Interview, Tour, Giveaway & Review: Hostile Takeover

This book is brought to you by Goddess Fish Promotions and the author . Thank you both for the opportunity to read this lovely book!

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Cristelle Comby will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

P.I. Bellamy Vale isn’t your everyday investigator. Moonlighting as Death’s earth-bound envoy, he specializes in the weird, wacky, and slightly unhinged.

When a mysterious beast savagely mauls random residents of Cold City, the police assume that these are the killings of a rogue wolf. But experienced private investigator, Bellamy Vale, is unconvinced.

Ordered by Death herself to investigate, Vale has no choice but to obey, for his boss is not someone to disappoint—if he wants to keep breathing, that is.

With friend and computer hacker Zian, nosy journalist Candice Kennedy, and homicide sergeant Melanie Ramirez by his side, Vale has no choice but to end the killings or face the wrath of the demon who holds his life in her hands.

Read an Excerpt:

I ripped the yellow tape away and entered the arcade. My nose was assaulted by a mixture of bleach and cleaning products. The cleaning team must have worked through the night. It wouldn’t do for the neighbors to wake up to someone lying dead on their sidewalk. No amount of bleach was going to get rid of those bloodstains, though. And it was going to take a lot more than soap to repair the cuts in the carpet and the claw marks on the concrete walls.

My stomach churned at the sight. Either that or it was protesting against all the painkillers I’d popped down. I heaved a sigh, knowing the next step was going to make that feel like a paper cut in comparison. Closing my eyes, I forced my breathing to slow down and emptied my mind of everything superficial. I counted down from five to one, opened my eyes, and looked at the scene in front of me again.

The world had narrowed down, dimmed to a tunnel of sharp, laser-like focus, allowing me to make out the individual fibers of carpet even. The smells had multiplied into a rich palette of chemical compounds that I could separate and identify. Knowing I couldn’t keep my concentration up like this for too long, I hastened to get to work, taking in all the tiniest details of the crime scene.

From the intensity of the claw marks and the pattern left by the blood splatter, I could map out the attack to the point of being able to discern the moves of the victim from those of the beast. Whatever it was that had made the attack, it had a cruel streak that would have done credit to Jack the Ripper. It had trapped the victim in a corner, pushed him further and further inside as it kept moving forward, claws digging into the carpet like some low-rent Hellraiser knock-off, ready to strike when the fear hit fever pitch.

Sweat and fear permeated the air around the place where the old man had stood, trembling and facing a voracious, tall monster. In one giant leap, the beast was on him, claws fully extended and shredding flesh into beef strips.

I recoiled at the thought then shook myself out of it. Despite the cold air, I’d broken into an even colder sweat. The world was spinning around me. I walked back to the street, desperate to get fresh air that didn’t reek of death. I was shaking as I fought to suppress the dry heaving of my stomach. There would be no need to revisit the scene. Everything I’d seen of that massacre was deeply etched into my mind.

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Disclaimer: I received this Ark for a honest review!

I just want to start off the Mrs. Comby is beautiful and this picture they provided me to use is just stunning.. Like wow go look at it! I just love her hair and make up! You need to have a video on how you style your hair and makeup!! anyway!! Onto the review ❤

I’ve received many books to read and this was the first one that was more than 400 pages. This lovely Urban Fantasy is 1,353 pages long of wonderful fantasy in a urban setting! I just love this because when I was younger I would imagine I had powers or things would come to life like cars, inanimate objects and my cat would turn into a human. I can’t believe I’ve never read this genre before but this one might have me hooked!

I felt the rope shift under my fingers. The next step was going to hurt, but there was no getting around it. I turned my hand sideways, pushing it as far as I could, and twisted my thumb. As the bone snapped out of the socket, I fought to not let the burning pain register on my face. That’s right, keep talking, Vito.

Starting off this book felt like a crime lord feel with Italian names and the feel of the Godfather just ringing through. We are introduced here to Bellamy Vale where your thrown into a finding after another finding. A feel of private investigators done correctly with a hint of what have I gotten myself into.

Mr. Vale had so much spunk and character throughout the book. From his point of view is how everything is happening with detail descriptions of monsters, crime lords, notable characters and events not to mention the details of the scene around you. Its like your there and somehow managing not to be pulled into whats going on.

Then there are guns blaring and things are rolling into one scene from the next with excitement and on the edge of your seat as you go from hospital to an arcade. Things are happening very quickly but with a wonderful steadfast pace that anyone can follow easily.

“These … these people,” a guy in his fifties in casual office wear stammered. “They just … just started … shooting, beating, punching—” “Easy, Phil,” a woman in her mid-thirties, dressed in a sensible office dress, said, putting her hand on the man’s shoulder. “Your heart …”

Then your facing with a different things among crime bosses and creatures of nightmares. Comby did a wonderful job turning a city we may all know well or heard of into something fantastical and magical with blobs coming to life and scary nightmares hunting you. Where even our lovely Bellamy Vale turned into prey to reporters, monsters and the moments during the book.

This book made me think of those discovery investigation murder mystery but if there were scary monsters, things that bumped a little too much in the night and normal crime happening all around with steadfast craziness.

She didn’t hear a word I said, just pulled a gun out of her purse with one hand while she yanked the door open with the other. The goon was up to her knees when she gave him a couple of hard kicks to the head through the bars of the railing. He howled the whole way down until hitting the ground cut his scream short.

Then the ending.. Oh man! I will not spoil anything but my heart crunched. You get to sign off on how things happened with the wolfs then to the De Soto but also stopping along the fairwind were the things general public would not want to know but you see all the general crime that the public would see is things that sign the dot and crossed off. And then Cromby just leaves you hanging at the end too. Why?? I must read more to know whats going on..

Final Thoughts:

Overall the book is wonderful steadfast reading with a swift pacing that is very easy to follow with everything you need for a perfect investigation for a private investigator. I loved all the action and different happenings where mystical creatures and how things were just in the last chapter alone had me flipping pages so quickly to have answers but then it just ended.. I was turning the page hoping for more but nope.. Gotta read the next book! All the events through the middle with notable characters and descriptions of scenes had you there with P.I Vale yet somehow you are safe but P.I Vale is in for a long.. Long ride. You need to read this and I think my review just doesn’t give this book justice.

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Interview with Mrs. Comby

Who are some of your favorite authors?

I’m a huge, huge, huge Jim Butcher fan. I love his Dresden Files series, these are my favorite books. Some other authors I enjoy reading are Patrick Rothfuss, Barry J Hutchison, Joshua Dalzelle, Douglas Adams.

Who are some authors in your genre that inspire you?

The answer is Jim Butcher again. If I could expend my universe to something half the size of what he’s done, I’d be happy.

What are some great books you’ve read recently?

I’ve had a lot of fun with Barry J Hutchison’s Space Team series. It’s a fast-paced scifi parody. Very funny, full of sparky sarcasm.

In a completely different genre, I was pleasantly surprised by The Portrait written by Iain Pears. The entire book is structured as a monologue on the part of the narrator. It’s a bit unsettling at first, but the story is so gripping you get used to if after a while.

What types of books do you enjoy in your downtime?

Fantasy and science-fiction mostly, but I’m not exclusive to either genre. A good horror story’s always nice or a well-structured mystery. So long as it’s well written and the characters draw me in, I’m game.

What are you working on now? Any chance of a sequel?

Yes, Hostile Takeover is the first book in the Vale Investigation series. I’m currently editing book two and working on the outline for book three.

What are the upsides and downsides to being an author?

The upside is: I’m always busy… and the downside is: I’m always busy ☺.

It’s really nice to have something to do in my free time, but sometimes it’s hard to balance my day job, my private life and my writing career. Especially days like today, when I have a new novel coming out and a lot of promotion to do. But, at least, I’m never bored.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

I have a day job in an office. I get up at 5:30 and go to work and come home between 16:30-17:30 depending on my work-load. Sometimes I write down ideas in the evening, but most of my writing is done on the weekend and on my days off.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

I outline everything before I start writing. It’s a step that takes me several months, but it allows me to avoid writer’s block.

Out of all the books you’ve written, do you have a favorite?

By far, Blind Chess, the fourth book in my Neve & Egan Cases series. It’s (almost) entirely told from the POV of a blind character. That was an epic challenge to me, and it took me twice the time it usually takes me to write it, but I did it. And I’m really proud of the result.

If someone is brand new to your work, what book do you think they should start with?
On my website, I have two prequel novellas that you can download for free. It’s a great way to get a taste of what I do.

– “Redemption Road” is a prequel to the Vale Investigation series—it’s the story of Vale and Death’s first encounter.

– “Personal Favour” is set in my series of cozy mysteries The Neve & Egan Cases. It’s a glimpse of the life of Alexandra Neve, before she became a private investigator in London.

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Author

Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater Geneva, where she still resides.

She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.

She is the author of the Neve & Egan Cases series, which features an unlikely duo of private detectives in London: Ashford Egan, a blind History professor, and Alexandra Neve, one of his students.

Currently, she is hard at work on her Urban Fantasy series Vale Investigation which chronicles the exploits of Death’s only envoy on Earth, PI Bellamy Vale, in the fictitious town of Cold City, USA.

Links: Official Website | Twitter: @Cristelle | Amazon

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Follow the Tour

July 30: Rogues Angels
July 31: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
August 1: Welcome to My World of Dreams
August 2: The Tired Buyer – review
August 3: Fabulous and Brunette
August 6: The Avid Reader
August 7: Laurie’s Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews
August 8: Mixed Book Bag
August 9: Long and Short Reviews
August 10: T’s Stuff
August 13: Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters
August 14: Sharing Links and Wisdom
August 15: Two Ends of the Pen
August 16: BooksChatter
August 17: Up ‘Til Dawn Book Blog
August 20: Author Deborah A Bailey
August 21: Bookaholic
August 22: Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books! – promo only
August 23: Kit ‘N Kabookle
August 24: Straight From the Library