Thunderball - Ian Fleming (1961)

SPECTRE is trying to steal two British nuclear bombs to extort the government.  Bond recruits Domino Vitali, whose brother is a pilot in the pay of SPECTRE who plans to highjack a bomber carrying the bombs.  She is discovered trying to use a Geiger counter disguised as a camera.  She is tortured but refuses to give up any information.  The bomber is highjacked and ditched in the ocean where SPECTRE hops to recover the bombs.  Bond dives to the bomber and gets targeted by the enemy, but Domino, who escaped, shoots the bad guy, saving Bond. 

Perhaps the template for every Bond movie that followed.  The tough girl who falls for Bond, but is a force to be reckoned with on her own.

Day of the Dead – J.A. Jance

The Walker Saga continues.  After surviving attacks by serial killers, their daughter Lani becomes a target.  Former sheriff Walker joins the Last Chance Club, a group of former policemen who look into cold cases.  One case is of girls being sent for adoption from Mexico to Arizona, then disappear.  When he mentions it to his family, his daughter becomes involved and threatened.

Kiss of the Bees – J.A. Jance (2000) William Morrow

The second book in the series about the Walkers.  In this one Davy has grown-up and his adopted sister has been kidnapped.  The main story is still choppy, but the Indian stories are better.  The final part of the book is much better written, the timing and the climax work-out with a lot of action.  The return is well done also, showing the sister growing into a strong medicine woman.  At first, I was not interested in reading any more of the series, but the ending provides encouragement.

Unterzakhn (Underwear) - Leela Corman (2012) Schoken 

A graphic novel about the lives of two girls growing up in the early part of the 20th century in New York.  The story follows them through learning life's lessons along different paths.  One becomes a women's rights advocate, discreetly helping women who do not want to be pregnant (providing 'sheaths' was illegal), the other becomes a prostitute and then a stage star.  The ending is tragic, with the death of the advocate in child birth, leaving her childless sister to raise the girl.

Hour of the Hunter - J.A. Jance (1991) William Morrow 

A thriller with the requisite elements.  You know who the bad guy is from the beginning, you just don't know how they will stop him, each time you see how the good guys will save the day, they are diverted.  In the end it is the bad guy's target victim who defeats him.  The author weaves the local native culture into the story.  The scenes are brief.  Yet the story is so strong that it became a bestseller.

The Wolves of Midwinter - Anne Rice (2013) Knopf

There are more than just shapeshifters in the world.  Reuben, a wolf-man finds other spirits haunting the halls of his mansion.  And they have magic of their own.