The 6th Day/Catherine Coulter/514 pages

                                                    The 6th Day is a suspense novel in the "A Brit in the FBI" series.

                                                Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are in London.  Roman

                                                Ardelean is a computer genius searching for a cure for his twin

                                                brother's unique form of hemophilia.  His search takes him deep into

                                                their family history where Vlad Dracula was also searching for a cure

                                                for his twin brother.  Knowing the secret cure had to be in the blood,

                                                there was much drinking of blood--thus the legend of Dracula.  Roman

                                                is more sophisticated but crazy enough to steal a manuscript, kidnap

                                                a would be donor with the "right" kind of blood--and he trains falcons

                                                to attack drones and builds drones that can carry bombs and poisonous

                                                needles to take out high ranking officials in England.  Nicholas and

                                                Michaela are very much involved in the solving of this case that has them shot at, attacked by drones and falcons, bombed and trapped with a madman.

     Excellent novel!  I know the mention of Dracula makes it sound a little corny but don't let that keep you from reading this one.  Great story.

                                                                                                                           

Look Alive Twenty-Five/Janet Evanovich/311 pgs

Stephanie Plum and her sidekick, Lula are at it again.  In this comedic thriller, people are disappearing and leaving behind one shoe.  This shouldn’t concern our heroine because she is a bounty hunter and each of the missing persons has been the manager at a fast food restaurant in town. That is until her boss takes partial ownership in the restaurant and makes Stephanie the new manager.  The food and patrons survive until Stephanie’s typical accident-prone self gets activated. Evanovich fans will enjoy this latest offering.

They Won’t Be Hurt/Kevin O’Brien/440 pgs

A horrendous crime involving the brutal killing of the entire Singleton family has a community on edge.  Two hours away, Laura Gretchell is home alone in their new house for the first time while her husband is out of the country on business.

In true murder mystery style, the Gretchell’s home is targeted by the murder suspects.  Laura soon learns that the prime suspect is Joe Spiers, one of her 3rd grade students when she was a teacher.  Laura was very important in Joe’s young life.  She realized that his home life was bad and reported the abuse.  He was removed from his home and went to live with his grandmother.

Knowing that she has been there him before, Joe seeks out his former teacher to help him prove that he was innocent of committing the murders.  Laura is forced to go to great lengths to get to the truth while her children are being held hostage at home.  A good murder/suspense read.

The Vanishing Season/ Joanna Shauffhausen/ 274 pgs

This is a suspense novel and the first book that I've read by this author. Ellie Hathaway is a young police officer in a small Massachusetts town. Unbeknownst to everyone in the town, including the officers she works with, Ellie was once the victim of a serial child kidnapper. She was the only one of his victims to escape and that was thanks to the quick thinking of FBI agent Reed Markham. For the past three years, right around her birthday in July, a person has disappeared from Ellie's town. Shortly after each disappearance, she receives an unsigned birthday card. Her colleagues on the force do not believe Ellie's theory that the disappearances are related (mostly because they do not know of her past). So, as her birthday approaches, Ellie calls up Agent Markham for help. She hasn't seen him since the night he rescued her and she doesn't know that he's going through a rough patch and is on "stress" leave from the FBI. The mystery that follows is actually very thin. There is truly only one possible suspect in the town given the way the book is written and so I was disappointed in that aspect of the book. However, I thought the portrayal of a survivor of such a violent childhood trauma was excellently done. Ellie's emotions are not cut and dried, and what happened to her has affected the way she lives and the way she thinks. For this alone, I was glad to have read the book.

Yesterday/ Felicia Yap /394 pgs

In this alternate reality book, there are two kinds of people: those who can only remember what happened yesterday (Monos) and those who can remember what happened yesterday AND the day before yesterday (Duos). I found it to be a fascinating concept and one that had me thinking throughout the story. It's considered better to be a Duo simply because they can remember two days in the past instead of one. Sounds silly and arbitrary, but I think that's the point. The parallels to other forms of prejudice are clear. The Duos are thought to be smarter, they get better jobs (some jobs are off limits to Monos), and it's considered a "mixed" marriage (and not a good thing) when a Duo marries a Mono.
All of this is set in a more ordinary world where Mark, a Duo, is a best-selling author who is now running for Parliament. His wife Claire is a Mono. A woman's body is found not far from their home and policeman Hans, a Mono who pretends to be a Duo in order to keep his job, begins investigating. While this is essentially just another suspense novel, the added element of the memory issue really made it a great read. Everyone uses an "iDiary" (invented by Steve Jobs!) to record what happened during the day so that they can always look back. If they try hard enough, they can remember "facts" like when they married, how to cook, etc. They have a harder time remembering how they feel about someone or how that person made them feel. This was a good read and I loved the ending.

The Deepest Grave/ Harry Bingham / 475 pgs

This is book 4 in Bingham's Fiona Griffiths series. Fiona is a police officer in Cardiff, Wales and she's quite the character. She has an interesting background (abandoned then adopted as a child, suffered a bizarre mental episode in her teens, father is an alleged criminal though never convicted) and she has an outside-the-box way of thinking. In this latest installment, an archaeologist is found beheaded and her body pierced by three spears. There are very few clues to go on but soon Fiona is on her way to figuring things out with the help of her new friend Katie and a vicar. The murder mystery focuses on Arthurian legends, which I mostly found fascinating although sometimes it got a little tedious. The ending was different in that the main criminal who did the dirty work was caught and arrested on the page but the mastermind behind the crime was arrested off-page in a throwaway line.

Persons Unknown/ Susie Steiner / 312 pgs

This is the second of Steiner's books about Manon Bradshaw, a police detective in Cambridgeshire, England. I really enjoyed the first one. Here in this second book, the characters are drawn just as realistically--warts and all--as in the first, but I felt the plot was lacking. All of the suspense elements seemed to be by-the-numbers and I was easily able to guess which way the story would turn next. It was interesting to see where Manon and the other recurring police officer, Davy, were in this book, which is set about a year after the first. But I was very upset with the way Manon's adopted son was treated in this book. His story line was left maddeningly unresolved, even in the epilogue, and I can only hope that his story will feature in the next book.

It's Always the Husband/Michele Campbell/311 pgs

This book releases in May. I read an Advanced Reader Copy that was sent to the library district.

Kate, Jenny, and Aubrey are 3 friends who met their freshman year at a pseudo-Ivy League school in New England. The book spends time in the present as well as chronicling their freshman year. Something tragic happened at the end of that year and the three women end up going their separate ways. Twenty-two years later they are all back in the same college town and must deal with repercussions from that tragedy as well as present day decisions. This book has lots of twists and turns but I have to say that I did not find any of the characters likable and even the police chief was creepy. There was no one for me to root for and by the end I was kind of hoping all the characters would implode in a flaming heap. Alas, they did not. I felt sorry for the main characters' children, who are really just shadows in the story, but I pity those children for having the parents they do.

Devil's Bones/ Steve Barry/ 30 pages

Devil's Bones written by Steve Barry is a short story that pits Cotton Malone against Gray Pierce, a character created by James Rollins.  Cotton and Gray are on an Amazon River boat.  Each has been sent by their handlers to get possession of a potent neurotoxin.  Can they do it before the cruise ends and the toxin is sold.  This was a very quick read written to demonstrate what would happen if these characters where to meet on a mission.  It was a fun read that fans of either author would enjoy.  For more information see the SCCCLD website.

Eyes on You/ Kate White/ 336 pages

Eyes on You by Kate White was the 2015 Overdrive Big Read choice.  This suspense novel does a good job of keeping the reader wondering who is responsible for the events leading up to the firing of TV personality, Robin Trainer.  Is it someone from work?  Or could it be Robin herself?  Why do these terrible things?
This was a hard book to put down and readers who like mysteries as well as suspense will enjoy this book.  For more information and read a likes see the entry at the SCCCLD website.

I Heard That Song Before / Mary Higgins Clark 384 p.

I Heard That Song Before / Mary Higgins Clark 384 p.

When Kay was a 6 year old child she overheard a conversation between a man and a woman.  He angrily retorts "I heard that song before".  Later that same evening 18 year old Susan Althorp goes missing after being driven home by Peter Carrington, heir to the Carrington's millions.

22 years later Kay asks a favor of Peter.  She's the librarian at the Englewood Public Library.  She wants to hold the fund-raiser for the literacy program at the Carrington mansion.  When her grandmother is injured at the gala, Peter accompanies them to the hospital.  And that is the start of a whirlwind romance leading to marriage.

Susan's mother hires a private investigator to get the evidence to convict Peter of her daughter's murder.  He is successful at getting the case reopened and finding a witness who changes her testimony.  As the DA works build the case, Susan's body is discovered on the Carrington estate.  Peter is jailed awaiting his trial.  Kay works to support him and find the speaker of those long ago spoken words.  Clark masterfully maintains the secrecy of the murderer while building a case against Peter and slowly dropping hints about the murderer.

The Lock Artist/Steve Hamilton/304 pages

After experiencing a horrible tragedy at age eight, Michael's response to the trauma is selective mutism. He is taken in by his uncle but never speaks a word. Fast forward to the summer before his senior year, and his life takes an interesting turn. He has two talents: drawing and picking locks. The latter starts him on the path that defines his future.


This was my book club selection for the month. It was well received by the group. The story is told in what is a fairly common style these days, that is, it jumps back and forth in time. With the exception of the chapters talking about the tragedy that affected Michael and present day, the timeline of the story is very tight, covering only a year or so. IMDB.com reports that a movie is in pre-production, so this is probably a good one to read now before it becomes hugely popular because of the movie.

Saving Grace/Jane Green/346 pages

Grace and Ted Chapman seem like the perfect literary couple, but looks can be deceiving. Ted is a famous best-selling author whose books aren't selling much anymore. His moods and demands are legendary in the publishing world, but only Grace knows how intimidating he can be. Thank goodness for their assistant Ellen who keeps everything organized and running properly, giving Ted little reason to throw a tantrum. Problem is, Ellen must leave to take care of her ailing mother in Florida. Grace fears what happens when she fails, as she most likely will, to keep Ted happy and on an even keel. Then Beth appears, as if out of nowhere, and she is the answer to Grace's prayers. Beth is even more organized than Ellen, but she makes Grace uneasy. When Beth starts dressing like Grace and taking her place at events, Grace's normal unflappable reserve leaves her. Soon, Beth is on the run, heading back to England to get her life back in order.

At first, I thought this would be focusing on an emotionally abusive husband, but the story soon became more about the devious assistant and her plan to take Grace's place. Somehow, the assistant seems to tame Ted quickly which makes me ask the question: is he really as abusive as he seems at first or was Grace just too timid? The ending is somewhat unsatisfactory if you like judgement or at least closure.

Split second / David Baldacci 496 p.

Eight years after failing to protect a presidential candidate, Sean King is out of the Secret Service and practicing law in a rural area.  Agent Michelle Maxwell lets presidential candidate out of her sight for a few minutes, only to have him abducted.  Even with the similarities, Sean is reluctant to join the search.  When Joan Dillinger, former flame and ex-agent, hire him to find the kidnapped victim, he and Michelle are racing around the country checking out leads. The plot is fast-paced and the ending unexpected.  Look to see more of these two.