Black Rain by Graham Brown

Title: Black Rain
Author: Graham Brown
ISBN: 9780553592412
Publisher: Dell, 2010
Mass Market Paperback, 528 pages
Genre: Thriller; #1 Danielle Laidlaw
Rating: B
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: The darkness of the jungle loomed above, its dense, tangled layers spreading like a circus tent from the towering pillars of massive trees.

When I read that Black Sun, the second Graham Brown thriller featuring Danielle Laidlaw, was out at the end of August, I thought I remembered the first sitting on my shelves. I took a look and was relieved that my memory was in proper working order for the moment. In no time at all, I was deep in the Amazon with Danielle in Black Rain.

Danielle Laidlaw is an investigator for a covert branch of the National Research Institute. She takes a team deep into the Amazon rain forest to discover the source of radioactive crystals, and to search for an ancient Mayan city. This puts Danielle and her group directly in the path of ruthless billionaire Richard Kaufman-- as well as an extremely hostile tribe of natives and violent man-eating creatures. Within days, Danielle is faced with choosing between the mission objective or the lives of her team and herself.

Even though I'm normally a character-driven reader, there are times when I want to read something fast and fun. Black Rain had the added bonus of being deep in the Amazon dealing with Mayan mythology, both of which interest me.

The plot is fast-paced and interesting, and even though thrillers are not known for characterization, one of them stood out in this novel. McCarter, a member of Laidlaw's team, behaved in a smug, self-righteous manner throughout most of the book, but when the chips were down about as far as they could go, he received two thumbs up from me. I'm just not used to being favorably impressed by characters in a thriller, and this means that I'm going to be looking for Graham Brown's Black Sun for my next Mayan mythology and Amazon rain forest fix. If you're in the mood for something fast, fun, interesting, and even scary at times, I suggest you give Graham Brown a try, too.

Buy from Amazon.
Buy from The Book Depository.
Buy from an Indie Bookseller. 

August 2010 New Mystery Releases!

Book lovers are quite a diverse group of people scattered all over the globe, but we do have a few things in common. One of them has to be that we're always on the lookout for new books in our favorite genres.

I am no exception to this. I love crime fiction. I have favorite series and favorite authors, and I just love to know what's coming out so I can get the titles on my Paperback Swap wish list or so I can plan my next trip to The Poisoned Pen.

The following books are my top ten picks for new crime fiction being released in August. The titles are grouped by release dates, and I've included the information you'll need to find it at your favorite book spot. If you'd like to know more about the plot, etc., click on the book cover.

Let's see which titles have me drooling this month!

===August 1 Release===

Title: Love Songs From a Shallow Grave
Author: Colin Cotterill
Series: #7 in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series set in 1970s Laos
ISBN: 9781569476277
Publisher: Soho Crime
Hardcover, 304 pages












Title: Broken
Author: Karin Fossum
Translator: Charlotte Barslund
Series: Standalone by the author of the Konrad Sejer series set in Norway.
ISBN: 9780151013661
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Hardcover, 272 pages

===August 3 Release===

Title: Burn
Author: Nevada Barr
Series: #16 in the Anna Pigeon series set in various National Parks throughout the United States.
ISBN: 9780312614560
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 384 pages











Title: Chapter and Hearse
Author: Lorna Barrett
Series: #4 in the Booktown Mystery series set in New Hampshire.
ISBN: 9780425236017
Publisher: Berkley
Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages













Title: Dream Queen
Author: Betsy Thorton
Series: #6 in the Chloe Newcomb series set in Cochise County, Arizona.
ISBN: 9780312602055
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 288 pages

[I love this cover! It definitely reminds me of Cochise County.]

===August 9 Release===

Title: City of Veils
Author: Zoë Ferraris
Series: #2 in the Hijazi & Sharqi series set in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
ISBN: 9780316074278
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, 400 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

===August 17 Release===

Title: I'd Know You Anywhere
Author: Laura Lippman
Series: Standalone.
ISBN: 9780061706554
Publisher: William Morrow
Hardcover, 384 pages

===August 31 Release===

Title: The Devil
Author: Ken Bruen
Series: #6 in the Jack Taylor series set in Galway, Ireland.
ISBN: 9780312646967
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 208 pages












Title: Black Sun
Author: Graham Brown
Series: #2 in the Danielle Laidlaw series set in the Amazon.
ISBN: 9780553592429
Publisher: Bantam
Mass Market Paperback, 480 pages

*Upcoming review of Black Rain, the first book in this series, here on Kittling: Books.











Title: An Impartial Witness
Author: Charles Todd
Series: #2 in the Bess Crawford series set during World War I.
ISBN: 9780061791789
Publisher: William Morrow
Hardcover, 352 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books










These are the ten crime fiction books being published in August about which I'm most excited. How about you? Are any of these titles being added to your own wish lists? Do tell!