The Burden of Truth by Peter Best

I always appreciate when a writer is trying to do something different. Even though it is a fairly conventional action adventure, the fact that Peter has interwoven several other stories and a generous dollop of Buddhist teachings makes this an unusual book. The main thing is that it was enjoyable and readable. I gave this a 5 star.

The Burden of Truth by Peter Best on Amazon.com

This book had so many facets to it, that it is hard to place it into a particular category. If I had to try I would say; action thriller with a deeper message. Peter Best has woven a complex tapestry of different tales that slowly merge. We meet Brent Sadler; a survivor of the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. The experience of near death has led him down a path of living live to the full. This choice eventually leads him into debt and into trouble with some very shady characters. Then we meet Peter Cannon in India; he is a man with a secret and painful past. We slowly uncover how these two men have affected and are affecting the people around them. Brent finds out that actions have consequences; disastrous consequences. Interwoven with this very readable action adventure is an insight to Buddhist teachings as some of the characters are Buddhist and some of the story is set in India. I found this interesting as I don’t know much about Buddhism. Rather than getting in the way of the story, it added to it greatly.

This is an unusual book, but very well written and it kept my attention throughout. The character of Brent is great as we see him grow as a person. I wanted to like him at the start as he had gone through the ordeal of nearly drowning. I went from disliking him as he stumbled from bad to terrible decisions to applauding him at the end as finally did the right thing. Peter says at the end of the book that he wanted to create a book comparable to vintage wine. I think he has succeeded. This is a book with rich and complex flavours and it does linger in the mind. I wouldn’t mind opening the next bottle of Chateau Best.

Pale Horse (Urban Knights book3) by James Roby

I've been running another free offer for Language in the Blood (sorry about posting a bit late, it only has an hour to go.) I've only used free media for the promotion and sure enough it hasn't been as successful as the previous one. so top marks to the choosybookworm site as for value for money. There is still time to get your hands on Blood Ties which is on a Kindle countdown for 99c until the 9th of September. I'm using Booksend for the promotion (a hefty 60$) but the rewards are already rolling in and I think it will prove a good investment.
So onto the review. Unfortunately another case of decent book shame about the editing. a four star.

Pale Horse (UrbanKnights Book 3) by James Roby

This is a testosterone fuelled boys own adventure. Dialogue laden with manly banter, military jargon and weaponry mentions. Jason Noble makes a good action hero; trying to run his own detective agency, but there when his country needs him.

The plot is an interesting one; the CIA infects a dangerous international arms dealer with a man made Ebola virus. The man is then released in the hope he will trail the virus back to his organisation. They lose track of the criminal but then suspect he has resurfaced in Detroit, putting the lives of thousands at risk when the virus becomes contagious in a few more days. The race against time starts and Jason Noble is hired to help the various government agencies in tracking this man down. He agrees despite his team’s reservations, they are non too keen to work with the military, it even leads to his friend and partner Eric, to resign.

I downloaded this book as a kindle free deal even though it is the third in the urban knights’ series. There are some mentions to earlier events, but this book works fine as a stand alone. The female characters are a bit of an aside and not very developed, this book is all about the action.

There are a number of issues to do with editing and formatting, but I've contacted the writer and he is aware of them now. I hope a more polish version will be uploaded soon, but these issues have not affected my rating. Enjoyable action packed read.