Michelle Rao

Merry-Go-Round Broke Down, a Breathtaking Financial Thriller

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The Bottom Line: A breathtaking financial thriller about globalization’s winners, losers and casualties, bound together by money and fate. Merry-Go-Round Broke Down may be the smartest novel you read all year. Merry-Go-Round Broke Down opens in the fall of 2008 at the Waldorf Astoria New York, where two armed men storm the hotel’s famed bar and take its occupants hostage. Among those trapped are an […]

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Swamp Justice, a Stellar Swamp-Country Legal Thriller by Neil Turner

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The Bottom Line: A stellar swamp-country legal thriller that turns one man’s murder into a reckoning with generations of injustice As Swamp Justice opens, Chicago-area attorney Tony Valenti is shocked by the news that the father of one of his investigators has been killed in what local authorities are calling a hit-and-run. But as Valenti gradually learns, the official story is almost too tidy to

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The Florentine Entanglement, a Stylish Cold War Thriller by Pamela Norsworthy

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The Bottom Line: Cold War thrillers are rarely this stylish and sophisticated. Norsworthy understands that the most dangerous secrets can be hidden inside a marriage. The Florentine Entanglement opens at a surprise 40th birthday party in Washington, DC, where Eleanor Bentley performs gratitude for a roomful of friends, neighbors and government-adjacent acquaintances. Her husband, Talbot, a seasoned CIA officer, arranged the evening as a public

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Holler Whispers, an Emotionally-Charged Southern Legal Thriller

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The Bottom Line: An emotionally-charged Southern legal thriller where rumor runs wild and truth fights for air. As Holler Whispers opens, Carl Ledbetter, an autistic eighteen-year-old with a formal way of speaking and a mind calmed by Chicago Cubs statistics, is dreading another therapy session. Bright lights hurt, questions about feelings make little sense, and adults keep repeating his name as if that will make

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Arctic Fire, a Bruising Neo-Western Crime Thriller by Brian L. Reece

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The Bottom Line: A bruising neo-western crime thriller where greed, murder and frontier justice collide in rural Alaska. Perfect for fans of Taylor Sheridan and C.J. Box. Arctic Fire opens with Major Zoe Nichols standing between armed United States Marines and Afghan villagers after a weapons-cache discovery turns into a standoff. Ordered from afar to seize the weapons, Zoe instead removes her helmet and body

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The Pope Must Die, a Vatican Conspiracy Thriller by Donald Anderson

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The Bottom Line: A Vatican thriller with real nerve, driven by a sinister pope and a conspiracy of terrifying reach. Fans of Daniel Silva will find much to admire.  In Donald Anderson’s The Pope Must Die, the newly elevated Sixtus VI speaks with the ease of a man who knows his papacy has been engineered. In the opening pages, Anderson makes plain that the new American

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Birds of Prey Don’t Sing, a Bold Assassination Thriller by Joe Cary

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The Bottom Line: A bold assassination thriller about a perfect kill that refuses to stay buried. Highly recommended. Birds of Prey Don’t Sing opens on the African savanna in 1988 with sixteen-year-old Michael Harrier lying prone on a ridge. As poachers rake an elephant with automatic fire, Michael calmly picks them off with a sniper’s rifle. Just as he muses about the seduction of self-righteousness, he swears the poachers’

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Sayonara, My Sweet, a Sophisticated Crime Thriller by Lea O’Harra

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The Bottom Line:  A gritty, compact and emotionally sophisticated crime thriller that should win over plenty of Michael Pronko fans. Sayonara, My Sweet opens with a Nippon Daily evening-edition newspaper report announcing the mysterious death of twenty-three-year-old Kaori Hirakata in Murota after she collapses from poisoned chocolates. Set in a quiet town where violent crime is rare, author Lea O’ Harra’s framing is immediately effective.  The

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ZigZag Girl, a Must-Read Whodunnit by Ruth Knafo Setton

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The Bottom Line: A must-read whodunnit in which illusion, misdirection and motive are cleverly intertwined. Set amid the neon glamour of Atlantic City, ZigZag Girl opens on what should be a pivotal performance for magician Lucy Moon. But as showtime approaches, her co-performer and closest friend, Vanessa Kim, still hasn’t arrived. Vanessa would never miss a performance, and as minutes tick by, Lucy’s concern hardens into dread. That

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The Debt, a Suspenseful Crime Thriller by Chris Young

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The Bottom Line: A muscular, suspenseful crime thriller about consequence and the long shadow of obligation. Set in the fictional city of Fresburg, The Debt follows eighteen-year-old Michael Kramer, a disciplined martial artist whose future fractures after the accidental shooting death of his best friend. Convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Michael is sentenced to five years in prison.  Debut novelist Chris Young uses the early going to establish

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