2009 Thriller Award Nominees Announced

Fresh from The International Thriller Writers news letter, the 2009 Thriller Award Nominees have been announced.


Best Thriller of the Year

"Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben

"The Bodies Left Behind" by Jeffrey Deaver

"The Broken Window" by Jeffrey Deaver

"The Dark Tide" by Andrew Gross

"The Last Patriot" by Brad Thor


Best First Novel

"Calumet City" by Charlie Newton

"Child 44" by Tom Rob Smith

"Criminal Paradise" by Steven Thomas

"Sacrifice" by S. J. Bolton

"The Killer's Wife" by Bill Floyd


Thrillermaster Award

David Morrell honoring his influential body of work.

Irish bogs reveal a preserved body

Brendan McGann is cutting turf in a peak boy on a chilly April morning when he discovers the head of a young woman in Lough Derg in County Gallway.

Cormac Maguire works at the National Museum as an archaeologist and Nora Gavin, an American pathologist work together to examine the well preserved head of a young woman and attempt to find answers to how she came to be there.

Other young women have been disappearing from the area including the wife and son of wealthy land owner, Hugh Osborne.

Hugh asks Cormac to help as an archaeological survey at a construction site. Cormac agrees and asks Nora to join him so they can find more about the girl who's head they found. Since they are helping Osborne, he asks them to stay at his home with his cousin and son.

This is a wonderfully descriptive novel with Gothic aspects. It depicts the emotions of the locals, their love of music that gives meaning to many of their lives and tells of the history of the bog which has provided a livelihood to many people for generations.

Cormac and Nora find a ring in the girl's mouth and they are able to date the time when she was decapitated as around 1652. When they ask a teacher what was happening in that time he tells them that this was a time of ethnic cleansing in Ireland similar to Bosnia of recent times. The Catholics were forced to move from the vicinity and make way for the Protestants by Cromwell. Many Catholics starved and the times were merciless.

Hart does a magnificent job in telling this story. The reader becomes involved with the characters and the novel moves along with the smoothness of a well oiled machine.

Highly recommended.

They're dying like flies in Iowa

"Known Dead" by Donald Harstad, 1999.

Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman is conducting surveillance on a marijuana patch at a state park, in hope of finding the people who were culitvating the marijuana.

It's a routine job but suddenly something goes terribly wrong, shots are fired and officer Bill Kellerman and a doper are killed. Houseman is assigned to a task force to find the killers.

A witness tells Houseman that he had seen men in military camaflogue outfits with automatic weapons, the witness thought the shooters were government employees.

The investigators discover ammunition boxes showing markings from outside the country. They decide to interview farmers in the area of the crime. Officer Ridgeway is assigned to serve papers on Herman Stritch, who is a leader of a local militia group. Stritch is behind on his bills and thinks that the law enforcement people are coming to evict him and someone in his home opens up on Ridgeway, wounding him and killing his associate.

When reinforcements arrive and surround the home, Herman's daughter in law, Melissa escapes with her baby and tells the police that her husband Bill and a group of militia had been training in the park in the day of the killings. Houseman talks Herman and his family into surrendering but when they do, two members of the militia group escape through the back door.

Harstad writes a good story without much extraneous details. From the lack of descriptive elements and concentration on the narrative plot, the author appears influenced by Elmore Leonard.

There is also a Bernie Madoff type poncy scheme. Melissa reveals that Herman and many of the other members of the melitia are being advised financially by a person named Wilford Jeschonek who has recommended that they take loans out on their farms and buy shares in gold from a bank in South America, promising a return in 15 years of ten times the face value. Houseman advises Melissa that these schemes are common and still people are gullible enough to believe their promises.

Without disclosing the plot, the later section of the story tells that the militia has something up their sleeve. Houseman and DCI Agent Hester Gorse lead the search for those in charge. They find that the head of the militia and Herman Stritch's wife have a thing for each other and Houseman uses that information to his advantage.

It is an enjoyable read and recommended.

All Souls Day the day of the dead

After reviewing the Edgar Award nominees I thought I'd reread and review a book read in the past.

"Dia De Los Muertos" by Kent Harrington was one of the notable publishing events of 1997. Published in a limited first edition by Dennis McMillan the book is a collector's gem.

The story centers around the poverty and hopelessness of Tijuana.

With the Mexican economy in shambles the situation is right for smuggling illegals into the United States.

Vince Calhoun is a DEA agent who is weighed under by his immense gambling debts. These debts are now due to be paid.

Vince and a crooked cop from Tijuana named Castro are in the business of crossing illegals into the United States.

Vince is offered a deal. His English bookie, is a Machiavellian character named Slaughter. He tells Vince that if he crosses Frank Guzman, his debt will be forgiven.

When Calhoun and Castro attempt to smuggle four Chinese girls across the border fate deals a nasty blow.

First, the car gets stuck against a rock in the sand, with the car's axle caught against a rock they have a difficult time attempting to free the car from its situation. As they are doing this, they are discovered by a rat patrol, who scout the desert looking for people to rob, there is a shoot out and Calhoun and Castro escape to Tijuana. There they learn that the girls are mules, full of heroine that they have ingested to get it over the border.

Showing a streak of ethics, Calhoun knows that if he leaves the girls in Tijuana and they are found, the girls would be ripped apart to get the drugs. Knowing this, Calhoun decides to get them across the border for their own safety. Another incident happens along the way and Calhoun comes to the rescue using his DEA identification.

It is a plot driven novel with very little unnecessary dialogue, almost a Hemingway approach to the story. It is well done and if the reader can stomach spending time with a group of evil characters, this can be an enjoyable read.

Recommended for the strong of heart.

No one is telling the truth in Brooklyn

"A Cure for Night" by Justin Peacock opens with Joel Deveraux and his girlfriend Beth discussing their next get together. Shortly thereafter Beth is found dead in the ladies room after chocking on her vomit from taking drugs.

Beth's father is an influential attorney and accuses Joel of supplying the drugs, he hasn't but admits to taking drugs himself. As a result, he's fired from his firm and his license to practice law is suspended for six months.

Through a friend, Joel is offered a job at the Brooklyn public defender's office. There, after a number of average cases, he is appointed second chair to Myra Goldstein in defending Lorenzo Tate in a murder trial.

How do you defend someone who has confessed to murder and there is a witness who identified him as the shooter? This is the task they endeavor to achieve.

Tate is accused in killing college student Seth Lipton.

We find that most of the character's in this courtroom drama are deeply flawed. Seth is not an innocent college student who is only at the drug scene because he is researching his thesis in sociology. No, we learn from his college roommate that Seth is a buyer and seller of heroine and cocaine for other students on campus.

Did Tate only confess because he had been in an interview room for over twelve hours and he doesn't have a high IQ?

We learn that the witness has a child by Malik Taylor and he and Devin Wallace have had arguments over Yolanda Miller who has had Taylor's child but is now living with Wallace, a drug dealer and the other person shot but only wounded with Lipton was killed.

During the course of the story Joel defends a young man accused of having drugs. He helps win an acquittal only to find that the man was, in fact, guilty.

The story goes on but the characters are not likable. Joel has a drug history and is tempted with drugs during the course of the Lorenzo Tate trial.

As the trial is coming to an end, Myra and Joel are telling the jury of Yolanda Miller identifying Tate when it could have been Malik Taylor who had shot Wallace.

Just before the culmination of the trial something unexpected happens and there is a surprise twist in the plot.

The events enfolded with little suspense and with the flawed characters, this book did not appeal to me.

Not recommended even though it was nominated for an Edgar Award for the best first novel in the mystery field.

Things are amiss on the English shore

A young woman named Hayley Daniels is found raped and strangled in Taylor's Yard, a narrow passage that leads from the town into the Maze.

In a neighboring town, not far from where the first body was found, at a place called Swanshead, the body of a quadriplegic woman is found by a man walking his dog. The woman has had her throat cut and is still in her wheel chair when found.

DI Annie Cabbott is on loan to the nearby town. She has just spent a night with a stranger she met at a bar. The man's youth and the quantity of liquor consumed during the night are indications of the turmoil Annie is feeling.

Annie is placed in charge of the investigation of the woman in the wheelchair and Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks heads the inquiry into Hayley's death.

Peter Robinson has written a wonderful character driven novel. The two investigations parallel each other and we learn much of the history of the two police officers. Their methodical, step by step investigations don't go anywhere until Annie finds the murdered quadriplegic is Lucy Payne, the wife of a mass murderer of young woman. Lucy may have been an accomplice in her husband's killing spree but as the police close in on him, he kills one of the police officers and is killed by the other police at the scene. Lucy jumps out of a window and is paralyzed.

DI Cabbott feels that the killer might be someone from the families of Payne's husband's victims who are seeking revenge.

Cabbott is a flawed person who seeks escape in alcohol and yet is an astute criminalist. She goes through Lucy's past and the victims of Lucy's husband and eliminates possibilities until she gets results.

While this is transpiring, DCI Banks continues searching for Hayley's killer within the town and the late night crowds in the village.

The reader learns much more than the steps to find the killers. We learn how dealing with these poor victims can even effect the lives of experienced police officers. So they need alcohol to release the horrors that they've seen? And what about personal relationships? Can someone seeking unmoral killers have the compassion and empathy in dealing with people they care the most about?

A well told tale by Robinson who has won many notable literary awards including the Edgar and the Anthony awards.

Highly recommended.

Dirty Harry has a sister!

"Calumet City" by Charlie Newton, a novel nominated for an Edgar Award for the best first mystery.

Patti Black has survived a horrid childhood. Her parents died in an auto accident and she was placed in a children's home where she was raped numerous times before escaping at age 16.

After a few career turns, Patti joins the Chicago Police Department and becomes one of the most decorated cops on the force.

Her unit is assigned to go on a raid to recover stolen merchandise in a seedy section of the city.

When they order the occupants to open the door, the police are met with machine gun fire. Patti returns fire, killing two members of a street gang called the Gangster Disciples.

To show Patti's grit, she goes to the station, files her report, goes home, changes and goes out to practice with her rugby team. "Go ahead, make my day."

A body is found in the basement of the building and this opens the door to the foster home where Patti had been abused.

There is an attempt on the mayor's life. If the mayor is killed, the next person in line to take his place is black alderman Leslie Gibbons. Fearing that the attempt on the mayor might be racially motivated, the superintendent of police asks Patti to go into the black community and try to gage the temperament of the people.

Patti does her job but at the end of the day when she sees the mother of one of the boys Patti shot, Patti tries to offer the woman her condolences but Patti gets in trouble with one of the black politicians.

The newspapers support Patti as a hero but soon afterward she leans that there is a hit on her.

We learn that she has a child and Patti thinks that the hit is coming from Roland Ganz, the man who raped her and fathered her son.

Newton tells a rapid fire story with no holds barred. There are gruesome details of people getting killed, with plot twists as Patti learns more of what happened to Roland Ganz after she ran away from the foster home.

We follow a trail to Arizona and a commune that has recently been vacated and there Patti learns that she is the owner of this land. Patti is stunned and thinks it is some sort of scam that Roland Ganz is pulling in order to get to her and her son.

This is an action packed story that is lengthy and a bit complicated. Patti's childhood explains her hard nosed attitude and it is somewhat exciting to see her in action.

A recommended book.