Project Eden, the organization behind the Sage Flu in “Sick,” plans to launch the Sage Flu virus around the world. They’ve vaccinated the chosen and the rest will die. Will Ash and the resistance group that saved him in the first book be able to stop them in time?

I usually dislike epidemic novels and that featuring this sort of storyline intensely but Battles brings a new flavor to the genre that is exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat. What Battles gives us a taste of in “Sick,” he follows through with in “Exit 9” in spectacular fashion. This is a book with a lot of twists and turns and few of which are expected.

Something that friends and I have been talking about for a while is that a lot of authors seem not to favor strong women. Battles is a master of painting strong women. You’re not going to find a weeping willow in this book or a comically slapstick female. Battles woman are serious and they’re ready to do what they need to do. Chloe and Olivia are prime examples of this. You have a character who made a serious move in the last book ready to fight again and an intriguing almost baddie. I don’t know, read the book and tell me if you think Olivia is a baddie. I’m so looking forward to the next novel and reading more about her.

This book contains a large cast of well fleshed out and compelling characters and follows through on all of them…until the end. The end is great and I won’t spoil it for anyone but it’s a massive cliffhanger.

This book is a great read. I’d recommend it at any price but at e-book pricing, how can you lose?

I love me some Reacher. He’s good, he’s solid, he’s someone you can count on to do the right thing even if it’s not the prettiest thing you ever saw. This is Reacher at the beginning. The book takes place directly before the first book in the Reacher series and features a Reacher we hadn’t met before….not in the prequels or after….a raw Reacher. Intense. Undecided about what would happen next but knowing every step he takes brings him closer to having to make that decision.

I still love the Reacher novel where the team reconnects but this has moved up on my list as a favorite. It’s inventive and fast moving and well worth the time it takes to read. I won’t spoil anymore but if you haven’t read Reacher before, start with this one. This will draw you in to what comes after.

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I like this series but this book made me feel like I missed a lot of the storyline.

“The Detachment” by Barry Eisler is the first John Rain book since 2007 and seventh book in the series.

Eisler brings together the Ben Treven series (“Fault Line” and “ Inside Out”) with John Rain in this masterpiece of political maneuvering and manipulation. Treven and Larison are asked by Colonel Scott Horton (of the Treven series) to track Rain and Dox down so that the two pair can team up to make some necessary “adjustments” to the current administration who are out to terrorize the American people to their own end. As with all of Eisler’s expertly written novels, all is not what it appears. In a storyline fraught with tension and question of not if but when the foursome will implode, Rain sets out to do what he thinks is right accompanied by the ever awesome, Dox (sort for Unorthodox).

Dox fans, you’re going to love his character in this book. This is truly the best of Dox. As much as my heart bled for Dox in “Requiem for an Assassin,” I fell for the character all over again in this novel.

Treven is still a bit of a tool but he’s a tool in a way that makes sense and adds to the story. If you’ve only read Eisler’s Treven books and declared them not for you, try Rain, he really is a completely different animal.

Eisler also brings back Kanesaki which, as the book takes place mostly in the US, would have been easy not to do but I love that he did it. I’ve always personally wondered if this isn’t the character that Eisler based on himself. He’s well realized though a bit out of his depth but certainly willing to help Rain in any way he can.

This was a happy read with a good friend after a long absence….which may seem odd to say of a book with so much violence but read it, I dare you to walk away without a smile on your face. The next book cannot be released quick enough. I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes mystery/thriller.

A boy is flown in to a children’s hospital from South America with some mystery disease and dies shortly after arriving. What follows is a cover up of epic proportions. Luke McKenna, former super top secret special ops and now in pediatrics, gets caught up in finding what really happened.

The start of the novel is slow. The author is setting up the characters and Luke is maybe a little wonderful. Once the stage is set, we get what turns into a compelling story where Luke is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and has to go to extraordinary lengths to save himself with Bond movie type intensity. I really enjoyed the overall experience of this novel and would recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers.

This was an awful book until the very end which, while somewhat out of nowhere, made this terrible book worth reading. If you’ve read the series, this is a good book for closure. If you haven’t read the series, I wouldn’t start with this one.

Wow. Love the way this book is written. Doesn’t have me running out for this author’s Jane Austen books but this was a good one.

This wasn’t a great book but was okay. I think it was made worse for me by the main female character constantly referring to the main male character as “Lucas-babe.”

I bought this book for Kasey Michaels and her story held up well despite the publish date of 1993. The second story in the novel by Lass Small was too horrible for words. I don’t mean to be unkind but it was bad.

Good but not great.