Reading Ahead: June 2015, part 2

Thrillers, suspense, even horror novels can make for some great beach reading. This summer has them out in force, so if you're planning ahead, here are some titles to add to your list.

The President’s Shadow, by Brad Meltzer. To most, it looks like Beecher White has an ordinary job. A young staffer with the National Archives in Washington, D.C., he's responsible for safekeeping the government's most important documents . . . and, sometimes, its most closely held secrets. But there are a powerful few who know his other role. Beecher is a member of the Culper Ring, a 200-year-old secret society founded by George Washington and charged with protecting the Presidency. Now the current occupant of the White House needs the Culper Ring's help. The alarming discovery of the buried arm has the President's team in a rightful panic. Who buried the arm? How did they get past White House security? And most important: What's the message hidden in the arm's closed fist?

The Fixer, by Joseph Finder. When former investigative reporter Rick Hoffman loses his job, fiancée, and apartment, his only option is to move back into — and renovate — the home of his miserable youth, now empty and in decay since the stroke that put his father in a nursing home. As Rick starts to pull apart the old house, he makes an electrifying discovery — millions of dollars hidden in the walls. It’s enough money to completely transform Rick’s life — and everything he thought he knew about his father.  Yet the more of his father’s hidden past that Rick brings to light, the more dangerous his present becomes. Soon, he finds himself on the run from deadly enemies desperate to keep the past buried, and only solving the mystery of his father — a man who has been unable to communicate, comprehend, or care for himself for almost 20 years — will save Rick... if he can survive long enough to do it.

Truth or Die, by James Patterson & Howard Roughan. After a serious professional stumble, attorney Trevor Mann may have finally hit his stride. He's found happiness with his girlfriend Claire Parker, a beautiful, ambitious journalist always on the hunt for a scoop. But when Claire's newest story leads to a violent confrontation, Trevor's newly peaceful life is shattered as he tries to find out why. What Trevor will learn is that the truth will set you free...if it doesn't kill you first. Also available in Large Print.

The Melody Lingers On, by Mary Higgins Clark. When Lane Harmon, sole assistant to a famous upscale interior designer, is called to assist in redecorating a modest townhouse in Bergen County, she knows the job is unusual. Then she learns the home belongs to the wife of a notorious and disgraced financier named Parker Bennett. Parker Bennett has been missing for two years. He dropped out of sight just before it was discovered that the $5 billion dollars in the fund he had been managing had vanished. Bennett had gone out on his sailboat in the Caribbean. Was it suicide or had he staged his disappearance? The scandal around his name has not died down. His clients and the federal government all want to trace the money and find Bennett if he is still alive. As Lane finds herself drawn into the family's story, she may also be in more danger than she ever imagined possible. Also available in Large Print.

Finders Keepers, by Stephen King. A vengeful reader, Morris Bellamy, tracks down iconic author John Rothstein, who hasn't written a book in decades. It ends badly for Rothstein, but Bellamy makes out with a safe-full of cash...and notebooks containing at least one more Rothstein novel. Bellamy hides his treasure only to be incarcerated for an unrelated crime. But when young Pete Saubers finds Bellamy's cache, he and his family need protection from the now-released and even more unhinged Bellamy. To the rescue? The unlikely heroes of King's Mr. Mercedes (which I loved, by the way): Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson. This is the second in what is slated as a trilogy featuring Bill Hodges, and this King fan couldn't be happier.