The Cormorant Hunt
The espionage game plays out like three-dimensional chess, perhaps incorporating a fourth dimension: time. And without a doubt, time is repeatedly of the essence in Michael Idov’s latest spy thriller, The Cormorant Hunt. Chess requires strategy, the ability to second-guess the opponent’s move, perhaps even before the opponent has decided what move to make. A James Bond would know precisely what to do, but there are no James Bonds on hand here, just a handful of frazzled CIA agents and their onetime enemy counterparts going off the books to stop an international catastrophe in the making. Journalist Ari Falk has been in the wind for quite some time, following the unauthorized publication of some secret documents embarrassing to the U.S. government. Now he finds himself the unwilling pawn in a CIA op designed to bring down a right-wing influencer who has amassed altogether too much influence. Meanwhile, Falk’s handler and potential love interest, Asha Tamaskar, tries, not entirely successfully, to navigate the stormy seas between agency rules and the operational objective. The pacing is breakneck, but the plot remains eminently believable. The characters are well drawn, and if their motivations are sometimes far from pure, you can chalk that up to the endless human struggle between self-interest and morality. Suffice it to say that there is plenty of both to go around.
Jigsaw
Any time that psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD detective Milo Sturgis get together, it is a fair bet that a murder has taken place and almost as safe a bet that it will not be the last. In Jigsaw, the latest installment of Jonathan Kellerman’s popular series, this will be the case once again, but with a twist: The slam-dunk first case is quickly exposed as a frame-up, and Milo is on the hook for not having followed up alternative leads. Case number two seems unlikely to have any connection. The first victim was an attractive young woman, the second a septuagenarian retired police detective. But as the cases wear on without solutions, a few commonalities begin to surface: The suspect in the first case worked at one time for a dodgy and decidedly evil financier, who was once indicted thanks to the since-murdered police detective. To complicate matters further, the lawyer representing the first suspect has close ties to the disgraced financier. Hmm. Coincidences are comparatively rare in real life and exceptionally rare in crime novels, and Jigsaw is no exception to that maxim. But connecting the dots this time around will prove challenging to Delaware and Sturgis, despite this being their 41st(!) case together. As one might expect after all that time, the pair play off each other exceptionally well. Delaware’s reasoned and thoughtful assessments temper Sturgis’ rather more cynical, street-bred instincts, thus making for one of the finest mystery series on bookshelves over the last quarter century.
It’s Not Her
Author Mary Kubica doesn’t waste any time in preliminaries with her latest thriller, It’s Not Her. The opening sentence foreshadows a double murder: “I’m standing at the kitchen sink, washing dishes, when I hear the scream.” That was Courtney speaking, right before she learns that her brother and sister-in-law have been killed. From there, the narrative alternates between Courtney and her niece, Reese, each in first-person present tense, although not always on the same timeline. It is a very effective mechanism, building tension right from the get-go and not letting up whatsoever as the story progresses. As the dust settles from the homicides, several things stand out as unusual. For one, Reese has gone missing, leading Aunt Courtney to suspect that she has been abducted by the killer, while the police take a diametrically opposed tack, treating the missing Reese as a person of interest in the killing. Another oddity is that somehow Reese’s younger brother, Wyatt, slept through the whole thing, or so he says, and emerged unscathed. The more the police delve into things, the more cracks and contradictions they uncover in the various stories. Kubica doles out new information sparingly and in doing so keeps the reader guessing, revising and then guessing some more in the well-plotted and superbly paced It’s Not Her.
★ The Hadacol Boogie
James Lee Burke’s bayou noir Dave Robicheaux mysteries neatly split the difference between modern-day crime solving and evocative conjurations of Confederate dead, Voodoo spells and overtones of Stephen King-esque supernatural. Let’s just say you won’t need a vivid imagination to picture live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, tune in to the distant strains of The Neville Brothers, or smell the aroma of gumbo bubbling over a gas flame. Burke’s latest adventure featuring police officer Dave and his sorta sidekick, PI Clete Purcell, The Hadacol Boogie, finds the pair investigating the strange case of a fresh murder victim abandoned in Dave’s backyard. Before they are finished, the case will involve imported gangsters looking to break ground on a shady casino enterprise; a drug dealer and old nemesis who has seemingly expanded his business into sex trafficking; and a new and attractive addition to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office. (Spoiler alert: She has Dave in her sights, and it is unclear, perhaps even to her, what her intentions might be should he reciprocate.) Spooky, steamy, torrid, all these adjectives apply in spades, and the supernatural element—even if it is nothing more than a figment of Dave’s imagination—cannot be ignored. The Hadacol Boogie is Burke at his finest, which is another way of saying “quite possibly the best book I will read in 2026.” A starred review for sure, and more than one star if that were allowed.