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Writers and readers are always looking for credible book reviewers. If you know of any, please send info.
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Book Reviews
Five Great New Mysteries and Thrillers
to Look Forward to This Spring
By Richard Lipez — The Washington Post
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12 Classic Books That Got Horrible Reviews
By Maddie Crum — HUFFPOST
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Stacy Abrams Wrote a Thriller in Her Spare Time
By Karen Heller — The Washington Post
Stacy Abrams’s first political thriller, is set in Washington, D.C., a city where, according to her ever-evolving spreadsheet of life goals, she aspires to reside someday as president of the United States. “While Justice Sleeps,” to be published Tuesday, is Abrams’s second book to come out in less than a year.
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Best Books of 2020
By emmie
Welcome to a somewhat emotional ride through so many of my most beloved books, enjoy!!
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Lawrence Block and P.G.Wodehouse
How two prolific writers found their voices
By Michael Dirda — The Washington Post
Sometimes a reviewer just can’t wait to write about a book. Even though Lawrence Block’s memoir, “A Writer Prepares,” isn’t available till June, I was recently sent an advance proof. Quite innocently, I started reading it — and couldn’t tear myself away. So consider what follows more a preview than a review of the pleasures awaiting in its pages.
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Book Reviews by Heller McAlpin
Book Critic
Heller McAlpin is a New York-based critic who reviews books regularly for NPR.org, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The San Francisco Chronicle and other publications.
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Book Reviewers Wanted
Voracious Readers Only
To join us, just fill out the form with your name, email address, and preferred genre/s!
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Bookshelf Tour
By jessethereader
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The Crew Reviews
go behind the scenes with the world’s best storytellers
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EmmabBooks
BOOK REVIEWS BY EMMA B BOOKS
By Emma B. Books
Check ’em out. There must be thousands!
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At First Light
Reviewed By Sandra Dallas — The Denver Post
Tough Chicago detective Adrianne “Addie” Bisset is called in when police discover a body on the grimy banks of the Calumet River. This isn’t your garden-variety killing. The victim is laid out in a ritualistic style. His legs are impaled with wooden stakes, and carved bones radiate from his head. Even more ominous, he was bashed in the head, his throat cut, and there is a noose around his neck. Any of the three could have caused his death.
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Get Reader Reviews Now to Drive Sales Later
By Mike O’Mary
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Getting Book Reviews
By Joanna Penn — The Creative Penn
Book reviews are important for social proof as well as getting marketing opportunities like BookBub placement, for mining quotes for ad copy, and understanding how your author brand is perceived. But how do you get reviews, especially if you’re just starting out?
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How to Get Those First Reviews
By Farrow Communications
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Lisa’s Book Critiques
Sharing Books and Authors, with an Emphasis on Mysteries
Reviews by Lisa Holstine
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The Lincoln Highway Joyride
With four kids in an old Studebaker, Amor Towles takes readers on a real joyride
Reviews by Heller McAlpin — NPR
Four boys — three 18-year-olds who met in a juvenile reformatory, plus a brainy 8-year-old — set out from Nebraska in June, 1954, in an old Studebaker in pursuit of a better future.
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Los Angeles Review of Books — LARB
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The Naked Sun — Book Review
watch on youtube
The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov reviewed by Megan Darragh.
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NetGalley
If you are a librarian, bookseller, educator, reviewer, blogger or in the media, join for free!
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Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache Books
These dark detective novels are really about ethics and hope
By Aja Romano — VOX
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The Prairies Book Review
first-rate editorial book reviews for indie authors and small publishers
The Prairies Book Review — Submit your book at our website to get a review.
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The Real Book Spy
Book Reviews
Ryan Steck can be reached via email at Ryan@TheRealBookSpy.com
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They Only Wear Black Hats
by edward izzi
Reviewed by THE PRAIRIESBOOKREVIEW
A taut, fast-paced thriller with wrenching twists and turns . . .
Edward Izzi’s latest thriller features the sharp, gutsy Detective Mike Palazzola of Detroit’s Third Precinct embroiled in a serial killing investigation.
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Union Square Review
Not All Book Reviews Are Created Equal
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What to Read This Spring
Reviews by Harlan Coben — TODAY
Harlan Coben joins TODAY to recommend books to read this spring and to talk about his new book, “Win.” He discusses “Heaven’s A Lie,” by Wallace Stroby, “The Beauty of Living Twice,” by Sharon Stone, and more.
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MY FIVE-STAR READS
By Adam James
Red Widow
By Alma Katsu
An exhilarating spy thriller written by an intelligence veteran about two women CIA agents whose paths become intertwined around a threat to the Russia Division — one that’s coming from inside the agency.
Lyndsey Duncan worries her career with the CIA might be over. After lines are crossed with another intelligence agent during an assignment, she is sent home to Washington on administrative leave. So when a former colleague–now Chief of the Russia Division–recruits her for an internal investigation, she jumps at the chance to prove herself. Lyndsey was once a top handler in the Moscow Field Station, where she was known as the “human lie detector” and praised for recruiting some of the most senior Russian officials. But now, three Russian assets have been exposed–including one of her own–and the CIA is convinced there’s a mole in the department. With years of work in question and lives on the line, Lyndsey is thrown back into life at the agency, this time tracing the steps of those closest to her.
Meanwhile, fellow agent Theresa Warner can’t avoid the spotlight. She is the infamous “Red Widow,” the wife of a former director killed in the field under mysterious circumstances. With her husband’s legacy shadowing her every move, Theresa is a fixture of the Russia Division, and as she and Lyndsey strike up an unusual friendship, her knowledge proves invaluable. But as Lyndsey uncovers a surprising connection to Theresa that could answer all of her questions, she unearths a terrifying web of secrets within the department, if only she is willing to unravel it….
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My Review: Smoke and Mirros
January 18, 2022
“Don’t be a chump: it’s all smoke and mirrors. And has been since day one.” — Alma Katsu
This excellently crafted story will have you guessing from page one, and keep you guessing throughout.
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Adam James
Face of Murder
A Zoe Prime Mystery—Book 2
By Blake Pierce
FBI Special Agent Zoe Prime suffers from a rare condition which also gives her a unique talent—she views the world through a lens of numbers. The numbers torment her, make her unable to relate to people, and give her a failed romantic life—yet they also allow her to see patterns that no other FBI agent can see. Zoe keeps her condition a secret, ashamed, in fear her colleagues may find out.
When women are found murdered, their bodies branded with mysterious numbers, outside Washington, D.C., the FBI, stumped, calls in Special Agent Zoe Prime to decipher the mathematical riddle and find the serial killer.
Yet the numbers make no sense. Are they a pattern? A formula?
Or do they have no meaning at all?
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My Review: By the Numbers!
January 1, 2022
The only way Zoe and Shelley can make any sense out of this one is to follow the numbers. Only everything is ass backwards. The more they figure, the crazier it gets. And in the end, its another cliff-hanger.
Another exciting ride on the Synesthesia Express.
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Adam James
FREE on Amazon Kindle
The Crime Beat
Episode one: New York
By A.C. Fuller
A brilliant reporter, haunted by her husband’s death . . .
A disgraced cop, tangled in a web of lies . . .
Two unlikely heroes. One unthinkable crime.
Perched on the soft tar of a New York City rooftop, a mysterious sniper fires a single round from a fifty caliber rifle. Five stories below, his target collapses on the marble steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dead.
Crime reporter Jane Cole needs this story badly. Suspended NYPD cop Robert Warren is desperate to clear his name. They don’t trust each other, but they make the perfect team. And as Cole and Warren track the killer, they uncover a plot so ruthless it shocks the conscience, a crime so expansive it will rock the world.
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My Review: No Way Out!
December 26, 2021
An unlikely duo are thrown together in conflict and animosity. But a sudden assassination changes everything. Just when they think it’s all figured out, the bottom falls out.
Now there’s no way out!
This first Crime Beat eBook is FREE on Amazon!
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Adam James
Razorblade Tears
By S.A. Cosby
A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.
Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.
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My Review: Don’t Miss it!
December 25, 2021
We live in multiple worlds. Same planet. Same timeframe. But different worlds defined by race, sex, sexuality, education, income, literacy and religion. Yet we’re all humans.
It’s strange. Buddy Lee and Ike are finding out just how strange in their pursuit of truth, justice and retribution. What starts out as bad business quickly turns personal. And that means there’s no end to it.
This fantastic story is one strange trip. It’s one you don’t want to miss.
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Adam James
FREE on Amazon Kindle
A Trace of Death
A Keri Locke Mystery — Book 1
By Blake Pierce
Keri Locke, Missing Persons Detective in the Homicide division of the LAPD, remains haunted by the abduction of her own daughter, years before, never found. Still obsessed with finding her, Keri buries her grief the only way she knows how: by throwing herself into the cases of missing persons in Los Angeles.
A routine phone call from a worried mother of a high-schooler, only two hours missing, should be ignored. Yet something about the mother’s voice strikes a chord, and Keri decides to investigate.
What she finds shocks her.
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My Review: Another Winner!
December 22, 2021
Poor Keri has a very rough time of it. But she makes the most of it. She’s a real inspiration.
This first Keri Locke eBook is FREE on Amazon!
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Adam James
FREE on Amazon Kindle
Watching
The Making of Riley Paige
By Blake Pierce
Watching — The Making of Riley Paige is book #1 in the psychological thriller series.
22 year old psychology major—and aspiring FBI agent—Riley Paige finds herself in a battle for her life as her closest friends on campus are abducted and killed by a serial killer. She senses that she, too, is being targeted—and that if she is to survive, she must apply her brilliant mind to stop the killer herself.
When the FBI hits a dead end, they are impressed enough by Riley’s keen insight into the killer’s mind to allow her to help. Yet the killer’s mind is a dark, twisted place, one too diabolical to make sense of, and one that threatens to bring Riley’s fragile psyche crashing down. In this deadly game of cat and mouse, can Riley survive unscarred?
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My Review: Meet Riley Paige!
December 16, 2021
When murder and violence surrounds Riley Paige, she learns her lesson well, graduates from college and discovers her hidden talent for psychological profiling. Blake Pierce has developed another great character. Now there’s a total of seventeen books featuring Riley.
This first Riley Page eBook is FREE on Amazon!
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Adam James
FREE on Amazon Kindle
Face of Death
A Zoe Prime Mystery—Book 1
By Blake Pierce
FBI Special Agent Zoe Prime suffers from a rare condition which also gives her a unique talent—she views the world through a lens of numbers.
The numbers torment her, make her unable to relate to people, and give her a failed romantic life—yet they also allow her to see patterns that no other FBI agent can see. Zoe keeps her condition a secret, ashamed, in fear her colleagues may find out.
Yet when a serial killer strikes across the Midwest, strangling women in remote places and seemingly at random, Zoe, for the first time, is stumped. Is there a pattern? Can there be no pattern at all?
Or is this killer as obsessed with numbers as she is?
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My Review: A World of Numbers!
December 5, 2021
FBI Special Agent Zoe Prime sees things that others can’t. Things invisible to normal people. She sees numbers and calculations everywhere. This is her secret. She lives in a world of mathematics. Synesthesia turns clues into visual numbers into facts in her head. And she’s on the spectrum, just a little bit.
Fibonacci Sequence: 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34
This is a captivating read. Enjoy!
This first Zoe Prime eBook is FREE on Amazon!
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Adam James
The Grifter’s Daughter
By Duane Lindsay
IMAGINE YOU STOLE A MILLION DOLLARS – FROM YOUR FIANCÉ. ON THE EVE OF YOUR WEDDING.
Dani Silver doesn’t have to imagine. She just did it. And she’s got big plans for her share of that million in cash she and her father scammed from her billionaire fiancé (although strictly speaking, that might make him her ex-fiancé.)
Now she’s going to run her own operation—a long con, a dying art currently practiced by only a few old-timers. Fortunately, she learned from the best con man still living, as he’s happy to remind Dani . . . often — Leroy “Pops” Amadeus Logan, who happens to be her pops.
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My Review: The Long Con
November 30, 2021
If you’re interested in the ins and outs of the “Long Con,” here’s your chance to find out more than you thought possible. This excellent first-person narrative is told in the voice of Dani, the conman’s daughter. Here you will learn about the following:
- Long Con
- Razzle
- Big Store
- Lottery-Letter-Scam
- Flash Roll
- Carrie Watson
- St. Dismas
Enjoy the read and keep your hand on your wallet . . . just so we know where you keep it.
Happy Reading!
Adam James
Wired In
a paradise crime thriller — book one
By Toby Neal
Paradise has no protection from a hacker with a hidden agenda. What would you do to uncover a deadly conspiracy?
MMA fighting computer hacker Special Agent Sophie Ang catches a child kidnapping case that twists her heart with memories from her past. Meanwhile, her rogue data analysis program identifies a pattern that leads her into a cat-and-mouse game online with a deadly vigilante whose motives are unclear.
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My Review: A Masterful Job
November 17, 2021
This one’s got it all: action, villains and a super plot that moves right along. You’ll be glad you started this one. And here’s the best news: First, there’s a whole bunch more books of Sophie’s adventures. Second, there’s dogs in all of ’em.
Can’t beat that with a stick.
Happy Reading!
Adam James
Winter Falls
jimmy blue series book 1
By Ian W. Sainsbury
They murdered his parents, shot him in the head, and left him to die. They should have made sure.
Twenty years after Tom Lewis watched his parents die, those responsible are being killed. One by one.
Gentle, brain-damaged Tom, a giant of a man who can barely speak, can’t be responsible for their deaths. Can he?
When Tom Lewis was shot, something new was created. Something unique. Something deadly. Something patient enough to plan revenge for twenty long years.
Meet Jimmy Blue.
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My Review: Can’t Put it down!
November 9, 2021
Well written. Moves right along. Great characters — especially Tom and Jimmy Blue. Great action and suspense. The best news is that there are even more books in this series.
Cheers and Happy Reading!
Adam James
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