ARC Review: Out in the Cold by Steve Urszenyi

Out in the Cold
Author: Steve Urszenyi
Series: Special Agent Alexandra Martel (Book 2)
Publication: Minotaur Books (November 12, 2024)

Description: Special Agent Alex Martel is thrown back into a deadly world of deception when a series of attacks threaten to incite World War III in this action-packed thriller.

While sailing across the Mediterranean, the megayacht Aurora is rocked with explosions, taken under siege by unknown assailants. On board are some of Europe’s wealthiest and most powerful political players, including the secretary general of Interpol, a high-ranking Finnish diplomat, and Special Agent Alex Martel―whose lethal sniper skills kick in to bring them safely to shore.

Someone is waging a ruthless campaign of attacks against Finland, one of NATO’s newest members, in an attempt to throw the Alliance into turmoil. Teaming back up with CIA agent Caleb, Alex is thrust into the middle of the fray, pursuing the villains from the waters off of Monaco to the Baltic Sea and home to American soil.

As the US is pulled deeper into the conflict, a global catastrophe seems inevitable. But who is really responsible for these escalating attacks on Finland? The Russians, or someone much closer to home? As new allies surface and old enemies reappear, Alex has no way of knowing who to trust―and she might only have one last shot to keep the world from going to war.

My Thoughts: The second Alex Martel thriller was an excellent story. It begins with Alex on a mega-yacht with her friend Celeste who is the secretary general of Interpol. She sees Celeste meeting with a Finnish ambassador who would like Interpol to begin an investigation.

When the ship is attacked, Alex's skills as a medic, sniper, and all around badass are called into play. Her goal is to get Celeste and her boyfriend to safety. Along the way she has to deal with boatloads of invaders. 

The next day Celeste and her boyfriend are attacked. The boyfriend is killed, and Celeste is in a coma. Alex who has been seconded to the CIA was recalled to Washington before the second attack. She goes rogue to find out who is targeting her friend. Then she's called to Finland where she learns that the Finns don't believe that it is the Russians who have been causing all sorts of problems and raising tensions in the area. 

Meanwhile, back in the US, the reader learns that there is a conspiracy that reaches deep into government and even to the President's advisers whose goal is to "restore American supremacy" by bringing the US to war with Russia. 

I really enjoyed the twists and turns as Alex and some of her fellow spies unravel the conspiracy and find a way to end it. Fans of Alex who is a female version of James Bond will enjoy this fast paced adventure. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Pike Island by Tony Wirt

Pike Island
Author: Tony Wirt
Publication: Thomas & Mercer (November 1, 2024)

Description: From the bestselling author of Just Stay Away comes a haunting thriller about a rising politician whose shadowy past threatens to end his career―and his future shot at the presidency.

What happens at the cabin stays at the cabin. Right?

Andrew Harrison “Harry” Leonard is destined for politics. Getting his start on the Rochester City Council, he quickly rose to become the youngest representative in Congress. Now the up-and-comer from Minnesota is on the brink of something big. If all goes well, he’ll be in perfect position to aim for the presidency.

Then a postcard arrives, blank except for the name on the address: Leonard. Harry hasn’t used that name since high school. Krista Walsh, Harry’s chief of staff, recognizes his old moniker, and when he dodges questions about it, she wonders what he’s trying to hide. She soon discovers the lake pictured on the postcard holds secrets too.

Krista’s investigation into Harry’s past uncovers the truth of what happened one fateful teenage summer. But as disturbing details come to light, how far will Krista go to keep Harry’s career―and her own―headed to the top?

My Thoughts: When a strange postcard arrives at the offices of Freshman Representative Andrew Harrison Leonard, his Chief of Staff Krista Walsh is concerned and puzzled. A picture of a lake in Minnesota leads to discoveries about the man she has supported since his days on the City Council in Rochester, Minnesota, to his current position and hopes to be with him until he is elected President of the United States. She thought she knew everything about Harry's past, but the postcard leads to new potentially damning information.

As Harry gradually doles out information to Krista, alternate chapters show what really happened at Cedar Lake the summer after Harry and his three best friends graduated from high school. And, the more Krista learns, the more she is concerned about Harry's political future and her own future too. 

This was an exciting and page-turning story. I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting. Fans of suspenseful stories will really enjoy it. I enjoyed it especially because the setting was a part of Minnesota that was familiar to me. I also liked the moral dilemma that Krista faced as she had to decide what to do about the new knowledge she gained about her boss. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Havoc by Deborah J. Ledford

Havoc
Author: Deborah J. Ledford
Series: Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran (Book 2)
Publication: Thomas & Mercer (July 30, 2024)

Description: In this tightly paced sequel to Redemption, Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran joins the Taos Pueblo tribal police department to uncover a member of her community’s murder…and the conspiracy behind it.

It’s been over a year since the case that almost broke her, but when Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran is called back to duty, she doesn’t hesitate to answer. A bank robbery has left an officer down and a suspect on the run. Law enforcement is in hot pursuit, and residents are on the lookout―but before anyone can catch the criminal, tragedy strikes.

A member of the Taos Pueblo tribe has been shot and killed. The culprit? An untraceable 3D printed gun. With the support of fellow tribal cops, Eva breaks the news to the victim’s family and swears to find justice.

More violence follows, feeding the rising racial tensions between the Taos Pueblo people and the Hispanic community. New evidence forces Eva to consider the possibility that the bank robbery and 3D guns are related, but until she figures out how, there’s no telling how deep this crime ring goes…or how far its evasive ringleader will go to protect it.

My Thoughts: The second Eva "Lightning Dance" Durand thriller deals with a bank robbery, 3D printed guns, and the death of a child who had one of those fake guns. 

The story is told from multiple viewpoints and includes chapters from various characters in the book. The bank robber's point of view illustrates his complete lack of humanity. Other viewpoints include both Eva and her boyfriend/fellow police officer Cruz and young Kai Arrio who is a biology student training a Belgian Malinois. We hear from Tomas Salas who was Kai's favorite teacher in high school and who has big dreams for the Pueblo reservation but a horrible way of realizing them. We hear many other viewpoints too. 

The viewpoints are all woven together into a fast-paced suspenseful story. It is also a story about grief and loss and life on the Pueblo reservation near Taos. I enjoyed it very much. 

Favorite Quote:

"Nothing new. You ready for this?" Cruz asked when they reached the long black vehicle. 

"Nope," she said. "Let's go."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

The Templar Legacy
Author: Steve Berry
Series: Cotton Malone (Book 1)
Publication: Ballantine Books (February 21, 2006)

Description: The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden riches lost.

But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is not at all what they thought it was–and its true nature could change the modern world.

Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts–and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he’d left behind.

It begins with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton’s former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle, who’ s far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security. Armed with vital clues to a series of centuries-old puzzles scattered across Europe, she means to crack a mystery that has tantalized scholars and fortune-hunters through the ages by finding the legendary cache of wealth and forbidden knowledge thought to have been lost forever when the order of the Knights Templar was exterminated in the fourteenth century. But she’s not alone. Competing for the historic prize– and desperate for the crucial information Stephanie possesses–is Raymond de Roquefort, a shadowy zealot with an army of assassins at his command.

Welcome or not, Cotton seeks to even the odds in the perilous race. But the more he learns about the ancient conspiracy surrounding the Knights Templar, the more he realizes that even more than lives are at stake. At the end of a lethal game of conquest, rife with intrigue, treachery, and craven lust for power, lies a shattering discovery that could rock the civilized world–and, in the wrong hands, bring it to its knees.

My Thoughts: This excellent thriller introduces Cotton Malone who stars in eighteen thrillers. The plot of this one revolves around lost Templar treasure and information about Jesus Christ that could rock the Roman Catholic church. 

Cotton is approached by Stephanie Nelle his former boss at the Magellan Billet where he used his skills as a lawyer to deal with international crime. He left the Magellan Billet, moved to Denmark, and opened a bookstore. Stephanie has received a journal from her deceased husband. Her husband was obsessed with investigating rumors regarding the Templars. He wrote a number of bestselling books before he took his own life. 

Stephanie feels that she owes it to her husband to see if there was anything to the rumors he was investigating. Since someone is trying to kill her, it looks like there is something to his research. Despite trying to not get Cotton involved, he becomes involved because of his curiosity and loyalty to Stephanie. Then the action happens as they travel from Denmark to France in search of the Templars lost treasure.

We also get the viewpoint of a man who wants to be the new Master of the Templars and get revenge for actions done in the 13th Century. 

This was a fun thriller that reminded me of The Davinci Code. I enjoyed the characters and plan to read more in the series. 

Favorite Quote:

"Dreamers have many times changed the world."

"This is a wild goose chase for a goose that doesn't exist."

I bought this one October 7, 2009. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Paris, France

January 1308

Jacques de Molay sought death, but knew salvation would never be offered. He was the twenty-second master of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, a religious order that had existed under God's charge for two hundred years.

Friday 56:

Beauseant. Be glorious.

Precisely the word Red Jacket had uttered as he'd leaped from the Round Tower.

What was happening?

Old motivations stirred inside him. Feelings he'd thought a year of retirement had quelled.

This week I am spotlighting The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry. It is the first in the 17-book Cotton Malone series. This is also a book that has been sitting on my Kindle since October 2, 2009.

Here is the description from Amazon:

The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden riches lost.

But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is not at all what they thought it was–and its true nature could change the modern world.

Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts–and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he’d left behind.

It begins with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton’s former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle, who’ s far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security. Armed with vital clues to a series of centuries-old puzzles scattered across Europe, she means to crack a mystery that has tantalized scholars and fortune-hunters through the ages by finding the legendary cache of wealth and forbidden knowledge thought to have been lost forever when the order of the Knights Templar was exterminated in the fourteenth century. But she’s not alone. Competing for the historic prize– and desperate for the crucial information Stephanie possesses–is Raymond de Roquefort, a shadowy zealot with an army of assassins at his command.

Welcome or not, Cotton seeks to even the odds in the perilous race. But the more he learns about the ancient conspiracy surrounding the Knights Templar, the more he realizes that even more than lives are at stake. At the end of a lethal game of conquest, rife with intrigue, treachery, and craven lust for power, lies a shattering discovery that could rock the civilized world–and, in the wrong hands, bring it to its knees.