A thriller two thousand years old! Carolyn McCray's 30 Pieces of Silver

 

There is a heresy at the bottom of 30 Pieces of Silver,  Carolyn McCray’s thriller, a nicely worked out bit of (alternate?) history that’s bolstered with tons of bogus academic papers and made-up artifacts that feel persuasive. As the story plays out along two timelines—the present and two thousand years ago—the pace never flags, and there are action beats that build and build and build and build from the moment we meet Rebecca Monroe being squeezed to death by an anaconda to the final explosive revelation. 

The special ops team central to the mission is familiar in concept—like James Rollins’ Sigma Force—are not just warriors, they know their science and their religious history. Characters keep underestimating them and it’s a lot of fun to see them thwart those snooty expectations. It’s also fun seeing military people being portrayed as something more than meatheads. (Once an Army brat, always an Army brat.) 

It is a little disappointing that Rebecca is just about the only woman with anything to do in the book. While she does some brave things and she is an intriguing person, she doesn’t necessarily drive the story—Brandt and his team do. Still, you have to love a book that combines all these thriller elements so seamlessly with an ancient backstory. Worth the read if you’re a fan of Clive Cussler, James Rollins, and Dan Brown.

A Vampire a Day: The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

This is book one of the Order of the Sanguines series and I picked it up because I'm a huge fan of James Rollins' Sigma series of thrillers. This book pretty much has everything I like. Were you a fan of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code? Then you will like The Blood Gospel. Vatican secrets? Ancient books that hold secret knowldge. A beautiful archaeologist. Plus--VAMPIRES!

I don't know Rebecca Cantrell's writing and I found myself wondering how the two writers actually collaborated. I've collaborated on scripts, but never on fiction and I'm always interested in the process. And why is Rollins' name bigger on the cover? I like the design of the cover but it does make Rebecca look secondary. And how do the two authors know each other anyway? Inquiring minds want to know.

At any rate, this is a fun book that delivers as a supernatural thriller.

G is for mystery writers Tess Gerritsen and Elizabeth George

Elizabeth George

There really aren't enough women writing crime fiction but there are two writers--whose work could not be more different--who have made their mark on the genre. They are Tess Gerritsen, who writes medical thrillers and created the series Rizzoli and Isles and Elizabeth George, who is an American but writes very "English" mysteries.
Elizabeth George has written a number of mysteires "starring" Inspector Lynley, and they have been turned into a BBC crime series. Her older brother Rober is also a novelist.
Tess Gerritsen was a doctor before she started writing fiction, part of a tradition of writing doctors that includes Arthur Conan Doyle, Robin Cook, Michael Crichton (he earned his degree but never practiced medicine) and James Rollins.

Tess Gerritsen

More free books!

I'm serious about cleaning out. Any books I don't give away here are going to the Prison Library Project as donations for their used book store. They sell paperbacks and hardbacks to raise money for their work. If you'd like to know more about them, here's a link.

All you have to do to claim the books is leave a comment on this post and I'll contact you and arrange for shipping (within the United States.)  See here for other packages on offer.

The Laura Joh Rowland package--Five novels in her fantastic Sano Ichiro novels about the Shogun's Most Honorable investigator. The titles are: Dragon King's Palace, Perfumed Sleeve, The Way of the Traitor, Concubine's Tattoo, and Black Lotus.

The Grab Bag Package--a little bit of everything. James Rollins The Doomsday Key,  Michael Gruber's Tropic of Night, Dorothy Miles Disney's Dark Lady (a Crime Club paperback from 1964), Carl Hiaasen's Star Island, Janet Evanovich, Sizzling Sixteen, Janet Evqanovich Smokin' Seventeen,

The Eclectic package--Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues, A. Lee Martinez' The Automatic Detective, She Nailed a Stake Through His Head (an anthology of Biblical Tales of Terror), Precinct 19 (true accounts of NYPD's 19th Precinct), David Manual, A Matter of Roses (first in the Faith Abbey Mysteries), C. S. Graham, The Archangel Project (political thriller set in New Orleans), Mafia Chic by Erica Orloff (a chick lit mystery), Winter Moon (fantasy novella collection with Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee and C.E. Murphy).

And more to come.  Ask and ye shall receive...

Book Giveaway

 Too Much of a Good Thing is Never a Bad Thing.

Photo by Julia Freeman-Woolpert

I live in an apartment with a lot of books. The bookcase that came from my grfandfather's law office is in the living room, along with another bookcase I bought from an ex-roommate.  Both are crammed full and double-shelved. My office has four bookcases, two are birdseye maple, and come from a client who gave them me when he moved (the wood is beautiful), one from Ikea and one salvaged from the trash room when a neighbor moved out.  (Yes, I am not too proud to take advantage of freebies.  Alas, not everyone in my household shares  my gypsy gene.)
The point (and I do have a point in here somewhere) is that I have a lot of books. And more coming in every day. so I've decided to give a bunch of my books away.  I took bags full over to my library yesterday but I've put together some packages of books I'd  like to give away.  Yes, two different batches of books free for the asking.  And all I ask is that you follow the blog.  If you're already a follower, all I ask is that you comment. Because really, I want these books to have a good home.  (A lot of them are brand new because people sent them to me after I'd read them in galleys or ARCS.)  Just let me know which package suits you (you can pick both if you like) and next Saturday (October 22), I'll pick winners at random.