White Ginger / Thatcher Robinson / 289 pages

     I am always looking for a thriller series that doesn't follow the formula. I love kickin' female main characters. The Michael Munroe series (by Taylor Stevens) started that need and wanted another one. I do believe I have found it. Bai Jiang (by chang) lives and works in San Francisco. She is a people finder, a souxun  (so-SOON) who works mostly out of Chinatown. Her life is rather complicated as her grandfather is head of the Chinese triad but Bai isn't part of that world. At least she is trying real hard to stay out of it.

     A young girl is taken from her family and Bai is contacted. After following the tangled trail given by the young lady's family, Bai is taken down some very dark and very dangerous paths. We see part of the slave and drug trades plus what power the Chinese have in certain cities. Bai tries very hard to maintain her calm and professionalism but as the twists and turns deepen she knows she must call upon her family ties to help find the girl and protect her family no matter what.

     This isn't a novel for the cozy set. We have violence, graphic scenes, language and yes, sex. In my opinion it fits. Bai inhabits a world that isn't commonplace middle America. It is exciting and very dangerous and very addicting. We are immersed in a world most of the public chooses not to see. Bai is the person who straddles both, struggling to maintain her Buddhist beliefs and to give her daughter a normal life. I highly recommend this for adrenaline junkies and lovers of "quick moving work it out later" novels. I can't wait for the next one. Bai Jiang is a character to watch. In case you were wondering white ginger is the translation of Bai Jiang in certain Chinese dialects. 

Six Degrees of Reading: The Informationist: A Vanessa Michael Munroe novel by Taylor Stevens, Vanishing Act: A Jane Whitefield novel by Thomas Perry, Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. 

Archetype: A Novel / M.D. Waters / 369 pages / RAT-Science Fiction

   A debut novel that has you by the throat from the beginning. Emma wakes up in a hospital with absolutely no memory. She doesn't even know this man who claims to be her husband. And these dreams that haunt her. They aren't nightmares but they still bother her and haunt her constantly. Her husband Declan very patiently begins to teach her about their lives together and what she is capable of doing. Before long Emma is home from the hospital, painting glorious landscapes and exercising with long punishing runs. But there is a voice that warns her not to talk about her dreams or are they memories? Emma isn't sure who or what to trust and starts to find answers to her questions. She isn't sure what is reality and those answers only seem to be confusing everything.
  This book is set in one possible future. Women are a rare commodity and the birth rate is falling off drastically. There has been a war and the United States had been divided in two: West is the free zone and the East is a policed society where women/young girls are put in work camps. The more Emma begins to remember the more the tension is wound tighter and tighter. The plot pulls you along and the pages just keep turning faster and faster. There is some language but not off-putting. There is a sex scene or two between Emma and her husband. All together this is something anyone can read - I even thing Young Adults might like it.

Six degrees of Reading:  My Real Children by Jo Walton, Lock In by John Scalzi, Clone Three by Patti Larsen.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns / Rae Carson / 432 pgs / 10 discs

   Who is up for adventure, romance, fantastic escapes and some awesome writing?! I recommend this series with unreserved enthusiasm! Meet Elisa who is the second daughter to a king. She has a happy life with her nurse, tutor and secret visits to the head cook. One day her father announces she is to marry a man she has never met plus he lives in a far away kingdom. Elisa reluctantly does as her father asks and on the day of the marriage receives some strange advice from her sister "Be strong, sister."
    This is the beginning of a non-stop adventure with Elisa trying to find her place in the new court, figure out what her sister meant and how to help her husband become a strong leader. As she learns who to trust, Elisa begins to fall in love with her husband. Then one night, Elisa is kidnapped from her bedroom and begins a new role for a supposed enemy. As the days go by, Elisa discovers hidden strengths and untapped knowledge within her self and begins a slow transformation into a formidable woman. An excellent coming of age novel hidden within a quest, romantic and adventure novel.
    The narrator chosen for the audio is perfect. Jennifer Ikeda is perfect for the voice of Elisa and works in different accents and gruffness when dealing with multiple characters. I was racing through the disks trying to see how things would end. My only quibble with the novel is some unresolved story lines. I am not sure if we will meet Elisa's father and sister in the next books but they seem to left dangling. Also this book cries out for a map. I would have loved to keep track of Elisa's physical journey. I think this would have enforced the growth of the main character. I also recommend this for car journeys of higher middle grade and up.

Six degrees of Reading: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Defiance by C.J. Redwine, Grave Mercy: His Fair Assassin by Robin LaFevers.

The Wicked Girls / Alex Marwood / 378 pages

     A debut novel from a British journalist writing her first fiction novel. The novel begins with two eleven year old girls wandering the countryside of their small English village. They don't have any where to go as one is avoiding trouble at home while the other has been left home alone by her parents. A shocking event sends the two of them to prison for a portion of their young lives. Fast forward to the present day and Kirsty an up and coming journalist is trying to get a foot in the door of newspaper publishing. She has been sent to a small town which has been under attack from a serial killer. Amber Gordon works at the local carnival as a night cleaner. She is the new supervisor and isn't sure she wants the job. She finds the newest victim and Kirsty tries to interview her for the story. Suddenly past and present collide in a series of events that no one can predict the outcome.
    I will admit I was very skeptical when starting this book. For me, thrillers often run along the same predictable lines. This book however was jaw-dropping. Amber and Kirsty are two women just trying to get by in life and find a little happiness. But something always seems to be getting in their way and as the story goes on the tension gets tighter and tighter till the point where everything just explodes! I read this in two nights. I could not put it down. The writing style is accessible but I will admit to not getting all the English slang. The male characters don't seem to have a backbone among them and I thought that was a little sad. The killer when revealed was totally anti-climatic based on what happened next. WOW!!! I recommend this to anyone who has patrons who love good well-written hard core thrillers. There is language and some sexual content. Excellent start for Marwood. I did receive this from the Penguin First Flights program.

Six Degrees of Reading:  Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison, The Good Girl by Mary Kubica.

The Innocent / Taylor Stevens / 10 disks / 352 pages

  I am becoming quite the fan of Vanessa Michael Munroe. The stories crafted by Taylor Stevens are unnerving, thought provoking and quite topical. Michael has been contacted by her best friend Logan who has received the news he has been waiting for. It has been 8 long years and the time to act is now. He has a daughter Hannah that was kidnapped by a cult known as The Chosen. Hannah's mother and her had left the group and had begun a 'normal' life outside the closed walls. Unfortunately they were betrayed and Hannah was taken back. Logan now has the information on her whereabouts. Michael knows this will be a tricky problem and contacts Miles (see Volume 1) for backup. Michael's personal demons as also loose and are causing problems, enough so that Logan and Miles are seriously concerned if the plan will go off without a hitch.
  This is quite a ride, often twisting off the conventional path. The typical action thriller plot takes a back seat as we learn how Michael will go about infiltrating the compound. Plus once Hannah is found what happens next is a great twist and may set up more for later books. The background to the plot is close to what the author herself had experienced. She is a former member of the Children of God group. My one quibble is there was a lot left on the table. Characters and story arcs not quite closed. I am hoping these will be taken care of in the next book. It isn't a big thing just something as a reader I would like to see fixed. I heartily recommend these for an answer to bitterly cold Winter nights.

6 degrees of Reading:  The Keeper of Lost Causes; The First Department Q Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen, Stranded: A Maggie O'Dell Novel by Alex Kava, Crashed: A Junior Bender Novel by Timothy Hallinan.