12/18/2023
This mixed-bag series launch from Landau, a pseudonym for Jon Land (the Murder, She Wrote series) and Jeff Ayers (Voyages of Imagination), gets off to a gripping start, but struggles to sustain its momentum. After an explosion topples the Statue of Liberty, killing hundreds and injuring thousands more, special agent Michael Walker of the National Parks Service and FBI explosives expert Gina Delgado are among the first on the scene. The well-organized attack seemed to leave no leads for the investigators to pursue—until Walker locates a young survivor who captured video of the likely perpetrators aboard what appears to be a Park Police boat in the New York Harbor. Interspersed with Walker and Delgado’s investigation are chapters from the perspective of Lantry, a Lakota Sioux man who’s also tracking the terrorists. As the parallel investigations unfold, it becomes clear that the Statue of Liberty attack was only the beginning of a plan to take down American democracy. The novel’s first act builds up plenty of goodwill, but Land and Ayers mostly squander it by weighing down the narrative with excessive exposition and revealing their villains’ identities too early. Here’s hoping the follow-up irons out the kinks. (Feb.)
"Leave No Trace is an expertly crafted gut-punch thriller. The action leaves you aghast, always guessing and very glad you read it. A.J. Landau takes no prisoners when it comes to high octane, fast moving storytelling." —Michael Connelly, creator of Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer
"A breakneck-paced story with characters whom readers will be excited to see more of." —firstCLUE
"A great story and an intriguing issue... a solid winner!" —Lee Child
"An action-packed, coast-to-coast thrill ride, Leave No Trace will leave you breathless." —Brad Meltzer, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"From its opening barnburner of a shocker to its throat-clutching conclusion, Leave No Trace left me breathless. Don’t miss this debut—especially with its promise of more mayhem to come!" —James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestseller of Kingdom of Bones
"Landau explodes onto the scene with this breathless thriller that delivers breakneck action and high drama set against the awe-inspiring wonder of our national parks. A must read for anyone who loves suspense and national monuments." —Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author
“A terrific thriller that includes fascinating research about our magnificent U.S. National Parks. Fact and fiction combined to make an excellent read.” –Karin Slaughter, New York Times and #1 international bestselling author
"Leave No Trace is an outstanding thriller, from its explosive opening to the final twist at the end. Highly, highly recommended!" —Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of the Pendergast series
"You know a story that begins with a terrorist attack on the Statue of Liberty is going to be a tense, edge-of-your-seat nail-biter, and Leave No Trace by A.J. Landau is all that and more. This no-holds-barred, white-knuckle thrill ride grabbed me from the first page and held tight until the very end. More, please!" —Karen Dionne, author of the #1 international bestseller The Marsh King's Daughter and The Wicked Sister
"A gripping thriller with heart where ordinary people, as opposed to superheroes, go toe-to-toe with a ruthless band of terrorists." —J.A. Jance, New York Times bestselling author
"I barely had a chance to breathe while reading Leave No Trace, it was that exciting. The pacing is lightning speed and the expertise of the characters fascinating and completely believable. Bravo to A. J. Landau for pulling off a timely, pulse-pounding thriller!" —Tess Gerritsen
"Told in knife-sharp suspense, rich prose, and characters that resonate in a mirror reflection of today’s timely cultural issues, Leave No Trace is an investment in entertainment and a powerful social commentary." —Press-Republican
"This was an action-filled, smart, and seriously readable thriller... A.J. Landau is off to quite the start, and I can’t wait to see where we go with them next." —Mystery & Suspense
"This must-read thriller is addictive and engaging." —Library Journal
"... an expertly plotted thriller that starts fast and only ramps up as the story unfolds. You might think you have this one figured out and know how it’ll end, but trust me, you don’t. Pre-order this one early and clear your schedule. You’ll thank me later." —The Real Book Spy
"One of the best books of the year." —Red Carpet Crash
"The fast and furious Leave No Trace manages to announce the arrival of this new thriller voice with authority and should leave readers begging for more." —Mystery Scene
"Huzzah, A. J. Landau, and here's hoping you are hard at work on the next Walker/Delgado adventure!" —Bookreporter
"Nonstop action that allows for close attention to the solid characters." —Shelf Awareness
"Leave No Trace changes the stakes, even as it changes the game, a literary earthquake that measures a ten on the Richter scale. The aftershocks just keep coming, leaving us holding onto our chairs for dear life with one hand while the other ferociously flips the pages of this pop culture masterpiece." —San Francisco Post
"Landau's sweeping narrative incorporates scores of characters painted with vivid details." —Richmond Times-Dispatch
★ 01/01/2024
Writing as A.J. Landau, Jeff Ayers (who reviews for LJ) and Jon Land (Murder at the CDC), start a new series that leaps off the page. Young Danny Logan is visiting the Statue of Liberty with his family when he notices something amiss about an approaching boat. Then a powerful explosion engulfs Liberty Island. National Park Service agent Michael Walker is sent to NYC to take charge of the emergency. On the scene, he gets a hostile reaction from the FBI's Gina Delgado, who's heading the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Amid the mayhem, Walker finds a shaken and wounded Danny, who tells him about the strange boat he saw. Despite their awkward first meeting, Walker and Delgado must work together to thwart a domestic terrorism plot that is audacious, and disastrous, in scope. The action doesn't abate after the novel's impressive opening pages, as new terror targets appear and the perpetrators further their plans to throw the United States into chaos. VERDICT High-octane action fuels the story, which is nicely bookended with factoids about the parks and landmarks it features. This must-read thriller is addictive and engaging and will please National Parks enthusiasts and fans of action stories.—Philip Zozzaro
2024-01-05
The bombing of Liberty Island is only the beginning.
As the Logan family heads into the Statue of Liberty, teenage son Danny breaks away from the entrance line to shoot some phone video of an obsolete boat, an M1-44 sitting incongruously in the harbor. Suddenly there’s an explosion behind him, and Danny sees “a landscape of bodies.” Michael Walker, of the National Park Service’s Investigative Services Branch, is called up from his post at Shenandoah National Park and teamed with New York–based FBI Special Agent Gina Delgado to investigate. As an observant eyewitness with a camera, Danny becomes a target, but Michael shepherds him to safety after winning a shootout with a would-be assassin. At the center of the nefarious plot is supervillain Abel Rathman, presumed dead in a helicopter crash two years ago but captured very much alive on Danny’s video recording. While Mike and Gina are assembling the puzzle pieces surrounding the explosion, terrorist threats spring up like weeds all across the country, from Independence Hall to Mount Rainier to more than half a dozen states in between. Frequent jumps of location in super-short chapters amp up the excitement in Landau’s hyperkinetic, if sometimes hyperbolic, thriller. Each of the 98 chapters in this first entry in the National Parks Thriller series opens with an interesting tidbit relevant to the given chapter, often about the parks. Did you know that Utah’s Zion National Park spreads over three counties?
A lively, if generic, terrorism thriller with a trivia bonus.
