Ciska's Book Chest

AuthorW. Haden Blackman is a writer who has long worked in the Star Wars universe. He is also the project lead on the MMO Star Wars: Galaxies and the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. He resigned from his position at LucasArts on July 29, 2010.Agustin Alessio was the penciller for the Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison comic series.ReviewI have read this comic book in digital format.the good: Engaging story, character depth, Quality of drawings.the bad: Low resolution quality of the digital book.The story begins shortly after the ending of the Star Wars movie 'Revenge of the Sith'. The main character is Laurita Tohm, a graduate in the imperial military academy. The story is told from his viewpoint, recording the things that happen in a report; the comic that you read.This story is about a coup committed by an imperial general. He overthrows the emperor, the ruler of the empire at that point. The main characters rescue the emperor and flee in order to put together a force strong enough to take back power.The events that happen are very engaging. I am a Star Wars fan. I know much about the persona in this comic that are also featured in other works. With that knowledge i can say that the things that happen in the story are very fitting. It is not required to have this knowledge however. The story and events the story tells stand well by themselves.What I like most about this comic is how well the personalities of the characters are depicted. There is great depth in the reasoning behind their actions. For each character, a part of their history is explained to clarifythis.The comic is beautifully drawn. The artist makes very good use of colour to depict the mood of the events happening. Detail is good. All things drawn are instantly recognizable as belonging in the Star Wars universe.The only downside for this comic is that it is a very low quality scan of the original art. This review was made based on pre-release copy of the book. It is likely that the definitive e-book will be of better quality.This is my personal guess, however.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*AuthorBorn in Alaska and raised in Michigan, Martin Ott joined the Army as a Russian linguist and interrogator before attending the University of Michigan. He began writing fiction and poetry in his undergraduate years.He has traveled through the United States and internationally, and these influences can be seen in his poetry travelogue, Poets' Guide to America from Brooklyn Arts Press, cowritten with John F. Buckley. He moved to Los Angeles in 1995, and often writes about his adopted city.ReviewLesson's I learned from this book. One: Do not ever start a relationship with an interrogator. You will always be one of his subjects. Two do not ever date an actor who wants to role play in different parts of your relation. Three do not play golf in the middle of the night on an unlit course.The main character Norman Kross is a very broody, depressive person. He obviously has some serious issues and there are many points in the book where I felt like slapping him and telling him this was the time to do something. He has no proper reaction towards any person in his surrounding. He does understand and catches the signals given by people but does not react to them and feels bad about it after. But this goes on and on and on and he does not seem to learn from it. As a female this mad me cringe over and over again.The other character George Stark, the actor, is a real creep. He is scary and gave me the same feeling as Pennywise gave me years ago. You never know what he is up to and he can be everywhere. I really loved that aspect of the book.The development in the story between Kross and Stark is solid but for 200 pages there are to many things happening. I did not know the places of all the extra characters mixing Lawrence and Owen up all the time. There was a lot of family drama going on which seemed to be important in the one part of the chapter and was waved away a bit on other parts. There where the diary parts in chapters which I could not always place in the story. I like stories where parts of a diary are written out if they make sense for the chapter before or after it but I did not always experience a connection between them though they did give some insight in Norman's head.Ow and that actor... is a creep

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review*AuthorStephen Rodrick is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and is also a contributing editor at Men's Journal. His writing has been anthologizes in the Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Crime Reporting and the Best American Political Writing. He lives in Los Angeles.ReviewI am not a a big biography or non-fiction reader but sometimes a synopsis catches my eye and I feel I should give the story a chance. Same with this book. Though I do not have anything with the army or fighter jets or carriers. I see them on tv some times and obviously I saw top gun but more for the romance and not the planes. I got attracted due to another part that caught my eye. The dead of a father that is hardly know but still everywhere. I lost my father at young age and struggled with the same questions Stephen Rodrick struggled with and I was very curious how he got his answers and what that meant to him.As soon as I had the book in my hands I started reading and though the awards Stephen Rodrick received for his writing should be a signal it was clear from the start that this would be a great read. Stephen Rodrick managed to make the pilot/navy gibberish understandable for everyone with a few extra words. The abbreviations are worked out in the text, explained and placed in context in one go making it easy to grasp the concept and not be disturbed when it comes back further in the story.The book is build up in two stories. The one is of Stephen Rodrick and how he grew up with his dad and how the family experienced it and what happened to him and the rest after his father died. The other story is that of James Hunter "Tupper" Ware a Prowler pilot and skipper who is introduced to Stephen and explains to him throughout the book how the life is experienced from his point of view. What really made this a very strong story is that Tupper is at that point in his life where Pete Rodrick was when he died. Just a bit older but the same plane, same role and a family at home. You get a lot of background information on Tupper too, like how he was in school and his career making it look as if he and Pete Rodrick are total opposites but during the investigation the question arises if that is really so. What was strong in this story too was the part where Stephen Rodrick tells the home front story while Tupper tells the at sea mission part giving space to all the emotion from both sides.I did recognize a lot of the questions Stephen Rodrick had and the struggle he felt with parts of his life where he was in need of his father. Though as a daughter I was obviously aiming for different advices and experiences the main feeling is the same as is described at some turning point in the story by Stephen Rodrick as "I faced some of the hardest decisions of my life. As usual, I felt unprepared and alone". There are more comments and questions I could relate to and I will admit I did spend parts of the book crying.Though this book is clearly about the search for the myth that his father became in his head I think The Magical Stranger also serves as a great view into the army life and how the missions have impact on the whole family and I very much enjoyed the whole ride.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher on Netgalley in return for an honest review*AuthorAfter several years with the Royal Military Police, Robert Galbraith was attached to the SIB (Special Investigative Branch), the plain-clothes branch of the RMP. He left the military in 2003 and has been working since then in the civilian security industry. The idea for Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends who returned to the civilian world. ‘Robert Galbraith’ is a pseudonym.ReviewWhen I started reading this book I noticed that Robert Galbraith is one of those authors who love long comma separated detailed sentences. I always have a problem picking up a nice reading speed with books like that and it often ends up with me not getting in my reading rhythm and giving up. But the story was developing very nice and I had to continue reading despite the fact that I really had to get into the story every time I picked up my book.I love Robin. It was so easy to connect to her. Getting a temporary job as a secretary for a private detective, I would totally react the same way. Cormoran is my perfect detective, big, hairy and a bit rude but showing that he has feelings and emotions. It was nice that although both Robin and Cormoran where checking each other out they did not get forced into some romantic situation.The puzzle they had to solve developed in a great way. There are a lot of different characters involved in this suicide/murder mystery they need to solve and all have their own secrets to hide. There was a nice tension surrounding most of them making all of them suspects. Some of the quests Cormoran solved where not that clear for the puzzler though. Indications that he found something where not always clear making it hard in some situation to put the puzzle together. The end was a surprise which I liked a lot.Though I did enjoy the story a lot the writing style was a bit to disturbing so I will give this book only three stars.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher on Netgalley in return for an honest review*AuthorRoderick Mayne Thorp, Jr. was an American novelist specializing mainly in crime novels.As a young college graduate, Thorp worked at a detective agency owned by his father. He would later teach literature and lecture on creative writing at schools and universities in New Jersey and California, and also wrote articles for newspapers and magazines.Two of his best known novels were adapted into popular films: his 1966 novel The Detective was made into a 1968 film of the same name, starring Frank Sinatra as Detective Joe Leland, and his 1979 sequel to The Detective, Nothing Lasts Forever, was filmed in 1988 as Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis. Though Die Hard was relatively faithful to Nothing Lasts Forever, it was not made as a sequel to the film version of The Detective. Two other Thorp novels, Rainbow Drive and Devlin, were adapted into TV movies.Thorp died of a heart attack in Oxnard, California in 1999.ReviewI have an older brother who loves to watch movies. As teenager I was home when he put on Die Hard and I watched along. I never realized the movie was based on a book until I did some searching on books made into movies years later. Even so I never really got around reading the book. There are so many in the world. When I saw the new release by Graymalkin Media available on Netgalley I got curious though and decided to give the book a try. I was pleasantly surprised. The beginning of the story I still had the Bruce Willis image in my head but the story was so strong it made me forget all about the movie and really get into the book. The book is written from Lelands perspective and I really got the feeling I was inside his head going trough all his thoughts. This made it very easy to cheer for him and I was hoping hard everything would turn out ok in the end. What I liked to was the description of the 78 world, with phone lines cut and the awe Leland felt when he found the computer park. There where a few more things that I realized would have been made totally different now because they would be considered old fashioned. The rest of the story is just a lot of blood, murder and mean people and a very bad Christmas for a lot of them.

AuthorAfter a long career as a journalist, media consultant and television producer, Jonas Jonasson decided to start a new life. He wrote a manuscript, he sold all his possessions in Sweden and moved to a small town by Lake Lugano in Switzerland, only a few meters from the Italian border.The manuscript became a novel. The novel became a phenomenon in Sweden, and now it is about to reach the rest of the world.ReviewI have seen this book at several occasions and heard about it a lot too. A fellow worker read the book earlier and convinced me I should read it. She even let me borrow her copy. So here I was sitting with a book I was having doubts on but with a promise I was going to read it and would say what I thought about it. Thankfully it was not bad.. not bad at all. But it was indeed a book I would not have picked up for myself in the end. The book starts with a mention that grandpa loves to tell stories. This makes you wonder what in the book is true and what not... but if you take all of it literal you can read in the details Allan's story is true. The whole story about Allan climbing out of his window on his slippers and accidentally getting into some very weird situations where people might or might not be killed by him is hilarious and does not make any sense. It is fun to read and a quick read too. I felt honestly sorry for the police officers who had to find out what really happened. Some of the quotes from the book I liked, “Things are what they are, and whatever will be, will be.” “Imagine that, death was just like being asleep. Would he have time to think before it was all over? And would he have time to think that he had thought it? But wait, how much do you have to think before you have finished thinking?”

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy in return for an honest review*AuthorKen Brosky was born in Milwaukee. He has a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin and a Master's degree in writing from the University of Nebraska. His first novel was published in fall 2007. He has more than a dozen short stories published in magazines including Skyline and World Audience.Isabella Fontaine lives in Winsconsin with her cats. The Grimm Chronicles is her first book.ReviewThough I ended up feeling ok about the first book in this series which contained the first three episodes I felt a bit reluctant. I had a hard time getting into the first book and was afraid about the way the authors would develop the story in these episodes. But I did not have to worry at all. The authors picked up where they left with Alice needing to get back to school for her senior year. She is having several dreams with Corrupted in "The Orphanage of Doom" and her best friend Trish is trying to hook her up with a guy named Ted. Ted is not really your dream guy and I love the way Alice tells him at some point. I like both the stories surrounding the Corrupted, there are two of them who are harassing Alice in this story. Liking them both I do not have the feeling they get enough attention. I think it would be way nicer to get more on one Corrupted than a bit of two Corrupted. What I did find disturbing though it gets better to is Alice her parents. If I would have come home in a limousine my mum would be all over me and not to tell me to clean my room.The second book Blood and Thunder (episode 5) is really good. Finally we get just one corrupted and everything is moving towards defeating this corrupted. Alice her normal life is getting proper attention too and I like how she develops in school and with her new friends. I did hate Alice though for a big part of this episode... She hurt the feeling of the bunny rabbit... that is not right.Episode 6 holds on to the one corrupted story though there is a lot of background with this specific corrupted. A lot of it is explained in one of the extra features, The Journal of Eugene Washington. It was very nice to get that background story. In Alice her real life a lot of things are happening too and I like the way the situations in school are treated and how the kids in school take matter in to their own hand, showing that if there is enough support (and it usually comes from people you would not always expect) you can achieve things.I like Chase as an addition to the friends. One remark on this story though. Alice describes she thinks Constance is in Germany and later she reads a sign saying "Toverschool" which is Dutch. Two different countries and languages.Again I loved that the original Grimm stories where there too. I did not know them all and it is nice to read what it is exactly about. I was surprised to read in the Journal of Eugene Washington that male can be heroes too. I had the idea there where only female heroes. Loved the graphics in A Legacy of Red.The Grimm Chronicles are entertaining and a fun read for people who love the fairy tales of Grimm. I think if you know them very well it can be fun to try and guess which of the Corrupted go in which stories.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*AuthorsLuc Jacamon honed his drawing skills with an Alfred scholarship in 986. Le Tueur: Long Feu was his first published workMatz has published various graphic novels. He is also, under his real name, an active writer for videogames, as well as a published novelist.ReviewI love books on crime and when I saw this title on Netgally I got curious. Usually I read my crime novels trough the eyes of the police officer, reading a book trough the eyes of a hitman would be something totally different for me. This particular hitman has a problem. He has the feeling he is beginning to loose it and you actually start to feel sorry for him at some point. Trying to get out of the job because he has made enough money to lead an easy life he runs into a setup pulling him deeper into the world pushing him in situations he does not want to be in. You can really feel his desperation for the whole situation. The evolution of the story is set up nice too, you can see all the problems he runs into and when you think he solved the one the other is popping up and you move on. I do not know much about the life of a hitman but this story sounds very solid. The graphics are varied in details. Specially the killings and sex graphics have explicit details. I like how the main character is always a bit shadowed in the drawings this adds to the mystery surrounding him. Even now I would not be able to give a solid description on his looks to the police. Some of the quotes I liked in the book"I believe there are to many people on the earth... But on the other hand life is very fragile""The days of the dinosaur, the reptile brain, are long gone, maybe the time had come to adapt. Play it all a little bit more subtle. Aim a little higher. After all, the most fearsome predator, the most lethal creature in the whole of creation, the one with the fewest scruples and the least reason is man"

AuthorPhilippa Gregory was born in Kenya. She is a former student of Sussex University and receive a PhD and Alumna of the Year 2009 of Edinburgh University, her love for history and her commitment to historical accuracy are the hallmarks of her writing.Her other great interest is the charity she founded nearly twenty years ago; Gardens for The Gambia. Gregory lives with her family on a small farm in Yorkshire, where she keeps horses, hens and ducks.ReviewI came across a lot of Philippa Gregory reviews on both my Goodreads and various blogs I follow. I was not really familiar with her though I had heard of "The Other Boleyn Girl" and as all the reviews where positive I decided to give it a try. I started of with the first book in the Tudor Series "The Constant Princess" I am not sure if that is necessary but I like to read series in order. I liked the book. I can totally understand why people would say they love it but I did not really feel that enthusiasm with this book. It was clear that Gregory did her research very well. I loved how she placed people in the court and the description where enough to form images in my head of the surroundings and the buildings. There was a message of acceptance and understanding between countries and enemies which came forward at several occasions. The main character Catalina the Infanta of Spain, Katherine the Queen of England gave me a little mps while reading. She is a very strong character and it is clear where she gets her ideas from but it was a little on the edge of insanity. This made that it was easy in some parts of the book to connect to her and in others she scared me. I did get a message though that if you really set your mind to something you might be able to get what you want. I felt totally sorry for Henry/Harry though. He was very much abused by her. I love these intrigues though so I have very much enjoyed the story too and how King Henry put her in her place at some point.Some of the quotes from the book I liked a lot are"They say that at the mountain pass he looked back at his kingdom, his beautiful kingdom, and wept, and his mother told him to weep like a woman for what he could not hold as a man.""Just because one man calls him Allah and another calls him God is no reason for believers to be enemies""Words have weight, something once said cannot be unsaid. Meaning is like a stone dropped into a pool; the ripples will spread and you cannot know what back they wash against."

AuthorsSara B. Elfgren started her career in the film industry as a screenwriter. As a script doctor, she has been involved in several Swedish film and TV-productions. The Circle is her debut novel. Mats Strandberg is an author and a journalist. He is a regular columnist for Sweden’s biggest evening newspaper Aftonbladet and 2004 the organization Sveriges Tidskrifter (Sweden’s Newspapers and Magazines) awarded him the title Columnist of the Year. Mats Strandberg has previously released three books, of which the third one, Half Lifes was awarded Book of the Year 2009 by QX.ReviewThis review is going to be as hard to write as this book was to leave in the bookstore. I am not a paranormal YA reader. I try them sometimes when I see people cheer over a book and usually get annoyed very fast and put it down. When I first saw this book I was like oww pretty cover but it is paranormal YA so I am not even going to give it a try. Plus honestly I have not seen this book around the YA blogs I follow so if it is not on their radar it must be nothing... but it had such a pretty cover and the story could be good... and the cover..Yeah you guess right. I put the book on my Christmas list in the end and finally came around to read it. My first reaction.. Hello pretty cover. My second reaction ... He! this was not an awful YA book where parents seem nonexistent and teenagers seem like wild drunken drugged sex monsters. Do not get me wrong, the teenagers in this book do have sex (though not really explicit), they drink and there is also drugs in the story but it is not a common factor. Plus they live with parents who do ask questions about their weird behavior and have normal parent child interactions. That was actually very pleasant. The story itself is slow. There is a lot of tension implied but there is not really a big explosion. Still the tension makes that you want to continue reading. There is a lot of pain and loss and sad in this book and it is very well described making it easy to be pulled in the dark emotions that are running trough the story. The story is told from different point of views but this was not really disturbing. I actually felt that we missed a few and would have liked to know more about Ida and Linnéa.The main group of characters could have been any six girls from any high school. Though they grew up together and know each other they are not the best friends and some even are enemies. They have to work on their differences to get trough the situations but it does not come natural. You get to see inside their head and their fears and doubts are honest and normal. This makes it very easy to connect with the girls. What I did feel sorry about was the fact the only guy left so soon. I think it could have been nice to have a guy in the group. Now it is six girls and though they are from various personality types they are girls. The paranormal stuff did not really impress me though. I am not sure if it had to do with the way their powers developed or the way things where explained but it did not really have the magic feel some paranormal books can have.

AuthorBorn in Des Moines Iowa, Karen Engelman received her BFA in design and drawing from the University of Iowa. SHe moved to Sweden to do graduate work but never finished. She started working as an illustrator and designer in Malmö Sweden for nine years. After she moved to New York where she continued working in print design and started to write. Eventually she received an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in Vermont.ReviewWhen this book arrived on my radar by a tweet from the Dutch publisher I got enthusiastic immediately. I love stories surrounded by mysteries and puzzles. When I opened the book I got a scare though. There was a time-line and a character list in the front of the book. As this gave me the feeling the story would be hard to follow I reluctantly started to read. I soon found out though that the time line and list are just little notes for the story if you need it to hold on too. The characters are not to many and the relationships between the various main characters are clear. The story builds up very fast with the 8 people Emil has to gather on certain positions. It is a nice set up and you start to guess with every person he is meeting if that person belongs to his group and if yes what the spot is. Not all where clear until the end and I liked the way the Octavo grows bigger and bigger and it gets clear what other people are involved.I loved the folding fan aspect of the story. I did see them regular on images from that period but never knew the history behind them and that they where used in the way as described in the book. I did some Google searches after reading and found a lot of extra information and nice facts.The story is told from different perspectives. If Emil is the one writing down his story he is using I but he is also writing down the stories that where told. Usually I am easily distracted when this is used in a book but the changing points of view where carefully separated in chapters making it clear for the reader immediately that the point of view would change and it was fluent.If you are scared of the puzzle books like the Rose Labyrinth or Angels and Demons you can actually pick up this book. It is not as heavy or complicated as those. The tone is lighter and the puzzle feeling can be ignored without losing touch with the rest of the story.

AuthorDiane Setterfield is a British author whose debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale, became a New York Times #1 bestseller.Before writing, Setterfield studied French Literature at Bristol University and specialized in 20th century French literature, particularly the works of Andre Gide. She taught at numerous schools as well as privately before leaving academia in the late 90s. She lives in North Yorkshire, England with her husband and four cats, and is currently working on her second novel.ReviewI read this book years ago for the first time but could still remember the feeling it left me with. The years after when someone asked me if they should read this book I would tell them they should. I would tell them I could still recall the feeling of surprise with the development of the story. When this book was chosen as one of the book club reads I decided it was time for a re-read. Curious if the book would leave me with the same feelings.This book is heartbreaking, beautiful and surprising. It is a mystery and you can puzzle what you want but it cannot be solved before the author wants you to know the solution. Which is in the last pages of the book. You get some teasers in the story giving you the feeling that it really is to simple but something will happen to throw you of again.Next to the mystery us the story about family and twins. How family bonds can make you do things you where not expecting. How loss can break hearts and influence generations in a family. How other people try to hold on to what is supposed to be normal and acceptable or try to make up for other mistakes. This part of the story is very confronting and I am curious how twins feel about this book because the twin part of the story is taking such an important place.I know that in the upcoming years I will continue to advice people to read this book. Some of the quotes I loved in this book: “There are too many books in the world to read in a single lifetime; you have to draw the line somewhere.” “As for you, you are alive. But it's not the same as living.” “To anyone who took the trouble to look, I was plainly visible, but when people are expecting to see nothing, that is usually what they see.” “Every so often I take out a volume and read a page or two. After all, reading is looking after in a manner of speaking. Though they're not old enough to be valuable for their age alone, nor important enough to be sought after by collectors, my charges are dear to me, even if, as often as not, they are as dull on the inside as on the outside. No matter how banal the contents, there is always something that touches me. For someone now dead once thought these words significant enough to write them down.” “I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life, and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy”

AuthorKate Morton grew up in the mountains of southeast Queensland, Australia. She has degrees in Dramatic Art and English Literature and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland. Kate lives with her husband and two young sons in Brisbane.ReviewI read this book for the second time and it is still as mesmerizing as it was the first time. This book is one big warm blanket holding you captive till the end.I love the ease with which the author binds four generations of people together building up a story of love and loss. Each of the woman have their own fight, their own story but eventually their lives come together and all the mysteries surrounding them are solved. The time line in the story is going back and forth but it is not at all disturbing. Chapters answer questions from previous chapters or give new hints for further investigations. Though it is possible to guess the outcome of this book halfway I think it is still a surprising outcome and you will not stop reading because you want to know the how and why.This book is mainly about the woman in the family. They are the ones making the decisions. The man are there and they play their part but they are obviously not important in the outcome. All the woman are very strong willed making their choices and the steps they take throughout their life are believable.The story touches several moral questions about childbirth, adoption and growing up without mothers. I do feel the author found a way to write about these subjects that makes you consider the choices people make and why without judging any of the decisions.Definitely a book I can read again in a few years when I forgot most of the details.Some of the quotes I liked in this book “You must learn to know the difference between tales and the truth, my Liza, she would say. Fairy tales have a habit of ending too soon. They never show what happens afterwards when the prince and princess ride off the page.” “Thinking of nothing. Trying to think of nothing. Thinking of everything.” “A way of looking at you that told you she was listening, that she understood all you were saying, and all you weren't.”

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*AuthorMike Robinson was born in Los Angeles. He has always aspired a career in writing. Besides writing he loves everything extraterrestrial. To make some extra money he he works as a professional manuscript editor.ReviewAfter reading this book I am left with a very strong feeling of chaos. I was hoping for a very strong story about two authors who's lives got entangled so badly that they end up killing each other for one reason or another. The story did start at that point where the body is found and is supposed to travel back in time and see where the hate between these two authors is coming from. What happens next is that you are taken back to the moment the authors where born. After this you get the story of their first day at school seen from the eyes of their teacher. This part of the story does touch them but I felt it was more about the teacher and her motives. Next you get the story from Harry a student in their high school who has an interest in the two boys for an article in the newspaper but that is just a side line in his own story.I got the feeling to read a few short stories surrounding the authors more than the real story of the authors. I would have liked it better if it was seen from their point of view I think.The style also made that I found the story hard to follow. I really had to take out all other distractions from my environment to be able to keep up with the story. The combination of these two things made that I did not really connect with the story.I do think that people that do not mind different point of views and fast paced stories can actually like this very paranormal story in a close-knit community. So do not let the fact that my brain cannot handle it keep you from picking it up if it sounds interesting to you.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the author in return for an honest review*AuthorMark Capell is a former documentary television director. He made shows for the BBC, ITV and satellite. His debut novel, 'Run, Run, Run', became a number one bestselling crime thriller on Amazon. "Vows to Kill" is his second full length novel.ReviewI love to read good mystery novels and puzzle along. The author of "Vows to Kill" does understand what people are looking for when they are reading a mystery.The book introduces Lee, a detective who is planning to get married to Lucy soon and receives an email saying he will get killed on his wedding day.The possible suspects are Kat, a woman with wild thoughts and a somewhat weird attitude who could be a total psycho. There is Molly who obviously has serious psychological damage after her wedding was canceled for one reason or another. There was a situation in Southampton where something obviously went wrong with a suspect who issued a threat at Lee's address before. Though the connections are not always clear you can feel from their stories that they all have a ground to send the email wanting to ruin the wedding. Still I felt like the characters could have been developed more.I did miss that moment of real tension where I wanted to pull out my hair and yell "NO" at some random stranger but the whole book was a proper mystery/crime puzzle.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*AuthorAndrew Buckly was born in Manchester. As a child he wrote a story about a big blue dinosaur which got awarded by his elementary teacher with a gold star. In 1997 he moved to Canada where he attended the Vancouver Film School’s Writing for Film and Television program where he graduated with excellence. After pitching and developing several screenplay projects for film and television he worked in marketing and public relations for several years before venturing into a number of content writing contracts. During this time he abandoned screenwriting altogether and began writing his first novel. Andrew lives in the Okanagan Valley, BC with his wife, children and pets.ReviewMy first thought when I saw this book on Netgalley was "how did someone manage to put a goldfish in with Death and the Devil."The several characters each have their own start in the story. It is clear from the beginning they are going to end up together but you are not sure in which capacity. I loved Gerald and the Death the most. They are the most hilarious combination. One thing that did bother me was that the author named some of the main characters alike.I must confess that I admired the many different ways the author found to describe the relationship between the goldfish and the castle.The story is a chain of the most stupid situations a human being (or not so human being) can find himself stuck in combined with the thoughts of every other sane person hearing the story. As the author mentions in his book that dark lonely half collapsing house no person with a normal working brain would enter....Still the characters have to live trough the situation wondering why them and solve the problems they get into. As some do not have previous experience in solving problems in a normal way this makes for some very hilarious situations.This book is hilarious, funny and balancing just on the right site of morality and I have not laughed like this about a book in a long time