A review of The Trinity Game by Sean Chercover

The Trinity Game is a religio-mystery thriller in which author Sean Chercover displays an admirable imagination. God comes off as an unknowable entity while the Catholic Church hierarchy and born-again television evangelists are depicted as selfish, dismal creatures serving mammon and misleading their gullible flocks. The Rev. Tim Trinity, a con-man, faith healer, TV evangelist, finds he really believes in God when he truly speaks in tongues—rather than cynically using the technique to extract cash from his audience. CNN and its talking heads are a significant element in the background of the story along with the sorrowful economic state of print journalism. So from what I have written so far you can see that this is not a book for blindly religious and sensitive Catholics or Protestants. Daniel Byrne, The Trinity Game’ priest protagonist and professional debunker of miracles, is very much an ordinary man in his hunger for a woman, finer foods, and good alcohol. Chercover is so engaging a writer that I had some difficulty in putting The Trinity Game down as the night grew near morning and my bedtime. Towards the end, the book slows to the mundane of a Hollywood thriller, but it is an acceptable conclusion, but stops The Trinity Game from being a great novel. Overall The Trinity Game is well worth reading.

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

Five stars for The Hero by Kenneth C. Crowe

Kindle reviewer Arnold Mitchell gave THE HERO five stars on Aug. 12, 2012. Mitchell’s review: “For me the characters (are) believable and interesting. It caught me off guard with the time setting but made it very more interesting to read. Only a couple of misspellings (less than 4 that i found) compared to other books for the same price range which made the book that much better. The book is much better than the cover would suggest in my opinion.”

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

A four-star review of OOOEELIE by Kenneth C. Crowe

A four-star review of OOOEELIE on Kindle by Madeline: “I enjoyed this story about a dog who is superior to Man. It was well balanced, with a good amount of 'What?' mixed with 'Oh, I see!' I think it is self-published, as there were several typos and a few grammar errors, but although these usually distract me totally, I found I could ignore them and get on with the story. Only small flaw in that was the heroine changed from first opinions to final ones too suddenly. I will read another book by this author, but I hope he will get a better editor next time.”

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

A four-star review of OOOEELIE by Kenneth C. Crowe

A four-star review of OOOEELIE on Kindle by Madeline: “I enjoyed this story about a dog who is superior to Man. It was well balanced, with a good amount of 'What?' mixed with 'Oh, I see!' I think it is self-published, as there were several typos and a few grammar errors, but although these usually distract me totally, I found I could ignore them and get on with the story. Only small flaw in that was the heroine changed from first opinions to final ones too suddenly. I will read another book by this author, but I hope he will get a better editor next time.”

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

DREAM DANCER REVIEW From Goodreads

DREAM DANCER REVIEW From Goodreads: Jul 01, 2012 Bethany rated it (five stars) I'm not one to really take the time to write a review but after finishing this book I feel there are a few words that have to be said. It's hard to find many books regarding really any Native American topic, especially when just browsing for free ebooks, but I downloaded this book on a whim without really knowing what to expect. I won't go into much detail but this book tells the story of Coop Rever, a celebrated war vet living a good life in France as a journalist, who cannot deny the calling of Koona Manitou to come back to the Okwe reservation in America and fulfill his destiny to save his people. The setting starts out in the 50's and Crowe portrays the horrific racism endured by the Native Americans during this time period, being branded as "red niggers" and treated as less than second class citizens who aren't even believed that they should possess their own land by the white politicians and corrupt police force/correction officers. Every time I thought I knew where the direction of the story was going, Crowe threw me for another loop and spun Coop's life for yet another painful turn. Not only does the reader gain more knowledge of the much under-discussed plight of Native American life, especially in context of maintaining their culture while being corralled into reservations in order to be stuffed away from the white population, but it also sheds a terrible light on the inhumanity of prison life during that time. Without spoiling any of this thought-provoking tale, let's just say that after reading the story of Coop (an unlikely but surprisingly sympathetic character), one gains a new perspective on life, the strength of the human spirit, and just how much suffering one can endure (and have denied) and still manage to survive. One of the deepest and most disturbing books that I've read in a while. I will definitely be reading more by Kenneth Crowe

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

BEFORE THE FALL by Orna Ross: some thoughts

This is a five-star novel. Ross has a nice way with words. A couple of examples: “the one he likes best is the one who comes out when we’re home, snuggled up, three quarters of the way down a bottle of wine.” Or, “Dirty dishes accumulate in my sink until furred.” Her description of a plunge into alcoholism is grand, as the Irish might say. There is so much written about “roots.” The protagonist of this novel overcomes her roots, triumphs over the society into which she was born and her family ties to emerge as a startlingly independent, fulfilled woman. She takes the reader to unexpected places: backwater Ireland, to London, to San Francisco, where she is the most interesting. I suffer from an affliction, perhaps, of living in the modern world, but I was halfway through the novel before I realized what the title meant, who was the fallen.

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

For Science Fiction fans: OOOEELIE by Kenneth C. Crowe

A woman named Raine gave my novel, OOOEELIE, its first review, suggesting that Science Fiction fans would enjoy the book. The review on Shelfari: Rated 4 stars “I needed a book to read and I looked on my kindle and started OOOEELIE. it starts out about a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, and it seemed pretty interesting. Then I got to Chapter 9. If you can make it past Chapter 9 (where it is explained how Oooeelie is a descendant/reincarnate of a dog who landed on earth from outer space and taught man how to communicate) you will really enjoy this book. I'm not a science fiction book reader, but this one was really good. I really couldn't put it down. I liked the story of Joanna and how her life changed and also how her husband Gil was able to reinvent himself. The story of the Wesos Foundation and how the (foundation) tracked Oooeelie kept the story going. The ending was perfect! You can tell that this book was written by a man by some of the descriptions of the love/sex escapades. Oooeelie was not what I expected, but it was really enjoyable. I think Science Fiction fans would really like this. Give it a try!” Raine wrote this review 2 days ago.

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.