thriller

Louise Penny: The Black Wolf

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Three Pines #20

Louise Penny’s The Black Wolf is a very direct sequel to The Grey Wolf, the previous instalment in Penny’s Inspector Gamache series. Much like its predecessor, The Black Wolf is firmly in the political thriller genre, not usual for most of the series, and dives deep into themes of environmentalism, Canadian and American politics, and the current state of our corner of the world. It is, in other words, incredibly topical and sees Gamache and Penny’s familiar cast embroiled in large scale conflict once again. read more

Cara Hunter: Making a Killing

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DI Adam Fawley #7

If you haven’t read the first book in this series, Close to Home, please, read no further.  Instead, go find a copy, and get as hooked on DI Adam Fawley as I am.  Then, get caught up (it will only take a couple of days, I guarantee it) and dive into this one.  Fawley is a detective in Oxford, England, and author Hunter supplies a character list at the beginning of each book, golden age style.  It is helpful, as there are a lot of characters, and while the police characters are important, in Hunter’s universe, story is all.  So pull up a seat. read more

J.M. Cannon: The Lost Girls

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This book is only available in a digital format.

The Lost Girls by J.M. Canon, also known as The Flash Girls, comes in a few editions. I personally read it as in eBook, and did note that there were some layout issues with the version I read to review. It’s likely that these issues have been fixed in the official version, but there were sometimes distracting from the story. Regardless, this was a solid thriller.

The story follows Anna, a reporter with a rough upbringing, whose best friend Sylvie went missing years ago. Anna has spent her life trying to get justice for Sylvie, and to find her, alongside the other “Flash Girls.”  Despite the evidence of three girls disappearing after being stalked, and seeing the flash of a camera before they went missing, no one else believes there is a serial killer among them. Anna was the only one to coin and use the term “Flash Girls”. read more

Laurie L. Dove: Mask of the Deer Woman

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Debut

Laurie Dove’s debut novel, Mask of the Deer Woman, is a mystery centering on the many missing and murdered indigenous women who have vanished throughout the southwest and beyond. There have been several books on this topic, recently William Kent Krueger’s Spirit Crossing and Vanessa Lillie’s Blood Sisters, as well as a searing television show, True Detective: Night Country. Dove frames her story with a strong and troubled female character.  Carrie Starr, an ex-Chicago cop, has made her way to her long ago childhood home, Oklahoma, where she has ties to the rez and is the newly appointed Federal Marshal for the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). read more