February Titles

There are only a few big names out this month in my opinion so I am going to start with the thrillers and mystery titles out this month. There are one or two big names there.

First, Jeffrey Archer has Cometh the Hour, the sixth in his Clifton Chronicles, coming out on February 16. Archer writes a combination of suspense/family sagas. This title can be read alone although if you have read the previous novels, you will enjoy catching up on your familiar friends and enemies. It starts with a suicide note which effects most of the major characters and continues on with tales of spies;  rescues and love. Reviewers have been singing it's praises.

M.C. Beaton has another Hamish MacBeth cozy coming out on February 23, Death of a Nurse. It is hard to not like these mysteries (this is number 31). Hamish MacBeth for the uninitiated, is a small town Scottish policeman who always gets his man but is definitely not looking for advancement thank you. In this case, a new man, James Harrison, moves to town with a private nurse. When Hamish goes to welcome him, he gets treated rudely but makes a date with the nurse who later turns up dead. Of course Hamish MUST find the killer.

Alex Berenson has The Wolves coming out on February 9. Berenson writes fast paced suspense with a current event slant. This is the tenth in the John Wells series. This is a sequel to Twelve Days where John Wells barely managed to defuse a world war starting between Iran and the US. Unfortunately, the person who got the ball rolling for that, managed to escape. In this series entry, Wells is determined to nab him. Not everyone thinks this is a good idea.

The Art of War by Stephen Coonts comes out on February 2. I get confused by Coonts' series. He has 10 Jake Grafton titles which seem to have stopped in 2003 and he has the Tommy Carmellini series which this where this book is. However, Jake Grafton is a major part of the Tommy Carmellini series. So why aren't they all in the Jake Grafton series???? I don't know. In this the Chinese military are beginning to attacking fishing vessels and seizing natural resources in the South Chinese sea. The US goes on high alert. However, at home, a Chinese sleeper cell has planted a nuclear weapon in the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia. Then, the CIA director is assassinated and Jake Grafton is appointed to take his place. Grafton gets wind of the plot and he and Tommy Carmellini must stop it. If you haven't read Coonts before, he is kind of like a Nelson DeMille or maybe in some ways, a Vince Flynn. Try him.

Alison Gaylin has What Remains of Me coming out on February 23. Gaylin writes character driven, fast paced, suspense like Harlan Coben or C.J. Box. In this stand alone, Kelley Michelle Lund goes to jail for murder - 35 years later, 5 years after Lund was freed, her father-in-law is found murdered in the same way. Was she guilty of that crime too? Her husband believes in her but her husband's sister think Lund is a psychopath. Who is right?

One of the big names, Jonathan Kellerman,  has Breakdown: An Alex Delaware Novel coming out on February 2nd. No need to describe Kellerman's style of writing. Delaware, a child psychologist, is called in to examine the son of an emotionally deranged actress. Five years later, he is called again when the actress if found almost naked and raving in a stranger's yard. The star, Zelda, is catatonic and cannot tell him the where about of the child. Delaware starts to investigate when he is notified that Zelda is has been found murdered. Now he and his sidekick, Milo Sturgis have a murder as well as a missing person to investigate.

J.D. Robb, another author who needs no description, has Brotherhood in Death coming out on February 2. This is the 42nd Eve Dallas title so you know how popular this series is. I think people like these because they can depend on them for some love, some sex, some zingy dialog and some suspense and mystery. this one has all of those things. If you like this series, you will read it, if you don't - I don't think anything I said will tempt you. Just know it is coming.

OK - that isn't all of the thrillers out this month but it gives you a heads up on some. Enjoy!