Ring of Fire, by Brad Taylor

Here's the sequence: I'm at the library, I see a novel that looks like fun (action / thriller), so I borrow it. As I start reading, I recognize the characters and the writing and realize that I don't like these books. But, in for a penny, in for a pound, I keep reading.

And now you understand why I read Mr. Taylor's latest book even though I'm not a fan of his main character, Pike Logan, nor of how close the plot gets to a deus ex machina problem solving approach.

Sigh. I skimmed through many pages of this book; it wasn't as fun as I'd hoped.

Power Game, by Christine Feehan

Had I known before taking this novel off the library shelf that it was a paranormal romance, I'd not have read it. Which would have been unfortunate, since it wasn't bad. Could use about 75% less romance and 75% more action though. Turns out it is part of a series. No, I didn't enjoy it enough to want to read more.

The Obsidian Chamber, by Preston & Child

I really didn't know what I was getting into with this book, part of a series featuring a bizarre FBI agent and his associates. It seemed as though it would be a modern Sherlock Holmes style mystery. But no. There is the arcane and the occult, mysterious treatments to extend life. I didn't enjoy this one bit.

Rewinder, by Brett Battles

This was a terrific story. In a strange world where the British rule North America, a low caste teen named Denny is selected to join a select group of time travelers. The idea is that he observe and report on historic events as a validation of historical documents, but he finds there's more to it than that. I won't say more to avoid spoiling a really good read.

Game Changer, by Douglas Richards

This was a very interesting story. The concept is that a brain's neural net can be affected so as to introduce new information -- as in the movie, The Matrix. Hero Kevin Quinn experiences this, and (obviously beautiful, single, brilliant -- the genre requires it!) scientist Rachel Howard helps him save the world.

Any Minute Now, by Eric van Lustbader

This promised to be a spy novel, but had traces of voodoo or other un-named para-normal ideas running through it. It was also confusing, in that many of the characters seemed to show up inadequately defined. The plot was heavy on conspiracy and coincidence. Our hero, Whitman, was interesting enough though. The book was okay, although I understand why fans of the author's previous novels would be disappointed by it and its departure from his more normative narrative style and themes.

Stiletto, by Daniel O'Malley

Only when I looked up the title to link to its Amazon page did I learn that this terrific novel is a sequel; it was perfectly fine as a stand alone read. It is also a weird take on things.

There are supernaturally powered people working for the British government in their defense. Our hero, Odette, however is a normal human. And a surgeon of sorts. Bas as to the normal part: she's a member of a group of scientists (Wetenschappelijk) founded in the late 15th century. These folks are really into seemingly unnatural human augmentation. Which they foolishly shared with their King's governor-general in 1677 leading to the command that they invade the British Isles. Where upon the augmented folks were completely routed by the supernatural defenders. And nearly wiped out.

Which brings us to modern times, in which the scientists decide to join forces with the supernaturals. Odette is a part of the diplomatic mission.  Oh, and another, splinter group, wants to kill them all.

This is just a terrific story.

Gone Bad, by JB Turner

You'll love this novel if you prefer cardboard cutout characters in trite situations and both heroes and villains doing silly and/or improbable things.

The hero is Joe, a former special forces operator who is recruited to contract to the US government to capture bad guy Hunter who just escaped from Leavenworth.

If you find yourself with an injury and must rest on a sofa either medicated or drinking heavily or both, and you can find this book for free on Kindle, and you don't have the energy to find any other book to read, then it is okay.

Deceptive Cadence, by Kathryn Guare

Let's cut to the chase: I'm not recommending this novel.

Our hero Conor is a musician, recruited by MI6 to travel to India to find his brother and bring him back to London. Backstory: the brother destroyed Conor's career by letting him take the blame for criminal activities. The writing was not clear enough that I understood what was going on very well. Or perhaps it was just disbelief. And Conor is a bit of an oaf as spies go, but Ms. Guare didn't seem to intend that as an amusing touch to the story.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge, by Larry Correia

This is a weird genre, and the title is off-putting -- at least to someone like me for whom this is far from a go-to class of novels. But wow, what fun. Imagine a well written suspense, say the stereotypical special ops thriller, and tilt the story line towards the supernatural. Well worth reading.

Flash, by Tim Tigner

I'll just quote from the publisher's book cover to give a sense of this novel:

"TWO BLOOD-SPATTERED STRANGERS awake, locked in the trunk of a car—with a murdered cop and the smoking gun. Aside from raging headaches and no idea what’s happened, they appear to have nothing in common. Troy thinks it’s 2001 and he’s still a combat surgeon fighting terrorists in Afghanistan. Emmy believes it’s 2002 and she’s still grifting a living from the streets of L.A.  ...  What are they doing in the Caribbean, and why is a Croatian assassin determined to kill them? The only thing they know for certain is that they’ll be spending the rest of their lives in prison if the police catch them before they learn the truth."

Well, it turns out they were drugged with "456" which wiped their memories. And both our heroes turn out to be highly capable operators in the "military special operator saves the day" genre.

Mostly fun, although a bit draggy at the end...

The Eye of Shiva, by Alex Lukeman

This is yet another (number eight) in the series featuring hero Nick Carter and his team. After the last of Mr. Lukeman's novels that I read, it wasn't certain I'd try again, but this one was free on Amazon Kindle at the time, so why not.

Well, here's why not. First of all, it suffers from the "secret agency, violates all sorts of laws, answerable to the President, arrogant operators think they know best" template. Which makes me nuts.

Then, an anti-Pakistani Indian tries to launch a nuclear attack on Pakistan with help from another Indian patriot who turns out to be an even worse terrorist bad guy...

Not to worry, because between romancing his girlfriend Selena, Nick will save the day... Oh my.

Mind's Eye, by Douglas Richards

In this lightly sci-fi thriller, hero Nick wakes up in a dumpster, and doesn't remember how he got there. It turns out he has a brain implant that not only allows him to access the web from his mind, but he can also read the minds of others.

Oh, and some people want to harm him.

This was actually a bit more fun to read than it sounds.

Reaper's Run, by David VanDyke

Just to start you off on the right foot, dear reader, the full title of this novel is: Reaper's Run: An Apocalyptic Action-Adventure Techno-thriller (Plague Wars Series Book 1).

In spite of that rough beginning, the plot features an strong female lead, which I generally like. Marine Sergeant Jill lost her legs in action. Surprisingly, they begin to regenerate. She learns that this is a symptom of the "Eden Plague" which seems like a pretty good plague to catch, until she finds out that political leadership has used mis-information and quick military action to capture or kill those infected with this disease.

The bulk of the book is her dealing with that, avoiding capture, and setting up the rest of Mr. VanDyke's series. It could have been great, but... Still, I'll read additional volumes if and when they show up as free Kindle downloads.

The Taste of Fear, by Jeremy Bates

Wealthy Salvador has an assassin after him. He and his movie star wife Scarlett go on holiday in Africa. They end up as hostages of terrorists, and the dogged assassin is right behind them.

Somewhere between meh and good.

First Strike, by Ben Coes

I didn't enjoy the last book I read from this author, so I'm not quite sure how I ended up with this one. Must have been an eye-catching display at the public library. My comments on the last book were, "...suffers the typical trite memes of the "special forces operator acts as spy to save the world" genre."

Well, not much has changed. The hero is a bit less stoic, due to a love interest. But the plot suffers from ridiculous hero worship (the US President is a personal fan) and absurd plot devices (our injured hero flies directly to NY City to save the day personally, presumably because there is no other special forces operator on the planet who can do the job). Oy.

Okay, I will remember Mr. Coes and try much harder to avoid his novels so as to avoid getting all worked up.

The Fourth Horseman, by David Hagberg

This novel was a bit more nuanced that the prior in Mr. Hagberg's series, which is to say mediocre but tolerable.

Computer genius doing things beyond comprehension. Our spy hero doing things beyond comprehension. Senior government officials doing things at rapid pace. Not very credible. But just interesting enough to read to the end. As a library book (i.e., free), for a long airplane trip (i.e., when you're bored), it will do.

Cargo: A Leine Basso Thriller, by DV Berkom

I found this on BookBub as a limited time free Kindle download not realizing that it is the fourth in a series by Ms. Berkom. Fortunately there were no gaps, it seems one can jump in without a problem.

The good news: I enjoyed this well enough. The less good: I'm not going to bother to find volumes one through three to catch up on what I missed.

Our hero is Leine, a former assassin who now works for an agency fighting human trafficking. She is distracted from her day job to do a favor for a friend whose daughter went missing in Thailand. In the course of finding this kidnapped girl, Leine is herself abducted and shipped to Africa. En route she meets a quasi-reformed poacher, Derek, and they team up to save the day.

I suppose if I were to write this sort of book I too would give my heroine a mysterious agency backstory so that she could rely on former contacts to resolve any plot problem that would otherwise be disasterous for the hero. There were several of these moments, where credibility was sacrificed to get past narrative problems.

Well, I'm going to spoil this for you: she makes it out at the end. Well, it is a series.

Wild-born: PSIONIC Book One, by Adrian Howell

This is the first volume of what turns out to be a young adult series that is absolutely appropriate for old adults. The writing is quite good. Our hero is Adrian, the narrator of the story. As we enter this book, Adrian is 12 years old. He discovers he has telekinetic abilities, his family is horribly disrupted, he is kidnapped, saved, kidnapped, saved... well you get the gist.  There's no major spoiler in pointing out that he survives these events, given that is is a series.

As is often the case, this first book was free on Amazon Kindle (perhaps for a limited time); as is seldom the case, it was actually quite good. I am definitely planning to read the next volume, once it arrives at a public library or is on sale.

Lethal Misconduct, by CG Cooper

Mr. Cooper's series features Cal, a former Maine who runs a private security firm that behaves as an unsanctioned police force killing presumed enemies of the state.

I don't so much enjoy the premise of ignoring the constitution in the name of heroics. The book is typically unbelievable with plenty of jumping the shark moments.


Lethal Misconduct (Corps Justice Book 6)