SENTINEL

MARK GREANEY

Writer Mark Greaney again shows why he is the leader in the Action and Thriller category. Sentinel is the second entry in the Armored series. Josh Duffy works for a security apparatus within the U.S. State Department. His wife is training for a similar career, and when she completes school, they are sent to Ghana, a relatively stable African country. Things are not what they seem as a Chinese spy has a mission to ferment revolution and form a new pro-China government. The action never ends, and the reader is transported to parts unknown. Duffy exemplifies the thriller protagonist, and the secondary characters add depth and intrigue to a fantastic thriller. Readers will beg for another entry into this exciting and action-packed series.

Don't Let the Devil Ride

ACE ATKINS

Don't Let the Devil Ride by expert and prolific writer Ace Atkins is an unpredictable and serpentine thriller that keeps the reader guessing. The client, Addison, has a husband who cannot be found. Her last hope is Porter Hayes and old-time Private Detective, the only person who believes foul play is involved. The story unfolds as readers are introduced to many characters, including a wealthy religious huckster, a weapons salesman, and a Russian gangster. Are they connected to the missing husband, and if so, how and why? Don't Let the Devil Ride is another beautiful novel by the author, who has already proved that he is one of the best in the mystery/thriller genre.

DEATH IN THE AIR

RAM MURALI

Death In The Air by Rom Morali is as exotic as its name. Ro Krishna receives great news after uncovering his boss's heinous behavior. After signing a nondisclosure agreement, he leaves his job with a hefty compensation package. Ro now has money but no job and no idea what he wants to do.

Ro decides to visit India, his place of birth. When there, he meets a woman named Amrita, and they have an instant connection. Unfortunately, soon after that, she dies, and it appears that more people are on the menu to be killed.

Death in the Air is a masterfully crafted mystery, which is all the more impressive because the writer is a novice. The reader keeps guessing and suspecting everyone until the final pages, when the perpetrator is revealed. The book is a rollercoaster of unpredictability, with honest and relatable characters. It's a story that leaves you craving for more, and I, for one, am eagerly awaiting its sequel at my local bookstore.

RED STAR FALLING

STEVE BERRY & GRANT BLACKWOOD

Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood continue to thrill new and veteran thriller readers with the release of Red Star Falling. The action is fast and dizzying as Luke Daniels is called on the carpet about an unsuccessful mission in which Luke's friend was captured and presumed dead at the hands of Russian operatives. Luke is dismayed and determined to confirm his friend's death. He sets out to find his friend buried deep in a maximum-security gulag somewhere in Russia. The book brims with action, danger, and spy craft, leaving readers wanting more of Luke and his adventures. Readers familiar with the Cotton Malone series will find references from those books, but Red Star Falling is great as a stand-alone.

The Last Hope: A Maggie Hope Mystery

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL

The Last Hope by accomplished writer Susan Elia MacNeal concludes the enchanting and engaging Maggie Hope mystery series. Readers will remember that Maggie began her fictitious career as Churchill's assistant and then proved that she had the potential to accomplish more significant goals. Past accomplishments are mentioned that bring coherence to the outstanding narrative. Still, The Last Hope may undoubtedly be read as a Stand-Alone that offers thrills and sophistication to an already well-established story.

Maggie's initial murder assignment is to eliminate Werner Heisenberg, a Nazi scientist working on an atomic bomb project. This assignment requires Maggie to evaluate the progress of the project and visit the infamous French designer and Nazi sympathizer Coco Chanel. The mystery is surrounded by spycraft, danger, and historical references, which add to the veritas of the story. Readers will be glued to the pages as Maggie risks her life for the good of England and her allies. 

Susan Elia MacNeal is a fine writer, and fans will hope to see more of her soon.

ONLINE AFFAIR

MIKE FARICY

Accomplished and prolific mystery writer Mike Faricy keeps on keeping on. Online Affair is the 37th entry in his constantly engaging and comical Dev Haskell P.I. series, and like all of its predecessors, the book hits the spot. Faricy incorporates Internet crime, romance, and criminal misdoings, which keep the reader involved and help them guess who is doing what and to whom. The familiar cast of long-familiar characters makes their appearances known, from Morton, the loveable golden retriever and pork rind connoisseur, to plodding and predictable office-mate and lawyer Louie.

The victims are wealthy, with much to lose and few people willing to help. Dev takes the case and utilizes his wit, charm, and police contacts to bring down the ring of internet burglars and robbers. Readers must read on to find out who is doing what and how. Reading Online Affair is a great way to spend the weekend and provides superior entertainment for the novice mystery reader through the most sophisticated.

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure:

LORENZO CARCATERRA

Accomplished and imaginative mystery author Lorenzo Carcaterra's Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure serves multiple purposes for dedicated mystery readers or lovers of exotic locals. The featured character, Nonna Maria, is a widowed grandmother who knows everyone and everything about the lush Italian island of Ischia.

The head of the Carabinieri hears that gangsters are en route to kill him as revenge for jailing their peers. Meanwhile, Nonna's friend asks Nonna to track down a supposed treasure, according to a map given to the friend's granddaughter. Despite solid warnings from Nonna's friends and family and the head of the Caribineri, Nonna persists as the plot develops, and readers are drawn into another captivating Nonna Maria adventure.

A LONESOME PLACE FOR DYING

NOLAN CHASE

A Lonesome Place For Dying by Nolan Chase is the real deal. What reader can

resist experiencing a blue-eyed coyote? And a heart in butcher paper left on a back porch. And that is just the beginning of A Lonesome Place For Dying by Nolan Chase, a first-time novelist who has already out-paced most of his peers in the police procedural genre.

Ethan Brand is the newly appointed police chief of Blaine, Washington, a small town near the Canadian border. His first case is a homicide and missing person case involving drugs, money, and fraud committed by a multi-generational crime family.

The writer uses bright-line imagery of the police chief and his deputies. We also gain an understanding of the crooks and their motives. A cat-and-mouse game soon develops, and the reader is compelled to live inside this well-told, exciting, and realistically drawn story. I hope that Nolan Chase has a long and illustrious career.

WHILE WE WERE BURNING

SARA KOFFI

While We Were Burning, by first-time writer Sara Koffi delivers everything that even the most discriminating reader could dream of. Wife Elizabeth is wracked with self-hate and loathes her husband. And to no avail; her affair is equally disastrous and deadening. Elizabeth's situation deteriorates when she discovers the corpse of her friend Patricia. David, Elizabeth's concerned husband, hires an assistant for his wife, partly to help improve his wife's increasingly deteriorating mental state, as Elizabeth is convinced that Patricia was murdered. Unfortunately, the new assistant has her agenda: hunting for the neighbor who called the police, which resulted in her son's death.

While We Were Burning is unpredictable and engaging. It keeps the reader's attention while examining important societal issues, such as racism, mental health, and the need for revenge. Readers will want more from Sara Koffi, a promising and hopefully prolific mystery writer.

A BETTER WORLD

SARAH LANGAN

A Better World by Sarah Langan is a compelling dystopic novel that conveys a foreseeable and desirous new world of social order where everything is perfect if you are, too. Linda, Russell Farmer-Bowen, and their two children have moved to Plymouth Valley, an idyllic company town where everything is exemplary. The environment is pristine, the schools are outstanding, and, best of all, everything is free. The trick is gaining admittance to Plymouth Valley and adapting to its quirks, which, when accomplished, make Plymouth Valley like Nirvana. Everybody gets what they want and more, defying consequences for ethically questionable actions to achieve their goals. Children and adults are lured into a spooky, irresistible community that looks like a perfect world. But the ramifications of citizenship in Plymouth Valley are as terrifying as they are alluring. Sarah Langan's A Better World perfectly destroys the idiom that"the grass is always greener on the other side."

CITY IN RUINS

DON WINSLOW

Mr. Winslow generously sent me five of his backlisted books a long time ago. After reading one whose title I now forget, I wrote," I wish I could quit teaching and read every one of Mr. Winslow's novels." I feel the same way, only more vehemently. Starting with Isle Of Joy and ending with City In Ruins, the last entry in the Danny Ryan trilogy. No other writer comes close to Mr. Winslow's ability to assemble a story and people it with characters that will be long remembered after those reading it have died.

As to the book itself, hang on. It is the last of an incredible crime tale that starts in Rhode Island, relocates to Los Angeles, and ends in Las Vegas, the land of drugs, money, women, sex, and violence. City in Ruins is equal to every crime novel, including Puzo's Godfather and the underrated Fools Die.

Don Winslow needs no review from me. He is like my boyhood heroes: Sandy Koufax, Magic Johnson, and Wayne Gretzky. All of them were the best at what they did, and knowing that is an experience I will remember until I die.

THE STARS TURNED INSIDE OUT

NOVA JACOBS

Author Nova Jacobs's The Stars Turned Inside Out combines two unlikely elements, hard-core physics, and good old-fashioned plotting, to produce a fascinating novel. The story occurs within CERN, The European Organization for Nuclear Research. Scientists use nuclear colliders and other innovative equipment to study the primary constituents of matter—the fundamental particles.

The body of a newly arrived scientist is found dead, apparently irradiated by the equipment dedicated to accomplishing the goals of the project. However, little or no evidence has been discovered, including video surveillance data that is surprisingly substandard. CERN hires an investigator to find out how and why the novice employee died. The detective may have less than obvious motives, which are a driving force behind her inquiry. The Stars Turned Inside Out is a captivating novel offering a physics tutorial along with an entertaining and engaging mystery.

KILLERS ON THE DOORSTEP

TOM TURNER

Killers on the Doorstep by veteran author Tom Turner is another outstanding crime caper set in Palm Beach. Turner focuses this outing on a reunion between a well-to-do brother and his step-and-half brothers, who are mobbed up in Providence, Rhode Island. What results are chaos, violence, and, surprisingly, family emotions.

Reed Barton runs and owns a large financial firm called Barton Resources based in West Palm Beach. He has done quite well for himself, so well that he is suffering the typical middle-aged malaise. That is until he is visited by his two brothers who are mobbed up in Providence, Rhode Island, conveniently in the waste disposal business, as well as in the fishing business, fold in a series of minor crimes, as well as larger ones, including kidnapping, attempted rape, and murder. However, the writer, Turner, accomplishes this with panache. Even a dollop of humor reminds the reader of Carl Hiaasen, Paul Levine, Laurence Shames, and others, too numerous to mention. Killers on the Doorstep is an entertaining read that will transport readers to the wealthy areas of Palm Beach and the less desirable. Accordingly, the reader will meet barflies' hangers-on and people with ill intent.

Tom Turner certainly is the master of the Florida-based crime/comedic novel. Readers would be advised to check out Turner's extensive list of books, including the ever-popular Palm Beach series and others in his vast and outstanding portfolio.

Cape Rage (A Danny Barrett Novel Book 2

RON CORBETT

Cape Rage, by Ron Corbett (Book Two of A Danny Barrett Novel), is a splendid novel that combines family gravitas, high emotion, crime, and its unavoidable consequences. Danny Barrett is an independent contractor working for the F.B.I. in an isolated part of the Pacific Northwest. The Danby family conducts organized crime with impunity, resulting in death and destruction. The local police and state authorities are powerless.

A bank robbery results in the near-death of one of the Danby clan, and the wounded husband, Henry Carter, is blind with psychotic anger and all too willing to kill anybody who stands in his way. The result is a fascinating game of cat and mouse, violence, and unpredictability that entangles the reader emotionally, producing tension and a great reading experience.

BIG F*UCKING DEAL

LAWRENCE ALLAN

Big F*cking deal, a Jimmy Cooper mystery is the second in what I hope will be a long series written by Lawrence Allan. The reader is in for a great time, starting with an imaginative and well-executed cover.

This time out, Jimmy, who works for his mom as a private investigator, is assigned a case with all the makings for high risk and high reward. A local billionaire's son has been kidnapped without a trace. There is very little evidence, either circumstantial or direct. As he conducts his investigation, the reader meets the usual suspects: ethically challenged cops, straight-laced FBI agents, and members of the LA crime scene.

Lawrence Allan has a great grasp of what makes a great PI novel, and he shows off these talents admirably. From the gorgeous and manicured streets of the west side of LA to the impoverished East Side, readers are treated to a picture and realistic view of what Los Angeles looks like both to the insider and the observer.

Big f*cking deal by Lawrence. Allan is a great read that can be read as a standalone or, in my opinion, after reading his first novel Big Fat F*ck Up. Here's hoping that Lawrence Allan continues to write the Jimmy Cooper series and that the series and the writer, Alan, become as ubiquitous as Connolly, Kellerman, and others who have left an indelible mark on the LA crime scene.

BIG FAT F__K-UP

LAWRENCE ALLAN

Big Fat F—K -UP, a Jimmy Cooper mystery by New novelist Lawrence Allan, is one great big, fun, and entertaining private investigator novel. Aside from a delightful and twisty plot, Allan moves his characters through the large and ever-changing city of Los Angeles, which brings to mind current great writers like Robert Crais and Michael Connolly.

Jimmy Cooper, a burnt-out former teen movie star, is a private investigator for his demanding mother's white-shoe law firm. Jimmy's first case is to find out why a co-owner of a large beer brewery was killed and why his niece was almost killed in a car wreck above the streets of Los Angeles. The plot is as winding as those streets as the reader takes a thrill ride, meeting unique individuals, ranging from LAPD detectives to burned-out musicians and minor D-list actors. Readers will become familiar with Cooper's quick wit and self-absorption, all of which lead to success but take the reader on a wild goose chase, leaving severe doubt as to whether the case can be solved and whether Cooper is a competent private investigator.

There is good news: Jimmy Cooper will make another appearance, entitled Big F @!king Deal. The Jimmy Cooper PI series shows all the potential of a long-lasting series that will endure well into this decade. Readers can only hope that Jimmy Cooper and his creator, Lawrence Allan, will become as ubiquitous as Elvis Cole, Harry Bosch, and the rest of the superb detectives based in the greater Los Angeles area.

BIG TIME

BEN H. WINTERS

Ben Winters came to the forefront when he wrote the great trilogy The Last Policeman. Since then, he has become even more adept and is one of my go-to writers for mystery, suspense, horror, his scary and early novel Bedbugs. Big Time has science fiction, mystery, thrills, and philosophical questions about life, time, and money. From the outset, one of the characters has been abducted, but why? No clues make the reader curious and rattled with anticipation and unease. The plot carries the reader on a breakneck ride filled with uncanny and peculiar occurrences, leaving the reader wanting to get to the bottom of Big Time, one of Winter's most memorable and fascinating works.

HERBVANA

BRIAN B. DEFOE

Herbvana, by first-time novelist Brian B. DeFoe, reflects a writer with much more experience and ability than almost any first-time novelist. The novel concerns a marijuana shop that had just opened in the state of Washington in 2012 when selling weed became legal and highly regulated. Herbvana is owned by a crooked lawyer, a stoner, and a conniving, attractive woman employee with her agenda as the story opens. The reader quickly discovers that the agent responsible for enforcing regulatory laws has been shaking down the owner of Herbvana for roughly $20,000 a week. In a cash business such as the weed business, $20,000 weekly is just a cost of doing business. However, eventually, the owner and the young woman employee tire of this expense. As the story progresses, the reader is treated to crooked lawyers, corrupt regulatory officials, and a variety of stoners using marijuana daily and perhaps on an hourly basis. The descriptions of the characters and the business are spot on, leaving the impression that Herbvana is little more than a convenience store that happens to sell marijuana.

Herbvana is well written, hangs together nicely, and has a logical beginning, middle, and end, which keeps the pages turning and produces an optimism in the reader that Mr. DeFoe will continue his budding career as a novelist of humor and crime, a mixture proven successful by the likes of Paul Levine, Laurence Shames, Carl Hiaasen, Mike Faricy and others.

VILLAGE IN THE DARK

IRIS YAMASHITA

Village In The Dark by talented two-time mystery and procedural writer Iris Yamashita is just as good and better than her first effort, City Under One Roof. Both occur in a desolate Alaskan village where most live in one building. This makes for a pleasant communal environment but creates loathing, unhealthy curiosity, and even death wishes.

Anchorage, Alaska, detective Cara Kennedy still grieves for her husband and son, who died in a hiking accident. At least she thinks it was an accident with no evidence of foul play until now. During Cara's investigation, she enlists Ellie, whose son overdosed, and Mia, a woman attempting to start over, having been hiding from a group of abusive and frightening men. The three hook up in an attempt to solve their respective problems. Was foul play involved in the disappearance of the detective's family, which drug dealer was responsible for the overdose of Ellie's son, and will Mia start a new life free of abuse? All these questions and more are laid out in an entertaining and enthralling procedural that all mystery and thriller fans need to read.

THE SPLIT

KIT FRICK

The Split by talented and prodigious author Kit Frick once again never fails to disappoint. This time out, we are treated to an engrossing story of two sisters, Jane, the sister you wish you had, and Esme, the person you want to be. The Split is reminiscent of the movie Sliding Doors, where one decision leads to a set of ramifications, and another reveals an entirely different scenario. Esme is in Midtown Manhattan when she calls her sister for a ride home. Jane is pulled toward picking up her sister due to guilt about an ambiguous accident that occurred some time ago. Each chapter reveals different consequences to the decisions that Jane, the good sister, makes as she struggles with her past guilt and demons while feeling emotionally blackmailed by Esme, the sister you might have wished to become had your life turned onto a different path.