Monday, January 28, 2013

The William S Club - Riley Banks, Author


Australian Meat Pies
(A Banks Special)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of oil
2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 clove garlic, minced
1 kilogram minced beef
4 tablespoons plain flour
4 teaspoons mustard (dry or jarred is fine)
½ cup of ketchup or tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce (optional)
4 cups beef stock
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
8 sheets ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
8 sheets ready-rolled puff pastry
egg yolk, lightly beaten
Makes 16 individual pies or 4 family pies.
Preheat overn to moderately hot. Heat oil in a pan and cook onion and garlic over medium heat until cooked through.  Add minced beef to pan and cook through until browned. Add flour, mustard, ketchup, herbs and worcestershire. Cook for 1 minute.  Add stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and let simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until the mixture has reduced and thickened. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool.
Cut the shortcrust pastry to fit the base and sides of your tin. You can use pie tins, muffin ties or other tins here. Individual pies are best but you can use this recipe to make a family size pie. Divide the cooled meat mixture between the pastry shells. Brush the edges with beaten egg yolk. Cut tops for the pie from the puff pastry using a slightly smaller bowl or plate than you did for the bottoms. Place over the top, press edges to seal and trim away excess pastry. Brush top of pastry with egg yolk. Using a sharp knife, make two small slits in top of each pie.
Place in over and bake for 15 minutes or until golden.
Serve pies hot with ketchup or tomato sauce. Can also be served with mashed potatoes or fries.
 
The William S Club - Review by Martha A Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish
 
Damon’s grandfather pulled a heavy brass key from around his neck. For as long as he could remember that key had hung there, a visual reminder of a lifetime of secrets. ‘I want to know the moment she boards the plane,’ his grandfather said. Damon nodded. Not like he had any other choice. Fresh rain pelted the double glazed windows as the key clinked in the lock, echoing across the Spartan dining room. The house had become more mausoleum than home. Behind the wooden door lay a metal door; the kind used by bank vaults. It protected a flight of stairs that led to the basement. Not that Damon Harvey had ever been down there. The basement was forbidden to all but The William S Club. As a child, Damon spent hours pondering what lay behind that door. Now he didn’t care. Let them have their secrets. As long as they left him alone.

 
What began as a derogative term to explain the tight, inner circle of firstborn Harvey men became a badge of honor worn by each consecutive William Sydney Harvey including Damon’s older brother, BJ – Bill Junior – older by a whole minute and a half. But The William S Club were not without their secrets, the biggest one hidden in the basement. Only one brave man had discovered that secret; Paul Baker, a former employee of Harvey Enterprises. And Paul paid the ultimate price for his discovery – he lost his wife, his daughter and his freedom, spending twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Now out of prison, Paul is determined to find his daughter, Victoria, and prove his innocence. But finding Victoria will be harder than he thinks. She changed her name and fled Australia the first chance she got, distancing herself from her father’s criminal past and her mother’s apparent suicide. Paul has no idea his daughter is being used as bait to draw him out or that Victoria, or Charlotte Burke as she is now known, is a guest on the Harvey’s wine and dine press trip. There is only one way Paul can save his daughter’s life – retrieve the documents his wife hid. But first, he must find them.

 
When I agreed to read The William S Club I didn’t realize that one of its tags was erotic, which isn’t my cup of tea and since I don’t read other reviews nor comments before reading a book I’ve found myself reading something that just doesn’t fit my suspenseful mind. Well, The William S Club is a book that can claim the tag of erotic but I have to say from the very beginning the suspense grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I was so hooked that I decided I could live through the erotica which actually came a little later in the book. I found myself reading every page in the hope of finding out just what the Harvey men were hiding. What was so precious that they not only killed outsiders for but family members too. It took me to within the last few pages to find my answer and I was completely surprised. I had ventured many guesses but none were correct. Their secret was something so different that I would have never been able to come up with it on my own. This is a true suspense novel with some erotic sex along the way.

 

 

Friday, January 18, 2013

Time Out - Mary Allen Sochet, Author

 
 
Latkes in honor of Moishe.
 
Ingredients:
1 pound potatoes
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil


Accompaniments: sour cream and applesauce


Preheat oven to 250°F.
Peel potatoes and coarsely grate by hand, transferring to a large bowl of cold water as grated. Soak potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after last batch is added to water, then drain well in a colander.
Spread grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Transfer potato mixture to a bowl and stir in egg and salt.
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4 latkes, spoon 2 tablespoons potato mixture per latke into skillet, spreading into 3-inch rounds with a fork. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn latkes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Add more oil to skillet as needed. Keep latkes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven.
Cooks' notes:·Latkes may be made up to 8 hours ahead. Reheat on a rack set over a baking sheet in a 350°F oven, about 5 minutes.
·Grating the potatoes, soaking them briefly in water, and then squeezing out the liquid (as we've done here) keeps the batter from turning brown too quickly.
Time Out – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish
 
I never thought
it would turn out this way.
Growing old,
fat, wrinkled, gray.
Going to funerals
way more than weddings.
Watching our friends’ children die.
 
When we were kids
back in the North Country,
we would twirl our way
up Broad Street,
heading home
from the movies
and Confession
on Saturday afternoons.
 
Everything seemed
so easy, so clear
The movies ended happy every after,
The priest gave
short penances.
Three Hail Marys
One Our Father.
A piece of cake
 
As I read Time Out I couldn’t help but relate to many of the memories Author Mary Allen Sochet brought to my own mind. She talked about her life with Marvin, with his ability to never be on time, how he stood up for his rights and the rights of others, and how this standing up even landed him in jail at the age of 75. You see, Marvin was a ‘baby boomer’ that grew up during the times of flower children, hippies and the Viet Nam War. Through her writing I can picture the protests, changes in time, the changes in values and the changes in ourselves as we grow old. I can see these because I too am a ‘baby boomer’ that lived through these times. Some were happy, some were sad and some were simply bad.
 
Time Out is a series of poem ‘stories’ that trace the author’s life from the beginning to the end with her beloved husband Marvin. In Time Out, Mary Sochet expresses her own way of coping with the ups and down of life and the death of a loved one. It’s one of the most touching books I’ve read in some time.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

One Rainy Summer - B. J. Robinson, Author

 

Squirrel, Rabbit, Shrimp, Sausage, Chicken Jambalaya
From the Kitchen of B. J. Robinson.
One rabbit or four to six squirrels
Two cups long-grain white rice
One onion
Two bay leaves
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt to taste or salt substitute
½ tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
½ tsp. Kitchen Bouquet
Tony Chachere's to taste
1 clove garlic
1 bell pepper
One large pot
Brown or sauté meat in a small amount of oil. Wash rice and add two cups with four cups of water. Dice onion and garlic and add. Add other seasonings to taste. Add others or delete ones you may not like. This is a catch-all recipe for a one-pot meal and types of meat may be substituted. You can combine smoked sausage and chicken or use only smoke sausage or only chicken. Sausage and shrimp or shrimp only is delicious. I think you could use this recipe with most any meat and be happy with the outcome. The recipe is flexible and adds variety to meals with meat of choice. You may also add a small amount of barbecue sauce or tomato sauce if you like it. Basically any seasoning you like may be used for seasoning to taste.
When my four children were young, I cooked many huge pots of jambalaya. It's so easy cooking everything in one pot. Cover with a lid and let simmer until all the water cooks out of the rice. I usually cook it on medium for a few minutes and when most of the water has cooked out, I turn the burner to two and finally to off and let the last small amount of water cook out while the burner is turned off. I have to be honest. I am a cook who doesn't really measure when I cook jambalaya. I use a sprinkle of that and a pinch of this, but I tried to estimate for your benefit. You can use boneless skinless chicken, but I used a whole fryer when I cooked it with chicken. Have fun. Be creative. Make it your own recipe. Surprise your famly with a new one-pot meal that is quick and easy to prepare. I cooked it on the stovetop, but you could probably use a crock pot or an oven casserole with some experimenting. I use long-grain white rice, but you could substitute brown rice. Now, I'm hungry for some good ole Louisiana jambalaya.
 
One Rainy Summer – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

Quietly, I dragged a chair over the soft beige carpet, took my seat, and pulled aside the curtain. Granny stood at the bottom of the ladder with a man a full head taller, and the two of them headed for the woods on the side of the house. He held her hand, pulled her along after him, and focused a flashlight on the wooded trail that led to the canal. Granny, don’t you know you’re too old to be sneaking out windows and climbing ladders? What in the world’s going on? Granny was a grown woman. Why was she sneaking around with this mystery man? What was going on? Why was my honest, respectful, Bible-reading granny slipping out her bedroom window in the middle of the night like some teenager breaking curfew? I was determined to find out, so I jumped back into my bed and grabbed the heavy volume of Walden. No time to waste. Something was going on, and I knew this book and Granny’s journals held the answer. I made up my mind that this was one puzzle I’d stick with and solve.

After her father's death, Hope and her mother went to live with her Granny in the beautiful Sunshine State of Florida. She loved it. Her best friend Matthew lived next door and the two of them spent hours in the woods, swamp and along the canals and lake. So when she spotted Granny sneaking out one night she knew it would be her job, with Matthew’s help, to find out the secrets that Granny had been keeping. Her first clue was found inside her Granny’s volume of Walden where she had hidden a picture of herself and a handsome man from earlier years and written notations within the margins of the pages. Her biggest clue came when she and Matthew were out searching for the man Granny had slipped out with. After finding him she discovered him to be the same man in the picture hidden in the book. So, who is he and why must they slip around to see each other. Who are they hiding from?

Hope ends up opening up more doors than she ever expected when she learns the true identity of Granny’s special friend Sandy. She also finds that the person Granny is apparently hiding Sandy from is Hope’s own mother. Now she has to find out why.

One Rainy Summer is a book of true love and God’s way of making everything turn out just the way it was supposed to. If you don’t believe in ‘things happening for a reason’ this book just might make you believe. The trust in God that Hope, Matthew, Granny and Sandy have for bringing happiness and love to everyone is written in a beautiful way. And as the story unfolded I couldn’t help but feel the love of the characters as well as the love God bestowed on each of them. A truly beautiful book.
B. J. Robinson makes her home in the Sunshine State, Florida, where she lives with her husband and pets. She's blessed with children and grandchildren, and Jesus is her best friend. Visit BJ Robinson at http://barbarajrobinson.blogspot.com and check out her available books through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo, and Christianbooks.com.
 
 

Friday, December 28, 2012

Dead Man Haunts - T. M.Simmons, Author


Recipe Dead Man Haunt 
Aunt 'Cille's Deviled Eggs
 
We do a lot of barbequing in Texas, and one of our family's (and Alice's) favorite side dishes is deviled eggs. My Aunt Lucille showed me how to make scrumptious deviled eggs once when I visited. 

1 dozen eggs
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sweet relish
2 tablespoons Miracle Whip Salad Dressing (Fat Free)
Parsley

Cover eggs with water and bring to a boil.
Boil for ten minutes.
Cool, shell and halve the eggs.

(Hint: Fresh eggs are harder to peel; eggs a little older peel easier. Also, I drain the hot water off and then dump some ice cubes on the eggs to help cool them quicker. Seems they peel lots better. I also put the drain in the sink and crack them, then peel them under a small stream of cold water.)

Scoop out the yellows.
Place the whites on  your egg plate.
Add in order and mix in each time:
Salt
Pepper
Vinegar
Relish
Miracle Whip

Spoon back into the whites.
Garnish with a few shakes of parsley.
Stick in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Yum! Especially on a hot Texas day.


Dead Man Haunt – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish
 
Twila and I see ghosts.  We talk to ghosts.  We actually hunt ghosts and enjoy the heck out of our quests.  We love to prowl old buildings and graveyards, day and night, study the history of them, and occasionally chat with the long-passed occupants of both the buildings and graves.  Yet out of the dozens of gone-by souls we chat with, very few ever keep our attention past that one and only conversation.  Patrick, however, a ghost I met recently, had intrigued us into this upcoming adventure, the adventure Jack was so adamantly opposed to.  I’d met Patrick when I joined a few local ghost hunters to investigate the historic, scheduled-for-demolition Springs Hotel in the tiny West Texas town of Mineral Springs.  He stepped out of the shower in the men’s dressing room, six foot of blond nakedness, dribbles of water crawling down his tanned muscles, a white towel draped around his neck.  No doubt in my mind he was a ghost, yet what a gorgeous ghost.  Patrick winked at me – he could see me every bit as well as I could him.  Then he disappointed me greatly when he faded back into his own dimension.  I didn’t even get a chance to see if he’d show up in a photograph, because I was too rapt to remember the digital camera hanging around my neck.

 

Alice is a writer by occupation and resides in a lakeside cabin in Six Gun, Texas along with several cats and a dog and a mixture of ghosts who would rather stay as they are than to go into the light to the other side.  Her closest neighbor Granny and her aunt Twila both indulge in Alice’s taste for the spirit side of life, or should I say death.  Oh yeah, I can’t leave out the 4 legged ghost hunters, Trucker the dog and Miss Molly the cat who accompany the 3 on all of their ghost hunting trips.  And I almost forgot Jack, Alice’s ex-husband who is a New Orleans detective who seems to be drug into all of Alice, Twila and Granny’s tangles with the ghosts as well as the non-ghosts.  Jack just happens to be a non-believer but he can see the ghosts.  Go figure.

 

I can’t get enough of this author.  In Dead Man Haunt I enjoyed a real laugh when Alice and team are accosted by a skunk and end up taking a tomato juice bath.  I laughed when Patrick would appear at the most inopportune times, sporting nothing but his birthday suit, which seemed to be his preferred mode of dress, or should I say undress.  I laughed when the ghost Mary Ann, who had been cut in half, appeared scaring the pants off Delroy the ‘commando.’  But laughter isn’t all T. M. Simmons puts into the Dead Man series.  I stayed in total suspense until the end trying to guess who killed Mary Ann and why.  I strained my mind trying to come up with the reason for Patrick, as well as several other ghosts, still being on this side and not the other where they can find peace.   And then the characters started coming together making the puzzle into a picture.  But the ending still ended up being nothing that I had suspected. 

 

I seem to be reading this series backwards starting with Dead Man Hand, book #1, which was just as good as Dead Man Haunt, book #2, I can’t wait to read book #1 Dead Man Talking.  I’ve also read T. M. Simmons Paranormal Suspense Winter Prey, enjoying it immensely.  As I said, I can’t get enough of this author.  And did I tell you that T. M. Simmons actually lives in a haunted house in East Texas which she shares with hubby, a variety of pets and of course her paranormal residents. 

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Looking for Pork Chop McQuade -

 
Tropical Grilled Pork Chops
(Recipes from Darlene)
(This is my favorite way to cook Pork Chops.  I love food with a
'tropical' flavor. Darlene)
 
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped jalapenos
1 teaspoon minced gingerroot
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon all spice
1 pound of pork chops, trimmed
Combine lime juice, jalapenos, gingerroot, salt and all spice in a heavy duty [large] ziplock bag. Add pork chops, seal bag and marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Place pork on grill rack sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cook over medium-hot coals for about 30 minutes or until meat thermometer shows 160 degrees. Baste occasionally.  Serve with rice, steamed vegetables and Hawaiian style bread for a tropical treat.
 
Here’s my favorite way to eat hamburgers.
Ingredients:
Lean ground beef, buffalo or venison
Pepper Jack Cheese
Pineapple slices [from a can will do nicely]
Sliced ripe, red tomato
Lettuce
Sesame seed buns
 
Pat out about 1/8 to 1//4 patties of ground beef, with less fat is best or use buffalo meat for best results.
Cook burgers on grill over medium coals for about thirty minutes or cook on indoor grill five minutes on each side at 350 degrees.
Top with pepper Jack cheese while burgers are still hot. Add a slice of pineapple, a piece of lettuce and a thin tomato slice to each burger. Serve on a sesame seed bun.
 
Looking for Pork Chop McQuade – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish
 
‘My illicit love affair began with a jar of homemade pickles. The whole thing started the same day Uncle Faucett got arrested for indecent exposure. I’d gotten up before daylight to fix breakfast for Bob. Then like he did every day, Uncle Faucett pecked on my front door and, like I did every day, I opened it. “Damn fool chickens ain’t layin,” he muttered. “Where’s the damn fool chickens?” He leaned on two canes. His black-rimmed spectacles, like two magnifying glasses, made his gray eyes look too big for his body. “We sold them last Thursday,” I said. “Remember? Daddy took them off.” “Oh, I forgot,” he mumbled and shuffled away. I knew he would go stand on the edge of our lane and catch a ride into town with some local farmer. He had done that each morning since he had lost his license, the unfortunate results of an accident involving a cattle trailer. Every morning he asked about the chickens and every morning I told him Daddy had sold them on Thursday, because even though it had happened when I was a girl and Daddy was now long gone, I remembered clearly that my father had sold the last of our chickens on a Thursday.’

 
This was the day that Raspberry Cupcake McQuade and her twin sister Cookie Thompson found themselves visiting the local police station and coming face to face with Sheriff Daniel Ransom. Apparently Uncle Faucett had run across a box, took his clothes off and was walking around town wearing just the box. This also became the beginning of changes to come in the lives of Cupcake, Cookie and Sheriff Ransom.
 
Cupcake and Cookie both have their own problems. Cupcake is married to Bob ‘Pork Chop’ McQuade who has papered their trailer with tin foil in the attempt to keep the government and aliens from being able to penetrate their home with their spy technology. He is so paranoid that the government is abducting their own people that he has joined a militia and is storing arms to defend himself. So, when he comes up missing, was he abducted by aliens or his own government? Cookie is the total opposite of her sister Cupcake. She is pushing 500 lbs. and becomes depressed when any form of bad news comes her way. Then we have Sheriff Ranson who became sheriff after his wife was hit by a drunk driver.  He wanted to do his part to prevent this from happening to anyone else.  And of course there is Uncle Faucett who is approaching 94 and seems to be losing his memory as well as some of his facilities.
 
After reading the first page of this book I knew it was going to be good. What I didn’t know was that it was going to be more than good, it was going to be great! With names like Cupcake and Cookie, I found humor, but that wasn’t all. This book is filled with love, compassion, heartaches, and sorrow. I don’t believe I’ve ever read a book that makes me feel so many emotions at the same time. And when you put all of these together you have Looking for Pork Chop McQuade in the form of a book that I didn’t want to put down.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Yesterday'​s Daughter - Sallie Lundy-From​mer, Author

 
Sweet Potato Pie
(A special recipe from Sallie)

1 Unbaked pie crust
4 medium sweet potatoes
Boil sweet potatoes whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.

Mash apart the sweet potatoes in a bowl. Add butter, sugars, milk, salt, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice, ginger, nutmeg, evaporated milk, and vanilla extract.......then mix well. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.

Mix 1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1//2 tablespoon of cinnamon
1/8 tablespoon of all spice
1/8 teaspoon of ginger
1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
3/4 cup evaporated milk
 
Bake at 350 degrees 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
 
 
Yesterday’s Daughter – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish
 
Grace stared at the large stranger who filled her small apartment with his mammoth presence and suddenly felt very warm. She shook her head from side to side trying to dislodge the chaos that his words brought about. She couldn’t have heard him correctly. Had he said that he knew her parents? She didn’t have any parents. She was an orphan; that was the only thing she knew about her past. He had to be wrong! This was some kind of bad joke, wasn’t it? She started to interrupt Malachi, but he put up a hand and said, “I pled with you to listen. I know I have not handled this matter well,” he signed in frustration. “In truth, I thought I was better prepared, but I too find the situation to be most extraordinary and find myself at a loss for words.” Grace noticed how he spoke, the way he formed sentences. He spoke as if he were from a different time. Again, she started to interrupt him, but he said, “Listen please! I know your thoughts, what you must be thinking, that you grew up in foster care and that your biological parents were never found.” As he spoke, a look of great shock and bewilderment blanketed her face. No one knew that because no one knew who she really was. Who is he? How could he know so much? I ran away from my foster parents years ago. Is he a blackmailer? This is crazy, she thought. “Grace…Grace,” he said as his voice gentled even more to a smooth calming chant. “I know you are frightened and overwhelmed. But it is also true that I knew your birth parents, your real parents.”
 
Grace Stone’s memory goes back to foster parents and years of abuse, which she was finally able to escape by running away. Even as she lived in hiding she was still able to continue her education and had eventually acquired a job working in the morgue. She had always sensed that she was different from others. She couldn’t allow herself to be exposed to the sun. It seemed that her skin had no protection from the sun’s rays and exposure would cause severe burning of the skin. Therefore she worked nights only. Even though she was declared to be a beauty by everyone who met her, she refused to associate or become close to anyone. The strangest thing she noticed about herself was her lack of taste for normal food and her taste for blood which was easily acquired with her working within the hospital. So when she came home after a night’s work and found a total stranger in her apartment, she was more than shocked. Especially when that stranger admitted to knowing her real parents.
 
Malachi has been searching for his ‘life mate’ for decades. As a child she had been placed in an underground chamber to age to maturity before they were to be bonded. Due to a cave-in within the chamber, she was assumed dead even though there was never a body recovered. Malachi refused to believe that his mate had been sent to the ‘void’ so his search started and had never ended until he finally found Grace Stone. This he knew was his mate, alive and well.
 
Now that Malachi has found who he believes to be his ‘life mate’ he plans to take her home where she belongs. What he doesn’t know is that one of the Doctors she works with is a ‘harvester’ and wants her just as bad as Malachi does but for different reasons. Where Malachi wants her love, the good doctor wants her blood.
 
Yesterday’s Daughter is filled with: deception – there is a traitor among the clan; love – between two that were always supposed to be; mystery – who is the traitor?; and suspense that took me all the way to the end of the book. I thought for a while that I knew who the traitor might be but wasn’t sure until I made it to within the last few pages of the book. Was I right or wrong? You’ll have to read Yesterday’s Daughter to find out for yourself. This was an enjoyable book from beginning to end.

Monday, December 3, 2012

The Devil's Garden - Brady Christianson, Author

 
 
Bourbon Steak
(A Brandon Specialty)
 
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Bourbon
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1/4 teaspoon grated ginger
1/4 cup water
1 steak (1/2" thick)

Directions

1: Combine everything in a shallow dish.
2: Marinate the steaks for at least two hours.
3: Grill over a charcoal fire.
 
 
The Devil’s Garden – Reviewed by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and a Dish
 
The conference room was full of police officers, social workers, and attorneys from the district attorney’s office. The staff psychologist, Dr. Coffee, was in attendance as well. Everyone was trying to piece together the night’s events. Officer Shelley was in a corner of the room on the phone with the investigative team in the field. “Alright, let’s go over what we’ve learned so far,” Detective Collier told his team as he tried to get everyone’s attention and get them to focus. “We have four dead men at the Colsons’ residence and two more dead mean in a plane that crashed into Calusa Harbor. All of which happened by Mr. Colson’s hand and by his own admission.”
 
Brandon Colson’s training had been extensive. He had served as a Recon Marine with extensive training in guerrilla warfare, jungle survival, desert survival, underwater demo, just to name a few, so when a group of Muslims attacked his family he took matters into his own hands and defended them the way he had been trained. Four never made it out of Brandon’s home, two made it to the plane but were shot down, two more did escape with one injured. Those two will forever wish they had died with their friends for Brandon would not give up until he found them.
 
Police Detective Samuel Collier has the duty of trying to make Brandon talk. Who were these men? Where did they come from? Why were they at Brandon’s home? Why did they want to kill him? Brandon’s answer is plain and simple… I killed them. Before charges can be brought against Brandon, Homeland Security steps in and Brandon is released. Sam is assigned by his superior to stick to him like glue, not knowing what this assignment is going to get him into. His first taste of the dangers come when Brandon and Sam embark on a mosque that Brandon feels will lead him to the two that escaped him as well as their reason for the attack.
 
The Devil’s Garden is truly a man’s book but I have to admit that I didn’t want to put it down. I can’t say it is an enjoyable book due to the graphics but I can say that it was an extremely interesting book. Brandon is a strong minded, God fearing man. He trusts in God to see him through all dangers while serving as a Marine as well as living as a civilian. He also trusts in God to help him do whatever needs to be done to protect the innocent and to not allow him to shed the blood of anyone innocent that he may come across. The Devil’s Garden is a very intense book written by an author that served as a Recon Marine and has written about something that he apparently knows a lot about with a lot of it probably being through experience. I can just see this being made into a movie with a strong actor like Mel Gibson being Brandon.

 
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