Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey

A delightful but somewhat disappointing debut to Regency Romance
This is the first time I have read any of Jane Austen's romantic novels that have such a worldwide following. It is also Austen's first novel which wasn't published until after her death. Although I don't yet have a yardstick of reading her other books to measure this one, it is clear to me that while it contains many elements of her later work, the quality still needs to be polished. Nevertheless I found this to be a compelling introduction to her work and to the manners and customs of her time.

This is not my normal genre (heavy crime/police/espionage) and I chose to start with an audiobook - which was a great choice as the narrator, Juliet Stevenson, brought the period and the manners of that time to life.  I found her portrayal of the heroine, Catherine, to be somewhat shallow at times, but at the age of 18 she was still a very immature person.

This is a coming-of-age story about Catherine Moreland, a daughter of a moderately rich family, let loose at the age of 18 in Bath to the meet-and-mate society of Regency England. Until then Catherine had led a very sheltered life, with her greatest and most imaginative adventures being through reading Gothic novels. She stumbles into friendships without really understanding what they are all about. Her first friendship with the dominating and featherbrained Isabella was typical of modern teenage friendships. Isabella's insensitive and self-centred brother John doesn't make her stay in Bath any better.

In Bath she also meets Henry Tilney, a mature and gentlemanly 26 year old clergyman who is a younger son of wealthy General Tilney, and his sister Eleanor. General Tilney invites Catherine to stay with Eleanor at Northanger Abbey where Catherine is able to builds up strong and meaningful relationships with all of the Tilneys

Delightful things - the exquisite prose; the wonderful descriptions of Regency life and the manners and ways of genteel society at that time.

Disappointing things - Catherine's imaginative conversion of the Abbey into the scene of a gothic novel; the impossible relationship between Isabella and Catherine's brother and then with Henry's brother; General Tilney's reaction to his conflicting conversations with unreliable John Thorpe.

The most disappointing thing was the ending where everything was wrapped up in the last chapter as if Jane Austen wanted to finish things quickly to get on with other things.

All in all I really enjoyed my first encounter with Jane Austen's writing (of course I have been exposed to many film and TV presentations of her work). I really enjoyed the narration and plan to listen to some of her more popular works during my morning walks and in the car sometime soon.

Daniel Silva: The English Spy

Masterly international espionage thriller
Once again Daniel Silva has shown us that he is a master of espionage thrillers. This is #15 in the Gabriel Allon series and I am always fascinated how top writers are able to maintain the quality and momentum of a series. Silva has done this in a masterly way by bringing together a collection of characters and events from some of his previous books and built them into a riveting thriller.

Israeli spymaster Gabriel Allon is facing two major hurdles in his life, one he is looking forward to and one he isn't. Soon he will become a father again - his wife Chiara is carrying twins. Then he will be forced to become head of "The Office" and no longer be called to work in the field. He reflects that "the life of a professional spy is one of constant travel, mind-numbing boredom broken by interludes of sheer terror".

Before either happens he has to hunt down master Irish bombmaker Eamon Quinn who not only killed and maimed hundreds in Northern Ireland but after a spell of training in Libya, has spread his death and destruction around the world, including the Middle East. Quinn's latest mayhem was a contract for the destruction of a luxury private yacht/cruiser in the Caribbean to assassinate a royal princess (loosely and insensitively modelled on Princess Diana).

On learning that Quinn was the bomber Gabriel sets out find him and find out who he is working for. He recruits Christopher Keller to help him - a former British commando who knows Quinn too well from painful experience in Northern Ireland. The experience was so painful that he has spent the last few years in exile in Corsica working as a professional assassin. Gabriel sets out to bring Keller back into the fold with the help of Graham Seymour of MI6 - hence the book title when Keller becomes an English spy.

As the story sweeps from Moscow to Vienna, Hamburg, London, Cornwall and eventually Belfast it becomes increasingly clear that the assassination of a princess was set up to flush out and destroy Allon (which it nearly did). It is a masterly story of spycraft and cooperation between spy agencies to defeat what could be one of the biggest terrorist threats in years. Silva effortlessly and confidently moves between characters and events from previous novels in the series to build up tensions, disasters and an eventual bloody climax. In the spy business "Our mistakes always come back to haunt us. And eventually all debts come due."

The end of the story may be the end of Gabriel's field experience but with Israel's current position in the Middle East it is surely not the end of his career as a master spymaster. I would highly recommend this book as an example of how a long running series can be kept fresh. While it helps to have read earlier books, the back-story is so well written that the book can be read standalone.  My only reservations are the insensitive use of the assassination of a princess - when we all know that she died in a car crash in Paris - and the inappropriate book covers for both Australia and the US which illustrate parts of London that don't feature in the book.

Alafair Burke: Missing Justice

Samantha Kincaid - Deputy District Attorney,  Major Crimes Unit
In the first book in this series "Judgement Calls" Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid was working in Portland’s Drug and Vice Division. After a much needed vacation following an attempt on her life she is back at work with a promotion to the Major Crimes Unit. In the early morning of the day she starts work again she gets a call about the disappearance of city administrative judge Clarissa Easterbrook. Clarissa is the wife of a top surgeon and has close friends with powerful political connections.

The case rapidly goes downhill and Samantha finds herself right in the middle of a possible homicide prosecution which her bosses may not want her to handle. Kincaid soon gets involved with police investigations, and has doubts that the suspect that they have arrested may be guilty.

Kincaid is a great female lead who does what she feels is needed to make sure that justice is served. This means that she frequently goes it alone and frequently upsets the police and her supervisors. In this case going alone means taking on powerful local business and political interests who may be involved in high level corruption that is difficult to prove.

Samantha also has to learn to live with conflicting interests in her personal life - her current love interest who is one of the top detectives in the MCU, and her father who was once a policeman himself and understands the impact of political and business power.

This is a very skillfully plotted, well written and legally complex thriller that clearly shows Alafair Burke's experience as a prosecutor in Portland's Attorney General's office and currently as a law professor. I have already read several of Alafair Burke's Ellie Hatcher series and have made a resolution to read the other books in the Samantha Kincaid series.

Bernard Cornwell: Sharpe's Eagle

One of the best in a great historical series
While Sharpe's Eagle is #8 in time order in Bernard Cornwell's great historical series featuring Richard Sharpe, a footsoldier in India and in the Napoleonic Wars, this was the first book about Sharpe that Cornwell wrote. IMHO it is one of the best in the series that I have read so far and almost seamlessly fits in with the seven previous books that were written later.

Cornwell started writing the series about one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809) where Britain, aided (and hindered) by the Spanish, faced up to collected French armies. Both sides lost over 7,000 soldiers each in a battle that lasted less than 2 days.

Lieutenant Sharpe's small contingent of riflemen join up with a regiment set up and commanded by an incompetent Colonel. When Sharpe's men help to get the badly trained regiment out of trouble (including protecting the regimental colours) the Colonel becomes a strong, rich and powerful enemy. Fortunately Sharpe's actions gets the attention of Sir Arthur Wellesley (to be made the Duke of Wellington after the battle) who gives him a battlefield promotion to Captain.

The only way Sharpe can protect his future career as a Captain is to fight for the honour of the regiment. He figures out that one way to do this is by a feat of bravery that will command everybody's attention. He sets out to capture a French Imperial Eagle - a figure of an eagle on a staff carried into battle as a standard by the French armies the Napoleonic Wars in place of regimental colours.

Sharpe is not your standard military hero - he joined the army to escape jail and became an officer through sheer military brilliance and leadership. Sharpe isn't rich and mostly leads by example not authority. The army is his only family, especially the 95th Rifles whose tattered green jacket he proudly wears. He is intolerant of the competence of most other officers who come from rich aristocratic backgrounds and the feeling is mutual. He is also a consummate ladies man - once again in this book he continues this tradition with a Portuguese beauty who is following the regiment.

This is yet another fantastic historical adventure in the Richard Sharpe series which surrounds you with the heat of battles fought so long ago, I have resolved to read in its entirety in the next twelve months.

Nicci French: Friday On My Mind

Another day of the week in the life of Frieda Klein
This is another well written psychological mystery featuring Frieda Klein, a psychotherapist who has been a bit of a trouble magnet in earlier books in the series (Blue Monday, Tuesday's Gone and Waiting for Wednesday, Thursday's Children) written by wife and husband duo Nicci Gerard and Sean French.

A bloated corpse is found floating in the River Thames. It has been there for a time and the police can only find two clues - his throat has been cut and he is wearing a plastic hospital identification bracelet "Dr F Klein".

The bracelet is definitely wrong as Frieda Klein is a woman who is well and truly alive and working as a psychotherapist in private practice, frequently being asked to give advice to the Police. It is soon clear that the victim is Freida's ex-partner Sandy Holland. Freida had ended the relationship a while ago and Sandy found it very difficult to accept that things had ended. The last time they met was very acrimonious.

The Police soon find evidence that puts Freida in their sights as a prime suspect. She finds herself in position where she must disappear and find the truth on her own before the situation goes too far.

While the tension is cleverly built up in twists and turns I found it difficult to connect with Freida (who is a very complex and difficult character to understand) and her many friends and acquaintances who featured in previous books. There are also many things that had happened in earlier books which had an impact on the plot. The authors tried hard but failed to make it a standalone book as there were so many important things that the reader needed to know to really appreciate the story.

I have read and mostly forgotten "Thursday's Children" and don't feel inclined to visit the earlier books to fully appreciate what really happened in this one. I still don't fully understand the character of Frieda Klein or the importance of what she has done in the past. This is a shame because on the whole the book was well written and plotted. I doubt that I will be looking to read what happens to Frieda on Saturday.

Nicole Trope: Hush, Little Bird

A difficult subject, well handled
This is a pretty difficult subject about two very different women in prison facing up to their own kind of hell for what they have done. Despite this the author handled it well and covered a lot of sensitive topics, especially life in a women's open prison.

Bringing in the finches as a help to survive what they had been through was an interesting and rewarding touch by the author to a book that could have been a difficult subject for some readers and made the book more memorable to me.

Thanks to The Reading Room and the publisher for a copy of this book for review.

Review by MonicaD.

Ella Griffin: The Flower Arrangement

A confusion of flowers
The theme of the book was that flowers have an impact on those who sell them as well as those who receive them. I loved it at the beginning with the accent on flowers when Lara opened the shop and how she watched the impact on people she sold flowers to for various happy and sad occasions.

Unfortunately the story drifted into other people's problems which flowers can't always solve and the number of different people got so diverse that halfway through I lost the plot, disconnected with the story and didn't finish the book. I normally try to persevere but on this occasion I gave up.

Thanks to The Reading Room and the publisher for a copy of this book for review.

Review by MonicaD.

J D Robb: Conspiracy in Death

Improving sexy futuristic police/crime fantasy
Needing a break from more serious thrillers I broke my resolution to avoid further books in this mostly pretty silly but sexy futuristic police/crime fantasy.

I have read enough of this series to block out the ridiculous near future setting with droids, interplanetary travel but continued social strife and appalling welfare. To enjoy this series you need to focus on the two main characters, Eve Dallas, a totally committed NYPD police lieutenant working among the dregs of society, and her unlikely husband Rourke, a billionaire who can live the life of dreams anywhere in the world or on nearby planets and satellites. One of the key elements that draws and keeps them together in their sexy, feisty and unbelievable relationship is their mutual background of poverty, abuse and struggle to succeed.

The story is, as usual, pretty kooky. Some people with top surgical skills are removing key organs from people in the dregs of society, as carefully as it would have happened in a top hospital. At the same time Eve has to face up to events that might eventually end her police career.

This book was a step up from the others because it shows a vulnerability in Eve when she is confronted with the possible loss of her career. Again it shows Rourke's support and love for his unlikely wife but this time her reliance and love for her man show through. Of course the book is scattered with passionate, often clothes ripping interludes between the main characters that must be one of the main attractions of such a strange series.

Philip Kerr: A German Requiem

Bernie Gunther - Berlin/Vienna Noir 1948
This is #3 in the excellent Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr - one of the best hardboiled police/crime series I have read for a long time. It is extra special because it is also set with meticulously researched historical detail in Nazi Germany before and after the war and seamlessly integrated with some of the key happenings and powerful personalities of that time.

Bernhard (Bernie) Gunther was a hard-boiled Berlin detective who served eleven years as a homicide detective in Kripo (Berlin's criminal police) and left in 1933 to become a PI when the National Socialists started to purge the force of all non-party members. He was forced back into Kripo in 1938  by Reinhard Heydrich, the prime architect of the Holocaust, then head of the Gestapo. Since then he has served in the SS as a soldier on the Eastern Front, observed mass killings, been a POW of the Russians and escaped back to a hand-to-mouth existence as a PI in the rubble of post-war Berlin.

Gunther was never a Nazi or a war criminal but went through the war at the front because opposing what was happening was too painful to contemplate. He is not averse to some brutality where necessary in his work, has a tough and rough sense of humour, is constantly cynical but while he is sometimes morally-compromised he has a pragmatic sense of right and wrong.

In 1948 Gunther is hired by an ex-colleague who has been arrested for the murder of an American officer in Vienna. Although he despises the man because he was involved in Nazi atrocities, under his current circumstances the offer is too good to turn down. Vienna is also a divided city between the Americans (Amis), British, French and Russians (Ivans) and he soon gets involved in early Cold War espionage antics between the Amis and the Ivans and with leading war criminals who are trying to cover up their previous lives. Gunther finds that his life is as dangerous now as it was during the war.

Philip Kerr is a first class thriller author who can write heavily-plotted, hard-boiled and frequently violent crime novels seamlessly set against the background of Berlin and Vienna after the war. This is wonderful stuff for a crime-fiction junkie like me who loves his doses of history with a crime-fiction background.

This is the third book in the Kerr's "Berlin Noir" trilogy which covers Gunther's experiences before and after the war. This is the first time that I have read through a trilogy without a break and really enjoyed all of the books.  I am hooked on reading the rest of the series very soon.

Philip Kerr: Berlin Noir

Hard-boiled Historical Crime Fiction at its best
This trilogy is a great introduction to the excellent Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr - one of the best hardboiled police/crime series I have read for a long time. It is extra special because the series is set with meticulously researched historical detail in Nazi Germany before and after the war and is seamlessly integrated with some of the key happenings and powerful personalities of that time.

Bernhard (Bernie) Gunther is a hard-boiled Berlin detective who served eleven years as a homicide detective in Kripo (Berlin's criminal police) and left in 1933 when the National Socialists started to purge the force of all non-party members. He becomes a private investigator and then is forced back to Kripo by the Nazis. After witnessing mass killings he fights on the Eastern Front and becomes a POW with the Russians.

Gunther was never a Nazi or a war criminal but went through the war at the front because opposing what was happening was too painful to contemplate. He is not averse to some brutality where necessary in his work, has a tough and rough sense of humour, is constantly cynical but while he is sometimes morally-compromised he has a pragmatic sense of right and wrong.

MARCH VIOLETS, set in 1936, has Gunther investigating the murder and torching of the daughter and son-in-law of a powerful German steel magnate and an associated safe robbery. The investigation gets mixed up with Nazi issues and Bernie gets involved with Goering (in a cameo role) and  Reinhard Heydrich, the prime architect of the Holocaust.

THE PALE CRIMINAL, set in 1938, has Gunther forced back into Kripo by Heydrich to find a serial killer of Aryan teenage girls who are Nazi sympathisers.

A GERMAN REQUIEM is set after the war in Berlin and mostly in occupied Vienna. Bernie is asked to help a former colleague and black marketeer accused of the murder of an American officer. In the process he gets dangerously involved with both the "Amis" and the "Ivans" in Cold War tensions and with some major war criminals.

Philip Kerr is a first class thriller author who can write heavily-plotted, hard-boiled and frequently violent crime novels seamlessly set against a fascinating background of Berlin before the war and Vienna after the war. This is wonderful stuff for a crime-fiction junkie like me who loves his doses of history with a crime-fiction background. This is the first time that I have read through a trilogy without a break and I really enjoyed all of the books - highly recommended.  I am hooked on reading the rest of the series very soon.

Philip Kerr: The Pale Criminal

Bernie Gunther - Berlin Noir 1938
This is #2 in the excellent Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr - one of the best hardboiled police/crime series I have read for a long time. It is extra special because it is also set with meticulously researched historical detail in Nazi Germany and seamlessly integrated with some of the key happenings and powerful personalities of that time.

Bernhard (Bernie) Gunther is a hard-boiled Berlin detective who served eleven years as a homicide detective in Kripo (Berlin's criminal police) and left in 1933 when the National Socialists started to purge the force of all non-party members. He is now a private investigator who spends most of his time tracking down missing persons, who are inevitably mostly Jews.

Gunther is not a Nazi (he gives the Nazi salute when needed because "it's not worth taking a beating for not saluting") and accepts that he lives in a world of Nazi insanity where brutality has become commonplace. He is not averse to some brutality where necessary in his work, has a tough and rough sense of humour, is constantly cynical but has a pragmatic sense of right and wrong. At heart he is a true Berliner of the time, sometimes morally-compromised but acquiescing to but not actively participating in what is happening because opposing it is too painful to contemplate.

The time is now 1938 with the Nazi machine blowing the winds of war and starting to implement its plans for Aryan supremacy and elimination of inferior races. There is a serial killer loose in Berlin who tortures and sexually abuses teenage girls. The Nazis are worried because they are good Aryan girls who support the Nazi cause. Gunther is given an offer he can't refuse to rejoin Kripo to find the killer or killers. He can't refuse it because the offer comes from Reinhard Heydrich, the prime architect of the Holocaust, then head of the Gestapo. His only compensation is to be given a higher rank than when he left.

This is a heavily-plotted and frequently violent crime novel which is seamlessly set against the background of Nazi Germany just before the start of WWII and the Jewish holocaust. This is wonderful stuff for a crime-fiction junkie like me who loves his doses of history with a crime-fiction background.

It is also the second book in the Kerr's "Berlin Noir" trilogy. The last book "A German Requiem" is set in 1948 and takes in the start of the Cold War and the denazification of Germany. I am already hooked on the series and enjoying reading that book,

Philip Kerr: March Violets

Inside Hitler's Germany in 1936
This is one of the best hardboiled police/crime novels I have read for a long time. It is extra special because it is also set authentically with great historical detail in Nazi Germany and seamlessly integrated with some of the key happenings and powerful personalities of that time.

Bernhard (Bernie) Gunther is a hard-boiled Berlin detective who served eleven years as a homicide detective in Kripo (Berlin's criminal police) and left in 1933 when the National Socialists started to purge the force of all non-party members. He is now a private investigator who spends most of his time tracking down missing persons, who are inevitably mostly Jews.

Gunther is not a Nazi (he gives the Nazi salute when needed because "it's not worth taking a beating for not saluting") and accepts that he lives in a world Nazi insanity where brutality has become commonplace. He is not averse to some brutality where necessary in his work, has a tough and rough sense of humour, is constantly cynical but has a pragmatic sense of right and wrong. At heart he is a true Berliner of the time, sometimes morally-compromised but acquiescing to but not actively participating in what is happening because opposing it is too painful to contemplate.

Bernie is asked by one of Germany's most powerful steel barons to find the murderer of his daughter and son-in-law, who were shot in their bed and their house torched. Before the murder a priceless diamond necklace was taken from their safe and the steel baron is just as interested in recovering the jewels as finding the murderer.

Gunther's investigations surprisingly get him tangled with Goering (in a cameo role) and in a more painful way with Reinhard Heydrich, the prime architect of the Holocaust, then head of the Gestapo, who are also interested in the robbery for a different reason. This lands Gunther in a Gestapo prison and later in Dachau concentration camp searching for the robber.

Kerr has crafted an excellent, heavily-plotted and frequently violent crime novel which is effortlessly set against the background of Nazi Germany in 1936 (including the Olympic Games). This is wonderful stuff for a crime-fiction junkie who loves his doses of history with a crime-fiction background.

"March Violets" (a term for people who joined the Nazi Party after they came to power in the March, 1933 elections) is Kerr's debut novel in the superb Bernie Gunther series (now #10) covering Germany during the 1930s, the Second World War and after the War. It is also the first book in the "Berlin Noir" trilogy where this book morphes easily and carefully into the next book "The Pale Criminal" set in 1938. I am already hooked and reading the next book in the trilogy. Highly recommended.

Greig Beck:Beneath the Dark Ice (Alex Hunter Book 1)

So funny!
My sub-title: Matthew Reilly meets the Monsters from the Deep.

I normally read thrillers and historical sagas but am trying to widen my reading experience by trying other genres. This book is basically an action fantasy/sci-fi thriller so I thought I would give it a go, especially in audiobook format which I find is an easier way to enjoy different styles of books.

This book was meant to be serious but I found it so funny because so many ludicrous things happen. Here are a few ingredients to whet your appetite:

~ Alex Hunter, a Special Services Officer, has developed extraordinary strengths and sensory abilities after a bullet (from a Russian assassin) lodged in his head and opened up unused parts of his brain to make him a superman.

~ A plane flying over the Antarctic mysteriously loses power in both engines and crashes through the ice into a huge mysterious cavern beneath the ice. A rescue mission disappears completely after it enters the cavern.

~ Another rescue mission of American scientists (there might be oil down there!) with a squad of top Special Services operatives for security, discover that there are archaic giant life forms living in vast underground lakes in the caverns/caves under the ice. Giant orthopods enjoy a diet of humans and their monster tentacles can grab and devour a human in seconds. They have a single eye as big as a car, a rigid shell that they can shuck, and the ability to show images of their prior victims to lure new victims.

~ The Russians have also send a squad of assassins to make sure that the Americans can't claim any oil under the ice. One of the assassins wants to finish the task of killing Alex.

There is so much more, especially many other incredible bloodthirsty life forms that can attack at any time. If it had been a real book I probably wouldn't have made it through to the end but I am glad that I did because the end of the Epilogue had me ROTFLMAO.

I praise Greig Beck for his amazing imagination which kept me amused for many hours narration during my morning walks. Regular walkers kept asking me for progress as I passed them by laughing out loud at another incredible happening.

I praise Sean Mangan for his excellent deadpan narration that made the book so much more enjoyable and amusing for me.

It is very hard to rate this book. I would give it one star for content but have opted for three stars because it was well written and gave me so much amusement (and there must be people out there that enjoy this kind of nonsense).

I see that there are at least 5 books in the Alex Hunter series. Unless I am really desperate for some comic relief I doubt that I will read any of them.

Adrian McKinty, Stuart Neville: Belfast Noir

Stories from a really noir city
This is a collection of fourteen short stories set in and around the City of Belfast. I read somewhere that even when the sun is shining there is a grey aura around the city - these stories all encapsulated some of that aura.

The stories are varied and while some hark back to the IRA/Protestant "Troubles" of the 1980's they don't really concentrate on that era. They cover a wide range of lowlifes produced by the grey city and its heritage, including convicts, prostitutes, blackmailers, private eyes, reporters and even a fighting dog breeder.

My favourite stories were about:

~ A member of the IRA who had to drive a hearse and coffin , with unknown contents, over the border from Ireland and was scared stiff that the coffin might explode on the way.

~ A teenage girl who had a crush on her Spanish teacher and managed to get him dismissed.

~ A man who took a Polaroid photo of the lady-of-the-house which he stuck in the coin-operated electricity meter to give constant supply. Most times because the lady didn't have any spare money he took his payment in kind.

I read this collection of stories as an audiobook, which really enhanced my enjoyment because of the great local Irish accents used by the narrators. I read it during my morning walks so I could finish many stories in one session. I am not normally a short story reader but I do recommend this collection, especially if you can have it read to you with authentic accents as an audiobook.

Nelson DeMille: A Quiet End / Radiant Angel

John Corey - Professional Terrorist Chaser
This is Nelson DeMille's seventh book in the series featuring John Corey, former NYPD Homicide detective and now a contract agent for the Anti-Terrorist Task Force. I admit that I am a John Corey fan, firstly because he is a great detective character who does it his way and secondly for the really funny and mostly obnoxious quips that he makes along the way.

Corey is posted to diplomatic surveillance of Vasily Petrov, a colonel in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service posing as a diplomat with the Russian UN Mission. Corey and his new partner, Tess Faraday, follow Petrov to a party the home of a Russian oligarch at Southampton at the north of Long Island well outside the permitted zone for Russian diplomats.

Fearing something suspicious is happening Cory and Tess join the catering staff at the party only to see Petrov and a couple of colleagues mysteriously disappearing from the party in an amphibious boat along with a group of scantily dressed Russian hookers hired for the party.

What is Petrov up to? Is he going to another party or is he up to no good. When Corey discovers that one of the Russian colleagues is a former nuclear scientist he pulls out all stops to find where they are going to and if a terrorist nuclear attack is planned.

In the book Corey uses the term "Radiant Angel" to pass on the message that there is a nuclear threat and used that term as the book title in the US. The title in Australia and the UK is "A Quiet End" which is very puzzling and probably not really appropriate. I have asked Hachette Australia for the reason for the different title but they have not replied.

All in all this was another enjoyable John Corey thriller but IMHO not quite as good as previous ones, especially because it lacked the amusing and constructive tension between Corey and his wife, Kate, an FBI agent who is not featured in this book. Their relationship is strained as Kate is now based in DC and Corey suspects that coincidentally she may be happy that her boss Tom Walsh (who Corey despises but Kate likes) has also been transferred to Washington. Also Corey's smartass quips were not as biting as in prior books.

Russell Blake: Ramsey's Gold

Indiana Jones - meet Drake Ramsey
Russell Blake has shown us his amazing versatility by writing this page-turning action adventure, mostly set in the Amazon jungles. It has a bit of an Indiana Jones theme with Drake Ramsey chasing a his father's dream of finding an immense golden treasure of the Inca empire which legend says is hidden in the lost Inca city of Paititi deep in the Amazon Jungle.

While chasing his dream Drake's father vanished in the Amazon jungle when Drake was young. Drake is reminded of this when an unknown Aunt leaves him his father's journal with clues to the location of the lost city and enough money to help him try complete his father's mission.

Drake sets out with his father's friend Jack and beautiful daughter Allie to find Paititi. Russell Blake's imagination runs riot, taking Drake and his companions into the dangers lurking in the impenetrable jungle. He also brings in other dangers with the CIA and the Russians both seeking the lost city for a prize different to the golden treasure.

Well done Russell Blake. You have taken us away for the moment from the Jets and Assassins of his world to enter the fantasy action-packed world of the treasure seeker. I am sure that his many fans will want to follow him into this quite different but just as exciting world.