Game by Anders de la Motte Atria/Simon & Shuster, PB $16.00, 386 pages, ISBN 978-1-4767-1288-8 One of the greatest things about the Mysterious Book Report is its ability to jump around in time and place. Thus, we can go from post WWII Vienna, Austria, to present day Stockholm, Sweden, in the blink of an eye, migrating from an introspective, complex and densely populated intellectual novel, to a fast-paced techno-thriller
The Crooked Maid by Dan Vyleta Bloomsbury, $26.00, 427 pages, ISBN 978-1-60819-809-2 In the immediate aftermath of WWII, Vienna, Austria was a political, social and environmental disaster. It was a city in the hard business of reconstruction, denazification and redirection . . . a place that was in the midst of “Convincing itself that it was the first victim of Nazism, not it’s willing bride.” By the year 1948,
The Tilted World by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly William Morrow/Harper Collins, $25.99, 303 pages, ISBN 978-0-06-206918-4 Think you know American History? Here’s a question for you . . . what, and when, was the most destructive flood in the entire history of the United States? It’s a tough question. The correct answer is, the Mississippi River in the year 1927. It’s known as the year the rains,
Brown’s Requiem by James Ellroy Perennial Harper Collins, PB $13.99, 348 pages, ISBN # 978-0-380-73177-0 Los Angeles, California has long been the epicenter for crime fiction of all types. They include police procedurals, courtroom dramas and private eye yarns by a long list of world class authors like Raymond Chandler, Earle Stanley Gardner and Dashiel Hammett from the golden age of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, as well as
The Return by Michael Gruber Henry Holt, $28.00, 366 pages, ISBN 978-0-8050-9129-8 Have you ever had dark fantasies? You know the kind—the ones where you plot a scheme to get even with someone, or something. Then, reality hits, you come to your senses and the daydream ends with thoughts of the consequences of those actions and the fears of getting caught. But . . . what if . .
The Accident by Chris Pavone Crown Publishers, $26.00, 400 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-34845-4 It’s no secret to regular readers of the Mysterious Book Report that our focus is on finding new and upcoming authors who show a lot of promise, as well as a lot of talent, in the thriller and crime fiction genres and bring them to your attention. My criteria are simple. Is it a new and unknown
Hurt by Brian McGilloway Constable & Robinson LTD, £17.99, 404 pages, ISBN 978-1-4721-1113-5 One of the up and coming new authors who’s gaining a lot of credibility because he writes great mysteries with a political twist is an Irish writer named Brian McGilloway. He lives and works in Derry, Northern Ireland, in an area known as the borderlands, because it abuts the Republic of Ireland. It is an area
The Killer Inside of Me by Jim Thompson Orion Books Ltd., $12.00, PB 220 pages, ISBN 978-1-4091-1971-5 Every once in a while it’s refreshing to take a break from all of the just-published, must-read books written by authors who seem to be punching them out faster than we can absorb them, and turn to one of the classics: the foundational works that are the stepping stones from which many
Country Hardball by Steve Weddle Tyrus Books F & W Media, Inc., $24.99, 207 pages, ISBN 978-1-4405-7080-3 Many who were born and raised in small town America and emigrated from them, remember life there with fond nostalgia. As my dad used to say, “You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” Yeah, but what about the girls, Pop?
The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly Little Brown, $28.00, 387 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-06951-9 The Mysterious Book Report this week is another by the prolific best seller, Michael Connelly, everybody’s favorite mystery writer. That’s because he’s able to regularly turn out original works that Just Get It, in the words of one of my favorite cop buddys. The Gods of Guilt, by Michael Connelly is a courtroom drama featuring