THE COMMODORE by P.T. Deutermann

August 7, 2016

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Ex-Naval Captain Peter Deutermann spent his career as an officer with the United States Navy. Upon retirement he commenced an equally successful career as an author of adventure novels, including several based on events during wartime.

The Commodore is his latest book and is based upon the sea battles surrounding the invasion of Guadalcanal by the Marines. Harmon Wolf is a naval officer born on a Minnesota Indian reservation. He has never been thought of as an acceptable career officer since he does not fit into the traditional image of a by the book sailor.

The navy has been taking a pounding by the Japanese fleet and admiral “Bull” Halsey, a maverick in his own right, is looking for non-traditional answers to that problem.

Wolf is appointed commander of a destroyer and immediately demonstrates an ability to bring aggressive solutions to problems. He quickly earns promotion by Halsey as Commodore of an entire destroyer squadron. Applying original answers to questions about naval tactics gains a much sought after victory over a Japanese fleet bringing reinforcements to Guadalcanal.

As always, Deutermann’s descriptions of naval engagements, military tactics, weapons and armament are couched in easy to understand language for the reader. His gift for language keeps his audience glued to the book, and easily picturing the situations populating the novel. When Wolf is injured during the battles and cannot be safely sent to sea, a unique solution to continuing making use of him is set up.

Very well done indeed.

8/16 Paul Lane

THE COMMODORE by P.T. Deutermann. St. Martin’s Press (August 2, 2016). ISBN 978-1250078070. 304p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

Author Blake Crouch on his first meaningful writing

August 6, 2016

Author Blake Crouch (DARK MATTER) talks about his first meaningful writing—a story for his brother, and what it taught him about words.

Dark Matter

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A brilliantly plotted, relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller from the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy

“Brilliant. A book to remember. I think Blake Crouch just invented something new.”
—Lee Child, NYT bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series

“Exceptional. An exciting, ingeniously plotted adventure about love, regret, and quantum superposition.”
—Andy Weir, NYT bestselling author of The Martian

“Wow. I gulped down Dark Matter in one sitting and put it down awed and amazed by the ride. It’s fast, smart, addictive—and the most creative, head-spinning novel I’ve read in ages.”
—Tess Gerritsen, NYT bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series

“Are you happy with your life?”

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

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About the Author

blake-crouch-350 Blake Crouch has sold over a million books and his work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Known for high-concept fiction with breakneck pacing and groundbreaking genre cross-breeding, six of his books have hit the Kindle Top 10, and two have reached the #1 spot. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Alfred Hitchcock, Ellery Queen, Cemetery Dance, and Thriller 2, edited by Clive Cussler.

In 2013, his novel Pines was nominated for ITW’s Best Paperback Original Thriller Award, and his Wayward Pines series has been made into a TV series which is currently airing on Fox International Channels, directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Matt Dillon, Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo and Terrence Howard. He has been featured in Time Magazine, the L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Entertainment Weekly. Blake lives in Colorado.

The best way to stay apprised of new releases is to sign up for his newsletter, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

YOU WILL KNOW ME by Megan Abbott

August 4, 2016

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I’m a long time Megan Abbott fan so I was just thrilled to see all the buzz this new book is getting. There have been great articles in The Atlantic, The Independent and The Guardian, and a great interview (and excerpt) in Entertainment Weekly.

In an ever so Olympic timely way, this domestic thriller is set in the world of competitive gymnastics – but not in the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan kind of way. In this story, the victim isn’t a gymnast at all, and is murdered.

Devon is a gymnastics prodigy, despite her deformed foot, the result of a childhood accident. The whole town vacillates between rooting for her and hating her for her immense talent. Her family is super supportive, to the point of pretty much ignoring her younger brother and going into serious debt to pay for all her coaching. Second mortgages are de rigeur in this world.

Devon is close with both her parents, who have been attending her meets and practices for as long as she can remember. But they are having some problems, there seems to be a distance between them. And once the murder happens, things really start to go awry.

Abbott has a deft hand with character development and building suspense, making this a really fast, really tense read. A great book to take on your last summer weekend to the beach.

AUTHOR BIO:

Megan Abbott is the Edgar®-winning author of the novels Queenpin, The Song Is You, Die a Little, Bury Me Deep, The End of Everything, Dare Me, and The Fever, which was chosen as one of the Best Books of the Summer by the New York Times, People Magazine and Entertainment Weekly and one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon, National Public Radio, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times.

Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, the State University of New York and the New School University. In 2013-14, she served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at Ole Miss.

She is also the author of a nonfiction book, The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir, and the editor of A Hell of a Woman, an anthology of female crime fiction. She has been nominated for many awards, including three Edgar® Awards, Hammett Prize, the Shirley Jackson Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Folio Prize.

To win YOU WILL KNOW ME by Megan Abbott, please send an email to contest@gmail.com with “YOU WILL KNOW ME” as the subject. You must include your U.S. street address in your email.

All entries must be received by Aug. 20, 2016. One (1) name will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States only. Your prize will be sent by Tandem Literary.

One entry per email address. Subscribers to the monthly newsletter earn an extra entry into every contest. Follow this blog to earn another entry into every contest. Winners may win only one time per year (365 days) for contests with prizes of more than one book. Your email address will not be shared or sold to anyone.

YOU WILL KNOW ME by Megan Abbott. Little, Brown and Company (July 26, 2016). ISBN: 978-0316231077. 352p.

2 Comments | Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Thriller | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

PARADIME by Alan Glynn

August 3, 2016

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Danny Lynch is floundering since his return from Afghanistan, where he worked for a private company feeding the troops. He gets fired after witnessing a deadly riot.

Afraid to say anything, he meets with one of the corporate big shots who assures him all is well as long as he keeps his mouth shut, and offers to help Danny find a job. He is grateful for the job as a prep cook in a fancy midtown Manhattan restaurant; he is settling in, his girlfriend is happy he found a job and things seem to be looking up.

While looking out the kitchen window into the restaurant one afternoon, he sees a man who looks familiar. Very familiar. In fact, it is like looking in the mirror. Teddy Trager is the mega-successful founder of Paradime Capital, and Danny becomes obsessed with his doppelganger.

Eventually they meet with devastating results, and then things really start spiraling out of control. Suspend your disbelief and go along for a really fun, really fast rollercoaster ride with Danny.

Glynn wrote The Dark Fields, which was adapted into the movie and television series “Limitless.”

8/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

PARADIME by Alan Glynn. Picador (August 2, 2016). ISBN 978-1250061829. 272p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

DARK MATTER by Blake Crouch

August 2, 2016

Blake Crouch entered the literary scene with his imaginative trilogy Wayward Pines, novels that centered upon an imaginative set of circumstances very different from most other books. Dark Matter delivers another scenario that involves a plot that sets the action in a different and certainly not ordinary setting.

Jason Dessen is a physics professor at a local university very happily married to Daniela, a woman that he has been in love with since meeting her years ago. They have a son named Charles who is an adolescent to be proud of. That Jason turned down a career involved with making brilliant strides in the world of physics in order to marry Daniela when she became pregnant does not enter his mind.

One evening while preparing for a family meal, Jason is called out to have a drink with a long time friend of his. He leaves the bar shortly after the drink but is stopped at gunpoint by a stranger, taken to a warehouse and put to sleep. He awakens strapped to a gurney and told by a person he does not know,”welcome back my friend.” He learns that he seemingly is a different Jason Dessen, one who has achieved something so far beyond what he has ever known that he will become world famous.

Crouch develops a story that should be labeled Science Fiction for want of a better term but involves the reader in a rapid fire journey that is as absorbing as any adventure that has been my pleasure to read. The book is relatively short and a must finish in one sitting. Crouch does not hide behind descriptions of future inventions taxing the imaginations of his readers but opens an imaginative set of circumstances that could exist in the world populated by his creation.

8/16 Paul Lane

DARK MATTER by Blake Crouch. Crown (July 26, 2016). ISBN 978-1101904220. 352p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

Win the August ’16 bookshelf of signed thrillers!

August 1, 2016

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Welcome to the August bookshelf of signed thrillers! I am giving away some terrific books this month, all autographed by the authors. Don’t forget to check back…you never know when new titles will be added. To enter, go to the Win Books page. Best of luck!

STING by Sandra Brown: Changing his mind about his crime partner’s abduction of wealthy party planner Jordie Bennet, seductive bad boy Shaw Kinnard flees with his elegant captive from the FBI and her brother’s corrupt boss while trying to ignore the chemistry that challenges their escape.

DARK MATTER by Blake Crouch: Kidnapped and drugged at gunpoint for inexplicable reasons, physics professor Jason Dessen awakens in a lab and is informed that his entire life has been an illusion and that he is being hunted by a deadly adversary. By the best-selling author of the Wayward Pines trilogy.

KILLFILE by Christopher Farnsworth: A man who can hear other people’s thoughts is hired to track a former tech employee who stole some important and valuable intellectual property. A “clever, offbeat thriller.” Kirkus Reviews

THE ONE MAN by Andrew Gross: When a World War II physics professor with information vital to Allied forces is sent to a Nazi concentration camp, intelligence officer Nathan Blum is sent undercover to infiltrate Auschwitz and bring the professor to safety.

ARROWOOD by Laura McHugh: When Arden Arrowood was four years old, her two-year-old twin sisters were stolen from the front yard of their hometown of Keokuk, Iowa, on the Mississippi River while Arden watched. Twenty years later, she returns home to confront the darkest part of her past. As the mystery unravels, the novel explores the reliability of memory, the stories we tell ourselves, and the power of love.

BRAIN STORM by Elaine Viets: After suffering a series of crippling strokes, death investigator Angela Richman, facing a harrowing recovery, must solve the murder of the neurologist who misdiagnosed her and prove the innocence of the surgeon who saved her life, despite the fact that her brain trauma brings doubts that she will ever recover her investigative skills.

You can win autographed copies of all these books! If you are new to the site, each month I run a contest in conjunction with the International Thriller Writers organization. We put together a list of books from debut authors to bestsellers, so you can win some of your favorites and find some new favorites.

What makes this contest really special is that all of the books (except eBooks) are signed by the author! Books with multiple authors will be signed by at least one of the authors.

Don’t forget, if you subscribe to the newsletter or follow this blog, you get an extra entry into every contest you enter. Check out the Win Books page for more information on all these books and how you to enter this month’s contest.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

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Posted by Stacy Alesi