One of the first things I thought about when I started writing crime fiction was “whydunnit.” What would it take, I wondered as I began my first thriller, to push me to decide to kill someone? What is a believable motive for murder? Revenge, I thought. Oh, yes. We’ve all…
Hank Phillippi RyanJanuary 30, 2020
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s stellar Crooked River (Grand Central), the nineteenth to feature FBI special agent Aloysius Pendergast, shows why this is the best mystery series going today. The premise is enough to make the likes of Jeffery Deaver and Thomas Harris blush: dozens of identical blue shoes are…
Jon LandFebruary 17, 2020
It’s a seething microcosm of competition, envy, manipulation and the battle for supremacy. It’s high school. And those crowded classrooms — or the privileged halls of prep school — coupled with aspiration and aggression and enforced proximity make the halls of academe perfect places to set a novel of suspense.…
Hank Phillippi RyanMarch 5, 2020
First do no harm. That’s what every new doctor swears. It’s an oath, of course, but isn’t it also … an alibi? A doctor is the only person who a victim would willingly let inject with something when they don’t know what it is, swallow whatever pills they offer, drink…
Hank Phillippi RyanJune 4, 2020
If you’re going over the river and through the woods this holiday season, to Grandmother’s house or wherever, what if you turned the corner, drove up the gravel lane, and there was — the house from Psycho? All turreted and gray, as gothic as a Charles Addams drawing. Wouldn’t you…
Hank Phillippi RyanDecember 19, 2019
Steve Berry, master of thrillers rooted in historical speculation, is back with a humdinger of a tale in The Omega Factor (Grand Central) featuring a crackerjack plot and terrific new hero. Like previous Berry protagonist Cotton Malone, Nicholas Lee has a unique portfolio that finds him serving as an operative for…
Jon LandJune 29, 2022
The most appealing part of natural disaster stories isn’t just the threat of impending doom. It's the way that the impending doom forces people into action, making heroes out of regular people. There's nothing like the tension of a raging storm to force families closer together, build alliances and reveal…
Wyatt SemenukJuly 18, 2022
May I interest you in a bit of spycraft? Or, perhaps, a few covert military operations? How about an assassin or two? I’ll admit, the allure of espionage and black ops missions is difficult to ignore in fiction. First, there’s the combat, those fast-paced sequences that get your pulse pounding.…
Chelsea CicconeJanuary 27, 2022
Harlan Coben continues his fabulous flirtation with postmodern horror in The Match (Grand Central), a Frankenstein-esque tale that picks up where The Boy from the Woods left off. Wilde, who literally grew up in the wild as a boy, has abandoned his attempt to live in society, realizing the forest…
Jon LandMarch 28, 2022
Jon Land’s Thrill List: April Excites With Old Hollywood, Hitchcockian Technique and Historic Horror
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,…
Jon LandApril 15, 2022
New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles play host to more than their fair share of crime novels. The last six months alone gave life to major releases such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle (review), Emmy Award-winner Tamron Hall’s As the Wicked Watch (review) and #1 NYT bestselling…
Chelsea CicconeDecember 21, 2021
https://booktrib.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Autopsy-200x305.jpeg The holidays are all about time spent with family and friends. That makes Patricia Cornwell’s triumphant return of our old friend Kay Scarpetta in Autopsy (Morrow) all the more appropriate. Last seen in 2016’s Chaos, Scarpetta and her trusty coroner’s scalpel return to her original stomping grounds of Virginia…
Jon LandDecember 27, 2021
I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes, fictional characters become your friends. After plunging head-first into M.C. Beaton’s best-selling Agatha Raisin Mystery Series (Minotaur), that’s exactly how I feel about the blundering, self-absorbed, outspoken, middle-aged, sexually promiscuous, shop-a-holic, gin-swilling amateur detective, Agatha Raisin. What makes “Aggie” so appealing? Her misadventures…
Jodé MillmanSeptember 28, 2021