The President's Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins

 Any courtroom thriller that addresses friendship, loyalty, ambition, and just how hard it is to separate home life from work will usually find an audience. John Grisham’s been making a career of it. This 2024 novel is the author’s first. And ‘they’ say, write about what you know. Dr. Google tells us that Robbins is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer who has argued a couple dozen cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Safe bet that he will give this story considerable authenticity. 

We follow Rob Jacobson, a noted Washington, D.C., litigator who gets quite the case dropped in his lap. He’s been asked to defend his childhood friend who just happens to be one Jack Cutler. That’s as in former President Jack Cutler who stands accused of murdering Amanda Harper - a former White House lawyer and Cutler’s mistress. Yeah, this case will garner its share of public attention. But Rob has known Cutler since childhood. And Rob has a complicated history with Jack and Amanda. How so? Rob had once been romantically involved with Amanda. Makes this case painfully close to home.

Of course, Rob believes Jack to be innocent; hell, Jack passed his a lie-detector test. Rob knows this will be a career-defining case. Like many (most?) politicians, Cutler is equal parts a powerful ego, a volatile temper, a history of serial infidelity, not to mention, some disturbing sexual predilections. As Rob investigates Cutler’s past, he discovers behaviors that will make Cutler a less than sympathetic defendant. Rob is stuck between his oath to the bar or loyalty to a man he has known for most of his life. 

Rob's jumps into the trial as any attorney would: examine the evidence, question witnesses, investigate potential other suspects al while preparing for the impending media circus. Flashbacks reveal the depth of their friendship as well as differences in the big four traits of elected officials: personality, privilege, ambition, power. In the courtroom, damaging evidence snowballs against the former President. So much so that Rob has to wonder if his lifelong friend could really be a murderer.

If you like the back and forth of the courtroom, this book is right up your alley. Robbins clearly understands the courtroom. Exchanges involving jury selection, evidence, cross-examination, and trial strategy seem entirely convincing.  The pace is fast and (for one who has never seen the inside of a courtroom) utterly convincing and authentic. 

A book like this is told basically in two parts: the investigation and the trial. The trial crackles with realism. The investigation, less so as Robbins takes great pains to tell the reader (as well and Rob and Jack) what all is, and will be, happening from the legal side. We are left with competing loyalties driving the story and from over to cover, it’s quite a compelling read in addition to being a well-presented anatomy of a murder trial. 

If you think that Grisham is the best at legal thrillers (and he may well be), he’s got some competition from Lawrence Robbins who has the legal chops and expertise to be a worthy competitor.

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All Secrets Die by Andrew Watts & Dale M. Nelson

Get settled down for a fast-paced technothriller focusing on cybersecurity, espionage, and the consequences when technology falls into the wrong hands. Published in 2024, we follow CIA officer Colt McShane as he confronts a threat capable of exposing virtually every secret in the world.

Catastrophic security breaches release highly sensitive information is released. CIA operations are compromised and data from governments and organizations around the world suddenly becomes available and vulnerable. The attacks are the result of Archon, a techno-terrorist organization that has developed technology that can beat any level of encryption (sounding very James Bond-ish?). The successful instruction of financial institutions, intelligence agencies, governments, and private citizens could throw all international system into chaos.

It’s up to Colt McShane to stop the threat. He plans to infiltrate Archon, capture one of its leaders to force Archon to pony up a way to disable the technology. When Colt reaches his target, the man is suddenly assassinated. Looks like someone else is hunting Archon's leaders. Someone else is interested in controlling or destroying the same technology.

The further Colt digs, he comes across one Ava Klein, a mysterious operative of a covert organization called Trinity. Together, they must unravel the various competing intelligence agencies, terrorists, law enforcement, and enemies all of whom with unclear motives including people within his own government.

A story like this is tough. How to make juggling all those ones and zeros a compelling serious physical threat. Hacking as a tool is less background detail, but now becomes a serious weapon, an unsettling threat to global digital security.

Colt and Ava rush through international locations to combine traditional espionage with artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cyberwarfare, and political manipulation. Plenty of tension, action, and technology.

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Winter Counts by David Heska Wambli Weiden

Y’all know I like crime thrillers. Also like stories set in the American west, especially those that feature Native Americans. Winter Counts is centered on the Rosebud Indian Reservation (in South Dakota). The primary character is Virgil Wounded Horse mixed-race Lakota) who works as a vigilante or “enforcer.” Familiar with the Longmire story lines? Virgil is akin to Hector. 

Crimes on the reservation typically are neglected or subject to a complicated web of tribal and federal jurisdiction limits. When local or federal law enforcement fails, the locals call on Virgil to deliver justice denied.

Reservation issues tend to revolve around property crime, minor assaults, weed, and alcohol. Until heroin starts to find its way in. His fourteen-year-old nephew, Nathan, gets involved with the heroin and is hospitalized after an overdose. Being Nathan’s guardian, (after the death of his sister) Virgil sets out to find the source and how the drug is entering their world. A former girlfriend, Marie Short Bear, re-enters Virgil’s life and gets pulled into the search for the bad guys.

The investigation leads Virgil well beyond the reservation into Denver where he uncovers connections between different criminal organizations. Tracking the trafficking routes, Virgil uncovers connections to reservation politics, tribal power, and the chance that people he knows the reservation contact where he has to confront these outside threats but also his own history of anger, grief, and alcoholism (his own ‘winter counts’) that cloud his own feelings and judgements about his Lakota identity.

The Lakota tradition of winter counts involves pictorial records of significant events remembered from year to year which for Virgil are a metaphor for personal and collective memory that have shaped his life. It all descends on Virgil as he tries to stop the drug trade while dealing with his relationship with Lakota traditions and his own community.

I liked the way Weiden weaved a fast-paced thriller with a thoughtful presentation of Native American life. The reservation is more than a backdrop for the mystery; it is a central character to the story, like the way Pelecanos makes Washington, DC a critical character. On the reservation, systemic injustice, poverty, addiction, racism, cultural identity must be balanced with Lakota resilience, humor, and tradition.

An interesting book. Not perfect. A few secondary characters could’ve been fleshed out more and some of the plot could be paced better. But don’t let that detract anyone from picking this up. Pretty sure I’ll be checking back in with Virgil. All in all, an impressive 2020 debut effort.  

And it checks all my boxes: crime thriller, western, Native American. 

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The Collaborators by Michael Idov

Michael Idov is an established espionage author with special interest in stories based in and around Latvia that involve the CIA, Russian politics, international finance, and cybercrimes. Quite a collection of topics, right? 

The Collaborators (2024) is a contemporary espionage thriller novel that follows two unlikely souls whose tasks eventually converge. Ari Falk is a disillusioned young CIA officer and Maya Chou is a wealthy, troubled twenty-three-year-old born of a Russian-American billionaire father who apparently committed suicide.

The CIA has tasked Ari to Riga, Latvia. His cover is that of a media investor. His job is to support Russian opposition journalists trying to uncover and publicize the activities of bad actors in the Kremlin. His most important asset is Anton Basmanny, a Russian blogger with viral videos that expose corruption among the power elite of Latvia. Anton is abducted following a suspicious diversion of his flight. Ari sets out to determine who ordered the flight to divert and whether Anton is alive. Anton’s abduction gets connected to the suicide of billionaire financier Paul Obrandt. 

Maya refuses to believe that her father killed himself. While investigating his business affairs, she finds evidence that his death is connected to something much larger. Eventually, these two investigations, despite differences in motivations and backgrounds, each quest is destined to intersect. 

Ari and Maya sift through wealthy Russian businessmen, intelligence agencies, political influence operations, and historical events. The investigation skips through Riga, Istanbul, Berlin, Marrakesh, and Moscow; flashbacks gradually reveal the connections between historical relationships and the current conspiracy. In the end, the reader sees this as more that an espionage tale, but a look at how the post-Soviet Russia developed its own political and financial system and the role played by Western governments. 

This seems authentic primarily due to Idov’s personal history with this part of the word. His experience as an editor and screenwriter creates a believable world of intelligence operations, media manipulation, oligarchic wealth, and contemporary Russian politics. Ari is no Bond or Borne. He’s intelligent but also tired and uncertain of the masters on both side of the game. 

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Maya plays well off Ari due to her lack of espionage experience. She goes off half-cocked adding both humor and emotional tension. I will say that this is complicated and layered with all its speaking parts, timelines, and conspiracies. 

Betting many will find this intelligent and entertaining with believable characters, sharp political commentary is a modern view of espionage where social media and finances can be every bit as powerful as humint and weapons. Just keep a notepad nearby to keep track of details.

Silent City by Alex Segura

Prepare for a gritty crime thriller in the vein of the mid-20^th century pulp; the first novel in the Pete Fernandez mystery series.

Pete Fernandez is a struggling newspaper drone whose life has fallen apart. His fiancée has bolted, his career is heading south fast, and the recent death of his father has pushed him deep into the bottle of the demon drink. For some reason, a coworker thinks Pete is the perfect person to find his missing daughter. A simple missing person case leads Pete into murder, drugs, a mysterious hitman, and secrets connected to his father’s past.

Pete is no conventional confident detective. He is troubled, usually reckless, and quite unsure of himself. On some levels, his flaws make him believable and adds emotional depth to his investigation. The case becomes an unexpected opportunity for Pete to regain a sense of purpose in his personal and journalistic life.

This Miami is quite different from what greets visiting tourists. Its neighborhoods, bars, crime, drugs, and the darker parts of the city are on full display making the city a critical hot, tense, and unpredictable character. This Miami feels authentic and lived-in. Kind of how George Pelacanos makes Washington, DC central to his street stories.

Segura does manage to keep things a little light with frequent references to songs and musical references that colors Pete’s mood and personality in various shades of noir. Yeah, the various subplots may be a bit derivative, but I didn’t care.  

Looking for something noir-ish, colorful, and entertaining? Give Silent City a go. Pete’s a fun and sympathetic protagonist running around amongst the less than touristy depths of Miami. A good read for lovers of detective stories, journalist/ bumbling investigator turning over an urban underbelly to find that missing young femme fatale.

ECD

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Nothing Left To Lose by Danny Singer

 

Remember when Malaysian Air flight 066, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur enroute to China, just up and disappeared from air traffic control? The resulting long, massive, and expensive search found nothing.  Prepare for a retelling of that episode. In this reimagining of that flight’s outcome, the passengers have not vanished. It was all planned. The passengers signed up for the flight as a part of Project Lazarus, a secretive scheme intended to give people desperately in need of a ‘reboot’ the opportunity to leave their old lives behind and start all over again. Think of this as a variation of Fantasy Island. ‘De plane. De plane.’

An unusual premise, right?  Singer takes the true story a vanished aircraft and develops it into a complex story about people desperate enough to want to abandon their identities, fortunes, and previous lives and begin again. James is a former MI6 officer, Truman, a conspiracy theorist who believes the plane didn’t crash. It was intentionally diverted and all the passengers survived. Then there are all the passengers each with own stories and reasons behind wanting to effectively commit suicide only to reborn on their own terms entirely devoid of personal history.

The real question is can one truly escape the past. Project Lazarus offers its recruits just that: escape . . . but the passengers must keep up the charade. Changing your identity doesn’t necessarily mean changing who you are. An interesting take on the thriller genre.

The story seamlessly jumps between locations, characters, and timelines to learn the motivations of everyone from the captain, flight attendants, to some of the passengers (author can’t detail all the passengers; too many). The large cast and frequent flashbacks can be difficult to follow. Just know that going in and you’ll be fine.

I’m betting that most will find Nothing Left to Lose to be a thought-provoking thriller with a uniquely original premise that combines mystery, international intrigue, and emotional character. Deal with the overlapping and intersecting passenger plots and you’ll be rewarded with lots of questions without having political enemies setting the agendas.

ECD 

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The Same River Twice by Wiley Cash

Full disclosure: this book is based in the rural surroundings of Wilmington, NC, about a 2-hr drive SE of the Raleigh area where I live. That means I’m partial (biased?) that it’ll be an interesting story. And having reviewed here an earlier Wiley Cash book (A Land More Kind Than Home), I think this’ll be a must-read book.

Same River Twice is a contemporary Southern novel about race, class, family history, and just who should tell stories about the past. Our story begins when human remains are discovered on the grounds of Bennett Place, a former rice plantation built primarily on the backs of enslaved people. The property’s new owner hopes to transform it into a historic landmark celebrating his own family’s heritage.

Aaron is a successful Black writer/university writer in residence who returns to the property because his family history is connected to the land. His grandfather once worked there, and Aaron is also searching for answers about his father’s disappearance.

Three complicated characters become intertwined by the discovery. 1. Jessica is a newly minted PhD in archeology struggling with enormous student-loan debt. She accepts a job managing the historic site and is now somewhat dependent on the wealthy benefactor. The discovery forces her to confront an ethical dilemma: protect her employer’s interests or pursue the truth about the remains? She must balance her historical scholarship vs. powerful people who want to control the plantation’s narrative.

2. The new owner pulls Kevin, the local DA, into the situation. He too is balancing two roles: public official and his own complicated family history. What he learns forces him to confront uncomfortable truths about race, power, and the legacy of the past. The novel also draws Kevin’s family and teenage daughter Amelia whose limited life experiences offer a more contemporary outlook on Southern life and the pressures faced by young people.

3. Aaron is the third character.  

All drawn together because a skeleton dug up by the renovation crew has conspired to  force these southern characters to face universal unresolved relationships in the South.  Cash encourages us to see the remains not as museum trinkets. Rather the remains teach us about how the past can impact modern truths.

‘They’ say history is written by the winners of conflicts. In this case, who owns this narrative? No one really owns history or is allowed to interpret it with all its flaws and imperfections. Don’t expect any real black and white (figuratively speaking) resolution to Wilmington's secrets.

The primary three perspectives allow Cash to show us how race and class shape these three divergent characters. Or maybe not. Regardless of what a reader takes from the book, expect to benefit from this thoughtful Southern novel and whether the past should just stay buried.

ECD

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Head Cases by John McMahon

If you love Apple TV’s espionage series Slow Horses (early in it’s 5^th season), this just might be your next read. Slow Horses is about British MI agents who’ve screwed up on the job, but not so grievous to get fired. Mostly considered incompetent. They get kicked downstairs to Slough House, hopefully to get so bored that they’ll quit or get killed on the job. If you have access to Apple TV and haven’t seen it, turn on Season 1 Episode 1 for no other reason than to see how the Slough House supervisor (played by Gary Oldman) is introduced and report back.

Head Cases might be considered the FBI’s version. The main agent is Gardner Camden, an exceptionally intelligent but socially awkward FBI agent who is particularly adept at recognizing patterns, solving puzzles, and connecting pieces of information that other investigators overlook. Gardner in the motor behind the FBI’s Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, a small group of unusual and similarly talented agents who are brought in to investigate cases that have resisted conventional police work. They work out of Jacksonville, FL field office because no one quite knows where to put them

Our story begins when the DNA of a murder victim connects the crime to Ross Tignon, a suspected serial killer who was assumed to have died in a deadly fire seven years earlier. Gardner had previously investigated Tignon and suspected him of several murders. To discover that Tignon had survived the fire and was (recently) alive immediately raises troubling questions about the thoroughness of Gardner’s investigation. Then, another suspected serial killer is found dead. The evidence suggests that the two murders are connected. Gardner and the PAR team realize they may be dealing with someone who is deliberately hunting other killers (What? Another book that can trace its basic plot back to Dexter?).

The investigation becomes an increasingly complex personal and dangerous when the murderer begins leaving clues and riddles specifically designed for Gardner to challenge him intellectually. At the same time, the PAR team faces the possibility that someone inside the FBI is providing the murderer with confidential information about unsolved serial-killer cases (shades of Serves Your Right recently reviewed here on MRB). Who can be trusted?  How to protect families and themselves? The FBI is a big organization.

Gardner may be brilliant, but he struggles with ordinary social interactions, making him different from the stereotypical action-oriented FBI hero. His only real human connection is with his young daughter, Camila. The other members of the PAR team are an entertaining ensemble of unique skills.

As police procedurals go, the author combines police investigation, serial-killer suspense, multi-layered puzzles, and some creatively interesting twists to keep the reader guessing. A little more back story might help readers connect with the PAR team.

Head Cases is both entertaining and intelligent that introduces us to an unusual FBI team, puzzling puzzles, unpredictable twists, and memorable protagonist. Give McMahon's Gardner a shot.  

ECD 

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Serves You Right by Orion Gregory

 

Serves You Right is a crime thriller starring Sydney Livingstone, a former professional tennis player who has left the competitive world of sports behind to become a rookie detective in small town-ish Walsh County, Ohio. Sydney is hoping this career change will provide a quieter and more meaningful life while she waits for fiancé/tennis pro to retire. Instead, she finds herself caught in a dangerous investigation involving murder, vigilantism, corruption, and betrayal.

A number of criminals have escaped punishment for serious crimes now becoming targets of a mysterious vigilante known as The Enforcer (shades of Dexter?). Operating partly through the dark web, The Enforcer believes that people who have escaped justice through the legal system deserve to be punished. The vigilante's actions quickly become more violent, creating considerable pressure on the local police department.

Sydney gets assigned to the task force investigating the identify of The Enforcer. One of the central complications is that it appears The Enforcer is getting information from inside Walsh County law enforcement. The only person Sydney is sure isnt’ the inside source is herself. Everyone else on the force is a potential ‘traitor’. This creates a moral dilemma: The Enforcer is committing crimes, but the victims are some bad people in NE Ohio. Sydney must therefore investigate someone who believes they are correcting failures in the justice system.

The situation is complicated when a veteran police officer is stalked and evidence begins to suggest that corruption maybe a core of possibilities within the detective branch. As the investigation develops growing media attention, hidden secrets, suspicious behavior, and increasing body count make the case increasingly dangerous. Sydney must rely on her instincts and evolving investigative abilities while trying to determine whether The Enforcer is an outsider—or someone much closer to the investigation than she realizes

The author ramps up the suspense with each new victim, the attempt to narrow down the insider, and the ‘who’s next?’ question. Gregory continually introduces new clues and suspects, making it difficult to predict who is responsible. Sydney is an able and thoughtfully creative combining the unusual combination of her former athletic career and new life in law enforcement

The novel is not without weaknesses. The dialogue can be slow and formulaic; less convincing than the overall plot. The other thing is her professional tennis background. This is the 2^nd Sydney Livingstone novel, so I don’t know the back story from the first book. I’m under the naïve assumption that a police officer usually spends several years ‘on the street’ before taking the detective’s exam and other qualifications needed to become a detective. It looked to me like she sort of joined the force and rapidly moved up the ladder to become a detective or tested out for detective right out of the academy. She seemed too inexperienced and young to be a detective.  But what do I know.

Overall, Serves You Right is an entertaining mystery thriller that combines police investigation with questions about justice and revenge. Sydney Livingstone is an engaging central character, and the twists help maintain tension throughout the novel. Get past my curiosity about her lack of experience, take her background at face value, and you’ll have an entertaining read.

A number of criminals have escaped punishment for serious crimes now becoming targets of a mysterious vigilante known as The Enforcer (Shades of Dexter?). Operating partly through the dark web, The Enforcer believes that people who have escaped justice through the legal system deserve to be punished. The vigilante's actions quickly become more violent, creating considerable pressure on the local police department.

Sydney gets assigned to the task force investigating the identify of The Enforcer. One of the central complications is that it appears The Enforcer is getting information from inside Walsh County law enforcement. The only person Sydney is sure isnt’ the inside source is herself. Everyone else on the force is a potential ‘traitor’. This creates a moral dilemma: The Enforcer is committing crimes, but the victims are some bad people in NE Ohio. Sydney must therefore investigate someone who believes they are correcting failures in the justice system.

The situation is complicated when a veteran police officer is stalked and evidence begins to suggest that corruption maybe a core of possibilities within the detective branch. As the investigation develops growing media attention, hidden secrets, suspicious behavior, and increasing body count make the case increasingly dangerous. Sydney must rely on her instincts and evolving investigative abilities while trying to determine whether The Enforcer is an outsider—or someone much closer to the investigation than she realizes

The author ramps up the suspense with each new victim, the attempt to narrow down the insider, and the ‘who’s next?’ question. Gregory continually introduces new clues and suspects, making it difficult to predict who is responsible. Sydney is an able and thoughtfully creative combining the unusual combination of her former athletic career and new life in law enforcement

The novel is not without weaknesses. The dialogue can be slow and formulaic; less convincing than the overall plot. The other thing is her professional tennis background. This is the 2^nd Sydney Livingstone novel, so I don’t know the back story from the first book. I’m under the naïve assumption that a police officer usually spends several years ‘on the street’ before taking the detective’s exam and other qualifications needed to become a detective. It looked to me like she sort of joined the force and rapidly moved up the ladder to become a detective or tested out for detective right out of the academy. She seemed too inexperienced and young to be a detective.  But what do I know.

Overall, Serves You Right is an entertaining mystery thriller that combines police investigation with questions about justice and revenge. Sydney Livingstone is an engaging central character, and the twists help maintain tension throughout the novel. Get past my curiosity about her lack of experience, take her background at face value, and you’ll have an entertaining read.

ECD 

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The Rust Forest by Anders de la Motte

 

Meet Leonore (Leo) Asker. An ambitious detective in the Malmo (Sweden) PD in line for a significant promotion. Her mom is politically connected. But her father (Prepper Per) is quasi-hidden. Seems he developed an AI tool for the company he worked for and was expecting a substantial financial boost for his work. But the company decided otherwise squeezing Per out. He decided to lash out at said company and then went on the run and remains mostly hidden in and around Malmo.  

A vengeful colleague with the police has it in for Leo and attempts to derail her promotion. Gets her assigned to a do nothing unit (think Slow Horses, the acclaimed Apple TV series featuring Gary Oldman). Leo is assigned an unsolved case of murder 10y previous. A young woman was killed in the forest around Malmo. Throat slit and left to die in a old agricultural factory building. Only unusual clue was a missing ring finger. Everyone assumed is was her husband, but he's thought to be in the wind. 

This factory building sits in The Rust Forest, so named because of mineral runoff has discolored the land and water. Some hard cases live in and protect the forest. Trespassers take their lives into their own hands. Our story opens in earnest with a couple of 20somethings exploring the various buildings for their YouTube channel; UrbEx (for urban explorers). They are surprised by what might be a spirit of sorts and take off.

See, The Rust Forest is thought to be inhabited by spirits of a centuries old murder whose remains were found sometime ago. Now on display at the city museum: The Gray Maiden.  Somehow, the death of the wife at the hands of her husband and The Gray Maiden are somehow connected and it's up to Leo and her cadre of misfit cops to find out who killed the wife and what are the connections to the monied and well-heeled of Malmo that keep popping up. 

Leo's investigation runs into more blind alleys and dead ends than should be allowed by law, but keeps on digging even after being told in no uncertain terms to hand off the case to the Cold Case unit else lose her promotion. She's got to the end of the weekend to gather all her material so that Cold Case can effectively be lost in storage.

This is the 3rd Leo Asker book (after The Mountain King and The Glass Man). Both were international best sellers. Easy to see why. De la Motte is quite adept at weaving a complex tale and bring it to a rip roaring finish. Asker is bullheaded, resourceful, skilled at martial arts, firearms, and motorcycles. Every guys dream, right? It's been a while since I last read a book by a Scandinavian author. But having read this one, I'm definitely checking in with the library about The Mountain King.

Oh yes. If you recall, I'm forever saying pay attention to the publishers. That mysteries and thrillers from Emily Bestler Books have been consistent winners. Color me surprised when I noticed that this is another in the long line of Emily Bestler Books. Think I could read exclusively Emily Bestler Books and be quite happy and occupied. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review. 

ECD  ++

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God's Country by William Kent Krueger

Cork O'Connor is busy loving life in Aurora. Gratefully retired from decades as a police officer, mostly as the Sheriff of Tamarack County, MN way the hell up in the North Country. Second wife (1st killed in an earlier book), sons and daughters (direct and in-law), couple of grandsons, close lifelong friends. Still runs a hamburger stand on the nearby vacationland lake (in northern MN, lakes are everywhere). He's what used to be called a 'half-breed,' half Irish (father) and half Ojibwe (mother). That term has gone out of style.

Aurora is part of the gateway to to the massive Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Several thousands acres of trails, lakes, portages, rivers, forest on the border with Canada. Solitude with a capital S. The state birds are mosquitoes and black flies. Cork and the 'menfolk' are all going on a canoe outing. Taking the grandsons on their first camping trip in the Boundary Waters. 

In prep, they stop in to check in with this local guide. Good thing to do when heading into the wilderness. The wife says her husband was just hired by a couple guys to head into the area for a few days. She was curious about these two characters. They were dressed like they'd just left LLBean. Not their usual clients. Cork said he'd keep and eye out for the party of 4 (a 2nd guide aide joined them), but given the size of the Park, it's doubtful.

Off goes the O'Connor party. They paddle a route infrequently used by visitors, reaching their first campsite. Exploring the campsite area, they come across evidence something untoward may happened, recently. They set off the next day and paddle to the next campsite. From the water, Cork sees smoke from a campfire. Through his binoculars, he sees his friend tied to a tree. Fearing the worst, Cork convinces the rest of his party to head back as protection for the boys. Cork presses on alone because that is what a sheriff, current or retired, would do. He pulls in and quickly learns that the 2nd guide has been killed and his friend has been badly beaten. 

These two goons want to be taken to a rock formation known to the locals as The Devil's Ass. They have a rough map that isn't detailed enough to find the rock formation. Unable to convince their guides, one guide is shot and Cork's friend beaten to give up the information. Cork mostly just ambles in and talks these two losers into letting the injured guide paddle (mostly float) back in exchange for Cork taking them to the rock formation.

Now Cork has no intention of taking them where they want. He just wants to keep them out in the open on the water for a few days until a search party finds them. They guys want to find something hidden in the rocks and then hightail it for Canada. Over the next 3-4 days, Cork has to keep these two fools calm, hopefully not see any other park visitors, and still find a way to subdue them for arrest (or worse).

As you might guess, things have a way of spiraling down allowing Cork lots of time for self reflection about his inner wolf leanings as he considers his options. Has to be careful. The two guys, one in particular, are stone killers.

This is Krueger's 22nd O'Connor book. I've read a bunch, maybe a dozen or so. Honestly, Krueger has never failed to disappoint. We've watched O'Connor's life as a cop, both the good and the bad, spelled out in smooth lyrical prose. Krueger's writing appears effortless. This story is told as though O'Connor is relating the tale over a campfire. The reader is a comfortable friend who is mesmerized by a close friend's history. Very readable. I'd definitely put this at the top of my Cork O'Connor experiences. Have to love it because it's primarily three main characters trying to survive the wilderness and each other. 

Krueger's also written some standalone books. One of which, Ordinary Grace, won the Edgar Award for best fiction novel of 2014 (Fiction's version of Best Picture). That book was astonishing (reviewed by the MRB boys) and remains one of my top 5 reads . . . ever.  You can't go wrong with Krueger. Solid, reliable, highly skilled, expertly plotted and presented. A storyteller's storyteller. You'd be wise to put this on your 'to-be-read' shelf.  And add him to your personal list of must-read authors. 

 But . . . 

It's not available until 18 August 2026. It's too bad you can't get to this sooner.  Don't forget. Make a note on your August calendar. Trust me. You can take my opinion to the bank.

Thanks to the good folks at NetGalley and Atria Books for the advance reviewer copy.  

ECD 

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Damascus Station by David McCloskey

Sam Joseph is a veteran CIA operative, sort of between assignments. He is stationed in Paris to be kind of available if needed to cover a conference where a number of high ranked Syrian officials are in attendance. The CIA is concerned because the Assad regime is getting out of hand with it's heavy-handed tactics at keeping the populace and political challengers in line. In particular, one of the heads of the Security Office may be behind the abduction, interrogation, torture and ultimate murder of Val, an American operative working in Syria.  Sam is joined by the BANDITOS, three Christian Syrians that have been contracted by the CIA primarily as sets of local eyes and ears who can move amongst the locals without attraction attention. I liked the BANDITOS.

Some of the CIA folks in Paris think it wise to put the squeeze on Assad, et al. They need someone on the inside. They carefully identify those in attendance, look into their background, and narrow down the field as possible candidates to go undercover for information about those responsible for Val's death. Back and forth go the discussions until one is singled out. Miriam Haddab. Born into a military family, works in the Palace, but doesn't appear to be enamored with the Assad regime. 

Once singled out (and OK'd by Langley), Miriam is now on the CIA's radar. Joe will make the recruitment pitch (multiple pitch's it turns out). As the job is mostly snatching some papers, Miriam reluctantly agrees.

Next task: teach her the skills needed. She is already skilled in Krav Maga so combat skills take a back seat to the more routine, and critically important, surveillance detection route; how to determine if one is being followed and how to lose a tail (and the skills needed for dead drops, brush passes, etc.). Sam takes Miriam on numerous days of practice to sharpen her skills in various locales as they inch their way to Damascus.

Arriving in Damascus, Miriam is introduced to the Chief of Station, a hard nose, profane, no nonsense experienced woman named Proctor who is noted for never going out without a knife and keeps a Mossberg combat shotgun close by. She has just two rules: get the information, protect the source. All else is negotiable.

So far, it's kind of straight forward. ID a recruit, sell them on the plan, teach, now go active. Once in Damascus, life gets far more complex what with car bombs, daily mortar fire, multiple factions at odds with each other and Assad/cronies and their own search for a mole. 

At at this point, I'll leave it to you. The fits and starts, the feints, treachery and betrayals, the lies and questionable truths, all get muddled up as plans start, stop, shift, get betrayed, resurrected, not to mention the bureaucracy between Damascus and Langley once the decision is made to take out a Syrian General that has to be approved in real time from half a world away. 

 McCloskey is a former CIA analyst so get ready for gritty details about the inner workings of the CIA in both Langley and in the field. You'll know way more about how the CIA does what it does. If you ask me, I'm kinda surprised the CIA office that has to sign off on such stories approved this. Sure seemed filled with skills and devices that I would have thought the CIA might just as well like to keep quiet. 

As with all novels, there are jacket blurbs with laudatory praise for the author and the quality of presentation. This one also has such praise. What stands out is that the stellar reviews come from former CIA Directors: General David Patraeus and Leon Panetta with Patraeus going as far as to say " . . . the best spy novel I have ever read." One of the recent books I read said that McCloskey was the best spy novelist writing today. I'd never heard of him until then. Damascus Station is his first book (published in 2021) and it was a finalist for the International Thriller Writer's first book award. He has four more books out that you can bet I'll be reading before too long. 

In short: this was terrific. Expertly plotted and told. A spy readers dream. 

ECD   

Buy this book                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

The Blue Flame by George Pelecanos

Final power rotation author: George Pelecanos' The Blue Flame

First, a word about Pelecanos. He has something like 24 

novels, novellas, graphic novels, and story books to his credit. All are based in 

and around Washington, DC. Want more? How’s this: he was one of the 

original writers and producers of what many critics say is the best crime series 

on TV . . . EVER: The Wire. Add to that writing/producing credits for streaming 

series Treme, The Pacific, The Deuce, We OwnThis City. IMDB notes 68 credits 

to his work. Nominated twice for Emmy awards (The Wire, Treme). To top it all 

off, he gets quite the nod from none other than Stephan King who calls Pelecanos

 ‘The greatest living American crime writer.’

And I bet you aren’t reading his books. I’m borderline offended. 

 

The Blue Flame continues one of Pelecanos’ regular characters, Derek Strange,  

owner of Strange Investigations, a black PI who owns and runs his own business 

right there in front of all who inhabit his corner of NE DC. A black business

owner who is open dang near 24/7 to help out his neighborhood. Derek 

is a DC native, grew up in NE DC, was a DC cop until the 14th St. riots after 

the death of Martin Luther King, after which he quit and opened up a PI 

agency. He knows his limits. What he can do, what he should do, where 

he might gently step over the line, and importantly understand the relationship 

between a PI and DC Metro police. Nearing retirement, but still can get the job done. 

Billy Lake, a local defense lawyer known for his work mostly with drug dealers seeks 

Derek out. Antone Anthony sits in the DC Metro jail on a murder charge. Lake thinks 

the young man isn’t a killer (dealer: yes; killer: no). Wants  Derek to talk to his friends 

for background information.

Background info: Nigel Walker, Cynthia Barnes, Ricardo Lennox, Antone, and Kenneth 

Norton were all childhood friends. Now in their 20s and trying to figure out their place in 

the DC world. Cynthia had an older brother they all looked up to, but he was cut down 

by a drunk driver. And her mother had died (or run off, can’t remember to be truthful). 

The rest of the boys took in on themselves to look out for Cynthia. Which they did. 

Cynthia and Nigel had this occasional friends with benefits thing going on. But Nigel 

never parked outside of her house cuz he was afraid of her father, a retired DC cop. 

One night, Nigel told Cynthia that he was headed over to see Antone about a money 

beef. Something about cash flow in Antone’s dealing business. Only he never made it. 

A couple blocks removed from Cynthia’s, Nigel is shot in his car. When the police 

investigate, they check out the apts of all five friends and find the gun in Antone’s 

apartment. 

Derek talks to them all. Comes away with some observations, types up his report for 

Bill Lake, gets paid. Short story? He doesn’t think Antone killed Nigel. 

Maybe three weeks later, someone a few streets over from Antone’s calls in a foul odor 

from a junkyard. A body had been squeezed into an old freezer and the smell of decay 

was everywhere. It was Cynthia. 

The problem is that now one set of cops thinks the two crimes are connected and 

another thinks Cynthia was just wrong-place-wrong-time. A coincidence. Word gets to 

Derek and he approaches Lake asking for his contract in the Antone case extended so 

he can dig around a bit further . . . and not piss off the cops. 

Here’s the thing about Pelecanos. He has lived his whole life in Silver Spring, MD. 

Grew up working in small local corner cafes listening to the ebb and flow of DC life. I 

seem to remember reading he volunteered with DC Metro juvenile counseling kids to 

get out of the life. The stories he writes are mostly about DC street crime. Nary a 

mention about the DC intrigue of guv’ment, politics, FBI, CIA, etc. His beat is the 

streets. Based on his history, he comes by his plots and, importantly, the dialogue of 

the DC streets honestly. His brilliant portrayal of the landscape, geography, 

neighborhoods, streets, local details, is, in my opinion, among the best in the crime 

business. He makes DC come alive. Hey, I grew up in Silver Spring, MD. He and I 

attended the same high school (albeit maybe 6-8 years apart). As a local, I am 

continually impressed with his attention to detail about DC and for me, that is an 

enormous selling point. 

Bottom line: Get off your lazy hindparts, head to your local library, Amazon, or 

wherever you get your books and get busy reading Pelecanos. Don’t trust me? See the 

quote from Stephan King above. His previous book was published in 2012, 'What it Was'. 

I do hope we won't have to wait another 14 years for his next. I was getting impatient. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance reader copy. Expected publication date is August 4, 2026

 

ECD

The Brothers McKay by Craig Johnson

Second power rotation author: Craig Johnson’s The Brothers McKay.  #22 in

the Walt Longmire saga. 

There is no love lost when a cantankerous, but wealthy, local is found dead in a fishing stream back up Crazy Woman Canyon in Wyoming (Remember the crazy woman from the movie ‘Jeremiah Johnson.’

Year, that one). Not a single person liked Pepper McKay. A prominent

unlikeable wealthy citizen, Pepper McKay, not his family of four 

sons (make that 3.5. One of his sons is illegitimate) all who have motive, are the obvious suspects. His adult sons include a journalist, a monk from a nearby mountain monastery, an accountant (? Not sure about that one). The fourth lives as a ranch hand whose most critical project is breaking a big-ass mule named Borax. 

But there is more. All around the county, the locals are watching the wind as multiple wildfires are threatening valleys, farms, and small towns. Another body is found extending the list of possible suspects. We can’t ignore a former Russian spy, Maxim Sudorov who Walt is

acting as sort of a parole officer (a leftover character from the 

previous book, Return to Sender). The chemistry between Walt and Sudorov is tres interesting. It’s Maxim who points out the similarities of familial treachery to Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (hence, the significance of the book's title) to the case.

The book begins in Johnson’s typical meanderings with locals and co-workers. Walt 

slowly puts pieces of the puzzle together amid the genial back-and-forth typical of the 

Longmire series that makes the characters so comfortable and compelling.

Until the Highway Patrol issues the GO order forcing everyone to get the hell out of 

dodge to seek safety. All that ‘aw shucks’ banter suddenly disappears. The monk runs 

off into the wilderness and the fire. Walt goes after him to stop him from being engulfed 

by the flames.  The smoke and flames become so intense that Walt takes a fall - 

messed up his ankle. As he rolls over to contemplate his immediate future, he sees a 

familiar face: Borax. And now we witness the travails of the cowboy and his trusted 

steed (maybe that’s giving Borax more rope than deserved) as they try to get to safety. 

The whole survival episode is where Johnson earns his chops. The reader may 

wonder if Walt will get out unscathed (probably), but what about the monk? And Borax? 

Compelling story telling at a fever pace after nearly three-quarters of the story was 

more like Gunsmoke on a Saturday afternoon and Miss Kitty’s saloon.  And don’t forget 

why we are all here? The murder of Pepper McKay. 

You need to check this out. But if you already worship at the alter of Longmire, you 

don’t need me to push this book on you. It’s an easy read. Straightforward storytelling. 

Fun characters (well, most are fun), plenty of humor, Native American mysticism, that 

Wyoming landscape.  

What more could you want?

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance reviewer copy. Available May 26, 2026

the advance reviewer copy. Available May 26, 2026