Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews
Page One of SixThe Canceled Czech by Lawrence Block
Signet, March 1999.Paperback, 221 pages.
ISBN: 0451194047.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
The year is 1966 and the Cold War is in full swing.
Enter Evan Tanner, the spy who never sleeps (his sleep
center was destroyed in the Korean War). Tanner is sent to
Prague to rescue the notorious Nazi war criminal Janos Kotacek
and deliver him to the U.S. government, who thinks he
is an invaluable resource for helping them infiltrate certain
groups they are monitoring. Of course, Kotacek is tightly guarded
in a castle and is set to be executed soon. But Tanner is up to
the job and pulls off the kidnapping of the century, while
pretending to be a Nazi supporter. Now he's stuck traveling
with the revolting old Nazi, all the while dodging various groups
who would either like to murder or deify Kotacek. Being Tanner,
he stirs up revolutions, makes new friends and finds romance
while efficiently carrying out his assignment.
This is the second in the Evan Tanner series, which has been re-issued. The series stands up remarkably well, and provides a wonderful intro to the Cold War for those who didn't live through it. Block's writing is smooth and entertaining, as always. If you haven't met Evan Tanner yet and you enjoy a good spy caper, this is the series for you. Highly Recommended.
--Claire E. White
The Devil's Teardrop by Jeffery Deaver
Simon & Schuster, August 1999.Hardcover, 397 pages.
ISBN: 0684852926.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
The Digger is the perfect killing machine. He
is heartless, cold and expressionless. He
is even more frightening when his deadly skills
are being controlled by an intelligent psychopath.
On New Years Eve, The Digger begins to wreak his path of
destruction on the citizens of Washington
D.C. when he begins spraying bullets
with an automatic weapon from the top of an elevator.
"There is a hissing sound as the stream of bullets
begins working its way down the passengers
on the escalator and they pitch forward under
the fire. The hush hush hush of the gun is suddenly
obscured by the screams."
The Digger walks away expressionless,
like one of the crowd. No one even
notices him and the police have no witnesses --
but lots dead and injured. The mastermind
behind the killings places
a demand letter to Mayor Kennedy
telling him about the Digger, and that the
Digger will go on committing mass-killing in different
locations until he is told to stop.
The Digger will only stop when
the mastermind tells him to, and the mastermind
will only tell the Digger to stop when he receives
twenty million dollars. The note includes
instructions on where to leave the money.
The Mayor decides the best thing to do is
comply, but before the
mastermind can pick up the money
he is killed by a hit and run driver.
Now the Digger will go on killing with
no one able to stop him.
The FBI calls upon retired agent
and expert forensic
document examiner Peter Kincaid, who is
by no means anxious to return to crime
fighting and would prefer to continue
looking after his children. He has been a single
Dad since his wife left him and prides himself
in taking good care of his children.
However, he is eventually coaxed onto the scene,
partly because he worries about more people getting
killed and partly because of his attraction to
special agent Margaret Lucas.
Kincaid and Lucas must put their heads together to
try to figure out where the Digger will strike next.
Deaver's novels are known for their incredible atmosphere of suspense and twisted, complicated plots. The Devil's Teardrop is no exception. Deaver gets inside the minds of all his characters, letting the reader understand how his heroes solve puzzles and how his villians attempt to trick them into failure in a gripping battle of wits. The Devil's Teardrop is a fantastic and terrifying thriller from the author of The Bone Collector, which is soon to be a motion picture starring Denzel Washington.
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