Review

Half Made Up by James Dunlopcis a gripping and entertaining read that cleverly blends elements of military thriller, dark humor, and crime fiction. Andrew MacKay, our flawed yet captivating protagonist, brings readers along on a turbulent journey through the gritty streets of London and dangerous memories of battlefield chaos.

Author Dunlop’s writing is sharp and witty, his dialogue crackling with authenticity, and his vivid action scenes skillfully written, pulling you right into the heart-pounding chaos. But what truly stood out for me in Half Made Up is its character work—MacKay is wonderfully human, his imperfections is painted with both humor and vulnerability. Author Dunlop captures the strain and absurdity of modern life’s pressures through a lens that is both comedic and strikingly real, never losing sight of the emotional core that drives the narrative.

However, the plot occasionally feels slightly uneven, with certain transitions coming off as abrupt, which can momentarily disrupt the story’s otherwise excellent flow. Still, these moments are minor compared to the overall enjoyment and depth of the book.

Half Made Up is highly recommended for readers who appreciate character-driven stories combined with high-stakes action and a touch of dark comedy.

Author: Sally Fernandez
Release Date: 4th October 2016
Series: Max Ford (Book #1)
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Detective Fiction, Conspiracy
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 224
Publisher: Dunham Books

Rating: ★★★

Blurb:

Maxine Ford, having resigned as deputy director of the States intelligence Agency, soon needed an outlet for her innate sleuthing capabilities. It only made sense that she would be destined to establish her own investigative firm. Naturally, her stellar clients would be among the Washington elite, including senators, members of the various congressional committees, along with other high profilers inside the beltway.

In the first novel in the series, Climatized, Max is hired by the wife of a prominent Senator to determine the cause of his untimely death. It leads her to discover that three world-renowned scientists had been killed days before they were scheduled to testify before the late Senator’s investigative committee. Meanwhile, a fourth scientist has gone missing. Max determines he is the key to unearthing the motives behind the deaths. Following the many twists and turns, Max and her associate, Jackson Monroe uncover a powerful organization responsible for the killings. The challenges to the global warming “cottage industry” heats up putting into question the alleged science behind the widely accepted climate change dogma. Cogent evidence is provided to the president, forcing him to make a crucial decision-to cover up a diabolical plot-or bring down a multi-trillion-dollar world-wide economy.

Review

Climatized by Sally Fernandez is a mystery thriller that is centered around a huge political conspiracy involving the climate change.

I liked the book as I started reading it, but after around 100 pages the book started to get a bit flat for my taste. The main problem was that there was a lot of telling when it came to the main character Maxine Ford. At places, it felt like the author was forcing the reader to like her and to “get” how stud Maxine is. Plus, there was a lot of background info that was packed in the midst of scenes and situations that made the experience a bit overwhelming. I understand that background is necessary, but in this case, it was too much.

And for some unknown reason, I was not able to connect to the main character, Max, at all and hence, I lost interest in reading this book by the 50% mark. I still kept on going, but it was a real slog and I skimmed over pages just to be done with it. The descriptions of the climate stuff were too taxing and were impossible to keep up with, especially for a layman like me who has no idea about the technical stuff related to any of the climatic situations or the measures taken to avoid/stop them.

This book is not for me, but if you like science (or medical) and conspiracy thrillers then this book might impress you because there are a lot of raving reviews and testimonies for this book by a lot of big people (there are a few testimonies by professionals from NASA.) So I’m pretty sure that this book would be a huge hit in the right hands.

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