Continuing With August Titles

So - lots of good mysteries and thrillers in August. So many, in fact, that I don't know if I can cover them all this week. I better get started.

Allison Brennan has Shattered coming out on August 22. This is the fourth in the Max Revere series. A friend asks her to help exonerate his wife, who has been charged with their son's murder. There have been 4 boys kidnapped and murders in the same manner over the last 20 years. No one will talk to Max about this case but she thinks if she can solve one of the older ones, she can find the killer in this one. Justin Stanton was the first one killed. His father will help if she works with Justin's aunt, an FBI agent, Lucy Kincaid. They don't trust each other but between Max's research and Lucy's training, they could be successful......if the killer doesn't stop them first.

Paul Cleave has A Killer Harvest coming out on August 1. Cleave comes from New Zealand and writes fast paced; intricately plotted and often gruesome thrillers. This one focuses on Joshua, a teen who was blind but received a corneal transplant. One of the cornea came from his father who was killed in a shootout; the other came from his father's killer who was shot by his father's partner. With the eyes, came memories of things both had seen and done. Then, the killer's partner decides he want revenge. Will Joshua be safe?

Tess Gerritsen has I Know a Secret coming out on August 15. This is the twelfth in the Rizzoli and Isles series. First, a horror film producer is found dead in her bedroom, laying on her bed, holding her eyes. A case that has Rizzoli and Isles baffled. Then a second body is found with three arrows straight to his heart. Someone knows the answer to the questions and that person, is most likely next on the list of the killer. Can Rizzoli and Isles find her before the killer strikes again?

Hart Hanson has The Driver coming out on August 8. Hanson was the creator of the TV series Bones so much was expected for this title. Reviewers seem to think he came through. Michael Skellig is an ex- special forces sergeant and now has his own limo driving firm which employees other veterans. He also hears voices of people he has killed. The voices are not angry but warn him of trouble. When he saves the life of an ex-skateboarding rapper, he also becomes the prime suspect. When other's start to die, the rapper hires him for protection. Who is trying to kill whom?

Jorn Lier Horst was a senior police office on the Norwegian police force. He started writing crime fiction in 2004. Ordeal also comes out on August 8 and is the tenth in the William Wisting series. If you like Norwegian noir and haven't tried Horst, give him a try. He is good at what he does. Here a single mother inherits her hated grandfather's house and opens a basement safe. Here, she finds clues to a long unsolved case. Wisting, in following the clues, finds contradicting evidence for a case where the wrong man is on trial. Neighboring police are not happy with him. It is a question of police procedures or justice? Which will win?

Shari Lapena has A Stranger in the House coming out on August 15. First, we meet Karen who is preparing a meal at home waiting for her husband. Then, when her husband, Tom, comes home, he finds the door unlocked, dinner half prepared and Karen with her car is missing. When the police show up at his door, he is sure he is about to hear the worst but finds his wife is in the hospital after a car wreck and can't remember the accident or the hours before. Is she faking it? There had also been a murder in the vicinity. Is Karen a murderer?

Sean McFate and Bret Witter have Deep Black coming out on August 8. As a former U.S. Army paratrooper and private military contractor working in Burundi, you would have to suspect McFate would write military action thrillers. Your suspicions would be correct. This is the second in the Tom Locke series. If you haven't read the first one, it gave a relatively believable description of the role of military contractors in today's wars. Here, Locke and his team, part of a military contractor's efforts, is in Isis controlled Iraq when a Saudi middleman asks them to find a missing Prince. More is going on than meets the eye. Will Locke's team survive?

OK - that hopefully has one that interests you. Next week there will be more August titles. Enjoy!