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I just wrote a review of Noah Boyd’s wonderful debut novel, The Bricklayer, and you can read it here on the LibraryThing site. It’s the kind of book that would appeal to those who don’t particularly care for thrillers, because it delivers great characters in protagonist Steve Vail and his maybe-love-interest Kate Bannon. The heroes in thrillers can be very wooden and uninteresting, but Boyd does a nice job in introducing Vail, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series!

Available on January 26, and you can pre-order now.

First of all, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I’m a little late, but things have been a bit hectic. Hope you had a day filled with love and family and friends, not to mention lots of good food and a safe amount of libation!

Second, I got a fun piece of good news the other day. As you may have noticed, I’m a member of  LibraryThing.com, which lets you organize, catalog, review, and share your library and wishlists. It’s yet another variant on social websites, geared toward book lovers, librarians, authors and other literati. Called a “social cataloging” site, it’s a lot of fun. One thing they offer is a lottery for new books being released, either by publishers or privately by the authors themselves. They want volunteers to review the books on LibaryThing and other places, and usually there’s a much bigger volunteer list than there are books available. And guess what? I scored a book my first time out! I get a free book, and I’m happy to give it a review even though that’s not a requirement for getting the book. But the more you review, the better your odds are for ‘winning’ a book in the future!

So in the mail is a copy of The Bricklayer: A Novel written by Noah Boyd. Here’s a brief description from Amazon’s site:

… introducing Steve Vail, one of the most charismatic new heroes to come along in thriller fiction in many years. He’s an ex–FBI agent who’s been fired for insubordination but is lured back to the Bureau to work a case that has become more unsolvable—and more deadly—by the hour.

A woman steps out of the shower in her Los Angeles home and is startled by an intruder sitting calmly in her bedroom holding a gun. But she is frozen with fear by what he has to say about the FBI—and what he says he must do. . . .

A young agent slips into the night water off a rocky beach. He’s been instructed to swim to a nearby island to deposit a million dollars demanded by a blackmailer. But his mission is riddled with hazardous tests, as if someone wanted to destroy him rather than collect the money. . . .

Vail has resigned himself to his dismissal and is content with his life as a bricklayer. But the FBI, especially Deputy Assistant Director Kate Bannon, needs help with a shadowy group that has initiated a brilliant extortion plot. The group will keep killing their targets until the agency pays them off, the amount and number of bodies escalating each time the FBI fails. One thing is clear: someone who knows a little too much about the inner workings of the Bureau is very clever —and very angry—and will kill and kill again if it means he can disgrace the FBI.

Steve Vail’s options —and his time to find answers—are swiftly running out.

Looks pretty cool, eh? Can’t wait to read it, and I’ll post the review here too.

I love a man in uniform…

There’s something about well written stories about Navy SEALS and other non-paranormal supermen that gets my blood racing, and Susan Brockmann’s Troubleshooters Inc. series fits the bill perfectly.

My hat’s off to Ms. Brockmann for the detailed telling of life in the Navy SEALS, and enough detail about the missions they’re on to make it very realistic. Whether it’s 100% accurate or not I don’t know, but the stories are fleshed out enough to be believable and thrilling. The Navy SEALS are an awesome group of guys, and they don’t publicize themselves much so it’s fun to get the scoop on their doin’s through well written fiction.

What do I like about this series? Well, the stories have both action and characters. One without the other is boring. The former will read like to to-do list, and the latter will stagnate into a treatise on navel-gazing if not done well. I like books that combine both.

I like books with hot, smart, and funny guys and I like sex in my books. Nothing like living vicariously! I’m an adult, and I know that adults have sex. I like good romantica and I’m not squeamish. The sex scenes in these books are very well done – romantic and sexy and … oooooh! I love these guys. There is even a story arc with a gay hero (the oh-so-hot Jules Cassidy) that is wonderfully done. Funny about liking a gay hero and rooting for his HEA (happily-ever-after)! Hey, hot is hot. It’s a good story. And tastefully done, for those who may worry that there’s too much raw gayness here. Not so. And no multi-partner sex either, for those who worry about such things.

The dialog is witty. If I can insert a criticism, it would be that Ms. Brockmann’s formula at times is a bit too formulaic… characters tend to have the same off-the-wall sense of humor (which I happen to love, so I can’t possibly OD on it!). But I think she’s put enough variety in her characters to minimize this. Many of the situations and dialog are hilarious at times. Like I said, I love these guys.

There’s lots of “male perspective” in the stories. I like that. It takes two (at least!) to romance, and I like seeing both sides of the story. Ms. Brockmann has an excellent command of the young & hot male viewpoint, and relates their stories with great humor and detail.

All is not hearts and flowers. The trio of Navy Seals, Troubleshooters, and FBI counterterrorist operators deal with some serious shit with terrorists and other psychos. Bad things happen to good people, and its not pretty.  But, it’s realistic.

The storyline is that Navy SEALS Lt. Commander Tom Paoletti, upon leaving the Navy following an injury and political BS that stick him behind a desk, forms a private security and anti-terrorist company called Troubleshooters, Inc. A number of his SEALS join him in his new company, and the SEALS Team 16 continues to work with Tom and his company on various assignments. As do the FBI counterterrorist unit headed by Max Bhagat. Most of the books thus have 3 storylines involving characters from each of these units, plus a number of them also have a “retro” romance from the WWII era involving a grandparent of one of the main characters. There is a threat – to national security, world peace, etc. – that over-arcs the book and results in all kinds of tumult.

The stories are tightly written and the pacing is great. They are hard to put down once you’ve started!

• The Unsung Hero - June 2000
• The Defiant Hero – March 2001
• Over The Edge – September 2001
• Out Of Control – March 2002
• Into The Night – December 2002
• Gone Too Far – July 2003
• Flashpoint – March 2004
• Hot Target – December 2004
• Breaking Point – July 2005
• Into The Storm – August 2006
• Force Of Nature – August 2007
• All Through The Night – October 2007
• Into The Fire – July 2008
• Dark Of Night – January 2009
• Hot Pursuit – July 2009