Whether
I’m writing, reading, or watching a show, I enjoy action thrillers with
multilayered protagonists and emotional depth. Andrews and Wilson deliver both
entwined with a twisty, action-packed plot that takes the Dempsey so deep
undercover in Russia, even the members of his Task Force Ember team believe he
is dead. Organized crime, politics, and high, deadly stakes combined with
emotional angst and moral conflict packs a punch.
The world is more volatile, unpredictable, and dangerous than ever before. To stop the architect of this chaos, Dempsey is given the most dangerous tasking of his career … a mission only he can complete against an adversary he must face alone.
After Task Force Ember’s successful intervention in Ukraine, John Dempsey disappears without a trace—with no notice or explanation given to his teammates. Spotty intelligence eventually places him in Russia where he is rumored to have been captured by the Russian FSB and is now presumed dead. Mourning his loss, Ember is forced to pick up the pieces, restructure,…
As
an Asian American author, this eviscerating satire by R.F. Kuang hit me hard.
She tackles the most controversial issues Asian and other authors of color face
in publishing today, including the question of cultural appropriation and the
pressure to write what publishers and readers expect. The first-person POV
pulled me into the protagonist’s mind and illuminated issues of jealousy,
reverse discrimination, delusion, and greed. And all of this is wound into a
suspenseful and twisted plot that made me gasp and laugh as I read.
The No. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller from literary sensation R.F. Kuang
*A Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick*
'Propulsive' SUNDAY TIMES
'Razor-sharp' TIME
'A wild ride' STYLIST
'Darkly comic' GQ
'A riot' PANDORA SYKES
'Hard to put down, harder to forget' STEPHEN KING
Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.
White lies When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.
I’ve
read other reviewers say this, and I have to agree Don Winslow has written a
modern-day Godfather with City on Fire.
It has the classic ingredients of a reluctant hero, complicated
multigenerational families, and conflicting ambitions within organized crime,
all of which I love to read and to write. For me, great plots are never enough.
Whether writing or reading, I want to be pulled into the people, culture, and
place.
Chinese-Norwegian modern-day ninja Lily Wong battles the Los Angeles Ukrainian mob, sex traffickers, and her own complicated family when a young mother Lily has rescued returns to her abusive marriage and a nightclub waitress, victim shamed in the press, falls into the crosshairs of a sexy assassin with no apparent reason for wanting her dead.
As Lily copes with her sister’s murder that set her on this path, she keeps her missions secret from her tiger mom, meddlesome Hong Kong grandparents, and her Norwegian father above whose Chinese restaurant she lives. Only Lily’s ninja sensei and her women’s shelter employers know the truth.
I’ve enriched this story with my own cultural heritage, fifth-degree black belt experience, and personal connections with Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
