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-   -   MobileRead May 2015 Book Club Nominations (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259417)

WT Sharpe 04-20-2015 02:28 PM
May 2015 Book Club Nominations
 
MobileRead Book Club
May 2015 Nominations

Help us select the book that the MobileRead Book Club will read for May, 2015.

The nominations will run through midnight EST April 26 or until 10 books have made the list. The poll will then be posted and will remain open for five days.

Book selection category for May is: Mystery/Thriller

In order for a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third).

How Does This Work?
The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome.

How Does a Book Get Selected?
Each book that is nominated will be listed in a poll at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection.

How Many Nominations Can I Make?
Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person.

How Do I Nominate a Book?
Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest.

How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated?
Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP.

When is the Poll?
The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the initial poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed.

The floor is open to nominations. Please comment if you discover a nomination is not available as an ebook in your area.


Official choices with three nominations each:

(1) The Case of the Silent Partner by Erle Stanley Gardner
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Spoiler:
A dynamic young businesswoman is in danger of losing control of her flower shop, and someone sends poisoned bonbons to a nightclub hostess. Mason must reacquire some stock and defend the businesswoman. This novel is the first to feature Lt. Arthur Tragg, although far from the only time that Perry Mason—at least in spirit—said, "Legality be damned."


(2) Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo US
Spoiler:
This is where it all started! The first classic Phryne Fisher mystery, featuring our delectable heroine, cocaine, communism and adventure. Phryne leaves the tedium of English high society for Melbourne, Australia, and never looks back.

The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honorable Phryne Fisher--she of the green-grey eyes, diamant garters and outfits that should not be sprung suddenly on those of nervous dispositions--is rapidly tiring of the tedium of arranging flowers, making polite conversations with retired colonels, and dancing with weak-chinned men. Instead, Phryne decides it might be rather amusing to try her hand at being a lady detective in Melbourne, Australia.

Almost immediately from the time she books into the Windsor Hotel, Phryne is embroiled in mystery: poisoned wives, cocaine smuggling rings, corrupt cops and communism--not to mention erotic encounters with the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse--until her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.


(3) In the Woods by Tana French
No links provided.
Spoiler:
From Booklist:
*Starred Review* Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, land the first big murder case of their police careers: a 12-year-old girl has been murdered in the woods adjacent to a Dublin suburb. Twenty years before, two children disappeared in the same woods, and Ryan was found clinging to a tree trunk, his sneakers filled with blood, unable to tell police anything about what happened to his friends. Ryan, although scarred by his experience, employs all his skills in the search for the killer and in hopes that the investigation will also reveal what happened to his childhood friends. In the Woods is a superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland. The characters of Ryan and Maddox, as well as a handful of others, are vividly developed in this intelligent and beautifully written first novel, and author French relentlessly builds the psychological pressure on Ryan as the investigation lurches onward under the glare of the tabloid media. Equally striking is the picture of contemporary Ireland, booming economically and fixated on the shabbiest aspects of American popular culture. An outstanding debut and a series to watch for procedural fans.


(4) The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / LRF
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

While on a sailing trip in the Baltic Sea, two young adventurers-turned-spies uncover a secret German plot to invade England. Written by Childers—who served in the Royal Navy during World War I—as a wake-up call to the British government to attend to its North Sea defenses, The Riddle of the Sands accomplished that task and has been considered a classic of espionage literature ever since, praised as much for its nautical action as for its suspenseful spycraft.


(5) The Liquidator by John Gardner
Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Spoiler:
GA Russell:

I loved the 1966 movie based on this book (starring Rod Taylor, Jill St. John and Trevor Howard), so I read the book a couple of years later and enjoyed it very much as well.

There is a great deal of humor. A coward with little talent except for wooing the ladies is recruited to be Great Britain's primary political assassin. This results in his becoming a target of Britain's enemies.

This was the first of Gardner's Boysie Oakes series. Gardner then took over from Ian Fleming the James Bond books.


(6) Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry
Amazon US / Audible/WhisperSync / Kobo US
Spoiler:
Amazon Description:

Jane Whitefield is a Native American guide who leads people out of the wilderness--not the tree-filled variety but the kind created by enemies who want you dead. She is in the one-woman business of helping the desperate disappear. Thanks to her membership in the Wolf Clan of the Seneca tribe, she can fool any pursuer, cover any trail, and then provide her clients with new identities, complete with authentic paperwork. Jane knows all the tricks, ancient and modern; in fact, she has invented several of them herself.
So she is only mildly surprised to find an intruder waiting for her when she returns home one day. An ex-cop suspected of embezzling, John Felker wants Jane to do for him what she did for his buddy Harry Kemple: make him vanish. But as Jane opens a door out of the world for Felker, she walks into a trap that will take all her heritage and cunning to escape....


(7) A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane
Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Google Play Au / Kobo US
Spoiler:
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are tough private investigators who know the blue-collar neighbourhoods and ghettos of Boston's Dorchester section as only natives can. Working out of an old church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro take on a seemingly simple assignment for a prominent politician: to uncover the whereabouts of Jenna Angeline, a black cleaning woman who has allegedly stolen confidential Statehouse documents.
But finding Jenna proves easy compared to staying alive. The investigation escalates, uncovering a web of corruption extending from bombed-out ghetto streets to the highest levels of state government.

With slick, hip dialogue and a lyrical narrative pocked by explosions of violence, A Drink Before the War confronts a city in which institutionalized bigotry and corruption are often the norm, and the true nature of 'racial incidents' is rarely clear. Dennis Lehane's remarkable debut is at once a pulsating crime thriller and a mirror of our world, one in which the worst human horrors are found closest to home, and the most vicious obscenities are committed in the name of love.


(8) The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo US
Spoiler:
Hugh Laurie concocts an uproarious cocktail of comic zingers and over-the-top action in this "ripping spoof of the spy genre" (Vanity Fair) -- the irresistible tale of a former Scots Guard-turned-hired gun, a freelance soldier of fortune who also happens to be one heck of a nice guy. Cold-blooded murder just isn't Thomas Lang's cup of tea. Offered a bundle to assassinate an American industrialist, he opts to warn the intended victim instead -- a good deed that soon takes a bad turn. Quicker than he can down a shot of his favorite whiskey, Lang is bashing heads with a Buddha statue, matching wits with evil billionaires, and putting his life (among other things) in the hands of a bevy of femmes fatales. Up against rogue CIA agents, wannabe terrorists, and an arms dealer looking to make a high-tech killing, Lang's out to save the leggy lady he has come to love...and prevent an international bloodbath to boot.


(9) Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
No links provided.
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

First published in 1959, Our Man in Havana is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire that still resonates today. Conceived as one of Graham Greene's 'entertainments,' it tells of MI6's man in Havana, Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true.


(10) The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / GooglePlay / Kobo
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Eric Sanderson wakes up in a house one day with no idea who or where he is. A note instructs him to see a Dr. Randle immediately, who informs him that he is undergoing yet another episode of acute memory loss that is a symptom of his severe dissociative disorder. Eric's been in Dr. Randle's care for two years -- since the tragic death of his great love, Clio, while the two vacationed in the Greek islands.

But there may be more to the story, or it may be a different story altogether. As Eric begins to examine letters and papers left in the house by "the first Eric Sanderson," a staggeringly different explanation for what is happening to Eric emerges, and he and the reader embark on a quest to recover the truth and escape the remorseless predatory forces that threatens to devour him.

The Raw Shark Texts is a kaleidoscopic novel about the magnitude of love and the devastating effect of losing that love. It will dazzle you, it will move you, and will leave an indelible imprint like nothing you have read in a long time.


Nominations are now closed.

WT Sharpe 04-20-2015 02:28 PM
Wondering if a particular book is available in your country? The following spoiler contains a list of bookstores outside the United States you can search. If you don't see a bookstore on this list for your country, find one that is, send me the link via PM, and I'll add it to the list.

Spoiler:
Australian
Angus Robertson
Booktopia
Borders
Dymocks
Fishpond
Google

Canada
Amazon. Make sure you are logged out. Then go to the Kindle Store. Search for a book. After the search results come up, in the upper right corner of the screen, change the country to Canada and search away.
Google
Sony eBookstore (Upper right corner switch to/from US/CA)

UK
BooksOnBoard (In the upper right corner is a way to switch to the UK store)
Amazon
Foyle's
Google
Penguin
Random House
Waterstones
WH Smith


*** The Case of the Silent Partner by Erle Stanley Gardner [WT Sharpe, fantasyfan, GA Russell]
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Spoiler:
A dynamic young businesswoman is in danger of losing control of her flower shop, and someone sends poisoned bonbons to a nightclub hostess. Mason must reacquire some stock and defend the businesswoman. This novel is the first to feature Lt. Arthur Tragg, although far from the only time that Perry Mason—at least in spirit—said, "Legality be damned."


*** In the Woods by Tana French [Synamon, treadlightly, sun surfer]
No links provided.
Spoiler:
From Booklist:
*Starred Review* Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, land the first big murder case of their police careers: a 12-year-old girl has been murdered in the woods adjacent to a Dublin suburb. Twenty years before, two children disappeared in the same woods, and Ryan was found clinging to a tree trunk, his sneakers filled with blood, unable to tell police anything about what happened to his friends. Ryan, although scarred by his experience, employs all his skills in the search for the killer and in hopes that the investigation will also reveal what happened to his childhood friends. In the Woods is a superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland. The characters of Ryan and Maddox, as well as a handful of others, are vividly developed in this intelligent and beautifully written first novel, and author French relentlessly builds the psychological pressure on Ryan as the investigation lurches onward under the glare of the tabloid media. Equally striking is the picture of contemporary Ireland, booming economically and fixated on the shabbiest aspects of American popular culture. An outstanding debut and a series to watch for procedural fans.


*** The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers [issybird, bfisher, sun surfer]
Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / LRF
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

While on a sailing trip in the Baltic Sea, two young adventurers-turned-spies uncover a secret German plot to invade England. Written by Childers—who served in the Royal Navy during World War I—as a wake-up call to the British government to attend to its North Sea defenses, The Riddle of the Sands accomplished that task and has been considered a classic of espionage literature ever since, praised as much for its nautical action as for its suspenseful spycraft.


*** Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood [CRussel, WT Sharpe, bfisher]
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo US
Spoiler:
This is where it all started! The first classic Phryne Fisher mystery, featuring our delectable heroine, cocaine, communism and adventure. Phryne leaves the tedium of English high society for Melbourne, Australia, and never looks back.

The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honorable Phryne Fisher--she of the green-grey eyes, diamant garters and outfits that should not be sprung suddenly on those of nervous dispositions--is rapidly tiring of the tedium of arranging flowers, making polite conversations with retired colonels, and dancing with weak-chinned men. Instead, Phryne decides it might be rather amusing to try her hand at being a lady detective in Melbourne, Australia.

Almost immediately from the time she books into the Windsor Hotel, Phryne is embroiled in mystery: poisoned wives, cocaine smuggling rings, corrupt cops and communism--not to mention erotic encounters with the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse--until her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.


*** The Liquidator by John Gardner [GA Russell, bfisher, Merischino]
Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US
Spoiler:
GA Russell:

I loved the 1966 movie based on this book (starring Rod Taylor, Jill St. John and Trevor Howard), so I read the book a couple of years later and enjoyed it very much as well.

There is a great deal of humor. A coward with little talent except for wooing the ladies is recruited to be Great Britain's primary political assassin. This results in his becoming a target of Britain's enemies.

This was the first of Gardner's Boysie Oakes series. Gardner then took over from Ian Fleming the James Bond books.


*** The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall [sun surfer, BelleZora, Synamon]
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / GooglePlay / Kobo
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

Eric Sanderson wakes up in a house one day with no idea who or where he is. A note instructs him to see a Dr. Randle immediately, who informs him that he is undergoing yet another episode of acute memory loss that is a symptom of his severe dissociative disorder. Eric's been in Dr. Randle's care for two years -- since the tragic death of his great love, Clio, while the two vacationed in the Greek islands.

But there may be more to the story, or it may be a different story altogether. As Eric begins to examine letters and papers left in the house by "the first Eric Sanderson," a staggeringly different explanation for what is happening to Eric emerges, and he and the reader embark on a quest to recover the truth and escape the remorseless predatory forces that threatens to devour him.

The Raw Shark Texts is a kaleidoscopic novel about the magnitude of love and the devastating effect of losing that love. It will dazzle you, it will move you, and will leave an indelible imprint like nothing you have read in a long time.


*** A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane [caleb72, HomeInMyShoes, JSWolf]
Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Google Play Au / Kobo US
Spoiler:
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are tough private investigators who know the blue-collar neighbourhoods and ghettos of Boston's Dorchester section as only natives can. Working out of an old church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro take on a seemingly simple assignment for a prominent politician: to uncover the whereabouts of Jenna Angeline, a black cleaning woman who has allegedly stolen confidential Statehouse documents.
But finding Jenna proves easy compared to staying alive. The investigation escalates, uncovering a web of corruption extending from bombed-out ghetto streets to the highest levels of state government.

With slick, hip dialogue and a lyrical narrative pocked by explosions of violence, A Drink Before the War confronts a city in which institutionalized bigotry and corruption are often the norm, and the true nature of 'racial incidents' is rarely clear. Dennis Lehane's remarkable debut is at once a pulsating crime thriller and a mirror of our world, one in which the worst human horrors are found closest to home, and the most vicious obscenities are committed in the name of love.


** The King of Lies by John Hart [Synamon, ccowie]
No links provided.
Spoiler:
From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. Hart's stunning debut, an exceptionally deep and complex mystery thriller, compares favorably to the best of Scott Turow. Jackson Workman Pickens, whom most people call "Work," is a struggling North Carolina criminal defense attorney. Work has wrestled with inner demons for most of his life, especially after the death of his mother and the disappearance of his wealthy father, Ezra Pickens, a highly successful lawyer who took him into his practice. Trapped in a loveless marriage and haunted by poor emotional choices and his sister's psychological trauma, Work finds himself under suspicion when his father's corpse surfaces more than a year after Ezra was last seen alive. Work's quest for the truth behind his father's demise opens old wounds and forces him to face the consequences of his own decisions. Few readers will be able to resist devouring this tour-de-force in one or two sittings—or clamoring for more John Hart.


*** Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry [CRussel, HomeInMyShoes, Dazrin]
Amazon US / Audible/WhisperSync / Kobo US
Spoiler:
Amazon Description:

Jane Whitefield is a Native American guide who leads people out of the wilderness--not the tree-filled variety but the kind created by enemies who want you dead. She is in the one-woman business of helping the desperate disappear. Thanks to her membership in the Wolf Clan of the Seneca tribe, she can fool any pursuer, cover any trail, and then provide her clients with new identities, complete with authentic paperwork. Jane knows all the tricks, ancient and modern; in fact, she has invented several of them herself.
So she is only mildly surprised to find an intruder waiting for her when she returns home one day. An ex-cop suspected of embezzling, John Felker wants Jane to do for him what she did for his buddy Harry Kemple: make him vanish. But as Jane opens a door out of the world for Felker, she walks into a trap that will take all her heritage and cunning to escape....


*** The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie [Merischino, WT Sharpe, HomeInMyShoes]
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo US
Spoiler:
Hugh Laurie concocts an uproarious cocktail of comic zingers and over-the-top action in this "ripping spoof of the spy genre" (Vanity Fair) -- the irresistible tale of a former Scots Guard-turned-hired gun, a freelance soldier of fortune who also happens to be one heck of a nice guy. Cold-blooded murder just isn't Thomas Lang's cup of tea. Offered a bundle to assassinate an American industrialist, he opts to warn the intended victim instead -- a good deed that soon takes a bad turn. Quicker than he can down a shot of his favorite whiskey, Lang is bashing heads with a Buddha statue, matching wits with evil billionaires, and putting his life (among other things) in the hands of a bevy of femmes fatales. Up against rogue CIA agents, wannabe terrorists, and an arms dealer looking to make a high-tech killing, Lang's out to save the leggy lady he has come to love...and prevent an international bloodbath to boot.


*** Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene [ccowie, issybird, BelleZora]
No links provided.
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:

First published in 1959, Our Man in Havana is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire that still resonates today. Conceived as one of Graham Greene's 'entertainments,' it tells of MI6's man in Havana, Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true.


Nominations are now closed.

WT Sharpe 04-20-2015 06:24 PM
I nominate The Case of the Silent Partner by Erle Stanley Gardner. Published in 1940, it wasn't the first Perry Mason book (that would be The Case of the Velvet Claws in 1933), but all the books can be read as stand-alone mysteries. If we need a first, then let it be called the first of Garner's Lt. Tragg books, for this is the book that introduced Arthur Tragg to the reading public. The beauty of these earlier works is that we see a much rougher around the edges Mason, someone who took a lot of chances, wasn't afraid to use his fists when the occasion called for it, and even, in the pursuit of justice, said, "Legality be damned."

Amazon US

fantasyfan 04-20-2015 06:50 PM
I second The Case of the Silent Partner.

Synamon 04-21-2015 01:13 AM
I'll nominate the thriller In the Woods by Tana French. Winner of the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Available at Overdrive and all the usual ebook stores.

Quote:
Originally Posted by From Booklist
*Starred Review* Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, land the first big murder case of their police careers: a 12-year-old girl has been murdered in the woods adjacent to a Dublin suburb. Twenty years before, two children disappeared in the same woods, and Ryan was found clinging to a tree trunk, his sneakers filled with blood, unable to tell police anything about what happened to his friends. Ryan, although scarred by his experience, employs all his skills in the search for the killer and in hopes that the investigation will also reveal what happened to his childhood friends. In the Woods is a superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland. The characters of Ryan and Maddox, as well as a handful of others, are vividly developed in this intelligent and beautifully written first novel, and author French relentlessly builds the psychological pressure on Ryan as the investigation lurches onward under the glare of the tabloid media. Equally striking is the picture of contemporary Ireland, booming economically and fixated on the shabbiest aspects of American popular culture. An outstanding debut and a series to watch for procedural fans.

WT Sharpe 04-21-2015 01:24 AM
Some more links for The Case of the Silent Partner:
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US

treadlightly 04-21-2015 09:08 AM
I'll second In the Woods. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

issybird 04-21-2015 09:46 AM
I'd like to nominate The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers.

From Goodreads:

Quote:
While on a sailing trip in the Baltic Sea, two young adventurers-turned-spies uncover a secret German plot to invade England. Written by Childers—who served in the Royal Navy during World War I—as a wake-up call to the British government to attend to its North Sea defenses, The Riddle of the Sands accomplished that task and has been considered a classic of espionage literature ever since, praised as much for its nautical action as for its suspenseful spycraft.
Published in 1903 and Childers having died in 1922, it's public domain everywhere but Mexico, I'm guessing. There are two versions at Mobile Read: in epub and in LRF, the latter uploaded by HarryT.

CRussel 04-21-2015 03:57 PM
Well, moving to a much more modern (and yet set in 1928 Melbourne) book, I'd like to nominate Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood. This is the first of the Phryne Fisher books and the start of a superb series. The series is witty, irreverent, and Miss Phryne is very definitely larger than life.

Quote:
This is where it all started! The first classic Phryne Fisher mystery, featuring our delectable heroine, cocaine, communism and adventure. Phryne leaves the tedium of English high society for Melbourne, Australia, and never looks back.

The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honorable Phryne Fisher--she of the green-grey eyes, diamant garters and outfits that should not be sprung suddenly on those of nervous dispositions--is rapidly tiring of the tedium of arranging flowers, making polite conversations with retired colonels, and dancing with weak-chinned men. Instead, Phryne decides it might be rather amusing to try her hand at being a lady detective in Melbourne, Australia.

Almost immediately from the time she books into the Windsor Hotel, Phryne is embroiled in mystery: poisoned wives, cocaine smuggling rings, corrupt cops and communism--not to mention erotic encounters with the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse--until her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.
Amazon Kindle for a mere $.99. And you can add the Audible version for a mere $2.99 more.
Kobo (US) for $3.12 (and couponable) Also, appears to be the same price in the Canadian store.

Amazon Au (but at $11.39 AU!!)
Amazon UK at £4.64.

WT Sharpe 04-21-2015 06:26 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by CRussel (Post 3087707)
Well, moving to a much more modern (and yet set in 1928 Melbourne) book, I'd like to nominate Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood. This is the first of the Phryne Fisher books and the start of a superb series. The series is witty, irreverent, and Miss Phryne is very definitely larger than life...
I'm going to allow this, even though it was just voted on in January as part of the Second Chance lineup because it was nominated in May of last year, and the six-month rule says nothing about the last time a book was voted on, only when it was nominated.

A great choice, BTW, and one which I second.

GA Russell 04-21-2015 11:22 PM
I third The Case of the Silent Partner.

GA Russell 04-21-2015 11:35 PM
I nominate The Liquidator by John Gardner.

I loved the 1966 movie based on this book (starring Rod Taylor, Jill St. John and Trevor Howard), so I read the book a couple of years later and enjoyed it very much as well.

There is a great deal of humor. A coward with little talent except for wooing the ladies is recruited to be Great Britain's primary political assassin. This results in his becoming a target of Britain's enemies.

This was the first of Gardner's Boysie Oakes series. Gardner then took over from Ian Fleming the James Bond books.

Kindle - Amazon US
http://www.amazon.com/Liquidator-Joh...dp/B00GGOBZXA/

Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liquidator-J...dp/B00GGOBZXA/

Amazon CA
http://www.amazon.ca/Liquidator-John...dp/B00GGOBZXA/

Amazon Aus
http://www.amazon.com.au/Liquidator-...dp/B00GGOBZXA/

bfisher 04-21-2015 11:40 PM
Second The Riddle of the Sands
Third Cocaine Blues
Second The Liquidator

CRussel 04-21-2015 11:54 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3087794)
I'm going to allow this, even though it was just voted on in January as part of the Second Chance lineup because it was nominated in May of last year, and the six-month rule says nothing about the last time a book was voted on, only when it was nominated.

A great choice, BTW, and one which I second.
I confess, I only looked at books that had actually been selected. And this is a book that I know will be fun to read.

sun surfer 04-22-2015 12:20 PM
Third In the Woods. Third Riddle of the Sands. Between the last time it was nominated and this I watched the Cocaine Blues episode of the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries television series so now I'm spoiled on that one.

Also, I nominate The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall.

From Goodreads:

Eric Sanderson wakes up in a house one day with no idea who or where he is. A note instructs him to see a Dr. Randle immediately, who informs him that he is undergoing yet another episode of acute memory loss that is a symptom of his severe dissociative disorder. Eric's been in Dr. Randle's care for two years -- since the tragic death of his great love, Clio, while the two vacationed in the Greek islands.

But there may be more to the story, or it may be a different story altogether. As Eric begins to examine letters and papers left in the house by "the first Eric Sanderson," a staggeringly different explanation for what is happening to Eric emerges, and he and the reader embark on a quest to recover the truth and escape the remorseless predatory forces that threatens to devour him.

The Raw Shark Texts is a kaleidoscopic novel about the magnitude of love and the devastating effect of losing that love. It will dazzle you, it will move you, and will leave an indelible imprint like nothing you have read in a long time.

Goodreads / Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / B&N / GooglePlay / Kobo

Oddly, I can't seem to find the ebook on Amazon US, but I think that's some type of glitch on their part that'll hopefully be resolved soon because it's available as an ebook everywhere else I've looked including every other major US ebook store and every other country's Amazon site. So, if you want the ebook you can get it one way or another.

Merischino 04-22-2015 01:52 PM
I'd like to third the Liquidator. Sounds like a fun read.

caleb72 04-23-2015 09:44 AM
I would like to nominate A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane.

Quote:
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are tough private investigators who know the blue-collar neighbourhoods and ghettos of Boston's Dorchester section as only natives can. Working out of an old church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro take on a seemingly simple assignment for a prominent politician: to uncover the whereabouts of Jenna Angeline, a black cleaning woman who has allegedly stolen confidential Statehouse documents.
But finding Jenna proves easy compared to staying alive. The investigation escalates, uncovering a web of corruption extending from bombed-out ghetto streets to the highest levels of state government.

With slick, hip dialogue and a lyrical narrative pocked by explosions of violence, A Drink Before the War confronts a city in which institutionalized bigotry and corruption are often the norm, and the true nature of 'racial incidents' is rarely clear. Dennis Lehane's remarkable debut is at once a pulsating crime thriller and a mirror of our world, one in which the worst human horrors are found closest to home, and the most vicious obscenities are committed in the name of love.
Amazon (US): Link
Amazon (UK): Link
Kobo: Link
B&N (US): Link
Google Play (AU): Link

HomeInMyShoes 04-23-2015 10:34 AM
I'll second A Drink Before the War.

Lehane has been on my list of potential reads for a while.

issybird 04-23-2015 11:00 AM
I don't intend to criticize a particular nomination on its merits, but I could wish for fewer repeat authors among the selections. Already this year, Wharton and Steinbeck are repeats and Lehane would be a third; that is, half the selections so far have been repeat authors and Lehane would bump that up to 60%.

There are so many books and authors; I like to think of the book club choices as expanding horizons and not just as retreads.

HomeInMyShoes 04-23-2015 11:07 AM
I had forgotten that the bookclub had done Shutter Island. I agree with broadening the horizons.

Synamon 04-23-2015 12:34 PM
I'll nominate another. After reading this one a few years ago I was compelled find and read his other three books, which are also excellent.

The King of Lies by John Hart.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Hart's stunning debut, an exceptionally deep and complex mystery thriller, compares favorably to the best of Scott Turow. Jackson Workman Pickens, whom most people call "Work," is a struggling North Carolina criminal defense attorney. Work has wrestled with inner demons for most of his life, especially after the death of his mother and the disappearance of his wealthy father, Ezra Pickens, a highly successful lawyer who took him into his practice. Trapped in a loveless marriage and haunted by poor emotional choices and his sister's psychological trauma, Work finds himself under suspicion when his father's corpse surfaces more than a year after Ezra was last seen alive. Work's quest for the truth behind his father's demise opens old wounds and forces him to face the consequences of his own decisions. Few readers will be able to resist devouring this tour-de-force in one or two sittings—or clamoring for more John Hart.

CRussel 04-23-2015 01:01 PM
Hmmm. Most of these seem to be more mystery than thriller, so I think I'll go ahead and nominate a pure thriller: Vanishing Act, by Thomas Perry. This is the first in the Jane Whitefield series and an absolute can't put down thriller.
Quote:
Amazon Description: Jane Whitefield is a Native American guide who leads people out of the wilderness--not the tree-filled variety but the kind created by enemies who want you dead. She is in the one-woman business of helping the desperate disappear. Thanks to her membership in the Wolf Clan of the Seneca tribe, she can fool any pursuer, cover any trail, and then provide her clients with new identities, complete with authentic paperwork. Jane knows all the tricks, ancient and modern; in fact, she has invented several of them herself.
So she is only mildly surprised to find an intruder waiting for her when she returns home one day. An ex-cop suspected of embezzling, John Felker wants Jane to do for him what she did for his buddy Harry Kemple: make him vanish. But as Jane opens a door out of the world for Felker, she walks into a trap that will take all her heritage and cunning to escape....
Amazon US: $5.99
Audible : WhisperSync: $3.99
Kobo US: $8.99

HomeInMyShoes 04-23-2015 01:26 PM
I'll second Vanishing Act.

Dazrin 04-23-2015 01:54 PM
I will third Vanishing Act.

JSWolf 04-23-2015 03:56 PM
I shall third A Drink Before the War.

Merischino 04-23-2015 03:58 PM
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
 
I'd like to recommend Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller.

Quote:
Hugh Laurie concocts an uproarious cocktail of comic zingers and over-the-top action in this "ripping spoof of the spy genre" (Vanity Fair) -- the irresistible tale of a former Scots Guard-turned-hired gun, a freelance soldier of fortune who also happens to be one heck of a nice guy. Cold-blooded murder just isn't Thomas Lang's cup of tea. Offered a bundle to assassinate an American industrialist, he opts to warn the intended victim instead -- a good deed that soon takes a bad turn. Quicker than he can down a shot of his favorite whiskey, Lang is bashing heads with a Buddha statue, matching wits with evil billionaires, and putting his life (among other things) in the hands of a bevy of femmes fatales. Up against rogue CIA agents, wannabe terrorists, and an arms dealer looking to make a high-tech killing, Lang's out to save the leggy lady he has come to love...and prevent an international bloodbath to boot.
Amazon US $12.89
Audible: $24.47
Kobo US $11.99

HomeInMyShoes 04-23-2015 04:11 PM
I will third The Gun Seller. I love House and this has certainly grabbed my interest. A lot of me is wondering if it is going to be wonderful, terrible, or wonderfully terrible. I'm hoping the last one because I think I could enjoy that.

WT Sharpe 04-23-2015 04:25 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes (Post 3088995)
I will third The Gun Seller. I love House and this has certainly grabbed my interest. A lot of me is wondering if it is going to be wonderful, terrible, or wonderfully terrible. I'm hoping the last one because I think I could enjoy that.
Okay, you can third it, and I'll second it. Will that work?

HomeInMyShoes 04-23-2015 04:44 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3089012)
Okay, you can third it, and I'll second it. Will that work?
Lol. Can someone pass me another cup of coffee?

WT Sharpe 04-23-2015 04:47 PM
Cream &/or sugar?

http://cache.getprograde.com/images/..._of_coffee.jpg

ccowie 04-23-2015 05:19 PM
I'll second King of Lies.

I'd also like to nominate Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene.

From Goodreads:
First published in 1959, Our Man in Havana is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire that still resonates today. Conceived as one of Graham Greene's 'entertainments,' it tells of MI6's man in Havana, Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true.

HomeInMyShoes 04-23-2015 05:27 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe (Post 3089029)
Black, thank-you.

sun surfer 04-23-2015 05:42 PM
Now look, don't let a strange title put you off, people! :p

Here are some Goodreads review excerpts for The Raw Shark Texts to tempt you with:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunger For Knowledge
It has been years since I read The Raw Shark Texts but it still remains as one of the most ambitious, daring and bold debut novels I have had the pleasure to read in my lifetime.

It is an bizarre and resounding melange of everything you can think of which makes it hard to label. As many before me, and many after me, has stated it is as if watching Matrix that takes its influences from Memento. From Da VInci Code. Even from Jaws itself. And still manages to be something astonishingly unique and original in a familiar context...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad
For sheer ballsy creativity The Raw Shark Texts is an incendiary word bomb of conceptual fish, mad world hungry pseudo-immortals, movie geekdom, Greek tragedy and cats with mundane names...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon
The Raw Shark Texts was released back in 2007 by first time U.K. author, Steven Hall. In some circles, it’s been referred to as some bizarre cross between Jaws and The Matrix with perhaps a little Da Vinci Code thrown in there for good measure. It follows the story of Eric Saunderson who awakes on his bedroom floor without any memories. While the man retains his basic motor functions, he remembers nothing resembling emotions or sense of identity. Shortly upon awaking, Eric finds a note left by the “first Eric Saunderson” with basic instructions on how to resume his life. From this point forward a proverbial can of worms is opened and the mystery unfolds itself in an addictive way, by which I mean, it’s really hard to put this book down...

BelleZora 04-23-2015 06:29 PM
Second The Raw Shark Texts.

issybird 04-23-2015 06:34 PM
Second Our Man in Havana. I wanted to nominate it myself.

BelleZora 04-23-2015 06:42 PM
Third Our Man in Havana.

JSWolf 04-23-2015 07:49 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ccowie (Post 3089042)
I'd also like to nominate Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene.

From Goodreads:
First published in 1959, Our Man in Havana is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire that still resonates today. Conceived as one of Graham Greene's 'entertainments,' it tells of MI6's man in Havana, Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true.
I suggest you ask for a refund for this nomination as it is only available as an eBook in the UK and because of this, it won't stand a chance of winning.

It does sound like an interesting book and I would have voted for it, but as I cannot get it as as an eBook in the US, I cannot vote for it.

Synamon 04-23-2015 08:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by sun surfer (Post 3089055)
Now look, don't let a strange title put you off, people! :p

Here are some Goodreads review excerpts for The Raw Shark Texts to tempt you with:
I think you are making it worse. :eek:

Since Graham Greene has already been thirded, I'll give you a pity third for Raw Shark.

issybird 04-23-2015 08:40 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf (Post 3089113)
I suggest you ask for a refund for this nomination as it is only available as an eBook in the UK and because of this, it won't stand a chance of winning.

It does sound like an interesting book and I would have voted for it, but as I cannot get it as as an eBook in the US, I cannot vote for it.
It's available as an eBook in lots of places other than the UK, even, I'd suggest, in Canada, from which ccowie hails. The Canadian presence is really strong in this club, so perhaps it's time to cease being ugly Americans.

If a book is interesting, I'm willing to read it in the handiest format for me. Even paper.

WT Sharpe 04-23-2015 08:47 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Synamon (Post 3089129)
I think you are making it worse. :eek:

Since Graham Greene has already been thirded, I'll give you a pity third for Raw Shark.
And that makes 10. I was hoping someone would third that one. It looks very interesting.

Nominations are now closed.


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