Book Review: Bone Chase by Weston Ochse
Bone Chase
Author: Weston Ochse
Published: December 1, 2020
336 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
There were giants on the earth in those days—at least that’s what the Bible says. But, where are they? Did they ever really exist at all?
When out-of-work math teacher Ethan McCloud is sent a mysterious box, he and his ex-girlfriend begin to unravel a mystery 10,000 years in the making—and he is the last hope to discovering the world’s greatest conspiracy. Chased by both the Six-Fingered Man and the Council of David, Ethan must survive the chase—and find the truth.
Kim’s Review:
I love a good adventure story, especially the ones based in history. Biblical history is even better. But this adventure stories have to make sense, they have to be based on logic and evidence, even if that evidence doesn’t necessarily exist in real life. Nothing kills historical adventure like assumption and fallacy. Unfortunately, Bone Chase is rife with both. Maybe if religion had been left out of it, I’d feel differently. But the idea that the existence of giants would somehow bring religion to its knees; it did nothing but make the entire plot seem inconsequential and anticlimactic.
Thankfully, there was enough action and mystery to keep me going through the book, so it wasn’t a total loss. But throwing in complicated math concepts that have really nothing to do with the story and then not explain them clearly so laypeople can understand … This was just a disappointing read. Although it’s fiction, The DaVinci Code didn’t feel inconsequential because Langdon was dealing with things of true theological significance. The existence of giants, even talked about in the Bible is a big deal historically and even scientifically, but theologically? I was just disappointed.
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Book Review: Conclave by Robert Harris
Conclave
Author: Robert Harris
Published: November 22, 2016
287 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
The Pope is dead.
Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election.
They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals.
Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.
Kim’s Review:
Robert Harris has reawakened my love of tiny details. Normally I’m not that detail oriented with anything in real life, but you offer to take me on an hour by hour tour of the actions of Chamberlain at Munich or, in this case of the College of Cardinals picking a new Pope, then you bet your booty I’m gonna say yes while jumping up and down and feeling out in my pants. I acknowledge that a book about the Conclave is probably not that appealing to most, and certainly not to Catholics. If there’s anything I learned from this book, it’s that very little within the Vatican has to do with religion and politics play a bigger role in Conclave than the Holy Spirit. Since I’m not a Catholic, I wasn’t offended by anything I read, however, I wouldn’t recommend this to any Catholics.
There were certain things that I thought were relatively predictable so at first I was feeling smug that I had figured it all out barely halfway through. But then I got to the end, where I realized that I had been so distracted by the predictable, that I completely missed the twist. And oh what a twist! I really liked this book and I’d recommend it to any who love those little nitty gritty details of culture and history.
Purchase Links:
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Book Review: He Started It by Samantha Downing
He Started It
Author: Samantha Downing
Published: July 21, 2020
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: December 19-29, 2020
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan haven’t all been together in years. And for very good reasons—we’ll get to those later. But when their wealthy grandfather dies and leaves a cryptic final message in his wake, the siblings and their respective partners must come together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and—more importantly—secure their inheritance.
But time with your family can be tough. It is for everyone.
It’s even harder when you’re all keeping secrets and trying to forget a memory—a missing person, an act of revenge, the man in the black truck who won’t stop following your car—and especially when at least one of you is a killer and there’s a body in the trunk. Just to name a few reasons.
But money is a powerful motivator. It is for everyone.
Jessica’s Review:
I recently listened to Downing’s debut novel My Lovely Wife and absolutely loved it, so much that right after finishing it I picked up the audiobook of He Started It. I also enjoyed this one.
This is the road trip that you don’t ever want to go on: Estranged siblings who have not seen each other in years must come back together to earn their inheritance by taking a return road trip that they took with their grandfather when they were younger, and also complete his final wish.
Everything is not as it seems as ALL the characters have many secrets, some deadly. And it appears they have a stalker that is following them across the country…. Or is it a stalker???
He Started It goes back and forth between the past and present: The past is the road trip taken when they were kids, and the present with the repeat road trip. None of the characters are likeable and this family was very dysfunctional in the past and even more so now. The novel did drag some for me but then when it got to the ending, I was blown away and totally not expecting things to happen in the way that they did. The ending did make the parts that dragged on worth it for me
This is one that I do recommend, but definitely read Downing’s debut!!!
Purchase Links:
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