March 2022 Indie Book Reviews

March 2022 Indie Book Reviews by Joseph Poopinski

The Heron
By Joan M. Roberts
A Traumatized Ghost Haunts
4 stars

Not all hallucinations are symptoms of schizophrenia, sometimes traumatized ghosts haunt the living. Abigale Coote, herself a traumatized woman from an abusive relationship, experiences just this sort of spooky break with present day reality. A possessive ghost from New England’s colonial days forcefully shares her own vivid abuse at the hands of a man she never loved presumably through the magical powers of an omnipresent heron, ultimately both helping & harming our heroine in the process. Joan M. Roberts conveys hardship & joy in progressing consequential layers while comparing & contrasting today’s times with the past. Much has changed, but not politics: When everyone lied in the courtroom, falsehood became truth & promised a harsher narrative for Mary’s subsequent life (smothering vs ignoring; “wrong” either way), sent loyal Miriam away, drove Benjamin into the shadows & gave William a much freer hand in controlling (battering) his wife. Three things I absolutely loved about The Heron were the cryptic hints & foreshadowing (including a brilliant horseshoe crab mention), the poetic descriptions of commonplace scenes (How many lesser ways could this be written: “Twisted branches of leafless trees reached skyward into the frosty air, casting tortured shadows on the snowy ground beneath.”?) & an ample supply of humorous asides (especially the longwinded reverend running gag!).

Judgement Day
By Josie Jaffrey
Vampires Illegally Biting Humans… and Vampires
4 stars

If enough vampires bite more & more humans, then sooner or later the humans will figure out that vampires are real which probably wouldn’t benefit anybody. Unfortunately, it’s happened again & ace vampire detective Jacqueline “Jack” Valentine must figure out this whodunnit. Worse yet, the unsolved crime hints at a larger conspiracy to overthrow Primus Solomon & reveal the vampires’ existence to the humans in a boot to the face sort of way. As bad as that sounds, Jack’s girlfriend is less than truthful about more than just haematopsychosis, her immediate supervisor conceals evidence & the enigmatic Barron Killion Drake intimates, provokes or lures her into dragon-filled waters on Wednesdays. There’re tiny gears secretly turning rapidly behind the scenes of large gears turning slowly in this first-person murder mystery tale with plenty of intriguing morally grey characters. Additionally, readers will find a few fun, original takes on vampire lore (including the significance of their silver pupils & how drinking vampire blood may or may not cause insanity), note several wonderful names such as Yolande Leclercq & enjoy the sarcastic wit of the relentless narrator from zingers like “adorkable” to her self-deprecating epic claim that “Jack Valentine is no one’s fool, despite what recent events might imply to the contrary.”

The Geomancer’s Apprentice
By Yin Leong
Aesthetics Nailed
4 stars

Maybe I should blame Ghostbusters. Unintentionally I expected the ragtag team of geomancer Joe & apprentice Junie to wander around houses rearranging furniture & blasting gremlins with their chi. They did have multiple clients, but Yin Leong’s awesome tale revolves around one special customer. Certain circumstances have aligned to allow the murderous yaoguai or chupacabra into our world to cause suffering & pain as well as pave the way for a “major league demon”—the bringer of World War III—a mogui. To prevent that disaster, stubborn old hermit Joe must overcome his curmudgeonly ambivalence & history of failures while lackluster Junie must open her third eye & embrace her inner dragon, ninja turtle or wonder woman. Breaking both her habit of stagnation & pattern of indifference, she’ll seize the beginnings of her own worthwhile, vivid life as an adult. The story’s captivating style employs lovable characters, a wicked array of sensation-based vocabulary words (like “stertorous”) & simple, everyday actions often justified for the greater good but thankfully neither over-explained (especially the paranormal phenomenon) nor meticulously dissected in their execution. For those who, like me, derive a guilty pleasure from creepy vibes & scary aesthetics, you are in luck: The Geomancer’s Apprentice nailed it!  Tie on your Feng Shui headbands, grab a fine pumpkin ale or bubble tea & prepare to savor a gaggle of potent images including a monster in hospital gowns, a falling chandelier & revisit a mental snapshot of the exorcist’s iconic arrival in The Exorcist.