Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer: fiction

Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

[Review]—'Shattered' by James Patterson & James O. Born

It's hard to believe that James Patterson's enthralling "Michael Bennett" series has expanded to 14 books. The last 15 years have flown by, and it only seems like yesterday that I started reading Step on a Crack. Here I am, nearly 41 years old, reviewing the series' most recent volume, Shattered, co-written by James O. Born (his fifth in the series).

[Review] - 'The Phantom and Barnabas Collins' by Marilyn Ross

Billy Burgess books , Dark Shadows

Victoria Winters, the orphan governess, had vanished by the time "The Phantom and Barnabas Collins" was released in September 1969. It's the tenth book in Marilyn Ross's original Dark Shadows novel series (otherwise known as William Edward Daniel Ross). Victoria Winters abruptly left Collinwood, and Maggie Evans took over as David's governess. As a result, Victoria's parents' mystery remained a mystery.

[Review] - 'Crossfire' (Extreme Measures 2) by Lynette Eason

Billy Burgess books , fiction

Last week, I binged-watched the second season of The X-Files and coincidentally read Crossfire by Lynette Eason, which centers on an FBI antagonist. The two are in no way linked together besides both having FBI characters. Crossfire is a Christian romance-thriller, and nowhere does the description fit in with The X-Files.

[Review] - 'The Demon of Barnabas Collins' by Marilyn Ross

Billy Burgess books , Dark Shadows

If you perchance to buy a Dark Shadows novel at a thrift store or used book store with only the bare minimum knowledge of the series, you'll be confused or disappointed after reading the book. Whether you have seen a few episodes of the original ABC daytime soap, the short-lived NBC series, or Tim Burton's spoofy remake, you know the vampire Barnabas Collins is imprisoned in a coffin and is released 100+ years later. Barnabas didn't make his way into the book series by Marilyn Ross (the pen name of William Edward Daniel Ross) until the sixth novel, and his backstory was different. Instead of being chained in a coffin, Barnabas lived among the living. Every once in a while, he would change his identity to a made-up son, grandson, great-grandson, etc., so nobody would find out about his vampire secret.

[Review] - 'Down Range' by Taylor Moore

Billy Burgess books , fiction

A Down Range paperback (published by William Morrow) had been sitting on a Walmart shelf collecting dust for nearly two months when I finally bought it. What lured me in was the back-cover quote from Providence Journal - "A masterwork of classic storytelling: a man defending his own in the best tradition of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood film." I'm in no way a John Wayne fan, but I love anything Eastwood-related.