Book Review: The Paris Betrayal by James Hannibal

After a rough mission in Rome involving the discovery of a devastating bioweapon, Company spy Ben Calix returns to Paris to find his perfectly ordered world has collapsed. A sniper attack. An ambush. A call for help that brings French SWAT forces down on his head. Ben is out. This is a severance--reserved for incompetents and traitors.

Searching for answers and anticipating a coming attack, Ben and a woman swept up in his misfortunes must travel across Europe to find the sniper who tried to kill him, the medic who saved his life, the schoolmaster who trained him, and an upstart hacker from his former team. More than that, Ben must come to grips with his own insignificance as the Company's plan to stop Leviathan from unleashing the bioweapon at any cost moves forward without him—and he struggles against the infection that is swiftly claiming territory within his own body.

My rating:

Award-winning author James R. Hannibal rachets up the tension on every page of this suspenseful new thriller. 
I think it's safe to say that my first James Hannibal book was a smashing success!

Plus, the poor dude just didn't feel good. Let's give him some slack.

The suspense wasn't keep-you-up-with-nightmares tense, but definitely edge-of-your-seat tense. The fight scenes were fantastic. The plot line was so good. The characters were likable, buuuuuut somehow they seemed...shallow? Like, I understood that Ben was under a great deal of stress, and he did well, but...idk. I failed to seriously connect. I did understand his want/need to fix things and set them right. And his desperation when things didn't go according to plan. (Am I a fixer that has issues when things don't go according to plan? Yes. Yes, I am.) But as far as emotional connection goes...nah. (I did love how it wasn't your typical top-of-the-food-chain-agent story, but more of a lowest-agent-on-the-totem-pole story)

Clara was endearing and spunky. The bad guys were...your average bad guys. All in all, there was nothing really remarkable about the characters.

And the message? Well, honestly, I didn't even realize there was supposed to be a message until I read a friend's review, mentioning the author's note. (I thought I'd read the author's note, but *cough* apparently I didn't read it well enough) It was a good story, engaging plot line, and I absolutely loved the overall story, but with shallow(ish) characters and lacking a meaty message, it fell just short of five stars.

As far as romance goes, there was a liiiiitle kissing and terms of endearment, but there was such a tiny amount, I'm not even gonna complain about it!

Also—that end? LOVED IT. Like, AMAZING twist.

So. A shorter review, but I definitely recommend this one! Four solid stars!

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher for promotional purposes. All thoughts are my own.

Let's talk—what do you look for in a suspense novel?

Bookish Bestie Q&A

August 11th, 2020, I met my best friend in person for the first time.

Livi (some of you veteran bloggers may remember her as Livi Jane, formerly of the blog Living for the Other Side) and I have been writing/critique partners (which somehow became friends before we realized what was happening...I guess I have that effect on people *shrugs*) for several years, and our dream of meeting in person finally became reality when she came for a visit last summer.

Well, the exciting news is, she's coming again next week! This time, we thought it would be fun to do a Q&A here on the blog!

What kind of questions should you ask? Honestly, you could ask us anything...buuuuut we prefer bookish or movie/TV show-esque questions. 'Cause, ya know, books are kinda what brought us together. And we love watching movies together. *grins*

(Plus, this is a bookish blog, sooooo)

So. Comment below with your questions for us, and we'll answer them together when she's here next week!

Book Review: The Letter Keeper by Charles Martin

Combining heart-wrenching emotion with edge-of-your-seat tension, Charles Martin explores the true power of sacrificial love.

He shows up when all hope is lost. 

Murphy Shepherd has made a career of finding those no one else could—survivors of human trafficking. His life’s mission is helping others find freedom.

But then the nightmare strikes too close to home.

When his new wife, her daughter, and two other teenage girls are stolen, Murphy is left questioning all he has thought to be true. With more dead ends than leads, he has no idea how to find those he loves.

After everything is stripped away, love is what remains. 

Hope feels lost, but Murphy is willing to expend his last breath trying to bring them home.

Series: Murphy Shepherd, #2 (could probablyyyyy be read as a standalone??) (find my review of book 1 here)

My rating:

Okay. Once upon a time, I would've said that Charles Martin is one of my favorite authors - beautiful prose, engaging plot. Blunt - just like me. *halo* Thing is...I wouldn't quite say so anymore. *Deep breath* So. Let's dive in, shall we?

Mmkay, so, let me say what I didn't like (and try not to turn this into a rant), and get that part over with.

For one...the prose. The first couple of books I read by Martin (When Crickets Cry and The Dead Don't Dance) were absolutely amazing. But then I read books that he published in recent years (Send Down the Rain and The Water Keeper)...and they've only disappointed me. I couldn't put my finger on why, though...so I picked up The Water Keeper from the library and requested The Letter Keeper from Netgalley.

I've figured it out. The 'prose,' to me, isn't really prose anymore. The meaty parts of the story, the parts where the plot really began to pick up and get going, were either short bits between the slow parts, or were broken up by rabbit trails of deep thinking.

Don't get me wrong; y'all know I love books that make me think deeply. But in the middle of a suspenseful sequence is not, in my opinion, a good time to insert "There are times in a man's life when..." *deep thinking that takes up an entire page and interrupts the plot* It seemed like there wasn't enough plot to go around, so hey, let's throw in an insane amount of internal dialogue that you have to force yourself not to skim over, but make the rest of the book interesting enough that you want to keep reading and find out how it ends!

Okay. I think my rant is over. Sorry. *cough*

What else didn't I like? Some of the scenes between Murph and Summer made me downright uncomfortable. Like, it wasn't too bad, it was just...lots of different places. Until that one scene right after the wedding (not gonna say whose wedding, to avoid potential spoilers). I understand that this is supposed to be authentic and real but like...y'all. I've got a vivid imagination. Whenever I read something in a book, I picture it in my mind. And this...this is not something I wanted to picture in my mind. (I suppose I should've learned my lesson from the first Shepherd book. But I didn't, unfortunately.)

The unfortunate thing is, even though the book ended on a cliffhanger, I'm not even sure that I want to read the next one. Which sadly brings the book down from "It was pretty good!" to "It...was good...I think?"

But. What did I like?

The plot was fantastic. Granted, the first half of the book was slow and I was trying to find out exactly where the back cover blurb fit into the whole picture. But then the second half hit and bang, we finally caught some of the action that Murphy Shepherd is known for! (did I just end a sentence with a preposition? Yes. Yes, I did. *bows* forgive me.) Like, that one scene full of InJUrY and pAIn and DEaTh!

"You came after us!" 

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but...you actually did." (Might not be exact wording, but super close, anyway)

These words, uttered from a heart so broken that she dared not believe they were true until she saw it put into action in the most sacrificial way possible, sum up my favorite part in the entire book. Someone who didn't see herself as worthy of love...found herself being treated as a most precious treasure (find a parallel in here somewhere?). And I adored it.

I also really loved Casey's character arc. It wasn't the straight-road-to-recovery-with-a-couple-setbacks. No, it was more like we-thought-we-were-recovering-but-then-everything-was-almost-completely-lost-but-it'll-all-turn-out-okay-in-the-end. (I guess I have a thing for hyphens. *shrug*) Like...I really, really loved the entire Casey aspect (including that last scene with her?? IT WAS SOOO GOOD.)

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher from Netgalley for promotional purposes. All thoughts are my own.

I obviously have mixed feelings about this book. But hey, if it sounds like something that you'd like, go for it! I'd love to hear your thoughts!