Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Review and Giveaway!: Joe by H.D. Gordon

http://fireandicebooktours.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/paranormal-thriller-book-tour-giveaway-joe-by-h-d-gordon-7814-71514/


Virtual Book Tour Dates: 7/8/14 – 7/15/14
Genres: Paranormal Thriller, Supernatural Thriller, NA, Thriller

Tour Promo Price: $2.99



Blurb:
A psychopath planning a
massacre. A stuttering young girl with disturbing visions of the
future. Six ordinary people who will all be in the line of fire come the
day of the disaster.
Joe Knowe is not a
boy. She is twenty-one years old, and she sees things before they
happen; bad things, and the worst thing she has ever faced is just
around the corner. A madman is going to shoot up the college Joe
attends. The trouble is, her gift is stingy on the details she needs to
divert the impending tragedy. Now, Joe has four days to figure out the
mystery and save the lives of many.
From the author of The
Alexa Montgomery Saga comes a tense tale that glimpses the mind of a
genuine psychopath, follows an unlikely hero, and explores real-life
terror in a race against time that will leave the reader breathless.

Excerpt:
Prologue
~The Decider~

It was a Monday.

The worst days are typically Mondays. But this one was alright.
Different, sure, but alright. He’d made plans for today. He’d not only
made plans, but acquired the artillery to back them up. Put them into
action. Bang-Bang.

One song had played on a continuous loop in his apartment for the past three days.

Come Monday

He didn’t much care for music. Never really had, but this particular song amused him. Perhaps would have comforted him. If he were able to feel any emotion required to be in need of comfort.

It’ll be all right

He couldn’t wait to see their faces, to watch as they fled and cowered in fear. In fear of him. The thought of it all made his heart leap in his chest. And, oh, what a wonderful sensation that was. Potent. They should
fear him. Hell yeah, they should. He could take his pick, and he would.
They just didn’t know it yet, which was great, because they would know
soon. They would know today.

Come Monday

He drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel in time to the tune, but
had no mind of doing so. He was excited. Such a rare, beautiful thing
this was, this excitement. The anticipation of it all, all his plans coming to life, of all their….faces.
He bet some would try to beg, and wouldn’t that be amusing, to watch
them crawl at his feet? They would know in that wonderful moment right
before he ended their worthless existences that he had made the decision.

I’ll be holding you tight.

He reached down and brushed his fingers across the semi-automatic
pistol sitting atop the passenger seat. It was the smallest of the lot,
but his favorite. His baby. In the end, it would relieve him of
his existence as well, but oh, the wonders the two of them will have
seen together. He thought about what they would say in the news about
him and his…decisions. Lunatic, Gunman, Madman…Massacre.

The last was his favorite.

If things went according to plan he may be able to take out a
hundred, hundred-fifty people. If the bombs he’d built went according to
plan he would take out many more. Hundreds. He dared to dream even thousands
as he cruised down Highway 71 toward the Wilker campus of the
University of Midwest Missouri State. UMMS for short. He hated that.
Stupid fucking acronym. Man, he hoped his bombs worked. He’d
followed the instructions on the internet as precisely as he could
manage, but wiring the timers on the damn things had been tricky. It
didn’t really matter, though. He would watch them fall to him either
way.

In fact, he knew just what they would do.

They would be heartbroken and crying to their mommies. They would
light candles and say prayers and mutter condolences, like any of them
were even intelligent enough to give a shit about another worthless
human being. The police chief and reporters would call him a madman, a
psychopath, a murderer. They would analyze the video journals and poetry
he left scattered about his apartment. And they won’t learn a damn
thing. Because that’s how fucking stupid they were.

Oh, and there would be a body count. If things went according to
plan, if the rockets’ red glared and bombs burst in the air, they would
stamp his Decisions in the book of records.

The worst massacre in the history of the U-ni-ted States of Amer-i-ca.

The thought made his heart soar.

Review:

Joe is not a Joseph. In fact, Joe Knowe is not a male at all. Nor is she a Josephine, a Mary Jo, or a Joanna. What she is, is a special girl with a special talent that is both a blessing and a curse. 

What first grabbed my attention about Joe is that like me, Joe has a stutter. Though hers is much more pronounced, it helped me related to her sis a character. It seems that characters with pronounced flaws are easier for me to relate to, as they seem much more real. It was nice to see an author understand the frustration of someone who stutters who has an important message, and be able to convey it to others who don't.

I'm a big fan of using multiple character viewpoints to tell a story, but I have very mixed feelings about how it was done in this book. With so many characters, it can be hard to distinguish the characters from one another or to figure out who is telling which chapter. Gordon does a great job with listing exactly who is narrating at the beginning of each chapter. It took a lot of confusion out of reading. However there were a few characters you didn't hear much from, and it was easy to forgot about their story lines. Overall, I think Gordon did a great job creating memorable characters, and establishing the importance of characters that you didn't know much about.

There were a few things that made Joe a bit tricky to read. First was trying to get through the stuttering. Like I said, I suffer from what I think of as a sometimes-stutter. And while it can be hard to speak at times, there is no stutter in my thoughts. While Gordon had to be able to depict Joe's stutter, it made her dialogue incredibly hard to read. Another thing that made it hard to read was where Gordon would interject the characters thoughts to complete a sentence, which would then be completed in another way on the next line. I found myself re-reading lines quite a few times, though every time the sentence took on a whole new meaning.

As my TBR pile begins to dwindle, I will definitely find myself reading the sequel to this book. I really enjoyed Joe. It had great characters, really got you involved in the story, and had a clear (and engaging) climax to it. I am giving Joe five stars, and I encourage my readers to check it out. You will not be disappointed.

Rating:

Five big ol' stars


Buy Links:




About the Author:

H. D. Gordon is the bestselling author of THE ALEXA MONTGOMERY SAGA, THE
JOE KNOWE SERIES, and THE SURAH STORMSONG NOVELS. H. D. is a lifelong
reader and writer, a true lover of words. When she is not reading or
writing she is raising her two daughters, playing a little guitar, and
spending time with her family. She is twenty five years old and lives in
the northeastern United States.

Connect With H.D. Gordon:

Website

Facebook

Twitter   

Giveaway:


Win a paperback copy of Joe! Enter through Goodreads.



Goodreads Book Giveaway


Joe by H.D. Gordon

Joe

by H.D. Gordon


Giveaway ends July 15, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win