MURDER-GO-ROUND: REVIEWS BY HARRIET KLAUSNER
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Harriet Klausner, was chosen the number
one reader in the entire USA by BOOK Magazine. What does that mean
to you? She reads constantly and knows what's out there and wants
to let you know, too. Read on for tips to great books from the wonder
reader Harriet Klausner. |
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June 2010
The Burning Wire
Jeffrey Deaver
Simon & Schuster, Jun 1 2010, $26.99
ISBN: 9781439156339
Police consultant and criminologist Lincoln Rhyme is a quadriplegic who uses his partner in life and work Amelia Sachs as his field eyes and ears. As a team they have solved more cases than healthy cops. His biggest issue is boredom, which is the state he is in right now; wishing he was in Mexico City where his nemesis Richard “Watchmaker” Logan is giving authorities a merry chase.
Rhyme’s ennui ends when he asks to consult on another case. A substation of Algonquin Consolidated Power and Light goes off line and the computer tries to get it running by diverting power from other locales. When another substation goes black, power is diverted to the original substation that went off line. That happens several times until a wire hanging out of a substation hits a bus destroying it and killing a passenger. This was an act of sabotage and it happens two more times. With the evidence so far gathered, Lincoln thinks a disgruntled employee performed the deed as the culprit is able to control substations. HSD and FBI believe terrorists are at work due to the electronic tech they find. When Lincoln reaches the end game, he realties how wrong he has been, but has no time to wallow as he must find a way to rectify his mistake.
Series fan will want to read Rhyme’s latest police procedural because he allows the audience to get close and personal with his inner most feelings; as he must decide between euthanasia, experimental surgery or the status quo. The mystery is cleverly executed and the suspense remains high throughout with the enthralled audience consistently kept off guard. The Burning Wire is Lincoln at his most complete best.
Harriet Klausner
Fade to Midnight
Shannon McKenna
Kensington Brava, Jun 1 2010, $20.95
ISBN 9780758228659
For almost two decades, everyone who knew Kevin McCloud had thought he was dead. Even his three brothers have all but given up hope. However, instead of dying he suffered a traumatic injury from being tortured that included total amnesia.
Preventing a drowning leads him to emergency brain surgery. As a consequence, his memory has recently started to return. Kevin Larson is the name Kevin McCloud has used since the brutal torturous beating. He begins to piece back what happened to him eighteen years ago and before. He recalls the mind control work of insane scientist Christopher Osterman, but has not figured out his link. He learns the man is dead, but his associates try to draw Kevin back into their evil mind controlling scheme. As he struggles to remember he meets graphic novelist Edie Parrish at her book signing. She has a past with Osterman and McCloud, as she is convinced the former is the supervillain and the latter the superhero prototypes of her graphic novels.
The latest McCloud brother action-packed thriller is character driven by Kevin whose memory recall triggers the story line. Fast-paced from start to finish with intriguing unexpected twists, Fade to Midnight is a strong McCloud entry that series fans will relish. However, new readers will find references difficult to assimilate so should peruse the previous tales in the saga (see Edge of Midnight, Behind Closed Doors and Standing in the Shadows)
Harriet Klausner
Whiplash
Catherine Coulter
Putnam, Jun 15 2010, $26.95
ISBN: 9780399156533
Yale Professor Edward Kender has colon cancer in which the drug Culovort he receives as part of his treatment seems to be working when he is informed production by German firm Schiffer Hartwin is nonexistent. Stunned he assumes the pharmaceutical industry is playing death squad to drum up profits. He hires private investigator Erin Pulaski to make an inquiry into the firm. She breaks in and enters the head office of the American subsidiary in Stone Bridge, Connecticut in order to hack into the files of the local CEO Caskie Royal. She finds info on plans to stop the Cartwright Labs in Bartonville, Missouri from manufacturing the drug; as well as stopping it in Spain in favor of a French firm Laboratories Anconder’s drug Eloxium. However, Royal and production manager Carla Alvarez arrive and discuss what they are doing with the firm and then have sex..
The next day she learns that the firm’s troubleshooter was murdered near where she downloaded computer data that made no sense to her. Meanwhile, the FBI sends married couple Agents Sherlock and Savich to Stone Bridge to assist FBI agent Bowie Richards with the homicide. They begin to find troubles with the pharmaceutical company while Pulaski wonders what to do with her illegal download; Pulaski becomes their prime suspect. Savich also investigates the poisoning of a lobbyist whose real target may have been aimed at a US Senator.
This is a great timely entry in the long running S&S FBI police procedural series due to the pharmaceutical connection as much as the freshness brought forth by Richards and more so by Erin who knows her B&E was stupid but felt strongly that they needed to expose true death squad bottom lines. Fast-paced from the onset, the second case takes somewhat of a back seat though it is well written and quite exciting too. Fans of the series will relish this strong entry while newcomers will find Whiplash a winner too.
Harriet Klausner
Supreme Justice
Phillip Margolin
Harper, May 18 2010, $25.99
ISBN 9780061926518
In Oregon, former cop Sarah Woodruff is on death row having been convicted of killing her lover, John Finley. Her appeals are running out with her last chance being the Supreme Court. Her lawyer has filed the papers to get a delay and a hearing.
However, there are those who do not want her plea to go before the highest court because most likely criminal activity inside the CIA will be revealed. A vacancy enables the behind scenes operatives to reject her request for a hearing. However, to anchor this position, the assassination of a justice is ordered. Private investigator Dana Cutler and law clerk Brad Miller are in the middle of preventing a Beltway murder from happening.
The latest Cutler-Miller DC thriller (see Executive Privilege) is an ultra fast-paced tale that hooks the audience with a need to know the identity of the conspirator(s) as another Oregon death row case has ties across the country. Although much of the cast, especially the DC crowd is stereotyped out of headlines news, readers will appreciate the latest Oregonian-Beltway hook up. A Pacific Northwest private investigator and legal clerk try to prevent a travesty orchestrated on the other side of the country from happening.
Harriet Klausner
The Templar Knight
Jan Guillou
Harper, May 4 2010, $25.99
ISBN: 9780061688577
In Anno Domini 1167, teenage Swedish knight Arn Magnusson was forced into joining the Knights Templar as they marched on The Road to Jerusalem; he left behind his beloved betrothed Cecilia unaware of her pregnancy and eventual exile to a convent on Gotaland. Now a decade later in the hot summer of what the Faithful call 575 after Hijra, Arn remains with the Knights Templar in the Holy Land but has moved up the ranks to become master of the fortress at Gaza.
Over the next few years he survives the battles with the Saracens and respects their shrewd strategic Sultan Saladin. Meanwhile, Cecilia misses her beloved Arn and their son who is raised by others as she remains incarcerated at a convent run by an abbess who loathes her for being a member of a rival clan. Following the bloody battle of Hattin in AD 1187, Arn’s twenty year commitment finally is over and he is free to go home, but fears what he will find there as he prays Cecilia is still his.
The second tale of the Crusades Trilogy is an excellent historical epic that grips the audience from the onset and maintains that hold as a decade swings by. Fast-paced and filled with plenty of action, readers will feel they are part of Arn’s command as Jan Guillou brings the twelfth century crusades to life.
Harriet Klausner
Broken
Karin Slaughter
Delacorte, Jun 22 2010, $26.00
ISBN: 9780385341974
Four years ago, in Heartsdale, Grant County’s popular police chief Tolliver was murdered; the case remains unsolved. His widow Dr. Sara Linton was the county coroner and ran a children’s clinic, but left after her spouse died. She is back in town visiting her family on Thanksgiving yet is still thirsting for her husband’s homicide to be resolved although she is positive that Officer Lena Adams is at the center of her husband’s homicide.
At the same time, Special Agent Will Trent is also in Grant County to investigate a questionable death of a prisoner. Not surprising, he finds the local police officers circling the wagons protecting each other from the intruder. Will concludes that Police Officer Lena Adams is concealing something, but is not sure what or why. As he struggles with the uncooperative cops, he is taken aback when Dr. Linton asks him to look into her husband’s murder, a cold case. Trent is being pulled by two women in opposite directions of the Blue Line that keeps him outside in spite of being law enforcement too.
This is an intriguing Grant County thriller (see Faithless, Undone and Blindsided) as Will instead of Sara holds the story line together with two females yanking him in opposite directions. The insightful look at the learning disorder agraphia augments the taut tale as it showcases how an individual learns to conceal a problem with some form of over compensation. In a starring role, Will brings freshness to the plot as he investigates two deaths that cast the Grants County Police Office in a shroud of darkness.
Harriet Klausner
Death Echo
Elizabeth Lowell
Morrow, Jun 8 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780061629754
She left her field CIA work for what she assumed would be a much safer position. Thus former agent Emma Cross now works at St. Kilda Consulting in what has to be an easier job than being caught in the crossfire of tribal combat as she previously was.
St. Kilda looks into a simple incident of a vanished yacht the Black Swan that probably was stolen. The mission is to get on board the Black Swan’s identical twin Blackbird as the insurance company thinks the second vessel is actually the missing ship. Emma and former special op officer Mackenzie Durand are in charge of the assignment. He trusts no one as he believes the CIA betrayed his team on a dangerous mission five years ago in which he was the only survivor. In spite of his attraction to his partner, he prefers going alone as no one has his back. Still as he takes control of the Blackbird, Emma must overcome her instincts of also distrusting everyone if she is to learn what is going on; neither expected to fall in love or be back in the CIA’s deadly outreach.
Death Echo is an action-packed romantic suspense espionage thriller that remains at an incredibly high speed yet enables the audience to understand what motivates the powerful distrust in the two lead characters. That pairing of two classic misanthropic skeptics whose similar pasts come back full throttle makes for a taut St. Kilda thriller (see Blue Smoke and Murder, and The Wrong Hostage).
Harriet Klausner
Insatiable
Meg Cabot
Morrow, Jun 8 2010, $22.99
ISBN: 9780061735066
In New York, Meena Harker writes scripts for the soap opera Insatiable. She enjoys her work and is diligent with hopes to obtain a promotion. However, she is hurt when the boss selects Shoshona Metzenbaum the 00 sized treadmill walker with family connections like super director aunt and uncle for the position. Things get even worse when Shoshona directs Meena to write a vampire storyline for the TV show. Having the “gift” of sight that enables her to see who will shortly die; Meena detests the vampire craze and especially loathes her soap following the parade not leading it.
In the apartment building where she lives with her brother and Jack the dog Meena meets Romanian Prince Lucien, who is visiting neighbors. She likes the fact that for the first time she has encountered a person whose death she cannot foresee. However as she falls in love with the sophisticated East European Meena is unaware of why she fails to be able to foresee his death; the reason being he is dead as befitting the offspring of Dracula and is in town due to his being the ruler of the vampire community.
This is a jocular tongue in cheek urban fantasy romance that takes a bite out of the sensual vampire craze. Closer to George Hamilton than Bella Lugosi or Christopher Lee, Insatiable is an amusing lampooning of the craze that those who would dine on us care about us as equals not cattle. Although at times the verbiage turns verbose as if Meg Cabot targets the Princess Diaries crowd rather than the older audience this story line is fun and readers will enjoy her humorous Love At First Bite romantic comedic satire.
Harriet Klausner
Reel Murder
Mary Kennedy
Obsidian, Jun 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451230843
Maggie gave up her well paying private practice as a clinical psychologist in Manhattan to host a radio show On The Couch With Maggie on WYME in Cypress Grove, Florida. Her show is below the bottom rung of the station; under the Swine Report. Most A list guests do not want to travel to the small hamlet, but a movie is coming to town thanks to director Hank Watson and Maggie’s mother Lola Watson has a role.
The producer of Maggie’s show thinks her ratings will jump if she gets the movie stars to come on the air with her. Maggie agrees to try to obtain interviews and learn what gossip is being tossed about. Hank asks Maggie to be a forensic consultant and she agrees as she can use the fee he offers her. Trouble occurs when someone shoots and kills the star Adriana St. James using a prop gun. Maggie investigates and learns that the actress was universally hated by all. Meanwhile someone does not like Maggie’s sleuthing and sends her warning notes to back off or else. She is fortunate not to get killed when a prop light falls on the chair she just vacated and her mother is lured into an empty warehouse where she is almost is killed. Neither the sexy police detective or Maggie knows who the killer is, but the perp plans to keep it that way even if a second victim is needed.
The latest “Talk Radio” amateur sleuth (see Dead Air) is an amusing mystery with quirky characters and several suspects with powerful motives. Occurring on a movie set, intrepid but foolish Maggie investigates and does so in a believable manner befitting a forensic psychologist. Readers will enjoy reading Mary Kennedy’s lighthearted whodunit as the heroine charms readers who will want her to conduct more future inquiries.
Harriet Klausner
Bodily Harm
Robert Dugoni
Touchstone, May 25 2010, $25.00
ISBN: 9781416592969
Seattle attorney David Sloane is on the verge of winning a wrongful death lawsuit against respected pediatrician Dr. Peter Douvalidis when a curve ball upsets his perfect case. Toy designer Kyle Horgan confesses he is culpable in the young child's death.
His position suddenly shaky becomes even more precarious when a second child dies almost identical to how his clients’ offspring died. Dr. Douvalidis had nothing to do with the second pediatric death. Before he can question Horgan, the toymaker vanishes. Former CIA assassin Anthony Stenopolis seeking revenge stalks Sloane, whose reputation as never losing a case is teetering. Before it is too late, Sloane seeks out Stenopolis.
The third Sloane legal thriller (see Jury Master and Wrongful Death) is an enjoyable tale that is superb when the focus is on the unraveling case, but loses some steam in ironically the more action-packed cat and mouse search for the hero’s stalking assassin. Still fast-paced regardless of which subplot takes center stage, readers will appreciate Robert Dugoni’s latest suspense filled novel.
Harriet Klausner
In Shelter Cove
Barbara Freethy
Pocket, May 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439173251
Five years ago, Brianna arrived at Angel's Bay, California to marry Derek Kane. However, not long after they exchanged I do, he was arrested for stealing three paintings from the local museum. He was convicted and sent to prison. Just a few weeks before his release, Derek is dead.
A single mom, Brianna believes she is the only person besides her mother-in-law and the real thief who believes her spouse was innocent. Upon his death, she vowed to uncover the identity of the felon so accompanied by their child Lucas returns to Angel’s Bay and not just for her husband’s funeral. She blames Lucas’ best friend police officer Jason Marlowe for Derek’s conviction as his testimony hung her spouse. Thus when she learns he is her neighbor, she is outraged especially when Lucas seems to worship the cop. Worse she is also attracted to him and stunned by clues that make her believe either Derek did the nefarious deed or Jason set him up to take the fall.
The latest Angel's Bay tale (see Suddenly One Summer) is an exciting romantic suspense with angelic support enhancing the plot. The story line is a classic romantic mystery that has readers and the heroine wondering whether Derek or Jason is the culprit. Although the key characters’ cause seems forced to fit the effect rather than driving the flow, fans will enjoy accompanying the widow as she seeks the truth In Shelter Cove.
Harriet Klausner
The Devil Amongst the Lawyers
Sharyn McCrumb
Dunne, Jun 22 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9780312558161
In 1935, the country remains in the Great depression, but to schoolteacher Erma Morton the economy is the least of her worries. The Pound, Virginia police arrested her for the murder of her father; her mom was also taken in by the cops, but let go as they decide to prosecute Erma only. The national papers send reporters and photographers to cover the story while from Tennessee comes the Johnson City Sleuth teenage reporter Carl Jenkins.
The big shot journalists make it seem as if the townsfolk were against Erma because she is pretty, charming and educated. They write their reports so it reads the way they believe the public (and Mr. Hearst who has cut a deal with the brother of the accused) would want to picture the case. Carl knows he cannot compete in their league so he sends for his twelve years old cousin Nora Bonesteel, who has the “sight”, to see if she can give him the true story.
Based on a true media feeding frenzy, this is a timely super historical mystery in which the reporting supersedes the case. Sharyn McCrumb makes a case that nothing really has changed except the medium used by the journalists who still slant and cherry pick what they report; in this trial of the beautiful attractive heroine who is persecuted by the ignorant locals. Carl lacks confidence and experience so he depends on Nora in her youngest appearance (see The Songcatcher and Ghost Riders). Readers will enjoy this early insightful Ballad.
Harriet Klausner
Dog Blood
David Moody
Dunne, Jun 8 2010, $23.95
ISBN: 9780312532888
The world as we know it no longer exists. The human race is divided into two distinct camps: the Unchanged and the Haters. The latter are people ripped of all social restraints and must kill the Unchanged. Their goal is an Unchanged genocide. The Haters have caused governments to collapse destroying the infrastructure of every nation. They still can think but obsess over killing the Unchanged even family members.
Danny McCoyne is a Hater who hunts the Unchanged without mercy. His goal is to find his daughter Ellis who was taken away from him when he was knocked unconscious after killing his father-in-law. Before he passed out, he saw her and knows she is just like him. The government has relocated the Unchanged inside cities filled with traps like a medieval fortress. Danny falls in with a group that seeks the same destruction as he does. He learns to control his homicidal impulses so he can enter the city because his Ellis is there.
This intelligent apocalyptic chiller is a fantastic horror tale that continues the escapades of the Haters, who are a zombie like humanoids. The species cannot control their basic impulse to slaughter the Unchanged though Danny tries as his love for Ellis supersedes his instinct to kill. Though lacking the cautionary theme of its predecessor, but with the same moody dark atmosphere and a strange flicker of paternal love and hope, Dog Blood is a terrific zombie thriller that affirms David Moody as a strong talent.
Harriet Klausner
The Passage
Justin Cronin
Ballantine, Jun 8 2010, $27.00
ISBN: 9780345504968
Another major hurricane has turned New Orleans and the surrounding gulf into a dead zone. The war on terrorism is failing as the enemy recruits faster than the Americans and their puppeteers can kill them. Other futile fronts leave the only superpower teetering.
In the Amazon rainforest, a miracle has been found; a viral that can turn a good soldier into a Captain America super soldier. Those selected as guinea pigs fail to become Captain America; instead the scientists ignored the side effect of them becoming blood sucking super killers. FEMA declares an emergency and begins warehousing people inside safety zones. America and the world need a superhero before human extinction occurs. In that mode arises thirteen years old shy Amy Harper Bellafonte living in a nunnery. She is mankind’s only hope as places like The Colony find their technological defenses failing with the super monsters chomping outside the gates.
Jumping into the Stoker side of vampire tales, The Passage is a terrific horror thriller that paints a grim futuristic atmosphere. Humans survive behind electronic barriers while the man-made super monsters own the streets. That grim picture controls much of the exciting story line with a neat spin of the heroic John Wayne type being a reticent young teenage “Joan Wayne”. Providing a cautionary underlying theme with a nod to Pogo’s “we have met the enemy and they are us”, Justin Cronin paints a gloomy viral red future; yet with a slight optimism as the Zager and Evans song In the Year 2525 says: “now man’s reign is through but through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight …”
Harriet Klausner
I Am Not A Serial Killer
Dan Wells
Tor, Apr 2010, $9.99
ISBN: 9780765327826
In Clayton, fifteen year old John Wayne Cleaver has helped his mom and his aunt at the family run mortuary for years. He is surrounded by corpses so death means little to him, which makes it difficult for John to sympathize with the mourners.
However, the human predators who cause death fascinate and frighten him. Concerned he may become a serial killer one day as he admires these psychopaths, he sees a shrink and has established rigid rules that he totally adheres to. A loner by nurture, he prefers the dead to the living as they demand nothing as opposed to their relatives demanding miraculous cosmetics. When a sliced up body parts arrive at the mortuary, even John is taken aback. When more carved up corpses are found, John investigates as he wants to meet his first serial killer in person though this also means he bends his rules for the first time.
John holds the tale together as he constantly reminds himself that: “I am not a serial killer” though surrounded by death. He is a captivating unique lead character as is his mom and aunt. Teen-lit fans will relish his mantra and amateur sleuthing, as he investigates while also mindful of not crossing the line.
Harriet Klausner
Never Wave Goodbye
Doug Magee
Touchstone (Simon and Schuster), Jun 1 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9781439153987
Feeling sad but proud that her nine years old daughter Sarah is going to spend two weeks at sleep away camp with her best friend Linda, the distraught mom pays little attention to the vehicle or driver picking up her child. Lena waves goodbye to Sarah and goes inside their home pondering how to get her marriage to David back on track. Soon a second van arrives to pick up Sarah.
By the time the confusion is cleared up, Sarah, Linda and two boys Tommy and Franklin are the victims of a kidnapping. The FBI leads the investigation, but has little to go on. The kidnappers demand one million.
In the woods, one abductor Mr. Everett is with the four frightened kids until he has an accident after a chance encounter with a hiker. The kids are alone struggling to survive. Sarah becomes the de facto leaders of the quartet
Never Wave Goodbye is a high octane suspense wrapped around several related (by the abductions) family dramas. Doug Magee gets inside the hearts and souls of the children and their parents; each sharing in common a fear they will not see one another ever again. Although the clues are obvious so that law enforcement seems inane and to a degree the parents (one can claim trepidation and grief for the latter), readers will relish this gut-wrenching human drama.
Harriet Klausner
Innocent
Scott Turow
Grand Central, May 4 2010, $27.99
ISBN: 9780446562423
Over two decades ago then attorney Rusty Sabich was tried for murder, but though never proven either way was exonerated because the legal system Presumed Innocence. He has since become a Kindle County, Illinois chief appellate judge.
When his mentally shaky wife Barbara dies in bed from apparent natural causes, his prosecuting attorney adversary back when he stood trial and now acting as chief prosecuting attorney Tommy Molto believes he has the SOB this time and goes after him with a vengeance. He encourages his chief deputy, Jim Brand, to go after the sexagenarian judge. Brand is already suspicious of Sabich because Rusty chose to conceal his overly medicated spouse’s death from everyone including their legal scholar emotionally unstable son Nat, for nearly twenty-four hours; enough time for poison to vanish. Rusty has other complicating issues re his election to a higher court, an ethics charge, and his affair with his law clerk Anna Vostic
This entertaining sequel once again explores what is truth and justice as each is relative terms dependent on the mind of the beholder. The story line looks deeps into what motivates Molto and Sabich who interpret the same incident 180 degrees apart. In many ways a psychological thriller rather than just a legal courtroom drama, readers will relish the return engagement as the lead pair are yin and yang burdened with six decades of baggage; as no one is purely Innocent.
Harriet Klausner
Toast Mortem
Claudia Bishop
Berkley, Jun 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780425230282
When her husband Myles the investigator went somewhere in the Middle East on a government assignment, his wife Sarah “Quill” Quilliam-McHale returns to her rooms at the Inn at Hemlock Falls. She is the owner and manager with her half-sister Meg who is also the chef. It is Meg who is upset due to her gourmet meals being ignored as everyone is dining at the La Bonne Goute Cuklinary Arts Academy whose owner Bernard Le Vasque wrote the bestselling cookbook Brilliance in the Kitchen and had a five year run on TV as a master chef.
Bernard is an arrogant peacock who believes he can get away with anything he desires. He asks Meg to work for him, but she in a rage throws a sharp meat cleaver at the pompous chef. Meg is arrested, but get’s out on bail. The sisters steal their rival’s pastry chef Clarissa Sparrow to work at the Inn. Levesque gets even by arranging dirty tricks to drive the innkeepers crazy. When Qull goes the Academy, she finds his murdered corpse. The police find evidence to arrest Clarissa, but her sibling employers believe she is innocent so set out to prove so; even dodging bullets to achieve their goal.
The latest Inn at Hemlock Falls mystery is a fun tale that has a sort of throwback feel to when Quill was not married as Myles is away for most of the exciting purebred amateur sleuth story line. The victim is vile so much so that seemingly everyone at his Academy, even his bookkeeping wife, loathes him; thus suspects abound. Series fans will appreciate the antics of the mom and the chef as they set out to find a killer.
Harriet Klausner
Silent Scream
Karen Rose
Grand Central, Jun 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780446538367
Seven months ago Detective Olivia Sutherland worked “the Red Dress Killer” murder case including extracting body parts (see I Can See You). Like others who worked the gruesome serial killer investigation, she has seen the department psychologist, but that has not helped her with the nightmares and she assumes others suffer from the PTSD too.
One night Olivia and her partner Kane arrive at an arson scene where the remains of a young girl have been found. The two cops seek to determine whether she was part of the arsonist ring or an innocent victim. However also involved is firefighter David Hunter whom she met at her half-sister's wedding; they shared the night of a lifetime thirty months ago, but resided in different cities. Now he has relocated while someone is blackmailing those environmentalists who set the inferno that left a girl dead. Failure to pay means death too.
This is an exciting tense police procedural that hooks the audience with the PTSD aftermath from the Red Dress killer horrific case and never slows down even for the reunion between Sutherland and Hunter. Fast-paced throughout yet readers will feel Olivia’s anguish and determination. However, the key to this terrific investigative tale is solving the case as the killers are in plain sight yet almost impossible to pick them out from a myriad of potential suspects.
Harriet Klausner
A Stranger In the Family
Robert Barnard
Scribner, Jun 8 2010, $24.00
ISBN: 9781439176740
In Glasgow, Scotland, Kit Philipson was raised by professional parents; his mom taught school while his dad, who escaped the Nazis as an infant, was a journalist. He loved both of them and knew they loved him.
However, twentyish Kit is stunned when his dying mom informs him he was adopted; his birth name is Novello. Her comments trigger long lost not quite lucid memories of a nursery and a woman baking as well as strangers taking him away from his apparent biological family. Needing to know the truth, he searches newspaper clippings for Peter Novello. He learns that in 1989 in Sicily, three years old Peter Novello was abducted. Kit deepens his quest to meet his family, but is confused by what he learns as his siblings had no idea he existed or why his biological parents who never left Leeds suddenly went to Sicily on vacation.
This great tale will be on most short lists for suspense thriller of the year as everyman Peter digs deep into his past trying to connect the dots between Leeds, Sicily and Glasgow. The journey is filled with twists as nothing is quite like it seems. Readers will want to join Kit on his quest to discover why from Peter’s biological bloodline.
Harriet Klausner
The Exodus Quest
Will Adams
Grand Central, Apr 29 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780446563208
In Alexandria, Egypt Archeologist Daniel Knox walks in a local market place when he notices what appears to be an ancient earthenware bowl. The teenage vendor insists the artifact was given to him by his friend Daniel Knox and once belonged to Alexander the Great. He is amused by the hawker as everyone claims to be his buddy since The Alexander Cipher case. The lad sets prices based on pure supply and demand of how much he perceives the customer can afford, but refuses to reveal where it was found.
Knox visits his friend Omar Tawfiq who lets him browse through his database. He finds a picture of it, but Omar explains it is not a bowl from Ancient Egypt; instead it is a storage jar lid from Qumran, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Soon that lead takes the excited Knox to a dig led by Reverend Ernest Peterson and his team of theological students who seek a portrait of Christ that Peterson plans to keep. As a murder of a native archeologist occurs, corrupt cops blame Knox while the beleaguered Egyptologist learns in horror from his cell that his partner Gaille Bonnard was abducted near the ruins of Amarna, several hundred miles away.
With a strong ancient historical base, the latest Knox antiquities thriller is a fast-paced over the top of the Sphinx entertaining tale. Readers will enjoy the hero’s hyperactive adventures in which he is a guest of the state, but needs to be in three other places at the same time. First he must rescue himself by proving his innocence, which is difficult to do when you’re in a cell; so that he can second rescue Gaille; and third rescue the artifacts being devastated unmercifully by the Reverend. No caffeine for Knox.
Harriet Klausner
Risk No Secrets
Cindy Gerard
Pocket, May 18 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439153611
As the Baylor Middle School in El Salvador shuts down for vacation time; American expatriate school administrator Sophie Weber notices a mysterious van near her adopted daughter Hope and her tweener’s best friend Lola. The men snatch Lola. Upset, Sophie cannot reach her former husband Hugh who is out of the country working a kidnap retrieval case. Desperate she calls Hugh’s best friend Wyatt Savage of Black Ops, Inc. She explains what happened and he drops everything to help the woman he loves ever since meeting her twelve years ago when he and Hugh attended a language class she gave; she married Hugh instead of him.
Following a deadly incident at the airport in El Salvador, Sophie explains she has been divorced for two years as Hugh has become only interested in money. Wyatt meets Hope and reads the ransom note sent to Sophie demanding $500,000 for the safe return of Hope. He tells Sophie to let the media know Lola is like a daughter to her to keep her safe once the kidnappers learn the wrong girl was taken. Wyatt arranges for his teammates to come to El Salvatore to help him retrieve Lola and to take Hope safely to Argentina. The battle lines are drawn as everyone involved on three sides will Feel The Heat of a Show No Mercy and Take No Prisoners operation.
The fifth Black Ops romantic suspense is an exhilarating thriller starring a lead couple with a strong second chance subplot and a solid support cast to include previous stars and a secondary romance that is not explored deeply but will please readers. The story line is fast-paced with a super twist although the kidnappers are caught unaware that the hero would bring back-up to a key meeting. Fans of the series will appreciate the El Salvatore retrieval.
Harriet Klausner
Grace Under Pressure
Julie Hyzy
Berkley, Jun 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425235218
After years in the big city, Grace Wheaton came home to take care of her dying mother Olivia. After her mother died, Grace remains in the house willed to her while taking in two borders who have become close friends. Grace works as the assistant curator at Marshfield Manor, a place she and her late mom cherish. The estate contains all kinds of artifacts of historical values, a museum, a hotel, and secret passageways.
One day a giant man arrives creating a disturbance that Grace deals with while at the same time in another part of the estate, a brouhaha occurs. Her boss Abe, a close friend of the owner billionaire Bennett Marshfield, is murdered. Grace assumes the job of curator though not formally named even temporarily. Bennett lets her keep it through inertia. Unsatisfied with the pace of the police investigation, Grace starts an inquiry that stuns her with Ponzi schemes, greedy relatives, secret assignations, and an unwanted date with the killer.
Allowing the White House Chef is given a respite, Julie Hyzy opens her newest amateur sleuth with a magnifecent whodunit. Using her curator skills, Grace asks questions and gathers data as she has with her late mom’s missing papers that Olivia described a priceless treasure. Although a map of the overall obviously enormous estate and a room layout of the manor house would help readers know where the actions is, sub-genre fans will thoroughly enjoy the first Manor House mystery.
Harriet Klausner
Play Dead
Meryl Sawyer
Harlequin HQN, May 1 20201, $7.99
ISBN: 9780373774531
Heiress Hayley Fordham is one of the owners of her late parents' Newport Beach surf shop. However she only wants to be an artist not a shopkeeper.
When Hayley is given an opportunity to paint a mural for a hotel in Costa Rica, she leaves California for the Central American nation without telling her family; as she wants them not to interfere. She lends her car and house to an out of town friend in the area. While she is in Central America, her vehicle explodes killing her friend; her grieving family assumes Hayley died. Her stepsisters re-divide the estate while her Aunt Meg asks the son of a family friend, FBI agent Ryan Hollister to investigate her niece’s death. He finds her alive, well and unaware that a killer will come after her once the culprit learns she lives.
Filled with plausible great twists, Play Dead is a terrific romantic suspense starring a potential victim who if she surfaces will remain prey for an unknown adversary and the Fed who detests rich girls but admires the exception he now protects. Readers will be hooked when Hayley’s car explodes only to be deeper engrossed when Ryan intercepts her. Filled with action and plenty of suspects, fans will enjoy the aptly titled Play Dead as Meryl Sawyer provides a strong thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Murder on Lexington Avenue
Victoria Thompson
Berkley, Jun 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9780425234372
Mr. Edward Higginbotham of the Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf Mutes visits businessman and school patron Nehemiah Wooten at the latter’s office. He plans to discuss with Wooten the desires of the man’s pretty sixteen year old daughter Electra, a student at the school; she wants to marry a New York Institute for the Deaf and Dumb teacher Adam Oldham. Higginbotham finds Wooten dead.
Because NYPD Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy has a son who attends the "Lexington School" that Higginbotham runs and the witness asks for him, he is assigned the lead as the brass believes he brings insider information. This proves true as he understands the deep philosophical divide between the rival two schools teaching deaf children. The DS quickly knows the murder weapon is a brass loving cup and learns the deceased is a believer in eugenics as lectured recently by Alexander Graham Bell; as such Wooten opposed two deaf people marrying out of fear they will pass on the hearing flaw to their offspring. However, Malloy makes little progress so when a second homicide in the Wooten family occurs, he hesitantly asks midwife Sarah Brandt, who has helped him on previous Manhattan murder mysteries, to provide him advice.
The latest Gaslight Era murder mystery is a terrific entry that uses the background like references to Bell to set the era while also providing insight into the two predominate education theories of teaching deaf students. The whodunit is complex as Malloy works his investigation assisted by Sarah, but has too many suspects from family, business and school to rule out. Readers will appreciate the latest Victoria Thompson’s historical investigate tale.
Harriet Klausner
Demon Hunts
C.E. Murphy
Luna, Jun 2010, $14.95
ISBN 9780373803149
The Seattle area is terrorized by the Seattle Slaughter, a serial killer who dines on his victims; the latest one Charlie Groleski had his left arm eaten. Half-Cherokee, half-Irish Seattle police detective Joanne Walker fears the culprit is from beyond; perhaps a banshee or a wendigo.
She and her SPD psychic partner Billy Holliday investigates though the Urban Shaman would prefer not to work on the anniversary of her mom's death. However, the return of her mentor lover Coyote gives her hope as they team up to do a soul retrieval on her mom; but she is also afraid as she now realizes she must venture into the dangerous otherworldly Lower and Middle World to rescue the victims and combat the monster on his plane.
Book Five of the Walker Papers (see Walking Dead and Coyote Dreams) is an enjoyable urban fantasy police procedural as fans of the series will welcome back Coyote. Although the Seattle Slaughter fails to terrorize the readers, fans of the saga will appreciate the entry as Joanne’s Superior Morrison seems more adjusted to her paranormal skills and of course the return of Coyote.
Harriet Klausner
Now You See Her
Merline Lovelace
Berkley, May 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425234761
Having time on her hands while waiting for her date to pick her up at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Air Force Future Systems Test Cadre 3 chief Second Lieutenant Samantha Spade runs a test on a new type of goggles. To the shock of the “Techno diva”, the goggles work perfectly. However even more stunning she sees a man in a ski mask holding a gun while stalking some prey.
Sam manages to warn bystanders and especially the apparent victim Sergeant Diane Roth, who runs over the sniper with her SUV. To both women's amazement, the dead culprit is a soldier suffering from PTSD; who served with his chosen victim in Afghanistan. As investigators and the media look into the case and things about Diane surface, Sam fears somehow she made All the Wrong Moves.
The latest Samantha Spade military mystery is an enjoyable investigative tale in which the experimental gizmos and the Air Force bureaucracy enhance the prime plot, Sam’s unofficial inquiry. Fast-paced throughout, readers will enjoy this fine thriller as revelations re media heroine Diane keep popping up, which has Sam digging deeper into why the assassination attempt.
Harriet Klausner
Night of the Living Deed
E. J. Copperman
Berkley, Jun 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425235222
After her divorce from Steven AKA as the Swine, Alison Kirby wants to start over with her nine years old daughter Melissa. She buys a seven bedroom four bath fixer upper beach house and does her own repairs. Her plan is to open up a guest house; sans breakfast. Her project is coming along nicely until a bucket of compound falls on her head; knocking Alison out cold. When she awakens she sees the ghost of Maxie Moline and her bodyguard private detective Paul Harrison.
They both died in the house with the official verdict being a double suicide. Paul insists they never took the sleeping pills that caused their deaths; instead he claims to Alison someone poisoned them. They plead with Alison to look into their contention, but she says no until Maxie's antics drive her crazy so feeling like a victim of emotional erosion she agrees. Alison soon receives threatening emails and phone calls in which she is told they want "it" as she investigates what happened to the ghosts and links that to the threats to her. She finds a suspect, but to prove her belief requires her to employ extraordinary measures as deadlines leave her in a cemetery on Halloween night.
Witty, charming and magical describe the entertaining first Haunted Guest House mystery. The spirits interact with Alison, her daughter and mother as if they are alive; especially moxie Maxie with her antics to blackmail the heroine into investigating her demise. In between home repairs, a very frightened Alison tries to determine who is terrifying her and if the threat is tied to the deaths of her ghostly houseguests. Her trepidation and her relationship with her daughter make for an enjoyable paranormal amateur sleuth tale.
Harriet Klausner
A Killer Plot
Ellery Adams
Berkley, Jun 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425235225
In Oyster Bay, North Carolina the prodigal daughter Olivia Limoges returns but she keeps to herself. Her only outlets of affection are her dog Haviland and her goal is to finish her novel. She is forty, beautiful and rich, but nobody can get past her shell she erected around herself. No one until she meets Camden Ford, a gossip columnist interested in writing a fictional account of the Talbot family concentrating on the rich patriarchal tyrant Dean who wants to build a housing complex in the town.
Something about Camden charms her and makes her agree to mingle with his book group. She joins the Bayside Back Writers and attends their meeting at the cottage near the lighthouse. Olivia is heartbroken when she finds Camden's murdered body in an alley. She vows to find his killers who left haiku on the victim's body. Before the townsfolk can get over the homicide Olivia finds the corpse of Dean Talbot, also murdered. His heir Blake and his sweetheart come to Oyster Bay to obtain approval for the housing project. While Blake and his father's trusted partner Max are trying to win over city council, Olivia investigates. Someone wants her to stop threatening her dog and eventually her.
This Book by the Bay Tarheel amateur sleuth mystery is an enjoyable tale due to the main protagonist who is independent and forceful; she knows what she wants and goes after it, in this case finding Carmden’s killer. The support cast are developed enough to either enhance Olivia’s investigation or her as readers will appreciate the heroine’s often inquiry into who killed her friend and why.
Harriet Klausner
Skein of the Crime
Maggie Sefton
Berkley, Jun 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 978042523438
She used to work at an East Coast CPA firm, but moved to the university town of Fort Connor where she opened up her own consulting service. She comes home one night and opens her patio door to let her Rottweiler Carl in when she sees a young woman nearby. When she speaks to her, the woman fails to respond or react to her surroundings. It is rather quickly that Kelly realizes the college student is very high; she calls 911 and the responders take the female away by ambulance.
A month later Kelly goes to the knitting store in the House of Lampspun to help the proprietor. Also there is Holly, the girl on the porch, who is sober and no longer attends so many parties. A few days later, Kelly hears that Holly died of an overdose near the path to the golf course by Kelly's home. Holly’s boyfriend Tommy, who she was dependent on, is upset and intends to find the seller. His mother begs him not to get involved because he can lose his medical scholarship. Kelly volunteers to snoop and keep Tommy informed. She asks Patty, a party girl, who was friends with Holly, to ask around to find out who was selling. Kelly follows up with each clue Polly provides and her own questioning of others until she concludes that Holly did not die from an accidental overdose; but to prove it remains seemingly out of reach.
The readers will quickly be engaged in Maggie Sefton’s latest amateur sleuth (see Drop Dead Stitch) due to the plight of the college student. Putting aside why Kelly investigates, she conducts a believable inquiry when she asks questions by having someone accompany her when she interviews someone. Enhancing the story line is the deteriorating relationship between Kelly and her boyfriend Steve the architect. Readers will enjoy the latest case as the protagonist knits together the death of a college student.
Harriet Klausner
Set Sail for Murder
R.T. Jordan
Kensington, May 25 2010, $22.00
ISBN: 9780758229397
With the economy in the tank, even former TV stars like Polly Pepper feels the pinch. Her portfolio of investments has dramatically diminished and she will do anything to keep Polly Plantation running. Polly even accepts a show biz reunion with cast mates from the Polly Pepper show on a cruise ship for the Kool Krooz line.
The only major drawback is scene stealer Laura Crawford, who remains the ultimate diva; Polly dislikes the nasty sneak. However, someone else must detest the prima Donna as she is found dead in the spa area; the murder weapon is a sharpened Season Six CD of The Polly Pepper Playhouse DVD collection. With many of those on board having motives including her, Polly fishes for clues to the murderer by eliminating one by one those she deems innocent. When she figures out who the killer is, she fears telling the authorities because they will assume she is crying wolf; her silence leads to the culprit trying to kill her.
Although Polly is in the role like other former stars who once made it but no longer gets parts, she behaves like a diva so that her name remains before the public. Yet she also has a heart of gold which is proven by the way she cared for others. Imbued with a wink and humor especially witty repartee and sexual slapstick, Set Sail for Murder is a delightful lighthearted amateur sleuth.
Harriet Klausner
Hard Magic
Laura Anne Gilman
Luna, May 2010, $14.95
ISBN 9780373803132
Recent college graduate Bonnie Torres joins New York-based Private, Unaffiliated, Private Investigators (PUPIs) a forensic magic investigative firm. She and the other PUPIs practice magical spell-casting as they prepare for their first field case.
The Chicago police ruled that septuagenarian Charles and Patty Reyboern committed vehicular suicide. Their daughter Rose rejects the official determination of the causes of her parents’ deaths as each was healthy, financially secure and liked one another; no motive appears for their killing themselves. She hires PUPIs as she refuses to accept what the cops concluded. Although not ready, the inquiry is assigned to Bonnie and her team. They follow clues some of a magical variety while interviewing friends and family of the deceased. Soon they begin to agree with their client that murder made to look like suicide occurred. As they interrogate suspects, someone uses magic to take out the team, but Bonnie and company survive the spell-casting assaults.
Laura Anne Gilman explains Bonnie was a bit player in the Retrievers saga when she got a starring role in the anthology Unusual Suspects (see Illumination); Hard Magic is her first lead in a novel. She proves capable as the heroine holds the exciting private investigator urban fantasy together. Fast-paced, readers will enjoy the return to the world of the Cosa Nostradamus starring a naïve rookie (total opposite of the Retriever veterans) whose investigation makes for an entertaining magical whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
A Cast-off Coven
Juliet Blackwell
Obsidian, Jun 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451230492
Lily Ivory is a bona fide powerful witch who has made a home for herself in San Francisco as the owner of Aunt Cora's Closet where she sells vintage clothing. She is promised a trunk full of clothing if she exorcises what is scaring the students. They hear ghostly noises and movements at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts. The students and faculty also hear moans and footsteps that a ghost can’t make, but nobody sees anyone walking.
She enters the building believing she is dealing with a ghost and in a sense she is right because someone committed murder at the school decades ago. When she goes to the bell tower she finds the dead body of billionaire businessman Jerry Becker. After the police rope off the murder scene and finish questioning everyone who was in the area, Lily enters the closet where the trunk is. She sees and hears something that makes her realize someone called up a demon but didn't bind it. With each new day, the demon grows stronger. While the police investigate the homicide, the demon targets humans with no defense against its assaults; only Lily stands in the way.
This awesome paranormal mystery stars a terrific heroine who for the first time in her solitary life has friends, a home, a job she loves, and a responsible boyfriend who does not belittle or assault her. The supernatural subplot does not overwhelm the whodunit because there are several human suspects who could be the killer and have summoned the demon. Lily has to figure out if she is dealing with one or two antagonists as either scenario is plausible.
Harriet Klausner
Death Show
Judi McCoy
Obsidian, Jun 1 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451230485
There is nobody quite like professional dog walker Ellie Engleman as she talks to her canines and hears what her four legged friends have to say. It is a gift she hides from people so they will not commit her, but it is a prime reason her business is a success.
One of her paw pals is Lulu the Havanese who is a strong candidate for champion ribbons at the Mid-Atlantic Canine Challenge held at the Javits Convention Center. At the show, Lulu's handler dies. The police arrive with Ellie's boyfriend Detective Sam Ryder as the lead investigator who hopes he can Ellie her from snooping. Before she even learns that the handler's death was probably a homicide, Lulu's owner Mrs. Flora Steinman asks Ellie to be the handler in the competition. After surviving that ordeal, Flora thinks the cops are working too slowly on solving who murdered Arnie Norris, so knowing Ellie has solved some homicides before asks her to investigate. Ellie agrees placing herself in the crosshairs of a killer.
Although the police are unsure whether a homicide occurred, the audience knows from the onset the cause of death. The fascination in the latest Dog Walker Mystery lies with the unknown toxin, the method of delivery and the motive. Readers will enjoy the latest escapades of the heroine who frustrates Sam as she plunges into another amateur sleuth whodunit (see Hounding the Pavement and heir of the Dog) while her dog Rudy and her canine clients add amusing antics to the mix.
Harriet Klausner
Vicious
Kevin O’Brien
Pinnacle, May 25 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780786021369
For over two years in the Seattle area, the “Mama's Boy” kidnapped and killed mothers while the children were left where he kidnapped the mothers and left the child some battered toys. The police never found him and never could explain why he abruptly stopped.
Widow Susan Blanchette whose husband and older son were killed, drives with her four year old boy Matthew to meet her fiancé medical supply salesman Allen Meker in Cullen, Washington. Allen, who adores Susan and cares about her toddler, has a great weekend planned for them. When they reach the place he rented, Susan believes there is a prowler, but Allen sees no one. While at a store, Jordan Prewitt, whose mom was killed by the Mama’s Boy, kidnaps Allen. He intends to torture the man until he confesses he is the serial killer. While Susan searches for Allen, two psychopaths hijack her.
Kevin O’Brien provides an intense, perhaps too emotional, but electrifying thriller. Several characters share the lead including the three above and Jordan’s friend Les while a strong support cast enhance the growing tension. The key to the plot is the reader keeps changing his or her mind as to who the killer is although that is a two edged as at times because needless subplots that adds nothing is applied to trick the audience to go down a sidebar. Still with terrific twists, fans will wonder who the Mama’s Boy serial killer is.
Harriet Klausner
Intercept
Patrick Robinson
Vanguard, May 11 2010, $25.95
www.vanguard.com
ISBN: 9781593155841
The two Western educated childhood friends became al-Qaeda terrorists killing military and civilians until Ibrahim Sharif and Yousaf Mohammed were captured by US Navy SEAL Team 10 in a small village in the Hindu Kush mountain region of Afghan. They were taken to Guantomino Bay where they were held prisoners but refused to cooperate; not even providing their names to the military tribunal.
A few years later, the court system demands habeas corpus applies to the detainees. With Saudi money to buy Epstein’s law firm, the two terrorists and two other cohorts are free. However, neither the law firm nor the terrorists realizes that the CIA and Mossad are tracking them. The quartet plots an act at a school in Connecticut with plans after that to return to the Hindu Kush for further activity against the hated west. Retired Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander Mack Bedford, who led the first sweep that captured the pair, leads another operation against them with deadly force not just authorized but required.
This is an exciting action packed thriller as Bedford returns to active duty to go after the same terrorists he caught the last time he was in Afghanistan. The story line is fast-paced throughout, but also has an accusatory tone blaming liberals and leftists for being soft on terrorism and arguing to keep Gitmo open. These premises ignore that a right wing administration took its eye off al Qaeda and that the courts system has locked away in federal pens some nasty terrorists; none of whom have escaped. Still readers will be hooked from the moment that the espionage agency Intercept the electronic traffic as Bin Laden and the CIA-Mossad agents know the importance of Yousaf and Sharif.
Harriet Klausner
Bullet
Laurell K. Hamilton
Berkley, Jun 2010, $26.95
ISBN: 9780425234334
At the Circus of the Damned, vampire executioner extraordinaire and zombie animator Anita Blake sees her lover St. Louis master vampire Jean-Claude arguing with his second in command Asher. They were once lovers, but Jean-Claude refuses to share his body because he fears how Anita will react. Anita assumed the pair was having sex all along. Richard Zeeman informs her he has reconciled himself to what he is and joins the fun,
They are having fun, when Belle Morte, Jean Claude and Asher's creator interrupts them in a metaphysical astral projection. She has a piece of the Mother of All Darkness, the first vampire in her body which makes her believe she can bind them to her. She is wrong and Padma Master of the Beast tries to break the ties that bind them to each other which will weaken them.. The Vampire Council is determined to destroy the Triumvirate of Richard, Jean-Claude and Anita because they are accumulating so much power they threaten the vampire hierarchy everywhere even the ruling Vampire Council. The Mother wants Anita’s body since she lost her own, but Anita is strong and rejects the Mother and the Council trying to prevent her and her lovers from owning America starting with assassins sent to kill them.
The nineteenth Blake Vampire Hunter urban fantasy is a great entry, which is extraordinary as most of the long running series is excellent. The keys to this terrific tale is so much comes to a head as the vampires and shapeshifter hierarchies fear the Triumvirate and decide to destroy it before it is too late. The fun is trying to discover who are the assassins, spies and enemies in the Mother of All Darkness war. With sedition and a mole inside the Circus to augment the action, fans of the saga will relish this strong thriller as hell is coming to St. Louis.
Harriet Klausner
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