Singularity Review

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(More customer reviews)I had no idea what to expect from Singularity written by new author Bill DeSmedt. After reading the blurbs from the likes of Kevin Anderson (Dune: Battle of Corrin) and Greg Bear (Darwin's Radio), I had to give it a try. What a great ride!
The novel is gripping from the very beginning. It has spies, killers, not-so-altruistic scientists, and consultants ... yes, consultants - but these are not the same ones that read your watch and tell you what the time is. The characters are smart, witty and engaging. I found myself wishing my plane ride was longer so I could continue reading!
There are various storylines cleverly weaved together. I kept wishing I could read faster so I could find out what is happening to protagonists Jonathan Knox and Marianna Bonaventure. The unexpected twists and suspense reminds you of The DaVinci Code - but Singularity is so much better. The story is just so solid, witty and smart.
As for the writing, Singularity is beautifully written - similar to CRYPTONOMICON or even My Life as a Geisha or The Grapes of Wrath - you are transported into the characters lives and into exotic locations. The writing is witty and delicious. It is also a smart read - the author weaves the story around a mysterious microscopic black whole. You unwittingly learn more physics than you expect. He brings in science more artfully than Michael Crichton.
In addition to the great story and writing, the characters are clever and interesting. There is a strong female protagonist that is smart, can take care of herself (a la Alias) and knows how to wear Gucci. The male character - now there is a real man!
The one negative is that the book had to end. I can't wait until the sequel comes out.


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Save the Whales Please Review

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(More customer reviews)A whale drive from the Arctic to the Antarctic is a pretty cool concept. The book reads like "24," with a lot of parallel action. The chapters are short. You can stop and start without having to go back. But once you start reading, I think it's pretty un-put-downable. My recommendation: Surely buy and read.

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A young, beautiful eco-terrorist, the American president's wife is determined to stop the overhunting of whales by the Japanese, the Norwegians, and others, so she embarks on a daring plan to drive a stranded herd of blue whales from the Arctic to the opposite end of the earth—the Antarctic. Her husband, the President, has promised to let the Japanese take the blue whales in exchange for their support in a looming economic crisis. On board a hijacked whaling factory ship, the First Lady defies her husband and—with the help of the ship's captain, a recently reformed whaling pirate—confronts the Japanese fleet and threatens to sink it. This big, bold rescue adventure blends romance with a generous dose of dirty politics.

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The Likeness: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)There will be no spoilers in this review.
As in her first novel, In the Woods, Tana French has created another sensuous, lyrical, haunting, suspenseful story. Although it is considered a mystery, it is much much more than that. It is a story of identity in all its literal and metaphorical forms. It is a social commentary (but never sententious) and it is also about fear and flight and love.
Cassie Maddox and Sam O'Neill are detectives from In the Woods. Although Operation Vestal (from In the Woods) is mentioned several times, these books can be read in any sequence without ruining it for the reader. The setting is again Dublin, Ireland.
Cassie is the star attraction of this story as she goes undercover to live with four liberal arts doctoral candidates whose housemate, Lexie Madison, is found dead from a stabbing in an abandoned cottage. Lexie Madison looks exactly like Cassie, and the name is her last undercover alias, which adds to the mystery. The housemates will be told that she survived the stabbing.
It isn't necessary to give too many plot details. What is more important is the response from reading. This is a generous, gorgeous, thoughtful, poetic story. The tone is almost elegiac at times, especially during her descriptive paragraphs, and the author's use of the extended metaphor is prolific and often profound. At the end of the novel, I looked up hawthorn (the tree, flower, bush) on Wikipedia and had a chill run up and down my spine. Her descriptions, turns of phrase, elegant passages and graceful unfolding keep me fastened and fascinated. What I love about Tana French is that her novels are both character-driven AND plot-driven. She does not sacrifice one for the other. With most mysteries, I only read them once. But The Likeness can be read again just for the aesthetics. Also, there is no deus ex machina here. The story is excellently paced with a well-timed delivery of its climax.
Tana French is no lightweight, but she makes the story accessible to anyone who enjoys reading. She has that gift to appeal to a variety of readers-- even readers who look for largely escape mysteries. But this is not escape reading; it is the kind of reading that makes you ponder. It is philosophical and it echoes. It has shadows, swirls, hollows, heart,humanity, tension, suspense, whispers, hawthorn, hawthorn, hawthorn...
I look forward to the third book that Tana French is working on, with Frank Mackey (from The Likeness) as the main protagonist.

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Ritual: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)Still grieving the loss of her parents in an accidental drowning two years ago in Boesmansgat (Bushman's Hole) in Africa, police diver Sergeant Phoebe "Flea" Marley recovers from Bristol Harbor, a detached hand; no other body part is found. The hand's fingerprints identify the limb belonged to heroin addict Ian "Mossy" Mallows.
The obvious drug connection is explored by Detective Inspector Jack Caffery; Flea investigates a seemingly loose thread tied to the African witchcraft of muti that she knows from her parents deaths in the Kalahari Desert. It uses body parts as part of the rituals. The two cops soon change their minds about finding a corpse as evidnce begins to point towards the victim being alive. They also conclude that the muti ritual is a sleight of the hand (no pun intended) ploy to cover up even more nefarious plans.
This gritty urban English police procedural hooks the audience from the opening dive until the final confrontation as the two cops uncover a case tied to illegal drug usage and the torture side of muti before realizing there is much more to the investigation. The story line is fast-paced as the readers wonders along side of Caffery and Marley what is going on especially when they feel strongly the victim is breathing. Fans will appreciate this strong investigative thriller (see THE TREATMENT and BIRDMAN; neither read by me) as Mo Hayder provides an enjoyable whodunit that focuses on learning what was done.
Harriet Klausner


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Rain Gods: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)And, for the most part, succeeds. If Burke doesn't twist and torture and then so beautifully reassemble passages in McCarthy's unique version of the English language, he is certainly no rookie when it comes to spinning his own brand of moody, atmospheric prose never too far a field from Faulkner's steamy bayous and weighty themes - but decidedly more readable. In the spellbinding "Rain Gods", Burke moves west from Louisiana's delta and Dave Robicheaux's perpetual but lovable gloom to a Texas southern border town where Korean War veteran Hackberry Holland is sheriff. "Hack" stumbles upon the shallow churchyard grave of nine illegal alien women, setting off a deliciously convoluted mystery/thriller featuring a rich field - rich even by Burke's lofty standards - of characters ranging from the mildly flawed to the unrepentantly deranged. Like Robicheaux, Sheriff Holland is haunted by ghosts from his past - hefting a trunk full of baggage that carries the nightmares of North Korean POW camps, the guilt from days of alcoholism and debauchery, and sorrow over the loss of his second wife. Holland pursues his own brand of justice battling these internal demons as well as a host of those in real flesh and blood - from the serial-killing psycho "Preacher" to three-letter government agencies not afraid to sacrifice the mostly innocent to bag the bigger game.
Like McCarthy's "No Country For Old Men", "Rain Gods" deals with the drug trade across the border, and like "No Country", it is brutal, violent, and realistic. Burke, always the champion of the poor working class and never afraid to proselytize, lays it on thick here, though without Bush in the White House to cast as the villain, the targets of his righteous but sincere venom is a bit confused. Where McCarthy wraps "No Country" around simple, apolitical despair, Burke shades "Rain Gods" with a heavy hand of morality. But it works. Hackberry is a complex but likable protagonist - the stoic and troubled loner cast perfectly for the Clint Eastwood of "Gran Torino" - with a Texas accent. Hack's deputy Pam Tibbs adds color and sexual tension, and Iraq War vet Pete Flores and his talented girlfriend Vikki Gaddis make credible fugitives. But most fascinating is the almost mystical "preacher", a complex and unpredictable villain, already an urban legend among those who pursue him on both sides of the border.
In the final analysis, despite some minor flaws, this is a powerful novel - entertaining while sobering, beautifully written, the uncommon and intelligent page-turner one would expect from James Lee Burke, who is without any doubt is back in full "Jolie Blon's Bounce" or "Last Car to Elysian Fields"-form. Hackberry Holland will no doubt fill pages of subsequent Burke novels, which I'll be anxiously awaiting. Well done, Mr. Burke, and good to have you back.


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The Significant Seven (Jack Doyle Mysteries) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Significant Seven provides a fine Jack Doyle mystery and is set in 2002, when seven friends get together for horse racing - and hit the jackpot. When their leader convinces them to use some of their largess to buy race horses - where they get lucky again - trouble reaches years later into 2009, when members of the group are being murdered. A fine murder mystery evolves, recommended for any mystery collection!


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Silesian Station Review

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(More customer reviews)"Silesian Station" is a fast-paced account of the Third Reich's march toward all out war in the summer and fall of 1939. Author David Downing's protagonist, John Russell, is an Anglo-American journalist who winds up with a foot in every political camp as he tries to protect his German family from being swept up in the coming onslaught. The plot line in this book is driven forward with an almost breathless narrative that includes many intriguing details of how ordinary Germans were living and coping in the pre-war years of Hitler's Reich.
A lot of first-rate research had to have been done by author Downing to put together the exciting and persuasive story that runs from page one. There are fascinating details about the Silesian border areas where the German invasion of Poland eventually takes place--including credible descriptions of how local Nazi party offiicials dominated social life down to the village level. This inevitably involved the state-sponsored bullying and eventual destruction of Jewish communities and individuals. That persecution and the many other forms of it practiced by the Nazis is threaded carefully throughout this account of espionage and international duplicity by the various governments that employ protagonist Russell in this story.
"Silesian Station" is right up there with the writing of Alan Furst, Philip Kerr and, at times, even William Shirer. An excellent read with few false notes by a gifted writer.

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The Messenger Review

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(More customer reviews)The Messenger by Daniel Silva is the most recent in his Gabriel Allon series, and I think it is the best of the bunch.
The Messenger opens in London where a professor of Middle Eastern studies is suspected of having Al-Qaeda ties. The Israeli Secret Service is on his tail when he is killed in an accident. The laptop he was carrying proves that not only was he a recruiter, but that he also was involved in an intricate plot against the Vatican.
Israeli agent Gabriel Allon is once again sent out into the field, trying to avert a tragedy in Rome. At the same time, the agency decides to find the source of terrorist funding through Saudi sources. The Israelis and the CIA concoct an intricate plot to discover the location of a Saudi terrorist financier. The plot involves a beautiful American art curator and an unknown Van Gogh painting.
The Messenger is such a good book in that Silva ties in so many things that are happening today. Al-Qaeda is planning terrorist acts, Saudis are financing the terrorists and can't be touched by the Americans, and the Americans are involved in covert and sometimes illegal operations. The plot of The Messenger is fast-paced and exciting, and it's one of Silva's strongest efforts yet. While Gabriel Allon still plays a major role in The Messenger, Sarah Bancroft (the American art expert who infiltrates a terror group) steals the show.
I have read all of Silva's Allon books except the first one, The Kill Artist, which I just obtained. While it might help to read them in order, it is not as critical as in some other series.


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God's Lions: The Secret Chapel Review

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(More customer reviews)I have never read a roller coaster thriller like this before. Well researched and masterfully woven, this novel by John Lyman will glue you to your seat then have you hanging on with your fingernails as you take that unexpected hairpin turn. The struggle between good and evil is not contrived as in many popular thriller novels produced within the past 5-10 years. The manner in which protagonist, Leopold Amodeo (Leo) is presented, leading his band of Lions through the discovery of and confrontation with the antagonist is done with expert craftsmanship. The characters are believeable and vulnerable, not superhuman and all-knowing, which aids in making the novel much more approachable for the reader.
Since I work during the day, I would lay in bed reading at night, grab my husband's arm and with an "oh my gosh..." tell him about the next twist in the plot. From the prologue right though the last chapter this author had my attention. The epilogue left me wishing the book would never end. I can not wait for John's next book to be published!


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The Hanging Woods Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm not saying that this debut novel is destined to endure like the Harper Lee classic, but there are some similiarities: 3 kids on the verge of trouble, a mystery man in a small Alabama town, a heated trial. In one way, though, this book will resonate in a way Mockingbird can't. These kids are real. They aren't angels. And they come from deeply flawed families. Kids today might have a hard time relating to Scout Finch, but they may see themselves in Walter Sithol.
And although the book is clearly a YA novel, its sharp edges and dark side will keep a more mature reader engaged right to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Full Review:
On the one hand, The Hanging Woods, the debut novel from Scott Loring Sanders, seems unmistakably to be in the "young-adult" genre. It is about early teen boys, and its language and situations are clearly geared for young people. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine a darker story, or a protagonist as flawed as young Walter Sithol. And that leads me to wonder what young readers think of this boy, which also leads me to doubt my initial certainty that this book is solely for teenagers. While I believe they can handle it and learn from it, I also think that the adult reader will appreciate the complexities that emerge in the three central characters and enjoy the awful story that unfolds.
Walter is a typical boy in a small Alabama town in the mid-70s. His father is tough on him and his mother is over-protective. He hangs out with Jimmy and Raymond, known as Mothball, and they swim and fish and hang out together and occasionally get on each others' nerves. Walter carries a secret, though, and it may mildly annoy the reader that he refers to having seen his mother's diary without disclosing to the reader what he has read there. In any case, for various reasons tension builds between Walter and the other boys. Sanders renders these three boys with care, so that they are utterly distinct: Jimmy, the ringleader and troublemaker; Mothball, the chubby one, afraid of everything; and Walter, the smart one, the one who seems to have a firmer sense of right and wrong.
Then there is "the Troll," a Vietnam veteran who lives under a bridge and becomes both a legend and a mystery to the boys, a town oddity for them to taunt and an easy scapegoat when things go wrong. The more the Troll is revealed in this story, the more the whole book seems to be following the model of To Kill a Mockingbird. The three kids in some ways even resemble Scout, Jem, and Dill; the Troll seems very much like Boo Radley; and eventually there is even a trial scene that echoes the one in the Harper Lee classic. There's nothing wrong with imitating a masterpiece, but what's ingenious here is that just at the point where the reader is convinced that Mockingbird is the template, Sanders has young Walter read that novel and learn from it. And it is from that point on that The Hanging Woods diverges and becomes its own terrifying story.
It is, I think, risky to place a boy such as Walter at the center of a novel, particularly one aimed at young people. And yet, the author trusts the reader of any age to see Walter's flaws, and to keep reading despite them. It's a gamble that pays off.
This is a very good read. Highly recommended.


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Firmament Review

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(More customer reviews)Oh, I loved this book! It's got such perfect emotional tension in it. The main character, Luke, is a gifted musician, like his father was, but ever since his dad died he's been kind of messed up. When the gang he's lowered himself to hang out with sets him up to break into an old lady's house, he discovers a mysterious child hidden inside and starts to wake up to himself. The writing is lovely, the stakes are all set up perfectly so that whenever Luke chooses to do the right thing somewhere, it pulls on another plot thread, and the connection with his music and his father is strong and satisfying. This is my first Tim Bowler book, but it won't be my last.

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The Man from Beijing Review

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(More customer reviews)Although this quotation of Chairman Mao's is not to be found in Henning Mankell's The Man from Beijing the book is filled with politics and bloodshed.
I've enjoyed Henning Mankell's Inspector Kurt Wallander series and have read most of the books in that series. With that in mind, I turned to Mankell's newest book The Man from Beijing with great interest. This is a stand-alone book not connected with the series. The Man from Beijing was well worth reading even if didn't quite live up to my admittedly high expectations.
High Points
Mankell has put together an entertaining plot. Nineteen people have been brutally murdered in a remote village in Sweden. The opening scenes are set out in terse matter-of-fact manner that accentuates the horrors being described. It soon becomes apparent to Birgitta Roslin, a middle-aged judge in the city of Helsingborg, that she has ancestral ties to the village. Slowly but surely Roslin becomes ensnared in the subsequent investigation of the crime. The story moves across the world from Sweden to China, to Africa and then back to Sweden. Mankell does a very good job keeping the story line moving forward. His writing style is well-suited to this type of story. He is not effusive and he does not waste words. He sets a scene well and I found it hard to put the book down.
In both his Inspector Wallander series and in The Man from Beijing Mankell does a terrific job in placing a story in the context of the world around us. He does not write within the bubble of a genre but writes as if the story really is taking place in the world outside. As I read the chapters set in China and Africa, I got the feeling that in this regard Mankell shares some literary DNA with John le Carre, particularly le Carre's later works. Their writing styles differ but their insinuation of the `real world' into the stories each resonate the same way with me.
Low Point
One of the strongest points of the Inspector Wallander series for me was the fact that Wallander and his team rely on hard work, perseverance and more hard work in the pursuit of a solution to a crime or series of crime. Luck plays a hand some times but there are no flashes of Sherlock Holmes-like genius and there are no miraculous plot contrivances that get the story resolved. That was not the case in The Man from Beijing. I am always ready to suspend disbelief to a good degree when I read a piece of fiction. However, in this case I felt there were times when my suspension of disbelief was stretched to a breaking point. For me there where just one too many `coincidences' that had to be introduced to get from part A to part B and Part C of the plot.
Conclusion
The problems with the plot devices were, in my opinion, outweighed by the interesting plot and Mankell's ability to weave current social and economic and political developments in Asia and Africa seamlessly into the story.
Recommended. L. Fleisig

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Pull of the Moon Review

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(More customer reviews)Reading the short synopsis got me instantly intrigued and, thankfully, the book did not let me down. This is a very good story, with full characters and excellent writing. While it may be a bit predictable to those that read strictly these types of novels, I don't and so I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author makes you feel like you are right there living in the house with them. She goes into detail about their surroundings and their daily activities in a way that adds tremendous visualization to the entire story. I look forward to reading more from her.

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American Assassin: A Thriller Review

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(More customer reviews)I have read all of Vince Flynn's works about Mitch Rapp and found this one to be the link that I had been waiting for. We have learned how lethal Mitch can be, how different he is from all the rest because of raw talent in the world of espionage. But where did he come from? How did he get to be the best?
The story starts with Irene Kennedy recruiting Mitch from the real world instead of from one of the Military Services. She brings him into the program, behind the back of Stan Hurley their training expert. As Kennedy drops Mitch in Hurley's lap you catch from that moment on that there is not going to be a good friendly outcome. As a matter of fact Hurly is going to do everything he can to be sure that this college puke, as he calls him, washes out and washes out quickly.
Unfortunately Mitch is much better than any of them imagined. Hurley is embarrassed and angered as well as thrown into conflict with his superiors. But as the training goes on and on Mitch proves that he has a mind for this type of work. He has the talent to do the job, and he has the humility to admit what he needs to learn and then put himself into learning (that comes out at the firing range).
In this book we get a better handle on Thomas Stansfield, Irene Kennedy, Stan Hurley and Lewis the psychologist. We also learn much more about the mindset behind Mitch Rapp. He and the psychologist have several conversations. What's the difference between revenge and retribution? When is it just to kill someone? Are you just acting out of anger and personal revenge or are you acting out of patriotism?
As you proceed from training to spy craft you will be drawn in to every aspect of this book. I just got the book yesterday and couldn't put it down.
Vince Flynn does a great job of developing his characters, building the story, setting the stage for the next thing that will happen and then throwing in the unexpected. You will enjoy every minute of this read.
Enjoy!

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The New Yorker Stories Review

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(More customer reviews)Beattie's stories (then and now) articulate certain confusions and disappointments that often haunt the reader not as fiction but as things that have happened in real life. Now when I look at a short story writer, I am most concerned with what I, as a writer can learn, and pieces by Hemingway, Faulkner, even my favorite, Raymond Carver, often seem heavy handed, too style conscious, more concerned with the telling than with the subject. Not so Ann Beattie's work. It makes me want to look around, not for clever twists, but to overhear conversations, catch fading facial expressions, sense relationships that might prove less than what they seem.
"It's a steep driveway, and rocky. David backs down cautiously--the way someone pulls a zipper after it's been caught. We wave, they disappear. That was easy." A novel or piece of book length nonfiction is a world complete in itself. A short story is more like a spotlight that shines on a crowd of people. We see what is there but also know there are things to the right and the left of the spotlight that we can't see directly. These are the events with the characters of the short story that happened before it began or that will happen after it the words on the page are over.
As writers we have to plant clues for the reader and we depend upon that reader to create what isn't expressed. It's this partnering with an audience in the creative process that is invaluable for other types of writing. They depend upon it, but nowhere (except perhaps with poetry) is it more essential than with the short story. The secret of good writing is to get your reader actively involved doing the work for you. Great short stories show us how to do that. With Ann Beattie, words are important, but the story takes place beneath the words, in the imagination of the person who reads it.
- John Lehman, Rosebud Book Reviews.com


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The Throne of Fire (The Kane Chronicles, Book Two) Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, let me say that this is no Percy Jackson, in case you're going into this with vaulted expectations. However, these books do have their place, but the pacing is slower, the back stories a bit more longwinded (particularly in the first book in this series), yet the characters in both Percy and Pyramid are equally well drawn. Go figure. If you haven't read the first book, don't worry, the author does a decent job of catching you up on important details and plot points that lead to this book.
This time around, the book opens with a bit of action, as the kids, along with their new "special recruits" sneak into a museum and try to steal an artifact. This is typical, as a first book in any series tends to start off slow or include a lot of exposition and foreshadowing. Since we more or less know the characters in this book, the action plays out on a grander scale without sacrificing character development. There is another world-at-stake scenario in this book, via the chaos snake Apophis, who is a major threat to the Kane family, and he is planning to conquer the world once he is freed from his prison. But of course there is a plan to stop him. While not exactly a rehash of the events that involved the defeat of Set from the first book, you can tell that these books are in the same series, and take place in the same Red Pyramid world.
We get a lot of action and adventure in this book and loads of Egyptian myth that is presented in a fun way. But for my money, the book lacked a certain something. For one thing, it is drawn out in spots, and I'm a believer in tighter more streamlined storytelling. Another book series I started reading recently, which involves ancient temples and a thrilling artifact hunt, actually tells a rather compelling, tightly woven story. It also involves characters with unique abilities. Check it out here: The Crisis Artifact (The Crisis Trilogy) So while The Red Pyramid series can stand a bit of tightening up and trimming in spots, there are currently less well known epic series on the market that are begging to be read!


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