Category: Books

The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler / Z-View

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The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler

Hardcover: 401 pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

First sentence…

That was the dirty little secret of 9/11, he thought.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When sex crimes detective, Livia Lone uncovers a child pornography ring with ties to government officials and a cover-up by the FBI, she becomes a target.  Barely avoiding assassination by a two person hit team, Lone reaches out to Dox, a mercenary and former Marine sniper.  When a second attack on Livia is thwarted, Dox contacts his former team:  John Rain, Rain’s ex-lover Delilah, black ops soldiers Ben Treven, Daniel Larison, and Colonel Scot “Hort” Horton.

Eisler is not only an excellent writer but his experience in a covert position for the CIA and black belt in judo provide authenticity to the action scenes.  He’s especially good at bringing out the underlying tension when a group of mercenaries are brought together under circumstances where any one (or more of them) may be secretly part of the group they are working to bring down.

The Killer Collective is an intelligent action novel that entertains.

Rating:

Rage: A Joe Ledger Novel by Jonathan Maberry

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Jonathan Maberry has a new Joe Ledger novel, Rage, coming out on November 5th and I can’t wait.  Here’s the synopsis:

Rage is the first title in Jonathan Maberry’s brand new Joe Ledger spin-off series of international weird science thrillers.

A small island off the coast of Japan is torn apart by a bioweapon that drives everyone―men, women, and children―insane with murderous rage. The people behind that attack want Korea united or destroyed. No middle ground. No mercy. And they are willing to punish any country that stands in the way―the United States, China, and Japan could all be consumed by a plague of pure destructive slaughter.

Joe Ledger leads his newly formed band of international troubleshooters in their first mission to stop the terror cell, fighting alongside agents from North and South Korea. With the lives of billions at stake, Ledger is willing to bring his own brand of terror to this frightening new war.

Rage is the first of the new adventures of Joe Ledger and Rogue Team International.

If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, you can pre-order Rage here.

All the Way Down by Eric Beetner / Z-View

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All the Way Down by Eric Beetner

TPB: 276 pages
Publisher: Down and Out Books

First sentence…

As Dale rode up in the elevator he thought, This is it, they know everything.  I’m fired and then off to jail.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Dale is a crooked cop who gets a chance at redemption if he can save the mayor’s daughter, Lauren. She’s being held captive in an abandoned building by a local gang.  Being on the gang leader’s payroll will get Dale in the building and to the top floor where Lauren is being held.  It will take a miracle and a lot of people dying for Dale and Lauren to get out alive.

All the Way Down, reads like a cross between Game of Death, Die Hard and The Raid: Redemption.  It’s an action-packed page-turner as Dale and Lauren work their way down, floor-to-floor meeting different folks out to kill them.  To complicate matters, thanks to Dale’s efforts, his wife is now in the crosshairs of gang members who want her dead… and does the Mayor really want Lauren brought out alive?

I’m a big Eric Beetner fan and All the Way Down doesn’t disappoint.

Rating:

Frank Miller’s Daredevil Boxed Set is Coming!

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Frank Miller fans will be on the lookout when Marvel releases the Daredevil by Frank Miller Boxed Set on October 15, 2019.   The boxed set will include:

  • DAREDEVIL: MARKED FOR DEATH TPB
    COLLECTING: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 27-28; DAREDEVIL (1964) 158-161, 163-167

  • DAREDEVIL: GANGWAR TPB
    COLLECTING: DAREDEVIL (1964) 168-180

  • DAREDEVIL: LAST HAND TPB
    COLLECTING: DAREDEVIL (1964) 181-191

  • DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN TPB
    COLLECTING: DAREDEVIL (1964) 219, 226-233

  • ELEKTRA LIVES AGAIN TPB
    COLLECTING: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL: DAREDEVIL – LOVE AND WAR, ELEKTRA LIVES AGAIN GNHC;MATERIAL FROM BIZARRE ADVENTURES 28; WHAT IF? (1977) 28, 35

  • ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN TPB
    COLLECTING: ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN 1-8

  • DAREDEVIL: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR TPB
    COLLECTING: DAREDEVIL: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR 1-5

  • DAREDEVIL BY FRANK MILLER COMPANION TPB

  • DAREDEVIL BY FRANK MILLER BOX SET SLIPCASE POSTER

This bad boy will clock in at nearly 1900 pages with a price tag of $250.00. (Considering that single issues of Miller’s Daredevil comics cost ten times that, this boxed set is a bargain!)

Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes (A Spenser Novel) by Ace Atkins is Coming!

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I read my first Spenser novel, The Godwulf Manuscript, sometime back in the mid-70’s.  My grandfather passed the paperback on to me.  From that point on I was a die hard Spenser / Robert B. Parker fan.  Every year a new Spenser novel came out and it was like catching up with an old friend.

When Robert B. Parker died in 2010 I was afraid that Spencer had died as well.  I was pleased to learn that novelist Ace Atkins had been selected to carry on Spenser’s adventures.  Spenser was in great hands and the series continued to be a favorite.

On November 19th, a new Spenser novel, Angel Eyes will be released.  Here’s the synopsis…

In the latest thriller featuring the legendary Boston PI, Spenser heads to the City of Angels to meet old friends and new enemies in a baffling missing person case that might shake Tinseltown to its core.

Ellie Sharp left her Boston family with big dreams of making it as an actress in Hollywood. But two years later, she disappears from her Silver Lake apartment without her friends or police knowing what happened. Soon after the Sharps hire Spenser to find her, another person goes missing–this time Spenser’s protege-turned-L.A. investigator, Zebulon Sixkill.

Spenser and Hawk must hit the ground running on the West Coast to follow a twisted trail into the world of drug cartels, casting couches, hedonistic parties, and a whisper network of industry players looking to take down a legendary producer. In a town where glitz and glamour are only a thin veneer over a dangerous underbelly, even Spenser will have his work cut out for him.

I can’t wait.  My pre-order is in!

Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola and “The Godfather”

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Francis Ford Coppola has written a new introduction for the 50th anniversary edition of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather and Entertainment Weekly has posted it.

The new intro is worth a read for fans of the book or movie.  Here are a few tidbits:

  • Coppola didn’t want to direct The Godfather until his second reading of the novel.
  • Most of Don Corleone’s most memorable lines were really spoken by Puzo’s mother!
  • Puzo advised Coppola to never associate with real gangsters! (Which leads to an interesting “encounter” with John Gotti.)
  • Puzo didn’t like the idea of Michael having Fredo killed.
  • It was Talia Shire (Adrian in Rocky!) who came up with the idea of Michael’s wife having a secret abortion and then telling him.
  • Both Coppola and Puzo wanted the third film to be called The Death of Michael Corleone.

 Entertainment Weekly’s post is worth a read and so is Puzo’s novel!

Legends of the Dark Knight: Michael Golden

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Legends of the Dark Knight: Michael Golden is a book that quite a few readers are going to want. If “Michael Golden” in the title isn’t enough to get folks to reach for their wallets perhaps the fact that it will be a hard cover reprinting rarely seen stories featuring Batman drawn by, you guessed it, Michael Golden!

The 1970s stories starring Batman featuring the slick artwork of Michael Golden are collected for the first time, including appearances by the Demon and Man-Bat. Golden is renowned for his design skills and unique interpretation of Batman and other heroes, as seen in these early stories, written by well-known comics writers including Dennis O’Neil, Gerry Conway and Mike W. Barr.

Collects shis collects stories from Batman Family #15-20, Batman #295, #303, DC Special Series #15, Detective Comics #482, Batman Special #1, Batman: Gotham Knights #22. It also collects the covers from Detective Comics #625-626, 628-631, 633, 644-646, Batman #484-485, Showcase ’93, Nightwing#66-77 & #129-130 and the Man-Bat entry from Who’s Who in the DC Universe #12.

Legends of the Dark Knight: Michael Golden is available for pre-order now.

Thomas Wheeler & Frank Miller are Cursed!

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Last March it was announced that Frank Miller would provide the art and team with writer Thomas Wheeler for Cursed, a young adult novel retelling the King Arthur legend from the point of view of Nimue, the 16-year-old girl who first wielded Excalibur and ultimately became the Lady of the Lake.

Today we have one of Miller’s drawings for the novel and if you click over to Paste you can see the cover and read an excerpt.

If you’d like to order your own copy, you can here.

The 100 Best Horror Books of All Time

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Reedsydiscovery recently posted their choices for The 100 Best Horror Books of All Time.  Although I’ve a few more on my To-Be-Read Bookcases, I was surprised I had only read ten on the list:

6. Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)

12. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)

21. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (1971)

22. Carrie by Stephen King (1974)

23. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (1976)

24. The Shining by Stephen King (1977)

33. It: A Novel by Stephen King (1986)

36. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (1988)

46. 30 Days Of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith (2002)

52. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

Sly Stallone’s Next Movie & TV Projects

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The photo above comes from Sly Stallone’s Official Instagram and is one of a series of photos from the set of Sly’s next film, Rambo V: Last Blood.

Sly has several films in development and is busier than ever.  Here’s what’s in the works:

  • Hunter: Sly is set to star in the adaptation of James Byron Huggin’s best-selling novel of the same name.  This is the film Stallone fans have been hoping for, since the novel’s release as it was written with Sly in mind.  The film will be part of Sly’s Balboa Productions.
  • Samaritan: is set to star Stallone in the tale of a young boy who learns that a superhero who disappeared years ago may still be alive.  MGM and Balboa Productions will team for this one.

Sylvester Stallone and Balboa Productions have also acquired the rights to…

Source: ComingSoon.

The Underappreciated Genius of “Justified”

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Justified is perhaps my all-time favorite television drama.  It was extremely well- cast, acted, written and directed.  Justified fans will enjoy the article I’m about to recommend.  If you’ve never watched the series, you may enjoy the article even more.  So please consider checking out The Underappreciated Genius of Justified by Lisa Levy at CrimeReads.com.

Donald Westlake’s Ventures in Movies and TV

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The Mind of Donald E. Westlake by Levi Stahl takes a look at Westlake’s ventures into screenwriting and the adaptations of his work for movies and television. It’s worth a look.

Did you know Westlake wrote a screenplay adapting Hammet’s Red Harvest? Sadly it was never made.  Neither was Westlake’s James Bond screenplay.  It’s no secret that Lee Marvin played Westlake’s most popular character Parker on the big screen, but did you know…

 

…that Between Point Blank, in 1967, and Parker, in 2013, Parker (usually under other names) was played by Lee Marvin, Robert Duvall, Jim Brown, Mel Gibson, Jason Statham, and, strangest of all, Anna Karina…

I didn’t.