Author: Civilian Reader

Quick Review: INSIDE THREAT by Matthew Quirk (William Morrow)

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QuirkM-InsideThreatUSHCDefending the president from threats internal and external…

Assume the worst. Code Black.

The day that every secret service agent trains for has arrived. The White House has been breached; the President forced to flee to a massive doomsday bunker outside DC to defend against whatever comes next. Only the most trusted agents and officials are allowed in with him — those dedicated to keeping the government intact at all costs.

Among these is Erik Hill, who has given his life to the Secret Service. They are his purpose and his family, and his impressive record has made him a hero among them. Despite his growing disillusionment from seeing Washington corruption up close, Erik can’t ignore years of instincts honed on the job. The government is under attack, and no one is better equipped to face down the threat than he is.

The evidence leads him to a conspiracy at the highest levels of power, with the attack orchestrated by some of the very individuals now locked in with him. As the killers strike inside the bunker, it will take everything Erik Hill has to save his people, himself, and his country.

I’ve been a fan of Matthew Quirk’s novels ever since I read an ARC of his debut, The 500, in a single sitting. Each of his novels has been a fast-paced, engaging thriller — and Inside Threat is no different. I enjoyed this.

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Very Quick Review: CITY OF DREAMS by Don Winslow (William Morrow)

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WinslowD-C2-CityOfDreamsUSHCDanny Ryan et al dodge the law, the mafia, and their own demons; and take a quick turn through Hollywood…

Hollywood.

The city where dreams are made. 

On the losing side of a bloody East Coast crime war, Danny Ryan is now on the run. The Mafia, the cops, the FBI all want him dead or in prison. With his little boy, his elderly father and the tattered remnants of his loyal crew of soldiers, he makes the classic American migration to California to start a new life.

A quiet, peaceful existence.

But the Feds track him down and want Danny to do them a favor that could make him a fortune or kill him. 

And when Hollywood starts shooting a film based on his former life, Danny demands a piece of the action and begins to rebuild his criminal empire.

Then he falls in love.

With a beautiful movie star who has a dark past of her own.

As their worlds collide in an explosion that could destroy them both, Danny Ryan has to fight for his life in a city where dreams are born.

Or where they go to die.

From the shores of Rhode Island to the deserts of California where bodies disappear, from the power corridors of Washington where the real criminals operate to the fabled movie studios of Hollywood where the real money is made, City of Dreams is a sweeping saga of family, love, revenge, survival and the fierce reality behind the dream.

Danny Ryan and crew return in the sequel to City on Fire, dodging the attentions of the feds, other organized crime families, and their own demons. An engaging continuation of the series. Continue reading →

Upcoming: SYSTEM COLLAPSE by Martha Wells (Tor.com)

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WellsM-MD8-SystemCollapseLike many, I am a huge fan of Martha Wells‘s Murderbot Diaries series. They are a perfect blend of action, adventure, and character-focused storytelling. In November, Tor.com are due to publish the seventh book in the series, System Collapse. It’s the second full-length novel in the series (the other books are novella-length, and there’s a short story as well). Here’s the synopsis:

Am I making it worse? I think I’m making it worse.

Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is… not going to work.

Easily one of my most-anticipated books of the year. System Collapse is due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on November 14th.

Also on CR: Reviews of All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect, and Fugitive Telemetry

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New Books (March-April 2023)

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Featuring: Samit Basu, Ed Begley Jr., Jeff Benedict, Nicholas Binge, Mike Brooks, Alejandra Campoverdi, Rachel Chrastil, Kate Christensen, Julia Langbein, Mark Lawrence, Anna Pitoniak, Tobias Rose-Stockwell, Curtis Sittenfeld, Adam Thirlwell, David Thomson, Don Winslow

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Upcoming: SWEET THING by David Swinson (Mulholland)

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SwinsonD-SweetThingUSHCThis November, Mulholland Books are due to publish Sweet Thing, the latest crime novel by David Swinson. In this book, the author returns to Washington, D.C., the setting of his excellent Frank Marr trilogy — one of my favourite crime series — albeit with a new protagonist, and as a standalone novel. One of my most-anticipated reads of the year, here’s the synopsis:

In a red brick house on a tree-lined street, DC homicide detective Alex Blum stares at the bullet-pocked body of Chris Doyle. As he roots around for evidence, he finds an old polaroid: the decedent, arm in arm with Arthur Holland, Blum’s informant from years ago when he worked at the Narcotics branch.

But Arthur has been missing for days. Blum’s only source: Arthur’s girl, Celeste — beautiful, seductive, and tragic — whom he can’t get out of his head. Blum is drawn to her and feels compelled to save her from Arthur’s underworld. As the investigation ticks on and dead bodies domino, Blum, unearths clues with damning implications for Celeste. Swallowed by desire, Blum’s single misstep sends him tunnelling down a rabbit hole of transgression. He may soon find the only way out is down below.

Set in 1999, Swinson, a former DC cop, offers a look back at a rougher, grittier, bygone DC replete with seedy strip clubs, pagers beeping, and Y2K anxiety. It’s here we’re taken inside sting operations, fluorescent-tinged interrogation chambers, and rooms that have seen irreversible mistakes. At once authentic, gritty, tragic, and profound, SWEET THING asks how far can you fall when the world teeters on the edge?

David Swinson’s Sweet Things is due to be published by Mulholland Books in North America and in the UK, on November 7th.

Also on CR: Reviews of The Second Girl, Crime Song, and Trigger

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Excerpt: A TIDY ARMAGEDDON by BH Panhuyzen (ECW Press)

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PanhuyzenBH-ATidyArmageddonCABH Panhuyzen‘s debut novel, A Tidy Armageddon is due out next week. It has been described as a mix of “heart-felt journey of human resilience” and “action-filled suspense”. To mark the novel’s imminent publication, ECW Press has provided CR with an excerpt to run. First, of course, here’s the official synopsis:

They emerge from a war bunker to find the world utterly transformed: every product of human creation has been organized by an unknown hand into a vast grid of random nine-storey blocks, each comprised of a single item type: watering cans, lighthouses, fake Christmas trees, helicopters, spoons, and everything else human culture has every produced.

Led by Afghanistan war veterans Sergeant Elsie Sharpcot, a Cree woman who has struggled against the military’s rampant racism and misogyny, and Dorian Wakely, her PTSD-afflicted second-in-command, this section of misfit soldiers must negotiate the endless passageways that separates the blocks while they search for both survivors, and answers to the source of this catastrophe. And in the meantime, they must struggle – against the elements and each other – to survive.

Passing with fear and wonder through this museum of human achievement, provisioning themselves from its treasures, the group races to outrun the approaching winter.

Intrigued? Read on for a sample from A Tidy Armageddon, taken from Chapter 13…

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Annotated Excerpt: THE SWORD DEFIANT by Gareth Hanrahan (Orbit)

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HanrahanG-LotF1-SwordDefiantHCOn May 4th, Orbit Books are due to publish The Sword Defiant, the first novel in Gareth Hanrahan‘s new series. Before we get hand things over to the author, here’s the official synopsis:

Set in a world of dark myth and dangerous prophecy, this thrilling fantasy launches an epic tale of daring warriors, living weapons, and bloodthirsty vengeance.​

Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine companions saved the world, seizing the Dark Lord’s cursed weapons, along with his dread city of Necrad. That was the easy part.

Now, when Aelfric – keeper of the cursed sword Spellbreaker – learns of a new and terrifying threat, he seeks the nine heroes once again. But they are wandering adventurers no longer. Yesterday’s eager heroes are today’s weary leaders – and some have turned to the darkness, becoming monsters themselves.

If there’s one thing Aelfric knows, it’s slaying monsters. Even if they used to be his friends.

And now, over to Gareth…

This is Chapter 2 of The Sword Defiant. In Chapter 1, we’re introduced to Alf, aka Sir Aelfric Lammergeier, and his talking sword Spellbreaker, but this chapter starts to get into the backstory of Aelfric’s heroic youth and currently less-than-heroic state.

Part of the original conception of The Sword Defiant was a line in Tolkien’s introduction to The Lord of the Rings, where he says that if the plot had followed the course of World War II, then the Ring would not have been destroyed but used against Sauron, and Barad-Dur not destroyed but occupied. That’s essentially what happened here – the Nine Heroes captured the dread sword Spellbreaker and turned it on its maker, the necromancer Lord Bone, and then they ended up occupying the evil city of Necrad.

Alf left Necrad two years ago, and now a dream has drawn him to the hidden valley where his friend Jan dwells.

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Excerpt: FOR THE FIRST TIME, AGAIN by Sylvain Neuvel (Tor.com)

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NeuvelS-3-ForTheFirstTimeAgainUSHCNext week, Tor.com are due to publish For the First Time, Again, the third novel in Sylvain Neuvel‘s Take Them to the Stars series. To celebrate the release, the publisher has provided CR with this except. First, though, here’s the synopsis:

Against the backdrop of authentic historical events, Sylvain Neuvel concludes his acclaimed Take Them to the Stars series with a biting satire on the role of authority in all its guises, bringing us a truly breathtaking science fiction trilogy that spans the ages.

When you don’t know The Rules it’s hard to stay safe.

After a traumatic incident, Aster’s blood work comes back with some unusual readings. Unsurprising, as she’s the last of an alien race called the Kibsu, though she doesn’t know it.

She becomes the focus of a hunt, with her mortal enemies, the Trackers, on one side, and the American government on the other. But help has come from a most unexpected quarter.

Whoever finds her first, it won’t be good news for Aster.

Or for the world!

Now, read on for four short chapters of the novel…

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Excerpt: NOT THE ONES DEAD by Dana Stabenow (Aries/Head of Zeus)

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StabenowD-KS23-NotTheOnesDeadUKHCToday, we have an excerpt from Not the Ones Dead by Dana Stabenow. The 23rd novel in the author’s Kate Shugak series, it is published today by Aries/Head of Zeus. Before we get to the excerpt, here’s the synopsis:

What seems a tragic accident soon becomes a murder investigation as Kate is drawn into a case of political intrigue.

A mid-air collision in the Alaskan wilderness between two small aircraft leaves ten people dead. Was it a bird strike, pilot error… or premeditated murder?

Then an eleventh body is found in the wreckage: a man shot gangland style, twice in the chest and once in the head.

In an investigation that reaches to the highest levels of government, justice may not be served, but Kate Shugak is determined that the truth will out, even at the risk of her life and the lives of those she loves most.

Now, on with the excerpt…

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Annotated Excerpt: DESCENDANT MACHINE by Gareth L. Powell (Titan)

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PowellGL-C2-DescendantMachineTomorrow, Titan Books is due to publish Gareth L. Powell‘s latest science fiction novel, Descendant Machine. This is the second novel in the author’s action-packed Continuance series, and sequel to Star and Bones. As part of the blog tour celebrating the release, the publisher has allowed me to share this excerpt. First, though, check out the synopsis:

When Nicola Mafalda’s scout ship comes under attack, she’s left deeply traumatised by the drastic action it takes to keep her alive. Months later, when an old flame comes to her for help, she realises she has to find a way to forgive both the ship and her former lover. Reckless elements are attempting to reactivate a giant machine that has lain dormant for thousands of years. To stop them, Nicola and her crew will have to put aside their differences, sneak aboard a vast alien megaship, and try to stay alive long enough to prevent galactic devastation.

And without further ado, let’s get on with the excerpt…

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