thriller

Nov 9 2010

Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten

I will confess that I was initially drawn to Saving Max because my son’s name is Max. I noticed the name over at NetGalley and decided it was worth a read.

Here is publisher’s synopsis:

Max Parkman—autistic and whip-smart, emotionally fragile and aggressive—is perfect in his mother’s eyes. Until he’s accused of murder.

Attorney Danielle Parkman knows her teenage son Max’s behavior has been getting worse—using drugs and lashing out. But she can’t accept the diagnosis she receives at a top-notch adolescent psychiatric facility that her son is deeply disturbed. Dangerous.

Until she finds Max, unconscious and bloodied, beside a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death.

Trapped in a world of doubt and fear, barred from contacting Max, Danielle clings to the belief that her son is innocent. But has she, too, lost touch with reality? Is her son really a killer?

With the justice system bearing down on them, Danielle steels herself to discover the truth, no matter what it is. She’ll do whatever it takes to find the killer and to save her son from being destroyed by a system that’s all too eager to convict him.

I was initially frustrated. The lead character, Max’s mom Danielle, wasn’t a very sympathetic character to me. She seemed pushy and impatient and grating in many ways. This, and the fact that I was reading it in short spurts most of the time, made the story languish.

But once you get to the bloody scene in the hospital things begin to pick up and there are a number of twists and turns that keep you guessing. And of course, Danielle is vindicated to some degree (I won’t spoil it any more than that).

In the end I found it a story where the “hook” is greater than the prose – the creative storyline better than the writing that describes it. Once the story picked up some steam it was entertaining for the most part – I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened – but it left you kind flat at the end.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Aug 31 2010

In the Mail: Fly By Wire

Fly By Wire by Ward Larsen

Publishers Weekly

A serviceable hero and plot propel this largely workmanlike thriller from Larsen (Stealing Trinity). Tough, uncompromising National Transportation Safety Board investigator Jammer Davis attempts to uncover the cause of a mysterious crash of the brand new CargoAir C-500, a flying-wing cargo plane operating under fly-by-wire technology. Meanwhile, a series of terrorist suicide attacks threatens oil facilities around the world. Jammer, aided by his semi-love interest, CIA agent Anna Sorensen, will stop at nothing as he bulls his way through bureaucratic obstruction, inept and corrupt officials, hired killers, and problems at home with his teenage daughter, Jenny. Eventually, he gets on the trail of a far larger plot involving a cabal of international businessmen out for economic gain. Larsen ties up all his loose ends nicely, and a nail-biter conclusion finally heats up the action.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 1 • Tags: , ,

Jun 21 2010

In the Mail: Intelligence by Susan Hasler

Intelligence: A Novel of the CIA by Susan Hasler

Publishers Weekly

A 21-year veteran of the CIA, Hasler charts the day-to-day efforts of a team of counterterrorist analysts (aka alchemists) in a strong debut that puts most other thriller authors with similar backgrounds in the intelligence field to shame. Madeline James and her crew of brilliant misfits struggle to piece together shreds of evidence gleaned from mountains of raw data (slag) in a race to uncover a plot that threatens to dwarf the body count of 9/11. They must also battle a management structure bent on denying their findings so the current administration will have the ammunition needed to justify going to war with Iran. The parallels with recent history add to the credibility and suspense. Readers will be left aghast at the toll politics and basic self-serving, cover-your-ass government policies take on agencies and individuals whose job is to keep our country safe. Many will find Hasler’s female point-of-view a welcome change from the usual smash and bash male offering in the genre.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Aug 9 2009

In the Mail: thriller edition

–> The Shimmer by David Morrell

The Shimmer

From the Publisher

When a high-speed chase goes terribly wrong, Santa Fe police officer Dan Page watches in horror as a car and gas tanker explode into flames. Torn with guilt that he may be responsible, Page returns home to discover that his wife, Tori, has disappeared.

Frantic, Page follows her trail to Rostov, a remote town in Texas famous for a massive astronomical observatory, a long-abandoned military base, and unexplained nighttime phenomena that draw onlookers from every corner of the globe. Many of these gawkers—Tori among them—are compelled to visit this tiny community to witness the mysterious Rostov Lights.

Without warning, a gunman begins firing on the lights, screaming “Go back to hell where you came from,” then turns his rifle on the bystanders. A bloodbath ensues, and events quickly spiral out of control, setting the stage for even greater violence and death.

Page must solve the mystery of the Rostov Lights to save his wife. In the process, he learns that the decaying military base may not be abandoned at all, and that the government may have known about the lights for decades. Could these phenomena be more dangerous than anyone could have possibly imagined?

–>Trust Me by Peter Leonard

From Booklist

Leonard’s first novel, Quiver (2008), displayed some rookie flaws, but his second effort establishes him as a genuinely gifted storyteller. Although the book is similar in many ways to the hard-edged, witty, character-driven novels of Leonard’s father, Elmore, it has its own voice and its own stylistic flourishes. In this fast-paced, elaborately plotted tale, a woman concocts a scheme to retrieve $300,000 from an ex-boyfriend, but she doesn’t count on the wrath of an angry thug, her ex-boyfriend’s scheming nephew, or a pair of hit men with their own plans for that 300 grand. While the cachet of the author’s more famous father should guarantee the novel plenty of interest, it’s Peter Leonard’s own talent that shines through here. In time, if you find yourself referring to “that really cool mystery writer, Leonard,” you might have to explain which one you’re talking about.

–>Water Witch by Deborah Leblanc

From the Publisher

People are disappearing in the mysterious bayous of Louisiana and it’s up to a local “water witch,” a woman with powers of divination, to try to find them before more people disappear.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Apr 1 2009

Songs My Mother Never Taught Me by Selcuk Altun

As I have been reading thrillers lately I thought it might be worthwhile to throw in some with an songs-my-mother-never-taught-meinternational flavor.  So I added Selcuk Altun’s [amazon-product region="us" text="Songs My Mother Never Taught Me" type="text"]1846590531[/amazon-product] to the reading list.  It turned out to be an interesting reading experience, but hard to get a handle on.

The simple plot belies the novels complexity, but here is Booklist’s quick take:

This latest Turkish import, set in Istanbul, is written entirely in the first person, from the points of view of the two main characters, Arda, a child of privilege and a smothering mother, and Bedirhan, an orphan turned assassin. The reader is rapidly drawn into the innermost thoughts and feelings of both characters, as Arda decides how to live his life after the death of his mother, and Bedirhan vows to get out of the assassin business. The tension is gradually ratcheted up as Arda discovers his father was assassinated and sets out to hunt for the killer, even as the reader learns of the strangely intertwined lives of Arda and Bedirhan.

You could easily imagine a typical thriller with this setup.  Alternating first person chapters leading the reader on a quest to figure out how these two characters are connected and racing to find the conclusion/resolution.

But the novel never had that thriller feel for me.

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By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , ,

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