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NIGHT AND DAY by Iris Johansen

July 18, 2016

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An Eve Duncan Novel, Book 21

The action starts on page one as Eve is pregnant, Joe Quinn is hovering about, and they are protecting a young girl, Cara, from her murderous mother. They are all hiding in Scotland; Jock is keeping a close eye on the girl, Eve’s daughter, Jane, is there as well, helping MacDuff look for Cira’s gold.

Eve’s deceased daughter, Bonnie, still speaks to her, Jane hears things in the Scottish mists, and Caleb can do things to people’s blood from killing men to making Jane lust for him. There are a lot of paranormal elements going on in this story that moves from Scotland to Russia as Cara is snatched by her mother, Natalie, a complete sociopath who is planning her demise. Jock is hot on her trail, Eve is too, and all confusion is laid to rest by novel’s end.

Iris Johansen fans will undoubtedly enjoy the conclusion to this story arc in the Eve Duncan series while new readers will be best served starting with book 19, Shadow Play, where this story arc begins, or even book 20, Hide Away.

7/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

NIGHT AND DAY by Iris Johansen. St. Martin’s Press (July 19, 2016). ISBN 978-1250075833. 352p.

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SUMMIT by Harry Farthing

July 15, 2016

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The first time author trying to write a novel is normally advised to utilize the known parameters of his or her own experience. Harry Farthing has done just that in coming out with a book revolving around attempts to climb Mount Everest, the highest peak currently known to man.

Farthing’s background includes a try at Everest as well as climbs up many of the famous peaks of the world. His intimate knowledge of the skills, tools and equipment needed for what appears to be the most exacting task possible come out in what is an excellent novel centered on reaching Everest’s peak.

The book revolves around two separate attempts on Mount Everest about 70 years apart. The first try centers on Josef Becker, who was a soldier in the German army at the beginning of World War II. He committed an infraction and awaited a punishment of death.

Coincidentally, Heinrich Himmler came up with the idea that scaling Everest and planting the Nazi flag on the summit would be a blow to the British. Becker had grown up in an area of Germany in which mountain climbing was widely practiced and was considered an expert. Himmler assigned Becker to make a climb on Everest with punishment for his family probable if the attempt was not successful, but pardon for him if successful and the Nazi flag planted.

Seventy years later Neil Quinn, a professional guide with eight successfully led expeditions to Everest’s peak, loses a customer, the young son of a wealthy American business man. In that unfortunate climb, Quinn finds an old ice axe embellished with a Nazi swastika and due to a decline in his reputation, has time to begin attempting to find out what happened 70 years ago to Becker.

Equipment and events revolving around a climb are explained quite well by Farthing, and the stresses and strains are described obviously by a person involved with these. The writing goes back and forth between Becker and Quinn, with no loss of continuity. The ending is not at all telegraphed, but so appropriate for the book that it becomes a capstone of what the reader has in all probability stayed up at night to read.

Extremely well done and surely the first of many books by Harry Farthing.

7/16 Paul Lane

SUMMIT by Harry Farthing. Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (June 14, 2016). ISBN 978-1504710213. 496p.

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WITH MALICE by Eileen Cook

July 11, 2016

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Jill was looking forward to her trip to Italy – a chance to walk the very streets and alleys as some of her intellectual heroes. It was also a chance to spend some time with her best friend, Simone, with no parents over their shoulders. It was to be a true adventure.

But Jill is in the hospital with no memory of how she got there. She’s told she was in an accident in Italy. One so bad that the last six weeks or so have been wiped from her memory. She doesn’t remember the accident, she certainly doesn’t remember the trip, and she definitely doesn’t remember killing Simone. Without her memory to help her, she has no way of proving that the crime she’s been accused of never took place, but she knows without a doubt that she would never have killed her best friend. Never.

A trip to Italy and an American girl accused of murder might sound familiar but interestingly Cook says With Malice was not actually inspired by the Amanda Knox case, only somewhat shaped by it as the story progressed. And the story itself bears little similarity to Knox’s except for the basics: setting and the accused.

Much of the book is focused on Jill’s time in therapy and her attempts to unravel the truth about her final days in Italy. Reports claim there was a boy involved. They also claim that Jill and Simone had been arguing for much of the trip. And since Jill’s father had her quickly shipped back to the States, the Italian police are desperate to make a case for bringing Jill back to Italy to face trial. The pacing is quick and intensified by the fact that our own main character’s resolve about her innocence is shaken as the story progresses.

With Malice is an excellent psychological suspense tale, one that is sure to appeal to teens and adults alike.

7/16 Becky LeJeune

WITH MALICE by Eileen Cook. HMH Books for Young Readers (June 7, 2016). ISBN: 978-0544805095. 320p.

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HOUSE OF SECRETS by Brad Meltzer & Tod Goldberg

July 7, 2016

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Brad Meltzer has demonstrated his lifelong interest in discovering hidden aspects of historical events. In addition to books dedicated towards fact, he has also written fiction utilizing Beecher White. a young archivist employed by the National Archives in Washington. White is shown discovering hidden stories, unknown facts tied to historical events.

In House of Secrets, Meltzer introduces a new protagonist, Hazel Nash, who has been taught from the age of six that mysteries need to be solved. Her father/teacher, Jack Nash, had hosted a long term show exposing conspiracies called, “The House of Secrets”.

We meet Hazel as she is recovering from an auto accident which killed her father and injured her brother. She has completely lost her memory from the trauma. She is visited in the hospital by an agent from the FBI who begins questioning her about her father and the body of a man with a book stuffed into his chest. The book is believed to have belonged to Benedict Arnold, the most famous traitor in American history.

Leaving the hospital, Hazel finds material in her house that she cannot remember obtaining nor have any reason to get. There is a large collection of guns and she has scars on her face that she doesn’t recall suffering. When Hazel digs into these mysteries, she begins to discover facts about her father that show him to be a very different person than he seemed to be.

What does Benedict Arnold’s book have to do with her father and why was it sewn into a dead man’s chest? What are the realities of her father’s directing the TV show?

A very engrossing novel, and one that leads the reader through an apparent maze into a logical conclusion with the possibility of a different direction in one of history’s events than normally perceived. Hazel appears to be developed into another protagonist for Brad Meltzer and his new writing partner, Tod Goldberg, that can expand the horizons of historical discovery into the international sphere.

7/16 Paul Lane

HOUSE OF SECRETS by Brad Meltzer & Tod Goldberg. Grand Central Publishing (June 7, 2016). ISBN 978-1455559497. 368p.

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THE TRAP by Melanie Raabe

July 5, 2016

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Linda Conrads is agoraphobic, suffers from depression, anxiety, hallucinations and panic attacks, and hasn’t left her home since her sister was murdered eleven years earlier.

Fortunately, Linda is a very successful novelist so she has the means to live her life isolated on a luxurious estate. Unfortunately, Linda had discovered her sister’s body, caught a glimpse of the murderer as he left the apartment, and been haunted by the scene for years.

Her only links to the outside world are her editor, her part time assistant, and the television. She is watching the news when she suddenly realizes the reporter, Victor Lenzen, is her sister’s murderer.

She decides to set a trap; she writes a thriller utilizing all the details of her sister’s murder, then arranges for her first interview in twelve years – with Victor Lenzen. Linda hopes to maneuver him into a confession, but her careful plan goes horribly awry.

A fast, twisty read for fans of Paula Hawkins and Gillian Flynn. Not for me.

7/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE TRAP by Melanie Raabe. Grand Central Publishing (July 5, 2016). ISBN 978-1455592920. 352p.

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COLD by John Sweeney

July 3, 2016

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John Sweeney’s credentials are such to cause a reader to assume that any novel he will produce will immediately grab the reader, pull him or her into the story and keep them there. The elements are here in the details, the action and an interesting plot.

The problem is a myriad of details that take Joe Tiplady, Sweeney’s protagonist, into a dizzying array of events that make him a priceless target but cause the book to become more than a little cumbersome for the reader.

The book opens with Joe walking his dog in London, in the snow, but shadowed by two men. He is then rapidly immersed into troubles that become overwhelming. A retired Soviet general is hunting for his missing daughter. A ruthless assassin is hunting something he lost that is so precious he will do anything to get it back. And in the background is Zoba ruler of Russia and master of the world’s darkest operatives.

The ending solves the problems but is disappointing for those that have waded through the book and expect something more to the point. The details are tied together logically, possibly allowing for future Tiplady novels to become tighter and more interesting for the reader. That is if Sweeney thinks a bit smaller and doesn’t try to solve too many problems in his books.

7/16 Paul Lane

COLD by John Sweeney. Thomas & Mercer (July 1, 2016). ISBN 978-1503934221. 398p.

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FIRST STRIKE by Ben Coes

July 2, 2016

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A Dewey Andreas Novel, Book 6

Since Dewey Andreas’ first appearance in Power Down, Coes has brought him a long way. From a job on an off-shore oil rig in which his long dormant fighting skills acquired as a special forces operator reappeared when the rig was attacked by terrorists, to First Strike, where he has become a highly skilled counter terrorist agent, Dewey has come a long way. What hasn’t changed is the author’s talent for writing a novel in which the action is nonstop. And that is certainly the case here.

The Pentagon has created a scenario in which one handpicked man would emerge as the most powerful leader in the troubled middle east. But the individual selected turns the tables on the U.S.

Tristan Nazir twists the program to create the elite terrorist army of ISIS. When the U.S. is ready to send a final shipment of munitions to Nazir, it becomes suspect that ISIS is receiving the funding to pay for that delivery in order to use the material for their own ends.

Dewey Andreas is sent into Syria to find out what is going on and where the arms are actually being sent. Arriving in Damascus, Dewey is caught and held prisoner, but with the ingenuity he has always exhibited, escapes and returns to the U.S.

The second half of the novel is centered on an ISIS attack on America, which is geared to blackmail the U.S. into releasing the last shipment of weapons to them by a threat almost beyond belief. The action is rapid during the entire novel, but in this lengthy segment is staggering and does not let up. Dewey becomes involved with thwarting the terrorists, and his actions, as well as those of a force aiding him, will keep the reader breathless.

Coes has evolved during his five books involving Dewey Andreas into a master of writing the all nighter. Extremely well formulated and guaranteed to keep his readers awaiting the next book with bated breath.

7/16 Paul Lane

FIRST STRIKE by Ben Coes. St. Martin’s Press (June 28, 2016). ISBN 978-1250043177. 480p.

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DARK HORSE by Rory Flynn

June 30, 2016

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Eddy Harkness Novels (Book 2)

They call it Dark Horse and it’s a bit of an anomaly in the drug market: an almost pure heroin sold and darkened as though it’s not. And it’s deadly, resulting in death by overdose all over Boston. Eddy Harkness and his fellow Narco-Intel team members have had their eye on it for some time, but when a hurricane rips through the city a discovery of a large cache of the drug offers their first possible break in the case.

But while Dark Horse and Boston’s drugs are supposed to be the focus of their efforts, Eddy soon realizes there’s something larger going on in Boston’s neighborhoods – the Lower South End in particular. And when citizens of the neighborhood begin taking up questionably legal residence in Eddy’s old hometown, it’s inevitable that he’ll get involved.

I would love for more people to discover this fantastic series. Harkness is a man with a troubled past, much of which is covered in Dark Horse’s predecessor, Third Rail.

In this second of the series, Eddy has put much of that trouble behind him, regaining his place as head of Narco-Intel. He’s also in a much healthier relationship than his last and considering making it permanent.

A literal (and figurative) storm is brewing in Boston when the book begins, and Eddy finds himself caught in the very center. His actions have him branded a hero but it’s clear he may soon make some very powerful enemies.

This is a perfect follow up to Third Rail, another smart installment in what is a real standout series.

(I’d suggest reading them in order as there are some callbacks to Third Rail throughout Dark Horse.)

6/16 Becky LeJeune

DARK HORSE by Rory Flynn. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1 edition (June 7, 2016). ISBN: 978-0544253247. 240p.

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WARNING ORDER by Joshua Hood

June 28, 2016

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Search and Destroy Thriller

Second in what should become a popular and successful set of novels about the US army in battle with elements of radical Islam, Hood’s book is nothing short of an adrenaline rush. Combat is present from start to finish keeping the reader glued to the pages and mesmerized by the action.

Mason Cane, on the US government’s Black List, strikes a deal with the CIA to clear his name and throws himself back into action. He finds that he is up against a radical cell of terrorists with possible roots within the US president’s inner circle.

Moving against the cell, Cane is joined by a group including Renee Hart, a DOD operative, and Special Forces soldiers. Action is constant with no let up. Renee was apparently set to become a love interest for Mason Cane in the first book by Hood, Clear by Fire, but there is no time in this novel for any private contact for the two.

The ending finds Cane wounded in action and taking a leave in order to recuperate from his wounds. He is contacted by the individual that guides his actions, and the book ends as Mason is ordered into his next action.

The book is for any reader that appreciates combat action written by a veteran of war who has the knack to describe military action and the weapons used in the fighting. This is a well done novel of war.

6/16 Paul Lane

WARNING ORDER by Joshua Hood. Touchstone (June 28, 2016). ISBN 978-1501108280. 352p.

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I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS by Iain Reid

June 16, 2016

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Wow.

The narrator of the story is a nameless young woman who is in a fairly new relationship with Jake, but she has some doubts about where it is going and is thinking about ending things. Their relationship is based on a shared communication style, which moves to the physical, but it is their philosophical conversations that truly maneuver the relationship along.

Jake invites her to go home to meet his parents and see the farm where he grew up in a remote, small village. The family dinner is odd, but the ride back home after dinner even more so, with detours to a Dairy Queen staffed by giggling girls to a dark, deserted old high school.

This is a genuinely atmospheric book, and the cold, snowy night really ups the creepy factor, and the story grows more diabolical and dangerous with each turn of the page.

Written in the first person, but interspersed with an occasional page from a parallel story with a different point of view, eventually the two start looking like they will converge. These characters are carefully developed and the story takes some frightening turns, leading to a shocking ending.

The construct of this book is brilliant and unusual, and should appeal to fans of psychological thrillers or even horror. This dark debut is a most uncomfortable read, but simply unputdownable. Even after you turn the last page.

I read it twice.

(For a peek at Reed’s writing style, check out You Sold Your Book! Please Sign This Contract in the New Yorker.)

6/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS by Iain Reid. Gallery/Scout Press (June 14, 2016). ISBN 978-1501126925. 224p.

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