Monday, October 27, 2014

Review Tour and Giveaway: Shatter Point by Jeff Altabef

Shatter Point

Review:

I have been a fan of murder mysteries for a long time.  I'm currently reading the Kay Scarpetta series, The Women's Murder Club, the King and Maxwell series,and a few others.  Shatter Point is very well written and kept me engaged from start to finish.  Very few authors write stand-alone mysteries, so that in and of itself is note worthy.  It is nice to be able to read a book and not feel like I'm on the hook for the next several years.

The book bounces between a few different stories which converge about two thirds of the way through.  I found this to be a little confusing at first.  Once I worked through the first several chapters, I began to connect with the characters and everything fell into place.

The story is set several years into the future in a country that is clearly divided.  There are the extremely wealthy and the poor.  The government is run by the wealthy, so there is very little advancement opportunity for those who are not part of the elite.  Dr. Beck is one of the few exceptions.  He grew up in an orphanage, but his exceptional test scores earned him the opportunity to attend college.  He is on the verge of creating a cure for Alzheimer's, but the government has alternate plans for his research.

Cooper first met Maggie while his family was vacationing at a resort for the summer.  Her parents worked at the resort, but Cooper took an interest in her.  He quickly became obsessed with her, but she could see past his good looks and charming personality.  He had an explosive temper that she couldn't ignore.

When Maggie disappears her two sons, Jack and Tom, turn to the Fourteenth Colony for help.  This is an underground resistance to the over powering government that has taken over the country.  The organization's goal is to restore democracy and the chance for the American dream.  Tom and Jack quickly discover that their great aunt Jackie and mother have been hiding family secrets since well before they were born.  
    
The link between Dr. Beck, Cooper, Maggie, and the underground resistance was intricately woven throughout the story.  With surprises around every corner, I found this to be a very fast paced story that I simply could not put down.  I would highly recommend this book to any adult who enjoys murder mysteries.  (There is some graphic violence, so this is not for younger readers.)  

I've already added Jeff Altabef's Fourteenth Colony to my to-be-read list.  While Shatter Point is a stand-alone novel, Fourteenth Colony appears to provide the back story.

About the Author:

Jeff AltabefJeff Altabef lives in New York with his wife, two daughters, and Charlie the dog. He spends time volunteering at the writing center in the local community college. After years of being accused of "telling stories," he thought he would make it official. He writes in both the thriller and young adult genres. Fourteenth Colony, a political thriller, is his debut novel. Jeff has a blog designed to encourage writing by those that like telling stories. You can find his blog, The Accidental Writers Workshop, on The Patch. Jeff also rights a column for The Examiner under the byline - The Accidental Writer.



Connect with Jeff on his websiteFacebookTwitter,or GoodReads.

Enter to win Prizes!!!


About the prizes: Who doesn't love prizes? You could win one of two $50 Amazon gift cards or an autographed copy of Shatter Point! Here's what you need to do...
  1. Enter the Rafflecopter contest
  2. Leave a comment on my blog
That's it! One random commenter during this tour will win the first gift card. Visit more blogs for more chances to win--the full list of participating bloggers can be found HERE.

The other two prizes will be given out via Rafflecopter. You can find the contest entry form linked below or on the official Shatter Point tour page via Novel Publicity. Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

6 comments:

  1. Wow! This sounds like an amazing book! Why didn't I sign up for this one

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  2. I think this is going to be a great story. I would love to find it on Audible. I will check to see if it is but if it's not I just want to say to the author, go Audible, please, please add your books to Audible and make them into audio format. Thank you for participating in the giveaway and good luck to everyone.
    Angela

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  3. Thanks for the insightful review. The book will eventually go audible, but that will be next year. I know thrillers are not usual fare for book clubs, but I think Shatter Point would be a great book for discussion. I'm leading a local book club that's using it as an opportunity to bring along some males who tend not to participate. What do you think?

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    Replies
    1. This is definitely a book that will appeal to both males and females. It is fast paced and has several topics that could lead to great discussions.

      The problem with many book clubs is that they select books they think people should read rather than what people want to read. I have yet to find a book club that doesn't select "Oprah or Nicholas Sparks" types of books. One will bore you to tears while the other brings you to tears. That isn't what I enjoy reading in my down time.

      I read primarily young adult and thrillers. If I could find a book club for adults that combined these two genres, I would be ecstatic. Shatter Point is exactly the type of book I would want a book club to select.

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  4. Funny, I just posted my review, and I said something very similar about it being in line with my favorite authors such as Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson! It is a good one!

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  5. Wow awesome review! I am so interested in reading this book! I am definitely going to check it out, thanks!

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