Strong Darkness

August 4, 2014
Fans of Sax Rohmer will appreciate Land’s fast-paced sixth Caitlin Strong novel (after 2013’s Strong Rain Falling), in which the Texas Ranger becomes caught up in a case with roots in the Old West. Key to the mystery is a young Chinese woman, Kai, a victim of the international human trafficking. Kai’s link to a series of brutal murders is eerily similar to a bizarre killing spree Texas Ranger Ray Strong, Caitlin’s great-grandfather, and Judge Roy Bean faced in the 1880s. Suspicion soon falls on Chinese businessman Li Zhen, whose company is building America’s new 5G wireless network, granting him connections that place him beyond conventional justice. Readers should be prepared for Chinese characters who are victims, faceless mooks, or grand villains, as well for Texas-style justice in the form of beatings, defenestrations, drownings, electrocutions, and storms of bullets. Agent: Natalia Aponte, Natalia Aponte Literary Agency.

September 1, 2014

Don't mess with the Texas Rangers, specifically Caitlin Strong. Land's sixth series novel (after Strong Rain Falling) opens in 1883 Texas with a serial killer on the loose. Four Chinese women--brutally murdered, raped postmortem, and disfigured--are found separately along a railroad line under construction. The story line alternates between this investigation by Texas Ranger William Ray, Caitlin's great-grandfather, and Caitlin's present-day search for the murderer of Chinese women in the same manner and along the same rail line. Her investigation leads her to a Chinese CEO in Texas named Li Zhen who is on the verge of releasing a technology breakthrough, a 5G wireless network. While Li Zhen might have Homeland Security fooled, he isn't fooling Caitlin. But if Caitlin doesn't discover Li Zhen's true plan in time, many more people in the United States will lose their lives. VERDICT This thriller reads like an old-fashioned Western in which the characters are larger than life, the fighting is fast and furious, and readers get to enjoy the entertaining roller-coaster ride. Recommend for high-action thriller fans, but readers with a Western bent will enjoy as well.--Susan Moritz, Silver Spring, MD

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2014
Land's latest Caitlin Strong novel, starring the modern-day Texas Ranger, again delivers a well-wrought, character-driven story mixed with high-octane action. History collides with the present in bizarre ways, as Judge Roy Bean and Caitlin's ancestor, William Ray Strong, also a Ranger, battle a serial killer in 1883, while Caitlin investigates a corporate bigwig with the power to take down the present-day U.S. When bodies start popping up with similarities to the murders more than 100 years earlier, Caitlin is forced to question her long-held beliefs about the honor of the Rangers, and to wonder if the wrong man was accused of the crimes back then. Meanwhile, someone involved in the contemporary plot beats up Caitlin's boyfriend's son. Can she bring the culprit down before the people she cares about are killed? The story line moves rapidly along until the quite shocking ending. Fans of contemporary westerns that draw on the mythic appeal of the Old West will enjoy what Land does with the theme. Strong indeed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)