Jams N. Roses

First off I have say, Jams N Roses is an awesome pen name.

Detective Inspector Summer was just assigned the case of her career, finding the serial killer known as The Phantom. The killer picks its victims at random and brutally stabs them to death, leaving no clues or motives. DI Summer was chosen by her superiors as she has a personal stake in finding this vicious killer. But is the killer who she thinks it is?

As we follow DI Summer and her investigations, we run across several different show more suspects. One of them is Ben Green, who's father just met an untimely death in a terrible bus accident. Ben is a timid man, with no self-worth and a girlfriend, with her own secret, that's trying to take advantage of him. But he has a dark side, one he never knew before, that keeps whispering to him, showing him dark reflections of himself. Enticing him to do terrible deeds. His mother has always had mental troubles herself, but to what depths has she fallen and how far will his dark side go? As the body count mounts, DI Summer races to the bloody end to find the truth.

The characters are well-drawn and we feel the anguish of Ben as he's confronted with his dark side and the truth about this mentally unstable mother and loving father. And we experience his joy at finally finding his soul mate, but is it too late?

This is a well-written dark tale, full of drama and plot twists. I give it 5 feathers. show less

I received a copy of this book “Son of a Serial Killer” by James Roses in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. I never read anything by this author, but after finishing this book I know that I will follow his writings. This is a fast-moving book about a young man Ben Green who is extremely depressed by his father’s sudden and uncanny death. He threw himself in front of a bus and ended his life.

Ben is utterly distraught and it seems that everything in his life is falling apart. He show more looses his job, He catches his girlfriend cheating and his mentally ill mother reveals a shocking secret that plunges Ben further into the darkest levels of paranoia and wicked state of mind.

He is overwhelmed with confusing emotions. He is in turmoil, overcome by pain, guilt, fear, and distress. He is unable to control any of those feelings. James Roses does a spectacular job in displaying a broken man that looses connection with reality. He brings the reader into the plot and makes him feel Ben’s anguish. You get a real feeling of the results of mental illness and what it can do to a human being.

Ben’s ill mind hears voices out of nowhere and his eyes seem to notice nothing but psychopaths and crazy people walking around him threatening his life. The plot gets even more complicated, to the level that kept me glued to the pages until the very end.

The serial killer is the frightening point of the story that keeps you wondering who he is and when he is going to show up. I was shocked to find that Detective Summer and Kite spent years trying to track down the killer after the astounding number of murders, but they found it very difficult to resolve. The killer never left clues that would help trained detectives to find him. They actually did not know if they had one murderer to track down, or more.

I don’t want to give the story away but it is an amazing book with a thrilling ending. It did remind be a bit of the Zodiac killer. The author introduced very interesting characters that kept you wondering what was going to happen next. He also did a great job keeping the reader in suspense from cover to cover. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes suspenseful plots, complicated stories, murder, and thrill. It was enthralling!!!! show less

***I received a free copy in exchange for a book review***

I liked this 38 chapter book. Samantha (a.k.a. Sam) and Amanda were twins. Michelle was their older sister. When they were younger, Sam died by drowning in an icy lake. Their mom became abusive toward Michelle while their dad avoided everyone due to depression.

I’ll never forgive what the mom allowed to happen to Michelle as a little girl. The mom was definitely my most hated character. The author did a great job with show more characterization–you either loved or hated the people in the story, but you were never bored with them. In a twist, Michelle had a bad childhood but managed to find success as a young adult. Amanda was spoiled as a child. When she turned 16, a destructive path followed her like the plague. I couldn’t even imagine living with guilt of losing a sibling.

There was a lot of headhopping, so some of the dramatic or suspenseful moments were overshadowed by already knowing what all the characters were plotting in the same paragraphs. It took all the tension away. As a reader, I wish there was more dialogue and immediate scenes. There seemed to be a lot of telling what happened by narrative summary.

My favorite lines: 1) When Samantha lost her life in that lake, she took the life of her family with her. 2) ‘She had the right to be angry,’ said Michelle, ‘but to let other people hurt me was too much. Her rejection was punishment enough.’

I RECOMMEND this book to read. show less

Jams and Roses’ FINDING HER FEET is the tale of a disintegrating family. After a horrific tragedy, the group must learn to live their lives in a different way. Some escape while others self-destruct to a tremendous point.

My favorite character in the story is Gordon- the father. He soldiers through thick and thin, even when life is hitting him with its worst.

Full of heartache and woe, this is not a story for the faint of heart. But, my one complaint is that the author chose a very far away show more 3rd person, so I felt pulled back from the story in many places. show less