Females ARE Deadlier than the Male~~~~

"Book lovers never go 
 to bed alone...."

Anonymous

Read one of these ladies and you might not want to go to bed at all. The reaction I get when I recommend a woman thriller writer is almost comical. I have had men look at me as if I've lost my mind when I suggest one, and women will even do a little hem and haw~~~mainly because they don't believe that a woman can write a tough, noir potboiler as well (in some cases better) than a man.....or that a female can be deadlier than the male. Not only did I pick women thriller authors, but I wanted the  main character to be  a woman too. Meet some women whose ruthless streak can surprise even themselves when it appears. Here are a few of my favorite ladies that I suggest to folks and I love when they come back, tell me how much they enjoyed her and grab another book by the same author.

Chelsea Cain~~Besides being one of  the top thriller writers of the genre, Cain introduces one of most brutal serial killers you'll meet, Gretchen Lowell. Set in Portland, Oregon, the weather~~rainy, grey and damp~~gives the series that grey, norish feeling. Great characters, besides Lowell. Portland detective, Archie Sheridan, and reporter, Susan Ward. The connection between Sheridan and Lowell will give you pause, especially when you realize what brings them together. The series will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Pick up the entire series so you can keep going:   

Heartsick

Sweetheart

Evil at Heart
The Night Season ( her newest one)

Vicki Hendricks~~This is one author that grabs you by page one and you hold on until the last page. Hang on for a ride that will leave you breathless. Set in Florida, in Hendricks first book, Cruel Poetry, we first meet happy hooker Renata (Rennie) and her pet python....and some men who feel the need to save her. This is trailer-trash noir at it's best..the hot sun, beach, kooky characters, sex, humor and of course~murder. Even keeping the air conditioner on while reading you will still break out in a sweat. As Ken Bruen fittingly said "...(Hendricks) you write like a demented banshee!"  ***Warning~~Hendricks books can be considered on the, um,  risque side.

Zoe Sharp~~Sharp hit the big time in 2001 with Killer Instinct. You may have heard of her co-author, Lee Child?Meet Charlotte (Charlie) Fox, Sharpe's all action, macho, tough talking "heroine," who was in the Special Forces until they kicked her out. During the early books, Charlie Fox drifts through doing odd jobs, then everything kicks into gear when she meets up with her old military instructor, Sean Meyer~~who she holds a grudge against. Charlie finds out how much her military training comes in handy when she goes to work for Meyer as a bodyguard for hire. Fox is amazed at herself when she finds out how violent and  cold blooded she can be, but most frightening of all is how far she will go to do her job. I like Fox; she's strong, compassionate and adheres to her principles. Good series that opens up the characters with    each new book.

Charlie Fox series:
Killer Instinct

Riot Act

Hard  Knocks                                                    

First Drop

Road Kill

Second Shot
Third Strike
Fourth Day
Fifth Victim (her newest one)

Lisa Unger~~ If you scrape away the layers of a family, what do you find? While Unger has a recurring character in a few of her books, Ridley Jones, most of her books are stand alone.She does keep you turning the pages with the twists, turns and surprises that are uncovered. I love Unger's development of  her characters and that once the book takes off, it is fast paced action at it's best.
Ridley Jones books:
Beautiful Lies
Sliver of Truth
**I highly recommend Fragile~~loved it!

Christa Faust~Love pulp fiction? Here is one of the best. Faust gives us tough talking, a**kicking Angel Dare, who will "gobsmack" you as soon as look at you. Angel is a former porn star, who we first meet in Money Shot, where she takes on the sex slave trade and ends up in the Witness Protection Program...of course a lot goes on in between. Angel's next book is Choke Hold, coming out in October....and I can't wait! Faust is the first women author in the history of Hard Case Crime! That alone should make you run out and pick a copy of her books. Be careful not to pick up her other genres~~not that they aren't worth reading, but they aren't thrillers (**Remember my warning about Vicki Hendricks? She's mild compared to Faust. I doubt I could put her book covers up on this blog)

Lisa Gardner~~Gardner has two series with strong women as lead characters. FBI profiler Kimberly Quincy and Police Detective D.D. Warren. Both series are terrific...and disturbing, but I love them. 
The D.D. Warren series:
Alone
Hide
The Neighbor
Live to Tell
Love you More (her latest in the series)


FBI Profiler series with Kimberly Quincy:
Gone
Killing Hour
Say Goodbye




Look at those faces? Do they look like the face of someone who can write about grisly, bloody murders? A pedophile that loves spiders so much he has eight eyes tattooed all around his head? Entire families murdered on the anniversary of a family killing from years ago? Police detectives who forge a strange bond with a serial killer? Ah yes~~and when the past comes back to bite, is anything what it once seemed? Good stuff.

There you have it, a few of my favorite women thrillers writers with great women characters. You can't go wrong with any of them. When I get to the part of the book where our leading lady is about to go head to head with the bad guy, or woman, I get an earworm of Pat Benatar singing "Hit me with your best shot...fire away!"  I just start to chuckle because they have no idea what they are up against.

I'd love to know what you think of my choice of ladies....and what yours are.

Happy Reading!

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

The worth of a book is to be measured
by what you can carry away from it.
James Bryce

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

Jim Fergus

I love books based on "what if?" One Thousand White Women is very much a "what if" book.
While this is fiction, it is based on an historical fact. In 1875, the chief of the Cheyenne, Lone Wolf, came to Washington and met with President Grant. Knowing that the way of life of the Indian was changing, he requested "Brides for Indians," he offered one thousand horses for one thousand white women. The idea being that the white women would marry the Cheyenne, have a baby, and therefore assimilate the Indians into the white man's world and hopefully bring peace between the two. That's the fact, now we begin the fiction.

While publicly Grant was aghast, secretly he gave his consent to send one thousand white women to the Cheyenne. Recruiters went to jails, mental institutions, debtors' prisons, and were sent out to find women to fill the quota. May Dodd was in the first group to head west, having been recruited from a mental institution. She joined quite a cast of characters when they were loaded on the train to take them to Indian Country.

We did this book for book discussion, and over bison stew--made by yours truly--came to the consensus that we loved this book. We agreed that we had to keep reminding ourselves that it was fiction. We were amazed that the author, Jim Fergus, could do such an amazing job from a women's point of view. May Dodd kept a journal from the beginning of the journey to the end. The deal is that the women have to stay with the Cheyenne for two years, have a child, then they are free to do what they want. All teh women had been pardoned so they didn't have to fear being returned to prison, instituions or home. The writing about the lives of the women while living with the Cheyenne is wonderful. How the women adjust to the life among a different people, a people who they have been taught to fear, does take some time but when they realize these are not the vicious savages they had heard about, life isn't awful The women learn to ride horses, eat different foods then they were used to, (choked, boiled puppy was a big favorite in the Cheyenne diet) cook, pack up and move, and live in crowded teepee's. Cheyenne braves could have more then one wife and, yes, they all lived together. The women are amazed at how accepting the Indians are of someone being different and how they hold them in high regard. Half-breeds, who the white man considered as beneath them, the Indians believed to be special and treat them with respect. When the women see the affects of liquor on the Indians they realize that not everything the white people have brought the Indians is good.

The historical writing has been well researched. The violence between the different tribes, the distrust between the Indian and the white man, and the government reneging on the "deal" that was made; the Indians had forfilled their part of the deal, delivered the one thousand horses, but no more white women were coming. When gold is discovered in the Black Hills, the Black Hills that had been given to the Sioux and Cheyenne "forver and ever" in a treaty, all hell breaks loose when the news reaches the East as the mad rush for gold begins.

One of the most interesting things about this book was that author, a male, could write with such insight about women. Fergus made his female characters strong, independent and definitely before their time. We had to keep reminding ourselves reading the book that this was fiction.

While this book is based on fact, the Cheyenne did approach the Grant administration for "brides," the Grant administration was horrified at the request...or were they?

The book came to an end that was not one any of us liked...

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy historical fiction, or... even if you don't.

Happy Reading!