Death Sung Softly - A Sam Prichard Mystery

Death Sung Softly by David Archer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Death Sung Softly by David Archer is my third Sam Prichard Mystery. I've really liked them. This one I give four stars and recommend it.

It is the first novel I've read that I actually stopped and thought, "This is a musical". Keep in mind that I am reviewing both the ebook and the audiobook. The lyrics are in the ebook, and they sing them in the audiobook. There's also a link in the ebook so you can click the link, go to David Archer's website, and listen to the song reproduced there.

To give you an idea how unique this is, I read over 130 Doc Savage Adventure Novels before I reached my teens and my actual reading love leans more to science fiction than adventures. So there's at least 5 more decades of ambitious reading since and this is the first I thought…. "This book is a musical." I suppose that is a comment on our time and our technology than anything else.

In this mystery Sam Prichard formally opens his Private Investigator business. On his first day of advertisement he gets a missing person job. The fellow is a musician and the rest the musicians want to find their missing lead singer.

The Viscount's Son

The Viscount's Son by Aderyn Wood

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Odd format. The book is written as an online blog. I liked it, (three stars), and recommend it. This is a paranormal romance novel. I would classify it as a prequel to "The Viscount's Son Trilogy" but that would require another book that doesn’t exist to my knowledge so it IS the first book in the trilogy.

At first, my reaction was, “Oh hell, here we go with a new thing in actual book writing.” I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

A museum book conservator named Emma says she decided to translate the seemingly dark tale of a 16th century Latin diary, and transcribe it in this blog. One of her co-workers has already determined the book a fake, so Emma doesn't feel it is an ethical violation to share her translation online anonymously.

The Man Who Saw the Future

The Man Who Saw the Future by Edmond Hamilton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Looking through my unheard audiobooks I ran across one of my old favorite writers, Edmond Hamilton. I had a Librovox recording of "The Man Who Saw the Future". I went online and found a Project Gutenberg edition of the book published on February 13, 2009, illustrated by Leo Morey — so I could read along with the narration by Gregg Margarite, one of my favorite ebook narrators.

"The Man Who Saw the Future" by Edmond Hamilton was first made into an ebook from Amazing Stories of February 1961, but the story was first published in Amazing Stories of October 1930.

In Edmond's story Henri Lothiere, an apothecary's assistant of Paris in 1444 is a curious soul at a time when being curious could get a person killed. It starts with the Jean De Marselait, Inquisitor Extraordinary of the King of France reading the charges against Henri, an alleged sorcerer.

Fallen - Debt Collector 6

Fallen by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Spoilers for previous Debt Collector books are unavoidable. I give this book 5 stars. Susan Kaye Quinn earned every one of them in this book, showing writer's courage that I only see in A list writers. I recommend this book. If you haven't read this book or any of the previous books in the "season" but plan to, please stop to avoid spoilers. Events are interesting, exciting, and there is plenty of tension and suspense. Pick up the whole "season" and enjoy all the books.

This book is Debt Collector 6 - Fallen. It is book 6 of 9 in this "season". It covers two days of Lirium's life as a debt collector in an extremely complicated situation.

Lirium is still driven to save himself and Ophelia from their unpleasant situation. In the course of this book Ophelia, the shark, shows some change in her attitude towards her "guppy", Lirium.

Driven - Debt Collector 5

Driven by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Spoilers for previous Debt Collector books are unavoidable. We are at book five of nine in this "season". Driven (Debt Collector #5). If you've read this far, you will continue to read. I am giving only 3 stars for this book. I decided two chapters prematurely of a solid 4 star book. So, it's my character defect of sticking with decisions that ends up being unfair to this book.

I stopped reading and made notes about how the protagonist was becoming tedious and the minor characters more interesting. Also, I made notes about the audiobook reader's dramatization. Let's move along.

To avoid spoilers, I recommend this book. Events are interesting, exciting, there is big reveal, a big decision, an unexpected twist with the promise of plenty more tension and suspense.

Broken - Debt Collector 4

Broken by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Spoilers for previous Debt Collector books are unavoidable. I give this book 3.5 stars, and round up to 4 stars. I recommend this book. If you haven't read this book or any of the previous books please stop to avoid spoilers. Events are interesting, exciting, and there is plenty of tension and suspense. Pick up the whole "season" and enjoy all the books.

Broken is about Lirium's introduction to "debt collecting" for the Holek mob. Naturally Lirium doesn't like it and is determined to escape and take Ophelia with him. By the end of the book he is ripe full of anger at the betrayals he has endured in his recent past.

The Grave Man by David Archer

The Grave Man by David Archer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book (four stars), its writing, and Mikael Naramore's reading of it. I'm reviewing both the ebook and the audio-book. As I mentioned only days ago, I'll always hear Sam Prichard in Mikael Maramore's voice.

Just days ago I said, "I am going to enjoy me some more Sam Prichard Mysteries in the future." In my mind I meant "Death Sung Softly". I ended up re-reading this book, "The Grave Man".

Since I had just read Fallback and recalled it is so closely related to "The Grave Man" I decided to put on the audio book while I did some chores that don't require much mental attention. I ended up listening until it was finished with the book, long after my boring chores were done.

Ecstasy - Debt Collector 3

Ecstasy by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review: Minor spoilers:
Debt Collection is the draining of life force or energy from someone. Normally government bean counters balance a client's debt to life value ratios and if a person has become ill or too old to ever balance their debt sheet, they get a visit from a debt collector.

In the last 3 "books" we've followed the debt collector "Lirium", and I expect since this series of books is called a "season", each book might be analogous to an episode of a TV series. I expect Lirium is going to be our protagonist throughout this "season". I mention this as I wasn't sure. What is a "season" of books? I should figure that out some day.

This "episode" is called Ecstasy (Debt Collector, #3). Having read it, I'm not sure why it is called Ecstasy. If it's important I suspect I'll eventually figure that out.

It opens with Lirium in the bad part of East Los Angeles carrying the life force he collected from Mrs. Riley. He can't believe a high potential payoff like Mr. Brodsky, the CEO of Brodsky Electronics will be found in an area where the stink of recently expelled vomit from a junkie passed out in the alley fills the air. The address Candy gave him points to an industrial warehouse buried deep in the sticky smog that coats everything at ground level. The building’s not even four stories tall. High potential payoffs like Mr. Brodsky, usually live well above the cancer-inducing air that pools at the impoverished gutter of the city.

Buy a Bullet by Gregg Hurwitz

Buy a Bullet by Gregg Hurwitz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

FIRST, FAIR WARNING: This is a long short story. Not even Novella.

I am so disappointed when I miss a book in a series I truly love, like I did with "Buy a Bullet".

The Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz was in instant favorite of mine. I actually spent a little time considering why, which is uncommon for me. I usually dissect a book in terms of an editor or writer and then grade the book like I would if it were a manuscript submitted for comment.

Some authors can instantly get beyond my inner editor and get to my pleasure centers and when I finish their work I'm usually just happy. I am happy with this short book!

Fallback, a Sam Prichard Mystery by David Archer.

Fallback by David Archer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book, its writing, and Mikael Naramore's reading of it a great deal. I'm reviewing strictly the audiobook so the fact is, I'll always hear Sam Prichard in Mikael Naramore's voice, but the casual writing style or voice of David Archer is an integral part of Sam Prichard, a character I will enjoy through several books thanks to David Archer's productivity.

This four star book is primarily Sam Prichard's back story. One reason I didn't go with five stars is there's really no relationship with the first several chapters to the story which finally grabs the reader. It's interesting enough to read, but the tragedy of Sam Prichard's late teens love life is not terribly relevant to the story David Archer finally gets around to telling. I presume since he wrote a prequel after publishing a book or two, it will be relevant in future books.

Free Souls

Free Souls by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed Free Souls and thought it an excellent conclusion to the Mindjack trilogy that includes only Open Minds, Closed Hearts, and Free Souls. I recommend the series. I think it is entertaining and thought provoking. The trilogy explores real life concepts with some imaginary parallels in this science fiction world where mind reading is normal and "not mind reading" is abnormal.

I found some minor things about the book where I struggled to suspend disbelief. These were related to Kira, the protagonist, primarily. To me, there were times she behaved inconsistent with what I believed about her character and the reason I did not rate it five stars. I doubt many readers would notice.

Agony (Debt Collector 2)

Agony by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review: Minor Spoilers
I had decided to read the Debt Collector series some days ago. I'm familiar with Susan Kaye Quinn having read some of her Mindjack series, which I highly recommend. For some reason I thought the Debt Collector series would feature rather independent stories in the "Debt Collector" world, or may be about different "debt collectors", but like most series, this is a continuation of Lirium's adventures.

The trouble with a series that follows one character through many short books is that nearly anything shared here possibly spoils a previous or future book in the series. So I'll try to go with brief, vague, and ratings.

For the record, Susan Kaye Quinn is a very good writer. Her 30 page stories pack around 30 things to cringe about, hold your breath, or go for your own snack to let your body's adrenaline simmer down a little.

Delirium (Debt Collector 1)

Delirium by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Susan Kaye Quinn has come up with a unique idea for her Debt Collection books. Lirium is a "debt collector". We never learn how a character learns how to collect this kind of debt.

We start out in the hospital with Lirium coming to "collect" Mr. Henry's debt. His debt is the remainder of his life force.

I would assume this takes place in the future with single payer health care firmly in place and some bean counter has calculated that the amount of life force remaining in Mr. Henry exceeds the cost of his medical bills, and any other debt he may owe. He's reached a negative balance that the bean counters presume Mr. Henry could never repay. In this health care plan, someone better able to contribute to society gets Mr. Henry's life force debt.

Stank Delicious by Steven Campbell

Stank Delicious by Steven Campbell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hard Luck Hank #5. If you haven't read Hard Luck Hank #1-4 it is possible I may say something that will be a spoiler. Alternately a person can't review a Hard Luck Hank book without spoiling something. Maybe the milk in your refrigerator, or and earlier or later Hard Luck Hank novel.

In this book, "Stank Delicious" I initially thought Steven Campbell, who should win the Nobel Prize for literature, might be slipping a little, but then he fine tuned his marshmallow mallet and whacked me right on the humor point of my funny bone. I was read-listening along and suddenly could not stop laughing. It went on so long I had to stop the audiobook and go back 3 pages to where I started laughing, Lucille Ball should be the person handing Steven the Hugo award for science fiction's greatest advancement in intergalactic humor.

If I were able I would nominate this book, and Steven Campbell, of course, for the Edger Award --because it is a mystery beyond imagination that he didn't win the Nebula award for his previous 4 books.

Suck My Cosmos

Suck My Cosmos by Steven Campbell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5 stars. Recommend to Sci Fi Humor fans. I believe everyone would enjoy Steven Campbell’s wonderful creation “Hank” and the wonderful sense of humor that comes from Hank’s point of view. 5 stars is “Amazing” on Goodreads, and this is not “Amazing”, but I love it and am not going to give 4 stars when other-where(s) it would easily rate “I love it” 5 star status.