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!