Category: Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller Page 114 of 153

The Best Novels I Read in 2016

On January 5, 2017

In Alex Verus, Books, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Jane Yellowrock/Soulwood, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Pierce Brown, Red Rising, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy

Yeah, I should’ve done this earlier, but I just needed a break from 2016 for a couple of days. Most people do this in mid-December or so, but a few years ago (before this blog), the best novel I read that year was also the last. Ever since then, I just can’t pull the trigger until January 1.

I truly enjoyed all but a couple of books this year (at least a little bit), but narrowing the list down to those in this post was a little easier than I expected (‘tho there’s a couple of books I do feel bad about ignoring). I stand by my initial ratings, there are some in the 5-Star group that aren’t as good as some of the 4 and 4½ books, although for whatever reason, I ranked them higher (entertainment value, sentimental value…liked the ending better…etc.). Anyway, I came up with a list I think I can live with.

(in alphabetical order by author)

Morning Star

by Pierce Brown
My original post
I was a little surprised (but not really) today to see that every book in the trilogy made my year-end Best-Of list — so it makes sense that this one occupies a space. But it’s more than that, this book was an exciting emotional wringer that ended the trilogy in a perfect way. I can’t recommend this one enough (but only for those who’ve read the first two). When I was informed a month ago that there was going to be a follow-up series? I let out a whoop, thankfully none of my family noticed, so I don’t have to feel too silly.

A Star-Reckoner’s Lot

by Darrell Drake
My original post
I’m afraid if I start talking about this one that I’ll spill a few hundred words. Let me just slightly modify something I already wrote and spare us all the effort (that could be better spent actually reading these books). I’m afraid I’ll overuse the word imaginative if I tried to describe what Drake has done here in the depth I want to in this book about pre-Islamic Iran. You haven’t read a fantasy novel like this one before — almost certainly, anyway — but you should.

Blood of the Earth

by Faith Hunter
My original post
This probably should be a dual entry with Blood of the Earth and Curse on the Land, but that felt like cheating. Between the two, I thought that this was a slightly better work, so it got the spot. While remaining true to the Jane Yellowrock world that this springs from, Hunter has created a fantastic character, new type of magic, and basis of a series. I love these characters already (well, except for those I wasn’t crazy about previously) and can’t wait for a return trip.

Burned

by Benedict Jacka
My original post
I’m just going to quote myself here: I’ve seen people call this the Changes of the Alex Verus series — and it absolutely is. I’d also call it the Staked in terms with the protagonists coming to grips with the effects that his being in the lives of his nearest and dearest has on their life, and what that means for his future involvement with them. Which is not to say that Jacka’s latest feels anything like Butcher’s or Hearne’s books — it feels like Verus just turned up half a notch. It’s just such a great read — it grabs you on page 2 and drags you along wherever it wants to take you right up until the “He is not actually doing this” moment — which are followed by a couple more of them.

Fate Ball

by Adam W. Jones
My original post
Since the Spring when I read this, I periodically reminded myself to keep this in mind for my Top 10, I was that afraid I’d forget this quiet book. It’s not a perfect novel, there are real problems with it — but it was really effective. I fell for Ava, just the way Able did — not as hard (and only in a way that my wife wouldn’t mind) — but just as truly. This one worked about as well as any author could hope one would.

All Our Wrong Todays

by Elan Mastai
My original post
My all-time favorite time-travel novel, just a fun read, too. I will over-hype this one if I’m not careful. So, so good.

The Summer that Melted Everything

by Tiffany McDaniel
My original post
I’m not sure what I can say about this book that others haven’t — this trip into a magical realism version of the 1980’s Mid-West will get you on every level — it’s entertaining, it’s thought-provoking, the language is gorgeous, the characters are flawed in all the right ways. I wish this was getting the attention (and sales!) that it deserves — I really hope its audience finds it.

Every Heart a Doorway

by Seanan McGuire
My original post
Here’s a book that doesn’t have to worry about attention or audience, it has one — and it’s probably growing. It deserves it. Short, sweet (and not-sweet) and to the point. I may have to buy a two copies of the sequel so I don’t have to fight my daughter for it when it’s released.

Lady Cop Makes Trouble

by Amy Stewart
My original post
Stewart took the really good historical crime novel she wrote last year and built on that foundation one that’s far more entertaining without sacrificing anything that had come before. We’ll be reading about the Kopp sisters for a while, I think.

Genrenauts: The Complete Season One Collection

by Michael R. Underwood
My original post
Yeah, here I am again, flogging Underwood’s Genrenaut stories — whether in individual novellas, audiobooks, or in this collection — you need to get your hands on this series about story specialists who travel to alternate dimensions where stories are real and what happens in them impacts our world — Underwood has a special alchemy of Leverage + The Librarians + Quantum Leap + Thursday Next going on here, and I love it.

There were a few that almost made the list — almost all of them did make the Top 10 for at least a minute, actually. I toyed with a Top 17 in 2016 but that seemed stupid — and I’ve always done 10, I’m going to stick with it. But man — these were all close, and arguably better than some of those on my list. Anyway here they are: What You Break by Reed Farrel Coleman (my original post), Children of the Different by SC Flynn (my original post), Thursday 1:17 p.m. by Michael Landweber (my original post), We’re All Damaged by Matthew Norman (my original post), A Hundred Thousand Worlds by Bob Proehl (my original post), and Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja (my original post).

I hope your 2016 reads were as good as these.

Rise the Dark by Michael Koryta

By HCNewton

On January 5, 2017

In Fiction, K-O, Michael Koryta, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Rise the Dark

by Michael Koryta
Series: Mark Novak, #2

Hardcover, 400 pg.
Little, Brown and Company, 2016
Read: September 13 – 14, 2016

“If you gave Charles Mason the mind of Nikola Tesla,” she said, “you would find yourself with Eli Pate. Or so he thinks.”

I’m really kind of annoyed that Eli Pate was described this way, because I’d pretty much came up with that comparison a page or two earlier, and thought it’d be a clever thing to say.

But first . . .

Markus Novak is continuing the hunt for his wife’s killer — and he’s starting to make progress, real progress for the first time. Far more than anyone else has in years. Markus’ prime suspect has just been released from prison, so the detective now has full access to him. I think it’s safe to say that the methods he uses aren’t endorsed by anyone. Not only that, but he’s utilizing sources that there’s no way he would’ve trusted before his experiences in the cave in the last book. Still, there’s no way he’s prepared for where the investigation takes him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Sabrina Garland is kidnapped in an effort to force her husband to do the unthinkable. The way these men come together — with plenty of ghosts from Markus’ past, results in a taught, tense thrill ride. To say more about the plot would be to ruin the thing, if you ask me, so we’ll just leave it here.

I really don’t like most of the plot devices used here — in any of the interweaving storylines. At least, I typically don’t like them — but Koryta pulled them all off. I bought them in the moment, and will still defend Koryta’s use of them (even if I feel like a hypocrite as I’ve thought about the book over the last couple of months or even as I write this). I wish I could be more specific here, but I just can’t.

The one exception to my plot problems is everything relating to Markus’ uncle.

Where plotwise this infuriated me (while entertaining me, I need to stress), on the character front, I really enjoyed this. Most of the criminals involved were interesting and well-drawn. Markus, his new allies and his uncle were so well done. I really liked where Markus went emotionally and psychologically here. Kortya has created a great character here, and I hope we see more of him.

I’m not going to rate this one as highly as I did the previous novel, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think people should read this. Everything that has Koryta’s name on it should be given a chance. In almost anyone else’s hands, this novel wouldn’t work and you’d see me trying to complain about it without giving things away. But Koryta pulled it all off, it works and leaves you wanting to return to this world.

—–

3.5 Stars

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich

By HCNewton

On January 3, 2017

In Authors, Janet Evanovich, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Stephanie Plum

Tricky Twenty-Two

by Janet Evanovich

Series: Stephanie Plum, #22

Mass Market Paperback, 313 pg.
Bantam, 2016

Read: December 31, 2016

Stephanie’s on the hunt for a frat boy on the run, a lawn equipment thief, and a rapist. The latter two are pretty straightforward, but the frat boy, Ken “Gobbles” Globovic? Something’s not right with this one, and Stephanie puts on her deerstalker to try to figure that out.

Meanwhile, Ranger needs a woman for some security work, so naturally, Stephanie’s on the case. Things don’t go as well with that as it should’ve and bodies start to show up. That’s when things really start to get interesting.

Joe and Stephanie are both examining other career prospects, and watching Stephanie try out different ideas is good for a grin or two. I think I’d have preferred letting that play out a little more, honestly. She also could’ve played out the Grandma Mazur story longer, too — that’s something I almost never say. The former would’ve been easier than the latter, definitely. Still, there was a time when Evanovich seemed to drag out similar storylines longer than I’d like, so this “leave ’em wanting more” philosophy really works (“’em” roughly translates to The Irresponsible Reader here).

Ranger stood hands on hips and looked at me. “I’m completely enamored with you, and I have no idea why.”

“I’m cute?”

“Babe, there has to be more, but honestly, I don’t know what it is.”

I’m with him there, there are times I really wonder why I’ve read 22 of these (and plan on reading more). Now that I’m only reading one of these a year, it’s far easier to enjoy the Lula’s extremes (and/or Grandma Mazur), the same beats getting played out over and over, and so on — if anything, it’s comfortable. Part of the fun is to see the different ways that Evanvovich comes up with to hit these beats.

This time out, the stakes with Joe seem to be bigger than usual. And the crime that Stephanie uncovers during the course of her other investigations/hunts is bigger and more serious than usual. Not that serial killers and mafia bosses are the stuff of sitcoms, but we’ve seen them (in various TV/Book series) used in light ways pretty often lately.

In the end, this is a better than average Stephanie Plum adventure with enough of the old reliable characters and beats and some pretty good character moments. A satisfying read for new fans or old.

—–

3 Stars

The Pursuit by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

By HCNewton

On December 30, 2016

In A-F, Authors, F-J, Fiction, Fox and O'Hare, Janet Evanovich, Lee Goldberg, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Why this took me so long to post, I’ll never know…it’s bad enough that it took me a month and a half to read it.
—

The Pursuit

by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
Series: Fox and O’Hare, #5

Hardcover, 304 pg.
Bantam, 2016

Read: September 2, 2016

“I’ll send your money, but don’t think about running out on me,” Dragan said. “Or I’ll torture and kill both of you.”

Nick shook his head. “You can’t go ten minutes without making a threat, can you?”

“It’s called leadership,” Dragan said. “Stay in touch.”

Following the cliff-hanger ending to The Scam, I wondered if this book would shake off the fairly well-established outline for these books and instead, we’d get Kate globe-trotting from exotic locale to exotic locale hunting them down. Thankfully, Evanovich and Goldberg had something better in mind (not that something like my idea wouldn’t have been fun), while pretty much sticking to the typical outline.

Nick’s kidnapping ends up setting the stage for taking down an international thief and would-be terrorist. This thief, Dragan, is the anti-Nick. He’s about profit, violence, and more profit. There’s no style, no fun, no zest . . . But Dragan knows what he needs to accomplish a couple of his biggest heists: Nick.

Naturally, he gets more than he bargains for (and I don’t just mean Kate). Of the various criminals, masterminds, thieves and all around nasty folks that these two have taken down or encountered, Dragan is the worst. Thankfully, Evanovich and Goldberg are able to balance the threat and the humor, the romance and the robbery.

It all comes down to relationships: which is really why we come back to this series. Kate and Nick (I’m gladdened/relieved/a little surprised by where they have the relationship now). Nick and Jake. Kate and Jake. The rest of the team with Nick and/or Kate. Jake and anyone he comes into contact with (if we could get some young, active duty Jake stories, that’d be awesome). I like the way that their team is doing non-con work together — despite their best intentions, Nick and Kate have formed an actual team. There are a couple of additions this go-around (one is a blast from the past, but still, new to this side of the road).

I think there’s a misfire here — there’s a new foil introduced into Kate’s life, an FBI agent who is to work with her without knowing about this little side-project. He’s a little humorous, but mostly annoying. And his existence seems to run counter to the people at the top of the FBI sanctioning (however unofficially) what’s going on here. I’m prepared for them to convince me otherwise, but until they do, I’m going to groan whenever he shows up.

The writing is crisp as ever, it seems so smooth and effortless that it has to take a lot of work. There’s a great info-dump (because that’s actually a thing, rare as it may be) about an infectious disease. Not only does it inform the reader, but it’s written in a way to flesh out a character and add a sense of threat to the narrative.

There’s an editing blunder in the final few chapters that took me out of the moment (using Kate’s name instead of one of Dragan’s crew), that was oddly reassuring to me — even the big publishers stumble, not just the small press/self-pubbed guys like I’ve been reading so much lately.

I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned Harry Harrison’s Slippery Jim diGriz when talking about this series, but this is Nick Fox at his Slippery Jimmiest (Kate is a little like Angelina diGriz, too, come to think of it — but not as much). Fans of either should look into the other. The Pursuit is another solidly entertaining adventure in this series. Really looking forward to what’s next.

Oh, I should add that if you’re a fan of eggs, you might want to eat a few extra before reading this book, because it’ll be tough to eat one for a while. Trust me on this one.

—–

4 Stars

Follow the Dotted Line by Nancy Hersage

By HCNewton

On December 27, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Follow the Dotted Line

by Nancy Hersage

Kindle Edition, 326 pg.
Kindle Press, 2016

Read: December 17, 2016

Mitch’s assistant opens the mail one day and finds a styrofoam container (the kind fast food joints used to widely use) holding the remains of Mitch’s father. His fairly new wife had sent them via the USPS with a note saying, leave me alone. So Mitch calls his younger brother — a guitarist for a country band to tell him the news. Ian calls one sister, who calls the other, who calls their mother, Andy. Clearly a close-knit family. Mark was a jerk, dumped his family and did little for them afterwards. They responded in kind.

Still, your ex- (that you really never got over) or your father dies, and it gives you pause. Particularly when you’re mailed his ashes with no details about his death. Eventually, curiosity (and the slight possibility of an inheritance gets the better of the kids and they decide to investigate a bit, and get Andy to do it. Andy dives in with both feet — eventually bringing her best friend/accountant, Lorna and her nephew, Harley Davidson (long story). There’s really nothing to commend Andy for this gig — she’s a TV movie writer in-between projects/facing retirement. But, there’s something to say for availability and commitment, I guess.

This is a comedic mystery — heavy on the comedy. It is easy as pie to correctly guess/predict every beat in the mystery once Andy gets underway. But Hersage is a competent writer, and hits her marks well, tells them in an entertaining way and keeps the reader engaged. So who cares if it’s that easy?

The characters of Andy, Lorna, and the children are a lot of fun — and its with them that Hersage shines. I liked them all, enjoyed their interchanges, etc. Even the villain was told in an entertaining way — was a villain, did evil things and got some just desserts, but still fit tonally with the whole. I wasn’t crazy about Harley — it’d be very easy for people belonging to a couple of religious groups to be offended by him, but he was clearly written to be the object of mockery. So I wasn’t offended (even if I am , but I couldn’t care about him as a character, you know?

On a very minor note, one of the locations for this story was a city about 10 minutes away from my home — nice to see it in a novel and not used as a punchline. Thanks for that, Ms. Hersage!

I’m not really that convinced that this was a good book — but it entertained me, and I think it’ll entertain most readers. So, if nothing else there’s that. It’s funny, it has some well-executed (if predictable) twists, and for something in this genre, it’s pretty violence-free (I’ve read bloodier cozies).

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion, it had no bearing on anything I said. This is very overdue, and I’m really sorry about that — and that had no bearing on anything, either.

—–

3 Stars

To Kill a Shadow by Nathan Ronen

By HCNewton

On December 27, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

To Kill a Shadow

by Nathan Ronen

Kindle Edition, 269 pg.
2016

Read: December 19 – 21, 2016

(other than the author link, the links above don’t work, because I wasn’t given any and can’t pull up anything on google other than goodreads or amazon pages — I’ll fix them if possible)

Ostensibly, what we have here is an espionage thriller from the point of view of a Mossad operative, juggling intelligence operations, internal politics, revenge, and a messy personal life. I liked that idea, I like the concept, and think I could’ve liked this book if that’s what it delivered. Instead we get a collection of half-baked ideas, story snippets scattered around with an attempt made to squish them into a coherent whole.

Arik Bar Nathan is a Mossad agent — and apparently can’t tell anyone in his family that. His marriage and relationships with his son and daughter have been the major casualties of that. Not that his relationship with his younger sister and mother have fared all that well, either. Events conspire to get him to realize just how badly he’s messed things up, and some Oprah-level advice enabled him to start the process of rebuilding things with his kids. This is quite possibly the most successful part of the book.

The heads of Israeli Intelligence (and those close to them) and the Prime Minister all apparently have the emotional maturity of middle-school girls — they fly off the handle for no reason, have the shortest fuses you can imagine, yell and scream at the drop of a hat, and play petty political games dealing with pettier personal gripes. If people were this mercurial in the real world, the Middle East would be in worse shape than it is. Somehow, these characters are able to pull off a couple of major operations without major loss of life and stability.

There are a few other storylines, too. Like a love story that defies logic, and can only work because this super-spy is super-gullible when it comes to this woman, and because the reader is willing to suspend every once of disbelief.

There is no sense of urgency to anything, really. Well, I take that back — if there’s an event, say, Arik’s mother having a medical crisis, or someone being shot — there’s a lot of hustle and bustle surrounding that. But as soon as the immediate situation is addressed, the issue is put on the back burner and ignored. I understand that a lot of intelligence operations are about timing, patience, waiting for dots to be connected and opportunities to arise. But can you tell as story about that without seeming to ignore the issues while waiting for opportunities? Absolutely. If you know there’s an assassin in a small country targeting one man, you should maybe, I don’t know…hunt for him. Especially if the target is supposed to be a cracker-jack spy.

There is a subplot that shows up for one chapter centering on a secondary character and then disappear — other than offering a distraction from the story, there’s no purpose for its inclusion. Even that secondary character acts pretty differently in this chapter than he does throughout the novel.

Most of the characters are not much more than sketches — there’s no life to them. They’re almost well-developed, a few are almost complex — but Ronen leaves them at almost. Those characters at the beginning of NCIS or Bones that find the dead bodies to kick off episodes are better drawn than just about all of these.^*

I do think that Ronen had a bunch of cool things running around in his head — some to do with espionage, some to do with a spy putting his personal life back together, some to do with descendants of the Holocaust finding peace — but he didn’t know how to execute them in a narrative. I couldn’t connect with anyone or any story, but I really wanted to. I honestly didn’t know what I was going to say about this book when I started writing this post — I’ve been trying to come up with a reason to recommend this one, but I can’t.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion — it clearly didn’t impact things.

—–

^* That’s not a huge insult, really. They pack a lot of character into those couple of minutes.

—–

2 Stars

October 32 by Larry Rodness

By HCNewton

On December 20, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

October 32

by Larry Rodness

Kindle Edition, 230 pg.
Deer Hawk Publications, 2015

Read: December 13, 2016

Alexander Malefant is a traveling life insurance agent who comes into a small town on October 31st. He witnesses a few events in a local county festival — pie competitions, largest pumpkin contest, apple bobbing, and so on — an exercise in small-=town civic pride and rivalry. The first person he meets in town intrigues him, especially when she’s accused of being a witch by a kid.

It’s not like he took it seriously, it just struck him as odd. Not long after that, he sees an apple-bobbing child being held under the water by something/someone that no one can see. The “witch” rescues him (no spells involved), and issues a warning about something happening in town. She’s promptly ignored by everyone and the festivities resume, as does Alexander’s sales day.

Once evening comes, a sales visit ends strangely when the family’s children go missing. It doesn’t take long to discover that other children are missing — not just a few, but every child (including teenagers). Alex (like everyone in town), gets wrapped up in the search. He’s also a suspect in the disappearances (like many people — especially the strangers).

To the reader, it’s pretty clear that no one is going to find a mundane explanation for the disappearance — it takes the people going through it longer. Which makes sense.

This is well-told, well-paced with a strong voice. Rodness took a bunch of long-standing ideas and combined then in an effective, creepy and entertaining way. The characters were well drawn, and I regretted not getting to spend more time with some of them. I wanted a couple of more chapters at the end (not that we were cheated in the ending, I just wanted a bit more following it). All in all, a fun read.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion about it. Note that the word is “honest,” not “timely” — I should have read this months ago, sorry, Mr. Rodness.

—–

3 Stars

Dead Down East by Carl Schmidt

By HCNewton

On December 15, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Dead Down East

by Carl Schmidt
Series: Jesse Thorpe, #1

Kindle Edition, 244 pg.
Carl Schmidt, 2016

Read: December 8 – 9, 2016

Jesse Thorpe is a carpenter and member of a local band, who happens to be a P. I. on the side. The P. I. part doesn’t seem to take up too much of his time or draw much attention to itself, few people in his life know that’s one of his professions. Still, he’s had a few clients, taken care of a few cases — enough to give him some confidence in what he does. Then one day, a fishing trip is interrupted by a former client, who just found herself in the middle of circumstances surrounding the murder of her married lover. Who happens — well, happened — to be the Governor of Maine.

Maybe Jesse could use a little more experience.

It doesn’t take long before Jesse is working for his former client and two other people to investigate the murder, while the FBI and local police are stymied. Jesse’s client isn’t the only one that the Governor had an affair with, and the investigation into the affairs keeps Jesse busy and turns up plenty of motives for murder. It’ll take all of Jesse’s creativity, and the efforts of a motley crew of clients, bandmates, his sexy girlfriend, a friendly policeman, and a lotta luck for Jesse to clear the innocent and make sure the guilty pay.

I really don’t think the psychic adds anything beyond a chuckle or two, but that could just be me.

There were a few places where the book could’ve used some editing and proofreading — but only one that took me out of the scene, so I’m not going to get into it. Well, there was also the repeated use of “FBI Officers” instead of “Agents,” but that was easy enough to chuckle about and move on.

The first couple of chapters were difficult to wade through — dialogue seemed to be more about short speeches than anything, and the first few people talking about the murder sounded like they were contributing to or reading a news release about it. But once Jesse gets hired and things start to happen, Schmidt settles in and the writing improves. The only complaint I have after this is that he tends to over-explain things — especially the humor. He needs to trust himself and his readers a bit more and dial that back.

There’s not much more to say, Dead Down East is a pretty good mystery with a cast of characters that I’d enjoy seeing more of. Give Jesse a shot.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion — which influenced me not one whit, but I do appreciate it. I’m sorry that I filed it under “December Reads” and not “October Reads” like I’d said I would.

—–

3 Stars

A Few Quick Questions With…Nicky Peacock

By HCNewton

On December 12, 2016

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Urban Fantasy, YA/MG/Children's Books

Earlier today, I blogged about Nicky Peacock’s Lost in Wonderland, not only did she send me her book, she agreed to take part in the little Q&A. Not only does she write a fun book, but she helps me generate content — a couple of my favorite traits in people. Hope you enjoy her answers, I did.

Tell me a little about your road to publication.

It’s been a long and bumpy road and, to be honest, I’m still not at my final destination yet. I’d like to write for a living, and right now that’s not a reality. I have to fit in writing with a full-time job. My dream would be to wake up every morning and know that I had all day to write and plot and socialise online with readers and other authors.

I’d always wanted to be an author; I can’t remember a time I didn’t. I’m passionate about stories, but unfortunately, I tended to lose excitement before I finished anything! I wrote a lot of beginnings and not many endings, so never sold anything. I then found the short story market. Thanks to eBooks it’s thriving and finishing a short story is much easier than a 90,000-word novel, so I wrote them for a few years. Next thing I knew I had over 35 stories published and thought I’d better start writing something longer and my first novella, Bad Blood came tumbling out of my imagination.

What was the genesis of this book/novel? Of all the dozens of ideas bouncing around your cranium — what was it about this idea that made you say, “Yup — this is the one for me.”?

It was always in my head, but last year was Alice in Wonderland‘s 150th anniversary, so I thought the time had come to get Lost in Wonderland out and set it free upon the unsuspecting world. I write YA fiction and had read lots of books about spies and the like, but wanted to take it one step further with teens who bait and catch serial killers. There’s a rather disturbing statistic that, right now, there are at least 3 active serial killers in the UK every year (The UK is about the size of just one US state, so that’s even scarier math!) and very few are caught. It boggles the mind to think of how technological advanced we are, but still can’t nail down these devils preying on the innocent. In my book, Wonderland is a vigilante agency set up to do just that, to work above the law and sometimes even under it, and to do whatever it takes to stop serial killers. The Lewis Carroll connection is through the founders of Wonderland, their daughter Alice was murdered, and the killer was only caught when they took the law into their own vengeful hands.

What’s the one (or two) book/movie/show in the last 5 years that made you say, “I wish I’d written that.”?

I’d probably have to say Twilight. Vampires are my favorite monster, and although it didn’t break the bank with uniqueness, the author really developed her world and the characters in it. This is something that can be lacking with vampire stories as they are so larger than life, the creatures themselves can act as a crutch for a storyline so the writer doesn’t bother to delve any deeper. Also, it made a tonne of money, and I’m not too proud to say that I could really use even a fraction of that right now!

What is it about YA/”Teen” fiction that attracts you? Are all your works targeted to that audience?

I do some work for adult audiences (wait, does that sound rude? LOL) But I enjoy writing for teens. Their books have come a long way since The Famous Five and to be honest, you don’t even need to pull your punches that much when it comes to violence anymore. I’d hate to think that I’d written anything patronizing to my readers or even unrealistic – even when my subject matter is anything but real. There’s also the double dip effect in this market where adult readers will buy teen books too so you can gain more exposure an author.

The YA market is very loyal. I’d like to think that my readers, as they get older will still want to read my books.

I’ve often heard that writers (or artists in general) will forget hundreds of positive reviews but always remember the negative — what’s the worst thing that someone’s said about one of your books, and has it altered your approach to future books?

I’m very lucky in that the majority of my reviews are good. It can be frustrating when reviewers effectively ‘mark you down’ for opposite opinions, for example saying the book was too descriptive and then saying it wasn’t descriptive enough. I also get annoyed when someone gives me a low star rating but doesn’t put a review with it, that way I never know why they didn’t like it and what I could change in the future to help my work.

One of the things that reviewers have said about Lost in Wonderland is that they wish it had been longer. I’m currently writing the second book in the series, The Assassin of Oz and am making this longer now to make up for it.
Thank you so much for having me here today. If you’d like to find me online:

Blog: Twitter: Y A Facebook Page: UK Amazon Author Page:

US Amazon Author page: Good Reads: Tumblr: Authorgraph:

Thanks for your time — and the book. Looking forward to what happens next.

Lost in Wonderland by Nicky Peacock

By HCNewton

On December 12, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, YA/MG/Children's Books

Lost in Wonderland

by Nicky Peacock
Series: The Twisted and The Brave, #1

Kindle Edition, 124 pg.
Evernight Teen, 2016

Read: November 30, 2016

This story focuses on Kayla — a young woman who looks years younger than she is (young enough to be appealing to the Humbert Humberts of the world as well as old enough to come across as a young co-ed), which is helpful in her vocation. She’s basically bait for serial predators (who the authorities can’t/haven’t done anything to) as part of her work with Wonderland. Wonderland is a group run by former federal agents bankrolled by a largely mysterious billionaire. Each “Wonderlander” goes by a code name derived from the Lewis Carroll book, and can quote sections relevant to their moniker (and recognize others quoting their parts). She and her colleagues — Rabbit and Chesire (Kayla’s Mouse) — lure the killers/molesters somewhere, take them out and then have someone come in clean up after them.

Her brother, Shilo, is locked up in a Mental Health facility for a handful of reasons, but the largest is his insistence that a man who dresses in orange is his constant companion who tells him what he should do. No one else can see or hear Mr. Custard, naturally, so Shilo is on the receiving end of all sorts of treatments. Neither the drugs, the talk therapy, or anything else seems to be working — Mr. Custard is still there, as much as Shilo might try to pretend he’s not.

Both siblings are reacting to the disappearance/abandonment of their mother while they were young and the suicide of their father not long after in very different ways, but both of their atypical lives can be traced to these incidents. Now it seems that someone is killing women near their childhood home, and there’s something drawing both of them back their to confront the killer.

The story is an interesting mix of Supernatural and Thriller stories, and once I saw that’s where she was going, I wasn’t sure that Peacock was going to be that successful with it — very few are. I’m not talking straight-up Urban Fantasy, I’m talking about a Suspense/Thriller that mixes in some sort of magic/monster where bullets and explosions should be. The last time I read a mystery where the author tried this, it ruined the book — it’s tricky. The heightened reality that she was using already helps, but it doesn’t guarantee success, Peacock tried a tricky thing and made it work, that’s no small feat.

Still, there’s only a little supernatural to this — there’s a human villain, human protagonists, human costs, human relationships at the core of this novel. Peacock’s up to the challenge of writing them, no doubt about it.

I liked the characters — especially Kayla. The story moved along well, the action was convincing — and the predators were just horrible enough that you didn’t really care that much that vigilante action took care of them rather than the law. Sure, the book could really have used one more thorough edit. More importantly, the facility that Shilo lives in draws more from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Gotham‘s depiction of Arkham than reality — and as annoying as that is, really, if you’re looking for realism, you’ve dropped this book before it gets to that.

Can she follow this up with an equally successful sequel? That might be trickier, but I’m looking forward to seeing her try.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for my honest opinions.

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3 Stars