The Cradle of Ice by James Rollins
Fans of the “Game of Thrones” and “Lord of the Rings” series looking for something to tide them over until the next spinoff or season arrives need look no further than James Rollins rollicking fantasy adventure tale “The Cradle of Ice” (Tor Books, 672 pages, $29,99), the second in his spectacular Moonfall series.
Rollins’ second installment pretty much picks up where the first, “The Starless Crown,” leaves off with our collection of heroes coming together. He wastes no time in separating them yet again, into two wayfaring camps that set out on parallel, connected journeys to prevent the apocalyptic vision of Moonfall from coming to pass. As with all great quests, Rollins’ latest is peppered with wondrous lands of legend like the Frozen Wastes and the Southern Klashe, all fraught with danger and risk as our noble heroes race to save their world from destruction.
The structure of “The Cradle of Ice,” like many fantasy epics, follows the general contours of Homer’s incomparable “The Iliad and the Odyssey.” At its heart, though, the book makes us feel like we’re kids again watching the original “Jason and the Argonauts” or one of the better entries in the Sinbad series. This is storytelling at its absolute level best.
Brad Meltzer by The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
Brad Meltzer’s bona fides as one the great living thriller writers is well established. And with “The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill” (Flatiron, 400 pages, $29.99) he continues to stake his claim to the apex of the nonfiction thriller world as well.
Written in tandem with Josh Mensch, Meltzer’s second nonfiction tome after “The First Conspiracy” is as riveting as the best World War II fiction from the likes of Jack Higgins and Frederick Forsythe. The action centers around a secret 1943 rendezvous of Allied leaders in Tehran, which I must admit I’d never heard of before. Once the Nazis learned of the planned meeting, they pulled out all the stops to assassinate all three in a one fell swoop, a move that would have altered the course of the war and changed history forever.
In Meltzer’s deft hands, “The Nazi Conspiracy” moves at the pace of one of his fictional bestsellers, crammed full of shocks and surprises, twists and turns. You have to pinch yourself to remember it’s real, which makes it all the more riveting and relentless.
It’s One of Us by J.T. Ellison
J.T. Ellison scintillating “It’s One of Us” (Mira, $27.99, 400 pages) is an early contender for best psychological thriller for 2023.
The set-up is pure gold. The biological clock is ticking on interior designer Olivia Bender’s desire to become a mother. She and her husband Park have tried everything, including the best fertility procedures medicine has to offer, without results. Then DNA identifies a son Park didn’t know he had as a murder suspect. Say what? Turns out Park made a donation to a sperm bank years before, and that’s where the staggering twists and turns begin.
“It’s One of Us” makes us care about its characters at every level. It reads like a mix of William Landay’s “Defending Jacob” as channeled through the likes of Lisa Gardner and Harlan Coben, hallowed ground Ellison now treads upon.
Burner by Mark Greaney
“Burner” (Berkley, 528 pages, $29.00) is Mark Greaney’s twelfth book in his seminal Gray Man series which only keeps getting better.
This time out, Court Gentry finds himself in the world of John le Carre and Graham Greene instead of Robert Ludlum or Tom Clancy. The cerebral “Burner” centers around records stolen from a Swiss bank by high-level employee Alex Velesky. Once word gets out, plenty of those with financial secrets they can’t afford to let out take up the chase, and it’s up to Gentry to sort through the morass and make sure the records are put to good use in bringing down a bunch of bad guys.
A recent trend in thrillers is to highlight brains over brawn, and Greaney rides the crest of that wave here, proving that suspense and intrigue can be just as much fun as bullets and blood. Greaney proves himself a master of both, and “Burner” is a must-read for fans of high stakes spy thrillers.
The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz
Let’s get something out of the way at the top. Gregg Hurwitz has claimed the mantle of the best all-out action thriller writer today, his skills keenly on display on the sensational “The Last Orphan” (Minotaur, 352 pages, $28.99).
Having escaped the sinister organization that raised him to be a killer, Evan Smoak, aka the Nowhere Man and Orphan X, was quite content to wander the country anonymously, using his deadly skills to help those most in need. Unfortunately, circumstances have placed back in government employ, specifically a duplicitous, conniving president. She offers him the classic one-last-mission deal that violates his principles but could save his life. We pretty much know what Smoak’s going to do; the fun lies in how he turns the tables as the bodies pile up.
“The Last Orphan” reads like the best of Lee Child’s seminal Jack Reacher series, with higher stakes and a more political backdrop. This is a thriller extraordinaire as well as a superb character study of a man still fashioning his own identity. A tour de force that is not to be missed.
The House Guest by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Hank Phillippi Ryan’s “The House Guest” (Forge, 336 pages, $27.99) is a psychological thriller par excellence that starts out simmering before racing to a full boil.
Alyssa Macallan is in the midst of a nasty divorce from a husband determined to destroy her. Forget alimony; nothing short of her being left homeless and destitute will satisfy him. All seems lost until Alyssa meets a classic femme fatale in the person of Bree Lorrance. Bree’s got problems of her own and proposes they work toward correcting each other’s. That’s when the book becomes utterly impossible to put down, as we follow the moral complexities in a tale where little is as it appears to be.
Ryan proves herself a master of literary misdirection in “The House Guest.” This is a thinly disguised homage to Patricia Highsmith’s “Strangers on a Train,” which was made into a classic film noir by Alfred Hitchcock. If the master were alive today, he’d probably want to adapt Ryan’s latest too!
White Smoke by John Gilstrap
John Gilstrap continues his terrific series that envisions America in the wake of an apocalyptic level maelstrom with “White Smoke” (Kensington, 272 pages, $27.00).
The third in a series featuring former congresswoman Victoria Emerson and her desperate attempts to hold her small, ad hoc community together. As if that wasn’t enough, she receives a message asking her to visit the imprisoned members of the former government in the hope she might spearhead the downfall of the radical leader and his murderous minions who have seized power. That significantly escalates the mission she’s been charged with but, as is the case with all heroes, she will do whatever she can to restore order to lawless society.
Once again, Gilstrap proves lives up to the promise of his daring, and chilling, premise. “White Smoke” is his most fully realized version of life in the new America, almost like “The Walking Dead” without the zombies but where the humans are even more monstrous. A one-sitting read if ever there was one.
