A mutilated body in a 55 gallon drum washes ashore in Malibu. A bribery case. A detective whose name and exploits are featured on a TV show . A helicopter crash. Oh, and a screenplay titled “Hercules: Licensed to Kill.” What else could this be but part of the daily job for Eve Ronin, Homicide Detective? And because Fallen Star is written by Lee Goldberg, Edgar and Shamus Award winner and TV show writer/producer, you know it will be full of surprises and twists you won’t see coming. Eve and her partner Duncan Pavone recognize the body in the drum as Gene Dent, informant and witness in a federal bribery case involving politicians, foreign money and some lesser Hollywood players. Then Eve realize that she and Duncan are part of a complicated coverup mixing crooked deputies and an old case. Eve’s conscience is telling her to resign. Before she can, a helicopter crashes killing all the passengers aboard who are linked to the movie industry and the bribery case. Nothing is simple in an Eve Ronin thriller!

It’s hard to review Fallen Star without spoilers. The easiest review is “Lee Goldberg wrote this. Read it.” That’s my philosophy and it should be yours. Of course, 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Lee Goldberg for this ARC.

I love everything this author writes . This was another good one in the Ronin series. I love the setting and plot . Goldberg knows how to craft a plot
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review book

The California cop novel is a peculiarly American art form. There have been a ton of good ones over the years, and just a few great ones. When Goldberg started the Eve Ronin series, I thought it had a chance to join the great ones. Alas, it hasn't.

Don't get me wrong. These are perfectly readable, even enjoyable books, but they never became what they promised they could be. Each title has been a bit less substantial than the one that came before, both in theme and execution. Now, with the sixth book in the series, Goldberg is edging up on sitcom territory, and the running jokes are getting stale. The Eve Ronin series never became 'Chinatown.' It's just 'Mr. Monk Goes to Calabasas.'

I may sound more negative here than I really intend to, but I'm just so damn disappointed.

Ambition is everywhere in the Hollywood’s Hills of Lee Goldberg’s ‘Fallen Angel’, where mobsters, producers, crooked cops, and fallen stars yearn for even more. Beattie, Lansing, a diverse cast of suspects, even the dead body in the five-gallon drum—they all want (or wanted) something that is just beyond them.

The paradox of protagonist Eve Ronin such is that she merely wants to be who she is now. External expectations plague her from the complex web of work politics, to her mother’s disparagement about Eve’s looks to the unwanted celebrity that’s come from the TV show about her life.
This is the sixth instalment of the Eve Ronin series and Eve is struggling with self doubt, worried that she has been corrupted by association. The mystery is twisty right until the end. So many bad guys to choose from! Her friends and allies also feature in the book giving the usual warmth and comic touches.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy.

Another epic Eve Ronin mystery you won’t be able to put down. A master at the procedural genre, Goldberg outdoes himself with the best twist I’ve read in years. You won’t see it coming, yet it makes total sense. I honestly don’t know how he does it. I’m in awe. And as a fellow writer, more than a little jealous.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the opportunity to read and review "Fallen Star" by Lee Goldberg.
Where Eve Ronin goes - trouble follows, and there's no shortage of trouble brewing in this, the sixth book in Lee Goldberg's riveting mystery/suspense/action series featuring (sometimes) renegade Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Detective Eve (Deathfist) Ronin.
When a five-gallon drum washes up containing the corpse of a key player in a bribery scandal that ensnared several local politicians, Eve and her partner Duncan "Donuts" Pavone are on the case. And where this case takes them is a long and winding road, with many links to the past which will keep popping up when least expected.
Eve spends a lot of time conflicted - conflicted because of the 'reality' TV show based on her which has turned her into some kind of super-cop, and which the general public cannot seem to separate from her reality; conflicted because she was, earlier on in her career, party to a cover up that allowed a senior cop to get away with his criminal activity; conflicted because she just cannot help being who she is, even when it gets her into trouble.
Eve is agonizing over her moral dilemma when a helicopter crashes in the hillside below her Calabasas home. It’s not a coincidence. Eve soon discovers among the twisted wreckage and dead passengers shocking connections to her own past…and they lead straight to a fight for her life.
There is a lot going on in this book, and I don't want to inadvertently give anything away. But never fear, the action is pretty much constant and doesn't let up until the very end. The book also has the feeling of an ending of some sort - whether it's an ending for the series, or simply a change, I don't know.
Oh, and Walker and Sharpe also make an appearance to add to the action.
I read this book in one day - not because it's short, oh no, but because I just couldn't stop.
If you've read the other books in this series, you will certainly love this one. And if you haven't, please do. Right now. You won't regret it.
Highly recommended.

Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg, published by Thomas & Mercer is a thriller of its finest. This is book 6 in the Eve Ronin Series.
Detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone's latest case leads them in the underbelly of Malibu.
Complex. complicated. literally unputdownable - I read the book cover to cover in one single sitting, unable to put it down. Intriguing, twisty with turnrs that had me guessing till the last chapter, I greatly enjoyed reading this gem of a story.

Lee Goldberg is an auto buy author for me. His latest, Fallen Star, was a great read. Pick this one up later this year.

4.5 stars

A new Eve Ronin book?! Oh happy day!

I like that she and Duncan guest star in the Sharpe & Walker books but I'm so glad to have another full on Eve book. Sharpe and Walker return the favour with guest appearances in this book. I really enjoy the crossover aspects of these two series.

This book pulls on info from previous books. I think you'd be fine if you started with this book but it will spoil the whodunnits of some of the earlier books.

I teared up in the final pages and I really hope there are many more books in this series!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas & Mercer through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Thomas & Mercer!