Killfile by Christopher Farnsworth ( John Smith #1)

Killfile by Christopher Farnsworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How would you like to read one of the most original thrillers in years? The only book lately that has come close was 2016's "Collecting the Dead" by Spencer Kope. Another great start to what I hope is a long running series.
Killfile stars our hero, John Smith. Smith is remarkable. He knows what you are thinking, what everyone is thinking, which can get a little loud. A former black-ops soldier, John now makes his living by helping the 1% that can afford him fix problems. He is very good at it. When a tech billionaire hires him to retrieve information from a former employee who is ready to make billions and then erase the memory he balks. Until he hears the payment offered. His own island, complete with home and everything he will ever need. Someplace Smith can actually relax and not hear the voices every second of every day. He agrees. What happens next is unputdownable. The skill of Farnsworth in building this character is off the charts. It is fascinating and disturbing and makes you think.
The first of a series I am looking forward to #2.

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Flashmob by Christopher Farnsworth ( John Smith #2)

Flashmob by Christopher Farnsworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Christopher Farnsworth's second John Smith thriller, "Flashmob" built on the stellar first book, Kill File and surpassed it in many ways. John Smith isn't your ordinary special forces stud. He has a skill that while affecting him in many ways is also almost foolproof in surviving even the most dire circumstances. John can hear your thoughts. You can't sneak up on him, he sees the punch before it's coming and as an added bonus he can make you feel memories of pain and experiences that make you think the real thing is happening to you. His only drawback, he gets back a portion of whatever he does to you.
In this second effort the dark web comes into playing a big way. Someone out there has figured out a way to influence the masses through social media into not just talking about their gripes but into actually acting on those impulses. Hired by the billionaire who originally constructed the algorithm in an attempt to make society a better place, Smith is tasked with finding the genius who has stolen it and has weaponized it.
Great fight scenes, fascinating detail and a very big surprise when Smith finds someone just like him on the other side, make this one of the best thrillers of 2017.. in my humble opinion.

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The Hunter by Tom Wood (Victor the Assassin #1)

The Hunter by Tom Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love browsing the shelves at my library looking for great series I might have missed. I recently stuck gold. If you like Orphan X and Evan Smoak by Gregg Hurwitz or Mark Greaney's Gray Man you will love Victor by Tom Wood. The title above is the UK version. In the USA, this first Victor thriller is known as The Killer.
This book is awesome. It is so well written and moves at such a breakneck pace that it is hard to believe this is a first novel. Victor is an assassin. A very good assassin. Victor is tasked with a very easy job in Paris. Kill the target and take the flash drive he has with him. Call your broker and arrange the delivery of said flash drive. Get paid and relax until the next job. But, heading back to his hotel his finely honed instincts notice people around the hotel that look a lot like a kill team. Is it a coincidence that they are at the same hotel he is staying at? Highly unlikely.
This begins The Killer and us our introduction to Victor. And what an introduction.
The plot moves swiftly and has twists and turns galore. What more can you ask of a thriller than Russians, CIA agents, missiles and a beautiful and smart tech wizard.
No spoilers here. Get this book today and begin your journey with one of the coolest characters in thriller fiction today. You might just search out a hardcover for your collection as I did.

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Hellbent by Gregg Hurwitz (Orphan X #3)

Hellbent by Gregg Hurwitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hellbent is the 3rd book in the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz. Now, I have seen a few reviews from readers that have been lukewarm on this book. I must be the exception because I think this 3rd entry in the series is the best to date.
Why? Well, in Hellbent we see much more of what makes Evan Smoak tick. We also see an Evan Smoak that is vulnerable and a little unsure of himself and his situation at times. I found this Orphan X more complex and more human. For once I didn't see his penthouse fortress as cool, but I saw it as cold and impersonal. The only conversation Evan has is with a cactus right?
Hellbent picks up after The Nowhere Man with Van Sciver still on the hunt for X. But this time Van Sciver Hasan ace up his sleeve in the form of X's mentor, Jack Johns. Johns is kidnapped and X is forced to watch his mentors tragic death. Which means only one thing. X must get revenge.
Through a cryptic note left for X by Johns, Evan makes his way to a location to retrieve a package left for him by Jack. But the package turns out to be not an it but a she. A teenage girl named Joey who washed out of Orphan training and us now in danger of being eliminated by Van Sciver as well.
The interplay between Evan and Joey is classic with each gradually learning from the other.
Twists and turns as well as some surprises await, but this third entry is well worth the read. Long live Evan Smoak!

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The Other Woman by Daniel Silva (Gabriel Allon #18)

The Other Woman by Daniel Silva
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Daniel Silva has done it again. With this the 18th book min the saga of Gabriel Allon, Silva has lost none of the touch that made this a welcome entry into the thriller genre all of those books ago with The Kill Artist. Each novel has kept the extremely high standards that are an earmark of these books.
In The Other Woman, when a defection of a Russian SVR officer goes horribly wrong, all is not what it seems at first glance. With a story spanning decades and a clever plan to place a Russian mole at the highest echelons of power, Gabriel must unravel a mystery long in the making and unmask a traitor in order to save a major world intelligence service.
Plots and counter plots, traitors past and present and a lonely old woman in Andalusia make this a book that is unputdownable.


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The Last Child by John Hart ( Johnny Merrimon #1)

The Last Child by John Hart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! This is the first book by John Hart that I have had the pleasure of reading. It certainly will not be the last. The writing was easily some of the best I have read in a long time. Very reminiscent of James Lee Burke and Dennis Lehane. Powerful stuff and not to be forgotten any time soon.
The Last Child is the story of a family destroyed by tragedy. Johnny Merrimon is trying to come to grips with the abduction of his sister a year earlier. Always looking and never forgetting. Clyde Hunt is the police detective who can't let the case go, even at the expense of his own family. Throw in Johnny's mom, broken as well from the loss of her daughter and the believed abandonment of her husband, the richest guy in town who has always had a thing for Katherine Merrimon and a simple escaped convict man child and the makings are there for one of the best thrillers in years.








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Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz ( Orphan X # 4)

Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When reading a series it is only natural that at some point the later volumes just don't match up to the first book in the series. Obviously, Gregg Hurwitz didn't get the message. Each entry in the Orpahn X series has been as good or better than the last and Out of the Dark is no exception. It is unputdownable and one of the main reasons why this series is the best going in thriller fiction today, bar none.
We first met Evan Smoak in Orphan X where all of the groundwork of the series was laid out. Part of a secret black ops program, orphans were "adopted" by the government and raised to be the ultimate weapon. In books 2 and 3, The Nowhere Man and Hellbent, introduced a story arc where the orphans were being targeted and killed for what they knew. But, Evan Smoak also dabels in helping those who cannot help themselves, the only payment he will accept for this help is that they need to pass on Evan's phone number to those who really need it. With both these storylines it creates a very rich look into Evan's life.
With Out of the Dark, Evan realizes that if he and the other orphans are to have any semblance of peace, he must confront and kill a former Department of Defense official whose goal is to cover up a mission from 1997, Evan's first mission, which he remembers fully but cannot figure out its importance to this individual and why he is willing to kill to keep the secret. Unfortunately, this former DoD official is now the President of the United States and has the full security apparatus of the US to keep him safe.
No spoilers here! Read this series! You will not be disappointed. Actually, you will becuase they end so damn quick, leaving you wisihng for the next Orphan X book.

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