Long Lost by Harlan Corben is one of those in the latter category.

I had the good fortune to read this one a second time. I read it the first time some months ago and when a friend passed along some books to me to read, I found it in the stack and immediately had to begin reading it again.

Mr. Corben pens characters with flair and creativeness; characters who leave us wanting to be their friend or their enemy. We feel their anguish over a lost child; their desperation to solve the puzzle that is their life.

Long Lost is an intricately intertwined double plot tale of a terrorist scheme to infiltrate and destroy the US and a story about a child killed in a wreck and another born into the midst of that scheme and how she was found.

Both plots are all too believable and terrifying in their implications.

But that is the true test of a good mystery’s tale – is it far enough “out there” to be unique and is it reasonable enough to be something you could conceive of happening. Long Lost passes both tests with flying colors.

I invite you to read Long Lost for yourself and see if you don’t enjoy it – once or twice!

Long Lost by Harlan Corben
ISBN: 978-0-525-95105-6
Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2009

Boneman’s Daughters

Ted Dekker takes a serial killer, a returning vet and a police department besieged by a serial killer and winds them into a story that will have you up until the final pages turn under your eyes.

Set in Texas, the killer stalks young girls seeking one to become the perfect daughter. When all fail, they are killed by systematically breaking every bone in their body. He has created a science of this and makes it a point to not break the skin.

The afterword is just as compelling as the book, so don’t skip that either.

Boneman’s Daughters by Ted Dekker
Published by Center Street 2009
ISBN 978-0-446-54720-8

In this novel, we are introduced to Maggie Barnes an empath whose strength increases with each victim she helps get over being touched by an evil that has come down through time to re-enact it’s killing spree.

At first it leaves them alive, but blind. Now it has discovered that leaving them alive leaves it vulnerable to the psychic forces aligning against it and so it begins killing it’s victims after perpetrating unspeakable acts against them.  Unexpected help comes from one of the victims of his first killing spree as well as one of the victims from this spree who miraculously gets her sight back by virtue of transplanted eyes from an accident victim. As Hollis is recovering from the surgery, she begins communicating with Annie, the dead sister of the killer.

This intricately woven tale will keep you intrigued throughout.

Touching Evil by Kay Hooper
Bantam Books 2001
ISBN 0-553-58344-1

Sandra Brown brings us another great read with Ricochet. Set in Savannah, GA, the main character Detective Duncan Hatcher is a complicated mixture of moralist and tough cop. His partner, DeeDee Bowen and he have been trying without success to catch and prosecute a local drug lord named Robert Savitch. Mr. Savitch is nothing if not canny and manages to keep out of the clutches of the law and above prosecution, often by way of one Judge Cato Laird’s rulings in his favor.

The latest encounter with Savitch and Laird have seen Duncan put in jail for two days for contempt after Judge Laird orders a mistrial on the basis of one of the juror’s not disclosing that her son was enrolled in the Police Academy and Duncan’s subsequent loss of composure in the courtroom.

When Duncan and DeeDee are called to the Judge’s home to investigate a homicide, it’s pretty apparent that the story they are given is full of half-truths and outright lies. The Judge’s beautiful wife, Elise Laird has killed an intruder. She cites self defense, but some things just aren’t adding up.

To further complicate the whole case is Duncan’s strong attraction to the beautiful Elise.

Despite his upbringing as the son of a preacher and his adherence to a high moral ground in his dealings with perpetrators and victims alike, Duncan succumbs to his baser self with Elise all the while doubting everything she’s ever told him and knowing he’s likely compromising any case he and DeeDee might bring against the woman.

Ricochet by Sandra Brown
Published by Pocket Books 2006
ISBN: 978-1-4165-2332-1

I’ve read some of Iris Johansen‘s work before and greatly enjoyed them, but have not read any of Roy Johansen (who is her son). If this collaboration is any indication of the quality to be found, I’ll have to hunt his books up.

Silent Thunder is one of those books that gets you from the start. Hannah Bryson is a smart and talented naval engineer who has been hired along with her brother, Connor to inspect every inch of the decommissioned USSR submarine the Silent Thunder before it goes on public exhibition.

From the get-go, there are unsettling events that mark this job as one fraught with danger and intrique. When Connor uncovers a cryptic message behind one of the ship’s panels, a firestorm is unleashed which kills Connor and sets Hannah on a search for his murderer.

Along the way, she finds the enigmatic Kirov who sweeps her into his own quest for justice against the evil Pavski.

Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen
Published by St. Martin’s Press 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36800-5

Spare Change is a Sunny Randall novel.

Twenty years ago, Sunny’s father Phil had a series of unsolved murders where the murderer left his victims with a signature of a scattering of coins — never the same coins, but always three of them, he was given the name of the Spare Change killer.

Now he’s apparently resurfaced as victims who exhibit the same M.O. are turning up in all the wrong places and Phil has been brought back out of retirement to head up a task force and asks Sunny to work on it with him. Together the father-daughter team must ferret out who the killer is and stop him.

Sunny comes up with the idea of closing off the area of the last killing and processing everyone present; getting names, addresses, and doing comprehensive investigations of any who fit the profile of the killer. She comes up with several likely suspects and when she personally interviews Bob Johnson, her instincts set off major alarms, but he’s smart and cagey and doesn’t give too much away, so it’s back to careful policework to get him tripped up and caught.

Spare Change by Robert B Parker
Published by The Berkley Publishing Group 2007
ISBN: 978-0-425-22192-1

It must be just my luck to have this run on books authored by Stuart Woods. After the last one which was frankly, pretty awful, I approached this one with some trepidation.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Fresh Disasters is a Stone Barrington novel and this one stays well trenched in New York crime and police work which Mr. Woods seems to have some solid grounding in. Stone Barrington is a well defined character who exhibits a polish that is threatened by the case he’s been assigned to by one of the partners in the firm of Woodman and Weld for whom Stone is dependent upon for his livelihood.

Although he knows that Herbie Fisher is bad news, Stone is hired by Herbie to sue a Mafia boss who has sicced his minions on Herbie and rough him up in the process of trying to collect a gambling debt. Stone knows and has been reminded time and time again that he’s putting his life on the line trying to sue a Mafia boss, but Stone is determined to do his best for his client.

One of the twists of the case send Stone a little romance in the form of a masseuse who then brings her own set of complications to Stone’s life — a jealous ex-boyfriend who murders the lovely Celia. Now Stone is embroiled in getting the crafty murderer caught along with being chased by the Mafia boss’s gangsters.

Almost comical in some places, Fresh Disasters is a fun read.

Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods
Published by GP Putnam’s Sons 2007
ISBN: 978-0-399-15410-2

Jeffry Tolliver is the Grant County, GA police chief. Sara Linton is the medical examiner and his ex-wife. They are still in love with each other which is complicating their working relationship.

One morning, Sara resolves to talk it out with Jeffrey. That same morning, two young men arrive at the station and begin shooting everyone in sight and take hostage all who are left alive after their initial barrage is over.

The book keeps going back and forth between Sara and Jeffrey’s current situation as hostages and their beginnings as lovers. It’s Jeffrey’s past that is the root of the current situation they find themselves in.

Ms. Slaughter draws out the revelations of the who, what and how in this book in a delightful sprinkling of hints here and there. You really have to be paying attention to everything going on even if it seems irrelevant because she’s going to catch you napping if you don’t.

Indelible by Karin Slaughter
Published by Harper Collins Books 2004
ISBN: 0-06-056710-4

This book was an agonizing read and a disappointment to any who are fans of either of these two characters.

Shoot Him If He Runs is an apparent sequel to Iron Orchid which brought us the infamous Teddy Fay, that CIA agent turned rogue who takes it into his own hands to rid the world of dirty politicians and petty dictators. Teddy faked his own death twice in Iron Orchid, but the aging agent is trying to retire and chooses the island nation of St. Marks.

Unable to stay out of politics, Teddy assassinates the island’s ruthless chief of police, then the corrupt Prime Minister. Holly and Stone are one step behind but fated to still lose Teddy to his prowess as master planner and superb agent.

Shoot Him If He Runs by Stuart Woods
Published by Signet Books 2007
ISBN: 978-0-451-22360-9

Alexandra Barnaby has a natural aptitude for rebuilding car motors. Her brother, Bill likes to drive fast. Two years ago Wild Bill said good-bye to Baltimore and hello Miami; two days ago, he disappeared off the face of the earth. He did it while talking to Alex during a phone call in the middle of the night. The call ended in a woman’s scream and silence.

So, what’s a self-respecting sister to do but head down to Miami to find her errant brother and bring him back into the fold. So Alex hops a plane to Miami and begins her search.

She knows her brother had been working on a boat based out of the Miami marina, and has an apartment nearby so that’s where she heads first. When she arrives, she finds his spare key and lets herself in. She’s faced with the aftermath of a tornado that ripped through the apartment some time recently. Fearing the worst, she heads for the marina and the Flex II to see what she can find out about her missing brother.

It’s at the marina that she runs into Sam Hooker the famous NASCAR driver. Sam’s looking for Bill too because Bill evidently “borrowed” Sam’s boat.

What Alex and Sam find out about what Bill is involved in they are swept up in the international intrigue and danger of sunken treasure that involves Russian weapons and Cuban gold.Foiling foreign agents and corrupt government agents alike is no small feat!

In typical Evanovich style, this tale has all of the trademark innuendo, humor and quirky characters that so delight Evanovich fans.

Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich
Published by Harper Collins Books 2004
ISBN 0-06-058400-9