Just One Look by Harlan Coben
“Scott Duncan sat across from the killer. The windowless room of thundercloud grey was awkward and still, stuck in that lull when the music first starts and neither stranger is sure how to begin the dance.”
In this, just one of the many page turners cranked out relentlessly by Coben, a woman brings home a newly developed set of family photos, but there is one shot in the collection that shouldn't belong — a picture of her husband along with four other people she does not recognize. She confronts her husband. He packs up the family minivan, and leaves.
The abandoned wife is not the only one on the hunt for the missing spouse. There is a fierce, silent killer also hot on the trail of the wayward man. This guy won't be stopped from finding his quarry – no matter who or what stands in his way.
Just One Look by Harlan Coben attempts to be that tantalizing puzzle we all claim to love — one that flirts shamelessly with danger and delights in its twists. It mainly succeeds in its task.
The book first came out in 2004. Cohen has, over the years, added dozens of novels to his canon, with twelve of them being adapted for film and television. A lot of them have been turned into mini-series on outlets such as Netflix and Prime Video. Check him out at .
Dangerous Memory by Charlie Angus
“I have been obsessing about an old banker's box .It's tucked away in a spare bedroom. There isn't much in it: some punk rock posters, letters, photographs of a long-closed homeless shelter, and a hand written diary. After decades of disinterest in the box, I find myself seeking it out, particularly the diary. Hoping that it can help me make sense of what is happening in the world around me.”
Subtitled Coming of Age in the Decade of Greed, Angus deftly lays out in this memoir both the story of his maturation process in the 1980s as well as the larger narratives of the time. Born in November of 1962, Angus is, or has been, an author, journalist, broadcaster, musician, and (until the recent Canadian federal election) a Member of Parliament.
In Dangerous Memory, you'll read about the years Angus spent working at a shelter for the unhoused, as well as his recollections of the major events of the decade, such at the Chernobyl disaster, the AIDS epidemic, the rise of neoliberalism, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. More than a mere history book, Dangerous Memory is filled with Angus' personal reactions to the events swirling around him, as well as anecdotes, philosophical musings, and aggressive suggestions as to how we should connect to the past and approach the future.
Dangerous Memory came out in 2024 from House of Anansi Press () with Angus' personal website being ( you guessed it ) .
Someone Saw Something by Rick Mofina
(Several years earlier) “The dead stared open-eyed to the sky. Women, men, children, mouths agape, their faces breaking the earth's surface in macabre portraits, their bodies entombed in mud. Over here, a leg and shoe less foot protruded. Over there, a hand reached heavenward. Corina Corado and the other journalists said nothing...”
That was then, when Corado was covering a hurricane in Nicaragua for her news network employer. Jump forward a few years, and she is a news anchor in New York City. Then, one sunny afternoon in Central Park, her six-year-old son vanishes. Questions arise. Who would take her son, and why? Is her husband involved? What about her stepdaughter, who was supposed to be looking after the youngster? And is there a connection to all of the hate mail Corado has received over the years?
This mystery story zips along at near breakneck speed, and involves cautions, cover-ups, missteps, and ends with something you didn't see coming.
Former journalist Mofina has written more than thirty crime fiction thrillers that have been published in just as many countries. Someone Saw Something first came out in 2024, from Mira Publishing, with a website of .
Library Journal calls Mofina one of the best thriller writers in the business. Someone Saw Something is proof of that statement. Does he have a website. Of course. .
Happy reading.
