A Promise To Kill by Erik Storey Simon & Schuster, $26.00, 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-5011-2418-1 This is part 2 of our introduction to an exciting new hero in crime fiction named Clyde Barr. He’s the altruistic world traveler, the sometimes mercenary war fighter, and a man who’s always on the side of the underdog. He’s the creation of author Erik Storey, a writer who displays many of his character’s
Exit Strategy by Steve Hamilton Putnam/Penguin Random House, $26.00, 287 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-57438-2 One year ago, (MBR 254,) we alerted readers to a new series by award-winning, New York Times best-selling author Steve Hamilton that featured an anti-hero protagonist named Nick Mason. Mason’s the guy who, in order to get out of serving the last fifteen years of a twenty year sentence in a maximum security prison, makes a
Here and Gone by Haylen Beck Crown Publishing Group/Penguin Random House, $26.00, 287 pages, ISBN 978-0-451-49957-8 Recently, there’s been a growing movement in the publishing world, attempting to increase readership and sell more books by encouraging some A-list male crime fiction writers to produce new novels using androgynous-sounding names. The reasoning behind this is that unisex pen names will attract more female readers, since they tend to avoid the
G-Man by Stephen Hunter Blue Rider Press/ Penguin Random House, $27.00, 443 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-57460-3 The Great Depression of the 1930s was a time of unrelenting misery, hardship and economic deprivation. It was an era that left indelible scars upon all who lived through it, for who could forget the massive unemployment, the endless bread lines, or the dislocation and migration of tens of thousands of impoverished farmers who’d
The Freedom Broker by K.J. Howe Quercus, $26.99, 361 pages, ISBN 978-1-68144-310-2 This week’s MBR is an international thriller by a debut author that takes off with the first sentence like an F-18 Hornet under full military power, and never, ever, ever stops accelerating! And hey . . . I can almost hear you thinking . . . That’s a pretty bold statement Johnny, and, like Animal said to
A Divided Spy by Charles Cumming St. Martin’s Press, $26.99, 356 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-02104-5 For some arcane reason . . . known only to themselves and the cosmos . . . the Brits are the masters of the spy novel universe. One only has to think of the names Ian Fleming and John LeCarré, or their iconic fictional spies, James Bond and George Smiley to know what we mean.
The Old Man By Thomas Perry Mysterious Press/Grove Atlantic, $26.00, 337 pages, ISBN 978-0-80212585-6 Sixty some years ago, when I was just a boy back in the ‘50s, every year at Thanksgiving my parents would take me and my two younger brothers for “Turkey-Day” at my Great-Aunt Ruth’s house down in Westchester County. Pop would fill up the trunk of the car with a present of seasoned, cut and
Fidelity by Jan Fedarcyk Simon & Schuster, $25.00, 306 pages, ISBN 978-1-4767-3386-9 With some seven and-a-half million residents spread out over a couple thousand city blocks, the Manhattan Office of the FBI is one of the largest, busiest and most important of all postings within the agency. The activity there is ceaseless, and the agents are all at the top of their game. They’re the best of the best
The One Man by Andrew Gross Minotaur Books, $26.99, 415 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-07950-3 Pundits the world over have examined, discussed, analyzed, diagrammed, debated, researched and written thousands upon thousands of books, articles and dissertations on the subject of the Second World War. It’s the object of infinite fascination and endless study; perhaps because it was the most momentous, and tragic event in all of human history—costing at least 60,
Rise The Dark by Michael Koryta Little, Brown and Company, $26.00, 385 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-29383-9 We Americans have lived in peace, prosperity and plenty for so long that we pretty much take certain things for granted. There’s exceptions, certainly. And they are unfortunate for a fact. But in the main, we’re guaranteed basic human services, rights and privileges that we not only expect, but demand. Take utilities for example.