“Bark Humbug,” author David Rosenfelt’s “Andy Carpenter Mystery” number 34, is every bit as entertaining, suspenseful, and funny as each of the preceding titles in the series. In other words, readers are virtually guaranteed a terrifically good time. But there’s more good news: in my carefully considered opinion, “Bark Humbug” offers us even more beautiful features than the earlier entries — funnier funny stuff, more suspenseful suspense, and some effective new techniques that add to our enjoyment of every page.
Noelle Marshall, of the eponymous series, is a main character readers come to admire. In this series, Kendra Elliot features a main character who was a minor character in her “Colombia River” series. But if, like me, you didn’t read that prior series, don’t worry. You’ll be drawn into this new set of characters and events right away. Noelle Marshall is a fascinating complex main character, but there’s an equal amount of focus on Max, the FBI agent who met her while investigating her in the first book in the series.
Readers of murder mysteries expect twists and surprises, but “It’s Not What You Think” really surpasses the ordinary with its clever, clever premise. Which I can’t share here because it’s a spoiler. Sorry. But nonetheless, please be assured that Clare Mackintosh has written a mystery that is as thrilling as any you might read.
Author Linwood Barclay’s “Not a Word” is a mystery/murder/suspense novel featuring a most unusual plot structure, relatively little blood and gore, and a small but fascinating family of main characters who are all flawed products of a psychologically disturbed past. The narrative structure of the novel cleverly wraps our minds inside a developing story of mental illness, obsession, deadly secrets, love, and hatred.
While “The Secrets We Hide” might be the second thriller in Karin Slaughter’s new series, “North Falls,” you’d really never know from her careful plotting and reveal of information. Of course, with an extremely experienced writer of successful series like the “Will Trent” series, you’d expect nothing less, and Slaughter delivers. The first novel, “We Are All Guilty Here,” introduces the main characters and explains just some of the many secrets surrounding those in Clifton County, Georgia.
It makes sense that authors are creating novels in which the main character(s) are “of a certain age,” and in Tess Gerritsen’s series “The Martini Club,” she has not only embraced that concept, she has flown with it. In “The Shadow Friends,” the third novel in the series, the usual crew are assembled for a conference on global catastrophes in their small town in Maine, when a catastrophe actually occurs. It’s not of a global nature, and it appears, at first glance, to be a simple case of food poisoning. But with this group, we know there’s more.
At first, Hank Phillippi Ryan’s “MotherDaughterSister Stranger” seems pretty straightforward. In fact, after the first few chapters, I was wondering how she would make this really suspenseful when it’s about a woman who is taking care of her 11-year-old niece for a week while her sister is on vacation. And her sister doesn’t show up on the day she was supposed to.
Author Karsten Dusse’s new novel, “My Inner Child Wants to Kill,” is a worthy successor — and sequel — to his previous, extremely successful work, “Murder Mindfully.” Both novels in the “Mindful Murder” series feature protagonist Bjorn Diemel, lawyer to several men of questionable honesty and character; his wise and clever therapist, Joschka Breitner; several of Bjorns gangster clients; and Bjorn’s estranged wife Katharina and their beloved child, Emily. Bjorn had committed two murders in the first novel, both victims murdered mindfully, mind you, and both necessarily eliminated because if he hadn’t murdered them, they would certainly have killed him. He has also managed to capture another killer and to keep that one in a cell in his basement. Better than killing a third person, we suppose. In any case, he has promised himself never to kill again.
For those looking for a brilliantly crafted thriller, “Three Reasons for Revenge,” by Dervla McTiernan will suit perfectly. The main character is deliciously imperfect as are all the other characters. Detective Sergeant Judith Lee is a single, forty-year-old woman with only one good friend. She’s not close with her mother, who married an abuser. When the abuser also beat Judith at the age of fifteen and then tried to kill her mother, Judith took a golf club and killed him.
From almost the first page, Sarah Pekkanen’s “The Women in White” is both compelling and gripping. From the start we feel connected to the main character Riley. Her first person narrative in the present grounds us as we read some chapters narrated in third person about the four other women who are also at the center of this fascinating story about research into psychic abilities.
When I took my first look at the cover of “Absence” by Andrew Dana Hudson, several possible topics regarding the one-word title came to mind. Hmm, I thought. I wonder what kind of absence he’s talking about. Maybe it’s about a messed-up kid who always skips school. Maybe it’s about a person who always manages to not be there when scary or difficult situations arise. But I could have taken a hundred guesses, and none would be anywhere near author Hudson’s perspective on or exploration of the subject. The plots, the themes, the narration, and the dialogue all deal with the horror and mystery of how every person on earth would deal with the reality that strikes the people of this novel. That is: Individuals or groups of people suddenly disappear, without warning, without reason, without logic, without explanation. They are here and then they are not. They simply pop away. The event becomes known as popping. Two people are talking or driving together or making love, and suddenly only one is there, the other temporarily replaced by a vacuum, which itself disappears almost immediately. A popping sound is always heard when the victim goes away.
In “Mist and Malice,” the second book in Rachel Howzell Hall’s exciting “Haven Thriller” series, the action starts right up where the first book ends. For those who haven’t read the first book, it could be confusing. I would definitely suggest reading this novel after reading the first one because a lot of the backstory of the characters is delineated in “Fog and Fury,” the first novel.
