The Big Blueberry Barf-Off (Rotten School #1) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the first in a new series from beloved children's author R. L. Stine of Goosebumps fame. Bernie Bridges wants Sherman Oaks' fancy new watch. How will he get it? He challenges the residents of Sherman's residential home to a pie eating contest. They will pick a representative for them and Bernie's group will choose a person to represent them. Of course, Bernie has a secret plan. Will it work? You will have to read the book to find out. The Big Blueberry Barf-Off will appeal to most school kids between 8 and 12 years of age. A departure from the Goosebumps style it is a good read filled with descriptions of the gross and messy stuff children that age like to read about while still providing an interesting story with plenty of twists and turns. This series should appeal to boys where other titles often fail.

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Important Message! Welcome to the Rotten School. We are proud of our school, founded 100 years ago by I. B. Rotten. If you follow the rules, we know your time here will be happy. RULE NUMBER ONE: Watch out for Bernie Bridges. Bernie is trouble! That is my important message. Enjoy your stay. I know that after a short while, you will all truly deserve the name Rotten Students. Headmaster Upchuck ----------------------------- Today we're having the world's grossest pie-eating contest! My ROTTEN HOUSE buddies against the wimps at NYCE HOUSE. Who can eat 25 blueberry pies? Will it get ugly? Who will barf first? Will we win? Dudes, Bernie B. doesn't know the word lose. Ready, set, EAT PIE! Bernie Bridges

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The Random House Book of Poetry for Children Review

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(More customer reviews)Jack Prelutsky has compiled another great anthology of children's poetry. This anthology basically covers the best children's poetry of all time (except for late 80s-90s poems). You'll find some Mother Goose and Lewis Carroll, thus expanding this anthology beyond the 20th century.
The only drawback (and reason why I didn't give the book 5 stars) is the illustrations. Most of the illustrations are traditional monochrome drawings. While they are well done, they are not as colorful or as imaginative as the illustrations in Prelutsky's "The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury."
Have fun reading.

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"A generous collection with a distinctly upbeat tone, this gives a taste of the best poets writing for children over the last several decades. Lobel's drawings imbue the whole with action and graphic images as inventive as the verse. Successfully geared to meet home, school, and library needs."--(starred) Booklist.

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Ask the Parrot Review

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(More customer reviews)Picking up where 2004's NOBODY RUNS FOREVER left off, this begins with Stark's anti-hero Parker being pursued by cops, police dogs, helicopters, and a large posseafter a bank robbery gone bad. Climbing up the side of a mountain with no apparent means of escape, he runs into an armed townie named Lindhal who offers the criminal a hiding place. But Lindhal has a price.
Unjustly fired by the racing track he used to work at, he wants to take his revenge, and he wants the fugitive Parker's help.
Like the previous twenty-two Parker adventures, the pleasure in the story comes from watching the sociopath Parker do his thing without remorse or regret, and seeing how normal people react to this walking crimewave.
Since empathizing with a hero who kills, tortures, steals, and shows zero emotion is impossible, Stark shows us the dreams, hopes, and fears of the supporting cast. Some of them we like. Some of them we don't. And we never know who Parker is going to kill at any given moment.
I read my first Parker book in the early 1980s, and was entranced by the clipped prose, the detailed descriptions of criminal activity, and reading the point of view of someone who is an irredeemable criminal, yet can't be characterized as evil.
Parker, who hasn't really evolved much in the last 40 years, is basically the human equivilant of a shark. He isn't malevolent or sadistic. He's simply single-minded in purpose, and his purpose is to survive. Robbery is how he makes his living, and he'll get the job done by any means necessary.
Like the previous Parker novels, this one involves a caper where the carefully laid plans get screwed up by human error, and not everyone gets out alive.
Parker remains as fresh and as compelling as he was forty years ago, and Stark's genius lies in making us root for the bad guy, even as we fear he's going to kill someone we like.
Parker has been portrayed several times in movies (Lee Marvin, Peter Coyote, Robert Duvall, and Mel Gibson have all had a shot at it) and many crime writers, including Max Allan Collins, James Ellroy, Stephen King, and Dan Simmons, have been influenced by Stark, who is really author Donald Westlake.
The reason for his longevity and success is obvious: Stark writes great crime novels with an unusual protagonist. ASK THE PARROT is no exception.


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The Return of Captain John Emmett Review

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(More customer reviews)Today we call it PTSD--post-traumatic stress disorder (and mystery lovers can get a good look at it in its present incarnation in Julia Spencer Fleming's latest Clare Fergusson/Russ VanAlstyne novel "One Was a Soldier"), but during the two World Wars of the 20th century it was called "shellshock." And too often the "treatment" was execution by firing squad.

The after-effects of one such incident are what put Capt. John Emmett in a veterans' hospital in 1920. Now, just as he seems to have been working his way back to some semblance of his old self, comes word that he has committed suicide. His sister Mary needs to know why and turns to the only friend of her brother's that she knows, Laurence Bartram, another British officer who's trying with not much success to create some sort of postwar life for himself --his wife and son died in childbirth while he was serving in France. Mary suspects that incompetence or something seriously amiss at the veterans' hospital may be at the root of it and asks Laurence to investigate. And, oh yes, might he also look into the who and why of all these people unknown to John's family who were given sizable bequests in his will? For help, Laurence calls on his friend Charles--an Agatha Christie aficionado and one of those guys who knows everybody who's anybody. Before long a much broader mystery comes to the fore: Not only is John Emmett dead, but so too are some other members of his company who survived the war, all of whom had been assigned to the same army execution squad. Is there a connection? Could this "suicide" have been a murder?
So begins a most intriguing mystery that takes us deep into The Great War and the world of postwar Britain, with a cadre of well drawn characters you'll come to care about and a plot based on a dreadful truth: During WWI the British military executed some 300 of its own soldiers--only three of them officers.
I think you'd be hard put to find a more powerful, well researched and involving novel about that than "The Return of Captain John Emmett." I couldn't recommend it more highly. Too bad it was given such a bland, unrevealing title.

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London, 1920. In the aftermath of the Great War and a devastating family tragedy, Laurence Bartram has turned his back on the world. But with a well-timed letter, an old flame manages to draw him back in. Mary Emmett's brother John—like Laurence, an officer during the war—has apparently killed himself while in the care of a remote veterans' hospital, and Mary needs to know why. Aided by his friend Charles—a dauntless gentleman with detective skills cadged from mystery novels—Laurence begins asking difficult questions. What connects a group of war poets, a bitter feud within Emmett's regiment, and a hidden love affair? Was Emmett's death really a suicide, or the missing piece in a puzzling series of murders? As veterans tied to Emmett continue to turn up dead, and Laurence is forced to face the darkest corners of his own war experiences, his own survival may depend on uncovering the truth. At once a compelling mystery and an elegant literary debut, The Return of Captain John Emmett blends the psychological depth of Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy with lively storytelling from the golden age of British crime fiction.

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In the Sea There are Crocodiles: Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari Review

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(More customer reviews)In the Sea There Are Crocodiles is a fictionalized account of Enaiatollah Akbari's journey from Afghanistan to Italy, as he related it to Fabio Geda. Akbari left Afghanistan when he was ten years old, shortly after his mother disappeared. After spending time in Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Greece -- sometimes working, sometimes sleeping in parks, sometimes paying traffickers to help him move on -- Akbari ended up in Italy at the age of fifteen. He told his story to Geda when he was twenty-one (ages are approximate since Akbari isn't sure of his birth date) and encouraged Geda to write this book so that readers would better understand people like Akbari.

Akbari's story lacks the intensity and urgency that is a common feature of the best accounts of displaced persons fleeing oppressive regimes. Akbari had a difficult childhood, but his travels and struggles do not seem nearly as vexing as those of many other refugees. Even a month long walk from Iran to Turkey does not seem as arduous in the telling as it must have been. The narrative voice is surprisingly detached from the hardships it relates; it didn't make me feel the pain and deprivation that Akbari undoubtedly endured.
On a few occasions, Geda pauses to insert his own voice into the narrative, as if he were providing the reader with excerpts from a transcript of his interview with Akbari. Geda says things like "I'm interested in everything [you say], Enaiatollah" and "We'll say [this thing you think is important] loud and clear, Enaiat." These interruptions seem designed to portray Geda as an admirable biographer. A couple of the digressions were all about Geda; they did nothing to advance the story. The book would have been better without Geda's intrusions.
Too often, Akbari comes across as insensitive to the people who helped him. Akbari more than once tells us that his story is important -- and I have no doubt that it is -- but he makes it sound as if he doesn't regard anyone else's story as important. He expressly states that he doesn't want to tell Geda about his mother or friends or village because "they aren't important." At another point he refuses to talk about a woman who gave him food, clothing, and a bus ticket, because "She could have been anybody. ... Anybody could have behaved like that." Actually no -- most people wouldn't behave like that, which is exactly why she (not just her behavior toward Akbari) is important. According to Akbari, "It's what happens to you that changes your life, not where or who with." Many people changed Akbari's life by making his journey much easier than it could have been, and it struck me that he might have bothered himself to learn their names. Granting that Akbari is still young, it seems clear that he still has a lot to learn about life, and that realization diminished my belief that he is capable of telling an insightful story.
If Geda's goal was to tell Akbari's tale in Akbari's voice, I suppose I can't fault his unremarkable prose. Not every displaced person speaks poetically. Still, in a book that is packaged as a novel rather than a memoir, I expect stronger writing. Whether the voice is Geda's or Akbar's, it is surprisingly lifeless. Nothing about the unremarkable writing style encourages me to recommend the book.
Having said all that, there are things I like about this book, although I'm not sure they are the things Akbari intended his readers to take from it. I was impressed by all the people who helped Akbari along the way -- people willing to assist a boy from a foreign land who was a complete stranger to them. I also agree with Akbari that it's important for the world to understand what life is like for displaced persons. For those reasons, I would give the book 3 1/2 stars, but I can't say I liked it well enough to give it 4.


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Legacy: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)I don't read many Danielle Steel books because I'm more of a character-first type reader but the plot to this book captured my attention immediately. I've read that the research Steel does for her books takes longer than the actually writing of the book, and this book is actually about a woman researching her past. This book is fascinating and kept me reading far into the night.
Legacy starts out with a woman who works in admissions in a Boston university. She passes up promotions and never asks her boyfriend of 6 years if they're going anywhere. I won't give away any more plot, except to say that if you're not going forward you're going backwards. Life doesn't allow us to stay in one place.
I love books where I learn something, and Legacy teaches plenty. Lots of history, how to research your own genealogy and a lesson on finding your passion. All these lessons are wrapped up in a great story line told by a master story-teller.
What I'm not crazy about in a Steel novel is that her characters are too perfect. She uses the word beautiful to describe one of the main characters as many times as Pulp Fiction dropped the F bomb (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, Pulp Fiction didn't use it that many times). I prefer characters that have faults(not as many as I have or it wouldn't be believable) and who overcome those faults. Steel's characters overcome circumstances, but being as perfect as they are, how could they not?
But again, that's not why I picked up this book, and while perfect characters, just as perfect people, can become annoying, I was able to overlook their perfection and enjoy a great plot-driven novel.
A totally worthwhile escapism novel and up to Danielle Steel's high standards. The kind of book you can safely buy before getting on an airplane and enjoy during a coast-to-coast ride.

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Haiti After the Earthquake Review

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(More customer reviews)Farmer is never more so at the top of his game than now in the newly released Haiti after the Earthquake. Poignantly written, Farmer articulates his first hand account of the January 12th earthquake. With detailed descriptions of the redevelopment efforts in post earthquake Haiti, Farmer simultaneously calls attention to the broken and empty promises and efforts made by the international community while celebrating the heroic efforts of so many in the hours just after bagay la (the thing). Noting the unpreparedness of the international community for such a disaster, the reader is able to not only sympathize but feel the immense frustration that so many on the ground felt in those first few hours. The second half, equally moving and inspiring, is told from others' points of view and reveals the hopes and dreams for a Haiti built back better. A must read for anyone interested in Haiti and the redevelopment efforts, or for those frustrated with the seemingly slow pace of reconstruction who are looking for optimism amidst the crushing rubble.

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The Lost Gate (Mither Mages) Review

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(More customer reviews)In truth, I am not an avid reader of fantasy material and my forays into sci-fi territory generally tend to run to the darker side, but I've been aware of Orson Scott Card's reputation in the genre for many years (I've ALMOST bought "Ender's Game" dozens of times). I do know that OSC has done quite a bit of work in the realm of mages and mysticism in recent years, so I eagerly jumped on "The Lost Gate" as it promised to be the first of an announced "Mithermages" series. With "The Lost Gate," OSC has created an enjoyable adventure and coming-of-age story appropriate to both the adult and the young adult marketplace. Filled with likable characters and mildly dangerous scenarios, "The Lost Gate" kept me fitfully entertained and pushing through the pages.
"The Lost Gate" really tells two stories set in alternate worlds. The bulk of the book is devoted to Danny North who hails from a once powerful clan of mages living on a rural compound in contemporary America. Thought useless by most of the family, Danny soon starts to understand that he does have a power--the power of gatemaking. This is an outlawed resource, however, as the power to make gates (which grant you the ability to move almost anywhere in the simplest terms) can be exploited in the wrong hands. "The Lost Gate" presents a complicated history in which forces have eradicated ALL gatemakers and closed all existing gates. Danny is soon on the run as his ability starts to become apparent which leads him to others who seek to alternately help and/or harm him. In the parellel plane of Westil, we meet another young man with gating ability. His mysterious past keeps him aloof--but as an underling in the realm's royal workforce, he soon becomes entrenched in court politics and intrigue.
The titular Lost Gate refers to the gate that used to exist between these two worlds. This gate allowed mages to subjugate humans and build their power bases. The mages on earth have been weakening without the mystical strengthening/healing power of this gate--so to create it again would redefine their former glory. As "The Lost Gate" propels forward, it seems apparent that all roads will lead to Danny attempting to once again link the worlds. But at what cost? The novel does end well positioned for the continuation of this saga and I enjoyed "The Lost Gate" enough to seek its sequel out when the time comes.
Sometimes, however, the prose does become weighed down in what I like to think of as "Gatespeak." While the physics of gatemaking is an interesting topic, some chapters explore the theory to the point of shutting down the narrative. Overall, OSC does a good job of incorporation this technical aspect into the action--but a few passages end up quite heavy. Also, there is a lot of implied danger in Danny's journey--but it is played more as an adventurous romp than as actual danger. The tone is much darker in Westil as the narrative has real suspense and bloodshed. So the two halves never quite gelled even as I enjoyed them individually. But the primary decision of whether or not to stick it out in "The Lost Gate" is Danny, and here OSC has created an extremely likable protagonist and one that I'd follow anywhere. A fitting introduction, let's see where we go next! KGHarris, 12/10.

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Nancy Drew Starter Set Review

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(More customer reviews)Considering that the Nancy Drew series is 78 years old, I would say that it has stood the test of time. If you're not into the original series from 1930-1979 (56 books in all), there have been many updates and additional series spawned from this character. You may think old when you see these books, but the stories are great, there's always a little edge of danger, cliffhangers on each chapter and it shows young ladies a strong, independent character with drive and smarts. Plus, there's just a great vibe you get from handling the slim hardcover novels and looking the painted illustrations on the cover.

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The Nancy Drew Starter Set is the perfect gift for aspiring detectives, or longtime fans of the series! The first six books are packaged together in a collectible box set with an updated design. Titles included are #1 The Secret of the Old Clock, #2 The Hidden Staircase, #3 The Bungalow Mystery, #4 The Mystery at Lilac Inn, #5 The Secret of Shadow Ranch, and #6 The Secret of Red Gate Farm.

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Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of The 1960s / The Man in the High Castle / The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich / Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? / Ubik (Library of America No. 173) Review

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(More customer reviews)In the 1960s, when he wrote these four novels, Philip K. Dick was not known, as he is today, as an acclaimed "literary" science-fiction writer and visionary who inspired many films. Since his death in 1982, his reputation has steadily soared, a little bit too late, and now this former genre journeyman toiling in obscurity has become the first sf author to be enshrined in a handsome omnibus volume in the esteemed Library of America series. Of course, I had to buy it even though I already owned multiple copies of all these novels. It is a genuine pleasure to read any of the LOA volumes, so lovingly produced they are. And this one especially so, compiled as it was by an author heavily influenced by Dick, Jonathan Lethem. You will never see a biographical chronology so interesting to read in its own right: we even learn that Timothy Leary called Dick during John and Yoko's bed-in and he put the famous pair on the phone to tell PKD that they wanted to film one of the four novels contained here, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Incidentally, Lethem's taste is impeccable. Though Dick wrote no fewer than 21 novels in the 1960s (plus a couple of dozen more before and after), these are without a doubt the four best: The Three Stigmata, The Man in the High Castle, Ubik, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? One could easily compile another such volume with four more extremely strong novels of this period: Clans of the Alphane Moon, Dr. Bloodmoney, Now Wait for Last Year, and Martian Time-Slip. However, the ones collected here are the ones I would pick, if I could have only four. They are all absolute classics and support many rereadings. I remember when in the 1970s, I encountered Three Stigmata for the first time and could not totally make sense of it, but I was intrigued. It was hallucinogenic, it was trippy, it was theological. A few years later I found myself seeking it out again, rereading with a passion, finally really "getting it," and then compulsively seeking out everything I could find by PKD. It took me years but I eventually tracked down every last out-of-print forgotten paperback. Since then all his works have been reprinted and made easily available. But my original "discovery" experience is why this LOA volume means so much to me now. The Man in the High Castle is perhaps the best alternate history ever written, a speculation on what life would have been like if the Germans and Japanese had won World War II. Ubik is a brilliant ontological quest into the very structure of reality. Do Androids Dream, the novel on which the film Blade Runner is based, is among other things a meditation on what it means to be human. These four novels have become like cornerstones in my own life's journey. For them to have been given this respectful and definitive publication is something that brings me a lot of pleasure, and would also, I think, have pleased Philip K. Dick.

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Known in his lifetime primarily to readers of science fiction, Philip K. Dick (1928-82) is now seen as a uniquely visionary figure, a writer who, in editor Jonathan Lethem's words, "wielded a sardonic yet heartbroken acuity about the plight of being alive in the twentieth century, one that makes him a lonely hero to the readers who cherish him." Posing the questions "What is human?" and "What is real?" in a multitude of fascinating ways, Dick produced works-fantastic and weird yet developed with precise logic, marked by wild humor and soaring flights of religious speculation-that are startlingly prescient imaginative responses to 21st-century quandaries. This Library of America volume brings together four of Dick's most original novels. The Man in the High Castle (1962), which won the Hugo Award, describes an alternate world in which Japan and Germany have won World War II and America is divided into separate occupation zones. The dizzying The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) posits a future in which competing hallucinogens proffer different brands of virtual reality. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), about a bounty hunter in search of escaped androids in a postapocalyptic future, was the basis for the movie Blade Runner. Ubik (1969), with its future world of psychic espionage agents and cryogenically frozen patients inhabiting an illusory "half-life," pursues Dick's theme of simulated realities and false perceptions to ever more disturbing conclusions. As with most of Dick's novels, no plot summary can suggest the mesmerizing and constantly surprising texture of these astonishing books.

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The Surgeon's Mate (Vol. Book 7) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) Review

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(More customer reviews)Jack Aubrey may be resigned to the perils of his profession, but Stephen must now be silently wondering if maybe he and Jack are the men who never return.
Indeed, this story began two volumes ago, in "Desolation Island", where it looked like they might have "copped it" in the horrible old Leopard.
Then the next story, The Fortune of War, begins with the Leopard limping into a British port off the Malay Peninsula, where after being treated handsomely they board the fast-sailing packet ship La Fletch for England (at last) where Jack is to take command of a new frigate.
But the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune say nay, for their ship burns and sinks, leaving them on the open ocean in a ship's boat whose sails had been stolen and sold by a corrupt boatswain. After many brutal, parched, sunburned days in the lifeboat terror strikes once more when a ship within hailing distance fails to see them and sails on.
As they appear about to succumb to the elements, however, they are rescued by HMS Java. Just as they are recovering from the debilitating ordeal in the lifeboat, Java engages the American ship Constitution (it's the War of 1812), loses the battle, and Aubrey and Maturin find themselves prisoners of war in Boston.
There they discover they are very special prisoners, for Aubrey or Maturin -- or both -- are suspected of being more than a captain and his ship's surgeon. They escape this peril by sailing a little sloop out of Boston harbor into the open sea where they meet and are taken aboard the blockading HMS Shannon. With them is the love of Stephen's life, Diana Villiers, who was in Boston due to entirely credible circumstances, and whose fervent desire to leave with them is equally credible.
The long and perilous chain of events that lead us to this story seem to be behind them. But they must endure one more sea battle -- the Shannon engages the USS Chesapeake in a short but exceedingly bloody engagement (all true), takes Chesapeake, and lands them in friendly Halifax.
Now comes the The Surgeon's Mate, where it seems that Aubrey and Maturin and Diana will at last reach England without further hair-raising adventures. Not so fast, mate. Shortly into this fine, fine tale they board the packet Diligence for England, but the Diligence is intercepted by two strangely determined American privateers. It soon becomes evident that it is Aubrey and Maturin -- and a person of no less importance to their pursuers, Diana -- that is the prize sought, not the dispatch-carrying Diligence.
Like O'Brian is known to do by those who read the fine print and between the lines, and do with great cunning, here he throws us a nice bone to chew on. The first schooner seen is a sleek, fast vessel, one that Captain Dalgleish is familiar with. He lowers his telescope and tells Aubrey, "Yes. She is the Liberty; and I see Mr. Henry has given her a new coat of paint."
Interesting indeed. Those who have explored the lives of the Patriots know that the Patrick Henry who concluded his moving speech for independence with the immortal words, "Give me liberty of give me death," owned a fast, sleek schooner named Liberty.
So now, six points off the starboard bow of the Diligence is the American privateer Liberty, commanded, coincidentally, by a "Mr. Henry."
Like icebergs, some of O'Brian's most pregnant stuff is tucked away from the view of many readers. Its discovery is not necessary to fully enjoy the story, but when we do find a gem the satisfaction is as pure as being let in on a fine secret.
We recall that in the very first volume of this wonderful series, Aubrey's ship Sophie took a much superior ship named the Cacafuego. "Caca fuego" could be translated into a seemingly vulgar phrase, which led a New York Times reviewer to prose disparagingly about Master and Commander and ridicule O'Brian's choice of ship names. But it so happens that the Spanish had not one but two ships by that name. Nothing is preposterous in an O'Brian tale. Patrick Henry died a dozen years before the War of 1812, and O'Brian is not implying it was Patrick Henry's Liberty that intercepted the Diligence -- he's just having fun and permitting a few readers to get a double dip.

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A Lesson in Secrets: A Maisie Dobbs Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)In the previous novel, changes in Maisie Dobbs' personal life have set her on a new course in her investigations. In the newest book, a bridge is beginning to form between repercussions of the Great War and the yet unknown second World War, while Maisie is asked by the British secret service to take a position as philosophy teacher at a new university in Cambridge which preaches a philosophy of peace, to investigate whether any activies taking place there are subversive to the Crown. The head of the university is a man who wrote a children's book about the war so filled with pacifist leanings that it was banned by the government and was rumored to have caused a mutiny at the front lines. Maisie is not there long before the man is murdered. While Scotland Yard investigates, Maisie continues her own inquiries, and, a bit too priescently, I thought, warns the Secret Service about certain of her students with Nazi leanings and the party itself (which, of course, the Government-types ignore). There is much more for Maisie to learn about the man's life and the secretary who disappears following the death, about the German professor that steps into his place and the wealthy man who funds the school.
In the meantime, Billy Beale works on the case brought to them by Sandra, a young woman whose husband died due to an accident at work. As the story progresses, both Maisie and Billy suspect the accident wasn't one at all. Maisie's old friend Priscilla and her family are drawn into this portion of the story.
Maisie's relationship with her new love progresses slowly in this outing, but those who read the Dobbs books know it's in Maisie's nature to take things methodically. Her dad is also making some changes in his life. Readers who like the earlier stories of Maisie dealing with repercussions of the First World War may dislike signs of the next appearing, but Winspear is not allowing Maisie to remain static in a postwar world. Several of the cards are played early in the mystery, but all-in-all I found the story and characters appealing.

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Fly By Wire Review

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(More customer reviews)The author was a former combat pilot who flew military aircraft and worked on accident investigations. So he knows his subject. So sit back and get ready to enjoy a very thrilling and informative story that will keep you interested until the final page.

A very new cargo plane, the C-500, is on a course across the Atlantic headed for Houston International Airport in the U.S. Unfortunately, the plane develops trouble and dives like a stone from six miles up and crashes in France, killing the two pilots aboard. There are at least one hundred of these planes in service around the world so the folks in charge want to get to the bottom of this tragedy as soon as possible. They call in Frank "Jammer" Davis, who is a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and part of the NTSB's first response team. Davis has the knack of insulting everyone in his path but, knows how to get answers and starts to dig into this accident to see what, either mechanical or not, caused it.

When Davis starts his investigation, the news of the crash is cancelled out by some other unusual and elaborate disasters: Terrorists are attacking oil refineries across the world and sending governments and stock markets into a spin. Davis keeps on working persistently and is finally able to find out the cause of the crash and the relationship between the crash and the attacks. It seems that there is a conspiracy at work that is enormous and Davis might not be able to stop it.

This book is a good read and will be understood better by people that know about planes and can understand the horrible conclusion of the plane's demise. I really enjoyed the author's previous books: The Perfect Assassin and Stealing Trinity, but, had a bit of a hard time with this one. But, on the other hand, this author is a wonderful storyteller and knows how to grab and hold his reading audience. I recommend this book to thriller readers that like a true tale of something that could definitely happen. So enjoy the book and look forward to Mr. Larsen's next one.


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Desolation Island (Vol. Book 5) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) Review

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(More customer reviews)Desolation Island is one of the richest, and at the same time most easily approached, titles in the Aubrey Maturin series. I'm an avid Patrick O'Brian reader, one who's been through the series more than once, and I'm running through this one again right now at spare moments.
Maybe it's heretical to suggest not starting with the first book, but Desolation Island, H.M.S. Surprise, and The Far Side of the World are the ones I recommend to people when I'm trying to get them hooked. Master and Commander is excellent, but it seems to me like O'Brian was writing for a genre audience to start with. (The historical setting is truly wonderful and the characters are a delight, but he was writing for readers who were already interested, say, in the detailed workings of the royal shipyards.) By the time he got to Surprise he had hit his stride, at least for me. The books had stopped being "Another variation on sea life during the Napoleonic age" for him, and the world he was writing just feels complete and right.
Also, those three books all feature long, solo voyages. It's a simple point, but that plotline is easier for a beginning fan to understand and follow. In some ways it gets at the heart of O'Brian's writing best, too. The ship's community as a close, isolated society, the complex nature of Jack's choices as captain, Stephen's isolation with his secret life, the consolation they take in their friendship -- those elements all shine during the long voyages throughout the series.
Desolation Island, as a starting point, also includes one of the most exciting, tense chases in the series. It has a full set of complex minor characters whose fates you really do care about, and it's one of those O'Brian plots that gives you a double-take or two if you don't know where it's going. Highly recommended.

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The Harry Bosch Novels Volume 2: The Last Coyote, Trunk Music, Angels Flight Review

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(More customer reviews)Former newspaper reporter Michael Connelly has been writing intriguing and suspenseful novels for his Harry Bosch protagonist for over a decade now. The first six of these novels have been collected into two hardcover omnibus volumes.
The first volume is certainly required reading if you want to understand the complete background and motivations of this brooding LAPD detective who won't tolerate injustice or any human vice that feeds it either directly (corruption, politics) or indirectly (bureaucracy, laziness, incompetence). They're interesting reads for sure, especially "The Concrete Blonde". However, those earlier stories expose Connelly as a new novelist unsure of what type of character Bosch is destined to be.
This second volume is the work of a much more seasoned and confident author writing about a multi-dimensional and human character. Without giving away any spoilers, I'll say that these three books develop Bosch well beyond just a grim crime-solving automaton who moves from case to case in a very detached manner. He goes after crimes that have personal significance and he undertakes situations outside his role as a police detective. The result is that by the time you turn the last page, you'll be hooked on the Bosch character, not just the stories of the crimes he's solved. That's the hallmark of a great fiction series.
Plus, these three stories are varied and intriguing in their own separate ways. The universe of characters that surround Bosch rotate in and out in ways that are highly interesting without being incredible. "Trunk Music" stretches this point a bit with a story that throws in every angle imaginable and almost loses its way. However, "Angels Flight" rebounds superbly and gets my vote for the finest book of either volume.
These volumes are must-haves for anyone interested in getting acquainted with one of the best mystery writers working today. At a price less than the cost of three paperbacks, you get a well-bound and attractive hardcover book, making this package a wonderful value as well.

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Emory's Gift Review

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(More customer reviews)Charlie's mother passed away, and his father enters a silence of grief as Charlie steps into his own isolated world at the age of thirteen, while dealing with the trials-and-tribulations of junior high school. One adventure every teen attempts to survive, but never forgets the experience. As Charlie suffers from the loss of a loved one, while coping with anguish and pain, he discovers that he's not all alone in the world. As Charlie contemplates on his place in the world, his life is saved from a mountain lion by a grizzly bear. Charlie's life is changed forever as he learns about trust, faith, and unconditional love. W. Bruce Cameron penned a compelling Masterpiece that will tug at your heart page-after-page. This novel is highly recommended for all readers who love animals, and stories that are charming, and heartwarming. This book offers joy, hope, and is deeply moving. The author takes the reader on an emotional roller-coaster ride that will indeed leave a remarkable impression as you crave for more.

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After 13-year-old Charlie Hall's mother dies and his father retreats into the silence of grief, Charlie finds himself drifting lost and alone through the brutal halls of junior high school.But Charlie Hall is not entirely friendless. In the woods behind his house, Charlie is saved from a mountain lion by a grizzly bear, thought to be extinct in northern Idaho. And this very unusual bear will change Charlie's life forever. Deeply moving, and interwoven with hope and joy, Emory's Gift is not only heartwarming and charming coming of age story, but also a page-turning insightful look at how faith, trust, and unconditional love can heal a broken family and bridge the gaps that divide us.

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Get Rich Click: The Ultimate Guide to Making Money on the Internet Review

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(More customer reviews)I received an special offer for this book via Clickbank. Book was "free" as long as I'd pay postage. A very good deal, I though.
This is a good book. Not great, but worth checking out. I give credit to the author for covering so many aspects of online business in one book. The problem is, there isn't enough space for everything he wants to cover-- at least in detail. It's kind of like being at a buffet, with a lot of choices, but only being able to take a tiny bite. You get an idea of what is available, but don't walk away totally satisfied.
Luckily, I have been studying online marketing for a while. When I read this stuff, I got what he was saying. If this is your first book about online maketing though, or you're looking to "get rich quick", you may end up frustrated as some of the aspects here will likely be too complicated for you to understand since you'll have to "fill in the blanks" yourself. For a beginner, I think something like Laptop Lifestyle - How to Quit Your Job and Make a Good Living on the Internet (Volume 1 - Quick Start Guide to Making Money Online) is a better option, since it moves a little slower and gives step-by-step lists of what you can do to either sell your own products online or make money using affiliate programs.
The best part about this book is that it gives detailed case studies of successful businesses and how they are making money online. There are a lot of ways to make money online and this will get you thinking about how you can find something that works for you.


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Whether you are looking to earn $100 a day or $100,000 a year, this book will teach you how. Get Rich Click! is a comprehensive source of information from one of the world's most successful Internet entrepreneurs. This book outlines proven strategies and techniques for the Internet entrepreneur, and is full of real-life success stories about people of all ages who have made millions on line!

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