Crime Fiction | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

RISE THE DARK by Michael Koryta

August 16, 2016

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Markus Novak Novels, Book 2

Markus Novak lost his wife when Garland Webb killed her and left her body in a ditch in Casadaga, Florida, home to a large psychic and spiritual community. Webb was never caught and Novak is on the hunt, his only clue is his wife’s last entry in her journal, the mysterious phrase, “rise the dark.”

Across the country in Montana, a high voltage linesman is accidentally killed while his best friend, Jay, is just a few feet away. Jay and his best friend’s sister, Sabrina, move away, ostensibly to keep Jay safe and on the ground. When the power goes out, he goes to work but Sabrina is kidnapped while Jay is instructed to take down some heavy duty power lines.

Meanwhile a beautiful young woman is traveling the country on her way to Montana, leaving a trail of dead bodies behind. These disparate stories eventually come together in a frightening story about the holes in the U.S. infrastructure and security, and a villain who seems too smart to be stopped. Novak’s dysfunctional family comes to the forefront in this excellent second book in the Markus Novak series.

8/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

RISE THE DARK by Michael Koryta. Little, Brown and Company (August 16, 2016). ISBN 978-0316293839. 400p.

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THE GIRL BEFORE by Rena Olsen

August 9, 2016

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Clara is home brushing her daughter’s hair when a group of armed men swarms the house, arresting her and her husband Glen, and taking all her daughters away. This disturbing scene is set at the opening of the novel, and the story moves back and forth in time in alternating chapters titled “Then” and “Now” until we piece together the horror that unravels Clara’s life.

The last thing Glen says to her is, “say nothing,” and as always, Clara is obedient to her husband. She learns that he is in jail, but she is in a psychiatric hospital under the watchful eye of a couple of federal agents and a therapist, and they force her into group therapy with other young women. Clara doesn’t understand why she is in this group; she feels her story is nothing like theirs.

But as the mystery of her life unfurls, Clara’s point of view starts to change. This is superb psychological suspense; Clara starts to question everything she thought she knew about her family and her life and slowly starts to emerge from her cocoon-like existence.

The Girl Before is a compelling, albeit difficult read, but is almost impossible to put down, much like Room by Emma Donoghue.

8/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE GIRL BEFORE by Rena Olsen. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (August 9, 2016). ISBN 978-1101982358. 320p.

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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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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
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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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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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DEAD JOKER by Ann Holt

July 28, 2016

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Hanne Wilhelmsen Novels, Book 5

Hanne Wilhelmsen is a middle-aged lesbian detective in Oslo, Norway who has a problem case fall in her lap. The Chief Prosecutor’s wife has been murdered – she was decapitated by her own antique sword, with her husband’s fingerprints all over it. Plus he’s offering up an alternative suspect who happens to have died a few weeks earlier.

Nonetheless, Wilhelmsen doesn’t really believe he’s guilty but even with her deputy, Billy T, helping, she has a hard time finding another suspect. Then a reporter is also decapitated and Wilhelmsen needs to figure out how the two deaths are related.

Meanwhile, her long time partner at home has been diagnosed with cancer and the stress of her home life and these cases is definitely taking its toll, all played out against the bleak Norwegian backdrop. The pacing is leisurely, especially for a Scandinavian thriller, but the character development almost makes up for it.

Holt is Norway’s former Minister of Justice. Readers who enjoy Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series or Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer series will feel like they are back in Scandinavia.

7/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

DEAD JOKER by Ann Holt. Scribner (July 26, 2016). ISBN 978-1501123269. 368p.

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THE GIRLS IN THE GARDEN by Lisa Jewell

July 27, 2016

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In the aftermath of a community party, a girl falls victim to a terrible attack. She’s found unconscious by her younger sister while their mother lay passed out drunk in their nearby flat.

Months earlier, in the wake of another tragedy and short on funds, Clare and her two daughters, Grace and Pip, were forced to move into a small London flat. The new home offered two positives: a chance to hide from their past and the unexpected hidden gem of a communal garden. As months passed, the family made friends amongst their neighbors. But now the quiet safety of their new existence has been shattered. And everyone is a potential suspect.

Jewell’s latest begins with the attack in question. It’s a fairly shocking start to the book, but after this opening chapter the reader is launched backward in time to “Before.” In fact, Jewell takes the story months back in the characters’ timeline with Clare, Pip, and Grace having just moved into their new flat. And it’s clear as soon as we meet this family that something horrible has happened. Something that has forced them to uproot and basically hide in this new neighborhood.

This particular start and immediate flash backward sets a great tone for the book as a whole – one that hints at secrets and possible clues to the eventual attack around every corner. That suspicion and the deliberate pacing of the book make for a quite suspenseful and utterly enjoyable read. And the end was one even I didn’t fully see coming.

7/16 Becky LeJeune

THE GIRLS IN THE GARDEN by Lisa Jewell. Atria Books (June 7, 2016). ISBN: 978-1476792217. 320p.

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GUILTY MINDS by Joseph Finder

July 23, 2016

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Nick Heller has appeared several times in previous novels by Joseph Finder. He is a private spy for hire, an intelligence operative that works for lawyers, politicians, and in some cases for foreign governments.

Nick has been well fleshed out, a person that is addicted to doing things his own way and with a record of getting tough chores done. In this novel, Nick is called to Washington to help prevent a scandal enveloping the Chief Justice of the Supreme court.

A reporter has uncovered facts indicating that the Justice was involved with an “escort”, a young lady that is paid for her services. The reporter has indicated that she will publish the story in 48 hours, something that will ruin the Justice’s reputation as well as involving the Supreme Court, an elite institution in the government.

Complicating the matter is that Nick arrives just as the “escort” is found murdered and doubt is cast on the Chief Justice. The case has taken a very dangerous turn with possible repercussions echoing throughout the government. Heller has just 48 hours to find the actual mastermind of the conspiracy before others fall victim to the scandal sweeping the government and ruining many reputations in its path.

Finder is a master craftsman and is in his element setting up the story, the characters and the twisted path to the truth.

7/16 Paul Lane

GUILTY MINDS by Joseph Finder. Dutton (July 19, 2016). ISBN 978-0525954620. 400p.

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OUTFOXED by David Rosenfelt

July 21, 2016

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An Andy Carpenter Novel, Book 14

David Rosenfelt has written many successful novels featuring defense lawyer Andy Carpenter. There are a large number of similarities in the books; Andy has inherited a great deal of money so he does not have any pressing need nor does he really want to work. He loves dogs and his first love is sharing a business with Willie Miller, a man that he saved from execution by the state. Their business is rescuing dogs and setting them up with qualified owners. He is in love with Laurie, who was once with the police, still shares a lot of contacts, and is now married to Andy plus sharing an adopted son. He maintains an office manned by a secretary who devotes her time to doing crossword puzzles and little else.

With the above factors appearing in every Andy Carpenter book and all books leading to a trial for a where Andy must prove someone innocent, in spite of the odds against them, is what makes them so popular and keeps us going back for more. Surely one thing is the tongue-in-check approach to the characters. But most of all are the little changes involved in each novel.

During one of the many lulls in Andy’s legal work, he and his partner Willie, have come up with a plan to train dogs for prisoners in the hope that they will adopt them when released from prison. Brian Atkins, completing a five year sentence, is helping with a fox terrier named Boomer, and they hope he will adopt the dog upon release. But, and this is the but that really begins an Andy Carpenter novel, one day Andy comes to the prison and finds that Brian has utilized Boomer in a unique escape plan. The next day the man that Brian claimed had framed him is murdered, and the Carpenter brigade finds itself involved with a new client, and the need to keep Boomer.

David Rosenfelt does it again. The novel keeps the reader engrossed, and at the end satisfied, and impatiently awaiting the next Andy Carpenter book. As usual very well done.

7/16 Paul Lane

OUTFOXED by David Rosenfelt. Minotaur Books (July 19, 2016). ISBN 978-1250055347. 336p.

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