1st To Die by James Patterson:  First of a brand new series, set in San Francisco with a woman cop as the main character.  Enough twists and turns, gristly murders and nasty sexual stuff to keep me riveted for a few hours until I reluctantly turned the last page.

2nd Chance by James Patterson & Andrew Gross:  Patterson's best book since, well, 1st To Die.  The Women's Murder Club is back and the bullets are flying.  This entertaining thriller is a fast, fun read.  Only complaint:  there is a new chapter every third page, which translates to two pages of text per chapter.  Seriously.  That's way too many chapters.  There must be some reason for this, but damned if I know what it is.

4TH OF JULY by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro: Detective Lindsay Boxer is in trouble and in danger. Her trouble comes from a shooting incident for which she is being sued. Lindsay tries to get away from it by going to her sister's home at Half Moon Bay which puts her in danger from following up on a ten year old unsolved murder from her rookie days. The setting is appropriate for what is almost a beach read, albeit an entertaining one. Interestingly the why of the various murders seems to jump out much sooner than the whodunit. While the mystery of who really writes these books remains unsolved, Lindsay does survive the other challenges. Recommended. 06/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

THE 6th TARGET by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro: The latest from Patterson, Inc. starts with a shooting on a San Francisco ferry. Four are killed and Women's Murder Club member and San Francisco Medical Examiner Clair Washburn is critically injured. Just as fellow Women’s Murder Clubber Lindsay Boxer and her new partner at SFPD get on the trail of the shooter, a news challenge erupts. Someone is kidnapping the children of the rich and their nannies – and they are not demanding ransom. And then there’s even more danger. Either you like these fast paced procedural/thriller/semi-mysteries or you don’t. I do, and I also like an occasional chocolate dipped soft ice cream cone. James Patterson is re-investing a lot in the industry, so grab a copy and be lightly entertained for an hour or so. 07/07 Jack Quick

7 DEADLY WONDERS by Matthew Reilly:  The race is on to find the seven pieces of the Golden Capstone that once sat atop the Great Pyramid at Giza.  Two millennia ago, Alexander the Great broke the Capstone into seven pieces and hid them in the seven ancient wonders of the world.  According to legend, whoever finds and replaces them during a rare solar event called "Tartarus Rotation" (predicted for March 20, 2006) could secure a thousand-year reign of absolute power.  Among the contenders are the United States, a coalition of European nations (and the Vatican), an Islamic terrorist group, and a team of smaller nations (including Canada, Ireland and New Zealand) led by Australian Jack West Jr. The Europeans and the U.S. want the Capstone for their own benefit, while West’s noble team believes it's too potent to belong to any one superpower.  Obviously, the date has come and gone, but maybe they didn’t have the right date after all.  In the event of stoppage of breathing oxygen masks will drop down.  Secure your mask before resuming reading. 07/06 Jack Quick 

7^th HEAVEN by James Patterson:  Remember when reading a James Patterson book was an experience.  You hoped for a long weekend so you could enjoy it.  Today the books bearing Patterson’s name are like the 100-calorie snack bags – tantalizing but hardly satisfying.  Two high profile cases occupy San Francisco homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer and partner Rich Conklin.  One involves the disappearance of the teenage son of a former California governor – think Jon Benet Ramsey without a corpse.  Also there is a serial arsonist at work responsible for the deaths of a string of wealthy couples.  The two cases twist and turn before reaching their appointed end in the required number of pages.  Maybe you will want to just catch this one on television – on a slow night. 07/08 Jack Quick 

7 SOULS by Barnabas Miller & Jordan Orlando: Mary’s seventeenth birthday is not going down the way she’d expected. She’d thought that she would be inundated with well wishes, showered with gifts, and basically made to feel like the most special girl in the world on “her day.” What she got instead was an embarrassing wake up call: naked and locked inside a Crate & Barrel. Then, when she arrives on campus, her boyfriend dumps her and not one person acknowledges her birthday. Making matters worse is the fact that she’s been having strange episodes paired with visions of a weird house. But it’s when Mary is murdered that she has to admit this has officially been the worst birthday ever. Forced to relive the day of her death through the eyes of seven people, Mary must try and figure out what’s going on if she has any hope of saving herself. To be honest, this was a fascinating concept that didn’t completely work for me. In truth, though, it is a teen thriller that will probably be well received by its intended audience. It’s certainly an original plot, but felt a bit like a paranormal twist on Gossip Girl.  07/10 Becky Lejeune 

THE 8^TH CONFESSION by James Patterson:  San Francisco Police Detective. Lindsay Boxer is searching for a killer whose victims are all well-off and have no signs of violence on their bodies. Eventually the trail leads to a perp using a krait, a rare Indian snake, to poison the victims.  Meanwhile, journalist Cindy Thomas is pressing the police to devote resources to a low priority murder - that of a homeless man known as Bagman Jesus, whose real name is a mystery.  It’s all kind of what you have come to expect from Patterson, Inc.  I think I’ll add this series to the other Patterson’s which no longer hold my interest. 07/09 Jack Quick 

9 DRAGONS by Michael Connelly: Harry Bosch has a partner he's not inordinately fond of and a case that he feels is beneath him when a liquor store owner, John Li, is killed during a robbery. Harry's partner has chained himself to the desk, too scared after recovering from a shooting incident to get back on the streets again. Luckily Harry has help from the Asian Gang Unit to try and solve the murder. But this case turns out to have far reaching implications that Harry never thought possible - especially when his daughter, who lives in Hong Kong, gets involved. 9 Dragons is very gritty, at times heart wrenching, and faster paced than usual. This may be the best Bosch yet. 10/09 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch 

9 DRAGONS by Michael Connelly: The latest Harry Bosch mystery, 9 Dragons, not only shows the homicide detective at his most irascible, but is also a fine piece of crime fiction.  It recalls several formative episodes in his life (tunnel rat in Viet Nam, the Angel’s Flight case, and his romance with Eleanor Wish) and may foreshadow some major changes for him.

As the story opens, Harry is assigned to investigate the murder of a Chinese liquor store owner, John Li.  One of Harry’s guiding principles is that he believes that every homicide victim deserves justice and it is his job to see that that is done.  He is very short with other policemen who feel less strongly - like his partner.  That desire is intensified  in this case because Harry had taken refuge in this liquor store during a riot many years ago and had been befriended by Mr. Li.  The investigation suggests that this was not a “smash and grab” gone wrong, but may have been connected to a regular program of triad shakedowns.              

As soon as this possibility is revealed, Harry gets a message that he should back off and then is told that his daughter living in Hong Kong with her mother has been kidnapped.  He is given leave to fly to Hong Kong to attempt to rescue her. The mother, Eleanor Wish, is a former FBI agent who is now making a very nice living playing cards for the house in an opulent Hong Kong casino.  Harry, Eleanor, and her new companion set out to track the daughter down.  The resulting drama is tightly drawn, with plenty of surprises and nasty turns along the way.              

I was initially drawn to this series because Mr. Connelly really gets policemen right.  With his ex-reporter’s eye, he is dead on in his descriptions of controlling attitudes and often unpleasant personalities.  And he is just as good with his descriptions of police protocol and politicking, criminal behavior and the local neighborhoods in Los Angeles.  But it seems to me now that he is giving Harry more of a human side.  In other words, I think that Mr. Connelly is morphing from a reporter into a writer concerned with the subtleties of the human heart. I can’t wait for the next book. 11/09 Geoffrey R. Hamlin

9 DRAGONS by Michael Connelly:  Imagine Dave Robicheaux in Paris, Stephanie Plum in Ethiopia, or Dragnet’s Sergeant Friday in Oslo. Now think Harry Bosch in Hong Kong.  In this 14^th Bosch outing, Connelly sends him overseas in a tightly wound thriller that, while interesting, just doesn’t feel totally correct. Bosch is called out to investigate the shooting death of a Chinese liquor store owner and discovers the dead man was paying a weekly protection fee to a man Bosch suspects is part of a Chinese triad.  When Bosch doesn’t back off as warned, the triad kidnaps his 13-year-old daughter, Madeline, who lives in Hong Kong with her mother - Bosch's ex-wife, a former FBI agent.  Bosch flies to Hong Kong to try to rescue Madeline in 39 hours and get back to the United States to keep the triad bad guy in jail and while Bosch is Bosch, the pace is more DaVinci Code or Mission Impossible which takes away from some of Connelly’s adept character development.  If you are Connelly fan, 9 Dragons is acceptable, but if you are not familiar with Connelly, don’t judge him solely on this outing. 01/10 Jack Quick 

12 DRUMMERS DRUMMING by Diane Deverell: e-book also available in hardcover. Kathryn Collins is a state Department Foreign Officer who, with lover Stefan, a former Polish agent who defected to the US, broke up a terrorist operation some years ago. Now Global Flight 500 explodes over Scotland in an eerie duplication of the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie. Kathryn is afraid Stefan was on the flight, but when she tries to check into it, the FBI becomes convinced she and possibly Stefan in fact were involved in the bombing. They threaten to subpoena her and have arranged for a suspension of her security clearance. She knows she must get out of the country if she has any hope of finding out what has happened to Stefan. Well written and action packed. 10/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

13 BULLETS by David Wellington: Jameson Arkeley thought he had essentially eliminated vampires when he fought Piter Byron Lares in 1983. He was wrong. Politics prevented him from killing the last vampire, a woman named Justinia Malvern. Due to the increased need for blood as they age, Malvern was unable to kill on her own. As a result, it was determined that killing her would actually be murder. The government has kept her alive all this time, studying her and feeding her. Unfortunately, they also unknowingly allowed her to create a new brood of vamps that are determined to free their master. Pennsylvania State Trooper Laura Caxton was working a routine DUI screening stop when a driver took flight. According to Caxton, this is a rather routine occurrence when a driver fears that they will not pass the sobriety test. What happened next, was not so routine. The trunk of the car was filled with the mutilated dead bodies of a hunter and his family. The driver ran on foot and left behind a still moving arm. Enter US Marshll Arekely, the vampire expert. Much to her dismay, Arekely enlists Caxton as his partner in the investigation. At first, she believes him when he says that this is because she has read up on his past. She soon discovers that Arkeley’s motives are much more self-serving. The vamps have a strange interest in Caxton and Arekely plans on using her as bait to draw them in. Like his zombie trilogy, Wellington’s tales are amped up versions of classic horror subjects. He has a real talent for making them new and refreshing for fans of the genre. It’s Dracula on steroids mixed with a bit of police procedural and enough blood and guts to please today’s horror fans. 06/07 Becky Lejeune

13 DAYS: THE PYTHAGORAS CONSPIRACY by L.A. Starks: Gasoline at $10 per gallon??? Lynn Dayton manages six vast complexes that transform oil into gasoline. Robert Guillard, a suave Parisian intellectual, directs the sabotage of US refineries, one by one. Robert schemes to coerce Lynn into collaborating as he pursues his outwardly humanitarian goal of building refineries in Third World countries. If she refuses, he will hold hostage her sister, Ceil Dayton, whom he has lured to Paris. An industrial accident at Lynn’s troubled Houston refinery arouses her suspicions. Government officials conclude routine negligence caused the accident, but her own investigation leads Lynn to suspect sabotage. Within a few days, explosions and fires at nearby refineries claim victims. The resulting fuel shortage affects the lives of everyone in North America. Then Lynn is kidnapped. She fights for her life on a catwalk above a storage tank of hot, sulfurous oil and escapes. Deciphering the full extent of Robert’s scheme, she flies to Paris. But will she be in time to derail Robert’s plans and save her sister? Kind of a reverse femjep. 10/06 Jack Quick

13 TO LIFE by Shannon Delany: It’s only been a few months since the accident that killed Jessie Gillmansen’s mother. Things have been tough, but she’s been making it: she still crushes on the heartthrob football player, who seems to be paying more attention to her lately, and she’s got her friends for support. But when Pietr Rusakova moves to town, Jessie’s world begins to turn upside down. She tries to deny her feelings for him and control her curiosity about him, but inevitably the two are drawn together. Is their connection strong enough to survive the revelation of Pietr’s family secrets? 13 to Life is a teen read with werewolves and Russian mobsters. It’s also the first in a series and it’s obvious—much of the story is setup, which throws the pacing off a bit in my opinion. The promise of more Russian folklore is intriguing, though, and the action of the last twenty pages should lead directly into book two. 09/11 Becky Lejeune  KINDLE

14 by J.T. Ellison:  Lieutenant Taylor Jackson is just days from walking down the aisle when she’s called to the scene of a gruesome murder. Strangely, the MO resembles that of a serial killer who struck Tennessee in the early 80’s. Dubbed the Snow White Killer thanks to his dark haired, pale skinned victims, and his penchant for smearing bright red lipstick across their faces, he left behind ten victims before apparently throwing in the towel; he was never caught. Has Snow White reemerged after such a long break or are they facing a copycat. Then new evidence is found to support the copycat theory and Jackson and her team are faced with uncovering both of the killers’ identities in order to solve the case. With just two titles released, J.T. Ellison has proven herself to be one of the best new thriller authors out there. Her characters are solid and her plots are refreshingly original - and what a great ending. The third title in the series, Judas Kiss, is due out next spring. 09/08 Becky Lejeune  

14 by J.T. Ellison:  In the mid 1980’s a serial killer, dubbed the Snow White Killer, terrorized Nashville, Tennessee. There were ten victims, each with pale skin and long dark hair, slashed across the throat, with the same red lipstick smeared across their lips. Then the murders stopped. Now as Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson is finalizing her wedding plans four more bodies are found, marked with the same fatal signature.   Is the Snow White Killer back, or is it a copycat killer?  What about Jackson’s father who has disappeared off his boat?  Interesting follow-up to All the Pretty Girls. 07/09 Jack Quick

18 Seconds by George D. Shuman: The book is riveting. The web site is powerful. What more do you want? The web site was so intriguing, I picked up the book that day. This debut novel did not disappoint. Sherry Moore, an investigative consultant, is a blind woman who can “see” a dead person’s last 18 seconds of thought when she touches the corpse. None of her past cases are as troubling though as the one she takes as a favor for a detective friend. Why do her own nightmares intersect with the visions of a victim of a serial killer in a seaside community? Shuman’s descriptions are so vivid the reader can see and hear the book. This is a powerful debut of a new writer and a character I hope to see again. 04/06 Lesa Holstine

18 SECONDS by George D. Shuman: Blind and beautiful Sherry Moore has an epileptic type condition that gives her an extraordinary talent. Each of us has approximately 18 seconds of short term memory “present” in our brain at all times. At death, those “final” 18 seconds are stored in the brain. Moore, because of her condition, can “see” these final moments by touching the deceased corpse. This is not without pain, however, as she “relives” those moments in her own mind, a debilitating and terrifying experience. Earl Sykes was imprisoned thirty years ago but is now on the streets of Wildwood, New Jersey, abducting and killing young women. Police Lieutenant Kelly O’Shaughnessy is puzzled by the sudden disappearance of several young females from the boardwalk - crimes reminiscent of a series of unsolved disappearances in the seventies. Eventually she enlists the aid of Moore in a desperate attempt to end the bloodshed. Although a bit of “woo-woo,” I found the book to be well written and intriguing, but not for the faint of heart. Hopefully, there will be more from this ex-Washington, DC Metro Police veteran. 06/07 Jack Quick

20^TH CENTURY GHOSTS by Joe Hill: A great short story must accomplish in roughly twenty pages what a full-length novel takes time to develop. It’s not an easy task. Many authors refuse to even try their hands at short fiction. Some, however, have truly mastered the effort and Joe Hill falls into this category of talent. This award winning collection features a wide array of stories. Some are bloody and shocking while others are more sweet and sentimental. In “20^th Century Ghost” a haunted theater is celebrated by years of patrons who were touched by its ghostly visitor. In “The Cape” a child’s fantasy becomes a reality that haunts him into adulthood. And, in “Last Breath,” a macabre museum is more than meets the eye.  Each story is an absolute gem that proves Joe Hill is new talent to be reckoned with. Not only can he create chilling tales of horror like that of “Best New Horror” - a story that is more than a little reminiscent of the southern gothic trend - but he also brings together long separated lovers for one afternoon of what-ifs in “Bobby Conroy Comes Back From the Dead.” I highly recommend this collection to all readers. Not only is this a perfect introduction to an amazing author, read one at a time, these short tales provide an entertaining break in a busy day.  10/07 Becky Lejeune

THE 25^TH HOUR by David Benioff:  I don’t think I have ever read a book quite like this one.  Monty Brogan is a 27-year-old drug dealer who will enter Otisville Federal Prison tomorrow to do seven years hard time. Monty really wanted to be a fireman, but fell in love with "sway," the deference afforded a young man with important connections. That led him to selling drugs for Uncle Blue in Manhattan. His buddy, maverick bond trader Frank Slattery, thirsts for serenity, while fighting his covert lust for Monty's Puerto Rican girlfriend. Despite Monty's dismal future, shy Jakob Elinsky, an ethical, awkward high school English teacher, envies his friend's self-assurance with women as he struggles to control his own secret hunger for a talented writing student, 17-year-old Mary D'Annunzio. The three friends spend one last night together dancing and drinking at Uncle Blue's nightclub.   It’s all about lost youth and what might have been, if different paths had been taken.  Very well done. 06/10 Jack Quick  

31 BOND STREET by Ellen Horan: The murder of Harvey Burdell and the trial that followed captivated New Yorkers in 1857. The murdered dentist, Burdell, shared his home with Emma Cunningham, a widow without means of her own and in search of a husband. Emma was accused and prosecuted for the murder. Now, the case is brought to life once again in Ellen Horan’s masterful debut. Attorney Henry Clinton hears of the case and receives a note from Emma that prompts him to come to her defense. His decision to take on the case, and the popular district attorney, severs his partnership at his law firm. Not one to be that easily deterred, Clinton vows to fight for justice for his client. But the question that Clinton, and the citizens of New York, have to ask themselves is whether Emma Cunningham is really capable of murder or if she’s become an unfortunate victim of the justice system.  Much of the mystery is ripped straight from the actual 19^th-century headlines. Horan’s impressive twisting of the actual case and politics of the time period makes 31 Bond Street a definite stand out. Historical mystery fans take note, this is one you won’t want to miss. 03/10 Becky Lejeune  

47 RULES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE BANK ROBBERS by Troy Cook: This debut novel about a father training his 9-year-old daughter in bank robbery is zany black comedy at its best.  Wyatt Evans is a brilliant psychopath who has made a career out of robbing banks.  Along the way, he killed his wife and taught his daughter the 47 rules of the family business.  But by the time Tara is 23, she is chafing under her father's rigid, psychotic thumb and wondering if it is time to move out on her own.  Then she meets Max, who empathizes with Tara as he has a nut of a father himself, although on the other side of the law - his father is the Sheriff.  Meanwhile Wyatt is heading the FBI's ten most wanted list, Tara & Max take off and Wyatt, the Sheriff and the FBI are all on the chase.  47 Rules is well written, original, clever and laugh out loud funny - don't miss it.  07/06 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

47 RULES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE BANK ROBBERS by Troy Cook:  As they rehearse a bank robbery, nine year old Tara to her father Wyatt, “How come they don’t make a Bank Robber Barbie?”  Wyatt’s response, “It’s that damn Corporate America! They’re trying to warp your fragile little mind.”  Further advice from Wyatt Evans to his daughter, “You keep your gun pointed straight at him and say anything you want.  The crazier the better…The crazier you are, the more respect you get.  This is one of life’s lessons here, so remember it.”  With this for a beginning, it’s no wonder that Troy Cook’s debut has created a storm.  Tara grows up but doesn’t outgrow her raising, which makes for an interesting story of the two most unlikely bank robbers since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  You have to love it, even when Tara falls in love with the son of the local sheriff.  Like Wyatt says, “It’s always something.” 12/06 Jack Quick

47 RULES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE BANK ROBBERS by Troy Cook: Of course any man who teaches his nine-year-old daughter to rob a bank is nuts. By the time Tara Evans is twenty-two, she’s a little tired of her father’s controlling ways. She’s also starting to be scared of the man who has started to enjoy killing people as they rob banks. She and her father, Wyatt, have managed to escape for thirteen years, but Wyatt’s starting to violate his own rules for robbing banks, and getting away with it. When Tara meets Max Williams, the son of a small-town sheriff, it’s love at first sight. Wyatt and Max’ father are not so happy with the new romance. The new young Bonnie and Clyde team are soon careening across the southwest, chased by Wyatt, Max’ father, the FBI and a couple of bumbling crooks. Cook’s debut novel is a fun romp, with romance, humor and danger, as Tara and Max come up with their own rules for life and survival. 12/06 Lesa Holstine

THE 47^TH SAMURAI by Stephen Hunter:  Retired Marine Corps sniper Bob Lee “The Nailer” Swagger, now in his sixties, returns in this thriller that began some sixty years ago on Iwo Jima when his father Earl won the Medal of Honor.  Philip Yato is the son of the Japanese officer who commanded the bunker, which was the basis of that skirmish.  He has come to America seeking the family sword taken into battle by his father and brought home by Swagger Senior.  It turns out there is more to the sword which leads to a series of terrible crimes with Swagger deeply involved.  Another first rate outing from Hunter who has so skillfully told the story of three generations of Swaggers.  07/08 Jack Quick

61 HOURS by Lee Child: Jack Reacher is back and in fine form in this latest outing. This time he's caught a ride on a tour bus but it spins out on the ice and he lands in Boulton, South Dakota.  After helping the senior citizens off the bus, Reacher realizes something is going on in this small town. The local police are trying to deal with guarding a retired librarian turned states witness and there appears to be a huge meth lab on the outskirts of town at an abandoned military installation, run by a motorcycle gang at the behest of a Mexican drug lord. The cops are also on call for the federal penitentiary that employs most of the town; seems the mayor agreed to have every cop in town at the beck and call of the prison warden in the event of an emergency. It doesn't take Reacher long to get involved with the local police department, using his military connections to help with the meth lab problem and taking his turn guarding the witness.  Not quite as action packed as previous Reacher novels, yet nonetheless this is a page turner of the finest kind.  05/10 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

61 HOURS by Lee Child: All the action in this 14^th Jack Reacher adventure occurs in just 61 hours, hence the title of the book. Reacher appears early on as a passenger in a tour bus that skids off the road and crashes near Bolton, S.Dak., a tiny burg with big problems. A highly sophisticated methamphetamine lab run by a vicious Mexican drug cartel with bikers as security has begun operating outside town at an abandoned military facility. Additionally they are the site of both a Federal and a State prison facility with a mutual aid compact that requires 100% participation by the Bolton police department in the event of an escape. That would greatly hinder their current top priority, safe guarding the life of a sweet little old lady who is the key to their shutting down the biker meth operation.  After figuring out the snow-bound, marooned Reacher's smart, great with weapons, and capable of tapping military intelligence, the helpless local cops enlist his assistance, and, as always, that get the full measure of our wandering hero.  Another great Reacher. If you haven’t begun this series, today would be a great day to start. 07/10 Jack Quick 

88 WAYS TO DIE by Johnnie Mitchell:  Interesting PI tale self-published by the author earlier this year.  Black PI Ellis Mason is a small businessman in Chicago in 1988 who gets caught up in a murder case when the girlfriend of his client is killed.  As he is pulled deeper and deeper into the matter he hooks up with Brad Royce, a big time agency owner who numbers among his clients a congressional candidate looking for dirt on a rival.  It is Chicago, after all, so, its not surprising that Mason and Royce are soon swimming upstream in a river of murder, greed, and political corruption.  As with many self- published efforts, this book could have benefited from some tighter editing, more street time and less “bed time.”  I hope Mr. Mitchell does well enough to produce some more, as Mason could potentially be Chicago’s answer to LA’s Eazy Rawlins. 10/07 Jack Quick

212 by Alafair Burke:  212 is the area code for Manhattan and also the “name” of a swanky New York apartment building developed by Donald Trump clone Sam Sparks.  When Sparks’ bodyguard, Robert “Robo” Mancini, is found murdered in Sparks’ penthouse apartment, Sparks reaction seems to be too over the top for NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher.  Hatcher’s aggressive pushing of the case ends up costing her a night in jail on a contempt citation, and a stern warning to stay away from Sparks.  But when Hatcher and her partner, J.J. Rogan, begin investigating the murder of NYU student Megan Gunther, the target of threatening posts on a college gossip Web site, they discover a link between the student and a recently murdered real estate agent. Are all three connected in some way?  Was the real estate agent really moonlighting as a prostitute?  Just like her dad, James Lee Burke, you can count on a full book’s worth of excitement from Alafair. Highly recommended. 04/10 Jack Quick

212 by Alafair Burke: In the beginning of 212, the latest Ellie Hatcher thriller, a body is found in a rich real estate mogul’s apartment. Ellie and her partner, J.J. Rogan, are sent to investigate and Ellie promptly arrests the exec for disturbing her scene. The fallout from that action is swift and though Ellie suspects the man may have had a hand in the murder, the man’s become all but off limits. A few months later, the case still open and no concrete leads to speak of, Ellie and Rogan are sent to a new scene. This time, a college coed and her roommate have been brutally attacked, the roommate barely survives and the other girl is pronounced dead on the scene. Turns out, the girl was being harassed on a popular college gossip site. She and her parents approached the police just one day before the murder and were told there was nothing they could do. With two high-profile cases weighing heavy on her, Ellie has her hands full, but she is dead-set on solving them both. Though this is the third in the series, readers who are new to Burke can jump right in without missing a beat. I’m looking forward to going back to Ellie’s beginnings until I can see what’s in store for her next. 03/10 Becky Lejeune  

THE 731 LEGACY by Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore: Black Needles is the code name for an ancient virus discovered by an ultra-secret Japanese WWII Unit.  Now it is the hands of the North Koreans, specifically a descendent of the original Japanese Unit 731 with a grudge against the world and Americans in particular.  A dying man, an early victim of Black Needles, makes his way to SNN headquarters, where he delivers a mysterious message to Cotten Stone with his final breath.  As Cotton is trying to decipher the meaning of this, her friend, Cardinal John Tyler is kidnapped while on a diplomatic mission to the Eastern European Republic of Moldova.  Cotton rushes to Europe and there she finds that Black Needles and John’s kidnapping are intertwined.  While battling the forces of evil, Cotten fights for her soul as the Nephilim attack the person she loves most in the world.  A high-speed continuation of The Grail Conspiracy and very nicely done. 12/08 Jack Quick  

1225 MISTLETOE LANE by Lenny Castellaneta: Throw together one sarcastic, insensitive jerk and one angel, and you have a recipe for misunderstanding. Jim Carrelli loves his job as a teacher, but he’s miserable with the rest of his life until his strange neighbor Galen asks if he would unselfishly help his landlady. After he drinks too much, Carrelli agrees and suddenly finds himself in the same neighborhood in 1963. His landlady is younger, married, and Jim Carrelli doesn’t realize that by saving Molly, he just might save himself. There’s nothing new in the message in this book that “angels bring people into our lives and touch us in some way.”  12/05 ~This review contributed by Lesa Holstine.

7,000 CLAMS by Lee Irby: Frank Hearn was all set to go to Florida with the proceeds from his cache of smuggled Canadian scotch, when it gets taken away from him. There is little left for him to do but steal a $7,000 IOU from the one and only Babe Ruth and set out for Florida to cash in. Babe's IOU is actually a gambling debt owed to a underworld boss, and before it makes front-page news, everyone from crooked cops to rabid henchmen get involved. Throw in a botched kidnap attempt and a few gallons of bathtub gin and you have the roaring twenties down pat. A bit uneven, as most first novels are, but captures the spirit of the times quite nicely. Tighter editing should help his next work. 01/06 Jack Quick

ABANDON by Blake Crouch: In the winter of 1893, every man, woman, and child in Abandon, Colorado, disappeared without a trace. Professor Lawrence Kendall has studied the history of Abandon for years and has pitched a story to his daughter, journalist Abigail Foster, that she can’t resist. Together, with a set of tour guides and a couple of paranormal photographers, they will hike out to the ghost town and try to discover the truth about Abandon. Their first day in the seemingly empty town, though, they are met with two masked men armed to the teeth and searching for something they are sure Lawrence can lead them to. The story alternates with the final days of the 1893 settlers, culminating with today’s explorers facing the same twisted fate. Crouch’s tale is engaging enough to keep the reader hooked, and that may be its saving grace. I didn’t feel overly attached to, or, truth be told, all that interested in, most of the characters. They were underdeveloped in most instances or over the top in others. Disappointing because I had so been looking forward to this one. 07/09 Becky Lejeune 

ABANDON THE NIGHT by Joss Ware: As the Envy Chronicles series continues, Ware rewards readers with a tale that’s been taunting us since book one. Quent and Zoe met in Beyond the Night. Their dance continued into Embrace the Night Eternal. Finally, Abandon the Night is their story. Growing up, Quent gave off the appearance of a spoiled playboy. He never had meaningful relationships and never got along with his father. In the allure and mystery of Zoe Kapoor, Quent has finally found a girl he can’t get out of his mind. But this new world is no place to start a family, a thought that has left Quent torn between desire and reality. When it is revealed that Parris Fielding, Quent’s father, was one of the Cult of Atlantis—the people behind the events that horribly shaped this new world—Quent vows to be the one to finally kill him. Zoe has her own reasons for wanting Fielding dead, but even she doesn’t know of his connection to her lover. Together, they’ll finally track the illusive Strangers, the Cult, and their hideout. But can Zoe trust the man whose own flesh and blood was responsible for the death of so many? 03/10 Becky Lejeune 

THE ABDUCTION by Mark Gimenez:  Caution: don't start this book unless you have time to finish it - I could not put it down.  After his excellent debut, The Color of Law, Gimenez just knocks it out of the park with his sophomore effort.  The Brice family are a little more well-to-do than most; Elizabeth is a successful Dallas attorney, and her husband John is a computer nerd with a company that is about to go public and make him a billionaire.  Their ten-year-old daughter Gracie is a budding soccer star and it is at her game that things go awry - Gracie is kidnapped while Dad is on the phone about his IPO and Mom is late coming from court.  People may fear for their lives, but they really fear for their children's lives, and these characters are so well drawn that it becomes incredibly easy to suspend your disbelief and get completely caught up in the story.  I loved the tough-as-a-tiger mom, and the special bond between Gracie and her retired Green Beret grandfather was especially touching, all of which helped ratchet up the suspense even more.  The Abduction is one of the best thrillers of the year. 09/07 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

About the Author by John Colapinto: This brilliant thriller starts out with a simple case of plagiarism, but quickly twists and turns into a spellbinding story of deceit, lust, blackmail and murder.  It's rare to find a new angle in this genre, and I for one am most appreciative. Check out the nowCulture.com Interview with Colapinto

ABSENT FRIENDS by S. J. Rozan: I have enjoyed all of Rozan’s Lydia and Bill novels and eagerly picked up this one. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. Basically New York City Fire Capt. James McCaffery died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Exactly 22 years earlier, on September 11, 1979, Mark Keegan, a childhood friend of McCaffery’s killed a local Staten Island mob boss’s son. Keegan later was himself killed in prison and left behind a wife and young child. Ever since, the Keegan heirs have received financial support from McCaffery. Much to the dismay of McCaffery and Keegan’s friends, an enterprising news reporter is intrigued by the story and starts digging into it. The reporter then dies mysteriously. The smoke of the Twin Towers hangs heavy over all the narrative as Rozan attempts to weave a tapestry of some 40 interconnected lives over two and half decades. Maybe the next generation will deem this to be a classic, but for me, right now, it was too much, too soon, about a day that changed our world. 08/06 Jack Quick

THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie: No one writes Native American like Sherman Alexie, and in this book for young adults, he tackles life on the rez with humor, passion and compassion. Arnold Spririt, a Spokane Indian, was born with water on the brain. Nevertheless, he is a bright, creative boy, despite being picked on most of his life.  In looking around the reservation he realizes that his lot in life will be like that of everyone else he knows - poverty, alcoholism and an early death. But he's a smart kid, and he also realizes that an education is the only way out, so he manages to get himself into an all white school twenty miles away. He can't always get a ride, so he hitchhikes or walks, determined to get that good education. His Native American friends think he's a traitor to his people, and the white kids aren't sure what to make of him either. But with dogged determination, he succeeds in winning them all over, but not without lots of dramedy first. This semi-autobiographic coming of age story with a multicultural twist is a first rate read. 09/10 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

ABUNDANCE by Sena Jeter Naslund: In 1770, at only 14 years of age, Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria left her home to marry Louis August, the Dauphin of France – the man who would become Louis XVI. Four years later, she became Queen. In 1793, she was pronounced guilty of high treason and sentenced to a death by beheading. By using historical facts and biographies, Sena Jeter Naslund has created a vivid portrait of what Marie Antoinette’s life might have been like. Readers will get a feel for not only the excessive and opulent lifestyle the monarchy enjoyed, but also what it must have been like to grow and mature in the eyes of a country. Every part of her life, her image, and her family was under the scrutiny of the French public. No one can actually know Marie Antoinette’s thoughts and feelings but Naslund has added depth and flesh to the facts to produce a wholly believable story. This title will appeal not only to history buffs and those curious about Marie Antoinette, but to fans of literary fiction as well. 10/06 Becky LeJeune

THE ACADEMY by Bentley Little:  Strange things are going on at Tyler High School. Recently converted to a charter school, Tyler High is undergoing a lot of changes. The principal, normally a very laid back and kind woman, has turned into a strict dictator-like leader. She has created a group of "Tyler Scouts" that parade around the school, empowering them to enforce rules and regulations with students AND teachers. Students and teachers that opposed the contract have gone missing. Ghostly images of children are seen playing on the school grounds, and student and staff alone are afraid to enter the school grounds at night alone. A handful of students and teachers still brave enough to stand up against the school join up and discover a way to destroy the evil at Tyler High. Bentley Little's THE ACADEMY is full of horrific tales of the atrocities that take place at Tyler High. The ending seemed to be a little too "neat", but that certainly didn't take anything away from this great work piece of horror fiction. This was my first taste of Little's writing; I can't wait to read more from him. 11/08 Jennifer Lawrence

ACCESSORY TO MURDER by Elaine Viets: This is the third book in the Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series and quite enjoyable.  A supposedly random shooting at the mall leaves a young, upcoming scarf designer dead and Josie's friend Alyce's nerves shot.  Things like that aren't supposed to happen in an upscale suburb of St. Louis.  But then Alyce's husband is accused of the murder and she begs Josie to help.  As Josie delves into the murder and upscale suburban life, she finds no one is as they appear and nothing is as it seems.  Nice twisty little mystery with Viets' hallmark humor plus some great shopping tips at the end of the book.  11/07 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

THE ACCIDENT MAN by Tom Cain: An international assassin, Samuel Carver, is paid to take out bad guys who can't be touched by legal means while making the hits look like accidents, is the intriguing premise for this first novel.  Things get really tense when one of his targets is in a car full of people hurtling through a tunnel in Paris, and one of the passengers turns out to be Princess Diana.  Immediately after that hit, someone tries to take Carver out, and the game is on.  A beautiful Russian spy is one of the unlikely assassins, and Carver manages to turn her.  Together they explore the plot to kill Diana and find out who is masterminding the whole thing.  Conspiracy fans will love this. Cain is the pseudonym for a British investigative journalist, adding some heft to the conspiracy theory.  03/08 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

THE ACCIDENT MAN by Tom Cain:  British journalist Tom Cain has come up with a new twist on an old story.  It’s Paris, 1997 and hit man Samuel Carver is in a tunnel preparing to do a job.  The car wreck he creates causes a speeding black Mercedes to crash into a stone pillar, surely killing the car’s occupants.  Moments later, Carver finds himself the target of an apparent Russian killer.  Only later does he learn that the victim of his actions was, in fact, Princess Diana, and not the terrorist he was told would be occupying the car.  Since Carver only does bad guys, he vows revenge on the people who set him up.  This includes several spy organizations and various intermediaries.  Think James Bond without the government backing.  Nicely written and perhaps the basis for an on-going series featuring Carver and his Russian female accomplice.  Wilbur Smith calls this “This is the best first thriller I have read since The Day of the Jackal, and that was a long time ago.”  Not a bad recommendation. 05/08 Jack Quick 

ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN by Simon Wood: It’s a good life for Josh Michaels - the California life, with nice house, loving wife, beautiful daughter, good job neat car. On the other hand, there is the attempt to kill him by running him off the road, the fact he is being blackmailed by a ex-lover and a secret that could land him in prison. Michaels survives the automobile accident but what about his other problems. Are they all inter-related? After a plane crash kills his flying partner instead of Michaels, he realizes the police aren’t going to be of much help. If he is to survive he must figure things out on his own.  09/07 Jack Quick 

ACCORDING TO JANE by Marilyn Bryant: Something strange happens to Ellie Barnett at the moment she is first assigned Pride & Prejudice in her high school English class: Jane Austen herself begins to speak to her. For years, Austen would be Ellie’s constant companion, her voice of reason, her conscience. And Austen does her best to help Ellie maneuver her way through the dating world in order to find her very own Mr. Darcy. But now in her thirties, Ellie has begun to wonder if her Darcy will ever come. As she looks back on her years of unworthies, all conveniently fitting into P&P’s mapped out caste system of men, Jane Austen is there by her side, coaching and coaxing. But could both Jane and Ellie have been wrong about someone along the way? Or is Mr. Darcy yet to come? And how will Ellie know when and if he finally crosses her path? This latest in the Austen-inspired string of releases is a cute and light read. One does begin to wonder how much stock to place in Austen’s opinion of men, though. Her voice starts to get a bit curmudgeonly after a while and it’s hard to set aside the knowledge that Austen was never married herself.  10/09 Becky Lejeune

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis: Godspeed is humanity’s hope for the future: a massive ship traveling across the universe to deliver a very special cargo to a new, Earth-like planet. The trip was supposed to take three hundred years. Amy and her parents would sleep through the whole thing, waking when the ship reached its destination and helping to settle the new world. But something has gone very wrong and Amy is awake – fifty years ahead of schedule. In the time she has slept, things on Godspeed have changed dramatically and now a murderer prowls the ship. If Amy can help discover the killer’s identity and his plans, maybe she can save her parents and the rest of Godspeed. Across the Universe is a spectacular debut! A cross between science fiction and mystery, Beth Revis’s book is a highly imaginative and captivating read for both teens and adults, and is the first in a projected trilogy. 1/11 Becky Lejeune

ACTS OF NATURE by Jonathon King:  Max and Sherry on vacation at a friend’s remote fishing camp in the Everglades, a trio of housebreakers and general ne’er do wells and a pair of deadly security guards.  What ties them all seven together?  An unpredictable shift in the course of hurricane Simone has placed them all at risk.  Similar to but different from James Lee Burke’s Tin Roof Blow Down, King describes not only the awesome power of these storms but their effect on people, before, during, and after.  A top notch read.  09/07 Jack Quick 

ADDITION by Toni Jordan: A light-hearted tale of one woman’s struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Grace Lisa Vandenburg develops an insatiable need to count at the age of eight. She counts everything, number of steps taken, number of letters in names, number of seat in a restaurant. She finds comfort in both their simplicity and complexity. The numbers are always there for her. One day it all begins to change, though. Her carefully mapped out life is jarred out of sync when she runs into Seamus Joseph O’Reilly. First it is in the grocery store where her incorrect number of bananas prompts her to steal one from his basket when he is not looking. And then he’s in her café, the one she visits every weekend for hot chocolate and orange cake. She accepts his invitation to sit and it just goes from there. Can she stop counting long enough to live a normal life and enjoy the things around her, or will it all prove to be too much for her to handle? This is a sweet and funny novel about learning to love life and accept people’s individuality. A surprisingly light read in spite of its subject matter, but one that will no doubt stick with you long after you turn the final page.  02/09 Becky Lejeune 

Adios Muchachos by Daniel Chavarria:  Winner of the 2002 Edgar Award for Best Original Paperback.  A  delightful robbery/murder caper set in contemporary Havana where the characters do what they have to do to survive and do it with gusto, humor and Latin style.  The main character is a young woman who decides that her best asset is the way she sits on a bicycle. She then proceeds to peddle that asset all over town.  Some reviewers have described her as a "bicycle hooker," but I think that is a little harsh.  She likes men and she appreciates presents.  The mechanics of the transactions are hilarious and involve her mother cooking dinner for the chosen client.          They ultimately enmesh her in dealing with the worlds of high finance, high crime and treasure on the high seas.  Also, a phallic totem.  If you enjoy this book, I also recommend that you do a bookstore search for anything by Paco Ignacio Taibo II. ~This review contributed by Geoffrey R. Hamlin

THE AFFAIR by Lee Child: Jack Reacher is back and this time he's way back - it's 1997, right before he leaves the Army, and we finally learn why he did, why he started drifting, and why he carries that toothbrush in his pocket. MP Reacher is sent undercover to a small Mississippi town with an Army base to act as counterpoint to the MP on base who is investigating a woman's murder. The army wants the soldiers cleared, and they want Reacher to make sure that happens. But Reacher wants to make sure justice is served, and finds more bodies than any small town should have. Child doesn't disappoint with some nice twists in the story, but this story is all about backstory, and here Child really excels. If you haven't read this series, you certainly could start here, but I think it is a more poignant read to those who are already invested in this character. An excellent addition to one of my favorite series. 10/11 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch  KINDLE

THE AFFINITY BRIDGE by George Mann: In this alternate Victorian England, Queen Victoria is kept alive through technology and her devoted investigators, like Maurice Newbury, serve as her eyes and ears in the city. A recent plague of zombie virus brought over from India is sweeping through the nation and a murderer seems to be on the loose in Whitechapel. But it’s a recently crashed dirigible that the Queen has asked Newbury and his newly hired assistant, Veronica Hobbes, to look into. Strangely, the Whitechapel murders and the wrecked zeppelin seem to be closely connected, but it will take Newbury’s and Hobbes’s skills together to solve the cases. Steampunk definitely lends itself well to blending with other genres and this mix with traditional mystery works fantastically. I’m looking forward to future adventures with Hobbes and Newbury. 02/11 Becky Lejeune  

AFRAID by Jack Kilborn: When a helicopter crashes in the small town of Safe Haven, Wisconsin, the townspeople find themselves up against an enemy like nothing anyone has ever seen. Sheriff Arnold “Ace” Streng is a Vietnam vet and even he has never witnessed the brutality that his town will soon be facing. When he receives a call about the crash, Ace heads out to the site only to find his own cousin being tortured and the man’s wife butchered. The men behind this seem to want one thing and one thing only. They want to know where Warren is. It only takes Ace a minute to realize who they seek, but figuring out exactly why and how to rid his town of these enemies will take a bit longer. Jack Kilborn is a pseudonym for author JA Konrath, the man behind the Jack Daniels mystery series. This stand-alone thriller is a bit of a change of pace for Konrath, but is fast-paced and excellently plotted — extremely hard to put down. 04/09 Becky Lejeune  

AFRAID OF THE DARK by James Grippando:  This is the ninth entry in the Jack Swyteck series, and this book takes a turn out of Miami for international waters with a secret interrogation cell in Prague, Somali terrorists in London and murders back home in Miami. Swyteck is tapped to represent Jamal Wakefield as he stands accused of murdering his teenage girlfriend and blinding a cop in the process. Jamal insists he is innocent and that he wasn't even in Miami when the murder occurs. To add complications to this already complicated story, Swyteck's FBI fiancée is warning him off the case, despite their agreement to not get involved in each other's work, and defense witnesses keep turning up dead. Grippando uses headline makers like terrorism and mistreatment of political prisoners to up the tension in this tightly written thriller of revenge. 03/11 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

AFRAID OF THE DARK by James Grippando: Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck has a case right our of  today's headlines.  Jamal has a good job working on encryption projects for the computer industry.  Then he is accused of killing McKenna, the daughter of his boss Chuck May and setting off a bomb that blinded Sergeant Vince Paulo of the Miami police, a friend of Chuck's who had been keeping an eye on  McKenna for her father.  Paulo was also instrumental in an earlier hostage negotiation involving Swyteck.  It seemed an open and shut case since McKenna, bleeding to death in Paulo's arms had uttered the name of her murderer and ex-boyfriend: Jamal.  But then the story gets really interesting.  Jamal is located at the detention center at Gitmo where he spent the past two years.  At the time of the murder he claims he had been abducted and taken to a CIA secret prison in Prague where his abductors had tried to get him to reveal the secrets of the computer work he was doing and had threatened to kill McKenna if he didn't cooperate.  The far-fetched story starts to gain traction and Vince, Jack, and Chuck soon realize they are facing a deadly danger that goes beyond McKenna’s death and crosses international waters. Embarking on a journey to piece together the past, the men are led through the back alleys of London, onto illegal internet sites, and straight into pure evil. IMHO, the best Grippando yet. 04/11 Jack Quick

AFTER HOURS AT THE ALMOST HOME by Tara Yellen:  It’s Super Bowl Sunday and the Broncos are playing. It’s going to be the busiest day of the year for Denver’s Almost Home Bar and Grill which means that it’s the worst possible day for a new girl to start, and for one of the bar’s seasoned employees to disappear. Denny was leaving after his shift and is forced to work a double thanks to Marna’s untimely no-show. JJ has never waitressed before and everyone is giving her a hard time. Keith was supposed to leave with Marna but hasn’t heard a word from her. Marna also promised a special day with Colleen’s daughter Lily, neither of which have heard from her either. The staff makes it through the day, and closes up shop, but that’s when things get really interesting at the Almost Home. Everyone who’s ever had to work in the service industry can relate to Yellen’s tale. Anyone who has ever had doubts about what comes next in life, whether the decisions they make are the right ones and if everything will work out in the end, will connect with at least one of the characters in this book. It’s that combination of the quirky dysfunctional family situation that occurs in any workplace and the instances of self-doubt that everyone suffers that collide in this earnest literary debut. After creating such a resonating story in After Hours at the Almost Home, Yellen will surely be one to watch in literary circles for years to come.  04/08 Becky Lejeune  

AFTERSHOCK by Collin Wilcox: Lt. Frank Hastings has problems. His newest case is the murder of a wealthy 70-year-old woman, found bludgeoned in the garage of her San Francisco, Sea Cliff district home. There is no shortage of suspects, within and outside the victim's dysfunctional family. In the meantime, Hastings' girl friend Ann Haywood is being stalked, apparently in connection with a previous Hastings case. Can Frank stay focused and solve both crimes? Another great police procedural from the 1970's. 1/11 Jack Quick

AGAINST ALL ENEMIES by James B. Woulfe:  The Longest Day is the term used to describe June 6, 1994, the day the Allies stormed ashore at Normandy in World War II.  The longest book may be an appropriate sub-title for this tell all whether you want to know it or not fiction debut about a future war in South America against drug dealing revolutionaries who are contributing to global warming, world wide inflation, and various and other sundryr crimes and misdemeanors.  You will learn more than your ever cared to about SEALS and submarines, Rangers and various color berets, female pilots who become POW’s, Air Force Commandos, and that is just a start.  Somewhere there is a story here, but I could never really get into it because of the highly detailed technical picture drawn of all the special troops and gadgets available to the US fighting forces today.  Sorry, it’s a new era and not one I want to be in. 11/09 Jack Quick  

AGAINST THEIR WILL by Nancy L. Livingstone: Matt Grayson is flying home to Houston after his first movie opens to great reviews. The plane crashes upon approach and Grayson’s life is changed forever. He thinks he has saved the life of his seatmate, Lynn McCane, but when he recovers consciousness in the hospital he is told he was the only survivor of the plane crash, and that all passengers and crew have been accounted for. Months later, Lynn shows up at Matt’s movie studio in Hollywood, with a new name and no memory of the plane crash. Matt gets her to go for coffee with him and tries to talk with her about the crash. Within hours they are atop the FBI’s Most Wanted List and are being pursued, it seems, by every government agency except Fish and Wildlife. Scary medical thriller from 2002, which brings new meaning to stem cell research and cloning.  e-book.  05/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

AGENTS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS by Simon R. Green: John Taylor returns to the Nightside for another macabre, engrossing tale. The Unholy Grail is rumored to be in the Nightside. That’s the cup that Judas Iscariot drank from at the Last Supper, a cup that has extraordinary powers to magnify evil. Previous owners are supposed to have included Torquemada, Rasputin and Hitler. Taylor, who has a gift of finding anything, accepts a hefty commission to find the Grail and turn it over to an agent of the Vatican. However, in order to recover it, he must find it before the angels do. Angels from Above and Below have descended on the Nightside, and they are willing to destroy everything there in order to retrieve the Grail. Accompanied by Shotgun Suzie, Taylor accosts those who might know where the Grail is residing. Between Taylor and the angels, the Nightside is strewn with bodies left in a bloody trail of horror. Green’s stories are guaranteed to give you nightmares, but they are totally addicting. 03/07 Lesa Holstine

AGNES AND THE HITMAN by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer: The authors of Don’t Look Down topped that book with this comic suspense novel. Agnes, a food writer who writes under “Cranky Agnes,” has to hold her goddaughter’s wedding at her new home, Two Rivers Mansion, or lose the mansion to her goddaughter’s grandmother. Despite the woman’s schemes, Agnes is determined to host it and cater it with her fiancé. However, weddings can be murder. Before Agnes is even attacked by a nervous gunman, her friend Joey knows something is up. He calls on his nephew Shane, a hitman, to protect “Little Agnes.” Shane arrives just after Agnes has knocked the gunman into the basement with her frying pan. He also arrives before the police and Agnes’ wimpy boyfriend. What more do you want than a Southern-Italian wedding, dry humor, the mob, a nervous bride, a wicked grandmother, an unnamed government agency, and two hot hitmen. Shane and Carpenter will easily make you forget Ranger and Morelli. This latest novel by Cruise and Mayer is hot and wickedly funny. 08/07 Lesa Holstine

Alaska Twilight by Colleen Coble: Alaska is a wide-open state full of wonder, wildlife, tundra, and scenery, any one of which would open ones eyes as wide as most any other sight on earth.

    Colleen Coble takes you into this land of adventure with Haley Walsh. Haley travels to the wilds to attempt to find out what happened when her parents were killed in their cabin fire years before. Haley meets some long lost family members as she tries to unravel the mystery of her parents’ death in that fire. She meets up with a tough man, Tank Lassiter, who works as a bear biologist, especially with Miki, who Tank had raised from when he was a cub.

    The descriptions of the Alaska wilderness, the bears, the few towns in the vicinity, the many types of people, some nice and some defiantly not nice, and the living in this country will dominate your mind from cover to cover. During all this, Haley tries desperately to find God since she thinks he forsook her when her sister and her parents were killed years earlier.

    Alaska Twilight is hard to put down. Colleen Coble writes in a way that keeps you involved and makes you feel as though you were looking behind you for the bears. 05/06 Cy Hilterman

ALEX CROSS'S TRIAL by James Patterson & Richard DiLallo: James Patterson has drafted a stable of advertising executives as writers for his books - seventeen of them coming up in the next three years. DiLallo is the latest and he puts a different spin on the usual Patterson fare by going back in time to the days of the Ku Klux Klan lynchings in Mississippi. The premise of this latest in the Alex Cross series is that Alex is writing a novel called "Trial," based on stories that have been passed down in his family about Abraham Cross, an ancestor that lived in Eudora, Mississippi in the early 1900's. Ben Corbett hails from Eudora but has become a lawyer in Washington DC who likes helping out the underdog. Unfortunately, the underdog often can't pay and Ben's wife is fed up with it. When President Teddy Roosevelt offers Ben a clandestine assignment to look into the lynchings, Ben goes to Mississippi alone; his wife won't come. Ben finds that Eudora isn't the same town he remembered, and his old friends aren't the same either. Abraham Cross is an old man who has seen a lot, and he is Ben's contact in Eudora. After they both escape being lynched, one young man is dead and the sheriff reluctantly arrests some of the town's worst offenders - hence, the "trial".  This is an interesting look at a disturbing period of American history that is best remembered from time to time. Using the familiar two page chapters to move the story along makes this a fast paced and riveting read. 09/09 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

ALEX CROSS’S TRIAL by James Patterson: A book within a book.  Alex Cross has heard the story of his great uncle Abraham and his struggles for survival in the era of the Ku Klux Klan.  Now, Alex passes the family tale along to his own children in a novel he's written called Trial.  Ben Corbett is a Washington, DC lawyer during the Teddy Roosevelt era.  Roosevelt asks Ben to return to his home town of Eudora Mississippi to investigate rumors of the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan there. Ben meets the wise Abraham Cross and his beautiful granddaughter, Moody, and enlists their help.  The two Crosses introduce him to the hidden side of the idyllic Southern town complete with lynchings and other brutalities that have left the town's black quarter in constant fear.  Ben seeks the truth – not knowing the price the truth will cost him.  Above average for a Patterson. 10/09 Jack Quick 

THE ALEXANDER CIPHER by Will Adams:  Daniel Knox is an American archaeologist turned dive instructor who is currently living in Egypt. A lifelong scholar of Alexander the Great, Daniel, along with Aussie partner, Rick, are on the trail of the massive golden funeral carriage used to bring his body back to Egypt in 323 BCE.  Alexander’s power-hungry general, Ptolemy, stole Alexander’s body for his own purposes, and the funeral carriage vanished.  The stakes quickly become higher when it appears possible they may be on the trail not of just the carriage, but of the actual body of Alexander the Great.  Of course there are a few obstacle in Daniel and Rick’s path -   Hassan, David’s rich Egyptian boss, whom Daniel beat up in order to keep him from raping a young woman; Hassan’s even nastier head of security, Nessim; Gaille Bonnard, the Egyptologist who blames Daniel for the death of her father’ and Nicolas Dragoumis, the wealthy industrialist whose own father seems oddly determined to ruin Daniel. With that many bad guys, the tale could easily become a farce, but Adams sticks to his guns and the result is a first rate thriller. 06/10 Jack Quick 

THE ALEXANDRIA LINK by Steve Berry: In Berry’s second thriller featuring Cotton Malone, the antiquarian bookseller and retired secret agent must set aside all differences with his ex-wife in order to save his son from nefarious kidnappers. While working with the Magellan Billet, a government organization much like the CIA, Malone was assigned to protect and help hide George Haddad. Haddad was a scholar focused on the Old Testament and his theories threatened to shake the very foundations of Judaism as well as Christianity. His studies also garnered attention from a group called the Guardians, the members of which are sworn to protect the lost library of Alexandria. The Guardians extended an invitation to Haddad and challenged him to find the library. His quest would lead him to the most famous cache of knowledge known man, but the Mossad had already tracked and killed the last three invitees. The Billet sent Malone in with no knowledge of Haddad’s background, and today, Malone is the only person who knows where to find Haddad. This knowledge makes both Malone and his family prime targets for the numerous groups who will stop at nothing to find Haddad. Anyone looking for a great action/adventure thriller in the vein of The Da Vinci Code will love Berry’s work. He’s tackled everything from Russia’s rumored amber room to the Knights Templar and now focuses his attentions on Alexander’s library, which should segue perfectly into his upcoming release, The Venetian Betrayal, and the search for Alexander’s grave. 12/07 Becky Lejeune

Ali & Nino by Kurban Said: Re-release of a book originally published in 1937, the author is thought to be a pseudonym for the couple whose romance the book is loosely based on.  Takes place at the turn of the 19th century, clash of cultures and religion.  Definitely worth a read.

THE ALIAS MAN by Bill Pronzini: Jessie, a slender blonde Pennsylvania widow, meets a dream lover in Santa Fe who immediately asks her to marry him. Sarah, a slender blonde Vancouver bookstore owner, had her husband disappear just over four years ago leaving her in debt. Morgan, a slender blonde California schoolteacher, suspects her husband of just under four years of cheating on her as well as losing her money in poor investments. When she confronts him, he responds by leaving her. Then she finds a safe deposit box key in his study and uses it to uncover the secret of The Alias Man. Using his list of victims and aliases, and the cash she finds in the safe deposit box, she enlists Jessie and Sarah to help her. Together they track down the chameleon who for the past two decades has been marrying every four years, stealing that wife’s money, and then moving on to the next victim. An unusual Pronzini, but excellent as always. 05/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

The Alibi Club by Francine Mathews: Mathews’ latest suspense novel was confusing and a disappointment. According to the book jacket, it was the story of four women whose story will change the course of history. As much as those women are involved in the story, it is really a story of lawyers and liars in 1940 Paris as the Germans roll toward France. Mathews does an excellent job in portraying the desperation, decadence and confusion in France during this time period, but she involves too many characters in the attempt to hide the information about the atomic bomb from the Nazis. None of the characters were well enough developed, and there were too many of them in this overcrowded novel. 09/06 Lesa Holstine

THE ALIBI MAN by Tami Hoag:  Elena Estes (Dark Horse, 2002) moved from being among the elite of Palm Beach, Florida, to become a policewoman.  After a meth lab bust that went bad causing the death of a fellow officer, she is now physically healed but still emotionally crippled.  She is working at her best friend’s horse farm when she happens upon the body of the farm's beautiful, vibrant young groom, Irena in a canal being savaged by alligators.  She is determined to see Irena avenged and the path leads her back into the upper echelons of Palm Beach society, power brokers, polo fields, and her ex-fiancé, who, Elena knows, is capable of committing the crime.  She also quickly learns that Russian born Irena may have led a more complicated life than Elena thought.  Fast paced, with plenty of action Hoag moves easily from the beautiful to the ugly and captures the conflicting emotions of people hurting as well as anyone.  Recommended. 02/09 Jack Quick

ALICE IN JEOPARDY by Ed McBain: Alice Glendenning oversleeps.  She is still grieving for her husband who disappeared off his boat 8 months ago.  Late to work at the real estate agency where she has yet to sell a house, she calls her lawyer and the insurance company still refuses to pay off, later she gets hit by a car and has her ankle broken.  When she gets home her children aren’t there.  They have been kidnapped and the ransom demand is for $250,000 : the exact amount due from her insurance.  Maybe she should have stayed in bed.  McBain proves once again that he can spin a tale without or without the help of the 8^th Precinct boys.  A good one. 11/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

All in One Piece by Cecelia Tishy: Reggie Cutter, a psychic in Boston, returns in the second mystery in Tishy’s new series. Like her deceased aunt, Reggie volunteers as a psychic with the Boston Homicide Division. However, this time, the murder strikes too close to home when Reggie’s upstairs tenant is killed, soon after she herself was almost run down by a hit-and-run driver. Following a messy divorce, Reggie is unsure of herself, but when she feels like a target, and the police seem uninterested in her clues, she determines to find the killer herself. Reggie has come a long way since her debut in Now You See Her. She’s more sure of her own abilities in this fascinating story that connects with local history of immigrants striking against the mills. Reggie’s psychic abilities and her connections with the past put an interesting spin on “cold cases.”  04/06 Lesa Holstine

All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming: Spencer-Fleming won every mystery award in the book for her first mystery, In the Bleak Midwinter, and her fifth book in the series is even better. The Reverend Clare Fergusson, an Episcopalian priest, and Millers Kill Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne have fought against their feelings for each other. When Russ finally confesses to his wife that he’s in love with Clare, she kicks him out of the house. He’s living with his mother when his police force pick him up to tell him his wife’s butchered body has been found in their home. Suddenly Russ and Clare are the prime suspects in the murder, and the focus of the local gossip. As suspicion spreads, the state police are brought in to handle the investigation. Spencer-Fleming takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and suspense in this fast-paced mystery. The climax of the book still leaves room for the author to throw two more curveballs at the reader. This is a powerful story, worthy of more awards for the author. 10/06 Lesa Holstine

ALL SHALL BE WELL by Deborah Crombie:  The second Superintendent Duncan Kincaid/Sergeant Gemma James mystery gives the reader glimpses into the personal lives of the series characters. When Kincaid finds his downstairs neighbor dead, he isn’t convinced it was suicide, even though she had cancer. His investigation leads to surprises about the mystery woman he thought he knew. While Kincaid struggles with his own feelings, James struggles with her life as a single mother trying to stay afloat. Kincaid and James are ordinary people, struggling with life, in a way that many British police detectives are not. This is a series to continue to watch. 07/08 Lesa Holstine

ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING by Lawrence Block: Scudder tries to help a fellow AA member who has attracted a mysterious boyfriend. Then his wife Elaine’s best friend is brutally murdered, with a letter opener purchased from Elaine. Is there a connection? Like Small Town, this book is set in New York City post 9/11 and seems darker and more brooding than previous Scudders. While AA is and should be the dominant force in the former practicing alcoholic’s life, sometimes this gets in the way of story flow, i.e., I don’t need the address and time of every AA meeting in New York. What would make a great series? TJ from Block and Tamara from Pronzini working together. Recommended. 05/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING By Lawrence Block: Those of us that have read these books for over three decades know what's going. If nothing else..., Block has taken the careful aging of Scudder very seriously. From the ex-cop who made a mistake then a drunk, to the man he is now...LB has always allowed him to age, like we all are doing currently.  Scudder has battled his personal demons, as well as those he's been drawn into over the years.  Scudder's happy now, married to his love Elaine, and more or less status quo in his life. He's happy and steady. But that's all about to change...enter one of the great literary villains of all time, and one that Scudder has unknowingly encountered before.  He's already killed three kids (described in brutal detail in classic Block) and he has some unfinished business in NYC specifically with Scudder. Oh, by the way, the book opens by relating to you that this maniac got an innocent man in Virginia executed for what he did.  He witnessed the execution...with a hard-on.  That's what you can expect here/  Block is at the top of his game.  And, as a true fan of the series bonus, there's a scene late in the book where Scudder, mortally wounded, has a near death experience with all the characters from his previous Scudder books.  A priceless read for true fans of the series.  03/06 DOC

ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS by J. T. Ellison: A ruthless serial killer has been stalking young women in the southeast. Dubbed the Southern Strangler, he has left a grisly trail of dead coeds in his wake. Each girl has had her hands removed, one of which will be found at the following crime scene, and each subsequent victim goes missing the same day the previous victim is found. When the body of the third victim is discovered in Nashville, Lieutenant Taylor Jackson is called to the scene. Her involvement with FBI agent John Baldwin leaves her privy to certain details of the case, even after it leaves her jurisdiction, and leads to a disturbing discovery. The killer has been e-mailing clues to a well-known reporter in the Nashville area – clues that could finally lead to the discovery of his identity. Meanwhile, Jackson has other problems to deal with including a rapist who has recently attacked the lead investigator on the Rainman case. To make matters even worse, there appears to be a leak within the Bureau and there are whispers of corruption amongst Nashville’s finest. Ellison writes like a pro – her details are dead on, her plot is engrossing, and her characters are engaging. This masterful debut is sure to keep readers up all night in suspense. I highly recommend All the Pretty Girls (first in a new series with books two and three set for release in 2008).  11/07 Becky Lejeune

ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS by J.T. Ellison:  Nashville homicide detective Taylor Jackson and her erstwhile boyfriend FBI Agent John Baldwin are on the trail of a serial killer, who targets pretty young girls for death and then leaves a grisly trademark.  He removes the hands of his victims and at each murder site leaves one of the hands of his previous victim.  Somewhat uneven, as most debuts are, but the seeds are here for what could be an interesting series.  While there is no shortage of female detectives, private or official, Jackson is interesting.  Hopefully, as the series develops it will become more focused and straight forward. 04/09 Jack Quick 

Almost Friends by Philip Gulley: Gulley takes his readers back to Harmony, Indiana, the site of his popular books about Pastor Sam Gardner and the Quaker community. In the latest effort, Sam takes a vacation to care for his ailing father. When the Friends hire a female minister, Sam doesn’t expect the community to fall for her. However, the unruly community is always ready to erupt into turmoil. Almost Friends is a little weaker than some of Gulley’s other books, but it’s still an enjoyable return to the small town. 08/06 Lesa Holstine

THE ALMOST MOON by Alice Sebold:  The Lovely Bones was brilliant, so it was with great expectation and some trepidation that I began Sebold's latest.  The opening is quite the grabber: "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily." Another difficult subject for sure, but unfortunately, this story of matricide quickly becomes tedious.  Helen has difficult relationships in her life; besides her Alzheimer's afflicted mother, there is the ex-husband and her children.  The book spans the course of one day, a mere 24 hours, yet seems so much longer than that, perhaps because it is missing the emotional wallop promised with that opener.  10/07 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

THE ALMOST MOON by Alice Sebold: After reading Lovely Bones and Lucky, I was excited to read Almost Moon. My excitement didn’t last very long. Almost Moon is the tale of Helen Knightly, a divorced mother of two grown daughters. Her father having died decades earlier, it is up to Helen to take care of her emotionally abusive agoraphobic mother. Throughout the book the reader flashes back to episodes portraying the strained relationship she had with her mother. The first several chapters of the book were engaging. Helen can no longer take the strain and frustration of dealing with her mother, so she smothers her with a kitchen towel. The reader is then lead through Helen’s ritual of stripping and bathing her mother, then pulling her down the basement steps and putting her in the oversized freezer. A little out there, yes, but completely plausible. The remainder of the book goes downhill quickly and I completely lost interest. Almost Moon might be a good book for those readers that haven’t read any of Sebold’s other work, and therefore have nothing to compare it to. But a diehard Sebold fan will definitely be disappointed with this one, as I was. 05/08 Jennifer Lawrence

ALONE IN THE CROWD by Luis Alfredo Garcia-Roza: Garcia-Roza’s latest, Alone in the Crowd, is about as good a psychological mystery as I have read in a long, long time. It is not a thriller, but rather a psychological study of a very strange bank teller who the good Inspector Spinosa knew when they were both boys playing soccer in the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

The story begins like a James Joyce day in the life of an ordinary person story. The ordinary person in this case is an elderly lady, Dona Laureta Sales Ribiero. She spends most of the day waiting at her bank to withdraw her pension money. Then she goes to the grocery store, the pharmacy and the police station. At the station, she asks for the Chief and is advised that Inspector Spinosa is in a meeting but will be available later. She says that she will come back after dinner and leaves. Before she can return, she is run over by a bus.

Like Sherlock Holmes, Spinosa is quick to sense the possibility of a crime before there is clear evidence of a murder to others. His investigation quickly centers on the teller at the bank, one Hugo Breno. Breno is a loner, who for reasons known best to himself, feels safest in a crowd. Spinosa eventually remembers their acquaintance as children and the remainder of the story is the way in which these two characters come to understand each other.  And, as always in Garcia-Roza’s books, there is more than one puzzle for the reader. In this case, one side-puzzle is the behavior of Spinosa’s girl friend, Irena and her friend Vania.

Although I would not classify this novel as a “thriller,” it does have an exciting finish. I am an unabashed fan of both Garcia-Roza and Inspector Spinosa and recommend this highly. 08/09 Geoffrey R. Hamlin  

ALPHA by Rachel Vincent: The war that’s been brewing between the Prides has finally arrived. Just days after the events of Shift, Faythe and her Pride are ready to present undeniable proof that Calvin Malone has been manipulating and using the Council to suit his own needs, and at the expense of everyone else. But with the Council split between support for Malone and support for Faythe’s father, even now the task at hand seems impossible. The only option left is to fight to the death and hope that the good guys come out on top. It will mean losing some of their own but if the battle is lost altogether, it will mean much, much worse for Faythe and her family. In the midst of it all, Faythe’s own role with the Pride will change and she will finally have to decide who will lead alongside her: Jace or Marc. I’m sad to see the series go. With five books to build up the action and just one to tie it all up, I’m left wanting more from the story. I’m not sure what Vincent has planned next, but I’ve not doubt it’ll be great. 10/10 Becky Lejeune 

The Alpine Recluse by Mary Daheim: This latest mystery is the eighteenth in Daheim’s alphabetical series set in Alpine, Washington, a small community where Emma Lord is the owner and publisher of the weekly newspaper, The Alpine Advocate. Along with her House & Home Editor, Vida Runkel, Emma is not afraid to investigate any incidents in their town, in order to cover the news. When a young man is found murdered in the ashes of his house that was set on fire, local suspicion falls on Old Nick, a hermit seen recently around town. However, Emma suspects that the man’s death might have more to do with his wife and family. Local connections and stories are told as Emma and Vida snoop into the background of the family. Fans of this series have watched the changes in Emma and her relationships over the years. This is an enjoyable series for those of us who appreciate small town mysteries with the interlocked relationships and gossip.  04/06 Lesa Holstine

THE ALPINE SCANDAL by Mary Daheim: In the nineteenth book in the Alpine mystery series, newspaper owner Emma Lord receives the obituary of Elmer Nystrom in the mail, postmarked before the date of the death. Emma's House & Home editor, Vida Runkel informs her that Elmer is still alive, and it must be some sort of prank. When the two visit Nystrom residence, they discover the body of Elmer in his chicken coop. The investigation is stymied due to the sheriff's stints in the hospital, and the fact that everyone in town seems to have liked Elmer. No one, though, seems to have known the Nystrom family well.  This latest book seems to be stale, and the characters themselves seem tired of their roles. It might be time for Daheim to shake up the series. 04/07 Lesa Holstine

THE ALPINE TRAITOR by Mary Daheim: Despite the fact this is the twentieth in Daheim’s Alpine mystery series, it’s one of the strongest stories yet. Emma Lord is the middle-aged newspaper publisher in Alpine, Washington, who gets dragged into investigations because of her job. This time, it’s her newspaper itself, and her past, that drags her in. When there’s an offer to purchase the Advocate, Emma is shocked to discover the children of her late lover are behind the deal. She’s even more shocked when a man turns up dead, and she becomes a suspect. She discovers a complicated scheme behind the whole deal in a mystery that hinges on her past. Daheim’s mysteries haven’t grown stale. 04/08 Lesa Holstine

Altar Music by Christin Lore Weber:  A fascinating look at Catholicism and sex written by one who knows, an ex-nun.  The story follows three generations of women and how their religion affected their lives.  This book shows the darker side of the convent, as well as the personal damage that can be done in the name of God.

ALWAYS SAY GOODBYE by Stuart M. Kaminsky: Sarasota, Fla., process server and occasional PI Lew Fonesca finally feels up to begin tracking down the hit-and-run driver who killed his wife, Catherine, a prosecutor in Chicago four years earlier. Hardly has he landed at Midway airport when Lew finds himself between two warring assassins-for-hire who believe Catherine had compiled a file of evidence against them that Lew now has. Chicago is obviously colder and more dangerous than Sarasota but this is something Lew has to do to move forward with his life. The fifth in the series, each one is better than its predecessor. 12/06 Jack Quick

ALWAYS SAY GOODBYE by Stuart M. Kaminsky: After four years, and five books, process server Lou Fonesca decides it’s time to go home to Chicago, and look for the person who killed his wife, Catherine, in a hit-and-run incident. He no sooner arrives and is picked up by his brother-in-law, when he becomes the target of a killer. Someone wants to prevent the investigation into Catherine’s death. Is it related to her work as a prosecuting attorney? Is it related to the war between two hired assassins? Fonesca, a fascinating man, is a loner who is prone to depression. He left a few friends behind in Sarasota, FL, but found he still has attachments in Chicago. Fonesca’s search is an investigation into Catherine’s death, but it is also a search for the answers to his own life. Kaminsky’s latest mystery is as much an examination of a man’s soul as it is a search for a killer. Kaminsky could continue this series. Will he continue it, after Fonesca has found the answer to the main question in his life? 12/06 Lesa Holstine

THE AMATEURS by Marcus Sakey:  Sakey writes these intense thrillers about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and he's one of my favorite writers.  The Amateurs is his latest foray into the genre, and here he looks at what makes people do the things that they do - especially when they know they are wrong.  In this case, a group of casual drinking buddies, a couple of whom have pressing financial needs, decide to add a little excitement and money into their lives by robbing the owner of the bar they hang out in.  But what seems like a lark turns much deadlier very quickly. Mitch is a hotel bellman with low self esteem and an unrequited crush on Jenn, the only girl in the group.  Jenn's a looker, but she's just bored with life and being a good girl.  She wants an adventure. Ian is the most successful of the group, but he's also a compulsive gambler with big debt to the wrong people. Alex is the bartender where they hang out, and a single father who's ex is planning to move cross country with his daughter.  When Alex tells his friends that he saw a big cash delivery to his big shot boss, they decide to steal it. Jenn will get her adventure, Alex and Ian the cash they need, and Mitch gets his chance to impress Jenn.  They cook up what seems like the perfect plan, but of course it goes awry; after all, they are complete amateurs at crime.  Sakey creates believable characters in this heartbreaking story of good guys gone bad. 08/09 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon:  This year's Pulitzer Prize winning novel is the beautifully written story of two men growing up together in New York.  With WW2 at their backs, this historical look at the 20th century captivates the reader by introducing us to the golden age of the comic book.  Their adventures in creating a comic book hero makes for a most compelling read.

The Amber Room by Steve Berry:  If you're looking for something after the Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown has a blurb on the cover,) this could be your book.  A fascinating blend of history and suspense involving the Amber Room, whose walls were made of the precious stone which was carved into artistic panels and was looted from Catherine's Palace in St. Petersburg by the Nazis during WWII.  A judge from Georgia inherits some cryptic letters from her father after his death, including the ominous warning that whatever she does, she shouldn't look for the Amber Room.  So of course she does, and her ex-husband ends up chasing after her to Germany.  A couple of assassins are leaving a trail of bodies, while this secret society of art collectors tries to zero in on the find of the century.  It was impossible to put down this fast paced treasure hunt.

THE AMBITION by Lee Strobel: Only in Chicago - the mob, crooked politicians, old time newspaper guys, and a mega-church pastor turned politician.  Strobel ties them all together in a tale that wanders all over the map before reaching a biting climax.  It starts with a fourth generation O'Sullivan, a down-on-his-luck lawyer with a gambling problem.  When he must bribe a federal; judge in connection with an upcoming mob trial, he secretly tapes the exchange.  Later, the dirty judge becomes a finalist for an open U.S. Senate seat. His challenger is Eric Snow, a dot-com millionaire who found religion and founded Diamond Point, a massively successful evangelical Christian group.  Think Mark Cuban investing in God rather than the Dallas Mavericks. Newspaper reporter Garry Strider is the glue who ties it all together as he threatens to uncover both candidates' secrets in an investigation that may cost him his life.  If you enjoy Michael T. Harvey's portrayal of the Windy City, you will likely want to add Strobel to your reading list as well. 08/11 Jack Quick KINDLE

AMERICAN SKIN by Ken Bruen: Only Bruen could take a fairly routine plot about bank robbers disagreeing over the disposition of the loot and take it into totally new territory. The key players are Stephen Blake who has the money, and whose girlfriend, Siobhan, knows how to launder it, John A. Stapleton, hit man for the IRA, who thinks 100% is a fair share and Dade, so psychotic he hits meth to enjoy movies and is obsessively devoted to the music of Tammy Wynette. Is this literature for the ages? Probably not, but what a helluva read. If you are a Bruen fan, go get it. If you are not a Bruen fan, still go get it. You will become one. 10/06 Jack Quick

AMERICAN WIFE by Curtis Sittenfeld: Touted as a lightly fictionalized Laura Bush story, the author even includes a note stating that while names may have been changed, the people you recognize are, in fact, the people you think they are.  That said, the Bush marriage has always puzzled me, and apparently a lot of other people too.  This is the story of how a smart, pretty, hard working middle class librarian ended up married to a wealthy member of a political dynasty who achieved the Presidency of the United States, while often being perceived as a bumbling fool if not worse. I vaguely remember hearing about a car accident that Laura Bush was involved in, and this book pivots on that event.  Alice Lindgren of small town Riley, Wisconsin, is a teenager when she runs a stop sign and kills a classmate.  While never formally charged, this event affects the rest of her life.  Alice is naive but sure of herself enough to be particular in who she dates.  When she meets Charlie Blackwell, he charms her enough to sweep her off her feet and they marry within a few months.  It takes her years to realize what even his own family knows; that he is lazy, bungling and a bit of an idiot.  Alice feels that with her smarts and organizational skills, she can help Charlie meet his destiny, and she does, first as he buys a baseball team, then during his run for Governor and finally the White House.  Fast reading for the most part and always interesting, especially the early parts of coming of age in a small town and even the marriage, but the ending was really over the top, bordering on ridiculous.  10/08 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

AMMUNITION by Ken Bruen:  In this seventh Sergeant Brant outing, our hero is in a London pub brooding about the death of his idol, real-life author Ed McBain, when a gunman opens fire and then disappears. (Eats, shoots and leaves?)  Although hit a number of times, he survives and to the dismay of criminals and cops alike he is soon back on the job, crankier than ever, and vowing revenge. Concurrently, Sergeant Falls and constable McDonald, key players in the previous adventures are having their own problems – Falls with a psycho named Angie and McDonald with the powdered white lady.  It’s a train wreck in progress but somehow it all comes to a satisfactory end. 01/08 Jack Quick

AND ONLY TO DECEIVE by Tasha Alexander: In her debut novel, Tasha Alexander creates a world and character for fans of Georgette Heyer and Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody. Emily Ashton married her husband, Viscount Philip Ashton, to escape her mother, who was husband-hunting for her. Six months later, Emily was a wealthy widow in Victorian England. Her husband died in Africa, leaving her his villa on the Aegean, his Greek antiquities collection and an Impressionist art collection. Intrigued by the Greek antiquities, Emily’s research leads to troubling doubts about the husband she knew little about. Was he involved in the theft and forgery of valuable Greek treasures? Can she trust either of Philip’s close friends? One man courts Emily, and one warns her to cease her probing questions. As Emily grows as an independent widow, she reveals much about the role of women in Victorian England, and the expectations society placed on them. She’s forced to push past some of those expectations in order to find the secrets behind her husband’s life. Alexander has created a strong Victorian woman who might have a role in a future novel. 11/05 ~This review contributed by Lesa Holstine.

AND SHE WAS by Cindy Dyson: This is a fantastic debut set in the Aleutian Islands in the mid 1980's. When Brandy follows her boyfriend to this remote setting, she is left to her own devices as he ships off to sea on a fishing trawler. She manages to find work at one of the toughest bars in the world. Here, one of her favorite pastimes - collecting bathroom graffiti - causes her to get embroiled in a mystery of sorts that spans generations. Paralleling Brandy's tale is that of three women and their female ancestors. In the 1700's when explorers discover these remote islands, the men of the Aleutian society leave to protect their homes against the invaders. While the men are off fighting, the women and children are forced to fend for themselves. As hunting is a men's task and all the men are gone, food is becoming scarce. Three women are forced to take matters into their own hands and in doing so they leave themselves open to being banished from their society. This is a story of self discovery and growth as well as one that gives insight to cultural differences and taboos. And She Was is a truly amazing read that I cannot recommend highly enough. Dyson's writing is impeccable and the story will appeal to a very broad audience. 12/06 Becky LeJeune

ANGELOLOGY by Danielle Trussoni: The St. Rose convent in Milton, New York, has been home for Sister Evangeline since she was just twelve years old; the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration her family for over a decade. But Evangeline comes from a long line of Angelologists who have been studying and fighting the Nephilim for ages. Legend has it that the Watchers, God’s angels, were so enamored with human women, that they took them for wives. They were punished, imprisoned deep beneath the earth, where they still wait today. The Nephilim are their children: beings not wholly human and not wholly angel. The Nephilim are dangerous and vengeful creatures that have long fought humans for dominance on earth. But Evangeline knows none of this. When a request to search the convent’s archives for correspondence from Abigail Rockefeller piques Evangeline’s curiosity, she is thrown headfirst into a battle that began thousands of years ago, and the search for the one item that could give either side the advantage over the other. Angelology is as imaginative and exciting as Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian. A literary puzzle that unfolds with excellent precision, Trussoni’s fiction debut has it all: history, adventure, mythology, and a definite feeling that there will be more to come. 03/10 Becky Lejeune 

THE ANGEL’S GAME by Carlos Ruiz Zafón: Zafón brings to life an eerie version of 1920s Barcelona in his second U.S. release. Readers will remember Sempere and Sons bookshop and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books from the author’s first release, The Shadow of the Wind. In Angel’s Game, author David Martin has been working for years writing penny-dreadfuls under a pseudonym. He longs for the recognition and respect deserving of a real author, however, and takes a commission from a strange man offering him unreal payment and favors in return. David, whose success prompted him to rent a foreboding home called The Tower House, has learned that there may be a deeper connection between himself and the previous owner of the home, a lawyer who left his business to write. As David digs into this man’s life and what led to his mysterious drowning, he begins to wonder what fate may await him at the end of his contract. Angel’s Game is very similar in many ways to Shadow of the Wind, but is no less magical a read. It’s one that begs to be savored and read slowly because, upon entering Zafón’s created world, you never want to leave. I’ve been waiting in great anticipation for Angel’s Game and was, obviously, not let down. I highly recommend that if you have not yet read Shadow of the Wind, you run out and buy both books now. 06/09 Becky Lejeune 

ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION by Keith Donohue:  Margaret Quinn leads a very lonely life. Ten years ago, her daughter ran off with her boyfriend, a revolutionary planning to join the Angels of Destruction. Just a few years later Margaret’s husband died leaving her all alone. But one night, in the wee hours, a young girl appears on Margaret’s doorstep. The girl, Norah, reminds Margaret so much of her lost daughter, that she allows Norah to stay. The two create a story in which Norah is Margaret’s granddaughter, left in her care by the missing daughter who returned just long enough to abandon the child. Norah’s presence is just what Margaret has been longing for all these years. When Norah begins disrupting her classroom and then the town itself with her talk of angels and apocalypse, cracks begin to form in their carefully plotted cover story. Is it possible that Norah really is an angel sent to answer Margaret’s prayers? Like Donohue’s debut, The Stolen Child, Angels of Destruction is a blend of fantasy and reality. It’s a tale of loneliness and forgiveness and of childlike faith. It’s touching and sweet and sticks with you long after you finish. 03/09 Becky Lejeune 

ANGEL'S TIP by Alafair Burke: New York City rookie police detective Ellie Hatcher, first introduced in Dead Connection, is out doing her morning run when she runs into the dead body of a teenage girl who’d been strangled, stabbed and had her hair shorn.  The nineteen year old blonde was visiting the Big Apple with friends and hitting all the clubs while on break from college, which creates a whirlwind of bad publicity for the city.  NYPD breaks the case very quickly – or have they?  Turns out there are some weird similarities to some cold cases that Hatcher’s deceased partner had been checking out, and she is unconvinced they have the right perp. When another young woman is killed in a similar fashion, even the hunky district attorney has to admit there are some problems with the case, and Hatcher is getting a very uneasy feeling that somehow it’s personal.  Lots of suspense and plot twists galore keep the pages turning, but it’s the personal storylines about Hatcher, her boyfriend, her brother, and her partner that makes Angel’s Tip a winner.  8/08 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch Copyright © 2008 Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.  Reprinted with permission.

ANGEL'S TIP by Alafair Burke: The second book in Burke’s Det. Ellie Hatcher series brings back a stronger, more confident NYPD detective in an outstanding police procedural. When Ellie and her brother, Jess, find a body when jogging, she calls it in as first officer on the scene. Suddenly, she’s involved in a high-pressure case with an urgency in finding the killer of an attractive blonde from out of town. Everyone is happy when they quickly zero in on a suspect, but one phone call disturbs Ellie. The father of a girl who was killed said it reminded him of her murder. He didn’t even know both victims had their hair cut. Suddenly, Ellie’s looking for a killer who might have been working over a number of years. The killer’s motive is a little weak in this book, but, overall, it’s a strong effort from Burke. 08/08 Lesa Holstine

ANGEL’S TIP by Alafair Burke:  A first rate police procedural from the daughter of James Lee Burke.  In this second Elli Hatcher outing, the newly assigned NYPD homicide detective is first on the scene at the discovery of the mutilated body of a college student.  She and partner J.J. Rogan have an abundance is suspects that come into and then out of the picture as more evidence is unearthed that finally leads to a manhunt for a serial killer.  Very nicely done and suspenseful to the end; let’s hope we continue to see more of Ms. Hatcher in the months and years ahead.  Completely different from, but potentially as enduring as her dad’s Dave Robicheaux. 09/08 Jack Quick 

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner: A  big, sprawling novel of incredible description and complex characters.  There are two stories going on here; the narrator of modern day writing a historical biography of his grandparents who helped settle the old West.  Based on the life of Mary Hallock Foote, a writer and artist of the late 1800's, Stegner combines her story with his imagination and comes up with a beautiful book.  Winner of the 1971 Pulitzer Prize.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik:  Five women, neighbors, meet in the early 1960's in Minnesota and form the Freesia Court Book Club, but that name evolves into the Angry Housewives from a snide remark of the husband of one of the members.  These women share their lives - their marriages, children, politics, and of course their love of reading, over the course of the next thirty-plus years.  The characters are an interesting mélange of suburban housewives - Audrey, an independently wealthy woman who doesn't leave home without baring her cleavage; Slip, the politically motivated feminist rebel; Faith, who has a past she'd rather forget; Kari, a slightly older widow who adopts a bi-racial baby; and Merit, the beauty who is married to the beast.  Each chapter is written in the voice of the host (not hostess - Slip feels that feminizing nouns is demeaning to women), which begins each chapter, along with the book they are reading - which ranges from Love Story (they hated it) to The Total Woman (they really hated it - or was that me?) to On the Road (loved it) to A Confederacy of Dunces (thought provoking), along with the reason chosen or food served or highlight of the meeting, bringing a varying perspective to everything going on their lives and a nostalgic (for me) look back on the past few decades.  This is obviously a book aimed at reading groups, yet it doesn't come off as a commercial attempt at such, but rather a creative and fascinating look at the role of women over the last part of the twentieth century - the books are just an added bonus. Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L. M. Montgomery:  The 100th anniversary edition of this classic children's book was released in 2008, and I finally took the time to read it. I'm sure I read it when I was a child, but that was thousands of books ago and while I remembered I enjoyed it, I didn't remember much more.  I loved it, probably more than I did as a child because my perspective is so much different, and I couldn't put it down.  The writing is lovely, the characters fully realized, and Anne Shirley's adventures at the Green Gables farm on Prince Edward Island in Canada is a marvelous story that deserves to live on for many hundreds of years more. 02/09 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish:  From the time I started this beautiful book, I laughed and cried. I laughed with Katherine Givens as she grieved over the loss of her favorite bra. I cried and laughed throughout the book as she and four other women celebrated the life and death of their friend Annie G. Freeman. When Katherine receives Annie’s ashes in her favorite red tennis shoes, she’s instructed to contact four other women and, on Annie’s money, travel to Santa Fe, Key West, New York City, Duluth and a small island off of Seattle to scatter the ashes. Any woman who has loved and lost someone they love will appreciate this book with its awareness of the value of female friendship. 02/06 Lesa Holstine

THE ANNIVERSARY MAN by R.J. Ellory: John Costello survived the Hammer of God killings in 1984. His girlfriend did not. Ever since then, John has become obsessed with the why. Why do serial killers do what they do? What made him and Nadia a target? Why did he survive? He’s devoted his career to their study and is the only one to draw a connection between a recent series of murders in New York. When Detective Ray Irving is alerted to the fact that these seemingly random crimes are all exact copies of previous serial killers’ scenes, he is assigned as lead in the investigation. But the department wants to keep this one quiet and Irving will need Costello’s help to try and catch the killer before he strikes again. The Anniversary Man is just Ellory’s second release here in the States (he has seven titles available in the UK) and he’s quickly cementing himself as one of my favorites in the crime genre. His stories are dark and disturbing, his plots keep you guessing, and they never end quite like you think they will. 06/10 Becky Lejeune   

THE ANNIVERSARY MAN by R.J. Ellory: No sophomore slump here, as Ellroy’s second is, IMHO, a much better outing than 2009’s A Quiet Belief in Angels.  This is an excellent story with much tighter writing and a tremendous plot.  NYPD Detective Ray Irving risks his code of ethics and, ultimately, his life to track down a serial killer who is imitating the crimes of some of the worst monsters our society has spawned. Newspaper researcher John Costello, a psychologically damaged survivor of the “Hammer of God” killer, becomes a prime source of information even though twenty years have passed since his traumatic event. Costello inevitably becomes Irving’s number-one resource as well as his number-one suspect. The resolution is breath-taking. Definitely recommended. 08/10 Jack Quick  

ANOTHER LIFE by Andrew Vachss:  From 1985’s Flood to this, the18^th Burke adventure (touted as the last one), Burke is either a character you love or hate.  It is hard to envision anyone being neutral about this outlaw soldier-of-fortune investigator.  Another Life starts as gritty as ever - Revenge is like any other religion: There's always a lot more preaching than there is practicing – and proceeds to several seemingly unconnected sequences.  A sniper shoots Burke’s “father” and the family tries to save “the Prof” sans hospital.  Next, a representative of the U.S. intelligence establishment draws Burke into a kidnapping case.  .  Early one morning, somebody removed the infant son of a Saudi prince from his father's custom Rolls, parked near an abandoned pier near the Hudson River.  A prostitute, who didn’t realize the child was in the back seat, was servicing the prince, at the time.  If you liked Burke before you will enjoy this one, if not, this one won’t change your opinion. Me, I liked it. 01/09 Jack Quick 

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST by Jennifer Rardin: The second book in the Jaz Parks series picks up mere months after Rardin’s debut, Once Bitten, Twice Shy, left off. After recovering from her battle with the Tor-al-degan, a being that would have brought about the end of humankind as we know it, Jaz and her team have been brought together again for a new mission. The powers that be at the CIA have sent the team to Corpus Christi, Texas, where they will be attending (and much to Jasmine’s chagrin, performing in) the town’s Winter Festival. An ancient Chinese vampire has stolen a top-secret weapon prototype and the team must recover it before it is too late. Chien-Lung, the vamp in question, has taken an experimental set of armor that bonds to its wearer making him or her nearly invincible. Chien’s plan is to amass an entire army outfitted with the stuff and set off the next world war. The team’s mission impossible becomes even more complicated when they discover that they are up against a new enemy known as reavers. The reavers have been sent by none other than the Raptor, the government official who was behind the events of their last mission. Then, to make matters even worse, Jaz has been suffering from some killer nightmares, literally. If you can imagine Buffy and her Scooby gang growing up to work for the CIA, you have some idea what is in store for you with this series. Rardin has picked up some serious speed with book two; the characters are interesting and the plots are exciting and original. This is definitely a series that has to be started from the beginning. 12/07 Becky Lejeune  

ANOTHER THING TO FALL by Laura Lippman: Baltimore is the temporary home of a big budget television series, which doesn’t please the locals as much as one would think. Tess Monaghan manages to ruin a day’s shooting while out rowing, and in the process finds herself the sought after security detail for Selene, the twenty-year-old star of the show. Strange things are happening on set, and Tess agrees to baby-sit providing the producers give Crow’s latest project, Lloyd, a job. The details are worked out, but when Tess is outsmarted by Selene, she is forced to bring in extra help. Then one of the production staff is murdered, and it seems like everyone on set is suspect, from the producers to the actors to the writers and the staff. The production of a television series is complicated business, and Lippman includes lots of Hollywood detail in this Charm City murder mystery. It’s an interesting story with a lot of characters, but unfortunately Tess is the only character that is fully fleshed out. Not Lippman’s best effort, but fans of the series will want to read it anyway. 04/08 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch Copyright © 2008 Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.  Reprinted with permission. 

THE ANTEATER OF DEATH by Betty Webb: Webb departs from her noir Lena Jones series to start a new series set at the Gunn Zoo in California. This softer series introduces zookeeper Teddy Bentley, and her eccentric family, a socialite mother and a con man father on the run from the law. When Teddy finds the body of one of the zoo benefactors in the anteater’s enclosure, she’s afraid for the anteater’s life. It’s little consolation to discover the anteater didn’t kill anyone, because another zookeeper is arrested for the murder. Despite conflicts with the sheriff, an old boyfriend, Teddy is determined to find the killer so the zoo can return to normal. Webb’s new series is a delight for animal lovers, and for those who enjoy a zany cast of characters. 01/09 Lesa Holstine

ANTIQUES TO DIE FOR by Jane K. Cleland: The third Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery is the best in the series. Josie has become a successful businesswoman with Josie Prescott Antiques and Appraisal. When a friend dies, leaving behind a twelve-year-old sister, and a message about an unknown treasure that will make her rich, Josie is the logical person to help Paige find that treasure. When she becomes the target of a stalker, who had sent her dead friend flowers, she’s the logical person to become his next victim. With her various resources, she’s the right person to track a killer and a treasure. Antiques to Die For is a strong entry in the series. 04/08 Lesa Holstine

ANY GIVEN DOOMSDAY by Lori Handeland: Elizabeth Phoenix is psychic who uses her abilities to help solve crimes for the Milwaukee Police Department. Lizzie's foster mother, Ruthie, is found viciously murdered, and the police believe the killer to be Jimmy Sanducci, her former lover. Lizzie immediately begins the hunt to find Ruthie's murderer, and soon discovers a world of demons, vampires, empaths, and shape-shifters. Lizzie's investigating reveals a plot to enslave and destroy all humans. She discovers that Ruthie was a seer-an individual that could detect demons. When Ruthie died, Lizzie has inherited her powers. Lizzie also has the ability to "steal" the powers of others, but the method of obtaining such powers isn't easy. ANY GIVEN DOOMSDAY is a faced paced, action packed read, the first book in the Phoenix Chronicles. The storyline and slate of characters revealed in this book grab you from the beginning. The biblical aspect of the storyline was quite interesting and added another interesting spin to the story. The second installment of this series is scheduled to release in May 2009, which can't come soon enough. 11/08 Jennifer Lawrence

ANY WHICH WAY BUT DEAD by Kim Harrison: This third book of the Hollows series starts off with a bang and never lets up. It begins with Rachel trying to find a way to outsmart the demon Big Al while still upholding her end of the bargain made in The Good, The Bad and The Undead that would make her his familiar and slave. She is successful, for the moment, but her trouble doesn’t end there. Her boyfriend Nick has been more than just a little distant lately, but Rachel is still surprised when he leaves for parts unknown claiming that he will be back in just a few months. Afraid that this means the end of their relationship, Rachel finds herself giving in to her attraction to Kisten, that hunky vampire that she can’t seem to avoid lately. Then, a powerful new boss arrives on the scene in Cincinnati and Rachel must do everything in her power to prevent him from taking over. Add to that the fact that she has managed to royally pissed off her pixy partner Jenks and that she’s been hired to protect the one elf that she absolutely despises and you get an absolutely hilarious and bewitching read. This series just keeps getting better and better and I can’t get enough. Kim Harrison is one of the best and the brightest in the urban fantasy genre. This is a series that is not to be missed. 04/07 Becky Lejeune

ANYA'S GHOST by Vera Brosgol: I am not a big graphic novel (AKA comic book) fan, but I keep trying them. This one came blurbed "A masterpiece!" by Neil Gaiman right on the cover so I gave it a shot - and I loved it. This is the story of Anya, a teenage Russian émigré who lives a fairly lonely, isolated existence. She goes to a private school and her only friend is another Russian immigrant who isn't especially nice to her. She has an annoying little brother and a single mom who worries about her. One day Anya is wandering around alone when she falls into an old abandoned well. If that isn't scary enough, there is a skeleton lying there beside her. As she screams for help, a ghost rises up from the skeleton and introduces herself as Emily. Emily tells Anya that she and her parents were murdered ninety years earlier. Anya is rescued, and Emily comes with her. The girl and the ghost become friends, until Anya decides to try and solve Emily's murder. The story takes some creepy turns and nothing is as it first appeared to be. This is a fast read with a terrific story, interesting characters and subdued illustrations that perfectly serve the mood of the book. My 18 year old daughter read it after I did, and also loved it, calling it "creepy and wonderful." Anya's Ghost is extremely well done, and is my new favorite graphic novel. Check out the book trailer, and if you're curious as to how a graphic novel is written and illustrated, check out the author's website Verabee. 06/11 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

ANYBODY ANY MINUTE by Julie Mars: Women have mid-life crises too, as amply illustrated in this occasionally amusing, occasionally tiresome look at one such crisis.  Ellen Kenny is a middle-aged hippie leftover from the sixties.  This book is set in the 1980's, primarily I think, to avoid the use of cell phones and to hammer home the point that Ellen was able to drive through a small town in upstate New York and buy a farm using the cash advance on her credit card.  Even with the price of real estate falling through the floor these days, that just would not be possible today, unless you have really good credit, I guess.  She moves to the ramshackle farm, and I'm being kind here, leaving her good looking, attorney husband alone in New York City while she tries to figure out what she is doing with her life.  She meets some local folk who at first, appear to be the odd sort one would generalize about small town people, but it turns out they are gifted in their own ways, and share their gifts with Ellen.  She ends up taking care of a neighbor's dog and her sister's baby, learning to take care of herself in the process.  An interesting premise but just a little too cliché for me.  7/08 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes: The lovable Walsh family (Angels, Watermelon) is back in Keyes’ newest endeavor, this time with Anna at center stage when she suffers serious injuries in a taxi accident in Manhattan and ends up recuperating at home with her parents in Dublin. But Anna has more to worry about: the escapades of her sister Helen, a private eye working for Irish gangsters; her best friend and her sorry romances; her sister Rachel’s upcoming nuptials; and her mother’s obsession with a dog that is being trained to poop next to the mailbox. Her physical wounds slowly heal and she gets the itch to go back to NY and find her husband Aidan, who is not answering her emails and seems to have become a rather shadowy character. Anna not only desperately misses him, she also misses her incredible job in the cosmetics industry and her New York lifestyle. Anna goes back, gets involved with a psychic and life takes some shocking turns. Once again Keyes has penned an intelligently written novel that is as funny as her previous books, but is ultimately much more heart-breaking. 05/06 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch. Copyright © 2006 Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.  Reprinted with permission. 

ANYBODY OUT THERE by Marian Keyes: After surviving a terrible car accident, Anna Walsh returns to her parents' home in Ireland to recuperate. While overseas, she places numerous calls to her beloved Aiden, wondering why he hasn't come to see her or help her through this tough time. Upon returning to her home and her job in New York, Anna comes to the horrible realization that Aiden did not survive that fatal accident. Throughout her painful recovery and her subsequent return to New York, Anna recounts her experiences up until the horrible accident that changed her life. Her heart wrenching, but in typical Keyes fashion, amusing recovery will touch readers to the core. Fans will remember sisters Rachel, Claire and Maggie who have each been featured in previous Keyes titles. Helen's part of the story significantly lightens things up as she plays private eye back in Ireland. This sweet and sad tale is surprisingly funny and has made a real Keyes fan out of me. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a light but touching read. 02/07 Becky Lejeune

Anyway the Wind Blows by E. Lynn Harris: Basil and Yancy are back and the shit is flying!  Fast and fun. Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen:  In this [not-so-great] sequel to The Surgeon [which was gristly and great!], Detective Jane Rizzoli is called to a crime scene out of her jurisdiction. The victim is a wealthy doctor, found with his throat slashed, sitting on the floor of his living room in his pajamas, with a teacup in his lap. His wife is missing, but her nightgown is found folded neatly on a chair in the bedroom. The similarities to the serial killer Warren Hoyt, nicknamed the Surgeon, are unmistakable, but he is in prison, which leads Rizzoli to think copycat killer. 

The killing spree continues, Hoyt escapes, and the F.B.I. is interested and not saying why. Meanwhile, Rizzoli has to deal with the emotional trauma she's neglected since Hoyt was put away, her growing attraction to Special Agent Dean, and the very real possibility that she will be the next victim. 

There is gore galore and plenty of techno-babble for DNA aficionados, but there were no real surprises here and the ending was not very satisfying. Still, fans of The Surgeon will want to read this sequel.  Available August 20, 2002. Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch Copyright © 2002 Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.  Reprinted with permission.

THE ARCHANGEL PROJECT by C.S. Graham: Husband and wife writing team C.S. Graham’s debut is a page-turning thriller with an interesting premise based on recently revealed government experiments involving psi soldiers. October “Tobie” Guinness joined the military hoping that her talents as a linguist would keep her from active duty. She was wrong. But her trip to Iraq ends with a psycho discharge and a stain on her record thanks to intel no one wanted to believe. Intel she herself could not back up thanks to the way it was acquired. Tobie subsequently learns that she is a talented remote viewer, able to “see” places and events simply by being given a set of coordinates on which to focus. Her involvement in a project at Tulane leads to catastrophic results when a black ops group is sent to eliminate both Tobie and the professor studying her ability. But getting rid of Tobie is not going to be so easy, especially after she receives help from a tough CIA agent determined to protect her. An absolute knock-out read. Fans of Steve Berry and James Rollins will love C.S. Graham. 11/09 Becky Lejeune 

The Archivist by Martha Cooley: Intense, interesting, heart wrenching, excellent book and a must read for any T. S. Eliot aficionado. Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King: San Francisco Police Inspector Kate Martinelli’s latest case connects her to the world of literary detection. Philip Gilbert, the victim of a murder, is one of the world’s leading experts on Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and it’s devotion to them that may have led to his death. Since Gilbert’s entire life revolved around Holmes, it’s only natural for Martinelli to investigate his acquaintances in a Holmes Dinner Club. Gilbert’s home was decorated appropriately, and at times he dressed as the great detective. Was it Gilbert’s obsession with an unknown manuscript that led to the murder? Martinelli finds the short manuscript itself compelling, and a possible clue. This homage can be read by fans of Holmes, or fans of Martinelli, as her personal life continues to evolve. However, King’s new book has an obsession with detail that may not be for all mystery fans. 06/06 Lesa Holstine

THE ART OF DISAPPEARING by Ivy Pochoda: Was it coincidence, fate, or magic that brought together Mel Snow and Toby Warring? Mel doesn’t know, but two days later she marries Toby. Life seems to be going well for the new couple: Mel, a textile consultant, lands a job with a new casino and Toby, a magician, gets a gig just off the strip in Las Vegas. Las Vegas: the destiny of choice for all magicians. But Mel knows that Toby’s show is the real illusion. Toby is a real magician. No sleight of hand or misdirection, but really real magic. Even Toby isn’t sure just how much power he possesses, but his ability has caused him some great emotional trauma throughout the years. His last human assistant disappeared without a trace and Toby has been careful not to make the same mistake again. Toby is just one step away from the fame and recognition he’s always wanted, and just one step from total ruination as well. Mel’s love is strong enough to hold them together through it all, but when Toby’s magic begins to twist their reality, Mel begins to wonder if anything in their life is what it seems. Pochoda’s debut is a magical tale of romance and loss, sweet and heartfelt. 09/09 Becky Lejeune 

THE ART OF MAKING MONEY by Jason Kersten:  Counterfeiter Art Williams Jr. was born in 1972 and abandoned by his father to poverty, the gritty gangs of Chicago and a mentally ill mother. He slid into an underworld of theft and violence before a money crafter introduced him to counterfeiting. For the next 14 years, Williams produced millions of dollars worth of uncannily accurate bills till the Secret Service caught up with him.   This isn’t fiction although it reads that way with characters like a Chinese mob leader known as the Horse and tales of giddy shopping sprees fueled by sex and fake bills It’s a tale of how a young smalltime crook with a meticulous eye for artistic detail and an addiction to the thrill of crime crafts millions in high-quality phony bills who is also, as portrayed by Kersten “a sensitive young man seeking paternal love and aesthetic validation”.  Nicely done tale. 10/09 Jack Quick 

As Long as She Needs Me by Nicholas Weinstock:  Sweet, funny contemporary British love story along the lines of Bridget Jones Diary, except the protagonist is the flip side, i.e. the guy.  Very entertaining. Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

THE ASCENT by Ronald Malfi: Tim Overleigh has been spiraling downward since the tragic death of his wife. Once a promising artist—an up-and-coming sculptor who was the talk of the art community—Tim has found his inspiration has left him. His new efforts have gone into drinking and extreme sports, activities that have nearly cost him his life. When an old friend approaches Tim with a proposal, he initially brushes it off. It would be the chance of a lifetime, a trek through the mountains of Nepal to reach the never-before-explored Canyon of Souls, an area steeped in mystical legend and lore. Tim finally decides to go for it, understanding that the trip will be harrowing and may even cost him his life. He and his fellow adventurers have no idea what they are really in for, though. I enjoyed the adrenaline-fueled action and am an admitted sucker for this kind of setting. Overall, for a quick and fun read, The Ascent delivered. My one complaint is that while there is some useful character development, it’s really just enough to get the story by. If you’re looking for a deep read, this is not it. If you’re looking for a book in the vein of Vertical Limit (guilty pleasure of mine), then you’ll enjoy Malfi’s latest. 09/10 Becky Lejeune

ASK THE DICE by Ed Lynskey: Tommy Mack Zane has faithfully worked as a contract killer for Watson Ogg, the Washington, D.C. crime boss, for some twenty years. Apparently, Mr. Ogg has decided to retire Zane – permanently. After Zane is framed for the murder of Ogg's niece, he fights back with the aid of his friends the mercurial D. Noble and burly Esquire to fight with Mr. Ogg and his mercenary "dark suits" for his life. The story is rich, but told in spare, lean prose reminiscent of Ken Bruen or Robert B. Parker. Nicely done. 12/11 Jack Quick   Note: available as an e-book only

ASK THE PARROT by Richard Stark: By now everyone probably knows that Stark is AKA Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Donald Westlake. By any name, he always turns out great work and this is no exception. Parker is on the lam from the botched robbery in Nobody Runs Forever (2004) when he meets up with reclusive Tom Lindahl. Lindahl rescues Parker from a bad situation because he wants him to help rob a local racetrack. Parker sees it as a good deal and also feels he owes Lindahl. As usual everything falls apart and only Parker can put even some of the pieces back together. Parker is the cold blooded professional with little redeeming value that you end up rooting for in spite of who he is. Let’s hope that Stark/Westlake continues to see fit to give us periodic Parker updates. We need them. 11/06 Jack Quick

THE ASSASSIN by Rachel Butler: Selena spent her first twelve years as an abused child on the mean streets of Jamaica until a wealthy American drug lord, rescued her and raised her to take over his business. But Selena has other plans, and they don't include running drugs. Fourteen years later, she still feels sufficiently indebted to Davis (the drug lord) to submit to his demand that she kill a Tulsa cop who's getting too close to exposing Davis's operation. Selena's target is Detective Tony Ceola, godson to Tulsa's chief of police and her temporary next-door neighbor. Has all the makings of a great series and the second installment – Deep Cover - is already in print. 02/06 Jack Quick

ASSASSINS OF ATHENS by Jeffery Siger:  Interesting police procedural set in modern Athens, Greece.  Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis is investigating the murder of a boy from one of Greece’s most prominent families whose body turns up in a dumpster in one of Athens’ worst neighborhoods.  The boy’s father is in the middle of a hostile takeover bid of Athens’ most respected newspaper and the fight has turned dirty – but has it led to murder.  Kaldis’ politically incorrect search for answers takes him deep into the sordid, criminal side of Athens nightlife and on to the glittering world of Athens society where age-old frictions between old money and new breed jealousy, murder, revenge, revolutionaries, and some very dangerous truths.  Nicely done and could be the start of a series featuring the dogged Kaldis, who will not take no for an answer. 02/10 Jack Quick 

ASSASSIN’S SHADOW by Randy Wayne White:  Ex-SEAL Dusky MacMorgan is at the elite resort of St. Carib.  That’s where the rich and famous go to have their bodies perfected.  A group of international terrorists have decided to wipe out the entire resort client list and it’s up to Dusky and his new found female partner to save the day.  Think Bruce Willis meets James Bond in a Caribbean setting.  Pure escape but fun, from White’s Randy Striker period. 01/09 Jack Quick 

THE ASSASSINS GALLERY by David L. Robbins:  It’s the waning days of World War II.  Professor Mikhal Lammeck, a specialist in the history and weaponry of assassins, is in England, involved in training agents to be sent behind enemy lines.  A former pupil, now a member of the United States Secret Service, arranges for Lammeck to come to the United States to look at a gruesome double murder on the beach near Newburyport, Massachusetts.  Based on the evidence and Lammeck’s own knowledge he concludes that someone wants one last shot at altering history.  An assassin is headed to Washington, D.C., to kill the most important soldier of them all - the U.S. commander in chief.  Lammeck and the killer at the top of her profession circle the streets of the capital - one attempting to kill FDR, the other attempting to save him.  Who will prevail?  A first rate thriller. 12/07 Jack Quick

THE ASSOCIATE by John Grisham:  Now I remember why I stopped reading Grisham.  He's a great storyteller, but I just can't suspend my disbelief that much.  Kyle McAvoy is the lawyer at the heart of this farfetched story.  Brilliant student, editor of the Yale Law Review, and son of a hard working lawyer who believes in helping people, so no one can believe it when Kyle takes a job as an associate at the world's largest law firm (more than 2000 lawyers) and goes corporate.  What no one knows, except for the people blackmailing Kyle, is that he was present at the possible rape of a girl who liked to party with the frat brothers, but no charges were ever filed.  But some bad people have hold of a video of the supposed rape, and threaten to destroy Kyle's life by using it unless he become a corporate spy for them.  Logic flies out the window and the brilliant law student is reduced to idiocy.  The best thing I can say about it is that I managed to finish it.  02/09 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

AT RISK by Stella Rimington: Ms. Rimington was the first female director general of MI5, having worked in all the main fields of the service including counter-terrorism, counter-espionage and counter-subversion before her retirement with 30 years tenure. In this, her first novel, she presents a taut, believable portrait of life in the service, warts and all. British Intelligence is facing an “invisible” – a terrorist who is an ethnic native of the target country and who can therefore cross its borders and move around the country without attracting attention. Her characters, particularly Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle, seem genuine and realistic as they pursue the bad guys both within and outside the various branches that have to coordinate their activities. The murder of a fisherman in Norfolk using an armor piercing bullet gets them on the chase fairly quickly but the who, where, when and how of the terrorist strike are more difficult to unravel. Like a kettle coming to boil the tension increases as the plot unfolds, knowing that Liz is not necessarily certain to succeed within the time available. A good “Brit” story, well told, and hopefully the beginning of a long relationship with Ms. Carlyle and company. Recommended. 04/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

AT THE CITY'S EDGE by Marcus Sakey:  The "city" of the title is Chicago, and it's "edge" is populated by gangs.  Jason Palmer is a soldier, newly returned home from Iraq, where he received an "other than honorable" discharge.  He is floating; disturbed and unsure what to do with his life.  His brother owns a bar in one of the gang-ridden neighborhoods, but he is also a crusader, working behind the scenes to clean up the streets.  He touches a nerve, because he is murdered in front of his 8 year old son, and his bar is burned down.  Jason is forced into parentage and responsibility, chief of which is determining why his brother's murderers are now trying to kill him and his nephew.  He also needs to find out why his brother was killed, and ultimately who the murderers were.  He is joined in this effort by Elena Cruz, a cop who works the gangs but has some murky history of her own. This is a haunting story, beautifully written with rich, evocative images and tension building on every page, until the shocking ending.  Sakey wrote an amazing debut with The Blade Itself, and with his sophomore effort has outdone himself. 01/08 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

AT THE CITY’S EDGE by Marcus Sakey:  In Sakey's second crime novel Jason Palmer, a veteran of the current Iraq war, is back in Chicago and at loose ends.  His older brother Michael runs a bar in their old South Side Chicago neighborhood and tries to raise his eight-year-old son, Billy, as a single parent.  But when Michael tries to disrupt the current of gang violence that tarnishes the area he becomes a target.  When Michael is murdered and Billy is threatened, Jason reverts to soldier mode and in the process rediscovers himself.  I liked this one much better than 2007’s THE BLADE ITSELF, and look forward to his next effort. 08/08 Jack Quick

ATLANTIS by David Gibbins: The secret of Atlantis is lost for centuries because of a common mugging. Now marine archeologist Jack Howard may have found the key to uncovering this legendary sunken city. A scrap of papyrus discovered in an Egyptian desert, which may contain a secondhand account of the lost city, sends Jack scrambling to assemble a team. Once prepped and in position in the Aegean Sea, Jack and company find themselves caught up with Kazakhstan terrorists and a multi-country fight over a missing Soviet nuclear submarine—and that's before they've uncovered the ancient secrets of the lost city. Think Clive Cussler with a hefty dose of science. The historical conspiracy angle is reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code book and unless you are a science fan, you might want to wait for the movie version. All in all a good story, but would have benefited from tighter editing. 03/07 Jack Quick

THE ATLANTIS CODE by Charles Brokaw:  Somewhat of a Da Vinci Code clone.  Archeologist and linguist Thomas Lourds is trying to find the connection between a bell and a cymbal, both with writings in a previously unknown language.  He is assisted in his quest by TV documentary producer Leslie Crane and by Moscow police inspector Natashya Safarov, sister of a Lourds associate who has been murdered.  Opposing Lourds is Cardinal Stefano Murani, who is seeking the artifacts for his own evil purposes.  From Alexandria, Greece to Moscow to Leipzig and Senegal, the chase is on. Could the artifacts be linked to Atlantis and do they hold a secret that will shake the foundations of the Catholic Church.  Eventually the answers are revealed.  If you really, really loved the Da Vinci Code, you might find this one of more than passing interest.  Otherwise, you might look elsewhere. 03/10 Jack Quick 

THE ATLANTIS PROPHECY by Thomas Greanias:  Astro-archeologist Conrad Yeats has returned to Washington, DC after his near death experiences in Antarctica chronicled in Raising Atlantis. Vatican linguist Sister Serena Serghetti is back in Rome where she interprets Conrad's father's oddly sculpted tombstone which contains a cryptic message.  Intrigued, Conrad investigates and discovers George Washington entrusted a treaty sealed in a celestial globe to the care of one of Conrad's ancestors—but Conrad is not the only one looking for it.  According to the Atlantis prophecy, when the stars' align on July 4, 2008, with Washington, D.C., monuments, his sinister rivals' new world order will begin clicking into place.  Obviously in March, 2010, their sinister plan didn’t work, but who knows what the future lies – beyond the promised third volume of this exciting set. 03/10 Jack Quick 

THE ATLANTIS REVELATION by Thomas Greanias:  The final in Greanis three book series in which Archaeologist Conrad Yeats and Serena Serghetti, the beautiful Vatican linguist he loved and lost, battle the remnants of an ancient conspiracy who seek to ignite global Armageddon and revive an empire.  Beginning with a sunken Nazi submarine and wending though Jerusalem, the city of God, a centuries-old secret awaits. Archaeologist Conrad Yeats discovers Hitler's quest for Atlantis in the ruins of the Third Reich which yields the key to an ancient conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of every major government. Like the two previous outings Yeats and Serena are imperiled, but are up the challenge.  Yes, it is derivative of The Da Vincie Code et al as well as Mission Impossible and Indiana Jones – but still a fast-paced fun read. Recommend reading all three (RAISING ATLANTIS, THE ATLANTIS PROPHECY, and this one (in sequence, of course). 03/10 Jack Quick

Atonement by Ian McEwan:  This incredible novel started off slowly for me but soon became totally engrossing.  Written in three parts, it encompasses love and war and betrayal and...atonement.  Or does it?  I didn't like the main character, Briony, a precocious little brat, so I had difficulty staying inside her head at the beginning.  But the way the author portrayed her, from the silliness and selfishness of that little girl, to her spiteful cruelty that changed the lives of so many, resonated throughout the novel. Once I got past the beginning, the searing heat between lovers Cecilia and Robbie made the book started clicking for me and I read the rest straight through.  I found it totally engrossing, from the insanity of the family dinner to the insightful descriptiveness of war to the sterility of the hospital where Cecilia worked (not to mention the sterility of the nurses!) to the ultimate conclusion, the atonement.  Simply put, it was beautifully written.  Shortlisted for the Booker. Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

ATTACHMENTS by Rainbow Rowell: This debut is utterly charming, a slice of millennium life set at the brink of change, the then upcoming new century and all the fear and hysteria that went with it. Beth and Jennifer are best friends and colleagues at a small newspaper. Beth lives with her boyfriend, rock star wanna-be Chris, while Jennifer is married to romantic Mitch, who is pressuring her to have a baby. They share a good part of their lives through their company email. Lincoln works nights at the paper in security; it is his job to read the emails that the firewall software has flagged, and to issue warnings to employees who are breaking the rules. But as he reads Beth and Jennifer's emails, he doesn't have the heart to reprimand them and soon realizes that he has fallen for the very much taken Beth. Beth and Jennifer's stories are told epistolary style, through their emails, while Lincoln has his own voice in alternating chapters. The mixed up format worked for me, and the comparisons to "When Harry Met Sally" are justified. Rowell offers up a cup of frothy fun, romantic reading at its best. I couldn't put it down. If you prefer the audiobook: Attachments   04/11 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

AUDREY’S DOOR by Sarah Langan: Audrey Lucas has never had things easy. Much of her life was lived on the road taking care of her bipolar mother. When the woman was finally committed, Audrey made her escape to New York City. Now with an architecture degree behind her, Audrey is ready to embark on the next phase of her life. She’s landed a position with a great architecture firm and found the apartment of her dreams: The Breviary is strangely within budget, but that could be due to the tragedy that took place in Audrey’s new apartment when the previous tenant killed her own children before committing suicide. The building itself, an architectural marvel, is enough to inspire Audrey. The fact that the apartment is beyond what she could expect in this area of the city is almost secondary. But The Breviary is hiding a secret, one that is decades old, and Audrey has been chosen as the one who can finally unleash the evil that lives within. Langan’s previous novels, The Keeper and Missing, have earned the author much-deserved praise and respect in the horror community. Once again, she delivers. Langan builds a scenario packed with a creepy atmosphere, suspenseful plot, and tangible characters with deep-seated issues. 10/09 Becky Lejeune 

AUGUST MOON by Jess Lourey:  Battle Lake, Minnesota is scorching hot and apparently potentially deadly year round in this, the fourth Mira James’ Murder-by-Month mystery (following May Day, June Bug, and Knee-High By The Fourth of July).. What is not hot is Mira’s love life, so she has decided to move down to Minneapolis and become a "cat-collecting, fist-shaking, asexual English professor.”  A murdered high school cheerleader changes her plans and soon she is investigating the Right Reverend pastor Meale who runs the evangelical New Millennium Bible Camp.  When the camp's Creation Science Fair only turns up as a disturbing "Stepford Wives meets Hee Haw" atmosphere, Mira begins to have second thoughts.  Peppered with sparkling dialogue like, “Can you drive?”  “Is the Pope Catholic?”  “I’m pretty sure he is. But can you drive? “Not in the eyes of the law, but that doesn’t stop me from where I’m going.”  All in all, it’s not bad as Mira sticks to her guns and survives to star in the upcoming September Mourn. 08/08 Jack Quick 

AUSTENLAND by Shannon Hale: Jane Hayes has relationship trouble.  She’s obsessed with Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy - specifically Colin Firth’s version – and no other man can compare.  Her great aunt is well aware of this obsession and warns Jane that she needs to embrace life and stop this fantasy.  Jane does not listen.  A few months later, Jane gets a call regarding her inheritance.  It seems the great aunt that she barely knew has bequeathed her a vacation.  The trip is an all expense paid, all inclusive, three-week stay at Austenland, a top secret Jane Austen resort.  Vacationers “Experience” life as it was in 1816 – a Jane Austen life that is.  No cell phones, no jeans, no cars, no exceptions.  Ladies must adhere to the social norms of the time and dress appropriately.  Jane, ready to give up on men altogether, decides to go out with a bang and immerse herself in “the Experience.”  She hopes that this will finally allow her to get over Mr. Darcy.  Or will it?  Who could ask for a more sweet and enticing read?  This oh-so-predictable happy ending is just what a girl needs sometimes and I absolutely adored it. 05/07 Becky Lejeune 

AUTUMN by David Moody: It was a fluke that brought Carl, Michael, and Emma together. 99% of the population is now dead thanks to a mysterious contagion. Carl, Michael, and Emma are just a few of the remaining survivors, seemingly immune to the plague. The three come together in the beginning along with a larger group of survivors and hole up in a community center as temporary shelter. Soon they discover that some of the dead aren’t staying that way. With supplies dwindling, Carl and Michael decide that it might be best to find a better stronghold to set up in. Their plan is not met with much enthusiasm from the others, but Emma agrees that leaving would be best. The three set off, only to find that things are much worse than they’d feared, and the dead are getting smarter. Moody’s post-outbreak zombie horror is reminiscent of Survivors, with the addition of the walking dead, that is. 10/10 Becky Lejeune  

AUTUMN: THE CITY by David Moody: In this sequel and companion to Autumn, Moody introduces readers to a new set of survivors. For those in the city during the outbreak, terror and confusion are ruling factors. Holed up in office buildings, department stores, and even a university building with no explanation of what’s going on, they are forced to watch as those around them first fall victim to an unseen plague and then begin to rise again. At first the dead seem to simply wander around, but then they begin to hone in on the survivors themselves and as more of the living come together, more of the dead follow. Moody is known for his great use of atmosphere in building suspense in his horror. Autumn and Autumn: The City both focus on the survivors and various challenges they face in this new post-outbreak world. Survival seems a bleak prospect, but I hope that the people left by the end of the tale will somehow make it through. Only time will tell. Autumn: Purification is due out in August.  02/11 Becky Lejeune

AVALANCHE by Zane Grey:  Occasionally a break is needed, and for Western fiction there is no better than Zane Grey.  This is a classic tale of two men who grew up closer than brothers, absolutely inseparable in the wild western country until both fall in love with the same fickle woman.  It takes the raging fury of nature itself to mend the hate that had broken their friendship. 04/06 Jack Quick 

AVALANCHE by Patrick F. McManus: If you enjoyed the first Sheriff Bo Tully mystery, The Blight Way, you might be disappointed in the second one in the series. The Blight Way introduced Sheriff Tully and his eccentric father, Pap, the retired sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, as well as a cast of oddballs. It was humorous, with a light touch. In comparison, the characters seem cardboard and dry in this latest book. When the owner of a ski lodge goes missing in January, Bo gathers up his father and a tracker and heads up to investigate. Bo and Pap are trapped by an avalanche, just managing to rescue a young couple. They find themselves trapped on one side of the avalanche, investigating a missing man, while, on the other side, in town, Bo’s deputies investigate the murder of the man’s business partner. If you’re looking for a light, entertaining mystery with fun characters, check out the first one, The Blight Way. 03/07 Lesa Holstine

AWAKEN ME DARKLY by Gena Showalter: Mia Snow works for the Chicago Police Dept. as an Alien Investigation & Removal Agent. She hunts unwanted visitors to earth as a legalized killer of criminals. When dark-haired, dark-eyed men start disappearing, she and her team track a group of Arcadians, light-haired aliens who might be involved. Two of them are found at a local sex club where Mia and her team have to use violence even to talk to one. When one of her team is critically injured, Mia desperately needs the help of Kyrin en Arr, an Arcadian that strongly attracts her. Romantic suspense for those who like violence and graphic sex. 10/05 ~This review contributed by Lesa Holstine.

THE AWAKENED MAGE by Karen Miller: The stunning conclusion to Karen Miller’s Kingmaker Kingbreaker series is here. It picks up exactly where The Innocent Mage left off. The discovery of an ancient library led Durm, the master magician of the Kingdom of Lur, to make a grave mistake. His own curiosity opened a door that allowed the monster Morg – a magician turned evil through his own thirst for power – to enter the protected sanctum of Lur. Now, King Borne, his wife, and his daughter all lay dead as a result of Morg’s spell. As the only living member of the royal family, Prince Gar has been named king. Gar, the only Doranen ever to be born without the gift of magic, has also fallen prey to Morg’s scheming. Morg gifted the prince with a finite taste of magical abilities – the only thing that has allowed him to take the throne. Now that magic has left him and he fears the entire kingdom may fall into anarchy. Gar’s only salvation is his friend Asher. Neither knows that Asher will bring the coming of a new age. They will all soon discover that this Olken is the only one who can protect the kingdom from an ancient evil long thought dead. Miller’s series is absolutely entrancing. 10/07 Becky Lejeune

Azarel by Karoly Pap:  Very intense, very emotional novel about a boy's crisis of faith.  Set in rural Hungary at the turn of the twentieth century and never before translated into English,  Azarel chronicles the life of young Gyuri, a rebellious nine-year-old boy whose father is a rabbi and whose grandfather Jeremiah is an Orthodox fanatic.  Jeremiah thinks his son and his followers are going to "melt the Jewish people in the furnaces of exile" - prophetic and haunting language for a book first published in 1937.  Pap died in Bergen-Belsen. Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

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A note about the books reviewed on this site: A new law was recently enacted that has been causing some confusion among online reviewers. For clarity's sake, all reviews on this site are the opinions of the reviewer, based on a careful reading of the work. Books are furnished to reviewers in a variety of ways, including review copies from the publisher, the author, and/or publicists. Other books are borrowed from libraries, received as gifts from friends and family members, and purchased in bookstores, both online and bricks & mortar.  Reviewers stand by their reviews as their own opinion, regardless of the source of the book being reviewed. Any questions about a review or source of a book may be directed to the editor of this site via email.

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