The Queen

The Queen by Steven James if the fifth book in the Patrick Bowers series about an FBI agent who uses geospatial techniques to track serial killers. Pat is working on finding his nemesis Basque's partner when he is called away to a case in Northern Wisconsin is a supposed murder-suicide of a retired Navy officer. He suspects immediately that there is more going on than he is being told, why would the FBI be called in a case easily handled by the local police, but as he investigates he quickly uncovers a wide reaching conspiracy that could bring about nuclear war. Plus, by returning to the area where he grew up, Pat is forced to deal with long buried feelings between he and his brother Sean. James really is the best in the business at writing thrilling suspense stories, and I mourn the day when this series ends next year. Pat and Tessa, his stepdaughter, are still dealing with the aftershocks of the previous novel, The Bishop, when she killed a man and lost her father all in one night. James teases readers a bit when Lien-hua, Pat's love interest and sometime partner, and Pat banter about what they enjoy best about thrillers and throw out several ideas that will have readers wondering and worrying whether any will come to pass in The Queen.  As a Wisconsinite I was shocked at the details about the ELF base James included, especially when I discovered that much (all?) of it was true! Very cool!The writing is intelligent, suspenseful, and high-octane; I swear I didn't breathe for the last fifty pages!

Thank you to Revell for providing me with a copy of this book for review. Available September 2011 from Revell, a division of the Baker Publishing Group at your favorite bookseller.