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Thrillers and Suspense July 2016
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"Only a man with a damaged canvas of his own can truly be a great restorer." ~ from Daniel Silva's The Confessor
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| Brighton: A Novel by Michael HarveyCrime Fiction. Before he became a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Kevin Pearce grew up in gritty Brighton, MA, where he committed a horrible act of violence -- one that he got away with. Nearly three decades on, having avoided Brighton ever since, he's returned to a neighborhood embroiled in a series of murders that could bring to light his own bloody past. Told from multiple points of view, this intense and descriptive novel is sure to appeal to fans of Dennis Lehane's Boston-based crime novels. |
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Razor girl : a novel
by Carl Hiaasen
"When Lane Coolman's car is bashed from behind on the road to the Florida Keys, what appears to be an innocent accident is anything but (this is Hiaasen!). Behind the wheel of the offending car is Merry Mansfield--the eponymous Razor Girl--so named for her unique, eye-popping addition to what might be an otherwise unexciting scam. But, of course--this is Hiaasen!--the scam is only the very beginning of a situation that's going to spiral crazily out of control while gathering in some of the wildest characters Hiaasen has ever set loose on the page. There's the owner of Sedimental Journey--the company that steals sand from one beach to restore erosion on another...Dominick "Big Noogie" Aeola, the NYC mafia capo with a taste for the pinkest of sands...Zeto,the small-time hustler who gets electrocuted trying to charge a Tesla...Nance Buck, native Wisconsinite who's nonetheless the star of the red neck reality TV show, "Bayou Brethren"...a psycho who goes by the name of Blister and who's more Nance Buck thanBuck could ever be...the multimillionaire product liability lawyer who's getting dangerously--and deformingly--hooked on the very product he's litigating against...and Andrew Yancy--formerly Detective Yancy, busted to Key West roach patrol after he beat up his then-lover's husband with a Dustbuster--who's convinced that if he can just solve one more murder on his own, he'll get his detective badge back. That the Razor Girl may be the key to his success in this deeply ill-considered endeavor will be as surprising to him as anything else he encounters along the way--including the nine-pound Gambian pouched rats getting very used to the good life in the Keys... "
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| Before the Fall: A Novel by Noah HawleySuspense Fiction. It's a foggy summer night when a corporate jet goes down off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. With the exception of a recovering alcoholic and the four-year-old boy he manages to save, everyone on board dies. As the news media scramble to cover the story (the victims included the wealthy owner of a 24-hour news channel and an indicted financier), the backstories of everyone involved slowly unfold, leading some to question whether the crash was accidental. The survivors, meanwhile, become the center of unwelcome attention. A "pulse-pounding story, grounded in humanity," says Booklist. |
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| I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain ReidPsychological Suspense. On a cold, snowy night, a man and his girlfriend visit his parents on a remote farm for an awkward dinner, followed by strange, creepy detours to both a Dairy Queen and a deserted high school. It's at the high school that Jake disappears, leaving his girlfriend -- the never-named narrator, who's been thinking about ending things with him anyway -- stranded. Uneasiness soon escalates to terror in this slim, unnerving debut, which will keep you guessing 'til the very end (and likely heading back for a reread to see what you missed). |
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The trap
by Melanie Raabe
For 11 years, the bestselling author Linda Conrads has mystified fans by never setting foot outside her home. Haunted by the unsolved murder of her younger sister--who she discovered in a pool of blood--and the face of the man she saw fleeing the scene, Linda's hermit existence helps her cope with debilitating anxiety. But the sanctity of her oasis is shattered when she sees her sister's murderer on television. Hobbled by years of isolation, Linda resolves to use the plot of her next novel to lay an irresistible trap for the man. As the plan is set in motion and the past comes rushing back, Linda's memories--and her very sanity--are called into question. Is this man a heartless killer or merely a helpless victim?
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Underground airlines
by Ben H Winters
A tale set in a modern America where the Civil War never happened and the country has forged a dubious agreement with four states that still enforce slavery follows the experiences of a talented black bounty hunter who makes discoveries about his mysterious past while infiltrating an abolitionist group to catch a high-profile runaway.
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Let the devil out : a Maureen Coughlin novel
by Bill Loehfelm
Meet New Orleans beat cop Maureen Coughlin The Edgar Award winner Megan Abbott calls Coughlin “a hero with whom we will go anywhere.” She’s complicated―tough and naive, street-smart and vulnerable―and, way too often, reckless. As Let the Devil Out opens, she’s in rough shape. Just a rookie, she’s already been suspended from the force. And things are about to get worse. The FBI is in town on the trail of a ruthless anti-government militia group, the Watchmen Brigade. Nobody in the NOPD wants any part of working with them. Guess which suspended rookie is told she doesn’t have a choice. With the FBI and a white supremacist militia on the loose in New Orleans, the city is one big powder keg. Find out what happens when a brilliant but impulsive young cop lights a match.
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Wolf Lake : a novel
by John Verdon
Investigating a string of suicides connected by a baffling nightmare, former NYPD detective Dave Gurney traces the victims to a controversial hypnotherapist before finding himself in the crosshairs of a chilling murderer, the local police and corrupt feds.
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The charmers : a novel
by Elizabeth Adler
Inheriting a family villa in the South of France after her aunt's sudden and mysterious death, Mirabella has a close call with a motorcycle on her way to her new home and realizes that she is being targeted by dangerous people from her aunt's past.
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| The Crow Girl by Erik Axl SundScandinavian Crime Fiction. In this disturbing U.S. debut by the Swedish writing duo known as Erik Axl Sund, the mutilated bodies of tortured young boys are being dumped in public places around Stockholm. Already worn down by the realities of police work, Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg catches the case, which loses resources when the children are identified as undocumented immigrants. A harrowing and deeply dark look into sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress, this chilling novel is the 1st in a trilogy that has proven popular in Europe. |
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Salvation Lake
by G. M. Ford
At the end of an especially raucous day at his neighborhood bar, private eye Leo Waterman is surprised to see his old flame, Rebecca Duval, walk in the door. But King County’s medical examiner is here on business, not pleasure. Two dead bodies, covered by an old coat that once belonged to Leo’s father, have turned up in the trunk of a car. The only thing that seems to connect the men is a controversial local church and its charismatic pastor. With help from Rebecca and surveillance expert Carl Cradduck, Leo begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together. While a pair of goons do their best to chase him off the case, Leo painstakingly retraces the victims’ final days, charting their unusual search for redemption—from a downtown homeless encampment to suburban McMansions to the shores of Salvation Lake. There Leo must confront an opponent hell-bent on retribution in order to get to the twisted truth about the killings.
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Smooth operator
by Stuart Woods
Summoned to Washington for a potentially disastrous situation that requires the help of ex-CIA agent and master of disguise Teddy Fay, Stone Barrington reluctantly oversees an operation that is complicated by Fay's maverick approaches and personal brand of justice. Co-written by the Edgar Award-winning author of Chiefs.
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The Boy in the Shadows
by Carl-Johan Vallgren
1970: In an overcrowded Stockholm subway station, a harried father and his two boys are late for their train. Joel, the youngest, is howling in his stroller and his seven-year-old brother, Kristoffer, refuses to take the elevator.
A woman approaches and helpfully offers to lead Kristoffer up the stairs. Reluctantly his father agrees, but when he arrives on the platform Kristoffer and the woman have vanished without a trace. The kidnapping becomes a national sensation, but the boy is never found .
Today: Joel, now an adult, goes missing in suspicious circumstances. His frantic wife turns to Danny Katz--an old friend with a troubled past--for help. A brilliant computer programmer and recovering heroin addict, Katz is also the divorced father of two young girls. Katz begins to dig behind the digital veil in search of Joel, even though the investigation quickly interferes with his duties as a parent. Before long, Katz discovers he isn't the only one trying to find Joel.
The deeper Katz digs, the more upsetting the secrets he uncovers about the wealthy and powerful family at the heart of the investigation. Chillingly, the case takes a violent turn that reveals a disorienting connection to Katz's own troubled childhood--soon there will be no backing out of his unofficial investigation.
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Blind sight
by Carol O'Connell
"The thrilling new Mallory novel from the New York Times-bestselling author and one of the most acclaimed crime writers in America. The nun was dead. Her body lay on the lawn outside Gracie Mansion, the home of New York City's mayor, and it wasn't alone. There were four of them altogether. They'd been killed at different times, in different places, and dumped there. There should have been five--but the boy was missing. Jonah Quill, blind since birth, sat in a car driven by a killer and wondered where they were going. Though he was blind, Jonah saw more than most people did. It was his secret, and he was counting on that to save his life. Detective Kathy Mallory was counting on herself to save his life. It took her a while to realize that the missing-person case she was pursuing was so intimately connected to the massacre on the mayor's lawn. But there was something about the boy she was searching for that reminded her of herself, all those years ago, when she was an orphan adrift in a world over whichshe had little control and determined never to let that happen again. She would find him--she just hoped it'd be in time"
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| Security: A Novel by Gina WohlsdorfSuspense Fiction. This unusual debut incorporates elements of horror fiction and slasher flicks with a literally cinematic writing style -- multiple perspectives unfold side by side, as if two different cameras were displaying the action in split-screen. It's a bit hard to describe, but the blood-soaked story itself will capture attention anyway: as an opulent California hotel prepares for its invitation-only grand opening, it's clear that a killer is stalking the halls, and despite the best security that money can buy, the bodies are piling up. Nods to genre staples are everywhere in the text, adding an element of fun for true aficionados of creative storytelling. |
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If You Like: Daniel Silva
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In Daniel Silva's complex, sophisticated novels featuring Gabriel Allon, the Israeli intelligence agent-cum-art restorer embarks on dangerous missions across the world. A brooding and ruthless hero, Allon tracks down quarries just as haunted; solid and meticulously researched backgrounds and the histories of particular eras, people, and places always play a vital role in these well-crafted, suspenseful tales. We know that the 16th in the series, The Black Widow, is out this month; if you're waiting impatiently, try one of the books below (novels by Robert Littell and John le Carré may also suit).
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| The Detachment by Barry EislerSuspense Fiction. As in the Gabriel Allon novels, there's an engaging group dynamic at work in Barry Eisler's John Rain thrillers, as well as plenty of spycraft, though Rain is an enigmatic (and, in The Detachment, semi-retired) assassin and Allon an Israeli intelligence agent. In this 7th novel (of 8 so far), Rain and his team are presented with a list of three high-level U.S. government targets plotting to stage a coup by manufacturing attacks that will be blamed on Islamic extremists. Tense, twisty, often politically complex, and well-researched, this series from a former CIA covert agent starts with Rain Fall. |
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| Red Star Burning: A Thriller by Brian FreemantleSpy Fiction. Charlie Muffin has long been an excellent agent for MI5 -- Red Star Burning is the 15th in the long-running series -- but his luck may finally be running out. He's hidden not only his marriage to a high-ranking Russian intelligence agent but also the existence of their daughter -- and their lives may be in danger if he can't find a way to smuggle them out of Russia. But when his secret is exposed, Charlie has to outwit both governments in order to save his family -- and his career. Plausible scenarios, complex characters, and contemporary characters are some of the similarities between the Charlie Muffin and Gabriel Allon series. |
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| Mission to Paris: A Novel by Alan FurstBoth Alan Furst and Daniel Silva write evocative, atmospheric spy novels that share moods of bleak melancholy, complex plots, and solid research. However, while Silva's are set in the present (albeit with a deep awareness of the past), Furst's are set in the 1930s and '40s, and Mission to Paris is no exception. Twelfth in the loosely connected Night Soldiers series, it stars Hollywood movie star Fredric Stahl, filming in Paris on the eve of 1938's Munich Appeasement. While the Germans wish to use him for their own purposes, Stahl has other ideas, and ultimately gets caught up in a dangerous game of politics and espionage. |
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| Body of Lies: A Novel by David IgnatiusSpy Fiction. Roger Ferris is a Jordan-based CIA agent obsessed with taking down the elusive "Suleiman," a key al-Qaeda operative about whom little is known. Expanding on a scheme the British used -- successfully -- against the Nazis, Ferris develops a plan to destroy Suleiman and damage al-Qaeda in the process. Unfortunately, the manipulations and deceptions inherent in his efforts to turn terrorists against each other begin to affect his personal and professional relationships. Like Daniel Silva, author David Ignatius writes knowledgeably about espionage, global intrigue, and contemporary political affairs -- and offers a nuanced, conflicted protagonist. |
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| The Red Room by Ridley PearsonSpy Fiction. Ok, this one's a little different -- the main appeal here for Gabriel Allon fans is the fact that an art piece is the center of the action. Security expert (and art trader) John Knox and his partner, former Chinese spy Grace Chu, are in Istanbul, having agreed to orchestrate a brief meeting and broker a trade. But they quickly find that they're prey to some unknown threat -- and that's before Grace is kidnapped and John is shot at. Plenty of tradecraft and political commentary will satiate Gabriel Allon's many fans -- and there are four in the series (starting with The Risk Agent and ending with White Bone, out this month) for those who get hooked. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Prince George's County Memorial Library System 9601 Capital Lane Largo, Maryland 20774 301-699-3500www.pgcmls.info/ |
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