Disruption by Chuck Barrett

Assuming I beat my compadres to the 'send' button today . . . this review represents a bonafide MRB milestone:

Review #1000.

We rejoin Jake Pendleton and his partner, the former AISE agent (Italy's External Intelligence and Security Agency) Francesca Catanzaro who both continue to work for Commonwealth Consultants, a for-hire espionage company that has (mostly) a single client - President Rebecca K. Rudd. 

They are tracking Boris, a hacker of some note. He's a central player in the hack to beat all hacks. 

The whole operation is the brainchild of Qasem Kazemi,

a former General in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who now heads up Tarh Andishan, a cadre of expert hacker-terrorists. His plan is to disrupt (hence the title) a whole bucketload of everyday operations like airports, trains, cell phones, electrical grids, utilities, military and civilian satellites, etc. in order to force the world's attention away from his prime target . . . being a deranged Iranian, you should be able to guess the object of his obsession.

The plan in highly compartmentalized. A slew of world class hackers each has a task. Boris's task is to upload a set of commands, which he is to receive from another hacker that known as The Jew, that will spread via satellite across most of the connected world and trigger other hacks to spread widespread confusion and panic especially Europe, the Far East, and North America.

All is in play and ready for a midnight Halloween execution order from Kazemi. But The Jew has figured out much of what is to transpire and holds the final coding that is to screw with the satellites. Knowing what could happen, The Jew inserts a number of bread crumbs in his code that should lead an expert hacker to the solution and stop the Disruption from being fully executed.

Kazemi captures The Jew and tortures him beyond belief, but The Jew holds out knowing he is a dead man and is willing to die before giving up all the codes, releasing just enough of the codes for some expert out there to decipher his embedded clues . . . and that's turns out to be Commonwealth's own genius hacker George Fontaine.

Jake and Francesca track Boris through DC, but lose him. Just as they lose him, a Commonwealth research lab in Belgium goes up in flames sending both to Europe to chase down a myriad of crisscrossing clues to the whereabouts of Kazemi. Jake and Francesca race through Venice, Rome, Florence, Vienna, Baden-Baden, plus a couple transatlantic crossings, trying to close in on Kazemi while also attempting to find out why the AISE always seems to be right behind them.

Were I the type who awarded stars for books, I'd probably give this 3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars. Of all the characters, my favorite is Commonwealth's own hacker, Fontaine. And while the story is well plotted, paced, and extremely well written, Jake and Francesca are just a touch toooooo good at what they do to be entirely believable. A quality beach read (and seeing as how I read much of this at the beach last week, I think I'm qualified to make such a statement).

One other thing noteworthy in this story is Barrett's use of reasonably current events. Apparently Tarh  Andishan is a real group of Muslim hackers,  the ongoing upheavals in Iran, North Korea-China tensions, ISIS, that Air Malaysia flight that disappeared over the Indian Ocean a couple years ago, and a whole bunch more. Including current events, particularly those that so far have defied explanation (that lost plane plays a huge role in the lead up to events) helps drive the possibility of what's described awfully close to home.

Close enough to start some readers to start building dwellings off the grid and keep a go bag at the ready?

Available October 26, 2016.

ECD

Redemption Road by John Hart

Detective Liz Black has been a police officer in a small North Carolina town (definitely not Mayberry) for thirteen years.  She is currently on paid leave from her job while an investigation takes place of her involvement in the shooting of two brothers who abducted and repeatedly raped a young woman.  Public opinion should be on her side except that the kidnappers/ rapists were shot eighteen times… with precision for maximum pain before they died.  Det. Black has some skeletons in her closet.  She was raped as a teenager but her father who is a pastor, demanded she forgive her attacker and keep the baby.  She chose an abortion, estrangement from her father, and ultimately became a policeman to punish wrong doers.  After the abortion, a police officer named Adrian Wall was the only one to show her kindness and understanding… in part the reason she chose her vocation.

But Wall has problems of his own.  Shortly after Liz joined the police force, Adrian was convicted of murdering a young woman.  Liz was steadfast in her belief in Adrian’s innocence but the evidence landed him in jail.  Now thirteen years later as Liz is serving her leave, Adrian is released from prison and young women begin to die again.

As more of the backstory unfolds, we meet an assortment of troubled characters touched by tragedy and connected to our protagonists in bizarre ways.  Gideon Strange, a fourteen year old boy, tries to shoot Adrian for killing his mother and is shot himself.  This after years of living with an alcoholic father who attempts to drown his grief in cheap whisky.  “Crybaby” Jones the 89 year old reclusive lawyer who represented Adrian, again finds purpose in life through helping Liz.  Liz’s partner, Beckett wants to prove his loyalty to Liz but harbors precarious secrets.  Liz’s unforgiving father, the fire and brimstone minister, doesn’t entirely practice what he preaches.  Channing, the wealthy kidnap victim whose father taught her to handle a gun.  Layer upon layer of previous events tie these characters together in a cleverly woven story of loyalty, betrayal, grief, retribution, and redemption.

While this is my first John Hart book, it certainly is not my last.  He writes a powerful and riveting tale.  No wonder all of his books are New Times best sellers.

Street Legal

Street Legal is Deverell’s sixth novel, written in 1996, and is not one of the Arthur Beauchamp series. I’ve raved about this man’s ability to write crime novels, especially the legal thriller side of that genre, but this one was not his best. You should read Deverell, but don’t start here.

Speeder Cacciati is the operations guy for Billy Sweet, the biggest importer of heroin into Canada, and the local police force is pulling out all stops to catch them, not always staying within legal limits to do so. Mixed into that action was a serial rapist and murderer, as well as the struggles of a criminal defense law firm which is coming apart at the scene due to the marital disharmony of two of the partners. Their clients are fit into the plot lines, one of whom is a multiple personality disorder and another who is a big oaf who writes touching poetry.

For the first time, I’d put Deverell’s novel in the class of “airplane books,” one which might entertain you on a flight from San Diego to Chicago, but which would not keep you from taking a nap. You would not mourn leaving it unfinished on your seat at the end of the flight. Oh well, no one hits a homerun every time.

A Great Reckoning

A Great Reckoning is the 12^th book in Louise Penny’s series about Armand Gamache, nearly all of which have been reviewed favorably at MRB. I had the pleasure of listening to this one on tape as my wife and I took a vacation driving through Oregon and Northern California. In this story, the former Chief of the Surete de Quebec came out of retirement following a near fatal shooting incident to become the Commander of the Surete’s Academy. Under former leadership, the Academy had become horribly corrupt and Gamache was determined to set the Academy on the right course and bring those responsible for its corruption to justice. The plot and subplots were excellent, and as usual, Penny’s supporting characters were very well fleshed out. Her prose is lyrical – showing once again that she is far more than just a crime writer.

There were multiple parallel plots that sometimes intersected with each other. First there was the corruption at the Academy which also meant dealing with students who were being influenced by the corruption, and choosing the right new students. For the new class, Gamache changed the choices of the former Commander, “The Duke” as he liked to be called, and accepted a 20-year-old woman who everyone else thought was inappropriate. Covered with piercings and tattoos, and with a minimal high school academic performance, she didn’t seem to fit the bill. Why would Gamache do that? Why would he bring several of his sworn enemies to the Academy as professors. Then, The Duke was murdered in the strangest of circumstances. Finally, an old orienteering map of the village of Three Pines was found in the walls of the Bistro – what did that have to do with anything?

Penny brought it all together in a fitting conclusion – one which surprised me and one which I did not see coming. As she had done with her prior novels, she used her story lines to give lessons about life. Ms. Penny remains in my power rotation of authors and I’m eager to learn where she takes these characters next.

Shadow Woman

When a protagonist of a series of crime novels gets into a long relationship, you know there’s going to be turmoil. James Bond’s marriage to Tracy didn’t even last the length of one book (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) before she was killed. Harry Bosch, Elvis Cole, Joke Pike, Jack Taylor, John Wells, Scott Harvath, John Rebus – none could sustain a relationship of any length. The two exceptions that come to mind are C.J. Boxx’s Joe Pickett and Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon. But, the marriages of Pickett and Allon were constantly challenged by their dedication to “doing the right thing.” In Shadow Woman, when Thomas Perry had the nerve to allow Jane Whitefield to marry Carey McKinnon, every mystery reader had to be ready for trouble, and Perry does not disappoint.

Carey had already proposed to Jane, and she intended to accept if he could tolerate knowing the way she had led her life. Even if she quit the business of helping people disappear from trouble that was pursuing them, it meant her future life would always be at risk from those were still trying to bring trouble to her former clients. And if her life was at risk, so would be her spouse’s life.

Jane had intended that Pete Hatcher would be her last case, and the story opens in spectacular fashion with her literally making Pete disappear from a magic show in Las Vegas while being followed by his would-be killers. Pete had the goods on an evil casino operation, Pleasure, Inc., and the Board of Directors wanted to terminate his employment contract, permanently. Because the case came to her so quickly and she set up Pete’s disappearance at the last second, Jane didn’t have enough time to teach Pete all that he needed to know in order to stay hidden. By the time she learned that her last client was in trouble, Jane had already accepted Carey’s proposal and had promised to give up her old life. But, she felt honor-bound to go back into the field. And, Pleasure, Inc. had hired the best assassins and trackers possible – so the incredible chase began between Jane and Pete versus Earl Bliss and Linda Thompson.

Perry’s characters are all well-crafted and believable. One does not need to make extra effort to suspend belief in order to enjoy this story. I’ve become a fan and Perry is trying to fight his way into my power rotation – the list of my 10 favorite authors.

The Storykiller by Humfrey Hunter

Three years ago, Jack Winter was an up and coming reporter for The Legend, a notable London daily. He was hot on a story about a schoolgirl who was killed on her way home from school by a hit and run driver. In his digging, he turned up a valuable source in one of the teachers at the girl's school. For weeks, Jack peeled back the onion that was the school. When he thought he'd mined that source for all he could get, he dropped the guy. A week later, the teacher went into the police and confessed. Jack went into a funk because he failed at getting justice for the little girl. When the connection was made public, the girl's mother tracked down Jack and stabbed him repeatedly putting him in the hospital for weeks.

Despite earlier successes, Jack left journalism and became a bit of a public relations guy specializing in getting stories due to hit the press effectively killed, saving his clients considerable embarrassment.  Jack gets a call from an Edward Valentine. One of those stiff upper lip Brits with a ton of 'old' money in his pocket. He hires Jack to get a story killed. Seems a protege of Valentine, Adam Pryor is an MP, a  minister within the current PM's cabinet. One of those politicians to watch. Came up from nothing to become the #2 in an office that controls British international development. Well liked by both sides of the aisle, the public, and the press. Fast track to become Prime Minister one day. Pryor accepted an invitation to speak at Oxford.  After his speech, he retires to a local pub where 2 students throw themselves at him. Prior beds one and forgets to tell he that he is married until the next morning. She ain't happy and threatens to go to the papers. That's were Jack comes in. Convince the girl that's not a good idea.

Hunter's 1st novel opens the curtains that hide the underbelly of politics by pulling them back so we see the extremes that people will go to gain power and the extremes that those who pull the strings of politicians will go to influence policy and line their pockets. While this is a British tale, it's not much of a jump to see Valentine as the George Soros for the Democrats or as the Koch brothers for the Republicans. Or it that's too realistic, just think about House or Cards. If even 1/10th of what's presented here actually occurs in our political system, then we are is some serious trouble.

If your cup of tea is dogged journalists or political intrigue, The Storykiller needs to be on your must-read list.

available September 29, 2016

East Coast Don

The Naming of the Dead

This is the 9^th Ian Rankin novel that’s been reviewed at MRB. We’ve all read his books, so you know Rankin is one of our favorites. However, this particular novel was not Rankin’s best. It was was even darker than the others. The Naming of the Dead, the 16th in the Inspector Rebus series, starts with the unexpected death of Rebus’ younger brother from a stroke. The story also takes place during two real events in 2008, the G8 meeting in Edinburgh and the London bus bombing, both of which Rankin incorporates into the plot and subplots. Meanwhile, Rebus is nearly constantly drunk. He boldly and intentionally antagonizes his bosses who can’t understand why this man doesn’t retire already. But, Rebus has nothing else in his life to retire to, to live for. His main co-conspirator is Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke, who is much younger than Rebus but who has passed him in ranking. Still, everyone knows that he’s the detective who runs the show. This is a complex story with lots of characters, three deaths, and lots of possible suspects. I started this book with excitement, but found myself slogging my way through it. If you’re ready to read Rankin, don’t start here.

An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson

#12 in the ongoing series featuring Absaroka County, Wyoming sheriff Walk Longmire. Full disclosure here: I'm an unapologetic fan of both the books and the TV series now entering its 5th season (premieres Sept 22 on NetFlix). Even going in cold, it's hard for me to think that this will be anything but dang near perfect.

The world's biggest motorcycle rally is warming up in Sturgis, SD. The rally is so big that it spills over into the neighboring Wyoming counties. The sheriff of the border county has a staff of exactly 2 (including him) so he asks Walt to come over for the week to help out. The Cheyenne Nation (aka Henry Standing Bear) joins him not only because they are best friends, but because Henry is a biker of some note having won a hill climb years ago and returns each year to try to recapture his former glory.

For the long drive, they take Henry's Thunderbird convertible (and Walt's dog, sensibly named Dog, who has a pretty good role in this outing). Henry named his T-bird "Lola" (all of Henry's vehicles are named for former girlfriends). Walt's first assignment is to crawl around an accident scene that is in the shadow of Devils Tower (no apostrophe). Guy on a motorcycle was bumped off the road. In the ensuing tumble, the biker suffers a serious head injury and lies in a coma in the closet hospital in Rapid City, SD.

The 911 call came from the daughter of the local business magnate, Bob Nance. He works out of LA but loves the Black Hills where he built himself a massive log home and hosts the annual skeet shoot during the Rally. Politically connected, well liked. Even bought the local sheriff an MRAP (a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected armored personnel vehicle) because the DoD had a few that were unused and on the market.

The rider is part of the Tre Tre Nomads out of Phoenix. Goes by B-way Torres. The victim is in his late 20s and under investigation by a couple undercover ATF agents for running weapons across the border. Good looking young man, half Apache. Son of Lola Wojciechowski.

Yeah, that Lola.

It's been nearly 30 years since Henry and Lola have crossed paths. And she's in town for the Rally driving her red Cadillac convertible. Even in this mob of miscreants, she loans the car and most any possession to anyone in need. And the crushed bike has a red smear on it and the Caddy has fresh scratches on a fender.

Walt is only in town for the week of the Rally. His undersheriff, Vic, flies in as a surprise and stuns all when she enters and wins the skeet shoot, defeating Nance, who is none too happy with the outcome.

The Rally is filled with a number of colorful characters like Billy ThE Kiddo (a former reality show lead who customized bikes), Erik the Viking (biker who wears a Viking helmet), and the Nutter Butter (the local sheriff) all working to make sure that some downright amusing circumstances exercise the muscles that make you smile.

The foundation of the Longmire book series is Walt and it's Walt who has to sort through the various characters, government agents, body guards, bikers, hangers-on, local law enforcement, former girlfriends, and current girlfriend to determine who ran down B-way and why. In most other Longmire books, Walt has to deal with the harsh Wyoming environment and terrain plus the unique traits of the local Cheyenne population both on and off the reservation. This book is a bit of a departure. Johnson continues to reliably present Walt (and Henry and Vic) as characters with their own doubts, flaws, and confidences. In An Obvious Fact, Johnson shows that he is fully comfortable with the characters he has created and his ability to present a compelling mystery while also showing off his lighter side with countless amusing scenarios.

Bottom line: fans of Longmire have another winner on their hands. A winner on all fronts.

ECD

The Good Spy Dies Twice by Mark Hosack

Investigative reporter Jake Boxer and his crew are digging around in nowhere, Russia for information about some bizarre humming sound emanating from a former Soviet military compound. Causes headaches, nausea, migraines, and more but no will acknowledge it. His sound guy tries to sneak into the compound to record the humming but gets caught. Jake is eventually called to come to Moscow and identify a body. His sound man. Claire O’Donnell, his producer, and fiancé of the dead sound engineer, nearly goes off the deep end.

Jake is a mess. In his rush to judgment, he accused Putin of following him and everyone with an umbrella filled with poison in the point for just him. His paranoia caused him to meltdown on camera getting him fired. The biggest online investigative show, Bullseye, was now defunct.

Fast forward three years. In the intervening time, Jake has tried therapy, medication, and any number of alternative treatments for his raging paranoia. About the only good thing to happen is that  Jake and Claire became an item, engaged, and decided to honeymoon at a fabulous ski resort in Alaska. Claire has jettisoned investigative journalism in favor of becoming a travel writer of note. The honeymoon will be a bit of a working holiday for her.

One of his bigger stories before Jake’s meltdown was that of this guy convicted of murder in Texas. The guy never said he didn’t do it, just that he was on a CIA assignment. Texas didn’t like that and put him on death row. While on their honeymoon, they receive a text saying the guy had been put to death. Last words were ‘The good spy dies twice.’

While at this spectacular resort, Claire is off doing interviews for her assignment. Jake is still nutty with paranoia and is sure she is seeing someone else up there. As he chases her around town, he manages to almost catch up with her as she heads up the mountain on the ski lift. He gets on a few chairs behind Claire, who is riding up the hill with some guy who works in the records department of the town. During the ride up, an insignificant bolt shears off, the lift cable suddenly loosens tossing lift riders off their chairs. Dozens are hurt and two are killed - Claire and her partner on the lift. Jake has a few lumbar vertebrae fractured and he is practically chained to a wheelchair.

An accident. That’s the official line. Jake's uncontrolled paranoia goes fully into high gear. But he also returns to the madness that made him the toughest investigative reporter on the planet. So while everyone in town is a potential suspect, he also unearths connections back to when the mountain was part of the early warning net back in the Cold War days as well as a link to the recently executed CIA operative in Texas.

This is the first entry into the Jake Boxer series. I had a bit of a hard time getting into the story because Jake’s paranoia was just so much that I grew increasingly tired of it. The guy was a basket case and he just wasn’t interesting to me. But once I got about a third of the way into the book, the story picked up when Jake pushed his paranoia into the dark and allowed his investigative chops take over. From then on, the story became more pretty dang entertaining. Glad I stayed with it because there were plenty of opportunities to put it away. Overall, pretty good. Maybe I’ll come back to Jake Boxer? Hard to say. We shall see.