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Reviews

Reviews

by Lyndsay Faye - Fiction, Magical Realism

Ben Dane’s Broadway theater baron father is dead --- but by purpose or by accident? Unable to face alone his mother's ghastly remarriage to his uncle, he turns to his dearest friend, Horatio Patel, whom he hasn't seen since their relationship changed forever from platonic to something...other. Horatio is on the first flight to NYC when he finds himself next to a sly tailor who portends inevitable disaster and seems ominously like an architect of mayhem himself. Meanwhile, Ben's ex-fiancé Lia has been drawn into the fold of three florists from New Orleans --- seemingly ageless sisters who teach her the language of flowers, and whose magical bouquets hold both curses and cures. For a price. On one explosive night these kinetic forces will collide, and the only possible outcome is death.

by Jeffrey Kluger - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Walli Beckwith is a model astronaut. She graduated at the top of her class from the Naval Academy, had a successful career flying fighter jets, and has spent more than 300 days in space. So when she refuses to leave her post aboard the International Space Station following an accident that forces her fellow astronauts to evacuate, her American and Russian colleagues are mystified. For Walli, the matter at hand feels all too clear and terrifying for her to be worried about ruining her career. She is stuck in a race against time to save a part of the world that seems to have been forgotten, and also the life of the person she loves the most. She will go to any length necessary, using the only tool she has, to accomplish what she knows is right.

edited by H. R. F. Keating - Essays, Nonfiction

Agatha Christie was not only the most successful author of detective stories the world has ever known, she was also a mystery in herself, giving only the rarest interviews --- declining absolutely to become any sort of public figure --- and a mystery, too, in the manner in which she achieved her astonishing success. Distinguished crime novelist (and acclaimed critic) H. R. F. Keating brings together a dozen noted writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on the ever-intriguing Dame Agatha. Some essays analyze Christie’s art itself; others explain the reasons for her success --- not just the books, but also in film and theater.

edited by Mark Rubinstein - Essays, Nonfiction

Have you ever read a suspense novel so good you had to stop and think to yourself, ''How did the author come up with this idea? Their characters? Is some of this story real?'' For over five years, Mark Rubinstein had the chance to ask the most well-known authors in the field just these kinds of questions in interviews for the Huffington Post. Collected here are interviews with 47 accomplished authors, including Michael Connelly, Ken Follett, Meg Gardiner, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman and Don Winslow. These are their personal stories in their own words, much of the material never before published. How do these writers' life experiences color their art? Find out their thoughts, inspirations and candid opinions. Learn more about your favorite authors, how they work and who they truly are.

by Joe Clifford - Fiction, Horror, Noir, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Brandon Cossey’s childhood best friend, Jacob Balfour, has committed suicide. The news about Jacob, who had long battled schizophrenia, does not come as a surprise --- but the bizarre details surrounding his death do. When Jacob’s estranged grandfather, who also suffers from schizophrenia, arrives for the funeral, he tells Brandon that Jacob stumbled upon a secret so deadly he was murdered to keep it quiet. Soon afterwards, Brandon notices odd cars and lookalikes following him, his personal property is hacked and stolen, and he can no longer trust what he thinks he sees. As his grasp on reality recedes and falters, Brandon must question if a sinister gang of doppelgängers, whom Jacob dubbed “the Shadow People,” are really responsible.

by Stephen King - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything.

by Brian Freeman - Adventure, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Three years ago, Jason Bourne embarked on a mission in Estonia with his partner and lover, a fiery Treadstone agent code-named Nova. Their job was to rescue a Russian double agent who’d been smuggled out of St. Petersburg in the midst of an FSB manhunt. They failed. The Russian died at the hands of a shadowy assassin known only by the nickname Lennon. Now everything has changed for Bourne. Nova is gone, killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas. Bourne is a lone operative, working in the shadows for Treadstone, when he’s called in for a new mission in London --- to prevent another assassination masterminded by Lennon. But nothing about this mission is what it seems.

by Brad Parks - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Nate Lovejoy is a self-proclaimed nobody, a stay-at-home dad who doesn’t believe he’s important to anyone but his wife and their two daughters. So it’s a shock when members of a powerful secret society kidnap and spirit Nate away to a mansion at the behest of their leader, Vanslow DeGange, who claims to know the future. He’s foreseen that a billion people could die --- unless Nate acts. It seems improbable, especially given what DeGange says will set this mass casualty incident in motion: a lawsuit against the biggest power company in Virginia, being brought by Nate’s wife, Jenny. Nate quickly smells a scam being perpetrated by the power company. But at every turn, it becomes apparent there’s more to DeGange’s gift than Nate wants to acknowledge.

written by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Lawrence Ellsworth - Adventure, Fiction, Historical Fiction

This brand-new translation of BETWEEN TWO KINGS immediately picks up the story and themes of BLOOD ROYAL, where d’Artagnan tries to thwart destiny by saving England’s Charles I. Now, he will be instrumental in the restoration of his son, Charles II, the first of the two kings of the title. Disappointed in the irresolution of young Louis XIV, d’Artagnan takes a leave of absence from the King’s Musketeers and ventures to England with a bold plan to hoist Charles II onto his throne, a swashbuckling escapade in which he is unwittingly assisted by his old comrade Athos. D’Artagnan returns triumphant to France, where he is recalled to service by the second king, Louis XIV, who is now finally ready to take full advantage of the extraordinary talents of his officer of musketeers.

by Kathy Reichs - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

On the way to hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm has tossed ashore a medical waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many of the details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec years earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she travels to Montreal to gather evidence. Meanwhile, health authorities in South Carolina become increasingly alarmed as a human flesh-eating contagion spreads. Someone is protecting a dark secret --- and willing to do anything to keep it hidden.