The Search by Nora Roberts (2011)

 

When we first meet Fiona Bristow, she is happily living her life on an island off Seattle's coast, where she runs a thriving dog-training school, and has three labs of her own. Fiona also heads up a search and rescue team with the dogs. The reader soon finds Fiona has struggled to find this idyllic life after her escape from the Red Scarf Killer, the serial killer who then killed her K-9 officer fiancé and his four-legged partner.

Fiona’s peaceful existence is interrupted by the arrival of grumpy artist Simon Doyle and his out-of-control puppy, Jaws. Jaws is the glue that brings these two very different people together. Just when all is going well, Fiona finds herself being hunted by a copycat killer, with a possible connection to the Red Scarf Killer. Will she be able to escape this time?

Reviewers either love or hate the Fiona/Simon dynamic, but all agree the dogs steal the show. The Search is one intense read.

4.15 stars on Goodreads, 4.7 on Amazon

Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy by Larry Lofts (2019), 940.54 L

 

Code Name Lise is the true story of Odette Sansom, a British spy operating in occupied France during World War II, who fell in love with her commanding officer, Captain Peter Churchill. In 1942, Odette’s British husband is off fighting and she leaves her three daughters behind to become a SOE agent and spy for her adopted country. Peter and Odette are eventually captured by the German secret police. The pair are sent to Paris’s Fresnes prison, and from there to concentration camps in Germany where they are starved, beaten, and tortured. No matter how bad it gets, Peter and Odette never give up hope, their colleague’s whereabouts, or their love for each other.

The author seamlessly weaves together the growing romance between Odette and Peter and their many missions which put them in the crosshairs of the secret police. Although non-fiction, Code Name: Lise contains all the elements of WWII spy thriller.

3.94 stars on Goodreads, 4.6 on Amazon

Circe by Madeline Miller (2018)

 From the author of The Song of Achilles, Circe is the most recent book from Madeline Miller. In this novel Miller takes various myths where Circe appears, and retells her story in a cohesive novel. With regards to the mythology we see Circe as a side character in various stories. For instance, when Circe meets Odysseus and his men in books 10 and 11 of the Odyssey, and changes his crew into pigs. While in this novel Miller tells of Circe’s life and how she is exiled to the island of Aiaia. While on the island of Aiaia meets with various characters from Greek myth such as Daedalus, Jason, Medea, and Odysseus among others. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest I Greek myth, along with The Song of Achilles, especially if the idea of reading a translation text such as the Odyssey.  Miller presents the material in the form of a novel written for a current audience. 

 4.26 Stars on Goodreads, 4.6 on Amazon

Burning Bright (Peter Ash #2) by Nicholas Petrie (2017)

 

Peter Ash spent eight years in Afghanistan and Iraq as a Marine lieutenant. He has returned to civilian life with severe claustrophobia which Peter calls “white static”. As a result, he has spent the last two years backpacking through the west, camping, and living out of his truck. Throughout the series, Peter uses his skills to help others and Burning Bright is no different.

When escaping a large grizzly bear by climbing a tall tree, Peter discovers a series of climbing ropes moving from tree to tree. As the bear has no intention of leaving, Peter follows the ropes to a hanging platform. There he meets June Cassidy,  an investigative journalist who has just escaped a kidnapping attempt. June’s mother, a prominent software designer for the Department of Defense has recently been killed in a hit and run accident. Given the mysterious events that followed her death, June comes to believe her mother was murdered for one of her many projects. Could the kidnapping attempt have something to do with that project? But which one?

There are several references to the plot in the first book, The Drifter, but it is not necessary to have read it to enjoy this well-developed story and cast of characters.

Reviewers have compared Peter Ash to Jack Reacher and Jason Bourne.

Profanity throughout.

The sixth book is the series, The Breaker, was recently published.

4.10 stars on Goodreads, 4.5 on Amazon