Laukkanen Dances with the One What Brung Him: Reviewing "Kill Fee"

Kill Fee - Owen Laukkanen

Kirk Stevens of Minnesota's BCA and Carla Windermere of the FBI had figured they’d just share a cuppa and catch up on each other’s cases, but their coffee break went out the window when the two watched in horror as a sniper murdered a white-haired old man before their very eyes. Bad luck for the killer, though – Windermere got a good look at the blank-eyed young man and his getaway ride. The trail seemed to die there, though – the man who suposedly rented the little blue car in Minneapolis looked nothing like the killer and he swore he’d been driving a red SUV. So much for police work…

When the dead man’s cousin turned up dead a few days later in Duluth, Stevens caught the case – and that’s where he first ran across the cryptic word “Killswitch.” Stevens being a pretty bright guy figured out he was on the trail of a contract killer. That brought the Feds – and therefore Windermere – into the game. Yay.

Harlan Coben Goes Fishing for Red Herrings and Catfish: "Missing You"

Missing You - Harlan Coben

Kat Donovan is third-generation NYPD, having followed in the footsteps (and bar stool) of her father and her father's father. Nearing forty, Kat's still single and not looking very hard. When her best friend gives her a free membership at an on-line dating service, Kat’s underwhelmed at first; underwhelmed by the long roster of shallow, needy men with digital versions of bad singles-bar come-ons. But that’s before she stumbles over Jeff’s profile…

Eighteen years ago Kat’s life had changed forever the moment her father’s partner appeared at her door: Dad was dead, murdered. Weeks later, her fiancé had dumped her and left, never to be seen again – until tonight, when his all-too familiar face appears on her laptop screen as she scrolls through JustMyType.com profiles. After one too many shots of Jack, she reaches out to him…

Failed Fusion of SciFi and Romance: "Archetype," M. D. Waters

Archetype - M. D. Waters

A couple of generations ago the concept of “fusion” was pretty much reserved for hydrogen bombs and hopes for cheap, clean electric power. Then came “fusion cuisine,” sometimes interesting but too often hapless mashups of different cooking styles in a single dish. And finally somewhere along the line fusion struck the world of literature. Once upon a time librarians and bookstore clerks only had to look at the cover art to know where to shelve a new release, but genre fusion has made that dicey. Think cozy murder mysteries (Perri O’Shaughnessy, for instance) or VampRom and almost anything Mercedes Lackey ever wrote. Well, the next step in fusion is here, and it’s an uneasy marriage of bodice-ripper and speculative fiction: Archetype, from the pen of M. D. Waters.

"The Circle" (Dave Eggers) A Cautionary Tale About Social Media, Transparency and Gullibility

The Circle - Dave Eggers

The job Mae Holland landed was one that millions worldwide would have readily called their dream job. Just 24, Mae departed the stodgy every-day business world forever and started a new career on the Silicon Valley campus occupied by The Circle. Everyone knew The Circle: it was the company that had invented TruYou, and with one keystroke stripped the final vestiges of anonymity from the Internet. 

Apparently the old cartoon was wrong:  on the Internet, people do know you're a dog.

Mae’s started on the corporate ladder’s bottom rung, in Customer Experience. Her job was to answer questions for Circle clients all over the world. After every client interaction, she sent a survey; if the rating didn't hit 100, she sent a follow-up requesting clarification and a re-rate (then another follow-up if the first didn't raise her to perfect). As she became ever more deeply embedded in Circle society, the screen count on her workstation increased: one for work, another for responding to queries by her trainees, a third for the ongoing social interaction with in- and out-Circle Friends, then another to answer surveys to guide Circle clients' marketing strategies; finally nine screens in total. What a multitasker Mae became!