Reviews
The Man on the Bench
Hy Conrad (Mason Hill Inc.)
In Hy Conrad’s The Man on the Bench, Austin reporter Callie McFee befriends a homeless man named Barney, only to discover him murdered shortly after confessing family secrets. Barney is revealed to be Cameron Frost, a reclusive, famous author disguising himself to gather material for a new novel based on the confessions of strangers. As Callie and her homicide detective brother, State, investigate, the body count rises, including fellow bench buddy Daisy and investigative journalist Dennis. While suspicion falls on Frost's brother and a shady b...
FROM BROKEN PIECES TO PEACE
Kimi Y. Bivins (Canoe Tree Press)
In From Broken Pieces to Peace, Kimi Y. Bivins’ psychologically grounded and motivating book, she writes: “It took me forty-six years of trial and error to realize I am not broken. I’ve just dealt with many broken men. I refuse to believe anything else.” This book is a raw memoir that is filled with practical Christian relationship advice. Drawing from her personal journey as a single believer at forty-five, Bivins recounts a life characterized by dysfunction, including being born to a married man, experiencing rape at the age of twenty by some...
Death Followed Us Home: A Thriller
J-S Rioux (Friesen Press)
In J-S Rioux’s Death Followed Us Home, elite Army Rangers return from Afghanistan only to face tragedy on US soil. Sergeant Emmanuel Muñoz and his young son are murdered during a botched ATM robbery, and this sets off a series of events that bring together his old unit in a daring and dangerous game of revenge. The police investigation doesn’t move as quickly as Muñoz's grieving unit would have wanted, and so they settle on vigilante justice. Led by Staff Sergeant Thomas “Sully” Sullivan, six soldiers track down the killers to a remote meth lab...
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Mortal Vengeance
Alejandro Torres De la Rocha (Alejandro Torres De la Rocha)
Mortal Vengeance by Alejandro Torres De la Rocha is a harrowing Dominican crime thriller that follows a group of Santo Domingo high schoolers whose attempt to poison their abusive teacher, Profesora Lourdes, ignites a catastrophic spiral of violence. What begins as misguided revenge fractures their friendship, triggering Enrique’s brutal murder by the spectral Grim Cojuelo, Manuel’s death, Lourdes’ own murder, and the slaughter of Enrique’s parents and Lieutenant Ricardo’s family. Paranoia consumes the survivors—Alex, Melissa, Mario, and Monika...
The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade
David Tuch (https://thedesaifoundation.org/)
David Tuch's The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade chronicles the extraordinary life of Harold Derber, born Hyman Tuchverderber in 1926, Manchester. From his childhood evacuation during the Blitz to his training as a wireless operator in the British Merchant Navy, Derber’s journey spans continents and decades. After fighting in Israel's War of Independence and various smuggling ventures, he arrives in 1960s Miami, where he launches the Freedom Ferry to transport Cuban refugees, a humani...
Maya, Dead and Dreaming
Lana Sabarwal (https://thedesaifoundation.org/)
Set in the mist-laden town of Shogie, Washington, in 1952, Maya, Lana Sabarwal’s Dead and Dreaming follows Munna Dhingra, an Indian secretary at Shuni University, who receives an anonymous letter claiming her childhood friend Maya Hickman was murdered fourteen years earlier, not drowned accidentally as officially ruled. Haunted by guilt for rejecting Maya’s plea for help on the day she died, Munna reluctantly partners with her boss, Andrew Weaver, and the enigmatic psychoanalyst Karenina to investigate. Their probe unravels the Hickman family’s...
In a Country with No Name
Ron Morris ( Villefort Publishing)
In a Country with No Name by Ron Morris follows Bert Mars, a young English teacher in Bangkok who abandons his teaching job for what he believes is a glamorous opportunity with CLB, a television network owned by Thai tycoon Chiang. Transferred to an unnamed neighboring country, Bert becomes entangled in a conspiracy to overthrow Prime Minister Thaw Kai after a business dispute over broadcasting rights. Recruited into Chiang’s inner circle, Bert helps install communications equipment for a coup attempt. Will he and his friends succeed in this da...
The Wedding Night & Beyond
Victor Chukwu (PeaceWord Publishing)
The Wedding Night and Beyond by Dr. Victor Chukwu is a groundbreaking Christian guide to marital intimacy that cleverly blends biblical wisdom with practical medical insight to show Christian couples the beauty in sexual intimacy. The book systematically addresses the journey of sexual intimacy in marriage, beginning with foundational chapters on the spiritual significance of sex and understanding one’s body, then progressing through foreplay, the wedding night experience, handling physical intimacy, post-coital connection, pregnancy preparatio...
Snakeroot & Cohosh
Cathy Schieffelin (Atmosphere Press)
Set in 1950s Appalachian Kentucky, Snakeroot and Cohosh by Cathy Schieffelin follows Eva Morgan, who has suffered abuse at the hands of her husband, Luther. She is a gifted herbalist who relies on her healing skills, and she disguises herself as a man named “Enos” in her quest for a new start. She lands a job, leading botanical tours in Helton, armed with knowledge passed down from her late mother. But Luther hasn’t given up on her. He tracks her down, but she asserts her independence. While he promises that he has changed, it is hard for Eva t...
Rabbi, Your Cleavage is Showing
Michal Mendelsohn (Atmosphere Press)
Rabbi, Your Cleavage Is Showing chronicles Michal Mendelsohn’s extraordinary journey from a lonely childhood in Manhattan to becoming one of the first women ordained as a rabbi by Hebrew Union College in 1975. She details her struggles as a child raised in hotel apartments by parents who were emotionally detached. The memoir narrates her strained relationship with her father after the death of her mother and her unexpected belonging experience in Israel during the Six-Day War, where she lived on a kibbutz, served in the IDF entertainment corps,...