TopShelf Magazine April 2017 | Page 17

a bridge across the ocean reviews as he races to find the perpetrators of an attack launched in a school before the entire United States ends up “ A BRIDGE ACROSS THE OCEAN HISTORICAL FICTION AT ITS VERY BEST! AVAILABLE NOW During World War II, the luxury ocean liner Queen Mary was commandeered for transporting troops, and in 1946 it became the vessel carrying European war brides across the ocean to their American G. I. husbands in the U.S. Among those brides are Annaliese Kurtz and Simone Robinson. One is a Susan Meissner German ballerina traveling under an assumed identity, and one is the daughter and sister of French Résistance fighters. Each seeks to leave the horrors of the war years behind and start a new life. Today, Brette Caslake is a young woman struggling with the effects of having “the Sight,” an inherited ability to see and communicate with the ghosts of people caught between this world and the next. It’s a gift she prefers to downplay and ignore but cannot always control. When prevailed upon by an old friend to help his young daughter cope with the recent death of her mother, Brette visits the Queen Mary, now docked in Los Angeles as a floating hotel and tourist www.TopShelfMagazine.net besieged kept me reading when I should have be doing other things––like sleeping. ” attraction. The ocean liner has a history of ghost sightings, and the child felt her mother’s presence there. But when Brette visits, the presence she feels is that of another who connects with her and wants her to solve the decades-old death of a war bride while traveling on the Queen Mary in 1946. This fascinating tale kept me reading when I should have been doing other things––like sleeping. The fate of each character became important to me. The very intense stories of Annaliese and Simone during World War II were vividly portrayed, providing a level of depth and understanding that made the conclusion completely believable. Brette’s fears and concerns and how they are resolved send a strong message about our need to do something meaningful with what life gives us rather than striving to control that which we cannot. ~Rosemary Fifield, TopShelf Reviews REVIEWS hostage to the whims of whack jobs. The set-up is pure gold and only platinum follows from there as Mahegan traces a serpentine path to the truth that winds through his own past as well. Military types are no stranger to the page. But the likes of Anthony Tata are now lending readers not only their expertise but also their mastery as storytellers. Besieged serves up pitch-perfect plotting sharply seasoned by actual experience, propelling Tata to a literary station that matches his military rank. PITCH-PERFECT PLOTTING SEASONED WITH EXPERIENCE! AVAILABLE NOW Speaking of putting his military experience to good use, retired Brigadier General Anthony Tata goes where few thriller writers dare to go in the bracing Besieged, imagining a series of terrorist attacks against so- called soft targets. This stunner of a tale pits series hero Jake Mahegan, formerly of Delta Force, against enemies from both A .J. Tata abroad and at home ~Jon Land, TopShelf Reviews TOPShelf magazine APRIL2017 17