Stephen Hunter: The 47th Samurai (Kindle Edition)

The 47th Samurai: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel


In The 47th Samurai, Bob Lee Swagger, the gritty hero of Stephen Hunter's bestselling novels Point of Impact and Time to Hunt, returns in Hunter's most intense and exotic thriller to date. Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers, two brave fighters on opposite sides, met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island.



Only Earl Swagger survived. More than sixty years later, Yano comes to America to honor the legacy of his heroic father by recovering the sword he used in the battle. His search has led him to Crazy Horse, Idaho, where Bob Lee, ex-marine and Vietnam veteran, has settled into a restless retirement and immediately pledges himself to Yano's quest. Bob Lee finds the sword and delivers it to Yano in Tokyo. On inspection, they discover that it is not a standard WWII blade, but a legendary shin-shinto katana, an artifact of the nation. It is priceless but worth killing for.



Suddenly Bob is at the center of a series of terrible crimes he barely understands but vows to avenge. And to do so, he throws himself into the world of the samurai, Tokyo's dark, criminal yakuza underworld, and the unwritten rules of Japanese culture. Swagger's allies, hard-as-nails, American-born Susan Okada and the brave, cocaine-dealing tabloid journalist Nick Yamamoto, help him move through this strange, glittering, and ominous world from the shady bosses of the seamy Kabukicho district to officials in the highest echelons of the Japanese government, but in the end, he is on his own and will succeed only if he can learn that to survive samurai, you must become samurai.



As the plot races and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that a ruthless conspiracy is in place, and the only thing that can be taken for granted is that money, power, and sex can drive men of all nationalities to gruesome extremes. If Swagger hopes to stop them, he must be willing not only to die but also to kill.


Customer Review: The Samurai Sword

Imagine the bloody battle at Iwo Jima which a tough US Marine fought with a Japanese officer. The American survived and was highly decorated. He also took the Samurai sword of the Japanese officer. Fast forward 50 years. The son of the Japanese officer turned up in the States to look up the son of the US Marine named Bob Lee Swagger who was also an ex-US Marine, looking for the sword. Out of a sense of honor, Bob Lee Swagger found the sword and brought it to Japan. The sword turned out to be a legendary sword in Japanese history. With such a promising start, Stephen Hunter has delivered an exciting novel about Japanese culture, Samurai, Japanese sword, the Yakuza and of course, the CIA in Japan. The plot is fast moving. Hunter interspersed the novel with juicy tidbits about Japanese culture. It is like watching a movie and suspending belief. Like in many Hong Kong Kung Fu movies, Bob Lee Swagger learnt Japanese sword fighting in one week and was able to kill the Yakuza topmost assassin who was also their master swordsman.



The story of the 47 Ronin is one of the most celebrated in the history of the samurai. Ronin is a samurai without a master. This story is about Asano Takumi no kami Naganori (1667-1701). Lord Asano was chosen by the shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, to be one of a number of daimyo tasked with entertaining envoys from the Imperial family. Unfortunately Asano did not get along with the ranking master of protocol, Kira Kozukenosuke Yoshinaka (1641-1702). This interpersonal conflict came to a head in April, 1701 when Asano threw his sword at Kira. Kira was not wounded seriously. However, this was a serious matter and the Shogan ordered Asano to commit hara-kiri and all his lands in Harima confiscated. They were all buried in Sengakuji.



Asano's samurai were disbanded and became ronin. However they plotted together and on the snowy night of 14 December 1702, 47 of them marched to Kira's mansion. Kira was beheaded by the same sword that Asano used to kill himself. It is this sword that is the centre of Hunter's novel. They then carried Kira's head to Sengakuji, where Asano was buried. Then they turned themselves in. The ronins were ordered to commit suicide. The Legend of the 47 Samurai is very popular in Japan and many plays, novels, mangas and movies were based on it. The still a popular spot in Tokyo and a place who many feel were the finest examples of samurai loyalty to emerge from the Edo Period.



A good thriller with fast moving action packed scenes of Japanese sword fighting (first time I read about Japanese sword fighting action in English). I give it a four stars.

Technorati Tags:
Stephen Hunter, 47th Samurai, Ronin, Japanese Swordfighting, Samurai Sword

David Baldacci: The Camel Club (Kindle Version)

The Camel Club
The Camel Club. It's where the most influential businessmen and politicians wine, dine, and often change the course of history--and where ruthless mercenaries spy unseen, recording every last bit of information to sell to the highest bidder. But when Harry Stone--homeless man and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire--witnesses a gruesome murder, secrets begin to unravel. Stone steals a piece of evidence from the scene that links the Club's founders to the murder of a high-profile government official, and they'll do anything to get it back. Secret Service Agent W. Frank Churchill begins investigating Stone as a murder suspect, but soon, with the help of defense attorney Kate Monroe, he unearths a shocking truth: One man is using the Camel Club for his own terrible devices--and to achieve his horrific goals, he must kill Stone...and anyone else who gets in his way.

Customer Review: Good Cloak and Dagger Fun

"Camel Club" is a smartly written cloak and dagger tale that weaves together suspense, action, and contemporary issues in a fabulous read. Baldacci not only has a knack for storytelling, but he also speaks eloquently through his characters about terrorism, fear, prejudice, and aggression. Well informed and artfully written, "Camel Club" is the perfect suspense novel for cold November weekends.



The world is a more dangerous place after 9/11, and no one knows it better than Carter Gray, the United States "intelligence czar" and the President's right hand man. Having lost his family on that horrible day, Gray has dedicated his life to crushing terrorism, and he won't allow anything to stop him: not even personal liberty or privacy. This is a game with deadly consequences and Gray is playing for keeps.



However, shadowy forces work behind the scenes, infiltrating the intelligence community at the highest levels. With a handful of keystrokes, terrorists' identities are erased as a deadly plot moves forward against the President. The nation's only hope lies in the hands of world-weary secret service agent Alex Ford and a handful of outcasts who call themselves the "Camel Club".



Evoking thoughts of Tom Clancy, this is a great thriller touching deep, painful contemporary matters. It's pacing is timely, characterization deep, and its narrative tense. Offering a thought-provoking, perhaps frightening view of our future struggles with terrorism, "Camel Club" is a definite thriller-junkie pleaser.



Customer Review: Baldacci Outdoes himself!

This is a don't miss book. Not only has Baldacci created a plot with such twists and turns as to make the reader absolutely giddy, he has created characters that are at once believable and quite amusing. This page-turner grabs the reader from the first paragraph and keeps the reader turning pages until the last word.

Iraq War Crimes: Imperial Life in the Emerald City

Imperial Life in the Emerald City


An unprecedented account of life in Baghdad's Green Zone, a walled-off enclave of towering plants, posh villas, and sparkling swimming pools that was the headquarters for the American occupation of Iraq.

The Washington Post-s former Baghdad bureau chief Rajiv Chandrasekaran takes us with him into the Zone: into a bubble, cut off from wartime realities, where the task of reconstructing a devastated nation competed with the distractions of a Little America-a half-dozen bars stocked with cold beer, a disco where women showed up in hot pants, a movie theater that screened shoot--em-up films, an all-you-could-eat buffet piled high with pork, a shopping mall that sold pornographic movies, a parking lot filled with shiny new SUVs, and a snappy dry-cleaning service-much of it run by Halliburton. Most Iraqis were barred from entering the Emerald City for fear they would blow it up.




Drawing on hundreds of interviews and internal documents, Chandrasekaran tells the story of the people and ideas that inhabited the Green Zone during the occupation, from the imperial viceroy L. Paul Bremer III to the fleet of twentysomethings hired to implement the idea that Americans could build a Jeffersonian democracy in an embattled Middle Eastern country.




In the vacuum of postwar planning, Bremer ignores what Iraqis tell him they want or need and instead pursues irrelevant neoconservative solutions-a flat tax, a sell-off of Iraqi government assets, and an end to food rationing. His underlings spend their days drawing up pie-in-the-sky policies, among them a new traffic code and a law protecting microchip designs, instead of rebuilding looted buildings and restoring electricity production. His almost comic initiatives anger the locals and help fuel the insurgency.



Chandrasekaran details Bernard Kerik's ludicrous attempt to train the Iraqi police and brings to light lesser known but typical travesties: the case of the twenty-four-year-old who had never worked in finance put in charge of reestablishing Baghdad's stock exchange; a contractor with no previous experience paid millions to guard a closed airport; a State Department employee forced to bribe Americans to enlist their help in preventing Iraqi weapons scientists from defecting to Iran; Americans willing to serve in Iraq screened by White House officials for their views on Roe v. Wade; people with prior expertise in the Middle East excluded in favor of lesser-qualified Republican Party loyalists. Finally, he describes Bremer's ignominious departure in 2004, fleeing secretly in a helicopter two days ahead of schedule.




This is a startling portrait of an Oz-like place where a vital aspect of our government's folly in Iraq played out. It is a book certain to be talked about for years to come.

Technorati Tags:
Books, Kindle, Iraq, Emerald City

Crucial Confrontations (Kindle Edition)

Crucial Confrontations

The authors of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Conversations show you how to achieve personal, team, and organizational success by healing broken promises, resolving violated expectations, and influencing bad behavior

Discover skills to resolve touchy, controversial, and complex issues at work and at home--now available in this follow-up to the internationally popular Crucial Conversations.

Behind the problems that routinely plague organizations and families, youll find individuals who are either unwilling or unable to deal with failed promises. Others have broken rules, missed deadlines, failed to live up to commitments, or just plain behaved badly--and nobody steps up to the issue. Or they do, but do a lousy job and create a whole new set of problems. Accountability suffers and new problems spring up. New research demonstrates that these disappointments aren't just irritating, they're costly--sapping organizational performance by...'



Customer Review: Daily problems solutions

Confrontations with other people's ideas, opinions and actions are part of a daily routine. Books like "Crucial Confrontations" show us how it looks like when stakes are high and results could strongly influence our lives. Having such book "on our side" help us to confrontate daily challenges successfully. For both side's sake.



Customer Review: Great lessons for work and life

Having read both this book and "Crucial Conversations" more than once, let me say that they are both worth reading more than once! In its latest reading, I used this book for a book study at work, guiding my team (I'm their boss) through the book and the lessons in the book. The team had been largely dysfunctional, had serious problems with communication, apparently had no idea of how to deal with confrontations, and might very well have imploded completely. Over the course of a few months, we read this book chapter by chapter (with some breaks), discussed each of the lessons, and started to put them into play.



Today, the team communicates far better, has become highly functional, has improved their interpersonal skills, and are a joy to work with.



Several of the team said that they were already starting to put some of the things they'd learned into practice in their personal lives, and I can see them applying them at work daily.



The lessons that you can glean from this book are HUGE. If you find yourself struggling to have real conversations about issues small and large, if you have a relationship that is in some jeopardy, or if you just want to be more effective in a leadership or teaming role, read these books.



For instance, the idea of mastering your stories... what is it that you assume about the motivations of the other person, and how do those assumptions generate feelings which drive YOUR behaviors? Learning about your "stories", how to discuss them with others, and how that affects you could be the start of something wonderful for you.



Read these books. Now.

Technorati Tags:
Kindle, Amazon, confrontations, crucial confrontations, teamwork, problem solving

James Patterson: 1st to Die (Women's Murder Club)

1st to Die (Women's Murder Club)


Four women--four friends--share a determination to stop a killer who has been stalking newlyweds in San Francisco. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.

But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving each other a hand. The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered--before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong.



Full of the breathtaking drama and unforgettable emotions for which James Patterson is famous, 1st to Die is the start of a blazingly fast-paced and sensationally entertaining new series of crime thrillers.




Customer Review: Surprised

I have never read a James Patterson novel before this one. I was pleasently surprised at how good the book turned out to be. The book was face paced and kept you guessing until the end. I already have gone out and bought book two and three. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

Kindle-version now available - as usual just click the cover to order it!

Have a great Sunday!

Technorati Tags:
Kindle, James Patterson, Womans Murder Club, Books

Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice (for Kindle)

Pride and Prejudice

Welll.... needless to say anything about this one. A MUST have in any collection and one of the books which should not be missing on any Kindle...

BTW - it is almost for free!

Cormac McCarthy: The Road (Oprah's Book Club)

The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food -- and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

Customer Review: Masterpiece

The Road is simply one of the best stories I've ever read. And, I have hundreds in my collection. McCarthy deserves the recent accolades and honors. This is a fine piece of fiction, in every way - worthy of the 2006 Pulitzer.

In general, The Road is a story of a father's love that grabs you by the heart - via a pair of filthy, desperate, sweet hands - and squeezes until the very end and then clenches one last time for good measure. It's an emotive journey of desperation across a cruel and unforgiving landscape that is vaguely familiar, yet as barren as the surface of the moon.

It's a worn out advertising cliche to say it, but: If you only read one book this year, let it be The Road.

Technorati Tags:
Kindle, The Road, Cormac McCarthy, Ophra Book Club

Elizabeth Same: Soldier's Heart

Soldier's Heart
"Elizabeth D. Samet and her students learned to romanticize the army "from the stories of their fathers and from the movies." For Samet, it was the old World War II movies she used to watch on TV, while her students grew up on Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan. Unlike their teacher, however, these students, cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, have decided to turn make-believe into real life.
-
West Point is a world away from Yale, where Samet attended graduate school and where nothing sufficiently prepared her for teaching literature to young men and women who were training to fight a war. Intimate and poignant, Soldier's Heart chronicles the various tensions inherent in that life as well as the ways in which war has transformed Samet's relationship to literature. Fighting in Iraq, Samet's former students share what books and movies mean to them-the poetry of Wallace Stevens, the fiction of Virginia Woolf and J. M. Coetzee, the epics of Homer, or the films of James Cagney. Their letters in turn prompt Samet to wonder exactly what she owes to cadets in the classroom.
-
Samet arrived at West Point before September 11, 2001, and has seen the academy change dramatically. In Soldier's Heart, she reads this transformation through her own experiences and those of her students. Forcefully examining what it means to be a civilian teaching literature at a military academy, Samet also considers the role of women in the army, the dangerous tides of religious and political zeal roiling the country, the uses of the call to patriotism, and the cult of sacrifice she believes is currently paralyzing national debate. Ultimately, Samet offers an honest and original reflection on the relationship between art and life."



Customer Review: Short book with a big impact

A few weeks ago this author was on my local NPR station and I was intrigued by the idea of her book and then I got out of my car and walked into a book store and there it was on the new arrivals pile. I'm not sure if I would have noticed it if not for the story on the radio but I'm glad I did. As a former Army officer who has dealt with some of the issues in this book I was pulled in by her stories of teaching at West Point, an institution I did not attend but have visited and those visits made her descriptions that much more palpable. This book will be a jumping off point to explore more of the references the author describes. I rarely find books that I can't put down but this was one of them.



Customer Review: An Exceptional Book

Elizabeth Samet is a civilian professor of English at West Point. The increase in the number of civilians teaching there was one of the innovations of Fletcher Lamkin, during his term as the WP dean of the academic board. When I taught there, as a reserve officer, in 1967-9 there was only one civilian instructor in English, a woman who taught the plastic arts. Dr. Samet is a Yale Ph.D. and her (to some, curious) career choice of a position at West Point is one of the many stories which constitute this book.



She is able to accomplish several things here. She provides a vivid sense of the WP ethos, along with the `newer' ethos which includes women cadets, civilian professors, majors, minors, and a rich array of electives. She provides sketches and portraits of a number of her students and a number of her military colleagues. She reports on their communications with her as they move on in their careers, to and from war zones and, for some, to civilian life. The book is a mini-memoir and mini-autobiography. Most of all it is a long reflection on the relationship between literature and life, literature and the military, literature and war.



What is most impressive about the book is the fact that it is so accessible. Its materials are complex but they are presented in a manner that is instructive, moving and compelling. This is a book for everyone interested in literature, for everyone interested in soldiers and for everyone interested in West Point. I recommend it highly.

Technorati Tags:
Kindle, Elizabeth Same, Soldier's Heart

The Navigator (NUMA Files)

The Navigator (NUMA Files)
Years ago, an ancient Phoenician statue known as the Navigator was stolen from the Baghdad Museum, and there are men who would do anything to get their hands on it. Their first victim is a crooked antiquities dealer, murdered in cold blood. Their second very nearly is a UN investigator who, were it not for the timely assistance of Austin and Zavala, would now be at the bottom of a watery grave.

What's so special about this statue? Austin wonders. The search for answers will take the NUMA team on an astonishing odyssey through time and space, one that encompasses no less than the lost treasures of King Solomon, a mysterious packet of documents personally encoded by Thomas Jefferson, and a top secret scientific project that could change the world forever.

And that's before the surprises really begin . . .

Rich with all the hair-raising action and endless invention that have become Cussler's hallmarks, The Navigator is Clive's best yet.

Customer Review: Pure Dross Instead of Escapist Fun

Years ago, I came to the conclusion that Clive Cussler had a totally tin ear, wrote the worst love scenes in the world, and wasn't so great at "page turning suspense" either but...I read The Navigator after I realized he had obtained a ghost writer.



The ghost can't write even worse than Cussler can't write. This particular plot, revolving around Phoenecians in Harrisburg, PA (yes, you read that right) failed to suspend disbelief. Forget the characters. They were so muscular, gorgeous, and wooden that they made the plot seem believable in comparison. See, it goes like this: the Queen of Sheba's descendant beds down with the NUMA operative in between her various kidnappings (the lady gets hit over the head more often than Wiley Coyote) by another of King Solomon's spawn and---



There was one odd thing about this amazingly bad book: Cussler, having managed to have Phoenecians hand-carry golden plates on which are supposedly written the supposed ten commandments all the way into the Endless Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, totally misses a trick. At this point, our ancient mariners aren't far from Hill Cumora. Since Cussler was already accounting for the first landing in the New World, solving the puzzles of Phoenecian navigation, addressing the importance of the Queen of Sheba, locating King Solomon's Mines, and solving the mystery of the disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant, why didn't his Phoenicians cross into upstate New York and bury the plates near the home of Joseph Smith?

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
I tell of a time, a place, and a way of life long gone. For many years I have had the urge to describe that treasure trove, lest it vanish forever. So, partly in response to the basic human instinct to share feelings and experiences, and partly for the sheer joy and excitement of it all, I report on my early life. It was quite a romp.

So begins Mildred Kalish's story of growing up on her grandparents' Iowa farm during the depths of the Great Depression. With her father banished from the household for mysterious transgressions, five-year-old Mildred and her family could easily have been overwhelmed by the challenge of simply trying to survive. This, however, is not a tale of suffering.

Kalish counts herself among the lucky of that era. She had caring grandparents who possessed--and valiantly tried to impose--all the pioneer virtues of their forebears, teachers who inspired and befriended her, and a barnyard full of animals ready to be tamed and loved. She and her siblings and their cousins from the farm across the way played as hard as they worked, running barefoot through the fields, as free and wild as they dared.

Filled with recipes and how-tos for everything from catching and skinning a rabbit to preparing homemade skin and hair beautifiers, apple cream pie, and the world-s best head cheese (start by scrubbing the head of the pig until it is pink and clean), Little Heathens portrays a world of hardship and hard work tempered by simple rewards. There was the unsurpassed flavor of tender new dandelion greens harvested as soon as the snow melted; the taste of crystal clear marble-sized balls of honey robbed from a bumblebee nest; the sweet smell from the body of a lamb sleeping on sun-warmed grass; and the magical quality of oat shocking under the light of a full harvest moon.

Little Heathens offers a loving but realistic portrait of a "hearty-handshake Methodist" family that gave its members a remarkable legacy of kinship, kindness, and remembered pleasures. Recounted in a luminous narrative filled with tenderness and humor, Kalish's memoir of her childhood shows how the right stuff can make even the bleakest of times seem like "quite a romp."


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Review: Sweet Read!

I just saw this Author at our local library. She was a doll and I wish I could sit down with her and chat all afternoon! The book was from the heart genuine and easy to read. I wish I could click my heals and travel back to life when it was simple and honest and people were REAL... What a neat time to grow up in...READ IT and dream!

Customer Review: Christmas Purchase

This purchase was made for the purpose of a Christmas gift. I had no difficulty locating the item and I appreciate the prompt delivery of a product in excellent shape. Thank you.

Warriors: Power of Three, Book 1: The Sight

Warriors: Power of Three #1: The Sight (Warriors: Power of Three, Book 1)
"There will be three, kin of your kin . . .

The wild cats have flourished in their new home on the banks of the lake for several seasons, and the Clans are growing strong and healthy with new kits. The time has come for three kits of ThunderClan to become apprentices.

Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Lionpaw spring from a strong legacy: children of Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, two of the noblest ThunderClan warriors, and grandchildren of the great leader Firestar himself. All three young cats possess unusual power and talent and seem certain to provide strength to the Clan for the next generation.

But there are dark secrets around the three, and a mysterious prophecy hints at trouble to come. An undercurrent of rage is rising against those who are not Clanborn, and the warrior code is in danger of being washed away by a river of blood. All the young cats' strength will be needed if the Clans are to survive.

. . . who hold the power of the stars in their paws."

Customer Review: Erin Hunter is losing her touch...

The first series of warriors were the best books i have ever read. Firestar made a very likable main character, with a wide variety of great characters throughout, either challenging him. Tigerstar was a chillingly evil villain, that really made the danger seem real. The second series saw almost all the remaining characters of the first series die, leaving us with some new and not very well developed characters. Brambleclaw was a cool main charcter, and the third person narrative around Bramblepaw in Twighlight and Dawn was almost like seeing what Tigerstar felt when he was trying to take over Thunderclan. But it still wasn't as good as the first series. Now we have another series of Warriors that has went another generation away from Firestar. Actually i was surprised by how much the style of this series was like that of the first one. i think that all of the Warriors books are worth a read, and if Erin Hunter continues to write this way, she may save her novels from coming to a very boring end.

Heartsick

Heartsick

Damaged Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent ten years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful serial killer, but in the end she was the one who caught him. Two years ago, Gretchen kidnapped Archie and tortured him for ten days, but instead of killing him, she mysteriously decided to let him go. She turned herself in, and now Gretchen has been locked away for the rest of her life, while Archie is in a prison of another kind---addicted to pain pills, unable to return to his old life, powerless to get those ten horrific days off his mind. Archie's a different person, his estranged wife says, and he knows she's right. He continues to visit Gretchen in prison once a week, saying that only he can get her to confess as to the whereabouts of more of her victims, but even he knows the truth---he can't stay away. When another killer begins snatching teenage girls off the streets of Portland, Archie has to pull himself together enough to lead the new task force investigating the murders. A hungry young newspaper reporter, Susan Ward, begins profiling Archie and the investigation, which sparks a deadly game between Archie, Susan, the new killer, and even Gretchen. They need to catch a killer, and maybe somehow then Archie can free himself from Gretchen, once and for all. Either way, Heartsick makes for one of the most extraordinary suspense debuts in recent memory.

Customer Review: A Book You Will Never Forget; I'd Give it 4-1/2 Stars if I Could.


I feel a lot of the reviews so far are rather unfair. I think this is a better book than some have reported. I would give it 4 and 1/2 stars if I could. First, I don't think comparing this to "Silence of the Lambs" is particularly accurate or helpful. I also think, maybe, it might have been the excruciatingly detailed and sometimes horrific torture scences that has "set some people off." I read so many books that at the end of the year I find there are only a scant few that stand out in my mind and I can vividly recall. This will be one that I remember forever! I did not think the characters were one dimensional as some have said. Archie, for example, was the most compelling of complex characters. I was never bored for a minute. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. As for the ending, as endings go (so many are disappointing), I thought this was as good or better than most. I wonder how those who complained could have ended it better. If you are not squeamish, I would definitely recommend this story.

Customer Review: Fast and entertaining


People have been saying that they're disappointed with this book. Yes it is reminiscent of one of literature's best serial killer Hannibal Lector. And yes, the book is fast-paced and direct to the point. But really, is there anything wrong with that? I had a great time reading Heartsick, it delivered everything I was looking for. I can't wait to read the next installment and will be recommending this one to friends.

After having almost died at the hands of Gretchen, The Beauty Killer, Archie is still distraught by the events that happened to him. Not only are is life and health a complete mess, but his mind is as well. He cannot get the image of Gretchen out of his head. As a matter of fact, he still goes to see her every Sunday. Why? It is never really made clear.

But there is a new killer on the loose. Someone is abducting high school girls. All of them are found murdered. The mayor asks Archie to come back to the force to lead the case. That's where he meets Susan, a reporter who's asked to follow Archie and his squad as they try to catch the killer. Susan is rebellious but her role quickly becomes predominant in the case.



Although Gretchen is mostly seen through flashbacks, her presence is very real and present throughout the book. To the fact that it almost becomes terrifying to read what she did to Archie when she was holding him captive. We almost get to understand his addiction with Gretchen after a while. She's such a mystery, such a horrible yet enticing presence...

Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons

From the acclaimed author of Digital Fortress comes an explosive international thriller that careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.


Customer Review: Thrilling!


If you enjoy action and thrillers, you'll love this book! From the first to the last chapter, I couldn't help but to eat it all up. The main character, John Langdon, reminds me of a cross between Carl Jung and Indiana Jones. While I didn't verify his facts nor cared to, I found this book to be similar to a Die Hard movie. Full of action with incredible stunts. If you read this book for the entertainment aspect and not for facts, you'll have a great read from beginning to end!


Customer Review: great book


If you liked the DaVinci code you'll love this one. It's a must read for mystery lovers.