sean delauder Archives - Independent Book Review https://independentbookreview.com/tag/sean-delauder/ A Celebration of Indie Press and Self-Published Books Wed, 18 Jun 2025 18:02:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://i0.wp.com/independentbookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Untitled-design-100.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 sean delauder Archives - Independent Book Review https://independentbookreview.com/tag/sean-delauder/ 32 32 144643167 Book Review: The Last Case by Sean DeLauder https://independentbookreview.com/2025/06/19/book-review-the-last-case-by-sean-delauder/ https://independentbookreview.com/2025/06/19/book-review-the-last-case-by-sean-delauder/#respond Thu, 19 Jun 2025 13:00:00 +0000 https://independentbookreview.com/?p=88705 THE LAST CASE by Sean DeLauder is an out-of-the-box murder mystery with some seriously intriguing twists.

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The Last Case

by Sean DeLauder

Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Print Length: 182 pages

Reviewed by Nikolas Mavreas

An out-of-the-box murder mystery with some seriously intriguing twists

The Last Case is an unconventional but wholly satisfying specimen of the murder mystery form. Set in a coastal town in New England during the early 1980s, this novel opens with a body: a man in a Dungeons and Dragons costume found beheaded on the beach. This brings the lighthouse-dwelling detective Joseph Tey out of his isolation and back into the game. As he works at solving the case, Tey also works on himself, battling identity issues and a sense of mental deterioration.

Our protagonist’s inner conflict, his doubts about his past and his capabilities, are a constant presence in the book. This is accomplished with an ingeniously selected alternative to inner monologue: interjections of passages from Joseph Tey’s journal. In addition to fresh approaches to the genre, the plot is sprinkled with familiar mystery tropes as well, like annoying police colleagues, Cold War rhetoric, and a large corporation of unclear morality.

Every single character in this book, however minor, feels alive and breathing. Manners of speech, contents of speech, and little actions meticulously described all work toward the painting of people who feel vibrantly real, accentuated with sparse brushstrokes of the caricatural.

The attention to detail and resulting characterization is in every nook and cranny of this book, and it defines every aspect of the writing. Through particular, descriptive, and expressive detail, this novel is both fully excavated and polished like a jewel.

“The journal may tell him, if he dared read it. Something made him reluctant. Something made those memories unpleasant. He’d written them down as though putting them on paper removed them from his mind, making room for other things. His curiosity pulled and his apprehension pushed, so the diary remained on the coffee table.”

The novel rises to real thrills but also plunges to profound psychological depths. At its center, it is concerned with why people do what they do, the senselessness of bad actions, and redemption. It’s a thought-provoking thriller—and a strong one at that.

Some readers will notice that the protagonist’s name is taken from the pen name of an older mystery author. The reference doesn’t seem to carry more meaning than just being a simple homage to Josephine Tey, and it has no connection to another popular book series which has a fictional Josephine Tey. Delauder may have gone tongue-in-cheek with titling this novel, The Last Case: A Joseph Tey Mystery, but he also could be leveraging for a sequel or prequel to follow. DeLauder admits in the back matter of the book that this is his first foray into the murder mystery genre, but he writes with enough skill and expertise to make it feel like he couldn’t have done a better job. Until next time, I hope.

Thank you for reading Nikolas Mavreas’s book review of The Last Case by Sean DeLauder! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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]]> https://independentbookreview.com/2025/06/19/book-review-the-last-case-by-sean-delauder/feed/ 0 88705 Book Review: The Goddess In the Mountain (Millennium Man) https://independentbookreview.com/2025/01/22/book-review-the-goddess-in-the-mountain-millennium-man/ https://independentbookreview.com/2025/01/22/book-review-the-goddess-in-the-mountain-millennium-man/#respond Wed, 22 Jan 2025 12:06:31 +0000 https://independentbookreview.com/?p=84717 THE GODDESS IN THE MOUNTAIN by Sean DeLauder is a unique addition to the post-apocalyptic genre, thoughtfully exploring religious complacency, coercion, and corruption. Reviewed by Timothy Thomas.

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The Goddess In the Mountain (Millennium Man)

by Sean DeLauder

Genre: Science Fiction / Post-Apocalyptic

ISBN: 9798989641291

Print Length: 99 pages

Reviewed by Timothy Thomas

A unique addition to the post-apocalyptic genre, thoughtfully exploring religious complacency, coercion, and corruption

The Goddess in the Mountain is book two of the Millennium Man series, following Thomas the Vitruvian, one of an untold number of individuals with projected thousand-year lifespans, each with a particular expertise that they consider to be of greater value than the others. 

The series is non-linear, intending to jump around to various points of significance in Thomas’s life to tell a larger story that revolves around the collapse and subsequent rebirth of society, so do not be surprised if you find yourself lost in time, regardless of whether you’ve read the first installment. You can still enjoy it no matter when you are.

In this entry, Thomas is approximately 310 years old. Having lived to see the cataclysm caused by the asteroid Apep’s collision with Earth and its subsequent chaos, Thomas now wanders the planet looking for other Vitruvians, and he’s found one. Entombed in an iron cage within a mountain where her devotees work tirelessly to free her from its clutches lays Atah, a goddess regaining her strength. 

This convenient mythology, crafted by the Vitruvian Magdalena Ordonez (Maggie, for short) to keep the people complacent and submissive, feeds her vanity and keeps her insulated from the outside world, sparing her from having to share her gift with humanity to rebuild civilization. Can Thomas convince her otherwise, or will the realization that her society is more a prison than a shield come too late to avoid his own entombment in the mountain of Atah?

The Goddess in the Mountain is a quick, enjoyable read packed with commentary on the nature of manipulation and religious fanaticism. Its portrayal of a post-apocalyptic society in which the religious imagination of a populace is being manipulated and controlled for the personal gain of the few feels honest, and the sentiments expressed through Thomas’s perspective in response to it is relatable. This gives the story some grounding which, in combination with the lack of fantastical elements, helps make it feel realistic.

One downside of the short length of the book is that the characters lack some depth. I would have liked to understand Thomas and Maggie’s motivations and history more, to gain greater insight into their dynamic. With the series set to explore more of Thomas’s life, I’m hopeful and certain that if this has not already been addressed in the first book, it will be addressed in a later installment. 

With The Goddess in the Mountain, DeLauder has succeeded in writing a compelling, self-contained story that fulfills the promise laid out by the intriguing larger narrative. It’s easy to read and quite exciting to explore this world through Thomas’s adventures.

Thank you for reading Timothy Thomas’s book review of The Goddess In the Mountain by Sean DeLauder! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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