Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Once again, it took me a few years to get around to reading a great book, but, at long last, I read this book and it was great.  This was one of those books that held my interest throughout, to the point that I was thinking of the book and about what might happen next when I wasn't reading it.  Gillian Flynn wove a tail of suspense that always had me guessing: who's the "good guy"?  Who's the "bad guy"?  What really happened?  Who's telling the truth?  Of course, it was hard to tell what the truth is because the author kept the truth from the reader over the course of book.  And that truth-withholding was an ingenious plot device here.  From chapter to chapter, she fills the reader in on what's really happening, then, she changes point-of-view and, at the same time, changes what's "really" happening.  This built suspense as the book went on and constantly changed which character(s) you liked and which one(s) you hated.  There was nothing boring in this book, that's for sure!

My one gripe is that I didn't like the very end of the book.  Maybe this is because of whom I liked and disliked by the end, but, if I had written this book (and boy, do I!), I would've ended it differently.  Nonetheless, I'm not going to change my overall impression of this book.  It was excellent from start til (almost) finish and I would recommend that you check it out!

The Pulptress by Tommy Hancock, et al.

This was a good anthology, but not a great one.  Some of the stories were good, some not so good.  However, the character - The Pulptress - is excellent and a great addition to the New Pulp world.  I liked the mystery of her background that is slowly revealed throughout the stories.  I wanted to read more of these stories to get more of her back story.  She's been trained by many others, including my favorite New Pulp hero, Dillon, but we still don't know a lot about her.  And despite the uneven quality of the various stories, they all had two things in common: the Pulptress was in them and they make the reader want to read more stories like these.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

To think that this story is about 100 years old and it is still one of the best sci-fi stories ever told.  Burroughs has created an amazing world on Mars that rivals any world created by George Lucas.  In fact, I see a lot of Star Wars in A Princess of Mars.  The character of John Carter is wonderful, as he is heroic, swashbuckling, yet remarkably human. His quest to marry Martian princess Dejah Thoris drives him across Mars, with the action and adventure of his battles driving the story.  He meets numerous Martian civilizations, befriending people wherever he goes with his derring-do and benevolence.  Burroughs is a little over-the-top with the story, but he always is and makes the story work despite moments where suspension of disbelief is needed.  I suggest that anyone interested in outer space sci-fi stories should start with this one.  It's a great story from one of the 20th century's greatest storytellers.  Don't miss it!

The Lightning Stones by Jack Du Brul

It has been a while since I read a Jack Du Brul novel, and, after reading The Lightning Stones, I am trying to figure out what I have been thinking all these years.  Du Brul writes excellent adventures, as this one was full of action from start to finish.  The Lightning Stones is a globe-spanning rollicking escapade with protagonist Phillip Mercer taking the reader from the mines of Minnesota to suburban Washington, D.C., to the mountains of Afghanistan, back to the U.S., and off to the vast Pacific Ocean.  All this globetrotting is framed by the "true" story of what happened on Amelia Earhart's ill-fated attempt to circumnavigate the earth by airplane in 1937.  Du Brul connects Earhart's 1937 flight to the present day very well, and his use of the global-warming "conspiracy" in doing so is inspired plotting.  What a great story!

The story's hero, Phillip Mercer, makes the story even better.  After reading Du Brul's earlier Mercer stories (it has been several years since the last one), I thought that Mercer was an under-appreciated literary action hero.  Dirk Pitt, Jack Ryan, and Jack Reacher get a lot more publicity and acclaim, but Mercer is just as heroic, just as dashing, and just as ingenious as those other guys.  He is intelligent, daring, and has a keen sense of justice.  His job as a geologist allows Du Brul to place Mercer in situations that other heroes could not be in.  This story could not happen to Jack Ryan or Reacher, as neither has the scientific acumen to pull off the research and scientific aspects of this story.  He is certainly a 21st century action hero.

With a great plot and a great hero, Jack Du Brul has hit a home run with The Lightning Stones.  Go check it out soon!

Kill Shot by Vince Flynn

A great prequel to the Mitch Rapp series! I thought this was much better than the previous prequel, American Assassin. This time, it feels more like a Mitch Rapp novel, just with a younger and less experience protagonist. Whereas American Assassin felt like a Stan Hurley story to me, this was has the adrenaline-pumping adventure that I loved in the first 10 novels. After American Assassin, I was ready to write off Vince Flynn as having lost the touch. He certainly regained it for this episode and has me looking forward to his last novel, The Last Man, and for Kyle Mills' first foray into Mitch Rapp's world, which is coming soon.

The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, Volume 5 by Barry Reese

Barry Reese has gone and done it again! He has produced another wonderful New Pulp adventure. This one is filled with the usual rollicking action sequences and supernatural wonders that we expect and enjoy from Barry's works. In the installment, he weaves a number of short stories into a tableau of Sovereign City goodness. The way he ties all these stories - which are great a stand-alone stories - into a cohesive storyline is amazing. Of course, each story has the Lazarus Gray and his compadres in Assistance Unlimited. The depth he has brought to these characters over five volumes has made the stories very comfortable. At the same time, though, the action scenes and constant suspense keep you on the edge of your seat for the duration. Go get this book. Nice job, Barry! Keep these awesome stories coming.

Quarry's Choice by Max Allan Collins

Max Allan Collins is probably best known for writing the Road to Perdition series, especially since that was made into a major motion picture.  His Quarry series, even though less widely known, should qualify him as writing superstar.  If you like hitmen and the criminal underworld, this is the series for you.  More importantly, this book typifies Quarry's life as a hitman in the criminal underworld.

For the uninitiated, Quarry is a somewhat mysterious hitman who works for a broker who is referred to as the Broker.  Quarry narrates the stories, but reveals little about his real identity (Quarry is the name the Broker knows him by) or his past (except having served in Vietnam).  He seems to have no qualms or second thoughts about killing the people he is paid to kill.  He is a no-nonsense assassin (though he would probably hate being called an assassin).

This story takes us back to Quarry's early career.  He is meeting with the Broker when another hitman tries to kill the Broker.  The Broker soon sends Quarry to kill the man responsible for the shooting.  This requires Quarry to go to Biloxi, Mississippi to deal with the "Dixie Mafia," and that's where the real fun begins.

In Biloxi, Quarry begins working for Mr. Woody, a small-time gangster who is a frequent customer of the Broker.  Mr. Woody wants Quarry to kill Jack Killian, his business partner and supposedly the person who tried to knock off the Broker.  Mr. Woody gets Quarry a job with Killian and gives Quarry an escort - both in the literal and biblical sense - to show him around town and to keep him company.  The escort, a 19-year-old stripper/prostitute named Luann, becomes a helpful piece for Quarry, though she also complicates the story by getting in the way of his "work."

Lest I spoil the story, suffice it to say that the rest of the story involves a lot of killing (done mostly by Quarry), a lot of sex (again, done mostly by Quarry), and a lot of action (all of it involving Quarry).  This book was fun from beginning to end.  I didn't want it to stop.  Of course, it had to stop when Quarry killed everybody he needed to kill to complete the job and wait for the Broker to call with the next one.

Collins' Quarry series is one of the best in crime fiction.  Quarry's Choice is no exception.  I highly recommend it.