Hurricane Punch by Tim Dorsey

Hurricane Punch by Tim Dorsey

Book Description
Welcome to another typical summer in Florida, the season of the storms. Serge storms.

That lovable, under-undermedicated dispenser of truth, justice, and trivia is back with a vengeance. And not a weirdness-laced moment too soon.

His cherished home state is about to take a beating, and from far more than the way-too-routine conga line of hurricanes bearing down on the peninsula. Bodies have begun turning up at a disturbing rate, even for Florida, and it looks like a brutal serial killer is on the loose, which highly offends Serge's moral sensibilities and he vows to stop at nothing in his juggernaut to make All Things Right . . . except if he gets bored or distracted by a cool souvenir or . . . or a . . . whatever.

But his path won't be obstacle free.

Agent Mahoney has picked up the scent. The obsessive criminal profiler—just released from a mental hospital where he'd been sent for getting too deep inside Serge's head—is convinced there is no second killer. Serge's personality is simply splitting from decades of burning with incandescent zest for everything under the sun. Then there's Coleman, whose triathlete approach to the sport of polyabuse binging just might derail the mission more than the entire police community put together.

The pace picks up. Winds howl, TV reporters fly around the beach, the Party Parrot parties on, and questions mount: Who's stalking Tampa Bay's most sensitive journalist? Did Tom Cruise go too easy on Matt Lauer? Do multiple orgasms improve storm tracking? Why is the feeding-tube guy so quiet? Will Molly ruin our antihero's dreams of playing the electric guitar better than Clapton? . . . All of which ultimately leads to the most pressing question on everyone's new-millennium lips:

What would Serge do?

Tim Dorsey returns once again with his charachter Serge "serial killer with principles" who goes on rampage once again in a busy Florida hurricane season always a step ahead from the law. Funny but does not live up to his earlier work.

The Dark Streets by John Shannon

The Dark Streets by John Shannon

Book Description
The latest mystery in the critically acclaimed Los Angeles Times best-selling series takes private investigator Jack Liffey to Los Angeles' exotic Koreatown, where a young film student, Soon-Lin Kim, has apparently gone missing. But Jack is not the only one looking for Soon-Lin. Her association with a sinister militant group of radical Asians has also set Homeland Security in her pursuit. Again, bizarre details and compounding mysteries envelop Jack, and ultimately he finds himself under torturously intense interrogation at a secret compound in the desert-and ill-prepared for a climax as explosive as the violent lightning storm approaching on the horizon.

Aging private investigator, Jack Liffey is hired to investigate the disappearance of a young Korean activist by her parents, uncovers a plot involving international conglomerate implicated in a land grab.

Blossom by Andrew Vachss

Blossom by Andrew Vachss

Book Description
In this savagely convincing novel, Burke finds himself in a fading Indiana mill town, trying to clear a boy charged with a series of sexually motivated shootings. He's intent on finding the real sniper--and his unlikely ally is a beautiful woman named Blossom, who has her own reasons for finding the murderer, as well as her own idea of vengeance.

New York detetective bails out his friend's nephew when he is falsely implicated in a sniper shooting. He goes on a serial killer hunt with help of his friend and a aspiring doctor waitress. From the Burke series.

Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger

Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger

From the Publisher
A stunning new suspense novel in William Kent Krueger's prize-winning Corcoran O'Connor series finds the charismatic detective steeped in his most dangerous case to date.

Back on the beat as sheriff of Tamarack County, Cork O'Connor has already seen his beautiful Northwoods jurisdiction through an eventful summer. Now, as the chill of autumn sweeps through the countryside, he's about to face a season of murder, adultery, and deceit that will take him from seedy backwoods bars and humble reservation shanties to the highest and most corrupt echelons of Chicago society.

Lured to the nearby Ojibwe reservation on what appears to be a routine domestic disturbance call, Cork finds himself the target of a sniper's deadly fire. He has little time to worry about his own precarious situation, however. Soon after the shooting, he's called to investigate a mutilated body found perched above the raging waters of Mercy Falls. The victim is Eddie Jacoby, a Chicago businessman involved in negotiating an unpopular contract between his management firm and the local Indian casino.

Now Cork must deal with a high-profile murder contaminated with the blood of the rich and powerful. Sparks fly when the wealthy Jacoby family insists on hiring a beautiful private investigator named Dina Willner to consult on the case. But once Cork discovers an old and passionate tie between one of the Jacoby sons and his own wife, Jo, he begins to suspect that the events in Aurora have a darker, more personal motive than he could ever have imagined.

With his life at stake and the safety of his family in question, Cork must squelch the growing suspicion that another man desperately wants hiswife, and at the same time resist the passion heating up between himself and Dina.

Murder, greed, sex, and jealousy all play a part in the maze of danger and intrigue Cork is caught in. But somewhere, hidden beneath the turbulent depths of Mercy Falls, lie the answers, and Cork is determined to find them.

Small town sheriff is a target for assassination by a connected hood from Chicago who is himself murdered.

Crossing the Line by Clinton McKinzie

Crossing the Line by Clinton McKinzie

From the Publisher
Clinton McKinzie writes powerhouse thrillers that are like nothing you've ever read-- novels that crackle with raw emotion and brilliantly explore the nature of risk: the risk that lovers take, adventurers seek, and men and women live with on both sides of the law. In an unforgettable new novel, set against the breathtaking Rocky Mountain landscape he has made his own, the acclaimed author of Trial by Ice and Fire brings back Special Agent Antonio Burns and his renegade brother, Roberto--two men who have chosen very different lives, now coming together to make a treacherous descent into a world of loss, betrayal, and terror.

Antonio Burns is a cop, not a saint. Having earned the scornful nickname "QuickDraw" for a shooting that went very wrong, the Wyoming narcotics agent is fighting for redemption and holding on to his family with all the strength he possesses. His brother, Roberto, is another story. His quicksilver heart, hair-trigger temper, and unquenchable hunger for adrenaline rushes have landed him prison--and make him the right person for an FBI agent with a plan. Agent Mary Chang--cool, collected, and always under control--wants to go after Hidalgo, a murderous drug lord who has moved his operation from Mexico to a Wyoming canyon. In Roberto, Chang has found someone who can penetrate Hildago's heavily guarded crime ranch. And she has found a man who can quickly take her to her own wild side.

Now, while Mary and his brother watch over him, Roberto goes to work for Hidalgo for the promise of a free pass from prison. But Roberto can't stay withany script for long, and soon starts making up the game as he goes along. With Antonio sure that his brother is taking theultimate death trip, and Chang guarding a secret of her own, the perfect plan starts to veer wildly off course. And no one is prepared for the dark forces that are about to engulf them--or the final betrayal that will send them to the dizzying heights and abysmal depths of love and loss. A novel that plunges like a knife, Crossing the Line is vintage McKinzie: brilliant, breathless, and utterly impossible to put down.

Two brothers find themselves in a web of intrigue involving out of favor federal agents and mexicali drug lord.

The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne

The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne

Book Description

The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. . . .

A teenage computer prodigy is mortally strangled in Mumbai. A far-right extremist is killed in a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest. A wealthy businessman is murdered in Thailand. A pimp in Brooklyn is found stabbed to death and mysteriously covered by a brown shroud. What connects the victims is an ancient prophecy that leads to the end of the world, and it's up to Will Monroe, a fledgling reporter at the New York Times, to stop it.

But Monroe's investigation quickly makes him some shadowy enemies, who kidnap his wife and hold her hostage in Crown Heights. Desperate to find the link between the killings and to save his wife, he enlists his college sweetheart, TC, an eccentric artist and Kabbalah expert. As the death toll rises, they follow a trail of clues that seems to lead inexorably to a set of ancient texts containing a prophecy that promises to save the world—or to destroy it.

What will happen when the one secret that has kept the world safe for thousands of years is revealed to all? In The Righteous Men, a blistering thriller filled with mystery, romance, and suspense, Sam Bourne takes readers deep into the hidden worlds of fundamentalist religion, mysticism, and biblical prophecies. This is a visionary tale that is as frightening as it is entertaining. Readers won't stop turning the pages until the very end.

Link to Amazon.com: The Righteous Men: Books: Sam Bourne

New York Times reporter uncovers a diabolical plan masterminded by his own father to kill all good men who do good deeds (tzaddikim as per Jewish teachings ) to prove that their teachings are wrong. Reasonably fast paced but not too believable tale. Farfetched tale, tries too hard to be Da Vinci Code.

The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger

The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger  

Book Description

The creator of the critically acclaimed, award-winning Cork O'Connor mystery series presents a haunting, atmospheric conspiracy thriller. Locked in a tight battle for reelection, President Clay Dixon knows his best chance for victory is the popularity of his wife, Kate. But the disenchanted First Lady is about to desert him. When an orchard accident seriously injures Kate's father, a retired senator and former vice president, she returns to the family farm in Minnesota to be at his side. Assigned to protect her, Secret Service agent Bo Thorsen soon falls under Kate's spell. Bo suspects that the accident is part of a trap to lure the First Lady home, a trap set by a man named David Moses, an escaped mental patient who once loved Kate. But although Bo and Moses don't realize it, they're caught in a larger web of deadly intrigue spun by a shadowy, seemingly insignificant bureaucratic department within the federal government itself. Racing to find answers before an assassin's bullet kills Kate, Bo comes to understand that when you lie down with the Devil, there's hell to pay. Both ambitious and compelling, The Devil's Bed is sure to thrill and surprise devotees of Cork O'Connor and win new fans alike.

Source: Amazon.com: The Devil's Bed: Books: William Kent Krueger

Secret service agent foils a conspiracy to kill the first lady.

The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey

From the Publisher
How far would you go to protect everything you love?

On the South Side of Chicago, you’re only as strong as your reputation. Danny Carter and his best friend, Evan, earned theirs knocking over pawnshops and liquor stores, living from score to score, never thinking of tomorrow.

Then a job went desperately wrong, and in the roar of a gun blast, everything changed.

Years later, Danny doesn’t think about his past. He’s built a new world for himself: a legitimate career, a long-term girlfriend, and a clean conscience. He’s just like anyone else. Normal. Successful. Happy.

Until he spots his old partner staring him down in a smoky barroom mirror. The prison-hardened Evan is barely recognizable. Having served his time without dropping Danny’s name, his old friend believes he’s owed major payback -- and he’s willing to do anything to get it. With all he loves on the line and nowhere to turn, Danny realizes his new life hinges on a terrible choice: How far will he go to protect his future from his past?

A debut novel that’s drawn comparisons to Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, and Quentin Tarantino, The Blade Itself is the story of a good man held hostage by circumstance; a riveting exploration of class, identity, and the demons that shape us, where every effort to do the right thing leads to terrifying consequences and one inevitable conclusion: The more you have, the more you have to lose.

Reformed criminal is hounded by his former mate who did time for a crime they committed togather and wants to get even.

The Devil's Only Friend by Mitchell Bartoy

The Devil's Only Friend by Mitchell Bartoy

From the Publisher
It is the fall of 1943, and the city of Detroit is doing its best to recover from the explosive race riots that marked the recent summer. The police are working overtime to protect the auto plants and ensure that their massive machinery continues to churn out the steel that comprises America's lifeblood overseas. Pete Caudill, late of the Detroit detective squad, is passing the time sitting on the fire escape of a squalid rented room, consumed by the ghosts of his past, including the black teenager he shot and killed years ago and a similar boy whose life he saved in the recent riots.
When a young woman distantly connected to Caudill is murdered, her blood threatens to stain the reputation of the Lloyd family, scions of Detroit's all-powerful auto industry. Caudill himself has a certain reputation with the Lloyds, plus a direct link to the complicated man who runs the company and, some say, the city of Detroit itself.

As a desperate investigation unfolds and the war effort rages on, the tentacles of a menacing conspiracy reach deep into the soul of the powerful Lloyd family and threaten to squelch the very heart of American patriotism beating within. It's up to Pete Caudill, using whatever meager resources he can assemble, to put down the sinister forces working against the Lloyds, perhaps in the process preserve America's chances in the war--and discover an unexpected second chance at his own life.

Burntout cop in wartime Detroit tries to solve mysterious murders at an auto plant.

Dream as if you will live forever, Live as if you'll die tomorrow

 

Copper River by William Kent Krueger

Copper River by William Kent Krueger

From the Publisher

"This book finds Cork O'Connor running for his life from professional hit men who have already put a bullet through his leg. Desperate, he finds sanctuary outside a small town called Bodine on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in an old resort owned by his cousin, Jewell DuBois. Though Jewell, a bitter widow whose husband may have been killed by cops, keeps Cork at arm's length, her fourteen-year-old son, Ren, is looking for a friend. But being a father figure to Ren will prove more difficult than Cork could possibly imagine." "When the body of a young girl surfaces along the banks of the Copper River and another teenager vanishes, Cork must choose between helping to solve these deadly mysteries and thwarting the hit men who draw closer to him with every hour. Recklessly, he turns from his own worries and focuses on tracking the conspiracy of killers before Ren and his best friend, Charlie, fall victim. It's an error - one a good man might make - but as the contract killers who are hunting him close in, Cork realizes too late that it may be the last mistake he'll ever make." The trail left by the dead girl eventually leads to a shelter for homeless youth and into the grim reality of children lost and abandoned, who become easy prey for the perverted appetites of human predators. All small towns have buried secrets but, as Cork soon learns, this one has more than its share.

Small town Sheriff hides out with his cousin when a bounty is placed on is head by a millionaire who suspects him to be a killer of his son. While hiding he uncovers a murder conspiracy involving raping and killings of young runaways.

Trouble by Jesse Kellerman

Trouble by Jesse Kellerman

From the Publisher
Jesse Kellerman's debut thriller wowed the critics. His latest sets the bar even higher.

Young, idealistic, and overworked, Jonah is living the lonely life of a medical student in New York City when he accidentally stumbles across a murder in progress: a woman, being stabbed to death in the middle of the sidewalk. Without thinking, he rushes in to protect her-inadvertently killing her attacker in the process.

Thrust into the media spotlight, crushed by guilt, Jonah quickly learns that heroism isn't all it's cracked up to be. He receives a shower of unwanted attention-and hostility-from his superiors. The district attorney wants to "interview" him. The family of the dead man wants revenge.

Everything is further upended when the woman whose life he saved shows up at his apartment. What begins as a thank-you drink turns into a wildly passionate love affair. As their relationship deepens, however, Jonah realizes that she isn't quite the woman she appears to be. His nightmare has only begun, and the price of kindness will turn out to be higher than he could have imagined.

Medical student rescues a damsel in distress who turns out to be psychotic stalker who makes him her next victim.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

From the Publisher
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.
Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher’s mind.
And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.

Touching and insightful narrative from an autistic boy's point of view. Very good. Recommended.

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

A Spot of Bother
by Mark Haddon

From the Publisher
George Hall is an unobtrusive man. A little distant, perhaps, a little cautious, not quite at ease with the emotional demands of fatherhood or of manly bonhomie. The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely. Some things in life can't be ignored, however: his tempestuous daughter Katie's deeply inappropriate boyfriend Ray, for instance, or the sudden appearance of a red circular rash on his hip.

At 57, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden and enjoying the freedom to be alone when he wants. But then he runs into a spot of bother. That red circular rash on his hip: George convinces himself it's skin cancer. And the deeply inappropriate Ray? Katie announces he will become her second husband. The planning for these frowned-upon nuptials proves a great inconvenience to George's wife, Jean, who is carrying on a late-life affair with her husband's ex-colleague. The Halls do not approve of Ray, for vague reasons summed up by their son Jamie's observation that Ray has "strangler's hands." Jamie himself has his own problems - his tidy and pleasant life comes apart when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to Katie's wedding. And Katie, a woman whose ferocious temper once led to the maiming of a carjacker, can't decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob.

Unnoticed in the uproar, George quietly begins to go mad. The way these damaged people fall apart - and come together - as a family is the true subject of Haddon's hilarious and disturbing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.

A Spot of Bother is Mark Haddon's unforgettablefollow-up to the internationally beloved bestseller The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Once again, Haddon proves a master of a story at once hilarious, poignant, dark, and profoundly human. Here the madness - literally - of family life proves rich comic fodder for Haddon's crackling prose and bittersweet insights into misdirected love.

An unforgettable funny and witty narrative about a family in a small town in England. an empathetic look at family life and the associated crises. A must read for any fan of humour.

Sliver of Truth by Lisa Unger

Sliver of Truth by Lisa Unger

From the Publisher

Recently, Ridley Jones stepped off a street corner and into an abyss of violence, deception, and fear. She is being a lot more careful about where she steps and trying to get on with her life when another seemingly mundane act- picking up a few envelopes of prints at a photo lab- puts Ridley at the nexus of a global network of crime. A shadowy figure of a man appears in almost every picture she’s taken in the last year, lurking just far enough away to make identification impossible. Everyone from the federal government to the criminal underworld wants to know who the man is- and where he is- and some people are willing to kill to find out.



Now the FBI is at her door, some serious bad guys are following her every move, and the family she once loved and relied on is more distant than ever. Ridley has never felt so confused or alone in her life. Everyone she loves has turned out to be a stranger- she even feels like a stranger to herself. Is she a product of nature or nurture?



At once hunting down a ghost and running for her life, Ridley doesn’t know if she ever had the power to shape her own destiny or if love exists anywhere beyond her imagination. The only thing Ridley knows for sure is that she has to get to the truth about herself and her past if she’s ever going to find her way home.



Charged with relentless intensity and kinetic action, playing out with unnerving suspense on the streets of New York and London, and seen through the terrified but determined eyes of a young woman whose body and heart are pushed to the point of shattering, Sliver of Truth is another triumph from the New York Times bestselling author ofBeautiful Lies.

The Eagle's Prophecy by Simon Scarrow

The Eagle's Prophecy by Simon Scarrow

From the Publisher

The arresting sixth novel in Simon Scarrow's epic series of the Roman army

It is spring ad 45 in Rome, and Centurions Macro and Cato, dismissed from the Second Legion in Britain, are waiting for an investigation into their involvement in the death of a fellow officer. It is then that the imperial secretary, the devious Narcissus, makes them an offer they can't refuse: to rescue an imperial agent who has been captured by pirates operating off the Illyrian coast. With him were scrolls vital to the safety of the emperor and the future of Rome.



But Narcissus also sends Vitellius, an old enemy of the two centurions. The three officers set out from Ravenna with the imperial fleet but the pirates are forewarned and the Romans pay a heavy price. Outnumbered by the enemy, surrounded by rumors of treachery, and endangered by Vitellius's desire to redeem himself, Centurions Macro and Cato must find the pirate base to avert a disaster that could destroy the emperor and the very core of Rome.

Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger

Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger

From the Publisher
If Ridley Jones had slept ten minutes later or had taken the subway instead of waiting for a cab, she would still be living the beautiful lie she used to call her life. She would still be the privileged daughter of a doting father and a loving mother. Her life would still be perfect-with only the tiny cracks of an angry junkie for a brother and a charming drunk with shady underworld connections for an uncle to mar the otherwise flawless whole. But that's not what happened. Instead, those inconsequential decisions lead her to perform a good deed that puts her in the right place at the right time to unleash a chain of events that brings a mysterious package to her door-a package which informs her that her entire world is a lie. Suddenly forced to question everything she knows about herself and her family, Ridley wanders into dark territory she never knew existed, where everyone in her life seems like a stranger. She has no idea who's on her side and who has something to hide-even, and maybe especially, her new lover, Jake, who appears to have secrets of his own. Sexy and fast-paced, Beautiful Lies is a true literary thriller with one of the freshest voices and heroines to arrive in years. Lisa Unger takes us on a breathtaking ride in which every choice Ridley makes creates a whirlwind of consequences that are impossible to imagine . . . .