Stone Cold: a Camel Club novel by David Baldacchi

Riveting! First-rate!***** November 25, 2007

David Baldacci has forged a first-rate page-turner with his novel Stone Cold. This is the third in the series featuring Oliver Stone and the Camel Club. The plotting is intricate, the characters well-developed and the intrigue byzantine. Ex-CIA agents keep cropping up at every juncture. Con artist Anabelle Conroy is back. All in all this is a thoroughly enjoyable novel. I can hardly wait for the next.

Highly recommended.

Requiem for an assassin: a novel by Barry Eisler

Amoral but engrossing**** July 19,2007

When I read my first John Rain novel, Eisler's previous The Last Assassin, at first I didn't quite know what to make of it. Many of the same characters are back in this, the fifth in the Rain series. John Rain is trying to leave his career as an assassin behind but he receives a phone call telling him one of his best friends Dox has been kidnapped. Dox will only be released if Rain performs three assassinations for the kidnapper. Rain undertakes the first two assassinations while working through his Japanese and Israeli contacts to track the whereabouts of the kidnapper and Dox and to puzzle the rationale behind the targetting of the first two men. Dox is rescued in a shootout in Singapore and Dox and Rain head to the Netherlands to thwart a terrorist plot.

John Rain is an interesting character. He seems to have no morals and yet the author takes us inside his head in such a manner that we feel empathy for him. And we are left wondering what awaits him next time. Will he succeed in his attempt to leave his career as a killer behind? Doubtful.

The Good Guy: a novel by Dean Koontz

First-rate Thriller**** June 19,2007

Dean Koontz is back in fine form. The Good Guy is comparable to The Husband and Velocity by the same author. The chief protagonist in this novel is a mason Tim Carrier. Tim is minding his own business in his favourite bar when a stranger passes him an envelope full of cash and leaves. Also in the envelope is the photo of a woman slated for murder. Shortly after another man comes in and sidles up to Tim. This is the hitman Tim was mistaken for. Tim gives him the $10k and tells him the job has been cancelled. The hitman finds this exceedingly strange.

Tim then heads off to find the targetted woman, Linda. She accepts Tim's warning and agrees to flee with him. The rest of the novel is a hunt by the hitman for Tim and Linda. Tim proves exceedingly adroit at avoiding the predator, narrowly escaping time and again. As the novel progresses we realize that Tim is not just a simple mason who is lucky. His skills were acquired in a previous career which is not revealed until near the end.

All in all, a throroughly enjoyable read! Highly recommended.

Trouble: a novel by Jesse Kellerman

Nothing is what it seems *** May 9,2007

This is the second novel by Jesse Kelleman, son of Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, whose novels have been on the bestseller lists for years. Jesse has inherited the writing abilty of his parents. The hero of this novel is Jonah Stem, a young medical resident at a midtown Manhattan hospital. On his way home from a late shift one night he sees a woman desperately fleeing a knife-wielding assailant. The man has a knife and is killed as he struggles with Jonah for possession of the knife. Jonah enjoys a brief celebrity, but his life soon becomes complicated when the woman he rescued, Eve Gones, seeks him out and the two begin a passionate affair. Eve is into violent sex. Jonah tries to end to end the relationship, but soon finds himself being stalked by Eve. This is a well-written novel but the plot may not be to your taste.