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.

The Voynich Cypher

The Voynich Cypher by Russell Blake
Second in the Dr. Stephen Cross series

When a sacred relic is stolen from its subterranean guarded vault, Dr. Steven Cross, amateur cryptographer, becomes embroiled in a deadly quest to decipher one of history's most enigmatic documents - a 15th century parchment written entirely in unbreakable code; The Voynich Manuscript. Stalked by secret societies, and aided by the daughter of a murdered colleague, a trail of riddles catapults Cross from England to Italy to the Middle East, where a Byzantine web of ancient secrets leads him to a revelation so profound it will change the world order.

--The Voynich Cypher
by Russell Blake
Copyright © 2012 by Russell Blake


My Review
 

The basis of this story, the Voynich Manuscript, is a real thing.  Its exact age is unknown but is believed to be several hundred years old.  About a hundred years ago, it was “rediscovered” by Wilfred Voynich and has been on display at Yale University ever since.  Cryptologists all over the world consider this document the Holy Grail of ciphers and would likely give their entire fortunes for the key to its decoding.

Steven Cross, an amateur cryptologist, thinks he may know the key, but without a missing portion of the document, he cannot decode it, and neither can anyone else.

A year ago, he contacted another cryptologist, Winston Twain, about his theory but never heard back.  Now, out of nowhere, Twain calls his office.  Before Steven can return his call, Twain is murdered.

Shortly afterward, Twain’s daughter, Natalie, shows up on Steven’s doorstep.  Her father was murdered because of the Voynich, she tells him, and the only way to solve the crime is for them to band together and do what they can to decode the document.

A missing section of the document, a potential key to its decoding, has been held secretly by the Catholic Church.  The Church won’t even admit to owning it, but no worries, Natalie says.  I stole it two weeks ago.  Between the two of us, we can figure this thing out and find out who killed my father.

Can these two decipher the Manuscript before those who wish to keep its secrets hidden—and those who wish to know its secrets for themselves—deal with them in a most permanent manner?

The characters of Steven and Natalie are very well developed and I couldn’t help but like Steven and wanted him to be successful in his mission.  Natalie rubbed me a bit wrong, however.  I dislike characters that always seem to be able to contact the right people and make the right thing happen at just the right time in order to keep the story going.  A little bit of that is okay, but Natalie’s “connections” went a touch too far in my opinion.  Still, I did like her and the story wouldn’t have gone very far without her.  I also didn’t care for the way Natalie was constantly referred to as a “girl” when she was obviously a woman.  I suppose it was Steven’s way of keeping her at arm’s length, but once that bridge was burned, it was silly to keep referring to her that way.  There were also a few minor plot holes that I glossed over in favor of simply enjoying the story.  An interesting adventure worth a weekend’s read.

Although this is the second in a series, it easily stands alone as an independent story.  While reading it, I had no idea there was a previous novel, although it does makes sense because we are given very intriguing hints about Steven’s background before he moved to Italy.  I hope to get to the first and third books in the series before the year is out.

I give this story THREE and a HALF 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.

The President's Vampire

The President’s Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

A Nathaniel Cade novel, #2

For 140 years, vampire Nathaniel Cade has been bound to protect and serve the United States of America.  Cade’s existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last, best line of defense against an ever-threatening gallery of nightmarish foes that ordinary citizens couldn’t begin to imagine.

When an ancient evil – one ominously familiar to Cade – is resurrected, the President’s Vampire and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source.  The prime suspect is a shady private defense contractor who may be dealing with powers far deadlier than any mortal weapon.  It’s up to Cade and Zach to drag the forces of darkness into the light…

--The President’s Vampire

by Christopher Farnsworth

Copyright © 2011 by Christopher Farnsworth

Published by Putnam, a division of Penguin Group

My Review

An old enemy is about to unleash an even older threat upon the world and only Nathaniel Cade can stop it.  He had dealt with this particular threat nearly one hundred years ago and thought it gone from the earth, but some things never go away.

Cade’s enemy, going by the name Colonel Graves, has found a way to create a race of reptilian killers called “Snakeheads” using a virus.  One bite, and within minutes, the victim is transformed into a killing machine.  They know no thought except to kill and that means only one person, one thing, can stop them.  But the oath that drives him is the very thing that keeps him from taking out the heart of this particular kill factory.  When Zach is double-crossed and taken prisoner, can Cade find a way to rescue him and put an end to these killers before they’re let loose on a crowd of holiday shoppers?

While this story is as well-designed as its predecessor, the constant switching back and forth between our heroes and the poor people who have the misfortune to become Snakeheads got to be tiresome.  As soon as the story started to move, you have to shift gears into the mind of another unfortunate soul minutes before they’re infected, then they die, and then you can get back to the story.  It got to be a little tiresome after a while.  But for that, it was a good story, and I’m definitely going to go for the third in the series.

I give this story THREE STARS.

Comeback Love

Comeback Love by http://petergolden.com/books/comeback-love/>Peter Golden

Like Nicholas Sparks and Robert James Waller, first-time novelist Peter Golden knows how to write the kind of nostalgic fiction that men and women alike fall for. In Comeback Love, a universal story about lost love, he offers an evocative debut that begins in the tumultuous 1960s and ends in the feverish thrill of present-day New York City.

Over thirty-five years ago, Gordon Meyers, an aspiring writer with a low number in the draft lottery, packed his belongings and reluctantly drove away, leaving Glenna Rising, the sexy, sharp-witted med student he couldn’t imagine living without.

Now, decades later, Gordon is a former globetrotting consultant with a grown son, an ex-wife, and an overwhelming desire to see Glenna again. Stunned when Gordon walks into her Manhattan office, Glenna agrees to accompany him for a drink. As the two head out into the snow-swept city, they become caught up in the passions that drew them together before tearing them apart. And as the evening unfolds, Gordon finally reveals the true reason for his return.

Comeback Love is a bracing journey into the hearts of two lovers who came of age in the 1960s. Plumbing the depths of youth, regret, and desire, Peter Golden deftly illuminates the bonds that mysteriously endure in the face of momentous change.

--Comeback Love

by Peter Golden

Copyright © 2012 by Peter Golden

Published by Washington Square Press

My Review

Replete with flashbacks to the late 60’s, a time of music, free love, and the start of an unpopular war, Gordon and Glenna relive the past, the reasons they came together and the reasons that tore them apart.  With Gordon’s son missing in Iraq, can Gordon finally lay some old demons to rest, and perhaps find out whether or not the feelings he’s carried all these years can rekindle an old flame. 

Peter Golden has penned a dramatic tale that shows the real way people lived in that time, the problems and questions they faced and the realization that even though they thought they knew everything, no one really had all the answers.   They also face the reality of today, when they are older and wiser…but still don’t have all the answers.

I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof from NetGalley.

White Dreams

White Dreams by Susan Edwards

Nebraska Territory, 1857

To Star Dreamer, seeing glimpses of the future is more a curse than a gift. Haunted by the belief that she could have prevented the death of her husband, she struggles against the Sight--even if it means leaving her people to hide from the Spirits in the white man's world with handsome Grady O'Brien, a man who inspires passions Star thought were long buried.

After losing his wife, Grady vowed never to love again. But the beautiful and wise Star Dreamer tempts him to risk his wounded heart a second time. Their budding relationship faces opposition in a world bound by prejudice. And when they rescue a free black woman from slavers, Grady and Star incur the wrath of a dangerous man known only as the Dragon--a man who won't rest until he enslaves Star herself...

--White Dreams

by Susan Edwards

Copyright © 2012 by Susan Edwards

Published by Carina Press ebooks

My Review

After the marriage of his daughter, Emma, to Sioux chief Striking Thunder, Colonel Grady O’Brien returns to St. Louis with his youngest daughter, Renny.  Before leaving the Sioux, however, Striking Thunder’s sister, Star Dreamer, insists on coming with him, along with her daughter, Morning Moon.  Renny is a handful, and the Colonel, unused to her antics, needs someone to take control of her.  Star, who has visions of the future, knows hers lies with the Colonel in the city.  Reluctant to see her go, but knowing each must follow their own destiny, Star’s family bids her well.

Star surprisingly adapts well to city life and quickly takes over the care of the two girls and the running of the household.  She is met with resistance and suspicion, but it isn’t long before she finds her way around these obstacles.  Her growing feelings for Grady, however, won’t be so easily conquered.

Grady, himself, is at war with his emotions.  Drawn to Star from the moment they met, he strives to keep distance between them.  He promised her father and brother—now his son-in-law—that he would keep Star and Morning Moon (now calling herself Matilda) safe in the city.  When Star unwittingly finds out about a forced slavery racket, she works to find out who is responsible.  Will she, before they find her first?

As I read my way through this series, I found that I enjoyed those that focused on life among the Sioux the best.  So did I not like this one set in the white man’s world?  On the contrary, I enjoyed this story as well.  Star is definitely in control of her life and her destiny, though she constantly strives to deny her gift of prophecy.  She has it in her to be a strong, confident woman, something she couldn’t quite be among her people, but among Grady’s, her true self comes out.  I enjoyed her transformation and adaptation to his world, and more, I loved that Grady did not try to force her to conform, but allowed her the freedom to find her own way into his world and into his heart. 

This story was first published in 2004, the remaining stories in the series following naturally.  They’re being re-released by Carina Press and the first eight books are available on their web site.  Click here to order from Carina Press or the below link to order this book from Amazon.com (and find links to the others available in this series).

I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof from NetGalley.

White Flame

White Flame by Susan Edwards

Nebraska Territory, 1856

After waiting years for her estranged father to come home, Emma O'Brien decides to brave the wilderness to fetch him herself. But the journey takes a detour when her party is attacked by Arikara warriors, and Emma is taken captive. Rescue comes in the form of Sioux chief Striking Thunder, but to Emma's shock, instead of releasing her, he claims her as his slave. Emma is not sure what is more infuriating: the arrogant brave, or the way he awakens her passions...

Striking Thunder seeks revenge on the men he holds responsible for his wife's death, and the feisty redhead is the perfect bait. He cannot believe the spirits have destined her to be his bride, nor can he deny she stirs something within him that no other woman ever has. Though his duty to his people is clear, it is not long before Striking Thunder's heart is enslaved by his own captive...

--White Flame

by Susan Edwards

Copyright © 2012 by Susan Edwards

Published by Carina Press ebooks

My Review

After the death of her mother, Emma’s father, driven by grief, leaves his daughters in the care of his sister and returns to the Army.  Years later, after the death of her aunt,  Emma and her younger sister, Renny sail down the Missouri river to Fort Pierre to try and convince her father to come home with them.  When the boat runs aground, she accepts an offer from Captain Derek Sanders for the two of them to look at the countryside while the ship’s men work to free the boat. 

When their excursion is met by Yellow Dog and his band, Derek promises to protect Emma and Renny, but secretly, he is in league with this particular group of natives.  He’s trying to stir up trouble between the Sioux and the Army, hoping to clear everyone out of the area so he can harvest the gold he knows is in the land.  But when they attack them instead, most of his men are killed and Emma and Renny are taken captive, then separated.  Emma fears she will never see her little sister again, but at the same time, is determined to make an escape and find her.

Striking Thunder wants his revenge against those who attacked his people and killed his wife, Yellow Dog and his renegade band of warriors and the Army Colonel who ordered the attack, Grady O’Brien.  He tracks down Yellow Dog and destroys him and his group.  When he finds the white woman they had been holding captive, he promises to bring her to the nearest fort.  However, when he learns she’s O’Brien’s daughter, his plans change.  Emma will now be his instrument of revenge and takes her back to his people as his captive for the winter while he and his men make plans.

What he didn’t plan on was the intense desire he would feel for this flame-haired white woman.  Nor did she plan on falling in love with the Indian chief.  Striking Thunder refuses to believe his sister’s prophesy that Emma is his destiny and he presses on with his plans while Emma waits anxiously for the spring and the promised return to her old life.  But destiny has a mind of its own and when the time comes, each will have to make a choice for the future.

I didn’t much enjoy book six of this series, and this one makes up for it.  Returning to the People and the land, Edwards reaches deep into her knowledge and creates a story of longing, both between the main characters and the secondary characters as they work to resolve their feelings over the losses and what the future holds for everyone. 

Emma wants to be reunited with her sister and father and return to her life in St. Louis, but as Striking Thunder points out, was she really happy in that life?  His people may be poor by her standards, but they have everything they need and they are happy in their lives.  Slowly, she comes to see that and against her will, begins to adapt to their ways.  And when that moment comes, when she is reunited with her sister and father, can she convince Striking Thunder that what he believes is untrue?  And can she make the right decision for all their futures?

This story was first published in 2004, the remaining stories in the series following naturally.  They’re being re-released by Carina Press and the first eight books are available on their web site.  Click here to order from Carina Press or the below link to order this book from Amazon.com (and find links to the others available in this series).

I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof from NetGalley.