Category Archives: Sci-fi

Blood Echo (Burning Girl #2) by Christopher Rice ~ Mystery/Thriller #New Release @chrisricewriter #NetGalley #BloodEcho

Posted in Book Review, Crime, Sci-fi, Suspense, Thriller by

Author: Christopher Rice

Published: February 2019 by Thomas & Mercer

Category: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Book Review

Kidnapped and raised by serial killers, Charlotte Rowe suffered an ordeal that made her infamous. Everyone in the world knew who she was. But no one in the world has any idea what she’s become…

Following on from Bone Music, Blood Echo wastes no time and dives straight into the action, giving an insight into the psyche of a serial killer who is on the hunt for his next victim.  Little does he know he’s the one being hunted.

Despite not completely trusting him, Charlotte Rowe has formed an alliance with Cole Graydon, owner of the pharmaceutical company responsible for the production of Zypraxon, the drug that gives Charlotte super human abilities and the power to regenerate.  Between them, for horrifically personal reasons, they are committed to hunting down serial killers and other predators before they have chance to harm any more women. When a test mission goes drastically wrong it leaves Charlotte unnerved by the power she wields when Zypraxon triggers in her system.

Charlotte was abducted and raised by the serial killers who numbered her mother in their list of victims. Exploited by her father after her rescue, she has no intention of letting anyone take advantage of her or her story ever again. 

So I’m glad I lived. I’m glad they were caught.

And I’m glad I have a new purpose today.

While I’ve been stunned by the levels of secrecy Cole has been able to maintain so far, I’m still convinced that the work I’m doing is going to get out. Maybe it won’t be exposed all at once, but pieces of the truth might start to surface. And unlike the years I spent on that farm, I’m not going to let other people twist the story of my involvement.

If the time ever comes to tell this story, mine will be told in full, and by my own hand.

Taking time out with her partner, Luke, at home in Altamira isn’t quite the respite she was hoping for. Altamira is a quiet out of the way town, or it was until the developers landed. When Lacey Shannon, badly beaten, walks into the station wanting Luke to arrest the project manager it soon becomes apparent this isn’t the simple case Luke believed it to be but something much more sinister. Lacey’s request and what Luke finds are just the tip of a very large and deadly iceberg.

Even though Charlotte is irrevocably tied in with Graydon, she has no intention of letting things slide in Altamira and takes matters into her own hands. The multi layered plot is a good mix of action and character development. With an explosive beginning and ending, the middle section is slightly slower paced as we’re given more insight into the pharmaceutical side of things. Graydon’s past is explored in more detail, fleshing out his character and adding depth and emotion to the story. Dylan (Charlotte’s ex therapist), Marty (a close family friend who always has her back) and Bailey (Luke’s tech wizard brother) are excellently developed secondary characters, filling in more of the back history.

This is a complex storyline with several threads all eventually merging together. Christopher Rice has created a cast of well defined characters and taken a different slant on the definition of a thriller, giving it a suggestion of possible future scientific advances. After this ending, I’m looking forward to the third book.

I chose to read and review Blood Echo courtesy of Katie Olsen at Little Bird Publicity and NetGalley.  

Book links ~ Amazon UK | Amazon US

About the Author

Christopher Rice is the recipient of the Lambda Literary Award and is the New York Times bestselling author of A DENSITY OF SOULS and the Bram Stoker Award finalists THE HEAVENS RISE and THE VINES. He is the head writer and an executive producer of “The Vampire Chronicles”, a television show based on the bestselling novels by his mother, Anne Rice. Together they penned RAMSES THE DAMNED: THE PASSION OF CLEOPATRA, a sequel to her bestselling novel THE MUMMY OR RAMSES THE DAMNED. BONE MUSIC, the first installment in his new Burning Girl series, was released March 1st, 2018, and the sequel, BLOOD ECHO, will be released in February 2019. With his best friend, New York Times bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, Christopher hosts the YouTube channel THE DINNER PARTY SHOW WITH CHRISTOPHER RICE & ERIC SHAW QUINN (#TDPS). THE DINNER PARTY SHOW began as a podcast and Internet radio show. You can download and stream all of their episodes at www.TDPS.tv. He lives in West Hollywood, California.

Author links ~ Website | Twitter | Facebook

The Things We Learn When We’re Dead by Charlie Laidlaw ~ A New Beginning #Fantasy @claidlawauthor #FridayReads

Posted in Book Review, Fantasy, Sci-fi by

Author: Charlie Laidlaw

Published: September 2017 by Accent Press

Category: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Book Review

The Things We Learn When We’re Dead is about how small decisions can have profound and unintended consequences, but how we can sometimes get a second chance.

On the way home from a dinner party, Lorna Love steps into the path of an oncoming car. When she wakes up she is in what appears to be a hospital – but a hospital in which her nurse looks like a young Sean Connery, she is served wine for supper, and everyone avoids her questions.

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#Throwback Thursday ~ October Rain by @dylanjmorgan #SciFi #Dystopian Future

Posted in Book Review, Dystopian, Novella, Sci-fi, Throwback Thursday by

Renee at It’s Book Talk began this meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing.

This week’s Throwback Thursday choice is October Rain, a science fiction/dystopian novella published in February 2016.

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#ThrowbackThursday ~ The Martian by Andy Weir #Audiobook #SciFi @andyweirauthor

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Sci-fi, Throwback Thursday by

Renee at It’s Book Talk began this meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing.

This week I’m going with The Martian in audiobook format. It was released on Audible in March 2014 and RC Bray delivered a fantastic performance. Well worth a listen. I watched the film as well, which stuck to the original story from what I can remember, but I still preferred the audiobook.

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#ThrowbackThursday ~ More Than This by Patrick Ness #YA #SciFi

Posted in Book Review, Sci-fi, Young Adult Fantasy/Sci-Fi by

Renee at It’s Book Talk began this meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing.

This week I’m showcasing More Than This by Patrick Ness. The audiobook was narrated by Nick Podehl and was released in 2013. 

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Bone Music (Burning Girl #1) by Christopher Rice #SciFi #Fantasy @chrisricewriter #NetGalley

Posted in Book Review, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Thriller by

Author: Christopher Rice

Published: 1st March 2018 by Thomas & Mercer

Category: Thriller, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Book Review

Charlotte Rowe spent the first seven years of her life in the hands of the only parents she knew—a pair of serial killers who murdered her mother and tried to shape Charlotte in their own twisted image.  If only the nightmare had ended when she was rescued.

Trina Pierce was abducted as a baby and spent her first seven years with the killer couple who murdered her mother. They wanted to ‘train’ her to be just like them. After she was rescued from the clutches of the serial killers, Abigail and Daniel Banning, her nightmare should have ended, but her father saw fit to exploit her experience, through the tabloid press and the movie industry. That, together with a weird stalker who admired the Banning’s, gave Trina the incentive to escape and detach herself from everything her life had been and had become by going to live with her grandmother.

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Cooking Up Crime by Harriet Steel @harrietsteel1 ~ available on @instafreebie ~ cozy crime meets sci-fi

Posted in Books, Cozy Mystery, Promo, Reading, Sci-fi, Spotlight by

Harriet Steel, author of the series of books featuring Shanti de Silva, set in 1930’s Ceylon, has a new book available through Instafreebie. If you enjoy cozy mysteries, all you need to do is sign up for Harriet’s newsletter and the book is yours.

Cooking Up Crime ~ cozy crime meets sci-fi in this light-hearted tale of revenge, reading and cakes.

Far ahead in the twenty-second century, libraries as we know them are a thing of the past. In this brave new world, they’ve been replaced by audio-visual pods that deliver a full sensory experience, so much safer that all those germ-ridden bundles of paper people used to read. But to the despair of Jane, who’s worked in a library for thirty years, some borrowers aren’t as grateful as they should be. Her dissatisfaction increases when glamorous Sarah is appointed manager over her head.  Surely, the job should have been Jane’s?  Then she discovers that Sarah has a dark secret. It’s payback time…

#ThrowbackThursday ~ Once Dead by Richard Phillips #SciFi #Audiobook

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Sci-fi, Suspense, Thriller, Throwback Thursday by

Renee at It’s Book Talk began this meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that were published over a year ago. Not to mention those that are languishing on the to be read pile for whatever reason.

This week I’m revisiting an audiobook I listened to back in August 2014. Once Dead is the first of a prequel trilogy to The Rho Agenda science fiction series written by Richard Phillips. 

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The Homecoming by Alan Russell #Audiobook @luckylukeekul #FridayReads

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Books, Fantasy, Sci-fi by
  • Author: Alan Russell
  • Performed by Luke Daniels
  • Released: June 2017 by Brilliance Audio
  • Category: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook, Review, Books

Seven years ago, young Stella Pierce vanished from the face of the earth. Now her grieving, broken family—along with Detective Orson Cheever, who never stopped working her case—is stunned by her mysterious return.

Set in California, Alan Russell opens the story with several couples and their children having a Valentine’s Day BBQ at the beach. A ghost story told by the fire, sworn to be true by the teller, fascinates Stella but makes the adults uncomfortable. Introducing Jason’s story lays the groundwork for what was to come. 

Love isn’t something you need to capture in a picture. It just is.

After such a lovely get together Eleanor and Duncan Pierce had no idea their lives were about to shatter. That night seven year old Stella Pierce disappeared from her bedroom. Stella’s bed didn’t look slept in and nothing was out of place. She had disappeared without a trace. Continue reading →

#ThrowbackThursday ~ Innocence by Dean Koontz #Audiobook #Fantasy #SciFi

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Books, Fantasy, Reading, Sci-fi, Throwback Thursday by

Renee at It’s Book Talk began this meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that were published over a year ago. Not to mention those that are languishing on the to be read pile for whatever reason.

Continue reading →