Don’t Look For Me – Mason Cross (Carter Blake #4)

Don't Look For Me - Mason Cross

  Carter Blake finds people who don’t want anyone to find them. For the last six years he  has  been one of those people. The reason why, revolves around Blake’s last days in the secret organization  known as Winterlong. During those last days an American Senator was assassinated and Blake became the prime suspect. In those final days the  Blake contacted his girlfriend Carol Langford and told her that for her safety she needed to go into hiding, too. When she finally decided on that course of action, she sent Blake a four-word note – “ Don’t Look for Me” and for six years he hasn’t! That ends though when a young husband and wife abruptly leaves their Las Vegas home. Their neighbor who had befriended the wife worries that the wife is in danger. After searching their house,she finds a journal left behind by the wife. She discovers an email address to be contacted in case of an emergency in the journal. The email belongs to Carter Blake! Soon Blake is off to Las Vegas to find and rescue Carol. However, Blake is not the only on looking for Carol. Trenton Gage is a hitman.  Like Blake, Gage  is very good at finding  people who don’t want to be found. Gage is also on Carol’s trail. The ultimate question is – Who will find her first?? The secondary question is – “Will Blake like what he finds?” Bottom line Don’t Look for Me, like the books before it in this wonderful series, was a page…

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Reading Update and Ward Larsen’s Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge - Ward Larsen

So in my last post on Saturday (partially written Friday night) I outlined how I was going to tackle reading the eight books I have checked out of the library. At the time, I stated that I had already started two of the books: Cutting Edge from Ward Larsen and Dark Sky by Mike Brooks. About Ward Larsen’s Books Since then I have finished one of those Larsen’s Cutting Edge. Cutting Edge is a stand-alone book of which Larsen has written several. However, he may be best known for his two series books. One series features former Israeli assassin David Salton and the other aircraft investigator Jammer Davis. Last year I read three out of the four books in the Slaton series. They were great. And I am looking forward to the next book in the series that will be release later in 2018. I started one of the Jammer Davis books but something happened and I abandoned the book but I do intend at some point to get back to it. About Cutting Edge In Cutting Edge,  the protagonist is not an intelligence agent or an investigator. Petty “Officer Trey DeBolt is a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. DeBolt is gravely injured during  a harrowing rescue, when his helicopter crashes. DeBolt awakes weeks later in a seaside cabin in Maine. Joan Chandler, the nurse who saved his life has been nursing him back to health.. She tells DeBolt he has been declared dead in the crash. Additionally, she  tells him he was operated on not only to…

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Return to Promise Falls in Linwood Barclay’s Parting Shot

Parting Shot - Linwood Barclay

Parting Shot Continues Linwood Barclay’s Promise Falls Trilogy. Parting Shot is the fourth book in the Promise Falls trilogy from Linwood Barclay. In this episode the story revolves around a case that Detective Barry Duckworth is working and a new job Private Investigator Cal Weaver has taken. Duckworth is trying to figure out what happened to a young man who awoke in a Promise Falls alleyway injured and confused with his back married by a sinister tattoo. The question is who attacked him and why?? Meanwhile. Cal Weaver has been hired as a bodyguard for a teenager who has enraged the community. At a party the drunk teenager stole a car that ended with a crashed car and a dead young woman. The teenager eventually was not convicted his defense was that he didn’t know right from wrong because he had been babied his whole life. He became known as the “big baby” After he won his freedom, he has constantly had his life threatened.He has also lived in total fear because the whole country hates him. So the question is can Cal keep him safe! Particularly from those who visit the website “Just Desserts”. A site dedicated to providing vigilante justice to people who have not received the justice they deserved. The  reader knows that the two storylines are going to intersect. However,  in the hands of Barclay the overall story flows along smoothly. It twists and turns until the very end of the book. Bottom Line Parting Shot…

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The Demon Crown – Science, History and Action Collide!

The Demon Crown - James Rollins

The Demon Crown – James Rollins  Sigma Force #13 The Demon Crown is  Book # 13 in the Sigma Force series from James Rollins. I think  it just may be the best book in the series.  I have written before that I love books that not only are good stories, but also teach me something new. Well, James Rollins does that just about as well as anyone writing today. I don’t believe that there are many authors ,who provide six plus pages of notes to their readers, explaining what aspects of the story are true and what was made up by the author. However, that is just what Rollins does with each book. In The Demon Crown there are both a variety of historical and  scientific facts that form the basis of the story. So I learn a lot during this Sigma Force adventure! About the Story In The Demon Crown the Sigma Force must battle an act of eco-terrorism the likes the world has never seen.   While on sabbatical from the Sigma Force Gray Pierce and Seichan are caught up in that attack. An attack by swarm of ancient deadly wasps that may require nuking the Hawaiian Islands to contain the threat! The swarm is linked to a piece of amber that James Smithson called The Demon Crown. He claimed that what was trapped in that block of Amber, discovered in a salt mine near the Baltic Sea could unleash “the very hordes of hell upon this world” The…

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The Secrets She Keeps a Stand-Out Stand Alone from Michael Robotham

The Secrets She Keeps – Michael Robotham Ever since I read Suspect book one in the Joe O’Loughlin series from Michael Robotham I have been a fan. The Secrets She Keeps Robotham’s fourth stand alone novel only increased my love for his books.  His three other stand alone books are The Night Ferry, Life or Death, and Bombproof. Bombproof is the only one of the four I have not read yet! Boo me! About Michael Robotham’s Books From Michael’s Website… Michael’s novels have since been translated into 23 languages and have won or been shortlisted for numerous awards including: The Crime Writer’s Association Gold Dagger (won) LIFE OR DEATH 2015 (shortlisted) SAY YOU’RE SORRY 2013. The Crime Writer’s Association Steel Dagger (shortlisted) THE NIGHT FERRY and SHATTER. The Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel (won 2005 and 2008) LOST and SHATTER. The Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel (shortlisted) 2016 LIFE OR DEATH Read More   But let’s get back to The Secrets She Keeps . In The Secrets She Keeps there are two shes. Agatha and Meghan, who come from different backgrounds but both are keeping big secrets, that Robotham suspensively exposes bit by bit throughout the developing story. Michael  Robotham on The Secrets She Keeps On his website Robotham writes this about the book….. THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS is seeded in a story that I covered as journalist many years ago, but I can’t reveal the details without giving too much of the plot away….

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Winterlong – Mason Cross (Carter Blake # 3)

A Wild Ride as Winterlong tries to Eliminate Carter Blake Winterlong is the third installment of Mason Cross’s Carter Blake series. So after chasing down two serial killers who were part of Winterlong with the mysterious Mr Blake in this book Blake is targeted for elimination  by Winterlong. Carter Blake left Winterlong five years prior to the start of this tale. His deal with the then Director of the organization was – you leave me alone and I won’t tell what your operatives really do!  For five years that deal held but now there’s a new director and she wants to tie up any loose ends. Carter Blake is a loose end! The hunt truly begins when the other Winterlong operative who is operating under the same deal as Blake is executed! Once Blake is confronted with the news of this execution he knows he is going to have a fight on his hands and he needs that information he has on Winterlong as a chip to bargain for his life. His only hope is to get that intell before Winterlong gets it. Thoughts on Winterlong I thought  The Killing Season was a very good debut novel. I liked book two The Samaritan a little  better. Finally after many weeks of sitting on my library books to  be read shelf I got to Winterlong. It was worth the wait. I believe that this is the best Carter Blake book yet. And I am not alone here are the ratings for the…

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Signal – Patrick Lee’s Latest!

Signal – Patrick Lee (Sam Dryden # 2) **** Patrick Lee has a penchant for writing thrillers with a bit of science fiction weaved into the storyline. His last two books Runner and  his current release Signal, both feature Sam Dryden and ex-special forces operative battling forces against advanced technologies. My first encounters with the works of Patrick Lee was the Travis Chase trilogy which included The Breach, Ghost Country and Deep Sky. In that series The Breach sends artifacts and people back and forth through a time portal. In Signal, Dryden confronts a machine that receives signals from the future! It’s been two years, Sam Dryden has been quietly getting his life back together, after his adventure that was described in the book Runner. He is quietly working on houses and flipping them, when he gets a call from an old friend. He needs to meet her in the Mojave Desert as quickly as possible. When he meets his former friend Claire Dunham, he is taken to a trailer in the desert where a child molester is holding four young girls captive. One captive has just called 911 and the molester has caught her. He is ready to set his trailer on fire when Dryden rushes in and kills the molester. How did Claire know to be there just in the nick of time She had heard about it from a machine in her possession that receives news report from the future!! In the future report the girls had…

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The Matarese Countdown – Robert Ludlum

The Matarese Countdown a Return to the Works of Robert Ludlum   I finished The Matarese Countdown (Book Number 37 for 2015) yesterday and it was another good read from one of the masters of the thriller genre Robert Ludlum. The book was one of the last books written by Ludlum, before his death in 2001. Through the 1990s my reading changed from reading political thrillers to mostly mystery series, but  during the 1980s Robert Ludlum’s novels were mainstays of my reading. They were always were thrilling reads, as typically, either one person or a small group of people was out to save the world. They were action packed with very well drawn plots and characters. Ludlum’s descriptive writing style really made it feel like you were part of the action, Ludlum wrote over 27 thrillers. The number of copies of his books in print is estimated between 290 million and 500 million. They have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries After Ludlum’s death, several novels or novels based on his outlines were released. They were penned by authors like Eric Van Lustbader  who continued the tales of Jason Bourne and Gayle Lynds, Patrick Larkin and Kyle Mills who created a series called Covert-One based on the ideas of Robert Ludlum. The following from Wikipedia is a description of the writings of Robert Ludlum… Ludlum’s novels typically feature one heroic man, or a small group of crusading individuals, in a struggle against powerful adversaries whose intentions and motivations are evil…

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The Stranger- Harlan Coben Thrills Us Again!!

The Stranger - Harlan Coben

The Stranger – Harlan Coben Book 27 of 2015   In 2001, Harlan Coben‘s first stand alone thriller Tell No One was released. I read the paperback version in November of 2002, it was terrific and since then I haven’t missed one of his thrillers! There are few authors, who can take an ordinary person, and turn their world upside-down like Harlan Coben. He does just that in his latest thriller The Stranger. Adam Price is living the American dream in his wife’s hometown of Cedarfield, NJ (While locales in Coben’s books are typically real, Cedarfield is a fictional town!). . He is a successful attorney with a beautiful wife,Corrine a school teacher. They have two great boys, Ryan and Thomas, who both play lacrosse, while mom serves as the treasurer of the local lacrosse organization. But on the night of the draft and the selection of the traveling team, Adam’s life starts to spiral out of control, when a Stranger approaches him and reveals a startling secret. Two years earlier Corrine had faked a pregnancy! The Stranger tells him “You know you didn’t have to stay with her” Adam eventually confronts Corrine who suddenly leaves her husband and kids telling Adam not to search for her, she needs time to sort everything out! Yeah, like that’s going to happen!! Soon Adam is on a quest to find his wife and put the pieces of his shattered life back together again!! Adam has all sorts of questions to answer. How did the…

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