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The Fourth Monkey (4MK Thriller, #1)
The Fourth Monkey (4MK Thriller, #1)
J.D. Barker | 2017 | Thriller
8
8.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
<img src="https://bookbumzuky.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/4mk-giveaway-v2.png"; width="430" height="430" alt="win the book!"/>

<a href="https://bookbum.co.uk/2017/06/27/4mk/">WIN A HARDBACK COPY OF THE BOOK HERE!</a> (UK only)

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I had so many opinions running through my head when I was reading this. At first I was excited and intrigued to find out more, then I was slightly reluctant to read it towards the middle (though I think factors outside of the book were influencing my opinion at that point) and then by the end I was super eager to finish it (in a good way) and see where it went.

This is a fast paced thriller that’s going to keep you rooted to your seat. I, unfortunately, had so much to do while reading this book (work and personal life) that I wasn’t able to sit and read huge chunks of it and I think that’s why I got a little slow to reading it towards the middle. If you’re going to read this book, my advice is to free up some of your time so you can bulk read it, otherwise some of the more shocking revelations and continuous fast paced action won’t have it’s desired effect.

The first thing I loved about this novel is the fact that our protagonist is an older man, not some sprightly new thing coming straight out of police school. It was nice to have that less popular character as our “hero”. The second thing I loved was the Diary entries. I (mainly) love books that jump back and forth between past and present so when these skin crawlingly creepy diary entries started, I was pumped! They never let me down, through the entire thing they were disturbing and really added something to the novel.

My only complaint? Well, this was a buddy read with my pal Annie @ The Misstery, and we knew who 4MK was the moment we met them. Kind of a bummer but at the same time it was quite fun to see if we were actually going to be right or not (we were). It was still good fun to find out how everything came together in the end.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and I’m already excited to see another book in the series will be out next year. The ending lines of the novel are chilling and I can’t wait for them to be followed up!

<i>Thanks to HQ for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!</i>
  
God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction
God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction
Dan Barker | 2018 | Reference, Religion
6
3.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A striking book designed to hit Christianity in the heart.
(Please note: It is beyond the scope of this book review to go into whether or not there is a God, or if God is good.)

This book is written by Dan Barker, a former evangelical preacher. The inspiration for this book comes from a single paragraph in Richard Dawkin’s God Delusion, which goes as follows:

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomanical, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Now that’s quite a statement! And it’s also what Barker’s book is centred around. In Part 1, Barker sets out examples of these 19 characteristics within the Christian bible.

Sadly for Christianity, not only had barker found examples of every single one of these 19 characteristics, but he usually found several examples in every case. In fact, the reason I haven’t given it a higher rating is because it was so repetitive, with so many examples of remarkably similar and disturbing passages. A whole chapter is dedicated to each of the descriptors in turn, and the whereabouts of each of the passages are clearly noted in bold before being presented underneath.

In Part 2, Barker takes the argument further still:
“He [Dawkins] forgot to mention that the God of the Old Testament is also a pyromaniacal, angry, merciless, curse-hurling, vaccicdal, aborticidal, cannibalistic slavemonger.”
Again, the following chapters are full of examples of these characteristics.

The book is predominantly a laundry list of evil requests and doings of the God of the Old Testament, but Chapter 28 asks “What About Jesus?” And here Barker even manages to find evidence that Jesus endorsed invasion and bloodshed (Deuteronomy 6.15-19), and encouraged the beating of slaves (Luke 12:47-48). Barker also sites a lot of Jesus’ bad advice

Several passages may be unpleasant for even strong atheists to read. I couldn’t get over how many times “fingers dripping with blood” comes up in the Bible.

Overall, Barker has little comments around and between the examples he sights, but I would suggest that this makes for a stronger argument, handing the role of jury to the reader. Obviously this book will upset just about any Christian who attempts to read it, and for those who do read it may feel better to recall that the analysis is only of how God is presented in the Bible, and not an analysis of any effect (if any) of God in their daily lives.
  
Crash Landing (Stop The Wedding, #3)
Crash Landing (Stop The Wedding, #3)
Lori Wilde | 2013
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
While I have quite a few Lori Wilde books sitting on my TBR shelf, this one was a freebie of the day for my kindle and I decided to give it a gander. I read it in about a day so it flowed pretty well. Here are my thoughts on Crash Landing by Lori Wilde.

We start the book with a girl staring at a hunky guy, I mean who doesn’t like to do that on occasion right?? Sophia Cruz likes very much what Gibb Martin has to offer in the looks department. He is an American, she is Costa Rican and American by birth. He is all business all the time, while she likes to take each day slow and steady. What could they possibly have in common??

Gibb needs a ride to Florida quickly because his best friend is getting married after only knowing his fiancée for a month. He is backing out of partnering with Gibb, because of his new love, on a new money making deal and that can’t happen. Sophia is a bush pilot and his only hope to get there in time to stop the wedding. Now if he can only stop lusting after her long enough to get focused on stopping this wedding.

Sophia wouldn’t mind a quick roll in the hay with this rich boy but no long lasting relationship, why would he possibly look at her twice? She really needs the money so she goes against her own better advice and agrees to fly him to Florida. A long close cabin ride will certainly not help squelch her desire.

Gibb and Sophia get to know each other on the flight then the unexpected crash landing on a deserted island gets them even closer. Will they find out they have more in common than they both realize?

I liked the flow of this story for the most part. I feel like it started off and a good pace then slowed a little in the middle. Without giving too many spoilers I feel like there was a weird middle part on the island that served no real purpose but I thoroughly enjoyed the part with the monkeys. I am giggling still as I write this review. I liked Lori Wilde’s way of capturing the culture and interactions so you could really picture it all in your minds eye. Crash Landing captured my attention pretty quickly and kept it all the way through. I would say this was a good way to get my feet wet in Lori Wilde’s title pool.
  
Killing Gunther (2017)
Killing Gunther (2017)
2017 | Action, Comedy
5
6.1 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Action Superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to action in the new film “Killing Gunther”. The film is a documentary style fusion of comedy and action and involves a collection of assassins gathering to kill an elite assassin named Gunther (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The group’s motives are varied but many simply want to make a name for themselves by taking out the top name in their profession.

The leader of the team is Blake (Taran Killam), and he has a range of reasons for wanting Gunther dead and has hired a documentary film crew to capture every moment of his mission.

Unfortunately Blake and his crew are highly dysfunctional and they have to supplement their crew with some unstable and unproven recruits as the more established members of their profession know better than to cross Gunther.

The team learns quickly that there plans are already known to Gunther and he starts toying with them in a series of well-timed hit and run missions. Every time the team thinks they have the drop on Gunther, he seems to turn the tables on them and slip away, reducing their ranks in the process.

Blake soon finds his life falling apart as his actions have drawn the attention of the authorities and he finds himself unable to return to his home and forced to take up residence with his tech guy.

As Blake goes all in on his mission life and other complications arise for the team which makes for an all-out finale to accomplish his goal.

 

While the premise of the film is entertaining it does tend to drag on at many points and labors to get to Schwarzenegger. Part of this is due to Taran Killam being the Writer and Director for the film as well. He has a background that includes Saturday Night Live and short sitcoms and sketch comedies. He has crafted a very interesting premise but one that would have been better in a series of short sketches or in a shorter film.

Schwarzenegger seems to be enjoying himself and the campy nature of his role and he at times parodies himself with some lines lifted from “Predator”, yet seems to do so with a wink and a smile to the audience.

Schwarzenegger fans may find the film interesting enough to watch in the theaters but my advice would be to watch this on demand or wait to rent or stream it.

http://sknr.net/2017/10/18/killing-gunther/
  
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Little Ray Of Sunshine (41 KP) rated Damage in Books

Jan 11, 2019 (Updated Feb 10, 2019)  
D
Damage
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Book Review | Damage by Eve Ainsworth
Blurb
HOW CAN YOU HEAL IF YOU CAN'T FACE YOU PAST?
Confident, Popular Gabi has a secret - A secret so terrible she can't tell her family, or her best friend,
 she can't even take pleasure in her beloved skateboarding any more. One day, an impulse turns to something darker

Gabi has never felt so alone. But then she learns that not everyone has wounds you can see.

A searing look at self-harm and acceptance from hugely talented Author Eve Ainsworth.

Review
When reading this book I felt attached to the character Gabi as I know how it feels to lose your Grandad as mine passed away last year. It does make a gap in the family and feel weird.
It was sad that Gabi couldn't tell her parents how she felt and how it is making her feel as her parents always busy running their pub.
When Gabi starts to self-harm she felt so alone and this is the only way to release the sadness and pain. She felt she couldn't tell her best friend and her friends she skates about with as she felt they wouldn't want to be friends with her and she felt they would think she doing it just for attention.

I haven't read a book about self-harm before and I feel I want to read more about Mental Health through fiction and non-fiction books. I read this book during 'Mental Health Awareness Week' and I feel this needs to spread and let people at school to read it as I knew a few of my girl friends who self harmed when I was in Secondary School. I felt there was enough support in school when people who are getting bullied or needs someone professional to talk to and listen to them. I admit at the time my friends where doing this I was there to listen but I felt helpless and didn't know what advice to give them.

What is helpful from this book is the Author Eve Ainsworth has included organizations at the back of the book to help people. I will include them too below:

YOUNG MINDS: www.youngminds.org.uk
HARMLESS: www.harmless.org.uk
THE WISH CENTRE: www.thewishcentre.org.uk
RETHINK: www.rethink.org
MIND: www.mind.org.uk

Or if you need to talk to someone, the following organizations are there 24 hours a day.

CHILDLINE: www.childline.org.uk
Phone: 0800 1111
THE SAMARITANS
www.samaritans.org
Phone: 116 123

If you have anymore organizations you know and would like to include please comment below.

Thanks for reading x
  
AG
A Grimm Legacy (Grimm Tales #1)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

Fairy tale enthusiasts will love this young adult novel by Colorado based author Janna Jennings. Full with lots of magical references <i>A Grimm Legacy</i> is about four teenagers who get dragged out of their world and into the enchanted realm of Elorium. The mysterious Mr. Jackson, who they find in a mansion with a couple of elf servants, tells them that they have been brought there for a reason; but before anyone gets the chance to explain what that reason is, the four run away only to encounter many dangerous characters.

As the title suggests <i>A Grimm Legacy</i> is loosely based upon the stories collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. To get the most out of this book the reader needs to have an understanding of a variety of fairy-tales, for instance <i>Cinderella</i>. As well as the more commonly known, there are less recognized stories, which are of great significance to the novel: for example <i>Jorindel and Jorinda</i> and <i>The Fisherman and his Wife</i>.

Whilst Jennings has done well in her research into the different fairytales, she includes <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i> as one of the references, which is in fact not a Brothers’ Grimm tale. <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i> is an English tale that was first recorded by Benjamin Tabart in 1807. Either Jennings failed to realize this or she was including all fairytales within this book, in which case the title is misleading.

The book on the whole was quick to read and was full of exciting twists. I enjoyed discovering the various references to the well-known stories. One thing that made the text confusing, however, was the lack of breaks between certain paragraphs. Within a chapter there were occasionally more than one scene or setting and without a gap to distinguish between them it was often difficult to understand the changes in time period etc.

This book was written with young adults in mind but can be enjoyed by older readers too. It is not suitable for younger children however, not only due to the sinister nature of the original fairytales, but <i>A Grimm Legacy</i> has the occasional violent scene in it.

Despite the inaccuracy regarding <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i>, this is a fun book to read. My only advice is to read it after you have explored some of the Brothers’ Grimm collection.
  
Jason X (2001)
Jason X (2001)
2001 | Horror, Sci-Fi
5
5.4 (24 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Just when you thought it was safe to return to the local theater, along comes “Jason X”, the tenth installment of the popular Friday the 13th series. Having grown tired of the summer camp settings of the majority of the series the creators set recent installments in New York City as well as played with the formula by having Jason possess people as was shown in the last two films of the series.

This is a new era and this time Jason is back to his old tricks in an entirely new setting. After being cryogenically frozen in 2010, Jason and a female scientist are discovered by a student survey team and revived in the year 2455 where Earth has become uninhabitable. Warnings about Jason and his ability to regenerate from any injury are unheeded as the lure of big money is motivating the group’s leader Professor Lowe (Johnathan Potts) rather than the safety of the students and crew of the ship. Before long, Jason is up to his old tricks increasing his body count as he unleashes new and gruesome ways to dispatch the crew.

Being a horror film, the plot is secondary to the action and director James Isaac does not let the film get overly serious and even pokes fun at itself and the series. There are a number of lines and situations where the audience could ask if the characters could be any dumber, however in an interesting twist, these sort of situations as well as others are setup and carried off with intentional comedic results that had the audience laughing and thus providing a nice break from the scares and gore.
The cast is made up of largely unknowns and they are about as forgettable as the movie as they exist to be little more than fodder for Jason. I found it interesting to note that by the year 2455, students are still as ditzy as they are portrayed in 2002, and have libidos that make the 1984 LA Lakers look like a Vestal Virgin convention. That being said, “Jason X” is a standard horror film that has a few twists for the audience. Although you will have seen all of this before, the space setting and the humor helps make the film stand out from some of the stale installments of the series, but the lack of a story and character development keeps this film from being a true Horror classis. My advice, if you are a fan of the series gather your friends and wait for the video.
  
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Darren (1599 KP) rated Crank (2006) in Movies

Oct 31, 2019  
Crank (2006)
Crank (2006)
2006 | Action, Comedy, Mystery
5
7.1 (15 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Characters – Chev Chelios somehow survives his mile high fall from the first film, he is given a new artificial heart which he must keep charged or he will die, he goes in search of his own heart which will see him go against another gang in LA, Eve now knows about Chev’s career, she has become a stripper and will supporting him trying to get his heart back. Doc Miles will do everything he can to help Chev giving him advice on how to keep his heart going. Venus is the brother of Kaylo who goes on to help Chev to get revenge for his own brother’s death. We have more gangs that are working against Chev this time, some return others are new.

Performances – Jason Statham does what he can with the leading role, he handles the action with ease, only he just doesn’t reach the same levels as before, this does affect the rest of the cast who do struggle to make an impact in this film.

Story – The story does follow the next chapter of Chev’s life, the one after he should have died, only for him to get a new chance which sees him needing to race against time to get his own heart back. This side is simple enough at does work for what the film is doing, Chev take on endless amounts of enemies, the problem here with the story is that we dive too much into the side characters of what is going on and end up getting too many completely random scenes which just seem offensive on too many levels. This story does end up becoming messy and just has one of the worst scripts out there.

Action/Crime – The action does try to become bigger, only for it to be shot in a style which doesn’t make it easy to connect. The criminal world does feel bigger, but now everything does seem more personal rather gang controlled.

Settings – The film remains set in LA which does continue to show the crazy gangs that are meant to operate in this city.

Special Effects – The effects do feel like they are being more ambitious, only for some to be so farfetched they only seem to make things look confusing, including an insulting looking Godzilla like fight.


Scene of the Movie – Final showdown.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Godzilla like fight.

Final Thoughts – This is a wildly over the top sequel which only ends up becoming too much to handle for the crazy nature of everything going on.

Overall: Too wild.
  
Flight 7500 (TBD)
Flight 7500 (TBD)
TBD | Horror
5
5.3 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Characters – Chev Chelios somehow survives his mile high fall from the first film, he is given a new artificial heart which he must keep charged or he will die, he goes in search of his own heart which will see him go against another gang in LA, Eve now knows about Chev’s career, she has become a stripper and will supporting him trying to get his heart back. Doc Miles will do everything he can to help Chev giving him advice on how to keep his heart going. Venus is the brother of Kaylo who goes on to help Chev to get revenge for his own brother’s death. We have more gangs that are working against Chev this time, some return others are new.

Performances – Jason Statham does what he can with the leading role, he handles the action with ease, only he just doesn’t reach the same levels as before, this does affect the rest of the cast who do struggle to make an impact in this film.

Story – The story does follow the next chapter of Chev’s life, the one after he should have died, only for him to get a new chance which sees him needing to race against time to get his own heart back. This side is simple enough at does work for what the film is doing, Chev take on endless amounts of enemies, the problem here with the story is that we dive too much into the side characters of what is going on and end up getting too many completely random scenes which just seem offensive on too many levels. This story does end up becoming messy and just has one of the worst scripts out there.

Action/Crime – The action does try to become bigger, only for it to be shot in a style which doesn’t make it easy to connect. The criminal world does feel bigger, but now everything does seem more personal rather gang controlled.

Settings – The film remains set in LA which does continue to show the crazy gangs that are meant to operate in this city.

Special Effects – The effects do feel like they are being more ambitious, only for some to be so farfetched they only seem to make things look confusing, including an insulting looking Godzilla like fight.


Scene of the Movie – Final showdown.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Godzilla like fight.

Final Thoughts – This is a wildly over the top sequel which only ends up becoming too much to handle for the crazy nature of everything going on.

Overall: Too wild.
  
The Midnight Man (2016)
The Midnight Man (2016)
2016 | Horror
7
6.3 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Characters – Chev Chelios somehow survives his mile high fall from the first film, he is given a new artificial heart which he must keep charged or he will die, he goes in search of his own heart which will see him go against another gang in LA, Eve now knows about Chev’s career, she has become a stripper and will supporting him trying to get his heart back. Doc Miles will do everything he can to help Chev giving him advice on how to keep his heart going. Venus is the brother of Kaylo who goes on to help Chev to get revenge for his own brother’s death. We have more gangs that are working against Chev this time, some return others are new.

Performances – Jason Statham does what he can with the leading role, he handles the action with ease, only he just doesn’t reach the same levels as before, this does affect the rest of the cast who do struggle to make an impact in this film.

Story – The story does follow the next chapter of Chev’s life, the one after he should have died, only for him to get a new chance which sees him needing to race against time to get his own heart back. This side is simple enough at does work for what the film is doing, Chev take on endless amounts of enemies, the problem here with the story is that we dive too much into the side characters of what is going on and end up getting too many completely random scenes which just seem offensive on too many levels. This story does end up becoming messy and just has one of the worst scripts out there.

Action/Crime – The action does try to become bigger, only for it to be shot in a style which doesn’t make it easy to connect. The criminal world does feel bigger, but now everything does seem more personal rather gang controlled.

Settings – The film remains set in LA which does continue to show the crazy gangs that are meant to operate in this city.

Special Effects – The effects do feel like they are being more ambitious, only for some to be so farfetched they only seem to make things look confusing, including an insulting looking Godzilla like fight.


Scene of the Movie – Final showdown.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Godzilla like fight.

Final Thoughts – This is a wildly over the top sequel which only ends up becoming too much to handle for the crazy nature of everything going on.

Overall: Too wild.