Promotion/Giveaway: Teen Life by D.M. Mejias

D.M. Mejias is offering copies of his book Teen Life to giveaway on GoodReads. The author says Teen Life deals with all the issues teens face today such as drugs, bullying, pregnancy, sex, and peer pressures while showing teens how to successfully navigate through the turbulent high school years. It is an easy and to the point read with the occasional illustrations. It also talks about love, how to make your crush fall in love with you, how to treat your sweetheart, how to deal with difficult people and more.  This book explains the consequences of bad choices and shows how choosing positive alternatives can successfully impact their lives. Everybody knows a teen that needs the information on this book, so help me pass it on.

The giveaway ends August 28th, so head over there now to get your entry in (you will need to be a member to enter).

Review: Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez

Kill Decision is a techno-thriller by Daniel Suarez. This non-stop, seat of your pants story follows a very realistic and frighteningly, scientifically plausible plot in which unmanned armed drones are turned against their makers. The scientific accuracy of this novel is a definite strength, which I believe will appeal to sci-fi and military fiction fans alike.

The story itself is well paced with good, well developed characters; I particularly liked the characterisation of McKinney; the ‘ant’ scientist. There was also a real sense of camaraderie amongst the group assembled to find those responsible for the drone attacks. The plot builds well throughout, although the ending, whilst acceptable, was a bit lacklustre for my liking; not entirely satisfying. Looking past the fiction, the science is presented well and in an unbiased way, allowing the reader to make their own decisions on if the progress of this type of technology is good or bad. Some have compared the writing style to Michael Crichton but whilst I saw similarities between Kill Decision and Prey – I wouldn’t say the overall writing compares to Crichton; as there isn’t very much for the reader to work out in Suarez’s work.

Overall a good thriller which will keep you engrossed from start to finish. A perfect book for fans of writers like Tom Clancy and Andy McNab. Kill Decision is available from Amazon UK for £6.43, unfortunately only as a dead-tree book. 

Review: Mortuary Confidential by Kenneth McKenzie

Mortuary Confidential is a collection of anecdotes about the lives and experiences of undertakers. It offers a different, more light hearted perspective on the industry than I had experienced before, although it is not as humorous as I had originally imagined.

It’s a real mix of some inspiring and heartbreaking stories – some of which left me in tears – and some really funny ones including my personal favourite of the undertaker who accidentally made up a person to look like someone completely different. Unlike similar book Stiff there is very little technical detail and the focus is primarily on the experiences of the undertakers rather than the corpse. There were also no ‘gross out’ moments, making it a more appealing book, although, as mentioned before, there are some very sad moments which may upset some people, especially the recently bereaved.

Overall, I found it a humorous as well as thought provoking book, which was extremely easy to read. It’s the kind of book you might take to an appointment where you don’t want to be too bogged down in an evolving plot but just want something light to pass the time.

Mortuary Confidential is available from Amazon UK for £6.47.