Top 10 hardbacks in UK, November 9, 2008

November 12, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Bernard Cornwell, book news, crime book, Fiction, historical fiction, International bestseller, Michael Connelly 

(The Sunday Times Bestseller List)

1 The Business by Martina Cole Drugs, prostitution and a young girl’s fight for survival
2 The Gift by Cecelia Ahern Enchanting Christmas story from the author of PS, I Love You
3 Cross Country by James Patterson Alex Cross embarks on a personal crusade when a friend is murdered
4 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga Man Booker-winning tale of a poor man corrupted by Delhi’s glamour
5 Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell Dramatic depiction of the famous battle of Agincourt
6 Brute Force by Andy McNab Nick Stone cheats death once again in his 11th high-octane adventure
7 Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy Heartwarming tale revolving around a community clinic in Ireland
8 A Good Woman by Danielle Steel Woman triumphs after her privileged world is shattered
9 The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly Harry Bosch investigates the murder of a successful lawyer
10 Folly by Alan Titchmarsh Loving couple uncover deceit when delving into their families’ shared past

So this is what the English read this rainy Fall, in the midst of the international financial crisis. Lots of crime, some historical fiction, and some good fiction novels with great charm. Good books that provide something that hopefully counterbalances the bad news most of us are otherwise surrounded with.

Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell and The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly, are both high on my reading list. I would love somebody to review the rest of these great books for me! Just email it to me!

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Liars & Thieves, by Stephen Coonts

November 8, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: book review, Fiction, International bestseller, Jake Grafton, Steven Coonts, Thriller 

(Published as Wages of Sin in the UK.) Liars & Thieves, by Stephen Coonts
Tommy Carmellini is hanging out with partner Willie the Wire when ex-girlfriend Dorsey O’Shea turns up asking favors: will Tommy break into a house and retrieve some sex tapes in which she has unwittingly participated? This is not a problem for Tommy, he does it, hands the tapes over and dismisses Dorsey from his mind.

Tommy Carmellini, the main character in Liars & Thieves, is physically big, he’s very tough and doesn’t shun violence, and he doesn’t claim to be all that smart. Women seem to find him attractive and he beds them without much emotional involvement. In Liars & Thieves, I think the number is three.

Several months later, the CIA sends him to a West Virginia safe house where Russian defector Mikhail Goncharov is being debriefed. There, Tommy stumbles into a full-blown massacre. He kills a couple of attackers, rescues a woman, beats a retreat and quickly finds himself in spy hell: out in the cold, accused, alone, hunted by friend and foe alike.

The plot is good, maybe even great. It involves double-dealing all the way from the Kremlin to the West Wing of the White House. The story in Liars & Thieves is partly based on the real-life defection of Vasili Mitrokhin, the KGB archivist who arrived in Great Britain in 1992 with six suitcases of notes from classified KGB files! This is mixed with an American presidential nomination and a few other ingredients. It is an exciting cocktail. And, as the plot snowballs, it accumulates characters both good and bad.

Liars & Thieves is a good thriller. If you like Stephen Coonts, you will like the book. However, to my mind it is not among the best by Coonts (I consider his early Jake Grafton books to be his best). But a good read even so.

You can read reviews of the other two books in Stephen Coonts’ Tommy Carmellini-series at Leserglede.com.

Order the other two Carmellini-books by Stephen Coonts from amazon US: Liars & Thieves: A Novel or The Traitor (Tommy Carmellini, Book 2).
Or, order the books in the Carmellini-series by Stephen Coonts from amazon UK: Liars & Thieves, Traitor, or The Assassin. See also, the the same author, Flight of the Intruder (Jake Grafton Novels), The Minotaur, and The Red Horseman.

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