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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Thrills and mystery can always be found our bestsellers

The Last Threshold (Neverwinter Saga #4) by R. A. Salvatore

From Publisher –

In the final book of the #4 New York Times best-selling Neverwinter Saga, Drizzt Do’Urden navigates a winding path littered with secrets and lies. Tangled up in his companion Dahlia’s dark secrets, the ties that once held her close to Drizzt threaten to tear as her bonds to his former foe, Artemis Entreri, continue to grow. Meanwhile, in the caverns of Gauntlgrym, the drow Tiago Baenre enlists the help of Bregan D’aerthe in his quest to destroy Drizzt. While making promises they may not keep, the agents of the elite drow mercenary group hide plans of their own. Determined to stand for what’s right in the Realms once again, Drizzt forges a new road north—toward Icewind Dale. Will his new companions follow? Can he fight the darkness alone? Either way, he knows now where he’s headed—back to the only place that’s ever felt like home.   
  



Night Moves (Doc Ford Series #20) by Randy Wayne White

Kirkus Reviews –

Sanibel Island's most swashbuckling marine biologist goes in search of five Navy bombers that vanished nearly 70 years ago and finds both more and less. Marion D. Ford (Chasing Midnight, 2012, etc.) is a sucker for derring-do and friendship. So it's easy for Dan Futch, the best pilot Doc Ford knows, to enlist his help, and that of his hipster wingman Tomlinson, in tracing Flight 19, which took off from Fort Lauderdale in December 1945 and vanished without a trace--unless you count a telegram lost radioman George Paonessa apparently sent his brother three weeks later. The real-life mystery went far to fuel myths about the Bermuda Triangle that Doc would just as soon dispel. But he's the one who's nearly dispelled when Dan's plane abruptly goes down with him and Tomlinson aboard. It's an obvious case of sabotage, Dan tells the other survivors, but who'd want to sabotage such a mission? Well, says Tomlinson, there's Kondo Ogbay, the Haitian drug lord he's run afoul of, and Cressa Arturo, the married woman currently sharing his bed. The list of suspects soon expands to include Cressa's wealthy younger husband, Rob, and her crazy brother-in-law, Dean Arturo, Luke Smith of Adventure World Productions and Brazilian import/export CEO Alberto Sabino, aka contract killer Vargas Diemer. These amiably assorted worthies take turns--sometimes solo, sometimes in teams--alternately cozying up to Doc and his pals and drawing down on them. The search for Flight 19 doesn't exactly get forgotten in the tangle of subplots, but it loses so much urgency that it's a pleasing surprise when it finally gets wound up. A lesser adventure aimed at action fans who agree with Raymond Chandler that a great story is a succession of great scenes.

The Night Ranger (John Wells Series #7) by Alex Berenson

Kirkus Reviews –

A tense thriller that relies equally on bravery, wit and 21st-century American firepower. A group of U.S. workers for WorldCares/ChildrenFirst are in Kenya to help Somali refugees. One day, they are kidnapped and held for ransom. The victims' families hire John Wells, an ex-CIA agent who converted to Islam in a previous novel. Wells is smart, tough and honorable, but none of that stops him from being one hell of a killer. In his first foray into Africa, he coordinates his efforts with the CIA, though not all his government contacts like or trust him. Meanwhile, the frightened hostages must endure rough treatment by captors who have problems of their own. Berenson's thorough research gives the reader vivid images of Somalia, a hostile, ungovernable land where outlaws and hyenas are near the top of the food chain. In one tense scene, a deadly 6-foot-long mamba slithers over Wells. But the drones terrify and fascinate even more, controlled from air-conditioned comfort back in the United States. What can the operator see and do to a distant enemy before returning to his comfortable home? The worst part is that the technology is believable and probably accurate. The novel also prompts but does not pose the question: How many is it acceptable to kill in order to save how few? A cynic might add "how many Africans" and "how few Americans," although the novel has no racial slant. The enemy might be anyone, anywhere in the world, caught in the sights of an airborne Reaper. Setting aside the troubling trends in warfare, though, Berenson gives readers top-notch, fast-paced excitement in a part of the world unfamiliar to many Americans. John Wells (The Faithful Spy, 2006, etc.) is a worthy hero readers can count on.


The Power Trip by Jackie Collins

Kirkus Reviews –

A birthday cruise on the Sea of Cortez with some of the most beautiful people in the world is threatened first by personal intrigues and then by pirates. Life in the fast lane has hit the open seas. Collins (Goddess of Vengeance, 2011, etc.) returns with an impossibly glamorous cast vacationing on the Bianca, a yacht named for billionaire Russian businessman Aleksandr Kasianenko's mistress. Accompanying Aleksandr and supermodel Bianca are five other couples, all thinly disguised variations on real celebrities. Taye Sherwin, a U.K. soccer phenom, arrives with his interior designer wife, Ashley, who has forgiven but not forgotten Taye's infidelity. Cliff Baxter, commitment-phobic movie star, brings his girlfriend, Lori. Sinister Senator Hammond Patterson escorts his unhappy wife, Sierra, who hides his clandestine affairs behind her perfect politician's-wife facade. Luca Perez, Latin pop star, escorts his insufferably self-centered British boyfriend, Jeromy. And Flynn, jaded journalist, invites his enigmatic friend, Xuan, who once smuggled herself out of communist China and now chronicles injustices. But everyone has secrets, and one of Aleksandr's secrets has snagged in the mind of Russian mobster Sergei Zukov. Fairly obsessed with their own sexual hijinks and power bids, the couples are taken quite by surprise when pirates, aided by a mole onboard, invade the yacht. Yet, even the pirates have troubles, including a wayward girlfriend, conflicting plans and a tropical storm. Intrigue, scandal, rape and tragic (or not-so-tragic) deaths ensue. After the dust settles, a series of epilogues too neatly ties off the loose ends. The queen of chronicling the lives of the jet set, Collins toggles rapidly between plotlines, keeping the action moving and the sex abundant. Glitzy and exciting.




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