The Queen by Steven James

Hi Everybody,


Thrilling! Steven James newest book in the Patrick Bower Series is good indeed. So far I have read The Knight, and The Bishop, and now The Queen. (Yes, I need to go to the beginning and get The Pawn and The Rook.) They each stand alone with ease, but they fit together beautifully as well. 


In The Queen Patrick Bowers gets a call to come to the are where his estranged brother lives. A husband is missing or dead, and his wife and child have been murdered. Pat is called in to help analyze and figure out why they are dead, and is the husband dead too, or missing? Little does he know that this case is going to go deep and deeper into multiple areas in the case, as well as in his life. Those not-so-dead-and-buried issues start coming to life to be dealt with one after the other, all while he is trying to break the case, find the killers and avoid disasters on multiple fronts. 


Among those many fronts is Tessa, his "daughter" who is dealing with the aftermath of the man she had to kill, or who at least died because of her. She is dealing daily with guilt, and with trying to figure out what do people really mean when they say to "forgive yourself"? His brother is one of those fronts, and his brother's wife Amber, and the woman he wants to marry but hasn't quite proposed to is another front for him to deal with. The more he digs, the more secrets of the case, as well as of his life and the lives of those around him come rising from the grave to haunt, or is it to heal? 


Now all I need is some "spare" time to read the first two books! I will be waiting for the next one to come out as well. I really enjoy Steven James's detailed and gripping writing style. 


Carol 


Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

“A masterpiece of a thriller.”—Special Agent R. Wayne Smith, FBI (retired)

While investigating a mysterious double homicide in an isolated northern Wisconsin town, FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers uncovers a high-tech conspiracy that ties together long-buried Cold War secrets with present-day tensions in the Middle East. Amid the hazardous winter weather and harsh landscape, Bowers must piece together the puzzle before it’s too late.

In his most explosive thriller yet, bestselling author Steven James delivers a pulse-pounding, multi-layered storytelling tour-de-force that will keep you guessing.

The Queen is a breathless thriller from the author Publishers Weekly calls a “master storyteller at the peak of his game.”

WARNING: This book contains violence and graphic descriptions of disturbing crime scenes.  It is not for the faint-of-heart who may be offended by such written images.  For more on this topic, please read Steven James’ blog article entitled “Why I Write about Evil” .

Endorsements

"A masterpiece of a thriller."--Special Agent R. Wayne Smith, FBI (retired)
"Steven James continues to raise the bar in suspense writing. The Queen takes readers to a new level of suspense and is the best book in the Patrick Bowers series hands down!"--Suspense Magazine

ABOUT Steven James:

Steven James has penned 30+ books spanning the genres of psychological thrillers, prayer collections, dramas, monologues, a nine book series on creative storytelling, YA fantasy, and inspirational nonfiction.

He has received wide critical acclaim for his work including four Storytelling World Honor awards, two Publishers Weekly starred reviews, and 2009 and 2011 Christy Awards for best suspense. His latest thriller, The Bishop, was named both Suspense Magazine's and The Christian Manifesto's 2010 Book of the Year. 

Steven earned a Master’s Degree in Storytelling from ETSU in 1997 and is an active member of International Thriller Writers, the Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, and International Association of Crime Writers.  He is a contributing editor to Writer's Digest, and has taught writing and storytelling principles on three continents.

He lives in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee with his wife and three daughters. When he's not writing or speaking, he's rock climbing, playing disc golf, or (shh....) slipping away to a matinee.

WEBSITE: http://www.stevenjames.net/index.cfm