National Post: “Once more, Laukkanen scores one of the thrillers of the year. It will be difficult to top Kill Fee, but once more, I expect he will.”
Mar 282014
Mar 262014
Publishers Weekly: Charbonneau concludes her dystopian Testing trilogy with this action-packed finale, which sees Cia Vale secretly tasked by the President of the United Commonwealth to remove the officials behind the lethal Testing process that has claimed so many young lives. Caught in an impossible situation, under constant surveillance, Cia must find allies among her classmates, never sure who she can trust. If she fails, the Testing will continue to destroy teenagers in the name of creating future leaders, while the rebellion against the government will likewise fail, betrayed by its leader. Continue reading »
Mar 252014
![Cover for Rotten at the Heart by Bartholomew Daniels [a white, illustrated hand holding a dagger stabs upward; the dagger is covered in realistic-looking blood; the background is the black, leathery texture of an old book.]](https://maassagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/oshea-rottenattheheart-144x218.jpg)
London, 1596. With their patron’s mysterious death and their Puritan landlord’s sudden determination to evict them, William Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men teeter on the brink of ruin. So when the new Baron Carey–son of their late sponsor–reveals to Shakespeare his suspicions that his father was murdered, and demands that Shakespeare use his own powers of observation to ferret out the killer in exchange for Carey’s continued patronage, Will has little choice but to agree. Continue reading »
Mar 252014
Back in the day, Captain Abraham Idaho Cleveland had led the Fleet into battle against an implacable machine intelligence capable of devouring entire worlds. But after saving a planet, and getting a bum robot knee in the process, he finds himself relegated to one of the most remote backwaters in Fleetspace to oversee the decommissioning of a semi-deserted space station well past its use-by date.
But all is not well aboard the U-Star Coast City. The station’s reclusive Commandant is nowhere to be seen, leaving Cleveland to deal with a hostile crew on his own. Persistent malfunctions plague the station’s systems while interference from a toxic purple star makes even ordinary communications problematic. Alien shadows and whispers seem to haunt the lonely corridors and airlocks, fraying the nerves of everyone aboard.
Continue reading »
Mar 252014
Associated Press: “Kill Fee” works well as an in-depth police procedural and an insightful look at amorality and greed. Laukkanen employs the same strengths of brisk plotting and incisive character studies that he established in his first two novels.
Mar 242014
DMLA congratulates Joelle Charbonneau and Paul Crilley on their books The Testing and The Osiris Curse: A Tweed and Nightingale Adventure on making VOYA’s Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror for Teens list for 2013!
Mar 202014
The billionaire picked a heck of a way to die.
On a beautiful Saturday in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, state investigator Kirk Stevens and his occasional colleague FBI special agent Carla Windermere witness the assassination of one of the state’s wealthiest men. The shooter is a young man, utterly unremarkable—except in his eyes. There is something very wrong in his eyes.
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Mar 192014
Library Journal: This dark and chilling novel from the versatile Christopher (Seven Wonders; Hang Wire) builds tension expertly. Claustrophobic in mood but with the scope of great space opera, this is sf you will want to read with the light on. Although the ending arrives quickly, this is apparently the first book in a new series exploring more of the world of the Fleet and the Spiders. As his last assignment with the Fleet, Capt. Idaho Cleveland heads to the U-Star Coast City to assist with the space station’s decommissioning. Continue reading »
Mar 182014
VOYA: Filled with intrigue and suspense, this is a stellar second book in a promising dystopian series. Charbonneau has created an elegantly organized plot that will keep the reader engaged and wondering how this richly layered plot will unfold. This novel surpasses expectations and leaves other comparative novels behind as it forges new paths to a futuristic, alternate world filled with corruption and conspiracy. The tension and conflict will have readers at the edge of their seats as the imagery and complexities of the characters and plot design are exposed. Continue reading »
Mar 172014
Matthew C. Funk’s The City of NO, a mesmerizing literary debut in which a rogue cop in post-Katrina New Orleans will do anything to save young women targeted by human traffickers, while hunting the men who once exploited her, to Bryon Quertermous at Exhibit A by Stacia Decker.