Thriller Book Review

Growing up, Dana and her older sister, Julie, are inseparable, until a devastating secret compels Dana to flee from home, not to see or speak to her sister for sixteen years. When she receives the news that Julie is seriously ill, Dana knows that it is time to return home, to try to save her sister. Yet she arrives too late, only to discover that her hometown has changed, and so have the people in it. Julie has left behind a shattered teenage daughter and a mystery - what killed Julie may be killing others, too. Why is no one talking about it? Dana struggles to uncover the truth, but no one wants to hear it, including her niece who won't forgive her aunt's long absence. Dana had left to protect her own secrets, but Black Bear has a secret of its own - one that could tear apart Dana's life, her family, and the town itself.

Dr. Samantha Owens is starting over: new city, new job, new man, new life. She's trying to put some distance between herself and the devastating loss of her husband and children—but old hurts leave scars. Before she's even unpacked her office at Georgetown University's forensic pathology department, she's called to consult on a case that's rocked the capital and the country. An unknown pathogen released into the Washington Metro has caused nationwide panic. Three people died—just three. A miracle and a puzzle… Amid the media frenzy and Homeland Security alarm bells, Sam painstakingly dissects the lives of those three victims and makes an unsettling conclusion. This is no textbook terrorist causing mayhem with broad strokes, but an artist wielding a much finer, more pointed instrument of destruction. An assassin, whose motive is deeply personal and far from understandable. Xander Whitfield, a former army ranger and Sam's new boyfriend, knows about seeing the world in shades of gray. About feeling compelled to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. Only his disturbing kinship with a killer can lead Sam to the truth…and once more into the line of fire.

Ignoring his instincts once cost Simon a vital op-and the life of his best friend, Ryan. Now as escalating, violent attacks hit A-Tac, another person he loves is in danger. Homeland Security agent Jillian Montgomery's investigation has suddenly brought her back into Simon's life, and unless they can learn to trust each other, their dangerous mission will fail. After her husband Ryan's death, Jillian dedicates herself to saving others. She can't afford to be tempted by Simon, even though his every touch reignites the desire they once shared. But in the last desperate minutes before disaster strikes, their second chance at love might be the most lethal trap of all.

A missing influential CEO—a handsome, ambitious FBI agent—and a smart-mouthed blonde bombshell—in the end, who will be outmaneuvered? To FBI Special Agent Cruz Romero the assignment seems cut and dry: shadow Amanda Price, the estranged daughter of a missing high-powered CEO, and find evidence linking her to his disappearance. The last thing Romero expects while on surveillance is for her to strut right up to him, insisting they've met before. Once he gets a good look at this familiar sassy blonde, he knows he’s in trouble. He must throw her off track before the entire investigation is jeopardized. As the evidence stacks against Amanda, Romero brings her in for a round of heated questioning and his suspicion of her guilt deepens with every evasive answer. When a sniper makes an attempt on her life, he is forced to protect her. Plunged into a maze of deceit, Romero fears that his blinding attraction for Amanda might be his fatal downfall.

The scrappy martial arts fighter Aaron “Woodshed” Wallace prepares for his first big break stemming from the legitimate MMA promotion Warrior, Inc., in this second installment of the Woodshed Wallace series. Having fought to survive his entire life, Woodshed thinks such an opportunity will forever change his life for the better, but before he can put his shady past behind him, a band of Japanese mobsters threaten Warrior, Inc., and its president, Banzai Eddie Takanori. Seeking to collect on the debt Eddie owes, the gang wants to take payment in blood. Calling on all of his mixed martial arts skills in and out of the cage, Woodshed attempts to help Eddie and his ex-SAS bodyguard, Mr. Burch, stay alive and keep the company intact.

Sydney Simone, wounded herself, is dedicated to helping via a cloaked website and identity those whose wrongs can’t be righted by orthodox means. First she verifies the client’s story; then she accepts payment: half up front, half on completion of her work. Usually it’s a form of human pest control. For cover, Sydney works as an assistant at the Rose Madder Gallery in West Palm Beach run by Oscar Leopold. Oscar, a sculptor, has left his law practice behind. But now his former partner Roy is arrested for murdering Big Jack, an attorney with a sleazy television advertising presence. At the same time Sydney is dealing with a client who has seemingly penetrated her defenses and demands she complete a job—rubbing out Big Jack.—an assignment where she has accepted, and pocketed, an unusually large fee. So now Sydney the client gives Sydney a new target and Sydney switches gears: dedicated to saving herself, Oscar, and Roy, even as she continues to operate HumanPestControl.com. Teaming with Oscar isn’t easy since she can’t tell him all she knows, but soon their investigation leads to a complex insurance fraud scheme that implicates Roy – perhaps he really is guilty. But Oscar becomes an investigative target himself and is arrested, then kidnapped and assaulted as he tries to find the true killer.

Junior Bender is a Los Angeles burglar with a magic touch. Since he first started breaking into houses when he was fourteen years old, he’s never once been caught. But now, after twenty-two years of an exemplary career, Junior has been blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of the most powerful crime bosses in LA, into acting as a private investigator on the set of Trey’s porn movie venture, which someone keeps sabotaging. The star Trey has lined up to do all that’s unwholesome on camera is Thistle Downing, America’s beloved child star, who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubber-neckers across the country. No wonder Trey needs help keeping the production on track. Junior knows what that he should do—get Thistle out and find her help—but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of LA’s scariest mob boss. With the help of his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, Louie the Lost (an ex-getaway driver), Junior has to figure out a miracle solution.

Amanda's Story is the heart-stopping tale of a woman caught up in a storm she wanted no part of, and what happens when she refuses to be collateral damage. It is the story that readers of 'Hybrid' have been waiting for and that new readers will find impossible to put down.

The four dead guards didn't concern Mitch Rapp as much as the absence of the man they'd been paid to protect. Joe Rickman wasn't just another foot soldier. For the last eight years Rickman had run the CIA's clandestine operations in Afghanistan. It was a murky job that involved working with virtually every disreputable figure in the Islamic Republic. More than a quarter billion dollars in cash had passed through Rickman's hands during his tenure as the master of black ops and no one with a shred of sense wanted to know the details of how that money had been spent. At first glance it looks as if Rickman has been kidnapped, but Rapp knows certain things about his old friend that cause him to wonder if something more disturbing isn't afoot. Irene Kennedy, the director of the CIA, has ordered Rapp to find Rickman at all costs. Rapp must navigate the ever-shifting landscape of Afghanistan as the Taliban, Iranians, Pakistanis and Russians all plot to claim their piece of the war torn state. With Afghanistan crumbling around him, Rapp must be as ruthless as his enemies and as deceitful as people in his own government if he has any hopes of completing his mission.

Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister's estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes. Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage--a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn't about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl. When Kiera and Gage's search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim...