Only the Hunted Run
By Neely Tucker. (Harper, 304 pages, $27.)
"Only the Hunted Run" marks the welcome return of Sully Carter, the quick-witted, profane and outspoken reporter at the heart of Neely Tucker's popular series. This third installment finds Carter at the center of a shooting rampage at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and Tucker's turns of phrase are evident from the start, when Carter — in typical journalist fashion — finds himself running toward the gunfire: "He cursed himself for his ignorance [of the building] but he had always avoided Congress like it was an infectious disease."
That line is an early signal of the tone for the rollicking page-turner that follows, as Carter tracks the roots of the gunman's rage to the Indian reservations of Oklahoma, and then right back to our nation's capital.
COLLEEN KELLY
Nest
By Terry Goodkind. (Skyhorse Publishing, 428 pages, $29.99.)
"Nest"— where evil is incubating unseen on the internet — is a solid, gory thriller with a strong undercurrent of the paranormal. The protagonist is corporate auditor Kate Bishop, who returns home from a business trip to find that her brother has been murdered. Via a detective, Kate learns that her sibling, who had cognitive limitations, could identify killers just by looking at a photo or looking them in the eyes, which is an ability guaranteed to annoy the average predator. After Kate discovers that she, too, has the skill to pick out killers, a cat-and-mouse game begins with some very nasty people. Romance enters the picture when a dashing man with all sorts of useful connections in the intelligence community comes to her rescue. No surprise there, but it is well done. Terry Goodkind is a longtime bestselling author who knows his way around an innovative plot twist. His writing is accessible and compelling from start to finish. Anyone who likes thrillers would enjoy this book.
BECKY WELTER
