Life Guards In The Hamptons-Celia Jerome

Life Guards In The Hamptons


Celia Jerome

Daw, May 1 2012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780756407254



Sitting in her Manhattan apartment graphic novelist Willow Tate hears of a massive crime wave in her childhood home of Paumanok Harbor, Long Island. Apparently violent dolphins are hunting people. She refuses to go back there as she flees from her feelings for Matt Spencer until the chiggers get her and her Pomeranian buddy Little Red forcing them to return home.



As a Visualizer, Willow finds her latest hero’s companion Oey alive on the island sent there from the sea god M’ma who lives in a dimension where magic is normal and is adjacent to ours. The rare bird is tearing apart the town by the birders who want to find it. The dolphins, lile Oey are there to avail her and the other espers in town and the dolphins too came from the magical dimension. A hurricane is coming that connects the evil sea serpent N’fwend with the robbers that are cleaning out the town. The Visualizer Willow knows if her side loses, her hometown is wiped off the map.



The latest Willow Tate Visualizer island fantasy (see Trolls in the Hamptons and Night Mares in the Hamptons) is a fun tale that amusingly lampoons paranormal powers and the sub-genre’s tendency to polarize the concepts of good vs. evil. The eccentric cast brings humor with the problems of using their psi talent to include the heroine forgetting the byproduct of her art. Although similar in tone to Fire Works in the Hamptons, fans will enjoy this delightful tale summed up by the police chief who must have stock in an antacid company, which he chews like M&Ms when Willow is in town.



Harriet Klausner

The Thirteen-Susie Moloney-

The Thirteen


Susie Moloney

Morrow, Mar 27 2012, $14.99

ISBN: 9780062117663



In Haven Woods, The Thirteen witches run the town. Each has sacrificed their soul to their Master in order to insure their family goals are achieved. When Bill Henderson dies in an accident, his wife Chick, one of the thirteen, grieves deeply before dying in an inferno, At about the same time, Chick dies, another coven member rebellious Audra Wittmore suffers a heart attack while a third witch Isadora Riley watches gleefully.



Izzy arranges for Audra’s “exiled” for over a dozen years daughter Paula to come home to care for her mom. Paula who has had bad luck since her banishment arrives back in haven Woods with her child twelve years old Rowan. The witch sisters need a thirteenth to sacrifice; their first choice is the granddaughter coming to town for the first time in her life.



With a darker nod to The Witches of Eastwick, the key to this super horror tale is the little things that make Haven Woods seem like a quiet safe suburb. However, beneath the beneath the family oriented veneer is a nasty place in which human sacrifice, demonic assaults and blood flow are the norm. Readers will relish The Thirteen as Susie Moloney provides a bewitching thriller.



Harriet Klausner

Hide Me Among The Graves-Tim Powers

Hide Me Among The Graves


Tim Powers

Morrow, Mar 13 2012, $25.99

ISBN: 9780061231544



In 1819, John Polidori is part of the romantic writers’ inner circle led by Byron and Shelley as he writes a vampire tale. Two years later he is dead, allegedly a suicide victim.



In 1862 London the Rosetti siblings are very talented artists. Dante Gabriel Rossetti is a wonderful pre-Raphaelite painter and Christina is a well-regarded poetess. However, they fear their late Uncle John haunts them from the grave. Dante and Christina ask for help from former prostitute Adelaide McKee; her veterinarian lover John Crawford and Polidori’s romantic writing peer Edward John Trelawny. Polidori and his kin plan to terrorize London starting with those who share their blood.



This is an engaging refreshing vampire Victorian thriller with an incredible twist in which the siblings’ talent is at its “immortal” for the ages’ best when the vampire “controls” them. The time and place is incredibly developed so much so that readers will believe they meet a who’s who while walking the foggy streets of London; however that depth also slows down the pace of a wonderful loose sequel to The Stress of Her Regard.



Harriet Klausner

The Job-Cramer Louis Jackson

The Job


Cramer Louis Jackson

Outskirts Press, Jan 30 2012, $8.95

WWW.OutskirtsPress.com

ISBN: 9781432784584



Joe’s search for employment has turned into a frustrating full time job as he checks want ads, sends out résumés and shows up for announced vacancies; only to return to his walk up dumpy small apartment unemployed with his self-esteem dropping. After his latest humiliation, he opens the mail, which adds to his debasement with overdue bills.



However, the last letter is from a firm he never heard of, who offers him an interview. Instructions were sent to him by e-mail as this company provides no address or phone number. He goes on line, thankful he did not hock his computer, to obtain directions. Joe arrives for the interview and learns that if he takes the job, Joe Jamieson will no longer exist as he will have a new identity and compensation is one million annual. He agrees to become Zann General Morgan briefs him that his position and new identity ties back to 1947 Roswell and soon finds another perk when he rescues the other selectee Layone from some nasty folks who have other plans for the pair.



There is plenty of action in this thought provoking science fiction romantic novella. The story line starts with a depressed everyman struggling to pay his bills and keep a dilapidated ceiling over his head before the plot moves into an exciting thriller with its Life Energy connection to Roswell. Encouraging people to take a radically fresh look at their options reminds me of my husband’s reengineering teaching and mentoring position in which he destroyed a zillion paper cups claiming they were not half full or half empty if you slice off the top the cup is filled. The Job is a quick engaging thriller.



Harriet Klausner

The Slayer-Theresa Meyers

The Slayer


Theresa Meyers

Zebra, Apr 1 2012, $6.99

ISBN: 9781420121254



In 1883, although he was trained from childhood like his siblings (Remington – to follow and Colt – see The Hunter) Winchester Jackson prefers being the sheriff of Bodie, California than fighting vampires and demons. His Vampiric Imperial Majesty sends Lady Alexandra Porter to persuade Winn to work with her in retrieving a part of the Book of Legend that his sire hid decades ago.



Though he has doubts as his mantra has been the only good vampire is a dead vampire who cannot rise from the grave, Winn agrees to join Alexa on her mountainous quest in Transylvania to save her people. With steam gadgets created by brilliant inventor Marley Turlock to assist them on their journey, the pair confronts many adversaries demonic, vampiric; gizmos and mortal, but the most challenging is love.



The second Book of the Legends Chronicles is a terrific steampunk historical romance starring a western sheriff and a vampire battling a variety of paranormal and normal foes. Fast-paced from the moment Winn thinks he is rescuing a damsel in distress and never slows down as the twisting exciting storyline will prove a fan favorite with the only subtraction being the wait for Rem’s entry.



Harriet Klausner

CrystalFire-Kate Douglas

CrystalFire


Kate Douglas

Zebra, Apr 1 2012, $6.99

ISBN: 9781420110029



Lemurian Taron enjoys being an academic, but since the philosopher is partnered with the sentient sword CrystalFire, he must learn to act like a warrior too. He understands he must help the humans near Mount Shasta and his people deal with the demon invasion though CrystalFire feels his scholarly Lemurian is unsuited for combat against the Demon King, who plans his return from the abyss to breach the barriers between dimensions.



In combat with the Demon King, Taron is taken aback by a stunning side effect. Willow the sprite of the mists becomes a beautiful normal sized female though inside her is also Bumper the dog. Meanwhile the Demon King shows his adaptability when he possesses Ed Marks’ body while Eddy and her sentient sword DarkFire are trapped in the Void; a place her lover Dax the former demon knows firsthand and guiltily knows his calling her led to the demon King sending her there. While Dax works on rescuing his beloved human, Taron and Willow begin falling in love as they team up to prevent the Demon King’s diabolical scheme from happening.



The latest DemonSlayer romantic fantasy (see Starfire, Demonfire and Hellfire) is a super thriller that contains two strong prime subplots with each flowing nicely and converging to the delight of Kate Douglas’ fans. Fast-paced and filled with action yet a strong romance, CrystalFire is an entertaining twisting tale.



Harriet Klausner

Exogene-T.C. McCarthy

Exogene


T.C. McCarthy

Orbit, Mar 1 2012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780316128155



As the war between Russia and America continues unabated, both sides use genetic warrior exogenes. Imprinted in these lab-created teen killers is strict adherence to "faith and death". These soldiers know deep in their DNA that death is their only path to honor and salvation.



Sixteen and half years old Catherine is a killing machine; the greatest lab produced soldier made in America. However, Catherine begins to doubt her suicidal mission as she wants to live. Her phobic fear of dying appears to be early ramifications of the "spoiling" that exogenes suffer when they reach their eighteenth birthday. Catherine flees her sisters in arms and takes a chance she will survive the spoiling though her creators insist that is impossible. She encounters Russian male genetically created soldiers, learns of the Russian Exogenic Enhancement and observes firsthand the folly of armchair warriors when she looks at the North Korean nuclear wasteland. As she struggles to control flashbacks of her violent past that leaves her vulnerable, Catherine wonders if her only choices are death, the Americans or the Russians; she loathes all three options.



Though filled with plenty action especially combat, the superb second Subterrene War military science fiction (see Germline) is a great character study as readers get inside the mind of a former zealot born again as a doubter. Ironically Catherine’s doubts are not about killing as that is wired into her brain; but instead she questions killing as a weapon of mass destruction deployed by fat cats rather than her selecting who her enemy is. With a profound look at organized governments and religions tenet to kill in God’s name as a stairway to heaven for expendable soldiers, readers will relish learning who Catherine is.



Harriet Klausner