Gord Rollo

Book Review: East End Girls/Only The Thunder Knows

Like many of you, I have enough books lying around to open a library. Books stuffed into overcrowded bookcases, books in drawers, books on tables, and books on top of books.

I'm something of a luddite when it comes to new technologies, I still don't have a smart phone, but some years back I broke down and bought a Kindle. You're welcome, trees.

Ever since then, I've been happily downloading ebooks and saving the planet, but when I learned that Rena Mason, the Bram Stoker Award winning author of
The Evolutionist (reviewed HERE) was going to be part of JournalStone Publishing's DoubleDown book series, I decided to cheat on my Kindle and rekindle (see what I did there?) my love affair with ink paper and glue.

JournalStone's DoubleDown books are modeled after the old Ace's Doubles. Two novellas back to back. The cool part is, both stories read left to right from opposing covers depending on which way you hold the book. When you finish one tale, you flip the book over and start again.

Book 1 of the DoubleDown series is comprised of Gord Rollo's, Only the Thunder Knows. And Rena Mason's, East End Girls.





Both are works of historical fiction set in the Victorian era. Only the Thunder Knows, is a rollicking tale involving real life villains Billy Burke and William Hare, supernatural villains, and historical artifacts. East End Girls, is a simultaneously horrific and sexy new take on Jack the Ripper.

It's difficult to say which tale I liked better. Each one is great for different reasons but if pressed, I'd give the edge to East End Girls. While Rollo's, Only the Thunder Knows, had a more colorful cast of characters, some of the imagery in Mason's East End Girls, was so powerfully vivid, I could have been watching a movie.

Either way, you can't go wrong.

So, if you are looking for an excuse to unplug this summer and bring the
paper back (see what I did there?), you could do a lot worse than THIS

Five out of five stars.







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