Book Review: Wrath by Kirkus MacGowan

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 "Cover Design by
 www.ethinkgraphics.com, 
Copyright 2012" 

Firstly, I have to declare an interest. Kirkus MacGowan and I follow each other on Twitter and we chat from time to time, well, he chats and I moan.  This is his third book well second if you count the middle one as a very short but hilarious story about a garden gnome, which come to think about, I didn't review. And, as I am known to be a bit of a moaner and highly critical of anything produced by people who have more talent than I, just for the sheer sake of argument, he foolishly sent me an, in advance of publication, look at his new book, silly man.

Anyway,  I did review his first full novel, The Fall of Billy Hitchins and ended up giving it a good rating even although I did say about it, at the time;

What we ended up with was a book that began with a forgettable stroll around the park, jumped over the railing onto the running track and into a gentle jog and then burst into a sprint as the story progressed.

You can read that full review here

One of the central characters of the first book was an ex marine turned bodyguard by the name of John Reeves and MacGowan has, it seems, decided to maybe build around this guy for this and possibly future outings, was it a good idea to resurrect the character, well lets see shall we.

Did Wrath start with a forgettable stroll around the park as TFOBH did, no it did not! It didn't even start with John Reeves, it started with his big brother Alan, a Police Captain in their home town of Clarksbridge, Michigan, gently questioning an old and valued family friend, a friend of their dead father who had been found naked in the middle of the road after having been missing for over a week.

It really is going to be difficult to review this book without giving away spoilers, so all I can say is, that as the interview is over and the old chap is about to leave the station and head home, a mysterious phone call is received asking for him.  Alan Reeves hands him the phone, he listens, he drops the phone on the desk and he dies, horribly.......

This marks the beginning of trouble for the Clarksbridge Police Force who are short of manpower and it also marks the start of a horrifying chain of events with others dying, old men and young women, what is the connection and just how are the old men dying, well actually that's easy as the book describes their deaths in cold brutal fashion, and they aint pretty deaths either.  The only problem is that we know  something or someone is causing the deaths but how the hell is it happening.

John Reeves has returned to Clarksbridge at the behest of his best friend Eddy, a private investigator and even his brother doesn't know he is back in town.  It is only when the widow of the first 'victim' engages Eddy, and John starts digging around, Alan discovers his brother is back, they haven't spoken for five years since John didn't return for the funeral of Alan's wife, so the relationship is, well families, you know what I mean....

An old photograph of the Reeves' father starts turning up at the crime scenes, hidden from the first forensic sweeps, and this adds to the intrigue.  The mysterious Rachel turns up again, you'll remember her from TFOBH,  and again on the end of a phone, providing clues and assistance from afar, second story in and that seems to be working; one day MacGowan may let us in on her back story, or she may in fact turn out to be the equivalent of 'Charlie' from the Angels who keeps mysteriously popping up, but never explained, and in the end he (Charlie) didn't need to be, did he?

Unlike TFOBH, there was no stroll around the park in this one, it started with one gruesome death and just kept going from there.  Don't be mistaken though, this wasn't a blood soaked book for the sake of gruesomeness.  There is a story here that started long before the Reeves boys had their first bouts of teenage acne that had been simmering for years on a low peep and John Reeves had decided to come back to Clarksbridge at precisely the time the simmering pot changed to an exploding pot of boiling hatred and revenge; revenge to be visited upon the sons of the fathers and anyone who was close to them.  John finds himself being framed, his brother doesn't believe he is capable of the things that have happened, even although he dislike his brother, so defends him.  More incontrovertible evidence starts to pile up and Alan begins to have doubts, coming  c;lose to shooting his own brother: Can the brothers differences be put aside ...  A big ask, or are they going to end up dead too...

I did start of being fairly critical of MacGowan's first book and then it won me round.  This one gripped from the beginning with the psychological twists presented to good effect, can you really make a person burst into flames (no that doesn't happen in this book, but you will see why I mention it, on reading it) through the power of suggestion, can you cure criminals and paedophiles with psychology alone, who knows what we are capable of but clearly MacGowan has an inkling towards these kind of questions from his own degree in psychology and uses the 'power of the mind' in a frightening way and to good effect in this book. Some of the story drifted, just a little, in the middle, but overall I found it absorbing and hard to put down.  I started looking at it last week but got so tied up with the Olympics I put it down having read the first 6 chapters.  I picked it up on Monday and finished it on Tuesday, all 27 remaining chapters......

Was John Reeves worth resurrecting, I asked early on, yes, I think he was.  Even although a lot of the book actually features Alan, his brother and the Clarksbridge Police Dept.,  and John who was not the first intended target of the hate and revenge, becomes the tortured soul, in more ways than one, and who needs to be rescued.  MacGowan, after only one book has uncluttered his mind and got down to some serious writing, there are no really slow patches in this as there was in TFOBH. He has given us a hero who is handy with a Glock and a mean punch, but who also has vulnerabilities, and who sometimes needs other heroes to rescue the situation to save him.

Finally, The Cover; It is a bleak looking thing, Black, White and Grey with a splash of colour, but so perfect for this book, it so encapsulates the novel and describes items from it that will become apparent to the reader as the story unfolds, 10 out of 10 to ethinkgraphics who clearly paid attention to the book when coming up with the design.

You can follow Kirkus on Twitter @KirkusMacGowan or connect with him on his blog at http://www.kirkusmacgowan.info/


Editing for Kindle /iPad: This was a draft copy so can't really comment
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Page length on kindle /iPad: Not known but was a substantial read
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Liebster Award, WTF!

I got this the other day from a dear Twitter friend, and first time novelist, Kirkus MacGowan.  He was lucky, he was so close to getting blocked for spam as you do as you see your twitter name and a link popping up in the twitter time line and you automatically, when that is all you see, reach for the report and block button.  It was only then that I noticed it was from Kirkus that made me click on the link, taking me to his blog where I found I had been Liebstered!

Without being to sycophantic, I have been saying for a while, what a nice guy he (Kirkus) is and there he goes and nominates me for an award for the interweb detritus that people sometime’s, no doubt when they are really, really bored and there is absolutely nothing else for them to do, pop into my little old unprofessional weirdy looking blog, aw shucks [blushing], no not really.  It’s about time someone recognised me for the talent that I have, for spouting nonsense, bless him....

And while I am on the subject of him, here in the UK there is an advert running for a new TV programme coming to our screens, that every time I see the guy in it he reminds me of the great one,  that is MacGowan   

This is Kirkus’s Twitter photo 

 and this is

Morgan Spurlock   There is a resemblance.  Having no idea who Mr Spurlock is, I am sure he is not as nice as Mr MacGowan!  So, thank you Kirkus for the nomination, to kind.

(although Mr Spurlock does seem to have more hair but if no-one mentions it Kirkus wont notice either)

My Liebster Award Nominations

And for my nominations then I would like to nominate:

Emma Garaln for her Virtually Sensible blog.We just sort of met on twitter, no idea who followed who first but she is fun and serious and has a point of view that she doesn’t mind sharing with you, with even a little bit of poetry thrown in from time to time.

Julia R Barrat  for her Julia Barrett’s World.  Or as I like to call her (never met, but who cares) Aunt Julia, who is an author and blogger and lover of all things zombie, traveller, hiker, pet lover, nurse, wife, and the list goes on ..... well let’s just say an all round good un who occasionally let’s go with both barrels when something gets on her wick.  Whatever she writes on her blog, you can be guaranteed it will be good

Penny Watson for her Penelope’s Romance Reviews Another of my Twitter Aunties Penny is so much fun, especially if she has been knocking back the martini’s and they don’t even need to be alcoholic, and you get an inviter every week when she hosts yet another martini mixing party, what more do you need. 

Chef John Malik was recently introduced to me by Aunty Julia knowing that I am a sucker for good food and he throws out the odd recipe, like a bone to the dog.  He writes has appeared on some American TV show I have never heard of, but hey who hasn’t? Checked out his blog roll the other day and some amazing entries, I recommend his blog ‘Christmas Wishes’ very moving

And last but by no means least, Marie Kennedy, for her Musings of a Working Mum and Wife.  Marie is an infrequent blogger so might not fit into the awards category very well but I have known Marie all her life, I wasn’t exactly there, in the room, when she was born, I was outside having a fag at the time if I recall, so anything she says or writes, I listen, maybe not always as attentively as she would wish that I did/do, but I try....    

To accept the award you must do a few things:

• Thank the person that nominated you on your blog and link back to them.
• Nominate up to five other blogs for the award.
• Let them know via comment on their blog
• Post the award on your blog
Thanks again for the Liebster nominations!

I'm changing the rules, don't know if I can, but hey it's what I do, being a non conformist.  You can still post a comment on your nominations blog but I think a message on Twitter is just as cool, so get to it.

Book review - The Fall of Billy Hitchings

The Fall of Billy Hitchings, is the debut novel by American Author Kirkus MacGowan. A stay at home dad looking after a couple of kids, I connected with Kirkus through Twitter and clearly knew that he was on the verge of publishing but I did not investigate or ask what the book was about.  But when it was published in late November I thought I would give it a go.

It starts with an explosive episode with John, clearly not the character of the title, in a vehicle with a couple of civilian bodyguard colleagues transporting their client, Khalid, to the airport when they are suddenly attacked.  Good, the kind of book I like.  But then it got a bit confusing. 

John, although hurt, manages to retrieve the client from the overturned vehicle as it is sprayed by bullets and is shot, while Khalid suffers a broken leg in the crash.  The two of them manage to get into an old abandoned mill building and John phones the mysterious Rachel who is at home, we assume, watching a movie with Katy.  John tells her that he is in a, “bit of a pinch” which results in Rachel leaving Katy to watch the movie on her own while she disappears to another room and fires up her computer and on being giving the location of where John is immediately informs him that he is in an abandoned mill and she proceeds to pull up the floor plans to direct him on the safest route to safety!

I could live with all that, let’s face it, when reading a book or watching a movie the reader/viewer has to suspend some belief, so I was there and believing what was happening and thinking this was going to be a fast paced thriller..................

Chapter one ends and chapter two begins entitled ‘Billy’.

We have no idea who John was and how he got Khalid out of the situation, although we did briefly find out that Rachel was multi tasking and while giving directions she had also called the local law enforcement and then we got ‘Billy’.  ‘Billy’ we discover is 19, works in Borks Burger Palace, lives with his gran and has an asshole for a manager along with an assortment of deadbeats as colleagues, oh, and a friend who does not work in the Burger Palace, but who smells of fish!

During the course of the introduction to our ‘hero’ we discover that his parents died a few years ago and that while he should have moved out of his gran’s, who had taken him in, a long time ago, he felt guilty every time he thought about it as she had broken a hip and he worried if he were not there, what would happen if she did so again? He is also an insomniac with bad dreams and is attending a shrink....

I was nearly booking myself into one by the end of chapter two, especially as when we move on we are introduced into what is seemingly more random characters, characters who are given a bit of a back story, but back stories that did not seem to fit anywhere, it all seemed rather disjointed and not going anywhere......

We suddenly turn up in  bar with ‘John’ from the beginning of the book, who clearly has survived his ordeal/mission and we therefore assume so too did the client Khalid, where ‘John’ is getting hammered and about to commit the ultimate sin of having a one night stand while his fiancé is away...  confused yes, well so was I.

The book continues like that for the next couple short chapters and it is quite confusing as you cannot really see where it is going....

BUT right out of left field MacGowan makes the book explode, literally and in your face, no spoilers here, but clearly he has been watching some horror movies and I suspect he is a big fan of Carrie and The Exorcist, and he has taken inspiration from that genre for his book.

From here on in things begin to become clearer and the characters that seemed to be haphazardly appearing:  suddenly their back stories began to make more sense, than they had in the previous chapters. 

What we ended up with was a book that began with a forgettable stroll around the park, jumped over the railing onto the running track and into a gentle jog and then burst into a sprint as the story progressed.

It was a tale of an ancient Cherokee Indian legend that had been protected and hidden for over 500 years, which had been discovered but not understood.  It was a tale of a 19 year old youth who was full of anger and despair at losing his parents and who drew power from the legend that he did not understand or control. And as the book built to a climax it ended in the most unexpected way ..........

It is difficult not to give spoilers, but buy the book, take the stroll and be patient.  Stick with it to the jog and you will become as intrigued as I became and then when you start the sprint in the last quarter of the book, you will be turning pages to find out what happens next and I guarantee you will be as surprised as I was by the ending. It will not be what you expect, but you will, I think, like me, say to yourself,   “Yes, that was a good ending”

This was Mr MacGowan’s first book and he clearly took a lot of time over it. He needs to be less disjointed in character and story development at the beginning to keep the reader interested but on this first outing I suppose it is to be expected and as the book progressed, so too did his writing style making it a good and worthwhile read.   Some people may not get past the first three chapters as it does seem a bit disjointed but as the book progresses, so too does his clarity and cohesion of bringing it all together, so from my early thoughts of maybe giving it 2 or 3 stars I have no hesitation in giving it a final 5 out of 5 stars. 

Good Reading