This is a book review for 'Far out' by Khaleb Talib. It is a fast-paced action thriller and was quite entertaining. A famous actress is invoved in a major accident. She recovers but with her memory misplaced. She thinks she's someone else and does not believe in anyone around her. Her only hope is her husband, Blake, who needs to reach out to her carefully but at the same time protect her mental health. Meanwhile there are enemies eyeing her vast estate and assets.

Once you reach halfway through, the book flies pretty fast. Goldie is the actress who thinks she is Gypsy. She assumes that she is on a rescue mission to find a girl, Candace, who is in danger. But they all get trapped.

There is a very exciting rescue operation invovlving daring friends of Blake and a lot of high fi gadgets.

What happens to Goldie/ Gypsy? Will she ever find out her true identity? Read the book to find out.

I loved this! Kept me guessing until the end and kept me wanting more. Definitely going to look for more by this author.

I thought this sounded fascinating by the synopsis, but perhaps I got my expectations up too high. This fell flat for me.

This book was a quick exciting read. It starts out fast and hooks you from the very beginning! I enjoyed it!

This is a sad but funny tale: sad because of the shysters willing to take advantage of anyone and funny…well you will have to read it to find the true humor.

Big thank you to Running Wild Press and Net Galley for this ARC! Unfortunately, this book was not all that I hoped it would be.

The premise and overall idea are great. I loved that the writing gave a sense of breaking through the “fourth wall” in cinema. However, execution was lacking.

I felt some details were minimally creative. A skydiving incident being the cause of someone’s injury for example - is that the most original thing that we could have picked in this scenario?? That sounds like an outlandish excuse you make, not a good explanation for a character’s absence.

If much of the book was going to be reliant on a previous abduction and hostage situation - more context should have been given on that matter and how it influenced the characters. Simply alluding to the fact that those circumstances occurred was not enough for readers to understand the relevance.

There were several times I considered not finishing this title. The epilogue was more encompassing and satisfying than the work itself.

Thank you to Running Wild Press for the ARC via NetGalley.

Far Out is a thriller that is set in Hollywood that follows a move star actress, Goldie, that ends up with a kind of amnesia that makes her believe she is a detective from the 1960s, Gypsy, from the last screenplay she read. While she is incapacitated in this new identity that doctors tell her husband to play along on, there are several people who are trying to take advantage of her wealthy estate through a conservatorship.

It's super action packed and takes a lot of twists and turns. The characters were well developed and the plot keeps you engaged, although I found Gypsy's character a bit grating most of the time. To be honest I was having a hard time with the believability of the story as some of the plot twists were a little too "far out" to happen in reality. With that aside, it makes for a good story and a fun little read.

Book Title: Far Out
Author: Khaled Talib
Publisher: Running Wild Press
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Pub Date: January 8, 2024
My Rating: 3 Stars!
Pages: 324

Movie Star Goldie Saint Helen, was in a car accident. She is fortunate in that some college aged kids save her life. She is in a coma and when she out of the coma she doesn't know who she is. In fact, she thinks that she's Gypsy Starr from the script she recently read.
(I thought this sounded interesting as well as fun!)
Her husband Screenwriter Blake Deco is suspicious of the accident. When an investigation doesn’t happen by authorities, Hollywood corporate greed and her lawyers see her condition as an opportunity and take this as an advantage to swindle her.

I am a big thriller fan and saw the good ratings but unfortunately this wasn’t the thriller I was expecting. Perhaps it was the wrong timing for me and I should have put it on the back burner.
It looked good but just didn’t click enough for me to really enjoy it.

Want to thank NetGalley and Running Wild Press for granting me this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 8, 2024

FAR OUT is the story of Goldie, a well-known actor, who is found on the side of the road post-automobile accident, is pulled from her car and is barely conscious, but onlookers definitely recognize her as the celebrity she is. She’s taken to the hospital where Goldie’s husband is told she’s had a brain injury and on one hand, the doctor makes it out to be very serious, yet the next page makes it seem she’ll be good as new in a few days and it’s only temporary.
The problem is, Goldie is convinced she is Gypsy, the character (a hippie-detective from the 60’s) based on the script she’d been studying, she is slated to start filming. She thinks her sister works for the CIA and believes her husband is lying about who he says he is.

So, for Goldie’s sake, they decide to play along.

The characters are all quite likable.
It’s written well and was one of those fast read stories that you can play out in your head like a movie. This was a gracious ARC from NetGalley I had. It needs a few minor edits, but the story was fun. Not totally believable, but I wasn’t looking for it to be.

The keywords I picked up that made me want to read FAR OUT, Brain Injury, Gypsy, hippies, 60’s, detective. That combination just seemed high-potential for a clever story.

I really enjoyed it. If it was in print on my shelf I’d most likely pick it up again in the future, just for the enjoyment of it. I DO want this one in print so I guess I am a fan now. If it was a movie, it'd be more like a of low-budget that still does relatively well at the box office (if that makes sense) and while it wasn’t crazy action packed, it was the combination of characters and word-play that made it so amusing. I’d definitely suggest it for friends that are looking for a fun read, but as far as a high-suspense, it was mostly stress-free to read.

This was… kind of a mess.
Too many characters were presented at the same time without a proper introduction, and too many things were happening at once.

As a reader, it felt like the author didn’t think we would be able to remember basic information, using too much repetition at times. Yet, some points that actually needed clarification were left unexplained.

Some conversations felt unnatural, and so were some behaviors, taking me out of the story— I can’t say how many times I annotated something with “???”. And honestly, that’s how I felt for the most part of this read.

Haven’t this been an ARC, I would have DNF’ed at 15%. The story felt like it was trying too hard, and the execution has a lot of room to improve. Definitely needs another round of editing and clearer plot structure.

Leave a space on your bookshelf for this one. It has a bit of everything from love, trust, tragedy, betrayal and excitement.

The A list actress Goldie has been in a terrible car wreck giving her temporary amnesia, while she is just about to do a new movie for a 60's vibe role. After a period of time her husband Blake discovers that pot pills help to bring her back from her "actress role" to her normal self.

Lots of drama along the way but the real twist comes when her lawyers see this as a good time to take advantage of her situation and steal her money. What they did not account for was that Blake would do whatever it takes to get it all back including breaking out of jail, running from the law and breaking her out of a asylum to prove their innocence.

While I really enjoyed the story itself it did have a little more details that could have been shortened. The characters had name changes and a few that you really had to keep track of to keep up with the story. All in all I am going to give this book a 4* review.

I’ve read this book through @netgalley. The book will be publicated January 8 2024.

I loved the cover. It looks very dark and mysterious!

Goldie had a car accident. And therefor she was in coma for a couple of days. After waking up she confuses reality with fantasy. She thinks she is Gypsy. The doctors told Blake, her husband, to get along with her story.

I really wanted to love the book. Because the concept was quite genious. I just didn’t like how it turned out. It was boring a lot of times.
I just expected a more mysterious book but it wasn’t unfortunately.
DNF at 20%.

Thank you NetGalley and Running Wold Press for letting me read this book.

This book turned out not to be my cup of tea. The premise sounded super interesting, but the actual execution was not done in a way that engaged me, personally. After 10 chapters, I decided to DNF this book, and there are a few reasons why:

1. The descriptions: a lot of descriptions of characters and actions were too overdone, leaving nothing to the imagination of the reader. I don't particularly care about what a person is wearing, that they are of average height and walk with confidence. It felt too much like the kind of description you find in a movie script. If I wanted to read a script, I would pick up a script, not a novel.

2. Blake: I've seen others refer to him as a loving and caring husband in their reviews, but to me he just felt awkward. Example one: he goes into a bar, after leaving the hospital where his wife has woken up thinking she's the character from a film she's trying to get, and talks to the bartender. One of the things he says is: "since she doesn't remember we're married, I guess I won't be getting any for who knows how long." Like hello, your wife was just in a near-fatal car crash and you're focusing on not getting laid?? Example two: Blake and Goldie meet some people on the beach and she wants to stay, thinking they're hippies as she's trapped in this illusion that she's in a movie script set in the 60s, and Blake is trying to get her to leave, and a Texan is speaking up against him because Goldie wants to stay, and this sentence is written: "For a split second, he considered grabbing the Texan's flailing penis and squeezing it until the larger man teared up for mercy. But the thought of holding it...". What on earth did I just read?!

3. The constant name switching between Goldie and Gypsy, Blake and Ted: I get that Goldie and Blake are the real people, and that Goldie thinks she's Gypsy from the script she read before the accident and that Blake is Ted, another character in the script. But the switching of the names during the third person narration just made everything seem inconsistent and confusing, and it wasn't necessary, in my opinion.

4. The amount of stuff that's happened before the story even starts: First, Goldie is in a car crash. Then it's revealed that she'd previously been kidnapped by a Mexican drug lord – twice – and that Blake wrote a script about it and she starred in the film. Not long after that, we're told that Goldie's agent is her second agent, because the first agent had been shot and killed by his secretary because the drug lord threatened to hurt her mother if she didn't do what he said. Goldie hasn't been through much at all, has she??

5. Typos: it might not be a big deal, but I've found at least three in the ten chapters I've read: Gypsye, Gpsy and t'en. I think there was one more but when I tried to look for it I couldn't find it. Not sure what has happened here but it was just another thing that put me off of reading.

To sum up: I think this story might have been interesting as a film, but I wasn't enjoying reading it. After 10 chapters, I still wasn't invested in he story, and I felt bored whenever I tried to read on. I do think the story has potential, but maybe as a film rather than a novel. If you enjoy novels written as if they are films though, you might enjoy this!

Goldie Saint Helen is an A-list actress who gets into a pretty bad car wreck. Luckily some young college aged kids pull her from the wreckage and save her life. Too bad she doesn't know who she is. She thinks that she's Gypsy Starr from the script she read shortly before the accident. Gypsy is under the impression that it's the 60's and a girl named Cameron has gone to live on a hippie comune. She was hired to save Cameron because the FBI is also testing strychnine on the hippies. It's a pretty good script, but a problem when Goldie/Gypsy thinks it's real life. Goldie's husband Blake is trying to help her recover from this strange amnesia before her lawyers put her under a conservatorship.

This book was insane! So fast paced and non stop! It sounds like a lot going on but it was done amazingly well!! The story is almost like an action movie but with an amazing plot line. I think the writing is spectacular.

This was a very light and fun read. I’m not exactly sure what exactly I expected going into this but it wasn’t this. Nothing heavy, but still adventurous and unpredictable at times. I liked that this author added some humor, it made it all the more enjoyable. It wasn’t one that I sat down and binged but one I picked up here and there. I definitely liked this book but I didn’t love it!

Pretty good. This is fairly entertaining and includes some humor along the way. This is from an experience author, so he knows how create a good story.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

A special thank you to Khalid Talía, Running Wild Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to preview this uncorrected proof in exchange for my honest review. Let me start by saying what a wild, unique and exciting adventure this was. Our protagonist, whether Hollywood babe Goldie or the 60’s hippie, Gypsie w as a hoot. The reader roots for her to emerge on top right from the beginning. This was most certainly a fun, light but adventure full read which was a perfect summer read. I would recommend it for a good laugh good thrill overall!

This was an interesting read with a unique plot. Full of action and twists that i didn’t predict. It held my attention the entire story, and i definitely recommend this book once it’s released.

It has been a long time since I was not able to finish a book but here we are. I tried to keep pushing along but this book was on the struggle bus. It jumps in immediately to Goldie getting into a car accident and then now everyone is pretending to be characters in a movie she auditioned for from the 70s. There are a lot of plot holes here. It reads like a movie that you are watching with bad reception, choppy and confusing.

I'd call this a Frankenstein book and not necessarily in a good way. It feels like several elements of other books have simply been thrown together in hopes of making something stick. I ended up DNFing but I'm giving it 4 stars because maybe it has a great ending I won't know about.