Skip to main content
The Kaiser’s Web by Steve Berry
Relentless by Mark Greaney
Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton
Tropic of Stupid by Tim Dorsey
Savage Road by Chris Hauty
Hiss H for Homicide by T. C. LoTempio
Blowback by Al Pessin
Water Memory by Daniel Pyne

 

The Kaiser’s Web by Steve Berry

The Kaiser’s Web by Steve Berry

In the mesmerizing The Kaiser’s Web (Minotaur), the tried and true Steve Berry exceeds even himself in crafting his most ambitious and relevant thriller to date. A no-holds-barred, high-stakes romp with echoes of classic spy novelists like John le Carré, Len Deighton and Alistair MacLean.

Berry’s Hitchcockian “McGuffin” this time out is a Soviet spy dossier dating back to World War II that has the potential to upend the balance of power in Europe and, thus, the world. Good thing hero-without-portfolio Cotton Malone is on the job to prevent a catastrophic conclusion to an election in Germany, one that would make that country only the first to fall in the face of the true fate of the primary Nazi principles. And the race is on to recover the mysterious dossier of the title that contains the terrifying revelations certain to bring the world to its knees.

Berry reaches for more in The Kaiser’s Web and closes his hand around it in firm fashion. This is a dream read for the unabashed thriller aficionado, a story stitched along classic lines that never disappoints in laying out a riveting and relentless tapestry.


Relentless by Mark Greaney

Relentless by Mark Greaney

Mark Greaney knows how to bring it and he brings it big time in Relentless (Berkley), which finds series hero Court Gentry, aka the Gray Man, entering a world beyond black ops.

That’s because Relentless finds him channeling John Wick from the film series, running up against a bevy of assassins seemingly responsible for intelligence agents vanishing across the globe as part of a far more wide-ranging plot. Good thing CIA agent Zoya Zakharova is on the job too, joining forces with Gentry to smoke out the real bad guys before both of them join the list of the disappeared.

The manic pacing and fast cuts between scenes similarly resemble a Hollywood action mash-up in all the right ways, explaining why the series just scored a Netflix pickup starring Ryan Gosling. In Relentless Greaney blends the brawn of Brad Thor with the brains of Daniel Silva, crafting a thriller extraordinaire that readers will devour, not just read.


Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton

Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton

Waiting for the Night Song (Forge) is a difficult book to categorize. Not a bad thing since Julie Carrick Dalton’s sharp and sterling debut defies labels as it seeks to carve out its own swath of literary territory.

Forestry research and all-around environmentalist Cadie Kessler has one of those secrets you just know is going to catch up with her someday, which it does when an old friend resurfaces in her life. Not that Cadie needs any more problems, what with wildfires and local foreclosures battling for which can spread faster. Those wildfires become a metaphor for her own tortured psyche as past and present converge in shattering fashion.

Dalton’s political leanings and causes are clearly on display here, often a dangerous mix with mainstream storytelling. But she pulls it off with remarkable skill and aplomb, especially for a first-time novelist. Waiting for the Night Song hums with the lyrical echoes of John Hart and masterful characters reminiscent of Pat Conroy. Not to be missed.


Tropic of Stupid by Tim Dorsey

Tropic of Stupid by Tim Dorsey

Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one: Tim Dorsey is back with a new book featuring serial killer with a conscience Serge Storms and it’s a laugh-out-loud fun fest. In fact, Tropic of Stupid (Morrow) is the series’ best entry in recent memory.

That’s saying a lot given that this is now the longest running comic-crime series ever (Donald Westlake penned fourteen Dortmunder books), propelled by Serge’s manic obsessions, penchant for justice, and love of all things Florida. Once again, his stoner sidekick Coleman is around for the wild wide, not only across the Sunshine State but also into Serge’s past as he searches for lost relatives, a quest that finds him closing on a serial killer who may have claimed more victims than he has.

Look, story isn’t what you read a Tim Dorsey book for. But I tend to most enjoy the titles that feature the strongest plotlines, and that’s the case here. Fear not, because it’s still a riotous romp layered with the kind of parody and satire that have become series staples. And has there ever been a better time to find a reason to laugh?


Savage Road by Chris Hauty

Savage Road by Chris Hauty

There are thrillers and there are THRILLERS and Chris Hauty’s scintillating Savage Road (Atria) falls squarely in the latter category.

Mostly, that’s because the book centers around a devastating series of cyberattacks that threaten the security of the entire country. Might our born-again enemy number one be responsible? Good thing cyber expert and intelligence agent Hayley Chill, who we first met in Hauty’s Deep State, is there to sort through the maelstrom before it’s too late. Chill actually represents the so-called “Deeper” State, responsible for overseeing the King Kong of double agents who happens to reside in the White House.

Savage Road is big, bold and bracing, reading like a contemporary extension of The Manchurian Candidate and smacking of the kind of current events that leave us wondering how fictional the book really is, helping to make it thriller writing of the highest order.


Hiss H for Homicide by T. C. LoTempio

Hiss H for Homicide by T. C. LoTempio

“After Tuesday, there will be a lot of unhappy people around,” reads the first line of T. C. LoTempio’s Hiss H for Homicide (Beyond the Page). 

Well, since this is a murder mystery, we know there’ll be at least one. The action springs off a romance writing team’s severing of their relationship to deadly results when one turns up dead. Turns out Marlene McCambridge was in the midst of writing something that wasn’t fiction at all and her writing partner Desiree Sanders needs the help of old friend Nora Charles, in tandem with her feline investigative partner Nick, to flush out the killer from a crew of rich and colorful suspects. 

Hiss H for Homicide packs all the trimmings into its classic cozy structure in smooth, silky fashion. William Powell and Myrna Roy played the original Nick and Nora Charles in the classic Thin Man films of the 1930s and 1940s, and LoTempio does them great justice in this masterpiece of the genre that leaves no stone, or cat treat, unturned.


Blowback by Al Pessin

Blowback by Al Pessin

The literary world is so cluttered with action thrillers that it’s difficult to stand out in the crowd. But Al Pessin deftly manages to do just that in the brilliant Blowback (Kensington).

This second series entry finds Pessin’s Task Force Epsilon being charged with infiltrating an Islamic terrorist group responsible for a host of global attacks in order to destroy it. Good thing Defense Intelligence Agency chief Bridget Davenport has just the man for the job in an American Muslim army lieutenant, who nearly perished the last time he accepted such an assignment. But that’s what heroes do and the various conflicts Faraz Abdullah must confront is one of several things that distinguishes Blowback from its competition.

A former foreign correspondent, Pessin makes splendid use of that experience in crafting a thriller that’s a smooth and sultry mix of Brad Taylor and James Rollins. Solid in all respects, as he lays claim to his own place in the genre.


Water Memory by Daniel Pyne

Water Memory by Daniel Pyne

There’s a lot to like in Daniel Pyne’s Water Memory (Thomas & Mercer), most notably a refreshing, pulse-pounding structure that narrows the landscape even as it expands the playing field.

Think Die Hard on a cargo ship as shell-shocked special operator Audrey Sentro finds safe passage that turns out not to be so safe at all, when pirates seize the vessel. It’s almost like fighting by choice, instead of out of duty, is precisely the tonic she needs to get her mojo back. Problem is, Sentro is one more concussion away from her brain packing it in, meaning she better dispatch the bad guys just as she was trained to do.

Water Memory is original, wondrously paced and, well, memorable. At the book’s heart, it’s basically one long action scene in a manner best befitting the great David Morrell and the best book of its kind since Roderick Thorpe’s Nothing Lasts Forever, the basis for the aforementioned film Die Hard.


Jon Land

Jon Land is the bestselling author over 25 novels. He graduated from Brown University in 1979 Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude and continues his association with Brown as an alumni advisor. Jon often bases his novels and scripts on extensive travel and research as well as a twenty-five year career in martial arts. He is an associate member of the US Special Forces and frequently volunteers in schools to help young people learn to enjoy the process of writing. Jon is the Vice-President of marketing of the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and is often asked to speak on topics regarding writing and research. In addition to writing suspense/thrillers, Jon is also a screenwriter with his first film credit in 2005. Jon works with many industry professionals and has garnered the respect and friendship of many author-colleagues. He loves storytelling in all its forms. Jon currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island and loves hearing from his readers and aspiring writers.

Leave a Reply