This just popped up in my Google alerts today--
"Pepper Smith’s
Blood Money has its eerie and haunting moments,
startling moments and even some thrills, but it is most characterized by its vastly unpredictable plot.
Ms. Smith takes a chance and
makes the offbeat work (a thief in the house for a week?) and even seem normal. Although this kicks off with a bit of a scary start, it moves into solving a puzzle; then tension mounts as it becomes a treasure hunt. A further danger lurks out there, with no forewarning at all. This story is beyond unpredictable and from page one, it is completely engaging.
From the chill in the air to the hair-raising sense of an intruder
lurking, Patty, our main character, is in the thick of it. For a work rich in characterization (the author even manages to perfectly reveal one of the stable boy’s character in a spare couple of sentences) Patty is a standout. She’s competent and clever, and we can’t help rooting for her all the way through. Secondary characters abound, but they are clearly written and completely believable. Miles, the instigator for the whole series of adventures, is also just a teenager and at moments so typical! There is more than one antagonist, the one prima donna in the mix, others more dangerous. I would say you must read
Blood Money for its depth of characters… but then, the descriptions are believe-you-are-there quality.
Scent, background noise, and other descriptions always contribute to the
aura of any particular passage. The descriptions are thorough and detailed and in no rush. Some might complain that they slow the action and yet they suit the style of this particular story. There are moments of intense action, then things slow. We are able to savor the place, the view… to sense it really, far more so than in many of today’s novels."
The reviewer gave the novel a rating of 5 Books, which is their next to highest rating. The rest of the review is
here.
Blood Money is available at
Amazon,
Smashwords, and
a number of other online retailers around the world, in case your interest is piqued.
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