Review of "Running With The Gods: A Conspiracy Thriller' by Andoni Iapetus

When a hitman murders a presidential candidate, a private counterterrorism agency called 'Meraki Government Solutions, Inc.' (MGSI) is called in to track down the assassin.



*****

U.S. Senator Joel Cameron, a political independent from Maine, is a viable third-party presidential candidate. Senator Cameron - a Marine combat veteran with multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan - has a socially liberal but fiscally conservative platform. Cameron is pro-choice and supports LGBTQ rights, racial equality, veteran's causes, reasonable gun laws, universal healthcare, and a living wage.



Cameron opposes both the Democratic and Republican parties because they're controlled by lobbyists and corporations, especially the healthcare industry and the military-industrial complex. During campaign speeches, Cameron notes, 'The truth is the system is broken because they want it to stay broken. The RNC and DNC are corporations and they've weaponized funding to control policy, to maintain their grip on power. The rich get richer while the other people struggle to survive.'



A cadre of conspirators from the DNC, RNC, and defense industry are VERY disturbed by Cameron's increasing popularity.....and the senator's promises to shake up Washington. So the self-serving schemers, who are determined to maintain their power and wealth, hire an assassin named Steve Walker - a former U.S. Army sniper who's now a killer for hire. Walker's brief: Murder Senator Joel Cameron.





Senator Cameron, who has an active and adventurous lifestyle, is signed up for Greece's 44-kilometer 'Olympus Marathon' - a grueling race up and down Mount Olympus. The assassin makes careful plans, and when Cameron is descending Mount Olympus, the killer shoots him and escapes in the subsequent chaos.



The ensuing investigation, in Greece and the United States, pulls in multiple law enforcement agencies. However, FBI Director Jackson Dilbert and U.S. President LeAntha Adams suspect an inside job, and they bring in MGSI - which has previously exposed government wrongdoing - to conduct an independent inquiry.







The top operatives at MGSI are CEO Konstantinos (Kostas) Papadopoulos - a decorated Air Force veteran with expertise in weapons of mass destruction, security, and counterterrorism; and COO Jessica Sparrow - a decorated Army veteran, sniper, cryptologic linguist, and intelligence professional.





The two investigative partners can speak Greek, and they begin their inquiries in Greece, then return to the states.





The sniper tried to make Cameron's assassination look like a Russian plot, but Kostas and Jess immediately realize it was a home-grown crime. The partners suspect the conspirators have people inside the FBI and on Cameron's campaign staff, and the MGSI investigation is locked down tight with no leaks.



The conspirators get nervous and fear exposure, so they dispatch Walker to kill Kostas and Jess.



This leads to a cat and mouse game between the conspiracy 'bad guys' and the MSGI 'good guys'.







Luckily, the MGSI team, and their friends in high places, are clever and have skills.



In their personal lives, Kostas is married to retired Air Force lawyer Marika, and Jess is married to real estate attorney Tess, and both spouses worry about the dangerous MGSI work. Personality-wise, Kostas is a jokester, and Jess is often the (good-natured) target of his wisecracks.





The story is compelling and exciting, with enough suspense to keep the reader turning the pages. The ambiance of Greece is an added bonus, with snippets about Greek history, scenery, atmosphere, and food. I was envious of Kostas and Jess when they had Mythos, gyros, and fries.



Andoni Iapetus is the pen name of a retired United States Air Force Major and defense executive who served across the globe in high-stakes national security roles. The author draws on his knowledge and experience to write realistically about weapons, military details, and political intrigue.

I'd recommend the book to fans of thrillers and espionage novels.

Thanks to Netgalley, Andoni Iapetus, and Köehler Books for a copy of the manuscript.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Royal Wulff Murders: A Sean Stranahan Thriller" by Keith McCafferty

The shingle outside Sean Stranahan's studio in Bridger, Montana reads 'Blue Ribbon Watercolors (and Private Investigations)'. Stranahan's been in town for three months, transplanted from his native New England. After a sad divorce, Sean needed a change of scenery, and a cross-country drive landed him in Montana.



The Montana locale fills two needs for Sean: it has excellent fly-fishing, and it provides beautiful fishing landscapes for his paintings.





Stranahan was a licensed private investigator back East, but has no credentials in Montana, so his sleuthing work is informal. One day, like in a noir movie, a beautiful sexy chanteuse called Velvet Lafayette (nee Vareda Beaudreux) strolls into Sean's studio.



Southern Belle Velvet travels around the country singing in clubs, and she came to Montana for a specific purpose.



Velvet tells Stranahan a far-fetched story about finding a spot to scatter her father's ashes, but she really wants Sean to locate her missing brother, Jeffrey Beaudreux.

When Sean sees Velvet again, he mentions a newspaper story about a fishing guide called Rainbow Sam Meslik finding a body in the Madison River. The deceased is described as "an early-twenties white male, clean shaven, shoulder-length blond hair." Velvet says Jeffrey doesn't have blonde hair, so this can't be him, but of course it is.



Tragically, Jeffrey - who did grunt work in a trout hatchery - was murdered, and Velvet hires Stranahan to find out what happened. In the midst of this Sean and Velvet, both of whom have movie star good looks - become romantically involved. 💘





Jeffrey Beaudreux's homicide is investigated by Sheriff Martha Ettinger and her team.



This includes Martha's rough-around-the edges deputy Walt Hess;



and Native American tracker Harold Little Feather.



At first Ettinger resents Stranahan butting in, but Sean demonstrates his gumshoe skills, and Ettinger lets him help.



The plot of Royal Wulff Murders revolves around the real-life issue of whirling disease, which is defined as "a disease of juvenile trout and salmon caused by a parasitic protozoan, affecting the balance of the fish and causing it to swim with a whirling motion."


Juvenile trout with whirling disease

I'm going to include an aside here, which you can skip if you like.

In an interview, author Keith McCafferty - who's the Survival and Outdoor Skills Editor of Field & Stream - observes: 'When I moved to Montana, the upper Madison River was one of the world’s greatest trout streams.



Then whirling disease struck and the roof collapsed on the fishery, the trout population plunging from 3,300 per mile in the late 1980s to 300 per mile only a few years later, a decline of ninety percent.



I remember thinking then that this could be an interesting plot line in a novel, for trout fishing in Montana is a $500 million industry, and by some estimates as much as half of that was generated in the Madison Valley. By the time I got around to writing the book, the rainbow trout population had rebounded to about sixty percent of its former population. Leading experts on whirling disease believe that the trout population has been artificially boosted by the introduction of trout from nearby Willow Creek and Willow Creek Reservoir.'

Getting back to the novel:

Sheriff Ettinger and her squad learn that the victim, Jeffrey Beaudreux, saw some shady activity at his hatchery job, which may have led to his death. The homicide investigation gets dangerous, as evidenced by shootings, an abduction, and an attempted murder.



In the end, the killer and the motive are uncovered, and the outcome is satisfying and believable. Moreover, Sean has been commissioned to paint twelve watercolors, for $2,000 each, so he's riding high.

In the course of the story, Sean and his friend Rainbow Sam - the fishing guide with a locker room mouth - do a lot of fly-fishing, and the novel has many of depictions of the sport.



There are also descriptions of fishing flies and how to make them.


Making a fishing fly


Fishing Flies


Box of fishing flies

My only experience with fly-fishing is a few scenes in movies, but I found the fly-fishing chitchat interesting, and I didn't mind it at all.

This is the debut novel in the 'Sean Stranahan' series, which contains eight books (so far). I liked the book, and plan to read more. I'd recommend the novel to fans of thrillers.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Gone In The Night: A Detective Annalisa Vega Novel" by Joanna Schaffhausen

In this 5th book in the 'Annalisa Vega' series, the detective is asked to investigate a wrongful conviction. The book works fine as a standalone, though familiarity with the characters is a bonus.

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*****

Annalisa Vega and her husband Nick Carelli - whom Annalisa had divorced and remarried - were detective partners in the Chicago Police Department (CPD) until Annalisa left the CPD to open her own private investigation agency. Annalisa is now six-months-pregnant, and she and Nick are happily anticipating the birth of their child.





Annalisa's brother Alex, who's in prison for murder, asks her to look into the case of a fellow inmate named Joe Green.



Thirteen years ago, Green was convicted of killing his wife's divorce lawyer, Cyrus Merriman. Merriman's body was found in Lake Michigan with a 'bite mark' attributed to Green. In addition, a woman named Gwen Beaufort testified that she saw Green drag Merriman to the lake. This was enough evidence to send Green to the penitentiary.



Green insists he's innocent and shows Annalisa an anonymous letter sent to him in prison, that says Gwen Beaufort lied.



Annalisa takes Green's case, but there's a fly in the ointment.



Annalisa's husband Nick was the detective who investigated Merriman's murder and helped send Green to prison. Overturning Green's conviction will make Nick look bad, but Annalisa carries on for the sake of justice.



While Annalisa is looking into Green's case, a dead man is pulled out of Lake Michigan, and he has the same 'bite mark' as Cyrus Merriman. It turns out this isn't a bite mark at all, but rather a Berkanan - a rune that represents rebirth.



Police files reveal additional murdered men were marked with a Berkanan, and it seems a serial killer is at work. So Detective Nick Carelli is back on the case.

Investigating the series of homicides leads the police and Annalisa to a women's shelter called Ruby's Place, run by Charlotte Higgins.



Charlotte acknowledges that some women who came through Ruby's Place were abused by the murdered men scarred with Berkanans. One of the men may even have abducted a little girl named Eve Collier forty years ago - a child who was never found. All this seems to point to a vigilante killer.



The serial killer investigation gets very complicated, and surprises emerge as Annalisa and Nick search for the murderer.



While all this is going on, Annalisa accepts another case. A wealthy widow named Effie Christos, who was married for over 60 years, is missing the engagement ring purchased by her husband Theo.



The ring disappeared when Effie's best friends were over for an afternoon of cards, and Effie hates to think one of them took the jewelry. So Annalisa is hired to find the missing ring.



By the end of the book, everything is resolved and Annalisa and Nicks's baby has arrived.



The story addresses the important issue of domestic abuse, and how difficult it is to stop the perpetrators. In many cases, women are too frightened to report the abuse or to press charges. In fiction, at least, the men might get their just deserts.

I'm a fan of the Annalisa Vega series and I enjoyed the book. One scene, though, is quite disturbing, and I'm surprised beta readers didn't nix it. Still, I'd recommend the novel to Annalisa Vega fans.

Thanks to Netgalley, Joanna Schaffhausen, and Minotaur books for copy of the manuscript.

Rating: 3.5 stars