The Good Spy Dies Twice by Mark Hosack @markhosack #Suspense #Thriller #PageBurner

Blurb:

Jake Boxer, investigative journalist and host of the conspiratorial news show Bullseye, is in serious trouble. Not only is his soundman murdered by Russian intelligence agents while reporting on a secretive New World Order, but his network cancels his show, leaving Jake humiliated and spiraling into a deep dark depression.

Years later, a condemned murderer, who claims he was abandoned by the CIA, and who starred in an early episode of Bullseye, is finally executed for killing two supposed Soviet spies back in the 1970’s.

Jake Boxer, still trying to piece his life back together, is on his honeymoon in a posh ski resort in the Alaskan mountains when he gets word of the inmate’s execution…and the old killer’s final words: “The good spy dies twice.”

Those five words, seemingly meant for Jake, draw the ex-reporter out of his forced retirement and into a complex and deadly global conspiracy involving his newlywed wife, the secretive New World Order, and the hotel’s hundred or so “guests.”

Everyone is a suspect.

Described as James Bond in a Stephen King novel, The Good Spy Dies Twice is the explosive first book in the Bullseye Series. Part spy thriller, part whodunit, this fast-paced novel introduces an exciting new hero, the intrepid, conspiratorial journalist, Jake Boxer.

About the Author:

Mark Hosack is the author of The Good Spy Dies Twice (Book 1: The Bullseye Series), and Identity (Simon & Schuster). He also wrote on the web series Sequestered for Sony Crackle, the screenplay for Give ’Em Hell, Malone (Thomas Jane, Ving Rhames), and he both wrote and directed the award wining independent film Pale Blue Moon. Mark lives in Los Angeles with his wife and a brood of gremlins who insist on calling him Dad.

Sign up for Mark’s newsletter at: http://markhosack.com/newsletter. Follow Mark on Twitter @markhosack or find him on Facebook - facebook.com/mark.hosack.

Review:

The Good Spy Dies Twice was a pretty good read. At times it was difficult to tell what was real and what Jack Boxer was hallucinating, but as he followed the bodies and the clues uncovering a conspiracy that reached back to the 1970s, it was difficult to tell the good guys from the bad. He wasn’t even sure he could trust his bride. After all, she’d been in love with his soundman who was killed in Russia. Why had she chosen a remote mountain in Alaska that had ties to the Cold War? Why did she insist on skiing a double black-diamond trail knowing he wasn’t that good? Where did she disappear to the rest of the day?

When Jack was injured in a ski-lift accident, I found it somewhat difficult to believe some of the feats he mastered with a broken back. I was amazed he didn’t manage to become at least a paraplegic. But then, I guess it depends on the type of fracture the vertebrae sustained, and he didn’t get up until after a surgeon removed the splinters from his spine. Still, even popping pills and fighting the pain strained a bit of my credibility.

At any rate, if you’re looking for a rather eerie thriller, The Good Spy Dies Twice is it.

Author Website:  http://markhosack.com

Heat Rating:  R

Length:  336 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $15.95

Digital:  $4.99

Hardcover:  $29.95

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/Good-Dies-Twice-Bullseye-Book-ebook/dp/B01IMZZ39M

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Mind in the Clouds by Bruce Perrin

Blurb:

Recently graduated and newly hired Ruger-Phillips employee, Dr. Sam “Doc” Price is excited to be starting his new assignment. He will be assessing training developed for a team. It is, however, a team like no other, because only one of the team members is human; the other is one of the most intelligent and lethal systems ever built by man—the Joint Aerial Combat Capability or JACC. Loaded with the latest in detection and threat assessment technology, JACC is a silent, deadly hunter in the sky. Doc discovers, however, that JACC may not be the only killer on the remote, Nevada test range where he now finds himself. Soon, he is involved in a cat and mouse game with an unknown adversary. In this fight for his life and the lives of his friends, Doc asks himself, how do you match wits with the mind in the clouds, when you are not sure if you are facing the cold, exact logic of machine intelligence or the coldblooded urges of a human murderer?

Mind in the Clouds is book two in the Mind Sleuth Series. It is not necessary to read book one in order to understand this novel. The story in this book is standalone.

About the Author:

Bruce Perrin has been writing for more than twenty years, although you will find most of that work only in professional technical journals or conference proceedings. But, after completing a PhD in Industrial Psychology and a career in psychological R&D, he is now applying his background and fascination with technology and the human mind to writing novels. Besides writing, Bruce likes to tinker with home automation and is an avid hiker, logging nearly 2,500 miles each year in the first two years of Fitbit ownership. When he is not on the trails, he lives with his wife in St. Louis, MO. For a closer look at his writing life, book reviews, and progress on his upcoming works, please join him at http://www.brucemperrin.blogspot.com/.

Review:

I found Mind in the Clouds a bit confusing, as the book is not organized by chapters, but by dates and times, which seem to jump back and forth. The preface describes an incident that occurs a few months before Dr. Sam “Doc” Price ever even hears about the JACC project. Maybe part of the problem is that I did not read the “blurb” or plot summary before I read the book. It probably would have made more sense if I had, and I was a bit confused at first as to who the hero was.

At any rate, I liked Sam, but I felt as though I was kind of slogging through the beginning a bit. There was a lot of foreshadowing with inferences like, “I would come to regret this decision later.” I found myself yelling at my Kindle, “quit foreshadowing and get on with the plot!” Finally, Mr. Perrin did get on with the plot, and the last forty-percent of the book got to be pretty page-burning. But even then, he interrupted the pacing and took us back in time yet again. Doc was fighting for his life, and he went back to a conversation he had with one of the developers of the system. He couldn’t just say to the guy in the room with him, “Hey, Troy, Dillon said JACC could…” Did we really need a rehash of the entire conversation when their lives were at stake?

I’m really grateful Mind in the Clouds didn’t have a cliff-hanger ending. It’s nice to find an author who writes a series of standalone books. I just wish he had an editor who would encourage him to tamp down a bit on the foreshadowing, flashbacks, long technical conversations, and keep the action going forward a bit more smoothly.

Author Website:  http://www.brucemperrin.blogspot.com/

Heat Rating:  PG-13

Length:  284 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $10.99

Digital:  $3.99

Buy Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Clouds-Sleuth-Book-ebook/dp/B01BYRX220

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Finding Sarah by Terry Odell

Blurb:

Being robbed at gunpoint wasn’t part of Sarah Tucker’s business plan. Neither was falling in love with the detective who arrived to solve the case.

All Sarah wants is success for her gift boutique—the one she and her husband created. Now, she’s living a hand-to-mouth existence. Her husband died a year earlier in a car accident—an accident that was ruled suicide, denying her his life insurance money. Burdened by guilt that she was somehow to blame for his death, Sarah faces one business setback after another. Determined to succeed on her own, she fights off a meddling sister-in-law as well as offers of financial assistance from a former boyfriend. Unaware someone is setting her up for failure, she’s totally unprepared to find herself fighting for survival.

Police Detective Randy Detweiler thinks the crook is a thief who’s been evading cops all over the state. A routine robbery investigation turns into the biggest challenge of his career when he falls in love with the victim, and he starts crossing professional boundaries. When Sarah disappears, he's afraid all his detective skills might not be enough to find her in time to save her life.

Finding Sarah was previously published by Cerridwen Press. This version has been revised, updated, and includes some material not found in the original.

About the Author:

Terry Odell was born in Los Angeles and now makes her home in Divide, Colorado. An avid reader (her parents tell everyone they had to move from their first home because she finished the local library), she always wanted to "fix" stories so the characters did what she wanted—in books, television, and the movies. Once she began writing, she found this wasn't always possible, as evidenced when the mystery she intended to write rapidly became a romance.

However, her entry into the world of writing can be attributed to a "mistake" when her son mentioned the Highlander television series on a visit home. Being the "good mother" she began watching the show and soon connected with the world of fanfiction—first as a reader, then as a critique giver, and then, one brave weekend, she wrote her first short story.

Things snowballed and soon she was writing her first original novel. Much later, she mentioned something about a recent Highlander episode to her son, and he said, "Oh, I've never actually watched the show, I just thought the concept was cool." Little did he know what he'd started.

With a degree in Psychology from UCLA, she loves getting into the minds of her characters, turning them loose in tight spots and seeing what they do. Too often, they surprise her.

Review by Rochelle:

I received Finding Sarah as part of a boxed set in return for an honest review. And as my readers know, sometimes my reviews can be scathingly honest. In this case, however, Ms. Odell doesn’t need to be too careful what she wished for. I enjoyed Finding Sarah, even though I figured out fairly early who the villain was.

But then, I do that a lot. There were plenty of red herrings, but that’s how I’d have written it if I were as good at writing mysteries as I am at reading them. I’m what we call in the industry, a “pantser,” not a “plotter.” I think that in order to write a mystery, one needs to be a plotter—to plan ahead of time who did it, how, and to be able to plant those red herrings to throw people off the scent. Ms. Odell is good at that and once or twice she almost threw me off, but not quite.

Still, her characters were deeply drawn, each with baggage and issues to work through, and I loved how Randy and Sarah helped each other heal from their pain. I also loved Sarah’s neighbor, Maggie. She’s about my age and she’s outrageously outspoken, adding a dash of humor to the book. She spots the love growing between Sarah and Randy before either of them is willing to admit it and encourages them to see it, as well. She’s also a cat person, like me.

Finally, despite the fact that it’s the first book in a series, Finding Sarah wraps up everything neatly, with no cliff-hangers. Thank you, Ms. Odell! I greatly appreciate an author who relies on good writing to keep the reader coming back for more.

Author Website:  http://terryodell.com/

Heat Rating:  R

Length:  331 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $10.99

Digital:  $0.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Sarah-Pine-Hills-Police-ebook/dp/B005P3GR7C/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1454884656&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=saving+sarah+pine+hills+police%2C+book+1

Thanks for visiting. Donna, Julie, & Rochelle

The God’s Eye View by Barry Eisler

Blurb:

Knowledge is power…and they know everything.

NSA director Theodore Anders has a simple goal: collect every phone call, email, and keystroke tapped on the Internet. He knows unlimited surveillance is the only way to keep America safe.

Evelyn Gallagher doesn’t care much about any of that. She just wants to keep her head down and manage the NSA’s camera network and facial recognition program so she can afford private school for her deaf son, Dash.

But when Evelyn discovers the existence of an NSA program code-named God’s Eye, and connects it with the mysterious deaths of a string of journalists and whistle-blowers, her doubts put her and Dash in the crosshairs of a pair of government assassins: Delgado, a sadistic bomb maker and hacker; and Manus, a damaged giant of a man who until now has cared for nothing beyond protecting the director.

Within an elaborate game of political blackmail, terrorist provocations, and White House scheming, a global war is being fought—a war between those desperate to keep the state’s darkest secrets and those intent on revealing them. A war that Evelyn will need all her espionage training and savvy to survive. A war in which the director has the ultimate informational advantage: The God’s Eye View.

About the Author:

I've been blessed with a variety of interesting jobs: a covert position with the CIA's Directorate of Operations (now called the National Clandestine Service); attorney in an international law firm; in-house counsel at the Osaka headquarters of Panasonic; executive in a Silicon Valley technology startup.

But the best job by far has been novel writing—political thrillers, as it happens—with a lot of realistic action, exotic locations, and steamy sex. My agency training, my time as a lawyer, my experiences in Japan, and a background in martial arts all inform my writing. I get a lot of my material from actual US government craziness (assassinations, torture, indefinite imprisonment, bulk surveillance...you know, everything needed these days to Keep Us Safe). As I like to say, what's bad for America is good for thriller writers.

A lot of what I've speculated about turns out to be true: the kill list, or "International Terrorist Threat Matrix," I introduced in 2004 in Winner Take All, for example, came to light in 2012 and 2013 as the "Disposition Matrix," courtesy of the Obama administration. The safety shortcomings of Japanese nuclear reactors I described in 2003 in A Lonely Resurrection were documented following the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe. And the pacemaker hack that kicked off my first book—A Clean Kill in Tokyo, in 2002—turns out to have been a real concern of Dick Cheney's, as revealed in his memoirs (it also turned up in the second season of Homeland).

The books have won a bunch of awards and made various "Best of" lists, which is nice. My first book—A Clean Kill in Tokyo, which introduced "natural causes" assassin John Rain--was made into a Japanese language movie called Rain Fall a few years back. The whole Rain series is now being developed for television by Cinemax, with Keanu Reeves starring. Hope to have some updates on that reasonably soon.

If you want to follow what I'm up to beyond the books, Twitter's a good bet--@barryeisler. And then there's Facebook; the mailing list you can find on my website; and my blog, The Heart of the Matter.

Review by Rochelle:

The God’s Eye View was another page-burner that kept me from my “real work.” I just thank the Goddess it wasn’t the week I had to do the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter. February is short enough as it is. It also kept me awake. I’m a night person to begin with, and page-burners don’t help. Thanks for a few sleepless nights, Mr. Eisler. I enjoyed every minute of them!

Evelyn would have been just fine if she mentioned to Director Anders that it was such a coincidence certain people happened to die when they did. Unfortunately, she poked a pile of fur without quite realizing it was a bear. Prior to that, her biggest worry had been keeping her nice, secure job. Now she had to worry about keeping her life.

With deeply-drawn characters and a fast-paced plot, make sure you have plenty of time before you pick up The God’s Eye View. Don’t read it when you have to be anywhere or get up early, and be sure you line up enough food for the duration. You won’t be able to put it down. Oh, hi NSA. Have a nice day, guys.

Author Website:  http://barryeisler.blogspot.com

Heat Rating:  R (Sex & Violence

Length:  417 Pages

Prices:

Print:

Hardcover:  $14.95

Paperback:  $10.86

Digital:  $5.99

MP3 CD:  $9.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Eye-View-Barry-Eisler-ebook/dp/B00XT47SOK/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

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