Staff Picks

I'm a political thriller officiando yet I've never read a Vince Flynn book. So when a customer recommended this one I jumped at the chance to try him out. In Transfer of Power a mid-Eastern terrorist plots to get inside the White House and kill the President. He manages to get within striking distance before the Secret Service pulls off a last minute save. Nine agents manage to hustle the President to a safe underground bunker, but the terrorist and his cohorts manage to take control of the White House along with nearly a hundred hostages. Of course they have demands. Enter Mitch Rapp, our textbook tortured hero, part of a super secret anti-terrorist group with deniable ties to the CIA. Along with the military they plot to take back the Capitol and save the President. Add to the plot the cowardly but politically power-hungry Vice President and his nefarious sidekick who just might not want the President to survive, and a plethora of inept politicians who are now running the show. The story line is suspenseful and action packed. Although I did enjoy many aspects of the book there were things I did not like. Maybe it's a guy thing, but there was way too much detail. I don't like my action disrupted by pages of minutiae I could care less about and found myself often skimming. But what I actually disliked about this book, and I suspect the remainder of the Mitch Rapp series, is having the author's political beliefs crammed down my throat. I don't care what the characters believe , but I don't want to know what the author's beliefs are. As an example, I really like Tom Clancy books. I know him to be uber-conservative but his books don't preach at you and his specific political beliefs don't creep into his story lines. In Transfer of Power, Vince Flynn makes sure the reader understands all the inept and cowardly politicians are Democratic and left the impression they were somehow unpatriotic or stupid because of their beliefs. His people are painted as all good or all bad, which makes for two dimensional character development. Too me, good writing would be for me to come to the author's conclusion without him telling me I should. Vince Flynn books are highly popular so I'm obviously in the minority. But I won't be dashing out to read the next one. I don't like being told by any author I am somehow less of a person if I don't hold his beliefs. -Jan

In the second of the series, Bobbie Faye Sumrall is dragged into a frantic paced adventure when her cousin Francesca demands her help in retrieving the family diamonds her mother as absconded with in the middle of a divorce. Her husband, who has ties to organized crime, is also hunting them down. Soon Bobby Faye is being chased by her own criminal family, the Irish Mob, the FBI, Homeland Security, and the local police, including her ex-lover Cam Moreau. Everyone wants a piece of her, and her new love interest, an undercover FBI agent named Trevor Cormier is always there to pull her out of danger in the nick of time. Fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels will love this book. Bobbie Faye's family is every bit as wacky, and Bobbie Faye manages to commit more mayhem than Stephanie Plum could even imagine. (The Mayor hides under his desk when she is in the same building.) Sometimes the similarities are too close - Bobbie Faye's love life mimics Stephanie's too much at times, there is the requisite wacky best friend Ce-Ce, a gun shop owner and Bobby Faye's boss who is forever casting voo doo spells, and Bobbie Faye is always being rescued by the strong, mysterious love interest, (although her character is quite a bit more capable than Stephanie Plum.) Still, it was fun, and at times, laugh out loud funny. For fans that have run through all of the Stephanie Plum books this would be a good choice. I would suggest you start with first in the series, Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day, because there are many references to in in the second book that went over my head.. -Jan

Jodi Picoult books are great - you get one story from many different persectives. It really makes you think what would you do if you were involved in a school shooting... as a parent... emergency worker.... lawyer.... friend.... shooter. There are many sides of every story. Nineteen Minutes explores the events leading up to, during and after a high school shooting. While the shooting only took nineteen minutes, it was years of events that culminated in one tragic day and even more years for all those involved to aclimate to life after. This is another great book by Jodi Picoult. I would recommend it to anyone. - Jill

This is book one of the Rough Riders Series by Lorelei James and it is hot, hot, hot! Wild cowboys, stubborn women, and sizzling sex scenes. I enjoyed watching the characters fall in love and fight it tooth and nail. Gemma and Macie are our two leading ladies who find themselves trying to wrangle a couple of stubborn, hard bodied and down right sexy cowboys in this wild rodeo.

Great to have Sean King and Michelle Maxwell together again. Sean's attorney friend and mentor has called to enlist his help in proving a serial killer is innocent. Almost immediately a death occurs and Sean and Michelle find themselves at odds with the FBI and higher ups in Government. As usual, lots of action but it has a great ending when you find out just who the good guys really are. -Kelli

Nikki Hunt's ex-husband is found dead in Nikki's trunk. Nikki is struggling with finances and now she is a murder suspect! Former cop turned PI, Dallas O'Connor, tries to help her out after she barfs all over him. Dallas specializes in unjustly accused cases after he spent years in jail for a murder he didn't commit. Heavy on the romance but just enough suspense to keep it interesting. -Linda