http://mikedraperinguilford.blogspot.com

It's not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath." Aeschylus

2012-02-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY

When stressed out Dr. John Meacham goes on a shooting spree, killing a umber of patients and fellow employees, Dr. Lou Welcome is blamed.

Lou had been overseeing his friend, Dr. Meacham, a Physicians Wellness. This organization counsels and tries to help doctors who have psychological problems resulting in their loss of anger. They also council doctors who medicate themselves with drugs and alcohol.

As the story progresses, we observe Lou's compassionate nature wile a number of other characters exhibit unexplained anger that seems to take control of their body for a time, and then, if they haven't done anything fatal, goes away. The person exhibiting this anger seems almost unaware of what happened. We witness a number of tragic events due to this extreme anger. Lou tries to find out what is causing it.

He meets Dr. Darlene Mallory, the First Lady of the United States and they form a bond together, both trying to find answers to this mystery.

The characters are realistically portrayed. Lou's thirteen-year-old daughter Emily is a charmer. The author brings her and Lou to life at moments such as when they are spending time playing monopoly. In reality, Lou is using the game so he can see how Emily is doing with her mother and new step-father. How many parents don't know how to communicate with teenage children? In this novel, the author provides a number of good lessons.

The plot is laid out nicely with some interesting surprises. I found the book to be very entertaining and recommend it to readers who enjoy medical thrillers and good suspense.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R14B0MO53TAYNL/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

GIVEAWAY RULES:

1. be a follower of this blog

2. use above link and go to the Amazon review and indicate that the review was helpful.

3. leave email address for contact and note that you have completed steps 1 and 2.

4. Add to Google circles if possible

5. Giveaway ends Feb. 29th.

6. This is for an advanced review copy

7. U. S. and Canada only -sorry, postage.

Have fun.

"Amazing Grace how sweet the sound."

2012-02-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

When a famous novelist in New England dies violently, family secrets begin to unravel.

Adam Blaine, had been estranged from his father, Benjamin. Now, after years apart, he returns to his father's funeral.

Soon after, Adam learns that his father had recently changed his will so that his home and most of his estate is to go to a young actress, Carla Pacelli. Jenny Leigh, a struggling writer also receives a large sum of money. However, Benjamin's wife - who is Adam's mother, Clarice, and Adam's brother, Teddy, who is gay, are left out of the will.

Adam is in a difficult position in that he is the executor of his father's will and to do justice to the estate, would do injustice to his mother and brother.

The action drags in the story. There were times when I felt like shouting to get on with the story. There doesn't seem to be an urgency to solve the mystery of did Benjamin fall from a cliff, or was he pushed, or was it suicide.

I also didn't find that the dialogue matched the characters as even fisherman spoke with a sophistication of college graduates.

I wanted to enjoy the story more but the plot proceeds at a level too slow to maintain suspense.

The author did have me curious to know what would happen at the end of the story so I rate it 2 1/2 stars moving up to 3 for keeping my interest.

"A person is a fool to become a writer. His only recourse is absolute freedom." Dahl

2012-02-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

Luther Whitney is a thief with a conscience.

He breaks into a home of a wealthy family in Washington, D.C. and while there, the woman of the house returns early for a romantic interlude with her lover. Luther hides in the woman's closet but can see what is going on.

The sex turns rough and the man is unable to perform due to his alcoholic state. As the woman ridicules the man he grabs her throat and a struggle ensues. The woman grabs a letter opener and moves after the man when two other men break into the room. They see that the woman is about to stab the man so the two men both fire and kill the woman.

The man is the president of the United States and when Gloria Russell, the President's chief of staff tries to sanitize the room, she leaves the letter opener which have the President's prints on it.

Luther sees them leave, grabs the letter opener and escapes. But the secret service realize they don't have the weapon so rush back to the room to observe it has been taken.

David Baldacci ratchets up the mood instantly as the Secret Service tries to cover their tracks and Luther attempts to set something in motion that will lead to uncovering the President as a killer and exposing the political corruption.

This is my second reading of Baldacci's blockbuster debut novel and it is every bit as good as the first reading. We follow the hunted and await the death knell as the realistic characters collide in their attempt to hide or, for others, to unearth the truth.

"Defending the truth is not something done from a sense of duty...but as a reward in itself." de Beauvoir

2012-02-05T14:36:00.000-08:00

At the start of "Defending Jacob," the prior district attorney, Andy Barber, is facing the grand jury and we realize that some terrible thing has occurred.

Neal Logiudice is questioning Barber about why he accepted the case of Ben Rifkin's killing. Ben was a schoolmate of Andy's son, Jacob.

Andy had been a successful assistant district attorney in suburban Massachusetts for years. As the story progresses, things begin to unravel and the comfortable life that Andy had, begins to shatter.

His son, Jacob is accused of the crime but Andy thinks that this is nonsense. Andy's deliberate approach to solving the crime begins to look like he wasn't giving the case his full attention and should have given the case to another district attorney due to a possible conflict of interest.

Logiudice's blind ambition becomes apparent as he creates enough uncertainty about Andy that Andy is put on paid leave and the prosecution is given to Logiudice.

How far would a father go to protect his son? This is a question that arises in the book. Andy has no doubt that his son is innocent and he makes mistakes in questioning Jacob's friends after Andy had been taken off the case.

There is not only suspense but more. This is a story that grabs at the reader's heart and squeezes it as we wonder what we would do in a similar situation.

Fans of Scott Turow will be entertained by this courtroom mystery. William Landay is a storyteller at his peak. The dialogue is exceptional and as Andy speaks, it is as if we are in the room with him experiencing the moment.

The concluding moments of this novel are such that the reader will gasp with astonishment.
This is a powerful novel that shouldn't be missed.

"One man's poison is another man's spinach" George Ade

2012-02-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY

Jane Whitefield has made her compassion for the less fortunate an advocation. She makes a living helping people disappear. In the past she has helped women trying to escape from abusive situations or from various people who were being hunted by killers.

James Shields was framed for his wife's murder and now the people who framed him want him dead. He's in prison but called to testify about a case. While awaiting his trip to the courthouse, Jane stages an escape.

However, she is caught by the people who want Shields dead. In attempting to escape from these people, Jane is shot and taken to a secluded place where they think they can force her to talk about what she knows.

Jane is able to withstand their punishment but at a terrible cost. She's told that other people who Jane deprived of their victims, want to get revenge against her. To do so, Jane will be put up for auction to the highest bidder.

The author has a wonderful talent for bringing to light the situations that some unfortunate people get into. He makes us feel sympathetic for these people who are being taken advantage of without having someone to turn to.

Compared to many of the central protagonists in thrillers today, Jane is unique for bringing her empathitic nature into a story. She's not a super hero but is able to put herself into the position of the current victim and use her skills to help alieviate the situation.

The pacing is fast and filled with excellent adventure as Jane does her best to save herself and the people she's helping avoid their deadly fate. She also shows her other side in wanting to finish the case and get back to her husband and maybe to start a family.

This is a very enjoyable story that shows the strength of one woman and what good things a person can do for others. It is a lesson for us all.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2O6F6L22PQITT/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

GIVEAWAY RULES:
1. be a follower of this blog
2. use above link and go to the Amazon review and indicate that the review was helpful
3. leave email address indicating you desire to enter the giveaway and have done steps 1 and 2
4. Add Mike to Google circles, if possible
5. This is for an advanced review copy
6. Giveaway ends Feb 19th.
7. U.S. and Canada only.

Enjoy.

A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent." Wm Blake

2012-01-29T07:15:00.000-08:00

PRIVATE GIVEAWAY

The novel describes events in 1892, in Portland Maine. Maggie Keene's body is found. It appears to be a ritualistic killing with her body posed in a certain manner, her right hand cut off and a pitch fork through her throat.

Deputy Marshall Archie Lean is the primary investigator but this case is like nothing he's ever seen. Dr. Virgil Steig asks one of his former students for help. Perceval Grey is a brilliant criminalist. He's part Abenaki Indian and a former Pinkerton agent.

There are a number of uncanny similarities in this plot to Matthew Pearl's recent novel, "The Technologists."

Where this novel takes place in Portland, Maine, in 1892, Pearl's mystery occurs in 1868 in Boston. Perceval Grey uses modern investigatory methods and possesses a unique understanding of people and possible motives. This is similar to Marcus Mansfield in Pearl's novel. Mansfield is about to graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is scientific in his work.

Both men are ahead of their time in the analytical approach to investigating and the use of modern scientific methods. In addition, there is a bright woman helping with the investigation in both novels and both novels bring in witchcraft as having something to do with the story.

In "The Truth of All Things, the author demonstrates his talent for describing his characters and making them believable and worthy of our interest. However it is more like learning about the characters from newspaper accounts so we're not drawn to particularly 'like' the characters.

The exception to this is Archie Lean. We become interested in him not only for his stick to it, investigation but we learn that he is expecting a child. I was drawn to his relationship with his wife as the new baby's birth nears. Their concern for their crowded home and the economics of an expanding family are subjects that could be taken out of today's newspapers.

Helen Prescott assists the investigators considerably. She is a historian, knowledgeable in the history of the Salem witch trials. She is a modern woman of her day and doesn't let the other characters tell her what to do.

It is the connection to the Salem witch history that sets this novel apart. We are given information on the names of those tried and why they were accused of being witches. This is tied in nicely with the crimes of 1892.

The action evolves slowly, sometimes exasperatingly so as the investigators sift through one cue after another. However it all comes together nicely with a suspenseful conclusion.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1SOY5WHDCN36M/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Giveaway for blog followers only:

1. use above link to see Amazon review and indicater review was helpful.

2. leave email address for contact and indicate step 1 completed.

3. U.S. and Canada only

4. This is for an advanced review copy

5. giveaway ends Feb 101h.

Our love affair is a wonderous thing.

2012-01-25T06:21:00.000-08:00

Lee Child steps back into Jack Reacher's early history to tell this story.

It's 1997 and Reacher is still in the military. He's a major in the military police and goes where he's ordered. This time, he's sent to Carter Crossing, Mississippi, to be undercover and monitor the official investigation of a woman who was murdered. The crime took place outside Ft. Kelham a U.S. Ranger base where there is a secret operation under way. Rangers are being sent as peace keepers to Kosovo. Reacher is ordered to observe the action and avoid publicity.

The Rangers ordered for the mission are from Alpha and Bravo companies and as Reacher arrives, Ft. Kelham is ordered down with no one allowed off the base.

Reacher meets the sheriff, the attractive Elizabeth Devereaux, who is attempting to investigate the murder of the woman in question, who is white, and two black women. All three women were very attractive but only the white woman's death stirred up any concern in Mississippi.

Devereaux is prevented in running a complete investigation because her official powers stop at Ft. Kelham's gate. As Reacher gets to know Devereaux and finds she is the daughter of the former sheriff and was a former military police member, she and Reacher begin to work together and develop a romantic relationship.

The plot moves rapidly with built in humor as Reacher tries to search for answers while dealing with a group of local hillbillies.

The pacing is well done as there are moments of tension spaced with the relationship of Reacher and Devereaux. We also are interested at the attempt of the military to white wash the investigation for political purposes with Reacher's refusal to bend to the attempted cover-up.

"The Affair" is another well written novel by Lee Child, a master storyteller.

"the shadow knows."

2012-01-21T13:39:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY

I can't say enough good things about this book.

In a CIA camp perched in the burning desert outside Kabul, Afghanistan, an Arab, posing as double agent, double crosses the Americans. He explodes a bomb in a suicide vest, killing many CIA officers.

We learn that there are American soldiers dealing drugs with the Taliban and the Kabul CIA station is a mess.

John Wells has been a CIA problem solver and is asked to travel to Kabul and find what is going on.

Knowing the country and fluent in the language, Wells poses as a Saudi and goes to a Taliban tribe active in the area. His goal is to meet the leader so Wells could discover if there is a CIA mole.

The suspense builds as we read the story wondering if Wells will succeed and if there is a mole, to stop that person before they might succeed in any plot they were planning.

The author offers more than a suspense novel, there is a discussion of how an American who has converted to Islam could still have his primary loyalty to the United States.

Berenson paints a realistic picture of what I would imagine Kabul would be like with a desert area surrounded by mountains and populated by various waring tribes. The author also describes the Pashtun hatred for Arabs and dislike for Americans.

It is a sad commentary to see the idealistic soldiers who come to this part of Afghanistan with the goal of keeping America safe, only to have some of these soldiers become involved in heroine and have their lives changed. It is a sad comparison to what happened to many young soldiers in Viet Nam.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R12XMFZVLJ568D/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

New Givewawy:
to enter giveaway:
1. use above link and see Amazon review and indicate that it was helpful.

2. be a follower of this blog.

3. leave email address and indicate you have taken steps 1 and 2 and wish to be in the giveaway.

4. follow on shelfari, if possible.

5. Giveaway ends Feb 2nd at midnight.

6. U.S. and Canada only, sorry, shipping.

7. This is for an advanced review copy.

'If you always face the sunshine, the shadows will always fall behind you." Whitman

2012-01-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

What drew me to this novel was the contemporary theme which was so vividly described, I continued to consider it, once the novel ended.

Davis Moore is a fertility doctor in Chicago. His specialty is reproductive cloning.

His daughter is raped and murdered and the killer escapes. When Moore picks up his daughter's belongings from the police, he obtains a sample of the killer's DNA. With no other way to catch his daughter's killer, he uses that DNA to clone a child that will grow up and be the exact replica of the killer.

In a parallel story, we observe the actions of Mickey the Gerund, who is a religious fanatic and a member of the group, "The Hands of God." He feels that he is part of God's army and his mission is to destroy fertility clinics and the doctors running them.

Davis is shot outside his own clinic and taken to the emergency room but at lease he survives, unlike his twelve-year-old daughter, Anna Katherine.

The novel proceeds at a leisurely pace which allows the suspense to build. It spans many years as the child Moore cloned is born. Justin Finn grows up and we observe his actions and Moore's observations of the child which become so infringing to Justin's parents that they take legal action to keep him away.

Meanwhile, the killing of doctors who operate fertility clinics continues and the newspapers dub the killer Byron Bonavarti.

The author provides information about the moral and ethical problems with cloning. Our interest increases as Justin turns various ages and develops an interest in mass killings in general and Byron Bonavarti, in particular.

In haunting prose, Justin seems to become more like his cloned father and we wonder if Davis Moore has cloned another mass murderer.

There are some excellent surprises and twists along the way and the author has delivered a novel which questions good against evil while we wonder which side will be victorious.

"If I ever needed you, I need you now." song lyrics

2012-01-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY

This is a contemporary novel influenced by the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. In this case, Abe Cushman, a former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, committed suicide when his Ponzi scheme was brought to light.

Patrick Lloyd is a young Wall St. advisor to the Bank of Switzerland. He's called to the corporate office and ordered to find Lilly Scanlon and money she manipulated while an executive with the bank. This was in connection with the Cushman Ponzi scheme.

Lilly is Patrick's girlfriend. She informs him that she's being set up and was fired unjustly. She also tells Patrick that the money in question is from at least one of Cushman's victims who will stop at nothing to get their money back.

Patrick and Lilly decide to work together. Soon after, each is threatened by criminals and then something about Patrick's past comes to light.

The maze of possibilities that these characters must negotiate makes the novel an interesting adventure to observe. The two protagonists must go about their search for the missing money while not knowing who to trust and even if they can trust each other.

The setting moves around but is mostly in New York and is nicely described. One scene has a character "...by the old St. Paul's Churchyard ...bathed in silence wile hearing the buzz of construction at the World's Trade Center across the street."

"Need You Now," is not only a financial thriller but deals with other important issues. There is a powerful message of a father's love for his children, while being a social commentary on the greed existing today and the desire of some to gain riches at any expense. It is also a story of misplaced trust and the failures in the witness protection program.

The author has captured the naivete of his two young protagonists and shows that innocence can be destroyed in a world of governmental ignorance and corruption and the highest levels.

The reader becomes involved in the struggles of Patrick and Lilly and the desire to have them succeed against impossible odds.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2U92O12W8RE2X/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

GIVEAWAY Rules:

1. Be a follower of this blog.

2. go to above link and read the Amazon review. At the end of the review, please indicate "YES" the review was helpful.

3. leave email address for contact and indicate that you want to be in the giveaway and have followed steps 1 and 2.

4. At this point, giveaway is for an advanced review copy

5. giveaway ends Jan. 30th.

6. U.S. and Canada only - postage.

Good luck.

"There's no arguing with him, if his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the but end." Oliver Goldsmith

2012-01-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY

I'm drawn to the Boston setting and the Irish ex-cop who is the protagonist of "Hard Knocks."

Jack Reilly's brother, Marty, is in jail and Jack is trying to make a living as a P.I.

When the story opens, a former convict and friend of Jack's brother hires Jack for a $20.00 retainer and is gunned down soon after, outside the Irish -cop bar where the two men met.

One of Jack's former academy classmates, Plain View Evans, leads the investigation and doesn't mind letting it show that he believes that Jack is mixed up in a crime, possibly involving the mob.

Reilly had been a former driver for the mayor and is retired from the PD on a stress related disability. As he begins investigating, we cannot help but be reminded of another Boston P.I, Robert Parker's wonderful character, Spencer. The author also seems influenced by Mickey Spillane and, in Reilly, we see a new, and improved Mike Hammer.

Reilly is searching for something that the Mob wants, or at least, doesn't want anyone else to have. He's helped by an attractive reporter, Katy Bemis.

The humorous but complicated plot eventually comes together nicely and the reader is drawn into the action.

From the beginning, I was impressed with the realistic dialogue and setting of the Boston area filled with politicians on the take and corrupt lawmen.

The author is a columnist for the "Boston Herald" and has given the readers an interesting vision of the hard streets of Boston and a modern P.I. who knows how to survive within those mean streets.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2RKFQP4GAWHYD/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=076532640X&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

Giveaway rules:
A: Be a follower of this blog.

B: Use above link to go to the Amazon review and at the end of the review, indicate 'YES' helpful.

C: Leave email address for contact and indicate that you have completed steps A and B

D: Giveaway ends Jan 23 at midnight.

E: U.S. and Canada

Hope you can join in and have fun.

When you realize how perfect everything is, you'll tilt your head back and laugh at the sky." Buddah

2012-01-05T07:51:00.001-08:00

The idea of a murder at a child's ride in an amusement park drew me to this story. I have an image of lively music and smiling faces at a family entertainment attraction. The idea of someone being murdered in this surrounding is intriguing.

Danny Boyle, age 24, is a part time summer employee on the police department and doesn't carry a weapon. He enjoys spending time hanging out at the beach and narrates the bizarre events.

Danny is with fellow officer, John Ceepak, a former MP who served in Iraq. A thirteen-year-old girl screams that her father has been murdered. She informs the officers that she and her father, sneaked into the amusement park and a man pulled a gun on her father and shot him. The events occur at the Tilt a-Whirl ride at an amusement park in Sea Haven, New Jersey.

Ceepak only took the job with the Sea Haven P.D. for the summer but being an MP in the army, knows more about crime investigation than his superiors. However, they ignore his opinions and advice.

Ceepak decides to have his own investigation and partners with Danny in this. The murdered man is Reginald Hart, a wealthy real estate tycoon.

Ceepak is in the image of the straight faced detective, Joe Friday, from TV and the movie, Dragnet. I imagine him with the same short hair. He's always one step ahead of the person he's interviewing and at any moment I expect to hear him deadpan, "Just the facts, mam."

The characters are interesting and purposely stereotypical in this witty crime spoof, from the uneducated, muscle bound criminal to the inept investigator who drops a McDonald's wrapper at the crime scene.

The writing style is reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen and as the reader realizes that this is a spoof, they can see how creative the author is.

Overall, "Tilt A Whirl" is a comic story that is easy to read and entertaining.

Update on my novel "Splattered Blood"

2012-01-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the release date and Amazon began filling the orders for "Splattered Blood."
BarnesandNoble.com is now carrying "Splattered Blood" as is Breakwater Books in Guilford.

I was happy to see that the first customer review gave the book a four star rating and indications have been that the story is entertaining and well liked.

Last night I was interviewed by North Haven Community Television. This experience was wonderful and I continue to live a dream of a published author.

My next two author events are a book signing at the Ct. Dept. of Child and Family on Hudson Street in Hartford, Wed. January 11th from 10a.m to 3pm.
and signing at Breakwater Books in Guilford, Sat Jan 28th from noon to 2pm.

The beat goes on.

"When you have come to the edge of light and are about to drop off into darkness, faith will be something to stand on." Overton

2012-01-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

Harry Bosch is assigned to a cold case of a 1989 rape and murder that DNA evidence indicates that a child was involved. He must find out if the evidence was compromised or learn what else happened.

As he begins to make some headway with this case, he's ordered to investigate the untimely death of the son of his former adversary, Irving Irving.

It's a pleasure to learn more about a character who we admire. We observe Harry's life as he deals with his future retirement, which he hopes to delay for four or five years. He also has an excellent relationship with his fifteen-year-old daughter, Maddie, who he is raising by himself and indicates a strong desire to follow her father into a career in law enforcement.

We feel empathetic for Harry's plight as he shows his distaste for being taken away from the cold case of a killer who might still be active and ordered to work on the case that is important to the command staff at the police department.

Harry is like a Knight of the Round Table, trying to be a savior of the kingdom of Los Angeles. He feels a nobleness in his work. He's one of the highest regarded investigators in the homicide division and responsible for putting many criminals behind bars. Now, nearing age sixty, he feels that his time is running short because of the mandatory retirement so wants to achieve as much as possible before that time comes.

This novel isn't for everyone. When the results of Harry's work culminates in the capture of a criminal who is a child killer and sexual predator, there is a home filled with torture implements and evidence of such sexual torture that it even makes Harry gasp.

There are some unexpected surprises in the book which adds to the entertainment value. "The Drop" is a wonderfully written novel with a character who has won the reader's hearts and minds.

This enjoyable story continues Michael Connelly's legacy as one of the leading suspense writers. It wouldn't surprise me to see this novel nominated for awards in excellence in the mystery field.

"Welcome to my world" sony lyrics

2011-12-29T07:19:00.000-08:00

It is a parent's worst nightmare to learn of the death of their child and in James LePore's "A World I Never Made," the author has created an excellent novel with a shrewd premise.

Pat Nolan is summoned to Paris. He's told that his daughter, Megan, had been terminally ill with cancer and committed suicide. His reaction is the disbelief that is the normal first reaction to tragic news. We observe his regret for not spending more time with Megan and his guilt for not being at her side during her desperate time of need.

When Catherine Laurence, a Police detective in Paris, shows Pat the body, he sees that it isn't Megan and realizes that Megan has staged her death. With an understanding that is rare in people, Pat realizes that Megan must be in some trouble and has staged her death, so he goes along with the cover up.

Catherine is told that Charles Raimondi of the Foreign Office is asking about Megan and that the Saudi government is linking her to a suicide bombing in Morocco.

Megan is suspected because one of the terrorists in Morocco survived and informed authorities that Megan planned the attack along with her boyfriend.

Catherine is ordered to befriend Pat and see what she can learn. As she befriends Pat, her feelings become more personal and when she sees that something is wrong with what authorities are telling her, she decides to help Pat no matter what the cost to his career.

James Le Pore writes a perceptive story about terrorists, family relationships and late blooming love. He gives the reader an interesting ride as we go through the camouflage to find what Megan had set up her death and why she was in trouble.

We read of Pat and Catherine's search for Megan and Megan's prior history that led up to the events in the story.

LePore has a deft touch for dialogue and his legal background has given him a logical approach to mixing historical facts into the story to make it believable and interesting.

"A World I Never Made" is a well-crafted mystery with rich characterization. The novel moved along smoothly and was a joy to read.

My own novel

2011-12-26T07:32:00.000-08:00

What a thrill to see my own novel, finally arrive at the Amazon book site.

Although Amazon states that the book is not scheduled for a release until the end of January, my publisher is trying to get them to move the date up.

I've received my author supplies and had my first author event last Tuesday at the Branford Public Library. I did two readings from my book to show the humor and imagery in the novel and spoke of the steps in developing characters and in getting published.

In the first week in January I will be interviewed on a public TV station in North Haven and then be at a book signing in Hartford, Ct. on January 11th.

I'm enjoying every moment.

"When men are innocent, life shall be longer." Emerson

2011-12-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY

Vanessa Michael Munroe is an assassin who has nightmares about her past. She understands her killing capability and when her best friend, Logan, asks for help, she can't refuse.

Logan explains that eight years earlier, his friend, Charity's daughter, Hannah, was abducted from her school and taken to a cult known as The Chosen. Followers of The Profit, have hidden Hannah and shielded her abductor. Hannah was age five at the time and Logan and the other members of a group who have escaped from The Chosen, ask Munroe if she'll go in for her. Since Munroe came from a similar background, she accepts.

These people who had been childhood members of The Chosen tell Munroe some of the things that go on there and inform her that they know where Hannah is being held.

Munroe makes contact with members of the cult at their location in Argentina. She pretends to be interested in joining the group and bringing money that her family has accumulated.

When she does get into one of the homes, she observes the teenagers as they return from a day of begging as the means of generating income for the cult. Munroe understands the difficulty will be to see how much Hannah has been brainwashed. If Hannah came willingly, it would be easier for Monroe to get her out and reunited with her parents.

The reader understands that amount of brain washing that these children are subjected to. They are told that the outside world is corrupt and that people just make up bad things about the cult. Unfortunately, in this day where we learn of young people being abused by those in power, we learn of officials in the cult using their position of authority to get the naive children to do things they normally would not.

The setting is well described as we see the outward life of contentment in the members of the cult but then peel away the outer layer and see the corruption inside.

Munroe demonstrates moments of vulnerability but is able to maintain control. This makes her a more appealing character as she tries to deal with the nightmares about her killing. While with the cult, she understands that her physical skills would be sufficient to rescue her from danger. She has an associate who covers her back and this provides a double layer of safety.

The book is disquieting at times when we see the vulnerability of children but it is still a wonderfully evocative novel that will stay in the reader's mind with the thoughts of missing and lost children.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1LOB0ARENHYEN/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Giveaway rules:

A. Be a follower of this blog

B. Follow on Shelfari, if possible

C: Use above link and see the Amazon review, at the end of the review, indicate "YES" the review was helpful.

D: Leave email for contact purpose and indicate that you have taken step C.

E: U.S. and Canada only.

This is for an advanced copy

Giveaway ends January 7, 2012

"It's the most wonderful time of the year." song lyrics

2011-12-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

In the Dickeyville area of Baltimore, five friends meet and bond. They form a group they refer to as the five arms of a starfish. Composing the group are Gwen, the Halloran brothers, Sean, Tim and Go Go and the other girl in the group, Mickey Wyckoff.

They lived in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood where parents permitted the children to play without monitoring their activities.

The story moves from events in the late 1970s to current time.

In the current time, Gwen returns home to care for her elderly father who has broken his hip in a fall. While home, she meets Sean Halloran who informs her that his brother, Go Go has died, from suicide.

We learn about the character's lives since their teenage years. Gwen is married to Karl, a successful surgeon who seems mainly interested in himself, not in her accomplishments as a magazine editor. She realizes that she doesn't want to live in a home where her husband is the only thing that matters.

In 1978, the five friends often played in Leaken Park and while exploring one day, they came upon an abandoned cabin that was now the dwelling of a black homeless man. They refer to this man as Chicken George because of the chickens he keeps around the cabin. They become casual friends of this man who often disappears for long periods.

During the summer of 1978, Gwen and Sean were dating and in her bedroom when Mickey and Go Go travel to the cabin and become involved in something with Chicken George.

We learn different sides to this event which has a major effect on the group and ends their childhood innocence.

The story is described at a leisurely pace to match the uncomplicated life the characters had. The dialog shows the changes from when the characters were young to their maturity in contemporary times. This is an achievement that not that many authors are able to manage.

The novel is entertaining as we see the development of the characters and their parents as they deal with the incident and concludes in a manor that leaves the reader saddened that the innocence of childhood is such a fleeting thing.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R35JELJGZ123WA/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Anyone can look at another's eyes but lovers can see each other's souls through the eyes." Larry Lotta

2011-12-12T14:26:00.000-08:00

Set in Belfast, a young woman from Lithuania named Gayla is coerced into coming to Ireland for a chance for a better life. She thinks she will be in a good home and working as a nanny. However, she's sent to do hard work and then sold into prostitution. When the people who run this group attempt to force her into prostitution and one of them is trying to rape her, she manages to kill him.

Two other men were in the home with the murdered man, Tomas Stazdas. They are afraid of Tomas' brother so try to dump Thomas' body into a waterway, planning to drown the woman there. However, Gayla is a fighter who never gives up and manages to escape from them.

Tomas was the younger brother of a sadistic gangster, Arturas Stazdas. When he informs his mother, back in Lithuania, about her youngest son's death, the mother demands that he kill the girl and anyone else who was associated with Tomas's demise.

Meanwhile, a man named Billy Crawford had befriended Gayla while posing as a customer. He informed Gayla that if she ever escaped from the house of prostitution, he'd help her.

Gayla kept the number she had given him and calls him after escaping from the two men by the river. He meets her and tells her that he is a Baptist minister without a church and tries to save girls, like Gayla, who haven't lost their souls.

Investigating the case is Det. Inspector Jack Lennon. Soon after being assigned to the case, he learns that there have been additional murders.

The author, Stuart Neville, writes in a style reminiscent of fellow Irishman, John Connolly. In Connolly's "Every Dead Thing," revenge is the center of the novel as Charlie Parker searches for the killer of his child. In "Stolen Souls" revenge is also central to the story with Arturas's demand for revenge at all costs.

Stuart Neville uses description well and as things turn against Gayla again and again, the reader can almost feel as if they are in her shoes wondering if there is any reason to fight against fate and pray for help.

Not for the squeamish, this is a story that is so dramatic that there are times when the reader needs to take a break from the tense action. I enjoyed the novel and feel that Neville shows that he's a master storyteller.

"Lots of people are dead and they're just not clever enough to fall over and decompose." Mary Burns

2011-12-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY

The novel opens with a Blue Line train in Chicago going faster than it should because the conductor wants to hurry home. The vibrations of the train's passage rattled the rails and caused a light bulb to become loose and fall, bursting quietly. Soon, some of the people in the area became sick and died.

PI Michael Kelly is called to help with security when it is determined that there could be a threat of a biological weapon on the Chicago railway system.

Dr. Ellen Brazile and her assistant, Dr. Molly Carrolton are experts in the field and they use a detection devise which registers a possible pathogen on the Blue Line subway.

As the disease spreads, authorities try to find the answers, while some, make sure they are not going to be blamed. Dr. Brazile informs Mike that soon after the first case, there were six more and the number of infected people was rising rapidly.

The Dept. of Homeland security is on hand and with mounting deaths, they decide to quarantine a part of the city. This gives some criminals the opportunity to rid themselves of their rivals and looting and burning of buildings begin.

It is easy for the reader to immerse themselves into this fearful setting. The action is realistically portrayed and not having time to think of alternatives, the story flows dramatically.

Dr. Brazile leads the charge in attempting to identify the pathogen and develop a vaccine while Mike continues to investigate who could have set this biological killer in motion.

I enjoyed Michael Kelly, who, along with Dr. Brazile, seemed concerned with the average person
while many officials were looking out for their image.

The story was enjoyable and shows that the author, Michael Harvey, knows how to put together a tense, well-plotted story.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1Q8MD8JIBLGE7/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0307272516&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

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US and Canada -----Giveaway through Dec. 26th.

Talking without thinking is like shooting without taking aim. Proverb

2011-12-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY:

Chicago has been chosen as the Olympic city of 2016. The action begins in the gang dominated neighborhood known as Four Corners. Two brothers, Ruben and Bobby Vargas grew up there and enter the police department.

Coleen Brennan was an Irish girl who befriended Bobby Vargas, who was Spanish. By the sixth grade they were boyfriend and girlfriend. His worst day was when Coleen was murdered when she was thirteen. Coleen was white and Bobby wasn't and their friendship was a dangerous thing in the race rules of Four Corners.

One day, the "Chicago Herald" runs an expose where they imply that in days to come, it would prove that Bobby and Ruben were the two boys who killed Coleen.

The story moves quickly with an interesting literary style with chapter's beginning with portions of the newspaper expose and then describing the actions of the current day. Coleen's murder is said to be a reprisal for racist policing but there is a question if she was raped to death as part of a gang initation.

Anton Dupree was arrested, found guilty of the murder and executed. His family is suing the city for wrongful execution claiming that Anton was of low intelligence and manipulated into confessing.

With the existing political climate, Bobby fears that the city will settle the suit and that he and his brother will be fired and face civil action.

There are a number of levels to the story which is told in a darkly realistic manner that has a momentum of its own. We learn that there was certain activity in Japan during WWII and that some of these actions should have resulted in criminal prosecution. Currently, representatives associated with that criminal activity is influential in financing the Olympics. Coleen's twin sister, Arleen, returns to the city and she and Bobby become romantically involved. However, Bobby is accused of certain things and the reader wonders how he will prove his innocence.

The talented author, Charlie Newton, who has been nominated for literary awards, provides the reader with a look at a section of the city life filled with gangs and drugs described so realistically that it causes the reader to gasp.

There is excellent dialogue and the writing moves across the pages effortlessly. Bobby Vargas is that type of protagonist that we enjoy reading about, he's brave, fearless and honorable and the center of an excellent novel.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R32KFA72YJHW9L/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0385534698&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

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A: Be a follower of the blog
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"I took a trip on a sailing ship and when I reached Jamaica, I made a stop."Song Lyrics

2011-11-30T13:18:00.001-08:00

How can you not like a book with a title as original as this book has?

This relaxing novel could accompany the reader on a winter vacation, just thinking about the setting of a remote fishing village in Jamaica makes me long for the blue ocean and dread another New England winter.

Eric is the owner of a bar and of the ruins of a hotel which was damaged in Hurricane Albert. Now the hotel is cut off from the main land. As the story gets under way, Eric and his bartender, Shad, are surprised to see a woman on Eric's Island. Eric rows out and learns the woman, Simone, wants a place of peace and quiet. she will pay Eric to deliver groceries and requests to be left alone.

Shad is a person who people feel confident in revealing their problems and concerns to. He cares for Eric and the other people in his village. If there was a mayor of the little community, it would be Shad.

With little changing in their lives, Eric becomes fascinated with Simone. As the story progresses, we learn of her background and the reason she needs to be alone on the Island.

Life goes on and Simone becomes the talk of the village. Then, another change occurs, a number of men arrive and take steps in finding the political views of the residents.

The setting is well described and the leisurely pace of the novel allows the reader to slow down to the pace of life as described in Jamaica. I enjoyed this and imagined I was listening to appropriate background music and enjoying the ocean view.

Only in the barest of terms could this be classified as a detective story but with the author's skillful plotting, this was an entertaining novel.

"There is no great future for people whose faith has burned out." Rufus M. Jones

2011-11-25T14:07:00.000-08:00

In Oslo, Norway, Henning Juul is a crime reporter, returning to work after a fire killed his six-year-old son and left him scarred. It also ended his marriage.

Henning is in the image of financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist from Steig Larrsen's "The Millenium Series, both men are quiet, determined and total professionals..

On his first day back, a young woman's body is found at a local park. The woman, Henriette Hagerup had the marks of a stun gun and was stoned to death.

Authorities consider this could have been a ritual killing but Juul disagrees.

He possesses that rare investigative journalist talent for seeing when things just don't fit.

Through the story, Juul shows his compassion when interviewing friends and relatives of the deceased. With his personal history of the loss of his son and his physical and mental scars, the reader has to feel for the man, and yet, he doesn't ask for sympathy.

We follow the police investigation led by Det. Inspector Brogulund and his attractive, intelligent assistant, Sgt. Ella Sandland who is dedicated to finding the killer and has no interest in her bosses insuinations.

Juul is a true investigator and finding the reason why someone would kill Henriette consumes him. The title of the novel has many meanings, not only was Juul's own flat burned but he shows the scars of the fire and internally, he has the fire in his heart so much so that the reader catches his passion.

The setting is well described as is Juul, who the reader can relate to and wish that they could witness his power of deduction and bring the guilty to justice. The author provides some twists and surprises that keep the reader guessing right to the excellent conclusion.

"Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one." Bill Gates

2011-11-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

In April 1868, a number of ships in Boston Harbor have their instruments fail simultaneously creating panic and great damage. Officials want to turn the investigation to the Harbor Police but one suggestion is to ask the professors at the MIT, which was about to graduate its first class.

We follow the students, including Marcus Mansfield, who are listening to the school's president discussing the new technology that would combine the city lights on a circuit, saving the time and expense of having to light each street light individually. The speech is broken up by trade unionists, claiming that this innovation is depriving many people of their jobs.

Thus, the theme of the novel, advancement in technology and cost savings against tradition and more jobs. Boston, at the time is philosophically linked to Salem and many Bostonians regard science as a form of witchcraft.

Another incident creates great havoc where downtown windows and glass seem to melt. At MIT, a professor claims that since this school is the only institution devoted to science and technology, they should investigate this second incident, even though there is public distrust.

Tradition and innovation also clash as officials turn to Harvard to investigate. Marcus Mansfield and a small group of friends from MIT form a secret group to find answers about the instruments failing and the glass melting.

Fans of Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" will enjoy this analytical and historical novel. The author has gone into great detail about the scientific process. Although admirable by itself, this can become ponderous to the non scientific reader, such as I am. I felt this slowed down the story and at times became almost tedious. While I enjoyed the history of the times and the characters who were very realistic, I would have liked the resolution to be given in a less wordy manner.

Given the originality, fine dialogue and research, I would rate this at 3 1/2, moving to four stars.

"Pompeii has nothing to teach us."

2011-11-19T16:53:00.000-08:00

In 79 A.D. a new Aquarius is appointed, Marcus Attilius Primus, after the prior Aquarius disappeared.

Unexplained water loss occurs in the cities near Pompeii and the Aquarius is sent to find the cause and to correct the problem.

Water was a vital commodity of the day and Attilius, an engineer, feels that his position is important and his work should be done in a scrupulous manner.

As the story begins, one of the wealthy residents, Ampliatus, a former slave, is putting one of his slaves to death. This young man was responsible for caring for Ampliatus's prized fish which were meant to be delicacys for honored guests. When the entire stock of fish die, the slave is blamed.

In an attempt to save this innocent man, Ampliatus's daughter goes to Attilius who demonstrates to Ampliatus the the fish died because of sulphur in the water.

With the excellent narration of Michael Compsty, the story follows as if we are experiencing events on the History Channel.

Attilius begins to investigate a possible fault in the aqueduct while certain officials attempt to stop him because they fear that he will discover that they mishandled the water supply and made huge profits from overcharging people for the water.

There is excellent drama as the action begins two days before the volcano. We follow Attilius as he learns of an upheaval of land under the aqueduct and observes early warning signs that a volcano will erupt.

This is a highly entertaining story that shows the author's detailed research into the times and the life in the city of Pompeii. The reader becomes interested in the history as the characters come to life and a momentous disaster becomes closer and closer to occurring.

"Dawn, go away, I'm no good for you." Song lyrics

2011-11-15T15:33:00.000-08:00

The story opens as a man comes downstairs and gets his morning paper and sees the headline that he is dead and his wife is missing.

After attending an event in honor of former FBI director, Sam Norris, his step-daughter, FBI Special Agent Mia Keeler, and her husband, District Attorney, Jack, head home. They're stopped on a bridge for an unknown reason. When they're ordered from the car, Jack attempts to resist and is shot in the shoulder, placed back in his car and pushed over the bridge. Mia is kidnapped.

Though wounded, Jack survives but with his car at the bottom of the water, it is assumed that he and Mia are deceased.

After seeing the headlines about his death, he examines himself and sees that his shoulder wound has been stitched up and there is a tattoo on his arm in foreign words that he doesn't understand.

With his old partner from his police days, they are at his home when a man tries to sneak in, not knowing that Jack isn't dead. They surprise the man but before they can question him, he escapes and jumps in front of a truck, killing himself.

Not long into the story, while Mia is being held captive, a man calmly informs her that she doesn't have long to live if he doesn't get his way.

What are the pieces to the puzzle? Who has kidnapped Mia and how could they have staged the abduction so well?

Jack has the tattoo on his arm translated and makes an admission that completely changes the course of the novel and brings a philosophical element into it.

The pacing is excellent and the characters described realistically. Things take a twist at the end while the reader finally gets a chance to catch their breath.

The book is worth reading for the fast paced story and the characters. A very creative plot that left me wondering how could this have happened?

"Every time you hear a bell ring, it means some angel's just got his wings." Francis Goodrich

2011-11-11T10:14:00.001-08:00

It is 1937 at the peak of the Spanish Civil War with the guerrillas fighting against the Facist government in Spain. Robert Jordan, an American, possessing knowledge of weapons and explosives, meets a group of Spanish guerrilla fighters in the mountains.

Jordan is a dynamiter who has been sent to the area to blow up a bridge. Among the guerrillas is a young woman, Maria, who becomes attracted to him.

While the men who make up much of the freedom fighters speak of war, a man named Pablo appears to be in charge. However, it is his wife, Pilar who is the real force behind the group. Pilar is Spanish for pillar, is a symbol of the rock steadfastness of the group. During the early action in the story, it is seen that Pablo's resolve for fighting has changed and he often resorts to drinking.

Amidst the talk of killing and the Republican offensive against the Fascists, we follow the activities of Robert and Marie. This mixture of love and war is another significant juxtaposition of the author. With the tender moments of these two characters, it is as though this might be what the guerrillas are fighting for. The government's totalarianism attitude cannot tell them what to do and that gypsies like Rafael, foreigners like the American Robert Jordan, and women like Pilar and Marie can all work and live together as equals.

Hemingway has a master's gift for dialogue. We don't just read the words he pens. It is as if we have been transported to the Spanish mountainside and are listening to the scenes such as Pilar and Pablo discussing a matador that Pablo was proud of seeing and Pilar envisioning the matador as the matador gazes at the crowd in the rink before he kills the bull.

Hemingway was a reporter in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, his characters are honest in their actions and loyal to one another and Spain.

The story mixes historical fact and speculative fiction in a most entertaining manner that readers will enjoy and feel they have read something of literary significance.

"There are no winners, only survivors." Frank Gifford

2011-11-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

Giveaway

Fans of survivalist novels differ widely in their reactions to John Wesley, Rawles novel "Survivors."

The author's premise is to ask who will be ready when the stock market has a total crash, inflation skyrockets and dollars and paper money become useless.

Once super inflation takes hold, rioting and looting begin and only those who prepared in advance will be able to survive. The infrastructure of society is dissolved, gas stations run out of gas and the high tech gadgets that are so much a part of people's lives, become useless without electricity. Those who can trade food or materials such as lumber or gold, are able to purchase necessary items. Others resort to force or theft.

Andy Laine and his family are in the group which seems to be made up of current and former military people with a strong sense of Faith. In their case, they have stockpiled canned goods, weapons and live in an area in New Mexico with water and a source of energy.

The reader witnesses the agony of families who are effected by the rioting as it begins in many cities in the U.S. and elsewhere. In this instance, I would have liked to see more of the emotions of the characters such as when one character is told something about his daughter.

One difficulty I had with the novel is that the survivor group seemed too fortunate in their planning as one character finds a hidden room with certain essential elements. They also seem unwilling to share their idea of planning with neighbors and friends and I thought this was very unchristian and selfish but maybe they felt that was necessary for survival.

With the dregs of society such as paroled convicts and gang members joining the looters, I was reminded of "The Stand," by Steven King which pitted a force of good and honorable people against those who preyed on the less fortunate in the battle to see who would dominate the world.

The story moves between the different groups and suspense builds up, but some of the concepts were too extreme for me to accept. However, I was mildly interested in the story and wanted to see how it would develop.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R8JTEK19MI2CV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1439172803&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

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"Books are the ever burning lamps of accumulated wisdom." William W. Curtis

2011-11-04T18:22:00.001-07:00

GIVEAWAY

John Connolly writes about life in a small town in Maine and the affects on people's lives when a teenage girl, Anna Kore, becomes missing.

Randall Haight is an intensely private man. He doesn't want his past known because he and a friend, killed a young girl when he was age fourteen.

After serving eighteen years, Randall was released from prison. The records were sealed and he and the other boy involved in the murder, were given new identities.

Someone was mailing pictures to him that showed the barn door where he and his friend murdered the girl.

Afraid that he'll be made the scapegoat if he tells the authorities about his past, he hires Charlie Parker to put a stop to it.

Parker has been haunted by the death of his own small daughter for years but takes the case because Haight's attorney speculates that the person harassing Haight might be Anna's kidnapper.

Midway through the story, Charlie begins to get messages that seem to be from his daughter, urging him to be careful. Another spirit is visiting Haight for a different purpose.

Connolly writes in a literary style that is delicious to read, "...there are other places that speak of the ferocity of the sea, of communities sheltering behind buttresses of black rock and shingle beaches against which the waves throw themselves like besieging armies..."

There are a number of parallel story lines that merge together in a tidy conclusion with some interesting twists and surprises which add to the reader's interest.

Although not one of Connolly's best, I would rate this a 3 1/2 star, moving up to 4 star for the story telling and literary manner of writing.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2ZN6SXP0EUEMG/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

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"I'd like to take each day at a time but sometimes several days attack me at once." Jennifer. Unlimited

2011-10-31T18:37:00.000-07:00

Biochemist Emma Coldridge is in Arizona by the Mexican border. As a chemist for a lab that makes cosmetics, she's been looking for night blooming plants. Unexpectedly, she comes upon a stash of marijuana. Before she can make her escape, she's spotted and brought to the leader of the drug gang.

The the leader, Raoul LaValle, learns that she's a chemist, he informs her that his marijuana fields are infected. People who have come in contact with he plant are infected by a flesh eating toxin that brings a miserable death within nine days of exposure.

La Valle also deals in body parts and tells Emma that she must find a cure or be killed. Additionally, his mistress has been infected and he believes that the fungus came because the United States was spraying his fields to destroy the marijuana. Because of he need for revenge upon someone, he informs Emma that if she doesn't find a cure, he'll ship the next contaminated batch to the United States. He wants to spread disease to pay the United States back. He will also begin selling contaminated body parts to further infect people in the United States.

Emma is an ultra marathon runner and feels that she can escape and inform the authorities but she feels sympathy for the migrant workers who are forced to work in the fields and harvest the infected plants and she wants to save them.

She comes in contact with a college drop out, Oz Kroger who wanted to transport some drugs to earn money but is a man of conscience and when he sees the disease the plants carry, he decides that he wants to help Emma.

The story is well told, and the author provides enough evidence about chemistry and disease that the reader is convinced of the possibility of this really happening.

The drug dealers are truly villainous and the author gives a good point that in Mexico people really don't know who to trust. Were authorities acting on their own or are they hired by a competing cartel in order to take over the first cartel's drug operation.

The concept of the novel is original but the plotting could have been a bit stronger as Emma attempts to make her escape and a cat and mouse game begins. However, the reader does become emotionally involved and lost in the action as the chase is for life or death.

"The alienist is no joke - He finds you cracked and leaves you broke." Keith Preston

2011-10-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

In 1896, John Schuyler Moore, crime reporter for the "New York Times" is urgently called to the scene of a murdered adolescent boy in the east side of Manhattan. He had been summoned by his friend, Dr. Laslo Kreizler, a psychologist - or alienist.

At this time, Kreizler and Moore's friend, Throdore Roosevelt was the newly appointed police commissioner. They observe the murdered adolencent's being dressed like a girl and Roosevelt informs them that this is the third such victim and the crimes weren't publicized because they were all poor and no one cared what happened to them.

With rampant corruption in the police department and the idea that some police were taking payoffs from criminals, Roosevelt sets up a private task force to investigate and stop the killer. In the task force are Lazlo, Moore, his friend, Sara Howard, an independently minded woman who was a secretary in the police and two honest and intelligent police officers, Lucus and Marcus Isaacson.

The reader delights in the descriptions of New York around the beginning of the last century. The characters eat at Delmonico's Restaurant where notables such as Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell dine. They describe the setting while passing such historic places such as Wanamakers Department store and Grace Church.

This police procedural is skillfully done with a huge cast of characters, many who were taken from the pages of history. The author also informs the readers of such advances as the new use of finger prints and criminal profiling. Caleb Carr is from the area where the story unfolds and his creative vision and research is evident.

"The Alieniest" is an authentic story that will transport the reader to a wonderful time in history and as I was enjoying the book, it was as if I was experiencing an episode of Walter Cronkite's TV show of the '70s, "You Are There."

"Why do fools fall in love." song lyrics

2011-10-26T08:11:00.001-07:00

In the rugged southern Texas, by the Mexican border, Danny Boy Lorca, a former boxer and alcoholic witnesses a brutal murder.

Sheriff Hackberry Holland had been notified by the FBI that a Federal employee had been abducted.

Danny tells Hack and his chief deputy, Pam Tibbs, that he overheard the killers refer to La Magdalena, aka Anton Ling, a free spirited Chinese woman who provided food and shelter for the impoverished people crossing the border. Danny also heard that the leader was a man named Krill.

Krill had been hired to find the missing Federal employee, Noie Barnum, as is Temple Dowling, a citizen soldier who employees a number of mercenaries. They believe that Barnum has information about the Preditor program and want to sell him to Al Qaeda.

The characters are bound together in their passionate struggle to survive in this desert area. The vivid Hackberry Holland has been compared to John Wayne in "True Grit." With the tension building smartly the sudden violence speeding the story along.

However, Holland tells of being a prisoner in the Korean war, which ended in 1953. Even if he was a twenty year old, this would make him almost eighty years old and it's difficult to see how someone of that age could accomplish the things he does in this story or for us to believe that his deputy, Pam Tibbs, had romantic feelings for him.

Holland seems like Dave Robicheaux transplanted to Texas, like Dave, he is a widower, attends Mass, dislikes government agencies and criticizes those who use bad language around him.

Even with that, this is a wonderful read and as imaginative as a modern "Lonesome Dove." I recommend it with its colorful characters and with the exciting climax.

"Devil or Angel..which one..(are you). song lyrics

2011-10-24T09:36:00.001-07:00

Undercover American climatologist, Martin Faber is kidnapped by a group calling itself Forces of Popular Defense. The price of his release is the immediate withdrawal of all NATO forces within 150 miles of Mount Ararat.

The chapters describe the actions of different characters with Martin's wife, Julia Alvarez narrating her own actions. This change in point of view is professionally handled by the author.

As Julia narrates her actions, there is an attempt on her life and she is rescued by Col. Nicholas Allen of the National Security Agency. He informs her of her husband's kidnapping.

Col. Allen believes that Martin left clues about how to save him in the message he was made to deliver.

Faber is being held by a group that feels they are the descendants of angels and are about to be returned to heaven. To do this, they must destroy the world and will be able to do so with something that Martin and Julia possess.

They have a pair of stones that are magical and enable the possessors to see things. In history, it was thought that these stones could be used to communicate with the angels.

The premise of the novel is difficult for this reader to accept. Javier Sierra gives great detail and an interesting Index of churches and places in history to support the idea of talking directly with angels.

This plot driven story has an interest but didn't convince me not to be skeptical.
If the reader wants a trip into fantasy with the idea of speaking to angels and see multitudes of evidence of why this might be feasible, this novel would entertain.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1YVP7NBUPV9VL/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

See above Amazon review. If you feel the review was helpful, please indicate "YES" at the end of the Amazon review.

The greatest event in the world is the arrival of grandchildren.

2011-10-20T14:29:00.001-07:00

Meg Mitchell Moore's debut novel offers the readers a good study of a family with complicated needs.

Life in Burlington, Vt. seemed peaceful to the retired couple, William and Ginny Owen. Their eldest daughter, Lillian, called and informs them that she and her two children, ages three and newborn, are coming to their home and that she needs some time away from her husband.

Lillian doesn't share with her parents that her husband, Tom, had just slept with his assistant and a company function.

From life that seemed routine and peaceful, the home was suddenly in an uproar. Even more so when William and Ginny's son, Stephen and his wife Jane drive up without warning. Jane is seven months pregnant and both Stephen and she feel that they need a change of pace from their home in New York. Once again, the family ability to cope with change is challenged when a situation develops and the couple must extend their stay.

Rooms are changed and a pull out couch is activated for the sudden crowd.

Problems continue and the family seems to accept them but tempers are challenged with five guests in a home that had been set up for the retirees comfort.

The youngest child of the Owen's is Rachel, who has been living in New York. She also has difficulties and requests her parents to help.

The Owen's family's personal journey through the turbulent time is well described with humor and empathy with each child needing nourishment from their parents in different ways.

The author gives a good description of William and Ginny's realization that being parents bears responsibility that continues after the children leave home. The fact that the children have a safe place to go to when things are not going well is also a good lesson for all parents.

The characters and the setting were well described and the novel basks with fine literary flavor. The chaos was a bit long for me but the novel was enlightening and enjoyable.

"A sword is never a killer. It's a tool in the killer's hands" Seneca

2011-10-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

Every now and then an author creates a book that is truly unique and causes the reader to think about what is being said.

John Hunter is released from prison after serving sixteen years for a murder he didn't commit. He's had plenty of time to plan his revenge for the people who framed him and get some overdue payback.

Bill Moore is a real estate agent in Florida. He's successful and loves his wife but wants more. One day he notices an email with the word "modified on it.

He doesn't think anything about it but soon a series of things happen. Suggestive photos of a co-worker appears on his computer and his wife sees it and accuses him of taking the photos. An appointment with an important client ends with the client not showing up and the man's secretary denies making the appointment. Then he becomes a suspect when a man goes missing.

Michael Marshall has written an intelligent novel that is a puzzle that must be solved.

It takes a while before we find a connection between John Hunter, the missing man, and Bill Moore.

The action moves along at a breakneck pace that seduces the reader and yet, nothing is as it seems.

The author brings up a good point about greed in society and the goal to get ahead at all costs. The dialogue is right on. Only the two main characters are well developed, the others are not much more than names. The plot is complicated and unpredictable and yet it's still unimaginably addictive.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2N5UGWDBKTBJJ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

"She's my little deuce coupe...she blows em out of the water..."

2011-10-14T17:08:00.001-07:00

In a thriller so realistic that the events could have been taken from a futuristic newspaper reporting a doomsday scenario.

Omar El-Khayali, a radical cleric has been elected president of Pakistan benefiting from millions of dollars from militant Aswan Fortuna. Fortuna hopes that with his puppet in Pakistan and the radical President of Iran, the countries would work together to strike against Israel or the U.S.

Dewey Andreas, last seen in "Down Under" is in Australia wanting a normal life after killing Fortuna's son. Now there are teams of killers looking for Dewey to pay him back for stopping their terrorist plot.

In the land between India and Pakistan a minor incident between two Pakistanian soldiers and the residents of a small village quickly escalates into a conflict with India.

The situation quickly spirals out of control as India seems more than ready and willing to respond to a Pakistanian attack.

U.S. fears that if India retaliated with their nuclear weapons, they could obliterate Pakistan but then China would enter the battle and the U.S. would have to step in and defend their ally, India.

There seems no viable solution until one of the straticians recommends a Coup D'Etat and Dewey is selected to carry it out with a small team of associates.

There is mounting suspense as Dewey and his men take the steps to carry out the plan. The successor must be selected and convinced of the merits of action to save his country, other militants must be taken care of and Dewey and his unit has one narrow escape after another.

This exciting story had me leaving other tasks to return to the book again and again to see how the story was progressing and how Dewey could enact his plan while fighting off the militants. There is a glitch in the action and Dewey needs outside help to complete the assignment and hope to return to a normal life.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Coup D'Etat" and highly recommend it to those looking for a nonstop drama with a heroic character who the reader will sympathise with and admire for his skill and determination.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2OK713RHWNO0H/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0312580762&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

"Memories are all I have to cling to. Thinkin about the things we used to have." Song lyrics

2011-10-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

"The Things We Cherished" is an energizing experience that speaks of two love stories and a time prior to and during WWII when the world was in turmoil.

Charlotte Gold has a background in researching the Holocaust. She and Jack Warrington are in Germany to team up for the legal defense Roger Dykmans.

Germany hadn't been pursuing war crimes cases but the Department of Justice pressured them into action.

Historican uncovered information implicating Roger in selling out his brother, Hans, to the Germans who was attempting to help rescue Jewish people from Germany.

Roger isn't helpful in his defense so Charlotte and Jack travel to Wadowice, Poland, attempting to uncover anything to help with the case. They learn about Magda who Roger loved but was married to his brother, Hans.

The story moves back in time to 1940 and we observe what was happening in Berlin with the German round up of Jewish people who lived in constant fear of betrayal and being taken by the German authorities. Roger, who is not Jewish, came to Berlin as a student, to live with his brother, Hans and Hans' wife, Magda.

With moving back between time periods, Pam Jenoff, slows down the pace of the story as if lengthening the drama and allowing the reader to feel for the independent Magda who doesn't want to be a captive in her own home, just because she is Jewish. Then, with her husband away for much of the time, she and Roger become romantically involved.

The reader is rewarded for staying with the story when it slows down because the suspense and action pick up leaving the reader with a novel that is well worth the read.

Both Charlotte and Jack are fully drawn characters of whom the reader becomes attached and wishing that they would succeed in their goal and their lives. This is a heartfelt story with an ending that will remain in the memory of the reader.

"No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark." Mauriac

2011-10-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

One of Det. Alex Cross's hated enemies is Kyle Craig, known as The Mastermind. He's escaped from prison and wants revenge against Cross. To put his plan in motion, he kills FBI agent Max Siegel and undergoes plastic surgery to make him look like Siegel, then he learns everything he can about Siegel's past.

In Washington D.C. Alex Cross has proposed to Brianna Stone. Shortly thereafter, he's called on to investigate an assassination of two of Washington's politicians who are under investigation for corruption.

When another killing takes place and this person was also under investigation for criminal activity, the killers are praised for being patriotic, and officials realize that it is a sniper team.

Kyle, posing as FBI agent Siegel gets assigned to the case and is able to move his plan for revenge into high gear. With Cross not suspecting anything from a fellow officer, there is excellent suspense.

The story is a page turner given that a person could assume another person's identity so well that even the other person's co-workers don't suspect that this isn't the person that they thought and that no one would bring up details of Siegel's past that wouldn't be known to Kyle.

With this skepticism, James Patterson shows that he is the master of nail biters because he still gets the reader's involvement in the case. There is the reality of the the past Washington D.C. sniper and the wonder of how Cross will find the sniper team and how he will stop Craig before Craig can take revenge against Cross and his family.

"You've got the magic touch." Song lyrics

2011-10-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

A doctor is grasped by a man thought to be deranged, while the doctor was making rounds at the hospital. He feels a shock and soon finds that when he touches people who are sick, they become miraculously healed.

Dr. Alan Bulmer is an old time family physician who delights with the personal touch and feels that getting to know his patients helps in the healing process.

When he notices this ability to heal by touching others, he tries to downplay his wondrous medical talent but as word spreads, people bombard his office and he has little peach. He can only use his ability for a limited time daily and when he is unable to help some people, there are occasions when the people become enraged.

His marriage is affected and only a few people stand by him as some people begin to call him a charlatan pretending to be a faith healer.

What a wonderful idea for the terminal ill to have a miracle cure and a second chance at life. This is an heart warming story were the author builds suspense nicely and spices his story with some very unique characters.

The conclusion was somewhat predictable but nevertheless, "The Touch" was a good read that won't be forgotten.

"Our love affair is a wonderous thing." Song lyrics

2011-10-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

"A Hidden Affair" describes how strong can a woman's love for the man who promised to marry her, and how long can that love last.

Jordan Weiss is on a mission. She has resigned from the U.S. Dept of Intelligence and is searching for her old boyfriend, Jared Short, in Monaco.

She has an old address and when she finds it, she observes a young woman entering the building. She asks the woman about Jared. The woman is evasive and when Jordan returns to ask more questions, she finds that the woman has fled.

Jordan meets an Israeli named Aaron who is also following the woman. He suggests that he and Jordan join forces. They do so and eventually develop a fondness for each other while maintaining a professional mistrust.

Interestingly, we learn of wine making in the area and that wine was used as currency during WWII. We also learn something about the Nazis demanding the best wine and the locals attempting to deny the Nazi's of this treasure. What happens to the true vintage of wine becomes part of the mystery.

Jordan Weiss is a strong character and a good match for Aaron but she continues her search for Jared even though events prove that he didn't deserve her devotion.

Pam Jenoff writes an interesting story that is well worth reading. With some of the action in places like Monaco, I would have enjoyed more of a description of the setting of those scenes.

The historical premise of the novel is riveting and even the minor characters are completely realized.

"...the nightlife, is no life, but it's my life." Song lyrics

2011-10-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

In a well told tale about life in the Appalacian countryside in North Carolina somewhere around the 1950s or 1960s, the author paints a picture of the struggles of life.

Luce lives by herself in the old Lodge. She's totally self-sufficient living in the building which had been a summer home by a man made lake. Once the owner had died, Luce took it upon herself to stay on and act as caretaker.

When her sister is murdered, the state places her sister's two childern into Lucy's care. She felt that she didn't really have any choice. It was either that or have them separated and placed into adoption agencies.

This is an example of Naturalism in literature popular in the early 1900 where the character's environment and heredity predetermine what will happen to them, leaving little that they can do to change the path that is already written for them.

Luce accepts the challange of caring for these tempermental, untalking twins. It makes the reader wonder how she can do this with no parental training, no financial or educational help and no support group.

In a scene that reminded me of Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain," Luce takes the twins to her friend's home. When her friend places the children on her pony, the twins become normal little children again and utter their first words, the horses name, "Sally."

Bud is the children's father. He's a cold hearted killer. His lack of any trace of compassion and willingness to kill others with little prevocation reminded me of the excellent character Anton Chigurth from "No Country for Old Men."

As the story continues, Bud's path begins to converge with Luce and the children. As their paths come closer and closer, suspense mounts dramatically.

Charles Frazier is a wonderful story teller and has given us a book with rich characters for whom the reader develops a great deal of empathy. It is a book that the reader can get lost in and reaffirms the author's place as one of the best literary writers working today.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1F99BTVOE2SF3/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

"It's only when the rich are sick that they feel the impotence of wealth." Franklin

2011-10-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

"Sick Puppy" is not only a story of greedy politicians and builders who are destroying Florida's natural beauty, it's a story packed with colorful characters and wacky incidents.

Twilly Spree is a wealthy environmentalist who notices a person who we learn is Palmer Stoat, constantly disregarding the Florida landscape by throwing his gargage out of his car window. Twilly's reaction is to follow the car and when the driver is in a restaurant, to dump a truck' filled with garbage into the open convertable.

When this doesn't get his message of the results of inappropriately throwing garbage where it doesn't belong, Twilly escalates his tactics. In doing this, he meets Stoat's wife and she informs him that her husband in in the midst of working a deal to bulldoze an island that is filled with trees and animals, just to build a golf corse. The project is designed to enrich a builder who contributed to the governor's campaign, as well as benefiting her husband.

The characters were richly drawn and easy to imagine as was the unusual situations that they get into.

Hiasson plays with the reader and gives an amusing tale that is vastly entertaining. This is a good murder mystery mixed with humor.

"The first time...I saw your face, I thought the sun rose in your eyes." Song lyrics

2011-09-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

"First Avenue" provides a remarkable and heartbreakingly realistic view of a section of downtown Seattle and describes a portrait of good and evil.

Officer Sam Wright finds a dead infant in a run-down hotel on First Avenue. Sam has seen many things but the image of this child who died of malnutricion is somehting he won't forget. He learns that the baby's mother, Alberta Sanchez, worked at a nearby Donut Shop but has disappeared.

As he begins the paperwork at police headquarters, he wonders about the hopelessness that seems to exist with the people he came in contact with at the hotel.

With the death of the baby weighing heavily on Sam's mind, he wants to search for answers about what happened.

There seems to be a connection with this Donut Shop and in an unusual coincidence, a young woman, not much more than a girl, comes to Seattle looking for Sam. She seems timid and when she stops in at the Donut Shop, she gets a job there.

Sam's favorite place on First Avenue is Silvie's Restaurant where he often stops in to relax when not on duty. Sam has seen the young woman at the Donut Shop and learned her name is Marie. He tells Sylvie about Marie and asks if Sylvie would be willing to hire her since Sam feels that the Donut Shop is unsafe.

The author's manner of writing is descriptive and, at times poetic, "She laughed for a moment, but her laughter startled her as though waking from a dream. He watched her eyes turn sad."

I was moved by Lowen Clausen's characters with some of the coldhearted criminals so well described that I wanted to express some anger with them. At the same time, There are a number of well meaning people, including Sam, attempting to make life a little better with their compassionate manner and desire to help.

This is a wonderful and uplifting adventure. I enjoyed the setting, the characters who came to life in the pages and the story itself. "First Avenue" is written by a former Seattle police officer and his descriptions are so well done that's it's as if we're sitting in the passenger seat of his police cruiser watching events unfold.

"Let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen closely." The Land Before Time

2011-09-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

In Cape Cod, Michael Decastro, former public defender and current fisherman, gets a message from Tran, Tuki Aparacio's half-brother, that she's in Ho Chi Minh City and in trouble.

The reader learns of Tuki Aparacio, the daughter of a black American soldier and Vietnamese woman, who is attractive with her dark skin and Vietnamese looks. She's a nightclub singer. In addition, she is worried that The Dragon Lady is looking for her and the Hart of Warriors, a ruby worth millions, that Tuki is in possession of.

I began this book anticipating a suspenseful thriller but found that the cardboard characters had no appeal to me.

It is obvious that the author spent a great deal of time and labor to write the story in so much detail but much of the action defied logic and moved around too much with action going from Cape Cod, to Saigon, to North Vietnam and then to the mountains of Vietnam.

In my questioning of the action, the protagonist, Michael Decastro, had just been jailed in Cape Cod, for a possible suicide attempt while drinking too much. He drops everything, and travels to Vietnam.

Michael asks his father to join him. His father, Caesar Decastro, served in Vietnam as an MP. Against all odds, forty years after the war, he finds and reconnects with the bar girl he lived with while in Vietnam. What is more, she still loves him.

I also found it difficult to see the young Tuki in possession of a ruby worth millions while she has very little in other assets.

Told in the third person, it was difficult to get a feel for the character's motivation and to know what was in their hearts.

Lastly, I found the antagonist, The Dragon Lady to be too unpredictable. At times she would be tender toward Tuki but then she would strike out against her or do something to Tuki's brother. How she came into all the information about Michael's movements while in Vietnam was also not well enough explained to me.

Conceptually, the idea of a woman from Vietnam falling in love with a man in Cape Cod and needing his help could be of interest but other details of the story when added together made the story less than it could have been.

2 stars moving up to 2 1/2.

"Sometime around midnight ...you lose yourself for a minute or two." Song Lyrics

2011-09-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is really a novel about the city of Savannah, its people and history.

"Esquire" writer John Berendt is in Savannah, Georgia, to write a story about the extravagant holiday party that Jim Williams hosts yearly.

Williams is one of the true characters of the area. He's an antique dealer and was influential in the restoration of Savannah's historic district. He lives in the family home of songwriter, Johnny Mercer.

There are a number of truly unique personalities populating the story. The mournful Luther Driggers is an eccentric who was an inventor whose ideas never made him any money and is said to carry a quantity of poison with him. He also plays with houseflies.

Serina Dawes is a friend of Luther and a wealthy woman who enjoys her life of leisure. There is also the notable character Lady Chablis, a cross dressing nightclub singer who has a major role in the story.

Jim Williams is accused of murdering his companion Danny Hansford who is known for his drug dependency and explosions of temper.

Berendt lays out the scenario slowly, perhaps, in comparison to the pace of life in the city. We learn of the history of the city, some of the facts in the redevelopment and the mix of interesting people who inhabit the area.

It is also interesting to see the society members who attend William's annual party and how their friendship and attitude changes when Williams is accused but before any verdict of murder or innocence is proclaims.

I enjoyed the book but thought the pace was a bit slow. Berendt brings Savannah to life and allows the reader to form their own opinion about the lifestyle of the inhabitants and what goes on at midnight, in this garden of good and evil.

"The deepest need for men is not food and clothing...it is God"

2011-09-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

NEW GIVEAWAY

Harlan Coben is departing from his normal adult fiction to provide an entertaining Young Adult story.

Fifteen-year-old Mickey Bolitar was sent to live with his Uncle Myron. Mickey has undergone a sad time period where his father died in a car crash and his mother isn't handling it well and is a patient in a clinic.

Mickey is one of the new kids at the high school and meets another new student, Ashley. They become friends but suddenly, she's not at the school and a teacher tells Mickey that he's received a note that she probably wouldn't be back.

With the weight of the permanent loss of his father and the current loss of his mother-at the clinic, he feels that he just can't bear the loss of one more person who was close to him, therefore, he wants to investigate why Ashley has suddenly and without word to anyone else, vanished.

In his investigation, he is aided by two outcasts from his high school who he as befriended. Spoon, the nerdy kid who is the janitor's son and the eccentric and humorous character, Ema. She's an overweight student who is a goth follower with shoe polish black hair, arm tattoos, black clothes and pale skin all bundled up with a sense of humor that makes her endearing and makes the reader curious to learn more about her.

Mickey also has dealings with a mysterious elderly neighbor known as Bat Lady who makes an announcement about Mickey's father.

With a wonderful author like Harlan Coben, the story is, as the reader would expect, well done, entertaining and an easy read.

Mickey Bolitar is a refreshing character who deserves his place as a worthwhile subject in the young adult literature of today.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2L4UBZDH4GCEQ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0399256504&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

Giveaway for this book begins: Sept 13th and continues through Oct 3.
Giveaway rules:
1. be a follower of this blog
2. be a friend on Shelfari if possible
3. use above link and go to Amazon review and indicate "YES" review helpful
4. Under comments list your email address for contact purposes and that you have indicated the review was helpful.
5. US and Canada only
6. This is a advanced reader's copy.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" Orwell

2011-09-07T15:14:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY

Harlan Donnally was a former San Francisco Police Dept. detective who was retired on a disability after being shot on the job.

At the start of the story, he promises a dying friend to find his friend's younger sister, who his friend placed in a home when she was age five. Tragically, Harlan finds that the girl, Anna, was murdered years ago and her alleged killer, Charles Brown, was never prosecuted due to being incompetent.

As Donnally continues to search for answers, he finds that there are people who would like to keep Anna's killing closed and prevent him from finding the answers. However, he persists. He needs to find out what happened in the 1970s in the Berkley community with the anti government, anti war movement.

Donnelly feels that he's on a mission to help his deceased friend who thought he was leaving his little sister in safety only to have her killed and no one punished for the crime.

Donnally is able to locate the alleged killer, Charles Brown, and bring him to court only to have someone hire a wealthy attorney claiming that Brown is the real victim. This makes Donnelly wonder if someone else is hiding behind the incompetent man's craziness.

We learn more of Donnelly's past and realize what motivates him in this search for the truth. His search takes him to places that neither the reader nor Donnelly could have foreseen. This freshness in plot is dramatically described and we see Donnelly as the type of investigator who doesn't give up and employs some creative measures to get answers and deliver justice that has been a long time in being served.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2UXC9I7CTD8A3/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

GIVEAWAY RULES:
1. be a follower of this blog
2. follow on shelfari if you are on that site
3. use above link and see my review on Amazon, read review and at the end, indicate "YES" review helpful.
4. under comments of this review, indicate you wish to be entered in the giveaway, give your email address for notification and indicate you have stated that the review was helpful.
5. Giveaway runs through Sept 16th
6. U.S. and Canadian residents only, sorry, postage.

Good luck and have fun.

What is in the marrow is hard to take out of the bone.

2011-09-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

Martin Arrowsmith enters medical school in the early nineteen hundreds in a place called Winnemac.

The reader sees the difficulty of attening medical school and dealing with medical and social issues. Martin goes through medical school with the ardor of a man pursing his lifelong dream. When he takes bacteriological, he imagines that he's in the position of his instructor Professor Max Gottleib and can't imagine that life could be better.

Working so hard, there were times when he needed a change of pace and he visited a city called Zenith where he met Madeline Fox who was working on her grad school courses and seemed to be searching for a husband. Eventually they become engaged and soon after Madeline proceeds to attempt to change Martin's habits and mannerisms to the man she would like him to be.

Then he's sent to Zenith General Hospital where he meets a nursing student Leora Tozer. They become attracted to each other and have more in common than Martin and Madeline. They also become engaged and Martin has the two women meet and tells them he's engaged to both. Madeline is condescending toward Leona and disparages her coming from a country place like North Dakota. This seems to sway Martin to Leora and so, Madeline leaves and wished them a good life.

We follow Martin's life as he finishes Med school and moves to Leona's home to set up a family practice. It is interesting to see small town community and ideas about alcohol, gambling, pharmacical drugs, and medicine in genera. Martin tries to fit in with the farm community and meddling family of Leora but finally it is too much and he decides to move to the city where he will have more freedom.

His true love is really in research and eventually takes a position there. During the WWI he and joins the military and works in research about medical conditions that people in the military might face. This devotion is good to read and he tries to write some research papers, eventually working with bubonic plague.

Well written and a good description of a piece of America in the early nineteenth century.

"There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful...as our conscience" Sophocles

2011-09-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

With the bad economy, Mickey Haller has had to search for clients and resorted to working in home foreclosures.

He longs to get back to the high profile cases and back to the courtroom where he's at his best. Then he gets a call from one of his foreclosure clients that she has been accused of murdering the banker who headed the mortgage loan division responsible for her foreclosure.

Since the client has no money, he gets her to sign an agreement giving him the rights to a future book or movie. This would enable her to pay for his services and that of his staff.

A complication occurs when the client is bailed out by Herbert Dahl who has also gotten her to sign a movie agreement with him. Dahl is a slimy person who puts together deals for movies.

Mikey's deal predated Dahl's and there are a number of antagonistic meetings trying to get this resolved. In the meantime, Mickey is getting a case together to defend the client, Lisa Trammel.

As the reader might expect with Michael Connelly, the novel is suspensefully written and the court scenes are like a tightly contested tennis match with one side winning points and then the other side countering. It is as if we are members of the jury and seeing if Mickey will be able to get his client proven innocent of this murder.

Mickey Haller is an excellent character who shows the difficulty of earing a living and having to put up with difficult clients. In the past, he's managed his business and his family life with constant emotional and financial struggles that are common to many of us and so we relate to him and wish him to succeed.

Another enjoyable story with Mickey Haller and a conclusion that packs the punch of a game winning grand slam home run.

Our five senses are incomplete without the sixth-our sense of humor." Unknown

2011-08-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Former Secret Service Agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are hired by defense attorney Ted Bergin to help in the defense of Edgar Roy. They are soon up to their necks in a rivalry between informational gathering agencies inside and out of the government. Roy is accused of being a serial killer.

On their way to meet Bergin in Maine, they discover that he has been murdered and wonder how someone could have gotten close enough to Bergin to have killed him on a mostly deserted road.

Roy is accused of murdering six people whose bodies are found buried on his farm. He had just noticed that the ground didn't look right and had a shovel in his hand when the police arrived after an anonymous tip.

Sean and Michelle meet a Maine State Police Lieutenant Eric Dobkin who was helpful. They learn that Roy is a federal prisoner and anything connected to Roy must be reported to the FBI who will take over the case.

In this well paced thriller that tries to prove one man's innocence against seemingly insurmountable odds, there is a U.S. intelligence program led by Peter Bunting who is attempting to find a man of rare intelligence rated a six. It is called the EProgram. This person would be able to analyze information from all over the world and be able to make predictions and then provide this information to the government.

There are powerful people competing for a billion dollar contract and David Baldacci does an excellent job in keeping the reader guessing as to what direction the story will take. What do intelligence agencies want with Edgar Roy and how will Sean and Michelle get the information to defend him when it seems that they are going against the highest powers in the U.S. government.

A high powered reading experience that will keep you wanting more.

"Treasure the love you receive about all else. It will survive long after good health has vanished." Og Mandino

2011-08-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY

In Joseph Finder's novel, "Vanished," someone attacks Lauren Heller while she and her husband, Roger, are out to dinner in Georgetown. Lauren hears Roger shout "Why her?" before she's knocked unconscious. When Lauren wakes up in the hospital, she learns that Roger has disappeared.

Roger's brother, Nick, is a former Special Forces member who is an investigator for Stoddard Associates. As the story begins, he's just prevented the theft of a cargo from a plane in a regional airport near L.A. The cargo that was in question was a large amount of money.

Roger's son, Gabe, gets in touch with Nick and asks him to help. Even though Nick and Roger haven't spoken in years, Nick is fond of Lauren and Nick so he agrees to try to find Roger.

Roger's position is chief financial officer of Gifford Industries and carries the burden of his father's crime. His and Nick's father is in jail for insider trading and securities fraud. Wanting to erase the memory of his father's crime, Roger has been extra diligent in his job.

Lauren also works for Gifford Industries as the executive secretary for the CEO, Leland Gifford. She admits to Nick that Roger told her that he had found something but wouldn't say just what it was. However, she knew it involved a great deal of money. She also admits that Roger may have let the people who were responsible for the espionage know of his discovery. She fears these people may have kidnapped Roger.

As Nick investigates, he finds that there is a corporation similar to Blackwater, that provides government security in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Much of their activities involves bribes to officials in those countries and sometimes to people in the U.S. Nick finds that military looking people are following him as he begins to find out things about Roger's past and could even involve his father.

This is an intelligently written financial thriller. There is good action and Nick is an excellent character somewhat like Lee Child's protagonist, Jack Reacher. Overall, I found the story to be cleverly plotted and suspenseful. I look forward to reading more of Nick Heller's exploits in future stories.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R37C1TC9TBKHA/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B003IWYGWU&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

Giveaway rules:
1. be a follower of this blog
2. follow on twitter if possible
3. with the above link, see my review of "Vanished" on Amazon. Read that review and indicate "YES" it was helpful.
4. leave comment and email that you wish to be entered in the giveaway.
5. U.S. and Canadian only, sorry. Postage.
6. Giveaway runs through midnight September 5th.
7. If you have won a book at this site, please wait 30 days to enter a new giveaway to give others a chance.
Good luck and have fun.

"Fame...is no sure test of merit...it is an accident, not a property of man." Thomas Carlyle

2011-08-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

"The Accident" deals with the sale of knock off items, such as expensive purses and medications, and the unwary suburbanites who think they can add to their family's incomes by selling them. We also learn of organized crime behind many of these schemes. The author presents the facts of the loss of tax revenue, the cost to honest businesses and the revelation that some of these items are made by young children working in miserable conditions in China and third world countries.

The thrilling story tells of Glen Garber becoming worried when his wife, Sheila, doesn't return from an evening class. He's home with his precocious daughter, Kelly, age eight.

Unable to just sit still, Glen attempts to follow the route his wife would take and comes upon an accident. He sees it is his car and police tell him that Sheila was apparently drinking and passed out, an empty bottle of liquor was found. The accident was fatal to Sheila and two people in another car.

One of Sheila's friends, Ann Slocum is ordered to meet an unnamed man who wants his money. We learn that Ann has been selling unregistered pharmaceutical products. Ann meets someone by the water and has a dispute, resulting in her death, after hitting her head and falling into the water.

Glen has lost so much and, with Sheila's death, he seems surrounded by people who are intent on harming him, his business and even his daughter, Kelly. He is a most sympathetic character who we come to admire because he doesn't sit still after having his world crumble around him.

Barclay has written a book about a man who demonstrates how one man, acting with conviction, can make a difference.

This is an easy read but the reader should take their heart medicine and cancels all of their appointments before starting the story because once the reader delves into this gem, they won't be able to stop reading until the last page.

I enjoyed the characters and found myself holding my breath in parts of the book and saying "Oh No," and in other parts cheering for Glenn's success.

"Truth is the property of no individual but... the treasure of all men." Emerson

2011-08-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

"A Bitter Truth" is an engrossing depiction of the life of a battlefield nurse in WWI and an upper class family in rural England. We observe the interactions of this family as they attempt to deal with a particularly embarrassing situation. The primary purpose of the family's actions is to protect the family name.

Bess Crawford is a nurse who returns to England on leave from her duties in the battlefields of France. She is surprised to find a well dressed young woman huddled in her doorway. When Bess sees that the woman, Lucy Ellis, has a bruise on her face Bess's compassionate nature takes over. She invites Lucy to her flat and learns that Lucy's husband, Roger, struck her. Lucy is afraid of returning to her home and Bess offers to accompany her.

At the Ellis home, Bess meets Roger and understands about the argument. Roger is about to return to active duty and Lucy wants him to try to conceive a child so that if anything happened to Roger in battle, Lucy would have that part of him to remember and love.

Bess is a steady character who is a delight. As a nurse, she deals with physically and mentally injured people. She is also a problem solver and has the ability to analyze a situation and provide useful alternatives.

Charles Todd describes the relationship between family members and their responsibility toward maintaining the family reputation, at all costs. There are a number of murders and the reader continues the story enjoying the logical approach Bess uses to find who the killer might be.

There is a well placed plot twist that adds to the reader's interest and places the novel in the top realm of creative story telling. The story has a plot and character that are made for each other and combine for a wonderful reading experience.

A lake carries you into the recesses of feeling otherwise impenetorable"

2011-08-13T06:46:00.000-07:00

It's not that long ago that the events surrounding the massacre of My Lai reverberated in the minds of Americans. The men of Charlie Company were sent on a search and destroy mission which got out of hand with the resulting deaths of approximately 300 civilians who were apparently unarmed.

"In the Lake of the Woods" tells of John and Kathy Wade, who are together at that lake in Minnesota, on the Canadian border.

They are taking time together to try to figure out what John would do after John's landslide loss in a political campaign. He had been a rising star, politically, being Lieutenant Governor at age thirty seven. From this lofty success, he doesn't know how he'll deal with the end of his dreams.

The author describes John and Kathy's early life at the University of Minnesota and then married after his return from Vietnam.

They had been offered the cabin by a friend, after John's staggering political loss. Once they arrived at the cabin and settled in, things seemed normal. However, John awakens one morning after a possible blackout and Kathy has disappeared. John cannot remember what happened that might have caused this.

What is interesting is that the author offers different hypothesis. Did Kathy run off? Did John kill her and hide the body? Did she have an accident on the lake?

With Tim O'Brien's journalistic manner of writing, he describes John's actions while stationed in Vietnam as a member of Charlie Company. The story is filled with quoted statements from other participants in the massacre. Then we wonder what is the psychological effect of these actions on John.

John's character is well described by the author, as is the setting and the historical happenings in Vietnam. Perhaps John is an extreme example of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome which not only caused the downfall of a politician on the rise but led to whatever happened between he and his wife.

This dark novel is an imaginative and stimulating portrayal of the aftermath of war and the dissolution of a man's spirit and possibly, his life.

'Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss and ends with a teardrop."

2011-08-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

Two young lovers, Nate and Sara, are trying to put their past behind them and start a new life. They're on their way to Reno and stop for food.

There's a man in the tavern who tells them that his car has died and offers them $500. to drive him to Reno. They are somewhat uncomfortable at first but since they don't have much money, they are persuaded by that and agree.

During the trip the man appears ill and nervously tells them that there is a woman named Lilith after him.

They are driving through a snowstorm but finally have to stop. They pull off at a run down motel. Nate gets a room for he and Sara but when he comes out to the car, the man, Syl, is unconscious. Nate examines him and sees that he's shot. He's also carrying a money belt. Not expecting Syl to live the night, Nate takes the money belt and moves Syl out of the car.

This is the kind of story that Alfred Hitchcock was famous for. Everyone is stuck at the motel while the storm rages. Then the caractures learn that Nate took a large amount of money from Sly and everyone begins to conspire on how to get their hands on the money.

"The Cold Kiss" is a quick read and would be just right to take on a vacation. The action is nicely described and the story is packed with tension. All that is needed is for creepy music to let the reader and characters know that danger lurks in the shadows.

"Song sung blue, every garden grows one." Song lyrics

2011-08-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

This story describes the life of a successful woman, Janet Whitman, who has a secret longing for Willy Blunt, a carpenter, who was her boyfriend in high school.

The story moves from Janet's high school days in the Nebraska countryside with her learned father, to her life today.

Janet was deeply in love with Willy and excited by his confidence and uniqueness. When he asks Janet to marry him, she accepts but tells him that it couldn't happen until she completed college.

Once she left small town life in Nebraska and arrived at college, Janet had a different view. When she met a wealthy banker, Malcolm Whitman, she feels that Malcolm would give her a good life so she marries him.

A quarter of a century later, Janet seems to feel that her life didn't turn out the way she wanted and her marriage wasn't going anywhere. She remembered the excitement she felt with Willy and wanted that spark again.

Janet also feels that she doesn't particularly enjoy being a mother. She loves her daughter, Camille, but would rather be doing other things than listening to Camille's complaints and catering to her.

It is interesting to see the young Janet with ideals and goals, she appears innocent.
In the parts of the story where she is now, we see how incomplete her life has become and wonder how many other people must be in similar positions.

Friendship isn't a big thing, it's a million little things." Unknown

2011-08-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY

Two of the things that appeal the most to me concerning David Levine's novels, are his intricate plots and multi-demensional charcters.

In "13 Million Dollar Pop," Frank Behr is a relatively new employee at the Caro Group, private investigators and personal security advisors. As the story opens, he's searching for a home with his girlfriend, Susan, who is nearing delivery of their first child.

Frank is doing a personal security detail for one of the company clients so a friend at Frank's company can attend one of his children's sporting events. This was supposed to be an easy assignment but while providing security for Bernard Kolodnik, someone attempts to kill Kolodnik. However, Frank's quick reflexes saves him.

Frank is treated like a hero and the next day, the governor appoints Kolodnik as a replacement when the senior senator from Indiana resigns to fight advanced prostate cancer.

Everyone seems satisfied but Frank is an investigator and wants answers. When he asks about the official investigation, he only gets evasive responses.

The story describes a real estate developer whose development including a casino which doesn't get approval and the man becomes overextended. He had made a deal with Kolodnick's campaign manager to get Kolodnick's influence and there would be a quick sale once the building was complete. There was supposed to be a secret kickback of 13 million dollars from the ownership once the property was sold. However, the economy and other factors stalled the development. Now that Kolodnick is an official, he leaves his personal business dealings behind.

The author explores Franks' goal of solving the crime. He's also compassionate and we see his tender moments with his girlfriend as she nears delivery date. He is also a man who wants to help people who are being unjustly treated.

I tried to think of another character in literature who reminded me of Frank and my first thought was Tom Joad from "The Grapes of Wrath." In a way, both men are protective of their families and other workers who are being bullied by crooked officials.

The pacing of the novel is masterful. As the story nears its culmination, action continues to speed up and suspense mounts. Each character is fully drawn and comes alive in the story.

This is one of the best mysteries of the year and shouldn't be missed.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R8A2JIWHNS6JA/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

GIVEAWAY RULES:

A: Be a follower of my blog.

B: Use above link to go to my Amazon review of this book and at the end of the Amazon review, when they ask if the review was helpful, indicate "YES"

C: In the comments section of the blog, indicate that you wish to be entered in the giveaway with your email address so winners can be contacted.

D: Giveaway ends at midnight August 20th.

E: U.S. and Canadian residents only, sorry, postage.

F: If possible, follow on twitter. Extra points for those who twit this giveaway.

G: Only one winning book within 30 days, to allow others a chance to win.

Good luck and have fun.

"Enjoy the little things in life...one day you may realize, they were the big things." Antonio Smith

2011-08-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

"So Big," won the Pulitzer Prize in 1924 and is considered by many be Edna Ferber's best novel.

The story follows Selina Peake DeJong whose father was a gambler and killed by mistake.

Selina was only nineteen at the time in 1888 and she surprises her friends in that she doesn't want to go and live with her two elderly aunts in Vermont. Instead, she shows her independence and determination to succeed on her own. She tries to maintain her dignity and gets a job as a teacher at the Dutch school in High Plains, ten miles outside of Chicago.

At her first social event, she makes up a picnic basket that will be auctioned off. Men bid on the baskets that the women make up and then get to eat the food in the basket with the woman who prepared it.

Being from the city, Selina prepares tasty items and puts the food in a small box, tied by a ribbon.

When the bidding begins, the auctioneer ridicules this small item but men begin to bid large amounts and one farmer wins with an exorbitant price. Pervus De Jong tells her that he felt badly when others began laughing. He admits that he has had no schooling so Selina agrees to teach him after school.

During these lessons, Purvus receives book learning and Selina learns about farm life from him. They develop feelings for each other and these two very different people marry the following May.

This enjoyable novel tells of the hardships of farming before the turn of the century when there were no tractors or automobiles to get farm goods to markets.

When Selina's son, Dirk, is born, she wants to make sure that he will grow up in a world of books and literature and have more from his life.

An important literary work, when tragedy strikes, Selina is one of the early women who, once again, demonstrates her independence and she runs the farm by herself and finds a better way to sell her goods at market.

We see the progress and improvements begin and as Dirk grows older, his well developed relationship with his mother and people in the Chicago society.

This is a well written novel in the realistic literary style and a work that deserved winning the Pulitzer Prize.

The best angle from which to approach a problem is the Try-angle." Unknown source

2011-07-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY

William Kent Krueger has delivered another fine novel with "Northwest Angle." This is a story with picturesque settings, a suspenseful plot that is unpredictable and a strong message about life.

Cork O'Connor takes his family on a vacation, feeling that his daughters at age 24 and 21, are getting older and there might not be many more opportunities.

When a destructive story called a derecho develops, Cork and his older daughter, Jenny, are separated from the other members of the family who are on a houseboat. Cork and Jenny end up on one of the many islands on the Lake of the Woods in Minnesota, on the U.S. Canadian border.

Separated by the storm, Jenny arrives first and hears the faint whimper of a baby. Later, she discovers the body of a young woman who had been murdered. The woman had signs of being tortured and Jenny assumes that the woman was the child's mother.

As Jenny and Cork ponder their rescue, they wonder who killed the girl and what to do if that person returns.

This is a story where there is a true dicotomy between good and evil. Cork's sister-in-law, Rosa, is also on the trip and is on the houseboat. She had been considering entering the convent when she met her husband, Mal. He was a priest before his marriage to Rosa. There are a number of times during the story when bad things happen to good people and the other characters wonder why God would allow this to happen. Then, there seems to be an answer to this question.

As the story continues, Cork and Jenny are trying to keep the baby safe and believe that those pursuing them might be in league with the devil.

The story is rich in American Indian history. Cork is part Ojibwe and can relate to the other American Indians. Cork's son, Stephen, truly demonstrates his spirituality and communication ability with other American Indian characters, in particular with the wise elders. Stephen learned from Henry Meloux, a healer, who understands the harmony of life and how to use nature to restore that harmony if it is lost.

I read the story compulsively and enjoyed the characters while wondering how they would escape from their situation. Cork's character was nicely described with his love of family, his pride in being an American Indian and his background as a lawman and wanting to bring criminals to justice.

The twist the author provided added to the intelligence of the story and the satisfaction with the conclusion.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R16HGATFOKX5UY/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

GIVEAWAY RULES: Be a follower of this blog on blogspot.com

Giveaway ends at midnight, August 12th.

if possible, follow on twitter @mikedtheauthor

use the above link to find my review of "Northwest Angle" and at the end, indicate that the review was helpful.

in the comments section, indicate that you wish to be included in the giveaway and provide your email address so I can contact giveaway winners.

Because of postage costs that are paid by me, U.S. and Canadian residents only.

good luck and have fun.

"Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall...glorify the hunter." African proverb

2011-07-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

Kim Baldwin's "Hunter's Pursuit" introduces a female character in a world normally populated by men. Surprisingly, this woman has the ability to do anything her male counterparts can do, and in many cases, she does it better.

Kat "Ktarzyna Demetrious, is known as Hunter. She's a confident woman who takes command in any situation that develops and works as a freelance bounty hunter and assassin. She also possesses exceptional instincts for survival.

Kat has been considering retiring and as the story unfolds, she lives in a bunker cut into a hillside in a wilderness area in northern Michigan.

She notices a car going too fast in the snow. When the car skids off the road and the driver is unconscious, Kat brings the injured woman into her home, fearing that if Kat left her, the woman would freeze to death before help arrived.

Later, when Kat turns her computer on, she learns that there is a million dollar bounty on her
head. There are two takers, one is Kat's acquaintance, Otter, and the other is a woman.

When the injured woman awakens, she can't remember her name and tells Kat to call her Jake. Even though Kat has concern that Jake might be the woman hunter, Kat feels drawn to her.

Other assassins are on Hunter's trail and as she avoids these would be killers, she wonders if the woman she saved and who she has become attracted to, could be the person that she should fear the most.

This is a different kind of action story with the two women developing feelings toward each other. The characterization is strong and Hunter and Jake are very likable characters who the reader enjoys learning their story and wishing for their success.

In addition, the wilderness area in northern Michigan is well described and the cold and storm that exists outside of Kat's hide away is a good juxtaposition to the warmth inside with the cozy atmosphere that Kat built into her home and the warm feelings of the characters toward each other.

"All they are is dust in the wind." Song lyrics

2011-07-19T08:00:00.001-07:00

GIVEAWAY

"Dust to Dust," immediately catches the reader's attention and holds it like an iron grip, as the action unfolds with the forces of good are pitted against an evil that could destroy the world.

Scott Bryant is a regular guy who could be your next door neighbor. He's out on the town with a couple of friends. They come upon an elderly couple who are being attacked by a gang. Scott and his friends decide to involve themselves to save the couple. In the heat of the battle, the old man notices him and announces that Scott is Capricorn. With that pronouncement, Scott felt a tremendous serge of power come over him and he led the attack against the gang.

Later, Scott has a dream of the Oracle and sees another, like himself, heading toward the Oracle. This Oracle is a saving place that had a meaning which Scott couldn't yet understand. However, there were many skeletons that seemed to be coming to life with evil intent.

Melanie Regan is another character beginning to have talents and power that she didn't know she had. When an earthquake strikes L.A., a group of robbers attempt to steal items from a jewelry store and assault the young clerk who works there. As with Scott, Melanie shows her heroism and chooses to intervene without regard to her own safety. Suddenly, Scott is by her side and they work together to overcome the robbers and save the clerk.

Heather Graham has a talent for making things seem possible and there is something about the bravery of these characters that is refreshing and makes the reader wish them success with their challenge.

While they are helping others, we become aware of sinister forces that are forecast in the form of these skeletons that are coming to life and darkness is threatening.

Told in a manner that reminded me of Stephen King's "The Stand," Scott and Melanie follow a spiritual summons to Rome to Sister Maria Elizabeth. Sister Maria Elizabeth is similar to Mother Abigail in "The Stand," who is an elderly woman and the leader of the good survivors.

Both Mother Abigail and Sister Maria Elizabeth are beacons to others and they tell the characters that after others arrive, the battle for earth will begin.

Heather Graham's work is always entertaining. The characters are realistic and well described. The plot of "Dust to Dust," is clever and believable.

Giveaway rules:

Giveaway will end at midnight July 29th.

Be a follower of this blog.

If possible, follow on twitter @mikedtheauthor

Under comments, indicate that you wish to be included in the giveaway and leave your email address for contact.

U.S. and Canadian residents only. (Sorry, postage)

Good luck.

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success." Herman Cain

2011-07-19T06:55:00.001-07:00

Steve Berry's novel, "The Jefferson Key," mixes history and fiction in a manner that is both enjoyable and intriguing.

Cotton Malone is a former Justice Department operative. He goes to New York after being summoned by an email from his old boss. When he arrives at the destination, he is on time to stop an assassination that was planned for President Danny Daniels. He also realizes that he had been set up to take the blame if the assassination was successful.

Going back in history, we learn of an attempt on President Andrew Jackson's life after which he accused a person named Abner of being the mastermind. He removes Abner's letter of marque from congressional records and offers a code so that Abner and his heirs would have a burning desire to find this and have a key to removing the President's condemnation of their acts.

Jonathan Wyatt was a former agent with the agency and holds a grudge against them and against Cotton Malone. It is he who tries to set Malone up for actions against the President.

There are a group of privateers or pirates whose forefathers were connected to Abner. They were sea captains in colonial times. Led by Quintin Hale's forefather, they accepted amnesty from England and acted against the Spanish on the seas. This group, known as The Commonwealth, would continue to act against enemies of the United States and sell their pirated goods on the black market. They also have their hands in four Presidential assassinations that have taken place.

There is plenty of action, changing loyalties and political intrigue as we learn of the history of the pirates or privateers as they like to be called. We also follow the inquiry of how these Captains learned of President Danny Daniels' trip to New York to set up the assassination plot.

Cotton Malone comes to life as a character that the President can count on. Quintin Hale is also a character who is different and of interest.

Although I had difficulty buying into the intricate plot, I found the story moved quickly and was interesting to read.

With the puzzle that Jackson created and the rush to solve the riddle, readers of "The Da Vinci Code" will be entertained by this novel.

"The games people play...never saying what they mean." Song lyrics

2011-07-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

"Play Dead" by Ryan Brown is a story that's just plain fun.

The author mentioned that he wanted to write a story when he saw what was going on with steroids in sports and in this story, he certainly succeeds.

Set in Texas, the story is also a satire about the fanatical following of high school football and the manner in which football can almost take over small town life. This seems particularly true in Texas but is often seen in southern and western states.

In the story, the local high school football team, the Killington Jackrabbits, are having their best year and are only one win from going to the district championships.

The key to the team is quarterback Cole Logan. He's attacked one morning by three steroid using members of a rival team, the hated Elmwood Heights Badgers. When Cole won't give in to their demand that he throw the game, they cut off two of his fingers. However, not thinking clearly, they cut fingers from the wrong hand and Cole is still able to throw the ball.

When this doesn't succeed in stopping the Jackrabbits, the members of the Badgers, led by a sadistic player named Booker who has become almost insane due to his overuse of steroids, set a new scheme. The result of this is that they create a situation for the bus carrying the team to be in an accident but the accident is more severe than they could have imagined. The school bus plunges off a bridge and into the water below, killing the entire team, or maybe not.

Both Cole Logan and the coaches daughter, Savanna Hickman, are entertaining characters. These high schoolers are drawn to each other in a love-hate relationship that is interesting to see and humorous in the situations that these teenagers find themselves in.

Cole's next door neighbor Mona, is described as a crazy witch-lady who has an ability with black magic. With her participation in the story, there were elements that were very visual. I was reminded of Stephen King's "Pet Sematary," where animals return to life but eventually behave in a horrific manner.

Overall, I would recommend this book for it's entertainment value and message about the abuse of steroids. The conclusion was a stretch but I think that readers who are interested in an adventure yarn and not care about the logic of the story would like this.

"More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity." Francois Gautier

2011-07-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

This story is told as a man in his nineties ponders the days when he was in his twenties and recruited to help in what was becoming the struggle against Germany in the days leading up to WWII.

Thomas Danforth lived a pampered life and was engaged to be wed. On a wintry night, his friend persuades him to provide a place and cover for a young woman, Anna Klein. She was to b e trained for an ultra secret operation inside Germany. Her training will be in firearms and explosives.

The reader follows the action that is presented in alternating chapters of Danforth's life today and his narration of the action in the pre-war days.

Written with intelligence and literary excellence, we witness that Anna facing her assignment with a fatalism "...like a woman walking toward her future just as religious martyrs walked toward their execution sites..." It was as if this was where Anna might find her fulfillment.

The reader knows what was going on in Hitler's Germany with his program against the Jews, but Anna doesn't. We witness her bravery and stoicism and appreciate her as a character. She is a private person as if she had been injured in some way and her reasons for taking this assignment are kept to herself.

We are able to see glimpses of the evil in Germany and the brave few who were attempting to do something about it. It is a world of deception and treachery and we follow Anna and Thomas in nervous anticipation of what could be their eventual outcomes. Something goes wrong and Anna disappears and Thomas attempts to find her.

The theme seems to be belief in oneself and having the courage to do something about an evil situation. Thomas H. Cook's work is always entertaining and with the courageous characters that come to life from these pages and an interesting plot, he has demonstrated his literary excellence in story telling.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A16RAMIXBUHVKV/ref=cm_cr_yc_cdp?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview

Check my Amazon book review.

"Choose your friends carefully. Your enemies will choose you." Arafat

2011-07-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY

"Friends or Lovers," deals with a sensitive subject; sexual harassment in the workplace and the appropriate steps to take after a complaint is filed.

Penny Layton is Head of Personnel at Innovation Center, Ltd. in England. She's fairly new at her job. She has a complaint against an employee named Mike who has been sales rep of the year for a number of years.

Penny and the Director of Business Development decide to transfer Mike since this was the first complaint against him but would be sufficient to send a message that inappropriate sexual behavior is not tolerated.

After Mike's transfer a number of his old unit request to be transferred with him and in a later meeting, Penny explains to Mike that the complaint didn't come from the employee named Elona but with another member of his team. Mike explains that this person didn't understand the situation and that Elona had a problem that he was attempting to help her with and had come to him in confidence. Therefore he wouldn't tell Penny anything more.

The story is complicated but Penny is a hard working woman who is young and eventually feels that Mike was wronged and begins to have feelings for him herself.

In an intelligent fashion, the reader witnesses Penny's thoughts as she meets a man named John. He is an academic and studies human relationships.

The situation is complicated and the theme seems to be that one shouldn't act until they have all the facts. Also presented is the concept that it isn't always the man who is the aggressor and should be blamed.

I found the story informative and feel that it wouldn't be bad reading for the personnel of larger companies so they can see what happens if the corporate employee takes the wrong steps and what can result from not having all the facts.

Congradulations to the giveaway winners:
Laurie and Victoria. Notifications have been sent to the winners.

"Old age can't be cured. You can only...utter a ...swan song." Renee Winegarten

2011-07-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

"Swan Peak," is a novel that displays James Lee Burke's rich character portrayals, detailed descriptions of the natural surroundings in western Montana and a suspenseful story that packs a punch.

Dave Robicheaux, his wife, Molly, and best friend Clete Purcell, are on vacation in Montana after they had experienced the back to back devastation of hurricanes Rita and Katrina in New Orleans.

When a pair of double murders take place and the local sheriff seems overwhelmed, Dave and Clete offer their services.

Ridley Wellstone, a wealthy Texan, wants to drill test wells for oil and natural gas on the Swan River. He accuses Dave and Clete of working for those who want to stop him. Ridley lives on a ranch with his brother, Lyle and Lyle's wife, country and western singer, Jamie Sue.

A parallel story involves Jamie Sue's former boyfriend, Jimmy Dale Greenwood, who is the father of their child. Jimmy Dale is in jail for a minor offense and faces an intolerable situation involving Troyce Nix, a prison guard. Jimmy eventually cannot take what has been happening and escapes jail and heads north to Jamie Sue.

As we find out more of the people who have been murdered and what is going on at the Wellstone ranch, we see why Dave Robicheaux is such a popular character. He is humble and not perfect, being an alcoholic who attends meetings regularly. However, he is also a protector of the poor and less fortunate people who are being taken advantage of by wealthy opportunists who don't think they have to answer to the law.

Dave's sidekick, Clete, is a big hearted, dedicated Viet Nam vet who has a tendency to let his emotions get out of control. Yet, Dave calls him the bravest man he knows and a more loyal friend could not be found.

With the contemporary theme of this novel, the excellent characters and plot twists, "Swan Peak," shows the author at the height of his writing excellence.

"On the wings of a snow white dove, He sends His pure sweet love." Song lyrics

2011-06-27T12:58:00.001-07:00

"Dove Creek" details the story of Patricia Faye who departed Kentucky and her family who "...bared their flat breasts in the kitchen to nurse their many babies and butchered chickens and churned butter and went crazy and died before the age of forty."

Patricia leaves her husband after catching him having an affair with a friend's wife. She takes sons Brett, age ten, and Zach age seven, and goes to Lapwai, Idaho to take a position as a public health nurse.

In her position as a nurse and a healer, she seems to win an immediate respect and acceptance from the American Indians that she visits. We observe her interactions with an elderly woman named Sally who lived in such poverty that she didn't even have a refrigerator or pots and pans. Even though her situation seems dire, Sally is a happy woman and finds time to have fun with Patricia. Patricia's first step in helping this unfortunate woman was persuading Sally's to accept a flu shot. After that, Patricia managed to find Sally a better place to live in a Senior Housing apartment.

Patricia narrates the story and makes us aware of the health issues facing these American Indians living on a reservation. She deals with obesity existing on an epidemic level causing an extraordinary number of amputations. In this regard, Patricia attempts to make people aware of the signs such as the loss of sensation in the feet.

She meets a man, has trouble with her children and continues to minister to the sick and elderly while reminiscing about past events in her life.

This is an entertaining view of Patricia's observations as she goes through her life as a person tending to her patients and exposing a part of life in the American west. The novel was written as things took place in Patricia's memory and is somewhat experimental as memory does not always tell stories in sequence. In my opinion, fans of Louise Erdrich's novels will enjoy this book.

Congradulations to giveaway winners:
Donna Theriot dkmtheriot@yahoo.com

Donna Newman vampiremistress2010@gmail.com

Thanks everyone for participating.

"The first blow is half the battle." Oliver Goldsmith

2011-06-26T14:50:00.001-07:00

Former CIA operative, Robert Bayer's first novel is crammed with details. It tells the story of what could have happened behind the scenes of 9/11 and what might have happened if people listened to Max Waller. Waller had been a CIA officer for ages. He still has a vivid recollection of 1984 when Bill Buckley, the CIA chief of Beirut, Lebanon, was kidnapped and decapitated.

The time moves to June 21, 2001. Max is given a comfortable job at Langley, keeping track of other long-time agents before their retirement.

Max is bothered by a photo he discovers in which Osama bin Laden is next to a Western looking person whose head is cut out of the photo. There is also another Arab in the photo. When Max shows the photo to one of his associates, the man winds up dead and people begin following Max.

When Max evades his followers, he's pulled in and questioned. His bosses wonder why his prints are on the photo found on the dead man and based on trumped up charges, Max is put on administrative leave.

He remains undaunted and calls a number of contracts from the past. Action continues and in this shady world of espionage, the complications and puzzles would have made John Le Carre proud. Max continues his investigation while being followed by members of a corporation called Applied Science.

I thought that the idea of the book was excellent but never came to like Max. The action is in waves with some drama and then many details. It is almost as if the author was attempting to give the reader extra details in place of more character build up. Given that this is a debut novel, I would read another novel by this author because the material is there for catching my attention. I feel that John Le Carre fans will enjoy this novel.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3VJ1K70FY67YI/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Check out my Amazon review.

"Bless this house, oh Lord we pray, make it safe."

2011-06-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever considered how difficult it might be to get our of an impossible situation and change the future?

Michael and his brother, Julian, were raised in a home for boys. The Iron Hose provided shelter and discipline. Julian was constantly abused by the other boys and Michael wanted to protect his brother and was forced to fight for both of them. As a result, he became a ferocious combatant. When Julian finally struck back at his main tormentor, Michael took the blame.

Julian was adopted and Michael left the home and lived on the streets, again, constantly having to defend himself. At age fifteen, he was attacked by a group of boys in Spanish Harlem. He fought courageously and Otto Kaitlin, a crime boss, witnessed the fight and rescued Michael. Otto saw a similarity to himself as a youngster and Michael became his protege and later, Otto's main enforcer. Otto's own son, Steven, continued his education but didn't have Michael's fighting spirit.

Years later, when Michael meets Elena, he falls in love. When she becomes pregnant, Michael wants to get out of the life of crime and have a normal existence. In his life, he has come to love three things, his brother, Julian, Otto, and now Elena, the mother of his furute child. He asks Otto for his blessing but Otto is near death and Michael understands that Otto's son Steven and his main henchman, Jimmy, won't allow him to leave.

Michael visits Otto once again and sees the man suffering so greatly from his pain that when Otto pleads for Michael to end his suffering, Michael obliges.

Michael understands that he is now an enemy of Steven and Jimmy. He must leave with Elena with Steven and Jimmy after them for revenge.

There is a parallel story of Julian's life after adoption. His adoptive parents are wealthy. His adoptive father is a senator running for office and his adoptive mother, Abigail is fiercely protective of Julian. Then Julian's past returns to haunt him and his path and Michael's converge.

The story is reminiscent of Charles Dickens where the central characters at the start of the story are in terrible situations and are impoverished. Somehow, they must rise above the destitude
to succeed in their lives. The manner in which this transformation takes place is memorable and delivered with mounting drama and suspense and yet it is entirely realistic and well described. John Hart's readers will be taken on a dramatic ride that they have never experienced before.

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"Every day, it's a gettin' closer" Song lyrics

2011-06-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Gregg Main has made an impressive debut with his first novel, "Every Trace."

Ellen Donelly leaves her husband, Pete. Later, she calls and tells him she's at her sister's home. There had been an argument between Ellen and Pete and when he returned her call, in order to apologize, Pete learns that Ellen isn't at her sister's home.

We learn that Ellen is hunting Franklin Walker, who had been paroled a few years ago, after serving thirty years in prison for killing Ellen's father.

Ellen's plan is to kill Walker for what he had done and to find out who was the man who actually shot the gun that killed her father.

In this plot driven novel, we learn of Ellen's plan and Pete's actions when he learns that his wife isn't where she said she would be.

Things go wrong for Ellen and the story takes a dramatic turn as her life becomes endangered. During this time, Pete finds some of the details of Ellen's father's murder from Ellen's sister. He hires a private investigator and contacts the police after Ellen doesn't return home.

The story develops suspenseful as we learn more of what went on, when Ellen's father was murdered and that Ellen had been a little girl and was hiding under a desk at the time of the murder. The author does a suburb job of moving the action from Ellen's predicament to Pete's search for her and the killer's goals. There is good drama as we try to learn who was the man who pulled the trigger and what was the true reason for murdering Ellen's father.

The plot moves swiftly and visually. It has the making of a good movie and the suspense kept my attention throughout. Pete shows himself to be heroic in his actions and drive to save his wife, Ellen is a woman who acted without thought.

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"You're mine, and we belong together." Song Lyrics

2011-06-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

There are times when the reader wants a book from an author they know will deliver a suspenseful story with characters that they can relate to and sympathise with.

Greg Hurwitz is one of the constantly good authors and he provides another enjoyable book in "You're Next."

Mike Wingate's last memory of his father was when Mike was age four and his father left him at a playground. His father's last message was that it wasn't Mike's fault. After that, Mike's father disappeared from his life.

Mike was raised in a foster home and befriended a boy named Shep. They became inseparable, as close as brothers could be. However, they were wild and unruly. Trouble with the law followed the boys on a number of occasions.

Mike got some breaks and with hard work, built up his construction business. He found happiness with his wife, Annabel and precious daughter, Kat, age eight.

After Mike's photo was in the paper for winning an award, he began to be threatened by a number of people with criminal backgrounds. There were also law enforcement officers who appeared to be working with the criminals.

Frustrated and not knowing where to turn, Mike calls Shep and eventually goes into hiding with Kat, after the criminals strike against Annabel.

The story shows Mike's struggle against powerful foe who seem to want to harm him for something he can't figure out. He can only guess that it might have to do with his parents.

Hurwitz's work is always highly entertaining. His characters are all too believable and the plot is cleverly revealed. The search for Mike's pursuers takes him to a place that the reader cannot foresee with a cinematic climax that is satisfying and engrossing.

"Save the last dance for me." Song lyrics

2011-06-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY: See rules at end of review.

In a surprisingly philosophical novel with first rate substance, "Skull Dance,' tells of the time after the Berlin Wall came down. Berlin becomes a wide open city with numerous former Russian military members who are selling weapons.

Chris Ramsdorf, a former East German soldier, is now free to travel and comes to England. Having a good knowledge of the weapons of the Eastern Bloc, he is hired my M15, British Intelligence.

After he loses his position, he begins dealing with weapons on his own and is hired by a group of Russians to dismantle a warhead and extract plutonium.

Fearing the weapon might be used against England, Chris tells his superiors and is told to go along with the Russians.

He believes that a plan is in place to thwart the deal but something complicates things and he ends up in a jail in India.

In the jail, we observe his philosophy and ideas of life but when the situation becomes intolerable, Chris must attempt to gain his freedom.

There is outstanding character development as Chris evolves from a selfish, uncaring person, to someone who regards others with compassion and understanding.

The story does meander from place to place and the periods of action are followed by sections of introspection and analysis. This slows down the story but gives us a deeper understanding of Chris, and perhaps, the author.

The author, Gerd Balko, died of a heart attack and the novel was completed by Michael La Rocca.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3OZ6B2OXYC8QW/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Giveaway rules:
A-be a follower of this blog

B-follow on twitter @mikedtheauthor (only a desired step. If you're not on twitter, you can still enter the giveaway.

C-use above link and go to Amazon.com, read that review and at the end, when asked if review was helpful, please indicate "YES"

D--under comments of this review, indicate you wish to be included in the giveaway and include your name and email address, for notification

-U.S. and Canadian residents only, sorry, postage.

Giveaway ends at midnight June 25th.

Winners = Brittany Gale
Rae at Best O Books
Best wishes on winning this book.

"Our greatest glory is...rising every time we fall." Confusius

2011-06-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

In Culpepper, Virginia, January 1861, the inhabitants realize that Lincoln has been elected and fear that once he is inaugurated, their lives would change, and it wouldn't be for the better.

Will Bannon, at age thirty, is the sheriff of Culpepper County, his brother Matt is twenty-five and a better horseman, Titus is twenty-three, a born hunter, and Henry, a rambunctious age nineteen, a mixture of the others. Their younger sister is Cordelia.

The family reminded me of the 1965 movie, Shenandoah, with Jimmy Stewart. This family also had a peaceful life and tried to stay apart from the war.

With the Bannon's, there are a number of incidents with the Fogarty brothers and Joe Fogarty resists arrest, Will is forced to kill him. Thereafter, the two remaining brothers seek reprisal against the Bannons.

Will's mother takes an unusual step of disowning him for his actions in that he disobeyed God's commandment about killing another man. When the war begins, Will becomes one of the first to enlist. Being a former sheriff and having a horse, he is made a captain.

The book tells of the universal enthusiasm and optimism for the war, even from the local preacher. None of the hardships or terrible days ahead are even imagined.

We follow Will and his man as they come under Brigadier General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The men prepare for their first encounter against the hated Yankees while at home, the Brannon's manage well. The women sew uniforms and do patriotic things for the soldiers while the men in the family continue to obey their mother and operate their farm.

I enjoyed the story and remembering details that led up to the start of the war. Will Brannon is an enjoyable character to follow and the book provided an easy read for those who enjoy historical events about the start of the Civil War.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1WWV4NYW8X42L/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0345528204&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

Please see my Amazon review and comment if the review was helpful.

"Please help me I'm fallen in love with you." Song lyrics

2011-06-03T11:01:00.001-07:00

Karin Slaughter has been entertaining her fans with exciting thrillers with more than ten novels to her name.

Faith Mitchell completed a long computer seminar mandated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. Her mother, Evelyn, a retired police commander is watching Faith's four month old daughter, Emma. Faith has been through countless training exercises but when she sees a bloody handprint on her mother's door, she goes into high gear. She finds Emma locked in a car in the garage but it seems like someone is in her mother's home.

After Faith calls for backup. she sees movement in the house and sensing that her mother is in danger, she decides not to wait. She enters the home and finds one man deceased and then confronts two other men. She shoots one and chases the other, when this man fires at Faith, she returns fire, killing him. Three dead home invaders but no sign of Evelyn.

Will Trent is Faith's partner. Amanda Wagner of the GBI is his boss and Evelyn's best friend. They lead the investigation. We learn that Evelyn had been the commander of the narcotics division prior to her retirement. Through a tip from an unidentified source, it was determined that the men in Evelyn's unit were stealing part of the money from every narcotics arrest. Although Evelyn was not part of the investigation, she took a retirement.

Now Amanda and Will give first priority to finding Evelyn. What concerns them is that of the three dead men at Evelyn's home, two were from the Spanish gang, Los Texicanos and one Asian and members of these two nationalities don't usually work together. Perhaps there is a turf war.

The story deals with the loyalty Will and Amanda have for their friend, Evelyn. We also see Faith begin her own investigation. We follow the search with the supposition that Evelyn did take some money along with her unit. While the evidence seems to point in that direction, the loyalty of these fellow officers is admirable, as is Faith's love of her mother and determination to save her. During the investigation, Will and Dr. Sara Linton, spend a good bit of time together and become romantically involved. With these characters having ongoing stories in the author's novels, it seems like two people who had been destined for each other, finally realizing it and making their friendship more than it had been.

The story has good character descriptions and moves along swiftly. With the inventive plot, knock out characters and fascinating conclusion, it all adds up to make this an engrossing read.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1WWV4NYW8X42L/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0345528204&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

Please check out my Amazon review. If you find the review helpful, please leave that comment. I love comments.

"In our quest for knowledge...we place trust in an...impartial intellect which brings us nearer to destruction."

2011-05-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

As the story begins, during WWI, nurse Bess Crawford is helping escort a group of injured soldiers back to England, from France.

One of the members of the group is a badly burned pilot who keeps a photo of his wife on his chest as if she is his inspiration for keeping him alive.

After delivering the patients to the clinic, Bess notices a woman at a train station. This woman is tearfully bidding another soldier goodbye. Bess recognizes the woman from the burn victim's photo and sees the woman's affection for the departing soldier as inappropriate.

When Bess returns from her brief leave, she learns that the woman, Marjorie Evanson, has been murdered. Not only that, but that the burn victim's wife was three month's pregnant. Bess knows that the pilot had been at the front for over four months. Bess's sadness mounts when she found that when Lt. Evanson learned that his wife was murdered, he committed suicide.

Bess feels her old curiosity begin to kick in and she desires to learn more. On her next leave back to England, she visits Marjorie's family and learns of the antagonism that Marjorie's sister Victoria had for her. Bess also meets Lt. Everson's sister, Serena Melton, and finds that Serena is claiming that Marjorie's death was just from a robbery that went too far.

Bess is in contact with the police investigator and examines a photo of the man who Marjorie was seeing off at the station but the photo is not the man Bess saw. However, Bess does feel that the answer to the murder does involve the soldier that Marjorie was with at the train station.

There are more twists and deaths in the story as Bess attempts to find the answers. This is described around the events of the war. Bess returns to the front, caring for newly wounded solders and the reader sees the insanity of the war with the trench warfare and the high cost of life that the soldiers pay for a few hundred yards gained or lost in the battle.

This historical novel was so well described that it was as if the reader could feel the ground shake from the ammunition exploding, smell the gunpowder and hear the moans of the wounded.

Bess is a brave and steadfast character who shows her bravery and determination to find the answers that she feels will ease someones pain.

"Sometimes I"m frightened but I'm ready to learn, of the power of love." Song lyrics

2011-05-26T07:45:00.001-07:00

Michael Lister is a chaplain with the Florida Dept. of Corrections. He spins a disquieting story of the corruption, sexual activity, drug dealing and violence inside a Florida correctional facility.

In the opening scene, Jordan witnesses a prisoner who is killed. It appears that the prisoner was attempting to escape.

Superintendent Edward Stone considers Jordan's law background and position of trust in the facility and orders him to assist in the investigation of the killing. He is to work with Tom Daniels, the I.G. Daniels is an arrogant and condescending official who displays dislike for Jordan's meddling.

Chaplain Jordan treats the inmates fairly and does get information about one prison official who works on the evening shift. This person sees the prison as his own domain and treats prisoners and their spouses in contempt.

While the investigation is under way, we learn of the personal side of the minister as he discusses his alcoholic past and failed marriage. He seems to have put this behind him as he begins to date a young woman from the town.

When complications arise and Jordan is falsely accused of certain crimes, the story becomes a testament to his faith. As in the Biblical story of Job, the pain and suffering that this good man endures, almost makes him despair, but his inner strength and faith, saves him.

This is a story of a man overcoming his past and attempting to improve life for others. It deserves a wide audience. The author uses his personal experiences in the correctional facility to create a realistic and enjoyable story.

Article about my novel "Splattered Blood"

2011-05-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled to see this story about my novel "Splattered Blood," which is due to be released in the fall.

http://www.momstreehouse.com/author-spotlight-mike-draper

In peace sons bury thier fathers. In war, fathers bury thier sons."

2011-05-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

Chris Massi never wanted to enter his father's business with the Mob. Instead, he followed the law and became an attorney, not deviating from his standards when he married the daughter of a Mafia kingpin.

Joe Black Massi had a career as a Mafia assassin.

When Joe is killed and Chris' mother dies of a heart attack, Chris becomes concerned about his thirteen-year-old son, Matt. Matt is developing a swagger and indicating that he is interested in becoming a member of the Mafia, eventually. Chris realizes that this means that Matt would be forced to kill someone to earn the privilege of entering the Mafia.

Chris has a conference with the Don, Junior Boy DiGiglio, who was Chris' former father-in-law. Chris asks what he must do so that Matt is not groomed for that life.

DiGiglio tells Chris the name of the man who killed Chris' father, Barsonetti, the Boat. This man had offered Joe Black a position as capo in his family and a share of some money Joe Black had been holding for someone else. When Joe Black refused, Barsonetti took it as a personal insult and ordered him killed.

We also learn of Chris' childhood friend, Ed Dolan, who has developed a hatred for Chris since Chris' father killed Ed's, even though it was in self defense. Dolan's hatred develops into an obsession and now he is a prosecutor with the Mayor's organized crime task force. He wants to destroy Chris, legally or illegally.

The plot flows very smoothly in the realistic setting of New York and New Jersey. Details of the Mafia family are carefully woven into the story and Chris integrity and goal in his life is challenged as he sees Dolan attempting to destroy him and his family. Excitement built with a well described climax in the New Jersey marshes and then in the offices of the Mafia hierarchy.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1RDU5ZWT6J91G/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=098419052X&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=
Link is for Amazon book review, if you would like to comment there that the review was helpful.

"If you love someone, put their name in a circle...hearts can break but circles go on forever." Unknown

2011-05-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Brad Meltzer has the knack to write a capitvating story. His novels have centered on Washington, D.C. where there is some risk to the United States.

In this story, Beech (Breecher) White is employed at the National Archives and is visited by an old high school girlfriend, Clementine Kaye, who wants help in finding her father.

After Clemmi's mother's death, Clemmi found a document about her father. By bringing the document to the National Archives, researchers are able to determine that the father Clemmi never knew was Nico Hadriam, who was in a psychiatric hopsital after an attempt on the president's life, ten years ago.

At the Archives building, Clemmi, Beech and a security guard are in the president's reading room and discover a document taped to the bottom of a chair. The document apparently was from George Washington.

Shortly thereafter, something happens to the security guard and Beech is questioned about what went on in the reading room.

Clemmi decides to visit her father and the two meet for the first time. Beech follows her and learns that Nico knows about the book they found. He tells them that this is how Washington communicated with his Culper Ring, his own private informational spies.

This story is convoluted and I was confused. Not only is there one Culper Ring, but there are two. In this group of people who give the president honest information, the president's physician and barber are inculded. The story would appeal to puzzle fans who appreciated "The Da Vinci Code."

The characters were well developed as we learn about Beech and Clemmi from their high school days but I didn't find either of them particularly interesting. Neither did I feel the antagonists were villanous.

I was only mildly entertained by this novel and would rate it a 2 1/2 stars, moving up to 3 stars for the attempt at a good puzzle. I've enjoyed Meltzer's novels in the past and am willing to give him another chance in a subsequent novel.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R29LQ5SW14NUPR/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0446577898&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

See my Amazon review and comment at the end if that review was helpful.

"Live every day as if it were your last and some day you'll be right." Morant

2011-05-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

How does a parent react when their child exhibits violent tendencies? What remedies are there when the mental situation becomes life threatening?

Questions such as these are at the heart of a number of families in the Boston area.

As the novel opens we learn that in a Boston neighborhood that has had its share of violence, four members of a family have been savagely murdered. It looks like a murder-suicide and the father clings to life at the ICU.

The following day, in another part of the city, a new family is murdered. There doesn't seem to be anything connecting the two murdered families.

Lisa Gardner's excellent crime detective, D.D. Warren of the Boston homicide division is brought in and after viewing the crime scenes concludes that there is too much here to be coincidental.

Danielle Burton is a psychiatric nurse whose family was killed by her intoxicated father, twenty-five years before. She was the only survivor and now works in a Boston psych ward, trying to help other traumatized children.

D.D. continues to try to find anything connecting the families and discovers that one child from each family was treated at the Boston psych ward.

When D.D. and her partner visit the ward where Danielle works, they discover that there are a number of connections. Could one of these lead to the killer?

This is an extremely suspenseful story that covers an emotional area that is difficult to read about. However, the story has so much going for it that is is difficult not to continue to learn how things transpire.

There is excellent plotting and character development. We observe D.D.'s outside life and Danielle's life outside of her job and her attempt to go on with her life after her childhood tragedy.

Lisa Gardner writes a story where the reader comes to think that the plot is going in one direction only to be surprised and entertained when the novel changes course.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R25Z2WFRZXV0XZ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

"There were many times that my pants were so thin that I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails." Spencer Tracy

2011-05-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY: SEE RULES AT END OF THIS REVIEW:
Lisa Lutz is the successful author of the humorous Spellman crime stories. In this novel, she has co-authored with David Howard, a poet and Lisa's former boyfriend. Lisa and David write alternate chapters in this zany novel and between chapters, they debate the merits of the prior chapter and the possibilities of plot in the next chapter. It is a wonderful device that gives the reader insight into the writer's thoughts and considerations.

How would someone react if they found a dead body on their front lawn but couldn't report it to the police because they had a field of pot growing behind the house and it was sure to be discovered?

Paul and Lacy Hansen are in their mid twenties. They live in their parents home after their parents died during a vacation. With college debts and a bleak job market they began growing pot and selling it to discriminating markets, i.e. a woman with chronic pain, and patients and staff at an assisted living home.

Lacy is the more curious of the two. As this part of the action is taking place, I pictured the movie "A Weekend at Bernie's." Paul and Lacy bundle the body up and dump it on a hiking path at a nearby rest stop.

After this is done, they expect someone to notice the body but not long after dumping the body, Lacy is startled when she finds it on her front yard again. This time Lacy recognizes a tattoo as that of her old boyfriend, Hart Drexel.

The story takes many turns and twists as Lacy and Paul try to solve the crime themselves. Lacy is a character who is reminiscent of the wonderful character of Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum. She bumbles her way through the story attempting to find everyone's alibi. Suspects continue to wind up dead and even the authors argue about what should come next.

This novel describes such a hilarious escapade and was so much fun that I wanted to find who was the killer but I didn't want the story to end.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1A1UU37OCQZ5Y/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0399157409&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

GIVEAWAY: RULES:

A: Be a follower of this blog

B: Use the above link to go to Amazon.com and read review. At the end of the review when asked if the review was helpful, indicate "YES"

C: Under the comments of the review, please indicate that you wish to be included in the giveaway and include your name and email address.

D: U.S. and Canadian residents only, sorry, postage is paid by me.

E: Good luck and thanks for participating.

"I'm for a good estate with any man and for any man with a good estate." Wm Congreve

2011-05-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

When we imagine the area of Provence, France, we think of a panorama of vineyards and peaceful surroundings.

The narrator of this coming of age novel, Christian Aragan, is seventeen and about to finish high school. His geography teacher, Vivienne Pleyden is age twenty-four. The time of the novel is mostly just after WWI.

Vivienne's husband is Stephane Pleyben, an abusive man who beat her so often, it was normal to see her at school, with make-up attempting to cover her bruises. There was an occasion when Christian was a young boy when he noticed Stephane about to strike Vivienne while in the Village Square. When he saw that he was observed by Christian, he pretended to be doing something else.

Perhaps becoming a man means being able to express yourself and your own thoughts concerning your future.

Christian's older brother, Eugene, was killed during the war. Christian seems to view the war as a time when heroes were made and cowards discovered. While Eugene was killed during a battle, Stephane saw that conscription was eminent and disappeared.

There are conflicts underneath the skin of this village, such as between the local priest, a Jesuit, who preaches hell and damnation and is seen by Christian as a fraud. There is also the conflict between Christian and his father, who assumes that Christian will take over the family vineyards in the future. We also observe the difficulties between Vivienne and her husband. All of these problem relationships are magnified when seen in the apparent serenity of Provence and the fields of grapes and warm sunshine.

Christian and Vivienne become lovers and an incident occurs that was perhaps ordained when Christian was a young boy and received a cut with a knife by another child at his school.

This is a warm story of enduring love and devotion beautifully told full of images and characters who will remain in the reader's memory.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R11RA5G4YTLFD9/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Please see my amazon review. I love comments and if you enjoy the review, please indicate on amazon that the review was helpful.

"The nice part of living in a small town is...when I don't know what I'm doing, someone else does." Unknown source

2011-05-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

Martin Clark has created a cast of characters who come alive and are oddly believable in their actions during the course of this novel. The inhabitants of this story generally don't confirm to standard ideas of behavior and tend to do what is necessary to enjoy the moment and disregard the future.

Judge Evers Wheeling, a pot smoker from Norton, North Carolina, is on his way to work when he's approached by a well dressed woman who asks for a moment of his time.

What transpires is almost a scene from the Andy Griffith TV show. The woman, Ruth Esther, insists on privacy and she and the judge end up in a vacant restroom in a local business. Evers thinks he's being set-up and Ruth asks him to be easy on her brother when he comes before the court. She adds that she helped steal $100,000. Her father was the mastermind and has died, her brother was caught and she needs him for his part of the puzzle to find the money. She tells Wheeling that she'll split her share with him if he helps.

Wheeling has a brother, Pascal who lives in a mobile home and seems high on pot most of the time. While Evers did well with his family inheritance, Pascal traveled and enjoyed life and doesn't have a care.

The story relates the attempt to recover the valuables and the surprises that await them as they go along.

We also follow the divorce attempt of Wheeling after he and the sheriff discover Ever's wife at a motel with a local farmer.

Filled with amusing moments this novel certainly entertained. The book is more for those who enjoy unusual characters doing improbably things than the logical path through life.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R9V2OBM71L9QL/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0375707093&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

"He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune." F Bacon

2011-05-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Armed men enter The Resurrection House and kidnap two teenage boys. The Resurrection House is a residence for children of parents who are in jail.

One of the boys is discovered in a field by a homeless former Marine medic. The kidnappers return for this boy and are about to kill the homeless man when hostage rescue expert Jonathan Grave, who runs the security firm, Security Solutions, saves the boy and dispatches the kidnappers. We learn that the boy had been drugged and left to die before being found.

Brandy Giddings is a special assistant to secretary of defense Jacque Leger. We learn early on that Leger set in motion a plot to make an old problem disappear. He hired Jerry Sjogren, a fixer and the man behind the group that doesn't mind killing and kidnapping, if the price is right.

When Jonathan learns that there is a government connection involved, he figures that the only reasons to kidnap the boys was either to ensure silence about something or to leverage cooperation. Jonathan intends to find out which and bring the other teenager back to safety.

In a complicated plot that is most visual as the action takes place, we follow Jonathan as he learns where the second boy was taken and attempts to rescue him. Members of Johathan's team interview the two fathers and try to learn what the connection might be.

The scene shifts to the jungles of Columbia and a drug factory with employees who have been kidnapped from the local villages. The author, John Gilstrap, has leaped to the front of action writers. This story would easily fit on the movie screen where the audience or readers experience the rescue team face tremendous odds to stop the criminals and rescue a young boy.

I enjoyed the story but did have to suspend my view of reality as some of the action took place. Jonathan Grave is one of the new breed of action heroes that are so easy to like and wish for their success.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R11CU0U0BGFOZ2/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0786020881&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

See my Amazon review. I love it when readers find my reviews have been helpful.

"There is no limit to the power of love." John Morton

2011-04-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

Boston homicide detective Sgt. D.D. Warren is called in by Mass. St. Police liaison Bobby Dodge when a homicide is connected to a member of the State Police.

State Trooper Tessa Leoni is found beaten and bruised in her kitchen. Her husband, Brian is dead. He's been shot three times by her service revolver. In addition, her six-year-old daughter, Sophie, is missing.

It seems as if Tessa's relationship with her husband has deteriorated over the last three years. It is known that Brian has a gambling addiction and now it appears that he has cleaned out the family bank account.

In alternating chapters we see the investigation headed by D.D. Warren and Bobby Dodge. They learn of Brian's gambling and the appearance of spouse abuse. They also question what happened to Sophie and if Brian could have done something terrible.

Tessa had risen above alcohol dependency and a loose life of sexual encounters when she became pregnant with Sophie. From that moment to now, her life has been one of exemplary behavior.

As D.D. investigates, the search continues for Sophie and D.D. learns that she is pregnant. She promises this new creation that she will bring the child up in a better world.

Brian's autopsy reveals something and detectives arrest Tessa for murder. Again, we experience more of Tessa's point of view and come to realize that something more is developing.

Readers of Lisa Gardner should know that there is more to a story then originally is seen. As much as any thriller writer today,Lisa Gardner knows how to write a compelling story. When the reader begins to nod and believe that they know what is going on, things change.

D.D. Warren is one of the excellent characters and learning that she is pregnant at a time when she is looking for a missing child and questioning the motives of a mother whose child is missing adds a wonderful element to this story. I enjoyed every minute of this story as my fingers shook with anticipation of what suspense awaited me at the turn of the next page.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R171DBRSX5KMSN/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0553807250&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

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"Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble." Ben Franklin

2011-04-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

Giveaway: Please go to the end of this review for giveaway rules.

"My right arm fell off today. Lucky me, I'm left handed." So starts the story of Jessie Anne Porter. She was killed when she was a teenager and her father crashed into a pickup truck.

Jessie tells us that she remembers waking up in her casket and having to kick her way out and then crawl to the surface. Somehow she had become a zombie like creature. She notes that her stink didn't bother her but she was consumed with hunger and drawn to the scent of a rabbit that ran past in the cemetery.

Jessie joins a group of zombies, the Fly-by-Nights. Unlike traditional zombies, the mutated beings had human traits. Florian is ancient and philosophical, Teresa is the pack leader, she's territorial and demonstrates her jealousy.

When Jessie meets Joe, she describes him "...The ...right side of his face was smashed in ...crushed cheekbone...maggots seethed from every pore."

It demands a certain discipline for the uniniated to read a zombie story, I was constantly grossed out as in one point a large beetle emerged from one zombie as he made the transition from a bloater to a feeder.

A new illness is discovered which causes undead beings to grow new skin and muscle and become more lifelike. At the same time, humans or hoos become near death and often beg to be killed.

The story continues with groups of zombies attempting to gain power and humans to wipe out the zombies. Then this new illness seems like an epidemic and the reader must learn the effect on both groups.
Jessie and Florian are unique characters and the novel certainly should be ranked highly for originality and the telling of a tale.

Please see my amazon review.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R13N4OQAFZ5ZGW/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0441019285&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

GIVEAWAY RULES:
A: Be a follower of this blog
B: Use the above link to go to Amazon.com books and at the end of the Amazon review, when they ask if the review was helpful, please indicate "YES."
C: Under the comments of this review, please indicate that you wish to be included in the giveaway and leave your name and email address.
D: U.S. and Canadian residents only. Sorry.
E: Good luck

"Vegitarians - an old Indian word for lousey hunters"

2011-04-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

The action in "The Mammoth Hunters" continues the saga of earth's children and takes place over 25,000 years ago, during the Ice Age.

Ayla is traveling with Jandlar, a red haired man who she discovered in her journey and nursed back to health. The couple are lovers as well as fellow travelers. Ayla travels on a horse that she tamed named Winney. This is a time when people only thought of horses as food.

In their travels, the couple meet the Mamutoi, who are like Ayla and are Mammouth Hunters. When people in the village see that Ayla can control Winney by riding the horse and having the horse come when she whistles, some of the villages feel she has exceptional powers while others become distrustful of her.

There is also conflict. Ayla develops feelings for Ranec who is a carver of Ivory and artistic. Jandlar doesn't accept her feelings toward Ranec and shows is jealousy.

One of the points that the author makes is to accept others who are different. Ayla helps a six-year-old boy named Rydag who is half Clan and half other. He is a Flathead and is unable to speak. Ayla has the ability to communicate through signing and begins to teach Rydag sign language. In a significant part of the story, the boy realizes what Ayla is doing and begins to communicate. His first sign is "mother" to Nezzie who is delighted and tells Ayla that she never expected to communicate with her son.

This fictitious look at primitive history gives one more look at how things might have been during the ice age and shows readers how people from different races can come together and live in harmony. Thus, the story becomes very timely in today's political climate. Ayla is a heroic figure who is a born leader at a time that women weren't regarded highly. She stands out in her ability to communicate and feel empathy for others. Her wisdom is also enlightening.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1ODQEPBTF8N6Q/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Please check my Amazon review.

"Flying is hours...of boredom sprinkled with a few seconds of sheer terror." Boyington

2011-04-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

In the latest thriller to entice readers and in the mode of Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy, "Three Seconds" provides a ride through terror.

Piet Hoffman is the Swedish police's most valuable undercover operative. His cover is as a lieutenant in the Polish Mafia which is bringing amphetamines into Sweden by using Polish people who swallow balloons filled with amphetamines and then cross the border. These 'mules' must then expunge the bags by vomiting them up when in Sweden.

Hoffman is at the scene when another undercover officer is unmasked and murdered. He is so deeply undercover himself that he's unaware when other police are also attempting to infiltrate the Mafia and gain information.

Detective Inspector Ewert Grens leads the investigation into the man's death.

One of the authors is a journalist and the story is written with short chapters. This gives the reader the idea that they are glancing at photos of scenes as they flash by.

Hoffman is in a difficult position with a young family that is unaware of his undercover activities. We see him as a hardened, uncaring person when dealing with other Mafia members but then he transforms into a tender husband and loving father of his two young sons.

Hoffman's Mafia bosses want him to go to prison so he can operate the drug operation there. Grens continues to investigate and this puts Hoffman in a precarious position, not knowing who to trust. In one of the memorable scenes of the novel, Hoffman admits his other life to his wife and tries to tell her how to protect herself if anything happens to him.

The characters are often brutal and ambivalent about taking a person's life. The co-author of the novel is a reformed criminal who uses his expertise to create vivid scenes that ring true.

I was moved by Hoffman's predicament and felt that the scenes of extreme violence were just demonstrating the reality of prison life that was the setting of the story.

"If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?" Stanislaw Lec

2011-04-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY

See end of the review for details on this giveaway.

While on tour in Iraq, U.S. Marine, Logan Thibault is jogging early one morning. He notices a photo partially sticking out of the sand. An attractive girl was posed in front of a sign that said "Lucky Lady." There was also an inscription, "Keep safe. E."

When Logan doesn't succeed in finding the owner of the photo, before going into action, he places the photo in his pocket.

Members of his Marine unit are injured or killed but Logan excapes injury and comes to feel that the girl in the photo is somehow protecting him.

After his military service ends, he decides to find the woman. He isn't exactly sure why but it's as if fate draws him to her, as if she was part of his destiny.

He sets about walking from his home in Colorado with his dog, Zeus. There was an indication on the photo that it was taken in the town of Hampton and Logan looks at other details and decides that it is Hampton, North Carolina.

When he arrives in the town, his first encounter is with Deputy Keith Clayton, a sneaky man and a bully who had been in the woods taking photos of unsuspecting coeds who were sunbathing. Catching Clayton in this act, embarasses Clayton and causes him to feel an animosity toward Logan.

Later, Logan shows someong in town, the photo and finds that the woman, Elizabeth, "Beth," and that she runs a kennel. Beth had been in need of help at the kennel and had a sign out for help. Logan accepts a job working for her. He doesn't mention the photo but becomes an indespensable part of her operation while becoming friendly toward Beth's son, Ben, and her grandmother.

The themes of the novel are fate and destiny. It could be said that the author had, at least an unknowing influence of Mark Twain and the naturalism movement in literature that was popular at the turn of the last century. The movement dealt with middle class America where a person's fath was already ordained. The literature also had more emphasis on character than on action.

The pacing of the novel was precise with a gradual build-up to a momentus conculsion. Logan and Beth have a romance that is close to Romeo and Juliet without the tragic ending.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1IJZLRBSW5M6X/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B002ZNJW0O&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode

GIVEAWAY RULES: To win a hard cover, first edition copy of this novel:

A. Be a 'follower' of this blog.

B. Use the above link to go to Amazon.com books. At the end of the review when they ask if the review was helpful, please indicate "YES'

C. Under comments please indicate that you want to be included in the giveaway and add your name and address.

U.S. and Canadian residents only. Sorry.

Good luck.

"Power: the only narcotic regulated by the SEC instead of the FDA." Unknown source

2011-04-11T06:20:00.001-07:00

Terrorists set about coordinated attacks against America's energy system. A hydroelectric dam is blown up in Canada. However, when the terrorists attack the Captiana oil platform near Columbia, they are pitted against Dewey Andreas. He is a man who runs the platform "...like a battalion during wartime."

As the terrorists capture Dewey and bring him to the pumping station to complete their sabotage, Dewey realizes what the conspiracy is all about. He vows that if he lives, he'd find out who was behind the operation and hunt them down. He'd take care of the the men who were involved on the platform and then find their bosses and kill them and those above them.

This attack was timed to coincide with the merger of KKB and Anson Energy, a company with the goal of making the United States not have to rely on foreign governments for their energy needs.

As government officials scramble to find answers, we learn who masterminded the attacks. This man was born in Lebanon and grew to hate everything about the U.S. He was part of a terrorist plan and placed with a family in the U.S. to learn American ways and plot a sudden and massive strike against this country.

As exciting a thriller as I've read, the action flies off the page and keeps the reader's attention throughout. Dewey is a sympathetic protagonist and to the untrained eye, the action seems all too believable. The FBI is played in a stereotypical manner as a bungler and the fact that a few men can accomplish what government forces cannot, seems a stretch.

Even though some of the story has been done in the past, I did enjoy this novel and would recommend it to thriller fans.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3DZ61CROTE7TK/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0312580746&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode= Please check out my Amazon review and if possible, at the end of the review when they ask if the review was helpful, please indicate "YES" Thanks.

"Experience that destroys innocents also leads one back to it." James Baldwin

2011-04-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

Imagine reading the news that seven graves of young children have been discovered at Saddleback Butte, in the California desert? Reporters call the deceased children, the Innocents.

The bones are old and cannot be identified except for a St. Christopher's medal and an inscription.

Eventually, a man who learns of the inscription, believes that this may be the body of his six-year-old son. He contacts private investigator Wil Hardesty for help.

With heartache showing through his words, Ignacio Reyes, explains how desperately poor his family was in Mexico. They heard about a border runner named Bolo Zavala. When he was contacted and saw the family, Zavala knew they had no money to pay him. However, Zavala told them that if they gave him their six-year-old son, Benito, the child would be placed with a wealthy family in America. He'd be well taken care of and with the money Zavala would get from placing the boy in adoption, he would take Reyes and his family across the border. Eventually, the father agreed and has lived with the sadness and loss since then.

Will is assisted by his friend, Paul Rodriguez. The men were Vietnam buddies. As they talk, we learn that Wil has a particular reason for wanting to help with this case. Wil can relate to Reyes because Wil had lost his ten-year-old son to a surfing accident and still feels the acute sadness that grips the parent who has lost a child.

As the search for Zavela continues, possible leads arrive and the reader learns that the title of the novel, "The Innocents" doesn't just represent the children who had been murdered in the desert. It describes the men searching for Zavala and his associates.

How many people has Zavala killed and how did a certain businessman become so wealthy in the middle of the poverty that surrounds him?

This chronicle is filled with the grief of Benito's parents. It also relates to Wil and his wife, who discuss having another child. There is still one other character who has a baby that could be the next child murdered.

This drama gives the reader a pause to think about what can exist and how fortunate they are that others take the responsibility to find and stop criminals and killers such as are described in the novel.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2LWLK0IL9WISW/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0425161099&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

See the Amazon review and at the end if you agree, please indicate that the review has been helpful.

"The Lincoln Lawyer" Giveaway Winner

2011-04-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone:

Congradulations to Jen Waters (Carla) for winning the giveaway of "The Lincoln Lawyer.)

Stay tuned to my website, my next giveaway is will be announced later this week.

Thank everyone for participating and helping me celebrate signing the contract to have my novel published. I shared your enthusiasm for the giveaway process.

Mike

"Never trust a husband too far, nor a bachelor too near." Helen Rowland

2011-03-31T13:50:00.001-07:00

Jason Kolarich feels lucky to be assigned as second chair in defending Senator Hector Almundo from a charge of murder. The case dealt with Almundo's alleged deal with the Cannibals street gang. They were shaking down businessmen for contributions to Almundo's election campaign and splitting the proceeds. Almundo is charged with conspiracy and the chief witness against him is his chief-of-staff, Joey Espinoza.

One night, Kolarich is waiting for a call from a confidential informant, Ernesto Ramirez. The call is important so Kolarich's wife takes their infant and drives to her parent's house without him. In a double tragedy that changed his life, his wife and child are killed in a car accident on a slippery road. Later, he learns that the reason that the informant's call didn't come in is because he was murdered.

After a period of mourning, Kolarich returns to work and is approached by Essie Ramirez, Ernesto's widow. She wants Kolarich to find her husband's killer.

Since Kolarich feels responsible for Ernesto's death, and because he also feels that he is the cause of his wife and child's deaths,he accepts. He feels that if only he can find Ramirez's killer, he would somehow make up for his failure.

In this psychological novel, we experience the pain and loss that Kolarich feels with the tragic loss of his family. He decides to investigate. Without a proper plan, he attempts to ingratiate himself to the politicians and behind the scenes friends of Almundo. However, his actions are caught by the FBI who are investigating corruption from the governor's office down to the local administrators. Kolarich can't prove that he was innocently pretending to work for these officials and to prove himself to the authorities, he agrees to go undercover and help with the FBI case.

Kolarich is a heroic character who is just a man, trying to do the right thing. Unlike some of the super heroes of thrillers, he makes mistakes and isn't able to overcome the strength of his foes. But, he has determination and the feeling that he's righting a wrong and doesn't let anything stand in his way.

This is well done novel that was an interesting character portrayal as well as a fine and all too believable thriller.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R366GH4FA0UC52/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

See my Amazon review and if possible, after reading the review, please indicate "YES" it was helpful.

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow." Mark Twain

2011-03-29T19:28:00.001-07:00

Ray Quinn is a former homicide detective who had to retire when he was injured. His injury necessitates that he use a cane while walking. He currently runs the Night Watchman Detective Agency.

Ray is hired by Armon Mayer to find an ex cop named Logan Ramsey who has stolen some of Mayer's client's personal and investment information. Since Mayer's firm is based on confidentiality of information, he wants Quinn to find Ramsey and return the information without publicity.

Accepting the job, Ray works with his young assistant, Crevis, who Ray is training to become a cop. Ray also has a part time employee, Pam, who tries to teach Crevis enough grammar to pass the written test for the police academy, which he has failed two times.

Conveniently, Ray is able to pull some favors on the case and is appointed a consultant by the police. Not long after this, Ramsey's body is found. Now the question is, who murdered Ramsey and what happened to the material he is supposed to have stolen from Mayer.

Ray is somewhat an interesting character. The story is like having the main character from TV's show, House. However, it is difficult to see how this man with a cane is able to get out of certain situations such as going to a clubhouse of a gang of bikers with Crevis but no police backup.

I enjoyed the novel but found the writing style lacking and some of the plot too convenient.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2FP7FD6WVEQCT/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Check out my Amazon review and if possible, indicate the review was helpful.

"Insects, weeds and lawyers will inherit the earth." Oliver Webb

2011-03-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

Mickey Haller seems to be a good man. Like anyone, he has his flaws and he does what he can to make a living as a defense attorney. At one point, he confides that his father, who was also an attorney, had a place in his heart to help the less fortunate. Many of these clients were women who resorted to prostitution as a desperate choice to survive. Mickey tries to follow his father's worthy example.

Mickey does much of his work from the back seat of his Lincoln. His driver, Earl, is working off his fee for Mickey's successful defense of a case against him.

As the story progresses, Mickey is asked to defend the wealthy Louis Roulet from the accusation of aggravated assault and attempted rape against Reggie Campo, a woman he had met in a bar.

From the start, Mickey is skeptical of Roulet when he catches the man in a number of lies about his past. Then, when Mickey sees a photo of Reggie, she bears a close resemblance to a woman that Mickey's former client Jesus Mendez, was sent to prison for killing.

Mendez maintained his innocence and now Mickey wonders if Mendez could really be innocent. Mickey visits Mendez in jail and brings a number of photos, one of which is Roulet. What Mickey learns is that he is now dealing with a truly evil person.

The novel proceeds as the author, Michael Connelly, sets the parts in motion as if he is directing a play. Roulet is able to create a special reason for Mickey to win the case and set him free but he also admits his past. Since there is attorney client privilege, Mickey cannot use this against Roulet.

To say the novel was well done is an understatement. The reader becomes involved in the story as it goes to trial as if the reader was sitting in the jury. We watch Mickey master the case breathlessly move on, wondering how he will provide justice to Roulet, a man he is defending.

This is a can't put down novel that has just opened as a movie.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R39VXQYQQ01XY/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Rules to win a hard cover copy of "The Lincoln Lawyer"
1. Be a follower of this blog
2. Use the above link and go to Amazon.com books. At the end when they ask if the review was helpful, indicate "YES'
3. Under comments of this blog, indicate you want to be included in the selection of the "giveaway" and add your email.

Good luck.
.

"Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery." Calvin Coolidge

2011-03-19T14:18:00.001-07:00

In the close-knit community of Chatham, MA, young men are being murdered without logical reason and with nothing, other than location, to tie them together.

Martha "Marty" Nickerson is an assistant DA in Cape Cod. She feels a high level of accomplishment when the jury finds Manuel Rodriguez guilty of killing college student Michael Scott.

With the guilty verdict in, there is a sigh of relief within the community but before Marty can relax another young man is found murdered. When an autopsy is done, this body has a roman numeral @2 on his chest. But how could this be, with the killer already in jail?

In close communities, sometimes the connections between victims and attorneys are too close and in the second case, Marty has such a close a relationship with the victim's family that someone in her department was assigned the case.

Wondering where the story would go, Marty is asked to accompany the defense attorney to visit the man accused of the second killing. When Marty gets the details and informs her boss, Geraldine Schilling, Schilling is furious and the next day Schilling accuses Marty of working with the defense to undermine the prosecution's case.

Since Schilling has a goal of running for higher office, we now have politics involved. But as to who is killing the men, the author keeps the reader in suspense.

There is a good description of the internal politics of a prosecuting attorney's office. It is also admirable to see that Marty's first obligation is not to put someone in jail for the crime. Marty tells the reader that her first obligation is to justice.

I enjoyed the story but found it more cute than suspenseful. Marty was somewhat unique for a prosecuting attorney but much of the material here has been done before.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1QWI66OSVI8GL/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B000F6Z4ZU&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

Please check my Amazon review and at the end, if possible, indicate that the review was helpful.

"I should have been a general...But thanks to a...master sergeant, I had a career reversal." Phil Hartman

2011-03-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

The perceptive voice of defense attorney Mickey Hatcher leads the reader into a case of kidnapping and murder that occurred twenty-four years ago. Most of the witnesses and trial officials are deceased or mentally unable to remember the details of the case.

Mickey, who has been a well thought of defense attorney, crosses the aisle and is hired by the prosecuting attorney, Gabriel Williams, to work on this case as prosecutor. Jason Jessup has been in prison for nearly a quarter of a century for his crime but is granted a retrial based on new DNA evidence.

To recreate the case, Mickey is joined by Harry Bosch of the LAPD.

Harry must review the evidence and attempt to find a key witness, the victim's sister, Sarah, who was age thirteen when the crime was committed.

Celebrity defense attorney Clive Rivas defends Jessup and relishes his every moment in front of TV and news reporters. Jessup feels that he will be set free and make millions of dollars from a book deal. Clive Rivas doesn't mind bending the rules while defending Jessup.

The novel does a nice job in dealing with the grievous subject of a child kidnapping and murder. The reader experiences the attitude of law enforcement officials when dealing with a subject of such a heinous act.

The enticing story mixes the history of the crime, and the surroundings of the time. We also see the present and Mickey's attempt to prove that Jessup was guilty in a second trial.

Harry, Mickey and Sarah are sympathetic characters who are well described and generate feelings of hope for the reader. I enjoyed the story and felt that the outcome was logical and justified.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R22R95E77NJ2EV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Check out my Amazon review.
Thanks,

Mike

"Live is not lost by dying, life is lost...in all the small, uncaring ways." Stephen Vincent Benet

2011-03-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

"Worth Dying For," is more than just another thriller. In a sense, is a morality tale with good against a despicable evil.

The premise of Jack Reacher arriving in a small Nebraska town and helping the defenseless residents was alluring.

Reacher is pitted against the Duncan family who have strong-armed the local population into submission. The town sank into its sesspool of lethargy and neglect, so slowly that it happened before they were aware of it. There are no police in the town. The county police are sixty miles away and attempt to avoid the Duncan area whenever possible.

As the story continued, I began to feel that there was almost a Biblical component to Reacher. He becomes Sampson, using his towering strength to battle the Duncans who are the Philestines, utilizing a group of strong armed enforcers to guaranty their word was obeyed. Could this Sampson like character evoke his power against the Duncan gang that had caused such unhappiness in the community?

Once Reacher takes a stand against the Duncans, he is prevented from leaving the town. The goal of the Duncans seems to be to make him pay for daring to challange their supreme authority.

Further layers are revealed. The Duncans are awaiting a shipment of a commodity that is unknown to the reader but in great demand by the Duncans and those to whom the Duncans supply. Members of the supply group attempt to gain an upper hand and contribute to Reacher's capture and elimination.

The novel moves swiftly as Reacher attempts to have a small group of residents who have some backbone, stand up against their persecutors.

The scenario was well described and tension grew as the shipment was getting closer and the evil forces banned together against Reacher.

This is a well done novel that adds to Reacher's legend. Enjoyable to the end with some well placed surprises.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1EFXMZ58BA40D/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Check out the above Amazon review.

Thanks.
Mike

"Blessed is the season which engages the ...world in a conspiracy of love." Hamilton W. Mabie

2011-03-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

This is a novel that captured my interest and entertained me with the history of London in 1719. The setting was so well developed that I felt that I could see the ravages of disease in the prisoners at Newgate prison and hear the crowd as they taunted a prisoner for being a Jacobite.

There are also lessons for today when we watch the news and see the political unrest in Egypt and Lybia.

Benjamin Weaver is a Jewish detective who is contacted by a snobbish gentleman named Balfour. This is a time when England is in fear of the French and their support of the deposed King James.

Balfour states that he questions his fathers suicide and that the person responsible for his father's death is also the person who murdered Weaver's father. This is an eye opener for Weaver who was not close to his father and had thought that his father's death was accidental.

Underneath the possible murders is the fact that Weaver's father was a stock trader and there may have been stock forgery that caused the crimes.

Weaver is hired by Sir Owen to retrieve some matters he lost when a whore got him drunk and sole his valuables. As Weaver finds the whore, we see the streets of London and the dangers of a city with little in the way of police.

Weaver proceeds with his task as the reader observes other facts. Weaver is a Jew and society feels that Jews are out to steal their money. At one time a character states, "...any man who has lost money in funds (stocks) can follow...the loss to the hand of a Jew."

I was totally entertained by this novel, the picturesque images of England, the well developed characters and the sophisticated writing style of David Liss. The book is in development for film and I look forward to seeing the author's magic on the screen.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1LJSSTCNUPMNA/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Check out my Amazon review and if you agree, please indicate that the review was helpful.

"This love will last...I'll be faithful to you." Song Lyrics

2011-03-07T06:18:00.003-08:00

With all of the publicity of Tana French's "Faithful Place," I was anxious to read it. The promise of a story based on a dysfunctional family in Dublin, Ireland, fascinated me.

This story describes a family with an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who acts like a mob boss in her own home. There are antagonistic feelings between the adult children and everything is cloaked in the extreme poverty of suburban Dublin.

When he was age nineteen, Frank Mackey snuck out of his house and went to meet his girlfriend, Rosie Daly. The couple planned to travel to London and get married.

Rosie never arrived. Despondent, Frank couldn't face returning home and moved in with a group of rockers. Later he applied for cop college and went into training.

Since Rosie had left a note that she'd return some day, Frank kept her in his heart and never found anyone that he loved as much as Rosie.

A quarter of a century later, Rosie's suitcase is found hidden in an old house and Frank decides t look into the matter himself. Then, confirming his worst fear, a decomposed body is found.

As with the author's other work, this is a literary, plot driven novel. We observe life in a family that has more than its share of issues and see how Frank looks into his past while attempting to deal with his feelings toward his family and the life he could have had.

Even though Frank is a dark character and the novel slowed down toward the middle, I felt compelled by this story and wanted to see how the mystery was resolved.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R17948Z9XZSYYB/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

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