jbronderbookreviews

Down Solo (Charlie Miner – 1)

Things haven’t been going well for Charlie Miner. His work as a private investigator involves him with an endless roster of shady characters. His ex-wife is borderline crazy. And he hasn’t been getting to spend anywhere near enough time with his teenage daughter Mindy, the one person in his life who truly matters to him.

When he wakes up on a slab in the morgue with a hole in his head, though, things get even worse.

Just before the shooting, Charlie was investigating a case involving fraud, gold, religious zealots, and a gorgeous woman who seemed to be at the center of everything. Even with a fatal bullet wound, Charlie can connect the dots from the case to his attack. And when his daughter is abducted by someone involved, the stakes get exponentially higher. Charlie needs to find Mindy before the criminals do the same thing to her that they did to him.

After that, maybe he’ll try to figure out how he’s walking around dead.

Irreverent, circuitous, and surprisingly touching, Down Solo introduces a crisp new voice to suspense fiction.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble     Goodreads

Praise for Down Solo

“Earl Javorsky’s bold and unusual Down Solo blends the mysterious and the supernatural boldly and successfully. The novel is strong and haunting, a wonderful debut.” – T. Jefferson Parker, New York Times bestselling author of Full Measure and The Famous and the Dead

“Awesome” – James Frey, New York Times bestselling author

“Offbeat and dark and wonderful. This book caught me in the first few pages and never let me go. Javorsky is a prodigious writer: dark, intelligent, often hilariously funny, and he holds the accelerator to the floor throughout the whole amazing story.” – Timothy Hallinan, bestselling author of the Poke Rafferty series and the Junior Bender series

“Don’t miss Earl Javorsky’s Down Solo. It’s kick-ass, man. Excellent writing. This guy is the real deal.” – Dan Fante, author of the memoir Fante and the novel Point Doom

“Javorsky’s dark and gritty prose is leavened with just enough humor to make Down Solo a compelling story that will take readers to the outer limits of noir.” – San Diego City Beat

My Review

4 Stars

Charlie Miner is a private investigator that wakes up in the morgue. It seems someone has put a bullet in his head. He can astral project and if he concentrates really hard he can reanimate his body. He doesn’t remember much but wants to know who killed him along with getting a hit if drugs. He quickly learns that drugs don’t do anything anymore but his dealer gets him started with the first step into what happened in the last 24 hours.

It seems a beautiful lady came into Charlie’s life asking him to investigate fraud and some missing gold. Clearly Charlie was getting close to the answer when his ex-wife dumps his daughter on him, she was then kidnapped, and he finds himself in the morgue.

I really liked this story. Charlie is not one of the best people in the world but he is very protective of his daughter and great at following the clues. I loved how you don’t find out what was really going on until the end. I like to be kept guessing and I didn’t really expect the ending.

This is a great mystery and I have to admit that Charlie did grow on me. Although the book ends like it could be a standalone I know that this is the first in the series. I can’t wait to see what trouble Charlie gets into next.

Down to No Good (Charlie Miner – 2)

Private investigator Charlie Miner, freshly revived from his own murder, gets a call from Homicide Detective Dave Putnam. Self-styled “psychic to the stars” Tamara Gale has given crucial information about three murders, and the brass thinks it makes the Department look bad. Dave wants Charlie to help figure out the angle, since he has first-hand experience with the inexplicable. Trouble is, Charlie, just weeks after his full-death experience, once again has severe cognitive problems and may get them both killed. At once a riveting mystery and a completely unique character study, Down to No Good will both captivate you and work its way into your heart.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble     Goodreads

My Review

4 Stars

Tamara Gale is a psychic that has made some predictions to the police that turn up to be the truth. Detective Dave Putnam is not impressed but calls in Charlie Miner to find out what is going on. Dave is one of a few people that really know Charlie’s situation and hopes that he can shed some light on Tamara. The trouble is Charlie is still trying to figure out his current condition and is having some troubles that might get Dave and himself killed.

This is a great story with Charlie back trying to figure out what is going on with Tamara’s information on the three dead women. Of course he is very unconventional when it comes to find out the truth, but what can you expect for someone that can leave his dead body and go places that normally other’s cant.

This is another great mystery that had me guessing until the end. I can’t help but cheer for Charlie as he tries to keep his battered/dead body going. This is a great series and one I recommend checking out. I can’t wait to read more about Charlie Miner.

I received a complimentary copy of these books. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest reviews.

Author’s Bio

Earl Javorsky grew up in Los Angeles and attended the local community college and UCLA. He then went to Emerson College, a teacher training school in England. Besides having written two published novels, he has created strategically optimized content (blogs, feature articles, and web pages) for treatment centers throughout the country, taught music at Pepperdine University (Malibu campus), worked in technical sales and marketing, and been employed as a writer for several Hollywood entertainment periodicals. Additionally, he has worked as an editor and/or proofreader for several publishers, including The Story Plant,BelleBooks, and The Learning Company, as well as (on the technical side) The Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

Website

I would like to thank the Author for the opportunity to read and share this book.

Read Full Post »

Tahoe Skydrop (Owen McKenna – ) by Todd Borg

A Computer Genius Created A Startup Worth A Billion Dollars

Tahoe tech guru Yardley LaMotte had a vision for future robots that could transform the world. He started a company called Tahoe Robotics.

A Murderous Gang Wanted The Software

Twisted killers with ties to a Swedish prison gang figured out how to steal the software. All they needed was the key to unlock the computer code.

The Killers Kidnap A Child Who May Know The Password

A brilliant kid was in the classroom when the Tahoe Robotics founder visited a local school and talked about encryption. When that kid goes missing, the father contacts Tahoe Detective Owen McKenna.

McKenna Plans To Attack The Gang From The Sky

When McKenna learns that the kidnappers are hiding the kid at a mountaintop compound protected by armed guards, he plans to rescue the child by using a paraglider to drop out of the sky at night. But the plan goes horribly wrong. Unless McKenna and his Great Dane Spot can find the child, the child will die…

Amazon     Barnes and Noble     Goodreads

Author’s Bio

Todd Borg and his wife moved from Minnesota to Lake Tahoe in 1990. After his fourth Tahoe novel, he sold his business to write full time.

In addition to winning the Ben Franklin Award for Best Mystery of the Year, Todd Borg’s Owen McKenna mysteries have been chosen for Top 5 Mystery lists by the prestigious Library Journal, and by Mystery News Reviewer G. Wedgwood. He’s won Best Mystery and Best Thriller honors from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association and received Best New Fiction accolades from libraries. His novels have also received starred reviews and raves in major trade journals and newspapers across the country.

Todd Borg and his wife live on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore.

Website     Blog

My Review

5 stars

It is time for the new Owen McKenna story and I was overjoyed to get into this one.

Yardley LaMotte is a tech guru working on robotics and software mapping mountains. But to get funding he had to borrow some money from some unsavory characters. He just learned that the guy he borrowed the money from has died and that his brother has come to collect. Yardley comes up with a desperate plan to try to off the brother but things back fire on him. We then learn that the guy Yardley borrowed the money from is very alive and doesn’t have a brother.

Owen McKenna is called in when a local outdoorsman, Vince’s son, John has been kidnapped. It seems someone needs Vince’s expertise to recover something from the mountain. But they are not done with John. It seems John has a little computer knowledge and might be able to crack a thumb drive with information about Yardley’s research and company. It’s up to Owen to save John and figure out what is going on with Yardley and his company.

Yardley has gotten himself mixed up with some serious bad guys. Of course I was hooked when I read that the man Yardley borrowed the money from was alive with not brother. I was chewing on my fingernails impatiently trying to figure out what was going on there. The more the learned about Yardley from his wife the more I was curious about what was really going on.

Of course I felt for Vince and Brie, I hoped that they could get John back quickly and in one piece. But he is in a tough place and Owen is going to have to learn about how to use a paraglider to save him. I love all of the information to goes into little things like that when you read these books.

I am a diehard Owen McKenna fans and thing Tahoe Skydrop is a great addition to the series. Owen and Spot are some tough characters that find themselves in some tough situations but will have you cheering for them the whole while. Thank goodness Street and Blonde are there when they need support. There is the trademark twist ending that you won’t see coming so don’t get too confident that you think you know what is going on. This is all around an amazing story and series. You could read the story as a standalone but I recommend reading the series in order. There are little bits of information that you will appreciate from former stories. Make sure to get you copy today, I can’t wait until the next book comes out.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.

I would like to thank the Author for the opportunity to read and share this book.

Read Full Post »