Author: ekkarn

No Safe House – Linwood Barclay

  By
No Safe House - Linwood Barclay

 

The first Linwood Barclay books I read were his Zack Walker mystery books, and I loved them! After I fnished the third book and was ready to move on, I discovered that Mr. Barclay had left that series, and moved on to write stand alone thrillers.

The first one was No Time to Say Goodbye and it was great! Since then I have read and enjoyed all of his books.  The latest is No Safe House\. In No Safe House, Barclay treats his readers to further adventures of the Archer family,  the main characters in No Time to Say Goodbye!

No Safe House – The Story

In the prologue an elderly couple is brutally slain in the Archer’s hometown of Mitford, Connecticut by a sadistic duo, who are in search of something or someone…..

When we meet the Archer family, daughter Grace is now fourteen and as she moves into adolescence, she is rebelling, One night during an argument with her mother, Grace is seriously burned. Her mother, Cynthia decides that she needs time away from the family and moves out, leaving husband Terry and Grace on their own. Then disaster strikes, when Grace foolishly follows her date Stuart Koch, into a strange house. Grace ends up with a gun in her had, Stuart hears someone else in the house.  Shots are fired.  Were they from Grace’s gun?, Where’s Stuart? Did Grace shoot him?. Someone rushes past Grace! Stricken with panic Grace leaves the house, calls for help to a friend and her father.

Soon the Archers are thrown into the middle of a mess, because not only were shots fired, but valuables were stolen from the house, valuables that didn’t belong to the homeowner, but rather to a career criminal Vincent Fleming, who is also Stuart’s father’s boss!  This isn’t the Archer;s first encounter with Vince. Years ago,  Vincent helped the Archer’s with their problems.  His help saved the Archer’sbut left him needing a urine bag after being shot. Needless to say he is not a friend of the Archer’s. Through the rest of the book the Archer’s mainly Terry  try to unravel the mystery of what happened that night, to keep Grace safe and their family together!! What about those killers – what are they looking for? Their killing spree and search continues right up until the climax of the book.

My Thoughts

As in all of Barclay’s books the pace of the action is swift, and the pages keep flying by. This book lacked a little of the tension that I have encountered in other works by Barclay, but the whole story isn’t resolved until the closing pages of the book which makes for damn good reading!!

One of the complaints about the book was that other readers didn’t really like the characters. I don’t have a problem with the characters. For example Terry is resolute in finding the answers that will save his daughter and he goes well outside his comfort level to do such and while Vincent is a thug, he is also a father, all be it a stepfather, who will also do anything for his daughter!

Bottom Line

it was another great read from Barclay, a little less thrilling than past works, but the over all it was a good story. In the words of the New York Times Book Review…..

“Some days, all you really want is for someone to tell you a wicked-good story. Linwood Barclay answers the reader’s perpetual prayer.”

Amen to that!!

Linwood Barclay

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay continues to be a prolific author, releasing new, critically acclaimed thrillers annually. Known for his high-octane plots and relatable characters, his recent work has solidified his status as a master of contemporary suspense.

Visit Linwood Barclay Page

 

 

If You Like Standalone Mystery/Thrillers ……

You might also enjoy:

Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea
Michael Koryta
Michael Koryta
Riley Sager
Riley Sager
  • Charlie Donlea — tightly plotted thrillers often built around cold cases, missing persons, and strong female leads, with twists that keep coming
  • Michael Koryta / Scott Carson — blends crime, suspense, and sometimes the supernatural, with a darker tone and strong atmosphere
  • Riley Sager — modern psychological thrillers with big twists, often centered on isolated settings and unreliable pasts

Today in Music – Happy 50th Birthday – Victor Wooten (September 11, 1964)

  By Uncategorized

English: Victor Wooten playing his bass guitar...

English: Victor Wooten playing his bass guitar at the Belly Up, 2006-03-04. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Originally posted at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries…..

So this morning as I was looking at the people born on this date, I thought how badly you must feel every year now as you celebrate your birthday on this tragic date. I think I’d celebrate either the day before or the day after, or maybe you just say, hey it was my day before you ruined it!

Two names stood out Leo Kottke, born on this day in 1945 in Athens Ga. I didn’t know that Leo is one of those musicians whose music I should listen to more often!! Oh, by the way I didn’t know he was born in Athens!! The other name was Victor Wooten whose name I know but couldn’t place where I knew it from. I did remember though that he played bass!! So my first stop was at Wikipedia:

Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bass player, composer, author, producer, and recipient of five Grammy Awards.[1]

Wooten has won the “Bass Player of the Year” award from Bass Player magazine three times in a row, and was the first person to win the award more than once.[1] In addition to a solo career and collaborations with various artists, Wooten has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group’s formation in 1988.

In 2008, Wooten joined Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller to record an album. The trio of bassists, under the name SMV, released Thunder in August 2008 and began a supporting tour the same month.[2]

Wooten has also written a novel titled “The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music“.[3] On his website he has stated that he is currently writing a sequel and intends to release at least three more books

 

Now I remember the name!! Bela Fleck and the Flecktones!! So now my next stop was Victor’s website to find out a little more about him and his music!

Wooten, now a five-time Grammy winner, hit the worldwide scene in 1990 as a founding member of the super-group Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Continuing to blaze a musical trail with the band, Victor has also become widely known for his own Grammy nominated solo recordings and tours.

Among other things, he is a loving husband and father of four, a skilled naturalist and teacher, a published author, a magician and acrobat, and has won every major award given to a bass guitarist including being voted Bassist of the Year in Bass Player Magazine’s readers poll three times (the only person to win it more than once.) In 2011, Rolling Stone Magazine voted Victor one of the Top Ten Bassist of ALL TIME.

…. A few years after he began touring with the Flecktones, Victor released his first solo project, A Show of Hands. Recorded with only a 4-string bass, no multi-tracking, and a lot of groove and soul, this revolutionary CD was voted one of the most important bass records of all time. Read More

 

Damn another of those people who can do everything, while all people like me can do is listen and work!

In between my stops at Wikipedia and Victorwooten.com I stopped at YouTube and watched this video! As I watched the opening of the video, I thought “Is he really playing a bass?” and then “Amazing Grace” started and I thought that the first comment I read was spot on!

Mathew Varghese: Before Wooten played this, it was called Grace!! So Happy Birthday, Victor! Now I need to go to MOG and find Show of Hands and more of Victor’s Wooten music!

 

Karin Slaughter – Cop Town – Atlanta – 1974 – A Wild Ride!

  By
Cop Town

Karin Slaughter – Cop Town Atlanta 1974

The first Karin Slaughter book that I read was Kisscut, book #2 in her Grant County series. After finishing it, I immediately went back and found book #1, Blindsighted, and read it even faster than Kisscut. Since then I have read every book she has written—including both the Grant County and the Will Trent series, which are now intertwined!

A Stand-Alone Set in 1974 Atlanta

Cop Town is Karin’s first stand-alone novel. For this book she went back 40 years and recreated the feel of a changing Atlanta in 1974. Having lived in Athens, Georgia from 1975 to 1979, I could really appreciate the atmosphere she brought to life—it took me back to that time and place, when names like Maynard Ferguson and Reginald Evans were part of the soundtrack of our lives.

Meet Kate Murphy

The novel introduces Kate Murphy, a strong female character much like Sara Linton or Faith Mitchell. Kate is a young widow trying to rebuild her life after her husband Patrick was killed in Vietnam. After a bad experience as a secretary, she decides this police job has to work—but the odds are stacked against her. She’s a young, attractive woman on a misogynistic police force that doesn’t believe women belong, and she doesn’t fit in with the women either, coming from well-to-do Buckhead.

The Atlanta Shooter

On Kate’s first day, the “Atlanta Shooter”—who has already killed four officers—claims another victim, Don Wesley. Don’s partner is rising star Jimmy Lawson, whose family connections run deep in the department. Soon Maggie Lawson (Jimmy’s sister) is paired with Kate, and together they investigate what really happened in that Five Points alley, while trying to stop the Shooter before he strikes again. They get some help from Gail Patterson, a plainclothes officer and Maggie’s former mentor, but it’s an uphill battle against both the system and their own personal demons.

Characters and Atmosphere

Karin Slaughter fills the novel with memorable characters—from the Lawson family to Kate’s Dutch-Jewish mother and grandmother, survivors of Nazi concentration camps. The action is fast, furious, and tension-filled, with just the right mix of grit and heart.

“Relentless pacing, complex characters, and gritty realism, all set against the backdrop of a city on the edge….Slaughter’s eye for detail and truth is unmatched. I’d follow her anywhere.” – Gillian Flynn

“Stunning… Karin Slaughter’s first stand-alone novel, she breaks new ground with this riveting story of two young police officers trying to stop a serial killer targeting cops. Her characters, plot, pacing are unrivaled among thriller writers and if you haven’t yet read her, this is the moment.” – Michael Connelly

Final Thoughts

Ok, I know this is a stand-alone novel—but come on, Karin! I just know you have more to write about Kate Murphy. We need to know what happens next. Maybe keep the Atlanta PD world going, NYPD Blue–style? Nah—I want more Kate, Maggie, and Gail! (Book 22 for 2014)

Related Articles

Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals and Reagan’s Rise to Power – Now We Know!

  By

SubversivesAfter several months, yesterday I finally finished Seth Rosenfeld’s terrific book Subversives – The FBI’s War on Student Radicals and Reagan’s Rise to Power.

usually when I ‘m reading a book like this and I then pick up other books while reading it, I most time don’t go back to the book. This book an exception the book is just so good and the story that it tells about the FBI and the student protests at the University of California so much a part of my past that I couldn’t give up! While I was at the University of Florida (1970-1974) I was involved in two campus demonstrations one concerning black enrollment and studies and the other an antiwar demonstration after the announcement of the mining of Haiphong Harbor, etc nether approached the violence that was seen at Berkeley!

 Subversives is a fascinating book based on over 250,000 pages of FBI files, whose release the agency spent over a million dollars trying to stop, it took Seth Rosenfeld over thirty years to get the files released, but the fight was worth it. Subversives tells the story of the FBI’s program to combat the student protests not only at Berkeley but throughout the country. The book chronicles the story of the FBI’s surveillance, infiltration,planted news stories,poison-pen letters, and secret detention lists all revolving around the Free Speech Movement and other protests at the University of California , Berkeley!

The book centers around the intertwining of the lives of Clark Kerr, the liberal Quaker President of the University, Mario Savio, the leader of the Free Speech Movement and Ronald Reagan, former actor, President of the Screen Actors Guild and future President of the US. While we all knew that the FBI was keeping track of leftist radicals during this period I don’t know if anyone knew the extents of the agency’s actions, beyond J. Edgar Hoover’s inner circle!! Since I was young and not that politically active in the early to mid-60s a lot of the action in the book was new to me, I particularly unfamiliar or forgot the fight and protest that arose around People’s Park. What really struck me about Reagan was how the events of these early years shaped his actions as President.

Here’s some praise for the book…..

“Subversives is more than a documentary history  it has the insight that comes only with relentless reporting. This book is the classic history of our most powerful police agency and one of the most influential political figures of our time secretly joining forces” – Lowell Bergman investigative report for The New York Times and Frontline

“Subversives will shock even those who have become used to the national security state and its excesses. With this book,Seth Rosenfeld restores the California tradition of courageous muckracking of Lincoln Steffens, and the sharp indictment of the powerful that we associate with Jack London.”  Ishmael Reed  author of Juice! and Mumbo Jumbo.

If you are someone like me who lived through the sixties and seventies this book will bring back a lot of memories and maybe bring back some of that old fire. The actions of the police and government officials during this time should be studied because as we watch the action in Ferguson, Missouri, the police are responding in much the same way as they did back then, and you know what they say  “those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it” Let’s hope not! (Book 20 for 2014)!

Related articles

“Into the Morning” with music from Hungary’s Söndörgö – “Jozo” from the album Tamburocket Hungarian Fireworks!

  By Uncategorized

How about we go “into the morning” with the opening track “Jozo” from the album Tamburocket TamburocketHungarian Fireworks by the Hungarian band  Söndörgö From their website:

Söndörgő is one of the most active and interesting world music groups in Hungary. They play a style of music that is hugely attractive, but little known and quite different to the traditional, fiddle-led hungarian repertoire. Their aim is to foster and preserve Southern Slavic traditions of the Serbs and Croats as found in various settlements in Hungary. Most of these communities are situated along the Danube, but quite isolated from each other.
The group was founded in 1995 in Szentendre a small Hungarian town near Budapest, with long-established Serbian tradition. The Eredics brothers got acquainted, and started to play music together with (bass player) Attila Buzás during their high-school years. Partly because of family reasons (Kálmán Eredics, the father of the Eredics brothers, was a founder member of the Vujicsics ensemble), all the group members are profoundly touched by, and drawn towards Southern Slav folk music. Söndörgő’s mission is to research it, arrange it and perform it on stage. The current members of the group are: Áron Eredics, Benjamin Eredics, Dávid Eredics, Salamon Eredics and Attila Buzás. Continue Reading

SondorgoSome press….

“Söndörgö are proving themselves to be one of Europe’s most versatile and exciting bands.”
Simon Broughton, Songlines Magazine

“Their music sparkles with virtuosity and foot-tapping joie de vivre” London Evening Standard

I only listen to a little of the album the other day, but what I heard I liked, if anyone wants to write more about the band let me know! Here’s a performance of “Jozo” get your toe tapping feets ready!!!

Missing You – Harlan Coben

  By

Missing You – Harlan Coben – Journeys into the Past are necessary and often painful!

 

When NYPD Detective Kat Donovan sends her ex-fiancée Jeff Raynes “Their Video” on the dating site  You are just my type.com and his response is “It’s Cute”, Kat doesn’t understand his response.  Eighteen years earlier, before he dumped her and left town, their love was real and magical. Sure his dating site biography says he is a widower, but should his response be that lame? Well, he just wants to move on thinks Kat and so does Kat.  She has more important things to do too, her father’s murderer is dying and she needs to visit one more time before he dies.  When she does the hit man who killed her father, once again proclaims his innocence.

Soon the son of a woman who has gone from her Connecticut home visits Kat in hopes that she will help him find his mother. Why thinks Kat- because the man she ran away with is none other than Jeff Raynes!  So begins Kat’s quest in Harlan Coben‘s latest  Missing You!. Maybe I should say quests because Kat needs to know what happened on the night of her father’s murder, along with what happened to Dana Phelps, the missing Connecticut woman and Brandon’s mother along with the reason that Jeff ran out on her with no explanation.  None of the quests are free from potential pain to those involved!!

So once again Harlan Coben builds  great story around a simple action i.e. a friend signs you up for an on-line dating service and the first time you go in you find an old love. How will he or she react?  Is it better to leave the past behind??? This time throws a potential danger in getting carried away by an on-line dating service!! The book is Harlan Coben at his best. It is one of the few books that I couldn’t put down this year!! When I found the book in the library I had a few days previously checked out two other books. I thought no I’ll just wait and read it later. Then I thought, no it’s Harlan Coben, it will go fast and it will be great! I was right on both counts.

This is the 19th book I’ve read in 2014.  if I can finish to more before the end of the month I’ll be averaging 3 books a month. That will be a great recovery considering the way that the year started!! It is also the 19th Harlan Coben book that is one my Goodreads bookshelf. And they all are good reads!!!

 

 

 

Missing You by Harlan Coben – Journeys into the Past are necessary and often painful!

  By ,

Missing YouWhen NYPD Detective Kat Donovan sends her ex-fiancée Jeff Raynes “Their Video” on the dating site  You are just my type.com and his response is “It’s Cute”, Kat doesn’t understand his response.

Eighteen years earlier, before he dumped her and left town, their love was real and magical. Sure his dating site biography says he is a widower, but should his response be that lame?

Well, he just wants to move on thinks Kat and so does Kat.  She has more important things to do too, her father’s murderer is dying and she needs to visit one more time before he dies.  When she does the hit man who killed her father, once again proclaims his innocence.

Soon the son of a woman who has gone from her Connecticut home visits Kat in hopes that she will help him find his mother. Why thinks Kat- because the man she ran away with is none other than Jeff Raynes!  So begins Kat’s quest in Harlan Coben‘s latest  Missing You!. Maybe I should say quests because Kat needs to know what happened on the night of her father’s murder, along with what happened to Dana Phelps, the missing Connecticut woman and Brandon’s mother along with the reason that Jeff ran out on her with no explanation.  None of the quests are free from potential pain to those involved!!

So once again Harlan Coben builds  great story around a simple action i.e. a friend signs you up for an on-line dating service and the first time you go in you find an old love. How will he or she react?  Is it better to leave the past behind??? This time throws a potential danger in getting carried away by an on-line dating service!! The book is Harlan Coben at his best and is one of the few books that I couldn’t put down this year!! When I found the book in the library I had a few days previously checked out two other books. I thought no I’ll just wait and read it later. Then I thought, no it’s Harlan Coben, it will go fast and it will be great! I was right on both counts.

This is book 19 for 2014 – if I can finish to more before the end of the month I’ll be averaging 3 books a month and that will be a great recovery considering the way that the year started!! It is also the 19th Harlan Coben book that is one my Goodreads bookshelf and they all are good reads!!!

Patrick Lee – Runner – Sam Dryden #1 – I’m ready for Book #2 – Now Patrick!

  By

RunnerSam Dryden has retired after being an Army Ranger, a Delta, and spending five years doing off-the-book black ops with an elite team.t In Runner ,(Book 18 of 2014) the first book of the Dryden series by Patrick Lee, he has to use all his skill and cunning to keep young Rachael Grant alive.  Sam literally runs into Rachael when insomnia forces him out for a middle of the night run, and well, Rachael is on the run too only in Rachael’s case she has a passel of  military men after her using a lot of high-tech gadgetry, with one aim take her out! When Rachael runs into Sam, she hopes that he will save her  and Sam having lost his wife and child an accident five years earlier wants to do just that.

Together they set out to evade the killers and rediscover Rachael’s past, see she can only remember the last two months! Oh Rachael also has a skill that makes her very dangerous to these men and the hidden men in charge!

While Sam and Rachael are on the run, the reader is also introduced to Owen and “the gravel man” who talks to Owen, well actually he sometimes tells Owen what to do, not to his face but in OWEN’S mind, and well if it isn’t something Owen wants to do “the gravel man” gets him to do it by turning up the pain on Owen!! How does this tie into Rachael??

As the story unfolds, the questions continue to mount, who is Rachael and what are the extents of her abilities, and why do these guys want to kill her??? It’s a fast, and furious ride and one that no one knows, how it’s going to end! But along the way the reader surmises,  it’s not going to end well for everyone!!

Patrick LeeI enjoy that writing of Patrick Lee, his other work is the Travis Chase trilogy, that includes The Breach, Ghost Country and Deep Sky all of which are exceptionally good! That series has a little more science fiction in it, well actually a lot more science fiction, but in main characters in both books Travis Chase and Sam Dryden are heroes that you can root for!! So Check Out Runner as well as Lee’s other books! Here’s a few of the things that others say about Lee’s writing……

“Patrick Lee is a huge talent and Runner is his best book yet—breathless, involving, smart, and completely convincing.”
—Lee Child

“Pure adrenaline rush! Finally, an action-packed novel brimming with complex characters as well as genuine heart. Not to be missed.”
—Lisa Gardner, NYTimes bestselling author of Touch and Go and Catch Me

“I’m going to sue Patrick Lee for giving me whiplash: that’s how furiously paced this book is. A terrific cast of characters, unrelenting action—strap in and enjoy the ride.”
—Jesse Kellerman, author of Sunstroke and Trouble

Links

Patrick Lee Fiction
Goodreads
Facebook
Amazon

Harold Schechter Masterfully Tells the Tale of “The Mad Sculptor” – The Maniac, The Model, and the Murder the Shook the Nation

  By

So if you like true crime stories, especially ones that rocked the nation, then Harold Schecther‘s The Mad Sculptor – The Maniac, The Model and the Murder that Shook the Nation is the book for you, it was for me! The Mad Sculptor is one Robert Irwin, he is also The Maniac. The Model is VerThe Mad Sculptoronica Gedeon  and the Murder was the grisly slaying of Veronica, her mother and their English boarder on Easter Sunday morning in 1937 in a New York City apartment at  Beekman Place.

Author Schecther does not only a fine job of telling the tale of madman/artist Robert Irwin, but in also detailing the way that his crime fits into the history of Beekman Tower and Beeckman Place, where prior murders, that captured the attention had occurred.  These murders included, the shooting of Fritz Gebhardt by his long-time mistress Vera Stretz, and the murder of Nancy Titterton. Schechter  opens the book describing  these murders, their investigations and trials, setting the stage for the Gedeon murders.

Schechter moves on to tell  the tale of the “Mad Sculptor” Robert Irwin, son of a philandering, evangelical preacher and an equally religiously zealot mother, who hailed from a dysfunctional family! Irwin, born Fenelon, along with his older brother Vidalin and Pember, were delinquents right from the start! Both Vidalin and Pember ended up in the Oregon State Penitentiary. Robert though went in and out of madness, when he was sane, he was well read, articulate and a very good sculptor, who studied with some of the masters of the day, but sooner or later wherever, he went, whatever job he held, a violent outburst and subsequent fight would cause him to move on!  Irwin finally ended up, a border with the Gedeon’s, where he became infatuated with the Gedeon daughter’s first Ronnie then Ethel. But when he attempted to control his sexual urges by self-emulation Irwin set himself on the road to Bellevue and other mental institutes, along,  the way he met  prominent psyschiatrist Fredric Wertham who would treat and befriend him.

After his final descent into madness, and the murders, the author leads the reader through the manhunt to find Irwin. Accompanying the search was the coverage of the murder and manhunt by the New York tabloids. i.e the forreunners of Fox News, The National Enquirer and World News.  Finally, the selection of Samuel Leibowiz as his defense attorney completes the cycle, because Leibowitz, the attorney for the Scottsboro Boys and Al Capone was also the defense attorney for Vera Stretz, whose murder of Fritz Gebhardt was written about in the opening chapters of the book.

All in all ,it was a terrific read and Schechter does a great job of presenting Robert Irwin, in all his madness, as well as capturing the atmosphere of New York in the 193os. Samual Baatz, author of For the Thrill of It: Leopold Loch, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz Age Chicago writes…..(note to self – check that book out)

“Harold Schechter has unveiled another sensational murder with a cast of characters that might have stepped from a novel by Dostoyevsky. Schechter’s absorbing narrative will fascinate everyone with an interest in New York City in the twentieth century”

So check out the tale of The Mad Sculptor as told by Harold Schechter……

P.S. The mention of Fredric Wertham and his attacks on the comic book industry served as the basis of a post at Socialstudious.….. and the mention of Irwin’s fascination with the hypnotism of Franz Mesmer led me to Wikipedia to find out more about the man who is the origin of the world mesmerized!!

(Book 17 0f 2014)

 

Related articles

James Rollins – Grant Blackwood – The Kill Switch – a Tucker Wayne and Kane thriller!!

  By

The Kill Switch by James Rollins & Grant Blackwood

I’ve been a James Rollins fan ever since I picked up Map of Bones (Sigma #2) back in 2005. Since then, I’ve read every Sigma Force novel (except the very first) along with three of his early stand-alones — and every one of them has been a winner.

What keeps me hooked? The science… no, the action… no, the political twists… honestly, it’s the whole package!

As the Associated Press once put it:

“The science reads like the best of Michael Crichton.
The machinations of government read like the best of David Baldacci.
And the action and thrills read like the best of Clive Cussler. Rollins takes the best of all of these and creates an amazing thriller unlike any other.”

A New Series Begins

Rollins’ novel The Kill Switch — co-written with Grant Blackwood — has all those familiar ingredients, plus something fresh: two new heroes, one man and one canine.

Meet Tucker Wayne, a former U.S. Army Ranger, and Kane, his loyal Belgian shepherd. When Sigma Force director Painter Crowe calls on them for what seems like a simple mission — extracting a defector out of Russia — things quickly spiral out of control.

The defector is Abram Bukolov, often called the “Steve Jobs of Russia’s pharmaceutical industry.” And the Russians don’t intend to let him go without a fight. Soon Tucker and Kane are hunted by Russia’s military, its intelligence services, and a deadly sniper named Felice Nilsson.

The Plot Thickens

So why is Bukolov really on the run? His research centers on LUCA — the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all life on Earth. In the right hands, LUCA could transform medicine and agriculture. In the wrong hands, it could unravel the planet’s ecosystem.

The trail leads to the mountains of Namibia, where botanist Paulos de Klerck may have discovered evidence of this elusive ancestor. Tucker’s mission quickly expands: find LUCA before Russian General Kharzin does.

But there’s another danger — a traitor inside Tucker’s team, feeding intel back to the Russians. With Felice Nilsson close on their heels, Tucker and Kane must fight, track, and survive to protect Bukolov and keep LUCA from falling into the wrong hands.

Final Thoughts

With The Kill Switch, Rollins has given us two new characters you can really root for. Tucker Wayne and Kane are a dynamic duo who bring grit, loyalty, and heart to the chaos. Their journey takes you from a simple rendezvous in Vladivostok, through the rugged landscapes of South Africa and Namibia, and finally to a pulse-pounding showdown on the shores of Lake Michigan.

It’s a great ride — action, science, politics, betrayal — all in true Rollins style.

I, for one, can’t wait for their next adventure. Until then, I’ll be diving into Rollins’ latest Sigma Force novel, The 6th Extinction.

Return to Author’s PAge
Return to Branches Author’s PAge