Final Orbit, Chris Hadfield (Random House Canada, 416 pages)
Final Orbit, Chris HadfieldSupplied
Chris Hadfield has had it all, in life and in fiction. What could be more exciting than outer space? How about three dead astronauts, a space station in disarray and a rogue Chinese spaceship headed to do damage to the remains of the mission. That’s the barest description of the plot in this terrific end to Hadfield’s trilogy of space thrillers.
Our hero is astronaut-turned-NASA-flight-controller Kaz Zemeckis. It’s 1975 and a NASA rocket with three Americans heads to the space station planning to dock. Kaz is on Earth monitoring and he has a bad feeling. Then the mission, literally, explodes and the three men die. What went wrong? Was it sabotage? By whom?
Books we’re reading and loving in October
There’s a lot more going on here but you have to read the book to uncover it.
As always, with Hadfield, there’s much technical talk as well as insider peeks at what life as an astronaut and time in space are really like. Hadfield explains in simple terms just how space travel works and he doesn’t let the technical jargon overpower the story.
While the crime is in outer space, bad things are happening on Earth, too, including an attempted presidential assassination and a kidnapping. These two aren’t really germane to the excellent space plot but they don’t detract from it, either. This may end Hadfield’s Zemeckis space novels but I hope it’s not his last thriller.
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The Haunting of Paynes Hollow, Kelley Armstrong (St. Martin’s, 288 pages)
The Haunting Of Payne Hollow, Kelley ArmstrongSupplied
Ontario’s own Kelley Armstrong has succeeded where dozens of other authors have failed. I confess to thoroughly enjoying her supernatural mystery novels. That’s primarily because she doesn’t let the supernatural elements overshadow a good old-fashioned whodunit plot and that’s really the case in The Haunting of Paynes Hollow where we have a very cold case and a very warm revival.
Samantha Payne’s father died by suicide when he was accused of a vicious murder of a child. The witness was his own father, who found him burying the body, wearing bloody clothing. Fourteen years later, Samantha’s grandfather is dead and he’s left her the valuable waterfront cottage where the crime happened. The kicker? He doesn’t believe his son was the murderer, despite what he saw, and to claim the property, Samantha, who does believe her father was guilty, has to live in the house for a month.
Naturally, creepy things happen and ghosts crawl in the night, but the murder was committed by a flesh-and-blood killer who’s still evading the law and that means Samantha herself is in danger and not from a spectre. Excellent book for a cool weekend at the cottage.
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A Killer Motive, Hannah Mary McKinnon (Mira, 400 pages)
A Killer Motive, Hannah Mary McKinnonSupplied
A good psychological suspense novel is hard to find but Canadian author Hannah Mary McKinnon continues to turn them out and A Killer Motive, with an intriguing puzzle and well-drawn characters, is one of her best so far.
Stella Dixon sneaks her teenaged brother out of the house. The pair is headed for a beach party. Drinking, toking, a little light sex, all part of summer under the stars. But this party goes all wrong and Stella’s brother disappears. Years pass and there’s no clue as to what happened.
Six year later, Stella’s family has never recovered from that night. Stella, herself, is laden with guilt. To deal with the loss, she’s started a podcast, A Killer Motive, to reach out to other people who have lost a loved one. Then Stella goes on radio and says that if she had just one clue, she’d follow it to the centre of the crime and find justice for her brother and some respite for her family.
No one is more surprised than Stella when a listener takes this as a challenge. But the clue is part of a game. If Stella wins, she gets the clue. Is this a cruel joke? It takes another disappearance for Stella to realize that someone, somewhere, is using her, but why? And what really happened six years ago? I couldn’t put this one down.
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The Killing Stones, Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan, 384 pages)
The Killing Stones, Ann CleevesSupplied
Best news ever is that Jimmy Perez is back. He has a new wife and a new location and is about to become a father. And he’s still investigating murder. Relocated to Orkney, still in the Scottish islands, he’s as intense and clever as ever.
The dead man is Archie Stout, one of Perez’s oldest friends, The corpse is placed in a Neolithic cemetery and the weapon is an ancient stone covered with runic symbols. Jimmy’s wife, Willow, is the real detective in charge of the case but it’s personal with Perez and, as he uncovers the secrets of his old friend’s life, he finds that he didn’t know Archie as well as he thought.
As always with Ann Cleeves, the history and landscape of the setting are as much a character as the people in this novel. With a new setting and family, Perez is revived as a series and the plotline – always good in Cleeves – is as twisty as any reader will want.
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The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer, Ragnar Jonasson, translated by Victoria Cribb (Minotaur, 320 pages)
The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer, Ragnar JonassonSupplied
If you haven’t already discovered Ragnar Jonasson’s clever Hulda series, also known as Dark Iceland, you might know his television work, the CBS series The Darkness. He is a devotee of the golden age of mystery and the puzzle plot. The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer is a little masterpiece of puzzles, clever characterization and devious red herrings.
The missing woman is Elin S. Jonsdottir, famed Icelandic novelist who tilts a bit toward the real-life disappearance of Agatha Christie. Elin wrote 10 bestselling books and then stopped publishing. What happened? Now, she’s disappeared and it’s up to Helgi, a young detective, to find her. As Helgi delves into Elin’s past he discovers there’s much more to her story, which is as complex as any of her own plotlines.
This book is gorgeously written with all the elements one expects from a superior puzzler. If you like this one, you’ll want to read all of Jonasson’s earlier books.
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A Season for Spies, Iona Whishaw (Touchwood, 192 pages)
A Season for Spies, Iona WhishawSupplied
This light spy novel is billed as a prequel to the very popular Inspector Darling series by Canadian author Iona Wishaw and, while the inspector doesn’t appear, it fills in background about Lane before the move to Canada and a new life.
We are back in Britain during the Second World War and things are tough. Lane has been pulled out of her studies at Oxford to work for the war office. It’s Christmas and no one is going home for the holidays until Lane’s boss tells her that she’ll be heading up to Scotland, ostensibly for a family visit but in fact, she’s the connection for a secret agent who will arrive there. Lane’s family links and her knowledge of the country are vital.
There are many adventures along the way and, since this is a Christmas book, a bit of the holiday as well. Lovers of espionage should stick to Slow Horses but Darling fans are going to love this bit of the history about their favourite couple.
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The Hitchhikers, Chevy Stevens (St Martin’s, 384 pages)
The Hithhikers, Chevy StevensSupplied
This is a truly scary book. Newshounds like me will recall the real-life couple murdered by a pair of thrill-seeking hitchhikers out in B.C. While Chevy Stevens, who hails from Vancouver, isn’t basing this story on that awful true crime, it’s certainly provided her with some bits of plotline and it’s terrifying.
It’s 1976 and Tom and Alice are off on a road trip in their new RV. Their marriage is crumbling and they hope that some new scenes and memories will salvage it. En route, they pick up a couple of young hitchhikers, Ocean and Blue. It’s the kind of thing people used to do on trips. The kids seem pleasant and the quartet head for remote Canada.
Of course, Ocean and Blue aren’t nice kids. They’re a pair of deranged killers on a spree and it would appear that Tom and Alice are the next victims. But this is a Chevy Stevens novel and nothing and no one are what they seem. The hitchhikers see it as a game. Tom and Alice see it as a fight for survival and that’s when the real games begin. This is one of Stevens’s best.
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