patti, Author at Nightstand Book Reviews

“American Assassin” by Vince Flynn

2 Comments / Adventure, Bestselling Author, Thriller

Vince Flynn’s “American Assassin,” Mitch Rapp, is not a suave, smooth-talking spy. He is a twenty-three year old, non-skirt-chaser, non-political, All-American lacrosse player who has never been in the military.

Ian Fleming and Hollywood gave us James Bond and glamorized the life of a spy, interweaving assassinations with hot cars, cool guns, and fast women. However, the tuxedo wearing, Baccarat playing, former Navy Commander rarely had a hair out of place, even when being tortured. Bond had the full force of the British Secret Service behind him, including military backup and impossibly cool gadgets with which to work whenever he got into a jam. 007 was the embodiment of MI6 and was staunchly patriotic. Those characteristics appeared to be the standard by which all other spies in books, on TV, and in the movies were measured.

So how does Mitch Rapp qualify to become an assassin? How is he turned into an efficient human killing machine? What motivates him to do the job?

He is recruited. An assistant to the CIA Director of Operations sees something in Rapp that could change the direction of a CIA in disarray after many intelligence failures. The CIA needs to take the fight to the enemy instead of merely reacting to events, and Rapp may be just the one to do it.

Mitch Rapp, at the beginning of his career in “American Assassin,” will not have the official backing of the CIA, and in an almost “Mission Impossible” style interview, is told that his very existence will be denied if he is caught doing his job overseas. He has guns, his mental agility, his physical skills, and a passport – not much else. Oh, and a training officer that doesn’t like him, calls him a ‘college puke’ and doubts that he is truly qualified to carry out any assignments. Sound like something you’d sign up for?

Flynn writes Rapp so convincingly that we buy it all. Why? Rapp agrees to take the job because of revenge, pure and simple. His girlfriend was killed in the Pan Am Lockerbie disaster and he wants to see the perpetrators dead. His ability is proven again and again as he puts up with what he considers the sham of his training, verbally challenging his so-called mentors and questioning his own motivation in the process.

After his first operation, Rapp looks in the mirror and realizes a killer is looking back at him. And, he’s okay with it.

Flynn explores the post-Lockerbie world and places it in historical context, so that the reader can recognize the global players in the intelligence community. The bad guys are varying shades of nasty, and the good guys/gals are complex, layered characters.

“American Assassin,” an intense page-turner that Flynn waited fifteen years to write, is a strongly political anti-terrorism thriller. In the book, an American businessman is kidnapped in Beirut, an operative goes in after him, then is captured as well. There are references to torture, to rendition, and to the Middle Eastern conflict.

Mitch Rapp is a character originated in “Transfer of Power,” published in 1999, the first of the thirteen Rapp books. “American Assassin” tells us how it all began for Rapp and is now listed as the first in the series.

Sadly, Vince Flynn passed away in 2013 at the age of 47 after a bout with cancer. His family, friends, and fans sorely miss him.

For more information about Vince Flynn, his body of work, and his charities, please visit www.vinceflynn.com

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“Murder Inside the Beltway” by Margaret Truman

6 Comments / Bestselling Author, Mystery

Walt Hatcher is a bigoted veteran detective who constantly insults his co-workers. He lies to his wife, leans on witnesses and shouts so-called apologies. Hatch is a misfit in a modern police department and is in dire need of a crash course in sensitivity, but he gets the job done.

He is assigned to investigate the murder of a DC call girl, and during the crime scene search, one of his team discovers a video camera hidden in a bookcase. The client list discovered on the tapes becomes the focus of the inquiries, made all the more intriguing because a bloody presidential campaign is underway.

When the daughter of a campaign strategist is kidnapped before the murder case is solved, political machinations move into high gear. It’s hard to tell who wins the prize for ‘slimebag of the year’ after a connection is made between the kidnapping and the murder.

Other characters predominate the second half of the book, but Hatcher’s actions play heavily in the outcome of both cases. Readers anticipating Truman’s famous surprise endings will not be disappointed.

Throughout the ‘Capital Crimes’ series, Truman brought her main characters to life by sharing the thoughts of each one. Realistic dialogue that followed the internal processing made her books flow effortlessly, as if we were in the rooms living the scenes. We cheered for the nice guys, however lightly flawed, and hissed at the bad guys as they were quite cleverly dispatched. The novels became grittier with time, but never reached ‘Adults Only’ status.

When Margaret Truman was a junior in college, her father, Harry, became the President of the U.S. Years later, she began writing the Capital Crimes series, all set in DC. Truman had a love-hate relationship with her experiences at the White House, but she captivated readers with the details of the Washington that she knew so well. The Adams-Morgan residential section of the city and the Mall (a tourist favorite, with museums surrounding a park setting) are featured in “Murder Inside the Beltway,” the 24^th and final title of the bestselling series.

Memorable titles in the series include:

“Murder at the National Gallery” – M. Scott Pims is a scheming art curator with a masterful plan involving the Gallery.

“Murder at the National Cathedral” – Mac and Annabel Smith are a husband and wife team sleuthing among the stained glass and pillars of the National Cathedral.

“Murder at the Smithsonian” – a showdown with a surprise murderer occurs in The Museum of American History.

Margaret Truman passed away in 2008, but her legacy lives on in her work. Having visited and enjoyed Washington, D.C. dozens of times myself, it was great fun to be able to revisit the famous places she mentioned and imagine the mayhem among the corridors and columns of our nation’s capital.

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“Up Country” by Nelson DeMille

Bestselling Author, Military, Suspense, Thriller

In these days between the U.S. celebrations of Memorial Day and July 4th, it seemed appropriate to review “Up Country,” a detective/thriller that places war firmly at its center. DeMille considers the U.S. involvement in Viet Nam and the sacrifices made by all concerned. War never seems quite real unless someone close to us is affected, but lest we forget, the body bags are always bringing home someone’s brother or father or sister or mother.

Paul Brenner is close to retiring from military service, but must return to Viet Nam one last time to solve a crime committed during the war almost thirty years before. Was an American soldier killed in Viet Nam back then, actually murdered?

In Brenner’s search for the answers to what seems to be a colossal cover up in “Up Country,” we travel through Viet Nam, feel the anguish of a country still reeling from the destruction of the war, meet descendants of the original soldiers who had nothing to do with the regimes of the time, but are still suffering. And, the very men who lost the war now rule it.

Brennan interacts with ex-pat Susan Weber to supposedly smooth his in-country travel arrangements, and at times (even during their on-the-road affair) we wonder whether she is a friend to Brennan or an agent of the enemy. Corruption and betrayal at every turn, a harrowing unauthorized trip into North Viet Nam, many tense dealings with a suspicious North Vietnamese Colonel, political as well as military agendas, seeing Viet Nam as a country, not as a war – all blends together in a sobering clash of values and hindsight.

DeMille’s ‘Alpha Male’ lead characters are always fully developed, with strong language and active inner dialogue. In “Up Country,” we experience Brennan’s thought process as he assesses his limited options for solving the crime. We are persuaded that he should continue his dangerous mission even as he observes the behavior of the former/present enemy that still lives in the past and can’t let go of the hatred of the U.S.

“Up Country,” published in 2002, was based on DeMille’s own experiences upon his return to Viet Nam in 1997, almost three decades after his own military service. DeMille is a master storyteller, as his legions of fans will agree, but in this book, he brings a great deal of himself to the page and in doing that, creates a completely absorbing, gritty tale. One wonders how much is in reality, fiction. DeMille’s other books are great reads, but “Up Country” just may be his best.

Visit www.nelsondemille.com for more information about the popular John Corey series and the many other bestselling DeMille thrillers.

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“The Cold Dish” by Craig Johnson

2 Comments / Mystery, Western

When a novel begins with, “Bob Barnes says they got a dead body out on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land,” you’d be sure that murder was afoot. But in "The Cold Dish," Walt Longmire, Sheriff of Absaroka County, thinks the drunken hunters merely saw a dead sheep. The Sheriff is told to bring beer when he goes out to investigate. So, he does what any seasoned Sheriff would do – he manipulates his bored, testy, always swearing, deputy Vic (short for Victoria) to head out to the sheep in question, heads home early and keeps the six-pack.

But, his thoughts as he sits in his ‘under construction’ house, are never far from the job, even as he polishes off the Rainier by himself. He doesn’t need a file in front of him to remember the details of one horrific event when justice was not served. The racially charged case that troubles him involves a young Indian girl with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome who had been raped three years before, but her case had only recently come to trial. He muses over injustice in the world, and what he, as the investigating officer on the case, might have done differently. Then Vic reports that the dead body found among the sheep is one of the alleged rapists.

Melissa Little Bird’s attackers received a slap on the wrist, but is someone making up for the lapse in the law? When the second of Little Bird’s attackers is killed, Longmire and his lifelong friend, Henry Standing Bear, owner of the local watering hole and Walt’s occasional liaison with the Reservation, must choose whom to protect.

What follows is an extremely well written modern Western mystery, with honest dialogue, and complex, realistic characters dealing with serious issues in a harsh world. Friend and foe alike are under suspicion as the cases develop and overlap next to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, in sight of the breathtaking Bighorn Mountains. A century of distrust among the area residents is not helped by the deaths or the investigations.

Johnson has accurately portrayed the hollowness of being a widower, the severity of an unforgiving winter that impedes pursuits, the challenge of forensic analysis without a lab close by, the search for a 125 year old .45-70 Sharpe’s Buffalo rifle, the emptiness of having an estranged daughter, and the issue of an upcoming election for Sheriff. This multi-dimensional background to the central story creates an absorbing introduction to the Longmire series of novels.

Homage is paid to Cheyenne culture throughout “The Cold Dish,” but a haunting scene late in the book will stay with me forever. Imagine echoes of braves singing, whispering to Longmire, and playing drums alongside him during a blizzard on a mountainside, as he fights the pull to the Camp of the Dead. One voice among many says, “Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.”

Johnson now lives on a ranch in Wyoming and was a law enforcement officer for a few years, although in a large eastern city. In order to get the feel of a Western County Sheriff’s job right for his books, he shadowed a Sheriff friend of his back in Wyoming.

If you have watched “Longmire,” the TV show on A & E, you have met the Sheriff in the persona of Robert Taylor, the Australian actor who has captured the depth and pain of Longmire perfectly. The other actors in the show, most notably Lou Diamond Phillips, Katee Sackhoff, and Bailey Chase, are marvelous in their roles.

Please visit www.craigallenjohnson.com to learn more about Craig Johnson and his NYT bestselling, award-winning novels.

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“Takedown” by Brad Thor

2 Comments / Bestselling Author, Thriller

#1 New York Times bestselling author, Brad Thor, delivers thrillers that keep the action moving. His series of twelve novels feature counterterrorist Scot Horvath as the central character.

In honor of the fans old and new of the enormously successful books, Thor arranged for an entire year of “Thrills, Threats, and Thor.” He invited them to read each of the books (one a month) in order, starting in January, 2013, with the first, “The Lions of Lucerne.” Thor’s website has videos and extras about each of the books and of course, an opportunity to buy them.

May’s book is “Takedown,” first published in 2006. It is just as topical as Thor’s other recent books and deals with post September 11^th terrorism action in New York City. In a horrifying glimpse of the future, bridges as well as tunnels are blown up at the beginning of the book and the resulting action places the President’s daughter in danger.

But, are the explosions and destruction a smokescreen for something else? Something even more devastating to our nation’s security than what has already occurred?

Yes, indeed. And, unfortunately, quite believable.

Foreign soldiers are in the streets and are looking for one of their own, having created the chaos of a burning, crippled New York in order to paralyze any opposition. But the man is so feared that the US government will not admit that he even exists, let alone that he is being held somewhere. The plot is scary enough to give the reader chills and instill a sincere wish that none of this nightmarish scenario ever comes to pass in the USA.

Scot Harvath is well written, with some depth and a sense of humanity despite the gravity of his tasks. We experience moments of his deep commitment and never question his patriotism as the drama unfolds.

There are multiple bad guys – believable in that they are multi-dimensional – the worst one (a really nasty type) has dogs that he loves and treats tenderly.

As in many thrillers, there is a suspension of disbelief while the reader goes along for the ride, but the practicality of one of the action sequences seemed off to my New York City pals. Secret Service agents must get the dying daughter to a hospital. In actual fact, driving a car along the sidewalks of Manhattan to avoid grid-lock traffic doesn’t really work. During the day on most streets, the sidewalks are blocked with potted trees and restaurant awnings and litter baskets and fruit stands and flower stands, etc. and are just too narrow for a car to make any headway. And, if mass transit shuts down, the people spill onto those very sidewalks while they try to get home. “Never gonna happen,” was one comment, even though New Yorkers would like it to.

Aside from that, Thor gets the feel of the city exactly right, with its complex maze of office buildings, side streets, subway stairwells, alleys, parks, garages, et al as the background for Harvath’s chase.

Be prepared to re-examine the anger of the post 9/11 world in this intense novel, which does include torture scenes. Terrible choices must be made throughout the book, and sometimes the lines are blurred between good and evil. Thor makes the case so well, that taken in the post-9/11 context, we never doubt for a moment that it’s necessary.

If you’d like to catch up with the Thor 2013 reading plan, here are the books in order:

January’s Book: The Lions Of Lucerne
February’s Book: Path Of The Assassin
March’s Book: State Of The Union
April’s Book: Blowback
May’s Book: Takedown
June’s Book: The First Commandment
July’s Book: The Last Patriot
August’s Book: The Apostle
September’s Book: Foreign Influence
October’s Book: The Athena Project
November’s Book: Full Black
December’s Book: Black List

Please visit www.bradthor.com to read about the other titles in the series, as well as the new release coming in July, “Act of War.”

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“The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith

4 Comments / Bestselling Author, Mystery

Smith has written a series of much-admired bestsellers based in Gaborone, Botswana, where life is enjoyed most when sitting on a porch sipping red bush tea, enjoying the view of acacia trees, listening to Go-Away birds calling, and watching people from the village stroll past. The ‘No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ in the fourteen books, is run by Mma Precious Ramotswe, a sensible woman of traditional size (translation – big woman), so no slinky, svelte types will be found between the pages, unless they happen to be up to no good. Makeup is more or less dismissed as unnecessary (or mostly for those women who are up to no good).

Ramotswe guarantees satisfaction for all parties, and as the clever owner of the first detective agency in Botswana run by a woman, that’s a standard she is happy to apply as a matter of personal principle. In “The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency,” she must find a missing husband, follow an errant teenager, and search for a missing child, while keeping her clients happy and herself safe – not easy when witch doctors and cobras might be involved.

The feel-good mystery series has been a worldwide phenomenon and has inspired a BBC TV series as well as a movie. Smith writes from his experience of living and working in Botswana. His descriptions of the countryside make the reader feel that looking for the hippos around the next bend of the river is the natural order of things, where going to the next town is a really big deal and making a 97 on a final exam is cause for endless celebration. Smith has successfully conveyed his love of Africa through Ramotswe’s unabashed pride in her beloved Botswana, whether speaking of snakes or diamonds or witch doctors or the cattle used to buy her business.

Happily, the main supporting characters are well drawn and we as readers are pulled into the relationships as Ramotswe makes her decisions. I was angered, dismayed, touched, and ultimately quite pleased by the behavior of the men in her life.

A later book in the series (from 2010) “The Double Comfort Safari Club,” is not quite as successful as the earlier titles because of one case involving an inheritance to be delivered to the correct person. The resolution seemed to be an odd stretch and made me question whether I could trust Mma Ramotswe’s usually sound judgment. Perhaps it’s a cultural disconnect, but I kept re-reading that section of the book to see if I had somehow misunderstood the issues surrounding the choices.

With that exception, “Double Comfort…” is pleasant, and often demonstrates Mma Ramotswe’s loyalty to the people in her circle. Having been in difficult situations herself, she helps and encourages those in need. Another case, involving a trusted employee whose fiancé has a tragic accident and afterward becomes virtually imprisoned by an aunt, is resolved rather deliciously, underlining Ramotswe’s basic decency. She isn’t always correct in her assessment of the clients, but she is fiercely protective of the ones who need her the most.

No shoot-outs, no car chases, no bloody murders, just enjoyable reads about a woman with common sense born out of an abusive early marriage and a knack for understanding the quirky bits of human nature – important characteristics for the head detective in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

For more information about Alexander McCall Smith and his other famous series, please visit www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk

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“The 13th Hour” by Richard Doetsch

4 Comments / Bestselling Author, Thriller

Have you ever been so angry that you stormed out of the room, tied up in knots with feelings of hurt and frustration? When you had a chance to cool off, did you wish that you could take back what you had said – redo the last ten minutes? Regrets are often shared at funerals about the ‘if only’ moments: “If only I had gone along with her, if only I had agreed…"

But, what if the person you were fighting with is found murdered just a few hours later? Your fingerprints are on the murder weapon found in your car, but you didn’t do it? Nick Quinn is in jail for killing his wife. But is Julia really dead?

In an inventive method of storytelling, Richard Doetsch begins “The 13^th Hour” at chapter 12 and works backwards. A mysterious man visits Quinn in jail and offers him the opportunity to find his wife’s killer and inexplicably, stop her from being murdered, to make the murder disappear as if it never occurred. The catch? Quinn only has twelve hours to solve the puzzles thrown at him. At the end of each hour, the clock will restart, taking him back to an hour earlier. Each decision he makes will change the future for everyone with whom he comes in contact. And, he will give anything, do anything, to have his wife back at his side.

The twists and turns that occur as the future/past is rewritten are surprising and make for an extremely clever plot. Nick discovers things about his wife and best friend/neighbor he did not know in the past and begins to wish hadn’t been revealed in the now. Interesting supporting characters’ lives are shifted in sometimes chilling ways and nobody is as honest as they first appear.

Doetsch also tells the story of the people affected by the reverse time travel, so that we see how each of them handles their alternate reality, but our fast-thinking hero is the only one who knows what is happening all the time. We think that we know the ending, because that’s how the book started, but that would be too easy. There are some nasty villains, a devastating plane crash that factors into the twelve hours of choices, a heart-breaking deception, unexpected intrigue, and a theft that made me wonder what could possibly happen next? What else could possibly go wrong for this likeable, desperate man? “The 13^th Hour” kept me going as each new wrinkle was disclosed, right until the last page. Great read!

Doetsch’s most recent novel, “Thieves of Legend,” (the fourth in the Michael St. Pierre series) is also an action-packed thriller, with unwilling thieves as the protagonists.

For more information about Richard Doetsch’s fascinating life off the page, his bestselling books, and future projects, visit www.richarddoetsch.com

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