Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Written in verse, this tour-de-force follows a boy whose brother was just shot and killed.  As he takes the elevator down from his apartment, after having retrieved his brother’s gun, he is met at each floor by ghosts of others in his family who have also died by gunshot; his uncle, a girl he knew at a playground, his father, even the young man who killed his father, and his brother.  They all ask him why he thinks he needs a gun.  And it ends with that question still open.

This book won honors from Newbery, Correta Scott King, Prinz, and won the Walter Dean Myers Award and The Edgar for Best Young Adult Fiction.

End Game by David Baldacci (2/12)

In the fifth novel in the Will Robie series, Blue Man, Robie and Reel’s handler is missing.  He went on his annual vacation to Colorado and has not reported back.  The two government assassins are sent to find him.  Grand, Colorado is a tiny town with open carry (everyone), and little to nothing to do outside of hiring out as guides for wanna-be hunters and fishermen.\

The heroes find out that Blue Man grew-up in the town and lost his parents in an accident.  The woman he should have married is growing medicinal marijuana.  The girl he doesn’t know is his daughter is part of something much worse.

The Guilty by David Baldacci

The fourth novel in the Will Robie series – Robie is sent to assassinate a potential leader who wants war with America.  But when he pulls the trigger, he finds a little girl had run into the room right behind the target and his bullet has killed both.  On his next mission he hesitates because he sees a little boy jump into the target’s arms.  Only it didn’t happen and Robie did not pull the trigger.

He’s sent to Cantrell, Mississippi where he grew-up because his estranged father has been accused of murder.  When he arrives, he finds out that his father remarried and has a very young, autistic son.  Robie has a half-brother.  He soon finds that there are very questionable things going on in the town and his partner, Jessica Reel has to intervene and come to his rescue.

Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina

Merci’s family live in Miami.  They have three houses next to each other.  She goes to an exclusive school in trade for her family’s labor in painting and sewing.  Her older brother is considered the smartest kid in school and spends all his time in science labs.  She has younger twin brothers whom she loves, but hates to have to babysit.  She likes to play soccer and often plays on her father’s team.  Merci’s grandfather, Lolo, is changing due to Alzheimer’s.  At school, she tries to fit-in with a group of girls who tend to look down on her.

The book centers around Merce’s feelings and her not wanting change to happen and dealing with being a twelve-year-old.

The Target by David Baldacci

The third novel in the Will Robie series.  Jessica Reel is his partner in this volume.  The plot is more complicated than before.  The first story is about Jessica’s father and the Neo-Nazi who raped and impregnated her.  When she was young, her father abused her and turned her over to a group of white supremacists and misogynists who also abused her.  But she turned the tables and was able to get the group busted.  This put her into witness protection and from there she was recruited by the CIA.  Her father, on death row, and finagles getting a message sent to her, asking to see her before he dies.

A North Korean, General Pak, has a secret plan with the President to take-out his supreme leader and take his place.  The President gives his word to back him up.

Another character, Chung Cha Yien, is in a similar role to Robie and Reel in North Korea.  She grew-up in a concentration camp because her father spoke out against the regime.  She has never forgotten how she was treated or what she had to do to escape the camp and get trained to be an assassin.  She is sent to kill an English envoy who has been spying on the country.  In that act, she finds his phone and re-dials the last number he spoke to and discovers it is a highly placed North Korean general.  The general flees to France for a medical procedure.

Robie and Reel are tasked with taking-out the general so the U.S. involvement will be kept secret.  But when they get there, the General asked that his family (an adopted son and daughter) be kept from going to the camps, then shoots himself.

The North Koreans decide they must strike back and assign Chung Cha to kill the first lady and her children.

Robie and Reel are tasked with getting General Pak’s children out of a concentration camp.  They do this with the help of a man who escaped the same camp.  Robie is wounded, but manages to escape holding onto a helicopter skid.

The first lady introduces Robie and Reel to her children, her son is having a hard time adjusting to the White House but is very impressed with the two agents.  They are going to vacation for a week on Nantucket during Halloween week and have asked the two agents to accompany them.

Chung Cha takes a young girl who reminds her of herself from the same camp she was in.  Her proposal is to use her to allay suspicion from the Americans.  They travel to New York, posing as South Koreans and then to Nantucket.  The girl, Min, is awestruck.

Chung Cha teaches Min a few words in English.  My name is Min.  I am ten.  Please help me.

When the attack happens, the first family and Robie and Reel are trapped in a basement.  One of the Koreans announces what is to happen, then Chung Cha turns on her comrades and kills them.  Robie and Reel are impressed.  They ask why just as another police officer enters the basement and kills Chung Cha.

They take Min to live with their friend Julie, who will be Min’s big sister.  Then they visit the grave of Chung Cha.

The Hit by David Baldacci

The second book in the Will Robie series.  In this one, a colleague of Wills, Jessica Reel, has killed her spotter instead of the target.  Then she kills the DD, the number 2 man at the CIA Special Operations.  Will is assigned to find her and try to bring her in or execute her.  She misses killing a FISA judge.  Robie is called to the new DD’s house which is being protected by only two bodyguards.  They come under attack and Robie tries to get her out of the estate.  She is hit by one of the bullets and as Robie is sure he won’t make it Reel comes to his rescue.\

Robie tracks Reel down by looking for someone she is also looking for, there is a firefight from a radicalized militia and this time Robie comes to her rescue.  When he confronts her she raises more questions than answers.

Ultimately this exposes a deep government conspiracy that is trying to alter the world order in the Middle East.  The two killers save the day and the terrorists are stopped.  For this they receive the highest medal from the CIA.  But the head of the CIA wants them dead.

The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz

Another story about the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lizbeth Sanders.  In this volume, she is tracking her own sister, the head of a Russian Crime Syndicate.  Lizbeth killed her father because he beat her mother into brain damage.  Her sister was abused by him, but did not see it as abuse.  She holds Lizbeth in contempt for her father’s death.

At the same time, Lizbeth is helping her friend, Mikael Blomkvist, who is looking into a corruption case.  While a government minister is being dragged through the mud in the media.  And a homeless man, wearing an unseasonable parka rages against unintelligible demons.

It all ties together in the end.  A tightly written thriller that was fun to read.