THE SECOND LIFE OF NICK MASON by Steve Hamilton

  The Second Life of Nick Mason is a strange and uneven book, but it’s one of those that once I started reading, I had to follow it through to the end to see what happened next. Which is the pull at the heart of every successful thriller. I’ve read and enjoyed Steve Hamilton’s Alex […]

I AM THE WEAPON by Allen Zadoff

Allen Zadoff has dug into the YA suspense/spy market that has gone largely untouched. Since Anthony Horowitz stopped writing the Alex Rider novels (why, Anthony????), there exists a vacuum in this area that needs filling. Zadoff comes close with his Boy Nobody series, now called the Unknown Assassin series. This first book is a zinger […]

THE SHADOW PROTOCOL by Andy McDermott

Andy McDermott exploded onto the international thriller scene with his first novel The Hunt for Atlantis. Since then he’s added several books to the series about American archeologist Nina Wilde and ex-SAS soldier Eddie Chase. He’s even gotten them married and successfully continued their adventures. McDermott is a master of the over-the-top thriller in the […]

THE SKIN COLLECTOR by Jeffery Deaver

At first glance, Jeffery Deaver’s new book, The Skin Collector, sounds like it has a lot in common with his breakout hit featuring forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme. Well, like all of Deaver’s creations, the book meets some of the reader’s expectations and spins others wildly in another direction. This latest novel in his long-running series […]

WRONG TIME, WRONG PLACE by Simon Kernick

I had not previously read Simon Kernick, though I was aware of him because I check the bestseller lists. So I figured I was in good hands when I booted up Wrong Time, Wrong Place. The story starts off full-on action and tension, and just gets more wound up from there because the killing comes […]

BAD TIMES: CANNIBAL GOLD by Chuck Dixon

Buy At Amazon: Cannibal Gold (Bad Times) Chuck Dixon can write an adventure story. I’ve been reading his comics work for years, enjoying his run on Batman, the Punisher, Robin, Nightwing, and the creation of The Birds of Prey. Dixon excels at putting down action, of introducing larger-than-life heroes, kicking them through the door into […]

THE PROPHET by Michael Koryta

I became a fan of Michael Koryta’s work when he was doing his Lincoln Perry mystery series. He’s a good writer and knows his stuff when it comes to detective work because he’s worked as a private detective. What surprised me was his next move to the horror genre and the depth of emotional complexity […]

UNDER A GRAVEYARD SKY by John Ringo

If you think the zombie apocalypse will never happen, if you’ve never been afraid of zombies, you may change your mind after reading Under a Graveyard Sky by John Ringo. The book is the first of at least two novels about the end of the world as we know it. The author has done considerable […]

THE EYE OF GOD by James Rollins

The Eye of God is another slam-bang action/suspense novel in James Rollins’s Sigma Force series, and it is perhaps the most breathtaking of all. The author puts a lot of balls in the air in this one, and longtime readers are going to get rewarded and saddened at the same time. Not everyone makes it […]

THE HIGHWAY by C. J. Box

The cover on C. J. Box’s new novel The Highway sucked me in. It immediately reminded me of Steven Spielberg’s first film, Duel. The book’s plot doesn’t spin out the same way though, but the pacing becomes grueling and unrelenting. The novel starts out introducing law enforcement investigator Cassie Dewell spying on a house. Those […]