No matter where you stand on the political spectrum,
even if you disagree with his politics, there is no denying that former Speaker
of the House, Newt Gingrich is a smart guy. The consistent bestseller has done
it again delivering an intelligent thriller in, Duplicity.
Long time Washington Post reporter Pete Earley lends a
hand and may have infused a bit of the ripped from today’s headline quality to
the outing. Duplicity is an
interesting bit of fact-ion as
Gingrich laces not only real world actions and players into the story, but also
takes the Koran and Hadith ( a collection of narratives that supposedly quote
the Prophet Muhammed verbatim) at face value.
Based on the classic invisible, controlling, hand story
model, Duplicity has a chilling,
worst fears realized quality that will have you burning through pages.
Patriot
– An Alex Hawke Novel - Ted Bell (William Morrow)
Ted Bell serves up the ninth installment in the Alex
Hawke series; which finds Hawke at odds with some guys who want to do him
harm…in fact they want him dead. While so many thriller writers have moved on
from the Cold War, in Patriot Bell
heats things up with some bad guys courtesy of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
While the cognoscenti may scoff at the thought of
Russia being one of our most difficult threats (see the reaction to Mitt
Romney’s Presidential debate comment to that effect) Bell delivers a convincing
fictional case that Putin would dearly love to elevate Russian back to
superpower status.
Spies are dying all over the world. Hawke is on the
hunt trying to tie these seemingly disparate events together with a common
thread. If you are one of those folks who feel the need to latch on with a
death grip to reality, the you may find this tale wholly unbelievable. For
those that are so tightly bound to reality and just want to be entertained,
then release the grip and enjoy the ride.
Mycroft
Holmes – Kareem Abdul Jabbar with Anna Waterhouse (Titan Books)
Yes it is that Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Some may forget
that the NBA Hall of Famer, multi-time MVP and Champion actually earned his
degree in English and history at UCLA; perhaps it was the guidance of legendary
coach John Wooden.
Jabbar is a bestselling author of numerous non-fiction
books and a lifelong aficionado of Sherlock Holmes, so it’s not such a stretch
that he would take a shot at telling the untold tale of Sherlock Holmes older
brother Mycroft, in his fiction debut Mycroft
Holmes.
Jabbar has a clear grasp on not only the period in
history that book is set, but also in the style storytelling and setting of the
day in which it takes place. While Mycroft played a role in many of the classic
Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes tales, Jabbar adds much more meat to the
more bare bones, government official in the Doyle stories.
While it is certainly a daunting task to dip into the
realm of one of the most admired fictional characters of all time, Jabbar does
an admirable job of spinning an entertaining tale that even Sherlockian purists
will find entertaining.
Front
Runner – A Dick Francis Novel – Felix Francis (G P Putnam & Sons)
Speaking of daunting tasks…imagine the challenge of
taking the reins of one of the most successful mystery/thriller writer’s
catalogs and continuing those series. Now add to by ratcheting it up a notch
and make that masterful writer your father. That is the task faced by bestselling
author Felix Francis who picked up where his father Dick Francis, the author of
more than 40 books left off.
The one benefit that Felix had was the opportunity to
work side by side with his legendary father, co-authoring several books before
his father passed. While they are big shoes, Felix continues to do an admirable
job of carrying on the family name.
While Dick Francis developed a very lean approach and
spare writing style Felix does a nice job of weaving a nice level of detail
into what have become a dependably entertaining series of books. He does a nice
job of telling Jeff Hinkley’s story and mixing in some familiar Francis faces
along the way.
The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisbeth Salander Novel – David
Lagercrantz (Knopf)
A few years
back, Steig Larsson burst onto or depending on who you believe created the
thriving Swedish fiction scene and rocketed to worldwide acclaim first with the
book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and
a couple of bestselling follow ups. The wave in his wake included Henning
Mankell, Liza Marklund, Ake Edwardson and a handful of others who spun
fantastic, intriguing tales.
The Lisabeth
Salander trilogy went on to sell a reported 80 million copies worldwide and
almost as quickly as he became successful, Larsson died of a heart attack at
the age of 50, with a legion of fans hungry for more of adrenaline fueled
tales. Into the proverbial breach stepped David
Lagencrantz, to take the mantle and carry on the saga.
While many
authors have been tasked with continuing storylines and characters by the likes
of Robert Ludlum, Robert B. Parker, Clive Cussler, Vince Flynn and many others;
those prolific writers had a much larger catalog than three books for a writer
to better know the characters and style, which can be an advantage or possibly
a disadvantage.
Lagencrantz does a spectacular job of locking into the
tone, style and steady pacing of the storyline for The Girl in the Spider’s Web, ala Larsson’s handy work in the
trilogy. Like Larsson, Lagencrantz does not grip you by the throat right from
the first page, but builds the foundation of the characters and the story until
you can’t stop turning pages. He perfectly meshes the new players in the story
to the usual suspects from the prior books and just enough twisty turns to keep
you guessing.
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