Dennis Hetzel

New Spy Thriller Brings Warm, Slow Burn of a le Carré Novel

The mixology for the best spy thrillers requires a bartender-author who knows how to stir (or shake) nuance, characters and place. “Nuance” means you’re put in a world dripping with darkening shades of gray until the classic notions of right and wrong twist like licorice. Heroes are conflicted, multi-dimensional humans,…

Dennis HetzelJune 20, 2023

Nonfiction Recommended

From Police Chief to Priest: The Soul of a Fascinating Guy

Unless you’ve been around Madison, Wisconsin, for a long time, or maybe you’re concerned about policing in America in these crazy days, you’ve likely never heard about a former Marine and police chief who became an Episcopal priest. His name is David Couper, and he has a lot to say.…

Dennis HetzelDecember 9, 2022

Fiction Thrillers

Connelly’s Latest Thriller Has High Stakes and Slow-Burn Action

No modern author has mastered the detective-thriller genre better and more consistently than Michael Connelly, but Desert Star (Little, Brown and Company), his new Harry Bosch novel, seems a little different. There are two reasons for that, but in the spirit of thriller writing, I won’t reveal the second reason until…

Dennis HetzelNovember 10, 2022

Fiction Thrillers Young Adult

Lost History and Aliens Clash in New Jon Land and Heather Graham Novel

Authors Heather Graham and Jon Land know their way around action-packed thrillers. They don’t mess around in their latest novel, Blood Moon (Tor Books), putting all of humanity in peril in this second of an ongoing series that began with The Rising. Graham and Land teleport the readers onto an Earth in which humanity faces attack from…

Dennis HetzelNovember 9, 2022

Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

New Thriller “Suspect” Shows a Scott Turow Who Refuses to Rest on His Laurels

Scott Turow is a courageous man. At age 73, he’s an accomplished attorney, an acclaimed author of legal thrillers, and the rare big-time thriller author whose best work transcends into serious literature. He could rest on myriad laurels or simply go formulaic, cranking out what worked so well in the…

Dennis HetzelSeptember 22, 2022

Fiction Fiction - Featured

Coming-of-Age Near the 1940s Chicago Baseball Scene

Ernie’s Bleachers was clearly a passion project for author Tim Pareti, whose family owned the Ernie’s Bleachers tavern in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood just across from Wrigley Field. It’s the tavern that became Ray’s Bleachers, home of the 1969 Bleacher Bums, and then Murphy’s Bleachers, which is still going strong eight decades…

Dennis HetzelAugust 17, 2022

Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

‘Zero Hour:’ A fast-moving thrill ride sure to satisfy Tom Clancy fans

Tom Clancy Zero Hour (G.P. Putnam's Sons), the latest book in the Clancy universe to feature Jack Ryan Jr., is basically an action movie — and there’s nothing wrong with that, especially during a summer that features the return of the ultimate feel-good military action film, Top Gun: Maverick. As…

Dennis HetzelJuly 1, 2022

Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

Ukrainian-Russian Tensions Eerily Prescient in Race to Prevent WWIII

“I think we’ve found the new Vince Flynn. His name is Don Bentley.” I wrote that about two years ago for BookTrib after reading Bentley’s debut novel, Without Sanction. I’m now on my fourth Bentley book. Allow me to renew my assessment that Bentley belongs in the top tiers of today’s…

Dennis HetzelMay 3, 2022

Book Club Network Book Club Network - Featured1 BooksToScreen Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

A Globe-Trotting Sci-Fi Thriller Worth Your Time – No Matter How You Measure It

"Jam-packed with action, adventure and magic! It takes you on a fantastical journey filled with descriptive imagery from start to finish. ... A page-turner for sure!" —Hina Khan, reviewer —∞— You’ve probably seen the lithographs of the artist M.C. Escher, whose mind-bending optical illusions make you question the nature of…

Dennis HetzelMarch 22, 2022

Book Club Network Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

“The Burden of Innocence:” A Gritty Tale of Guilt and Redemption on the Mean Streets of Boston

"A soaring, stirring ride — real as the clang of iron doors closing on an innocent man." —Patrick Moore, author "An innocent man is in free-fall in the criminal justice system — felons and felonies, dished up with bull's-eye imagery, insight and tone." —Tom Davidson, author —∞— Any good thriller…

Dennis HetzelMarch 15, 2022

Book Club Network Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

Russians Seek Revenge on Defectors in Terrific Debut Thriller

“I felt my body heat increase as he recounted the tale of the Sempworth, aka Karchenko, case. Lots of loose threads, but all the same color.” Those memorable words come from Decktora Raines, the hero of The Poison Factory, as she seeks to weave enough of those threads together to…

Dennis HetzelJanuary 10, 2022

Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

“Havana Brown” Offers a Rule-Breaking, Literal Cat-and-Mouse Mystery

Turns out they’re a rare breed with unusual chocolate-brown fur. It also turns out that the clues left by a certain feline owned by a serial killer whose methods are unusually sick — even by serial killer standards — can form the basis of an excellent procedural thriller. Havana Brown…

Dennis HetzelDecember 3, 2021

Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

Follett’s “Never” Shines With the Horrific Brilliance of a Nuclear Bomb

When I finished Ken Follett’s Never, I leaned back in my chair in silence and listened to my breathing for a few seconds. I needed to process and sort emotions after finishing a great story that had climaxed into one of the most powerful, abrupt and dramatic endings I’d ever…

Dennis HetzelNovember 9, 2021

Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

Murders Inside a Mysterious Hotel Derail an Irish Countryside Wedding

Who doesn’t like an old-fashioned, atmospheric mystery set in a remote part of the Irish countryside? If this describes you and you’re a fan of authors such as Louise Penny, Lisa Gardner or the immortal Agatha Christie, Murder at Greysbridge (Oceanview Publishing) by Andrea Carter could stir your soul like…

Dennis HetzelNovember 3, 2021

Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

Radical Fervor Extracts a Heavy Price in “The Zima Confession”

If you were a college student from the mid 1960s through the 1970s, you might know a bit about youthful passion and idealism. If you weren’t the person pushing radical ideas to fix a world that seemed terribly broken, perhaps you had friends who were true believers. Most young adults…

Dennis HetzelNovember 3, 2021

Fiction Thrillers Thrillers - Featured

“Divided States” Imagines Broken People Trying to Save a Broken America

Only a few years ago, you might have readily dismissed author Rick Treon’s vision of what America could become. The idea that parts of America would secede into their own independent countries seemed fantastical. Of course, Americans have short memories. Remember, this already happened once and led to the Civil…

Dennis HetzelAugust 20, 2021

Dennis Hetzel

New Spy Thriller Brings Warm, Slow Burn of a le Carré Novel

From Police Chief to Priest: The Soul of a Fascinating Guy

New Thriller “Suspect” Shows a Scott Turow Who Refuses to Rest on His Laurels

Coming-of-Age Near the 1940s Chicago Baseball Scene

‘Zero Hour:’ A fast-moving thrill ride sure to satisfy Tom Clancy fans

Ukrainian-Russian Tensions Eerily Prescient in Race to Prevent WWIII

A Globe-Trotting Sci-Fi Thriller Worth Your Time – No Matter How You Measure It

“The Burden of Innocence:” A Gritty Tale of Guilt and Redemption on the Mean Streets of Boston

Russians Seek Revenge on Defectors in Terrific Debut Thriller

“Havana Brown” Offers a Rule-Breaking, Literal Cat-and-Mouse Mystery

Follett’s “Never” Shines With the Horrific Brilliance of a Nuclear Bomb

Murders Inside a Mysterious Hotel Derail an Irish Countryside Wedding

Radical Fervor Extracts a Heavy Price in “The Zima Confession”

“Divided States” Imagines Broken People Trying to Save a Broken America

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