Book Review: Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco

Unshapely Things
Author: Mark Del Franco
Series: Connor Grey (Book 1)
Publication: Ace (January 30, 2007)

Description: In the alleys of the decrepit Boston neighborhood known as the Weird, fairy prostitutes are turning up dead. The crime scenes show signs of residual magic, but the Guild, which polices the fey, has more "important" crimes to investigate and dumps the case on human law enforcement.

Boston police call in Connor Grey, a druid and former hotshot Guild investigator-whose magical abilities were crippled after a run-in with a radical environmentalist elf. As Connor battles red tape and his own shortcomings, he realizes that the murders are not random, but part of an ancient magical ritual. And if Connor can't figure out the killer's M.O., the culmination of the spell might just bring about a worldwide cataclysm.

My Thoughts: Connor Grey was once a hotshot Guild investigator with amazing magical powers. After an encounter with a radical environmentalist elf, his powers have been crippled and he is forced to survive on a disability pension and consulting work for the Boston Police Department. 

Connor is called in my Boston PD detective Murdock when bodies of fairy prostitutes missing their hearts are found in the Weird, a decrepit neighborhood. The Guild has passed the crime to the Boston PD since they have more "important" crimes to investigate. Connor soon recognizes that the crimes are part of a magical ritual but doesn't know which one or what the goal might be.

As he and Murdock investigate, Connor gets help from his friends including a flit named Joe.

Connor was an interesting character who is still in the denial stage of grief about losing his powers and place. He is constantly longing for what he once had and only barely works to redevelop his once strong powers. He does have a nice circle of friends who are ready to help him or kick him in the butt if he needs that. 

I enjoyed the worldbuilding in this story which, since the Convergence, has the fae integrated into regular human life. It is also concerned with a rivalry that could burst into a war between the fairies and the elves. 

This was entertaining urban fantasy with an interesting world and an intriguing main character. 

Favorite Quote:

Murdock shook his head, laughing. "I don't know if you're trying to drive me crazy or just get more consulting fees."

I poked my cheek out with my tongue. "Both have their appeal."

I bought this one May 8, 2007. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Never Coming Home by Kate M. Williams

Never Coming Home
Author: Kate M. Williams
Publication: Delacorte Press (June 21, 2022)

Description: The beach read you have been dying for! When ten of America's hottest teenage influencers are invited to an exclusive island resort, things are sure to get wild. But murder isn't what anyone expected. Will anyone survive?

Everyone knows Unknown Island—it’s the world’s most exclusive destination. Think white sand beaches, turquoise seas, and luxury accommodations. Plus, it’s invite only, no one over twenty-one allowed, and it’s absolutely free. Who wouldn’t want to go?

The mysterious resort launched with a viral marketing campaign, and now the whole world is watching as the mysterious resort opens its doors to the First Ten, the ten elite influencers specifically chosen to be the first to experience everything Unknown Island has to offer. You know them. There’s the gamer, the beauty blogger, the rich girl, the superstar, the junior politician, the environmentalist, the DJ, the CEO, the chef, and the athlete.

What they don’t know is that they weren’t invited to Unknown Island for their following—they were invited for their secrets. Everyone is hiding a deadly one, and it looks like someone’s decided it’s payback time. Unknown Island isn’t a vacation, it’s a trap. And it’s beginning to look like the First Ten—no matter how influential—are never coming home.

My Thoughts: This story is a locked room mystery. Well, actually an isolated island mystery. Everyone knows about Unknown Island. It's exclusive. It's free. And it will host curated groups of selected young influencers. At least, that's what the marketing and social media is saying. 

When the first group arrives - ten people ranging in age from 16 to 20 - they find that everything isn't like the media blitz says. There's no staff; the rooms are not at all luxurious; there's no internet. The ten people also discover that they have been lured to the island where someone wants some sort of revenge on them. It seems that they were all involved in some sort of accident that resulted in death.

The guests are a mixed bag of people from a beauty blogger, to an environmentalist, to a hot young chef, to a DJ who might just be dealing some drugs. It doesn't take long before they start dying. The first death is a poisoning but a wide variety of methods are used. The chapters about the growing fear and growing number of deaths were exciting even though I didn't care for any of the characters.

Learning that there was one survivor who might or might not have planned the whole thing left an ambiguous ending that will linger in my memory. Fans of suspense will enjoy this story.

Favorite Quote:

"What if whoever is doing this is trying to take us down because they can't stand to see other people Succeed?"

Everyone nodded. It was a flimsy explanation, but it was the only thing that could possibly make sense.

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

Book Review: The Unspoken by Ian K. Smith

The Unspoken

Author: Ian K. Smith
Series: Ashe Cayne (Book 1)
Publication: Thomas & Mercer (October 1, 2020)

Description: In this new series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ian K. Smith, an ex-cop turned private investigator seeks justice on the vibrant, dangerous streets of Chicago.

Former Chicago detective Ashe Cayne is desperate for redemption. After refusing to participate in a police department cover-up involving the death of a young black man, Cayne is pushed out of the force. But he won’t sit quietly on the sidelines: he’s compelled to fight for justice as a private investigator…even if it means putting himself in jeopardy.

When a young woman, Tinsley Gerrigan, goes missing, her wealthy parents from the North Shore hire Cayne to find her. As Cayne looks into her life and past, he uncovers secrets Tinsley’s been hiding from her family. Cayne fears he may never find Tinsley alive.

His worries spike when Tinsley’s boyfriend is found dead—another black man murdered on the tough Chicago streets. Cayne must navigate his complicated relationships within the Chicago PD, leveraging his contacts and police skills to find the missing young woman, see justice done, and earn his redemption.

My Thoughts: Ashe Cayne is a former police officer who left the force after refusing to participate in a cover-up. He left with quite a settlement and good investments means that he can choose his own cases as a private investigator while still trying to improve his golf game.

When Violet Gerrigan comes and asks him to look for her missing daughter Tinsley, he isn't very interested. But the more Violet tells him about Tinsley, the more his curiosity is aroused. So he begins an investigation. Soon he is led to the best friend - Hunter Morgan - who was supposed to host her friend the night she disappeared but says she didn't arrive and hasn't called to let her know why.

Morgan does mention a boyfriend - Tariq "Chopper" McNair - who is the nephew of a well-known gang lord in town and who is Black and not what people from the best part of Chicago want as a son-in-law. Ashe meets Chopper who is worried about his missing girlfriend and paints a picture of a strong, lasting relationship. Soon thereafter, Chopper is found shot to death in an abandoned alley and decorated with gang marks to make it look like he was killed by a rival gang of his uncle's. Now his uncle comes to Ashe because he wants to know who killed his nephew. He has revenge in mind.

The story was filled with interesting information about the city of Chicago, Chicago politics, and the activities of the very wealthy. Ashe is a smart, competent investigator who's as comfortable with gang leaders as the most wealthy in town. He is persistent and has a strong sense of justice. He is also something of a smartass. 

A subplot about what he does to a former priest who abused a number of boys but seemed to evade justice was jarring but understandable considering Ashe's sense of justice and dislike of bullies. 

I liked the sidekick characters too. Carolina provides a lot of information and seems like she'd be good girlfriend material once he finally gets over his fiance running off to Paris with another man and Mechanic is also an intriguing character.

I enjoyed this story and am eager to read more of Ashe Cayne's adventures. 

Favorite Quote:

You were really cut out for this," Carolina said.

"Eating good food?"

"Trying to make right out of wrong."

"I'm not delusional enough to think that I can change the world," I said. "But I do think there's a universal karma that dictates good will ultimately prevail over evil. Maybe not always in the terms that we want or can identify, but it still happens."

I received this book as a part of the Kindle First program. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Tears of the Jaguar by A. J. Hartley

Tears of the Jaguar

Author: A. J. Hartley

Publication: Thomas & Mercer (September 4, 2012)

Description: Six months ago, museum curator Deborah Miller had never heard of Ek Balam, an obscure Mayan archaeological site known for its carved figures. Now here she is, having traded Atlanta’s urban jungle for a remote village in Mexico’s Yucatan, tasked with overseeing Ek Balam’s excavation. But when a sudden rainstorm causes a partial collapse at the site, an unexpected treasure is unearthed: a collection of rough-cut rubies hidden from the world for hundreds of years—and very out-of-place in the Yucatan. It is a find of immeasurable value, one that Deborah vows to protect—and yet is powerless to prevent from being stolen soon after its discovery. Determined to retrieve the stones, she sets out to trace their complex history across four centuries and two continents, from Mexico to northern England where the jewels once played a harrowing role in the Lancashire witch trials of 1612. But Deborah is not the only one searching for the stones; close on her heels are archaeologists, occultists, and one very determined arms dealer, all of whom will stop at nothing, not even murder, to claim the prize for themselves.

My Thoughts: TEARS OF THE JAGUAR was a thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat and rapidly turning the pages to find out what was happening. And this was NOT a story where I saw the solution before the main character.

I didn't like Deborah Miller very much when the book began. This museum curator who was sent to the Yucatan to oversee explorations at Ek Balam by her benefactor at Cornerstone who was funding her museum felt out of her depth and resentful of the archaeologist sent to survey the site. Her resentment and jealousy made her sharp tongued and not very likable. She has a bad relationship with her sister and mother because she felt her mother favored her sister and she resented her sister's athletic ability and the times she had to tag along to practices instead of being left alone to study. She was her father's daughter but now he is dead and her mother has remarried and is getting ready to sell the family home. This is another cause for her tension and resentment. 

The archaeologist - Bowerdale - isn't likable either. He is a pompous, blow hard who likes hitting on his female graduate assistants and doesn't pass up any opportunity to belittle Deborah. The graduate assistants are also shifty characters with Alice being sort of goth and liking to use her sexuality to get things from men. She prefers the abusive kind. James, the other graduate student, is sort of a puppy. He wants Alice's attention and is a sneaky sort of person. 

When a very heavy thunderstorm uncovers a previously hidden tomb, things change. All of a sudden Deborah needs to coordinate more archaeologists - all of whom are quirky, obsessed and more than a little weird. When the grave goods are stolen, it ignites a chase across Mexico and even to Lancashire England and brings in the CIA, MI5, a Serbian "entrepreneur" who wants to find the treasure to sell to the highest bidder, and someone who doesn't hesitate to leave a trail of bodies behind them.

Once Deborah was on the hunt and following clues I began to like her better. I came to appreciate her intelligence and her bulldog-like persistence as she followed the trail of clues. I liked her enough to hunt down and buy two earlier books by the author that included Deborah Miller.

This was a very compelling thriller that was a great story. I recommend it to thriller lovers.  

Favorite Quote:

Deborah spent the whole of the next day in the lab with Aguilar. Krista has found reasons to go up to the site at Ek Balam, but Deborah thought she was being cagey, and Aguilar got tense every time Krista showed up. Something was going on, but whether it was important, or just some relationship thing, Deborah couldn't say. Immediately, she heard her mother's voice in her head: "How like you to assume that relationships aren't important."

Not now, Ma, she thought.

I got this ARC through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review. You can buy a copy here.

Teaser Tuesday: Tears of the Jaguar by A. J. Hartley

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I chose Tears of the Jaguar by A. J. Hartley as one of my recent Amazon Vine picks. Here is the description:

Six months ago, museum curator Deborah Miller had never heard of Ek Balam, an obscure Mayan archaeological site known for its carved figures. Now here she is, having traded Atlanta’s urban jungle for a remote village in Mexico’s Yucatan, tasked with overseeing Ek Balam’s excavation. But when a sudden rainstorm causes a partial collapse at the site, an unexpected treasure is unearthed: a collection of rough-cut rubies hidden from the world for hundreds of years—and very out-of-place in the Yucatan. It is a find of immeasurable value, one that Deborah vows to protect—and yet is powerless to prevent from being stolen soon after its discovery. Determined to retrieve the stones, she sets out to trace their complex history across four centuries and two continents, from Mexico to northern England where the jewels once played a harrowing role in the Lancashire witch trials of 1612. But Deborah is not the only one searching for the stones; close on her heels are archaeologists, occultists, and one very determined arms dealer, all of whom will stop at nothing, not even murder, to claim the prize for themselves.

Teaser:

Slowly she stepped back into the dark air, lowering herself with both hands gripping the stiff root, feeling with her feet for the outcrop she had seen in the momentary flash of the lamp. For a moment she was hanging there, just suspended over nothing, then she let her hands slip another foot or so down, and the root tore a little. 

Book Review: Dead Ringer by Allen Wyler

Dead Ringer
Author: Allen Wyler
Publication: Astor + Blue Editions (June 26, 2012)


Description: While speaking at a Hong Kong medical conference, neurosurgeon Dr. Lucas McCrae slips the cloth off a cadaver’s head during a routine medical demonstration, and is overwhelmed with the shock by what’s staring back at him: His best friend, Andy Baer.

Stunned, McCrae races back to Seattle to discover that Andy is in fact missing and may have been murdered by a gang of body snatchers who operate a legit funeral business and make a fortune by selling recovered body parts to medical researchers.

McCrae teams up with an unlikely pair—a beautiful but hardnosed female cop and a gang member whose family was victimized by the body parts ring—to try and expose a macabre web of corruption that involves law enforcement, politicians, funeral home curators and murdered prostitutes.

Internationally renowned neurosurgeon Allen Wyler takes us deep into a nightmarish scenario, shockingly ripped from recent headlines, and delivers a horrifically plausible, page-turning thriller.



My Thoughts: This was a very engaging and readable mystery. It begins with neurosurgeon Lucas McCrae doing a demonstration in Hong Kong and seeing that the head he is using is that of his best friend Andy. He can't believe that this is possible and the man who brought the heads from Seattle insists that it is not his friend. When Lucas gets home, he immediately begins trying to contact Andy with no success. Andy doesn't have anyone else to care about him. Lucas' wife hates him, his ex-wife hates him, his employers are on the verge of firing him because of his sex addiction. Only Lucas cares.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Wendy Elliott of the Seattle Police Department is looking for a friend who has disappeared. The friend was a hooker that Wendy met while she was working Vice. Her only clue is a partial license plate of a black Suburban that was near where Lupita disappeared. The Suburban is owned by Ditto's Funeral Homes Inc. owned by Bobby Ditto. Ditto is also the largest supplier of anatomical parts on the West Coast. When Wendy interviews him she knows he is lying but doesn't know what he is lying about. 

Lucas also finds his way to Ditto's Funeral Homes when he learns that they supplied the heads for the demonstration in Hong Kong. Bobby tries to convince him that he is mistaken and has all sorts of paperwork to prove it. When Lucas files a missing person report the two cases come together and so do Lucas and Wendy. Lucas is agonizing over a failing marriage. He and his wife no longer have anything in common. Lucas wants to try to save the marriage but she isn't interested in couple's counseling or dealing with her depression. When he meets Wendy, he is attracted to her as she is to him. 

Bobby Ditto is a really creepy villain. He manages to justify his body snatching and murder as a kind of recycling. He is one of those scary villains who seem really sane but are completely out of touch with reality and any sort of morality. His henchman Leo Gerhard is his willing accomplice in the murders and is equally immoral. 

Following along as Lucas and Wendy try to prove that Bobby Ditto had something to do with the disappearance of his and her friends was entertaining. Mystery lovers will enjoy this fast-paced story with an engaging hero and heroine. This was not so much a "whodunnit?" but was definitely a "how to we prove it?" sort of story.


Favorite Quote:

She seems to enjoy hearing about his business, so he continues with, "Med schools use bodies mostly to teach normal anatomy, so they're very picky about  what they accept."

She flashes him a get-serious-look.

"I'm serious. Check out the UW's website. It's all there. We won't take your body if you have diseases like hepatitis, HIV, or obesity. On and on. Damn ridiculous, if you ask me. Obesity? Hell, bring it on! A fatty has more skin than a skinny macrobiotic. And there was nothing wrong with a fatty's ligaments, bones, or hair either. Why waste any of it? What we do is recycling at its best."

I received this ebook from Lauren at Blue Dot. You can buy a copy here.

Book Review: The China Gambit by Allan Topol

The China Gambit: A Craig Page Thriller
Author: Allan Topol
Publication: Vantage Point; 1 edition (January 1, 2012)


Description (Caution is advised. This seems really spoilery to me): In Canada, Francesca, a young American reporter, is brutally murdered to stop her from publishing an explosive story. She has learned that Chinese General Zhou has orchestrated a conspiracy with Iran to stop the flow of imported oil to the United States. General Zhou’s goal: To leapfrog China over the United States for world economic and military supremacy. And the ruthless General will do anything to accomplish that goal.

Craig Page—a daring and resourceful former CIA agent, now fighting terrorism in Europe—is determined to find out who killed his daughter, Francesca. Joined by the gutsy Elizabeth Crowder, Francesca’s editor, Craig peels back the conspiracy layer by layer, ultimately learning that General Zhou has a partner in the scheming CIA director, Kirby, who forced Craig out of the Agency.

The action moves from Canada to Tehran, Beijing and Washington, and finally to Aspen, with Craig and Elizabeth narrowly escaping repeated attacks in their attempt to prevent a catastrophe for the United States. It’s exciting and exceedingly timely, with attention focused now on China’s growing strength and power in the world. At the same time, Craig must bury his personal loss, as he confronts his adversaries trying to kill him.

My Thoughts: If you are completely willing to suspend any belief in reality, this was a very exciting thriller. Craig Page, run out of the CIA by his politically connected and corrupt boss, is making a new life for himself in Europe when his daughter, who is an investigative reporter, stumbles on a hot story that gets her killed. Craig is determined to find out who killed her and get revenge. He is assisted in his quest by his daughter's boss Elizabeth Crowder who quits her job as a newspaper editor to help Craig in his quest.


The villains are all larger than life in this one from the venal Kirby who heads the CIA but who is totally under the thumb of his venture capitalist father to General Zhou who is the head of the Chinese military and who is planning a rogue action that can throw the world into a US-China war.  


The story is composed of many short chapters that switch viewpoints from Craig, to General Zhou, to Kirby. The action is non-stop and so is the violence. Everything moves at break-neck pace and leaves little time for character development. And danger is apparently quite an aphrodisiac as evidenced by the half-page sex scene that was really good for both Craig and Elizabeth and seems to come out of nowhere.

Topol did surprise me. He had a secret villain that I didn't see coming. The story was very readable and the action was non-stop. If you are looking for a thriller for a beach read, this book will fit the bill. Since it is also the first book of a trilogy, more action is also in your future. The Spanish Revenge is coming soon.


Favorite Quote:

"So I screwed up." She kicked the ground. "I should have been stronger with McDermott, just told him I was going."
Craig didn't argue with her.
"Then I'd have been in Calgary with Francesca. She might still be alive."
"And if Adam hadn't eaten that apple, none of us would be wearing clothes. You can't give yourself a beating."

I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Amongst My Enemies by William F. Brown

Amongst My Enemies
Author: William F. Brown
Publication: Amazon Digital Services


Description: Inside an old German U-Boat rusting on the bottom of the Baltic are millions in gold bars, stolen art, and a secret that could tear NATO apart. The only one who knows the truth is Mike Randall, a battle-scarred American who survived four months in the frozen Hell of northern Germany at the end of the war. When he does speak up, he puts a target on his own forehead, one which the Russians, the West Germans, the U-boat's former owners, the Israeli Mossad, and even his own government quickly take aim at. Some want the gold, some want him dead, and some want proof about a high-ranking spy inside NATO itself. Randall's wants are much simpler. Caught between the Kremlin and a new, deadly, 4th Reich, he wants revenge and to satisfy some old debts with a steel-jacketed bullet. 


My Thoughts: This was a very suspenseful, edge-of-your seat thriller about the closing days of World War II and the political chaos the followed it. Mike Randall was a gunner on a B-17 until the plane was shot down over northern Germany with only he and his friend Eddie as survivors. They were sent to do forced labor in Konigsberg. Eddie develops gangrene and begs Mike to find a way to let him kill himself after invoking a promise that Mike go to Eddie's family after the war to let them know what happened. The descriptions of their hardships were so realistic that I felt I was there with them.


Shortly after Eddie's death Mike gets conscripted to load crates and boxes into a German U-boat and manages to stow away in the compartment with the crates. It seems the sub has been chosen by Martin Bormann as one of his treasure ships as he scrambles to get wealth out of Germany to South America. When the Captain finds Mike and realizes what is planned for his boat, he formulates a desperate plan. They aren't going to follow orders. They put Mike in a rubber boat and set him toward the shore of Sweden. But shortly thereafter, British bombers discover and sink the submarine. Mike is rescued by Swedish fishermen and spends three years in Sweden getting over the trauma of the war.


He returns to the United States and goes to visit Eddie's family. He is accepted as a family member by Eddie's father and his sister Leslie who has managed to grow up while Mike was recovering. Mike works there and begins a relationship with Leslie but he is determined to get revenge for the actions at the end of the war. When he sees a newspaper article saying that the U-boat captain who set him free survived the accident and is now a major player in the new NATO, Mike has to go to New York to see him. 


That really throws a kink into everyone's plans because it isn't his captain. The Russians have set this guy up as an agent. Mike and Leslie quickly get involved with the new Israeli spies, the Russians, and the exiled Germans who want their loot back. 


The story is told from a variety of viewpoints including Mike's, Martin Bormann's, his "strong right arm" and psychopath Heinz Kruger, and Verentsov, the Russian in charge of the change of admirals. Most of them converge off the coast of Sweden in the search for the sunken U-boat filled with treasure.


The story was exciting and engaging and really reminded me of some of the books written by Alistair MacLean that I read years ago. There was also a strong Tom Clancy feel in the machinations of the various spies (but without Clancy's techno-jargon) and character who was an ordinary guy who needs to survive in a arena that is foreign to him. Mike was an interesting character - an ordinary man who goes to extra-ordinary ends to get what he feels is justice. 


If you are looking for a Cold War thriller, this one was very engaging.  


Favorite Quote:

Dante had it wrong. Hell wasn't a blazing inferno filled with the mournful cries of the damned; it was the frozen plains of Northern Germany, and it could be quiet as a grave.

I was sent a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. You can buy your copy here.

Teaser Tuesday: Amongst My Enemies by William F. Brown

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

A Cold War thriller found its way to the top of my TBR mountain this week. I received Amongst My Enemies by William F. Brown as an ebook. This one reminded me a lot of a bunch of the thrillers I read years ago. It was filled with tension and political intrigue all surrounding an ordinary guy who wanted justice and a sunken U-boat filled with stolen Nazi loot.


Teaser:

Bruckner watched at Stolz's prisoners lashed and braced the last of the wooden crates in place in the forward torpedo room. "Kapitan," the intercom speaker above his head crackled. "Sturmbannfuhrer Kruger requests you join him in the control room."

This is recent historical fiction at its grittiest about a very turbulent time in world history. 

Review: The Undertaker by William F. Brown

The Undertaker
Author: William F. Brown
Publication: William F. Brown; 1 edition (January 10, 2011)


Description: Pete Talbott is a California native and harried Boston computer wonk still grieving over the death of his wife Terri, when he found himself at the wrong end of Gino Parini's .45 reading his own obituary torn from that morning's newspaper. Talbott figured it was all a big mistake until Parini showed him his wife's obituary too, and this was a mystery Talbott couldn't leave alone.  From a funeral home in Indiana, to car chases on the Dan Ryan, a bloody Back Bay townhouse, snipers in New York City's Washington Square, sleazy lawyers, corrupt County sheriffs, mafia hit men, the FBI, an army of Chicago cops, and that unforgettable scene in the upper berth of an Amtrak Train, "The Undertaker" is a thrill ride with a touch of humor and romance.  Someone with a penchant for sharp scalpels and embalming tables is planting bodies under other people's names; and if Talbott doesn't stop them, he and his quirky new girlfriend, Sandy Kasmarek, will be next on the Undertaker's list.


My Thoughts: This was a taut, action-packed thriller that grabbed me from the first page and didn't let me go until the Epilogue. This is the story of an ordinary man who is dragged into a situation that he doesn't understand and who outsmarts the variety of villains.


Pete Talbott is just drifting through life after a series of personal blows. He loses his beloved wife after a long fight with cancer and then he loses his job due to downsizing and outsourcing. He moves from California to Boston to work with his brother-in-law at his software company. But one day, Gino Parani drops into his office, shoves a .45 automatic in his face, and makes him read his own obituary. It seems that he just died in Columbus, Ohio and was buried there. That was bad enough but the obituary also said that his wife Terri had died in the same accident. Pete is massively upset because this disturbs the memory of wife and he feels that the only thing he has to live for is her memory.


Going to a funeral in Columbus starts off a chain of events that has him targeted for death by two crime families and a rogue division of the FBI. There are lots of chase scenes and near death experiences as he tries to figure out what is going on. 


Along the way, after he has run to Chicago, he meets Sandy Kasmarek who is the former wife of another of the men who had their identity stolen in this complex scheme. She, too, has faced a lot of difficulties since her ex-husband's death but she isn't grieving. She hated the skirt-chasing loser but had to be the one to settle his estate and assume his debts. She is quirky, funny, smart, and a karate expert. Pete first feels that he is betraying Terri when he starts to have feeling for Sandy. Sandy and Pete travel together on the run from the villains and both learn to rely on each other's strengths and come to love and trust each other.

This was an excellent thriller. I recommend it to those who enjoy political thrillers with lots of action and some romance too.


Favorite Quote:

I realized this business with the obituaries, the funeral, and with Greene and Dannmeyer had lit some fires deep inside me that hadn't burned for a long, long time. I was no longer a stick-man walking. I felt alive, and I liked it. 

I received this ebook from the author in exchange for a review. You can get your copy here at Amazon. 

Teaser Tuesday: Split Second by Catherine Coulter

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! 

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I am reading the ARC of Split Second by Catherine Coulter. This one will be published on July 19. Here is the product description:

The number-one New York Times-bestselling author returns with another pulse-pounding thriller. 

A serial killer is on the loose, and it's up to FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock to bring him down. They soon discover that the killer has blood ties to the infamous and now long-dead monster Ted Bundy. Savich and Sherlock are joined by agents Lucy Carlyle and Cooper McKnight, and the chase is on.

At the same time, Agent Carlyle learns from her dying father that her grandfather didn't simply walk away from his family twenty-two years ago: he was, in fact, murdered by his wife, Lucy's grandmother. Determined to find the truth, Lucy moves into her grandmother's Chevy Chase mansion. What she finds, however, is a nightmare. Not only does she discover the truth of what happened all those years ago, but she faces a new mystery as well, a strange ring that holds powers beyond her ken.

As the hunt for the serial killer escalates, Savich realizes he's become the killer's focus, and perhaps the next victim. It's up to Lucy to stop this madness before it's too late.

I have read a number of books in the FBI Thriller series and look forward to this one too.


Teaser:

Savich showed Horne his creds. "Any problems at all?"


Officer Andy Horne said, "Nothing suspicious, sir. I'll tell you, everyone wonders why I'm here, guarding this old geezer."

I'm wondering who the "old geezer" is and why he is being guarded too.

Teaser Tuesday: Savor the Danger by Lori Foster

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! 

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today I'm reading an eARC from Harlequin via NetGalley. Savor the Danger by Lori Foster is the third in the  Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor series. This one is about the relationship between Jackson and Alani. This are sexy, romantic suspense with very alpha characters and the women who bring out all their protective instincts.

Teaser:

"No, whoa, hey, don't go there." Discomfort had him shifting his shoulders. "Priss and Molly are married to friends, so discussing their boobs is over the line. Can't do it."

He appeared so horrified that Alani snickered. "Makes you uncomfortable, does it?"

Look for this one on June 28 if hot heroes and danger are your thing.

Book Review: A World I Never Made by James LePore

A World I Never Made
Author: James LePore
Publication: Story Plant, The (March 24, 2009)


Description: Pat Nolan, an American man, is summoned to Paris to claim the body of his estranged daughter Megan, who has committed suicide. The body, however, is not Megan's and it becomes instantly clear to Pat that Megan staged this, that she is in serious trouble, and that she is calling to him for help.

This sends Pat on an odyssey that stretches across France and into the Czech Republic and that makes him the target of both the French police and a band of international terrorists. Joining Pat on his search is Catherine Laurence, a beautiful but tormented Paris detective who sees in Pat something she never thought she'd find--genuine passion and desperate need. As they look for Megan, they come closer to each other's souls and discover love when both had long given up on it.

Juxtaposed against this story is Megan's story. A freelance journalist, Megan is in Morocco to do research when she meets Abdel Lahani, a Saudi businessman. They begin a torrid affair, a game Megan has played often and well in her adult life. But what she discovers about Lahani puts her in the center of a different kind of game, one with rules she can barely comprehend. Because of her relationship with Lahani, Megan has made some considerable enemies. And she has put the lives of many--maybe even millions--at risk.

A World I Never Made is an atmospheric novel of suspense with brilliantly drawn characters and back-stories as compelling as the plot itself. It is the kind of novel that resonates deeply and leaves its traces long after you turn the final page.



My Thoughts: This was a well-written thriller with lots of action. Pat comes to France to identify his daughter's body and finds himself in a chase throughout Europe to find her instead. He is not the only one in pursuit. Megan is running from Arab terrorists and the combined intelligence community. 


The book combines both Megan's story and Pat's. Megan had been wandering around Europe writing a few magazine articles and having affairs with men until 9/11. Then she began doing research on terrorism especially in the Muslim communities in Europe. She travels to Morocco and meets a man. Turns out he is more than the rich Saudi businessman Megan thought he was. She becomes pregnant with his child and has to escape him and his minions to protect her unborn child.


Pat follows Megan's path as she runs across Europe under the protection of gypsies. He gradually learns more about the lost years of her life. He also comes to some resolution about his own past when he meets Catherine Laurence who is with the Paris police. Both are feeling guilty for previous failed relationships but they find kindred souls in each other.


I recommend this book to lovers of thrillers. It was well done and engaging. 


Favorite Quote:

As he drank and listened to Catherine's regular breathing, more questions without answers came to his mind. What had Megan done to lay down such a trail of blood to her door? And how could they possibly prevail against the host of vipers that were arrayed against them?

Guest Post: James LePore

I was recently asked to read and review a book by James LePore. I chose A World I Never Made because I thought it sounded like a great thriller. Here is the product description from Amazon:

Pat Nolan, an American man, is summoned to Paris to claim the body of his estranged daughter Megan, who has committed suicide. The body, however, is not Megan's and it becomes instantly clear to Pat that Megan staged this, that she is in serious trouble, and that she is calling to him for help.

This sends Pat on an odyssey that stretches across France and into the Czech Republic and that makes him the target of both the French police and a band of international terrorists. Joining Pat on his search is Catherine Laurence, a beautiful but tormented Paris detective who sees in Pat something she never thought she'd find--genuine passion and desperate need. As they look for Megan, they come closer to each other's souls and discover love when both had long given up on it.

Juxtaposed against this story is Megan's story. A freelance journalist, Megan is in Morocco to do research when she meets Abdel Lahani, a Saudi businessman. They begin a torrid affair, a game Megan has played often and well in her adult life. But what she discovers about Lahani puts her in the center of a different kind of game, one with rules she can barely comprehend. Because of her relationship with Lahani, Megan has made some considerable enemies. And she has put the lives of many--maybe even millions--at risk.

A World I Never Made is an atmospheric novel of suspense with brilliantly drawn characters and back-stories as compelling as the plot itself. It is the kind of novel that resonates deeply and leaves its traces long after you turn the final page.

Unfortunately, the book didn't arrive in time for me to get it read and reviewed before my tour date of March 3. (It arrived on March 1!) I hope to be reviewing it soon.

However, I do have a guest post from Mr. LePore. Here it is for your reading pleasure:

I knew when I was writing A World I Never Made, my first novel, that in-depth character development would have to give way to pace and plotting, the two key elements of the suspense/thriller genre. I did not know that I would get the chance, after the final draft was handed in, to expand on my characters in the trio of short stories that ultimately came to comprise Anyone Can Die. When I was given that chance, all of the non-essential thoughts and notes and back stories that I had relegated to a sort of literary limbo over the twelve months it took to write A World I Never Made, began suddenly clamoring for my attention. An attention I was happy to give them.

       I turned first to Lorrie Nolan, who died at the age of twenty—twenty-nine years before the novel begins—while giving birth to Megan and leaving her twenty-one-year-old husband Pat (World’s two central characters) devastated, so devastated that he pretty much abandoned Megan until she was a teenager. Lorrie is only mentioned in passing in the novel, but she is flesh and blood in Till Death Do Us Part, on her honeymoon with Pat—raw and wildly in love—in New Mexico. My purpose in writing the story was to give the reader a deeper understanding of Pat’s loss, and therefore of his motives, both in abandoning Megan when she was a child and in desperately pursuing her across Europe as World unfolds.

       It was my love for Megan Nolan, not an elucidation of motive, that drove me to write God’s Warriors. Though she would deny it, Megan’s heart was not all black, not completely hardened by the cards life had dealt her. Her decision to help a young girl who has been terribly abused, but to absent herself completely from the girl’s life while doing so, will give the reader an insight into the things buried in Megan’s heart, the things that force their way out when she has to make much more momentous decisions—life and death decisions—in the novel.

       Max French, an eccentic FBI agent, also pursues Megan across Europe in A World I Never Made, falling in love with her, from a distance, along the way. What made him so quirky, and why did he fall in love with the women he pursued without ever really meeting or getting to know them? The answers are to be found in the two events in Max’s early life around which Anyone Can Die’s third story, Max, revolve. Max is a man with a past, and a big secret; to my mind exactly the kind of flawed but fearless soldier we want in the front lines of the post-9/11 battles we are fighting at home and all over the world.

You can find out more about James LePore at his website here. I think his books sound fascinating.

Teaser Tuesday: A World I Never Made by James LePore

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week my teaser is from the suspense novel A World I Never Made by James LePore. This is his debut novel which was published in March of 2009 in hard cover and in March of 2010 in paperback. His newest book  -- Anyone Can Die -- came out Feb. 22. 

Megan was good at withholding information and telling lies, big and small. She knew the protective value of secretiveness, of pretending to be surprised, or not surprised, upon hearing certain things.

The jacket blurb says: "A World I Never Made is an atmospheric novel of suspense with brilliantly drawn characters and back-stories as compelling as the plot itself. It is the kind of novel that resonates deeply and leaves its traces long after you turn the final page." I hope that is right! I look forward to finding out. 

Review: Love Me to Death by Allison Brennan + Giveaway

Love Me to Death
Author: Allison Brennan
Publication: Ballantine Books; Original edition (December 28, 2010)


Description: Six years ago, Lucy Kincaid was attacked and nearly killed by an online predator. She survived. Her attacker did not. Now Lucy’s goal is to join the FBI and fight cyber-crime, but in the meantime, she’s volunteering with a victim’s rights group, surfing the Web undercover to lure sex offenders into the hands of the law. But when the predators she hunts start turning up as murder victims, the FBI takes a whole new interest in Lucy.

With her future and possibly even her freedom suddenly in jeopardy, Lucy discovers she’s a pawn in someone’s twisted plot to mete out vigilante justice. She joins forces with security expert and daredevil Sean Rogan, and together they track their elusive quarry from anonymous online chat rooms onto the mean streets of Washington, D.C. But someone else is shadowing them: A merciless stalker has his savage eye on Lucy. The only way for her to escape his brutality may be another fight to the death.



My Thoughts: This was an excellent, page-turning, spine-chilling thriller. Lucy has been coping pretty well since she was kidnapped by a sadistic rapist at eighteen. She escaped and killed him. (See Fear No Evil) 


She is making a new life for herself. She has graduated from college and applied to the FBI. While waiting, she is working for an organization run by a former FBI agent that tracks down internet predators. She is particularly concerned about convicted felons who are out on parole and still committing sex crimes. She sets up a meeting with one man but he is found dead outside a different club. Lucy is suspicious and checks back to find out that 8 of the parolees whose cases she worked on have been found dead either by accident or murder. And, when the man who was the partner of the man who kidnapped and raped her is found dead near her home in Washington, DC, the whole case threatens to open up again.

Sean Rogan is the partner of her brother Patrick in an investigative firm, he offers to help her find out what is happening. He also likes her and wants to date her. Lucy is also interested in him. Together they try to find out who is killing the parolees and who killed the man instrumental in her kidnapping. This leads to a vigilante group killing those convicted of sex crimes. But that isn't all, Lucy has a new stalker of her very own.

The stalker is one creapy dude who looks perfectly normal and who is completely insane. He feels that it is his duty to train "females" to perfect obedience. If they can't be trained, he kills them. He has decided that Lucy is the next in line for his training.

This was an excellent thriller with a wonderful, strong but not perfect heroine and hero who loved her and had some serious skills. I recommend it to lovers of chilling thrillers. Allison Brennan is now on my "must read" list.

Favorite Quote:  

"Skating is all about balance and movement. Let your thighs do the work."


"We're moving!" She squeezed his arm as it tightened around her waist. The little girl with the future Gold twirled around as if she were floating. "I swear, she did that to make me feel inferior."


"Probably."


"I wasn't serious."


"I was." He kissed her on the cheek. "Now stop comparing yourself to the other children and focus."

To get a list of Allison Brennan's books, check out her page at Fantastic Fiction.


To win my gently read copy, fill out this form. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian followers of this blog. Winner will be chosen using Random.org. The contest ends on Jan. 27 at midnight CST.

Teaser Tuesday: Love Me to Death by Allison Brennan

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from Love Me to Death by Allison Brennan. This is a thriller with a really creepy stalker. Lucy Kincaid has survived being raped and having the rape shown on the internet. She has made a new life for herself working for an organization that tracks down internet predators. But, now, someone is stalking her and murdering the criminals she is trying to return to prison. She calls on her brother's partner Sean Rogan to help her find out who is doing this. Along the way they fall in love.


Teaser:

"I can't promise you that sometimes you won't think that I'm treating you...different...as you say. Everything that happens to us becomes a part of us. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It shapes our future, our destiny. But what really matters is what's in here." He put his hand on her chest.

Stop back on Thursday for a review of this book and on Friday when Allison Brennan is a guest on my blog. I'll be giving away a copy of this book then.