The Bone Ships by RJ Barker and The Body on the Beach by Anna Johannsen.

The world-building in RJ Barker's The Bone Ships:  The Tide Child #1 is original and bold.  Barker has created a new world, full of detail, history, and culture for this series.  

In the world of the Hundred Isles, ships have been built from the bones of sea dragons--white, gleaming ships, equipped with corpse lights.  But there are also black bone ships, captained and crewed by condemned criminals.  And Joron Twiner finds himself on Tide Child, a black ship, in retaliation for killing the son of a powerful official in a duel.

Joron Twiner presents an intriguing protagonist as he gradually grows from an angry, depressed, nineteen-year-old and begins to question the rules and history of his society.  I found this particularly interesting as the growth is slow and not readily accepted as Joron clings to the traditions he has been raised to accept.

Lucky Meas takes command of the Tide Child from Joron and not only allows him to live, but gives him second in command.  Lucky Meas has been Shipwife (captain) of one of the most famous of the bone ships and has become a legend for her courage and skill in battle.  How did she become condemned to a black ship?  Whatever the reason, Meas is a leader and she is able to get both ship and crew into shape through force of will.

Meas, Joron, and the crew of the Tide Child are in search of the last sea dragon and the attempts to protect it or kill it.

 (At the end, there is an appendix ranks in the Fleet and the Hundred Isles that (in my opinion) should have been at the beginning to help the reader adjust to this new world.  Definition of the bern, berncast, Fleet ranks, etc. would make entering the world easier.)

I had not read RJ Barker before, but as soon as I finished The Bone Ships (knowing it would probably be a year's wait before the next in the series comes out), I ordered Age of Assassins, the first in Barker's Wounded Kingdom trilogy.  Which lets you know how much I liked the book and the author.  I literally put my Kindle on large print and walked while reading--mostly inside because adding the heat index to 98 degrees made walking outside too damn hot.

Read in August; blog review scheduled for Sept. 2.

NetGalley/Orbit Books
Fantasy/Adventure.  Sept. 24, 2019.  Print length:  512 pages.

The Body on the Beach by Anna Johannsen.  When a body is found on the beach of the small island of Arum, the question arises: natural death, suicide, murder?

DI Lena Lorezen is sent to investigate by a boss she doesn't trust.  The victim was the head of a children's home, and the investigation leads to links to the past.  

Not a bad mystery/police procedural, but the romance of Lena's reconnection with her youthful boyfriend felt like the author was trying to include a romance for a target audience.

Read in July; blog review scheduled for Sept. 2.

NetGalley/Amazon Publishing, UK
Police Procedural.  Print length:  240 pages.  

This Fallen Prey by Kelley Armstrong

This Fallen Prey is the third book in the Casey Duncan series set in the wilds of Canada.  Although I wasn't much taken with the first book City of the Lost, I liked A Darkness Absolute (second in the series) much better.  The series has continued to grow on me.  This Fallen Prey delivers another intense and action-filled experience.  (I'm not sure why some times the protagonist is sometimes referred to as Casey Duncan and at others as Casey Butler.)

Rockton, small, secluded, and secret, lies deep in the Yukon, but officially, it doesn't exist at all.  To gain admittance to the tiny town of Rockton, requires an application.  Those who are accepted must be willing to live off-the-grid.  No cell phones.  No mail.  No internet.  Few conveniences.  

To take advantage of this refuge, citizens must abandon everything about their old lives and become acquainted with a much more difficult and primitive life style that comes with different kinds of dangers.

As if things in Rockton are not challenging and perilous enough, the council, without forewarning, drop a dangerous serial killer in the town.  Bound and gagged and accompanied by a letter with a detail of his crimes, Oliver Brady must be accommodated for six months.   Brady's arrival upsets the town and its dynamics, both those who know of his crimes and those who don't.  

Is Oliver Brady guilty of the crimes listed in the letter?  Trouble begins immediately and quickly gets worse.

Fast paced and full of action, this one will keep you turning the pages.  

Read in Oct.; blog review scheduled for Jan. 17, 2018.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Suspense.  Feb. 6, 2018.  Print length:  368 pages.

Ghost Fleet

Ghost Fleet

Not much in character development, but a very scary novel of possibilities.  We are all so dependent on technology--from the individual shopping online to big banks and financial institutions to...the military.  

What happens when something cuts the communication? Can you imagine?

It isn't that we aren't aware of the dangers, but I doubt many of us have truly considered all of the ramifications involving an attack on the U.S. that impaired or destroyed our ability to use the computer technology that is a major part of our defense system.

How possible is this scenario?  Could a country actually invade our military computers with viruses?  Destroy the communication satellites?   Let's just say that the military is aware of the possibilities.

The Navy bought fake microchips according to this 2011 article in Business Insider.  The problems were discovered, but it does leave a creepy feeling about how hyper-alert the military must be since computers are involved in almost every phase of our defense system. 

 I will admit to being terrified by the scenario the authors described.  It sounded so plausible.  As it turns out, it is much more than plausible even if some of the technology is not yet available.

P.W. Singer and August Cole are uniquely qualified to make the predictions of what might occur in a third world war.  Singer is a specialist in 21st century warfare and has worked for the Defense Department.  Cole also specializes in national security issues.  Check the above links to get an idea of expertise each man offers.  

Is it a great novel?  No, and I wish it had been; but it did scare the bejeezus out of me.  :) It is a chilling look at the precarious nature of our dependence on technology--our strength and our weakness.

read in april; review scheduled for June 15.  

NetGalley/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Suspense/Tech thriller.  June 30, 2015

Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

The Mime Order   

After reading The Bone Season, I jumped right into Samantha Shannon's next installment.  

Of course, Paige does eventually escape the prison camp of Sheol I, but the escape plan went drastically wrong in some areas, and the escapees are much fewer in number than Paige had hoped.    Even after reaching London, elements of the escape go awry, and the escapees are separated.

Paige tops the Most Wanted list in London; Scion has a new device ready to be released that detects clairvoyants; Paige's efforts to expose the connection between the Rephaim and Scion and the terrible danger they pose are discounted; and Paige's relationship with her mime-lord Jaxon Hall, already a little shaky, is damaged further.

Warden's absence is notable in the first part of the novel, but he does make his appearance later.  Interesting how often he now defers to Paige.  

Intricate plot, engaging characters, an examination of the ways that power corrupts, suspense, murders...  All there.

The book is long and the pacing is sometimes slow, but once again, my ability to set it aside was pretty much nil--house keeping, quilting, the garden--all neglected. A twist at the end is one that I'd considered and discarded a couple of times, and a nice set up for the next in the series.

Samantha Shannon talks about The Bone Season:


Library copy.

SciFi/Fantasy.  2015.  510 pages.

Personal by Lee Child

I read my first Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child in 2010 and immediately checked out everything the library had to offer. Below is a list of the novels in the series; I've marked through the ones I've read.

The Jack Reacher novels:
___ #1 Killing Floor (1997)
___ #2 Die Trying (1998)
___ #3 Tripwire (1999)
___ #4 Running Blind: US title/The Visitor: UK title (2000)
___ #5 Echo Burning (2001)
___ #6 Without Fail (2002)
___ #7 Persuader (2003)
___ #8 The Enemy (2004) Prequel set eight years before Killing Floor.
___ #9 One Shot (2005)
___ #10 The Hard Way (2006)
___ #11 Bad Luck and Trouble (2007)
___ #12 Nothing to Lose (2008)
___ #13 Gone Tomorrow (2009)
___ #14 61 Hours (Spring 2010)
___ #15 Worth Dying For (Fall 2010)
___ #16 The Affair (2011) This is another prequel set just before Killing Floor.
___ #17 A Wanted Man (2012)
___ #18 Never Go Back (2013)
___#19 Personal (2014)

I've just finished Personal, so I have to go back and pick up the three I haven't read.  Since I've reviewed all of the ones I've read, I'll just add a bit about Jack Reacher's background.

Reacher is 6'5 inches tall; his father was military, his mother was French; he is a retired Army MP; he uses physics when he fights or plans; he can tell time without a watch.  He owns nothing but the clothes he wears and a toothbrush.  He is constantly on the move, and of course, always there to defend the right.  He is just plain remarkable.  (I wouldn't watch the film with little Tom Cruise playing the 6'5" Reacher...for several reasons.)

Personal has Reacher pulled back into service...unofficially.  A sniper has taken a shot at the President of France; a shot that only the most elite snipers in the world could make.  The possibilities for the shooter are down to three.  One of the snipers in the running is a man Reacher arrested years ago, and the thought is that perhaps he can do it again.  At least that is what the State Department and the CIA hope.

Teamed with Casey Nice, Reacher ends up in London ready to do battle with local mobsters who have teamed up with the suspect.

I'm including some of the praise for this series (which I love):

“Welcome to the relentless world of Jack Reacher and his impressive tendency to be in the wrong place at the right time. . . . Child has created an iconic character that other thriller writers try to emulate but don’t come close to matching.”—Associated Press

“The Reacher novels are easily the best thriller series going.”—NPR

“Child is a superb craftsman of suspense.”—Entertainment Weekly

NetGalley/Random House/Delacorte Press

Thriller/Action.  Sept. 2, 2014.  Print Length:  368 pages.

The Affair by Lee Child

The Affair is the latest in Child's Jack Reacher series.  I read this back in October or November, and as anyone who reads this blog knows, Jack Reacher is one of my favorite characters.  Lee Child writes great action-packed adventure and never fails to keep me wanting more Jack Reacher.

The Affair flashes back to Reacher's days as an elite MP and gives insight into the reasons Reacher leaves the military and begins his Paladin-like career as a wanderer.  Sent undercover to find out who murdered a young woman and to do damage control if necessary, Reacher ends up in a small Mississippi town near an army base.  Looking into the current murder, he discovers that it wasn't actually the first by this killer  (how the authorities  fail to connect murders of young women in a fairly short period of time in a small town seems a leetle bit incompetent, but there you go).  Yes, there are certainly elements that recur from book to book and no, the plots aren't always plausible, and yet Lee Child continues to captivate his audience.

This was not my favorite by any means, but it was still a page-turner.

Fiction.  Action/Adventure/Mystery/Suspense.  2011.  416 pages.

61 Hours by Lee Child

Child, Lee.  61 Hours.

This Reacher novel is set in North Dakota during an unusually fierce winter blizzard.

I enjoyed the novel, as I almost always enjoy them, but didn't care for the countdown aspect.  The conclusion didn't work especially well for me either.  Really, it would probably be better if I gave Reacher a rest for a while.  (Did I say that in my last review of a Reacher novel?)

The novels are addictive, and some are very good, some are less so.  My favorite Reacher novels are those that involve some of his old team, and this one provided a bit of a twist as he converses via telephone with the new head of his old elite unit.   Reacher was the first CO of the unit, and Susan Turner is the current head--he needs her help, and the two develop some chemistry in their phone conversations.

There was a little (a lot?) less action, but that didn't particularly bother me.  The conclusion, however, with the stepped-up action seemed over the top; the cliff-hanger didn't appeal at all.

What can I say?  I will  register certain criticisms and still eagerly await the next novel featuring Jack Reacher.

Fiction.  Action, Suspense.  2010.  Kindle.  Print version - 400 pages.

Land of Ghosts by E.V. Seymour

Seymour, E.V.  Land of Ghosts.

An ARC from Midas Publications, UK.  Land of Ghosts is a suspenseful thriller that examines the Russia/Chechnya conflicts and the brutality on both sides.

This is Seymour's third novel featuring Paul Tallis, an MI5 operative, and I'll be looking for the first two in the series.  If you enjoy action novels and/or spy novels in the tradition of Robert Ludlum, these novels should fill the bill.

An undercover agent in Chechnya has been out of touch for a year, and his handler suspects he has gone rogue.  Paul Tallis is approached about a mission to bring the missing operative out; although he questions the assignment, he agrees because the missing agent is an old school friend, Graham Darke.

Tallis must infiltrate the rebel Chechen movement, find his old friend, determine his loyalty, and attempt to bring him home (willing or unwilling) in order to prevent the disintegration of Anglo-Russian relations.

Tallis finds brutality and corruption on  sides of the conflict, and while he sympathizes  with the situation of both regular Russian soldiers and ordinary Chechens, he is appalled at the behavior of psychopaths and sadists on both sides.  To add to the suspense, Tallis continues to question the motives behind his own mission.

Interesting characters, action, suspense, and a frightening look at the background of a conflict that Americans know little about. 

I couldn't find an entry for the U.S. Amazon, so the link is to Amazon, UK.    * note to
Margot Weale at Midas:  Thanks for this one, and I'd be happy to review the previous books!  :)

Fiction.  Action/Spy/Suspense.  2010.  441 pages.

The Persuader

Child, Lee.  Persuader.

Jack Reacher again.  Another fast-paced novel with lots of suspense.  The beginning had me confused and checking to see if this was really Reacher.  He rescues a college kid, but kills a cop in the process.  Whoa!  Not Reacher's style at all.

Ah, the whole thing was a set-up to get him inside the operations of a crime operation involving an evil character that Reacher thought he had killed years ago.  He goes undercover to bring down his nemesis, and of course, he succeeds, but there are plenty of close calls along the way.

finished in May

Fiction.  Action/Thriller.  2009.  496 pages.

Nothing to Lose

Child, Lee.  Nothing to Lose.

Jack Reacher again.  Between the literal and metaphorical towns of Hope and Despair, Reacher does his usual thing of defeating the bad guys regardless of the odds.

Also as usual, a fast read, pulling the reader head first (and sometimes kicking and screaming in this one) as Reacher in his usual super-heroic fashion,  performs deed of derring-do and foolishness by taking on anyone who gets in his way.

As usual, his descriptions of place are outstanding.

What was not as usual was that he couldn't quite convince me in this one.  Believe, I'm easy to convince concerning Reacher novels, but the plot in this one was just over-the-top.  Difficult to comprehend (it being a Reacher novel in which all of the plots are over-the-top) but sadly, I couldn't quite scale the heights here.

On the other hand, it moved fast, was suspenseful, and I wouldn't have dreamed of stepping away from it.  'Cause this old lady is committed to Reacher, up or down.

Fiction.  Action/Thriller.  2008.  407 pages.