Pale Horse Coming, by Stephen Hunter

Stephen Hunter reviews films for the Washington Post and in his spare time writes terrific novels.  Or, maybe it’s the other way around.  His latest is a sequel to the wonderful Hot Springs.  We’re still in Arkansas but it’s now 1951 and Earl Swagger, the ex-Marine hero of the previous novel, has become a sergeant with the state police.  Earl’s good friend Sam Vincent, a former prosecuting attorney, is hired by a client to undertake a dangerous trip to deepest Mississippi to find a key person in an inheritance case.  Sam’s destination is the Thebes State Penal Farm, a brutal, evil, isolated place only accessible by water.  Sam is warned that no sane person ever visits Thebes but he feels a duty to his client and he goes anyway.  On arrival, Sam quickly runs afoul of the corrupt prison warden and he is arrested on trumped up murder charges.  Before he left for Mississippi Sam told Earl of his plans and now it falls to Earl to come up with a way to rescue Sam before he is sentenced to death.  Great action and suspense in this trip back to mid-twentieth century southern America.
 

Hope to Die, by Lawrence Block

Lawrence Block has a nice series going with his Matthew Scudder crime mysteries.  Matt lives a comfortable life in New York City with his second wife, Elaine.  A former cop and reformed alcoholic, he now does occasional informal private detective work with the assistance of his young black assistant, TJ.  Elaine and Matt have attended a dinner and concert performance at Lincoln Center and several days later they learn of the home invasion and murder of another couple that also had been at the event.  Matt feels a connection to the case but before he can check into it the police discover the culprits dead in a murder/suicide.  Well, that was easy!  But, maybe a little too easy—especially since we are only on chapter 2!  TJ knows a niece of the murdered couple and she thinks the only daughter of the couple might be involved in their death since she stands to inherit around 8 million dollars.  As a favor to TJ, Matt decides to take a look at the case after all—with results that will keep you entertained and engrossed through the remaining 39 chapters.
 

Last Man Standing, by David Baldacci

The last man standing is Web London, a member of  the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team.  Web has had an illustrious career and has won awards for bravery.  On a raid of a suspected drug dealer’s headquarters, Web inexplicably freezes and falls to the ground, briefly paralyzed and unable to move.  Falling down saves his life; the rest of his team members are gunned down and killed with remote-controlled weapons in a staged ambush.  Web must deal with the guilt of being the only man to have survived.  At the same time, he must try to figure out how information on  the secret raid was compromised and what caused him to freeze right before the start of the gunfire.  His investigation will take him back to a failed hostage rescue earlier in his career that still haunts him.  This isn’t Baldacci’s best book but it’s entertaining nevertheless with several unexpected plot twists.
 

Open Season, by Linda Howard

This is the second book I’ve read by Ms. Howard.  I liked the first one but this one was even better—maybe because the main character is a librarian.  Daisy Minor, 34, runs the town library of Hillsboro, Alabama.  Smart, witty, sexy, sassy, and gorgeous (nice to see a librarian accurately portrayed), Daisy is also single and looking for love and marriage.  First stop on her man search is the local dance bar—where Daisy inadvertently sees a murder take place.  Suddenly, her life is in danger as a witness who needs to be eliminated.  Luckily, Daisy has made a strong impression with the new Chief of Police, Jack Russo, formerly of New York City.  Russo is assisting an undercover investigation and the murder seems to be linked to his case.  Can he keep Daisy safe until the crime is solved?  This latest from Ms. Howard is a nice mix of suspense, romance, and humor—a fun read.
 

Secret Sanction, by Brian Haig

Wonderful thing, word of mouth.  I think it pretty much kept Memento alive in the movie theaters and helped make Amelie the highest-grossing French-language film ever released in America.  One of my co-workers recommended Secret Sanction to me after her mother had raved about it to her.  I ordered it for the Popular Collection, loved it, and now I’m recommending it to you.  And so it goes.  This is Brian Haig’s first novel and, yes, he is the son of Al Haig.  But, don’t hold that against him.  I think he has a great career ahead of him as a novelist.  Sean Drummond is a brash, single Army lawyer with past experience in the infantry.  When a U.S. Special Forces team operating in Bosnia is accused of massacring thirty-five Serbian fighters in cold blood, Sean is assigned to investigate the incident and determine whether charges will be brought against the team members.  There is no dispute that the Serbs are dead but the Special Forces team claims they were killed in a legitimate defensive military action.  The case has garnered worldwide attention and attracted a number of reporters, one of whom is murdered shortly after interviewing Sean in Tuzla.   Sean now has two mysteries on his hands—what really happened with the Special Forces team and who killed the reporter?   This is a great military legal thriller by a former West Pointer with the ‘right stuff’ and a real flare for storytelling.
 
 

 

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