Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz

Synopsis:

Harry Lyon was a cop who believed in order and reason, until the fateful day he was forced to shoot a man. Now he is haunted by the words that were uttered by a homeless stranger with bloodshot eyes..".Ticktock, ticktock. You'll be dead in sixteen hours...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn..".

This was my first Koontz book, and it sure was a crazy journey.

It is one of those books that never lets off the action. Once it starts, it is pretty intense all the way through until the end.

It surely keeps you on the edge of your seat by keeping you guessing as to what is going on.

The villain is very mysterious in the beginning, but once everything starts getting revealed it get weirder and weirder. It turns into more of a sci-fi/horror novel.

Harry and Connie were pretty good protagonists. As the novel went along their chemistry kept growing.

I didn’t feel like there was any part of the story that dropped off in entertainment value, it was consistently intriguing cover to cover. Every character had a purpose in the story so it all flowed well together and made sense.

I really enjoy a good crime novel, and this one fulfilled that while also being filled with elements of horror and science fiction.

4/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “No death made sense. Madness and chaos were the engines of this universe. Everything was born to die. Where was the logic and reason in that?”

“Real justice for the victims could never be extracted from a perp who was so far gone that he couldn’t feel remorse or fear retribution"

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Cross by James Patterson

Synopsis:

Forensic psychologist Alex Cross's storied career in private practice, with the FBI and as a Washington, D.C., cop has brought him into contact with all kinds of seriously disturbed killers, but his 12th outing from bestseller Patterson (after 2005's Mary, Mary) may be the ultimate in lunatic deadliness. Beginning with a flashback to the murder of Cross's wife, Maria, Patterson quickly introduces Michael Sullivan (aka the Butcher of Sligo). What follows is a frenetically paced series of brutal rapes and killings by Sullivan, once employed by the mob as a freelancer and now at war with them. Cross juggles being a single parent and being involved in the dangerous game of tracking serial killers until he finally decides to give it up for his family. Needless to say, he's drawn back into the game when it promises a chance of finding Maria's killer. Cross's competence and vulnerability make a stark contrast with Sullivan's sadistic mutilations and psychological manipulations of his victims. Fans know that Cross will survive, but at what cost?

 This was one of the most interesting books in the series so far. We finally got some more insight into Alex’s life with his dead wife Maria. Her murder was finally explained to us.

She has been an important part of the whole series without actually being in it, so finally being almost introduced to her character and getting to read about her death made this one of the best books in the series.

The man that Alex and Sampson are hunting down is absolutely insane, but he is good at what he does. It makes it a lot creepier, especially at the end when it is clear that this man really has no soul.

The Butcher is scary and his crime scenes are gruesome; Definitely one of the craziest villains so far.

There was no slowing down once this book took off. It was a very addicting read.

It was interesting seeing Alex quit his long-time career and focus solely on conducting therapy sessions. It was so much different than the rest of the books, but as the saying goes “old habits die hard,” and we see that Alex can never really escape his past.

5/5 Stars

Memorable Quote: “Because you’re Dr. Cross, and I’m the murderer.”

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Purified by Brian Robert Smith

Synopsis:

“There’s no use trying to escape. You’re miles from anywhere. You have no clothes, no food, no money... You’re dead, Mason.”

As far as everyone else is concerned, Mason Bushing died over a year ago, but now he’s running from Dr. Harlow who is secretly conducting an unauthorized experiment for a drug he calls Purify. It saved Mason’s life, but Mason is focused on getting what he wants most—his old life back. His plans change when he realizes his wife is more interested in the insurance money she inherited than seeing him alive. His best friend doesn’t believe his story, and the police intend on charging him with fraud and assault after he almost kills his wife’s boyfriend.

Warren is a detective who’s assigned the case. He’s been on personal leave because his wife died. His investigation turns up suspicions of lying, disturbing coincidences, and related homicides.

When Mason becomes the prime suspect, he’s forced to run again.

Imagine having to run from someone who saved your life. Imagine everyone thinking you’re dead, but you’re really alive. Questions, accusations, conspiracies… murder. What if this was all caused by a drug that’s creating the next physical evolution of man? What would you do if you were Purified?

 Purified – Do you ever dream of a life where no disease can harm you? Your body is immune to everything trying to attack it?

This sounds great until you realize that you have to come to the brink of death in order to get noticed by the Purifier.

The crazed ex-military doctor who started his own underground experiments.

Even worse, you don’t know what is happening to you until you are already purified, you have no say in the matter.

I originally picked up this book because it was July’s Book of The Month in a Goodreads group I am a part of. I saw the cover and was instantly intrigued. I know you aren’t supposed to judge a book by the cover, but I do it anyways.

I was not disappointed.

As a debut book for Robert Smith, it went very well. The beginning had a bit of a weird pace to it. There were a lot of really quick scenes. But after those first few chapters, it settled down and started to read at a nice pace.

The story was really intriguing. It was new to me, I haven’t experienced a story like it before. It hooks you by making Mason’s struggle really interesting. You would think that having a second chance at life would make someone happy, but he hates it. He already lost his old life, and everything just keeps going downhill from there.

There weren’t any dull moments, which was a definite plus, it just keeps moving along at full speed until the end.

The characters were all pretty likable in their own ways, which made it an even more positive reading experience.

I expect many good things to come from Robert Smith after this novel.

Horror/Thriller fans should definitely give it a shot.

4/5 Stars

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