It has been a long while since Detective Isis Williams’ last confrontation with Stacey McHill, one-half of the serial killer twins. Williams has failed to apprehend the teenaged serial killer and is now faced with embarrassment among her colleagues and severe depression.
While Williams and Toni are assigned to desk duty by their new captain, babies are being snatched in broad daylight throughout New York City and replaced with lifelike dolls. Detective Williams has succumbed to paranoia and to top it off, her great-niece is abducted. Can she save herself, as well as her niece? Well, you’ll just have to pick up the conclusion to The Twins trilogy to find out.
I.Williams was tightly written, fast paced and very intriguing. The ending is both a twist but at the same time inevitable. The storyline is intense, dark and I couldn’t put it down. If you haven’t read the previous books in the series, do so before picking up this one. This way, you’ll have a feel of why Williams’ emotions are running amok in I. Williams. After reading all three of this series, I have to say the third is my favorite.
Summary:If you have to kill one, kill the other also.” These were the words that the renown psychologist, Dr. Susan Patterson had reluctantly had spoken to Dt. Isis Williams. Their topic of discussion: 16-year-old Stacey and Jannifer McHill, The Twins.
A few weeks after Detective Isis Williams and her partner and lover Annette Toni horrific confrontation with the twins– where Dt. Williams was forced to shoot and kill Jannifer McHill–Stacey McHill was sent to a new facility for the criminally insane. Dt. Isis Williams could not bring herself to pull the trigger on the remaining twin. “If you have to kill one, kill the other also.” In the meantime, a sadistic rapist/murderer is on the prowl in Harlem, his targets: middle age women. While Williams and Toni are hot on the rapist trail, Stacey McHill escapes while being treated by her psychologist, Dr. Susan Patterson. Now Detective Isis Williams will come to regret the day she did not take heed to Dr. Patterson’s warning:” If you have to kill one, kill the other also.
Review:Stacey: The Twin is the second book in R.G. Miller’s psychological thriller trilogy. Like its previous counterpart, it starts the ground running with its grotesque scenes and doesn’t let go.
Just under a year after the manhunt for two sadistic teenage serial killers ended, Detective Isis Williams is back, hunting for a brutal rapist and murderer. We are briefly reminded of the past events that took place, and the current fate of Stacey McHill, the only living twin serial killer.
Like the first book, the characters were often referred to by their whole name, which takes me away from reading. There were a lot of misspells or wrong word use throughout the novel, as well as telling rather than showing. However, the scenes were put together much better than the previous, although at times there weren’t breaks between point-of-views, which forced me to reread the paragraph a few times to grasp the difference between the scene changes.
At first, it seemed as though Detective Williams mellowed out from when we are first introduced to her in the first novel. Then at times her moods begin to fluctuate, making it appear to me as though she is bipolar. There was a brief scene when even her partner and lover questions Williams’ morals.
In this book, a lot of psychopaths did, or hinted at doing, psychotic deeds, which made me confused as to who was doing what. And, while the book was titled Stacey: The Twin, it took half the script to delve into the latest story of Stacey McHill, but we do end up finding that everything intertwines together, leading to a climatic ending.
Stacey: The Twins was written with a better effort than its predecessor. If you don’t like novels laced with foul language or you don’t like gruesome scenes, I’d steer clear. However, if you can look past them, then you may truly enjoy this series.
Overall Rate: 3.5 out of 5 stars
About R.G. Miller
“R.G.Miller, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He’s an avid reader. His favorite subject is Abnormal Psychology. He enjoys classic R&B and Rock. He’s the grandfather of three, and he enjoys picking up a mike and singing a tune or two.
R.G.Miller spent three years working on his trilogy.”If you’re a fan of CSI, Criminal Minds, or Law and Order, The Twins: A Psychological suspense thriller is the book for you.”
The Twins: A Psychological Thriller is R.G.Miller’s first novel.”
A Gritty Suspense Thriller about innocence lost and darkness gained…What if two thirteen-year-old sisters, who were identical twins; sisters who’d came from an affluent family; twin sisters whose parents had shielded them from all the ugliness of the world; identical twins who’d shared that unique twin consciousness, were suddenly forced to watch the unthinkable: the torture and murder of their parents? What if three years later, these identical twin sisters go on an unrelenting quest for vengeance?This was the fate of 13-year-old Stacey and Jannifer McHill, identical twins who’d survived a living nightmare, but in doing so…they’ve become a living nightmare.
On their 13th birthday, identical twins Stacey and Jannifer McHill had to witness the worse thing imaginable: the brutal murder of their parents. Stepping into the shoes of the twins, it leaves you haunted by the end of the first chapter. As the story progresses three years later, we find that Detective Isis Williams, who is battling a serious anger problem, is hunting the twins who are on a murderous rampage. This is a story where we already know who did it. We just need to figure out the motive behind the heinous deeds.
The narrative tone throughout the story doesn’t seem as dark as it should be based on the story. The tone leaves one with the feel of a story intended for a slightly younger reader in spite of the sex, language and crime scenes. The twin girls, in the beginning, appear to be younger than 13, but I’m able to look past the youthfulness because on their birthday, they should be excited and happy.
However, according to the book’s description, the twin’s lives have always been perfect. Without reading the blurb, I see the twins as just being normally happy, and at the most, eight years old, rather than 13. We don’t know until near the end that the twins were shielded from a painful life.
When we meet Detective Williams, we find that she is a brutally angry woman. We even see her fighting a rookie in her first scene, which seems odd for a woman in her rank in a real world setting. I did enjoy the brief banter she and her new partner exchanged when they first met. And as Detective Williams progresses, her brutal anger turns to dedication of finding the killers.
My main issue with the story is that there were very few breaks in the scenes, if any. It could be the twin’s perspective, then Detective Williams, then someone else in one paragraph. This caused me to reread the scenes a few times to grasp which scene I should be focusing on at which time. Especially since the switches were so quick in the paragraph. There were also some editing errors that threw me off.
We quickly see how brutal, how dark, how gritty the crimes are. The crime scenes bring me to mind of CSI, or even Saw. That being said, a few word changes here and there would have made the narrative more intense. There was a lot of telling, rather than showing.
As someone who has been obsessed as of late reading literature about serial killings, and has always loved reading about identical twins, I thought the idea of this book was stellar. A little cleaning up, it would be that. If you enjoy movies like Saw, then you’ll probably want to give R.G. Miller’s debut novel, “The Twins” a try.
Overall Rate: 3 out of 5 stars
About R.G. Miller
“R.G.Miller, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He’s an avid reader. His favorite subject is Abnormal Psychology. He enjoys classic R&B and Rock. He’s the grandfather of three, and he enjoys picking up a mike and singing a tune or two.
R.G.Miller spent three years working on his trilogy.”If you’re a fan of CSI, Criminal Minds, or Law and Order, The Twins: A Psychological suspense thriller is the book for you.”
The Twins: A Psychological Thriller is R.G.Miller’s first novel.”
Although I bring you a book review, because the circumstances are a bit special (I’ve translated the book to English and therefore these are my impressions of the book in Spanish, rather than a rigorous review of the book in English) I decided not to follow the usual format, because I’m somewhat involved in the process. But I wanted to bring you the book, because we’ve had the writer as a guest before, and because I’m very excited about this project. I also leave you some information about where to contact me if you’re interested in translating your work to Spanish.
But first:
Shiny Bones by Enrique Laso. Translation Olga Núñez Miret
Shiny Bones by Enrique Laso. Translation Olga Núñez Miret
A NEW ETHAN BUSH NOVEL
The FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit special agent Ethan Bush must investigate a serial killer in Nebraska… A GRIPPING HEART-STOPPING THRILLER The monster lives in each one of us. We are beasts that have learned, over the centuries, to control ourselves, to restrain our basic instincts and live peacefully in society. We are, after all, fully domesticated and well-trained beasts.
Only on rare occasions, the wild animal that hides deep in our entrails goes on a rampage, giving rise to an insane nightmare… If you enjoyed novels like ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ or TV series as ‘Criminal Minds’ or ‘True Detective’… this is the story that you have been waiting for. FROM THE NOVEL:
The county police had cordoned off the zone less than an hour after the boys’ find. A pathologist established that the remains were human, although a large part of the skeleton was missing. In fact, what was missing was what would have been most helpful in the task of identifying the body: the cranium.
“Do you have any clues as to how long have those bones been here?” the sheriff asked, perplexed. His head was full of the terror that he knew would grab hold of his entire community just a few hours later.
“Not long. And one of the boys has told us that he comes for walks in this area often and they weren’t here a few days ago.”
“But this stiff croaked some years ago, don’t you think?” asked the sheriff, pointing at what looked like a tibia. Never in his life had he seen such a thing, and it perturbed him.
The pathologist looked at the grayish sky, where clouds were growing and thickening threatening to release a good downpour. But that storm would only be a child’s game in comparison with what was hanging over the county where he lived.
“I don’t know,” he replied, laconic.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” asked the sheriff, who felt he’d got a completely senseless answer. These were the remains of a skeleton; therefore one didn’t need to be an eminence in medicine to deduct that the guy, no matter who the hell he or she was, would have stopped breathing a very long time ago.
“These bones have been thoroughly cleaned. They have been manipulated. Without studying them in detail, right now I can’t tell you if the owner died yesterday or over ten years ago.”
THE BLUE CRIMES review on Amazon: ‘And so proceeds Enrique’s THE BLUE CRIMES and the manner in which he places Ethan Bush and team in the resolution of crime is tense, suspenseful, and at all times involving. This is quality mystery writing by a voice new to most of us – a welcome addition to the thriller genre’ Grady Harp, TOP-100 Reviewer/ Hall of Fame/ Vine Voice
Shiny Bones by Enrique Laso. The second Ethan Bush novel. Translation Olga Núñez Miret. You don’t need to be weird to solve the case, but it helps.
As I had mentioned when I read the first novel in this series, thrillers that purport to follow the investigation of complex crimes usually have two fundamental elements that go almost hand in hand: the crimes and the investigation (which allow the readers to put their wits to the test), and the investigators, individuals or teams, and less often, the criminals.
It is true that if the crimes are highly intriguing or very strange the book might be interesting even when those doing the investigating aren’t gripping individuals. On the other hand, there are times when the personality and the adventures of those doing the detecting are more interesting than the crimes themselves (as is the case in many ‘cozy mysteries’ like many of Agatha Christie’s novels). The best novels of the genre manage to achieve a balance between the two.
Shiny Bones has a bit of everything. The case is extremely convoluted and twisted, clearly the work of a complex and traumatised mind (and no, I’m not taking about the writer), but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to solve, quite the opposite.
And we also have Ethan Bush, an FBI psychologist who comes back, as arrogant, intelligent and annoying as before (in The Blue Crimes). The mature Etan Bush of years later offers us his comments and reflections, not only about the case (where he keeps many things quiet, of course), but also about his own actions, therefore acting as an ersatz reader (or perhaps more accurately, author).
This time Ethan doesn’t have his team at his disposal (that in fact is not “his” team, as his boss keeps reminding him throughout the novel), and he’s obliged to work with the Nebraska State Patrol, the local force, and has to try and reach a compromise with them, although that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try to use all the tricks in the book to get his own way. His intelligence, his skill manipulating people, and even his feelings are put to the test in this case that’s a big challenge for him.
To those of you who enjoy solving the cases whilst you read the novel, I’m afraid I have to tell you that, although you’ll have many suspects, you won’t be able to guess who did it. Even with that it will make you think and question many things.
Personally I am eager to go back to Kansas to discover who murdered Sharon Nichols, a case that’s central to The Blue Crimes but never solved, and I’m waiting anxiously the arrival of Las libélulas azules (The blue dragonflies).
As I mention above I’m happy to disclose that I’ve translated the novel. The book has also undergone professional editing/proof-reading. Due to this circumstance I haven’t shared this review in selling channels, although the original is a review of the Spanish novel, rather than of my own efforts in translation.
Just in case you’d like to know more, I interviewed Enrique for Lit World Interviews, here and I reviewed his first novel in the series The Blue Crimes, here.
Ah, if you think you’d like to know more about getting you books translated, in this page I talk about it (I talk about other things too but, keep reading…). And if you want to see examples of books I’ve translated, you can check here.
Thanks very much to Enrique for this opportunity, thanks to you all for reading, and remember it’s good to like, comment, share, and feel free to click too.
You might remember that a while back I shared an interview with Spanish author Enrique Laso (check here) where we talked, among other things, about his novel The Blue Crimes. Today I wanted to share with you my review, and let you know that I’ll be translating the second novel in the series, so I’ll keep you posted. And if any of you are interested in translations to Spanish, feel free to get in touch with me. And now, the review.
The Blue Crimes by Enrique Laso
Title: The Blue Crimes Author: Enrique Laso ASIN: B00UQV3BYA Published: 21st March 2015 Pages: 308 Genre: Mystery, Thrillers and Suspense, Police Procedurals
The Blue Crimes by Enrique Laso. An intriguing case and an even more intriguing investigator.
The Blue Crimes is the first book in Enrique Laso’s collection of Ethan Bush Thrillers. Ethan Bush is a young FBI agent, one of the most promising, top of his Psychology class at Stanford and self-assured, or so he seems. He arrives to Jefferson County fresh from solving a serial murder case in Detroit and expectations are running high.
The story is told in first person from the point of view of Bush, and that is one of the most interesting aspects of the novel. If the actual procedural investigation, the process of solving the murders of two young girls that are very similar in details to a murder committed 17 years ago is gripping (and I particularly enjoyed the setting in small town America, with the prejudices and the difficulty understanding and fitting into the mentality of the place that it brings to the big city investigators), I found the insight into Ethan Bush’s mind even more interesting. Why?
Well, he is an intelligent man. He knows it and he’s reminded of that by quite a few of the characters he comes into contact with (sometimes in great contrast with some of the witnesses they come across). His intelligence does not always help him, though. Characters who are far less intelligent than him (the sheriff, local investigators, even his mother…) contribute greatly to the success of his mission. He acknowledges and admires the morality of some people (Jim Worth, a solid character that would make his perfect side-kick and foil, and I hope we’ll come across him again in the series), but he’s not squeaky-clean and has no qualms crossing the line of the ethically correct when he thinks it’s necessary to solve a case (not strictly for his own benefit). He has weaknesses that include his irresistible attraction to Vera, one of the witnesses, but also a suspect. He is somewhat obsessive in his methodology and has to be in control of everything, to the point of preferring keeping handwritten notebooks (in Moleskin, that become his trademark) as he does not like to be dependent on technology that could let him down. And during the book, he becomes as obsessed with running as he is with everything else, to the point of putting off the questioning of suspects to not disturb his running schedule. Running means more to him than the simple exercise, but we only become aware of this later on. (By the way, I am aware that the author is a runner himself and he has written non-fiction books about it so this would add to the interest for those who are keen runners.) Despite Ethan’s constant analysing everything and thinking non-stop (to the point of getting severe headaches although they could well be psychosomatic), he is not the most self-aware of characters, and keeps missing clues and hiding stuff because of his own unresolved issues. But those issues are what make him fascinating.
Ethan Bush is not the most likeable hero and has many flaws, and that is a plus for me. He is a man searching for explanations, about the case and about himself. And he never gives up. He’ll go as far as he has to, whatever that might cost him.
I’m not sure how challenging you’ll find the book if you’re one of these people whose main enjoyment is working out who the guilty party is (I did guess who it was early on, but I kept wondering if I was right) but if you enjoy complex characters, a solid story and interesting dynamics, I think this series could keep us guessing for a long time.
Ratings: Realistic Characterization: 4/5 Made Me Think: 4/5 Overall enjoyment: 4.5/5 Readability: 5/5 Recommended: 4.5/5 Overall Rating: 4.5/5
As you know, recently I’ve been bringing you interviews with some writers who publish mainly in Spanish, but who’ve had some of their books translated to English (and in some cases many other languages) as a way of sharing their journey and their experiences with you. Today I’m very pleased to bring one of the first Spanish authors I came into contact with a few years back. Frank is generous to a fault, always happy to help others, and as you’ll see, modest and very honest about his career and his creative process.
Author Frank Spoiler
Frank Spoiler (real name: Francisco Javier Sánchez Mira) is a poetry writer born in Badajoz, Spain, in 1961. His parents moved to Catalonia in 1973. His father was a bricklayer and his mother a housewife. He started writing in his teens, thanks to one of his brother’s enthusiasm (he’s a great admirer of poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, a romantic poet from Sevilla). He has published ten books so far: “Sucede a diario: micros de terror urbano,” “Puntas de lanza al corazón, poemas directos al alma”, “El Celador de tus Poemas”, “Poesías desde las entrañas,” “Soy un asesino… sin serie,” “Alas rotas, el muchacho que perdió su sonrisa,” “Poemas: Del amor, el dolor y otras pasiones,” “Irrealidades a doble espacio”, Buscando la luz. Poemas al alba, con alma” y “La marca de un iluso de la pluma: antología de relatos”. He has also published a book of fairy tales “Cuentos con sabor a chocolate” (PG) in collaboration with nineteen great writers. All his books have been published in digital and paperback versions. He has also collaborated in a number of anthologies, both of short-stories and poetry. Those include:
Diversidad literaria–
“Inspiraciones nocturnas”.
I concurso de microrrelatos nocturnos
I Concurso de microrrelatos de terror “Microterrores”
Versos desde el corazón I
I Concurso de microrrelatos épicos “Breves heroicidades”
and
I Concurso de microrrelatos solidarios diversidad literaria “Asociación Isekin” En ArtGerust
III Concurso de Terror ArtGerust
With the micros: “Almas inocentes”, “una muñeca rota” y “me nace de dentro”
Poemas. Homenaje a Pablo Neruda
agosto 25, 2014
and with Libros Mablaz
“III antología poética de libros Mablaz”, “POEMAS DE AMOR”
II Premio de Relatos, titulado
“Gritos contra la
violencia de género”
And also in Fans de Bad One “Los hijos de Allan Poe”.
All of them in 2014
How and when did you start writing?
I started writing when I was eleven or twelve, mainly poetry, because I saw my brother write. After writing his poems, he would read them to me, and that made me want to try to imitate him and follow his example. I also started reading the classics, like Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Antonio Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez, among poets, and also fiction writers like Gabriel García Márquez, Jules Verne or John Le Carré (to give some examples).
Could you describe your experience as an independent writer?
It is both a very gratifying and also a very difficult experience. In my case it’s necessary to understand that my difficulty is multiplied by two or perhaps three, as I don’t have much formal education, and the little I’ve learned has been through hard work and spending many hours in front of a computer screen, making mistakes and learning precisely from those mistakes. It’s true though, that the results are excellent. I’m improving and learning a lot.
What’s the moment that you remember more fondly from your experience (up to now) as a writer?
The moment I saw my first book of poems (“Poemas para componer una vida” [Poems to Compose a Life] was its title) published in Amazon and when a few days later I had it in my hands. That fabulous sensation of finally truly believing in yourself as a writer because you have self-published your first book, it’s something you never forget.
What made you decide to have your work translated? And how did you go about finding a translator?
It was a writer friend of mine, Roberto López Herrero, who sent me a message letting me know that through the platform Babelcube.com he had found a translator for his book. He convinced me and I took his advice, I uploaded (following the instructions) some chapters of my novel “Soy un asesino… sin serie”, I added the data they required, the chosen language for the translation and voilà, six months later I got an offer from Rafael (the translator).
Tell us something about your book
Mi novel is the result of my experience as a carer for an elderly lady suffering from Alzheimer, my mother. I looked after her for three years… It was very hard, her heart-wrenching screams and her crying had me disturbed and anguished, although the doctors insisted it was normal, that patients suffering from Alzheimer sometimes might shout and cry, whilst others might laugh or sing. The fact was that I never got over it… (at night I have nightmares and I feel guilty still, thinking that I should have done more to improve her quality of life those last few years, but that’s another story). The desperation (or frustration) was what made me fantasize about an atypical murderer, a killer…that despite killing many cannot be classed as ‘serial’ because he’s such a ‘weirdo’
Andy advice for you fellow writers?
Oh no, no, never. Each person should try and live according to his or her own experience and learn for the successes and mistakes in his own personal way.
And the book:
I am (not) a serial killer by Frank Spoiler
I’m (not) a serial killer Frank Spoiler (Author), Rafael E. Martínez (Translator)
A twisted tale of murderous imagination.
Gabriel is a killer, but not the kind you’re familiar with. His story is one of unfathomable cruelty and senseless logic.
The story behind the book, as you’ve read, is fascinating, and Frank shared the book (the Spanish version) in Wattpad, with great success. Gabriel is a great character and the story has a very interesting twist. The book has just been published, so there are no reviews in English yet, but I thought I’d translate one of the five star reviews for you, to give you some idea.
‘I had the pleasure of reading it as it was being created. It is a book that gets you hooked from the beginning: the idea of seeing the events from the point of view of the murderer, that character between conceited and arrogant, the way he narrates, without any regrets, his activities, to the point of causing you revulsion at some points, and the twist at the end, suggesting that the murderer rather than being in control might have been just responding to events that go beyond his imagining…everything makes this a novel that you can’t stop reading once you’ve started, and you’ll read in one go until the end.’
![I. Williams: A Psychological Thriller (The Twins Book 3) by [R.G. Miller]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51QRSS2ySKL._SY346_.jpg)
Thriller)
Lit World Interviews 