Another intense murder mystery.

16th in the Lucas Davenport series.

Very good as are most of the Sandford novels.

The first body is of a young woman, found on a Minneapolis riverbank, her throat cut, her body scourged and put on display. Whoever did this, Lucas knows, is pushed by brain chemistry, there is something wrong with him. This isn’t a bad love affair.

The second body is found a week later, in a farmhouse six miles south. Same condition, same display — except this time it is a man. Nothing to link the two murders, nothing to indicate that the killings end here. …

A suspect emerges early: a man recently released from a prison hospital and who now seems to have cut himself free from his court-imposed ankle bracelet and disappeared. But the more Lucas investigates, the more he wonders: Is this really the man? Could he really have done this all by himself? And where has he gone to, anyway?

And meanwhile, a predator waits….

An easy read. Quite entertaining.

My Mom and I both read this book.

I did appreciate the naiveté and optimism of the lead character — in the face of multiple personal disasters.

The plot provides enough twists and turns to keep it interesting.

The Switch: A Novel (2017)

Michael Tanner is on his way home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong MacBook in an airport security line. He doesn’t notice the mix-up until he arrives home in Boston, but by then it’s too late. Tanner’s curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the owner is a US senator and that the laptop contains top secret files.    
 
When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she’s come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic. …

Though I wasn’t impressed with his Nick Heller series of books, I’ll definitely be reading more Joseph Finder.

Not his best.

But still worth reading.

Extreme Prey (2016)

Marlys Purdy is a crazy woman who has endured the political system long enough. She blames the political system for the loss of the farm she had with her dead husband and the continued financial system that perpetuates the same cycle.

She is ready to take action and stop Michaela Bowden, a potential Democratic presidential candidate from going any further in the campaign in Iowa.

Marlys has a plan. Together with her derange son who has had some military service in Iraq, they put their plan into action. …

Arlene’s Book Club review

Lucas Davenport gets the call to save the day.

As usual.

The newest James Patterson book (Jan. 2025) as I post is something of a departure from his standard template.

The style of writing is simplistic — which somehow suits the honest, sincere hero of the story ➙ Texas Ranger Rory Yates.

The Texas Murders, 3rd in the Texas Ranger series.

Texas Ranger Rory Yates protects his home state wearing a five-pointed silver badge and carrying a Sig Sauer.  

When a native woman disappears on the summer solstice, clues point to a cold case. 

Yates, a quick-draw champion, partners with expert archer Ava Cruz of the Tigua Tribal police.

The investigation leads to the edges of Texas’s most unforgiving landscape, where the officers take dead aim with every shot in their arsenals. 

JamesPatterson.com

22 Seconds (2022) is one of the Women’s Murder Club (novel series).

A good one.

Detective Lindsay Boxer‘s daughter is age-4. That’s how I keep track of these newer books. 😀

Fictional California has enacted a NEW law restricting the most dangerous firearms. Needless to say, some of the Gundamentalists are revolting.

There’s buzz of a last-ditch shipment of drugs and weapons crossing the Mexican border ahead of new restrictive gun laws. Before Lindsay can act, her top informant tips her to a case that hits disturbingly close to home.
 
Former cops. Professional hits. All with the same warning scrawled on their bodies:
 
You talk, you die.