Upcoming: MOSKVA by Jack Grimwood (Penguin)

December 17, 2015 Civilian Reader Upcoming Crime, Jack Grimwood, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Michael Joseph, Moscow, Moskva, Most Anticipated 2016, Penguin, Serial Killers, Thriller

GrimwoodJ-MoskvaUK Jack Grimwood is a pseudonym for Jon Courtenay Grimwood, the extremely talented author of, among others, The Fallen Blade, End of the World Blues and The Last Banquet. Now, he adds Moskva, a serial killer thriller set in Cold War Moscow. Here’s the synopsis:

Christmas Eve, 1985. The shaved, exsanguinated body of a young man is found in Red Square, frozen solid — like marble to the touch — missing the little finger of his right hand.

A week later, Alex Masterton, the 15-year-old stepdaughter of the British ambassador, goes missing. Army Intelligence officer, Tom Fox, posted to Moscow, is asked to help find her. It’s a shot at redemption.

Fox’s investigation drags him ever deeper towards the dark heart of a Soviet establishment determined to protect its own…

Moskva is due to be published by Michael Joseph/Penguin, on May 6th, 2016. It looks fantastic, and I can’t wait to read it.

Also on CR: Interview with Jon Courtenay Grimwood; Guest Posts on “We Know Goblins Don’t Exist” and group-post “Should You Write What You Read?”; Review of The Fallen Blade

Excerpt: THE 8TH CIRCLE by Sarah Cain (Crooked Lane)

December 16, 2015 Civilian Reader Excerpt, Upcoming 8th Circle, Crime, Crooked Lane Books, Politics, Sarah Cain, Thriller

CainS-1-8thCircle Sarah Cain‘s debut thriller, The 8th Circle is published by Crooked Lane Books on January 12th, 2016. Here’s the synopsis:

A year ago, Danny Ryan lost his wife and son in a car accident. He’s still reeling from the tragedy when Michael Cohen, his friend and fellow journalist, drives into the pond in front of his house with a bullet through his gut.

With Michael’s death ruled a murder, Danny must work to get his name crossed off the list of suspects, and that means digging into Michael’s last article, an expose of the twisted side of Philadelphia politics and nightlife. But powerful people are ready to kill to protect what Michael was about to uncover, and if Danny’s not careful, he’ll be next.

Crooked Lane Books have allowed me to share the first two chapters from the book. Continue reading →

Review: THE EX and DEAD CONNECTION by Alafair Burke

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015 Civilian Reader Review Alafair Burke, Crime, Dead Connection, Ellie Hatcher Series, Harper Collins, Henry Holt, Legal, New York, NYPD, The Ex, Thriller

A stand-alone and first in an earlier series

The first novel I read by Alafair Burke, The Ex, left me feeling a bit dissatisfied. Luckily, my second novel by the author was more engaging. I’m now looking forward to reading the rest of Burke’s backlist.
Continue reading →

New Books (September-October)

October 17, 2015August 23, 2018 Civilian Reader New Books Adrian J Walker, Alison Littlewood, Allen Eskens, Amie Kaufman, Ann Leckie, Apocalyptic, Audible UK, David Ellis, David Mitchell, David Tallerman, David Wong, Deborah Biancotti, Delacorte Press, Emily Foster, Emma Kavanagh, Fantasy, Gillian Anderson, Hodder, James Patterson, Jay Kristoff, Jeff Rovin, Jim Butcher, Johanna Basford, John Seabrook, Knopf, Linda Nagata, Louise Hall, Margo Lanagan, Neil Gaiman, Nick Frost, Orbit Books, Paul Murray, Richard Ford, Robinson, Roc Books, Salman Rushdie, Sam Munson, Sci-Fi, Scott Westerfeld, Susan Dennard, Thriller, Urban Fantasy, Will McIntosh

Featuring: Gillian Anderson, Johanna Basford, Jim Butcher, Susan Dennard, David Ellis, Allen Eskens, Richard Ford, Emily Foster, Nick Frost, Neil Gaiman, Louise Hall, Amie Kaufman, Emma Kavanagh, Jay Kristoff, Ann Leckie, Alison Littlewood, Will McIntosh, David Mitchell, Sam Munson, Paul Murray, Linda Nagata, James Patterson, Jeff Rovin, Salman Rushdie, John Seabrook, David Tallerman, Adrian J. Walker, Scott Westerfeld, David Wong

[Yes, those GIFs have nothing to do with books. So?] Continue reading →

Review: CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE & THE KILL FEE by Owen Laukkanen (Corvus)

September 28, 2015September 26, 2015 Civilian Reader Review Corvus Books, Crime, Criminal Enterprise, FBI, Kill Fee, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Owen Laukkanen, St Paul, Stevens & Windermere, Thriller

Two more excellent Stevens & Windermere cases

CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE

From the outside, Carter Tomlin’s life looks perfect: a big house, a pretty wife, two kids — a St. Paul success story. But Tomlin has a secret. He’s lost his job, the bills are mounting, and that perfect life is hanging by a thread. Desperate, he robs a bank. Then he robs another.

As the red flags start to go up, FBI Special Agent Carla Windermere hones in on Tomlin from one direction, while Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens picks up the trail from another. The two cops haven’t talked since their first case together, but that’s all going to change very quickly. Because Carter Tomlin’s decided he likes robbing banks. And it’s not because of the money, not anymore. Tomlin has guns and a new taste for violence. And he’s not quitting anytime soon…

In the second novel in Laukkanen’s excellent Stevens & Windermere series, the financial crisis drives a successful accountant to walk on the darkside. Unfortunately, it awakens a side of himself that had hitherto been hidden. When desperation drives Tomlin to start robbing banks, his taste for crime leads his exploits into deadly escalate. Into the mix, FBI Special Agent Windermere is assigned to the bank robberies, which eventually brings her back in touch with BCA investigator Stevens. The two haven’t been in contact since the events of The Professionals, and their relationship remains somewhat strange and comfortable-and-uncomfortable at the same time. It’s a fast-paced novel, as Tomlin spirals out of control, and Stevens (and, ultimately, his family) gets roped into the case. I enjoyed this as much as the first novel. Highly recommended.

THE KILL FEE

In Saint Paul, Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens and his sometime colleague FBI special agent Carla Windermere witness the assassination of a local billionaire. The shooter flees the scene, but not before the pair see his face — and the blank expression in his eyes. Stevens and Windermere investigate and are led across the country, down dead ends and into long-forgotten cold cases, until they finally discover a chilling clue: a high tech murder-for-hire website. It’s a break in the case but only the beginning. Who is the dead-eyed shooter? Who recruits the assassins? And who profits from the fee? It is a race against the clock, and the killer has his next target in sight…

In this third novel, Laukkanen seems to be stretching his authorial-wings, in less of a rush to tell his story. This is no bad thing, but I certainly noted the less-breakneck pacing. It’s an interesting novel, and just as good, too. Stevens and Windermere have been keeping in touch, maintaining a friendship, and it is on one of their coffee dates that they witness a professional hit go down in St. Paul. They follow the killer as he flees the scene, but there’s something off about him — beyond the fact that he’s a killer,of course. Windermere and Stevens are tasked with uncovering the identity and motive of the killer. As more deaths pile up, though, they realise that there’s something far more sinister going on. The novel is an interesting look at manipulation and the depravations of PTSD. As it turns out, the novels main villain is not the killer, but someone far worse. A slower novel, but no less gripping as a result. Another great novel in what is fast becoming a favourite. Highly recommended.

Criminal Enterprise and The Kill Fee are published in the UK by Corvus Books; in the US the series is published by Berkley. The fourth novel, The Stolen Ones, is out now. The fifth novel, The Watcher in the Wall is out in March 2016.

Interview with CHRISTOPHER FOWLER

September 24, 2015September 23, 2015 Civilian Reader Interview Bryant & May, Burning Man, Christopher Fowler, City Jitters, Fiction, Horror, Nyctophobia, Roofworld, Sand Men, Solaris, Thriller

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Christopher Fowler?

If you want the official version, Christopher Fowler is the award-winning author of over 40 novels and short story collections, including the Bryant & May mysteries, recording the adventures of two Golden Age detectives in modern-day London. His most recent books were the haunted house thriller Nyctophobia and The Burning Man. Other work includes screenplays, videogames, graphic novels and audio plays. He won the CWA Dagger In The Library this year for outstanding work and has a weekly column in The Independent On Sunday. He lives in King’s Cross, London and Barcelona and daily updates his fairly unusual blog.

Your latest novel, The Sand Men, is published by Solaris. I finished it recently, and enjoyed it. How would you introduce it to a potential reader?

I like thrillers that ask awkward questions about our world. It’s about what happens when old and new cultures clash, in this case, Dubai’s fast-forward rush into the future, and the damage it inflicts on people. Continue reading →

Image Comics Catch-Up (Sci-Fi)

September 15, 2015 Civilian Reader Comics, Review Action, Corinna Bechko, Descender, Dustin Nguyen, Eric Canete, Gabriel Hardman, Image Comics, Invisible Republic, Jeff Lemire, Jonathan Tsuei, Jordan Boyd, RunLoveKill, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Tin Stars

Short-but-sweet reviews of three of Image Comics’ latest Sci-Fi series.

DESCENDER, Vol.1 – “Tin Stars”

Writer: Jeff Lemire | Artist: Dustin Nguyen

Young Robot boy TIM-21 and his companions struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet. Written by award-winning creator, Jeff Lemire, Descender is a rip-roaring and heart-felt cosmic odyssey. Lemire pits humanity against machine, and world against world, to create a sprawling epic.

Collects: Descender #1-6

This series has received so much love from critics and readers alike, and it’s easy to see why. Not only is Nguyen’s artwork gorgeous, but Lemire’s story and characters are fantastic as well. (Is anyone really surprised by either of those things…? No. Didn’t think so.) It’s an interesting setting and idea, pulled off with skill and deft characterisation. It’s a little unclear where this is headed, but the revelations at the end of the final chapter certainly suggest things are going to get very interesting indeed.

Tim-21 is an interesting character, as are the others he meets on his journey. His innocence is a great foil for the harsh universe he finds himself in, after awakening from years in sleep-mode. Different factions are after him, and this will, I’m sure, ultimately be the story of how he changes those he comes into contact with (as well as some interesting possibilities hinted at regarding A.I., spirituality and so forth).

A really excellent beginning to one of the year’s best new series. I really enjoyed this.

Publisher Page

INVISIBLE REPUBLIC, Vol.1

Writer: Gabriel Hardman & Corinna Bechko | Artist: Gabriel Hardman & Jordan Boyd

When a reporter unearths the secret history of the recently deposed dictator of a remote colonized moon, he discovers exposing secrets can be deadly.

Collects: Invisible Republic #1-5

The last couple of years have given readers so very many excellent new series (including Descenders, above). Invisible Republic, though, is possibly my favourite new series of the year. The story is told in two different time periods, 42 years apart. In the “current” time-period, a dictatorship has fallen, leaving a moon economically strained, socially unsettled, and politically a mess. Into the mix, a reporter stumbles across what appears to be a diary by the now-deposed dictator’s cousin. It offers an alternative perspective on the official history of the moon — upending the fabricated account the dictator used to solidify his mystique and legendary revolutionary status. It is a present-at-the-creation, type of diary. Naturally, this is explosive material with incredible potential for further disruption and lucrative media possibilities. The second time-line is focused on the months leading up to the coup and installation of the dictatorship.

That’s all pretty vague, but I came into the book knowing nothing about it (at all — didn’t even read the synopsis), and I loved not knowing anything that was to come. The artwork is great, reminiscent of a lot of DMZ and Epting’s Captain America, but by no means a rip-off — it has a distinct character of its own, which brilliantly evokes the characters, their environs and the situations they find themselves in. The dialogue is some of the most natural I’ve read in a comic in a while, and the story is perfectly-paced and gripping.

Really very highly recommended. I can’t wait for book two. Marvellous stuff.

Publisher Page

RUNLOVEKILL, Vol.1

Writer: Jonathan Tsuei & Eric Canete | Artist: Eric Canete

The Origami, a mysterious military organization, is on the hunt for one of their former assassins, Rain Oshiro. Their grasp over the city of Prygat is tightening and Rain has less than twenty-four hours to get out before she’s trapped forever. Rain must face the decisions of her past while using everything at her disposal to avoid capture or even worse, death.

Collects: RunLoveKill #1-4

Of the three issues reviewed today, this one was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn’t necessarily bad, it was just very busy. Rain is on the run from actions in her past; Origami agents are after her, and some of them have dino-suits and aren’t above destroying a nightclub packed with innocent bystanders; she has a friend who seems to control a teleportation device, has a lot of money and is clearly in love with her… Oh, and maybe she is special beyond the fact that she did something in the past…? (You find out at the end of the book. Sort-of.)

The pace is relentless, which can be no bad thing, but here it seemed that action and perpetual motion buried the story and context a bit. That the ending is so abrupt was also an interesting decision. I came away from this book not really sure what to think. I’ll certainly be reading volume two, if only to see if they give us a little bit more to go on. An interesting idea, a nice spin on the fugitive/sci-fi story-type. The artwork’s pretty nice, too — interestingly style, colourful, distinct.

A cautious recommendation, perhaps wait until you can get more issues/volume two as well…?

Publisher Page

Quick Review: THE SAND MEN by Christopher Fowler (Solaris)

September 9, 2015September 8, 2015 Civilian Reader Review Christopher Fowler, Conspiracy, Dubai, Globalisation, Sand Men, Solaris, Suspense, Thriller

An interesting, slow-burn mystery in Dubai

In Dubai there’s a new world of high-luxury resorts emerging for the super-rich – but at what price to everyone else?

Lea, Roy and their 15 year-old daughter Cara live in a gated community reserved for foreign workers. Roy has been hired to deal with teething problems at Dream World, a futuristic beach complex. In the oppressive heat, the wives appear happy to follow behind their husbands, cooking and arranging tea parties, but Lea finds herself a virtual prisoner in a land where Western women are regarded with indifference and suspicion.

At least there are a few friendly outsiders who don’t enjoy the conformity of the ex-pat community — until one night, when the most outspoken one dies in a suspicious accident. It’s the first in a string of terrible occurrences that divide the foreign workers. Lea’s neighbours start to blame migrants, locals and even each other.

Lea is convinced that deliberate acts of cruelty are being committed – but is there a real threat to her life, or is she becoming paranoid? And what if the thing she fears most is really happening? What happens in a world where only the rich are important? Welcome to a future that’s five minutes away, where rebellion against conformity can lead to the unthinkable…

This is the first of Christopher Fowler’s novels that I’ve read, and I must say I rather enjoyed it. The Sand Men wasn’t quite what I’d expected: in good ways, and one I thought could have been expanded upon. Continue reading →

Review: HOUSE RECKONING and HOUSE RIVALS by Mike Lawson (Grove/Atlantic)

August 27, 2015August 26, 2015 Civilian Reader Review Crime, Grove Atlantic, House Reckoning, House Rivals, Joe DeMarco, Mike Lawson, Most Anticipated 2015, Must Read 2014, Must Read 2015, Politics, Thriller, Washington DC

The ninth and tenth Joe DeMarco novels

When Joe DeMarco was a boy, he always knew his father, Gino, had a shadowy job, working for a violent mafioso in New York. But he didn’t know that his father had been a hit man until he was murdered. The crime was never solved, but twenty years later, one of Gino’s former mob associates wants to get something off his chest before retiring to his grave: the truth about Gino DeMarco’s killer.

Only the alleged killer was not just another hood, but a supposedly upstanding citizen who is now on the brink of taking a job in Washington, D.C., that would leave him virtually untouchable. If DeMarco has any hope of finding out the truth and avenging his father’s death, he will have to act quickly. But is revenge over a two-decades-old tragedy worth his job, and maybe even his life?

House Reckoning tells DeMarco’s personal story in full for the first time, from his upbringing in Queens to his complicated relationship with his father.

Mike Lawson’s Joe DeMarco novels are among my favourite political thrillers. The series has been pretty varied so far, taking DeMarco all over the map. In these two novels, something from his past takes him to New York City and something in his boss’s past (and a fanatical offspring) takes him to the Dakotas and Montana. Another two great additions to the series.
Continue reading →

Upcoming: EXTREME PREY by John Sandford (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

August 12, 2015 Civilian Reader Upcoming Crime, Extreme Prey, GP Putnam's Sons, John Sandford, Lucas Davenport, Most Anticipated 2016, Penguin Books, Politics, Prey Series, Thriller

The 26th Lucas Davenport novel! After finishing Gathering Prey, I was a little concerned that the series might have ended. Thankfully, a couple of a days ago, John Sandford announced Extreme Prey! To be published in April 2016 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, it sounds pretty interesting:

After the events in Gathering Prey, Lucas Davenport finds himself in a very unusual situation — no longer employed by the Minnesota BCA. His friend the governor is just cranking up a presidential campaign, though, and he invites Lucas to come along as part of his campaign staff. “Should be fun!” he says, and it kind of is — until they find they have a shadow: an armed man intent on killing the governor… and anyone who gets in the way.

Can’t wait to read this. If you haven’t tried the Prey series, yet, I highly recommend it. John Sandford is easily one of my all-time favourite authors.