The Swiss Agent

 

The Swiss Agent, by Anna Pitoniak, is a true espionage/spy thriller. I haven’t read a good story like this in a long time. What’s different about the novel is that the two key figures are both women who have long careers with the CIA. The action in the book centers around the efforts by Bosnia to join NATO which is favored by the US and disfavored by Russia. It’s a story of great wealth and great bribes as both the superpowers are attempting to get Turkey to vote what is favorable to them. In the NATO charter, only one negative vote among all the NATO nations would be enough to kill the Bosnian effort. It’s clear that Turkey’s vote will go to the highest bidder, but trickery is required to get the money out of Russia at times when its funds are being blocked from transfer. Both women have struggled with being in a mostly male endeavor, with the cost to their personal lives as the result of being a spy, and with their ability to trust each other. Who is really an agent for the US and who is not? Who is playing a long game, and who is not? What do you do with a US President who is much more interested in doing what’s best for him as opposed to what might be best for his country.

This is a good and well written story. It certainly gets a strong recommendation from me.

 

The Sentence is Death

 The Sentence is Death is another NYTimes best seller. This is the second book in the Hawthorne & Horowitz six-book series. As previously described in my review of The Word is Murder, Author Anthony Horowitz fictionalizes himself as the biographer of private investigator Daniel Hawthorne. It was Hawthorne who approached Horowitz to write a book about him and his cases. Horowitz stated intent is to write in the mold of the Sherlock Holmes series in which Dr. Watson is Holmes partner who can never keep up with Holmes talent for solving crimes. Hawthorne in a Holmes-like fashion observes various details that others miss and then solves complicated crimes that baffles everyone else.

In this second novel, it’s a divorce lawyer, Richard Pryce, who has been killed, and the author presents a cast of characters who could have had a motive to kill the barrister. Once again, I listened to the audiobook format, and while the narrator, Rory Kinnear generally excels at performing the voices of so many different characters, his falsetto voice for Deputy Inspector Cara Grunshaw, is actually hysterical. Hawthorne made no secret of the fact that he thought she was an idiot, and the voice of Grunshaw fit his contempt for her.

Known as the “Blunt Razor” Pryce was famous for his absolute honesty even if it hurt the case for his own clients. In a nasty divorce case, one of his clients and the client’s wife were both hiding significant streams of income and assets from each other. Pryce had apparently discovered their lies and although the divorce matter had been settled, he seemed to be intent on reopening the matter, Both the husband and wife could have had a motive to kill him before he had made his revelations. There were other deaths like that of Gregory Taylor who apparently fell in front of a train, and the earlier death of Charles Richardson who died in a caving accident six years earlier. Pryce, Taylor, and Richardson had been college buddies.

There were multiple skillful misdirections by the author, so just like the first book and similar to the experiences of Watson and the fictionalized Horowitz, the real murderer was not revealed until the end of the book, and it was much to my surprise when author Horowitz revealed just who that was.

This second book was even more fun than the first. I’ve already started the third book, A Line to Kill, and I’ve downloaded the fourth, The Twist of a Knife. My advice, don’t you dare miss this series. It’s a delightful discovery for me.

The Rust Forest by Anders de la Motte

 

Meet Leonore (Leo) Asker. An ambitious detective in the Malmo (Sweden) PD in line for a significant promotion. Her mom is politically connected. But her father (Prepper Per) is quasi-hidden. Seems he developed an AI tool for the company he worked for and was expecting a substantial financial boost for his work. But the company decided otherwise squeezing Per out. He decided to lash out at said company and then went on the run and remains mostly hidden in and around Malmo.  

A vengeful colleague with the police has it in for Leo and attempts to derail her promotion. Gets her assigned to a do nothing unit (think Slow Horses, the acclaimed Apple TV series featuring Gary Oldman). Leo is assigned an unsolved case of murder 10y previous. A young woman was killed in the forest around Malmo. Throat slit and left to die in a old agricultural factory building. Only unusual clue was a missing ring finger. Everyone assumed is was her husband, but he's thought to be in the wind. 

This factory building sits in The Rust Forest, so named because of mineral runoff has discolored the land and water. Some hard cases live in and protect the forest. Trespassers take their lives into their own hands. Our story opens in earnest with a couple of 20somethings exploring the various buildings for their YouTube channel; UrbEx (for urban explorers). They are surprised by what might be a spirit of sorts and take off.

See, The Rust Forest is thought to be inhabited by spirits of a centuries old murder whose remains were found sometime ago. Now on display at the city museum: The Gray Maiden.  Somehow, the death of the wife at the hands of her husband and The Gray Maiden are somehow connected and it's up to Leo and her cadre of misfit cops to find out who killed the wife and what are the connections to the monied and well-heeled of Malmo that keep popping up. 

Leo's investigation runs into more blind alleys and dead ends than should be allowed by law, but keeps on digging even after being told in no uncertain terms to hand off the case to the Cold Case unit else lose her promotion. She's got to the end of the weekend to gather all her material so that Cold Case can effectively be lost in storage.

This is the 3rd Leo Asker book (after The Mountain King and The Glass Man). Both were international best sellers. Easy to see why. De la Motte is quite adept at weaving a complex tale and bring it to a rip roaring finish. Asker is bullheaded, resourceful, skilled at martial arts, firearms, and motorcycles. Every guys dream, right? It's been a while since I last read a book by a Scandinavian author. But having read this one, I'm definitely checking in with the library about The Mountain King.

Oh yes. If you recall, I'm forever saying pay attention to the publishers. That mysteries and thrillers from Emily Bestler Books have been consistent winners. Color me surprised when I noticed that this is another in the long line of Emily Bestler Books. Think I could read exclusively Emily Bestler Books and be quite happy and occupied. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review. 

ECD  

 

The Word is Murder

 It always amazes me when I run across yet another prolific mystery writer that I’ve never heard of. Anthony Horowitz is one such person, a British novelist and screenplay writer. He has a 14-book series about a teenage spy named Alex Rider, but that’s not the one I just finished. He has written about 50 novels in total. I saw a recommendation in the New York Times Book Review for his 6-books called the Hawthorne & Horowitz series. These are detective novels in which he writes himself into the story. It is the authors intention to create a series in which he becomes the best friend of a great detective like Sherlock Holmes and his buddy, Dr. Watson. The detective in Horotwitz's story is Daniel Hawthorne.

The first book, The Word is Murder, is available in audiobook format, so I jumped on that. The books are Narrated by Rory Kinnear, and he is an exceptional interpreter and creator of the multiple figures about whom Horowitz writes. In this story, the characters get to know each other, but they hardly achieve anything close to friendship until the very end of the novel. The story takes place around the horrible car accident in which one of two young brothers is killed, and the other is left permanently damaged, requiring lifelong care. Even though the woman, Diana Cowper, who was driving the car that struck the boys fled the scene of the accident, she was only given a sentence, the equivalent of only a slap of the wrist. It was 10 years later that Horowitz & Hawthorne enter the scene of the death of the woman who had struck the boys. She had expected to die in the immediate future. The reader meets her as she enters the funeral home owned by funeral director Robert Cornwallis where Diana announced her detailed plans for her own funeral. Meanwhile, although Hawthorne will reveal nearly nothing about himself to Horowitz, it is Hawthorne who challenges Horowitz to write a novel about his detective wizardry. 

As with all great writers, I did not see the end coming until the very end. This book is filled with rich characters and a fascinating main plot and multiple subplots. While I loved the audiobook, surely this would be a wonderful read. I’ve already downloaded the second book, The Sentence is Death.

Harvest Season

 

It has happened again, unfortunately. I read the first book in the series The Seasons of Carnage, the book having been Tourist Season. I liked that book well enough to read the second one, Harvest Season. However, I did not get very far with this audiobook. Perhaps the best part was the prologue in which the author warned the reader about the multiple kinds of trauma that would be involved in the story. Really, it was an invitation for voyerism, which of course is a part of the character of this reviewer. Clearly, the author has vast knowledge of those subjects, or at least, a great imagination. 

The story in Harvest Season has to do with the romantic relationship of two serial killers. Admittedly, I did not get very far with the story. While I did not find the two readers to be problematic, the material was just too silly and almost flap stick. There are times when I like wisecracking detectives, but somehow, this story just did not grab me. I felt nothing in common with the primary characters, and I did not care what was going to happen to them. I was only into the book a short way when I chose to abandon the effort, and I'm not interested in reading the third novel that has been promised.

Ironwood

 

Connelly is the king of thrillers and the men at MenReadingBooks have read most of his 40+ novels. Just one year ago, I read and reviewed the first book in a new series, Nightshade, which I rated very highly. The author is able to keep his stories and characters very interesting and believable.

In Ironwood, Detective Stilwell suspects that one of his new deputies on Catalina Island is a serial killer. A murder has occurred, but it happened a few years earlier, and this became a thing when the woman's bones were uncovered in a remote area of Catalina Island. It turned out that there have been a series of murders of women who were hiking alone through wilderness trails in California. Stilwell continues to get flack from his captain who works out of his office in Long Beach. When the protagonist is trying to set a trap, another one of his new deputies is murdered, and a second officer is shot in the throat but survives. It seems corruption is rampant on Catalina.

Once again, Stilwell, or "Stil" as he is called by most people he knows, has found life on Catalina as highly desirable, compared to his life on the mainland, or "overland" as the people on Catalina call it. Usually, as was initially the case with Stil, a transfer to Catalina was a punishment for having done something wrong. However, he began to realize that being sent to the island was just what he needed. His girlfriend Tasha has been promoted to acting Harbor Master, and their relationship is evolving. The story involves corruption, cartel murders, small crime, and Stil's relentless pursuit of clues in the face of a captain who is mostly focused on any publicity that would make his operation look bad. 

I consumed this story in audiobook format, and the reader was excellent. Like nearly all of Connelly's books, it gets a highly favorable review from me. You won't be disappointed.

The Keeper

 

I should start by saying I've not been attracted to Tana French's writing for many years. I have reviewed six of her books, but none lately. My reaction to her is suprising to me since she has been revered by so many readers, and she obviously has a huge following. I got this book in audioformat and I tried to listen to it twice, about two weeks apart, and I simply could not concentrate on the material. When my mind wonders to the grocery list or some item on my to-do list, it's not a good sign. I did not get far in the book, probably less than 30 pages. I found the audiobook's reader to be a bit too melodramatic, so maybe it was the reader, maybe it was the material - I suspect it was a little of both. I can't give this successful author a good review or recommendation for purchase of this novel. I decided the book would not get a third try, so I'm returning it unfinished to Libby.

Judge Stone

Judge Stone was co-authored by James Patterson and Viola Davis. There are at least a dozen reviews in this blog of Patterson’s prolific works, but most of those have been written by other reviewers. I tend not to seek out his books. However, because Viola Davis, an incredible actress, was his co-author and because she was reading the entire story for the audiobook, I chose to take it on. Those were good decisions.

The novel is about a 13-year-old black girl, Nova, who was raped in Alabama, and then she became pregnant. She knew her mother did not believe in abortion. At the young of age 28, her mother had already birthed four children, and Nova was the oldest who was immediately given responsibilities to help raise her siblings. Feeling caught between her own wish to abort the child and her fear of her mother’s reaction to learning she was pregnant, and when was having significant first trimester symptoms, Nova went to the school nurse who then discovered her pregnancy. At the time, Alabama had the most strict anti-abortion laws in the country. Anyone who was found to have assisted another person to get an abortion was guilty of a Class A felony, meaning a long jail term. The nurse then took her to a local doctor who knew the law, but who disagreed with denying this child an abortion.

Viola played the role of Judge Stone who then contended with the controversy when the abortion became public news.  The doctor was arrested. The DA was relentless in pursuing the doctor’s punishment. The case landed on Judge Stone's docket. She was under assault by the town people, as well as the thousands of people that descended on the small town to protest with religious fervor.

I thought this book addressed all of the social issues involved in this story with compassion. The cast of characters, those that supported Judge Stone and those who hated her, was a very rich and powerful novel. While some of the details were predictable, the ending was not what I expected. Although heartending, it was so enjoyable to hear Viola address this most important topic with depth and wisdom. This was a 5/5 read.

 

The Silver Fish

 The Silver Fish by Connor Martin is an espionage story that mostly place in West Africa, mostly in Ghana. It caught my interest based on the location. I’ve not often seen a thriller novel based in West Africa. I was in both Senegal and the Ivory Coast several decades ago, and my daughter just returned from a work project in Ghana. I remember eagerly listening to a professor who had moved to a remote area of Nigeria in the 1930’s. I hoped that this novel would live up to the spellbinding experience I felt in those lectures. Unfortunately, the quality and vitality of the story simply didn’t measure up to my expectation. The book opened in Ghana with the assassination of a Nigerian telecommunications executive, and then quickly turned to the efforts by both China and the United States to have controlling interest in Ghana’s local politics.

Primarily, this novel was based on the location of Ghana being where undersea high speed telecommunication cables came together. Thus, whatever information the United States was sending overseas would have to pass through these fiber optic cables. The Chinese were trying to tap into the cables in order to know what the U.S. was doing, and the U.S. was trying to keep them from doing so. Various spies, including double agents were involved in this effort, and large bribes were being paid to local politicians as well as operators of these systems. A journalist was trying to get information about this high profit enterprise for the story of her lifetime. 

Although I did finish the book, I never got particularly interested in the outcome for the protagonist, Danielle Moreau. While James Aidoo, a young male Ghanian was sometimes interesting, his presence had an uncertain importance as he interacted with both Chinese and American agents. So, as the book wore on, it just never led me to be excited about the material. I can’t give a favorable recommendation for this novel.

Seldom Seen Road

Seldom Seen Road by John Degen (Latitude 46 Press)

I just finished Seldom Seen Road, a new murder mystery by John Degen. This is Mr. Degen’s third novel and the first featuring Mark Roth as a widower amateur detective. 

The setting of rural Ontario north of Toronto allows Degen to use his detailed knowledge of the area to immerse the reader into Mark’s daily life. The local color, especially the diner where everyone knows your business (even if they don’t know your name), compliments the narrative. I appreciated the balance of detail and action; I rarely skipped ahead to get with the story. 

The murder of Paul Robichaud, a local environmental activist, is the hub of the wheel with excellent choices of spokes to support a complex but not too burdensome storyline. Mark Roth is assisted by his cousin Jeremy Roth who works as a constable and his daughter Stephanie, a criminologist in Thunder Bay. These characters serve as solid counterweights both in solving the murder and supporting Mark as he struggles to find his way after the unexpected death of his beloved wife. The plot has a nice proportion of lines including a uranium mine, aggressive real estate development, and an evolving marijuana trade. 

I really enjoyed reading this one. Not as much “can’t put it down” as “this was so engaging I didn’t want to”.

The Correspondent

 An off-genre book review:

This is not the sort of novel I would pick up without some outside interference. But, when I get a recommendation from my wife and one of my daughters (both of whom read more than I do), and one of my sisters, then I reluctantly stray from the narrower genre of thrillers, espionage, and murder mysteries. I seem to go far afield more often than my fellow reviewers in this blog, and I am often thrilled to have done so.

I listened to The Correspondent in what was a marvelous artistic effort to give this masterpiece a proper audio format. I replayed the last 10 minutes of the audiobook for my wife, and she commented that the literal voice given to Virginia Evans’ characters made it even better. We both look forward to the forthcoming motion picture of Jane Fonda portraying this old woman writing letters to her friends, enemies, authors McMurtry and Didion, and many other characters. I can’t think of a more fitting actor to play Sybil Van Antwerp.

Sybil much preferred to communicate through writing letters and not relying on email or talking on the telephone, although she did so when it seemed like the only way to reach out. Sybil said that as she wrote by hand, she took time to carefully think out each sentence so that she was writing exactly what she meant to say. Her writing was not always kind and loving. Rather, she could be abrupt and mean if she felt it was appropriate. This woman was adopted at the age of 14 months, and her parents were good in their roles. She was married and divorced, had two boys and one girl, lost one of the boys in a accident that occupies much of the book, had a distinguished career as a law clerk for a judge, made mistakes, and struggled with true intimacy, especially with her daughter Fiona. As the story progressed, Sybil struggled with the horror of the gradual loss of her vision and the deterioration of her other physical abilities.

The whole story was told through the letters and this led to multiple subplots, all of which the author brought to fitting conclusions. This is probably the most erudite book I’ve ever read. There was only a limited use of a narrator. The depth of all of the characters is something I don’t experience in my usual genre. In short, this book gets an A+, a 5/5 rating, and my strongest recommendation. I don’t believe I’ve ever specifically suggested that one listen to a book rather than read it, but I am doing so with The Correspondent. Maggi-Meg Reed was the narrator, and she was marvelous, and there were more than 12 other specific actors who played all of the rich cast of characters with whom Sybil corresponded. I’ve never seen such a successful effort to portray a novel in audiobook format. Grab this one and your life will be richer for the experience.

God's Country by William Kent Krueger

Cork O'Connor is busy loving life in Aurora. Gratefully retired from decades as a police officer, mostly as the Sheriff of Tamarack County, MN way the hell up in the North Country. Second wife (1st killed in an earlier book), sons and daughters (direct and in-law), couple of grandsons, close lifelong friends. Still runs a hamburger stand on the nearby vacationland lake (in northern MN, lakes are everywhere). He's what used to be called a 'half-breed,' half Irish (father) and half Ojibwe (mother). That term has gone out of style.

Aurora is part of the gateway to to the massive Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Several thousands acres of trails, lakes, portages, rivers, forest on the border with Canada. Solitude with a capital S. The state birds are mosquitoes and black flies. Cork and the 'menfolk' are all going on a canoe outing. Taking the grandsons on their first camping trip in the Boundary Waters. 

In prep, they stop in to check in with this local guide. Good thing to do when heading into the wilderness. The wife says her husband was just hired by a couple guys to head into the area for a few days. She was curious about these two characters. They were dressed like they'd just left LLBean. Not their usual clients. Cork said he'd keep and eye out for the party of 4 (a 2nd guide aide joined them), but given the size of the Park, it's doubtful.

Off goes the O'Connor party. They paddle a route infrequently used by visitors, reaching their first campsite. Exploring the campsite area, they come across evidence something untoward may happened, recently. They set off the next day and paddle to the next campsite. From the water, Cork sees smoke from a campfire. Through his binoculars, he sees his friend tied to a tree. Fearing the worst, Cork convinces the rest of his party to head back as protection for the boys. Cork presses on alone because that is what a sheriff, current or retired, would do. He pulls in and quickly learns that the 2nd guide has been killed and his friend has been badly beaten. 

These two goons want to be taken to a rock formation known to the locals as The Devil's Ass. They have a rough map that isn't detailed enough to find the rock formation. Unable to convince their guides, one guide is shot and Cork's friend beaten to give up the information. Cork mostly just ambles in and talks these two losers into letting the injured guide paddle (mostly float) back in exchange for Cork taking them to the rock formation.

Now Cork has no intention of taking them where they want. He just wants to keep them out in the open on the water for a few days until a search party finds them. They guys want to find something hidden in the rocks and then hightail it for Canada. Over the next 3-4 days, Cork has to keep these two fools calm, hopefully not see any other park visitors, and still find a way to subdue them for arrest (or worse).

As you might guess, things have a way of spiraling down allowing Cork lots of time for self reflection about his inner wolf leanings as he considers his options. Has to be careful. The two guys, one in particular, are stone killers.

This is Krueger's 22nd O'Connor book. I've read a bunch, maybe a dozen or so. Honestly, Krueger has never failed to disappoint. We've watched O'Connor's life as a cop, both the good and the bad, spelled out in smooth lyrical prose. Krueger's writing appears effortless. This story is told as though O'Connor is relating the tale over a campfire. The reader is a comfortable friend who is mesmerized by a close friend's history. Very readable. I'd definitely put this at the top of my Cork O'Connor experiences. Have to love it because it's primarily three main characters trying to survive the wilderness and each other. 

Krueger's also written some standalone books. One of which, Ordinary Grace, won the Edgar Award for best fiction novel of 2014 (Fiction's version of Best Picture). That book was astonishing (reviewed by the MRB boys) and remains one of my top 5 reads . . . ever.  You can't go wrong with Krueger. Solid, reliable, highly skilled, expertly plotted and presented. A storyteller's storyteller. You'd be wise to put this on your 'to-be-read' shelf.  And add him to your personal list of must-read authors. 

 But . . . 

It's not available until 18 August 2026. It's too bad you can't get to this sooner.  Don't forget. Make a note on your August calendar. Trust me. You can take my opinion to the bank.

Thanks to the good folks at NetGalley and Atria Books for the advance reviewer copy.  

ECD 

Misclellaneous Comment

 This is just a separate note about audiobook formats. I have begun to listen to more audiobooks, so of the books I reviewed in the last two years, about half were read by me, and the other half are ones that I've listened to. I've found more and more readers of the novels who I could not tolerate. It has caused me to abandoned some novels. I thought some readers were just overly dramatic. Some just had voices that I found annoying. In other cases, the pace of the reading was too fast or too slow. I plan to continue listening since it fits nicely into my lifestyle of doing a lot of dog walking, but I'm more aware of how much a bad reader can hurt my enjoyment of a story. Also, I think there have been a few excellent story readers who have kept me in a novel that I probably would not have enjoyed. I will try to carefully identify those books that I've listened to and make a comment about the reader's impact on the story.

Her Last Breath

 Her Last Breath by Taylor Adams was recommended highly in the NY Times Book Review section, and it was a dynamite thriller. I had a personal connection to the plot which surrounded the activity of caving or spelunking. There was an intense chase scene deep underground in some technically difficult areas of a large cave. The personal connection for me was my own caving experience. I was in college in southern Indiana when six guys from my fraternity announced they were going to one of the famous caves in our area and I accepted their invitation to go. It was not the only time in my life I had been in a cave, but this was not a well-organized outing. The caves were known to claim a couple lives each year when an unexpected rain trapped and drowned some explorers. Three of the six guys had been in the cave before and one said he was an expert in the circle trip that led from one room to the next before returning to the entrance. It turned out he was not an expert and got us lost. Rather than it being a mild stroll through the cave, it turned out to be an ordeal. It didn’t help when several guys lit up some joints, some of whom were under the influence before we started. It was a good gag when three guys jumped into a hole and turned out their lights just to scare us rookies. But, as we searched how to move from one room to the next, I ended up second in line, crawling between tight boulders at a 30 degree tilt downhill. After about 30 feet, by sticking a flashlight through a narrow opening, we could see the next room. I could hear the guys behind me arguing that they were not going to enter the tunnel. But then the guys who had yet to enter the downhill section saw our light, and literally just walked around a boulder and into the next room. Meanwhile, I was left in a precarious situation. By exhaling all my air , turning my head sideways, and squeezing through boulders, I was able to get to that next room. I was okay at the moment but it was later that I realized I had been in a potentially lethal position. It still scares me today when I reflect on the poor judgment that led to the dangerous event.

In the novel, two young women, Tess and Allie went caving together. Allie was the expert and had been pushing Tess to come along just to get her out of her rather boring existence. As they were about to enter the cave, they encountered a single caver who was much too friendly. Allie insulted him and told him to get lost, but then he followed them into the cave. There was an intrigue between Tess and Allie who had lived together during high school. Allie described the abuse that she had suffered from her own parents, so Tess’ parents allowed Allie to move into their home. Back in the cave, the unwanted guy shows up and shoots Tess. Allie runs away, but she repeatedly encounters scary situations. As she tried to escape the guy, she kept going deeper and deeper into the cave. When she finally escaped and told her harrowing story to the police, one senior woman detective thought the whole scene did not make sense the way Tess reported this event.

There are several unexpected twists and turns at the end of the novel which I did not see coming, and kept me attached to the story. This book gets my strong recommendation. It’s going to be a while before I can get away from the nail-biting cave action.

Deadly Tides

 Deadly Tides, by Raemi A. Ray, is the fifth book in the series entitled Martha’s Vineyard Murders. I’ve written very favorable reviews of the first four books: Chain of Pearls, the Wraith’s Return, Widow’s Walk, and Final Exit. The protagonist in all five books is Kyra Gibson, a London lawyer who has left on indefinite leave in order to live on Martha’s Vineyard. Over the first four books, we’ve been introduced by a cast of very interesting characters who once again take key roles in the current story. Kyra has been in a relationship with Detective Tarek Collins who was shot and badly injured in the last book. Since then, he’s been rehabbing. He has moved into Kyra’s house where he is getting frustrated and depressed over the length of time it is taking him to get well. He continues to be on leave from his security work with a private firm. It’s dangerous work and he definitely has mixed feelings about Kyra having received an offer to work there, a job that interests her, but she has not yet made a decision about it.

The plot is about some corruption that is happening on the island and the very rough characters that have arrived to put some muscle behind their activities. While we’ve learned much about other characters who are in Kyra’s life, Tarek has kept secrets about his own family’s dark past. It is especially his father who had abandoned Takek and his mother many years before, and who is connected to some organized crime by an Irish group.

To cut to my criticism, I did not find this book up to the same standard as the early four novels. It’s my sense that the writers of thrillers and murder mysteries must walk a fine line between normal activities and actions that are beyond the norm, beyond the realm of average lives. It what is not normal that makes books interesting, but if the content is too far from normal, then a book just becomes silly and unbelievable. When the action got going in this novel, Kyra had been kidnapped, and Takek was being pulled into the action although his security company had not yet released him to go back to the field. Finally, Chase, who more of a playboy than anything, is the son of a wealthy senator, and is allowed to be involved in the dangerous aspects of getting Kyra back and fighting with the Irish mob. Meanwhile, Kyra shoots off her mouth with the mob, which only increased the likelihood of her being killed. It was just too much out-of-the-norm activity to be believable.

Damascus Station by David McCloskey

Sam Joseph is a veteran CIA operative, sort of between assignments. He is stationed in Paris to be kind of available if needed to cover a conference where a number of high ranked Syrian officials are in attendance. The CIA is concerned because the Assad regime is getting out of hand with it's heavy-handed tactics at keeping the populace and political challengers in line. In particular, one of the heads of the Security Office may be behind the abduction, interrogation, torture and ultimate murder of Val, an American operative working in Syria.  Sam is joined by the BANDITOS, three Christian Syrians that have been contracted by the CIA primarily as sets of local eyes and ears who can move amongst the locals without attraction attention. I liked the BANDITOS.

Some of the CIA folks in Paris think it wise to put the squeeze on Assad, et al. They need someone on the inside. They carefully identify those in attendance, look into their background, and narrow down the field as possible candidates to go undercover for information about those responsible for Val's death. Back and forth go the discussions until one is singled out. Miriam Haddab. Born into a military family, works in the Palace, but doesn't appear to be enamored with the Assad regime. 

Once singled out (and OK'd by Langley), Miriam is now on the CIA's radar. Joe will make the recruitment pitch (multiple pitch's it turns out). As the job is mostly snatching some papers, Miriam reluctantly agrees.

Next task: teach her the skills needed. She is already skilled in Krav Maga so combat skills take a back seat to the more routine, and critically important, surveillance detection route; how to determine if one is being followed and how to lose a tail (and the skills needed for dead drops, brush passes, etc.). Sam takes Miriam on numerous days of practice to sharpen her skills in various locales as they inch their way to Damascus.

Arriving in Damascus, Miriam is introduced to the Chief of Station, a hard nose, profane, no nonsense experienced woman named Proctor who is noted for never going out without a knife and keeps a Mossberg combat shotgun close by. She has just two rules: get the information, protect the source. All else is negotiable.

So far, it's kind of straight forward. ID a recruit, sell them on the plan, teach, now go active. Once in Damascus, life gets far more complex what with car bombs, daily mortar fire, multiple factions at odds with each other and Assad/cronies and their own search for a mole. 

At at this point, I'll leave it to you. The fits and starts, the feints, treachery and betrayals, the lies and questionable truths, all get muddled up as plans start, stop, shift, get betrayed, resurrected, not to mention the bureaucracy between Damascus and Langley once the decision is made to take out a Syrian General that has to be approved in real time from half a world away. 

 McCloskey is a former CIA analyst so get ready for gritty details about the inner workings of the CIA in both Langley and in the field. You'll know way more about how the CIA does what it does. If you ask me, I'm kinda surprised the CIA office that has to sign off on such stories approved this. Sure seemed filled with skills and devices that I would have thought the CIA might just as well like to keep quiet. 

As with all novels, there are jacket blurbs with laudatory praise for the author and the quality of presentation. This one also has such praise. What stands out is that the stellar reviews come from former CIA Directors: General David Patraeus and Leon Panetta with Patraeus going as far as to say " . . . the best spy novel I have ever read." One of the recent books I read said that McCloskey was the best spy novelist writing today. I'd never heard of him until then. Damascus Station is his first book (published in 2021) and it was a finalist for the International Thriller Writer's first book award. He has four more books out that you can bet I'll be reading before too long. 

In short: this was terrific. Expertly plotted and told. A spy readers dream. 

ECD                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Talisman, A Time Travel Mystery

 Tom Catalano has provided us with another novel, Talisman, a Time Travel Mystery. I’ve been a fan of time travel stories since the age of nine when I discovered a series of time travel short stories in Boys’ Life, the magazine of Boy Scouts. I remember getting each monthly publication and loving those stories. I was always disappointed when it did not contain another time travel adventure. I rated the time travel story entitled The Little Book by Selden Edwards as being the best book I read in 2012. Catalano has a different take on time travel in his novel Talisman, and it was delightful, but you’ll have to read it to see how it’s different. I will give a way one unique feature to the story, and that was that time travel could only be backward, never forward. One definition of talisman is that it’s a good luck charm that magically wards off evil spirits, but sometimes, it seems to draw evil spirits to the owner.

Professor Henri Rutherford was an esteemed archeology professor at the University of Chicago, and he took a group of his students to the island of Antigua in the Caribbean for a summer field work experience. He was renowned for making discoveries on such excursions, so his students (John, Taylor, Harrison, Louis, and Hannah) were all thrilled to be with him for a couple of months of field research. John Shaw was the professor’s first year research assistants and a 4.0 student, Hannah Miller was a good student and a beautiful woman who happened to be the daughter of the university president, and Taylor was the book’s antagonist, especially to John. Unlike prior excursions, the group had failed to come up with a significant archeological discovery until the very last day, and then they did not have time to fully investigate it due to the need to get back to school for the fall term.

Away from the other student's digs, it was John and Professor Rutherford who found a skeleton buried at the bottom of a small cavern, and while they told the others about this discovery, Rutherford demanded that he keep secret what the skeleton had been holding in its hand, a heavy gold hockey puck-shaped item. It had undecipherable bumps and other markings. Rather than announce the discovery as was proper for any such archeological findings, Rutherford demanded that John keep this a secret. John knew that was improper, but he chose to honor his esteemed professor’s wish. Rutherford rationalized that he needed time to study and contemplate the device. Really, his initial plan was to sell the device on the black market for great profit, but then he simply could never part from the object. The first night that the golden puck was in his possession, he discovered that the puck caused him to experience what he called “time shifting.” He knew that John would not be able to keep the secret for long, so he chose to murder him on the island. However, Rutherford was befuddled when John did not stay murdered. It turned out to be an event that he kept reliving. It was recurring time shifting that was the essence of this novel.

The professor kept the talisman secret until he could no longer bear the burden of having it, and after insisting that John take it from him with a warning never to use it for time travel, Rutherford committed suicide. Because time travel was always backward, Rutherford and John found that time stood still, for them as they relived various events over and over. Life became entirely predictable, and there was no unknown future to be experienced. This was a good mystery and satisfied my appetite for a new time travel story. I think you’ll enjoy this unique take on time travel.

 

Dead Exit

 Dead Exit is the third book in the Marty and Bo Thriller Series. It was 14 months ago when I first ran across the author, Michael Balter. I wrote a review of the second book, The Vatican Deal which I highly praised, rating Balter up there with Daniel Silva, Dan Brown and Don Winslow. Dead Exit continued the trouble between the protagonists, Marty and Bo, and their antagonists, Natalya and the Russian oligarch Dmitry. Despite them being a couple, and despite being a married man with two children, Marty allowed himself to get sexually involved with Natalya. In the third book, Marty is continuing to struggle with his intense attachment to Natalya and although he has reconciled his marriage. Additionally, although it was Natalya who fronted the money they needed to create their own business empire, it was Dmitry’s limitless funds which they borrowed in order to buy more businesses.

Just like in the first book, they learned that one of their companies, 120 convenience stores were at the center of a Chinese and North Korean enterprise to smuggle counterfeit cigarettes throughout the United States. This was a billion-dollar enterprise, one which the Chinese and North Korean operators were not willing to let go. Meanwhile, they discovered that the FBI was in a deep investigation into this illegal activity. Although Bo and Marty were willing to help the FBI, their enemies threatened their lives and those of their families. Bo was at risk for having his prior affair with Natalya made public and he knew it would blow his marriage apart.

This was a fast-paced book with lots of intrigue between the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans, and of course, the Americans. These are great and believable characters, and the plot kept me glued to the novel. The ending was not what I expected. Now, having fallen in love with Balter’s writing, I need to acquire the first book, Chasing Money, while waiting for his fourth novel.

The Last Mile

 David Baldacci, an incredibly prolific writer, has produced another captivating crime novel, The Last Mile. It is the second novel in a seven book series about protagonist Amos Decker who has joined an FBI special force although he is not officially an FBI employee. Decker was drawn to a specific case which mirrored his own earlier life. Melvin Mars had been convicted of murdering his parents and was sent to prison for his execution. After 20 years in death row, Decker was about to be executed when another man came forward to admit committing the murders. Both Decker and Mars were former college football players. Mars was an all-star who was headed for a big NFL contract and perhaps to become the best player in the league. They had played against each other in a big game, Decker with Ohio State and Mars with Alabama. Mars was a star that day and Decker was unable to stop him. After graduation Decker had made it to the NFL for just one play that resulted in his knee being destroyed. Both men had lost their families to brutal murders only to have someone else, many years later, claim that he had done the deed. Mars story had to be proven, and it was not known if the new confessions was an honest one. Mars’ case became more important when a woman on the FBI who was also working on Mars’ case was kidnapped. Surely, there were some ominous hidden truths hidden behind that kidnapping.

The story was rather complicated. There were lots of characters from both Decker’s and Mars’ early lives, as well as people they knew currently. What if Mars parents were really not dead? I thought this was a good story, one that clearly kept me interested to the very end. Both protagonists were strong and well-developed personalities. The Last Mile gets a strong recommendation from me.

The Radical Radiance of the Fishing Fly

                            THE RADICAL  RADIANCE

                            OF THE FISHING FLY

Lewis K Schrager is a playrwrite, and this is his first novel. He has already won awards for his short stories, and now he demonstrates his talents in a captivating full-length story. In The Radical Radiance of the Fishing Fly, he crafts a story about David agreeing to go on an Alaskan flyfishing outing with his older brother Larry. David and Larry never had a close relationship, even during their school days when Larry was not only a good athlete, but he was loud and obnoxious in all social gatherings. He seemed to always want to be the center of attention. When Larry would see David’s sense of disapproval for his behavior, Larry would only make it worse. Larry went on to become a successful business man, and David became a research physician at NIH. As adults, they had little to do with each other. Larry lived in Philadelphia where they were raised and David lived in Bethesda, Maryland, close to NIH.

Prior to the fishing trip together, David had come down with an advanced case of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Larry hated going to hospitals and seeing doctors, and he had refused to get evaluated for his worsening cough. However, when it was so severe he could barely breathe, he accepted David’s referral to a pulmonologist at Johns Hopkins. The cancer was diagnosed and radiation treatments were begun. Larry also underwent several sessions of chemotherapy, and about a year later, he was declared cancer-free.

It was Larry’s wife who suggested the fishing trip, something Larry loved and dreamed about during his treatment, but it David had never been interested in fishing. In thinking about the trip and their lifetime discomfort with each other, David wrote, “I realized that all this cogitation was irrelevant. Mellowed or not, I never would have agreed to go on this trip if not for Larry’s cancer.”

It took four plane flights to get from the airport in Philadelphia to their remote fishing experience in Alaska. It was a small group of fishermen and fisherwomen, which led to wonderfully developed characters and complicated interactions with one another. A passionate love story was part of the novel. During their travel to the fishing site, the group encountered a group of hunters, all of who were regressed to an early teen level of maturity. That provided a common enemy for the fishing group and provided worthy subplots for the author. Ultimately, this was a story about Larry struggling with his battle with cancer and his continued efforts at achieve a complete recovery, and a story about the brothers efforts at rapprochement.

Since I know nothing about fly fishing, I asked for some help from a neighbor who is an expert fly fisherman and who has taken many flyfishing trips to various continents. He enjoyed the story and gave me a technical review of the fly fishing described by the author. Perhaps the author could correct some technical flaws regarding casting, what flies to use, when to use a net, and what knots are used, but those changes would not impact the quality of this story. This was a very good novel and it gets a very strong 5/5 rating from me.

The Shadow Appears

 

                                                            The Shadow Appears

                                             by Burt Tyson

The Shadow Appears is the first of two books written by Burt Tyson. Before this, I have never read a novel of this subject matter. It’s a post Civil War novel and what makes it unique to me is that it is a heroic tale of a Confederate soldier. I only recall reading books in which the Union soldiers were the heroes and the southern Confederate soldiers were the enemy. Perhaps their soldier acts were done so with obvious bravery, but those actions were still being done by enemy forces. In this book, the protagonist is Captain Robert Hester, but rather than use his name, he asks the characters with whom he interacts as being just “Captain.” At the start of the story, the Captain is just being released from a Confederate hospital where he has been staying the last three months while covering from near fatal war injuries. The fall of the Confederacy was at hand, only weeks before Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. The Captain was sent, along with his assistant, Sergeant Turley, to provide protection for Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. I should clarify that I have no doubt that there were as man Confederacy heroes as there were Union heroes, and I have no doubt that the union forces, under Mosely and Sherman, caused many outrageous atrocities on their rampage through the south at the end of the war.

On his way to find President Davis, the Captain did a brief detour to stop by his own farm from which he had been away for a few years in the war effort. As he arrived, he saw the house was in flames, and the farm was being destroyed by Stoneman’s “bummers” who were actually Union forces who had been presumably sent by Stoneman to do whatever damage they could inflict on the homes and farms of southerners. From a hilltop, he saw his father shot, his sister killed, and the woman he planned to marry killed. Although the odds were two against 19, in a rage, the Captain and Turley killed them all. After burying his own loved ones, he swore that when he was done with his assignment for Davis, that he would kill as many Yankees as he could find. Although the Captain never did catch up with Davis, in the process of trying to find him, he ran across numbers of “bummers” and against overwhelming numbers, killed all of them. Meanwhile, he provided great help to the people who survived the slaughter by northern troops. Time and again, the Captain was told he was a great man who seemed to have divine protection.

Even after Appomattox, when other southerners were conceding victory by the Union, the Captain continued his intent to kill Yankees. He and Turley continued west and landed in Texas where he encountered yet more bad guys who he killed. Despite getting more serious wounds, he spared a village which was about to be attacked by Ramon Herrerra. It was Herrerra who would be called the Shadow for his evil actions towards anyone who disagreed with him. Ramon was described as follows, “He is like the shadow before el Diablo, first you see the shadow and then you see el Diablo. Perhaps we should call him La Sombre del Diablo, the Devil’s Shadow.” It was Ramon Herrerra who is bound to become the villain in the second novel by Tyson, The Shadow Appears.

I can see how this material would appeal to many, but it’s a bit too worshipful of the Captain who is a murderous force in his own right. The dialogue was quite repetitive regarding the remarkable battle skills and generosity of the Captain. Although I did finish this story, I don’t have a plan to read the second novel in the series.

Son of Nobody

 Perhaps the author of Son of Nobody could qualify as the most interesting man in the world. He is also the author of the amazing Life of Pi. I looked for my review of Life of Pi, but it was not in the blog, so who knows what happened to that. Son of Nobody has a very different feel, but I also think it addresses some of the same themes about self-worth, society, and identity. Also, I have a fascination with ancient Greek literature, and this novel dives directly into that. If you’ve got little interest in the Iliad, then you might struggle with this book even though that’s not really critical to see the author’s main them.

In the novel, the protagonist Harlow Donne is a classical scholar. Living in Canada, he had the chance go to England to look at some papyrus fragments at Oxford University, and he took the opportunity where he made the discovery of his life. The papyrus fragments were from an account of the Trojan War, a contemporary work to the Iliad by Homer. This book is historical fiction, but it’s also about the fictional author’s psychological journey about his own life. While he is at Oxford, Donne’s troubled marriage is further damaged and his little girl, Helen, has a brief and fatal illness. Like characters in his book, Donne was displaced from the place he lived but he was compelled to continue his seemingly important work.

Martel’s fictitious author Donne had previously never achieved any fame for his scholarly work. In Oxford, Donne translated the writings of the unknown author of the papyrus fragments which he named the Psoad. The author of those fragments was given the name Psoas, who was nothing  more than a common foot soldier with the Trojans, also a seemingly unimportant person. Thus, we actually have a protagonist writing about a protagonist. Rather than being a history book, this was really a story about a person who is defined without lineage or family history. In one review that I read, it was noted that Martel seemed to be asking, “If a person has no inherited story, must they invent one – and does that invention become truth?”

Most interestingly, in this newly discovered material that has been at the heart of so many dramas over the last couple millenias, Martel then invented areas in which the Iliad and Psoad describe events the same way and areas in which their accounts differed significantly. He even put Homer and Psoas at the same location on one day.

The Trojan-Greek war which lasted for 10 years is apparently a reality. The destruction of Troy left what must have been the wealthiest city in the world at the time in total ruin. Martel suggestsed that while true, the war itself was absurd from the perspective of both sides. The costs of the war were horrendous for both the Greeks and the Trojans, supposedly because of the abduction of Helen, which may not have been an abduction at all. It’s my plan to read this book again at a future date. I think this is a very well-written and important novel.

The Blue Flame by George Pelecanos

Final power rotation author: George Pelecanos' The Blue Flame

First, a word about Pelecanos. He has something like 24 

novels, novellas, graphic novels, and story books to his credit. All are based in 

and around Washington, DC. Want more? How’s this: he was one of the 

original writers and producers of what many critics say is the best crime series 

on TV . . . EVER: The Wire. Add to that writing/producing credits for streaming 

series Treme, The Pacific, The Deuce, We OwnThis City. IMDB notes 68 credits 

to his work. Nominated twice for Emmy awards (The Wire, Treme). To top it all 

off, he gets quite the nod from none other than Stephan King who calls Pelecanos

 ‘The greatest living American crime writer.’

And I bet you aren’t reading his books. I’m borderline offended. 

 

The Blue Flame continues one of Pelecanos’ regular characters, Derek Strange,  

owner of Strange Investigations, a black PI who owns and runs his own business 

right there in front of all who inhabit his corner of NE DC. A black business

owner who is open dang near 24/7 to help out his neighborhood. Derek 

is a DC native, grew up in NE DC, was a DC cop until the 14th St. riots after 

the death of Martin Luther King, after which he quit and opened up a PI 

agency. He knows his limits. What he can do, what he should do, where 

he might gently step over the line, and importantly understand the relationship 

between a PI and DC Metro police. Nearing retirement, but still can get the job done. 

Billy Lake, a local defense lawyer known for his work mostly with drug dealers seeks 

Derek out. Antone Anthony sits in the DC Metro jail on a murder charge. Lake thinks 

the young man isn’t a killer (dealer: yes; killer: no). Wants  Derek to talk to his friends 

for background information.

Background info: Nigel Walker, Cynthia Barnes, Ricardo Lennox, Antone, and Kenneth 

Norton were all childhood friends. Now in their 20s and trying to figure out their place in 

the DC world. Cynthia had an older brother they all looked up to, but he was cut down 

by a drunk driver. And her mother had died (or run off, can’t remember to be truthful). 

The rest of the boys took in on themselves to look out for Cynthia. Which they did. 

Cynthia and Nigel had this occasional friends with benefits thing going on. But Nigel 

never parked outside of her house cuz he was afraid of her father, a retired DC cop. 

One night, Nigel told Cynthia that he was headed over to see Antone about a money 

beef. Something about cash flow in Antone’s dealing business. Only he never made it. 

A couple blocks removed from Cynthia’s, Nigel is shot in his car. When the police 

investigate, they check out the apts of all five friends and find the gun in Antone’s 

apartment. 

Derek talks to them all. Comes away with some observations, types up his report for 

Bill Lake, gets paid. Short story? He doesn’t think Antone killed Nigel. 

Maybe three weeks later, someone a few streets over from Antone’s calls in a foul odor 

from a junkyard. A body had been squeezed into an old freezer and the smell of decay 

was everywhere. It was Cynthia. 

The problem is that now one set of cops thinks the two crimes are connected and 

another thinks Cynthia was just wrong-place-wrong-time. A coincidence. Word gets to 

Derek and he approaches Lake asking for his contract in the Antone case extended so 

he can dig around a bit further . . . and not piss off the cops. 

Here’s the thing about Pelecanos. He has lived his whole life in Silver Spring, MD. 

Grew up working in small local corner cafes listening to the ebb and flow of DC life. I 

seem to remember reading he volunteered with DC Metro juvenile counseling kids to 

get out of the life. The stories he writes are mostly about DC street crime. Nary a 

mention about the DC intrigue of guv’ment, politics, FBI, CIA, etc. His beat is the 

streets. Based on his history, he comes by his plots and, importantly, the dialogue of 

the DC streets honestly. His brilliant portrayal of the landscape, geography, 

neighborhoods, streets, local details, is, in my opinion, among the best in the crime 

business. He makes DC come alive. Hey, I grew up in Silver Spring, MD. He and I 

attended the same high school (albeit maybe 6-8 years apart). As a local, I am 

continually impressed with his attention to detail about DC and for me, that is an 

enormous selling point. 

Bottom line: Get off your lazy hindparts, head to your local library, Amazon, or 

wherever you get your books and get busy reading Pelecanos. Don’t trust me? See the 

quote from Stephan King above. His previous book was published in 2012, 'What it Was'. 

I do hope we won't have to wait another 14 years for his next. I was getting impatient. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance reader copy. Expected publication date is August 4, 2026

 

ECD