Paul Moxham

Meet Roger Diobair, our hapless main character, who because of the disaster of Eggface World is now unemployable. All he wants to do is take care of his family. His wife Samantha is supportive, his daughter Jess is a typical 16 yr old who is too full of herself, and his 13 yr old son Alex is still in awe of things. And then there is Marge, Rogers disapproving mother-in-law, who never fails to tell Roger what a loser he is.

When Roger is at his lowest, he finds out that he has inherited a show more scottish village. Taking his family there, minus the mother-in-law, he finds the castle is in ruins, the locals leary of him, the ex-caretaker is trying to get the property for himself, and that he comes from a long line of losers.

This is a short story, not even a hundred pages, but it doesn't need to be any longer to be entertaining. The characters are very likable, you feel for Roger as he tries so hard to be a hero in the eyes of his wife and children. The harder he works to fix things the harder the caretaker works to sabotage the project, but Roger never gives up.

The story moves quickly, had me laughing outloud, and still thinking about it hours after I was done. It certainly wasn't a "MacLoser" in my eyes and I highly recommend it. I won this from LibraryThing and I loved it. show less

Bit simplistic for my own tastes but will no doubt be a hit with young children who enjoy a bit of mystery and adventure. Reminds me a bit of The Three Investigators series or Teen Power Inc - inspires a nostalgic feeling of old school mysteries. And maybe a bit of Scooby Doo with the stereotypical bad guy. The four main characters fall into an easy friendship although I found the first meeting with Will to be kind of awkward. But it establishes the friendship and this allows the plot to show more move on at a fast clip.

And this is probably irrelevant for most readers but as an adult I have to say Joe not leaving a note really irritated me. It was so dumb. I know, it's fiction but ARGH! If you're going to look for danger - at least let someone know where you are. Of course the mother then sending her eight and ten year olds to look for him is also ridiculous but I get that it's aiming for a historical vibe. And to be fair, the kids aren't idiots. They have some practical and creative ideas to deal with their problems.

The mystery was pretty straightforward, bit of a comedy of errors though. There's lots of hiding running and falling. But it's all wrapped up nicely with no loose ends or lingering questions, so all round a satisfying read.

3 stars. show less

Ameristocracy is a wonderful, albeit common, concept; secret societies commanding a supposed democracy, scandals bigger than the country that they take place in.
Written by an Australian, (and when read by an American) it is interesting to see how outsiders view our government, even if it is a fictional conspiracy theory. Moxham clearly did his research when it comes to the structure of the U.S. government, which sounds trivial but, if he had failed to do so, the story would've fell flat.

The show more main character, Jack, is thoroughly developed and draws one into an otherwise improbable story. Said story, while short, showcases the author's ability to create a fictional world along with a conflict and build upon that conflict to bring the novella to a conclusion.

The only criticism I can come up with is the inclusion of seemingly unnecessary details and exclusion of ideas that make one think "Okay, well what about that?"

Overall, this is a quick, refreshing read that allows one to temporarily have explanation for otherwise catastrophic events in U.S. presidential history. show less

If you like conspiracy theories and short fast-moving stories with plenty of action, then this is the book for you.

Having said that, the plot is a little unbelievable - think Dan Brown on a budget - and I would have preferred a lot more detail about the history of the Ameristocracy itself and what it was doing before and since the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy to give them more weight in the story than just as a bunch of faceless "baddies". For example, what exactly is the "Renewed show more Society" program which is the catalyst for a full-blown assault on the Presidency?

Still, Paul Moxham writes his action scenes well. They are very visual and his style is very reminiscent of Matthew Reilly.

Ameristocracy is an enjoyable, quick read and if you were a younger (teen) reader I'd probably give it a rating of 3 1/2 rather than 3. show less