MURDER-GO-ROUND: REVIEWS BY HARRIET KLAUSNER
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Harriet Klausner, was chosen the number
one reader in the entire USA by BOOK Magazine. What does that mean
to you? She reads constantly and knows what's out there and wants
to let you know, too. Read on for tips to great books from the wonder
reader Harriet Klausner. |
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March 2007
The
Vandenberg Diamonds
John Russo
Twilight Times Book, Dec 2006, $18.95
ISBN: 193335383X
In 1941 the Ladybird with a military crew of three was flying to Pretoria, South Africa to protect a horde of uncut diamonds worth 8,000,000 pounds. However instead they crashed in Italy occupied Egypt. Brian Cutler, managing director of Vandenberg Diamonds, Europe's largest diamond exchange, who made the decision to move the raw gems to a safer locale, is upset to learn that two chests probably sunk in the Mediterranean where military hostilities between the allies and the axis make it impossible to search. At the same time Italian Lieutenant Brazzi and his superior officer Colonel Marchi find the diamonds and one of the British soldiers in Sicily. Marchi hides the diamonds on his cousin's pig farm.
In 1947 Vandenberg Mining's security chief Sean Corklin makes inquiries into the missing diamonds; others of a more criminal and lethal bent have heard rumors of uncut "glass" and begin a search. However Corklin starts from his home in Pretoria, travels to England to interview those involved in the original plan, journeys to Suez where the Ladybird was to refuel, and finally reaches Sicily with adversaries wanting him eliminated so they can abscond with THE VANDENBERG DIAMONDS.
This is an exciting historical suspense thriller that brings to life somewhat early WWII and more so 1947 as Europe and Sahara Africa recover. The story line is action-packed in both years, but especially soars when Sean begins his quest. Readers who appreciate a deep historical background in an exhilarating mystery will want to follow Corklin's adventures as his goal is to complete the mission so he can go home while others see him as an obstacle to stealing the diamonds. John Russo provides his audience with a great adventure thriller from the moment the Ladybug goes down and never slows down until the final conflict at the Sicilian pig farm.
Harriet Klausner
Cynnador
Patrick Welch
Twilight Times Book, Dec 2006, $16.95
ISBN: 1933353767
Merchants love to sell their wares to the residents of the affluent Cynnador as they are always welcomed and make plenty of money. On the other hand invincible conquerors detest the name of Cynnador as many have come to plunder the obvious wealth, but none have succeeded; these warrior leaders know to gain victory over Cynnador means glory for eternity. However though many have tried as the prize is enormous, none have achieved the goal as just prior to an assault, the city somehow vanishes; at least that is what stunned soldiers insist occurred.
Powerful industrialist Lady Aethia Breen has established a party to go deep inside the mountainous catacombs to learn the truth about their city because she senses a monstrous threat to their existence. The members are obvious representatives of society being a merchant, a swordsman and a master magician. However, none of these courageous souls understand why Aethia insists that Breen the thief should accompany them. Wyxham, Pa'ak, Oido, Pfannig, Coricoco and Bhruhan are intrepid explorers while Breen is a scavenger. Each also ponders what they will find.
This is a fascinating fantasy with a different opening format that starts off with thirteen preludes to introduce the audience to the city, the key cast and the quest. Readers will be hooked even before the prime adventure begins as the audience will want to know more about this strange Cynnador. The key players contain differing personalities including diverse moral tendencies with one theme being don't cheat or face an even odder justice that is personalized somehow. Once the audience joins the quest, you cannot pullout until the adventures deep into the catacombs are completed so set aside some time because like this reviewer you will want to know what is going on that makes this city so enigmatic to insiders, outsiders, and readers.
Harriet Klausner
Intimate
Danger
Amy J. Fetzer
Kensington Brava, Mar 2007
ISBN: 0758216556
Proud of her progress, research scientist Clancy McRae has worked hard on her nanotechnology project to enhance animal capabilities. However, she is outraged to learn that the military took her advancements and placed them inside four marines. That alone would be unethical, but so far her experiments on animals have resulted in a 100 percent identical effect of each test case going insanely berserk regardless of species. She fears these soldiers will follow suit and desperately wants to help them before they become so dangerous they must die so Clancy steals classified documents to begin her quest.
Marines Spec Ops leader Mike Gannon finds out that while he healed from an injury on their last assignment, his squad worked a dangerous mission in the Peruvian jungle. They failed to return so Mike plans to go bring them home dead or alive as no marine is ever left behind. However before he goes too far Clancy informs him that their government has turned his men into guinea pigs. He assumes she is a nut because his country would never commit such an atrocity especially on patriots like his team. He soon changes his mind when someone tries to kill her. He must keep Clancy safe because she is the only hope for his men, but nether knows what awaits them in the Andes. It will prove far more dangerous than unethical federal agents.
INTIMATE DANGER is an exciting romantic suspense thriller with the emphasis on the escapades and adventures starting even before the lead duo hook up. Once they meet, sparks ignite, but after he is convinced she is legit and his men in trouble, they both agree the team comes before the attraction. Though some might scoff at the Feds conducting human experiments to produce super Captain America soldiers (remember NYC subway testing in the 1950s and rendition to abusive regimes including so called public enemies), those of us who believe the government capable of anything will appreciate this action-packed thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Capital
Threat
William Bernhardt
Ballantine, March 2007, $25.95, 400 pp.
ISBN 0345470176
When the Senator from Oklahoma dies while in office the governor of that state appoints renowned defense attorney Ben Kincaid to replace him. He is doing his best to navigate the treacherous waters of Congress because he has never been interested in politics.
There is a vacancy on the Supreme Court and the outgoing Republican president nominates Thaddeus Roush to fill the position. Everyone is surprised when Thad takes the opportunity to tell the world he is gay. The Republicans want him defeated and the Democrats want him to become the next judge of the Supreme Court. At a press conference at his home, a woman is found murdered and Thad's lover is standing over the body. Although it looks like he will lose, the Democrats especially Ben, act as his advocate at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and during the time leading up to it. The Republicans run a very dirty campaign and it is only Ben's eloquent speech that gets him the committee's approval. When certain events in Thad's past are made public, Ben realizes that there is a conspiracy to keep him off the bench so Ben mounts a defense for a very good man.
Politics can get down and dirty and William Bernhardt shows just how ugly it can get in CAPITAL THREAT. The sad part is many readers will have no trouble believing the conspiracy, the murder, and the truly vicious smear campaigns as an everyday occurrence on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. The hero is his usual heroic self as he fights to help a good person defeat enemies he never knew he had. Mr. Bernhardt has proven time and time again that he is a great storyteller.
Harriet Klausner
The
Bloomsday Dead
Adrian McKinty
Scribner, March 2007, $24.00, 304 pp.
ISBN 0743266447
He has been on the run for twelve years ever since he turned informer, killed her father and her lover. He broke up the New York mob and went into the witness protection program because there is a bounty on his head put there by Bridget Callaghan. Though he was her lover, Michael betrayed the mob and killed her loved ones but so far he has escaped these assassination attempts.
Now he is working as head of security for the Miraflores Hilton in Lima, Peru when two thugs grab him. They call Bridget who tells Micheael Foesythe that her daughter Siobhan disappeared and if he comes to Belfast and finds her, she will call off the hits. Although he doubts her sincerity, he travels to Dublin where two hits are made on his life. He escapes and gets to Belfast where he gets information he needs to begin a search knowing one of Bridget's men Marso will tell kill him regardless of whether he succeeds or not. His search takes him to many places where he kills in self-defense. What he doesn't know is that Bridget has an enemy she knows nothing about and Michael is the bait and her daughter is the prize.
Talk about action, THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD starts off at light-speed and swiftly goes to warp drive in a matter of a few pages. None of the characters are very likeable because they rationalize their actions by insisting the end justifies the means. Readers get a pulse for Northern Ireland where one misstep could break the truce and hostilities are still simmering. Adrian McKinty gives the audience a thrill a second which is better than the fastest twisting roller coaster.
Harriet Klausner
Nerve
Damage
Peter Abrahams
Morrow, Mar, 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0061137979
Though his wife Delia died fifteen years ago when her helicopter crashed during a mission sponsored by the Hobbes Institute in Honduras, Vermont sculptor Roy Valois still deeply grieves her death. Since that tragedy he has kept to himself, almost a recluse as he only makes contact when he absolutely has too.
Now Roy is dying from asbestos poisoning that he was exposed to as a child; his doctor affirms he has no more than four months of life left. A comment he overhears has Roy looking at his already written New York Times obituary where he finds a tiny inaccuracy re the Hobbes Institute. He feels strongly though it is a minor misconception that he owes his beloved Delia a correction until he realizes the entry is correct and his knowledge as to who Delia was in error, a major fabrication established by his late spouse.
Inside an action-packed thriller, NERVE DAMAGE is a deep look at how much we really know about loved ones. Roy's obsession to clean up the END OF STORY before he goes to OBLIVION drives the plot as he begins to uncover a truth of what lies BEHIND THE CURTAIN of his late wife's life that makes him feel he FELL DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE. Readers understand his motives while also obtaining the changing way he sees Delia. Peter Abrahams provides the audience with a strong psychological tale of a man whose revelations shake his deteriorating body to the bone marrow.
Harriet Klausner
Christine
Falls
Benjamin Black
Henry Holt, Mar 2007, $25.00
ISBN 0805081526
In Dublin after a few drinks at an office going away party for a nurse, pathologist Garret Quirke enters his prime work area the morgue only to be stunned by what he sees in spite of being drunk. His stepbrother Dr. Malachy Griffin was sitting at Quirke's desk writing in a file that the pathologist noticed is that of Christine Falls. Too tired to think any further Quirke leaves a nervous Mal behind.
After several hours of sleep, Quirke wonders why Mal was at the morgue instead of home with his wife Susan. He begins to look closer at the death of the young maid, Christine Falls, who died during childbirth especially since he knows Mal changed the file. However, whenever he raises a point, he finds the Irish medical establishment protecting one another while the clues take him to Boston.
This is terrific 1950s medical thriller that constantly pulls the rig out from underneath the reader with fabulous unexpected yet plausible twists. The subplot in Dublin is foggy and mysterious as the audience alongside the obstinate hero wonders what is going on. The shift to Boston turns more detective like in tone and less sinister, as the clues begin to come together though spins still will fool the reader. Benjamin Black provides a superior medical investigative tale that will have fans clamoring for more work by quirky Quirke.
Harriet Klausner
The
Dead Room
Heather Graham
Mira, Mar 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0778324303
Last year urban archaeologist Leslie MacIntyre and her fiancé Matt Connolly were exploring Manhattan landmark Hastings House when the explosion killed him and left her near death. She recovered physically, but still bears the emotional scars of a survivor. Making it even worst Matt was her first friend when the southern "Rebel" as a kid moved with her family to Brooklyn.
A year has passed and though she till grieves, Leslie has returned to her work of exploring historical edifices, but since she cheated death has a new skill. She communicates with the ghosts still haunting some of these places and helps them move on. Leslie has a need to return to Hastings House, which she does only to find the specter of Matt greeting her. He insists she gained her gift to talk with ghosts and her obsession to return to this personal house of horror to solve his murder. However, as he visits her in her dreams because for some reason he cannot manifest in front of her, his cousin private investigator Joe Connolly has followed the clues of a missing person to Hastings House. Joe and Leslie team up as their cases link; neither knows that evil awaits them within a burial ground containing the sprits of those who suffered from injustice and from those breathing who prey on women.
This gripping paranormal romantic suspense hooks the reader from the moment that Leslie steps inside Hastings House for the second time. The story line is fast-paced whether the heroine is finding a corpse, a ghost, or other supernatural essences. Adding to the gripping tale is the triangular romance as the audience will wonder whether Leslie will find a way to be with Matt or walk off with Joe as she is attracted to both of them. THE DEAD ROOM is a wonderful ghostly investigative romance.
Harriet Klausner
The
Survivors
Dinah McCall
Mira, Mar 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 0778324354
US Senator Patrick Finn begs his colleague Darren Wilson to support his legislation, but the latter says no as his constituency would go berserk. Patrick is irate with Wilson's refusal because failure will mean the mob will kill him as his proposed law pays off his enormous gambling debt to them. Both are on the same plane heading from DC to Atlanta. Also on that flight among other passengers are five year old Johnny O'Ryan accompanied by grandparents Frank and Shirley Pollard and child welfare worker Molly Cifelli.
When the plane crashes in the Appalachian Mountains near Chandler, Kentucky, Johnny's guardians die but he lives. Molly also survives and takes charge of the stunned youngster. However, both are further terrorized when they observe Finn kill Wilson. The two witnesses to the homicide flee while the killer chases after them. Meanwhile local psychic Deborah Sanborn "sees" the plane crash, the murder, and the subsequent cat and mouse game. She helps Johnny's father Evan and his grandfather Mike with the search though she is attracted to the fortyish older O'Ryan, but first they must save the child and his protector.
Though too much chance sets up the opportunity for the murder to occur, fans will appreciate this tense paranormal romantic suspense. After introducing the readers to the key players, the fast-paced story line soars as the plane crashes. Readers will appreciate the O'Ryans coming to Kentucky in search of the missing next generation, but also finding love in the mountains.
Harriet Klausner
No
Safe Place
JoAnn Ross
Pocket, Mar 2007, $7.50
ISBN: 1416501665
Chicago homicide detective Kate Delaney testifies in the Justice Department's police corruption case, which makes her hated by her peers. However, she has no time for the reaction of others because New Orleans Police Department has informed her that her twin sister, Tara, is dead.
NOPD claims Tara killed herself though some detectives think murder might have occurred; none have the time to investigate what could be a suicide in a city still reeling from the hurricanes. Kate also refuses to accept the ruling that her sibling killed herself. She plans to investigate Tara's death, but knows the Big Easy is not her turf so she needs local rule breaking muscle. She enlists former NOPD Nick Broussard, who was fired by the police department, to help her uncover the truth about the death of her sibling. However, as the pair team up Kate feels a bit of déjà vu as she alienates the police of New Orleans. She and her partner also upset the local mob trying to regain their grip on a post Katrina city.
The investigation is terrific as readers obtain a taste of the troubles confronting NOPD and the residents of New Orleans in the post Katrina environs where things taken for granted no longer are easily available. The impact of the hurricanes on the city effects the position taken by NOPD and the inquiries made by Kate and Nick. The six weeks romance between the lead pair is extremely well written, but in the context of the star of the novel, New Orleans no longer an easy city to live in, seems intrusive. Still this is a great mystery investigation that the audience will devour in one tense sitting.
Harriet Klausner
Nineteen
Minutes
Jodi Picoult
Atria, March 2007, $26.00, 352 pp.
ISBN: 0743496728
It takes nineteen minutes to kill nine students and one teacher and wound 18 students to the extent that they need to be hospitalized. On March 6 2007, Seventeen year old student Peter Haughton put a pipe bomb he constructed n a student's car as a diversion than went to Sterling High School where he shot a student on the steps, went into the cafeteria wounded and injured a few more, walked the hallways leading to the gym and into the locker room where his killing spree ended when police detective Patrick DuCharme ordered him by gunpoint to drop his weapon.
He was carrying two handguns, two shotguns, and some incendiary devices. Peter tells his lawyer that he killed those who made his life hell since he was in kindergarten when one of the bullies threw his lunchbox out of the school bus window. Peter has been systematically abused verbally, emotionally and physically for the last twelve years because he was a misfit who didn't fit in. His only friend Josie, the daughter of Judge Alex Cormier, was the catalyst that drove him over the edge. His only friend Josie dumped him to be one of the in-crowd and be Matt Reyson's girlfriend. Matt is the last person that Peter killed. His defense attorney Jordan McAfee has to plan a defense even though his client was caught on tape killing students and there were hundreds of witnesses who saw him do the shooting.
Jodi Picard blends a legal thriller with a family drama and comes up with a fascinating (in a macabre way) work of mainstream fiction. The author doesn't ever excuse what Peter did but through the use of flashbacks and rotating perspectives shows how years of torture erupted in a killing spree. Although readers will loathe Peter for what he did, they will understand that it takes a village to raise a child and in the case of Sterling, New Hampshire, everyone, including his own parents, failed in some way.
Harriet Klausner
Restore
My Heart
Cheryl Norman
Medallion, Mar 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 1932815864
Financial wizard Joe Desalvo regrets he did not come home to Louisville more frequently as he feels guilt that he failed to recognize the signs that his dad was depressed enough to commit suicide. Joe's mom believes her beloved Leo would never kill himself; she thinks he was murdered. Joe is unable to persuade his mother otherwise.
Sally Clay's bought the Mustang Sally classic car restoration business from her Uncle Sal in hope that her dad would be motivated to get out of the house to work on the autos. Her business is in trouble due to new competition and the death of her best customer Leo of Bloom-Desalvo Motors. When Joe arrives with a rare 1954 Kaiser Darrin sports car that his dad bought the day before he died, Sally is excited until she looks under the hood and finds a Ford engine inside the vehicle. She notifies FBI Agent Ferguson and Joe. As they investigate how his knowledgeable father was conned, they fall in love. However, neither realizes someone is watching their every move in case they get to close to the truth.
RESTORE MY HEART is an exhilarating romantic suspense thriller starring two likable protagonists. Sally is especially a fascinating lead character as she is wheelchair bound with a father who thinks of her as flawed. Her dad's scorn of her has led the heroine to believe a hunk like Joe would never desire her. Adding to the fine lead characterizations is the gender bending as she knows her cars while he knows how to drive an automatic. Though the villain seems out of left field and the late suspense takes away (can't explain further without a spoiler) from a wonderful contemporary, fans will want to ride with Cheryl Norman's fine Louisville slugger.
Harriet Klausner
At
Some Disputed Barricade
Anne Perry
Ballantine, Mar 2007, $21.95
ISBN: 0345456580
In 1917 in the trenches is France, thousands die to move the front inches. Passchendael is one of the worst of the hostilities as the British troops are losing lives and consequently hope. When their Commanding Officer dies, Major Northrup is called in to replace him, but it is the belief of the troops that he should not be in charge of such an ugly situation as he has no combat experience. He proves them right with bad decisions which lead to deaths and maiming of his soldiers as he rejects the advice of his experienced subordinate officers.
When Northrup is found dead, Chaplain Captain Joseph Reavley discovers that he was murdered by one of his own. The Major's father General Northrup demands justice while the captain wants to low key the mess knowing that internal violence could erupt if not carefully handled as everyone detested the deceased. However the general sets in motion events that could lead to eleven honorable soldiers shot by a firing squad and a mutiny on the line beyond that unless Joseph can find a legal way to find justice. and avert a tragedy tragedy.
This is the third installment in Anne Perry's insightful WWI series in which the audience obtains a strong history lesson inside an exciting military whodunit. Readers will see the atrocities and horrors of trench warfare in which leaders sent men to their deaths to gain a few inches of land when the goal was as often successful as it was a suicidal stalemate. Good men were forced to do difficult things by a brass often comfortably entrenched in Paris, London, or Berlin while their soldiers were dying AT SOME DISPUTED BARRICADE.
Harriet Klausner
The Watchman
Robert Crais
Simon & Schuster, Mar 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 0743281632
The key metric in robbing a bank is completing the full process with a cycle time of two minutes or under. Failure leads to trouble. For instance, when successful robbery team Marchenko and Parsons took longer than the two minute safety margin; they ended up dead in a police shoot-out. Another example of a pro who always finished his work under two minutes is Max Holman; his one time outside the upper control limit was stopping to provide CPR to a person suffering a heart attack. His reward for being the "hero bandit" was a decade in prison.
Just freed from jail and nearing fifty, Max wants to reestablish a relationship with his son, Richard a Los Angeles cop. However, he is too late as his son along with three other officers is dead from what looks like a hit. Officially Warren Juarez is the killer with a revenge motive but commits suicide making this a closed case. However unofficially LAPD and FBI think the four cops were seeking the estimated $15 million missing Marchenko and Parsons loot hidden from their successful bank jobs. Max obsesses with a need to know so he turns to former FBI Agent Katherine Pollard, who sent him to prison, to help him learn the truth.
The partnering of the former agent and the bank robber she sent up the river makes for a unique crime thriller that hooks the audience from the moment Robert Crais explains the two minute rule with no variance and never slows down as rival groups compete for the loot on the streets of Los Angeles. The story line is fast-paced and filled with non-stop action, but it is the teaming up of the fully developed strange bedfellows and a solid support cast that either warns each away from the other or competes for the loot that turns THE WATCHMAN into a fabulous suspense thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Dry
Ice
Stephen White
Dutton, March 2007, $25.95, 352 pp.
ISBN: 0525949976
One day Colorado psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory walks into the waiting room to see his patient Kol Cruz having a severe nosebleed that is all over the area. He doesn't have a handle on this patient and is not even sure that he intends to be his therapist. Alan has other people to worry about including his wife's worsening M.S. He also learns that the purse found in his office yard belongs to a missing person whom Michael's wife needs to testify at a grand jury. The police find blood on his shoe and he has become a person of interest even when he tries to explain it is Kol's blood.
He tries to find him but he gave him a fake address, a false phone number and even perhaps a phony name. More trouble comes his way when Michael McClelland has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. Michael bears a grudge against Alan, which means the psychologist and his family aren't safe; nor is his friend, Sam a police officer as somebody has blackmail material on him that could cost him his job. When a patient of Michael's is found dead in his neighbors home, the beleaguered therapist looks inside to find his patient Kol hanging from the rafters. It turns out Kol is Nicole and she was incarcerated on the same hospital as is someone Sam is friendly with. It is clear that the infamous trio is planning something horrific for Alan, his family and friend unless they can find a way to neutralize them.
The first Alan Gregory medical thriller PRIVILEGED INFORMATION introduced Michael McClelland, which explains his vendetta. Now, Alan's dealings with Michael are a different set of dynamics as the hunter goes after his family. He is a villain readers will love to hate just like the protagonist is a good psychological who doesn't have all the answers, personally and professionally. Stephen White can always be counted on to write a strong medical thriller and DRY ICE is certainly that.
Harriet Klausner
Cover-up
Michele Martinez
Morrow, Mar 2007, $23.95
ISBN 006089900X
New York City based TV reporter Suzanne Shepard has made enemies with the people she covers as she seeks only scandals amongst the rich and famous. She exposes celebrities to ridicule. So when she is found raped and murdered in Central Park no one is shocked nor is anyone shedding tears.
Federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas and her boyfriend, FBI agent Dan O'Reilly arrive at the Central park crime scene to witness a horrific sight. Someone using a hunting knife carved "bitch" into Suzanne's stomach apparently while she was alive and felt each etch made by the sharp weapon. Whereas the media nickname the culprit the "Central Park Butcher", a joint police investigation consisting of Dan, Melanie and NYPD Homicide Detective Julian Hay begins only to find a myriad of people with motives even sharper than the murder weapon as suspects run the gamut from stalkers including one observing Melanie to celebrities to everyday service people to friends and lovers with each possible person even aficionados sharing in common a keen loathing of Suzanne.
This is a great police procedural as the potential motive leads to a sizable part of Manhattan wanting the insidious intrusive reporter dead as Suzanne had no morals or concern over collateral damage when it came to obtaining a story. Melanie is terrific as the prime star though ably supported by her lover and Julian. The investigation ad its related suspense make for a razor-sharp thriller, but it is characters especially Melanie and Suzanne who turn Michele Martinez's third Vargas tale (see THE FINISHING SCHOOL and MOST WANTED) into a great read.
Harriet Klausner
Scavenger
David Morrell
Vanguard Press, March 2007, $24.95, 368 pp.
ISBN 1593154410
When a hand written invitation to attend a lecture on time capsules given by the Manhattan History Club arrives, Frank Balenger and his live in lover Amanda decide to go. During the lecture, people start getting up and leaving in the middle of the speech; Frank zones out and wakes up in Asbury Park and Amanda is nowhere to be found.
She awakens in a house in the middle of nowhere while the same speech given by the lecturer is playing. Four other people are with her and in one way or another they are all heroes. The game master expects them to go on an obstacle race and scavenger hunt and find the time capsule the Sepulcher of the World if they want to live. The game master has ways of keeping track of them and is able to kill them long distance if they don't obey the rules. While they race against time to find the time capsule, Frank is following clues that will lead to Amanda if he deciphers them right. Their goal is getting out alive before the game master's time limit expires.
David Morrell is a thriller writer on a par with Dean Koontz, Greg Iles and P.J. Tracy. His protagonists are ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstance but they are determined, and strong-willed enough to help each other survive the game. The author writes about characters under fire and how it brings out the best in some and the worst in others. There is plenty of action in this fast paced pulse thumping powerful thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Friends
in High Places
Marne Davis Kellogg
St. Martin's, Mar 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0312337299
Former jewel thief Kick Keswick retired to Provence with her husband former Inspector Thomas Curtis. However when Thomas is called back by Scotland Yard to work a high profile case and Kick learns her former place of employment is in financial trouble, they both return to work. At Ballantine & Company Auctioneers, an appraiser made a mistake that led to a loss of millions and a firing. Also a person returning jewels substituted false stones causing the current fiscal crisis.
Kick knows that her former fiancé owner Owen Bruce is the on who
returned the phony gems, but she has no proof. Sister Immaculata wants
to sell a jeweled Madonna so that the proceeds can be used to restore
her order to health. She knows where the purloined jeweled Madonnas are
but cannot get to
them because the possessor of them is extremely powerful. When Constance
Flynn comes in to sell all her jewels including one of which a fake which
resides in Kick's safety deposit box, she is forced to attend the wedding
of the woman's son in order to substitute the fake jewels for the real
ones. Constance's beau turns out to be Owen while another woman married
to the killer who possesses the jeweled Madonnas wants to steal them.
Kick wants to get them to Sister Immaculata whom she thinks is her daughter.
Marne Davis Kellogg has a hit series because of her heroine, a jewel thief with a heart of gold streaked with larceny. There is plenty of action as the support cast turns the storyline into a special cozy as they play major roles along side the kick butt heroine in the jeweled purloining "Olympics". Friends in High Places is a charming superb suspense thriller.
Harriet Klausner
The
Assassin
Andrew Britton
Kensington, Mar 2007, $24.00
ISBN: 0758213344
Ryan Kealey was written off by the American espionage agencies as yesterday's news, but they brought him back as the only person capable of defeating a protégé turned rogue killing machine. Though some died, he saved the lives of many world leaders (see THE AMERICAN). Now over a year has passed since he faced his mirror image and though a hero, he is classified once again as unusable though the brass honored his request to return to the fold.
The CIA learns from a reliable source Iran plans to bomb the United Nations just in time to influence the tight presidential election between the incumbent saddled with the Iraq war albatross and the popular Governor of California. However, whereas all American Intel tries to prevent the catastrophe from happening, Kealey thinks that a UN bombing is a red herring. He believes there will be a bigger target on a 9/11 scale though he is not sure what is intended with his worst nightmare being international terrorist and grandmaster criminal William Vanderveen is behind the horrific event; no one in any of the western intelligence agencies take his theory seriously except England's assistant chief, Naomi Kharmai.
THE ASSASSIN is a non-stop action thriller that never slows down from the opening moments in the White House and in Baghdad. Readers will wear seat belts as they come along for a ride that makes DC superhero The Flash look like the Turtle. Though characterizations are either thin or stereotyped including the lone star hero, fans of terrorist vas counterterrorist chess matches will want to read Andrew Britton's incredibly exhilarating novel.
Harriet Klausner
Deadly
Advice
Roberto Isleib
Berkley, March 2007, $6.99, 272 pp.
ISBN: 0425214745
Psychologist Dr. Rebecca Butterman is finally getting over the trauma of her divorce caused by seeing her husband having sex in their bed with another woman. She has a clinical practice and writes an advice column for an online women's magazine. One day when she comes home, police cars are at her next door neighbor's house. She finds out from the investigating officer that her neighbor Madeline committed suicide and left a note on her computer.
Madeline's mother, Isabel Stanton asks Rebecca to watch her late daughter's cat until she can place it with someone. She also asks the psychologist to find out if her daughter really committed suicide because she doesn't believe it. Not quite sure why she is doing it, Rebecca starts investigating and finds out that Madeline had a very erotic blog and secret love life. A forensic linguist that Rebecca asks to analyze the blog and the suicide note determines that different people wrote each of them. When Madeline's neighbor on her other side is bludgeoned, Rebecca believes the incident is linked to Madeleine's death and her nosing around almost costs Rebecca her life.
DEADLY ADVICE is a fine amateur sleuth mystery that has advice questions and answers throughout the book. They give credence to the heroine's career as an advice columnist with a psychology degree because her answers are always realistic. Rebecca is a strong-willed woman who is making a new life for herself after the debacle of her divorce. The only quibble is that the protagonist behaves like a trained cop, following the same path as a homicide detective. Could this mean police officers and psychologists think alike? Judging by the bickering between the sleuth and the shrink they act like two sides of the same coin. Readers will love this mystery because they know "dating can be deadly".
Harriet Klausner
Sweet
and Deadly
Charlaine Harris
Berkley, March 2007, $7.99, 304 pp.
ISBN 0425214621
It has been six months since her parents died in a car crash and Catherine Linton has returned to Lowfield, Mississippi in the hopes that familiar surroundings will help her healing process along. She is angry because her parents were murdered when their car breaks were deliberately loosened and she wants vengeance for their deaths. She also knows in her heart that the culprit is someone from Lowfield responsible because her parents never locked their car or garage.
One day while target shooting at the run down tenant house on her land, she sees the bloody body of a woman who is later identified as Leona Galles, who was her father's nurse more than three decades ago. The sheriff discovers evidence that she was a blackmailer but treats her homicide as a separate incident that isn't connected to the deaths of Catherine's parents. When a reporter dies while investigating the homicides, Catherine believes the same person killed all four people and in a dangerous moment sets out to prove it.
Long before Charlene Harris wrote the Sookie Stackhouse tales, she wrote this mystery and it shows the talent that in future years will make her a superstar. Readers get a picture of living in a small town in the Deep South in the 1950s when everyone knows their neighbors and murder is an aberration. Even a quarter a century ago, Ms. Harris was a genius at creating characters who are easy to understand and of course the identity of the villain comes as quite a shock. This is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining southern gothic mystery.
Harriet Klausner
Dragonwell
Dead
Laura Childs
Berkley, March 2007, $23.95
ISBN 0425213862
In Charleston, South Carolina, the annual Spring Plantation Ramble gala begins as the city's affluent open their gardens to the public. A festive atmosphere permeates the entire town as flower shows and rare plant auctions are everywhere. Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning loves the annual event that symbolizes spring to her and not just because business booms which it does during the festivity. She just loves the flowering of Charleston that the Ramble represents. This year she has the added pleasure of selling her new brew, Dragonwell Sweet Tea.
Theodosia and her master tea blender Drayton provide the tea stand as a favor to the Broad Street Garden Club at the Carthage Place Plantation where a rare plant auction occurs. Commodities broker Mark Congdon has the high bid for a rare monkey-face orchid for $900. Mark is euphoric over his win, but almost immediate his body goes into a violent fit with foam coming out of his mouth. In spite of Theodosia's CPR efforts he dies. Everyone assumes it is a fatal heart attack until Sheriff Billings' report states cause of death is unspecified toxin. Mark's widow Angie asks Theodosia, who has solved some mysteries, to investigate her husband's death; she reluctantly agrees as her tea is considered the prime suspect by many.
As always with a Tea Shop Mystery, readers will appreciate Theodosia's investigation as this time she has the motive of clearing her tea's reputation. The story line is fast-paced as the heroine makes inquiries including out of state that frighten a killer who believes the shop owner may be getting to close to reading the tea leaves. Fans of the series will enjoy this amateur sleuth's latest exploits while savoring the Indigo Tea Shop's recipes with some tips to improve your brewing techniques.
Harriet Klausner
Cat
Pay the Devil
Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Morrow, Mar 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0060578106
In Molena Point, California, Dulcie tells her two feline pals Joe Grey and Kit that she is worried about her housemate retired federal officer Wilma Getz, who just vanished without a word from a shopping mall. Joe Grey thinks his friend is being an inane female as her human companion has left home before, but three days have passed and Dulcie is panicking that something bad happened to Wilma especially since Cage Jones escaped from prison, a place he went to because of Wilma's testimony in court.
When someone shoots Wilma's former partner Mandell Bennnett and local resident Linda Tucker is killed, though he cannot see a link, Joe Grey believes that Dulcie is right and Wilma is in trouble. The cat trio follows Wilma's trail to the nearby hills where undomesticated cats reside and learn that someone abducted her and her niece Charlie, the wife of police Captain Max Harper. Assuming Cage and an associate have more than revenge in mind, the cats begin a rescue attempt before Dulcie's housemate and her relative are killed.
Fans of the series will take great delight as the fearsome felines search for and try to rescue one of their human housemates from an avenging killer with an extra unknown (to the cats) agenda. The story line is action-packed as the personified cats discuss the case in English amidst themselves, some wild felines, and a few humans. Though newcomers may have difficulty listening to the animals chatter in human tongue as that is a key premise from the start, long time fans will welcome the latest feline amateur sleuthing.
Harriet Klausner
Magic
City
James W. Hall
St. Martin's, Mar 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0312271794
While the world is stunned when the brash Louisville Lip Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston in Miami to win the boxing heavyweight championship, nearby mass murders occur. Someone viciously kills three members of the Cuban exile Morales family and four militiamen loyal to the patriarch. Twelve years old Snake and his younger brother Carlos are the only survivors, but the older sibling vowed vengeance one day. Mayor Stanton King and his wife adopt the orphaned Morales brothers. The mass murders are never solved.
Four decades pass with the mass murders back in 1964 remaining a cold case. King sees a photo from the first Clay-Liston fight that has him sitting with four covert operatives. He sends his two adopted boys after each copy they can find; Carlos kills the photographer. He and Snake come after Lawton, father of Alexandra, whom Thorn is visiting. Thorn stops them but they escape. They try again, which motivates Thorn to learn why.
MAGIC CITY is a tense thriller as an incident related to a major boxing match forty years ago comes home to roost for a former big city politician. The story line is action-packed though most readers will ignore King's assertion that a photo from the Clay-Liston first fight in 1964 could impact national security as implausible even with the current administration reclassifying documents from the 1950s. As the good (Thorn), the bad (Snake), and the ugly (Carlos) tangle, others want the photos too in James W. Hall's zany crime thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Daddy's
Girl
Lisa Scottoline
HarperCollins, Mar 2007, $25.95
ISBN 0060833149
Though a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Natalie "Nat" Greco hides from the world by strictly adhering to routines. Thus it is a bit surprising even to her that she steps out of her safety net regimen and agrees to accompany associate Angus Holt on a seminar at a prison even if he is a hunk with a glib tongue that persuades her to come with him.
However, the assignment turns dangerous when an ugly riot breaks out with the two visiting professors trapped in the middle of the chaos. Nat tries but fails to save the life of a guard, apparently stabbed during the melee. However before he dies, he asks her to tell his final words to his wife. Rescued from prison she sets out to complete her death bed vow, only to find she is the mouse chased by lethal cats who want the message and by the cops who think she is a killer. Breaking out of her cage for a short outing into another cage has turned her life upside down as she seeks to uncover the identity of the criminals, understand the enigmatic final words, and prove her innocence while also eluding the guys she seeks.
Nat is a fascinating protagonist who takes a small step beyond her normal world only to find that stride is into an abyss as she lands in a prison riot and from there into a conspiracy in which she is expendable. Readers will appreciate her exploits as she investigates who wants her put away and why. Though this Ivy Leaguer's exploits are fun to follow more realistically inside the prison, readers will have problems accepting her as an active amateur sleuth charging into a conspiracy. However fans of Lisa Scottoline will still enjoy the adventures of "The History of the Law" professor who is the legal mouse that roared.
Harriet Klausner
A
Crazy Little Thing Called Death
Nancy Martin
NAL, Mar 2007, $21.95
ISBN: 0451220412
Their parents wasted away in record time their trust funds so the three Blackbird sisters, former socialites, struggle to live above the poverty line. Nora accepts the proposal of Mick Abruzzo; the stunner for high society is not that Mick is the son of an infamous mobster, but that a Philadelphia blue blood would agree to marry someone from Jersey.
Whereas Nora thinks her sister Emma is working the sheet trade with partners named John to bring in income, her other sibling Libby, on a hiatus from baby production, plans the social wedding of the century albeit with no money. However, Nora's biggest problem is her fiancé. Someone wants Mick dead, but though everyone else assumes it is the Blackbird Curse in full bloom as grooms die young when they wed a Blackbird woman, she believes it ties to her future in-law's family business. Of course Mick almost dying seems normal when compared to the socialite parents of the vanished Penny Devine declaring her dead before the police have had enough legal time to declare her missing. To Nora this is just another scandal in high society.
The latest Blackbird Sister mystery is a delightful lighthearted satirical tale that jabs at the pretentiousness of the upper class. The fast-paced story line leaps from one crisis to a deeper calamity as Nora cannot help herself from becoming involved in various happenings starting with stopping her two sisters, to keeping Mick alive at least until she can declare widowhood and finally learning what happened to the divine Penny. Fans of the series will thoroughly enjoy the heroine's predicaments as she tries to save society one Blackbird at a time.
Harriet Klausner
Blood
Secrets
Vivi Anna
Silhouette Nocturne, Mar 2007, $5.25
ISBN: 0373617585
In downtown Necropolis at a room in the Black Heart Hotel, Otherworld Crime Unit Chief Caine Valorian a vampire and his top aids Jace Jericho and Lyra Magice struggle with the case of a woman's throat sliced, but little blood at the crime scene. Though a bloodsucker apparently bit the human victim, the amount of blood apparently taken is way beyond the pint normally consumed; that amount should have left them with a comatose culprit lying in his or her vomit. This murder could be the final impetus leading to an interspecies war.
Caine also has a new cop on his team; one whose assignment makes no sense to him to be working the paranormal crime beat. His superior at Necropolis Police Department Captain Mahina Garner has assigned human Eve Grant to work for him breaking a glass ceiling as no human has ever been placed on this squad. Though Eve proves to be a superior dedicated investigator, she poses a second problem for Valorian; he is attracted to her and struggles to contain his desire for her as he knows cross species romances normally fail and besides, one should never mix pleasure with work especially with a subordinate. As he holds his need in check, they work in close proximity on a homicide case that if not solved fast could expedite the impending interspecies war.
The key to why BLOOD SECRETS is a superb paranormal romantic police procedural is that the lead couple and the support cast (on both sides of the law) make Necropolis seem genuine; thus the fantasy elements come across as real. The relationship between the vampire chief and his human detective enhances the whodunit with the fear of a dangerous civil war between species lurking on the horizon. Viva Vivi!
Harriet Klausner
Fortune's
Fool
Mercedes Lackey
Luna, Mar 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0373802668
Katya, the Sea King's daughter, is the only one besides her father who can breath while walking on land or swimming under the water. It is her trait that makes it easy for her dad to use her as an agent when it appears trouble is happening on the mortal land. He directs her to the realm of Led Belarus to learn why things are too quiet there since historically whenever that has occurred epic catastrophes follow.
When she arrives at her destination, Katya meets Prince Sasha, the seventh son of the king, who is both a Wise Fool and a Storyweaver. The land is peaceful because he coaxes with music and song the Tradition (Fate) to move wherever he deems it should go. They fall in love rather quickly while realizing they must part for awhile because her father wants to know as taken residence at the Katschei' Castle. Whatever that entity is, it has abducted young female magic users and soon includes Katya as one of the kidnapped. Sasha must go though many trials to find his soulmate.
This romantic fantasy is a beautiful charming adult fairy tale. The love at first sight between the protagonists showcases the magic of Mercedes Lackey as the reactions between Katya and Sasha seems genuine, which in turn brings believability to the plot. There are various types of magical beings populating the tale, some good and some bad and some both, but all fascinating especially FORTUNE'S FOOL.
Harriet Klausner
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