Moonlight Falls by Vincent Zandri

Moonlight Falls by Vincent ZandriIt takes serious balls to begin a book with your protagonist deliberately putting a bullet into his own head, but that’s exactly how Vincent Zandri kicks off his high-octane new thriller Moonlight Falls. Richard “Dick” Moonlight, you see, is not your typical protagonist. In fact, he’s seriously screwed up. As one character tells him, “You fell off the tree of fucked-up-weird and slammed every branch on the way down.” Fucked-up-weird notwithstanding, it’s the fragment of .22 bullet left in his brain following his book opening suicide attempt that forces Moonlight’s retirement from the Albany police department.

Unable to commit to a new job because the placement of the bullet fragment leaves him prone to untimely blackouts and seizures, not to mention serious lapses in judgment, Moonlight finds himself being called upon by his former partner to serve as an outside investigator on cases that need a discrete, but ‘official’, rubber stamping in order to close them… for a fee, of course.

This arrangement becomes a problem when he’s called to the scene of the apparent suicide of Scarlet Montana, wife of his ex-boss Chief of Detectives Jake Montana. Unlike previous callouts, Moonlight can’t bring himself to rubber stamp suicide as the cause of death, collect his under the table fee and be done with it. The sticking point? Not only was Moonlight having an affair with her, but he had been with her only hours before her death. What’s more, given his spotty memory – not to mention the bloody, scratched up hands he doesn’t remember acquiring – he honestly doesn’t know if he could be responsible for her death. But he’s determined to find out what really happened to Scarlet, no matter what the consequences to himself may be.

What unfolds over the course of his investigation provides a non-stop, tension filled ride for the reader; one that includes a mysterious albino, Fugitive-esque pursuit by authorities, grave robbing, a police conspiracy, and a black market organ harvesting ring. There is so much going on that even the most accomplished reader of mysteries and thrillers will be hard pressed to figure out in advance what really happened, as Moonlight Falls delivers twists and swerves right up until the final chapter, even after having seemingly revealed the answer to the mystery.

To learn more about Vincent Zandri, visit his website.

-Moonlight Falls: Book Trailer –

Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve HockensmithOne of the surprise sensations in the publishing industry last year was Quirk Classics’ Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a mashup which re-imagined Elizabeth Bennet as romantically jaded martial arts expert up to her eyes in zombies, also known as ‘dreadfuls’. Though railed against by some Jane Austen purists as sacrilege, adding zombies to such a well known, if intimidating, classic arguably exposed it to a new audience of readers who otherwise may well have never read it (in any form). Such success obviously called for a follow up, right?

Naturally. But instead of going the traditional sequel route, Quirk Classics went in the other direction and has given us a prequel: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. Set several years prior to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Dawn of the Dreadfuls takes the reader on a journey through the dawn of the zombie plague and Elizabeth’s tentative first steps toward becoming the ultimate zombie killing warrior. Along the way we encounter, among other things, a scientific attempt to interact with a dreadful… through music and dancing (just go with it), a creative use of croquet balls and mallets, and the timely arrival of ninjas.

Obviously Jane Austen did not actually write a prequel to Pride and Prejudice, so author Steve Hockensmith had a freer hand than his Pride and Prejudice and Zombies predecessor to create his tale without being tied to source material. But what made Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a true phenomenon was its creative mashup of classic literate with classic horror, and that hook worked precisely because the reader already knew the story being (lovingly) spoofed. Once the story isn’t tied to an actual classic work, it’s really just another zombie story in an odd setting.

Exit Strategy by Michael Wiecek

Exit Strategy by Michael WiecekExit Strategy by Michael Wiecek is easily one of the most engaging, intelligent thrillers I’ve read in quite some time. The book gets off to a roaring start with a brash daylight assault on an internet company called Blindside that leaves eight people dead and the office destroyed. The killers, dressed as postal workers, unfortunately make the mistake of leaving two witnesses: Molly Gannon, a real postal worker (and former Military Police officer) who was in the building on her delivery route, and Blindside employee Jeb Picot, who was in the building, but out of the office, at the time of the assault.

Given that the killers were dressed as postal workers the police suspect Molly of having been in on the attack, and Jeb’s convenient absence from the office at the crucial moment raises the authorities’ suspicions about his possible involvement as well. Their suspicions are fueled by misinformation and half-truths strategically leaked to them by Dunshire Capitol, a front company for the National Security Agency.

Blindside, it turns out, specialized in cryptography and had made a monumental breakthrough in technology, which Dunshire desperately wants, that is able to crack supposedly uncrackable codes. Further complicating the mix is that Blindside was funded by an organization with ties to a Chinese triad, and now they and Dunshire both want to get their hands on Molly and Jeb, whom they believe have a laptop which contains crucial information.

So many players and competing interests in one storyline could be unwieldy in the hands of some authors, but Wiecek does a masterful job weaving everyone into the flow of the story without slowing things down when switching perspectives or making caricatures out of any faction. All the characters, good guys and bad guys alike, are intelligent and driven by clear, logical motivations. Wiecek also deftly intersperses plenty of cool tech speak throughout the story; if you know computers and coding you’ll love it, and if you don’t you’ll love learning about it.

Since it’s not a new release Exit Strategy may not be readily available in brick & mortar bookstores, but it’s well worth your time to track a copy down or order one online. Just don’t start unless you have time to finish, because you won’t be able to put it down.

To learn more about Michael Wiecek, visit his website.

Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone

Mr. Clarinet by Nick StoneMr. Clarinet, the debut thriller from author Nick Stone, introduces Max Mingus, an ex-police officer/P.I. recently released from prison after serving 7 years for manslaughter. Unable to return to work as a P.I. in Miami, Max is persuaded to take a missing persons case in Haiti involving the disappearance of the son of one of the country’s wealthiest families.

The child, rumored by locals to have been taken by a bogeyman known as Mr. Clarinet, has been missing for 3 years and the trail long since gone cold, but the family wants resolution even if it means confirmation that the boy is dead.

Max’s search once he arrives in Haiti starts slowly, but the story has a subtle, almost insidious way of taking hold of the reader. Haiti itself is really the main character.

Stone’s descriptions of the country circa the mid 90s, its contrasting beauty and squalor, the hopelessness of the 80% of the population that lives in poverty, are beyond vivid… they are relentless, and the story that unfolds is grim.

But Stone never uses the (sometimes graphic) descriptions of violence merely for the sake of sensationalism; the brutality inherent in the daily lives of the people Max encounters is presented in very matter-of-fact fashion. Stone also presents the Vodou religion in a very respectful fashion, neither romanticizing nor demonizing it or its practitioners.

Blackman’s Coffin by Mark de Castrique

Blackman's Coffin by Mark de CastriqueBlackman’s Coffin is the first book in a new series from Mark de Castrique, author of the outstanding ‘Buryin’ Barry’ series. Blackman’s Coffin introduces us to Sam Blackman, a former Chief Warrant Officer in the Army’s Criminal Investigation Detachment who, having lost part of his left leg in Iraq, is currently rehabbing at a V.A. hospital in Asheville, N.C.

Shortly before he is set to be discharged, both from the hospital and the Army, he meets fellow vet and amputee Tikima Robertson during one of her visits to the hospital. Knowing of his investigative background, Tikima offers Sam a job with the security company where she works and promises to visit again in a couple of days. After several weeks pass with no word from Tikima, Sam follows up with her company only to learn that Tikima was murdered, her body having been pulled from the French Broad river with a gunshot to the head.

Sam subsequently receives a call from Tikima’s sister informing him that her sister’s apartment has been ransacked, and that she thinks she knows what the intruders were looking for… a journal from 1919 which recounts, among other things, the murder of the Robertsons’ great-great-grandfather, Elijah, who was also found in the French Broad river. Tikima had hidden the journal under the dust jacket of another book and left a note on it indicating that the journal was intended for Sam’s review. Feeling a sense of obligation to the woman who had reached out to him, Sam agrees to help investigate Tikima’s murder.

The plot, which deftly interweaves the modern day murder of Tikima with that of her great-great-grandfather Elijah, manages to include a great deal of history about Asheville, the Biltmore Estate and Thomas Wolfe (an Asheville native, and who does factor into the story), all without ever slowing down the pace of the story. As with his Barry Clayton series, which is also set in North Carolina, the characters in Blackman’s Coffin are so well written the reader immediately feels as though they’ve known them forever, and both the behavior and dialog of even the most bit player rings true.

If you’ve never read Mark de Castrique’s work before, Blackman’s Coffin is a great place to start.

To learn more about Mark de Castrique, Sam Blackman and Barry Clayton, visit Mark’s website

On Edge by Barbara Fister

Traveling while on leave after being injured in the line of duty, Chicago cop Konstantin Slovo finds himself drawn into the investigation of a serial killer who is preying on children in a small Maine town, first by being picked up as a suspect, then being grudgingly consulted by the local PD.

Slovo finds himself torn between wanting to help and wanting to get out of town as fast as he can, a decision made more complicated by the wildly varied reactions (suspicion, hatred, friendship, both professional jealousy and admiration) he receives from the locals. In the end, Slovo finds that confronting the town’s demons is the only way he will be able to confront his own and move on.

I found the writing to be refreshingly “real” and straightforward; all the people have believable reasons for their behavior and motivations, things don’t always go well for the “hero”, and there are no wild caricatures or stereotypes to be found.

To learn more about Barbara Fister and her books, visit her website.

City of the Sun by David Levien

City of the Sun by David LevienThough this was a good read and I don’t regret having picked it up, ultimately there was just something…. lacking. The premise is obviously a gripping one – child disappears while on paper route and the parents’ attempts, with the help of PI Frank Behr, to find out what happened – but the way it unfolds is rushed and somewhat hackneyed.

The early scenes between the husband and wife post disappearance are well done, but later scenes with just the wife come across as afterthoughts or throwaways. As does, in fact, the presence of many of the secondary characters, especially Behr’s former boss at the police department.

It was as if Levien was following some formula that “required” there to be a petty, semi-competent, vindictive authority figure for his lead to bang heads with. The romantic aside was equally by-the-numbers and forced. If this is indeed to be a series, there will be more than enough time to delve into Behr’s romantic / social life.

Frank Behr definitely has promise as a series lead, but I believe the gushing comparisons reviewers have been making to Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch and Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole are a bit premature. A better comparison in my opinion would be Lee Child’s Jack Reacher (complete with Behr’s 6’6″ size), though Behr has in no way proven himself (yet) to be as emotionally complex or intellectually sharp as Reacher.

The bottom line is that Behr simply did not have enough of a chance to shine in this book, with the secondary characters taking up more space than necessary, at the expense of Behr’s development. There has been a second book in the series published, but I can’t say I’ll be rushing out to get it.

The Noticer by Andy Andrews

The Noticer by Andy AndrewsMaybe this book just wasn’t my thing, but I found it to be an incredibly simplistic, thinly veiled rip-off of books like The 5 People You Meet In Heaven (which I wasn’t so fond of either). The book is basically a collection of scenes / stories that involve the mysterious character “Jones” – The Noticer – visiting people at different times in their lives when they are experiencing difficulties of one sort or another to help them “step into the light” and get on the right path.

This, Jones makes it sound so unrealistically easy, is just a matter of getting “perspective” on life… well, if it was that easy no one would need it pointed out to them, would they? And while Jones does make some valid observations to those he encounters about the things he “notices”, they all seem more like common sense than any great insight.

The Jones character, who never ages and who appears as “Garcia” to Hispanics and “Chen” to Asians, is obviously supposed to reflect how Christ / religion can be all things to all people but, again, I found it to be presented in a very simplistic, almost condescending manner.

I think the underlying goal of Andrews’ book, to get people to “notice” things around them, understand how their actions impact others, and to show their appreciation to those who make or have made a positive impact on their own lives is a laudable one. I just found the book itself to be something more suited to grade school age children than adults given the simplistic way it goes about delivering its message.

Cold Heart by Chandler McGrew

Cold Heart by Chandler McGrewAt the book’s opening Houston cop Micky Ascherfeld survives a brutal shootout with two heavily armed robbers; her partner does not.

Burned out and full of self-doubt, Micky visits a remote Alaskan village to recharge & ends up staying. Her refuge turns into a nightmare when one of the town’s residents goes on a rampage that threatens to wipe out the village unless Micky can stop it.

Great wintry Alaskan setting, smart character behavior, amazingly well portrayed opening shootout, and there’s even a nice map of the village included for you to follow the characters’ movements as they play their deadly game of hide-and-seek.

To learn more about Chandler McGrew and his books, visit his website.