Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Pierce’s Picks

A weekly alert for followers of crime, mystery, and thriller fiction.



Stealing People, by Robert Wilson (Orion UK), brings the return of London kidnap consultant Charles Boxer (Capital Punishment, You Will Never Find Me), this time challenged by a case involving the children of six billionaires, all abducted within a span of just 32 hours. The well-organized group responsible for these acts demands no ransom, but does want £25 million per hostage to cover “expenses.” As Boxer and his ex, London police detective Mercy Danquah, go at the investigation from different angles, they’re competing with intelligence agencies concerned about the kidnappings because the parents that have been targeted have connections to some very powerful characters. The Cartel, by Don Winslow (Knopf)--a sequel to The Power of the Dog (2005)--transports us back into the company of Art Keller, a now-retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, who re-enters the deadly hubbub of Mexico’s drug-peddling conflicts following news that his old antagonist, Adán Barrera, leader of the Sinaloan cartel El Federación, has broken out of prison and is intent on re-establishing himself as a criminal kingpin. Keith Rawson writes in Lit Reactor that “if this was a just world, The Cartel would be Winslow’s true breakout novel and it would place all of Winslow’s future novels at the top of [the] New York Times bestseller list.”

Click here to see more of this season’s most-wanted books.

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