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Review

Dead Man’s Hand

by Jeff Ayers

A secret meeting between a rogue team of Ukranians desperate for peace and military intelligence officers from Russia sparks the chaos in Taylor’s latest Taskforce novel. The plan they concoct involves assassinating Putin, but Putin already knows of their plot. His solution is to have his most trusted officer run a counterattack once he commits an act of violence to keep Sweden from joining NATO. Pike Logan and his Taskforce team learn of the Swedish offensive, and soon, they are wrapped in an operation with massive complications. What they don’t realize is that Putin’s contingency, if he’s killed, involves launching the Perimeter Nuclear System known as the Dead Hand. Logan and his team must confront how someone can be the enemy when they have the same goals. Whether this is your first time with the Taskforce or your eighteenth, this series remains intense, timely, and worthwhile. Taylor is one of the best in the special ops world. Brad Thor and Jack Carr fans should already have Taylor on their mandatory reading list.

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Review

Providence

by Brian Kenney

Mark Lausson is a young English professor at an elite, liberal arts college (think of Kenyon) in Ohio. Yes, he’s incredibly fortunate to have landed the job. But that does little to lift his mid-grade depression and his raging sense of ennui. While he should be enmeshing himself in the life of the college, publishing articles, and working on his book—“cultural discourses of gay sex and murder” is his topic—instead he lets time slip away, unaccounted for. Until the third week of the fall semester, when sophomore Tyler Cunningham walks into his classroom, like some sort of louche meteor entering his atmosphere. Soon, Mark’s fascination turns to obsession, and the two become lovers, with secrecy serving to ramp up the intensity of their affair. This book builds slowly, gracefully, and we’re nearly three-quarters into it when that magical thing happens and readers begin to realize that nothing is what they thought it was. Wonderfully paced and terrifying in its conclusion, this is a book meant to be devoured, not read. I absolutely cannot wait for Willse’s next work.

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Review

The Hunter

by Henrietta Thornton

French made her name in crime fiction by exploring the underbelly of Irish life in her Dublin Murder Squad series, which blew the lid off any leprechauns in the mist-type views of Ireland. Here the little people are dragged back out, but for good reason: the locals in the west of Ireland mountain village of Ardnakelty lay the superstitions and rural naivete on thick when an Englishman comes to town and promises to make them rich. Meanwhile, their real game is, as the book says in a different context, “offensive and defensive weapons as well as broad-spectrum precautionary measures” (I’m from an Irish mountain area myself and French has us pinned to a board like a butterfly). Playing up the stereotypes is working great, with the Englishman, Mr. Rushborough, lapping up stories of his sainted ancestors while the locals plan to scam him. Come to find out, it’s not a one-sided game. There are three great characters here: Johnny Reddy, a local huckster who left his family for London and is now back expecting a hero’s welcome, with Rushborough in tow; Trey, his daughter, who has started to make an honest name for herself as a talented carpenter, and who is seething with rage against her father and the world; and Cal Hooper, a former Chicago cop who’s lived in Ardnakelty for a few years and is having none of Johnny’s bluster. French fans will love reacquainting themselves with these characters, whom they met in The Searcher (2020); newcomers to the author or this series will be glad they tried this emotional saga.

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Review

The Teacher

by Brian Kenney

Poor Addie. Her relationship with a teacher last year—when nothing even happened!—has made her the most loathed student at Caseham High. Now it’s September, and not a day goes by that she isn’t bullied by one of her fellow classmates. Thank goodness for Nate Bennett, her uber-handsome English teacher, who acts like she’s the next Sylvia Plath and invites her to join the poetry club, offers her lifts home, and arranges mini-conferences with her after class. But shouldn’t Nate be a little more careful? Poor Eve, Nate’s wife and a mathematics teacher at Caseham. The Bennett’s marriage has pretty much disintegrated—lovemaking is scheduled monthly, although excuses are readily produced. Her one pleasure? Fondling the Louboutin pumps (she’s a full-on fetishist) at the local mall while rolling around in the shoe boxes with the salesman. Secrets are everywhere in this sparkling narrative that moves like a Japanese bullet train, offering plenty of surprises along the way. For fans of B.A. Paris and Shanora Williams.

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Review

Baby X

by Jeff Ayers

Peikoff’s latest exploration into choice and free will takes the reader to a future in which families can choose their baby’s characteristics and genetic makeup before gestation and birth. It’s as simple as getting DNA, and clinics and pre-selection counseling have strict protocols to ensure the parents have the background necessary for a successful transaction. Celebrities need security to keep their DNA from inadvertently being left behind at places they frequent and then being stored in a black-market site called the Vault. For a fee, you can purchase a child that would be considered a legitimate son or daughter of that celebrity. A surrogate named Quinn starts to believe the source of the infant she’s carrying is not a widower’s dead husband’s DNA but a famous singer named Trace Thorne. A young journalist named Lily sees her older parents use unscrupulous methods to have another child. Peikoff does a terrific job of world-building a complex but realistic future full of jaw-dropping twists. Baby X is great sci-fi and reads like a terrifying episode of Black Mirror.

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Review

Bad Men

by Brian Kenney

This is the year in which British women are taking up arms—or knives, poisons, or other instruments—and knocking off the bad men in their lives, from abusive husbands to rapist uncles to misogynistic politicians. Saffy Huntley-Oliver—socialite, thrice an heiress, and a devoted serial killer—loves nothing more than eliminating such men. “Killing bad men is my private hobby, my passion project, the thing that makes me tick. It’s my own humble attempt at smashing the patriarchy.” She got her start early on by drowning her stepfather, who was abusing her and about to move on to her younger sister, and she hasn’t stopped since. Until she crosses paths with famed podcaster and big-time crush Jon Desrosiers, who has made a career out of tracking down serial killers, often aiding the police. Can opposites attract? It’s rough at first, as Jon is going through his own troubles—like a divorce—and is ready to give up his obsession with serial killers (is he glamorizing them?) in the hopes of winning his wife back. It’s one part rom-com and two parts crime fiction as the story expertly ricochets between Saffy and Jon. Every detail is absolutely perfect, from Saffy’s posh wardrobe and lavish apartment to Jon’s rescue dog, Girl, and the annoyance of fandom. Humorous? Totally. Dark? Absolutely. A debut? Impressive. For more feminist murderers, try How To Kill Men and Get Away With It, How to Kill Your Family, and The Best Way to Bury Your Husband.

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Review

To Slip the Bonds of Earth

by Henrietta Thornton

Katharine Wright, a teacher when we meet her in 1903, has her work cut out at home as well as at the high school where she teaches Latin and Greek (but not advanced classes, because “we can’t have a woman teaching upperclassmen”). At home, her father has forbidden her to marry, as her mother has died and he and his sons need a woman to take care of them. Two of those sons are Wilbur and Orville, who at the outset of this informative, fun, and absorbing mystery are in North Carolina attempting to be the first to achieve powered, heavier-than-air flight. After the triumphant telegram, the mysteries start: accompanying his sister to a society dinner, Orville has his jacket stolen, and in its pocket are the men’s notes and drawings of their not-yet-patented work. At the same event, a guest is found stabbed in the heart (you can guess which crime concerns Orville more). The siblings must get to work at finding the papers before Wilbur knows they’re gone and finding the killer before an innocent teen is tried for the crime. The few details about aviation here are interesting and easy for lay readers to navigate; the brothers’ agony over their ideas being stolen is palpable and more germane to the plot. Yet more central, happily, is their sister, the only Wright sibling to attend college and “a teacher, feminist, scholar, and extrovert,” per the author’s note. While waiting for this, try another aviator-related crime novel, Mariah Fredericks’s The Lindbergh Nanny.

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Review

Peril in Pink

by Brian Kenney

We’re in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley where Jess and her business partner, Kat, are opening the Pearl, a B&B in their hometown that they’ve been working on, and investing in, for months. Headlining the opening is Lars, an ex-boyfriend of Jess’s who went on to win an American Idol-like reality competition and has morphed into a full-blown celebrity (and a bit of a jerk). He’s back home to help kick the celebrations into high gear, and generate plenty of press. Except when Lars’ stepdad-now-manager is found drowned, Lars becomes the prime suspect, the press starts acting more like TMZ than E! News, and the guests quickly get sick of being under lockdown. To save the weekend, their reputation, and keep Lars out of jail, Jess goes into overdrive, investigating every possible lead. Featuring a whole lot of twenty-somethings, plenty of integration with technology, lots of lovemaking, and a very busy bartender, this is a cozy for and about a new generation of readers—but appealing to most everyone. A charming town, quirky friendships, and plenty of intrigue will keep readers on their toes.

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Review

Leave No Trace

by Henrietta Thornton

Authors Jeff Ayers and Jon Land, writing as A.J. Landau, start a new, contemporary series with a literal bang: an explosion that topples the Statue of Liberty. As Liberty Island is a National Park, a major crime there is investigated by the National Park Service’s Investigative Services Branch, and Special Agent Michael Walker soon finds himself leaving the tranquility of Shenandoah National Park for the chaos of a bombed island (as a foot amputee, Michael is a welcome disabled main character). Also sent to investigate is Gina Delgado of the FBI’s New York field office. Soon the political dance is on as the agencies clash in their fight for dominance and information. Further attacks aren’t far behind as a mysterious figure, who readers know only as Jeremiah, targets the federal government and bomb disposal skills are in high demand. Both thriller and history fans will watch the pages fly as the authors keep the hair-raising moments coming (a rattlesnake-vs.-bad-guy moment sticks out) and provide plenty of national park-related facts (did you know that construction of St. Louis’s Gateway Arch was estimated to require 5,000 workers but fewer than 100 were hired?). A breakneck-paced story with characters whom readers will be excited to see more of.

Leave No Trace author Jeff Ayers is a Contributing Editor to firstCLUE

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Review

Someone Saw Something

by Jeff Ayers

A parent’s worst nightmare comes true for news anchor Corina and her family in Mofina’s gripping thriller. Six-year-old Gabriel is playing in Central Park with his older sister when he vanishes after going after his model airplane. Initial searches show no evidence of how he disappeared, nor any witnesses to the abduction. With no ransom demand, the police and investigators are baffled. Since Corina is a celebrity, the case brings out some sympathetic thoughts, but those are few. Most of what Corina reads online are vicious attacks and conspiracy theories regarding Gabriel’s true origins that make her life, and that of her family, a living hell. It doesn’t help that her husband and daughter have secrets they don’t want the world to discover. Mofina intelligently crafts the story by never showing Gabriel’s whereabouts or who is responsible for his kidnapping, amping up the conspiracy and paranoia. Focusing on the family’s agony and quest for the truth puts the reader directly into the story, and the final payoff is terrific. Mofina is a number-one bestselling author in Canada—as he should be in many other countries.

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