HELLFIRE CLUB (APRIL 2018)

No one knows politics like Jake Tapper! Tapper has written a fast-paced thriller, full of suspense and intrigue, sex and danger....what more could you want?!!!

The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper 

This political thriller tells the story of Charlie Marder, an unlikely Congressman trying to navigate Washington, D.C.'s political scene in the 1950s. Following a mysterious car accident, Marder and his wife find themselves thrust into a shady subculture of secret societies and off-the-record deals. When Marder discovers a conspiracy plot, he finds that his career and his life are in jeopardy.

HE'S BACK (NOVEMBER 2016)

Bookreporter.com is my "go to" site for the latest, greatest, and sometimes not so greatest. Their recent comments about John Grisham's new book are right on target. Yes, he's back again with another thriller...and reviewers seem to love it.

I'm also a loyal Alice Hoffman fan and can't wait to read her latest. She never disappoints ...even though she can border on weird...I'm always there to support her.

Thankyou Bookreporter.com for the following reviews...

THE WHISTLER by John Grisham (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Cassandra Campbell
What happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, and a corruption case crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business as Greg Myers; he claims to know of a judge who was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. Greg’s only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Lacy immediately suspects this case could be dangerous --- but it also could turn out to be deadly. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.

FAITHFUL BY ALICE HOFFMAN

Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt. She has to fight her way back to her own future and finds a circle of lost and found souls --- including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night.

WEIRD WATCHING (SEPTEMBER 2016)

Room by Emma Donoghue was a fabulous read. Even the movie was excellent! Now Emma Donoghue has a new novel, titled The Wonder and some critics are calling it 'a masterpiece'...It's at the top of my list.

Ian McEwan is known as one of the fifty greatest British writers since 1945. His awards are too numerous to mention and I'm a huge fan and devotee. Nutshell, his latest novel sounds like a weird little novel but brilliant...no surprise there. I can't wait to read this book narrated by a fetus!! You heard me, a fetus....let the weirdness begin!

 

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue Release Date: September 20 In Emma Donoghue's latest masterpiece, an English nurse brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle-a girl said to have survived without food for months.

NUTSHELL by Ian McEwan (Psychological Thriller)
Trudy has betrayed her husband, John; she's with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy's womb.

SEPTEMBER BOOK BUZZ

Amor Towles is one of my favorite authors. His last book RULES OF CIVILITY was a great read and I've been anxiously awaiting his latest release. I've pre-ordered and hope it lives up to its predecessor!

RULES OF CIVILITY was published by Viking/Penguin in July 2011 and reached the bestseller lists of The New York Times, the Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times. The book was rated by The Wall Street Journal as one of the ten best works of fiction in 2011.

Viking/Penguin will be publishing Towles’s new novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, on September 6, 2016.

Below read a summary from Bookreporter.com.

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles (Historical Fiction)
When, in 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, he is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him a doorway into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

The following books will be released in September and are highly recommended by critics and readers. There's something for everyone incuding some humerous essays by Dave Barry.....no surprise there!


HERE I AM by Jonathan Safran Foer (Fiction)
Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., HERE I AM is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As they are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East.

APPRENTICE IN DEATH by J.D. Robb (Thriller)
The shots came quickly, silently and with deadly accuracy. Within seconds, three people were dead at Central Park’s ice-skating rink. The victims were a talented young skater, a doctor and a teacher. Eve Dallas has seen a lot of killers during her time with the NYPSD, but never one like this.

BEST. STATE. EVER.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland by Dave Barry(Humor/Essays)
Join loyal Floridian Dave Barry as he celebrates Florida from Key West at the bottom to whatever it is that’s at the top, from the Sunshine State’s earliest history to the fun-fair of weirdness that it is today.

NOT FOR BEACH READING

Beach reads or not, these books are on my TBR LIST...I hope to get to them eventually as Sunday Times reviews were glowing..if you can believe that....So take a chance...both authors are moderately famous...Leave a comment...

BEFORE THE FALL by Noah Hawley (Thriller) Audiobook available, read by Robert Petkoff On a foggy summer night, 11 people --- 10 privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter --- depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs --- the painter --- and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family. With chapters weaving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers and crew members, the mystery surrounding the tragedy heightens. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub. MODERN LOVERS by Emma Straub (Fiction) Audiobook available, read by Jen Tullock Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth, Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch to their own offspring. Now nearing 50, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn. The summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adult lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose can never be reclaimed. Reviewed by Maya Gittelman. Bookreporter.com

BOOKREPORTER.COM (April 2016)

I follow many sites dedicated to book lovers. One of my favorites is Bookreporter.com which provides a detailed commentary about current books and authors. The weekly newsletter is always full of the latest buzz along with lighthearted book banter and a peek into the editor's world.

If you're looking for a place to scope out new books, (other than Joyce's Choices!!) Bookreporter.com provides author interviews, excerpts from new releases, detailed reviews, and a variety of on trend bookish information.

Bookreporter recently spotlighted two of my favorite authors paired with an unknown author whose debut novel, The Nest is getting high praise.

AT THE EDGE OF THE ORCHARD by Tracy Chevalier (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Mark Bramhall, Hillary Huber, Kirby Heyborne and Cassandra Morris

1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuckre --- in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut, while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

FOOL ME ONCE by Harlan Coben (Thriller) Audiobook available, narrated by January LaVoy Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe --- who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband --- and herself. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE NEST by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (Fiction) Audiobook available, narrated by Mia Barron The Plumb family is spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of tensions finally reach a breaking point as Melody, Beatrice and Jack Plumb gather to confront their older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got in a car accident that has endangered the Plumbs' joint trust fund, “The Nest,” which they are months away from finally receiving. Now, the siblings must grapple with old resentments, present-day truths and the significant emotional and financial toll of the accident, as well as finally acknowledge the choices they have made in their own lives. Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol. CHECK OUT Http://www.bookreporter.com

MARCH MADNESS

An historical novel by accomplished author Tracy Chevalier is part of this month's new releases. Reviews have been excellent. Spotlighted below are other releases, all recipients of glowing reviews.

 

I'm halfway through A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara..only 400 pages to go..and what a read!!! Exhausting, hypnotic, and heartwrenching.....but in a good way!

AT THE EDGE OF THE ORCHARD by Tracy Chevalier (Historical Fiction)

In the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio, James and Sadie Goodenough and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle.

All Things Cease to Appear By Elizabeth Brundage This riveting literary thriller opens on a snowy night in small-town Chosen, New York, when art history professor George Clare finds his wife murdered at home. Or does he? A local police officer is convinced that Clare committed the crime, but a lengthy investigation that turns up many unseemly details fails to solve the case. Brundage masterfully switches between characters and viewpoints as she traces the threads of the story to its chilling denouement.

Under the Influence   by Joyce Maynard (Fiction) I always like Joyce Maynard’s writing and find her books to be compelling --- and memorable --- reads. In UNDER THE INFLUENCE, Helen’s life has unraveled due to her excessive drinking. Her marriage has fallen apart, and she has lost custody of her seven-year-old son, Ollie. Her career as a photographer is on the skids like the rest of her life. Then she meets Ava and Swift Havilland, who are wealthy and connected philanthropists, and becomes swept up in their “fabulous” world. They embrace Helen and Ollie, who quickly become like extended family. Also new to Helen’s world is Elliott, a serious man who is an accountant and gives balance --- not excitement --- to Helen’s life. He’s solid and dependable, something that has been alien to her for a long time. But the Havillands dismiss him as neither fabulous nor exciting enough. The story comes to a crescendo when Ollie witnesses an accident, and the ramifications of it unravel the world that has been carefully built around Helen.  Thanks Bookreporter.com and Buzzfeed.com

NEW AND WORTH NOTING (FEBRUARY 2016)

I'm almost done with MARRIAGE OF OPPOSITES by Alice Hoffman...a good read but enough already...way too drawn out ...

The following books have received great reviews and several blog readers gave them a thumbs up..

Bookreporter.com labeled them "ones to watch."...

THE GIRL IN THE RED COAT by Kate Hamer (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by Antonia Beamish

Newly single mom Beth worries that her eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, who has a tendency to wander off, will one day go missing. And then it happens: The two get separated at a local outdoor festival, and Carmel vanishes. Beth sets herself on the grim and lonely mission to find her daughter. Carmel, meanwhile, is on a strange and harrowing journey of her own --- to a totally unexpected place that requires her to live by her wits, while trying desperately to keep in her head a vision of her mother.

WHY WE CAME TO THE CITY by Kristopher Jansma (Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

Five years after their college graduation, five devoted friends remain as inseparable as ever. Amid cheerful revelry and free-flowing champagne at a posh holiday party, they toast themselves and the new year ahead --- a year that holds many surprises in store. They must navigate ever-shifting relationships with New York City and with one another, determined to push onward in pursuit of their precarious dreams. And when a devastating blow brings their momentum to a halt, the group is forced to reexamine their aspirations and chart new paths through unexpected losses. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

THE POISON ARTIST (FEBRUARY 2016)

If Stephen King recommends this thriller it must be good...Right?!? Actually it sounds like a welcome departure from a lot of the disappointing books I've been reading. Critics called The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore "a unique and fast paced psychological thriller that keeps the reader guessing right up to the end."  At the very least, it belongs on my super long TBR LIST.......

Here's what Bookish.com said....

The Poison Artist

Stephen King called this thriller by Jonathan Moore“terrifying,” so consider yourself warned. Toxicologist Caleb Maddox is not having a good night. His girlfriend threw a glass tumbler at his head during a fight that effectively ended their relationship. He’s nursing his wounds (literally and figuratively) at a bar when he catches sight of a mysterious woman named Emmeline. They talk in hushed and seductive tones, but she leaves before he can find out more about her. But when he goes to search for her the next day, he gets caught up in the hunt for a murderer who is using poison to kill. As he hunts for both the serial killer and the seductress, Caleb’s world begins to unravel.

CASE DISMISSED (JANUARY 2016)

What happened? I could barely endure three chapters of Grisham's newest book....tedious, predictable, and just plain uninteresting....Maybe it's me....but maybe it's him!!! The verdict is in...this book is guilty of blandness and sentenced to ho-humsville.

ROGUE LAWYER By John Grisham

“There are plenty of people who’d like to kill me right now,” grumbles Sebastian Rudd, the rogue lawyer in question. He carries a gun, works out of his car, and sleeps in a different hotel room every week, precisely because he runs up against so many bad guys who mean him harm. Some of them are cops. Why? Because Sebastian, though jaded and cynical, as literary lawyers are required to be, apparently still believes in justice, for which reason, accompanied by a bodyguard named Partner (“a hulking, heavily armed guy who wears black suits and takes me everywhere”), he finds himself in a podunk burg where a client is fighting for his life against the charge that he’s brutally murdered two little girls in a spectacularly gruesome crime. 

Natch, spectacular gruesomeness being another sine qua non for the bestselling crime novel. Indirection and misdirection abound, with lots of talky exposition, the requisite maverick-y norm-flouting (“At this precise moment, I am violating the rules of ethics and perhaps a criminal statute as well”), and the usual sarcastic world-weariness (“The jurors don’t believe any of this because they have known for some time that Gardy was a member of a satanic cult with a history of sexual perversion”). 

All this is to be expected in a genre bound by convention as tightly as our perp bound the ankles of his victims, but the reader can see most of the mystery coming from a long way off, making the yarn less effective than most. And the clichés pile on a bit too thickly, from the large-breasted moll to the bored judge who dozes at the bench.

One wonders if Grisham weren’t sleeping through some of this as well. Whatever the case, one of his lesser cases.

Kirkus.com

BACK TO REALITY (JANUARY 2016)

I just returned from fourteen days basking in the warmth of the Caribbean. I planned to do a lot of reading but was mostly distracted by fabulous surroundings, family, food, cocktails and lots of  memorable moments! 

When I finally focused (Thankyou Xanax), I finished Sue Grafton's X which was okay...Started The Turner House, a National Book Award nominee which was fair...and finished Mayoumi and the Sea of Happiness, a sensual, depressing, beautifully written romp...which did hold my interest! (New author Jennifer Tseng is one to watch....)

So here's what's coming out January 5th according to www.bookreporter.com

You can pre-order now directly from this blog. Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar.

AFTER THE CRASH by Michel Bussi (Psychological Thriller/Mystery) A night flight from Istanbul bound for Paris, filled with 169 holiday travelers, plummets into the Swiss Alps. The sole survivor is a three-month-old girl who is thrown from the plane onto the snowy mountainside before fire rages through the aircraft. But two infants were on board. Is the miracle baby Lyse-Rose or Emilie? Both families step forward to claim the child...one poor, one wealthy and dangerous... THE GUEST ROOM by Chris Bohjalian (Fiction) When Kristin Chapman agrees to let her husband, Richard, host his brother’s bachelor party, she expects a certain amount of debauchery. What she does not expect is this: bacchanalian drunkenness, her husband sharing a dangerously intimate moment in the guest room, and two women stabbing and killing their Russian bodyguards before driving off into the night. In the aftermath, Kristin and Richard’s life rapidly spirals into nightmare. THE GEOGRAPHY OF GENIUS: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places, from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley by Eric Weiner (Travel/Memoir) In THE GEOGRAPHY OF GENIUS, acclaimed travel writer Eric Weiner sets out to examine the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas. He explores the history of places --- like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou and Silicon Valley --- to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. And he walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo and Leonardo remains.

FROM A TO X (DECEMBER 2015)

This is the season that focuses on family, food, friendship and celebration. Speaking of food, If you can compare a book to comfort food, my "go to" author is Sue Grafton. I know some will turn their noses up, but I'm not ashamed to say I love her books. I've read them all and am currently in the middle of  "X" which is her latest and her most chilling mystery. By the way, for you doubters, this best selling author is no slouch... She's the recipient of many awards worldwide and probably one of the most successful authors of detective novels today.

So if you're looking for an engaging read, a homespun feel good mystery, pick up any of her books...from A to her newest X...( Known as the alphabet series)

She bends the rules of her genre and you reap the benefits.....(and these books make great gifts!!)

ORDER NOW ...Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO IS ALIVE AND WELL (SEPTEMBER 2015)

I have read all of Steig Larsson's books and am elated to hear that author David Lagercrantz is continuing the Larsson legacy.  Charismatic character Mikael Blomkvist remains the prominent force along with Lisbeth Salander. Lagercrantz has created a thriller almost as good as the original trilogy. Joe Hartlaub reviews The Girl In the Spider's Web in the latest Bookreporter.com....

THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB: A Lisbeth Salander Novel by David Lagercrantz (Thriller) Late one night, Mikael Blomkvist receives a phone call from a source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female superhacker --- a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering. Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Lisbeth Salander for help. The secret they are both chasing is at the center of a tangled web of spies, cybercriminals and governments around the world, and someone is prepared to kill to protect it. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub. Recently Andrea D, a friend and blog reader mentioned a new book by Linda Hirshman. The clever title caught my attention (It was easy to remember which is a huge plus! ) and a biography of these two judges seemed like a formula for a best seller...and indeed it will be.  However, the reviewer had some disparaging comments which caused some reflection...See what you think.... The following review is from www.bookreporter.com SISTERS IN LAW: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World by Linda Hirshman (Biography) The relationship between Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg transcends party, religion, region and culture. Strengthened by each other’s presence, these groundbreaking judges, the first and second to serve on the highest court in the land, have transformed the Constitution and America itself, making it a more equal place for all women. Linda Hirshman’s dual biography includes revealing stories of how these trailblazers fought for their own recognition in a male-dominated profession. Reviewed by Maya Gittelman.

SUMMER READS (MAY 2015)

Summer is almost here and with its approach comes a selection of books that I'm anxious to read and share. Publisher's Weekly, a trade news magazine compiles a list that usually includes a wide range of choices. Below are some of the new titles....

"Summer is a time to catch up with old friends, like Stephen King, whose Finders Keepers, a new crime fiction novel, follows last summer's  Mr Mercedes. Harper Lee's second book, Go Set a Watchman, arrives after 55 years with all the usual suspects from her eternal blockbuster; and Judy Blume tackles the early 50s with In the Unlikely Event, her first adult novel since 1998. Things that go bump in the night are always fitting summer fare and The Decagon House Murders, a Japanese mystery by Yukito Ayatsuji fills the bill."

Here's a few reviews.....

All That Followed

Gabriel Urza 

A foreign setting that's just exotic enough (the Basque region of Spain), a terrible crime (kidnapping and murder), a small town with complicated history and delicious superstitions (fear of la Cerda, a woman who was burned to death in afurnace as a witch during the Spanish Inquisition for holding gatherings where young girls cavorted with the Devil), and a beautiful widow are just some of the elements that make this intriguing literary debut a book to while away a summer afternoon with. The narrator is an American who has lived in the village for 50 years but acknowledges that he "would always be considered a foreigner here, a visitor passing through." Aren't we all? –

Finders Keepers

Stephen King (Scribner)

I'm a huge fan of Stephen King's high-concept fiction, and last summer while sitting in the airport waiting to leave the American Library Association Annual Conference in Vegas, I read a review of Mr. Mercedes (which had just come out) that described it as a crime novel with the desperation of Under the Dome. I went to the airport's bookstore and picked it up, finished it in a couple days, and spent the rest of the summer reading crime fiction. I'm really excited to kick off another summer of crime fiction with the Mr. Mercedes follow-up. —Seth Dellon, digital business manager

• Read the Full Review & Buy the Book

NOT TO BE MISSED (MAY 2015)

I like a Daviid Baldacci thriller once in a while. He's a blockbuster author and his newest, MEMORY MAN will stay with you long after the turn of the final page....reviewers say. Now he introduces an original, unique character, a man with a perfect memory....if I can remember, it's going on my TBR List.

Another new one, ORHAN'S INHERITANCE, a first novel by Aline Ohanesian is based on a powerful story told by her grandmother. The story was told only once to nine year old Ohanesian and never mentioned again to any family members. Years later it became the inspiration for this novel.

MEMORY MAN by David Baldacci (Thriller) Amos Decker returned from a stakeout one evening and entered a nightmare --- his wife, young daughter and brother-in-law had been murdered. His family destroyed, their killer's identity as mysterious as the motive behind the crime, and unable to forget a single detail from that horrible night, Decker finds his world collapsing around him. But over a year later, a man turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders. Decker must endure the memories he would much rather forget --- and may have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Rev ORHAN'S INHERITANCE by Aline Ohanesian (Fiction) When Orhan’s brilliant and eccentric grandfather is found dead in a vat of dye, Orhan inherits his decades-old business. Kemal has left the family estate to a stranger thousands of miles away, an aging woman in a retirement home in Los Angeles. Intent on righting this injustice, Orhan boards a plane to LA. There he will unearth a powerful and unforgettable story. Check out www.bookreprter.com for more reviews.

MY LATEST READ (April 2015)

I wish I liked THE POCKET WIFE more than I did... I was looking for a stylish thriller with lots of intrigue and not too many side plots. I got what I deserved. It's stylish, not too compelling and brimming with frenetic, unlikeable characters. I'm halfway through and look forward to a predictable ending... Take THE POCKET WIFE on vacation....or on any trip...one way.

THE POCKET WIFE by Susan Crawford (Psychological Thriller)
Dana Catrell is shocked when her neighbor, Celia, is brutally murdered. To Dana’s horror, she was the last person to see Celia alive. Suffering from mania, the result of her bipolar disorder, she has troubling holes in her memory, including what happened on the afternoon of Celia’s death.

Her husband’s odd behavior and the probing of Detective Jack Moss create further complications as she searches for answers. The closer she comes to piecing together the shards of her broken memory, the more Dana falls apart. Is there a murderer lurking inside her...or is there one out there in the shadows of reality, waiting to strike again?

Here's a new one by mystery writer Harlan Coben....

THE STRANGER by Harlan Coben (Thriller) The Stranger appears out of nowhere. His identity is unknown, and his motives are unclear. But his information is undeniable. He whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world. Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream. Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all.

Books can be purchased directly from this blog. Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar.

KEEP YOUR HEAD ABOVE WATER (FEBRUARY 2015)

 

Have you overdosed on Ludlum and Forsythe? Then give Zander your full attention. THE SWIMMER is fast paced with a strong female lead character. The book takes you to Brussels, to Stockholm, to Paris leaving the reader breathless and wanting more. After Steig Larsson, watch out for this new voice in Scandinavian crime fiction, Joakim Zander.....

THE SWIMMER by Joakim Zander

Klara Walldeen, orphaned as a child and brought up by her grandparents on a remote Swedish archipelago, is now a political aide in Brussels. And she has just seen something she shouldn’t: something people will kill to keep hidden. 

On the other side of the world, an old spy hides from his past. Once, he was a man of action: so dedicated to the cause that he abandoned his baby daughter to keep his cover. Now the only thing he lives for is swimming in the local pool. 

Then, on Christmas eve, Klara is thrown into a terrifying chase through Europe. Only the Swimmer can save her. But time is running out... 

Don't miss this debut novel....Order now directly from this blog. Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar.

THE THREE M's (February 2015)

Who doesn't like a good psychological thriller...with emphasis on the good?  Reviewers are labeling THE POCKET WIFE a compelling novel of "intrigue and white knuckle pacing."  You've got a multitude of M's in this one...murder, marriage and madness...sounds like a must-read...or at least a maybe-read! Mmmmm, probably a Maybe..... THE POCKET WIFE by Susan Crawford

Dana Catrell is shocked when her neighbor Celia is brutally murdered. To Dana’s horror, she was the last person to see Celia alive. Suffering from mania, the result of her bipolar disorder, she has troubling holes in her memory, including what happened on the afternoon of Celia’s death. Her husband’s odd behavior and the probing of Detective Jack Moss create further complications as she searches for answers. The closer she comes to piecing together the shards of her broken memory, the more Dana falls apart. Is there a murderer lurking inside her...or is there one out there in the shadows of reality, waiting to strike again? Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar and quickly order this book!

TIME FOR A THRILL (JANUARY 2015)

Who doesn't need a thrill once in awhile and nothing like a good thriller to fill the need...The Girl on the TRAIN received glowing reviews by two blog readers..."Glowing" may be a little excessive...but I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my blog, so I'll take their word for it...See what you think....

Here's a brief summary from Book Page...

The Girl on the Train By Paula Hawkins THRILLER Since the blockbuster success of Gillian Flynn's 2012 thriller, contenders for the title of "the next  Gone Girl have been plentiful. Our choice for the winner is this cleverly constructed and relentlessly suspenseful story of a commuter who catches daily glimpses of a "perfect, golden couple" whose Victorian home adjoins the railroad tracks. When their lives take a dramatic turn for the worse one night, readers won't know who—or what—to believe about what really happened. To order click on the Amazon Search Box in the blog sidebar.

MORE WHAT ELSE IS NEW....(NOVEMBER 2014)

I just started US by David Nicholls and so far it's a mish-mash of humor, angst and drama. US was  long listed for the Mann Booker Prize, the main reason I decided to read it. The characters are annoying, but the humor is making them tolerable. I'm hoping things improve on many levels...except for the unusal writing style and format, both engaging...the only reasons I haven't totally abandoned this book.

US by David Nicholls (Fiction) Douglas and Connie live more or less happily in the suburbs of London with their moody 17-year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells Douglas she thinks she wants a divorce. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie had planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family. Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in their marriage and might even help him to bond with Albie. That remains to be seen..... Blog readers have been recommending MY SISTER'S GRAVE by Robert Dugoni, labeling it an intriguing and exciting thriller...So if you're in the mood for a Grisham-like book, this is a good choice. Here's what Bookreporter.com had to say..... MY SISTER'S GRAVE by Robert Dugoni (Mystery/Thriller) I have been a longtime fan of Robert Dugoni, and his talent has only improved with time. MY SISTER’S GRAVE has everything: terrific plotting, well-drawn characters and solid writing. It’s a cross between a legal thriller and a police procedural. While reading it, I was dropped into a zone with a fast-paced story that grabbed me and wrapped me up in the adventure and storyline. In it, Tracy Crosswhite is a Seattle homicide detective who is convinced that the man who was convicted of murdering her sister, Sarah, is not the right person. When Sarah’s remains are found in a lake bed 20 years after her death, Tracy’s theory becomes more sound. Her childhood friend collaborates with her to take a fresh look at the crime, and the action ramps up fast....   Remember to order books directly from this blog. Click on the Amazon Search Box in the Sidebar.