Paradox by Catherine Coulter is my first experience with her and her novels. While Paradox is the #22 book in the series, I feel like only a little bit of the information within the novel about the character relationships was a little lost.

The novel follows three FBI agents, Dillon Savich, Sherlock, and Sala Porto, and the chief of police of Willicott, Maryland, Ty Christie. It begins with the attempted kidnapping of Savich and Sherlock's young son, Sean, and continues with Ty Christie witnessing a murder from her own lakeside dock.

This novel started out fast, and it kept going for the first few chapters, then it let me down. Like other books I've read, this one gave up who the bad guy was in the first few chapters, leaving nothing for the reader to question. Then another story, or crime, pops up when the body of the first victim is pulled from the lake, and things become a little too intermingled.

I don't think the author should have told us so early who the first killer was. My reason? It was obvious what was happening and what would happen towards the end of the book. There was almost no reason to continue reading. Then at the funeral for this same first victim, it was obvious who the other party to the killer was. The second crime, which was come upon by happenstance, was a lot more interesting than the first, and it took a little longer to figure out what was going on.

There were a few other issues with this novel. There were too many characters, and it got confusing when Savitch was referred to as Dillon, and all of the names began to run together. Then there was the issue of a couple of the characters changing or being obviously someone who the FBI agents and Ty were looking for.

The main killer, or the murderer of the first, and original, victim, gets to be a little repetitive and dull, and I did wish that someone would just end it for him. The killer was whiny and overly reactionary, the plans made didn't make sense, and I was never sure why they were even introduced as the killer. They really didn't seem to have a plan, or reason to do what they were doing. The second crime however, was much more interesting. Also, the second crime was more detailed and the reasoning was more intriguing.

So, while I did enjoy this novel, and there was enough to keep me reading until the end, I don't think I will read any more of this particular series, and I'm not sure I'll read any of Catherine Coulter's books. I just don't think her style of writing is for me, plus I like my thriller/mystery/suspense novels to be a little more suspenseful.

Fellside by M.R. Carey is not The Girl With All The Gifts. It does not take place in the same place. It does not take place in the same world. It is a totally different book.

Fellside follows Jess, a drug addict who has been sent to Fellside prison due to possibly starting a fire in which a kid, Alex, died. Things inside the prison aren't what they seem, and ghosts follow everyone, watching and waiting for an opportunity to set wrongs right. In the end, Jess has a choice to make, she can either end her life, or fight for someone else's truth.

This novel was quite interesting. I know a lot of people didn't care for it because it wasn't a sequel or in the same universe as The Girl With All The Gifts, but people should realize that authors do write book which are unrelated to each other.

Most of the time, while reading this book, I can say I didn't like Jess. I felt that she was too weak and her headspace often annoyed me. She played the victim too much, and she was often overwhelming with her second guessing and poor me attitude. Often, while she said she wasn't feeling sorry for herself, more often than not she was. I wanted Jess to stand up for herself, not wait for someone else to do it, and not wait for someone else to take care of her. She needed to do it for herself. Even at her first and second hearing/trial she didn't feel she needed to stick up for herself. Even when her ex-boyfriend, Josh, is outed as an abusive jerk.

There are several characters were interesting, Liz, an inmate, being one. There are several characters that I didn't particularly care for, but most were added to give the book someone to hate, antagonists to root against. One of those characters was Devil, a guard in the prison. I was never really sure if he was loving or what towards another prisoner, and to be honest, the amount of things he got away with, I was somewhat surprised that he hadn't been stopped or caught before. Grace, another prisoner, annoyed me. Her crimes were never really brought to life, nor were the reasons why she was so high on the totem pole. It was never discussed how she had gained her power. Sally, the doctor in the hospital was pitiful, and I felt his scenes could have been more interesting if he had stood up for himself at one point in the novel. And lastly there was a nurse, who was to back and forth in her feelings towards how she should treat Jess. At one point she was so worried about getting in trouble, she stressed for every scene about if she should tell someone, or that she would be found out.

Mostly, I found the ending interesting. I did see what was coming, and the ending was predictable, unlike Carey's other book, and the reader really knew what was going to happen.

I did like this book, and I'd be willing to read another book by Carey. I enjoyed The Girl With All The Gifts, and I enjoyed Fellside, so I think, depending on what was written, I'd probably enjoy another book by Carey.

The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker follows two characters that many who have read his books might know, Pinhead (the Hell Priest) and Harry D'Amour. Harry is a man on a mission, to stop hell and save lives. He is a private detective who gets dragged into the world of Pinhead, who is referred to throughout the book as the Hell Priest. Harry ends up having to follow Pinhead to hell to save one of his longtime friends, the blind Norma. Pinhead has great aspirations, and goes through the book expounding on his power so he can be the one true ruler, of hell.

When I looked at this book and the reviews I was surprised that several people did not like it. For what it is, I didn't think it was bad at all. In all honesty, I will say it may not be as good as The Hellbound Heart or The Books of Blood, which were all fabulous, but it did have one character that has fascinated me since I read The Hellbound Heart, Pinhead. Throughout this novel Pinhead shows the reality of how evil he really is, or maybe I should say how evil he was created to be. If we take both the novels revolving around Pinhead and the movies into consideration, he wasn't always evil.

In this novel, Pinhead has aspirations to take control over Hell, and for some reason he has chosen Harry to be his reporter. He wants Harry to see everything, and tell the world of what he has done. In the end, Harry and his friends, Caz, Norma, Lana, and Dale, are all drawn into hell to witness the fight between Pinhead and Lucifer, and see who comes out as the victor.

While this may have been unconventional, it doesn't involve several cenobites, just Pinhead and one other, it was an interesting insight into Pinhead, and had a good arc to his story. I feel as if the Pinhead story was finished with this novel, and it satisfied me.

I can't say I know much about Harry's character, but I did enjoy parts of his story and what he did in this novel. I think the more interesting characters were all of the sidekicks. Norma, who could see ghosts, and was blind. Lana, a strong and weak woman at the same time, who did what she needed to, even if it was something she was not looking forward to doing. Dale, a young man who saw the future in his dreams. And Caz, a tattoo artist who gave special tattoos that would warn the wearer of imminent danger.

Several people did not enjoy this book, and I get it. It isn't as suave or as well written as The Hellbound Heart, however, what it gave to Pinhead, the end to his story, was pretty decent, and I enjoyed it. It may not be the best book by Clive Barker, but I did enjoy it, and it kept me interested. I was interested, not only in Pinhead, but also Lucifer (I've been reading a lot of boos about Hell lately, and Lucifer), and the cohorts of Harry. Plus, people can't expect to read the same things over and over, I mean, how many people does Pinhead have to torture to prove how evil he is.

I think you, yeah you out there in internet land, should spend some time and read this. It isn't bad, and it closes some of the stories that Barker has written in a satisfactory manner.