Frisch abgebaut: Steincola

Coletteral Damage

Coke i5

(previously unpublished)

Monocola

Steven Dunne – The Disciple

So I finally came around to read the successor of The Reaper: The Disciple. Yes, it is DI Damen Brook again who cannot let go off the reaper. And while he is quite sure the reaper is dead, incidents happening in Derby and at his doughter’s place not only bind him as suspect to a scene, but makes him restart the investigation on the culprit.

The novel provides two main strands intelligently intervowen. Besides the investigation by Brook, we learn about the reaper’s past activities in the U.S.A. that result in nursing his disciple. Who that is will be revealed in the final chapters of the novel, and I must admit that I did not get it right. Which is always a good sign to me. Most of the time I was quite as puzzled as DI Brook.

In my view, this is a great follow up book. It’s pace might not be as fast as The Reaper, instead it presented a twist and some riddles keeping me thrilled throughout the story. The highlights, of course, are the characters and their interactions. They all felt real, their actions plausible, which in the end resulted in a satisfying reading experience. Very much recommended, and, surely, one day I will find the time to read on about this witful DI.

CocaCola on Zerocks

It’s been quite a while. Starting today, I will publish the remaining photos of my Daily Zero series. About one per week.

Music-Party FB Banner

Long time no write. Today about some other stuff I do, where I occasionally  help out some friends who run a music festival and support a music party. While good at organizing, they own rather basic skills with graphics and design. It’s time again to start advertising for their upcoming garden party (beginning of July) and the following festival (end of September). For the past years, I used my Photoshop for graphics and InkScape for all vector and print related things. Well, InkScape is a free tool and I had hopes up that it would get around one day. Maybe it will, but when I stumbled about Affinity Designer, I could not stop myself to buy it. It’s not expensive at all and fulfills all my needs. I especially love their support for print-great with CMYK and iso for PDF.

This is the first banner I did for them to add to their Facebook group:

And here is the flyer I did for the party, which was easily exported for print:

Marcus Sakey – Brilliance

brillianceNow, here we have an action packed thriller with a twist. Brilliance is the first in a series of books by Marcus Sakey that is very much in the mutated humans, i. e., individuals with special “enhanced” abilities here called Brilliants. In contrast to many other mutant fiction (be it inhumans, meta-humans, or the like), the mutations are not about super powers like flying or telekinesis or telepathy but rather increased mental abilities like strategic planning, recognition of body language, and so on.

The main theme of book one is a fight between such Brilliants and “normal” people, an everlasting topic in human history that is, once again, mapped onto a (fictional) attribution distinguishing human beings. So, while having a moderate political background, the story is still focused on thrilling action of the protagonist caught in the middle of others’ agendas.

Our hero is Nick Cooper, a guy working for a special task force hunting criminal Brilliants. He’s a Brilliant himself, able to recognize behavioural patterns, which, amongst others, makes him a more effective fighter. It all starts out in hunting a Brilliant terrorist, made responsible for killing innocents on his way. After a major blow, Cooper goes undercover to get closer to the culprit. And this is where his whole world turns into a tempest of eye-opening events and actions. He learns that nothing is at it seems to be.

I loved this book. It took me a bit to get into the language, but then it was fast and the story peppered with twists. My suspicions were all wrong, which was a pleasant surprise especially as I didn’t felt fooled or tricked by the story. And the story’s arc played well on me as well. Very much recommended.

Andreas Eschbach – Todesengel

todesengelAus Andreas Eschbachs Feder stammen so einige Bücher, die ich schon als genial bezeichnen möchte. Am wohlsten fühlt er sich wohl in der Science-Fiction und Fantasy Welt, denke ich mal an Jesus-Video oder Die Haarteppichknüpfer zurück. Vor vier Jahren besprach ich an dieser Stelle den ausgezeichneten SF-Thriller Der Letzte Seiner Art und nun der reine Thriller Todesengel, obwohl die Synopsis auch einen Mystery-Hintergrund andeuten könnte.

So zieht anscheinend ein tödlicher Rächer durch die Stadt, taucht an Orten von Verbrechen auf und richtet die Übeltäter gnadenlos hin. Unabhängig voneinander ermitteln der Journalist Ingo Praise und der Kriminalhauptkommissar Justus Ambick die Ereignisse, und versuchen hinter die Identität des Rächers zu kommen. Man erfährt so einiges über deren Privatleben und die Leben der Beteiligten, einem Auf und Ab in deren Beziehungen, und schließlich die Zusammenhänge, die zur Entstehung des Todesengels geführt haben.

Der Roman steigt mit einer guten Prämisse und mysteriösen Geschehnissen ein. Die Hintergründe bleiben für eine Weile im Dunkeln, werden für den Leser jedoch früher gelüftet als für die Protagonisten, was so einiges an Spannung für den Rest des Romans nimmt. Und leider werden für mich die Erwartungen an die Auflösung bei weitem nicht erfüllt, denn das Ende ist schlichter als man sich wünschen könnte und lässt wichtige Kernfragen leider unaufgelöst.

Es ist eine Geschichte über Zivilcourage, die eigene Ohnmächtigkeit, Selbstüberschätzung und Konsequenzen ignorierendem Handeln. Der Schreibstil ist ausgezeichnet, wie von Eschbach gewohnt. Die Charaktere sind durchweg glaubhaft, aber ich konnte mich mit keiner der Personen identifizieren und entsprechend mitfiebern. Am Meisten hat mich jedoch das eher schwache und profane Ende enttäuscht.

Layton Green – The Diabolist

thediabolistWhoever recommended this book to me: be cursed. First, it made me start with the recent book (well, it was the third one while there actually is a fourth book of the series by now) and not the first of the Dominic Grey Series, and second, I now am hooked. Layton Green’s The Diabolist is a mystery thriller, hence, not only providing the gripping story but getting into your mind with its psychic attitude. When diving into the story, one often is unsure about it being real or surreal. As I said (or so): I loved it.

This is the not the first book on Dominic Grey, so I have to live without knowing about the beginnings. There are hints on past adventures spread throughout the novel, and these read damn intriguing to make my bookshelves bend even more (Ok, it’s virtual shelves with e-books nowadays.) So what’s in it? The lead character, Dominic Grey, a former Diplomatic Security Agent, together with his boss, Professor Viktor Radek, a cult expert, investigate the murder of a sect leader. Some more murders are added to this killer series, and the investigation leads the team back to the past of Radek and the leader of a satanic cult organization.

The story is packed with action as well as historic discoveries, which makes it a fast and educating read with respect to the occult and religions. The heros’ actions are majorly realistic (as far as it goes for mystery), having their lows and highs, struggling with the investigations, which always seem to just go to their favour. The antagonists are written similar interesting, although the important combat between Dominic and his opponent was suprisingly short. I will definitely get on with these guys, starting from the beginning, of course.

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