The Bottom Line: A deliciously dark and timely teen crime thriller deserving of a TV series. While tackling heavy-duty subject matter with grace and sophistication, Death by the River is tailor-made for fans of Riverdale, Twin Peaks and Twilight. A monster lurks in the halls of Louisiana small town St. Benedict High School, and his […]
The Bottom Line: Fans of cozy mysteries will enjoy this latest Wrenn Grayson series book. The latest entry in the Connie Chappell’s Wrenn Grayson series begins with a family investigation. The twenty-nine-year-old historian is spending Thanksgiving week alone at their rural farmhouse when an uninvited visitor arrives. Bret Kilmore, an old college friend of Wrenn’s […]
The Bottom Line: Visionary, wildly entertaining sci-fi that echoes our current societal challenges while showcasing technology that is only slightly out of reach. In 2050, the combination of advanced robotics and artificial intelligence has resulted in breathtaking societal benefits. Helper Robots that look and feel much like humans are ideal servants, sexual playthings and at […]
The Bottom Line: One of the year’s best thrillers. When Texas detective Barry Marshall receives an anonymous tip on a stolen Chevy truck, he knows that something is off. The caller urges him to come quickly, claiming to fear for his own life, and the truck description matches an active case Marshall is working. But […]
The Bottom Line: The best of J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike series to date. For those not familiar with the series, Strike is a private investigator, ex–Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch investigator and the illegitimate son of famous rock star Johnny Rokeby. Strike lost part of a leg in an attack in Afghanistan. He had […]
The Bottom Line: A deftly-written, all-American teen mystery deserving of a broad audience. When a Minnesota Alzheimer’s patient implies knowledge about an unsolved death dating back to the 1960s, his 15-year-old granddaughter launches an investigation. Until Proven Innocent begins as a local university is buying the former home of Henry Springs, who disappeared after a […]
The Bottom Line: A tautly-written historical thriller tailor-made for fans of All The Light We Cannot See. Set in Nazi Germany, The Ragged Edge of Night centers around friar Anton Starzmann, who is stripped of his position during the fascist government’s purge of religious clerics. He seeks solace in a woman who wants help raising […]
The Bottom Line: One of the year’s best thrillers, The Girl Next Door had me at “donuts and high heels.” This cheeky, stylish and sophisticated novel is a must for anyone who loves unreliable narrators. Lisa Aurello’s The Girl Next Door begins with a murder, then rewinds a few weeks to eavesdrop on a conspiratorial […]
Almost since the FBI was founded during the Teddy Roosevelt presidency in 1908, novelists and filmmakers alike have been cooking up fictional episodes of the legendary G-men. Some of these classic tales are tributes, and many more are conspiracy theories. More often than not in books about the FBI, the feds are positioned as […]
The Bottom Line: A timely page-turner featuring a Mossad agent worthy of her own series. The Devil’s Son opens in 1960s Buenos Aires, as a pair of Mossad agents are set to ambush infamous Nazis Karl Weiss and Josef Mengele. After a chilling brush with their targets, luck is not with them, and the two […]
