The Rook by Steven James Published by: Revell (2008) 488 pages Rating: 9/10 Buy it Now:    Also by Steven James: The Pawn The Knight

Steven James began this series about Special Agent Patrick Bowers with The Pawn last year, and it was a surprisingly good hunt-for-a-serial-killer thriller. It stood out from the pack of such tales with some unique twists, but wasn't anything utterly amazing.

However, with the second book, The Rook, James takes the storyline up another notch. If this progression continues, the next book (The Knight) should reach that "amazing" plateau. In fact, it has the potential to be mind-blowing.

But you're wondering about this book, not the next, right? Put simply, this is suspense at its best. James easily matches Brandilyn Collins and others who dominate this genre. Not only do you have the standard crime drama with murder, arson, etc., you also have a family drama that never fails to keep up the interest as much as the rest of the story. That's tricky. Some authors have failed completely in trying to make a smaller crisis related to a family member as captivating as the main plot, making the reader want to skip those parts entirely. James, however, provides Bowers' daughter, Tessa, with a subplot that isn't anything completely out of the ordinary, but nevertheless manages to grip the reader with a sense of impending doom as much as Patrick's own hunt for a killer. And if all that weren't enough, there's military and technological aspects to the story, as well.

James also manages to do a mix of first-person and third-person narration that actually works. Once again, this is something that some authors have failed miserably at... but James is able to pull it off.

I liked The Pawn. I loved The Rook. I anticipate great things for The Knight. Highly Recommended.