(5) = Best; (4) = Better; (3) = Good; (2) = Fair; (1) = OK
These abstracts serve as reminders to myself; they serve to "jog" my memory on what a book was all about. That's all. This is not a literary critique, not a social commentary, and certainly nothing profound to warrant further discussion.
(5) = means that I really enjoyed this book; (1) = means I finished reading it but wonder if my time could have been better spent elsewhere.
Our hero, Major Jack Reacher, a retired army special forces MP, is accidentally kidnapped along with Holly Johnson. The FBI assumed Jack was involved in the kidnapping when a video shows his arm around Holly while removing dry cleaned garment bags off her shoulder. Holly is not only an FBI Agent and daughter of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Johnson, but the goddaughter of the President of the United States. So Jack becomes a “Ten Most Wanted Man” by the FBI.
Beau Borken had been consolidating power by organizing a loosely knit group of militias in Montana and killing their leaders in secret. He intimidates their families by forcing them to remain in their compound. They were White Supremacists and Borken wants concessions from the U.S. President as he sought to secede from the United States. Holly was to be a hostage in the negotiations. We learn more of Jack’s resourcefulness, knowledge of weapons and armaments and skill as a Sniper. The ending is dramatic as moles within the FBI are revealed, as a rescue operation takes place and as the community dissolves when it discovers that Borken had murdered their leaders. (5)
A 14th Century Icon of “St George and The Dragon” was smuggled out of Russia by the last Czar and subsequently passed into the hands of the Nazi war criminal Goering. Captain Adam Scott learns that he had inherited the Icon given to his father by Goering and who was also blamed as a friend of a war criminal and forced to retire in disgrace upon Goering’s suicide. Adam is eager to prove his father’s innocence.
We learn that a copy of the Icon was made by the Czar just before the Red Army entered Petrograd and overran the Winter Palace. Yuri Valchek and Alex Romanov, two powerful Assassins, were selected by the Director of the KGB to find the original Icon, retrieve and return it to Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev by June 20, 1966. What was so important about this Icon? How much was it worth? Why such a deadline date? Valcheck and Romanov do not know.
Captain Adam Scott accidently finds out what was hidden in the Icon and the adventure begins. He tries desperately to pass the Icon on to his superior officers in British Intelligence but learns that the KGB have moles there and his efforts to escape Romanov and Valcheck takes him through Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris and ultimately to London. It seems everyone is after him. There is a long trail of spies, agents from America, England, France and Germany who sometimes appear across the street, in dark alleys and coffee shops.
Adam Scott is blamed for a murder by Romanov, so the Swiss police and Interpol are also after him. His picture is spread across the continent’s newspapers. Yet Scott manages to escape everyone. Of course, a beautiful girl from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) helps him. (5)
Four women - four friends - share a determination to stop a killer who has been stalking newlyweds in San Francisco. Each holds a piece of the puzzle: One is a Homicide Inspector, one is a Medical Examiner, one is an Assistant District Attorney, and one is a Journalist for the Crime Desk of the San Francisco Chronicle. The serial killer is a sick psycho. The four women collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving one another a hand. (1).
Jack Reacher is arrested for murder when he walks into the little town of Margrave, Georgia on a Friday evening. Paul Hubble’s phone number was found in the shoe of the murdered man, he confesses to the killing and is arrested. Neither Jack nor Paul know one another. They are sent to prison for the weekend while the police department sifts through Jack’s alibi. Paul was obviously lying but why did he confess? We learn that the murdered person is an investigator from the Treasury Dept who was secretly brought into town by Paul. The Kliner family owns the major industry in town and the scale of their secret counterfeiting operation is enormous. They kill anyone who gets in their way. Their mistake is that they underestimated Jack Reacher’s resourcefulness and pertinacity when the Kliner Kid tried to kill him and his girl friend. (5).
Stayed up almost all night and finished the book in one sitting (no - actually one and a half sittings). Lee Child’s hero, Jack Reacher, is hitch hiking through the heat of West Texas and getting desperate for a ride. Luck arrives in a huge white Cadillac with its air-conditioning on high. The driver is Carmen Greer. She is a good looking young woman with a beautiful little girl…and she has a story to tell. She married into the wrong family. They have made her life hell. Her monster of a husband is due out of prison. She needs help, and she needs it now. The issues of domestic violence serves as background for this story as family secrets of the Greer family unravels when Jack Reachers appears on the scene. If they ever make a movie out of this book I would nominate Arnie Schwarznegger to play the role of Jack Reacher. He fits Lee Child’s description of our hero perfectly. (5)
Jack Reacher is hired by the Secret Service to perform an “audit” on the agency’s ability to protect Vice President Armstrong from assassination. A mysterious note had been found on the desk of the Director announcing the death of the Vice President, so the “audit” was concocted to bring an outsider in to find out if there is any basis for the note. Additional threats appear later, but no one knows who delivered them. Two other Armstrongs in different parts of the country are assassinated to intimidate the Vice President; he continues his travels and carries on fund raising activities before huge crowds. Jack and his colleague find themselves crisscrossing the country chasing different leads. It’s interesting to see the powers of deduction exercised by Jack as the story unfolds; he concludes there is more than one assassin. (3).
Jack Reacher wonders why a private eye was hired to find him at Key West and why two hoodlums were also seeking him on the same day. He learns later that the private detective had been killed. Who hired the detective to find him and why? Who were the hoodlums who was also looking for him? Reacher uses his resources to answer these questions. His leads took him to a funeral wake in an upstate NY mansion where he meets Jodie Garber. She is the beautiful daughter of his former supervisor, General Leon Garber. Jodie & Jack have been in love with one another ever since she was a 15 yr old teen but both denied their feelings as protocol did not encourage such “incestuous” relationships within “the military family.” General Garber had been like a father to Jack. Jodie hired the detective to look for Jack when the General died. Of course, Jack and Jodie eventually wind up in bed together.
The General had been researching an MIA in Vietnam for an elderly couple. The project proved deadly as the trail of evidence led to a vicious loan shark. Jack decides to pick up the trail the General was on, finds out that this elderly couple’s son was a hero who died saving men but also learns that the loan shark had stolen the identify of this couple’s son. This book will hold your attention. (4)
Sergeant Amy Callan and Lieutenant Caroline Cook have a lot in common. They are both high-flying, career army women, both victims of sexual harassment by their superiors, they are both forced to resign … and now they are both dead. The FBI can find no evidence at the scene of these killings. There is no violence and nothing disturbed at these scenes. FBI Profiler, Julia Lamarr, deduces that Jack Reacher is the serial killer. They follow him for several weeks and in that process Jack is caught in a compromising position for beating up two Syrian mafiosa hoodlums and stealing their day’s take while pretending to be part of an organized gang. Jack did it out of pure moral ethics when he saw them shaking down the restaurant owner where he ate.
The FBI accuses Jack as a member of organized crime. They know about Jack’s exemplary record as an MP and want to take advantage of his connections and experience in solving their murder mystery. Actually, they want his help. He is questioned about the serial killings but they have no evidence against him and realize he is innocent.
During this time Jack is held in an FBI faciity and Lisa Harper is assigned to closely monitor Reacher. She is a tall blond, blue eyed, slender agent with long legs. She is beautiful. Her assignment was to seduce Jack and put him in a compromising position. Jack figures out why Lisa was assigned to him. He’s pissed. And refuses to help.
When the FBI threatens to turn over Jodie Garber’s name to Petrosian, the Syrian mafiosa leader, he is forced to help as Jodie is his lover and he does not want her harmed. His first request was to interview a Colonel Trent at Ft. Dix in New Jersey. The Colonel have records of abused women in the military and Jack will begin the investigation there. Agent Harper goes along to keep an eye on him.
Jack is supposed to spend the whole day with Trent in his office researching records while Harper sits outside and waits. Trent colludes with Jack. He sets up transportation for him to Chinatown in NYC. Keeps Lisa Harper busy with soldiers who manage to distract her.
Jack pretends to be a Syrian Mafiosa hood, beats up two Chinese gangsters, steals their day’s take from shakedown of restaurant owners in Chinatown and tells them the Syrians are taking over this turf. He starts a gang war and in the process Petrosian is killed. The FBI threat is neutralized. Jack no longer has to worry about Jodie!
Lee Child will hold your attention all the way to the end when the killer is accidentally killed by Jack. You will never guess who the killer is until that last chapter! (5)
The disappearance of three college students and the search by Edwin Kreiss for his daughter, Lynn, provides the story for a novel about intrigue, national security and rivalries within government agencies. The President of the US might be involved in a cover-up along with top executives who need to discount Edwin, a former FBI agent., who had embarassed executives in several government agencies. (3) Feb. 20, 2003
Devon Macalister saves Linnet Blanche Tyler, a twenty year old English girl who looks like she could be 14. Devon rescues her from a renegade tribe of Indians where she was greased with tar and dirt; he brings her “home” to the village of Sweetbriar where to his surprise, when she is cleaned up, she is beautiful. Devon is embarrassed. Linnet impresses everyone she meets; the villagers fall in love with her. Devon is caught in an approach/avoidance relationship with Linnet; their lives are made more complicated with the appearance of Devon’s handsome brother and both men compete for Linnet’s affection. This is a fun love story. (4)
This is a story of a 20th century woman (the heroine) who was used and taken advantaged of by her live-in surgeon boyfriend. She falls in love with a 16th century English aristocrat who mysteriously appears in her life; she learns that he had been executed by Queen Elizabeth. Time travel is incidental as it focuses on her development, her self confidence and her relationship with others. She goes back in time to the 16th century to save her innocent lover and changes history. The author tells how this book emerged and what she wanted to portray. Her comments are as fascinating as the book itself. (5) Feb. 18, 2003.
Terrorism in Catholic Ulster, Belfast and Derry and killing of innocents in England provide the background of this book. The Will Lee character appears later on in two other Stuart Woods book. In this book, Will is in Law School and was told by the Dean to take a year off. The adventure begins when he is hired on to assist in building a racing yacht. (4)
February 16, 2003
For someone who does not know much about computers and programming language this book can be confusing. However, the author does an excellent job in presenting the problems, the human response to danger and the challenge of nanotechnology in a way that absorbs the reader. The suspense keeps one reading nonstop until the end! (4)
February 11, 2003.
A Stone Barrington Novel.
Ex-CIA agents, British and Israeli Intelligence - all competing with one another and Ex-police officer/Lawyer, Stone Barrington, is in the midst of this spy thriller. All the women in a typical Stuart Woods novel are tall, slim and beautiful: Erica and Monica Burroughs, Aarington Van Calder, Sarah Buckminster and Carpenter, the Secret Agent. Stone Barrington is hired to get Erica to return to America and discovers a network of Ex British secret agents who kill one another while trying to stop sales of high tech armaments to a mid-eastern group of terrorists. (5)
February 12, 2003.
The death of a prep school Junior classmate was no accident and the secret is disclosed after many years go by. This is a novel that traces the fortunes of three classmates and their families. Follow the lives and loves of Hugh and Edward Pilaster and Micky Miranda. They provide a fascinating tale of upper class life in British society mid-19th century. (4) February 10, 2003
A lawyer who is also a master magician is kidnapped along with the son of the President of the United States by Jamal, a Palestinian who wants the U.S. to accede to his demands by recognizing Palestine as a nation state. Plot is rather complicated. The Israeli Secret Agency, the Mossad, is given orders to kill Jamal. The last several chapters is the most exciting. (2). Feb. 9, 2003.
This is a sequel to Birds of Prey. The war between the English and Dutch is over. Although the setting is in the 18th century the story about the four sons of Harald Courteney and how they relate to one another reads much like the Old Testament story of Cain and Abel. Oldest son is William who hates his three siblings - the twins, Guy and Thomas, and the youngest, Dorian - and it is about the jealousies of Guy who is obsessed with hatred of Thomas.. William and Guy are hateful abusers. Dorian is kidnapped, sold into slavery and is worshipped as the prophetic fulfillment of a Muslim saint by his owner who adopts him as a son. An exciting book with one adventure after another! (5)
February 2003
One day, while watching the slaughter of the Caribe tribes by the Spanish Tagiri discovers that the woman she is watching is seeing her, too, as a vision sent by her Gods. This is a fiction of scientists who spend their days viewing the human past through a machine. They realize they might be able to change the past. Can earth be restored? Can it be right for a small group of people to take action that, if it succeeds, will wipe out the entire time line in which they live? (4)
January 23, 2003
German use of radar in WWII have been decimating English bombers and Danish resistance forces were needed to find out how the Nazis were doing it. Harald, the youngest son of the only Danish pastor on this tiny island and the twin sister of a classmate help the resistance cause after his older brother dies. (5) January 31, 2003
This is a standard Clive Cussler novel with heros and villains. The usual cast of characters are: Dirk Pitt, St. Julien Perlmutter, Admiral Sandecker (Director of NUMA) , Albert Giordino, Congresswoman Loren Smith, the Abyss Navigator, Rudi Gunn (who runs the day by day operations of NUMA), and, of course, Clive Cussler, the author himself when everything appears hopeless.
In the middle of its maiden voyage, the luxury cruise ship Emerald Dolphin suddenly catches fire and sinks. What caused it? Why didn’t the fire-control systems work? What was its connection to the revolutionary new engines powering the ship? NUMA Special Projects Director Dirk Pitt races to rescue the passengers and investigate the disaster.
The title of the book suggests a Viking connection. As the story unfolds Dirk Pitt discovers a huge cavern in the Palisades off the Hudson River Valley that had been used by Vikings as a burial chamber. Dr. Elmore Egan had discovered this cavern years ago and built the secret laboratory where he created the magnetohydrodynamic engine used by the Emerald Dolphin. We learn later that the real genius of Dr. Egan is not the design of the engine nor of the special oil used in running it. It is the “quantum teleportation” of the engine’s oil that is revolutionary. (It was mysterious how oil managed to appear regularly in a leather pouch that was sought by killers and thieves). Of course, this is an incredible scientific breakthrough, but it only happens in novels! We find the teleportation sending chamber in the Viking cavern, and SURPRISE, we also find Captain Nemo’s submarine, the Nautilus. He found the cavern and used it as his final burial chamber.
Did you know that Captain Nemo’s real name was Cameron Amherst! He created a rudimentary magnetohydrodynamic engine for the Nautilus 140 years ahead of his time. Egan used Amhert’s engine as a base for his own design. Where does Cussler come up with such fantasy? Of course there was a lot of gold in the Nautilus, so Egan did not have to depend on external sources in financing his research! This is just marvelous. (5)
The book confirms Dumas as a master story teller. We saw two versions of this on film and each is as captivating as the original. The book includes more adventures than either film. (5)
January 28, 2003
The adventure takes place in ancient Egypt. Two co-conspirators (Naja and Trok) assassinate their respective Pharaohs in the Upper and Lower Kingdoms.. Nefer Seti, Mintaka, Merykara and Heseret are the children and legitimate heirs to the thrones of the two Kingdom. What happens to them as they conspire to retake a consolidated throne in Egypt takes you through a tour of Thebes, Valley of the Kings, Aswan, Memphis, Bubasti, Avaris, Ismailia Fort, Gallala, the Temple of Isis and Hathor, the Khatmia Pass and the Road to Bablyon. (5)
January 27, 2003
This book is not exactly a murder mystery in that you know who the killer is right up front. It is more about how an insane killer is able to capitalize on “diplomatic immunity” as a British diplomat in the United States. I did not appreciate the ending. Thought it was farfetched. (1).
January 18, 2003
A recently widowed Veterinarian and an FBI Agent on furlough help a runaway young girl from men who want to kill her. The girl is the product of an illegal, secret genetic engineering experiment subsidized by powerful corporations and government agencies. The girl had escaped from the secret compound where she and her brother was kept. She has wings and she can fly. This book will keep you up all night! (5)
January 24, 2003
This book is about pirates in the latter part of the 17th century. The Dutch and the English are at war. Piracy was sanctioned by both nations. The story is about Harald, the son of Sir Francis Courteney, and how he grew to become a powerful leader among men. He is tutored by a powerful African and manages to survive, win great battles, earn the respect of his men and how he won the love of Judith Nazet, a female General in Ethiopia. This is the first volume in a two part series. Volme Two is “Monsoon.” The story of Harald’s children. (5)
January 20, 2003
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