House of 8 Orchids by James Thayer

Published by Thomas & Mercer on January 5, 2016

House of 8 Orchids follows the arc of a good adventure novel: a roguish but likable protagonist goes on a journey, overcomes life-threatening obstacles, and learns something about himself along the way. The time and place (China during the Second Sino-Japanese War) add color to the story, while a variety of convincing secondary characters add to its sense of authenticity.

John and William Wade, the children of an American diplomat, were kidnapped in Chungking in 1912. The story begins in 1938. John and William both serve Eunuch Chang, who presides over the House of 8 Orchids. Eunuch Chang kidnaps orphans and fosters their talents for nefarious purposes. William’s talent as an artist makes him a skilled forger. John is trained as an assassin and a thief. Less fortunate orphans are relegated to the Rough Boys, a group whose members develop their muscles rather than their minds.

The latest addition to the House, via kidnapping, is Wu Luli. Unlike most of Eunuch Chang’s victims, Wu Luli is a woman of some prominence in Chinese society. Chang plans to sell her for a good price. William is quite taken with her and that leads to trouble for both William and John.

John’s trouble takes him on an adventurous journey across China that involves Japanese bombings, bandits, monks, Chiang Kai-shek’s army, a brave American doctor, the United States Navy, and villagers who are victimized by both the Chinese and Japanese armies (and by gangsters). At the same time, it is a journey of self-discovery, as John is forced to make a compromise between the unsavory values he learned from Eunuch Chang and his observation that the people he admires are more inclined to help strangers than to harm them. He also learns something about his past that may or may not inspire him to redefine his identity.

James Thayer paints a detailed picture of the Chinese countryside and enlivens the story with Chinese legends. The story has the feel of a modern legend, filled as it is with folk beliefs and rural Chinese traditions, feats of daring and acts of grace. As you would expect from a legend, everything is a bit oversized, from John’s ability as a knife fighter to a dog that is as big as a small horse.

Adventure novels typically work their way to a predictable ending and this one is no exception. It is nevertheless a satisfying ending and the story holds a surprise or two as it speeds toward its conclusion. House of 8 Orchids isn’t a deep novel but its entertainment value is heightened by its setting and its strong characters.

RECOMMENDED

The First Order by Jeff Abbott

Published by Grand Central Publishing on January 5, 2016

Unlike many thriller series, the Sam Capra books are maintaining their quality. I was unimpressed with the first Capra novel, but the quality of subsequent books (unlike a couple of Sam Capra short stories) has been consistent.

Earlier novels in this series developed Sam Capra’s platonic relationship with Milla, the woman who helped him rescue his child and who handles Sam for a mysterious organization, and with Milla’s husband Jimmy, who feels threated by Sam. The relationship triangle plays an intense role in the early stages of The First Order, forcing Milla to make a difficult choice about whether to betray her husband or her best friend.

Another subplot that developed in earlier novels involves Sam’s search for a brother who might or might not be dead. That storyline takes center stage in The First Order. It merges with the Milla-Jimmy-Sam triangle in a way that gives the series a good shake.

A third plot thread that initially appears to be unrelated involves an assassin who calls himself Philip Judge. Judge has been assigned to kill the Russian president. It is not an assignment that Judge can refuse. About midway through the story, we learn something about Philip Judge that ties all of the plot threads together.

Various characters operate at cross-purposes as the novel steams along, interfering with each other’s plans in a way that creates unexpected plot twists while fueling the novel’s action. I often have trouble with farfetched plots but this one moves so smoothly that nothing seems forced. Action scenes do not push the boundaries of credibility beyond that which is common in modern thrillers. In any event, the story is fast-moving and fun.

The First Order closes a chapter in Sam’s life and opens another. It promises to give the series something of a fresh start, which is always a good idea after the first few books. Whether the series will stay fresh remains to be seen, but this installment is one that should satisfy Sam Capra fans.

RECOMMENDED

Forty Thieves by Thomas Perry

Published by Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press on January 8, 2016

I had a lukewarm reaction to the last Thomas Perry novel I read. I was more entertained by Forty Thieves. It’s a fun, light, offbeat story with a surprising but credible plot.

The body of a food scientist washes up in an LA sewer. A year later, the police are no closer to solving the man’s murder. Nothing that the police learned about his life supplied a motive for his death. Looking for answers, the scientist’s employer retains Sid and Veronica Abel, two detectives who specialize in unsolved crimes. To find out why the scientist was killed, the Abels need to uncover the hidden truths of his life.

The Abels aren’t quite Nick and Nora Charles but they do engage in friendly banter, mocking each other in the way that married people do. So do Ed and Nicole Hoyt, but they are assassins rather than detectives. Of course, the Hoyts and the Abels quickly cross paths and continue to do so as the story unfolds.

The story draws interesting parallels between the two couples. Both couples have similar experiences during the course of the novel and have similar emotional responses to those experiences. I think Thomas Perry is making the point that people are defined by more than good or bad behavior. Whether they make good choices (like solving murders) or bad choices (like committing murders), people are still people. That’s always a good message (and not a common one in thrillers, which tend to turn villains into caricatures).

The characters are the strength of Forty Thieves, but the plot threads are all intriguing. The Abels need to puzzle out why the food scientist was killed and why the Hoyts (among others) are trying to kill them. The Hoyts need to puzzle out why they have hired to commit certain crimes and (of course) why someone is trying to kill them. Both couples pursue investigations that converge in a way that is more believable than most modern thrillers manage.

The story moves at a good pace and it leads to a satisfying conclusion. It’s also quite amusing. If you’re looking for a story that delivers chills and suspense, this isn’t it, but as a light crime story about likable characters, it works well.

RECOMMENDED

Lightless by C.A. Higgins

Published by Del Rey on September 29, 2015

Lightless is sort of a cross between 1984 and 2001. Relentless government surveillance occupies the background while a mad computer (although not exactly HAL) takes over the foreground. But it’s also a cross between a political thriller and a science fiction novel. While none of its elements are entirely original, C.A. Higgins blends them together in surprising ways.

The System, a controlling, authoritarian government based on Terra, is feared, if not reviled, on the outer planets and inhabited moons. A terrorist known as the Mallt-y-Nos is making mischief (including political assassinations). She is believed to be acting in concert with a couple of rogues named Mattie and Ivan, who position themselves as freelance thieves who have no interest in politics.

Mattie and Ivan board a System ship that is operated by a three-person crew. Mattie monkeys with its computer, much to the dismay of Althea, the ship’s engineer. Ivan is captured and held for interrogation by a System official named Ida who specializes in getting at the truth.

Ida is not allowed to use truth drugs, even in terrorism matters, unless she can first catch Ivan in a lie. That concern for civil liberties struck me as unlikely, given the System’s ubiquitous surveillance, its demand for loyalty, and its reliance on summary execution to assure obedience. Higgins needed that plot device to keep Ivan talking so I can forgive her for it, but it does detract from the novel’s credibility.

The political dynamic that underlies the story isn’t particularly sophisticated but neither is it simplistic. The ending is surprisingly dark but I appreciated its surprising nature. This isn’t feel-good fiction and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is looking for an upbeat read, but Lightless held my interest with well-crafted characters and fast-moving story.

RECOMMENDED

The Treacherous Net by Helene Tursten

First published in Swedish in 2007; published in translation by Soho Crime on December 15, 2015

The Treacherous Net combines two themes that have become standard in police procedurals. One involves a hunt for a sexual predator who murders his victims. The other spotlights a team of “cold case” detectives. First published in Sweden, where the story is set, The Treacherous Net is the eighth Detective Inspector Irene Huss novel to be translated from Swedish into English.

The predator is pursued by DI Irene Huss and other members of the understaffed Violent Crimes Unit. Two dead girls and the discovery of a body that was sealed up in a chimney have the detectives feeling overworked. When it becomes apparent that the man in the chimney had been dead for 40 years, his case is shuffled off to the cold case unit, whose members are nearing retirement.

One of the dead girls seems to have fallen into the “treacherous net” by agreeing to meet someone who groomed her online. The police quickly find physical evidence that connects the two dead teenagers, leading them to wonder whether they are dealing with an internet predator. That investigation launches a straightforward police procedural.

Unfortunately, the investigation is too straightforward to be interesting. It lacks any sense of mystery. There are no plot twists or surprises. The police move forward in a predictable way with predictable results. I give Helene Tursten credit for telling a believable story. It just isn’t a compelling story.

The other plot is a bit better. The man in the chimney has been dead for 40 years. The man's father, a Swedish security agent, was assassinated before his birth. Was the father killed by Russian spies? Were the father-and-son murders connected? The answer comes in an information dump at the end of the novel. Again, the story holds no real surprises, but it avoids being dull.

Characters, like the plot, lack interest. Irene drinks a lot of coffee and experiences family woes, but not much in the way of personality shows through in this novel. The woman in charge of the detectives, Efva Thylqvist, seems to like her male detectives but has little regard for Irene. That’s the closest the novel comes to having any spark. The other detectives spend their time complaining about being overworked before they embark on their four-week summer vacations -- and then they complain about how they make so little progress in their investigations during the summer. It’s a wonder any crime gets solved in Sweden.

The Treacherous Net is capably written but, with a couple of brief exceptions, it lacks energy. The absence of dramatic tension or surprising plot twists makes the story, at best, a moderately pleasant read, but not an exciting one.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS