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Scorched Earth (The Halo Trilogy Book 2)
by
A MURDER ON MARS LEADS TO HELL ON EARTH
The year is 2188 and the Earth—long-ago abandoned for Mars by the plutocrats—is scorched by poverty, disease and environmental collapse. Meanwhile, the red planet is a flourishing playground for the Five Families who, thanks to Halo—an advanced AI—control everything and everyone on Earth, including Crucial Larsen, a disillusioned labo ...more
The year is 2188 and the Earth—long-ago abandoned for Mars by the plutocrats—is scorched by poverty, disease and environmental collapse. Meanwhile, the red planet is a flourishing playground for the Five Families who, thanks to Halo—an advanced AI—control everything and everyone on Earth, including Crucial Larsen, a disillusioned labo ...more
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Published
February 14th 2021
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Start your review of Scorched Earth (The Halo Trilogy Book 2)

Love the humor and action packed scenes.
After the end of Book 1 of the Halo Trilogy by Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays, I found myself eagerly anticipating the opportunity to read the next one. I recently finished Book 2 and I’ve got to say, my esteem for this amazing writing duo has increased exponentially. The first three lines of the book drew a big laugh out of me. “Tired of wasting your credits on sonic laundry? Try our regenerative undersuits. They never stop growing so they never need wash ...more
After the end of Book 1 of the Halo Trilogy by Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays, I found myself eagerly anticipating the opportunity to read the next one. I recently finished Book 2 and I’ve got to say, my esteem for this amazing writing duo has increased exponentially. The first three lines of the book drew a big laugh out of me. “Tired of wasting your credits on sonic laundry? Try our regenerative undersuits. They never stop growing so they never need wash ...more

“Crucial, life is short, mostly painful and often ends in disaster. The most anyone can hope for is to be loved, here and now, in the present moment, before something else goes wrong.”
In February, my heart raced as I watched the final moments of the landing of the Mars 2020 Perseverance on the red planet over 140 million miles away from Earth. Immediately, I wished any form of life had been detected. Perseverance brought Mars a little closer to home just for those few minutes after it landed. Fo ...more
In February, my heart raced as I watched the final moments of the landing of the Mars 2020 Perseverance on the red planet over 140 million miles away from Earth. Immediately, I wished any form of life had been detected. Perseverance brought Mars a little closer to home just for those few minutes after it landed. Fo ...more

Being a major fan of detective/mystery books and only have a small experience with Science Fiction, I looked forward to exploring new ground with the reading of this book.
From the first chapter I felt like it was pulling me in with an undercurrent of quirky and humor that carried on throughout by the character dialogue and even into the character's names.
With this book, there is a depth you can’t help but be intrigued with such as the character’s names and what the author may have been thinkin ...more
From the first chapter I felt like it was pulling me in with an undercurrent of quirky and humor that carried on throughout by the character dialogue and even into the character's names.
With this book, there is a depth you can’t help but be intrigued with such as the character’s names and what the author may have been thinkin ...more

Featured on Lone Star Book Blog Tours. Lone Star Blogger Team average rating: 4.8 stars.
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"Don't stay mired in this wretched way of living because you can't conceive of something else. People deserve better. Building our systems on empathy instead of greed is the first step."
Scorched Earth by Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays is book two in an interplanetary trilogy destined to become a favorite among all readers, no matter what genre you love the most because it covers a lot of bibliophilic ground.
Crucial Larsen has effectively achieved the status of beloved character by being witty an ...more
Scorched Earth by Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays is book two in an interplanetary trilogy destined to become a favorite among all readers, no matter what genre you love the most because it covers a lot of bibliophilic ground.
Crucial Larsen has effectively achieved the status of beloved character by being witty an ...more

What I really enjoy about this series, and Scorched Earth in particular, is the mash-up of hard-boiled detective with science fiction. Crucial is detecting and crime solving across two planets! If you are asking yourself how is it possible to mash together two very different genres, let me provide some examples.
-On the hard-boiled detective side:
-Over on Mars, Crucial is tasked with solving the murder of one of the First Five Families. And oh yeah, his ex's fiancée is charged with the crime. No ...more
-On the hard-boiled detective side:
-Over on Mars, Crucial is tasked with solving the murder of one of the First Five Families. And oh yeah, his ex's fiancée is charged with the crime. No ...more

This storyline is so utterly good and written so utterly well that I didn’t want the book to end! Lucky for me, though - this is only the second book in this trilogy from Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays. I’ll be counting the days until I can read the third story, when it becomes available.
What makes this story so fantastic? It’s just a combination of things done markedly well. The ONLY bad thing I have to say about this book is that it ended. I’m satisfied and all that, but I want more!
In a trilo ...more
What makes this story so fantastic? It’s just a combination of things done markedly well. The ONLY bad thing I have to say about this book is that it ended. I’m satisfied and all that, but I want more!
In a trilo ...more

Scorched Earth by Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays is the fourth book I have read by this talented couple, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with their ability to build such a bleak and interesting future. That might sound like an odd thing to say, but I feel like most authors figure out their lane and stay in it. The duo’s Bonnie and Clyde series was so well written that for a second, my brain wouldn’t accept that they co-authored this amazing science fiction novel with the totall
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Scorched Earth indeed was a quick read. Short chapters are my preference and this book delivered. Longer books have me setting aside time to maybe read a chapter a night, but with a book like this, having each chapter be only a couple pages long, I can get lost in how many I've read each night. I finished half this book in one evening because that quick rush of accomplishment upon finishing a chapter built a momentum that constantly keep me thinking "just one more chapter".
Not only the character ...more
Not only the character ...more

I really enjoyed the first book in this trilogy by Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall, Gates of Mars, so I was excited when Scorched Earth was recently published. The second installment lived up to my expectations and then some.
Crucial Larsen is a very realistic and engaging hero in the classic noir tradition: the world-weary detective who uncovers plots at the highest level in his search to solve the mystery, and whose hardbitten cynicism is increasingly at odds with his better nature. The continue ...more
Crucial Larsen is a very realistic and engaging hero in the classic noir tradition: the world-weary detective who uncovers plots at the highest level in his search to solve the mystery, and whose hardbitten cynicism is increasingly at odds with his better nature. The continue ...more
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Kathleen McFall is the co-author, with Clark Hays, of the award-winning, four-book series The Cowboy and the Vampire Collection. The first book in the series, A Very Unusual Romance, was published in 1999, making it one of the earliest books that had, at its core, a reimagining of the gothic legend for contemporary audiences. Called everything from hilariously existential to authentically western,
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