Hard Cold Winter

January 4, 2016
In Hamilton’s entertaining sequel to 2015’s Past Crimes, Elana Coll, the niece of the massive Will Willard, who was once the closest crony of former Army ranger Van Shaw’s late grandad in Seattle, has gone missing. Will wants Van to locate her. After all, Elana was close to Van when both were teenage thieves. Elana was heading for the cabin of her rich boyfriend, Kend Haymes, in the Olympic Forest when she fell off the grid. Van hikes to the remote cabin, where he discovers Kend and Elana shot to death. What was the motive? Van hooks up with former Afghanistan ranger and sniper Leonard Pak to learn why the young couple was killed. The mayhem that follows uncovers a Byzantine conspiracy generated by Russian gangsters and corrupt business tycoons. Hamilton renders the ample violent action effectively, but the best parts of the story are the vignettes he intersperses depicting Van and Elana’s criminal exploits when they were 17. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron Priest Literary Agency.

February 1, 2016
Van Shaw is easily bored. He seeks the thrill of dangerous action the way gamblers hunger for the rush. As a teenager, he helped steal a roomful of optical lenses and spent an exquisite few minutes hanging from the side of a building, hoping the cops wouldn't spot him. Later, as an Army ranger in Afghanistan, he almost shocks himself when he has a fine time charging an enemy ambush. Now, back home in Seattle, Shaw agrees to help out a friend of his late grandfather's and finds himself on a trek to the Olympic Mountains, investigating a double murder. This is where the novel runs on rails, making all the predictable stops: the warning from ape-necked thugs; the lying client; the bomb tossed through the door; the involvement of the rich guy. Some readers won't mind this reliance on formula, especially since Hamilton stages the scenes with understated skill. Others will want to know more about Shaw than just his love of fistfights and flying bullets. As his buddy observes when the mayhem begins, You're happier than I've seen you in weeks. As is, it's a fine ride for action lovers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)