Nothing beats a gripping suspense novel and this month’s selection showcases the best in this genre, with the latest novels from James Grippando, Tami Hoag and Faye Kellerman. Enjoy!
Covert warriors / W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV.
“Mexican federals stop two U.S. Special Forces officers and two DEA agents at a roadblock near Acapulco, order them out of their SUV despite their diplomatic license plates, and shoot three of them dead, taking Lt. Col. James Ferris prisoner. It appears the drug cartels have Ferris, but agent Lt. Col. Charley Castillo figures out that his arch enemy, Vladimir Putin, is behind the attack. Charley’s other enemy, U.S. president Zeke Clendennen, decides to rescue Ferris in an operation that’s sure to get the man killed. Charley must snatch Ferris before the president can screw everything up.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)
Need you now : a novel / James Grippando.
“ Abe Cushman, the evil genius behind a $60 billion Ponzi scheme, has killed himself and taken his secrets to the grave. For Patrick Lloyd, a young Wall Street advisor at the world’s largest Swiss bank, Cushman’s fall has unexpected and deadly repercussions. Lloyd’s girlfriend, Lilly, is directly tied to billions of dollars in losses suffered by Cushman’s most dangerous victims, a group of powerful investors whose identities and dirty finances are well hidden. What Lilly knows can get her and Patrick killed, and now the pair are in a run for their lives that leads to the heart of a clandestine operation, and to a cabal of powerful officials determined to keep their agenda hidden from the public.” (adapted from Amazon.com)
A devil is waiting / Jack Higgins.
“The President is coming to London, but not to an entirely warm welcome. A fanatical mullah is offering a blessing to anyone who will assassinate the President, and though most London Muslims think the mullah has crossed the line, a few think otherwise. Urgently, Sean Dillon, General Charles Ferguson, and the rest of the small band known as the “Prime Minister’s private army” are called in, augmented by an extraordinary new recruit, an intelligence captain and Afghan war hero named Sara Gideon. She has her own deep contacts, but the more she investigates, the more she discovers herself in a very dark place indeed. For the assassination plan is only the beginning.” (adapted from Book cover)
Down the darkest road / Tami Hoag.
” Four years after the unsolved disappearance of her sixteen-year-old daughter, Lauren Lawton is the only one still chasing the ghosts of her perfect Santa Barbara life. The world has given her daughter up for dead. Her husband ended his own life in the aftermath. Even Lauren’s younger daughter is desperate to find what’s left of the childhood she hasn’t been allowed to have. Lauren knows exactly who took her oldest child, but there is not a shred of evidence against the man. Even as he stalks her family, Lauren is powerless to stop him. The Santa Barbara police are handcuffed by the very laws they are sworn to uphold. Looking for a fresh start in a town with no memories, Lauren and her younger daughter Leah move to idyllic Oak Knoll. But when Lauren’s suspect turns up in the same city, it feels to all that history is about to repeat itself. Leah Lawton will soon turn sixteen, and Oak Knoll has a cunning predator on the hunt.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)
The orphan master’s son : a novel / Adam Johnson.
” Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother, and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labour. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return. Considering himself “a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,” Jun Do becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress “so pure, she didn’t know what starving people looked like”.(adapted from Amazon.com)
Gun games / Faye Kellerman.
” LAPD lieutenant detective Decker and his wife, Rina, have willingly welcomed fifteen-year-old Gabriel Whitman, the son of a troubled former friend, into their home. While the enigmatic teen seems to be adapting easily, Decker knows only too well the secrets adolescents keep, witnessed by the tragic suicide of another teen, Gregory Hesse, a student at Bell and Wakefield, one of the city’s most exclusive prep schools. Gregory’s mother, Wendy, refuses to believe her son shot himself and convinces Decker to look deeper. What he finds disturbs him. The gun used in the tragedy was stolen, evidence that propels him to launch a full investigation with his trusted team, Sergeant Marge Dunn and Detective Scott Oliver. But the case becomes darkly complicated by the suicide of another Bell and Wakefield student, a death that leads them to uncover an especially nasty group of rich and privileged students with a predilection for guns and violence.” (adapted from Amazon.com)
The Cypress House / Michael Koryta.
“Arlen Wagner has seen it in men before-a trace of smoke in their eyes that promises imminent death. He is never wrong. So when he awakens on a train one hot Florida night and sees death’s telltale sign in the eyes of his fellow passengers, he abandons the train with 19-year-old Paul Brickhill. Soon, they stranded at the Cypress House-directly in the path of a hurricane. There are much deadlier threats than the storm in this place, and Arlen’s eerie gift warns that they’ll never leave. (adapted from Amazon.com)
Temple of the gods / by Andy McDermott. “Archaeologist Nina Wilde’s life has fallen apart. Her husband, ex-SAS soldier Eddie Chase is on the run, falsely accused of murder, and her only distraction has been investigating the origin of three strange statues stolen from her just before Eddie’s disappearance. When Nina discovers they may be relics from the lost civilisation of Atlantis, it’s clear that she has to get her head back in the game, and fast. Eddie, meanwhile, tries to stay ahead of the authorities as he hunts the man responsible for his fugitive status across the globe. A mysterious benefactor offers the information he needs, but the price will put him in direct conflict with his wife. When Nina learns that a Japanese industrialist has obtained the statues on the black market she immediately heads to Tokyo meet him, unaware that Eddie is already on his way. Their arrival unleashes a chain of events that could have devastating consequences for the world.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)
Gideon’s corpse / Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.
“A top nuclear scientist turns homicidal, taking an innocent family hostage at gunpoint. Gideon Crew, a colleague of the scientist at Los Alamos, is called in to talk the man down. But the standoff ends in an explosion of violence. When the authorities discover the scientist’s body is intensely radioactive, and that he had recently embraced Islamic extremism, all hell breaks loose.” (adapted from Book cover)
The killer is dying : a novel / James Sallis.
” A hired killer on his final job, a burned out detective whose wife is dying slowly, a young boy abandoned by his parents and living alone by his wits. Three people who are solitary and disconnected from society. The detective is looking for the killer, Christian, though he doesn’t know that. Christian is trying to find the man who stepped in and took down his target. And the boy, Jimmie, is having the killer’s dreams. While they never meet, they are inextricably linked and as their stories unfold, all find the solace of community.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)