⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I literally couldn’t put down City in Ruins. Don Winslow caps off both his Danny Ryan trilogy and his career with a knockout of a finale that’s equal parts brutal, beautiful, and heartbreaking. Former dockworker and Irish mob soldier Danny Ryan has transformed into a Las Vegas casino mogul, swimming in wealth and respectability. Life finally seems golden—he has a son he adores, a woman he might love, and enough money to last several lifetimes. But when Danny tries to buy a prime piece of real estate to build his dream resort, he stirs up a hornet’s nest of corrupt Vegas power brokers, a ruthless FBI agent bent on revenge, […]
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A Brilliant and Explosive Finale to the William Warwick Series
Jeffrey Archer ends his William Warwick saga with End Game, a masterful thriller set amid the tension and spectacle of London’s 2012 Olympic Games. When Britain wins the bid to host, the celebration is cut short by an international conspiracy to launch a devastating attack that could throw the world into chaos. Commander William Warwick and his Scotland Yard team must outthink a network of ruthless operatives in a race against time—from London’s crowded streets to the shadowy halls of power—to stop the assassin before the Games begin. Archer is in top form here, blending political intrigue, espionage, and human drama with his signature precision. The pacing is relentless, the […]
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Dust, Secrets, and Stalled Dreams
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 Pay Dirt Road drops you into a small Texas town where the sun is relentless and everyone knows each other’s business. Annie McIntyre has come home after college with no real plan, which already feels like defeat. When a former coworker is murdered, she gets pulled into her grandfather’s private investigations work. The early chapters move slow, and some of the personal conflict feels cooked up just to keep the pot bubbling. But Samantha Jayne Allen’s writing gives the setting real texture. You can feel the heat, the empty fields, the heavy quiet. Annie’s struggles with identity, belonging, and disappointment feel real, which keeps […]
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A Fast-Paced FBI Thriller with One Head-Scratching Twist
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Flashpoint hooked me from the get-go. I went in cold, never having read the previous books in the series, and still felt right at home. Catherine Coulter wastes no time. The danger is real, the stakes are high, and the characters have that lively spark that keeps you leaning in, waiting to see what they’ll try next. Elizabeth Palmer is trying to rebuild her life after surviving a bombing, but someone clearly didn’t get the memo. Attempts on her life start piling up, and MI5 steps in before she can take a breath. Meanwhile, we follow Autumn Backman and Tash Navarro, two kids pulled into trouble through their strange “gift.” […]
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A Thrilling Ride with Fade In by Kyle Mills
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Kyle Mills delivers high-octane action, global stakes, and a protagonist who’s as broken as he is dangerous. In Fade In, ex-Navy SEAL Salam “Fade” al-Fayed wakes from a coma to find himself recruited by a shadowy billionaire-run outfit and thrown into a race against a viral catastrophe that could wipe out civilization. The pace is relentless, the action cinematic, and the villainy chilling. Mills adds emotional depth too—Fade’s inner turmoil and his willingness to keep walking into danger make him a fascinating hero. The writing is taut, the plot twists sharp, and the moral gray zones deliciously murky. On the downside, some of the side characters could’ve used more flesh, […]
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Sherlock Holmes Heads North in a Clever Farewell to Minnesota’s Favorite Sleuth
I hadn’t heard of Larry Millett’s Shadwell Rafferty series before this book—which is funny, considering I live in Minnesota. Rafferty’s Last Case: A Minnesota Mystery Featuring Sherlock Holmes is the ninth and final installment, and it’s a smart, nostalgic sendoff to a beloved local detective. The story kicks off with a shocker: St. Paul saloonkeeper and sleuth Shadwell Rafferty is found murdered just as he’s about to reveal a killer’s name. When word reaches Sherlock Holmes—who happens to be on a lecture tour in Chicago—he and Dr. Watson head north to investigate their friend’s death. Set in 1928, the novel captures the grit and glamour of old St. Paul, from its smoky speakeasies to […]
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A Killer Wedding Gets Lost in Its Own Drama
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Joan O’Leary’s A Killer Wedding serves up luxury, lies, and lethal secrets at an Irish castle where the elite gather for the society wedding of the year. Christine Russo, a reporter for Bespoke Weddings, thinks she’s landed the assignment of a lifetime covering the nuptials of the Ripton dynasty—until the family matriarch, Gloria Beaufort, turns up dead before the ceremony. Instead of calling the police, the Riptons make the mind-boggling choice to hide her death and let the wedding proceed. It’s a juicy premise, dripping with privilege and dysfunction, and O’Leary’s sharp humor pokes fun at influencer culture and the absurdity of the ultra-rich. But the book gets bogged down by too […]
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In The Unraveling of Julia Logic Takes a Holiday
⭐️⭐️ (2 stars) I usually enjoy Lisa Scottoline’s work, but The Unraveling of Julia just wasn’t for me. Gothic literature and astrology aren’t my cup of tea, and this novel dives headfirst into both. The story follows Julia Pritzker, a grieving widow who inherits a mysterious Tuscan villa from a stranger. Once she arrives in Italy, strange things start happening—ghostly visions, eerie coincidences, and a possible family link to a Renaissance duchess obsessed with astrology. It sounds intriguing on paper, but the story quickly spirals into something so far-fetched I had trouble suspending disbelief. Scottoline does a lovely job painting the Tuscan landscape—you can almost feel the sun on the vineyards and […]
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A Stellar Fifth Entry in Meyer’s Timeless World
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gabrielle Meyer does it again. In Every Hour Until Then, the setup crackles, the stakes sting, and the clock never stops. In Every Hour Until Then, Kathryn Voland lives two lives—Victorian London in 1888 and pre–World War II Washington, D.C. in 1938. Gifted with the ability to time-cross, she’s torn between eras and destinies. In 1938, Kathryn is invited to London to curate a groundbreaking museum exhibit on Jack the Ripper. But as she digs into the Ripper’s reign of terror, she makes a chilling discovery—her own sister is destined to become his final victim decades earlier. Determined to rewrite fate, Kathryn crosses back to 1888 and joins forces […]
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Facing Humanity’s Darkest Chapters
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst isn’t light reading—but it’s the kind that matters. The book explores the darkest corners of human history, from Genghis Khan and Caligula to Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and Putin. Each chapter dives into how absolute power, greed, and twisted ideology turned ordinary men into monsters who shaped the world through fear and bloodshed. O’Reilly and Hammer don’t just recount these horrors—they challenge readers to see the moral lesson behind them. Evil has existed since Cain and Abel, but what allows it to flourish is when good people do nothing. That theme runs through the book like a live wire. It’s not just […]
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