Purgatory by Ken Bruen Mysterious Press, $24.00, 278 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2607-8 Once the envy of the entire world soon after the millennium, the Celtic Tiger has died in Ken Bruen’s 2013 novel Purgatory, and been replaced with an Ireland that can only be described as circling the economic drain. With jobs non-existent, crime is rampant, the young professionals are emmigrating and real estate has sunk to such low prices
The Sundown Speech by Loren D. Estelman Forge/Tom Doherty Associates, $24.99, 216 pages, ISBN 978-0-7653-3736-8 Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start of the summer vacation season, so we’re kicking it off with a couple of short, fast reads that are perfect ‘beach books’; novels you can finish in one or two afternoons while working on your tan or just chillin’ in the shade... The Sundown Speech, by Loren
Jack of Spies by David Downing SOHO Press Inc., $27.95, 338 pages, ISBN 978-1-61695-268-6 Those of us who follow the news and current events can’t help but feel at times that the world is ‘going to hell in a handbasket,’ to quote an old refrain . . . but those of us who study history know it’s all happened before, and the world’s still here, and still full of
The Last Dawn by Joe Gannon Minotaur Books, $26.99, 278 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-04803-5 Unless you’ve recently vacationed in Costa Rica or Belize, the geography of Central America is pretty much terra incognita for most of us who live north of the Mexican border and speak English as our mother tongue. But back in the 1980s, the Central American nation of Nicaragua was a focus of attention by the US
A Song of Shadows by John Connolly Emily Bestler Books/ATRIA- Simon & Schuster, $26.99, 436 pages, ISBN 978-1-5011-1828-9 As a long-time fan of crime fiction and the other-worldlyness of the supernatural genres, I’ve been fascinated by the work of Irish writer John Connolly and his Charlie Parker series (which is a blending of the two into something wholly new) ever since I became acquainted with his work several years
Mysterious Book Report No. 239 The Lightkeepers by John Dwaine McKenna An exceptional new authorial voice was brought to our attention by some friends in New York City a few weeks ago. They know we’re always looking for exemplary first novels by as-yet unknown writers to introduce to our MBR audience—and although we don’t always agree—this time they’re spot on! With thanks to Ian and all the crew at
The Friends of Pancho Villa by James Carlos Blake Berkley Publishing Group, PB, $13.00, 258 pages, ISBN 978-0-425-15304-5 LEST WE FORGET: A little over one hundred years ago, on March 9, 1916, a force of roughly 500 heavily armed men mounted on horseback and under the command of a cattle thief and bandit, rode up and out of the Sonoran Desert from Mexico. Under cover of night, thirty miles
Forty Thieves by Thomas Perry Mysterious Press, $26.00, 356 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2452-4 Start reading any type of great fiction, and you’ll soon realize that it’s based upon conflict . . . because conflict creates drama . . . and drama is what captures, then holds, our attention and keeps us reading. Why? Because we humans are innately curious—we have to see what happens next. In order to create conflict,
The Cellar: A Novel by Minette Walters Penguin/Random House, $24.00, 246 pages, ISBN 978-0-09-959464-2 One of the great things about reading is when you figure out that it’s a voyage of personal discovery . . . and the more you read, the longer your journey into the unknown, which in turn takes you to places you couldn’t imagine before opening that book you’ve just read . . . and
Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbo Alfred A. Knopf, $23.95, 208 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-35419-6 It seems like we’ve been reviewing a lot of first time authors lately, so we’re going to toss in a few of our favorite A-listers over the next couple of MBRs and mix it up a bit. First on the agenda is the “maddening-addictive,” critically acclaimed crown prince of Nordic Noir and a personal exemplar