The Venetian Judgement by David Stone - Book 5 (plus 1)

My fifth book was the Venetian Judgment by David Stone. I'd previously read the Orpheus Deception, so I expected an action-packed Robert Ludlum style thriller. Here's Amazon's description:

CIA cleaner Micah Dalton has taken his revenge against the Serbian gang who shot his lover. Then he receives a mysterious jade box containing a stainless steel glasscutter. Someone is sending him a very serious message, a message that will force him back into action against a foe out to unleash chaos upon the world...

This book was a good read, though in my opinion not in the class of the Bourne series by Ludlum. What also makes it strange is the intermittent presence of a dead guy who gives the hero advice. This is explained away by the lingering effects of some substance he was tortured with, but it doesn't quite ring true.  If you like thrillers, you'll probably enjoy this anyway - I give it 3 out 5 stars (because I'm feeling generous).





So, what about the half, you ask? I've also read Clive Cussler's The Wrecker, set in the early 1900s when the US railroad was being built. I count it as a half because I started it before the challenge, though I only read 10 pages.




Here's what Amazon says:

Van Dorn Detective Agency operative Isaac Bell returns, this time to track down a clever saboteur who’s been dubbed the Wrecker. Seems the Wrecker has it in for the Southern Pacific Company, and he will stop at nothing, including murder, to keep the company from putting through a new railway line between San Francisco and northern California.

I found this a good read, though slow to start, The hero, his fiancee and the other main characters are very personable and once you get past the first third, the story moves at a good pace.