Dangerously Close

Dangerously Close by Dee J. Adams

Bad-boy rock star Seger Hughes hit rock bottom after a near-fatal tragedy at his concert. He hates how his life has spun out of control. After changing his appearance and his name, he transforms into a different man: Mel Summers. Now he just needs a place to hide out from rabid fans and paparazzi.

An isolated cliffside mansion is perfect. Ashley Bristol, his only neighbor, is blind-and her assistant is a classical music fan. They have no clue who he really is, but someone else does and she's waited her whole life to be with him.

Struggling to find her way after an accident that took her sight, Ashley is determined not to feel anything. Yet she gets to know Mel and can't help falling for him. When her assistant mysteriously disappears, Ashley must rely on Mel more than ever. But then his past comes back to haunt them both, and just when they must pull together to avoid danger, betrayal and lies threaten to tear them apart...

--Dangerously Close

by Dee J. Adams

Copyright © 2010 by Dee J. Adams

Published by Carina Press

My Review

What a great story!  It felt good reading a story with characters who felt real.  A young woman with a lot to live for has her eyesight taken away in a freak accident and her next door neighbor just happens to be a rock star who wants to hide from the world for a while.

Mel’s grateful that Ashley doesn’t recognize him as a Rock Star and lets her get to know the Real Guy.  They strike up a good, solid friendship before it slowly evolves into a romance.  That’s the kind of romance I like, where two people can be friends before it grows into something more, rather than rushing into bed with each other and then trying to decide if they’re compatible.  Much more satisfying the other way, in my opinion.

Now, I have to admit, the Paula character made me nervous.  Which was good, because this is a woman with no conscience and will do literally anything to get what she feels is rightfully hers, which in this case is The Rock Star.  She’s manipulative, conniving and, frankly, dangerous.  I disliked her from the start because I immediately knew she was only there to get in Mel and Ashley’s way and those stalker-types can be really scary.  But, of course, a stalker-type character was needed for there to be conflict in the plot, and boy did Paula provide it.  We all know how it’s going to end—Paula is “taken care of” and Mel and Ashley live happily ever after, but its how they get there that had me at the edge of my seat and reading way past my bedtime.

Awesome story.  I’ll be looking for more from this author.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

Brainrush

Brainrush by Richard Bard

When terminally ill combat pilot Jake Bronson emerges from an MRI with extraordinary cognitive powers, everyone wants a piece of his talent--including Battista, one of the world's most dangerous terrorists.  To save his love and her autistic child, Jake is thrust into a deadly chase that leads from the canals of Venice through Monte Carlo and finally to an ancient cavern in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan--where Jake discovers that his newfound talents carry a hidden price that threatens the entire human race.

--Brainrush

by Richard Bard

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Bard

Published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

My Review

An earthquake during an MRI causes Jake to receive an electrical shock and his life is changed forever.  His new-found mental abilities come to the attention of the Institute for Advanced Brain Studies in Venice, Italy and its founder, Signore Battista.  His institute is conducting ground-breaking research into autism and believe Jake's new abilities are the key to finding the cure.

But Battista is doing far more than just autism research and he's much more than he seems.  If his plan succeeds, he will unleash a jihad in America.

...but again, there's even more behind this man's agenda. It has to do with a mysterious object hidden in the Afghani mountains, almost as old as man itself, with glyphs inscribed on it that no one has been able to transcribe...until Jake.  When Jake unlocks the obelisk, life on earth suddenly has more to fear than Battista's jihad.

I would have finished off this review by saying it’s wide open for a sequel, but guess what?  Bard already wrote one!  I have a few other books in queue, but the sequel is already in that queue and should be read and reviewed within a month or two.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

Dancing on the Head of a Pin

Dancing on the Head of a Pin by Thomas E. Sniegoski

The Remy Chandler Chronicles, #2

Once he was known as the Angel Remiel, but generations ago, Boston PI Remy Chandler chose to renounce heaven and live on earth, where he found a secure place among us ordinary humans…

But now, having lost the love of his life, Remy finds himself turning more and more away from his human friends and his everyday existence. He’s begun to seek out dangerous jobs—those that involve the supernatural, those that bring him into contact with his past.

Like his latest case: the theft of a cache of ancient weaponry stolen from a collector who deals in antiquities of a dark and dubious nature. The weapons, Remy knows, were forged aeons ago and imbued with unimaginable power. If they fall into the wrong hands, they could be used to destroy not only Heaven but also Earth. And to prevent that, Remy Chandler must decide whether he is willing to lose the last of his own humanity…

 --Dancing on the Head of a Pin

by Thomas E. Sniegoski

Copyright © 2009 by Thomas E. Sniegoski

My Review

A few months after the death of his beloved Madeline, Boston P.I. Remy Chandler is slowly starting to get back to his life.  It’s difficult for him, having never before suffered such a heart-wrenching loss, but time goes on and he needs to keep going. 

He’s also struggling to hold on to the humanity he so carefully crafted the many millennia he’s lived on earth.  He’d only let his angelic nature out twice in the last fifty years, once to Madeline and once to a cop who is now one of his closest friends.  In order to avert the Apocalypse, however, he had to become Remiel and do battle as an angel of the Host Seraphim.  Now, he’s having a hard time keeping that part of him inside.

Life in Boston—and around the world—has changed subtly since the Apocalypse was averted.  Things are darker now, more surreal, and supernatural things are happening all around.  Like the black-market selling of an angel’s internal organs.  He’s investigating that particular case with his friend Francis, a fallen angel and guardian of Tartarus, when he receives a call.  An antique weapons collector has had several of his prized pieces stolen.  He agrees to check it out and quickly discovers that the missing weapons are known as the Pitiless, a sword, battleax, twin daggers and a pistol made of material not of this earth. 

The Fallen angels of Heaven want the weapons in order to free their master, the Morning Star, from his tomb in Tartarus so that the great war of the heavens can resume.  Remy must do everything in his considerable power to stop this from happening, even if that means shedding his prized human form forever.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

Zero Day

Zero Day by David Baldacci

John Puller is a combat veteran and the best military investigator in the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division.  His father was an Army fighting legend, and his brother is serving a life sentence for treason in a federal military prison.  Puller has an indomitable spirit and an unstoppable drive to find out the truth.

Now, Puller is called out on a case in a remote, rural area in West Virginia coal country far from any military outpost.  Someone has stumbled onto a brutal crime scene, a family slaughtered.  The local homicide detective, a headstrong woman with personal demons of her own, joins forces with Puller in the investigation.  As Puller digs through deception after deception, he realizes that absolutely nothing he’s seen in this small town, and no one in it, are what they seem.  Facing a potential conspiracy that reaches far beyond the hills of West Virginia, he is one man on the hunt for justice against an overwhelming force.

--Zero Day
by David Baldacci
Copyright © 2011 by David Baldacci

Published by Grand Central Publishing

My Review

John Puller is a U.S. Army Special Investigator sent to Drake, West Virginia to aid local law enforcement to figure out why a high-ranking military officer and his family were killed.  Puller piggy-backs onto the locals' investigation and discovers more than just this one family has been killed.  There doesn’t seem to be any connection between the two families, and yet there has to be, right?

Coal is the major source of revenue for the town and some people don’t care much for Puller’s investigation, but Puller’s not there to make friends.  He’s there to solve a murder and wherever the clues take him, that’s where he’s going to go.

As Puller investigates, he uncovers some of Drake’s dirty secrets and its dark past, a past that has nothing to do with coal mining and everything to do with the potential destruction of Drake.  And West Virginia.  And a good chunk of the Eastern portion of the United States.

I personally don’t understand how David Baldacci can keep so many different series going (Camel Club, King & Maxwell, Shaw & James) and then turn around and start a brand new one!  But in true Baldacci style, he’s crafted an intriguing tale full of twists and turns without bogging down the story with too much history or technical detail.

Like all of the Baldacci stories I’ve read, the mystery starts out small and in no time escalates into a huge, complicated and complex conspiracy, so it’s a bit formulaic, however, Baldacci crafts a uniqueness into each story that keeps them fresh and keeps me coming back for more.

Although there are similarities between John Puller and my own favorite fiction hero, Jack Reacher, this story is definitely not a Jack Reacher clone (as some have suggested).  I definitely felt some of Reacher in Puller, as they are both intelligent men and determined to see justice done at whatever cost.  But they are different, too, in that Reacher relies on his wits and Puller has the entire Army and its resources at his back.

At the end of the story, Puller takes some well-deserved time off.  He packs a bag, loads his cat (named AWOL—love that!) into his car and takes off, driving aimlessly across the country.  Doubtless he’ll run into a mystery or two in his travels that beg his unique skills to solve.  I’m definitely keeping an eye out for the next installment in this series.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

Deep Down

Deep Down by Lee Child
A Jack Reacher Story

Summoned by Military Intelligence to Washington, D.C., Reacher is sent undercover. The assignment that awaits him: The army is meeting with its Capitol Hill paymasters for classified talks on a new, state-of-the-art sniper rifle for U.S. forces. But vital details about the weapon are leaking—straight from the Capitol and probably into the hands of unidentified foreign arms dealers. The prospect of any and every terrorist, mercenary, or dictator’s militia getting their hands on the latest superior firepower is unthinkable. That’s where Reacher comes in. His task: infiltrate the top-secret proceedings and smoke out the mole. His target: a quartet of high-powered Army political liaison officers—all of them fast-track women on their way to the top.

According to his bosses, it’s a zero-danger mission. No need to draw a gun . . . just chat over drinks. But Reacher knows that things are rarely what they seem. And he’s learned the hard way never to underestimate an opponent. Or four. Lessons that will come in handy when he starts digging for the truth—and gets his hands a lot dirtier than he expected.

--Deep Down
by Lee Child
Copyright © 2012 by Lee Child

My Review

The time:  1986. 

The place: Washington, D.C. 

The problem: Someone is leaking classified information regarding designs on a new sniper rifle.

The solution: Send in Jack Reacher.

Reacher is sent to sit in on talks about the designs on a new sniper rifle, but he’s not there to sell the thing.  He’s there to figure out which of the four Army political liaison officers is the mole.  Based on the information he’s given, he has a pretty good idea which one it is.  But when she’s killed in a motor vehicle accident, his attention switches to the other three.  He needs to figure out which is the guilty party quickly before he’s the next one going to the morgue.

This is the second short story released by Lee Child and while perhaps not as enjoyable as the first short (Second Son), it’s still a glimpse into Jack Reacher’s past and a chance to learn what makes him such a great investigator.  If you’re a fan, I don’t even need to tell you to buy it because you will anyway (like I did).  If you’ve never read any of the Jack Reacher books, this story should be enough to whet your whistle and make you want to read more.

But you’d better read fast.  His 17^th novel, A Wanted Man comes out September 11^th.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

Blood Oath

Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth

A Nathaniel Cade novel, #1

Zach Barrows is a cocky, ambitious White House employee until he's abruptly transferred out and partnered with Nathaniel Cade, a secret agent sworn to protect the president. But Cade is no ordinary civil servant. Bound 140 years ago by a special blood oath, Nathanial Cade is a vampire. On the orders of the president he defends the nation against enemies far stranger-and even more dangerous-than civilians like Zach could ever imagine.

--Blood Oath

by Christopher Farnsworth

Copyright © 2010 by Christopher Farnsworth

Published by Putnam, a division of Penguin Group

My Review

While at a certain “big box” store which shall remain unnamed (*cough*Wal-Mart*cough*), I came across a book titled, The President’s Vampire.  Now that, I thought to myself, is a title that grabs your attention.  It certainly did mine, and I bought it. And, of course, it’s the second novel in a series and, of course again, they didn’t have the first book in the series in the rack.  So I checked with this little on-line books store I’d heard a few things about (*cough*Amazon*cough*) and purchased the first book, Blood Oath.

Blood Oath introduces us to Zachary Barrows, a young, up-and-coming and extremely ambitious politician and White House staffer with plans to occupy the White House himself one day.  Unfortunately, an ill-timed liaison with the current President’s daughter derails those plans.  However, instead of being fired, Zach finds himself reassigned to the position of “handler” to one of the President’s most secret weapons:  Nathaniel Cade, Vampire.

That’s right, the President of the United States has a pet vampire.  Whenever a situation arises of a nature too “sensitive” for the CIA, FBI, DHS, INS, DEA or any other alphabet agency, they send in Cade to take care of the problem in the most permanent manner possible.  Zach, as Cade’s handler, gets orders from the President which he in turn delivers to Cade, and then goes along with Cade to assist in whatever means necessary.

At first, Zach is resistant to his new assignment.  Imagine being two words away from the destruction of the future you had worked so hard for only to find out supernatural beings you thought existed only in movies and books were actually real, and moreover, you were going to work with one.  Yep, definitely brown trousers time.  Or, in Zach’s case, wet trousers.

Zach barely has enough time to clean up when he and Cade are off on their first assignment together.  An old enemy/friend of the country is about to unleash the latest incarnation of his greatest invention.  Not only has this man discovered the secret to eternal youth, he knows how to bring the dead back to life.  Together in a tenuous alliance with a new enemy of the United States, he is ready to use his unmenschsoldat to achieve their shared, ultimate goal: the death of the President and the destruction of the United States.

Oh, and just to make it even more interesting, there’s another vampire running around as well as agents for a secretive, “shadow company” within the U.S. Government, whose goal it seems is to destroy the government, but I couldn’t quite work them into the review without giving away the whole story, so there you go.

What’s an unmenschsoldat?  Well, it’s a German word (that’s your first clue to the bad guy’s name).  Mensch means “human being” or “a person of honor.”  Unmensch is the opposite.  And Soldat is “soldier.”  Put that together, you have an unlikable soldier. Or an inhuman soldier.  Or a zombie killing machine.  Take your pick.

I really like the two main characters, Zach and Cade.  Zach is a young, ambitious person who’s had his world knocked out from under him only to be replaced by a brand new world to which he must adapt or—literally—he could die.  Cade is a 140 year-old vampire bound by a blood oath to serve the President of the United States (not the person, the title, therefore, he’ll be in service until he dies or until there is no President).  He is cold, almost unfeeling—you do get a couple glimmers of humanity from him—and like a well-trained soldier, receives his orders and does everything in his power to execute those orders, no matter what.  It’s those little glimmers of humanity that make us like him and I definitely do.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski
The Remy Chandler Chronicles, #1

Boston P.I. Remy Chandler has many talents. He can will himself invisible; he can speak and understand any foreign language (including the language of animals); and if he listens carefully, he can hear thoughts.

Unusual, to say the least—for an ordinary man. But Remy is no ordinary man—he’s an angel. Generations ago, when he was known as the angel Remiel, he chose to renounce heaven and live on Earth. He’s found a place among us ordinary humans, with friendship, a job he’s good at—and love.

Now he is being drawn into a case with strong ties to his angelic past. The Angel of Death has gone missing, and Remy’s former colleagues have come to him for help. But what at first seems to be about tracing a missing person turns out to involve much more—a conspiracy that has as its goal the destruction of the human race. An only Remy Chandler can stop it.

 

--A Kiss Before the Apocalypse
by Thomas E. Sniegoski
Copyright © 2010 by Thomas E. Sniegoski

My Review

I found this story because its audiobook narrator is Luke Daniels, who I think is amazing (more about him in another review).  And thanks to him, I have a new favorite author and character in Thomas E. Sniegoski and Remy Chandler.

Remy is an Angel of the Heavenly Host, who decided to come to earth and live as a human.  He’d been on earth for many millennia when, in the 1950’s, he opened a private detective agency in Boston and got married.  Fast forward to today and he has a new case:  his former bretheren, the Seraphim, need his help.  Israfel, the Angel of Death, is missing, as are the Scrolls that unleash the Apocalypse.  They need Remy to find Israfel.   With the Angel of Death missing, no one on earth can die. 

At first, Remy refuses.  He wants nothing to do with his old life and even less to do with the Seraphim.  But he’s sensitive to the plight of the humans he lives amongst, namely that there is a balance to life, and death is a part of it.  Just to make his decision even more complicated, his wife and love of his life, Madeline, is dying of cancer.  If Israfel stays missing, she stays alive.  Find Israfel, she dies.

Plus, if he doesn’t find Israfel, person or persons unknown are going to break open the Heavenly Scrolls and start Armageddon, wiping out all life on earth.  And he kinda likes living on earth.  It would suck if everyone on it was dead.  So he makes up his mind and enlists the help of a friend of his, another fallen angel named Francis.  Together, Remy and Francis go about trying to save the world before Famine, War, Pestilence and Death are unleashed upon it.

I think what touched me most in this story was Remy’s internal conflict regarding Madeline’s impending death.  There have been plenty of stories with long-lived characters (mostly vampires) that mention to their present-day companions that they had past loves and companions and it was painful for them when those companions passed away while they continued to live, forever young.  This is the first story I’ve read where we get to go through the grieving process with one of these long-lived characters.  It was a little heart-wrenching to go through the emotions with Remy as he reconciled himself to finding Israfel, if for no other reason than to bring an end Madeline’s agony, and then going through the aftereffects after she’s gone.

There are four books total in the Remy Chandler series, the fifth due to come out later this year.  Stay tuned, for those reviews will be coming soon.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

By the way, I listened to an audiobook version of this story and I had to guess the spelling of the Angel of Death’s name.  If I got it wrong, could someone please let me know so I can correct it?  Thanks!

Copper Beach

Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz First in the Dark Legacy series

Within the pages of very rare books some centuries old lie the secrets of the paranormal. Abby Radwell's unusual psychic talent has made her an expert in such volumes-and sometimes taken her into dangerous territory. After a deadly incident in the private library of an obsessive collector, Abby receives a blackmail threat, and rumors swirl that an old alchemical text known as The Key has reappeared on the black market.

Convinced that she needs an investigator who can also play bodyguard, she hires Sam Coppersmith, a specialist in paranormal crystals and amber-"hot rocks." Passion flares immediately between them, but neither entirely trusts the other. When it comes to dealing with a killer who has paranormal abilities, and a blackmailer who will stop at nothing to obtain an ancient alchemical code, no one is safe.

--Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz Copyright © 2012 by Jayne Ann Krentz Published by Putnam Books

My Review

I enjoy Jayne Ann Krentz, which is why I keep buying her books, even though the stories have become, to my mind at least, formulaic. There’s the meeting between the hero and heroine, usually because one is the only person on earth who can solve the other’s problem, the heroine gets into trouble and the hero comes to the rescue. After the obligatory exposition by the bad guy (or in the case of this story, two bad guys), detailing the reason why he did what he did, he’s hauled off or—in most cases—killed by the hero. And they live happily ever after.

 I do get tired of the woman always being rescued by the man. Every once in a while, can’t the woman do the rescuing? Abby, in this story, at least is brave and willingly walks into the lion’s den on order to save her stepbrother Dawson. But of course, by this point, she and Sam are a team and when her attempt to put down the bad guy fails, it’s okay because Sam’s right there to deliver the final blow (rescuing her so they can live happily ever after).

Now, one thing I really like about this particular story is Abby’s family. Her father married Dawson’s mother and together they had twin girls. Dawson and his mother come from a wealthy family and the grandmother controls the purse strings.  She makes it very clear to Abby that she cannot have a dime of her family's money, which suits Abby just fine.  Problem is, no one believes her when she says she doesn't care about the money.  When she refuses to help Dawson find the notebook for a client he's trying to sign, they all think she's being spiteful because of the money.  That's not the reason, but that's what they all think.  Plus there's a ton of drama that goes back to her teen years that adds fuel to that particular fire.  A full novel unto itself could have been written on the dynamics of that family, never mind all the stuff surrounding the missing notebook and psychic ciphers and such. That’s a story I’d love to read.

I have a theory that Krentz’s novels follow the pattern they do, including the bad guy exposition, because she’s obligated to produce a certain number of novels per year and by following a certain structure, she can write her stories faster. She may also be hampered by a pre-set novel length requirement. I can’t help wondering how much better her stories would be if she threw that requirement out the window and—gasp—wrote some of those scenes differently. I’d encourage her to try that sometime, just to see what happens.


I give this story FOUR STARS.

The Sixth Man

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci

Edgar Roy-an alleged serial killer held in a secure, fortress-like Federal Supermax facility-is awaiting trial. He faces almost certain conviction. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are called in by Roy's attorney, Sean's old friend and mentor Ted Bergin, to help work the case. But their investigation is derailed before it begins-en route to their first meeting with Bergin, Sean and Michelle find him murdered.

It is now up to them to ask the questions no one seems to want answered: Is Roy a killer? Who murdered Bergin? With help from some surprising allies, they continue to pursue the case. But the more they dig into Roy's past, the more they encounter obstacles, half-truths, dead-ends, false friends, and escalating threats from every direction. Their persistence puts them on a collision course with the highest levels of the government and the darkest corners of power. In a terrifying confrontation that will push Sean and Michelle to their limits, the duo may be permanently parted.

--The Sixth Man
by David Baldacci
Copyright © 2011 by David Baldacci

My Review

Imagine, if you will, a wall. Not just any wall, but a wall of data. Data that informs the viewer of everything—yes, everything—that is going on in the world in regards to the country’s security. Now imagine absorbing all that data, analyzing it, and coming up with strategies to ensure the country’s safety. All without losing your mind.

That was Edgar Roy’s job before he was arrested for murder. Housed in a federal Supermax facility in Maine, he awaits trial. His lawyer, Ted Bergin, calls on his friend Sean King and his partner, Michelle Maxwell, to come and assist him in the case. But on their way to meet him, Sean and Michelle find Ted murdered on the side of the road.

Anxious to work the case, plus find out who murdered Ted, they sign on with Ted’s associate to work on Edgar’s case. Only, as is the usual for them, things are not as cut-and-dried as they may seem. They never are when the power players of D.C. get involved.

The main characters, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, seemed a little flat in this story. They have the same drive and energy as usual, but because they’ve ostensibly put their romantic feelings aside for the duration of the story, they’ve lost some of their depth, only to gain it back at the very end. It leaves the story a little lacking, but despite that, it’s still a great story.

The plot contains the usual deep twists and turns you’d expect from a David Baldacci novel, including one I never saw coming until the end. I figured out the twist pretty much at the same time Sean did, which is great because as a reader, you never really want to figure out whodunit half-way through the story. You want there to be a surprise waiting for you and in this novel, it definitely is waiting for you, lurking, gun in hand, ready and willing to move in for the killshot.

I love the character of James Harkes, though. Someone who could pull off what he did in this story without getting his feathers ruffled catches my interest and makes me want more. I would definitely like to see him again, perhaps in his own series? And perhaps even with Kelly Paul (Edgar’s half sister)? Just a thought…

I give this story FOUR STARS.

The Pawn

The Pawn by Steven James

Special Agent Patrick Bowers never met a killer he couldn’t catch.

Until now.

Called to North Carolina to consult on the case of an area serial killer, Bowers finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Cunning and lethal, the killer is always one step ahead of the law, and he’s about to strike again. It will take all of Bowers’s instincts and training to stop the man who calls himself the Illusionist.

--The Pawn
by Steven James
Copyright © 2007 by Steven James
Published by Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group

My Review

FBI Special Agent Dr. Patrick “Call me Pat” Bowers is an environmental criminologist, which means he “merges the fields of environmental psychology with geospatial investigation.” (Direct quote from the book.) Like a profiler, he works with the geographic details of a killer’s activities to figure out the where—and sometimes the when—of a crime. Recently relocated from New York City to Denver to raise his step-daughter closer to his parents, he’s called Asheville, North Carolina to help out in an investigation.

As he and the team work the case, they discover there are actually two killers, one of which has a tie to one of the most spectacular mass killings of the 1970’s. This killer has never forgotten the government’s response to the massacre and now he means to make the man in charge of that response—now an important elected official—pay, in a way the world will never forget.
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
This is Book 1 in the Patrick Bowers mysteries and it didn’t take me long to fall into “like” with this character. I’m not in love with him, but I really do like him.

The bad guy in this story epitomizes a champion chess player. One of the keys to chess is the ability to think several moves ahead, predicting what your opponent will do and making your moves based on that knowledge. The killer knows police tactics and makes his moves based on that knowledge, with amazing results. Bowers is stunned—almost to paralysis at one point—with how clever his opponent is.

He’s so clever that Pat begins to doubt himself and his ability to catch this guy. A tiny misstep with a colleague has him doubting himself even more. Everyone makes these kinds of missteps in life. It’s nice that our hero does as well, but he shows his humanity in the way he reacts to those missteps. He berates himself—mildly—and when he attempts to mend the misstep, we know it through his mental narrative. It’s nice to see this overt kind of vulnerability in a character. It makes him more likable, more real, more like someone we can connect with.

We like to see vulnerabilities in our heroes. That makes them human and we need to see that humanity, otherwise, we can never really connect with them. Bowers is a widow, his wife having died after only five months of marriage, leaving him with a sullen, 16-year-old stepdaughter. Sullen, 16-year-old daughters are hard enough to handle as they are, but a sullen, 16-year-old stepdaughter is ten times harder. Pat genuinely cares about Tessa, but he hardly knows her. The situation is made worse when the killer he’s tracking lets him know he knows all about Tessa. This causes Pat to go into over-protective mode, a move guaranteed to make Tessa resent him even more. By the end of the story, their relationship is resolved and they begin to build a bridge of understanding. Their relationship is one of the reasons I’ll continue to read the series, to see how it eventually works out.

Steven James has five books out in this series. The next is The Rook,, followed by The Knight, The Bishop, and The Queen. Chess pieces, specifically the pawn, made an appearance in The Pawn. Do the other pieces appear in the other books? I’ll find when I read The Rook. Stay tuned!

I give this story FOUR STARS.

The Cut

Wo-Hoo!! New Year, new reviews to post!! Okay, got that out of my system. On to the first review of 2012 ~~~

The Cut by George Pelecanos

Spero Lucas has a new line of work. Since he returned home after serving in Iraq, he has been doing special investigations for a defense attorney. He's good at it, and he has carved out a niche: recovering stolen property, no questions asked. His cut is forty percent.

A high-profile crime boss who has heard of Lucas's specialty hires him to find out who has been stealing from his operation. It's the biggest job Lucas has ever been offered, and he quickly gets a sense of what's going on. But before he can close in on what's been taken, he tangles with a world of men whose amorality and violence leave him reeling. Is any cut worth your family, your lover, your life?

--The Cut
by George Pelecanos
Copyright © 2011 by George Pelecanos
Published by Reagan Arthur Books

My Review

Spero Lucas, 29, ex-Marine and Iraq war vet, lives and makes his living in Washington D.C., a city I know well but not nearly as well as Pelecanos. Lucas is happy with is life and makes a good living as a “finder.” When an attorney he works for refers him to a new client, a drug dealer currently in jail, he’s a bit reluctant, but meets with the man. Anwan Hawkins has had a couple packages of his merchandise go missing. He wants Lucas to find them. Lucas doesn’t want to work for a drug dealer, but a job’s a job, so he takes it.

He meets with Hawkins’ #2 men, Tayvon Lynch and Edwin Davis and begins his investigation. Before long, a third package goes missing and Tayvon and Edwin wind up dead. Lucas stays away from that investigation, leaving it to the police, but he knows a police officer is involved in both the killings and in Hawkins’ missing packages, so how far can he stay away really?

And when a young teen goes missing, Lucas must pull out all the stops to rescue him and at the same time put a stop to the men responsible. Without winding up dead himself.

There’s a gritty, earthly feel to this story that’s not quite to my liking, but, despite that, I liked the telling of the tale. When a story makes references to an area or culture that you have to be a part of to really understand, and I am a part of that area or culture, it increases my enjoyment of the story. That’s why The Cut gets four stars from me. It’s a well-written, well told story and I’m looking forward to the next one in the series.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

The Whole Truth

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci

"Dick, I need a war."

Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. Dick Pender is the man Creel retains to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts. But Creel may have an even grander plan in mind.

Shaw, a man with no first name and a truly unique past, has a different agenda. Reluctantly doing the bidding of a secret multi-national intelligence agency, he travels the globe to keep it safe and at peace.

Willing to do anything to get back to the top of her profession, Katie James is a journalist who has just gotten the break of a lifetime: the chance to interview the sole survivor of a massacre that has left every nation stunned.

In this terrifying, global thriller, these characters' lives will collide head-on as a series of events is set in motion that could change the world as we know it.

--The Whole Truth
by David Baldacci
Copyright © 2008 by David Baldacci
Published by Grand Central Publishing

My Review

Defense contractor and multi-multi-millionaire Nicholas Creel is not happy. The world is seemingly at peace, no major wars going on, and that’s not good for business. He needs a war, so he has his perception manager, Dick Pender, start one. And start one he does. He plants false stories about the Russians and the rumors spread with the speed and efficiency you’d expect from our internet-driven society.

Shaw hears the stories, but he has other things on his mind. A kind of global policeman for a shadowy international agency, he travels the world to take care of problems, big or small, that might impact the global power balance. He’s very good at what he does, going into hairy situations that would get most people killed within the first two minutes and always manages to come out alive. He’s ready to retire so he can marry Anna Fischer, the love of his life, but his boss has a stranglehold on him that he cannot easily escape.

Katie James, an award winning journalist on a downward slide fueled by alcohol, happens upon Shaw as he attempts to take down a group of drug dealers in Scotland. Barely escaping with their lives, they go their separate ways, only to be reunited as they join forces to take down the man responsible for starting Cold War II.

The story is marred by occasional cliché’d dialogue and implausible characters, but it also fast paced and full of action. The plot is both believable and unbelievable, in that you can’t believe something like this could really happen, and yet you’re afraid it really could. A good escapist read.

I give this story FOUR STARS.

The First Family

The First Family by David Baldacci

It began with what seemed like an ordinary children's birthday party. Friends and family gathered to celebrate. There were balloons and cake, games and gifts.

This party, however, was far from ordinary. It was held at Camp David, the presidential retreat. And it ended with a daring kidnapping . . . which immediately turned into a national security nightmare.

Sean King and Michelle Maxwell were not looking to become involved. As former Secret Service agents turned private investigators, they had no reason to be. The FBI doesn't want them interfering. But years ago, Sean King saved the First Lady's husband, then a senator, from political disaster. Now, Sean is the one person the First Lady trusts, and she presses Sean and Michelle into the desperate search to rescue the abducted child.

With Michelle still battling her own demons, and forces aligned on all sides against her and Sean, the two are pushed to the absolute limit. In the race to save an innocent victim, the line between friend and foe will become impossible to define . . . or defend.

--The First Family
by DAVID BALDACCI
Copyright © 2011 by DAVID BALDACCI
Published by PUBLISHER

My Review

Another Sean King/Michelle Maxwell adventure, this one finds the two seemingly on their feet and working to build their business. Years ago, when Sean was still with the Secret Service, he happened to meet Dan Cox, the new senator from Georgia in, shall we say, a compromising position? He returned the inebriated gentleman to his wife and kept the identity of the woman he was with a secret. Years later, First Lady Jane Cox calls Sean for help. Her niece, Willa, has been kidnapped. Will he and Michelle please work with the FBI to find her?

Naturally, they take the case and uncover a plot that digs deep into a father's need to avenge his daughter.

I won't say any more, because I think you might have caught a little bit of the plot that I just threw at you. The basic motive of the bad guy was pretty easy to work out, but it was the execution of his plan, and how Sean and Michelle worked to uncover it, that kept me interested in the story. Baldacci's plots are both simple and intricate at the same time, making the reader actually think about what's happening. That's why I like him so much. As an added plus, Michelle finally uncovers the memory that she's been blocking all this time. Now that she has, I hope she can finally heal. I'll find out eventually as The 6th Man is in my "to listen to" queue.

I give this story FOUR STARS.