All posts filed under: Book Reviews

The Bottoms, by Joe R. Lansdale

Published by Alexandra

DETAILS Title: THE BOTTOMS Author: Joe R. Lansdale Publisher: Vintage Crime ISBN: 9780307475268 Genre: Crime Fiction BACKCOVER BLURB It’s 1933 in East Texas and the Depression lingers in the air like a slow moving storm. When a young Harry Collins and his little sister stumble across the body of a black woman who has been savagely mutilated and left to die in the bottoms of the Sabine River, their small town of Marvel Creek is instantly charged with tension. When a second body turns up, this time of a white woman, there is little Harry can do from stopping his Klan neighbours from lynching an innocent black man. Together with his younger sister, Harry sets out to discover who the real killer is, and to do so they will search for a truth that resides far deeper than any river or skin colour. WHAT I THOUGHT The Bottoms should be a poignant coming of age story about 11 year-old Harry Collins and his 9 year-old sister, Tom (Thomasina) as narrated by Harry. Sadly though, it …

A Twist of the Knife, by Becky Masterman

Published by Alexandra

DETAILS Title: A TWIST OF THE KNIFE (Book #3) Author: Becky Masterman Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 9781250074515 Genre: Murder-Mystery/Suspense BACKCOVER BLURB Ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn has seen it all, and survived. But nothing can cut her closer to the bone than family… Now happily retired in Arizona, Brigid gets called back to her home in Florida where her dad is suffering from pneumonia and her mother is suffering from chronic passive-aggression. Spending time with her dysfunctional family is not her fav thing, so when a close colleague asks for her help in overturning the conviction of a man on death row for killing his wife and three children, Brigid’s spirits are lifted. Taking on the entire criminal justice system is easier for her than dealing with her embattled parents. That is, until Love rears its ugly head and Brigid suspects her colleague is going rogue even more than she ever did… WHAT I THOUGHT A TWIST OF THE KNIFE is a good, old-fashioned whodunit updated for modern sensibilities, with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing …

Deep Blue Trouble, by Steph Broadribb

Published by Alexandra

DETAILS Title: DEEP BLUE TROUBLE Author: Steph Broadribb Publisher: Orenda Books ISBN: 9781910633939 Genre: Thriller/Suspense BACKCOVER BLURB Single-mother Florida bounty hunter Lori Anderson’s got an ocean of trouble on her hands. Her daughter Dakota is safe, but her cancer is threatening a comeback, and Lori needs JT—Dakota’s daddy and the man who taught Lori everything—alive and kicking. Problem is, he’s behind bars, and heading for death row. Desperate to save him, Lori does a deal, taking on off-the-books job from shady FBI agent Alex Monroe. Bring back on-the-run felon, Gibson “The Fish” Fletcher, and JT walks free. Following Fletcher from Florida to California, Lori teams up with local bounty hunter Dez McGregor and his team. But Dez works very differently to Lori, and the tension between them threatens to put the whole job in danger. With Monroe pressuring Lori for results, the clock ticking on JT’s life, and nothing about the Fletcher case adding up, Lori’s hitting walls at every turn. But this is one job she’s got to get right, or she’ll lose everything. …

The Cuban Affair, by Nelson deMille

Published by Alexandra

DETAILS Title: THE CUBAN AFFAIR Author: Nelson deMille Publisher: Simon & Schuster ISBN: 9781501183959 Genre: Suspense BACKCOVER BLURB Daniel Graham MacCormick—Mac for short—seems to have a pretty good life. At age thirty-five he’s living in Key West, owner of a forty-two-foot charter fishing boat, The Maine. Mac served five years in the Army as an infantry officer with two tours in Afghanistan. He returned with the Silver Star, two Purple Hearts, scars that don’t tan, and a boat with a big bank loan. Truth be told, Mac’s finances are more than a little shaky. One day, Mac is sitting in the famous Green Parrot Bar in Key West, contemplating his life, and waiting for Carlos, a hotshot Miami lawyer heavily involved with anti-Castro groups. Carlos wants to hire Mac and The Maine for a ten-day fishing tournament to Cuba at the standard rate, but Mac suspects there is more to this and turns it down. The price then goes up to two million dollars, and Mac agrees to hear the deal, and meet Carlos’s clients—a …

Secrets of State, by Matthew Palmer

Published by Alexandra

DETAILS Title: SECRETS OF STATE Author: Matthew Palmer Publisher: Putnam ISBN: 9780425281017 Genre: Mystery | Thriller BACKCOVER BLURB A former top expert at the State Department, Sam Trainor was forced out of the Washington establishment and into the private sector, working as an analyst for a consulting firm. As he struggles to adjust to a corporate, profit-driven version of the work that had been his life, he stumbles across an intelligence anomaly—the transcript of a phone conversation about upending the delicate political balance keeping India and Pakistan from all-out-war. Yet Sam knows that conversation can’t have occurred—because he is having an affair with one of the alleged participants, and they were together at the time of the call. As he digs into the source of this misinformation, he realizes there is more at stake than just bad intel. Someone is deliberately twisting the intelligence to stoke the simmering conflict between India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed rivals that have already fought multiple wars. And Sam’s new employer could be at the center of it. WHAT I THOUGHT …