Once A Spy by Keith Thomsom

Word has it that the life expectancy of the British 00-agent wasn't all that long. So any secrets they had stored up in their head would be carried to the grave. But what if a covert, deep cover agent survives to retirement? He'd still have all that critical information banging around in this head. What would 'the company' do? To make matters worse, what if that agent had developed Alzheimer's Disease? You'd be worried he might just blurt out all sorts of stuff to anybody and have no clue about who or what he had revealed. Now, what should the company do in the interest of national security and for the greater good?

Charlie Clark is a bit of a loser. Accepted to Brown only to drop out because he studied the Racing Form more than his books. He's gotten himself in deep with some Russian loan shark who is getting impatient with Charlie's slow repayment schedule. 

Charlie's mom died when he was young. His mostly-absent father, Drummond, was more consumed with his job as assistant regional sales manager for a 3rd rate Argentinian-based appliance company. Lots of sales meetings and lots of trips. But he's retired and his faculties are fading. Charlie has to find a nursing facility and they are making the rounds in the greater NYC area. 

On one visit, someone takes a couple shots at them. Charlie figures the Russian is trying to send a message. They take off. Drummond is running through a parking lot looking into cars. "C'mon, Dad." Drummond finds what he's looking for, opens the door, tears open the shaft under the steering wheel, hot wires the car, and they tear off with more of a Dad retired NASCAR driver then an appliance salesman. "Dad?" Later on, Drummond fires up a helicopter for a skin of their teeth escape. "Dad???"

A chase, some accidents, some stealth, and Charlie and Dad are now armed . . .and Drummond is one crack shot. "Dad?" Putting Charlie in danger seems to bring Drummond's brain back to his former self. Turns out being an appliance salesman was a clever ruse and he actually ran a highly secretive and important operation code named "Placebo'. If the details of that information get 'out there', the ramifications could be devastating for more than just the US.

So how do you like your heroes? Alpha-male-kill-at-a-glance (Mitch Rapp, Kirk McGarvey, John Wells)? Everyman-caught-in-a-mess (star of every Charlie Stella book)? Retired-but-still-deadly (Bob Lee Swagger)? Maybe all three are presented by Thomson in the 2010 copyright. Charlie is the everyman and Drummond is the former alpha male who is still dangerous in retirement, when his Alzheimer's loosens its grip.

This is a very clever twist on the spy thriller genre that is presented in a very entertaining manner. One reviewer said it was Carl Hiaasen taking on John LeCarre. And that may not be a bad description. It's part comedy, part tragic drama, part adrenaline-fueled thriller. While I knew this going in, the story is obviously part 1. The next in the series is Twice A Spy, so you can be dang sure I'll be getting into that in a big way real soon.

ECD

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

A Rule Against Murder is my eighth Louise Penny novel, so you already know that she is firmly in my power rotation of authors. She’s won five Agatha Awards. This woman writes excellent crime novels, so if this is your genre, make sure you’ve read her. These books are all in the Armand Gamache series which takes place in Quebec. Gamache is the Chief Inspector of homicide for the Surete du Quebec. Penny brings in Gamache’s usual crime-solving associates that fans of this series have come to love. This is the first story of the series that I’ve read which takes place mostly outside of Three Pines, an idyllic village just outside of Montreal. More than 100 years ago, the Robber Barons discovered Lac Massawippi, which is just north of the U.S. border, and they built the remote and magnificent Manoir Bellechase as a place of escape, a place to play, and a place to hunt and kill game. With changing times, Manoir Bellechase eventually was abandoned, until it was purchased and restored as an exclusive retreat for those who could afford it.

The Finney family has chosen this retreat to have its annual family reunion, a historically difficult encounter for all as the result of the family’s legendary cruelty to one another. They are a dysfunctional family of the worst order. The father is long since deceased, and while he continues to influence everyone, it is his wife, the matriarch who now holds the real power, including the division of a vast inheritance. The oldest of four kids, Julia, had wisely abandoned the family many years before, but she has decided to return for this year’s event when her own marriage has ended and her ex-husband has gone to prison as a result of a famous financial scandal. This year, the family has decided to erect a statue to the father of the four children, so Julia has come for the unveiling of the statue. It’s Julia who is killed in the most mysterious manner when the huge statue falls on top of her, as if dad killed the daughter who had left the family.

The main plot and subplots are interwoven with skill by Penny. It is her use of the subplots which gives her characters such richness and depth, much more so that what we usually see in his genre. And, the quality of her writing is wonderful. In telling the story of Gamache’s father who was seen by many, including the Finneys as a coward, Penny revealed that while Gamache’s father had been an advocate of keeping Canada out of WWII, when he learned of the horrors in the Nazi concentration camps, he realized his stance on the war was wrong. Penny wrote, “My father got up in synagogues, churches, in public meetings, on the steps of the Assemblee Nationale, and he apologized. He spent years raising money and coordinating efforts to help refugees rebuild their lives. He sponsored a woman he’d met in Bergen-Belsen to come to Canada and live with us. Zora was her name. She became my grandmother, and raised me after my parents died. She taught me that life goes on, and that I had a choice. To lament what I no longer had or be grateful for what remained. I was fortunate to have a role model that I couldn’t squirm my way around. After all, how do you argue with the survivor of a death camp?”

If I’m rating Penny on a 5-star system, she gets all 5.

Trace by Warren Murphy

Devlin Tracy. A vodka-swilling wise ass Vegas resident trying to avoid running into his ex-wife and their shrill kids. He's an freelance insurance investigator with a hot girlfriend/blackjack dealer/part-time hooker. This old guy dies in a NJ hospital shortly after changing his will and turning over his estate to the doctor-owner. The family is seriously p.o'ed.

The insurance company CEO has a lifelong friend in the same hospital and want Trace to look in on him and his wife. Yeah, Trace is a jerk with a quick acerbic tongue, but he gets results and that's why insurance companies hire him. He manages to piss off most every person he meets as he asks questions of.

Like your investigator to be a smart ass jerk?  Elvis Cole does it better. This initial (1984) Devlin Trace book was OK, but I'm not all that sure it was enough to bring me back. Were I not a fan of Robert Crais' Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series, this might've been worth pursuing.

ECD

One Right Thing by Matthew Iden

One Right Thing by Matthew Iden is the third in the series featuring Marty Singer, retired DC homicide detective and cancer survivor.  Marty was a good detective but like any over committed homicide cop, there were cases that Marty wishes he could do over… either he didn’t do enough to solve the case or he stood by and watched an innocent man be convicted.  Now with his cancer to remind him of his mortality, these perceived indiscretions haunt him and redemption becomes a priority.

Marty is driving in rural Virginia near Cain’s Crossing when he sees a billboard picturing J.D. Hope with the caption, ‘J.D. Hope was murdered on May 6^th.  Do you know why?’ and a phone number.  Singer had arrested J.D. for murder more than twenty years earlier and testified against him at his trial.  J.D. was found guilty, sentenced to prison and served his time.  During the trial Singer was not 100% convinced that J.D. was guilty but as a detective you follow the evidence.  In this case, Singer later learned that his partner planted the incriminating evidence declaring that J.D. was guilty of something.

 

Marty calls the number on the billboard and learns from J.D.’s mother and sister that Cain’s Crossing is J.D.’s hometown and he had returned after prison only to be murdered.  J.D.’s kin think local authorities aren’t doing enough to solve the murder so they construct the billboard to solicit help.  Singer grasps at the chance for redemption but is not greeted warmly for his intervention.  The local cops tell him to butt out, the local hooligans attempt to intimidate him, and even J.D.’s mother appears not to trust him.  Marty learns J.D. had lived (and died) in a rundown motel on the edge of town.  Sorting through his personal effects, Marty discovers J.D. had been diagnosed with ALS and was working with the DEA to expose a major methamphetamine ring… searching for his own redemption… looking to do one right thing.  Now Marty has a new mission: find and destroy the drug traffickers, solve J.D’s murder, and vindicate his memory.  But that’s a tall order for a retired cop who is physically weakened by cancer therapy… and has no authority and no backup.

With One Right Thing, Matthew Iden has earned a place in my power rotation.  His writing style is very efficient… descriptions are vivid without being obsessive and plot lines are complex without unnecessary diversions.  His protagonist, Marty Singer is the right mix of machismo, empathy, and vulnerability to make him appealing and very likable.  I can’t wait to see how he’s doing in his next escapade.

Fade Away by Harlan Coben

Both East Coast Don and Midwest Dave have previously reviewed books by Harlan Coben with mixed reviews, some laudatory, some just average, but I thought I’d join the parade and check him out. He’s written at least 25 novels since 1995. Fade Away is a 1996 book and the third in his Myron Bolitar series which now numbers 10 books. Fade Away won both the Edgar and Shamus awards in 1997. Bolitar is an appealing character, a former high school and college basketball star who became a first round draft choice of the Boston Celtics. But, Bolitar suffered a severe knee injury during a pre-season game and never got to play a regular season NBA game. He wasted no time going to Harvard Law School and becoming a successful players’ agent. While his knee had mostly recovered after a couple years of dedicated rehabilitation, his playing was now limited to low-level weekly pickup games, until unexpectedly, the owner of the New Jersey Dragons offered him a contract. The story was that his long-time high school and college basketball foe, Greg Downing, had disappeared. Downing, one of two superstars on the Dragons, had also been a first round pick, but he had gone on to NBA greatness. Bolitar and Downing had more in common, including Downing’s wife, who had been Bolitar’s girlfriend until they broke up shortly before the career-ending injury. The owner of the Dragons thought Bolitar was just the right guy to find Downing, and since some intrigue among the Dragon teammates in Downing’s disappearance was possible, it was thought Bolitar’s best chance to find Downing would to be on the inside, as a player.

The reader gets to work his way through the crime novel which has lots of twists and false leads. There are complimentary subplots and enough sex and violence to satisfy the average fan of crime novels. Also, there are some well-written sections on Bolitar’s thoughts and feelings about the game, from his thoughts about what might have been to the nature of the characters who were playing. Overall, I’d rate this book as a classic airplane book – one that would entertain you on a cross country flight, but not one that would interfere with a nap or break your heart if you left it unfinished on the plane. It’s a B to B+ read. I’ll probably try another Coben book, but I have a reading queue right now that is fairly long and does not include another one of his. Maybe it’s hit and miss with Coben, which is why I chose one of his award winning books, so I’m disappointed I did not have a more favorable response.

Cyberionage by Michael P. Elias

There is good news and bad news about Cyberionage by Michael P. Elias. The good news is that the plot was mostly good. The bad news, there were large sections of the novel that felt amateurish. Given the title, I expected to read about technical details of cyberspace, and I definitely got that – not that I understood all of it. But, cyberspace geeks are not known for their endearing human qualities, and Elias’ protagonoist, Moti Kidron, was not different than that, so he was a difficult figure to connect to. Emotionally, he was flat. He was impressive intellectually, and his courage was remarkable. Like so many of the heroes that we favorably review, Moti was absolute in his morals and a rebel to his authority figures, and he took remarkable risks to defend his way of thinking. It is Kidron alone who prevents WWIII from breaking out, by infiltrating every important military security system in the world, and ordering the President of the U.S. what to do in the midst of this near nuclear crisis – but was it a believable story? In the end, something was missing, and the author does not get my recommendation.

Blueblood by Matthew Iden

Blueblood by Matthew Iden in the second in a series of crime novels featuring Marty Singer, retired DC homicide detective.  Marty’s 30 year career ended a year earlier after he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.  But he can’t quite leave the job behind or the cancer either for that matter.  In the previous book, A Reason to Live, Marty is called upon to protect the daughter of a murder victim.  That murder was one of his old cases from twelve years earlier.  Now Sam Bloch, a MPDC lieutenant in the narcotics branch enlists his help to investigate the murders of several area police officers, none from the same jurisdiction.  Interdepartmental politics are complicating any joint effort to solve the murders but Bloch expects Singer can streamline the process.  Meanwhile Marty learns his chemo treatments have failed to completely obliterate his cancer.  Grasping at the chance to give his life purpose, Marty decides to postpone the surgery that would partially remove his colon.

Singer’s investigation starts with undercover narc officer, Danny Garcia.  Garcia was shot in the head with a .22 then beaten post mortem.  The other victims include a beat cop from a sketchy Southeast DC suburb, an Arlington PD officer working gang related crimes, a Montgomery County patrolman, and a Rockville, MD cop… all similarly brutalized and murdered.  With little information forthcoming from the victim’s families, Singer starts poking around at the gangs in Southeastern DC.  He learns that Garcia was on the take, an action that could provoke the wide reach of the Salvadorian gangs.  But Garcia’s connection to the other victims is not obvious.  Some other motive has to be in play. Singer stirs the pot within the various departments, within the gangs, and within the victim’s families to see what ugly secrets spill out.

OK so Blueblood is not quite the caliber of A Reason to Live, the previous Matthew Iden novel which I raved about in an earlier review...  the plot not quite as clever, the prose not quite as polished, and Marty not quite as appealing.  Nonetheless, it offers a credible story, a likable character and an enjoyable quick paced read… a solid performance in my estimation.  I’m chalking up my mild disappointment to over expectation.  As for more from Matthew Iden, I’m in.