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Interview: Linwood Barclay, author of Trust Your Eyes

Sep 7, 2012

In Linwood Barclay’s new thriller, TRUST YOUR EYES, Thomas Kilbride, a schizophrenic man who believes he’s employed by the CIA, stumbles across an image of a murder taking place in New York City on “Whirl360,” a street-view website. This sudden revelation leaves Thomas with something much more dangerous than his delusions to contend with as he is drawn into a fatal scheme. In this interview, conducted by Bookreporter.com’s Joe Hartlaub, Barclay talks about the joys of virtual travel, the difference between writing stand-alone novels and books that are part of a series, and his future projects --- which include a sequel to 2007’s NO TIME FOR GOODBYE.

A dozen great books were part of my vacation reading --- what a way to spend time away! Ah the places books can take you when you float in the pool. 

Did you watch the Olympics or the political conventions? Please check as many as apply.

September 7, 2012, 803 voters

Editorial content for Zoo

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

While ZOO is an animal story, it’s the polar opposite of such books as OLD YELLER, LAD: A DOG, or even ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL. ZOO is an animal story in the same way that The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic and iconic film, is an animal story. If you’re an animal lover, then this book will break your heart in a couple of places, but it also will scare all the stuffing out of you by the time you reach its conclusion. Read More

Teaser

 

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear. With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late.

Promo

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear. With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late.

About the Book

Total

For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.

World

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear.

Destruction

With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide. With wildly inventive imagination and white-knuckle suspense that rivals Stephen King at his very best, James Patterson's ZOO is an epic, non-stop thrill-ride from "One of the best of the best." (TIME)

Editorial Content for The Tombs

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Judy Gigstad

Clive Cussler teams up with Thomas Perry to produce an action-adventure story that stars the treasure-hunting couple Sam and Remi Fargo. THE TOMBS begins in the barbarian empire of Pannonia in 453 C.E., where the High King Attila the Hun lies dead in his chamber. By his own decree, Attila instructed his trusted warriors to bury him with utmost secrecy. Tales of multiple tombs, gilded treasures and clues to his burial tomb whereabouts have confused archaeologists throughout the world for years. No one has yet to unearth Attila’s final resting place.  Read More

Teaser

 

Husband-and-wife Sam and Remi Fargo and their friend hunt for Attila the Hun's tomb, which supposedly contained a vast amount of treasure. They follow a trail that leads them across the eastern hemisphere and pits them against others who are hungry for the Attila's treasure.

Promo

Husband-and-wife Sam and Remi Fargo and their friend hunt for Attila the Hun's tomb, which supposedly contained a vast amount of treasure. They follow a trail that leads them across the eastern hemisphere and pits them against others who are hungry for the Attila's treasure.

About the Book

Husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are intrigued when an archaeologist friend requests their help excavating a top secret historical site.  What they find will set them on a hunt for a prize greater than they could ever imagine.  The clues point to the hidden tomb of Attila the Hun, the High King who was reportedly buried with a vast fortune of gold and jewels and plunder...a bounty that has never been found.  As they follow the trail through Hungary, Italy, France, Russia, and Kazakhstan --- a trail that they discover leads them not to one tomb, but five --- the Fargos will find themselves pitted against a thieving group of amateur treasure hunters, a cunning Russian businessman, and a ruthless Hungarian who claims direct descent from Attila himself...and will stop at nothing to claim the tombs’ riches as his own.

Editorial Content for Gone

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

Randy Wayne White has painstakingly carved a beautiful but dangerous universe out of the Sanibel Island area of Florida’s Gulf Coast with his Doc Ford novels. A former NSA agent, Ford is a marine biologist with a penchant for attracting trouble from unlikely sources; his background enables him to maintain a quiet but dependable capability in the face of danger. Read More

Teaser

 

Hannah Smith makes her living as a fishing guide, but her friends, neighbors and clients also know her as an uncommonly resourceful woman with a keen sense of justice. Her methods can be unorthodox, though, and those on the receiving end of them often wind up very unhappy --- and sometimes very violent. When a girl goes missing, and Hannah is asked to find her, that is exactly what happens.

Promo

Hannah Smith makes her living as a fishing guide, but her friends, neighbors and clients also know her as an uncommonly resourceful woman with a keen sense of justice. Her methods can be unorthodox, though, and those on the receiving end of them often wind up very unhappy --- and sometimes very violent. When a girl goes missing, and Hannah is asked to find her, that is exactly what happens.

About the Book

New York Times bestselling author Randy Wayne White introduces Hannah Smith --- a lady with the heart and courage to take on the world… 

Hannah Smith: a tall, strong, formidable Florida woman, the descendant of generations of strong Florida women. She makes her living as a fishing guide, but her friends, neighbors, and clients also know her as an uncommonly resourceful woman with a keen sense of justice --- someone who can’t be bullied --- and they have taken to coming to her with their problems.

Her methods can be unorthodox, though, and those on the receiving end of them often wind up very unhappy --- and sometimes very violent. And when a girl goes missing, and Hannah is asked to find her, that is exactly what happens...

Editorial Content for A Sunless Sea: A William Monk Novel

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Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

The 18th novel in Anne Perry’s brilliant William Monk series wastes no time getting into the mystery at the heart of this story. Read More

Teaser

 

As commander of the River Police, William Monk is accustomed to violent death, but the mutilated body of a female moves him with horror and pity. The victim’s name is Zenia Gadney. Her waterfront neighbors can tell him little --- only that the same unknown gentleman had visited her once a month for many years. What sinister secrets could have made poor Zenia worth killing? And why does the government keep interfering in Monk’s investigation?

Promo

As commander of the River Police, William Monk is accustomed to violent death, but the mutilated body of a female moves him with horror and pity. The victim’s name is Zenia Gadney. Her waterfront neighbors can tell him little --- only that the same unknown gentleman had visited her once a month for many years. What sinister secrets could have made poor Zenia worth killing? And why does the government keep interfering in Monk’s investigation?

About the Book

Anne Perry’s spellbinding Victorian mysteries, especially those featuring William Monk, have enthralled readers for a generation. The Plain Dealer calls Monk “a marvelously dark, brooding creation” --- and, true to form, this new Perry masterpiece is as deceptively deep and twisty as the Thames.
 
As commander of the River Police, Monk is accustomed to violent death, but the mutilated female body found on Limehouse Pier one chilly December morning moves him with horror and pity. The victim’s name is Zenia Gadney. Her waterfront neighbors can tell him little --- only that the same unknown gentleman had visited her once a month for many years. She must be a prostitute, but --- described as quiet and kempt --- she doesn’t appear to be a fallen woman.
 
What sinister secrets could have made poor Zenia worth killing? And why does the government keep interfering in Monk’s investigation?
 
While the public cries out for blood, Monk, his spirited wife, Hester, and their brilliant barrister friend, Oliver Rathbone, search for answers. From dank waterfront alleys to London’s fabulously wealthy West End, the three trail an ice-blooded murderer toward the unbelievable, possibly unprovable truth --- and ultimately engage their adversaries in an electric courtroom duel. But unless they can work a miracle, a monumental evil will go unpunished and an innocent person will hang.
 
Anne Perry has never worn her literary colors with greater distinction than in A SUNLESS SEA, a heart-pounding novel of intrigue and suspense in which Monk is driven to make the hardest decision of his life.

Editorial Content for The Double Game

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

Message posted for you concerning the whole truth about your onetime acquaintance, Mr. E.L. of Maine. To retrieve, use Folly’s tradecraft, page 47. Then use book code, line 11. The dead drop will be known to you, just as it was to Ashenden from the very beginning. Welcome to the real Double Game.” Read More

Teaser

 

A few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, spook-turned-novelist Edwin Lemaster revealed to up-and-coming journalist Bill Cage that he’d once considered spying for the enemy. For Cage, the news story created a brief but embarrassing sensation and heralded the beginning of the end of his career in journalism. More than two decades later, Cage receives an anonymous note hinting that he should have dug deeper into Lemaster’s pronouncement.

Promo

A few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, spook-turned-novelist Edwin Lemaster revealed to up-and-coming journalist Bill Cage that he’d once considered spying for the enemy. For Cage, the news story created a brief but embarrassing sensation and heralded the beginning of the end of his career in journalism. More than two decades later, Cage receives an anonymous note hinting that he should have dug deeper into Lemaster’s pronouncement.

About the Book

A few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, spook-turned-novelist Edwin Lemaster revealed to up-and-coming journalist Bill Cage that he’d once considered spying for the enemy. For Cage, a Foreign Service brat who grew up in the very cities where Lemaster’s books were set, the news story created a brief but embarrassing sensation and heralded the beginning of the end of his career in journalism.

More than two decades later, Cage, now a lonely, disillusioned PR man, receives an anonymous note hinting that he should have dug deeper into Lemaster’s pronouncement. Spiked with cryptic references to some of Cage’s favorite spy novels, the note is the first of many literary bread crumbs that lead him back to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest, each instruction drawing him closer to the complex truth, each giving rise to more questions: Why is beautiful Litzi Strauss back in his life after 30 years? How much of his father’s job involved the CIA? As the events of Lemaster’s past eerily --- and dangerously --- begin intersecting with those of Cage’s own, a “long stalemate of secrecy” may finally be coming to an end.

A story about spies and their secrets, fathers and sons, lovers and fate, duplicity and loyalty, THE DOUBLE GAME ingeniously taps the espionage classics of the Cold War to build a spellbinding maze of intrigue. It is Dan Fesperman’s most audacious, suspenseful and satisfying novel yet.