Monty's Book Reviews

  Singapore 52 Ash Carter - Book 1 5 Stars Genre : Mystery, Adventure, Thriller Pages: 300 (Kindle Edition) Publisher's Blurb Chinese New Year 1952 Ash Carter had to leave the Middle East in a hurry. But when he arrives in Singapore he finds himself in the middle of a much bigger problem. No one knows where, or when, or who but someone is planning an attack. Carter is told to make sure it doesn’t happen. With pressure from politicians and the army and with Chinese Secret Societies watching his every move, he has other plans. He is more interested in finding out who killed his friend. Review Arriving in Singapore after fleeing a difficult situation in Palestine, former military policeman Ash Carter sets out to find his friend who recently sent him a cryptic telegram asking for his help. Within hours of his arrival he finds himself arrested whilst trying to prevent a possible racist attack on a Japanese stall holder by a group of rowdy squaddies. It seems that Ash’s reputation as an ...

  The Mark of Eternity The Egyptian Stones : Book 2 5 Stars Genre : Mystery, Adventure, Thriller Pages : 338 (Kindle Edition) Publisher's Blurb An ancient code. A deadly killer. A truth buried beneath the sands of time. FBI Special Agent Charlie Rebb thought the Surgeon - a notorious serial killer - was a ghost from the past. But when a new series of murders erupts, each marked with strange, arcane symbols, the trail leads Rebb across continents to Egypt... and to a chilling discovery that the Surgeon has returned, and this time, his killings follow a pattern—one tied to a purpose more terrifying than anyone imagined. Meanwhile, in Egypt, Alex MacLure has uncovered more encoded messages in ancient tablets. An ancient Egyptian was searching for a forgotten symbol. His name appears in a programme written by a brilliant AI student. The student reaches out with a wild theory - but before MacLure discovers the truth, he’s arrested for a murder he didn’t commit. Thrown together by fate a...

  No Safe Place To Hide Philippines Thriller : Book 1 5 Stars Genre : Mystery, Adventure, Thriller Pages : 338 (Kindle Edition) Publisher's Blurb Journalist Martin Gillie has vanished, and his wife wants him found. It seems like a straightforward case for newly arrived Ash Carter. But in post-war Philippines, nothing is ever straightforward. Carter follows a trail that leads from the smoky boxing rings of Manila to the rebel-haunted provinces. And as Carter digs, with each uncovered clue, the stakes rise higher. The police can't be trusted. The military has its own agenda. Carter begins to Is Martin Gillie hiding from something—or someone? And if Carter finds him, will either of them live to tell the story? Review Book 1 in the Philippines Thriller series. A missing husband, a reunion with an old friend and a heartbreaking cold case thrust Ash Carter into a deadly battle for survival. Mystery thriller writing at it's very best. Great characters pitched into a gripping detec...

  The Heretic Cypher Egyptian Stones - Book 1 5 Stars Genre : Mystery, Adventure, Thriller Pages : 319 (Kindle Edition) Publisher's Blurb When Egyptologist Alex MacLure’s friend and mentor dies he’s stunned to discover she’s left a message—hidden, encoded, and meant only for him. With a mysterious artifact and a trail of cryptic symbols, Alex is thrust into a deadly race against time. What begins as a quest to finish her research quickly spirals into a chilling her death was no accident. She was murdered for what she discovered. Now he’s the next target. Hunted by a ruthless adversary, Alex finds himself swept from the academic halls of London to the heart of Egypt’s oldest sites. As he races to decode a forgotten truth buried beneath centuries of deception, powerful enemies close in—willing to kill to protect a secret—a revelation so explosive, it could rewrite everything we know about ancient Egypt and religion. Review Book 1 in the Egyptian Stones series. This tale has everythin...

Fifty / Fifty  Six Sentence Story Linkup Prompt Word : Wire Beads of sweat are forming on my forehead, running down through the gap between my eyebrows, down my cute button nose and then dripping onto my hands as I sit hunched over the improvised explosive device nestled in the corner of the room. I’m receiving instructions over the short wave radio from an expert but it is difficult to think straight when the timer that is strapped to the ten pounds of Semtex is continually counting down the seconds I have left to deactivate the mechanism “I’ve got a bunch of wires, two blue, one green and at least three red ones that all run from the timing device to various connections on the device”. “Find the wires that are linked to the detonator, it’s likely to be a small silver disk with just a couple of connections and one of them will <<static>> you’ll need to cut that one. “Say again” I replied, “you’re breaking up, do I cut the red or the blue wire?”...

  Only Murders In My Mind is an excellent podcast available on YouTube where the three co-hosts discuss everything about being an author. It is accompanied by a blog that includes further articles to support the podcast and also a series of writing prompts, in the form of photographs, to encourage budding writers. I've always wanted to write something but the thought of a novel, or even a novella scares the life out of me so, I thought I'd have a go at some of the set prompts. Some have an extra challenge to meet an exact word count I've included the original prompt photo along with the word challenge for each story and would be interested to hear what you think. The podcast can be found here and the blog here The co-hosts back catalogs can be found on their Amazon author pages Liz Hedgecock Carol Bissett Mike Jackson   Challenge 1 - No word limit They say that the pen is mightier than the sword and what happened in the classroom today was certainly not how I’d interpreted...