Scorpion

I have never read the previous novels by Christian Cantrell--a software engineer in addition to being an author-- but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. This book is variously referred to as speculative fiction or a science fiction thriller. It is set in the near future with lots of cool technologies that could soon be with us. The premise is that a divorced and still grieving (over the accidental death of her daughter) CIA analyst, who usually has a 9-5 desk job, is tasked to track down the "Elite Assassin." The killer has struck several times with no consistency in mode of murder, no apparent connection between the victims, and the only clues left are 4 digit numbers that are stamped, tattooed, cut, or pressed into the victim's flesh. The only thing revealed by her intensive searches through unimaginable amounts of data is that the age of the victims is decreasing; it is finally the murder of a 9 month old infant that galvanizes Quinn to undertake this assignment. Quinn Mitchell is not a field agent, and yet she finds herself flying all over the world in order to view murder scenes first-hand in her pursuit of the killer. In one humiliating interview, a hotel manager, who could identify the killer, suggests that Quinn quit following the bodies and start following the money if she wants to get ahead of her target. What I liked most about this book, aside from the cool tech, the twisty plotting, and the intriguing characters was the author's droll sense of humor, revealed in clever comparisons and turns of perspective. I highly recommend this book as do Publishers Weekly, which calls the book "as entertaining as it is intellectually and ethically challenging," and Kirkus, which concludes "...the technology sings, the physics is plausibly presented, and the suggestion of time travel fascinates. A fast, fun, and intelligent SF thriller."

A Different Dawn

This is a sequel to the book I recently posted about, The Cipher, by Isabella Maldonado, which was the first in her "Nina Guerrera" series. The ad hoc team from the earlier book--comprised of 2 profilers, a techie and field agent Nina-- has now tentatively become a fixture at the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. When two geographically distant triple murders get connected through the ViCAP system and their boss wants them to figure out if this is a serial killer at work.  What they discover is that someone has been committing murders, staging them to look like murder suicides, every Leap Day for the last 28 years. The murders always involve a family with a new baby girl, and always point to the mother as the murderer. The killer has been so successful, that many of the big city homicide units didn't realize that all three were victims. The team's task is to figure out what motivates the killer to try and narrow down the search. In the process, Nina will discover that was never the throw away baby she grew up thinking she was. But the discovery will put her directly in the cross-hairs of the killer. Publisher' Weekly calls this sequel "captivating." Kirkus describes the storyline as "A horrifying crime, cat-and-mouse detection, aha moments, and extended suspense, more or less in that order."

The Shadow Box

Hard to believe that Luanne Rice has written 35 books and I don't think I have ever read any of them. I liked this book, though, and would gladly pick up another one by her. Chapters are narrated by the two main characters:  Claire Beaudry Chase, nature lover, artist and wife of Griffin Chase, a powerful state's attorney who is running for governor of Connecticut; and Conor Reid, Connecticut State Police detective and brother-in-law of Claire's best friend, Jackie. Other chapters are narrated by Tom Reid, Conor's older brother and local Coast Guard commander, and Sally Benson, an interior decorator for the money crowd. The timeline goes back and forth between days leading up to the attack and the days following. On the day that Claire is having an exhibition of her shadow boxes at the Woodward-Lathrop Gallery in the town of Black Hall, she is attacked in her garage and left for dead. Unbeknownst to her attacker, the 100-year-old beam on which Claire had been strung up broke, and Claire did not die. She revives enough to leave the house, cover her trail, and head for a decrepit old cabin in the adjacent woods, for she is sure that her attacker was her husband. Claire had also become convinced that Griffin's college girlfriend--who supposedly slipped on the shoreline rocks and hit her head and drowned--was killed by him. Claire discovered Ellen's body in a tide pool on a late night date with Griffin, which she's sure was not a coincidence. Claire and Griffin have both previously been married and Griffin has two grown sons, Alexander and Ford. Although there had been a long-time attraction between Claire and Griffin, they were from different social sets: Griffin comes from old money and belongs to a tight-knit community living in mansions on the bluff outside town. Claire comes from much less affluent circumstances and learned from her father how to appreciate and survive in nature. She puts her father's past teaching to good use in staying out of sight until she can figure out who to trust, for Griffin has every law enforcement official in the area in his pocket. This is about the psychological and emotional as well as physical abuse of women and potential readers should be aware; although, Claire is a strong, resourceful person and conveys the message in the end that abused women can triumph. Kirkus notes, "Rice’s compelling heroine and crisp prose lift her brisk thriller above the formulaic." Publisher's Weekly suggests the book might make you pull an all-nighter.