May 15

The Louisiana Republic – Maxim Jakubowski

New York, and the world, have been transformed by an unexplained global catastrophe now known as ‘the Dark. Once a modest researcher, has now become an involuntary detective.

He is recruited by her elder sister to find the missing daughter of a local gangster in a city in chaos where anarchy and violence are just a step away. He soon discovers the case is anything but straightforward and compellingly close to home. Compromising photographs and the ambiguous assistance of a young woman with ties to the criminal gangs lead him to New Orleans, which has seceded from the rest of America in the wake of the Dark.

A perilous journey down the Mississippi river, murderous hit women and sidekicks, and the magic and dangerous glamour of the French Quarter become a perilous road to nowhere and to madness in his quest for the amoral daughter, his own lost love and his sanity. Will he find the missing women or lose himself?

My thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Blog Tours for my review copy and the chance to join the Louisiana Republic Blog Tour.

 

Been staring at a blank document for 10 minutes trying to find a way to begin a review of The Louisiana Republic…tricky…very tricky as this is the book which I loved for its striking difference to everything else I have read recently.

Okay, I think we are in.

The Dark has changed the modern world as we know it, a dystopian America is the setting for The Louisiana Republic and it is not a place for the faint of heart.  Savage criminal gangs are running rampant through the cities and there is more than one President (some may see this as an improvement on our present reality). Battles are being fought over key strongholds, libraries are revered (because of what the Dark is) and people are required to learn lost skills.

Into this mix steps a gorgeous femme fetale who wants to recruit the our lead character (a detective) to find her missing sister.  He should have said no, but that would have made a much shorter book. The missing sister is a legend among purveyors of specialist pornography. Before the Dark she was happy to pose for any picture which people would request and people had some very extreme requests.  Her father used his vast wealth to try to remove every trace of these images from the hands of strangers, he also disowned his daughter and most certainly does not want some private detective to find her. No problem – he has a number of employees who can deliver very persuasive messages!

I should probably make it clear that The Louisiana Republic is not going to be to everyone’s taste.  It is dark, violent, sweary, shaggy, though I think “erotic” is the official designation and dystopian thrillers are not to everyone’s liking. The deeper I got into The Louisiana Republic the more I lost the link to a releatable reality – and the more I enjoyed what I was reading. It is not easy to create a new world and breath such compelling life into the society you have built whilst also keeping the main story spinning along.

There are not many books like The Louisiana Republic but when a story like this comes along I cherish the opportunity it gives me to enjoy something so very different.

 

 

The Louisiana Republic is published by Caffeine Nights and is available in digital and paperback format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Louisiana-Republic-fantastic-distopia-erotica-ebook/dp/B07C5SJDHJ/ref=sr_1_8?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1526326337&sr=1-8

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June 27

When I Wake Up – Jessica Jarlvi

When I Wake UpWhen Anna, a much-loved teacher and mother of two, is left savagely beaten and in a coma, a police investigation is launched. News of the attack sends shock waves through her family and their small Swedish community. Anna seems to have had no enemies, so who wanted her dead?

As loved-ones wait anxiously by her bedside, her husband Erik is determined to get to the bottom of the attack, and soon begins uncovering his wife’s secret life, and a small town riven with desire, betrayal and jealousy.

As the list of suspects grows longer, it soon becomes clear that only one person can reveal the truth, and she’s lying silent in a hospital bed…

 

My thanks to Yasemin at Head of Zeus for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour

 

I am terrible at putting books into classifications but When I Wake Up didn’t strike me as the psychological thriller which the Amazon listing indicates it is.  However, I did think that it was a very strong domestic drama (is that a thing?) which put three households into the spotlight as Jessica Jarlvi shook their respective worlds upside down.

At the centre of the action is Anna.  She is a teacher – married and has two kids. She seems well liked and respected by her colleagues but is facing a bit of a problem at school with a troublesome pupil (Daniel).

Next spotlight family is Iris (a Librarian) and her artist husband Rolf.  They have an open relationship where both are free to sleep with any women they want.  Iris has seduced Lena and the two women have been having clandestine meetings in the library. But Iris wants to move on as Lena has become too dependent upon her – Lena is not so happy at this prospect.

Finally household three…Daniel (the problem pupil) and his drunken mother.  Daniel craves a “real” family and sees his teacher Anna as the ideal person to provide the stability and affection that he believes he is missing. Daniel’s attentions to Anna are both creepy and sinister and this makes for uncomfortable reading at times.

When I Wake Up opens with a violent attack on Anna by person (or persons) unknown. The book will pick up the story of events after Anna is hospitalised. She is in a coma so cannot reveal the identity of her attacker and it is not clear if she will even survive the ordeal.  However, the narrative will also slip back to events prior to the attack and the reader gets to see how the three spot-lit families will interact, where their stories overlap and we get to speculate over which of the cast of characters may have been responsible (directly or indirectly) for Anna’s attack.

Jessica Jarlvi does a great job of juggling her characters, each will fall under suspicion for Anna’s attack and I found it difficult to work out who may have been to blame. One word of caution for those with more prudish reading tastes – there is a fair amount of…let’s call it “nakedness” in this story so if you blush easily you may wish to skim a bit!

Entertaining and engaging story and the characterisation is spot on (which is essential to make a tale like When I Wake Up work for the readers). If you like a domestic drama this is one you should not miss.

 

When I Wake Up is published by Head of Zeus and is available now in digital format (with a Hardback version due for release in September 2017.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Wake-Up-shocking-psychological-ebook/dp/B01N5VJFV3/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

 

When I Wake Up - blog tour banner

 

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