Adventure – Grab This Book

The Stone Song (Audiobook) – Tom Bale

A dystopian sci-fi thriller set in a small Sussex village.

On a sweltering summer’s night, teenage siblings Jack and Lily witness a helicopter crash on the main road between Brighton and London. The next morning they wake to find their village has been sealed off from the entire world. A terrorist cell is holed up in Stenhurst – or at least that’s the official story, put out by sinister government agent Wynter and his vicious sidekick, Major Kellett.

But later that day, Lily and Jack stumble on the truth: the authorities are hunting for a mysterious creature, labelled CatX, who escaped during the crash. Together with their friends, Erin and Oliver, Lily and Jack take it upon themselves to defy the lockdown and protect the creature, no matter what the risks.

The stakes are raised still further when a team of American agents arrive with their own unique technologies. Nobody who sees the CatX must be allowed to survive, and yet it soon becomes clear that there is a much bigger secret here…one that threatens the entire world.

With four teenagers pitted against deadly opposition, this is a story of supernatural menace that will appeal to fans of Stephen King and Stranger Things.

I received a review copy from the author in exchange for a fair an honest review.

First review of 2020 and I get to chat about the audiobook which kept me company through what was a challenging festive period. Apologies to Tom Bale for taking slightly longer than anticipated to listen to this Audible Exclusive story – I had to take a few unexpected breaks from bookish things.

Now the New Year is in full flow and I am able to give my focus back on the stories (a very welcome treat) and I can share my thoughts on this delicious science fiction thriller. Delicious? A strange choice of words perhaps but I savoured the time I had listening to the plight of an alien creature which escaped captivity and sought safety in a small Sussex village.

I am very much a fan of rooting for the underdog (I think we Scots need to be born with this trait) and from the first chapters I found myself rooting for the CatX as, following the crash of a military helicopter which had been transporting CatX, it fled from the military and tried to escape from the only life it had known. CatX sought refuge in secure locations but became trapped in the chimney of a large house in the village of Stenhurst. Help would soon appear in the form of 4 teenage kids and a deadly game of hide and seek begins.

The children soon realise that CatX can communicate with them and an alliance is formed. CatX needs the help of the children to continue to hide from the military forces who are souring Stenhurst to find it. The village is shut down and a total media blackout has been imposed. But tracking an alien life form which is small enough to hide in a rucksack and climb down a chimney is no easy task and the longer the government take to locate their lost asset the more attention they bring to their activities in Stenhurst. Naturally desperation begins to set in and the arrival of American government agencies the pressure to get a prompt resolution to the situation leads to an overspill of aggression from the soldiers on the ground.

The Stone Song is a David vs Goliath tale which kept me thoroughly entertained. Tom Bale sets a vivid scene as he depicts the military oppression of a seemingly sleepy English village. There was a slow reveal throughout the story of what CatX may be, some clever clues passed me by as the story progressed and it was only with the benefit of hindsight I realised I should have been a bit quicker to spot some of the surprises which interweave through the book.

As with every audiobook review I need to comment on the narrator. In this case we are treated to the skills of Raza Jeffrey and he delivers a great performance. There is quite a large cast for The Stone Song and a range of accents are required – all handled perfectly. Raza is very “listenable” which is a trait you would expect to be found in all audiobook narrators but (sadly) this is not always the case.

The Stone Song is only available in Audiobook format and it clocks in at around 11 hours (slightly vague on the run time as the download includes an interview with Raza Jeffrey as a bonus for the listener). I always assess the success of a story on whether I would pass it to my family to read. My teenage son is looking for more fantasy type stories to enjoy and I have recommended he tries The Stone Song. The balance of adventure, alien life, military intervention and the conspiracry theories thrown out to deflect the world media tick all his boxes. First finished book of 2020. A good start!

The Stone Song is and Audible Original and only available as an audiobook. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07XVPLLFK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

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September 7

The Last One – Alexandra Oliva

TWELVE CONTESTANTS

When Zoo agrees to take part in a new reality TV show, In the Dark, she knows that she will be tested to the limits of her endurance. Beating eleven competitors in a series of survival tasks deep in the forest, living on camera at the extremes of her comfort zone, will be the ultimate challenge before she returns home to start a family.

A GAME WITH NO END

As the contestants are overcome by hunger, injury and psychological breakdown, the mind games, tricks and hazards to which Zoo is subjected grow dark beyond belief. This isn’t what she signed up for: the deserted towns and gruesome props, the empty loneliness. Is this a game with no end? And what is happening away from the cameras’ gaze? Discovering the truth will be just the beginning…

I received my review copy from the publishers, Michael Joseph, through Netgalley

Imagine a reality tv show where the show and reality blur to the point that a contestant does not know where the show ends and the real world begins. That is The Last One – a game show overlaps with a national disaster and Zoo (our heroine) does not know that the world will never be the same again.

The Last One is cleverly written with narrative jumping from “present day Zoo”, struggling to survive on her own in a remote wilderness to win the prize in a survival game show. Then we are switched to “Zoo first joining the show”, finding her feet through the early challenges, sussing out the other competitors and learning the skills which she will need when the programme send her into the wilderness on her own.

Each of the contestants are defined by their jobs – Zoo, Waitress, Doctor. I really enjoyed the sections of the book where the competition was played out. Alexandra Oliva brilliantly describes the scene, plays out the challenges, shows the character interaction then as an aside includes a paragraph to show how the producers will twist an incident, manipulate the viewing public and give some extra “drama”. It really emphasised the game show scenes so even when Zoo is learning how to light a fire there is entertainment foremost in the chapter.

But away from the game there is a very serious real life drama unfolding. Early in the story the reader is made aware that something is very wrong. References are made to members of the production team who will not see how a challenge finishes. A scene is recorded but will never be aired. People are dying yet Zoo is oblivious, she is playing the game and she is going to follow the rules and she is going to win! No matter what OTT challenges the production team are throwing at her.

The Last One is a tense thriller which takes the familiarity of a game show and asks “what if everything went wrong”. A really enjoyable read with just the right amount of nasty to keep everything unpredictable.

The Last One is available now in Hardback and digital format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-One-Alexandra-Oliva/dp/0718182502/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472897836&sr=8-1&keywords=the+last+one

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June 23

Forty Acres – Dwayne Alexander Smith

Forty Acres – Dwayne Alexander Smith

Martin Grey, a smart, talented. young lawyer working out of a storefront in Queens, is taken under the wing of a secretive group made up of America’s most powerful, wealthy, and esteemed black men. He’s dazzled by what they have accomplished, and they seem to think he has the potential to be one of them They invite him for a weekend away from it all – no wives, no cell phones, no talk of business. But what he discovers, far from home, is a disturbing alternative reality which challenges his deepest convictions…

A novel of rage and compassion, trust and betrayal, Forty Acres is the story of one man’s desperate attempt to escape the clutches of a terrifying new moral order.

Review copy kindly provided by Netgalley.

One of the joys of any new book is the pending adventure. Where will the story take me? Will I be gripped by adventure? Bored by excessive detail? Or be challenged with new ideas and concepts? Fortunately 40 Acres managed to grip, entertain and, at times, even made me seriously consider some of my personal perceptions.

At the heart of the story is a successful lawyer, Martin Grey, who gets the chance to join an elite band of successful black businessmen and entrepreneurs. The foundation behind their unity is shrouded in mystery which is slowly and (often) shockingly revealed to the reader, and Grey, as our perceptions of equality in the 21^st Century is challenged by author Dwayne Alexander Smith.

Although I felt the book got off to a bit of a slow start, this was short lived and I quickly found that I wanted to learn more about Mr Gray and his new friends. The central character was nicely grounded and when faced with some of the extreme concepts and situations that confronted him as the story unfolded I found I was able to empathise with the dilemmas he faced – excellent writing by Smith who took some unpleasant concepts and almost gave them a rational spin at times. By the time I was deep into the book I was engrossed and could not wait to see how the story panned out.

A little bit of learning in this book for me too. The titular Forty Acres is a direct link to the freehold land given to former slaves by the American Government when they got their freedom. Had I known this before starting the story I may have been a bit more aware of where the story was leading so I was a little slow on the uptake! I don’t feel that being better informed than I would in any way spoil what was otherwise an excellent story.

For readers that enjoy an adventure story, but don’t want to suspend their belief and read about the all action hero, then I would have no qualms recommending that you Grab This Book.

Category: From The Bookshelf | 3 Comments