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In all of Doiron's books, we look at how people relate to each other and to nature. Doiron's characters are buffeted by the pressure of change. Maine locals see their traditional way of life threatened by the loss of jobs and the arrival of rich summer residents, while development whittles away at the wilderness and challenges its wildlife. Bowditch, a young man who hates the feel of pavement under his feet and takes his job too seriously for some people's comfort, tries to figure out who he is and how he fits into the world. The sixth book, The Precipice (Minotaur, June 16), finds Bowditch vacationing with his biologist girlfriend, Stacey Stevens. Then they get an emergency call to participate in an enormous manhunt for a pair of hikers. Samantha Boggs and Missy Montgomery, recent college grads from Georgia, missed a scheduled phone check-in three days earlier and have disappeared into Maine's famous Hundred-Mile Wilderness, the most remote section of the Appalachian Trial. Doiron, an Edgar-nominated writer, knows his native state. He ratchets up the tension as rumors suggest the women have fallen prey to aggressive coyotes and searchers work to narrow down the location where they were last seen.
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Clark's The Jezebel Remedy (Knopf, June 9) features a married couple, Joe and Lisa Stone, who have practiced law together for 20 years in Martinsville, Virginia. One of their long-time clients, Lettie VanSandt, would be getting legal services for free, if filing many lawsuits and patent claims made one eligible for a clients' frequent flyer program. When a suspicious trailer fire kills VanSandt, the Stones mop up her affairs and discover one of VanSandt's claims may actually have legs. Their legal opponent is as wily as they are, but much better funded. As a consequence, the Stones find themselves ethically challenged.
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I'll begin with The Kill (Minotaur, June 2). Although it's the fifth in Casey's series (The Burning is the first), early reviewers say it can stand on its own. Metropolitan police are being murdered, one by one, perhaps to retaliate for the police killing of an unarmed teen. Compounding this difficult investigation are the professional and personal pressures on Kerrigan's boss, Supt. Charles Godley, and DI Derwent. Both of these men have secrets that affect them and therefore Kerrigan.
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There is a sweet father/daughter type of relationship between a 12-year-old girl, Rachel, who has lost her memory, and an ex-Army Ranger, Sam Dryden, who has lost his wife and child, at the heart of Patrick Lee's conspiracy thriller, Runner (Minotaur, 2014) (see review here). Add Rachel's ability to hear people's thoughts up to a mile away and Sam's special ops skills and you have two very smart mice chased by a relentless and inventive cat in a pulse-pounding thriller.
Rachel doesn't appear but Sam is back in Lee's sequel, the upcoming Signal (Minotaur, July 7). By now, Sam should dread the middle of the night. The interruption to his life off the grid this time comes in the form of a last-ditch phone call for help from a former colleague, Claire Dunham. Claire and Sam rescue four girls held hostage and flee with them into California's Sierra Nevada foothills. Why is it then the FBI and police earlier found the girls and their kidnapper dead? Claire's employer has developed a machine that tells the future, giving those access to it a chance to see what's coming and do something about it, although with not always intended consequences. Of course, if this device falls into the bad guys' hands, the good guys and the whole world will be up to their eyeballs in trouble.
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The Fold's Mike Erikson is a genius, but he's happy teaching at a small town high school in New England until his friend, Reggie, asks him to investigate a U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects workplace in the California desert. Scientists there have developed a device they call the Albuquerque Door. It shrinks distances so that with a single step, a traveler can travel hundreds of feet. This feature is a promising step toward the goal of teleportation. The scientists insist the Door is safe but there are problems behind the scenes and a fatal accident results. After that, things go to pot. Like writers Michael Connelly and George Pelecanos, Clines includes a lot of pop cultural references that enthusiastic early reviewers say enhance this sci-fi/thriller/horror/adventure plot and entertain the reader. I can't wait to read it.
More previews coming up.
I'm so glad to hear that the Jane Casey can stand on its own. I've been planning to start that series for some time now. I need to read THE FOLD immediately. I got an early copy and my husband took it! Now it's my turn.
ReplyDeleteBecky, I'd love to know what your husband thought of THE FOLD if he had a chance to read it before handing it to you.
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