Solomon Vs. Lord by Paul Levine Win An eBook

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This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Rogue Crusader by John R. Monteith

I’m beginning to wonder if the Navy is offering creative writing to it’s officers.   I seem to have run across some excellent sea stories recently.

This book reads fine as a stand alone but seems to be the third book in a continuing series.   Jake Slade, an ex-U.S. naval officer with a storied past is thrust into a situation of apocalyptic potential engendered by Islamic extremists. 

Monteith puts together  a likeable cast of characters with some game changing personal issues.   Those issues impact behavior but are not related to the events occurring in this particular book.   I would have preferred a little more back story but, again, the book stands alone quite well.  

There is plenty of action and hard to starboard or hard to port type twists.  (salty dog talk is not my forte)  The book presents a believable scenario as far as terroristic motivation and technique, I can’t say how believable the submarine situations were but they were certainly innovative.   

This was an exciting book and I recommend it.

Body of work of <a type="amzn"> John R. Monteith </a>

Web Site: http://www.subthriller.com/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

INTERVIEW WITH PAUL LEVINE, AUTHOR OF “SOLOMON VS. LORD”

(We recently talked to Paul Levine, author of the “Solomon vs. Lord” legal thrillers.  The books were nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, and James Thurber awards, and have just been released as Kindle Exclusives). 

Q         “Solomon vs. Lord” opens with the lyrics from an old Frank Sinatra song called “But I Loved You.”  That’s a little odd for a legal thriller, isn’t it?

A:        Would you like me to sing a verse?

Q:        Only if you must.

A:        “Opposites attract, the wise men claim,

            Still I wish that we had been a little more the same,

            It might have been a shorter war.”

Q:        So, is it a thriller with humor or a mystery with romance?

A.        A legal thriller with humor.  A dramedy.

Q:        If you had to compare the story to earlier works...?

A:        Shakespeare, of course.

Q:        Of course.

A.        Seriously.  The ‘opposites attract’ set-up goes all the way back to “The Taming of the Shrew.”  Then there’s Dashiell Hammett’s “The Thin Man.”  “The Bickersons” on radio.  “Moonlighting” on television.  Two people love-hate each other.  Life sizzles when they’re together, fizzles when they’re apart.

Q:        Let’s look at the book’s teaser: 

            “Victoria Lord follows all the rules...

            Steve Solomon makes up his own...

            When they defend an accused murderer, they’ll either end up in ruin, in jail, or in

bed.”

            Does that leave anything out?

A:        All the kinky sex.

Q:        We’re not sure if you’re being serious.

A:        Totally.  My working title was “Fifty Shades of Plaid.”

Q:        One reviewer described the book as “Carl Hiaasen meets John Grisham in the court of last retort.”  Fair assessment?

A:        I probably bring humor to my work because, as a trial lawyer, I saw so much nuttiness in the courtroom.

Q:        In “The Deep Blue Alibi,” there’s a chapter at a Florida nudist resort.  Is it fair to ask how you researched the scene?

A:        Like Jackie Chan, I do my own stunts.

Q:        What about the title?  Are you paying homage to John D. MacDonald’s “The Deep Blue Good-Bye?”

A:        “Homage?”  That’s French for cheese, isn’t it?

Q:        Now you’re being facetious.

A:        That’s what they pay me for

Q:        Let’s be serious.  You’ve won the John D. MacDonald Fiction award.  You’re not denying his influence on you.

A:        After I moved to Florida, I read all of MacDonald’s Travis McGee books.  When I wrote my first Jake Lassiter novel (“To Speak for the Dead”), one of my first fan letters was from John D. MacDonald’s son.  I think JDM nailed Florida’s weirdness and corruption.

Q:        Does that explain the title of your third Solomon & Lord novel, “Kill All the Lawyers?”   A combination of Shakespeare and MacDonald.

A:        As lawyers constantly point out, that line was spoken by a villain in “Henry VI.”  The guy wanted to overthrow the government, and killing all the lawyers seemed like a good place to start.

Q:        While we’re on the topic of titles–

A:        Which you seem to be obsessed with.

Q:        What about “Habeas Porpoise?” 

A.        I didn’t steal that one from Shakespeare.

Q:        Or anyone else.  That would seem to be original.

A:        Here’s the story.  When Bantam published the book, my editors rejected the title as too funny.  Now, the story opens with two highly trained dolphins being kidnapped by some hapless animal rights people, so I thought “funny” was okay.  But we settled on “Trial & Error” for the book.  When I got the rights back for e-book publication, I restored the original name.

Q:        Tell us about your background.  Your education.

A:        At Penn State, I majored in journalism.  At the University of Miami Law School, I majored in the swimming pool.

Q:        You’ve been a successful television writer.  What advice would you give to people who want to break into Hollywood?

A:        Marry a blood relative of Jerry Bruckheimer or J.J. Abrams.

Q:        Lacking that, when aspiring authors or screenwriters sit down at the computer, what should they be writing?

A:        Ransom notes, maybe?  Look, it’s really hard to break into the business.  Some people suggest writing a spec script.  But that’s a tough route.  Years ago, Elmore Leonard said, “Writing a script and sending it to Hollywood is like drawing a picture of a car and sending it to Detroit.”  So I’d recommend entry level positions as assistants or script readers.  In the TV business, assistants sometimes manage to sell a script to the show they’re working on.               

Q:        Any last words about “Solomon vs. Lord?”

A:        I wasn’t kidding about the kinky sex.

More information on Paul Levine’s website: http://www.paul-levine.com

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This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Farsighted by Emlyn Chand

 Alex is a blind teenager whose lack of sight has made his other senses more sensitive or is it something else.   A mystery with psychic overtones, this book is well suited for the young adult reader.

Alex isn’t particularly likeable.   In some ways he epitomizes many of the stereotypical self-centeredness of the spoiled teen.   Alex, however, is not spoiled.  To the contrary, his family struggles to make ends meet and his parents don’t seem to coddle him due to his blindness.   

The book is a journey of self discovery and personal growth.   A lonely Alex discovers the joys and perils of friendship.   I found Alex’s personality a unusual combination of naivety and cynicism.  

The book sets up for an obvious sequel and takes the moral high ground in dealing with the alleged villain.  

Body of  work of <a type="amzn" >Emlyn Chand</a>

Web Site: http://www.emlynchand.com/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

SOLOMON VS. LORD SERIES NOW ON Kindle

Paul Levine's

SOLOMON VS. LORD SERIES

Now on Kindle

Win a free eBook of Solomon vs. Lord here.

Check back soon for the GiveAway!
In creating his main characters, Levine relied on 17 years practicing law...and his three marriages. Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord are combative Florida lawyers who love/hate each other and can't agree on "good morning." But life sizzles when they're together and fizzles when they're apart. A Coral Gables blueblood, Victoria plays by the book. A Coconut Grove beach bum, Steve ignores the rules in favor of Solomon's Laws. Together, the two make a surprisingly good trial team, although there's always the chance they'll kill each other while the jury is still out.

 

Solomon Vs. Lord
Steve Solomon is the sharpest lawyer ever to barely graduate from Key West School of Law. Victoria Lord is fresh from Yale, toiling for an ambitious D.A. and soon to be married. And Katrina Barksdale is a sexy former figure skater charged with killing her incredibly wealthy, incredibly kinky husband. With all three tangled in the steamiest trial of the century, the case is sure to make sparks fly, headlines scream—and opposites attract. Read More

 

 

Deep Blue Alibi
They are Florida's most mismatched legal duo,one a glamorous Miami blue blood, the other a Coconut Grove beach bum. And when they get together, you can throw every law right out the window. Read More

 

Kill All The Lawyers
Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord. They're the legal world's oddest couple—a shorts-and-sandals beach bum and a Coral Gables blue blood. Maybe the only thing keeping them from killing each other is that they're on the same side. Read More

 

Habeas Porpoise
HABEAS PORPOISE opens when Steve is awakened in the middle of the night with a panicked phone call from his 12 year-old nephew, Bobby. Before he can even realize it is not dream, Steve is on a high-speed chase against animal liberation fanatics who have kidnapped two dolphins from the local water park... Read More

 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Winner of Seal Team Six Outcasts GiveAway

 One hard copy of this HOT new book goes to:

Kara of Indiana

Thank you for participating, come back to my blogs often, there is almost always a GiveAway going on one of them. 


This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Look Again from Lisa Scottoline; A Guest Review

Note! This review may contain spoilers, I did not read the book so I don't know how much if anything is revealed.  Just a caution, btw I liked the review.

Before Look Again, Lisa Scottoline seemed to specialize in legal thrillers with strong, smart female protagonists with attitude and troubles to spare, usually of the murder-mystery variety.  There’s nothing wrong with that formula, and Scottoline is very successful in crafting engaging plot arcs and characters readers will care about — many of her thrillers are New York Times bestsellers.  

But with Look Again Scottoline seems to be headed in a new direction, one that, while keeping the well-paced suspense of her earlier novels, introduces new provocative issues akin to authors like Jodi Picoult, which heightens the drama and raises the stakes for the characters.

Ellen Gleeson, Look Again’s journalist cum suburban mother, is leading a successful, if not stressful, life with her adopted son, Will — until she gets a “Have You Seen This Child?” flyer in the mail, with a picture that looks uncannily like Will.  At first she disregards the similarity — after all, the adoption process was completely lawful — the her investigative spirit get the better of her and she begins to dig into what turns out to be a heart-wrenching and nerve-bending narrative that forces her to ask an impossible question as a mother: “If Will isn’t rightfully my son, should I give him up?”

On her quest for the truth, Ellen begins to uncover details about Will’s background and discovers that only three weeks after the adoption proceedings were completed, the attorney who guided her through the adoption process committed suicide.  More questions arise, and with them new dangers, and Ellen realizes that she — and her son — are in life-threatening danger. 

The plot of Look Again is well-wrought, and it was certainly a page-turner of the highest order.  My only complaint was that many of the characters, while expertly rendered, were unlikeable and amoral at best, including the protagonist.  Still, it was an excellent read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an emotionally charged thriller. 

About the Author:
This guest contribution was submitted by Samantha Gray, who specializes in writing about online bachelor degree. Questions and comments can be sent to:  samanthagray024@gmail.com.

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.