Book review : NeverEnd by Blake Rudman

 

NeverEnd 
by 
Blake Rudman
HellBound Books, 2025
Genre: Fiction 


I have read many novels but the prologue of this one was so shocking that it pulls the reader in and keeps them reading the book. Nothing is predictable as all of it comes as a surprise. 

Dr. Jon Edom leaves a medical conference on the relation between violence in society and addictive online gaming  only to reach home to find his wife Rochelle and his two young sons, Luke and Paul  have disappeared into thin air. When he files the complaint, the police suspect Jon though he was miles away during the disappearance. That there are no corpses is puzzling. Step in Rochelle's family who run a cult thanks to Rochelle programming a violent addictive game which brings them loads of money. Then there are the  enemies of the cult, and with biblical references, you are in for a ride. 

An addictive role playing game. This book reminded me of "Blue Whale" game which made adults do crazy things in real life until it was banned by multiple governments. It also shows the danger of priming in the police department that destroys objective investigation. Priming is  a social psychological term which means focusing on something/someone because that is what has been made prominent. But is the story just about that, absolutely not.

Rudman gives a masterclass in writing - how to create tension and terror with simple characterization. He creates chaos without usual terror tricks like spirits and gore as the reader is pulled into the story with its ever increasing tension. As a reader, you know something is off  from the beginning but you are not left to ponder what it could be as the next piece of chaos is thrown in. You watch characters unravel at a speed that leaves you dazed and the end is a zinger, though it is not the end. The writing is so crisp and visual that you feel you are seated next to Dr. Jon Edom. 

If you are in the mood for a dark thriller page turner, this book would be it.

You can buy the book here  on Amazon 

Book Review : Elegance and Evil - a fab weekend read

 

Elegance and Evil
by DK Coutant
The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Fiction

Cleo Cooper is on a sabbatical in Santa Fe. She misses her home in Hawaii but is shocked to learn that one of the volcanoes have erupted and many of her friends are affected there.. Then one of her acquaintances in Santa Fe, Ginger, is found dead in the desert. The death is by heat stroke according to the police but is it?

The suspects range from the son of a Russian spy to a Saudi Arabian woman who works with abused women in a Center run by Ginger and her.While the FBI is on the case, Cleo Cooper does her own investigation. The moment she begins to investigate, someone tries to kill her. It is not just once multiple attempts are made to kill her but why?

Zipping between Hawaii and Santa Fe, the author ensures logic drives the narrative instead of common prejudice against a particular nationality in a mystery thriller. It was refreshing to read and I learnt in the end, the author is also a geopolitical forecaster. No wonder. 

The writing is crisp, fast paced. It would be the perfect read if you wish to curl up with a book for the weekend. 

To buy the book , go here Amazon



 

Book Review : Oliver's Travels by Clifford Garstang

 

Oliver's Travels
by Clifford Garstang
302 pages, Regal House Publishing.
Genre : Fiction


"To find what you’re looking for, you have to know what you’re looking for" - Oliver Travels.


What is memory? If we forget someone or something, where does the memory of the person or incident go? What is the watchmaker argument? Why is belief not knowledge and where is truth in all of this? Is charity a myth? Can you be certain of something? How? These questions and more are asked by the author and answered in his book, Oliver Travels.

Oliver Tucker graduates college and decides to not stay with his father, elder brother who is an army vet from Afghanistan, sister Sally Ann who is married and who all live in Indiana. Instead he moves in with his mother who lives in Virginia. He decides to go in for an interview at the local university, he doesn't expect to get the teaching job but he does. Since his job starts only in the next semester, he has a couple of months and decides to write while doing odd jobs. At a coffee shop, he spots Mary who also teaches English and they end up getting married. But an old photo in which he cannot recognize his father's brother - Uncle Scotty who is supposed to have traveled the globe bothers him. Oliver writes a story of his alter ego. As he writes Oliver Travels - a fantasy travel in his head it leads to him really travel. But what is looking for? As he writes, the stories of both Oliver the author and Oliver the character begin to merge as fiction is nothing but truth mixed with a few lies. But will he find the truth?

Garstang's book is metaphysical in nature. His writing is crisp and makes you pause and wonder. Will we go to the lengths to find the truth as Oliver does? Or would it blame it on someone else? At times, it is humourous like the Great God Google which most of us use to get information instead of heading to a library. It is now like the Oracle of Delphi which spits truths to our generation and the next. Humane, witty and insightful, this book is a must read.

It deals with a lot of stuff that is going on in today's world which most people do not connect and think of as separate and different occurrences. But it is not as they are all tied in. Do read Oliver's Travels to find out how.


Buy the book here  on Amazon.

Book review of The Hangman's Master

 

The Hangman's Master
by Elyse Hoffman
Genre : Historical Fantasy

216 Pages, Project 613 Publishing  


"All revolutions devour their own children" - Ernst Rohm, during the purge of the Brownshirts.

Why didn't God use his power to change Hitler into a nice guy instead of a blood thirsty fascist who led Germans to commit the holocaust ? Is Satan really a fallen angel ? What is the meaning of holocaust? How did Hitler become Chancellor in 1933 as he lost the election in 1932 and couldn't become President of Germany? What happened during the "Night of Long Knives" which led to the purge and murder of brownshirts or the paramilitary SA by the Nazi party masterminded by Reinhard Heydrich and Himmler to consolidate Hitler's power over the German Army. Heydrich was not just head of SS and Gestapo but the architect of the Final Solution and author of the death camp system.He is better known as the Butcher of Prague and the Hangman, who she introduced in her book "The Vengeance of Samuel Val" So who is the Hangman's Master? These questions and more are answered by the author in her book, The Hangman's Master.

Stefan Harkel, 16, gets beaten up by his father, an SS man for being a homosexual and is thrown out by his parents. Homeless, he wanders around till he sees a recruitment poster for the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party and signs up just so he could have a warm meal and a decent bed. He grows up not liking communism and communists and so fascism makes sense to Stefan as he doesn't want people to have power. A loner, he falls in love with Axel Lahner, a fellow Brownshirt in his group who is well off and loves him back. Hitler's lust for power was more than those who were loyal to him.So on the Night of Long Knives which didn't take place over just one night , SS ends up in killing a large number of Brownshirt were murdered all over Germany by SS though they were neither Jews nor Communists, but loyal to the cause and were the Nazi Party's own paramilitary wing. Both Stefan and Axel survive the purge but only for Axel to join the SS. So they breakup. While Stefan joins the Black Foxes, the underground network which helps rescue and protect Jews from the Nazis, Axel continues to save him from Dachau even though Axel is married and has children through a lavender marriage. 

Hoffman writes about how "The Night of Long Knives" orchestrated by Reinhard Heydrich was the major turning point for the Nazis as they killed fellow Germans and  those with disabilities to create the so called perfect Aryan race, especially women and children that turned the tide against Hitler eventually. Also in Nazi Germany, homosexuals, especially male homosexuals were marked with a pink triangle and sent to concentration camps to die. This is something most historians gloss over in how Hitler came to power. She also addresses the Nazi propaganda about Jews which is resurfacing again in the western world and global south, especially among white supremacist gangs.

Stefan is contracted by Satan to be a master of Zone N-74 where he can torture Nazis responsible for mass murder. A dying girl signs the contract over to Stefan  to become the master of Zone N-1 which has just one soul - Reinhard Heydrich, known as the Hangman who was architect of the Holocaust which means "burnt offering" in Greek.  He becomes the Master of the Hangman's soul. What does he do to Heydrich's soul ? He meets Axel again and discovers Axel has multiple contracts as he has stolen them by murdering people after making them sign. Axel kills children because they don't look like the perfect Aryan. What does Stefan Harkel do to Axel Lahner?

Switching easily between different timelines, Hoffman's writing is engaging as usual. Finally the Black Fox series is tied up together from Samuel Val to Stefan Harkel. Though this book is stand alone, Harkel makes someone else the God of Zone N-1.  Who is it? What happens to Harkel?  What happens to the soul of Reinhard Heydrich?

Read the book to find out.
Click to buy it here ⤇  Amazon

Book Review : Bald is Beautiful: A letter for a fabulous girl

 

 

Bald is Beautiful: A letter for a fabulous girl
by Dr. Carola Schmidt

When a loved one - be it a family or friend especially a child gets cancer and undergoes chemotherapy, many lose hair. Most people get clammy and awkward around the person especially if the loved one is a female. Despite support from friends and family and personally being strong and knowing the hair will grow back, the tiptoeing around the person who is undergoing the treatment, doesn't help anyone.

So if you find yourself in a situation where you do not know what to do, buy this booklet and gift it.  Most people need to be reminded of how beautiful they are and how much they are loved though they are strong during the treatment. The illustrations by Dian Ovieta is colourful and heart warming. You can it give to anyone from a child who is trying to understand what is happening to her to a elderly woman who is trying to come to terms with the treatment.

Dr. Carola Schmidt is the author of "The Invisible hand of Cancer." where she deals with the various types of cancer which I have already reviewed on this blog but this booklet is not about disease and recovery but about love, support and friendship.  The writing is crisp and simple. A good gift to give if you cannot find the words to express it yourself.


Buy it here on Amazon 

 

Book Review : Perks, Politics and Pandemonium : Tales of Modern Society - 18 ‘storeys’ high

          

     

                                       

Perks, Politics and Pandemonium : Tales of Modern Society - 18 ‘storeys’ high
by Uma Sarangan
81 pages, Notion Press


In Pompous Moonyside Society ( PMS) , a gated community, Urmila and her husband are suddenly

put in a strange situation when her husband is accused of harassment by two women employees. 

But is it true? What is the real reason behind the accusation and how does it affect the family of

Urmila? Uma Sarangan asks and answers these and more in her novella, Perks, Politics and 

Pandemonium.

Examining the politic and power play between the various cliques, the gossip and WhatsApp Wars,

the "connected but out of touch" relationships between neighbours, families and friends, the power 

wielded by the management committee in a gated community in a well nuanced way, Sarangan's 

naming cliques and its members - Religious Rebels, Randy Racoon, Ritz,Snape, etc.makes the 

reader grin.

The writing is witty, crisp and relationships which is very true in today's India where more people 

know each other through social media than in person.

It makes one wonder when you last had a heart to heart with your neighbour who is not 

in your clique or with your real friend whose house you have actually visited. Everything is now 

done online from chatting to conversation through either WhatsApp or Instagram. 

Sarangan's book is a timely reminder to how living online or through phones can lead to dangerous 

situations thanks to spreading fake news on social media and destruction of relationships leading 

to trauma.

Do buy the book here - Amazon

Book review : When Banana Stains Fade

 

When Banana Stains Fade
by Frances-Marie Coke
Genre : Historical  Fiction
Black Rose Writing


"Slavery finish but we fight and cuss one another same way over who have better hair and color.”


I chose this book for the title. All of us know banana stains cannot be removed but can only fade with time.  With this sort of title, I was tempted to wonder what were the banana stains in the story was but the author surprised me.

How does skin color or skin tone of a woman change society's perception of class, beauty or even education? Do many women opt for single parenting or they forced into it?  How has priorities changed over the years for Jamaican women? What is a banana stain curse? These are some of the few questions answered by the author in the book, "When Banana Stains Fade"

It is the story of four generations of a family of Jamaican women, that is heart wrenching and hopeful as with each generation, women have become more conscious of what they wish to be rather than becoming role models of what a patriarchal society tells them to be.  When a woman is raped or sexually assaulted, how does the family handle it , so as to bring closure and normalcy.

Zapping from rural Jamaica to Kingston city to New York to rural Jamaica, the author moves seamlessly between the past and present. The writing is  sensitive and sensible and doesn't shy away from hard facts  especially sexism and sexual harassment- something which is glossed over in fiction as it is hard to write but Coke does it anyway with a sensibility that most authors don't..

It is surprising how living in a totally different continent.  I could understand the stories of those colonized  even after independence remain the similar especially those of women as colonization has not been just physical draining of resources but also of the mind. .


It is a fantastic read in a world that seems to be at war with itself and with its past. Maybe this book will knock some sense into all of us.


Do buy it here on Amazon