Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz

This was a fascinating book written on the premise that the US had a "orphan" program in which young orphans were trained from the time they were young children to be covert operatives, living weapons.  I thought the book was very interesting and well-written.  I highly recommend it.

Evan Smoak is 'Orphan X', a deadly covert operative who has gone rogue on the US government.  He decides that he must kill the President of the United States who was a former boss at the defense department in charge of the Orphan Program.  In a side project, Evan is also helping a young man whose family was murdered by a drug kingpin.  Evan moves through his projects like an expert, gradually turning up the pressure on the President and culminating in a well-planned hit.

Orphan X is portrayed as an ultimate weapon, an expert at weapons and covert operations, and he kills almost without effort.  I found him believable despite the long odds he often faced in his operations.  He is a compelling character, as are his secret-service adversaries and the operatives of the drug underworld he challenges.  Highly recommended. 5/5 stars.  Read this and other upcoming reviews at bookgeist.blogspot.com. 

Publication date: January 29, 2019

Spy Master by Brad Thor

This is the latest Scot Horvath action-thriller and it does not disapoint.  Scot is part of a NATO response group trying to counter moves by the Russian Federation as a prelude to an invasion of the Baltic countries.  Scot is the original bad-ass, busting butt and taking names, and even though I knew he would come out on top, I was spellbound by Thor's ability to write compelling action scenes.  Highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

Currently in publication.

Judgement by Joseph Finder

Joseph Finder is a widely read author in the thriller genre and "Judgement' does not disappoint.  I found this book compelling and I highly recommend it.

Juliana Brody is a judge in Boston and is sitting on a demanding case:  a uber-like startup, Breezi, is being sued for sexual harassment by a former female employee.  While at a law conference, Juliana makes a bad decision and sleeps with a man who unknown to her is working for Breezi.  Their rendezvous is videotaped and Breezi threaten to expose her if she does not rule favorably in the case.  The blackmail takes a new dimension when she discovers that the Russian mafia are the real owners of Breezi.  Does she compromise her principles and give in to the threats to her and her family, or does she resist?

Juliana is a complex character; a wife, mother, judge and plain determined woman.  She does not give in to some really scary people and tries to disentangle herself for the web of blackmail around her. A strong woman character, Juliana is really threatened; so much so that I winced at times at what a bad position she was in.  This book will grab you and not let go.  Highly recommended.  5/5 stars.

Publication date: January 29, 2019

Court of Lies by Gerry Spence

"Court of LIes" is a courtroom drama book where most of the story takes place in the Jackson Hole, Wyoming courthouse.  As a book, I found it fascinating to read about the back and forth between prosecution and defense attorneys, and the judge involved in the cases, John Murray, who is the point of view character in the book, shares his personal perspective as well.

Lillian Adams, a widow who is accused of murdering her rich husband, is on trial for her life.  The prosecutor is notoriously dishonest, willing to twist the truth to win his cases.  Lillian has defense attorney Coker, who is a fiesty lawyer who vigorously defends her.  The principle conflict in the story is between Judge Murray and the Prosecutor, who conspires to impeach the judge and have him arrested if he does not rule in the prosecution's favor.

I enjoyed the tension of this courtroom drama.  If you like the courtroom drama genre, this is a good book for you.  Highly recommended.  5/5 stars.  Read this and other reviews of upcoming books at bookgeist.blogspot.com.

Publication date: February 19, 2019

To Destroy Jerusalem by Howard Kaplan

This was a good book, a thriller full of twists and turns in the plot and filled with interesting characters.  I can't recommend it enough for those of you that like thrillers.

Shai Shaham is the head of an Israeli intelligence team that learns that a Palestinian scientist working at UCLA has purchased plutonium from a source in Brazil, and Shai fears that he intends to build a nuclear weapon.  The story follows Shai and his team from the sale in Brazil, to Los Angeles and then to London in pursuit of the plutonium and the scientist who wants to assemble a bomb in Israel.  There are many close calls, almost successes and the action doesn't end until the last pages of the book.

This was an expertly written novel with lots of setting research.  We are taken to the holy land through Lebanon and I really felt like I was in the camps with the Palestinian terrorists and in Jerusalem with the perpetrators.  There is a completely believable explanation on how the atomic bomb is built, in addition to great description of the process the Palestinians must go through to get the materials for the bomb.  I felt like I was reading David Balducci at times, so good is the tension in the book.  And Shai as a character is not your typical svelte international agent, but a dedicated Israeli with a weight problem.

This book will entertain you for hours.  Highly recommended.  5/5 stars.

Publication Date: October 23, 2018

When the lights go out by Mary Kubica

This book came highly recommended with a number of good reviews and, apparently, in demand, selling well.  Imagine my surprise when I read this book and was supremely disappointed.  Not only is this book poorly plotted, the ending is extremely bad.

As the book starts, Jessie Sloan's mother is dying from cancer, and Jessie, we later find out, is an insomniac.   After Jessie's mother dies, we are lead through one mildly interesting scene after another as Jessie deals with her mother's death.  Soon Jessie finds that she has no social security number or driver's license or birth certificate for that matter and that she is in limbo as a identity.   So the mystery becomes, who is she really?  An why did her mother hide her identity.  The rest of the book is told slowly, as Jessie, because of her insomnia, becomes an increasingly unreliable narrator. 

This would be only bad if she was going through insomnia, but in the end we find out she is dreaming the night before her mother dies and 75% of the book is actually a dream.  I felt stupid for reading this and the author must take the reader as a fool.  Definitely do not read this book.  0/5 stars.

Already in publication.

Last Light by Helen Phifer

This was a enjoyable book with a protagonist that was well-drawn, complex, and interesting.  Overall I liked the book and highly recommend it for a bedtime read.

Detective Inspector Lucy Harwin has just been promoted and begins the book by arriving at a gruesome murder.  A woman of questionable character has had her throat slashed, and she has been hung up on an inverted cross.  Clues in this murder are scarce and the investigation stalls until a second murder, and a third murder occur, indicating that there is a serial killer.  Lucy leads the investigation while navigating problems with her teenage daughter, her husband, who has left her for a woman old enough to be her daughter, and her assistant Mattie, who is leaving on vacation just when the murder investigations are beginning to ramp up.

I found Lucy very interesting to read about; she has the indomitable character that is needed to push through the complexities of the cases and come out ahead on the other end.  As lead characters go in mysteries and thrillers, she is refreshingly different, and I found myself sympathetic toward her.  Recommended. 4/5 stars.  

Publication date: November 16, 2018

Stealing life by Antony Johnston

This is a soft science fiction book that is actually a caper story.  As science fiction stories go, there is not much science; it's more of a science fantasy story.  I enjoyed this book and had no problem staying interested.  It was written by the author of "Atomic Blonde" and this initially made me want to read the book.

Nicco Salarum is a thief in the fictional world of Azbatha; he is approached by a wizard named Xundus (yes there are wizards in this book) to steal a precious necklace from his rival, Werrdun, the governor of Hurrunda.  The caper begins; Nicco accepts an apparently impossible task of stealing the necklace and then, quite cleverly, pulls off the caper.  After he is paid, he learns that the necklace kept Werrdun alive (he is 90+ years old) and his death will bring political instability to Hurrunda.  So, the powers that be put pressure on him, and to survive, he must steal the necklace back.

The plot has twists and turns and, although extremely clever, Nicco gets in some jams he has a hard time getting out.  It is an enjoyable read that science fiction fans will enjoy.  Recommended 4/5 stars. 

Publication date: November 1, 2018

Cyber Attack by Tim Washburn

This book by Tim Washburn has its exciting moments, but overall I was not impressed by the book.  Part of this is because of the somewhat shallow characterization of the main characters, and also the repeated massive deaths caused by a group of hackers, which seemed excessive to me and came at the cost of an interesting plot to find them.

A 737 airplane explodes on a runway.  The accident is unexplained and while FBI special agent Hank Goodnight and a computer specialist, Paige Randall rush to the scene, a nuclear power plant explodes and a dam fails killing thousands suddenly make it clear that a national emergency is in progress.  While I was excited to read through the first third of the book, the author repeatedly shows us disaster and disaster with death and destruction, over and over.  After the third or fourth disaster, I grew weary of reading them and wondered what Paige and Hank were doing to solve the problem and catch those responsible.  As it turns out, very little.  The go to one scene after another, look at some computer code, and basically discover nothing.  The break that allows the capture of the hackers seemed like serendipity to me.  Without active participation by the principals of the book, I was left cold.

To be fair, the pace of the book is fast and the disasters well-researched and well-written, but it wasn't enough for me the recommend the book.  Not recommended. 2/5 stars.  Read this and other reviews of upcoming books at bookgeist.blogspot.com.

Any Means Necessary by Jack Mars

 


















This was a heart stopping thriller that kept me riveted from the first page.  It is very much like a Brad Thor or Vince Flynn book with action, action, action!  I have to admit that I just finished the book and my pulse is still elevated.

Luke Stone is a leader of the SRT (special response team) of the FBI and as the book begins, he has just fallen asleep at 2 am when he gets a call from his boss.  There has been a theft of radioactive materials from a hospital in New York, apparently by Muslim radicals that want to make a dirty bomb.  Luke springs into action and before he is done, the white house explodes, there is a coup d'tat of the president, and nuclear war with Russia looms.  It seems pretty ambitious for one novel to pull all of this off, but Mars does so nicely.

The only thing that I didn't like about this novel was the ending, which seemed to me to be premature and unsatisfying.  Not all the loose ends are tied up at the end, and instead the novel bleeds over to the second book in the series, 'Oath of Office.'  This is okay is you already have the second book so you can read on, but I was only going to read the first, so I don't get to find out how things turn out.  Still, 'Any Means Necessary' is a good read.  Highly recommended.  5/5 stars.

The Forgotten Child by Melissa Erin Jackson

This is the debut novel for Melissa Erin Jackson, and it is a fun novel, marginally a mystery story and more a paranormal novel with seances and spirits and a murder or two thrown in.  I enjoyed this novel and recommend it as a light book for bedtime reading.

Riley Thomas is a waitress in Albuquerque, New Mexico and has a history as a 10-year-old of being a medium for spirits that want to manifest themselves.  She is invited to go spend a weekend at a ranch where a series of gruesome murders occurred in the 1980s, and where there is a history of paranormal events.  She doesn't want to go, afraid that the spirits will manifest themselves through her, and that is exactly what happens.  During the manifestations, she realizes that she has information that can solve several of the ranch's unsolved murders.  How can she use her ability as a medium to solve decades-old murders?

Riley is a pretty good supernatural sleuth and, with the help of her newly-discovered boyfriend Michael, gradually sets about solving the cold-case murders.  Riley as a character is believable as a medium.  Although I am sure such things do not happen in life, I was able to suspend disbelief and immerse myself in her seance and visitations by spirits, who often give her the next clue to solve the murders.  Although the novel reads like a first novel, I enjoyed it and I think you will too.  Recommended.  4/5 stars.

Publication date: October 10, 2018