Category Archives: Thriller

Book Review: Wolf Hour

14 Friday Nov 2025

Posted by in Book Reviews, Books, Death, Fiction, Jo Nesbø, murder, mystery, Netgalley, Serial Killers, Suspense, Thriller, Wolf Hour

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I have to admit that I haven’t read a lot of Jo Nesbø although I’ve seen a Harry Hole movie and am looking forward to watching Detective Hole on Netflix. I really enjoyed The Night House, though, and was excited to read another standalone book.

And Wolf Hour does not disappoint. The characters are very real with their quirks and personal struggles. And when you discover the truth about the serial killer . . . like Detective Oz, you realize you should have always known.

It’s grisly and gritty and very compelling. This is not a fast-paced book (until the very end) but I enjoyed the slow build.

Jo Nesbø

Good Reads says:

 This killer has a story.

When a small-time crook is shot down in the streets of Minneapolis, all signs point to a lone wolf, a sniper who has vanished into thin air.

To tell it, he needs to get caught.

When the shooter strikes again, it’s maverick detective Bob Oz they call in to crack the case. They don’t think this victim will be the last.

And this wolf wants the world to know…

As the body count rises, Oz suspects something even more sinister is at play. And the closer he gets to the truth, the more disturbed he becomes. Because this serial killer reminds him of someone himself.

He’s only just getting started.

Wolf Hour is a gritty standalone thriller packed with unexpected twists, dark secrets and bubbling personal and political tension, from the king of the cliffhanger.

 

Book Review: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer

15 Tuesday Jul 2025

Posted by in Fiction, Iceland, mystery, Netgalley, Ragnar Jónasson, Suspense, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer, Thriller

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Publication Date: September 9, 2025

Very much written in the style of the Golden Age of mystery writers (like Agatha Christie) whom the author really admires, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer has Helgi taking on the Miss Marple role and slowly but thoroughly unraveling the web of lies spun by the missing author’s closest friends.

And while he is doing this, Helgi is also looking into the disappearance of the detective whose office he is now using as well as dealing with his crazy ex-girlfriend who seems to be stalking his current love.

Spoiler Alert: This novel ends in a heart-stopping cliffhanger! Fingers crossed that we find out what happens in the next Helgi book, which will be the third in the series (I hope!).

Ragnar Jónasson

GoodReads says:

The next thrilling golden-age-style mystery from #1 Icelandic bestseller Ragnar Jónasson, author of Death at the Sanatorium and Reykjavík.

One winter evening, bestselling crime author Elín S. Jónsdóttir goes missing.

There are no clues to her disappearance and it is up to young detective Helgi to crack the case before its leaked to the press.

As Helgi interviews the people closest to her—a publisher, an accountant, a retired judge—he realizes that Elín’s life wasn’t what it seemed. In fact, her past is even stranger than the fiction she wrote.

As the case of the missing crime writer becomes more mysterious by the hour, Helgi must uncover the secrets of the writer’s very unexpected life.

 

Book Review: The Blue Horse

05 Monday May 2025

Posted by in Book Reviews, Books, Bruce Borgos, Fiction, mystery, Netgalley, Suspense, The Blue Horse, Thriller

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Publication Date: July 8, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though it was the third in the series, I had no trouble getting caught up in the world of Porter Beck (Nevada). I loved the subject—when I was in elementary school, I published an editorial in my school newspaper about how it was my opinion that wild horses should be free. I felt very strongly about it so definitely understood the tension between the BLM and CANTER (the group working to keep the wild horses of Nevada free).

The book was exciting, the writing good, and the characters great. If I have any complaints, it’s only that I get so damn tired of the older man, younger woman trope. I, and three of my sisters, are all married to younger men. It would be nice to see a man write about that for a change. To be fair, though, the women in the book were all intelligent, strong, and capable.

I am definitely open to reading more of this series.

Bruce Borgos

GoodReads says:

A controversial wild horse round-up in the high desert of Nevada results in two murders and too many suspects for Sheriff Porter Beck to deal with.

A helicopter driving a controversial round-up of wild horses suddenly crashes and the pilot is found to have been shot. Then the person coordinating the round-up for the Bureau of Land Management is savagely murdered, buried up to her neck and then trampled to death by the very same wild horses. And there’s no lack of suspects—with the wild horse advocacy group having sworn to protect the horse At Any Cost! Now the state and federal agencies are showing up looking for answers or at least a scapegoat.

Sheriff Porter Beck has had better days.

Porter Beck’s new girlfriend, Detective Charlie Blue Horse, arrives to help with the investigation, which leads them to Canadian Lithium mining operation near the round-up area that sets off Beck’s mental alarm bells. Brinley, Beck’s sister, is leading a group of troubled kids in a wilderness program, when one of them, Rafa, bolts one night. When Brinley catches up to him, they’re just outside the mine—in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

With his personal life in turmoil, too many suspects and too many secrets, the feds pushing for a quick resolution, and his impetuous (if skilled) sister in the mix, one wrong step could be deadly for Porter Beck.

 

Book Review: Cold Burn

14 Friday Mar 2025

Posted by in A.J. Landau, Book Reviews, Books, Cold Burn, Earth, Environment, Fiction, Indigenous, Jeff Ayers, Jon Land, National Parks, Netgalley, Suspense, Thriller, Tlingit

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Publication Date: April 29, 2025

A mysterious and ancient microbe that’s killing off everything from fish to humans sets the stage for a battle to protect the planet. But add in a couple of bad guys: a multi billionaire who wants to be the first trillionaire and send people to Mars, for lots of money, of course, (not saying it’s Musk but it might as well be) and a Russian strongman who want to return Russia to its former glory AND bring America into submission (not saying its Putin but it might as well be) and National Park Service investigator Michael Walker and FBI special investigator Gina Delgado have their work cut out for them.

From Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska to Florida’s Everglades National Park, Walker and Delgado race to protect the planet in this second National Parks thriller by A.J. Landau, the writing team of Jon Land and Jeff Ayers.

Fortunately for Walker, he has the Tlingit people who land is being threatened, to aid him, including a brilliant scientist, Amka, and her brother, Yehl. And in the Everglades, Delgado is assisted by Law Enforcement Park Ranger Clark Gifford and Director Rosalee Perry of the U.S. Geological Survey who is working on a project to help lower sea temperatures.

This is definitely a page-turner read and if you love thrillers and the U.S. National Parks, it is definitely worth reading!

Jon Land

Jeff Ayers

 

 

 

GoodReads says:

Agent Michael Walker returns when multiple deaths at Glacier Bay National Park are just the first steps in a potential global disaster.

In Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park, a frozen woolly mammoth is uncovered by a geological survey team. When all of them are found dead at the site of the thawed-out carcass, National Park Service ISB special agent Michael Walker is called in to investigate.

In Florida’s Everglades National Park, FBI special investigator Gina Delgado traces the murder of an environmental science intern back to another U.S. Geological Survey team’s ongoing experiments that are decimating the fragile ecosystem.

Beneath the icy waters of Alaska’s Elfin Cove, the crew of a stranded Los Angeles class attack submarine is wiped out by a mysterious contagion, inexplicably causing their lungs to freeze. The link between these apparently disparate events lies in a deadly, prehistoric microbe that killed the mammoth the same way it did the USGS survey team in Glacier Bay and the crew members of the submarine. A microbe that a rogue billionaire is desperate to attain, and a Russian strongman will do anything to weaponize to achieve even greater, wide-ranging power. Fighting a battle on several fronts—militarily, intellectually, and biologically—Walker and Delgado are running out of time to stop a devastating attack that would reshape the entire world

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