(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.
The Arab terrorists and a United States Senator had a lot in common. Both wanted specific information about themselves deleted from the Department of Defense files, but for different reasons. Our hero, Jack Reacher, found himself in the New York subway late at night when a woman who exhibited all the signs of a Suicide Bomber (12 characteristics of a suicide bomber), so he approaches the woman to see if he can calm her down. She pulls out a gun and kills herself. This gets the book started. What follows is his friendship with a couple of NY police detectives whom he met during the investigation, the FBI who does not believe Reachers story, the CIA who has something to hide, and Senator Sansome, his wife and body guard whose names were uncovered when Reacher began asking questions related to the decease who happens to be a low level clerk in the Department for Human Resources for the Department for Defense.
The Senator was a former Delta Force operative in Afghanistan. Reachers research eventually finds him meeting a beautiful young woman and her mother who have a fantastic story to tell. They, too, want information the deceased had. They turn out to be not what they claim to be; they are leaders in an assassination plot to secure the information. Somehow, they managed to smuggle 19 of their killing team into New York. Reacher finds himself and his three NYPD friends wanted by the FBI and CIA for this woman’s death, for knocking off 4 FBI men who were questioning him in an undisclosed site (Reacher said they never identified themselves as FBI men), eventually killing several would be assassins, and covering up a terrorist plot for which there was never any evidence. Eventually, when all the facts were put together, Reacher proposes to team up with the Senator and his body guard in order to get the secret information that the clerk was carrying around with her. By the end of the story Reacher figured out what that secret info was and why the Arab terrorists wanted it. An exciting story, especially the ending! (5)
I just finished read Glimpses of Paradise by James Scott Bell. I thought it was excellent. Well written. The author “sucks” you into the lives of his main characters, and before I knew it, I was hooked and had to read through to the end to see what happens to Zee, and Doyle and Molly and a host of other characters. .
There were sermons preached by Zee’s father who is a “hell, fire and brimstone” Baptist preacher. There were other sermons and admonishments by a Rev. R.A. Torrey. Doyle is brought to faith by Torrey. I am familiar with Torrey’s writings. He’s a conservative Christian theologian. I read his materials when I was at seminary. However, the use of real people in a work of fiction surprised me. At what point did the lives of our fictional characters intersect with real Hollywood characters? When did fiction begin and end in this novel? When does it cross the line between reality and fantasy? There were some unseedy characters who commit murder in the story. Is the District Attorney real or fake? Are the Movie Producers real or “made up” in the story? This can be confusing.
Life changing transformation occurs in our hero’s life - hallelujah. I can live with that message. That’s not unfamiliar territory. But, what is the author getting at? He’s not sold me on Torrey’s preaching and empathy in resolving Doyle’s trauma from a grenade explosion that killed his buddy’s life in WWI. I suspect he realizes this, so he appends an Epilog and an Author’s Note at the end to highlight the importance of Torrey’s contribution in the Christian world and closes with a “happy ending” in the Lawrence’s family. Molly and Doyle lives happily ever after.
The back cover says “James Scott Bell is (a) bestselling author …and is a winner of the Christy Award for excellence in Christian fiction and is currently fiction columnist for Writer’s Digest magazine…” I usually scan books on the library’s table with the Staff’s Recommendation. If I had read this line up front I probably would not have picked up this book. But now I am impressed. I liked James Scott Bell! (4)
Ty Buchanon is living on the peaceful grounds of St. Monica’s far away from the glamorous life he led as a rising trial lawyer for a big L.A. law firm. He found his previous ambitions unrewarding. Now he prefers offering legal services to the poor and under represented from his “office’ at a local coffee bar. His first client is a mysterious woman who arrives with her six-year old daughter…he’s going to fight for the woman’s rights. But then she ends up dead…and the mystery continues. This was interesting book. Well written. The author kept me on the edge of my lounge chair. (4)
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