The Book Dossier

M icro-review of Those We Left Behind written by Stuart Neville A 359 page, 68 chapter exemplification of Grade A fiction! O ther titles I have read by Stuart Neville: The Final Sentence, So Say the Fallen and Lost You written under the pseudonym Haylen Beck. P ace of novel: Andante P rologue : The novel opens after the alleged murder of, foster parent, David Rolston by, orphaned brothers, Thomas and Ciaran Devine . The brothers appear unscathed by the veritable horror they have just inflicted. They discuss their impending arrest and incarceration with a sense of detachment and languor! W e are catapulted in time and space to the impending release of Ciaran. Thomas has already been released and allowed to get on with his, post incarceration, life. Pan right, enter Paula Cunningham , Probation officer to Ciaran. She is disaffected, highly suspicious, and aggravatingly oblivious to what is transpiring between the brothers right under her nose. She is loyal to policies, often,...

M icro-review of A Lesson In Dying written by Ann Cleeves O ne hundred and sixty-five pages and thirteen chapters of pure mystery genius! I try to abstain from comparing authors to other authors. I find more joy in comparing an author against themselves. Asking myself if over time their writing gets more distinct and enjoyable or if it becomes weighed down by banalities and technicalities. Ann Cleeves writing is of the highest quality and only gets better with each novel! T his prolific author is best known for her Shetland and Vera series' which serve as the foundation for the well received television series of the same name's. This is the third Inspector Ramsay series that I have had the pleasure of reading. A Lesson in Dying is said to have been the first book in the Inspector Ramsay series. W hat is most impressive about this particular story is that Detective Inspector Stephen Ramsay is portrayed as a fallible and realistic copper. He is clever but still manages to...

M icro-review of The Spirit of the Quest 3 written by Nika Renee T his self-published author opts out on numbering her pages to focus on counting the beats of her windblown heart. Q uote: "Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth 'You owe me'. Look what happens with a love like that, it lights the whole sky" -- Hafiz S ustenance: fifty-seven lyrical impressions and 1 lustration rich recipe! N ika sends a glaring message with her vulnerability. There is no hierarchy to these heartfelt renderings. She thrusts each letter, words, phrase, and poem into life through cogitation, candor, and conceding. She exposes her most intimate hope, heartache, despair and joy! With such lines as, "be willing to be loved again; from pieces torn apart" "protect the ninety nine percent; single moms who can't make rent" and "is there such a difference; between butterfly and moth; one delights in flowers; the other destroys cloth." ...