JULY 2021 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY - 6 OF THE BEST!

 A few more to look forward to at some point ....

Ben Sanders - Sometimes at Night (2021) - Net Galley review copy

Third in series I think and I've not read any of the others, but so what. Looks good.

When a former NYPD colleague is shot dead in front of him, private investigator Marshall Grade discovers there’s far more to the killing than meets the eye.

Ray Vialoux is in trouble. Big trouble. And he needs Marshall Grade’s help.

Reluctantly, Grade agrees to meet. Over dinner in a Brooklyn restaurant, he learns that his former NYPD colleague owes money – a lot of money – to the wrong people. But the conversation is cut short by gunfire, and suddenly Ray is lying dead on the restaurant floor.

As Marshall investigates the circumstances leading up to the murder, tracking down the drug dealers, bag men, bent cops and mob players within Ray’s orbit, it becomes clear there’s far more to the killing than a gambling debt. Just who is responsible for Vialoux’s death . . . and why? What secrets are his family hiding? And can Marshall find the answers before his own history marks him as the prime suspect?

Tom Larsen - Going South (2021) - review copy from Dark Edge Press

Another intriguing addition to the collection courtesy of a generous publisher. Another new author to discover.

Harry wants out. The daily grind has ground him down and his dreams are fading fast. Desperate times call for desperate measures and as a last-ditch resort he fakes his own death to claim on the insurance planning to set himself up on Easy Street. Wife Lena has her doubts. Harry’s always had a hand in the hustle, but going for broke was never his style. She goes along for the ride just to see how far he’ll take it, down Mexico way, returning “widowed” and soon-to-be wealthy, waits out the weeks till they can reunite. Only Harry sounds funny on the phone. And she knows how he gets when he’s been drinking. Then there’s the irreversible nature of death to consider. Harry’s scheme is seamless but the schemer has a flaw, and instead of getting what he wants might just get what he deserves.

Tom Barber - Blackout (2013) - Amazon purchase

Confession time. Tom Barber is one of those authors (and there are more than a few) whose books I seem to buy but never actually read. This is the 3rd in a series of 12 so far. I hope to get to them one day!

Young counter-terrorist cop Sam Archer arrives for work at the Armed Response Unit expecting a quiet day.

But unbeknownst to him, a storm is coming.

Three men have already been killed that morning. One committed suicide by the River Thames. Another was strangled in his car in Washington D.C. And the third was shot in the face in his high-rise New York apartment as he slept. The deaths seem random, thousands of miles apart. But they are all connected. By a shocking event fifteen years ago.

And this is only the beginning.

Archer, Chalky and the rest of the Unit suddenly find themselves plunged into a ferocious and violent confrontation, fighting for their lives. The enemy they are up against are brutal, highly trained, well-armed and anonymous. No one knows where they have come from. No one seems to know who they are.

But they have a vendetta. They will never forgive or forget, or show mercy.

And for some reason, they’re hell-bent on killing ten specific people before the end of the day.

As the Unit tries to find out who these killers are and locate the remaining targets so they can protect them, it becomes a race against time to see who can get there first. As the counter-terrorist unit and the vengeful enemy come up against each other all over the city, Archer and the team soon realise two things.

This enemy is more proficient and deadly than any they've ever encountered.

And one of their own ARU men is on the extermination list.

Phillip DePoy - Sammy Two Shoes (2021) - Net Galley review copy

Another series book (#5) and I've not read any of the preceding titles. I do like books set and written in the 70s. 

Amateur sleuth and Child Protective Officer Foggy Moscowitz is back in New York, but his visit leads to stunning revelations – and murder – when he runs into his old friend, Sammy Two Shoes.

1976. Foggy Moscowitz has decided to pay his hometown of New York a visit and soon bumps into his old friend, Sammy ‘Two Shoes’ Cohen. Sammy wants a favor – Emory Brewster, an actor in an all-female production of Hamlet, is sending threatening notes to Sammy’s girlfriend and the play’s stage manager, Phoebe Peabody, and Sammy asks Foggy to speak to her. But before he has a chance, Emory is brutally murdered backstage and Phoebe is arrested. The other actors all despised Emory, but as Foggy strives to prove Phoebe’s innocence, Sammy stuns him with an astonishing revelation. Is he telling the truth, or is there more to the story?

Foggy is reluctantly pulled back into New York’s criminal underworld as he uncovers more about Emory Brewster. Can he stay alive long enough to catch her killer?

Mike McCrary - The Unstable One (2020) - Amazon purchase

I've enjoyed Mike McCrary's books in the past, but not for a while. 

Genuinely Dangerous, Getting Ugly and a few of his short stories. He writes them faster than I can read them.

Forced into a mind that isn’t his own.

Devoted family man Noah Alderson struggles to support his wife and kids. After a tragic car crash, he wakes up alone in a cheap motel room with no memory. There is only a note naming him simply – Markus Murphy. When he’s attacked, he’s shocked to discover he’s not what he used to be. He’s developed a new set of skills…the skills of a trained killer.

Caught in a deadly race to hunt down the truth, he slips in and out of consciousness, never knowing what this new reality has in store for him.

Can he expose the sinister plot that has taken his family from him?

Will he find out who – or what – he’s become before it’s too late?

The Unstable One is the first book in this exciting near-future thriller series. If you like breathtaking twists and page-turning action you won't be able to put down the addictive Markus Murphy series.

"The pace and drive of Mark Dawson and Mark Greaney with characters that are fully Mike McCrary."

Blair Denholm - Trick Shot (2021) - review copy courtesy of author

Latest in Blair Denholm's Jack Lisbon series. Shot Clock, Kill Shot and Fighting Dirty have all been enjoyed before. As well as some of the author's non-Lisbon books.

A blood-soaked body in a basement

A high-ranking police officer with dark secrets

A town full of suspects

And Jack Lisbon, a detective who stops at nothing to uncover the truth.

When a prominent pool hall owner is found brutally slain in his own home, Yorkville's Criminal Investigation Branch swoops into action.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police is piling the pressure on Detective Lisbon and his team. With suspicions the crime has links to terrorism and a meeting of world leaders about to kick off, solving the case is now an urgent priority.

But is the killer really linked to a terrorist organization? Or does the homicide have nothing to do with national security at all?

With the line of suspects stretching out the door, Jack and his partner Detective Claudia Taylor must pull out all stops to unravel this baffling crime.

Can Jack Lisbon solve the case in time to avert a disaster? Or will the Trick Shot mystery snooker him completely?

If you’re a fan of fast-paced thrillers by James Patterson, David Baldacci and Tess Gerritsen, action-packed Trick Shot will keep you reading into the night.