Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Police Procedurals

BEHIND the MASK by Dana Ridenour – Terrorism Thrillers, Police Procedurals, Women’s Crime Fiction

Like a high wire performer working without a net, Dana Ridenour’s captivating and provocative yarn, Behind the Mask, carefully treads that fine line between fact and fiction and does it with aplomb.

Between the covers of this contemporary, detective thriller, is a well-crafted plot revealing alarming aspects of animal enterprise practices, and militant animal rights advocacy. Set in Los Angeles, it is peopled with believable, engaging characters, and taps into sights, smells, and flavors unique to that area.

When 29-year-old, FBI Special Agent Alexis Montgomery, or Lexie, as she prefers to be called, reaches LA, she has one goal in mind—to make her bones. A fledgling undercover operator, newly trained and on her first assignment, she must infiltrate a militant ALF cell and ensure its terrorist members are brought to justice.

In her assumed identity as a vegan, animal-rights extremist, who drives a battered Volkswagen bug, and lives in a modest Venice Beach apartment, Lexie ingratiates herself with local activists. Over time, an unanticipated friendship with Savannah Riley, whom she meets at a vociferous demonstration, helps her nail it. Just as her FBI mentor predicted, she fits right in with those crazy vegans.

Savannah, raised in a traditional southern family, declined The Citadel, in South Carolina, in favor of SoCal, with one goal in mind— to exchange the same old, dull routine of Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, for the mystery and exhilaration of California life. In school, studying for a career in the film industry, her roommate introduces her to the world of animal rights activism. Meeting Lexie, a kindred spirit from the south is an unexpected plus.

As members of the local, militant cell, Lexie and Savannah learn hard lessons. After a night watchman dies in a liberate and destroy operation at the UCLA animal lab, their lives are changed forever.

During their ensuing months under the California sun, Savannah loses her love, her trust, her innocence, and comes close to losing her freedom; Lexie emerges from the dark side a wiser woman, tempered and honed, with deeper understandings of herself and the human condition.

Ridenour’s realistic portrayal of opposing worldviews, replete with tangible danger, and intense, fanatical emotion, in Behind the Mask challenges the status quo. It is a novel of the here and now. Its well-drawn characters, complex plot, and true-to-life setting will resonate with the reader long after the book is finished.

Behind the Mask by Dana Ridenour won 1st Place in Category in the 2016 CIBAs in the CLUE division for Thrillers and Suspense novels.

December 17, 2021
FATAL INFRACTION (Mike Stoneman Thriller Series #4) by Kevin G. Chapman – Thriller/Suspense Fiction, Police Procedural, Crime Thrillers

Football, love, racism, and murder are the subjects of interest Kevin G. Chapman uses in his latest crime novel, Fatal Infraction.

Racial tension, throwing the game, and a love triangle all play a part in why the team’s controversial quarterback, Jimmy Rydell is dead. NYPD homicide detective Mike Stoneman and his partner, Jason Dickson, put their personal lives on hold after Rydell’s body turns up frozen in New York City’s Central Park. Who hated Jimmy enough to end his life? Readers soon find out what made the quarterback a possible target.

The brutal way Jimmy dies drives the cops to chase any lead on every turn of the page with little evidence to go on. Waiting for the body to thaw leaves time for the cops and detectives of the NYPD to question all involved, including team members, girlfriends, Jimmy’s agent, and friends.

How many times does a first-round draft pick end up dead in a metropolis like New York City?

As the community becomes more agitated due to racial tension, the news reporters hound the players and people of interest to get the best insight and first story – the details of the murder. The sports reporters play the game, too, but they have an in with the players’ lives that the other reporters and the cops do not. Through myriad lies and deceptions, one truth becomes clear – someone is hiding something, and the cops and detectives know it.

When the detectives uncover the murder of a possible witness and friend of Jimmy, the plot thickens. Can the detectives save a life while also solving the murder? That’s a question readers will find out for themselves.

In the midst of the murder investigation, Jason and Mike face their own challenges that deepen each character’s growth and carry the series forward. Those subplots and several others weave a tapestry of topical social issues into the murder mystery. Although Fatal Infraction is the fourth book in the Mike Stoneman series, it stands on its own as a strong, relevant who-dun-it that will undoubtedly lead new readers to the first book in the series.

Chapman’s style of storytelling and his extraordinary attention to detail in this present-day crime novel leaves no topic unturned before the murder of famous quarterback Jimmy Rydell is put to rest. The dialogue and prose of this intense crime novel resonate with authenticity and a style all its own. In short, Fatal Infraction will capture readers’ attention from the beginning to the end – with no timeouts.

June 8, 2021
The ONLY ONE LEFT (The Neema Mysteries, Book 3) by Pamela Beason – Thriller/Suspense, Animal Cozy, Police Procedural

While spending some time with his sweetheart, animal behavior scientist Grace McKenna and her adopted family of gorillas, Detective Matthew Finn finally endures a kiss from Neema while keeping an eye on the huge silverback Gumu. He accepts a ‘toy’ from their baby, Kanoni. But upon further inspection, Matt and Grace believe the object might be part of a human finger bone. Where did it come from? How did it get in the gorillas’ remodeled barn? The homicide detective knows he’ll need to investigate, but just then, his cell phone chirps.

Desk Sergeant Greer of the Evansburg, Washington, Police Department tells Matt to get back on duty and head directly to the Gorge Amphitheatre, where the Sasquatch Festival has just ended. A car belonging to a 17-year-old girl, last seen by her parents in Bellingham, Washington, three days earlier, has been found abandoned next to a tent in the Amphitheatre campground.

Three days earlier, Darcy Ireland and Mia Valdez had hatched a plan for adventure. They each told their parents that they would be spending the weekend together as volunteer workers for the Ski to Sea race from Mt. Baker to Bellingham. In fact, they would go to the Sasquatch Festival and camp there over the Memorial Day weekend. The only problem is Darcy’s car is still at the venue. Where did the girls go?

Matt Finn’s sleuthing brain works fast and hard. He doesn’t take it easy on his body, either—missing sleep as well as meals until his growling tummy wakes him up. Little by little, clues begin to emerge, as others who had been at the festival are found and interviewed. One reported that he had seen the girls leave with a couple of dudes on motorcycles midway through the festival, seemingly happy as they rode off for what they had been told would be a picnic. He wondered why they hadn’t returned. Detective Flynn knows from experience that every hour the girls are missing decreases the chance of finding them alive.

While the law officials and the parents still know nothing about the missing girls’ whereabouts, we readers do. Darcy wakes up the next day, her face scalded red by the glaring sun. Lying in a field in the middle of nowhere, Darcy’s backpack and cell phone are missing. But she’s not alone. The first sound she hears is that of a rattlesnake. Mia awakens to semi-darkness, in a shed with a floor of dirt and a security door locked from the outside. There is more, a lot more, but we’re not about to give any more away!

With the power of her compelling descriptions and nail-biting suspense, Beason keeps her readers hanging on the edge.

Pamela Beason continues to keep us turning the pages with her stellar mysteries. Each one seems hard to top until she delivers the next. Readers unfamiliar with this outstanding thriller author will want to catch up with this series (she has several!), click on the titles to read our reviews: The Only Witness and The Only Clue.

The Only One Left won First Place in the CIBA 2018 CLUE Awards for Mysteries and Suspense.

January 17, 2020