Racing the Light by Robert Crais
Robert Crais has emerged as the king of contemporary crime fiction, coming the closest of any in the genre to the likes of founding fathers Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. And the reasons why are keenly on display in the riveting Racing the Light (Putnam, $28.00).
This time out, Los Angeles-based private detective Elvis Cole is on the trail of missing, controversial podcaster Josh Shoe who has no shortage of enemies. One of those enemies wants him to disappear permanently, unless Cole can find Shoe first. That marks him as a target of the same powerful forces Shoe has run afoul of. Good thing Cole’s friend and partner Joe Pike is on the job too, because Pike helps even out the odds even though the stalwart pair are up against a virtual army of bad guys. Throw in the return of Cole’s former love interest and the stakes get raised even higher.
Racing the Light crackles with Cole’s typically witty, and yet angst-riddled, dialogue. This is crime writing at its absolute level best, a smooth and scintillating seminal triumph of both form and function.
The Couple at the Table by Sophie Hannah
The Couple at the Table (Morrow, $27.99) marks the first time I’ve read Sophie Hannah, but it won’t be the last.
In large part, that’s because her latest treads on the hallowed ground of what many consider to be the greatest mystery of all time in Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. This contemporary version of that classic brings five couples to a high-end resort, instead of ten strangers to a secluded island. It’s a dinner party of sorts, even though the respective couples are strangers to each other, and all bets are off once one table receives a note reading “Beware of the couple at the table nearest yours.” It’s not much of a spoiler to say that a murder is indeed on the menu, but the fun lies in watching a pair of British sleuths race to find the killer before he next body drops.
Hardcore mystery aficionados will revel in all the twists and turns, ups and downs, shocks and surprises in this splendid whodunnit.
Hunting Time by Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver’s Colter Shaw is one of the most unique characters in crime fiction, mostly because he’s difficult to classify. And his particular brand of dark heroism is keenly on display in the stupendous Hunting Time (Putnam, $29.00).
Shaw, who excels at finding missing persons whether they want to be found or not, takes up the case of Allison Parker and her daughter, who are on the run. Allison, though, is just as much an expert in avoiding being found — with good reason, as it turns out, since it’s her abusive, criminal ex-husband who’s on her trail. That would make for a great story in its own right, but Deaver adds to the mix a pair of especially deadly killers who will test Shaw’s mettle at every turn in what becomes a stellar wilderness-based tale.
Deaver rocketed to fame with his brilliant Lincoln Rhyme series, but Shaw is every bit as proficient and fun to watch as the bed-bound cerebral detective. Hunting Time proves to be a suspenseful and relentless thriller that (literally) writes its own rules. Not to be missed.
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger
This must be the month for Agatha Christie-like mysteries, another being Lisa Unger’s timely and terrific Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six (Park Row Books, $27.99).
Actually, Unger’s latest reads more like a thriller version of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night as three couples gather for a not-to-relaxing weekend in a luxury vacation home where plenty of bad things have already happened. And more are about to, as internecine conflicts are soon eclipsed by ultimately fatal ones, and the only thing deadlier than the secrets kept by the six supposed friends are the secrets the house itself bears.
Unger injects new life into a tried and true form in this tale that is sure to make you give booking on Airbnb pause. Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six is a tension-soaked thrill ride staged in a tight, twisty, claustrophobic thriller.
The Double Agent by William Christie
William Christie’s The Double Agent (Minotaur, $27.99) is an old school spy thriller of the highest order.
I say old school not just because of the book’s World War II setting, but also because the plot is right out of John le Carre perfectly blended with Alastair MacLean. Our hero, appropriately enough, is Russian spy Alexsi Schmirnoff, the quintessential reluctant, if not anti, hero. He ends up serving with an early incarnation of the CIA in the German army during a crucial stage of the war in the macro and for control of the Vatican in the micro.
If you’re a fan of classic spy novels, The Double Agent is for you. But it’s also for devotees of historical thrillers in general, as well as those who might enjoy reading a cautionary tale about the state of our world today. Well written, superbly researched and brilliantly realized in all respects.
The Prisoner by B. A. Paris
B. A. Paris is back with another, especially well-timed thriller in The Prisoner (St. Martin’s, $28.99), a tale that turns the woman-in-jeopardy form on its head.
The woman in question here is Amelie, a young woman who’s lived the polar opposite of a charmed life. But her luck seems to change when she meets and marries billionaire Ned. She’s living a dream, all her prayers answered, until Ned’s wealth and power leads both of them being kidnapped, their lives thrown into jeopardy. Who’s behind it? What do they really want? And how can Amelie, ever the victim, take charge of her own fate?
The Prisoner is short and briskly paced enough to be read in a single setting, rivaling the best of Lisa Gardner and Lisa Scottoline when it comes to psychological thrills.
Red Chaos by Ed Fuller and Gary Grossman
Gary Grossman and Ed Fuller have penned a great political thriller, featuring a heavy dose of action, in Red Chaos (Beaufort Books, $25.00).
Dan Reilly is back in this latest addition to the Red Hotel series, aptly named since Russia supplies the bad guys. Reilly isn’t your typical action hero, having cut his teeth in both the intelligence and corporate worlds. But he proves once again to be up the task when the US faces a devastating plot hatched by a Vladimir Putin stand-in. Reilly is dealing with assassination attempts galore as the centerpieces of a plan meant to rebuild the old Soviet empire.
Red Chaos is marked by superb writing and research. Grossman and Fuller have made their third effort in the series an outstanding one.
How About McCarthyism? by John Steinbeck
I never got a chance to review John Steinbeck while the iconic author was alive, so what a treat to learn that Andrew Gulli, editor of the famed Strand Magazine, has unearthed an incredibly relevant piece Steinbeck wrote nearly seventy years ago, How About McCarthyism? (Strand Magazine, $9.95).
Steinbeck unabashedly skewers the infamously paranoid Joseph McCarthy’s purge of non-existent communists from Washington and Hollywood. The incredible thing about this article is how much it resonates today, given that the focus is on a threat aimed at democracy itself. Even more resonance is lent by the fact that the author didn’t shy away from going after the man who had struck fear and loathing in the very heart of America. “The taking of power by a self-interested group at the expense of the whole,” is one of the many lines that eerily apply to our politics today.
Steinbeck, who inevitably sprinkled his fiction with scathing social commentary, issues warnings here we would be foolish not to heed.
