The River of No Return: A Novel by Bee Ridgway

The River of No Return. Bee Ridgway. Penguin Group (USA). April 2013. 464 pp. hbk. ISBN #: 9780525953869.

“Time flows like a river and it seems as if each of us is carried relentlessly along by time’s current. But time is like a river in another way. It flows at different speeds in different places and that is the key to traveling into the future,” British Cosmologist Steven Hawking writes.  Bee Ridgway has taken Hawking’s theory and gone one step more in her amazing new novel.  Time and speed may be, as the main characters come to realize, also connected to intense emotional energy.  This novel certainly suggests that as the main protagonist, Nicholas Davenant or Lord Blackdown, “jumps” from 1800s Spain to 2013 London, eventually settling in America.  He has been trained to survive in this new life by the Guild, a secret group who help time-jumpers like Nicholas adjust to the new environment, including clothes, language, manners, culture, and so so much more!

However, just as Nicholas is settling in, with the only thing bothering him the face and appearance of a mysterious black-haired girl whose mysterious presence has helped him survive his terrible war memories, he is called back to England by the Guild who is going to send him on a secret mission with a burly Russian Guild member.  Their job is to find the Olfan, another group who have mastered time travel but have other ways of accessing the future and past.  The question as the story progresses becomes murky as Nicholas, now the Marquess Blackdown, cannot tell who is friend and who is foe.  Also when he meets Julie, his next-door neighbor, she is being held prisoner and at the same time discovers she possesses phenomenal powers regarding this time jumping issue.  She and Blackdown are increasingly drawn closer to each other but go no further because of the mystery that needs to be solved.

For what if those capable of jumping into the future encounter an unsolvable problem?  Can all of the Guild and Olfan members stop this new aspect of time that is life-threatening, to say the least?  Why are so many people after Blackdown and Julia?  Should Blackdown participate in a historically significant law vote that could destroy his own aristocratic world or free it with dramatic effects that will last for centuries? 

There is much more in this amazing fantasy novel that also has a touch of history, plenty of magical moments, intense high-pressure scenes where foes fight to the finish…

Read The River of No Return for a strong tension-filled plot, stereotypical characters who surmount their boring peerage definition and those with immense intelligence who help our main characters wait at appropriate moments and lurch forward into action during quieter moments!

Great story with page-flipping drama, adventure, thrills, romance, history and overall great fun!  Very, very nicely done, Ms. Ridgway!!!

Winner Lose All by William F. Brown

Winner Lose All. William F. Brown. Amazon Digital Services, Inc., March 2013. 544 KB.  ASIN #: B00CEOKUR8.  

WWII is almost at its brutal, ruthless end.  Our story begins with Ed Scanlon, an American OSS officer, and a British   SOE officer about to travel to Germany where they will parachute out of a warplane and begin a mission that they're told will be "a piece of cake."  Not quite! Instead he is wounded, saved by a Russian-German agent, Hanni Steiner.  They fall in love but Hanni knows theirs is an impossible relationship as she is the daughter of a famous Russian government official, one who would be heavily punished if she were to abandon her mission.  She's one gritty, tough gal and Scanlon is a fine match.

Scanlon is caught by Nazi soldiers under the leadership of Otto Dietrich, the Gestapo Chief of Leipzig, Germany, who relishes torturing enemy combatants.  Scanlon is broken by the torture before being rescued by Hanni and her colleagues and then forced to return to recover in England.  At first he refuses to consider any further mission, wanting "out" for good.  Why?  

The ultimate mission Scanlon is ordered to complete is to accompany five German scientists to England.  These scientists are brilliant, having invented a might warplane without the need for a propeller and other aspects that are revolutionary and would change the face of war forever, guaranteeing victory for whoever possessed such knowledge.  After a brief physical altercation with another officer, Scanlon is given a choice to spend the rest of his life in a military jail cell or complete the mission. The choice is obvious and he returns.

The caper turns out to be more complex as it seems there's quite a bit of competition with Russia, Germany, Great Britain and America all vying for these German scientists and the information they own, and the nations have no compunction about using each other to attain their devious goals.  

Winner Lose All is a tightly written thriller story that never stays still in one place for the reader to get complacent or even semi-bored.  One gets a good look at the machinations of world leaders like Stalin, his government and military leaders, Churchill of Great Britain and others who think out loud about each other and play their cards close to the vest until the right moment for pivotal action!  If you love war stories, political thrillers, adventure tales, and just straight, well-plotted action novels, this is your next read!  Nicely done, William F. Brown!

Francesca of Lost Nation: A True-Life Novel by Lucinda Sue Crosby

Francesca of Lost Nation: A True-Life Novel. Lucinda Sue Crosby. Creative Space Independent Publishing Platform. April 2013. 340 pp. pbk. ISBN #: 9781460919811.

Francesca and Sarah, grandmother and granddaughter bonded by a phenomenal love, live a normal life in Lost Nation, Iowa in 1940s America.  Francesca is a woman who flouts most traditional roles expected of woman, possessing an independent and adventurous streak that is grounded in her love of family.  She has had one great love which she lost to her sister, a fact that wounds her so deeply that her relationship with her sister Maude is fraught with tension for all too many years.  She marries a fine man, Cox, who has since passed away and now concentrates of her love of life and her special gift with animals and nature.  Her daughter Rachel and husband Daddyboy have won a trip to Paris.  Sarah and Francesca are about to have the summer of their lives!

After the lucky couple leave for Europe, an arsonist appears in Lost Nation and the sheriff asks Matthew Mosely to stay with Sarah and Francesca as a matter of protection. A great love begins underscored by the possibility that Matthew might recover from his flight accident wound and choose to leave.  Instead they focus on relishing every moment they have together.  This includes county fairs, learning to fly, mending the wound between Francesca and Maude, finding a stray but lovable dog, finding a cave with amazing drawings of a final Indian battle, and so, so much more.

 

Words can hardly convey the engaging, enchanting quality of this story which has a simple plot but whose characters are so real and dynamic that one never wants the story to end.  The cover is dull and reflects nothing of the superb writing evident in this beautiful story that never dulls and develops, the characters growing in wisdom, humor and strife as in real life.  Love can make or break a person, and Francesca teaches and learns how to handle both sides of that enigma; the result is a granddaughter who inherits and absorbs the same from her gifted, flamboyant, and charming grandmother. 

 

Francesca of Lost Nation is fine historical and romantic fiction that should be a best seller and would make a grand movie or even a Broadway show!  Read it and immerse yourself in outstanding fiction!

Desolation Row by Kay Kendall

Desolation Row. Kay Kendall. March 2013. The Armchair Publisher. March 2013. 258 pp. hbk. ISBN #: 9780985994211.

Austin Starr’s husband David is a “draft dodger” (term used for those without refused to fight in the Vietnam War) and has taken her to live in Canada where they are both pursuing academic careers.  Austin isn’t completely happy there, is rather homesick and finds the culture in Canada very different from America.  Things are about to get even more difficult for her and her husband.  Even though they’re living outside America, they are still part of the protest movement which is actually picking up steam in both countries.  Murder suddenly alters their world!

One of the protest leaders, Reginald Simpson, the son of an American Senator, has been great for the movement but has earned a few enemies as well.  When Austin one night stumbles over his dead body, she is totally traumatized but quickly has to recover when David is accused of the murder.  Having spent some brief time being trained to work for the CIA, albeit never pursuing that career, she knows with every fiber of her being that David is innocent and sets her course to find the killer.  This drive doesn’t exactly endear her to the Canadian Mounties, who don’t know about her background and see her as meddlesome.  However, she does make a somewhat strange semi-friendship with one of the officers and manages to share her findings with him.

At the same time she comes under the protection of her university mentor, a Professor of Russian history, and his daughter.  They help her examine her questions: Who hated Reg so much to kill him?  Why was Reg so out of sync with his father and why is there something shady about Reg’s father?  What’s the difference between hating the system that turns to war in times of conflict and just not wanting to fight in a war?  Other questions appear on so many pages but the most important is who is now threatening Austin?

The ending will be quite a surprise and another point of view that really most will realize we don’t think of too often.  Desolation Row is a good read, an engaging mystery, and a satire of the anti-war movement in some ways.  Interesting read!

Tendrils of Life by Owen Choi

Tendrils of Life. R. Owen Choi. Princeton Falcon Press. July 2012. 428 pp. pbk. ISBN#: 9780985728601.

To many the Korean War remains a distant memory, except for those American soldiers who fought in the war and passed on their knowledge to their children and grandchildren.  Now we have a potent novel that explores what happened to the Korean people before and during this war, how the Japanese, Chinese and North Koreans forced Koreans to turn against Koreans.  We read a story of the depths of despair from starvation, filth, disease, rape, murder, but we also have here a story replete with the deepest love, cooperation, compassion, and most of all hope that drives men and women forward to obtain dreams of a better life.

Jimin and Sinman are the protagonist and antagonist respectively who are deadly enemies not realizing how deeply they are truly connected.  The novel opens with Jimin, his sister Misern, their mother and father leaving the island of Ockdo, a remote island in southern Korea.  The father comes briefly and infrequently and leaves for long periods of time.  They arrive in a communist-occupied Seoul in 1950 before the war begins and they live with starvation, fear of the communists who randomly arrest, torture and kill anyone and everyone for the flimsiest reason.  On and on this horror continues, with Jimin and Misern’s mother eventually attacked and dying from her wounds.  Sinman hates Jimin, a family clan warfare whose origin is gradually revealed throughout the entire novel.  Sinman has money and bribes whoever he needs; his goal is to kill Jimin, but after much suffering Jimin and Misern decide to return to Ockdo. 

Little do they know that they are about to begin a horrendous, long journey which will be full of hate and love, starvation and food provided by kind-hearted Koreans, and so so much more than this review can adequately convey.  Sinman hates his father but must comply with his commands due to their true origins as poverty-stricken peasants; trying to be what one can never be is what tips the mental imbalance of Sinman and his father.  But Jimin doesn’t know this and escapes before he can come to harm; later he will have one final confrontation.

American soldiers are depicted quite poorly here; they speak of their disdain for the country that they are risking their lives for. They bomb cities and towns, never realizing that the Communist Chinese have hidden in the hills and caves.  Communists cannot be trusted for one second.  Sora becomes Jimin’s lover, introducing a new type of relationship into Jimin’s life. Other characters like Teacher Yang appear when just needed, wisely advising Jimin how to proceed when his fears and ignorance would threaten to destroy his dream.

So much more could be said about this surprising, fascinating novel that has received little attention and deserves so much more.  It is well-researched, perhaps one-sided in several places, but still reflective of the multiple points of view regarding that long ago, almost forgotten nightmare period in Korean history.  Highly recommended historical fiction!

The Sixth Station by Linda Stasi

The Sixth Station.  Linda Stasi. Forge Books.  January 2013. 368 pp. hbk. ISBN #: 9780765334275.

Alessandra Russo is a smart, sassy journalist who loses jobs because of her cynical, snide comments; but she’s a true journalist who will do anything for a story, anything!  But her life in search of the award-winning story is about to go ballistic!

Alessandro gets pulled into the middle of a crowd of thousands awaiting the arrival of Demiel ben Yusef for his trial.  For he is accused of being a terrorist responsible for the murder and horrific suffering of people around where bombs have changed the life of millions.  Some think him a demon; others revere him as the “Son of the Son of God.”  As he steps out of the van, he sees Alessandra and leaves her with something that turns her into an instant celebrity, but reporters see her as an accomplice or a nutty follower.  Either way, they think Alessandra knows something that could contribute one way or another to a guilty or innocent verdict. Yusef himself, once he has been seated for the trial, refuses to defend himself.  On the way out of the first day’s proceedings, he quietly passes a verbal message to Alessandra.  Now she’s in big trouble for she’s a hunted woman and even more so after her editor completely rewrites her article, leading to a fight and her being fired!  Worse, she has to go somewhere other than home because she is no longer safe!

The story progresses with a priest, former CIA agent, another older priest, and many more characters all sent by “them” or an organization seeking a relic that could prove Yusef really is a divine human.  For it seems that thirty-three years ago, some cloned Yusef from the actual blood of Jesus Christ.  Now, there is a search for DNA evidence plus a relic that could change the world and prove Yusef’s innocence, allowing him to “save the world.”  The journey takes Alessandra through Italy, France, Turkey, and other places in hair-raising scenes as someone else from an opposition group is out to find the relic first and/or kill her. The plot races along, as the reader attempts to follow hair-raising, tension-filled, illuminating but frightening scenes.  It’s like being on the most terrifying roller-coaster ride of your life!

All in all, however, this novel is an enigma.  The involvement of terrorists, the Catholic Church, mad scientists, Mary the Mother of God, the Templars, the Cathars, (considered a heretic sect of Catholicism at the time), upscale technology used for cloning, murder, and blackouts and more after a while truly stretches the plot so far as to seem less than credible, but this is fiction, right?

Since Dan Brown started this type of fiction, there have been many spin-offs of the “quest” for the Holy One, and this story goes one step further.  Alessandra spins back and forth from atheism, agnosticism, and awed belief like a spinning top that makes one truly, truly wonder how she became the “Chosen One.”  Dreams, groups bowing down before her, etc. clash wildly with her constantly sarcastic comments or thoughts.  The ending is surprising and one wonders if all this questing just crashed out of fatigue from the frenetic pace carried over 300 pages or if there will be a sequel to tie all the loose ends together. Hmmm…

If you love adventure, a good mystery, some historical connection, some religious inspiration, this is your next read for sure!  Inspiration – not – too much busyness and craziness that stretches the certainty of even those filled with unshakable faith!  You can’t stop reading, in spite of it all and for that, Lisa Stasi deserves some kudos and some “downers” before she writes a sequel!

When She Came Home by Drusilla Campbell

When She Came Home. Drusilla Campbell. Grand Central Publishing. April 2013. 336 pp. pbk. ISBN #: 9781455510351.

Frankie Byrne Tennyson is the daughter of a retired Marine Brigadier General and her life as well as the General’s wife have been all-military.  There’s no room for weakness and Frankie is out for a challenge from family and her husband when she is so stunned by 911 and the death of children on the planes that were attacked that she decides to enlist to do battle in Afghanistan or wherever required.  Her father, however, makes sure she is not put in harm’s way after her initial training.  Later however she signs up for another tour and does get to serve in Iraq, even if her job is only to create a new school rather than do battle.  But she is witness to unspeakable things which will later come up in as certain facts and issues come to the public light. 

When Frankie returns, she’s definitely not the same person she was, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and that her going and returning have also seriously affected her daughter, Glory.  The latter has questions galore, none of which Frankie wants to answer as she is definitely in need of professional help herself. But the General’s family have been well-trained as “perfect” Marines.  That basically means that psychological help is off limits as it would, if exposed, put an indelible mark on one’s career chart and worse than that display an inability to cope. 

The father’s secret is, however, that at one time he was coping no better than his daughter.  All of these characters must move through their days displaying more and more dysfunction until there will be no denial of the need for help.   It’s either that or someone will be bearing the brunt of the unconscious raging and invisible battle wounds everyone is denying.

This is such a timely issue that must not be covered over or denied, and Drusilla Campbell handles the problem with all its nuances and direct consequences with aplomb and admirable grace.  Rather than the expected maudlin quality, Frankie and her family are the epitome of what thousands of individuals and families are experiencing after returning from one or several tours of military service in Iraq or Afghanistan.  Kudos to you Ms. Campbell for writing a realistic novel about what unfortunately is today not one iota of fiction!  While it may gloss the surface of the issue, it’s definitely worth the read!