Carnies and Wildcats: Ulciscor

by Robert Spearman

Murder and revenge in the Deep South.

In a city called "Winnersville" there are bound to be losers. In 1980, the carnival came and lost one of their own--the carnival owner's 12-year-old daughter--her body found at the carnival's ticket gate, brutally murdered. The killer never discovered. Her father vowed to return one day and avenge his daughter's death. Thirty-five years later a mysterious stranger buys the old Daniel Ashley Hotel and for some of the citizens of "Winnersville" things will never be the same.

Genres: Mystery

214 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

About the author

Spearman was born and raised in Hahira, GA...a small town 28 miles north of the Florida state line. Most of his adult life was spent in and around Atlanta.

In 2005 he moved to China. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and knows "enough Cantonese and Thai to get in trouble."

He began writing full time in late 2014 and published his first novel Carnies and Wildcats in July 2015.

In 2017 he finished his second novel Obadiah: A Ghost's Story. He is now working on a sequel for Carnies and Wildcats and his next novel, a series based on a time traveling gunslinger, soldier of fortune, and detective titled T. H. E. Knight.

Reviews

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book...I can't believe this is the author's first novel! It truly does keep you engaged and trying to figure out what is going to happen next and to whom. Although I did notice some grammatical errors the closer to the end I got, they were minor and I suspect this was most likely because the copy I read was an advanced copy I received for free through a giveaway on Goodreads.com.

I didn't care for the title of the book at first, but once I read the book I understood why the author chose it and I agree with him on his choice. The adage "Don't judge a book by its cover" definitely holds true here. Once you begin reading it, good luck putting it down! The author did such a superb job at weaving all the characters into the story, it felt as if the story were real and I could really empathize with the characters.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something different that will keep your attention. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

Happy Reading! :)

[Beth Lind · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four stars for the unexpectedness of the twists and turns in this book. Those twists and turns were dark and a bit unbelievable at times — but the “ooh!” moments were oh so good. Some of the spelling and grammatical errors distracted me. And I wish the title was just something else.

Parts of this book seemed like a travel guide to Valdosta, GA — the town I live in and have lived in for most of my life. Some of the familiar scenery was intriguing but then felt unnecessary and forced. In the end, it simultaneously reminded me of all that I love and despise about living in a small town. I wish more of the focus had been on more character development instead of naming certain streets and locations and talking about the crosstown high school football rivalry. Those things just didn’t add anything to the story except to make it something exciting for Valdosta folks to read.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

(**I received a copy of this book for free through Goodreads. As always thank you!)

"Carnies and Wildcats: Ulciscor" is a nice, easy-reading mystery that should appeal to a wide audience. The pacing is pleasant, the characters are fairly interesting, and who can't understand the need to see someone pay for so much pain and suffering when a little girl is found brutally murdered? It's pretty easy from the beginning to separate the good guys from the bad guys until suddenly it isn't!

Overall I enjoyed this story but I couldn't get past one fatal flaw...

((**POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD**))

A large part of the entire plot relies on the use of hypnotism. I have trained in hypnotherapy and I wasn't at all comfortable with how hypnotism was treated in this book. It left me feeling as if the author either didn't do due diligence in researching hypnosis when writing this or needed a realistic sounding way to force a few key plot points into position so chose "hypnosis" as being better than "because magic!"

To set the record straight for professional hypnotists everywhere, hypnosis isn't magic. It can't force you to be in anyone's control and it can't be used to make you go against your own codes of morals and ethics; which means that you cannot be hypnotized into killing someone unless you are actually an honest to goodness killer in which case all bets are off. ;)

If you know the real deal about hypnosis YMMV with this selection but if you're good at suspending your disbelief or don't know a darn thing about hypnosis this book is certainly a good read for a lazy day.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book through the GoodReads First Reads giveaways.


I had a hard time putting down Carnies and Wildcats: Ulcisor by Robert Spearman. Back in 1980, the carnival is visiting Valdosta, also known as "Winnersville", and the owner's daughter is murdered and left by the entrance for all to see. With no clues left behind by the murderer, the owner promises to get revenge one day. Allen Ridley is a brat from Valdosta who is evil to the core and the reader learns about things Allen did as a kid and sees the man he becomes. When Allen takes over the family business after his father's death, Allen publicly lays off Jimmy Miller who was Allen's father's protege. A man at the next table approaches Jimmy after Allen leaves and introduces himself as Lewis Seiffert and offers to help Jimmy...that's when things get interesting.

[Brenda Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was taken to a quaint South Georgia town where unexpected murders took place. I am an avid reader and finding a book that captures my interest is a huge deal. The story held me from start to finish. Trying to figure out who committed the murders was challenging. surprises throughout the story. This is not your typical who done it. The story will keep you guessing the entire time. I would highly recommend this book as a good read. This is the author's (Robert Spearman) first novel. I look forward to more books by Robert.

[Karin Montin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this free somewhere and was tempted by the potential carnie noir. Unfortunately, this self-published book needs a lot of editing. Sentences like "When these flowers bloom and spread their colors and blooms throughout the city, Valdosta becomes 'The Azalea City'" are far too frequent. There are lots of comma splices, too. The plot takes a long time to become evident, but is fairly gripping after that. The characters are pretty well drawn. The ending owes everything to Tod Browning's film Freaks.

[Lee Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this for free through Goodreads First Reads

I am from near the area that this novel takes place, so that made it pretty interesting to me from the get go. Before I started reading I was a bit skeptical about the actual story. I am so glad I gave it a chance. There were a few grammatical errors, but I can always look past that for a good, original story. And this definitely was!

[The Sample Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Carnies and Wildcats: Ulciscor teaches the valuable lesson that disguising a crime novel as a guidebook of meandering local history is not the way to grab a reader’s attention.

Read the full ebook Sample Reader review here.

[International Cat Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was a bit too prosaic for my tastes, but being from the north Florida/south Georgia area featured in this story, I found it intriguing nonetheless. I didn't find the magical hypnotism skills or the twist at the end believable, though.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the way the story unfolded in layers.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to put down

I enjoyed this book very much and stayed up later than I should at night reading because it was very entertaining and hard to put down.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story of revenge which turns very dark at the end. It also has a very unexpected twist.