Cliff Lords

After losing his entire family, Biko lives on a solo path. On a cold night, he encounters what he recalls to be a dream only to wake up in a house that he's never been in before. He meets a woman with deadly eyes and a man who can disappear. After learning that Biko is a powerful lord, he is granted the task to lead a group of newcomers in a war that threatens to end life on Earth. As time gets shorter, Biko is tested to abandon his selfish ways and save the world with a team that will forever be known as The Cliff Lords. Enter the safe as each lord discovers their weapon that will unleash their true powers as they hurry to overcome negativity in order to win the many battles that threaten to corrupt their existence. Who are these lords? How did they come to be? Are they strong enough to protect mankind? Find out and follow the story of magic and mind control.

Cliff Lords: Weapons of Disaster (Superhero Fiction)

By SLF Entertainment

Independent Publishing Platform

ASIN # B07NCX5QS6

Price Free (Kindle)

41 Pages

Rating 4-Stars

“A Neat Story”

Biko is sleeping in an abandoned house when he’s awakened mysteriously. Running from the room he encounters a man in the shadows, then he wakes again in another house and meets a mysterious woman with dangerous dark eyes. She takes him to meet an even stranger man who can disappear at will. He learns that he has been selected by a Head Lord to join the Cliff Lords in their fight to save the world. He begins training, and soon learns his super powers, then more are brought and he must train them. Something is coming against the world and human race, and they don’t have much time to prepare for the battle.

This was a neat story, though short, and we just barely touch the surface of the situation, and when it ends, we don’t know any more than we did at first. This superhero team is about to face a powerful enemy that might be stronger than they are. But what, we don’t know, and that’s a shame. We should have been given at least a quick look at what’s coming. My biggest complaint, however, is the lack of good descriptive narrative. We just see the basics of the characters, not enough to even picture them clearly. Hopefully, the author will go into more detail in description. This started out as a comic book proposal, but became a superhero prose story instead. Granted, the art would have provided most of the description, but without art the author should have dug deeper into each character. Highly recommended for comic book superhero fans.

Tom Johnson

Author of GUNS OF THE BLACK GHOST

Recruited

When four US and Canadian forward air controllers were taken hostage by an Islamic terrorist organization during a blistering seesaw battle in Iraq, CANUS-ETF (Canada United States Expeditionary Targeting Force) knew they had to act fast. A hundred million dollars was demanded and everyone knew there was no way the ransom would be paid.

The best chance for rescue was to deploy a small team of elite combat rescuers. American Navy Seal Captain Jonathan Rogers was chosen to head the mission. His Canadian counterpart was twenty-six-year-old Rayna Tan, the first woman to ever lead a Special Forces operation in the Middle East. She had proven herself as a warrior leader but this mission had exceptional potential perils.

Recruited (Thriller)

By Wesley Robert Lowe

Independent Publishing Platform

ASIN # B01AO5Q2MA

Price Free (Kindle)

97 Pages

Rating 3-Stars

Rayna Tan, born in China, adopted by Harry and Vivien Chang of Honk Kong, then moved to the US and Canada, having dual citizenship. Rayne is highly educated, a black belt in Judo, Wushu, and Tae-Kwan-do, joins the Canadian Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2), where she rises to the rank of captain, and leader of an assault team. Her counterpart in the SEALS is captain Jonathan Rogers, who sacrifices his life to save others. When her boyfriend, Tanner, is gunned down by a drug gang just when she accepts his marriage proposal, she tries to disappear, but finds the gang can easily find her. She contacts Jonathan’s father, one of the guiding members of Fidelitas, an assassin group better trained than the Navy SEALS and Army Special Forces, where she goes through vigorous training before going after the Pablo Escobar drug cartel in South America.

This was a short story, prequel to the series mainly to introduce Rayna Tan and the other main players in the future series. With all her training, she seemed more like a green trainee than a professional soldier when she’s placed in training with Fidelitas, and I had a hard time visualizing her as Chinese. The author doesn’t capture that oriental mystique in Rayna Tan, and it makes her appear just as another Caucasian heroine. Recruited doesn’t give much promise for the future series unless the author can retool his main character enough to make her real to the reader.

Tom Johnson

Author of CARNIVAL OF DEATH

The Kortelisy Escape

Caught in a Three Strikes law that sends him to prison for life, Nate Larson negotiates with prosecutors for an early release in exchange for testifying against his brother in an upcoming trial. As part of the deal, he demands custody of his fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Grace, who's survived a string of disastrous foster homes.

Nate studied close-up magic during his time in prison. He's good, and despite her wariness Grace joins him for a touring magic show of New England. Nate's actual plan: to spend a few pleasant months with his granddaughter then run alone to Canada in hopes of undermining the case against his brother, who's been falsely accused of trafficking. Pressure comes from that direction, too, from the actual traffickers who have hijacked the family's legitimate, though secretive, connections to Eastern Europe and the Ukrainian village of Kortelisy.

Facing certain violence unless he runs, distraught at the prospect of wounding Grace unless he stays, Nate must thread a dangerous needle. And Grace, learning to perform some magic herself, must grow up in a hurry if she's to save the only person she has ever trusted.

The Kortelisy Escape is a moving, unlikely love story narrated in alternating chapters by Grace and Nate Larson. It's also a coming-of-age story enriched by mounting tension and large questions concerning magic, loyalty and wonder. It's a book for young and old, intergenerational book clubs especially.

The Kortelisy Escape (Suspense)

By Leonard Rosen

Permanent Press www.permanentpress.com

ISBN # 978-1579625429

Price $29.95 (Hardback)

304 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“The Best Book I’ve Read In A Decade”

Nate Larson, in prison on a three-strike law, has a deal for the prosecution – his freedom for helping them convict his brother, Dima Larson on tax evasion charges. Plus, he wants his 14-year-old granddaughter, Grace put in his custody instead of the state system where she’s been for ten years in one home after another. But Nate has secret plans. As a magician he plans his greatest escape. He has it all worked out, a magic tour that will end near the Canadian border before he is to testify against his brother. He plans to run before testifying against his brother, leaving his granddaughter behind as he disappears.

But things don’t go quite as planned. For one thing he loves his brother, and that gentleman is suffering from Alzheimer’s, while a Russian mobster is running things - a mobster that will kill Nate if he doesn’t run. Plus, he has also become too attached to Grace to leave her.

The Kortelisy Escape is a magic trick requiring a helper to escape from or he could die. It is also a story told about a young Ukraine woman who escapes a bad situation. She’s pregnant by a soldier and is about to commit suicide when a farmer and his wife rescue her. She is accepted into their family as a daughter and she gives birth to a son, Nate Larson. Then one day the approaching army kills everyone at the farm except for Nate and their real son, Dima who are away. Nate and his adopted brother are sent to America, where the older boy becomes a grocer and when he can he returns to the Ukraine to rescue young women, bringing them to America to work in his store until they learn English and find better jobs. The state believes he is operating a white slavery market, but can’t prove it, that’s why they’re trying to get him on tax fraud.

This was a beautiful story. Not only is it a coming of age story, it has everything else: a strong plot, great characters, a love story about a grandfather and granddaughter coming to terms with each other, and about love for your family. The Russian mobster who might kill Nate, or the state authorities that might send him back to prison. He must figure out an escape that is foolproof. Will Nate be able to pull off the Kortelisy Escape at the end, or will he have to die to free his brother, leaving Grace to go back into Foster Care? This novel just proves that authors can still write great stories. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of NINA FONTAYNE

Dark City

Wife. Mother. Friend. Missing Person.

Rebecca Gilmore went out last night. She didn’t come home.

With the vicious Adultery Killer still on the loose, Detective Charlie Cooper is paying special attention to missing women. As he investigates Rebecca’s disappearance, he soon realises everyone close to the suburban housewife has something to hide. Is this the work of the elusive serial killer, or someone closer to home?

A tale of families, greed, corruption, and murder, Dark City is the prequel novella to the Dark Series.

Dark City (Murder Mystery/Police Procedural)

By Catherine Lee

Independent Publishing Platform

ASIN #B01DTRFUY6

Price $2,99 (Kindle)

155 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

A contemporary setting in Sydney, Australia: Rebecca Gilmore, a 52-year-old wife disappears, and believed to be the victim of the notorious Adultery Killer, a killer who targets wives having adulterous affairs.  Detectives Charlie Cooper and Russell Stockton, the detectives on that case are assigned to the missing Rebecca Gilmore case, because it sounds like it’s the Adultery Killer at work again.

The detectives begin uncovering evidence that sets the case apart from the serial killer, and start looking closer at Rebecca’s life and friends, and discover more to the case than meets the eye.

In this prequel to the Dark City series, this was a fast-paced and interesting murder mystery that introduces many of the characters that will continue in the coming series. There are some good twists, but the reader will not be surprised at the conclusion. Highly recommended for readers of police procedurals and murder mysteries.

Tom Johnson

Author of CAENIVAL OF DEATH