Gone

Gone is a solid and engrossing mystery with a fairly suspenseful plot. However, readers should not expect a romance, because this isn’t one, although it does examine the relationship between a husband and wife. Rainie Connor Quincy, a capable former cop turned child advocate, has strangely disappeared in the middle of the night, leaving her…

The Mephisto Club

Tess Gerritsen has undoubtedly come up with an intriguing premise in The Mephisto Club. Unfortunately, due to what would definitely be termed TSTL behavior on the part of her tag team of recurring characters and my perennially wrinkled forehead regarding character details that the author never bothers to provide, it never really got past that…

Silent Waters by Jan Coffey

Jan Coffey is a pseudonym for a writing couple who’ve both had experience building submarines (their romance aka is May McGoldrick). That experience is apparent in every page of their latest suspense novel. Recreating the highly technical and claustrophobic world of a modern submarine isn’t something the lay author could do, and it’s their expertise…

Dirty Little Secrets

When Dirty Little Secrets first appeared on the list of books available for review, I passed it over for another of Downtown Press’s Bad Girls books, Awaken Me Darkly, a paranormal that sounded right up my alley. That turned out to be a mistake, because the book wasn’t very good. Luckily, I got a second…

Before I Wake by Anne Frasier

Serial killers and memory loss are two of the most overused devices in suspense fiction, but Anne Frasier offers a somewhat different spin on these familiar themes in her latest thriller, Before I Wake. It has a few initial weaknesses, but once the story picks up steam, it develops into a gripping read. <!– var…

Wildcard

I have been a fan of Rachel Lee ever since I discovered her Conard County series back in college. Since I’d never read any of her single title releases, I jumped at the chance to review Wildcard, the first in a new series. While this novel is loosely connected to others Lee has written, it…

Play Dead

Anne Frasier first captured my attention with Cool Shade, a book written under the name Theresa Weir. Her edgy characters, dark stories and good use of settings make her books page turners for me and, even though Play Dead has a few rough spots, it is still well worth reading. Someone in Savannah is killing…

Liar’s Market by Taylor Swift

There’s an interesting story lurking somewhere in Taylor Smith’s Liar’s Market, but the way it’s told seriously undermines the book’s effectiveness. Carrie MacNeil is the young wife of CIA official Drummond MacNeil. One day her husband disappears, leaving behind suspicions that he was involved in selling information to enemy parties. The FBI brings Carrie in…

The Trade

In her suspense novels Shirley Palmer (who also writes as Nell Brien) often takes on real and disturbing issues and portrays settings that seem true to life. Her latest novel, The Trade, takes readers to Malibu, California in the wake of a wildfire. As the novel opens, Matt Lowell is racing home through the canyons…