Book One | Tranquil Dreams

Up The Creek (Culver Creek #1)
By: Alissa Grosso

Expected Publication Date: January 12, 2021
Genre: Supernatural Thriller

SYNOPSIS

An unsolved murder. Disturbing dreams. A missing child.

Caitlin Walker hasn’t had a dream in nine years. But now nightmares torture her son Adam and awaken in Caitlin buried memories and a dark secret. Her husband Lance has a secret of his own, one that his son’s nightmares threaten to reveal.

In Culver Creek newly hired detective Sage Dorian works to unravel the small town’s notorious cold case, the grisly murder of a young girl.

How are Caitlin and Lance connected to the horrific crime? And how far will they go to make sure their secrets stay hidden? Find out in this riveting thriller.

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REVIEW

Being the first book for an upcoming series, Up the Creek sets a good foundation. Up The Creek is well-paced and executes the story back and forth between its characters. In this case, it involves 3 main characters: Caitlin Walker, her husband Lance Walker and the new detective in Culver Creek Sage Dorian, who has been hired to take a look at the cold case. As a thriller, it also is executed quite well to slowly give the reveal of what is the secret with Caitlin and Lance that links them to the disappearance of their child and the cold case. It also sets up the story so that the finale delivers a question that makes you think whether all this could have been avoided if one person’s decision had been different and whether some secrets are best exposed.

One of the best elements of Up The Creek is the character design/development. The three characters each have their own connection to the past that brings up some flashbacks and through various conversations with the new situation that comes up reveals their secrets little by little. With that said, the characters are fairly complexed and suitably so for a thriller. Caitlin’s secret is probably the easiest to piece together: the reason that she takes medication for her dreams and the quick reveal of her tendency for nightmares pieces together easily to see her deal. However, this ends up connecting to her young son Adam that eventually goes missing and no one truly knows who took him and what happened. Lance Walker is probably the character with the most secrets from what seems like every day habits to slowly see that he has a much stronger connection to the case. His character is actually rather fascinating as he unveils and everything comes into place. That leaves Sage Dorian which probably starts to feel like the balance for his part is a little smaller however he is a key part as he pulls the cold case with the new missing child case together. At a certain point at the end, it is fairly clear how it all pieces together however, there isn’t an issue for this character to draw the conclusions clearly. As a side note, while this isn’t mentioned but there seems to be one connection that probably will come into play at the end in future books as it may connect to Sage Dorian that wasn’t addressed.

As a first book of a series, Up The Creek leaves a lot to look forward to for future books set in Culver Creek. Already by the end, there still is the issue of Sage Dorian’s own family mystery that hasn’t been addressed yet and only mentioned that gives his character some foundation. Writing good thrillers are very difficult and something that I mention quite a bit. Up The Creek does a great job to make it both gripping and thrilling to watch from beginning to end with decent pacing and execution. Up The Creek is a great thriller and well worth a read.

Score: 4.5/5

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alissa Grosso is the author of several books for adults and teens. Originally from New Jersey, she now resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about her and her books at AlissaGrosso.com.

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THE COLLECTION OF THE NEGATIVES
(BLOOD RISING BOOK #1)

BY: VIOLET ST. KARL

Publication Date: January 11, 2019

Genre: Sci-fi/New Adult

SYNOPSIS

In a world with skyrocketing inflation and unemployment, blood has become the new commodity, and the rarer your blood type, the more it’s worth.

After losing her job and watching her savings dwindle, Liri is persuaded by a resourceful friend to sell her blood to ABO Blood Group, where she learns she is O Negative, the most valuable and sought after blood.

Unable to afford living in New York City, Liri reluctantly decides to move back home and live with her parents, but her plan is interrupted when a virus is maliciously unleashed onto the island of Manhattan, resulting in a citywide quarantine. Before being able to devise an alternative plan, she is secretly informed of a covert mission by ABO to evacuate Negatives out of NYC. Although reluctant to trust them, it’s her only viable choice to stay alive, but unbeknown to Liri, she and the Negatives are vital to activating opposing agendas on Earth and beyond.

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REVIEW

The Collection of the Negatives is the first book in the Blood Rising series by Violet St. Karl. As a first book in a series, one of the main concepts to build up the foundation of the characters and the scenario at hand. On that level, it does a great job. The world here is reminiscent of futuristic worlds where the world has been technologically advanced and yet when the apocalypse arrives, only selected people are chosen to escape to hopefully find a way to survive and keep the humankind going on and in this premise, it is specially selected for those with negative blood types. It is a creative angle for the foundation of the story and where the key sci-fi elements are and where the story is the most strong. The new adult elements particularly the romance bits here were a bit over despite the fact that they used that angle to give the story its turning point and unravel some of the mystery as well. However, it felt like it could have been executed better.

One of the strengths of the novel is the characters. While there are some flaws further down in the novel specifically with the main character, the basis of the characters have a good balance and distinct characteristics that help give them their own edge and place in the story as a whole. Plus, there is a good basis of building up different relationships especially friendships and alliances. As I mentioned before, the romantic part is the bit that I think wasn’t done quite as well but it also has to do with the fact that its part of the “new adult” genre style which I’m not a big fan of but that is a more personal preference. Its just by the last act, there is something about it that binds together a lot of weird shift in events but then it is a good way to set up for the next book.

Overall, The Collection of the Negatives is a decent way to start up a series. It sets up its characters well enough. There are some flaws and some little execution issues but it delivers on the suspense and the sci-fi elements are very strong and also has a lot of good ideas even if its a little weird.

Goodreads: 3 out of 5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Violet St. Karl’s love affair with science fiction and fantasy began at the tender age of four when she first saw Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, but nearly three decades passed before she started transferring the stories in her head onto the computer screen. Unbeknownst to Violet at the time of signing her lease, her Upper West Side apartment was the former site of Edgar Allen Poe’s old farmhouse, where he completed writing the Raven. However, she didn’t begin writing until receiving another sign from the universe a year later. While spending extensive time in Barcelona, she learned her flat once belonged to Mercè Rodoreda i Gurguí, a famous Catalan writer, an indication that living in the former residences of famous dead authors was no coincidence, but a sign to start writing.

After over a decade in New York, Violet recently returned to her roots in the Detroit area where is an advocate and proud Ambassador of the Authors Guild. When not writing or focused on strengthening the local literary community, she is planning which country to explore next.

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