Recruited to help the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service perform the nearly impossible, Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, manage to track down a cargo ship headed for New York City carrying two dozen illegal Chinese immigrants, as well as the notorious human smuggler and killer known as “the Ghost.”

But when the Ghost’s capture goes disastrously wrong, Lincoln and Amelia find themselves in a race against time: to stop the Ghost before he can track down and murder the two surviving families who have escaped from the ship and vanished deep into the labyrinthine world of New York City’s Chinese community.

jefferydeaver.com

The Final Twist (2021) is the 3rd book in the Colter Shaw series.

Just hours after the harrowing events of The Never Game and The Goodbye Man, Colter Shaw finds himself in San Francisco, where he has taken on the mission his father began years ago: finding a missing courier bag containing evidence that will bring down a corporate espionage firm responsible for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deaths.

Well researched. Well written. Interesting premise.

Some fun Deaver plot twists.

But ultimately I was not all impressed with this book.

I wish Deaver was a better story teller.

I wish his characters were more real. I might care about them more.

As usual with Deaver, there are plenty of surprising twists and turns.

And a terrific bad guy.

Solitude Creek is the fourth in the Kathryn Dance series …

Dance, an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation, finds herself suspended from duty when an interrogation goes bad in a horrific way.

She’s busted down to the Civil Division of CBI and given the boring assignment of checking permits after a stampede in a local roadhouse results in several deaths and a number of injuries.

Dance soon learns, however, that the panic was intentional—a classic case of someone yelling fire in a crowded venue—and unofficially begins to investigate. …

JefferyDeaver.com

The worst videos online are hilariously bad book trailers. This one is an exception — check it out.

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The Breaker (2021) is the 6th book in the Peter Ash series. And the best, so far.

This one is set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the author lives.

Peter Ash came back from the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq with PTSD and claustrophobia. He has problems going indoors.

In this book he’s working renovations with his best friend, fellow veteran, Lewis.

Ash has a false identity as he’s wanted by police in both Iceland and the States.

As with the Jack Reacher books, the characters here are drawn into a worldwide crisis by coincidence — they happen to see a shooter in a busy city market. And try to stop him.

Ash’s girlfriend June identifies the gunman. And off we go.

As their parallel investigations draw together, they’re thrust into the path of a ruthless tech thief, an eerily cheerful assassin, a brilliant and troubled inventor, and a revolutionary technology that could wreak devastation in the wrong hands. …

Amazon

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The Goodbye Man is another well written, original story by a master craftsman.

It’s the second book in the series about Colter Shaw, a fascinating character.

Shaw is an itinerate “reward-seeker,” traveling the country to help police solve crimes and help private citizens locate missing persons.

He does this for the reward offered.

Shaw refuses to call himself a bounty hunter — he’s an expert tracker — and goes to great pains not to use firearms. I appreciate that.

In Goodbye Man, Shaw signs up for a 3 week course at a mysterious, remote cult retreat called The Foundation. Cost $7500.

It’s creepy. More creepy than Nicole Kidman’s in the TV series Nine Perfect Strangers which I was watching at the same time.

Colter Shaw is in the retreat investigating what happened to one of the young men he as tracking in a previous case, accused of defacing a church with neo-Nazi slogans.

Personally, I preferred book #1 – The Never Game.

This book is very good. But had fewer twists and surprises than the usual Deaver plots.

It was muddled in places, as well, with flashbacks at inappropriate times.

The plot was interesting, but some of the incidents highly unlikely.

The House of Silk is a Sherlock Holmes novel written by British author Anthony Horowitz, published in 2011.

I’d say it’s better than any of the original books by Conan Doyle.

In a new case, Sherlock turns to the Baker Street Irregulars, street kids who work for Holmes as intelligence agents. 

The newest Irregular, a boy named Ross, is killed while staking out a cheap hotel.

Investigating that murder leads Sherlock into the House of Silk case.

The book is full of surprising twists and turns. Watson is a few steps behind, as usual. 😀

Anthony Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense.

Super popular, I’ve only read one other of his books.

He’s well respected. The estate of Arthur Conan Doyle chose him to write two NEW Sherlock Holmes books: The House of Silk (2011) and Moriarty (2014).

He’s written for the Ian Fleming estate, as well.

The Word Is Murder is the first novel in a series. An intriguing plot.

Anthony, the narrator (a barely fictionalized version of the author), is approached by ex-Detective Inspector Hawthorne, with whom he worked on a television series.

Hawthorne, who is in need of money, proposes that Anthony write a book about him and one of the cases he is working on in exchange for a 50/50 split of the advance and royalties.

The case involves a woman who, six hours after planning her own funeral, is found murdered. Initially reluctant, Anthony agrees and proceeds to document Hawthorne’s solution of the case.

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Next in Line (2022) is the 5th and most recent book in the popular William Warwick series.

London, 1988. Royal fever sweeps the nation as Britain falls in love with the ‘people’s princess’.

Which means for Scotland Yard, the focus is on the elite Royalty Protection Command, and its commanding officer. Entrusted with protecting the most famous family on earth, they quite simply have to be the best. A weak link could spell disaster.

Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick and his Scotland Yard squad are sent in to investigate the team.

Maverick ex-undercover operative Ross Hogan is charged with a very sensitive – and unique – responsibility. But it soon becomes clear the problems in Royalty Protection are just the beginning. A renegade organisation has the security of the country – and the crown – in its sights. The only question is which target is next in line …

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