Reading Ahead: May 2015, part 1

Beach reading season is upon us! (I may be pushing that just slightly, but after this winter, can you blame me?) Publishers are starting to push lots of their big-name authors in preparation for your summer vacation, so get your reading-lists ready. Here are some suspense and thriller novels to get you started.

Piranha, by Clive Cussler & Boyd Morrison. Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon are back in this new entry in the Oregon Files (last seen in 2013's Mirage). During a covert operation, Cabrillo and the crew meticulously fake the sinking of the Oregon—but when an unknown adversary tracks them down despite their planning and attempts to assassinate them, Cabrillo and his team struggle to fight back against an enemy who seems to be able to anticipate their every move.

Radiant Angel, by Nelson Demille. Originally titled A Quiet End (which you'll see in the catalog until we've updated it at release), finds John Corey working in NYC with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group following the events which unfolded in 2012's The Panther. His new assignment, surveilling Russian diplomats working at the U.N. Mission, is thought to be "a quiet end", but Corey doesn't mind. That is, until he realizes that the Cold War appears to be on once more.

Robert B. Parker’s Kickback, by Ace Atkins. What started out as a joke landed seventeen-year-old Dillon Yates in a lockdown juvenile facility in Boston Harbor. When he set up a prank Twitter account for his vice principal, he never dreamed he could be brought up on criminal charges, but that’s exactly what happened. This is Blackburn, Massachusetts, where zero tolerance for minors is a way of life. Leading the movement is tough-as-nails Judge Joe Scali, who gives speeches about getting tough on today’s wild youth. But Dillon’s mother, who knows other Blackburn kids who are doing hard time for minor infractions, isn’t buying Scali’s line. She hires Spenser to find the truth behind the draconian sentencing.

The Enemy Inside, by Steve Martini. One of the most successful lawyers in the country, Olinda Serna is a master at managing money as well as her influential clients. After years of fierce combat in the political trenches, Serna knows all the dirty secrets, where the bodies are buried, and how deeply they are stacked. Alex Ives, a friend of Paul Madriani’s daughter, is accused of vehicular manslaughter in Serna’s death. Ives claims he had only one drink on the night of the accident, yet he can’t remember anything between the time he left for a party and the moment he woke up in a hospital the next morning. He’s still dazed and a little bruised, but also obviously very afraid. After all, a woman is dead, and he’s sure he didn’t kill her. To save Ives, Madriani must uncover everything he can about Serna and her clients, a search that will lead him into a vortex of corruption, and at its center, a devious killer poised to strike again.

Trauma, by Michael Palmer & Daniel Palmer. When two surgeries go awry, neurosurgical resident Dr. Carrie Bryant quits her residency and moves home, where her younger brother Adam, a combat vet suffering from PTSD, also lives. When Carrie learns about an experimental program at the VA Medical Center exploring the use of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) that could forever cure the emotional and memory trauma of PTSD, it seems like a way back into medicine. Carrie is apprehensive, but a chance meeting with David Hoffman, a reporter for the Lowell Observer writing a story on PTSD, helps her overcome any hesitation.
Her first surgery appears to be a success until her patient mysteriously vanishes. When a second patient also goes missing, Carrie (with David's help) must untangle a web of murder and corruption.