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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!

The Hunt for the Hijacked Nerve Agent

The Hunt for the Hijacked Nerve Agent

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The Hunt for the Hijacked Nerve Agent, the first KD Thorne thriller, is out now. Whoo-hoo!

(You may notice that the title has changed since the last time I mentioned it. I got some great advice from my editor, and I always try to listen to great advice.)

To celebrate the release, the eBook is $2.99 (US) for the next seven days. After that, it goes up to $4.99. (The paperback will be another six weeks.) Here’s the universal link to your favorite store: https://books2read.com/u/bMwaXv

And here’s the blurb:

Stolen nerve agent. Scheming terrorists. Federal agents running out of time.

A deadly nerve agent has been stolen from a federal containment facility. When the National Defense Agency is tasked with recovering it, operative KD Thorne and her partner Jeffery Blunt are put on point. Find the nerve agent. Eliminate the threat.

KD Thorne knows trouble.

Four tours in Afghanistan, a stint at NASA that went sideways, a marriage gone bad. She needs to work to keep her head on straight.

But as she and Blunt track the nerve agent from pharma executives and a military contractor team through white supremacists to a European far right faction, her personal life comes unraveled.

Can KD and Blunt stop the terrorists and retrieve the nerve agent before it’s released and innocents die?

The Hunt for the Hijacked Nerve Agent is a fast-moving thriller that will keep you turning pages. If you like pulse-pounding action and surprising plot twists, you’ll love the first novel in the KD Thorne series.

…

I hope you enjoy it. And I’d love to hear what you think.

Happy reading!

July 9, 2021: Summertime reading

July 9, 2021: Summertime reading

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Just a short note. We’ve been visiting family in New York City (and playing with our granddaughter), which all seems a lot more special than it did pre-covid. Hope you’re able to get out and about wherever you’re at.

The new book is back from the copyeditor, so I’m making the final adjustments. More on that in a few weeks (I hope).

Previously, I mentioned reading Richard Stark’s The Dame, the second of four books he wrote featuring Parker’s sometime accomplice Alan Grofield. (I’m a big fan of the Parker crime thrillers.) Since then I’ve read two more of these—the first one, The Damsel, and the fourth one, Lemons Never Lie.

The first one, The Damsel, which takes up with Grofield recovering from wounds he received in The Handle (Parker #8), is a little loosely plotted for my taste. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it. It just seemed to me that Stark was still finding his way with Grofield as a lead character in this book. And it’s not really a heist book: the plot is more focused on a series of unintended consequences that come out of the criminal choices made by the characters.

Now Lemons Never Lie, on the other hand, a novel where Grofield’s heist plans continually go wrong, is as good as any Parker novel. The plot just buzzes along, double cross on double cross, providing a lot of suspense and surprise as Grofield tries to end up as the last guy holding the bag of money. A fun read.

That’s all for now. Happy summer reading!

June 17, 2021: The New Book part 2

June 17, 2021: The New Book part 2

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The new book is at the copyeditor. It’s not a Travelers book, although it takes place in the Travelers world.

Been wanting to tell you about it for a few months—it’s been hard to hold back—but I wanted to make sure all the pieces of the puzzle fell together properly before saying anything.

This new book, The Hunt for the Hijacked Viruses, follows National Defense Agency operative K.D. Thorne and her colleague Jeffery Blunt as they track down viruses that have been stolen from government labs as part of a money-making scheme that dissolves into an intended terrorist attack.  It’s a trail involving pharma executives, military contractors, white nationalists, and European terrorists.

(You might recall National Defense Agency operative Clara Garcia from Travelers books 6 and 8.)

K.D. is a US army captain with a PhD who’s done a stint at NASA. Blunt is a SEAL-trained special operator. It’s their first mission together, and K.D. has to get her personal life sorted.

In the meantime, last month, I downloaded a copy of LynDee Walker’s Fear No Truth, the first is her Texas ranger Faith McClellan series. I have to admit I didn’t finish it. It was well reviewed and well written. It just didn’t move fast enough for me. (That’s why there’s more than one book. Everyone likes something a little different.)

Instead, I opened a copy of Zoe Sharp’s fourth Charlie Fox novel, First Drop. Charlie Fox is a tough-as-nails British woman, who, on this outing, is a bodyguard for a spoiled Florida teenager and soon finds herself on the run, protecting this teenager from assorted killers, while trying to find the teenager’s father and figure out why the killers are after the boy. Sharp’s plotting, pacing, and character development are first-rate. I’ll be reading more of these.

That’s all for now. Happy reading!

May 20, 2021: May reading and the new book

May 20, 2021: May reading and the new book

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Looking forward to getting out and about this summer. Finally. Starting with my niece’s wedding at the end of the month. It will be great seeing all the kin I haven’t seen since—when? The last wedding!

Not quite on the countdown to the new book, but I’m hoping to have it at the copyeditor’s before we leave town for the wedding. It’s NOT a Travelers book, but it takes place in the Travelers’ world. The plot concerns Capt. KD Thorne and her partner Jeffery Blunt, operatives with the National Defense Agency. (You might recall Clara Garcia and the National Defense Agency from Travelers books 6 and 8.) Anyway, I’ll have more to say about The Hunt for the Hijacked Viruses as it gets closer to being released.

Just read Robert Crais’s LA Requiem, the 8th Elvis Cole/Joe Pike book. I’ve mentioned previously that I particularly like the books in this series that focus on Joe Pike. This one slips in the complicated backstory that explains just how Joe Pike becomes the silent, sunglass-wearing, dangerous and yet loyal man of action we see in the series. An excellent crime thriller.

Last month, I mentioned that I downloaded a copy of Red Means Run by Brad Smith. This is a classic who-done-it, where the hero is wrongly accused of murder and the reader is given the clues as the story progresses. (I was almost at the end before I figured it out.) Set in upstate New York, with detailed characters and crisp dialogue. Well worth a read.

Also read S is for Silence, a Sue Grafton novel featuring her detective Kinsey Millhone, which concerns a cold case of a missing woman from a small town. Was she murdered or did she run away? I’ve read several of Grafton’s alphabet series, and I’m always impressed by the way Grafton handles the details in the story, as well as with Kinsey’s emotional range. A fun read.

LynDee Walker’s Fear No Truth is free today. I’m going to check it out. Here’s the link if you’re interested.

https://www.amazon.com/Fear-No-Truth-LynDee-Walker-ebook/dp/B07KYTLJ6S

That’s all for now. Happy reading!

April 8, 2021: Happy April Reading

April 8, 2021: Happy April Reading

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Been knocking out some early spring chores—cleaning up flower beds and raking up some of the never-ending leaves—in hopes of being able to cut loose later in the season. And I’m making good progress on the new book, which I’ll have something to say about when it’s in just a little bit better shape.

I recently read Michael Crichton’s Timeline. Not a crime thriller, but one of those thrillers based on a scientific premise, in this case a sort of quantum theory time travel that takes a group back into the medieval period in France where they get caught up in events as they try to make their way back to the present. I haven’t read many Crichton books, but years ago I read Eaters of the Dead, a retelling of the Grendel story as if it happened to an Arab traveler who finds himself among a group of Vikings. (Made into the movie The 13th Warrior.) I actually saw the movie version of Timeline several years ago. It made an impression on me, so I happened to pick up the book. First rate actioner. The fictional science was presented believably and was not overly complicated or boring. The history was very cool.

I also read Don’t Know Jack (The Hunt for Jack Reacher Series Book 1) by Diane Capri. (Included a free link for it in last month’s email.) It seems that each of these books in connected to a Jack Reacher novel, in this case the first one: The Killing Floor. This is an FBI procedural about trying to unravel a complex conspiracy that is somehow connected to a Jack Reacher adventure. A fun read from start to finish. I’d read The Killing Floor previously, but I don’t think you’d need to read it to fully enjoy this book.

Later this month, (the 25th through the 30th of April) there’ll be a spring sale on the first five Travelers books. So if you need to catch up, or you know someone who’d like to try the books, now’s your chance. I’ll drop a reminder with the book links on the 25th.

Finally, Red Means Run by Brad Smith is free today. I downloaded a copy. Here’s the link if you’re interested. (There’s nothing in this for me. Just though you might like to know.)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088NGHL9L

That’s all for now. Happy reading!

March 11, 2021: Happy Spring Reading

March 11, 2021: Happy Spring Reading

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Just a quick note. We’re finally out of the deep freeze here in Iowa. Feeling some warmth and sun, which you can’t always count on in March.

Making good progress on the new book. Don’t want to say much about it yet, although I hope to have it for you later this spring.

In the meantime, I recently read Don Winslow’s Power of the Dog, which is the first of his novels that deal with the US war against drugs in the 1980s and 1990s. So it’s the DEA up against corrupt cops and narco-terrorists. Well-written, gritty, exceptionally realistic portrayal of corruption and violence in the war-on-drugs quagmire.

Also read Richard Stark’s The Dame. As you know, I’m a big fan of the Parker crime thrillers. Donald E. Westlake (writing as Richard Stark) also wrote four books that feature Alan Grofield (a sometime Parker accomplice) as the lead character. The Dame is the second of those novels and starts out as a locked room mystery—you know the drill: a crime has been committed at a remote location so someone who is already there must have done the deed. Who is it? Agatha Christie wrote several of these, including Murder on the Orient Express, but The Dame is written in Richard Stark’s unique hard-boiled style and does not disappoint.

Finally, Don’t Know Jack (The Hunt for Jack Reacher Series Book 1) by Diane Capri is free today. I’ve been wanting to check out this series, so I picked up a copy. Here’s the link if you’re interested. (There’s nothing in this for me. Just though you might like to know.)

https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Know-Jack-Hunting-Reacher-ebook/dp/B0072JJTIG

That’s all for now. Happy reading!

February 12, 2021: Research and Reading

February 12, 2021: Research and Reading

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We’re in the deep freeze here in Iowa. Thought we might escape the worst winter weather this year, then February came howling in with snow and below zero (F) temperatures. Looking forward to some relief in March.

At least it’s good weather to be at the computer writing a new book, which, of course, means research and reading.

On the research side, here’s an article on date rape drugs. The intro to the article says that at least 25% of American women have been sexually assaulted or raped. A pretty sobering statistic.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320409#types

On the reading front, for Christmas, my wife got me an exceptionally good crime thriller about a getaway driver trying to go straight and digging himself in deeper—Blacktop Wasteland by SA Cosby. Haven’t seen it discounted anywhere, but I’m definitely going to be looking for this writer’s next book.

Also, I knew that William F. Buckley had written a series of spy novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. I’ve been wanting to check one out, and I found the third one—Who’s on First—discounted. Not realistic (for realism there’s George Smiley) but an eccentric and fun cold war thriller (published in 1980), if that’s your cup of tea.

Finally, if you know someone who’d like to try the Travelers series (or if you’re catching up), The Freeport Robbery: The Travelers Book 4 is $2.99 through Monday February 15.

Here’s the universal link so you can shop at your favorite store:

https://books2read.com/u/m2Vz67

That’s all for now. Happy reading!

January 22, 2021: As promised

January 22, 2021: As promised

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Just a quick note. 

If you know someone who’d like to try the Travelers series, The Traveling Man eBook is currently free and The Computer Heist eBook is $.99 through January 25. Here are the universal links:

The Traveling Man https://books2read.com/u/bzoz6n

The Computer Heist https://books2read.com/u/bP9Vzz

That’s all for now. Happy reading!

January 12, 2021: New Year’s Reading

January 12, 2021: New Year’s Reading

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Back in the day—you know, back when you wandered through bookstores just checking things out—I used to spend some time at the remainder table. (The table of deeply discounted books at the front of the store.) I’d sometimes find a book at that table that seemed interesting enough to take a chance on. If I liked it and it was in a series, I’d probably go to the library, check out the first one or two of the series and give them a read. Then if I was hooked, I’d start buying the rest. You’ve probably done something similar.

With eBooks, my pattern is pretty much the same. Lots of eBooks are occasionally free or discounted, so I’m always on the lookout for an opportunity to check out a series I think might be fun. One way I do this is by subscribing to eBook promotion sites, such as Bookbub or Early Bird Books, where I can check out discounted or free books just like I’m at the remainder table.

Last month, I picked up two books this way: Palm Beach Nasty by Tom Turner and A Dangerous Man by Robert Crais. Got a chance to read them both last week.

Palm Beach Nasty is the first book in Tom Turner’s series featuring police detective Charlie Crawford. I’d read Palm Beach Bedlam (book 8) previously, so I was interested in seeing how the series opened. Palm Beach Nasty did not disappoint. It was a fun read and effectively develops the key characters and overall ambiance of the series. So if you like straight-ahead, fast-paced thrillers with a Florida vibe, you might want to give this series a look.

A Dangerous Man is Robert Crais’s new Elvis Cole/Joe Pike book. (I was surprised to find it discounted.) I’ve read a lot of these books, but it’s been a while, so I’d forgotten just how much I enjoy them, particularly the ones that mainly focus on Joe Pike, who plays Hawk to Elvis Cole’s Spenser (If you catch the Robert B. Parker analogy). Pike is a hard-charging, take-no-prisoners kind of guy, and it’s always a pleasure to see Crais run him through his paces. 

One last note. If you know someone who’d like to try the Travelers series, The Traveling Man eBook is currently free and The Computer Heist eBook will be $.99 for a few days later this month. I’ll send a short email when the dates are set.

That’s all for now. Happy reading!