Synopsis: 'Night in the California desert: John Barron - the youngest cop on the LAPD's feared 5-2 squad - will get a baptism of blood and fire he will never forget.
Panic on the streets of LA: An international hit man no one can stop - not the governments he threatens, not the prisons that try to hold him, not LA's bloodiest rogue cops.
Rebecca Barron, John's ravishingly beautiful sister: A night of traumatic terror has left her tragically mute. Now, trapped in a web of global intrigue - and pursued by the same murderous hit man menacing institutions of power worldwide - she will find the shocking violence that robbed her of her speech was only the beginning of a far darker odyssey.
A world-famous baroness - as sensuous as she is singularly cruel - will stop at nothing to fulfill her own maniacal dream, one destined to topple governments and dethrone dynasties, catapulting her to the pinnacle of global power . . . while the world holds its breath and waits.' From the book jacket

Review: While the story is interesting, the fact that the main characters change their names in different parts of the book is rather confusing. The ending is disappointing. ( )

First edition as new

This was an excellent gripping thriller that had me riveted to my seat for nearly all of its 702 pages.

It's divided into three parts, Los Angeles, Europe & Russia. The first part, Los Angeles centres around a mysteriously violent man who emerges from the midst of the take down of another criminal getting caught up as he is taken hostage, then murders police to escape resulting in a thrilling manhunt.

From here it moves to Europe, which I shan't describe for fear or ruining the exciting flow of the novel, then the story moves to Russia where all of the mysteries and motivations of people are full exposed in a captivating manner.

My description really does not do this justice, it was a great story and I think I shall be checking out some more Folsom soon. ( )

The last time Maureen O'Donnell saw Ann Harris, Ann was sitting in her office in the Glasgow Women's Shelter nursing two broken ribs and smelling of a long binge on cheap drink. Two weeks later Ann's mutilated body is found, washed up by the Thames. Maureen and her friend Leslie are the only people who seem worried about these events, and Leslie isn't telling what she knows. Maureen travels to London where she quickly finds herself embroiled in a seedy world of deceit and violence. Alone and threatened in a strange city, she must act fast to piece together Ann Harris's last hours and days - and to save herself from Ann's fate. ( )

I read The Day After Tomorrow by Folsom several years back and really enjoyed it. It ranks in my top 10% of books I've read, so I went into The Exile excited and ready for a new favorite. It was not to be.

Perhaps it's Folsom fault and The Exile just isn't as good as The Day After Tomorrow. Perhaps it's me as my reading tastes have shifted over the years from thrillers and spy novels to a slightly more literary fare. Perhaps it's a little bit of both.

The Exile starts out well enough. John Barron is a homicide detective in LA when a crazed killer escapes from police custody. Of course, we know the crazed killer, Raymond Thorne, is part of a bigger story yet to come, even if we don't yet know the details, but the first third of the book is mostly a decently done police procedural as Barron and his squad hunt Raymond. Alas, this first section of the book ends in a somewhat melodramatic, cliched way.

The real problems come in the remainder of the book, as our protagonist deals with the all-too-common unstoppable, perfect, brilliant killer whilst he simultaneously tries to discover what the bigger plot is...a plot that turns out to, of course, be a tad ridiculous.

This type of novel requests that you suspend disbelief for the sake of the thrills, and I can still do that, if the rest of the books delivers. Unfortunately, the portions of the book that should require me to suspend disbelief still seems implausible at times, and the secondary characters mostly see like cardboard cutouts.

Not downright terrible, but not good. ( )