Known to Evil by Walter Mosley

Mosley has another winner on his hand with Known to Evil, which continues the story of private investigator Leonid McGill. As a favor for a powerful man, Leonid agrees to check on the welfare of a young woman, but when he arrives to her apartment building, Leonid immediately becomes a person of interest in a police murder investigation. In the apartment where Leonid was headed, a woman and a man are found dead. To prove his innocence to the police, Leonid must find out everything he can about the young woman he was supposed to have checked on, despite the adamant instructions made by the powerful man for him not to.

Leonid is also dealing with problems in his personal life. He believes his wife is having another secret affair, his ex-girl friend is dating a man, who is trying to force Leonid out of the office building, and his two sons have disappeared with a young Russian prostitute.

Mosley’s ease of writing these two unconnected stories and having Leonid deal with them makes him a master at his craft. Known to Evil was a much stronger book than the first, mostly because the readers knows Leonid McGill and the sub-characters at this point, which didn’t require Mosley to go into any deep back story on the cast of characters.

Imaro by Charles R. Saunders

Imaro’s mother surrendered her five year old son so that he could become a great warrior of the Ilyassai tribe. His mother’s people treated him with disdain and ridicule. Through it all, Imaro grew to be the biggest and strongest of the Ilyassai children. When he reached manhood and the time had come for him to truly become an Ilyassai warrior and be accepted by his mother’s people, an evil magician strip him of that reward, spiraling Imaro’s life into a world of slavery, murderous thieves, and black magic.

Charles R. Saunders takes the reader through an Africa untainted by Europeans influences, whose history is quite different than the one we have always known. Imaro is to become a great warrior in a world he doesn’t feel he is apart of. Through his adventures, Imaro becomes a threat to enemies who work within the shadows and manipulates the weak willed and innocent to do their bidding. Imaro soon realizes if he is to survive, he must take the battle directly to the evil that plagues him.

Imaro is a must read novel and is the first book in a series. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the sequels and continuing with the further adventures of Imaro.

The Executioner's Game by Gary Hardwick

Luther Green is a government assassin working for an agency known as E-1. Luther is called off his current mission from somewhere overseas and brought back to America. The director of E-1 personally assigns him to a new assignment--find and kill the man who trained Luther as an agent, Alex Deaver.

Although Luther accepts the task, he finds that the director's behavior and the assignment odd. Deaver leads Luther on a cat and mouse chase that takes the reluctant assassin back to hometown, Detroit. It places Luther at a disadvantage because he has family and friends living in the city. Deaver's knows this and is willing to place Luther's family in the line of fire if he has to.
Deaver's leaves clues for Luther to discover while they play their Executioner's Game. And soon Luther finds that everything at E-1 is not what it appears to be.

Gary Hardwick's 'The Executioner's Game' is an exciting, fast-pace read, with interesting characters and a government assassin with a style all his own. Well worth the read.

A Deadly Encounter by K R Bankston

Kayla DeWitt thinks she's found her soul-mate in Dezi Gianni, a charismatic, handsome and very rich man. But behind all of Dezi’s allure is a ruthless crime-lord who distributes pain and death to all those that threaten his criminal empire known as The Clique.

Kayla’s innocence and beauty has Dezi instantly fall in love with her. Hidden from the dark truth of Dezi’s wrongdoings, she is prepared to spin her life with him. She is aware of his criminal life, but not the degree of his ruthlessness. The truth comes to light when FBI Special Agent Donovan Black enters her life. Black is part of a task force to bring The Clique down. While undercover he begins a friendship with Kayla, only to find himself falling for her. For Agent Black taking Dezi down has become more than professional, it’s now personal. Kayla’s heart is torn between two men who are perhaps destined to destroy one another.

A Deadly Encounter is a gripping thriller that immediately pulls the reader right into the story. Dezi is the ultimate bad-boy that women find dangerously sexy. Kayla is the woman men dream of meeting someday to take as their bride and to be the mother of their children. Author K R Bankston will one day be a name everyone will recognize and recommends to others.

Pulse by Jeremy Robinson

When you read Pulse, you have to suspend your belief system. It's one of those fun book you need to just sit back and enjoy and not think too much about reality. Since the book involves an elite military fighting force, you can expect a lot of action and detailed descriptions of the soldiers weapons. It took me a while to identify with the characters because Jeremy Robinson used call signs rather than real names, which for me took away from the individuals in the story. But that wasn't what the story was about. It was to establish the Chest Team and the world the author was creating. And knowing Pulse is book one in a series, I realized that getting to know the four member team will come with each book. If you're looking for a quick, fun read, Pulse is for you. I will definitely look for more books in the series in the near future.

This Ain't No Hearts and Flowers Love Story Pt1 by Brooklyn Darkchild

First off, I’m not a romance reader. The title of the book, This Ain't No Hearts and Flowers Love Story Pt1, clearly indicates that this would not be a typical romance novel but I had my doubts at first. That was until I read the first page. Though the book talks about the harsh realities of abandonment, drugs and sexuality, it also has its fair share of humor and overcoming hardships. I was drawn into the story by the author’s writing. The characters were described in rich details and you were made to feel as if you are a part of Baby Girl’s life. The only difficult time I had with the book was with the font size. It was too small for the pages, but that’s my beef and should not deter other readers from picking up this wonderful novel.

Vanished by Joseph Finder

Joseph Finder did follow the hero rulebook with the creation of Nick Heller:

Special Forces background (check)
Troubled childhood (check)
Has trouble with authority (check)
Can punch his way out of a situation (check)
Loner (check)
Cracks cynical jokes when a pistol is pointed at his face (check)
Tough guy with a good heart (check)

What sets Nick Heller apart from the others is that Finder places him in a business environment (Heller is a corporate investigator). Heller isn’t fighting against a corrupt politician with his own personal agenda or terrorists groups whose goals are to tear down the government. No, Nick Heller isn’t scuffling with Bob the accountant, tossing paperclips at each other in the break room either--that would have been boring. Heller does face off with well-trained, well-armed private security personnel and must locate the individuals responsible for the abduction his older brother.

There’s plenty of action, suspense, good humor and mystery to satisfy everyone. The book is a quick read and Heller is a likable character. I’m looking forward to reading the further adventures of Nick Heller.