Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Winter Reading List

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I’ve been slowly getting back into the reading pile. I tend to ignore other books when drafting, but I’ve been drafting for way too long this year and need me some good reading. I’ve scoured through the pile for the next four books on my To Read list.

Winter Reading List

A Means to an End – Lissa Marie Redmond

Buffalo police detective Lauren Riley risks her life to close the book for good on a killer who’s never paid for his crimes.

When cold case detective Lauren Riley returns to work months after being stabbed by a fellow police officer, it’s clear that her troubles are far from over. The body of a young woman has been found in the same woods as a murder victim from one of Lauren’s most horrifying cases. It doesn’t take long for Lauren to be back at square one confronting David Spencer, the quietly deranged man she could never prove was a killer.

Lauren convinces the police chief to put together a task force to uncover the connections between the brutal slaying of both women and the murder of two cops. But things go south quickly, forcing Lauren into a deadly game that she can’t afford to lose.

I absolutely loved The Murder Book, the second book in the trilogy, and can’t wait to see how the story closes out. 

Artemis – Andy Weir

Jasmine Bashara never signed up to be a hero. She just wanted to get rich.
 
Not crazy, eccentric-billionaire rich, like many of the visitors to her hometown of Artemis, humanity’s first and only lunar colony. Just rich enough to move out of her coffin-sized apartment and eat something better than flavored algae. Rich enough to pay off a debt she’s owed for a long time.
 
So when a chance at a huge score finally comes her way, Jazz can’t say no. Sure, it requires her to graduate from small-time smuggler to full-on criminal mastermind. And it calls for a particular combination of cunning, technical skills, and large explosions—not to mention sheer brazen swagger. But Jazz has never run into a challenge her intellect can’t handle, and she figures she’s got the ‘swagger’ part down.
 
The trouble is, engineering the perfect crime is just the start of Jazz’s problems. Because her little heist is about to land her in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.
 
Trapped between competing forces, pursued by a killer and the law alike, even Jazz has to admit she’s in way over her head. She’ll have to hatch a truly spectacular scheme to have a chance at staying alive and saving her city.
 
Jazz is no hero, but she is a very good criminal.
 
That’ll have to do.
 
Propelled by its heroine’s wisecracking voice, set in a city that’s at once stunningly imagined and intimately familiar, and brimming over with clever problem-solving and heist-y fun, Artemis is another irresistible brew of science, suspense, and humor from #1 bestselling author Andy Weir.

The Martian is one of my favorite books of all time, so this is a must-read.

Call to Arms – Jay Allan

War. The word spreads like wildfire.

The long-expected invasion is here. The Union force is even stronger than feared, their fleets larger and more powerful than intelligence reports had predicted. They have broken through the forward defenses, and sent the Confederation’s proud fleets into an ignominious retreat.

Captain Tyler Barron and the crew of the battleship Dauntless are lightyears from the front, waiting for their damaged battleship to be repaired. But there is no time to wait. The Confederation forces need every ship they can get, so Barron and his survivors board their vessel…and rush to the battle lines.

They encounter a shattered fleet, yielding system after system to the invaders. The Confederation is losing the war, unable to halt the irresistible enemy advance. And Dauntless finds herself trapped, cut off from the rest of the fleet, deep behind enemy lines.

Captain Tyler Barron must make a choice. Pull back, try to find a way to get around the enemy and rejoin the fleet. Or press on, strike deep behind the invaders – a reckless sortie toward the Union’s main supply base.

A suicide mission. But maybe the only way for the Confederation to survive.

Military Sci-Fi and Space Opera Sci-Fi has been on my mind quite a bit the past few months. Jay Allan is one of the best in the biz and his Blood on the Stars series is phenomenal. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Stone of Fire – J.F. Penn

A power kept secret for 2000 years. A woman who stands to lose everything.

India. When a nun is burned alive on the sacred ghats of Varanasi, and the stone she carried is stolen, an international hunt is triggered for the relics of the early church.

Forged in the fire and blood of martyrs, the Pentecost stones have been handed down through generations of Keepers who kept their power and locations secret.

Until now.

The Keepers are being murdered, the stones stolen by those who would use them for evil in a world transformed by religious fundamentalism.

Oxford University psychologist Morgan Sierra is forced into the search when her sister and niece are held hostage. She is helped by Jake Timber from the mysterious ARKANE, a British government agency specializing in paranormal and religious experience. Morgan must risk her own life to save her family, but will she ultimately be betrayed?

From ancient Christian sites in Spain, Italy and Israel to the far reaches of Iran and Tunisia, Morgan and Jake must track down the stones through the myths of the early church in a race against time before a new Pentecost is summoned, this time powered by the fires of evil.

J.F. Penn spins some incredible mysteries. I’ve already read Book 5 in the ARKANE series, so I thought it was time to start from the beginning.

Have you read these books?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these and any other incredible books you’ve read lately. Shoot me an email at lou@loupaduano.com.

What’s on your winter reading list?

Thanks for reading!

Winter 2019 Reading List

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I’ve made a vow this year to minimize my purchasing of new books until I’ve finished reading everything I already own. (HA. We’ll see how long that lasts…) It’s true, though. I’d love to buy and buy and buy but I want to make a concentrated effort to clean house, while also produce as much new material as humanely possible.

What it doesn’t take into account are library books or recommendations from friends. Those are always fair game so feel free to disrupt this silly plan of mine as often as you like.

And if you’ve read or feel like reading along with any of the following books, let me know! Drop me a line at lou@loupaduano.com to share the reading experience. I’d love to hear from you.

Winter Reading List

A Cold Day in Hell by Lissa Marie Redmond

Lauren’s job as a cold case homicide detective is her life. And life just got complicated.

Lauren Riley is an accomplished detective who has always been on the opposite side of the courtroom from slick defense attorney Frank Violanti. But now he’s begging to hire her as a private investigator to help clear his client of murder. At first Lauren refuses, wanting nothing to do with the media circus surrounding the case—until she meets the eighteen-year-old suspect.

To keep an innocent teen from life in prison, Lauren must unravel the conflicting evidence and changing stories to get at the buried facts. But the more she digs, the more she discovers that nothing is what it first appears to be. As Lauren puts her career and life in danger, doubt lurks on every corner . . . and so does her stalker.

The sequel is coming out next month so I want to jump right into this one to see where it leads. Very excited about this book.

The Fall (Mutant Rain Book 2) by L.A. Frederick

New Hampton lies in ruins.

Amidst the death and destruction, a few survivors cling to life avoiding the many pitfalls residing in the decaying city. The mutants hiding in the Bunker, led by New Hampton’s most famous vigilante Reinhardt, must devise a new plan to outlast the rampaging hordes, and more importantly Doctor Zhirkov and the infamous Watchroom gangs. 

The murderous Doctor Zhirkov sets about the next phase of his long devised plans to improve humanity, as we discover the crazed, obsessed and bloody history of the man. In a new world, plagued by infected masses hellbent of devouring all in their path, choosing whom to trust is the difference between life and death.

The Fall is the second book in The Mutant Rain series, a dark, dystopian, mystery, horror and science fiction story.

I am very curious to see what happens next with the characters introduced in L.A. Frederick’s first novel, The Rain. Lots of intrigue and a superhero element that is right up my alley.

The Escape Artist by Brad Meltzer

WHO IS NOLA BROWN?
Nola is a mystery
Nola is trouble.
And Nola is supposed to be dead.
Her body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding officer verifies she’s dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim “Zig” Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And on the run.
Zig works at Dover Air Force Base, helping put to rest the bodies of those who die on top-secret missions. Nola was a childhood friend of Zig’s daughter and someone who once saved his daughter’s life. So when Zig realizes Nola is still alive, he’s determined to find her. Yet as Zig digs into Nola’s past, he learns that trouble follows Nola everywhere she goes.
Nola is the U.S. Army’s artist-in-residence-a painter and trained soldier who rushes into battle, making art from war’s aftermath and sharing observations about today’s wars that would otherwise go overlooked. On her last mission, Nola saw something nobody was supposed to see, earning her an enemy unlike any other, one who will do whatever it takes to keep Nola quiet.
Together, Nola and Zig will either reveal a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels of power or die trying to uncover the US Army’s most mysterious secret-a centuries-old conspiracy that traces back through history to the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini.
Brad Meltzer is one of those authors I will read no matter what they write. He’s just released a new non-fiction book – way out of my wheelhouse – and it is on my to read pile. His stories are fun and always contain some unique look at American history. Can’t wait to dive in.

A short list this time around…

Can’t be avoided, unfortunately. I’m putting every ounce of energy, every spare hour I can muster into churning out some incredible stories for you to devour later this year. When the dust settles, and hopefully it will in a few months, it’s going to be so nice to sit back and enjoy some more books.

Let me know what you’ve been reading! I’d love to hear what’s been exciting you in the world of fiction.

Take care and thanks for reading.

Spring Reading List

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A new season, a new list of reading material. I truly enjoyed the selections of the winter list so here’s hoping for more fantastic reads as the weather finally turns a little brighter.

The Amulet Thief – Luanne Bennett

Alex Kelley vanished twenty-one years ago––the night her mother was murdered. When she comes home to New York City, she wants just two things: a little peace, and answers about the unsolved murder and why she was abandoned in the middle of America at the age of eight.

Greer Sinclair, an enigmatic stranger who knows a little bit more than he should, just might give her both––and more if she’ll let him.

What is she?

What is he?

Who is this beguiling satyr who keeps coming between them?

She attracts the otherworldly like moths to a flame. And why does every stranger on the streets of Manhattan want a piece of her and that pendant hanging around her pretty little neck?

Maybe the answers are in a peculiar shop in the heart of Greenwich Village where ghosts, memories, and secrets are bursting from the walls and the books and the one person who knows her best.

The line between the mundane and supernatural worlds is starting to blur. Which side will she choose? Which would you?

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

After getting expelled from yet another school for yet another clash with mythological monsters only he can see, twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is taken to Camp Half-Blood, where he finally learns the truth about his unique abilities: He is a demigod, half human, half immortal. Even more stunning: His father is the Greek god Poseidon, ruler of the sea, making Percy one of the most powerful demigods alive. There’s little time to process this news. All too soon, a cryptic prophecy from the Oracle sends Percy on his first quest, a mission to the Underworld to prevent a war among the gods of Olympus.

This first installment of Rick Riordan’s best-selling series is a non-stop thrill-ride and a classic of mythic proportions.

Seer of Souls by Susan Faw

The time for hiding is finished. The dead are restless. Fate and destiny collide.

Twins Cayden and Avery Tiernan have grown up in isolation on the fringe of the realm. Gifted with forbidden skills, they hide their growing magical powers. Ancient prophecies speak of the ones with the power to depose the queen.

To protect her throne, Queen Alcina scours the land for evidence of magic, while the darker force she serves threatens the land with chaos. She is not the only huntress however. Primordial seekers discover the twins first but before they can escape, the death of a queen’s guard puts the entire village in jeopardy. To save their town, the twins flee, only to be dragged toward an unknown destiny.

Guided by her gift, Avery senses lies and treachery where others see only truth. Dare she trust her instincts? For Cayden, an irresistible voice whispers to him. Does it belong to the souls of the dead and are they calling him home?

The Einstein Prophecy by Robert Masello

As war rages in 1944, young army lieutenant Lucas Athan recovers a sarcophagus excavated from an Egyptian tomb. Shipped to Princeton University for study, the box contains mysteries that only Lucas, aided by brilliant archaeologist Simone Rashid, can unlock.

These mysteries may, in fact, defy—or fulfill—the dire prophecies of Albert Einstein himself.

Struggling to decipher the sarcophagus’s strange contents, Lucas and Simone unwittingly release forces for both good and unmitigated evil. The fate of the world hangs not only on Professor Einstein’s secret research but also on Lucas’s ability to defeat an unholy adversary more powerful than anything he ever imagined.

From the mind of bestselling author and award-winning journalist Robert Masello comes a thrilling, page-turning adventure where modern science and primordial supernatural powers collide.

Care to join me?

I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on the books above. Email me at lou@loupaduano.com.

I was hoping to add a couple more this time around (I have so much to READ!) but it looks like writing is going to win out as usual.

Happy reading!

Winter Reading List – 2018

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One of my many, many, many goals this year is to really dig into some reading. Like most of you I have been slowly filling my Kindle with unbelievable books for the past few years with little to no time to actually sit down and enjoy them. To hold myself accountable to this goal, every quarter I will post a little reading list.

If you have any recommendations shoot them over to lou@loupaduano.com. Or if you feel like joining the fun, let me know! The more the merrier!

Winter Reading List!

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden has had worse assignments than going undercover on the set of an adult film. Like fleeing a burning building full of enraged demon-monkeys, for instance. Or going toe-to-leaf with a walking plant monster. Still, there’s something more troubling than usual about his newest case. The film’s producer believes he’s the target of a sinister curse—but it’s the women around him who are dying, in increasingly spectacular ways.

Harry’s doubly frustrated because he only got involved with this bizarre mystery as a favor to Thomas—his flirtatious, self-absorbed vampire acquaintance of dubious integrity. Thomas has a personal stake in the case Harry can’t quite figure out, until his investigation leads him straight to the vampire’s oversexed, bite-happy family. Now, Harry’s about to discover that Thomas’ family tree has been hiding a shocking secret: a revelation that will change Harry’s life forever.

Duel in the Dark by Jay Allan

War is coming.

The Confederation battleship Dauntless has spent ten months patrolling the border, alone, watching for an attack from the enemy Union. Her crew is exhausted and the aging vessel needs repairs.With the fleet mobilized, and the forward bases overloaded beyond capacity, she is sent clear across the Confederation, to a base along the peaceful and sleepy sector known as the Rim.

But the quiet frontier isn’t what it seems, and when a distress call is received from a mining colony at the edge of Confederation space, Captain Tyler Barron must take Dauntless forward into the unknown.

Barron and his crew have their ship–and each other–but they can expect no reinforcements. His superiors believe that Union deceit is at play, that the attack is merely a diversion,intended to draw Confederation forces from the disputed border. Their orders are clear: no ships will be transferred from the front. Stopping whatever is happening on the rim is Barron’s responsibility, and his alone.

Barron’s grandfather was the Confederation’s greatest hero, the father of the modern navy. His name has always carried great privilege, and crushing responsibility. Now he must prove that he has inherited more than just a name. He must face the enemy, and win the victory.

Before the Confederation is caught between two enemies and destroyed.

Helix Episode 1 by Nathan Farrugia

A spy hunter. A rogue operative.

A secret war that could destroy them both.

Olesya hunts the operatives she was trained to become. But when a clandestine mission takes her from the illegal bio-clinics of Brazil to the icy borderlands of Kaliningrad, she encounters a terrorist with a dangerous secret. As operatives and hunters start vanishing, one thing becomes clear…They aren’t the only players in this deadly game.

The Black Book by Ian Rankin

When the Central Hotel, a place of decidedly unsavory reputation, burned to the ground in a mysterious fire, the Edinburgh police were unable to disguise their delight. That is, until a body was found in the still-smoldering ashes, charred beyond all identification but with a bullet lodged in its skull. Now it’s five years later and Inspector John Rebus is following any leads in a vicious off-duty ambush that has put one of his favorite junior officers into a coma.

A cheap black notebook belonging to the wounded policeman contains a cryptic allusion to the almost-forgotten blaze, but crucial pieces of the puzzle obstinately refuse to fall into place. What could young Detective Sergeant Brian Holmes have learned to render him such a threat that he must be silenced at all costs? “The past is important,” Rebus hardly needs to remind himself, yet the secrets he persists in uncovering are buried in layer upon layer of sordid and evil lies.

Infinity Lost by S. Harrison

In the near future, one corporation, Blackstone Technologies, has changed the world: no disasters, no poverty, and life-altering technology. Blackstone has the impunity to destroy—or create—as it sees fit.

Infinity “Finn” Blackstone is the seventeen-year-old daughter of Blackstone’s reclusive CEO—but she’s never even met him. When disturbing dreams about a past she doesn’t remember begin to torment her, Finn knows there’s only one person who can provide answers: her father.

After Finn and an elite group of peers are invited to Blackstone’s top-secret HQ, Finn realizes she may have a chance to confront her father. But when a highly sophisticated company AI morphs into a killing machine, the trip descends into chaos. Trapped inside shape-shifting walls, Finn and her friends are at the mercy of an all-seeing intelligence that will destroy everything to get to her.

With no hope of help, Finn’s dream-memories may be the only chance of survival. But will she remember in time to save her own life and the lives of those around her?

What are you reading this winter?

Can’t wait to hear from you. Happy Reading!

Fall Reading List 2017

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This was meant to be a summer reading list. Shows what I know. I figured I would put the finishing touches on The Medusa Coin and Pathways in the Dark and take some much needed time off – for the family, for myself. It didn’t happen. So what was once a summer list has now turned into a insanely desired fall reading list.

Will I read them all? That is my vow and I stand by it – at least until it completely falls apart…

Fall Reading List 2017

Stephen King – Duma Key

From the back cover – Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth’s past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.

Why it made the list – Some of these are going to be easy answers. I’ve had this particular King novel on my shelf since 2008. Time to see if it deserved prime placement for the last decade…

Greg Rucka – A Fistful of Rain

From the back cover – Mim Bracca is riding the fast lane straight off the end of the world. Now she’s coming home without a job, without a future, and without a prayer—and only one last chance to get her feet under her, or go down forever. But home has its own terrors, including a past Mim has done everything possible to leave behind.

Now that past is coming back with the shocking speed and deadly intent of a sniper’s bullet, aimed to destroy her once and for all. When Mim suffers her first blackout, waking up dazed and bloodied, she’s certain she’s hit rock bottom.

She’s wrong. She’s only just begun to fall.

The photos are invasive, obscene, and all over the Internet for anyone to see. How they got there, where and when they were shot, and by whom, Mim has no idea. And before the investigation into the matter even begins, a brutal murder makes it clear that whatever Mim thinks her life has been up to now, she’s about to learn it’s all a lie.

The kind of lie that will kill.

Why it made the list – I love Greg Rucka novels. He has an affinity for a strong female lead and writes the hell out of each and every one of them. This is one of the few he’s written that stands alone so I am looking forward to it.

Stuart Jaffe – Southern Bound

From the back cover – When Max Porter discovers his office is haunted by the ghost of a 1940s detective, he does the only sensible thing … he starts a detective agency!

Thrust neck-deep into a world of old mysteries and dangerous enemies, he will face ghosts, witches, and curses. He will discover a world in which survival might be the easiest challenge. And he will do anything necessary to keep his wife and his life from falling away.

Why it made the list – This one comes from one of my readers and it definitely jumped out at me as something I would enjoy. The right mix of detective story and freaky supernatural elements.

Special thanks to Debbie for the recommendation!

Dean Wilson – Coilhunter

From the back cover – Welcome to the Wild North, a desolate wasteland where criminals go to hide—if they can outlast the drought and the dangers of the desert. Or the dangers of something else.

Meet Nox, the Coilhunter. A mechanic and toymaker by trade, a bounty hunter by circumstance. He isn’t in it for the money. He’s in it for justice, and there’s a lot of justice that needs to be paid.

Between each kill, he’s looking for someone who has kept out of his crosshairs for quite a while—the person who murdered his wife and children. The trail has long gone cold, but there are changes happening, the kind of changes that uncover footprints and spent bullet casings.

Plagued by nightmares, he’s made himself into a living one, the kind the criminals and conmen fear.

So, welcome, fair folk, to the Wild North. If the land doesn’t get you, the Coilhunter will.

Why it made the list – Dean Wilson is a stand up guy that does a ton of outreach on behalf of other authors. That alone deserves the recommendation but here’s the thing – the guy can write. A LOT. His back catalog is extensive. Why this one for me? A sci-fi western? Pretty much had me there.

L.A. Frederick – The Rain

From the back cover – New Hampton is bloodthirsty. The streets are a cesspool. Greed and corporate necessity rule the overcrowded city.

A mysterious doctor, his young protégé and a monstrous enforcer are playing gods, their wanton destruction going unchecked. The city’s Mayor seeks vengeance and believes the doctor’s work is the key to achieving redemption. These men will change the city forever, for better or worse remains to be seen. 

Crime is rife on the streets and only a few brave, have-a-go heroes, seem willing to plunge themselves into the depths of depravity to intervene and, ultimately, save the city from forces it is seemingly oblivious to. 

A handful of extraordinary individuals must decide where they fit in within the changing landscape of the indomitable city of New Hampton. Run? Hide? Fight? The ramifications of their decisions will echo throughout the city.

New Hamptoners look out for number one, slaves to the omnipresent man. Can the city survive this maelstrom or will the meddling powers-that-be doom everyone…

Why it made the list – L.A. reached out to me a few weeks back to cross-promote our work and I fell for the concept of the Government Rain Mysteries immediately. I can’t wait to see where this one goes.

Ian Rankin – Strip Jack

From the back cover – Gregor Jack has it all: young, wealthy, and charming, he’s a highly respected member of Parliament, with a beautiful wife–and a closet bursting with skeletons. When he’s caught in a police raid on an Edinburgh brothel, his house of cards begins to topple. Enter Detective John Rebus: he smells a set-up. When Jack’s flamboyant wife Elizabeth disappears, Rebus uncovers a full-house of orgies, drunken parties, an incestuous “Pack” of deceitful chums…and ultimately Elizabeth’s badly beaten body. Now Rebus is on a new quest–to find a killer who holds all the cards.

Why it made the list – In 2016, I told myself it was time to binge on the Inspector Rebus series. I love the character and it is definitely reflected in Greg Loren’s sarcasm and natural ability to piss off his superiors. As you can tell I didn’t get too far – this is only book 4. At least I can get one more off the list this autumn.

What’s on your list? Ever read any of the above?

I have a few others I’m hoping to add so there may be an addendum to this list. Some other great reader recommendations as well as some books that have been hanging around my Kindle since 2011.

Time to get reading!

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