Lacey Goes to Tokyo: Miss Belle's Travel Guide #1 by C. H. Lyn

Lacey Goes to Tokyo: Miss Belle’s Travel Guide #1 by C. H. Lyn. Tirgearr Publishing. January 2020. pb, 277 pp.; ASIN: B0822W3HKV.

Lacey Devaine belongs to a spy ring operating under the guise of an elite escort service.  While in Tokyo with Ned, an ex whom Lacey is trying to adjust being with again, a newspaper reporter pushes his nose where it shouldn’t be and exposes a slave trade ring operating in Asia.  The exposure means Lacey is in full swing action and gets information pivotal to ending the illegal operation but also threatening to cause death to an entire village of Hmong citizens living in Laos.

Lacey and other women under the leadership of Miss Belle are women of style.  They dress to the hilt, are sexy as all get-out and have an upper-class reputation as well as generally being present where there’s trouble.  The cost to the ladies is high and very often they are in need of psychological counseling because of the high risks they run, often life or death situations.  But they’re also cool and suave no matter how fierce the pressure gets.  As a result they earn the respect and assistance of other men when they most need it.  And wow do they need it in the plot of this novel!

Products are designed to make plenty of money for mob-like characters and these men (or animals depending on your point of view) don’t think twice about the loss of lives during their transactions.  But Lacy enlists the aid of another dear friend who has seen this scenario long ago in Africa and uses his military skills to help Lacey end this horrific scene which threatens an entire village.  Thai police and other professional detectives are involved and only Lacey can manipulate all the options so that there is no further punishment falling on these poor people or anyone else for that matter.

Guts are a huge component in Lacey and Miss Belle’s ladies but also a profound sense of integrity sorely lacking for most of the characters in this story.  That ensures the success of Miss Belle’s ladies now and in other similar in this notable and highly recommended series!

Beautifully crafted C. H. Lyn! Keep these novels coming!

The Passengers by John Marrs

The Passengers: A Novel. John Marrs. Penguin Publishing Group.  August 2019. pb, 352 pp.; ISBN: 9781984806970.

Libby is part of a Vehicle Inquest Jury deciding who is to blame when driver-less vehicles in England are in accidents with driver-controlled vehicles or pedestrians.  The outcome angers her because the driver-controlled vehicles are always cleared.  Now Libby and we share a phenomenal nightmare.  Eight driver-controlled vehicles are hacked by an unknown enemy; each of the people in those locked vehicles are told they will die in two-and-a-half hours. 

Libby and her jury peers are told they must choose who must die and which single person be allowed to live.  This whole scenario is obviously pre-planned and set up as each person has many reasons to live but all have at least one horrendous part of background which would negate the innocence of his or her life.  The disclosure of each biography plus the revelation of dark secrets is equal in shock value to the participants, public social media audience and each reader.  One is married to a pedophile, one is married to a bigamist, one has a dead husband in the trunk of the car, one is an abused illegal immigrant, one is bent on suicide and more. 

The premise of the novel will eventually be explained albeit condemned.  This novel will force readers to think about the Artificial Intelligence (AI) behind driver-less vehicles and about the decision to grant justice or injustice on those who survive such collisions.  Jack, the MP running the Vehicle Inquest Jury, is motivated by personal greed and is very much part of decisions that are immoral and downright injustice.  His end in this plot is as frightening as the rest of the novel.

Catch up on your sleep before you begin this novel because you will be gripped by its hair-raising plot and unable to stop reading, even while the tension mounts over and over with each changing scene and challenge.  It’s important satire but also a warning that AI needs to be monitored, maintained and controlled because it’s not as objective and detached as it seems.  Science can be deleterious and damning if not examined and measured on how it affects individuals and the public within society. It has criminal possibilities as well as technological progress.  As in this novel, You Decide!

Mind-blowing plot, carefully crafted and a nail-biting, hair-raising story.  A truly thrilling read!

A Wizard's Choice by Maya Tyler

A Wizard’s Choice. Maya Tyler. Tirgearr Publishing.  July 2019. pb, 170 pp.; ASIN: B07SSVX7DQ.

Kurtis Warde has to make a choice – to live as a wizard or a human.  However, he feels very obligated to his grandfather, who has raised him and protected him from the evils of the feud of centuries between the Wizards and the Faeries.  Kurtis first meets Dee, a vampire, who introduces him to a world of phenomenal sex.  He is obviously besotted by her but she sees their initial sexual encounter as just that and no more.  Kurtis is haunted by the fact that he has no idea who his mother and father are but that is about to change.

He begins to visit Alina, a Life Coach, who has the gift of reading auras and spiritually connecting to her clients with her intuitive gifts of connection.  She quickly connects Kurtis to the fact that his ancestors were the Annunaki, beings from space who were the wizards and faeries of old.  This connection unleashes the continuation of the lethal feud between the two groups and previous spells of protection no longer protect Kurtis and Alina.

Kurtis will soon know his parents but may not be able to heal the strife from which his grandfather has been protecting him all these years. A wizard uprising led by the Bauer family began to cover their plans to overthrow the Delafontaines. Kurtis was related to the faeries who nearly annihilated the family who are actually ancestors of Alina.  This then is the story of how Kurtis will act to end the feud of centuries with the help of Alina and his family.

A Wizard’s Choice is an interesting read, a romance, adventure, thriller, and magical tale full of complex characters.  Modern technology is combined with ancient spells and magic to protect characters from the nonstop conflict.  The choice turns out to be so much larger than Kurtis or his grandfather had imagined! Rather than end on a definitive note, it is clear at the end of this novel that there will be more novels in this series (this is the second in the series, although it may be read as a stand-alone novel). Nicely crafted story, Maya Tyler!

Lions of the Sky by Paco Chierici

Lions of the Sky. Paco Chierici. Braveship Books. Copyright 2018. $26.99; hb, 292 pp.; ISBN: 9781640620674.

Being a Top Gun fighter pilot is not for the timid.  It’s fiercely difficult; that’s why these men and women are being tested and trained to be fighter pilots are going through real and simulated scenarios.  The action of lack of action can mean instant injury and/or death. Enter the cockpit of an F/A-18 Super Hornet and feel the force of gravity on take-off.  This team are not loners; they’re highly dependent on each other for survival.  Sam Richardson is the leader.  Sam’s dealing with a problem; he’s got two females in this latest division. He had become close to a former female pilot who died in an airplane crash.  The questions haunting Sam are did she cause the pilot error and was it because she was a weaker female pilot?  Sam has to unlearn that error in thinking because it so severely affects the current women being trained to fly in battle missions.  There are nail-biting scenes galore that are truly thrilling adventures that are so enjoyable.  Also one experiences many drinking sessions, sharing of meals, sharing of training – supportive and challenging, sad moments at funerals, gifting of hilarious and serious nicknames, on-shore leaves for officers and trainees, etc.  I absolutely loved this novel and learned so much during it.  The author is a real pilot with over 20 years of experience.  The conflict these men and women are getting ready for is a death-dealing one in the South China Sea where China is preparing to do battle with Taiwan and the Philippines over a slew of islands.  Not a training session – Paco Chierici knows how to depict the real deal!  Highly recommended historical fiction of the 21^st century!

Once More Unto the Breach: A Novel by Meghan Holloway

Once More Unto the Breach: A Novel. Meghan Holloway. Polis Books. Copyright May 14, 2019, pb, 320 pp.; ISBN: 9781947993600.

Rhys Gravenor is looking for his son in WWII-torn Paris.  He deeply regrets his last conversation with his son, Owain, who declared his “conscientious objector” status and was called a coward by his father.  Now, he carries a letter from his son in his pocket while searching for him. Rhys fought in WWI and knows the horrors of war but is alarmed and horrified by what he observes in cities and towns around Paris.  The cruelty and barbarity displayed by the Germans cannot fail to leave nightmarish scenes etched upon the memory of any and all observers. 

In his search, Rhys is joined by an American nurse and now serving as an ambulance driver, Charlotte Dubois has her own memories and secrets but proves to be formidable, brave and a person of impeccable honesty.  The upshot of this revealing story is that Jewish children are being sought out for destruction, and Owain is part of the Resistance trying to save them by getting them out of the country.  In the midst of it all is a man, Henri, who is also seeking Owain in order to recover missing works of art that Germans are stealing and moving to their own facilities.

In the search by all, hundreds of executed individuals are found slaughtered and left without burial.  Works of art are found hidden and awaiting transport.  Wounded German soldiers are found near death.  Remaining Parisian residents and other town survivors are slow to speak but loyal to those whom they know are honorable people.

Rather than being a factual account of what is mostly already known by most people, Once More Unto the Breach is told starkly with honesty, tenderness and tribute to those who risked and suffered so much to stop the senseless torture and murder being inflicted on France by German soldiers and leaders.  It also includes numerous scenes of the loyal and lovable dog Otto which will warm your heart amidst the chaos. 

This is a thriller novel easily rated as a 5/5.  The author successfully endeavors to show all sides of a war that at one point has no winner but only too many losers.  This is remarkable historical fiction you won’t soon forget.  Watch for more from this skilled author who knows how to craft a great story!

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

The Paragon Hotel. Lyndsay Faye. Penguin Publishing Group. Copyright January 2019. pb, 432 pp.; ISBN: 9780735210752.

Fasten your seatbelt and get ready for a wild ride into the times of Prohibition – from the jazz-filled clubs of Harlem to Portland, Oregon’s Paragon Hotel.  The streets of Harlem are a mix of Negro music and hoodlums vying for supremacy of territory.  When “Nobody” Alice James arrives at the Paragon Hotel, it’s with the help of the black Pullman porter, Max.  He’s practically carrying her as she’s got a very bad bullet wound in her gut.  This hotel is unique as Oregon has laws and visceral hatred for all people of color.  The KKK rules supreme although they make it sound like a genial social club. 

Slowly but surely Alice meets the residents of this African-American hotel. There’s Blossom, a dramatic young lady with a sweet, sultry voice that charms everyone in her path.  There’s a secret relationship she has with a man known as Dr. Perkins who treats Blossom for a secret condition.  Then we meet several other quirky characters who are ultra-dramatic but as endearing as the main characters.  They all are living in the Paragon Hotel in fear.  Alice James as “Nobody” spares everyone initially from the hoodlum atmosphere in Harlem and doesn’t share her total story until well into the novel.  That’s okay as there are plenty of disputes, dancing, drinking, costuming, etc. to totally rivet the reader to rapidly flipping pages while frantically reading.

Each of these characters may be said to have hearts of gold, with cords of compassion and grit that protects, defends, exalts and empathizes with each other when things get tough.  No spoilers here!

The huge question concerning everyone is “Where is Davy?”  Davy is a young African-American boy, somehow associated with Blossom DuBois, who has disappeared.  Some are frantic about finding him but if one carefully observes the passing days, one notices that not everyone is searching as if it were a matter of life and death.  The answer to these questions will provide an altogether unexpected solution to many problems – one that will move readers to tears!!!

The Paragon Hotel is a stunning historical novel that is also a mystery, romance, and thriller that involves every color, class, religion of Prohibition era.  You will revel in all of the saints and sinners herein!  This is one very talented writer that will make you want to read her former novels and hope that she will continue to create new stories that thrill the mind, heart and soul!  Highly recommended – stunning in fact!

The Suspect by Fiona Barton

The Suspect. Fiona Barton. Penguin Publishing Group..  January 2019. $26.00; hb, 416 pp.; ISBN: 9781101990513.

One of the worst nightmares for parents would be the disappearance or death of a child. One probably can’t imagine such a scene.  In many ways, parents are slightly out of touch once teens become older and exert some independence. So when Alex and a new friend Rosie go to Bangkok, Thailand, their parents are happy that they are supposedly having a great time.  The few texts they send to their parents and other friends seem to send the same message, the trip of a lifetime, which is exactly what it’s not!

At the same time, Kate Waters and her husband have fallen out of touch with their son, Jake.  He is also in Bangkok but no one knows what he’s doing there.  He was supposed to be continuing his education but that’s far from reality.  The story also concerns a young man named Jamie, a kind of obsessive guy who is mildly irritating to his crowd of friends and a Thai landlady called Mamma. 

When Alex and Rosie stop sending messages and haven’t been heard from in a little over week, the parents and friends become very concerned.  Days later, the nightmare scenario rears its head; the girls are dead.  Weeks later, news hits that they didn’t die in a fire but had actually died before they were found in the remains of a fire.  This then is the mystery that fills these page-turning scenes of the investigation that follows.  It also turns out that Jake Waters was a friend of the two girls and might have started the fired hostel where the girls were found.  Drugs, sex, and a fairly wild life seem to consume most of the tourists in Bangkok and police are quick to close cases rather than investigate further. Alex fails to follow her better instincts before it is too late.

Now the parents are involved and that is tragic, high drama.  Kate Water cannot stop being a journalist and begins her own search regarding her own son.  While some of the parts are repetitive and a bit lengthy, the mystery’s solution is both unpredictable and wild beyond anyone’s imagination.  It’s a story of innocence gone awry, parents who are quite disconnected from reality, dysfunctional families and individuals who seem beyond redemption, and a question of who is innocent or guilty.   It’s an exciting, sad and thrilling roller-coaster read!  Nice job, Fiona Barton – good read!

Slaughtered: A Jack Slaughter Thriller by K. A. Lugo

Slaughtered: A Jack Slaughter Thriller. K. A. Lugo. Tirgearr Publishing. November 2018. 223 pp. ASIN: B07JLMPX4.

In the flash of a moment, Jack Slaughter lost his wife, daughter and favorite pet.  The latter were brutally murdered and to this day Jack has no idea what happened to his wife.  The impact of these losses was more devastating than anyone could imagine.  He left his work as a Detective and is now operating a Private Investigation practice.  Now a man named Carl Boyd requests his assistance to find his wife Bonnie who has also disappeared.  Jack’s internal response to this request is gut-wrenching.  During the same week, a young woman is found murdered and found in a local lake area.  Jack’s best buddy, Ray, stops Jack from making a stupid mistake, attaching Ray’s partner Travers at the scene of that crime.  Jack can’t figure out the reason for Detective Travers’ animosity.

This opening scene leads to a discovery beyond horrendous – a series of deaths by evisceration – bodies that have inhumanly been sliced apart.  K. A. Lugo ha gone ultra-dark on this central part of a multi-layered plot.  Still the depiction of over a dozen bodies is so haunting that one keeps flipping the pages to find out what will happen, wondering if the perpetrator will somehow almost miraculously solve this unspeakable crime!

These stories have a soft side as the author adds that compassionate, human element that doesn’t just see each victim as a number but as a person with connections to place, time and other people. 

Jack is sharp but what he misses is amply provided by his partner Ray.  A parish priest is the listening, caring individual who is objective enough to speak truth to Jack in the presence of unspeakable grief.  But beware!  The four parts of this plot will not be resolved as the reader expects.  It’s only when Ray’s wife disappears that the action ramps up and all the clues to discover the serial killer, Butch, begin to unite! 

K. A. Lugo writes romance novels under another name but here demonstrates how competently and deftly she pens a crime thriller!  This is a must read that this reviewer highly recommends!!!

A Knife in the Fog: A Mystery Featuring Margaret Harkness and Arthur Conan Doyle by Bradley Harper

A Knife in the Fog: A Mystery Featuring Margaret Harkness and Arthur Conan Doyle. Bradley Harper. Prometheus Books. October 2018. 288 pp. ISBN#:  9781633884861.

Arthur Conan Doyle is a physician who spends his days practicing medicine.  He has also written a novel, A Study in Scarlet which gets the attention of the Prime Minister of England.  So unique are the skills in that novel that Prime Minister William Gladstone asks Sir Doyle to help with solving a series of murders that have been terrorizing London, murders that have the same characteristics.  The victims have had their throats slit but also have had parts of their internal female organs cut open or removed. 

To accomplish this task, Arthur Conan Doyle engages the help of Margaret Harkness, an inquisitive and bright lady who knows “street life” and can guide Doyle to places he would not know.  Also helping is Professor Bell, a renowned surgeon and thinker.  The police “allow” the threesome to join the investigation but initially regard them as an intrusive presence.  The killer knows of the search and is timing his murders to their work, mocking their search and investigation.

The public eventually would come to know this serial killer as “Jack the Ripper” but at this time far little is known about details and even causes for these murders; but eventually the reader will discover the minutiae behind many murders through the wiliness of these three investigators who fear neither man nor beast.

The answers to questions that arise through one’s readings are satisfying, including the more than satisfactory ending.  Stay tuned!  Kudos to the author who has fashioned the investigation of a notorious killer.

The Washington Decree: A Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen

The Washington Decree: A Novel. Jussi Adler-Olsen. Penguin Publishing Group. Copyright 2018. pb. 592 pp.; ISBN: 9781524742522.

When chaos and breakdown create a domestic crisis, the President, Cabinet, Senate and House of Representatives are designed to handle every situation.  However, the scenario that shakes America within the pages of this novel defies the order, law and protocols set up for such a situation. 

The story begins sixteen years before Senator Bruce Jansen becomes President.  After winning a geographical contest, Doggie or Dorothy Rogers and a fellow contestant, Wesley Barefoot, and some other contestants win a free trip to China.  The days in China are filled with a lifetime of wondrous memories which are suddenly destroyed by an attack which winds up with the murder of Senator Jansen’s wife.  Years later, when Jansen has been elected President, he agrees to appear at an event in the hotel owned by Doggie’s father, Bud Curtis.  During that major event, President Jansen’s pregnant wife is assassinated, and the killer and Bud Curtis are arrested.  Bud Curtis is convicted and sentenced to Death Row.

But here is where the horror begins.  President Jansen has been unhinged by the deaths of his two wives, evidenced by the draconian measures he institutes, supported by a small cadre of powerful politicians.  All ammunition for guns of any kind must be surrendered.  The press is now to be censored by the government.  All TV shows about violence are removed.  In fact, most TV channels are closed if not censored for every soundbite that they transmit.  The National Guard and eventually all military are called to serve within America only as the rising tide of revolt, protest and violence increases.  Violent deaths, rapes, beatings and arrests are the new order of the day! America seems to be a civil war against itself.

The remainder of the novel centers on how several characters, mainly Doggie and some of her former colleagues, realize that the preceding events were not just caused by previous acts of violence but perhaps deliberately programmed so that someone could wind up with complete control of the government and the people of the United States of America!  Anarchy, however, still cannot be suppressed!

The Washington Decree… is a novel that could very well become reality.  The division in contemporary America certainly could foster such an attempt to wrest control from such divisive controls.  The author plots out the conflict deftly! Readers know it will evolve into a solution, but the tension is aptly placed so one is not quite so sure about the outcome!  In an epilogue, the author states that institutions such as FEMA, the Office of Homeland Security, and others might be unable to quell the consequences of such a scenario.  Jussi Adler-Olsen keeps the reader engaged but more than that makes the reader ask significant questions about the state of American democracy under threat!  Good contemporary thriller read!

A Perfect Shot: A Novel by Robin Yocum

A Perfect Shot: A Novel. Robin Yocum. Prometheus Books. April 2018. 336 pp. ISBN: 9781633884175.

Nicholas “Duke” Ducheski is famous for his basketball performance in the small town of Mingo Junction, Ohio.  He thought his amazing skill shown in the state championship game would win him scholarships galore in colleges but that wasn’t the case.  Still he is the shining star of this steel mining town forever, but he doesn’t want to live on past laurels.  So he sets out to do something he can call successful.  At first he is forced to work in the mines but then decides to start his own restaurant, “Duke’s Place.”

Duke marries but it’s not a good union at all.  Add to his unhappiness is the fact that at age forty, after he first opens up his restaurant, his hoodlum brother-in-law, “Little Tony” DeMarco, shows up and thinks he’s going to get a piece of the pie as part of the local Mafia.  Everyone with any brains at all is mortally frightened of Tony, whose only talents lie in knowing how to beat victims to a pulp or murder them if they don’t cooperate with the local “muscle.”

Now one might say it’s easier to cough up some money to find peace and protection, but Duke isn’t made of that stuff.  All he wants is to run his business, do well, and eventually get a divorce from his wife who refuses to comply with his requests.  Life is beginning to get truly miserable to Duke.  But the reader will be surprised by the plan Duke devises to rid himself of the prevailing “thorns” in his flesh and business.

No spoilers here.  Suffice to say that most Mafioso stories are quite predictable; this isn’t one of them.  Stay with the reading as the action picks up and justice is served in the most astonishing manner.  Duke will pay a price but it’s not one any reader can predict.

Nicely crafted crime thriller – definitely plotted as a “perfect shot!”

The Life We Bury: A Novel by Allen Eskens

The Life We Bury: A Novel. Allen Eskens. Prometheus Books. October 2017. 303 pp. ISBN #: 9781616149987. 

Joe Talbot, college student, has his hands full.  His mother is an alcoholic who is probably bipolar and his brother is autistic and being forced to undergo too much change for his vulnerable psyche.  Joe’s got an English assignment in which he must interview a subject and write a biography, including beginning chapters, an outline, and a finale.  He chooses Carl Iverson, a man convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl, Crystal Hagen.  As his interviews begin, he meets several people who will change the course of his interview into an investigation.  Those people are Lili, a neighbor in his apartment building; Virgil who served with Carl in Vietnam and a former law clerk who was present during the trial of Carl.

The first question to be answered is why Carl pressed for an early and quick trial.  And why is he desiring this “dying declaration” when he’s previously been silent on the whole matter? 

It’s almost ironic that Joe is incapable of using some tough love on his own mother who has no problem taking Joe’s last monies to pay her bail rather than get sober while he becomes insistent on following the course of his investigation to its completion for a man who a few weeks ago was a stranger.

Readers will be shocked by the turns in this plot as accounts from Vietnam and a diary, as well as detailed questions completely turn this case around.  The course of this tale puts Joe’s safety into a perilous scene indeed.

Readers need to hold judgment as the beginning of this novel seems to tie up a story into a seamless tale.  The best is yet to come, and Allen Eskens provides an riveting tale that is sure to please readers who love good criminal fiction/thriller novels.  Nicely crafted and highly recommended!

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

The Rules of Magic. Alice Hoffman. Simon & Schuster. October 2017. 384 pp.  ISBN #: 9781501137471. 

The Rules of Magic is a prequel to the well-known novel and film, Practical Magic.  It doesn’t matter if one hasn’t read the other novel; this is a stand-alone story in which Susanna Owens trains her two daughters and son not to do things that would allow the public to know both their horrendous family history or their present strange powers.  Yes, in 1620 their ancestor was charged with witchery.  Such a heritage is indeed hard to live with!

There are many rules that Susanna makes her children obey but they go ahead and do all those things anyway.  Franny, Jet and Vincent have their own unpredictable ways and support each other in when to and when not to use their powers.  Foretelling the future, reading the thoughts of other people, and other skills all are minor talents. The one that really matters to them is their mother’s warning not to fall in love.  This then is the heart of this novel.  For how can one stop oneself from falling in love?  But they also know that the one they fall in love with will die if they marry.  No spoilers here but at times the reader holds one’s breath because we come to believe that falling in love will turn tragic. 

Aunt Isabella is a wonderful character whose wisdom shared with these three young but inexperienced characters saves the day.  Her dry sense of humor and blunt advice delights the reader as well.

Franny, Jet and Vincent figure out how to live with their curse or blessing, depending on how one looks at it, and maneuver around it eventually.  Many will die or get hurt, charming connections are found, and many surprises are in store regarding love.  Through it all, the siblings maintain a very special connection and sense of humor about it all. 

In between their escapades is a delightful look at the 1960s where one smells wonderful flowers, herbs and food; hears memorable hippie music of that era; and more.

The Rules of Magic is one more example of Alice Hoffman’s exquisitely skilled writing which is superb and must reading!

The Plague Diaries: Keeper of Tales Trilogy #3 by Ronlyn Domingue

The Plague Diaries: Keeper of Tales Trilogy #3. Ronlyn Domingue. Atria Books. August 2017. 432 pp. ISBN#: 9781476774282.

Secret Riven is no longer advertising her magical powers.  Instead she has become somewhat of a self-educated scholar who works as an archivist in the magnate Fewmany’s offices.  This is not your local library, but rooms and rooms of books in every possible subject, including books and objects to do with magic, sorcery, legends, myths, etc.  The formerly very close relationship between Secret and Nicholas the Prince has changed with their separation, something Secret doesn’t realize until they meet again well into the novel. 

The story herein grows at a sedate pace in which the reader grows to share Secret’s love for animals, plants, and nature wherever they are found.   Little by little, the reader finds that Fewmany has a purpose in befriending Secret, although she doesn’t really figure that out until much later.  Meanwhile, Fewmany seems to be trying to broaden Secret’s horizons, inviting her to dinners, etc. at which some guests and scenes frighten Secret.  These pages are replete with weird costumes, animals and figures with strange powers, and strange events.  One gets to know many of the main characters in the government.  The author does a marvelous job in stretching all of this out in an intriguing way so that the reader doesn’t really mind that the crux of the quest isn’t revealed immediately.

The Old Woman who was introduced in the first novel of this series, a new character Harmyn, Nicholas and Secret eventually will try to discover the connection between a certain symbol in an ancient manuscript and other symbols available elsewhere.  No spoilers here, but it all ties together eventually.  In the process, Secret Riven becomes aware that her repressed gifts of connection to nature and languages can be used maturely when appropriate.

This reviewer appreciates this final version of the Keeper of the Tales Trilogy as well-written, even though it is a stand-alone novel, and highly recommended to readers who love a good mystery with paranormal features, friendship, loyalty and engaging quests. 

Bring Her Home by David Bell

Bring Her Home. David Bell. Penguin Publishing Group. July 2017. 464 pp. ISBN #: 9780399584442. 

Summer and her best friend Haley have disappeared.  Now, a year and a half after the death of Summer’s Mom, Bill, learns that his daughter Summer is in the hospital in the Intensive Care Unit and Haley is dead!  No one yet knows what happened; all that is known is that both girls were found badly beaten.  On his arrival at the hospital, Bill is angry about all the unknowns and wants to go speak to the guys the girls used to hang around.  Haley’s parents arrive to comfort him, remarkable to say the least since their loss is a million times worse than his. 

A few weeks later, the unbelievable happens!  It turns out that the girls used to switch clothes all the time and it’s really Summer who has been killed and Haley who is alive!  It’s beyond one’s imagination and one can barely understand Bill’s shock and grief.  Add to that another girl is missing!  Then there’s a question about whether it was Summer who was dead!  Crazy-making revelations!

This then is the story of a mystery left to unfold!  By now we know that Bill has a definite anger management problem and that he has been questioned about his own relationship with Summer and her Mom.  But that’s minor compared to the facts about to be revealed.  The solution lies with a very friendly neighbor and a bunch of guys trying to up the ante on their competitive reputation as womanizers, that is, tallying the number of girls they’ve slept with.  Silly and childish, right?  But what happens when some go too far?

Bring Her Home is a mystery, a crime thriller!  It also, however, is a satire on those who live daily lives without really paying attention to what spouses and children are doing on a day-to-day basis.  It’s a call to awareness as a few hours can make all the difference between life and death!

Stunning novel that, although somewhat contrived, is a spine-tingling, hair-raising read!  

The Child: A Novel by Fiona Barton

The Child: A Novel. Fiona Barton. Berkley. June 2017. 384 pp.  ISBN#: 9781101990483.

Kate Waters decides to diversify from her boring journalistic ventures into something she can sink her teeth into.  During excavation of a building site, the skeleton of an infant of indeterminate age is found.  It’s a backstory of no particular attention due to the fact that the newspapers are paying more attention to the shenanigans around the upcoming Olympics in London, England. For some unexplained reason, however, Kate sticks to the story and begins to explore the neighborhood around where the child was found!

This story is told from four different points of view: Kate’s version as already described; a woman named Angela whose infant daughter was stolen from her hospital room when she went into the bathroom to take a shower; a woman named Emma whose dark secret has left her in a severe depression with anxiety that she finds impossible to handle even with medication; and Emma’s mother Jude, a self-centered woman whose lack of connection with her daughter leaves the reader thinking and feeling there’s more than meets the eye here. 

The story moves rather slowly in the middle of the book but then accelerates to roller coaster speed with a telephone call from Emma.  Her revealed secret to Kate is so stunning to Kate that she can barely handle it.  From there, the confusion rises as Angela’s obsession leads her to believe the dead child is her own and not Emma’s.  The reader will be amazed at the way this mystery unfolds and Fiona Barton is superb at plotting with sensitive time and interesting facts.  This could be anyone’s story but the way the lives of these three women interact is absolutely astonishing.  Kate Waters has not only a journalistic eye and ear but a sensitive soul that enables anyone she interviews to open up and expose supposedly insignificant facts.

This is fine, fine mystery or crime fiction reading and highly recommended to readers of all ages!

K Street: A Kay Hamilton Novel #3 by M. A. Lawson

K Street: A Kay Hamilton Novel #3.  M. A. Lawson. Penguin Publishing Group. January 2017. 304 pp. ISBN #: 9780399573842.

K Street in Washington, D.C. is renowned as the home of lobbyists of special corporations, business groups and companies representing special interest.  Their job is to influence the course of American policy through the Senate and House of Representatives.  However, on the same street is one group that carries out activities that the President wants done secretly, and so the group exists with absolutely no connection to any member of government.  The novel opens with a killing job that goes awry.  When it’s all over, two of the attackers are dead as well as Callahan, the head of this secret group, landing in the hospital in critical condition and another of his employees dead.  Kay Hamilton had been going to meet with Callahan to let him know she was quitting as his worker; instead she walked into a barrage of bullets flying and dead bodies everywhere.  Before he goes into a coma, he whispers a letter to Kay, which immediately sets her in a specific direction to find the thieves and murderers.

Kay is determined to find out who is behind this attack.  No spoilers here.  Suffice to say that the people in charge of this mayhem are just as determined not to be found.  The question is twofold: should Callahan and Hamilton be allowed to live or can they remain alive and harmless regarding a higher mission, the passing of military secrets to a foreign government? 

Kay Hamilton was originally fired from her DEA job for doing things her way instead of following rules and protocol.  She’s no different here as she refuses to carry out someone else’s narrowly-defined investigation.  The result is a satisfying romp with constant surprises, tension, deaths, and answers slowly revealed.  Kay Hamilton is an intelligent, street-savvy investigator who gets the job done and keeps the reader guessing through the entire process!

K Street.. is a great read and will thrill all those who love adventure and a great mystery!

The Con Man of Lagos: A Novel of Espionage by Francesca Salerno

The Con Man of Lagos: A Novel of Espionage.  Francesca Salerno. Amazon Digital Services. October 2016. 577 KB.  ASIN#: B01MAYEND9. 

Francesca Salerno’s second espionage novel takes the reader through the realities of terrorism in the world of Boko Haram, a small but dangerous group affiliated with Al Qaeda.  Boko Haram is located in Africa, and the plot in Lagos involves a Soviet submarine loaded with nuclear tipped missiles that explodes in the waters around Lagos and the surrounding area.  It also concerns their plan to take barrels of sludge-like chemicals siphoned off barrels of gasoline and explode them in an area guaranteed to kill many Nigerians.  Although Nigeria financially prospers from the sale of gas and oil to nations around the world, the terrorists believe Nigeria is a superior country that should gain most the benefits of the gold mine to the world. 

There is very little action in this novel.  However, the essence of its appeal lies in the knowledge of its characters and the expanded knowledge accumulated through the political, military, business and ambassadorial connections.  This is a very different style for an espionage novel but one that works well herein.  You will meet upper officials of Nigeria’s petroleum business, an ambassador from America who is really a CIA operative, an Imam whose connections make him able to make huge amounts of money and use that money for terrorist purposes, a shady employee who carries out the plans of the Imam but who fails to realize the plot involving a far greater risk until it is too late, a Pakistani ambassador who works for the glory of his country although his job in Lagos is a demotion for getting too cozy with the Americans, and more men and women who are astute chess pieces in a game that’s headed for a showdown between the King and Queen.

Another notable feature of this novel is the characters whose idealism and dedication to the betterment of Nigerian interests supersedes the financial greed or fundamentalist spiritual fanaticism threatening the permanent demise of Nigeria and other global powers.  It’s also fascinating to follow the motivations and changing plans of these characters as they coalesce and vie with each other.  Sometimes in the real world, volatile terrorism is thwarted, actually more times than is obvious from the news we view or read every day.  Francesca Salerno has obviously researched her topic well and been to the setting she so aptly describes.  The Con Man of Lagos… is a good read that is recommended for those who like to learn more about this imaginary but all too realistic terror plot!

Dancing With The Tiger by Lili Wright

Dancing With The Tiger.  Lili Wright. Penguin Group (USA). July 2016. 464 pp.  ISBN#: 9780399175176.

An addicted character, “Looter,” finds an Aztec funeral mask and knows it’s very valuable.  He, however, has no interest in its cultural or artistic value but instead sees it as a cash cow for his insatiable addiction.  That mask is believed to be the funeral mask of Moctezuma II or Montezuma as he is more popularly known.  Anna, a fact checker, is highly qualified as an art collector, having begun to learn this field at the knees of her father, a failed art collector.  Both are humiliated at having their facts proved to be false in a book written by Anna, a humiliation that publicly spread and destroyed any credibility the father-son had in the art world’s tough, competitive field.  A drug lord and a gardener turned hitman also vie for possession of this mask and will do whatever is necessary to obtain it. 

Anna is the only character whose complex nature is gradually delineated in this novel that reads more like surrealistic segments.  She also seems to be the only one interested in the life behind this mask.  As the mask moves from the characters who steal it from each other, we learn that it possesses a mystical power that transforms the personality of those who attempt to wear it.  It’s mystery is the question it poses when worn: Does it bring out the true personality of the wearer or is it the supernatural power behind the original owner’s death mask, Montezuma? 

The other aspect of this long, drawn-out plot involves the beautiful descriptions of Mexican culture, setting, and artistic history that is juxtaposed with the poverty, greed, and despairing lifestyle of contemporary Mexicans.  Anna seems to be the only character truly in touch with the more noble aspects of Mexican history and art.  One can empathize with her intelligence and frustration at how she could have missed the errors throughout her book and her desire to set it aright with a new book about this phenomenal new find of a funerary mask from ancient Mexico.

Who is the Tiger?  Readers will discover the symbolic and pragmatic nature of the title throughout the complex plot that is worthwhile to persevere in following despite the meandering back and forth accounts interspersed throughout the story.  Interesting read with elements of mystery, adventure, paranormal, history, crime, romance, and art – something for everyone!

The Wolf of Sarajevo by Matthew Palmer

The Wolf of Sarajevo.  Matthew Palmer. Penguin Group (USA). May 2016. 400 pp.  ISBN#: 9780399175015.

Few people remember the horrific Srebrenica massacre but the aftermath of that tragedy continues to haunt an unending conflict among Serbs, Croatians and Bosnians.  Eric Petrosian lost a good friend, Meho Alimerovic, in that war and now he’s back on a mission to find out what the Bosnian leader is up to twenty years after Srebrenica.  Eric is serving at the American Embassy in the Balkans.  He has heard that the Bosnian Serb leader, who had sworn to live and influence his country toward peace, is now back to his old violent acts.  Another war is looming, a continuation of hundreds of years of ethnic hatred.

Why is Zoran Dimitrovic turning to activities that will build and eventually explode in more war and ethnic cleansing?  It turns out that another Mafia connected leader, Marko Barcelona, interested in only money and power, has some evidence that could turn Zoran Dimitrovic from a leader into a prisoner before a war tribunal trial.

Eric is approached by a former lover and now EUO diplomat, Annika Sondergaard, who knows that Eric has connections and in-roads that she can never hope to match.  She begs him to become involved in finding out the reason for Dimitrovic’s change of heart. 

The rest of the story is a historical thriller that probes the history of this conflict and an international thriller as Eric and Annika get closer and closer to the truth of the matter which just might put a halt on more pain and historical tragedy.  For every decent act of these two investigators are other rabid characters who love to kill, who love the hunt for the sake of the violence, and those who love to enter the fray to increase the already simmering tensions waiting for the spark that will inflame the area into new civil war.

Matthew Palmer has his finger on the pulse of Balkan history and a keen understanding of the major personalities literally creating history in this part of Eastern Europe.  The reader has to pay close attention, however, to keep pace with all the different names and which group each belongs to.  Succeeding in that endeavor, the reader will enjoy this fast-paced, somewhat stereotypical, but all too real battle for the future of this part of the world.  Very good historical fiction for sure!