Shadow of The Dagger

A Secret Map to Priceless Treasure, A CIA Analyst Turned Detective

Three people are murdered and one kidnapped to find the solution to the map. As Nicole Phillips seeks to find her kidnapped brother, she doesn’t know whom to trust. No one is who they appear to be. All is deception.

To bring his brother’s murderer to justice, CIA Intel Analyst Josh Baruch puts his life on the line. Can he walk the tightrope between obeying the killers’ instructions and bringing them to justice?

Because Nicole Phillips’s husband died in a mysterious plane crash, she fears falling in love again with a reckless, danger-loving type like her late husband. Josh Baruch, the CIA analyst using her as bait to track her brother’s kidnapper, is just such a risk-taking man. Besides living on the edge, Josh is bitter about women and questions God.

Shadow of The Dagger (Christian/Romance/Thriller)

By Anne Greene

Elk Lake Publishing

ISBN  978-1951080204

400 Pages

Price $12.99 (Paperback)

Price $2.99 (Kindle)

Rating 5-Stars

We meet Nicole Phillips when she travels to the crash site of the plane piloted by her husband. There was no body, but investigators believe coyotes may have dragged the body away. A year later her brother is invited to an archeological dig in Turkey, and he talks Nicole into joining him. Unfortunately, when she arrives in Turkey she discovers Ian has been kidnapped. In the meantime, CIA analyst, Josh Baruch believes the man who killed his brother is responsible for the kidnapping, and is waiting in Turkey for Nicole Phillips when she arrives, as he plans on using her for bait to catch Helmut Meier, better known as The Viper, and the murderer of Josh’s brother.

The author sent me a copy of the book for an honest review. This is a complicated plot, with interesting characters, set in a location known for international spies and intrigue. Josh Baruch is a Jewish American, and well familiar with Turkey, as he was stationed at Incirlik AFB in Adana, Turkey, a place I am also very familiar with. I was stationed there with the Army in 1964, at TUSLOG, as a squad leader with the rank of corporal. 

This was a great read, though a few things did bother me. The villain is supposedly the third richest man in the world, but seems to be after small profit in current crime, and a man so rich should have enough lawyers to keep him out of jail (in this case, an American federal prison). Plus, we find that there is someone pulling his strings also, a minor criminal that is behind the whole mess, and he is after Nicole Phillips, as well as the treasure. Now for detective Pavlik, a Russian with the Turkey police, and master of disguise who plays many parts that just don’t seem to fit. In the end an American Air Force rescue team saves the day on Turkey soil, which also was a worrisome finale to a great plot – personally, it would have appeared more legit if the team was led by a Turkey command. Over all, the Christian background is a delight in this international thriller set in Muslim controlled Turkey, and well worth the read. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

Dangerous Aliance

United Nations’ sanctions are crippling North Korea. China has turned her back on her malevolent partner. The North Korean military machine is crumbling, unable to function. Oil reserves are minimal and the government seeks new alliances.

Cargo and tourist ships are disappearing along the Somali and Kenyan coastline at an alarming rate. Speeches abound, but inaction emboldens Al-Shabab to seek their next prize: Kenya. The terror organization controls land but requires weapons.

Bedlam Bravo team leader Colonel Trevor Franklin (Ret.) leads the small international team into East Africa. Tempers flare as the team is embroiled in a political quagmire. The axis must be stopped to avert an international crisis but at what cost?

Dangerous Alliance (International Thriller)

By Randall Krzek

Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN # 978-1730912412

409 Pages

Price $18.99 (Paperback)

Price $4.99 (Kindle)

Rating 4-Stars

While a North Korean politico is attempting to trade weapons for oil with Somalia pirates, England has put together the Bedlam Bravo team to ride ships hoping to stop pirates from capturing ships and holding them for ransom. But there is a lot more going on in this international intrigue than meets the eye.

The author’s writing style captures the reader from the first page to the final end when everything comes together nicely. My only complaint, and it’s a minor one, for its length the story was slow and easy to put down when I should have been reading. For over 400 pages you need a lot of action to keep the reader interested. The viewpoint switches too often, breaking up sequences that should have been followed through. There’s nothing wrong with switching viewpoints, though I wasn’t all that interested in the pirates’ viewpoint, and felt the over all story slowed when viewpoints jumped around. There’s not enough action early on. Oh, the Bedlam Team trains in maneuvers of taking hostages from terrorists on ships to help with their real job in the future with pirates, but the training seems too pat, and we know the real thing is never as easy as the training. Training is a necessity, but you must train for every scenario to be efficient in any given task, and people get killed when real bullets are flying. However, the intrigue cannot be overlooked, and I highly recommend this international thriller.

Tom Johnson

Author of ASSIGNMENT NINA FONTAYNE

The Couturier of Milan

The Couturier of Milan (International Thriller)

By Ian Hamilton

House of Anansi Press

ISBN #978-1770899568

Price $23.45

408 Pages

Rating 4-Stars

Ava Lee #9: The Couturier of Milan by Ian Hamilton. Ava Lee and her Three Sisters team are in London promoting their new fashion company, PO, and really bring the house down. Afterwards, The fashion king of Italy, Dominic Ventola, asks Ava and her partners to meet with them in Milan. At the meeting Ventola offers to buy 51 percent interest in the company, taking control of PO, but they refuse. A few days later, Ventola releases a statement to the press that PO is an inferior product, and causes a loss in all their sales and connections to Europe and America. Ava strikes back, stopping VLG’s purchasing and shipments in and out of Asia. Then the battle escalates when Ventola brings in his Mafia partners, and a contract is put out on Ava and May Ling. Ava is left with no other course than to bring Xu, the leader of the Triads in for help.

This was another enjoyable read. However, there is little action in it. Thankfully, the author’s writing kept me involved in the story. Although I wasn’t interested in the fashion industry, the author goes into detail about the fake products and knock-offs being produced in Asia, and then sent to companies in Europe where brand names are placed on the product, offering cheap imitations of the brand names. It was fascinating watching Ava work her magic in bringing the large Italian corporation and Mafia to her way of thinking, and the characters are truly memorable, but the story could have used more action this time.

Tom Johnson

Author of CARNIVAL OF DEATH

Spice Trade

When a terrified woman falls from a rooftop across the street, Sweden's Chief Superintendent Walther Ekman is unexpectedly thrust into an international investigation that threatens to end with his death. 

As the search deepens, Ekman and his team gradually uncover a multinational drug and human trafficking ring with an influential clientele. After an unexpected Moroccan connection is made, Ekman is led to a remote farmhouse prison outside Stockholm that held kidnapped women, where he discovers that a Moroccan confederate has exacted a terrible revenge.

With his friends from the Criminal Investigations Department, Garth Rystrom and Valdis Granholm, Ekman travels to Morocco to rescue five trafficked witnesses and uncover the foreign assassin. They find themselves in the middle of a politically sensitive operation to close down the ring, becoming targets for the vindictive head of the Moroccan network. 

Although his investigation of the traffickers has ended successfully, Ekman is still hunting for the hidden murderer he knows must be somewhere out there.

Spice Trade (International Murder Mystery)

By Erik Mauritzson

The Permanent Press www.thepermanentpress.com

ASIN #978-1579624965

Price $29.95 (hardback)

368 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“The Characters Are Three-Dimensional”

What appears at first glance a suicide turns into a complicated murder for Chief Superintendent Walther Ekman. Evidently, the girl was running from someone in the building when she fell – or pushed – to her death. The investigation leads the investigators to a drug and white slavery racket, taking them to Morocco and the head of the network. The case gets more complicated with the murders and a hidden assassin that may be after unknown victims. Influential clientele and powerful crooks further complicate the investigation.

This was an outstanding mystery set in Morocco and Sweden, and the characters were three-dimensional and real. The author’s writing captures the reader from the beginning and holds them till the final killing on the Baltic Sea. Highly recommended for mystery lovers of international intrigue.

Tom Johnson

Author of ASSIGNMENT NINA FONTAYNE

The Princeling of Nanjing

Ava is in Shanghai for the launch of the PÖ clothing line. She has invited Xu, and over the course of the glitzy event and a late-night dinner, she detects a certain hesitancy in him. He confides that the Tsai family, headed by Tsai Lian, the governor of Jiangsu Province and a “princeling” — he is the son of a general who was on the Long March with Mao and a member of China’s power elite — is trying to force him and his Triad organization back into the drug business. Xu is already paying millions of dollars a year to various Tsai businesses, but the family wants more and thinks the new venture can deliver it. Xu believes this move would lead to his eventual destruction and feels he has nowhere to turn. If he opposes them, they will crush him. If he goes along with them, he thinks that inevitably the police and military will hunt him down. Ava sets out to help Xu deter the Tsai family. As she digs into the breadth and depth of the family’s wealth and corruption, she gets caught up in a huge tangled web, extending all the way to the U.S. and the U.K., where it reaches the top echelons of political power.

The Princeling of Nanjing (International Intrigue)

“An Ava Lee Novel”

By Ian Hamilton

House of Anansi Press

ISBN #978-1487001605

Price 10.84

496 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“A Smooth Page Turner.”

Ava Lee is with May Ling and Amanda, her partners in the Three Sisters business in Shanghai, as they start their clothing business. Their benefactor, Xu is on hand, but he reveals that a powerful Chinese family is forcing him into the drug business, and they won’t take no for an answer. He is truly between a rock and a hard spot. Drugs are a business he doesn’t want in, and if he says no they could destroy him. Although he doesn’t ask Ava for help, she feels obligated to look into the family’s financial dealings. What she finds is proof of bribes and illegal money laundering, something that might look bad within the other Chinese power structures. She begins following the money, and things get more complicated when the head of the family discovers who is doing it.

This is the 8^th Ava Lee novel, and the writing continues to be smooth and topnotch. The story is character driven, and the characters actually become part of the reader. We feel a kinship to Ava, May Ling, Amanda, Xu, Sonny, Suen, and everyone involved. They are like our own family. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

The King of Shanghai

The seventh novel in the Ava Lee series finds Ava getting caught up in the election for the chairmanship of the Triad Societies.

Ava steps into her new business with May Ling Wong and her sister-in-law, Amanda. On a trip to Shanghai, Ava meets with Xu, a young man Uncle had been mentoring and who is also the head of the Triad in Shanghai. Xu makes an audacious business proposal that she and May are compelled to consider. Meanwhile, separately and privately, he confides to Ava that he intends to run for the chairmanship of the Triad Societies and attempts to recruit her as his adviser and confidante.

Against her will, Ava becomes enmeshed in Triad warfare and her future is threatened . . .

The King of Shanghai (International Intrigue)

By Ian Hamilton

House of Anasi www.houseofanansi.com

ISBN #9781770892460

Price $10.84

388 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

Ava, May Ling, and Amanda are working hard to complete several deals with their new business, The Three Sisters, a few of the deals could cost them upwards of thirty million American dollars, and there are some problems completing the deals for all concerned. To add to Ava’s trouble, they are in Shanghai, where Xu runs the Yan Yee Tong, a powerful Triad organization consisting of over four thousand loyal members. Xu is also running for chairman of all the Triad groups, but is opposed by an older gentleman who wants to run them in the old way. Xu wants to bring youth to the organization, and expand his business. He also wants Ava to be part of the new organization. She is opposed to the idea until an assassin attempt is made on her and Xu, leaving him severely wounded. Now she helps hold the organization together while he recovers, and that means negotiating with the enemy before war breaks out among the Triads.

This was another great Ava Lee adventure, as she travels from Hong Kong to Shanghai, and Canada, while dealing with the new multi-million dollar business, plus diplomatically stopping a triad war.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA