Lightning Strike By William Kent Krueger

A perfect entry into the Cork O’Connor series for fans of William Kent Krueger‘s standalone novels, Lightning Strike is an exquisitely written prequel with heart, violence and historical context.  A solid detective story with twists and turns headed towards an uncertain conclusion, wrapped inside a coming of age story about early adolescent boys within the historical setting of early 1960’s Middle America, featuring conflict between abysmally-treated Native Americans and their white neighbors.

It’s the summer of 1963 in Aurora, Minnesota and 12-year old Cork O’Connor and his friend Jorge are hiking to a sacred site called Lightning Strike when they happen upon a grizzly scene –Big John Manydeeds, an esteemed member of the Ojibwe tribe and venerable wilderness guide, hanging from a tree of an apparent suicide.  Enter Cork’s father and sheriff of Tamarack County, Liam O’Connor, to process the scene and start an investigation.  As it becomes apparent that Big John’s death was under suspicious circumstances, tensions rise due to simmering mistrust by the Ojibwe with the Sheriff’s department and a history that more than suggests this revered Native American will not get the justice he deserves due to years of prejudicial treatment.  Feeling the need to be helpful, young Cork O’Connor takes on his own investigation, sometimes against the direct orders of his father, with the goal to do right by Big John.  Finding invaluable clues and evidence along the way, Cork is forced to grow up quickly in the face of a complicated world that he straddles as part Irish/part Native American, learning that doing the right thing can sometimes have dreadful consequences.

Despite the conflict, death and shining a light on the frustratingly awful treatment of Native Americans, Lightning Strike at its core is a beautiful story that makes you feel warm inside.  It focuses on relationships that we can all relate to – father and son, mother and son, friendships between people of different races, the young and their elders, and childhood buddies.  It explores the time in life where you start transitioning from being a kid to an adult via having your eyes opened to the world around you that was previously hidden through childhood innocence.  It also dives into doing the right thing and being able to live with yourself, even if it’s hard and could cause difficulties along the way that would be easier to avoid.  Finally, it highlights the beauty of diverse communities and friendships, and overcoming the horribly divisive nature of small-minded prejudicial thinking.  These are all wonderful things that come together perfectly in this novel via the skillful pen of an American treasure, William Kent Krueger.

If you’re not reading WKK’s books, you’re missing out on a resplendent experience.  And if you’ve read his standalones, but like me hadn’t yet been introduced to the Cork O’Connor series, then Lighting Strike is an absolute must read.  You’ll be hooked and then be delighted to find out there are 17 more books in the series.  Watch that TBR pile grow.  Happy reading!

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The Family Plot By Megan Collins

Dark, twisted and with Knives Out vibes, The Family Plot is a solid murder mystery that will keep you guessing as you try to unravel the deep secrets of the Lighthouse family.  Megan Collins delivers a wonderfully messed up and unnerving story that will have you saying “WTF?!?!” throughout the whole book.

The Lighthouse family congregates on Blackburn Island to mourn the death of the family patriarch.  But this is no normal island or family.  The island is famous for a slew of murders by a serial killer who was never caught. And as for the Lighthouse children, well, they grew up being homeschooled by their mother with a unique curriculum learning about and honoring famous murder victims. In fact, each of the 4 children in the Lighthouse family were named after several of these victims.  For Dahlia Lighthouse (named after the Black Dahlia), returning to her childhood home brings up painful memories of the day her twin brother left home 10 years ago, never to be seen again.  She uses this homecoming as an opportunity to search for clues of her missing brother, which highlights the unique eccentricity of this family while setting in motion events that reveal multiple shocking truths that are beyond her comprehension and send this already “unnatural” family spiraling deeper into the darkness.

Connecting to The Family Plot is easy because every family has their oddities and quirks. While the very bizarre history and actions of the Lighthouse family are not normal or directly relatable to the vast majority of us, the drama and emotions most certainly are something we all can understand.  Grieving the loss of a loved one, having strong connections to siblings, being an outsider, seeking acceptance, wanting to be normal – these are experiences that we can appreciate because at some point everyone has felt something like this in their lives.  Take out the murder worship and this is a book about a strange family trying to find their way.  Pretty relatable if you ask me.  And if you think that’s a stretch, that’s cool.  Just enjoy a good old-fashioned whodunit with a darker version of The Addams Family.

The Family Plot does take a little time to really get going but stick with it.  Drink in the peculiar details during the setup so that you’re prepared for a wild ride that rewards the reader by finishing with a disturbing flourish.  A worthy mystery for fans of true crime, Alfred Hitchcock movies and Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone.  

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The Island By Ben Coes

Readers have been waiting three long years for Dewey Andreas to mete out another ass kicking and boy does Ben Coes deliver in a colossal way.  Overflowing with total unadulterated carnage and unyielding hostilities, The Island is one of the bloodiest novels of all time and an instant classic!

Iran has been plotting against the United States for decades and now they’re ready to take the next step, hoping to cripple America by bringing the fight to their own soil.  Catching the US with their pants down, Hezbollah operatives strike fast and hard, attacking New York and the United Nations at a time when President Dellenbaugh is about to give a speech, putting his life in mortal jeopardy.  Enter Dewey Andreas, CIA operative and certified badass who just survived an attack on his own life, to infiltrate the war zone that New York has become and attempt to extract the President before the terrorists can capture and/or execute him.  It’s a race against time to save the leader of the free world…and prevent the terrorists from launching the United States into unmitigated chaos.

The Island includes so much combat and death that you need a Masters degree from MIT and an elaborate spreadsheet to calculate the body count.  Terrorists, law enforcement, politicians, civilians and more are all in the crosshairs and dropping like flies.  But rest assured it’s not gratuitous violence.  In fact, it seems terrifyingly realistic.  Every action, shot and kill are a necessary part of providing vivid depictions of the hellscape that results from a well-organized and unthwarted terrorist attack.  The overwhelming nature of the attack and response produce an emotional response and extreme sense of urgency that wouldn’t otherwise be present, propelling the reader forward like a MANPAD screaming towards its target at 750 meters per second.

And who do you call to stop a devastating terrorist attack?  Dewey Andreas of course.  And maybe a few of his friends as well, including the venerable Rob Tacoma and a financial tier one operator.  Yes, you read that last part correctly.  Finance nerds, our time has finally come!  But the main focus is rightfully on Dewey and his unique set of skills that allow him to infiltrate the front lines of the battle despite being Iran’s public enemy number one with Hezbollah operatives looking to take him out.  Then once he’s in the fight, there’s no stopping his relentless drive to use every tool at his disposal and every skill in his bag to kill anyone who stands in his way of mission success and saving the country he loves.

This book further elevates the legend of Dewey Andreas, positioning him near the top of the conversation on all-time great characters in the genre.  And it confirms once again that Ben Coes is a hell of a great writer.  Few authors, if any, can match his incredible pacing and ability to pack pages with massive amounts of action. 

Simply put, The Island was worth the wait and an absolute must read.  And now I sit here filled with anticipation and desire to find out what’s next for Dewey and America.  I just hope and pray we don’t have to wait another three years to find out.  But if it is, I’m willing to wait for it.  Because no doubt it will be awesome.

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A Different Dawn By Isabella Maldonado

A Different Dawn is an intense, edge-of-your-seat thriller with gut-wrenching murders and big-time twists featuring a strong, formidable and determined Latina female protagonist.  Isabella Maldonado does a tremendous job leveraging her prior law enforcement experience to provide a sense of realism to the way FBI and police departments operate, think and interact.  Combined with gripping action sequences and heinous crimes, the result is a solid novel that increases excitement for where this series and characters can go next.

After the explosive events of The Cipher, FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera is back in A Different Dawn and this time she’s on the hunt for a serial killer who’s left a trail of undetected destruction in his wake for nearly 30 years.  Nina, aka the Warrior Girl, and her teammates on their newly formed Behavioral Analysis Unit team must learn how to work together while trying to figure out the identity of this diabolical killer.  Profiling the killer, figuring out his motivations and patterns, and doing good old investigative work turn out to be the easy part.  What they’re not prepared for is constantly being a step behind with no idea how the killer keeps getting the best of them.  But as the team follows the evidence and closes in on their suspect, information comes to light that makes the case personal for Nina in a way they never expected.  Not one to be deterred, Nina will do whatever necessary to bring an end to the killer’s reign of terror.  Even if it means throwing the playbook out the window and risking her life. 

Fans of serial killer thrillers in general, and Meg Gardiner’s books specifically, should jump on this series. Two books in, it’s off to a furious start and has the chops to become a long running series with a tough female character that’s easy to root for. And speaking of that, Jennifer Lopez is starring and producing in the film adaptation of the first book in the series, The Cipher, providing a great opportunity to see badass Nina Guerrera brought to life. Now’s a great time to get invested in the series and watch it grow, both in print and on the big screen.

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Holdout By Jeffrey Kluger

Belka “Walli” Beckwith is the lone American astronaut aboard the International Space Station, on a mission with two colleagues from Russia, when a resupply cargo vehicle goes rogue and slams into the station.  Battered, bruised and bloodied, the three astronauts are ordered to evacuate the station and return to Earth for medical treatment.  Only Walli “prefers not to” leave, effectively hijacking the ISS and creating an international incident of epic proportions.  What would lead her, a decorated Navy officer and fighter pilot, to disobey orders and put herself in legal jeopardy across no fewer than 25 countries and risk her life alone in space?  To Walli, it’s all about doing what she feels is right to highlight injustice, kick off a movement and force world leaders to reckon with their actions before it’s too late.  It’s a low Earth orbit sit-in with hopes of influencing a better world.  

Despite the setting in space and providing scientific details of the ISS and space travel, Holdout is not science fiction ala Andy Weir’s novels.  It’s more a commentary on political and environmental issues wrapped up inside a slow burn, ticking clock, race to the finish thriller.  It’s a contemporary tale about the current state of divisive and dishonest politics, injustice towards indigenous peoples, and ecological calamity.  But it is also a story about hope.  About the power of protest and how one person can mobilize a passionate group of people to unite, make their voices heard and successfully make a difference in the world.  And how it is possible for good people to tune out their political party and financial donors to listen to their conscience and reclaim their humanitarian values.

Maybe that sounds like a fairy tale in today’s world rather than a thriller, but there is plenty of suspense within the book to keep you engaged and wanting to find out what happens next.  Holdout is a compelling and thought-provoking book that reminds us of the Golden Rule, the importance of family and friendship, and standing up for what you believe even when it’s hard and puts yourself in a difficult and uncomfortable situation.  A perfect book for those who like reading about politics, deep diving into the issues of our time and thinking about how they would act if put into the same situations as the characters in the novel.

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Down Range By Taylor Moore

Taylor Moore’s first published novel, Down Range, is a gritty and intense thriller that is sure to be one of the top debuts of 2021.  It’s well written, fast-paced and includes tons of action.  It also follows a tried and true formula – local kid leaves his small town, provides exemplary service to his country, returns home to find an evil influence has corrupted the town, then takes it upon himself to bring the fight to the bad guys to save his hometown.  The book also includes a gruff, emotionally stunted father, family drama, old scores in need of settling and the rekindling of an old flame.  Cliché?  Yes.  But does it work?  Absolutely!  That’s why it’s a tried and true formula.

Please don’t let anything from the prior paragraph give you the wrong idea that the book is somehow boring or derivative.  This book is fantastic!  Taylor Moore brings a fresh spin that sets this book apart from similar storylines.  Down Range takes you from the mountains of Afghanistan to the high planes of northwest Texas, following former Green Beret turned DEA special agent Garrett Kohl.  At first, his mission is to protect an innocent witness to a massacre of his tribe in the sandbox. But as the criminal enterprise in Garrett’s hometown reveals itself, he realizes he possesses a unique set of skills to unravel and put an end to the conspiracy.  Outgunned and outmanned, he must use his experience and every tool at his disposal to protect those closest to him and put an end to the evil elements corrupting the once idyllic community in rural Texas.

Down Range is going to be a big hit with thriller fans. It’s a contemporary, character-driven thriller with a down to earth middle America feel.  It’ll appeal to readers who crave detailed action sequences as well as those who prefer character and plot development.  I promise that once you pick it up, you’ll have a difficult time putting it down.  I have little doubt that this debut will catapult Taylor Moore and the Garrett Kohl series into must read status.

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Assassin's Dawn By Ward Larsen

Explosive, riveting and packs a powerful punch!  Ward Larsen crushes it with Assassin’s Dawn, a killer prequel novella that provides a window into the beginning of Israeli covert operative David Slaton’s Mossad career.  

After completing a relatively straightforward covert mission in Luxembourg to download information from a terrorist financier’s computer, things go sideways for Slaton and his team when the target is found dead the following morning.  Knowing they’ll be prime suspects, the team disperses and hightails it towards neighboring countries.  As soon as Slaton makes it over the border into Belgium, he learns that the target’s brother, the very terrorist who engineered an attack 3 years ago that killed Slaton’s wife and daughter, is likely in Luxembourg.  Going against orders at first before influencing Mossad at the highest levels, Slaton heads back consequences be damned.  Along the way he devises an intricate plan to thwart the terrorist’s plans.  All that’s left is to exact his revenge and achieve the peace of mind he’s been desperately seeking.

David Slaton is a tremendously underrated character and it’s awesome to get a glimpse at his past to see how he got his start.  Readers of the series have known about his incredibly capable skillset since he burst on the scene with The Perfect Assassin in 2008.  But now Assassin’s Dawn provides critical pieces to the puzzle that is David Slaton.  From how he excelled in sniper training to what events motivate him to do what he does, this story is a wonderful gift to Slaton fans.

As a novella Assassin’s Dawn may be short on pages, but it’s long on fascinating details, heart-thumping action and international intrigue. Ward Larsen provides a full-length novel’s worth of stellar plot and twists into this short form book. And much like his protagonist, Ward is criminally underrated and deserves a wider audience. But good news thriller fans! If you haven’t yet read your first Ward Larsen/David Slaton book, Assassin’s Dawn is the perfect place to start. But be warned that reading this story will hook you on the series and is guaranteed to increase your TBR pile. You can thank me later.

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Loser Baby By Jason Bovberg

Loser Baby is straight merciless tragedy, hold the comedy, with intense, unrelenting and unrepentant action throughout.  Told from the perspectives of multiple characters, this story delves deep into the dark corners of society’s underbelly – poverty, drugs, crime, abusive relationships, and mental illness – while also finding a way to highlight beautiful aspects of life such as resilience, forgiveness, connecting with others, rising to the occasion and the eternal pursuit of a better life.

Loser Baby follows a cast of characters who are profoundly flawed, clinging to the bottom rung of the economic ladder and trying to overcome the crappy hand life has delt them.  They’re all involved in the dual searches for Jasmine Frank and Tommy Strafe’s valuable coin collection, both missing since last night’s raging designer drug-fueled party.  While all participants have the same end goal in mind, finding Jasmine and the coins, they have vastly different motives and methods for bringing events to a close.  In fact, literally no character is safe from violence and harm.  

Beyond the strong character development and twisting plot, the best part of Jason Bovberg’s novel was the fantastic choice to have each chapter told from a specific character’s perspective.  This adds depth to the storytelling rather than following one straight narrative that clearly identifies the protagonists from the villains.  Instead, good vs. bad is a fluid concept in Loser Baby, forcing the reader to continually confront their feelings for each person as the story unfolds, changing opinions several times as events progress towards the conclusion.  It’s quite the emotional roller coaster from start to finish.

A solid new entry into the Thriller Noir genre, Loser Baby is a complex story that deserves to be consumed and digested by thoughtful readers who want an emotional experience. It’s not for the faint at heart.  But if you dare to open the front cover, you will be rewarded with an emotional read that will stick with you long after completion.   

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False Witness By Karin Slaughter

Heart-wrenching, gut-punching, anxiety-inducing and mentally-draining, False Witness is one hell of an intense psychological thriller that grabs hold of you from the start and beats you into an emotional bloody pulp by the end.  This may have been my first Karin Slaughter book, but it certainly won’t be my last after this powerful reading experience that delivered a page-turning story filled with thought provoking social issues.  

Leigh Collier has bucked the odds, working hard to escape an impoverished childhood to earn a law degree from Northwestern followed by a successful career in Atlanta.  Her younger sister Callie has not been as fortunate, stuck in a vicious cycle of addiction that has her daily life revolve around finding her next fix of heroin.  Despite these different circumstances at present, the two share a dark secret from their childhood that impacts them tremendously.  And when Leigh is specifically requested by an accused rapist to handle his defense, the past comes back to haunt the sisters with unfathomable consequences.  Now Leigh is faced with a choice:  play ball and risk her career to keep the secret from seeing the light of day…or find a way to turn the tables on this despicable man who seemingly controls her and her sister’s future, breaking the blackmail hold he has on them.  

There are two things that make False Witness a remarkable thriller.  First, the writing is superb.  Karin Slaughter masterfully crafts an unputdownable story that propels the reader forward without mercy.  The intensity starts out at a 10/10 and doesn’t let up for a second, which fills the reader with suspense, fear and a thousand other emotions as events play out.  Second, the book deep dives into the incredibly grueling topics of sexual abuse and drug addiction.   These issues are expertly woven into the storyline, remaining front and center throughout, in a way that really hits the reader hard with an overflow of emotions that is hard to describe.  One thing’s for sure, you don’t simply read this book.  You feel it and survive it, thinking about it well after you read the last word.

If you pick up this book, and I highly recommend you do, be warned that it is violent and includes graphic descriptions of rape, assault and hardcore drug use.  But none of it is gratuitous.  It’s all integral to the plot and the key aspect that makes the book so potent.  Just be ready for an emotional roller coaster that sinks its claws into you and won’t let go.

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Black Ice By Brad Thor

Brad Thor brings the thunder with Black Ice, a lightning quick read filled with international intrigue, ass kickings and blossoming love. What more can you ask for?

Black Ice finds our hero Scot Harvath hanging out in Norway on a much-deserved vacation with his new paramour, Solvi.  While wrestling with the convergence of his professional obligations and his personal desires, Harvath thinks he sees a man he killed years ago walking around Oslo.  Not one to let things go, he starts an investigation that leads to bigger concerns involving Russia and China.  In Harvath’s world, no good can come from those two countries commingling.  Summoning his team for support, Harvath must stop at nothing to uncover the truth and risk everything to prevent the joint Chinese/Russian operation from being successful.

In Black Ice, Harvath’s operation is more investigative in nature versus the high-octane action fans are used to seeing from him.  However, it fits perfectly with where Harvath is at this point in his life.  His days of constant door kicking are over, replaced with leveraging his vast knowledge and expertise to unravel nefarious plots and lead his capable team to thwart evildoers.  Though as we see in Black Ice, Harvath’s still quite the badass and more than capable of stepping in to dole out the occasional ass whooping to the bad guys when the situation warrants. 

One of the best parts of Black Ice is seeing Harvath undergo deep personal introspection.  Not something you typically expect a world class operator to do, but it’s a critical and relatable part of the story.  Harvath comes to understand and accept that protecting the United States is more than a job or a sense of duty and honor.  It’s a passion that flows through his blood like hot lava, continuously igniting the fire to defend the country he so deeply loves.  It’s unapologetically who he is, and he will never give it up.  At the same time, he’s realizing that he has space in his life to love something other than the job.  And the beautiful, intelligent Solvi is that something.  She completes Harvath, makes him feel worthy of her adoration and helps him recognize that he’s fully deserving of being happy despite all the tragedy in his past.  For a character we’ve witnessed go through hell and back for twenty novels, it’s amazing that there’s more depth to explore with Harvath while he transitions between phases of his professional and personal life.

In addition to Harvath’s soul searching, Thor does a wonderful job of character development overall.  We learn more about Solvi’s personality and her capabilities as an intelligence operative, both of which are completely badass. We see Harvath’s team in action, witnessing their talents in action as well as their good-natured ribbing that gives us a glimpse into who they are and how they mesh as a team.  And we meet some new characters along the way that add tremendously to the story, specifically with Phillip Mercer.  Mercer provides two stimulating aspects to Black Ice.  First, he provides a fascinating glimpse into the past via a deep dive into Harvath’s mentor Reed Carlton’s days as an operator.  Second, he acts as a blueprint for Harvath’s future – dedicate your life to your country, hang it up when it’s time, then marry a Norwegian woman and live happily ever after.

The result is an intriguing, fast paced novel with depth that both entertains the reader and facilitates Harvath’s transition to the next phase of his life.  Highly enjoyable, Black Ice is another winner by Brad Thor that’s sure to top the New York Times bestseller list.  

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The Cellist By Daniel Silva

Equal parts brilliant and provocative, The Cellist is a dramatic tale pitting the forces of evil – corruption, greed and power –against the forces for good – virtue, justice and integrity.  

Gabriel Allon gets the band back together in The Cellist after exiled Russian Victor Orlov is found dead in his London home of an apparent assassination via nerve agent.  Allon, who owes his life to Victor, knows there’s more than meets the eye and kicks off an elaborate international operation to take down a corrupt Swiss banking outfit and a Russian oligarch who’s childhood and lifelong comrade is none other than the Russian President.  The stakes are astronomically high and Allon must rely on his team, colleagues and allies from other intelligence services, and a few blasts from the past to deceive the Russians and deal a mortal blow to their finances and ambitions to change the world order.

As usual, Daniel Silva’s exquisite writing and storytelling are at a world class level.  He’s unrivaled with the pen, crafting stunning prose and enchanting stories at a level unattainable by most.  He yet again pinpoints some of the biggest issues facing our society and uses his love for the arts and his treasured characters to explore global ramifications while showing a path to vanquish those threats.  And as an added benefit, in The Cellist we are reunited with many names from the past.  A veritable trip down memory lane that is more functional and critical to the plot than it is a special Gabriel Allon episode of This is Your Life.  The result is another exceedingly satisfying reading experience at the hands of one of the greatest writers of all time.

And yet I find myself somewhat disappointed to write another review for an otherwise outstanding book that dives down the Covid and divisive politics rabbit hole.  To be fair to Mr. Silva, the inclusion of Covid in The Cellist is almost completely setting rather than social or political commentary, having Allon and team operate in a hand sanitizing, socially distant, travel restricted environment.  However, there’s no getting around the political aspect of the book with the inclusion of the 2020 election, Russian disinformation campaigns, QAnon, the January 6 Capitol insurrection, and more.  I understand that each author is faced with a choice to make on how to approach the events of the last 18 months and it’s their book so they can write whatever they want.  However, I continue to have little desire to read fiction that includes these things, regardless of which side of the aisle an author’s political leanings reside.  I want to enjoy an escape from reality, not relive the most frustrating parts.  

You won’t find a bigger Gabriel Allon/Daniel Silva fan than me.  Mr. Silva is on my Thriller author Mount Rushmore and I will continue to wholeheartedly support the author and the series.  And the fact remains that if you strip out the parts mentioned above, we’re talking about a superbly written novel with a tremendous plot about an audacious international mission fraught with danger.  I just wish Mr. Silva had made a different choice so that The Cellist could receive the universal high praise it deserves for the core of the story, rather than fuel polarization among thriller fans based on individual political viewpoints.

Putting that aside, the big open question is what’s next for Gabriel Allon? He’s getting up there in age and the last two books in the series have included many not-so-subtle hints that retirement is on the horizon. Could the next book or two be the last we see of him or can Mr. Silva leverage his genius to prolong this beloved character’s shelf life? Maybe evolving Allon into an Ari Shamron Godfather-like figure that directs The Office from the background? We’ll just have to wait – always the waiting – and pray that there’s many more stories to tell in the Gabriel Allon universe. Thriller fans will be quite lucky if that’s the case.

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Steel Fear By Brandon Webb - John David Mann

Twisting, suspenseful, edge-of-your seat stuff with more than a few “oh shit” moments, Steel Fear is a high-octane thriller delivered by the superb writing team of Brandon Webb and John David Mann.

Finn, an active duty Navy SEAL, is being sent back to the United States from Yemen after an operation went sideways.  He’s put aboard the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier for the trip home where he’s to be debriefed.  However, while on the ship he can’t help but put his world-class, sniper-trained observation skills to work, which leads him to conclude that several suspicious deaths aboard the vessel are more than meets the eye.  These deaths coincided with Finn’s arrival on the ship and cast growing suspicion that he’s a murderer.  Complicating matters is that he has gaps in his memory, making it entirely possible that he is the killer without actually knowing it.  Compelled to get involved, Finn uses his powers of observation and persuasion to manipulate the investigation in an attempt to find the killer and in the process hopefully clear his own name and conscious in the process.

You would expect a novel set on a nuclear aircraft carrier, featuring a cross-functional and diverse set of characters reflective of today’s US Navy, to be a hardcore military thriller.  But you’d be wrong.  Steel Fear does probe into the operational lives of Knighthawk helicopter pilots, F/A-18 Hornet pilots, rescue swimmers, and anyone from the ship’s captain to the enlisted men/women doing the dirty jobs belowdecks.  However this book is a psychological thriller through and through, focusing less on military operations and more on the profiling and frantic hunting of a serial killer on board, as well as what the situation does to the morale of everyone on board the ship.  It’s an unusual way to use of the military in a thriller and a unique spin on a murder mystery book, which aren’t typically set on a 100,000-ton warship in the middle of the ocean.  Making this more than your typical serial killer story.

Webb and Mann, who have teamed up to write powerful military non-fiction in the past, deliver a strong effort with their first foray into fiction writing.  Steel Fear is a well-written, gripping, character-driven thriller that’s hard to put down.  And thanks to strong character development, readers will draw strong feelings about each individual’s nature and moral fiber, hoping to be proven right on the ones we support and really hoping the others get what’s coming to them.  It’s this connection to the individuals in the book that propels the story forward, urging the reader to guess who the killer is and to keep reading to find out what happens next.  But know this going in…no one, not a single one of the ~6,000 folks on board, are safe.  Which makes for a fascinating read.

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Falling By T.J. Newman

I nearly started reading Falling on a flight from Chicago to Portland, before coming to my senses and starting a different book.  Good call on my part.  Falling is terrifying enough to read with both feet securely on solid ground.  Reading it while on an airplane would be an unnerving, paranoia-inducing, blood pressure raising experience. So I can’t stress this enough.  Do. Not. Read. This. Book. While. Flying.  

The premise of Falling is as simple as it is scary.  Terrorists are holding the pilot’s family hostage and present a binary choice.  Crash the plane and the family will live.  Land the plane and the family will die.  A more frightening proposition than being in a Turkish prison.  Which option will the pilot choose?  

The brilliance of Falling, beyond the high stakes plot and breakneck speed pacing, is causing readers to feel the terror from multiple perspectives while simultaneously exploring the choices available to each constituency.  The pilot, the pilot’s family, the flight attendants, the passengers, law enforcement, the president, the terrorists and more – every set of characters, ordinary people thrust into an extraordinary situation, is inserted into a nightmare and forced to make difficult, life altering and seemingly fatal decisions. It’s a horror show at 35,000 feet.  Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.  

After reading this book, it’ll be hard to get on another flight without being just a little bit frightened about what’s happening in the cockpit and what the flight attendants are talking about when huddled together.  Thanks a lot TJ Newman!

Surely Falling will be among the best debut thrillers of 2021. Yes it will, and don’t call me Shirley.

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Razorblade Tears By S.A. Cosby

There is no possible way to write a review worthy enough of Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby.  Astonishing.  Stunning.  Breathtaking.  Sensational.  Phenomenal.  Extraordinary.  Mind-blowingly spectacular.  None of these words do justice to the brilliance of this novel and this author.  I am in complete awe, dumbfounded by the greatness of Razorblade Tears and S.A. Cosby’s talent as a writer.

Taking it one step further, Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears are the best back-to-back releases from a single author that I have ever read.  In fact, these books are the best two thriller novels I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.  And that’s what sets Cosby apart from other fantastic authors.  You don’t read Cosby’s books, you experience them. You immerse yourself in the world he creates.  You visualize everything without even knowing you’re doing it.  You feel, deep in your bones, every emotion the characters are feeling.  Everything is real – pain, desperation, shame, hopelessness, anger as well as devotion, confidence, hope, redemption, and love.  And when it’s over you sit there in silence with your mouth agape, emotions swirling, looking around the room wondering what the hell you’re supposed to do next. 

The premise for Razorblade Tears is remarkably powerful.  An interracial same-sex couple is murdered and their fathers, two ex-cons who never accepted their sons for who they were, commence a pursuit for retribution to avenge their offspring while hoping it’ll provide them the redemption they desperately seek.  It’s an absorbing story, simultaneously brutal and tender, containing incredible depth and numerous layers – black vs. white, gay vs. straight, transgender vs. cisgender, rich vs. poor, ex-cons vs. law enforcement. But at its essence, this book is about love conquering hate.  A beautiful concept.

It all comes to life through Cosby’s world class prose that’s so descriptive it creates incredibly vivid pictures in your mind.  It seems every page has a line that makes you wish you were as good at anything as Cosby is at writing.  Lines like, “The wound on his cheek was weeping like a broken-hearted bride.” Holy crap that’s f*#%ing impressive.  It’s just one example – Razorblade Tears is bursting with tremendous similes, metaphors and imagery that transform this from a book into a work of art.

I implore you to read this novel and find out for yourself. Razorblade Tears is guaranteed to stick with you well after you read the final beautiful sentence.  It’s perfect and needs to win all the awards.  

ALL.  THE.  AWARDS.

S.A. Cosby is now my favorite author. 

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Sleeping Bear By Connor Sullivan

If Jack Carr’s Savage Son, Marc Cameron’s Stone Cross and Nelson DeMille’s The Charm School had a Ménage à Trois on the set of Yellowstone, the result would be a love child named Sleeping Bear.  Quite the image, right?  Sorry not sorry.  Because while this book is fantastic on its own, the reading experience is enhanced via incorporation of elements from classic and modern thrillers that many fans of the genre will have read.  This results in Sleeping Bear providing a fresh and creative storyline that simultaneously brings up familiar memories from past novels.  That’s one hell of a trick for an author to pull off, let alone one who is just emerging on the scene.  But more on that later.

Sleeping Bear follows Cassie Gale as she goes off the grid in Alaska to clear her mind and attempt to deal with traumatic events of her past.  But when she disappears under suspicious circumstances, it kicks off a search and rescue mission the likes of which rural Alaska doesn’t usually experience.  This is in part to Jim Gale, Cassie’s father, who will stop at nothing to find his daughter.  However, as the investigation progresses, danger lurks around every corner and pulls Jim deeper and deeper into the secret life of his past.  Meanwhile, Cassie is fighting for survival. Not in the Alaskan wilderness, but from a dangerous game she’s been dropped into among the Russian hinterlands.  And it will take every skill the Gales possess to outwit and survive their powerful opponent’s will for revenge.

Sleeping Bear is a story about many things.  It’s about trauma, human darkness, power, and revenge.  It’s about old adversaries – Russia and the USA – facing off once again.  It’s about trying to outrun your past to live a worthy life.  It’s about resilience and good triumphing over evil…or at least attempting to do so.  But more than anything, this book is about family and the lengths you would go to in order to save the ones you love from those who would do them harm.

This book moves at a breakneck speed akin to a F-22 hitting the afterburners in pursuit to intercept a MiG-35.  It thrusts you forward with desperation to see what happens next, like finding out the next development will provide you with the oxygen you need to survive, yet finding you are still gasping for more breath.  Why does this happen?  Because you become emotionally invested to this character-driven story.  The author masterfully develops the characters throughout the book, giving the reader intense feelings towards what they want to see transpire for each one while knowing that no one is safe.  

Lastly, can we please talk about how this is a DEBUT NOVEL?  How is that even possible?  Sleeping Bear is implausibly phenomenal!  Connor Sullivan crushed it!  If this is what he has to offer the first time out, then it’s easy to predict he will be the next big star of the genre. I cannot wait to see what Connor has in store for thriller fans going forward.

I highly recommend you pre-order Sleeping Bear.  It’s a must read for thriller fans.  And be warned – once you start it’ll be near impossible to put down. So plan accordingly.  If you can, it would be wise to take the day off, turn off the electronics, and be ready to immerse yourself completely in this thrill ride.

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Survive The Night By Riley Sager

Survive The Night is a psychological mind fuck wrapped inside a horror flick.  It twists your brain in knots, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy while you alternate between gasping “holy shit” and yelling “run away!”  Riley Sager has outdone himself with this one.  I devoured it in no time.  Unable to put it down, I lost sleep due to a relentless need to uncover what happens next.  No regrets.  It’s fantastic!

Charlie Jordan is hitching a ride from her college in New Jersey to her home in Ohio.  An hour into the six hour drive she starts to believe that the man driving the car, a stranger she met at the ride share board on campus, is the serial killer responsible for murdering Charlie’s roommate and best friend.  However, Charlie has a unique quirk of taking real life events and enhancing them in her brain as if they are movies on the silver screen.  This is her unique way of coping with stress and trauma, stemming from watching movies with her grandma in the immediate aftermath of her parent’s death via automobile accident.  So…is this man really a cold-blooded killer about to strike or is he innocently giving her a ride on his way to care for his ill father and Charlie’s overactive imagination is getting the best of her?  What ensues is a high-stakes chess match in which Charlie has one simple, primal goal – Survive The Night.

It’s an understatement to say Survive The Night keeps you guessing from start to finish.  Charlie’s brilliant character trait of seeing movies in her mind along with the diabolically manipulative nature of her ride share driver combine to eliminate the possibility of predicting the outcome with any level of certainty.  In fact, anytime you think you have it figured out, a big twist smacks you upside the head and you find out in no uncertain terms that you have no clue how the story is going to end.  And it stays that way up until the last paragraph.  It’s truly messed up…in a good way.

I can’t say enough good things about this book.  The pacing is warp speed, the characters are unique, the twists are blindsiding, the plot is horrifying, the suspense anxiety inducing, and choosing 1991 as the time period is perfect to eliminate technology that would change the essence of the story.  Riley Sager knocked it out of the park with Survive The Night.  I absolutely loved it and wholeheartedly recommend it to psychological/horror thriller fans or anyone who likes to be kept in breathless, nervous suspense for a few hours.  

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Sirens Of Memory By Puja Guha

Sirens of Memory is an intense psychological thriller with tensions constantly increasing until your anxiety is off the charts, causing you to pray hard for a happy and just ending.  Puja Guha has crafted a novel that feels incredibly realistic, filled in equal measure with hope, fear, love, hatred and looking to the future versus running from your past.  

Mariam is the victim of domestic violence from her abusive husband Tareq, but when she finds out she’s pregnant she finally decides to leave him.  Complicating matters, Iraq has just invaded Kuwait to kick off the Gulf War.  As a result, she hides out in an Indian refugee camp before posing as another man’s wife to leave the country.  Fast forward 25 years and Mariam has a daughter in college and is happily married to Raj, the man who helped her flee Kuwait. Believing Tareq is dead, she’s made a nice life for herself in the United States and is in therapy to work through her PTSD.  However, her past is not dead and buried as she has thought, kicking off a fervent cat-and-mouse game that threatens everything Mariam holds dear.  Can she summon the necessary courage one more time to overcome her traumatic past?  Or is she destined to return to the hellish existence she experienced in Kuwait?

It’s important to note that Sirens of Memory focuses on the triggering topic of domestic violence and has several scenes that are very difficult to read.  But if you can handle the experience of witnessing the violence Mariam endures, you will be rewarded with a powerful novel that will stick with you for a while.  The pacing is fantastic with the intensity constantly growing.  The characters are well developed and realistic, each playing a critical part in the story’s advancement.  The violence is balanced out with love and affection between family and friends, providing hope to counteract fear.  And the story has enough near misses and twists to keep it from being easily predictable.  Put together, it results in a novel that forces you to keep reading to find out what happens next. 

Because of the spousal abuse I can’t say it’s a completely enjoyable reading experience.  But it’s compelling, excellent, gripping and impressive.  It’s difficult to put down, easily finished in a single day and hard to forget.  Which tells you all you need to know.  It’s a first-rate thriller.

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Stealth Attack By John Gilstrap

Stealth Attack is the 14th and latest publication of the high-octane Jonathan Grave series…and this time it’s personal!  The son of Venice Alexander, aka Mother Hen and the technical wizard of Grave’s clandestine operation, is abducted by a Mexican drug cartel.  Thinking the kidnapping is in retaliation to prior operations in Latin America, Grave and team deploy all resources at their disposal to locate and retrieve Mother Hen’s son.  However, the situation is more complex than they originally understood, forcing the team to toe the line between legal and illegal actions, crossing it as necessary to save one of their own family.  It’s a race against the clock with brutal dismemberment of a teenager the price of failure.

John Gilstrap’s specialty is turning the action “up to 11” early on and never taking his foot off the gas, building suspense like watching a balloon expand to the brink of popping before being satisfyingly tied off at the exact right moment.  Stealth Attack is no exception.  You feel the building tension and anxiety throughout the story as it progresses at breakneck speed, wondering if this innocent kid will be saved or brutally murdered at the hands of a psychopath.  And as you witness the lengths Digger, Boxers, Slinger, Thor and Mother Hen will go to, you are forced to grapple with how you’d respond and behave, consequences be damned, if faced with the same horrible situation.

Stealth Attack is another strong entry into a wholly underrated series that thriller fans need to be reading. You won’t find many series that can go toe to toe with this one on pacing, pure enjoyment and badassery.

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Suburban Dicks By Fabian Nicieza

Suburban Dicks.  What a title!  And written by the co-creator of Deadpool?  Yes please!  

A gas station attendant is murdered in West Windsor, New Jersey and the police seem to be bungling the investigation before the yellow crime scene tape has even been strung around the scene.  Enter a disgraced journalist looking for a big story to achieve redemption and an again-pregnant mother of 4 who gave up a potential career as an FBI profiler to raise her family and spare the fragile ego of her ungrateful and less intelligent husband.  These former acquaintances team up and obsessively start digging – literally – to get to the bottom of what turns out to be a decades long conspiracy to cover up a racially motivated murder.  The unlikely heroes, these amateur Suburban Dicks, unearth the evidence needed to shine a light on the racist dicks in their midst, bringing long awaited justice to one family as well as the entire diverse community of this small Jersey township that has been mistreated for too long.

Suburban Dicks is entertaining and contains a decent amount of sarcasm and humor, but I expected more outright hilarity from the co-creator of Deadpool.  I was hoping it would be laugh out loud, side splitting funny from start to finish.  And while Suburban Dicks has its share of humorous moments, they’re more subtle and scattered throughout.  However, to me this book is about way more than how much it makes you laugh.  Fabian Nicieza focuses on developing a solid plot that explores racism through intriguing characters, some you root for and others you want to drop kick in the head.  The author has a story to tell that seems ripped from the headlines from the past year filled with social injustice and systemic racism.  It highlights the lengths to which the establishment will go to hold down people of other races, and that it takes everyone banding together to root it out and force change.  That is what I will take away from this book.  Not at all what I expected from a book called Suburban Dicks, though in hindsight it’s now clear the title is intended to have double meaning.

All told, Suburban Dicks is a story about redemption, overcoming adversity, the power of community, how any single determined person can make a difference and how much racism blows.  Mix in a bit of humor and absurdity and this book is a worthy debut entry into the thriller genre.  My hope is that it will be read by a wide audience who looks beyond the laughs to appreciate, internalize and reflect on the social commentary contained within.  And I hope we get a sequel because I want to see more of these amateur sleuths!

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Bath Haus By PJ Vernon

Thanks to a tweet/recommendation by S.A. Cosby, the amazing author of Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears, I was made aware of Bath Haus by PJ Vernon and decided to pick it up to read during Pride Month.  And I’m glad I did.  This book is raw and chock full of suspense, keeping me on the edge of my seat from cover to cover.

Oliver Park has overcome addiction to build an envious life with his wealthy surgeon partner Nathan.  But things aren’t as they might seem, leading Oliver to visit a gay bathhouse with the intention of cheating on Nathan.  Once inside, Oliver picks up the wrong guy and is lucky to leave Haus upright and still breathing.  Desperate to keep this from Nathan, Oliver’s fear leads him to lie and invent a story about a mugging that he hopes will keep his indiscretion a secret.  But lies beget lies and like quicksand, the more Oliver struggles to keep the truth hidden, the further he is pulled down into the dark pit of deceit.  Fighting to save his relationship and with his life at risk, Oliver must choose between continuing to lie or coming clean and risking everything he has built since getting clean.

Gripping and unsettling, Bath Haus is an emotional roller coaster you feel in your gut regardless of your sexual orientation.  No character is what they seem, each having their own secrets and hidden agenda.  Vivid portrayals of terror, domineering actions, and invasive stalking hit hard throughout, keeping the outcome in doubt as events spiral faster and faster and out of control until the brutal conclusion.  A fantastic domestic thriller that is ready-made for the silver screen.

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