February 23,
2012
Symphony
of Blood
A Hank
Mondale Supernatural Case #1
by Adam
Pepper
Genre: Paranormal
Thriller/Horror
Publisher:
Self-published
Release
Date: July 22nd 2011
Author Summary
Hank Mondale, a
rough-around-the-edges P.I. with a small drinking problem and a large gambling
problem, needs a break. With his landlord threatening eviction and his bookie
threatening worse, things look bleak. Until real estate mogul Thomas Blake
calls with an incredible story: a monster is trying to kill his daughter.
Hank figures she's
probably some whacked-out spoiled brat, but desperate, Hank takes the case to
track down the supposed monster. It seems that people around Mackenzie Blake
are disappearing. It's obviously no coincidence. Was Hank hired to unwittingly
aid a wealthy murderess? Or is there really someone...or some thing, trying to
kill Mackenzie Blake?
A symphony plays that
only It can hear. But there will be a special performance, just for her.
My Thoughts
This
novel certainly kept my attention and even though it honestly scared the
bejesus out of me, I couldn’t stop reading it.
Symphony of Blood has a good plot and is delivered with a clear narrative
voice.
The
author used different techniques from what I’m used to and I found it
intriguing. Switching point of view
mid-novel is risky but I found it to be very effective and well suited for this
story. At first the story is told from the
main character’s point of view, and then mid novel it changed to the creature’s
and spent a good deal of time explaining where it came from and why it did what
it did.
I had
all these pre-conceived notions and then, wham!
Things turned to be something completely unexpected. This was where the strength in this novel
was. The element of surprise!
Hank is a
private investigator hired by a wealthy businessman to find the monster that
was tormenting his daughter to the point of insanity and threatening to kill
her. He was skeptical and even desperate
for money; Hank was going to turn down this case. He figured this entire thing was just a ruse
created by a spoiled socialite. In the
end, Hank’s need for money made him take the case. Without giving too much away, his
investigation starts pointing towards a possible link between different murders
happening all over the city.
A little
bit more on Hank… Struggling to keep it together, Hank has severe financial
troubles and a very addictive personality – gambling and drinking seemingly the
worst. Despite his faults, I liked Hank
because he was honest, had morals and was just a nice guy. I rooted for him and wanted him to do better.
So, the
monster, named Symphony, turns out to be real.
The author devoted a good part of the novel to Symphony. It was a creature that needed to eat people
to survive. It was incredibly gross how
it did so and the novel went into a lot of detail about it. However, as you read Symphony’s story, I actually
started to sympathize realizing it wasn’t really evil but was just doing the same
as what other animals do to survive. There’s
a very nice twist as Symphony’s story unfolds.
I liked it!
So back
to the spoiled socialite…at first, scared out of her wits, MacKenzie seemed to
be a victim and I sympathized with her. She
showed a caring side towards animals even having her own zoo and took care of the
animals herself. As the story evolved, MacKenzie
showed that she was indeed a spoiled socialite with a tendency towards danger
and mischief. We didn’t get to hear why
she was like that so I had to make an assumption…like father like daughter.
I
am a reader that enjoys a lot of characterization. I tend to focus more on that skill of an
author. In my opinion, this novel felt a
little weak in this area. I would have
liked to hear a bit more about what led to Hank’s self-destructive behavior and
why the wealthy Mr. Blake hired Hank in the first place. I assume it was because Hank was desperate
enough to be totally discrete but its not really explained. How did he even know about Hank?
Bottom Line
If you
like novels by Stephen King and Dean Koontz, then you will really enjoy this
one. I feel Symphony of Blood’s
strong point is its element of surprise!
Things are never what they seem.
It’s a thriller/horror with paranormal elements and if you scare easily,
you may want to have a teddy bear or security blanket with you. I did!
Happy Reading!!
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BUY NOW…
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