Kindle Book Review: "Cry Dance" Winner of the 2012 Sharp Writ Book Awards

“What if there is no death?” That is the question asked on the cover of “Cry Dance,” a novel by Helen Bonner.

It’s a deep question, and indeed, this is a deep book. It is a love story, but it is also much, much more. It is a tale of life, death, and life beyond death.

The story begins with Lorinda, the heroine, facing murder accusations. All the evidences point to her, but she says she did not do it. Of course. That’s what they all say.

But in Lorinda’s case, that’s all she would say. She wouldn’t explain how it happened that she had a knife in her hand and the dead man in the same room. Why did she stay in the room with him? Why did she bathe him? Why were there flowers around his face? Was she in love with him? But he was not her boyfriend, and she was definitely in love with her boyfriend. Did he try to attack her? Was it self-defense? What really happened that night? She would not say. They would not understand, she kept thinking to herself.

Personally, that intro alone was enough to hook me. I had to find out what happened.

Reading the book felt like running downstairs to meet your date – it was easy and exciting, and the ending was as wonderful as the beginning.

“Cry Dance” is the winner of the 2012 Sharp Writ Book Award in the General Fiction category.

Kindle eBook Review: Assassin Hunter - A True-to-Life Peek at the Undercover Agent's World

The world of the undercover agent is certainly a fascinating one, no matter what point of view you take. So it shouldn't come as a surprise when a book that reveals the undercover agent’s world turns out to be a real page-turner – which is what “Assassin Hunter” is.

This story is written in the first person, which works extraordinarily well for the author, August Palumbo, because with his background as a homicide detective and a retired special agent, he is able to enter the story so well that he inevitably pulls the reader right into the story with him.

The protagonist is a federal agent assigned to go undercover to find and capture a paid assassin. His mission takes us into the heart of the criminal world and reveals to us some of the federal agents’ tricks-of-the-trade.

Palumbo discloses that the novel is not fictitious; it is based on a true-to-life criminal case.

If only for the peek at this normally hidden world of organized crime and undercover work, this book is well worth the read. The story is filled with painstaking detail that highlights the author’s deep familiarity with the setting of his novel.

“Assassin Hunter” is a very highly rated book on both Goodreads.com and Amazon.com. It was also a runner-up at the 2012 Sharp Writ Book Awards, in the General Non-Fiction category.