There has been a good bit of action in the action, adventure and thriller world over the last couple of months. But with almost 100 authors on this site and with it being Christmas and all, you are guaranteed to find something new to excite you and keep you busy during the holiday season!
This roundup, or washup or whatever you would like to call it covers what is new with Nelson Demille, Alex Berenson, Stephen Leather, Jeffery Deaver, Lincoln Child with Douglas Preston, Brett Battles,Catherin Coulter with J.T. Ellison, James Patterson, John Grisham and Vince Flynn (yes I know that Vince has sadly died, but rejoice that Mitch Rapp continues under the penmanship of Kyle Mills).
Nelson Demille
Nelson reported in November that he has basically completed his next John Corey novel titled ‘A Quiet End’.
This is book number 7 in the series and is due for release in May 2015. However, we have been promised a teaser chapter. Keep checking in on Nelson’s Website in January.
In A Quiet End, we see John back in New York, and this time the bad guys are not Islamic terrorists — they are the Russians who have also been in the news a lot. John Corey is happy to be back on his home turf and happier to be out of the Mideast section of the Anti-Terrorist Task Force. As John says in the book, the Cold War seems to be back. Indeed it is.
The paperback edition of Nelson’s most recent book, The Quest, was released on 16 December. This is a religious thriller, some of which is set during Christmas — with a love triangle to keep the three main characters busy between lethal encounters.
I have read the Quest, and while it is a little slow-moving in parts, it is still a goode read. Check it out on Book Depository.
The cable-TV series of Plum Island is moving forward as it has been for almost two years. Stand by for more news regarding who will play John Corey and when production will begin.
Meanwhile, Plum Island has been reissued in trade paperback and mass market, with new covers.
Vince Flynn
Vince Flynn sadly passed away in 2014, but his widely read and much enjoyed Mitch Rapp character lives on, or will be soon, through the writing of Kyle Mills. The next book in the Mitch Rapp series titled ‘The Survivor’ is scheduled for release in October 2015.
I also learnt that there is a Mitch Rapp movie in the works, but there is little more to tell at this stage.
The Mitch Rapp character database has also launched. What a great initiative from the folk over at team Vince Flynn! Keep up the great work.
You can use the database to search by name or book and discover details about over 300 of the Vince Flynn characters, from memorable quotes to the book in which they died.
Alex Berenson
The 9th novel in Alex Berenson’s terrific John Wells series will be released in February 2015. And personally, I can’t wait!
SPOILER ALERT: If you have already read book 8 The Counterfeit Agent, you will know that it ends on a cliff-hanger with John having only twelve days to head off war between the United States and Iran. How will John Wells pull this one off?
Brett Battles
From thriller and suspense master Brett Battles comes book 7 in the Project Eden series. Titled ‘Down’ this is said to be the final book in the saga. I haven’t gotten to reading this one yet. Actually, I have only read the first two books in the series. I hope to catch up and add the remaining five books during the next month!
And there are two new Jonathan Quinn adventures schedule for release in 2015!
The first is a novella entitled FLIGHT 12. It’s part of the Flight 12 project that involves several other authors. In the Jonathan Quinn story, Quinn and the gang are forced to improvise when they are called in on a job at the last minute to deal, and find that they aren’t the only ones interested in the body they’ve been hired to remove. This book is now ready for pre-order with Amazon and Kobo and will be available on BN.com, GooglePlay and iBooks on 12 January 2015.
Since this story is a novella it is not available in print at this time. \
Then, a couple months later in March 2015, you can expect the release of the next full Quinn novel as yet untitled. We are informed though that the story will definitely address the conversation Quinn and Orlando had at the end of THE DISCARDED. Stay tuned for more news later!
Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver’s 2013 Lincoln Rhyme novel, The Kill Room has been released as a mass market paperback in the USA and Canada.
Jeffery Deaver’s third short story collection, Trouble in Mind was released in trade paperback in December 2014 and contains twelve stories. This collection first came out in hardcover in the earlier part of 2014. The stories include “A Textbook Case”, a Lincoln Rhyme story, “Fast”, a Kathryn Dance story and “Paradice”, a John Pellam story.
A cunning collection of short stories from the master of misdirection . TENSION …An aging actor attempts to revive his career by entering a celebrity poker game for a reality TV show. Can he outwit his devious opponents, or is his fate doomed from the outset? CONSPIRACY …A successful crime writer dies under seemingly natural circumstances, but for one cop, doubts are lingering. There’s certainly motive for murder – or is there more to the case than meets the eye? MURDER …Lincoln Rhyme is announced dead, shot by one of his suspects in cold blood. Is this the end of the line for the criminalist, or just another twist in the tale? King of suspense Jeffery Deaver grips with every page, setting out a devilishly clever path where nothing is as it seems. If you think you know the ending, think again …
And what is on the horizon for 2015?
Get ready for the release of “SOLITUDE CREEK” in May, the fourth in the Kathryn Dance series.
In this latest Dance thriller, Dance, an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation, finds herself suspended from duty when an interrogation goes bad in a horrific way. She’s busted down to the Civil Division of CBI and given the boring assignment of checking permits after a stampede in a local roadhouse results in several deaths and a number of injuries. Dance soon learns, however, that the panic was intentional—a classic case of someone yelling fire in a crowded venue—and unofficially begins to investigate.
Thus begins a deadly chess match between Dance, working with Michael O’Neil, and the eerie perpetrator, Antioch March, who is planning more such panics in the Central California area. He’s obsessed with the idea of people turning into pure animals to escape from threats he creates. No one attending a play, sitting in a movie theater, dining in a restaurant or stepping into an elevator is safe.
Dance’s personal life—her connection to both O’Neil and boyfriend Jon Boling—adds to the pressure, as do issues with her children, Wes and Maggie. And the consequences of her botched interrogation, resulting in her suspension, return to haunt her and may permanently end her career . . . if not more.
James Patterson
James Patterson added another book to his very successful and exciting Alex Cross series and finishes the storyline started in book 21 Cross my Heart.
Hope to Die, book number 22 of the series, sees Detective Alex Cross being stalked by a psychotic genius and forced to play the deadliest game of his career. Cross’ family – his loving wife Bree, the wise and lively Nana Mama and his precious children – have been ripped away. Terrified and desperate, Cross must give this mad man what he wants if he has any chance of saving the most important people in his life. The stakes have never been higher: What will Cross sacrifice to save the ones he loves?
James Patterson also released a new book for family and junior readers co-authored with Chris Grabenstein. House of Robots heralds what is bound to be another successful series from one of the most prolific writers of our times.
In this new highly-illustrated series, an extraordinary robot signs up for an ordinary fifth grade class… and elementary school will never be the same! It was never easy for Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez to fit in, so he’s dreading the day when his genius mom insists he bring her newest invention to school: a walking, talking robot he calls E–for “Error.” Sammy’s no stranger to robots–his house is full of a colorful cast of them. But this one not only thinks it’s Sammy’s brother… it’s actually even “nerdier” than Sammy. Will E be Sammy’s one-way ticket to Loserville? Or will he prove to the world that it’s cool to be square? It’s a roller-coaster ride for Sammy to discover the amazing secret E holds that could change family forever… if all goes well on the trial run!
And that’s not all! Within the last couple of months James Patterson has teamed up with Ashwin Sanghi to release the next book in the Private
series, Private India.
When Santosh Wagh isn’t struggling out of a bottle of whisky he’s head of Private India, the Mumbai branch of the world’s finest PI agency. In a city of over thirteen million he has his work cut out at the best of times. But now someone is killing women – seemingly unconnected women murdered in a chilling ritual, with strange objects placed carefully at their death scenes. As Santosh and his team race to find the killer, an even greater danger faces Private India – a danger that could threaten the lives of thousands of innocent Mumbai citizens.
John Grisham
John Grisham’s has released his newest legal thriller, Gray Mountain, introducing a new hero . . . and she’s full of surprises
The year is 2008 and Samantha Kofer’s career at a huge Wall Street law firm is on the fast track—until the recession hits and she gets downsized, furloughed, escorted out of the building. Samantha, though, is one of the “lucky” associates. She’s offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic for one year without pay, after which there would be a slim chance that she’d get her old job back.
Douglas Preston and Lincoln child
The next book in the somewhat mystical but highly engaging Pendergast series is now out and is titled Blue Labyrinth.
A corpse, stiff with rigor mortis and bound in heavy ropes, has been dumped on the doorstep of FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast.
The murder has the hallmarks of the perfect crime – no witnesses, no motive, no evidence – save for one enigmatic clue: a piece of turquoise lodged in the stomach of the deceased.
The gem leads Pendergast to an abandoned mine on the shore of California’s desolate Salton Sea where an ingenious killer is determined to make Pendergast pay for the long-buried sins of his forefathers.
But Pendergast already knows what is at stake, for the dead man left on his doorstep wasn’t just anyone, it was his son.
The Pendergast series and other books by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston will be up on my site soon!
Catherine Coulter
The second international thriller from the Brit in the FBI series written with J. T. Ellison, The Lost Key featuring Nicholas Drummond hit shelves in September 2014.
Freshly minted FBI agent Nicholas Drummond is barely out of his Quantico training when he and his partner, Mike Caine, are called to investigate a stabbing on Wall Street. Their investigation, however, yields more questions than answers. It quickly becomes clear that the victim, John Pearce, was more than the naval historian and antiquities dealer he appeared to be. What Drummond doesn’t know is that buying and selling rare books was Pearce’s cover, and that he had devoted his life to discovering the whereabouts of a missing World War I U-boat concealing a stash of gold bullion, and an unexpected surprise that only raises more questions. When Drummond and Caine find both of Pearce’s adult children have disappeared, the case assumes a new sense of urgency. The FBI agents know their best lead lies in the victim’s cryptic final words–“The key is in the lock.” But what key? What lock? The search for Adam and Sophia Pearce takes them on an international manhunt, which threatens to run them afoul of an eccentric billionaire industrialist with his own plans not only for the lost gold, but the creation of a weapon unlike anything the world has ever seen.
September 2014 also saw the first book in the Brit in the FBI series, The Final Cut, released in paperback.
I also learnt that Catherine’s next book in the FBI thriller series is scheduled for release mid 2015. It’s titled NEMESIS
Stephen Leather
The new Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novel is now up and running on the Kindle and through Smashwords. It’s called San Francisco Night.
Jack Nightingale fights his battles in the shadows – in the grey areas where the real world meets the supernatural. But when he arrives in San Francisco to take on a group of Satanists bent on opening a doorway to Hell, the danger is out in the open and all too real. The Apostles – a Satanic coven using murder and torture to pave the way for a demon to enter the real world – realise that Nightingale is on their tail. And unleash their own brand of monsters to take him down. With Nightingale’s life – and his very soul – on the line, he has only days to stop The Apostles from bringing death and destruction to the entire world.
Stephen informs us that he had hoped to have the paperback of San Francisco Night available before Christmas but the mother of the lady who is doing the formatting fell and broke her ribs and she has to take care of her.
For those that prefer print, the print version should be ready within the next month or two. I’ll keep you posted if I hear any additional news!
And that about wraps things up.
As always, please feel free to send feedback on this post through the comments below or over on my contact page.
Until next time …