I read all of Mayne's The Naturalist series and loved every one of them. Theo Cray is an awesome protagonist and his mysteries feel huge. Like the problems could take over the world. And his deductive reasoning creates some really immersive detectiving (made that word up:) and each of the four books in the series... Continue Reading →

I don't know why I'm such a sucker for books being turned into movies. Most of the time I don't even end of watching the flick! Ha! Soooo, I saw this great review over at FanFiAddict, and I knew it would be a great read to squeeze in between a couple clunky fantasy books. And... Continue Reading →

Finally, the backstory for one of our favorite characters, Assad! Since he found the basement over ten years ago, we have little information about his life before Department Q. And although he's confounded Carl in the past with his esoteric knowledge of the Middle East and shadowy references to military skills, we never get a... Continue Reading →

Without Sanction is a thrill ride with intense action in the Middle East and political maneuvering in the Oval Office. A team of CIA opperatives infiltrates a base in Syria only to find evidence of WMDs. Three of the four soldiers are killed and the fourth is taken prisoner. Cabinet infighting and the return of... Continue Reading →

Summer, 1943. A mobile field hospital just outside Palermo, Sicily. A doctor is shot in the head as he runs for cover. Military policeman Eddie Harkins is coming off a long shit of breaking up drunken brawls when he is waved over to the scene. He was only a beat cop back in Philly, but... Continue Reading →

This novel got me thinking a lot about what makes a good thriller. In my head I broke it down into three categories: Characters, Plot/Premise, Setting. It takes a good detective to carry a thriller series. Usually they're broken in some way and use their detective skills as a means for redemption (I know, totally... Continue Reading →

First off, that to Dave at espresso coco for recommending this stellar book! Secondly, I have a friend who did a teacher exchange in Scotland several years ago. Immediately after finishing this book I sent her an email about it. The very next day she downloaded it and zipped through it in a matter of hours.... Continue Reading →

In Fell, NY there's a roadside motel that was built to accommodate the crowds for a promised amusement park... but that dream never came to be and for decades it has become a place of local legends, ghost stories, and several families' dark secrets. In 1982, Viv escapes her midwest upbringing to chase a dream... Continue Reading →

Thomas Martin's life is pretty good. A wife he loves. A respectable job in advertising. A daughter in private school. Yet, he lives with a litany of stresses from his past and his present that threaten to tip him over the edge. A thin veneer of likability, smiles, and charm will be tested in A... Continue Reading →