The Bottom Line: An instant noir classic. Highly recommended. It’s 1958, and small-town Wisconsin reporter Stan Ellis is itching to cover something other than local council meetings, high school games and local crimes for the Sparta Herald. The closest he came was covering a fatal train crash several years ago that caused three deaths and […]
The Bottom Line: An irresistible psychological thriller that fans of Gone Girl and Girl on a Train will fall head-over-heels for. As Stolen Truth begins, new mother Bree Michaelson wakes up at home drugged, disoriented and confused about the scent of paint and bleach overwhelming her senses. Nauseous and unsteady, she naturally fears for her […]
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 […]
The Bottom Line: A spellbinding crime thriller bolstered by a razor-sharp audiobook performance. Perfect for Michael Connelly fans looking for another dose of LA noir. In this twisty whodunnit, LAPD detective Jamie Del Rey investigates the death of 19-year-old Candy Xavier. Her body was found on the lawn of a Hollywood Hills home belonging to […]
The Bottom Line: A groundbreaking, nail-biting and wondrous legal thriller. In Dorian Box’s The Hiding Girl, 12-year-old Emily Calby survived a home invasion and became an unlikely vigilante. The Girl in Cell 49B finds Emily on her 16th birthday. She’s on a bus in the Ozarks where she has been living for the past three […]
The Bottom Line: A superb, action-packed legal thriller with a heart of gold. Defense attorney Henry Krakow has made a career out of representing small time clients living on the fringe. Most don’t pay, and when they do, it’s often via questionable means. His wife Olivia is a moneyed high-powered public relations executive who is […]
The Bottom Line: An irreverent, offbeat crime thriller featuring a memorable protagonist and a quirky cast of gangsters. For a man whose primary job is delivering packages for an LA law firm, Monk Buttman lives a complicated life. He owns the Moonlight Arms, a complex of bungalows that he purchased with what might be found […]
The Bottom Line: A taut, finely polished Vatican thriller with the highest possible stakes. In John Zodrow’s latest novel, the discovery of an ancient document reveals a shocking secret that has been concealed for centuries. The Survivor begins in Rome with a murder investigation. The body of a deceased priest, Father Bobby, has just arrived […]
The Bottom Line: A must-read for Koontz fans, but avoid the audiobook version. In Koontz’s latest novel, a father named Jeffy and his daughter Amity befriend a homeless man known as Spooky Ed. While it’s clear that Ed is highly intelligent and likely harmless, he sparks fear when he entrusts them a device he refers […]
The Bottom Line: Hazen cooks up one of his most compelling conspiracies yet in this fast-paced series entry. The third book in John Hazen’s Vega Series finds the intrepid TV news anchor Francine Vega in a new role. She’s now CEO of Westbrook Broadcasting Corporation, which is just three months old. As the novel opens, […]
