"The Network"

“The Network”

Written by L.C. Shaw

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

“The Network” was a highly disappointing read, due to the many tropes of novels in the political thriller and psychological thriller subgenres. After truly loving “The Last Mrs. Parrish” by Lynne and Valerie Constantine of the pen name, Liv Constantine, I had been disappointed by their second thriller, “The Last Time I Saw You”. L.C. Shaw is an additional pen name, created by Lynne Constantine. I had been interested to try out this novel, to see how it would compare.

Unfortunately, “The Network” encompasses so many tired trends from the thriller genre, including big evil corporations called “The Institution”, two main characters that used to love each other, evil corporate villains who want to rid the world of sin, and disinteresting main characters.

Jack Logan is an investigative reporter, who is tasked with hiding his ex-girlfriend, whose senator husband has just been murdered. Taylor, the wife, is pregnant with complications that require her to take certain medication and have as much bed rest as possible, which makes their situation all the more complex. We learn about their previous relationship which is eerily similar to another perspective, of Maya. Maya had been taken in by a super secretive and scientific institute, ruled by the power-hungry and righteous Damon Crosse, who has impregnated her illegally. He holds her hostage in the corporation, to help him take over the world.

As the story continues, we learn more about Maya’s unfortunate scenario and see how her parents’ relic coins with supposed powers tie in with Taylor’s family history. Are they connected?

Very early on, it can be quite predictable to see how this story is progressing. I found myself rolling my eyes at certain dialogue, especially with scenes involving sex. Also, can a dog be trained to bite into a neck artery and kill a bad guy? That was a question no one had ever asked or thought, “Wow, that must be included in a action thriller.

Personally, I felt very disengaged from the story. I never felt connected with any of the characters. I was very surprised to see that this may be the first in an action / political thriller series, with Jack starring as the lead character. He’s not an offensive character, but I certainly would not continue onto the rest of the series. The writing feels incredibly immature, which combines with “The Last Time I Saw You”, makes me wonder if I would still love “The Last Mrs. Parrish” as much as I did when I initially read.

Due to my true disappointment for the story, I cannot recommend it. If you love big, bad government corporations that want to take over the world, I recommend “Recursion” by Blake Crouch instead, which has very realistic science fiction and well-written characters. I was disappointed with the story turning out into more of a Dan Brown / religious conspiracy novel. Lastly, I am not sure if I will continue to read from the Constantine sisters.

I received an advance edition of this novel in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to Harper Collins for the opportunity.

"Full Throttle"

“Full Throttle”

Written by Joe Hill

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

As an occasional fan of Stephen King, I became gradually interested in reading works by his son. I was curious to see how the two prolific writers would be similar and how aspects of their works would contrast. Personally, I was astounded to see how much I enjoyed Hill’s short story collection, “Full Throttle”. I was happily surprised to notice less harsh and brutal sequences, less foul language, and less sexual content, compared to King’s work.

Hill’s short stories have very creative horror themes, as well as his father’s. However, I find that Hill does the technique of “showing” more than “telling”, while King provides far too much detail often. Hill’s work was very intriguing, depicting very realistic characters in an accurate and appealing portrayal. I chose to read this book by listening to the audiobook, which was a longer process, but I felt that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the different actors and actresses and hearing how they would bring the stories to life. There are many memorable narrators, but I was especially excited to listen to Kate Mulgrew, Zachary Quinto, and Neil Gaiman. I found myself enjoying the other lesser known narrators far more, and I hope to find more audio work by these narrators. I’d like to share my thoughts on each individual story.

The first story in this collection, “Throttle”, is about a maniacal truck driver who brutally attacks motorcyclists on a tough road. Unfortunately, I strongly disliked this story. I felt it was a strange story to open on and especially to be the story that the collection was titled after.

“Dark Carousel” is one of my favorites from this collection. A group of four teens goes to a New Jersey boardwalk, which you may know is a favorite place to be. The teens dumbly and drunkenly mess with the carousel animals and the ride’s operator. As they begin to leave, the teens notice that the animals have come to life, to wreak their vengeance on behalf of their owner. Although the premise sounds a tad ridiculous, I can assure you that the execution of the story is so well-created that the story plays off like a horror movie, akin to the great “The Twilight Zone” or Alfred Hitchcock’s work. The second act of this story was absolutely spine-tingling. The conclusion of this story truly showed madness in its most human and animal forms.

“Wolverton Station” follows a businessman, whose career involves running small businesses into the ground, to make way for new locations of Jim Coffee, a fun reference to “The Green Mile” by King. The main character of this story sits on a train, awaiting transportation to the next step in his journey, when he notices deadly and horrifying wolfmen in business clothing. This story is a tad more political but not quite absurd in its content. The audiobook narrator creates a great atmosphere with his diction and acting abilities.

“By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain” was a more unusual story, with a far too irritating narration by the great Kate Mulgrew. The story bites off more than it can chew, with a family who owns robots, of which the children find a mysterious dinosaur fossil in the woods. The children and their friends turn on each other when deciding what to do with the fossil.

“Faun” is a truly bizarre but well-rounded story. This follows two boys, Peter and Christian, who are brought on an illegal hunting expedition, in which the boys and rich men hunt elusive and endangered animals. The game changes and increases in bewildering ways, when the boys are shown magical and other-worldly creatures to hunt, that must be found in a magical parallel world. Zachary Quinto’s narration adds such delight to this story.

“Late Returns” is absolutely my favorite story of this collection and may have become my new favorite short story of all time. This splendid tale of sadness, love, grief, and death encompasses so many important themes. Our main character has begun a job, in which he drives and maintains a mobile library that’s contained in a large van.  The main character has been told by his boss that many previous drivers have encountered some strange sights. One driver had been so confused, he thought he had been trapped in a different decade. One driver believed he was seeing ghosts. The story continues in a fantastic direction. Our new driver begins the operation but comes to the realization that the people who come onto the van to return books past their due date are ghosts. They are not yet dead ghosts, but they have traveled to this bookmobile to return their late books and read a new one. There are many different characters that come aboard the bookmobile, with many different types of backgrounds and elements that add wondrously to this story. I found myself listening to this story during a night of insomnia. The story was so heartbreaking yet warming, and I found myself crying twice. “Late Returns” is a story that I will find myself talking about for the rest of my life and also perhaps hope that it might come true.

“All I Care About is You” was a strange story, and I am still not quite sure of my enjoyment level. In this, a woman named Iris uses tokens to have the assistance of a ‘clockwork’ named Chip. Iris develops an uncomfortable and obsessive relationship with the piece of machinery, that has been programmed to detect emotions, to cater to the user’s needs, and to provide conversation.

“Thumbprint” is a gritty and gruesome story about a military crew who tortures an Arab man for information. Our main character from the crew has been finding thumbprints, first delivered to her by mailbox, then inside her house, and then on her mirror. This story was very uncomfortable to listen to, and due to the material, I was not interested.

“The Devil on the Staircase” follows a man who is in love with his cousin. After killing her lover on a beautiful, ornate staircase, he becomes haunted by madness. This feels like an ode to the great Edgar Allan Poe, in its atmospheric nature and insanity.

“Mums” follows our main character, Jack, who lives in a very unhappy family. His mother attempts to escape her manipulative husband, but she is accidentally killed. By his father? Hmm. Jack must learn to survive his childhood, but he slowly loses his mind. The true kicker hits when he starts to see mums that he planted by his mother’s grave take on the countenance of his mother. The mums scream to him, begging to eat flesh. This absurd but deliciously gripping story was great, especially when narrated by a fantastic voice actor. This story reminds me of “1922” by King, one of my favorite novellas by him.

I had previously watched “In the Tall Grass” about two weeks prior to reading its short story origin. Although my anticipation for the film did not pay off, I still wanted to listen to the source material. “In the Tall Grass” follows a few different characters but primarily Cal and his pregnant sister, Becky, who have wandered into a grassy field, when they have heard a child calling for help. The grassy field starts morphing around them, which cause Becky and Cal to be trapped and separated. The grass changes the space between the characters rapidly, letting them think they are closer when they are much further apart. The two meet the Humboldt family, who have also been trapped in the woods. Father Russ, mother Natalie, and son Tobin have been running around searching for each other, but something is off about Russ. And the massive enchanting rock in the middle of the field. In reading the source material, some of the aspects I did not enjoy from the film had been taken out, but I felt that the source material also lacked a bit of charm that the film created.

“You Are Released” was a bit of a confusing and sad story. On an airplane, the story chronicles specific passengers, the flight attendants, and the captain’s crew as they all discover that Guam has been hit by a nuclear bomb, sent only by North Korea. The third world war is breaking out, which causes a certain level of terror at twenty-thousand feet.

Moreover, a great part of most short story collections is the afterword, in which the authors provide a bit of background on each story or share the inspiration behind it. Although Hill’s notes were not very fulfilling, I am glad he incorporated them. He mentioned that his main goal with assembling a short story collection is making the stories seem coherent, as if they are all connected in some ways.

In conclusion, I am so thrilled that I chose to read this collection of short stories. I do not read collections as often as I would like, so I appreciate that I took the time. I plan to continue reading Hill’s work at my next opportunity. I wholeheartedly recommend these, as well as King’s collections. I truly recommend listening to “Full Throttle” as an audiobook. It was such a worthy experience.

"The New Husband"

“The New Husband”
Written by D.J. Palmer
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia


“The New Husband” was an exciting and entertaining thriller, that follows a mother named Nina, who’s daughter is very suspicious of her new stepfather, Simon. Nina is a very strong-willed and likable character, whose first husband either perished or disappearing during a fishing boat accident a few years ago. After falling in love with her daughter’s teacher, Simon, Nina feels happy and at peace. When her daughter, Maggie, begins to suspect that her new stepfather is lying and has a hostile temper, Nina feels empowered to protect Simon and her family, by squelching the lies. So why does Simon seem so perfectly innocent when he’s around everyone? Is he just the perfect fiancé, who cooks wonderful dinners, loves his new stepchildren, and always remains a calming presence? Or is Maggie right, that Simon is truly dangerous?

I have always loved thrillers like this; the new partner joins the family and perhaps they are not all that innocent. D.J. Palmer is not a new writer to me. I read his book “Saving Meghan” over the summer, which again, was a novel where you are not meant to trust the narrators or any characters for that matter. Palmer creates appealing and interesting characters, with relatable traits and qualities that either allows the author to build trust or completely demolish it. We readers project our trust and distrust onto the characters, siding with those who uphold the same morals.

I truly enjoyed this novel as a whole, but there were some aspects that did not cement this book as a perfect new favorite. To begin, I personally did not enjoy the perspective told through Maggie. Having an omniscient narrator tell the rest of the story was great, but Maggie’s perspective certainly flawed the story. A thirteen-year-old narrator would not use the vocabulary, idioms, and overall language that this one did. For example, Maggie uses the word “miffed”. She explains events in ways that adults would, using expressions that thirteen-year-olds do not use, unless they are English and History prodigies.

Additionally, there are quite a few cheap cliffhangers that finish off certain chapters, attempting to create shock value. These cliffhangers are immediately popped like balloons the very next page, leaving the cliffhangers to be unnecessary and a tad over-dramatic. For example, Simon enters the living room, with a gun!!! Wait. Next page, it’s revealed that since he’s a history teacher, it’s a Civil War musket he plans to take on a field trip. There are a few more mystery thriller tropes that could have been eliminated. How many times do we need characters to have an allergy, that naturally is played upon by the villain?

I truly love the red herrings in this story. This is one of those mysteries until the absolutely last page that prevents you from being completely sure of the truth. Switching from so many different clues and details, with suspicious elements and scares, Palmer truly accomplished creating his plot efficiently.

Lastly, I found the final act of this story to be very well-executed. The reveal of the villain occurs halfway through the book, leaving the main characters to decide whom to believe, while also trying to escape to safety. Although I certainly enjoyed “Saving Meghan” more, this was an excellent addition to the mystery thriller and psychological thriller sub-genres. I believe if you enjoyed books like “The Girl Before”, “A Nearly Normal Family”, and “The Whisper Man”, you’ll enjoy this. I truly loved the family element, how much one would go to save their family, similar to the other books suggested here.

This was a four-star read for me, which is still pretty great. Although the book will not cement itself as a favorite, I will still highly recommend it to those who enjoy reading thrillers.

I received an advance edition of this book in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to the wonderful St. Martin’s Press for organizing this opportunity.

"The Flight Attendant"

“The Flight Attendant”

Written by Chris Bohjalian

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

“The Flight Attendant” was a very polarizing book for me. In certain chapters, I felt eager to continue, enraptured by certain scenes. In other chapters, I felt that attempting to read any further was more difficult than Frodo and Sam journeying through Mordor.

This political and mystery thriller was initially interesting to me, kicking off with a brilliant first chapter, full of intrigue and confusion. Cassie Bowden has found herself hungover, lying in bed next to the man she slept with the previous night. One issue: he’s been murdered, his throat cut by a broken bottle. The book chronicles Cassie’s guilt over disappearing, without calling the police, and links her story to Elena. Elena is a Russian spy, involved in the murder of Alexander Sokolov, Cassie’s one-night-stand lover. We initially are let into the fact that Elena is the cause of his murder, which was an interesting choice on Bohjalian’s part.

To continue, the writing style is mainly what ruined the book for me. Cassie is an extremely unlikeable character, flitting through the book with guilt and trope-like actions. Cassie does not feel original nor does her character create nuance to an old type. Elena’s character is fun and interesting: the parts of the book that you do want to read. Most of the book is dialogue, much of which is talking about what happened, reacted to by every single character. Also, there is not a lot of action in the prose, featuring the inner monologue and thoughts of both Cassie and Elena. The detail placed into both monologues and dialogue is just too in-depth. Much of the story is stuck in Dante’s circles of hell. “We don’t know what happened; what should we do?” and “How do I frame this stupid woman for murder?” No matter the inane actions that Cassie takes, Elena takes an absurdly long time to complete her tasks.

Additionally, there are small inclusions of interview transcripts, letters, e-mails, investigation materials, and more. These additions add a small element of appeal into the story, purely because it’s more information to which we’re finally privy.

Another aspect that saves this book is listening to it via audiobook. Being able to speed up the audiobook allows the book to be listened to quickly and efficiently. Reading every sentence in stark concentration is not effective, allowing room for distraction and boredom. Listening to the audiobook while completing chores and errands efficiently breaks up the monotony.

Although this review seems to be harsh, I feel it to be justified. I hardly enjoyed this book. I do not plan to continue reading Chris Bohjalian’s work for a while, unless the premise really grabs ahold of my attention. This book was not for me. Perhaps you’d enjoy this book if you like “Homeland”, “The West Wing”, and “Argo”. This admittedly was a departure into political thrillers, which I plan to steer clear from in the future. I rated this book at 3 out of 5 stars.

I received a finished copy of this book from Doubleday Books, in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to the publishing house for the opportunity.

"Providence"

"Providence"
Written by Max Barry
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia



A fascinating and charming read by a new-to-me author, "Providence" is a survival story, telling of the crew of Providence 5, a battle ship in space. The story is fictional, but there are many elements of this story that feel very realistic.

Providence 5, with its crew of Captain Jocelyn Jackson, Gilly, Beanfield, and Anders, are in space to stop salamanders, six-legged slimy aliens that "huk", which is spitting out material that can mangle matter, especially from the human body. The salamanders live in hives on planets and moons but are cloned from their 'queen'. Our ensemble of tough and interesting characters must save themselves, when after shutting down the too protective and powerful AI on their ship, must fight to survive.

The writing style in "Providence" is informative, yet succinct. In creating a fast-paced novel, the uses quick and deliberate dialogue, which feels highly realistic. The characters each have interesting qualities, and we even have the semblance of a "final girl" trope that occurs often in science fiction and horror. I truly loved the characters and the technology. There is a strong and important development of character development, especially with Gilly.

A fascinating element of this story is the communication between the salamanders and Gilly. This is easily the best section of the story, feeling reminiscent to a favorite of mine, "Arrival".

I do admit that there is a bit of a slow start, but this proves important for exposition about the interstellar transportation, technology, the salamanders, and the characters.

With many heart-pounding scenes and a phenomenal third act, I truly think this is a fantastic book. I do hope that this becomes a popular read for years to come. This would be a fantastic film. A wonderful interstellar adventure and survival story is precisely the novel I needed to read. I highly recommend this novel and author. Those who enjoy "Alien", "Arrival", "Interstellar", "Gravity", and "The Martian".

I received a complimentary advance edition of this novel in exchange for reading and review purposes. Thank you to  Hodder and Stoughton.

"The God Game"

"The God Game"
Written by Danny Tobey
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia


This confusing and ridiculous story is a true combination of all the things I like. However, this combination felt more like Frankenstein's monster than a blessing in disguise. Unfortunately, I felt myself strongly dislike this book, but I understand where the author was coming from.

Attempting to appeal to those interested in his interests, Tobey creates an artificial intelligence game, played primarily using private internet connections, cell phones, and the dark web.

To easily map up my likes and dislikes of this story and author, I will be separating the two using numbered thoughts. Sadly, most of my likes are also mirrored. In finding one positive aspect, there is usually a dislike relating to that aspect.

Likes: (Not many.)
1. This book reminds me of "Gossip Girl" mixed with "Black Mirror".
2. I like horrors and thrillers that use a small group of nerdy friends.
3. By page 225, the book becomes interesting, as we finally see the drastic consequences of trying to play and leave the game.
4. I liked that this story is not told in first person. I feel that to have a creepy, "Big Brother"-like game, you'd need an omniscient narrator.
5. Once we finally arrive at the scary consequences, the action does pick up.
6. The God Game is interesting, due to the strange tasks and religious symbolism.

Dislikes:
1. In creating teen characters, the author has not encompassed the magic of friendship. The characters feel like they are constantly fighting and disagreeing with each other.
2. The characters clearly should have not begun playing this game in the first place. There are truly not enough appealing reasons to play.
3. I feel like the characters could have tried a few different ways to exit the game. Since one of the main characters stops playing early on, asking their advice might have been useful.
4. It takes 225 pages for the book to become interesting and appealing to read.
5. I feel disappointed in the character descriptions. I feel that many of the characters do not have interesting hobbies or descriptors. It's quite unfortunate to have a larger group of characters. I feel that most of the characters are not very appealing to learn about.
6. Is pantsing a form of bullying in 2019?
7. I CANNOT stand the vulgar language. Teens do not need to speak 5 curses a page to be current and modern.

In conclusion, this is not the worst book I have ever met, but dear God, was it difficult to finish this. I do not plan to read this author again.