Cross Fire by James Patterson

As I was reading this book I felt that the writting style was similar to the previous book I had read, Alex Cross's trial, but I did not think anything of it, and now that I am adding it to this list, I realise that it is the same author. Call me silly.
Anyway, this seems to be a book in a series following a black Washington detective and his stalker killer. Nice enough read, but it does require a very flexible imagination or at least one that will allow reality to be stretched a bit. 4/10

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy

Another Jack Ryan novel from Tom Clancy, and although I found it a page turner, I was frustrated at all the gung-ho American nationalism dripping from this book. It seems that an American can shoot a gun in the wrong direction and he will hit a bad guy but the bad guys can be firing hundreds of rounds and the All American hero might get a scratch or two but rarely more. Well, one of the "good" guys does die so there goes my theory.

No, I did like the early Jack Ryan books and I had not read one for a while but this, though riveting, gets a 3 out of 10.

Corsair by Clive Cussler

I kind of regret reading this book. It was good in that it killed a few hours and I have to admit that I did want to see what happened, but it is one of those ridiculous heroic crap books that Americans like to laugh at when others write them but get gang-ho with teary eyed nationalism when it is about their boys fighting "terrorists".

Anyway, the book:

Corsair is the 6th novel in The Oregon Files by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul. The book follows the corporation team's mission to recover the US Secretary of State, Fiona Katamora, before the upcoming peace summit. They discover that all is not as it seems and that the plane crash that brought her down may not have been an accident. The corporation must battle terrorists with a foothold in the Libyan government while uncovering the identity of their hidden leader. As the journey continues the team uncovers many hidden secrets in the Libyan desert including the entire ex-foreign department of the government and an archeologist, Alana Shepard, who is close to uncovering the key to peace in the middle east.

The reversal by Michael Connelly

A book featuring both the Lincoln lawyer and Harry Bosch.

Mickey Haller, who has become increasingly frustrated in his role as a defense lawyer, agrees to undertake the prosecution role on behalf of the city of Los Angeles, in the retrial of a convicted killer which has been granted as a result of new DNA evidence. His one condition before accepting the task is that he is permitted to choose his own team; he chooses his ex-wife Maggie McPherson as his co-prosecutor, and his half-brother Harry Bosch as his investigator from the LAPD. The prosecution case rests largely on the testimony of Sarah Gleason, the elder sister of the victim, Melissa Landy.

The body of 12-year-old Melissa was discovered in 1986, discarded in a dumpster, only a few hours after she was reported missing. Unknown to the killer, her sister had been hiding in the garden and had witnessed her abduction. On the day of the murder, she identified Jason Jessup, a lorry driver, as the man who snatched Melissa from the garden. DNA evidence has subsequently shown that semen stains on the dress Melissa was wearing came not from Jessup, but from the girls' stepfather Ken Landy. However, the evidence against Jessup includes strands of Melissa's hair, found in the seat of his lorry.

Jessup's defense counsel, "clever" Clive Royce, mounts a media campaign in his client's favour, and it becomes clear that their main motivation is in obtaining a compensation payout from the state. Haller's response is to allow bail and have Jessup tailed by the police in the hope that he will return to his old ways and provide additional support for the prosecution case. Jessup is soon seen visiting various mountain trails in the Mulholland area, and on one occasion parks his car outside Bosch's house at night. Bosch and Haller, both concerned for their own teenage daughters, develop a theory that Jessup has killed before, but are unable to investigate fully for fear of blowing the police's cover.

Legal procedures require that the jury is kept ignorant of Jessup's history. Testimony given in the original trial, where the witness is no longer available because of death or informity, has to be read out by Harry Bosch. The defense attempts to undermine the testimmony of Sarah Gleason, who has a history of drug use and prostitution in the years since her sister's murder, though she has now been entirely rehabilitated. Bosch traces Sarah's former lover, Eddie Roman, and finds that he is still living off prostitute's earnings. Locating the prostitute Sonia Reyes, Bosch persuades her to enter the courtroom at a crucial moment in Roman's testimony, which causes the witness to alter his testimony, effectively destroying the defense case.

While anticipating a plea bargain from the defense team, Bosch and Haller hear that Jessup has entered Royce's offices with a gun and has killed Royce, two of his team and a policeman who was on his tail. Jessup is now at large and the police surround him at a hideout under the pier which had been discovered by Bosch as a result of the police surveillance activities. Jessup's death ends the search for Melissa Landy's killer, but leaves the prosecution team with a host of unanswered moral questions.

The Bourne betrayal by Robert Ludlum

I have always liked Robert Ludlum and I was not let down by this book either.

THE BOURNE BETRAYAL begins where THE BOURNE LEGACY ends, and it would behoove readers to have at least a passing familiarity with the previous novel before attempting to dive into this new work.

Bourne, still reeling from personal losses, attempts a radical new course of therapy to regain his memory and excise the mysterious flashbacks he is experiencing. While he is undergoing treatment, Martin Lindros, Bourne’s Central Intelligence handler and his only friend, goes missing while on a mission in which the fate of the country hangs in the balance. CI reluctantly recruits Bourne to find Lindros, a task he jumps into even while insisting that it be done his way.

The faithful spy by Alex Berendson

present day espionage, if you call it that. American undercover with the Taliban for years forsaking wife and son for the good of his country. The predictable badies are still the badies, but at least it does ask some questions. Shame really, good story, but some trains of thought could have been followed a bit further...but I guess his home audience would have had problems with that.

The Bancroft strategy by Robert Ludlum

If you are a fan of Robert Ludlum then you will not be dissapointed with this book. I certainly was not. Managed to read most of it by going in to work early and stopping off for a long coffee and a read at Schuman's.
I am curious though how this ghost writter is able to write under Roberts name for so long.
When Todd Belknap - a field agent for Consular Operations with a reputation as something of a cowboy - is cut loose from the agency after an operation goes wrong, his best friend and fellow agent is abducted in Lebanon by a vicious militia group. When the government refuses to help, Belknap decides to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, hedge fund analyst Andrea Newton gets an unexpected call - she has been left six million dollars by a cousin she's never met. But there's one condition: she must agree to sit on the board of the Newton foundation, a charitable organization run by the family patriarch, Paul Newton. Having never even met the family - her mother was married only briefly and cut all contact many years ago - Andrea is intrigued. But the foundation, supposedly dedicated to doing good deeds, appears less and less benign the more deeply involved she gets... What exactly is their involvement with the 'Genesis' - a mysterious group working to destabilize the geopolitical balance at the risk of millions of lives? As events escalate, Todd and Andrea must form an uneasy alliance if they are to uncover the truth behind 'Genesis' - before it's too late.