Mickey Haller hasn’t been in court for over a year but finds himself suddenly thrust back into the position of defense attorney when a colleague is murdered. Struggling to find his feet and to catch up to a full load of cases, his first challenge is a high publicity case of a movie producer accused of a double murder.

Mickey Haller from The Lincoln Lawyer and Harry Bosch from many books join forces in The Brass Verdict. Told first person by Haller, the plot is fast, full of turns and a joy to read. Harry Bosch is not in the book as much as Haller and that is a shame as Bosch is the more established character but Haller does well as the main character and narrator.

The legal drama builds up slowly and is excellently put together. The ending is slightly unsatisfying although Michael Connelly then drops a small bombshell that makes you forget about the ending.

Michael Connelly equals a book that is very hard if not impossible to put down. He doesn’t resort to big words or cheap sex to make his books work, rather he simply writes what he knows and makes it believable. Great book!

Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma are forced to deal with two separate but deadly threats after an apparently homeless man is shot in front of him.  One threat looks to simply destry Sigma while the other looks to destroy  more of the world. Perhaps the only help available may be a boy who is  descended from the Greek Oracles of Delphi.

The Last Oracle builds on the previous four Sigma books. The action is  plenty and varied with sometimes three or four different plot lines and  tales being told at the same time. The action scenes are always something  the James Rollins does well and this book is no exception. There were  moments when the pace seemed to suddenly drop but mostly the book kept up  a high paced charge towards the end.

There are a couple of authors who now write similar books to James  Rollins, Matthew Reilly with his Jack West series of books being probably  the most similar with action piled on top of historical and mystical  events.

For a book that is so full of action, there is some emotionally stirring  scenes towards the end of the tale but never to the point of overload. It  is a very well balanced book, a fast read and a novel that I enjoyed a lot!

An al Qaeda leader is being hunted by a group of rich men and decides to  turn the tables on them while taking aim at the supreme leader of the United States. Standing in his way is Jake Grafton and his right hand man, Tommy Carmellini who must try to outwit their enemy before they outwits, and kills them.

Following on from The Traitor, Grafton and Carmellini continue to look for and kill Abu Qasim, perhaps the most deadly of foes. Jake Grafton has been in 13 (I may be wrong) books and so as a character is pretty well settled. He is a lot old than when he made his debut in Flight Of The Intruder but can still be as ruthless as before. Tommy Carmellini has only been in a few books and his character, told through the first person as compared to the rest of the books third person narrative, is still developing.

Stephen Coonts has a very smooth style of writing that doesn’t cause the reader to re-read a passage for clarification. While there are times, often called for by the plot, for violence, the majority of Coonts books are real plot with converstation that sets up the ending. There are no crazy scenarios with exploding volcanoes or underwater bases. It is realistic fiction, believable and incredibly enjoyable. The Assassin is no exception. A great book, fun and enjoyable!

The most powerful man in Russia threatens world peace as he tries to recreate the old Russia. The only man standing in his way is Alex Hawke, battered, bruised and recovering from his previous adventure. One man is a genius, a billionaire with many ways to get what he wants. The other, resourceful, daring, looking only to rest, relax and recover.

The fifth Alex Hawke book, Tsar, has the same cast of characters that previous books introduced as the lead character is given a new challenge, namely taking on the most powerful man in Russia. The quote on the cover of the book mentions both (James) Bond and (Clive) Cussler in reference. Both are true, although in different ways. Alex Hawke is very much like Ian Flemings most famous hero. He is dashing, handsome, women swoon when he farts, blah blah blah, so much so that well, there isn’t that much
thats original. Yes, circumstances are different, he is rich whereas Bond was usually financed by the secret service, but the over feeling is the same. Again, the reference to Cussler is accurate but not exactly in a good way. Clive Cussler has written (or spawned) many books, and a couple of off shoot novels as well. His first books, Pacific Vortex, Iceberg, Raise the Titanic etc… were gripping adventure stories that rocked. The most recent books have been slower moving, rather bloated novels without the taut passion of earlier. These are the books that Tsar reminds me of, slow moving books that if stripped to half the size would be perhaps do Alex Hawke more justice.

A good enough book, one that I had trouble putting down once I began it but it feels like a middle aged book rather than a young whippersnapper of a book that it perhaps should have been.