‘Afterlife’ By Marcus Sakey

Published by Thomas & Mercer,
18 July 2017.
ISBN 978-1-4778-4847-0. (HB).
ISBN 978-1-4778-4840-1. (PB).

From the publisher: The last thing FBI Agent Will Brody remembers is the explosion - - a thousand shards of glass surfing a lethal shockwave.  He wakes without a scratch.  The building is in ruins.  His team is gone.  Outside, Chicago is dark.  Cars lie abandoned.  No plans cross the sky.  He’s relieved to spot other people - - until he sees they’re carrying machetes.  Welcome to the afterlife.

“. . . a mind-bending new thriller about life, death . . . and what happens after.  A terrorist has paralyzed Chicago, targeting civilians with brutal swiftness and precision.  FBI agent Will Brody would do anything to catch him - - but this time he’s the hunted, not the hunter.  Lured into a trap, Brody is caught in a furious explosion that claims his life.  But in “Afterlife,” death is only the beginning.  Brody finds himself wandering a different Chicago.  A city real in every detail, but seemingly empty.  It turns out the afterlife is a dangerous place. This echo of Chicago is populated only by those who died abruptly, violently, with an abundance of life force remaining.  For some, it’s a new life in death.  For others, it’s a war.  Now Brody must fight to survive the afterlife and protect other innocents - - all while desperate to reunite with the woman he loves and left behind.  That woman is his boss, fellow FBI agent Claire McCoy.  Their love affair was illicit, breathtaking, and brief, cut short by the bomb blast.  For Claire, finding Brody’s killer is personal. And when she confronts him head-on, she does so knowing that her own life is on the line - - but not what waits on the other side.”

This novel is an unexpected combination of love story, a thriller, and a sci-fi tale, all memorably written and engaging – who could ask for anything more?  I should add it is all unexpected, and, to be candid, something not usually within my reading preferences.  What sets this one apart is, primarily, the abovementioned quality of the writing.  I already knew what a wonderful this author is, but this was an entirely new and unexpected experience.

Brody, 37 years old, is not entirely unprepared for what ultimately is expected of him in the afterlife:  He was a Marine, having enlisted right after 9/11.  Brody’s new world is what is referred to by its residents as an echo of the world he had known, literally, “an overlap” of that world.

“Afterlife” is a novel unlike any I, personally, have ever read.  Like the characters in the book, I was totally unprepared for what lays within its pages.  And I must admit that it stayed with me long after the last page was turned.  And, clearly, it is recommended.

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Reviewer: Gloria Feit 

Marcus Sakey was born in Flint, Michegan. He attended the University of Michigan before beginning a decade-long career in television and advertising, which gave him “plenty of exposure to liars and thieves”—the perfect apprenticeship. His debut thriller The Blade Itself was sold at auction and published to wide critical acclaim, allowing him to work full-time as a writer. Since then his books have sold more than a million copies and been translated into dozens of languages. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter.

www.MarcusSakey.com.

Ted and Gloria Feit live in Long Beach, NY, a few miles outside New York City.  For 26 years, Gloria was the manager of a medium-sized litigation firm in lower Manhattan. Her husband, Ted, is an attorney and former stock analyst, publicist and writer/editor for, over the years, several daily, weekly and monthly publications.  Having always been avid mystery readers, and since they're now retired, they're able to indulge that passion.  Their reviews appear online as well as in three print publications in the UK and US.  On a more personal note: both having been widowed, Gloria and Ted have five children and nine grandchildren between them.

‘The Habit of Murder’ by Susanna Gregory

Published by Sphere,
24 August 2017.
ISBN: 978-0-7515-6263-7 (HB)

The Prologue tells of Badew Hall in Cambridge in 1346 being in dire straits. Richard de Badew its founder, has run out of money and reluctantly signs it over to Elizabeth de Burgh known as the Lady of Clare. From thenceforth it is to be called Clare Hall, Badew is devastated and swears before God to get the hall back.

The plot then advances to 1360 in Clare, Suffolk and alterations are being carried out to the parish church. Roger, a very unpopular man and the Master Mason is tragically killed. It is thought to be an accident, but is it?

Having received a letter telling them the Lady of Clare is dead, a contingent from Michaelhouse College Cambridge, sets out for Clare as the Lady had once hinted that she would leave them a legacy in her will. It is headed by Ralph de Langelee, Master of Michaelhouse, Brother Michael and physician Matthew Bartholomew. Among others riding with them is Badew, now a bitter and twisted man together with his two cohorts Roos and Harweden.

On arrival in Clare Michael and Matthew are informed that the Lady is in good health. Who could have written the letter to get them to come to Clare, and why?

While admiring the new vaulted ceiling in the parish church they meet Anne the anchoress. She has chosen to be bricked up in a cell to devote her life to God. However, Matthew declares her to be a fraud as she lives a life of comparative luxury and what is her relationship with the vicar, Nicholas?

It's not long before there are a number of unexplained deaths in Clare and Michael and Matthew are reluctantly drawn into finding out whether they are accidental or not.

There is a great deal of bad feeling between the castle and the townspeople and matters come to a head when the Lady announces that she and her entourage at the castle will be the only ones to use the beautiful new vaulted ceiling church. The townspeople can use the ugly new South Aisle built on the side. Tempers flare, more deaths follow. They can't all be accidents surely? Michael and Matthew really struggle to to unravel the truth, especially when the Lady offers a large reward to whoever can solve the deaths as this encourages others to join in the rush to find the answer and claim the money. Who will win the purse?

I do enjoy Susannah Gregory's books about Brother Michael and his friend Matthew Bartholomew. She really brings the fourteenth century to life. An added interest is the fact that many of the characters in her books actually existed, together with colleges mentioned, as explained in the Author's Notes at the back of the book.

This is a great story highly recommended especially for those who enjoy following the exploits of Michaelhouse.

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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Susanna Gregory was raised in Bristol. After graduating from university, she spent three years in Leeds, as an officer in the West Yorkshire Police, before taking up an academic career. She has served as an environmental consultant, doing fieldwork with whales, seals and walruses during seventeen field seasons in the polar regions, and has taught comparative anatomy and biological anthropology. She is the creator of the Thomas Chaloner series of mysteries set in Restoration London as well as the Matthew Bartholomew books, and now lives in Wales with her husband, who is also a writer.

 

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf  (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.

‘After the Ides’ by Peter Tonkin

Published by Endeavour Press, 

4 June 2017.

ISBN: 978-152143848-0

This is the second thriller in Peter Tonkin’s “Caesar’s Spies” series, and it takes up the story of a Rome still shocked by the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar.  The narrative opens with a swift and fatal stabbing effected, with typically understated professionalism, by Artemidorus - hero of the first novel, The Ides.  Artemidorus’ victim, Gaius Amiatus, exploiting the vacuum left by Caesar’s assassination, was encouraging a riot, ostensibly to avenge the death of Caesar who is now being hailed Divus Julius.  Mark Anthony is attempting to quash such disorderly behaviour and, on this occasion, his loyal centurion succeeds. 

Beneath the social unrest on Rome’s streets, stands a political class that is also in disarray.  The Senate, as the lawyer Cicero explains, has declared the libertores, Brutus, Cassius and their co-conspirators, innocent of Caesar’s murder and the treason inherent in that violation.  The decision is based on their acceptance that the perpetrators acted in the belief that Caesar sought to establish himself as a tyrant.  Another Senate pronouncement, however, has judged Caesar to be not guilty of tyranny.  Such conflicting assertions clearly threaten the tenuous stability of Rome and, to complicate matters further, new evidence suggests that one of the conspirators might have been the late dictator’s son.  If this is proven, the Senate’s acquittal of the murderers will be overruled by the heinous charge of patricide. 

Meanwhile, Brutus, Cassius and others have fled to Greece where they are amassing an army.  Mark Anthony, enraged at their audacity and seeking revenge for his dead friend, Caesar, instructs Artemidorus to hunt them down and return with their heads.  In another significant turn of events, Gaius Octavius, Caesar’s great nephew and adopted son, begins to make the journey back to Rome, to assume his inherited role and avenge his uncle.  Anthony is not alone in underestimating the eighteen-year-old youth, but Artemidorus recognises Octavius’ qualities.  The warrior employs intelligence, diplomacy and brute force to lead his spy ring as they seek out the betrayers and at the same time ensure the safety and confidence of Caesar’s young heir.

After The Ides is written in the third person and from the perspective of Artemidorus (a.k.a.Septum), an authorial choice that allows the narrative to include plebeian, political and military viewpoints.  The complex historical context adds to the intrigue and pace of the plot, as the daring Spartan protagonist leads his undercover team with integrity and valour.  Peter Tonkin’s latest novel is another entertaining, all-action gallop that carries the reader into the bloody, brutal world of ancient Rome as she wrestles with the seismic waves that are engulfing the republic and will, shortly, give birth to the empire.  The book, a worthy follow on from The Ides, is also an excellent stand-alone novel.  More please!

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Reviewer: Dorothy Marshall-Gent

Peter Tonkin was born 1 January 1950 in Ulster, son of an RAF officer. He spent much of his youth travelling the world from one posting to another. He went to school at Portora Royal, Enniskillen and Palmer's, Grays. He sang, acted, and published poetry, winning the Jan Palac Memorial Prize in 1968. He studied English with Seamus Heaney at Queen's Belfast. His first novel, Killer, was published in 1978. His work has included the acclaimed "Mariner" series that have been critically compared with the best of Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes. More recently he has been working on a series of detective thrillers with an Elizabethan background.

Dorothy Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.