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.

Review: Living Proof by Kira Peikoff

Living Proof is set a in a world where the church and the state are closer than ever. In a very religious society the progress made by 2012 in stem cell treatment has all but been forgotten; embryos cannot be used for experimentation or treatment, only their use in procreation is allowed. However even in this world there are those who remember the potential benefits of stem cell treatment, people like Arianna, a fertility doctor with a personal motive to continue the research, no matter what the cost. But will her new boyfriend be a blessing or a curse to her cause?

The subject matter of Living Proof is very relevant in today’s society and the book portrays both sides of the controversy. It is obvious the author favours science, as at times the religious argument is put across in a somewhat flippant manner through the way the religious characters are portrayed.  I personally didn’t like this, as a constant thread though the book was essentially that the religious characters were extremists and almost stupid because of their beliefs. I did however enjoy the way Trent, who works for an enforcement agency protecting embryos, questions his faith in an intelligent and fascinating way which came across as very real because you could feel his confusion. From the science side, which I personally support, some arguments were ‘preachy’ and very run-of-the-mill. I would have preferred, from both sides, for characters other than Trent to have more varying opinions and degrees of belief; this would have made the characters more interesting and complex.

There is a romantic sub-plot in this thriller. Whilst I’m not normally a fan of romance, it was done well and I did find myself routing for the couple by the end. Again, this is something that could have been taken further, and whilst there was some conflict, this could have been more complex to make it more interesting and less predictable.

The book was somewhat let down by the drop in pace in several parts which detracted from the suspense and left me slightly bored. Despite these slow parts, usually where characters were introduced or explored, there were still some characters, such as those in Arianna’s lab team, that I felt I didn’t know by the end of the book. Along side this there are small plot problems that make Arianna less believable as a character – why would she trust Trent so fast? Why does her MS progress so quickly in a matter of weeks?

Overall this book is an interesting look at a possible and realistic future. I enjoyed reading it, as I think other science/medical thriller fans will, due to the ethics involved. The plot does take a backseat to the pro-choice agenda and this may put some readers off. Christians and those who are strongly pro-life will also probably want to avoid this due to the characterisation of religious people; whom in this book are definitely the bad guys. I would especially recommend this for book clubs and school groups due to the discussions it will spurn, in fact I would have liked to see a ‘questions for discussion’ section or similar, which can often be found in similar books.

Living Proof is available from Amazon UK for £16.41 (hardback) and £5.08 (paperback), hopefully an e-book version will be released soon. 

[A review copy was provided by the publisher]