The End of Marking Time (C.J. West)

Michael O'Connor is a highly accomplished housebreaker with five years of experience under his belt. He can be in and out of your house without being noticed, even if he ended up in the same room with you while you were watching television.

He might even have a snack or beer while he's at it, and you wouldn't even have clue one that he's there. He's that good. Until he makes a mistake. His fence turns him in, and he's going to be made an example of.

The State of Massachusetts sentences him to five years in prison, but along the way, the bus is attacked in a breakout attempt. O'Connor is shot in the head, and when he wakes up four years later, everything in the criminal justice system has changed. Everyone had been released from prison four years ago. Those released get "re-educated" and wear ankle bracelets that track them.

Bottom line, it's a new America. The Tax Code was overhauled (no more loopholes), the government consolidated and took over banks (only one now), everyone earns forty grand a year (even if unemployed). You can't hide anything you say or do from them. Even the toilets are smart; they analyze everything and can tell what you've ingested, even drugs.

For those incapable of relearning, a horrid fate awaits – confinement in an "apartment" complex run by the "cat baggers" and designed to drive the failures nuts. Nuts enough to jump to their deaths. Now it's one, two, three strikes you're out in the new ballgame. O'Connor keeps on harping about how his rights are being trod on, how he's being unfairly typecast because he's a relearner. Well, duh! Welcome to the new America.

In the end, the only thing separating him from freedom is a Plexiglas wall, behind which is his jury, one of whom is you.

The End of Marking Time is a fascinating story, a commentary on the how ineffective criminal justice systems have become. But is there a better alternative? Is there a better way to handle those who cannot conform to society's standards of what's right and what's wrong?

I don't have an answer. Do you?

The End of Marking Time (2010)

C.J. West

22 West Books ($14.95 paperback list)

ISBN-13: 978-0976778844

Mr. Monk in Outer Space (Lee Goldberg)

Mr. Monk in Outer Space is the fifth novel in Lee Goldberg's series based on USA Cable Network's highly successful television series about Adrian Monk, a special consultant to the San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division.

Investigating a murder at the Beyond Earth convention was quite an ordeal for Adrian Monk, what with all the strange people in strange getups walking around all over the place. You know how he is - obsessive-compulsive, with enough phobias to send a whole Army to sick bay.

After all, thus is a man who, when he was a cop, ticketed a hundred moviegoers because they didn't line up by height. In this story, he obsesses over a microscopic coffee stain on his carpet that he can't just hide because he would know it was there. I mean, this is a guy who measures the noodles when he makes linguini.

It all begins when Conrad Stipe, creator of the '70s cult TV series, Beyond Earth, is murdered by Mr. Snork, a character from the show. The costumed culprit obviously should stand out, right? Normally, yes. But he ran into the convention center, which was full of characters, including dozens of Snorks.

To make matters worse for Monk, he finds his brother, Ambrose, a confirmed agoraphobic who is a whiz at writing technical manuals, has literally written the book on the mythology, culture and language of Beyond Earth. This disturbs Monk no end, for he considers the world of the series' fandom ("Earthy freaks," he calls them) to be sick, sick, sick.

Also killed is Brandon Lorber, CEO of Burgerville, a huge company on the brink of bankruptcy. Under Lorber's leadership, Burgerville had been making bad investments, overcharging franchisees and misappropriating funds. Both Stipes and Lorber were passengers in the same cab, driven by Phil Bisson, who was also found murdered.

Just when Monk thinks he's got it all figured out, it turns out he doesn't. Because there's another murder -- Kingston Mills, the revamped show's producer. As usual, there are a fair number of suspects and just as many motives. Only Monk can mentally sift through them all and figure out whodunit and why.

I have to say, I didn't see the final identification of the person responsible coming. But then, Lee Goldberg not only has comedy chops, he has murder mystery chops as well. It's a requirement, if you're going to write Monk screenplays and novels.

Another thing - I like that Goldberg's Monk novels are told from Natalie Teeger's point of view. If Capt. Leland Stottlemeyer or Lt. Randy Disher told the story, it wouldn't be a Monk novel. If Adrian Monk told the story, he'd go off on bunny trails. And if it were told from a third-person point of view ... well, it just wouldn't be as funny.

Reading novels featuring Mr. Monk is a gift (and a curse). Go ahead and read one. You'll thank me later.

Mr. Monk in Outer Space (2007)
Lee Goldberg
Penguin Publishing ($6.99 list)
ASIN: B0015DYJCQ

Mortal Pursuit (Michael Prescott)

Trish Robinson, a rookie Santa Barbara County patrol officer, responds with her partner, 20-year veteran Pete Wald, to a prowler call at the posh residence of criminal defense lawyer Charles and Barbara Kent. It's soon to be a night she won't ever forget.

What's envisioned to be a routine false alarm investigation turns out to be something quite tragic after all – murder, a potential rape, drowning. Trish makes her first arrest, but it sure isn't easy. She first has to escape, handcuffed, from the trunk of a police car sitting at the bottom of a lake.

We learn that Cain, the gang leader and someone from her past, had inside help. And we soon learn how and why. Unfortunately, Alison (Ally), the Kents' 11-year-old daughter, has seen Cain's face with its unforgettable scar and surely will be able to identify him.

Trish works her way back to the house and helps Ally escape, but they're trapped on the grounds. A deadly game of hide-and-seek in the house ends up outside as their quest for freedom jeopardizes Cain's $5-million payday.

Mortal Pursuit is exciting from the git-go. I guarantee it'll be hard for the reader to put the book down, even to do essential things like eating and sleeping.

Michael Prescott published Mortal Pursuit under his nom de plume, Brian Harper, in 1997, recently rereleasing it as a Kindle ebook under his true name.

Mortal Pursuit (1997)

Michael Prescott, writing as Brian Harper

Signet ($2.99 list, Kindle ebook edition)

ASIN: B004CLYO8W

Mercy (David Kessler)

Clayton Burrow is facing execution by lethal injection and in a last-ditch attempt to save his life, his defense counsel brings in a new lawyer - Alex Sedaka. David Kessler's thriller opens at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on Aug. 14, and doesn't let up for 15 hours, reminiscent of the television series 24.

Esther Olsen, the victim's mother, has done a strange thing. She's offered Burrow clemency, but only if Burrow reveals where her daughter's remains are, so Esther can have peace of mind before she succumbs to the cancer eating away at her body.

But there's a monkey wrench thrown into the works, and it's Burrow himself. See, he claims he doesn't know where 18-year-old Dorothy Olsen's body is because he knows he didn't kill her and that she's still alive. So the clock keeps ticking. And his execution date keeps creeping closer and closer and closer.

As the story progresses, everything is fleshed out. There are twists, of course, and more than one revelation that complicates the story and begs the question, "Why?"

Mercy is pretty exciting. It rumbles on like an out-of-control freight train, picking up speed with every turn of the page. The hypothetical scenarios all make sense, and the roadblocks necessitate some fancy sidestepping and desperate measures to keep the possible stay of execution alive as the clock keeps ticking.

I thought I'd figured out something important about a third of the way through. I was wrong. And then a little more than halfway through, something else entirely off track suddenly slapped me upside the head. But then, I was wrong again, so I gave up trying to figure things out and just went with the flow. It just kept getting better and better.

Kessler is a British writer of mystery novels and thrillers. Mercy is his first of two Alex Sedaka novels.

Mercy (2009)
David Kessler
Avon ($6.17 list, Kindle edition free)
ASIN: B002VL1CJO

The Secret Adversary (Agatha Christie)

The Secret Adversary is the first of three Agatha Christie novels featuring the young couple, Tommy Beresford and Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley.

It's London, 1919, and Tommy and Tuppence head for a spot of tea. They are both job-hunting but can't come up with any prospects, so they join forces and create Young Adventurers Ltd. – no matter if their assignments are legal or otherwise.

A mysterious man overhears them. He proposes to hire Tuppence (sans Tommy), and send her on assignment to Paris. But when she returns to his office the next day, it's been closed down. It turns out that the man may actually be "Mr. Brown," a master criminal fomenting revolution.

A lot of people, it seems, are searching for an oilskin packet given to a young woman, named Jane Finn, by a special messenger as the liner Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk four years earlier. But she never fulfilled her promise to deliver the important papers, instead disappearing after she and other survivors were rescued.

The papers must be found in order to avoid a general labor strike against the government. Information that was important many years ago, and then cast aside, but now again of the utmost, is suspected to be included in the papers and must not be released to the unions by the fifth column.

Tommy and Tuppence find two allies in their search for this mysterious woman—an incognito U.S. government agent and the missing lady's rich American cousin. The four of them, aided by a member of Parliament, are led on merry chases, finding separate and exciting adventures, hearing news of each other's demise only to find them thankfully untrue. There are red herrings and deceptions galore, all in the interest of keeping the story lively and on its feet.

The English language (especially of the period) is full of idiomatic expressions that may be off-putting at times; but the reader should just go with the flow and the meanings of the phrases will soon become naturally apparent. Or, read the ebook version on an iPad as I did, with its built-in dictionary (a wonder of technology).

The Secret Adversary (1922, 2004)

Agatha Christie

Dodd, Mead and Company ($1.75 original list)

Signet (2004 paperback, $6.95 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0451201201

First Lady Down (Daniel A. Adams)

Someone takes a shot at the President of the United States during a speech at The National Mall in the nation's capital.

The shooter is Ivan Graham, a sniper fulfilling a $1-million contract. He misses, though, taking out the First Lady instead when the President bends down at the crucial moment the bullet comes barreling down from an office 800 yards away.

Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agent Troy Barclay is appointed ATF's representative on the FBI's Joint Assassination Task Force charged with solving the case. Unfortunately for Troy, the FBI agent in charge is Larry Crawford, with whom he has history and issues.

Troy joins up with young FBI agent Amber Neilson, an agency pariah serving as Crawford's gofer. Two of a kind, they work well together, breaking off on their own and getting results, much to Crawford's consternation.

Fairly early into the story, Troy articulates what I'd been thinking: The principal suspect, former agent Mark Adair, has been set up. All the evidence points to him, but there's something else going on. Was President Robert Raymond the target? Or was it really his wife, Pamela?

Quite a few twists and dead ends make the story interesting. How does a dead hooker clear across the continent fit into the scheme of things? Who is this California detective who disappeared? What about that supposed plane crash outside of Stockton?

The author has a bit of a problem with inconsistency and correct word choice. Is it Mobey's, or Moby's? Is it aide, or aid? Judgment is not judgement. Lead should be led. It's rode, not road. And, it's Czech, not Czeck. As far as writing style is concerned, author Adams sometimes lapses into short declarative sentences instead of combining a few into a better-flowing complex sentence. That makes his words easy to read, but lends a choppy quality that feels more like rap music instead of a string quartet.

Still despite these problems, First Lady Down is hard to put down.

First Lady Down (2011)

Daniel A. Adams

Alleycat Publishing ($.99 digital edition)

ASIN: B0057HLJG0

Hunger and Thirst (Wayne Wightman)

The apocalypse has come and gone, and all that are left are hungry, miserable souls trying to eke out an existence with nothing. A 30-ish wanderer, Jack, is moving through the Nevada desert with his cat, Arthur ("Artie," Jack calls him), after ridding himself of a not-so-nice walking companion.

And then there's Natalie, who can divine things in accurate detail by tossing finger bones onto a decorated leather disk. She has a home, fresh water, a green dress, high heels, rabbit meat, a shower, and iced tea, rescuing Jack with semi-civilization just as he's on the verge of giving up.

They comfort each other, growing closer with each passing hour. He knows he should leave, the sooner to reach California and the Pacific. She doesn't exact discourage him, but tells him what the bones tell her, just biding her time. Life is good now, and truly irresistible.

Natalie refers herself as the “queen predator of her valley” for good reason; she has power, or rather, her bones have power. She seems such a loving, caring, kindly sort. Really, she does. But she doesn't call herself queen predator for nothing.

Wightman's work – this is the second I've read – flows well and has a subtle way of grasping your attention and holding onto it. I finished Hunger and Thirst in one sitting, and the time just seemed to dissolve. It's post-apocalyptic, but thank God, there's nary a zombie to be found.

Originally titled Life on the Earth, the ebook edition of this short novel includes two of his short stories from the series, “Matter is Mostly Space”: Acrolithia, (“Mutants,” Vol. 3) and Those To Be Destroyed Are First Shown Love (“The Arrival of the Overlords,” Vol. 2).

Acrolithia: Nobody wants to get booted out of Acrolithia, to be put out "there" where things aren't quite so pleasant. But see, you gotta pass these tests. Still, some of Acrolithia's inhabitants are curious and want to see what's really outside the plastic dome.

Those To Be Destroyed Are First Shown Love: Some little kids get "inducted," to become pets, servants, workers, even become sex toys. The thing they have in common is a diminished mental capacity and family members left behind who receive a three-month food supply as compensation.

Hunger and Thirst (2011)

Wayne Wightman

Amazon Digital Services ($.99)

ASIN: B004ZMWSAO

The Best of Philip K. Dick (Philip K. Dick)

The Best of Philip K. Dick is a collection of 11 novellas and short stories by the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the source novel for the science fiction film, Bladerunner, starring Harrison Ford. It was originally published in mass market paperback format in 1978.

Beyond the Door: It was a darling cuckoo clock that Larry Thomas bought for his wife, Doris. Got a good deal too, buying it at wholesale. But Larry and that damned cuckoo just never got along. You know what? For such a small thing, that wooden bird had one helluva sharp beak.

Beyond Lies the Wub: A dirty, 400-pound pig, the wub only cost half-a-buck. But it can speak, carry on conversations, and read minds. It's intelligent, but the spaceship crew is hungry and has it for dinner – not "over for," but "for" dinner – with a surprising result.

The Crystal Crypt: The last humans on the last flight from Mars to Terra are forced to land on the moon Deimos. Amongst the passengers is a trio of saboteurs whose last act on Mars was the theft of a city. They got away, of course, but they failed to realize that Martians are not that stupid.

The Defenders: A war rages overhead. Not in the sky, just on the ground. That's "overhead" because humans have been sheltered underground for eight years. And the weapons are getting smarter, finally prompting a suspicious human delegation to venture to the surface for a confrontation with the Leadys.

The Gun: As they flew by, all they could see were ruins. The planet is burned dry and the air is radioactive. Suddenly, their spaceship is struck by something atomic. Damaged and forced to land, they find an immense gun operated by sensors, and it's guarding the planet's treasure.

The Skull: He's a hunter, a hired killer who carries something to help him identify his prey – the intended victim's skull. How can he do it? The answer is a crystal time cage that takes him back 200 years to December 1960, to a xenophobic town where people are wary of strangers.

The Eyes Have It: Earth has been invaded by aliens that can be identified by the way their eyes detach from humanoid bodies and move around independently on their own. Plus, they can split in half, and they have no innards. In fact everything's detachable! Or so some of us think.

Second Variety: War just isn't the same any more, especially when government moved to the moon, leaving the soldiers behind, augmenting with small robotics that cut the Reds to pieces before hauling them away for disposal. The robots have improved themselves, and Variety 3 is the most dangerous. Or is it Variety 2?

The Variable Man (novella): Terra and Centaurus prepare for war, designing offensive and defensive weapons, keeping track of who's ahead in the arms race. A faster-than-light bomb is invented, signaling a "Go" when the odds shift in Terra's favor. Everything's set, until a fixit man from 215 years ago materializes, throwing everything into a tizzy. His work causes the bomb to fail, but is this bad? Or does it ensure a brighter future for Terrans?

Mr. Spaceship: The Yucconae (yuks) of Proxima protect their planet with living mines that can decide for themselves whether or not to detonate. So the Terrans develop a spaceship guided by the brain of a former professor, highly intelligent but very old and sickly. But like many an old man, he gets single-minded, and stubborn. Adam, meet Eve.

Piper in the Woods: Is it just delusory that the young corporal on Asteroid Y-3 thinks he's become a plant? Or that his newest ambition is to just sit in the sun and contemplate? Then, there are five more ... then 20, then 30. Just what is going on here? There is a forest, and it bears investigating.

The stories are all highly entertaining and imaginative, each presenting an ironic twist in its conclusion.  

The Best of Philip K. Dick (2010)

Philip K. Dick

Halcyon Press Ltd. Ebook edition ($1.99)

ASIN: B003NX7M9I

King City (Lee Goldberg)

Major Crimes Unit Sgt. Tom Wade worked undercover for 16 months with Justice Department to expose corruption in the King City, Washington, Police Department. The unit's members had been taking bribes, extorting drug dealers, skimming cash and drugs, and running a protection racket.

His moral actions cost him his wife, and his position on the force. Reassigned by his indignant police chief to Darwin Gardens – a hellhole of crime ruled by criminal warlords, home of King City's highest homicide rate – Wade finds himself back in uniform at the age of 38, not exactly upwardly mobile any more.

His two newly assigned officers: Billy Hagen, a 22-year-old rookie who graduated from the police academy at the bottom of his class, and another rookie, Charlotte Greene, 24, African-American, top of her class, obviously a token hire.

Darwin Gardens is the dumping ground for the dregs of King City. Cops bring derelicts here and abandon them on the streets; hospitals hire cabs to do the same for their indigent patients. And yet, it's not all that bad in Darwin Gardens. Just across the street from the police substation is the Pancake Galaxy coffee shop and Mandy Guthrie, waitress and the owner's daughter, soon to become Wade's lover.

A young black woman, Gloria Middleton, is found dead and becomes the focus of an intense investigation by the Darwin Gardens trio. Initially, she seems to have been a nice girl, but as the investigation progresses, Wade uncovers secrets and connections that suggest otherwise.

Goldberg's writing style evokes images of past memories – characters, places and situations that you've experienced in your earlier, more-adventurous days. But of course, you really haven't ... it just seems that way. Everything and everyone seem so comfortably familiar and yet, newly exciting. It's a bit cynical at times, but that inkling only adds to the flavor ... like a pinch of salt.

You can almost taste the town.

King City (2012)

Lee Goldberg

Thomas & Mercer ($14.95 list)

ISBN: 978-1612183176

Privileged Witness (Rebecca Forster)

Privileged Witness is the third book in Rebecca Forster's Witness Series, the first two being Hostile Witness and Silent Witness.

Senatorial candidate Matthew McCreary, Los Angeles lawyer Josie Baylor-Bates' former lover, is suspected of murdering his wife, who came hurtling onto the pavement from her penthouse. When his sister, Grace, whom Josie had believed was dead, comes to ask her for help in clearing her brother of suspicion, it brings back memories that were long forgotten.

Long Beach Police Dept. Det. Horace Babcock keeps poking around, investigating and dismissing, before finally moving in on Grace, convinced she killed her sister-in-law. Matt seems conflicted, sometimes apparently without emotion. Is his campaign irreparably damaged? Or can it be salvaged?

On another front, wife abuser Kevin O'Connel has dead aim on Josie for her successful persecution of his constant beating of wife Susan. His own lawyer is disgusted at his angry reactions and threats. But Kevin is going to get even with Susan and Josie if it's the last thing he does, harassing them no end.

Josie continues to be the master of knee-jerk reaction, more often than not regretting it and having either to dig herself out of the hole she's dug for herself or make do and cope with the difficulties she's created.

Two important observations: (1) Grace and Matthew share a secret, one I figured out before I was a third way through the story, and (2) Hannah Sheraton is still hanging around in the stories. It's a good thing.

Privileged Witness (2006)

Rebecca Forster

Amazon Digital Edition ($2.99 list)

ASIN: B002VWKRO4