Crime Fiction | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

FOOL ME TWICE by Jeff Lindsay

January 22, 2021

Riley Wolfe, Book 2

From the publisher:

Pulling off an impossible crime is the only way he can stay alive.

Stealing a Faberge egg. Surviving a double cross. And pulling off the most incredible robbery ever, for the world’s most demanding—and dangerous collector.

This will be the challenge of thief extraordinaire Riley Wolfe’s life.

Fool Me Twice opens in St. Petersburg, where Riley steals the egg—no easy task. Betrayed by the pilot he hired to help him get away, he wakes chained to a rock wall on one of the Kerguelen Islands—the most remote spot on earth—prisoner of a top-dog international arms dealer, and a top-notch art collector. He wants Riley to steal an artwork. Small problem–it’s a fresco, “The Liberation of St. Peter.” Slightly larger problem–it’s in the Vatican.

And, it’s a literal wall.

Riley has no choice: agree or die. But when his captor turns him loose, he’s grabbed by another arms dealer looking to do a double cross. Worse, he gives Riley a special incentive: a surveillance photograph of Monique, the love of his life, and more important, the art forger he can’t pull off any heist without. The threat is clear. Riley knows they both have only one way out.

With wicked dialogue, tons of explosive twists, and cinema-worthy scenes, Jeff Lindsay’s Fool Me Twice is another wildly entertaining caper starring the anti-hero you’ll root for, Riley Wolfe.

Jeff Lindsay’s second novel featuring Riley Wolfe who as fans know is a thief – not an ordinary one robbing banks or holding up armored cars but one that has long since made himself very wealthy and just lives for the thrill of doing the impossible. He is a man that seeks the challenge of an impossible score and then sits back and enjoys the adulation due him.

This book opens with Riley in St Petersburg, Russia where our hero pulls off the theft of a priceless Faberge egg under the noses of a group of guards and protective devices. When boarding the boat that he has hired to take him out of Russia he is betrayed by the pilot and delivered to the secret island hideaway of the world’s biggest arms dealer. Held captive for several days he then hears what his captor wants from him and it is about as impossible as it gets. The man wants him to steal a fresco which is art painted on a wall. Not only is the problem of how to transport a wall if he gets it, but the location of the painting which is in the Vatican as the clincher. Riley is told in no uncertain terms that his life would be forfeit if he doesn’t deliver.

Buying time Riley agrees to the job and is let go by Mr. Big. Then to compound his problems he is next seized by another arm’s dealer who wants Riley to get the Fresco and while delivering it to the first individual arrange for entrance onto Mr Big’s island fortress where number two will become number one by process of elimination. Riley has a sort of love interest although Monique, the lady in question’s prime function for him is to forge art used in his work. He is shown a picture of her as number two dealer also includes her life in the deal. We have to understand that at some point in the future Jeff Lindsay will probably set up the pair as lovers at the same time that they are working on nefarious schemes together. He, therefore, is anxious to keep the criminals away from her as well as saving his own life.

As in Lindsay’s previous novels including those featuring Dexter, the serial killer that only kills other serial killers the action is fast, the dialogue snappy and the reader will not be able to set the book down until finished. If the author continues with the success enjoyed by featuring loveable rogues what type of character will he showcase for his next portrayal of a bent character? It will make for a delightful mystery while we wait for anything written by him.

1/2021 Paul Lane

FOOL ME TWICE by Jeff Lindsay. Dutton (December 1, 2020). ISBN: 978-1524743970. 368 pages.

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ASSASSIN’S STRIKE by Ward Larson

January 14, 2021

David Slaton, Book 6

From the publisher:

USA Today bestselling author Ward Larsen’s globe-trotting, hard-hitting assassin, David Slaton, returns for another breathless adventure in Assassin’s Strike!

In a Syrian palace, the presidents of Russia and Iran undertake a clandestine meeting. No staff or advisors are permitted in the room. No records are kept. By necessity, however, there are two witnesses: the interpreters. The Russian, Ludmilla Kravchuk, returns to her hotel room burdened by what she has heard. When her Iranian counterpart is murdered before her eyes, Kravchuk fears she is next and goes into hiding in Syria.

The CIA gets word of the defection. Desperate to uncover the purpose of the meeting, they task their newest off-the-books operator―legendary assassin David Slaton―to undertake a daring rescue. Deep inside Syria’s war-torn borders, what Slaton finds is a plot that will tear the Middle East apart. And one that only he can stop.

Ward Larson has created one of the more interesting protagonists in fiction in the person of David Slaton. Slaton is an assassin, a very proficient one doing the bidding of his employers who were at first the Mosad, Israeli secret service, and currently the CIA. He was granted political asylum in the U.S. with the help of one of the top managers of the Central Intelligence Agency who suggested when doing so that they might ask certain professional favors from Slaton which he would be free to either accept or reject.

During a secret meeting between the presidents of Russia and Iran held in Syria certain information is exchanged between these men which only they and the two translators working the meeting are aware of. Ludmilla Kravchuk, the translator for Russia witnesses her Iranian counterpart killed after the meeting between the two presidents finishes. She realizes that the two translators have heard an exchange that must remain secret and makes the obvious decision that she must flee and via local contacts she had when in Syria previously gets the United States interested in getting her into the U.S. and hearing her story. Slaton’s supervisor thinks of him as the ideal individual to send into Syria to bring Ludmilla out. No problem in his accepting the job as the action is what he craves and goes after.

The story of David Slaton’s work in trying to effect Ludmilla’s escape brings to bear Ward Larson’s talent in creating bated breath action and another book by him that keeps the reader glued to the pages. In addition to bringing Ludmilla out of Syria Slaton must become involved in the situation described in the talks between the two presidents and attempt to rectify the problem. Events in the book move rapidly between Syria, Iraq, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. We can certainly look forward to more action-packed novels featuring David Slaton and the probability of all night glued to the books when they are published.

1/14/2021 Paul Lane

ASSASSIN’S STRIKE by Ward Larson. Forge Books (August 18, 2020). ISBN: 978-0765391568. 336 pages.

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GERMANIA by Harald Gilbers

January 12, 2021

A Novel of Nazi Berlin

From the publisher:

From international bestselling author Harald Gilbers comes the heart-pounding story of Jewish detective Richard Oppenheimer as he hunts for a serial killer through war-torn Nazi Berlin in Germania.

Berlin 1944: a serial killer stalks the bombed-out capital of the Reich, preying on women and laying their mutilated bodies in front of war memorials. All of the victims are linked to the Nazi party. But according to one eyewitness account, the perpetrator is not an opponent of Hitler’s regime, but rather a loyal Nazi.

Jewish detective Richard Oppenheimer, once a successful investigator for the Berlin police, is reactivated by the Gestapo and forced onto the case. Oppenheimer is not just concerned with catching the killer and helping others survive, but also his own survival. Worst of all, solving this case is what will certainly put him in the most jeopardy. With no choice but to further his investigation, he feverishly searches for answers, and a way out of this dangerous game.

As part of the Hitler-ordered official vendetta against Jews, Gypsies, and other selected groups as part of his campaign to create scapegoats to blame for Germany’s economic woes, a council working in the city of Neurenberg passed legislation taking away German citizenship from these peoples. The laws prohibited marriage between Germans and members of the selected groups. They could not serve in the military and were forced to leave jobs and businesses. The code passed was termed the Neurenberg laws and was the law of the land between 1935 and 1945 with Nazi expansion by war taking place to rectify the damage theoretically done by these groups.

Harald Gilbers adroitly takes us back into the height of the effects of these laws in a very compelling novel set in the period cited. The appearance of a serial killer in Berlin in 1944 brings up a conundrum for the police working in Berlin at this point. Certain factors point to the killer being a member of the Nazi party elite. Since no disparaging information could be issued about high level party members to avoid “misleading” the people the police were stymied in their pursuit of the killer.

A unique solution was forced on the police. They had to reactivate Richard Oppenheimer who had been a member of the Berlin detective squad. He had been forced to resign his post with the police due to the fact that he was Jewish. He still lived-in Berlin due to his marriage to a woman who was ethically acceptable since she was a purebred German. It also developed that Richard had been one of the leading detectives while active and could look for and possibly even neutralize the serial killer without having to bring up the individual’s place in the Nazi party.

Gilbers is very adept at breathing life into the characters involved in his book. He is also extremely adept with a description of the method used by the killer in disposing of the women (all victims were females.) It is not an easy task to read about the horrors visited upon the victims by the killer. I did understand the reason for this would probably be to allow the reader a better understanding of the degenerate behavior of an individual that is mentally not human.

Germania is a unique novel in using a policy of discrimination against several groups by a leader who was undoubtedly insane running the show. It is also well written with a good plot. The book is certainly a good reason to start looking for Gilbers next book.

1/2021 Paul Lane

GERMANIA by Harald Gilbers. Thomas Dunne Books (December 1, 2020). ISBN: 978-1250246936. 352 pages.

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THE LEONARDO GULAG by Kevin Doherty

January 10, 2021

From the publisher:

A journey into the sinister heart of Stalin’s regime of terror, where paranoia reigns and no one is safe

Stalin’s Russia, 1950. Brilliant young artist Pasha Kalmenov is arrested and sent without trial to a forced-labor camp in the Arctic gulag. This is a camp like no other. Although conditions are harsh and degrading, the prisoners are not to be worked to death in a coal mine or on a construction project. Their task is to forge the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. There is a high price to be paid for failing to reach the required standard of perfection; particularly as the camp commandant has his own secret agenda. When the executions begin, Pasha realizes that only his artistic talent can protect him. But for how long? Worse horrors are to come—if he survives them, will life still be worth living?

The Leonardo Gulag journeys to the sinister heart of Stalin’s regime of terror, where paranoia reigns and no one is safe, and in which the whims of one man determine the fate of millions. Ultimately, the novel presents a moving portrait of the indomitability of the human spirit.

Perfect for fans who love the artistry of Daniel Silva and the passion of Greg Iles

The Russian revolution in 1917 rid the Soviet Union of an oppressive monarchy but plunged it into a succession of despots with no regard for human life or human dignity. Doherty’s novel is set during the later period of Josef Stalin’s life and into the reign of Nikita Khrushchev.

Pasha Kalmenov is a young man coming of age during this period. Due to his extreme poverty, he lives with his mother in a small apartment and attempts to eke out a living as best as he can. He has one talent which sets him apart from others of his age. His artistic ability is above and beyond that of most of his generation. Apparently, Stalin knew of this talent and had Pasha arrested on no specific charges. With no charges read nor a trial in a court of law, he is sent to the frozen tundra of the Gulag. Expecting to be sentenced to the slave labor of working in a mine he instead becomes part of a group of talented artists that are assigned to copying the drawings of Leonardo DaVinci. While the life styles of the group engaged in this work are quite a bit above the normal existence of the main body of prisoners there are harsh penalties for not meeting the standards set by those supervising his group.

Pasha meets and befriends several people working in his group comprising both men and women. They are close and in some cases develop romances amidst the horrors they undergo on a daily basis. The death of Stalin finally generates changes in the prisoners’ lives and it is the events stemming from the shift in the regime that leads to an ending that is very well plotted and written.

Doherty employs a writing style that is a matter of fact and a bit blasé which makes the horrors described even more horrific. The reader’s reaction will be a wonderment as to how human beings can go through the events that they undoubtedly did and still carry on. A fascinating novel and one that will certainly cause the author’s next books to be eagerly expected and bought as soon as available.

1/2021 Paul Lane

The Leonardo Gulag by Kevin Doherty. Oceanview Publishing (March 3, 2020). ISBN: 978-1608093816. 320 pages.

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HIGH STAKES by John F. Dobbyn

January 6, 2021

Knight and Devlin Thriller, Book 6

From the publisher:

History, myth, music, and murder—and Michael Knight is in the middle

An authentic Stradivarius violin turns up in Romania. A Stradivarius is rare enough, but this one is even more special. It is thought to hold the code disclosing the location of a treasure hidden in the fifteenth century. The violin is steeped in haunting mystique: it is believed to have been hidden by Vlad Dracula, whose historic tyranny led to the fabrication of the myth of vampirism. Russian, Chinese, and Romanian gangs centered in Boston want the code and all of them are hot on the trail. Violence is their language—brutality, their technique.

And who is hired to see that the treasure lands in the rightful place? None other than Michael Knight with a little help from his senior law partner Lex Devlin and his crony, Billy Coyne, Boston’s deputy district attorney.

Michael uses the thin leverage of his knowledge about the violin to keep each of the three gang leaders at bay, while he follows the chain of historic clues from a violin shop in the Carpathian Mountains to a gangster-infested nightclub in Bucharest, to a university in Istanbul, and back to the gang headquarters of the three competing criminal organizations. Secrets from the past and present collide along the perilous shuttle between Boston and Romania. In the end, what is the righteous solution?

Perfect for fans of Daniel Silva and Steve Berry

While all of the novels in the Knight and Devlin Thriller Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:

Neon Dragon
Frame-Up
Black Diamond
Deadly Diamonds
Fatal Odds
High Stakes

This is the 6th book featuring Michael Knight and Lex Devlin partners in a law firm practicing in Boston, Massachusetts. I haven’t read the previous five and based on this book that is something I’ve missed. That is due to the well-done scenario, the originality of the plot, and the care taken in fleshing out the characters in this novel. It is due to my finding that the author is undoubtedly at the top of his career and I missed what I have no doubt are mesmerizing novels and similar to “High Stakes” in being all-nighters.

Michael Knight is offered a free trip to Romania by some friends. He can also take his wife of just a few months and treat the trip as another honeymoon. Just one favor asked by one of those offering the trip would be to pick up a Stradivarius violin held by a dealer that had been given it to sell. The violin is one of just a few hundred made by the master craftsman and his family in the late 17th century. The sound of the instrument has no equal and current rates to buy one can run well into a million or more dollars. Michael accepts the picking up of the violin as a small price to pay for a trip to a country that neither he nor his wife has ever visited.

This particular violin was owned by King Vlad of Romania during the 15th century. Vlad was a cruel despot and had the horrible custom of impaling people that displeased him and/or were his enemies. Vlad was immortalized by the 19th-century writer Bram Stoker who created him as an undead vampire awakening at night to drink the blood of those around him. He could only be killed by driving a stake through his heart.

The violin owned by Vlad was thought to have a map hidden in it to get to his buried treasure. Legend had it that the treasure was immense since he took freely from his subjects as well as receiving tribute from foreign rulers as bribes not to invade them. Due to the legend of the map both the Russian mafia and Chinese tongs are out to get the violin at all costs.

Michael’s travels and experiences in getting the violin and attempting to keep it out of the hands of the criminals are very well done. Dobbyn takes him easily from a night club in Bucharest, a visit to a noted historian teaching in Istanbul, and of course all around Boston. He is well described as a man of integrity, gifted with intuition and intelligence, and by no means a superman. In other words, a character fitting right into a plot such as outlined and finding his way through it like normal people who are not supermen would do.

1/2021 Paul Lane

HIGH STAKES by John F. Dobbyn. Oceanview Publishing; None edition (October 1, 2019). ISBN: 978-1608093557. 320 pages.

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THE PUSH by Ashley Audrain

January 5, 2021

From the publisher:

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family, told through the eyes of a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared.

Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, supportive mother she never had to her new baby Violet.

But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe doesn’t find the connection with her daughter she expected. She’s convinced that something is wrong with Violet–the little girl is distant, rejects affection, and becomes increasingly disruptive at preschool.

Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she is imagining things. Fox doesn’t see what Blythe sees; he sees a wife who is struggling to cope with the day-to-day challenges of being a mother. And the more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity…

Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the natural maternal connection she’d always dreamed of. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth about herself, her past, and her daughter.

The Push is a rare and extraordinary gift to readers: a novel about the expectations of motherhood we’re taught not to challenge and what really happens behind the closed doors of even the most perfect-looking families. It’s impossible to put down and impossible to forget.

Three generations of women have difficulties with motherhood and their stories intertwine in this very dark debut novel.

Blythe’s mother, Cecelia, left when she was eleven years old, and Blythe assumes she probably shouldn’t have children as her mother was not a very good role model. But their toxic relationship pales in comparison with Cecelia’s relationship with her mother, Etta.

There is an air of foreboding as Blythe’s story continues when Fox, Blythe’s gentle husband of three years, convinces her that it is time to have a baby. Blythe sees other mothers with their babies and hopes that she, too, will be like them. But Blythe never feels any kind of connection to her baby daughter, Violet, although Fox is immediately enamored.

As Blythe sinks into depression, Fox is convinced that she just doesn’t love the baby enough. There are some behavioral issues that Blythe sees in Violet that increase as she starts school, but Fox always turns a blind eye. Then Blythe has a son, Sam, and her maternal feelings for him are real and deep. Things still aren’t good with Violet, though, or with the marriage, and everything spirals out of control when tragedy strikes the family.

The marriage implodes and Blythe is having serious difficulties. This is not your typical tale of motherhood by any means, and the superlative writing makes this a gripping, unforgettable story indeed.

Verdict: For readers who enjoyed the darkness of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, or Jack of Spades by Joyce Carol Oates.

©Library Journal, 2021

1/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE PUSH by Ashley Audrain. Viking (January 5, 2021). ISBN 978-0735239890. 320p.

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VIOLENT PEACE by David Poyer

December 23, 2020

The War with China: Aftermath of Armageddon

Dan Lenson Novels, Book 20

From the publisher:

World War III is over… or is it? Superpowers race to fill the postwar power vacuum in this page-turning thriller, the next in the Dan Lenson series.

In the next installment of David Poyer’s critically-acclaimed series about war with China, mutual exhaustion after a massive nuclear exchange is giving way to a Violent Peace.

While Admiral Dan Lenson motorcycles across a post-Armageddon US in search of his missing daughter, his wife Blair Titus lands in a spookily deserted, riot-torn Beijing to negotiate the reunification of Taiwan with the rest of China, and try to create a democratic government.

But a CIA-sponsored Islamic insurgency in Xianjiang province is hurtling out of control. Andres Korzenowski, a young case officer, must decide whether ex-SEAL Master Chief Teddy Oberg―now the leader of a ruthless jihad―should be extracted, left in place, or terminated.

Meanwhile, Captain Cheryl Staurulakis and USS Savo Island are recalled to sea, to forestall a Russian fleet intent on grabbing a resource-rich Manchuria.

The violent and equivocal termination of the war between China and the Allies has brought not peace, but dangerous realignments in the endless game of great power chess. Will the end of one world war simply be the signal for the beginning of another?

The next book in David Poyer’s series about a war between the United States and China with the drawing in of many other nations making it World War III. Millions have been killed and many others maimed for life. The war concluded on an armistice between the belligerents which left the same problem as had occurred in 1918 ending World War I. The German army later indicated that they had never surrendered and were not obligated by the treaty made by their leaders which opened the door to the next phase – World War II.

The action begins at a peace conference held by the former belligerents to fix terms and conditions and attempt to make sure that the combat does not begin again. Problems arise immediately when China attempts to fix the conditions for the armistice which could negate what the allies want to occur. In addition, the principal characters face the problems of peace bringing conditions of war-torn nations devastated by the fighting having to reconstruct their countries first.

Dan Lenson has been promoted to Admiral but instead of immediately assuming his position spends many weeks in attempts to find his daughter who has disappeared in the aftermath of the fighting. His wife Blair is working with the members of the U.S. peace committee sent to Bejing in order to try and set the terms of Taiwan reuniting with China as well as attempting to form a democratic government for the Chinese. Meanwhile, Captain Cheryl Stauralakis onboard the USS Savo Island and in command of a small flotilla is ordered to sail against a Russian fleet attempting to grab a Manchuria rich in natural resources.

On another front, Teddy Oberg, a US Seal, has made himself the leader of an Islamic group and leading a revolt causes the allies to consider terminating him as a means of controlling the area he presides over.

Poyer continues to draw his readers in with books featuring continuous action and well-delineated characters taking part in the action. This novel ends with the possibility of new combat against a Russia that has kept itself largely out of the fighting but demands to be allowed to take part in war reparations. The playing out on a world stage is deftly handled and cause and effect made logical. Would the situations evolve in a similar manner if really taking place? Probably, if not exactly. Certainly, it does place the blame for the war on leadership consumed with pursuing their own ends rather than looking for the common good.

12/2020 Paul Lane

VIOLENT PEACE by David Poyer. Oceanview Publishing (December 1, 2020). ISBN: 978-1608094004. 336 pages.

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BLIND VIGIL by Matt Coyle

December 16, 2020

Rick Cahill Series, Book 7

From the publisher:

Anthony, Shamus, and Lefty Award-winning Author!

A friend arrested for murder. A vicious killer lurking in the shadows. A world of darkness.

Blinded by a gunshot wound to the face while working as a private investigator nine months ago, Rick Cahill is now sure of only one thing: he has to start a new life and leave his old one behind.

He’s still trying to figure out what that life is when his onetime partner, Moira MacFarlane, asks for his help on a case she’s taken for Rick’s former best friend. The case is simple and Moira only needs Rick for one interview, but Rick is wary of waking sleeping demons.

Ultimately, he goes against his gut and takes the case which quickly turns deadly. Rick’s old compulsion of finding the truth no matter the cost—the same compulsion that cost him his eyesight and almost his life—battles against his desire to escape his past.

The stakes are raised when Rick’s friend is implicated in murder and needs his help. Can he help the friend he no longer trusts while questioning his own lessened capabilities? His life depends on the answer as a shadowy killer lurks in the darkness.

Rick Cahill is a private detective and the principal character in Matt Coyle’s novels about him. The books can each stand alone, although Rick has been developed throughout the series. He began as a member of the La Jolla, California police department when his eventful life began with the murder of his wife. Rick was a suspect in the murder but was not arrested due to lack of evidence. He was forced to leave the police force and subjected to the feeling by many of his fellow officers that he did kill the woman and is getting away with murder. Over time Cahill has worked on different cases as a private detective, solved them, and become a fine example of the classic hard-boiled detective.

In the novel prior to “Blind Vigil,” Rick finds his wife’s killer but is wounded in a fight with him and suffers from blindness. This condition has, of course, forced him to retire from his work and he is kept home accompanied by his dog and the occasional visits of his new love Leah. She has a growing business in a different area of the state and has to attend it and unable to move in with Rick on a permanent basis.

Moira MacFarlane, who was Rick’s partner at one time, approaches him asking for help. She has been hired by Rick’s good friend and former boss at a restaurant and asked to investigate the man’s girlfriend with an eye to determine if she is cheating on him. Moira explains that it would be advantageous to have Rick take part since he is good friends with the man and it would be easier to help with the situation by adding a bit of the personal to the equation. The investigation develops into a murder case and Rick must take part in the investigation even though he is blind. In the same way that Matt Coyle has made Rick come alive in all the prior novels featuring him, he successfully does the same with him as someone that cannot see. This is very well done and does represent some painstaking questioning and research into the world of the blind in order to logically work on what is a complicated case.

12/2020 Paul Lane

BLIND VIGIL by Matt Coyle. Oceanview Publishing (December 1, 2020). ISBN: 978-1608094004. 336 pages.

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V2 by Robert Harris

December 14, 2020

From the publisher:

The first rocket will take five minutes to hit London.
You have six minutes to stop the second.

From the best-selling author of Fatherland and Munich comes a WWII thriller about a German rocket engineer, a former actress turned British spy, and the Nazi rocket program.

Rudi Graf is an engineer who always dreamed of sending rockets to the moon. But instead, he finds himself working alongside Wernher von Braun, launching V2 rockets at London for the Nazis from a bleak seaside town in occupied Holland. As the SS increases its scrutiny on the project, Graf, an engineer more than a sol – dier, has to muster all of his willpower to toe the party line. And when rumors of a defector circulate through the German ranks, Graf be – comes a prime suspect.

Meanwhile, Kay Caton-Walsh, a young English intelligence officer, is living through the turmoil of war. After she and her lover, an RAF officer, are caught in a V2 attack, she volunteers to ship out for newly liberated Bel – gium. Armed with little more than a slide rule and a few equations, Kay and her colleagues hope to locate and destroy the launch sites. But at this stage in the war it’s hard to know who, if anyone, she can trust.

As the death toll soars, these twin stories play out against the background of the German missile campaign during the Second World War. And what the reader comes to understand is that Kay’s and Graf’s destinies are on a collision course

Robert Harris’ latest novel touches on a subject grounded in World War 2 that, while familiar to most people has not generally been touched upon. This is the development of the V2 rocket by Germany which was utilized to bomb both London and Antwerp. While regular bombing runs by planes killed many more people and did considerably more damage to cities it was the silent approach of the V2 and its sudden attack that probably was more frightening.

Germany was losing the war and had lost a great deal of their airpower in combat when Hitler began looking for a weapon that would turn the tide in his favor. The V2 seemed to offer a possible answer and investment in the process came from both the German nation as well as independently from the army. First attempts at using the V2 were from Peenemunde but then moved to a point closer to both Antwerp and London in occupied Holland.

Harris utilizes two people; one German the other British to focus on telling the story. Willi Graf, by education, is a rocket engineer and is stationed at the launch site for Germany. He freely states that his interests do not really lie with the use of the V2 as a weapon but as a step in the direction of space travel. He does do his job in helping the rocket achieve its place as a weapon of war. Kay Connolly is British and although once an actress is now an intelligence officer. She is recruited for a position with a group to be stationed in Belgium that will attempt to develop systems to destroy the V2launch system.

The novel goes back and forth between the two individuals recreating the duel between those firing the V2 and those that are working to try and stop them. Harris brings both protagonists to life for the reader. We learn about their personal interests and of course, their interests in making the work they are involved in helpful in advancing the war effort. Werner von Braun a key individual in the American rocket program after the war has his place as the officer in charge and the guiding light for the German effort. Descriptions of the technical side of building a successful rocket are there and written in language that is understandable by the reader allowing him or her to more fully enjoy the novel. Certainly, a five-star book and one continuing Harris’ position as an author at the top of his game.

12/2020 Paul Lane

V2 by Robert Harris. Knopf (November 17, 2020). ISBN: 978-0525656715. 320 pages.

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MCGARVEY by David Hagberg

December 8, 2020

From the publisher:

A Kirk McGarvey Novel, Book 25

“The grand master of the contemporary thriller.” ―Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author

When Kirk McGarvey investigates the mysterious death of his parents so many years ago, he uncovers long-buried secrets that put him head to head and mano a mano with . . . Vladimir Putin.

After Mac calls Putin out, the Russian dictator decides he wants him dead. Battling Russian hit squads as well as enemies at home, McGarvey must fight like the devil to save himself, his friends, and the US of A in this engrossing international thriller from David Hagberg.

Kirk McGarvey is a long time employee of the CIA. He is depicted as having held several positions during his tenure including the head of the company. He has had an adventurous existence including divorce, the killing of his family, and his mother and father. He has found a new love with marriage to Pete, the woman. Pete happens to also be a member of the CIA and David Hagberg is able to include her along with Kirk in his work for the company.

What has never been successfully answered is why his mother and father were killed. They both worked for the US government and were reputed to have built a defensive instrument that would have been able to negate missile attacks by Russia. The supposition at the time of their murders was that it was done by Russia to prevent the actual building of the instrument placing them at a disadvantage in the cold war with the U.S.

Now years later it looks like Russia is attempting to assassinate McGarvey with the circumstances appearing to have a connection with the device his parents were working on. Moving into action, one of the first things Kirk does is actually place a call to Vladimir Putin, the Russian dictator and declare war on him. Now this, of course, galvanizes Putin into ramping up the attack on McGarvey. The reactions of both Kirk and the Russians charged with killing him as well as his wife are described in a manner that ratchets up the action to a level that simply keeps the reader glued to the pages and awaiting the ending with proverbial bated breath.

With Putin involved with attempting to assassinate Kirk, the action runs swiftly between points in the United States and then into Russia where Putin is encountered and the climax is neatly set up. Wanting more of this type of action it is sad to note that Hagberg passed away after a lifetime of writing spy and counterespionage novels under his own name as well as several others, including Sean Flannery. He will certainly be missed although there are a sufficient number of novels to keep a reader busy catching up on this very prolific author’s work.

12/2020 Paul Lane

MCGARVEY by David Hagberg. Forge Books (November 24, 2020). ISBN: 978-0765394200. 336 pages.