The Bottom Line: A cinematic tour de force with a spectacular payoff. Jena Halpern is a psychic heroine that you’ll want to spend a lot of time with. When psychic Jena Halpern gets a voicemail from police Lieutenant Daniel R. Kropp, it goes without saying that she’s been expecting his call. News headlines about a […]
The Bottom Line: A perfect read for your next flight. Novella-length mysteries and thrillers are surging in popularity, and few do the medium better than Kendra Elliot. In her latest, FBI special agent Cate Wilde investigates what appears to be a deadly hit-and-run. But as she soon learns, the the victim may have been involved […]
The Bottom Line: A new direction from John Le Carre that holds a dark mirror to global nationalist politics. Legendary spy novelist John Le Carre has significantly broadened his audience over the past decade as bestsellers like The Night Manager and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy have hit big and small screens everywhere to vast critical […]
The Bottom Line: A gloriously explosive counter-terrorism thriller on the high seas that injects a much-needed dose of fun back into the genre. Before pop star Simone Meyer boards The Blue Pearl for a six-week luxury cruise, her father, a famous Hollywood director, tells associates that he’s looking for a down-and-dirty bodyguard to accompany his daughter […]
The Bottom Line: Koontz’ experiment with short-format fiction is a spectacular success. In a departure not only for Koontz but also for the publishing industry, the legendary author has just dropped six books in the new “Nameless” series. In the audiobook version, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, the length is just about long enough for an […]
The Bottom Line: An electrifying military thriller reminiscent of Mark Greaney and Brad Thor, with a plot worthy of a blockbuster movie. When a suspected CIA operative is captured by the North Korean government, the man’s father, an American General, repeatedly asks the White House to intervene. The White House does nothing, and the alleged […]
The Bottom Line: One of the year’s best thrillers. In The Courier’s intense opening pages, four thugs are gunned down by an assassin in Bangkok, a businessman’s contract is brutally terminated in Tokyo, and a DEA agent saves an overdose victim in Charleston, West Virginia. What’s the connection between these seemingly disparate tragedies? Debut novelist Gordon J. Campbell […]
The Bottom Line: A psychic thriller that ranks among King’s best. Stephen King’s latest thriller The Institute is in no way a sequel to Dr. Sleep (which itself was a sequel to The Shining), but thematically speaking, it’s a close cousin. As in Dr. Sleep, villains with terrifying psychic powers are hell bent on leveraging […]
The Bottom Line: A mesmerizing medical thriller about the consequences of humanity’s quest for immortality. In Matthew Mather’s The Dreaming Tree, Royce Lowell-Vandeweghe wakes up after a nearly fatal car crash to find that his mind has been transferred into a new body. Suffice to say his recover is “complicated,” with side effects that include […]
The Bottom Line: A believable thriller about the lengths to which parents will go to protect their children. You’d never know by looking at her, but drug addict Paige Green is the daughter of a Wall Street financial adviser and a pediatrician. When her father, Simon, spots her playing guitar and panhandling in Central Park, […]
