THE INFORMANT by Thomas Perry

One of Thomas Perry’s most iconic characters is “The Butcher’s Boy,” a professional hit man with an impressive resume. In his prime, he was the go-to guy for gangsters who wanted to get rid of their enemies. Taught by his foster father, Eddie Mastrewski, who worked as a butcher but also rubbed out individuals for a fee, the Butcher’s Boy (who now goes by the name Michael Schaeffer) is mentally tough, remorseless, practical, and a perfectionist who has stayed alive by taking nothing for granted. He is a master of weaponry and surveillance; is good at blending into the background; can bypass most alarm systems; and has a sixth sense that alerts him to subtle clues in his environment. Although he can improvise when necessary, he prefers to plan ahead. He does not toy with his victims; he strangles, shoots, or stabs them, and then quickly vanishes.

May 8, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  · Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Good and Evil, Thriller/Spy/Caper, Uncategorized

LIVE WIRE by Harlan Coben

Myron Bolitar is back in LIVE WIRE, the tenth book in this great series and the first since Long Lost (2009). Last time, Myron was in France but this time he’s back in New York and north Jersey where he works as an agent representing sports professionals and other celebrities. Myron is asked for help by one of his first clients, former tennis star Suzze T. (Trevantino) who is now eight months pregnant. She wants Myron to find her husband, Lex Rider who is missing after seeing the post of “Not His” about his wife’s pregnancy on her Facebook page.

May 7, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  · Posted in: Award Winning Author, New York City, Sleuths Series, Thriller/Spy/Caper

THE SENTRY by Robert Crais

The latest and 14th installment of Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole/Joe Pike crime fiction series is THE SENTRY, denominated “A Joe Pike Novel.” THE SENTRY is the third Pike book of the series, the other eleven being Elvis Cole novels. Pike, the ex-marine, ex-LAPD officer, ex-mercenary for hire (for the right cause), is forever stoic and withdrawn, except the issues that affect him are more in the forefront…

March 19, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  · Posted in: Award Winning Author, California, Character Driven, Sleuths Series, Thriller/Spy/Caper

LUCIFER’S TEARS by James Thompson

Kari Vaara is back on the job. After taking a bullet to the face in his last book, Snow Angels, he is back to working on new cases as a police detective with his partner Milo. As Lucifer’s Tears opens, Kari is assigned two investigations. One involves a murder and the other is bringing an alleged war criminal from World War II to justice. Meanwhile, Kari’s wife, Kate, is eight and a half months pregnant with a baby girl. After losing twins in her last pregnancy, both Kate and Kari are very apprehensive and nervous that everything goes right this time. Both of them feel responsible for their prior loss. Kate has invited her brother and sister over to Finland from the United States to be there for the birth and this creates a whole new set of problems for Kari.

March 17, 2011 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , ,  · Posted in: Iceland, Sleuths Series, World Literature

THE TRINITY SIX by Charles Cumming

Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and John Cairncross, who studied at Cambridge in the 1930s, were recruited by Moscow Center to act as Soviet agents. They eventually rose to positions of prominence in such organizations as the British Foreign Office and the Secret Intelligence Service (M16). Over the years, they passed “vast numbers of classified documents to their handlers.” Charles Cumming, in The Trinity Six, suggests the existence of a sixth man whose identity was never made public. What if this individual survived decades after the other five passed away and decided that the time has come to reveal what he knows?

March 15, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  · Posted in: Political, Thriller/Spy/Caper

THE INFORMATIONIST by Taylor Stevens

Lisbeth Salander and Vanessa Munroe share some commonalities: both experienced traumas in adolescence that cause them to disconnect to some degree in adulthood and display a few nearly sociopathic tendencies, both are superhumanly skilled with weapons and in command at the information-gathering game, both are extremely tenacious and are survivors, both share androgynous physical characteristics, both are willing to use sex as a tool but at heart do desire real intimacy, and both have few compunctions about taking vicious vengeance when personally threatened.

THE INFORMATIONIST is a drier name for a thriller than THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and one can argue that Taylor Stevens’ new novel intends to piggyback success on the Salander trilogy phenomenon. However, be that as it may, The Informationist is a very compelling read in and of itself.

March 8, 2011 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  · Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Africa, Debut Novel, Thriller/Spy/Caper