Glenda Bixler is a first-rate book reviewer with a wonderful blog, Book Readers' Heaven, where she posts her book reviews. I am honored to find her review of my techno-thriller Virtually Lace.
January 25, 2019
Poznansky grabbed this reader with two issues... There apparently was a murder and that the individual who saw the body was someone working on virtual reality, developing a new model...I have always been fascinated with futuristic advancements, and the idea of virtual reality is so intriguing...
While Michael was contemplating whether or not he could create Laguna Beach within a virtual reality setting, what actually came about was quite different. He had watched an attractive girl run by...and started following her. He didn't know why but before he could catch up with her, she was dead... But he recognized her--her name was Lace.
But he didn't stay or call the police... He struggled with his options, going over whether or not the killer might be watching him right now...or whether he had seen the killer. She was already dead--he had tried to save her. But it was too late... By the next morning he tried to convince himself that he had to forget the whole thing... But the secretary threw the newspaper onto his desk, with the headlines up for him to catch, while she told Michael that their boss wanted to see him right away.
Michael was concerned about meeting--this company had been taken over. And Ashley, who was loved by Michael, was not there to meet... She had been personally assaulted but had not shared it with anyone at work. This time, he knew, the boss was going to take advantage of her being absent...and fired her. But it was more than that...they had both been happy and productive in virtual reality simulation, but that had been for games and similar uses...now the company would be using it to serve politics--war.
But seeing an envelop there addressed to Lace immediately caught his attention! He quietly grabbed it and went on...
Ash was also not surprised she was fired...but she and Michael both agreed that they could go back to working in his garage, if necessary... But when Ash learned about what had happened to Michael, she also became involved in working to solve the crime... Wow, a cozy mystery where unprofessional people work to solve a crime! But with Virtual Reality! Now, that is what I call very cool and extremely exciting to be a part of...
Michael started by developing the area around the crime scene...And entered into place all of the things, people, and action he could remember. Among what he remembered was that he had taken off his shoes when he went into the water to check the body! Soon Michael was back onsite--his shoes could easily have been found by the police...
Instead, they had been found by a homeless person...who was now wearing them and threatened Michael he was not giving them up! The police interceded. But it was easy to realize that Michael had become a person of interest who was now known. He knew he had to work fast and see if he could determine who had actually killed Lace...
As a reader, we actively become involved in building that virtual reality scene, and if we had paid attention as we read, we placed those things into the virtual space...don't panic, I missed quite a few but was reminded as, for instance, two divers who had come out of the water and passed Lace, was entered into the scene... As a fan of all things CSI, I just had to highlight what could now be done on scene to replace the tedious activities of crime scene investigators...
Poznansky builds a steady set of clues, while building a concurrent virtual scene. Each individual, including the villain, is slowly entered into the scene, based upon Michael's research...and the explosive letter he had taken earlier...
Still I was not prepared for whodunit. Who knew that pearls would provide a major clue...but also lead to danger for both Michael and Ash... This is a totally satisfying venture into the use of virtual reality within crime scene investigation. It is new, refreshing, and unique in mystery or police procedure novels and I'm certainly happy to have gained the experience from a writer of multiple genres who keeps surprising me with the scope and diversity of her books. Do search my reviews under her name for the books I've been fortunate to read and review... This was the first of this genre for me; it was tense, detail-oriented and indeed gave a whole new perspective to crime solving in books.
Highly recommended!
GABixlerReviews
January 25, 2019
Poznansky grabbed this reader with two issues... There apparently was a murder and that the individual who saw the body was someone working on virtual reality, developing a new model...I have always been fascinated with futuristic advancements, and the idea of virtual reality is so intriguing...While Michael was contemplating whether or not he could create Laguna Beach within a virtual reality setting, what actually came about was quite different. He had watched an attractive girl run by...and started following her. He didn't know why but before he could catch up with her, she was dead... But he recognized her--her name was Lace.
But he didn't stay or call the police... He struggled with his options, going over whether or not the killer might be watching him right now...or whether he had seen the killer. She was already dead--he had tried to save her. But it was too late... By the next morning he tried to convince himself that he had to forget the whole thing... But the secretary threw the newspaper onto his desk, with the headlines up for him to catch, while she told Michael that their boss wanted to see him right away.
Michael was concerned about meeting--this company had been taken over. And Ashley, who was loved by Michael, was not there to meet... She had been personally assaulted but had not shared it with anyone at work. This time, he knew, the boss was going to take advantage of her being absent...and fired her. But it was more than that...they had both been happy and productive in virtual reality simulation, but that had been for games and similar uses...now the company would be using it to serve politics--war.
But seeing an envelop there addressed to Lace immediately caught his attention! He quietly grabbed it and went on...
Ash was also not surprised she was fired...but she and Michael both agreed that they could go back to working in his garage, if necessary... But when Ash learned about what had happened to Michael, she also became involved in working to solve the crime... Wow, a cozy mystery where unprofessional people work to solve a crime! But with Virtual Reality! Now, that is what I call very cool and extremely exciting to be a part of...
Michael started by developing the area around the crime scene...And entered into place all of the things, people, and action he could remember. Among what he remembered was that he had taken off his shoes when he went into the water to check the body! Soon Michael was back onsite--his shoes could easily have been found by the police...
Instead, they had been found by a homeless person...who was now wearing them and threatened Michael he was not giving them up! The police interceded. But it was easy to realize that Michael had become a person of interest who was now known. He knew he had to work fast and see if he could determine who had actually killed Lace...
As a reader, we actively become involved in building that virtual reality scene, and if we had paid attention as we read, we placed those things into the virtual space...don't panic, I missed quite a few but was reminded as, for instance, two divers who had come out of the water and passed Lace, was entered into the scene... As a fan of all things CSI, I just had to highlight what could now be done on scene to replace the tedious activities of crime scene investigators...
Poznansky builds a steady set of clues, while building a concurrent virtual scene. Each individual, including the villain, is slowly entered into the scene, based upon Michael's research...and the explosive letter he had taken earlier...
Still I was not prepared for whodunit. Who knew that pearls would provide a major clue...but also lead to danger for both Michael and Ash... This is a totally satisfying venture into the use of virtual reality within crime scene investigation. It is new, refreshing, and unique in mystery or police procedure novels and I'm certainly happy to have gained the experience from a writer of multiple genres who keeps surprising me with the scope and diversity of her books. Do search my reviews under her name for the books I've been fortunate to read and review... This was the first of this genre for me; it was tense, detail-oriented and indeed gave a whole new perspective to crime solving in books.
Highly recommended!
GABixlerReviews
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