Fiction Pick of the Week: Private Games

Private Games by James Patterson (with Mark Sullivan)

A fast-paced spin-off of the Private series, Private Games takes readers to England, just prior to the 30^th Olympiad.  With the opening ceremony just hours away, Private Investigator Nigel Steele is called to a murder scene.  The head of the Games’ organizing committee, also the fiancé of Steele’s mother, has been executed.  When Cronus claims responsibility for the murder, London is in a state of panic. 

Cronus’ executions are gruesome and public, and in his mind, the means to the end of restoring the Games to their ancient glory.  When Karen Pope, a newspaper reporter, begins to receive notes from Cronus detailing future murders, she partners with Steele to identify Cronus and, more importantly, to stop him.  With the medal and body count increasing, this action-packed novel may leave some readers wondering, “Could this really happen?”

Fiction Pick of the Week: Full Black

Full Black by Brad Thor

This is another thriller in the Scot Harvath series, where the United States is threatened by a massive terrorist attack that's been in the works since the 1940s. This time, Navy SEAL turned covert counterterrorism operative Harvath will need some help from other operatives in the CIA and members of a private paramilitary organization called the Carlton Group if he's going to save the day. It’s a global romp of action and intrigue. Harvath devises a plan and must go "Full Black", and perform outside the rules and without knowledge of his government.

I found it an intelligent examination of current events and a political wake-up call for free-thinking people everywhere. This one has now been added to my all-time favourite reads list!

Also available in Large Print and on Audio CD

Fiction Pick of the Week: Never Knowing

Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens 2011

Sara Gallagher, who has always known she was adopted, seizes the opportunity to discover who her birth parents were. Her biological mother turns out to be a professor at nearby University of Victoria … who was raped by a serial killer as a teenager. Sara is the product of that rape. Sara’s mother wants nothing to do with her, but her biological father, once he discovers her, is only too interested to contact her. Told in a flashback structure (as was Ms Steven’s first wildly successful novel, “Still Missing”) this psychological thriller will keep you on your toes until the end. For fans of Karin Slaughter, Joy Fielding, or Jodi Picoult

Fiction Pick of the Week: 11/22/63

11/22/63 by Stephen King 2011

This is a different kind of story for Stephen King, a time travel novel back to the pre-Kennedy assassination days of the late fifties and early sixties. Jack Epping is the thirty-five- year-old English teacher who steps into the world of George Amberson, a man from the future intent on stopping the Kennedy killing and changing the course of history.

King has done his research on the era. For someone who grew up in these days, it is a nostalgic trip back to the not-so-perfect good old days. Try explaining to your girlfriend, who is living in the pre-civil rights days, that where you come from “the Cold War is over and the President is a black man.” No wonder George/Jake is so reluctant to talk about his past.

What I liked best was the heart-racing suspense with events of which you know the ending, but now might change. Nothing would make you put this book down during George’s last minute charge up the six flights of the Texas School depository building. It is how we all wish, at the worst of times, life could be. I also enjoyed the tender love story of George and Sadie, so different from Jake’s real life story.

From the start, I could not imagine how this novel would end. In his afterword, the author reveals that his son suggested an alternative ending, which he then adopted. He chose a good one. I enjoyed this book cover to cover.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Gods of Greenwich

The Gods of Greenwich, by Norb Vonnegut 2011

Vonnegut follows his debut novel, Top Producer, with another financial thriller about Wall Street's hedge fund industry. In 2007, Jimmy Cusack, an honest money manager, finds himself in trouble after his hedge fund collapses thanks to the pullout of his biggest investor. He takes a job with Leeser Capital, run by the shady Cy Leeser, whose investment strategies have always been far from transparent. Cusack's misgivings grow as losses begin inexplicably mounting at Leeser amid rumours about the company's involvement in an Icelandic bank and a hedge strategy based on life insurance claims. This is an enjoyable murder mystery too, written with a quick wit and a keen knowledge of the financial industry!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Saving Max

Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten 2010

Attorney Danielle Parkman knows that her teenage son Max is having mental health issues that seem to be getting worse. She places him in the Maitland Institute which is a renowned psychiatric facility in Des Moines. Once Max is admitted to Maitland, his behaviour becomes very violent and he is accused of murdering a fellow patient, Jonas.

Appeal factors of this book are a fast-paced plot with lots of twists and turns. There are many subplots going on in the story that keep up the interest of the reader. The courtroom setting and writing style are similar to John Grisham. A very good thriller for this debut author.

For your consideration: Graphic descriptions of child abuse and the mindset of a serial killer.

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Guilty Plea

The Guilty Plea by Robert Rotenberg

Following on the success of his debut Old City Hall, Toronto criminal lawyer and novelist Robert Rotenberg uses his inside knowledge to bring us a Toronto legal scene as exciting as anything on Law and Order. On the eve of his tabloid-fodder divorce trial, grocery heir Terry Wyler is found brutally murdered in his kitchen -- his estranged wife Samantha is found in possession of the murder weapon and makes no attempt to provide an alibi. But if it’s an open-and-shut case, why is she still hiding something? Is she really guilty, or protecting someone else? Detective Ari Greene tries to untangle the complex secrets of the Wyler clan, while treading carefully through the backroom deals and plea bargaining tactics of high-powered Toronto lawyers, whose personal relationships might just make all the difference to whether a case is won or lost.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Damage Control

Damage Control by Denise Hamilton 2011

In this stand-alone thriller, Maggie Silver is trying to carve out her public relations career, handle her addiction, and care for her ailing mother. Her employer, The Blair Company, assigns her to cover the murder of a young female aide to Senator Henry Paxton. This case assignment is no coincidence – Maggie was best friends with his daughter, Anabelle, when they were teenagers. Anabelle was everything her family was not – rich and powerful. The girls were inseparable, but one violent act, many years ago, changed their relationship forever.

Now Maggie is torn between loyalty, betrayal, and her renewed feelings for Anabelle’s brother. During this fast-paced novel, as Maggie tries to spin the Senator’s crisis into something more positive, the reader discovers how one wild teenage night can impact many lives years later. This is a plot-driven, suspenseful book that leaves Maggie guessing who to trust until the very end.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Death Spiral

Death Spiral by James W. Nichol 2009

Canadian WWII Spitfire pilot and wounded war hero Wilf McLaughlin returns to his rural Ontario hometown after almost 2 years in rehab hospitals in France and England. His body may be permanently damaged, but Wilf is determined to get his law degree, join his father’s law firm, and rebuild his life.

However, strange things begin to happen as soon as Wilf starts looking into the firm’s clients’ affairs. Bodies start turning up in mysterious circumstances. Is it just a coincidence, or did Wilf’s homecoming stir up some long forgotten resentments?

This psychological thriller will keep you in your chair reading through until it’s done. A tour de force that will haunt you, if you let it.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Cape Disappointment

Cape Disappointment by Earl W. Emerson 2009

The bomb that nearly killed Thomas Black, the main character in the author’s mystery series, goes off in a school gymnasium after a Senate candidate has spoken. When Black, widower, hero, and private investigator is released from the hospital, he must face the fact that his wife, Kathy, a lawyer who died in a plane crash weeks before the bombing, is really gone. Although he knows she is dead, he keeps seeing her and her cell phone is being used to call him late at nights. Questioning explanations investigators give for the crash he then becomes interested in what a former CIA hit man has been trying to tell him about the crash and people keep dying. The storyline is fast-paced, and makes a strong case that the government's prime role is to cover-up the mistakes of its leaders. A great thriller.

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Accident

The Accident by Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay fans are going to love his latest thriller. The Burlington author has done it again with The Accident. When Glen Carver’s wife is killed in a car accident, he is left to raise their young daughter alone. Glen has trouble accepting that his wife Sheila was a drunk driver as the police conclude following their investigation into the accident that killed 2 innocent people. As he tries to get on with his life, unfortunate deaths and dangerous situations seem to be occurring all around him. The more he investigates the more dangerous things become, resulting in a climax that was totally unexpected. This is a fast paced, exciting read, so pick it up soon and enjoy a great book by a local author.

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Accident

The Accident by Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay fans are going to love his latest thriller. The Burlington author has done it again with The Accident. When Glen Carver’s wife is killed in a car accident, he is left to raise their young daughter alone. Glen has trouble accepting that his wife Sheila was a drunk driver as the police conclude following their investigation into the accident that killed 2 innocent people. As he tries to get on with his life unfortunate deaths and dangerous situations seem to be occurring all around him. The more he investigates, the more dangerous things become, resulting in a climax that was totally unexpected. This is a fast-paced, exciting read, so pick it up soon and enjoy a great book by a local author.

Happy Birthday James Patterson!

One of the library's most popular authors turns 64 today! For a list of what BPL has by James Patterson, please click here.


Be prepared to be hooked, but never fear, this prolific writer has several series to keep you turning pages until his next birthday-- and beyond!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Poison

Poison : a novel of the Renaissance by Sara Poole 2010

The setting for this first novel by an American author is 1492 in Rome. Francesco is the heroine, employed by Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia to protect his family. She is a poisoner, educated in the art of both producing and preventing poisoning, the weapon of choice in these dangerous times.

This is a fascinating tale of the notorious Borgia family that keeps the reader spellbound with the treachery reaching from the Jewish ghetto to the Vatican. As Francesco pursues her father's killer, she tries to protect the Borgias from numerous enemies and stop a diabolical plan of widespread destruction already in the works.

Excellent characterization, a compelling plot, and the first person narration by Francesco gives the story a credible immediacy. It is impossible to set down and needs a sequel soon.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Diamondhead

Diamondhead by Patrick Robinson 2009

While serving in Iraq, Navy SEAL Commander Mack Bedford witnesses his
fellow soldiers being killed by an illegal, lethal Diamondhead missile. In retaliation, he guns down the dozen Arabs who fired the missiles as they attempt a fake surrender, for which he's court martialed. He returns home to Dartford, Maine, where the main industry, Remson Shipbuilding is facing closure and his son is suffering from a rare disease that can only be cured by an operation costing $1 million. Mack agrees to assassinate the owner of the French manufacturer of the missile, Henri Foche, to earn that $1 million. Foche, who's running for the presidency of France, promises policies that will ruin the shipbuilding livelihood of Mack's Maine community.

Robinson has created a likable lead character, and should appeal to readers who like Tom Clancy or Larry Bond. It’s action-packed and a page turner.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Top Producer

Top Producer : a novel of dark money, greed, and friendship by Norb Vonnegut 2009

Vonnegut’s debut novel is a winning financial thriller as it puts the cutthroat world of Wall Street’s best stockbrokers, or top producers, on display. O'Rourke, the narrator, is a top producer at a NY boutique investment bank. As a good friend, a fund manager, is murdered, events lead him deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of deceit. As fallout from his friend’s death and dealings start to taint O’Rourke, the sharks, inside and outside his own firm, smell blood and begin to circle. The author is a veteran fund manager, who handles the terminology and Wall Street very deftly. A great first novel and very hard to put down!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Fear the Worst

Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay 2009


I couldn’t put this book down. If you like suspense thrillers then you have to read Linwood Barclay’s new book Fear the Worst.

Suddenly one day Tim Blake’s daughter Sydney disappears on her way to work. When Tim goes to the motel where she works to track her down, no one there has ever heard of her! As he continues his search he discovers that Milford is not the town he thought it was. He also starts to believe that his daughter is not who he thought she was either. This book is full of great characters and twists and turns that will keep you guessing right to the end.

Fiction Pick of the Week: The Killing Circle

The Killing Circle by Andrew Pyper 2008

Widowed father of a young son, Patrick Rush has gradually sunk (often in a drunken stupor) from book reviewer at a national Canadian newspaper to watching endless tapes of mindless reality shows in his new position as TV critic. He decides to act on his old ambition to become a published author by joining a writing circle in his home of Toronto where everyone is advised to write what they know. Patrick is unable to come up with his own story but is inspired by that of another member of the group and eventually commits the crime most heinous to writers. While it is initially a thrill to finally be a celebrated author, Rush begins to realize that he is actually involved in a real-life thriller blurring the lines between fiction and reality. A suspenseful read with a shocking ending, made even more haunting by the familiarity of the Ontario locations in which the novel is set. Nominated for OLA’s 2009 Evergreen Award.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Child 44

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith 2008

When war hero Leo Stepanovich Demidov, a rising star in the MGB, the Russian State Security force, is assigned to look into the death of a child, he is annoyed, first because this takes him away from a more important case, but, more importantly, because the parents insist the child was murdered. Set in the Soviet Union in 1953, this debut novel from British author, Smith, offers a sadly convincing portrayal of Russia under Stalin, a paranoid society based on ruthless domination under the guise of perpetuating 'the collective good.' This amazing first novel by a British author has already garnered many “starred reviews". It is totally original, frightening and chilling and has moved onto my all-time memorable reads list!

Fiction Post of the Week: The Echelon Vendetta

The Echelon Vendetta by David Stone 2007

The Echelon Vendetta by David Stone introduces Micah Dalton, a new hero on the spy-thriller scene - I might suggest a comparison to Jason Bourne in the Ludlum series. He’s a CIA "cleaner," the guy who wipes away the mess after something goes wrong in the field. As Dalton follows a trail from Tuscany to London then to CIA headquarters and the Rocky Mountains, he encounters government spooks, Native American mysticism, hallucinogens, and gruesome violence with which he seems creepily comfortable. Stone not only knows the espionage scene but also how to plot a complicated, fast-paced thriller. David Stone is a pseudonym for a former military intelligence officer. A very strong debut!