Terrence's Updates en-US Wed, 23 Apr 2025 14:57:56 -0700 60 Terrence's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Rating850422625 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 14:57:56 -0700 <![CDATA[Terrence Poppa liked a review]]> /
Terrence Poppa liked Todd Anthony's review of Gray Wrath:
Gray Wrath by Terrence Poppa
"Gray Wrath by Terrence Poppa is an adrenaline-charged sci-fi thriller that grabs you from the very first page and never lets go. From the underground caverns of New Mexico to the rocky hills of Texas and the breathtaking coast of Puerto Rico, Poppa takes readers on a high-stakes journey where humanity’s survival hangs by a thread.

The premise is instantly gripping: an alien species known as the Breeder Grays has set a massive asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Their goal isn’t just destruction � it’s to replace humanity with hybrid creatures of their own design. Standing against them is Michael Kendon, a former assassin turned last hope for humanity, who must locate a powerful gravity weapon capable of deflecting the asteroid. To succeed, he’ll have to partner with Laura Meller � the daughter of the very man he was once forced to kill.

Poppa does an outstanding job blending non-stop action with real emotional depth. Kendon isn’t just a hardened survivor; he’s a layered, haunted character whose growing connection with Laura adds heart and humanity to the intense, race-against-time narrative. Their bond, forged under impossible pressure, gives the story a real emotional core that keeps readers deeply invested.

Another standout is the dual storyline featuring astronomer Eric Tepler. His discoveries and personal journey add another rich layer to the book, giving us a broader view of the threat and the desperate fight to stop it. Tepler’s arc feels authentic and relatable, providing a refreshing balance to Kendon’s brutal world of espionage and survival.

Poppa’s world-building is smart and convincing. The alien technology � from advanced gravity weapons to exotic energy sources � feels grounded and believable, enhancing the tension without ever overwhelming the story. Every scene pulses with urgency, yet there’s a clear attention to detail that makes the high-concept sci-fi elements feel fully immersive.

What makes Gray Wrath truly shine is how seamlessly it blends intense action, character-driven storytelling, and big, thrilling ideas. Whether it’s a desperate firefight against shadowy agents, a frantic chase through hostile terrain, or a quiet moment of reflection between characters, Poppa keeps the momentum building and the stakes sky-high.

This is the kind of book that reminds you why we love stories about survival against impossible odds. It’s a fast, fierce, and emotionally charged ride that will resonate with fans of alien invasion sagas, conspiracy thrillers, and post-apocalyptic adventures.

If you’re looking for a gripping sci-fi novel packed with heart, action, and imagination, Gray Wrath is absolutely a must-read. Terrence Poppa has crafted a thrilling and unforgettable story that leaves you breathless � and wanting more.

"
]]> Review7460678006 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 19:00:22 -0700 <![CDATA[Terrence added 'Echoes of Blood']]> /review/show/7460678006 Echoes of Blood by Pablo Roy Leguísamo Terrence gave 5 stars to Echoes of Blood (Paperback) by Pablo Roy Leguísamo
Who killed El Ruso and other aging members of a tight-knit band of former Uruguayan revolutionaries? Were these violent deaths the product of random events that could befall anyone? Or were they connected, carried out by a shadowy vengeance movement that goes by the name Reparation Group? Finding out who was behind the murders is the thrust of Echoes of Blood, a crime novella by Pablo Roy Leguísamo.

The story has a distinctly South American flavor, not only taking place in a country that sits like a small organ within the body of South America, but stylistically as well. The chapters are like impressionistic paintings—some in pastels and others in bold slashing colors—each adding details to the back stories and the relationships the guerrillas had forged among themselves. All of these chapters are strung together without the narrative connective tissues of conventional fiction.

Somehow it works in its focus on The Astute, one of the former guerrilleros and closest friend of the murdered El Ruso, and Christina, a journalist seeking to establish her career by investigating the crimes. The former revolutionaries have their secrets, and Christina seems headed into dangerous waters by pushing for answers.

One of the many strengths of this fascinating tale is perhaps unintended. Echoes of Blood gives an idea of the violent political events that swept through much of Latin America from the 1960s through the 1980s: collapsing power structures, political chaos, dictatorships, dirty revolutionary movements and the even dirtier counterrevolutionaries with their long rosters of los desaparecidos. Paraguay is a microcosm. Leguísamo tells this micro-macro story while remaining ideologically neutral.

The author is skilled in the art of misdirection that is at the heart of crime fiction, and his Echoes of Blood will keep you guessing all the way to an unanticipated ending. ]]> UserFollowing324343091 Wed, 26 Mar 2025 17:45:53 -0700 <![CDATA[Terrence Poppa is now following Chris Schneider]]> /user/show/78080606-chris-schneider Terrence Poppa is now following Chris Schneider ]]> Review7414750713 Tue, 18 Mar 2025 14:00:26 -0700 <![CDATA[Terrence added 'British Heroes of World War II: True Stories of Individual Bravery from the Battlefields of World War II']]> /review/show/7414750713 British Heroes of World War II by Alex Viner Terrence gave 5 stars to British Heroes of World War II: True Stories of Individual Bravery from the Battlefields of World War II (War Heroes) by Alex Viner
British Heroes of World War II is a collection of mini-biographies that focus on the dramatic moments in the lives of Great Britain’s war fighters that led to the highest national honors being bestowed on them.

The 27 stories cover the land, sea, and air war and the soldiers, sailors, and airmen (and some spies) who seemed fearless in the martial spirit that often led to death. They come across as fearless in these accounts—soldiers single-handedly charging machine gun emplacements or pilots continuing on a bombing raid even as their airplane is ripped with bullets from German fighters and hot fragments of flak from bursts of anti-aircraft shells. It’s hard to imagine that any of them did not experience extremes of fear, but, of course, that is what courage is—doing what has to be done in war despite the dread of death.

One of the most fascinating of the mini-biographies is that of Ursula Graham Bower, an anthropologist who lived with the Naga tribe in a region of India bordering on Burma. After the Japanese invaded Burma, she shaped the tribesmen into a guerilla force adept in jungle ambushes and sabotage, personally leading them into battle and operations to rescue British soldiers and downed airmen.

I was most drawn to the accounts of the bomber pilots because their experiences brought back memories of my father’s war stories. He was a tail gunner on a Royal Canadian Air Force heavy bomber and was shot down over Belgium on the way to bombing raid over Germany. Badly injured, he spent the remainder of the war as a POW. Only 17 percent of the Canadian airmen made it through the 25 missions required of them without getting shot down, and the percentage was likely similar for the air crews of other countries. So you can imagine the gut-churning dread starting out on each raid knowing the odds are stacked against you.

Yet they continued on. That’s the message of Alex Viner’s collection of stories of extraordinary bravery and could serve as an alternate title.

British Heroes of World War II is not a book that can be read in one stretch. There is too much detail in the mini-biographies to absorb all at once, but from beginning to end it’s an inspiring read. ]]> Review6677957928 Wed, 12 Mar 2025 23:39:07 -0700 <![CDATA[Terrence added 'The 12th Imam:The Tribulation Begins']]> /review/show/6677957928 The 12th Imam by James W. Parker Terrence gave 3 stars to The 12th Imam:The Tribulation Begins (Kindle Edition) by James W. Parker
With his three-part 12th Imam series, author James W. Parker is onto a fascinating and important subject: the End Time ideology of Iran’s theocratic rulers.

The ayatollahs are adherents of a sect of Islam that awaits the return of the Hidden Imam, the 12th direct descendant of Muhammad’s daughter Fatima and his son-in-law Ali. Muhammad’s death set off a power struggle for control over Islam between what became the Sunni and Shiite factions. The 12th Imam, a Shiite, was hidden when he was five years old so that he wouldn’t be assassinated like most of his predecessors. In the mullah’s dogma, his spirit remains in hiding, but he will return during a time of great chaos to gain control of Islam and initiate the first phase of the End of Time.

I was hoping to learn more about it in the book, but I regret to say I was disappointed. I read the second installment, The 12th Imam: The Tribulation Begins. The opening chapters offer enough back story to make it a stand-alone, though I can see it would be best to start with the first book.

What held me back from appreciating Mr. Parker’s obvious desire to enlighten people about Islam was the writing. The 12th Imam doesn’t make much use of dramatic construction, and I found that it reads more like an outline than a finished draft. With few exceptions, the characters are only names. Example: Omar, personal aide to the 12th Imam. That’s all that’s said about him, yet he has presence throughout the book. Some of the spelling lacks consistency. For example, the capital city the 12th Imam built for himself is called Bavalim, an alternate name for Babylon, but the word is sometimes spelled Bavilim.

Among the positives are the quotes at the beginning of each chapter—an interesting approach to suggesting the theme of the chapter. Most often they are drawn from the Book of Revelation, but some cite Islamic sources, certainly very useful for readers who want to explore the subject in greater depth. The author is due an applause for revealing truths about Islam. And another for his book cover. It’s very eye catching and relevant to the story. ]]> Review7395721751 Tue, 11 Mar 2025 16:27:49 -0700 <![CDATA[Terrence added 'The Newspaperman']]> /review/show/7395721751 The Newspaperman by Sal Nudo Terrence gave 2 stars to The Newspaperman (Kindle Edition) by Sal Nudo
I was in the news business years ago, so the title of Sal Nudo’s short novel The Newspaperman caught my attention. After reading some of the positive reviews on Amazon, I bought it hoping it would stir memories of those stressful days of fleshing out breaking stories and turning in copy under tight deadlines.

There was none of that newsroom high tension in The Newspaperman. Nudo’s focus is on what he sees as a decline in the quality of the content of journalism today: fake news, the use of unnamed sources, and an obsession with celebrity gossip and sensationalized crime. Nudo presents it as something new, yet the same was said more than a hundred years ago of William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers and even those of his competitor, Joseph Pulitzer.

Well that’s fine. A lot of people voice such complaints. The problem I had with this story is that it was hard to read. The endless complaints about a newspaper in Champaign-Urbana were one problem, but I found the plot unbelievable and the characters all cardboard: a greedy, unscrupulous publisher, thugs he employs to intimidate or kill critics, and of course the crusader hero Seth Kesler who becomes a target for murder.

The author seems oblivious to his own selective and tendentious views and to the irony of his main character’s behavior: While denouncing the ills of journalism, his crusading critic buys up quantities of the offensive newspaper to burn so they would not fall into the hands of gullible and impressionable citizens of Champaign-Urbana. That’s a form of censorship that goes by the name ‘book burning�.

Some people really like tabloid journalism because it gives them gossiping material. There's an adage that is relevant: Small minds talk about people; average minds talk about events; great minds talk about ideas. Sal Nudo’s novel shows that he tries to be high minded about journalism, but I think his denunciation of shoddy journalism could be better handled in an article or essay rather than a novel.
]]> Review7361092200 Fri, 07 Mar 2025 20:20:21 -0800 <![CDATA[Terrence added 'The Ringmaster Murder: A Paranormal Mystery']]> /review/show/7361092200 The Ringmaster Murder by Renee Brume Terrence gave 5 stars to The Ringmaster Murder: A Paranormal Mystery (Alistar Circus Mysteries Book 1) by Renee Brume
If you love huge dollops of circus action, mind reading performances, and eye-popping magic mixed in with a murder mystery, then The Ringmaster Murder, A Paranormal Mystery is an ideal story for you.

Author Renee Brume delivers on all three in her short entertaining mystery featuring the wife of a Miami mobster with psychic abilities, an undercover FBI agent with magical talent, and a black, yellow-eyed panther named Jet with seemingly human intelligence.

Carmen Acosta, on the run from her husband, and Aaron Sterling, her FBI handler who is as gifted as she is in the magical arts, join a circus as the ultimate hideout from her bad boy husband, who puts a price on her head, but their lives get even more complicated when one of the circus owners turns up dead.

Against a backdrop of circus performances that include Carmen and Aaron showing off their levitation abilities by flying around the circus tent on a broomstick, the author throws out one red herring after another as they snoop around the circus without giving away their true identities.

I loved the psychic sleuthing angle. I was introduced to the reality of it many years ago by a psychic who showed me testimonials from police agencies thanking him for his help in solving difficult crimes, and I know of at least one psychic who was tracked down and murdered by someone her paranormal abilities had exposed.

Flying on a broomstick, though, is another matter, but it’s one of the fun elements of a story that feels like one long circus ride. So grab some cotton candy and enjoy the show. ]]> Review6845378298 Sun, 02 Mar 2025 15:48:22 -0800 <![CDATA[Terrence added 'Ruby Tuesdays']]> /review/show/6845378298 Ruby Tuesdays by Joan Lewis Terrence gave 5 stars to Ruby Tuesdays (Kindle Edition) by Joan Lewis
It’s hard to get nit-picky with a British expat who lives and writes from southern France in a sunshine region dear to my own heart (surtout Aix-en-Provence), but c’mon Joan Lewis, your opening chapters made me think of a deux chevaux that’s hard to start and once going putts along on one cylinder.

The author did not make it easy for herself. She took on an enormous challenge with themes of mental illness, alienation of children from their parents, social conditions that destroy the lives of many youngsters leaving them feeling hopeless and seeking emotional connection—and somehow bringing all of it together in a way that makes sense.

The author succeeds in the end, but it’s a slow start. The opening chapter jumps from character to character, announcing the pattern of the novel along with the major characters: Rob and Eva, a married couple living outside of London who set off on separate journeys, Rob by train, Eva by car; Ella, the daughter of a haughty politician named Charles Butters who wants her to become a doctor; a young man who wakes up in a jail or a hospital, he’s not sure which nor how he got there.

It’s all too much at once, yet not enough. You don’t find out where Rob and Eva are going or why until they get to their destinations too many pages later. Perhaps the author thought that dragging it out would make the story intriguing, but I would have liked to learn early on that Eva is on a quest to find their estranged son, Sam, who is now in his mid twenties and has been gone from her and Rob’s lives for five years.

How the story is told is frequently frustrating. Eva’s quest continues and eventually she succeeds in locating Sam. He is in a hospital and she and Rob go to visit him. Given the buildup (we are now halfway into the novel), one would expect an intense and dramatic scene of their reunion. But after the parents and their son exchange of hugs, the reader follows Rob and Eva out the door, leaving an inexplicable gap that is only partly filled when they later talk about the meeting and that they learned Sam suffers from a bi-polar disorder. Why wasn’t this important meeting dramatized? Instead, the author leaves you hanging, and this kind of omission happens more than once.

The deux chevaux manages to gain full power in the latter half of the story. I found Rob and Eva to be sympathetic, relatable characters. So too Sam and Ella, whose lives entwine after they establish their own identities. The Renault two banger takes you to a touching and satisfying conclusion, one that explains the title.

The storytelling has shortcomings, but the author adds sunshine to the pages from her refuge in southern France. ]]> Review7361092200 Thu, 27 Feb 2025 17:31:38 -0800 <![CDATA[Terrence added 'The Ringmaster Murder: A Paranormal Mystery']]> /review/show/7361092200 The Ringmaster Murder by Renee Brume Terrence gave 5 stars to The Ringmaster Murder: A Paranormal Mystery (Alistar Circus Mysteries Book 1) by Renee Brume
If you love huge dollops of circus action, mind reading performances, and eye-popping magic mixed in with a murder mystery, then The Ringmaster Murder, A Paranormal Mystery is an ideal story for you.

Author Renee Brume delivers on all three in her short entertaining mystery featuring the wife of a Miami mobster with psychic abilities, an undercover FBI agent with magical talent, and a black, yellow-eyed panther named Jet with seemingly human intelligence.

Carmen Acosta, on the run from her husband, and Aaron Sterling, her FBI handler who is as gifted as she is in the magical arts, join a circus as the ultimate hideout from her bad boy husband, who puts a price on her head, but their lives get even more complicated when one of the circus owners turns up dead.

Against a backdrop of circus performances that include Carmen and Aaron showing off their levitation abilities by flying around the circus tent on a broomstick, the author throws out one red herring after another as they snoop around the circus without giving away their true identities.

I loved the psychic sleuthing angle. I was introduced to the reality of it many years ago by a psychic who showed me testimonials from police agencies thanking him for his help in solving difficult crimes, and I know of at least one psychic who was tracked down and murdered by someone her paranormal abilities had exposed.

Flying on a broomstick, though, is another matter, but it’s one of the fun elements of a story that feels like one long circus ride. So grab some cotton candy and enjoy the show. ]]> Review7321662234 Fri, 14 Feb 2025 18:32:56 -0800 <![CDATA[Terrence added 'Old Souls']]> /review/show/7321662234 Old Souls by Ray Gregory Terrence gave 4 stars to Old Souls (Kindle Edition) by Ray Gregory
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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