Mysteries Galore.com

Reviewed by Stephanie Nordkap

Karen Vail, renowned FBI profiler, returns in Velocity, but this time her case takes an ominous and deathly turn. Vail’s boyfriend, Detective Robby Hernandez, has disappeared and little trace of him can be found, except for a blood stain and a very tenuous connection to local suspects already involved in another crime. The tension and stress keep Vail and her task force running as they know that the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours are critical in a missing person’s case.

Just as the pieces of information come together, and they close in on a suspect’s trail, Vail is suddenly called back to Quantico to handle a case of vital importance. Frustrated with the delay and being far from the case, Vail turns to Hector DeSantos, a covert government operative, to help her with the case. DeSantos uncovers confidential information that sends Vail reeling with shock, and sets her and DeSantos on a dangerous path, a path neither one could foresaw at the beginning, one that could threaten many careers, lives, and everything else one holds dear. In order for Vail to save the one she loves, she will have to negotiate the dangerous waters of the drug cartels and learn some shocking truths – truths that will have a profound effect on her life. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Douglas R. Cobb

Reporter Nick Daniels was at the wrong place at the wrong time that particular day when he had lunch at Lombardo’s Steakhouse. He was there to interview the famous, really infamous, retired pitcher for the Yankees, Dwayne Robinson. Robinson at one time had been the best pitcher around, striking out twenty people in a single game against Oakland, a Cy Young winner. But when Dwayne failed to show up to pitch in a decisive game seven in the World Series against the Dodgers, and disappeared for seventy-two hours, only then to be found lying naked on the floor of his apartment barely conscious by his super, he went from being the hero to the goat overnight. Dwayne hated to grant interviews, because he was uncomfortable around a lot of people, so Nick had jumped at the chance to interview him.

Too bad the interview was stopped before it really got started by a violent mob hit. The hired killer came behind his victim, Vincent Marcozza., the consigliere or lawyer of the Mafia don Eddie “The Prince,” Pinero, with a scalpel, and sliced his eyes out, “like a pumpkin.” Bruno Torenzi, the assassin, said he had a message from Eddie, saying into Vincent’s ear as he lay dying of blood loss the words: “Justice is blind.” And Nick was there, capturing it all on his recorder, solid evidence that Pinero had Marcozza whacked because his lawyer had uncharacteristically bombed out in court, resulting in Pinero’s conviction.

This is just the start of Don’t Blink, the latest action-packed, violent, edge-of your-seat thriller by the duo of James Patterson and Howard Roughan. I haven’t read many novels by Patterson, just the Alex Cross books I, Alex Cross and Cross Country, but I enjoyed reading those two very much. He’s one of today’s most talented and prolific authors, and I’ve often wondered how any one man can churn out as many well-written, suspenseful bestsellers as he does so consistently and frequently. I say “one man,” but some of his novels, like this one, are collaborations. This is the first Nick Daniels novel that Patterson and Roughan have written, but they also co-authored Honeymoon and Sail.

Just out in the stores this September, Don’t Blink is already being referred to as “the scariest Mafia thriller since The Godfather.” This is high praise–I haven’t read Mario Puzo’s novel, so I can’t really say how true this statement is, but the movie is one of my (and most people’s) favorites of all time. I can honestly say that the novel grabs you from its Prologue titled “In The Wink Of A Blink Of An Eye,” with the gruesome scene of Marcozza’s eyes getting sliced out, and I was hooked, not wanting to put the book down until I was finished reading it. There are twist and turns to the very end of it that kept my eyes riveted to the pages. Nick Daniels is a likeable three-dimensional character you’ll want to cheer on and root for, and his blind fourteen- year-old niece, Elizabeth, is engaging and steals almost every scene she’s in.

The plot thickens and the intrigue heightens when Nick realizes that, as bad as Pinero is, and as terrible a performance that his lawyer gave in court, Eddie is being set up to take the fall for hiring the hit man to murder Vinnie. What better way to muscle into Eddie’s territory than to frame him, unless it would be to kill him? And, when Dwayne Robinson apparently commits suicide by jumping out of his apartment window and falling to his death, Nick begins to wonder what role Dwayne had to play in it, also. Somebody very well connected, politically or criminally or both, he reasons, must be behind the killings.

That is just the start of the body count that begins to mount up. Nick’s own life is threatened, and no matter where he goes, he can’t get away from whomever it is that’s trying to kill him. Even when he’s placed under police protection, that’s not good enough–Bruno kills the two cops assigned to guard him. It doesn’t seem to matter what Nick does, it’s like he’s being watched, wherever he goes. And there are people who are willing to murder for the flash drive he has, that his friend, the DA Derrick Phalen, had given him posthumously–after having his own eyes sliced out.

Don’t Blink by James Patterson and Howard Roughan will ensure that you won’t want to shut your eyes or put the book down until it’s finished. It has everything that one could want in a great crime thriller, including violence, warring Mafia families, the Russian mob, crooked politicians, and, oh, did I say violence yet? I can’t wait to read more novels featuring reporter Nick Daniels in the future! If you are like me, and enjoy reading fast-paced, action-packed novels in the Crime and Thriller genres, then you’ll want to check out Don’t Blink today!

Reviewed by Nancy Eaton

Richard Dean wants to hire Joe hunter for a job. The job is very personal to Dean since it involves his daughter. Dean believes her very rich boyfriend Bradley Jorgensen is abusing his daughter, Marianne. Hunter works with an ex-Ranger known as Rink.

Hunter decides to accept the job. Dean does not care what Hunter has to do to get Marianne away from Jorgensen. His main goal is for Hunter to accomplish this task any way possible. After a nonchalant meeting with Marianne, Hunter sees a woman who seems happy with no signs of abuse. Even after dropping a few hints that he could help her, Marianne did not appear to need anything from Joe Hunter.

Dantalion, a hired killer, has been contracted to kill Jorgensen and Marianne. Dantalion’s first attempt was unsuccessful because Hunter happened to be there and saved the couple. Who has hired Dantalion to kill this couple and why? Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

Miracle Cure is one of Harlan Coben’s earliest novels and it is somewhat different from the books he writes today. The story is about an Aids Clinic and a series of Gay Slasher murders that appear to be tied to the clinic.

The action starts with the brutal beating and eventual murder of one of the heads of the clinic. He had just arrived back in the States from their storage facility in Bangkok. The killer made the murder appear to be a suicide as the body was found outside the motel where the man was to have spent the night. A forced suicide note and busted out window made it look as though the man had taken his own life.

Two good friends of the Clinic’s doctor/owners happen to be a professional basketball player, Michael Silverman and his wife, Sara Lowell, who is a television reporter. They are not only remorseful about the death of the partner but also shocked at the recent deaths of several patients of the clinic. They were killed in what appears to be homophobic murders. And the surviving doctor/owner, Harvey Riker, is completely devastated by the three deaths.
A U.S. congressman and a holier than thou preacher also become quite involved in the dealings as they are attempting to shut down the clinic completely. Although their reasons are different they both are adamant about the hoped for results.

Max Bernstein, the homicide detective assigned to the case, is an acquaintance of both Sara and Michael. As he begins to get into the investigation of the murders/suicide Michael suddenly becomes violently ill and is diagnosed at first with hepatitis. However later testing shows that he has Aids that most probably was contracted from a transfusion that he had to have when he was injured in a boating accident in the Bahamas.

Throughout the story the hired killer is going about his business of “taking care of business” and the police are trying to figure out all the connections.

There are many twists and additional subplots woven into the master theme all of which holds the reader’s attention but doesn’t give up the mastermind behind the endeavor until the end.

Somewhat unusual for Coben is the appearance of a bit more foul language and sex as opposed to his later writings. Perhaps he felt that they were unnecessary and he decided to just write without the use of those tools.

The ending is pretty much a surprise for the reader as of the possible suspects the actual culprit is pretty much a true mystery though an integral part of the story.

Reviewed by Allen Hott

A well-written political thriller that brings forth many of the corrupt happenings that occur in the political arena. Hopefully the killings and beatings that happen in this telling do not actually occur on a daily basis. But the other shady dealings do without question and none of us are sure about the more gruesome aspects. Who knows?

Lincoln Bowe is an ex-U.S. senator who is now missing and strangely enough few people seem to be concerned. He is estranged from his wife, Madison, and though she still feels for him she is more concerned about Arlo Goodman and his Watchmen. Arlo is the governor of Virginia and wants to be at least the Vice President of the United States and Madison Bowe believes he will do anything to get that position.

Jake Winter is a published writer of political happenings. Also he is a veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan and now along with his writing he works for Bill Danzig, the President’s Chief of Staff. Jake has a great reputation for knowing his way around Washington. His military background has kept him sharp mentally and physically, despite a limp from shrapnel that ended his military career. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Gina Metz

Joe Hunter returns in Matt Hilton’s Judgment & Wrath. He has now moved to Florida where he has partnered up with his buddy, Jared “Rink” Rington in his private investigation business. Some would call Joe a vigilante although he just thinks of his work as helping those in need.

Joe meets with Richard Dean who wants to hire Joe to rescue his young daughter, Marianne, from her mega rich boyfriend, Bradley Jorgenson. He tells Joe that Bradley is physically abusing Marianne and produces a police report as proof. In the police report Marianne refused to name her attacker. Dean wants Marianne returned to him and any threat from Jorgensen eliminated. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Cy Hilterman

In 1987 Keith Sutter, age 27, was working on high temperature super conductors knowing he had discovered a new source of energy that would revolutionize the worlds power supply and reduce the dependence on current sources such as coal, oil, and nuclear methods that have been strangling the worlds population. Keith decided he would keep this new source to himself. He did not want to have to share this great energy source at this time since all his work and the income from it would have to be shared with the government and the university that they backed. He wanted all the credit and income for himself. He would wait until he was free of all that bound him to his current employer.

Twenty years later in 2007, all the plans that Keith had been mulling over started to take shape. He had brought Phil into his plans even though Keith felt he was running the show. They started advertising for employees to work in a new factory working on electrical semi-conductors. The old factory they bought was in a bad section of town and they re-configured the insides to their needs. No one but Keith and Phil knew what the factory was researching and physically working to produce.

Katherine Murkowitz needed a job. She had experience in the electrical field so she applied when Keith and Phil advertised for a person with such experience. She was so tired of applying for jobs but with the economy being so terrible, the jobs in most fields were non-existent. When she was called back for a second interview she was elated and then was finally hired to a job description she didn’t know much about but Keith and Phil were happy with her interviews. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

You can be killed if you have the third key. What is the third key to? What about the first and second key? Sydney Fitzpatrick quickly feels the need to answer these questions in THE BONE CHAMBER. She also has the feeling that she is always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

THE BONE CHAMBER begins with Sydney being summoned to Quantico to create a drawing from a skull of a possible victim who was obviously murdered and so extremely disfigured that she was not recognizable. Since she is a forensic artist for the FBI, this does not seem unusual except that the FBI is not involved with investigation. No one will tell her who is in charge or why she is to work with another agency.

To complicate matters, Sydney’s colleague and friend is also killed in a hit-and-run incident once she has begun this investigation. She is being followed but has no clue as to why. Added to this is the hunky, Zach Griffin who just wants her safely out of this case. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

Damaged contains all the elements of a great thriller and it is in fact just that.

Alex Kava has brought back FBI Special Agent Maggie O’Dell and as usual has dropped her in the middle of many problems.

After a Coast Guard helicopter and its rescue swimmer find a large cooler floating in Pensacola Bay, they find not shipwreck survivors but a pile of human bones. This surprise package brings the Department of Homeland Security into action. The deputy director of the Department decides that while he is going down to Pensacola to check it out he will ask the FBI for O’Dell to help in the investigation.

It turns out that the timing of their trip coincides with the anticipated arrival of Hurricane Isaac, which is heading straight toward Pensacola. And at the same time Colonel Benjamin Platt, the medical director of USAMRIID a unit specializing in fighting infectious diseases has just been called to the Pensacola Naval Air Station to look into badly infected combatants just returned from Afghanistan. Strangely all of those infected have recently undergone amputations. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Cy Hilterman

Troubled children that are taken to and treated in a pediatric psych ward of a medical facility have reached that location after much anguish and mental and physical abuse of their parents and anyone that has attempted to work with them. The path is long, troubled, and many times caused by former abuse to those children by another person, usually a family member or close friend. It can be various kinds of abuse, not just sexual, but regardless they end up needing long professional treatment. Sometimes that treatment is successful and sometimes not. In some few situations the professional furthers the abuse creating a worse monster out of the child, but in most cases the child is helped with improvement, slight as it may be, occurring over time. Lisa Gardner had to have done much research to take the reader into this world to the point that you can feel the tension, the personal games played, the many ways attempted to help these children even though the professionals themselves are sometimes hurt physically by a child.

Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren is a tough cop who has seen all types of crime but even she was awoken when she entered this world of children’s mental problems. She was a 12-year member of the Boston Police Department who was a workaholic who seemed to prefer work to a meaningful date, or so it seemed lately. When several families were murdered seemingly by one of their own family members, D. D. got dragged into this world of child psychotic behavior. Many characters were a part of “Live to Tell” from the children themselves to the parents, to the nurses and workers in the psych wards, and of course the police. You will be Victoria, the mother of a broken family that has a problem son; Danielle, a pediatric psych ward nurse who doesn’t remember exactly what occurred when her family was killed; Andrew Lightfoot, a believer in spiritual powers and “other” planes of being; and of course the children who could behave one minute and be hollering or attempting to hurt someone the next. Read the rest of this entry »