Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: danger

  • The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat

    The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat

    Now, you would have to ask yourself why would it be a dangerous thing to be Trilby Moffat, a rather intelligent little girl who likes school, loves doing crossword puzzles and is simply trying to cope with a life that has suddenly gone a bit, well for want of a better word, mad.

    Trilby’s room is on fire; yes, really, which is not at all fair as she was having some wonderful dreams at the time when she realized something was badly wrong; like her room was on fire. Not only that but there appeared to be a rather tall man in a top hat there as well who was trying to murder her!

    How could things possibly get worse, but they do indeed. Her mother, like so many others is suffering from the Dream Sickness, which not only makes people go to sleep and perhaps not wake up for many years, but talk in ancient languages, try and create seriously disgusting food to eat and more.

    Her mother comes awake long enough to take Trilby away from their home, via a long train journey, to a town where she meets a tiny little lady called Thumbelina, who lives in the most amazing antique shop ever. She also notices a strange stripped creature who is in the window, whom as it turns out, is a legal expert and narrates the story, or buts in from time to time with sage advice, as extinct Thylacinus are wont to do! He actually considers this book as a LEGAL document!

    The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat turns out to be all about time; time that has become dangerously unstable and needs to be stabilized to undo all the very sad and strange things that have been going on in the world.

    But it is not that simple as the very tall man in the top hat, Mr Collin is out to definitely murder Trilby, who with the help of Xipil and Koji, very special keepers of the secret, have the most dangerous adventure, before they can all set things to rights, which makes you think there is a happy ever after ending, but may not.

    Fabulously intriguing and a completely zany read for that particular age group who love completely mad books, The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat certainly fits nicely into the left of center category. One more thing, each of the chapter titles is a crossword clue for you to try and guess or better still work out the answer. See how you go as you join Tribly Moffat in her definitely dangerous adventure.

  • Devils in Danger

    Devils in Danger

    The idea of writing a children’s novel around the theme of protecting our wildlife is an excellent one. The story by itself is interesting, current, and appealing. Add to that, a Tasmanian Devil and the interest level rises.

    Killarney is a young girl in grade five, who hasn’t been motivated by school learning. One night at home with her parents she hears a terrible scream. She and her mother are shocked and grab a torch to go out and discover who has been injured. They search around the garden until they realise the noise has come from underneath their house. When they shine the torch there, they see a pair of red eyes.

    Later while walking the dog, the young girl meets a woman who seems very serious and reminds her to keep the dog on the lead. As they get talking, Killarney discovers that the woman is a Zoologist who is researching Tasmanian Devils and trying to protect them. The Scientist is very interested in the story of the red eyes under Killarney’s house and asks permission to come and check the animal out.

    The scientific procedures that are carried out are interesting. The fact that the Devil is denning, (preparing to give birth) is very exciting for the whole family. For a young girl who has been rather aimless, Killarney is now a passionate supporter of the Tasmanian Devil project and comes up with creative ways to support the welfare of these Australian animals. She also makes certain that her school becomes aware of their plight. Now she needs to make sure her whole town is informed.

    Devils in Danger from Samantha Wheeler is a truly motivating novel.

  • The Devils You Know

    The Devils You Know

    Vincent has landed what he considers a dream job based in Santa Barbara, working as security for Eugene Lamar. He considers that life driving the supermarket mogul to and from golf can’t be too hard; it will leave him plenty of time to enjoy his love of surfing, loafing around the pool and generally adjusting to life as an ex-marine working in covert operations.

    Life looks good until it does not and Vincent finds himself deep in some serious stuff and that there is, or seems to be, far more to Lamar’s world of business than meets the eye.  Add Lamar’s beautiful daughter, journalist Erin Jones to the mix, and you have another explosive crime fiction novel from Ben Sanders, that demands to be read until the last page.

    Jones is on a book tour to promote her book on the benefits of War and Vincent believes this gives them much in common, at least enough to get to know her as he knows first-hand about war. When things go from bad, to dreadful to downright dangerous, and more becomes known about the moguls empire, Vincent and Erin find themselves in more trouble that either of them though possible.

    Deftly woven once again The Devils You Know expands to cover much of the political spectrum in regard to ‘the games people play’ relating to war and the deadly purpose of crime syndicates to get what they want at all costs.

    Answers are required and in order to find these, Vincent needs to return to his immediate past and utilise all the skills he learned in his former life as covert operations specialist. A delicately poised romance adds a much needed balance to a fast moving, blood chilling plot, focusing once again on the unscrupulous side of human nature, greed and the word of serious, high level, criminal life.

  • Bugs in Danger Our Vanishing Bees, Butterflies, and Beetles

    Bugs in Danger Our Vanishing Bees, Butterflies, and Beetles

    What happens when those pesky bugs, beetles and hardworking bees simply vanish, or become less than before? What difference do they make to the environment and more importantly what overarching effect do they have on the survival of the human race.

    These are questions that have seen much scientific research carried out over recent years, with findings that have to put it mildly, horrified the scientific world, not just on one level or within one speciality, but in the broadest of contexts.

    Scientists have been seriously concerned about the decimation of the bee population on a worldwide basis for many years, and it is not until you look at the a windscreen after a long journey and realise there are not many, if any squashed bugs on it, you then begin to wonder why.

    But move on one step further to the overall effect on the future of the human race, what the serious decline of the little critters of the world is going to have on crops, pollen spreading, and so much more.

    Mark Kurlansky has taken this massive subject and pared it down into words that reach out to a wide range of ages and reading levels, as he presents the facts as they are in plain terms, difficult to dispute and seriously worrying.

    By taking a long hard look at the human cause of such wholesale destruction, with the massive clearing of land, light pollution, chemical use on crops and wanton destruction of habitat world wide, he draws a very sobering conclusion: that if things keep deteriorating as they have done over the past one hundred years and more, life on planet earth is in serious jeopardy.

    He points out so many simple things that can be undertaken by everyone as they go about their daily life to help try and begin to reverse the careless damage done to the environment; things such as watching where you are walking when in the bush, take care not to step on ants and other bugs such as ladybirds, discontinue the use of pesticides and chemicals in the garden, plant to have a bee friendly environment in your garden and yards, regardless of the size.

    Kurlansky also suggests we all take the time to look around what is left of this beautiful planet and make a conscious effort to do better, to enjoy the beauty, to ensure that by looking after the bugs, bees and butterflies that this beauty is there for future generations.

    Bugs in Danger is a must read, should read book, and is a very clear wake-up call to everyone to take action and help save the bugs in your own backyard.

  • The Bombs That Brought Us Together

    The Bombs That Brought Us Together

    Just looking at the cover of this book shows that it is not going to be a comfortable read. The teenage /dystopian genre is very popular, and began by showing young adults how powerful they could be if they stood together and faced up to opposition. The central character in this book, Charlie, has become so used to “The Regime”, night patrols, curfews and random attacks, that he is almost content with his lot. Not so his parents who remember earlier times, with a Library, and shops. Some sexual references and innuendo are used in this story.

     Our story begins with a young boy Charlie, who is curious, and smart, and interested in how the world works. He and his family live in Little Town, which borders Old Country. Little Town has lost its government to a Regime, who bully and harass people. The people know little about Old Country, but recognize the animosity between the two places. Charlie has just met a refugee family, from Old Country, who has moved next door. Pavel, or Pav, a young boy, and his family have come to Little Town to live. Father was a scientist, and mother was a doctor, in Old Country, but here, father may only be a cleaner at the hospital and mother is not allowed to work. Pav has a poor grasp of the language, so Charlie kindly decides to teach him to speak well, to protect him from bullies at school.

     Firstly they need a space to work in and decide to clean out the old shed and make it a meeting place. One of the senior boys at school is always bragging that he can get anything, so Charlie speaks to him. Through this boy Norman, Charlie gets to meet the “Big Man”, or leader of the Regime, who says he will help, but will need Charlie to do him some favours. War with the Old Country is imminent, with bombs dropped on Little Town, destroying the few facilities they had.

    After several meetings with the “Big Man”, Charlie finds himself in an incredible situation.

     He has been ordered to assassinate a soldier. If he doesn’t comply his mother’s supply of inhalers will no longer be available. What a dilemma!  This is where the planning, thinking and cunning save the situation. What a bleak story this is; maybe teenage boys would relate to this story in a more positive way. Watching Charlie mature as he has to deal with issues and problems is rather sad, and at times the story is a little ponderous.

     Comparisons with today’s political situations are slightly relevant, however we really don’t find out why Pav’s family has migrated, except that his sister has been brainwashed. The fact that people live daily in fear of their lives in some places is real; however, individual acts of bravery won’t change much there.

    NOTE: Bloomsbury Publishing is thrilled to announce Brian Conaghan has won the Costa Children’s Book Award 2016 for The Bombs That Brought Us Together.