[WT Sharpe]

Help us select the book that the MobileRead Book Club will read for August, 2017.

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

The book selection category for August is: Thriller, Suspense, & Crime.

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 Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim
Goodreads | Amazon US / Patricia Clark Memorial Library:ePub
Print Length: 260 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

The Great Impersonation is probably the most famous spy novel of all time. Allen Dulles put it at the top of all spy novels for its virtuosity. It is marvelous reading with its fast-moving plot, its descriptions of the rich life of English aristocrats before the Great War, and its bold characters. Besides the Kaiser and a whole host of Dukes, Duchesses, Ambassadors, German agents and silly young Englishmen, there's the Princess Eiderstrom, "one of the most passionate women in Europe," desperately in love with Leopold; Sir Everard's insane wife who has vowed to kill him if he should ever return home; and a rollicking finale.

(2) The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
Goodreads
Print Length: 324 pages

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

From New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes his definitive, must-read first title in his famous Dectective [sic] David Robicheaux series.

New Orleans Detective Dave Robicheaux has fought too many battles: in Vietnam, with police brass, with killers and hustlers, and the bottle. Lost without his wife's love, Robicheaux haunts the intense and heady French Quarter—the place he calls home, and the place that nearly destroys him when he beomes involved in the case of a young prostitute whose body is found in a bayou. Thrust into the seedy world of drug lords and arms smugglers, Robicheaux must face down the criminal underworld and come to terms with his own bruised heart and demons to survive.

Critical acclaim for James Lee Burke and his classic Dave obicheaux novels:

“Dialogue that’s so right, so real, so true to the personality you’d swear the guys were right there in the room with you; and a setting … that’s so vivid you can feel the heaviness in the air, see the heat lightning, and taste the sauce piquante. I love this book!”
—The Washington Post Book World

“Burke writes with honesty and tough compassion. … An intelligent and intriguing story of greed, vengeance, and the precarious redemptive qualities of love.
—San Francisco Chronicle

“The Neon Rain is a dream come true, a detective novel that bridges the gap to serious fiction with marvelous characters, an intricate plot, and lyrical prose. … This is a novel I really admire.”
—James Crumley, author of The Last Good Kiss

“Horrifying. … Nerve-racking. … If Robert Mitchum wrote books, he’d write like this. … The Neon Rain has all the right components.
—St. Petersburg Times (FL)

“Bloody, ripsnorting suspense. … Fine scenes that fairly crackle with menace.
—Kirkus Reviews

(3) The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US
Print Length: 288 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

The classic World War II thriller from the acclaimed master of action and suspense. Now reissued in a new cover style.


Twelve hundred British soldiers isolated on the small island of Kheros off the Turkish coast, waiting to die. Twelve hundred lives in jeopardy, lives that could be saved if only the guns could be silenced. The guns of Navarone, vigilant, savage and catastrophically accurate. Navarone itself, grim bastion of narrow straits manned by a mixed garrison of Germans and Italians, an apparently impregnable iron fortress. To Captain Keith Mallory, skllled saboteur, trained mountaineer, fell the task of leading the small party detailed to scale the vast, impossible precipice of Navarone and to blow up the guns. The Guns of Navarone is the story of that mission, the tale of a calculated risk taken in the time of war.

(4) Your Turn, Mr. Moto (aka No Hero) by John P. Marquand
Goodreads | Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / B&N 3-for deal / Kobo US
Print Length: 281 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

The thrilling 1st installment in Pulitzer Prize–winning author John P. Marquand’s classic espionage series featuring Imperial Japan’s most skillful spy

Capitalizing on his heroic career as a World War I flying ace, Casey Lee agrees to pilot a plane across the Pacific as a publicity stunt for an American tobacco company. But his future as a goodwill ambassador between East and West takes a nosedive when the flight is abruptly canceled. Stranded in Tokyo, his bank account rapidly dwindling, Casey is approached by Mr. Moto, a secret agent with a job to offer. The work entails a matter of grave international importance—and it pays well.

Casey accepts the proposition and boards a steamship bound for Shanghai, where his mission will begin. His fellow passengers include Mr. Moto and Sonya, a beautiful exile from White Russia with her own private agenda. When a Chinese man turns up dead in Casey’s stateroom, the trio is caught up in a dangerous game of intrigue and deceit, the outcome of which might just determine the fate of their nations.

First serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, John P. Marquand’s popular and acclaimed Mr. Moto Novels were the inspiration for 8 films starring Peter Lorre.

(5) Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry
Goodreads | Amazon US / Audible / Overdrive
Print Length: 377 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

“A CHALLENGING AND SATISFYING THRILLER. . .[WITH] MANY SURPRISING TWISTS. "
--The New York Times

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....

"Thomas Perry keeps pulling fresh ideas and original characters out of thin air. The strong-willed heroine he introduces in Vanishing Act rates as one of his most singular creations."
--The New York Times Book Review

ONE THRILLER THAT MUST BE READ . . . .Perry has created his most complex and compelling protagonist."
--San Francisco Examiner

(6) Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo UK / Kobo US / Overdrive
Print Length: 273 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

In a masterly new thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series, a beautiful violinist is haunted by a very old piece of music she finds in a strange antique shop in Rome.

The first time Julia Ansdell picks up “The Incendio Waltz,” she knows it’s a strikingly unusual composition. But while playing the piece, Julia blacks out and awakens to find her young daughter implicated in acts of surprising violence. And when she travels to Venice to find the previous owner of the music, she uncovers a dark secret that involves dangerously powerful people—a family who would stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.

Jon's quote:

In a shadowy antiques shop in Rome, violinist Julia Ansdell happens upon a curious piece of music—the Incendio waltz—and is immediately entranced by its unusual composition. Full of passion, torment, and chilling beauty, and seemingly unknown to the world, the waltz, its mournful minor key, its feverish arpeggios, appear to dance with a strange life of their own. Julia is determined to master the complex work and make its melody heard.

Back home in Boston, from the moment Julia’s bow moves across the strings, drawing the waltz’s fiery notes into the air, something strange is stirred—and Julia’s world comes under threat. The music has a terrifying and inexplicable effect on her young daughter, who seems violently transformed. Convinced that the hypnotic strains of Incendio are weaving a malevolent spell, Julia sets out to discover the man and the meaning behind the score.

Her quest beckons Julia to the ancient city of Venice, where she uncovers a dark, decades-old secret involving a dangerously powerful family that will stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.

(7) The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Goodreads
Print Length: 324 pages

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

Myfanwy Thomas awakes in a London park surrounded by dead bodies. With her memory gone, her only hope of survival is to trust the instructions left in her pocket by her former self. She quickly learns that she is a Rook, a high-level operative in a secret agency that protects the world from supernatural threats. But there is a mole inside the organization and this person wants her dead.

As Myfanwy battles to save herself, she encounters a person with four bodies, a woman who can enter her dreams, children transformed into deadly fighters, and an unimaginably vast conspiracy. Suspenseful and hilarious, THE ROOK is an outrageously inventive debut for readers who like their espionage with a dollop of purple slime.

Amazon: #544 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Supernatural

Winner of the 2012 Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

All Nominations:

*** Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry [CRussel, JSWolf, Luffy]
Goodreads | Amazon US / Audible / Overdrive
Print Length: 377 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

“A CHALLENGING AND SATISFYING THRILLER. . .[WITH] MANY SURPRISING TWISTS. "
--The New York Times

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....

"Thomas Perry keeps pulling fresh ideas and original characters out of thin air. The strong-willed heroine he introduces in Vanishing Act rates as one of his most singular creations."
--The New York Times Book Review

ONE THRILLER THAT MUST BE READ . . . .Perry has created his most complex and compelling protagonist."
--San Francisco Examiner

*** The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke [John F, GA Russell, bfisher]
Goodreads
Print Length: 324 pages

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

From New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes his definitive, must-read first title in his famous Dectective [sic] David Robicheaux series.

New Orleans Detective Dave Robicheaux has fought too many battles: in Vietnam, with police brass, with killers and hustlers, and the bottle. Lost without his wife's love, Robicheaux haunts the intense and heady French Quarter—the place he calls home, and the place that nearly destroys him when he beomes involved in the case of a young prostitute whose body is found in a bayou. Thrust into the seedy world of drug lords and arms smugglers, Robicheaux must face down the criminal underworld and come to terms with his own bruised heart and demons to survive.

Critical acclaim for James Lee Burke and his classic Dave obicheaux novels:

“Dialogue that’s so right, so real, so true to the personality you’d swear the guys were right there in the room with you; and a setting … that’s so vivid you can feel the heaviness in the air, see the heat lightning, and taste the sauce piquante. I love this book!”
—The Washington Post Book World

“Burke writes with honesty and tough compassion. … An intelligent and intriguing story of greed, vengeance, and the precarious redemptive qualities of love.
—San Francisco Chronicle

“The Neon Rain is a dream come true, a detective novel that bridges the gap to serious fiction with marvelous characters, an intricate plot, and lyrical prose. … This is a novel I really admire.”
—James Crumley, author of The Last Good Kiss

“Horrifying. … Nerve-racking. … If Robert Mitchum wrote books, he’d write like this. … The Neon Rain has all the right components.
—St. Petersburg Times (FL)

“Bloody, ripsnorting suspense. … Fine scenes that fairly crackle with menace.
—Kirkus Reviews

*** The Rook by Daniel O'Malley [John F, Dazrin, sufue]
Goodreads
Print Length: 324 pages

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

Myfanwy Thomas awakes in a London park surrounded by dead bodies. With her memory gone, her only hope of survival is to trust the instructions left in her pocket by her former self. She quickly learns that she is a Rook, a high-level operative in a secret agency that protects the world from supernatural threats. But there is a mole inside the organization and this person wants her dead.

As Myfanwy battles to save herself, she encounters a person with four bodies, a woman who can enter her dreams, children transformed into deadly fighters, and an unimaginably vast conspiracy. Suspenseful and hilarious, THE ROOK is an outrageously inventive debut for readers who like their espionage with a dollop of purple slime.

Amazon: #544 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Supernatural

Winner of the 2012 Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

* Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine [JSWolf]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US
Print Length: 302 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.

With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake. Though still the target of stalkers and Internet trolls who think she had something to do with her husband’s crimes, Gwen dares to think her kids can finally grow up in peace.

But just when she’s starting to feel at ease in her new identity, a body turns up in the lake—and threatening letters start arriving from an all-too-familiar address. Gwen Proctor must keep friends close and enemies at bay to avoid being exposed—or watch her kids fall victim to a killer who takes pleasure in tormenting her. One thing is certain: she’s learned how to fight evil. And she’ll never stop.

*** Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen [JSWolf, Luffy, Dazrin]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo UK / Kobo US / Overdrive
Print Length: 273 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

In a masterly new thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series, a beautiful violinist is haunted by a very old piece of music she finds in a strange antique shop in Rome.

The first time Julia Ansdell picks up “The Incendio Waltz,” she knows it’s a strikingly unusual composition. But while playing the piece, Julia blacks out and awakens to find her young daughter implicated in acts of surprising violence. And when she travels to Venice to find the previous owner of the music, she uncovers a dark secret that involves dangerously powerful people—a family who would stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.

Jon's quote:

In a shadowy antiques shop in Rome, violinist Julia Ansdell happens upon a curious piece of music—the Incendio waltz—and is immediately entranced by its unusual composition. Full of passion, torment, and chilling beauty, and seemingly unknown to the world, the waltz, its mournful minor key, its feverish arpeggios, appear to dance with a strange life of their own. Julia is determined to master the complex work and make its melody heard.

Back home in Boston, from the moment Julia’s bow moves across the strings, drawing the waltz’s fiery notes into the air, something strange is stirred—and Julia’s world comes under threat. The music has a terrifying and inexplicable effect on her young daughter, who seems violently transformed. Convinced that the hypnotic strains of Incendio are weaving a malevolent spell, Julia sets out to discover the man and the meaning behind the score.

Her quest beckons Julia to the ancient city of Venice, where she uncovers a dark, decades-old secret involving a dangerously powerful family that will stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.

*** The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim [issybird, sufue, bfisher]
Goodreads | Amazon US / Patricia Clark Memorial Library:ePub
Print Length: 260 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

The Great Impersonation is probably the most famous spy novel of all time. Allen Dulles put it at the top of all spy novels for its virtuosity. It is marvelous reading with its fast-moving plot, its descriptions of the rich life of English aristocrats before the Great War, and its bold characters. Besides the Kaiser and a whole host of Dukes, Duchesses, Ambassadors, German agents and silly young Englishmen, there's the Princess Eiderstrom, "one of the most passionate women in Europe," desperately in love with Leopold; Sir Everard's insane wife who has vowed to kill him if he should ever return home; and a rollicking finale.

*** Your Turn, Mr. Moto (aka No Hero) by John P. Marquand [GA Russell, Alohamora, WT Sharpe]
Goodreads | Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / B&N 3-for deal / Kobo US
Print Length: 281 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

The thrilling 1st installment in Pulitzer Prize–winning author John P. Marquand’s classic espionage series featuring Imperial Japan’s most skillful spy

Capitalizing on his heroic career as a World War I flying ace, Casey Lee agrees to pilot a plane across the Pacific as a publicity stunt for an American tobacco company. But his future as a goodwill ambassador between East and West takes a nosedive when the flight is abruptly canceled. Stranded in Tokyo, his bank account rapidly dwindling, Casey is approached by Mr. Moto, a secret agent with a job to offer. The work entails a matter of grave international importance—and it pays well.

Casey accepts the proposition and boards a steamship bound for Shanghai, where his mission will begin. His fellow passengers include Mr. Moto and Sonya, a beautiful exile from White Russia with her own private agenda. When a Chinese man turns up dead in Casey’s stateroom, the trio is caught up in a dangerous game of intrigue and deceit, the outcome of which might just determine the fate of their nations.

First serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, John P. Marquand’s popular and acclaimed Mr. Moto Novels were the inspiration for 8 films starring Peter Lorre.

*** The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean [sufue, John F, issybird]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US
Print Length: 288 pages

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

The classic World War II thriller from the acclaimed master of action and suspense. Now reissued in a new cover style.


Twelve hundred British soldiers isolated on the small island of Kheros off the Turkish coast, waiting to die. Twelve hundred lives in jeopardy, lives that could be saved if only the guns could be silenced. The guns of Navarone, vigilant, savage and catastrophically accurate. Navarone itself, grim bastion of narrow straits manned by a mixed garrison of Germans and Italians, an apparently impregnable iron fortress. To Captain Keith Mallory, skllled saboteur, trained mountaineer, fell the task of leading the small party detailed to scale the vast, impossible precipice of Navarone and to blow up the guns. The Guns of Navarone is the story of that mission, the tale of a calculated risk taken in the time of war.

The nominations are closed.