Book review - The Stolen Manuscript by Ray E. Spencer

Tim Tender, the main protagonist, had studied criminology at college, which is where he learned to unravel mysteries. He enjoys reading detective novels by Raymond Chandler and aspires to be a Private Investigator. The body of prize-winning writer Jake Venom has turned up, and the manuscript he had gone out to post has disappeared! Mrs. Vicki Venom employs Tim to solve the crime. However, not only did Vicki not report her husband missing for two days she also did not seem that upset or surprised at her husband's murder. Who does Vicki fly off to stay with once the funeral plans are in place? Why was there a dictionary with highlighted words placed on Jake's body? Furthermore, what do these words spell out? 

I love Raymond Chandler's books, and this is written in a similar vein. It was very clever how the author hinted at writers of detective novels, their books, and films in this genre. For instance, he names his main character Tim Tender after the film Tender Nightmare. Tim likes to dress like Philip Marlowe, and this is remarked on several times in the book. However, because the author puts so many quotes and references in the book, it felt like he was reviewing these books rather than writing his own. Ray E. Spencer needs to concentrate on his own ideas! 

More things that I disliked about this book are that Spencer fills it with unnecessary detail. When the characters go to restaurants, we learn very little from their conversations, but we know every minute detail about the food, the waitress, and the decor. Due to this, I kept losing track of the story and had to reread chapters, making the book a slow and tedious read! Also, I didn't particularly appreciate that there were many unnecessary conversations. This book would be much more enjoyable if the author cut down on all the boring conversations and used them to give details that help move the story along. I read the Kindle book, which has yet to be edited or proofread, as I found grammar errors throughout! There are also details in the book which have not been checked for accuracy, such as the ashes from a cremation being collected the same day for scattering; this could not possibly happen! 

Due to all the negatives and the fact that I did not enjoy The Stolen Manuscript by Ray E. Spencer, I give a rating of 1 out of 5 stars. Spencer needs to rewrite this book and get a professional to thoroughly edit and proofread the new copy before publishing!

Kindle book review - The face of Fear by R. J. Torbert

Deborah is the daughter of William Lance, a self-made millionaire. Since her mother died when she was thirteen, there have been just the two of them, which has made her father very protective of her. Deborah is now twenty-six and in a relationship with her father's assistant Robert Simpson. William is uneasy because of the big age gap but otherwise is pleased for the couple. One Saturday, Deborah meets William for lunch before he sees her drive onto the Bridgeport Cross Island Ferry. She is due to meet up with her best friend, Patty Saunders, for dinner and a concert. Deborah never arrives!

As the ferry leaves the dock, a stranger punches Deborah in the face and knocks her out. Two men with him help put her in the boot of his car. There are no clues, and nobody sees this happen. Detectives Powers and Johnson have never met Deborah, but she becomes a big part of their lives as they work hard to find her before the kidnapper's deadline. Detective Powers thinks he knows how the kidnapping occurred and enlists friends and colleagues to put his theory to the test. Unfortunately, it all goes horribly wrong! Why has Deborah been kidnapped? Is Robert Simpson hiding a secret? Moreover, who is Ghostface? Read The Face of Fear by R. J. Torbert to find answers to these questions and solve the mystery.

I disliked lots of things about this book. Torbert repeats himself throughout. For example, on page fifteen, Torbert writes that Joey constantly walks around the restaurant keeping an eye on the staff and customers. Two lines further on, he says that Joey was famous for constantly walking around the restaurant, making sure everything was running smoothly. This happens regularly throughout The Face of Fear, and I struggled to finish the book. Because of the repetitions, the story is slow to move on and becomes boring! 

I enjoyed the banter between Powers and Johnson, which added a touch of humor. The concept for this complicated story is excellent but could have been better executed and needs a professional editor and proofreader to knock it into shape. I found mistakes on most pages, sentences that ran on, spelling errors, and the wrong grammar. Torbert changes his mind on details constantly. For example, on page two hundred and seventy-three, Detective Johnson meets a friend's dog for the first time, and while petting her, he sees her dog tag, which reads Minty, and in the same sentence, Torbert writes that the detective says '"Hey, Monty!" There are also huge mistakes in a chapter entitled 'Saturday, June 25th' where everyone refers to the day as Sunday! 

I rate The Face of Fear by R. J. Torbert 1 out of 5. I give it one point because the ending was unexpected, and I was surprised when I discovered who Ghostface was! I have taken four points away due to all the errors I have already mentioned and the fact that many supporting characters are unnecessary. They are very one-dimensional and do not add anything to the story. I also found the main characters very stereotyped and predictable. 

Once all the mistakes have been corrected, The Face of Fear will be an engaging and exciting read. But as it stands, I would not recommend it to anyone; however, if you enjoy thrillers involving crime, murder, and detectives and can ignore the errors, then you would enjoy this book. There are swearing and sexual references, so it would be best suited to adults.

Children's Book Review - Dr. Marsha and the Case of the Missing Marshmallows and Hotdogs by Dr. Rachel B Wellner

It is morning in Australia, and Dr. Marsha and her animal friends are busy getting ready for the day ahead when the postman arrives with a letter from Washington, D.C. Dr. Marsha is excited to see that it is from her cousin Milton Marsupial who is the Mayor of Washington. However, Milton is writing to her with a problem: all the hotdogs and marshmallows have disappeared and are needed in a week for the fourth of July celebrations. Dr. Marsha and her friends fly to Washington immediately to see if they can help. Read Dr. Marsha and the Case of the Missing Marshmallows and Hotdogs by Dr. Rachel B. Wellner and travel the world with Dr. Marsha learning about health and nutrition. 

I enjoyed the way Dr. Marsha answered her phone. 'Do you have an ache? Do you have an ouch? The number to dial is 1-MD-POUCH,' young children enjoy learning through rhyme. Sadly there are other rhymes dotted throughout the book, and not all of them rhyme very well, which made me cringe. The artwork is delightful; although the characters are humanized with some clothing, they are still recognizable animals. I liked that the hotdogs and marshmallows had been disguised by making them look like a log cabin, although it would have been better to have made this more of a mystery for children to try and work out for themselves. 

I dislike a lot about Dr. Marsha and the Case of the Missing Marshmallows and Hotdogs by Dr. Rachel B. Wellner. The story is difficult to follow as it chops and changes direction all the time. For example, Dr. Marsha answers the phone, immediately says hello to the postman who has just arrived with a letter, and then moves on to talking about what is for lunch! The dig at vegetarians was unnecessary. People choose to be vegetarian for various reasons, and there is no reason for this diet to be unhealthy. Terence the toad is also spelled Terrance and Tereance; the author needs to ensure it is spelled the same throughout the book.

Dr. Marsha and the Case of the Missing Marshmallows and Hotdogs by Dr. Rachel B. Wellner should have been a great way to teach young children about sensible diet choices, but sadly it fell short of the mark. Dr. Rachel B. Wellner did not accomplish this because the story needs to be clearer. It was easy to get lost, and I needed to read parts of the book a few times to understand what was being taught. This was disappointing, considering the book is aimed at young children! Also, this book needs to be proofread, as there are mistakes.

I would not recommend this book to anyone in its present form. The idea for this book was brilliant, but the execution needs more work. There are spelling errors throughout. 

I am rating Dr. Marsha and the Case of the Missing Marshmallows and Hotdogs by Dr. Rachel B. Wellner 1 out of 5 stars due to this being a confusing book that jumps all over the place, the lack of proofreading, the name Terence being spelled three different ways and the fact there is much information, but it is not presented in a way that children will enjoy learning from. I am giving one star for the fantastic illustrations and the rhyme Dr. Marsha uses when answering the phone!

Audible book review of Combatting Wastefulness & COVID-19 Etc. by Seton During

Combatting Wastefulness & COVID-19 Etc. is a self-help guide that the author Seton During says should help ethical taxpayers worldwide, and the ignored should benefit too. Seton During is an ex Chartered Engineer who has tried many things in his eighty-four years, including being a voluntary sector activist. His book gives strategies, policies, and practices that could help with health issues, energy saving, and house maintenance. Do you want to find out about pioneering research for dementia patients? Would you like advice on saving money on repairs and maintenance of your home? Would you like to save money? Are you worried about your health and safety? Listen to the audiobook Combatting Wastefulness & COVID-19 Etc. by Seton During to discover the answers to these and other questions. The narrator is Robert Sebastian Cooper, who has a voice I found very easy to listen to, and he speaks as I expect an elderly British man to sound.

I enjoyed the small amount of tongue-in-cheek humour in this book which made me laugh out loud; for example, when checking the house for repairs, "Access the spaces between higher ceilings and roof, if you can see the sky anywhere you have a leaking roof." There is some interesting information in Combatting Wastefulness & COVID-19 Etc. and I learned that if I put the palm of my hand in front of my door locks and I can feel a draft, then I should replace them with draft-proof locks; I never knew there was such a thing! I had never thought about what happens to the money of people who die without relatives or a will in place. I know now! 

I did not like a lot of Combatting Wastefulness &COVID-19 Etc. there is some complicated jargon that I had to google, making this book less user-friendly than it needs to be to make a difference. Despite the humour in this book, some passages are wordy and difficult to follow, and Seton During covers some heavy-going subjects, including Ebola, HIV, and Covid-19. Seton During has strong opinions, facts, and figures, which sometimes come across as scaremongering! His view on the Covid-19 vaccines, for example, "It continues to appear that deaths from the vaccines which primarily attack their victim's natural immune systems by triggering over defensive responses are higher than deaths from the virus itself!"

I would not recommend Combatting Wastefulness & COVID-19 Etc. by Seton During to anyone as the only parts I enjoyed was the humour which was only a few sentences. If you are interested in an elderly man bemoaning how countries deal with diseases and how they profit from vaccines to the detriment of the population, then you would enjoy this book!

Some areas feel like During is just venting against anyone who is not him and British. Some paragraphs in the book are just lists of things to try, which gets boring after a while. There was also a sentence repeated twice, which is unforgivable in an audiobook. Moreover, scaremongering is dangerous. Because of all these things and because I would not recommend this book to any of my friends and family, I want to give Combatting Wastefulness & COVID-19 Etc. 1 out of 5 stars 

Book Review - Cynthia and Dan by Dorothy May Mercer

 

Cynthia Patterson is employed as Senator Mike McBride's bodyguard and is a private investigator helping her brother wage war against cyber terrorism in her spare time. Cynthia is the main character in the book Cynthia and Dan by Dorothy May Mercer. Cynthia is on her way to work one morning when the traffic is at a standstill. She gets out of her car and starts walking, trying to find out what is happening. She bumps into a handsome and mysterious stranger who introduces himself as Sky Eastman. He propels her into a cafe for lunch, and Cynthia finds herself swept away by this charismatic man. The two have a one-night stand, and Sky's behaviour the next day makes Cynthia suspicious of him. She is also worried about her ex-boyfriend Dan's intentions when he becomes increasingly protective of her. In the meantime, Cynthia's brother Glenn is waging war against cyber terrorism.

I liked that Dorothy May Mercer has put a lot of effort and time into researching areas of the Cynthia and Dan story, mainly how cyber war is fought.

Unfortunately, I dislike more things about this book than I like. Cynthia is supposed to be an independent and confident woman who is the head of security for a Senator and contributes to fighting cyber terrorism. Despite this, she has moments of extreme naivety and excessive emotional responses that don't make sense to the character she is supposed to be. It's very annoying that the characters constantly call each other my dear this makes the story twee. There is no way Cynthia would have had anything more than slight stomach cramps and bleeding at the stage of her pregnancy. The most she would have needed to get through it would have been painkillers and a hot water bottle, not several days in the hospital. I also doubt that her staff would have gone charging into Senator Mike McBride to say she was ill with bleeding from the vagina! I believe that had Cynthia and Dan by Dorothy May Mercer been adequately proofread and edited, the above dislikes would have been picked up on and corrected.

There were too many things that detracted from this book for me to enjoy, and I rate it 1 out of 5 stars. I am disappointed that I have had to give such a low mark as the concept of fighting the cyber war had the potential to be a fantastic read. I feel that this book could be excellent with a bit more editing.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, but it might appeal to older adults on a beach holiday!

Thank you to Dorothy May Mercer for a free copy of this book in exchange for an impartial review.