Sylvie’s thriller & mystery review

By Sylvie Chartrand

Here is a summary of some of the books I have read so far this year, in the order I read them, not by favourites. I mostly like mystery novels, but hopefully you can find something that appeals to you.

The Huntress, by Kate Quinn

Kate Quinn is a New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction. A life-long history buff, she has written seven historical novels, including The Alice Network, the “Empress of Rome Saga” series, and the “Borgia Chronicles” series. All have been translated into multiple languages.

The Huntress weaves the separate narratives of three central characters.

Nina Markova, a brave and reckless Soviet Russian, always wanted to fly. She risked everything to join an all-female night bomber regiment to fight the Nazis during the Second World War. When her plane went down behind enemy lines, she met a young and trusting English fighter. They survived together, until the day they met The Huntress, a woman accused of war crimes, often against children, in Poland.

Ian Graham, a British war correspondent gave up his job to become a Nazi hunter. One case is haunting him, the Huntress. Nina Markova is the only witness who escaped the Huntress alive. Together, they try to find her.

In post-war Boston, 17-year-old Jordan McBride dreams of becoming a photographer. Her long-widowed father marries a German widow, Anneliese, who has a child named Ruth. Jordan is happy for her father and for having such a thoughtful stepmother, but something doesn’t feel right, and Jordan becomes curious about Anneliese’s past.

The Long Call, by Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves is the author of more than 30 critically acclaimed novels and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the Crime Writers Association Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular fictional detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez, who can now be found on television in ITV’s Vera and BBC One’s Shetland. Cleeves worked as a probation officer, bird observatory staff, cook and auxiliary coast guard member before she started writing. She lives in North Tyneside near where the Vera books are set.

The Long Call is the first book in a new series called “The Two Rivers.”

Detective Matthew Venn lives in North Devon with his husband Jonathan Church, who works for the Woodyard, which has a day care for people with disabilities. The body of a man who has been stabbed washes up on the shore near their house. During the investigation, two women with Down Syndrome who attended the day care are kidnapped. Since the murdered man, Simon Walden, had been volunteering at the Woodyard, Matthew needs to figure out what if any connection he had with the women. This investigation causes Matthew to revisit his past and the people he left behind because of his rejection of the strict evangelical community in which he grew up.

Deadlock, by Catherine Coulter

Catherine Coulter is the New York Times bestselling author of 86 novels, including the FBI Thriller series and the Brit in the FBI international thriller series co-written with J.T. Ellison. Coulter lives in Sausalito, California with her husband.

FBI Special Agent Dillon Savich witnesses two men trying to kidnap a woman. He fights them off and rescues the woman who turns out to be Rebekah Manvers, wife of the wealthy congressman Rich Manvers. While he tries to figure out who would want to kidnap her, he receives a box containing one third of a puzzle. Once assembled, he sees an ancient pier and a sidewalk littered with human remains but has no clue where this picture was taken. Then a second part of the puzzle arrives, and Special Agent Pippa Cinelli recognizes the picture as her hometown, St. Lumis, Maryland. Savich sends Pippa to investigate undercover. On her second day there, she is attacked and left in an abandoned building. Who knew she was coming? She needs to trust the local police chief, Matthew Wilde, for help. While Savich drives to St. Lumis to check on Pippa, his home is set on fire with his wife and child inside. Savich has his suspicions about who is messing with him, and he must stop them before they succeed in getting revenge and wiping out the witnesses who could put them in jail for a long time.

These books and so many more are available at the Ottawa Public Library!

Sylvie Chartrand is a public service assistant at the Sunnyside Branch of the Ottawa Public Library.