The Hunter

 I downloaded this book so my wife and I could listen to it during a long car trip. However, I was disappointed in the content - neither plot nor characters were interesting. This is the second French book in a row which left me uninspired. My wife, a very literate and voracious reader was in total agreement with me, and we abandoned the book about halfway through.

Defector in Paradise

 

Owen Roberts is an American spy who has been assigned to uncover a CIA mole who has been doing great damage to the U.S. spy network over the last couple years. As a result of the mole’s betrayal, 13 agents have been lost, some of whom were deeply seated and had successfully operated for many years. This is a story about the uncovering of the Russian mole’s identity, proving that this person was really the one, and there was urgency in the matter because of the mole’s involvement in the upcoming presidential election. Owen had to be so careful to whom he confided any details because the mole’s deep reach into the entire U.S. intelligence system. Could the U.S. really have a Russian mole in the White House?

To review this great book in more detail might give away the plot and I'm unwilling to do that to anyone who reads it. Defector in Paradise by Richard Snyder is the best fiction novel that I’ve read in 2024. It’s the second novel in a trilogy, and now I’m going to go back and find the first one, The Clandestine Education of Owen Roberts. If this is your genre, you’re going to have a blast.

Sly As A Fox by Wendy L. Koenig

 

Sly As A Fox by Wendy L. Koenig

Sylvia Wilson returns in Sly As A Fox following her terrific debut in On The Sly. 

Wendy Koenig has created a wonderful character in Sylvia Wilson, and this novel gets off to fast start that pulled me in immediately. Sylvia's brother Aaron has not texted as promised while he is undercover for the FBI. She doesn't know who to trust, even those in law enforcement. The pacing is crisp and the action is believable, something that so many thriller novelists can't get quite right. 

I especially liked the connection between the two books. Having read many series, it's rare to have a main character progress so naturally. It's a testament to a personal story that sticks with you from the first novel that the references to it in Sly As A Fox hit every note. If you can, read them in sequence but I'm going to break my usual rule and recommend jumping right in if that's how you want to play it. You won't be sorry. 

Son of Andalusia Farm

Son of Andalusia Farm by Thomas K. Mathews

(Sorry, I've had trouble downloading the artwork which is one of the best covers I've seen.)

I’ve read and reviewed five books by Thomas K. Matthews in this blogs, and he is one of those talented writers who somehow has not caught on with the reasonably large following that he deserves. He has a project that may come to pass with a large movie production company, so maybe that will bring his talents to a bigger audience. My favorite novel of his was one of his early ones, Rejection, a thriller murder mystery. Check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

 

This novel is a literary fiction entitled Son of Andalusia Farm. This story began in 1918, but mostly takes place during the 1930s and 1940s on a former cotton plantation near Montgomery, Alabama. The plantation had been converted to one of the notorious southern prisons which housed both black and white prisoners although those groups were mostly segregated in this story. It’s about the mysterious history of the Bradley Family and it’s hidden past. The Warden of the Andalusia Prison Farm, Hollister Thatcher, was married to Elizabeth Bradley who desperately wanted a child although the warden really had no interest in having a baby. When Elizabeth proved to be barren, she stole the baby of an inmate who had received a 17-year sentence for tenuous reasons. The prisoner was already pregnant at the time of her incarceration. Since the warden had dictatorial powers over his prisoners, and since the birth mother Mariah had been threatened if she ever spoke of this matter, it was Elizabeth who raised James as her own child.

 

This story is about the unfair and sociopathic practices of the warden. James turned out to be a good man, actually a godly one, and when Elizabeth died when James was about 14, the warden perceived him as a threat to his own significant misbehaviors against the prisoners who were in his custody. Warden Thatcher did all he could do to harm his son, falsely declaring that he had stolen money so James could become a prisoner. It was the warden’s attempt to break James’ spirit that led to such sadistic decisions. Guilt about his behaviors led the warden to mismanagement of the prisoners and extreme alcoholism, and his alcoholism only led to more poor judgments which finally came to the attention of Bureau of Prisons in Alabama.

 

I’ll leave the unveiling of the plot to the next reader to discover. This is a very well-written novel with a timely plot development and compelling characters. I give this book my strong recommendation.