Category: Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday – The Ascent by Adam Plantinga

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday7 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday I check out an awesome and fun upcoming thriller that I know I am going to have an amazing time with, The Ascent by Adam Plantinga.

The Ascent Cover

Amazon

I have made no secret over the years that I love thrillers with over-the-top sounding plots to them, especially as they usually work out to be fantastic and captivating reads.  This remains true for this week’s Waiting on Wednesday as I highlight The Ascent by Adam Plantinga, which sounds so damn cool and exciting.

Set for release at the start of 2024, The Ascent is the debut thriller from Plantinga and has a brilliant prison break plot behind it.  Teaming up a heroic and angry ex-cop with the governor’s daughter in a maximum-security prison where every convict has been released, The Ascent will see the protagonists forced to slog their way u25p six floors of killers and dangerous prisoners to survive.  I unashamedly love the sound of this book and with a plot like that you know that you will be in for a ton of action, elaborate set pieces and crazy characters.  I already know that I am going to love this over-the-top book and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Plot Synopsis:

 When a high security prison fails, a down-on-his luck cop and the governor’s daughter are going to have to team up if they’re going to escape in this “jaw-dropping, authentic, and absolutely gripping” (Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author) debut thriller from Adam Plantinga, whose first nonfiction book Lee Child praised as “truly excellent.”

Kurt Argento, an ex-Detroit street cop who can’t let injustice go—and who has the fighting skills to back up his idealism.

If he sees a young girl being dragged into an alley, he’s going to rescue her and cause some damage. 

When he does just that in a small corrupt Missouri town, he’s brutally beaten and thrown into a maximum-security prison.

Julie Wakefield, a grad student who happens to be the governor’s daughter, is about to take a tour of the prison. But when a malfunction in the security system releases a horde of prisoners, a fierce struggle for survival ensues.

Argento must help a small band of staff and civilians, including Julie and her two state trooper handlers, make their way from the bottom floor to the roof to safety.

All that stands in their way are six floors of the most dangerous convicts in Missouri.

Waiting on Wednesday – The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday, Young Adult8 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In this latest Waiting on Wednesday I highlight an awesome upcoming young adult thriller with The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe.

The Girl in Question Cover

Amazon

Back in 2021 I managed to get my hands on an amazing young adult novel, The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe, which ended up being quite an impressive read.  Following a teenage former con-artist who must use all her skills to survive a deadly hostage situation in a bank, The Girls I’ve Been was an exceptional and addictive novel with some great characters, a clever plot, and some deadly personal stakes.  I really got caught up in this fantastic novel and I have been eager to see if Sharpe was going to follow it up, especially as there were several interesting plot points left open.

Well details have finally been released about an upcoming sequel to The Girls I’ve Been that I am very keen to get my hands on.  This sequel, The Girl in Question, is set for release in February 2024 and is currently one of my most anticipated young adult novels of the new year.  With a fun sounding plot and some great potential for betrayal, murder and deadly personal heartbreak, The Girl in Question sounds pretty damn epic and I cannot wait to see how it all turns out.

Plot Synopsis:

Four teens. Three henchmen. Two thousand acres of remote forest. One very bad man. And a whole lot of new secrets to unearth. The unmissable, thrilling follow-up to The Girls I’ve Been (soon to be a Netflix film).

Nora O’Malley has survived . . . senior year, that is. School’s over, but her life isn’t, which is weird since last she checked, her murderous stepdad Raymond is finally free.

Determined to enjoy summer before her (possibly) imminent demise, Nora plans a backpacking trip with Iris and Wes. And Wes’s girlfriend tags along. Amanda’s nice, so it’s not a huge issue. Until she gets taken. Or rather, mis-taken . . . for Nora, that is.

Now they’re deep in the woods. Raymond has a hostage. Nora has no leverage. Iris is carving spears out of sticks. And Wes is building booby traps.

It’ll take all of them to make it out alive.

But someone is lying. Someone is keeping secrets. And someone has to die.

Waiting on Wednesday – Goodbye Girl by James Grippando

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday5 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out a fantastic and fun upcoming legal thriller that has a great story behind it with Goodbye Girl by James Grippando.

Goodbye Girl Cover

Amazon

James Grippando is an author who I haven’t previously read before, although 2024 might be the year that this changes.  Grippando, who has a background as a lawyer, specialises in legal thrillers and has written a ton of books since his debut back in 1994.  His body of works includes his Andie Henning series, several intriguing standalone reads, and his long-running Jack Swyteck series.  All these novels sound very cool, although I will probably dive into his next upcoming book first with the early 2024 release, Goodbye Girl.

Goodbye Girl, which will be the 18th book in Grippando’s Jack Swyteck series, has an amazing sound plot to it that has really grabbed my attention.  Set around a contentious music piracy case between two former spouses, Goodbye Girl, looks to be a fantastic legal thriller filled with twists, murder, and entertaining characters.  Based on the sound of this amazing plot alone I’m already sure I will absolutely love Goodbye Girl and I cannot wait to check it out in early 2024.

Plot Synopsis:

A contentious intellectual piracy case leads to an unsolved murder, and Jack Swyteck’s client—a pop music icon—is the accused killer.

Piracy costs the movie and music industry billions. No one has been able to stop it. But that won’t stop Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck. His latest client, Imani Nichols, is a Grammy-winning popstar whose career has skyrocketed. Despite her success, she’s the most underpaid superstar on the planet because of an onerous record contract she signed as a teenager with her now ex-husband Shaky Nichols, who has made himself rich off her royalties.

Preferring to see thieves profit from her music than let her ex-husband pocket one more dime, Imani takes to social media and tells her millions of fans to “go pirate” and download her music illegally. Her hardball tactic leads to scorched-earth litigation, and now she needs Jack’s help.

The case takes a deadly turn when salacious allegations of infidelity send Imani and Shaky down a path of mutual assured destruction, each implicating the other in the unsolved murder of Imani’s extra-marital lover twelve years ago. Tyler McCormick died of asphyxiation, and his body was found in Biscayne Bay, chained to a piling with the words “goodbye girl” impressed on his chest. Despite their fierce denials, Imani and Shakey are both indicted for murder, leading to a sensational trial that exposes shocking secrets about their failed marriage, their cut-throat business partnership, and Imani’s astonishing success.

Yet as Jack discovers, uncovering the truth about the killing and the cryptic “goodbye girl” won’t just exonerate or convict his client, her ex, and their music empire. It may shape the future of the entire recording industry.

Waiting on Wednesday – House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For my latest Waiting on Wednesday I highlight a particularly awesome upcoming fantasy novel that is one of my most anticipated reads for the second half of 2023, House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

House of Open Wounds Cover

Amazon

After years of accidently avoiding the works of legendary fantasy and science fiction author Adrian Tchaikovsky I have recently started getting into his novels and boy am I having fun with them.  Tchaikovsky is an author who can create elaborate and vast new worlds and fill them with complex and conflicted characters who you can’t help but become attached to.  His short novel Ogres was an excellent example of this, while his first foray in Warhammer 40,000 fiction, Day of Ascension, was one of the best Warhammer 40,000 books I have so far read.  However, my favourite novel of Tchaikovsky has to be his outstanding book City of Last Chances.

City of Last Chances is an epic and captivating read that was one of the best books (and audiobooks) I enjoyed in the first half of 2023.  Set in a complex and unique fantasy city occupied by a military force of perfection-seeking zealots, City of Last Chances was an entertaining and addictive read about revolution, religion, magic and bad choices that I could not get enough of.  Following multiple loosely connected characters on the worst day of their lives, City of Last Chances was one of the cleverest and most distinctive fantasy novels I have ever had the pleasure of reading.  This amazing novel got an easy five-star rating from me and it will probably end up topping my favourite novels and audiobooks lists of 2023 in a few months’ time.  I cannot emphasise how much I loved City of Last Chances and it has made me a pretty massive fan of Tchaikovsky as a result.

As such, you can imagine how happy I was to discover that Tchaikovsky has a sequel to City of Last Chances coming out later this year.  I have been hoping to highlight this sequel, House of Open Wounds, in a post for a while now and they just released the cover for it.  House of Open Wounds, which is set for release in December 2023, will continue at least one of the stories featured in City of Last Chances as it follows a key protagonist on a new gruesome adventure.

Plot Synopsis:

City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. As their legions scour the world of superstition with the bright flame of reason, so they deliver a mountain of ragged, holed and scorched flesh to the field hospital tents just behind the frontline.

Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit.

Led by ‘the Butcher’, an ogre of a man who’s a dab hand with a bone-saw and an alchemical tincture, the unit’s motley crew of conscripts, healers and orderlies are no strangers to the horrors of war. Their’s is an unspeakable trade: elbow-deep in gore they have a first-hand view of the suffering caused by flesh-rending monsters, arcane magical weaponry and embittered enemy soldiers.

Entrusted – for now – with saving lives deemed otherwise un-saveable, the field hospital’s crew face a precarious existence. Their work with unapproved magic, necromancy, demonology and Yansic’s thoroughly illicit Gods could lead to the unit being disbanded, arrested or worse.

Beset by enemies within and without, the last thing anyone needs is a miracle…

Ok, I am so damn excited for this outstanding book for quite a number of reasons.  Not only does House of Open Wounds serve as a sequel to City of Last Chances and will further dive into the conquests of the Palleseen, a very unlikeable antagonistic group, but it will also continue the story of Yasnic, one of the best characters for City of Last Chances.  Yasnic is a fantastic and entertaining figure who had such a brilliant character arc in his first appearance.  The last priest and believer of a forgotten god, Yasnic was initially a bit of a pathetic figure, scraping through life while trying to follow the rules of a god only he can see.  However, as City of Last Chances’ story unfolded, Yasnic manages to find a purpose in healing and soon recovers several other forgotten or deposed gods, giving them a new home and using them to help sick and injured people.  Yasnic’s arc was really well done in the first book and I honestly thought Tchaikovsky had done all he could with him.  However, I am also very happy that we get more of Yasnic in the future, and it will be interesting to see how Tchaikovsky expands on his character development and growth.

While Yasnic and the continuation of City of Last Chances is a major reason why I will be picking up House of Open Wounds, I am also very intrigued by the new storylines that Tchaikovsky is featuring in this sequel, especially around the unconventional medical unit.  I absolutely love the idea of a crazed and unusual team of medical practitioners using all manner of illegal magic, gods and necromancy to heal people, and this kind of sounds like a fantasy version of M*A*S*H.  I imagine Tchaikovsky will utilise a similar writing style as what he featured in City of Last Chances, which will allow the reader to follow all the unique figures in this camp as they go about their job and their own complex lives.  This sounds like a really cool idea and I cannot wait to see what sort of compelling and fun storylines develop there, as well as the fantastic characters that emerge.  Tchaikovsky has the great ability to combine humour and crazy situation with raw power and tragedy, so this should be an outstanding read that hits all the different emotional buttons.

I honestly am so damn excited for House of Open Wounds and I cannot wait to get more Adrian Tchaikovsky in my life.  Tchaikovsky is such a talented author, and any continuation of the perfection that was City of Last Chances, is going to be good, especially when it focuses on crazy medical practitioners doing weird magic to save their patients.  I have no doubt whatsoever that House of Open Wounds is going to be an exceptional read and it will probably top all my end of year best-of lists.  This is going to be so damn awesome and I cannot wait to get my hands on this book in a few short months.

Waiting on Wednesday – The Shadow King by Harry Sidebottom

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Waiting on Wednesday3 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I look at an excellent upcoming historical fiction read with The Shadow King by Harry Sidebottom.

The Shadow King Cover

One of my favourite historical fiction authors writing now is the always impressive and compelling Harry Sidebottom, who has been producing great reads pretty much the entire time I’ve been a reviewer.  An expert in ancient history, Sidebottom has written several great series and standalone novels, primarily set in ancient Rome.  This includes his exceptional Warrior of Rome books, as well as the detailed Throne of the Caesars series, each of which take a unique look at different parts of Roman history and military fiction.  I have deeply enjoyed many of Sidebottom’s outstanding Roman historical fiction novels, and I have reviews for The Last Hour, Falling Sky, The Lost Ten, The Return and The Burning Roads currently on my blog.

Due to how much fun I have had with Sidebottom’s previous historical fiction novels I always keep a close eye on his upcoming books, and I was very excited to see that he has a new novel coming out later this year.  This book, which is set for release in November, is The Shadow King, which will see Sidebottom take on a whole new historical period with an interesting look at Alexander the Great and the Macedonians.

Plot Synopsis:

Alexander of Macedon was just twenty years old in 334BC when he set out with a small army to challenge Persia, the largest and most powerful empire in the world. The Macedonians marched East into the unknown, won battles against overwhelming odds, stormed impregnable fortresses. In the deserts and mountains between the Aegean and India they conquered nature itself. Yet disaster was never more than a sword stroke away. Alexander`s companions were riven with murderous rivalries, their loyalty contingent. The threat of treason, inspired by ambition and Persian gold, or by honour and principle, was ever present.

Alexander: The Shadow King tells this epic story from a new and unique angle through the eyes of another Alexander, a prince of the Macedonian royal house of Lyncestis. The Lyncestian was Alexander the Great`s general and friend. But he was torn between that friendship and the duty to avenge his murdered brothers, and between adherence to the ways of his ancestors and the new world of empire. The Lyncestian was never safe. Others – Persians and Greeks, as well as Macedonians – saw him as a rival for the throne. For six years of conspiracy and battle, as the Macedonian army fought its way East, his life hung by a thread.

Alexander of Lyncestis was The Shadow King.

This new upcoming book from Sidebottom sounds amazing and I am very excited to see how the author handles this different historical period in The Shadow King.  The rise of Alexander the Great is always a fascinating subject to explore and it sounds like Sidebottom is going to provide an intriguing alternate perspective by looking through the eyes of Alexander of Lyncestis.  I look forward to seeing Sidebottom’s take on these historical events in The Shadow King and this will probably end up being on the strongest and most enjoyable historical fiction novels of 2023.

Waiting on Wednesday – Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday2 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In this week’s Waiting on Wednesday I highlight the next compelling and awesome sounding crime fiction read from one of my very favourite Australian authors with Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath.

Kill Your Husbands Cover

Amazon

One of the things I love about being a reviewer in Australia is that I get ready access to so many outstanding Australian reads that people in the international market might not be as familiar with.  Thanks to some dedicated local publishers, I get a healthy serving of Australian fiction each year, including from several truly remarkable and talented authors.  One of my absolute favourite Australian authors is the always impressive Jack Heath, who has been killing it (literally and figuratively) in recent years.

Heath, who is from my home city of Canberra, is one of Australia’s leading crime fiction authors and I have really grown to enjoy his clever, entertaining and highly distinctive thrillers and murder mysteries.  Heath has written an intriguing raft of different books over the years, including some outstanding young adult fiction, but he is probably best known for his Timothy Blake books, also known as The Hangman series.  This gruesome series follows a highly troubled, yet skilled, investigator, who solves some elaborate cases while trying to resist his cannibalistic urgings.  I have had a lot of fun with several entries in this series, including Hideout (one of my favourite Australian books of 2020) and Headcase (one of my favourite Australian books of 2022), and my first taste of the Timothy Blake series made me a huge fan of Heath’s writing style.  This appreciation for Heath’s writing was further compounded by his epic and elaborate thriller, Kill Your Brother, which was one of my favourite Australian books of 2021.  Kill Your Brother was a particularly brilliant standalone read that saw a kidnapped protagonist forced to choose between her own survival and killing her own brother.  I have nothing but love for all of Heath’s work and I was very excited to discover that he had another amazing crime fiction read coming out later this year.

This upcoming book from Heath is titled Kill Your Husbands, which features another elaborate and fun murder mystery plot.  Set for release in late November 2023, Kill Your Husbands sounds quite exceptional and I have already fallen in love with its fantastic and distinctive narrative outline.

Plot Synopsis:

Three couples, friends since the university athletics team, travel to a house in the mountains for an unplugged weekend of drinking and bushwalking. No internet, no phones, no stress. On the first night, the topic of partner-swapping comes up. It’s a joke – at first.

 Not everyone is keen, but an agreement is made. The lights will be turned out. The three men will go into the three bedrooms. The three women will each pick a bedroom at random. It won’t be awkward later, because no one will know for sure who they’ve slept with – though each guest is privately sure that they alone will be able to tell.

But when the lights come back on, someone is missing. A search of the house and the surrounding bushland turns up a body.

Five people remain. They have no way of contacting the police. Nor can they leave – the keys to the cars are missing. And the killer is just getting started.

 Two weeks later, Senior Constable Kiara Lui drives to the house with her girlfriend, Elise. She’s already interviewed the survivors. Now, she must work out which of them is lying, and why…

Ok, now this is definitely one of the more amusing and memorable plot synopsises I have read in recent months.  Anonymous partner swapping in the dark leading to murder and a locked room mystery is a very interesting plot basis for a crime fiction novel, but I am definitely all on board for it, especially with Heath at the helm.  I know that Heath will pull together a truly elaborate story in Kill Your Husbands, loaded with tangled motives, hidden opportunities, and highly complicated characters, which will turn into something particularly fun and addictive.  The fantastic plot above has so many opportunities for mystery and drama and I cannot wait to see how the various characters react, as well as the eventual motivations for the killings.  I am also very excited, as the inclusion of Kiara Lui and Elise as characters means that Kill Your Husbands is a sequel to Kill Your Brother, and it will be fun to see how Heath continues the storyline from the previous novel.

Due to how great Heath’s previous books have been, there is no way that I will not be grabbing a copy of Kill Your Husbands later this year, especially with that crazy plot behind it.  Jack Heath is too talented an author not to turn such a fantastic and memorable story idea into something particularly awesome, and I already know this is going to be one of the best Australian books of 2023, if not one of my favourite reads of the year, period.  I have no doubt I am going to get completely dragged into this upcoming mystery, and I cannot wait to get my hands on Kill Your Husbands with all its over-the-top goodness.

Waiting on Wednesday – Extinction by Douglas Preston

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Murder Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday5 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In my latest Waiting on Wednesday, I check out an awesome upcoming thriller that sounds exceedingly fun and over-the-top, with Extinction by Douglas Preston.

Extinction Cover

Amazon

Here at The Unseen Library, we are always on the lookout for distinctive, compelling, and intriguing alternate thrillers and crime fiction reads, particularly those that make great use of science fiction, fantasy or horror elements.  These unique novels honestly make for such epic reads, and I love seeing the different ways authors blend these genres together.  As such, when I recently came across the synopsis for the upcoming book, Extinction, I knew instantly that I was going to have to read it.

Extinction will be the latest novel from acclaimed veteran thriller author, Douglas Preston.  Preston, is a highly regarded author known for his impressive range of crime fiction and thriller reads, including his many collaborations with Lincoln Child, as well as his solo novels that form part of his Tom Broadbent and Wyman Ford series.  While I haven’t had the pleasure of reading any of Preston’s books before, his catalogue of works sounds very awesome, and I think I am going to have to try and get more familiar with his books.  I will start this by checking out his upcoming 2024 release, Extinction, which will be Preston’s first solo novel in 10 years.

Extinction has a very cool and compelling sounding plot to it which is really what drew me to this approaching novel.  The fact that this looks set to be a fantastic murder mystery/thriller set in a park full of genetically produced prehistoric creatures, such as woolly mammoths and giant sloths, is so damn appealing to me, and I already know I am going to love everything about it.

Plot Synopsis:

With Extinction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston has written an epic thriller in the Michael Crichton mode that explores the very real effort to resurrect the woolly mammoth and other extinct megafauna from the Pleistocene Age.

Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators.

As killings mount and the valley is evacuated, Cash and Colcord must confront an ancient, intelligent,
and malevolent presence at Erebus, bent not on resurrection—but extinction.

I really love the sound of this fun, Michael Crichton-esque novel, and I cannot wait to see how Preston’s love for megafauna (the author is apparently a bit of a dinosaur fan) with his proven track record for creating elaborate and captivating thriller reads.  This upcoming book has so much potential to be a particularly fun and exciting read, especially with those plot hints at additional hidden monsters waiting for the protagonists.  I am so damn excited for Extinction, which will probably end up being one of the most entertaining books of 2024, and I look forward to checking it out.

Waiting on Wednesday – The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Murder Mystery, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I look at the next upcoming entry in one of my favourite crime fiction series with The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman.

The Ghost Orchid Cover

Amazon

Over the last few years I have found myself getting attached to several great long-running crime fiction or thriller series, most of which have spoken to me in their own specific ways.  One of the most surprising for me has to be the iconic Alex Delaware series from acclaimed author Jonathan Kellerman, which has been going for nearly 40 years, but is still going strong.

The Alex Delaware books follows the team of psychologist Alex Delaware and his police friend, Detective Milo Sturgis, as they investigate a series of unique murders through LA.  The Alex Delaware novels turned out to be a pretty inclusive series that you can start reading at any point, and all of them have featured some outstanding and clever mysteries.  I have so far had the pleasure of reading The Wedding Guest, The Museum of Desire, Serpentine, City of the Dead and Unnatural History.  Each of these books has been fun and compelling in their own fantastic way, and I have really got drawn into each of their distinctive cases.

Due to have intriguing and entertaining each of the previous Alex Delaware novels have been, this series is now a permanent and anticipated entry in my yearly reading schedule, and I always have a ball of fun reading the latest Alex Delaware novel.  As such, I was pretty excited when I recently found out the details about the next book in this impressive series, with The Ghost Orchid.

The Ghost Orchid will be the 39th entry in this excellent series and is currently set for release in February 2024.  This new book will set the compelling protagonists on another intriguing investigation, this time involving the double murder of two people with complicated pasts.

Plot Synopsis:

Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis confront a baffling, vicious double homicide that leads them to long-buried secrets worth killing for in the riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling “master of suspense” (Los Angeles Times).

LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis sees it all the time: Reinvention’s a way of life in a city fueled by fantasy. But try as you might to erase the person you once were, there are those who will never forget the past. . . and who can still find you.

A pool boy enters a secluded Bel Air property and discovers two bodies floating in the bright blue water: Gio Aggiunta, the playboy heir to an Italian shoe empire, and a gorgeous, even wealthier neighbor named Meagin March. A married neighbor.

An illicit affair stoking rage is a perfect motive. But a “double” in this neighborhood of gated estates isn’t something you see every day, The house is untouched. No forced entry, no forensic evidence. The case has “that feeling,” and when that happens, Milo turns to his friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware.

As Milo and Alex investigate both victims, they discover two troubled pasts. And as they dig deeper, Meagin March’s very identity begins to blur. Who was this glamorous but conflicted woman? Did her past catch up to her? Or did Gio’s family connections create a threat spanning two continents?

Chasing down the answers leads Alex and Milo on an exploration of L.A.’s darkest side as they contend with one of the most shocking cases of their careers and learn that that some secrets are best left buried in the past.

Ooh, now this a very cool sounding mystery and I am already quite curious about what sort of case this is going to turn out to be.  A complex double homicide with all manner of secrets, motives and hidden pasts is just what I am in the mood for and I know that Kellerman’s distinctive and captivating style will help to turn The Ghost Orchid into a powerful and addictive read.  I already know that I will have a wonderful time with The Ghost Orchid next year and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next epic murder mystery from Jonathan Kellerman.

Waiting on Wednesday – The Chaos Agent by Mark Greaney

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In my latest Waiting on Wednesday, I jump ahead to 2024 by checking out one of the top thrillers of next year with The Chaos Agent by legendary author Mark Greaney.

The Chaos Agent Cover

Amazon

Ever since I started getting into online book reviewing, one of the best authors I have been getting into was acclaimed thriller author Mark Greaney.  Greaney, a veteran of the genre with a great range of books under his belt, has been producing awesome reads since 2009, and has been finding even more prominence recently thanks to the movie adaptations of his work.  While I have had an amazing time with some of his standalone books, such as Armored or Red Metal (co-written with H. Ripley Rawlings IV, and one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2019), I know him best thanks to his epic Gray Man thriller series.

The Gray Man novels are a brilliant spy thriller series that follows fugitive government agent, Court Gentry, known in intelligence circles as the Gray Man, a legendary and unstoppable killer.  This series is so much fun as Greaney combines great characters, elaborate and clever storylines, and his addictive and well-crafted writing style, to produce some amazing read.  I have deeply enjoyed every book in this series that I have so far read, including the first book, The Gray Man, and some of the more recent entries such as Mission Critical, One Minute Out (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), Sierra Six (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022) and Burner (one of my favourite books and audiobooks from the first half of 2023).  The Gray Man books are now a firm part of my yearly reading schedule, and I was incredibly excited to find out some details about the next entry, The Chaos Agent.

The Chaos Agent, which is currently set for release in February 2024, will be the 13th book in the Gray Man series and will pit Gentry, and some of his recurring companions, against a dangerous new enemy.

Plot Synopsis:

Artificial intelligence leads to shockingly real devastation in this new novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Gray Man series.

Someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and computers. A desperate Russian scientist approaches Court Gentry and Zoya Zakharova to ask for their protection, but before they can help, they are attacked by a team of professional assassins.

They escape, but wherever they turn, it’s clear that whoever’s tracking them is always going to be one step ahead. With a danger of this level, there’s no choice but to attack into the threat.

There is one man who may hold the answers to all their questions. But he’s gone to ground in a fortress surrounded by a veritable army. If that’s not bad enough, he has a new chief of security – Court’s old comrade, Zack Hightower.

Unsurprisingly, I love the sound of this upcoming Gray Man novel and I think the story sounds very interesting.  Greaney has an excellent habit of bringing in relevant contemporary issues to his stories (for example, his most recent novel, Burner, made great use of the Russian invasion of Ukraine), and I look forward to seeing the author’s examination of the artificial intelligence.  No doubt this will greatly impact the lives of the protagonists, both of whom are wanted fugitives and notorious government assassins, and I look forward to seeing the established, old-school spies of Gentry and Zahkarova, deal with the shifting technology of a moving world.  I also love the sound of an impregnable and well defended fortress as the end goal of the protagonists, and I am sure that will result in one of Greaney’s impressive and unmissable extended action sequences.

In addition to the cool sounding plot synopsis above, I am also keen to see how Greaney will continue some of the ongoing storylines of the larger Gray Man series in The Chaos Agent.  The last novel in the series really shook up some key elements of the Gray Man universe, including in the relationship between the two main characters, and I am intrigued to see what happens there.  It will also be fun to see more of Zack Hightower, Gentry and Zahkarova’s former comrade, who always plays off the other two spies perfectly.  Having Hightower as a potential antagonist will be fun, especially as he knows the protagonists so damn well, and it should make for a very entertaining battle of the spies.

Honestly, there was no way that I was going to miss the new Gray Man novel when it came out in 2024, the series is that damn good.  However, I am now even more excited for the next Mark Greaney book as The Chaos Agent sounds like an awesome read.  With all the promised thriller antics above, as well as Greaney’s proven track record for high intensity action scenes and brilliant characters, The Chaos Agent is going to be an exceptional novel, and I already know it is going to be one of my favourites books of 2024.

Waiting on Wednesday – War Cry by Ian Ross

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Waiting on Wednesday5 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In my latest Waiting on Wednesday, I look at an impressive historical fiction sequel coming out later this year that I am very excited for with War Cry by Ian Ross.

War Cry Cover

Earlier this year I had the great pleasure of reading the very fun and very captivating historical fiction novel, Battle Song by a new-to-me author, Ian Ross, who had previously written several intriguing Roman historical fiction books.  Battle Song was an outstanding novel that followed a young squire, Adam de Norton, who was forced into the service of a rogue knight, Sir Robert de Dunstanville.  The naïve Adam was soon taught the reality of life under the tutelage of Robert, who specialised in using guile and underhanded strategy to profit from the tourney scene, while also working to recover his lost lands.  This intriguing novel eventually turned into a full war story as Sir Robert and Adam return to England during Simon de Montfort’s rebellion against King Henry III and are forced to choose a side in the deadly civil war that followed.

I had an amazing time with Battle Song when I read it this year and there are so many great elements to it, including its complex characters, the fantastic adventure narrative, and all the cool historical detail, especially as Ross dived into a particularly interesting and underfeatured English civil war.  This ended up being one of the best books I read in the first half of 2023, and I was very interested to see if Ross was planning to follow up Battle Song in the future.  Well, it looks like Ross has been working overtime with his writing as a second novel is coming out in December of this year.  This book, the second entry in the de Norton trilogy, will be titled War Cry and looks set to take the protagonists of Battle Song on another deadly adventure.

Plot Synopsis:

1265

England has a new master.

Simon de Montfort’s victory at the Battle of Lewes has made him king in all but name. He has vowed to restore the rights and liberties of the kingdom, but now even his friends grow wary of his power.

As old alliances break down, new rebellions gather strength. The captive king’s supporters muster, vowing to overthrow the new regime.

Meanwhile Adam de Norton, who won the honour of knighthood on the field at Lewes, has reclaimed his ancestral lands. A peaceful and prosperous future lies before him – until he receives a summons he cannot refuse.

War is inevitable. But this time, will Adam be on the winning side?

I really like the sound of this upcoming sequel, mainly because it looks like War Cry is going to dive even deeper into the events surrounding Simon de-Montfort’s rebellion, which is really quite fascinating.  I look forward to seeing Ross explain this part of history even further and it will be even more interesting to see where the various characters introduced in the first book, particularly Adam and Richard, end up, especially with a new rebellion around the corner.  Honestly, as long as War Cry contains all the great action and intrigue of the first book, as well as keeps exploring the amazing characters, I’ll be pretty damn happy, so I’m very much looking forward to this book.

Look, after all the fun I had reading Battle Song earlier this year there is no way that I’m not going to dive into War Cry the second I get my hands on it.  I’m hoping that this awesome sounding sequel will be just as exciting and captivating as the first book and I’m very much in the mood for more historical action and adventure this year.  As such, War Cry is now very high up on my 2023 to-read list and I have no doubt that it will turn out to be particularly amazing novel.