Category: Books-Fiction

Forgotten Books – November Man

  By

📚 Journal Flashback: Forgotten Books – Bill Granger’s November Man

The Infant of Prague - November Man

I’ve seen other bloggers post about Forgotten Books, and I’ve done my share of Forgotten Music—so here’s a dive into a forgotten book series that still sticks with me: Bill Granger’s November Man.

I started keeping a book journal in 1987, jotting down the dates I finished each book along with a few thoughts and star ratings. Looking back, I noticed that in both March 1988 and March 1989, I read one book from this series each year—and both left a strong impression.

—

📖 March 1988 – The Infant of Prague

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This was book #8 in the series. My journal says:

“Devereaux tries to bring a defector out of Czechoslovakia. The story kept moving and the ending was satisfying. Better than the previous one I read (*Hemingway’s Notebook*).”

📚 Amazon synopsis here

—

📖 March 1989 – Henry McGee is Not Dead

Henry Magee is Not Dead

Journal comments:

“Henry McGee is an agent who crossed over in Alaska. There’s a complex plot to destroy R Section, a bomb on the pipeline, and Devereaux and Denisov (Soviet defector) are in the middle of it. The writing was occasionally difficult, but overall a good read.”

📚 Amazon/PW synopsis here

—

🕵️ Why I Loved the Series

These were some of the best spy novels I read back in the day—always exciting, with a fascinating lead character in Devereaux. The books had an edge, a Cold War atmosphere, and a different tone from your typical spy thrillers.

More on Bill Granger at Fantastic Fiction

Looking back, the November Man books definitely laid the groundwork for my later love of authors like Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, and Alex Berenson.

—

📚 Forgotten Book Tip

If you ever see a copy of a Bill Granger novel at a library sale or used bookstore—grab it! You won’t be disappointed.

Favorite Series -Joe Pickett

  By

C.J.Box’s Joe Pickett series has been a favorite of mine since I read Savage Run (Book #2) in 2004. I quickly went back and read book #1 Open Season (which won an Edgar Award for Best First Novel) and have continued from there. From the beginning, I have loved the characters of Joe Pickett and his family. Joe Pickett is a game warden originally living in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming and now Saddlestring. Joe is a kinda’ normal guy living a normal life and correcting the wrongs that he encounters and there have been enough to fill ten books. From his website:

the New York Times once wrote, “…Box introduced us to his unlikely hero, a game warden named Joe Pickett, a decent man who lives paycheck to paycheck and who is deeply fond of his wife and his three daughters. Pickett isn’t especially remarkable except for his honesty and for a quality that Harold Bloom attributes to Shakespeare — the ability to think everything through for himself.”  and Joe Pickett has been compared to Gary Cooper by both reviewers and the actor’s only daughter for his quiet, but determined, approach.

Joe moves through life with the help of his beloved wife, Marybeth and his daughters Sheridan and Lucy and helped by his right hand man Nate Romanowski, falconer and man of the land who often appears at just the right time to help Joe. Joe’s life is of-times complicated by his mother-in-law Missy (with several last names due to her penchant for moving up the social ladder through divorce). All of the novels are great Box really creates a great “sense of place” in his novels muc  like James Lee Burke, so that even though I’ve never visited Wyoming, I’ve been there many times thanks to Box. Box says this about his books and particularly about  Trophy Hunt

:

My novels include environmental issues that are integral to the modern West.Trophy Hunt is no different. The boom in coal bed methane development in the Rocky Mountains has literally transformed the terrain – and the economy– in ways both good and bad. I was researching the issue for background when something entirely unrelated happened: the discovery of dozens of mutilated cattle in Montana. Remembering the stories of cattle mutilations from my youth, I contacted the lead reporter covering the story and she supplied me with clippings, reports, and extremely disturbing photos. The details of the deaths were eerily similar: no obvious cause of death; faces and genitals surgically removed; no tire tracks, footprints, or evidence near the bodies; and, strangest of all, the bodies were untouched by natural predators. I knew as I leafed through the documents that Joe Pickett would have a new case – one that would test his sense of reality.

While many of the stories stand on there own, I do think that this is a series that deserves to be read in order. So much of the character development and ancillary story lines develop from book to book that if you haven’t read the other books you’ll not get the full effect of the book. If you don’t like to read series books, you can still experience Box’s writing  talent by reading his two standalone novels, the Edgar Award winning Blue Heaven or Three Weeks to Say Goodbye both excellent reads. I can’t wait for the April 6th release of Pickett’s next adventure chronicled in Nowhere to Run. As for you who have never read any you got lots of readin’ to do, but it will be worth the effort!

Book 9 -2010 – Redemption Street

  By

While I am still working my way through The Midnight House I finished book 9 of 2010 Reed Farrel Coleman‘s Redemption Street. Redemption Street is the second book in Coleman’s Moe Prager series and my first read of this series. Prager is a retired New York City police officer, now running a wine shop with his brother. The story opens when a vagrant Arthur Rosen  comes into the shop and wants Prager to find his sister Karen, only problem is that his sister died in a fire in the Catskills sixteen years prior, with two other girls and sixteen other guests. Rosen, his sister and the other girls all went to the same high school as Prager, with one of the girls being a major crush of Prager’s.  Rosen is convinced his sister is still alive. Prager brushes him off as a crazy and when he goes to apologize a few days later, Rosen finds him, shortly after he has committed suicide and Prager’s name written in blood on his wall. So Prager sets out to set things right and find out what really happened the night of the fire.

I really enjoyed Coleman’s writing and Moe Prager’s wise-cracking attitude. Most of the story takes place in the Catskill town of Old Rotterdam and Coleman captures the “”sense of the town” and the last gasps of the Catskills after the demise of the Borscht Belt. The story line was interesting and the characters all believable. Overall a definite  4 out 0f 5. and I will go back and find Walking the Perfect Square the first book in the series and then catch up with the three books that follow.

Book 8 – Red Sky at Night

  By

While this book is my first read of a book by James W. Hall it is the sixth book in the eleven book series featuring Hall’s  iconoclast beach bum fisherman Thorn. (Anyone know his full name?). The book centers around the senseless slaughter of eleven dolphins at a Key West park that Thorn and his current girlfriend Monica had visited a few days previous. The slaughter is tied to the experiments in pain alleviation being performed on wounded veterans by an old boyfriend of Thorn’s Bean Wilson Jr. Wilson is also being investigated by the DEA for illegal actions and they have placed an undercover agent Greta Masterson in Wilson’s clinic. As Thorn starts to investigate he becomes a target and the rest of the story revolves around solving the mystery of the slaughter of the dolphins and rescuing Greta!

It was a good read and I enjoyed the character development of  many of the characters including Bean Wilson, Pepper Tremaine and Thorn. However, I know that there’s a lot of background on Thorn’s life that was missing, so overall I don’t think I enjoyed the book as much as I would have had I started at the being of the series.  So now, I have to go back and learn about Thorn from the first five books before I travel forward to the next five. Like I need another series. So check James W. Hall out but start with  Under Cover of Daylight.

Red Sky at Night

  By

While this book is my first read of a book by James W. Hall it is the sixth book in the eleven book series featuring Hall’s  iconoclast beach bum fisherman Thorn. (Anyone know his full name?). The book centers around the senseless slaughter of eleven dolphins at a Key West park that Thorn and his current girlfriend Monica had visited a few days previous. The slaughter is tied to the experiments in pain alleviation being performed on wounded veterans by an old boyfriend of Thorn’s Bean Wilson Jr. Wilson is also being investigated by the DEA for illegal actions and they have placed an undercover agent Greta Masterson in Wilson’s clinic. As Thorn starts to investigate he becomes a target and the rest of the story revolves around solving the mystery of the slaughter of the dolphins and rescuing Greta!

It was a good read and I enjoyed the character development of  many of the characters including Bean Wilson, Pepper Tremaine and Thorn. However, I know that there’s a lot of background on Thorn’s life that was missing, so overall I don’t think I enjoyed the book as much as I would have had I started at the being of the series.  So now, I have to go back and learn about Thorn from the first five books before I travel forward to the next five. Like I need another series. So check James W. Hall out but start with  Under Cover of Daylight.

Dark Tiger – William G Tapply (Stoney Calhoun #3) Book 7 of 2010

  By

Dark Tiger Book 7 of 2010 – Dark Tiger is most likely the last Stoney Calhoun novel by William G. Tapply. Tapply passed away in July of 2009 after a battle with leukemia.  Tapply is best known for his Brady Coyne series which spanned twenty-six years and twenty-five books.

Dark Tiger is the third book in the Stoney Calhoun series. Stonewall Jackson Calhoun is currently a fishing  guide in Maine and runs a bait shop with his lover Kate Balaban.

Stoney has a past that he doesn’t quite remember, a result of being struck by lightening years ago. Through glimpses of muscle memory and other memory flashes Stoney knows he was a trained agent of some sort.  Now though he runs his bait shop and  occasionally serves as a deputy sheriff when the need arises. Keeping an eye on Stoney is “The Man in the Suit” who knows about Stoney’s past but he’s not telling and every so often pops into Stoney’s life  checking on Stoney’s memory.

As this novel opens, Stoney is told that he and Kate will soon loose their lease on the bait shop and Kate is told her husband Walter, who suffering from MS and  lives in a rehabilitation center will soon be kicked out! Stoney soon figures this is the work of “The Man in the Suit” ,which turns out to be correct. “The Man in the Suit” and his boss tell Stoney they will make everything in his  life OK, if he takes an assignment to go to Loon Lake Lodge in the wilds of northern Maine and solve the murder of one of their agents. The agent was found dead along with a sixteen year old girl in what was made to look like a murder suicide. Only problem is Stoney can’t tell anyone where he is going or why, which does not endear him to Kate! But off he goes. I didn’t think this was a great read, but it was a comfortable one! I enjoy the characters and the story line was ok!

I liked the series and it ended before we learned  the complete story about Stoney’s past and if Stoney and Kate will have a life without the guilt they both feel about their relationship in light of  Kate’s husband’s illness. Stoney, Brady Coyne and William G Tapply you will be missed!

Dennis Lehane Books- Kenzie and Gennaro and More!

  By
Mysterious atmosphere, shadowy figures, suspenseful

Dennis Lehane – Kenzie and Gennaro Series

In honor of the opening of Shutter Island (which from the trailers looks great) today based on the book by Dennis Lehane. I thought I’d write something about his series featuring Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.

Before he turned to standalones after the success of Mystic River, Dennis Lehane wrote five novels featuring Kenzie and Gennaro, starting with  A Drink Before the War, which won a Shamus award and ending withPrayers for Rain , including Gone, Baby Gone turned into the movie starring Casey Afleck.

The books are gritty and deal with the underbelly of Dorchester a suburb if Boston, but the writing is terrific and the story lines are fast paced. I think I read these books about as fast as any I’ve read.

They are  the kind you just can’t put down and when you do you can’t wait until you can pick them up again! Lehane said he wasn’t going to write anymore of these books but from what I understand his next book will be a Kenzie and Gennaro, can’t wait! So if you’ve never read them and enjoy gritty novels pick them up you won’t be disappointed!

Dennis Lehane -Kenzie & Gennaro Books in Order

TitleSeries/No.Year PublishedDate ReadReview
A Drink Before the WarKenzie & Gennaro#119942/01/2002
Darkness Take My HandKenzie & Gennaro#219963/20/2002
SacredKenzie & Gennaro#319983/31/2002
Gone, Baby GoneKenzie & Gennaro#419995/18/2002
Prayers for RainKenzie & Gennaro#520003/25/2002
Moonlight MileKanzie & Gennaro #62010

Dennis Lehane – Coughlin Books in Order

TitleSeries/NoYear PublishedDate Read
The Given DayCoughlin #12008
Live By Night Coughlin #22012
World Gone By Coughlin #32015

Dennis Lehane – Standalone Books in Order

TitleDate Published
Mystic River2001
Shutter Island2004
The Drop2014
Small Mercies2023

Parnell Hall – Woodstock Generation

  By

Parnell Hall writes one of my favorite all-time series starring “Stanley Hastings, the world’s most reluctant private eye, is a failed actor/writer, who chases ambulances for a negligence lawyer in between gigs, which is most of the time” – (from ParnelHall.com). the books are just downright fun reads and a new one is due in July titled Caper! He also writes the Puzzle Lady series featuring Cora Felton also a good time. He obviously also can write music and sing as shown in the following video! I think I have the majority of those LP’s he’s looking at!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov9pa8H4GiM

Abandoned – Cody McFadyen

  By

Abandoned (A Thriller) Abandoned  is the fourth book in the Smokey Barrett series by Cody McFadyen and in my opinion it may be his best!

About the Smokey Burnett Series

Smokey is an FBI agent and leader of the LA branch of the  National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). They hunt down the worst men and women who murder men, women and children and serial rapists too.  Smokey is also a survivor.  She lives with the scars on her face, left after a killer broke into her house and killed her husband Matt and daughter Alexa.

 

The previous books, Shadow Man, The Face of Death, and The Dark Side have all been outstanding. I thoroughly enjoy McFadyen’s writing and the characters that live in these books.

These characters include  members of Smoky’s team,  Callie Thorne, Alan Washington, James Giron, and Leo Carnes, who plays a big role in this book.  Smokey’s adopted daughter Bonnie, who is also a survivor, having been tied to her dead mother for three days, and Tommy,  Smoky’s new husband, all combine to make the novels  extend far beyond the chase of a killer. MaFadyen’s first book, Shadow Man was a particular favorite and one of the best debut novels I have ever read.

In Abandoned, Smoky faces possibly the most difficult adversary she has ever faced. The novel opens on the wedding day of one of the  members of Smoky’s team, Callie Thorne.   Smoky receives a text message saying “I’m sending something to you, Special Agent Barrett.”  As Father Yates is presenting Mr. and Mrs……a black Mustang pulls into the parking lot the door opens and  a woman is tossed out. She’s shaved bald and is wearing a white nightgown and as she approaches the wedding party “she puts her hands to her face, turns her head to the sky, and begins to scream. A fingerprint check reveals that she has been  missing for eight years – that she once was a wife, a mother and a cop! So begins Smoky’s hunt for a psychopath who keeps his victims  in absolute darkness and doesn’t derive pleasure from the killing. From an interview at Amazon, Cody McFadyen says this about the killer:

I saw him, he terrified me, and then I wrote him. He lies within the pages of Abandoned. It’s my hope he’ll terrify you as well.–Cody McFadyen

Well, he did terrify me at times and I know he terrified Smoky….so if you are a fan of great writing definitely pick up this one!!  5 out of 5