Tag Archives: Thriller

THE SHADOW OF THE WOLF by Sam Cross

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THE SHADOW OF THE WOLF
by Sam Cross

Eternal Press, 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-1-77065-067-1
Print ISBN: 978-1-77065-068-8
366 Pages
eBook
Thriller

Reviewer: Clayton Bye
http://www.claytonbye.com
Alternative-Read.com

An unnamed city (maybe yours) is in the grip of a serial killer the media has dubbed The Wolf.
His victims are young, beautiful women who he takes without leaving clues and who are never seen again. He’s bold! His last victim was in a car pile-up on a main highway; The Wolf took her from her demolished vehicle without being seen. The police are at their wit’s end.

Enter professor Richard Rosenwood, a criminal psychologist who teaches at the local university. The police have asked him for any insights or clues he might turn up by going through the case files. Add in a gorgeous psychology student who is openly interested in the professor, a hooker/thief /compulsive liar who is the only person to ever survive an attack by The Wolf, a couple of sharp detectives and a killer who’s way of disposing of bodies is so horrendous as to be unimaginable and you’ve got yourself an interesting book in the making.

The Shadow of The Wolf is full of interesting characters and many plot twists, but it is also well thought out and written. There’s so much going on, I keep wanting to tell you more. But that would spoil the book for you. Here are a few hint’s to guide you: the professor’s lectures are about real-life serial killers; The Wolf is an appropriate name for the serial killer for several interesting reasons; but most of all, pay close attention to the title of this book and what it might mean (or the number of meanings it may have).

Sam Cross is a pen name for an author with many novels under his belt, and it shows: not a misspelled word, his sentences constantly push you forward—there are no slow spots here; and while I had the story figured out by the time I was a third of a way through the novel, it turns out I was wrong, then wrong again, then wrong again… You see where I’m going with this?

The Shadow of The Wolf is a somewhat unusual, character driven thriller I thoroughly enjoyed. It was time well spent.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye

Harm’s Way by Sam Cross

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HARM’S WAY
Sam Cross
Whiskey Creek Press, 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-1-60313-745-4
Print ISBN: 978-1-60313-746-1
328 Pages
eBook
Thriller/Romance

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Clare Boyd is a successful businesswoman whose world is built on a foundation of glass. When her husband, whom she loved dearly, convinced her to carry an accidental pregnancy to term, Clare divorced him a week after the baby was born. A late night with the ultimate client ends with him missing and Clare outside, in a park, in the arms of a statue of an angel, with no memory of the evening. Instead of going to the police, Clare goes manic, trying to cover up her involvement. And then there are the dreams, which turn out to be a reality Clare is not prepared to face.

But face it she will, because someone is carefully pulling back the layers of Clare’s past. This is someone who’s willing to harm everyone who gets in his way—as long as it brings Clare closer to the future he envisions for her.

Harm’s Way, an appropriate title, takes us through the meltdown of a top corporate executive who is poised to take the reigns of the entire company. How can an individual like this unravel in just a few days? Sam Cross shows us, in detail.

This romantic thriller is crisp, professional and character driven. Ross is obviously at home with the genre(s), and I’m sure his fans will love Harm’s Way. For my part, I found this 328 page novel just zipped right on by, which, in my world, means the author did exactly what he’s supposed to do: he drew me in, suspended my disbelief, connected me with his protagonist and kept the tension high enough for me to keep turning those pages.

I did have a couple of concerns.

First, Cross revealed his antagonist/evil doer about half way through the book. He even took us back through scenes we had already seen through Clare’s eyes. Risky business, that. He could have lost me right there. In fact, I found myself saying “What the hell?” You see, by making the choice he did, Cross diluted a great deal of the suspense he had worked so hard to build. And I didn’t understand it. But… Harm’s Way is not a novel of suspense; it’s a thriller. So, believe me when I tell you the author’s seemingly unorthodox choice pays off: there are many more thrills to come, some plot twists you won’t expect and a pace that never lets up.

Second, there’s the questions: Would a seasoned trench fighter like Clare melt down as quickly as she did? Do her actions resonate with who she’s supposed to be? If one follows very closely, Cross answers these questions (in a way) early on in the story. Clare divorced her husband and walked away from her one week old daughter. What would make someone do that? The answer explains Clare’s behaviour throughout the book.

My problem is, I’m not sure, even with Clare’s history, that a mother would walk out on her baby and a husband she loves and who loves her. So, I didn’t quite buy the answer Cross gives the reader. What this means for me as a reviewer is that I would probably give this book a 4 out 5 rather than the perfect 5 (if I used such a scale). However, I’d rather put it this way: just because I have a few issues with Harm’s Way that diminished my enjoyment, doesn’t mean you will. Sam Cross has given his readers a terrific thriller!


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

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The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest
Stieg Larsson
Penguin Group Canada, 2010
ISBN 978-0-670-06903-3
Hardcover
563 pages
fiction/thriller/crime

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Well, it’s done and on the shelves; Stieg Larrson’s last book in a trilogy about a government-generated psychopath who decides she isn’t going to be a victim anymore. Lisbeth Salander is slim, short, boyish, bisexual and can hold her own, physically, against anyone. She also has a photographic memory and is one of the top computer hackers in the world. Living by her own moral code and violently rejecting anyone who tries to make her conform, Lisbeth manages to steal billions of Kroner from a crook, begins living as she wishes and even collects a few friends along the way. However, after tracking down her evil father (who is responsible for virtually everything that’s wrong with her and her life), he and her serial killer brother shoot her in the head and bury her alive, she, of course, digs her way out and almost finishes them off. This brings us to the end of the first two novels.

As the third book begins: Salander is in the hospital awaiting 16 serious charges, including murder. Her father is just 2 rooms down from her. He is also recuperating and spends his days dreaming of killing his daughter. Things take off from this point. A group of friends and honest cops join together to prove Lisbeth is innocent of all charges, that the real perpetrators are an invisible unit operating within the Security Police (SAPO), the same unit responsible for Salander’s odd behaviour and questionable mental state.

From here the book becomes what I would call a police procedural. Author Stieg Larsson obviously knew the inner workings of the Swedish political establishment, the structure and purpose of the police and, of course, the newspaper industry. In The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, Larsson lets that knowledge out as he takes us on a virtual step-by-step journey from Salander with a bullet in her head until she finishes her case in court, to the secondary character (our real hero) Mikail Blomkvist who plans to take down the CEO of the largest newspaper in the country, help the police snuff out the nest of bad cops and criminals operating within the bowels of SAPO and put together a defense strategy for Salander that has the potential to wreak revenge on virtually everyone who has ever hurt her.

Reviewers at The New York Times and The Globe and Mail, to name a few, just don’t like the phenomenal success of these three books. You can feel it all the way through their reviews. Reviews, by the way that just can’t find a way to pick apart these monumental, international bestsellers. I think these reviewers just don’t “get it.”

Yes, Larsson didn’t know all he should have with respect to writing fiction: he was a reporter and news editor for many years. It’s a different kind of writing. Yes, he sometimes let his right wing politics loose on left wing ideals and notions. Yes, there were a number of messages in his writing, the most important being his statement about the state’s role in the diminishment of women, as well as many abhorrent individual behaviours that seem to be accepted by a complacent society. And I say: So what?

Larsson wrote detailed stories that rang so true, suspending judgment (a must for fictional stories to succeed) wasn’t ever an issue. He also entertained us with, in my mind, the most interesting antihero in modern fiction. Lisbeth Salander is such a mixture of characteristics, I believe she has the ability to capture readers from all genres and ages. Too bad Stieg Larrsson died. I’ve read that he intended the series to be 10 books in length. Wouldn’t that have been something?


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye