SHOVEL READY by Adam Sternbergh

March 3, 2014


New York is a wasteland filled with crime and filth. As a former garbage man, Spademan figures it’s still a decent place to call home. Where he once picked up literal trash he now tracks down a more figurative kind of waste acting as a killer for hire. His latest job involves the daughter of a well-known religious leader. This man has made a living offering salvation to those who can afford it. His evangelism is built on the limnosphere, a new kind of industry spawned from the internet except this one allows the user to live in an artificial world and those who can afford it never have to exist in reality again. But what this man is offering isn’t all that godly or perfect as becomes evident when Spademan meets his target. Now Spademan and everyone he knows are caught in the crosshairs.

Adam Sternbergh’s debut is unique in that this post apocalyptic world is limited to New York. The rest of the world exists and continues almost as usual. Residents in New York and the surrounding area have stayed in this lawless disaster area out of choice—like Spademan—or limitation.

The limnosphere adds another interesting twist and a creepy piece of potential future. It’s not so far-fetched that this created world could exist one day and that folks will actually be able to plug in, leaving the real world behind. Of course this also adds yet another reality for criminals to rule, which is a big part of Shovel Ready.

Shovel Ready is quite dark and more than a bit disturbing—maybe even a little beyond what you’d expect in a story where the hero is a contract killer. It’s also the first in a new series so if you’re a fan of quirky crime fiction and anti heroes, that means there will be more to come.

3/14 Becky Lejeune

SHOVEL READY by Adam Sternbergh. Crown (January 14, 2014). ISBN 978-0385348997. 256p.

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STARTER HOUSE by Sonja Condit

February 27, 2014


For Lacey and Eric, the hunt for the perfect first home is starting to feel impossible. Nothing lives up to their expectations or list of requirements. Nothing, that is, until Lacey sets eyes on 571 Forrester Lane.

This house has it all—it’s in a perfect neighborhood, the drive into work wouldn’t be too bad for Eric, and amazingly it’s in their price range. It’s a house in which Lacey can easily imagine herself raising their growing family.

But 571 Forrester Lane has a history of death and violence. The real estate agent alludes to some of this, simply stating that a previous owner died, but to Lacey this is unavoidable with any house of significant age. Then Lacey meets Drew, a strange little boy who always seems to be around. The longer she and Eric reside in the home, the more attuned Lacey becomes to its strange sense of malevolence. As she begins to learn more about the house’s history and Drew, Lacey starts to realize her dream home is anything but.

Sonja Condit’s debut is not your typical haunted house tale. The narrative does rely on many of the traditional tropes associated with ghost stories but Condit adds an unexpected and unique twist in her tale. Starter House is a chilling and wonderful read.

2/14 Becky Lejeune

STARTER HOUSE by Sonja Condit. William Morrow Paperbacks (December 31, 2013). ISBN 978-0062283054. 400p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

SEVEN GRAMS OF LEAD by Keith Thomson

February 25, 2014


Thomson won me over with ONCE A SPY followed by the sequel – TWICE A SPY. In SEVEN GRAMS OF LEAD, Thomson introduces all new character – journalist Russ Thornton. If you are even the slightest bit paranoid, you may not want to get into this one.

Ostensibly the plot revolves around the development and then theft of an e-bomb – which generates an electro-magnetic pulse which fries all semiconductor material in range. However, the real “makes you wonder and keeps you up at night” part comes from the massive and pervasive overt and covert surveillance by various government agencies and the lack of oversight and control of these activities.

In this regard the book reads right out of today’s headlines about NSA eavesdropping activities, and will definitely make you shudder. On the other hand, if you are not overly paranoid, it’s a great read with a delightfully twisted ending.

2/14 Jack Quick

SEVEN GRAMS OF LEAD by Keith Thomson. Anchor (February 25, 2014). ISBN 978-0307949905. 464p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

THIS DARK ROAD TO MERCY by Wiley Cash

February 24, 2014


Easter and her sister Ruby are orphans living in the foster care system. They’re settling into their new environment and things are ok until their father, Wade Chesterfield, turns up. Easter can remember the last time she saw him: when he signed away his parental rights and vanished from their lives. Of course her mother was still alive then. Wade says that when he heard about their mother’s death, he wanted to be there for them. For Easter it’s too little too late but it’s enough for Ruby to give him a chance and her older sister isn’t about to abandon her. Little do they know Wade’s interest is thanks to a recent turn of luck on his part. But this same turn of luck has now set some pretty nasty folks on his tail—folks willing to use Easter and Ruby to get to their father.

Wiley Cash is one of the most exciting new voices in fiction today. His accomplishments with A Land More Kind Than Home and now This Dark Road to Mercy set him amongst the best in the industry in my opinion.

Cash divides the story between Easter, her guardian ad litem Brady Fuller, and Pruitt, the man sent to find Wade). Of the three Easter is the only truly good and mostly innocent character, a young girl on the edge of losing everything but still full of hope. Brady is an ex-cop whose story comes out as the plot develops, as does Pruitt’s motivation behind tracking Wade. The emotions that run through the story and drive each character—love, hate, fear, devotion—are so evident and carefully built that the reader has no choice but to become drawn in by the story, swept along from the opening chapter of a girl recounting her mother’s death straight through to the pitch perfect end.

2/14 Becky Lejeune

THIS DARK ROAD TO MERCY by Wiley Cash. William Morrow; First Edition edition (January 28, 2014). ISBN 978-0062088253. 240p.

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FIRE by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg

February 22, 2014


THE ENGELSFORS TRILOGY BOOK II

This follow-up to The Circle begins with the start of eleventh grade and the remaining Chosen Ones who survived the previous year. Their showdown with the last demon blessed enemy was only the beginning of their fight to save the world and this time they have an additional enemy in the notorious Council.

The governing body amongst witches previously let Adriana serve as their representative but now they’ve arrived to take on the task of investigating and prosecuting Anna-Karin’s unauthorized use of magic from the year before. But the rest of the girls aren’t going to stand by and let it go down without a fight; their strength lies together and even Ida grudgingly comes to her fellow Chosen One’s defense.

Barred from developing their skills further and under the watchful eye of the Council, the Chosen Ones are limited in their ability to fight off yet another coming evil. Meanwhile, Engelsfors is getting a healthy dose of positive energy thanks to Elias Malmgren’s mother and her Positive Engelsfors movement. But this happy revolution soon turns sour as its detractors find themselves under fire.

Fire loses none of the energy set forth by its predecessor. The second installment of the Engelsfors trilogy not only moves the plot as a whole along but also holds its own as a worthy follow-up to The Circle.

As before the story switches between each of the characters’ viewpoints but this time even Ida gets a say. And not only do we get to finally see Ida’s POV, scary as that is in the beginning, we also get to learn more of Nicolaus’s background as well as Matilda’s story.

Of course the other big inclusion in this second installment is the introduction of the Council. There are a few new characters that come along with this and more revelations about the prophecy of the Chosen Ones.

The Engelsfors trilogy is really exceptional. I highly recommend both The Circle and Fire and can’t wait to get my hands on the final book, The Key. I’m also incredibly excited to hear that there’s a movie in development in Sweden with shooting set to begin in the coming months.

2/14 Becky Lejeune

FIRE by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg. Overlook Juvenile (January 30, 2014). ISBN 978-1468306729. 704p.

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THE CIRCLE by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg

February 21, 2014


THE ENGELSFORS TRILOGY BOOK I

High school is tough on everyone but for Minoo, Linnéa, Rebecka, Vanessa, Ida, and Anna-Karin it’s about to get downright dangerous. Tenth grade begins under an ominous cloud when a fellow classmate is found dead on school grounds. Elias Malmgren was bullied and picked on most of his life. Given that and the circumstances of his death everyone is ready to believe it is suicide, but his best friend Linnéa isn’t convinced. And she’s right. Under a blood red moon Linnéa and five of her classmates come together to discover that they are the Chosen Ones—six girls tasked to fight an evil that has been lying in wait for centuries. Elias’s death is just the beginning.

The Circle kicks off Elfgren and Strandberg’s Engelsfors trilogy. Already a hit in Sweden, the teen paranormal series debuted in the States just last year.

In the series there are witches, magic, and a prophecy as well as a mythology behind the witchcraft that’s quite fascinating. In addition to the paranormal aspects, however, Elfgren and Strandberg bring a realism to this series debut that’s often missing from teen fiction: each of the characters gets almost equal face time and a good amount of development throughout the story. Their problems range from regular high school issues —grades and concerns about what comes after school— to bullying, relationship issues, and family problems. They are average teens with average issues on top of being told they have to save the world.

The Circle is the kind of book that gets under your skin and leaves you wanting more.

2/14 Becky Lejeune

THE CIRCLE by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg. Overlook Juvenile; Reprint edition (May 2, 2013). ISBN 978-1468306583. 608p.

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INFLUX by Daniel Suarez

February 20, 2014


A theme last seen in science fiction’s pulp era was that of “suppressed inventions”, i.e.; cars getting 1000 miles from a pint of alcohol, anti-gravity travel, pills and plants curing most major diseases for little or no cost. These discoveries were suppressed by people not wanting to lose high revenues from current methods and having the inventions take over the situation.

Suarez creates a U.S. government agency titled The Bureau of Technology Control. They are charged with ascertaining orderly progress in society by withholding or suppression of advanced findings in order to maintain social structure that does not rocket past what should be the ordinary rate of progress. The BTC has thrown off all U.S. government control and holds in secret technology that puts them at least 50 years beyond the rest of the world.

Jon Grady, a particle scientist, and his team come up with perfecting a device that will reflect gravity. This should bring him worldwide acclaim, but instead causes him to be swept up into the path of the Bureau of Technology Control that offers him a chance to work on his invention under their supervision and control. Jon refuses and is thrown into a high tech prison maintained by the BTC.

How he escapes and gets into contact with other prisoners that have refused to follow BTC dictates places the reader into one of the most imaginative and fascinating plots in science fiction to date. What happens to an agency set up to maintain orderly progression in society that places itself outside of the control of any other ordinary organization is certainly a study in Machiavellian cause and effect. Well done novel by Suarez, who has done several other books involving high technology and its consequences while not under control.

2/14 Paul Lane

INFLUX by Daniel Suarez. Dutton Adult (February 20, 2014). ISBN 978-0525953180. 416p

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HALF WORLD by Scott O’Connor

February 18, 2014


From about 1953 until 1973, the CIA clandestinely conducted methods of mind control on both U.S. and Canadian citizens without their consent. It wasn’t until project MKUltra, as it was termed, became public knowledge due to national headlines based on the release of thousands of declassified documents in 2001, that the public became aware of these activities.

Scott O’Connor has written a compelling book about characters caught up in the illegal operations and destroyed by the knowledge of what they were doing to the people that unwittingly became subjects of the experiments. Henry March is the first individual to head up a project in San Francisco selecting people and then drugging them in order to warp their minds.

Two generations later Dickie Ashby, a young CIA agent, is sent to Los Angeles to try and infiltrate a group of bank robbers that claim they have all been abused in a government brainwashing operaton. O’Connor is excellent in setting the mood of the events, and describing the damage done to the individuals that are put in charge of the experiments. First Henry March is shown trying to come to grips with the horror of what he is forced to do and unable to do so and then Ashby facing the results of the experiments two decades later both with the subjects as well as with the families of the planners and their lives.

This is compelling reading and an indictment of a government agency going beyond the pale to prove a point. O’Connor is very good at creating the moods and atmosphere of the events depicted in addition to outlining what are most likely to be the facts of the occurrences during the experiments. Knowing that these experiments were actually carried out makes the book a more fascinating read.

2/14 Paul Lane

HALF WORLD by Scott O’Connor. Simon & Schuster (February 18, 2014). ISBN 978-1476716596. 432p

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BAPTISM by Max Kinnings

February 17, 2014


The only thing that may be more terrifying than a subway train taken over by terrorists  is a subway train taken over by religious zealots, especially when they want to die and take everyone with them, and that is the premise here.

Tommy and his sister have big plans to kill everyone on board the train by flooding the tunnel, the titular “baptism.” Ed is the lead negotiator with a unique skill set; he is blind, and can hear more in the timbre of voice than most people, and what he hears is truly frightening.

Tommy claims the train is wired with explosives, and he kills anyone entering the tunnel, causing the body count to soar and MI5 to pull back. Ed is convinced that Tommy’s religious beliefs are stronger than anything he has to offer, so he grasps at straws, contacting an engineer and a criminal to try to save the trainload of passengers when MI5 can’t.

Lots of violence and a high body count lead up to an exciting ending in this fast paced adrenaline read. James Patterson fans will find a lot to like here.

Copyright ©2014 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

2/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

BAPTISM by Max Kinnings. Quercus; First Edition (February 4, 2014). ISBN 978-1623651022. 448p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE OTHER TYPIST by Suzanne Rindell

February 16, 2014


I stumbled across this first novel and decided to give it a read because it’s published by Amy Einhorn, Putnam Books. Einhorn has published some of my favorite reads including The Help by Stockton, The Weird Sisters by Brown, The Postmistress by Blake, and Liane Moriarity’s The Husband’s Secret and What Alice Forgot. Needless to say, I was expecting a lot from this one. Sadly, it didn’t live up to my expectations.

Rose Baker is a typist for the police department in the early 1920s in New York City. She hears confessions ranging from bootlegging to murder and everything in between, but when she’s not typing she still considered the weaker sex, good for making coffee and filing. Prohibition has increased the workload, so a new typist, Odalie Lazarre, is hired.

Rose grew up in an orphanage raised by nuns, and is completely enchanted with the beautiful, flirtatious Odalie. They become “bosom friends,” and eventually Rose moves out of her shared room into Odalie’s apartment. Odalie has quite the past, but Rose looks the other way, her Puritan upbringing being pushed to the limit as Odalie takes her to speakeasies and summer parties.

Rose is the most unreliable of narrators, so it’s hard to know exactly what is going on but it seems like all parties and fun until it’s not and someone is accused of murder. Fans of Gatsby-esque settings and psychological mysteries like those of Patricia Highsmith will love this.

2/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE OTHER TYPIST by Suzanne Rindell. Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (May 7, 2013). ISBN 978-0399161469. 368p.

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