DAVID PEREDA
Reviewed by J. F. Nodar - August 14, 2023
The Wall
I purchased the book for its cover, the blurb on the back cover, and then saw it was four-hundred pages. My first thought was this book would take me forever to finish, but when I started the book, ‘The Wall’ could have been one-thousand pages.
I could not stop reading it.
The life paths of two families; Thomas and Cecilia Bertram, and Domingo, Blanca and their young daughter, Nancy, were so different and yet so alike. The former owned a thriving restaurant, and the latter operated a repair shop.
Life has a way of bringing obstacles and to these two families, it came in the manner of gangs wanting extortion money and more.
Salvation for both families was going to the United States.
David Pereda blended their stories magically in my humble opinion with interchanging chapters describing how each family made progress towards the US border.
No politics, no opinions, just a story of fiction with a ring of truth in it.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in a contemporary topic in today’s world and who enjoys a terrific story.
J. F. Nodar purchased this book.
Reviewed by J. F. Nodar - December 21, 2023
GOLDEN
Mixing action scenes and a few comedic passages, the author presents a fast-moving, action-packed storyline which, if you had read his other most recent book, “The Wall,” you could say it continues the rollercoaster ride that is the life of Thomas and Alex.
In each chapter, Mr. Pereda added twists, intrigues, and turns that kept this reader thinking I knew the person responsible for ordering the ‘hit’ on Alex, but the ending surprised me.
If you want a quick, fast-paced, yet easy-to-read novel, I highly recommend “Golden.”
This book was purchased by J. F. Nodar.
Reviewed by Lynn Slaughter - January 3, 2024
GOLDEN
You’ll need to strap on your seatbelt when you dive into David Pereda’s action-packed suspenseful thriller, GOLDEN. The stakes are high, and danger and betrayal lurk in unexpected places.
Someone has hired a contract killer to travel to Mexico City to eliminate Prince Stanislaw Alexander Poniatowski, known as Alex to his friends. A “stone-cold killer” when he needs to be, Alex fells his attacker and wants to follow up on leads from the hitman’s cell phone contact list to identify the person who ordered his assassination. For backup, he calls on his closest friend and ex-Marine buddy, Thomas Bertram.
Other than their fighting expertise and willingness to lay down their lives for one another, Thomas and Alex have little in common. Born into great wealth and privilege, Alex is a renowned womanizer, successful actor, and occasional soldier of fortune who thrives on danger and adventure. Thomas, on the other hand, grew up on a farm in Minnesota and is happily married with an adopted daughter. Of the two, Thomas is the more cerebral, logical planner and thinker.
As the duo travel to Brazil, Miami, Barcelona, Paris, and Thomas’s home in Asheville, North Carolina, they encounter numerous contract killers, but they still have no definitive answer about the identity or motivation of the person who wants Alex eliminated. Thomas, however, develops a theory and figures out an ingenious way to test it.
Pereda draws upon his extensive international travel experience and his gift for vivid scene-setting to bring to life the places Alex and Thomas visit. In addition, his character descriptions are unfailingly colorful. For example, he describes a criminal attorney known as The Finger as looking “like a cross between an owl and a scarecrow left in the field too long.” He goes on to note that “he didn’t smell so good either; his pudgy body exuded the odors of stale sweat, garlic, and onions.”
I thoroughly enjoyed reading GOLDEN. I highly recommend the novel for readers who love page-turning suspense, action, and memorable characters.
