The Blood of Alexander by Tom Wilde

How to describe Blood of Alexander by Tom Wilde? It is a modern day, high tech, caper, thriller, adventure, spy, crime novel. It is not really any of those things. It is a mashup of them all. The novel opens with our hero, Jonathan Blake, visiting the site of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. These 6^thcentury statues were destroyed by the Taliban in early 2001. Our hero is here to purchase a stolen artifact from a local warlord and opium dealer. The scene is reminiscent of a classic James Bond opening. Complete with a double dealing arms dealer and a dramatic escape.

It turns out that our hero works for the Argo Foundation,  a private organization that is dedicated to the preservation of historical artifacts. It does so through means both legal and extralegal. Blake is the prime operative on the less than legal side. His job is to find stolen artifacts and steal them from the thieves. This is not an altogether altruistic organization. They turn around and either gain the insurance money, or sell the item to private donors who will preserve the artifacts.

Unfortunately for our hero the US government learns of his abilities and forces him to help them track down a mysterious character named Vanya. Vanya is a villain right out of the James Bond playbook. He has seemingly unlimited financial resources, minions, his own private island, yacht, and helipad. He has a deadly female right hand. All he wants is to take over the world using secrets that he will find in the tomb of Alexander the Great.

The story unfolds very much like a James Bond film. Yes, this is the third time that I’ve mentioned Bond because the pacing, hero, and villains are all reminiscent of a James Bond film. The hero is constantly getting into impossible situations and escaping through improbable means. After a while you find yourself wait for the next moment of betrayal or amazing escape. There is also a little of Clive Cussler here because you have the expert in artifacts along with the slightly strained re-writing of history.

Over all the book is very enjoyable. The pacing is fast and the characters are fun if not overly developed. If you love James Bond movies from the early Roger Moore era then I think that you will find a lot to enjoy in this novel. I certainly hope that Wilde will write more of these books in the future.

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The Accident by Chris Pavone

Sometimes the publishing business can be murder. In The Accident it is. Isabel Reed, a literary agent has received an anonymous submission for a book. This is the book that every agent hopes for. It is a page-turning blockbuster, and it is real. It purports to be the unauthorized biography of a powerful media mogul. It has some very damning material in it. Not only does it implicate the mogul in shady business dealings, but also implicated him in government espionage and worse. Isabel contact her friend Jeff Fielder, a one-time up and coming editor whose life has started to fall apart. She knows that this book is right up Jeff’s alley. Jeff takes one look and realizes that he has the editor’s dream of a lifetime.

Unfortunately for Isabel and Jeff things are about to get really bad. It seems that veteran CIA operative Hayden Gray has decided that this manuscript will be too damaging to himself and the Agency. So he has taken on the task of tracking down the author. He is willing to do whatever he has to do in order to make certain that this manuscript never sees the light of day. He is not interested in violence, but he is more than willing to use it. As the copies of the manuscript proliferate, so does the body count. Now Isabel has to stay ahead of those chasing her in order to stay alive.

From New York to Zurich to Denmark to Los Angeles, the action is international and never stops.  Isabel has to stay alive and ahead of the men on her trail while keeping the manuscript safe. For her this is more than just business. For her this manuscript contains secrets about her own past and the revelations have shaken her to her core.

The Accident is a fast paced, well-written novel. All of the action takes place over a one day period, though the characters do flash back in their memories at times. There are some amazing plot twists and turns, some that I saw coming and some that I didn’t see. The characters are not the cardboard cutouts you encounter in so many action-thriller novels, but are well crafted and interesting.

In the end nothing was as it seemed. Chris Pavone has crafted an excellent book that you just don’t want to put down. If you enjoy edge of your seat thrillers then you should definitely check this book out. I look forward to many more books from this author.

Spy For Hire by Dan Mayland

Mark Sava has retired from the CIA and is taking it easy in Kyrgyzstan. He is spending his days playing board games with the old men of his new hometown. His girlfriend Daria is trying to be supportive, but she is ready for him to get back to work. In the meantime she is running several orphanages in the region. The action in the novel starts when two men forcibly remove a young boy from one of the orphanages. There is only one road out of the region so Daria calls Sava and asks him to stop them. He does and suddenly finds himself in the middle of an international crisis. This small boy seems to be wrapped up in some scheme that involves the CIA and Saudi Intelligence. Sava has few people he can trust. Before he knows it his own distant past comes back to trap him.

Now, with the help of only a few close friends and some old trusted colleagues he has to face down agents who want to use this boy to manipulate the future of a nation. Sava has to balance all of the stories he is hearing against the well being of the child. Since everyone seems to be telling him half truths his job is that much harder. Along the way Sava has to confront some of his own personal demons.

The book is well written and very interesting. You don't find a lot of novels focusing on this the Central Asian republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. While Sava shows himself to be tough as nails he tends to use his brain for than his brawn. His enemies are cunning and devious, so is he. They show themselves capable of kidnapping, so does he. He is not an anti-hero though. Sava may bend the rules, but he still operates by a code. In many ways Sava reminds me a lot of Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good spy thriller novel. This is my first Sava novel, but it will not be my last. I hope to see Sava, Daria, and the rest of this new crew back in action soon.

Graveyard of Memories by Barry Eisler

A young man with no roots. A CIA agent manipulating government officials. A handicapped girl. Organized crime. These are the elements that make up Graveyard of Memories, the new John Rain thriller from Barry Eisler. This novel takes us back to the start of Rain’s career as an assassin. At the start of the novel John is a half Japanese, half American veteran of the war in Vietnam. He has returned to Japan, the land of his birth. He is working as a bad man for the CIA. He makes regular cash drops to a contact. He is told nothing and asks no questions. 

Everything falls apart when a group of punks jump him. As a cocky young agent he decides to take them on. In the fight he drops one of the punks hard on the pavement and kills him. The police don’t care, but there is a hitch. The punk he killed was the nephew of a powerful Yakuza boss. After an attempt on his life, Rain decides that the only way to stay in Japan is if the yakuza boss is dead. So he asks his handler for information needed to track the boss down. His handler agrees, but only if Rain will first kill a government official and make it look like an accident. Rain agrees and carries out his first hit.

Everything seems to go well as he embarks on his personal mission. Too well. Now he is suspicious of every one around him. To make matters more complicated he falls for Sayaka, a young Korean girl in a wheelchair. This young woman will introduce him to one of the passions that will define his later life: jazz music.

This book will set the stage for the man that Rain will become. At the beginning of the book he is a raw and untrained. As the story progresses he realizes that he must learn to pay attention or die. Eisler does an excellent job in developing his character. At the start he is young, arrogant, and not the most likable character. As the story progresses he grows quickly.

One of the most impressive parts of the book is Rain’s relationship with Sayaka. Eisler’s treatment of the difficulties facing a wheelchair bound young woman is moving and powerful. The young John Rain may be a bit of a blundering doofus at times, but the tenderness and passion he shows towards Sayaka help to both grow the character and our liking for the character. It is fascinating to watch this character kill several people with alarming skill and confidence, then to turn into a bumbling fool when trying to interact with this young woman. 

This is a very enjoyable novel. The story is based around real life events. The CIA was heavily involved in “financing” Japanese politics in the 1960s and the 1970s. Eisler was meticulous in his research about Tokyo in 1972, the year this novel takes place. He makes the city come alive for those of us who know little of the city or the culture. Most importantly the characters are fascinating and well written. All of the research, steamy sex scenes, and great action would not mean a thing if it wasn’t for the characters. Do yourself a favor. Get this book and get ready to have a good time.  This was my first Rain novel, but I can guarantee you that it will not be my last. 

The Deal by Adam Gittlin

Jonah Gray is a rising star in the world of New York Real Estate brokers. High dollar deals, women, booze, and drugs dominate his life. Then the opportunity of a lifetime comes his way. An old friend who owns a multi-billion dollar Russian oil company contacts him. It seems that his friend has decided to diversify his holdings and wants to invest in real estate. This is a huge deal There is only one hitch. The deal has to take place in three weeks. Jonah and the other associates at the small firm where he works go after this deal with everything they’ve got.

Then, without warning, everything starts to fall apart. He is used to juggling his job and his lifestyle, but when he meets a girl who seems to good to be true the lifestyle comes crashing in on him. On top of that he is unwittingly dragged into a heist. Now, as he scrambles to keep his life from falling apart and to make this deal happens he learns that you have to be careful who you trust and that everything that he knows is true may be built on lies.

The Deal is a fast paced, interesting novel. I have to be honest and say that I didn’t like the book very much at first. The story is told as a first person narrative. When the book begins Jonah Gray is a dope snorting, weed smoking, alcoholic, womanizer whose repulsive personality is only matched by his excessive ego. So when you have an immoral narcissist as your narrator the story can get old quick. I pushed on through and I found myself enjoying the story. There are a lot of plot twists and turns. At one point they can seem almost absurd when you look at them from the outside, But it works very well in the novel.

The author, Adam Gittlin, works in the world of commerical real estate so the parts of the novel dealing with that world are very informative. The characters are not very sympathetic at first, but that just gives Gittlin a lot of room to develop these characters. He does this very well. By the end of the book you find yourself interested in Jonah Gray. The Deal is full of surprises and plot twists. Overall it is a very good book. I recommend the book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. The next Gray novel is scheduled to release in March. I look forward to reading it.

The Shadow Protocol by Andy McDermott

The Shadow Protocol

Andy McDermott

Bantam Dell

Release Date: January 28

Adam Gray is America’s new secret weapon in the war against terror. He is a highly trained agent. He also has another advantage he is armed with PERSONA. This top secret device allows his team to copy the memories from a person and implant them in his head. The effect only last 24 hours, but during that time he is able to access the memories, emotions, and skills of the other person. Now captured terrorists can have their memories extracted and he can learn all of their secrets. There is only one secret that he does not know: his own past.

His memory before PERSONA have been wiped. On a mission to stop a radioactive device from falling into the hands of terrorists he is confronted by shadows from his own past. Now he wants to find out who he is. He wants to know why he lost his memory. Little does he know that sometimes the most dangerous thing of all is the truth.

The Shadow Protocol is the first novel in a new series from bestselling author Ady McDermott. Featuring the mysterious Adam Gray, his faced paced novel keeps the story moving and fresh. Too many action authors get bogged down in technical details about some firearm or technological device. Instead he gives us a great story with great characters. The enigmatic Adam Gray is a puzzle. He seems to have little personality, but he is a top notch field agent. Bianca Childs, a PhD in neurochemistry, is brought in to join the team when her own mentor, a co-creator of the project, is wounded in the field. Bianca is not at all ready for what is in store for her, but she rises to the occasion. The rest of the team are fun characters. McDermott does not fully develop them, but they are interesting and there is plenty of room for these characters to grow.

Faced paced and exciting, this is a great new series. Adam Gray and Bianca Childs are sure to become favorites among the lovers of action novels. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book.

Bad Guys by Anthony Bruno

Title: Bad Guys

Author: Anthony Bruno

Publisher: Diversion Books

Release Date: January 28, 2014

Agent Mike Tozzi is tired of the bad guys getting away with murder. It seems that justice is not blind, unless you have connections, then it can’t see a thing. So he decides to even out the scales. Tozzi is tracking down the ones that got away. At the top of his list is the unknown man who murdered three undercover FBI agents and sent their severed heads back to the office. He has two problems. First, no one knows, or will say who the killer is or who he works for. Second, his old partner, Cuthbert Gibbons, has been brought out of retirement to bring him in.

Gibbons is a throwback to an earlier age. He still remembers the days when FBI agents hit the streets and did leg work. He spends his spare time catching up on his reading. His favorite subject is the history of Rome. It doesn’t take long for him to track down his old partner. Tozzi is able to persuade Gibbons to join him in his hunt for the killer. Against these two detectives is a shadowy underworld figure. No one seems to know the identity of the person who is pulling the strings since the leaders of some of the biggest crime families have 

This book is full of twists and turns and a lot of action. The story takes place in the mid-80s. The time of movies like Lethal Weapon and Die Hard. It has all of the classic elements. It’s a buddy story, it’s a cop story, it’s an action story. At the heart is the search for justice in a changing world. The old FBI of Hoover is giving way to a new agency full of career men who look to computers. The world of organized crime is changing as well. Old loyalties and alliances give way to upstarts who don’t like getting their hands dirty and don’t want to come up in the organization the old way.

This book is fast paced, well written, and a lot of fun. If you enjoy classic action stories then this book is for you. One of the great things about the digital age is that great books like these can be brought back in to print. I enjoyed this and look forward to reading the others in the series. 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl is a well written edgy novel by bestselling author Gillian Flynn. Flynn is known for writing books with dark and edgy characters. Gone Girl carries on that tradition. The background seems simple enough at first. Nick and Amy Dunne are about to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. Amy is from the northeast, the daughter of two famous psychologists and authors. Her parents created the popular Amazing Amy series of books. Nick is the son of a working class divorced couple from North Carthage, MIssouri. He moved to New York to work as a writer for a magazine. Both lost their jobs in the publishing industry and eventually moved to North Carthage to care for Nick’s sick mother.

Then the unthinkable happens. Amy disappears. The door of the house is open and there is blood on the floor. The place has been turned upside down. What has happened to Amy? Is Nick responsible? As the story unfolds people begin to take sides and as secrets come out no one seems to know how to distinguish truth from fiction.

The story is told in first person by Nick and through Amy’s diary. This makes for interesting pacing. Everything in the story is narrated as something that has already happened. At the same time it becomes clear that our narrators are not altogether honest with themselves, or with us. Gone Girl is one of those books that is difficult to review because there are so many plot twists and turns and a good review should never spoil the story.

Gillian Flynn has crafted a taut, edgy, thriller that will keep even seasoned readers guessing what is going to happen next. I am usually one step ahead in most mystery novels, I was in the dark through much of this book. That is not normal, but was quite enjoyable. I won’t say that the characters are likable, they are not. They are not meant to be likable. Flynn examines the dark side of life and shows that what you see on the surface may not be what you find when you dig a little deeper. This is a riveting story and is highly recommended.

Octopussy and The Living Daylights by Ian Fleming

Octopussy and The Living Daylights is a short story collection by Ian Fleming. It was collected and published after Fleming’s death. The book is very short and only contains four stories. “Octopussy” Is a story about a former British officer who is now in retirement. All seems to be well until a man named Bond shows up and exposes an old crime. “The Living Daylights” has Bond using his skills as a sniper to protect a spy who is trying to escape from East Berlin. In “Property of a Lady” Bond has to trap a mole inside the office. Finally in “007 in New York” Bond spends an evening in the Big Apple.

The stories are short and are not exactly his best work. Fleming was a great writer of novels. His novels were never long, almost all coming in at under 200 pages. Somehow that format better fits his style. “Octopussy” is an interesting morality tale of murder and greed. “The Living Daylights” is an interesting story because it shows Bond at odds with his duties as a 00 agent. The other two stories are below par for Fleming’s work. Overall the two title stories are alright. If you want to own all of Fleming’s Bond Books then you will need to get this book. Don’t make it your first Bond book though.

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

This is the novel that introduced James Bond to the world. Bond is a hard as nails member of the British Secret Service. He is on the trail of a vicious French union leader who is employed by Moscow. This man has to raise money and quickly. To do this he decides to run a baccarat table at the Casino Royale. Enter James Bond. Bond's job is to break Le Chiffre. Along with the French agent Mathis, the CIA agent Felix Leiter, and the beautiful Vesper Lynd Bond has to defeat his enemy, survive capture and torture, and somehow keep the money from falling back into the hands of the Russians. At the end Bond receives a new mission in life. He now is at work with the Soviet organization SMERSH. This enmity will define many of the future novels.

Ian Fleming's Bond is a very different character from the versions in the films. In some ways Daniel Craig has come the closest to capturing Bond’s character. The hard, keen edge combined with a certain ruthlessness and recklessness define the Bond of Casino Royale. If Craig coul capture some of Connery’s suave nature then he may be able to capture the true nature of Ian Fleming's Bond.

This book is an enjoyable spy novel. There are some moments in this book that are difficult to read. I am never a fan of torture scenes and Fleming seems to enjoy writing them a little to well for my taste. Overall it is a grand journey into the past. A world of sophistication and global war of ideas provide the backdrop. More than once Bond is confronted with how small a player he is in the war of great powers.

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A King of Infinite Space by Tyler Dilts

A brutal killing of a school teacher starts off this novel from first time writer Tyler Dilts. Detective Danny Beckett usually spends his weekends trying to drown the loss of his wife in a bottle of Vodka, but when his partner Detective Jennifer Tanaka calls him he is ready. With no strong suspects and almost no clues the investigation seems hopeless. On top of that nightmares about his wife's death in a car crash continue to haunt him. He believes that there is more to this case than meets the eye. He only hopes to catch the murderer before he strikes again.

A King of Infinite Space is an enjoyable book. Mr. Dilts has create some characters who, while not compelling, are enjoyable. Mr. Dilts, an English instructor, infuses the work with literary references. The title referes to the line from Hamlet "I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space--were it not that I have bad dreams." While the story is well written for the most part there are some issues that the author should take into account. For a short novel there are a lot of extraneous sub-plots added. For example, the relationship of the victim and her sister to her father make for an interesting aside, but are unnecessary and ultimately unbelievable.  The ending of the story also feels a little rushed.

Those few issues aside it is still an enjoyable book and I look forward to reading more about Detectives Beckett and Tanaka.