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52<br />
<strong>Deadly</strong> <strong>Pleasures</strong><br />
ORIGINAL ORIGINAL and and OTHER<br />
OTHER<br />
SINS<br />
SINS<br />
by y Lar Larry Lar y Gandle<br />
Gandle<br />
BURN ZONE by James O. Born (Putnam,<br />
$25.95). Rating: B+ ATF agent Alex Duarte is placed<br />
into the middle of a potentially explosive situation (literally).<br />
It seems that a Panamanian army officer known as<br />
Ortiz wants to have a large box delivered to somewhere in<br />
Texas. Ortiz and his henchman, the simian-appearing<br />
Pelly, enlist the aide of Ike, a white supremist who wants<br />
to change America. Duarte remains hot on their trail as the<br />
race takes him from New Orleans to Houston. Can Duarte<br />
prevent mass destruction and save tens of thousands of<br />
lives?<br />
I found BURN ZONE to be pure enjoyment. The<br />
characters are all larger-than-life as would be expected in<br />
any good action-packed thriller. Duarte is a big, tough cop<br />
capable of going mano-a-mano with the worst villains he<br />
might meet. The plot rockets along and never seems to let<br />
up.<br />
Interestingly, the cover depicts Bourbon Street in<br />
New Orleans. The city has only a minor role in this story.<br />
BURN ZONE is a fast, fun and furious read, perfect for<br />
the plane or the pool. Recommended.<br />
ANOTHER THING TO FALL by Laura Lippman<br />
(Morrow, $24.95). Rating: C A film company has come<br />
to Baltimore to make eight episodes of a TV show called<br />
Mann of Steel. Of concern to the production crew is that<br />
a body has been found -- an apparent suicide. The dead<br />
man had multiple photos of Selene Waites, the starlet of<br />
the series. At the same time, mysterious happenings are<br />
occurring on the set and the producer feels she is at risk.<br />
Reviews<br />
The company hires Tess Monahan to be Selene’s bodyguard.<br />
Selene does not want the protection and resists until<br />
another dead body turns up. Tess must now, of course,<br />
solve the crime.<br />
In my opinion, ANOTHER THING TO FALL is<br />
a step backward for Laura Lippman. Prior to this book,<br />
Laura was writing some superb psychological suspense<br />
novels on the same level as the best of Ruth Rendell and<br />
Minette Walters. These novels have wonderfully complex<br />
characters, searing suspense and deep emotional content.<br />
Now she has reverted back to a cute, little mystery with<br />
stereotypic superficial characters and a slow-ruminating<br />
plot. To me, this book is a major disappointment, yet, it will<br />
appeal to those readers who loved the early Tess books<br />
and there are a considerable number of them.<br />
QUIVER by Peter Leonard (St. Martin’s Press,<br />
$23.95). Rating: B+ Sixteen-year-old Luke McCall is<br />
suffering from the fact that he killed his father with an<br />
arrow in a hunting accident. His mother Kate has been<br />
trying desperately to keep both of them sane. Feeling<br />
alone, she looks for comfort in Jack, an old flame who has<br />
reappeared suddenly in her life after being released from<br />
prison. What lies ahead for Kate and Luke is a nightmare<br />
far different, but equally as terrible as the one they have<br />
already endured.<br />
Peter Leonard, the son of the legendary Elmore<br />
Leonard, is a talented new voice on the suspense thriller<br />
scene. He proves himself quite adept at plotting and<br />
pacing as his debut novel has almost a cinematic feel to it.<br />
Short chapters with cliffhanger endings and alternating<br />
viewpoints heightens the suspense while keeping the<br />
pages flying by. The ending is both predictable but satisfying.<br />
QUIVER is perfect escape fiction.<br />
THE WHOLE TRUTH by David Baldacci (Grand<br />
Central, $26.99). Rating: A- Nicholas Creel is a<br />
billionaire manufacturer of weapons. The current peace of<br />
the great powers is affecting his bottom line. He decides to<br />
create a major crises using the internet in order to alienate<br />
Russia from the rest of the world. In fact, he brings the<br />
world on the brink of destruction. It is up to Shaw, a hired<br />
assassin working for a secret US government agency, to<br />
risk his life (as he does on every mission) and rid the world<br />
of these terrorists. Can he get to the bottom of the crises<br />
and save us all?<br />
David Baldacci has written a superior, highoctane<br />
thriller that is so entertaining that it will keep<br />
readers glued to the pages. The book is clever and the<br />
characters are a bit over-the-top just like the plot line.<br />
Great fun and highly recommended.<br />
THE TRIUMPH OF CAESAR by Steven Saylor<br />
(St. Martin’s, $24.95). Rating: B+ Well-written historical<br />
fiction has the ability to not only entertain but educate the<br />
reader. In a sense, such fiction might be called painless<br />
learning. In the mystery genre there has been a plethora<br />
of solid historical mysteries encompassing all of history,<br />
with noted series taking place in ancient Greece and<br />
Rome, France and England of the Middle Ages, Spain
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