The Lies of Spies, by Tim Tigner

I jumped into the second volume of this series because it was a free Kindle read. It was interesting but nothing special. Hero Kyle Achilles is the ex CIA lead character who is troubled by personal sadness, resolute, in love but not ready to acknowledge it, and devastatingly effective. Like many of the books in this genre.

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.

Ghosts of War, by Brad Taylor

Another in Mr. Taylor's series featuring his unsympathetic, unlikable, annoying hero, Pike. I keep reading these books in spite of how much this character irks me.  Because I like the action, I guess.

Well, surprisingly, he was a touch less despicable in this novel. Yay. Small joys. Let's face it: I read these for the action, they are cowboy stories plain and simple, not fine literature. This one is better than the other of Mr. Taylor's novels, so I'm pleased as punch.

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.

The Forgotten Soldier, by Brad Taylor

This is the latest in a series from Mr. Taylor. The heroes are Pike and Jennifer. Most of the other characters are portrayed as competent and of good character. Pike is portrayed as an a--hole, and it annoys me no end that he's the lead in the series. Oh well. Plenty of action and intrigue.

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.

The Black Widow, by Daniel Silva

I was pretty negative the last book of Mr. Silva's that I read, complaining that the lead character, Israeli spy Gabriel Allon, was too long in the tooth and that the writing had gone downhill. With this novel, all is forgiven. Allon is back, age appropriate, in an interesting story that reflects today's headlines.

The plot considers the impact of western, recently converted Muslims who join forces with ISIS. And the terrorist attacks that these folks can facilitate. Not to mention taking a few dings at the US President's use of the phase "jay vee team" to describe ISIS; clearly Israelis and some of their neighbors would not take comfort in that dismissive description.

All in all a great book. To continue the series, I suspect that Allon will become less of the main character: he'll move into a more supervisory position, and Mr. Silva will need to choose a new spy to become the lead story. I look forward to his next novel to see how he does move forward.

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.

Skinner, by Charlie Huston

This novel was difficult to read as Mr. Huston's writing style was just unpleasant. Seemingly endless amount of deliberate absence of clarity. The plot was interesting though. Not a great book.

Foreign Agent, by Brad Thor

This is the best of Mr. Thor's books that I've read in a long while. It features recurring hero Scot Harvath, as the ex Seal special operative who is encouraged to disregard the law in pursuit of the nation's enemies.

In this novel, Harvath is uncharacteristically nuanced in his thinking about what to do about his girl friend who is relocating to Boston. Should they break up? What is the future of his career as an operative?

Less nuanced is Harvath's activities in his day job of creating mayhem. The plot mapped well to current events. ISIS does much harm, although the twist here is that they are being manipulated by the Russian Federation as a means to encourage the US to get more serious about fighting ISIS.

Overall this book has the right mix of believability, action, character development, and plot. Sure, there are lots of magical moments that allow the good guys to prevail, but that's normative in the genre.

This is a current best seller, for good reason.

Spy Games, by Adam Brookes

This is apparently a sequel to the author's prior novel; I haven't read it and I do not believe it mattered. The book is good, it kept my interest with great character development. On the other hand, the style was a bit choppy, taking the perspective of each of three heroes. There's journalist Magnan, who was caught working with British intelligence in China and is now working in Ethiopia. There's Patterson, a former soldier and handler for intelligence operatives. And there's the mysterious Yang, about whom nothing is clear: for whom does she work (possibly Chinese spies), why does she have her own narrative thread in the book, why wasn't her role tied up at the end and how does she connect with anything?  That's a flaw in the book, although not fatal. Still a good spy story.

Little Sister, by Giles O'Bryen

What a quirky little spy novel! The hero is the typically absurd brilliant PhD inventor slash special forces operator now retired and causing stress for the British secret service. The spy masters are believably cast as venal. A prototype device that enables heretofore unimagined levels of surveillance was mistakenly sold to an arms dealer, and our hero goes after it on his own in the clumsiest of ways. Meanwhile, the sales placement person who organized the deal also goes after it, hoping to sell it at a profit to the US NSA. Nothing goes well.

It was a pretty good novel, but not great. If you see it on the sales rack, pick it up for a long airplane ride or for the next time you're in a doctor's waiting room.

Little Sister (A James Palatine Novel Book 1)

Palace of Treason, by Jason Matthews

The best spy novel I've read in decades. Instead of relying on a hero's absurd capabilities or connections, or on unbelievable plot bridges, Mr. Matthews wrote an intelligent and captivating story. There's terrific character development and well paced suspense.

The stars of the book are CIA agent Nate Nash and his covert spy, Russian Intelligence Service's Dominika Egorova. Apparently there's a prior novel with the back story on Egorova and Nash, but not having read it did not get in my way at all. Egorova hates the kleptocracy of modern Russia, and has no issue revealing secrets to the US. Many of the Russian characters are portrayed as pigs, and many of the CIA brass are also portrayed as incompetent fools who are in place only due to political reasons. There are heroes on both sides; Mr. Matthews takes shots at Russia's leadership and crooked oligarchy, but not its people.

(Probably a Russian novelist could draw the same dreary picture of US Congressmen in the pockets of their lobbyists and PACs, or awkwardly crooked deals like the President's placement of the former attorney for the railroad industry as the head of the Federal Railroad Administration... but I digress.)

There is ample suspense. It is quite difficult to put down, so I recommend allocating a long session to read the book through.

With the right handling, this would make a terrific movie.


Palace of Treason: A Novel

The Janson Equation, by Douglas Corleone

Apparently the characters in this novel originated with the late Robert Ludlum, so his name gets a large font billing on the cover of this book.

The first chapter of this book was a test: given such poor writing, is it worth going on?  The writing mysteriously got better. Or maybe I became inured to it. The plot movement is fast. It is the standard super hero spy can do anything kind of novel.

Let me justify my condemnation of writing style. The first sentence of this novel ran 93 words. Yes, in one sentence. And it wasn't a great sentence. Here's a sample from page two:

"Lynx fished around the inside pocket of his jacket and plucked out a small key to open the lock on his bicycle, then walked the bike away from the compound before lifting his right leg over the frame and straddling it."

Perhaps I'm too demanding. Why did the reader need to be told that the key was small, that the right leg went over the frame first, that the rider ended up straddling the bike? Still, this was a way better sentence than others (and yes, I'm too lazy to retype the first long line of the novel).

Having just finished the masterfully written "Fifth Gospel," my standards have been set high due to brilliant craftmanship. Maybe that's why reading this novel was so jarring.

So is this worth reading?  If you can get it at a steep discount, it is a good airplane book. You can leave it behind or at a hotel for the next traveler to pick up.



Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Janson Equation (Janson series)

Dance with the Enemy, by Rob Sinclair

This novel was not fun to read. It was interesting enough, but the main character is not charismatic and I found myself not caring too much about him.

That character is Logan, a British spy for an a joint US and UK agency that works behind the scenes and disavows its agents should they need help. As the book starts, he's a drunk mess, recovering from a mission that had gone south. He's pulled into a new case, befriends a female FBI agent, and encounters chaos.

There was action enough, and the plot twists were good. But I never felt myself engaged with the hero. If there's a sequel I'll probably pass on it.


Dance with the Enemy: a gripping international suspense thriller (The Enemy Series)

No Fortunate Son, by Brad Taylor

Mr. Taylor works the genre of special operator / kill lots of people / work on the edge or flat outside of the law / good guys always win in the end novels.

In this one, heroes Pike and Jennifer save a diverse group of hostages from Irish terrorists masquerading as Arabs.

Entertaining fast read for a very rainy day.


No Fortunate Son: A Pike Logan Thriller

Retribution, by David Hagberg

I nearly put the book down after the first few pages; it seemed unlikely to be good. But I kept going. And I was surprised. No, it wasn't good, but it did get more readable. I was astounded to learn, after I finished reading, that this is the 18th in Mr. Hagberg's series featuring the same hero.

Here is the good news: the depictions of government bureaucrats and politicians in the US and elsewhere seem spot on. Now the bad news: zero credibility in the antics of our hero, a mid-50's former director of the CIA named McGarvey. McGarvey is a bit long in the tooth to be the action hero, and nothing about his actions feels believable.

Meh. But, with the right hero figure, it could have been not bad.

Retribution (McGarvey Book 18)

White Jade, by Alex Lukeman

This is the first volume in Mr. Lukeman's "project" series. I read several of the books (starting in the middle) last year before I came across this one. Which is just as well, because I'm not sure I'd have kept going if I had started here.

This novel introduces here Nick Carter, a confused former special operator. He works for the Project, a counter terrorism unit reporting to the President. Another key character, Selena Connor, is also introduced; she conveniently is a polyglot, great shot, strong and of course, beautiful. Are things sounding predictable yet?


White Jade (The Project Book 1)

The Gemini Effect, by Chuck Grossart

A poorly disposed of container of a biological warfare virus shows up and leads to infection that starts with rats and quickly moves to humans. The President's national security advisor is a Russian spy. The Vice President figures this out but doesn't do too well at stopping the problem. Carolyn Ridenour is a biological warfare expert who gets involved with figuring out the nature of the virus, working with military Colonel Garrett Hoffman. Things go badly across the spectrum and the book ends setting up a second volume. Which I most certainly will not read.


The Gemini Effect

Bring It, by Seeley James

In this second novel in Mr. James' series featuring Pia Sabel, our hero finds herself in yet another complicated situation in the field. There's not much more to say than I did about the prior novel; still enjoyable and I'm planning on reading the next in the collection.


Bring It (Sabel Security Thriller Book 2)