THOSE EMPTY EYES by Charlie Donlea is a complex and gripping thriller featuring the notorious sole survivor of the murder of her family and her ten-year search for their killer. I have read several of Mr. Donlea’s books and he never fails to keep me turning the pages in anticipation of the inevitable unexpected twists to come.
Alex Quinlan not only survived the horrific murder of her parents and brother but is accused of the crime and dubbed “Empty Eyes” by the insatiable media. When the state’s case falls apart, Alex with the help of her attorney sues the state for defamation and while she wins the case, the media still has doubts of her innocence.
Ten years later and Alex is now Alex Armstrong and working as an investigator for her attorney’s law firm. When she is sent to investigate the disappearance of a college student, Alex discovers unexpected connections to the murder of her family and soon realizes that those she is closest to may not be who they seem.
This is one of those books that you think is finished with the revelation of the killer, but it is not. A twist filled plot and another in the last pages of the book, make this a book that will be discussed long after “The End” whether you liked it or not. Alex is a character that you immediately feel sympathy for with her treatment after the murder of her family, but as the story continues, she grows into a strong and intelligent protagonist who refuses to forget the past but seeks answers from it. This thriller has intriguing characters that are fully fleshed and believable, multiple mysteries and shocking twists that never end.
I highly recommend this intriguing thriller!
***
About the Author
Charlie Donlea is the #1 internationally bestselling author of Summit Lake, The Girl Who Was Taken, Don’t Believe It, Some Choose Darkness, The Suicide House, Twenty Years Later, and Those Empty Eyes. Praised for his “soaring pace, teasing plot twists” (BookPage) and talent for writing an ending that “makes your jaw drop” (The New York Times Book Review), Donlea has been called a “bold new writer…on his way to becoming a major figure in the world of suspense” (Publishers Weekly). A late bloomer, he was twenty years old when he read his first novel––THE FIRM by John Grisham––and knew he would someday write thrillers. His books have now been translated into twenty languages across nearly forty countries.
He was born and raised in Chicago, where he continues to live with his wife and two children.
Off the northeast coast of Russia, the captain and crew of a small crabbing vessel are brutally murdered by members of Bratva, the Russian mafia—their bodies stuffed into crab pots and thrown overboard. The killers scuttle the vessel off the coast of Alaska and slip ashore.
In Washington, DC, Supreme Court Justice Charlotte Morehouse prepares for a trip to Alaska, unaware that a killer is waiting to take his revenge—by livestreaming her death to the world.
In Anchorage, Alaska, Deputy US Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki are assigned to security detail at a judicial conference in Fairbanks. Lola is tasked with guarding Justice Townsend’s teenaged daughter while Cutter provides counter-surveillance. It’s a simple, routine assignment—until the mother and daughter decide to explore the Alaskan wilderness on the famous Glacier Discovery train. Hiding onboard are the Chechen terrorists, who launch a surprise attack. While they seize control of the engine, Cutter manages to escape with Justice Townsend by jumping off the moving train—and into the unforgiving wilderness.
With no supplies and no connection to the outside world, Cutter and the judge must cross a treacherous terrain to stay alive. Two of the terrorists are close behind. The others are on the train with the judge’s daughter—and they plan to execute her on camera. With so many lives at stake, Cutter knows there are only two options left: catch the train and kill them all . . . or all will be killed.
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Breakneck by Marc Cameron comes alive with a train ride deep into the Alaskan wilderness. US Marshal Arliss Cutter along with the Alaskan setting plus the Russian mob make for a good thriller recipe. There is plenty of action, suspense, and mystery.
The main plot line has Deputy US Marshal Arliss Cutter and his partner, Lola Teariki assigned to a security detail at a judicial conference in Fairbanks. They are appointed to the protective detail of US Supreme Court Justice Charlotte Morehouse and her teenage daughter Ramona. After the conference ends, they decide to take a scenic train ride to explore the Alaskan wilderness on the famous Glacier Discovery Train. Unfortunately, no one suspects the Russian mobster, Maxim Volkov, who wants the Justice dead in retribution for the role she played in the death of his wife. The Russians are brutal, unrepentant, and have no qualms about killing anyone who gets in their way. The train’s confined space makes the Justice an easy target. To save the Justice, Arliss has them both jump overboard. This is where another antagonist, the setting, comes into play.
The other sub-plots involve the growing romance between Lola and Anchorage Policeman Joe Bill Bracket, the pursuit for truth about Arliss’s brother Ethan’s death, and the need for Arliss and his sister-in-law Mim to address their feelings for each other.
This story takes off, putting readers on a wild ride with the characters who are fighting for their survival. The action is authentic, the characters well written, and the plot intense.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?
Mark Cameron: All these books are boiling around in my mind from my career. I wanted to write about the different jobs of US Marshals including a protection “gig” for my main character Arliss.
EC: How would you describe US Supreme Court Justice Charlotte Morehouse?
MC: For many years my primary focus in the Marshal service was protecting Supreme Court Justices and District Judges. It is something I am familiar with including the setting of Alaska. Justice Morehouse lives in an insulated world and has a position of power. She rises above people waiting on her and doing all the research. She is a good listener and a good person. I did not write her as a damsel in distress, but Arliss did help her survive Alaska. She has a teenage daughter, Ramona who Lola, Cutter’s partner, protects, interacts with, and can show a playful side.
EC: Was Morehouse based on anyone?
MC: None of the characters are based on any one person. But she was inspired by those I met. I was on Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s detail a few times. I met her when she had come to Alaska to fish. I always respected her demeanor, a wise human being. I interacted with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg since I was the Chief when she came to Alaska. I wanted to write about how the US Marshals protected them. We protect everybody equally and stay out of the politics.
EC: You mention in the book another types of law enforcement, VPSO?
MC: It stands for Village Public Safety Officer. They have a motto, “First Responders in the last frontier.” They are funded by the state and the tribes. It is a quasi-law enforcement type. They help the state troopers. They are generally unarmed but do carry teasers, pepper spray, and a baton. Many times, they are in places where there are no troopers stationed and do have power to arrest. They do everything from combating criminals, fires, and do search/rescue. I wrote about this profession with the character George Polty.
EC: How did the setting of Alaska play into the plot?
MC: The Alaska setting is an antagonist because it is so brutal. The Alaskan wilderness is uncaring and scary. The wind, the snow, and the river. Whether a billionaire or pauper the river can drown someone. People must learn to go on the wilderness’s terms. If someone fights it head on, they will lose. There is no fair. If someone is not smart the setting can kill them.
EC: There was also the Alaskan train. Did you do any research?
MC: My wife and I rode it just last year. I flew over it, took some boats, and then four wheelers to make sure I was familiar with the area. It is wild, off the grid. The train goes through once a day during the season, but the rest of the time it is locked in snow and ice. When the snowpack melts there are chunks of ice, scouring the riverbank. The river rises and turns turbulent.
EC: What is the role of Captain Tom Walker, a former Army Ranger sniper?
MC: He represents those people who is a loner, odd duck. He hides out, sick of civilian civilized life. Arliss Cutter is envious of his simple life.
EC: Why the Russian mob angle?
MC: I said in the beginning of the book, Russia is just like Alaska except they have tigers. It is the same setting. The wilderness is the same. Russia is just across the water from some of the Alaskan islands.
EC: Where are you going with the relationship between Mim and Arliss?
MC: She married his brother, Ethan, who died a few years ago. She is a little scared of her own feelings. The next book will show where they will be headed. Some readers will think that there is an attraction between Mim and her brother-in-law, Arliss. Hopefully I laid the groundwork that he is not a stalker, but their feelings have been a long slow burn. But I think most people will think that if they get together it will be organic and natural. He is damaged, having lost his last wife to cancer; she is widowed; and they do have a past when they were sixteen and dated.
EC: Can you explain the meaning of Grandfather Grumpy’s credo, “never go anywhere for the first time”?
MC: It means talk to people who have been there already, don’t go anywhere blind. Read up about it. Get all the information you can. All these sayings I have learned along the way. I started in law enforcement in the eighties. I worked with cowboys, Viet Nam vets, my own grandparents. I used their rules and put them in Grumpy’s words when they fit the narrative.
EC: Next book?
MC: The overall arc about Ethan’s death will continue. It is titled Bad River. There will be a murder investigation in the far Alaskan north, around Utqiagvik. It will be out a year from now.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Picture a lovely cottage on a cliff, with sloping lawns, walking paths, and beautiful flowers. It’s Gabe and Pippa Gerard’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Over the past several months, Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge.
Until one day, he doesn’t.
When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral. . . .Did the victim jump? Was she pushed? And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate . . . lie? As the perfect façade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel. Because sometimes, the most convincing lies are the ones we tell ourselves.
THE SOULMATE by Sally Hepworth is a twisted domestic psychological suspense/thriller that continually surprised me. I have been avoiding this genre because I felt they all read alike and began to bore me, but this story is anything but cookie cutter and boring. This is a standalone book that you will want to make time to read.
Gabe and Pippa and their two small daughters have moved to their dream cottage in a small coastal Australian town. The only problem is the cottage has a cliff behind their home called “The Drop” at the end of the street that people use to end their lives. Since their move, Gabe has been very successful at talking people away from the ledge, until Pippa watching through the kitchen window, sees a woman Gabe is talking to go over the cliff.
Did she jump or was she pushed?
When Pippa discovers the identity of the woman, questions and doubts begin to tear their seemingly perfect marriage apart.
While the protagonists of this story are Gabe and Pippa, another couple Max and Amanda play a pivotal role throughout this always surprising plot. The story itself is narrated by Pippa in the now and in the then, while intertwining with Amanda telling her narration in the before and the after. It may sound confusing, but it is surprisingly easy to follow as they tell the reader about their marriages. This story focuses on how each couple looked at their own marriage, fidelity and partnership with the suspense occurring whenever their lives intersected. There are many secrets that I cannot reveal, but I will say that every time I felt I knew where the plot was headed, I was wrong. The author did an excellent job of showing Gabe’s mental illness through his actions and the codependence Pippa displayed. This is an exciting read that showed me there are still some domestic suspense stories worth reading even though I am not sure I liked the climax.
I recommend this domestic psychological suspense/thriller.
***
About the Author
Sally Hepworth is the bestselling author of The Secrets of Midwives (2015), The Things We Keep (2016) The Mother’s Promise (2017), The Family Next Door (2018), The Mother In Law (April 2019), The Good Sister (April 2021) and The Younger Wife (April 2022). Hollywood actress and producer, Amy Poehler, has optioned The Mother In Law for a TV series.
Sally’s books have been labelled “enchanting” by The Herald Sun, “smart and engaging” by Publisher’s Weekly, and New York Times bestselling authors Liane Moriarty and Emily Giffin have praised Sally’s novels as “women’s fiction at its finest” and “totally absorbing”. Sally’s novels are available worldwide in English and have been translated into 10+ languages.
Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children.
To find a Russian mole in the White House, an FBI agent must question everything. . . and trust no one
To save America from a catastrophic betrayal, an idealistic young FBI agent must stop a Russian mole in the White House in this exhilarating political thriller reminiscent of the early novels of John Grisham and David Baldacci.
No one was more surprised than FBI Agent Peter Sutherland when he’s tapped to work in the White House Situation Room. From his earliest days as a surveillance specialist, Peter has scrupulously done everything by the book, hoping his record will help him escape the taint of his past. When Peter was a boy, his father, a section chief in FBI counterintelligence, was suspected of selling secrets to the Russians—a catastrophic breach that had cost him his career, his reputation, and eventually his life.
Peter knows intimately how one broken rule can cost lives. Nowhere is he more vigilant than in this room, the sanctum of America’s secrets. Staffing the night action desk, his job is monitoring an emergency line for a call that has not—and might never—come.
Until tonight.
At 1:05 a.m. the phone rings. A terrified young woman named Rose tells Peter that her aunt and uncle have just been murdered and that the killer is still in the house with her. Before their deaths, they gave her this phone number with urgent instructions: “Tell them OSPREY was right. It’s happening. . . “
The call thrusts Peter into the heart of a conspiracy years in the making, involving a Russian mole at the highest levels of the government. Anyone in the White House could be the traitor. Anyone could be corrupted. To save the nation, Peter must take the rules into his own hands and do the right thing, no matter the cost. He plunges into a desperate hunt for the traitor—a treacherous odyssey that pits him and Rose against some of Russia’s most skilled and ruthless operatives and the full force of the FBI itself.
Peter knows that the wider a secret is broadcast, the more dangerous it gets for the people at the center. With the fate of the country on the line, he and Rose must evade seasoned assassins and maneuver past jolting betrayals to find the shocking truth—and stop the threat from inside before it’s too late.
***
Elise’s Thoughts
The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk was published in 2021. It has been made into a Netflix TV series, http://www.netflix.com/thenightagent, and was released on March 23rd. Both the show and book are riveting thrillers that delve into corruption at the highest levels of government.
The plot has FBI Agent Peter Sutherland tapped to work in the White House Situation Room. When Peter was a boy, his father was suspected of being a traitor, a breach that cost him his career, his reputation, and eventually his life. Now Peter’s job is monitoring an emergency telephone line from US diplomats or assets in trouble. The phone never rings until one night a terrified young woman named Rose tells Peter that her aunt and uncle are being threatened and the perpetrator is after her. Peter believes her and decides to help, thrusting him and Rose into danger as they try to find out if there is a traitor in the White House.
People can watch the Netflix episodes first and then read the book or vice versa. In both cases there is a riveting story that has some different aspects between the book and the series. Below is an interview with the stars of the show, Gabriel Basso (Peter Sutherland), Luciane Buchanan (Rose Larkin), the creator/showrunner/executive producer, Shawn Ryan, and the author, Matthew Quirk.
***
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: After watching the Netflix episodes people could still go back and read the book because of the differences. Do you agree?
Matthew Quirk: People are not watching a rendition of the book. The show and the book are on their own terms. It is wild to see a scene I have written on screen, but there were also things that happened I did not write. I really loved the series. My wife and I were able to watch all ten episodes. I forgot it was my book. We were completely hooked. I am grateful to everyone involved in the production. The fun of it was seeing some of my scenes filmed and bringing in new stuff to give it a second life. It was fascinating to see how they did it and bring all the pieces together. Yet, both the book and the series have a man/woman on the run. They have the same spirit.
Shawn Ryan: I encourage people to read the book and watch the series. Matthew was great telling me to change what I wanted to change. For instance, the Metro bombing in the book is almost like a memory, whereas in the show I elevated it to a crucial event. There is a lot in the spine of the book that provides the spine of the show, a lot we filled in, and some things we felt we changed for the better. The book and the show are very much related, but they are also different artistic endeavors. I think you can enjoy both independently.
EC: What was your idea for the story?
Matthew: The world of the Night Agent does come from real life although I did take some liberties. It is something that is put on diplomatic cables to indicate the importance. Someone like Peter must wake-up an important official including the President. A relatively junior person on the Situation Room desk, if it happens in the middle of the night, that person could be briefing the President, the first point of contact of a global disaster.
Shawn: The story of a young man who wishes he knew more about his deceased father. I had an experience where my father died suddenly. As I cleaned up his house, I found some stuff that had me wanting to ask him questions about his past, but I knew I would not have that chance. I think I worked out my personal stuff through this story.
Matthew: I also wanted to have the accusations against Peter’s father as a cloud over him. His loyalty is being questioned for the sins of his father. I had friends whose stories are not dissimilar. The evil states try to entrap Americans and their tactics are very brutal. I tried to show how the Cold War was played out between the generations of Peter and his father.
EC: How did you come by the story?
Shawn: I read thrillers and have a couple of friends who are authors, Gregg Hurwitz, and Robert Crais. In this case I had a meeting with Jamie Vanderbilt, the writer and producer whose company optioned the book. He asked if I would be interested. After reading this book I fell in love with the characters and saw an opportunity for the Secret Service arc I had been working on. I did not feel there was enough in the book for ten episodes.
Matthew: I had a friend who worked for the FBI in DC and would disappear every night around ten pm. People would whisper what was his job. This idea stuck with me even though I did not know what his actual job was. After speaking with my agent and friends, we all thought this is a good premise for a book. I came up with the story including the phone that never rings. The whole story is based on my imagination of what my friend did. I wanted to write something like classic 70s thrillers, written by Robert Ludlum.
EC: What about the Secret Service arc that was not in the book?
Shawn: I had been working on a Secret Service story independently but did not have enough for one show. I did not want to do a Secret Service story about protecting the President considering we see that a lot. I thought what jobs would not be prestigious in the protection part of that organization. I always have been fascinated in children of Presidents going off to college. How would that work? I did speak to someone on Chelsea Clinton’s detail. I essentially said this is how I imagine it and he thought I was close to reality.
Matthew: This made it fun because now I am watching as a viewer, with all the surprises. Shawn and I did talk a little bit on where the story was going. But overall, my attitude was ‘go for it’ since ‘I love your stuff and trust you.’ I also was invited to the set to watch some of the filming. I did chat with the actors and actresses briefly on the set.
EC: What about this quote in the show, “The Secret Service’s job is to protect the institution.”
Shawn: Those in the Secret Service must be different political types. Someone is willing to give up their life for Barack Obama, then Donald Trump, and then Joe Biden. I have always been interested in the mentality of this. They believe they are standing up for the institution of the Presidency and Democracy. The above quote by the Secret Service character Eric Monks is what he believes, standing up for a set of values.
EC: What were your favorite scenes in the series versus the book?
Matthew: The Secret Service arcs. The actors, D. B. Woodside who played Erik Monks, and Fola Evans-Akingbola, who played Chelsea Arrington, absolutely did a great job with their portrayals. This was all Shawn Ryan’s part of the story.
EC: Is it a David versus Goliath story?
Matthew: I think the espionage stuff mingled with the mundane. They are spies where on the weekends they would go to their children’s soccer games. They have suburban lives. The international intrigue intruded on the normal, boring, suburban life. It was a David versus Goliath story with a lowly analyst up against many powerful state actors.
Shawn: Ultimately what I really liked that emulates from Matthew’s book is that it is an underdog story. Peter is the least important person in a very important place, until that phone rings. This is like an Alfred Hitchcock movie where a very ordinary person is put in a very extraordinary circumstance. He is not a Jason Bourne or John Wick who would take on ten people in a room and come out victorious. I liked that Peter gets bruised and battered and yet keeps going. This could be a lesson for us: we might be overwhelmed at times with circumstances bigger than we can imagine yet we plow forward to do the right thing.
Gabriel who plays Peter: A better analogy is Hercules versus the Hydra. One head is cut off and more heads grow. It never feels like it’s a singular enemy and you do not know who it is, always being betrayed. This is what I likened it too.
EC: How would you describe Peter?
Shawn: This is a case where the collaboration between Matthew and me is very important. There is something noble about Peter, not wanting a lot of attention. He must be super careful because of the backstory involving his father. I absolutely think he is a bit naïve, which he must overcome throughout these ten episodes. I took pieces from my own marriage without realizing it. I tend to be like Peter in my life, immediately trust people until proven otherwise. Where my wife tends to be like Rose, justifiably skeptical.
Matthew: A rule follower, calm, bright, ambitious, curious, meticulous, confident, and honest to a fault. What I wanted to do with Peter, is force him to face the most difficult challenges. He was on the Metro train that was bombed, which lit a fire under him. He felt there was a conspiracy that drew him into the high stakes plot. Readers will question if he changed in the book, or did he have things bottled up most of his life?
Gabriel: Relentless, not caring about his own personal risk. He goes for it. He has become a rule follower because it was told to him by his dad that it matters. When you uphold the system, you uphold the principles behind the system. It does not make sense to him how those who took an oath are lying and manipulative. He feels betrayed by the whole process.
EC: How would you describe Rose?
Matthew: A survivor, sharp, tough, fearless, determined, and adaptable. She is a foil to Peter, because she is resourceful and does what it takes to get things done.
Shawn: I was having trouble with her characterization. I contacted Matthew and asked him what he was thinking with Rose. He told me something that really unlocked her for me, ‘I always thought of Peter as a rule follower and Rose is a rule breaker. The two of them must become a little more like each other to survive together.’ She had to live by her wits from a young age with no father and an absentee mother.
Luciane who played Rose: Very driven and ambitious. She is at a very, very low point in her life. I think she is like Peter; both are loners.
EC: Why did you choose the role?
Gabriel: I talked to Shawn, and he told me Peter will be real, grounded, and his hits will be grimy, with Peter out of his depth. Peter will not have to be Superman. I liked that a lot. I think it is more layered and nuanced than ‘I am the protagonist, get out of my way.’ It is more fun and serious. I was able to invest in the story. I think what helped is that I have been hit in real life, so I know what it is like. The tattoos are real; the scars are real. I am real. I did all the fighting and most of the other stuff. Except where insurance thought it too risky so the stunt coordinator would do it.
EC: Will there be a season two with the same actors?
Shawn: We would love to make a season two. I hope there are enough people to watch season one and like it. It is important to me that each season tells its own story with a new location. Peter will probably be one of those characters.
Luciane: We do not make the decisions, but Gabriel and I hope there will be a season two.
Matthew: Right now, I have no plans to write a sequel to The Night Agent.
Thank you!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
He performs his profane ceremony in a wooded Minneapolis park, anointing his victims, then setting the bodies ablaze. He has already claimed three lives, and he won’t stop there. Only this time there is a witness. But she isn’t talking.
Enter Kate Conlan, former FBI agent turned victim/witness advocate. Not even she can tell if the reluctant witness is a potential victim or something more troubling still. Her superiors are interested only because the latest victim may be the daughter of Peter Bondurant, an enigmatic billionaire. When Peter pulls strings, Special Agent John Quinn gets assigned to the case. But the FBI’s ace profiler of serial killers is the last person Kate wants to work with, not with their troubled history. Now she faces the most difficult role of her career—and her life. For she’s the only woman who has what it takes to stop the killer . . . and the one woman he wants next.
ASHES TO ASHES (Kovac and Liska Book #1) by Tami Hoag is the start of a new series featuring a former FBI agent who is now a local law enforcement victim advocate and a high-profile FBI serial killer profiler who share a personal past. This book does have graphic scenes of violence and torture, but it is expected when I read a serial killer suspense by this author and she adeptly mixes the gruesome with a humanizing empathy for the victims, witty dialogue, and a subplot second chance romance that will carry on through the series.
The Minneapolis papers have named him “The Cremator” after his killing of two prostitutes who he tortured and then left burning is public parks. His third victim is a billionaire’s daughter and that has the police and politicians scrambling.
Former FBI agent now victim advocate Kate Conlan is assigned to a teenage witness who claims to have witnessed “The Cremator” setting the latest victim on fire and FBI profiler John Quinn is called in by the billionaire’s father to assist the Minneapolis authorities. As they work together to catch a sadistic killer who continually taunts the police, they are also dealing with a complicated past from when Kate left the FBI five years previously.
As Kate and John get closer to catching the killer, the killer still has some twisted surprises in store for Kate. Will she survive the attention of “The Cremator”?
I enjoyed this serial killer thriller/police procedural/romantic suspense mash-up from start to finish. There are graphic scenes of torture against women, but this is a serial killer thriller story, so I expected them, and Ms. Hoag is adept at giving me the chills without making the scenes seem gratuitous. The story is more suspense/thriller than romance, but there are two seriously hot sex scenes as Kate and John work through their complicated pasts and come together for the future books in the series. I will say that the revelations surrounding the killer’s identity surprised me and made for a tense and exciting conclusion. As you may have noticed, Conlan and Quinn are not Kovac and Liska which is why I did not give this book more stars. Kovac and Liska are the Minneapolis detectives in this story and while they are important players and had great wise-cracking dialogue, I did not feel they were the focus like Kate and John.
Not for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed the start to this series and I am looking forward to continuing the series.
***
About the Author
Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers–COLD COLD HEART and THE 9TH GIRL. Renowned for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller list with NIGHT SINS, and each of her books since has been a bestseller. She leads a double life in Palm Beach County, Florida where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Other interests include the study of psychology, and mixed martial arts fighting. A woman of eclectic tastes, to say the least, Tami was recently asked to list seven things people may not know about about her: 1. I was once offered a job by a private investigator. 2. I have a license to carry concealed weapon, but never do. I took the course for research purposes. 3. My high school guidance counselor encouraged me to become an actress, but I thought that was too impractical (Of course, there’s nothing practical about being a writer, either, but at least I’m not obligated to look good on a daily basis.) 4. I used to sing at weddings. 5. While I have no intention of ever getting married again, I love watching Say Yes To The Dress 6. I have legitimate knockout power in my right hand, and I’m not afraid to use it. 7. When I’m stressed out, all tech devices around me go haywire. I’ve stopped watches, and fried hard drives. I once killed a television in a store display by merely touching it. I’m better off sticking to life’s simple pleasures–like books!
Luck is the story of Daniel – a man born with the gift of being able to influence others. He learns that he can both charm as well as destroy. As his ability grows, so does his craving for acceptance.
Once his ability is unleashed on the American political stage, Daniel finds that he no longer has to settle with charming the few. Now he can control the minds of the masses, as his own sanity descends into a tormented oblivion.
***
Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
LUCK by Chris Coppel is an engrossing political thriller/horror/sci-fi mash-up that continually left me guessing what twist was coming next. I have always believed the truth of the quote “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts completely.” and with Daniel’s gift, I could not wait to see where this story led.
Daniel was born with a gift. From his birth, he is able to see auras around people and influence them accordingly. He learns as he grows how to charm them, use them, or destroy them. He successfully ascends to the heights of a business career and now he has his sights set on a political career. Daniel can not only control the masses in live audiences, but also through the television cameras. The more he uses his special power to advance the more reckless and dangerous he becomes.
Daniel plans on taking the highest office in the land, but someone from his past is making their own plans to stop him.
This story has a bit of everything. I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what Daniel would do next or who he would hurt and the author would throw in a bit of humor or political satire. This is a fast-paced story that is at times horrifying, shocking, and captivating. I think almost everyone wants people to like them and agree with them, but this story takes that desire to the extreme in a twisted and interesting way.
This is the second book I have read by this author and I can truly state that he always leaves me thinking about the characters and story I have just read, and he also always leaves me with a surprise twist at the end.
***
About the Author
Chris believes that stories should be able to transport the reader to different places, where they can experience events and dimensions that have never been considered. Chris is able to write gentle fable-like adventures (Far From Burden Dell) as well as opening the pages into dark and terrifying stories where dimensions co-exist with indescribable evil. (Legacy).
Chris Coppel was born in California and has since split his time between the USA and Europe, living in California, Spain, France, Switzerland and England.
Chris has held senior operations positions for both Warner Bros. and Universal Studios. Chris also held the position of Director of Operations for UCLA’s Film School where he also taught advanced screen writing. Chris and his wife Clare spent many years helping animal rescue with Best Friends Animal Society in Utah. Before joining Best Friends, Chris was President and Managing Director of the Home Entertainment Division of Testronics in Los Angeles.
Following in his father’s footsteps (Alec Coppel wrote Vertigo among many other successful movies) Chris has written numerous screenplays as well as the novels Far From Burden Dell, Luck, The Lodge, Legacy and Lakebed.
Chris is also an accomplished drummer and guitarist. He and his wife currently live in the UK.
