Connie Corcoran Wilson

On the surface, it appeared hilarious, but for me...not such a glowing experience. I'm not a huge fan of politics and about half the book deals with her experiences and feelings regarding those that assist in running our country. Also there was a tendency to over share that ran the course of amusing to simply TMI (as in Too Much Information).

There were some redeeming qualities and moments of mirth worth noting though. For instance, the injected thoughts of her granddaughter add a little spark of home to the story and I did enjoy the story about her daughter and the cell phone company. Too true and too funny! Let's not forget the mock interview story where a student in class chose a particular restaurant establishment that generally maintains employees wearing low cut shirts, and tiny shorts, as her "test interview". It lead to a most uncomfortable situation for the interviewer to the point that even the interviewee realized things weren't going so well. Definitely smile worthy there.


So, for me....it didn't reach laugh-inducing levels of hilarity but there were some good for a smile. It wasn't quite my cup of tea if hard pressed, but to each their own. I'm sure given the proper audience, it will be all over in no time flat.… (altro)

I liked the set up for the first book in this box set. The concept that Tad had abilities to see colors and through these colors, he can tell if someone is good or evil. It is no wonder that so many people have a fear of clowns; especially if they are portrayed as evil, manic killers like Pogo. Which by the way Pogo is a psycho as well as a sexual pervert. The worse kinds of psychos are the ones that feel no remorse.

The abilities that Tad possess are not ones that I would count as lucky but more as a curse. To see the killings as Michael aka Pogo commits them is a curse. Tad could have just left the task to the police to catch Pogo but I like that Tad did not just sit it out. Yet, I did have some trouble connecting with the characters. Additionally, I agree with other readers that the repetition was tedious and it slowed the pace of the story down. Lastly, when it came to the gore, I had no issues with it and in fact, I have read more gruesome killings. I hope that the next book is better.

Red is for Rage is the next book in this collection. I would start with the first book. Although, you could read the second one but to get more context and history of the characters, it would be better to read the first book. Which having the context did help some with this book. My reading vibe with the characters and the story went faster.

It was good to see Tad's abilities showcased more. Plus, she was becoming more prominent. Another person that I noticed more was retired cop, Charlie. In fact, I liked him a lot. He was a good guy, who at times seemed to find himself in sticky situations. Although, you would expect this as he was helping Tad to find Tad's friend, Stevie, who was taken by a psycho. As much as I might have liked this book a little more, I still struggled to find any emotional connections to the characters and the sexual references and such were more dirty than really necessary. I don't think I can continue on reading the third book in this box set.… (altro)

Hellfire and Damnation II is the sequel to Connie Corcoran Wilson's first book of short stories that she published in 2011. This book is another tour of Dante's 'Nine Circles of Hell' from his Inferno. It features eleven original short stories: from the 132-year-old corpse of Norwegian immigrant Ole Monson seeking revenge against the living for the desecration of his final resting place in 'Cold Corpse Carnival' to the most intimate betrayal suffered between two brothers in 'The Bureau'. Each story highlights its particular Circle in a novel way, but is partially based on fact as explained by the author at the end.

I really enjoyed this book - it was suitably horrific for me. Each story is well-crafted and believable, and I found myself very satisfied with each story's pacing. I give Hellfire and Damnation II an A+! and I look forward to reading more books by Connie Corcoran Wilson in the very near future!… (altro)