THE TRIGGER by L J Sellers

January 20, 2014

Ms. Sellers became one of my go-to authors of crime fiction with her highly successful Detective Jackson series. Now she had broken new ground with Jamie Dallas, a young single female FBI agent who thrives on undercover assignments.

In this outing, Dallas is sent into a “preppers” compound run by two brothers near Redding, California. The wife and infant son of one of the brothers have gone missing and Dallas is sent in to see if she can either find them or clues regarding what might have happened to them.

What the FBI doesn’t know and Dallas soon finds out is these are no ordinary preppers. Instead of waiting for the global economic collapse touted by most preppers, they are, in fact, actively engaged in a program to bring on the apocalypse by creating “bank runs” and disrupting the internet.

All is well that ends well but getting to the conclusion can be quite scary. Recommended.

1/14 Jack Quick

THE TRIGGER by L J Sellers. Spellbinder Press (August 23, 2013). ISBN 978-0984008650. 280p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

AN OFFICER AND A SPY by Robert Harris

January 20, 2014

Robert Harris takes us to France during the late 19th century and as he does in his other historically centered novels, brings the era to life as background for this novel.  The French army has suffered a major defeat in just six weeks against the Germans during the war of 1870.  The country has lost the twin provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, seized by Germany as war reparations and the country is smarting from the defeat.

Alfred Dreyfus is a captain of artillery in the French army, Jewish, and originating in Alsace. In 1894,  after the discovery of a traitor in the ranks of the army selling secrets to Germany, a group of officers in the army convicted Dreyfus of the crime. This was based on very flimsy evidence not revealed to his lawyer, and had him sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island, a French possession off the coast of South America.

Among the officers convicting him is Georges Picquart, an intellectual and a soldier loyal to France. After the trial  Picquart is promoted to head up the newly formed French counter-intelligence agency and, among other duties, is to maintain the ongoing file on Dreyfus.  While Picquart was originally convinced of Dreyfus’s guilt, some evidence surfaces which points in another direction.
In order to bring emotions to the story, it is told in first person using Picquart as the narrator. When he discovers evidence conflicting with that presented by Dreyfus’s prosecutor, his honor demands that he systematically begin to investigate it, although his career begins to suffer along the way when superior officers demand that he drop the matter.

Harris incorporates real people involved in the affair, including several Generals that apparently colluded to prevent the truth coming out.  The author Emile Zola is mentioned, and it was his article “I Accuse,” printed in the newspaper that helped to finally pardon, and later exonerate Dreyfus in real life. The period was rife with antisemitism, and Harris accuses this factor as being an important feature in the original finding Dreyfus guilty and subsequent attempts to free him.

A must read, and a commanding one.

1/14 Paul Lane

AN OFFICER AND A SPY by Robert Harris. Knopf (January 28, 2014). ISBN 978-0385349581. 448p

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

PURGATORY by Ken Bruen

January 19, 2014

Former cop Jack Taylor has finally managed to kick the myriad substances that have had a stranglehold over his painful life. However, this fragile existence is threatened when a vigilante killer begins targeting the scum of Galway, signing mysterious notes with the moniker ‘C 33’.

The killer addresses these cryptic letters to Jack, trying to goad him into joining the murderous spree. While Jack tries to unravel the mystery and motives of this demented killer, he is also brought into the fold of an enigmatic tech billionaire who has been buying up massive amounts of property in Galway. If Jack has learned one thing living in Ireland, it’s that people who outwardly claim to be on the side of righteousness are likely harboring far more nefarious motives beneath the surface.

With the help of his friends, former drug dealer-turned-zen master Stewart and dogged police sergeant Ridge, Jack is determined to track down C 33, even if it jeopardizes his livelihood, his friends, and the remaining shreds of his sanity.

Purgatory is Bruen at his best: lyrical, brutal, and ceaselessly suspenseful.

1/14 Jack Quick

PURGATORY by Ken Bruen. Mysterious Press (November 4, 2013). ISBN 978-0802126078. 272p

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith

January 19, 2014

I may be the only remaining person on the planet who has never read a Harry Potter book or watched a Harry Potter Movie. The Hunger Games series shares that same distinction for me. However, after reading this one I may have to change my priorities.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Detective Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, desperate designers, and his own celebrity parents, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

I thought it was great.

1/14 Jack Quick

CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling). Mulholland Books (April 30, 2013). ISBN 978-0316206846. 464p

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

TAKEDOWN TWENTY by Janet Evanovich

January 19, 2014


Twenty books into the Stephanie Plum series, and the word that most springs to mind is formulaic. If you’ve read one, you’ve read them all – yet millions of readers keep on reading, including this one.

I think it all comes down to the characters. I am invested in Stephanie and Ranger and Joe, not to mention Lula, Stephanie’s parents and Grandma Mazur. Picking up any book in this series means Grandma’s going to a funeral, Lula is wearing some crazy spandex outfit and there will be a surefire stop at Cluck in a Bucket, and guaranteed Stephanie’s car of the moment will go up in flames. And of course Stephanie is torn between Joe, the love of her life, and Ranger, the lust in her life.

This time out, the world’s most inept bond enforcement agent is after Uncle Sunny, a beloved local Mafia don who also happens to be Joe’s Godfather. She’s also helping Ranger look into the death of one of Grandma Mazur’s bingo playing contemporaries. And just to make things interesting, there’s a giraffe on the loose in Trenton, New Jersey.

I can’t help but enjoy these books even though I know everything that’s coming. If you’re an Evanvich fan, then you know what to expect and no fair complaining when you get exactly that. If you’re new to the series, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning with One for the Money.  All the books are still in print and I think the first five or six were the best – but I’m still reading, and laughing.

1/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

TAKEDOWN TWENTY by Janet Evanovich. Bantam (November 19, 2013). ISBN 978-0345542885. 320p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE GODS OF GUILT by Michael Connelly

January 13, 2014


This is the latest entry in the Lincoln Lawyer series, but fear not, Harry Bosch is lurking around the fringes. Mickey Haller is a great character, and I loved the tongue-in-cheek references to the Lincoln Lawyer movie. Yes, Mickey has had his life turned into a film, causing enough lawyers to start practicing out of Lincoln Town Cars to create some humor with Mickey hopping into the wrong car on more than one occasion.

Connelly is not known for writing humorous mysteries, and the humor pretty much ends there. An online pimp calls Mickey asking for help; he’s been accused of murdering one of his girls. Turns out Mickey knew her and had tried to help her get out of the life. He believes the pimp and agrees to defend him. This case is not as simple as it seems; a drug cartel is involved, along with the inherent violence there, and some of the unusual twists that Connelly excels at.

The courtroom is where it always ends up with this series, and again, Connelly comes through here, interweaving testimony with legal strategies and great character development. The title “Gods of Guilt” refers to the jury, and I find it fascinating to see all the legal machinations in motion; I always feel like I’m learning something. 

This was fast reading, one night, as I couldn’t put it down. Another excellent read from the master of crime fiction. If you’d like a taste, Connelly has posted an excerpt here.

1/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE GODS OF GUILT by Michael Connelly. Little, Brown and Company (December 2, 2013). ISBN 978-0316069519. 400p.

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TWOSPOT by Bill Pronzini & Collin Wilcox

December 30, 2013

Interesting classic from 1978. Pronzini’s San Francisco based Nameless Detective (actually “Bill) becomes involved with the affairs of a prominent Napa Valley family owned winery. When one of the parties is murdered, Collin Wilcox’s Lieutenant Frank Hastings is called into the picture.

Alternating chapters from the two authors weave a complex story in which various possibilities are assessed and discarded before the two men working together come to realize this no ordinary matter, but in fact, is the point of an explosion that could have international repercussions.

Amazing how a book this old can continue to be extremely readable 35 years later.

12/13 Jack Quick

Twospot: The Nameless Detective Paperback by Bill Pronzini & Collin Wilcox. Speaking Volumes, LLC (August 17, 2011). ISBN 978-1612320694. 224p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

TRUST ME by Jeff Abbott

December 30, 2013

Luke Dantry, a young man with the double tragedy of having both his mother and father killed in accidents when he was younger, is working for his stepfather at a  job  with a Washington D.C. think tank involving investigation, on line, of possible terrorists whose verbal anger might explode into physical action against the United States.   He assumes that his identity is kept secret due to working only on computer.
Suddenly he is kidnapped, taken to a remote cabin and left there to die. Freeing himself, he realizes that the terrorists he has been tracking are more organized and dangerous than previously thought. Pushed into a situation where he must help himself or be killed he finds that there is not only one organization but two pitted against each other and which of them are the bad guys is not readily apparent.
In investigating the groups, Luke’s past comes up and becomes a motivating factor in the events.  He teams up with a girl that he had dated, and who had been kidnapped when her current boyfriend was killed by one of the groups in opposition. The two cooperate in trying to solve what becomes their mutual problem and does supply some romantic interest.
Jeff Abbott has the ability to keep his readers involved with the plots and characters he writes about.  Trust Me is a bit too simplified in terms of events and motivations of the characters involved, but is, like most Abbott books, one that will provide a satisfying read with a logical plot and ending.

12/13 Paul Lane

Trust Me by Jeff Abbott. Grand Central Publishing; Reprint edition (December 17, 2013). ISBN 978-1455552627. 480p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE ASCENDANT by Drew Chapman

December 30, 2013

A novel about a war between the United States and China with no shots fired and battles fought with psychology, financial manipulation and computer hacking, circumstances very similar to the reality of today. It is Drew Chapman’s first book and one that mesmerizes the reader immediately with the back and forth secret movements by both the US and China.

Garrett Reilly is a 26 year old bond trader with a New York brokerage house and the most successful trader in town. He has a photographic memory for numbers and the ability to sense patterns in them, to rank them and to make money for himself and his firm by working this ability to come out ahead of other buyers and sellers in trading. His ability allows him to sense a sudden enormous selloff in US Treasury bonds to the tune of billions of dollars, and he is aware that following this trend can make him very rich.

Starting to follow the Treasury market and taking advantage of it causes the US government to become interested in him and he is visited by army Captain Alexis Truffant, who advises that Garrett has stumbled upon the initial attack of a covert war started by China. He is asked to begin working for the government to help thwart the attack, and plan action against the enemy. It helps that Captain Truffant is quite beautiful and a romantic interest develops between the two. Garrett is placed in charge of a group tasked with challenging the Chinese and developing a response that does not involve military action but played out the same way as the attacks. Manipulation of markets, hacking of computer data, and psychological warfare that does not involve weapons. And oh, yes bringing China to it’s knees.

Chapman’s knowledge of computers, financial markets and the inner workings of government delivers a scenario of an unconventional war between superpowers that is fought behind the scenes, with no knowledge that a conflict is occurring by the people of these countries. Brilliant idea and delivery of the first of what should be many novels by this author in the near future.

12/13 Paul Lane

The Ascendant by Drew Chapman. Simon & Schuster (January 7, 2014). ISBN 978-1476725888. 400p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

GAME by Anders de la Motte

December 28, 2013

Henrik Pettersson isn’t about to pass up a free phone. No one is around to claim it, after all. But the phone is strange with seemingly no way to turn it on. Still, it’s sleek and looks cool and should fetch him at least a few bucks at a pawn shop. That’s what HP thinks until he’s invited into the game. He initially believes it’s a prank but the invitation is just too tempting and the revelation that points earned translates into cash is all HP needs to be drawn in. As the game progresses, though, the tasks HP is set with escalate soon placing his own sister in danger. Now he must decide, is it worth it to continue even when leaving could mean his own life? Game kicks off an exciting trilogy that’s already made waves in Anders de la Motte’s native Sweden. The author draws on his own experience in policing and IT to create a frighteningly believable scenario in which otherwise ordinary folks become pawns of a far-reaching conspiracy all under the guise of gaming.

12/13 Becky Lejeune

GAME by Anders de la Motte. Atria/Emily Bestler Books; Reprint edition (December 3, 2013). ISBN 978-1476712888. 400p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

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