KN Magazine: Reviews
The List by J.A. Konrath / Review by Jim Biggs
Book of the Day
All good thrillers have a murder, a mystery, and a conspiracy. The List by J.A. Konrath is no exception. The tale begins with a wonderfully gruesome murder, a curious tattoo, and a late-night phone call to a senator that must behind it all.
The decapitated and de-digited body of librarian Tom Jessup had been discovered (the woman living in the apartment below noticed blood seeping through her ceiling and called 911). Detectives Tom Mankowski and Roy Lewis are in charge at the murder scene. They find the head, note that it appears to have been removed in one fell swoop and that the stumps of the fingers are tourniquet-ed with twist ties. But the one discovery that brings this case home for Mankowski is a tattoo of the number 7 on the victims left heel. For Mankowski also has a tattoo on the heel of his left foot–the number 5. He has had it his whole life and has no idea where it came from or what it might mean. Meanwhile, in California, a film executive, Joan DeVilliers is shaken by a voice message from someone who has scheduled her tattoo removal for that evening. Joan does have a tattoo–the number 2 on the heel of her left foot. But she is sure no one knows about it (she doesn't even know where it came from) and she never scheduled its removal. But this is just the prelude to the horrific scene that awaits her at home.
Part mystery, part horror, part comedy, The List reads like a Lethal Weapon movie script written by Stephen King. It is fast paced and fun! Okay, maybe the premise is a little far-fetched, but that’s ok. There is a perfectly reasonable (albeit maybe not scientifically plausible) explanation for it all. It is like an extended late night "what if ..." debate with good friends over a few beers. The characters are well crafted and quickly feel like old friends. The villains are very creative and perfectly flawed so as to not garner even one iota of your sympathy. So, go exercise your suspended disbelief and hang on. It is well worth the ride. There are 12 more books in The Konrath Horror Collective and I can’t wait to read them all.
J.A. Konrath is a Guests of Honor at the 2018 Killer Nashville Writers’ Conference if you’d like to meet the man in person!
Operator Down by Brad Taylor / Review by G. Robert Frazier
Operator Down (Pike Logan Book 12)
By Brad Taylor
Dutton
$27.00
ISBN 978-1101984819
Publication Date: January 9, 2018
An American arms dealer trying to move nuclear weapons components and a planned coup in a small South African country intersect in Brad Taylor’s newest thriller, Operator Down. But it’s the kidnapping of former Israeli agent Aaron Bergman that really ups the ante for Taskforce member Pike Logan and company.
Logan, as usual, is calm, cool, and calculating regardless of the circumstances and the odds against him. He takes great care in planning each action and subsequent reaction. What he can’t plan for, however, is the desperate, and at times reckless, actions of Aaron’s partner, Shoshana, who is hell-bent to rescue him, consequences be damned.
If Logan can’t control her temper, the whole mission and Aaron’s life itself could be at risk.
Taylor, who is a retired Special Forces operative, draws on his wealth of firsthand U.S. Army experience to weave another fast-paced, action-packed entry in the Pike Logan series. The author loads up the reader on plenty of Army jargon, technical know-how, and intelligence agency acronyms, but always manages to keep the plot moving. Aaron’s plight and Shoshana’s desperation add an emotional weight to the novel like few other books in the series.
Of course, there’s never any doubt about the outcome – we know Logan’s team will prevent the nuclear sale, we figure they’ll settle the coup one way or another, and we expect him to save Aaron, who has become one of the series’ most popular characters. But it’s fun getting there all the same.
That’s a credit to Taylor’s ability to craft an entertaining page-turner to keep you up at night -- though it wouldn’t hurt to throw in a few serious setbacks once in a while. Oh, well, maybe next time.
When he’s not working on his own novel or screenplays, G. Robert Frazier writes about other writers and their works on his blog and other sites such as BookPage and BloggingforBooks. He has served as a script reader for both the Austin Film Festival and Nashville Film Festival screenwriting competitions and is a member of the Tennessee Screenwriting Association. He used to write and edit stories for several newspapers in the Nashville area and he once won a flash fiction contest in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, so there’s that.
Cold Water by Samuel Parker / Review by Jim Biggs
Coldwater
By Samuel Parker
Revell
$14.99
ISBN 978-0800727345
Publication Date: January 2, 2018
Coldwater by Samuel Parker is not a book for the faint of heart. The last time I was so engrossed in the storyline from the very start was when I read John Grisham’s A Time to Kill. My heart was racing and I couldn’t read the pages fast enough. With such an intense beginning I wondered if Parker was going to keep the pressure on—and wondered if I could bear it if he did. I certainly don’t want to reveal too much but suffice it to say that he does and I did (but it was close).
This is the story of Michael, a man newly released from the penal system that has returned to the town he grew up in and the vacant house he had inherited from his parents. But the town’s people do not want Michael living there any more than Michael wants to be there. But we all have our cross to bear.
There is a fair amount of violence in the book—and a few scenes are pretty disturbing, but there isn’t any foul language or intimate scenes. It is, after all, published by a company that usually only publishes books with an overtly Christian message. I did not find this to be the case with Coldwater. There were some supernatural aspects to the story, but certainly, nothing that I would consider to be “preachy”.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think that Parker has an exceptional talent for drawing out the suspense. His writing is very detailed but written so well that I never felt I was being overwhelmed with superfluous information. Best of all, the ending was spot on. Often times I find that books that begin with so much action tend to fizzle at the end. But that is not the case with this story. I will be reading it again as well as Parker’s other novel, PurgatoryRoad.
Vindication by H. Terrell Griffin / Review by Amy Nygaard
Vindication
By H. Terrell Griffin
Oceanview Publishing
$26.95
ISBN 978-1608092765
Publication Date: January 2, 2018
Book of the Day
Vindication is the 11th installment in the Matt Royal Mystery series by H. Terrell Griffin. Retired defense attorney Matt Royal is jolted from his idyllic south Florida life when his police detective girlfriend’s aunt is arrested for murder. A new best-selling author has been been killed in a sprawling Florida retirement community, and Aunt Esther is the accused in need of Matt’s legal knowledge and prowess.
Esther swears she had nothing to do with the murder, despite a perfect motive: the victim stole Esther’s manuscript and had it published as her own work. The sheriff in charge of the investigation was humiliated in court by Matt Royal several years earlier, and Matt is unsure how that will affect his defense. With the help of his girlfriend, J.D., in an undercover role in the retirement community, he uncovers layers of decades-old crime all leading to the improbable homicide Esther stands accused of. The entire story package is wrapped up with a bow on top when Matt reveals his findings during Esther’s trial, she is acquitted and released, and the real culprits are arrested.
Matt Royal is a likable protagonist, and capable in his profession. The story itself has a decent plot, with the kinds of twists I'd expect in a legal thriller, and I tip my figurative hat to the author on that note.
Amy Nygaard - I am a lifelong lover of words, and reading has been my passion since childhood. After years of editing work and teaching grammar and writing, I fell in love with writing myself. I have several adult suspense manuscripts completed, a middle-grade boy's mystery first-of-series, and the framework of a separate middle-grade mystery/adventure series. I've attended multiple writing conferences around the country, pitching agents, making new friends, and learning all I can about the world of writing and publishing.
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