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Joe Hartlaub

Biography

Joe Hartlaub

Senior Writer Emeritus
[email protected]

Joe Hartlaub recently retired as Bookreporter.com's senior writer/reviewer after 24 years with the site (1997-2021). An entertainment attorney specializing in music and publishing, Joe is a Fox News Channel contributor on matters pertaining to publishing law and has been featured on panels concerning the entertainment industry. He has been a vociferous reader since he was four years old, starting with the "Dick Tracy" and "Little Orphan Annie" comic strips before he graduated to the Hardy Boys mystery series (the original one) and later corrupted his mind and soul a few years later with the works of Mickey Spillane and Richard Prather.

In addition to reviewing for Bookreporter.com, Joe has had a number of short stories published in the crime and horror fields and is an actor, having had a supporting role in the critically acclaimed feature film LA-308, as well as a co-starring role in the short feature Seducing the Shrink. He is also a bi-weekly contributor to The Kill Zone blog. Joe describes himself as “a boring guy who lives a very interesting life.” He lives in Westerville, Ohio, with his family members, who give him the space to do a number of things that he probably shouldn't.

Joe Hartlaub

Reviews by Joe Hartlaub

written by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis, translated from the Danish by Elisabeth Dyssegaard - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Danish Red Cross nurse Nina Borg has been following Natasha Doroshenko's case for years now. Nina, who had tried to help Natasha leave her abusive Danish fiancé more than once, can't see the young Ukrainian mother as a vicious killer. But in her effort to protect Natasha's daughter and discover the truth, Nina realizes there is much she didn't know about this woman and her past.

by Lars Kepler - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Flora Hansen calls herself a medium and makes a living by pretending to commune with the dead. But after a gruesome murder at a rural home for wayward girls, Hansen begins to suffer visions that are all too real. The only member of the police force who believes her is Detective Inspector Joona Linna. The case seems obvious at first, but as Linna refuses to accept easy answers, his search leads him into darker, more violent territory, and finally to a shocking confrontation with a figure from his past.

by Mark Alpert - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Jim Pierce hasn't heard from his daughter in years, ever since she rejected his military past and started working as a hacker. But when a Chinese assassin shows up at Jim's lab looking for her, he knows that she has cracked some serious military secrets. Now, her life is on the line if he doesn't find her first.

by Becky Masterman - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

When Brigid Quinn retired early from the FBI, she thought she could put all her horrible memories of hunting sexual predators behind her. Wanting nothing more than a quiet life with her new husband and their dogs, she moves to Tucson and begins to settle in. However, when Floyd Lynch confesses to the worst of her unsolved crimes and the new FBI agent on the case thinks the confession is fake, Brigid is pulled back into the world she thought she left behind.

by Megan Abbott - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Addy Hanlon and Beth Cassidy are the cheerleaders all the other girls fear and admire, but everything changes when the new coach arrives. Coach Colette French instantly overturns the girls’ pecking order and gains their fierce alliance --- until a shocking event shakes their fragile peace.

written by Lars Kepler, translated by Laura A. Wideburg - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

On a summer night, police recover the body of a young woman from an abandoned boat. The next day, a man turns up dead, hanging from a lamp hook. Detective Inspector Joona Linna begins to piece the two mysteries together, but the logistics are a mere prelude to a dizzying and dangerous course of events.

by Lisa Scottoline - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Jill Farrow is a typical suburban mom who has finally gotten her and her daughter's lives back on track after a divorce. But Jill’s life is turned upside down when her ex-stepdaughter, Abby, shows up on her doorstep late one night and delivers shocking news: Jill’s ex-husband is dead.

by Lars Kepler - Fiction, Thriller

In this spellbinding international bestseller, a murder leaves only one route to the killer.