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Reviews

Reviews

by Matt Coyle - Fiction, Hard-boiled Mystery, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Private investigator Rick Cahill has been running from his past and chasing the truth his whole life. But his past is relentless --- and so is his CTE, a disease caused by repeated head traumas that has attacked his body and his mind. As Rick struggles to keep his family together, he does a favor for Sara Bhandari, a business contact. Then Sara is murdered, and the police believe her to be yet another victim of a serial rapist who has been terrorizing greater San Diego. But Rick has reason to question their theory. Determined to find the truth at any cost, and against his wife’s warnings, he investigates on his own. Along the way, he bumps up against a sinister private investigative agency and a shady shell corporation that may be hiding more than company secrets.

by Andrea Carter - Fiction, Mystery

Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe returns to Glendara, Inishowen, where a charity cycle event is taking place. But rain causes the cyclists to postpone the start of their event and stay overnight in the town. In the middle of the night, Police Sergeant Tom Molloy is called out to Mamore Gap. A body, dislodged from a high bank by the heavy rain, has fallen onto a passing vehicle. It is identified as Bob Jameson, a well-known charities boss and the organizer of the cycling event. Stunned, the local doctor finds evidence of a recent snakebite. Terrible weather persists, and soon bridges are down and roads are impassable. Glendara is completely cut off. Since there are no native snakes in Ireland, could there be a killer trapped in the community?

by Adam Sikes - Adventure, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

U.S. Marine veteran Mason Hackett moved to London to start his life over, and he’s done his best to convince himself that what happened 15 years ago doesn’t matter --- the people he killed, the men he lost, the lives he ruined. But when Mason sees the face of a dead friend flash on a television screen and then receives a mysterious email referencing a CIA operation gone bad, no longer can he ignore his inner demons. Driven by loyalty and a need to uncover the truth, Mason launches on a perilous journey to honor a 15-year-old promise. The answers he seeks --- the fate of a friend and his connection to the underworld of international arms dealers and defense corporations --- throw him into the cauldron of a covert war where no one can be trusted.

by Mary Burton - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Twin sisters Marisa and Clare Stockton were 16 when Clare’s body was found in Virginia’s James River. No arrests were made. Fourteen years later, Marisa’s friends and dedicated career as a photographer help her to cope with the open wound of the past. But she still feels the hurt. A recent car crash has erased 10 days of Marisa’s memories --- a black hole leading up to the accident that’s left her disoriented. Every text and phone call from that crucial missing time has vanished, along with her phone. And there’s the growing fear that her near-fatal accident was no accident at all. As dreams of Clare and nightmares of the crash begin to converge, so do two disturbing puzzles 14 years apart.

by Max Tomlinson - Fiction, Mystery

When a German businesswoman in 1979 San Francisco hires ex-con PI Colleen Hayes to find a missing relative, supposedly in town to visit, she thinks it’s a simple job. But she soon discovers that the “nephew” is linked to an international vigilante group hunting down ex-Nazis. Then the body of a mysterious woman turns up on San Francisco’s Municipal Railway, mirroring a murder committed the week before in Buenos Aires where the “nephew” had just been. Colleen’s search uncovers a World War II banknote and the 1942 SS ID of a German officer long thought dead. When Colleen fails to heed warnings to stop her investigation, her pregnant daughter is attacked.

by William L. Myers, Jr. - Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

In the aftermath of his wife’s apparent suicide, Jackson Robert Hunter wakes up outside a bar with a badly battered head and no memory. Revelations convince Jackson that his wife’s death wasn’t a suicide, but a murder, and he sets out to find the killer. While hunting the villain and struggling with his amnesia, Jackson discovers that his own backstory is a dark one, littered with broken hearts and dead bodies --- a wife he betrayed, a lover he abandoned, a squad of crooked cops he double-crossed, and a city that lives in fear of his name. Along the way he encounters a sister he didn’t know he had, a niece he failed to save, and a mentor ready to lead Jackson down the darkest of paths.

by Rob Leininger - Fiction, Mystery

The U.S. attorney general, Susan D. Kenny, is missing. She walked out of the DOJ building in D.C. without a word to anyone, caught a taxi, and...vanished. A week later, Mortimer Angel, private eye (in training) and reluctant finder of famous missing persons, is surreptitiously contacted by a Secret Service agent and asked to fly to the nation’s capital to use his ineffable brand of skill, talent or just plain luck to help find the still-missing attorney general. Mort declines that dubious honor, but less than 12 hours later he is taken at gunpoint by --- who else? --- a gorgeous girl and dragged into the most risqué and improbable case of his career.

by Linda L. Richards - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Her assignments were always to kill someone. That’s what a hitman --- or hitwoman --- is paid to do, and that is what she does. Then comes a surprise assignment --- keep someone alive. She is hired to protect Virginia Martin, the stunning and brilliant chief technology officer of a hot startup with an environmentally important innovation that will change the world. She’s confused about the “why” of her new commission, but she addresses it with her usual skill and stealth, determined to keep the young CTO alive against the ever-increasing odds. The spirit of an assassin --- and her nameless dog --- permeates this struggle to help a young woman as powerful forces mount against her.

by Bonnar Spring - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Julie Welch’s sister, Fay Lariviere, disappears from their hotel in Morocco. Although she leaves a note that she’ll be back in two days, Fay doesn’t return. Julie’s anger shifts to worry --- and to fear when she discovers a stalker. Then, an attack meant for Julie kills another woman. Searching Fay’s luggage and quizzing the hotel staff, Julie discovers Fay’s destination --- a remote village in the Saharan desert. Convinced her sister is in danger and propelled by her own jeopardy, Julie rushes to warn Fay. By the time she reaches the village, Julie finds that Fay has traveled deeper into the desert. With a villager as her guide, Julie follows, only to be stranded in the Sahara when the guide abandons her. Julie is eventually reunited with Fay --- in a prison cell --- and learns the reasons for Fay’s secrecy.

by Davin Goodwin - Fiction, Mystery

On the laid-back island of Bonaire, every day is paradise until a seaweed-entangled human leg washes ashore. Combing the beach, retired cop Roscoe Conklin examines the scene and quickly determines that the leg belongs to the nephew of a close friend. The island police launch an investigation, but with little evidence and no suspects, their progress comes to a frustrating halt. Then, thanks to a unique barter with the lead detective, Conklin finds himself in possession of the case file. Sifting through the scant clues, eager to bring the killer to justice, Conklin struggles to maintain forward momentum. He has all the pieces. He can feel it. But he’d better get them snapped together soon. Otherwise, the body count will continue to rise.