Crime Fiction | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

BUM RAP by Paul Levine

July 2, 2015

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Levine writes two popular legal series, the Jake Lassiter series and the Solomon and Lord series, and has cleverly brought all three of his heroes together in his latest outing.

Steve Solomon was in the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to help Nadia, a Russian “B girl,” get her passport and back wages from Gorev. When Nadia pulls a Glock out of her purse, Gorev ends up dead, Nadia disappears with her passport and a mysterious bag she lifted from Gorev’s safe, and Steve is left literally holding the gun inside a locked room.

His law partner and significant other, Victoria Lord, hires Jake Lassiter to defend her man and the fun begins. Turns out Gorev was working for Benny the Jeweler, a nice old gent who also happens to be a major diamond smuggler.

The Russians and the FBI are after Nadia, but if Lassiter is able to track her down, will she corroborate Steve’s story that she shot Gorev, using Florida’s infamous “stand your ground” defense? All they know for sure is that Nadia was working as an informant and the Feds don’t want their investigation compromised.

Solomon’s usual roguish charm is subdued while he sweats it out in jail, Lord is scared but willing to trust Lassiter, and Lassiter is not at all sure he will be able to get his client off. The pages fly by and the laughs keep coming in this irresistible south Florida romp, a delicious mix of thriller and comic crime thriller.

7/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

BUM RAP by Paul Levine. Thomas & Mercer (July 1, 2015). ISBN 978-1477829868. 352p.

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AS NIGHT FALLS by Jenny Milchman

June 30, 2015

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After winning the Mary Higgins Clark Award for Cover of Snow, Milchman returns with her third standalone thriller set in upstate New York.

The suspense starts building right from the get go when we learn that Sandy, a therapist, and her husband Ben have built their dream home in a desolate area, which they share with their sullen teenage daughter and a sweet old dog. The fact that the desolation is emphasized immediately set the hairs on the back of my neck to tingling.

Nick has been in prison for more than twenty years, but comes up with a brilliant plan for escape, and takes along fellow inmate Harlan and they end up invading Sandy’s home. The story moves back and forth between the home invasion and Nick’s childhood, which is often a way of helping make the bad guy more sympathetic – but not in this case.

There is a shocking twist when we find out Sandy has a walloping secret she’s kept from her family, but they have no choice but to rely on her help if they are to survive.

Another excellent psychological thriller that should appeal to readers who favor authors like Lisa Gardner and Lisa Unger.

6/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

AS NIGHT FALLS by Jenny Milchman. Ballantine Books (June 30, 2015). ISBN 978-0553394818. 384p.

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STYX & STONE by James W. Ziskin

June 22, 2015

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An Ellie Stone Mystery

Ellie Stone and her father have barely spoken since the death of Ellie’s mother. But when Ellie receives word that her father has been attacked and is hanging on by a bare thread, she drops everything to return to him.

It’s 1960. Ellie’s father is a renowned scholar at Columbia, gruff and opinionated but certainly not a target for murder. When another professor in the same department is found dead just days later, Ellie is convinced that her father’s assault has to be more than a simple burglary gone wrong. Vowing to find her father’s attacker, Ellie embarks on her own investigation into the crime.

Who knew academia could be so deadly? Ziskin’s debut and first in the Ellie Stone series is a solid mystery but I found it to be much stronger in terms of character than in plot.

In setting the tone and scene of the times, Ziskin has made Ellie both stubborn and free spirited. (The stubbornness she no doubt inherited from her father.) Obviously 1960 is not the ideal time for an independent woman, much less one investigating an attempted murder, but Ellie is smart and formidable. She is able to tease out details and information even the police can’t.

Styx & Stone sets up Ellie as a series lead, explaining her background and her relationship with her family. The mystery does take a bit of a backseat to all of that, but is still well built and engrossing.

So far there are three books in the Ellie Stone series: Styx & Stone, No Stone Unturned (a 2015 Anthony Award nominee for Best Paperback Original), and Stone Cold Dead, which released just last month.

6/15 Becky LeJeune

STYX & STONE by James W. Ziskin. Seventh Street Books (October 15, 2013). ISBN 978-1616148195. 285p.

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INVASION OF PRIVACY by Christopher Reich

June 20, 2015

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Joe Grant, an FBI agent, meets a confidential informant on a dusty road outside of Austin, Texas. Both are killed and the FBI puts out the story that Joe was the killer and died in the shootout.

This opening scenario begins a high tech version of a conspiracy showcasing Christopher Reich’s command of the world of computers and the technology involved in advancing the field.

Joe’s wife Mary, mother of his two daughters, finds too many holes in the official version of Joe’s death and begins asking questions and pushing for their answers. She is aided by a newspaper reporter who has been fired and considered a has been by his ex supervisors.

The first deviation from the official story put out by the FBI is a call from Joe while in the action that leads to his death. The message, on Mary’s cell phone, is not read and mysteriously disappears. Mary and “Tank,” her reporter associate, are lead into a conspiracy involving the creation of the newest and most terrifying surveillance system yet developed.

Joe and Mary’s oldest daughter, teenaged Jess, is in her own right extremely capable in original work with computers, and on her own searches out a world class computer expert in order to get him to see if the missing call can be recovered. Mary, Tank, and Jess come up against people in positions of great power with vested interests in safeguarding the new surveillance system and retaining control of it to increase their own wealth and power.

The book is gripping and grabs hold of the reader right from the start. It is typical Christopher Reich; intricate, fast moving and utilizing technology descriptions that the reader can relate to. Characterizations of the leading players is a normal Reich talent running all through his novels. An engrossing read.

6/14 Paul Lane

INVASION OF PRIVACY by Christopher Reich. Doubleday (June 16, 2015). ISBN: 978-0385531573. 384p.

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RADIANT ANGEL by Nelson Demille

June 18, 2015

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A John Corey Novel

After chasing the master terrorist known as the Panther, John Corey leaves his job with the Anti Terrorist Task Force and returns to the U.S. after a harrowing experience in Yemen. He signs on with another agency known as the Diplomatic Surveillance Group based in New York City.

This is thought to be an easier job than his previous one with the FBI. His wife, Kate Mayfield, continues with the bureau and is on a trip to Washington as this story unfolds.

When a Russian diplomat named Vasily Petrov, actually an officer in the Russian Foreign Intelligence service, disappears from a party being held in Southampton Long Island, Corey suspects a lot more than his agency does. He knows that Russia is on the way up again looking to return to it’s former dominant position in world affairs.

He suspects something is up beyond merely leaving the party with a group of prostitutes for outside play. Corey had been ordered to follow Petrov from the U.N. in New York City where Vasily has been assigned as a diplomat, and continues on this assignment with an underlying suspicion that something much bigger is really going on.

What the problem is and what it is aimed for is the theme of this novel. DeMille is a master at creating the nerve racking events that comprise the book and this is one of his best. It is a classic up-all-night read with Corey’s wisecracks being interspersed in the action. The climax is so massive in projected scope that after solution when Corey finds that his wife has taken up with another man, he only finds room to take the news in stride and leave it for later.

Another satisfying novel from Nelson DeMille with the reader quite anxious to get the next one from him.

6/14 Paul Lane

RADIANT ANGEL by Nelson Demille. Grand Central Publishing; First Edition/First Printing edition (May 26, 2015). ISBN: 978-0446580854. 320p.

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THE PRESIDENT’S SHADOW by Brad Meltzer

June 16, 2015

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The Culper Ring Series

Brad Meltzer brings back Beecher White, a member of the staff working at the National Archives in Washington. His function there is the safekeeping of important documents, as well as on occasion, secrets important to the nation. He is also secretly a member of the Culper Ring, agroup founded by George Washington.

The Ring’s mission is to protect the presidency, both the incumbent and the institution. The current President calls for the Culper Ring’s help when not one, but two severed arms are found on the grounds of the White House. Each arm is holding something, clearly not meant for the President but for Beecher himself.

The questions of how did the person bringing the arms get past White House security, what do the messages mean and why deliver them there when they were meant for Beecher, and not the President. The answers are found after an investigation that goes back to a period three decades earlier when Beecher’s father, then in the army, was stationed on an island off the coast of Key West, Florida. It is the island that political prisoners were held on, and in particular, Dr. Samuel Mudd.

Mudd was implicated in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and sentenced to life in prison on the Island. He was later pardoned when he fought a disease which hit the island and credited with saving many lives.

What the secret is, and why is it brought to life today comprises the theme of the book. Meltzer creates a very taut plot revolving around the answers to the questions about the severed arms.<

There is no need to have read the previous novels involving the Culper Ring since references to these are sufficient to understand the current situation, so this book can stand alone and be enjoyed by the reader.

6/14 Paul Lane

THE PRESIDENT'S SHADOW by Brad Meltzer. Grand Central Publishing (June 16, 2015). ISBN: 978-0446553933. 416p.

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THE NIGHTMARE PLACE by Steve Mosby

June 15, 2015

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The “Creeper” is a stalker who has been raping and beating beautiful young women and the police have no clues. All the victims describe him as a very angry monster, but none can give any kind of physical description.

Deputy Inspector Zoe Dolan is on the case, and when the Creeper escalates and beats his latest victim to death, Zoe’s frustration is almost overwhelming. She grew up the hard way and a local cop took her under his wing and set her straight. Now he’s dying, she’s having recurrent nightmares of her past, and this serial rapist turned killer are all combining to keep her up at night.

Jane works at an anonymous hotline and thinks she has been hearing the confessions of the killer, and finally there seems to be a break in the case.

Mosby writes the dark side of British crime fiction, and his real strength is in character development; all these women are well drawn and interesting, without a cliché in the bunch. Despite that, this is a book that preys on women’s fears, a psychological thriller that keeps building suspense with every passing page and throws in plenty of surprises.

6/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE NIGHTMARE PLACE by Steve Mosby. Pegasus (June 15, 2015). ISBN 978-1605987880. 336p.

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CENTRALIA by Mike Dellosso

June 14, 2015

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Centralia is an adventure into the surreal with questions and puzzles from beginning to end. The reader is led into a fascinating adventure in which many clues to what is going on are recorded but final answers only at the end.

Peter Ryan awakens one morning with a big question in his mind. He has been told that his wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident, but suddenly he knows that they are alive. His phone call to a neighbor gives him the information that indeed his wife and daughter are dead, and both Peter and they attended the funeral several months ago. But Peter is now becoming more and more sure that both are alive, and that fact is supported by the discovery of a note from his daughter in her handwriting.

At the same time, his home is broken into by armed men who attempt to kill him. Skills that Peter did not remember having return and he takes out the killers like a professional without knowing where he learned them.

Ryan leaves his home and begins a search for his missing family believing only that they went to Centralia due to information on his daughter’s note. In searching for them he unearths information that leads further into the investigation. There are many twists and turns making the plot one of working within the surreal in order to find answers. The novel is a fast read, keeping the reader locked into it and wondering what is the truth in all of these findings, including who is Peter Ryan and what was his background.

6/14 Paul Lane

CENTRALIA by Mike Dellosso. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (May 21, 2015). ISBN: 978-1414390413. 400p.

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CONSTANT FEAR by Daniel Palmer

June 12, 2015

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Jake Dent was a hot prospect for major league baseball when his dream fell apart due to a drunken driving accident. His baseball days were over, and to top off the matter his wife left him and his son Andy to go and find herself. Jake finds some relief in the annals of a popular survival blog and raises Andy also to prepare for the doomsday he foresees is coming. He also obtains employment as a custodian in the prestige private school “Pepperell Academy and manages to enroll Andy in that school and maintain him there due to the employment he has with them.

Andy becomes friendly with a group of four other students that have picked up the practice of pirating small sums of money from very rich people via computer hacking. They then disburse the funds taken to people they deem needy of such charity. Generally the money taken is not missed by the wealthy people they take from, but one such robbery results in getting the huge amount of several hundred million dollars held in the form of bit coins. Unfortunately the amount belongs to a Mexican drug cartel that sends a hit squad to get their money back. These people trace the theft to students at Pepperell and stage a chemical truck spill as a ruse to get to the students that stole the money – the group of five that Andy belongs to.

Jake’s survival training and the cache of weapons and equipment he has stored in tunnels under the school are brought to bear when Andy’s group are taken hostage by the cartel soldiers. It appears likely that the computer group will be killed if they either do or don’t give up the bit coins which are held solely as online deposits.

The novel is fast, engrossing and keeps the reader glued to the book. Palmer presents various twists and turns to arrive at a logical conclusion. A good read and one guaranteed to bring the reader back again and again for books by Daniel Palmer.

6/14 Paul Lane

CONSTANT FEAR by Daniel Palmer. Kensington (May 26, 2015). ISBN: 978-0758293459. 416p.

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LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS by Lori Roy

June 10, 2015

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If a girl looks into a well at midnight on the night of the half birthday between her fifteenth and sixteenth years, she’ll see the face of her intended.

Annie Holleran has always claimed she doesn’t put much stock in the ascension-day tradition, but that doesn’t mean she’s not going to try. Typically a girl would have her friends and family beside her as she looks into the well, and the well she’d be looking into is the one on Sherriff Fulkerson’s land. But Annie isn’t typical. No, Annie has long planned to sneak onto the nearby Baine property to peer into their well all by her lonesome. This in spite of the fact that Annie’s family has a longstanding hatred for anything and anyone Baine.

Unfortunately for Annie her intended is not the one she sees at all. Instead, Annie sees Cora Baine, dead in her garden. And Cora Baine’s death surely means the return of Annie’s Aunt Juna, the one who started all of the Baine trouble. The one who caused a Baine boy to hang for crimes some wonder if he even committed.

Let Me Die In His Footsteps is a dual narrative that alternates between 1952 and 1936. Annie, in 1952, lives with the knowledge that her birth mother is none other than the notorious Juna Crowley. It’s not something she’s ever been officially told, but it’s something she knows nonetheless. Annie’s mother, Sarah, narrates the story two decades prior, telling the terrible tale that led to Annie’s birth and the hanging of one of the town’s own.

At heart, Let Me Die In His Foosteps is a mystery – what happened to Juna, was the Baine boy really responsible, and why is everyone so scared of Juna’s return – but the book as a whole is so much more. It’s a story of secrets and tragedy, folklore and magic, community and – ultimately – family.

6/15 Becky LeJeune

LET ME DIE IN HIS FOOTSTEPS by Lori Roy. Dutton (June 2, 2015). ISBN 978-0525955078. 336p.

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