AHML Staff Choices

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It has been a long wait.

Three years, to be precise, since the last Arkady Renko novel.

Ever since 1981, when Gorky Park hit the book stands running,  no other serial novel has had such a sad, weather-beaten hero-of-the-common-man as the Russian investigator Arkady Renko.  He is persistent, clever, self-effacing, plodding, suicidal, broken-hearted, witty, loyal to a fault,  keen-eyed,  and mostly acts like a beaten dog.

Russians are a proud people.  Another of their stronger traits is that they are realistic.  They seem to have the ability to accept the hand that they have been dealt, self-analyze it, and still continue to survive in a society that seems to have only two classes:  the Haves and the Have nots.

In this 6th installment, Arkady is once again on the brink of being fired for insubordination.  While helping out a friend who is a hopelessly drunken detective, Arkady stumbles upon a serial killer.  Unfortunately for Arkady and the next victims, the government is not accepting of his theories and are hurried to distance themselves from him.

Arkady’s young ward, Zhenya, the brilliant, street chess-hustler, is also trying to distance himself from Arkady.   Zhenya stumbles upon a very young girl – Maya – whose infant was stolen from her while trying to escape her miserable life of  forced prostitution.   Zhenya, who would be the last to admit that he has learned anything useful from Arkady,  tries to take on the role of protector, while assisting to find the kidnapped child.

As always, there is Cruz’ continuing central theme  of class struggle.

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I recently saw a trailer for a film that is opening in a few weeks called “The Town” that is based on this novel.  I have never read this author and was pleasantly surprised just how good he is.  His characters are real and his plot is Shakespearean. . .Boston-style. 

Doug MacRay is the mastermind behind a robbery crew of four who all grew up together in a tough neighborhood of Boston.   He comes from strong criminal bloodlines…his father is doing 20-to-life in prison.  Doug is an alcoholic who desperately needs a change in venue but has no idea how to achieve it. 

Doug’s modus operandi is to stalk his victims for several weeks prior to   his robbery attempt and base his plans on their habits and tendencies.  One of his victims is the beautiful bank manager, Claire Keesey.  He falls in love with her from a far and after his successful holdup, meets cute with her at the local laundromat.   Doug thinks that she might be his ticket outta the life of crime. 

Claire, who has no idea that Doug was responsible for her bank’s theft, suddenly has to deal with her post-traumatic shock of being kidnapped and left to live; as well as the newly smitten FBI Special Agent’s and Doug’s fancies. 

The mouse and cat gaming between Agent Adam Frawley and Doug is unpredictable.  Neither character is honest with poor Claire, who appears to be left the dupe in their games. 

Hogan has several characters whose back-stories he slowly rolls out like a stripper showing  just enough skin to tease and tantalized their audience. 

Ben Affleck, the Hurt Locker’sJeremy Renner, and Mad Men’s, Jon Hamm all star in “The Town”  which is the movie version of this book. It’s to be released in theaters in September.    I am hoping that the film flows half as well as this book did.

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I don’t care if I found this book in Kids World, it is a stitch.  I have never watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; however, I have seen him perform and he is very sharp and witty.

The author of this book is the Executive Producer of Stewart’s show and also is very sharp and witty.   Oliver Watson is in 7th grade and wants to run for class president.  His only obstruction is his peers.

When I try, I can’t recall the name of my 7th grade nun, but I do remember that awkward age.  Lieb catches the spirit of a 12- year old boy, who tries to balance his inner, most dark secrets with his limited social conscious.  

This book was a delight.

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Every time a new James Lee Burke novel gets released; it seems I end up playing hooky for a couple of days.  This time was no exception.   

Burke’s words melt off the page like the Louisiana landscape he so aptly describes.    In this 18th book in the series, Dave is back with his best-friend Cletus, who are investigating the deaths of several teenage girls.   Alafair, Dave’s adopted daughter, has hooked-up with a rich and powerful heir who is helping her publish her first novel while she is attending law school. 

Alafair is unaware that her new boyfriend has also hooked-up with a slimy ex-con author, who might or might not be responsible for the all the girls’ deaths.

The back-stories for Burke’s main characters are all colorful and important; however, one of the enduring things about this book series is that every story is independent and a reader does not have to follow them in any chronological order.  

It took a while for this book to be published.  It appears that Burke is slowing down as a writer, but there is no indications that he will ever suffer from any James-Patterson-type-disease where he is compelled to co-author and publish several books per month.

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What if you were handed 15 million dollars and the ownership of an established, once promising business?  What if you were able to hire the best minds in that business?  What if it was a corporation that you were extremely talented at running and opening branches worldwide?  What if it was for a career that you already possessed all the qualifications to become successful?  What if the only drawback was that this gift was the unsolicited inheritance handed to you by your deadbeat father, while he was serving a life-sentence in prison…the same father that beat you regularly while you were growing up and learning to hate with a passion?  And most importantly, what if it was a career that you loved and you were legitimately able to help clients live safe and less stress-free lives?

This is Jack Malone’s legacy.  He successfully manages the most exclusive private investigation firm in the world.

Here’s hoping that Patterson has settled on Jack Malone to start a new series of mysteries.   There are several plots that intertwine.  One is the prolong serial killings of over a dozen teenage schoolgirls.  Another is the murder of Jack’s best friend’s wife and  Jack’s former flame.  There also is an investigation of a suspected final score tempering of some NFL games by its referees.  And just when the reader thinks that there is plenty on the plate for Jack to deal with, his twin brother is discovered to be in hock for $600,000 to loan sharks.

Patterson has found a winning combination is co-authoring several of his books.  The narration is fresh and this style of writing almost always ensures short chapters…a late night reader’s delight!

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There’s something in the water.  The water is bottled and called:  Pluto Water.

This is Michael Koryta’s  (pronounced ko REE ta) sixth novel.   This story is sort of taken from the playbooks Stephen King and Dean Koontz.  Eric Shaw, a promising film director, makes a wrong career decision and is blacklisted in Hollywood.  He is force to earn a living by creating short films on the lives of the recently departed; which are then shown at the decease’s funeral.  He is hired to make one of his tribute films about the life and times of, Campbell Bradford, who is on his deathbed.

Bradford, who is 95, was once the wealthy owner of a luxurious spa that featured mineral spring water that legends were built on.   It had been many years since the resort closed down and Shaw’s return to the rundown town triggers a chilling chain of events.

Shaw makes the mistake of drinking some of the bottled Pluto Water and becomes dependent of it.   What mysteries lie behind this magical water?  Just how are ghosts of the past conjured up after a swallow?  And how is the past and present able to meet up in the future for an explosive conclusion? 

There’s something in the water…it’s an understatement.

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“‘Gee, he was here a moment ago. . .’  This is what George Carlin wanted on his tombstone if he’d had one.”

Leave it to Carlin to release his autobiography after he passed away;  or rather his sortabiography, as he referred to it.

The majority of his audience first saw Carlin in the early ’60’s on The Ed Sullivan Show, with his partner, Jack Burns.  They were two Irish mimic-comedians.  After their falling out, George went solo and had a modestly successful career until he got busted for obscenity.   His career had hit a wall and he was becoming a parody of himself.

This book chronicles his love/hate relationship with his mother, Mary; his addiction to drugs and alcohol; his love for his daughter, Kelly; and how hallucinogens changed the course of his comic genius.

In the late 60’s, Carlin began tripping and from those experiences he created “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.”  He credited the drugs to freeing his inhibitions and allowing him to speak freely.  Since he was born a true clown, Carlin’s true inner self made millions of people laugh over a 50-year career.

This book was co-authored by Tony Hendra, who some might remember from his role in This Is Spinal Tap, as the band’s manager.  Fans of Carlin’s will want to read this book, if not to find out more about  his hidden demons, then to just marvel in the way his mind worked.

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Lucas Davenport and his crew (including Virgil Flowers) is back.  They are on the hunt for a gang of thugs that hold up Lucas’ wife’s hospital’s pharmacy, at gunpoint, and kick an elderly pharmacist to death during the commission of the bold, daytime crime.  The gang gets away with about a half-million street-dollars worth of drugs.

The secondary plot is that Dr. Weather Karkinnen, Davenport’s wife, is part of a team that are attempting to surgically separate twins joined-at-the-head at birth.   To add to the pressure of assisting in such a stressful and complicated surgery, Weather is the sole witness to the pharmacy hold-up and the gang is hell-bent on eliminating her as a potential witness.

The title aptly forewarns the impending manhunt, ground-breaking surgery, and snowy weather forecast.  Sandford fans will not be disappointed.

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This story was like reading a book by Whitley Strieber–only written while he was on crystal methamphetamine.   It is historical fiction of sorts about the mysterious, colorful lights in the sky that have been seen, by some, for centuries, in Marfa, west Texas.   

According to Wikipedia, “…The Marfa lights are unexplained lights (known as “ghost lights”) usually seen near U. S. Route 67 on Mitchell Flat east of Marfa, west Texas…”  

Morrell makes this phenomenon the backdrop for his top-secret-government-project-gone-awry-thriller.  One day a police officer’s wife disappears from home and he tracks her to the town of Rostov, where she has traveled to view the ghost lights from her past.  While there, the lights somehow cause a spectator to go mad and kill several viewers brought by a tour bus. 

While this is occurring, an Army officer is back in Rostov to continue the hush-hush experiments that his grandfather started during WWI.  Not only are the lights mesmerizing, they also seem to emit a sound that appears to drive people towards exhibiting aggressive behavior.  The military stance is anything that colossal has to be controlled and developed into a powerful weapon! 

Morrell’s stance seems to be anything that colossal has to be surrounded by several flashy fire-fights, meddling news teams and an over-the-hill main character.

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The sniper’s motto is BRASS:  Breathe.  Relax.  Aim.  Slack.  Squeeze.

Bob, The Nailer,  is back and he again is taking no prisoners.  In this latest edition, Swagger is hell-bent on proving that the most decorated Marine sniper of all time’s legacy is not tarnished.  Bob knows in his gut that the late Carl Hitchcock could not have committed the atrocities that are being blamed on him.

T.T. Constable is the billionaire-blamer, whose wife is one of the recent multiple sniper victims and he wants immediate closure on this high-profile case.  T.T. is not a man to take lightly.  He is a man who is used to getting his way.  He will use all his resources to accomplish his goals.

Nick Memphis is given the task to lead the sniper investigation for the FBI and he calls on his old friend, Bob Lee,  for insight.  Since Memphis is not moving the case along fast enough for Mr. Big Bucks, a conspiracy is started to discredit Memphis and remove him from the case.

Hunter has  fun with this novel and takes some liberties by basing two of his characters on Ted Turner and Jane Fonda.  A fast glance at the author’s Acknowledgments page is worth the read.