Welcome to Feathered Quill Book Reviews, a place for readers to find their next treasure. Along with reviews of many well-known titles, this site also searches out unique books from small, independent presses.

Feathered Quill Book Reviews prides itself on giving the reader an honest, unbiased critique of each and every book on its website. So slip off your shoes, pour yourself a cup of coffee, explore our pages, and discover many wonderful gems in the world of books.

Spotlight Reviews

The Judas Ride

By: Peggy Sue Yarber
Publisher: Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC
Publication Date: December 2009
ISBN: 978-1607998013
Reviewed by: Will Gabbett
Review Date: February 5, 2010

In Peggy Sue Yarber’s latest novel, The Judas Ride, the lives of several out-of-control teens come to an explosive end that will captivate readers and keep pages turning. Writing about problems that are very real and face many teens today, Yarber doesn’t sugar coat what can happen when a person refuses to take responsibility for their own actions.

Sonia is a self-absorbed teen who is pregnant and is too immature to accept responsibility for her predicament. She hates what the baby growing inside her is doing to her once beautiful, slim body. She also torments the two possible fathers, Xavier and Vader. Xavier is determined to help Sonia and build a respectable life for her and their unborn child. Vader is a far more loathsome individual who abuses Sonia, both physically and verbally. Vader’s younger brother Frankie offers a glimmer of hope, but like the others, he is tormented by secrets from his past. With the exception of Xavier, the only other truly redeeming character in The Judas Ride is Pastor Manny, a Chinese immigrant who believes that he can save the lost teens through a relationship with God.

Vader has a lot of pent up anger and when not taking it out on Sonia by hitting her, he takes it out on others, including Xavier. Assisting Vader is Bugger, a member of the trouble-making gang who is happy to beat up Xavier and leave the young man for dead at Vader’s request.

Like real life, there are no fairytale endings for the characters in The Judas Ride. Without giving the ending away, not all teens in this story are redeemed, nor do they find their way out of a life of despair. This is a hard look at living on the fringes, a place where parents, if they’re even present, are not supportive and are too busy trying to claw out of their own holes of hopelessness.

Billed as a Christian novel, there are numerous references to God and discussions between Pastor Manny and the teens he is trying to save. The youth frequently disparage God, such as when Vader tells Manny, “There is no God, and there’s nothing fair in the world. There’s nothing but pain and heartache…” But Manny doesn’t give up on his flock and several interesting talks about what God can do to help the forlorn teens ensue.

It must be noted that there are numerous typos and grammatical errors in The Judas Ride that hamper the flow of the story - ‘Vader asked questions, and all she has to do was say yes and everything would be fine.’ (pg. 33) Having an editor clean up the text would greatly enhance the reading of this book.

Quill says: A harsh look at teens who struggle with their inner demons.

Buried Alive: The True Story of a Kidnapping, Captivity, and a Dramatic Rescue

By: Roy Hallums
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: January 2010
ISBN: 978-1595551702
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: February 2, 2010

In 2004, Roy Hallums was a contract worker employed by a Saudi Arabian company. His job took him to Baghdad, Iraq, at the height of the US led invasion. Buried Alive is Hallums’ account of being kidnapped and surviving 311 harrowing days of torture, confinement, and terror.

Early one evening, while his co-workers were at a nearby dinner party, Hallums decided to go to his office to get some work finished. Unfortunately, it was at that very moment that a group of thugs raided the compound, searching for money, computers and other equipment. Hallums was not the target of a kidnapping, he simply had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. After a brief shoot-out, the gang made off with a stash of computers, plus Hallums and one other employee, Robert Tarongoy.

The two terrified captives were blindfolded and thrown into separate vehicles for a dangerous ride through the streets of Baghdad. Arriving at a “safe house,” Hallums and Tarongoy were bound, gagged and tossed on a cold floor, their fate unknown.

The hostages were moved frequently and the safe houses they were kept in varied greatly, from one room tool shacks to two-story houses with indoor plumbing. Subjected to repeated beatings and interrogations, the men never knew, from day to day, if they would live or die.

Eventually, Hallums’ captors moved him to a farmhouse out in the country. Hallums and Tarongoy were tossed down a concrete hole underneath the floor of one of the farm buildings. Measuring approximately nine by eleven feet, the enclosure was not tall enough to allow a man to stand. This claustrophobic prison would be where the two men would remain for the duration of their captivity.

Forced to keep their masks on, even in the total darkness, they endured heat, cold, hunger and illness. Other hostages were thrown into the underground prison, and the group developed hand and foot tapping signals to communicate with each other.

Hallums recounts his ordeal in chilling detail. He doesn’t play the hero and never looks for sympathy. Rather, he describes his daily routines, what kept him going, as well as the bizarre and sometimes bungling actions of his captors. At one safe house, while he was praying not to be beheaded, he could hear the guards playing an American video game in which American soldiers were shooting Iraqi insurgents. At another house, the guards liked to watch Tom and Jerry and America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Buried Alive starts out fast and never slows down. Within the first few pages, Hallums is kidnapped and thrown into the getaway car. After a few minutes of reading this book, I truly couldn’t put it down. In fact, I read Buried Alive in one sitting.

Quill says: Buried Alive is the enthralling story of one man’s will to survive. Don’t miss it.

Along the Fortune Trail

By: Harvey Goodman
Publisher: Mill City Press
Publication Date: January 2010
ISBN: 978-1936107414
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: January 30, 2010

Saddle up your horse, pack your saddlebags and get ready to ride down the dusty trail with author Harvey Goodman. Along the Fortune Trail takes the reader along for a good, old-fashioned romp through the old west, replete with cowboys, Indians, and ladies in distress.

Along the Fortune Trail opens with three very unsavory villains who are about to rob a train. The robbery is successful; the gang steals a heap of money, although Lonny, the cruelest of the group, shoots the train's engineer.

We next meet Sammy Winds, an orphan who grew up at the Twin T. ranch, working long days branding cattle, working broncs, and shyly pursuing the beautiful Jenny Simpson. One day while in the local bar, Sammy is confronted by a rather drunk Lonny, who is looking for a fight. And a fight he gets! Sammy emerges as the victor but must spend a significant amount of time recuperating.

Word of Sammy's killing of Lonny spreads fast and soon the railroad's owner offers the young cowboy a $10,000 reward. Once Sammy is better, he embarks on a long, treacherous trip to Denver, where his reward awaits.

Sammy is accompanied on the trip by his good friend Blaine. The days are long and hard and there is plenty of adventure along the way. Early in the journey, the pair stumble upon a cave where three young women are being kept captive by a renegade group of Apaches. Will Sammy and Blaine be able to rescue the women? Stay tuned - it's just the beginning of their adventure through the old West.

The protagonist in Along the Fortune Trail, Sammy Winds, is a very likable character, a young man any mother would be happy to have her daughter marry. In fact, sometimes he's just too darn nice and the reader may question if cowboys were ever as respectful and good-minded as Sammy. Fortunately, it turns out that Sammy isn't quite perfect - he has a few minor faults including a talent for spitting the juices of his chewing tobacco with frightening accuracy.

The author does a very good job of recreating the wild West from days gone by. The landscape, daily activities of both townspeople and ranch hands, as well as the relationship between Sammy and his horse Dobe are all accurately portrayed. There are a few areas where the action slows to a trickle, such as during Sammy's convalescence after his fight with Lonny, but these episodes are fairly brief. The bulk of the story is full of good, old-fashioned shoot-um-up action. A few of the characters' stories are left hanging at the end (what happens to Blaine, Margaret and Claire?), which I hope means there's a sequel in the making. I am looking forward to the further adventures of Sammy as he makes his way back home.

Quill says: If you love westerns, pick up a copy of Along the Fortune Trail and ride along with Sammy - you'll be transported back to the wild West.

For more information on Along the Fortune Trail, please visit the book's website at: AlongTheFortuneTrail.com

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