CALICO by LEE GOLDBERG
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg, comes an explosive, page-turning investigative thriller - with a mind-blowing twist.
There's a saying in Barstow, California, a decaying city in the scorching Mojave desert . . .
The Interstate here only goes in one direction: Away.
But it's the only place where ex-LAPD detective Beth McDade, after a staggering fall from grace, could get another badge . . . and a shot at redemption.
Over a century ago, and just a few miles further into the bleak landscape, a desperate stranger ended up in Calico, a struggling mining town, also hoping for a second chance.
His fate, all those years ago, and hers today are linked when Beth investigates an old skeleton dug up in a shallow, sandy grave . . . and also tries to identity a vagrant run-over by a distracted motorhome driver during a lightning storm.
Every disturbing clue she finds, every shocking discovery she makes, force Beth to confront her own troubled past—and a past that's not her own—until it all smashes together in a revelation that could change the world.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Entertaining fluff to pass an afternoon. The kind of read that scratches the same "tell me a story but don't make me think too hard" that television has historically specialized in. In fact, this'd make a *great* Movie of the Week, whatever we're calling those now. Netflix Originals? Prime Videos?
Any road, there's a lot less here than meets the eye in substantive themes, but who cares? Read it for the sci-fi-lite elements, the interesting Western US setting (problems and all), and the relatable characters. But seriously, Author Goldberg..."Ben Cartwright"? SMH
Severn House wants $6.99 for the Kindle edition (non-affiliate Amazon link), a reasonable price for the fun I had.
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The Labyrinth House Murders (House Murders #3) by Yukito Ayatsuji (tr. Ho-Ling Wong)
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: THE TWISTY AND INGENIOUS FOURTH INSTALLEMENT IN THE BIZARRE HOUSE MYSTERIES.
The famed mystery writer Miyagaki Yotaro lives a life of seclusion in the remote Labyrinth House. When Yotaro invites four young crime authors to his home for a birthday party, they are honoured to accept. But no sooner have they arrived than they are confronted with a shocking death, then lured into a bizarre, deadly competition…
As the twisted contest gathers pace, murder follows murder. The ingenious sleuth Shimada Kiyoshi investigates, but can he solve the mystery of the house before all those trapped in its labyrinth are dead? And can you guess the solution before he does?
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: This entry in the ongoing series is billed as the third and the fourth in it (see above synopsis), and as I don't speak Japanese I can't be certain which it actually is. Since the original publication date was in 1988, it ought to be easier than this.
Truly doesn't matter to the reading pleasure of the book, so I suppose the now-normal lie that "this series can be read in any order" is, for once, true. Do take note that this is NOT a fair-play mystery, as there's at least two details crucial to resolving the plot that are not given to you, or even hinted at.
What the read does, however, is to take you through a very well-constructed labyrinth. Playing Theseus is entertaining when the stakes are 1) completing your in-progress novel and b) inheriting cash and copyrights from a very well-known mystery writer. Adjusting expectations this way presents a good day's entertainment.
Pushkin Vertigo brings this out either on 10 October 2024 or 13 May 2025. Either way it's a preorder, so check prices with your chosen retailer.
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The Devil of the Provinces by Juan Cárdenas (tr. Lizzie Davis)
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: After a series of failures, a biologist returns to his hometown to live with his grieving mother. But in this gripping crime novel that upends the genre’s conventions, strange events unravel what he thought he knew of his past, his present, and himself.
When a biologist returns home to Colombia after fifteen years abroad, he quickly becomes entangled in the trappings of his past and his increasingly bizarre present: the unsolved murder of his brother, a drug dealer seeking transcendence, a boarding school where students disappear and girls give birth to strange creatures. An encounter with a well-connected acquaintance leads to a job offer in big agriculture, and he’s gradually drawn into a web of conspiracy. Ultimately, he may be destined to remain in the city he’d hoped never to see again. In The Devil of the Provinces, nothing is as it seems.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: It feels a bit like cheating to call this a crime novel on first glance. It took the publisher an afterword essay to make a (flimsy) case for it. But on sober reflection lasting months, I came to agree that this IS a crime novel of a specific sort:
The biologist observed that, as with most extravagant paintings, the fabrication of custodiae had flourished during the Counter-Reformation, when the Catholic Church set in motion its major propaganda operation: the colonization of the senses through artwork. Persuasion wasn't enough anymore, subjugation was the aim. The passage from education to spectacle, evangelization to fanaticism. These images were made to trap the eye and flood it with vibration, illusions of movement, space-time dislocation.
The crimes committed, a murdered brother and a drug-dealing bestie (nothing solves the murder, no punishment accrues to the dealer) aside, are the truly vile crimes of misusing language and power to manipulate and control others for fun and profit. The criminals are both persons and institutions, as always in the annals of crime.
That's all told in the voice you read above; you'll like it or not, I very much do, but it takes time and a strong willingness to engage with the vocabulary to glean the story's full affect.
Coffee House Press asks $17.95 (non-affiliate Amazon link) for one. The library's free. Unless you fell in love with the sample go check it out...but read it. This is a tendentious meditation on what a true true crime is.
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Alcatraz Ghost Story: Roy Gardner's Amazing Train Robberies, Escapes, and Lifelong Love by Brian Stannard
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: The Incredible True Story of the Most Hunted Man in Pacific Coast History—and the Woman He Loved
Before the 1920s found their roar, a charismatic gambling addict named Roy Gardner dominated news headlines with daring train robberies and escapes from incarceration. Nicknamed "the Smiling Bandit," Gardner spilled no blood—except his own—as he cut a felonious path across the western United States, as the country hobbled through a recession in the aftermath of the First World War.
Once imprisoned for the long term in federal prisons, including Alcatraz, the most notorious prison's second-most-notorious inmate won over some unlikely champions. Both Gardner's wife, Dollie, and a police officer who once arrested him launched extensive campaigns for Gardner's release on the vaudeville circuit, claiming a brain operation would cure his lawless ways. Was Gardner a good man who made bad decisions as the victim of injury and circumstance? Or was his charming personality merely the poker face of a scoundrel?
Richly researched, drawing on contemporary newspaper accounts, Alcatraz Ghost Story explores the life of Roy Gardner in the context of his great love story and the larger backdrop of drug addiction, incarceration, and the racial and labor violence of the 1920s and 1930s.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: An uneven true-crime story, one that reminded me of the old film Falling Down. How hard can you push a fundamentally decent man with charm and charisma until he gives violently up on The System?
Add the fillip of never being quite sure which Gardner was the fundamental one, the sales whiz charmer or the criminal manipulator, and you have a catchy book. My rating reflects mostly a dissatisfaction with the choppy pacing...we slow down to discuss historical events that end up being peripheral to the story, eg World War I bond drives, and gloss over things I'd like to hear more about, eg life in/on Alcatraz...rather than the research, or the story being told.
(Also I deeply dislike his One True Love, Dollie...shallow Babbitty broad.)
Skyhorse Publishing is asking $19.99 for a Kindle edition. (non-affiliate Amazon link)
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Saving Myles by Carl Vonderau
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: When the FBI can’t help, an unassuming banker takes matters into his own hands to bring his son home
Wade, a respected banker in La Jolla, CA, and his estranged wife, Fiona, make the unbearable decision to send their teenage son, Myles, away to an expensive treatment center after a streak of harmful behavior. After a year of treatment, Myles comes home, seemingly rehabilitated. But soon, he sneaks off to Tijuana to buy drugs—and is kidnapped.
When the ransom call comes, Fiona is frantic and accepts help from Andre, the Quebecois whose charity Fiona runs. Wade is wary of Andre’s reputation and the bank he owns, but seeing no other way to secure a kidnap negotiator or the ransom, he swallows his doubts to get his son home.
In order to get the ransom money, Wade makes a deal with Andre—he’ll work for Andre’s bank in exchange for the cash. But as Wade races to rescue Myles before his kidnappers lose their patience, he realizes he’s wrapped up in more crime than just a kidnapping—he’s now indebted to a cartel.
Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Lisa Scottoline.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Kid-in-jeopardy thriller, with Dad chasing after his kidnapped teen son for a change. Usual useless woman trope found too often in male-oriented thrillers: his ex-wife involves a villain so obvious he should twirl his mustachios, which—shock twist!—makes everything harder for Dad to fix.
I want to belt the idiot kid upside his head for being such a shit. The writing's good, the pacing's propulsive, the publisher's comps are spot-on.
Oceanview Publishing asks $9.49 (non-affiliate Amazon link) for a Kindle edition. Go to the library, says I.
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The Belgrade Conspiracy: A David Rivers Thriller (Shadow Strike #6) by Jason Kasper
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: **FROM FORMER GREEN BERET AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR JASON KASPER**
A lethal shipment of military hardware. An international terrorist group on a mission of mass destruction. One man stands to forever change the course of history…unless David Rivers can stop him.
David Rivers is an expert in the art of violence. Together with his team of CIA operatives, he's executed dozens of covert assassinations―but this mission might turn out to be his deadliest yet. One man stands behind the transfer of high-level military hardware to an international terrorist syndicate.
The CIA has uncovered his identity: Yuri Sidorov, a Russian arms dealer with state protection. With the arms deal only days away, David and the team are faced with an impossible to get close enough to take out their target, they must first win his trust. David and the team infiltrate a black market arms network in Serbia, negotiating a web of secret police and mafia hitmen. Each wrong turn may prove fatal, but they're determined to succeed at any cost. But Sidorov is still alive for a reason, and when the team uncovers dark forces at work in the Balkans and America, they realize that killing him is the least of their worries. By the time they learn the truth, it's too late…and now they're the ones being hunted.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: I knew when I asked for this read it was #6 in a series, but let's be honest. It's a military thriller. The characters are fairly interchangeable in the genre, they're archetypes: Tech genius, spycraft maven, violent guy...nobody really needs to know much except the outlines to follow along. It's stakes and pacing that matter in this genre.
Still true. If your idea of fun is taking a fast-paced ride through some unfamiliar world locations, here's you a violent, nationalistic read. Guilty pleasure, for me at least, and not a series I'll be pursuing.
Severn River Publishing wants $6.99 for a Kindlebook. (non-affiliate Amazon link)
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