Difference between revisions of "Newest Thrillers Reviews"
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| + | |author=Leslie Charteris and John Telfer (narrator) | ||
| + | |title=Enter the Saint | ||
| + | |rating=4.5 | ||
| + | |genre=Thrillers | ||
| + | |summary=When you think of thrillers written by a man in his early twenties there's a temptation to believe that the books might not be, well, top drawer, but that would be a mistake. The first of ''The Saint'' novels was published in 1928 when Leslie Charteris was just twenty one and this collection of stories is dated 1930. You might expect the rambunctious adventurer we meet, but not the subtleties of the slightly world-weary man of the world, all-knowing about the evils to which men (and women) can sink, but they're all there. Admittedly the Saint is more boisterous and less subtle than he will become - but that speaks more about the later works than this book. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00OS74GQU</amazonuk> | ||
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It seems that he's been seen with another man and now he has a decision to make that will either cost or save his life. | It seems that he's been seen with another man and now he has a decision to make that will either cost or save his life. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408705044</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408705044</amazonuk> | ||
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Revision as of 12:07, 8 January 2015
Enter the Saint by Leslie Charteris and John Telfer (narrator)
When you think of thrillers written by a man in his early twenties there's a temptation to believe that the books might not be, well, top drawer, but that would be a mistake. The first of The Saint novels was published in 1928 when Leslie Charteris was just twenty one and this collection of stories is dated 1930. You might expect the rambunctious adventurer we meet, but not the subtleties of the slightly world-weary man of the world, all-knowing about the evils to which men (and women) can sink, but they're all there. Admittedly the Saint is more boisterous and less subtle than he will become - but that speaks more about the later works than this book. Full review...
The Crooked House by Christobel Kent
Many years ago, a tragedy shook an English village. A whole family wiped out with no warning, a whole family, that is, except for one of the daughters who was, unbeknown to the assailant, upstairs at the time. Esme was that girl, but she is no more. She has a new name, a new identity, a new life, far away from that terrible place. As Alison she flies under the radar, not attracting any attention, with a menial job to fill her days. And she has every intention of staying that way, no intention of ever stepping foot in Saltleigh again. Full review...
After the Storm by Jane Lythell
Rob and Anna are nearing the Honduras leg of their South American travels. Here they meet Kimberley and Owen, an American couple who charter out their own boat for sailing trips around the local islands. Rob persuades Anna it will be a fun way to end their holiday but Anna isn't so sure. There's something about Owen and Kimberley that makes her hesitant about being shut away on a boat at sea with them. Perhaps it's the way that he never sleeps or the mystery as to why there are no knives in the cutlery drawer. Rob thinks Anna's just overly imaginative, but time will tell. Full review...
The Wolf in Winter (Charlie Parker Thriller) by John Connolly
Private investigator Charlie Parker is surprised when Jude, a bum he's befriended and worked with in the past, is found hanged in a basement. It looks like suicide but Jude has been looking for his daughter Annie to rekindle their family relationship and has just raised over $100 to help find her. Odd time for suicide? It becomes an even odder prospect when Annie herself goes missing after heading for the small Maine town of Prosperous. Charlie decides to drop in on the good citizens of the small town and starts poking beneath the respectable veneer. It doesn’t take him long but there is a downside: this investigation may have a body count that includes Charlie. Full review...
The Man With A Charmed Life and his part in saving the planet from WWIII by Graham Fulbright
Englishman Henry Wright is employed by the Common Market (which would become the European Union in 1993) in Brussels and he's not entirely satisfied with his lot: he should be an interpreter but he seems to be restricted to more administrative duties. He could refuse the offer he gets, but the chance to actually use his expertise in Russian, move across to the USA and make a point to his employers is just too tempting. He's also rather taken by Alexy Geary, the attractive woman from the intelligence-gathering agency who makes the offer, and it's not long before he's on his way. Before he does he's peripherally involved in a shooting - and that's not something which usually happens to someone like him. Full review...
The Saint Closes the Case by Leslie Charteris and John Telfer (narrator)
On the way back to London with Patricia Holm late one night, Simon Templar saw a strange pulsing light and couldn't resist going to investigate. What he discovered was a demonstration of a weapon which could well bring the world to war a mere twelve years after the end of the Great War. Templar and his confederates concluded that the weapon could not be allowed to come into the public domain - and if necessary the inventor (who could easily recreate the weapon even if he gave assurances to the contrary) would need to be, er, sidelined. Unfortunately Templar and friends are not the only ones in search of the weapon: his old nemesis, Rayt Marius, has his own plans. Full review...
That Night by Chevy Stevens
It’s been 17 years since Toni went to prison for the murder of her sister. 17 years since she last saw her boyfriend Ryan, also convicted for the murder, since she had a meaningful conversation with her parents, since she went to a coffee shop or walked on the beach. Sent down when she was still a teenager, she’s been incarcerated for virtually half of her life and though she’s now coming up for parole, it’s not as easy as simply going back to her old life from before. Full review...
Forty Days Without Shadow by Olivier Truc
After an important Sámi relic is stolen from a museum in Kautokeino, a small, isolated village in the middle of the snowy tundra, tensions begin to rise between the residents. Local detective Klemet Nango and new recruit Nina Nansen are called upon to investigate the disappearance, whereupon they discover a second crime: a local reindeer herder has been brutally murdered. Nina soon suspects that the two events are linked, and, together with Klemet, embarks upon a journey full of secrets, mystery and brutality. Full review...
The Vanished Ones by Donato Carrisi
Room 13 in the basement of the state morgue is where the sleepers are kept. These are the unclaimed bodies that have been classified as PHVs. Potential Homicide Victims. They are kept indefinitely, because they are evidence that a crime has been committed, possibly the only evidence. Full review...
Loser's Corner by Antonin Varenne and Frank Wynne (translator)
Meet Georges Crozat. He's a policeman in Paris, who boxes on the side. After a bout that leads to an almost embarrassing victory, he is made two offers – one from a clearly corrupt man behind the scenes in the sport, who seems to offer a few thrown fights for Georges, then some kind of status as assistant – training, guiding, profiteering; the other comes from a man known always as the Pakistani (or an unkind abbreviation of that), who has a friend of a friend who wants someone to do an enemy a mischief with their fists. Georges doesn't take too long to choose the latter. In alternating chapters, however, we're in the 1950s, and a rookie to the forces, Pascal Verini, is being shipped out to Algeria to work on the civil war causing the republic to break away and become independent from France. Like Georges, he finds his situation one which also causes what may be misguided violence, even if he has a very different attitude to it. Full review...
Unmanned by Dan Fesperman
Unmanned, the title of Fesperman's latest thriller, refers to the drones, the Predators, that Captain Darwin Cole flew over Afghanistan, from a shed somewhere in Nevada.
It also refers to the state that those missions left Cole in, after one of them went badly wrong. A poor call-down led to a misidentified target, a house destroyed, civilians killed, including two kids lying out in the open running away, and a girl, not dead but wounded. Cole could see her from his thousands of miles away, moving, agonising, separated by a considerable distance from the arm she would never use again.
A one-armed girl would haunt his dreams for a long time to follow. Full review...
Shiver the Whole Night Through by Darragh McManus
Aidan Flood's life is miserable; he's not only bullied but he lost his girlfriend to someone who works at the local carnival and even heard that from someone else. Life is just rubbish and needs ending totally. This is something he almost manages to accomplish as well if it wasn't for a do-gooder passer-by. The next morning while coming to terms with the fact he's still alive, he hears that Slaine McAuley, a girl he knows vaguely, has killed herself. The only thing is that Aidan knows she hasn't – she told him herself after she'd died. What did happen to her and why does she choose to tell him, of all people? Aidan is on a mission: he will find out. Full review...
A Dancer in the Dust by Thomas H Cook
A man that risk management consultant Ray Campbell knew a lifetime ago is found dead on the streets of New York. It's not just the fact that Ray knew him that's intriguing, it's where Ray knew him from: the African country of Lubanda where Ray once worked for an NGO. This death reminds him of another that happened out in Africa: that of a native Lubandan named Martine Aubert whom Ray loved and still loves. There must be a connection and Ray will investigate till he finds it, no matter what he finds or what he remembers along the way. Full review...
The Piper by Danny Weston
Peter and Daisy are evacuated on the eve of World War Two to The Grange at Romney Marsh. Something seems wrong from the moment they get there: there are children dancing in the garden and strange music that plays at night. When Peter realises that Daisy might be in danger he’s willing to do anything he can to fill the promise he made to his mother, keep his sister safe. Full review...
Believe No One by A D Garrett
Scottish forensic science expert Professor Nick Fennimore, and English DCI Kate Simms are both, for various reasons in St Louis, just as Nick planned. Fennimore and Simms have worked together in the UK when Nick's wife was murdered and daughter kidnapped. In fact they were together the night they first went missing having a less than professional dinner. Nick's daughter is still missing but while he follows new leads, he and Kate have other things to work on. St Louis has a serial killer to contend with: the victims are all mothers and their children are taken at the same time. Not so pure coincidence? Nick sees connections so will try to make everyone else see them. Whether his tactics work or not remains to be seen. Full review...
Blazing Obsession by Dai Henley
When our story starts we know that events are going to be cruel to James Hamilton. We might be envious of his high-end car business, with multiple dealerships and (as we later find out) a home in one of the nicer parts of Blackheath, but a couple of years down the line he'll be visited in his office by two policemen who tell him that his holiday cottage went up in flames the previous night and there are three bodies in the shell of the building. James won't believe that he's lost his wife, Lynne, stepson Georgie and daughter Emily. He was going to leave shortly to join them, so obviously there had been a mistake... Full review...
The Moon Pool by Sophie Littlefield
Comfortably off Colleen Mitchell is loath to let her 20 year old son go to North Dakota to work on the oil rigs but he's made up his mind. Unfortunately her worst nightmares begin to materialise when he vanishes soon after starting work. So, leaving her lawyer husband at home, she follows her maternal instinct to where he was last seen. His big corporate employers and the local police don’t seem that concerned. However, in her suffering there is another person who knows exactly how Colleen feels: Shay, the mother of another lad who went missing at the same time. Hoping it's not too late they join forces and start their own investigation. Full review...
Don't Stand So Close by Luana Lewis
It’s cold outside. Dark. Snow is falling. You're safe inside. Of course you are, you've not left the house in months. You're alone, but you feel safe inside. You do. It’s ok. You can do this. Full review...
A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre
Melik is a Turkish heavy-weight boxing champion. He lives with his widowed mother in Hamburg and they are both doing their very best to keep below the radar. Since his father died they don’t even go to the mosque on a regular basis. But this particular weekend Leyla wants to go. Her daughter, still in Turkey, is getting married, and a special prayer seems to be in order. It is a visit that might well end up costing them the eight years good behaviour needed to finally get beyond their tolerated status to enable full German citizenship. Full review...
Your Beautiful Lies by Louise Douglas
South Yorkshire 1984: Annie Howarth comes from a mining family and is married to William, a police superintendent. Although she and their daughter have all the societal and financial status they could need, Annie's life is becoming very uncomfortable as the miners begin a strike that will become violent on both sides of the divide. It's either an illegal strike or assertion of rights depending on the side you're on but unfortunately Annie isn't permitted to choose. However this is only the start of her problems. Tom Greenwood, a former boyfriend, is back on the streets after serving a prison sentence for manslaughter and he has unfinished business. The problem for Annie is that the unfinished business is with her, eventually threatening her world and possibly even her life. Full review...
Daughter by Jane Shemilt
Jenny has a busy life – GP, wife of Ted, a successful surgeon, mother to twin teenage lads Ed and Theo and a teenage daughter (Naomi) to name but some of the roles. Now she tells herself that she should have realised Naomi's mood swings and higher heels signified more than a phase. If she had, Jenny may have prevented her beloved child's disappearance; at least looking back on it that's what she tells herself. As the police investigate, Jenny and her remaining family have to come to terms with not only what has happened, but what it reveals about each of them. Full review...
Research by Philip Kerr
John Houston is a multimillionaire with a beautiful wife, a number of mistresses, countless extravagances and an apartment in Monaco, for tax reasons. He made his fortune by creating a formula for a series of best-selling novels designed specifically to appeal to the average man on the street. John has a team of four ghost-writers to do all the writing, meaning that he can produce an average of six bestsellers per year. John calls his group of ghost-writers his atelier', his ‘workshop’, perfectly reflecting his views of them. Full review...
The Rain-Soaked Bride by Guy Adams
The last thing that the afflicted people see before their death is a wet woman in white. The last thing they feel is their own personal rain cloud soaking them while everywhere else remains dry. All also happen to be in top government jobs. What's happening? British Intelligence Department 37 (in the form of August Shining and Toby Greene) is there to find out. This may not be the full extent of the problems facing them though; not with a South Korean delegation coming to the UK for talks and August's sister April wanting to get in on the act. Full review...
The Phoenix Year by David L Blond
I was really looking forward to reading this, marketed as a thriller that spans the globe and centres on rich, powerful individuals trying to change the world. The cover is reminiscent of the opening titles of House of Cards and Damages and the fact that each chapter bears a title was appealing to me as well. Full review...
The Clown Service by Guy Adams
If British Secret Intelligence Service operative Toby Greene worked for MacDonald's he'd be sacked for ineptitude. Unfortunately for the nation he cost thousands of pounds more to train than your average burger-flipper so he's off to Section 37 instead. The Section's label mentions anti-terrorism but, as his former boss told Toby If the security service is the circus, then Section 37 us where we keep the clowns. Meanwhile an old school Russian spy is coming to the UK with enough power to destroy London. This may only be Toby's first job for 37 and will include a touch of astral projection but what could possibly go wrong? Full review...
Acts of Omission by Terry Stiastny
In 1998 Mark Lucas was a recently-appointed minister in the Foreign Office, determined to do his best, but not yet long enough in the job to have abandoned his principles and beliefs. It's these that are tested when a disc containing the names of British informants to the Stasi has fallen into government hands. Understandably the Germans want the information back so that they can complete their opening up of the Stasi's archive. Lucas believes that the Germans should be accommodated on this: he was elected on a platform of transparency and openness - handing the information back seems right to him - but there are those within the government, both politicians and civil servants, who are determined that this should not happen. Full review...
A Kill in the Morning by Graeme Shimmin
The Nazis are amongst the most infamous group that has ever walked the planet. They may have been evil, but there was something pantomime about them that has made them the perfect foil for countless cheesy action films and pulp fiction. To enjoy these you have to disengage yourself from the history and see the Nazis of fiction as separate from those of real life. Can I enjoy a book like A Kill in the Morning set in an alternative 1950s were the Nazis have taken over mainland Europe and are building an ultimate weapon? Can a maverick secret agent take out SS Commander Reinhard Heydrich and change the tide of history? Full review...
The Spring of Kasper Meier by Ben Fergusson
Germany may be defeated as the embers of World War II grow cold but Kasper Meier is making the most of it. His trade in black market goods and casual private investigation work augment the meagre rations for him and his dying father. When a woman asks him to find a missing British airman he refuses – it's not really his line. She blackmails Kasper and still he refuses but then the note arrives: This is bigger than you. You don't have a choice. Queers still die in Berlin. Find the pilot. It seems that he's been seen with another man and now he has a decision to make that will either cost or save his life. Full review...
