Tag: Hachette

Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller4 Comments

Publisher: Headline (Trade Paperback – 13 August 2024)

Series: Eddie Flynn – Book Eight

Length: 392 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

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For those in the mood for a highly entertaining and exciting legal thriller, look no further than the latest book from the always impressive Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8.

Over the last couple of years, I have become a major fan of entertaining thriller author Steve Cavanagh.  A compelling writer with a flair for over-the-top narratives, Cavanagh has deeply impressed me with books like his twisty standalone novel, Kill For Me Kill For You, as well as his outstanding Eddie Flynn legal thriller series.  Following a former conman turned defence attorney, the Eddie Flynn books are always deeply enjoyable as Cavanagh brings some outrageous legal thriller scenarios and fills them with some fantastic characters.  The last two books in the series, The Devil’s Advocate and The Accomplice, have been a ton of fun, and the latest entry, Witness 8, has been one of my most anticipated reads of 2024.

Ruby Johnson is a seemingly ordinary nanny and maid who works for many of the wealthy families in Manhattan’s exclusive West 74 Street.  Memorising their needs, routines and secrets, Ruby has made herself indispensable to various families on this elite street, even though most of them look down on her due to her family’s past connection to the rich community.  However, Ruby is about to shake up the entire street when she witnesses the murder of one of their most controversial inhabitants.

The only person who truly knows who committed the terrible murder, Ruby sneaks away key evidence and places an anonymous call to the police, naming the killer.  However, Ruby lies about who the true killer is, and instead frames an innocent man for the murder and turns the entire street against him.  As chaos descends upon West 74 Street and an innocent family suffers the stigma associated with murder, it becomes clear that something is very wrong with Ruby, and that she will destroy anyone to get what she wants.

It soon falls to Eddie Flynn, former conman turned trial attorney to defend the innocent man accused of the crime.  Facing off against an ambitious District Attorney, the all-consuming secrecy of the West 74 Street’s inhabitants, and threats much closer to home, Eddie Flynn will need to bring every legal trick and con in his vast repertoire to keep his client out of jail.  However, can even Flynn and his expert team uncover what Ruby has done in time to save an innocent man, or will her dark secrets strike again and bring even greater tragedy?

Steve Cavanagh continues to impress as his latest book, Witness 8, was an amazing and compelling thrill ride that had me hooked the entire way through.  The eighth book in the Eddie Flynn series, Witness 8 was extremely fun, and I had an outstanding time getting through it.

Witness 8 has a fantastic story behind it that really drags the reader in with its outrageous plot, ambitious legal sequences, and eccentric characters, all of which is a trademark of the Eddie Flynn series.  Initially focusing on the character of Ruby Johnson, you witness the starting events of the plot that see the housekeeper become a central figure in a murder investigation, which serves as a great start to the book while also expertly introducing one of the novel’s most complex figures.  From there, the plot begins to focus on series protagonist Eddie Flynn, and his eccentric colleagues, as they are tasked with defending the man Ruby framed and uncovering the reasons behind his arrest.  Clashing with an ambitious district attorney, Flynn starts utilising his trademark unpredictable tactics to infuriate and confuse his opponents, which results in some fun early scenes.  However, Flynn faces lethal problems of his own when the leader of a gang of corrupt cops puts out at hit on him, believing him to be a threat to his organisation.

The story goes in some very interesting and unexpected directions as the protagonist finds himself forced to simultaneously defend his client and deal with the killers coming for him.  Cavanagh does a great job of breaking the story up across various distinctive characters, with the machinations of Ruby blending well with the legal manoeuvrings of Flynn and the investigations of his team.  The author also adds in several other great alternate perspectives, including that of the wonderfully sinister gentleman assassin, Mr. Christmas, who starts to take his own interest in several characters associated with the case.  These intriguing alternate perspectives allow for a more elaborate, yet still fast-paced novel, and I loved where some of the various character arcs went.

The second half of Witness 8 is loaded up with surprises, tragic blows, over-the-top moments and funny ploys from the protagonist, and you are constantly on the edge of your seat as you wait to see how everything unfolds.  I really appreciated the excellent way that Cavanagh builds up towards the big conclusion of the plot, and the resulting payoff comes together extremely well.  The closer you get to the end, the more you appreciate how the author had previously layered in clues and hints in the first half of the book, and I particularly enjoyed the breadcrumbs about Ruby’s motivations and what she hoped to achieve.  The author tops this off with some fantastic and entertaining cons and schemes from the protagonist, which results in some ironic comeuppances for several of he more morally dubious characters.  This proved to be a very fun ending, and it will be interesting to see where some of the storylines go from here, especially around some newly introduced characters.

Much like the previous entries in the series, Witness 8 can be read as a standalone novel, and new readers can have a wonderful and easy time exploring the accessible and interesting series and characters for the first time.  Witness 8 was the usual fun mixture of action, clever legal scenes and overall insanity that fans of the Eddie Flynn series are well use to.  I always like the unique legal scenarios that Cavanagh comes up with for his books, and the one in Witness 8 was pretty damn good, as the protagonist deals with the crazed witness who has her own schemes in this murder.  The story veers into psychological thriller territory at times when it comes to this main antagonist, and her twisted tale of revenge and recompense blended well with the thrilling adventures of Flynn and his cohort.  Cavanagh did a great job of keeping the story running at a fast pace, and the inclusion of several deadly assassins hunting after Flynn, ensured that the reader was constantly engaged with the book, especially with the inclusion of some well-placed tragedy.  While much of Witness 8 is light and is primarily dedicated to providing entertainment, Cavanagh throws in some particularly dark moments throughout the book, which provides some memorable and powerful moments for the reader.  This blend of tones, which includes some extremely troubling scenes, helped to ensure that Witness 8 was more than just a one-trick pony story, and readers will really love the book’s depth and dark humour.

However, for me the best parts of Witness 8, and indeed any Eddie Flynn book, were the excellent scenes that depicted Flynn engaged in his trademark legal cons and shenanigans.  Cavanagh’s well thought out courtroom sequences are always enhanced by the outrageous actions of his protagonist, as he uses unconventional tactics garnered from his conman past to trick and manipulate events to his advantage.  These ploys often play off the more conventional tactics of his opponents and the rest of Flynn’s legal team very well, and you are never quite sure what direction his trial strategy is going to go.  While I usually prefer a more straightforward courtroom sequence in a legal thriller, I deeply enjoy seeing Cavanagh’s more entertaining takes on the story element, and it is so much fun to see what outrageous ploy the author comes up with next.  These eccentric court scenes play off the rest of the book extremely well, and I felt that they were once again a great highlight of this Eddie Flynn book.  Indeed, I kind of wish that the author had ensured that more of the book was spent inside the courtroom rather than having the protagonist battle assassins, but I still really appreciate how the story came together.

A key part of why Witness 8 was so entertaining was the fantastic and memorable characters featured within it.  Cavanagh utilises an intriguing cast for Witness 8, that includes a collection of recurring characters from previous books, as well as several new figures who are cleverly inserted into this story.  I have already mentioned how much fun series protagonist Eddie Flynn was in Witness 8, and his entertaining ploys and determination to stick up to even the most dangerous people in the city, ensure that he is a hard character not to like.  While much of Flynn’s story revolves around him outsmarting the bad guys in humorous ways, Cavanagh also ensures that there are some darker moments for Flynn in Witness 8, especially as he finds his team under threat and someone close to him hurt as collateral damage.  The rest of Flynn’s team, including his legal partner Kate Brooks, the firm’s lethal private investigator Bloch and former serial killer hunter Gabriel Lake, are well represented throughout the course of Witness 8, with Lake’s unique past coming into play in some compelling ways.

While these protagonists are great, Cavanagh also spent a lot of time building up some outstanding and memorable antagonists who really fit the series’ unique vibe and proved to be major highlights of Witness 8.  The most prominent of these is Ruby Johnson, the seemingly innocent maid, who manipulates events around the murder for her own advantage.  Cavanagh does an excellent job selling Ruby as a conflicted and damaged being, haunted by her past and the terrible things she needs to do.  I really appreciated how effectively Cavanagh sets up Ruby as a particularly dangerous figure, and you really buy into her issues and dark persona, especially as Cavanagh throws in some interesting curveballs around what drives her.  In addition to Ruby, the other major antagonist I want to highlight is the assassin Mr. Christmas.  A deadly killer with curiosity, class, a dash of morality and a love for Marlon Brando films, Mr. Christmas steals nearly every scene he is in as he manoeuvres around the other players in the book.  A professional who likes to keep things sporting, Mr. Christmas enjoys interacting with his targets before he kills them, and his encounters with many of the characters, including Flynn and Ruby, are some of the most captivating parts of Witness 8.  Cavanagh did an outstanding job building up Mr. Christmas here, and I loved his genial threats and unique professionalism, as well as his connection to Gabriel Lake, which provides some much-needed seriousness around this figure.  Indeed, it seems like Mr. Christmas is a figure that is likely to return in future entries in the series, which is something I am rather keen for.  Throw in a raft of other desperate, greedy or easily manipulated figures, and Witness 8 had a truly amazing cast of characters that ensured this book was everything you could hope it to be.

Witness 8 was another amazing novel from Steve Cavanagh, who continues to produce some of the most entertaining and fun legal thrillers you are likely to read.  Filled with big characters, outrageous situations, and complex scenarios, Witness 8 had me hooked the entire way through, and I honestly could not stop reading this fantastic read.  I really cannot emphasise how much fun I have with the Eddie Flynn series, and I cannot wait to see what cool story Cavanagh comes up with next.

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Sentinel by Mark Greaney

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller3 Comments

Publisher: Sphere (Trade Paperback – 25 June 2024)

Series: Josh Duffy – Book Two

Length: 475 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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In the mood for some awesome thriller action?  Look no further than the latest novel from the always impressive Mark Greaney, Sentinel.

Thriller author Mark Greaney has been on a real roll lately.  Not only does he continue to impress with his iconic Gray Man spy thriller series, but he just released a second book in his Josh Duffy series, with Sentinel.  Readers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of Greaney, having had an exceptional time with his Gray Man novels, including The Gray Man, Mission Critical, One Minute Out, Relentless, Seirra Six, Burner and The Chaos Agent.  I was also very excited to receive a copy of Sentinel, especially after having really enjoyed the first Josh Duffy novel, Armored.  Following a former military contractor who finds himself caught up in dangerous escort missions in foreign countries, the Josh Duffy books are a lot of fun, and I had an amazing time with the intense and action-packed Armored, which saw all hell break loose in Mexico.  Sentinel is a very worthy sequel to Armored, as the protagonist and his family, find themselves caught up in a deadly coup.

After a lifetime of military contract work, Josh Duffy has found more stable employment as part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, protecting diplomats and ambassadors in Washington.  When his State Department wife, Nikki, is transferred to Ghana, Josh and their two children join them, hoping to start up a new life in the stable African nation.  However, things are about to get explosive as a group of Chinese spies have begun to implement an elaborate scheme to overthrow the Ghanaian government and replace it with one less friendly to the West.

Unaware of these machinations, both Josh and Nicole find themselves accompanying a group of American, European and Ghanian politicians and officials to an important dam as part of a vital diplomatic mission.  However, their simple photo-op quickly turns into a deadly firefight as the officials and their bodyguards find themselves under unexpected attack from a large army of rebels and their Chinese hired mercenary minders.

Cut off from help and with the rest of the country in chaos thanks to the Chinese led coup, Josh finds himself fighting to save both himself and his protectees from the forces arrayed against them.  Forced on the run, Josh attempts to lead everyone to safety and work out who is responsible for the destruction going on around them.  But when an old enemy from his past reappears, Josh finds himself forced to choose between his mission and his family.

This was a fantastic and very exciting new novel from Greaney, that provides readers with a particularly awesome experience.  Loaded with excellent and realistic action, Sentinel is an amazing book to get through, and I loved how intense it turned out to be.

The plot of Sentinel proved pretty damn impressive, as the author serves up an exciting, action-packed thrill ride.  I have always appreciated Greaney’s ability to create complex scenarios to set his thrillers around, and Sentinel was a particularly good example of this, with an engineered coup in Ghana serving as the basis for the plot.  The author does an excellent job setting the scene for this coup right at the start of Sentinel before transitioning the reader across to protagonist Josh Duffy and his family.  Much of the first half of the book is split between the Duffys getting used to their roles in Ghana, and the antagonists moving the pieces around to finally initiate the plan, and readers come away very invested in both, while waiting for the inevitable carnage.

Once the antagonists begin to put their plans in motion, Sentinel turns into a particularly intense read.  The action flies thick and fast around the protagonists, as all-out war descends on them and they are forced to fight for their survival.  Greaney loads the centre of Sentinel with a continuous string of firefights and high-energy action set pieces, and the reader is left constantly on the edge of their seat as they watch the carnage unfold.  The plans of the antagonists are constantly changing thanks to the actions of Duffy and others, and I loved how frenetic and complex the narrative got.  At the same time, Duffy comes across an old adversary who begins to make the fight personal, and the protagonists soon find themselves targeted by everyone involved in the conspiracy.  All the action leads up to a big final confrontation, as the protagonists are predictably forced to try and save their family.  This leads to an additional great fight sequence, and the reader comes away sated from all the action and fights, as well as satisfied with the comeuppance to the antagonists.  While part of a larger series, Sentinel’s narrative ensures that this is a fantastic standalone novel, and you can have so much fun with this excellent read.

As with all Greaney’s books, Sentinel was a clever and well-crafted thriller novel that has an excellent flow to it.  Serving as a sequel to the first book but standing on its own merits, Sentinel is highly action-orientated, perhaps more so than the author’s Gray Man books.  As a result, there are a ton of high-octane battle sequences and firefights, as the protagonists constantly find themselves fighting for their lives.  These scenes are extremely well written, and Greaney has a real talent for showcasing multi-layered fight sequences featuring multiple figures.  A lot of this is down to the way in which Greaney effectively shifts the perspective between the various combatants, both protagonist and antagonist, so the reader gets a great view of all sides of the battle.  The author also does an effective job setting up a compelling and intriguing narrative frame for this action in early pages of the book, and you really get drawn into the complex narrative that has some interesting political and social takes on the country of Ghana.  The excellent use of perspective changes helps to really highlight the complexity of the antagonist’s schemes, and it proved fascinating to see their plans in constant motion, especially when impacted by the actions of the protagonist.  As such, readers really get drawn into the elaborate plot of Sentinel and are treated to a ton of awesome action sequences guaranteed to get the blood flowing.

Sentinel also features a bevy of great characters, including scheming foreign agents, deadly mercenaries, and all manner of good guys.  Greaney as always does an excellent job of splitting the plot between multiple perspective characters, and the reader is given a good sense of each of these figures, as well as the role they play in the larger plot.  Naturally most of the focus goes to returning protagonists, Josh Duffy and his wife Nikki, who are constantly at the centre of the action.  Due to this being the second book in the series, Greaney focuses less on these two characters’ backstories, and instead examines the current state of their family, and their attempts to forge a new life working together.  While Josh is generally the main character, Nikki serves as a good supporting figure him, and they prove to be a fun husband and wife duo, especially when their family is in danger.

Other characters of note include Ghanian elite police officer, Isaac Opoku, who finds himself caught up in the major assassination plot impacting the Duffys.  Isaac is an excellent and likeable supporting protagonist who provides some local insights into events, and whose impromptu team up with Josh proves to be quite entertaining.  I also loved the inclusion of South African mercenary Conrad Tremaine, who serves as the book’s primary antagonist.  A maniac working to ensure the larger plan goes off, Tremaine serves as a great foil to Josh, especially as the two have a contentious history.  The various interactions between the two are a ton of fun, and I liked how Greaney set up and then utilised this fantastic villain.

Sentinel by Mark Greaney was an outstanding and deeply exciting action thriller which is guaranteed to keep your attention.  Featuring some fantastic fight sequences and a compelling plot, Sentinel was another impressive book from Greaney, and one I had a hard time putting down.  An excellent sequel to Armored, Sentinel comes highly recommended, and I hope that Greaney continues this series in the future.

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The Mercy Chair by M. W. Craven

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Five-Star Books, Thriller14 Comments

Publisher: Constable (ebook – 6 June 2024)

Series: Washington Poe – Book Six

Length: 420 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Acclaimed author M. W. Craven introduces one of the darkest novels of 2024 with the complex and highly addictive thriller, The Mercy Chair.

M. W. Craven is an interesting author who I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of the more I read. I started getting into his work last year with the awesome Fearless, which saw a lawman turned drifter go up against a deadly drug cartel. I had an amazing time with Fearless, and I am looking forward to the sequel, Nobody’s Hero, in a few short months.  However, before we get to Nobody’s Hero, I need to rave about Craven’s other 2024 novel, The Mercy Chair.  The Mercy Chair was a captivating and unique novel from Craven that served as a part of his Washington Poe series.  The Mercy Chair is the sixth entry in this great English crime fiction series, and frankly I have still not recovered from how epic and shocking its narrative turned out to be.

Detective Sergeant Washington Poe of the National Crime Agency has seen many unsettling things during his career as a police officer, especially since he started teaming up with unusual civilian analysist Tilly Bradshaw to investigate the worst murders England has to offer.  However, his latest case has impacted him in ways few others have, and months after the events in question, Poe sits down with a psychologist to tell a tale of woe and despair unlike any other.

The case is an investigation into the brutal death of controversial religious figure Cornelius Green in Cumbria.  The victim, the leader of an extreme conservative church, has been found tied to a tree and stoned to death by someone who wanted him to suffer.  Brought in due to the brutality surrounding the killing and the religious significance of the victim, Poe and Tilly set about trying to discover which of Green’s many enemies or supporters might have wanted him dead.

Digging into their victim’s past, Poe and Tilly begin to believe that Green’s death might be connected to another infamous slaying of a religious family that occurred in the area many years ago.  Believing that the original killer, a troubled young member of Green’s church, has returned, the detectives attempt to uncover what caused her to snap and kill her parents and brother.  However, their investigation soon uncovers a series of terrible events from the past that still haunt many to this day.  What is the mercy chair, and how did a twisted religious figure bring so much despair to so many?

Gosh this was a damn impressive read!  The Mercy Chair was a particularly epic book that I have not been able to stop thinking about.  Exceedingly dark and hauntingly addictive, The Mercy Chair is guaranteed to steal your breath away with its many twists and turns.  An easy five-star read; The Mercy Chair ended up being one of my favourite books from the first half of 2024 for some very good reasons.

I cannot emphasise just how good the narrative of The Mercy Chair turned out to be, as Craven really dug deep to produce the most twisted and haunting narrative he could.  Starting off in an interesting way, with the traumatised protagonist, Washington Poe, recounting the events of his previous case to a psychologist, which instantly ensures that the reader knows something bad is about to happen.  The resulting set-up for the case proves to be very effective, and you are soon presented with an intriguing scenario of a religious leader stoned to death.  Craven also presents some compelling complications to the case in the form of an unwanted assistant for Poe and Tilly, the interest of the local bishop, and strange connections to a previous mass killing.  This first half of the book is very strong, and I honestly got hooked on the book very early due to Craven’s strong writing and ability to set up a good murder case.  The author does a great job of layering a lot of clues and hints about the events to come in this first half, not that it does you a lot of good, as there are so many sinister surprises to come.

While I really enjoyed the first half of The Mercy Chair, the second half is what really makes this book a first-rate thriller, as Craven brings all the darkness and thrusts the reader into a world of emotional pain.  I honestly cannot go into too much detail about what happens in the second half of the book, as too many hints could ruin The Mercy Chair for potential readers.  However, I will say that Craven is a dark genius, and I still cannot get over how crazy and harrowing things got.  The case goes in some very disturbing and inventive directions, and the author unleashes a multitude of twists, most of which are very well-set up in advance.  While I saw a few surprises coming or was able to guess the significance of certain subtle inclusions, I honestly could not predict everything that Craven’s diabolical mind came up with.  Trust me when I say that The Mercy Chair’s story gets darker and darker the more you progress through it, and no matter how many times you think it can’t get any worse, it does.  The author ends the narrative in a very interesting place right after a final massive twist comes out, and you really will not be prepared for every surprise that comes your way here.

I really appreciated the great way that Craven told his latest novel, especially when it comes to The Mercy Chair’s unique narrative set up where the protagonist discussed the case with a psychologist sometime after the actual case.  The transition between Poe’s perspective of the case as it unfolds and his discussions with the psychologist after the fact really enhances the impact of the story in so many interesting ways.  In particular, you get some fascinating discussions around the psychology and people involved in the events, and I loved the multiple dark hints that the protagonist gave the audience about how more bad things were still to come.  This, combined with the multitude of elaborate and clever clues and hints featured throughout the entire story, really heightened anticipation for the later parts of the book, although even with all these hints, I wasn’t prepared for just how dark things got.  I felt that Craven really hit the right balance of mystery, intriguing character development for the protagonists, and utter suspense at the events occurring, and frankly once you get stuck into the main murder, its near impossible to get away from this book.  While The Mercy Chair is the sixth book in the Washington Poe series, it can easily be read as a standalone novel, even by those readers unfamiliar with the series.  Craven does an excellent job setting up the story and reintroducing the protagonists, so new readers can easily drop in here without any issue at all.  While long-term fans of the author/series will probably get a little more out of The Mercy Chair in terms of character growth, anybody can have an epic time with this book, especially if they love gritty and shocking mysteries with some brilliant twists.

It’s hard to talk about The Mercy Chair without mentioning the outstanding characters featured within, although I honestly risk spoiling certain story elements if I discuss the new figures in the book.  However, I do need to highlight the great way that Craven continues the outstanding partnership between main character Detective Sergeant Washington Poe and civilian analysist Tilly Bradshaw, which has been such a fantastic part of the previous Washington Poe books.  Poe, a gruff and fractious veteran cop, plays off the brilliant and socially awkward Tilly perfectly, and they form a rather unusual pairing that works extremely well throughout the course of the mystery.  There is a certain level of humour to their interactions, especially as both can be outrageous in their own way, and I liked the sibling vibes that Craven set up between them throughout the book.  While the author does reiterate a lot of his protagonist’s character traits from the previous books, there is also some excellent emotional development amongst the two.  Poe, who has grown from an angry loner into somebody capable of holding down a romantic relationship, ends up going through some major emotional and psychological issues thanks to the grim impacts of this case.  Watching Poe lose his grip on his calm is very powerful, especially as his deteriorating mental state corresponds with growing intensity of the investigation and the terrible revelations he uncovers.  I honestly grew so attached to Poe because of his frank narration of events throughout the book, and his partnership with Tilly honestly made this book for me.  Craven leaves Poe and Tilly’s story in an interesting place at the end of The Mercy Chair, and I look forward to seeing how they overcome their latest obstacles in the next book.  Throw in a great cast of supporting characters, including some complex victims and perpetrators and a bunch of fun recurring figures, and The Mercy Chair’s characters really help to make this story something very special.

With The Mercy Chair, M. W. Craven has officially become one of my favourite thriller authors and I cannot emphasise just how incredible this novel is.  Craven produces an outstanding and powerful story that features a particularly clever and shocking mystery that I could not get enough of.  Loaded with elaborate twists, complex characters, and so many dark revelations, The Mercy Chair is guaranteed to make you an instant fan of Craven, no matter how hard you try to forget his narrative’s intense tragedy.  I loved this book so much, and I honestly wonder what would have happened if Craven had gotten his way and made it even darker.

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Quick Review – Camino Ghosts by John Grisham

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller5 Comments

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Trade Paperback – 28 May 2024)

Series: Camino Island – Book Three

Length: 292 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Iconic thriller author John Grisham returns with another excellent and compelling novel, Camino Ghosts, that takes the reader on an intriguing journey.

Grisham is another author I don’t really need to introduce.  The mastermind behind so many classic best sellers, Grisham has been wowing audiences since the 1980s with fantastic and intricate tales.  I myself have only reading Grisham in the last couple of years, with books like The Judge’s List, The Boys from Biloxi, Sparring Partners and The Exchange, leaving a big impression on me.  As such, I was eager to try out Grisham’s latest novel, Camino Ghosts, especially as it had a great plot premise behind it.  The third book in the author’s Camino Island series, Camino Ghosts was a fascinating book that I got quite attached to.

Plot Synopsis:

Following John Grisham’s international bestsellers, Camino Island and Camino Winds, Camino Ghosts is the story of an island off the Florida coast with a haunted, violent history and an uncertain future.

Dark Isle off the Florida coast is said to be cursed: drownings, disappearances and hauntings have been the fate of intruders. The people who lived there were once enslaved. Now abandoned, it is the target of greedy developers.

Lovely Jackson is the last survivor and claims to be its legal owner. But there is not a shred of evidence to prove that is true.

It’s unlikely that the developers will be deterred by the claims of one old woman. They have millions; Lovely only has Steve Mahon, a pro bono environmental lawyer, and Mercer Mann, a floundering novelist, to fight in her corner.

With the court case looming and the bulldozers waiting to roll in, Steve and Mercer are in a race against time to unearth the truth behind Lovely’s story and save the legacy of the island.

I really liked Camino Ghosts, which proved to be a very entertaining and unique novel that I had such a wonderful getting through.  This was quite an interesting read, and Grisham came up with quite an unusual story that really appealed to me.  Although billed as a thriller or legal thriller, Camino Ghosts honestly felt more like a comfy slice-of-life story to me that occasionally featured some legal thriller elements, as well as an outstanding historical fiction background.

As I mentioned above, Camino Ghosts is part of the Camino Islands series, and is once again primarily set on the fictitious Camino Island, home to an eclectic mixture of people, all bustling along on their island paradise.  The series primarily focuses on recurring characters Mercer Mann, an idealistic novelist, and island bookseller Bruce Cable, new local figure Lovely Jackson, as well as a various other friends and inhabitants who come together as the story demands it.  The latest book is essentially a standalone read with its own self-contained story, although readers can expect the same easy-going atmosphere that Grisham included in the previous Camino Island novels, as well as a few minor references to prior events.

The plot of Camino Ghosts revolves around a historically significant abandoned island that sits just off the main Camino Island, known to the locals as Dark Isle.  The always entertaining Bruce provides Mercer with an interesting, self-published history of Dark Isle, and which Mercer decides to use as inspiration for her next book.  Seeking out the author, Lovely Jackson, the last living inhabitant of the island, Mercer and Bruce soon get involved in Lovely’s battle to save Dark Isle from developers, which results in a lengthy legal battle.  At the same time, the characters learn more and more about the unique history of Dark Isle, which served as a refuge for runaway slaves, and upon which a dark curse still apparently lingers.

This ended up being a sleek and captivating story that really drew me in.  Grisham quickly sets the scene for the narrative, with the returning protagonists becoming aware of the history of Dark Isle before becoming invested in saving it from the property developers who want to destroy it.  The main plot is very character driven, and it combines their actions in trying to document and save the island, with their day-to-day lives and interactions on Camino Island.  There are quite a few interesting and memorable figures who get involved in the resulting case, which includes a mixture of returning figures from the previous books, as well as several great new characters.  The entire story proceeds a fast and compelling pace, and soon you get stuck into the legal proceedings around the ownership of the island.  While Grisham throws in some entertaining legal shenanigans and ploys, for the most part the main story comes across as a nice and comfy read, with a focus on character interactions and human interest.  There is even a pretty fun ongoing discussion about the joys of writing novels/books and the complicated behind the scenes elements of securing publishing and getting paid for your work.

As the main story progresses, Grisham also throws in an entertaining historical fiction aspect to the plot, which I really enjoyed.  Thanks to extracts from Lovely Jackson’s book, you come to learn the history of Dark Isle, and its intriguing role as a haven for escaped slaves, who formed their own community on the island.  Grisham spreads these historical inclusions throughout the plot of Camino Ghosts, and they feature an intriguing array of narrative threads, which honestly are much darker than the main story of the book.  Focusing on slavery, brutality and even some unconventional war down in Florida, the history of Dark Isle proves to be highly fascinating, and I honestly would have loved to see a whole book written about this fictious island.  I really appreciated how these historical elements melded into the main plot of the story, and it gives some context to events happening as well as discussing the apparent curse haunting the island and causing issues for the antagonists.  I felt that the shift in tones between the main plot and this dive into the past contrasted nicely against each other, and it allowed for a much more powerful read, especially as it allows the reader to fully appreciate the importance of saving Dark Isle and the connection Lovely Jackson has to the location.

This combination of story elements comes together into a satisfying and entertaining overarching narrative which honestly proves hard to put down.  Thanks to both the relatable characters and intriguing history, you grow quite invested in the fight to save Dark Isle, and Grisham works in some exciting legal sequences to keep the reader on the edge of their seats.  The story ends on a very satisfying, thoughtful note, and readers come away really engaged with the complex story the author was trying to tell.  I really loved how deep and personal Camino Ghosts felt at times, and I honestly was surprised at how much I enjoyed this more comfortable storytelling from Grisham.  As such, Camino Ghosts is a very highly recommended book that will appeal to a range of readers, especially those looking for a nice, easy to read novel with some unique twists to them.

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You Like It Darker by Stephen King

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Five-Star Books, Horror, Short Stories, Thriller7 Comments

You Like It Darker Cover

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Trade Paperback – 21 May 2024)

Series: Standalone/Collection

Length: 484

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The master of shocks, thrills and chills, Stephen King, returns with a highly addictive collection of short stories that showcase his awesome writing ability in the epic book, You Like It Darker.

Stephen King is an author who needs very little introduction from me considering he’s been one of the world’s top authors for over 40 years.  Readers of this blog will know that I have come to the Stephen King fandom rather late in life, having only read his more recent releases.  However, the King books I have read were extremely epic, and I absolutely loved the awesome and inventive stories they contained.  This includes the epic thriller Mr Mercedes, the deeply personal tale Later, the fascinating Fairy Tale and the utterly addictive Billy Summers (one of my favourite books of 2021).  My favourite King book was his 2023 novel, Holly, which told a deep and chilling tale that is still stuck in my mind.  Not only was Holly one of the absolute best books and audiobooks of 2023, but it is also one of my very favourite horror books.  Due to this, I have been keeping a very close eye out for more content from this legendary author, including his latest book, You Like It Darker.  You Like It Darker was a short story omnibus book, which feature 12 unique stories from King, each of which have a dark shine to them.

I must admit that when I first heard about You Like It Darker, I wasn’t too sure I was going to read it.  This was primarily because I am not the biggest fan of short stories or novellas, as I prefer reading stories with more meat to them.  However, because it is Stephen King, and there is a certain guaranteed awesomeness associated with any of his works, I decided to give You Like It Darker a try, and boy was that a good decision.  The various stories contained within You Like It Darker was exceptional, and I ended up getting really stuck into everything contained in this impressive book.

The first story featured in this volume is the entertaining Two Talented Bastids.  A somewhat light-hearted start to a book dedicated to dark narratives, Two Talented Bastids tells the story of a famous and skilled author and his best friend, a highly regarded painter, both of whom grew up in a small town (near King’s iconic setting of Castle Rock) and managed to make it big.  Told through the writings of the author’s son, this story recounts the compelling small-town life of these fun figures, before eventually diving into the events that suddenly awakened their talents.

Two Talented Bastids was a very interesting and compelling start to You Like It Darker, which really played to the author’s strengths.  King is known for his ability to craft together tales of small-town life and intricate character backstories, which he does here in excellent detail.  The focus on these two friends who eventually make it big was moving and personal, and I liked the great way this story unfolds from the perspective of the loving, if overshadowed, son.  Because this is King, the story goes in some unusual directions, with an unnatural reason behind the protagonist’s renowned talents.  This twist away from conventional life was fun and surprisingly wholesome, and it was nice to see a good deed get rewarded in a King book.  As such, this was a surprisingly light start for You Like It Darker, but one loaded with humour, fantastic characters, and some great examples of human nature.  I felt that Two Talented Bastids was an excellent appetiser that showcased King’s writing style in advance of the crazier stories to come, and it got me in the mood for more tales about unusual people.

The next two short stories are the intriguing The Fifth Step and Willie the Weirdo.  Both stories are amongst the shortest entries contained within this book, and they prove to be an intriguing follow up to Two Talented Bastids, especially as they bring King’s promised darkness.  The first of these, The Fifth Step, is a short but impactful story that sees an older gentleman encounter a stranger at the local park who wishes to tell his personal confession as part of an addiction program.  This short story concludes with a sharp and memorable ending, and you have to appreciate the way that King effectively sets the scene in just 10 pages before bringing it to a sudden end.  Willie the Weirdo is also very dark, as it shows a strange young boy, the titular Willie, becoming close to his dying grandfather in his final days, hoping to see him die.  This is a bit of a weird story (unsurprisingly), but it’s one that I felt was very strong, as King showcases the strange nature of the two protagonists through a series of ghoulish conversations.  The final moments of Willie the Weirdo really bring the whole story together in a fantastic way, and readers are left to rethink all the previous aspects of the story thanks to a few subtle inclusions.  Both entries are great in their own way, and I liked how they substantially darkened the mood after the lighter starting story.

The fourth story in this book is probably my favourite, the excellent Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream.  The longest entry in Some Like It Darker, Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream is a brilliant tale that sees the titular Danny Coughlin, a small-town high school janitor, begin to have vivid dreams about a body at a location he’s never been to.  Hoping to alleviate the dread brought on by his visions, Danny finds and travels to the location from his dreams, only to discover that there really is a body buried there.  His attempts to subtly alert the police only lead to him being becoming the lead suspect and the detectives investigating the murder, especially the zealous Inspector Franklin Jalbert, begins an aggressive campaign against him.

While I enjoyed the preceding stories in this book, Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream is the entry that made me fall in love with You Like It Darker.  The author works in an intriguing but simple concept of a normal man having a true psychic dream and turned it into a compelling and utterly intense tale of obsession and inner darkness as the protagonist loses everything due to events outside of his control.  The horror of this story is brought about by an excellent combination of circumstances and dark human nature as the protagonist, Danny Coughlin, is completely innocent of the killings and is instead a particularly likeable figure trying to do the right thing in the light of unexplainable events.  However, the stubborn and obsessive Inspector Jalbert, incapable of believing the protagonist’s supernatural explanation, relentlessly hounds Danny, trying to get him to confess to the murder.  His inability to do so, as well as the lack of evidence supporting Danny’s guilt, drive Jalbert, a homage to Inspector Javert from Les Misérables, to worse acts against his suspect, and it was fascinating to see Jalbert’s blind adherence to justice and his own personal issues turn him into a bigger villain than the man he is hunting.

King does such an amazing job with both his main characters in Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream, and they play off each other perfectly, with the innocent and honourable Danny, trying to fend off the growing instability of Jalbert.  King takes this story in some excellent directions, and I found myself constantly on the edge of my seat waiting to see how everything would unfold.  The resulting conclusion is dark, moving, and sadly inevitable, and you can’t help but feel for both the main characters, even when they do the wrong thing.  Throw in an intriguing look at various forms of faith, as the characters are forced to confront their own feelings about visions and the supernatural, and Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream proves to be an outstanding read that I could not get enough of.  I really cannot emphasise what a brilliant story this was, and I maintain it was the most impactful and captivating entry in You Like It Darker.

The next story is the interesting Finn, which I must admit was my least favourite, although that might just be because I was unfairly measuring it against the preceding Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream.  Finn was a curious tale about a terminally unlucky teenager who finds himself kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity by an unusual team of crooks.  This was a rather fun and fast-paced story that saw an unwitting Finn attempting to survive this latest example of his unusually terrible luck.  I did enjoy this story to a degree, although I honestly am not sure if I was missing a connection to some other work of King, as there were quite a few unanswered questions at the end.  Still, the story unfolds in an interesting way, and King does a great job of introducing his unique take on the protagonist’s life story and the formulative events of his childhood.

Following Finn, King brings the book back on the dark track with the short, but intense, road trip story On Slide Inn Road.  This story sees a dysfunctional family attempt to take a shortcut up the titular road, only to encounter obstacles, both from the landscape, and from other travellers.  I liked the progression from casual family story whose drama was primarily drawn from the actions of the easily aggravated father to a much more serious story including a pair of hijackers.  King’s intriguing take on how three separate generations of one family in the car deal with this sudden threat was quite impactful, and I loved how the family dynamics quickly change as a result.  Another short but effective story that I ended up really enjoying.

King continues with another two quick stories that feature intriguing concepts.  The first, Red Screen, sees a married cop interrogate a murderer who has a wild theory about an alien invasion.  This was a quick story, and a little predictable, but great to read, primarily because the reader could see how it was going to end, and the resulting anticipation increased their enjoyment.  This is followed by the thoughtful story, The Turbulence Expert, which follows a passenger on a bumpy airplane flight.  As the flight progresses, you discover that the nervous, frequent-flying protagonist has a specific reason for being on this plane.  The Turbulence Expert was another cool entry in this book, and I think I enjoyed it more than Red Screen, primarily because King gives it a little more room to breathe.  The interactions between the main passengers of the plane feel quite realistic, and there is a fun balance between the mundane experiences of some passengers, and the more unnatural feelings of the protagonist.  The Turbulence Expert had one of the more compelling scenarios behind it, and I wouldn’t have minded a longer inclusion as a great story could have developed if given more room.

The ninth story in You Like It Darker is the sweet Laurie.  Another relatively short entry, Laurie follows an older widower who finds comfort in a small puppy, the titular Laurie, foisted upon him by a concerned sister.  This was a very moving tale that will appeal to all dog fans, especially as it is very easy to relate to the companionship that the initially reluctant protagonist feels as he becomes more and more attached to his new furry friend.  King does a great job of capturing the many ups and downs of dog ownership in a very short amount of time, and you really feel yourself getting drawn to the initially troubled and lonely protagonist, and his dog.  Of course, because this is a King story, things do have to get dark, and the author honestly does not hold back here with a shocking threat.  This sudden moment of danger really drags the reader in, especially as the previous pages with the protagonist and Laurie made you really care for both, and you worry that King is about to bring some utter tragedy to the two.  As such, Laurie has the distinction of being both the most heartfelt and most stress-inducing story in You Like It Darker, and I really appreciate how many feels King fit into this one short story.

The next story is probably the entry existing fans of King are going to be most interested in, Rattlesnakes.  One of the longer and most intense stories in this book, Rattlesnakes has the interesting distinction of being a sequel to one of King’s more iconic works, Cujo.  Set in 2020, decades after the events of Cujo, Rattlesnakes follows Vic Trenton, the husband/father from the book, who was forced to move on after the death of his son and the resulting trauma of his wife.  Now retired, Vic has moved into a luxury house in Florida owned by his friend and former business partner to wait out COVID.  However, the house sits in a usual area, haunted by the tragic deaths of two young twins years earlier at the hands (or fangs) of the area’s now destroyed rattlesnake population.  Encountering the twin’s still grieving mother, Vic once again begins to feel the pull of the supernatural as the ghosts of the area’s past begin to focus on him.

Rattlesnakes ended up being one of the most intense and powerful entries in the entirety of You Like It Darker, and readers quickly become engrossed in this tale of long-lasting grief and the impacts it has on sanity.  Making good use of COVID times as a background, Rattlesnakes ends up being a twisty and complex tale that combines King’s aptitude for writing haunting horror tales with character-focused internal drama.  Thanks to the unique history he bestows upon the Florida location that the protagonist finds himself trapped in, there is some excellent background to build the narrative around, and I really became engrossed in the resulting haunting tale.  You really grow to understand the various character’s psyches as the story continues, and it proves interesting to determine whether the protagonist is being haunted or is experiencing his own form of grief and trauma.  This proves to be a very gripping horror read, and you come away feeling very thoughtful about the protagonist’s experiences and the potential dark future awaiting him.

In addition to its excellent self-contained narrative, one of the major appeals of Rattlesnakes is that it is a sequel to Cujo.  King provides a very intriguing follow-up to what happened to the parents in Cujo after the death of their child, and it was fascinating to see what followed the dark events more than 40 years after the original book came out.  The author paints a tragic picture of the grief and anger that followed, as well as how both characters moved on in their own separate ways.  I felt this ended up being a rather interesting sequel that will appeal to both hardcore fans of King, as well as those with a more general knowledge of this  iconic book.  The story in Rattlesnakes is not predicated in having read Cujo, and King makes sure to concisely recount the events of the previous book where necessary.  While I am sure those who have enjoyed Cujo previously will get a little more out of this story than those who haven’t, anybody can come into Rattlesnake and appreciate it’s complex and intense story.

The penultimate story of You Like It Darker is the intriguing The Dreamers.  Another relatively short entry in the book, The Dreamers is set in the 1970s and follows a Vietnam veteran turned professional stenographer who accepts a job with a professor performing unusual experiments out in the countryside surrounding Castle Rock.  This narrative quickly forces the protagonist into examining the dark side of dreams as the professor awakens unusual occurrences with his subjects.  This proved to be a pretty intense and complex story that was heavy on the horror, and I was getting some major Lovecraftian vibes from it.  The story gets into some dark places as the unnatural experiments continue, and it was fascinating to see inside the mind of the protagonist as he finds himself still involved despite his best judgement.  The story ends on a sharp and thoughtful note, and I came away quite curious about what was going on.  I do think this is one of the stories that could have benefited from a bit more expansion by King, but it still proved to be a captivating tale that added some essential darkness towards the end of this book.

The final story in this volume was the moving and hopeful story, The Answer Man.  Much like the first story in You Like It Darker, The Answer Man showcases King’s ability to effectively tell a compelling character-driven life story as it focuses on Phil Parker, a young lawyer who is agonising about his dream to move to a small town which he believes will become a major hub in the future.  However, Phil’s life is changed by three encounters with the mysterious Answer Man, a stranger who, in exchange for a small fee, provides Phil with answers to his various questions, while revealing uncomfortable secrets about the future.  These answers deeply impact the protagonist in various ways, both good and bad, and will have ongoing consequences for him and those around him, for decades to come.

I deeply enjoyed The Answer Man, which was a particularly strong entry to end You Like It Darker on.  King once again falls back on his innate ability to tell a compelling life story (which I highlighted in Two Talented Bastids), with the chronicle of Phil’s life proving to be an intriguing, if tragic, story that I really connected with.  The tale of a big city lawyer who moves to small town against the advice/wishes of his family and in-laws, only to face further issues, contentious cases and family tragedy, is interesting on its own, especially in King’s capable hands, but the inclusion of the Answer Man character really enhances everything.  Coming in with great patter, a fun attitude, and some otherworldly abilities, the Answer Man provides true answers to the protagonist’s questions, even if Phil would be better off not knowing them.  I loved seeing the ways that the protagonist’s already remarkable life is further influenced by his interactions with the Answer Man, and it led to some truly powerful and intense scenes.  This honestly was a very clever and thoughtful story, and the whole concept of the mysterious Answer Man was one that really appealed to me.  I think that King could easily do a whole novel around encounters with the Answer Man, and I hope that they might appear again in the future.  Due to the impact of this unlikely figure, The Answer Man story goes in some fantastic directions, with the protagonist experiencing triumph and tragedy in equal measures, but which ends on a hopeful note and the protagonist finding peace.  While not as dark as some of the other entries in this book, I felt that The Answer Man was a perfect end to an outstanding collection of short stories, and one that will leave you very thoughtful.

Overall, I was really impressed with how King brought this entire selection of short stories together in You Like It Darker.  Each of the stories, no matter how short, grabbed my attention, and I really fell in love with the amazing stories contained within.  Most of these entries were truly exceptional, with Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream, Rattlesnake, Laurie and The Answer Man, being some of my favourites.  These amazing stories raised the quality of the entire volume for me, while the other entries also provided dark moments and compelling ideas that will appeal to all manner of readers.  King did a good job of setting out the stories in You Like It Darker, and each of the entries flowed effortlessly into the next.  Many of these stories complimented each other, and I enjoyed the contrast of having a lighter tale follow a particularly dark entry, and vice versa.  I also felt that You Like It Darker was very open to readers with various levels of experience when it comes to Stephen King.  While established fans will love seeing more unique stories from the author, including an intriguing sequel to Cujo, new readers can also have an amazing time here, especially with the range of narratives and the changing levels of horror, dread, and inner darkness.  I personally had an incredible time with all the distinctive and addictive novellas and short stories contained in this book, and together they ensured that You Like It Darker was one of the best things I read in the first half of 2024.

You Like It Darker Cover 2

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The Chaos Agent by Mark Greaney

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Thriller13 Comments

The Chaos Agent Cover

Publisher: Sphere/Audible (Audiobook – 20 February 2024)

Series: Gray Man – Book 13

Length: 17 hours and 34 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of the leading authors of the spy thriller genre, Mark Greaney, returns with another epic entry in his iconic Gray Man series, The Chaos Agent.

Readers of this blog will know that I am a massive fan of thriller author Mark Greaney, who has been wowing the world with his elaborate and exciting stories for years.  Ever since I started reading thrillers, Greaney has been a major figure in my yearly reading schedule, with books like Armored and Red Metal (cowritten with Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV), ensuring that he became a must-read author for me.  However, his most iconic body of work is his Gray Man series, which follows legendary former CIA agent and assassin Court Gentry, known as the Gray Man, as he engages in carnage across the world.  This series, which people may be familiar with thanks to the Netflix adaptation, is so damn good, and I really love the elaborate and intense stories that emerge.  This includes the impressive first novel The Gray Man, as well as later books like Mission Critical, One Minute Out (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) and Sierra Six (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022) and Burner (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023).  Naturally, I grabbed Greaney’s latest novel, The Chaos Agent, the first chance I could, and it proved to be another amazing read.

Across the world, elite scientists are being murdered in a series of elaborate and well-coordinated assassinations.  The killers are well equipped, well prepared, and seem capable of striking across multiple countries.  The only connection between the killings is the area of expertise the victims are known for, as someone is targeting the world’s leading experts in artificial intelligence and robotics.

As the killings continue, it appears that only two major assassins aren’t involved in the plot, the Gray Man, Court Gentry, and his lover Zoya Zakharova.  Hiding out in Central America after their last mission once again forced them to become fugitives, Court and Zoya are seeking the quiet life together after all their years apart.  But an assassin’s work is never done, and soon an old family friend of Zoya’s seeks them out, hoping that they can help identify the individuals behind the attack.  Initially reluctant to get involved, Court and Zoya soon find themselves targeted by association, and must flee an army of dangerous killers and mysterious advanced combat drones.

Forced to find out who is hunting them, Court and Zoya soon discover that the killings are linked to a deadly proposed artificial intelligence weapon that could change everything about modern warfare.  To discover what’s truly going on, the two former agents and their allies need to investigate the one survivor of the ongoing assassinations.  But with their target now protected by an old friend of theirs, Zack Hightower, in an isolated fortress, Court and Zoya will need to use all their connections and luck to find the truth before it’s too late?

The Chaos Agent was another excellent novel from Greaney, who continues to highlight why he is one of the world’s leading spy thriller writers.  This latest Gray Man novel ended up being a lot of fun, especially as Greaney goes a little overboard with the plot, and I deeply enjoyed the resulting adventure.

Greaney came out of the bag with something very exciting in The Chaos Agent, which is mainly down to how over-the-top and crazy the main narrative ended up being.  This story starts off relatively low-key, with a couple of random killings, and an update on the lives of the protagonist, Court Gentry, and his partner Zoya Zakharova.  Naturally, it doesn’t take long for Gentry and Zakharova to get dragged into the action, and this starts an intense fugitive arc for them, as they find themselves being hunted by various killers across central America.  At the same time, the other supporting characters of the book are investigating the worldwide plot around the assassination of various AI experts.  This results in a compelling investigation angle that continues for a large portion of The Chaos Agent, and it was fun to not completely know the identity of the book’s antagonist until towards the end.  This first half of The Chaos Agent definitely got my attention, and the compelling action, intense mystery, and intriguing characters help to draw the reader in.

The second half of The Chaos Agent is where things start to get particularly interesting, as Greaney amps up the story and throws it into overdrive.  In particular, the antagonists get even more crazy, which is well shown in an intense action sequence involving Gentry and Zakharova in contact’s house in Central America.  These additional opponents give The Chaos Agent a real science fiction edge to them, and it was a gloriously over-the-top inclusion that I really loved.  The various character storylines soon come together after that, as all the characters end up in Cuba investigating who is truly behind everything and why.  There are some cool sequences here, including complex and intricate multi-perspective operations as various players manoeuvre around each other to achieve their goals.  This all leads up nicely to the big extended finale, where all hell breaks loose as Greaney sets up a massive firefight with various sides thrown into the mix.  The action here is intense, with the carnage flying thick and fast, and with so many perils coming for the protagonists.  It all ends on a pretty big cliffhanger that will play nicely into the next book in the series, especially as two major supporting characters find their situation drastically changed due to their decisions.

I deeply enjoyed how this cool novel unfolded, and Greaney utilises his trademark writing style to great effect with this excellent story.  The high-intensity action, fast-paced plot, and intriguing overarching storyline came together wonderfully, and it proves very hard not to get drawn into The Chaos Agent as a result.  I particularly love how Greaney so effortlessly jumps between different character perspectives throughout the course of the book, which allows for a more complex and enhanced story.  These quickfire changes in perspective also work extremely well in some of the book’s more intense sequences, especially as seeing the various participants continuously react to other character’s actions, allows for some outstanding scenes.  Good examples of this include a sequence in the Cuban docks where Gentry and a rival assassin move around each other trying to simultaneously protect or kill their target.  These scenes, and more, are true highlights of this book, and I love how well they were able to incorporate the particularly eccentric inclusions that Greaney featured within The Chaos Agent.

As with most of the books in the Gray Man series, The Chaos Agent can easily be read as a standalone novel.  Greaney does a good job of recapping any the relevant key events from the prior novels where needed so new readers can enjoy this book without knowing anything about the rest of the series.  That being said, established Gray Man readers will probably get a little more out of The Chaos Agent, especially when it comes to seeing how the various character relationships unfold.  It also helps that this proved to be a particularly memorable entry in the series.  Not only does Greaney go all out with his very inventive and exciting story, but there is a great combination of story elements there that everyone can enjoy.  The intense action pairs well with a deep dive into modern technology elements, and Greaney pulls together an intriguing mystery about who is behind everything, rather than showing the antagonist from the get-go.  While some of the twists around the true antagonist are a little predictable, Greaney played them out well, and they worked into the massive status quo changes at the end of the book.  I will admit that I did find some of Greaney’s writing, including the dialogue, to be a little robotic at times in The Chaos Agent, which is kind of ironic when you consider the story focus.  The way some parts of the writing or dialogue came together just didn’t feel right to me at times, and that slightly decreased my enjoyment of the book.  Still, the awesome story more than made up for it, and I felt this was an awesome addition to the overall series, especially as the epic ending has got me extremely excited for the next book.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about The Chaos Agent was Greaney’s intriguing look at the future of AI and how it could be utilised in the military and intelligence fields.  Greaney clearly did some research on the subject, and several characters spend significant time lecturing about the potential advantages and dangers of AI weaponry.  I found this to be utterly fascinating, and this ends up being quite a key part of the book, especially once the protagonists find themselves beset by advanced drones and other distinctive weaponry.  As I mentioned above, Greaney uses this AI concept to make The Chaos Agent a little more science fiction than his previous novels.  While I won’t go into too much detail here, as frankly it is best experienced in the context of the story, some of these elements were very outrageous, and it made the story quite fun with some unique action.  While it was very over-the-top, Greaney did paint everything with a film of realism, and I came away from The Chaos Agent with a healthy respect and fear for the potential future of AI in the military, especially as Greaney is probably right and someone will use it to kill the rest of us.

Aside from the complex writing and cool AI elements, The Chaos Agent’s story is also enhanced by a great cast of characters who are cleverly showcased throughout the plot.  This includes protagonist Court Gentry and his partner Zoya Zakharova, who were reunited in the last book.  Gentry and Zakharova form an effective team as the main protagonists of The Chaos Agent, and it was fun to see them in action again.  However, Greaney also adds in an element of dissention, especially as neither really has the ability to trust other people, and they are both concerned about their potential future.  Their combined storyline goes in some interesting directions, and the final twist of the book ensures that their relationship will be a big part of the next entry in the series.  Greaney also brings back fun recurring character Zack Hightower, who worked with Gentry and Zakharova in the past.  Hightower is always great value for money, and he had an interesting run in The Chaos Agent as he’s hired as security for a tech billionaire being targeted.  Hightower ends up being an integral part of the book, and it was great to see him working with Gentry and Zakharova again, especially as his new job leads to some dark moments for him.  Throw in an excellent supporting cast, which includes some recurring faces and some new intriguing antagonists, and this ended up being an excellent book that makes fantastic use of its characters.

I have always found that the best way to enjoy one of the Gray Man novels is to listen to it in its audiobook format, which really enhances the story.  This is once again true for The Chaos Agent, which turned out to be such an epic listen.  The audiobook format, which has a substantial runtime of 17 and a half hours, proved to be a lot of fun, and I deeply appreciated how well it enhanced Greaney’s already fun story and writing style.  The constant movement between perspective characters, especially in the action sequences, comes across really well, and the intense fights feel so much more real and impactful when they are read out.  It helps that The Chaos Agent was once again narrated by Jay Snyder, who has voiced all the other Gray Man novels.  Snyder has a great vocal range that really lends itself to a spy thriller novel like The Chaos Agent, and all the over-the-top tough characters are captured extremely well in this audiobook, with Snyder expertly bringing back recurring voices from the previous Gray Man audiobooks.  The rest of the extended cast also get appropriate and fitting tones, and you can see Snyder is really trying to get the voices to match the characters.  This includes accents, as Snyder tries to capture many of the ethnicities captured within The Chaos Agent’s story, including a pretty good attempt at the New Zealand accent.  As such, I really found myself getting drawn into The Chaos Agent’s story while listening to it, and while Snyder can also be a tad robotic at times, this audiobook format was a pretty exceptional way to enjoy this amazing book.

Overall, The Chaos Agent was another excellent addition to one of the very best spy thriller series currently running.  Mark Greaney always goes all out with his amazing Gray Man novels, and The Chaos Agent is one of his most intense and gripping reads yet.  Clever, compelling, and featuring some particularly fun story features, The Chaos Agent is an excellent read that gets another five-star rating from me.

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White Ash Ridge by S. R. White

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery5 Comments

White Ash Ridge Cover

Publisher: Headline (Trade Paperback – 12 March 2024)

Series: Detective Dana Russo – Book Four

Length: 343 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australian’s most distinctive new crime fiction authors returns with a complex murder mystery the blends compelling characters with unique methods, White Ash Ridge by S. R. White.

Over the last few years, I have really been enjoying the works of new author S. R. White.  White, a former UK Police officer who emigrated to Australia, has been producing some amazing pieces of Australian outback crime fiction.  His work has so far been part of his Detective Dana Russo series, which follows the titular detective as she investigates complex cases out in the Australian bush.  This series has so far featured three impressive reads, Hermit, Prisoner and Red Dirt Road and these amazing books have been very fun to read, especially as White comes up with some unique crimes which require the protagonist’s more unusual methods to solve.  I have really enjoyed White’s previous books, and I jumped on his new novel, White Ash Ridge, the moment I got my hands on it.

Murder, deceit and controversy are all that are on the limited menu of the White Ash Ridge hotel, especially when tragedy strikes its guests.  An isolated and decaying hotel, hidden away in the Australian wilderness, White Ash Ridge has been booked out by the inner circle of a high-profile charity organisation for urgent discussions about its future.  As the relentless heat raises tensions, the body of one of the charity’s founders is found dead on the track outside, his death caused by a blow to the head.

Called to the scene, Detective Dana Russo anticipates another complex murder case.  With no one else spotted in the area and tensions running high amongst the charity’s founders, it seems likely that one of the four remaining guests at the White Ash Ridge is the murderer.  However, as she begins to investigate, Dana is unprepared for the chaos that is about to descend upon her small command.  The charity the victim work for was founded by two parents whose son was killed after intervening in a violent assault.  The subsequent failed police investigation sparked public outrage and launched the boy’s mother into Australia’s political orbit.

Now thrust into the centre of a controversial family familiar with the police, Dana must quickly solve the case before events get out of hand.  With a lack of physical evidence, Dana and her small team are forced to pull the truth from the four suspects to determine their history with the victim and why anyone would want to kill him.  However, they only have limited time before the overwhelming public interest forces her to let the suspects go, likely at the cost of her career and reputation.  Can Dana convince her suspects, none of whom have any love of the police, to cooperate before it’s too late, or will the killer walk free thanks to the will of the people?

S. R. White delivers another complex, impressive, and highly distinctive piece of Australian crime fiction with White Ash Ridge. Blending White’s unique murder mystery style with great characters and a compelling situation, White Ash Ridge was an amazing read that I could not get enough of.

I have always really enjoyed White’s take on the Australian murder mystery, as his focus is always on finding out all the details of the victims and the suspects to solve the case, often through the medium of interrogation.  This was once again the case in White Ash Ridge, as the protagonists, under pressure to solve the case quickly, need to find out which of the four suspects committed the crime.  As such, the story develops in a very interesting way, as the detectives both investigate in the traditional way, including finding witnesses and evidence, while also diving into the lives of everyone involved in the case.  Much of this revolves around the eight main interviews of the investigation as the protagonists talk to each of the suspects twice to gain the relevant insights into themselves and the murder victim.  White, through his main protagonist, Detective Dana Russo, has a very person-centric take on the interrogation progress, and the resulting character-driven focuses become a key part of the plot.

This proves to be a very clever way to set out this excellent mystery and subsequent investigation, and thanks to White’s expert writing ability White Ash Ridge ended up being an extremely clever and captivating book.  The focus around the charity and its anti-police sentiments added some great intrigue to the narrative, and I liked the ticking clock aspect of the plot it brought in.  All eight of the main interviews were very intense and compelling in their own ways, and you soon get a great idea of the various people drawn into the case.  White combines this expertly with the personal dramas of the protagonists, including some ongoing storylines from the prior books, although the overarching threat of Dana’s new supervisor is getting a little stale at this point.  At the same time, the reader gets the full blast of the Australian wilderness from the unnamed part of the country that White sets his novels in, which adds a lot of character to the story in its iconic and beautiful ways.  The central mystery of White Ash Ridge comes together extremely well, and the eventual solution is smart, intriguing, and very well set up.  The entire story comes together in a powerful way, and I loved this unique mystery which was another strong story from White.

As with all of White’s books in the series, White Ash Ridge is a hugely character-driven read, not only because of the compelling and damaged protagonists, but because his style of writing relies on diving into the lives of the various suspects and victims of the case to solve the crime.  This all results in some exceptional character development and focuses, and I loved how complex and powerful the various stories that emerged were.  Most of the protagonists focused development occurred around returning main character Detective Dana Russo, who serves as the solid and empathetic centre of the investigation.  Dana once again showcases her unique investigation style that focuses on character interactions, history and mindsets to solve the case, which proves to be quite effective at diving into the minds of her targets.  This time Dana is backed up by new detective, Mila Jelovic, who serves as a great support for the main character.  While the development around Dana is a little light in White Ash Ridge, you do get an intriguing and powerful examination of Mila, whose previous undercover work has cost her severely in more than one way.

Aside from the police characters, the reader also gets an intense look at five specific figures who become the focus on the investigation, with the murder victim and the subsequent four suspects.  All five of these people are members of a high-profile charity formed in the aftermath of a botched police investigation, with goals of stopping teen violence and keeping the police accountable.  Due to the way the mystery is set out, there is a lot of focus on these characters and the events that brought them together, which provides the reader with an intriguing backstory to get familiar with.  All five of these characters are interesting and complex in their own way, with various interactions, lies, manipulations and plans bringing them all together.  Probably the most interesting of these is the charity’s figurehead, Keena Flynn, a major public figure following the death of her child.  Due to her previous interactions with the police and politicians, Keena proves to be a tough nut to crack, and her pain, anger and distrust become a major obstacle to overcome.  White does a wonderful job exploring these five characters, and indeed you often get more about them than the police protagonists.  There is such a dark and compelling web of relationships surrounding these characters, and the subsequent reasons for why one of them was killed and by who was pretty impressive and helped to produce an incredible mystery.

S. R. White continues to flourish with another awesome entry in his compelling murder mystery series that is setting him up as one of Australia’s most distinctive crime fiction authors. Expertly combining his ability for complex murder scenarios and character-focused investigation methods to produce an outstanding story, White did an amazing job with White Ash Ridge, and I had an incredible time reading it. One of the cleverest mysteries of 2024 so far, this book comes highly recommended.

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The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Five-Star Books, Thriller, Young Adult6 Comments

The Girl in Question Cover

Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books (Trade Paperback – 9 April 2024)

Series: The Girls I’ve Been – Book Two

Length: 442 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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In the mood for a clever, emotionally charged young adult thriller with some real heart behind it?  Look no further than one of the best books of 2024 so far, The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe.

Back in early 2021 I had the very great pleasure of reading an outstanding young adult thriller that had caught my eye thanks to its intriguing narrative and the promise it was being turned into a Netflix series.  That book was The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe, which proved to be an extremely impressive read I had a wonderful time getting through.  The Girls I’ve Been followed Nora O’Malley, a young teenager with a dark past as a con artist, who had managed to escape her abusive mother and gangster stepfather and find happiness with her older sister in a small town.  Caught up in a bank robbery, Nora was forced to bring back her old tricks to save her friends, only for her actions to reveal her location to those hunting her.  The Girls I’ve Been was such a great read, and I had such an amazing time getting through it.  As such, I was very excited when I heard that Sharpe was releasing a sequel this year with The Girl in Question, one of my most anticipated books of 2024, which continued the story from the first novel in a big way.

Former con artist Nora O’Malley is enjoying life while she can.  Having recently finished high school, Nora is excited for the careers and futures that her girlfriend Iris and her best friend Wes are planning for.  However, Nora knows that her own future is bleak and unlikely to be long.  Her secret past has been exposed, and with her murderous stepfather Raymond now free from prison, it’s only a matter of time before he comes to kill her.

Determined not to live in despair while waiting to die, Nora agrees to accompany Iris and Wes on a summer hiking trip.  The long trek through the woods is everything Nora could want to relax, even with Wes’s new girlfriend, Amanda, tagging along, and she is able to put the thoughts of imminent death out of her head.  That is, until Amanda is taken hostage in the night and their camp comes under attack from Raymond’s vengeful goons.

Split up in the woods without backup, help or leverage, Nora, Iris and Wes’s chances seem dire.  But these are no ordinary teenagers.  All three have gone through hell in their lives and none are willing to give up on each other.  Working together to fight back, the three friends seek to survive together.  However, there are unknown players in the woods, and Nora will need to use all her skills at manipulation to keep herself and her friends alive.  But nothing is as it seems, and deep secrets amongst the trio could break them apart well before they are hunted down.

The Girl in Question was another excellent young adult thriller from Tess Sharpe that expertly built on the story from the first book, while taking the characters in some interesting directions.  Sharp, clever, and highly intense, The Girl in Question is guaranteed to keep you on your toes as you get drawn into the action.

Sharpe comes up with a great story for The Girl in Question, taking the protagonists through hell and back as they attempt to survive the dangerous forces coming for them.  Set a couple of years after the events of The Girls I’ve Been, The Girl in Question starts with an intriguing prelude that hints at events to come, before diving into the main story, with Nora and her friends planning a trip into the forest.  Sharpe does a good job of exploring the aftermath of the first book, the strong relationships between the main characters, and the general apprehension felt by the protagonist about her potential upcoming doom.  There are also several hints that the protagonists know far more than they should, and they have secrets they are keeping from everyone.  Soon the characters find themselves stuck in the woods, which quickly results in chaos as the bad guys find them and prepare to kill them.

This first third of the plot is really intriguing and fun, but the action really kicks in for the last two thirds of the book.  Sharpe does a great job of utilising the dark situation the protagonists are stuck in, and I loved the feeling of isolation and desperation that they feel.  There is also a good use of flashbacks throughout this early part of the book to explore more of Nora’s past with the antagonist, especially as it introduces a couple of the goons running around the woods.  All three of the main protagonists react in some great ways, and I loved seeing them take charge and fight back, while also dealing with their own personal issues.  This works until around halfway through, whereupon Sharpe reveals a pretty massive twist that changes the entire direction of the story and makes you realise nothing was what you thought.  There is a great extended flashback that sets up some very interesting character development, before the action returns to present and results in some intriguing interactions.  Sharpe throws in some great moments and reveals leading towards the conclusion, and I for one was very hooked as the elaborate and thrilling story continued.  The final confrontation was everything you would hope it to be as Sharpe ensures that everyone gets what they deserve, one way or another.  Throw in a few fun and often dark final twists and turns, including some well-deserved revenge, and this proves to be quite a fantastic read that I really could not get enough of.

Unlike a lot of other sequels that I read, I felt that The Girl in Question didn’t massively work as a standalone novel; people really need to check out the previous novel first.  While Sharpe does do a decent recap of The Girls I’ve Been for new readers, so many story elements from the first book are referenced in the sequel that you’d be much better off getting through that previous novel in advance.  However, no matter what, you are in for a treat with The Girl in Question, as Sharpe produces a powerful thriller that expertly utilises all the best elements from the first book.  The great changes in perspective, especially between the two main characters, the short, sharp, action-packed chapters, as well as the excellent flashbacks and fun little lists thrown in between chapters work together well to tell a great story.  You really get a great sense of the action, and the slow build towards the various twists works well, especially with the occasional hint of what is to come.  I loved how Sharpe maintained a very quick story pace, and there is honestly not a quiet moment where something thrilling or emotionally charged is taking place.

Like the previous novel in the series, The Girl in Question proves to be an excellent piece of young adult fiction that will appeal to a wide teenage audience and beyond.  While most of the story focus is on the characters or the over-the-top crime thriller elements, Sharpe does take the time to discuss issues relevant to teenagers, like the uncertainty of the future, complicated friendships, and abusive parents, the latter of which is a recurring theme amongst the main characters.  I really appreciated how Sharpe doesn’t talk down to her teenage audience when it comes to these elements, or the dark crime fiction inclusions, and these readers will no doubt love this gritty novel and its fantastic story.

At its heart, The Girl in Question is driven by its compelling central cast, as Sharpe continues to explore the lives of three damaged teenagers as they attempt to overcome their respective pasts, and the dark threats of the future coming for them.  As with the first book, a large amount of the character focus revolves around protagonist Nora O’Malley, the daughter of a notorious con artist who was used as a tool in her mother’s ploys before breaking free in dramatic fashion.  Ever since the events of the last book, Nora has been living in fear as her location has been leaked and her vengeful stepfather is likely coming for her.  This ensures a healthy dose of fatalism in Nora, and she is forced to choose between her instinct to run and her current connections and relationships.  Nora proves to be a real firecracker of a protagonist, and I like how dark she can get as she tries to protect those closest to her.  Determined, manipulative and deadly, Nora walks a thin line between the criminal she was raised to be and the caring person her friends turned her into and must come to terms with what her natural inclination to deceive costs those around her.  I really enjoyed following Nora as a central protagonist and Sharpe takes her storyline in some interesting directions.

In addition to Nora, the other two main characters are Nora’s girlfriend Iris, and their best friend Wes.  Both these characters have grown a lot closer to Nora since the last book, as the trauma of their pasts and the bank robbery they find themselves stuck in have ensured they have become a tight unit.  Of the two, Iris gets most of the focus, and she ends up narrating nearly half the book.  Iris is an interesting counterpoint to Nora, especially as she is a little more innocent and unused to the dangers of Nora’s life and worries about being helpless.  Despite that, she proves to be quite formidable as the book progresses, and indeed she might be the most dangerous member of the group.  Wes, on the other hand, is a solid and compelling addition to the group, serving as the man of action who is desperately trying to keep his friends safe from the dangers around him.  While he is not focused on as heavily as Nora and Iris, Wes is a major figure, and it was interesting to see how his friendship with the two girls has changed him, as well the trauma surrounding him from his abusive father.  The bond between these three characters is a major part of The Girl in Question’s strength, and it was great to see them work together as the novel progressed.  This bond is tested in places, especially as they are forced to lie to each other, but this was an overall nice character dynamic that produced an epic read.  Other characters of note include Wes’s girlfriend, Amanda, whose own secrets plays in an interesting role in the plot, one very good dog, an ambitious FBI agent who takes a stroll in the woods for her own ends, and a bevy of great antagonists, including the big-bad Raymond.  These characters all add so much to the book, and I loved the powerful story arcs around them all.

Tess Sharpe has produced another outstanding young adult thriller with The Girl in Question.  Perfectly following on from the previous novel, The Girl in Question was a powerful, clever and compelling read that had me hooked the entire way through.  This was such an amazing book and I look forward to seeing what unique and powerful young adult adventures Sharpe comes up with in the future.

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