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.

Not sure still how I feel about Maggie or Nick but the story was good – if not graphic in a few places – and the baddie was excellent.

The author is clearly very invested in this case and clearly has opinions based on the views of those people he was able to interview for this book. This is a good read and one that clearly sets Riley, the officer who extracted the confession, up as the evil manipulator looking to pin a murder on a genteel lady no matter the cost. Who knows. It was interesting but not outstandingly so.

Very little time is spent on the actual event and even the actual participants in the event. Mostly this is a book about the social and historical setting and if this isn’t a re-tread it’s probably worth reading. If you wanted to read it to read about the murder and players, you’ll go away disappointed. I had the urge to stop reading halfway through and should have gone with that urge.

Not the best Reacher but the best is pretty spectacular and even the worst is good – this is also not the worst.

Brett Battles newest installment in the Jonathon Quinn series, “Shadow of Betrayal” is inspired. The plotline generally follows the last installment in the series “The Deceived.” Quinn (not his real name, of course), a “cleaner” by trade made a deal with the devil and agreed to do three jobs, no questions asked, for his sometimes employer. “Shadow of Betrayal” shows the cashing in on those jobs – and they’re jobs that Quinn would rather not take.

In “Shadow of Betrayal,” Battles also follows up on some of the storylines left hanging from the previous novel – and, as an aside, this is something I really like about Battles, if something has come up in a previous novel, he follows up on it – might take a while but we’re not left guessing.

The main plotline of the book is a minor sideline of what Quinn is asked to do. It’s accident of fate that he comes back together with the storyline but it’s all written in such a believable way and the main plot – involving the kidnapping of children for purposes unknown until the end – well, it’s chillingly brilliant.

One thing I especially like about the series is the personal progression of Quinn. He becomes more human, more accessible in a way to the reader – and in “Shadow of Betrayal” we see this progression in the kind of leap not yet taken.

And for those of you faithful fans who are wondering, we do find out what happens with Nate after the amputation and with Quinn and Orlando – I know a lot of us were more interested to see where Battles would go with Nate and whether you’re happy or not is up to you but I loved it so when you pick it up and read, let me know what you think. It helps the memory to pre-order, go ahead – do it today.

Was this novel flawless? Few are. There are minor tics that bothered me – things I might have wished to know less about and things I might have wanted to know more. I can tell you that if Battles follows suit, the next book should give us more insight into Quinn and I’m excited to see what comes next.

“Shadow of Betrayal is out July 7, 2009 – but pre-order today because copies will be flying off of the shelves. Also pick up “The Cleaner and ” The Deceived” – plenty of time to read before “Shadow of Betrayal” hits your mailbox.

A plane crashes outside of the small town of Safe Haven, Wisconsin and unleashes a horrifying string of events brought to life in a truly spectacular way by Jack Kilborn.

Kilborn conveys an emotion that could be mildly called terror in a beautiful economy of words that sucks the reader in right from the start. This reader – who can be callous in the extreme when reading – teared up during the first kill – a scene so cleverly diabolical and sadistic that I think I can say Kilborn has a fan for life.

The baddies in this one – a good baddie can be interesting – these baddies are so brutal and unexpected that they tie the reader in a brotherhood of joy and love of art. A truly good baddie is one that you feel for as well and as nasty and awful and horrible and…..well, it was hard not to feel for the baddies – sorry if that makes this reader twisted – but, read it and tell me how awful I am for feeling for the baddie.

It must also be said for Kilborn that though we meet dozens of people in this book and many only for a paragraph or two, we have the feeling of knowing them – these are not paper dolls, people – these are people who feel for and want to win and….well, maybe they do and maybe they don’t.

By now the reader of this review is probably rolling their eyes saying, “Oh please, the book can’t possibly be THAT good.” Oh, trust me – there are no words for so fascinating a read. True, this one is not for the faint of heart – you can’t watch horror movies at night? Well, maybe this is t he one to pass up. If you like to be frightened and you like a truly horrifying storyline which is well crafted and sucks you in like a brand new vacuum? Kilborn is the author for you.

Okay, so Gruley (according to my info) is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. I knew that. Starting this book I expected the narrative to be rather journalistic – and by that I mean stuffy – and to have to make the usual first book but I’ll keep reading excuses at the end. Not so with this author.

This novel is set in Northern Michigan against hockey flashback and current action. I don’t want to call it a comfortable read because that implies an emptiness of plot, it’s not – it’s beautifully plotted and logically progresses to an ending which certainly shocked me. I would suggest that anyone would like this book but ESPECIALLY if you like rural mystery.

Loved the story and the relationship with the brothers but mostly I loved the ending of this book and how it came out of nowhere….and also involved a location and subsequent case with which I was very familiar. Great read.