Walking Away From Midnight Review

 

Writer: Tom Kane

Publisher: Brittle Media

Release Date: May 18, 2024

Kindle ebook: $2.99 (Currently Free on Amazon)

Paperback: $16.99

 

When Jessie Fordham went to Cambridge University, she vowed not to follow in her father’s footsteps. Still, she took the courses he recommended. When she returns to her French home by the Midnight Lake, Jessie intends a short visit before returning to her home country. Will the impending war with Germany dash the British woman's dreams of attending journalism school in England? Let’s grab our kit bags, march into Walking Away From Midnight, and find out!

 

Story

Despite Jessie's plans to attend journalism school in England, the demands of home suck her in. Her father works as the Military Attaché for the British Ambassador in Paris. The woman who replaced her mother in her father's affections works for the French government. Her uncle Nev comes and goes, forcing Jessie to oversee life in the labyrinthine home. While Jessie manages the servants and looks after her younger siblings, she organizes diplomatic functions for her father and oversees his home office while he works in Paris.

 

While some foresee a German Blitzkrieg, the commencement of World War Two becomes a waiting game. Like many countries in Europe, French leaders lack the will to defy Hitler. So, when the Nazi forces march toward Paris, the French government flees to England. Her father’s diplomatic and Intelligence work prevents him from leaving Paris immediately, forcing Jessie to lead her family to safety.

 

While Tom Kane provides glimpses of Jessie’s childhood and her years at Cambridge, Walking Away From Midnight is aptly named. Jessie must wrangle her siblings into a troop that will follow her every command while fighting a battle of wills with her stepmother. She may have decried her father's strict, uncaring attitude while growing up. Yet Jessie realizes the wisdom behind his cold sternness. She vows to protect her family and make him proud. But as she and her family journey across the French countryside to a stretch of beach called Dunkirk, she will discover things about her father she never suspected.

 

Art

Tom Kane brings an epic feel to Walking Away From Midnight, showing world leaders making difficult decisions that will affect millions. He structures his novel with short chapters composed of even shorter scenes. Tom Kane introduces soldiers reluctant to kill others in the name of war, an American journalist who understands racial oppression, and a nurse from the last war who senses how much Jessie's family struggles between their loyalty to each other, their countries, and their ideals. Thanks to Tom Kane for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Amid a historical panorama evoking Ian McEwan’s Atonement, Walking Away From Midnight follows the development of the Enigma Machine, soldiers protecting a country their leaders have abandoned, and a young woman’s determination to protect her family while safeguarding the secrets that could secure her nation’s future.

 

5 Stars

 

Get your free copy of Walking Away From Midnight on Amazon.

 

 

The Demon Detective Agency Review

 

Writer: Tom Kane

Price: $0.99 ebook

Release Date: June 8, 2023

 

May Brubaker rose through the ranks in the LAPD. When her partner died in mysterious circumstances, her fellow officers blamed her. Thankfully, Gary left May some money in his will. Now, May lives in Gary's house, cares for his dog, and runs a computer equipment supply store with tech wiz Phil. Her handyman, Jimmy, is preparing the house for her big weekend. Her long-distance boyfriend is coming to visit. May is thirty years old. She wants to firm up her relationship with Dan. So why is May suddenly thinking of her mother?

 

In The Demon Detective Agency, a ripple through the multiverse weakens a barrier to a forbidden realm. Some claim it doesn't exist. Yet demons dwell there. They rage at the humans who banished them. Now, they can escape the darkness. The demon Polydorus has a mission. Her search for a magical object will turn May's world into a living hell.

 

Tom Kane keeps the action moving thick and fast. He switches the spotlight frequently, so you never get bored. Plot developments keep you guessing. As Polydorus causes bloodshed and chaos, the demon fills May's world with illusions and blood. Oh yes, lots of blood.

 

Tom paints the history surrounding May’s adventures in broad strokes. I’m still not quite sure how all his set pieces fit together. While everything gradually knit together as I read, the bonds unraveled shortly afterward.

 

After reading The Demon Detective Agency several months ago, I recently reread it. Then, I refreshed my mind with the opening chapters and made a few notes. Suddenly, I was 30% into the novel on my third read! The Demon Detective Agency is an infectious read that will tempt you to read it many times. Tom Kane seasons his novel with dinosaurs, a love triangle, many versions of May and Gary, and zombies. So sit down in your favorite chair with some tea and biscuits. Expect some restrained sex scenes and explicit violence and carnage as May battles supernatural forces in Los Angeles and across May’s Multiverse Of Madness. It’s a wild ride!

 

Tom Kane's novel The Demon Detective Agency is available at Amazon and other online retailers.

Discover more fun reads at Tom Kane's website.

The Brittle Sky Review

 

 

In The Brittle Sky, Book 3 in Tom Kane's Brittle Saga Trilogy, Richard Blackmore returns home to discover it no longer exists. While aiding the British Navy during World War I, he had learned that Magda, her daughter Ava, and her ward Kim were living nearby and awaiting his return. Better yet, Maggie—Magda's kind and loving personality—had asserted control. Now he learns his house has burned down, and Maggie, Ava, and Kim have fled without revealing their destination.

 

Magda's brother Peter struggles to make a new life in Germany. The 1918 Flu Pandemic took Peter’s wife and in-laws. Peter brings his son Eric to Munich, where he reunites with a soldier he fought alongside during WWI. His friend Adolf helps him find a job and a new purpose in the social movement he’s forming.

 

Maggie and the girls have settled in Oklahoma. The economic recession following WWI left many unemployed. Maggie and the girls establish a camp on their farm where they house and feed needy families. Jackson Hale--a pilot and former barnstormer--brings his son to live with them. While only 11 years old, Jake's full of ideas. Yearning to become a pilot like his father, he suggests Maggie and Jackson establish a crop-dusting business.

 

Matthew Turner III sold Magda's cannery in Alaska and bought a grand home in Fort Worth, Texas. He travels east to visit his henchman, William Harker, in Hell's Kitchen. In his prime, Harker was a prime example of why the New York City neighborhood needed a crime fighter like Marvel's Daredevil. Now, Harker shows little interest in carrying out Turner’s revenge upon Magda. Still, Turner leaves hopeful. He's discovered something intriguing about Harker's children, Fenella and Phillip.

 

While The Brittle Land covered the entirety of WWI, Tom Kane’s vision expands in this third volume. The Brittle Sky covers an astounding 27 years, from 1918 to 1945. Richard Blackmore’s search for his lost love will prove longer than the miles that separate them. As the years pass, Maggie will struggle to repress Magda from asserting control.

 

New characters arise and mature to make The Brittle Sky a generational saga. Fenella will flee her abusive and bullying father for the safety of Matthew Turner. Peter’s government service makes him an unwilling party in the Holocaust, while Adolf Hitler helps his son Eric pursue an interest in rocketry. Prohibition disrupts lives in the United States. Aircraft development and an oil boom in Oklahoma open up travel opportunities. And all the while, Matthew Turner burns with an unreasoning hatred for the wife who left him.

 

Love blooms, people pursue their dreams, soldiers defend their countries as war once again sweeps across our world, and the vengeful strive to settle old scores in The Brittle Sky, the third volume in Tom Kane’s epic saga. 

 

Thanks to author Tom Kane for providing a copy for review.

Related Links

The Brittle Sky is available at Amazon.com and other fine internet sellers. 

Read my review of The Brittle Sea.

Read my review of The Brittle Land.

Explore the entire trilogy, novels, travelogues, and science fiction stories at Tom Kane's website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Brittle Land Review

 

The Brittle Land Review

Writer: Tom Kane

 

In Tom Kane's novel The Brittle Sea, Richard Blackmore tracked the love of his life to a remote region in Alaska. She shot him for his efforts. Is this the end of Richard and Maggie's story? Let's leap into The Brittle Land, the second novel in Tom Kane's trilogy, and find out!

 

Story

Tears streamed down Magda Asparov’s face. Richard always had a powerful effect on her. Now their short-lived reunion reawakens Maggie, the personality Richard met when he rescued her from an ice floe after the Titanic disaster. Maggie remembers little after being abducted by Matthew Turner's henchman, William Harker. Now Matthew lies unconscious, the victim of a bear attack. Aided by Charlie and his daughter Kim, Maggie takes her daughter and flees the cannery she and Turner operated.

 

Nash Henderson finds Richard's body after it tumbled off the cliff. Miraculously, Richard survived. Unaware that Maggie's consciousness has returned and trying to find Richard, the old sailor returns him to his home in Richmond, Canada. Maggie searches the town of Cordova, finds clues about Richard, and follows. But their reunion will have to wait. World War I has begun. Seeking a purpose to ease his misery, Richard joined the British Navy and left for Europe.

 

In The Brittle Land, Tom Kane takes us back to our world one hundred years ago. Characters fight for honor, greed, or self-advancement. They achieve great things, only to lose all they've achieved. They sail into sea battles, charge across battlefields, and sneak through occupied lands. They are honored by historical luminaries and endure the ignominy of imprisonment. Plot twists and reversals of fortune abound before Kane brings his epic novel to a close.

 

Perhaps Kane foreshadows later events more than necessary. The Brittle Land also takes longer to get started than its predecessor. But like The Brittle Sea, this second novel delivers intriguing characters and thrilling action. Kane explains the historical events surrounding the characters better than in the first book. It's also a longer work, befitting the challenge of covering the entirety of World War I. Yet it remains a tale of ordinary people fighting for what they believe and seeking to accomplish great things, regardless of the obstacles fate hurls their way.

 

Thanks to Tom Kane for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Heroes battle their lesser natures—and the villains who seek to dominate or destroy them—in The Brittle Land: an epic tale of complex characters, intriguing interpersonal dynamics, and war. 

 

Related Links:

The Brittle Land is available at Amazon.com and other fine internet sellers. 

 

If you haven't read the first novel in this series, The Brittle Sea is free on Amazon.com.

 

Explore the entire trilogy, novels, travelogues, and science fiction stories at Tom Kane's website.

 

 

 

 

The Brittle Sea Review

 

Author: Tom Kane

Publication: 2020

Price: Free

 

In Tom Kane’s novel The Brittle Sea, Magda Asparov yearns to reclaim her family's greatness. After her parents sold their ailing cannery, she agreed to marry an American businessman. Who cares if he's older than her? It's her ticket out of poverty!

 

Matthew G. Turner III squandered his family’s wealth. Hemorrhaging businesses and property, he buys successful businesses and strips them of their assets. When Magda’s parents offer him valuable land, he agrees to marry the young woman.

 

Getting in their way is Captain Richard Blackmore. While he rescues Magda from the Titanic, she's lost her memory. He gives her the name Maggie, which she likes. She can't claim she survived the Titanic disaster when she can't remember her name. Turner charges his fixer, William Harker, with finding her. But Maggie—a kind, generous, and loving woman--has fallen in love with Richard.

 

Fate separates Maggie and Richard. Events allow Magda to resurface. Turner and Magda—two psychopaths who don't care who they hurt to get what they want—seem made for each other. Yet Richard refuses to forsake Magda. Unfortunately, William Harker is determined to keep them apart.

 

Rich in drama, The Brittle Sea transports readers across the globe. Author Tom Kane skates across oft-told history while highlighting less-known aspects of early 20^th-century life. His book is free on Amazon, giving readers no excuse to savor this riveting historical thriller.