First Family, by David Baldacci
Filed under: book review, David Baldacci, Thriller
In First Family we meet again the former Secret Service agents, now private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. They are hired by Jane Cox, the First Lady, 
This is the fourth book featuring this duo. They also appear in Split Second
First Family is a thick book with lots of twists and turns, a plot slightly on the implausible side, full of politics, scandals and plenty of intense action. It is all here: corruption, greed, lust, betrayal, cover-ups, and so on.
Baldacci’s excellent writing compensates for weaknesses in the plot and largely unattractive heroes. And, guess what, the terrorist is not an Arab! Rather it’s a Vietnam War veteran with a grievance. And as the investigation proceeds, some dark truths about the first family start to emerge. Sean and Michelle start making discoveries about things that are concealed, dubious deals, unscrupulous actions, and infidelity.
It’s a fun, entertaining read, a book that sucks you in after a beginning that is a tad slow. First Family is not the best Baldacci I have read, but well worth reading, and quite good entertainment.
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.Gone Tomorrow, by Lee Child
Filed under: book review, Jack Reacher, Lee Child, Thriller
Gone Tomorrow is the 13th novel in the Jack Reacher series (see also the review of Nothing to Lose). It is a strange and strangely appealing series. And it is one of the most successful thriller series in the world, currently selling six million books or so a year.
Jack Reacher himself is clearly part of the 
Jack Reacher is a born street fighter with enormous fighting skills. He owns nothing, buys a new set of clothes when the current set gets dirty, cleans up, puts on the new clothes and throws away the old set. He is a somewhat mysterious, elusive, and strange character – and sufficiently different from the rest of us to be attractive in his differentness.
In Gone Tomorrow we meet up with Jack Reacher on the New York subway late at night. He happens to see a passenger, Susan Mark, that acts strangely and in a way that makes Reacher conclude that she is a suicide bomber on a mission. He approaches her, and instead of setting off a bomb, she commits suicide. This could have been the end of the story, but it turns out to be the beginning.
All of a sudden Reacher – just a witness, an innocent bystander – is chased by the FBI, the Department of Defense, NYPD and a strange group of terrorists. Susan Mark had something a lot of people are willing to go to great lengths to get hold of, and they all suspect or fear that Reacher may know where it is. So now Reacher must flee or fight for his life. And as Reacher never backs out a challenge, there will be trouble. Big trouble.
Gone Tomorrow is definitely one of the best of the series. Perhaps it is even the best so far. It is a fast paced thriller with an intricate plot, lots of great action, a slowly unfolding mystery and an explosive and very violent conclusion. It has good guys, shady guys and really bad guys. And lots of flat-out-violence. But at the same time it is a smart thriller with lots of good, sound, deductive reasoning. A great mix. I loved it.mYou do not want to miss out on Gone Tomorrow!
New books by Julian Stockwin and Bernard Cornwell – historical fiction
Filed under: Bernard Cornwell, book news, historical fiction, Julian Stockwin
Two new, very interesting releases of historical fiction books:
Invasion: A Kydd Sea Adventure, by Julian Stockwin
A very interesting new release, to say the least! Link to order the book: Stockwin’s Invasion (Kydd Series) from Amazon US
The Burning Land (Saxon Chronicles, book 5), by Bernard Cornwell
Cornwell is releasing the fifth volume in the bestselling Alfred series. We are now at the end of the ninth century. Even though they have failed previously, the Danes still want to conquer Wessex. And now KingAlfred of Wessex is in bad health, and his heir has no experience. The Danes see a new chance. They are lead by a great warrior, Harald Bloodhair, a new leader of the Vikings. On the side of Alfred, Uthred, his very reluctant warlord, is perhaps the greatest asset. He is cunning and smart, and leads Harald into a trap defeats the Vikings at Farnham in Surrey. This is a major defeat for the otherwise victorious and proud Vikings, perhaps the greatest ever. The Burning Land is a well crafted novel which tells the story of how England survived the Viking onslaught, and a magnificient new tale from Bernard Cornwell.
Available for order at Amazon UK: The Burning Land
Numbered Account, by Christopher Reich
Filed under: book review, Christopher Reich, Financial Thriller, recommendation, Thriller
Numbered Account is very good; especially considering it is a debut book. But, as we now know, Christopher Reich is an author with lots of 
The plot is interesting, rich and with more than sufficient drive to create excitement. It requires a little bit of a leap of faith to jump into it, but once you do, it is a smooth and fast ride. The beginning is a bit slow, but Reich is great when he describes the Swiss bank system, and is very intriguing to enter the world of the private banking in Switzerland.
The main character, Nick Neumann, has it all. He has a Harvard degree, a beautiful fiancée, and a star-making Wall Street career. But behind all of that is a man haunted by the brutal killing of his father seventeen years before.
Nick wants the truth and is willing to sacrifice his career, love, and future for a crack at untangling the mystery surrounding his father’s death. To do this, he takes a job at the prestigious United Swiss Bank, the venerable financial cornerstone of Geneva and his father’s former employer. Before he can begin his investigation, however, disturbing events come into play: One portfolio manager is dead, another had a “nervous breakdown,” and his training manager is jumping ship to cast accounts with their staunch enemy.
Nick is soon caught in a ruthless conspiracy that stretches around the world and far into his personal life. There is murder, revenge, and first-rate espionage as well as plenty of action, but even so Numbered Account is a thinking person’s thriller, a refreshing break from the old standbys.
The Silver Swan, by Benjamin Black
Filed under: Benjamin Black, book review, crime book, recommendation
This book is actually written by Booker Prize-winning author John Banville, writing as 
The Silver Swan features Quirke, a somewhat grumpy pathologist at the Hospital of the Holy Family in Dublin. It is a mystery book set in 1950s Dublin.
Quirke is an “incurably curious” guy. He often finds it necessary to go far beyond a pathologist’s normal duties, and in this second novel in the Quirke series (after Christine Falls), he is visited by Billy Hunt, a casual friend from college. Hunt asks him not to autopsy the body of his wife Deirdre, who was found drowned and naked. This, of course, is a somewhat curious request. However, Deirdre may have drowned herself, and the family wants to avoid conflict with the Catholic Church over her burial.
Quirke, being curious, conducts a secret autopsy, and Deirdre gets her church burial. However, when Quirke examines the body, he finds things that make him suspect she’s been murdered. Quirke, being Quirke, cannot help but to begin his private investigation into her death.
Black expertly balances Quirke’s investigation with chapters detailing Deidre’s past, from her marriage to Billy to her shady business deal with Leslie White, an enigmatic Englishman who knew Deidre as Laura Swan, the proprietress of their joint venture, a beauty salon called the Silver Swan. And as Quirke digs deeper and deeper, he discovers a web of lies and blackmail that threatens to envelop even his own estranged daughter, Phoebe.
Quirke is a brooding Irish soul with a very independent code of ethics. This makes him the kind of troubled hero the genre loves. In The Silver Swan, Black runs Quirke’s private investigation on a parallel track with the victim’s own story, told in intimate flashbacks. The result is a lyrical crime fiction book – beautifully and intelligently written, but not quite a mystery book. But Banville’s talents are on full display in the book, so it is not any less of a book for not falling neatly into the mystery category – perhaps rather the opposite! And the laconic, stubborn Quirke makes an appealing hero as the pieces of this unsettling crime come together in a shocking conclusion.
Black is a literary stylist who revels in long descriptive passages laced with elegant similes and metaphors. The characters are meticulously delineated. And the writing is elegant to the extreme. The book is a great pleasure to read.
Terminal Freeze, by Lincoln Child
Filed under: book review, Lincoln Child, Science Fiction, Thriller
Terminal Freeze is an enjoyable book 
As a group of scientists do research at a remote military base in Alaska, they discover a prehistoric beast frozen in ice. And, when news of the find reaches the cable television network which sponsors the expedition, Emilio Conti, a legendary documentary filmmaker, goes to the scene. He plans to film the thawing of the animal on live TV. But the beast has other plans, and suddenly the scientists along with the film crew find their lives are threatened.
Child’s writing is easy to follow, clear, fluid and good. Child is also very good at slowly building up anticipation and suspense. To really get excited, however, you must be willing to suspend your disbelief a little, as the creature involved is extraordinarily fierce and complex. If you do that, then this is an extraordinary and very interesting tale full of excitement and human ingenuity!
Personally, I think I liked Child’s previous book Deep Storm
The Fortress of Glass, by David Drake
The Fortress of Glass is the first book the Crown of the Isles trilogy. This trilogy will bring the conclusion of 
In The Fortress of Glass, Prince Garric voyages far among the Isles in an effort to bring all the Isles under his rule. After landing on a new shore, Garric finds the local king, Cervoran, dead and his heir, the youthful Prince Protas, in dire need of help against an outbreak of wizardry.
However, before Garric can act, more wizardry propels him to another world, where he enlists the aid of a strange creature called the Bird against the monstrous flesh-eating Coerli that terrorize this other world. And then, King Cervoran returns to life. And Garric’s sister, Sharina, and his consort, Liane, must try to settle the question of who rules in Garric’s absence.
David Drake makes the most of his setting based on the classical Mediterranean-like world. Now the powers of magic in the Isles have flooded to a thousand-year peak, and even local magicians can perform powerful spells normally beyond their control. Drake possesses every skill necessary to make this story thoroughly absorbing, even to new readers. Those who have sailed with him through the preceding two Isles trilogies ought to eagerly demand it.
First Daughter, by Eric van Lustbader
Filed under: book review, Eric van Lustbader, Thriller
This is a thriller featuring a newly elected – but still not inaugurated – 
ATF agent Jack McClure, who has previously come to the attention of Edward Carson, is chosen to play a prominent role in the search for Alli, primarily because she was the boarding-school roommate of his now-deceased daughter, Emma. Jack faces many difficulties, chief among them his own severe dyslexia. As we learn more about him, it becomes evident that he is a mess. He struggles with the demons of his youth, and has severe guilt over the death of his daughter and a very problematic and unresolved relationship to his ex-wife.
The unnamed current president, who makes religion the basis for all his decisions, wants to use the search as an excuse for all-out war on his enemies, the First American Secular Revivalists and their secret partners, the E-Two terrorist group.
Lustbader does a fine job of depicting the search for Alli, but I found the story and plot clear enough and good, but at the same time Lustbader mixes into the brew this time some confusing political message will leave many readers wondering what the book was really about. Also, the side stories and background provided in flashbacks was not all that interesting and oftentimes not all that relevant either. I think of this book primarily as a book for Lustbader fans.
Run for Your Life, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Filed under: bestseller, book review, James Patterson, Thriller
A calculating killer who calls himself The Teacher is taking on New York City, killing the powerful and the arrogant. His message is clear: remember your manners or suffer the consequences!
The Commissioner deems Michael Bennett’s experience with the Catastrophic Response Unit as critical to leading the investigation. The Commissioner’s concern and his request of Bennett appear even more justified as the Teacher next strikes by murdering an maitre d’ at a fancy New York Twenty-One Club. The Chase is on, and Michael Bennett, the hero of Step on a Crack, is running against the clock again.
At first these murders appear to be directed at somewhat random people or perhaps people that cater to the rich, but as Bennett and others in the police force, soon find a pattern in the killings. And discovering a secret pattern in The Teacher’s lessons, Detective Bennett realizes he has just hours to save New York from the greatest disaster in its history.
James Patterson’s books are up and down. Some good, some not so good, some pretty bad. I don’t expect too much when I start reading a new book by him, but I still for some reason do read them. I mostly like his writing style and the pace of his stories, I think. There are few dull moments in his books. The short chapters are nice. As well, you can read the whole book in a day.
I liked the main character Michael Bennett. He is a NYPD cop and single dad with an astonishing number of kids. And he is a likable, smart guy. A humane fellow of sorts too.
The storyline of the book, however, I didn’t much care for. But Run for Your Life is a better book than Step On a Crack. I recommend it to Patterson fans and fans of fast action thrillers.
The Fourth Man, by KO Dahl
Filed under: book review, crime book, KO Dahl, Norwegian writer
The Fourth Man is actually the fifth novel about inspectors Gunnarstranda and Frolich (Frølich) by K O Dahl. It is in some ways more similar to American crime novels than for instance those by Scandinavian authors like Karin Fossum, Karin Alvtegen, Jo Nesbo, Ake Edwardson or Henning Mankell. K O Dahl writes in a hard-boiled noir style that is at the same time lean, and reminds me more of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. There is, however, considerable psychological depth, and more so than what is explicit in Hammett and Chandler. This is one of KO Dahl’s best novels.
By the time Frolich learns that Elisabeth is the sister of a known local gang-member, Johnny Faremo, it is already too late. And then Johnny is implicated in a crime, a security guard is attacked and killed. But Elisabeth gives her brother and his gang an alibi and Frolich’s name is mentioned. Then Elisabeth disappears. Now Frolich is plunged into both an emotional tempest as well as a complex investigation. He is forced to rethink their relationship. Were things as they seemed?
Frolich is asked to take some time off. And his boss Gunnarstranda is upset and believes Frank has been played from the very beginning. And as the body count increases, Frolich begins his own unofficial investigation.
Complex, dark and tragic, The Fourth Man is a tale of revenge and erotic obsession, where love lures a good cop to walk on the wild side. This is classical crime noir in a modern setting. It has it all: cynical strippers, tough-talking gangsters, corrupt businessmen, mixed identities and a bona fide femme fatale. Dahl’s language is, as one critic put it “spiced with small poetic observations … of remarkably high quality.” The author himself says that this is his project, to “combine the genre literature with a little poetry and literary storytelling.” The Fourth Man proves that Dahl is able to do this. I enjoyed this book very much, and recommend it. A great read for lovers of good, tough, noir crime fiction!
and 
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