I don’t know how David Baldacci juggles the number of books and series he does with such skill and aplomb. For proof, look no further than Dream Town (Grand Central), his third tale featuring World War II vet, and now private investigator, Aloysius Archer.
The period piece, set in 1953, whisks Archer off to Hollywood in the days of glitz, glamor and the old studio system. He’s there for nothing more criminal than a New Year’s Eve party with his fledgling actress girlfriend Liberty Callahan. Then desperate screenwriter Eleanor Lamb shows up, desperate not only because her career is at a crossroads but also because someone is targeting her. Then Eleanor disappears, the first body drops, and Archer finds himself an extra in a story of his own making, dealing with stars and their makers.
This was already my favorite of Baldacci’s recurring series, and Dream Town only reinforces that, in large part because of Baldacci’s brilliance in stitching his story across a tapestry of a bygone era of movie magic with a dark side. Nostalgia aside, this is storytelling of the highest order, rich in character and bursting with story.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
Heather Graham is no stranger to the bestseller lists and the pinnacle of publishing, but she reaches new heights in Crimson Summer (Mira).
Long the master of the Hitchcockian MacGuffin, Graham serves up a doozy of one here in the form of a horse figurine that happens to be the symbol of an apocalypse cult wreaking havoc through Florida while eyeing an expansion of their murderous actions on a nationwide level. Good thing FBI agent Hunter Forrest is on the job, racing to stop the violence before that deadly expansion happens, which means taking on a shadowy leader whose extremist views are eerily on point with today’s news headlines.
As is typical of any Graham tale, Crimson Summer is twist-filled, lightning-paced and superbly entertaining. This time out, though, she achieves a level of societal relevance that’s as scary as it is appropriate, holding up a mirror to the state of the U.S. today to reveal a disturbing reflection.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
James Rollins, king of the modern-day adventure novel, and his stalwart Sigma Force team are back in Kingdom of Bones (William Morrow). Rollins, no stranger to beautifully executed concepts that test the bonds of our imaginations, tests his own limits here.
Something very strange is happening in the Congo with dire ramifications for all of us. While human beings of all ages become virtual living zombies, plants and animals enter a kind of hyper-evolution, upending the food chain as well as nature’s pecking order. It’s left to Gray Pierce and company to determine the cause before we’re left facing a true new world order. But what if they can’t? What if there’s something lurking in the Congo that’s the precursor to an evolutionary paradigm shift of deadly proportions?
Indeed, nobody answers the question “What if?” with more sophistication and aplomb than Rollins. With the death of Clive Cussler, it’s safe to pronounce him the king of the speculative thriller and the best pure storyteller writing today.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
John Lescroart is back and he’s brought his brilliant criminal attorney and crime solver Dismas Hardy with him in The Missing Piece (Atria).
Dismas actually takes somewhat of a back seat to former prosecutor Wes Farrell who’s joined his firm as a defense attorney. And it’s in that capacity that Farrell finds himself representing a still grieving father of a murder victim who allegedly killed his daughter’s murderer upon his release from prison. The fact that Farrell put the man behind bars in the first place adds another twisty wrinkle to a tale teeming with surprises. He and Hardy will rely heavily on the investigative skills of private detective Abe Litsky, another series regular, to sort through the morass.
For some reason, the flood of legal thrillers a few years back has slowed to a trickle. Lescroart’s work always stood out even in that crowded field, but now he seems to own the territory he previously rented. The Missing Piece, though, is a great crime story in all respects with the legal trappings coming as a bonus.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
I hadn’t read a good horror novel in a long time. So, I greeted Alma Katsu’s The Fervor (Putnam) with great expectations that were satisfied at every turn and then some.
The setting is horrific in its own right, namely a Japanese internment camp during World War II. That’s where Meiko Briggs and her daughter Aiko are taken, even though Aiko was born in America and her father is serving in the Air Force. No sooner have they arrived and strange events begin to occur, centering around a mysterious disease that is ravaging the camp. The outbreak attracts a mysterious medical team to the camp and their arrival suggests nefarious doings are afoot. It’s up to Meiko and an intrepid reporter to dig into the true source in an insular world in which the outside world might as well be on Mars.
This is the kind of hybrid horror tale that would make Robert R. McCammon, Dean Koontz and the master himself Stephen King proud. But The Fervor is actually more comparable to TV adaptations like FX’s The Strain and AMC’s The Terror. An absolute can’t miss book for horror fans and fanatics.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
Speaking of legal thrillers, Phillip Margolin’s Robin Lockwood is rapidly becoming a name to know in the sub-genre, as evidenced in the latest book to feature her, The Darkest Place (Minotaur).
The devastating aftermath of a criminal case she was assigned by the court sends Lockwood home to small-town America to heal both physically, emotionally and professionally. In the midst of recuperating, she can’t help but take on a domestic crime case involving a surrogate birth mother who changes her mind about giving up the child she’s been hired to carry. Little does Lockwood know, though, that Marjorie Loman has a hefty number of skeletons in her closet that come back to haunt both client and counsel.
The Darkest Place is legal thriller writing of the highest order, rich in detail, authenticity and character. Robin Lockwood, meanwhile, is rapidly becoming the female version of Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer. (BookTrib’s review.)
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
Last, but definitely not least, is Simon Scarrow’s superb pre-World War II thriller Blackout (Kensington), a book reminiscent of Martin Cruz Smith’s groundbreaking Gorky Park in all the right ways.
Scarrow’s version of Arkady Renko, Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke, is already under fire for his refusal to join the Nazi party that has staked its claim to Germany; so the last thing he needs is a pair of murders that lead him to the corridors of power where he was already unwelcome. As in the aforementioned Gorky Park, Schenke finds himself sorting through a minefield of political realities and ambitions, including party higher-ups committed to thwarting his investigation at every turn.
Blackout is a historical thriller extraordinaire penned by an author in complete command of his story and subject matter. Not since David Morrell’s incredible trilogy featuring Thomas de Quincey has a book like this featured such a mastery of time and place with deep-seated echoes of America’s own divisions today.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
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Dream Town by David Baldacci
I don’t know how David Baldacci juggles the number of books and series he does with such skill and aplomb. For proof, look no further than Dream Town (Grand Central), his third tale featuring World War II vet, and now private investigator, Aloysius Archer.
The period piece, set in 1953, whisks Archer off to Hollywood in the days of glitz, glamor and the old studio system. He’s there for nothing more criminal than a New Year’s Eve party with his fledgling actress girlfriend Liberty Callahan. Then desperate screenwriter Eleanor Lamb shows up, desperate not only because her career is at a crossroads but also because someone is targeting her. Then Eleanor disappears, the first body drops, and Archer finds himself an extra in a story of his own making, dealing with stars and their makers.
This was already my favorite of Baldacci’s recurring series, and Dream Town only reinforces that, in large part because of Baldacci’s brilliance in stitching his story across a tapestry of a bygone era of movie magic with a dark side. Nostalgia aside, this is storytelling of the highest order, rich in character and bursting with story.
Crimson Summer by Heather Graham
Heather Graham is no stranger to the bestseller lists and the pinnacle of publishing, but she reaches new heights in Crimson Summer (Mira).
Long the master of the Hitchcockian MacGuffin, Graham serves up a doozy of one here in the form of a horse figurine that happens to be the symbol of an apocalypse cult wreaking havoc through Florida while eyeing an expansion of their murderous actions on a nationwide level. Good thing FBI agent Hunter Forrest is on the job, racing to stop the violence before that deadly expansion happens, which means taking on a shadowy leader whose extremist views are eerily on point with today’s news headlines.
As is typical of any Graham tale, Crimson Summer is twist-filled, lightning-paced and superbly entertaining. This time out, though, she achieves a level of societal relevance that’s as scary as it is appropriate, holding up a mirror to the state of the U.S. today to reveal a disturbing reflection.
Kingdom of Bones by James Rollins
James Rollins, king of the modern-day adventure novel, and his stalwart Sigma Force team are back in Kingdom of Bones (William Morrow). Rollins, no stranger to beautifully executed concepts that test the bonds of our imaginations, tests his own limits here.
Something very strange is happening in the Congo with dire ramifications for all of us. While human beings of all ages become virtual living zombies, plants and animals enter a kind of hyper-evolution, upending the food chain as well as nature’s pecking order. It’s left to Gray Pierce and company to determine the cause before we’re left facing a true new world order. But what if they can’t? What if there’s something lurking in the Congo that’s the precursor to an evolutionary paradigm shift of deadly proportions?
Indeed, nobody answers the question “What if?” with more sophistication and aplomb than Rollins. With the death of Clive Cussler, it’s safe to pronounce him the king of the speculative thriller and the best pure storyteller writing today.
The Missing Piece by John Lescroart
John Lescroart is back and he’s brought his brilliant criminal attorney and crime solver Dismas Hardy with him in The Missing Piece (Atria).
Dismas actually takes somewhat of a back seat to former prosecutor Wes Farrell who’s joined his firm as a defense attorney. And it’s in that capacity that Farrell finds himself representing a still grieving father of a murder victim who allegedly killed his daughter’s murderer upon his release from prison. The fact that Farrell put the man behind bars in the first place adds another twisty wrinkle to a tale teeming with surprises. He and Hardy will rely heavily on the investigative skills of private detective Abe Litsky, another series regular, to sort through the morass.
For some reason, the flood of legal thrillers a few years back has slowed to a trickle. Lescroart’s work always stood out even in that crowded field, but now he seems to own the territory he previously rented. The Missing Piece, though, is a great crime story in all respects with the legal trappings coming as a bonus.
The Fervor by Alma Katsu
I hadn’t read a good horror novel in a long time. So, I greeted Alma Katsu’s The Fervor (Putnam) with great expectations that were satisfied at every turn and then some.
The setting is horrific in its own right, namely a Japanese internment camp during World War II. That’s where Meiko Briggs and her daughter Aiko are taken, even though Aiko was born in America and her father is serving in the Air Force. No sooner have they arrived and strange events begin to occur, centering around a mysterious disease that is ravaging the camp. The outbreak attracts a mysterious medical team to the camp and their arrival suggests nefarious doings are afoot. It’s up to Meiko and an intrepid reporter to dig into the true source in an insular world in which the outside world might as well be on Mars.
This is the kind of hybrid horror tale that would make Robert R. McCammon, Dean Koontz and the master himself Stephen King proud. But The Fervor is actually more comparable to TV adaptations like FX’s The Strain and AMC’s The Terror. An absolute can’t miss book for horror fans and fanatics.
The Darkest Place by Phillip Margolin
Speaking of legal thrillers, Phillip Margolin’s Robin Lockwood is rapidly becoming a name to know in the sub-genre, as evidenced in the latest book to feature her, The Darkest Place (Minotaur).
The devastating aftermath of a criminal case she was assigned by the court sends Lockwood home to small-town America to heal both physically, emotionally and professionally. In the midst of recuperating, she can’t help but take on a domestic crime case involving a surrogate birth mother who changes her mind about giving up the child she’s been hired to carry. Little does Lockwood know, though, that Marjorie Loman has a hefty number of skeletons in her closet that come back to haunt both client and counsel.
The Darkest Place is legal thriller writing of the highest order, rich in detail, authenticity and character. Robin Lockwood, meanwhile, is rapidly becoming the female version of Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer. (BookTrib’s review.)
Blackout by Simon Scarrow
Last, but definitely not least, is Simon Scarrow’s superb pre-World War II thriller Blackout (Kensington), a book reminiscent of Martin Cruz Smith’s groundbreaking Gorky Park in all the right ways.
Scarrow’s version of Arkady Renko, Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke, is already under fire for his refusal to join the Nazi party that has staked its claim to Germany; so the last thing he needs is a pair of murders that lead him to the corridors of power where he was already unwelcome. As in the aforementioned Gorky Park, Schenke finds himself sorting through a minefield of political realities and ambitions, including party higher-ups committed to thwarting his investigation at every turn.
Blackout is a historical thriller extraordinaire penned by an author in complete command of his story and subject matter. Not since David Morrell’s incredible trilogy featuring Thomas de Quincey has a book like this featured such a mastery of time and place with deep-seated echoes of America’s own divisions today.
