Thundering Hearts: the Razor's Edge, by...

I'm trying to get back into writing book reviews, and Kenny Lee was kind enough to let me read a copy of Thundering Hearts...

Kenny Lee’s novel Thundering Hearts: The Razor’s Edge is an exciting novel of people, good and bad, flawed and wounded, and the power of love. It’s about bikes too, and “rate of speed” inevitably raised my mathematical hackles, together with the distraction of occasional typos, switches in tense or overly long discourses. But nothing could keep me from enjoying the read: a fascinating view into a different culture, and a mystery filled with tragedy and drama to the end.

The author has a good ear for dialog most of the time, letting conversation carry the story very effectively. And the details he describes bring a whole world, with all its senses, to life – leathers, ornaments, hot-tubs, and bikes – yes, definitely bikes. He makes me feel the attraction of a life-style I’ll never know, of freedom and the open road, lovemaking behind a waterfall, and the dream of a Vegas marriage. He makes the fear and horror of addiction all too real and vivid too; and the danger of actions undertaken without thought to consequences.

The heroes pray, and sleep together before marriage – no typecast perfect people here. And the villains kill, and overkill, apparently without cause. But everyone’s thoughts are laid bare in the text for the reader to evaluate. I found myself pulling for Landon and Joan to reach their destination – in every sense of the word. I wanted to know the mystery behind Road Dog’s all-consuming anger. And I had to keep turning the pages, even as the body-count rose and credibility threatened to falter.

All in all, Thundering Hearts is an exciting tale, set in a very plausible biker culture, with interesting characters, and a satisfying conclusion – a thundering tale told with heart.

Thundering Hearts: the Razor's Edge is available from Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
# Paperback: 229 pages
# Publisher: PublishAmerica (October 27, 2008)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1607030969
# ISBN-13: 978-1607030966

Comments: 6

JOHN BECK Feb 14, 2009, 11:04pm EST

Sheila, your very open review exudes credibility--no lopsided cake leveled with heavy frosting. The fact that you can appreciate a culture which is totally foreign to your own without being excessively judgmental yet candid, leaves the reader of your critique confident that they are neither being enticed to read something in which they will be disappointed nor being turned off unfairly. I consider that to be a skillful and valuable review.

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Beryl Singleton Bissell Feb 15, 2009, 7:28pm EST

The world of motorcycles. I knew little if anything about that world until I took a class with a biker. Dead-Eye had been mentored by our fiction professor who met him while researching her next novel. The resulting book, "Outlaw Biker" is the memoir Dead-Eye wrote at the suggestion of that professor. I have his book but haven't had a chance to read it yet but if Mary Gardner believed in it, then one can be fairly certain that its good and probably has few if any grammatical or spelling errors.

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Ainsley Jo Phillips Feb 18, 2009, 10:28pm EST

Making love behind a waterfall...would you believe one of the things I'd love to do before I pass on!?! Ideal set-up would be that the waterfall would be a curtain into a cave--which would end up fulfilling another fantasy of mine: making love in a cave while sleeping there overnight. I want this--but not just with anybody. If not with him, with nobody. Oh well, I can still simply sleep in a cave with a waterfall for an entrance curtain. Hopefully, though, I get to have it all!!!

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