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Month: September 2021

Fall Reading and Research

Fall Reading and Research

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Still writing the new KD Thorne book. Here’s a few thrillers I’ve been reading along the way. Maybe one of these is for you.

Just read SA Cosby’s new crime thriller, Razorblade Tears. It concerns two homophobic ex-cons, one white and one black, who are on the hunt for whoever murdered their married gay sons. This is a serious, very gritty, roller-coaster ride through grief, revenge, and dealing with choices that are too late to change. I was still thinking about it two days after I finished it.

Blast from the past. Read Graham Greens’s Orient Express (originally called Stamboul Train) published in 1932. This is not Murder on the Orient Express, but instead is a suspense novel which involves the interwoven fates of a shrewd businessman, an overworked chorus girl, a vindictive journalist, and a has-been revolutionary traveling by train across Europe from Belgium to Turkey. A complex read focusing on Europe in the 1930s—nowadays really for the history buff—but kept me guessing until the end.

Finally, read Zoe Sharp’s Absence of Light (Charlie Fox #11), featuring Charlie Fox, a female professional bodyguard who’s always finding herself in trouble up to her neck. (I commented on #4, First Drop, earlier this year.)  On this outing, she’s working protection for a search and rescue team in the aftermath of an earthquake and trying, clandestinely, to solve a murder. As usual, she has to punch well above her weight to keep the bad guys at bay long enough to discover what’s what. I figured out one of the subplots about midway through, but didn’t fully understand how it was connected to the main plot until the very end. A fun read.

And on a research note, here’s an article about small town corruption:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/us/guernsey-wyoming-police-chief.html?searchResultPosition=9

That’s all for now!

The Hijacked Review

The Hijacked Review

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Here in Ames, Iowa, the university semester is starting up, and the students are back, so it feels a little like fall even though the weather is still hot. What’s going on?

First off, the Kirkus review of The Hunt for the Hijacked Nerve Agent is now out. Kirkus calls it: “A thriller that offers an undeniably entertaining way to spend an afternoon at the beach.” I’m very pleased. You can read the whole review here:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-p-king/the-hunt-for-the-hijacked-nerve-agent-kd-thorne/

Now that The Hunt for the Hijacked Nerve Agent is out, and I’m at work on a new book, I’ve been getting some reading done.

Just a reminder, the books I comment on here are usually discounted eBooks I got from Bookbub, Early Bird Books, or Murder & Mayhem, which are the three discount eBook sites that I think have the best quality books right now. (I don’t get a special deal from these sites. It’s just where I’m buying my discount eBooks.) Here are three thrillers that are really different from each other and all excellent.

Recently read Sara Paretsky’s 19th V.I. Warshawski novel (2018), Shell Game. It’s been a while since I’ve read one of her books, and she does not disappoint. It starts out simply enough, with Warshawski trying to help a friend’s nephew avoid a murder charge and at the same time trying to hunt down her missing niece, but quickly devolves in a complex case involving scam loans, artifact thefts, crooked billionaires, and undocumented refugees. Lots of details about Chicago, lots of action and suspense. Paretsky is still at the top of her game.

Also read Martin Limon’s GI Bones, the sixth of his novels that follow two US army criminal investigators (Sergeants Sueno and Bascom) in 1970s South Korea. It was a National Public Radio Best Book of the Year (2009). On this outing, they’re investigating a cold-case missing/murdered GI and hunting down an officer’s delinquent teenage daughter. The local color here (both South Korea and US military) is fabulous and the story races along. A fast, fun read.

And finally, just read The Border, the third book in Don Winslow’s Power of the Dog trilogy. I read the first book in this trilogy earlier this year. This is an excellent novel about the drug war in the US and Mexico that follows the exploits of a former DEA agent. Rich, fleshed out characters, and a complex, suspenseful plot about corruption and justice. It was named best book of the year by a number of outlets. A great read.

That’s all for now. Happy summer reading!