Double Take: a novel by Catherine Coulter

Entertaining*** August 22, 2007

Another in the Catherine Coulter FBI series. This is a direct follow-up to her previous novel in this series, Point Blank, with many of the same characters and a direct plot linkage. Agent Cheney Stone rescues Julia Ransom who is thrown off Fishermen's Pier in San Francisco by an assassin. Julia's psychic husband, August Ransom, had been murdered six months earlier and for a while Julia had been the prime suspect. A big part of the novel concerns August's murder and who might have done it, including other psychics jealous of him. Meanwhile riding into town comes Sheriff "Dix" Noble from Virginia whose wife Christie had disappeared three years earlier. He is brought to town by the supposed sighting of Christie by her godfather. The woman sighted is Charlotte Pallack who bears a striking resemblance to the missing Christie. Charlotte is married to a much older man, "moneybags" Thomas Pallack. Pallack was a client of August Ransom's before his demise. Thence the plots become intertwined until the Gordian knot is cut and the villain revealed.

The Unquiet: a novel by John Connolly

Not your ordinary thriller**** August 22, 2007

This is the first John Connolly novel I have read. I found it stangely dark and filled with foreboding. It's part murder mystery, horror story, with a strong tinge of the supernatural. PI Charlie Parker is haunted by memories of his dead wife and daughter and his separation from his current love and daughter. He is hired by Rebecca Clay to scare off a stalker. The stalker, Frank Merrick, is himself a haunted individual. He is a killer by profession who was recently released from prison and sets out to track down his missing daughter and those who may have abused and killed her. Parker's investigation mushrooms as he begins to trace the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Rebecca's father, psychiatrist Daniel Clay, the allegations of child abuse surrounding him, and his strange circle of associates. Hovering on the fringes is a cigerette-puffing man known as the Collector. Associated with the Collector are a mysterious group known as the Hollow Men who seem to be doing penance caught halfway between this world and the next. This novel is not my usual cup of tea but nonetheless I found it intriguing.

New England White: a novel by Stephen Carter

Extremely literate writer**** August 22, 2007

I was about 100 pages into this 500+page book when I finally bcame hooked by the story and the characters. This is a whodunit woven into a complex drama about life at a New England university and what it is like to be rich highly-educated African -Americans. Stephen Carter shows promise of becoming one of the best writers of his generation. I'll say no more about the plot for fear of spoiling it. But Lemaster and Julia Carlyle are fascinating characters. Read this book. You won't be disappointed.

The Bourne Betrayal: a Jason Bourne novel by Eric Van Lustbader

The Bourne story has run its course*** August 22, 2007

I started this novel the day after viewing the latest Bourne movie, The Bourne Ultimatum. The movie was a fast-paced riveting action thriller. I cannot say the same for this latest novel starring Jason Bourne. The right elements are present: intrigue, Bourne's memory flashbacks, terrorists etc. But there is a world of difference between The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Betrayal. Jason's friend,deputy CIA director Martin Lindros, is missing in the mountains of Ethiopia. He was there investigating the possibility that terrorists had acquired a nuclear bomb. But it was a set-up anmd he is abducted. Terroist leader Karim has facial reconstruction surgery and with one of Lindros' eyes implanted comes back to CIA HQ masquerading as the real Lindros. Meanwhile Jason is tracking the real Lindros. In the end the trrorists have virtually taken over the CIA and are poised to detonate their nuclear weapon. But Jason Bourne, with the help of some Saudi Special Forces, locates the missing real Lindros and the bomb. The plot is thwarted.

Lustbader is a good writer in his own right, having authored several good thrillers of his own about 20 years ago. This novel is not up to the quality of his own stand-alone novels. It appears that the Jason Bourne story has run its course.

The First Commandment: a thriller by Brad Thor

Entertaining Thriller*** August 21, 2007

This novel begins with Scot Harvath, former navy SEAL, now Homeland Security superagent, s at the bedside of girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who's in a deep coma after being gravely wounded at the end of Thor's previous novel. Unbeknownst to him, five terrorists have been released from Guantánamo Bay as part of a secret hostage deal forced upon U.S. president Jack Rutledge. When one of the terrorists starts targeting Scot's friends and family, Scot discovers that the president won't allow the assassin to be hunted down. Soon enough, Scot is on the run from his own government and in pursuit of the killer. Alone, cut off by the President for unfathomable reasons, Horvath enlists the help of some close friends to follow the killer of his closest associates but always a step behind until the rip-roaring conclusion when he guns down the master terrorist.

The Navigator: a NUMA series novel by Clive Cussler and Paul Kamprecos

Good Read**** August 21, 2007

This is the thirty-fourth book under the Clive Cussler brand. I enjoyed his early Dirk Pitt novels but felt he had lost his touch with the first two Oregon Files novels although the later ones in that series have improved. The Navigator is the seventh in the NUMA series starring undersea adventurer Kurt Austin and his sidekicks. Kurt Austin is an updated version of Dirk Pitt. Paul Kamprecos who has written most of the NUMA series has found his stride and the rhythmn of the Dirk Pitt series. In fact, for the first time in a while I felt like I was reading a Cussler novel when he was writing at his peak. The Navigator is a first-rate adventure yarn mixing history with modern villains. Recommended

Stalin's Ghost: An Arkady Renko novel by Martin Cruz Smith

A grim picture*** August 21, 2007

Martin Cruz Smith has penned another brooding Arkady Renko novel. Renko has survived the Communist era of the Soviet Union and the oligarchy of the "new" Russia to lanquish in a backwater job. Renko's latest investigation involves the alleged appearance of the ghost of Stalin at a Moscow underground (subway) station. These incidents seem connected to the Senate campaign of Nikolai Isakov, a former member of the Russian army's elite "Black Berets" and a `hero' of the last Russian campaign against Chechnya.Isakov is also a police investigator who has stolen Renko's girlfriend, Eva. Something stinks about Isakov's supposedly heroic exploits in Chechnya and Renko sets out to unravel the truth.

Renko's Russia is a grim and foreboding place.

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