Book Reviews

Book Review: Righteous Prey by John Sandford

Righteous Prey by John Sandford, the the thirty-second book in the Prey series, is more vintage Lucas Davenport goodness.

Righteous Prey by John Sandford, the pen name for the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp, is the thirty-second book in the Prey novels series featuring Lucas Davenport. Besides the Prey novels, Sandford is the author of the Kidd novels, the Virgil Flowers novels, and six other books.

I’ve been a Sandford and Davenport fan since reading my first Prey novel (Rules of Prey, 1989) and I’ve read every book in the series since. This one is unique in that Sandford billed it as a Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers novel, which I found disappointing. Not that I don’t love the Virgil Flowers character. I do and I’ve read every book in that series too. But disappointing because I assume we won’t be getting a new Virgil Flowers novel this year. That’s probably because Sandford is working on his second Letty Davenport (Lucan Davenport’s adopted daughter) novel. But that’s okay, too. I loved the first one and am eager to read the next one.

Feel free to disagree. We all may be wrong sometimes. But in my considered opinion, John Sandford is probably the best crime fiction writer of our times. The great thing about Sandford is no matter how many bestseller books he has written or how famous he’s become; he has never lost his passion for writing, as some authors have been prone to do. He delivers consistent quality writing and tight, imaginative plotting every time. This book is no exception.

Righteous Prey (Lucas Davenport #32)

by John Sandford

Published by Putnam (Penguin Random House)

from October 04, 2022

ISBN 9780593422472 (hardcover)

Genre(s) Suspense & Thriller, Crime Mysteries

416 pages

From the publisher…

Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are up against a powerful vigilante group with an eye on vengeance in this stunning new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author.

“We’re going to murder people who need to be murdered.” 

So begins a press release from a mysterious group known only as “The Five,” shortly after a vicious predator is murdered in San Francisco. The Five is made up of vigilante killers who are very bored…and very rich. They target the worst of society—rapists, murderers, and thieves—and then use their unlimited resources to offset the damage done by those who they’ve killed, donating untraceable Bitcoin to charities and victims via the dark net. The Five soon become popular figures in the media …though their motives may not be entirely pure.

After The Five strike again in the Twin Cities, Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport are sent in to investigate. And they soon have their hands full–the killings are smart and carefully choreographed, and with no apparent direct connection to the victims, the killers are virtually untraceable. But if anyone can destroy this group, it will be the dynamic team of Davenport and Flowers.

“The world has only so much room for people like her, and occasionally, one of them has to go.” An analysis offered to U.S. Marshall Lucas Davenport by an unsympathetic neighbor of Hillary Sikes, after her housekeeper discovered her dead body inside her garage. After someone murdered Sikes in the Twin Cities, Davenport and his frequent sidekick, Minnesota BCA agent Virgil Flowers, get involved in the investigation, along with the FBI. The FBI gets involved because it turned out Sikes was the third victim killed by a group of vigilantes billing themselves as The Five, who according to the bizarre press releases they send after every murder, are on a mission to “help rid America of its assholes.” And the murders occurred in three different states. Most people who knew Sikes agreed she deserved the epithet, as did the other two victims. Davenport observes, “Nobody cares that assholes are being killed.” But he recognizes The Five “are psychos” that must be stopped. He isn’t wrong, since the killings continue.

While the murderers seem to well plan and meticulously carry out each murder with an eye for escaping identification, the person who killed Sikes made an uncharacteristic mistake, which through good police work, Davenport and Flowers uncover. That leads to the man’s identity. Eventually, thanks mostly to the efforts of Davenport and Flowers, the FBI accumulates enough evidence to arrest Sike’s killer and hopes they can pressure him into giving up his accomplices. But when he makes bail, someone murders him and he is only the first of The Five who becomes a murder victim in this complex plot. The good guys wonder if someone is cleaning up loose ends. The case takes Davenport and Flowers from coast to coast, along with points in between.

You can always rely on Sandford to serve up an imaginative plot, but with this novel I think he outdid himself. Two other things make Righteous Prey a notable addition to the series. First, it contains a lot of current events like the waning COVID pandemic, the growing prominence of Bitcoin, and current growing division and animosity between conservatives and liberals in the United States. The other is the side story about Virgil Flowers and his budding side gig as a crime fiction author. Both add interest to the story. This is vintage Davenport with a full slate of psychopathic evil doers and Lucas treating every murder investigation as a competition to be won.

Davenport and Flowers fans won’t want to miss this one, and anyone who enjoys an entertaining crime thriller will enjoy Righteous Prey. The ending may not be as satisfying as we often want, as far as every evildoer facing the cold realities of justice, but Sandford never promises us a happy ending every time. The only real criticism I can offer, is like all Prey novels, you reach the last page far sooner than you wanted. That’s especially true for readers like me who inhale more than read John Sandford’s enjoyable and compelling books.

I received an advance copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review, which represents my honest opinions.

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Book Review: No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child

No Plan B, the new Jack Reacher crime thriller by authors Lee and Andrew Child, is an entertaining read not lacking in ambition and imagination. It’s another step in the right direction toward restoring the Jack Reacher franchise to its former glory.

Hands down, no review I’ve written received as many comments on my website as the review I wrote for Better Off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child, the twenty-sixth Jack Reacher thriller. And those comments were uniformly negative, disagreeing with my positive review of the book. I get that. There remain vast numbers of cynical former Jack Reacher fans who became horribly disillusioned when the quality of Lee Child’s writing waned dramatically, starting with the publication of Night School, the twenty-first Reacher novel. I sympathize with these readers because I became as negative about the series as any other disappointed once rabid fan. After attempting to read The Sentinel, the first Jack Reacher novel after Lee announced his retirement and that he had turned the series over to his brother Andrew, and finding it impossible to continue past the fifth chapter, I vowed I’d never read another Reacher novel or anything with the name Child on the cover. If Lee Child had lost his passion for writing, why couldn’t he have left well enough alone and stopped sooner instead of turning out a handful of awful books just to collect a few more fat publisher’s advances off the superstar reputation he had established.

Fast forward to 2021 and Better Off Dead. When the publisher offered me an advanced copy for review, my curiosity got the best of me and I accepted. No, it wasn’t The Killing Floor, Worth Dying For, or any of my other all-time Reacher favorites, but the book gave me hope that Lee and Andrew were making a serious step toward restoring Reacher to pedestal he once occupied as one of the greatest crime thriller characters of all time. And, with all due respect to readers who disagreed, it deserved the positive review I gave it. So, when a publisher’s representative reached out and offered me an advanced copy of No Plan B, the twenty-seventh book in the series, I cautiously accepted.

No Plan B

by Lee Child and Andrew Child

Published by Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Delacorte Press

from 25 October 2022

ISBN 9781984818546 (hardcover)

Genre(s) Thriller & Suspense

368 pages

OUT 25.10.2022

From the publisher…

In Gerrardsville, Colorado, a woman dies under the wheels of a moving bus. The death is ruled a suicide. But Jack Reacher saw what really happened: A man in a gray hoodie and jeans, moving stealthily, pushed the victim to her demise—before swiftly grabbing the dead woman’s purse and strolling away.

When another homicide is ruled an accident, Reacher knows this is no coincidence. With a killer on the loose, Reacher has no time to waste to track down those responsible.

But Reacher is unaware that these crimes are part of something much larger and more far-reaching: an arsonist out for revenge, a foster kid on the run, a cabal of powerful people involved in a secret conspiracy with many moving parts. There is no room for error, but they make a grave one. They don’t consider Reacher a threat. “There’s too much at stake to start running from shadows.” But Reacher isn’t a shadow. He is flesh and blood. And relentless when it comes to making things right.

For when the threat is Reacher, there is No Plan B.

As Jack Reacher continues drifting across the country, he stops at the small Colorado town of Gerrardsville to visit some Civil War related museums he’s heard of that interest him. There he witnesses a man shove a woman to her death beneath the wheels of a city bus. Reacher pursues the man on foot into an alley, intent on confronting him and holding him for the police. But fate and an accomplice intervene, which allows the killer to escape. Then when he returns to the scene to contact the police to tell them what he saw, the local detective assigned to investigate the woman’s death informs Reacher that the authorities are ruling the death a suicide based on the statement of another witness. That doesn’t sit well with Reacher, who knows what he saw and despises injustice. So, he begins his own investigation. That leads him to another recent death in the town of a man believed to have died a natural death from a heart attack. But as Reacher keeps digging, he learns of a longstanding connection that existed between the heart attack victim and the murdered woman and he grows even more suspicious, believing someone also murdered the man. Eventually Reacher establishes a private prison in Mississippi, has some connection to both deaths and soon he is on his way to Mississippi with the ex-wife of the dead man to determine what the connection is.

It’s easy to imagine the challenge of coming up with new ways to get Reacher, a retired military cop who drifts aimlessly across the country, into believable situations where he must use his past investigative skills and knowledge to right wrongs that the local cops either can’t or won’t address. Especially in a series this deep. But I think this may be one of the most imaginative plots in a long while. Another thing about the book that impressed me is it’s also one of the most ambitious Reacher novels in a long while in that the story features two subplots that move parallel to the main plot throughout the books until all three threads naturally intersect near the end. I can’t recall any previous Reacher book like it in that respect. And the subplots do much to add complications to the story to grab and hold the reader’s attention.

Minimal character development has always been a hallmark of the Reacher novels. That has changed little with No Plan B. The books in the series are not character-driven as much as action-driven, which has always been part of the appeal. So, Childs hasn’t ever spent much time on character development, except for Jack Reacher and a precious few recurring characters that have appeared over the life of the series. But here the authors have spent enough time with the characters involved with the subplots to make them three-dimensional. And that’s another thing I like about this book.

This review is based on an uncorrected advance review copy, not the final copy for publication. So, perhaps the editors will make a few changes before the book’s release. But one thing I noticed worth criticizing is the copy I read contains more than a few blatantly British colloquialisms and manners of speaking that feel a little jarring because they don’t fit with a story set in America with only American characters. Even given Reacher’s history growing up on Marine Corps bases all over the world as a military brat, it’s unlikely he would have adopted specifically British ways of speaking into his speech. There’s nothing wrong with two British authors writing a book set in America and filled only with American characters, but they should avoid the use of terms and colloquialisms almost only ever spoken and written in British English. As only one example, “fishmonger” is a mainly British term for a storekeeper who sells fish which in my entire life I’ve never heard uttered in the United States, though Americans may have used the term in the colonial days.

While I enjoyed Better Off Dead, I liked No Plan B a little more and see it as another step in the right direction toward restoring the Jack Reacher franchise to its former glory and perhaps winning back some of Reacher’s past fans. It’s well worth a read.

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Book Review: The Collector by Anne Mette Hancock

In The Collector by Anne Mette Hancock, the second chilling novel in her Danish psychological crime thriller series, Hancock vaults the high bar she set with her bestselling debut novel (The Corpse Flower, 2017) with astonishing ease.

I’ve now read the second novel in Anne Mette Hancock’s Kaldan and Schäfer Danish psychological crime thriller series. Hancock has given us something different in both outings and I enjoyed The Collector every bit as much as I did her brilliant debut, The Corpse Flower. This novel explores the nature of truth and what it means when we can no longer trust what we believe is real.

the-collector-by-anne-mette-hancock-cover
Out 08.11.2022
The Collector

by Anne Mette Hancock

Published by Crooked Lane Books (Distributed by Penguin Random House)

from November 08, 2022

ISBN 9781639101177 

Genre(s) Suspense & Thriller, Crime Mysteries

352 pages

From the publisher…

For fans of Katrine Engberg and Lars Kepler, the second chilling novel in Anne Mette Hancock’s #1 bestselling Danish crime series is a psychological whirlwind that explores the nature of truth and what it means when we can no longer trust what we know to be real.

When 10-year-old Lukas disappears from his Copenhagen school, police investigators discover that the boy had a peculiar obsession with pareidolia—a phenomenon that makes him see faces in random things. A photo on his phone posted just hours before his disappearance shows an old barn door that resembles a face. Journalist Heloise Kaldan thinks she recognizes the barn—but from where?
 
When Luke’s blood-flecked jacket is found in the moat at Copenhagen’s Citadel, DNA evidence points to Thomas Strand, an ex-soldier suffering from severe PTSD. But then Strand turns up dead in his apartment, shot in the head execution style.
 
What did the last person to see Lukas really witness that morning in the school yard? Was it really Lukas, or an optical illusion? Can you ever truly trust your eyes?

The disappearance of a ten-year-old boy from his primary school once again brings together a seasoned Danish Violent Crimes Unit detective and an investigative journalist turned sleuth to find the child before it’s too late. Along the way, things get complicated. 

In winter in the Denmark capital of Copenhagen, it’s Detective Erik Schäfer’s (The Corpse Flower, 2017) least favorite kind of crime, a missing child. Ten-year-old Lukas Bjerre disappeared from the rec center that provides his school’s aftercare program and no one has a clue about what happened to him. Detective Erik Schäfer and his partner Lisa Augustin rush to the school to investigate. They find a witness who recalls seeing the boy’s father dropping Lukas off at school that morning, but no one seems to have seen him since. Then, once Schäfer and his partner interview school staff members, they discover something chilling. It seems Lukas was absent from all his classes. Instead of only a few hours, he has been missing the entire day, but a staff member had failed to note his absence until the end of the school day. This discovery provokes an all-hands-on deck situation for the Copenhagen police and officers descend on the school to search every nook and cranny for the missing boy. Schäfer and his team, with no real leads, launch an almost around the clock investigation, knowing the likelihood of a grim outcome increases with each passing hour Lukas remains missing. The foreshadowing event that Hancock gives us in the first chapter adds to the sense of dread we feel when we learn about the missing boy and we fear the worst.

It isn’t until the fourth chapter that the author reintroduces us to the co-protagonist, investigative journalist turned amateur sleuth Heloise Kaldan. Those of us who read The Corpse Flower, first met her in Hancock’s celebrated and riveting debut novel, the first novel in this series. The role Hancock assigns Kaldan in this book intrigued me. Instead of Heloise becoming immediately involved in the missing child case, she remains mostly on the periphery of the investigation until late in the story. In this book, we largely read about Heloise’s chaotic personal life and learn about a dreaded personal event she is in the middle of that leaves her ambivalent about some hard decisions she must make. Past painful events in her life have left Kaldan cynical about expecting too much from life in general and especially from other people. As examples, she views the world as such an awful place that she can’t imagine someone wanting to bring children into it, and at least for herself, rejects the institutions of marriage and family. While Heloise’s hard outer shell remains intact, she seems far more softer and vulnerable on the inside than I recall her seeming in the first book. This novel also reveals more of her flaws–demanding far more honesty from her friends than she offers in return, rationalizing her own shortcomings, and violating the trust of a friend because getting the details for a story her boss assigned is more of a priority for her than loyalty to a close friend. Heloise Kaldan is a flawed character we almost want to despise, but can’t help liking because she evokes our empathy and, to a degree, sympathy. I love her role in this book because the exposure of the intimate details makes the progress of her character arc clear and obvious.

In my review of The Corpse Flower, I mildly criticized Hancock’s character, Erik Schäfer, feeling in spots in the dialogue, his use of certain colloquialisms sometimes made him seem more like an American police detective than what I’d expect a Scandinavian police detective to be like. That’s all gone in this second novel. I came away from this one feeling strongly that Erik Schäfer much reminded me of Jo Nesbø’s dogged and methodical Harry Hole character without all of Hole’s eccentricities. I loved that since it seems Nesbø is done with Harry Hole and for me Hole ranks right up there with Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch as a tough, believable detective character. So, I’m definitely on board for a similar character to root for. I liked Erik Schäfer in the first book, but loved him even more in this one.

When the publisher offered me an advanced copy of The Collector, I felt slight trepidation about accepting because Hancock’s debut novel was so brilliant. Often when an author hits it out of the park with a first book, the second book, even when it turns out good, just never quite measures up and leaves you feeling disappointed. But I shouldn’t have worried since with this one, Anne Mette Hancock vaults the high bar she set with The Corpse Flower with astonishing ease.

Hancock is a gifted storyteller who has mastered tight plotting and near perfect pacing. She grabs the reader’s attention with the first page and then keeps you engaged until the very end. Her writing style is, at times, almost lyrical. As wonderful as she is at giving us fully fleshed out, realistic and believable main characters, Hancock doesn’t skimp on sketching the supporting cast of characters for us either. Besides Heloise Kaldan and Erik Schäfer, she offers the reader a host of other interesting, realistic characters in The Collector the reader enjoys getting to know and either loves or hates. I found Heloise’s bestie Gerda Bendix, Bendix’s precocious eight-year-old daughter Lulu, and former police psychologist Michala Friis, who assists the police on the missing child case, particularly compelling.

Readers who enjoy suspenseful psychological thrillers and especially fans of Jo Nesbø, Lilja Sigurðardóttir, and Henning Mankell are sure to love reading The Collector. Anne Mette Hancock has certainly earned a spot in my pantheon of favorite Scandinavian crime fiction writers.

I received an advance copy of the book from the publisher used for this review, which represents my honest opinions.

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Book Review: The Norwich Murders by John Reid

The Norwich Murders by John Reid, a fascinating mixture of murder investigations, international crime syndicates, and political corruption in high places. 

The Norwich Murders (DCI Burt, #6)

by John Reid

Published by Vanguard (Pegasus Publishers)

on June 30, 2022

ISBN 978-1-80016-463-5

Genres: Police procedural, International crime fiction, mysteries and thrillers

320 pages

I’m a latecomer to the DCI Burt series, having just finished The Norwich Murders, the sixth in the series by John Reid. The book was offered to me some time ago but somehow it fell through the cracks and I temporarily forgot I had it and just got in to it this month. There is much I liked about this novel and there is a lot going on here. It begins with a simple murder, like any proper British crime fiction novel, but quickly becomes a fascinating mixture of murder investigations, international crime syndicates, and political corruption in high places. John Reid offers here one of the most expansive, intricate, and imaginative crime fiction plots I’ve read in a long while and I’m only sorry I didn’t get to this novel sooner. It’s a cracking good read, especially for those of us who enjoy reading proper British crime mysteries and thrillers.

From the publisher…

What connection is there between two police officers who are savagely beaten to death in East Anglia and the headless body of a young woman, found washed up in the Thames?

DCI Burt must travel to Norfolk and work with the Norwich police force to assist them with their investigations. The Commander, Alfie Brooks, has purposefully arranged this so that DCI Burt can experience the area and meet Callum Robertson, the Deputy Chief Constable of the Norfolk Constabulary.

DCI Burt and his Special Resolutions team soon find they have another challenging mystery to solve, this time with connections to the ancient and revered La Cosa Nostra and modern-day drug running and prostitution rings in the UK and Europe. But if the various strings involved in the cases have any connection, what and where is it?

On the personal front, DCI Burt is made an offer he finds difficult to refuse but which would mean a huge upheaval in his domestic situation. What will he do about that?

DCI Steve Burt runs Special Resolutions, an elite unit in the Metropolitan Police Force that specializes in investigating serious crime cases other units either can’t or don’t want to handle. The Special Resolutions Unit is something of a dumping ground for the Met’s most troublesome cases. Just when his commander hands Burt and his team an unsolved headless body murder case with few leads, someone murders DC Elsie Brown, a female detective in Norwich on the verge of retirement. When the Norwich police can’t make any headway on the case, Burt and the Special Resolutions Unit get handed that case too. Complicating things is Burt’s commander has put his name forward for a promotion to the Chief Superintendent’s job and head of CID at the Norwich Constabulary. So, besides taking on some difficult murder cases, Burt faces deciding about accepting the promotion, which entails moving himself and his family from London to Norwich. And his wife Alison, who has a thriving medical practice in London, isn’t immediately keen on the idea of moving.

While his team works on the headless body case in London, Burt and one of his top investigators, Matt Conway, head to Norwich to investigate Brown’s murder. They hardly get started on the case before another murder happens, this time a retired Norwich supervising detective Elsie Brown once worked for. Burt and Conway begin to suspect the murders are related and have something to do with a seven-year-old murder case that had long gone cold but that Elsie Brown had kept working on, unable to let it go.

The story moves back and forth between Burt’s murder investigations and the fortunes of two notorious London drug dealers, the brothers Andrew and David Black. They are forging an agreement with an Amsterdam-based drug kingpin that promises to propel the Black brothers to the top of the criminal heap in London drug and prostitution scene. As the story continues, an intersection develops between the illicit activities of the Black brothers and the murders that Burt and his Special Resolutions squad are investigating. The investigations become more and more complex and what began as two straightforward murder investigations grow more heads than Medusa.

I really like the Steve Burt character, a hard charging and logical thinking police investigator with excellent deductive skills who expertly guides his team towards solutions to some ever more complicated investigations. Burt’s family background and his struggle to decide whether to accept the offered promotion that Reid seasons the story with help develop Burt into a compelling, realistic, and multi-faceted character. But beyond DCI Burt, Reid gives us a host of other interesting, believable, and sometimes flamboyant characters. Two of my other favorite characters were Inspector Terry Harvey, an eccentric technical expert that often aids the efforts of Burt’s team and Burt’s admin assistant, Amelia “Poppy” Cooper, who is a competent police office but with a flair for dressing provocatively.

On balance, The Norwich Murders is a cracking good read sure to be enjoyed by fans of proper British crime mysteries and thrillers. Reid does fine work ratcheting the suspense as the story advances toward the satisfying conclusion, making it difficult to put the book down because you can’t wait to learn what happens next. I look forward to reading more of DCI Burt’s future adventures and catching up with some of those that came before this sixth book in the series.

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Book Review: Diver’s Paradise by Davin Goodwin

Diver’s Paradise by Davin Goodwin is an entertaining and impressive debut mystery & detective novel set in the Caribbean that launches a new series and features a retired homicide detective turned part-time private investigator.

Because the publisher offered me Paradise Cove by Davin Goodwin for review before I became acquainted with his Roscoe Conklin series, I read the second book in the series before this one, the first. But it didn’t matter much since both books work very well as standalone novels. Goodwin did such a good job including enough backstory from the first novel in the second that no one picking up the second book first would be at all lost. I enjoyed Paradise Cove so much that I immediately visited a bookstore and bought Diver’s Paradise. I’d say I enjoyed reading the second book more than this one, but mostly because the story and character arc of Roscoe Conklin, the main character, had moved a bit further along. And I think it natural, each book in a series is usually better than the last as the author finds his footing more in developing the recurring characters. Not to say I didn’t enjoy this one too, because I did.

DIVER’S PARADISE

by Davin Goodwin

Published by Oceanview Publishing

on April 7, 2020

ISBN 978-1-60809-383-0

Genre(s) Mystery & Detective

306 pages

From the publisher

“After 25 years on the job, Detective Roscoe Conklin trades his badge for a pair of shorts and sandals and moves to Bonaire, a small island nestled in the southern Caribbean. But the warm water, palm trees, and sunsets are derailed when his long-time police-buddy and friend back home is murdered. Conklin dusts off a few markers and calls his old department, trolling for information. It’s slow going, but no surprise there; after all, it’s an active investigation, and his compadres back home aren’t saying a damn thing. He’s 2,000 miles away, living in paradise. Does he really think he can help? They suggest he go to the beach and catch some rays. For Conklin, it’s not that simple. When a suspicious mishap lands his significant other, Arabella, in the hospital, the island police conduct, at best, a sluggish investigation, stonewalling progress. Conklin questions the evidence and challenges the department’s methods. Something isn’t right…Arabella wasn’t the intended target. He was.”

In Diver’s Paradise, we meet the protagonist, Roscoe Conklin, for the first time. Conklin, a recently retired suburban Chicago police detective, has exchanged his badge for a quieter life in retirement to pursue his passion for scuba diving. The story begins not long after Conklin settles on the island of Bonaire, an island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. There he runs a mom-and-pop motel with the help of his able assistant, Erika, a Bonaire native. After a double homicide occurs in Rockford, Illinois, Conklin’s former home, in the first chapter, we learn that the victims were Conklin’s former partner and his wife, both Conklin’s close friends.

Unfortunately, the murders occur just as Conklin welcomes another close friend (Tiffany) from back home and her beau to Bonaire for a visit. From the first two chapters onward, the story takes us through Conklin’s struggle to come to grips with the deaths of his two close friends, the strange behavior of Tiffany’s fiance during their visit, and his efforts to help the detectives at his former department solve the murders from thousands of miles away. Quickly, it becomes clear that the murders involve Conklin and Tiffany more deeply than either realizes.

I really like the Roscoe Conklin character. He’s realistic in that he is far from perfect. Sometimes Conklin is a little slow on the uptake and misses clues, and he isn’t exactly physically formidable. Also, he has his foibles. For example, Conklin is lazy when taking care of maintenance around the motel, and Erika must constantly remind him to fix things when they fall apart. He is likable but exactly the kind of character you would expect a retired Midwestern cop retired to a Caribbean island to be.

Roscoe (just R to his friends) isn’t the only likable and realistic recurring character in this entertaining series. Erika, his employee, is one of my other favorites, as is Conklin’s love interest, Arabella De Groot, a Bonaire police officer.

Goodwin writes in a relaxed, conversational way that fits perfectly novels set on a Caribbean island. He also interjects plenty of humor and makes the reader privy to Conklin’s thoughts and inner struggles, making us feel he is a real person we get to know as we turn the pages.

Diver’s Paradise is another entertaining page-turner that left me eager for the next installment in the series.

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Book Review: Tessa Goes Down by Jason Bovberg

Tessa Goes Down by Jason Bovberg is a harrowing post-pandemic chronicle of revenge, murder, and implacable fate set in southern Texas near the Mexican border.

Tessa Goes Down is the first book I’ve read by Jason Bovberg. When offered to me for review, the book summary sounded like a modern-day Bonny and Clyde tale set in southern Texas border country and piqued my interest. But the story turned out to be so much more. Bovberg’s style immediately reminded me of Cormac McCarthy, with a touch of James Ellroy thrown in for good measure.

My desire to support small presses and indie authors was why I became a book blogger and reviewer. Consequently, I’ve discovered many talented crime writers I might never have heard of otherwise. And sometimes, I truly strike gold when I discover an author and novel like this one. It’s magnificent writing, nevertheless penned with brisk declarative sentences and vivid, simple imagery conferring escalating tension and violence.

Tessa Goes Down

by Jason Bovberg

Published by Dark Highway Press

from August 2, 2022

ISBN 979-8-9862158-0-8

Genre(s) Thiller & Suspense

300 pages

From the publisher

“Tessa Rae Jayne is gunnin’ for the border. Ain’t nothin’ gonna stop her, not after what she did for her brother Terrell, back home in Decatur, Illinois. A half hour from Mexico, though, she slams into good ol’ boy Floyd Tillman Weathers, a man with his own criminal secrets—not to mention a duffel bag full of stolen cash. Before long, the unlikely mismatched duo have embarked on a wild, reckless trek across the southwest in search of a shared fever dream. But forces from each of their immediate pasts are in hot pursuit, and Tessa and Floyd will face a series of brutal challenges before they can find redemption and freedom.

Tessa Goes Down begins as a breakneck border noir and becomes a sweaty, sexy, chaotic road trip through Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico—a ferocious ride punctuated by kidnappings, close calls, cliffhangers, and hell-for-leather sleuthing. So sit back as Tessa and Floyd tell their respective tales—and hurtle toward a soul-shattering shock ending.”

Tessa Rae Jayne is running south for the Mexican border. Unfortunately, an act of revenge against a drug dealer she holds responsible for causing her brother’s addiction went horribly wrong, and Tessa is guilty of an unintended murder. When she stops for gas in a nondescript south Texas town about an hour from the border, fate takes a hand, and Tessa meets Floyd Tillman Weathers.

We’re given cause to be a bit suspicious of Weathers, learning he isn’t quite on the right side of the law either. He is hiding out in a cheap motel in the backwater town with a half-million dollars, the proceeds of a bank robbery, awaiting instructions from his criminal boss to return the money to Little Rock, Arkansas, once the heat is off. Weathers wasn’t a part of the robbery. He’s more of a low-level errand runner for the true criminals. But the more we learn about Weathers, the more we discover he isn’t a bad man but a guy who wants to do the right thing but can’t figure out exactly what the right thing is.

Tessa and Floyd end up in the bed inside his motel room, sharing what they both seem to consider a one-night stand. But to their mutual surprise, they discover they are kindred spirits, both the products of their chaotic pasts. Then when one of Tessa’s pursuers catches up with her at the seedy motel, things go south in a hurry, and Tessa and Floyd’s futures get hopelessly intertwined.

Tessa Goes Down is a story that rips along like hell on wheels burning rubber on a hot, dusty, desolate stretch of South Texas highway. It’s a high-octane road trip underscored by kidnappings and killings, from along the Mexican border back north to the scene of Tessa’s crime as Floyd tries to help her redeem her past and rescue himself at the same time.

The story is sometimes racy, profane, and violent. But it grips you by the throat from the beginning and hangs on until it drags you to the soul-crushing but not completely unexpected page-turning climax. A few chapters in, you can’t put this one down.

I received an advance copy of the book from the publisher used for this review, representing my honest opinions.

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Book Reviews

Book Review: Pesticide by Kim Hays

Pesticide by Kim Hays is a satisfying international whodunit with a strong female lead and a fascinating Swiss setting.

A publicist acquaintance knowing of my passion for international crime fiction, suggested I’d like the debut mystery in the Polizei Bern series, Pesticide by Kim Hays. She certainly wasn’t wrong. It’s one of the best novels I’ve read this year. I’m only sorry it took me so long to get it on my list. I couldn’t put it down from the first page and inhaled it in one sitting. I had the opportunity to read an ARC back in May but decided to purchase and read the copy used for this review. I very much enjoyed meeting the protagonist, Giuliana Linder, a homicide detective in Bern, Switzerland, and a host of other interesting support characters, including Linder’s colleague, Renzo Donatelli.

Pesticide

by Kim Hays

Published by Seventh Street Books

on April 19, 2022

ISBN 9781645060468

Genre(s): International Crime & Mystery, Police Procedural

358 pages

From the publisher

Bern, Switzerland—known for its narrow cobblestone streets, decorative fountains, and striking towers. Yet dark currents run through this charming medieval city and beyond, to the idyllic farmlands that surround it.

When a rave on a hot summer night erupts into violent riots, a young man is found the next morning bludgeoned to death with a policeman’s club. Seasoned detective Giuliana Linder is assigned to the case. That same day, an elderly organic farmer turns up dead and drenched with pesticide. Enter Giuliana’s younger—and distractingly attractive—colleague Renzo Donatelli to investigate the second murder. Giuliana’s disappointment that they’re on two different cases is tinged with relief—her home life is complicated enough without the risk of a fling.

But when an unexpected discovery ties the two victims into a single case, Giuliana and Renzo are thrown closer together than ever before. Dangerously close. Will Giuliana be able to handle the threats to her marriage and to her assumptions about the police? If she wants to prevent another murder, she’ll have to put her life on the line—and her principles.

Combining suspense and romance, this debut mystery in the Polizei Bern series offers a distinctive picture of the Swiss. An inventive tale, packed with surprises, it will keep readers guessing until the end.

We get two cases for the price of one here, and though they are ultimately linked (directly rather than coincidentally), I liked the way Hays introduces them. First, homicide detective Giuliana Linder draws a case investigating whether a civilian died due to a young Bern police officer using excessive force. Shortly after Giuliana and her partner begin investigating, the police learn someone murdered another man, a pioneer in Swiss organic farming, just thirty-six hours before the man died after the young cop struck him in the head with his riot baton.

Once Linder identifies her victim, connections to the murdered farmer quickly develop. As the story unfolds, the police try to determine what the connections mean, whether the young police officer killed the civilian or someone else did after the initial confrontation and whether they are hunting one or two murder suspects.

After the Bern police organize a task force to investigate the two murders headed by Linder and another senior detective, Renzo Donatelli, Linder’s younger and distractedly attractive colleague (who she has worked with before) gets brought in to help investigate the cases. Donatelli has a difficult marriage, and Linder’s marriage is also a bit tenuous. Also, Donatelli and Linder are strongly attracted to each other. This romantic twist adds complications and forms an intriguing subplot. The relationship adds an extra layer to both characters that helps us understand their respective lives and personalities more.

The Crime Writers’ Association shortlisted Pesticide for the 2020 Debut Dagger award, which didn’t surprise me to learn after reading the book. Hays offers readers a realistic and tightly plotted story that grips the attention from the start, and the near-perfect pacing keeps us engaged to the end. This novel is not just uncommonly good for a debut. It compares favorably with novels I’ve read authored by crime fiction writers with far more books under their belts. Pesticide is one of the two best crime fiction books I’ve read thus far this year.

In her acknowledgments at the end of the book, Hays explains she called upon high-ranking police officers in the Swiss cantonal police for insight while writing the book. While I have no firsthand knowledge about policing in Switzerland, I can say this explains why the police procedural aspects of Pesticide fit almost flawlessly the investigative tactics and techniques I know about used by other European police agencies. As a result, I have only one minor quibble with the novel’s realism.

In one scene, when circumstances force a police officer to employ deadly force, they intentionally shoot the suspect in the shoulder, careful to avoid hitting the arm and shoulder joint. As a former American police officer, I must say it doesn’t work that way except in the movies. Deadly force is always the measure of last resort, used when nothing else will do. And in a situation where a police officer decides they must use deadly force, they do not intentionally aim to wound anymore than they aim to kill. Instead, the intent is to stop the threat, and armed police officers constantly train to shoot center mass (the largest target) because that is the most reliable tactic for stopping the threat. So, the scene mentioned isn’t realistic, which most crime fiction fans find distracting because they put such high value on realism in any police procedural. It’s fine if a cop in a novel shoots someone, aiming at center mass, but ends up hitting them in the shoulder or some other non-fatal area, and the suspect survives. But realism demands that a writer avoid crafting a scene that features a tactic no trained police officer would employ.

Aside from the one tiny criticism, which didn’t detract at all from this book for me, Hays offered up a complex plot (or two), several surprises and some very likeable characters it’s easy to root for. I loved the book and believe any fan of international crime mysteries would enjoy this fast-paced read. I’m happy Pesticide is the debut in a promised series as I’m eager to meet Linder and Donatelli again in the next novel in the series.

I purchased the copy of the book used for this review, which are my own honest opinions.

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Book Reviews

Book Review: Kalmann by Joachim B. Schmidt

In Kalmann  by Joachim B. Schmidt, an eccentric man with an intellectual disability propels this moving slow-burning Icelandic mystery.

KALMANN

by Joachim B. Schmidt

Translated by Jamie Lee Searle

Published by Bitter Lemon Press

on May 10, 2022

ISBN 978-1-913394-684

Genre(s): International Mystery & Crime

301 pages

From the Publisher

“Kalmann is the self-appointed Sheriff of Raufarhöfn. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays bait in the sea — to catch the gigantic Greenland sharks he turns into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, hákarl. There is nothing anyone need worry about. Kalmann has everything under control.

Inside his head, however, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to overwhelm him. But he knows that his native wisdom and pure-hearted courage will see him through. There really is no need to worry. How can anything go wrong with Kalmann in charge? He knows everything a man needs to know about life – well almost.”

Raufarhöfn, a tiny, dwindling fishing village on the northeast Icelandic coast, is an emotional prison for the characters of this intriguing, slow-burning mystery. Its main character is a man with an intellectual disability. Kalmann (his first name) is a shark catcher and Arctic fox hunter. He is also the self-appointed Sheriff of Raufarhöfn, a village with no police department. Despite having no official appointment, Kalmann goes about wearing a cowboy hat, sheriff’s badge, and Mauser pistol, all of which he inherited from his American father. He’s kind, conscientious, and haunted by a crime, the disappearance of a man named Róbert McKenzie, the wealthiest resident of the village. While hunting an Arctic fox, Kalmann discovers an enormous pool of blood outside the village and then learns that McKenzie has gone missing.

Once the authorities from Reykjavik arrive, they determine the blood belongs to McKenzie, but they cannot find the body. From the outset, once we understand Kalmann’s intellectual disability and eccentricity, he becomes a somewhat unreliable narrator. For example, he tells Hafdis, the police officer investigating the matter, that a polar bear might have killed and eaten McKenzie. That makes it difficult to be truly sure what is going on with the crime or whether there actually is a crime. But Hafdis continues investigating, the authorities continue searching for a body, and Kalmann determines to solve the case. After all, he is the Sheriff of Raufarhöfn and feels responsible for keeping his community safe.

The murder mystery structures the book. But its core is Kalmann, a confused and confusing man in equal measure. He is a character who wins the reader’s empathy from the start. So it is definitely a character-driven story. But before it ends, there are many twists, some not unanticipated but shocking nevertheless.
Schmidt crafts an absorbing plot, springing surprises to the very end. Kalmann is the quirkiest Icelandic crime fiction novel I’ve read but is most definitely worth your time.

An eccentric man with an intellectual disability propels this moving slow-burning Icelandic mystery.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher used for this review, representing my honest opinions.

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Book Reviews

Book Review: Not My First Rodeo: Lessons From the Heartland by Kristi Noem

Not My First Rodeo: Lessons From the Heartland  by Kristi Noem is an engaging memoir, and a lively treatise on a life lived with extraordinary grace under extraordinary circumstances.

Spoiler alert. This review is for a book with absolutely nothing to do with crime fiction. It’s a memoir, in fact, and evidence that I sometimes go beyond a steady diet of mysteries and thrillers. So, why am I posting it on this blog devoted to crime fiction book reviews? I hope this review will encourage others to read this book because I read and came away from it so inspired and impressed.

NOT MY FIRST RODEO: LESSONS FROM THE HEARTLAND

by Governor Kristi Noem

Published by Twelve Books (Hachette Book Group)

on June 28, 2022

ISBN 9781538707050

Genre(s): Memoirs, Biographies

289 pages

From the publisher

“South Dakota governor Kristi Noem tells her rough and tumble story of growing up on a ranch, and how a blessed life of true grit taught her how to lead.

“We don’t complain about things, Kristi. We fix them.” Taking her father’s words to heart, South Dakota’s first woman governor Kristi Noem shares heartfelt – and heartbreaking – lessons on making things right in the world, from her childhood on a farm in the vastness of rural America, to the marbled halls of Congress, to the national spotlight amid a global pandemic.

From humorous barnyard battles with feisty cattle and rodeo horses, to the tragic and untimely death of her larger-than-life father, to her decision to her decision to return and run the farm and ranch with her family, Noem invites readers into a life defined by work, faith, and helping others. Noem’s reflections are offered in the familiar, unvarnished voice of a woman who later defied Washington’s most powerful politicians and led the people of her small, hardscrabble state through natural disasters, the pain of a global pandemic, and the fear and turmoil that gripped the nation after.

While filled with plenty of candid observations and refreshingly frank assessments of the country’s leading figures, the memoir’s most powerful moments nevertheless come from honest glimpses into marriage, motherhood, and leadership in an unpredictable time.

Far from a book about politics, Not My First Rodeo is the story of a life lived so far – with characters as richly textured as the Black Hills, and reflections as gentle and powerful as America itself.”

“I do not believe there are ‘women’s issues’ any more than there are ‘men’s issues.’ There is, however, a woman’s perspective on every single issue…I’ve offered that perspective—whether people asked for it or not—from the barnyard to Congress.”

Not My First Rodeo: Lessons From the Heartland  by Kristi Noem is an engaging memoir, and a lively treatise on a life lived with extraordinary grace under extraordinary circumstances.

Former congressman and current governor of South Dakota shares her early life growing up in farm country in the eastern part of the state, her journey into politics, her time in congress, and her first term as the first woman to serve as governor of her state.

It’s not surprising to learn that Kristi Noem grew up a confident kid with an independent streak and a “We don’t complain about things, we fix them” attitude. After all, it takes grit and courage to survive and thrive in contemporary American politics.

We witnessed Governor Noem’s hands-off approach to pandemic restrictions elevate her to national prominence when the corrupt, biased corporate media criticized her at every turn. But the results her approach achieved vindicated her and proved them all wrong. Now we get to read how growing up on her family’s farm instilled the very traits that make her a proactive, wise, and effective leader.

As the author amply shows, her can-do attitude sprang from her family’s influence, faith, and a strong work ethic developed since childhood. Noem has faced adversity at times, leaving her wondering if she was up to the challenge. Nevertheless, she persisted, successfully taking over and operating her family farm and businesses after her father died before circumstances thrust her into politics.

With uncommon candor and refreshing humility, she recounts how the tragic loss of her father led to her fateful decision to run for her first political office. But we cannot dismiss Noem as just another ambitious politician despite her natural leadership abilities and political acumen. It’s clear being a wife, mother, and grandmother is as much a priority as any office she holds, and she strikes a healthy balance which is no small feat.

Noem has served her state with honor, grace, and determination. Even though a former congresswoman and current governor wrote this book, it’s not a book about politics. Instead, it’s a memoir about “a wife, mother, and grandmother who has learned a thing or two about politics in America.” You won’t find any of the self-serving, self-aggrandizing tripe you may have read in some of the other recent memoirs written by other political figures.

To say this book is inspiring would be an understatement. Noem’s story gives hope to other Americans who share her values and beliefs when we desperately need it. It isn’t what Noem tells you about herself that makes you come away from this book admiring her. It’s the straightforward way she explains what she believes. She appreciates and values the legacy of freedom our founders gifted us with and embraces the true history of our nation, not the false revisionist version pressed by those who seek to impose upon Americans a culture and an ideology completely foreign to our nature.

Not My First Rodeo: Lessons From the Heartland  by Kristi Noem is an engaging memoir, and a lively treatise on a life lived with extraordinary grace under extraordinary circumstances.

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Book Reviews

Book Review: Paradise Cove by Davin Goodwin

Paradise Cove by Davin Goodwin―a nice twisty whodunit.

Paradise Cove (A Roscoe Conklin Mystery #2)

By Davin Goodwin

Published by Oceanview Publishing

on April 5, 2022

ISBN 978-1-60809-485-1

Genre(s): Mystery & Detective

353 pages

Paradise Cove was the first book I’d read by Davin Goodwin, the second in his Roscoe Conklin Mystery series. The publisher called it to my attention, and the blurb enticed me to dive in. Many times, when I’m asked, I accept most any book I’m offered as long as it falls roughly within the crime fiction spectrum. As a result, I read many books that aren’t exactly what I might choose to read for pleasure alone. Not to say I don’t enjoy many of them. But once in a great while, I accept a book like this one which turns out to be right in my wheelhouse. I enjoyed this book so much that I immediately headed to the bookstore and bought Diver’s Paradise, the first book in the series. So, as I write this review, I’ve now read two of Goodwin’s books and can’t wait for the next one in this entertaining series.

From the Publisher

“Every day is paradise on Bonaire—until something unexpected washes ashore.

On the laid-back island of Bonaire, every day is paradise until a seaweed-entangled human leg washes ashore. Combing the beach, retired cop Roscoe Conklin examines the scene and quickly determines that the leg belongs to the nephew of a close friend.

The island police launch an investigation, but with little evidence and no suspects, their progress comes to a frustrating halt. Then, thanks to a unique barter with the lead detective, Conklin finds himself in possession of the case file. He can now aggressively probe for his own answers.

Sifting through the scant clues, eager to bring the killer to justice, Conklin struggles to maintain forward momentum. He has all the pieces. He can feel it. But he’d better get them snapped together soon.

Otherwise, the body count will continue to rise.”

It didn’t really matter that I read the second book in the series first since Goodwin recaps most everything we want to know from the first book. So, both this book and the other work well as a standalone.

I really like the Roscoe Conklin character, a former police detective from a suburb of Chicago who is living out his retirement years on Bonaire, an island in the Leeward Antilles in the Dutch Caribbean. I’ve known for a long while that Bonaire boasts some of the best diving in the world, but it’s one island in the Caribbean I’ve never visited it. And Goodwin makes it come alive so effectively that it left me wanting to plan a visit to Bonaire soon.

While retired, Conklin does a little unofficial private investigative work. Since he has no license for it, despite his police experience, he’s more of an amateur sleuth. And he doesn’t go looking for cases, but friends and acquaintances persuade him to do investigations from time to time. That’s how he becomes involved in a murder investigation the story centers on after the severed leg of someone he knew washes up on the beach. Conklin is unabashedly lazy and drinks beer almost continuously, which provides just enough flaws to make him interesting and believable, but not so flawed that he’s unlikable.

Besides Conklin, Goodwin offers an array of other interesting, well-drawn characters. There’s Conklin’s love interest, Arabella De Groot, a Bonaire police officer, and Erika, a Bonaire woman who works for Conklin and helps run his 10-unit hotel. Both are delightful strong women characters who do their best to keep Conklin in line in their own unique ways.

Interestingly, given his background as a cop and professional investigator, Conklin misses a lot of clues and is far from perfect. He’s also not the Harry Bosch type and frequently comes out on the losing end of confrontations with the bad guys. But with Arabella’s help, he solves the case. Conklin’s failure to connect the dots at time aside, this is a nice twisty whodunit and the author effectively keeps us guessing through the liberal use of red herrings until he reveals the murderer’s identity.

I enjoyed this book a lot, especially Goodwin’s conversational writing style, and I’m already looking forward to the third book in the series.

Oceanview Publishing Sarasota, Florida published Paradise Cove by Davin Goodwin on April 5, 2022. I received an advanced copy from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review which represents my honest opinions.