Thriller | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

AFTER ANNA by Lisa Scottoline

April 10, 2018

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In this new standalone thriller, there are two sides of a heartwrenching story alternating chapter by chapter, and in a truly unique way, one is moving forward and the other is moving backward. Scottoline has the mad writing skills to pull it off and do it really well.

Dr. Noah Alderman is on trial for murdering Anna, and his story starts as he is in court, awaiting the verdict. Then his chapters move backwards in time, the closing argument, the last witness, etc.

Maggie Ippolitti is Noah’s second wife, stepmother to Caleb, Noah’s ten year old boy with a speech disorder. They are a very happy family. But Maggie has a past – she also was married before and had a daughter, Anna. She suffered from postpartum psychosis, and basically turned herself in to get help before she harmed her daughter. While she was hospitalized, her husband divorced her, had her declared unfit, and got custody, after which he took Anna to France, where his family lived. Shortly after that, he sold his startup company for many millions of dollars and dumped his daughter in one boarding school after another and Maggie hasn’t seen Anna since she was 6 months old.

By now, Anna is a senior in high school and when her father is killed in a plane crash, she contacts her mother. Maggie is beyond thrilled, and when Anna says she is unhappy in school, Maggie immediately invites her to live at home with her. Very quickly things start going badly. Anna seems uncomfortable with Noah, and accuses him of trying to molest her. She takes him to court, and Maggie gets her to settle by forcing Noah to move out. And then Anna turns up dead on Noah’s front porch.

I was reading away, completely engrossed with this family and their saga when suddenly the story took a hard turn and starting moving at breakneck speed to a really shocking ending. I stayed up late to finish it, then stayed up even later thinking about it. I love when that happens – don’t miss it!

4/18 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

AFTER ANNA by Lisa Scottoline. St. Martin’s Press (April 10, 2018). ISBN: 978-1250099655. 400p.

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FLASH POINTS by David Hagberg

March 28, 2018

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A Kirk McGarvey Novel, Book 22

The principal character in this novel is Kirk McGarvey, a man who was previously an assassin for the CIA. In addition, he was the head of the CIA for a short time. The story opens as Kirk is getting ready to enjoy a vacation with his girl friend but walks out to his car and suffers a grave accident. One of McGarvey’s enemies has had a bomb placed in the vehicle in order to do away with him.

McGarvey’s sixth sense jumps into play and he exits the car moving off to the rear. This action saves his life but causes a whole host of internal and external injuries including the loss of his leg just below the knee. None of this stops Kirk from puzzling out why he was singled out for assassination and leads to the inescapable conclusion that he knows something and must be silenced because of that.

A new president has just been elected and members of his military senior staff deem him a danger to the country because of his policies. They set up a series of attacks at several points in the country with the object of embarrassing the new president. It is assumed that the president will not be able to handle the three emergencies at once causing the American public to demand his impeachment. But before this action occurs it is necessary to eliminate McGarvey who is the one person to be able to figure out what is happening and intercede with the plot against the president.

In spite of his many wounds and the loss of most of one leg, Kirk soldiers on to foil the plotters and save the day. He is admirably helped by his girlfriend, who incidentally is a member of the CIA and does want the vacation promised.

The story is the pure adventure that David Hagberg always delivers in his novels. It is a fast read, keeps the reader glued to the book and following the continually developing plot. Future novels featuring McGarvey are a given and surely to be looked for.

3/18 Paul Lane

FLASH POINTS by David Hagberg. Forge Books (March 27, 2018). ISBN 978-0765384881. 320p.

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THE OCTOBER MEN by David Impey

March 25, 2018

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Hindsight Can Be Deadly

Impey begins an intricate and mesmerizing story during the early days of WWI with a company of soldiers moving up to the front lines. He than goes forward describing other seemingly non-related events, including the later attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. A series of color photos which appear to be beyond the range of photography during the periods covered by these photos calls attention to what is going on.

The novel goes on describing other events and bringing into the picture a young Oxford physicist, Otto Parsons, who has been conducting experiments in quantum physics, attempting to create zero gravity without going into outer space. His work yields totally unexpected results which serve to tie together the various events described in the story.

A group of scientists attempt to tie Parson’s experiment together by producing a historical TV series that attempts to uncover the truth behind such isolated instances as the Roswell incident and the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. The show unfortunately attracts the attention of a group of international criminals who use the equipment developed by Parsons to take advantage of both the financial and art markets.

A very interesting plot and a narrative that will definitely capture and keep the reader’s attention.

3/18 Paul Lane

THE OCTOBER MEN by David Impey. BigBear Communications Ltd (March 20, 2018). ISBN 978-1912145799. 340p.

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THE TERMINAL LIST by Jack Carr

March 24, 2018

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The phrase,”revenge is a dish best served cold,” is a piece of advice with roots in literature possibly stemming from the time of William Shakespeare. Carr’s powerful novel resoundingly takes a different track.

Lt. Commander James Reece is in charge of a group of Navy Seals and certainly a warrior’s warrior. He is sent on a mission to Afghanistan and his entire team is killed and then the group of rangers sent to extract his squad also lose their lives in the attempt.

Sent back to the states, Reece is astonished to learn that another member of the team has committed suicide. With these deaths weighing heavily, a medical exam ordered for him due to unexplained headaches finds that there is a tumor on his brain. The only thing now buoying him up is the expectation that he is going home to his wife and daughter. The final horror hitting him is the discovery that both his wife and daughter were killed in an attack on his house.

Reece must hold himself together in order to avenge the deaths of his men and wife and daughter which he soon finds are related. The action to find and kill those that were responsible comprises most of the novel. He is livid and not knowing if the brain tumor that he has will kill him shortly, moves as quickly as possible with the help of a few friends. One is a young reporter who is aware that there is definitely malfeasance involved in the actions of the upper level military command, a pilot whose life he once saved, and the boss of a Mexican Mafia group.

There is nothing cold involved in Commander Reece’s actions. He is livid, he just wants revenge and expects to die when it is exacted in order to join his wife and family. The descriptions of the manner Reece handles the actions against those on his list of persons to be punished is, to say the least, gruesome and certainly done in hot blood.

One of the obvious opinions Carr brought out in the book is the low opinion he has of the juggernaut of our Federal government. He obviously feels that it has grown too large and become too cumbersome to properly provide good government, and the system of rules and regulations obstruct rather than help the growth of the economy. People are hindered by regulations which serve to basically interfere with their every day lives. Whether or not the novel was written to postulate Carr’s opinions or not it still is an extremely well written and captivating book about the professional military. It is one that the reader will not be able to easily put down until finished.

3/18 Paul Lane

THE TERMINAL LIST by Jack Carr. Atria/Emily Bestler Books (March 6, 2018). ISBN 978-1501180811. 416p.

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THE BISHOP’S PAWN by Steve Berry

March 21, 2018

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A Cotton Malone Novel, Book 13

Steve Berry and his wife Elizabeth are both ardent advocates of historical preservation. Their passion has taken them to a multitude of places and sites as well as the founding of a charitable foundation, “History Matters,” to raise both awareness as well as money to preserve historical places. Many of Berry’s novels have had a little known historical event become the basis for the story told in the book.

Bishop’s Pawn is the latest adventure of Berry’s main protagonist Cotton Malone, but includes several changes in the format of the story. It is written in first person with Malone being the one telling the story. It is also out of the continuing time sequence of Malone’s career with the Magellan Billet, a secret group attached to the Justice Department. Insteaed, we are taken to the beginning of Cotton’s work for Stephanie Nelle, who founded the Magellan Billet and is the supervisor.

Eighteen years ago Malone was working as a lawyer in the Navy and trying to outgrow his reputation as a maverick. He is approached by Stephanie and asked to help with an investigation currently underway by the Justice Department. Cotton takes the assignment with the hope of getting into a situation other than his present tedious job with the JAG.

Cotton then finds himself involved with an extremely rare coin and a set of documents that provide explosive data on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Malone becomes embroiled in a war between the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for possession of both objects.

Dr. King is pictured here as the giant that he was in the early days of the Civil Rights movement, but also shown as a man with faults and hesitations. The real life war between the F.B.I. and Dr. King is brought vividly into the scenario.

J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the F.B.I. at the beginning of Dr. King’s work, had an obvious hatred for the man. Hoover ordered wire taps, surveillance, and branded Dr. King as a trouble maker all against orders from Congress. Berry brings out the distinct possibility that Hoover ordered the assassination of Dr. King and was instrumental in bringing James Earl Ray, Dr King’s killer, conveniently into the picture in order to do the actual shooting.

The book is a fascinating study of both the events surrounding Dr. King’s assassination and portraits of some of the individuals that both worked for and against him. Berry eloquently pictures the F.B.I. as Hoover’s fiefdom, and due to the secret files held on many people by him, was able to establish total control over the organization as well as becoming a law unto himself.

The ending consists of the airing of Berry’s thoughts about the assasssination with actual facts presented to back up his theory. I feel that while Steve Berry may have written better books, Bishop’s Pawn is beyond any doubt the most thought provoking of them. Totally mesmerizing and the “king” of all nighters.

3/18 Paul Lane

THE BISHOP’S PAWN by Steve Berry. Minotaur Books (March 20, 2018). ISBN 978-1250140227. 352p.

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THE BIG GET-EVEN by Paul Di Filippo

March 17, 2018

A very well told story about a scam – not just any scam but one for the sum of twenty million dollars. There are two main characters plotting this masterpiece. There is Glen, a disbarred lawyer and a man just out of prison who narrates the story. By chance and certainly not planned, he saves Stan’s life.

Stan is an arsonist who has a grudge against Barnaby Nancarrow, a major real estate developer, a rather crooked one, and sort of Stan’s former partner. Nancarrow hired Stan to burn properties owned by him in order to collect on the insurance. Nancarrow, was shall we say, not very honest with Stan in terms of paying him for the work and keeping him out of trouble with the law.

Stan and a woman named Vee, who is also somewhat miffed with Nancarrow, manage to convince Glen that they are aware of several factors that can be used in a scam. The scam that could net the group twenty million dollars in a relatively short period of time and for not much work.

There are more members of the team gathered for the venture including a very talented computer geek. He lives with Vee and his part will be to set up certain documents to aid in getting Nancarrow’s interest piqued. While all are in it for the money at first they do get to liking their fellow schemers making the novel a bit of a comedy.
The writing is certainly entertaining and will appeal to any reader looking for a good read. No deep dark messages nor hidden meanings to divert the reader’s attention from a well done novel.3/18 Paul Lane

THE BIG GET-EVEN by Paul Di Filippo. Blackstone Publishing (March 6, 2018). ISBN 978-1504783910. 352p.

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THE CHILDREN’S GAME by Max Karpov

March 16, 2018

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A Thriller of Russian Cyber Warfare, Fake News, and Modern Espionage

Spy vs Spy grown up fashion: a novel about a new and different manner to wage war against your opponent; no guns, no bombs, no mass charges of soldiers. Simply setting up an attack via the use of disinformation. And one such scenario is brilliantly set up by Max Karpov.

The CIA learns that a propaganda attack is about to be launched against the United States by Russia, masterminded by a former FSB officer, Andrei Turov. He is now a millionaire and good friend of Vladimir Putin. It is termed “the children’s game,” a chess stratagem geared to a checkmate in four moves. It will be launched by a single breaking event and than continue using a sustained campaign of both disinformation and cyber attacks. The single breaking event is the shooting down of a plane that Putin is on, killing all aboard and putting the blame on the United States.

Christopher Niles, a former CIA information officer who knows Turov and his close relationship with Putin, is assigned to break open the plot and begins his attempt along with a small team. Karpov has set up a plausible action versus reaction plot which is beyond any doubt a brilliant description of the events described.

The reader will be pulled in many different ways during the course of the book. It is very much a novel that cannot be put down until the ending is reached. And it could be prophetic in it’s depiction of how future conflicts between nations could be fought with results behind the scenes and public opinion being manipulated as a means of victory or defeat.

Max Karpov delineates that the United States is very much behind Russia in it’s ability to wage the “new” war. The book may be a wake up call but first and foremost it is brilliant plot showcasing a major literary talent.

3/18 Paul Lane

THE CHILDREN’S GAME by Max Karpov. Arcade Publishing (March 13, 2018). ISBN 978-1510734814. 384p.

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THE ESCAPE ARTIST by Brad Meltzer

March 6, 2018

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Brad Meltzer’ s latest novel ties together two of the most interesting people ever united by events in a book. The first one is a soldier named Nola Brown. Nola’s background includes a childhood marred by the worse treatment ever received by an adopted daughter from the man that became her father. She was bullied, browbeaten, and treated as garbage. Her only escape was to join the army.

While there she was chosen to be the Army’s Artist in Residence. She had the open-ended assignment of going wherever she wanted to and drawing what she saw to be included in the army’s record of the battle or the event in order to form a better picture of what occurred.

The other person is Jim “Zig” Zigarowski who works at Dover Air Force Base as a mortician in the section that receives fallen military personnel. Zig does not treat the position as something to just work at as his day job. His feelings towards the dead received causes him to labor long and hard at fixing up features of those that combat has disfigured in order to allow next of kin to be able to have open casket burials and find closure in that process.

Zig knew Nola years ago while she was in high school and saved the life of his daughter. Later in that period there was a terrible accident that did claim the life of Zig’s child and thereby ruined his life. His wife left him and Zig went deeper into the lonely business of dealing with the dead to ready them for burial.

The novel opens with the news of the crashing of a small plane coming from a secret military base in Alaska. Among other casualties, Zig learns that Nola is among the dead and solicits her body in order to work on it preparing for the funeral. He quickly discovers that the corpse is not Nola but someone else and begins his own intensive investigation of what is happening.

The events depicted keep the reader glued to the book in order to find out what is going on. Who is the person killed and, of course, where is Nola? Both Zig and Nola are very well delineated and their feelings and reactions to events are those that would happen to anyone caught up in those situations. It is possible that Nola might enter into future novels written by Brad Meltzer but the current book is able to stand on its own and provides an excellent reading experience for those enjoying it. Very well done.

3/18 Paul Lane

THE ESCAPE ARTIST by Brad Meltzer. Grand Central Publishing (March 6, 2018). ISBN: 978-1455559527. 434p.

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THE LAST EQUATION OF ISAAC SERVERY by Nova Jacobs

March 5, 2018

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A Novel in Clues

The subtitle is “A Novel in Clues” and that is precisely what it is. Isaac Severy, the patriarch of an intellectually gifted family, passes away. His farewell note indicates that he knew he would die, and when, and also indicates that two others would become deceased and predicts the times. Murder, suicide, natural death? And what enables him to make such spot on predictions? Is it the equation that he has just finished?

Isaac sends a letter to his adopted granddaughter Hazel while she is in Los Angeles for his funeral. The letter alludes to a secret organization that is after the equation and will stop at nothing to obtain it. Isaac charges Hazel with finding said equation and delivering it to a close friend of his.

While still in Los Angles, Hazel comes to the realization that the equation has implications that could have disastrous consequences for her entire extended family and begins an exhaustive hunt for it. Clues sent to Hazel by her grandfather indicate that the equation can be found by clues hidden in one of her favorite novels, and we follow her reasoning and search through them.

Complicating events are the appearances of Isaac’s favorite son, a theoretical physicist, and a long lost cousin, both coming to Los Angeles. Do they know about the equation and what it can do? And of course the obvious question of what is it capable of?

The debut novel certainly bodes well for an exciting career for this author. It is definitely one that will not let the reader put it down until finished and exhibits a literary style that is certainly captivating.

3/18 Paul Lane

THE LAST EQUATION OF ISAAC SERVERY by Nova Jacobs. Touchstone (March 6, 2018). ISBN 978-1501175121. 352p.

KINDLE

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THE WIFE by Alafair Burke

February 28, 2018

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Wow, what a read! This was the last book I read before I went back to work and it was a one day read for me, I could not put it down.

Angela grew up in the Hamptons, and we find out fairly quick that something traumatic happened when she was a teenager – and that story teasingly unfurls throughout the book.

As an adult, Angela became a successful caterer in East Hampton, and when she meets Jason at her best friend’s house where she’s catering a party, she assumes this will be a short fling as most relationships between townies and summer people go. But Jason has other ideas.

Even being a single mother doesn’t deter him and Angela falls for him and the way he cares for her son. Jason is one of the good guys, a smart, successful college professor and they marry. They live in NYC and Jason gets Spencer into a good private school. When Jason writes a bestselling book, he becomes a celebrity which makes Angela somewhat uncomfortable because she’s always afraid her past will come back to haunt her. Jason, of course, knows, and he respects her wanting to keep her secrets.

Then Jason is accused of sexual harassment by one of the interns he supervises. He tries to blow it off, but then another woman comes forward and accuses him of rape. Angela, always a survivor, realizes she needs to stand by her man, even after he admits to having an affair with his accuser. But as things progress, their life starts spiraling out of control.

There are many twists in this story but the ending is the real shocker. The pacing is relentless, the characters are so well drawn that they completely drive the narrative. If you are a fan of the “girl books,” put this on your list. In general I’m not, but this book was exceptional, I loved it.

2/18 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE WIFE by Alafair Burke. Harper (January 23, 2018). ISBN: 978-0062390516. 352p.