BookFever

Easy Innocence by Libby Fischer Hellmann

2009-10-18T13:03:00.002-04:00

Easy Innocence by Libby Fischer Hellmann

Synopsis

When pretty, smart Sara Long is found bludgeoned to death, it's easy to blame the man with the bat. But Georgia Davis — former cop and newly-minted PI — is hired to look into the incident at the behest of the accused's sister, and what she finds hints at a much different, much darker answer. It seems the privileged, preppy schoolgirls on Chicago's North Shore have learned just how much their innocence is worth to hot-under-the-collar businessmen. But while these girls can pay for Prada pricetags, they don't realize that their new business venture may end up costing them more than they can afford... Libby Fischer Hellmann writes the award-winning suspense series featuring video producer and single mother Ellie Forman. She's recently edited the successful anthology Chicago Blues.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Newly minted PI is tasked to absolve a mentally challenged suspect charged of brutally killing a teenager. Teenage prostitution, conspiracy and intrigue are laid bare as the PI, Georgia Davis unravels the thread running through the characters.

Walking Dead by Greg Rucka

2009-10-12T12:28:00.001-04:00

Walking Dead by Greg Rucka

Synopsis

In this explosive new thriller, Greg Rucka, the acclaimed author of Shooting at Midnight and Patriot Acts, sets bodyguard-turned-international-fugitive Atticus Kodiak on a one-man crusade where being willing to die for your ideals isn’t enough. You have to be willing to do much worse.…

I will take your place in times of danger.

As an ex-bodyguard, Atticus Kodiak knew the sentiment well. He’d once based his career on it. Now it could cost him more than just his livelihood—more than even his life. For as he wakes to the sound of gunfire, the nightmare is about to begin again.

Atticus knew very well that people came to a place like Kobuleti to hide. After all, that’s why he and Alena Cizkova had come to the secluded Georgian town in the former U.S.S.R. But Atticus never asked his friend and neighbor Bakhar Lagidze why he was in Kobuleti or what he might be hiding from. Now it’s too late. Bakhar and his family have been brutally murdered, and the thuggish local police chief has declared it a murder-suicide. Everyone—even Alena—seems satisfied to leave it at that.

Except for Atticus.

He knows what the police won’t acknowledge: that one person survived the bloodbath in the Lagidze household—their fourteen-year-old daughter. And the nightmare she’s about to experience will make her wish she’d died with the rest.

To rescue her Atticus must enter a web that takes him from Russia to Istanbul, that stretches from Dubai to Las Vegas. But what troubles Atticus the most is that Alena—once one of the world’s most dangerous assassinsand a woman who fears nothing—is clearly terrified of what he’s uncovered. And as Atticus gets closer to learning why, the closer he gets to destroying the life they have made, and each other.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Living incognito, Atticus gets close to his neighbors's family only to find that they are on the run from Russian mafia. Brutal revenge and ruthless killing follows ATticus as he goes on the quest to rescue his neighbor's orphan daughter sold into slavery.

Runner by Thomas Perry

2009-10-05T12:24:00.002-04:00

Runner by Thomas Perry

Synopsis

Jane Whitefield—New York Times best-selling writer Thomas Perry’s most popular character—returns from retirement to the world of the runner, guiding fugitives out of danger. After a nine-year absence, the fiercely resourceful Native American guide Jane Whitefield is back, in the latest superb thriller by award-winning author Thomas Perry. For more than a decade, Jane pursued her unusual profession: “I’m a guide . . . I show people how to go from places where somebody is trying to kill them to other places where nobody is." Then she promised her husband she would never work again, and settled in to live a happy, quiet life as Jane McKinnon, the wife of a surgeon in Amherst, New York. But when a bomb goes off in the middle of a hospital fundraiser, Jane finds herself face to face with the cause of the explosion: a young pregnant girl who has been tracked across the country by a team of hired hunters. That night, regardless of what she wants or the vow she’s made to her husband, Jane must come back to transform one more victim into a runner. And her quest for safety sets in motion a mission that will be a rescue operation—or a chance for revenge. Runner is Thomas Perry at the top of his form.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Girl on the run from vicious husband and misguided in-laws comes to Jane Whitefield for help.

Lost Witness by Robert Ellis

2009-09-30T14:26:00.000-04:00

Lost Witness by Robert Ellis

Synopsis

Detective Lena Gamble returns in Ellis’s follow-up, a cop held in disgrace by PD higher ups for the explosive way the Romeo case played out, but hailed as a hero by her colleagues for catching the killer. For her punishment, she hasn't handled a real murder investigation in eight months. When the chief finally tosses her a case, she’s thrilled until she realizes he’s probably setting her up for another public fall. The victim is unidentified, there are no witnesses, and no leads. Just the body, chopped into pieces and dropped in a Dumpster—gruesome enough to ensure that once again, the media will be following Lena’s every move.
Robert Ellis delivers another high-speed, commercial, puzzling read, featuring one of the most intense and vivid police characters on the shelf today.

⇒ Via: BN.com

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Night Work by Steve Hamilton

2009-09-27T14:21:00.001-04:00

Night Work by Steve Hamilton

Synopsis

Joe Trumbull is not a man who scares easily. As a juvenile probation officer in Kingston, New York, he's half cop, half social worker to the most high-risk youth in the city. And when he's not pounding the streets, trying to keep his kids out of jail, he's pounding a heavy bag in the gym to stay in shape.

But tonight Joe Trumbull is scared to death.

It's been two years since his fiancÃ©e, Laurel, was brutally murdered. Two years of grief and loneliness. On this hot summer night, he's finally going out on a blind date, his first date since Laurel's death. He's not looking for love, just testing the waters to see if it's possible to live a normal life again. The thought of it is turning his knees to jelly.

Marlene Frost is a beautiful woman. She's warm and funny, with a smile to match. After the first awkward minutes, Joe finally starts to think this isn't such a bad idea after all. In fact, maybe this blind date will turn out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him.

He couldn't be more wrong. Because somehow, for reasons Joe can barely understand, this one evening will mark the beginning of a new nightmare. A nightmare that will lead him to the faceless man in the shadows....

⇒ Via: BN.com

Parole officer finds himself under scrutiny after close acquaintances get murdered.

Blood Is the Sky by Steve Hamilton

2009-09-25T14:18:00.001-04:00

Blood Is the Sky by Steve Hamilton

Synopsis

When a fire is done, what's left is only half-destroyed. It is charred and brittle. It is obscene. There is nothing so ugly in all the world as what a fire leaves behind, covered in ashes and smoke and a smell you'll think about every day for the rest of your life.

Reluctant investigator Alex McKnight finds himself drawn by friendship into a long drive north. The brother of Alex's longtime Ojibwa friend Vinnie LeBlanc works as a hunting guide, serving the rich clients from downstate. It seems that Vinnie's brother and his most recent group of hunters have vanished in northern Ontario, and Vinnie is scared enough to ask Alex to help him find them.

Their arrival sets in motion a heart-pounding string of events that leaves Alex and his friend miles from civilization, stranded in the heart of the Canadian wilderness with no food, no weapons -and no way out. And there's someone out there who definitely does not want them to make it back alive.

At once elegant and enormously suspenseful, Steve Hamilton's Blood Is the Sky heralds his arrival as one of the premier crime writers working today.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Private Investigator is pulled into a murder invertigation when his friend's brother goes missing on an hunting trip.

Mixed Blood: A Thriller by Roger Smith

2009-09-24T14:14:00.002-04:00

Mixed Blood: A Thriller by Roger Smith

Publishers Weekly

Screenwriter Smith offers a gritty tale of corruption and vengeance set in South Africa in his absorbing debut. On the verge of financial ruin, American Jack Burn, a security specialist, reluctantly joined a bank robbery plot that he hoped would save his family from disaster. The scheme ended badly, with most of his accomplices dead, along with a policeman, turning Burn, who made off with millions, into a wanted fugitive. Under a new identity, Burn has succeeded in making a new life with his wife and four-year-old son in Cape Town, South Africa. Their tenuous stability ends after two meth-heads invade the Burnses' home and threaten violence. While Jack manages to kill the intruders and dispose of the bodies, the incident draws the unwelcome attention of Insp. Rudi Barnard, a dirty cop who rules the area known as Cape Flats. The grim denouement may not satisfy all readers, but Smith's taut prose bodes well for future thrillers from his pen. Author tour. (Feb.)

⇒ Via: BN.com

American fugitive on the run with his wife and child finds himself facing the raw underbelly of Cape Town. Drug dealers, corrupt cops and addicts form a tale of twists and turns that make you sympathize with the plight of the main characters.

Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen

2009-09-22T14:07:00.001-04:00

Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen

Synopsis

When Jack Taylor blew town at the end of The Guards his alcoholism was a distant memory and sober dreams of a new life in London were shining in his eyes. In the opening pages of The Killing of the Tinkers, Jack's back in Galway a year later with a new leather jacket on his back, a pack of smokes in his pocket, a few grams of coke in his waistband, and a pint of Guinness on his mind. So much for new beginnings.

Before long he's sunk into his old patterns, lifting his head from the bar only every few days, appraising his surroundings for mere minutes and then descending deep into the alcoholic, drug-induced fugue he prefers to the real world. But a big gypsy walks into the bar one day during a moment of Jack's clarity and changes all that with a simple request. Jack knows the look in this man's eyes, a look of hopelessness mixed with resolve topped off with a quietly simmering rage; he's seen it in the mirror. Recognizing a kindred soul, Jack agrees to help him, knowing but not admitting that getting involved is going to lead to more bad than good. But in Jack Taylor's world bad and good are part and parcel of the same lost cause, and besides, no one ever accused Jack of having good sense.

Ken Bruen wowed critics and readers alike when he introduced Jack Taylor in The Guards; he'll blow them away with The Killing of the Tinkers, a novel of gritty brilliance that cements Bruen's place among the greats of modern crime fiction.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Jack Taylor returns to his old hauting grounds to be immediately hired by a band of Irish gypsies (Tinkers) who want to get behind who is killing off their kind.

Cold Hit by Stephen J. Cannell

2009-01-17T13:04:00.001-05:00

Cold Hit by Stephen J. Cannell

Synopsis

BETWEEN A COLD WAR
Shane Scully has found his footing while his partner is going down in flames and a serial murderer rattles L.A.. Each corpse has been mysteriously defiled. Then, in the middle of the hunt, Scully gets an idea that may cost him his life.

AND COLD, HARD TRUTHS...
Scully suspects that someone with inside information has neatly “hidden” one murder inside this messy serial killer case. His copycat theory ignites a crossfire between LAPD and the Feds.

IS A WHITE-HOT CASE OF MURDER.
Now Scully knows he has a ten-year-old cop-killing to clear, while two street-smart detectives lead him into a secret world of international espionage and a powerful counter-terrorism chief from the top of the U.S. government warns him away. To do his job, Scully must risk everything—unraveling the mystery of a Cold War act of betrayal, a brutal street crime, and a killer just waiting to hit again...

“As the case spirals outward from local crime to international espionage dating back to the 1980s, the action rarely lets up. When it does, we’re reintroduced to the back story that is one of the pleasures of reading the Scully series.”—Los Angeles Times

⇒ Via: BN.com

A LA detective finds that a serial killer investigation morphs into a national conspiracy involving FBI agents.

The Druperman Tapes by John Goodger

2009-01-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

The Druperman Tapes by John Goodger

Synopsis

"Emmett Druperman, the CEO of the Galaxy Hotel and Casino and the head of a secret cooperative of the most powerful casinos in Las Vegas, has received a videotape threatening violence against the cooperative's casinos unless a ransom is paid. The criminals identify themselves only by a code name." "Furious and ready for a fight, the ruthless Druperman calls in Steve Forrester, the head of the Galaxy's security team and an ex-Las Vegas cop, to find out who the criminals are - and to stop them. Forrester must now rely on the best cop he knows, his ex-partner, Frank Marshall. Unfortunately, Marshall has a drinking problem and a problem with Forrester - he hates his guts." "When the cooperative refuses to pay the ransom, the criminals go ahead with their violent plans and raise the stakes again. Banded together by greed and pulled apart by egos, the deadly group is surprisingly made up of only three small-time thieves - the glamorous, sophisticated casino grafter Dan Shiller, the mathematical genius and blackjack card counter Jurgen Voss, and the sadistic security guard Buster Malloy. Their plan is flawless - if they can only hold themselves together." As the vicious team puts together their final horrendous plan, the Las Vegas police, Forrester and Forrester's new girlfriend, Lucy Baker, scramble to stop them from killing thousands of innocent people.

⇒ Via: BN.com

A Las Vegas noir about three small time crooks who take a Casino boss for a hustle of a lifetime.

Peril by Thomas H. Cook

2009-01-08T12:54:00.001-05:00

Peril by Thomas H. Cook

Synopsis

"Sara Labriola is a married woman haunted by the shattering secrets of her past - and terrified of the future. Tired of living in fear, Sara decides to do the only thing she can: she makes herself disappear." "On the sultry, seductive streets of New York City, Sara will reinvent herself. She will change her identity, and maybe even get the happy ending she's always dreamed of." But six desperate and dangerous men - each with the power to destroy her - are on Sara's trail. And none of them suspect that the woman they are seeking has a dangerous secret of her own. For Sara is leading all of them down a path of private demons, past sins...and the deadliest peril.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Afallen PI, manhunter and a disillusioned barkeep save a woman on the run from clutches of her mafioso Father-in-law.

Night of Thunder by Stephen Hunter

2009-01-03T12:51:00.000-05:00

Night of Thunder by Stephen Hunter

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR STEPHEN HUNTER RETURNS WITH HIS MOST RIVETING BOB LEE SWAGGER VOLUME TO DATE.

Talk about a ride!

Woe unto he who crosses Bob Lee Swagger, especially when his daughter's life is at stake. Forced off the road and into a crash that leaves her in a coma, clinging to life, reporter Nikki Swagger had begun to peel back the onion of a Southernfried conspiracy bubbling with all the angst, resentment, and dysfunction that Dixie gangsters can muster. An ancient, violent crime clan, a possibly corrupt law enforcement structure, gunmen of all stripes and shapes, and deranged evangelicals rear their ugly heads and will live to rue the day they targeted the wrong man's daughter. It's what you call your big-time bad career move. All of it is set against the backdrop of excitement and insanity that only a weeklong NASCAR event can bring to the backwoods of a town as seemingly sleepy as Bristol, Tennessee.

A master at the top of his game, Hunter provides a host of thrilling new reasons to read as fast as we can. When Swagger picks up peeling where his daughter left off, and his swift sword of justice is let loose, we find a true American hero in his most stunning action to date. And — in the form of Brother Richard, a self-decreed "Sinnerman" out of the old fire-and-brimstone tradition — Hunter offers up his most diabolical, engaging villain yet. A triumph of story, character, and style, Night of Thunder is Stephen Hunter at his very best.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Swagger breaks a Christian fundamentalist crime ring in backwoods of Arkansas when his daughter stumbles into the conspiracy and is attacked.

The Labrador Pact by Matt Haig

2008-12-22T13:54:00.003-05:00

The Labrador Pact by Matt Haig

The Barnes & Noble Review

All roads lead to Shakespeare for Matt Haig, which turns out to be a good thing. There’s no one quite like the Bard for barging head-first into a tale of death, desperation, and betrayal, and wringing out some laughs along the way. No flinching, no sentimental sap, no turning back.

That’s how Haig played it in his weird and wonderful debut novel, The Dead Father’s Club, a modern re-working of Hamlet, and that’s how he hands us The Labrador Pact, an offbeat look at domestic life through the eyes -- and voice -- of the family dog.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Offbeat story of trials and tribulations endured by a family as seen from the eyes of a dog. Cute and whimsical narration make this a an endearing read.

Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton

2008-12-21T13:49:00.001-05:00

Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton

Synopsis

You’re born. You live. They die.

Moving to remote Shetland has been unsettling enough for consultant surgeon Tora Hamilton; even before the gruesome discovery she makes one rain-drenched afternoon…Deep in the peat soil of her field she is shocked to find the perfectly preserved body of a young woman, a gaping hole where her heart has been brutally removed and three rune marks etched into her skin.

The marks bear an eerie resemblance to carvings Tora has seen all over the islands, and she quickly uncovers disturbing links to an ancient legend. But as Tora investigates she is warned by the local police, her boss, and even her husband, to leave well alone.

And even though it chills her to the bone to admit it…something tells her their concern isn’t genuine.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Obstetrician
moves to remote Scottish islands to live in relative peace and quiet until it is shattered by discovery of a mutilated body of a woman on her property. Gripping debut by the author who weaves a tale of deception and intrigue around a long lost legend in Scottish islands.

Crosshairs (Lee Henry Oswald Mysteries Series) by Harry Hunsicker

2008-12-18T13:45:00.001-05:00

Crosshairs by Harry Hunsicker

Synopsis

Hard-nosed Dallas detective Lee Henry Oswald is back...and he’s better than ever.

All he wants is to be left alone, a normal existence away from the assorted creeps and lowlifes inherent to his former profession as a private investigator. Unfortunately, peace and solitude are hard to find for Lee Oswald, a battle-hardened veteran of the first Gulf War, now weary after a decade as the fix-it man of last resort on the back streets of Dallas.

But when internationally-renowned medical researcher Anita Nazari begs him to help find the person threatening her daughter’s life, Oswald reluctantly returns to the shadowy world he’s tried so hard to leave behind. Once there, he finds himself engaged in a high stakes battle against a man known only as the Professor, a former intelligence operative intent on destroying the results of the doctor’s latest research, a seemingly innocuous discovery about the mystery illness dubbed the Gulf War Syndrome.

The retired agent leads Oswald on a deadly search for the one man who can identify him and thus unravel a conspiracy of shady former government officials with an unhealthy interest in Dr. Nazari and her work. When Oswald locates the missing witness and learns the startling information the man possesses, Oswald places his allegiance with the truth, as he fights back against an enemy more insidious and deadly than he’s ever faced.

Gritty, tough, and smart, Hunsicker’s tightly-wrapped thriller will leave you breathless long after the final page.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Dallas detective is called upon by a researcher to help her when she is threatened by an unknown attacker. Corporate and government intrigue involving drugs and veterans stars as a backdrop to this whodunit.

A Hard Ticket Home by David Housewright

2008-12-15T13:42:00.000-05:00

A Hard Ticket Home by David Housewright

Synopsis

Ex-St. Paul cop Rushmore McKenzie has more time, and more money, than he knows what to do with. In fact, when he's willing to admit it to himself (and he usually isn't), Mac is downright bored. Until he decides to do a favor for a friend facing a family tragedy: Nine-year-old Stacy Carlson has been diagnosed with leukemia, and the only one with the matching bone marrow that can save her is her older sister, Jamie. Trouble is, Jamie ran away from home years ago.

Mac begins combing the backstreets of the Twin Cities, tracking down Jamie's last known associates. He starts with the expected pimps and drug dealers, but the path leads surprisingly to some of the Cities' most respected businessmen, as well as a few characters far more unsavory than the street hustlers he anticipated. As bullets fly and bodies drop, Mac persists, only to find that what he's looking for, and why, are not exactly what he'd imagined.

David Housewright's uncanny ability to turn the Twin Cities into an exotic, brooding backdrop for noir fiction, and his winning, witty hero Rushmore McKenzie, serve as a wicked one-two punch in A Hard Ticket Home, a series debut that reinforces Housewright's well-earned reputation as one of crime fiction's rising stars.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Ex-cop turned PI gets an assignment to track down a runaway but finds himself embroiled in murder and double cross.

Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman

2008-12-12T13:37:00.001-05:00

Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman

Synopsis

"Unputdownable. Classic noir, dark, funny, shocking and absolutely no compromise. Pure magic of the blackest kind."-Ken Bruen

"A superbly crafted tale. Like the very best of modern noir, this is a story told in shades of grey. This deserves to be massive."-Allan Guthrie

"Zeltserman delves deeply into his specialty, an unorthodox look at the criminal mind. It kept me turning pages and glancing over my shoulder."-Vicki Hendricks

Crooked cop Joe Denton gets out of prison early after disfiguring the local district attorney, which doesn't help his popularity. Nobody wants Joe to hang around-not his ex-wife, his parents, or his former colleagues. Meanwhile, local mafia don Manny Vassey is dying of cancer and keen to cut a deal with God. He's thinking of singing to the DA if this will set him up for a better after life. And he knows stuff that will send Joe down again for a very long time-along with half the local law enforcement.

Set in the pressure cooker of a very small town and following the promise of Dave Zeltersman's earlier novels (Fast Lane and Bad Thoughts), Small Crimes is an explosive noir that brings the claustrophobic hell of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain right up to date.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Crime noir debut by the author in this gripping story about a fallen cop in a small town who is ostracised by the community, family and friends upon his release from prison.

Red Knife (Cork O'Connor Series #8) by William Kent Krueger

2008-12-08T13:33:00.001-05:00

Red Knife by William Kent Krueger

Synopsis

The newest book in William Kent Krueger's award-winning Corcoran O'Connor series finds the charismatic private investigator caught in the middle of a racial gang war that's turning picturesque Tamarack County, Minnesota, into a bloody battlefield.

When the daughter of a powerful businessman dies as a result of her meth addiction, her father, strong-willed and brutal Buck Reinhardt, vows revenge. His target is the Red Boyz, a gang of Ojibwe youths accused of supplying the girl's fatal drug dose. When the head of the Red Boyz and his wife are murdered in a way that suggests execution, the Ojibwe gang mobilizes, and the citizens of Tamarack County brace themselves for war, white against red.

Both sides look to Cork O'Connor, a man of mixed heritage, to uncover the truth behind the murders. A former sheriff, Cork has lived, fought, and nearly died to keep the small-town streets and his family safe from harm. He knows that violence is never a virtue, but he believes that it's sometimes a necessary response to the evil that men do. Racing to find answers before the bloodshed spreads, Cork himself becomes involved in the darkest of deeds. As the unspeakable unfolds in the remote and beautiful place he calls home, Cork is forced to confront the horrific truth: Violence is a beast that cannot be contained.

In Red Knife, Krueger gives his readers a vivid picture of racial conflict in small-town America, as well as a sensitive look at the secrets we keep from even those closest to us and the destructive nature of all that is left unsaid between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends and lovers.

⇒ Via: BN.com

An insipid story of small town clashes between whites and indians. Preachy and bland , trying to run with many sub plots.

The Assassin by Stephen Coonts

2008-12-06T08:52:00.002-05:00

The Assassin by Stephen Coonts

Synopsis

A tale of deadly international conspiracy and nonstop action from perennial bestselling author Stephen Coonts

⇒ Via: BN.com

Group of well heeled do gooders finance a global hunt for an Islamic terrorist, find themselves on the run when this is leaked to the terrorist. Lack lustre, insipid.

Quiver by Peter Leonard

2008-12-06T08:49:00.002-05:00

Quiver by Peter Leonard

Synopsis

QUIVER is the razor sharp debut from one of the most riveting new voices in crime fiction today--a superbly crafted thriller from the son of the grandmaster of mysteries
Publishers Weekly

Leonard begins his short debut novel with several disparate sequences that, being exposition, don't give reader Scott Sowers much to work with. A new widow recalls telling her husband of her violent escape from eastern Guatemala. A convict gets an early release from an Arizona prison. The widow's memory shifts to her son accidentally killing his father with a bow and arrow. Three sociopaths engage in various criminal activities. Not only are these story shards confusing, the characters are not very engaging, the one exception being a jive-talking, ultra-cool villain named Dejuan, whom Sowers smartly mines for all his much-needed sinister dark humor. Eventually the elements coalesce into a tense kidnap thriller that Sowers delivers with effective energy and pacing. The package includes a conversation between the author and his father, Elmore Leonard, who discusses his famous "10 Rules of Good Writing." Peter should have paid more attention to the one about leaving out the parts that readers tend to skip. A St. Martin's Minotaur hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 10). (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Debut novel by Peter Leonard (son of Elmore Leonard) about a widow who is targetted for a con by her ex.

Monkey in the Middle by Stephen Solomita

2008-11-20T08:45:00.001-05:00

Monkey in the Middle by Stephen Solomita

Synopsis

Macys, New York, five days before Christmas - When a known mobster is hit while shopping in Macys, its Lieutenant Solly Epsteins job to make sure the press dont link the murder to those of three other members of Paulie Margarine Marginellas crew. As rival gangs are implicated and the hitman no longer seems under anyones control, the winner will take it all. But with everybody seemingly double-crossing everybody else, who will that be?

⇒ Via: BN.com

Assasin for hire, fading cop in a battle of wits. Forgettable.

Wicked City by Ace Atkins

2008-11-08T17:58:00.002-05:00

Wicked City by Ace Atkins

Synopsis

From "one of crime fiction's most interesting and passionate voices" (Laura Lippman) comes a new "noir crime classic" (Mystery Ink) about one of the most notorious towns in American history.

Reviewing White Shadow, the Associated Press wrote, "It is as gritty as James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential. And yet, the prose is as lyrical as James Lee Burke's Crusader's Cross. With White Shadow, Atkins has found his true voice." And with Wicked City, it is even truer.

In 1955, Look magazine called Phenix City, Alabama, "The Wickedest City in America," but even that may have been an understatement. It was a stew of organized crime and corruption, run by a machine that dealt with complaints forcefully and with dispatch. No one dared cross them-no one even tried. And then the machine killed the wrong man.

When crime-fighting attorney Albert Patterson is gunned down in a Phenix City alley in the spring of 1954, the entire town seems to pause just for a moment- and when it starts up again, there is something different about it. A small group of men meet and decide that they have had enough, but what that means and where it will take them is something they could not have foreseen. Over the course of the next several months, lives will change, people will die, and unexpected heroes will emerge-like "a Randolph Scott western," one of them remarks, "played out not with horses and Winchesters but with Chevys and .38s and switchblades."

Peopled by an extraordinary cast of characters, both real and fictional, Wicked City is a novel of uncommon intensity-rich with atmosphere and filled with sensuality and surprise.

⇒ Via: BN.com

A Group of do gooders take on the might of organized crime in Phenix City.
The narrative could be crisper. The cast of characters do no grab your attention.

A Good Indian Wife by Anne Cherian

2008-11-03T18:58:00.001-05:00

A Good Indian Wife by Anne Cherian

Synopsis

A clash of hearts and cultures set against the divergent backdrops of rural India and downtown San Francisco.

Handsome anesthesiologist Neel prides himself on his decisiveness, both in and out of the operating room. So when he agrees to return to India to visit his ailing grandfather, he is sure he'll be able to resist his family's pleas that he marry a "good" Indian girl. With a girlfriend and a promising career back in San Francisco, the last thing Neel needs is an arranged marriage.

Leila is a thirty-year-old teacher in Neel's family's village who has watched too many prospective husbands come and go to think her newest suitor will be any different. She is well past prime marrying age; her family has no money for a dowry; and then there's the matter of an old friendship with a Muslim boy named Janni.

Neel and Leila struggle to reconcile their own desires with the expectations of others in this riveting story of two people, two countries, and two ways of life that may be more compatible than they seem.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Tale of an Indian American who is conflicted between the two cultures and his wife who finds herself upon arriving in the US. Insightful and very true to reality.

The Betrayers by James Patrick Hunt

2008-11-01T18:46:00.001-04:00

The Betrayers by James Patrick Hunt

Synopsis

On a busy suburban street at almost nine o’clock on a misty November evening, two beat cops are machine-gunned down in one of the most brutal crimes St. Louis has ever seen. Did Deputy Chris Hummel and Deputy Wade Childers simply pull over the wrong reckless driver, or did someone target these two for a more sinister reason?

Lieutenant George Hastings is the primary investigator on the case, along with his detective Bobby Cain, an inexperienced but connected detective who is ambitious and impolitic. Hastings and Cain dissect the lives the two murdered officers, focusing in on Hummel after they learn that he did a year-long stint with narcotics undercover and helped put away one of the biggest meth dealers in the area. But what they uncover is much bigger than one bitter dealer’s revenge, and much more personal.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Ruthless psychopath kills couple of policemen triggering an investigation that ultimatly to his downfall. The short novel is interesting enough but leaves you wanting more.

Blood Mud by K. C. Constantine

2008-10-30T18:53:00.002-04:00

Blood Mud by K. C. Constantine

Synopsis
Like the city he's served loyally for years, Mario Balzic (retired) isn't about to slip in to the twilight unnoticed. He's traded in his uniform for the shirt and tie of a private cop. But even in white-collar land, crime is prevalent. There's been a burglary at the local gun shop; a corrupt married politico is cheating with a stripper; a police chief a couple of towns over is hungry for power, a deli owner who mixes racketeering with the cold cuts; and a gangster's hapless nephew framed for selling pore and drugs. Balzic hasn't stepped into a cushy retirement gig - not by a long shot!

⇒ Via: BN.com

Faded ex-chief of police in a small town takes up as insurance investigator. Battling personal health issues and ridicule from his ex-colleagues, he stumbles upon a plot with local don, ambitious police chief and a clueless councilman as central characters. The narrative is not that engaging in the beginning but picks up after midpoint. At times funny, story ends sadly.

Good People by Marcus Sakey

2008-10-25T08:07:00.004-04:00

Good People by Marcus Sakey

Synopsis

The spectacular Dutton debut of a thriller writer whose ecstatically acclaimed work draws comparisons to luminaries such as Elmore Leonard, George Pelecanos, and Dennis Lehane

A family, and the security to enjoy it: that's all Tom and Anna Reed ever wanted. But years of infertility treatments, including four failed attempts at in-vitro fertilization, have left them with neither. The emotional and financial costs are straining their marriage and endangering their dreams. So when their downstairs tenant—a recluse whose promptly delivered cashier's checks were barely keeping them afloat—dies in his sleep, the $400,000 they find stashed in his kitchen seems like fate. More than fate: a chance for everything they've dreamed of for so long. A fairy-tale ending.

But Tom and Anna soon realize that fairy tales never come cheap. Because their tenant wasn't a hermit who squirreled away his pennies. He was a criminal who double-crossed some of the most dangerous men in Chicago. Men who won't stop until they get revenge, no matter where they find it.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Greed overcomes a young yuppie couple with disastrous outcome when their tenant dies of an overdose leaving a large amount of money under mysterious circumstances.
first letter in this paragraph is big. Engaging edge pf the seat thriller.

A Darker Side by Shirley Wells

2008-10-24T19:58:00.002-04:00

A Darker Side by Shirley Wells

Synopsis

Forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy has given up police work for a quiet life in the Lancashire village of Kelton Bridge. But when Martin Hayden, a seventeen-year-old schoolboy, is murdered, DCI Max Trentham, Jill's ex-colleague, wants her back at work. As they hunt Martin's killer, they discover that nothing is as it seems.

When the killer strikes again, Jill and Max find themselves in a desperate

⇒ Via: BN.com

Small village is shocked by the murder of a popular boy. The investigation unravels long hidden skeletons in a dysfunctinal family with tragic consequences. Well written suspense right till the end.

The Man in the Blizzard by Bart Schneider

2008-10-24T19:53:00.003-04:00

The Man in the Blizzard by Bart Schneider

Synopsis

If Marlowe lived in Minnesota . . .
If Spade spouted poetry . . .
If the Big Lebowski were a small-time private eye . . .
Meet Augie Boyer, private detective

“Once upon a time, Sam Spade, Miles Roby, and Bill Maher all went to Bart Schneider’s laboratory. There was an accident—a spill, a flash of lightning—and only one character came out. Schneider named him Augie Boyer. You’ll love the big lug.”
—Sean Doolittle, author of The Cleanup

Private eye Augie Boyer is out of sorts. He’s been smoking too much Pontchartrain Pootie, his favorite varietal herb, and scarfing down an excess of fried food. He can’t stop thinking of his therapist wife, who left him for another therapist, and despite his new girlfriend’s best efforts, Augie’s testosterone levels have sunk lower than the winter temperatures of Minneapolis.

On the eve of the Republican National Convention, a beautiful, blond violinist with multiple personalities walks into Augie’s office. She draws him into a complex case that involves neo-Nazi violin collectors, mind-control specialists, and thousands of antiabortion activists who’ve come to the Twin Cities for a rally that will bring new meaning to Labor Day. But when Augie uncovers an assassination plot, he must scramble to prevent a deranged act of political violence that strikes dangerously close to home.

With wit, compassion, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, Bart Schneider creates a lovable yet flawed character and delivers a thrilling contemporary tale.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Flea bitten PI gets a case where he is embroiled in conspiracy involving Nazi collectors, Violin prodigy and his daughter. Funny and witty prose though at times the poetry is overdone.

Evil That Men Do by Dave White

2008-10-20T21:39:00.002-04:00

Evil That Men Do by Dave White

Synopsis

Even generations later, you can't escape. . .the evil that men do.

Stripped of his private investigator’s license and slumming it as a night security guard at a Jersey storage facility, Jackson Donne thinks he’s finally hit rock bottom. Then the bottom really falls out: The sister he hasn’t seen in years shows up, needing help.

Turns out Donne’s Alzheimer’s-stricken mother has begun hinting at long-buried family secrets from her hospital bed, suggesting a sinister–even murderous–past. Meanwhile, Donne’s relatives are suddenly being greeted by blackmail, car bombs, and bullets to the back of the skull.

All Donne wants is to disappear–preferably into a nice frosty pint glass–but he soon realizes that his only chance at saving his family, and himself, is by solving a mystery more than sixty years old. Now he needs to figure out how a hit man, crooked cops, corrupt politics, a kidnapping, and the city of Bayonne all fit together. He’ll discover that old family secrets still have the power to kill in this razor-sharp PI story that makes classic noir new again.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Dispirited ex-cop and ex-PI is approached by his estranged family to help his ailing mother who harbors an old secret that is brought out into the open. Old sleeping skeletons are exposed with murder and mayhem in its wake.

Blood Hollow

2008-10-12T14:13:00.000-04:00

Blood Hollow by William Kent Krueger

Synopsis

A brilliant new installment in the prize-winning Cork O'Connor series -- from the acclaimed author of Boundary Waters and Purgatory Ridge.

When the corpse of a beautiful high school student is discovered on a hillside four months after her disappearance on New Year's Eve, all evidence points to her boyfriend, local bad boy Solemn Winter Moon. Despite Solemn's self-incriminating decision to go into hiding, Cork O'Connor, Aurora, Minnesota's former sheriff, isn't about to hang the crime on a kid he's convinced is innocent. In an uphill battle to clear Solemn's name, Cork encounters no shortage of adversity. Some -- like bigotry and bureaucracy -- he knows all too well. What Cork isn't prepared for is the emergence of a long-held resentment from his own childhood. And when Solemn reappears, claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus Christ in Blood Hollow, the mystery becomes thornier than Cork could ever have anticipated. And that's when the miracles start happening....

⇒ Via: BN.com

TMissing girls body sparks an investigation against a rebellious Indian boy who sees Jesus while on lam. The culprit turns out to be a police officer who over zealously protects his mentor.

Cold Burn by Kit Ehrman

2008-09-30T11:00:00.003-04:00

Cold Burn by Kit Ehrman

Synopsis

Steve Cline has managed the hunter/jumper show barns at Foxdale Farm for the better part of three years. But he has a deal with himself: When he no longer feels challenged, when the routine becomes stagnant, he will look for another job...and he passed that point months ago. So when Corey Claremont, one of Foxdale's boarders, asks Steve for help because her brother has gone missing, Steve embraces the puzzle with enthusiasm.

Two weeks earlier, for no apparent reason, Bruce Claremont quit his job working the night shift on a thoroughbred breeding farm in Warrenton, Virginia, and vanished. To find out what happened, Steve slips unobtrusively into Bruce's world.

The more Steve learns, the more he suspects that Corey may never see her brother again. Secrets, jealousies, and obsessions are the norm in this pastoral setting, and the present seems to be repeating its fiery past.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Wanna be PI goes to work for a horse farm where his friend used to work to find out circumstances of his mysterious disappearance. Insipid, disjointed writing with the main character who stumbles through his investigation.

Strike Dog by Joseph Heywood

2008-09-27T10:48:00.001-04:00

Strike Dog by Joseph Heywood

Synopsis

A serial killer is knocking off America’s best conservation officers—and Service learns he is next on the list. The FBI brings him on the case, but Service is also out for blood. The killer has murdered his girlfriend, Maridly Nantz, and his son, Walter. Service must navigate the terrain of his own grief as well as the killer’s twisted mind.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Grady Service gets involved in a case of serial killings of game wardens supposedly by the perfect murderer on a killing spree spanning decades.

A Visible Darkness by Jonathon King

2008-09-26T10:56:00.000-04:00

A Visible Darkness by Jonathon King

Synopsis

Tormented by the demons of his past, ex-cop Max Freeman rarely ventures beyond his secluded shack deep in the Florida Everglades. But he can't ignore the recent string of suspicious deaths of elderly, poor women that the police have been unable, or unwilling, to investigate. When his best friend urges him to get involved and act like the cop he's trying to forget he was, Max must confront the dangers of the city streets-and the unexpected shadows of his own past.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Max Freeman investigates suspicious deaths of elderly women on request of his friend uncovering a diabolical plot to kill the women to get their insurance proceeds.

Acts of Nature by Jonathon King

2008-09-24T10:53:00.000-04:00

Acts of Nature by Jonathon King

Synopsis

Max Freeman and Detective Sherry Richards retreat to Max's secluded shack in the Everglades. No television. No phones. And no help when a violent hurricane turns the getaway weekend into a desperate fight for survival. But on a perilous trek back to civilization they discover the greatest threat is no longer nature—but man. And whoever it is who's stalking them through the glades has good reason not to let them out alive.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Max Freeman and Sherry Richards survive hurricane and looters while camping out in everglades.

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais

2008-09-22T19:20:00.001-04:00

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais

Synopsis

Elvis Cole is Back--In a Desperate Fight to Clear his Name...

It's fire season, and the hills of Los Angeles are burning. When police and fire department personnel rush door to door in a frenzied evacuation effort, they discover the week-old corpse of an apparent suicide. But the gunshot victim is less gruesome than what they find in his lap: a photo album of seven brutally murdered young women -- one per year, for seven years. And when the suicide victim is identified as a former suspect in one of the murders, the news turns Elvis Cole's world upside down.

Three years earlier Lionel Byrd was brought to trial for the murder of a female prostitute named Yvonne Bennett. A taped confession coerced by the police inspired a prominent defense attorney to take Byrd's case, and Elvis Cole was hired to investigate. It was Cole's eleventh-hour discovery of an exculpatory videotape that allowed Lionel Byrd to walk free. Elvis was hailed as a hero.

But the discovery of the death album in Byrd's lap now brands Elvis as an unwitting accomplice to murder. Captured in photographs that could only have been taken by the murderer, Yvonne Bennett was the fifth of the seven victims -- two more young women were murdered after Lionel Byrd walked free. So Elvis can't help but wonder -- did he, Elvis Cole, cost two more young women their lives?

Shut out of the investigation by a special LAPD task force determined to close the case, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike desperately fight to uncover the truth about Lionel Byrd and his nightmare album of death -- a truth hidden by lies, politics, and corruption in a world where nothing is what it seems to be.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Cole and his partner crack a case of serial killer when a burnt out body of a supposedly suicide victim turns up with evidence that he was the serial killer. The victim was previously investigated and cleared by Cole so he feels doubly responsible and dogs the case till the real killer is found.

The Accident Man by Tom Cain

2008-09-19T19:20:00.002-04:00

The Accident Man by Tom Cain

Synopsis

If Princess Diana had been murdered, what sort of man would have killed her?

Breathlessly paced and featuring one of the most intriguing heroes in recent fiction, Tom Cain's The Accident Man surprises the reader at every turn. For a certain sum of money, Samuel Carver will arrange a death. A ruptured gas line, an automobile crash, a fall from a window; anything can look like an accident. But when Carver is to carry out a job in a tunnel in Paris, and when the job goes wrong for him, and when he is pursued by the very forces that hired him, Carver must execute his most daring feat yet. A thriller of the grandest and most exhilarating sort, The Accident Man races above and below the streets of Paris, across Europe, and through storms at sea. It is also a startling introduction to a hero engaged in acts of moral violence. With the dissolution of world powers, with everything and anything for sale, how does one justify death? Samuel Carver—a clouded man of determined action—will come to understand the prices to be paid. Fans of James Bond, the Jason Bourne films, and Lee Child will thrill at Samuel Carver's violent and uncertain world.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Professional hit man is on the run himself after his employers turn on him after an execution. Russian mafia and British monarchy and spooks come together in this thrilling adventure woven around a true event.

First Kill by Michael Kronenwetter

2008-09-17T08:09:00.000-04:00

First Kill by Michael Kronenwetter

Synopsis

Hank Berlin and Jack Drucker had been friends since grade school---and both in love with Elizabeth Kermanski. Early on, however, Hank saw that he was out of the running, and made the best of it. They still remained friends. The friendship was only torn when Jack enlisted in the army to serve in Vietnam, and Hank, who was against the war, traveled to Canada to escape the draft. After that, the two men never spoke again, and Elizabeth followed her husband’s lead

When amnesty was granted to expatriates by President Carter, Hank returned to their small town and set up shop as a private investigator. Jack went to work on his father’s local newspaper, winning praise for his initiative to find good and surprising stories. Until someone shot him dead in his car, which was parked on a lonely street well after midnight.

Still somewhat under Elizabeth’s spell, Hank agrees to take her on as a client. Hank’s cases as a private detective have been somewhat limited; their town was not a place for spectacular crimes. But he begins looking for any possible lead, and is not surprised to find that many prominent people have secrets in their lives. Could star reporter Jack Drucker have been the target of someone’s need for silence?

⇒ Via: BN.com

Small town PI is approached to solve a murder of his one time best friend.

Mr. Paradise by Elmore Leonard

2008-09-15T22:01:00.001-04:00

Mr. Paradise by Elmore Leonard

Synopsis

Roommates Kelly and Chlöe are enjoying their lives and their downtown Detroit loft just fine. Kelly is a Victoria's Secret catalog model. Chlöe is an escort, until she decides to ditch her varied clientele in favor of a steady gig as girlfriend to eighty-four-year-old retired lawyer Tony Paradiso, a.k.a. Mr. Paradise.

Evenings at Mr. Paradise's house, there's always an old Michigan football game on TV. And when Chlöe's around, there's a cheerleader, too, complete with pleated skirt and blue-and-gold pompoms. One night Chlöe convinces Kelly to join in the fun, along with Montez Taylor, Tony's smooth-talking right-hand man.

But things go awry and before the end of the evening there will be two corpses, two angry hit men, one switch of identity, a safe-deposit box full of loot up for grabs, and, fast on the scene, detective Frank Delsa, who now has another double homicide -- and this one with a beautiful, willful witness -- to add to his already heavy caseload.

With a cool cast, snappy dialogue, and all the twists and turns fans crave, Mr. Paradise is Elmore Leonard at home in Detroit and sharper than ever.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Insipid tale of a high roller and his young mistrees being murdered by his man friday who hires two hitmen to do the job for him. Very superficial story, feels like it was produced just to fulfill his obligation to publisher. Disappointing.

Ice Hunter by Joseph Heywood

2008-09-13T11:53:00.001-04:00

Ice Hunter by Joseph Heywood

Synopsis

The first in the Woods Cop mystery series by the acclaimed author of The Snowfly.
Library Journal

Conservation officer Grady Service feels a special connection to the Mosquito Wilderness in Michigan's heavily forested Upper Peninsula, so when a serial arsonist shows up there, as well as the body of a man belonging to a notorious family of poachers and ex-cons, he takes the affronts personally. A second-generation officer of the Department of Natural Resources and a Vietnam veteran, Grady uses his tracking talents to corral the killer. Heywood, author of such thrillers as The Snowfly and The Berkut, builds his surrounds slowly, peopling them with memorably idiosyncratic characters and conveying an overall sense of reverence for nature. An engaging read and promising series debut. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Conservation officer Grady Service foils a conspiracy to mine the Michigan wilderness for diamonds.

The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathon King

2008-09-10T12:02:00.000-04:00

The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathon King

Synopsis

On a night that will haunt him forever, ex-cop Max Freeman killed a twelve-year-old child in self-defense in a Philadelphia shootout. Since then, he has lived on the edge of the Florida Everglades, where he answers to no one but the demons gnawing at his conscience. But when he finds a corpse of a child along a riverbank, he's pulled back into the twisted maze of law and order-as a murder suspect.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Max Freeman finds himself a prime suspect when he discovers body of a dead child. Finding himself on track of rogue Gladesman, he finds himself targetted by both police and the murderer.

Shadow Men by Jonathon King

2008-09-08T11:58:00.001-04:00

Shadow Men by Jonathon King

Synopsis

It begins with an 80-year-old mystery. Three men - a father and his two sons - vanished while working as laborers on a dangerous project to build the first road through the Florida Everglades. Now, years later, a series of letters are unexpectedly discovered by a descendent of these men. Driven by the need to know what happened to these lost members of the family, he starts asking questions - and is quickly stonewalled. With nowhere else to turn, he enlists the help of former Philadelphia police officer Max Freeman.

Living in his isolated shack in the Glades, Max starts his longshot investigation into the fate of the men. A newly minted private investigator working with his friend and attorney, Billy Manchester, Max is surprised to meet resistance immediately at every turn. The search for the truth quickly turns violent - and Max finds he has more to worry about than just 80-year-old ghosts. For there are powerful interests that want to make sure that the shadows of the past remain undisturbed - including some who will kill to make sure they do.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Max Freeman solves a 80 year mystery of miising father and his two children who turn out to be murdered.

The Shadow Catchers by Thomas Lakeman

2008-09-06T07:17:00.002-04:00

The Shadow Catchers by Thomas Lakeman

Synopsis

FBI Special Agent Mike Yeager is in trouble. His most recent child-kidnapping case ended tragically, and the FBI has suspended him. Worse, Mike can't seem to forgive himself. He's run away from Philadelphia to the mountains of Nevada in an attempt to forget. In the small town of San Cristobal, Mike hopes to start over—until he learns about one local child who was recently killed and another who has just gone missing.

Gun-shy after his last case, Mike doesn't want to get involved. But now that he's drawing the suspicion of local law enforcement, he has no choice but to get involved, if only to prove he's not the killer. Then he realizes he's in the perfect position to solve the case, a success that would redeem him in the eyes of the FBI, and save at least one more child…before time runs out.

⇒ Via: BN.com

FBI agent assists smalltown sheriff to solve a case involving skeletons from sheriffs past.

Grift Sense by James Swain

2008-09-06T07:15:00.002-04:00

Grift Sense by James Swain

Synopsis

Amidst the neon and the big special ugly of Las Vegas, mild-mannered Frank Fontaine is beating the brains out of the Acropolis Casino. The house cops think the dealer, a blonde named Nola, is part of the con, but no one can prove a thing. For Tony Valentine, it's the first new scam he's seen in decades—and maybe the best.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Tony Valentines debut novel takes Tony on track of a hustler out to swindle a casino run by an eccentric millionaire with a penchant for many wives.

A Killing Night by Jonathon King

2008-08-31T14:27:00.000-04:00

A Killing Night by Jonathon King

Synopsis

Max Freeman is at a crossroads. No longer content to live solely in his remote shack in the Everglades, he is looking to move beyond his self-imposed isolation. So when his onetime girlfriend, Detective Sherry Richards, asks for his help as a private investigator in nailing an ex-cop she suspects of killing several young women in South Florida, Max is ready to help her see justice done.

But there's a problem. Sherry's suspect is a former police officer from Philadelphia who served with Max - a brother-in-blue who once saved Max's life. Matters are made worse when Max's own aggressive investigation leads him to believe that Sherry's crusade to protect these women is about to roll over a possibly innocent man.

Caught between his loyalty to Sherry and his debt to his fellow ex-cop, Max's search for the truth will take him back to the streets of Philadelphia, where he will dig into his fellow officer's troubled past . . . only to come face-to-face with his own. And while Max continues his quest, a controlling, cunning killer inexorably closes in on what could be his next victim . . .

⇒ Via: BN.com

Retired policeman is asked by his friend to assist in an investigation of missing bartenders who are believed to be dead.

Eye of Vengeance by Jonathon King

2008-08-28T14:23:00.000-04:00

Eye of Vengeance by Jonathon King

Synopsis

A veteran crime reporter, Nick Mullins was no stranger to scenes of violence and loss. He was well practiced at keeping tragedy at arm's length with a professional detachment - until he was forced to face his own tragedy when a drunk driver took the lives of Nick's wife and one of their two daughters, forever shattering his world. Now, with a nine-year-old to raise on his own, Nick struggles to balance single fatherhood with a career that daily puts him into the dark corners of death and justice. When a convicted murderer is dramatically and publicly gunned down with a single bullet to the head in front of a county jailhouse, Nick is immediately dispatched by his newspaper to cover the story, pressing his old police contacts with his usual mix of subtle charm and brazen questioning. But when he realizes that the victim was the subject of one of his old stories, Nick is drawn into the investigation himself. Before long he's one step ahead of the cops in the hunt for a cold-blooded killer . . . a sniper who has a talent for targeting criminals, and who makes it clear that he has his eye on Nick.

With his career, family, and life on the line, Nick plays a delicate and potentially deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the police, the Secret Service, and his editors - all of whom are watching Nick's every move as he fights to find the shooter before he strikes again. A stirring page-turner bristling with an intense, gritty realism and filled with vivid and unforgettable characters, Eye of Vengeance is Jonathon King at his very best.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Journalist on track of vigilante sniper finds out that the sniper is selecting his victims based on his write ups of the killers.

Silence by Thomas Perry

2008-08-21T21:54:00.000-04:00

Silence by Thomas Perry

Synopsis

Six years ago, Jack Till helped Wendy Harper disappear. But now her ex-boyfriend and former business partner, Eric Fuller, is being framed for her presumed murder in an effort to smoke her out. Till must find her before tango-dancing assassins Paul and Sylvie Turner do

⇒ Via: BN.com

Ex-cop PI tries to find a missing person whom he helped disappear six years ago

Killer Weekend by Ridley Pearson

2008-08-20T21:50:00.002-04:00

Killer Weekend by Ridley Pearson

Synopsis

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THAT'LL LEAVE READERS BREATHLESS.

Controversial New York State Attorney General Liz Shaler is announcing her candidacy for president at a high-profile convergence of media heavy-hitters. Also in attendance is an assassin with a brilliant and foolproof plan.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Presidential candidate is targeted for assassination. Run of the mill fare, does not hold your interest. Predictable plot and insipid characters. Skip this one.

Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher Series #12) by Lee Child

2008-08-18T20:29:00.002-04:00

Nothing to Lose by Lee Child

Synopsis

Two lonely towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher never turns back. It's not in his nature. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets is big trouble. So in Lee Child’s electrifying new novel, Reacher—a man with no fear, no illusions, and nothing to lose—goes to war against a town that not only wants him gone, it wants him dead.

It wasn’t the welcome Reacher expected. He was just passing through, minding his own business. But within minutes of his arrival a deputy is in the hospital and Reacher is back in Hope, setting up a base of operations against Despair, where a huge, seething walled-off industrial site does something nobody is supposed to see . . . where a small plane takes off every night and returns seven hours later . . . where a garrison of well-trained and well-armed military cops—the kind of soldiers Reacher once commanded—waits and watches . . . where above all two young men have disappeared and two frightened young women wait and hope for their return.

Joining forces with a beautiful cop who runs Hope with a cool hand, Reacher goes up against Despair—against the deputies who try to break him and the rich man who tries to scare him—and starts to crack open the secrets, starts to expose the terrifying connection to a distant war that’s killing Americans by the thousand.

Now, between a town and the man who owns it, between Reacher and his conscience, something has to give. And Reacher never gives an inch.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Reacher goes on offensive when he is caught and thrown out of a remote town on vagrancy charges. Sketchy plot line fails to grab the reader. The novel feels more like a mass produced hack job rather than an inspired story. Not the author's best.

Tucker Peak by Archer Mayor

2008-08-15T20:20:00.000-04:00

Tucker Peak by Archer Mayor

Synopsis

"To its visitors, the resort area Tucker Peak is Vermont personified: small, thinly populated, a fun place to ski all day and party all night. To its beleaguered owners, it is a resort on the ropes, undersized, underdeveloped, and hemorrhaging money. Their plan: expand and spend a fortune on the gamble. But two problems quickly arise when environmentalists rally to protest the development and the slope-side condo owners suffer a rash of seemingly unsolvable burglaries." "Enter Joe Gunther and the newly minted Vermont Bureau of Investigation. Summoned by the embattled local sheriff, Joe doesn't take long to find out that the most likely thief has mysteriously vanished - leaving behind his dead girlfriend - or to discover that some of the protesters may have more on their agendas than protecting the environment." Soon Joe finds himself undercover and buried up to his neck in an increasingly violent game. To survive he must sort through a multitude of players in a risky town where swindlers and saboteurs run amok, corruption and deceit lurk at every turn...and the truth is the most dangerous gamble of all.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Crappy yarn about whodunit at a Vermont ski resort. Bland, uninteresting and boring.

Bone Factory by Steven Sidor

2008-08-13T20:16:00.001-04:00

Bone Factory by Steven Sidor

Synopsis

A collection of lonely souls look for one last shot at happiness. Instead they're trapped in the never-ending cycle of false hope and true despair—and deadly violence—that is Booth City.

Homicide cops Ike Horner and Eliza Ochoa are on the scene of a body dump in a riverfront park, crouching over the freezing corpse of yet another working girl—cut up in all the most delicate places. Soon Ike and Eliza find themselves on a fatal mission as they unravel a conspiracy that stretches from the darkest holes in Booth to the fringes of its most influential families. As the murder investigation hurtles toward its startling conclusion, Ike and Eliza uncover terrifying secrets that are buried too close to home. . .

⇒ Via: BN.com

TInsipid yarn about couple of homicide detectives on track of a killer who has left no trace.

Skin River by Steven Sidor

2008-08-07T22:45:00.001-04:00

Skin River by Steven Sidor

Synopsis

Skin River is the story of Buddy Bayes, a man with a past trying desperately for a second chance at a peaceful life as a tavern owner in smalltown Gunnar, Wisconsin. His hopes for a new start are shattered, however, when he finds the severed hand of a missing young woman and falls headlong into a harrowing situation which has Buddy convinced that his past has come back to haunt him. Things aren't what they seem, though, and jumping to conclusions proves to be a disastrous mistake as the true nature of Buddy's situation slowly comes into focus. A tense, chilling novel that introduces Steven Sidor, a fine young writer with an exacting touch, a disciplined hand, and a remarkable talent for suspense.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Reclusive bartender finds himself dragged into murder investigation when he finds hand of a missing girl.

Whiskey Killing by H. R. Williams

2008-08-06T22:41:00.002-04:00

Whiskey Killing by H. R. Williams

⇒ Via: BN.com

Medford CID Captain Billy Walker leads the murder investigation of liquor shop owner who is shot dead outside his home.

House of Corrections: A Jack Flippo Mystery by Doug J. Swanson

2008-08-06T22:38:00.001-04:00

House of Corrections by Doug J. Swanson

Synopsis

When his former mentor calls him from an East Texas jail cell, Jack Flippo goes running-straight into a drug bust and a dirty past.

A new Jack Flippo Mystery-"Detective fiction at its finest. (Carl Hiaasen)For a Texan who isn't me, Doug Swanson can really write. (Kinky Friedman)

⇒ Via: BN.com

Seedy PI is called upon by ex-colleague to bail him out of trouble but finds himself betrayed.

Loaded Dice by James Swain

2008-08-02T10:21:00.000-04:00

Loaded Dice by James Swain

Synopsis

For ex-cop Tony Valentine, life in balmy Florida provides little R&R. In fact, he’s in demand now more than ever. Armed with a special grift sense, Valentine can spot card cheats and even bigger game whose sole purpose on earth is to relieve a casino of its cash. But when his son, who was going to card-counting school, goes missing, Valentine jets to Las Vegas. Once in town, he is pressed into service—and lands inside a treacherous game with higher stakes than he has ever encountered before.

There’s a new casino in town, aptly named Sin, the largest on The Strip: three thousand guest rooms and a gambling floor as big as an airport terminal. The owners of Sin want Valentine to show them how the scams are done. But these powerful men harbor ulterior motives: They want to use their newfound skills to put a rival casino out of business.

Sin’s competition is the Acropolis, run by Valentine’s longtime pal. Nick taps Tony to figure out how an amateur won $50,000 at his blackjack tables. But the small job is full of landmines. For starters, the suspect bears a strong resemblance to his late wife. What’s more, Valentine’s son is still M.I.A. Upping the ante, a dead stripper is found with Valentine’s calling card—and her grief-stricken boyfriend is vowing revenge.

Yet in a city where barracudas wear pinstripes, time seems motionless even while it flies, and reality and illusion shift depending on the neon light, a greater threat maneuvers through the streets: an all-new breed of criminal with an agenda propelled by fury that will shake not just Valentine, but the city of Las Vegas.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Tuncovers an elaborate plot to run down a casino by rivals.

Doin' Dirty by Howard Swindle

2008-07-28T10:18:00.000-04:00

Doin' Dirty by Howard Swindle

Synopsis

A year ago, Dallas Homicide Detective Jeb Quinlin went through an alcohol rehab program that was rather more intense than usual, as he double-timed his treatment with tracking a serial killer on an AA agenda. Now, sober and taking things one day at a time on the job and cautiously but successfully involved with Madeline Meggers, a woman he met in the Jitter Joint, he's fragile but surviving.

Quinlin and his partner Paul McCarren's latest case involves the gruesome murder of an investigative reporter. It seems that Richard Carlisle may have found more than he bargained for while following a lead on a hush-hush story. Tracing Carlisle's steps, the case leads Quinlin back to his roots in the legendary Texas ranching country of Comanche Gap, looking into the activities of the Colters, a prominent and wealthy family. But what could Carlisle possibly have found that was threatening enough to cost him his life? The truth promises to be more far-reaching, more dangerous, and much closer to home than Quinlin can imagine, pitting him, McCarren, and a few faces from Quinlin's past against one of the Lone Star State's most powerful families.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Jeb investigates Texas's powerful families uncovering a plot involving fraud and drug money.

Clean Kill by Mike Stewart

2008-07-26T10:14:00.000-04:00

Clean Kill by Mike Stewart

Synopsis

With his first two mysteries-Sins of the Brother and Dog Island-Mike Stewart proved himself "an authentic Southern voice. . . . Stewart evokes taste, smell, sight, and touch to put the reader right in the middle of the scene" (The Charlotte Observer). Now he's back with a third novel of murder, suspense, and legal intrigue-this time set along the affluent Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.

When a young woman asks Tom to investigate her mother's death in a small-town hospital, his first instinct is to refuse the case. But as the woman reveals the suspicious circumstances of a simple food poisoning turned deadly, he reluctantly finds himself intrigued. As Tom and his investigator, Joey, delve into the mother's death, an attempt is made on Tom's life, the state bar threatens disbarment, and he finds himself accused of murdering a fellow lawyer. With the help of a beautiful Asian-American psychologist-turned-jury expert, his search for the truth uncovers a conspiracy of jury-rigging beginning at the highest levels of government and backed up by cold-blooded killers. Filled with unexpected reversals and treachery, A Clean Kill will keep even the most jaded mystery reader guessing.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Tom takes up a case involving mysterious death of a juror.

Mr. Lucky: A Novel of High Stakes by James Swain

2008-07-24T10:06:00.001-04:00

Mr. Lucky: A Novel of High Stakes by James Swain

Synopsis

Tony Valentine made his living and his name as a cop in Atlantic City-and is now known worldwide for his ability to spot the kinds of scams, grifts, and rip-offs that cost casinos billions every year. A man with a biting wit who drives a '92 Honda, Tony is low-profile, old-school, and has seen it all-until he meets the luckiest man on earth.

Ricky Smith was once a small-town loser. Then he went to Las Vegas, jumped out the window of a burning hotel, lived to tell the tale, and tore up the Strip on an incredible winning streak. Ricky didn't just win at one slot machine or table game. He won at blackjack, roulette, and craps, and then beat the pants off the world's greatest poker player. Tony knows that goofy, loudmouthed Ricky Smith-or anyone else, for that matter-couldn't possibly be that fortunate. But when "Mr. Lucky" returns home to the little town of Slippery Rock, North Carolina, he keeps on winning everything from a horse race to a $50,000 lottery.

Hired by a desperate casino, Tony starts to pry into Ricky's past, his friends, and the strange little town that is benefiting from Ricky's fame and fortune. Unfortunately for Tony, his cover is blown when he is forced to reveal a trick he has up his own sleeve: a pocket Glock he can shoot with laser-like precision. Suddenly, two men are dead, the cops are on Tony's tail, and the investigation explodes in violence-putting the lives of Tony's son and his young family in danger.

For years, Tony's son Gerry has dueled with his own criminal impulses. Now, the Ricky Smith case has lured Gerry through the gates of temptation and into a murderous confrontation with the Dixie Mafia. With Tony stuck on the slippery slope of Slippery Rock and Gerry fighting for his life, the Valentines are finding out just how bad good luck can get.

Against a neon-tinted backdrop of adrenaline rushes, hard crashes, big money, and high-wire tension, the inimitable James Swain has set his best Tony Valentine novel yet: a funny, furious ride with an astounding array of crooks, marks, and one killer scam.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Tony Valentine is brought in to investigate when a guy cheats death and gets a string of lucky breaks. Tony's investigation uncovers a plot to defraud casinos in an elaborate plot involving everyone in the town.

Dog Island by Mike Stewart

2008-07-22T10:03:00.002-04:00

Dog Island by Mike Stewart

Synopsis

Hard-nosed Southern lawyer Tom McInnes is on the trail of a mysterious Alabama mob-and his only source is a girl who has never trusted a man in her life.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Teen girl on the run from gangsters after witnessing a murder seeks Tom McIness's help.

Scent and the Scenting Dog by William G. G. Syrotuck

2008-07-20T09:50:00.002-04:00

Scent and the Scenting Dog by William G. G. Syrotuck

Description
Unveil the mysteries of Scent! Now you can understand how and why a dog can work scent. This fascinating book explains the composition of scent, how it works in the dog's nose, and what affects scent and much more! · The Sense of Smell · Anatomy and Physiology · Theories and Odor · The Human as a Scent Source · Transmission · Atmospheric Factors and Airborn Scent · The Ground Scent Picture · Working on Dog's Scent · Snow Experiments

About the Author
William Syrotuck spent years developing and researching the olfactory system in dogs. He brings knowledge in this concise, easy to understand book.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Treatise on scenting abilities of dogs and science behind training methods for teaching dogs to track humans. Easy to understand language with everything explained in layman's terms.

The Traynor Legacy by David Stinson

2008-07-18T22:41:00.000-04:00

The Traynor Legacy by David Stinson

Kirkus Reviews

A mugging gone bad, or murder most calculated? Jonathan Traynor, 80, has been beaten so terribly in his own home that he never regains consciousness. He's been beaten and robbed, and some cash, some jewelry and a small TV set duly appropriated. But Detective Sergeant Victoria Costanza of Washington Metro Homicide is suspicious, perhaps because of the victim's enigmatically shrouded identity. In life, Traynor was one of those ghostly figures occasionally spotted prowling the corridors of power. Beltway insiders idly assumed he had something to do with intelligence. Traynor's career, however, warranted serious interest. For 30 years, he'd spearheaded a special brand of clandestine operations for the CIA. His practice often involved political assassination, and when it did, the hit man was invariably Traynor's trusted friend and protege, talented killer Hack Staley. Now Traynor is dead and Costanza skeptical but clueless-until a phone call from a mysterious informant provides her with her first lead. In the meantime, Staley has managed to pinpoint just who hated Traynor enough to want him murdered and then to set about extracting an elaborate, custom-tailored vengeance worthy of Poe. Though the working-out is complicated and occasionally repetitious, readers will probably want to know how Stinson's debut turns out.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Covert operative goes on to avenge his mentor after his mentor is brutally murdered.

Sins of Brother by Mike Stewart

2008-07-17T22:38:00.003-04:00

Sins of Brother by Mike Stewart

From Publishers Weekly
Introducing Tom McInnes, an Alabama attorney who quits a high-profile Mobile law firm in favor of solo practice, this slick, intelligent debut seeks to bring some Grishamesque thrills to the mystery form. Six months after establishing his modest practice, Tom learns that his ne'er-do-well, drug-dealing younger brother, Hall, has been murdered. Tom goes to his hometown of Cooper's Bend, Ala., where his powerful father, Sam McInnes, is the local lumber-mill tycoon. There, he learns that the sheriff, an African-American war hero named Nixon, is on the take from the elder McInnesAand may be shielding a bookie connected to "the most dangerous man in Alabama," Mike Gerrard, godfather of the statewide underworld. Tom sets out to avenge his brother's murder with the help of a hulking PI of mythic prowess known as Joey. The convoluted trail takes the two men from Alabama to New Orleans and back, as they dodge bullets and hired thugs along the way. Tom's feisty girl Friday, Kelly, is just one of several women he leers at in the novel's all too frequent and rather goofy cheesecake scenes, which are the weak links in an otherwise taut effort. The brooding presence of the Alabama River provides ample obligatory southern gothic ambiance, while the New Orleans and Alabama settings lend pungent atmosphere to a satisfyingly labyrinthine plot. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Lawyer is embroiled in a plot of lies and deception when he investigates death of his wayward brother.

Ask the Parrot by Richard Stark

2008-07-12T11:46:00.003-04:00

Ask the Parrot by Richard Stark

Publishers Weekly

At the start of the highly entertaining new Parker novel from Stark (aka MWA Grand Master Donald Westlake), Parker is on the lam from the botched robbery in Nobody Runs Forever (2004) when he meets up with reclusive Tom Lindahl, who helps him escape a posse of Massachusetts lawmen and their pack of howling dogs. Tom rescues Parker because he has a scheme to rob a local racetrack where he was fired after blowing the whistle on illegal money laundering, and he needs the aid of a professional thief. Parker joins in not only because he knows a good heist when he hears it, but because Tom offers him a way out of a tight situation. As with any Parker novel, things go to hell in bits and pieces as the tight-knit plan unravels, while Parker, ever the cold-blooded professional, deals with the pitiful attempts of amateurs and law enforcement alike to bring him down. Why do readers love this heartless bad guy? Because he's so damn good at what he does. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

⇒ Via: BN.com

From the Parker series, Parker running from the law (sequel to Nobody Runs Forever (2004))takes help from reclusive and bitter loner who is out to take revenge on his former employers.

Flashfire by Richard Stark

2008-07-09T11:43:00.000-04:00

Flashfire by Richard Stark

Synopsis

Melander likes things flashy. Parker worked with Melander on a bank heist in a midwestern city: his job was to throw a Molotov cocktail into a gas station, sending the cops and fire trucks to the east side of town while Melander and his gang plundered the bank on the west side.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Parker teaches a lesson to three crooks who take for granted his participation in a new heist. One of the few authors who makes you root for the bad guy.

Jitter Joint by Howard Swindle

2008-07-06T21:33:00.000-04:00

Jitter Joint by Howard Swindle

Synopsis

In Jitter Joint, award-winning journalist Howard Swindle delivers Jeb Quinlin, a Dallas homicide detective combating crime-and his own personal demons.

"The weak and pitiful shall perish..."

Jeb Quinlin has been issued an ultimatum by his boss and his wife: dry out or get out. So he hits his favorite bar for a last fifth of Wild Turkey and reluctantly enters detox. Once inside, Jeb is forced to confront his years of alcoholism with the help of Librium, hard-core therapy, and AA meetings. But someone is taking the words of the Big Book too far, as rehab patients begin to die mysteriously, each tagged with one of AA's Twelve Steps. Now Jeb is on a sobering hunt for the Twelve-Step killer, a twisted psychopath who's taking the battle with the bottle to horrifying new heights...

⇒ Via: BN.com

Alhocholic cop has to find a killer on the loose that is killing all rehabilitated alcoholics.

Rebel Island by Rick Riordan

2008-06-24T22:07:00.001-04:00

Rebel Island by Rick Riordan

Synopsis

Triple-crown winner of mystery’s most coveted awards—the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Shamus—Rick Riordan and his Texas-style take on the crime novel have never been bigger or darker than in this latest Tres Navarre thriller. This time Navarre faces a killer as unstoppable as a force of nature.

Tres Navarre had given up private investigation—and with it a violent past that had buried too many friends. Newly married, with a baby on the way, it was time to find a safer line of work. He and Maia had come to Rebel Island to celebrate their honeymoon and a new future. But no sooner had they arrived than a reminder of the past showed up in the form of a corpse shot dead in room 12.

Just like that Tres finds himself flashing back on the memory of a grim childhood summer spent on the island—a summer that changed everything in his life. A summer he could never forget but never entirely remember either. And when a second corpse turns up, it’s clear to Tres that the past is not dead and buried after all, but is stalking Rebel Island with unfinished business of its own.

What really happened that long-ago summer, what dark secrets were kept, and who has come back to avenge them…these are the questions Tres, his brother Garrett, and the very pregnant Maia must answer—and time is running out. For a monster hurricane is about to hit Rebel Island, cutting them off from the mainland and leaving them trapped on a flooding island with the hotel’s remaining guests brutally dying one by one. Tres knows better than anyone that the bloodlines of South Texas are as twisted as barbed wire. This time they’re guarding a revelationthat can turn his dreams of happily ever after into the ultimate nightmare.

⇒ Via: BN.com

TA boiler plate whodunit where a bunch of people are stranded on an island with no way off and a killer in their midst. Can be skipped.

Sucker Bet by James Swain

2008-06-19T22:06:00.001-04:00

Sucker Bet by James Swain

Synopsis

A hardened ex-cop with great instincts, a sharp eye, and a short fuse, Tony Valentine still catches crooks, but a very special breed of them. He nabs hustlers who rob casinos, and finds the fatal flaw that allowed the place to get ripped off in the first place.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Ex-cop turned PI gets involved in a mob boss's scheme to swindle a gullible rock star out of his fortune.

Hard as Nails by Dan Simmons

2008-06-17T22:04:00.001-04:00

Hard as Nails by Dan Simmons

Synopsis

Ex-PI Joe Kurtz's survival is on the line when an ambush leaves him badly wounded and his parole officer Peg O'Toole barely clinging to life. Their respective professions have ensured that neither suffers from a shortage of enemies so discovering which of them was the intended target isn't easy. But Kurtz knows who's at the head of his list: Angelina Farino Ferrara, the lethal beauty who leads the Farino crime family, as well as her mob rival, ice cold Toma Gonzaga, who has his own dark history with Kurtz.

The odd thing is, each wants to hire Joe Kurtz to find out who's been waging war beneath the cold gray skies of western New York. Until now, the casualties have been heroin junkies and their dealers. But now, the shootings of Kurtz and O'Toole have drawn the notice of both the newspapers and Buffalo PD Detective Rigby King, who shared Kurtz's tough childhood in a Buffalo orphanage, and who wants to put Kurtz back in prison-or back in her bed. Even Kurtz's jaded past cannot prepare him for what he's about to learn as he finds himself caught in an ever-tightening vise between the wounded and warring mob families and the cops, unaware that a maniac is waiting for his chance to strike...

⇒ Via: BN.com

Noir detective triller involving hard up PI, ruthless female don and crooked cops.

Nobody Runs Forever by Richard Stark

2008-06-17T20:36:00.001-04:00

Nobody Runs Forever by Richard Stark

Synopsis

"Seven men came to a meeting in Cincinnati. One wore a wire, and another didn't hesitate to kill him - fast and hard. Now Parker has left that meeting and the murder behind, and gotten involved in a scheme that is stuffed with money and trouble." "In the rural northwestern corner of Massachusetts, Parker and a pal plan to steal an armored car. But the human element gets in the way. From a nervous ex-con and his well-intentioned sister to a bank manager's two-timing wife and a beautiful, relentless cop, too many people have their hands too close to Parker's pie. Then a bounty hunter, who just happens to be hunting the man who never left the Cincinnati meeting, joins the fray." Parker can see this job turning bad, yet he can't let go of the score. And when guns go off and the heist goes down, the perfect plan will explode with a sound and fury all its own. For Parker, there's always the choice of turning from fight to flight - even if there's nowhere to run.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Thrilling yarn about a gang of heisters about to score with help of some amateurs that they run into. The well-planned heist is in danger of being derailed due to antics of amateurs.

Southtown by Rick Riordan

2008-06-14T11:23:00.002-04:00

Southtown by Rick Riordan

Synopsis

For Tres Navarre, English professor turned private investigator, business has lately taken a drastic turn south. But if chasing down bail jumpers, adulterous spouses, and workmen’s comp cases seemed like the dregs of the PI game, it was at least a living. Not as much could be said for tracking down a man like Will “the Ghost” Stirman.

The stone-cold killer has just staged a bloody escape from the Floresville State Penitentiary with a gang of violent cons as spooked by Stirman as those on the outside who helped put him behind bars. And no one seems more worried than Navarre’s boss and mentor, Erainya Manos. It was her husband along with rival PI Sam Barrera who built the case that sent Stirman away. But Erainya’s husband is dead and she’s certain Stirman won’t let that stand in the way of his taking revenge against her and her adopted son.

All of Navarre’s instincts are screaming that there’s more to this case than meets the eye. But Erainya won’t tell him—and Sam Barrera seems to be escaping into a strange twilight from a truth too terrible to remember. That leaves Tres to dig into a twisted mystery of greed, vigilantism, and murder, where lives are bought and sold and the line between guilt and innocence is razor-thin. Meanwhile, Stirman and his gang are coming, leaving behind them a trail of brutal, unforgiving violence that will end in an area of San Antonio known as Southtown—but that may soon just as well be called hell on earth.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Tres Navvarre, professor turned PI gets on track of escaped killer who is on track to get revenge on those responsible for his incarceration.

Wicked Break by Jeff Shelby

2008-06-11T11:22:00.001-04:00

Wicked Break by Jeff Shelby

From Publishers Weekly
San Diego PI Noah Braddock interrupts his surfing for a missing persons case in Shelby's action-packed follow-up to Killer Swell (2005). Noah isn't eager to take on new clients, but he's moved by Peter Pluto's pleas to find younger brother Linc, a college student, whose apartment turns out to contain a stash of guns. The tension escalates when Linc's neighbor is shot after being questioned by Noah. Soon after, Noah's untimely arrival at Peter's ransacked house in a quiet cul-de-sac irritates a couple of vicious skinheads. Noah awakes in a ravine, left for dead, and a bit too cozy with Peter Pluto's corpse. Later, accompanied by his pal Carter, conveniently six-foot-nine, Noah boldly wades into plenty of life-and-limb"threatening situations, including verboten gang territory and a secluded skinhead gathering. Strong characterization and wonderfully biting humor compensate for a straightforward plot that's overly generous with tough guy posturing. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Surfer PI is hired by a professor to find his lost brother. Drugs, Guns, and white supremacy punks liven up this mystery.

Bone Key by Les Standiford

2008-06-08T20:50:00.002-04:00

Bone Key by Les Standiford

Synopsis

A hustler is beaten by a cop. Two days later he's found slain. The cops claim ignorance. All John Deal has to go on are the rumors of the man's connection to a 70-year-old tale of piracy, murder, and greed.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Florida crime caper involving priceless wine contraband and piracy. John Deal is hooking up with his father's friend who is proposing a lucrative construction job for John but things turn awry when John gets involved in a spat with a corrupt cop who is harassing a small time crook.

Field of Fire by James O. Born

2008-06-02T12:26:00.001-04:00

Field of Fire by James O. Born

Synopsis

With Walking Money, James O. Born was hailed as "the real thing" by Elmore Leonard; Shock Wave was called "a constant blitz of action" (The Miami Herald); and with Escape Clause, Born was celebrated as "the best thing to happen to Florida crime writing since Elmore Leonard hit the Sunshine State" (Chicago Sun-Times). Now Born takes it to the next level with a remarkable novel of corruption, fraud, and the messy business of murder by explosives.

Since returning from Bosnia, ATF agent Alex "Rocket" Duarte has been slowly reacclimating to life in South Florida. But when a gunrunner's car explodes, Duarte's life kicks into high gear in a high-profile hunt for what appears to be a serial bomber. Teamed up with a lawyer from the Department of Justice who herself is looking into possibly related bombings in Virginia and Seattle, Duarte crisscrosses the country, following the bomber and hoping to anticipate his next move, but as he peels away the layers of deception, the lines between friends and enemies begin to blur-and the results are explosive.

⇒ Via: BN.com

ATF agent Duarte is after a felon wanted for gun rap, but gets pulled into an investigation of mysterious explosions across the country. Slow narrative, does not keep your interest. Lackluster character devleopment of the main character.

The Devil's Bones by Jefferson Bass

2008-06-01T12:22:00.003-04:00

The Devil's Bones by Jefferson Bass

Synopsis

In two previous New York Times bestselling novels, Jefferson Bass enthralled readers with ripped-from-the-headlines forensic cases, memorable characters, and plots that "rival Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Drawing on research at the Body Farm—three acres of land in the backwoods of Tennessee, where bodies are left to the elements to illuminate human decomposition—Bass has moved fiction to a fascinating new realm, with forensics expertise drawn from his five decades of work as the world's leading forensic anthropologist. But this latest novel cements Jefferson Bass as one of the finest writers of suspense working today, and in a work of drama, cunning, and heartbreak, thrills the reader with fiction that feels all too real.

A woman's charred body has been found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's quest for answers prompts an experiment straight from Dante's Inferno: In the dark of night, he puts bodies to the torch, researching how fire consumes flesh and bone.

In the meantime, Brockton is sent a mysterious package—a set of cremated remains that looks entirely unreal. With the help of a local crematorium, he investigates and discovers a truth too horrifying to believe: A facility in another state has not been disposing of bodies properly, instead scattering them all around the grounds.

Little does Brockton know that his research is about to collide with reality—with the force of a lit match meeting spilled gasoline. En route to trial, his nemesis, medicalexaminer Garland Hamilton, has escaped from custody. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse, played for the ultimate stakes: Brockton's own life. With help from his loyal graduate assistant, Miranda, and ace criminalist Art Bohanan, Brockton eventually tracks Hamilton, but when the police arrive, they find only a smoldering ruin. Sifting through the ashes, Brockton finds the incinerated remains of Hamilton . . . or does he? The answer—along with Brockton's ultimate test—comes in a searing moment of truth.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Lackluster tale about Bill Brockton, anthropologist and forensic scientist. The narrative reads more like his diary rather than a novel with a compelling story line. There is no evidence of a story even half way through the book.

Truth or Bare by Richard Cahill

2008-06-01T12:18:00.003-04:00

Truth or Bare by Richard Cahill

Synopsis

Ted McKeon, ironically known as “Speed” because he was the slowest member of his high school track team, is a perfectly affable, unlikely idealist, but his recent divorce, sexual proclivities, and dire financial straits lead him to dingy bars and fantasy parlors, where he cultivates a rather unsavory clientele. A lawyer who hates most other lawyers, he is reluctant to return to the legal big leagues but is persuaded to take the case of a lesbian exotic dancer who admits to killing her sometime lover. Defending his client, Speed discovers that corruption knows no boundaries, and he must navigate the slippery floors of seedy bars and posh corporate boardrooms with equal caution and skill. A gallery of unforgettable characters inhabit this darkly amusing, diabolically plotted crime story.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Struggling lawyer down on his luck, finds himself stuck with a murder case. As he stumbles through the investigation, he uncovers a twisted plot involving strippers and a land developer who murders to get a kidney. Witty and funny with engaging story telling.

Now and Then by Robert B. Parker

2008-05-27T22:53:00.003-04:00

Now and Then by Robert B. Parker

Synopsis

Spenser knows something’s amiss the moment Dennis Doherty walks into his office. The guy’s aggressive yet wary, in the way men frightened for their marriages always are. So when Doherty asks Spenser to investigate his wife Jordan’s abnormal behavior, Spenser agrees. A job’s a job, after all.

Not surprisingly, Spenser catches Jordan with another man, tells Dennis what he’s found out, and considers the case closed. But a couple of days later, all hell breaks loose, and three people are dead. This isn’t just a marital affair gone bad. Spenser is in the middle of hornet’s nest of trouble, and he has to get out of it without getting stung.

With Hawk watching his back and gun-for-hire Vinnie Morris providing extra cover, Spenser delves into a complicated and far-reaching operation: Jordan’s former lover Perry Alderson is the leader of a group that helps sponsor terrorists. The Boston P.I. will use all his connections–both above and below the law–to uncover the truth behind Alderson’s antigovernment organization. Alderson doesn’t like Spenser poking around his business, so he decides to get to him through Susan. But what Alderson doesn’t realize is that Spenser will do anything to keep Susan out of harm’s way; nothing will keep him from the woman he loves.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Ffast read, but sketchy on storyline and plot !. Typical mass produced crap written only to complete the contractual obligation to his publisher. Skip this !!

Written in Bone by Simon Beckett

2008-05-22T23:02:00.000-04:00

Written in Bone by Simon Beckett

Synopsis

“I took the skull from its evidence bag and gently set it on the stainless steel table. ‘Tell me who you are. . . .’ ” With this silent plea, forensic expert Dr. David Hunter ignites a harrowing murder investigation on a windswept Scottish island, and a tale of menace, sexuality, and revenge unravels—along with the chilling message that a killer has…

Dr. David Hunter should be in London with the woman he loves and a past he can’t quite shake off. Instead, as a favor to a beleaguered cop, Hunter travels to a remote island in the Outer Hebrides to inspect a baffling set of remains. A forensic anthropologist, he has seen bodies destroyed by all forms of violence, but even he is surprised at what he finds: human remains burned beyond recognition—all within the confines of an otherwise undamaged, unoccupied cottage. Local police want to rule the death accidental. But Hunter’s examination of the victim’s charred skull tells him that this woman, no doubt a stranger to the close-knit island of Runa, was murdered by someone nearby.

Within days, two more people are dead by fire. Hunter’s job is to coax the dead into telling their stories—but now that he’s beginning to hear them, he is staggered by the truth. Working with only the barest of clues, he peels back the layers of mysteries past and present, exposing the tangle of secrets at the heart of this strange community—from the deceptions of a wealthy couple to the bitterness of an ex-cop and the secrets of a lonely single mother—as a tale of rage and perversion comes full circle…then explodes in a series of violent actsand shocking twists.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Forensic scientist finds himself on an Scottish island in midst of an murder investigation. The spate of murders triggered by his investigation becomes too dangerous for himself. Engrossing even if a little farfetched.

Restitution by Lee Vance

2008-05-03T12:04:00.002-04:00

Restitution by Lee Vance

Synopsis

Peter Tyler seems to have it all—a beautiful and accomplished wife, a high-powered Wall Street career, a sprawling house in the suburbs. But beneath this perfect surface, things are not what they seem. Haunted by an unhappy childhood, Peter drifts from his wife and her ideal of family life, and eventually seeds solace in a one-night stand.
Before Peter can fully come to grips with what he's done, his house is broken into and his wife brutally murdered. when the police discover that a mysterious package from Peter's best friend, Andrei, is the only thing missing, they rule out random robbery. And when they discover Peter's infidelity—combined with his refusal to reveal the identity of his lover—he becomes their prime suspect. To complete the nightmare, Andrei has disappeared without a trace.
Forced to run, Peter will have to question everything he has ever believed as he struggles to unravel the truth before the police catch up with him. Along the way he'll encounter embittered, conniving foes and a spectacular act of revenge that will take your breath away.
Whip-smart and adrenaline-fueled, this is an audiobook you won't be able to stop listening to until you know everything.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Gripping story about a wall street investment banker who is embroiled in a frameup. Chased by the police, he uncovers the mystery that ultimately clears his name.

Turpentine by Spring Warren

2008-05-03T12:02:00.003-04:00

Turpentine by Spring Warren

Synopsis

A comic glance at the old American West and a serious story about transformation and redemption, Turpentine is a bold, inventive novel about a young man’s attempt to make sense of the past while unsteadily growing into adulthood. In 1871, Edward Turrentine Bayard III, sick and restless, leaves his Connecticut home to recover out west. But when the private sanitarium in which he is to stay proves to be nothing more than a rickety outpost on the Nebraskan plains, he becomes a buffalo skinner. After returning to the East, Ned teams up with Phaegin, who earns her money rolling cigars, and Curly, a fourteen-year-old coal miner, but the newfound trio is wrongly accused of triggering a bomb at a labor rally, and they must flee. With a Pinkerton agent following their every move, the gang of winsome ne’er-do-wells takes flight on a circuitous escape through northern outposts into Indian country, past the slums of Chicago, and into the boundless Great Plains. En route they become witness to the transformation and growing pains of a burgeoning nation. A picaresque novel of wonderful energy and unforgettable characters, Turpentine is a comic, prescient look at the growth of an individual and a country.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Debut novel by the author placed in early nineteenth century America. The story follows the travails of main character Turpentine as he struggles to life and his travels.

The Cleaner by Brett Battles

2008-04-19T18:01:00.003-04:00

The Cleaner by Brett Battles

Synopsis

Meet Jonathan Quinn: a freelance operative with a take-no-prisoners style and the heart of a loner. His job? Professional “cleaner.” Nothing too violent, just disposing of bodies, doing a little cleanup if necessary. But in Brett Battles’s electrifying debut novel, Quinn’s latest assignment will change everything, igniting a harrowing journey of violence, betrayal, and revenge.

The job seemed simple enough: investigating a suspicious case of arson. But when a dead body turns up where it doesn’t belong–and Quinn’s handlers at “the Office” turn strangely silent–he knows he’s in over his head. With only a handful of clues, Quinn scrambles for cover, struggling to find out why someone wants him dead . . . and if it’s linked to a larger attempt to wipe out the Office.

The Cleaner

Quinn’s only hope may be Orlando, a woman from his past who’s reluctant to help but who may hold the key to solving the case. Suddenly the two are prying into old crimes, crisscrossing continents, struggling to stay alive long enough to unbury the truth. But as the hunt intensifies, Quinn is stunned by what he uncovers: a chilling secret . . . and a brilliantly orchestrated conspiracy–with an almost unimaginable goal.

Furiously paced, filled with superbly drawn characters and pitch-perfect dialogue, The Cleaner puts a powerful twist on all our expectations as it confirms Brett Battles’s place as one of the most exciting new talents in suspense fiction today.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Agency troubleshooter finds himself on the run when he is targeted after an innocuous job assignment. Travelling through Vietnam, Germany the climax comes in Berlin when we uncovers a plot to let loose a deadly virus intended for a specific race of people.
The writer has created his character as a Bond wannabe. With gadgets and propensity to wiggle out of tough situations just in the Nick of time, this a rather a lame attempt at a thriller. The story does not get going until well into half of the book.

The Color of Blood by Declan Hughes

2008-04-18T21:49:00.001-04:00

The Color of Blood by Declan Hughes

Synopsis

A reputable dentist from a venerable medical family, Shane Howard wants Loy to find his lost daughter after receiving a set of photographs featuring nineteen-year-old Emily in provocative poses. But a simple missing persons case rapidly devolves into something even more sordid and grisly when two of the players are savagely slain. And it's only the beginning.

The Howard family is not what it seems. Beneath a veneer of wealth and respectability is a dark history of corruption and rot and secrets best left unearthed. By entering the Howards' vicious circle, Loy may find himself stained with the most corrosive and lethal type of blood—the kind that even death cannot eradicate.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Food: The History of Taste by Paul Freedman

2008-04-13T09:42:00.003-04:00

Food: The History of Taste by Paul Freedman

Synopsis

This richly illustrated book is the first to apply the discoveries of the new generation of food historians to the pleasures of dining and the culinary accomplishments of diverse civilizations, past and present. Editor Paul Freedman has gathered essays by French, German, Belgian, American, and British historians to present a comprehensive, chronological history of taste from prehistory to the present day. The authors explore the early repertoire of sweet tastes; the distinctive contributions made by classical antiquity and China; the subtle, sophisticated, and varied group of food customs created by the Islamic civilizations of Iberia, the Arabian desert, Persia, and Byzantium; the magnificent cuisine of the Middle Ages, influenced by Rome and adapted from Islamic Spain, Africa, and the Middle East; the decisive break with highly spiced food traditions after the Renaissance and the new focus on primary ingredients and products from the New World; French cuisine's rise to dominance in Europe and America; the evolution of modern restaurant dining, modern agriculture, and technological developments; and today's tastes, which employ few rules and exhibit a glorious eclecticism. The result is the enthralling story not only of what sustains us but also of what makes us feel alive.

⇒ Via: BN.com

A collection of essays on food throughout the ages right form prehistoric times to current. The evolution of taste and palatte of man and its effect on current culinary practices and food.

Absolution by Caro Ramsay

2008-04-13T09:37:00.002-04:00

Absolution by Caro Ramsay

Synopsis

It's been twenty years since Police Detective Alan McAlpine has set foot in Patrickhill Station-and more than twenty years since he fell forever in love with the mute, faceless woman he called Anna as she lay dying in Glasgow's Western Infirmary. Daily, he'd watched over her, and they had begun to communicate with each other, she by moving her wounded fingers. Her fingers could not tell the sad, unseasoned police cadet her name, however, or name for him the father of her newborn baby girl or identify the assailants who had flung the acid in her once incomparably beautiful face. Or tell him how she'd smuggled a cache of uncut diamonds into Scotland.

Now McAlpine is back in Patrickhill, where he's been summoned to head up the investigation of a disturbing murder case. Two women-their arms outstretched, their legs together and feet crossed at the ankle-have already died at the hands of a man the press has tagged the Crucifixion Killer. More gruesomely, the third victim will also have been violently disfigured when her body turns up in Whistler's Lane, coincidentally (perhaps) the scene of an equally brutal murder four years earlier.

The face of another woman, though-a strikingly beautiful young woman, blonde-has taken hold of McAlpine's consciousness, and soon the consequences of a case cold for two decades are commanding-and dangerously thwarting-the course of his team's current, already desperate investigation.

As crimes in the present intersect with iniquities committed in the past, the mystery in this steely, piercing, psychological thriller is as gripping as its twists are surprising. And absolution proves to be extreme.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Thriller about a conflicted policeman whose past comes to haunt him in his latest case almost 20 years later. A serial killer is loose, killing immoral women who are linked by a tenuous thread. Well written but leaves you wanting for more. The main character is wasted and the reader is left wondering why.

Gone to Ground by John Harvey

2008-04-09T22:59:00.001-04:00

Gone to Ground by John Harvey

Synopsis

When police detective Will Grayson and his partner, Helen Walker, investigate the violent death of Stephen Bryan, a gay academic, their first thoughts are of an ill-judged sexual encounter or a fatal lovers’ quarrel: The man’s face was like a glove that had been pulled inside out. But they soon shift focus to the book Bryan was writing about the life and mysterious death of fifties film star Stella Leonard. While Bryan’s sister puts herself in danger by conducting her own investigation, Grayson and Walker peel away the secrets of a family blighted by a lust for wealth and power and by its perverted sexuality. On the heels of his critically acclaimed Frank Elder series, John Harvey delivers a page-turner both subtle and devastating.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Police detective investigates brutal death of gay professor.

At the City's Edge by Marcus Sakey

2008-04-05T22:56:00.002-04:00

At the City's Edge by Marcus Sakey

From the Publisher

Home from Iraq and still reeling from his discharge, Jason Palmer plans to spend the summer drinking too much and chasing girls. But when his brother is brutally murdered, Jason is all that stands between his eight-year-old nephew and a pair of ruthless killers with a mysterious agenda. As he struggles to protect all that remains of his family, Jason finds himself embroiled in something much larger than a simple quest for justice. Chicago is burning, set ablaze by gang warfare and the passions of wicked men, and the battle for Jason’s South Side neighborhood is looking more and more like the war he just left.
Now, in a city where corruption is simply the cost of doing business, where issues of race and class smolder just beneath the surface, Jason will be forced to face the mistakes of yesterday to fight for a better tomorrow. Marcus Sakey fulfills his promise in this dark thriller that probes the underbelly of America’s meanest streets—and the costs of our deepest bonds.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Burnt-out soldier just returned from Iraq avenges his crusading brother's death at the hands of corrupt politicians and gangsters.

Empire Rising by Sam Barone

2008-03-29T10:35:00.003-04:00

Empire Rising by Sam Barone

Synopsis

It is 3157 B.C.—The beginning of the Bronze Age and the rise of cities—and at the eastern edge of the great southern desert in Mesopotamia, men are at war. Bandits and worse plunder the countryside seeking women, slaves, and gold. Into this unsettled land come the outcast Korthac and the remnants of his mighty desert fighters. They encounter a band of thieves led by Ariamus. The two join forces and set their sights on the biggest prize of all: the burgeoning city of Akkad—the town formerly known as Orak that just a few months earlier defeated a horde of raiding barbarians by building an impenetrable wall. Akkad is known not only for its riches, but also for the courage and wisdom of its leaders, the former barbarian Eskkar and his enchanting wife, Trella. Together they drove off the barbarian horde, and now they face an even more daunting challenge—to preserve their victory.

But it's only by defeating Eskkar, Trella, and the people of Akkad that Korthac and Ariamus can claim Akkad's wealth and enslave its people . . .

Korthac devises a plan to slip his men into Akkad and conquer the city from within. And while Eskkar is roaming the land, winning the trust of other towns and bringing them into his growing empire, Korthac and Ariamus strike, wreaking havoc on the young city.

Told with rich historical detail and set in a time of promise and peril, Sam Barone's thrilling, beautifully rendered tale places him in the ranks of the best historical fiction writers working today. Empire Rising is another marvelous trip into the past with an unforgettable cast of characters.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Continuation of Eskkar and Trella's story from the earlier novel, the village of Orak now Akkad grows prosperous. attracting a devious usurper from Egypt who infiltrates the village and takes it over. Eskkar who is visiting another village rides back and fights back to take his village back. Though historical, it does not stick to the period.

Try Dying by James Scott Bell

2008-03-26T10:33:00.002-04:00

Try Dying by James Scott Bell

Synopsis

Ty Buchanan is a rising star in his L.A. law firm, until the suspicious death of his fiancee forces him into the underbelly of the city to discover the truth behind her death. He soon has more than his career on the line, as he finds himself tangled up with a mysterious group of former gang members, and becomes the target of a killer.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Lawyer tries to get to the root of mystery of his fiancee's freaky death uncovering a deadly conspiracy.

The Indian Bride by Karin Fossum

2008-03-21T14:09:00.002-04:00

The Indian Bride by Karin Fossum

Synopsis

When long-time bachelor Gunder Jomann goes to India for two weeks and comes home married, the town of Elvestad is stunned. Then, on the day the Indian bride is supposed to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found on the outskirts of town. The "good people of Elvestad" can’t believe that anyone among them could be capable of such a brutal murder. But in his quiet way, Inspector Konrad Sejer understands that no one is completely innocent—not the café owner who knows too much, the girl who wants the attention that comes with being a witness, or the bodybuilder with no outlet for his terrible strength.

In The Indian Bride, one of Europe’s most successful crime writers has crafted another chilling page-turner.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Agood page turner that manages to hold you in its grip till the end. The towns people of Elevestad a small town in Norwegian country side is scandalized when the new arrived bride of a local resident shows up dead on the very night of her arrival. A good police procedural particularly show casing Inspector Sejer's interview techniques is the high light of this sad story.

The Water Cure by Percival Everett

2008-03-21T14:03:00.002-04:00

The Water Cure by Percival Everett

Synopsis

I am guilty not because of my actions, to which I freely admit, but for my accession, admission, confession that I
executed these actions with not only deliberation and
premeditation but with zeal and paroxysm and purpose . . . The true answer to your question is shorter than the lie.
Did you? I did.

This is a confession of a victim turned villain. When Ishmael Kidder’s eleven-year-old daughter is brutally murdered, it stands to reason that he must take revenge by any means necessary. The punishment is carried out without guilt, and with the usual equipment—duct tape, rope, and superglue. But the tools of psychological torture prove to be the most devastating of all.
Percival Everett’s most lacerating indictment to date, The Water Cure follows the gruesome reasoning and execution of revenge in a society that has lost a common moral ground, where rules are meaningless. A master storyteller, Everett draws upon disparate elements of Western philosophy, language theory, and military intelligence reports to create a terrifying story of loss, anger, and helplessness in our modern world. This is a timely and important novel that confronts the dark legacy of the Bush years and the state of America today.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Acuriously wierd book written as a first person account from a bereaved father grieving over his dead daughter who is kidnapped and killed. The main character in the book is an author writing romance stories under a pseudonym. He abducts the suspected attacker of his daughter and tortures him in his basement. The narrative takes form as a disjointed sequence of events written by a schizophrenic.

The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke

2008-03-19T13:59:00.001-04:00

The Tin Roof Blowdown: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke

Synopsis

In the waning days of summer, 2005, a storm with greater impact than the bomb that struck Hiroshima peels the face off southern Louisiana.

This is the gruesome reality Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux discovers as he is deployed to New Orleans. As James Lee Burke's new novel, The Tin Roof Blowdown, begins, Hurricane Katrina has left the commercial district and residential neighborhoods awash with looters and predators of every stripe. The power grid of the city has been destroyed, New Orleans reduced to the level of a medieval society. There is no law, no order, no sanctuary for the infirm, the helpless, and the innocent. Bodies float in the streets and lie impaled on the branches of flooded trees. In the midst of an apocalyptical nightmare, Robicheaux must find two serial rapists, a morphine-addicted priest, and a vigilante who may be more dangerous than the criminals looting the city.

In a singular style that defies genre, James Lee Burke has created a hauntingly bleak picture of life in New Orleans after Katrina. Filled with complex characters and depictions of people at both their best and worst, The Tin Roof Blowdown is not only an action-packed crime thriller, but a poignant story of courage and sacrifice that critics are already calling Burke's best work.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Apost Katrina story set in New Orleans suburbs. Katrina looters are tracked by a mob boss, PI and police in this twisted story that brings out the pathos of a storm aftermath.

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

2008-03-15T12:49:00.002-04:00

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

Synopsis

Jane Charlotte has been arrested for murder.

She tells police that she is a member of a secret organization devoted to fighting evil; her division is called the Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons—"Bad Monkeys" for short.

This confession earns Jane a trip to the jail's psychiatric wing, where a doctor attempts to determine whether she is lying, crazy—or playing a different game altogether. What follows is one of the most clever and gripping novels you'll ever read.

⇒ Via: BN.com

A gripping narrative and wacky story keep up the interest till the very end. This is a story of a woman who has been incarcerated on charges of killing someone and the entire narrative is her recounting the events that led to the murder. The woman claims to be a member of a secret organization that eliminates "Evil" people. They do it without leaving any clues or traces of foul play. She belongs to a faction in that organization that kills irredeemable cases. The story is quite engaging and even credible at times but towards the end where the author introduces a blind surprise.

Grave Imports by Eric Stone

2008-03-15T12:47:00.005-04:00

Grave Imports by Eric Stone

Synopsis

Exotic mystery/adventure set in Asia.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Athriller set in far east locales of Hong Kong, Cambodia and thailand. Ray Sharp is a former journalist turned investigator for a ex-CIA spook. He embarks on background check of a company for client which turns out is involved in illegal smuggling of Cambodian antiques. The main character comes across as a bungling, conflicted detective with James Bond like aspirations. Everywhere he goes women throw themselves at him. There is no deductive reasoning or investigative prowess evident. The main hero stumbles from one event to other without any clue. The ending is quite anti-climatic. The prose is Ok but it leaves you feeling unsatisfied. The author's inexperience shows though this is his second book.

Crusade by Robyn Young

2008-03-09T15:42:00.002-04:00

Crusade by Robyn Young

⇒ Via: BN.com

Second book in the Brethren trilogy by the author. This book follows up on the first book where the templars are entrenched in Acre in 1274, but the local businessmen are unhappy with the situation and plot to create a new Crusade to restart their flagging businesses. The main characters from the earlier book are built upon by the author. A very colorful and interesting depiction of life and wars from that period. Recommended.

Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi

2008-03-09T15:37:00.003-04:00

Book by Author

Synopsis

This explosive debut introducing Russian gangster Alexei Volkovoy delivers at every turn, announcing Volk as the boldest hero of a new generation.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Gory thriller set in Russia with Russian politics and mafia as a backdrop. The hero is a ruthless Russian gangster (actually masquerading as a gangster but a colonel in military) who gets involved in a museum robbery but finds himself in a betrayed. Very fast paced thriller with lot of twists and turns.

Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard

2008-03-02T16:59:00.002-05:00

Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard

Publishers Weekly

In Goffard's impressive debut, a darkly comic romp through the Southern California underworld, Benny Bunt, a 41-year-old dishwasher, finds his main escape in the Greasy Tuesday, a blue-collar bar in Costa Mesa. Among the recidivist misfits, his is a harmless familiar face. What they don't know is that Benny is a snitch who earns pocket money by ratting out his buddies to the cops. Enter one Gus "Mad Dog" Miller, a massive, bearded Vietnam vet, covered with prison tattoos; Gus holds court at the bar with outrageous tales of his exploits, military and criminal. Gus soon becomes Benny's best friend, and seeks his assistance in a contract killing. Only problem is, the police "botch" their surveillance and Benny ends up taking the fall for a double homicide committed at the Howling Head festival in the Mojave desert. Goffard's prose shimmers with intelligence and humor, and he has a keen ear for telling detail. Fans of such cultish neo-noir scribes such as Charlie Huston and Duane Swierczynski will be richly rewarded. (Oct.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

⇒ Via: BN.com

Dark and entertaining comic noir about two societal misfits who hatch a plot to kill somebody which gets botched at the end. Debut novel by Goffard keeps the attention riveted to storyline till the very end. Surprise twist in the end makes it a suspense novel wich the reader never expects. Enjoyable.. recommended.

Never Go Back by Robert Goddard

2008-03-01T10:55:00.002-05:00

Never Go Back by Robert Goddard

Synopsis

In the spellbinding new mystery by the master of “the clever twist,” a group of ex-RAF comrades journey to a Scottish castle for a reunion. But by the time they reach their destination, two of them are dead.

Harry Barnett is leading a contented life in Vancouver with his wife and daughter when he is brought back to England by the death of his mother. He intends to spend just a few days sorting out her affairs when a chance meeting he will regret for the rest of his life makes him change his plans. Two old acquaintances from his National Service days track Harry down to his mother’s house — the last address they had for him. A lavish reunion has been organized to mark the fiftieth anniversary of their RAF days. Harry decides to go.

During the war, Harry and his fellow RAF conscripts spent three months in a Scottish castle where they acted as guinea pigs in a psychological experiment. The reunion is to take place in the same castle. It will be a chance to see friends, settle old scores and lay a few ghosts to rest.

The party begins on the train up to Aberdeen, until the apparent suicide of one of their number shatters the holiday atmosphere. Their arrival in Scotland seems under a cloud, and when another comrade dies soon after their arrival, Harry is gripped by a sense of foreboding. As well, the recollections of the old comrades of their time in the castle are frighteningly different, and unexplained events from 1955 still haunt them. As Harry tries to solve the mystery of what really happened fifty years ago, he uncovers an extraordinary secret that convinces him he will never leave the castle alive.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Former RAF soldier finds himself in midst of murder and double cross when he decides to join his buddies for a reunion after 50 years. A gripping tale of double-cross and suspense that holds you till the very end.

Blood Thirsty by Marshall Karp

2008-02-27T21:36:00.002-05:00

Blood Thirsty by Marshall Karp

Synopsis

It’s a bloodthirsty town, Hollywood. No matter how popular you are, there’s always someone who’d be happier if you were dead. And in some cases, you can be such a bastard, everyone would be happier if you were dead.

Barry Gerber, one of the most hated men in Hollywood, is a no-show for a red carpet event. The next morning he turns up dead, killed in such a bizarre way that neither Detectives Mike Lomax nor Terry Biggs nor anyone in Forensics has ever seen anything like it before. Two days later, the prime suspect – another despised show-business bad boy – is found murdered in the same sadistic manner.

The list of suspects then becomes as long as the credits in a summer blockbuster. Everyone hated the murdered men. Biggs jokes that this could be an elaborate public service effort to make Hollywood a better place to live and work. But he and Lomax soon find that all jokes are off as they wade through a daunting number of leads to uncover who will be the next victim. What they stumble upon is a motive far more primal than they had ever imagined.

Fast-paced, razor-sharp, and intensely funny, Bloodthirsty reunites Lomax and Biggs – the mystery genre’s new dynamic duo.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Detective duo Lomax and Briggs solve a series of peculiar murders in Los Angeles. Wisecracking detectives find out that a old couple is behind the murders when their daughter is killed in a drug deal gone bad.

What's So Funny? (John Dortmunder Series) by Donald E. Westlake

2008-02-25T21:30:00.001-05:00

What's So Funny? by Donald E. Westlake

Synopsis

In his classic caper novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down. The bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his intentions. Now Westlake's seasoned but often scoreless crook must take on an impossible crime, one he doesn't want and doesn't believe in. But a little blackmail goes a long way in... WHAT'S SO FUNNY?
All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over.
From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Burglar is hired by an PI to steal a valuable chess set for a dying man trying to right an injustice he suffered from his friends who cheated him f his share of the stolen chess set many years ago. Funny and dry wit make it an entertaining read.

The Missing by Chris Mooney

2008-02-17T17:05:00.002-05:00

The Missing by Chris Mooney

Synopsis

The first time Darby almost died was on the night of her sixteenth birthday. Out with her two best friends, she witnessed a horrible scene - a woman who was tortured and beaten and left for dead in the woods. After being chased by the criminal, Darby looked to her constant savior - her father, "Big Red," a local police officer, and her hero. As always, he made Darby feel safe by promising to find who did this and bring him to justice.

Years later, Darby is now also a cop, having designed her career after her late father's. She is investigating a serial killer who has already slaughtered several young women. There is something eerie about this case from the beginning, and Darby is dismayed when she learns that two of the victims are her childhood friends - the same girls she was with the night she saw the woman in the woods. Soon, it becomes clear that this is no coincidence. Darby is targeted as the next victim, and this time Big Red is not around to save her. Instead, Darby delves further into the investigation, and quickly discovers evidence linking her father to the killer. With no one to save her and not knowing who to trust, Darby struggles to preserve her father's memory as she fights to defend herself against a ruthless killer - one with an unknown motive and a clear plan for murder.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Crime scene investigator tracks down a psychotic killer who abducts and tortures women. Gripping tale and good suspense but the climax is pretty cliche when the killer's accomplice is revealed. That part is disappointing.

Atomic Lobster by Tim Dorsey

2008-02-17T16:58:00.002-05:00

Atomic Lobster by Tim Dorsey

Synopsis

Why is everyone rushing to flee Tampa on a cruise ship to hell?

Serge is back with a bullet, torn between homicide and souvenirs. So is Coleman, torn between getting hammered and getting more hammered. Then there's good ol' Jim Davenport, the E-Team, the Diaz Brothers, and Johnny Vegas, the Accidental Virgin, cranking up the fevered action as the pot boils over on a street called Lobster Lane.

It's reunion time in the Sunshine State, and we're not just talking the family jamboree of that blood-soaked criminal clan, the McGraws, whose nastiest, meanest member is finally released from prison and heads south bent on revenge. On top of it all, the government is covering up a growing list of mysterious victims across Florida who may or may not be connected to a nefarious plot being hatched against national security.

But wait! There's more on the horizon! Who is the oddly familiar femme fatale named Rachael? Is Serge wrong that guns, drugs, and strippers don't mix? What sets the Non-Confrontationalists off on a rampage? What finally brings Coleman and Lenny together? Will they succeed in building the biggest bong ever? And can Serge surf a rogue wave to victory?

So batten the hatches, don the life jackets, and take cover as all these questions and more are answered in the latest adventure from the acclaimed author of Hurricane Punch.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Another Florida caper starring the inimitable Serge A. Storms a well read psychotic killer with principles who goes around his brand of justice accompanied by his sidekick Coleman. Good book with all around laughs and funny escapades.

The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland

2008-02-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland

Synopsis

The first and only story of love and looming apocalypse set in the aisles of an office supply superstore.

In Douglas Coupland’s ingenious new novel—sort of a Clerks meets Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf—we meet Roger, a divorced, middle-aged “aisles associate” at Staples, condemned to restocking reams of 20-lb. bond paper for the rest of his life. And Roger’s co-worker Bethany, in her early twenties and at the end of her Goth phase, who is looking at fifty more years of sorting the red pens from the blue in aisle 6.
One day, Bethany discovers Roger’s notebook in the staff room. When she opens it up, she discovers that this old guy she’s never considered as quite human is writing mock diary entries pretending to be her: and, spookily, he is getting her right.
These two retail workers then strike up an extraordinary epistolary relationship. Watch as their lives unfold alongside Roger’s work-in-progress, the oddly titled Glove Pond, a Cheever-era novella gone horribly, horribly wrong. Through a complex layering of narratives, The Gum Thief reveals the comedy, loneliness, and strange comforts of contemporary life.
Coupland electrifies us on every page of this witty, wise, and unforgettable novel. Love, death and eternal friendship can all transpire where we least expect them …and even after tragedy seems to have wiped your human slate clean, stories can slowly rebuild you.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Offbeat novel set in a urban office store setting starring a disaffected middle aged man - Roger - who is going through a crisis as a result of recent divorce and breakup of his family and a rebellious goth girl who finds herself in the end. Story within a story begins when the girl Bethany accidently come across Rogers dairy where he writes as Bethany which she finds too true to her feelings. Thus starts an unspoken conversation with Roger. Curiously engrossing.