"The General of Tiananmen Square", by Ian Hamilton

Book # 15, in the Ava Lee series

Ava is in the French Riviera with Pang Fai and Lau Lau for the premiere of Tiananmen at the Cannes Film Festival. The film wins numerous awards and international acclaim. Chen is the producer and soon makes a distribution deal with a major American firm. Several months later the film hasn’t been released Chen is worried and travels to Los Angeles to see what is preventing it to be shown to the public. En route from his home in Bangkok he goes missing.... Ava is called to investigate and the story takes off....

I love this series each installment has its own captivating story. It is sheer pleasure to follow Ava globetrotting experiences. It took some time for the excitement to kick in but after a short while I was completely swept up. As in its predecessors, the plot is complex and fast-paced; the writing style is strong, clever and involving. The story is simply irresistible, once started it is easy to be hooked to the last page. No fear if you read this one out of sequence, it stands well on its own.

Although we have less action than some of the previous stories rather we have much hopping around: plane flights, restaurant meals and lots and lots of wine drinking, oh yes description galore of fancy gala clothes nevertheless I say “The General of Tiananmen Square” is another great caper I enjoyed quite a bit and furthermore it is not a taxing read.

This ARC was provided by the House of Anansi/Groundwood Books via Edelweiss for my thoughts.

"They Never Saw It Coming", by Roberta Kagan

Book #2 in “A Jewish Family Saga”

1930’s Berlin

The story in very few words:

After spending 19 years of her life in America with a spineless and boring husband Goldie nearing forty returns home to Berlin where she reconnects with her childhood friend Leni, a free spirit who guides Goldie into a life of debauchery. While at the other end of the Atlantic, Sam, her son, is thriving with the Jewish mob in Manhattan. When he receives word that something has happened to his mother, he sets out with his father to Germany.

My thoughts:

We have two stories: one in Germany and the other in Manhattan. We go back and for between the pond....Two different styles of living.

While the events leading up to WW11 are part of the story the lifestyle in Berlin at the time is well played out: such as the cabaret and the free spirited people. At first I was intrigued and was looking forward to Goldie’s behaviour but what she did turned out to be very repetitive and rather on the dull side. Although we have a lot of debauchery such as excess drinking, swearing, drugs and sex galore but making this interesting or even captivating is the big question: maybe for some yes and others no. There are a lot of irresponsible people in this book. While on the other side of the pond we are deep into the mop crime world: robbing and killings and kidnapping.... Till the two world merges and comes crashing down....

I am a fan of the author and have read a few of her books but this one as a weak storyline and is not the quality writing style of her later books. It typically deals with the daily events in the lives of the same group of characters: a real soap-opera.

Of course this story ends in a cliff-hanger to open the door to book#3...

"The Mystery of the Desert Lights", by Mohd Sulaiman

Robert and Fahad book #1

68 pages or so novella

Set in the desert of Abu Dhabi, Robert and Fahad see a sudden light in the desert, an unusual sight. They decide to investigate.

In short story, I always feel something is lacking. Here this drama is missing suspense and intrigue as well as a denouement hard to guess. The mystery is rather shallow, dull and boring. Most of all it is not particularly well-written and needs a lot of work to bring the style up to par.

Not for me for sure

"Our Man in Kuwait", by Louise Burfitt-Dons

After the successful “The Karen Anderson” series Ms. Burfitt-Dons changed theme and has penned for us a thought-provoking espionage thriller where we are taken back to 1960 Kuwait when British expats worried about the imminent invasion from Soviet backed Iraq.
Ahmadi, Kuwait 1960

Gordon Carlisle lives in Ahmadi with his beautiful wife Anita. They have little to worry about other what to wear at the next dinner party...till the day a MI6 agent crosses their paths, then everything changed : a marriage breakdown and Anita becomes the prime suspect in a chain of deaths. Gordon tried to unravel this mess and he gets deeper and deeper. The drama takes off and we are in turns and twists galore throughout the story.

With a mix of a fertile imagination, this thriller based on true events has enough spies and double agents to keep us guessing who may be one or not, especially who is the elusive Agent Alex so many are referring to all through the book. I loved this part particularly: very intriguing and captivating.

The pacing at first is very slow but took off when one of the wives dies in a mysterious way and from then on never lets up. I was happy for this change that took place 1/3 into the drama. The first part was more introducing us to the players. I found this a bit long but no doubts necessary. No lack of players to follow and each have a particular role to play and they do so perfectly. So we need to pay attention to know who is who... All characters are well-drawn and have an authentic ring to them. I enjoyed the realistic dialogue and the style is very comfortable to read. Well-done.

Thank you, Louise for this ARC.

"The Double Agent" by William Christie

Sequel to “A Single Spy”

1943-1944

This is the story of Alexsi Smirnoff, a Russian, who was trained as an agent by the Russian Secret Agency Service and inserted into the Nazi Germany, where he rose to a position in German intelligence services. As the war goes on, feeling trapped between two brutal dictatorships Alexi betrays both sides and attempts to disappear but is caught by the British...Alexsi finds himself once again a double agent ..But deep down Alexsi is loyal only to himself.

No doubts this is a compelling novel of espionage set in the most momentous and dangerous of times. It is well-paced, very suspenseful and most of all engaging. The story explores the problems one faces as an agent to two masters: information fed to one agency without giving away too much and harming the other. Alexsi plays his role here beautifully.

Back in the field, assigned to the German SS headquarters in Rome there he transmits coded messages back to England, has a fling with an Italian princess, manages to avoid reprisal form Germans soldiers and partisans. The tradecraft is all-out and the portrayal of the Ardeatine massacre haunting. The violence is stunning and off the chart. All well-done

Mr. Christie has a way with words and knows how to pen a storyline that will capture his audience full attention. It surely got me hooked from the beginning. I simply couldn’t wait to see what troubles Alexsi will get into and how he will wiggle out of them.

Excellent and entertaining adventure

I received this ARC from St-Martin Press via Netgalley

"The Game is a Footnote", by Vicki Delany

A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery #8

A Cozy Mystery

When I want to read something smooth and not too stressful story I know that Vicki Delany’s mysteries answer to my wishes. Although I have read a few of her books I never read any of the Sherlock Homes. I was looking forward to this one.

In a few words:

When at Scarlet House, a historical re-enactment museum, things started moving around on their own, boards members suggested that Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, may be able to get to the bottom. Gemma didn’t believe in ghosts and agreed to look into it. Till the day, she and her friend Jayne Wilson stumbled across a dead body on the property.... foul play or not... secrets about the museum are uncovered and plenty of options might point to the actual culprit.

My Thoughts:

In many ways this was a fun read even if you pick this series at this point you won’t be lost. Seems the books stand well by themselves. The main story is finding the truth: who or what are behind those strange happenings, are there really ghosts at Scarlet House? Why were the animals in the barn so spooked, why killed David the man taking care of them?. How does one lock oneself in a barn? Why was Pippa, Gemma sister, in town?....some many questions...and there is Ryan the love interest in the mix.....and we are deep set in mystery..

We also have a parallel story with Bunny Leigh, a wash out popstar, wintering in a rented house. She comes to Gemma bookstore to snoop around but she really wants is to get close to her estrange daughter Ashleigh who is Gemma sales clerk...what are her intentions....the story tells us. Piece by piece we discover through a multitude of red herrings what is what.

The development is very slow moving. We have an excess of details describing the inside of house, the period costume one wears, what one set at tea time, who comes to visit, etc. This story turns in circles and I fast lost interest, some parts didn’t work for me and other were confusing at times... maybe my mind was too often someplace else...Gemma although in most part is fairly smart, at time she seemed to be comes out of a cracker box....There are a few too many players in here to muddy the soup and had a hard time remembering who they were by the end...maybe again my mind was not totally there by that time. The book started off interestingly but petered out by the end.

This one may not have been my favourite but that is my opinion others do not share this by a long shot ...so it is up to you to judge.

My thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the ARC

"Doomed Legacy", by Matt Coyle

Rick Cahill book # 9

This author is definitely growing on me or should I say Rick Cahill does. Rick is a private investigator who has been running from his past. His has CTE, a disease caused by repeated head trauma that threatens his life and endangers those around him.

In this latest, Rick looks into Sara Bhandari, a business contact, who was murdered not long after he met her on a business lunch. The police believe she was another case of a serial rapist who has been terrorizing San Diego but Rick thinks otherwise and is determined to find the truth at any cost.....

My thoughts:

This 9th book reads well as a stand-alone. The author gives us just enough back stories to orient us without overwhelming the narrative.

This story is one tense and entertaining saga where the protagonist not only sets to know the truth but needs to deal with a dilapidating disease and personal drama at the same time. The tightly plotted story is fast-paced and entertaining. It centers on the murder of Sara who had asked Rick to look into abnormalities in handling background checks for the Defense Department. Of course this opened a huge can of worms: a serial rapist, police cover-ups, Chinese spies and a vast cast of bad guys as well as good ones. So much is going on but Mr. Coyle doesn’t miss a beat in his style: solid, active and mostly engaging. I love Rick, he is flawed but adorable. As a reader I soon was touched by his marital situation as well as his health issues, I wonder how long his life as a P.I will last.....

“Doomed Legacy” is definitely a winner that gives us a great story of suspense, intrigue and action...well-done Mr. Coyle.

I received this ARC from Oceanview Publishing via Netgalley for my thoughts.