COLLISION, Jeff Abbott’s latest thriller, does what a good thriller should: grab you by the throat and take you for a ride, threatening to push you out at 60 mph. It centers around two unlikely allies who don’t prefer the company of one another. Pilgrim is the archetype special ops/black ops warrior, while Ben Forsberg is a corporate consultant specializing in government contracts, whom we meet on his mental last leg.
The love of Forsberg’s life was killed in a random act of violence while honeymooning, and now, just as his fragile psyche attempts to crawl back to normal, evidence links him to a couple homicides. Pilgrim, a key member of a CIA false-flag operation called Cellar, actually had something to do with the murders and in pointing the finger at Forsberg.
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Imagine a cool, brisk fall day. You’re out for a pleasant stroll with your little Chihuahua, Heinrich (yes, I like a good juxtaposition when naming animals). He sniffs the air suspiciously, then begins to bark incessantly and act strange. You say, “That’s nothing new for the breed,” but then old Heinrich turns on you, his eyes obscured with a milky film, and suddenly he moves to bite the hand that feeds him.
Welcome to the world of DOGS, as created by author Nancy Kress, in which it’s not just little Heinrich going crazy, but also the Great Dane Jesus down the street and the Irish setter Ali — it’s a full-blown canine plague. Most of the dogs in the small Maryland town of Tyler have turned on their owners with little or no warning. (Even now as I write, I sneak a peak at my Lab/basset hound mix, he seems to be watching… and waiting.
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Dan Ronco’s UNHOLY DOMAIN plops the reader smack dab in the middle of the next Great Depression, in 2020. Factions that can only be described as bad and worse square off as each attempts total control of the world. Our hero David Brown swims in the middle of this conflagration, struggling to stay afloat.
High-tech gadgets are directly to blame for the downturn in the economy and the deaths of millions worldwide when a program called “Peace Maker” was released through the ‘net. All tech is outlawed which has lead to a tech-savvy black market rivaling any illicit drug or sex ring.
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As the third mystery novel in Steve Hockensmith’s HOLMES ON THE RANGE series, THE BLACK DOVE once again centers around two good-natured cowpoke siblings who go about “deducifying” just what happened. Now, before you think I’m poking fun at our commander in chief and get your knickers in a bunch (or get a smile on your face and a noddin’ to your head), don’t. This is how my boys Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer “commence to conversating.”
The two brothers are second-generation German immigrants raised on the plains of Kansas, working as cattle drovers before being introduced to the literary wonders of Sherlock Holmes. Gustav – aka “Old Red” – and Otto – aka “Big Red” – decide to leave the range, head west and do some detecting work of their own.
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Peter F. Hamilton’s novel THE DREAMING VOID is billed as a three-part space opera, and I’m hooked. Any attempt by me to stand off and postulate would be pointless; I wouldn’t be able to hide my enthusiasm.
Before I gush too much, let me first say that far-future sci-fi stories are hit-and-miss with me. Authors often lose me in the details, leaving me unable to find a connection to the story or the characters. THE DREAMING VOID trilogy was built from two previous novels of which I had no knowledge and understanding, and I found the first 100 pages a little difficult to follow, but then the doors swung open wide and I was in my Ultradrive ship, lost among Hamilton’s worlds and political intrigue.
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