HP Newquist

Wasn't always in love with the author's voice, but the humour had moments. Also the death facts were enjoyable and well-researched for the time it was writ.

Good toilet read.

My favourite section is probably "struck by lightning on the golf range."

Some very 2009 thoughts in there. There's sprinklings of subtle homophobia and quietly muttered racism. If you lived through that time period it won't kill you or anything though. It's also so USA-centric it often forgets to tell you where exactly he's talking about because he assumes you know.

Also I personally think the "horror meter" is completely wrong a lot of the time, but fear is very individual, isn't it?

I think one will know rather quickly when starting this book whether they will want to read the rest or not.… (mer)

In Kerrville, on the 21st of November, for nine years, someone is found murdered, hanging from a tree. One the tree is 1/10, 2/10, 3/10….It’s not like the police haven’t tried to solve the crimes, but there isn’t much to go on.

A reality show, looking for something interesting, decided they would come to Kerrville and find the killer before he/she can claim their tenth victim and vanish.

Then, Marcy gets wind of it. She is ex FBI with a chip on her shoulder. She has an investigation firm and pressures her ‘contacts’ to come up with a suspect…any suspect. She is a piece of work and as the story goes on, the worse she gets. She doesn’t instill any confidence in me. I would hate to be depending on her…for anything. If you read the book, you will understand why I want to reach into the Kindle and punch her lights out.

H P Newquist exposes the human frailty in Ten Years Gone. The state of mind of someone needing to right the wrong in his own way, no matter how twisted or monstrous the solution. IT doesn’t have a grotesque face, easily spotted. It can look like your neighbor, a friend, a coworker….hiding in plain sight.

Reality TV (cough, cough), a disgruntled FBI agent, a cop that never gives up, a town that struggles through ten years of terror..

There is suspense, but I wasn’t biting my nails. It was more mystery…ya know, IT’s gonna strike, ya know when, but not why, or who.

The ending…surprising…and I LOVE IT!

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Ten Years Gone by H P Newquist.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com… (mer)

Even from the earliest recorded history, people have been performing magic to fool, inspire, educate, and entertain. In this nonfiction book, it summarizes the history of magic from the beginning to the modern day. Nequist explains how the most famous magic tricks were created, how the most influential magicians got started and developed their craft, how magic went from being punishable by death to requested by world leaders, and many things relating to how magicians perform tricks and astound their audiences every day. The book contains instructions to perform eight of the most common and oldest magic tricks, sections on tools of the trade, a guide to figuring out magic tricks, and a list of recommendations for people wanting to earn more about magic.

Young readers will enjoy this thorough explanation of the development of magic. The tricks are simple enough to perform without much equipment so that interested readers can have an active part of learning about magic. The book does detail how some of the most famous magic tricks are done as a way to explain the development of magic and how it still takes a lot of skill to be able to pull of tricks. Some of the tricks could use more diagrams, and the tools of the trade sometimes aren’t organized as well as they could be because it will sometimes have the pages about them separating words in a sentence. It does have several illustrations and photographs of influential magicians to help readers make more of a connection to the history. Written in a very simple way, young readers who want to be magicians or who are just interested in magic will find this book accessible and interesting.… (mer)