06 August 2016

Error Code by R.K.Howard Review!


Sassy has never been so dangerous...


Question:
What do you get when you take a witty housewife with deep-dark secrets and coop her up in a house with a frustratingly demonic dishwasher and a professional killer who just happens to look like The Gladiator?

Answer:
You get a thrilling tour de force of unexpected action that's peppered throughout with comedic beats and seriously dark undertones. From opening paragraph all the way to the very end, Error Code is a non-stop romp of page-turning fun.

And now a word from the main character (a.k.a. the "housewife")...

Umm, did you really just twice refer to me as a housewife, Mr. Blurb? Hmm...I'll deal with you later.

Hi there future fan of mine,

My name is Autumn Winter and while I don't like to repeat myself—for you I will make an exception. About me...well, I'm a recovering pain in the rear. I also happen to be one heck of a spooky ghost—only probably not in the way you're thinking. And no, my parents weren't flower children—Winter is my name by marriage and yes, I realize it's ridiculously over-seasoned. Years ago when Jack (my husband) proposed to me, my initial response was, "How would you like to be surnamed Ass?" My retort sparked a debate on the differences between Jack Ass and Autumn Winter that dragged out for two weeks. Once he caved and finally agreed that the two formed names were like in concept, then—and only then—did I say yes to his proposal.

That probably tells you a little bit about what you’re up against with me. As we go along, you'll no doubt figure out that I am what some may view as sassy, what others may interpret as a fun version of arrogant, and what a chosen few will come to know as dangerous. At my core and within this beautiful shell is a woman who’s still vulnerable like any other—only I possess special skills that allow me to assert my intellect and thus even the playing field. And the playing field—along with the players thereon—sometimes need kinetic adjustments to make things right in this world. In fact, Jack and I believe that there are many things in life that need these so-called adjustments, and we see it as our purpose—our calling even—to do our part in helping said adjustments along. I suppose that you could say we’re sorta chiropractors of fate.

And that's about all you'll get out of me for now, but I'll leave you with one last thought: if you think the world is perfect and that people and things don't need adjustment, then you and I probably won't see eye-to-eye. But that's okay because everyone deserves their opinion—of course, mine is the only one that counts.

No, sincerely...

Autumn (xoxoxo)



Where do you live?

I live twenty miles south of Seattle on the Puget Sound with my beautiful wife, our dog, and our cat. My teenage kiddos come and stay with us every other weekend and there seems to be a noisy ghost or two that always follows us around wherever we live.

What do you write?

I tend to write thriller-horror crossovers that have a cinematic grit and edge to them. My debut novel Black Machetes regularly ranks in the Top 100 on Amazon under the Psychological Thriller category.

What are your credentials?

  • Short-list finalist of the 2015 Eric Hoffer Award
  • Top 100 Psychological Thriller author on Amazon
  • Member of the PNWA and IBPA
  • Over twenty years of creative experience in the software industry—check me out on Linked-In to learn about that side of me
  • Not so much a credential per se, but having moved over 25 times (and counting) in my lifetime and having lived at different places throughout the US gives me plenty of subject matter as the foundation for my stories

What's your favorite pastime?

I'm proud to admit that I'm a homebody, so spending quality time with family en-casa is the thing I enjoy most during waking hours. When it gets quiet and all goes dark, then I relish getting lost inside my own world with a barrage of word deletions, a hard drive full of notes, gallons upon gallons of coffee, the pulling out of hair (of which I cannot afford to lose) and finally, puddles upon puddles of drool from falling asleep at the keyboard. I know...I know...that's a little gross, and I'm sorry...only I'm too lazy at the moment to go back and clean up the puddles—so for now, they stay.

Where do you draw your writing inspiration from?

Oh man, from many places...
For some of the more horrific subject matter, inspiration is derived from old childhood fears as well as from new-found fears. It's sad to say, but many of the tragic things I've written about are based on actual tragedies that I've learned of firsthand over the years from people I've intersected with. Real monsters do indeed exist and they are also known as man.
For things of the heart and hope, inspiration stems largely from my childhood but also afresh from things I'm still learning about on a daily basis. While I do believe in monsters (as already mentioned), I also believe in compassion for the human condition that comes from the heart. And with that, everyday angels do indeed exist and they are also known as man.
So I guess if I had to sum up my source for inspiration into one sentence (I know, too late), it would boil down to my daily observations of the very real and always constant battle between good and evil within this vastly small maze we call life.

What's your current project?

I just recently released my latest book: ERROR CODE, which is now available on Amazon. Currently, I'm puddling through the first draft of my next book, a paranormal thriller that is titled Scotty. I'm not sure yet on a release as it depends on where the story takes me :-).
My Thoughts
I have read a lot of mystery/thriller books but never one quite like this one. Autumn is a housewife and ex-CIA, who is having problems with a dishwasher in a home that her and husband rent. Her husband is an ex-SEAL and frequently away from home. 
The home they rent is a very spacious type of home with a soundproofed room in the basement. Autumn is having problems with her Bosch dishwasher. She has her landlady call the  company and a repairman, repairman Pete comes out and gives it a look. He finally determines that he can't fix it because is has something to do with a computer board. He tells Fanny that he will have another repairman come and take a look.
 Another man, whom Autumn calls Vlad, shows up but it turns out he is not a repairman at all but a paid assassin. What he is after is soon determined and Autumn soon realizes that Vlad is out to do her harm and this is when the story takes off. I do not want to say any more on the plot because it would give away too much of the story.
Autumn is one tough cookie and has a sense of humor to boot. Kind of a weird sense of humor and it is definitely carried out through the book. This is by no means a fluffy kind of story, even though it does have a good ending, well for some of the characters. It is how Autumn handles herself and the situation that is very readable, I found myself kind of being in horror and laughing at the same time. 
I enjoyed this book, a short read at 162 pages with an excerpt from another of the author's books, Black Machettes. If you are looking for a good mystery/psychological thriller/humor, then go get this book.
p.s. I will say that I will not be getting a Bosch dishwasher anytime soon.
I received a copy of this book from the author for review purposes.

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