Ascension by Oliver Harris

 

Ascension by Oliver Harris

Rating: 5 stars

Summary: Elliott Kane returns from a forced seclusion teaching and recruiting possible spy’s. He is called to look into a suicide of a man on the desolate South Atlantic spy island of Ascension. 

Comments: An incredible researched spy novel in the likes of David Ignatius and Brad Thor. There is a several points in the novel when it becomes difficult to tell fiction from reality based on the research written in. By far the spy novel of the year. Highly recommended. 

https://www.amazon.com/Ascension-Elliot-Thriller-Oliver-Harris-ebook/dp/B08B3LKJ31

In The Cage Where Your Saviors Hide by Malcolm Mackey

 

Rating: 5 stars

Summary: A young PI Darien Ross is introduced in rural Scotland in the rich history city of Chillaid. He is tasked with finding the killer of a local man that police seemingly want kept quite. 

Comments: Mackey might be the finest crime writer around right now. Gives new meaning to Rebus. A must read author. Do yourself a favor and read all his books. Not a single bad novel. This is part one of a two story novel with the same protagonist. 

https://www.amazon.com/Saviors-Two-Novels-Malcolm-Mackay-ebook/dp/B07L2TPM6V

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

 

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby 

Rating: 4 stars

Two damaged fathers trying to reform come together to try and find out who killed there sons in a brazen shooting in downtown Richmond Virginia. The path they follow is violent, fought with race and often times difficult realities must be confronted to right wrongs.

Comments: A extremely fast paced crime novel of two fathers facing there own biases to find the killer of there once disproving family members. I hoped for more past from the two main characters, but the pages will turn with no wasted effort. Also read Blacktop Wasteland a marvelous crime novel. 

https://www.amazon.com/Razorblade-Tears-Novel-S-Cosby-ebook/dp/B08FGVMHNG

City of Dark Corners by Jon Talton

 

City of Dark Corners by Jon Talton

Rating: 5 stars

Summary: Gene Hammons is a down on his luck PI in the new city of Phoenix. He was a former rising star in the Phoenix police department. With ties still strong with the police he is asked about a dismembered women found in a dirty rail yard. Hammons has got demons from the war and is a guy who won’t stop looking for justice in a corrupt city.

Comments: An old school detective police procedural. Hammons is a great character that kept me reading. Not much crime fiction in Phoenix but this is great mid century historical crime novel. Read it.

https://www.amazon.com/City-Dark-Corners-Jon-Talton-ebook/dp/B08NBZKJWZ

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

 

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Rating: 4 stars

Summary: A psychologist who runs a private group therapists is asked by her niece to come to Cambridge to help her with a murdered student she knew. Once she arrives she finds a group of maidens attached to a professor who are suspect of misdeeds. 

Comments: A tightly page turner novel of suspense. If you enjoyed his first novel The Silent Patient he follows a similar formula of pealing the onion. He makes a few nice references to his first novel.

https://smile.amazon.com/The-Maidens/dp/B088DRJXHW

Falling by T. J. Newman

 

Falling by T. j. Newman 

Rating: 5 stars

Summary: A pilot and his family are taken hostage and kidnapped to facilitate a crash of a jetliner into a unknown target. A group of three dedicated airline stewardess on board must help the pilot save and land the aircraft with a 144 souls on board. 

Comments: Certainly a fresh take on the thriller genre with a rip roaring pulse bender of a novel. It’s a rather short novel but gets right to the point of a thrill ride, literally. This thriller should make a great summer read, and just in time. 

https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Novel-T-J-Newman-ebook/dp/B08SNVSF47

Northern Heist by Richard O’rawe

 

Northern Heist by Richard O’rawe

Rating: 3 stars

Summary: A Belfast criminal plans with a large team to rob the largest bank in Northern Ireland. It’s a fictional account of a real event and to this day stymied the local authorities.

Comments: Lacks character building and who these people really are. An over simplified account of a very important event. There is enough here to keep you reading, but barely.

https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Heist-Richard-ORawe-ebook/dp/B08CTGJSTJ

Matters of Doubt by Warren C. Easley

 

Matters of Doubt by Warren C. Easley

Rating: 5 stars

Summary:  A former LA district attorney is humbly living in Dundee Oregon when he is visited by a homeless boy looking for someone, anyone to help find his mothers killer. With really little experience Cale Claxton agrees to take a look. 

Comments: The first in a series and it hits all cylinders. Not exactly sure what’s happening with the series, but you can read all Claxton books already available. I will be. Easley explores many societal ills, and explores down and out characters. Good stuff, read them. 

https://www.amazon.com/Matters-Doubt-Claxton-Oregon-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07VQL7DZ1

The Guide by Peter Heller

 The Guide by Peter Heller

Rating: 5 stars

Summary: Jack is a outdoorsman and is hired at a posh fishing resort catering to the very rich. Looking for a change and easy job guiding, he encounters a beautiful country singer and guides her catching some beautiful trout. Things though feel odd at this resort and both start to question what exactly is happening here. 

Comments: Heller is the new country noir writer I am glad I found. Outstanding story telling that places you like you are in the scene with the flowing water, the cold stream and the sounds of nature abound. Beautifully written must read.

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-novel-Peter-Heller-ebook/dp/B08P98PVY2

 

The Missing by Dirk Kurbjuweit

 

The Missing by Dirk Kurbjuweit

Rating: 4 stars

Summary: Post World War One in the city of Hanover Germany a series of missing teen boys I’d gripping the city. Based on a true serial killer Kurbjuweit walks us through post war Germany and its political struggle to remain upright. Pressure to solve these missing boys grows as a struggling detective tries to navigate an investigation. 

Comments: A historical police procedural digs very deep into post World War One and a most ugly serial

https://www.amazon.com/Missing-Dirk-Kurbjuweit-ebook/dp/B08PZK3YGN