Archive for the ‘Thriller, Adventure & Mystery’ Category
Friday, April 26th, 2013
Pros: Fantastic character interplay; gorgeous world-building. I think I’m falling in love with Ritsuko and Mikani.
Cons: Occasional difficulty telling which of the partners is speaking
Rating: 5 out of 5
Release date: April 30, 2013
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Celeste Ritsuko and Janus Mikani solve murders for the Criminal Investigation Division. She’s the division’s first female inspector, and an orderly, meticulous detective. He’s a sloppy, charming pain-in-the-ass with an extremely useful—and very debilitating—sixth sense. The two of them have forged an unlikely and delightfully symbiotic partnership as they work to protect people from harm.
Then a daughter of one of the great Houses goes missing, and they’re under the gun to find her—or else. When she turns up murdered in a particularly unusual and gruesome fashion, traces of magic polluting the scene, Ritsuko and Mikani realize they’re hunting a madman. And if they don’t find him soon, losing their jobs will be the least of their worries.
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Tags: A.A. Aguirre, Andres Aguirre, Ann Aguirre, Apparatus Infernum, fairies, Fantasy, mystery, paranormal, steampunk
Posted in Fantasy, Horror & Paranormal, Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 31st, 2013
Pros: I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through!
Cons: A few threads could have used a little more wrapping up; dark material warning
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Xandra is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and royalty to boot. Great signs and portents heralded her birth, which is why no one can understand how it is that she can’t do the slightest bit of magic. Fleeing the increasingly dangerous attempts of her mother to bring out her latent power, Xandra ends up in Austin, Texas, where she’s perfectly happy running a hugely popular coffee shop. Everything’s going just fine—until warlock Declan shows up in town. Suddenly her simple life is blowing up in her face. She’s following compulsions that lead her to dead bodies and force her to relive the women’s last, horrific memories. The women bear a resemblance to her, and versions of her own mystical tattoo appear on their bodies. Sparks fly—literally—when she and Declan get close, but he walked out on her once, and she doesn’t particularly trust him now. To make matters worse, it seems that her magic has finally decided to show up, but definitely not in any way that anyone could have predicted. And if she doesn’t get a handle on it soon, the killer might get to her before she can figure out who he is.
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Tags: erotic romance, Lone Star Witch novels, romance, serial killers, Tessa Adams, thriller, warlocks, witchcraft, witches
Posted in Horror & Paranormal, Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 30th, 2013
Pros: Fun tale with some intriguing twists, enjoyable turns, and interesting characters
Cons: The “impulsive” bad guy was a little too predictable at the end
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Eve has a difficult new case to crack. It isn’t particularly gruesome, but the victim was a mother, a wife, sister-in-law to a judge, and much beloved by those around her. For once, Eve can’t find any hidden enemies, resentful spouses. Yet everything indicates that this woman was specifically targeted, and her death wasn’t the mugging-gone-wrong it was supposed to look like. Investigating the murder takes Eve deep into the confusing world of accounting, investing, and big business, where she’s sure to anger some very wealthy, very well-connected players.
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Tags: Eve Dallas, in death, J.D. Robb, mystery, Nora Roberts, Roarke, romance, thriller
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | No Comments »
Friday, November 30th, 2012
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Also posted on Epinions.com.
Lorraine Berry owns the Pennyroyal Saloon and Hotel, and she’s worried about her little town of Bitter Springs, Wyoming. So worried that she’s sent word to a gunslinger, offering to hire him to come protect the town from a ruthless local rancher.
Kellen Coltrane is having a comfortable train ride when a mysterious encounter sends him on a detour to Bitter Springs to carry out a dying man’s last wish. Once he meets Lorraine, he finds himself swept up in the town’s troubles and pretending to be something he isn’t. And as he learns more about Lorraine, he finds himself wanting to be more than just her protector.
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Tags: historical, Jo Goodman, romance, Western
Posted in Historical, Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | No Comments »
Thursday, November 29th, 2012
Pros: Tense, action-filled adventure with plenty of twists and inventive assassinations; interesting new characters introduced into the series
Cons: Too much explaining; cartoonish villains; insufficient romantic chemistry
Rating: 3 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
The GhostWalkers seem to have an unknown ally on their side—several informants and pawns working for Whitney, their worst enemy, have died in mysterious “accidents”. A slip and fall; a car crash; a fatal anaphylactic reaction. The only thing these incidents have in common is Sheila, the go-between Whitney sends to pay off his informants, and the fact that each person’s payoff has disappeared from the scene within moments of the death. Sheila fears that one more slip-up and Whitney will blame her.
A new mission is about to be handed down to the GhostWalkers—one that will ultimately sacrifice one of their own, Sam Johnson, so that Whitney can get his hands on a rare component for a weapon he’s building. Only the presence of a traitor among those few who know about them could explain what’s going on.
The GhostWalkers want a spy satellite to help keep them informed and safe. There’s only one company that makes the best of the best in the satellite industry: Samurai Telecommunications. And the three people who run the company—two men, one woman, all adopted by the same man—insist on personally meeting anyone who buys their satellites. This means they’ll be entering the GhostWalkers’ sanctuary at a time when the GhostWalkers fear that Whitney would do anything to kidnap the several children within the compound.
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Tags: assassination, Christine Feehan, erotica, GhostWalkers, military, psychics, romance
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | No Comments »
Thursday, September 13th, 2012
Pros: Fun characters, interesting mystery
Cons: I still find military erotic romances a tad overblown/silly; slightly obvious bad guy
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
A malfunction during the test of military equipment led to the crippling of a boy and the destruction of a family home. Major Sophie Campbell is prosecuting the case, while Major David Berg, the defendant’s superior, is determined to prove it wasn’t his guy’s fault. The two officers’ attraction to each other is an unwanted distraction as they try to track down the real cause—and the traitor who’s trying to kill Sophie.
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Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 20th, 2012
Pros: Trademark snappy dialogue; fascinating mystery; continuing character development
Cons: …
Rating: 5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Eve’s latest case is a terrifying one. A toxic brew of chemicals was released into a bar, and everyone went mad. The death toll was horrific, and the deaths themselves more so. The chemicals are fast-acting and deadly, allowing the killer to strike quickly and decisively—anywhere, anytime. It’s an act of terrorism by its very definition, but when the killer strikes a second time, targeting people who overlap strongly in their occupations, employers, and area of residence with the first victims, Eve becomes convinced that the killer is going after personal enemies, despite the wide swath of destruction.
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Tags: crime, Eve Dallas, futuristic, in death, J.D. Robb, Nora Roberts, Roarke, romance, science fantasy, serial killer, suspense
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 2 Comments »
Friday, June 15th, 2012
Pros: Larger-than-life blend of action, romance, and mystery
Cons: Larger-than-life and melodramatic
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
PI Paige Holden took on a pro bono client—a woman she knows who believes that her son is innocent of the terrible crime he was convicted of. The case seems like a dead end until the woman’s minivan crashes right in front of Paige, and she sees that the woman’s been shot. The woman’s final words and actions send Paige on a collision course with a very high-profile case and some extremely dangerous people.
Five years ago, State’s Attorney Grayson Smith felt satisfied that he had put a murderer in jail and made the streets just that much safer. But when Paige gives him her evidence and tells him what she knows, he starts to doubt himself—and those he works with. Before long, the two of them are largely hiding out with help from Grayson’s adoptive family, hoping to figure out who the bad guys really are before it’s too late.
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Tags: Baltimore, Karen Rose, police procedural, procedural, romance, suspense, thriller
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | No Comments »
Monday, April 30th, 2012
Pros: Interesting action scenes
Cons: Nearly everything else
Rating: 2 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Abby Sinclair rose from a terrifying childhood to become a world-class assassin—one who will use any resource at her disposal to kill the bad guys she’s sent after. She’s currently on assignment in Colombia, attempting to kill an arms dealer, but she’s changed the plan and gone rogue. For reasons no one understands she allowed herself to be caught, and now she’s in terrible danger.
Noelle, Abby’s employer and friend, hires mercenary Jim Morgan and his team—well-known for their ability to extract anyone from any situation—to get Abby out of there. There’s just one problem: in getting her out, they ruined her plans, and now she has to go back.
To make things more complicated, Abby left a psychopathic torturer badly mutilated, and he’s determined to track her down and kill her. And now Kane, one of Jim’s team members, has developed an interest in her—and very much wants to crack the shell she’s built up around herself. In the middle of all of this, the group has to find a way to break back into the place she left behind—unless they want to see a lot of innocent children suffer terrible fates.
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Tags: action, dark themes, Elle Kennedy, Killer Instincts, romance
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
Pros: Interesting look back at the movement for women’s right to vote in England
Cons: For me, there seemed to be some tonal and genre confusion
Rating: 4 out of 5 (3 for me personally)
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Dody McCleland is a female autopsy surgeon in England at the beginning of the 20th century, one of a very few women allowed to practice any kind of medicine. Despite her unusual and forward-thinking career choice, she doesn’t entirely agree with her younger sister Florence’s flamboyant rallies and marches for women’s rights. She thinks a slower, quieter method would be more effective than the more militant stance taken by some women. But when a rally turns violent, Dody finds herself examining the body of one of her sister’s own friends, a lady of some station, who was apparently beaten to death.
Tensions between the women and the police rise. One police inspector, Pike, who particularly loathes the use of brute force to solve problems—particularly against women—manages to get several of the instigators out of the department even though he doesn’t agree with the women’s cause. Then he meets Dody, listens to the woman’s concerns about the suspicious death, and begins to suspect that something larger and more important is afoot.
The police superintendent is eager for any reason to get rid of Pike and smooth over the woman’s death; the women of the suffragette movement believe they have to up the ante in order to get anywhere; and Dody is caught somewhere in the middle just trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
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Tags: crime, Felicity Young, historical, investigation, suffragette, women's rights
Posted in Historical, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | No Comments »
