To say that the case before Boston detective D.D. Warren in CATCH ME, the latest novel by Lisa Gardner, is unusual is putting it mildly. As readers will discover, the oddity of the case is merely one of the baffling and frightening complications in this seventh series entry.
While investigating the latest of what appears to be a series of vigilante-style shootings of local pedophiles, Warren is suddenly approached by Charlene Rosalind Carter Grant, who’s been hanging around the crime scene, and says she has reason to believe that she will be murdered in four days.
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Science-fiction master Ben Bova’s POWER PLAY is similar to a previous work, 2010′s ABLE ONE, in that it is a techno-thriller more concerned with characters than contraptions. Speculative technology plays a major role, to be sure, but the real essence of this new work is the murky and often dangerous world of politics.
For most of his adult life, Jake Ross has looked upon Leverett Caldwell as his mentor. After all, it was Professor Caldwell who initially inspired Jake to study astronomy and eventually become a university instructor himself.
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The mystery world lost one of its greatest practitioners when Reginald Hill passed away earlier this year. A prolific author who wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Patrick Ruell, Charles Underhill and Dick Morland, he is known primarily for his two successful series, the Joe Sixsmith books and the fascinating Dalziel & Pascoe cases.
He also wrote a significant number of one-offs, and his last published book, THE WOODCUTTER, is one of these. The title character, Wilfrid “Wolf” Hadda, is a phenomenally rich and successful international business magnate, with a lovely home and a beautiful wife and daughter. Then it all goes wrong when, in a high-profile raid, the police arrest him for possession of, and participation in, child pornography.
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A number of stories intersect in William Dietrich’s BLOOD OF THE REICH, so a bit of plot exposition is in order. In 1938, Kurt Raeder is a good little SS officer in the Nazi hierarchy. He teaches at university but his career has become somewhat stalled. That’s why it’s a little surprising, and indeed scary, to be called to the office of Heinrich Himmler.
But Himmler has a special mission for Raeder: Return to the land of Tibet, where Raeder once undertook a scientific expedition, and discover the secrets of the lost city of Shambhala, secrets that may reveal untold powers which could be useful in, say, any potential war. Raeder leaves with a throng of tough men in tow to do as Himmler asks.
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T. Jefferson Parker’s THE JAGUAR is the fifth novel to feature Charlie Hood, the stoic L.A. sheriff’s deputy who divides his time between local and federal assignments, and has recently been trying to stem the flow of drugs and guns running between the U.S. and the powerful Mexican cartels.
In this latest story, Hood actually shares the narrative with two other characters. The focus may be split, but the result is the most character-driven novel of the series, and easily among Parker’s career finest.
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