How much do online reviews shape what you pick up next?
I usually don't pay much attention to reviews on retail websites. Occasionally, I read reviews from other book bloggers, but since my reading preferences often differ from theirs, their opinions don't influence my purchasing decisions.
Hello, fellow Friday 56ers!
You might be wondering where this week's Friday 56 is. Here’s what happened: Anne @ My Head is Full of Books, the usual host of Friday 56, has teamed up with Olivia @ Bemused and Bookish, who has taken over the weekly meme, The Book Beginnings. They have combined the two memes into what is now called Friday Book Snippets. The rules remain basically the same: feature a snippet from the beginning of a book for Book Beginnings and share a line or lines from page 56 or any other page for the Friday 56.
I'm featuring my current read, The Gunsmith: Skinwalker by J.R. Roberts. This book is the latest installment in the series, number 497 to be exact. The Gunsmith is the last of the adult Westerns from the 1980s that is still ongoing. J.R. Roberts was a pen name for the late author Robert J. Randisi. After Randisi died in 2024, his stepson Marcus Pelegrimas took over to finish the series. The protagonist, ex-lawman Clint Adams, often finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s skilled with a gun, feared by villains, and adored by saloon women. You could think of him as James Bond in the Wild West.
In this book, Clint encounters an injured man who claims to have been attacked by a large wolf. After helping the man, Clint returns to the scene of the crime to hunt the beast but ends up being attacked himself. It soon becomes clear that the creature is not a wolf at all. A local Navajo medicine man identifies it as a shapeshifting creature known as a skinwalker. Clint agrees to help track down the monster before it can claim more victims.
Every reader has those guilty-pleasure authors, the kind whose works might not grace the hallowed halls of literary greatness yet possess an undeniable pull that keeps you turning the pages. For me, Freida McFadden, a pen name for Sara Cohen, fits this mold perfectly. Despite the criticisms that often surround her writing, there's something about her twisted plots that draws me in. Clearly, I’m not alone in this; she's a #1 New York Times Bestselling author renowned for her sometimes delightfully trashy plot twists.
Enter Death Row, a 2025 novella in the Alibi series for Amazon Original Stories that recently made its way into paperback via Poisoned Pen Press. Priced at $10.99, it feels a bit steep for a mere 73 pages, but, fortunately for me, I received my copy as a birthday gift and zipped through it in just twenty minutes.
The story revolves around Talia Kemper, a woman condemned to death for the murder of her husband, Noel. She possesses a rock-solid alibi and no identifiable motive, yet her fervent declarations of innocence fall on deaf ears. Then, in a chilling twist of fate, she encounters a man in the visiting area who looks unmistakably like her husband. She believes her husband is alive. Naturally, no one believes her.
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What book do you think deserves more love but flies under the radar?
The book that comes to mind is Six-Horse Hitch by Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979), a Western novel that has been out of print for quite some time. It was originally published in 1969 and is one of my favorite books. I've been meaning to reread it, but I haven't found the time yet. All of Mrs. Giles' historical novels are underrated. While the University Press of Kentucky has reprinted some of her books, most of her fiction has unfortunately been lost to time. I own nearly all of her books and plan to review each of them here in the near future. You can still find her works on eBay and a few other used book sites. I hope this blog can help bring much-needed attention to her writing.
Hello, fellow Friday 56ers!
I don't know if anyone noticed, but I took a two-week hiatus from participating in the Friday 56 weekly bookish meme. There was a specific reason for it, but I won’t go into detail due to personal reasons. I initially planned not to participate this week either, but out of the blue, I received an email from an author thanking me for featuring her books in a past Friday 56 post. This inspired me to return.
For this week's Friday 56 pick, hosted by My Head is Full of Books, I am featuring Six-Horse Hitch by Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979). I'm not sure if I've featured this book before. For those who may not remember, I had a now-defunct, short-lived Western-themed blog where I might have highlighted this book. However, I don't have a photo of it, which makes me think I likely featured another title by the author instead. Taking a good shot of the cover with my phone was surprisingly difficult, but I managed to get one, which you can find below in this post.
As my reading preferences have veered into the rugged terrain of Western adventures, I've found myself on an unexpected path. Out of the blue, I've been inundated with review requests from Western authors. This influx led me to the audiobook of Subtraction, a novella by Stephenson Crossley and Peter Gibson. It's funny to think about it, really; the person who once declared their dislike toward audiobooks (yes, that's me) has somehow embraced them this year.
A little background on the creative minds behind this novella: Peter Gibson and Stephenson Crossley have over fifty years of experience in film and television. Peter, a seasoned producer, has worked on everything from award-winning ad campaigns for Mercedes to Broadway productions like The Ten Commandments. He's been mentored by the great Joseph Papp and has an impressive array of films to his name, including Kill Your Darlings and Free.
On the other hand, Stephenson Crossley is an award-winning location manager with projects that span from the critically acclaimed Nocturnal Animals to the long-running comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. With a lineage linked to Broadway royalty, his great-grandfather was the illustrious Florenz Ziegfeld, and his great-grandmother, Billie Burke, enchanted as Glinda the Good Witch in 1939's The Wizard of Oz.
Running at a brisk 2 hours and 27 minutes, the audiobook is narrated by the wonderfully talented Natalie Naudus, whose smooth voice captures the gravity of the protagonist, Clara Kane, with exquisite precision. This novella isn’t your typical Western; rather, it unfolds against the stark backdrop of the alkali flats of the 1869 Colorado Territory. The story centers on Clara, a half-Chinese young woman driven by a singular obsession: revenge. With her parents insidiously burned alive before her eyes and her brother left for dead, she harnesses her prodigious math skills to turn grief into a cold, calculated means of vengeance.
From the very outset, Clara feels more like a calculating machine than a mere mortal. She's a mathematics genius, her mind racing with equations and trajectories as she plots her revenge against the seventeen men who shattered her world. Every bullet drop, wind shift, and heartbeat between shots becomes part of her mathematical arsenal. While this obsession might suggest a character on the autism spectrum, her social awkwardness and cold demeanor give off a Sheldon Cooper-esque vibe; it's a nuance that adds rich depth. The childhood trauma undoubtedly plays a role in her emotional landscape, but her fascination with numbers seems to have a life of its own, an echo of her brilliance that existed long before the tragedy struck.
As Clara navigates the desert city of New Rome, a harsh fortress ruled by the villainous General Titus Creed, I couldn't help but relish the intricacies of her revenge plot. The bad guys here serve their purpose: cannon fodder for Clara's quest for vengeance. And while revenge stories might swim in a sea of clichés, Subtraction reinvigorates the trope with a fresh and thrilling approach that’s hard to resist.
The production quality of the audiobook is exceptional, rivalling some of the big-name publishers, if not surpassing them. Naudus's narration pulls the listener into Clara's world, making time swiftly disappear as the plot unfolds. The brevity of the novella adds to its charm; it’s a quick ride, yet it leaves a lasting impression.
In the end, Subtraction offers an engaging escape from the mundane worries of life, a revenge tale that’s both familiar and refreshingly original. Whether you're a die-hard fan of Westerns or just someone in search of a unique story, I recommend giving it a listen. ╌★★★★★
Please consider supporting future reviews on this blog by purchasing Subtraction as an audiobook [*], paperback [*], or a Kindle eBook [*].
〜B.J. Burgess
I used to be an avid reader of James Patterson thrillers. But let’s face it: we all know he doesn’t actually write most of those co-authored books. He creates an outline, hands it off to a chosen author, and voilà , a new title pops up on the shelf. Last year, I finally decided to break the cycle of mindless buying; after all, those hefty tomes were gathering dust on a forgotten closet shelf. Over the years, Patterson’s plots have descended into a tangle of clichés and predictability, and my interest has evaporated. I was buying his books out of sheer habit—a bad one at that.
So, this year, I took the plunge and purged nearly my entire Patterson collection, keeping only a select few titles that I actually enjoyed or planned to read someday. But here I am, reviewing The Country Road Murders. Why, you ask? Well, I received an audiobook from NetGalley, courtesy of Little, Brown & Company, so I wasn’t forking over my cash this time. Honestly, I can’t quite pinpoint why I chose to listen to this particular audiobook. The co-author, Mike Lupica, doesn’t exactly inspire my confidence; in my opinion, he is a horrible writer. Perhaps all I wanted was background noise to fill the void. Whatever my reasoning, it took me forever to wade through this nearly 11-hour slog.
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What grabs you and keeps you hooked in a book?
I need an intriguing plot to grab my interest right from the start. Additionally, I prefer a protagonist who elicits strong feelings, whether I like or dislike them, just enough for me to care about their well-being throughout their journey. Detailed descriptions are essential for me. Lastly, there should be at least one good twist to keep me turning the pages.
The Chinese animated film, The Kung Fu Kid, found its way into the digital realm, ready to be bought or rented on digital platforms as of August 18th, courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment. Mark your calendars, folks, because it’s set to hit Blu-ray™ and DVD, exclusively on Amazon, on September 15. Initially released in China in 2024 under the title I Am What I Am 2, this flick is a sequel to Sun Haipeng's I Am What I Am (2021). It features an English voice cast crafted for American ears.
I had zero inkling that The Kung Fu Kid was part of an existing saga; to me, it felt like a standalone film or perhaps the beginnings of a new franchise. So, you can imagine my surprise when I unearthed its origins and the existence of the original film just before writing this review. It’s not too shocking, though, considering how Chinese films often undergo a makeover to align with American sensibilities.
The story pivots around a village boy named Juan (or is it Gyun?), whose desperation to save his ailing father drives him to seek fortune and pay off insurmountable medical debts. His journey leads him to the bustling streets of Shanghai, where he’s scooped up by the Qiu Zhen Kung Fu Gym to partake in a grueling tournament known as Shanghai Fight Night. The gym’s soul has faded away with its owner’s death, leaving his daughter, Xiaoyu, to navigate the stormy seas of business to keep the doors from closing. Both she and Juan are chasing the same elusive prize money; one for survival, the other for love. With training from the former champion Zhang Wate, who now grapples with blindness, Juan is thrust into a world where elite fighters of diverse techniques clash. It’s a haunting theme of tradition, sacrifice, and the relentless pursuit of victory, wrapped in the essence of martial arts.
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Why do some characters embed themselves so deeply in your psyche, leaving you craving more adventures? That's precisely how I felt after reading The Last Gunfighter: Ambush Valley by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone. If you're curious, you can check out my review by clicking here. The characters that captured my imagination and heart are Conrad and Rebel Browning. Conrad is the son of the legendary gunfighter Frank Morgan, also known as The Drifter from The Last Gunfighter series. Why do father and son have different last names? The twist is that Frank played no role in raising Conrad; in fact, after Conrad’s mother remarried, he adopted his stepfather's surname. Following the murder of his mother, which Frank avenged, Conrad became the heir to the Browning fortune. Think banks, railroads, mines. In short, Conrad is the picture-perfect businessman, while Frank is the rugged gunfighter. They’re two sides of the same coin, that is, until everything crumbles in The Loner, the first book of J.A. Johnstone's spin-off series. I was aware of the series thanks to Western Fiction Review, and had even heard whispers of a certain dramatic death from another blog that I now cannot recall, much to my chagrin. There are fifteen books in The Loner series, and my impatient self scoured for the remainder after settling into the first installment.
In The Loner, Conrad's newlywed bliss is brutally shattered when a wretched group of thugs kidnaps his spirited wife, Rebel, with a ransom demand of $50,000. His immediate instinct is to reach out to his father for assistance, but alas, Frank Morgan's whereabouts are unknown, so it falls squarely on Conrad's shoulders to rescue his beloved. Armed with cash and guns, he plunges into the canyons outside Carson City, Nevada, for a perilous exchange that turns sinister. Just when you think he has the upper hand, the gang leader catches him off guard. Spoiler Alert! Rebel meets her tragic end!
