patti, Author at Nightstand Book Reviews

Lexi Sobado is back in Fiona Quinn’s fourth book in the Lynx series, “Cuff Lynx.” Lexi has mostly recovered from her last mission and on the first day back at the Iniquus office, senses something is not quite right with the headquarters of her top secret world. Iniquus is under attack and she needs to figure out how and why even though she’s not yet 100%.

Lexi’s regular role at Iniquus is to ‘puzzle’ the plans and tactics of field missions. She has the unusual skill of ‘knowing’ when something isn’t what it should be. She has a sixth sense, a psychic sense that becomes heightened well beyond the norm in the presence of evil.

Her skills are put to the test when she hears that Ops are failing, the founder of Iniquus, General Elliot, is in a coma, clients are losing confidence, valuable art is involved, and to top it off, Striker Rheas, Lexi’s heart’s desire, is teamed up with a gorgeous woman with few scruples. What else could go wrong? In “Cuff Lynx,” quite a lot.

Lexi has out-of-body experiences that help her gather Intel about the location of other people without having to leave the office or use a computer, and when she goes ‘behind the Veil’ at great risk to herself, we believe it. Quinn’s descriptions of those psychic missions are absorbing and keep the pages turning. The concept underpinning the use of the ‘Veil’ raises questions about how intelligence is gathered in the real world. If fact-gatherers were able to use this technique, would the Intel be of better quality or be obtained more quickly? Fascinating futuristic talking points.

The problems multiply, the evildoers abound and in “Cuff Lynx,” we’re not sure if the good guys (including her lover) are on Lexi’s side. Our heroine is a mix of sweetness, naiveté and single-mindedness unusual for an average person her age and that mix is what makes Lexi Sobado so refreshing as a central character in a thriller. The supporting characters are dedicated Special Ops professionals and Lexi’s softer character makes an intriguing contrast to the hard-core military types.

Over the course of the series, she is widowed, stalked by a killer, held in captivity, chased, scarred, loved, and trained in special skills that not even her Iniquus team can know about – all at a break neck pace.

“Cuff Lynx” can be read as a stand alone, but it’s much more fun if you read them all to experience the development of Lexi’s character and her relationship with the various members of her team. Quinn told me recently that she plans to feature the other characters in their own books. Cool.

Please visit www.fionaquinnbooks.com for information about the rest of Quinn’s work in fiction and non-fiction.

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“Chasing Fire” by Nora Roberts

Bestselling Author, Romance, Suspense

“Chasing Fire,” by New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts, explores the world of adrenaline-pumping fire jumping in the northern USA forests.

Smokejumper Rowan Tripp follows in her famous father’s footsteps, spending summers fighting dangerous fires in Montana, pushing back against the raw power that challenges them every day in the field. When former Hotshot (experienced wildfire fighter) Gulliver Curry shows up as a smokejumper recruit at the Missoula base, Rowan is immediately singled out as a target for his affection. She says she doesn’t date rookies. He says he’ll get her to change her mind.

These are highly trained firefighters that work for long hours in volatile, hazardous conditions for days on end, sometimes being cut off from food, water, and help for long periods of time. Hotshots are specially trained to work a fire in the woods with chain saws and axes; smokejumpers have the additional training and challenge of parachuting into a fire when it can’t be reached on foot. If they’re lucky, they get to shower every couple of days.

“Chasing Fire” is remarkable in its descriptions of the exhausting life of a smokejumper. When not on duty working a fire, they are busy working out so that they can maintain their exceptional physical fitness. The guys and gals jump into the fire in remote mountain areas, ready to go, and must be as self-sufficient as possible. Their equipment and supplies are dropped in after the firefighters land. Part of the backstory important to Rowan’s struggles has to do with an unfortunate jump that her partner made, and the incredible guilt she carries.

Roberts did a great deal of research to get the details nailed down and it shows in the many harrowing fire scenes. The smokejumpers beat the fire back, saw trees and limbs, brake the fire’s progress, sometimes getting surrounded or burned, sometimes carrying out injured people. Gripping descriptions of the fires made me feel as if I had a front row seat.

A special bond is created among the firefighters as they risk their lives for each other every time they jump. The job is incredibly dangerous, but the jumpers look forward to the challenge and the victory.

But, if that kind of excitement isn’t enough in “Chasing Fire,” someone is setting fires during the dry season, first to cover up a murder, then to see the forest burn.

There are multiple suspects for the horrific deeds – mentally unstable characters and people out for revenge. There is a ripple effect of actions/emotions in all directions, with remorse and misplaced blame part of the mix. The stakes are ramped up as the plot unfolds and jumpers' lives are placed at risk.

With over 400 million copies of her books sold, Nora Roberts is accomplished at creating living, breathing, fully-developed characters. In “Chasing Fire,” she delivers a thrilling plot and pays homage to a heroic group of men and women as well. And, of course, there’s the hot romance. 😉

For more information about Nora Roberts (aka J.D. Robb) please visit www.noraroberts.com

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“Musseled Out” by Barbara Ross

Cozy, Mystery

Julia Snowden is back in “Musseled Out,” the third installment of Barbara Ross’ great Maine Clambake Mystery series.

The Maine summer tourist season is winding down and it’s time for Julia to make a decision. Should she stay around until the next season to help the family with the Snowden Clambake business or go back to her venture capital job in New York City? Her boss will only hold her spot open for so long – just until the end of the week. She’s got five days to choose between two jobs and lifestyles that could not be more different.

Now that the family livelihood has been saved, about the only thing that really holds Julia to Busman’s Harbor is her boyfriend, Chris. But, is that relationship really just a summer fling? Can she count on him to hang around? Is his constant disappearing act over? In a half-hearted attempt to force herself into making a decision, she looks at places to live in town. She doesn’t like the apartments she’s seen, and her boyfriend’s cabin is a little rough (translation – gutted while being rehabbed) for her taste. Plus, she has to find work in the off-season. Is that a sign?

The thing is, as in any good series, there has to be motivation for the out-of-town main character to hang around. We don’t want Julia to go anywhere, so Ross has to give this smart, savvy gal in “Musseled Out” an authentic reason. How about the body of a potential competitor, David Thwing, tangled up in the lines of a lobster boat she sees drifting off her beach? Julia has helped the local police successfully before, so they trust her not to be involved in Thwing’s death, but there are plenty of people (including her brother-in-law) in her circle that could have done the deed.

What follows is a beautifully crafted plot, with surprising twists and turns, and impeccably placed events that foil the bad guys’ plans. There is even a page-turning rescue scene that left me stunned, with the life and death struggles reading like an actual Coast Guard response.

Ross has developed the core characters of the series even further in “Musseled Out,” giving Gus and Mrs. Gus a storyline of their own that affects Julia and Chris in a profound way. The book not only explores what happens when key personnel in a family business are sidelined, and the serious decisions that must be made, but also how bad decisions can wreck havoc on the lives of everyone involved.

The motivations for everything that happens are as current as the latest news cycle, but if that’s not enough, there are some serious cooks in this series. Techniques are shared as part of the storyline, and I plan to try the one for fried eggs. Recipes for main dishes and desserts are included at the end of the book. I made lobster mac & cheese from “Clammed Up,” (delicious) and I can’t wait to try the pumpkin whoopee pies from “Musseled Out.”

Well done!

Read the review of “Clammed Up,” the first in the series, here.

For more information about Barbara Ross and her next book, “Fogged Inn,” please visit www.maineclambakemysteries.com

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“Circling the Sun” by Paula McLain

2 Comments / Adventure, Bestselling Author, Historical

Paula McLain’s “Circling the Sun,” is the story of horse trainer/aviator/writer, Beryl Markham. It recalls the remarkable accomplishments of this under sung woman far ahead of her time in Colonial Kenya and explores her relationship with renowned Denys Finch Hatton, safari hunter, and Karen Blixen, author (as Isak Dineson) of “Out of Africa.”

Beryl’s father sold everything in England in order to buy a farm in Kenya, but Beryl’s mother could not cope with the stark cultural differences and returned to England with son, Dickie, leaving Beryl behind to be raised by her father.

Her father, ill equipped to raise a young girl, was always busy with the hard work of running a farm, so she was frequently left alone and spent a great deal of time with members of a neighboring tribe. She learned their languages and customs and made friends that would be with her for life. The realities of African living shaped Beryl's character and 100 years ago, forged a strength and determination in her that would be unusual even for a woman of today.

“Circling the Sun” tells us that Beryl’s freedom to do what she wanted came with an incredible price. The standards by which she lived in Africa, coming and going as she pleased, affected all her relationships and her view of the world. She was a natural at training horses, but had to battle at every turn to be recognized and accepted. Nothing was ever easy.

Interacting in polite Colonial Kenyan society was beyond her understanding. She had no wish to be judged and yet, she was targeted unfairly merely because she was a female. Her casual disregard of the conventional separation of men and women caused her great pain when she attempted to navigate the minefields of marriage, society, and motherhood, even when Royals were involved.

Markham is remembered as the first woman to fly non-stop across the Atlantic from East to West, but “Circling the Sun’ spends most of the book on her time as a horse trainer and her interactions with Blixen and Hatton. They played an incredible part in shaping the woman she would become and the choices she would make that placed her in the history books. They were a complicated threesome. Hatton never married either of the women, but had a relationship with both.

The colors and sounds of Africa are a major character in the book and give us a sweeping sense of the majestic nature of the continent and the customs of native Africans. McLain paints a fabulous landscape that keeps us enthralled and gives us a peek into why so many English expats were drawn to the place: Money to be made, worlds to experience, the excitement/danger of safaris, creating something permanent out of the untamed land.

Circumstances and the people in her life shaped her, but Markham could not have become the bush pilot or transatlantic pilot she did, without that incredible setting that set her free.

A work of historical fiction not to be missed.

Please visit www.paulamclain.com for more information about McLain, “Circling the Sun,” and her earlier acclaimed bestseller, “The Paris Wife.”

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“Signal” by Patrick Lee

Adventure, Bestselling Author, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Marnie Calvert, FBI agent in Patrick Lee’s “Signal,” smells the bodies before she sees them. A trailer is burned to a crisp, with not much left except a cage holding the corpses of four children. The owner of the trailer is missing.

Sam Dryden’s background includes special ops training with the military. He has left that life behind and now flips houses. His ordinary, peaceful evening is interrupted by a call from trusted former colleague in the military, Claire Dunham. She makes an urgent request of Sam: get in the car immediately and meet her in a spot that is two hours away. Once together, they drive to the trailer at breakneck speed and keep the owner from burning it and everyone in it. When Sam and Claire leave the area, the only corpse is the owner’s.

Yes, you read that correctly. Calvert, Dryden and Dunham have arrived at the same crime scene – just not at the same time and with very different results. The race against, through, and with time, begins.

Patrick Lee’s paradigms of time travel/time shifting are intriguing and part of what compels me to return to his books. Not every book uses time as a plot device, but I love the way Lee’s mind works. In his Travis Chase series, people traveled through a doorway in time to the future and back again. In “Signal,” Lee’s main characters listen to a radio frequency on a device that streams what is reported on the airwaves from the future – a very specific period of time in the future. In this world, time is fluid and actions can be changed before they happen.

Imagine if that power was held by people with decades to plan and reshape the future for their own agendas? Nothing good could come of it. Murder, kidnapping, torture? They’ll do anything to get the device that led Claire to the trailer.

In “Signal,” Lee deftly handles the time paradox challenges of adjusting actions in response to hearing the consequences. Any modification in events affects everyone in the timeline continuum for all time, and Lee uses that effectively to keep us absorbed. He gives us just enough information about how it all works without too much science-speak or theory that might take us out of the story.

Whose reality will control the tale? Can this knowledge ever be used for good? If your “enemy knows your mistakes before you make them,” how can you survive the battle? The answers will keep you turning the pages all night long, because “Signal” is flat out stay-awake reading. And not just because of the time-travel component or the pulse-pounding action. Lee’s characters have depth, a back story, and believable reasons for what they do, be it for good or very questionable motives.

Clear your schedule, turn off the computer and the phone (gasp), and be prepared to read straight through to the perfect finish.

I was lucky enough to meet Patrick Lee at a recent writer’s conference and he graciously signed my copy of “Signal.” He signed “Ghost Country,” from the Travis Chase series as well and you can read that review here.

For information about Patrick Lee, the terrific first Sam Dryden book, “Runner,” and his other series, please visit www.patrickleefiction.com

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patti

“Drizzled with Death” by Jessie Crockett

“The Longest Yard Sale” by Sherry Harris

“Cuff Lynx” by Fiona Quinn

“Chasing Fire” by Nora Roberts

“Musseled Out” by Barbara Ross

“Circling the Sun” by Paula McLain

“Signal” by Patrick Lee