"Polar Bear Dawn", by Lyle Nicholson

Detective Bernadette Callahan Mystery book #1

Multiple murders in the high Arctic have police searching for answers. Two detectives, one in Alaska, one in Canada are given the case. They find similarities in the murders that will lead to a chilling conclusion. Detective Callahan knows she is right but her superiors are intent on silencing her before she can prove that the murders are connected. They want her to wrap up the case in a tidy murder/suicide. But doing so is not in Bernadette’s DNA.

There are so many characters in this drama that I found it took time to get into the swing of things but once I pieced everything together I started to enjoy the story better. It is a tale of corporate terrorism and manipulation with a mad professor held bent to case trouble with the aid of his sidekick “Margaret”, they intend to deploy his invention: a chemical treatment to disrupt oil production in Alaska and Alberta. This wouldn’t be an Artic saga without mention of a polar bear and yes we have one to play havoc with the oil workers.

Although this story may be a bit unrealistic and over the top it is nevertheless quite engaging, of course if you don’t mind some editing and formatting issues that can be somewhat distracting. I did find the plot to be convoluted and keeping track of all the characters challenging. Hey, who doesn’t like a mystery with terrorist attacks, brutal murderers, conspiracy plans, a few plot twists thrown in to keep your attention at bay?

It is an easy reading story I didn’t mind spending with.

"Black Wolf Rising", by Lyle Nicholson

Detective Bernadette Callahan Mystery book #.05

This prequel of 180 pages or so introduces us to the earlier years of Bernadette’s life telling us her background as a young person and what propelled her to look into a career in law enforcement. Starting this series with this one is a good move and not a bad idea to read it if you already have been pulled in with Bernadette strong will and ingenuity.

In a few words:

Bernadette is a troubled child, anger is her weakness. Gang members hate her for not being of pure ethnicity threatens her and her loved ones every time they have a chance. Till the day she ran away from the reservation and found a way to stop them.

My thoughts:

Even with the many sub-plots and the many characters we come across following this teenage through her ups and downs is attention grabbing. This fast-paced action mystery could have been easier to grasp and much more enjoyable if I didn’t have to reread some words that skipped the eyes of proofreaders. Nevertheless we have a good story here. As for Bernadette’s character she is a loveable one and it is great to see how she handles herself.

book#1 next.

"Good Dog, Bad Coop", by David Rosenfelt

The K Team book # 4

I haven’t read the previous books in this series and I had no trouble to piece everything together and smoothly fit in while I enjoyed tagging along with Corey Douglas, his K-9 partner Simon Garfunkel, Laurie Collins as well as with Marcus Clack while these private investigators went about sniffing the truth.

The Paterson PD hired the team to investigate several cold cases, one in particular involving a murdered police officer while he was on a stake out... The rumour is that he may have been a dirty cop but the team rejects this idea. Looking deeper into this, the team finds two more deaths that could be related....and as the task gets even more complex they find themselves in chaotic and turbulent situations.

This is a challenging read with lots of characters to keep track of and with the many unexpected twists that come one after the other you really need to stay focus on what is going on. The narration is done by Corey and his tone is enjoyable. The plot is not only well developed but will keep you on the edge of your seat from the beginning. This active and quick paced story will entice you to flip pages rapidly to see the outcome.

This is fun read.

My thanks to St-Martins Press and Netgalley for this ARC