More reviews of new books I've read

Two new book reviews of books written by sexy men!

1-Plugged by Eoin Colfer

2-Memories Die Last by Tim Smith

1-Recently one of my sons loaned me his copy of Plugged by Eoin Colfer, the author who writes the YA series about Artemis Fowl, the boy genius who sought out the fairy world inhabitants to steal the leprechauns' gold in the first book, and who has continued adventures with the self-exiled under-surface dwellers, including centaurs, dwarves, fairies, and other magical peoples.  I truly enjoy the Artemis Fowl books...in fact, much more than I enjoyed the Harry Potter books, yet one series has made buckets of money for the author, and the other, while still allowing him to write for a living, has not.

So I was anxious to see what Colfer changed about his style in order to write for adults.  I was not disappointed.  There is the same dry wit and humor that is in all of his books, but the adult themes involve murder, sex, drinking and dealing with unsavory characters.  The hero, Daniel McEvoy, is a former soldier who left Ireland for the USA.  He thought the change of scenery would offer him a better life.  Instead he is surrounded by low-lifes which is hardly surprising since he works as a bouncer at a low-class strip bar where the head hostess makes more money servicing customers at the back booth than she does serving drinks.

A hostess that Daniel has been involved with in the past is murdered right out back and he becomes a suspect.  Then a friend of his disappears from his office where he performs dubious procedures like the hair implants he is in the middle of putting into Daniel's scalp.  Daniel has no choice but to try to discover what happened to his friend, since his friend's voice is now in his head, telling him what to do and complaining when he's not searching for him hard enough.  Other thugs are murdered, only a few by Daniel.  The head of the gang of thugs is a man who was born here but thinks of himself as Irish.  Since Daniel grew up there, he calls the guy out as a phony, which doesn't go over very well. 

The book is fast-paced and funny.  I'm glad to see Colfer stretching himself to write for adults also.  I've got his latest Artemis Fowl book on loan from my son, as one of my next books to read.  As long as Colfer keeps writing, I'll keep on reading!

2-In the same vein of adult adventures and suspenseful situations, Tim Smith's book is Memories Die Last. Nick Seven is a former CIA agent who retired to recover from losing his wife in the process of tracking down and eliminating a major criminal who was terrorizing the world.  He owns and runs a restaurant/bar in the Florida Keys and tells himself that he is happy, while he is merely existing, keeping himself anesthetized with all the booze he wants and no emotional attachments of any kind. 

He is contacted by a woman who wants him to work on a case for her, and he suspects her story is false from the start.  In the process of reactivating old contacts he finds that the fiend he thought he eliminated appears to be continuing his reign of terror.  His old boss at the CIA encourages him to get active again, and contacts the woman agent he worked with in the past, a woman named Felicia Hagens who has returned to her native Barbados and works as a bouncer at a bar, which allows her to use her Marine training and keep in shape by keeping the tourists in line. 

While working together Nick and Felicia realize that they have unfinished business between them, and while they are pursuing criminals, they also make the time to pursue each other.  There is some graphic sex, but nothing most readers will have any problems with. The story line seems to end at one point, then it goes off in another direction.  There is plenty of intrigue, double-crossing, and action.  This book reminded me of a James Bond type story, or a Bourne Identity thriller.  And at the end, when Nick and Felicia decide to settle down together in the Keys, you have to wonder if that is the end of their adventures, or just the beginning.

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And since this is the time (from June 1-July 15) that you can submit books to EPIC for their annual eBook contest, I have to put in a shameless plug.  I've been a member of EPIC for the three years that I've been a published author.  I enter a book or two every year, and am not daunted (much) by the fact that I have never even come close to winning.  Admittedly I write in one of the most crowded fields: Contemporary Romance.  Such is fate. 

But the contest has been running the entire 14 years EPIC has been in existence, which makes it the oldest and most prestigious contest strictly for eBooks.  I urge you to consider entering your own work.  Someone has to win! Find the rules and entry forms at the main site: www.epicorg.com

And if you are an author/editor/publisher, we could use more judges!  Please consider volunteering to read some of the best in published eBooks, and know that your voice will be heard.  Just remember you can't judge in the genre that you may enter your own books in.  But you can specify what you are and aren't comfortable with reading.  To volunteer go to: http://tiny.cc/eBookJudge

And for more information about my books, go to www.fionamcgier.com

See yas next month on the 16th!