BOOK REVIEW

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School Shooter by Thorsten Nesch

Thorsten Nesch, is one of the coolest writers we’ve had on our blog, “Grolar”, was one of the most original books last year, and he’s back with: “School Shooter.“ Yes, you can bet that this will be a splendid book. Why do we say this? Because Thorsten Nesch is one of those writers that pack his books with original, wild, unexpected plots and valuable content with depth.

With a surprising start, Thorsten Nesch catches our attention and kicks the plot onwards with the main character. His narrative moves from first to third person perspective with ease and we don’t notice until we stop to think about what happened. This fluidic shift and the simple description of the scenarios create a cinematic feel for the reading experience.

Readers will love how fast the book moves and the feeling of progress you will get when the chapters speed by because of Nesch’s narrative. He made the book easy to read, enhancing our urge to reading more, and faster, which is exactly what he wants, because the tension rises by the paragraph. Very nice. The emotions, perceptions, motivations and internal struggles of characters have depth and add weight to the story. It’s amazing how easily Thorsten Nesch can make the book interesting by showing what his characters are thinking and feeling in a split second, and explain their backgrounds with so few words!

The characters’ unique approaches to the situation of crisis feel real. This allows readers to identify with them more. The author also uses characters to show stark emotional differences between genres. It’s interesting to see how he can do it with subtlety and make it believable and clear.

Although the book is suspenseful, there is humor from the characters that fit their ages complete with logic and wit.

We love how the author allows characters to debate plausible reasons for school shootings and try to make sense of it all within.

After a while, you realize the intentions of the author with this book. To show the uncertainty that “survivors” of a shooting have when trapped and how important it is sometimes to stay put. He also takes a chance to go into the thought process of teens and kids, and how they try to understand the whole situation emotionally. The author, we assume, shows how poorly these situations are handled by the authorities, parents, and “higher ups”. It’s fascinating how “oblivious” most people want to be when things like this happen. There’s an important mention of how the police are ready to intervene with small crimes, but not so much in the big ones.

This book is interesting and demands a deep reflection of society and the standards of courage and integrity required. It

is the lack of caring in people and especially in our homes that creates criminals.

This story is a critical piece of work that everyone should read and reflect upon. Excellent job by Thorsten Nesch. Grab your book and be intrigued by his brilliant social commentaries inside this novel. This is a valuable read with great plot-twist in the end, so grab your copy of “School Shooter” now and enjoy.

Pros: Incredible way to address school shootings and the social causes of it without blame.

Incredible philosophical depth with an emotional touch to it.

Perfect narrative and pace that rises and steadies itself when needed.

GREAT ending, with an incredible plot twist and deep emotional messages that make the entire read worth it

Great suspense scenes and buildups that lead to a thrilling read.

Realistic characters with diverse personalities and depth.

Cons:

The book could have moved a little faster in some parts. •Lesson of the book: “Hugs save lives.” •Favorite Character: Nina •Cover Score: 8.0/10 •Book score: 8.4/10

Read the full review and others on Scribbleworth’s Website HERE •Buy it on Amazon HERE •Listen on Audible HERE

JAILED by Robert P. French

High tension, jail-style high tension, gives us a heart-stopping introduction to the 7th book in the Cal Rogan Mystery series, as we are presented to a 6 foot-tall (1.83 m) man with a gang that wants a piece of Micah, but doesn’t get it because he is friends with another gang leader that is as muscled as one can be, and he is standing right beside him, which almost causes a violent altercation. Why does the giant want a piece of Micah, if he is just a skinny kid that has never seen jail in his life? We are yet to find out because apparently, Micah, was wrongfully convicted and is serving a jail sentence in one of the harshest prison facilities in Canada, and the whole situation looks like a set-up.

Rogan, a private investigator, a retired private investigator that is trying to live his life as a professor in a university may be his only hope out of this situation, but how can he prove himself innocent if all the evidence is against him?

We have a very interesting set-up for a mystery novel with an inviting narrative told with confidence. The plot develops with ease even with all the minute details the writer puts and calls our attention to in order to understand certain implications that might hinder events or be used later on in the story.

A curious thing: our main character, Detective Rogan, has in hand an “unwanted” proposal that if he accepts, may risk the life of the man he is trying to prove innocent making every move count as time works against him.

There are some incredibly smooth characters, like Jim Garry and Ellie, that we start loving right away, and it seems like the author took great care for us to love Jim even more after every word he speaks. Really cool, and when you add that to the interaction of the characters in the whole story, the way it all feels effortless and real, - the relationship between Ellie, Sam and Cal; the relationship and interactions between Cal and his ex-wife, his business partners, with all the tension and joy between - makes this mystery romance much more enjoyable.

Attention is paid to the detail, not only in the interactions between characters, the conversations, but also in what is

spoken, and the reader can see that certain characters, the lawyers, take great care to be as helpful and polite as possible while paying attention to everything that interviewers say. NICE!

The mystery evolves perfectly, I mean, there are clues that are mentioned ever so slightly and left hanging in the air, even forgotten for a while, and then picked up after a few moments or scenes, adding another piece of this puzzle in the back of our minds, and yet, we have no certain idea on how the whole thing might fit. There are so many possibilities, angles and suspects and not enough evidence. It can be a hate crime, a hired kill, or even a kill just to frame a rich kid, but the question remains: Why would someone go to such extreme lengths in order to frame the boyfriend of the victim?

Fortunately, this mystery book isn’t one with a simple, nobrainer case and the author does very well to leave many possible paths to follow, to the point that when the plot starts to mature and the evidence seems to be making sense and the trails start pointing to a prime suspect, or several prime suspects, another road opens that was left so far unexplored and opens up all sorts of questions to the entire case. Was the victim just worried about something, or did that worry involve something major? Was she involved in something bigger than anyone could know? Did her killer make her part of his dealings? Was love the true reason why she was murdered? Was her family involved? Did her parents know? So many questions are being raised, which keeps the interest of the reader in the story, very nicely done!

One thing is for sure, nothing is what it seems and everything that is happening, has an unapparent thread as the main connection, no matter how unlikely it seems. One wrong choice from a good person was enough to make this castle of cards start to fall down on everyone, sending people to jail, inciting murders in order to cover up, avenge someone or something as even gangs were involved in the whole thing, but the most impressive is who caused it all.

There is romance too in the book, and there’s a possible love triangle in the mix. Will there be a possible infidelity from our main character? Will he resist the “subtle”, charms of the rich and gorgeous Melanie that is romancing the detective? We will see.

The legal structure, procedures and requirements in the book as the detectives, the lawyers, and the police task-force conversations feel very solid, congruent and believable due to the few terms and nuances that would validate or invalidate or appeal the entire case.

Lots of tension in the scenes of interrogation as emotions are well portrayed, and we can see the mischief, the anger, and the pleasure of privilege as the main suspect goes forward with his plan, self-righteous and arrogant in his ways, certain that justice has been served and that he will go free for it. But there is much more to this case as we all will see.

Robert P. French also inserts unexpected events in the plot that aren’t related to the main case or the main suspects, but have a huge impact on the life of the characters overall and can up-turn the whole novel in an instant, and when we start to realize what might be happening, well, it’s too late.

Warning: You will be surprised, in a good way to learn, firsthand, how many plot lines and plot developments there are in this book. Just when you think that the story is over and the case is solved, BANG, another gang, another murder, kidnapping, the main suspect isn’t the one who killed the victim and is completely

innocent because he, or she, is involved in other crimes that relate to the murder, and when you think everything is fine and dandy, BANG, the government steps in. Hahahahah! This book is excellent and this author knows what he is doing. Kudos!

If you love hard-to-solve cases and loads of mystery, this is definitely the author, the series, and the book for you, because even when we have most of the evidence out there, and everything is “ready,” there are still several complications in how to frame it and which angle to show to better convince the judge that Micah is innocent.

Excellent and very realistic. Love

Pros:

•Excellent characters with depth, uniqueness, and sense of humor. •Excellent narrative. •Excellent combination of narrative and plot to create suspense and thrilling scenes. •Excellent emotional connection, the author passes the emotions from the characters to the reader. •Excellent plot development with many plotlines. •High tension in many scenes. •Great legal jargon, well explained in order to be easy to understand. •Hard to figure-out mysteries. •Great pacing.

Cons:

None we can think of, the book is solid. •Favorite Character: Ganesha •Lesson From the book: “Hell is filled with good intentions, and it looks like paradise” •Cover Score: 8.5/10 •Book Score: 8.8/10

Read the full review and others on Scribbleworth’s Website HERE •Buy it on Amazon HERE •Listen to Podcast HERE •Visit the Author’s Website HERE •More on Reedsy HERE

Julio Carlos is the founder of Scribble’s Worth, the most selective & honest Indie book review site of Twitter’s Writing Community. He is always open for chats on Twitter.