All The Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer

Five years ago, a commercial flight landed in Vienna, but upon touchdown, four terrorists on board stopped the plane far from the terminal and, with over 120 hostages, demanded release of comrades in arms. It did not end well.

Today, Henry Pelham has been tasked with following up on a lead that has just surfaced. By dumb luck, an informant for the US was on board and, using his burner phone, was texting out what was happening up until the kidnappers discovered his presence, dragged him to the doorway, executed him and tossed him to the tarmac. 

Henry was part of the CIA’s Vienna station that day and, like everyone in the office, was running around like mad trying to find a way to resolve this peacefully. With this new information, his boss has him interviewing former co-workers in an attempt to determine if the leak came from within their own ranks. He’s interviewed most everyone and hit dead ends. One more to interview. Celia Favreau, nee Harrison at the time. Henry’s flame when both were posted in Vienna.

Celia and Henry were set to move in together when the plane was commandeered. But she broke it off when the siege ended and shortly afterward, took up with a General Motors exec, got married, quit the service and moved to Carmel, CA to raise a family. Harry has made an appointment to have dinner with Celia in Carmel so they can go over details from that awful day five years previous.

The small restaurant is empty except for a lone diner; late dinners midweek in Carmel tend to be pretty private affairs. Henry and Celia, because of or in spite of their previous relationship do a bit of a tap dance with each other to see what each remembers from that day, much of which revolves around a single phone call from a section chief’s phone that day. No one seems to know who made the call or who was actually on the other end of the call. The only thing known is the call was from a CIA line to Amman, Jordan. Shortly afterwards, the unfortunate asset was unceremoniously tossed to the tarmac. After action reports had no mention of the phone call.

Steinhauer catapulted into my power rotation with The Tourist back in 2009 and his followups, An American Spy, and The Nearest Exit were also top drawer espionage thrillers in the mold of the greats like LeCarre and Greene. Read all his earlier efforts, too, that were mostly based in an unnamed Eastern European country. Steinhauer is an exceptionally skilled writer of traditional espionage novels set in current circumstances. 

Steinhauer's latest, All The Old Knives, takes a different slant on the theme. Despite my comments above, this book takes place almost entirely over dinner and supplemented with the occasional flashback to the awful day. The delicate and cagy exchanges between Celia and Henry are what this book is all about and Steinhauer pulls it off in style with periodic reveals and unsuspected twists in a conversation between two spooks, both skilled in manipulation and deception. 

The acknowledgements page (you do read those, don’t you? You should) says that Steinhauer was fascinated by a Masterpiece presentation of a story called The Song of Lunch, where the entire show took place during a meal. It got him wondering if he could do the same in his genre. The result is a short book, longer than a novella, but certainly shorter than his other titles - easily read on a morning of any weekend. I’d say he was successful. 

East Coast Don

Come to Grief

I’ve once again dipped slightly into the past for this author. Dick Francis was a prolific writer, having penned 40 best-selling novels between 1957 and his death in 2010. Francis was an English steeplechase jockey who won over 350 races and was England’s champion jockey in the 1953-54 season. He retired to become a full-time writer. He actually won three Edgar Awards, including one for this novel, so there’s no doubt that this man knows how to write a crime novel. Come to Grief was published in 1996 and was one of a series of novels about his investigator and protagonist, Sid Halley.

In this book, Francis captured my interest in the first three sentences in which he introduced himself and announced that he put his famous and well-loved friend on trial, thus becoming a despicable character himself. Halley and his friend, Ellis Quint, were both retired jockeys of great fame, but Quint had gone on to become a nationally known sports broadcaster. From the outset, it seemed inevitable that Sid would triumph, but it was impossible to fathom how that might come about given the hurdles that were present because of the nature of the case, the character of Quint, and his Halley’s uncompromising ethics. The crimes were brutal, not because of human torture, although there was enough of that, but because of the ugly harm that was being done to animals, specifically race horses. Someone was chopping off the legs of these precious animals. How could Quint possibly have been responsible for such brutality.

Francis’ character development is what makes this work so outstanding. But, the plot was also binding, and there were surprises right to the last chapter. This books gets my strong recommendation.

Broken Shield by J.D. Rhoades

In another time, Maddie Underhill would’ve been considered the retired schoolmarm. Right now, she and her grandson are cleaning up after a storm. A huge summer thunderstorm rolled through Gibson County, NC after ripping up Tennessee with a number of destructive tornadoes, especially around Chattanooga. While sweeping up, her grandson picks up what looks to be part of a photo and shows his grandmother. She studies it closely before running inside to call the sheriff. 

She gets Tim Buckthorn on the horn who, when he arrives agrees with Maddie’s discovery. It looks to be a girl who is bound to a chair, gagged, bruised with a disembodied hand holding the front page of a newspaper . . . 

POL. In cop-speak: proof of life. 

He quickly establishes that the newspaper was from the Atlanta Constitution, 2 days ago. Kidnappings get the FBI involved. The return call is from a Charlotte agent he dealt with in Breaking Cover Joe Wolf and his chip-on-her-shoulder partner Leila Dushane. 

First order of business: where. The storm obviously picked up debris and blew the pic to Maddie’s front yard. A number of bits of data fall into place suggesting the Chattanooga area. Tim’s brother-in-law is a local developer with his own plane. 

Turns out, the girl’s dad has gambling debts and is in deep with a group that broke away from the infamous Dixie Mafia headed by the aging Lamp Monroe, centered near Biloxi. To apply pressure, Lamp has his henchman Sean Donovan (a former IRA bomber) snatch the girl. He stashes the girl in the basement of a safe house owned by Lamp’s grandson/heir apparent. But the house was ground zero for a tornado that flattens the house sending debris across the storm’s path. 

Joe, Leila, and Tim track down the house and come on Sean and Lamps grandson trying to dig out the girl. The ensuing fight leaves Lamp with one less heir, Sean on the run, but the girl is safe. 

Lamp ain’t happy. No one messes with family, so he sends Sean out to clean up loose ends. And does so by leaving a trail of bodies as he heads to Pine Lake, NC to enact some Mississippi-style justice on Tim and his FBI partners. 

And . . . that’s, essentially, the preamble. Once Sean strikes Pine Lake, Tim decides to return the favor on Sean and Lamp. Tim’s reason for living was to protect his family and his town and he had failed to do so. The only way left is a showdown that may well end up being suicide by crook.

My library had notified me that a power rotation author’s newest (All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer) was in. The table by the door had a collection of NC authors, including this one, so I grabbed it. Rhoades is a lawyer in rural NC who writes in an obscure genre called Redneck Noir. I’ve read all his books, love this genre and wish he had more titles. How could you not like the “Redneck Noir” genre? He had sort of gone off the print grid for a while. His 3 most recent books had been e-books only. This print version looks to be self-published. Surprisingly, it’s not mentioned on his website, but is available on Amazon and is reviewed on Goodreads. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this and hope J.D. doesn’t stay so far under the radar. Characters, plot, pacing, dialogue, locations all work for me. Tired of the usual police procedural? Courtroom drama? International thriller? Do yourself a favor and do your best to find any of the titles by this  small town lawyer. To borrow a line from NFL All-Pro Chris Carter: “C’mon, man.” Redneck Noir. 

East Coast Don

Trunk Music by Michael Connelly

Trunk Music is the 5^th of 19 Harry Bosch books, written in 2002. Anthony N. Aliso, also known as Tony, was the owner of TNA (not tits and ass) Productions in Hollywood, and he was murdered. He was killed in the trunk of his Rolls Royce, two shots in the back of the head, also called “Trunk Music.” It looks like a mob hit. Tony had traveled back and forth between his office in Hollywood and the casinos in Las Vegas, and he had been living a high live style at the same time his mostly porn movies were far from being blockbusters. It turns out he was using the seedy end of the film business as a way to launder money for the bad guys. The potential killers were numerous: the mob, Tony’s wife, his girlfriend, and numerous people that he had cheated over the years. Harry was just back on the homicide squad following an involuntary leave of absence, and of course there was a territorial matter over who would get to work the crime: the FBI, the Organized Crime Intelligence Division, or Harry and his team. The plot gets complicated when in the process of his investigation, Harry runs into his old girlfriend Eleanor Wish, who just happens to be a former FBI agent who was convicted of a felony and has been trying to rebuild her life as a card player. As a cop, Harry wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with convicted felons, but he couldn’t help himself. Also, there was the guy who looked like he was the likely murderer, but he was an undercover federal agent who had been trying to get the goods on Tony before the murder. It would have helped if Harry had known he was on the right side of the law. The book is a bit convoluted, and this was not Connelly at his finest, but it was still a decent read and when Connelly is not at his finest, he’s still better than most.

Twelve Days by Alex Berenson

And this was what I was waiting for . . . don't this short review fool you.

Word of warning. Where The Counterfeit Agent left off, Twelve Days continues almost immediately. My advice is to read The Counterfeit Agent first before picking this up. Too many details.

John Wells has tracked the highly enriched uranium, that was the primary issue in the previous book, and the data suggests that the Iranian's first nuclear bomb would be ready is very short order. The American security apparatus' interpretation  has convinced the Joint Chiefs and the President who now issues the order to prepare for war. Get the military on the Iranian borders and wait for the attack order. The President has told the world that the Iranian government will open their nuclear facilities peacefully or in twelve days, the Americans will forcibly open them and leave nothing but dust in their wake.

Wells, Senator Vinny Duto (former DCI), and Elis Shafer (aging spook, all from the previous book) are still trying to track the source of the HEU and who, if it isn't the Iranians, is behind this insanity. The US is being taunted. Three passenger jets are blown out of the sky. Again, it appears that Iran is behind the attacks.

Wells crisscrosses the Middle East, eastern Europe, Russia, and South Africa following clues (and leaving bodies) to who is behind the plot and the source of the HEU. At each stop, he experiences the espionage version of 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. And all the while a clock is ticking towards the Presidential deadline.

For those who aren't Berenson converts . . . you really should be. Since his outstanding rookie effort, The Faithful Spy, Berenson has ratcheted up the tension with each John Wells book (now up to 9). Absolutely first rate thrillers. On a par with the best thriller writers of today. So if you are up to 8 Berenson books, prepare for #9. You won't be sorry. If you are new to Berenson, start with his first. Once hooked, it'll be a quick ride through Berenson's catalogue. Trust me.

East Coast Don

Wired by Douglas E. Richards

Kira Miller’s life has been one of extremes - high school prodigy, track star, graduated at 15. Other extreme – 2 dead parents, 1 dead brother. Post high school? Enrolled at Stanford and went straight through to her PhD in neuromolecular biology. Now employed at a San Diego biotech company. On the fast track to greatness until the owner is found dead, then a PI is found dead.

 

David Desh is an emotionally wounded Iraqi vet who, before a massacre, was one of the top Delta operatives. Now he oversees a security firm. The army pulls him back asking him to look into this brilliant, but potentially sociopathic, woman. Word is she is in contact with Islamic terrorist to release a biological virus that could decimate the planet.

Desh has to track someone who may not have classic tradecraft, but certainly can outthink any adversary she faces. Once Desh catches up with Kira (more accurately, the reverse), Kira starts to reveal what she is really doing. She has figured out two things: first, she has the formula that temporally increase intelligence by, at the least, double. She has also figured out the genetics behind longevity, being able to increase the life span, also be double.

Now Desh doesn’t buy this completely, but slowly comes around to believe her when he see the effectiveness of her intellectual ‘enhancements” first hand. Too many people are after her, but just who is the problem. Islamists? Some megalomaniac? Our own government? And most importantly, what would anyone do with what she’s developed?

This was a book to kill time. A free download based on a BookBub.com offer; something to read while I waited for a more promising book to rise to the top of my request queue at the city library. It was OK. Nothing to shout about. Not an entire waste of time.  Guess I got what I paid for.

East Coast Don

Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon

Sidney Sheldon is listed as the seventh best selling fiction writer ever, and none of his books have been previously reviewed in this blog – what a significant omission. After a prolific career writing musicals, screenplays, and television shows (which earned him a Tony Award and an Oscar, and a nomination for an Emmy), he turned to fiction writing after he turned 50. He was subsequently nominated for an Edgar Award for his first novel in 1970, The Naked Face. He wrote 18 novels between 1970 and 2004, and he died in 2007. Rage of Angels was his fifth novel, published in 1980 and was one of his most famous works.

Rage of Angels is a classic story about love and power. Jennifer Parker was a newly minted attorney who was hired by the Robert Di Silva, the District Attorney for the County of New York. She was thrust into the trial that Di Silva had long waited for. She was only there as an errand runner, a gofer. Michael Moretti was the head of the most powerful Mafia family in New York, and Di Silva finally had an informant that would put Moretti away for life. After a morning on the witness stand when Camillo Stela ratted out Moretti, there was a lunch break before the cross examination could occur. In the courtroom, a man seemed to break away from the group with Di Silva and handed Parker an envelope for Stela with instructions that it contained information from Di Silva that he wanted Stela to review before the start of the afternoon session. She was too trusting and was only able to get the envelope to Stela because she was with the DA, and when Stela opened it, he found a dead cannery. The message was clear, that Stela was not safe anywhere, and he refused to submit to cross examination. A mistrial was declared and Moretti was free. Di Silva was furious and he assumed Parker had been paid off, not that she was simply too naïve to have known better. His attempt to get her disbarred was unsuccessful, only because of the honest investigation of another rising legal star, Adam Warner. So she began her legal career at the lowest level possible since no firm would hire her. But, she was a talented and resourceful woman, and she would gradually rise to prominence, time and again successfully defending people against Di Silva who worked tirelessly to find a way to get her.

Meanwhile, Warner was on his way to become Senator, and eventually President, but he was attracted to Parker. The problem was that he was married. Moretti also wanted to have a relationship with her, but she would have nothing to do with him, at first. Di Silva continued his long career as New York’s DA. This was a story of their intertwined lives. It’s a fast paced book, very difficult to put down. It depicted the depth to which the Mafia had infiltrated all aspects of life in New York.

In some ways, the story is a bit dated, and perhaps that’s because we have all been exposed to so much of Sheldon’s work: ten movies including Easter Parade, Annie Get Your Gun; nine television shows including The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie; six Broadway plays; and 18 novels. For the most part, I was able to anticipate the plot as it unfolded although I was surprised to what happened to some of the main characters. Still, the character development was skillful. The booked grabbed me and I would gladly read another Sidney Sheldon book. If had been reading this much fiction during the 70s and 80s, I surely would have read all of his books.