Omaha Picks: Suspense and Thrillers
Annotation:When Quinn Colson, an Army Ranger, returns from Afghanistan to the hill country of northwest Mississippi, he finds his uncle, the sheriff, dead. It appears to be a suicide, but people think it may be a murder.
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Annotation:Imagine the surprise of middle aged accountant Martin Talbot when he discovers that his mother – 72 years old stricken with Alzheimer’s, living in a nursing home – was the Black Stiletto, an internationally known, black leather clad 1950’s vigilante.
Annotation:Kevin Easter is a Native American who works for the CIA as an “observer”. He stalks a target, gets photos and leaves, passing on the information to others. Now he is out for revenge after the murder of his wife.
Annotation:Razor-edged contemporary whodunits don’t get much better. Moe Prager, the Brooklyn P.I., recently diagnosed with cancer, looks into the stabbing murder of his ex-wife’s estranged sister.
Annotation:An escalating war between two rival Mexican drug cartels spills into the small West Texas border town of Artemis, where Police Chief Josie Grey has only two other officers to confront the violence. A cast of characters who deal with deadly violence that’s particularly frightening for being all too believable.
Annotation:When a megalomaniac uses his incredible wealth to create a repository of the world’s animals and plants his agents kill a Montreal Police K-9 officer to capture his dog. Two detectives pick up the trail to Canada’s boreal forest where a champion race horse and a mighty lion become key players in the drama. Old fashioned adventure in a modern setting.
Annotation:In stark contrast to his London gangster father, Joe Spork makes a living repairing clocks. But the device he repairs for Edie Banister, not just a sweet old lady, but a former superspy, turns out to be a doomsday machine.
Annotation:In true procedural style, Detective McLusky attempts to discover the common cause behind such disparate events as a criminal’s fatal car crash, the discovery of severed body parts and the sale of poisoned heroin.
Annotation:Spare prose and minimal embellishments make this excellent lone wolf entry shine. When his parole officer brother is murdered, professional thief, Dan Bridger heads to Seattle to learn more. What he uncovers is a gang of corrupt cops.
Annotation:Ben Webster, is a snoop employed by a London corporate espionage firm. The company has been hired to bring down a Kremlin functionary manipulating the Russian oil industry. Men are betrayed. Drugged. Kidnapped. Tossed off buildings. Downed by snipers. Ben Webster is a character to be reckoned with.
Annotation:NYPD police officer Harry Cobin stumbles upon the gutted corpse of a young woman. The investigation draws him into a complex web involving human trafficking, the Catholic Church, Eastern European immigrants, Chechen rebels and one of New York’s wealthiest families.
Annotation:A non-profit group devoted to identifying missing persons looks into frozen human body parts that fall off a van on the Los Angeles freeway.
Annotation:After Grace tries to save daughter Jenny from her blazing school, they both wake up in the hospital, badly burned. Then Grace realizes that the fire was set intentionally – to eliminate Jenny.
Annotation:Brisk pacing and plenty of bad guys keep the pages turning in this art heist tale. The author introduces intriguing, flawed characters and atypical neighborhoods making for a highly entertaining read.
Annotation:Swedish Inspector Harry Hole is investigating a series of murders and finds that all of the victims spent a night in an isolated mountain hostel… and the murderer is picking off the guests one by one.
Annotation:When a child is abducted from a packed train, then found dead in chilly northern Sweden with the word unwanted inscribed on her forehead, Inspector Frederika Bergman gets down to the business of finding a particularly nasty killer.
Annotation:Big time reporter turned household hints columnist Catherine Winslow is strolling near her Vermont home when she discovers the body of a woman – clearly the latest victim on a serial killer haunting the valley.
Annotation:Sunny days spent over morning coffee in quaint Luxembourg and weekends in Paris ex-pat wife Kate Moore would seem to have it all, but she suspects an American husband and wife in her circle of hiding something, and her own husband is acting odd.
Annotation:Retired appliance salesman and Alzheimer’s patient, Drummond Clark barely escapes the explosion of his home. Soon, he and his son, Charlie, must flee cross-country avoiding CIA assassins, Russian mobsters, gun runners and various other bad guys. Charlie is very bewildered when he sees his dad hotwire a car and take out multiple assassins.
Annotation:Interrupted during vacation plans when a snitch begs his help in rescuing her kidnapped sister, FBI Agent Jack Harper is rapidly overwhelmed by a group of hostile bikers, Mexican gangs, and Razorback hogs before discovering links between the case and an exclusive spa for the elderly.
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