^
Thanks for the Maisie Dobbs recommend. I was kind of wavering, since $2.99 is a bit higher than Soho's other current discount sale titles and my usual impulse-buy threshold for things that aren't of compelling interest to my tastes (I'm not usually really into the kind of "traditional" British cozy-ish mysteries that the series seemed like).
But I think I'll splurge and give this first one a try, since it's reasonably cheap and couponable (and sales might encourage Soho to lower the prices on some of their other books that I want
). That many award committees probably can't be overly wrong…
Also bargain @ $1.99 from Soho (couponable @ Kobo, price should be matched in the usual Canada & US stores, maybe in other regions, etc.):
Viral by James Lilliefors (
SYKM), 1st in his John & Charles Mallory series of espionage thrillers starring brothers who are an investigative reporter and a former CIA operative, respectively.
Two brothers race to stop a political mastermind's massive bioterrorist plot in this terrifying espionage thriller.
In remote pockets of the Third World, a deadly virus is quietly sweeping through impoverished farming villages and shanty towns with frightening speed and potency. Meanwhile, in Washington, a three-word message left in a safe-deposit box may be the key to stopping the crisis—if, that is, Charles Mallory, a private intelligence contractor and former CIA operative, can decipher the puzzle before time runs out.
What Mallory begins to discover are the traces of a secret war, with a bold objective—to create a new, technologically advanced society. With the help of his brother Jon, an investigative reporter, can he break the story to the world before it is too late—before a planned “humane depopulation” takes place?
As the stakes and strategies of this secret war become more evident, the Mallory brothers find themselves in a complex game of wits with an enemy they can’t see: a new sort of superpower led by a brilliant, elusive tactician who believes that ends justify means.