River of Lies

Surprisingly, River of Lies is written by American author Keith Yocum and is a spy thriller set in Western Australia. It is the fourth of the Dennis Cunningham series, a retired CIA agent, enjoying his life in Perth with his now partner Judy, an Australian Federal Police Inspector. When Dennis is offered a consulting job by ASIO to find a missing Chinese businessman, their lives are upended. Judy gets perturbed as she struggles with work stress, an unexpected family crisis and then her entanglement in Dennis’s case. His relentless approach causes much friction, resulting in physical danger and him not knowing whom to believe or trust. With plenty of tension and action, the case will threaten their relationship and unmask the dark side of the intelligence work and even governments. Although not having read any of the previous books in the series, this was a truly enjoyable classic spy tale, with a four-and-a-half star read rating. With thanks to BooksGoSocial and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

I received a free copy in exchange for a honest review. Two firsts for me. I haven't read anything from this author before. Luckily it can be read as a standalone. I have also never read a book where it is set in Australia. It was a nice change. It has everything you want in a book. Mystery, agent on the look for wanted person ad much more.

Set in Western Australia, a story of a local police detective and her American partner, Dennis. The latter is retired from the CIA and enjoying a quiet life with Judy, a sharp and motivated detective. He's dragged back into service to find a missing person but the various police departments are not sharing information with the Americans.. Spies or not, wanting to defect or not, what's a lie and what's the truth? On top of this Dennis and Judy's backgrounds are further explored. Apart from the over powering number of departments and acronyms and the like, a good story all round. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

An entertaining mystery set in Australia. This is the first book I’ve read in this series, actually I wasn’t aware that this was a series when I started reading the book. I didn’t feel like I had missed much not reading the previous stories, Yocum does a good job in character development and back story.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC.

When retired American CIA sleuth Dennis Cunningham is made an offer he cannot refuse, his first instinct is to refuse. He is asked to track down a missing person, who is also a foreign national. The generous financial package he is offered, even if he fails in the mission, is something he cannot easily pass by.

It soon gets messy where his Australian partner, an Australian police superintendent, is asked to mediate between himself and the shadowy organisation that has employed him.

Cunningham does not disappoint Australia with his stereotypically Yankish obnoxious and aggressive approach. He soon exposes the lies of other operatives on his case.

The question is how high up the lies start.

In the background of this, his partner has other crises at home to deal with. Hence the title, probably. Espionage has always been a murky game, not the question becomes whether or not any individual is honest at all. And then there is the family to consider.

The writer knows how to spin this yarn judiciously - 'need to know' is something that ensures the pages keep turning, as the mystery deepens.

The conclusions may be somewhat bleak, but this is certainly not a boring read it's all very skillfully told.

A solid spy mystery with a nice blend of the mystery thriller plot and the MC's personal life. It hits the sweet spot for me.

The main character Dennis is a retired CIA agent living in Australia with his girlfriend Judy but was forced out of retirement when he was asked by Australia's intelligence agency to take a case for them. The guy's obnoxious in a somewhat dislikeable way if we're talking IRL, but on paper, I like how he drills the people he interrogates. And he gets the work done because of his personality, so it works, I guess.

I haven't read any of the previous books in the series, but it works well as a standalone. I like a good investigation, and the mix of his and his girlfriend's personal and relationship struggles are just the icing on the cake and help flesh out the characters. The personal life parts really bring out how wholesome the two can be. The overall pacing was good, and the mystery keeps you on your toes for a while because you and Dennis initially don't know anything or what to expect. All the misinformation and then the plot twists at the end make the book an engaging read and is probably where the title came from.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with a free ARC of this book for review purposes.