Need Help with that Square? Try Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror

If you are a Summer Reading Program Bingo game player and are approaching that Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror square with some trepidation, maybe we can help.

Let’s focus on science fiction.

You do not have to venture down those unfamiliar Science Fiction/Fantasy aisles of the library to find an appropriate title. There are many books in the library’s collection where the stories are grounded in our familiar world yet have just an element of science fiction. Many of these books could be considered thrillers or mysteries--still these titles would satisfy that Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror bingo square.

Here are a few titles "science fiction" titles to consider:

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

"Starting in 1980, about 1% of all children born in the U.S. were gifted with unusual abilities. Thirty-three years later, these "brilliants" (also called "abnormals" or "abs") are leaders in various fields--including terrorism. Nick Cooper's one of them, though he works for a government agency charged with stopping ab terrorists. To stop them, Nick will have to demolish most of his beliefs about the world he lives in--and maybe most of that world itself. The too-close-for-comfort possibilities of this near-future thriller will linger long after the last page." --from Novelist. (Book 1 in the Brilliance Saga)

Lexicon by Max Barry
Recruited into an exclusive, secretive government school of "poets" where students are taught that words have the power to control and coerce, orphaned street hustler, Emily Ruff, becomes the school's most talented prodigy. Does she know that the fate of humanity could be at stake if the right words get into the wrong hands?

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective, Hank Palace, considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in 6 months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about. (Book 1 in The Last Policeman trilogy) 

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

A novel that imagines the coming-of-age of young Julia, whose world is thrown into upheaval when it is discovered that the Earth's rotation has suddenly begun to slow, posing a catastrophic threat to all life.

Listen Up, Audiobook Fans!

Finalists for the 2016 Audie Awards have been announced. The Audies are considered the premier awards for audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. More than 100 titles have been selected for recognition. For a complete list of nominees click here. Audie winners will be announced on May 11th at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

Below is just a sampling of some of this year's audiobook finalists, any one of which could provide you with a wonderful listening experience.

Nonfiction listeners may want to consider:

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer, narrated by Mozhan Marno
The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor by Mark Schatzker, narrated by Chris Patton
Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers by Simon Winchester, narrated by Simon Winchester

From the Autobiography/Memoir category, listeners might try:

Born with Teeth: a Memoir by Kate Mulgrew, narrated by Kate Mulgrew
I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short with Dave Kamp, narrated by Martin Short
Keep Moving: and Other Tips and Truth about Aging by Dick Van Dyke, narrated by Dick Van Dyke

Several nominees in the Humor category are:

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari with Eric Linenberg, narrated by Aziz Ansari
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling, narrated by Mindy Kaling
Furiously Happy: a Funny Book about Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson, narrated by Jenny Lawson

Fiction listeners might enjoy:

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, narrated by Alex Jennings
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannan, narrated by Polly Stone
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal, narrated by Amy Ryan & Michael Stuhlbarg

Mystery fans can become entangled in one of these titles:

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith, narrated by Robert Glenister
Corrupted by Lisa Scottoline, narrated by Kate Burton
All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer, narrated by Ari Fliakos & Juliana Francis Kelly

If you prefer Thrillers and Suspense, try:

The Patriot Threat by Steve Berry, narrated by Scott Brick
The President's Shadow by Brad Meltzer, narrated by Scott Brick
Blue Labyrinth by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, narrated by Rene Auberjonois

Happy Listening!

Chick Noir

Chick Noir is a new category of fiction featuring bad girls or at least not entirely good ones. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn comes to mind. These are dark, edgy, psychological. Here, things may not always be what they seem.

Dare Me by Megan Abbott

When a new cheerleading coach comes to school, she upsets the team’s dynamic by ousting the reigning captain and befriending Abby, the second-in-command. The team is transformed, but the new coach has a dark side. And what about Beth, the ruthless ex-captain who only wants revenge? You’ll never look at cheerleading the same way again.

A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read

Syracuse, N.Y. newspaper reporter and ex-debutante Madeline Dare tries to find out what really happened in the 20-year-old murder of two young women, the “Rose Girls.” The stakes grow higher when clues start to point to Madeline’s favorite cousin, Lapthorne Townsend.

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

Jodi, a Chicago psychotherapist, and Todd, her cheating husband, alternate in telling their story. When Todd tells Jodi he’s leaving her, she decides she has had enough and decides to get even.

Move Over, James Bond

Spy thrillers and espionage novels used to focus on the Cold War, think Graham Greene and John Le Carré. Today’s titles have a different focus and a new kind of spy, sometimes even a woman.

The Expats by Chris Pavone

Kate and Dexter and their two young sons have moved to Luxembourg where Dexter has taken a job at a private bank. Their new expat life is great, but Kate is an ex-CIA agent and their new friends may not be what they seem. Intricate, suspenseful, and compelling.

The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
Milo Weaver has retired from his post as a “tourist,” a black-ops agent with no name or home base. When his old enemy, an international assassin, reappears, Milo must fight to keep himself and his family alive. Dark, convoluted, and action-packed.

The Swimmer by Joakim Zander
A burned out CIA agent scours Europe to find the now-adult daughter he left behind as she goes on the run with her former lover. Billed as Homeland meets Stieg Larsson. 

While You are Waiting for "The Girl on the Train"...

While you're waiting for the hot, new psychological thriller, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, consider some of the following psychological suspense titles.

The Devil You Know by Elisabeth De Mariaffi  (2015)

In 1993, rookie crime beat reporter Evie Jones is obsessed with solving the 11-year-old murder of her best friend and, as she gets closer and closer to an unimaginable conclusion, she is convinced that the killer is still out there--and is coming for her. 

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison  (2013)

Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage: he is a committed cheater, she lives and breathes denial. But when Todd decides to play for keeps she has nothing less to lose as the couple heads for catastrophe.

Cartwheel by Jennifer Dubois  (2013)

College student Lily Hayes is an accident waiting to happen. While studying abroad in Buenos Aires, she becomes the prime suspect in her roommate Katy’s murder. DuBois’s haunting story captures a family shattered by their young daughter’s imprisonment. A well-written novel highly recommended for book clubs. -- Karen Kilbride for LibraryReads.

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey  (2014)
Maude sinks into a confusing world in this gripping psychological mystery written in the voice of an aging woman with Alzheimer's. She can't remember what she's doing or where she is, but she is obsessed with one thought-her good friend Elizabeth is missing.. .-- Mary Campanelli for LibraryReads

In the Blood by Lisa Unger  (2014)
A master manipulator and compulsive liar, Lana Granger, with her trust fund almost depleted, takes a job babysitting a troubled boy named Luke, who accustomed to controlling the people in his life, threatens to reveal the truth about her involvement in the disappearance of her closest friend.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica  (2014)
Inner-city art teacher Mia Dennett is taken hostage by her one-night stand, Colin Thatcher, who, instead of delivering her to his employers, hides her in a cabin in rural Minnesota to keep her safe from harm.

The Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante  (2014)
When prominent plastic surgeon Dr. John Taylor is found dead, the police investigation uncovers his secret polygamous life. As the narration alternates between Taylor’s three wives and a young female detective, the story explores the characters’ motivations and relationships. Part psychological thriller and part literary mystery, the end result is wholly captivating reading. -- Melissa DeWild for LibraryReads.

Losing You by Nicci French  (2008)
Preparing to leave for a vacation, Nina Landry awaits the return of her fifteen-year-old daughter, Charlie, who had spent the night at a friend's house, but Nina begins to worry when Charlie does not come home and no one takes the disappearance seriously.

Camping Adventures in Fiction

The other day my colleagues and I were reminiscing about memorable camping trips. We talked about the good, and not-so-good experiences we'd had whether it was encountering a mama bear and her cub, remembering the breathtaking scenery or recalling all the hard work that went into preparing for a trip. Everyone has a great camping story!

Here are some novels about some not very typical, unforgettable, and sometimes chilling camping trips:


The Bear by Claire Cameron
While camping with her family on a remote island, five-year-old Anna awakes in the night to the sound of her mother screaming. A rogue black bear, 300 pounds of fury, is attacking the family's campsite, pouncing on her parents as prey. Anna manages to get her brother into the family's canoe and paddle away. But when the canoe dumps the two children on the edge of the woods, they must battle hunger, the elements, and a dangerous wilderness.

The Troop by Nick Cutter
During a camping trip, on an uninhabited island off the coast of Prince Edward Island, Tim and his boy scout troop encounter an unexpected intruder who's bioengineered body spreads horror faster than fear.

A Small Target by Christine AndreaeWhile filling in as a cook on a llama pack trek in the mountains of Montana, Lee Squires is forced to discover who is killing off the members of the backwoods trip.

August by Gerard Woodward
Ever since Aldous Jones careened over the handlebars of his bicycle in 1955 and landed next to farmer Evan's field, it has become a tradition for him to take his family camping in Wales, believing that a certain symbiosis exists between their lives in their North London home and the Welsh village that they only ever see in August.

All Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus Mills
In preparation for a trip to India, a young man in Britain goes camping. Offered free board at a camping ground in exchange for odd jobs, he becomes involved in local life and never makes it to India.

Goat Mountain by David Vann
In the fall of 1978, an 11-year-old boy joins his grandfather, his father and his father's best friend on the family's annual deer hunt during which a simple act leads to tragedy, transforming them all and forcing them to question themselves and everything they thought they knew.

Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith
In 1898, a young Cornell medical student joins a field study in Yellowstone National Park and describes in a series of letters her relationships with fellow naturalists who had expected a male colleague, her experiences, and her encounters with a colorful assortment of characters.

The Wilding by Benjamin Percy
Returning to Echo Canyon for one last time before it is turned into a golf resort, Justin Caves and his father Paul must battle the physical demands of the terrain and the presence of bears along with each other, as Justin tries to come to terms with his rocky relationship with his father.

Old Favorites

There have always been some books I've read that stick in my mind forever. They range from thriller to historical to heartwarming saga, but what they all have in common is that I never forgot them. Here are just a few of those titles.

Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig

The settlement of Montana between 1890 and 1919 is recounted through the quiet but compelling life of Angus McCaskill, a young Scotsman who travels with his friend Rob Barclay to Montana's Two Medicine Country to homestead. Doig writes fervently of the voyage from Scotland and the lean first years, as the two share the work and hardship of establishing claims and building up flocks of sheep. 

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Joe Kavalier, a young artist and magician, escapes pre-World War II Czechoslovakia, making his way to the home of Sam Clay, his Brooklyn cousin. Sam dreams of making it big in the emerging comic-book trade and sees Joe as the person to help him. As the cousins gain success with their masked superhero, the Escapist, Joe banks his earnings to bring his family from Prague.  But when the ship carrying his brother to America is torpedoed, Joe joins the navy and is posted to Antarctica. What results is a novel of love and loss, sorrow and wonder, and the ability of art to transcend the hardships of this world and gives us a magical glimpse of "the mysterious spirit world beyond.

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billy Letts
The neon sign had seemed appropriate when the Honk and Holler Opening Soon was being built. But twelve years later, the once-busy highway outside Sequoyah, Oklahoma, is little traveled, and "opening soon" is a tired joke. Today the sign is as battered and beaten as the cafe and its owner, Caney Paxton, a Vietnam War veteran who hasn't ventured outside since its opening. The characters who drift in and out of the Honk don't change much: Molly O, a four-times married earth mother who recognizes a wounded spirit when she meets one; Life Halstead, a widower who eats three meals a day in the cafe so he can be near Molly O; Hooks Red Eagle, Soldier Starr, and Quinton Roach, Cherokee veterans of World War II; and Bilbo and Peg Porter - Bilbo steadily puffing his smokes while Peg struggles for breath through her oxygen mask. With Christmas only days away, their lives are to be forever changed with the arrival of Vena Takes Horse, a Crow woman on a quest, and Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese refugee looking for home.

Shooters and Chasers by Lenny Kleinfeld
A young Chicago cop chases a pair of killers-for-hire who are also star-crossed lovers.As he steps from a taxi, prominent Chicago architect Wilson Willetts is murdered by an inept assassin who thereupon gets himself nabbed with indecent haste. Apart from Willetts's friends and relatives, just about everyone is happy that such a high-profile case has been cleared with such admirable efficiency. But the arresting officers, sexy Mark Bergman and grizzled John Dunegan, his mentor/trainer/partner, are excellent cops, however, and something about a case so impeccably neat and complete begins to rankle. Sensibilities alerted, they take a fresh look, and soon enough find themselves in an alternative investigation, awash in an archipelago of hidden agendas .Appealing heroes and villains, a quirky love story, wit, style and suspense with a Chicago setting.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
A mystifying puzzle involving the execution of an innocent man is interwoven into this monumental masterpiece of medieval intrigue and ingenuity. When a pious monk and an ambitious stonemason conspire to erect a magnificent cathedral, they are plagued by the malevolent machinations of an unscrupulous priest and a rapacious landowner. Though cursed by an extended series of political battles, military campaigns, and natural disasters, Prior Philip and Tom Builder transcend adversity and exploit every opportunity in order to continue construction. Follett has skillfully crafted an extraordinary epic buttressed by a succession of suspenseful subplots. A towering triumph of romance, rivalry, and spectacle.

Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy
Haunted by a series of horrifying and violent episodes in their past, Grace McBride and the oddball crew of her software company, Monkeewrench, create a computer game where the killer is always caught, where the good guys always win. But their game becomes a nightmare when someone starts duplicating the fictional murders in real life, down to the last detail. By the time the police realize what's happening, three people are dead, and with seventeen more murder scenarios available online, there are seventeen more potential victims. While the authorities scramble to find the killer in a city paralyzed by fear, the Monkeewrench staff are playing their own game, analyzing victim profiles in a frantic attempt to discover the murderer's next target. In a thriller populated by characters both hilarious and heartbreaking, a rural Wisconsin sheriff, two Minneapolis police detectives, and Grace's gang are caught in a web of decades-old secrets that could get them all killed.

Edgar Award Winners for 2014

The Edgar awards are chosen by the Mystery Writers of America and the winners were announced on May 1, 2014. This year the Grandmaster awards went to Carolyn Hart and Robert Crais.

This year the award for best book went to: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger 

Looking back at a tragic event that occurred during his thirteenth year, Frank Drum explores how a complicated web of secrets, adultery, and betrayal shattered his Methodist family and their small 1961 Minnesota community.

The award for best paperback original went to: The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood

A gritty, psychological thriller that asks the question: How well can you know anyone? On a fateful summer morning in 1986, two eleven-year-old girls meet for the first time. By the end of the day, they will both be charged with murder. Twenty-five years later, journalist Kirsty Lindsay is reporting on a series of sickening attacks on young female tourists in a seaside vacation town when her investigation leads her to interview carnival cleaner Amber Gordon. For Kirsty and Amber, it's the first time they've seen each other since that dark day so many years ago. Now with new, vastly different lives--and unknowing families to protect--will they really be able to keep their wicked secret hidden? 

Best first novel by an American author: Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

Russian state intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the bureaucracy of post-Soviet intelligence. Drafted against her will to become a trained seductress in the service, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a CIA officer who handles the CIA's most sensitive penetration of Russian intelligence. The two young intelligence officers collide in an atmosphere of tradecraft, deception, and a forbidden spiral of carnal attraction that threatens their careers. 

Best fact crime award went to: The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War  by Daniel Stashower  

Two-time Edgar award-winning author Daniel Stashower uncovers the riveting true story of the "Baltimore Plot," an audacious conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln on the eve of the Civil War. 

For the full list of the Edgar winners and nominees for each category, click here.

Nuclear Thrillers

So we're all still here?  Phew! With North Korea threatening the world with nuclear disaster, what could set our minds at ease better than reading fictional scenarios of what this could bring!  OK, so maybe it won't exactly be comforting but it will keep your attention.  Here are a few titles to get you started.







The Devil's Light by Richard North Patterson 

Sidelined after a colleague's blunder, CIA agent Brooke Chandler envisions a way to halt an Al Qaeda plot to set off a massive nuclear explosion and begins a race against time that returns him to Lebanon, where nothing is quite as it seems.

Trader_of_secrets by Steve Martini
While in Paris to find a former NASA employee whose name has been found on papers left in his nemesis's apartment, Paul Madriani stumbles upon a plot to harness the destructive forces of nature using stolen technology.

The Second Horseman by Kyle Mills
Imprisoned for a robbery he did not commit, Brandon Vale is broken out of prison by Richard Scanlon, the former FBI agent who framed Vale and wants his help in preventing a Ukranian crime organization from auctioning off nuclear warheads.

The Ezekiel Option by Joel Rosenberg
With the historic peace accord between the Israelis and Palestinians, the Middle East seems to be on a path to peace, until an increasingly powerful Russian dictator and a growing nuclear threat from Iran threaten a global apocalypse.

Assured Response by Joe Weber
Confronted by deadly terrorists who will stop at nothing in their quest to annihilate the United States, President Cord Macklin sends two top-secret operatives on a mission to stop a nuclear holocaust.

Spotlight on Joel C. Rosenberg

Prior to becoming a writer of Christian suspense stories, Joel C. Rosenberg worked in a variety of prestigious jobs: he's been a political consultant, a communications expert, and a presidential campaign strategist, among others. In his current career as an author, he draws on his in-depth knowledge to instill his books with intricate, accurate details about terrorism and the Middle East. An evangelical Christian, the conservative Rosenberg uses biblical prophecy to write eerily prophetic and timely stories. Look for spellbinding narratives and fast-paced action in his novels. His book

The Ezekiel Option was awarded best fiction novel for 2006 by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. He is the author of two nonfiction books; Inside the Revolution (2009) and Epicenter: why the current rumblings in the Middle East will change your future (2006).

Twelfth Imam Series

The Twelfth Imam (2010)

The Tehran Initiative (2011)

Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy Series

The Last Jihad (2002)

The Last Days (2003)

The Ezekiel Option (2005, Award Winner)

The Copper Scroll (2006)
Dead Heat (2008)

Six Favorites from 2011

As the 2011 publication year draws to a close, I thought I'd use this opportunity to champion a few titles from the past year that I particularly enjoyed.

Blood, Bones & Butter:The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef  by Gabrielle Hamilton

I was extremely impressed with this book by Gabrielle Hamilton, the owner/chef of Prune, a critically-acclaimed restaurant in NYC. Hamilton has written an exceedingly honest, heartfelt memoir about growing up too fast and too alone, about her circuitous path through higher education, about her hard work learning, observing, and surviving in restaurant kitchens. She writes of the grueling life of a restaurant chef and the seemingly impossible job of running a restaurant, raising a family and trying to sustain a marriage. The writing is excellent.

The audio version of this book is wonderfully read by the author. It feels right for memoir writers to read their own stories. The listener has the opportunity for an even more intimate “reading” experience with the added quality of the author's voice.

The Call  by Yannick Murphy

A large animal veterinarian narrates this unique novel set in rural Vermont. The structure of this story takes the form of a vet's call log. The logged calls provide the format and forward movement for the book, but the "log" is much more than a look at veterinarian's routine day. Through the log the narrator reveals his innermost thoughts and keen observations, which become particularly affecting when a hunting accident leaves the vet's twelve-year-old son in a coma. Joy, stress, anger, worry, and love of family are at the heart of this original novel.

The Buddha in the Attic  by Julie Otsuka

Using spare, poetic prose, Otsuka chooses to tell this beautifully written immigrant story in the first person plural, which gives this novel a very unusual voice. The story begins on a ship in the early 20th century as Japanese mail-order brides make their way from their homeland to America. They carry photos of handsome men and the hopes of a better life. On arrival, they discover men who look nothing like their pictures and confront the reality that their lives will, in most cases, be filled with backbreaking labor and hardship. The story follows these women’s lives until their removal to relocation centers just prior to WWII. Amazingly, this story is told in just 129 pages. After finishing this book, I immediately picked up Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine (2002), another poignant story about the experience of Japanese-Americans--this novel focusing on their internment during World War II.

Sister  by Rosamund Lupton

Twenty-one-year-old Tess is found dead in an abandoned park building, her death officially pronounced a suicide. Beatrice, Tess's older sister, doesn't buy the suicide verdict. Her knowledge of her sister runs so deep that Beatrice is absolutely certain her sister was murdered. Guilt and love push Beatrice to try and uncover her sister's killer.

Beatrice tells this story as one long letter...a love letter, really...to her sister, which reveals the series of events that led to Tess's death. This suspenseful, fast-paced, psychological thriller has a big surprise ending.

Domestic Violets  by Matthew Norman

A witty, fast-paced, humorous, yet thoughtful debut novel. Thirty-five-year-old Tom Violet feels stuck in his copywriter job with a corporation that seems to have no real purpose in the world. He really wants to be a novelist, but that's a particularly tough road for him to follow--his famous father has just won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The passion seems to have disappeared from his marriage, which worries Tom, as does the fact that he's far too distracted by the twenty-three-year-old copywriter who works with him. How Tom handles these mid-life crises is both funny and touching.

This book reminded me of Richard Russo's writing as I was reading it. Interestingly, in the back matter of "Domestic Violets", the author reveals that one of his influences was Russo's "Straight Man"--one of my all-time favorite novels.

Vaclav & Lena  by Haley Tanner

Vaclav and Lena meet as five-year-olds in an English as a Second Language class. Both are children of Russian immigrant families living in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. The two quickly become fast friends, their daily lives intertwined. The outgoing Vaclav is intent on becoming a famous magician, with shy Lena as his beautiful assistant. By the time the two children are ten, however, Lena’s unacceptable home situation forces Vaclav's mother to intervene…and Lena disappears from young Vaclav’s life. No magic can make her reappear. Vaclav is devastated, but he never forgets about Lena, nor she about him. On Lena’s seventeenth birthday, she vows to find Vaclav and the many missing parts of her life. Heartbreaking at times, this moving adult novel about love and loss may also find a strong audience among high schoolers.

This is a debut novel for Haley Tanner, whose own personal story is also heartbreaking and touching.

Political Thrillers

Can’t get enough of politics—try one of these popular fiction titles.

Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer
Beecher White a young archivist working in the National Archives and his childhood crush accidentally happen upon a priceless artifact a 200 year-old dictionary that once belonged to George Washington hidden inside a desk chair. Keen to discover why the President is hiding this important national treasure the two soon find themselves entangled in a web of deception. Conspiracy and murder that will reveal the most well kept secret of the U.S. Presidency. This fast-paced thriller will keep you reading.

American Assassin by Vince Flynn
Mitt Rapp a student at Syracuse University broods over the tragic deaths of his girlfriend and many other classmates on the bombed Pan Am Flight 103 until he is recruited and trained by the CIA and receives his first assignment; to kill the Turkish arms dealer who sold the bomb that killed his friends. A must read.

Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carre
In LeCarre’s latest novel he delves into the world of international money laundering and the Russian mob. Perry Makepiece former Oxford tutor and his girlfriend, lawyer Gail Perkins take a vacation to the beautiful island of Antigua to sharpen their tennis game. Dima aka Dmitri Vladimirovich Krasnov challenges the couple to a tennis match, but he wants much more than a friendly match of tennis. He wants them to help him escape the Russian mob, but his former bosses decide he knows too much.

Athena Project by Brad Thor
A group of female warriors from the nation’s elite counter-terrorism unit deploys on a dangerous international assignment. Their code name is Athena Project. The Athena Project is a program to train and field teams of Special Forces made up of entirely of women. Athena Project’s next assignment is to capture Nino Biachi, a Venetian arms dealer. Then they are sent to the Paraguayan jungle to investigate the WW II era weapon known as the Kammler device; a weapon that has the power to quite literally change the course of civilization.

Run Before the Wind by Stuart Woods
Will Lee runs away from his life of wealth and privilege to spend a quiet summer on the coast of Ireland. What he needs is peace and quiet, but there is no peace on this troubled island. Restless and dissatisfied, Will dreams of shipbuilding and sailing on the calm Irish Sea, but an explosion of violence drags Will into a game of terror and revenge. Hatred, rage and deadly secrets send Lee running for his life from a bloody past that is not his own and he will find no sanctuary on the sea.