DARK SKY

 5 stars out of 5

This is the 21st book featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, and I don't think I've missed a single one. This one, happily, came as a pre-release copy through NetGalley, thank you very much - and even though I diligently go through my stack of to-be-reviewed books in order of publication date, it took me all of 30 seconds to move this one to the top of the list. And I think it's one of the best in the series.

In large part, that's because it's more of a plain old, relatively uncomplicated story that's fast-paced and easy to follow. There are two parallel plots, the first of which puts Joe in charge (albeit reluctantly) of an elk posse for the edification of a spoiled Steve Jobs wannabe who wants to get in touch with his back-to-nature feelings. Knowing he could lose his job if he passes on the assignment (and that the same is true if something goes awry), Joe grabs his winter gear, takes a deep breath and sets off.

No surprise: Something goes awry. This time, it's a guy who has an axe to grind against the tech CEO and who will do anything to take him out of commission permanently. That, in turn, ends up with Joe and the CEO with no weapons, no communication devices and fighting to stay alive in the mountain wilds with snow - and a potential killer - at just about every turn.

Meanwhile, Joe's former special forces friend, Nate Romanowski, has troubles of his own. Joe's daughter Sheridan, who's in training with Nate to learn the art of falconry, discovers empty nests that indicate there's a raptor thief at work. Incensed, Nate sets out to find the culprit and - just like the guy and the tech CEO - do anything to take him out of commission permanently.

Another no surprise: The two plots come together - but not before both keep readers on the edge of their seats. And the end, while satisfying, isn't complete; there's at least one wrong still to be righted, which presumably will happen in the next installment. As always, I look forward to reading it!

Dark Sky by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam's Sons, March 2021); 368 pp.

DEEP INTO THE DARK

4 stars out of 5

I've read and very much enjoyed a couple of other books by this author, so I was delighted to be approved for a pre-release copy of this one through NetGalley. And I'm happy to say it did not disappoint.

Two storylines are featured here, the first of which is catching the person, or persons, who have been racking up murder victims along Los Angeles' Miracle Mile. LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan and her partner, Detective Al Crawford - plus another notable character or two - are on the case but not having much luck. In the other, Sam Easton, a former electrical engineer who's suffering from PTSD as a result of an Afghanistan attack that killed everyone in his squad except him, is working as a bar back in a popular local pub. His wife has left him, so he's alone with his nightmares and hallucinations and has only his job for solace. But when his co-worker, Melody, gets beaten up by her snobby boyfriend, he's eager to help.

But the next day, Melody's boyfriend dies of very unnatural causes, Maggie and Al are called in and Sam quickly becomes a prime suspect - at least in Al's eyes. Maggie isn't as quick to put the finger on Sam, though; she recently lost her brother who was serving overseas, making her more sympathetic to what Sam's going through. 

Melody's boyfriend may be out of the picture, but it soon becomes clear that someone else may be stalking her (and possibly Sam as well). Meantime, they meet up with a young and very rich filmmaker wannabe who leans toward being totally nuts - and he shows them a script he thinks would be perfect with Sam and Melody as the stars even though they have no acting experience whatsoever.

Everything comes together at the end (well, not everything; this is the first book in a new series, so bread crumbs leading to the next one are left on the ground). And therein lies one of the things I wasn't so crazy about; the main character in the series is supposed to be Margaret. But it's Sam who, to me at least, unquestionably steals this show (even if, PTSD notwithstanding, he came across as a little too "perfect"). Margaret's character, on the other hand, isn't nearly as well developed - so in the end it's Sam, not Margaret, about whom I'd love to read more (of course, who's to say he won't make future appearances - if I get a vote on that score, it's a resounding yes).

That said, the series is off to a strong start and I look forward to the next one. Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

Deep Into the Dark by P.J. Tracy (Minotaur Books, January 2021); 343 pp.

SAFECRACKER

5 stars out of 5

On occasion, I get an offer, usually from a publicist, to read and review an upcoming book. While I always appreciative and consider myself fortunate when that happens, unless the description is enticing, I'm likely to turn it down. This one, though, sounded appealing- and now that I'm finished, I don't hesitate to recommend it.

The book is narrated by uber-successful safecracker Michael Maven, who mostly handles jobs offered by his boss-lady, Liz. By day, he owns a Sundown Cinemas, a motion picture theater in New York City through which he passes his financial gains and, on many occasions, treats himself to a movie or two. When Liz tells him of her interest in a a very rare coin (the fifth most rare in the world, in fact), he's hot to trot and performs his usual pre-job due diligence. When he learns that the wealthy owner of the coin will be attending a splashy event, he puts his considerable expertise to use to let himself into the guy's apartment and open the safe.

This time, though, turns out to be a worst-case scenario; just as he's about to snatch the coin, he hears the apartment door open. Uh, oh, he thinks - the man has come home early. That's bad enough; but the situation quickly becomes more complicated because he's brought with him a beautiful woman. Getting out without being detected (hopefully with the coin in hand) might have been possible, but escaping the notice of two people - who have just entered the bedroom where Michael is hiding in the closet just isn't likely to be a happening thing. As Michael ponders his next move, though, the woman murders the man as he watches, horrified, through the closet door slats. When she grabs the coin from the safe, though, his terror turns to anger: How dare she take what was meant to be his?

In the process of trying to stop her, Michael - who is trained in martial arts - is injured and she gets away with the coin. Still ticked off, he puts Liz and other friends to work trying to track her down. When they meet again, it's not under the best circumstances, shall we say - and the time after that is even worse. Now, Michael is ordered by a nasty drug lord to break into the safe of his rival - the leader of a competing cartel - in Miami. It's an order he can't refuse lest members of his family and friends will die. And as if it were possible to make matters worse, he's forced to team up with - you guessed it - the woman he watched murder the owner of the aforementioned rare coin.

The rest of the book follows Michael's efforts to get the cartel guy's job done without getting himself or anyone else killed; from that point on it's anyone's guess who will emerge triumphant (although since this is the first in a series, readers certainly can expect that the hero will live to see another day, no matter what happens to him here). The devil is in the details, as they say, and how it all goes down kept me on the edge of my seat from that point on. 

Aside from being a good, action-packed story, I must say one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much is that it's highly reminiscent of another favorite series of mine: The Burglar Who by Lawrence Block. The character there, burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr owns a bookstore, not a theater, nor does he usually get embroiled in situations quite as dangerous as this book's Michael Maven. But everything else, including the writing style, brought back happy memories of the Block works - as well as happiness that I've found a new series to love. Now, I can't wait to read the next one in this series (scheduled for release next year, or so I've read). Bring it on!

Safecracker by Ryan Wick (Thomas Dunne Books, December 2020); 320 pp.

THE CYCLIST

4 stars out of 5

Marked a "top pick" at Amazon for this year, the description sounded interesting so I snapped it up. It's the second in the series featuring Detective Sergeant George Cross; I did not read the first, and while I enjoyed this one and will say it stands alone fairly well, I suspect I'd have liked it even more had I read them in order. That said, I liked the character so much that I got the first (The Dentist) as well.

And it really is the character who makes the story so interesting; he has Asperger's Syndrome, which is both a curse and a blessing. On the downside, the condition means he lacks awareness of social skills (such as not recognizing when someone is joking or responding inappropriately - or not at all - to the emotions of others). Conversely, he pays great attention to detail and has an almost uncanny ability to intuit clues that lead to closure of the most difficult cases.

This one is a doozy; a body turns up in a deserted section of garages in Bristol, U.K. After close inspection, Cross notices tan lines on the body, leading him to determine that the man was a cyclist (hence, no doubt, the reason for the book's title). From there, a few other clues he unearths bring relatively quick identification. Cross is assisted by his capable partner, D.S. Josie Ottey, and it's a treat to watch their interactions as she adjusts to his condition and at the same time tries to teach him how to interact more sociably with others, including department trainee Alice Mackenzie.

Eventually, Cross and Ottey learn that the victim, part-owner with his brother of their parents' successful restaurant, has his fingers in a few other pies that aren't quite so legitimate (nor as successful). That knowledge also expands the investigation to several more suspects and a few dead ends before Cross finally ferrets out the truth and a rather surprise ending.

I do admit it took several chapters before I really got into the story -  mostly, I guess, because the writing is a little stilted (in truth, it almost seemed as if it were written by someone who has Asperger's). But once I got the rhythm, my interest started to hum along and it was hard to put it down. In short, I'm hooked - and hopefully before long I'll have time to get to the first book before the next one comes out. Good job!

The Cyclist by Tim Sullivan (Pacific Press, September 2020); 259 pp.

BLOODLINE

4 stars out of 5

Back in the '60s, when this book takes place, I'll cop to inhaling once or twice, but I never tried "acid." By the time I got a halfway through this book, though, I was imagining that this must be how it would have felt. At the very least, it's a pretty creepy story that, as I'm sure other reviewers have noted, is might be subtitled Rosemary's Baby meets The Stepford Wives.

After pregnant Minneapolis newspaper reporter Joan Harken is mugged, her boyfriend and father of the baby, Deck, convinces her to relocate to his insular hometown of Lilydale. Here, he insists, she'd be safe - and he assures her the local newspaper, although small, will give her the opportunity to earn the byline she's always craved. Despite a few misgivings about leaving big-city life, she agrees.

It doesn't take long, though, for her to realize something's not quite right, starting with the "friendliness" of all her neighbors - attention that soon begins to cross the line of intrusiveness once she realizes nothing she does or says escapes the knowledge of everyone who lives on her street (most notably Deck's parents, who are town VIPs). The situation gets even murkier when she begins to investigate the decades-earlier disappearance of a young boy; and spotting a too-familiar man from her Minneapolis past makes her wonder all the more what's really going on in this extremely close-knit town. When the townspeople begin to take unusual interest in her baby, Joan really starts to freak out.

Honestly, I didn't warm up to any of the characters (to begin with, any parents who would name their kid after their back porch have to be three bricks shy of a chimney). And although Joan has a few issues in her own past that cloud her present, she comes across for the most part as a paranoid wimp who won't stand up for herself. Still, the story is creepy and scary and I couldn't wait to find out what was really going on (hint: it's even creepier and scarier than I thought it would be). In short, it's a great diversion during these times of not being able to go much of anywhere. Thanks to Amazon First Reads for this one!

Bloodline by Jess Lourey (Thomas & Mercer, January 2021); 347 pp.

THE DIRTY SOUTH

 5 stars out of 5

I love this series - this is the 18th entry - but it's not just because the stories are exciting or that series headliner, former NYPD Detective Charlie Parker, is such an intriguing character. It's also because the author's writing is both eloquent and elegant and an all-around joy to read. That does, I admit, make for one issue; the books are impossible to skim through and finish in my usual couple of days. Simply put, there's just too much to be missed by doing that.

This one takes a different approach; it begins with Charlie getting a phone call out of the blue from someone in his decades-ago past - one he wasn't expecting to hear from ever again. At that point - without identifying the caller - the story shifts to that long-ago time when an in-his-30s Charlie quit his job and set off to find the man who slaughtered his wife and young daughter. One of his stops is in a backwoods Arkansas town that eschews outsiders; when Charlie makes a couple of inquiries that rouse suspicions of local law enforcement, they throw him in jail until, hopefully, he'll explain who he really is and why he was nosing around.

But then, a young girl turns up murdered - not that long after another girl was found murdered in similar fashion. Town and county officials - including a powerful family - managed to keep the first incident quiet in the fear that an outside developer with big plans for community investment might get skittish enough to take their money elsewhere. Coming so soon after the other murder, though, the most recent case makes a cover-up more difficult, and a couple of locals who were not happy about the way the first murder was handled (or, more accurately, mishandled) are dead set on solving this one no matter where or on whom the chips may fall.

When Charlie's identity and background becomes known, the local police chief not only springs him from jail but decides - reluctantly - to enlist his help. While Charlie is eager to move on, he - also reluctantly - agrees to stick around for a bit. That puts him at direct odds with the aforementioned powerful family and, not surprisingly, on the hit list of at least one very dangerous man. And that, in turn, means Charlie must turn to a couple of loyal friends who are familiar to those who have been following his adventures for at least several preceding books.

The interaction among all the characters - and the reasons thereof - add interest and intrigue to the story, and the ending brings a few surprises. All told, it's a glimpse into the story of how the Charlie Parker we've come to know came to be. Well done - again!

The Dirty South by John Connolly (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, November 2020); 448 pp.

THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE

4 stars out of 5

When I finished the first book in this series - The Tenant - I noted that Danish police investigator Jeppe Korner and his partner, Anette Werner, never seemed to really "connect" with each other. That's even more true here, when Anette, age 44, is on leave after the birth of her first child (an unexpected and, for her, not totally welcome event). Much of the book, in fact, deals with her reluctance to take on a motherly role and desire to get back into the throes and thrills of police work.

And there's plenty of work to go around, starting with the discovery of a woman's body in a downtown Copenhagen public fountain. Jeppe, fresh off a divorce and temporarily living with his aging mother, gets the case - with prodding from his boss to get it solved yesterday. Meanwhile, in another part of town - and unknown to the police - a nurse uses a syringe for what appears to be a mercy killing. 

The cause of the woman's death is exsanguination - accomplished by small cuts with an unusual weapon. Jeppe's team, which includes a co-worker love interest, are stymied - and pressure from the top isn't helping. When Anette gets wind of the murder, she looks for ways to put her investigative talents to work - all the while hoping she won't sacrifice her marriage in the process.

When yet another body turns up in a similar place and with a similar M.O., it's clear the first murder wasn't random. Are the victims connected in some way, and will there be more? That's for Jeppe and his team to find out (with a little surreptitious work from Anette that could lead to disaster). A fast-paced conclusion brings a couple of surprises as well as some tied-up loose ends, all quite satisfying to me. A solid entry in this enjoyable series - I look forward to reading more and thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me a pre-release copy for review. Well done!

The Butterfly House by Katrine Engberg (Gallery/Scout Press, January 2021); 352 pp.