Red Moon Rising by JT Brannan

review by Maryom

Once a high-powered New York Assistant DA, Jessica Hudson's career came to an end when she was hit by a would-be-assassin's bullet. After months in a coma, she's trying to build a new life, almost as far away as she can get, in the wilds of Alaska. Then late one night a naked, battered girl staggers up to Jessica's door, and her refuge becomes the centre of a murder investigation, with police and on-lookers swarming about ... until Jessica wakes next morning and finds no traces of the previous evening's events. Has she really jumped in time while she slept? woken BEFORE the girl was abducted and tortured? if so, is there a way she can prevent the crime happening? 

It's a bit difficult to know how to describe Red Moon Rising  - is it time travel? psychological thriller? murder mystery? It's probably best to say 'a bit of all',  but it's definitely a story that had me hooked as, along with main character Jessica, I tried to find out exactly WHAT was happening. 
I don't normally read/review self-published books, but I've read JT Brannan's previous novels - Origin and Extinction - published through Headline, and enjoyed both of them (and the Mole has also read Brannan's self-published Stop At Nothing), so I was happy to read Red Moon Rising when approached by the author.  
As I say, the story's a mix of crime thriller and time travel, with Jessica moving backwards and forwards trying to prevent the murder of a teenage girl, while coping with her own personal demons. Obviously things don't go as simply as nipping back a day or so and altering the course of events, but the author's thought through the advantages and drawbacks to travelling through time, knowing what will happen before anyone else, and affecting events, and doesn't leave loose ends (a bugbear of mine). The story is fast-paced, sometimes leaving the reader wondering what's going on - but Jessica's in the same position and as she figures things out, so does the reader - and, while she's wondering whether everything is really happening or some coma nightmare she's trapped in, Jessica has a crime to solve and a would-be murderer to catch. There are plenty of suspects, from her callous ex-boyfriend to locals with prior convictions, and a twist to catch you unaware. 
A bit of warning that the violence and injuries are described a bit too graphically, and may prove unsettling for some readers, otherwise it's an enjoyable, gripping read.

Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Genre - adult, crime thriller, time travel

Extinction by JT Brannan

review by Maryom

A team of archaeologists are searching Egypt's Valley of the Kings for the legendary "Hall of Records" but what they stumble upon is totally unexpected - and about to change history...
Strange events are occurring all over the world - a moving statue, animals and birds behaving weirdly, floods and earthquakes. Religious groups are out in force predicting the end of the world - but perhaps for once they're right?
Karl Jancklow works at a secret government research lab and is privy to information he thinks the world should be aware of and contacts old friend journalist Alyssa Durham. Now nothing underlines the importance of information more than the fact that people are willing to kill to stop it being passed on - so as you might expect there are 'bad guys' on the trail of anyone who might have an inkling of what's going on behind closed doors and a high security fence. Alyssa finds herself dragged into a battle on which the fate of the whole world depends.

 As you might expect from that plot-outline, Extinction is a roller-coaster of an action-packed read. Alyssa, with a background in climbing and war-zone reporting, is a dauntless, have-a-go heroine who could give Lara Croft a run for her money! No sooner has she escaped from one life-threatening situation than she's plunged into another, with barely a pause for breath.
JT Brannan's debut thriller, Origin, was good, but Extinction is even better. They both share certain elements - high-octane action, government conspiracy, the fate of the world resting on one couple's shoulders and the unexpected twist in the tail - but the writing is tighter, the action faster-paced, with a couple of unexpected double-crosses thrown in for good luck - and it's definitely nice to see a woman taking the lead in an action thriller.
I'm a sucker for Die Hard/Lara Croft/Indiana Jones style films and if you're looking for that in a book, here it is!

The Mole Adds... I read his self-published book, Stop At Nothing, and loved it.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Headline Publishing
Genre - adult, action adventure, conspiracy theory

Stop at Nothing by JT Brannan

Review by The Mole

Mark Cole is a deniable operative for the US government, a patriot who is always willing to give his life for his country. Living in the Caymans with his wife and two children, he is no longer fully active, but due to his unique abilities he is called upon to perform a difficult assassination. The target is the Director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service; but after the mission, Cole becomes a target himself. And as the forces against him mount up relentlessly, he realises that greed and hunger for power at the highest levels means that he can trust nobody. Cole discovers that not only are thousands of lives at risk, but his own wife and children are threatened. Pushed into deciding whether to protect global security or to save his family, Cole vows that he will stop at nothing to do both – whatever the cost.

Fast paced from first to last this book will interrupt your life until you have finished it. It reads as though you are watching a film but who is playing the role of Cole? Arnie, Sly, Segal, Butler? Well none of them are tough enough for this role. Park "disbelief" somewhere quiet before picking this book up and just concentrate on the fun and sheer enjoyment of this book.

This book was Brannan's first book but it was never published and after Origin (reviewed by Maryom) was published by Headline, his agent suggested he put Stop At Nothing out as a kindle independently without further refinement. It lacks a little editing in places that have led to a few 'continuity errors' but don't get hung up by it, read it for what it is meant to be: entertainment not edification. Origin has now climbed much higher on The Mole's TBR pile.

Sadly Stop At Nothing is only available in Kindle format but this will test your PC's scroll  bar to the maximum as you try to scroll fast enough to keep up with action.

Genre - Adult action thriller

Buy Stop At Nothing from Amazon

JT Brannan - Author interview

A while ago, Maryom was lucky enough to read and review JT Brannan's debut novel Origin - an X-files meets Da Vinci Code conspiracy thriller. So we were really pleased to run in to him recently, book-signing and promoting in our local Waterstones, and couldn't resist the opportunity to pose some questions.....

Origin is your first novel, so presumably all this is new to you. Was spending Saturdays signing and promoting books in bookshops the life you expected as an author?
I think I did expect it to a large extent. I mean, unless you’re one of the ‘big names’, and there’s a huge budget thrown behind you, it really is up to the individual author to push themselves as much as possible. I’ve been fortunate enough to be taken on by an excellent publishing house in Headline, which in many respects makes things a lot easier, but I still need to put the hours in as a debut author. Luckily though, I enjoy it!

How much time is taken up this way? More or less than the actual writing?
I would say that more time is spent on social media such as Facebook and Twitter than on physical book signings, in general – with smartphones, access to these opportunities is available pretty much 24 hours a day. At the moment, more time is spent promoting ORIGIN than on actual writing, but it all depends on the schedule. For instance, my second novel has just been agreed upon – again with Headline Publishing – and so the first draft will have to be ready for about the end of March. The balance will therefore shift hugely, and a lot more time will be spent on writing. So it’s cyclical really. But luckily, my wonderful wife also works very hard with me on promotion, which frees up more time for writing.

Is this all voluntary or are events organised by your publicist?
A bit of both really. My publicist Ben Willis organizes things from his end – for instance, he contacts the national media, tries to arrange events at literary festivals, and so on; and then my wife and I try to arrange local book signings. So it’s a team effort.
Without spoiling the plot could you tell us something about Origin?
Well, Origin begins with a body found buried in the Antarctic ice. It looks like a modern human, with advanced clothing and equipment, but is found to be 40,000 years old. The scientific team that finds the body is executed by a military hit squad, except for one lady – Lynn Edwards – who escapes. She then teams up with her ex-husband, and together they have to piece together a huge global conspiracy – one that takes in everything from the Nazca Lines in Peru, to the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva!

I described Origin as X Files crossed with Da Vinci Code - is that fair comment?
Definitely. Origin is a cross-genre action conspiracy thriller. It certainly has the pace of a Dan Brown novel – that feeling when you can’t put the book down, you just have to find out what happens next; and it also has a ‘twist’ that hopefully takes it beyond the confines of normal action thriller convention, in the same way the X-Files did on television back in the ‘90s. I think it’s a great combination, and one which readers will love.
...and talking of TV/films, Origin seems a likely film plot - how would you feel if a film production company approached you?
I would be delighted! My love of movies and novels is probably at the same level – I think both are superb forms of entertainment. Indeed, when writing, I tend to see things ‘cinematically’, and then transfer these visual images to the page. In many ways I see Origin – and my style of writing in general – as a ‘movie on a page’. I think it creates a more exciting ride for the reader. For instance, my action scenes are based on film technique – when we see action on the screen, we see several different camera angle shifts, changing from one point of view to another. I replicate this when I write, which I believe adds a visual dynamic to the scenes that enhances the experience for the reader. As a result, I think Origin would translate well to the silver screen. But we’ll have to wait and see!

Can there be a sequel or have you written to a dead end?
Origin can stand on its own, in terms of its finale being fully resolved, although there is of course scope for a sequel. In fact, I have notes for a potential trilogy for this story – or ‘thrillogy’ as my wife has suggested it should be called! But I have so many other ideas and characters I want to explore that any potential direct follow-up to Origin won’t be immediate.
Some authors have a long hard slog to reach publication, other have a short simple trip. How was yours?
Well, I feel very fortunate in many ways. I’ve always wanted to write ever since I can remember; in fact, I’ve always been convinced that this is what I would do for a living. But even though I have been writing stories since I was about six years old, it wasn’t until I was thirty-three that I eventually sent anything out.
I’d been writing a political action thriller for about ten years, and had about three hundred pages completed, which equated to about half of what I anticipated the final product would be. Last year, my wife told me to send it out to agents, but I was convinced that agents would only consider finished manuscripts, and so I was reluctant. She eventually convinced me though, and I sent a letter, a synopsis, and the first thirty pages to Luigi Bonomi, the previous year’s Literary Agent of the Year, and a man who had had a lot of success with action thrillers similar to mine. Luckily he liked what he read, and asked to read the rest. When I told him it wasn’t completed, he agreed to read what I had already done; and when he liked that, he said he would wait for the rest. I then wrote the rest in about three months, ending up with 150,000 words, or 600 pages. We then edited it down to 100,000 words, or 400 pages – a major job in itself!
The novel – Stop At Nothing – went out last year, and was very nearly picked up by Random House, but was unfortunately pipped at the post by a serial killer novel submitted at the same time (I’m not sure which one!). Apparently, ‘straight’ action thrillers were not selling very well at the time, and the paperback trade in general had just taken a nasty downturn.
Undeterred, however, Luigi asked me to come up with four other ‘high concept’ story ideas, which would either merge genres together, or deliver unusual twists – or both! I delivered four such story outlines, and we both agreed that Origin was the strongest. I therefore sat down and got back to work, and Origin was sent out to publishers early this year. The response was very strong, with several publishers interested, and Headline Publishing made a pre-emptive offer for it in April, which we accepted. I then worked with my excellent editor, Alexander Hope, to further refine the novel into the one that is now on the bookshelves!
I think my experience has been very fortunate, in that I was picked up by the first agent I contacted, especially as he is one of the best around, but it wasn’t all plain sailing – in fact, it was an entirely different novel that was eventually sold! But I think that it worked out for the best – Origin seems to have such universal appeal that it is being released in about thirty countries around the world, and is being translated into eight languages so far – German, French, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Czech, Bulgarian and Portuguese (for Brazil). We’re still awaiting feedback from the Frankfurt Book Fair, so there might even be more to follow!
As an aside, Luigi and I still liked the first novel – Stop At Nothing – so much that we have just released it as a ‘kindle exclusive’ eBook, available via Amazon.
What are your plans for future books? Do you plan to keep writing the same genre for the same audience?
Yes, the action thriller genre is the one I love, and the one I have the most fun writing. And I really believe that an author should love what they do, and write the sort of books they would want to read themselves. And as with Origin, they will not be standard, ‘straight’ action thrillers, but will cross genres to create an even more exciting reading experience for the audience. My next novel, out from Headline in October 2013, will really blow people’s minds – but I can’t say more than that for now!

Many thanks to JT Brannan for taking time out to answer our questions and we wish him every success with Origin and his future books, which we look forward to.

If you would like to know more then you can find out by using one or more of links below.

Website – www.jtbrannan.com
Blog – www.jtbrannanbooks.blogspot.com
Twitter - @JTBrannan_
Facebook – www.facebook.com/jtbrannanbooks

Origin by J T Brannan

review by Maryom

When Lynn Edwards' research team discover a body in the Antarctic ice, they don't realise quite what they've stumbled upon. The possibility that the body may be 40,000 years old attracts the immediate attention of  some very dangerous people and Lynn finds herself running for her life. Turning to her ex-husband, Matt Adams, for help, she's caught in a race against time against a shadowy all-powerful organisation. Unravelling the mystery takes Lynn and Matt on a dangerous journey via the Nazca Lines and Area 51 to the Large Hadron Collider as they realise they are the only ones who can save the world.

What you have with Origin is an X-files meets Da Vinci Code adventure. It's a great fun page-turning read. If you like non-stop action, world-wide conspiracy and the fate of the world resting on one couple's shoulders than this is a book for you. It hasn't as many twists and double-crosses as some of this genre but is a promising debut from British author JT Brannan. As is to be expected the hero and heroine DO succeed in saving the world - but not in the way you'd expect. Whatever you do - DON'T  cheat and skip to the end!

Maryom's review -  4 stars

Publisher - Headline 
Genre - Adult Action Adventure, conspiracy theory

Buy Origin from Amazon