Too Close To Home by Linwood Barclay

This was another solid thriller. Kept me engrossed on the plane ride home.

From the jacket:

In a quiet suburban neighborhood, in a house only one door away, a family is brutally murdered for no apparent reason. And you think to yourself: It could have been us. And you start to wonder: What if we’re next?

Promise Falls isn’t the kind of community where a family is shot to death in their own home. But that is exactly what happened to the Langleys one sweltering summer night, and no one in this small upstate New York town is more shocked than their next-door neighbors, Jim and Ellen Cutter. They visited for the occasional barbecue and their son, Derek, was friends with the Langleys’ boy, Adam; but how well did they really know their neighbors?

Classic Crave: In the Company of Liars by David Ellis

A woman accused of murder is caught in a tortuous psychological maze that leaves her only one escape–suicide. Or does it? Told in reverse chronological order, from its enigmatic end to its brilliant beginning.

An excellent book. A little hard to get into at first, but the tight plotting, especially as what you thought you knew begins to unravel, it’s gripping. Almost had to re-read back to front.

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

Another great stand alone thriller from one of my favorite authors.

Newspaper Reporter Ellen Gleeson is startled by the resemblance on one of those “have you seen this child” inserts in her mail box. The boy closely resembles her adopted 3 year old Will. Unable to ignore her gut feeling she goes on a search for the truth.

Great narrative tension. And lots of good twists at the end. I liked Ellen and I liked the resolution at the end.

No Survivors by Tom Cain

This is the sequel to Accident Man which I enjoyed last year.

And this novel did not suffer from a sophomore slump at all. It was taut, action packed and just as suspenseful as the first one.

Samuel Carver is an assassin, who makes things look like accidents. He’s been in a sanitarium, broken and damaged since September. But when his devoted lover, the Russian Spy Alix Petrova is forced to leave Carver for the dark world of her former employers, Carver begins to emerge as his former self.

I can’t wait for the next one. . . for me Sam Carver is the new Bourne.

Classic Crave: Just One Look by Harlan Coben

When Grace picks up a newly developed roll of photos, there is a picture that doesn’t belong. It’s from 15 years ago. And of the five people in the photo, Grace doesn’t know four of them, but one looks like her husband Jack. When Jack sees the photo he denies it’s him, but that night he drives away. Not knowing why he left, Grace struggles to ask the unanswered questions brought by Jack’s disappearance. Who are the other people in the photo and what is their connection to the terrible riot 15 years ago that left Grace with a limp?

This is a fast paced novel, full of twists and turns. It has a large cast of characters but they tie together nicely. The police get a bad rap in this novel as they’re portrayed as useless. Coben’s writing style is different, but I like it.

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski

This is different from what I normally read. But it was really good. A non-stop action thriller. Seven people come to work on a Saturday. When the group arrives the boss says their company is a front for a secret government agency and they are all to die. They can either drink the poison mimosas or wait to die in the fire that will develop from the explosives he’s rigged. However, the boss’ plan doesn’t come off and soon the office workers are pitted against each other – who’s good and who’s bad? Who can they trust? As the story shifts viewpoints, the reader is also privy to the two agents who seem to be behind this terror filled Saturday morning, but are they?

This was an exciting fast paced action story. The plot twists and turns. It is a bit gory, and violent but not in a gratuitous or terribly explicit way. And the ending, of course, is completely unpredictable. All in all much better than I expected.

The Actress by Elizabeth Sims

This was a good thriller full of twists and turns.

Rita Farmer is an aspiring actress and single mother. She’s broke and when an attorney offers her a job coaching a client to appear more sympathetic in front of the jury she takes it. But soon her and her son’s life depend on her finding out the truth.

Good plotting, believable characters. The author switched POVs a few times, and it worked in the beginning when it was two, but was a little distracting (and in the case of one totally pointless) later in the book.

I did enjoy the book and read it quickly. It’s supposed to be the start of new series and the ending did leave some doors open so I’ll be anxious to see what happens to Rita next.

Another thought I had about the title – who’s the actress Rita or Eileen (the client)?

City of the Sun by David Levien

A fabulous thriller! I stayed up way too late trying to finish this, because it grips you from page 1 and is non stop action until the end.

Newspaper Delivery Boy Jamie Gabriel disappears one morning while out delivering papers. Fourteen months later, his parents are on the verge of abandoning all hope. Crushed by dead ends and exhausted by a police force that cannot find their son, the Gabriels finally stumble upon an elusive private investigator who may represent their last chance for answers.

Non stop action. Tense, quick plotting. A tension between wanting to know the PI’s back story, and the need for resolution of Jamie’s disappearance. I enjoyed it so much I’m adding it to my recommended category.

I will forewarn readers that it is gritty, there is violence, and the resolution is quick and leaves you wanting more.

Accident Man by Tom Cain

An excellent thriller. I couldn’t put it down. I’ve never read the Bourne books, but this reminds me of the movie, so maybe it’s what the books are like. The action unfolds quickly, and the final 100 pages are gripping.

Samuel Carver is a private assassin. Anything can look like an accident. But then Carver is hired to carry out a job below a bridge in Paris. On August 31, 1997. He’s set up and betrayed by the people who’ve hired him and now he must fight for his life.

Judas Horse by April Smith

This must be sequel week for me – first Certain Girls, and now Judas Horse, which is another chapter in FBI Special Agent Ana Grey’s story. I don’t really see these books as a series, but the publisher markets them that way. Each Ana Grey book stands alone.

Ana is sent deep undercover to infiltrate a radical environmental-terrorism cell outside of Portland, Oregon.

April Smith is a fantastic writer. Ana is a wonderfully flawed character and the stress of being deep undercover and the pull between her fake life as Darcy and the Bureau is palpable.

Quite the satisfying thriller.