Book review: The Confession by John Grisham

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Description:
An innocent man is about to be executed.
Only a guilty man can save him.

In 1998, in the small East Texas city of Sloan, Travis Boyette abducted, raped, and strangled a popular high school cheerleader. He buried her body so that it would never be found, then watched in amazement as police and prosecutors arrested and convicted Donté Drumm, a local football star, and marched him off to death row.

Now nine years have passed. Travis has just been paroled in Kansas for a different crime; Donté is four days away from his execution. Travis suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. For the first time in his miserable life, he decides to do what’s right and confess. But how can a guilty man convince lawyers, judges, and politicians that they’re about to execute an innocent man?

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Review:
I'm a fan of John Grisham's legal thrillers, having read at least ten of his books, but I haven't read a Grisham novel in three years after A Painted House left a bad taste in my mouth. (If there was ever a poster child for the authors-shouldn't-change-genres sentiment, A Painted House was it.)

Fortunately, Grisham returned to my good graces with The Confession. This book is on par with many of his other legal thrillers. Expect the same journeys into the legal system, the same twists and turns, and the same easy-to-read prose as you'd get with many of his prior novels. While not as good as some of my favorite Grisham books like The Runaway Jury and The Partner, The Confession is still entertaining in its own right. I found the story a bit drawn out at times, and it was longer than it needed to be, but it was still a good read.

After reading the book, I did find myself a little scared that the legal system could allow an innocent man to be sent to death when it seemed pretty obvious that he wasn't guilty. I don't know how accurately Grisham portrayed the finer points of Texas law, but if his intent was to make a statement about the legal system and capital punishment in particular, he certainly succeeded as far as I was concerned.

I read this book as part of the Authors A to Z reading challenge. Next up: The Line by Teri Hall.

Beyond New Eden now available in other formats

For those of you who don't have a Kindle, I'm happy to announce that Beyond New Eden is now available in other formats.

You can find Beyond New Eden at the following retailers:

• Amazon - Kindle e-book and paperback
• Barnes and Noble - Nook e-book
• Kobo - Kobo e-book
• Smashwords - various e-book formats
• Createspace - paperback

Book review: Dark Life by Kat Falls

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Description:
The oceans rose, swallowing the lowlands. Earthquakes shattered the continents, toppling entire regions into the rising water. Now, humans live packed into stack cities. The only ones with any space of their own are those who live on the ocean floor: the Dark Life.

Ty has spent his whole life living deep undersea. When outlaws attack his homestead, he finds himself in a fight to save the only home he has ever known. Joined by Gemma, a girl from Topside, Ty ventures into the frontier's rough underworld and discovers some dark secrets to Dark Life. Secrets that threaten to destroy everything.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Review:
I was torn between giving this book 3 stars and 4. On the one hand, it was a fast-paced, enjoyable read that didn't bore me. However, I also found the story and the characters to be too shallow. In the end, I gave it 4 stars because I think I'm just too old for this book, and it will probably appeal more to younger readers.

Dark Life starts off with a bang and doesn't let up. I appreciate the series of actions strung throughout the novel. I just wish that the characters were a bit more well-developed. At the end of the book, I felt like I still didn't know much about the main characters, Ty and Gemma, except for superficial facts like Ty has a younger sister and Gemma is an orphan with an older brother. The other characters were also kind of one-dimensional, just there to move the plot along.

This is a book that had the potential to make the reader think about deeper issues. Unfortunately, it was written at a level for younger readers who may not understand there's more to the story, and adults will find it too simplistic to appreciate. Overall, this is an entertaining book if you want to lose yourself for a few hours but it could have been more.

I read this book as part of the Authors A to Z reading challenge. Next up: The Confession by John Grisham.

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Publish it and they will come? Nope

I hang out occasionally in the Kboards' Writers' Cafe, a forum for writers, especially those publishing on the Kindle platform. Every once in a while, a new writer will join because they just published their first book (congratulations!) and wonder when the money will start to roll in. I don't blame them for thinking that publishing a book means readers will immediately flock to it. I'm sure many of them were seduced by success stories like Amanda Hocking or Joe Konrath just as I was. But the sad truth is that finding success on Hocking's or Konrath's level is almost like winning the lottery.

I know because I've lived through an era of even bigger promised riches. I've been a software engineer in Silicon Valley for all of my career. When the dot-com bubble started in the late 1990's, I was still young and impressionable, and if you believed the press like I did, it seemed like anyone who worked at a dot-com was getting rich, but it wasn't true. I've worked at plenty of startups in my career, and sadly, none have turned me into anything close to being a millionaire. I've also built a handful of my own sites, hoping they'd become the next Facebook, YouTube, or even Craigslist. In case you thought it was just my bad luck, I should also mention that of all the engineer friends I know in Silicon Valley, the number who have become millionaires can be counted on one hand. Somebody's hitting it big, but most people are still plugging away, albeit at a comfortable level of living.

I've already walked down the path laden with promises of build-it-and-they-will-come instant riches. And I know now that it's no guarantee. Actually, the odds are very high that you will not see those riches. So when I began my publishing journey, I didn't expect otherwise despite what I read about Hocking and Konrath. I wasn't (overly) disappointed that my books didn't sell better and that monthly sales still only amount to lunch money.

But that doesn't mean you should stop writing because your first book didn't sell a million copies. As many authors have said, publishing is a marathon, not a sprint. Write because you love to write, not because you see it as a get-rich-quick scheme. And if there is anything that I've heard that will help improve your odds of success, it's publishing more books. It makes sense. You never know which one of your books will be a hit, and the more you have, the more likely one of them will hit it big. To draw an analogy to my engineering career again, as an author, you should act like a VC (venture capitalist) with a portfolio of companies. For even the best VCs, more than half of the companies in their portfolio will lose money, but it only takes one big winner to generate a huge return for your overall investments.

Publish a book and expect a lot of readers? No. But publish lots of books, and even a small group of readers per book starts to add up.

Beyond New Eden is now available!

My latest novel, Beyond New Eden, is now available on Amazon!

Click here for the Kindle version
Click here for the paperback version


Eve 142 has lived her entire life in the domed city of New Eden, home to the only surviving humans after the War. Like all of the inhabitants of New Eden, Eve 142 is a clone. Together with the other clones, dubbed the Adams and the Eves, she leads a safe, predictable existence. However, Eve’s life changes when she causes a tragic accident to befall one of the Adams. As retribution, she and her counterpart, Adam 142, are banished from New Eden.

At first, Eve 142 considers their punishment a death sentence because she grew up believing the world outside the dome was uninhabitable. She is wrong. Forced to live in the Wastelands, Eve and Adam discover many new truths about the outside world and, more importantly, the truths about themselves.

Book review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

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Description:
It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back. Anything, including making a deal with Raffe, an injured enemy angel. Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco, where Penryn will risk everything to rescue her sister and Raffe will put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Review:
I heard that angels are the new vampires in YA fiction. If Angelfall is any indication, I welcome the change. I'm not a big fan of any paranormal/supernatural race, but I really enjoyed this book because it was so well written. Told from the first person point of view of the main character, Penryn, I could believe that I was hearing the story directly from her mouth. The last time a first person narration worked so well for me was Blood Red Road (and of course, The Hunger Games did it better than any book I've read).

The plot was exciting if somewhat lacking in explanation (I would've liked more background on the angels' attacks, for example). The interactions between Penryn and Raffe were also enjoyable to read. The author didn't make it too mushy or unbelievable, creating characters that I rooted for throughout the book. As a Bay Area resident, I also got a kick out of reading about the locations described in the novel. It's always fun when you read a book that takes place in your hometown.

The main criticism I have about Angelfall is how it ended. Even in a series, I personally want each book to have its own closure, and I didn't get enough of that with this book. I heard that the next book in the series comes out this fall. I'll definitely add it to my TBR list.

I read this book as part of the Authors A to Z reading challenge. Next up: Dark Life by Kat Falls.

Cover reveal: Beyond New Eden

I'm happy to reveal the cover of my latest novel, Beyond New Eden, to be released in about a week!

The cover was designed by the folks at Digital Book Launch. I added the title because I didn't know what the book was going to be called until recently.

Here's the blurb for the novel:

Eve 142 has lived her entire life in the domed city of New Eden, home to the only surviving humans after the War. Like all of the inhabitants of New Eden, Eve 142 is a clone. Together with the other clones, dubbed the Adams and the Eves, she leads a safe, predictable existence. However, Eve’s life changes when she causes a tragic accident to befall one of the Adams. As retribution, she and her counterpart, Adam 142, are banished from New Eden.

At first, Eve 142 considers their punishment a death sentence because she grew up believing the world outside the dome was uninhabitable. She is wrong. Forced to live in the Wastelands, Eve and Adam discover many new truths about the outside world and, more importantly, the truths about themselves.

More news to come when the novel is finally released!