Tag: Thrillers

Fragment – Warren Fahy

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Book number 40 for 2010 is Warren Fahy’s debut novel Fragment A reality series SeaLife staring a group of scientists exploring the world’s oceans is floundering in the ratings. Nell Duckworth a botanist on the show knows they are passing a little know island in the Pacific Henders Island and hopes they will visit! Nell gets her wish when an emergency signal is received from a boat that had run aground on the island, so Nell got her wish and as they say be careful what you wish for. What they find on this island is evolution gone wild….species of animals the likes of which have never been seen in the world! It’s a world full of fast and furious species that kill just about everything….. It’s a wild ride based on sound science facts that make it truly believable and scary! The pages just flew by especially the last 100 pages!!

The cover says that the book is: “A rollicking tale [that] will enthrall readers of a Jurassic Park and The Ruins. from USA Today

And James Rollins (one of my favorite authors) says:

“Few debuts are a explosive as Warren Fahy’s Fragment, a story of evolutionary horror that leaps off the page and grabs your throat. Think Jurassic Park on steriods. This is one hell of a ride”

I agree and can’t wait for the sequel that Mr. Fahy is working on!! Now it’s on to the new Dennis Lehane! Oh remember I said that I’d be reading two books at once well since I couldn’t put Fragment down that ain’t happening!

True Evil – Greg Iles

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Greg Iles is one of those authors that when I read one of his books I have one of those “What was I thinking?” moments for not reading his books as soon as they come out!! (Can you say too many books, too little time!) Anyway True Evil has been sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read for a long while and I’m glad I finally got around to reading it and at 637 pages it should count as two books! But like all of Iles’ books those pages just flew by!

In this book FBI agent Alexandra (Alex) Morse is called to her home of Mississippi when her sister Grace is struck down by brain hemorrhage. On her death bed she tells Alex that she was murdered by her husband and asks Alex to save her son from his father. Soon Alex, who is having one of those when it goes bad it goes bad all at the same time periods as her father was killed in a robbery attempt gone bad (Dad the ex-cop and now PI), her mother’s dying of ovarian cancer, and she has been demoted at the FBI from her position as a top hostage negotiator when a hostage situation went bad leaving her face scared and a fellow FBI agent dead, sets out to find out how her brother-in-law killed her.She soon finds that Bill Fennel had visited a divorce attorney in Jackson, who seems to be providing a service whereby clients seeking a divorce are saved losing their money, or children by having their spouses mysterious die of cancer! Alex enlists the aid of Dr. Chris Sheppard whose wife Thora has visited the same attorney and Alex is convinced Sheppard is the next victim!

Iles writes good thrillers with believable characters that keep the action moving until the last pages of the book are turned!

Raves about the book:

“A pulse-pounder…… A fresh twist on the cat-and-mouse game between an FBI agent and a fiendishly clever serial killer…. Smooth prose, psychological depth and crafty plotting” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Fascinating…. The medicine and science at the heart of this book are chillngly real” Bookreporter.com

So if you’ve never read Greg Iles pick up one of his books and I bet you won’t be able to put it down, and maybe you won’t be like me and wait too long until you read the next one!! Where is that Devil’s Punchbowl hum, I think there’s a copy up on son Andrew’s bookshelf. But, oh wait, maybe Tess Gerrritsen’s latest is still waiting for me at the library, damn!

End of Story-Peter Abraham

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Book 31 for 2010 is End of Story by Peter Abrahams. This is the second book I’ve read by Abrahams the other Oblivion I read in 2007 so you can see he is not really a favorite author, but I did enjoy this book and will probably pick up his newer stuff.

The main character in the novel is Ivy Seidel a would be author with a MFA and a stack of rejection letters from The New Yorker. Ivy takes over a part time job teaching writing in a prison in upstate New York. When Vance Harrow enters her group she is impressed by his writing ability and soon begins to look into his background. She finds that he is serving time for a robbery at an Indian Casino near his home town. Ivy is convinced that he is innocent and is taking the fall to protect his wife. Overall the pages flew by.  I liked the characters although  some of the actions in the story seemed to stretch reality a little much. The last hundred pages were really good and overall I liked the book.  I  will be on the lookout for his other books – maybe at the fall sale at the County Library!

The Rook – Steven James

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Another Author to Revisit

The Rook

Last night I had a sports doubleheader — first the Eagles–Chiefs game, then the Phillies game all the way to the top of the tenth inning. Somewhere in between, I also managed to finish Book #30 for the year: The Rook by Steven James.

The Rook is the second book in James’ Patrick Bowers series. Patrick is a special consultant to the FBI who uses geospatial investigation — analyzing the where and when of crimes alongside motives — to track down serial offenders.

In this installment, Patrick and his colleague Lien-hua Jiang are called to San Diego to investigate a series of arsons. Patrick brings along his stepdaughter Tessa, still grieving the loss of her mother and navigating a sometimes rocky relationship with Patrick.

Meanwhile, other story threads emerge:

  • Creighton Melice – a violent criminal out on bail, relocated to San Diego by a mysterious figure named Shade so he can continue his deadly obsession.

  • Victor Drake – a billionaire defense contractor being pressured by the government to hand over a classified prototype.

  • A bizarre homeless man’s suicide — just blocks from a fire scene — pulls Patrick and Lien-hua deeper into a tangled investigation.

The case soon weaves together Melice, Drake and his Sherrod Aquarium, the elusive Shade, the prototype device, and even Sebastian Taylor from the first book. At the same time, Patrick is juggling his feelings for Lien-hua and his responsibilities to Tessa.

James delivers what I’ve come to expect from him — tight plotting, sharp suspense, and characters with enough depth to keep me invested. Patrick, Tessa, Lien-hua, and Ralph make a strong ensemble, and the balance between high-stakes action and personal subplots works well.

I gave The Rook 4 out of 5 stars, maybe even a 5. James keeps the pages turning right up to the last line.

“Once again, James has given us a rip-snorting thriller with a beating heart, a calculating cat-and-mouse game of chess, and a satisfying ending.” – Eric Wilson, New York Times bestselling author

Postscript Update

When I first wrote this, I said I was going to read The Knight, the next book in the Patrick Bowers series. Well… I never did. In fact, I haven’t picked up another in the series since The Rook. Like some other series I’ve drifted away from, it might be time to circle back.

In the meantime, Steven James has launched a new series featuring Travis Brock, a high-level Pentagon redactor with an eidetic memory. The premise sounds right up my alley — maybe I’ll start there and see if it pulls me back into his earlier work.

Prince of Fire – Daniel Silva

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So like I said I didn’t put down the Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva yesterday until I finished what is Book 26 of 2010. Obviously like all of Silva’s books this one was a real page turner for me! But I think that in this book more than any of his books Silva based the storyline on the history of the Arab-Isreali conflict and why both sides fight as hard as they do! The enemy that Gabriel Allon faces is Khaled al -Khalifa who is the grandson of  Asad al-Khalifa.  Asad al-Khalifa  fought the Israeli’s and Gabriel’s mentor and boss. Ari Shamron in 1948 . While Gabriel assassinated Khaled’s father Sabri al-Khalifa for the later’s involvement in the attack on the 1972 Israeli Olympic Team. Both the Sheikh and Sabri were fighting for their Palestinian homeland and their home a village called Beit Sayeed (a fictional village created by Silva) that was wiped out under the Tochnit Dalet which was the real name for the plan to remove the hostile Arab population from centers from lands allocated for the new state of Israel. The characters of Asad and Khaled were based on a photograph of a young boy on the lap of Yasir Arafat at the funeral of his father in 1979. The father was terrorist Ali Hassan Salameh the mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre.

Anyway this book was great and really showed the humanity on both sides of the struggle and maybe for the first time Gabriel questioned the actions of his country. The book is highly recommended and while the book is part of a series that is best read from the beginning I think you could read the book by itself and still enjoy it!

Finally, I went to Borders Saturday night and used the gift card my son Peter gave me for Father’s Day to buy Karin Slaughter’s new book Broken. It’s great to be back in Grant County and the world of Sara Litton, Lena Adams, Will Trent and all the other great characters of this wonderful series! I’m already about a 1/3 of the way through the book and can’t wait to get back to it!

Never Look Away – Linwood Barclay

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Never Look Away - Linwood Barclay

 

Ok, so I really did like Linwood Barclay’s Zack Walker series but once again if he keeps writing books like  Never Look Away I guess I’ll have to forgive him

.Never Look Away centers around reporter David Harwood. Harwood has his life turned upside down and inside out after first his son is abducted at a theme park only to be quickly found and then his wife goes missing!

From that point Harwood’s life is shattered and as the story unfolds all signs put toward David as his wife’s murderer.

I loved the characters and the plot and overall the pages just flew by and I had to keep reading!

Like I said I started reading Barclay’s Zack Walker series and have read all of his stand-alones which include Too Close to Home which was awarded first place in the Best Novel category of the Arthur Ellis Awards, the top prize in Canada for crime fiction, Fear the Worst, and No Tine for Goodbye all of which were great!

So if you like great writing and exciting interesting stories were a normal guy is thrust into extraordinary thrilling situations try Linwood Barclay! From the back cover of Never Look Away

What Other Authors Say ABout Linwood Barclay’s Books

 

“If you like Harlan Coben, you’ll love Linwood Barclay” – Peter Robinson author of All the Colors of Darkness

“Fear the Worst holds the reader in a tight grip as good and evil match wits and wiles. Barclay pushes the edge of suspense to the edge and beyond” – Steve Berry the author of The Paris Vendetta

About No Time for Goodbye equally applicable to Never Look Away

“You won’t get up until you’ve turned the last page” – Michael Connelly

I certainly can say that’s what I did tonight and then I fell asleep (a late four mile run may have had something to do with the sleep part) which is why this post is so late and Twang Tuesday will be reported tomorrow!

iWebsite
Orion Books
Amazon
Wikipdianks

Linwood Barclay

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay continues to be a prolific author, releasing new, critically acclaimed thrillers annually. Known for his high-octane plots and relatable characters, his recent work has solidified his status as a master of contemporary suspense.

Visit the Linwood Barclay Page

If you like standalone Mystery/Thrillers…….

Here are three Authors whose books might enjoy:

Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea
Michael Koryta/Scott Carson
Riley Sager
Riley Sager
  • Charlie Donlea — tightly plotted thrillers often built around cold cases, missing persons, and strong female leads, with twists that keep coming
  • Michael Koryta / Scott Carson — blends crime, suspense, and sometimes the supernatural, with a darker tone and strong atmosphere
  • Riley Sager — modern psychological thrillers with big twists, often centered on isolated settings and unreliable pasts

The Coil by Gayle Lynds

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As a result of my computer that I usually work on is not working properly (what else is new!), so I can’t get on line to write, I have spent most of the last two nights reading and finishing book 21 for the year The Coil by Gayle Lynds. This is the first novel that I’ve read by Lynds whose books are well respected and have won numerous awards. From her website:

Her first Gayle Lynds novel MASQUERADE, was a New York Times bestseller and a People magazine “Page-Turner of the Week.” Publishers Weekly, the bible of the industry, recently compiled a list of the best espionage fiction. At the top were works by le Carre, Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth, and Graham Greene. MASQUERADE was number eight, following Ken Follett’s classic The Eye of the Needle, which Gayle loves.

Other of her novels have been prize winners. THE LAST SPYMASTER won Best Novel from both the American Authors Association and the Military Writers Society of America. THE COIL won Best Contemporary Novel from Affaire de Coeur. MOSAIC was Thriller of the Year at Romantic Times. MESMERIZED was a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. About her work reviewers have written: “superb,” Chicago Tribune; “immensely satisfying,” Wall Street Journal; “a potent storyteller,” Denver Post; “teeth-grinding suspense,” Publishers Weekly; “roller-coaster thrills,” Los Angeles Times; “terrific,” Cosmopolitan magazine; and “authentic,” Chicago Sun-Times.

The Coil revolves around Liz Sansborough again from Gayle’s website:

Liz Sansborough thought she had left her past behind forever. A former CIA field operative as well as the daughter of perhaps the most notorious Cold War assassin — the man known to the world only as the Carnivore — Liz is now a university professor in Southern California, specializing in the psychology of violence. Then her dead father’s legacy sweeps back to overtake her.

Someone, somewhere, is claiming to possess the Carnivore’s secret files and is using information from them to blackmail prominent world figures to promote some clandestine agenda. Files that Liz swore her father never kept. When Liz’s cousin is kidnapped, the only ransom they’ll accept is the assassin’s records, and if Liz is to save her cousin, she must somehow resurrect her old tradecraft skills and, in a desperate hunt across two continents, locate the files and uncover a dark and dangerous conspiracy linked to a shadowy group known only as the Coil.

I enjoyed the book and the characters. I thought the first half of the book was a little confusing until you got to know all of the players. Since both sides appeared to be after or controling Liz’s attempts to find the files, you didn’t know whose side sone of the chasers were on!  But once things were better established the book moved quickly and
I finished the second half on two nights! Now I have to go back and read The Masquerade which was the story of Liz and her father “The Carnivore” an assassin who killed for good reasons. (kinda like Dexter) And I know I will read more of her books!

POST UPDATE: Sadly I have moved away from Ludlum, Fynn type of thrillers and have not any more of Lynds work. Mistake on my part which I will try to rectify so stay tuned!

Fear the Worst – Linwood Barclay

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Fear the Worst - Linwood Barclay

 

So there was no time to start another book during the time I was reading Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay. Simply because I couldn’t put this book down!

I guess I’ll forgive Mr Barclay for not writing any more Zack Walker books if he keeps writing books as good as this one.

The Story – Fear The Worst

The story starts one day when a divorced father Tim Blake questions his daughter, who is staying with him for the summer  about some Versace sunglasses that she has. He questions her because he fears she may have stolen them.

The result of his questioning  is that she storms out of the house leaving the receipt on the kitchen table. Well, that night his daughter doesn’t come home and after receiving no phone calls or informationas to where she is! Tim sets out to find her and starts at her job a  motel in town.

When he asks about his daughter he is told that his daughter has never worked there!  Soon the police locate her car abandoned in a mall parking lot in a neighboring town!  The rest of the book revolves around Tim and his ex-wife’s frantic search to find their daughter!

My Thoughts

As usual I love all of the characters in the book. But I particularly Tim, who as a desperate father fighting to find his daughter faces a Herculean task! As I said the book moves along quickly as the tension builds and I was up past my normal bedtime to finish the book!!

Definitely a 4.5 to 5 out of 5 stars and I can’t wait to read his current  book Never Look Away

So if you’ve never read a Linwood Barclay book, check him out! As for me I’m number 12 in the que at the library to get the book , so I’m off to Wyoming and the new C.J. Box book Nowhere to Run!

iWebsite
Orion Books
Amazon
Wikipdianks

Linwood Barclay

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay continues to be a prolific author, releasing new, critically acclaimed thrillers annually. Known for his high-octane plots and relatable characters, his recent work has solidified his status as a master of contemporary suspense.

Update: There is now a sequel to this book – Linwood Barclay’s No Safe House – new problems for Terry and Cynthia Archer when their daughter becomes involved in a possible murder.Check out my review here

Visit the Linwood Barclay Page

If you like standalone Mystery/Thrillers…….

Here are three Authors whose books might enjoy:

Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea
Michael Koryta/Scott Carson
Riley Sager
Riley Sager
  • Charlie Donlea — tightly plotted thrillers often built around cold cases, missing persons, and strong female leads, with twists that keep coming
  • Michael Koryta / Scott Carson — blends crime, suspense, and sometimes the supernatural, with a darker tone and strong atmosphere
  • Riley Sager — modern psychological thrillers with big twists, often centered on isolated settings and unreliable pasts

No Time for Goodbye – Linwood Barclay

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No Tim,e for Goodbye - Linwood Barclay

 Orinally posted April 2010 – Revised and Updated April of 2026

What would you do if one day you were a normal fourteen year old with a mother, father and brother. You get caught with a boy in a car at the mall drinking, your father pulls your butt out of the car. you go to bed, Then you wake up the next morning and YOUR FAMILY is GONE! no note, no evidence of a fight or struggle they are just gone! That what happens to Cynthia Bigge in Linwood Barclay’s No Time for Goodbye.

The Story

The story picks up 25 years later, Cynthia is now married to Terry Archer and they have an eight year old daughter Grace. She has lived with this mystery for twenty five years and now things are happening that are opening all the wounds. Is the brown car really following her family? How did her father’s hat get in the house? What’s happening?

My Thoughts

I loved this well crafted well paced book. I have enjoyed Barclay’s books for a while now and have read all four of the Zack Walker books and Too Close to Home also highly recommended) another standalone.

In No Time for Goodbye the characters are believable and story line keeps moving and the suspense building toward the surprising conclusion!

In this book, I really enjoyed the character of Terry Archer, who narrates  the story. His character was a little like Zack Walker, someone, who at times is in a little over their head!

Anyway the book was great and rates at least a 4.5 if not a 5! Go find it and enjoy!

iWebsite
Orion Books
Amazon
Wikipdianks

Linwood Barclay

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay continues to be a prolific author, releasing new, critically acclaimed thrillers annually. Known for his high-octane plots and relatable characters, his recent work has solidified his status as a master of contemporary suspense.

Update: There is now a sequel to this book – Linwood Barclay’s No Safe House – new problems for Terry and Cynthia Archer when their daughter becomes involved in a possible murder.Check out my review here

Visit the Linwood Barclay Page

If you like standalone Mystery/Thrillers…….

Here are three Authors whose books might enjoy:

Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea
Michael Koryta/Scott Carson
Riley Sager
Riley Sager
  • Charlie Donlea — tightly plotted thrillers often built around cold cases, missing persons, and strong female leads, with twists that keep coming
  • Michael Koryta / Scott Carson — blends crime, suspense, and sometimes the supernatural, with a darker tone and strong atmosphere
  • Riley Sager — modern psychological thrillers with big twists, often centered on isolated settings and unreliable pasts

Forgotten Books – Bill Granger -November Man

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Bill Granger -November Man

I have seNovember Man - Bill GRangeren other bloggers post about Forgotten Books and I’ve done Forgotten Music. So here is a post about forgotten books. I started keeping a book journal in 1987. I also recorded the date I read the book and some thoughts, Occasionally, I added ratings. ratings. Anyway,  going back through the early book, I came across a series that I really enjoyed the November Man series by Bill Granger. Looking back at March of 1988 and 1989 I read a November Man novel in each year. In 1988 it was the 8th book in the series The Infant of Prague, which I gave 3 stars and said it was better than the previous book I had read  Hemingway’s Notebook. The brief blurb I wrote says Devereaux tries to bring a defector from Czechoslovakia. My comments says the story kept moving and the ending was satisfying! Here is the synopsis at Amazon.

In March of 1989 I read Henry Magee is Not Dead. The synopsis says that Henry Magee is an agent who crossed over in Alaska and there is a complicated plan to ruin R Section (the secret organization that Devereaux heads), a bomb on the Alaskan pipeline and Devereaux and Denisov (Soviet spy defector) end up in Alaska.  There was something about that writing style that made for difficult reading at times but overall a good read! Amazon has a synopsis from Publisher’s Weekly that is a little bit (an understatement) better than mine here

You can see more about Bill Granger and his work at Fantastic Fiction

Final Thoughts

All I remember is that the books were some of the best spy novels I read. They were always exciting  and I loved the title character Devereaux.  These books set me on a course that led to authors like Brad Thor, Vince Flynn and Alex Berenson! If you ever see an old  copy at a library book sale or you online, pick it up. You won’t be disappointed.

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Bill Granger

Bill Granger Page

Amazon

AbeBooks

ThriftBooks