Donna Leon is a fantastic writer, even if her last couple of books have been lacking a bit of her usual flair.The Brunetti series paints such a vivid image of Venice and the cast of characters adds to the overall sense of the city. The crime in this novel is not that uncommon in Italy and this just makes for for a very believable piece of crime fiction. A great read.

Product Description
At a dinner party given by his parents-in-law, Commissario Brunetti meets Franca Marinello, the wife of a prosperous Venetian businessman. He’s charmed - perhaps too charmed, suggests his wife Paola - by her love of Virgil and Cicero, but shocked by her appearance. A few days later, Brunetti is visited by Carabinieri Maggior Filippo Guarino from the nearby city of Marghera. As part of a wider investigation into Mafia takeovers of businesses in the region, Guarino wants information about the owner of a trucking company who was found murdered in his office. He believes the man’s death is connected to the illegal transportation of refuse - and more sinister material - in his company’s trucks. No stranger to mutual suspicion and competition between rival Italian police departments, Brunetti is nevertheless puzzled by the younger man’s paranoid behaviour. Eventually Guarino agrees to email a photo of his suspect, but by the time the photograph arrives, he himself is dead. Was he killed because he got too close? And why is it that Franca Marinello has often been seen in company of the suspect, a vulgar man with Mafia connections and a violent past? Donna Leon’s new novel is as subtle, gripping and topical as ever, bringing the sights, sounds and smells of Venice flooding to life.

About the Author
Donna Leon has lived in Venice for many years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she worked as a teacher. Her previous novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all been highly acclaimed; including Friends in High Places, which won the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, Through A Glass, Darkly, Suffer the Little Children, and most recently, The Girl of His Dreams.

This is classic Wilbur Smith. It has a hero, a villain, a beautiful woman (if flawed), natives and a stunning African backdrop. WS is a master at painting the landscape of Africa. His last couple of novels have not been that great, but this one sees him return to form. It is a true ‘Boys Own’ style adventure.

Amazon Description
It is 1913 and ex-soldier turned professional big game hunter, Leon Courtney, is in British East Africa guiding rich and powerful men from America and Europe on safaris in the Masai tribe territories. One of his clients, German industrialist Count Otto Von Meerbach, has a company which builds aircraft and vehicles for the Kaiser’s burgeoning army. But Leon had not bargained for falling passionately in love with Eva, the Count’s beautiful and enigmatic mistress. Just prior to the outbreak of World War I, Leon is recruited by his uncle, Penrod Ballantyne, Commander of the British Forces in East Africa, to gather information from Von Meerbach. He stumbles on a plot against the British involving the disenchanted survivors of the Boer War, but it is only when Eva and Von Meerbach return to Africa that Leon finds out who and what is really behind the conspiracy.

About the Author
Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He was educated at Michaelhouse and Rhodes University. He became a full-time writer in 1964 after the successful publication of When the Lion Feeds, and has since written over thirty novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide. His books are now translated into twenty-six languages.

Product Description
Charles McCarry has long been heralded as one of the select espionage writers who shines as a brilliant and unique novelist in his own right. Second Sight is the seventh in the series that follows the legendary spy Paul Christopher–a man ensnared by a line of work that never fails to exert its insidious influence outside professional boundaries.

Throughout the Arab world, U.S. agents are being kidnapped and brain-drained by an unidentified enemy armed with a diabolical new drug. Christopher’s old friend and superior in “The Outfit” calls him out of quiet retirement with a command he feels he must obey. But what begins for Christopher as a global manhunt swiftly turns into something far closer to home. For the key to the danger he must defuse is a secret buried deep in his own perilous past.

In a breathtaking, nerve-twisting plot that spins its way from pre-Nazi Germany to Vietnam, old scores have to be settled, grim reckonings must be made. And at the bottom of it all, a ravishing, strangely gifted Berber woman reappears like a half-forgotten memory, holding Paul Christopher’s fate in her hands. McCarry’s mastery is unmatched as he weaves past and present together in this world of secrets.

About the Author
Charles McCarry is the author, most recently, of the acclaimed thriller Old Boys. He established an international reputation as a novelist with the publication of his worldwide bestseller The Tears of Autumn in 1975 and is the author of nine other critically acclaimed novels, including The Miernik Dossier, The Secret Lovers, and The Better Angels. During the Cold War, he was an intelligence officer operating under deep cover in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Synopsis
Bagdad, Arizona, is a town once prosperous but now in decay, a place where the lives of those shackled by age or circumstance are played out against the backdrop of the visible horizon. A weird event attracts the media and puts Bagdad back on the map.

This is a fun adventure novel set in the Jewish kingdom of the Khazars. It follows the adventures of Zelikman and Amram. They find themselves in the middle of a struggle for control of the Khazar Empire, supporting the son Filaq of the deposed (killed) former ruler. The son soon turns out to be a daughter, and the fortunes of all go from bad to worse.
It reminds be very much of novels written pre WWII, in its wording and innocence.
A very enjoyable novel, with enough twists and turns to keep you hooked. The only let down is, I found it a bit short, and it does seem like part of a larger tale, and Gentlemen of the Road could well just be a middle section of a greater and larger work.

Product Description
Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, sprang from an early passion for the derring-do and larger-than-life heroes of classic comic books. Now, once more mining the rich past, Chabon summons the rollicking spirit of legendary adventures–from The Arabian Nights to Alexandre Dumas to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories–in a wonderful new novel brimming with breathless action, raucous humor, cliff-hanging suspense, and a cast of colorful characters worthy of Scheherazade’s most tantalizing tales.

They’re an odd pair, to be sure: pale, rail-thin, black-clad Zelikman, a moody, itinerant physician fond of jaunty headgear, and ex-soldier Amram, a gray-haired giant of a man as quick with a razor-tongued witticism as he is with a sharpened battle-ax. Brothers under the skin, comrades in arms, they make their rootless way through the Caucasus Mountains, circa A.D. 950, living as they please and surviving however they can–as blades and thieves for hire and as practiced bamboozlers, cheerfully separating the gullible from their money. No strangers to tight scrapes and close shaves, they’ve left many a fist shaking in their dust, tasted their share of enemy steel, and made good any number of hasty exits under hostile circumstances.

None of which has necessarily prepared them to be dragooned into service as escorts and defenders to a prince of the Khazar Empire. Usurped by his brutal uncle, the callow and decidedly ill-tempered young royal burns to reclaim his rightful throne. But doing so will demand wicked cunning, outrageous daring, and foolhardy bravado . . . not to mention an army. Zelikman and Amram can at least supply the former. But are these gentlemen of the road prepared to become generals in a full-scale revolution? The only certainty is that getting there–along a path paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of–will be much more than half the fun.

About the Author
Michael Chabon is the author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; Wonder Boys, which was made into a critically acclaimed film; The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize; The Final Solution: A Story of Detection; and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. He is also the author of two short-story collections and a young adult novel, Summerland. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

I’d like to think this is the kind of spy book Umberto Eco would write. Well-researched, plausible plot. This is not James Bond. Instead, the reader is draw into a facinating puzzle: how does somebody sneak into a top secret military base in Siberia? And, how do you get out? Johnny Porter is an unforgetable character and the scenery and action is crisply told.

Synopsis
Canadian-Indian, brilliant linguist, physically courageous, Johnny Porter finds a summons on his desk in Oxford to embark upon a mission only he can accomplish - to infiltrate a research station hidden deep under the Siberian permafrost, and so secret that no scientist ever leaves it alive.

I purchased this book many moons ago from a junk shop. It is the first U.K. edition (1968) and I’ve not read it for years. It is always a pleasure to dip back into reads from the past and this was no exception. It captures the state of Russia during the Tzars and their battle for control by the suppression of all and any by oppression and murder that sparks the passions of the ignorant masses. A classic novel that stands the test of time.

Product Description
A classic that won Malamud both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book AwardThe Fixer (1966) is Bernard Malamud’s best-known and most acclaimed novel — one that makes manifest his roots in Russian fiction, especially that of Isaac Babel.Set in Kiev in 1911 during a period of heightened anti-Semitism, the novel tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman blamed for the brutal murder of a young Russian boy. Bok leaves his village to try his luck in Kiev, and after denying his Jewish identity, finds himself working for a member of the anti-Semitic Black Hundreds Society. When the boy is found nearly drained of blood in a cave, the Black Hundreds accuse the Jews of ritual murder. Arrested and imprisoned, Bok refuses to confess to a crime that he did not commit.

The last Patricia Cornwell novel I thought was very weak, but being a fair kind of chap I thought I would give her a second chance because in the past she’s written some good books. Now I wished that I had saved my money. This really is rubbish. It is flat, bland writing to say the least. On the bright side, it is a slim volume so I did not waste to much of my life reading it. It reads like it was written on a rainy afternoon, with just the idea of making a bit of cash. One of the worst books (apart from

Product Description
When Patricia Cornwell introduced the quicksilver, cut-to-the-bone style and extraordinary cast of characters of At Risk, the result was electrifying: “At Risk is Cornwell’s finest novel. It works in every way possible— fascinating characters, solid plot, great pacing and expertly crafted prose” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); “Absolutely the best. Here’s hoping we’ll see more of Win, Monique, Nana and Sykes in the coming years. They are the best characters to emerge from Cornwell’s creative pen since . . . well, Kay Scarpetta” (The Denver Post).

At Risk featured Massachusetts state investigator Win Garano, a shrewd man of mixed-race background and a notinconsiderable chip on his shoulder; District Attorney Monique Lamont, a hard-charging woman with powerful ambitions and a troubling willingness to cut corners; and Garano’s grandmother, who has certain unpredictable talents that you ignore at your peril.

And in The Front, peril is what comes to them all. D.A. Lamont has a special job for Garano. As part of a new public relations campaign about the dangers of declining neighborhoods, she’s sending him to Watertown to “come up with a drama,” and she thinks she knows just the case that will serve. Garano is very skeptical, because he knows that Watertown is also the home base for a loose association of municipal police departments called the FRONT, set up in order that they don’t have to be so dependent on the state—much to Lamont’s anger. He senses a much deeper agenda here—but he has no idea just how deep it goes. In the days that follow, he’ll find that Lamont’s task, and the places it leads him, will resemble a house of mirrors—everywhere he turns, he’s not quite sure if what he’s seeing is true.

“Falsehoods rule,” warns his grandmother. And they can also kill.

This is the master writing at the absolute top of her game. You will never guess what lies behind The Front.

This is classic Baldacci, which at times can be a little bit of a shalow read but I do enjoy a good  conspiracy and this is classic conspiracy fodder. It is a bit of a James Bond romp, with a Mega villain out for world control and one man (and a female sidekick) out to stop him. If you like your crime/thriller fiction light and frothy, then this is right up your street. Lots of action and the really scary bit is that it is not far from some ‘truths’ that are out there.

Product Description
“Dick, I need a war.”
Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world’s largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. Dick Pender is the man Creel retains to “perception manage” his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts. But Creel may have an even grander plan in mind.
Shaw, a man with no first name and a truly unique past, has a different agenda. Reluctantly doing the bidding of a secret multi-national intelligence agency, he travels the globe to keep it safe and at peace.
Willing to do anything to get back to the top of her profession, Katie James is a journalist who has just gotten the break of a lifetime: the chance to interview the sole survivor of a massacre that has left every nation stunned.
In this terrifying, global thriller, these characters’ lives will collide head-on as a series of events is set in motion that could change the world as we know it. An utterly spellbinding story that feels all too real, THE WHOLE TRUTH delivers all the twists and turns, emotional drama, unforgettable characters, and can’t-put-it-down pacing that readers expect from David Baldacci-and still goes beyond anything he’s written before.

Interesting video interview with David Baldacci

A good swashbuckling novel, that’s a fun and enjoyable yarn. The only thing (and a small thing) I disliked about it was the referencing to past novels in the series. There are lots of interesting historical snippets which adds some real depth and interest both to the time and location of the book. AN easy relaxing read, full of charm and intrigue.

Synopsis
Matthew Hawkwood, ex-soldier turned Bow Street Runner, goes undercover to hunt down smugglers and traitors at the height of the Napoleonic Wars in this thrilling follow-up to Ratcatcher. For a French prisoner of war, there is only one fate worse than the gallows: the hulks. Former man-o’-wars, now converted to prison ships, their fearsome reputation guarantees a sentence served in the most dreadful conditions. Few survive. Escape, it’s said, is impossible. Yet reports persist of a sinister smuggling operation within this brutal world — and the Royal Navy is worried enough to send two of its officers to investigate. But when they disappear without trace, the Navy turns in desperation to Bow Street for help. It’s time to send in a man as dangerous as the prey. It’s time to send in Hawkwood!