Death Unmasked by Rick Sulik

Blurb:

A reincarnated evil is stalking the women of Houston. With each murder, the madman quotes an excerpt from the Oscar Wilde poem, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” A huge smokestack belching smoke, a ragged flea market double-breasted wool coat, and an old antique picture frame, bring the distant past back to haunt Houston Homicide Detective, Sean Jamison. With those catalysts, Jamison knows who he was in a past life and that he lost the only woman he could ever love. Searching for his reincarnated mate becomes Jamison’s raison d’être as he and fellow detectives scour Houston for a brutal serial killer. The memory of timeless love drives Jamison’s dogged search for a serial killer, determined to finish what he started decades earlier.

Each clue brings Jamison closer to unmasking his old nemesis. Tenacious police work, lessons learned in the past, and intuition may be the only weapons he has in preventing history from repeating itself.

About the Author:

Rick Sulik was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. After completing high school in Boardman, Ohio, he enlisted and served four years in the United States Air Force Military Police. After receiving an Honorable Discharge, he worked three and a half years with the Houston, Texas Police Department, twenty-two years with the Pasadena, Texas Police Department, and ten years as a courthouse bailiff with the Gonzales County, Texas Sheriff’s Department, before retiring in 2013.

Review:

Death Unmasked was an interesting mix of paranormal, police technique, and suspense. It begins when a man named Emil and his beloved Laura awaken on the morning their country is invaded. A Nazi officer rapes and kills Laura in front of Emil, and as he is about to enter the furnace to be burned to death, Emil gouges out the officer’s eyes.

Decades later, a serial killer stalks women in Houston, Texas. Sean Jamison is a homicide detective nearing retirement. A belching smokestack and tattered old coat bring back memories of his past life as Emil, and somehow he knows the serial killer is his old Nazi nemesis. He also knows Laura is back, and she’s the man’s next victim. He has to find her and save her.

Death Unmasked was tautly written and fast-paced, with twists and turns that even I didn’t see coming at the end. Part of me, however, thought Darn! I should’ve seen that coming! The reasons I’m giving the book four roses is that the dialog was stilted and unrealistic. Since when does a cop say things like, “Seems to me this joker is determined to put fear in people so he can get away with anything he so desires.” “So desires?” Really? How about, “This joker’s trying to scare the $#@! outa people so he can do whatever he wants.”

Another one is: “I’m hearing my sentinel inner voice, and it’s cautioning me that something terminal is about to occur.” Huh? Wouldn’t a cop be more likely to say, “My gut’s telling me something bad’s about to go down.”? Please, save the thesaurus for the narrative, Mr. Sulik. Or better yet, just dump it. Be sure your grammar’s correct (unless the person speaking’s an illiterate perp), and write a bit more normally.

Aside from the dialog, I would recommend Death Unmasked. It’s an interesting thriller.

Author Website:  N/A

Warnings:  Violence

Length:  265 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $14.99

Digital:  $6.99

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/Death-Unmasked-Rick-Sulik-ebook/dp/B017OMVKGE/

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Hineni Here I Am by Marshall Schoenke

Blurb:

If you were to look around you, and I mean really open your eyes and look around, a revolutionary change is being prayed for before we destroy this world.

Jesus is back and he is willing to jeopardize his life again, to be laughed at, spit upon, tortured, imprisoned, rejected, and murdered—again.

He wants you to know you are just as loved as he is, and he is not returning to be worshipped.

The Reality is Jesus has returned to Destroy death, as is the full prophecy of Immanuel found in Isaiah from the Oldest known remnants of ancient Hebrew Scriptures. Just who could this be who has known the oldest priesthood of the one and only Most High God Before Abraham?

Peace be upon you.

About the Author:

Marshall Schoenke is a musician/carpenter from Wildwood, Illinois who has had some startling spiritual revelations. He comes from a large religious family, and is married with two daughters, one step-daughter, and a granddaughter who has him wrapped around her pudgy little finger. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Lake County, Illinois with their dog, Amonte and cat, Amoshi.

Review:

Again, I realize editors should not review the books they work on. But this one was just too fascinating to pass up.

A few years ago there was a pop song that started out, “What if God was one of us? Just a slob riding on a bus…” What’s really funny is that I’ve reviewed quite a few apocalyptic novels lately. What’s not funny is that this man really believes he’s the reincarnation of Jesus.

Hineni Here I Am is a thought-provoking book, to say the least. Mr. Schoenke tells his autobiography. He claims to remember the moment of his conception. Not so much gestation, and the story of his birth is told more from the memories of his parents than a first-person account (thank goodness!). He tells anecdotes of his childhood like the time he pulled his baby brother out of the crib, propped him up with a bunch of stuffed toys and proceeded to give them Communion. When his mother, aunt and grandma questioned him, he told them he was going to be the “top dog priest.” Another time, when serving as an altar boy, Mr. Schoenke was shocked to learn the youngest child of a family he was close to was being buried. He became hysterical, sure he could raise the child from the dead. He could always feel other people’s pain, and never understood why.

In fact, Mr. Schoenke didn’t understand much of what was happening to him until a wasp stung him and he coded. Most people go to the light and see deceased love ones. Mr. Schoenke saw three globes of blindingly bright blue-white light and heard music emanating from them. One came forward and said, “Welcome home, Jesus. You’ve done well.”

Up to that point, all he’d done was write a few songs with spiritual lyrics. He felt he had a lot more to do and said so. The Mother retreated, and a deep, masculine voice emanated from the center globe. “So mote it be. You may return.” When he returned to the room, he hovered over his body. The paramedics had already called time of death and were packing up. One had a breathing bag just sitting on his face. Mr. Schoenke returned to his body and moved his arm to get the guy with the bag to help him start breathing again. He suffered no brain damage.

That is just the beginning of Mr. Schoenke’s journey. He states he is not here to be worshipped, and that was not the message he was spreading the first time he was here, either. Actually, he confirms many of my beliefs about Jesus Christ, what his ministry was originally about, and how it got garbled as it came down to modern Christians. To be honest, in light of my own beliefs, I can’t completely dismiss the man’s claims. But I can’t completely accept them either. Nor does he want money.

Hineni Here I Am is clearly not written by a professional author. Mr. Schoenke even apologizes to me in the acknowledgments for not always taking my advice. (We did some wrangling, and a lot of my comments ended up being “Argh!” But it’s his book.) If you want something to think about with entertaining moments, I highly recommend Hineni Here I Am.

Author Website:  http://MarshallSchoenke.com

Heat Rating:  G

Length:  387 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $15.99

Digital:  $2.99

Buy Link:  TBA

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The Thing Is by Kathleen Gerard

Blurb:

Meredith Mancuso is depressed. Ever since the death of her fiancé, she has shrunk from the world. Even with her successful writing career, she’s not motivated to work. When her sister, Monica, begs for a favor, Meredith wants nothing more than to say no. But she’s ultimately roped into pet-sitting an orphaned Yorkshire terrier named Prozac.

Blessed with spiritual wisdom and a high IQ, Prozac is an active pet therapy dog. To heal broken-hearted Meredith, he rallies his fan club at Evergreen Gardens, an independent living facility, where he visits each week.

Prozac and the community of resilient older folks challenged by losses of their own propel Meredith, often against her will, back into the land of the living. Meredith learns that most people carry some sort of burden, but it’s still possible to find meaning, purpose, and joy—and sometimes, even love—along the way.

About the Author:

Kathleen Gerard is a writer whose work has been awarded The Perillo Prize, The Eric Hoffer Prose Award, and nominated for Best New American Voices and Short Story America, all national prizes in literature. Kathleen writes across genres. Her short prose and poetry have been widely published in magazines, journals, and anthologies.

Her essays have been broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR). Kathleen’s woman-in-jeopardy novel, In Transit, won The New York Book Festival—“Best Romantic Fiction” (2011). Kathleen is a book reviewer for and a contributor to Shelf Awareness and maintains the blog, “Reading Between the Lines.”

Review:

I keep forgetting to say, “I received this book in return for an honest review.” Now that’s out of the way, I have one more caveat for you. This book is a choking hazard—do not eat or drink while reading it.

I love animals, especially furry, cuddly ones. And in books, I love sentient non-human characters with a sense of humor, which Prozac definitely has. He also has a bag of tricks he uses to manipulate the humans around him, and he isn’t afraid to use it! But, he’s still a dog, and he’s still afraid of thunder—enough to jump into the toilet during a storm. Oh yeah; if you live in an apartment building with thin walls, don’t read The Thing Is late at night.

Prozac, Meredith, and the denizens of Evergreen Gardens will grab you on page one and keep you engaged right through to the end. It was a great way to spend Mother’s Day. Fortunately, I finished it before dinner at my daughter’s. I don’t think I could have put it down and been sociable if I hadn’t.

By all means, grab The Thing Is. Prozac is great therapy!

Author Blog:  Reading Between the Lines

Heat Rating:  G

Length:  276 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $11.99

Digital:  $5.99

Buy Link:  http://redadeptpublishing.com/#!/The-Thing-Is/p/52955696/category=12051051

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40-50% of the net proceeds from the publisher. Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40-$2.99. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $1.70-$2.10.

Download the file from the publisher onto your computer as you would any other file. I’ve created a folder for books on my computer, with subfolders by source (Marketing for Romance Writers, Net Galley, Authors who find me on Kindle lists, etc.). That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on your computer. Some publishers send books in all digital formats. If my Kindle breaks and my kids buy me a Nook, I won’t have to replace all of my books. If you have a Kindle and your hubby has a Nook, you won’t have to buy separate copies, so buying directly from the publisher can save you money.

Moving the file from your computer to your e-reader is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your e-reader charging chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from the folder into which you’ve downloaded the book to Documents/Books directory on your e-reader. You can move the file by highlighting it and dragging it to the documents directory in you Kindle you want to move it to. Or right click on it, and then left click copy or move. Or hit Control/C for copy, Control/X for cut, and Control/V for paste.

Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

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