Dead Lock by James Byrne (Dez Limerick #2)

Deadlock by James Byrne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was awesome. A special thank you to Net Galley for the ebook ARC, this is not a paid review.
The first Dez Limerick thriller The Gatekeeper) was great and this takes it to the next level. This gives me extremely high hopes for my future reading happiness. It is one of those series that when you are reading the first book , you are like... "This is something special." and you get that little tingle of discovery. It's that good.

In Deadlock, Dex travels to Portalnd to help out a friend /fellow musician (Raziah), whose sister (Laleh) has just been attacked and doesn't know why. IT seems that Lalaeh is a reporter and a friend of hers, and auditor had discovered something weird while doing an audit of the communications company, Clockjack.. ( Think Apple and you get the picture). The auditor is killed and then the reporter attacked. Enter Dez to help the sisters and figure out what is going on while making sure that nothing else happens.
As Dez arrives Laleh is in the hospital and Dez thwarts another attack. Hmmm... Laleh has no idea why.
Clockjack itself is a do-gooder company ( in their eyes) but there are things behind the scenes that don't add up.
Add in the DEA, the Us Marshall's, some very bad mercenaries and people high up in Clockjack who aren't who they say they are and some mischief being done in a small African country and you have one hell of a story.
Read The Gatekeeper now and then pick up Deadlock. You will not be disappointed. Dez Limerick is hilarious and also quite the bad ass himself and if the ending is any indicator, book 3 is going to be a killer!

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The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz

The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dean Koontz is the old friend that rarely disappoints and is just so, damn likeable. So, even keel and even if you haven't seen him in a few years, the time away doesn't matter.
I really don't relish my reading life once Mr. Koontz passes over to the next life. He is just such an entertaining writer. And the best thing? Nothing is farfetched.. It all makes sense.
The Big Dark Sky has it all. Great characters, strange happenings and inexplicable events.
Just read Koontz. You won't be sorry.

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The House at the End of the World by Dean Koontz

The House at the End of the World by Dean Koontz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been married for 39 years.. and been reading Koontz for almost as long and he has only disappointed me 3 times in all of those years. Sometimes a few years have passed without my reading a Koontz, then I read one and wonder why I haven’t kept up.
Simply put he is in a category all his own.. no one comes close.
In The House at the End of the World he does it again. In retreat from a devastating loss and crushing injustice, Katie lives alone in a fortress-like stone house on Jacob’s Ladder island. Once a rising star in the art world, she finds refuge in her painting.

The neighboring island of Ringrock houses a secret: a government research facility. And now two agents have arrived on Jacob’s Ladder in search of someone—or something—they refuse to identify. Although a sense of foreboding hangs over these men, an greater threat has arrived, one so strange even the island animals are in a state of high alarm.

Katie soon finds herself in an epic and terrifying battle with a mysterious enemy. But Katie’s not alone after all: a brave young girl appears out of the violent squall. As Katie and her companion struggle across a dark and eerie landscape, against them is an omnipresent terror that could bring about the end of the world.

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Judgement Prey by John Sandford ( Davenport #33)

Judgment Prey by John Sandford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It seems that Sanford has discovered the winning formula. Davenport and Flowers together is just better. Starting with 2021's Ocean Prey, and 2022's Righteous Prey we now have Judgement Prey. These last few books have the feel and pacing of the Davenport books before his Marshall career began.
JP begins with the murder of a Alex Sand, a federal judge and his two young sons. Speculation immediately abounds that it must be someone he sent to jail and has a vendetta, but the more the case is looked at that motive doesn't fit.
Enter Lucas and Virgil to do what they do best. Find answers. In the meantime, the judge's former actress wife, has ideas of revenge herself. After an out of the box idea occurs to Lucas, it becomes apparent that this idea that maybe the boys were the target and not the father becomes more real. Sand's wife has an idea of who it may be but refuses to tell, wanting to kill the killer herself with the help of a friend.
Throw into the mix a dodgy charity with an eccentric and possibly crazy caretaker and you have the making of a very good and satisfying novel.
Long live this series!

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Call Me Hunter by Jim Shockey ( Hunter#1)

Call Me Hunter by Jim Shockey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC. This is not a paid review.
Wow. That's pretty much sums it up. This is one of the most original thrillers I have ever read. It has everything that you could really want. An enigmatic storyline, fully fleshed characters, and writing that is just spectacular. The only thing that I can think of that I have read that made me feel this way was I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes, which is a classic 10 years later.
Jim Shockey has really done something here. There are only a few thrillers writers that have a hook, and their stories never get old. Silva, Petrie, Hurwitz and Carr to name a few. Shockey has joined that pantheon with his freshman effort.
Call Me Hunter has one of the best Preface's I have ever read. Preface? Really? Yes, really1 In it he tells you to go ahead and pick names or situations and google it or them. You will find they really exist. If that doesn't catch your attention I don't know what will. But then the book starts and its just magic. From the first line. "Zhivago is dead." And it just continues from there. No spoilers here. Sorry. But if you want a book that has ancient mysteries, really bad guys, a shadowy world wide organization that is more powerful than governments, a beautiful, vulnerable protagonist, and a very mysterious hero who has a super power, but it's not what you think. It has it all.
Do yourself a favor and pick it up, better yet I would buy one because I feel that these first editions will increase in value. He and it is that good.
Looking forward to the next installment.

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True Believer by Jack Carr ( Terminal List #2)

True Believer by Jack Carr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great book. I loved Terminal List but held off in reading book 2… you just never know how the sophomore efforts are lacking.. not here.. great continuation.. very good writing..
Still believing that is demise is Imminent and on the run from the events in The Terminal List, we find Reece on a boat in the middle of the ocean thinking he will die soon.
Instead, after making landfall and finding a fulfilling life in Rhodesia with an Uncle of one of his best friends on a hunting preserve, the G comes calling and needing him fir a mission with amnesty in the balance as well as the information is that he isn't going to die. What follows is pure Carr.. Action and thrills enough for 3 books.

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Lone Wolf by Gregg Hurwitz (Orphan X #9)

Lone Wolf by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Special thanks to Minotaur and NetGalley for the Advance Reading Copy. This is not a paid review.
I would actually pay to read this series! There are a few spoilers, be aware.
The Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz is by far the best thriller series that is currently in process. Every book is better than the last and Lone Wolf is the best so far. After 9 books it is astounding the growth that Hurwitz imbues in Evan Smoak.
Unlike previous X books, Lone Wolf starts a little different. Evan answers his Roamzone with his typical, "How can I help you?" Only to hear the voice of his estranged brother, Andre's daughter Sofia. Asking The Nowhere Man to find her dog. A snaggle toothed psychotic mutt.
Thus begins an X like other.
Feeling the need to help this little girl, who is family, Evan isn't quite sure how to navigate. Feelings aren't his thing. So, using all the tools at his disposal including the massively awesome hacking and computer skills of his ward, Joey, they set out to find the missing mutt.
They get a ping from a traffic camera of the dog being picked up by a nice looking gentleman and they track him to his home.
In the meantime, there is an assassin afoot that is as brutally efficient as the Nowhere Man and her next target is the man in question who just happens to be a genius AI developer.
As Evan gets to the house to procure the dog, he finds the door open and the good doctor killed with the assassin still there.
What follows is a tour d force of action, and drama with purely joyous exchanges between Evan and those who become involved. Insane billionaires, a beautiful assassin, and most of all Joey and the doctor's teenage daughter who has a bullseye painted on her back which Evan must save. . This is Smoak at his best.

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