You've Been Warned by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

You've Been Warned, James Patterson and Howard Roughan. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2017. hardcover, 306 pps.

     Even living here in the middle of nowhere is not an adequate excuse for never having read any James Patterson until today. I don't know why I haven't either. But now that I've read this one, I will probably read more sometime.

     I've never read anything by co-author Howard Roughan either. But then again, I'd never head of Howard Roughan. Maybe I really am a country bumpkin.

     Kris is a woman with a dream. Several of them actually. A recurrent dream which wakens her screaming and her neighbors don't care for that much. And a waking dream of being a photographer. She shoots pictures, works as a nanny, dates, and eats lunch with her two girlfriends.

     She also seems to be going a bit over the edge. Reminiscent of the 1999 movie Sixth Sense, she begins to shoot dead people. Or is she? 

     Screaming in a taxi cab earns her an overnight trip to a local emergency room. Even her old shrink does not want her back in therapy with him. Why oh why is everyone picking on her?

sapphoq reviews says: Although set primarily in New York City, the descriptions of various places there littered throughout the novel was not evocative for me. I've ducked under subway turnstiles, prowled the streets at all hours, been exploring in places that my parents to this day don't know that I've been to. The real strength of You've Been Warned for me was in the character development. Every person in the novel had their own unique personality. And I liked that. Suspense building and the glimpses of the terror inside Kris' head were both also very satisfying to me. For those who like spooky psychological thrillers, highly recommended.

Love thy Neighbor by Mark Gilleo

Love thy Neighbor, Mark Gilleo. Stamford CT: The Story Plant / The Aronica-Miller Publishing Project, LLC, 2011. e-book, 371 pps.


     Love thy Neighbor was a different sort of book. It took an actual event-- the author's mum suspected that some terrorists were living across the street from her-- and built a story around that. [It turns out that two of the 9/11 hijackers were indeed living across the street from her. Unfortunately the C.I.A. dismissed her phone call, later claiming that it didn't occur]. If you do not read the rest of the book, the "Author's Note" alone makes the price of the book worth it.

     Mark Gilleo's fictional account starts off with a teen stealing a cell phone in Islamabad. From there we meet Clark Hayden, the son of a sort of crazy woman who had called the C.I.A. Clark is a geek who is into robotics. That immediately made the story "cool" to me and I continued to read about his return from a competition.

     From there, the plot flows onward to the introduction of more of the main characters and to the area surrounding Hayden's small town in Virginia. The neighbors across the street do indeed disappear. Hayden and a cute female sidekick begin to investigate because he wants to tell them that their house blew up.

     There is ricin in the story. I had supposed in my youth that castor oil was a product of some sort of swimming fish. Not so. Ricin is the by-product of a bean. That bean is there too, in harvested plants and in seeds.

     The townie patrol cop was pretty cool as a minor character. I'd like to see more of him in a future book along with Clark Hayden and his sexy girlfriend. And the robotics added a sweet touch to it all.


sapphoq reviews says: As improbable as the plot was in places, Love thy Neighbor redeems itself richly by sheer movement from place to place. Violence and murders and stuff blowing up in odd warehouses makes for an interesting tale. Although the dialogue is lacking in some places, I thought this book was worthy of my time. Those who are offended by the conjunction of the word Islam and the word terrorist ought to stay away. For the rest of us, recommended.

Hour of the Rat by Lisa Brackmann

Hour of the Rat, Lisa Brackmann.  New York:  Soho Press, Inc., 2013.  e-book, 313 pps.

In this second book of a series, Lisa Brackmann continues the story of Ellie McEnroe.  She is still living in Beijing.  Her mother is visiting.  Mom is a Christian who attends a church back home.  While visiting her daughter, Mom falls for Ellie's creepy neighbor hard.  Ellie is not happy with her mother's propensity for all things of a Christian nature.  She is extremely unhappy with her mother's choice of lousy men.

Her war buddy Doug a.k.a. Dog, Turner calls and wants to know where his brother is.  The brother Jason is missing in China somewhere.  Not taking his bipolar meds.

Ellie gets a visit by the Domestic Security Department.  They are not happy that her artist friend Zhang Jianli is still underground somewhere.  She is not happy to have been dragged off to some stark business hotel to have tea and a talk with these two guys.

The computer game is in Hour of the Rat also but it does not figure as prominently.  There is travel too, and action.  And a dog.

Monsanto is in this novel.  Or a company with a Chinese name that sounds very much like it operates in the same way that Monsanto wants to.  Sell seeds to farmers that will not die when farmers use the company pesticides and herbicides [but all other plants and weeds will].  The genetic engineering of the seeds is part of tweaking the proper response to the company pesticides and herbicides.  Prohibit farmers and gardeners from harvesting the vegetables for seeds.  If you want them, you have to buy the seeds or seedlings all over again next year.  Big profits for the company.  Business is business.  In the novel, just as in real life, the company is a villain.  GMOs are bad, m'kay?

sapphoqreviews says:  Lisa Brackmann has proven herself to be a great writer of intricacies with this third novel.  I like her books.  Her characters come off as real.  The sense of place in Hour of the Rat catapulted me into destinations I'd never been to [yet?].  Thoroughly enjoyable.  If you aren't reading Lisa Brackmann's thrillers, you really ought to be.  Highly recommended. 

Getaway by Lisa Brackmann

Getaway, Lisa Brackmann.  New York:  Soho Books, Inc., 2012.  e-book 259 pps.

Michelle is the American woman on vacation in Puerto Vallarta.  It was a vacation that she and her now dead Tom had signed up for.  She went alone.  Unexpected things have a way of happening to charming widows.  A hottie named Daniel a.k.a. Danny.  His abrupt and threatening buddy by the name of Gary.  A mugging.  There is a mysterious voice on the phone identifying himself as Ted Banks.   Some ex-pats.  Drug running.  Too much talk about clothing.  A lot of alcohol.  Some parties.  The vacation lasted longer than it should have.

sapphoq reviews says:  Lisa Brackmann did a fine job on Getaway.  The characters are very different than those in her other two books and so is the setting. I found myself hating Michelle for being so dependent upon men, rooting for Gary to die, and really warming up to Charlie.  Getaway is intriguing and kept me guessing until the very end.  Highly recommended.

The Jericho Deception by Jeffrey Small

The Jericho Deception, Jeffrey Small.  Atlanta: Hundreds of Heads Books, 2013.  e-book, 413 pps.

The Jericho Deception is Jeffrey Small's second book.  It is again-- like The Breath of God-- a religious thriller and also fiction.  Like his first book, there is a beautiful woman and a hint of romance.  There is killing and research of the sort that may cause a bad international incident or may bring peace through nefarious means.

Dr. Ethan Lightman, following in the footsteps of his more spiritual mentor, is conducting research in a University lab when things begin to go haywire.  The research initially involves temporal lobe epilepsy which leads to profound feelings of an intertwining deity.  [Deviating somewhat from actual present-day neuro-theological research,] The Jericho Deception posits a relation between stimulation of the temporal lobe and intense conversion experiences, or sometimes experiences which remain within the realm of a person's own chosen religion.  There is a sort of prison in the book, some jet travel, killings, a complicated getaway, and nefarious American government agencies.  

sapphoq reviews says:  Although elements of The Jericho Deception were similar to those of Small's previous book, the plot and geography are different enough to render an entirely different story.  Less convincing are Small's arguments for the synchronicity of all religious beliefs [present in both books].  Also not convincing is the idea that temporal lobe epilepsy can explain all visions received by various pundits of various religions throughout the ages.  Even so, Small's gift for invoking a sense of place is very much present in this book and adds greatly to the execution of his storyline.  While the potential for insulting various religious groups remains, The Jericho Deception itself focuses more on the intensity of the chase.  Recommended for those who like thrillers and suspense, even the non-religious [like me] among us.  

The Breath of God by Jeffrey Small

The Breath of God: A Novel of Suspense, Jeffrey Small.  Atlanta: Hundreds of Heads Books, 2011.  e-book.  405 pps.

I tried to get through The Da Vinci Code but failed.  When I spied The Breath of God, I was initially hesitant.  I wasn't sure I would like a Dan Brown clone anymore than I like Dan Brown.  But the free sample and the predominantly positive reviews persuaded me.

The Breath of God is Jeffrey Small's first novel.  Small is personally well-qualified in theology to write this fictional work.  There have been various supposes about what Jesus was doing between the ages of twelve and thirty.  I had heard the idea that Jesus had traveled throughout India and Tibet before.  Small takes this idea, blends it with a bit of romance, and works the whole thing through to a satisfying conclusion.

There is a student by the name of Grant Matthews who books a kayak guide and coincidentally winds up at a monastery in Bhutan.  He meets an attractive American tourista and a lot of Buddhist monks.  There is some conflict, a few loonies from the states, and content which is sure to offend both traditional Christians and traditional Muslims.  [I suspect that the Buddhists and possibly the Hindus would be less offended].

sapphoq reviews says:  The thing is, The Breath of God is a novel.  It is not a historical novel, although bits of village legends involving a Saint Issa are included within its' pages.  It is a work of fiction.  Fiction by definition is fictional.  As such, I found Jeffrey Small's first novel to be full of intrigue.  I thought the characters were well-developed.  I found the uber-Christians to be quite believable.  So although I personally reject the evidence that supposes that Jesus traveled about the sub-continent, I really liked this book.  Folks who are fans of Dan Brown [judging from the negative reviews] may find The Breath of God to be too much of a clone of Dan Brown's style of writing.  I found it to be just what was required for a long night's reading material.  Highly recommended for the rest of us who have never read Dan Brown.

a few thoughts:

Jesus did not travel to India, Christians say no:  
http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-India.html

Jesus did not travel to India, a Unitarian Universalist minister says no:  http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2008/03/was-jesus-buddhist.html 

Jesus did travel to India, Herbert Armstrong and a bunch of others say yes.
http://reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm

Maybe he did and maybe he didn't, a Wikipedia summary of pro and con arguments:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_years_of_Jesus