Diane Rapp's Blog: She's a Mystery and Science Fiction Writer! - Posts Tagged "thriller"

Stutter Creek by Ann Swann

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Romance and suspense that packs a punch

Hoping to recover from the stress of losing her father, getting divorced, and having her daughter move to another country, Beth retreats to the peace and quiet of her cabin in Stutter Creek. Little does she know that her safety is in jeopardy. A serial killer is roaming the woods near her cabin and intends to make her victim number three on his growing list.

John and Beth fell in love as teenagers but they lost track of each other. After John retired from the military, he returned to Stutter Creek and started restoring his cabin. He never married and still holds fond memories of Beth, but he's sure it's too late for him. Destroyed by her husband's infidelity, Beth dreams of John and wishes she could see him again. Just when Beth reconnects with John, she's targeted by a sadistic serial killer.

Beth is also mourning her father and thinks she might be going crazy when she starts receiving messages from the beyond. This is a thriller combined with a poignant story of lost love. It will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last pages. I'm a fan of Ann Swann's writing and she doesn't let us down in this tale. Grab a bowl of popcorn while you're reading so you don't chew your fingernails.




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Bluewater Voodoo by C.L.R. Dougherty

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Zombies? Voodoo? It’s just a fantastic adventure!

I admit that I enjoy reading Dougherty’s books, and I was not disappointed by the third book in the Bluewater mystery series. He brings back interesting characters like Dani and Liz, who operate a charter business on their fancy sailboat. Dani is still a little spit-fire, ready to punch out their current customer when he leers at her, much to our reading pleasure.

The girls were hired by a professor and his slinky assistant to sail them through the islands. Sounds like an easy job until two Venezuelan soldiers board the sailboat intent on kidnapping the professor. Dani and Liz learn that the professor is working for a reality TV show producer, trying to find real zombies. He discovered the location of a Voodoo Bokor who created a real-life zombie. They run afoul of a Venezuelan hit man. Martinez is under direct orders from Chavez to create zombies and launch a plan to disrupt the next American election.

In this story readers learn about the Voodoo religion and how Haitians are mistreated by island governments. The formula to make a real zombie is a closely-guarded secret and the mild-mannered Voodoo Bokor is reluctant to exploit the zombie in his care. Dani learns that one of her relatives is a high priestess of the religion, and enlists her help for the professor.

In between kidnappings, bombings, and high speed chases, the criminals prove that a plan is only as good as the lowest man involved in the scheme. Angry that the thugs tried to sink her ship, Dani calls upon her own experts to straighten out the mess. They have no problems with competence!

Dougherty once again leads his readers on a roller coaster ride through the Caribbean. During the adventure questions from the first two books are answered. If you haven’t read the whole series, there’s enough back story in this book to make it enjoyable on its own, but you might just get hooked on the series!




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Books-a-Fire group sale

The Books-a-Fire authors are back with more fabulous deals and NEW books to buy from Oct. 23 thru 29. There are no gimmicks or hoops to jump, just incredible prices on every single book. Just point, click, and buy books in every genre for just 99 cents each.

YES! All 46 books on the page are priced at 99 cents to make your shopping easy and affordable. For less than the price of a dinner out, you could buy every single book on the page.

To make it really easy, we've also created categories. Click your favorite category at the top of the page and see all the books that are on sale in that category. Load your Kindle with all 46 books and enjoy a quiet read now that the kids are back in school. You've had a hectic summer so treat yourself to a good book today! Go to www.booksafire.com

The Threshing Circle by Neil Grimmett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A Greek tale of kidnapping, vendetta, and tragic love

This thrilling mystery gives the reader facts about the turbulent history of Crete while unraveling a poignant tale of love and betrayal. The threshing circle was once a place where farmers prepared grains from their harvest, staged plays for entertainment, and the bloody arena were enemies fought, perhaps to the death. In modern day the enemies are cleverly hidden but the battle is just as dangerous.

The talented author takes his readers on a journey through history, exploring the truth behind a family's shame as we feel the pathos of a tragic love story. We become enchanted by the vivid characters, the fiery Scottish redhead, the cagey old Greek, and a full cast of supporting characters. As they search for the kidnapped English couple, a story of bloodshed and survival is revealed, and lives hang in the balance. Who can we trust? Who will survive the battle in this threshing circle? This book is worth reading.




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Charlotte Kills by Reb MacRath

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Boss is lean, mean and oh so clever!

Fans of Boss won't be disappointed! If you've read any of the books in this series, you MUST read this one. Boss must repay a debt to one dangerous gangster by investigating the organization of another. He finds that Charlotte, NC is no cozy little southern retreat. There are dirty cops, a devious minx, and plenty of goons to make sure that Boss gets out of town fast. Can he buck the mob and learn the truth? It seems that everyone lies.

Boss is at his best in this new novel. He's lean, mean, and oh so clever, but has Boss met his match? You'll enjoy this action-packed mystery/thriller even if this is the first book you've read in the series. I'll bet you can't read just one, so get started today.




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Author, Charles "Bud" Dougherty is a recovering attorney who became a full-time sailor to fight his addiction.  Now he writes thrillers set in the Caribbean to keep himself busy, and he has been really busy.  I've read most of them and can tell you the books are exciting and will keep readers wanting more.

Bud and his wife, Leslie have sailed the Caribbean for years on their yacht.  Between writing fiction, Bud also writes fascinating real life accounts about his sailing adventures on the Play Actor .   

Bud Dougherty’s Connie Barrera Thriller series is a spinoff from the Bluewater Thrillers that features Dani Berger and  Liz Chirac, two kick-ass heroines who regularly defeat the villains who target their yacht, Vengeance .  The new series features a love story that has its challenges, mostly other villains that must be 'dealt with' by a savvy scam-artist heroine and her ex-cop partner, Paul Russo.  

Bud likes to let his characters speak for themselves; they often write guest posts on his blog.  When I invited him to do a guest post on my blog with some facts about the characters in the Connie Barrera Thriller series, he delegated the job to Connie and Paul.  With Connie's famous temper, Bud took a risk, but he's a brave man.  Here’s the result:


Connie Barrera:

When Diane invited Bud to do a guest post about the Connie Barrera Thrillers , I was excited. The third book in the series was released a couple of weeks ago; the timing was perfect. Then Bud told me he couldn't do it because he was busy with Dani Berger and Liz Chirac on their ninth Bluewater Thriller !

My legendary temper almost got the better of me; it's a good thing he was out of my reach. I mean, come on. Nine books! Don't get me wrong. I owe Bud my very existence, and Dani and Liz are my best friends, but still, he's written 9 books for them, and only 3 for me. Then he suggested that I could write the post myself, so here I am.

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm Connie Barrera, the co-owner and skipper of the charter yacht Diamantista II, and until recently, I was the quintessential loner. My background has a lot to do with my penchant for keeping to myself. I didn't have an easy life in my early years.

I'm not complaining, but you should know that until recently, I held the view that people could be divided into two classes: scammers and their marks. I didn't consider the boundary between the classes to be rigid, either. One person's mark was often another's scammer. That was what made life fun; that, and scheming to come out on top every time.

I believe in fair play; I always have. I never fleeced anyone who wouldn't have done the same to me, but that left a lot of room for maneuvering. I have a better life now, thanks to hard work, an open mind, and a little luck. It's a mistake to discount the importance of luck in determining life's outcomes, but I always work hard to minimize its effect.

Luck caused my life to change for the better when I met Dani and Liz a couple of years ago. I was in a hurry to depart from Nassau without leaving a trail, and I chartered Vengeance , their yacht, to make my escape. That story is told in Bluewater Ice.

Unqualified friendship was a new experience for me. Dani and Liz were watching my back for no reason other than their sense that it was the right thing to do. What an awakening that was! The idea that they were in my corner with no quid pro quo stunned me. As I said, it changed my life. I liked it so much that I stuck around with them for their adventures in Bluewater Betrayal.

They introduced me to sailing, which is pure magic. Harnessing the wind to make a 50-ton boat go where you want is an experience like no other. You can't overpower the wind and the sea, but you can adjust the way you deal with them so that they assist you in achieving your goals. If you can get what you want from Mother Nature, getting people to go your way is no challenge.

Besides teaching me to sail, Dani and Liz introduced me to Paul Russo, the love of my life. Paul's a life-long sailor, and he happened along when I had decided to buy a yacht and go into the charter business. He had just retired from the Miami Police Department, and he was looking for something to do. Next to sailing, his other favorite thing is cooking.

Paul agreed to help me get started. That was in Love for Sail, the first Connie Barrera Thriller . In Sailor’s Delight, the second book in the series, we got the business going and worked out some personal problems. Now we've bought a nicer boat and we're going to marry.

I'm still astonished by that. I've had men in my life before Paul, but always on my terms and only to further my goals. I wasn't looking for love back then; I was recruiting talent for my schemes.

There was an element of that in my relationship with Paul, but it didn't last long. Until I met him, the men I knew had been trying to use me. Not that I wasn't doing the same, but this time, I’m in love.

We've had some rough spots in our relationship, and Bud keeps throwing external conflicts in our way to keep things exciting. Most recently, in A Blast to Sail, he involved us in a terrorist plot to nuke Manhattan. In spite of the hurdles Bud puts in our way, we're going to make it, Paul and I are. We're committed, aren't we, Paul?


Paul Russo: 

We sure are, captain. I'm Paul Russo, Connie's fiancé. I'm also her first mate and chef aboard Diamantista II . When Connie decided to buy her own boat and go into the charter business, the boat was easy enough, but she needed a competent chef. She’s a woman with a lot of talents, but none of them involve food preparation.

We met aboard Vengeance , when Connie was sailing with my friends, Dani and Liz. Connie isn’t a direct person; she’s manipulative. When she saw me sharing the chef's duties with Liz, she began her scheme to Shanghai me. Until now, she had no idea that I knew she was conning me. Not that I was resisting, you understand. My two favorite activities are sailing and cooking.

Besides, I was enjoying Connie’s company; she’s charming. Neither of us was looking for romance; we’d both been burned a few too many times. People who venture out into tropical thunderstorms are never looking to get struck by lightning, either, but ...

Before Connie even got the first Diamantista to the islands, we figured out there was more to our relationship than sailing and cooking. Our early days were complicated by drug smugglers in Love for Sail, but we got through that and decided to get married.

Our romance hasn’t been all smooth sailing and Caribbean sunsets. There was something eating away at Connie during our second charter, the one that’s described in Sailor’s Delight. I never figured it out, but I think it had something to do with an orange thong she found in my drawer. Whatever it was, we’re solid now, but we still have our differences.

Connie’s got a temper, and I’m often too quick to speak my mind. Nevertheless, we went in together to buy Diamantista II , so we're partners in the business as well as in life. We're still feeling our way in both areas; we had a misunderstanding at the beginning of our last adventure. I managed to get my face slapped pretty hard in the first few pages of A Blast to Sail, but I think we’re getting used to one another’s quirks, right, Connie?


Connie:

Thanks, Paul, but next time, stick to the script approved by management. I'm getting used to  your  quirks; I don't have any.  But I'm committed to you, even if you sometimes forget who's the captain. And we're both committed to entertaining the people who like to read about our adventures. We wouldn't be here without you all. Thanks to all who read and enjoy our stories, and thank you, Diane, for this opportunity.

It was my pleasure to host your posts about the very interesting series.  I'm glad you two got everything ironed out as I enjoy reading about a spicy romance.  Readers can find these books at the following links:

Love for Sail  http://amzn.to/1DHyM2U 
Sailor's Delight http://amzn.to/1Imhl96 
A Blast to Sail http://amzn.to/1KsguHG

Read more about Bud's other books on his blogs:
www.clrdougherty.com
Voyage of the Play Actor

NC-17 by Larissa Reinhart

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Big Foot and guns don’t mix well.

Maizie Albright is an ex-actress on probation, training to be a private investigator. Left alone to run the office (while her boss is in a coma), Maizie must hold things together. Her to-do list includes getting new clients, collecting a past-due fee, attending therapy sessions, doing community service, and figuring out how to track down a missing person on her own. Sleep can’t fit into the schedule.

When three desperate teenagers (appearing on a Bigfoot Trackers U-Tube channel) hire Maizie to find their missing co-star, she can’t say no. Soon men with guns try to kill her, an ex-boyfriend turns up with a massive diamond ring, and her new therapist suggests selfie-therapy. Maizie’s courage and intelligence are sorely tested. Big Foot and guns don’t mix well.

This novel is guaranteed to keep readers interested from start to finish. I highly recommend this fast-paced, funny, and interesting mystery. I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book.



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Timeless by Teresa J. Reasor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Romance, Time Travel, and Past Lives In Scotland

This fantastic novel grabs the reader from the first page. When archeologist Regan gets sucked into another time while diving in Scotland, she nearly loses her life. Luckily Quinn a deep saturation diver manages to pull her back into the present. Romance, mixed with flashes to past lives and time travel reminded me of the Outlander series. I enjoyed the suspense as the main characters unravel an ancient mystery and dodge a dangerous adversary. You won't be disappointed with this thrilling book.




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