MobileRead August 2016 Book Club Nominations

[WT Sharpe]

Help us select the book that the MobileRead Book Club will read for August, 2016.

The nominations will run through midnight EST July 26 or until 10 books have made the list. The poll will then be posted and will remain open for five days.

The book selection category for August is: Thriller, Suspense, & Crime.

In order for a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third).

How Does This Work?
The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome.

How Does a Book Get Selected?
Each book that is nominated will be listed in a poll at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection.

How Many Nominations Can I Make?
Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person.

How Do I Nominate a Book?
Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest.

How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated?
Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP.

When is the Poll?
The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the initial poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed.

The floor is open to nominations. Please comment if you discover a nomination is not available as an ebook in your area.


Official choices with three nominations each:

(1) All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda
Goodreads | Amazon US / Kobo US / Overdrive / Overdrive Audio
Print Length: 384 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

Like the spellbinding psychological suspense in The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive, Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women — a decade apart — told in reverse.

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.

The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.

Told backwards — Day 15 to Day 1 — from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love.

(2) Carved in Bone (Body Farm Book 1) by Jefferson Bass
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo US / Overdrive
Print Length: 416 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

On the campus of the University of Tennessee lies a patch of ground unlike any in the world. The "Body Farm" is a place where human corpses are left to the elements, and every manner of decay is fully explored -- for the sake of science and the cause of justice. The scientist who created the Body Farm has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics, and now, in this heart-stopping novel, he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences.

A woman's corpse lies hidden in a cave in the mountains of East Tennessee. Undiscovered for thirty years, her body has been transformed by the cave's chemistry into a near-perfect mummy -- one that discloses an explosive secret to renowned anthropologist Bill Brockton. Dr. Brockton has spent his career surrounded by death and decay at the Body Farm, but even he is baffled by this case unfolding in a unique environment where nothing is quite what it seems.

The surreal setting is Cooke County, a remote mountain community that's clannish, insular, and distrustful of outsiders. The heartbreaking discovery of the young woman's corpse reopens old wounds and rekindles feuds dating back decades. The county's powerful and uncooperative sheriff and his inept deputy threaten to derail Brockton's investigation altogether. So do Brockton's other nemeses: his lingering guilt over the death of his wife, and the fury of a medical examiner whom Brockton dares to oppose in court.

Carved in Bone is a richly atmospheric, superbly suspenseful, and magnificently rendered trip into the world of forensic science, the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, and the dark passageways of the human psyche. Full of vivid characters and startling twists and turns, this thrilling novel heralds the debut of a major new voice in crime fiction -- and an unforgettable work from the hand of a scientific legend.

(3) The Boy In The Suitcase (Nina Borg #1) by Lene Kaaberbøl, Agnete Friis
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Kobo US / Overdrive
Print Length: 321 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can't say no when someone asks for help—even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets suckered into her most dangerous project yet. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive.

Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy's are in jeopardy, too. In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.

(4) Fast One by Paul Cain
Goodreads | Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Kobo US
Print Length: 211 pages

Spoiler:

This was Cain's only novel. He is considered by some to be the most hard-boiled of writers.

“In the matter of grim hardness Dashiell [Hammett] paused on the threshold. Paul [Cain] went all the way.” —Captain Joe Shaw, editor of Black Mask during its golden era

“[Fast One represents] some kind of high point in the ultra hard-boiled manner.” —Raymond Chandler, author, The Big Sleep

I]From Goodreads:[/I]

Billed as "the most hard-boiled novel of the 1930s" and featuring one of the most brutal finales in crime fiction history, some say this lost 1933 masterpiece took hard-boiled crime writing too far. In the last days of Prohibition and the first days of the Depression, East Coast crime bosses are vying for control of Los Angeles. Caught in the middle of the intrigue is Gerry Kells, a former New York enforcer now living a life of ease on the West coast. As the fiercely independent Kells rejects the appeals of various crime bosses who want to make use of his talents, powerful forces align against him. Being framed for a murder turns out to be the least of his troubles and as the stakes get higher, and the odds get longer, it's only Kells' nerve and toughness that keep him one step ahead of the law—and the reaper.

(5) Open Season by C.J. Box
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US
Print Length: 316 pages

Spoiler:

From Publishers Weekly:

Enthusiastic blurbs even from luminaries such as Tony Hillerman, Les Standiford and Loren Estleman can sometimes leave readers feeling as if they must have read a different book altogether. Not this time. Box's superb debut, the first in a series introducing Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, should immediately make him a contender for best first novel or even best novel awards. Young Joe is struggling to fill the shoes of his mentor, legendary Vern Dunnegan, as warden of Twelve Sleep County, and trying to support his wife and growing family on the meager salary he makes. The hours are long, the work hard but satisfying, and Joe's honesty and integrity would pay off if he could avoid "bonehead moves" like ticketing the governor of the state for fishing without a license, for instance, or allowing a poacher to grab Joe's firearm from him. When that very same poacher turns up dead and bloodied in Joe's woodpile with only a cooler containing unidentified animal scat, his life, livelihood and family will never be the same. Upping the excitement are a couple of murders, local political and bureaucratic intrigue, a high-stakes pipeline scheme and an endangered species that Joe's eldest daughter "discovers." No one has done a better job of portraying the odd combination of hardy and foolhardy folk that make their homes in Wyoming's wilderness areas, or of describing the dichotomy between those who want to develop the area and those who want to preserve it. Without resorting to simplistic blacks and whites, Box fuses ecological themes, vibrant descriptions of Wyoming's wonders and peculiarities, and fully fleshed characters into a debut of riveting tensions. Meet Joe Pickett: he's going to be a mystery star.

(6) Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo US / Overdrive / Overdrive Audio
Print Length: 336 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

This critically acclaimed, explosive thriller is a book only prosecutor Linda Fairstein could write. Patricia Cornwall knows the morgue; John Grisham knows the courtroom; but no one knows the inner workings of the D.A.'s office like Linda Fairstein, renowned for two decades as head of Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit. Now that world comes vividly to life in a brilliant debut novel of shocking realism, powerful insight, and searing suspense.

Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan's top sex crimes prosecutor, awakens one morning to shocking news: a tabloid headline announcing her own brutal murder. But the actual victim was Isabella Lascar, the Hollywood film star who sought refuge at Alex's Martha's Vineyard retreat. Was Isabella targeted by a stalker or -- mistaken for Alex -- was she in the wrong place at the wrong time? In an investigation that twists from the back alleys of lower Manhattan to the chic salons of the Upper East Side. Alex knows she's in final jeopardy...and time is running out. She has to get into the killer's head before the killer gets to her.

(7) The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Kobo UK/ Overdrive v1 / Overdrive v2 / Overdrive Audio v1 / Overdrive Audio v2
Print Length: 415 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, grey eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man.

One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.

(8) They Don't Dance Much by James Ross
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Kobo US
Print Length: 304 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

In this classic country noir, featuring a new introduction by Daniel Woodrell, a small town farmer takes a job at a roadhouse, where unbridled greed leads to a brutal murder

Jack McDonald is barely a farmer. Boll weevils have devoured his cotton crop, his chickens have stopped laying eggs, and everything he owns is mortgaged — even his cow. He has no money, no prospects, and nothing to do but hang around filling stations, wondering where his next drink will come from. As far as hooch goes, there's no place like Smut Milligan's, where Breath of Spring moonshine sells for a dollar a pint.

A bootlegger with an entrepreneurial spirit, Milligan has plans to open a roadhouse, and he asks Jack to run the till. The music will be hot, the liquor cheap, and the clientele rough. But the only thing stronger than Milligan's hooch is his greed, and Jack is slowly drawn into the middle of Smut's dalliances with a married woman, the machinations of corrupt town officials — and a savage act of murder.

Nominations are now closed.

[WT Sharpe]

Wondering if a particular book is available in your country? The following spoiler contains a list of bookstores outside the United States you can search. If you don't see a bookstore on this list for your country, find one that is, send me the link via PM, and I'll add it to the list. Also, if you find one on the list that is no longer in operation, let me know and I'll remove it from the list.

Spoiler:

Australian
Angus Robertson
Booktopia
Borders
Dymocks
Fishpond
Google

Canada
Amazon. Make sure you are logged out. Then go to the Kindle Store. Search for a book. After the search results come up, in the upper right corner of the screen, change the country to Canada and search away.
Google
Sony eBookstore (Upper right corner switch to/from US/CA)

UK
BooksOnBoard (In the upper right corner is a way to switch to the UK store)
Amazon
Foyle's
Google
Penguin
Random House
Waterstones
WH Smith

*** They Don't Dance Much by James Ross [peterwardgd, WT Sharpe, GA Russell]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Kobo US
Print Length: 304 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

In this classic country noir, featuring a new introduction by Daniel Woodrell, a small town farmer takes a job at a roadhouse, where unbridled greed leads to a brutal murder

Jack McDonald is barely a farmer. Boll weevils have devoured his cotton crop, his chickens have stopped laying eggs, and everything he owns is mortgaged — even his cow. He has no money, no prospects, and nothing to do but hang around filling stations, wondering where his next drink will come from. As far as hooch goes, there's no place like Smut Milligan's, where Breath of Spring moonshine sells for a dollar a pint.

A bootlegger with an entrepreneurial spirit, Milligan has plans to open a roadhouse, and he asks Jack to run the till. The music will be hot, the liquor cheap, and the clientele rough. But the only thing stronger than Milligan's hooch is his greed, and Jack is slowly drawn into the middle of Smut's dalliances with a married woman, the machinations of corrupt town officials — and a savage act of murder.

*** Fast One by Paul Cain [GA Russell, peterwardgd, CRussel]
Goodreads | Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Kobo US
Print Length: 211 pages

Spoiler:

This was Cain's only novel. He is considered by some to be the most hard-boiled of writers.

“In the matter of grim hardness Dashiell [Hammett] paused on the threshold. Paul [Cain] went all the way.” —Captain Joe Shaw, editor of Black Mask during its golden era

“[Fast One represents] some kind of high point in the ultra hard-boiled manner.” —Raymond Chandler, author, The Big Sleep

I]From Goodreads:[/I]

Billed as "the most hard-boiled novel of the 1930s" and featuring one of the most brutal finales in crime fiction history, some say this lost 1933 masterpiece took hard-boiled crime writing too far. In the last days of Prohibition and the first days of the Depression, East Coast crime bosses are vying for control of Los Angeles. Caught in the middle of the intrigue is Gerry Kells, a former New York enforcer now living a life of ease on the West coast. As the fiercely independent Kells rejects the appeals of various crime bosses who want to make use of his talents, powerful forces align against him. Being framed for a murder turns out to be the least of his troubles and as the stakes get higher, and the odds get longer, it's only Kells' nerve and toughness that keep him one step ahead of the law—and the reaper.

*** All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda [WT Sharpe, Dazrin, Luffy]
Goodreads | Amazon US / Kobo US / Overdrive / Overdrive Audio
Print Length: 384 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

Like the spellbinding psychological suspense in The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive, Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women — a decade apart — told in reverse.

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.

The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.

Told backwards — Day 15 to Day 1 — from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love.

*** Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein [JSWolf, Luffy, Grey Ram]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo US / Overdrive / Overdrive Audio
Print Length: 336 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

This critically acclaimed, explosive thriller is a book only prosecutor Linda Fairstein could write. Patricia Cornwall knows the morgue; John Grisham knows the courtroom; but no one knows the inner workings of the D.A.'s office like Linda Fairstein, renowned for two decades as head of Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit. Now that world comes vividly to life in a brilliant debut novel of shocking realism, powerful insight, and searing suspense.

Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan's top sex crimes prosecutor, awakens one morning to shocking news: a tabloid headline announcing her own brutal murder. But the actual victim was Isabella Lascar, the Hollywood film star who sought refuge at Alex's Martha's Vineyard retreat. Was Isabella targeted by a stalker or -- mistaken for Alex -- was she in the wrong place at the wrong time? In an investigation that twists from the back alleys of lower Manhattan to the chic salons of the Upper East Side. Alex knows she's in final jeopardy...and time is running out. She has to get into the killer's head before the killer gets to her.

*** Carved in Bone (Body Farm Book 1) by Jefferson Bass [Dazrin, JSWolf, BenG]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo US / Overdrive
Print Length: pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

On the campus of the University of Tennessee lies a patch of ground unlike any in the world. The "Body Farm" is a place where human corpses are left to the elements, and every manner of decay is fully explored -- for the sake of science and the cause of justice. The scientist who created the Body Farm has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics, and now, in this heart-stopping novel, he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences.

A woman's corpse lies hidden in a cave in the mountains of East Tennessee. Undiscovered for thirty years, her body has been transformed by the cave's chemistry into a near-perfect mummy -- one that discloses an explosive secret to renowned anthropologist Bill Brockton. Dr. Brockton has spent his career surrounded by death and decay at the Body Farm, but even he is baffled by this case unfolding in a unique environment where nothing is quite what it seems.

The surreal setting is Cooke County, a remote mountain community that's clannish, insular, and distrustful of outsiders. The heartbreaking discovery of the young woman's corpse reopens old wounds and rekindles feuds dating back decades. The county's powerful and uncooperative sheriff and his inept deputy threaten to derail Brockton's investigation altogether. So do Brockton's other nemeses: his lingering guilt over the death of his wife, and the fury of a medical examiner whom Brockton dares to oppose in court.

Carved in Bone is a richly atmospheric, superbly suspenseful, and magnificently rendered trip into the world of forensic science, the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, and the dark passageways of the human psyche. Full of vivid characters and startling twists and turns, this thrilling novel heralds the debut of a major new voice in crime fiction -- and an unforgettable work from the hand of a scientific legend.

*** Open Season by C.J. Box [BenG, GA Russell, JSWolf]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US
Print Length: 316 pages

Spoiler:

From Publishers Weekly:

Enthusiastic blurbs even from luminaries such as Tony Hillerman, Les Standiford and Loren Estleman can sometimes leave readers feeling as if they must have read a different book altogether. Not this time. Box's superb debut, the first in a series introducing Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, should immediately make him a contender for best first novel or even best novel awards. Young Joe is struggling to fill the shoes of his mentor, legendary Vern Dunnegan, as warden of Twelve Sleep County, and trying to support his wife and growing family on the meager salary he makes. The hours are long, the work hard but satisfying, and Joe's honesty and integrity would pay off if he could avoid "bonehead moves" like ticketing the governor of the state for fishing without a license, for instance, or allowing a poacher to grab Joe's firearm from him. When that very same poacher turns up dead and bloodied in Joe's woodpile with only a cooler containing unidentified animal scat, his life, livelihood and family will never be the same. Upping the excitement are a couple of murders, local political and bureaucratic intrigue, a high-stakes pipeline scheme and an endangered species that Joe's eldest daughter "discovers." No one has done a better job of portraying the odd combination of hardy and foolhardy folk that make their homes in Wyoming's wilderness areas, or of describing the dichotomy between those who want to develop the area and those who want to preserve it. Without resorting to simplistic blacks and whites, Box fuses ecological themes, vibrant descriptions of Wyoming's wonders and peculiarities, and fully fleshed characters into a debut of riveting tensions. Meet Joe Pickett: he's going to be a mystery star.

*** The Boy In The Suitcase (Nina Borg #1) by Lene Kaaberbøl, Agnete Friis [WT Sharpe, Dazrin, CRussel]
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Kobo US / Overdrive
Print Length: 321 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can't say no when someone asks for help—even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets suckered into her most dangerous project yet. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive.

Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy's are in jeopardy, too. In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.

*** The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth [din155, CRussel, Grey Ram]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Kobo UK/ Overdrive v1 / Overdrive v2 / Overdrive Audio v1 / Overdrive Audio v2
Print Length: 415 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, grey eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man.

One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.

Nominations are now closed.

[peterwardgd]

Its been a while since ive been on the site but i still enjoy the book club vote.

Anyway, I'd like to nominate They Don't Dance Much by James Ross.

Its been pigeonholed as Country noir which i guess if i had to shelve it under anything that would be it but its really just good honest pulp. It's a cut above most pulp titles though that are getting a second lease of life in the ebook market. The characterisation in particular is very good i thought.

From Goodreads:

In this classic country noir, featuring a new introduction by Daniel Woodrell, a small town farmer takes a job at a roadhouse, where unbridled greed leads to a brutal murder

Jack McDonald is barely a farmer. Boll weevils have devoured his cotton crop, his chickens have stopped laying eggs, and everything he owns is mortgaged — even his cow. He has no money, no prospects, and nothing to do but hang around filling stations, wondering where his next drink will come from. As far as hooch goes, there's no place like Smut Milligan's, where Breath of Spring moonshine sells for a dollar a pint.

A bootlegger with an entrepreneurial spirit, Milligan has plans to open a roadhouse, and he asks Jack to run the till. The music will be hot, the liquor cheap, and the clientele rough. But the only thing stronger than Milligan's hooch is his greed, and Jack is slowly drawn into the middle of Smut's dalliances with a married woman, the machinations of corrupt town officials — and a savage act of murder.

Kobo UK

Amazon UK

[Luffy]

I'd like to nominate Extreme Measures (Mitch Rapp #11) by Vince Flynn. It can be read as a standalone.

From Goodreads:

Spoiler:

The latest pulse-pounding thriller by #1 "New York Times" bestselling phenomenon Vince Flynn explodes onto the scene with a deadly and charismatic hero fans will cheer for all the way to the last riveting page.Vince Flynn's thrillers, featuring counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp, have dominated the imagination of readers everywhere. Time and again, Flynn has captured the secretive world of the fearless men and women, who, bound by duty, risk their lives in a covert war they must hide from even their own political leaders.

Now, with Rapp away on assignment in Pakistan, CIA Director Irene Kennedy turns to his protegee Mike Nash. Nash has served his government honorably for sixteen years -- first as an officer in the Marine Corps and then as an operative in an elite counterterrorism team run by none other than Mitch Rapp. He has met violence with extreme violence and has never wavered in his fight against the jihads and their culture of death.

Nash has fought the war on terrorism in secret without accolades or acknowledgement of his personal sacrifice. He has been forced to lie to virtually every single person he cares about, including his wife and children, but he has soldiered on with the knowledge that his hard work and lethal tactics has saved thousands of lives. But the one thing he never saw coming was that his own government was about to turn on him.

In "Extreme Measures," Flynn introduces a modern-day patriot -- a hero who loves his country, even when it betrays itself. Using his insider knowledge of intelligence agencies and the military, Flynn once again delivers an all-too-real portrayal of a war that is that is waged every day by a handful of brave, devoted souls.Smart, fast-paced, and jaw-droppingly realistic, "Extreme Measures" is "the" political thriller of our time.

Goodreads

Amazon

Kobo

[GA Russell]

I nominate Fast One by Paul Cain.

This was Cain's only novel. He is considered by some to be the most hard-boiled of writers.

“In the matter of grim hardness Dashiell [Hammett] paused on the threshold. Paul [Cain] went all the way.” —Captain Joe Shaw, editor of Black Mask during its golden era

“[Fast One represents] some kind of high point in the ultra hard-boiled manner.” —Raymond Chandler, author, The Big Sleep

Amazon - $4.99
https://www.amazon.com/Fast-One-Paul...dp/B00B132H2O/

Nook - 99 cents
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fast...=2940150605152

Kobo - 99 cents
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/fast-one-2

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Luffy

I'd like to nominate Extreme Measures (Mitch Rapp #11) by Vince Flynn. It can be read as a standalone.

When someone says a book in a series can be read standalone, it usually cannot and in this case given that it's #11, no way it can.

You'd be better off asking for your nomination back and using it for something else.

[WT Sharpe]

I tried to find something cheap, I really did, but this is available at Overdrive both as an ebook and an audiobook, so that's something.

I nominate All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda. This one sounds fascinating. It features reverse chronology in the story-telling, a device used in one of my favorite movies ("Momento") and one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes ("The Betrayal"). Publisher's Weekly says, "Miranda convincingly conjures a haunted setting that serves as a character in its own right, but what really makes this roller-coaster so memorable is her inspired use of reverse chronology, so that each chapter steps further back in time, dramatically shifting the reader’s perspective."

From Goodreads:

Like the spellbinding psychological suspense in The Girl on the Train and Luckiest Girl Alive, Megan Miranda’s novel is a nail-biting, breathtaking story about the disappearances of two young women — a decade apart — told in reverse.

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched.

The decade-old investigation focused on Nic, her brother Daniel, boyfriend Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend Jackson. Since then, only Nic has left Cooley Ridge. Daniel and his wife, Laura, are expecting a baby; Jackson works at the town bar; and Tyler is dating Annaleise Carter, Nic’s younger neighbor and the group’s alibi the night Corinne disappeared. Then, within days of Nic’s return, Annaleise goes missing.

Told backwards — Day 15 to Day 1 — from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago.

Like nothing you’ve ever read before, All the Missing Girls delivers in all the right ways. With twists and turns that lead down dark alleys and dead ends, you may think you’re walking a familiar path, but then Megan Miranda turns it all upside down and inside out and leaves us wondering just how far we would be willing to go to protect those we love.

Amazon US
Kobo US
Overdrive
Overdrive Audio

[JSWolf]

I'd like to nominate Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein. It's the first book in the Alex Cooper series.

This critically acclaimed, explosive thriller is a book only prosecutor Linda Fairstein could write. Patricia Cornwall knows the morgue; John Grisham knows the courtroom; but no one knows the inner workings of the D.A.'s office like Linda Fairstein, renowned for two decades as head of Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit. Now that world comes vividly to life in a brilliant debut novel of shocking realism, powerful insight, and searing suspense.

Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan's top sex crimes prosecutor, awakens one morning to shoking news: a tabloid headline announcing her own brutal murder. But the actual victim was Isabella Lascar, the Hollywood film star who sought refuge at Alex's Martha's Vineyard retreat. Was Isabella targeted by a stalker or -- mistaken for Alex -- was she in the wrong place at the wrong time? In an investigation that twists from the back alleys of lower Manhattan to the chic salons of the Upper East Side. Alex knows she'sin final jeopardy...and time is running out. She has to get into the killer's head before the killer gets to her.

Overdrive US: https://www.overdrive.com/media/37702/final-jeopardy
Overdrive Audio: https://www.overdrive.com/media/143681/final-jeopardy
Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Final-Jeopard...9111940&sr=1-4
Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Jeopa...final+jeopardy
Kobo US: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/eb...nal-jeopardy-2

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I tried to find something cheap, I really did, but this is available at Overdrive both as an ebook and an audiobook, so that's something.

I nominate All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda.

You might want to save this for when the price drops or the lines at Overdrive are not so long. The price is about $12 and the lines at Overdrive are in double digits because it's a new book.

[Dazrin]

The only nomination so far that is available from my library is All the Missing Girls which sounds interesting so I will second it and have put it on my Holds list just in case because there are 4 people in front of me.

I nominate Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass, the first "Body Farm" novel based on Dr. Bill Bass's real-life forensics research.

Available for some at Overdrive and only $5 or £4.

Print length: 416 pages
Goodreads | Overdrive / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Kobo

There is a patch of ground in Tennessee dedicated to the science of death, where human remains lie exposed to be studied for their secrets. The real-life scientist who founded the "Body Farm" has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics . . . and now he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences.

Renowned anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton has spent his career surrounded by death at the Body Farm. Now he's being called upon to help solve a baffling puzzle in a remote mountain community. The mummified corpse of a young woman dead for thirty years has been discovered in a cave, the body bizarrely preserved and transformed by the environment's unique chemistry. But Brockton's investigation is threatening to open old wounds among an insular people who won't forget or forgive. And a long-buried secret prematurely exposed could inflame Brockton's own guilt—and the dangerous hostility of bitter enemies determined to see him fail . . . by any means necessary.

With Fascinating Insider Information on the Body Farm!

There is also a non-fiction companion book, Beyond the Body Farm, if anyone is interested in just the forensics.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I nominate Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass, the first "Body Farm" novel based on Dr. Bill Bass's real-life forensics research.

I'll second Body Farm.

[peterwardgd]

I'll second Fast one by Paul Cain. I have an omnibus of his that i've only just started which includes this novel so i've no excuse not to read it. Mysterious press ftw!

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When someone says a book in a series can be read standalone, it usually cannot and in this case given that it's #11, no way it can.

You'd be better off asking for your nomination back and using it for something else.

If that's the case, then I'll pass, and wait for next month's round, perhaps. I won't be mortally offended if my choice gets omitted.

However, I've read the 3rd Mitch Rapp book, and then this one, the 11th, and I attest, the latter book can easily be read on its own merit.

[Luffy]

i second Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein.

[Luffy]

I third All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda.