Denholm, Blair. Kill Shot.

Np: Vinci Books, 2020.

The protagonist — he’s way to iffy to call him a hero — of this police procedural mystery set in the topical north of Queensland, Australia, is Detective Sergeant Jack Lisbon, late of the Metropolitan Police back in London. And his tendency a few years before to act without thinking about consequences is the reason why he’s now not-quite hiding out on the other side of the planet. But he has taken himself in hand since then — mostly — in a desperate bid to rescue his career, even though his persistent reckless instincts mean his fists frequently take precedence over his good sense.

Continue reading →

Albertalli, Becky. Amelia, If Only.

NY: HarperCollins, 2025.

When it comes to portraying the experiences, relationships, and problems of LGBT young people in the 21st-century world, Becky is simply one of the best there is. This is her ninth novel since breaking out with the bestselling Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and it certainly maintains her high standard with its skillful mix of dry humor, authentic banter, and serious life issues. And I will note that if you’ve read Imogen, Obviously (and you should have), the protagonist, Amelia Appelbaum, lives in the same upper Hudson River Valley universe.

Continue reading →

Pronko, Michael. The Last Train.

Np: Gravel Pres, 2022.

This is the first police procedural murder mystery set in Japan that I’ve read that wasn’t actually written by a Japanese author. I’ve read a lot of these, it’s a favorite fiction niche of mine, and I have to say this one certainly feels very “Japanese.” But there are definite differences, too. Pronko certainly knows Tokyo (he’s lived there for decades), and he understands the Japanese police system (which is both very similar and quite different from the U.S. system, remodeled as it was during McArthur’s postwar occupation), but the detectives in the story have a different feel in this one, especially in their less bureaucracy-bound approach to the job and their more freewheeling methods, which might be closer to the NYPD way of doing things.

Continue reading →

Johnson, Abigail. Every Time You Go Away.

Don Mills, ONT: Harlequin, 2023.

Abigail Johnson is an always reliable author of high-quality romcoms, and this one is no exception. But in most of her books, while there’s plenty of romance, there often isn’t a lot of comedy. Johnson doesn’t go in for fluff, and that’s true here, as well. Rebecca James has lived in the same house in Arizona nearly all her life, and next door lived Ethan Kelly, “He was my first friend, my first kiss, and the one person I trusted with all my secrets even as he held back so many of his.” The thing is, it was actually his grandparents’ house and Ethan only lived with them intermittently — when his addictive mother periodically felt guilty for dragging her young son around with her, from flophouse to druggie boyfriend to living in their car. And then she would park Ethan with her parents and disappear for a month or two or ten while she made an effort to rehabilitate herself.

Continue reading →

Eich, Raymund. Take the Shilling.

Np: The Author, 2012.

I’m kind of picky about military science fiction novels because so many of them are just shoot-’em-ups with plots and characters that could as easily be set in medieval Europe or the Wild West as in the future on another planet. This one is the first in a trilogy and it’s considerably better than most — a mix of quite original social worldbuilding and universal battlefield angst. Tomas Neuman is an eighteen-year-old in a rural town on Josephine, one of the Confederated Worlds, which is at war with a rival group of planets, the Progressive Republic (known as Unity). He’s convinced himself he should enlist — with multiple motivations, as has always been the case with young men going off to war — and hopefully to get into the Space Force (which gets all the headlines). But for various reasons, he ends up in the Ground Forces as an infantryman.

Continue reading →

Rickloff, Alix. The Way to London.

NY: Morrow, 2017.

Okay, I’m old. I was born during World War II. And everywhere I look these days, there are “historical novels” being published that take place during the war. I have to say, it’s a bit disconcerting to read a story marketed as “historical” that’s set at a time when I was already alive. Ah, well. Most of this new crop aren’t battlefield yarns, either, but “women’s novels” set on the home front. (That’s a marketing label I flatly ignore, by the way. There are no sections at the bookstore called “Men’s fiction,” are there? Besides, a book is either well written or it isn’t, and that’s all that matters.)

Continue reading →

Harkaway, Nick. Karla’s Choice.

NY: Viking. 2024.

I will say first that while I enjoy espionage novels — some of them — my tastes in that regard are pretty specific. James Bond is pure comic book. That stuff makes for exciting movies, but it bears not the slightest resemblance to real world intelligence work, and never did. Tom Clancy is not much better, frankly. Graham Greene and Eric Ambler and Len Deighton and Mick Herron are quite good. But John Le Carre is several heads and shoulders above all of them. He gets down into the nuts and bolts of the secret Cold War, a very gritty, cold-blooded and psychologically enervating world indeed. I’ve read every book and novella he ever wrote, and all the Smiley books at least twice each. And I always emerge with newly-discovered nuances and understandings. So this engrossing tale is custom-made for me.

Continue reading →

Beene, Jill M. Kill Girl.

Np: Beene, 2016.

Elayna Miller is a very professional assassin, trained by the CIA, but she went freelance after six years — which she says the Company actually likes, because they can put additional distance between you and them but still employ your skills. She has a rather personal approach to her work, though. She only hits the Bad Guys. And she spaces out the jobs she’s paid big money for with pro bono hits: People who got away with things because of money and connections, cases where the police and everyone else knew they were guilty but couldn’t find the necessary evidence to prosecute, not to mention drug dealers, human traffickers, and the like. She also has a small crew of specialists — a hacker, an electronics near-genius, a redneck explosives expert — and they’ve become like family.

Continue reading →

Henry, Emily. Great Big Beautiful Life.

NY: Berkley, 2025.

There’s a reason Emily Henry is one of my not-long list of “automatic” authors. This is her sixth novel and it’s arguably her best yet. There are three main characters this time. First, there’s Alice Scott of Los Angeles, in her 30s, who is a staff writer for a leading celebrity-focused magazine — extended interviews and analysis of show biz and pop culture, not just a gossip rag — and while she loves her work, she’s been trying to break into “real” journalism for some time. She’s an optimistic sort, but also a very sharp and careful observer who thinks deeply about what she sees and hears. (She’s also the story’s POV character.) Then there’s Hayden Anderson of New York City, about the same age, who won a Pulitzer in biography last year for his sensitive work on the life, cognitive decline, and death of a major rock star of the 1960s. (He literally lived with his subject for five years to do it.)

Continue reading →

Roth, Lucy. When Sally Killed Harry.

NY: HarperCollins, 2025.

This one got my attention because of the title (as the author intended, of course), and it’s one of the best revenge thrillers I’ve read in quite some time. Not to put too fine a point on it, Sally Parker is a closeted psychopath — but, given the way she was raised, you can say she came by it honestly. And she tells you on page 3 that she did, in fact, kill Harry Collins, “sweet, dangerous Harry,” and she has no regrets about it. But you will also come to understand why Harry had it coming.

Continue reading →