Notes From The Burning Age by Claire North
Claire North , Orbit , Thriller / July 22, 2021

Ven was once a holy man, a keeper of ancient archives. It was his duty to interpret archaic texts, sorting useful knowledge from the heretical ideas of the Burning Age—a time of excess and climate disaster. For in Ven’s world, such material must be closely guarded so that the ills that led to that cataclysmic era can never be repeated. But when the revolutionary Brotherhood approaches Ven, pressuring him to translate stolen writings that threaten everything he once held dear, his life will be turned upside down. Torn between friendship and faith, Ven must decide how far he’s willing to go to save this new world—and how much he is willing to lose. The release of a new Claire North novel is always cause for much celebration here at The Eloquent Page. Over the last few years, she has cemented herself as one of my favourite authors. 84K, The Gameshouse and The Pursuit of William Abbey are all exceptional. Recently, I was given the opportunity to read her latest, Notes from the Burning Age. Unsurprisingly I found I was powerless to resist. In a post-apocalyptic vision of Europe, two factions vie to control the direction of our future. A young…

Scorpion by Christian Cantrell

Around the world, twenty-two people have been murdered. The victims fit no profile, the circumstances vary wildly, but one thing links them all: in every case the victim is branded with a number. With police around the globe floundering and unable to identify any pattern, let alone find a killer, CIA Analyst Quinn Mitchell is called in to investigate. Before long, Quinn is on the trail of an ice-hearted assassin with seemingly limitless resources – but she’s prepared for that. What she isn’t prepared for is the person pulling the strings… Time for a bit of global conspiracy thriller-type action. Scorpion by Christian Cantrell is released this week so I decided I would give it a go and see what the heck all the fuss was about. Quinn Mitchell is great at her job. She excels at analysis and following clues. If you want someone to pick apart vast quantities of data to discover the virtual needle in the virtual haystack, then Quinn is the person for the job. What Quinn isn’t is a field agent. As the result of personal trauma, she has spent years hidden away from the world in the safety of an office. Circumstance however forces…

Outbreak by Frank Gardner
Bantam Press , Frank Gardner , Thriller / June 4, 2021

Deep within the Arctic Circle, three scientists from the UK’s Arctic Research Station trudge through a blizzard in search of shelter. They see a cabin ahead. It appears abandoned. No lights. No snowmobile outside. But as they push open the door, the smell hits them. Rank and foetid: there’s something bad inside. Then movement. A man lies slumped, his face disfigured by livid pustules. Blood runs from his nostrils; his chest glistens blackly. The team’s medic, Dr Sheila Mackenzie, pushes forward to examine him when the convulsions start. Blood, bile and mucus spray into the air. The doctor knows it’s too late – she’s been contaminated . . . Within hours, a full-scale operation to contain this contagion is underway. Samples are rushed to the laboratories at Porton Down on high alert. What they discover changes everything. Supported by phone and data intercepts, British Intelligence reaches a terrifying conclusion: that Russia has been developing a new generation of bio-weapons. Dispatched to investigate, MI6 operative Luke Carlton finds himself on a serpentine trail of lies and deception. From a mysterious factory in Lithuania, via arrest and imprisonment, and ultimately back to Britain, he discovers that they’ve been looking in the wrong…

The Two Lost Mountains by Matthew Reilly
Matthew Reilly , Orion , Thriller / January 28, 2021

Please note, The Two Lost Mountains is the sixth book in an ongoing series. If you haven’t read what has come before then chances are the review below is going to contain minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  AN INCREDIBLE VICTORY BUT AT A TERRIBLE PRICE… Against all the odds, Jack West Jr found the Three Secret Cities but at a heartbreaking cost. His beloved daughter Lily, it appeared, was slaughtered by Sphinx in a cruel ancient ritual. TO THE MOUNTAINS AND THE FALL! With his rivals far ahead of him, Jack must now get to one of the five iron mountains-two of which have never been found-and perform a mysterious feat known only as ‘The Fall’. Although what is this object on the moon that is connected to it? A NEW PLAYER ARRIVES Amid all this, Jack will discover that a new player has entered the race, a general so feared by the four legendary kingdoms they had him locked away in their deepest dungeon. Only now this general has escaped and he has a horrifying plan of his own…  Wow! So here we are, the penultimate novel in the Jack West Jr series by Matthew Reilly….

Day Zero by James Swallow and Josh Reynolds

Bike messenger and wannabe troublemaker Olly Soames is the newest recruit to DedSec’s Resistance movement, but when a stranger is shot dead in front of him, he realizes that danger is closer than he thinks… Sarah Lincoln is an aggressive young politician with questionable methods and big ambitions, and when a string of murders unfolds in her borough, it may be the opportunity she has been looking for to make a name for herself… Ex-MMA fighter turned leg-breaker Ro Hayes is in deep with the vicious Clan Kelley, the most brutal organized crime firm in the city’s underworld, and her survival rests on uncovering a dead man’s secrets… And for Danny, Ro’s estranged brother and former soldier, his new career with private military contractor Albion is leading him down a very dark path, toward choices he may never be able to take back… Four lives are drawn into a murderous conspiracy that threatens to destroy Dedsec and plunge the city of London into chaos. Something very bad is going down in London town… I’ll admit it, I’m a casual gamer at best. I pootle around on my PS4* dipping in and out of titles as the mood takes me. It…

Random Sh*t Flying Through The Air by Jackson Ford
Jackson Ford , Orbit , Sci-Fi , Thriller / July 9, 2020

Please note, this is a direct sequel to The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind. It is entirely possible that if you have not read book one in The Frost Files series then this review will contain something akin to minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! Teagan Frost’s life is finally back on track. Her role working for the government as a psychokinetic operative is going well and she might even be on course for convincing her crush to go out with her. But, little does she know, that sh*t is about to hit the fan . . . A young boy with the ability to cause earthquakes has come to Los Angeles – home to the San Andreas, one of the most lethal fault lines in the world. If Teagan can’t stop him, the entire city – and the rest of California – could be wiped off the map. For reference, before we begin, I’m going to refer to this book henceforth as Random Sh*t. I can’t be bothered typing Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air all the time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant title for a brilliant book, but it’s wearing me…

City of Windows by Robert Pobi
Crime , Mulholland Books , Robert Pobi , Thriller / August 9, 2019

During the worst blizzard in memory, an FBI agent in a moving SUV in New York City is killed by a nearly impossible sniper shot. Unable to pinpoint where the shot came from, as the storm rapidly wipes out evidence, the agent-in-charge Brett Kehoe turns to the one man who might be able to help them–former FBI agent Lucas Page. Page, a university professor and bestselling author, left the FBI years ago after a tragic event robbed him of a leg, an arm, an eye, and the willingness to continue. But he has an amazing ability to read a crime scene, figure out angles and trajectories in his head, and he might be the only one to be able to find the sniper’s nest. With a new wife and family, Lucas Page has no interest in helping the FBI–except for the fact that the victim was his former partner. Agreeing to help for his partner’s sake, Page finds himself hunting a killer with an unknown agenda and amazing sniper skills in the worst of conditions. And his partner’s murder is only the first in a series of meticulously planned murders carried out with all-but-impossible sniper shots. The only thing connecting…

White Peak by Ronan Frost
Ronan Frost , St Martin's Press , Thriller / April 25, 2019

Greg Rask, a dying tech billionaire, has invested millions chasing miracle cures. None of them are worth a damn, but he refuses to give up. Now, he’s gathering a team willing to go to the ends of the earth chasing life. Each of Rask’s crew has beaten incredible odds to rise from the ashes of their old lives to where they are now. Together, their next task is to retrieve a painting that is believed to hide a map which, if genuine, marks it as a treasure of the Ahnenerbe, the occult wing of the SS, who had devoted dozens of expeditions in search of the three cintamani stones for their combined properties, and the lost city where they were rumored to lay hidden: Shambhala. But a mystical brotherhood sworn to protect the secrets of the ancients—the same secrets that allow its members to defy death—will stop at nothing to ensure that Rask’s crew fail. In an adrenalin-pumping quest through some of the most savage terrains known to man, the crew will be pushed to the limits of endurance and beyond. One of the things that delights me most about being a fiction reviewer is that I get to jump…

The Plotters by Un-su Kim
Crime , Fourth Estate , Thriller , Un-su Kim / February 21, 2019

Plotters are just pawns like us. A request comes in and they draw up the plans. There’s someone above them who tells them what to do. And above that person is another plotter telling them what to do. You think that if you go up there with a knife and stab the person at the very top, that’ll fix everything. But no-one’s there. It’s just an empty chair. Reseng was raised by cantankerous Old Raccoon in the Library of Dogs. To anyone asking, it’s just an ordinary library. To anyone in the know, it’s a hub for Seoul’s organised crime, and a place where contract killings are plotted and planned. So it’s no surprise that Reseng has grown up to become one of the best hitmen in Seoul. He takes orders from the plotters, carries out his grim duties, and comforts himself afterwards with copious quantities of beer and his two cats, Desk and Lampshade. But after he takes pity on a target and lets her die how she chooses, he finds his every move is being watched. Is he finally about to fall victim to his own game? And why does that new female librarian at the library act…

The Hunter by Andrew Reid
Andrew Reid , Headline , Thriller / February 7, 2019

In the ring, Cameron King is known as The Hunter. A celebrated champion. A warrior. But when her brother, science genius Nate, deliberately crashes the car they’re in and vanishes without trace Cameron is left with a career in ruins, a reconstructed body and one burning question: why? 18 months later, working to find bail-jumping fugitives, Cameron discovers a dead body – apparently killed with her gun. As a detective comes through the door, she receives a panicked call from her missing brother: ‘They’re coming, Cam. Get out.’ Sucked into a lethal and sinister conspiracy hidden in the darkest shadows of power, Cameron is forced to fight her toughest, bloodiest battle yet – not only to survive, but to uncover the terrifying truth. In my experience, action thrillers fall into one of two camps. First you have those wonderfully insane big budget affairs that dance between the realms of action and sci fi. You know the sort of thing, Matthew Reilly’s novels are a perfect example. Unstoppable heroes halo jumping out of exploding airplanes straight into a dastardly ego-maniac’s underground secret lair made from a hollowed-out volcano. Great fun and hugely enjoyable but, let’s be 100% honest, utterly bonkers. This…

Consequence by Joan De La Haye
Joan De La Haye , Thriller / December 16, 2018

Please note Consequence is the fifth book in the ongoing series The Race. If you haven’t read books one to four then the following review will no doubt feature some minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! Joanna survived another brutal race and the Runner rebellion. But now she must work with Von Zimmer to try and save a village on an Ethiopian coffee plantation from annihilation. Can they face their personal issues and survive their cruellest adversary yet? Time for another episode from The Race series by Joan De La Haye. Regular readers of The Eloquent Page will know I have looked at all the other books so far, feel free to check them out via this link. It would be remiss of me if I didn’t include a quick review of the latest tale that’s available. We’re on to book five, Consequence, and Joanna finds herself knee deep in trouble once again. She does have a real knack for getting into all manner of scrapes. Just as well she is more than able to look after herself. The action picks up in the aftermath of the last race. Though Joanna is still recuperating from her last traumatic…

The Three Secret Cities by Matthew Reilly
Matthew Reilly , Orion , Thriller / November 8, 2018

Please note, The Three Secret Cities is the fifth book in an ongoing series. If you haven’t read books one to four then it is highly likely that the following review is going to contain some minor spoilery type elements. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! A shadow world behind the real world When Jack West, Jr. won the Great Games, he threw the four legendary kingdoms into turmoil. A world with its own history, rules and prisons Now these dark forces are coming after Jack…in ruthless fashion. That is reaching into our world…explosively With the end of all things rapidly approaching, Jack must find the Three Secret Cities, three incredible lost cities of legend. It’s an impossible task by any reckoning, but Jack must do it while he is being hunted…by the greatest hunters in history. I suspect each time Matthew Reilly sits down to write a new book he asks himself the same question. “How can I push the action quotient further than I did last time?” The good news, from our perspective at least, is that he keeps managing it. I can sum up each new Matthew Reilly novel in four simple words – Bigger, Better, Faster,…

MEG by Steve Alten
Horror , Steve Alten , Thriller / August 10, 2018

On a top-secret dive into the Pacific Ocean’s deepest canyon, Jonas Taylor found himself face-to-face with the largest and most ferocious predator in the history of the animal kingdom. The sole survivor of the mission, Taylor is haunted by what he’s sure he saw but still can’t prove exists-Carcharodon megalodon, the massive mother of the great white shark. The average prehistoric Meg weighs in at twenty tons and could tear apart a Tyrannosaurus rex in seconds.Written off as a crackpot suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Taylor refuses to forget the depths that nearly cost him his life. With a PhD in paleontology under his belt, Taylor spends years theorizing, lecturing, and writing about the possibility that Meg still feeds at the deepest levels of the sea. But it takes an old friend in need to get him to return to the water, and a hotshot female submarine pilot to dare him back into a high-tech miniature sub.Diving deeper than he ever has before, Taylor will face terror like he’s never imagined, and what he finds could turn the tides bloody red until the end of time. Occasionally I get lucky and my two main hobbies intersect. It will come as…