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: 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!

Fiction Pick of the Week: Rules of Deception

Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich 2009

In Christopher Reich’s Rules of Deception, Dr. Jonathan Ransom, a surgeon for Doctors Without Borders, is climbing in the Swiss Alps with his wife, Emma, when she falls into a hidden crevasse and dies. As the plot unfolds, he discovers that his wife had a secret life. Step by step, he is drawn deeper into a world of spies, high-tech weaponry, and global terrorism - a world where no one is who they appear to be and where the end always justifies the means. The novel moves fast with twists and turns, just like the Swiss roads travelled throughout the novel. Satisfying to see the spy genre is still alive and well!!