Tag:

Terrorism

Review

Out in the Cold

by Jeff Ayers

The luxury yacht Aurora has a stellar group of diplomats and bigwigs enjoying the amenities and view of the Mediterranean when an attack turns the serenity to chaos. Possible targets include a diplomat from Finland and Special Agent Alex Martel’s former boss at Interpol, Celeste Clicquot. Alex helps save the day, but questions linger regarding the reason for the assault. It’s also clear that this was just the beginning. Someone does not want Finland to join NATO, and they are willing to risk World War III to achieve their goal. When things get personal for Alex, she goes against orders to take matters into her own hands. She must tread lightly with the few people she can trust to save the day again. This follow-up to Perfect Shot proves that Alex Martel and her cohorts lead one of the better special-ops series out there. Alex and Caleb, her current boss and possible love interest, are characters readers will follow anywhere. Fans of these novels should have Urszenyi on their mandatory reading pile.

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Review

An Honorable Assassin

by Jeff Ayers

Assassin Nick Mason can never be free from responsibilities or his past; his latest job proves it. To keep his young daughter and ex-wife from meeting a gruesome death, he’s forced to go to Jakarta to kill a criminal known as the Crocodile. What should be a simple task goes awry, and now he’s forced to work with people he can’t trust in an unfamiliar city. Mason is not the only one who wants to see the Crocodile dead. Martin Sauvage works for Interpol and blames the Crocodile for murdering his wife and daughter in a Paris bombing. No matter the cost, Sauvage’s vendetta will succeed, even if an American assassin gets in the way. While Sauvage plots, Mason learns that doing the right thing will worsen the situation and overall mission. Can Mason be successful and honorable at the same time? It’s great to see Hamilton and Nick Mason back in action, and the frenetic pace and the double-crosses never stop. Having a character with such a notorious backstory and someone a reader roots for is challenging, but Hamilton is a great writer and nails it. When will Nick Mason be on TV or film? This needs to happen!

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Review

Hometown Vendetta

by Henrietta Thornton

Small-town struggles meet CIA relentlessness in prolific author Abramson’s latest thriller. It stars two likable protagonists, FBI Special Agent Amberlyn Reiner and Marine Captain Luke Steele. As the book opens, former school psychologist Amberlyn is planning to see her best friend, but plans are derailed when her skills are needed in the investigation of an Oklahoma City bombing-like event. Also entangled is Luke, who’s normally tasked with carrying the nuclear “football” in his role as a military aide to the President, but who is asked to help after he recognizes a connection to his hometown in photos of the event. Amberlyn has been bereaved by the bombing and Luke is loath to return to the town where he was relentlessly bullied, not to mention the high school reunion that will offer valuable investigative opportunities but one for the now-grown bullies to continue their abuse. So neither wants to be there, a feeling that’s more than vindicated by the danger visited on them in the town by the bullies…and perhaps by others. But they also find in the town kindnesses and even a fledgling romance, which entwine well with the criminal side of the story to create a gripping and satisfying series debut.

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Review

Hollow Beasts

by Henrietta Thornton

This propulsive series debut from the author of The Dirty Girls Social Clubsees the filthy, heavily armed, and none-too-bright Zebulon Boys arrive in rural New Mexico to take on a mix of Mexican Americans, Native Americans, and interracial locals, all of whom the would-be terrorists see as Mexicans who have to go. The leader, General Zeb, gets his hateful fans from around the country to come to his camp. They keep kidnapped “Mexican” women in a hole in the ground and take them out to be hunted. They’re also planning to bomb local sites to stop the Reconquista, the reclaiming of culture and land by those who lived in the area when it was part of Mexico.

The Zebulon Boys meet their match in Jodi Luna, a former poetry professor who’s returned to her roots in the area, taking over her retiring uncle’s job as the local, and sole, game warden. It’s a dangerous job—the most perilous in U.S. law enforcement, we learn. But Jodi is ready, using her intelligence, humor, and compassion to take on the men—one of whom starts to stalk her—and protect her daughter, her growing circle of friends, and two admirers.

Game warden is an unusual and interesting take on a police-procedural set up, and Valdés can surely tell a story, making this a winner all round.

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Review

Autopsy: A Scarpetta Novel

by Henrietta Thornton

A familiar author is a great choice for vacation, as there’s no need to learn about their characters or world. But even if you haven’t tried Patricia Cornwell before, this 25th in the series is a cracking read. The author’s long-running medical examiner character, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, is back, but a lot has changed in her life. The COVID-19 pandemic is over and it has devastated Scarpetta’s family; her always-tense relationship with sister Dorothy has been complicated by Dorothy’s marriage to Scarpetta’s sidekick, Marino; and the doctor has moved from Miami to a Virginia job that’s turning out to be a nightmare. Very unusual for Scarpetta and for forensic science-related novels is the site of an early case in this book: space, from where one astronaut has returned, abandoning his colleagues. When Scarpetta is called in to observe the opening of the capsule they inhabit, in case an autopsy is needed, it pulls her away from investigating the death of a young woman who was recently found by the railway tracks, with the tantalizing clue—or is it just a coincidence?—of train-flattened pennies nearby. The doctor herself even has a scrape with death this time, all adding up to what readers have come to love from Cornwell: puzzling cases that star both science and family (and found family) love.

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