MobileRead August 2017 Book Club Vote

[WT Sharpe]

August 2014 MobileRead Book Club Vote

Help us choose a book as the August 2014 eBook for the MobileRead Book Club. The poll will be open for 5 days. There will be no runoff vote unless the voting results a tie, in which case there will be a 3 day run-off poll. This is a visible poll: others can see how you voted. It is You may cast a vote for each book that appeals to you.

We will start the discussion thread for this book immediately after a winner is chosen. You may join the discussion at any time. Select from the following Official Choices with three nominations each:

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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.

[issybird]

A heads up to people that Your Turn, Mr. Moto is available at Freading, no waiting, if your OverDrive library offers Freading.

[CRussel]

sadly, no Freading here.

ETA: However, it turns out it's Public Domain in Canada (and all Life+50 countries) so I headed to FadedPage and grabbed a copy even though it's not my first choice.

[CRussel]

Well, looking at this list, I have to say there are only two I can vote for. And only four I'd actually read. I'm NOT going to read anything with excessive violence, or that is described as "bloody" or "dark and gritty". And I'm not, frankly, interested in anything that qualifies as fantasy as much as suspence for this month. Not that I object on principle, just that my reading has included too much fantasy lately, and I'm just not interested, even a little.

So, that being said, I'll be voting for The Guns of Navarone, and Vanishing Act. And while I read and enjoyed Navarone when it was first released in the late 50's, and I equally enjoyed the 1961 movie version with Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, this really isn't my first choice for a re-read.

Instead, I'd really like to encourage folks to choose Vanishing Act. This is an excellent, very suspenseful, and riveting novel from Thomas Perry. I don't much enjoy some of his other series, but the Jane Whitefield books are just excellent. I will warn you, however, to start your reading when you won't end up being kept up all night. That happened to me the first time I read it, and I ended up finishing about 3AM. Didn't make for a productive day after, so instead of working, I went and immediately bought all the rest of the series that was available at the time.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, looking at this list, I have to say there are only two I can vote for. And only four I'd actually read. I'm NOT going to read anything with excessive violence, or that is described as "bloody" or "dark and gritty". And I'm not, frankly, interested in anything that qualifies as fantasy as much as suspence for this month. Not that I object on principle, just that my reading has included too much fantasy lately, and I'm just not interested, even a little.

So, that being said, I'll be voting for The Guns of Navarone, and Vanishing Act. And while I read and enjoyed Navarone when it was first released in the late 50's, and I equally enjoyed the 1961 movie version with Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, this really isn't my first choice for a re-read.

And in the description for The Guns of Navarone, it's described as SAVAGE yet you plan on voting for it. That to me is a tad hypocritical.

[JSWolf]

I'll be voting for Tess Gerritsen (the best author) in the list at the lease. I'm still deciding who else to vote for.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And in the description for The Guns of Navarone, it's described as SAVAGE yet you plan on voting for it. That to me is a tad hypocritical.

That would be a fair complaint, IF the 'savage' referred to acts of people, not of the actual guns of Navarone. My complaint is not about the destructiveness of war, though goodness knows I have nothing to like about that, but the active brutality and viciousness of people against people, which is what 'brutal', 'bloody', and 'gritty' generally mean in the context they were used here. So sorry, Jon, but that one won't fly. If you enjoy reading descriptions of brutality and lovingly described violence, then by all means vote as you will. But don't accuse me of being a hypocrite because I draw a very clear distinction between 'savage and catastrophically accurate' guns of Navarone, and what one reviewer describes: "This isn't rated two stars because I think it's mediocre--it's simply I couldn't stomach it. Too dark, too gritty, too violent."

[JSWolf]

To be honest, I think of The Guns of Navarone to be more a war story than a thriller.

It really doesn't fit well with this month's category. It's a stretch having it here.

[CRussel]

Well, it's not looking good for Vanishing Act, but I've got to make one last push for it, folks. Really, a great thriller without excessive and lovingly described violence. And a great read. Plus it would give us several sub-themes to discuss.

[JSWolf]

What I want to know is why is a war book in second place? It is first and foremost a war book. So why is it even here?

[JSWolf]

As it stands, the best author in the list is in third place. Please vote for Tess Gerritsen. You won't regret it.

[WT Sharpe]

The pool is now closed and Your Turn, Mr. Moto is the winner.

[JSWolf]

The best author did not win. But the good thing is that we didn't get a war story in a mystery month.

[John F]

Originally Posted by issybird

A heads up to people that Your Turn, Mr. Moto is available at Freading, no waiting, if your OverDrive library offers Freading.

Thank you for mentioning this.

I got it from FLP.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The best author did not win. But the good thing is that we didn't get a war story in a mystery month.

Maybe in the JS Wolf universe, but in the MR universe it is Thriller, Suspense, & Crime month.