Leave No Choice

Leave No Trace…A Brief Synopsis

In a daring, brutal act of terrorism, an explosion rocks and topples the Statue of Liberty. Special Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is awakened by his boss with that news and sent to New York as the agent-in-charge. Not long after he lands, he learns two things – one that Gina Delgado of the FBI has been placed in charge of the investigation as the lead of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and two, that threats of a second terrorism attack are already being called into the media. While barred from the meetings of the Joint Task Force for his lack of security clearance, Walker finds a young boy among the survivors with a critical piece of information – a video linking the attackers to the assault.

As a radical domestic terrorist group, led by a shadowy figure known only as Jeremiah, threatens further attacks against America’s cultural symbols, powerful forces within the government are misleading the investigation to further their own radical agenda.

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Regaining Paradise

Regaining Paradise…A Brief Synopsis

Human greed and the need to dominate have moved the Doomsday clock ever-closer to midnight, the point where the world will be on the razor-thin edge of destruction. Despite it all, many of us are still searching to fill an inner emptiness. The worldview that’s described in Paul Corson’s Regaining Paradise responds to that emptiness and more. This worldview was inspired by three vision experiences that have been found credible by Gregory Alles, a former chairman of the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department at Western Maryland College and Sister Margaret McKenna with a PhD in divinity from the University of Pennsylvania The Sister called Corson a “modern-day prophet.”

Using reason and science as its basis, the book addresses the Big Questions that have bedeviled thinkers since the earliest times: What happens to us at death? What is heaven like? What is the basis for the reward or retribution that will be meted when we pass on? And the question of questions: what is the source of God’s creative powers? Gaining knowledge of this ultimate question enlightens readers so they understand who they truly are:  this knowledge is the lynchpin which provides the answers to the other big questions. This knowledge was provided to Corson in a vision that is developed systematically over the course of the book. Moved by this knowledge, readers can enter the mind state of Paradise we experienced at birth. We find inner peace and fulfillment, leading us to nurture Earth and others.

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A Time for Murder

Murder, She Wrote: A Time for Murder…A Brief Synopsis

In the fiftieth entry in this USA Today bestselling series, two timelines converge as Jessica Fletcher returns to high school to investigate the murder of an old colleague, while we meet Jessica as a young teacher solving her very first murder…

Young Jessica Fletcher’s life couldn’t be more ordinary. She teaches at the local high school while she and her loving husband, Frank, are raising their nephew Grady together. But when the beloved principal dies under mysterious circumstances, Jessica knows something is off and, for the very first time, investigates a death.

Present-day Jessica returns to high school for a colleague’s retirement party and has fun seeing familiar faces. That is, until the colleague winds up dead–and his death has mysterious links to Jessica’s very first murder case.

With nothing but her own instincts to guide her, Jessica embarks on a quest to find out what really happened all those years ago and who’s behind these murders. Because time is running out to catch this killer….

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Blood Moon

Blood Moon: The Rising Series: Book 2 by Heather Graham and Jon Land

Book Reviewed by Russell Ilg

APOCYALPSE POW!

Those who thought the notion of teenagers saving the world ended with this season’s “Stranger Things” need to think again. Heather Graham and Jon Land go that great television series one better in the equally great BLOOD MOON, a riotous, rollicking, roller-coaster ride that makes us feel like kids again.  Purchase Here.

The book is actually a sequel to “The Rising,” the name now born by the series as a whole. For those unfamiliar with how the journey started, that prequel introduced us to high school All-American football player Alex Chin. Alex is the ultimate illegal alien because he’s actually from another world, smuggled to Earth in possession of a secret that’s the only thing that can prevent the total destruction of our, and now his, world.

We found out near the end of “The Rising” that the secret in question is actually an organic computer chip implanted in Alex’s brain. And, while it may be the only thing that can save humanity, it’s slowly killing him. BLOOD MOON pretty much jumps off from that point, with Alex and his former tutor, and current love interest, Samantha Dixon on the run from enemies both human and otherwise. They’re once again aided by Raiff, an adult refugee from Alex’s world whose own emotions are thrown into a tizzy when Elaina, the woman he has loved from afar since he was a boy himself, appears up close.

Elaina is Alex’s birth mother who sent him across the spacebridge, kind of a wormhole on steroids, with Raiff when Alex was a mere infant. Only Elaina understands the significance of the four mysterious keys Alex and Sam are chasing around the world, following cryptic clues outlined in an ancient manuscript written in a language only Alex can decipher. Having relied on Sam’s tutoring to survive high school, he now finds himself imbued with new skills and knowledge as a result of that leaky computer chip, and BLOOD MOON is as much a race to save Alex as it is to save the entire world.

Don’t let the science fiction label dissuade you from digging in. Graham and Land give us only what we need to know and not a shred more. That makes the sometimes fearsome, and sometimes throwback, technology accessible for even the least geeky among us. And readers will especially enjoy both the eerie origins of the Golem legend brought literally to life, as well as a brilliant homage to the skeletal swordsmen featured in the original “Jason and the Argonauts.”

Graham and Land have concocted an action-adventure tale of rare pathos and heart, layering emotion atop a constant stream of escalating set pieces that turn BLOOD MOON into one long, unabated chase scene that goes from zero to sixty in a nanosecond. The book’s relentless pacing leaves us even more breathless than our young heroes as we race alongside them, cheering every step of the way. This is storytelling at its absolute best, a smooth and savory blend of “Terminator” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” blended with the best from the old “Outer Limits” TV show. Tumultuous and terrific, BLOOD MOON is an instant classic that’s a masterpiece of form, function and fun.

Bird in a Snare

Bird in a Snare by N.L. Holmes

Reviewed by Timea Barabas

Bird in a Snare is the foundation stone of The Lord Hani Mysteries, a historical series that plays out in Ancient Egypt. N. L. Holmes masterfully resurrects from the sands of time a tale of a humble diplomat and a proud family man, who finds himself adrift in the whirlwind of changing times. Purchase Here.

This is a story about the life and adventures of Hani, a diplomat serving under the rule of Akhenaten. As a new horizon slowly creeps upon the land, Hani is sent to the distant realm of Syria to uncover a murder with grave political repercussions. During his mission to solve one murder, he encounters only more death, political corruption, and a fragile net of relationships between leaders. But before coming to any conclusions, he must return to his home, mid-investigation. The sun has set. And soon a new sun will shine over the kingdom. The successor who rose to the throne seems to depart from the comfort of the old ways, into a new territory; a new direction that does not seem to meet with Hani’s set life course. But, nevertheless one must adapt and above all, survive.

Bird in a Snare is well documented and offers a historically convincing depiction of what once was. N. L. Holmes world building skills melt together fiction and historical facts, in her reimagined set of events. She addresses Ancient Egypt from a macro level – mainly through state and religion – and the micro level of everyday life. But what is more, she unites these two spheres through the main character, Hani. Although the story revolves around a central figure, he is constantly surrounded by a colorful bouquet of characters, be that pharaohs, his scribe Maya, or members of his family. This psychological attention to character development is what truly animates the pages of the book.

Under the penname of N.L. Holmes, an archeologist and university professor by trade, brings her in-depth knowledge to the realm of historical fiction. The abundant knowledge of the author seeps into the text in a natural way and brings color to historical details. For all those who love to dive into historical fiction, keep an eye on Bird in a Snare and other writings by N.L. Holmes.

Murder at the CDC

Margaret Truman’s Murder at the CDC: A Capital Crimes Novel by Jon Land

Reviewed by Russell Ilg

I’ve reviewed more books by Jon Land than I can count but his latest, MURDER AT THE CDC, stands out for all the right reasons. Purchase Here.

And all the wrong ones, too.

That’s because the book, completed prior to the January 6, 2021, eerily explores the very mindset that made that chaotic, violent day possible. Not only does the book open with, yes, a mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol Building, it centers around a crazed plot by unified militias and extremist groups to wage what is essentially a second civil war to seize power forever.

Five years ago, we learn in the prologue, a tanker carrying a deadly bio-weapon called the “White Death” seemingly vanished into thin air. Once those contents fall into the hands of an unscrupulous politician eyeing the White House and the powerful offspring of a famed televangelist, all bets are off and a fanatical plot that dwarfs January 6 is underway. We’ve seen the politician, Senator Byron Fitch, before. It’s a classic thriller trope and there’s nothing new there.

What is new, and fabulously so, is the character of Deacon Frank Wilhyte, a man forever living in his dead father’s shadow who finds himself repeating the same mistakes with his own son. Deacon Frank’s murderous tendencies, we learn, were passed on to the boy, making them probably the oddest of father and son couplings ever seen in the genre.

At the heart of MURDER AT THE CDC, though, is its protagonist Robert Brixton, whom Land inherited from previous entries in the late Margaret Truman’s penultimate mystery-thriller series, but enhances substantially here. Brixton is drawn into the action when his grandson is nearly killed in the aforementioned Capitol shooting. That comes after Brixton meets, at his best friend Mackensie Smith’s behest, Mac’s long-lost daughter who’s troubled by something she’s uncovered at the, you guessed it, CDC where she works.

Brixton, in tandem with wronged Baltimore detective turned Capitol cop Kelly Loftus, trace the terrible truths of the Capitol shooting to its roots on Deacon Frank’s doorstep. This as even more terrible truths are revealed about the White Death’s capacity to kill millions of Americans by the bio-weapon’s wheelchair-bound creator. Around for the ride, once again, is the shadowy government fixer Brixton calls Panama, as well as the eccentric, pigeon-loving scientist known only as the Professor. Good thing because Brixton is going to need all the help he can get.

All of that combines to make the 32nd book in this stellar series a can’t miss, can’t put it down, absolute stunner of a tale guaranteed to chill you to the bone. In Land’s able hands, Capital Crimes has regained the fervent pace and keen plotting that once made these books perennial bestsellers. Jam-packed with action and intrigue, MURDER AT THE CDC is as riveting as it is relentless and relevant. An early pick for the best thriller of 2022.

Murder on the Metro

Murder on the Metro by Jon Land

Reviewed by Russell Ilg

“You need to get somewhere safe,” one character tells another late in MURDER ON THE METRO, to which the other responds, “I don’t think there is such a place anymore.” Purchase Here.

That should come as no surprise, given that Jon Land has picked up the writing duties in this 31st book in the New York Times bestselling Capital Crimes series originally conceived by Margaret Truman. After all, Land is no stranger to high stakes thrillers in which the country, or entire world, hang in the balance. In MURDER ON THE METRO, those stakes include the United States government which is about to be overthrown.

Yes, you heard that right. Known for tearing his ideas from the headlines, Land actually writes his own this time out, having the prescience to pretty much predict what we all witnessed on January 6 when a mob descended on the Capitol. And the result, from an entertainment standpoint, is one of those rare literary sure things. A can’t-miss, can’t-put-it-down, can’t-believe-I’m-reading-this thriller that clicks on every level.

Land retains series vet, and international private investigator, Robert Brixton as the book’s lead, albeit with a bit more of an edge and heightened skill set. That makes him a fitting counterpoint to one of the book’s two heroines: Lia Ganz, a former Israeli commando who comes out of retirement to track down the terrorists responsible for a horrific beach attack in Caesarea. There’s also Secret Service agent Kendra Rendine, head of the female vice president’s security detail and a friend of Brixton’s.

They move in the same circles, those circles converging when Rendine suspects that the vice president’s death to a heart attack was actually foul play. It’s left to Brixton to uncover the specific means and manner, even as he comes to realize an implicit connection between the murder of the vice president, that strike on Israel, and an attempted terrorist attack on the Washington Metro that he thwarted (hence the book’s title).

That connection brings him to the White House itself and a scheming first lady dealing with her husband’s diminished mental capacity on the eve of an election, but not before Brixton and Lia Ganz break an 80-year-old nun out of federal prison. Turns out Sister Mary Alice Rose, a committed social activist inspired by the real-life exploits of Sister Megan Rice, is the only one who knows how all the pieces fit together, the glue coming in the form of a plot to murder millions of Americans.

The stunning and stupendous MURDER ON THE METRO is one of those books that’s so much fun you hate to see it end. Featuring the perfect blend of action and intrigue, plot and character, pacing and suspense, here is a template for how thrillers are supposed to read. Coming in lean and mean at 288 pages and featuring Land’s patented short, cliffhanger-rich chapters, get ready to plunge into the best political thriller in recent memory.

A Time for Murder

Murder, She Wrote: A Time for Murder by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land

Reviewed by Russell Ilg

“It’s just that the research I did turned up a murder where you used to live, where you were an English teacher.”
“There was a murder, and someone was arrested, yes, Kristi.”
“Were you the one who caught him, Mrs. Fletcher?” Purchase Here.

That exchange, between Jessica Fletcher and a young woman she thinks is a reporter from the local high school newspaper, forms the heart of A Time for Murder, the 50th entry in the iconic Murder, She Wrote series. Jon Land, current series shepherd, has chosen to celebrate that milestone by taking us where no reader (or viewer, for that matter) has ever gone before: into Jessica’s past, specifically twenty-five years back in time, and the result is nothing short of a smashing, slam-dunk success unrivalled in the annuls of literary pop culture.

Jessica’s still married to a much alive husband Frank. And they’re raising their eight-year-old nephew Grady at the time, as she tries to carve out a career as a high school English teacher while struggling to get published.

“Is this a mystery?” one of her students asks, as the class dissects one of Jessica’s own short stories that she distributed anonymously.

It’s not supposed to be, but that gets her thinking, as does the murder of the beloved high school principal who was just about to hire her full-time. An office mishap is suspected at first, until Jessica displays her keen powers of observation for the first time while working with Appleton Maine’s only detective, none other than future Cabot Cove sheriff Amos Tupper.

But that flashback to the past is only part of Land’s fourth, and best, effort in the series so far. In the present, the high school reporter for whom Jessica granted an interview turns out not to be a reporter at all; in fact, she’s not even in high school. And when she turns up murdered herself after badgering Jessica about that murder in neighboring Appleton, we’re off to the races on a dead sprint that swiftly reveals a clear connection between these two killings separated by twenty-five years.

Murder in Red

Murder, She Wrote: Murder in Red by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land

Reviewed by Russell Ilg

“Well, at least I wasn’t murdered.”

So opens Murder in Red, Jon Land’s third effort writing as Jessica Fletcher for the eternal Murder, She Wrote series and one he pulls off with literary alacrity so smooth and suave that I almost forgot he cut his teeth on the more hardcore thrillers he continues to dazzle us with. In fact, I’d venture to say that under his steady hand Jessica Fletcher has come to resemble his Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong without the gun, given that she, too, is relentless in her pursuit of justice.

And there’s plenty of it for her to pursue in Murder in Red, starting with the suspicious death of a close friend Jessica thought she knew far better than she actually did. Secrets, of course, have long been a staple of the mystery genre. In this series, though, more than anything Land has managed to deftly blend the more modern material of Michael Connelly or Robert Crais’s hardboiled mystery writing within the fabric of a classic cozy. Think Phillip Marlowe or Sam Spade if Chandler and Hammet respectively had written them as women. Purchase here.

And the mystery presented in Murder in Red, involving a potentially sinister private hospital that opens up shop on the shores of our beloved Cabot Cove, might have been right up their alley as well. Jessica comes to suspect that Clifton Care Partners and its smarmy founder Charles Clifton is somehow complicit in the death of Mimi Van Dorn. Van Dorn, it turns out, is a hotbed of secrets, including a quadriplegic son whose got his secrets of his own, along with more than his share of skeletons in his closet. When he turns up dead too, of an apparent suicide, Jessica steps in to teach yet another bevy of law enforcement interests about her keen powers of observation.

At the heart of a mystery lies a dementia-riddled ex-police chief who tests even Jessica’s mettle to sort through the morass of his words in search of a coherent meaning that might yield the clues she needs. And there’s also a visit to a Big Pharma concern to probe the truth behind secretive clinical trials underway at Clifton Care, one of which might be the sole hope for the only man Jessica has ever been romantically inclined toward in the wake of her beloved husband Frank’s death.

See what I mean? Land knows how to pile on the plot but shows a more disciplined grasp of the material and a more seasoned hand in dispensing it for the Murder, She Wrote audience. This is still your mother’s Jessica Fletcher, only updated to fit a more 2019 sensibility and still with Sheriff Mort Metzger, Dr. Seth Hazlitt, and private eye Harry McGraw along for the ride. The cliffhanger rich, rocket-fueled pacing makes the pages fly by until there are no more left to turn. Murder in Red is a classic mystery in every sense of the word, Agatha Christie as channeled through John D. MacDonald. Sumptuously sizzling reading entertainment that is not to be missed.

Capitol White

Capitol White by Joe Pistone and Jon Land

Book reviewed by Russell Ilg

As a crime film connoisseur, I place Donnie Brasco among the very best the genre has to offer. Watching Johnny Depp, as the title character, spend five years undercover inside the New York Mob, before ultimately bringing down the infamous families at the top of the food chain, remains great fun every time I watch it. Purchase Here.

So it was with great interest that I plunged into Capitol White, more or less a direct sequel to that movie, penned by former FBI agent Joe Pistone working in tandem with bestselling thriller writer Jon Land. The twist is Donnie himself has been re-imagined wondrously here as a fictional hero, as opposed to a fictitious one, to spectacular success.
Pistone famously chronicled his years living undercover in Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia – A True Story. Capitol White may be all fiction but you wouldn’t know it from the writing and I had to remind myself numerous times that what I was reading was made up instead of a literary rendition of Donnie’s next major case.

And what a case it is, as we follow the now retired Brasco being lured back into action when a pair of current agents come to him with the story that his mentor’s recent death was the product of murder and not natural causes. Before you can say “Martin Scorsese,” Pistone’s famed undercover doppelganger is all-in on what got FBI Assistant Director Paul Weinman killed, following a trail that leads to a shadowy cabal of Washington powermongers who, by all indications, have usurped the opioid trade for their own nefarious ends.

Hence the title Capitol White, a play on “China White” which is one of the many street names for heroine. It’s oddly appropriate, given that Donnie will stop at nothing to ferret out the politicos and crooks running the show, as coolly professional in fiction as he was in fact, even if that means going back undercover, something he’d promised his family he’d sworn off forever.

For my money, those scenes with his wife and three young sons are the very best in the book, especially when his youngest boy becomes responsible for uncovering a crucial clue (as well as the book’s chilling denouement). William Faulkner once said that the greatest conflict is the human heart at war with itself, and Donnie struggles mightily to keep a vow made to his family while honoring an obligation to the man who was his lifeline during those dangerous years he spent undercover.

This is gritty crime-thriller writing of the highest order, hardboiled prose packed with a punch made all the more enjoyable by a superb unabridged reading by Alexander Centese. Centese’s measured voice and cadence make the tale’s noir-ish elements even more foreboding as Donnie plunges deeper and deeper into a darkness that threatens to swallow him whole at every turn. The first-person narration crackles with authenticity, helping to (re)establish Donnie’s street creds and smarts as he negotiates a Washington, DC terrain that seems little different than the New York streets on which he made his bones, politicians no different from mob bosses. A rollicking, riveting and relentless read/listen.