Outlaw--Mark Sullivan

First line: "In a private dining room above an alley on the crowded peninsula of Kowloon, the Moon Dragon spooned rare tea leaves into a fired clay pot while using his peripheral vision to examine his visitor for any sign of worry."

Robin Monarch calls himself a thief but has lived a varied life. These days he's freelance and the U.S. government has called him in to rescue the Secretary of State who was kidnapped by an extremist group calling itself the Sons of Prophesy during a secret meeting with the Chinese and Indian foreign ministers. The group has demanded money and the release of political prisoners from all three countries or the hostages will be executed, but the U.S. will not negotiate with terrorists.

Monarch's job is not just to rescue the Secretary of State but first to locate her, as there's no indication where this group is holding the hostages. He and his team--including an agent from China and one from India--set off to unravel the secrets of The Sons of Prophesy before the execution deadline. Crisscrossing the world as the Sons of Prophecy take credit for several more international incidents, the rescue team discovers that this is no ordinary terrorist group and it's certainly no ordinary kidnapping.

Outlaw is Mark Sullivan's second book in his Robin Monarch series. Whether you've read Rogue, the first in the series, or not, Outlaw is easy to pick up--a fast-paced, high-intensity thriller that deftly stands on its own.

Robin Monarch is a fun addition to the world of crime fiction protagonists. He's smart, witty and human. As Sullivan illustrates in Outlaw, if you cut Monarch, he bleeds. He's also compassionate and loyal. The bonds he has with his friends make him a richer, more likeable character than the lone superhero type.

I especially enjoyed Sullivan's female characters in Outlaw. From Secretary of State Agnes Lawton to Monarch's dependable Gloria Barnett to the Chinese MSS agent Song Le. Even the despicable Madame Long, wife to the triad leader, is a well-developed strong female role. The other element of Sullivan's character development that I appreciated was his tendency to not focus on physical appearance, rather he lets the characters' actions, thoughts, behaviors build them and make them attractive or not.

Sullivan chose to work with characters who would be among the world's smartest people and his plot reflects that as well. The mystery is an intricate entanglement of politics, religion and greed. It's also timely given current world events.

The end left me with mixed feelings. One aspect of it I felt was a brilliant use of technique while another aspect left me disappointed. I'll leave it at that to avoid spoilers but if you read Outlaw and want to chat about the end, by all means, drop me a line. I do encourage you to read Outlaw. I believe Sullivan has put a fresh twist on an element of the thriller world that is becoming cliché. I look forward to seeing where he takes this thief named Robin Monarch.

Outlaw is available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1250023612). It is also available as a Macmillan unabridged audio (ISBN: 978-1427233059) narrated by Jeff Gurner.

A Mark Sullivan/Pre-Bouchercon Contest!

It's Bouchercon Week and soon mystery/crime fiction readers around the country (and the world) will be making their ways to Albany, NY for the great gathering. I've decided that's cause for a giveaway. And don't worry, we'll celebrate with at least one giveaway after the convention as well.

For this one, however, the nice folks at St. Martin's Press sent me a couple copies of Mark Sullivan's ROGUE in paperback. His second Robin Monarch novel, OUTLAW, comes out next month. So if you didn't have a chance to get in on the ground floor of this series before, now is your chance.

The contest is open world wide. Entries need to be in by midnight (Eastern) September 23rd (a week from today). So just fill out the form below and good luck!

Left Coast Crime - Part I

Rabbit, rabbit! Right? Kind of funny saying that the day AFTER Easter. I hope you all had a great weekend.

So, you know I traveled to Colorado to attend my first Left Coast Crime. And I have to say, it was a great experience. I liked the size of the conference and the resort was absolutely lovely. I personally would have preferred it in the summer, but some left-coasters who don't get to see snow very often enjoyed it. Here's a view of the scenery Friday morning:

This was the same view Saturday morning:

This was also the reason Lou Diamond Phillips had a difficult time getting to Colorado Springs, but more on that later. Despite the weather, we had a grand time.

Thursday was our panel on social media. I video taped the panel, but unfortunately the view wasn't wide enough to get everyone. So, it's only a partial view. When I have that available on YouTube, I'll let you all know. But we touched on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads (too bad we didn't have the Amazon topic to throw in), Pinterest and Google Plus. Time prevented us from addressing blogs, websites and newsletters, though. Our panelists were so wonderful and all had unique perspectives, so the conversation was great and we received many compliments. The greatest thing I heard from people was that they learned something something from the panel. Yay!

The next day started off with a panel about literary influences, followed by a panel on the anti-hero. The discussion on the anti-hero was rather fascinating and revealing. Questions such as "is there a line your anti-hero can't cross" and "should the reader judge the anti-hero" came up. I think readers are going to judge all characters no matter but whether they're justified in doing so is the real question. This brings to mind for me the idea that readers should first and foremost ask themselves if the author is doing what he/she set out to do. John Gilstrap says the problems arise when you have the anti-hero step outside his/her own code.

The panel was all male and I wonder what direction some of the questions would have taken if there had been a female on the panel. It was pointed out later in the panel that Zoe Sharp writes a female anti-hero. That may very well have changed the climate of this panel, but it was insightful nonetheless.

One of my favorite panels of the weekend was the "Lighter Side of Death and Dismemberment" featuring Deb Coonts, Harley Jane Kozak, Rochelle Staab, Brad Parks and Chuck Greaves. These folks know how to avoid taking life too seriously. While I had a hard time believing that Brad Parks is the shy quiet one in his family, the fact that Deb has made it her life's mission to embarrass her son sounded like a parental truth.

The idea of humor in the darker books of crime fiction came up and humor as a defense mechanism was discussed. Most professions that encounter regular horrors like law enforcement, the medical professions, etc. have a way of dealing with what they witness every day. To people on the outside that may come across as sick, but for those in the trenches, it's the only way to remain healthy. So humor is true to life for these people.

I have some video from this panel as well. I need to do some editing with it, but will hopefully have that done soon so I can share. I think you'll enjoy a little tidbit from this panel.

Following this humor panel, I attended another absolutely hilarious event and that was the Truth or Dare panel. The folks subjecting themselves to this were Brad Parks, Toast master David Corbett, Guest of Honor Laura Lippman and Parnell Hall.

The questions and dares were posed by Rhys Bowen. At first everyone was willing to respond to the truths: what non-living writer doesn't deserve their fame? What's your birth name? What's the worst thing anyone's ever said or written about you? But when the question of "What LIVING author doesn't deserve their wealth or fame" no one was willing to answer and the dares started. 

Several of the dares dealt with singing, but when they arrived at Brad, he was given a blind fold and then Jan Burke came to the stage and stood next to him. He had to determine who Jan was without looking. And yes, we were all a little concerned about this! No lives or limbs were lost, however.

To top off this night, Brad Parks and I went to dinner at a dive called The Hatch Cover. Brad had been in the "Concealed Weapons Fashion Show" as James Bond and was decked out in a tuxedo. I fit in much better in my jeans and sweatshirt. As Brad describes it, when we walked in the record scratched and everyone turned to look at the first tuxedo to grace the Hatch Cover. The tuxedo may also have been the reason the waitress carded Brad when he ordered a beer. He was astonished and had to brag to everyone that night about being carded. A success Friday at Left Coast Crime I would say!

I'll have more on Saturday tomorrow, so stay tuned!