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A powerhouse story of men against the sea in the tradition of authors that pioneered the genre such as Jack London. Russia launches the world’s largest supertanker on a secret mission during it’s maiden voyage. The only person with knowledge of what is to be accomplished is the captain.

An engineer discovers a minor defect in the ship’s mechanism and informs the captain. But in spite of attempts to correct the problem a fire erupts and in spite of efforts to control it, it spreads to engulf the entire ship.

Two hundred miles from the stricken vessel, Sonny Wade, the owner of a failing salvage business, is telling his crew that a salvage attempt just completed has not produced any money. The business is not able to continue operations.

Just after he has dismissed his men including his daughter who sails with him and attempts to keep the business going a mayday is received. It is from the Bennkah, the 700,000 ton Russian tanker that is aground and filled with petroleum worth a fortune. The name Bennkah is Russian for Goliath and that is also the Herculean task Sonny seizes as his way out of the financial doldrums his business is in.

Sonny quickly gets the crew together and goes out at an attempt to pick up the Bennkah and in so doing collect the huge amount of money salvaging the ship will bring. But sailing also to grab the prize is Dan Sharp, Sonny’s former employer and currently his nemesis.

The novel is a tale of men arising to great heights in fighting the eternal sea for the prize. The book moves with a rapid pace and is guaranteed to keep the reader transfixed. Sonny’s knowledge and understanding of the ocean and problems and solutions it brings is showcased. A new member of the crew picked up before sailing due to his knowledge of underwater welding provides a love interest for Sonny’s daughter who has had a bad relationship with Dan Sharp’s captain. She fights her attraction but it does let her come to understand that things have a way of working out.

Excellent book and hopefully the beginning of a series.

GOLIATH by Shawn Corridan & Gary Waid. Center Street (October 11, 2016).  ISBN 978-1455530441. 384p.

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The third book in Linwood Barclay’s series set in the town of Promise Falls, New York. All of the people described in the first two books are present and following the patterns set previously. But this novel dives right into a problem never before encountered in the small city and devastating for the people living there. It is Memorial Day weekend and suddenly hundreds of people become sick with flu like symptoms rushing to the hospital, with many dying almost at once. The water supply quickly becomes the culprit and it is found to be so. Who would poison the town’s drinking water and why? Private investigator Cal Weaver starts to look at the situation and investigating who would benefit from this catastrophe and what would be gained by it.

Meanwhile Barry Duckworth, a detective with the Promise Falls police department has another set of problems. A coed at the local college has been murdered. Duckworth sees the same pattern in the homicides of two other women in the past. Strange recent happenings in Promise Falls begin to make sense; bloody mannequins found in car 23 of an abandoned Ferris wheel, a fiery out of control bus with the number 23 on the back and the same designation on the hoodie of a man accused of assault. The number 23 seems to represent the reason for the harm brought to the townspeople with both Weaver and Duckworth looking into the situation as quickly as possible.

Barclay has succeeded in making a variety of people in the stories lifelike, with characteristics that are painstakingly followed through in the three books. All of the principal characters continue to act in accordance with the personalities and interests inherent in them from the beginning. And while the Promise Falls books seemingly were to be a trilogy, some factors coming out in the end of book three point to another novel coming up. I certainly would look forward to reading more books centered around the people and town of Promise Falls in the near future.

11/16 Paul Lane

THE TWENTY-THREE by Linwood Barclay. Berkley (November 1, 2016).  ISBN 978-0451472724. 464p.

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Harry Bosch is back and I couldn’t be happier.

In a bit of random weirdness, I had started reading this and got to a bit of history on the 110 freeway when my reading was interrupted by a news alert. There had been a fatal accident  involving a tour bus and a truck – on the 110. Freaked me out a bit.

When we last saw Harry, he was suing the city of Los Angeles for forcing him into retirement. He’s won his suit but made some enemies along the way.

Harry has his private investigator license, but no office. No, he’s not emulating his brother, Mickey Haller, AKA the Lincoln Lawyer, but with his skills and reputation, no office is necessary.

He’s also working as a detective, albeit a volunteer one, for the San Fernando Police Department. The small town has been hit with major budget cuts, leaving only 2 detectives on staff, so the chief is delighted to have someone with Harry’s credentials helping out.

SFPD has a serial rapist on their hands and Harry is making some headway into the case. Nicknamed the “screen cutter” because his MO is to cut open a screen to gain access to the home, he is raping women who keep their menstrual cycles on a visible calendar and attacks when they are at their most fertile – or clean.

On the private side of things, Harry is summoned with a $10,000 check to the home of a steel billionaire. He never married and is quite old, but thinks he may have had a child. He wants Harry to find out if he has any heirs. But billions of dollars are at stake and that could be dangerous.

Connelly is a master of detail; Harry’s time in Vietnam, his relationship with his daughter, now that’s she away at college, and all the fallout from his lawsuit with the LAPD just add more depth to the character.

Harry’s half brother, Micky Haller, has an important part in the story but doesn’t steal the show.

The two plotlines keep the pages turning in this fast paced, beautifully written tale. I can’t remember the last time a Connelly book didn’t make my best books of the year list, and this one certainly will. I read this book in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Michael Connelly is the finest writer today in crime fiction, bar none.

10/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE by Michael Connelly. Little, Brown and Company (November 1, 2016). ISBN 978-0316225946. 400p.

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An Andy Carpenter Novel, Book 15

Andy is back along with all his friends, just in time for Christmas. While this book has a Christmassy title and an adorable Christmassy cover, the only thing Christmassy about it is that it is set in December.

That said, fans of the series will be happy with this new read. A friend of Andy nicknamed Pups, due to her fostering dozens of pups as needed, is at first in need of a lawyer when a neighbor complains about the number of animals in her home. Andy defends her and she wins, but then the neighbor is murdered and Pups is the one who finds his body.

Andy springs to her defense, only to learn that Pups is dying and will never live to serve time. Nonetheless, she wants to prove her innocence and Andy is only too happy to help her. Then the plot thickens; Pups’ husband had been killed months earlier along with a local gangster, and it turns out the same weapon was used to kill the neighbor. Now the charges include murdering all three men.

Lots of twists and turns and lots of help from Lori, Marcus, Edna and the rest of the gang make this another enjoyable addition to the series.

10/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS by David Rosenfelt. Minotaur Books (October 18, 2016).  ISBN 978-1250106766. 336p.

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10/16 Paul Lane

THE KILLING GAME by J.S. Carol. Bookouture (October 13, 2016). ASIN: B01LXKJUNR. 359p.

10/16 Paul Lane

CARIBBEAN’S KEEPER by Brian Boland. Warriors Publishing Group (October 11, 2016).  ISBN 978-1944353117.

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10/16 Paul Lane

TREASON by Newt Gingrich & Pete Earley. Center Street (October 11, 2016).  ISBN 978-1455530441. 384p.

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