Saturday, February 27, 2021

March and April's Schedule



 

March and April's Schedule

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


As usual, I went overboard with my expectations and only achieved half of my reading goals. Well March is another month and I will move many of the books up to the month. Afterwards, I have many new titles planned to celebrate Women's History Month, books written by and starring women: historical, mysteries, science fiction, and fantasy. It should be quite and interesting month.



Update: I injured my shoulder this past week so everything is getting pushed back. All books will be read as promised but this list will go into April to put less stress on myself to rush through the month.



As always, if you have written or know of any new books, do not hesitate to recommend them for review or editing, I am always glad to help.

You may reach me at

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Email:  juliesaraporter@gmail.com.

Rates are as follows:

Beta Read….$30-50.00

Review $35-55.00*

Research $75.00-100.00

Edit-$100-200.00**

Proofread-$100.00-200.00**

Ghostwrite-$200.00-300.00**

Author-$300.00-500.00**

*Applied to certain New Book Alerts and Weekly Readers only, aside from previous arrangements from groups like BookTasters and Blackthorn Book Tours. 52 Funnels will also be free, because most authors were not notified.

**Depending on project size

All rates are subject to change


Cardinal Machines by Tracey Eire

The Dark Shadows of Keysbourg by Michael Stolle

Crazy in Paradise by Melanie Summer

Tomboys Don't Wear Pink by Christina Benjamin

Returning for Valentine's by Victoria Pinder

Time and Again by Emma Strong

The Transatlantic Slave Trade by Captivating History

The Underground Railroad by Captivating History

Skyrocket Your Career by Raj Subrameyer

Creative Manifestation and Meditation by Amara Hoeneck

Hacking Your Destiny by Karl Lillrud

Energy of Love By Susan J. Witt


The Bookworm's Guide To Dating by Emma Hart

If The Shoe Fits by Laurie LeClair

Captured by His Highland Kiss by Eloise Madigan

Wicked Design by Lauren Smith

Cruel Promise by K.A. Linde

Enchanted at Buckthorn Manor by Emma Randall

Moonlight Becomes You by Robert Herold

Something for Bebe by Neil A. White

Rosemary for Rememberance by Nikki Broadwell

Trapped in Time by Denise Daye

Canvas of Time by Amelie Pimont

Centricity by Nathaniel Henderson 

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy


Lady Be Good by Pamela Hamilton

Gilded Dreams by Donna Russo Moren

7 Days in Hell by Iseult Murphy

Echoes of the Past by Bruce Hughes

Spirit Sight by Marie Powell

Mother by C.M. Adler

Miss Mabel's School For Girls by Katie Cress

Mystic Guests by Leanne Lewis

Murder Under A Blue Moon by Abigail Keam

Kill Three Birds by Nicole Givens Kurtz

Mistress Suffragette by Diana Forbes

Tales of the Hinterland by Melissa Albert


The Half-Light by A.D. Lombardo

The Seeds We Sow by Gary Beene

The Serpent Queen by Tyler M. Mathis

Betrayal at Ravenswick Manor by Kelly Oliver

Starsight by Brenda Hiatt

A Hell of a Way to Die by A.K. Gregory

The Art of Remembering by Alison Ragsdale

The Secret Life of Sofronisba Anguisicca by Melissa Muldoon

An Unusual Botanist by Janis Linford

Maids of Misfortune by M. Louisa Blocke

Women's Weird Edited by Melissa Edmondson

The Great Women of Heron Lake by Deanna Lynn Slatten



As always, Happy Reading!



New Book Alert: The Dukedom of The Beast by Tiffany Baton; Beauty and The Beast Tale Set in The Regency Era is Rich With Great Characters and Suspense

 


New Book Alert: The Dukedom of The Beast by Tiffany Baton; Beauty and The Beast Tale Set in The Regency Era is Rich With Great Characters and Suspense

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: With apologies to Walt Disney Music, Alan Menken, and the late Howard Ashman, Beauty and The Beast may be a tale as old as time but it still can be the inspiration for a winning Romamce set in any time period. (Actually, as we will soon learn, fairy tales are a huge inspiration for many books set in many time periods.) Tiffany Baton's The Dukedom of the Beast is a Regency era variation of this familiar tale and in of itself is rich with great characters and an engaging suspenseful plot.


Lady Nancy Bolton, daughter of the Duke of Cornington, has her life set out for her. She is engaged to Timothy Lockhart, Marquess of Honeyfiield when at a ball, she is sexually assaulted by Viscount Geralt Hodge. Even though she pushes him off, Nancy is blamed for the event. Unfortunately, this is another tale as old as time: when a woman gets assaulted, she is often the one that is blamed and is judged for it while the man gets off with no punishment whatsoever. Timothy ends the engagement and seeks a bride with a less tarnished reputation. Geralt continues his cred as a rogue with no consequences, will no doubt still be seen as a stud by his friends, and look for other young women to abuse. Nancy is the one left as the subject of scorn and gossip and is socially exiled: a woman with an independent mind and spirit but unable to fit in with the expectations set for her. She is left an outsider with a scarred reputation.

In fact, the only person who would have her is another outsider and there is one. Phillip Wallace, the Duke of Peterhum, is also an outsider left scarred. However, his scars are physical not emotional. An attack left him disfigured and claimed the life of his parents. Since then he has been raised in seclusion by his uncle, Jeremy Wallace. Since Nancy is a childhood friend, he formally requests permission to court Nancy himself. Nancy is incensed at the thought and even more so when her father agrees to the proposal. Then, she goes to meet Phillip herself…


The Dukedom of the Beast is a Regency Romance done right. It doesn't praise the rules and standards of the day, filling it with a false nostalgia. It opens up the double edged sword of a society where a woman can have a damaged reputation or a man can be physically injured by others and they are the one who are the ones who are left abused and abandoned. Nancy and Phillip's conflicts with the ton show that a society that is built on a standard of artifice and perfection is bound to fall when that perfection is rarely achieved.


A humorous dialogue occurs when Nancy and Phillip discuss habits and interests and are found to be incompatible. (She likes the pianoforte, going to the theatre, and reading novels. He likes the violin, reading nonfiction, and horseback riding.) In a normal courtship, more might have been made of those differences, but their loneliness and mutual understanding transcends those differences as they see the world through each other's eyes.

Both Nancy and Philip are imperfect people and their relationship prospers because of that imperfection. In fact, they develop an understanding and empathy towards each other that they may not have had if they weren't mutual outsiders.


Once Nancy and Phillip find that common ground and develop an understanding, complications occur that trouble their courtship. Phillip is attacked by an unknown assailant. Nancy is being stalked by a mysterious disguised figure and a wing of Phillip's estate is set on fire. 

The perpetrator behind these events is revealed in a well done plot twist that is a decent surprise. This twist also plays into the repressed frustrations of the day when some people feel that they aren't given their due. They have very little in their lives that they can claim is theirs and are driven by boredom and frustration to the point of insanity. 


The Dukedom of the Beast is a brilliant commentary on the Regency period and reveals that sometimes those that are outside of society  understand and love each other. Once those standards are removed, they no longer see the beastly and instead they recognize the beauty.


Weekly Reader: The Earl's Sinful Quest by Lisa Campbell; Dark and Mature Regency Romance Shows Love After Death

 


Weekly Reader: The Earl's Sinful Quest by Lisa Campbell; Dark and Mature Regency Romance Shows Love After Death

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: The Earl's Sinful Quest is among the darker more mature of the Regency Romances that I read this month. The female protagonist is in a different stage in her life from the other women. She isn't a young virginal woman in her late teens or early twenties awaiting her Season so she can catch a potential husband and first love. Lady Amelia Turner has already been through that. In fact, she is a widow and currently the Dowager Countess of Wilton. 

Her husband, Arthur, died a year after their marriage leaving Amelia a widow who is at the mercy of her in laws including her domineering sister in law, Leonora and younger brother in law, Malcolm who is forced to end his medical studies and assume the title of the Earl of Wilton.

Of course in the time honored tradition of any romance, Malcolm appears and he and Amelia hit it off, developing a friendship that evolves into a romance. 


This romance does a good job of pointing out many of the social standards of the time period.

Once Amelia and Malcolm's romance develops, they face public scrutiny. This is a society in which some believe that being involved with the widow of one's brother is technically considered incest (even though they are not related by blood.) It's a Biblical concept that is still believed in some cultures. Amelia and Malcolm's romance could be cause for scorn and scandal. Not to mention, Amelia could look like a gold digger being with two brothers from the same family. At the time, their relationship could be enough to end their reputation.


Because of the situation that she is in, Amelia is not as naive as many other female protagonists in her genre. She understands the ideal of marriages of convenience and to her credit had a good one. She married Arthur to get her family out of debt and to help his reputation. He was gay and needed a wife for appearances. Despite their marriage not being consummated, Amelia and Arthur were good friends and generally happy with their marriage. In Arthur, Amelia found a close friend and loyal supporter.


In Malcolm, Amelia finds not only a good friend but a lover. Malcolm fills the emotional needs that his late brother could not. Malcolm also recognizes that emotional need with Amelia. Even though he never married and is by definition less experienced than Ame!ia, he has been committed to his studies and pursuits of women. He 

is regarded as a family outsider. 

When he is welcomed by Amelia, he finally feels a connection to his family that he previously kept at arm's length. He finally feels accepted. Their love making is established late in the book as they slow!y recognize each other as friends before they become lovers.


This book also shows what happens when most of the scrutiny comes from within one's own family. Malcolm and Arthur's sister, Leonore is unmarried but uses her dominating personality to control things from behind the scenes. She thinks that she knows best regardless of their arguments to the contrary. She tries to arrange the engagement of Amelia and Malcolm to the Duke of Derby and his sister. She disregards their feelings in the matter.


Leonore has a marginal hold in society. As a wealthy unmarried woman, no one regards her. She is completely diminished, so all that she has is her limited role that she is determined to hold onto. It is very likely that she sees Amelia as a threat so is determined to marry her off in an attempt to get rid of her. Leonore is a woman who social climbing and maintaining a good reputation are everything to her because that's all she has. She is unable to fill the one role that society placed on her, to be a loyal, loving, and wealthy wife so she expects others to do so. Her determination flies into obsession and causes her to tdo some manipulative and abusive  things to hold onto that role.


The Earl's Sinful Quest is filled with darker themes and characters than your average Regency romance but it still retains the sweetness and attention to detail that surrounds other romances. Somehow, the darkness is what actually makes Amelia and Malcolm better lovers.




Monday, February 22, 2021

Weekly Reader: Bared To The Wicked Baron by Ava McAdams; Captivating Regency Romance But With A Very Misleading Title

 


Weekly Reader: Bared To The Wicked Baron by Ava McAdams; Captivating Regency Romance But With A Very Misleading Title

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: In the Romance genre, certain things sell and are as  omnipresent as scary things are to a Stephen King novel. Sex sells as shown by the covers featuring barely dressed lovers wrapped in each other's arms. Certain time periods sell as shown by the glut of historical romances, particularly during the Regency Era. Certain words in the title, like "Wicked," Naughty,"  "Forbidden," "Sinful," and "Passion," sell as well. Those words reveal something dark and forbidden about the romance that Readers are about to indulge into. It's a business decision, but at times it is an unnecessary one especially when the title is extraordinarily misleading.

Take Ava McAdams' novel Bared To The Wicked Baron. It would be a halfway decent Regency era Romance of a couple getting to know each other despite outside forces attempting to break them up. 

However the title Bared To The Wicked Baron suggests something else. It suggests something more salacious and sultrier than what we get and it seems to do so only to sell the book to more Readers.


The titular Baron is nowhere near wicked. Sir Phillip Andrews, The Baron of Havordshire, is actually a sweet, but private baron who is caring for his ailing mother. He has been steadily losing money and now resides in a humble cottage to care for her. He has a few loyal servants, but he does much of the nursing himself. Because of this, he doesn't have a lot of time to do the usual social routine of a man among the ton. His friends convince him to spend one night away at a ball so he can finally relax. Now does this sound remotely wicked to you?

He is not wicked in temperament nor in reputation. I could sort of understand if Phillip harbored a reputation of being wicked to ward women away from him so they, and the Reader, don't know that he is caring for his mother leaving his family problems to be a surprise. Perhaps it could be the hidden heart inside his Byronic reputation. But his family conflict is revealed in the second chapter. No one describes or refers to Phillip as wicked and he never behaves that way. Arthur Thistlewood from The Second Mrs. Thistlewood has more right to the adjective than Phillip does. At most Phillip could be private, maybe secretive. Were Bared To The Private or Secretive Baron taken as titles?


Because he has been AWOL from social duties, Phillip's friends warn that his time may be up pursuing young viable women to be brides and give birth to his heirs without looking like an aging fool. Another character running out of time is Helena, daughter of the Earl of Brimsey. She is 27 years old and missed an earlier Season, because of her family's dwindled finances. Now her parents say better late than never and she needs to be married before it's too late. Naturally she goes to the same ball in which Phillip is dragged. The two meet, share a dance, and begin to fall in love.

Their courtship is rushed. That could be attributed to their ages in a time period where they were expected to already be married and the implied anxiety that would happen in a time period where death in childbirth is far from unheard, when late in life pregnancies can produce many long term complications, and when the medical profession amounted to guesswork.  Helena and Phillip's courtship is steamy in that it's an emotional release for a long delayed dream, one that satisfies them on a personal level. They are a nice decent couple that couldn't be further from villainous if they tried.


There is a wicked character in the book that complicates Helena and Phillip's courtship. They use underhanded means to come between the couple like physical attacks and secret confidences. More cannot be revealed but that person is definitely not a baron. This character has some development but it is revealed too late since they are unbearable and annoying throughout. In fact, their villainy is pretty transparent and certainly not compelling. 


Bared To The Wicked Baron is a decent romance but it promises to be something else. With so many words that could have been chosen for the title, wicked should not have been one of them.




New Book Alert: The Artist and His Billionaire by CJ Turner; Sweet and Sexy M/M Romance

 


New Book Alert: The Artist and His Billionaire by CJ Turner; Sweet and Sexy M/M Romance

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: The covers of many Romance novels often promise us a sexy time. They feature shirtless men with muscles and great pecs and beautiful women with long gowns that barely cover their breasts. Sometimes, the couple are in modem clothes but their smoldering exprssions reveal that they would rather have them off. Whether the models are alone or draped in each other's arms, the images practically steam with lust and passion. 

Male-Male romances are no different only instead of a man and a woman, the covers feature one or two hunky shirtless muscular men, often from the neck down. That's the way they are, sex sells and all that. The sexy covers are part of the window dressing and wish fulfilment that Romances provide. However, they often conceal that the cover is only part of the story. If done right, a Romance novel can transcend the sexy promise of wish fulfilment and give us an engaging character driven story of a couple who are perfect for each other, but have obstacles that prevent them from seeing that. 

CJ Turner's book, The Artist and His Billionaire, is the right kind of romance between two completely different men. It is both sweet and sexy featuring these two characters who are a perfect match.


Lennox Sewell is an artist working for Ms. Pearson, a florist, to pay the bills. One day, a handsome man in a clearly fancy business suit walks into the shop with a beautiful woman wearing a big shiny diamond engagement ring. The man, Theo Collins, plunks down a huge sum for a large bouquet for an upcoming wedding. Despite Lennox's initial assumptions, Theo is not the groom. He is the best friend of the bride to be, Livvy (the woman with the ring). Instead Theo is gay and very available, as is Lennox.


Theo and Lennox have the usual class differences that define these type of romances: Theo is from an uppeclass family. Lennox from a working class one. Theo is a businessman while Lennox longs to leave the flower shop to become a recognized artist. However, their similarities emerge when they recognize an altruistic need to help others. Theo wants to use recycled plastic to create cost alternatives for building materials. Lennox not only draws suggestions for potential kitchen cabinets, but he also suggests that cargo containers can be used to create recycled external outer shells for affordable housing. The two recognize the interests of providing affordable housing and the need they fill for each other: Theo with the money and big ideas, Lennox with the experience of living paycheck to paycheck and the artistic eye. They are drawn to each other because of their attraction, but also by their intelligence and commitment to higher purposes. 

Moments like these are what makes them a good couple.


There are many stumbling blocks that get in the way of them being together like a clingy ex of Theo's, Theo's snobbish friends and colleagues, and Lennox's pride and suspicions that Theo is only "slumming" when he goes out with a lower class man like him. Of course they get in the way of their union and of course each one is challenged. There are some moments of fringy dialogue ("I'm an artist." "No, you're a magician because you cast a spell over me.") But these are minor flaws in this charming book.

When Lennox and Theo have sex, and they do, it is a winning chapter. This is because they have certainly earned the right to be together. We have seen them together and separate. They had angst and worried whether their love is the real thing or a one night stand. They have been hurt by previous lovers and are concerned whether their differences are too much. (Lennox is particularly concerned about this.) Their union becomes an inevitable but welcome release.


The Artist and His Billionaire is an effective romance. When it is sweet, it is very sweet. When it is sexy, well, it is very sexy indeed.


Sunday, February 21, 2021

New Book Alert: The Second Mrs. Thistlewood by Dionne Haynes; Memorable Regency Historical Fiction Reveals A Woman's Struggle To Leave An Abusive Marriage

 


New Book Alert: The Second Mrs. Thistlewood by Dionne Haynes; Memorable Regency Historical Fiction Reveals A Woman's Struggle To Leave An Abusive Marriage

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: When I first received Dionne Haynes' novel The Second Mrs. Thistlewood, I often mistakenly referred to it as The Second Mrs. DeWinter, in reference to the unnamed narrator and protagonist of Daphne Du Maurier's classic female Gothic novel, Rebecca. Until I read the book, it did not occur to me how right I was. 

The Second Mrs. Thistlewood invokes the spirit of Gothic authors of the past like DuMaurier and The Bronte Sisters. It has the creepy isolated home, the dark brooding male character with a previous marriage, and the naive heroine with very passionate feelings towards him. However, it does so with a modern 21st sensibility that reveals that if you marry a Heathcliff, Edward Rochester, or Maxim De Winter, don't expect to be treated well.


The plot focuses on six years between 1814-1820 during the unhappy marriage of Arthur and Susan Thistlewood. His first wife died leaving him with a son, Julian. Susan remembers that during their early courtship, Arthur was kind and loving. He seemed to be a good fit and her father heartily approved of the marriage. Unfortunately, Arthur has steadily lost money because of the gambling tables. Now he spends his days drinking, plotting to revolt against and kill the king, and beat and belittle his wife.


We are spared flashbacks of their early meeting and courtship, showing when they were younger, in love, and Susan was blind to his temperament. Normally I would question that and yes it would show the abusive marriages don't always start out that way. Arthur's abuse would have caught the Reader off guard as much as it would have Susan. However, it is also right that she did not do this.

This approach is sort of like if Emily Bronte had ignored the first half of Wuthering Heights that explored the origins of Catherine and Heathcliff's tempestuous passionate romance and just focused on the middle part that explored how miserable Heathcliff made the people around him including his wife, Isabelle and son, Linton. As one of the few people who have made my dislike of Wuthering Heights clear, I approve of this approach.


Haynes clearly did not want to fall into the trap that happened with many Gothic authors. She did not want to make her brooding male character a misunderstood Byronic complex antihero that perversely attracted female, and a few male and nonbinary, Readers. She wanted the Readers to dislike Arthur as much as Susan does. (Unfortunately considering how many fans Edward Cullen and Christian Grey have and the strange nature of attraction that Readers have towards certain characters, Hayes's intentions may do the opposite and cause Arthur Thistlewood to have fans among his Readers. Thankfully, I am not one of them.)


Arthur is a true monster. He hits Susan when she does not obey him. He makes a habit of denying her even the basic comforts such as building a fire to "save on money" but then orders her to buy a fancy dress when they go to drop Julian off at boarding school so they can put on airs of pretense. He practically flaunts his affair with a maid over Susan's head but questions her whereabouts and when she receives packages of books. When Susan gets a job at a dressmaker's shop, Arthur helps himself to her earnings. 

Even his seemingly altruistic traits such as challenging the English class system and defending the rights of the poor are under suspect. He seems less willing to help others, after all he doesn't care much about his wife, son, or the people around him, than he is excited about the prospect of starting a violent revolution. He has a sadistic bloodthirsty nature that isn't just satisfied with inflicting pain. He wants to inflict it on others including the King, and appears to use the class struggles as an excuse to do so.


By contrast Susan is much more developed and a stronger character. She knows that she is in a loveless marriage and English Divorce Laws at the time will not allow her to leave unless for reasons of adultery. She waits in anticipation as Arthur manipulates his way out of being officially caught with the maid. When Arthur's political interests become violent, Susan plays the loyal and loving wife, never letting him know that she prays for an arrest and long prison sentence. There are times when she is stuck in the same situation hoping that she will be free from her unhappy marriage only to be disappointed when he reappears to hurt her once more. However, these chapters show the draconian claustrophobic atmosphere many women were caught in at the time where they could do very little to change their marital status, even if they are being physically and psychologically abused by their husbands.


However, Susan shows quite a bit of strength and resolve despite her unhappiness. Unlike Arthur who makes a lot of noise about caring for the poor, Susan actually does. She befriends and cares for Anna, an emigre from France who is victimized by anti-French sentiment after the Napoleonic Wars. Susan also perseveres working at the dress shop to the point that she develops a talent for designing clothes which she visualizes opening her own shop one day. She saves and hoards money so that she can be financially secure in case Arthur ever does leave her life. She also shows a maternal side towards Julian wanting to become a more loving influence towards him rather than his cruel father.

Susan also mentally escapes her situation by reading, particularly the works of Jane Austen and poetry. It is during a trip to the bookstore that she encounters William Westcott, a Bow Street Runner, who is investigating Arthur's violent insurrection connections. Susan and William exchange a love of books and develop a friendship that grows into a romance when Susan realizes what a sweet man William actually is, unlike her husband. 


The Gothic novel that The Second Mrs. Thistlewood most resembles is not Rebecca or Wuthering Heights or even Jane Eyre, a classic that is just as much a landmark of feminist novels as it is of Gothic Literature. It is most similar to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte.  

In both, we get women trapped in unhappy abusive marriages that resort to using subterranean means like practicing their talents in secret so they can hone them into a career and hiding money for security in absence of their husbands. They eventually achieve independence and discover love with much better and more understanding men. However, Tennant also explores Bronte's devotion to Christian doctrine by having her protagonist, Helen Graham Huntington forgive her husband, Arthur before he dies. That may have pleased Readers then or revealed Christian charity, but that is not what Susan Thistlewood is looking for. 


Instead Susan Thistlewood is looking for a life for herself, one where she doesn't have to the nameless unimportant Second Mrs. Thistlewood, abused and forced to be subservient to her husband. She longs for a life for herself, where she can become Susan, a strong independent woman with friends, family, and real love.

New Book Alert: Colony by Benjamin Cross; Suspenseful But Flawed Science Thriller Recalls '90's Adventure Novels and Movies

 


New Book Alert: Colony by Benjamin Cross; Suspenseful But Flawed Science Thriller Recalls '90's Adventure Novels and Movies

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: Benjamin Cross' Colony is a book that is similar to its premise. The plot involves a group of scientists stranded in the Arctic that encounter a herd of prehistoric creatures that have evolved and adapted to their surroundings and are not so happy about being interrupted by some aggravating humans. Like the prehistoric creatures, Colony itself is practically an artifact from another time though a lot more recent.

Colony is similar to the science novels and blockbuster films of the 1990's, works of people like Michael Crichton or Robin Cook. Like Colony, they involve plucky scientists, usually American, British, or from various countries, who speak a lot of technobabble and have strange theories that are proven right by the end. They always face some sort of scientific threat of monsters, viruses, or natural disasters. There is some sort of family dilemma, perhaps a divorce, to give a personal conflict alongside the scientific one.

The scientists are surrounded by bureaucrats, scientific rivals, or representatives from another country who try to stop their research and either run afoul of or try to control the natural threat on their own. Oh and expect a betrayal that proves that humanity is the real destructive force.

It's exciting, suspenseful, and predictable. But there is a bit of nostalgia involved in a book that allows you to lose yourself in an adventure that hearkens back to an earlier time.


Callum Ross, a divorced Professor of Archeology, is spending some rare vacation time with his son, Jamie, when his boss, Jonas Olsen requests him to join an expedition to Franz Josef Land in the Arctic of Northern Russia. He is assigned to a group of scientists conducting a field survey on the recently found Harmsworth Island for the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental department that encourages cooperation within countries over the Arctic's vast resources. Of course Jamie agrees, meets the scientists, encounters prehistoric creatures, gets betrayed etc.


The protagonists are the usual mixed bag in this kind of book.  Besides Callum, there's Dan Peterson, an American New Age surfer dude who calls Callum "Indiana McJones" and is usually the comic relief. There's Lungkaju, the Nganasan guide with a personal connection to the local area. Dr. Semyanov, the father figure of the group. Then there are the female scientists Ava Lee, Canadian vertebrate paleontologist and Darya Lebedev, Russian ecologist. They are there as visual proof that science is not a male dominated field. However, they contribute very little to the plot except to look amazed,, occasionally use scientific jargon to prove that yes they are scientists, get injured and be at the point of death quite often, and become the love interests of Dan and Callum respectively. Like I said, Colony is a book invoking an earlier time. Unfortunately, the attention to female characters seems to also hearken back to that earlier time as well. The better characters are in fact the male characters.


There are some interesting scenes that develop the characters as they get to know each other. There are some cute flirty nerdy passages as Darya and Callum and then Ava and Dan share their um research with each other. There is also a particularly touching moment when Callum has a teleconference with a very disappointed Jamie and has a heart to heart with a seemingly gruff Russian comms assistant that gives him some surprisingly warm parental advice.

There is also a beautiful chapter in which Callum and Darya leave the compound to observe narwhals in action that acknowledges the beauty of nature. (Of course it's a lot less beautiful to read when in reality the United States is under a polar vortex.) Then there are the moments in which the antagonists plot with the traitor who becomes pretty obvious long before they are revealed. 

Of course these are mere distractions once the real stars of the show, the creatures, arrive.


The creatures are described as lizard birds and though that name sounds cheesy,the execution is less so. They are bipedal with feathers covering their skin, tiny forearms, tails, and long beak like snouts. Their large teeth, claws, and carnivorous diet, particularly for human flesh reveal that they mean business. They are adaptable to their surroundings as their eyes adjust to the sunlight or lack thereof and make use of the extensive caves as shelters. Their intelligence shows in their ability to learn from and hunt their human adversaries. 

Filmmakers would have a field day visualizing the attacks on the hapless scientists that have entered their territory. 

The stand offs are pretty suspenseful as Callum et al. have to face not only the reptilian but mammalian antagonists as the villains make their plans known. The action is non-stop and frequent, abandoning any semblance of development for high octane thrills and suspense.


If you are looking for a deep theme or characters, look elsewhere. Colony knows what it is and it delivers. It is an action packed science novel that is frozen in time as much as the lizard birds. However, upon reawakening, it proves to be an exciting and entertaining romp.





Wednesday, February 17, 2021

New Book Alert: The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can by Alan C. Logan; True Crime Expose Pokes Holes Into The Story of Frank W. Abagnale Jr.,"The Great Imposter"

 


New Book Alert: The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can by Alan C. Logan; True Crime Expose Pokes Holes Into The Story of Frank W. Abagnale Jr.,"The Great Imposter" 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: By now many are familiar with the story of Frank William Abagnale Jr. If they haven't read his autobiography, Catch Me If You Can, they may have seen the 2002 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks or saw the Broadway musical starring Norbert Leo Butz, who won a Tony for his role as Abagnale.

For those that don't know his story, here it is: At 16 years old, Abagnale ran away to escape his divorced parents. On the run, he impersonated a Pan Am pilot, a chief resident at Cobb County General Hospital in Malcotta, Georgia, an attorney for the state attorney general of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a professor at Brigham Young University and cashed over five million dollars in bad checks. He was finally caught before he was 21. He spent one year in a French prison,  one year in a Swedish prison, and four years in a US Federal penitentiary. Paroled, he later worked for the FBI on fraud scams and crime prevention. He became a billionaire because of his securities consultation business in which he continues to give tips on how people can avoid fraud scams. His story sounds almost too good to be true and hard to believe that it really happened. Well, Alan C. Logan, author of Your Brain on Nature, The Secret Life of Microbiome, and Self-Styled: Chasing Dr. Robert Vernon Spears, says that there is a reason for that because it never did happen. In fact for over forty years, Abagnale has been selling a story that was an entire hoax.

Logan's book The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can, writes a complete expose that pokes holes into Abagnale's image as a suave con man turned securities expert. It is a very thorough and detailed look that peers into the facts behind a story and cautions the Readers to find the truth before we believe in the appearance.


I myself bought Abagnale's story. I love the movie and still consider it one of my favorite DiCaprio films (second only to Shutter Island) but now I see it as purely a caper film, escapist, fun, and drenched in '60's nostalgia, but no more real than The Usual Suspects, Ocean's Eleven, or To Catch A Thief. A good film but simply fiction.

I have a deeper connection to this story. I met Abagnale once in college. He gave a lecture at the University of Missouri St. Louis and I was a reporter for the student newspaper. I attended his lecture and even got a few minutes alone with him to answer a few questions. Oh, there was nothing salacious or untoward in his behavior. He was very charming and friendly. However, looking back on that incident, there was one thing that should have raised more questions than it did at the time. 

I asked him how anyone could have believed him at the time and why none of his employers did a background check. His answer was along the line that "People were more trusting at the time." I remember thinking "That may be true but people then as they are now terrified of lawsuits and I would think that the possibility that their new attorney or surgeon would not have all of his credentials would have entered their minds." As a journalist, I should have trusted my instincts and been more curious and questioning, but I wasn't. I just wrote his lecture as it was, one of the many who played into Abagnale's fantasies and shared it like it was the truth.


Logan's book uses first person accounts from people who knew Abagnale such as his ex-girlfriend, retired flight attendant, Paula Parks and former agent, Mark Zinder. Logan also uses news articles, arrest records, and news articles to make his case against Abagnale and reveal the truth that lies behind the glamorous facade.

In fact, the story that Logan reveals is more of a ploy from a man desperate for attention rather than a skilled con man. Through Logan's words, Abagnale fabricated, exaggerated, and outright lied about his background.

Abagnale's real life crime story began with his arrest for pretty crimes in New York City, even stealing his father's credit card and writing bad checks. After a brief stint in the Navy, he was arrested multiple times in New York City only to be placed back in his parents' custody. Both his parents, Frank Sr. and Paula believed that their son was mentally ill and needed psychiatric help. His mother even stated that he wrote bad checks shortly after he was released in her custody.


Many of the more fantastic aspects of Abagnale's story contain what Logan calls "nuggets of truth" but greatly exaggerated by Abagnale himself. For example he did wear a pilot's uniform, impersonated a pilot, and wrote bad checks. But he mostly walked around the airports and never entered the jump seat. Also, his haul was less than 14,00 total not the millions that he claimed. 

One of the more memorable scenes in the movie was when Abagnale interviews a bevy of beautiful woman to selects them as flight attendants for a trip to Europe, but in reality needed them as a distraction to get past FBI agents. According to Abagnale, that really happened and the ladies had a good time in Europe. According to Logan, Abagnale attempted the ruse and less than twelve women arrived but left finding his questions creepy and insulting. Not only that, but Abagnale attempted this stunt in 1970 basing it on a real program that Pan Am discontinued the year before.

Abagnale exaggerated his infamy as well claiming that his crimes as the so-called "Skyway Man" (a term not even coined until the 70's long after Abagnale's criminal career would have ended) were the subject of huge headlines and many articles in the New York Times. Also, that he was on the FBI's Most Wanted List (a a list that is only reserved for violent criminals). Logan's search of the New York Times from that era revealed only one article about Abagnale and that was an account of one of his minor thefts.


Much of Abagnale's more elaborate claims of being a doctor, attorney, and professor were completely impossible because according to police records from 1966-1969, Abagnale was in prison for transportation of a stolen vehicle and larceny by forgery. Not to mention that none of the employees of Cobb County General Hospital, BYU, or the state attorney general's office in Baton Rouge at the time had heard of him. For example, the Cobb County hospital employees said that it was a small hospital and they surely would have remembered Abagnale or the aliases that he used.

Even his subsequent post-criminal career is cause for suspicion. According to Logan's book, the FBI agents that Abagnale claimed that he worked with, one he even said was his boss, admitted that they never knew him. The businesses that Abagnale said that he gave his security advice to said that they paid him and he only told them what most people know.


One of the more provocative claims was that Abagnale insisted that he only stole from banks and large businesses. He said that he never stole from small businesses or individuals and that he paid everyone that he stole from back. In Logan's book, Abagnale's crimes were hardly victimless and he took advantage and stole from many small businesses and people. At the time of Logan's writing, one man in Sweden still insists that Abagnale owes him money for a car that he stole. Abagnale is also reported to have stolen funds and assaulted female counselors at a children's camp in 1972 where he worked as a bus driver.

Among Abagnale's victims were Parks and Zinder. Parks's story in particular is chilling as she described Abagnale stalking her and practically moving in with her parents after only a brief time of them being together. After Abagnale robbed the Parks family, Parks said that she and her parents developed lifelong trust issues and she had PTSD from their encounter.

One of the more interesting courageous moments in the book is in the final chapters when Parks confronted Abagnale one final time after his story hit stage and screen. She tried to remind him who she was and what he did to her. Even though he was rattled, Abagnale continued to deny knowing her and insisted that his story was true. Parks saw Abagnale as "a small man who told his story so often that he believed it."


Zinder's story is also interesting as he got to know Abagnale after his alleged criminal career had ended and he achieved fame for his story, appearing on To Tell The Truth and The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. Zinder helped Abagnale spread and sell his story while keeping some of the more sordid details out of the public eye, liike the mysterious appearance of a wife after Abagnale played the part of a womanizer in his public appearances in the '70's. (Later the wife, Kelly, became more instrumental from the '80's onward when Abagnale portrayed himself as a family man.).

Zinder also recounted the darker side of his former friend's attitude such as bilking him out of money and Zinder's then wife, Fran, having an uncomfortable private encounter with Abagnale in which she never revealed the full details but had clearly traumatized her. (Long after they parted ways, Zinder reunited with Abagnale who apologized for "that thing with Fran" but never elaborated what it specifically was. As of the publication of the book, he still did not know).


While Logan does a thorough job of exposing Abagnale there is one glaring puzzling aspect to this book. Parks and Zinder are not the only ones who have confronted Abagnale over his claims. An article in the San Francisco Chronicle could not find any truth to his claims and a professor challenged his students to investigate the story. However, at no point has Abagnale ever been sued or formerly charged with deceiving the public for his claims. 

The penalty for claiming to be a Federal government employee alone is a federal crime that is punishable with a fine and up to three years in prison. Riane Brownlee was sentenced for three years just for claiming to be an FBI agent on her dating profile last year. Abagnale has been telling this story since 1976-77 and how come not once has the FBI charged him or given him a formal reprimand to say that he never worked with them?

Now Abagnale always insisted that the people that he worked for never mentioned his name to avoid embarrassment. That's his excuse what's Logan's or rather the people who spoke to him? How come in the last 40 plus years that Abagnale spent allegedly lying to the public there isn't a more formal investigation into his claims or he hasn't been charged with fraud, or at least sued by any of his former colleagues or representatives from his former workplaces by faking his connection with them? (Surely, the publicity of ferreting out an imposter who never worked at a place is much better than the humiliation that a 16 year old with no actual experience and training manipulated his way into those fields.) What about the people who paid for his speaking engagement and consultation, why isn't there more of an outcry about his lack of security expertise?

Was Abagnale telling the truth more than Logan wanted to admit? In his dislike for Abagnale and his haste to bury Abagnale not to praise him, did Logan not follow his own research and instincts? Did Logan do the very thing that he accused the public of doing when buying Abagnale's story in the first place? Is Abagnale's story half true and half false and if so which parts? Is Logan believing his own he telling the truth or is he like Abagnale believing his own story?


Well if Logan and his informants are telling the truth and Abagnale really has been deceiving the public all this time, then in an ironic way Frank W. Abagnale Jr. really is the greatest con artist of them all.