The Prisoner by Alex Berenson

Two seemingly unrelated tasks are at play. First, a Tunisian with substantial education in chemistry has been a loyal ISIS soldier for a couple years. He finagles a meeting with an ISIS honcho and convinces him that he can manufacture Sarin gas. 

Second, a simple extraction in the border between Turkey and Kush-held provinces goes wrong and two of the CIA’s best middle east operatives are ambushed. Rather than be captured and tortured, they both committed suicide. The powers that be on the seventh floor of Langley start doing some soul searching. ISIS must have a mole inside the CIA.

We all know that Guantanamo is just the most visible place for ‘detainees’ and that there are other off-book sites scattered around the globe. One is called The Castle in Bulgaria. At one time it was a castle, but it’s now one of those sites. And it’s been heavily remodeled for its current role in detaining middle east terrorists. The CIA suggested that the Bulgarians make sure that there was a prayer room in the remodel. What the Bulgarian’s didn’t tell the CIA is that they wired the place for sound to eavesdrop on conversations. And they heard a doozy. A mid-level commander in ISIS suggested that they’ve been receiving advance warning of various actions.

When you’ve been in the espionage business as long as John Wells, you develop lots of enemies and some good friends. Kirkov is the head of the Bulgarian security services and is one of John’s really good friends. He contacts Wells instead to the CIA because who knows who might receive his warning. Kirkov tells Wells and Wells contacts his former handler (and now the grandfatherly Shafer who is an annoying curmudgeon within Langley). They take this info to President ‘Vinny’ Duto (their former CIA boss) and get backhanded approval to try and set a trap to uncover the mole. Problem is no one in the CIA can know about it. No telling how high up the mole might be placed.

The trap requires some pretty sketchy undercover work by Wells. He must try to resurrect his history as an undercover agent in Al Qaeda, assume a false identity, hide in remote Pakistan, get captured by the US, undergo some rendition before getting transferred to The Castle. There he must gain the trust of the ISIS prisoner, try to wiggle some tidbit of information about the mole, alert Shafer, and then flush out the mole.

Everything comes to a head in Paris with an intricate plot developed by an previously unknown ISIS sympathizer who goes by the name of The Puma. One attack will trigger an outpouring of sympathy which will be followed by an even more devastating assault.

The book is a logical (or as logical as a thriller can be) buildup from first blood to initial awareness to plot to execution. But once Wells gets out of prison, Berenson throws the chase into overdrive by ramping up the tension and pace to a point where you might almost be breathless. I was. For my two cents, Berenson remains this is the real deal in political action thrillers. Relentless tension. Believable plot. Expert pacing. An absolute first rate espionage thriller that hits on all cylinders from first page to the light speed conclusion.

A must-read because Berenson delivers.

ECD

Heartbreak Hotel by Jonathan Kellerman

Heartbreak Hotel is #32 in Jonathan Kellerman’s long list of mysteries featuring Dr. Alex Delaware and Lt. Milo Sturgis, the eccentric duo of crime solvers in LA.  Child psychologist, Dr. Delaware is summoned by 99 year old, Thalia Mars to her long term home in the aging but once luxurious Aventura Hotel.  Alex finds Thalia witty and charming and is intrigued to learn she is a major donor to Western Pediatric Medical Center where he interned years earlier.  But Dr. Delaware observes that Thalia’s interest in psychology is more than philanthropic and agrees to a second session the following day.   When he shows up for the appointment, paramedics are on the scene.  Thalia has expired in her bed overnight presumably of natural causes but Alex’s gut tells him to investigate.  He impulsively calls his best friend Milo and expresses his suspicion of murder.  The physical evidence supports Alex’s suspicion so he and Milo begin to interview Thalia’s known acquaintances.  The trail reveals that Thalia was a retired accountant for the county whose financial status far exceeded her visible means of support.  Further research uncovers a former romance between Thalia and a gangster from the Bugsy Siegel era.  But with no living relatives and an estate willed to Western Pediatric Medical Center, who could possibly benefit from Thalia’s death?  Only Dr. Delaware’s professional intuition and tenacity can lead them to the killer.

This isn’t a particularly momentous work for Kellerman.  No character development at all for the regulars but after thirty two books, none needed.  As with all Kellerman books, the thrill is in the journey.  Slowly peeling back the skin of the onion to discover the heart wasn’t as interesting as the consequences of removing each piece of skin.  Another good read from one of my top ten authors.

Bum Luck by Paul Levine

#12 in the continuing misadventures of former Miami Dolphins suicide squad hitter, aka 'wrong way Lassiter', now a solo (mostly) lawyer in Dade County. Remember the old joke, "what do you call the person who graduated last in med school? Doctor." Jake is sort of the lawyer version. "What do you call the person who finally passed the bar on the 4th try? Counselor."

Jake may talk a big game about justice, but when the gavel strikes, he is all about winning. And he just won. Got Marcus "Thunder" Thurston acquitted of murdering his wife. Thunder is a Florida native, Florida State All-American running back and now with the Dolphins. Rich beyond words. Endorsements out the wazoo. Penthouse apartment, a posse, and half naked bimbos playing beach volleyball in his penthouse. Said this 220 pound package of muscle feared for his life when his wife came at him with a pocketknife. So he 'stood his ground' and his wife is shot five times. Florida's 'stand your ground' law was the meat of Jake's defense of Thunder Thurston. Beat the State's homicide trial attorney Suzie (or was it Sallie?) Strychnine who needed a win to help propel her run for the State's top attorney office.

And right after the verdict was announced, Jake decided that Thunder Thurston has to die.

Early middle age Jake is mellowing a bit. Winning is giving way to 'truth, justice, and redemption.' And no better way to slide into this next stage of his life than to kill his most recent and famous client.

Being solo means the money cycles in like a sine wave. And now he's a bit low on funds. A firm he got fired from about 10yr ago calls and offers his job back along with a cushy assignment to get a summary judgment against an insurance company tossed.  Seems this insurance company was balking at paying out after the death of a client. The policy has a clause that a suicide within 12 months of activating the policy leads to no payout. The MMA mom of two kids took a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol at around 9-10pm on the 364th day of the policy and died early the next morning. Pretty clear cut. The 2 kids are S.O.L. Should be an easy win for Jake.

As Jake is reading over the timeline of the client's last year, he starts to see a pattern of behavior that suggests she was acting more erratically with each month. During the discovery process, Jake lets it slip that this MMA brawler was exhibiting all the classic signs of post-concussion syndrome and was probably unable to make the conscious decision to take her own life; her life was slipping away while the tau protein starts to assemble in her brain leading to CTE. With the help of a head injury expert witness, a new strategy forms.

Truth, justice. redemption.

And there is some truth, justice and redemption coming Thunder Thurston's way courtesy of Jake Lassiter.

While there are 12 Jake Lassiter books, this is the 2nd in the Lassiter, Solomon and Lord saga (and 4 Solomon and Lord books). They play the straight man (Solomon)/woman (Lord) to Jake's ever-present sarcasm. As Jake reminds them, he's only there to be close to Lord,but in reality, the three of them are very close and always watching each other's six even when they are facing off against each other in court.

An easy read, the length of which will distract you during a coast-coast flight. A lot of fun. As one reviewer said, 'a cross between Moonlighting and Night Court.' And that's an apt description. Can't imagine anyone looking for a fun escape would be disappointed. Having read a couple Lassiter books, I think I want to track down the first Lassiter book, To Speak for The Dead.

ECD

available March 28, 2017

Vicious Circle

Vicious Circle is CJ Box’s 24^th novel and the 17th book in the saga of Joe Pickett, a Wyoming Game Warden. While this is a novel that could be read without having read the prior Pickett novels, I think the best enjoyment comes from having gone through the character development of Joe, his family, and the bad guys as written in the prior books. In this one, Box furthers the story of the hostility and violence between Joe and the sociopath Dallas Cates and Dallas’ crazy mother. Dallas has been released from prison for his prior crimes and aims for his revenge at Joe and his family. Box brings back the unparalleled outdoorsman Nate Romanowski and Joe’s mother-in-law and ultimate gold digger Missy, the latter who is now married to Marcus Hand, Box’s version of the famous Wyoming lawyer, Gerry Spence, who gets Dallas out of jail another time. Vicious Circle has another great plot!

If you are a fan of crime novels, read CJ Box. He is one of the 10 guys in my power rotation of authors, and he has kept this series thriving with another A+ thriller. Thanks to NetGalley for this prepublication read. The book is due out in 10 days, on 3/21/17.

The Cutaway by Christina Kovac

Evelyn (Evie) Carney had just told her just-back-from-deployment husband that she was leaving him.  In tears, she leaves the Georgetown restaurant to walk down M Street. Sunday night so not many people out to notice her.  She was supposed to call on her lover, a big time prosecutor in line to be the US Attorney for Washington, DC, but didn't. He got worried and called the DC Metro cops.

Evie Carney is missing.

Evie Carney. Bottom on the rung associate hired as a favor by a Paige Linden, partner at Simmons, McFadden & Ryan. One of those fancy, megabuck firms that lunch with sitting Senators, cocktails with members of the SCOTUS, managers of campaign donations that buy influence from judges and congressmen/women said funds help get elected.

Poor Evie? Hey, she managed to use an Ivy law degree to get in on the bottom floor of big-time business of law in the shadows of the most powerful city on earth. I guess it was those long deployments her husband had to do that left Evie maybe a bit lonely. Paige thought Evie and Ian might hit it off and introduced them.

The morning editorial briefing at a TV news station in DC includes a note about a young female attorney is missing and little else. Virginia Knightly produces the dinner and 11p news shows. She and her anchor, Ben Pearce, have worked together for some time and are a good team. For reasons even she can't verbalize, Virginia begins to take Evie's disappearance and run with it despite what her station manager says.

Virginia doggedly backtracks Evie's last couple hours prior to that fateful dinner. Finding little, she starts digging into Evie's history in DC, which hadn't been all that long. Virginia's video team uncover archived footage from the previous summer where Evie is seen in the background. Fundraisers, cocktail hours, courthouse steps, Evie pops up near someone with great power. Running in some fancy circles for the most junior of associates at SM&R.

Virginia interviews and re-interviews tangential players in this drama, sometimes making a note that takes her all directions of the DC compass. From her how newsroom to the DC Metro detectives (one of whom is an old flame), the DC attorney's office, other TV stations then it's on to friends, neighbors, co-workers a bit down the DC food chain. Evie's gotten herself mixed up in something far more dangerous that cheating on her husband.

I remember thinking while reading this, "is this was TV news producers do for a living?'' Sure, Virginia had a history as a field reporter and journalist so digging is in her DNA. If this is what producers do, I need to give them some serious props.

This is Christina Kovac's first novel after nearly 20 years work in the journalistic trenches in the DC area and the book sure does offer a reality that only one in the biz would know. The detail of the investigative news process, station politics, legal finagling and relationships is impressive indeed. For me, this book tics a lot of items on my list: DC based-check, murder mystery-check, bulldog investigative journalist-check, legal thriller-check.

Lot to like about this. Sure do hope Kovac isn't a one & done.

Available March 21, 2017

ECD

Untitled by Jeff Garvin

I just finished a draft of Jeff Garvin’s second novel. The book is for young adults and is still untitled. I’m not authorized to say much except that I’m excited about this one. Jeff’s first book was a best seller in the young adult genre. Sorry, but you’ll just have to wait – I’m not sure when this is due for publication. I can tell you that chapter one is spellbinding. I was immediately hooked and had to find out what happened to Jeff’s protagonist and the associated characters.