Genre Picks: July 17, 2012

This week’s Genre Picks include a supernaturally tinged alternate history, a technothriller from an up and coming author, and a new mystery from a modern master. Read on for details.

Daniel Suarez’s Daemon was something of an underground hit and in Kill Decision, Suarez once again serves up another taught techno-thriller. Kill Decision examines what happens when the choices of war are taken out of the hands of humanity and placed into the artificial minds of unmanned drones. Fans of Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy should definitely take a look at this new novel from Daniel Suarez. A sample of Kill Decision can be read here.

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The latest mystery from James Lee Burke, once again featuring detective Dave Robicheaux, Creole Belle, is another sure-to-entertain entry in this long running series. In 2009 Burke received the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master awards placing him among the ranks of authors such as Donald Westlake, Ed McBain, Robert B. Parker, Elizabeth Peters, and many others. To learn more about the author you might check out this insightful interview. A sample of Creole Belle can be read here.

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The Coldest War is oft-delayed sequel to the 2010 novel Bitter Seeds. Following the conclusion of the second world war, in which a cadre super-powered Nazi soldiers were taken down with the help blood-magic fueled British sorcery The Coldest War begins at the height of the titular Cold War. The top-secret Project Milkweed is all that stands between the people of Britain and the might of communist Russia. To make things complicated someone is murdering the last of Britain’s sorcerers a fact which draws the broken and battered Ribald Marsh back into the fray. A slower burn than Bitter Seeds, the Coldest War is a spy thriller touched with the supernatural and a heavy dose horror. Tregillis, a physicist at Los Alamos, is definitely an author to watch.