The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Lovely and the Lost.  Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Freeform.  May 2019; pb, 336 pp.; ISBN #: 9781484776209.

Search and rescue work is not for the faint of heart.  But what if one of the searchers has been herself lost and found from the wilderness with no memories of the past except those of fear and loneliness?  Kira Bennett was found by her foster mother, Cady Bennett, who continues carrying on search and rescue missions. Kira’s relationship to her foster parents and siblings is another aspect of this mystery since Kira was found unable to speak and petrified of human beings. Kira participates in their family searches because what else can she do, knowing the terrors of having to live in forests and surviving with skills learned for survival.

One of the delights of this story is getting to know the animals who are part of the search and rescue team, Silver, Saskia, NATO and Dutchess, lovely canines who are dedicated, relentless in finding their quarry, and loving friendliness.  They become part of Kira’s survival in their present search, when glimmers of her own memories threaten her ability to continue with the desperate search for a missing girl.  Their intuition matches her own, having lived in a feral state that bonds them into a natural unit pursing their mission.

Tracking is a careful skill that can be thrown by natural events, accidents and more.  While they continue their search, she meets Gabriel, the son of an abusive Sheriff. Gabriel’s brother is also one of the missing, which adds another twist to the story that keeps the river riveted to the mystery of this family.

Kira will discover aspects of her own past as the search for the mission is accomplished but with more problems than answers.  The Lovely and the Lost is a fine read, albeit sometimes confusing with a too large cast of characters.  Kira’s world seems realistic and mysterious which adds to the mysterious drama of each aspect of this account.  Nicely done, Jennifer Lynn Barnes!

Assassins by Mike Bond

Assassins.  Mike Bond. Mandevilla Press. December 2016. 502 pp. ASIN #: B01MTW71F6.   

Our main character opens the action by parachuting into Afghanistan with his peers, but the landing is a difficult one indeed.  At the beginning of thirty years of fighting, the soldier falls victim to multiple shreds of shrapnel lodged in his skull and one of his peers is wounded in the leg.  Their job was to serve as aides to defeat the Russians, to get them out of Afghanistan.  But little by little the reader learns about the real issues behind the constant war occurring in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries.  For Afghani lords don’t trust each other and even go to war against each other in their endless power plays.  There’s no trust between American soldiers or mercenaries and the Afghanis being helped.  Weapons are exchanged for the trafficking of opium.  It’s a brutal existence and death looms large in every stage of any operation.

As the story progresses, the plot thickens and we realize that the American government is being played.  For Arabs take American money and military support while at the same time hedging their bets with supporting terrorist lords.  For anyone sharp about global news, this isn’t news but reading out it plays out in action is starkly shocking. Americans fighting over there take orders and don’t spend much time analyzing the political sides.  One wonders what their motivation is to make friends with those who are both friends and enemies, who put up with insults of Muslims who see any American friend or foe as an infidel or enemy.

This novel covers thirty years (no spoilers here) from the early years to 911 to the evolution of terrorism into ISIS.  The action is rivetingly present on every page.  It’s an education in Middle East strife and at the same time a thrilling read in which tension never relaxes.  It’s so real it’s almost overwhelming!  It is what is really happening.  Assassins is Mike Bond’s best novel!  Well-researched, complicated, surreal yet real, this is a story (it is fiction, after all) that will sear the reader’s memory long after the last page is turned! Highly recommended, well-crafted fiction that tells the vivid story of an endless war!

Breathe in Grace: A Zev Evans Novella by James LePore

Breathe in Grace – A Zev Evans Novella. James LePore. The Story Plant. June 2016. 96 pp.  ISBN#: 9781943486922.

Zev Evans is a fixer, a tender man who aims to help the “down and out” by doing whatever is needed at any moment.  The enigmatic part that makes this novella phenomenal thriller is that sometimes Zev operates alone, shooting victims in the forehead fast than they can lift their guns. Sometimes he calls on his “friends” to set up meetings or get information needed to complete his complicated task. 

The action quickly starts when coming out of a piano recital, Zev sees an Arab-looking man smack a young woman so hard in the fact that she almost falls over.  The man having the appearance of an Arab has nothing to do with Zev’s fury; it’s seeing someone supposedly strong abuse a woman. 

At one time Zev was a Marine but was honorably discharged for taking out another Marine, who wasn’t the good guy everybody claimed he was but was probably actually a traitor.  Seeing injustice makes Zev crazy; he’s got these “wild horses” in his head that he can only control with drugs that assist the effects of the plate in his head. 

To say more would spoil an amazing story but suffice to say that Zev and his friends tap into what this Arab is secretly doing.  Let’s just say that young woman isn’t the first to be severely harmed and the Arab’s got bigger plans going involving a very complicated and dire issue.  Yes, Zev will finish the task he’s obsessed with but the reader will be flipping the pages rapidly with all the surprise twists and turns that pump up the plot to its final, satisfying climax.  Despite his furious temper, Zev is a highly intelligent and gentle guy whose personality is totally embraced by the reader by the very last page, which by the way will make you want to read more about this unique, vigilante style “fixer.”  Stay tuned – a prequel will follow very soon.  

Nicely plotted, James LePore, with your talented touch!