Dennis Liggio is the author of sixteen books including I KILL MONSTERS the DAMNED LIES series THE LOST AND THE DAMNED and the books set in the city of New Avalon He is a veteran of the game industry enjoys long walks on the beach while thumbing through tomes of unspeakable evil and rumor has it that if you say his name three times in front of a mirror at midnight he will appear and give you Hostess Fruit Pies He writes primarily in the genres of geeky absurdist humor horror and urban fantasy He lives in Pflugerville Texas with his amazing wife awesome daughter and four cats that act like wieners. I liked Cowards and Killers I was compelled to keep reading and annoyed at my general sleepiness I m 17 weeks pregnant when trying to get through the ending the night I finished it Enough of a mystery exist around the origin of the Voice on the phone and the killings that I wanted to keep reading to unravel the mystery to understand what was happening. The problem was that this book was a little long I think it would have been better as a longer short story or maybe short novella Intriguing ideas bound the book together but the actual story telling left something to be desired. The beginning was linear without much weaving of plot threads Much of the middle was talking explanation discussion of which agents could be trusted and who couldn t The climax was explosive and satisfying the ending intriguing but the wrap up left something to be desired The explanation we receive on who is doing the killers and who is orchestrating the events at the end is 80% complete but there are holes The big reveal at the end as to Michael s history and previous life left me scratching my head since I never clued in throughout the book that we needed a big reveal Even the mysterious informational benefactor that appears in the last 25% is left as a deus ex machina to pull together bits of the plot but not ever give a full explanation although it s completely obvious from his name as to who he is and what faction he represents. I have a lot of complaints it seems but I still liked the book As I said the ideas are strong and unique but I feel that Mr Liggio needs to work on his storytelling Bring the exciting parts on camera rather than telling us about them get multiple plotlines going at once and ensure that each bread crumb being dropped gives us a tad than the last bread crumb If you like heaven hell urban fantasies you ll probably like this one. Also posted on my blog Magic Mayhem Book Reviews 9781502437587 This would make a good episode of an anthology series 9781502437587 In the end most of humanity are one of two things cowards or killers When Michael died there was no Heaven waiting for him no eternal rest There were only two choices Hell or killing his fellow man Waking up after death in his own bed he began receiving calls from a mysterious voice The voice offers a simple option become an assassin and kill those it designates Refuse and the power that keeps him in the world will be removed and he ll go straight to Hell Coward or killer he accepts the deal In a black suit and tie that conceals his identity with a black gun that never runs out of bullets he is their assassin But he is not alone there are other tortured souls who have agreed to the same bargain They are all Hell bound only by killing their targets before the timers on their phones count down do they postpone their fate But this is a fate Michael won t accept Together with other agents he plots to rebel against the mysterious voice and the blood soaked deal But can they really win this fight when the voice holds all the cards With each kill his humanity slips away Is there a way to escape or do all roads lead to Hell Cowards and Killers.

. Note I received a free copy of Cowards and Killers in exchange for an honest review