Bloodline: A Sigma Force Novel, by James Rollins

James Rollins hits another home run with the next Sigma Force Novel. He brings all of our friends back as well as introduces some new players who help the team. His writing is crisp, fast paced and equals anything the Vince Flynn or Tom Clancy have put out. If you love the spy / adventure / war / political intrigue type of novel this one is for you.

Pierce Gray and his group are still reeling from their previous adventure. Pierce is still grieving the loss of his mother and the persistent dimentia that his father is living with. His life is complicated and add his desire to find and punish those who took his mother's life and you have a young man wound a bit to tight.

Add to that the issue of the President's pregnant daughter being kidnapped by Somalian Pirates and you have the beginning of a novel that will keep you riveted to your seat until you finish it.

The problems are compounded by The Guild, who have a hand in every part of this adventure. It appears that they are working on making the perfect DNA string, adding a third variable to the dual helix to produce a triple helix that will allow man to live forever. They are also working on advanced robotics that use the brains of living things to operate. Would you believe that the brain of a mouse can be used to control a robot, or fly an aircraft or fight a war? What if you used the brain of a more intelligent being, say maybe a human, what could your robot do then?

These are frightening things to consider and Rollins points out that these scientific happenings are now made up, they are the here and now. He sights sources that state that the triple helix will be viable by the year 2045. Is that true? Is man that close to playing God? At the end of the novel Rollins sights web sites that will give you the details for his scientific pondering in this novel.

Well, back to the book. The Guild is working on the triple Helix and they have research to do on mothers and their infants. President Gant's daughter, Amanda, happens to be one of those experiments, but she doesn't know it.

Further complicating things are the fact that the Gant Family is involved with the Guild up to their eyeballs. How can they go after one of their own as part of the experiment, or are they.

Gray and his crew are joined by a new partner, former Army Camptain Wayne Tucker and his military trained dog Kane. They have sought Tucker out because of his dog. The dog, Kane, turns out to be the true hero of this novel, at least in my opinion. It is the dog and his training that provide much of the tension, excitement and solution to the whole issue of Amanda's kidnapping.

This thrilling ride will be a frightening ride when you realize that what Rollins is talking about in regards to The Guild could actually be happening in our scientific communities of today. In the wrong hands their experiments will be devastating.

Being a Pastor I believe in an Intelligent Designer, The Lord Almighty, and thus I don't believe that science will be able to break through all of the codes that God has planted in our DNA. BUT, Satan is also real and He is the Prince of this world at present and I am afraid of what that might mean for this world.

Rollins book is a great novel, but it also will cause you to stop and start questioning, are we, mankind, getting to advanced in our technology for our own good.

So, is this a novel or a statement on scientific and technological advancements? I don't know, you decide. But truth often reads like fiction.

Enjoy!

Sweeter than Birdsong, by Rosslyn Elliott

For Ben Hanby and Kate Winter life was going to provide some very interesting experiences. This young couple would meet and fall in love in circumstances that are fairly normal yet highly unusual. Growing up in the mid 1800's had is own challenges, but add on the fact that Kate will be the first woman to graduate from Otterbein College and that Ben Hanby and his family will become well known abolitionist and you have quite a story. The fact that it is also based on the true lives of the two make it even more fun.

Ben and Kate meet at Otterbein college where they both attend. Both are musical. Both are compassionate and caring, both are highly intelligent. But there things part. Kate's mother comes from higher society and wants her daughter to marry well. Ben comes from a larger family of working people, his dad makes saddles and bridles for a living while also being a minister to a local flock.

But things are a bit different for Ben's family. They also help runaway slaves get from the south to Canada where they can live free. But this brings much heart ache into their lives. Often times the slaves are caught and returned to their cruel owners. Also many of their friends believe slavery is fine and so they have to keep their activities secret.

Kate will get caught up in these secret ways due to some strange consequences. She will find that her shyness falls away as she is brought face to face with slavery and abolition. She will also find she has fallen in love with Ben Hanby only to have her mother tell her she can not see him because he is of no consequence and is not a good fit for a husband.

The story revolves around the true life of Ben Hanby, his work with slaves, his obession with writing music, especially music that tells a story of abolition.

The story is well developed, the characters well written and even though there is not high intrigue there is enough drama to keep you turning the pages until the end. This story is truly inspiring. On top of that are the Christian values that drive Ben and his family to do what they do and how those values change the life of Kate Winter and her family.

This will become one of your favorite reads this summer and the better news is that it is part of a series. So look for more in this line of books.

Enjoy!

A Room Full of Bones, by Elly Griffiths

Ruth Galloway, Cathbad and Inspector Nelson are all back in another adventure of death and archeology. A construction crew has uncovered the coffin of a Catholic Bishop who appears to have been buried in the wrong place. To make things interesting the coffin and body are being delivered to the Smith family museum (relatives of the deceased Clergy) for them to have on display.

They decide they would like to open the coffin and the press has been called in to watch. The opening of a several hundred years old coffin seems to invite mystery. Ruth Galloway is asked to be present at the opening to provide expertise in relationship to identifying the bones.

But when Ruth shows up at the Museum about an hour early she finds the curator of the Museum lying on the floor next to the coffin dead. It doesn't appear to be murder, but the young curator is to young to die of a heart attack. Why did he die? Was it due to the curse of the coffin that the Bishop put on it? The curse was to not disturb the bones of the deceased or face certain death.

Inspector Harry Nelson is called in along with Judy and Clough to investigate. The coffin gets opened and Lord Smith who is at the opening turns up dead several days later at his race horse ranch. Why did he die? Was it the curse?

Not only that but inspector Nelson also gets sick and enters into a coma and is fighting for his life and the doctors can't find a cause. Cathbad to the rescue. He informs Ruth that is the curse and he plans to enter the "Dreaming" to find Nelson and bring him back.

Oh, and to add to the mystery the Museum is also holding the skeletal remains of Aborignal Natives from Australia. This has brought about a group trying to get the museum to return the remains so that they can be laid to rest in their homeland and able to find peace. Bob Woonunga has moved in next to Ruth and he is a Shaman from Australia who has come to seek the return of the bones. Cathbad thinks he may have put the curse on the museum curator, inspector Nelson and Lord Smith. Who knows.

The book has several plots running at once. There is also a drug operation that the police are trying to break up. Does it tie in, well of course it does, otherwise it wouldn't be mentioned so often.

All in all the book is a bit slower than the other reads. It was not as exciting as the others in the series. But it does a great job of developing Ruth's character and that of her little girl Kate. It further develops the relationship between Ruth and Harry and the problems that rise up with Harry's wife.

The book is good, just not as fascinating as the first books in the series. I hope the next one is a bit more filled with archeology than just a study of the bones in a museum.

Enjoy!

Three's a Crowd

My wife has gotten to know Mary Simonsen through her Jane Austen fan fiction writing. When Mary came out with this novel my wife suggested that I read it and provide a review as an encouragement to Mary. My fear was whether I would like the book or not, I didn't want to give a bad review :)

I was very pleasantly pleased with the Novel. Detective Patrick Shea provides us with a solid British Police Detective who is compassionate, loyal, strong willed and frankly, good at his job. Along with his partner Molly they provide a great dual of police work.

The book starts out with Shea and Updike on a stakeout to try and catch a 'cat burglar' who has been victimizing a particular community. Their efforts pay off and they catch the 'gentlemen' burglar as he is exiting his latest victims home. Upon being caught the burglar doesn't resist but instead offers a rose to Detective Shea for a job well done in catching him. Obviously this sets Shea up for all kinds of ribbing from fellow officers.

Detective Shea is writing up reports when an old friend shows up from a previous station that he worked. This friend wants to inform Shea that his former girlfriend has been assaulted and is in the hospital. Shea is concerned and goes to visit her. Upon entering the room he discovers that he still has deep feelings for her.

The book deals with police procedures, personal vendetta's and romance. Each theme plays an important role in the short novel. Each theme is well developed and well written. The characters are well developed and you learn enough about each to draw you in and give you a firm position on which to either like or dislike a particular character.

What I found very intriguing is that Mary got the details correct. For more than 10 years I served as a volunteer Police Chaplain and during that time I learned how police officers work and the camaraderie that they develop. When you sit on a stake out with someone for hours you get to know them. When you get shot at along side another officer you grow a loyalty and solid working relationship. As you solve crimes together you learn to understand your partner and his or her needs and how they work.

Mary gets the relationships. She builds them well and strings them together in a story that is very true to the real life that a policeman lives.

What I enjoyed most is that the crimes that Detective Shea was solving were not heinous, they were not vicious, they were the everyday small items that police officers handle all the time. They are the mundane. But Mary wrote the story in such a way as to draw you in, give you enough excitement to keep you turning the pages and enough reality to make you want to see a good outcome for both Detective Shea and his one time girlfriend.

This is a great story and I look forward to reading more Detective Shea novels.

Oh, and by the way, Mary does a great job in getting the terms correct for a British police novel. When you buy the book you might want to turn to the end of the book and read the glossary of terms first before starting the novel, that will help you understand the story a bit better.

If you know any police officers you might give them this book as a gift because they will "Get It" as they read.

Enjoy!

Interview with author Ben Coes (The Last Refuge)

Ben Coes next book, The Last Refuge is available for Pre-order on Amazon.com.  It goes live on July 3rd.  It would be a great 4th of July read if you enjoy political thrillers.

1.  Tell us about yourself and your new book.

I'm the author of two international political thrillers - POWER DOWN and COUP D'ETAT, both USA Today Bestsellers. My third book, THE LAST REFUGE, arrives July 3, 2012. COUP is also available throughout the UK, India, Australia, and New Zealand - THE LAST REFUGE will be as well.

I worked at the White House under President Ronald Reagan and was a White House-appointed speechwriter to the U.S. Secretary of Energy at the height of the Gulf War. I was campaign manager for Mitt Romney’s successful run for Governor of Massachusetts and was a Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. I graduated from Columbia College, where I won the Bennett Cerf Memorial Prize for Fiction. I live in the Boston area with my wife and four children.

My third book, THE LAST REFUGE, is rooted in current events – in this case the intriguing, interconnecting relationships between Iran, Israel and America.  The book is an expression of my support for Israel, and uses our close bond with that country to form the dramatic backdrop of the story.  It continues the story of the main hero in all my books, Dewey Andreas. Dewey is a former U.S. Army Ranger and Delta who is willing to sacrifice everything for what he believes in.  He’s not someone you would want to mess with. 

In REFUGE, Dewey learns that Iran has completed its first nuclear weapon and intends to detonate it in Tel Aviv.  Working with Israel and two ex-CIA operatives, Dewey must figure out how to stop Iran before it’s too late.

2.  When did you first know you wanted to be an author?

When I was in junior high school – I won an award for a short story I had written.  It was a fiction award normally given to adults but I won anyway.  I can still remember the very special feeling I had, knowing that my words impacted people in such a powerful way.

3.  Do you have a favorite character you have written so far or in this particular book?

Yes, my main character, Dewey Andreas, is my favorite character.  When I started writing my first book five years ago, it was a very rough portrait of Dewey that I sketched out.  He was standing alone, on the deck of an offshore oil platform, at night.  In him, I sought to create an individual who embodies the qualities I aspire to.  He’s flawed, sometimes irritable, takes too many risks, but he fights for what he believes in, and he’s willing to risk everything for his country and his friends.  The most rewarding aspect of writing, for me at least, has been the growth of this character; he’s become a part of me and sometimes, as I write, I feel as if I’m taking dictation as he goes out and tackles the world.  It’s a great feeling – an incomparable feeling.

4.  Are there any minor characters you have written that you would like to flesh out more in perhaps another novel?

Yes, Hector Calibrisi, the director of the CIA.  Kohl Meir, an Israeli special forces soldier who saves Dewey’s life.

5.  Have you discovered some interesting information in research that influenced the direction of a novel?

For THE LAST REFUGE, I spent a great deal of time in Israel.  I learned a lot of confidential details about the state of the Iranian nuclear weapon development effort, as well as how Israel and America are penetrating sovereign Iran with operatives.  This highly sensitive information was then used to inform key parts of the book.  I think readers will enjoy the authenticity.

6.  What authors or types of books do you like to read when you're not writing?

I like to read other thriller writers.  I really enjoy Vince Flynn, Michael Connolly, Brad Thor, Mark Greaney, and Nelson Demille.  I also enjoy reading American literary fiction from Hemingway and J.D. Salinger.

7.  What advice would you give to other aspiring authors?

Whenever anyone asks me if I have advice for aspiring writers, this is what I tell them: write every day, inspired or uninspired.  What I started writing that first morning ended up being chapter one of POWER DOWN, my first book, a USA Today bestseller published by St. Martin’s Press about an attack by terrorists against a U.S. energy company.  I kept on plugging away and soon enough I’d finished the second in the series, COUP d’ETAT, about Pakistan and India.

8.  Tell us something most people would not know about you.

I put up a somewhat tough image but the truth is my six year old daughter, Esme, has me wrapped around her finger and can push me around with ease.

9.  What are you working on for your next novel?

“Year of the Scorpion,” my fourth novel in the Dewey Andreas series, pits Dewey against China’s powerful Ministry of State Security, which wants him dead.

Greco's Game, by James Houston Turner

In this fourth book by Turner we find Alex Talanov facing a set of circumstances that will either end his life or reignite his desire to live life and live it fully.  Talanov's wife Andrea is dead, killed by a sniper round that was meant for Alex or was it?

But for Alex life has come to a crushing end.  He is in complete despair and doesn't really care what happens.  He is drinking himself into oblivion at club after club.  Our story starts with him in a hotel room with a hooker named Tash who has drugged him and is now robbing him blind.

Alex wakes up, much sooner than he should, mainly because of his physical condition and professional background.  He goes back to the clubs and finds Tash, confronts her about his wallet, all he wants is his wife's picture.  But in the process two bouncers get in the way and Alex is beaten badly.

But Tash, whose real name is Larissa is overcome with compassion for Alex.  She tracks him down, brings back his wallet and enters his life in a way that only one other person has before and that person was Andrea who is now dead.

Through many mishaps it appears that everyone wants a piece of Alex, from the LAPD to the FBI to ICE and finally the CIA.  So who will win out and get his attention. 

As it turns out Larissa is being used by the Russian Mafia to get close to Talanov, but instead she falls in love with him.  The FBI and LAPD just want Talanov deported and sent out of the country.

But the CIA wants him on their side.  They want the former KGB operative to help them run to ground the Russian Mafia and end their hold on crime in Los Angeles.

Enter Bill Wilcox, Talanov's former CIA handler.  He and Alex will work for the next few days to save the life of Larissa, save the life of a CIA agent, save the life of a U.S. Congresswoman and do their best to bring to the end a Russian Mafia crime ring that has been devastating Los Angeles.  Can they do all this?  That's the story line of the book.

Unlike many other spy / crime / mystery / war / political thrillers that take you all over the world Janes Houston Turner does a fantastic job of building his story completely around the city if Los Angeles and has it all wrapped up in just a few days time.

At first the story seems a bit slow in developing because there is a lot of time given to the new relationship between Alex and Larissa.  But it is all necessary to build on the characters, build on the story line and bring the action to a head.  I say a bit slow, but that is only because most thrillers have lots of action.  The beginning has lots of relationship.

But I was so intrigued by Turner's writing style and the character development that it keep me turning pages.  Just when I went to set the book down so I could do some chores he ends a chapter with a cliff hanger comment from the CIA to Alex about his new love Larissa.  So, instead of setting the book down I had to keep reading.

That's how the whole book goes, just when you think you might take a break someone new and exciting or intriguing pops up and you keep reading.  I finished the book in just two sittings.  That's unusual for me as I usually stop several times and do other things. 

But the writing and the story were so captivating that I just kept turning the pages.

How will it turn out?  Well, maybe good maybe not?  Will everyone survive the final chase scene and gun battle?  Maybe, maybe not.  When all is said and done is the story over?  Maybe, maybe not.  Turner ends the book with a hook that will make you anxious for the sequel that will be coming in 2013.  But trust me, after reading this you will want to mark your calendar so that you don't forget to order the sequel when it comes out.

Enjoy!

Jericho 3, by Paul McKellips

Paul McKellips brings us a great read in his second novel. WIth this novel comes the return of Navy Captain Seabury Campbell, a medical doctor and former Navy Seal. "Camp" Campbell is going to be in for the fight of his life as he struggles to stop a bio-terroist attack that could spur Armageddon. Camp teams up with Lt. Col. Leslie Raines, former FBI agent Billy Finn and General Ferguson to work together to figure out what the Iranians are up to and whether they truly intend to bring Israel to it's knees with a biological attack.

As the story unfolds Camp is educated by an Iranian Intelligence officer regarding the 8 minutes and 53 seconds of terror that Iran believes will bring the devastation of Israel and usher in the Twelfth Imam who will bring peace to the World and a ruling elite of Muslims to oversee everything. This Iranian operative has to help Camp understand that the West does not have a clear picture of what motivates Muslims and why they are willing to face mutual destruction to achieve what they feel is a higher religious value.

Camp learns his lessons well, but is still locked into fighting terrorism through the methods and values that he has been taught and grown up with. He also has to help the Israeli's come to terms with what the mutual destruction theory might do to their country as well as the Middle East.

McKellips does a great job of bringing the political, military and religious world views together to develop a great novel that will keep you turning the pages until you get to the end. I was fascinated by his use of scripture to point out the subtle aspects of Armageddon and the Valley of Jezrel that has an important role both historically and for the future in accordance with Biblical End Times Theology.

Camp will work to bring a Mossad Agent together with the Iranian Military Agent so that they can discuss the issues of what is likely to be the final all out battle for the Middle East. Omid, the Iranian, although he is a devout Muslim is the portrait of the majority of Muslims who desire peace but desire to obtain it through peaceful means and not militaristic means. He is giving information to the American's and the Israeli's to try and stop what the radical "Twelver's" want to do to destroy Israel.

Will Camp and his friends succeed? Will they stop the destruction of Israel and the deaths of millions through a biological attack?

The story is well written and has many sub-plots that you will almost forget about until McKellips weaves them back in to bring new light on the issue of the battle that is being faced.

I was intrigued by how well McKellips developed his characters, developed his story, told us some history, gave us an education into Bio-warfare and also had a bit of romance thrown in to keep everyone guessing as to what was going to happen.

The ending will surprise you and will also leave the window open for future books to look further into the world of clandestine and military operations.

Thanks Paul for a great read.