"Conspiracy Of Silence" Book Review

It says "Conspiracy of Silence" by Ronie Kendig is book 1 of "The Tox Files" series. In truth there is a 0.5 prequel novella. I'm guessing that should have been called book 1. At least I'm assuming. Hoping. Because as I was reading, I kept checking the cover to see if it was in fact book 1. The author wrote as though I knew story background that I didn't. It made it hard to keep the characters and plot straight.

I also felt lost during the battle scenes. Maybe I'm just not a huge military enthusiast but as soon as our hero's band of fightin' men entered a foray, I could no longer form a picture in my mind of the action. Seeing as how this is a military based novel with numerous conflicts, it happened frequently.

My favorite part was how the author based the story on an event from the Bible. Unfortunately the way it's portrayed isn't exactly accurate.  However it does set the imagination swirling.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc."

"Purgatory Road" Book Review

Two weeks ago my husband and I were on a eastern Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Because my husband loves to lounge and read, I assumed he would have packed a number of books and magazines. Oops. Fortunately I had this book stashed away. Once he was done I asked what he thought and he's only comment was, "I don't know. It was weird."

Hmm. Interesting. Good weird or waste of time weird?

His undefined emotions towards "Purgatory Road" by Samuel Parker didn't deter me. If anything, the opposite. And almost immediately, as I started reading, thought, "This is a little weird." But I like a little weird. I enjoy Frank Peretti's work. Ted Dekker is borderline too weird for me.  This book falls right in the middle of these two on the weirdness scale.  There was definitely a spiritual undertone to the book. A couple of the characters are something other than human. What they are exactly is up for your conjecture.

I told my 14 year old daughter I didn't think she should read it because the violence is rather graphic and there are some mature themes. Plus, I didn't think she needed to hear about the almost orgasmic thrill the killer gets from murdering his victims. Having said that, not even once did I think I myself shouldn't be reading it.

I enjoyed this book but only give is 3 out of 4 stars for the following reason. While I enjoyed the author's writing style, the inner struggle of the main character was a theme that got revisited too many time. Then again, overcoming faulty areas of self was the main driving force behind the plot so maybe it was necessary. It just felt a tad cyclical. This one area is more than made up for by the action and unique story line.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc."