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On various occasions newspaper articles, TV spots and other public forums announce that countries are working on magnetic weapons of war. This would be a method of destroying the manufacturing and distribution of any and all electric power. There would be no deaths directly attributable to the loss of power, although many would be caused by the consequences of said loss. Buildings and other installations would remain standing, and the population of the area receiving the attack would survive in the main to become subservient to the attacker.

Powerless is a well thought out novel describing the aftermath of a total loss of electrical power in the entire world due to explosions on our sun and energy generated by those sunspots. The book focuses on the United States and several groups of people and how they are affected by  the catastrophe.

While Luke Marshall, an army veteran, is singled out for closer examination, other people are introduced and followed as their lives are affected by the loss of electricity. Cars stall, water is not pumped into homes, phones including cellular are rendered useless, planes fall out of the sky and nuclear plants begin inevitable meltdown. Luke Marshall undertakes a journey to pick up and bring his family home.

Lawlessness reigns, it is everyone for himself, and it’s survival of the strongest and those that have access to weapons to utilize for both protection and to use as strong arm tactics. The President of the United States attempts to restore some sort of order but finds that the loss of electricity subjects him, as well as all others, an inability to function normally. In an interesting aside, the destruction of an enemy of the country is a rewarding prospective.

The main thrust of the book is the description of destruction and devastation, but the ending is a logical method of restoring the material aspects of the civilization we now enjoy. An excellent and thought provoking exploration of what could happen if we have our civilization taken away by an outside force.

11/15 Paul Lane

POWERLESS by Tim Washburn. Pinnacle (October 27, 2015). ISBN: 978-0786036530. 464p.

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Lieutenant Dan (Danielle) Lewis is a special investigator in the Royal Navy. Her assignment is to investigate a suicide on the submarine “Tenacity,” which occurred immediately after the man’s wife was beaten, raped and killed.

Submarines are notoriously inhospitable to women, and this one is no exception – one hundred hostile men and Dan, who isn’t much of a team player anyway. But investigate she does, despite the fact the captain refuses to stay in port and sets out on their next mission, with Dan on board.

The crew aboard are not happy nor helpful, and Dan is in danger every step of the way. Law, a former Royal Navy Submarine engineer, ups the tension significantly as he brilliantly recreates the claustrophobic feel of living on a submarine. The unusual setting adds a great deal of interest but never slows the action in this fast paced nail-biter.

This is the first book of a series featuring this flawed but dynamic character, and shows great promise as the series moves forward.

Copyright ©2015 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

11/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

TENACITY by J.S. Law. Henry Holt and Co. (November 3, 2015).  ISBN 978-1627794565. 320p.

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Lucy Kincaid Novels (Book 10)

All hands are on deck when former DEA agent turned murderer Nicole Rollins escapes on her way to testify against drug lord Tobias, leaving several dead law enforcement officers and a bus load of frightened children who narrowly escaped a bomb on board the bus.

Lucy Kinkaid and Sean Rogan are just two of the agents trying to find Collins amid a massive manhunt, but there is contention about who the real mastermind is behind her escape. The general consensus is that she has fled the country but Kinkaid has her doubts about that too. Most of the agents believe Tobias is running the show, but Kinkaid, a psychological profiler, is leaning more towards Collins being in charge.

Brennan turns the tables a bit in this 10th entry into this terrific series, offering up the antagonists’ point of view, and the tight plotting and all the action make this a true page turner. This chilling, twisty tale of revenge is the denouement of the last few books of the series, but there is enough explanation to allow new readers to be able to enjoy this latest entry on its own.

Copyright ©2015 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

11/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

NO GOOD DEED by Allison Brennan. Minotaur Books (November 3, 2015).  ISBN 978-1250064332. 480p.

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Decker/Lazarus Novels

Former Los Angeles detective Peter Decker is living and working as police chief in Greenbury, a small town in upstate New York. A local college student, Eli Wolf, is found dead in the forest, an apparent suicide – or is it?

Decker investigates with the help of visiting Harvard law school student Tyler McAdams, (who was introduced in Murder 101) and is staying with Peter & Rina, ostensibly to study for his final exams without distraction, but the distractions mount as the investigation continues.

Wolf was Mennonite and estranged from his father. He’d been in a bad car accident several years earlier resulting in some kind of brain damage that left him obsessed with math to the exclusion of a family or personal life. Wolf’s one social connection is another math student who has had a crush on Tyler since they were teenagers, but that doesn’t leave her out as suspect.

There was not enough Rina and way too much math theory here and it slowed the story down considerably. Math geeks will love it while fans of the series may be disappointed.

Copyright ©2015 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

10/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE THEORY OF DEATH by Faye Kellerman. William Morrow (October 27, 2015).  ISBN 978-0062270214. 384p.

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Richard Ben Sapir passed away several years ago, leaving a legacy of exceptionally engrossing novels. Among these was The Quest, first published in 1987 and currently being reprised for today’s reader. It is still a novel that grabs the reader and carries him or her into a story that is unusual, exciting, and definitely informative about the world of precious stones.

Queen Elizabeth I commissioned the construction of a Saltcellar, which was completed while the mighty Spanish Armada was defeated by the English fleet changing the makeup of world powers. Spain lost its place as the master of the seas while England began several centuries of eminence on the oceans of the world. A Saltcellar was a decorative piece designed to hold the salt on dining tables. In many cases it was built incorporating precious stones making it an item too valuable to actually be used for the containment and sprinkling of salt.

Elizabeth’s Saltcellar was hidden by her in a safe place, and not seen for centuries. The action of the book opens when a man attempts to sell it in New York and is killed in the process. His daughter, Claire Andrews. travels to New York from her home in the midwest and finds herself in a conspiracy beginning with Elizabeth I and traveling to present day New York. She consults with detective Artie Modelstein of the New York police Frauds/Jewels squad and the two form a mutual attraction leading to love.

Claire researches the Saltcellar and learns a great deal about the world of rubies, diamonds, emeralds and other precious stones in the process. Ben Sapir obviously did a great deal of research in this area and imparts this knowledge through Claire to the reader. It is, by itself, a fascinating topic described in an interesting manner by the author.

The question of how the Saltcellar was taken from England and ends up in the collection of a man from the United States midwest, and what the piece really covers are skillfully woven into a very unusual plot. Certainly, an all nighter for the reader and the definite prelude to looking for additional works by Ben Sapir either republished or found at a bookstore or library.

It is newly available as an ebook.

10/15 Paul Lane

THE QUEST by Richard Ben Sapir. Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller (October 13, 2015) ASIN: B0141UPCRU. 404p.

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Caitlin Strong is a kick ass Texas Ranger and one of the toughest female protagonists around. In this seventh outing, she has a lot on her plate.

She’s called to investigate 30 missing children, one of whom is her boyfriend Cort Wesley Masters’s son, who all seem to have vanished while on a camping trip. Then she’s brought in to help negotiate with a crazed rancher who is holding his family hostage, claiming that aliens have taken his cattle and he will kill his family before he lets the aliens take them.

There are various subplots including a billionaire businessman who has a genetically engineered pesticide that is causing cancer and controversy, Navy Seals in Afghanistan back in 2003, and some really nasty Russians that add yet more layers to this complex tale.

How everything ends up tied together is at the crux of the story, and it moves at lightning speed. Also interspersed is some background about Strong’s family – she is fifth generation Texas Ranger.

Fans of the series and readers who like their women fearless and smart will love this story.

Copyright ©2015 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

10/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

STRONG LIGHT OF DAY by Jon Land. Forge Books; First Edition edition (October 13, 2015).  ISBN 978-0765335128. 352p.

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A stranger arrives in a small Arizona town called Redemption, but in a big departure from what sounds like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, this stranger is an albino and thinks his name may be Solomon Creed. He thinks he is there to save Sheriff Coronado, but he’s really not sure about any of this.

There was a plane crash just outside of town, and Creed may be the only survivor. The crash starts a rapidly spreading fire that’s a real threat to the small community.

In another storyline, Mulcahy is a corrupt cop who is in town at the behest of a Mexican drug lord. The drug lord is holding Mulcahy’s father hostage.

Interspersed throughout are memoir chapters from the founder of Redemption,“King” Cassidy. There is a lot of action, several brutal murders and an occasional ghost.

All these story lines eventually intersect but this is the first book of planned trilogy, so there is more to come. With its touches of the supernatural, F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack readers will feel right at home here.

Copyright ©2015 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

10/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE SEARCHER by Simon Toyne. William Morrow (October 6, 2015).  ISBN 978-0062329721. 480p.

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Elese Martin disappears in Alaska while on her honeymoon and her husband Greg is the prime suspect, especially when the cops find out his first wife had him arrested, and he’s taken out a large insurance policy on Elese. But the case goes nowhere and Elese is never found.

Three years later another woman, Nina Granville, goes missing. Nina’s fiancé is the political wunderkind of the Donnelly family, a Kennedy-like clan. A multi-million dollar reward spurs on a massive search, but also to no avail.

An Alaskan survivalist, Baer, is convinced that there is an upcoming nuclear winter, which he is determined to survive. He kidnaps Elese, and after her death, Nina, who is repeatedly beaten, raped and kept in a small cage. Nina keeps her sanity only by finding Elese’s secret journal hidden away in the cage.

This “Cold War” has nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with an Alaskan autumn, and is a fascinating look at survivalists and the wilderness of our fiftieth state, as well as being a truly gripping page turner.

Copyright ©2015 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

10/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

A COLD WAR by Alan Russell.  Thomas & Mercer (October 6, 2015).  ISBN 978-1503945807. 368p.

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