The Book Plank

Under Ground by S.L. Grey The Sanctum is a luxurious, self-sustaining survival condominium situated underground in rural Maine. It's a plush bolt-hole for the rich and paranoid - a place where they can wait out the apocalypse in style. When a devastating super-flu virus hits the States, several families race to reach it. All have their own motivations for entering The Sanctum. All are hiding secrets. But when the door locks and someone dies, they realize the greatest threat to their survival may not be above ground - it may already be inside . . . There is a certain theme that gets me really excited: "post apocalyptic " . This can range from a fantasy style to science fiction. What works best for me personally is when you can relate the events to our current time frame. There are doom prophets that say the end is nigh, and when you look at some events that happened over the last years well... Anyway. When I read the synopsis of Under Ground I knew it was the...

The Devil's Only Friend by Dan Wells, John Cleaver #4 John Wayne Cleaver hunts demons: they've killed his neighbors, his family, and the girl he loves, but in the end he's always won. Now he works for a secret government kill team, using his gift to hunt and kill as many monsters as he can... ...but the monsters have noticed, and the quiet game of cat and mouse is about to erupt into a full scale supernatural war. John doesn't want the life he's stuck with. He doesn't want the FBI bossing him around, he doesn't want his only friend imprisoned in a mental ward, and he doesn't want to face the terrifying cannibal who calls himself The Hunter. John doesn't want to kill people. But as the song says, you can't always get what you want. John has learned that the hard way; his clothes have the stains to prove it.   Dan Wells is an author I had previously heard from mostly because of his book series The Partial Sequence. I hadn't hea...

Bite by Nick Louth Tomorrow should be the greatest day of Erica Stroud-Jones's life. The brilliant young British scientist has found a revolutionary way to beat a deadly tropical disease. Millions of lives could be saved, a Nobel Prize beckons. She is in Amsterdam. Tomorrow she presents her secret research to a scientific conference. Watching her will be sceptics and rivals, admirers and enemies. Erica's own eyes will be on sculptor Max Carver, her new American love, to whom she wants to dedicate her achievement. Tomorrow never comes. Erica vanishes during the night. Max, a tough former coast guard, is determined to find her. As he digs for clues he finds jealousy, malice and cunning. But even he is shocked by the dark terror he finds at the heart of the woman he loves. If you come to me with books about gene technology or other biological engineering you are definitely at the right address, so when I was approached for reviewing Bite I couldn't refuse....

Kill with a Borrowed Knife or Agent Ai by Michael Wreford  China, the eve of the September 11 attacks. A powerful cyber weapon is about to be released. Only one man can stop it … Journalist and SIS (MI6) contract agent George Quant arrives on the run in Beijing. Estranged from Karen, his Moscow-based handler, George is thrust into Asia’s clandestine underworld of gentleman spies, nefarious business people, and murderous Party members. With his past catching up with him, George discovers that not everyone in China can be trusted. At the centre of George Quant’s dilemma lie two men: investor-adventurer Pierce de Havilland, and Karen’s trusted contact known only as “Ho”. Both successful in their own right, the rivals offer diverging perspectives on China’s future. As their intentions grow clearer, George recognises that an important choice looms—adopting the life of a millionaire fugitive, or accepting the call of a higher moral imperative. From his initial assignment in...

Author interview with Michael Wreford Author bio: A true double agent, Michael Wreford is two authors writing as one. The pair hold master's degrees in Chinese and International Relations, and for ten years have worked for leading multinational corporations, including in the investment banking, healthcare, and oil and gas sectors. They have lived in Beijing, The Hague, Hong Kong, and New York, and currently split their time between the United Kingdom and Switzerland.   ------------------------------------------------------------------- BP: First off, could you give us a short introduction as to who Michael Wreford is? What are your hobbies, likes and dislikes? MW: Michael Wreford is a double agent – two people with a love of espionage fiction, writing as one. We have a shared interest in Asia, and Hong Kong and China in particular, so that’s a theme you’ll see flowing through our work. BP: KILL WITH A BORROWED KNIFE is your debut, when did you decide...

Created, the Destroyer by Warren Murphy and Richard Ben Sapir, The Destroyer #1 Sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit, ex-cop Remo Williams is rescued from the electric chair at the eleventh hour and recruited by a secret government organisation named CURE. From this moment, he ceases to officially exist. From now on, he will be an assassin, targeting criminals who are beyond the law. Remo's trainer is a grouchy old Korean named Chiun, whose mastery of the terrifyingly powerful martial art of Sinanju makes him the deadliest man alive. Together Remo and Chiun set forth on their epic, impossible mission to vanquish every enemy of democracy - every bad guy who thinks they can escape justice. This is a new era in man's fight against the forces of evil. This is the time of the Destroyer. Last month I send out a media alert with an upcoming blog tour featuring this book, Created, The Destroyer . The Destroyer series was originally publis...

The Spirit Box by George Mann Summer, 1915. As Zeppelins rain death upon the rooftops of London, eminent members of society begin to behave erratically: a Member of Parliament throws himself naked into the Thames after giving a pro-German speech to the House; a senior military advisor suggests surrender before feeding himself to a tiger at London Zoo; a famed suffragette suddenly renounces the women's liberation movement and throws herself under a train. In desperation, an aged Mycroft Holmes sends to Sussex for the help of his brother, Sherlock.     Back in 2011 Titan Books launched there own Sherlock Holmes series with The Breath of God by Guy Adams, the series quickly picked up pace and now a few years later already 6 books have been published. The series so far has featured two books by Guy Adams, two books by James Lovegrove and now also two by George Mann. My first encounter with George Mann's writing was with The Casebook of Newbury and Hobbes and later with...

 Media Alert: Coming soon from Titan Books: Ghosts of Manhattan Ghosts of Manhattan (A Ghost Novel) , the thrilling new arrival in the ever-popular George Manniverse [ September 2014, Titan Books ]. 1926, New York. Jazz. Flappers. Prohibition. It’s the roaring twenties but not as history remembers it. Coal-powered cars line the streets of Manhattan, while zeppelins and biplanes occupy the skies. And the US is locked in a bitter cold war with a British Empire that still covers half of the globe. This is the alternate vision of the most opulent era of New York. It’s a darker version of history. One steeped in fantastical steampunk innovations and a dark undercurrent of supernatural treachery. Organized crime rules the streets, with speakeasies on every corner. And while a run-down police force battles mobsters and their protection rackets, the “Lost Generation” is drinking away the recent nightmares of the World War. It’s a society on the brink of destruction, where a...

Author interview Jonathan Holt  Author bio:   Jonathan Holt read English at Oxford, and is now the creative director of an advertising agency. The first novel in the Carnivia Trilogy, THE ABOMINATION, was an international bestseller and was translated into fourteen languages.    --------------------------------------------------------------------------   Jonathan Holt read English at Oxford, and is now the creative director of an advertising agency. The first novel in the Carnivia Trilogy, THE ABOMINATION, was an international bestseller and was translated into fourteen languages. - See more at: http://headofzeus.com/books/The+Abomination?field_book_type_value_1=E-Book&bid=9781781853672#sthash.8vkhEZ4n.dpuf Jonathan Holt read English at Oxford, and is now the creative director of an advertising agency. The first novel in the Carnivia Trilogy, THE ABOMINATION, was an international bestseller and was translated into ...