5 Stars for The Bang-Bang Sisters by Rio Yours

Rio Youers does not disappoint. The Bang-Bang Sisters is like Most Dangerous Game meets Final Jeopardy. It takes some serious cunning to win. The Bang-Bang sisters are thrown into an impossible situation and make real-human heartbreaking choices, pitting love against truth and ethics all set against their own blood lust. The bad guys are outfitted as dumb Southern boys playing on all the stereotypes. Being a Southern girl myself, I've heard them all, and they seem to work for this story, especially when these boys have an ace up their sleeve. For the award-winning ending, Youers gives the very questionable Southern pride these bad guys covet a reason to lose possibly.  It's good that these girls were not up against a traveling bible salesman as in Flannery O'Connor's Good Country People because some country folk might surprise you.

5 Stars for The Spite House by Johnny Compton

 

My past few reads fell one star short of five, but this one The Spite House by Johnny Compton really scared me. I love horror! This one hit all the marks. Spite felt like the dangers of Hell in a Bosch mixed with the colors of the rainbow. It scared the beejeebaz out of me, but hooked me with hope. I really loved the main characters, Eric and his two girls. I wanted so badly a happy ending for them. I can't say that happened but I can't say it did not less I spoil a very good ending and as I think: Ending is everything. I'm trying to get Compton's new book, Devils Kill Devils. I ready the excerpt after The Spite House. Definitely sounds spooky. 

5 Stars for Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor takes some warming up. I read this years ago in my early thirties. At that time, I didn't like this book much, but I loved O'Connor's short stories. My favorite of those being The Lame Shall Enter First. It was a bit of a salvation for me considering I was someone who always wanted kids. I hope it has made me a better mom. That's the kind of substance, deep stuff you come away with after reading a Flannery O'Connor short story. She's all about redemption which is attributed to her being a devout Catholic. These characters are not dripping in sin so much as a loss of faith. Hazel Motes, the main character, in Wise Blood is so faithless he denounces Christ by announcing he does not exist and that it is only truth that is important. His journey towards salvation lead to meeting interesting well-illustrated characters all on their own journey towards salvation or having obtained salvation. It is a treacherous path for them all, and darker than dark that led me to wonder if Hazel Motes really got saved. I'm glad I read this again in my fifties where I'm too always looking towards salvation. I highly recommend this book.

Five Stars for No Second Chances by Rio Youers

I don't think I've ever given Rio Youers less than a five on a review. His stories always deliverer from painful backgrounds and golden pathed dreams to twisted unforgettable bad guys, not to mention a couple of unexpected plot twists. This one even had an honorable mention of one Lola Bear and I loved her character in a previous Youers book. My favorite Youers is still Westlake Soul even though it is very different than his other novels. 

So, more reasons to read a Rio Youers, specifically No Second Chances: 

1. A rich boy bully who fully deserves to go down.

2. A sweet bad ass chick from Kentucky who definitely needs to go up. 

3. A washed out actor who looks like Don Johnson who ironically needs a second chance.

4. Insanely great dialogue that puts serious humor on old cliches. 

5. Fast paced action packed verbiage skittering along a well-produced plot without what E.M. Forester distastefully calls "tea time."

Other good news is I hear Youers has a new novel coming out: The Bang, Bang Sisters. I can't wait to read all of that bang. I bet it's a good bang for your buck. HaHa. Okay, well that's just cheesy, but I hope to read it and soon. 

5 Stars for Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus is a must read for folks who look want to dig at the heart of the human condition while marveling at the murky area between life and death and then still finding a connection. In the case of Jake, the protagonist diving for his father's bones, he looks for closure with a father from whom, he carried heavy dark resentment and guilt towards. On the surface, this is just a story about daddy issues and being swallowed by a whale, but beneath the surface this book has a whole Sidhartha feel to it revealing the human condition to be much more than a father/son relationship, but one with the entire universe. Battling the whale and Jake's issues with his dad were only part of the discoveries he uncovered inside the belly of the whale. Personally, and I'm not a marine biologist or anything, I found the whale intricacies to be fascinating, and I found the clever approaches to survival Macgyveresque - not cheesy, but interesting without knowing the true factoids behind it. I loved it! I am going to read more of Daniel Kraus. Whalefall is different in a 2024 world full of mimes. Try Kraus for Catina/Avatar scene. Great imagery and detail without becoming Moby Dickish. Again, Loved it!

Four Stars for The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera examines the lightness and freedom of human choice. Milan proposes we fear this freedom often craving the heavy burdens of responsibility. The players in this tale are often choosing between living in truth or living in lies. Lies seem burdensome and truth light and difficult to achieve. A lot of unnecessary thick rambling briar bush type prose held up my reading time. It took me several months to get to a solid story line in this book pushing my five start to a four; however, this is definitely worth the read. The characters are complex and it takes some time to understand what truly motivates theme. They are so flawed and grotesque in their twisted logic surrounding ideas on love that are neither idealistic nor completely cynical. Tereza, the wife of womanizing Tomas, is weighted with love for Tomas, and this should be a stock character like say Elizabeth Proctor, the doting wife, the loyal wife, the stand-by-your-man wife, but Tereza has more than one side and she is loyal and noble and certainly respectable, but her motivations for her loyalty are painfully questionable. Tomas is much the same, but his unraveling is easier to grasp. So, in closing, if you find yourself burdened with responsibilities, then take a hard look at the opposite side of that because you too may find that lightness unbearable. 

5 Stars for Grady Hendrix's How to Sell a Haunted House

 

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix is one of the best Hendrix I've read so far; however, it does get a little purple hazzy at the end in absolute Hendrix flamboyant flair. Still, despite the long windedness of the ending, I absolutely loved Mark and Louise and the brother and sister hurtles I have also experienced with my own brother. Plus, its always great when you start really hating a character aka Mark and then you sympathize with them. Hendrix painted Mark in every color of a Jackson Pollack painting with the drama of a Broadway play like Chicago and a Hendrix town is one full of murder of mayhem but this time told by a flipping puppet. Yes, the whole puppet thing has been done many times, but it never gets old and when you can tell a creepy puppet story the way Hendrix does; its worth the read.