Mysteries Galore.com

Archive for the ‘Thriller’ Category

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

Collision of Lies is a very fast paced incredible novel. The book starts out with the murder of a man at sea who turns out to be an undercover officer. Then an important political man has a car wreck and dies. Is it murder or an accident on a dark lonely road?

The characters in this book are so well developed and you feel part of the team in trying to solve the crime. You try to find out what the big secret is and how they are going to stop this crime from being committed. This is a tale of murder, intrigue, and political partnerships that is amazing. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

The creator of The Camel Club and other great stories that were based in the Washington D.C. area or had characters that were involved in governmental investigation has come out with a new hero. Baldacci’s John Puller earned his stripes in many years of fighting for his country around the world and now works as a CID investigator.

Puller not only has his military background but his father is a retired general and his brother, an army major and nuclear scientist, had been found guilty of treason against his country. So now even though his brother was in prison for life and his father is suffering from the beginnings of Alzheimer’s, John Puller is an army brat that can never stop serving his country regardless of unforeseen circumstances.

His current case seems to be a bit odd as he is sent to Drake, West Virginia to investigate a recent murder of a career soldier who was with the Defense Intelligence Authority. Puller questions why the murder isn’t handled by the locals and also nearby Military Police investigators. He is told by the SAC, not his normal chain of command, that the case warrants an investigation by the CID and that he though working alone can catch on with any local police who seem to be interested in the case. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Elizabeth Sheehan

The story begins with the separate murders of two Supreme Court Justices and the Federal Reserve Governor.

The President requests a meeting with CIA agent Jack McCall who will be in charge of the investigation along with Rachel Johnstone who represents the FBI. The country is in turmoil not knowing if this is terrorists or someone who has a grudge against the Court. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

Love Lies Bleeding has a little bit of everything to offer. A bit of mystery, a little bit of woo woo and a good cast of characters.

Samantha Moore has lived a very successful life. Samantha holds a prominent position in her father’s company and is engaged to Jackson, a man who had presented her with a beautiful diamond and a promise of a wonderful life.

Then tragedy hit. Samantha is attacked when leaving work and is in a coma for sometime. When she awakes from the coma, she is quite a different person. She repeatedly relives the attack and rebels against the medication prescribed for her. The meds make her sick and forgetful. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Elizabeth Sheehan

The novel begins when Martin Talbot, an accountant, is summoned to the office of his Mother’s attorney. His Mom now resides in a nursing home and is afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Martin is given a letter with a key inside. As Martin reads the letter he finds that his Mother is actually Judy Cooper known as The Black Stiletto a vigilante in New York City during the 1950′s. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

A whole lot of intrigue, detectiving, and mayhem as is the usual makeup of a Robert Crais book. And as quite often he does Crais wrote this one with two of his favorite characters. Joe Pike and Elvis Cole are again teamed up and are doing their best to keep law and order. Although they, as is normal, go beyond the scope of the law in their manner of enforcing it.

Pike gets them involved when he stops several hoodlums from beating up an older man in a small café. One of them gets away but the other after getting his arm broken by Pike is held until the police come. The victim doesn’t want to press charges nor go to the hospital although he is in pretty bad shape. However a younger woman comes in from the back entrance to the café and identifies the victim and sends him off to the hospital.

When she stops and talks to Pike he falls for her like a ton of bricks pushed off a truck. He believes that something is wrong just from judging her actions as well as that of the victim. Pike then becomes The Sentry and begins watching over the shop and Dru as she identifies herself to him.
Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

How long does it take for someone to finally succeed with revenge?

Harry Hole is a former alcoholic Norwegian detective that believes in doing the right thing, even if it is not politically correct. Harry is searching for a neo-Nazi, Sverre Olsen while also stopping an assassination of a world leader. Having to make a split-second decision, Harry shoots a Secret Service agent, possibly paralyzing the man permanently. True, the Secret Service agent should not have been where he was, but should he have been shot? Harry did not see that he had any choice.

In World War II, Norwegians were in a touchy situation with wondering whether to side with the Germans or the Russians. Many realized that they needed to be on the side of the victors, but it was difficult to tell which side would win.

The Redbreast was voted the best Norwegian crime novel ever written by members of Norwegian book clubs. The Redbreast is a novel that was confusing for me for the first hundred pages. When a novel is translated from its original language, I always wonder if what I am reading is the skill of the writer or the translator. It moved from the Norwegians fighting in World War II, to Harry Hole searching for Sverre Olsen in present time, to Harry at the police station, to Harry investigating with his female partner, and seemed to make few connections. After that, the novel was completely mesmerizing. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Cy Hilterman

Sometimes the word “WOW” is used in extravagance, but not with this book! Ben Coes wrote his first book, “Power Down” and it was one of the best, most thrilling and engrossing stories I have read. This new book is of the same quality or, if possible, even better. It brings back the main character from the first book, Dewey Andreas, who is a master of all actions when it comes to helping his nation. He had been highly trained in all phases of super warfare such as Seals and Rangers are. The main story takes place in India and Pakistan but the interaction goes all over the world. Dewey had settled in secretively in Australia knowing that Aswan Fortuna was constantly searching for him. He had huge sums of reward money for anyone that could catch Dewey and ‘dispose’ of him. Fortuna’s two sons were loaded with money too but one son, Alexander, had been killed while the remaining son, Nebuchar, roamed free. All the Fortuna’s were wanted by the United States, dead or alive. Aswan Fortuna controlled or influenced many governments mostly with his money. He speaks and they jump. Fortuna had hired specialized killers to track down Dewey no matter where they could find him, if they could find him!

Jessica Tanzer was the national security advisor to President Allaire. Her advice went very far in most all of the cabinet meetings. Jessica also had a relationship with Dewey that set sparks off when either name was mentioned to each of them. Their long distance relationship made life hard for them but they knew that security demanded that distance with Dewey being a hunted man. Fortuna was very influential with Pakistan’s leader as well as others in the Asian area. He did all he could to change that part of the world to Muslim. Once again his money spoke tons of words and advice to any leader of a nation who could be influenced easily. Hostilities increased quickly between India and Pakistan. So many were killed, civilians as well as military. Attacks were launched increasingly and more deadly. It didn’t take long for Pakistan to drop a nuclear bomb on a small town in India wiping out the entire town killing thousands of civilians. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Caryn St. Clair

After a couple of books away from Harry Bosch as the main character, Connelly returns with The Drop, a book where Harry is at his best. Harry and Chou have two cases to investigate and as things seem to be resolved in each case, the cases take unsettling turns. Questions arise that may pop up again down the road.

The Cold Case Unit of the LAPD routinely selects cases at random to be reviewed to see if using the latest DNA testing there are any new leads in the case. Harry Bosch, now a member of this unit, catches a case from 1989. When the evidence is reviewed, there is a hit on the blood that was found at the scene-only the blood belongs to a guy who would have been only eight years old at the time the crime was committed. Before Harry and his partner Chou can really get started working the case, Harry long time nemesis, Councilman Irvin Irving asks that Harry be assigned to investigate the death of the Councilman’s son.

As readers ride along with Harry and is partner, it’s like catching up with old friends. Readers find Harry and his daughter settled into a comfortable routine after the death of Harry’s ex-wife and Maddy’s mother. Harry and his new partner have a not surprisingly unbalanced relationship with Harry wanting only to give orders while not sharing information. Kiz Rider, Harry’s old partner, has moved up the ladder in the police department and while it is sometimes helpful for Harry there is a definite shift in their relationship during this book-a shift leaving Harry feeling the loss. But the best is the return of Irvin Irving. In The Drop, the Councilman and Harry are supposed to be on the same side on this case, but can Harry and the Councilman ever be in agreement? Their relationship also takes an unusual twist by the end of The Drop. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

The last place you would expect to find a Minneapolis Police Detective on leave is working aboard a sailing ship but that Is exactly what Brie Beaumont is doing. The Maine Wind is a working ship owned by Captain John DeLuc. Brie and John are very attracted to each other but Brie is still uncertain what the future holds for her and is unwilling to make a commitment to John on a personal level or to the ship as a permanent job.

Brie left the police department after her partner was killed and she felt she needed some distance from police work but when the ship makes a stop on Sentinel Island to help John’s friend repair an old lighthouse Brie is immediately caught up in a mystery surrounding the lighthouse and the small island.

Amanda Whitcombe is an artist, a prominent member of the Sentinel Island community and a good friend of Ben, the owner of the lighthouse. Amanda has disappeared and when Brie finds her cottage unlocked she investigates and some clues lead Brie to believe that Amanda did not leave voluntarily.
Read the rest of this entry »