All the Light We Cannot See

In the early 1930s in Paris, a very young Marie-Laure LeBlanc has lost her sight and is slowly learning how to get about without it.  In Germany, orphan, Werner Pfennig is interested in radios and how they work.  He is unlike other boys his age who are more interested in being soldiers in the new order.  Werner and his sister, Jutta, secretly listen to a radio that he has built learning about a larger world, while Marie-Laure learns by touch, and sound in the museum where her father works.

By late 1939 Parisians begin to live in fear of a German invasion.  In June of 1940, Marie-Laure and her father flee Paris ahead of the advancing Germans.  They end up in Saint Malo.  Meantime, Werner is taken from the orphanage and inducted into the Hitler Youth, his instinctive knowledge taken advantage of.  But due to losses on the Russian front, Werner's age is advanced on paper by two years, and he finds himself suddenly a soldier in the Wehrmacht.  A soldier who knows how to triangulate radio signals.

In August of 1944 the war comes to Saint Malo.  Marie-Laure and her great-uncle Etienne help the resistance by broadcasting a series of numbers on a secret radio set he had built many years before.  Werner is also sent to Saint Malo, to search for a radio broadcasting on behalf of the resistance.

Author Anthony Doerr has woven a tale that draws one deeply into.  Although the chapters are short and revert back and forth between the two main characters, at no time does the story seem disjointed.  I was unable to put this book down.  It was a very good read.

Anti-Soviet Activities

Pyotr Kirov and his KGB partner Bogdanov have been assigned the task of investigating The Great Jewish Antibiotics Ring.  However, the fraud squad gets to Victor Gusev, the main suspect, first.  He is shot before he can be interrogated.  In the hospital he begins to vomit blood.   Upon examining the vomit and blood, Kirov discovers diamonds.

Later, after Gusev dies, the doctor who worked on him reveals that she had administered him some of the antibiotics he had in his possession.  Kirov wonders if these might have killed him.  Their source seems to be Bulgaria.  Bogdanov discovers that the drug operation could be a GRU operation.  Why would the GRU be involved?

Kirov an d Bogdanov discover that the antibiotics are made in Bulgaria, so Kirov travels to Sofia to investigate further.  Upon his return, he is questioned by another security force as to why he had been to Sofia.  He also finds out that perestroika may not be all that it is cracked up to be as jobs are on the line.

In this sequel to "Farewell to Russia", author Jim Williams takes the reader down the path that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and what would inevitably become another corrupt regime.  A good read.

The Marco Effect

While Rose is out gathering information on a case for her boss, Carl Morck, she stumbles upon a poster of a missing person.  The strange thing is that a ladder and a scraper are beneath the poster as if the person scraping the poster had suddenly run away.  She is sure that the person on the poster is one of the cases she had selected for looking into by Department Q.

The missing man had been a diligent government worker.  There didn't seem to be anything nefarious in his past.  He had been in Africa for a day, changed his plans suddenly and returned to Denmark and immediately disappeared.  While Carl, Rose and Assad are investigating the house of the missing person, Carl looks out the window and sees a young lad looking in.  When the boy sees Carl looking at him, he immediately takes off.   Carl is sure that the boy has some answers to the case at hand, but what?

There are a chain of events that seem linked together.  The team just needs to forge those links so that they can solve it.  Once again, author Jussi Adler-Olsen has written an exciting thriller set in Copenhagen.   This is a book that the reader will have difficulty putting down.

Supping with the Devil

DCI Monika Paniatowski's superior, George Baxter, continues to blame her for the death of his wife, although she had nothing to do with it.  He assigns her to oversee a music festival at an earl's estate.  Because this is going to involve some time, her superior brings in DCI Wellbeloved to take over her team.

While Monika is busy with security details, a murder has occurred in Whitebridge.  DI Beresford and DS Meadows grudgingly admit that the new DCI is manipulating them better than they thought possible.  Beresford discovers that the victim had written a substantial cheque to a private detective just prior to his death.

Wellbeloved is positive that he has the perpetrator in his grasp, so he ignores information that Monika passes on to the team, which she has gleaned out at the earl's estate.

When the earl's wife is brutally beaten he demands that Monika be put in charge of the investigation.  Baxter is forced to back down in face of the earl's demands.  Surprisingly the cases are inextricably tied together, and author Sally Spencer provides a shocking conclusion to this police thriller.

The Guardian

William Wallace's cousin, Father James Wallace, wants to set the record straight about him.  Many have given Wallace a god-like status, and his cousin, who is a priest, feels that he needs to tell the true story of the man.

King Edward has wanted control of Scotland for some time.  As a result of his intervention, William Wallace's wife and son have been killed by English soldiers.  Wallace wreaks vengeance.  Edward in turn plans to put down the rebellion and punish the outlaws.

Father Wallace meets Robert Bruce at Turnberry Castle, and there learns of another Scot prepared to fight the English, Andrew Murray.  In the highlands of Scotland, Murray and his friend, Alexander Pilche have been causing problems for the English.  Bishop Wishart tasks Father James of informing Wallace and Murray that he wants them to harass the English, depriving them of supplies for the upcoming winter.  He also wants them to join their two armies and meet the English army at Stirling.

After the victory at Stirling, Wallace comes to the realisation that Scotland is bankrupt and without a government.  Robert Bruce offers his services as a mentor to Wallace.  They quickly find that governing is no easy task.  They call an assembly of Scottish leaders to plan the next steps.

Can Wallace, Murray, the bishops and Bruce hold the realm together against Edward of England?  Author Jack Whyte has written an intriguing historical novel about Wallace and those around him as he strove to protect his nation.  A good read for fans of history novels and Scotland.

The English Girl

Twenty-seven year old Madeline Hart, while on vacation on Corsica, has gone missing. A man she had been seen with seems to not exist.  Madeleine, it turns out, is a very important person.  She is the mistress of the British prime minister.  When a note and DVD appear asking for an unspecified amount for her release, the PM quietly calls in some outstanding debts, which result in Gabriel Allon, a former Mossad agent, being asked for help in locating Madeleine.

Gabriel in turn gains the help of a former SAS member, Christopher Keller, to proceed with his search for the girl, unfortunately time is rapidly running out for the pair.  Together they trace the kidnappers and discover where they are holed up.  With hours to spare, they break into the house, only to find the girl gone.  Within hours the kidnapper is demanding ten million euros.  There is one additional demand; that Gabriel be the one who delivers the money.   Unfortunately Gabriel is unable to save the girl.

Gabriel has vowed to search down and kill the killers of Madeleine.  He again enlists the aid of Keller.  Returning to London, they discover that Madeleine's family is missing.  While Gabriel is searching the house he is interrupted by what appears to be a Russian agent.  Why are the Russians involved in the disappearance of the mistress of the prime minister?  Gabriel turns for help to a Russian ex-pat, Victor Orlov.

With the blessing of MI5, and Israel, Gabriel begins planning his war.

Author Daniel Silva has created a fast paced, exciting thriller in this novel of corporate espionage and murder.  It was a page turner that I could not put down until I had finished it.  Two thumbs up.

Cruel Justice

DI Lorne Simpkins and DS Pete Childs have been called out to some woods where the headless corpse of a woman has been found.  The pathologist is sure the woman has been dead for a month.  Due to the viciousness of the murder, Simpkins is sure that they haven't heard the last of this killer.

A few days later a young woman goes missing in the same woods that the body was found.  Within a day after that the twin sister of the murder victim is brutally murdered while Simpkins is on the phone with her.  It appears that this time there might be trace evidence pointing to the killer.  Shortly after that, the young woman's body turns up, in gruesome circumstances.

The following morning a package arrives addressed to Simpkins.  She is shocked to find that it contains the head of the first victim.   Is the killer taunting her?   A few hours later the killer calls.  He has another victim.   Will Simpkins and her team be able to catch him before he kills again?

Author M. A. Comley has provided the reader with an intense murder mystery in the first of the "Cruel Justice" series.  I look forward to the sequels.