes the best of people, and is a little naïve. She's also reeling from the death of her husband and is extremely vulnerable because of it. She's the perfect target.

Genres:

• Thriller
• Suspense
• Women's Adventure

What I enjoyed:

• The setting, obviously. Debbie and I took opposite paths: I grew up in Montana and now live in California, Debbie grew up in California and now lives in Montana.
• The evolution of Tawny throughout the story. She's hesitant about a lot at first, but by the end of the story she does what she needs to and kicks butt in the process.
• Can I say setting twice? :-)
• The fact that the main character of a suspense/thriller novel is a 50 year old woman. That's a rare occurrence in books, television, movies, etc., but it shouldn't be.

Who should read the Instrument of the Devil?

• Fans of thrillers.
• Fans of books with unexpected heroines.
• Anyone who has ever visited an historic location and thought about doing fictional murder in that location.

Quotes:

• "As they drove through Columbia Falls, a billboard advertising United Bankcorp shifted her mind back to real problems. Who kept depositing big wads of cash into her account? An imposter was hell-bent on making her appear to be a criminal. She just wanted to live her ordinary, law-abiding, low-profile life, but the bank mess prevented it."
• "This was real identity theft. Someone had stolen Tawny's actual appearance."
• "Should she call the cops to report the break-in? If they'd stolen something , she wouldn't hesitate. But this...no forced entry, nothing missing, only a faint scent of cologne.
  Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?
  I want to report someone moved my mouse and rumpled my underwear. The operator would fall on the floor laughing."

Where you can find Debbie online:

• Website: http://www.debbieburkewriter.com/
• Blog: http://www.debbieburkewriter.com/blog/
• Facebook: @debbieburkewriter
• Amazon Author Page: Debbie Burke
• GoodReads: Debbie Burke
• BookBub: @DebbieBurke
• The Kill Zone: https://killzoneblog.com/

Author Bio:

Source

Debbie Burke writes suspense and mystery novels. Her latest book Instrument of the Devil won the 2016 Zebulon contest sponsored by Pikes Peak Writers Conference. Her nonfiction articles appear in national and international publications and she is a regular guest blogger at The Kill Zone. She is a founding member of Authors of the Flathead and helps to plan the annual Flathead River Writers Conference in Kalispell, Montana. Her greatest joy is mentoring young writers. (Source)

Does Instrument of the Devil sound like a book you'd like to read? Excellent news: I have 3 SIGNED copies to give away! All you have to do is go to either our Facebook or Twitter pages and share the episode with Debbie's interview, or go to Instagram and comment on that post. Simple as that: just comment on, share, or retweet episode 66 and you'll automatically be entered to win this wonderful book! 

To hear the interview with Debbie please click here.