The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd — 9780062068576 — ****

Genre: Thriller
Time to Read: About a week

Short Summary:
The FBI has a problem on their hands. The Rubaco Pentad–a domestic anti-bureau terrorist cell–is killing agents and people who have caused the FBI problems in the past, and claim they will kill even more if their demands aren’t met. The bureau’s hands are tied by its own rule book, and the Pentad is making them look and feel the fool. Deputy Assistant Director Kate Bannon thinks she has a solution. It’s name: Steve Vail.

Steve Vail was an FBI agent, until he became frustrated with the way the bureau’s rules got in the way of his investigations. He left the FBI to become his own boss as a bricklayer in Chicago. Kate remembers him and his reputation as an agent who wasn’t afraid to toss the rule book out the window in order to get the job done. Despite his unorthodox methods, Vail is exactly what the bureau needs to stop the Rubaco Pentad before more lives are lost.

The Bricklayer was yet another outstanding novel from Noah Boyd. Of course, I read them out of order, but doing so didn’t ruin much (Though I would recommend reading this one before you pick up Agent X later this month. Out of order is okay, but there were a few things in the second book that would have been even better if I’d read the first book first.).

This book is action-packed, but it doesn’t rely on gun battles and explosions to carry the reader through. It has a great plot full of twists to rival a mystery novel and well developed characters on both sides of the story. Steve Vail is a little larger-than life, but most good heros are, and he still has his flaws and makes mistakes. Kate Bannon is almost your typical woman in a man’s world who is trying to keep Vail from jumping after the bad guys without a parachute, but she doesn’t try to be “one of the guys” like so many other fictional characters in similar roles, and she’s not afraid to let Vail take the reins from time to time. The two characters play off each other very well, and they start to feel like real people almost the second you meet them, which is something I always like to see.

I have to admit that Boyd does jump point of view without  warning a bit more than I like (looking through Kate’s eyes in one paragraph, and Steve’s the next), and that fact did seem a little disorienting at first. Aside from that fact, however, I can’t really say anything bad about this book. It’s a great story with great characters and a plot that kept me reading even when I needed to be setting the book down to do other things. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes action-packed books with elements of mystery. Noah Boyd may be relatively new on the bookstore shelves, but he certainly knows how to spin a good yarn out of fuses and blasting caps.

Check out Noah Boyd’s author page at Harper Collins Publishers.

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Pandora’s Daughter by Iris Johansen

Pandora’s Daughter by Iris Johansen — 9780312368043 — ***

Genre: Thriller
Time to Read: 3 Days

Megan Blair is a successful young ER doctor with a shocking secret that has been blocked from her memory since her mother’s death. As a child and then as a teen, Megan heard voices. Now, the voices are threatening to return and take over her life, but she isn’t crazy. The voices aren’t just in her head. They are the whispers of dead coming to her from beyond the grave. Now, she must learn to control them, and discover the memories and the psychic powers that have been dormant inside of her since she was a young teen.

With the help of a handsome and mysterious man named Neal Grady, Megan begins to uncover her forgotten past and discover the magical world that thrives in this one. But can she and Grady unlock the secrets of her abilities before she is destroyed by the man who blames her mother for his son’s death and who, in turn, wants Megan and all those who are like her to suffer as he eradicates them from this wold?

This is the first book I have ever read by Iris Johansen, and I have to say that I am happy that I picked it up. It is an exciting thriller with enough mysticism to interest a fantasy reader, enough action to capture a thrill seeker, and enough passion to enthrall a romantic. In Pandora’s Daughter, magic exists as a subculture in our own world. It is a genetic anomaly that has captured the attention of many over the years. Of course, different people have seen it in different ways. Some have wanted to use it, others have tried to destroy it, and those who possess these abilities have always done all they could to keep their gifts out of covetous hands.

I like the characters in this novel, I enjoyed the plot, the antagonist is wonderfully mad and the four most important characters in the story are lovable, but in some ways hatable. I did, however, run into a few things that didn’t appeal to me. All of the characters seem to use the expression “Damn it,” repeatedly. I’m not one to complain about “bad” language, but it just becomes old and redundant. They say “damn it!” when they’re in trouble. She says “damn it” when she’s angry at him, and he often says “I want you, damn it!” I just wish she had limited it to one character’s favorite expression, or found some synonyms that would express the same things. Then, perhaps it wouldn’t have gotten so old, damn it!

The sexuality in this book runs a little too rough for my tastes in some situations, too. A little…crude? “I want you (damn it), and I know you want me, and one of these days I’m going to stop resisting…” blah, blah, blah. The main male character says something of that nature a lot. Starting around the early-middle of the book, and going until the end. There isn’t any erotic content, it’s just a little uncomfortable to me. The “I won’t take no for an answer because I know you really want me, too” attitude he occasionally displays doesn’t sit well with me (In my opinion, even if a man is magically linked to a woman and he knows exactly how she feels about him, he has to take “no” for an answer. It would be wrong not to.). That, and he threatens not to take no for an answer for a long time, but doesn’t act until she says yes, so it’s an empty, pointless threat. Just a way to create sexual tension between the characters. Redundantly. I think she could have done better by changing it up a bit every now and again.

Over all, I really did enjoy Pandora’s Daughter. It was an exciting book that kept me reading to find out what would happen next. I am tempted to rate the book higher, but those elements that I dislike were too strong for me to do so. I expect that I will read more of Iris Johansen’s books in the future. Perhaps I’ll select one that is a little more popular among her titles (this one ranks somewhere toward the middle of her books when her titles are sorted by “best selling”) and hope for the best!

Check out Iris Johansen’s website here!

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The Altar of Bones by Philip Carter

The Altar of Bones by Philip Carter — 9781439199084 — ****

Genre: Thriller
Time to Read: About one week
Publication Date: 8 March 2011

Short Summary:
The Altar of Bones by Philip Carter is a story about a legend passed down through time. The Altar is said to be a fountain of youth that has been guarded by women of the same family for generations. The quest for the altar and its promise of unending youth has been the obsession of many. It has caused betrayal, heartbreak, assassination and conspiracy almost from the beginning. Now, a young woman has discovered that her bloodline flows from the generations of keepers of the Altar of Bones, and her estranged grandmother has tasked her with protecting it from covetous hands. Her quest takes her from America to Paris, then on to Budapest and beyond, running from the Russian mob, the KGB and an American “kingmaker,” all of whom covet the secret that she has been charged with keeping.

First off, I have to say that this is an amazing book! I must admit that it took a little while for me to really get into it, because it jumps around a bit in the beginning, from the present day to the 1930s and back again, changing characters and generations before seeming to settle on one character, then jumping again and finally introducing the main character. Once I got passed that point, however, I really got caught up in the story.

The Altar of Bones by Philip Carter is one of those books that are very difficult to put down. It is chalk-full of adventure and excitement. Car chases, gun battles, spies and betrayals. There is a crazy but beautiful female assassin (who somewhat reminded me of Xenia Onatopp from the James Bond movie GoldenEye), a greedy old mogul who has been declared an American Kingmaker, an assassination cover-up, and a race to find this fountain of youth in order to protect it from the Russian mob, the KGB, and other covetous hands. It also takes a few pages out of history, providing flashbacks to a presidential assassination, the tragic end of a doomed movie starlet, and a harrying escape from a Russian labor camp.

The two main characters are easy to admire. The friendship between them develops naturally throughout the story, instead of being forced upon them, and while they are both slightly “super” human, they aren’t so over-the-top that they seem fake. The “bad guys” have enough human traits to be realistic antagonists, instead of just purely evil villains. The magic behind the story feels like folklore, which I find gives it more believability than your typical magical sub-plot. When added together, this makes the entire story easy to get lost in, and to believe, at least on some level.

I would recommend this book to any fans of the genre. It is exciting, rock ‘em sock ‘em at its very best. There were a few points where I, as a woman, said to myself: “This is clearly written by a male author,” which isn’t something I generally run across (sometimes I find that a book is clearly written by a female, but generally books feel gender-neutral to me when written by either men or women), and some female readers may not enjoy this one, especially if they select it to give the genre a try for the very first time. Over all, however, Philip Carter’s The Alter of Bones is an exciting, mile-a-minute page turner that any action fan is bound to enjoy.

(I should note that this review is based on a proof copy of the book. It will be on store shelves on March 8, 2011. This is Philip Carter’s first novel, so I cannot refer you to any of his other works while you wait, but please add it to your list for the spring and keep on reading!)

Check out Philip Carter’s author site at Simon & Schuster!

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Agent X by Noah Boyd

Agent X by Noah Boyd – 9780061826986 — ****

Genre: Thriller
Time to Read: About a week
Publication date: 8 February 2011

Short Summary:
When former FBI Agent Steve Vail arrives in Washington D.C., he is hoping to rekindle a cooled romance with the FBI’s assistant director Kate Bannon, but instead finds himself helping her on a highly sensitive case. The FBI has been contacted by an officer at the Russian embassy–a man who has identified himself only as “Calculus”–who has intel on a number of American agents who are working as spies for the Russian SVR. Shortly after providing the FBI with clues that will lead to the identity of the first double agent, Calculus was whisked away to Moscow, leaving the FBI to believe that he has been compromised. Still determined to discover the names of the traitors in their midst, the FBI asks Vail to help Bannon follow the clues and uncover the names of the spies before they can be eliminated by their Russian handlers.

Following the clues–but not necessarily the rules–Vail begins to uncover the names of those double agents. He and Bannon are in a race to catch the traitors before they can be eliminated, and find themselves risking their own lives to unravel the mystery before it is too late.

 

I haven’t read many “thriller spy-novels,” as I have described this book, but after reading Noah Boy’s Agent X, I can’t say why that is. This is any James Bond fan’s genre, and as a Bond fan, I will be sure to read more like this one in the future.

Agent X isn’t all edge-of-your-seat action, nor is it all puzzling mystery or attempted romance (on the part of the hero Steve Vail). It is a captivating novel that draws you in with the aid of all of those techniques and keeps you reading–sometimes laughing, sometimes wide-eyed with suspense–until the very end. An attentive reader will be able to unravel some of the mystery on his or her own, but there are enough twists and turns to prevent total predictability, leaving just enough clues to make the reader want to read on, thinking: “So, am I right?”

Steve Vail is a great hero, and an excellent character. He is imperfect, and that makes him seem more real than even the great Agent 007. He isn’t described as the strongest, smartest, bravest and most attractive man on the planet. He isn’t infallible, and as hard as he keeps trying, he doesn’t always get the girl (in his case, there is just one girl: Kate Bannon). The rest of Noah Boyd’s characters are equally imperfect, and are, therefore, perfectly believable.

I would highly recommend this title to anyone who is a fan of the thriller/spy novel genre. A fan of James Bond or The Da Vinci Code will thoroughly enjoy Agent X for its spy novel mystery and action that is peppered with gunshots and explosions plus a there-but-not romance that manages to deepen the story rather than soften it.

I should note that this is not Noah Boyd’s first novel. Steve Vail and Kate Bannon also appear in The Bricklayer: a novel I have yet to read. If my review of Agent X intrigues you, I would suggest giving Noah Boyd’s first book a try while you wait for this one to be available in stores (on February 8, 2011). I plan on picking up The Bricklayer as soon as it is available in trade paper on December 28th, and if I had to wait much longer than that, I’d probably have the mass market in my hands or a hardcover on order right now.

Check out Noah Boyd’s author page at Harper Collins Publishers.

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Gauntlet by Richard Aaron

Gauntlet by Richard Aaron – 9780981676883 – ****

Genre: Fiction/Thriller
Time to Read: Four Days

Short Summary:
Libya has announced that it wishes to join the community of nations, but first it must destroy its entire reserve of semtex–a powerful plastic explosive that has been used in terrorist attacks across the globe. With the help of the US government and before the world media, Libya complies. The charges are set. The blast is massive. Libya is welcomed to the community of nations. The problem? Terrorists have stolen 4 tons of the explosive and are threatening to detonate it somewhere along the west coast of North America. Richard Aaron’s Gauntlet follows the efforts of those involved in finding the missing semtex–from a newly formed anti-terror group in the US to a pair of Canadian Mounted Police who are chasing drug smugglers–and those who are running the operation. Will the plot be uncovered in time to prevent a massive terror strike in North America, or will the crafty bombers succeed in their quest?

I acquired this book as an advanced reader copy (one of the many perks of being a bookseller) some time ago, and am unsure if it is out of print or simply unavailable in the states at the moment, but I couldn’t read it and not review it. I’m going to review this one a little differently–more like I would review a manuscript for a friend–because I don’t feel my usual review style will fit this novel. I will be breaking it up into three parts (Character Development, Plot and Execution) and adding in some other general thoughts on the book. It will make for a longer review, but I feel like this title, as the author’s first novel and a lesser-known book, deserves the extra time. So, here it goes:

To start, I want to say that his book’s description makes it sound like a James Bond novel. Adventure, action, espionage. I couldn’t pass it up. It actually reads more like a Michael Crichton novel, full of technical jargon and what I interpret as carefully researched information paired with a fictional plot and cast of characters. It is exciting and enjoyable, with a lot of twists, turns, complex characters and (what I assume to be) facts.

The character development in this book is some of the best I’ve seen. If rating Gauntlet by its players alone, I would award it with five stars. All of the characters seem like real people. They all have histories, weaknesses, dreams, fears and flaws. I especially love Turbee, the Autistic computer tech. I would bet that Richard Aaron has a friend or family member with Autism, because his insight is outstanding. Turbee has to be one of the most complex and well-written characters I have encountered. The villain, Youseff, is also a character of note. Richard Aaron gives enough insight into the “bad guy’s” life that I was able to see him as a person with a reason for doing what he was doing, and even some sympathetic characteristics. I started to view him as a tragic character instead of a simple antagonist and caught myself thinking: “Wow, this man could have done anything with his life. It’s too bad he has taken this path.” Youseff’s development is a model for other new writers to follow. Like all of the characters in Gauntlet, he seems too real to be fiction.

Gauntlet‘s plot is excellent. It follows cops, special agents, undercover operatives, drug runners, terrorists, Jihadists and opportunists as they struggle to bring about destruction or to stop it. It is full of twists and turns that keep you guessing and multiple sub-plots that all converge to form one great story. While not as James Bond-like as its book jacket makes it sound, it is very exciting and thought provoking. Richard Aaron clearly put a lot of thought and planning into Gauntlet‘s story-line, weaving it together into a fantastic book.

The execution of this novel is the closest thing it has to a weakness. It is good, and in some places excellent, but there is a lot of technical jargon, which is fine in small doses but I found myself having to go back because I was skimming over some of it. It is also full of flashbacks that provide excellent background on the characters but tend to slow the story down. As the novel progresses, things pick up a great deal, and the execution improves as the story picks up, but the first half of the book almost seems more flashback than plot movement. Again, these flashbacks are key to some of the character development, but it gets frustrating when you’re in the middle of something exciting or interesting and the character decides to daydream for a few pages. I would like to see more forward movement of the plot and character development added through more dialogue and less flashback narration. When taken into consideration with the book’s characters and plot, these are minor flaws at most, especially since they decrease as the story progresses, but I did feel they were worth mentioning.

While reading this book, I found it difficult to put down. I wanted to see if good would prevail or if the villains would succeed in their plot against North America. When it ended, I immediately googled to see if Richard Aaron’s next book Counterplay was available to order and found myself wondering why this novel didn’t go viral like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. The only reason I could come up with for it’s low popularity in the US is the fact that Americans may have a hard time reading a book that outlines a fictional terrorist plot designed by its executors to rival 9/11. Richard Aaron’s style is a little bit Michael Crichton and a little bit Dan Brown with a touch of Ian Flemming for good measure. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of any of those three authors or who enjoys a good thriller, a dose of technological inventiveness, and a wealth of action-based plot.

Check out Richard Aaron’s web site!

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