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Bite Club (The Morganville Vampires, #10)
Bite Club (The Morganville Vampires, #10)
Rachel Caine | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.2 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book does something brand new in the series -- Shane's point of view is alternated with Claire's point of view. It is a very good thing that Rachel Caine decides to do this, as I do not think that Claire could have gotten such a good understanding of the lure of the vampire-themed fight club that Shane gets involved with.
We not only get to see into Shane's head, but we also get a fuller understanding of his anger and hatred towards vampires, as well as his internal battle with accepting his sister's death, followed by his mother's death, and his father's abuse and fanaticism. Honestly, it is amazing that Shane has any sanity left at all, considering the life he has lived up to this point. Claire has been like a bright star in his life, and it would be a real tragedy if he were to ever lose her -- which does not look like it will be happening any time soon.
On the flip side, Shane's drastic change in behavior due to the fight club puts Claire's heart through the ringer several times throughout the book and has her considering and reconsidering just how much she really wants to stay in Morganville -- especially when M.I.T., her dream school, starts calling. Luckily, Claire has always been a force to be reckoned with in Morganville, and her instincts are always right on par. Only she can stand up to Amelie, the Founder of Morganville, and come away unscathed, even if barely.
If a vampire fight club is not bad enough to be worthy of a book, a certain "big bad" comes back from the figurative dead to wreak havoc and death. Of course, my favorite character, Myrnin makes the final battle interesting with a few new toys and unforgettable one-liners. His rivalry with the new brain behind the town security system, Frank Collins, provides some fresh entertainment, too. This series just keeps getting better, and I can't wait for the release of the next book, Last Breath.
  
DM
Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone, #10)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
She ruined their lives. Now they’re going to destroy hers.
‘Someone is recreating every traumatic point in your life. They are doing this to make you suffer, to make you hurt and the only possible end game can be death. Your death.’
On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator. The boy is dead but the girl is alive. For Detective Kim Stone every detail of the scene mirrors her own terrifying experience with her brother Mikey, when they lived in the same tower block thirty years ago.
When the bodies of a middle-aged couple are discovered in a burnt-out car, Kim can’t ignore the chilling similarity to the death of Erica and Keith – the only loving parents Kim had ever known.
Faced with a killer who is recreating traumatic events from her past, Kim must face the brutal truth that someone wants to hurt her in the worst way possible. Desperate to stay on the case, she is forced to work with profiler Alison Lowe who has been called in to observe and monitor Kim’s behavior.
Kim has spent years catching dangerous criminals and protecting the innocent. But with a killer firmly fixed on destroying Kim, can she solve this complex case and save her own life or will she become the final victim?

Dead Memories is the tenth book in the DI Kim Stone series, wow what a story!
This is another very cleverly written and fast-paced plot. Wonderful well developed characters and a wide range of suspects to choose from.
Lots of action and tons of suspense from start to finish. Riddled with twists and this story is not predictable at all.
Absolutely the best in series so far in my opinion. Thoroughly enjoyed and I highly recommend reading!!

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Bookouture, and Angela Marsons for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest opinion.
  
40x40

David McK (3576 KP) rated Tarkin in Books

Jan 28, 2019  
Tarkin
Tarkin
James Luceno | 2014 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
4
7.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
"That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"
"The Regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station."

That exchange, from the original Star Wars film, pretty much sums up what would become known as the Tarkin Doctrine: that of rule by fear.

While there have been other Star Wars novels based on the other 'bad guys' (Vader, Boba Fett, etc), this is also the first - to the best of my knowledge - based on Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, as portrayed by Peter Cushing in the films, and the first Grand Moff of the Galactic Empire.

"Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances ..."

While it may not be apparent in the film - particulary when he utters that line seconds before the Death Star is blown up - this also makes him out ot be a strategic mastermind - it is he who oversaw the construction of the Death Star, and he who (in this) works out the identites of those who have stolen his starship that is now cayying out strikes agaisnt Imperial installations, the pursuit of which is the main driving force of the plot behind this novel.

This also goes to show how Vader came to work with Tarkin on board the Death Star, and the defining events of Tarkins earlier life that would go to shape the character he would become.

With all that said, however, the writing style did - at times - put me off, with the novel never really getting me hooked into just what would ahppen next - we all know, for example, that he would survive and not only survive, but prosper by the end of it! It's also not the worst Star Wars book, nor even the worst of the 'New Canon' such books I've read, but nor was it the best - a solid middle-of-the-road entry for me.