Tag: Thriller

Waiting on Wednesday – Midnight Black by Mark Greaney

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out a particularly epic 2025 thriller I know I’m going to absolutely love, with Midnight Black by Mark Greaney.

Amazon

I have been on a massive Mark Greaney kick this year, primarily because the talented Greaney has released two amazing thrillers.  This includes the action-packed read Sentinel (the sequel to his previous novel Armored), which I just reviewed, and his big release of 2024 The Chaos Agent.  An intense and compelling read, The Chaos Agent was one of my favourite books and audiobooks from the first half of 2024, and it will likely top my end of year best-of lists.  I deeply enjoyed The Chaos Agent, and I felt it was a particularly good entry in Greaney’s long-running Gray Man series.

The Gray Man books are an outstanding spy thriller series that follows an elite assassin and former CIA asset as he faces off against an array of dangerous enemies and contemporary thriller plots.  Starting off with the particularly awesome The Gray Man, the series has grown from strength to strength since then and I have been a huge fan of some of the more recent entries.  This includes Mission Critical, One Minute Out (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), Sierra Six (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022) and Burner (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023).

Due to how impressive this series has been in the past, I am always keen to grab the new Gray Man novel when it comes out each year, and they usually end up being a major highlight for the early parts of the year.  I am particularly interested on getting my hands on the sequel to The Chaos Agent however, as Greaney ended this latest book on a great cliffhanger designed to drag the reader back again.  Luckily, we don’t have too much longer to wait, as the next book in the series, Midnight Black, is coming out in late February 2025.  The 14th entry in this outstanding series, Midnight Black has an exceptional plot behind it that sounds so damn good.

Plot Synopsis:

With his lover imprisoned in a Russian gulag, the Gray Man will stop at nothing to free her in this latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

A winter sunrise over the great plains of Russia is no cause for celebration. The temperature barely rises above zero, and the guards at Penal Colony IK22 are determined to take their misery out on the prisoners – chief among them, one Zoya Zakharova.

Once a master spy for Russian foreign intelligence, then the partner and lover of the Gray Man, Zakharova has information the Kremlin wants, and they don’t care what they have to do to get it.

But if they think a thousand miles of frozen wasteland and the combined power of the Russian police state is enough to protect them, they don’t know the Gray Man. He’s coming, and no one’s safe.

So, I really don’t think I need to explain why a book set around a pissed off Gray Man storming a Russian penal colony is going to be awesome.  Greaney did a great job of setting up this scenario in the previous book, and now all he has to do is sit back and ensure the action and intrigue flows heavily during the Gray Man’s assault on the camp and all of Russia in Midnight Black.  The author has done a remarkable job of exploring impossible survival scenarios for his protagonist in the past, and I have a feeling that this one is going to be particularly cool and gruesome, primarily because this will be the highest stakes for his protagonist yet.

Honestly there is no way that I wasn’t going to grab Midnight Black when it comes out next year, and the simple yet awesome scenario that Greaney has set up above is making me very, very excited.  I have no doubt whatsoever that Midnight Black is going to feature some particularly impressive action sequences, and I am imagining the Gray Man storming through all of Russia to get to his goal.  Midnight Black is probably the thriller I am most excited to get my hands on in 2025and I cannot wait to see how Greaney tops his previous books as he grants us more Gray Man goodness.

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

Amazon

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.

Amazon

The Outsider by Stephen King

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Horror, Thriller, Throwback Thursday12 Comments

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton/Simon and Schuster Audio (Audiobook – 22 May 2018)

Series: Standalone/Holly Gibney series

Length: 18 hours and 41 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

After years of having it on my to-read list, I finally got around to checking out The Outsider by Stephen King, and boy was it a particularly epic book.

Fans of this blog will know that I have been getting more and more into Stephen King lately, especially as I have been lucky enough to receive copies of his more recent books.  I have so far deeply enjoyed Mr Mercedes, Later, Billy Summers (one of my favourite books of 2021), Fairy Tale, Holly (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), and You Like it Darker (one of my favourite books from the first half of 2024).  These have all been amazing reads in their own way and I really enjoyed the elaborate stories, dark plots, and complex characters that King comes up with.  However, one of my new favourite King novels with a captivating scenario was the fantastic read The Outsider.

Released back in 2018, The Outsider was an intriguing novel that really caught my attention with its unique concept.  I immediately identified it as a book I wanted to read, but I was unable to fit it into my reading schedule back then, which I deeply regret now.  Despite not reading it when came out, The Outsider remained firmly in mind, especially as it had connections to the Bill Hodges trilogy, which I had also heard good things about.  This need to check out The Outsider was dramatically increased after I read Holly last year and was blown away by the elaborate and exceedingly dark story.  As such, I have been looking for an opportunity to enjoy The Outsider for a while, and a recent road trip gave me all the excuse I needed, and boy was I glad that I did.

It is the worst crime to ever occur in the history of Flint City.  A young boy, Frankie Peterson, has been brutally killed, raped and mutilated, his violated body left on display out in the local park.  The Flint City police, led by detective Ralph Anderson, are determined to find the monster responsible for Frankie Peterson’s death, and they soon zero in on a prime suspect, local sports coach and one of Flint City’s most respected citizens, Terrence Maitland.

With unassailable evidence and numerous witnesses placing him at the scene, the police have a watertight case against Maitland, and Anderson orders the public arrest of the coach in front of his family, friends, and the entire town.  However, despite the DNA, fingerprints, and numerous reliable witnesses indicating that Maitland killed Frankie, Maitland insists that he is innocent and has an airtight alibi for the time of the murder, having been in a major public conference in another city, surrounded by unimpeachable witnesses.

Determined to prove that Maitland committed the murder, Anderson and his colleagues attempt to destroy his alibi.  But the further they dig, the more apparent it becomes that Maitland was nowhere near the scene of the crime, and Anderson begins to believe Maitland’s pleas of innocence.  With lives being destroyed all around him and the citizens of Flint City baying for Maitland’s blood, Anderson is forced to figure out how a man can be in two places at once.  But when the situation takes a dark turn, both Anderson and Maitland’s supporters call in unusual investigator Holly Gibney, whose own experience with impossible cases will take them in the darkest of directions.

Well damn, that was particularly awesome.  I knew I was going to love The Outsider well before I read it, but even I was unprepared for how impressive and captivating this novel proved to be.  Featuring King’s typical elaborate storytelling, powerful characters, and unique insights into the human mind, The Outsider was a complex and sinister read that will have you hooked from the very beginning and which gets a very easy five-star rating from me.

King presents the reader with an incredibly, dark, complex and thoughtful narrative that burrows into your head and refuses to leave.  Starting off strong and proceeding into darker and more horror-lined territory, this complex narrative sucked me in almost instantly thanks to the very impressive initial story concept.  Introducing a particularly gruesome murder, The Outsider starts off in crime fiction/legal thriller territory, as King showcases the details of the initial arrest of Terrence Maitland, while also bringing in a few key characters.  These early chapters are cleverly offset by a series of short inclusions that showcase police interviews and forensic evidence for the main investigation, all of which firmly paints Maitland as the killer.  However, events take an outstanding turn shortly into the book, when Maitland reveals an impossibly airtight alibi that flies in the face of the substantial evidence of the police.  The full extent of this alibi is particularly compelling, especially with King name-dropping one of his peers, and it really turns the entire plot on its head.  The subsequent scenes are extremely intriguing, as the reader sees both sides of the case, and find themselves wondering if Maitland committed the crime, is completely innocent, or whether something far more sinister is going on.  I honestly love every second of this first half of The Outsider, and I cannot emphasise just how exceptional and thought-provoking this complex scenario proved to be.

At around the halfway point, The Outsider features a substantial moment that changes the entire tone and focus of the plot.  While I was initially a little disappointed with this, mainly because I was already loving the direction the story had been going up to that point, it helps turn The Outsider into a more typical King novel, loaded with complex horror elements that reflect dark human nature.  The author also deeply enhances the story’s emotional drama, placing several characters in terrible situations, and amping up the desperate tragedy of the plot.  Thanks to the introduction of recurring King protagonist Holly Gibney, the protagonists start to consider a more unnatural solution to the crime and begin to investigate accordingly.  I quite enjoyed the dive into the darker, supernatural side of the story, and the resulting investigation is quite unique, requiring the grounded protagonists to believe in the unknown.  King ensures that the supernatural investigation elements of the book come across in a compelling and sensible manner, and it was intriguing to see how the character’s reached their conclusions.  The case eventually leads the protagonists on an extended trip to Texas, which ends with a series of showdowns.  King keeps the intensity of the plot going all the way to the very end, and readers will be left guessing about who’s going to survive and how the story will unfold.  The chase for the culprit and the big showdown were a very solid conclusion to the entire narrative, and you will come away extremely satisfied with how The Outsider ended.

I really enjoyed how this book came together, and I personally think that this was one of the stronger King novels I have so far had the pleasure of reading.  A lot of this comes down to the initial clever scenario, which King does an extremely good job of setting up.  The whole idea of someone accused of a crime they are innocent of and have a perfect alibi for really makes you think, and King utilises it to perfection, diving into the thoughts of the police, the alleged perpetrator, and the various family members associated with it.  It helped that King once again returned to his favourite setting of a small American town, and he was able to capture the resulting chaos as rumour and fear spread throughout Flint City.  You can really feel the emotional turmoil of all the people in the town, especially the main characters, and it helped to deeply enhance the impact of every scene, especially when you have no idea whether Maitland committed the crime or not.  The way in which the author starts off as a more traditional crime fiction story also works extremely well and helps to drag the readers into the plot with its mystery.  However, the transition over to horror is particularly effective, and the way in which the darkness infecting the plot goes from that created by ordinary humans to something more supernatural, is an effective and powerful part of the book.  This proved to be a particularly haunting and moving read that will keep you up late at night thinking about how you would react in the exact same scenario.

While most of King’s books prove to be standalone reads, The Outsider is connected to the author’s previous Bill Hodges series due to the inclusion of a major supporting character.  I had heard in advance that readers needed to be familiar with the Bill Hodges books to fully appreciate this book, however, I felt that The Outsider stood on its own merits as a standalone novel.  New readers can easily dive into The Outsider’s excellent story without any issues and will become enthralled in King’s complex mystery and his excellent depictions of human nature.  Established fans of the Bill Hodges books will probably get the most out of The Outsider, especially as it is a continuation of King’s unique look at the crime fiction genre, and the return of a key character offers a lot of opportunities for those who loved his previous trilogy.  However, I would say that this is a book that pretty much all mystery, thriller or horror fans can really enjoy, as there is something for everyone here, although some readers should be warned about how dark and graphic this story can get.

I really need to highlight the outstanding character work that King featured within The Outsider.  This fantastic book featured a rich cast of complex small-town characters who find themselves caught up the twisted darkness of a small child’s murder and the subsequent revelations about who was behind it.  King does such an exceptional job of diving into the various mindscapes of the impacted characters, from the obsessed investigating detective who is taking the case personally, to the distressed wife of the apparent killer, and even the confused accused himself.  The complicated mindscapes of all these characters, and more, are shown in exquisite detail throughout The Outsider, and you really grow attached to their powerful personal tales.

While I don’t want to go into too much specific detail about the book’s primary cast here for spoiler reasons, I will say that the way the various characters deal with events and the many dark twists makes for quite a personal and emotionally charged read, and it was fascinating to watch so many characters try to let go of their conventional thinking and try to see the world in a different light.  I also must highlight the intriguing way in which King enhances his cast in the second half of The Outsider by bringing in investigator Holly Gibney from the Bill Hodges trilogy.  Holly, the slightly unusual but brilliant private eye, proved to be a compelling addition to the plot, and it proved very interesting to see her interact with the established cast, especially as Holly has a much more open mind due to her previous experiences.  Fans of the Bill Hodges books will really love seeing Holly return, and her compelling character development since her original appearance in Mr Mercedes proves to be a great part of the book.  I really cannot emphasise just how impressive the various characters, as well as their complex development, is in The Outsider, and you will have to check it out.  Be warned though, no one comes out of this book unscathed, including the reader when they become attached to these great figures.

As I mentioned above, I managed to enjoy The Outsider while out on a road trip, which meant that I listened to the audiobook version of it.  I have had some great success with Stephen King audiobooks in the past, and The Outsider was another impressive example of how this format can enhance the powerful story within.  Coming in with a substantial runtime of nearly 19 hours, listeners do require a bit of a time investment for The Outsider audiobook, but it is well worth it.  I felt that I got a fantastic sense of the story while listening to it, and I love the intense depictions of the characters, the small-town setting, and the dark deeds being done within.

In addition to the great way it brings to the story to life for the reader, one of the big highlights of The Outsider audiobook was the inclusion of veteran actor Will Patton as the narrator.  Patton, who has lent his voice to several of King’s previous audiobooks, does an outstanding job narrating The Outsider.  His softly spoken and measured voice really fits the dark and sinister story contained within The Outsider, and you get an excellent sense of the personal horror and complex emotions that the events of this book unleash.  Patton also does an outstanding job voicing the eclectic and damaged characters featured within The Outsider.  Patton infected many of these characters with his southern accent, which fit the small-town vibe of The Outsider extremely well, and you can really imagine King’s characters a lot better with Patton’s voice behind them.  Highlights for me include his take on the antagonist of The Outsider’s real voice, as well as an entertaining old lady found down in Texas, who steals all the scenes she’s in, especially with Patton’s exaggerated tones.  However, I did feel that Patton overplayed the awkward nature of Holly Gibney when she entered the plot.  Patton made all of Holly’s dialogue, as well as the description of events in the chapters told from her perspective, very subdued and halting, which messed with the flow of the audiobook.  While I know that he was trying to capture Holly’s ethereal and damaged nature with this narration, it was honestly a bit distracting.  Despite this slight annoyance, this ended up being an awesome way to enjoy The Outsider and I can personally guarantee that it is an incredible accompaniment to a long road-trip.

Overall, The Outsider proved to an outstanding and exceptional book from the always impressive Stephen King that I could not get enough off.  Featuring both an incredible mystery and some brilliant dark horror moments, The Outsider is a particularly gripping and intense read that will live rent free in the dark corners of your brain.  Highly recommended and one of my new favourite Stephen King books.

Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday – The White Fortress by Boyd and Beth Morrison

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight an awesome upcoming historical adventure novel with The White Fortress from the awesome writing team of Boyd and Beth Morrison.

Amazon

A couple of years ago I had the very great pleasure of the fantastic historical fiction novel, The Lawless Land.  Written by the sibling team of historian Beth Morrison and established thriller author Boyd Morrison, The Lawless Land was an intriguing historical adventure novel that saw an excommunicated knight and a fugitive lady take on a corrupt cardinal in 14th century Paris.  The Lawless Land ended up being one of my favourite novels of 2022, and I really got caught up in its exciting and compelling story.

After the success of their first book, the authors expanded their narrative out into the Tales of the Lawless Land series, which continued to follow the protagonists from the first book as they get involved in additional conflicts and adventures.  The first sequel to The Lawless Land was the 2023 release, The Last True Templar, which saw the protagonists enter into a thrilling treasure hunt around Italy to find a stash of missing Templar treasure.  This was a pretty amazing sequel to the first book, and it solidified my love for this cool new series.

As such, I am very excited to finally have details about the third book in the series, The White Fortress.  Continuing to follow the two protagonists as they journey around Europe, The White Fortress will see them involved in a series of historical hijinks in Croatia.  Set for release in March 2025, this sounds really intriguing read and one I know I’m going to like.

Plot Synopsis:

Croatia, 1351. Daring knight Gerard Fox and his adventurous wife Willa, fresh from a dangerous quest across Italy and Greece, soon find themselves embroiled in a new intrigue as they sail toward the walled city of Dubrovnik.

Having inadvertently hindered a rescue mission, Fox and Willa make amends by helping a desperate Croatian couple forced into a terrible dilemma: either they betray their hometown to a treacherous nobleman and the brutal warlord he serves, or their abducted child will be murdered.

A century-old prophecy and a lost codex written by fabled explorer Marco Polo are key to stopping the warlord’s conquest, which could spark a devastating war along the entire Adriatic coast. Fox and Willa race against time to devise a plan for saving a child, a town, and a country – knowing it could cost them everything if they fail…

Unsurprisingly, I love the sound of this new historical adventure from the Morrison siblings, and I am very interested in the new plot they have come up with.  It sounds like The White Fortress will follow the trends set out in The Last True Templar, with the protagonists helping a new group of supporting characters attempt to stop a deadly enemy by solving a historical mystery, this time around Marco Polo.  This worked really well for The Last True Templar, and I imagine this historical thriller set-up will result in another intense treasure hunt throughout a great historical setting.

Speaking of historical settings, Croatia should be a particularly interesting background for this plot, and I am looking forward to seeing it, mainly because I don’t know a lot about Croatian history.  The previous two Tales of the Lawless Land books were both loaded with historical detail about the settings, and I imagine that we will get some intriguing background in The White Fortress as well.  All of this, as well as the continued focus on the fun pairing of Gerard and Willa, should make for quite an exciting and captivating narrative, and I am very excited to check it out.

Based on how much I enjoyed the previous two novels in this series, there was no way that I am not going to grab a copy of The White Fortress next year.  The previous Tales of the Lawless Land books by Boyd and Beth Morrison have both been extremely good, and I cannot wait to see how this series continues.  I really love the sound of this new entry, and I have a feeling that The White Fortress is going to be one of the best historical fiction books of 2025.

Waiting on Wednesday – Grave Danger by James Grippando

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday7 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I look at an awesome legal thriller set for release at the start of 2025, with Grave Danger by James Grippando.

Amazon

Earlier this year I had the very great pleasure of diving into the latest book from a long-running series when I read the amazing novel, Goodbye Girl by James Grippando.  The latest entry in Grippando’s Jack Swyteck series, Goodbye Girl was a highly clever legal thriller, loaded with twists, exciting legal manoeuvres and a sinister killer.  Thanks to its great plot and fantastic characters, I ended up having an amazing time with Goodbye Girl, and it was one of the better audiobooks I listened to in the first half of 2024.  As such, I am now keen to check out every new Jack Swyteck novel that comes out, as I know I’m going to have a ton of fun with them.

To that end, I have been keeping an eye on Grippando’s upcoming releases, and I was very excited to see that a new Jack Swyteck book is coming out in January 2025.  This book, Grave Danger, will see Swyteck caught up in another elaborate legal case with deadly implications for himself, his client, and those that he loves.

Plot Synopsis:

Bestselling author James Grippando’s legendary criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck is back to defend a single mother accused of kidnapping her own child in a perilous case involving politics and international diplomacy that will test his legal expertise and his marriage.

Jack Swyteck’s new client fled Iran to Miami with her daughter, and has been accused of kidnapping by her husband. The seasoned attorney must not only plan a winning defense. To stop the father from taking the girl back to Tehran, Jack must build a case under international law and prove that returning the child would put her at risk.

But everything in this case isn’t what it seems, and Jack quickly learns that his client is really the child’s aunt and that the biological mother may have been killed by Iran’s morality police. But what role did the father play in his wife’s death, and why is Jack’s wife, FBI Agent Andie Henning, being pressured by her bosses to persuade Jack to drop the case?

Plunging into an investigation unlike any other, Jack must discover who is behind the legal maneuvering and what their interest is. As politics threatens to derail the case and compromise the best interests of the child, Jack and Andie find themselves on opposite sides—with their marriage hanging in the balance. For their relationship to survive, the couple must navigate a treacherous web of deceit that extends from a Miami courthouse to the highest echelons of Washington DC, and spells grave danger at every turn.

I have to say that I am very intrigued by this upcoming book, especially as Grippando appears to have pulled together a particularly compelling narrative.  The case at the heart of Grave Danger has some awesome international and political implications behind it, which look set to tie into some contemporary world-events.  I have no doubt that Grippando is going to wrangle together some excellent court sequences, and this sounds like a particularly strong central storyline for a great legal thriller.  It also sounds like Grippando is going to continue diving into the marital issues between the protagonist and his wife, as the strain of a high-profiled defence attorney being married to an FBI agent continues to emerge.  This should result in a particularly intense read, and I am very much looking forward to it.

Honestly, after how much Goodbye Girl impressed me earlier this year, James Grippando and the Jack Swyteck series is now firmly on my annual to-read list, so there was no way that I am going to miss Grave Danger when it comes out.  However, I also really love the sound of the cool story that Grave Danger has, and I am already very intrigued to see how the entire narrative comes together.  This will probably end up being one of the stronger thrillers I read in 2025, and I cannot wait to get my hands on Grave Danger to continue my new adventures with James Grippando and the Jack Swyteck series.

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

Amazon

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.

Amazon

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

Amazon

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.

Amazon

Point Nemo by Jeremy Robinson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Thriller5 Comments

Point Nemo Cover

Publisher: Podium Audio (Audiobook – 5 April 2024)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 9 hours and 31 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

The always entertaining and intense Jeremy Robinson returns with a compelling and dark science fiction adventure that takes the reader on one hell of a mushroom trip with Point Nemo.

Jeremy Robinson is an intriguing author who has been contributing some exiting and wild books to various genres for nearly 20 years.  Best known for his over-the-top science fiction and horror thrillers, Robinson has written a ton of fantastic books over the years, including his Chess Team, Nemesis Saga and Antarktos Saga series, as well as an awesome collection of standalone novels.  I am mostly familiar with the books in Robinson’s more recent Infinite Timeline connected universe, which feature a huge collection of compelling standalone novels that gradually came together as the series continued.  I had a wonderful time with several entries from this universe, including Tribe, The Dark and Mind Bullet, the latter two of which were amongst my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021.  I have been meaning to read a lot more of Robinson’s books, and I finally got the chance when I grabbed a copy of his latest audiobook, Point Nemo.  Originally a screenplay by Robinson, the author morphed Point Nemo into a complex novel that I really got stuck into.

Alien life has been discovered, and it’s far closer to Earth than we ever realised.  Mission Specialist Julie Rohr, an astrobiologist, has been sent to the International Space Station to study a strange, migratory space dust called xylem that has unusual properties that could benefit all of humanity.  However, despite appearing benign, the xylem is both alive and extremely insidious, causing the International Space Station to fail and crash towards Earth, dragging Julie with it.  The destination of the crash landing is Point Nemo.

Lying in the heart of the South Pacific, Point Nemo is the most remote and desolate place on the entire planet.  Thanks to its strong and isolating currents, Point Nemo is essentially a dead zone, devoid of life or any form of land, which makes it the perfect place for the world governments to crash their satellites.  However, that is no longer the case, as a mysterious island has begun growing in the middle of Point Nemo without anyone knowing.  Worse, the island appears to be made up of xylem, and it has begun moving towards inhabited waters.

Determined to investigate this mysterious occurrence and rescue Julie and her research, the US government sends in a small team to find her.  Among the team is Julie’s estranged father, renowned mycologist Dr Finn Maddern, who journeys from his isolation in the Amazon rainforest to save his daughter.  However, that might prove to be harder than expected as the xylem-forged island is swiftly evolving, becoming ever more dangerous and giving birth to an array of strange and terrifying creatures.  As the team begins to suffer tragic loses, it quickly becomes apparent that the island has hostile intentions for all of humanity, and if it escapes Point Nemo, it could destroy all life on the planet.  Can Julie and her father find the secrets of the alien island before its too late, or will they end up food for the malicious life forms coming for all of humanity?

Jeremy Robinson produces another high intensity, clever, and exciting read that had me hooked the entire way through.  Point Nemo was a very impressive science fiction thriller that make excellent use of the author’s intriguing story concept to create an intriguing and haunting story.

Point Nemo had an outstanding and epic narrative behind it that is heavy on the action, intriguing science fiction elements, and just a bit of body horror, which allows for an intense and fast-paced read.  Starting off with a few explosive space station crashes, and never slowing down from there, Point Nemo grabbed my attention very early on, and I liked the unique scenarios that Robinson kept introducing to the plot.  There is a fast but comprehensive introduction to the various key players to the story, including primary protagonist and point of view character, Dr Finn Maddern, a literal jungle-man scientist who joins to the team to save his daughter.  The protagonists are soon dropped onto the mysterious island, where they quickly begin to understand the unique makeup of the island, and the unusual biological processes going on.  I felt the first half of this book was very strong, and while it loses a little of its storytelling punch due to the need to introduce the scenario, it was still extremely gripping.

The second half of Point Nemo is where things really pick up, as Robinson begins to unleash the full horror of the island the protagonists find themselves trapped on.  There are some gruesome deaths, insane action sequences, and some very dark moments, as the protagonists begin to understand the full horror of the quickly evolving alien island, and desperately try to find a way to either escape or stop the island from destroying the world.  This leads up to a very desperate and compelling conclusion, as the protagonists risk everything to save the day, only to encounter tragedy and more and more deadly alien creatures.  The various action sequences littering the second half of the Point Nemo were exceptional and I really liked the sheer tension that Robinson was able inject into the book at times, especially in the final, extended struggle.  I cannot emphasise how captivating and exciting this second half of Point Nemo was, and I powered through it so damn quickly.  Robinson ends everything on an interesting note that potentially hints at a sequel to come, and I look forward to seeing how he might expand on this fantastic narrative in the future.

Robinson has a very fun and distinctive style for his novels which he reuses again for Point Nemo.  Told pretty much exclusively from the first-person perspective of his excellent and compelling protagonists Finn Maddern, the reader is quickly thrust into the action while also being treated to some very relatable insights from his protagonist.  As is typical with a Robinson book, Point Nemo moves very fast and is very explosive at time, with the protagonists quickly falling in line with the adventure into the unusual scenario.  This book did feel a little overly cinematic at times, probably because that this novel was originally a screenplay, but Robinson has done an outstanding job of fleshing out his original concept into a complete and complex book.  Readers unfamiliar with Robinson’s style might not fully appreciate the more casual dialogue and character traits that he utilises, but I think it works extremely well, especially as there is a lot of fun humour and realistic reactions spread out here.

All the protagonists are very relatable and human in their portrayal, and I found myself getting attached to those that survived.  Even those who die due to their own mistakes are quite easy to understand (to a degree, one character’s death was very frustrating), as they have very human traits of stubbornness and pride.  Protagonist Finn Maddern was easily the standout of the book, and while his brilliance and humour are typical Robinson protagonist traits, you have to love his jungle scientist background, especially as it sets him up very nicely as a protagonist for this book without turning him into an impossible action hero.  Finn’s central perspective for the vast majority of the story is very easy to follow, and Robinson builds him up as quite a complex figure with a powerful past thanks to his first-person narration.  The author does switch up the perspective of Point Nemo at times, especially towards the end, and this proves to be quite an effective writing move at times, as it really shows how serious and game-changing events are getting.  Point Nemo ended up being a very good standalone book from Robinson, which can be easily enjoyed by any reader looking for a highly thrilling read, although established fans of the author will no doubt appreciate the fun joke references to some of his other works.

I think one of the strongest elements of Point Nemo was the unique science fiction elements that Robinson came up with as the basis for his story.  A mysterious alien spore that crashes satellites, enhances biology, creates a massive, connected living island in the ocean and evolves various crazy alien creatures is an outstanding concept that the author uses to full effect in their narrative.  The author does an excellent job of breaking down the science behind these elements and presenting it to the reader in a compelling way.  There are also some fun dives into mycology, especially as Earth fungi and mushrooms bear some interesting similarities to the alien spores and play a big role in the overall story.  The unique island and its fantastic creatures prove to be an amazing part of the book, and I loved how crazy and over-the-top Robinson made them.  The various dangers and creatures encountered by the protagonists are legitimately scary at times, and Robinson allows them to make his story particularly gruesome at times.  This includes some dark body horror moments that will stick in my mind, and which allows for a particularly shocking narrative that will keep readers very engrossed.  I honestly cannot talk up Robison’s science fiction elements enough, especially as this very inventive story basis allowed for a particularly exciting and captivating narrative.

There are several series and authors out there whose works I would always recommend that potential readers should check out on audiobook.  Jeremy Robinson is one of these, as all the novels of his that I have enjoyed have been in their audiobook format, which were really damn awesome.  This is once again true for Point Nemo, which proved to be an incredible listen.  Coming in with a run time of nine and a half hours, the Point Nemo audiobook was a lot of fun, especially as it enhanced Robinson’s exciting adventure, while also showcasing the intense action in all its gory glory.  It also helped that Point Nemo was narrated by the legendary R. C. Bray, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators.  Robinson and Bray have a great partnership going, with Bray narrating most of the author’s recent books.  Bray has an incredible voice that works extremely well for thrillers and high excitement tales, and any audiobook read by him becomes instantly better.  His tones work wonders in the first-person chapters of Point Nemo, and I loved the deep and likeable tones he assigns to the various characters.  His narration for the main character, Finn Maddern, was particularly good, and Bray really captured the multiple elements of this complex character.  I love how Bray was able to simultaneously bring out Finn’s humour, passion and intensity with his voice work, and you really get drawn into his personal journey as a result.  Due to this voice work, as well as how the story was enhanced by being read out, I would strongly recommend the audiobook format as the best way to enjoy Point Nemo.

Jeremy Robinson continues to show why he is one of the best and most insanely inventive authors of the science fiction thriller.  Point Nemo is an exciting, addictive, and slightly insane read that had me hooked all the way through, especially as Robinson brought out some amazing and impressive science fiction elements to really enhance his action-packed story.  I had such a great time with Point Nemo, especially with its audiobook format with narrator R. C. Bray, who helped to turn this into a five-star read.  I cannot recommend Point Nemo enough, and I look forward to more books from Robison in the future, especially if the audiobooks are as epic as this one was.

Amazon

Goodbye Girl by James Grippando

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Thriller12 Comments

Goodbye Girl Cover

Publisher: Harper Audio (Audiobook – 9 January 2024)

Series: Jack Swyteck – Book 18

Length: 12 hours and 2 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

In the mood for a complex, gripping and endlessly entertaining legal thriller?  Look no further than the exciting and compelling read, Goodbye Girl by acclaimed author James Grippando.

I am still relatively new to the thriller genre, and I have been trying to catch up on all the different and compelling thriller authors out there I have yet to experience.  One new-to-me author I just came across was James Grippando, who has been writing intriguing thrillers since 1994.  A former lawyer, Grippando has produced a raft of awesome sounding books over the years, including several great standalone novels and his iconic and long-running Jack Swyteck series, which focuses on a titular defence attorney who gets caught up in a range of deadly and intense cases.  I personally became interested in Grippando earlier this year when I came across the synopsis for his new Jack Swyteck book, Goodbye Girl, which really appealed to me.  The 18th book in the series, Goodbye Girl, sounded like so much fun and I ended up having an outstanding time reading it.

Jack Swyteck, Miami’s top criminal defence attorney, has defended many infamous and notorious people throughout his career, but none had the star power of his new client, beloved popstar Imani Nichols.  A Grammy-winning star with worldwide fame, Imani is every definition of successful, except when it comes to the money she makes.  Signed to a controlling contract as a teenager, the rights to Imani’s original songs are now firmly owned by her ex-husband and manager, Shaky Nichols, who receives all the royalties for her music.

Determined to get back at her ex-husband, Imani has begun a controversial campaign, encouraging her fans to “go pirate” and download her early music illegally, ensuring that no-one, especially Shaky, makes any money from her songs.  In response, Shaky has engaged in ruinous litigation against Imani, who in desperate need of counsel, hires Jack to defend her.  The case swiftly turns into a salacious media circus, where allegations of infidelity, manipulation and abuse fly from both sides of the courtroom.  However, this scandalous trial is only the beginning, and soon Jack is forced to defend his client against far more serious charges.

Years earlier, a young man was found brutally murdered by asphyxiation and his body displayed in Biscayne Bay, chained to a piling with the words “goodbye girl” written on his chest.  When connections between the victim, Tyler McCormick, and Imani and Shaky are discovered, the police believe that they are responsible for his death, and suddenly Jack must now defend the estranged spouses in a complex murder trial.  Caught in the sensational trial of the century, Jack and those closest to him are forced to contend with the chaotic consequences of this case, including enraged Russian oligarchs, deadly hitman, and a deranged serial killer who bears a murderous grudge against online pirates.

Goodbye Girl was an incredible novel from Grippando that had me absolutely hooked from the very beginning.  A powerful and exciting thrill-ride filled with intense legal cases, complex investigations and fantastic characters, Goodbye Girl was a truly awesome read that proved very, very hard to put down.

I really got drawn into the awesome story that Grippando came up with for Goodbye Girl, as this book features a thrilling tale of murder, broken relationships, and betrayal, all centred around a series of intense legal cases.  The primary story initially sees Jack defend the famous singer Imani from a complex civil case from her ex-husband, which turns into a highly entertaining and salacious legal affair in the courtroom.  This initial trial is quite fun, especially as it bears some similarity to the infamous Johnny Depp/Amber Heard case, and it proves to be a compelling initial occurrence.  However, things get far more complicated as the protagonist’s client, and her former husband, are drawn into other cases, including federal charges of piracy, and the gruesome murder of a young man, Tyler McCormick, who has a past connection with the singer.

While Jack is caught up in these various complex, but highly entertaining, trials, the narrative splits to follow several other protagonists on parallel adventures.  Jack’s best friend, Theo Knight, becomes embroiled in related trouble in London, as he manages to annoy a Russian oligarch involved in the piracy business.  At the same time, Jack’s wife, Andie, begins investigating a series of murders that mirror the death of Tyler McCormick, and she soon finds herself hunting a deadly serial killer with a very specific motivation and methodology.  These intriguing storylines combine nicely with the main legal-thriller elements of the plot, resulting in a complex, multi-directional narrative which expertly keeps the reader’s attention.  Grippando loads up the story with some clever misdirection, over-the-top moments, and a few big twists, all of which increases the intensity and attractiveness of the plot.  I honestly was surprised at some of the directions that the author took the story, and I loved how crazy parts of the book got, especially when it came to why victims of the serial killer where being targeted.  The author keeps the tension going right to the end, and I loved the clever resolution to the various storylines, especially as the reader comes away extremely satisfied.

I really enjoyed how Goodbye Girl was written, especially as Grippando has an entertaining and fast-paced style that really drew me in.  The extremely strong story was well enhanced by the author’s ability to quickly jump between his protagonists, as well as a few antagonists.  The multitude of unique perspectives added a lot to the impact of the story, especially as the three main protagonists each experienced their own intense hurdles, including thrilling action in London, and an intense hunt for a serial killer in America.  While Theo and Andie’s storylines are a lot of fun and add a lot to the overall plot, the highlight of this book is the intensely compelling legal-thriller elements, which centre around main protagonist Jack Swyteck.  Throughout the course of Goodbye Girl, the protagonist becomes involved in a raft of different cases and trials, all of which are extremely compelling, and tie into the main story in some very interesting ways.  Grippando really utilised his experiences as a lawyer to create a series of realistic courtroom sequences, and I loved seeing the fantastic and fun back and forth that occurred in the court.  These trial scenes were really well written, and the reader gets effortlessly drawn into proceedings, especially as the protagonist is forced to engage in a range of tricky and entertaining legal manoeuvres in the various complex cases.  These court sequences were some of the best parts of the book, and the other story threads played off them extremely well, ensuring a complex and twisty narrative.  Throw in some fascinating and highly relevant discussions about online piracy, which becomes a key part of the plot, and Goodbye Girl really had something for all thriller and crime fiction fans.

I must admit that when I started reading Goodbye Girl, I did initially worry that it would be hard to come into the Jack Swyteck series at the 18th entry.  However, this proved not to be the case, as Goodbye Girl proved to be a very easy novel to enjoy without any prior knowledge of the other books in the series.  Most of the story contained within Goodbye Girl is insular, and readers can dive right into the plot without having read any of the other books.  While there are references to prior cases and the character history, none of it is especially relevant to the current plot, and Grippando’s explanations allow the reader to easily follow what is going on.  The author also does a great job of once again showcasing the relationships between the existing characters, so all readers get the full emotional experience of the story.  The author did feature some complex character interactions amongst the recurring protagonists. which seems likely to continue in future, however, nothing was exclusive to fans of the prior books.  There is also a range of cool new characters, especially the big personalities associated with the main case, and I enjoyed their entertaining interactions with the main characters, even if Grippando did lean too heavily into deliberately featuring “pick-me girl” characters.  As such, Goodbye Girl can easily be enjoyed by new and existing readers without any difficulty, and indeed anyone interested in a fantastic and compelling legal thriller will be spoiled by this book.

I ended up grabbing Goodbye Girl on audiobook, which is often my favourite way to enjoy a good novel.  This proved to be a great idea in the case of Goodbye Girl as the audiobook version was very fun to listen to and really brought the awesome story to life.  Coming in with a run time of 12 hours, this was a relatively quick audiobook to get through, and I had a blast listening to the complex story.  It helped that Goodbye Girl featured the vocal talents of one of my favourite audiobook narrators, Jonathan Davis.  Davis, who I best known for his work on some epic Star Wars audiobooks (including Master & Apprentice, Lords of the Sith, Maul: Lockdown and Kenobi), is an exceptional narrator with a variety of cool voices and accents at his disposal.  I really liked how Davis read out Goodbye Girl, and the fun characters and over-the-top scenes that emerged were highly entertaining when narrated by this amazing talent.  The various characters are each giving fitting and fun voices that I really enjoyed, and Davis brings a range of serviceable accents to the fore in the various international settings.  I also appreciated how he helped to enhance the magic of the author’s various court sequences, and the fantastic back and forth between the various character in the trial really came across in a clear and effective manner through Davis’ narration.  Due to this amazing narration, as well as how thrilling it was to listen to this great story be read out, I strongly recommend Goodbye Girl on audiobook.

My first experience with James Grippando’s amazing writing proved to be a lot of fun as the new Jack Swyteck novel, Goodbye Girl, ended up being quite extraordinary.  Featuring an outstanding narrative that blended a complex array of legal cases and trials, with some exciting thriller elements, Goodbye Girl was an exceptional read from start to finish and I got so drawn into this novel as a result.  This was such an incredible book, and I now fully intend to read all the new Jack Swyteck books from Grippando in the future.

Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday – Endgame by Sarah Barrie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I look at an epic upcoming Australian thriller that is bound to get very dark, with Endgame by Sarah Barrie.

Endgame Cover

Amazon

I have a lot of love for complex reads by my fellow Australians, and boy have there some great Australian crime fiction series coming out in recent years.  One of my absolute favourites has been the Lexi Winter series by impressive Australian author Sarah Barrie.  A dark and compelling crime fiction series, the Lexi Winter books follow the titular protagonist whose childhood was destroyed by a murderous paedophile.  Growing up rough, Lexi became a talented hacker and vigilante, who targeted suspected child abusers.  The first book in the series, Unforgiven, saw Lexi team up with several intriguing police characters when the man who ruined her life once again began killing young children.  Unforgiven was an extremely awesome and captivating novel, that effortlessly blended powerful character work with a dark thriller scenario that kept me on my toes the entire way through.  This ended up being one of my favourite Australian books of 2021, and I deeply enjoyed it.

Due to how good Unforgiven was, I ended up grabbing the next two books in the series the second they came out.  Made up of Retribution (one of my favourite Australian books of 2022) and Vendetta (one of my favourite Australian books of 2023), the Lexi Winter series went in some very interesting directions as Lexi attempted to make the jump from vigilante to legitimate police officer, while also facing off against criminals and demons from her past.  Both sequels were extremely compelling and exciting, and I have had so much fun with this great Australian series.

Naturally, I am very eager to see how this series is going to come to an end, and it looks like Barrie is about to put the finishing touches on her captivating story, with the upcoming book Endgame.  Billed as the fourth and final entry in the series, Endgame will force the protagonist to go up against her nemesis in a final game of cat and mouse that will destroy everyone around her.  Set for release in late October 2024, Endgame sounds extremely cool, and you can see that Barrie is going to bring the emotional pain to her readers in this finale.

Plot Synopsis:

Vigilante turned cop Lexi Winter is drawn into the investigation of a chain of apparently random murders. As the bodies pile up, Lexi realises she is a pawn in a psychotic – and deadly – game.

Lexi Winter is studying for her detective exams but her nemesis Vaughn is out there somewhere and her concentration is fractured. Just as she’s wondering if her hypervigilance is tipping over into madness, Vaughn resurfaces and issues a challenge. Five people will be dead by the end of the month. If Lexi can identify and save the last one before the deadline, he’ll turn himself in.

As Lexi’s colleagues scramble to untangle what it all means, Lexi is implicated deeper and deeper into the murders. On top of this, she begins to see a strange figure everywhere she goes. Branded as suffering from PTSD, Lexi’s credibility is in tatters with her colleagues, but Lexi knows it isn’t her mind that is the problem. A wicked game is afoot, and Lexi is just a chess piece in play – and she suspects that check mate will mean her death. There is only one thing that Lexi can do – play along, wait for the chance to strike back, and bring about the endgame…

Now this sounds like a very epic addition to the series as Barrie is definitely planning to end this story on a very dark note, which I am very there for.  A violent game of cat and mouse between the series’ big bad and a traumatised protagonist is an extremely strong basis for a story, and you have to know that Barrie is going to really dive into the dark side of Lexi’s mind in Endgame.  Having the protagonist once again isolated from all the new friends and connections she has made as they lose faith in her sanity is going to be very hard to watch, but I am confident that it will lead to a great overall story.

I have no doubt whatsoever that Endgame is going to be an extremely awesome piece of Australian crime fiction.  Sarah Barrie has been absolutely killing it with her Lexi Winter books the last couple of years, and this dark conclusion she has been building towards is going to be epic.  I am even more excited for Endgame after the above plot synopsis, and this may end up being one of the most compelling and emotionally charged novels I read this year.