Head Wounds by Chris Knopf

I enjoyed this, I'll try another in the series. PW: Part-time carpenter, full-time drinker and co-conspirator with an existential mutt named Eddie Van Halen, Sam tries to lead the simple life. But as always, fate intervenes, this time in the form of Robbie Milhouser, a local builder and blundering bully who shares with Sam an irresistible attraction to the beautiful Amanda. When Robbie is murdered, Sam finds himself in the crosshairs of a very determined chief of police.

A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block

Read again 2018. Very enjoyable, would like to read more in the Scudder series. 1981. PW: Nine long years have passed since the killer last struck - nine years since eight helpless young women were brutally slaughtered by an icepick-wielding maniac. The trail grew cold and the book was unofficially closed on a serial killer who stopped killing. But now "The Icepick Prowler" has confessed - but only to seven of the killings. Not only does he deny the eighth, he has an airtight alibi. Barbara Ettinger's family had almost come to accept that the young woman was the victim of a random killing. Now they must grapple with the shocking revelation that not only was her death disguised to look like the serial killer's work, but her murderer may have been someone she knew and trusted. Matthew Scudder has been hired to finally bring her slayer to justice, setting the relentless detective on the trail of a death almost a decade old, searching for a vicious murderer who's either long gone, long dead... or patiently waiting to kill again.

Cat Chaser by Elmore Leonard

Not the best Leonard but very enjoyable. 1982. PW: The hero of Cat Chaser, George Moran, isn't looking for trouble but finds it anyway when he winds up in bed with the wife of a drug-dealing mob-connected Dominican cop - vicious, macho and ready to follow George to the ends of the earth, which in this case means Miami.

Silent Prey by John Sandford

Another enjoyable Lucas Davenport saga. PW: In Eyes of Prey, Bekker, an insane pathologist who experiments with his patients’ pain thresholds, is finally brought down by an unrelenting Lucas Davenport, who brutally maims the doctor’s beautiful face but leaves him alive. “You should have killed me,” were Bekker’s parting and prophetic words. In this sequel to Eyes of Prey, Bekker endures the indignities and horrors of imprisonment, taking comfort in the fact that it is only a matter of time before he will make Lucas Davenport pay.

The Last Refuge by Ben Coes

Coes can write an excellent story but his characters are silly. PW: Off a quiet street in Brooklyn, New York, Israeli Special Forces commander Kohl Meir is captured by operatives of the Iranian secret service, who smuggle Meir back to Iran, where he is imprisoned, tortured, and prepared for a show trial. What they don’t know is that Meir was in New York to recruit Dewey Andreas for a secret operation.

The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry

Not great Perry but still very enjoyable. Excellent narration by Robertson Dean. PW: Jack Till, who has retired from the LAPD after a respected career as a homicide detective, now works as a private investigator, comfortable chasing down routine cases while visiting his 24-year-old daughter, Holly, who has Down Syndrome. But when the parents of a recently murdered young girl, about Holly's age, ask for his help when the police come up empty, Till reluctantly takes the case.

Lions of Kandahar by Major Rusty Bradley, Kevin Maurer

Enjoyable macho special forces stuff. PW: One of the most critical battles of the Afghan War is now revealed as never before. Lions of Kandahar is an inside account from the unique perspective of an active-duty U.S. Army Special Forces commander, an unparalled warrior with multiple deployments to the theater who has only recently returned from combat.

In the Frame by Dick Francis

Re-read 9/27/16 and enjoyed it a lot. Reading a Dick Francis book is like being with an old friend. His characters are so likable as to draw you in.  The book was released in 1976 and captures a naiveté of the time. The narrator Ralph Cosham was excellent. PW: Charles Todd is an English artist who is well known and respected for his renderings of sleek and athletic horses. What he now faces at his cousin Donald's house is also art - the art of a perfectly brutal murderer. Donald's home has been burglarized and his wife, Regina, is lying on her back dead, her face the color of cream. Donald is shattered, shocked, and a prime suspect. And Todd suddenly finds himself involved in a dangerous man-hunt as he searches, against all odds, for an elusive killer and some murderous answers.

Hard Target by Howard Gordon

Didn't like it, stopped reading early on.

Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney

Very enjoyable telling of the creation of Delta Force by someone who took part in it.

Falcon Seven by James Huston

What an usual scenario. Huston writes an intriguing thriller despite an unlikeable hero. The story really has to be good to continue on with this hero, I'm glad I resisted early temptations to put it down. PW: Jack Caskey, a Washington, D.C., criminal defense attorney and former navy SEAL, tries to prevent the judicial railroading of two U.S. Navy aviators by the International Criminal Court in this timely and provocative thriller from bestseller Huston (Marine One). When navy officers Doug Raw Rawlings and Bill Dunk Duncan bomb an approved target in Pakistan, they hit not a meeting between Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, as expected, but European aid workers and their patients. After their F-18 Hornet is shot down during the mission, the captured pilots wind up in The Hague, where they're charged with war crimes. Jack, who leads a hastily assembled team to defend Raw and Dunk, travels to Pakistan in a dangerous effort to find witnesses. Meanwhile, the U.S. government maneuvers to avoid the trial. Huston provides an intriguing look at international law, current American policies, and modern war.

Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen

Fun. PW: Tourist season is swinging into high gear in Miami. So are the activities of a bizarre terrorist group determined to keep the hapless "snowbirds" away. Armed with bombs, weed, and jumbled credos, they move toward their grand target, the Orange Bowl Parade, with plans to bring Miami and its tourist trade to a halt.

Threat Vector by Tom Clancy, Mark Greaney

This was good and could have been excellent if it wasn't so long. The embellishments about daily life and family history for non impactful characters distracted from an exciting plot. PW: Jack Ryan has only just moved back into the Oval Office when he is faced with a new international threat. An aborted coup in the People's Republic of China has left President Wei Zhen Lin with no choice but to agree with the expansionist policies of General Su Ke Quiang. They have declared the South China Sea a protectorate and are planning an invasion of Taiwan. The Ryan administration is determined to thwart China’s ambitions, but the stakes are dangerously high as a new breed of powerful Chinese anti-ship missiles endanger the US Navy's plans to protect the island.

Sharpe's Trafalgar by Bernard Cornwell

This is the best I've encountered in the Sharpe's series - very enjoyable. PW A guttersnipe who has risen through the ranks of the British army, Ensign Sharpe is sailing home to England from his latest campaign against Napoleon. Anticipating an uneventful voyage, the dashing young maverick discovers the intriguing and very married Lady Grace Hale on board the Calliope. But just as he wins his way into her heart, the ship is fired upon and, suddenly, he finds himself in the thick of one of history's most spectacular incidents: the Battle of Trafalgar.

Echo Burning by Lee Child

Entertaining. PW: Reacher is hitching through the heat of West Texas and getting desperate for a ride. The last thing he's worried about is exactly who picks him up. She's called Carmen. She's a good-looking young woman, she has a beautiful little girl...and she has married into the wrong family.

The Last Jihad by Joel C. Rosenberg

Think I'd try this author one more time. PW Jon Bennett is a top Wall Street strategist turned senior White House advisor. But nothing has prepared him for the terror that he will face. Saddam Hussein dispatches his top hit men to assassinate the President of the United States. Iraqi terrorists spread carnage throughout London, Paris, and Riyadh...and the Butcher of Baghdad has a nuclear ace in his hand that he has not yet played. Only a solid Arab-Israeli coalition against Iraq can keep the U.S. and other Western nations from certain devastation. And only Bennett and his beautiful partner, Erin McCoy, can make that happen. Their secret project - a billion dollar oil deal off the coast of Gaza - could be the basis for an historic peace treaty and enormous wealth for every Israeli and Palestinian. But just before the treaty can be signed, Israeli commandos foil an Iraqi scud missile launch, recovering a nuclear warhead and evidence that the next attack will level Washington, New York, and Tel Aviv.
Now, the Israeli prime minister gives the American President an ultimatum: melt down Baghdad within one hour...or Israel will do it herself.

Eyes of Prey by John Sandford

Very enjoyable. You get the sense that Stanford is developing his craft before you, trying new things sometimes awkwardly but usually deftly. PW: The death of the doctor's wife horrifies the Twin Cities, especially what the killer did to her eyes. A report comes in of a troll-like man near the murder scene, his face a patchwork of scars, but that bizarre clue is all Lieutenant Lucas Davenport has to go on as he attempts to sort out the murder. Still trying to recover from a pair of particularly brutal cases, bone-weary, his nerves fraying, Davenport isn't sure he's up to it — until it happens again, the same savagery, the same mutilation of the eyes, and he realizes he has no choice. Little by little, Davenport is drawn into the web of a man of extraordinary intelligence and evil, a master manipulator fascinated with all aspects of death: the dark mirror of Davenport's own soul. As the hunt winds through darker and ever more frightening events, Davenport knows there is no turning back. This is the case that will lift him back to life — or push him irrevocably over the edge.

And One Last Thing... by Molly Harper

It wasn't terrible and it was funny but boy is this a 'chick' book. No more. PW: Lacey Terwilliger's shock and humiliation over her husband's philandering prompt her to add some bonus material to Mike's company newsletter: stunning Technicolor descriptions of the special brand of "administrative support" his receptionist gives him. The detailed mass e-mail to Mike's family, friends, and clients blows up in her face, and before one can say "instant urban legend", Lacey has become the pariah of her small Kentucky town, a media punch line, and the defendant in Mike's defamation lawsuit.

Shadow Prey by John Sandford

Book 2 in this fabulous series. PW: In Shadow Prey, the crackling sequel to Rules of Prey, Twin Cities Sleuth Lucas Davenport teams up with NYPD Lieutenant Lily Rothenberg to track down an elusive killer, known only as Shadow Love. Among the victims are a Minneapolis slumlord, a judge from Oklahoma City, and a Manhattan politician. The murder weapon is a Native American ceremonial knife.

The 47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter

I really enjoy this series and the narrator is excellent. Wacky premiss but somehow this was really entertaining. PW Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers, two brave fighters on opposite sides, met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island. Only Earl Swagger survived. More than 60 years later, Yano comes to America to honor the legacy of his heroic father by recovering the sword he used in the battle. His search has led him to Crazy Horse, Idaho, where Bob Lee, ex-marine and Vietnam veteran, has settled into a restless retirement and immediately pledges himself to Yano's quest.

Suspect by Robert Crais

Audible gave the first two chapters away for free. Not bad, but I don't think this author is for me.

Stick by Elmore Leonard

Excellent. Leonard is the Shakespeare of dialog. After serving time for armed robbery, Ernest "Stick" Stickley is back on the outside and trying to stay legit. But it's tough staying straight in a crooked town - and Miami is a pirate's paradise, where investment fat cats and lowlife drug dealers hold hands and dance. And when a crazed player chooses Stick at random to die for another man's sins, the struggling ex-con is left with no choice but to dive right back into the game. Besides, Stick knows a good thing when he sees it - and a golden opportunity to run a very profitable sweet revenge scam seems much too tasty to pass up.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

OK, but I was disappointed. One of the few times the movie is better than the book.

Bloodmoney by David Ignatius

Too much back story. To many details about non relevant parts of the story. It's like he writes an hour a day and includes all of the details that came out of that day's writings. Too bad, because Ignatius is a good writer.

The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva

Very entertaining.

Mind Prey by John Sandford

More great entertainment with Lucas et al.

Certain Prey by John Sandford

Man this guy just keeps putting out winners. Another entertaining Lucas Davenport thriller with the excellent narration of Richard Feronne.

Black Site by Dalton Fury

Sniper with most kills autobiography. Lots of interesting insights, but you don't end up caring much about the main character.

The Inside Ring by Michael Lawson

First in the series is a solid enjoyable read.

American Sniper by Chris Kyle , Scott McEwan

Fascinating subject matter, un-engaging author. The author comes across as smart and brave but narrow minded, angry and not likable. PW: From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. The Pentagon has officially confirmed more than 150 of Kyles kills (the previous American record was 109), but it has declined to verify the astonishing total number for this book. Iraqi insurgents feared Kyle so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle earned legendary status among his fellow SEALs, Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, whom he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle’s masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the great war memoirs of all time.

House Blood by Mike Lawson

The 7th Joe DeMarco thriller is at least as good as it's predecessors. Looking forward to the next one. Joe Barrett is a great narrator. PW: n House Blood, Lawson introduces us to Orson Mulray, CEO of Mulray Pharma, a cold and calculating man obsessed with profit and prestige. Mulray believes he has discovered a drug that could prevent a previously incurable disease. It could be the salvation of millions of people and earn him billions of dollars. But the drug needs to be tested on human subjects, and Mulray needs more than blood samples - he needs autopsy results. When DeMarco is asked to look into the murder conviction of a lobbyist, he has other worries on his mind: His boss is no longer Speaker, his girlfriend has left him, and his friend Emma may be dying. DeMarco doesn’t expect to free the lobbyist - much less become the target of two of the most callous killers he and Emma have ever encountered.

Vigilante by Stephen J. Cannell

Abridged audio. A fun and light entry into the Shane Scully series. PW: Lita Mendez was a thorn in the LAPD's side. An aggressive police critic and gang activist, she’d filed countless complaints against the department. So when she's found dead in her home, Detective Scully and his partner Hitchens fear the worst: that there's a killer in their ranks. Outside the crime scene, Nixon Nash and his television crew have set up shop. Nash is the charismatic host of a hit reality show called "Vigilante TV," dedicated to beating the cops at their own game: solving murders before they can. Now he has the murder of Lita Mendez in his sights. He presents the detectives with a choice: either join his team, or prepare for a public takedown.

Dream Team by Jack McCallum

Interesting insights into the Dream Team.

Coup d'Etat by Ben Coes

Over the top patriotism and length back stories that are not important to the plot detract from this otherwise interesting book. PW: When a fragile peace breaks down and promptly devolves into a rapidly escalating shooting war between Pakistan and India, the United States is forced to intervene. With only hours remaining before the conflict reaches a deadly point of no return, the White House must find a way to shut it down immediately - or risk the likelihood of a new global war. A radical cleric has become the democratically elected president of Pakistan and uses a brutal incident in the Kashmir region as an opportunity to ignite war with India. The highly lethal conventional war spins out of control when Pakistan initiates a nuclear attack. India is on the verge of launching their own nuclear response, one that will have unimaginably disastrous results for both the United States and the world at large. With only one chance to head this off, the president of the United States sends in his best people to do whatever it takes to restore the fragile peace to the region. With the clock ticking and Pakistan in the hands of a religious radical willing to do anything to destroy India, there remains only one viable option: to execute a coup d’état in Pakistan.

Power Down: Dewey Andreas, Book 1 by Ben Coes

This book needs an editor. Reading entire chapters that develop the back story of a character that gets killed and then has no impact on the plot is tiresome. Lots of interesting bits here, but equally there are side stories that an editor should help the author see are unnecessary. Coes has lots of potential if he can learn to focus on the plot. PW: A major North American hydroelectric dam is blown up and the largest off-shore oil field in this hemisphere is destroyed in a brutal, coordinated terrorist attack. But there was one factor that the terrorists didn’t take into account when they struck the Capitana platform off the coast of Colombia - slaughtering much of the crew and blowing up the platform - and that was the Capitana crew chief, Dewey Andreas. Dewey, former Army Ranger and Delta, survives the attack, rescuing as many of his men as possible. But the battle has just begun. While the intelligence and law enforcement agencies scramble to untangle these events and find the people responsible, the mysterious figure of Alexander Fortuna - an agent embedded into the highest levels of American society and business - sets into play the second stage of these long-planned attacks. The only fly in the ointment is Dewey Andreas - who is using all his long-dormant skills to fight his way off the platform, then out of Colombia and back to the U.S., following the trail of terrorists and operatives sent to stop him.

The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake

Fun, light and forgettable. PW The Hot Rock introduces John Archibald Dortmunder, the thief whose capers never quite come off, as he and his convict friends plot to steal the fabulous Balaboma Emerald.

Hidden Prey by John Sandford

Very good. PW Six months ago, Lucas Davenport tackled his first case as a statewide troubleshooter, and he thought that one was plenty strange enough. But that was before the Russian got killed. On the shore of Lake Superior, a man named Vladimir Oleshev is found shot dead, three holes in his head and heart, and though nobody knows why he was killed, everybody - the local cops, the FBI, and the Russians themselves - has a theory. And when it turns out he had very high government connections, that's when it hits the fan. A Russian cop flies in from Moscow, Davenport flies in from Minneapolis, law enforcement and press types swarm the crime scene - and, in the middle of it all, there is another murder. Is there a relationship between the two? What is the Russian cop hiding from Davenport? Is she - yes, it's a woman - a cop at all? Why was the man shot with ... fifty-year-old bullets? Before he can find the answers, Davenport will have to follow a trail back to another place, another time, and battle the shadows he discovers there - shadows that turn out to be both very real and very deadly.

The Black Box by Michael Connelly

Very enjoyable. PW In a case that spans 20 years, Harry Bosch links the bullet from a recent crime to a file from 1992, the killing of a young female photographer during the L.A. riots. Harry originally investigated the murder, but it was then handed off to the Riot Crimes Task Force and never solved. Now Bosch's ballistics match indicates that her death was not random violence, but something more personal, and connected to a deeper intrigue. Like an investigator combing through the wreckage after a plane crash, Bosch searches for the "black box", the one piece of evidence that will pull the case together.

The Poet by Michael Connelly

Excellent, a great thriller - Connelly at his best. PW: Our hero is Jack McEvoy, a Rocky Mountain News crime-beat reporter. As the story opens, Jack's twin brother, a Denver homicide detective, has just killed himself. Or so it seems. But when Jack begins to investigate the phenomenon of police suicides, a disturbing pattern emerges, and soon suspects that a serial murderer is at work - a devious cop killer who's left a coast-to-coast trail of "suicide notes" drawn from the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. It's the story of a lifetime - except that "the Poet" already seems to know that Jack is trailing him. . .

City Primeval by Elmore Leonard

Another exciting and fun ride with Leonard. PW: Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The seriously crazed killer is already back on the Detroit streets - thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his crafty looker of a lawyer - and he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked Motown judge on a whim. Homicide Detective Raymond Cruz thinks the "Oklahoma Wildman" crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the hayseed psycho does not slip through the legal system's loopholes a second time. But that means a good cop is going to have to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules - in order to maneuver Mansell into a wild Midwest showdown that he won't be walking away from.

Deep Sky by Patrick Lee

Started but didn't finish. Author had interesting ideas but spent so much time going on side trips that main objective was lost.

Get Real by Donald E. Westlake

My first Westlake read and I'm excited to read more of the Dortmunder series. Light, funny, witty dialog... PW: Eluding the law has always been high on Dortmunder's list. But getting caught red-handed is inevitable in his next caper, when a TV producer convinces this thief and his merry gang to star in a reality show that captures their next score. The producer even guarantees to keep the show from being used as evidence against them. They're dubious at first, but the pay's good, so they sign on.

Endgame by Frank Brady

Fascinating account of Bobby Fischer's life.

The Forgotten by David Baldacci

Baldacci can generate great stories - this one is not great but entertaining. PW: Army Special Agent John Puller is the best there is. A combat veteran, Puller is the man the U.S. Army relies on to investigate the toughest crimes facing the nation. Now he has a new case - but this time, the crime is personal: His aunt has been found dead in Paradise, Florida. A picture-perfect town on Florida's Gulf Coast, Paradise thrives on the wealthy tourists and retirees drawn to its gorgeous weather and beaches. The local police have ruled his aunt's death an unfortunate, tragic accident. But just before she died, she mailed a letter to Puller's father, telling him that beneath its beautiful veneer, Paradise is not all it seems to be. What Puller finds convinces him that his aunt's death was no accident… and that the palm trees and sandy beaches of Paradise may hide a conspiracy so shocking that some will go to unthinkable lengths to make sure the truth is never revealed.

The Last Man by Vince Flynn

9/14 Listened to this again and really enjoyed it.

Another enjoyable Mitch Rapp episode, though one of the weaker adventures. PW: The four dead guards didn’t concern Mitch Rapp as much as the absence of the man they’d been paid to protect. Joe Rickman wasn’t just another foot soldier. For the last eight years Rickman had ran the CIA’s clandestine operations in Afghanistan. It was a murky job that involved working with virtually every disreputable figure in the Islamic Republic. More than a quarter billion dollars in cash had passed through Rickman’s hands during his tenure as the master of black ops and no one with a shred of sense wanted to know the details of how that money had been spent. At first glance it looks as if Rickman has been kidnapped, but Rapp knows certain things about his old friend that cause him to wonder if something more disturbing isn’t afoot. Irene Kennedy, the director of the CIA, has ordered Rapp to find Rickman at all costs. Rapp must navigate the ever-shifting landscape of Afghanistan as the Taliban, Iranians, Pakistanis and Russians all plot to claim their piece of the war torn state. With Afghanistan crumbling around him, Rapp must be as ruthless as his enemies and as deceitful as people in his own government if he has any hopes of completing his mission.

Moscow Sting by Alex Dryden

My first book by Dryden and while the book was a little slow, I'd try another one of his future books. PW: When Finn, a former British spy, is poisoned by a Russian assassin, his ex-boss Adrian, chief of MI6, wants vengeance. He also wants answers - information that only Finn's widow, Anna, knows. But the former KGB colonel who betrayed her country for love vanished with their child shortly after Finn's death. Adrian isn't the only one eager to find Anna. Finn accessed intelligence so sensitive that the KGB are willing to kill again to protect it - a chase that has piqued the interest of the major intelligence agencies, be they government-sponsored or private, around the world. Though Medvedev has assumed the presidency, everyone knows that Putin continues to pull all the strings. Just what is Russia concealing beneath its immense new oil wealth and veil of political cordiality? Anna holds the key to unlocking the secrets of her motherland. Taken to America for protection and information, the former Russian agent faces her greatest test: to ensure her freedom and protect her child, she must uncover the full truth before anyone else - even as friend and foe both set her in their sights. Moving from Paris to New York, the Kremlin to the American Southwest, Moscow Sting is an absorbing and timely tale of intrigue, betrayal, fatal lies, and complex truths, told with the authentic detail and chilling insight of an experienced insider.

Leader of the Pack by David Rosenfelt

I like Rosenfelt's formula. Just like the other Andy Carpenter books, fun, light, forgettable. Wish there were more of them. PW: Over the course of his legal career, Andy Carpenter has lost a few cases. But that doesn’t mean he forgets his clients. Andy has always been convinced that Joey Desimone, a man convicted of murder nine years ago, was innocent and believes that Joey’s family’s connections to organized crime played a pivotal role in his conviction. While there isn’t much Andy can do for him while he serves out his prison sentence, Joey suggests that he check up on Joey’s elderly uncle. He’d rather not, but as a favor to Joey, Andy agrees to take his dog, Tara, on a few visits. The old man’s memory is going, but when Andy tries to explain why he’s there, it jogs something in the man’s mind, and his comments leave Andy wondering if Uncle Nick is confused, or if he just might hold the key to Joey’s freedom after all this time. Andy grabs on to this thread of possibility and follows it into a world where the oath of silence is stronger than blood ties, and where people will do anything to make sure their secrets are kept.

The Gray Man by Mark Greaney

Greaney regurgitates good bits from lots of modern spy thrillers but the net result is stiff and underwhelming. I'd try another of his books as this was his first and maybe he'll get a groove. PW: Greaney's debut novel - and future feature film - introduces the enigmatic and elusive Court Gentry, a former CIA operative and a legendary hired gun. With a terrifying ability to vaporize targets and a strict moral code, he stalks the gray margins of the world, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible, then fading away. When his government and former employers turn on him, there is no safehouse to run to, no way to lie low. In a constant state of escape and pursuit, Gentry tears through the Middle East and Europe in a riveting life-or-death race against time.

Raylan by Elmore Leonard

This, the third book in the Raylan series is the strongest. I marvel at how well Leonard writes dialog. There is no one better. Even though the ending is weak, as a whole, this is a fun book. PW: With the closing of the Harlan County, Kentucky, coalmines, marijuana has become the biggest cash crop in the state. A hundred pounds of it can gross three-hundred thousand dollars, but that’s chump change compared to the quarter million a human body can get you - especially when it’s sold off piece-by-piece. So when Dickie and Coover Crowe, dope-dealing brothers known for sampling their own supply, decide to branch out into the body business, it’s up to U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens to stop them. But by the time Raylan finds out who’s making the cuts, he’s lying naked in a bathtub, with Layla the cool transplant nurse about to go for his kidneys.

Nightlife by Thomas Perry

Perry is a clever writer and often brilliant. Nightlife shows both but is so diluted with back stories that the plot suffers. The characters are so well developed, it would be nice if Perry exposed them like Elmore Leonard, without telling us about them and letting their personalities fill us in. The characters are very well defined and likable. PW: When the cousin of Los Angeles underworld figure Hugo Poole is found shot to death in his Portland, Oregon, home, police find nothing at the scene of the crime except several long strands of blonde hair hinting that a second victim may have been involved. Hotel security tapes from the victim's last vacation reveal an out-of-focus picture of a young blond woman entering and leaving his room. Could she also be a murder victim? Portland homicide detective Catherine Hobbes is determined to solve the case and locate the missing blonde, but her feelings, and the investigation, are complicated when Hugo hires private detective Joe Pitt to perform a parallel investigation. As Joe and Catherine form an uneasy alliance, the murder count rises, and both realize that the pretty young woman in the security tapes is not a victim at all. As Catherine follows the evidence, she finds herself in a deadly contest with an unpredictable adversary capable of changing her appearance and identity at will. Catherine must use everything she knows, as a homicide detective and as a woman, to stop a murderer who kills on impulse and with ease, and who becomes more efficient and elusive with each crime.

As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson

The latest in the Walt Longmire series is excellent. I don't think there's been a weak link in the chain and this episode is at the top of them all. PW: Embarking on his eighth adventure in As the Crow Flies, Sheriff Longmire is searching the Cheyenne Reservation for a site to host his daughter’s wedding, when he sees a woman fall to her death. Teaming up with beautiful tribal chief Lolo Long, Walt sets out to investigate the suspicious death.

The Safe Man by Michael Connelly

Safe cracker "box man" opens a safe with evil and can see the future. Didn't do it for me.

The Racketeer by John Grisham

Like so many Grisham books the antagonist is again an overwhelming force that makes the world seem bleak. But also like the best Grisham books the plots are creative and intriguing. The book starts of slow and angry and gets better as it goes. Didn't really enjoy the narration. PW Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge’s untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland. On paper, Malcolm’s situation isn’t looking too good these days, but he’s got an ace up his sleeve. He knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and he knows why. The judge’s body was found in his remote lakeside cabin. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied.
What was in the safe? The FBI would love to know. And Malcolm Bannister would love to tell them. But everything has a price—especially information as explosive as the sequence of events that led to Judge Fawcett’s death. And the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday....

Honor Bound by W. E. B. Griffin

First book in the Honor Bound series was enjoyable. May listen to more in the series, but the narrators are not as interesting as Dick Hill. PW It's 1942. A Marine aviator, an Army paratrooper and demolitions expert, and a non-com radio man are on an impossible mission for the OSS - sabotaging the resupply of German ships and submarines by any means necessary! First Lieutenant Cletus Frade is fresh from Guadalcanal. He teams up with Second Lieutenant Anthony Pelosi and Sergeant David Ettinger for the most critical OSS operation of the war. Under the direction of the mysterious Colonel Loman, they venture into a simmering stew of German and Allied agents, collaborators, and government security thugs, of men and women hiding their pasts and plotting their futures - all in supposedly neutral city of Buenos Aires.

Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young

I don't know if I'd say this is a good book, but I enjoyed it. Keith Carradine's narration didn't do it for me. I liked the books composition of short stories that wandered around and crossed paths from time to time.

Hot Springs by Stephen Hunter

Passable entertainment, the worst book I've read by this author. Even so I look forward to reading more by Hunter, particularly in the Bob Lee Swagger series, this book was about Earl, his father. PW Earl Swagger is tough as hell. But even tough guys have their secrets. Plagued by the memory of his abusive father, apprehensive about his own impending parenthood, Earl is a decorated ex-Marine of absolute integrity — and overwhelming melancholy. Now he’s about to face his biggest, bloodiest challenge yet. It is the summer of 1946, organized crime’s garish golden age, when American justice seems to have gone to seed for good. Nowhere is this more true than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the reigning capital of corruption. When the district attorney vows to bring down the mob, Earl is recruited to run the show. As casino raids erupt into nerve-shattering combat amid screaming prostitutes and fleeing johns, the body count mounts — along with the suspense.

The Panther by Nelson DeMille

Enjoyable but the weakest book in the series. Throughout the book the main character cracks unspoken jokes and as I didn't find them funny, it quickly became tiresome. PW Anti-Terrorist Task Force agent John Corey and his wife, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, have been posted overseas to Sana'a, Yemen - one of the most dangerous places in the Middle East. While there, they will be working with a small team to track down one of the masterminds behind the USS Cole bombing: a high-ranking Al Qaeda operative known as The Panther. Ruthless and elusive, he's wanted for multiple terrorist acts and murders - and the U.S. government is determined to bring him down, no matter the cost. As latecomers to a deadly game, John and Kate don't know the rules, the players, or the score. What they do know is that there is more to their assignment than meets the eye - and that the hunters are about to become the hunted.

Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda

Read this in high school but it was too boring to complete 30 years later.

Mad River by John Sandford

Boy these Virgil Flowers books are sure fun, I think even better than the Lucas Davenport series. Can't wait for the next... PW: Bonnie and Clyde, they thought. And what’s-his-name, the sidekick. Three teenagers with dead-end lives, and chips on their shoulders, and guns. The first person they killed was a highway patrolman. The second was a woman during a robbery. Then, hell, why not keep on going? As their crime spree cuts a swath through rural Minnesota, some of it captured on the killers’ cell phones and sent to a local television station, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers joins the growing army of cops trying to run them down. But even he doesn’t realize what’s about to happen next.

A Wanted Man by Lee Child

Enjoyed book #17 of the Jack Reacher series. Oddly slow in some places but still kept me interested. PW Four people in a car, hoping to make Chicago by morning. One man driving, eyes on the road. Another man next to him, telling stories that don’t add up. A woman in the back, silent and worried. And next to her, a huge man with a broken nose, hitching a ride east to Virginia. An hour behind them, a man lies stabbed to death in an old pumping station. He was seen going in with two others, but he never came out. He has been executed, the knife work professional, the killers vanished. Within minutes, the police are notified.  Within hours, the FBI descends, laying claim to the victim without ever saying who he was or why he was there.

 

Contact by Carl Sagan

Couldn't get interested, didn't read very much of it.

Dead Zero by Stephen Hunter

Really enjoyed this Lee Swagger episode where he teams up with his younger version. PW The idea that Stephen Hunter could write a Bob Lee Swagger novel in which the legendary Vietnam sniper doesn’t pull a single trigger seems inconceivable. Not that there isn’t plenty of trigger-pulling by others in this tale of a contemporary marine sniper gone rogue. Swagger, now in his 60s, is drafted by the FBI to find Sergeant Roy Cruz, who was presumed dead after his attempted assassination of an Afghan warlord went awry. The warlord has now changed sides and is being groomed as “our man in Kabul,” but the resurfaced Cruz isn’t buying the conversion and appears determined to finish his original mission. Swagger, charged with stopping any attempt on the Afghan leader’s life, soon finds himself sympathizing with his fellow sniper and convinced that CIA generals are behind a secret program to ramp up the war on terror. It’s a juicy premise, which Hunter admits adapting from Patrick Alexander’s 1977 Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal; transformed to a contemporary setting, it evokes the government-treachery themes of 24 but does so with less cartoony derring-do and a considerably more nuanced exploration of the psychology of the soldier. Only the revelation of a connection between Swagger and Cruz seems a bit artificial, but this is a top-notch thriller all the same, showing that Bob the Nailer is just as (well, almost as) compelling a hero without his guns.

Storm Prey by John Sandford

Very good just what you'd expect from the Lucas Davenport series. PW: And this time, there's a storm brewing...Very early, 4:45, on a bitterly cold Minnesota morning, three big men burst through the door of a hospital pharmacy, duct-tape the hands, feet, mouth, and eyes of two pharmacy workers, and clean the place out. But then things swiftly go bad, one of the workers dies, and the robbers hustle out to their truck-and find themselves for just one second face-to-face with a blond woman in the garage: Weather Karkinnen, surgeon, wife of an investigator named Lucas Davenport.

Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin

Enjoyable and level handed. The bailout is looked at from many points of view.

The Parsifal Mosaic by Robert Ludlum

Excellent. Ludlum was the best spy writer and his stuff still stands up after many years (1983) and re-readings. PW: Michael Havelock's world died on a moonlit beach on the Costa Brava. He watched as his partner and lover, Jenna Karats, double agent, was efficiently gunned down by his own agency. There was nothing left for him but to quit the game, get out. Until, in one frantic moment on a crowded railroad platform in Rome, Havelock saw his Jenna alive. From then on, he was marked for death by both U.S. and Russian assassins, racing around the globe after his beautiful betrayer, trapped in a massive mosaic of treachery created by a top-level mole with the world in his fist.

Riptide by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Mediocre. PW: A centuries-old, cursed pirate's treasure, valued at over $2 billion, lies deep within the treacherous waters off the coast of Maine. Men who have attempted to unearth the fortune have suffered gruesome deaths. Will a high-tech expedition meet the same fate?

Stolen Prey by John Sandford

Like all the Lucas Davenport books in this series (this is #22) this is solid entertainment. I would have rated it 5 stars if the torture wasn't so graphic. Even includes a guest visit from Virgil Flowers. PW: Lucas Davenport has seen many terrible murder scenes. This is one of the worst. In the small Minnesota town of Deephaven, an entire family has been killed - husband, wife, two daughters, dogs. There’s something about the scene that pokes at Lucas’s cop instincts - it looks an awful lot like the kind of scorched-earth retribution he’s seen in drug killings sometimes. But this is a seriously upscale town, and the husband was an executive vice president at a big bank. It just doesn’t seem to fit.

Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard

Leonard is a master and this is him at his best. Other than a weak ending this book is outstanding. PW: World-class gentleman felon Jack Foley is busting out of Florida's Glades Prison when he runs head on into a shotgun-wielding Karen Sisco. Suddenly, he's sharing a cramped car trunk with the classy, disarmed federal marshal, and the chemistry is working overtime - and as soon as she escapes, he's already missing her. But there are bad men and a major score waiting for Jack in Motown. And the next time his path crosses Karen's, chances are she's going to be there for business, not pleasure.

Covert Warriors: Presidential Agent Series, Book 7 by W. E. B. Griffin

The soap opera continues as strong as ever...

The Trinity Game by Sean Chercover

Chercover is very good, I hope he writes a lot of books. This was the weakest of his three but still very good. Deep characters make for an interesting discussion on religion while untangling the mystery/thriller.

The Outlaws: Presidential Agent Series, Book 6 by W. E. B. Griffin

Loved it! This is a figgen macho soap opera and I can't turn the channel. The fella's have fallen out of grace with the new president and have to contend with that whilst saving the world.

Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez

Suarez's third book show's that he is likely to become the best sci-fi writers of the time. PW: Linda McKinney is a myrmecologist, a scientist who studies the social structure of ants. Her academic career has left her entirely unprepared for the day her sophisticated research is conscripted by unknown forces to help run an unmanned - and thanks to her research, automated - drone army. Odin is the secretive Special Ops soldier with a unique insight into the faceless enemy who has begun to attack the American homeland with drones programmed to seek, identify, and execute targets without human intervention. Together, McKinney and Odin must slow this advance long enough for the world to recognize its destructive power, because for thousands of years the "kill decision" during battle has remained in the hands of humans - and off-loading that responsibility to machines will bring unintended, possibly irreversible, consequences. But as forces even McKinney and Odin don't understand begin to gather, and death rains down from above, it may already be too late to save humankind from destruction at the hands of our own technology.

The Fallen Angel by Daniel Silva

If you like the series this is good. Lot's of recaps of stuff from previous books. PW: After narrowly surviving his last operation, Gabriel Allon, the wayward son of Israeli intelligence, has taken refuge behind the walls of the Vatican, where he is restoring one of Caravaggio's greatest masterpieces. But early one morning, he is summoned to St. Peter's Basilica by Monsignor Luigi Donati, the all-powerful private secretary to his Holiness Pope Paul VII. The body of a beautiful woman lies broken beneath Michelangelo's magnificent dome. The Vatican police suspect suicide, though Gabriel believes otherwise. So, it seems, does Donati. But the monsignor is fearful that a public inquiry might inflict another scandal on the Church, and so he calls upon Gabriel to quietly pursue the truth - with one caveat. "Rule number one at the Vatican," Donati said. "Don't ask too many questions." Gabriel learns that the dead woman had uncovered a dangerous secret - a secret that threatens a global criminal enterprise that is looting timeless treasures of antiquity and selling them to the highest bidder. But there is more to this network than just greed. A mysterious operative is plotting an act of sabotage that will plunge the world into a conflict of apocalyptic proportions....

Retreat Hell:The Corps Series, Book 9 by W. E. B. Griffin

Very sad that this is the last book in the series. The series just kind of ends, like if a soap opera went off the air. Even so, this has be a very satisfying series and I hope he decides to pop another segment but it's been 8 years... PW It is the fall of 1950. The Marines have made a pivotal breakthrough at Inchon, but a roller coaster awaits them. The bit in his teeth, Douglas MacArthur is intent on surging across the 38th parallel toward the Yalu River, where he is certain no Chinese are waiting for him, while Major Ken McCoy, operating undercover, hears a different story entirely, and is just as intent on nailing down the truth before it is too late. Meanwhile, Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, shuttling between two continents, works desperately to mediate the escalating battle between MacArthur and President Harry Truman, while trying to keep his mind from the cold fact that somewhere out there, his own daredevil pilot son, Pick, is lost behind enemy lines - and may be lost forever.

Smokescreen by Dick Francis

Mediocre but if you like Francis you'll like this. PW: Edward Lincoln is a worldwide celebrity who plays impossibly daring detectives on the big screen. But in reality, he is an ordinary man currently stuck in an extraordinary spot. Nerissa, his ailing godmother, had pleaded with him to travel to South Africa to investigate whether someone was tampering with her racehorses. He could not refuse her.
Once there, Lincoln is overwhelmed by autograph hounds and high suspicions. And when sudden perils cross his path and murder makes a horrific appearance, Lincoln, the actor-turned-investigator, is plunged into a plot of gold, greed, and gilded lives. He ultimately realizes that the only way to uncover the killer is to give not only the performance of his life, but a performance to save his life.

In Danger's Path:The Corps Series, Book 8 by W. E. B. Griffin

Enjoyable. PW: Put in charge of the OSS's Pacific operations, General Fleming Pickering is faced with two covert missions in the Gobi Desert. Called to duty is a Marine he doesn't expect...a scapegrace pilot named Malcolm, his son. Together, they will venture incognito--and with luck they may even come out alive...

The Book Case by Nelson DeMille

Enjoyable, this short story is good enough to read DeMille's upcoming book. PW: "The Book Case" is a story that features Nelson DeMille's most famous (and successful) character, Detective John Corey, who has appeared in six DeMille novels: Plum Island, The Lion's Game, Night Fall, Wild Fire, and The Lion. In this story, we see John Corey in his early years as an NYPD Detective, before he became involved with the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force.

The Majors:Brotherhood of War Series, Book 3 by W. E. B. Griffin

Very enjoyable. PW: Dien Bien Phu. Saigon. Hanoi. In 1954, they were only exotic names from a French campaign halfway around the world. But now American fighting men - proven on the bloody beaches of Normandy and in the minefields of Korea - are summoned to help beat back the guerilla forces of Ho Chi Minh. To some, the “secret” war in Indochina was the depth of folly. To others, like the majors, it pointed to the heights of glory.

Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block

Very enjoyable. Typical Block, slow plot interesting characters and dialog. PW: Small-time stoolie Jake "The Spinner" Jablon made a lot of new enemies when he switched careers from informer to blackmailer. And the more "clients," he figured, the more money - and the more people eager to see him dead. So he's greedy but scared, and he turns to his old acquaintance Matthew Scudder, who used to pay him for information back in Scudder's days as a cop. Scudder's his insurance policy - if anything happens to "The Spinner," Scudder can check up on the people who wanted him dead. No one is too surprised when the pigeon is found floating in the East River with his skull bashed in. Blackmail's a dangerous business. What's worse, no one cares - except Matthew Scudder. The unofficial private eye is no conscientious avenging angel. But he's willing to risk his own life and limb to confront Spinner's most murderously aggressive marks. A job's a job, after all, and Scudder's been paid to find a killer - by the victim…in advance.

The Prostitutes' Ball by Stephen J. Cannell

Enjoyable fluff. PW: Scully is assigned to the case along with his new partner, Sumner Hitchens. Hitch has a reputation in the department as a self-promoter; he sold the story rights to one of his cases to a film production company — and he has the millions to show for it. Scully and Hitch begin to investigate, and the case looks to be open-and-shut: The two young women were hired prostitutes, and there’s a security video of an angry husband firing on all three. A simple case of revenge.

Blood Sport by Dick Francis

8/24/16 Re-read. Enjoyable but this is a very weak showing for Dick Francis. Mediocre Francis, but without fail Francis makes a very likable hero. Very enjoyable indeed. PW: When English agent Gene Hawkins told his boss he'd forego his vacation to search for millionaire Dave Teller's prized missing stallion, he didn't know his retainer would include the attention of his boss's beautiful teenage daughter - or Teller's seldom sober wife. He also didn't know that a trail from London to New York to Las Vegas to California would lead eventually to murder.

Beekeeping for Beginners by Laurie R. King

If you like the series this is a real treat. A short book about how Holmes and Russell meet.

The Captains:Brotherhood of War Series, Book 2 by W. E. B. Griffin

Excellent. PW: A hard-bitten team of United States Army officers faces the dangers of the Korean War while confronting life-threatening challenges that could ruin or further their careers.

The Lieutenants:Brotherhood of War Series, Book 1 by W. E. B. Griffin

Very entertaining. PW: They were the young ones, the bright ones, the ones with the dreams. From the Nazi-prowled wastes of North Africa to the bloody corridors of Europe, they honorably answered the call. War - it was their duty, their job, their life. They marched off as boys and they came back - those who made it - as soldiers and professionals forged in the heat of battle....

Behind the Lines:The Corps Series, Book 7 by W. E. B. Griffin

Really enjoyable. PW World War II. On the island of Mindanao, the Philippines, a man calling himself "General" Fertig has set himself up as a guerrilla leader to harass the Japanese. Army records show that the only officer named Fertig in the Philippines is a reserve lieutenant colonel of the Corps of Engineers, reported MIA on Luzon. Still, the reports filtering out are interesting, and it's Marine lieutenant Ken McCoy's mission to sneak behind the lines and find out if he's for real. With him is a motley group put together as a compromise between the warring factions of Douglas MacArthur and the OSS chief Bill Donovan. Together, these men will steal into the heart of enemy territory and there, amid firefights and jungle camps, encounter more than they had bargained for. Before they're done, each will undergo a test of his own personal mettle - with results that will surprise even the most hardened of them.

Quantum of Solace by Ian Fleming

Short stories about 007, standard fare - enjoyable.

Angle of Investigation by Michael Connelly

3 short stories featuring Harry Bosch - very enjoyable.

Black Ops: Presidential Agent Series, Book 5 by W. E. B. Griffin

Book 5 is a continuation with what have become familiar and likable characters. Very little action but a very good soap opera. PW: The first disturbing reports reached Delta Force Lieutenant Colonel Charley Castillo in the form of backchannel messages concerning covert U.S. intelligence assets working for a variety of agencies suddenly gone missing and then, suddenly, inexplicably, found dying. Or dead. One in Budapest, Hungary. One in Kiev, Ukraine. One in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, mere klicks from the Iran border. And then one in Virginia, along the Potomac River, practically in the shadow of CIA headquarters. Castillo finds the information both infuriating and fascinating, particularly after a recent experience with two CIA traitors whose own deaths were swift and suspicious. Despite there being some similarities, though, he thinks there's something different with these new cases, something he can't quite put his finger on. At first, it's idle thought, but Castillo expects it's only a matter of time before the commander in chief assigns him and his group of troubleshooters in the innocuously named Office of Organizational Analysis to look into the deaths while all those intel agencies fight among themselves trying to put the pieces together. Meanwhile, Castillo has problems of his own - fallout from recent missions involving a clandestine rescue of a DEA agent from South American drug runners, and the confiscation of some 50 million dollars from thieves in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal. He's made more than a few enemies, he knows - both foreign and domestic. And then comes another back-channel message, this one delivered personally by his lethal friend, the Russian mobster arms dealer. All that has happened so far, he says, is just a warm-up for what's about to come out of the Kremlin.

Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson

Quirkiest of all the Walt Longmire stories but I like the magical bits where you're not sure if he's dreaming or if the ancients are talking to him. Story was just OK, but Guidall is wonderful to listen to. PW: When three hardened convicts escape FBI custody in a mountain blizzard, an armed psychopath leads them up Big Horn Mountain. As Longmire struggles to track their treacherous ascent, he’ll need all the help he can get from the tribal spirits of the towering summit.

SEAL Team Six by Howard E. Wasdin, Stephen Templin

Enjoyable and interesting.

The Firefly by P. T. Deutermann

Just OK. Deutermann produces tension from drawn out and obvious situations. PW: At midnight, in a secret medical clinic in Washington, D.C., two foreign doctors and their team are completing plastic surgery on an anonymous client who is changing the appearance of his face, among other things. After the procedure, the client begins to stir - and suddenly the operating room erupts in violence, and the clinic is ablaze. Washington police conduct an arson investigation, with inconclusive results. But one tantalizing fragment of evidence suggests that a terrorist bombing may be imminent. The presidential inauguration is quickly approaching, and Washington's police, fire, intelligence, military, federal, and White House security teams are making frantic preparations. Because of the strain on manpower, retired Secret Service agent Swamp Morgan is recalled to active duty. His task: investigate the incineration of the medical clinic as a "firefly" - Washington-speak for something that looks like a threat but isn't. As Swamp begins what he thinks is a routine check-and-dismiss, the clinic's missing client begins preparations for his mission: to launch an attack on the American government - a decapitation strike intended to wipe out both the outgoing and incoming administrations. As the crucial day approaches, Swamp, the only agent to take the firefly seriously, must operate alone as the clock clicks down to a breathtaking finale.

Close Combat:The Corps Series, Book 6 by W. E. B. Griffin

Very much looking forward to the next... PW: Set in 1942, the sixth book (following Line of Fire ) in Griffin's series about The Corps revolves around a war bond tour featuring Marine heroes of the Guadalcanal campaign. Series fans will recognize the central characters, among them Marine general and presidential troubleshooter Fleming Pickering, his fighter pilot son Pick, and movie mogul Homer Dillon, a Marine for the duration. Griffin has Marine Corps lore and trivia down pat, and he uses the bond-tour story line to convey the public-relations aspects of modern war. Essentially, however, the novel succeeds because the alcoholic and amorous exploits of its stateside heroes could be mink-lined wish fulfillment for the fantasies of the average soldier--most of the "close combat" here takes place in various bedrooms.

The Quick Red Fox: Travis McGee, Book 4 by John D. MacDonald

OK book, I would read the author again. PW: Travis McGee is looking for blackmailers for a superstar actress. With her personal secretary at his side, Mcgee is combing the country for suspects who attended a sex party with the sex symbol that produced pictures of all the participants. Trouble is, all of the other suspects show up in hospitals or dead.

A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Boy this book is slow, but some how Block creates such likable and interesting characters that you're in no hurry to finish and when you do it's very enjoyable. PW: His latest-as well as offering the customary skillful plotting, adroit pacing and sure sense of New York character-features a wry humor all its own, along with a particularly ingratiating and convincing pair of computer hackers. The premise is grim, certainly: a pair of men who prey murderously on women progress to kidnapping the womenfolk of drug dealers and demanding huge ransoms. Former alcoholic PI Scudder-now going to more AA meetings than ever-reluctantly agrees to help one dealer, a Lebanese, after his wife is killed by the kidnappers. Slowly and methodically he discerns a pattern in the mayhem. With the help of his erstwhile police colleagues, his black Times Square sidekick TJ and his call-girl sweetheart, Elaine, Scudder tightens the net on the culprits. When they seize the daughter of a Russian dealer, he is ready for the showdown. Block isn't big on action, though when it comes it is swift, vivid and horribly convincing; his Scudder books are built on character, atmosphere, crackling dialogue and a great deal of brooding-the taste for them is addictive.

Line Of Fire:The Corps Series, Book 5 by W. E. B. Griffin

Another gripping episode.

Battleground: The Corps Series by W. E. B. Griffin

Re-listened to February 12, 2018. The fourth book in the series was hard to put down. WWII is fascinating subject matter and Griffin adds  rich characters - a real nice recipe. PW: Griffin reveals the story of one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Pacific, the epic struggle for Guadalcanal...Daredevil pilot Charles Galloway learns the hard way how to command a fighter squadron. Lt. Joe Howard teams up with the Coastwatchers. Jack "No Middle Initial" Stecker leads his infantry battalion into the thickest of fighting, at a terrible price. And Navy Captain Pickering grabs a helmet and rifle to join the ranks at Guadalcanal...

Requiem for an Assassin by Barry Eisler

Weakest book in the series. Our hero Rain is angry and not so likable. PW: If you had to kill three people to save your best friend's life, would you do it? When John Rain decides to get out of the business, his hand is forced by rogue CIA operative Jim Hilger. Hilger kidnaps Dox, Rain's trusted partner and closest friend, and offers Rain a choice: carry out a final assignment, or bear the responsibility for Dox's murder.

Counterattack: The Corps Series, Book 3 by W. E. B. Griffin

I don't know why some Griffin books are so much better than others. This one is excellent and I suspect having Dick Hill for a narrator and no co-author are factors. This is the third book in the series and flows seamlessly from the first two, continuing the story of characters we're interested in entering WWII. More well developed characters are introduced and very little combat comes into play until the very end. Griffin is willing to create imperfect characters and dialog that represents a point of view defined by each character. The lack of an agenda and the historic detail really make this series compelling. PW:From the devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to America’s first bold counterstrike against the Japanese on the beaches of Guadalcanal, this compelling story takes you to the front lines of victory and defeat - and into the very heart of courage, loyalty, and valor. It is a heroic story of pride and passion you will never forget.... Griffin’s books are distinguished by their high action and suspense, his dashing irreverence toward high command, and his clear picture of war and its wartime leaders.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Tried half a dozen times to get into this and didn't.