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A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 039915776X | TChris | [
4,
4
] | Sigrid Schröder is a stenographer in the Patent Office in 1943 Berlin. After eight years of living with her in-laws during her uninspired marriage to Kaspar, Sigrid begins an affair with a mysterious Jewish man who calls himself Egon. When Kaspar is sent to the Russian front to fight, Sigrid begins an affair wit... | 5 | Moral choices | 1,344,470,400 | 08 9, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 039915826X | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Force of Nature is much better than thelastJoe Pickett novel, which was so full of plot holes that it made for an awfully bumpy ride. Force of Nature focuses on Nate Romanowski, who is finally facing a showdown with rogue elements of "The Five," a group of Special Forces operatives to which Romanowski once belonged. Th... | 4 | Romanowski's story | 1,332,201,600 | 03 20, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0399158642 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Some novels about serial killers challenge the reader to discover the pattern that links the murderers. The Dark Winter is not one of those. The pattern will become clear to the reader about a third of the way through the novel. The police, who are a touch slow to see the obvious, figure it out by the novel's midway po... | 4 | A baggage-laden cop chases a serial killer | 1,351,123,200 | 10 25, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0399158650 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Like thefirst novelfeaturing Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy, Original Skin tells a story that is more interesting than suspenseful. Its focus is on the political ramifications of crime and on the relationships that continue to develop among the series' characters. This isn't a novel of shootouts and chase scenes, a... | 4 | The second Aector McAvoy novel | 1,370,736,000 | 06 9, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0399160965 | TChris | [
9,
9
] | Some writers have a knack for making readers feel good, not because they're describing a good world, but because they describe a rotten world in a good-natured way. Nicholson Baker reminds us that the world isn't all bad (even if the news is), that it's filled with well-intentioned (if sometimes misguided) people, and... | 4 | A glimpse into a cluttered mind | 1,379,376,000 | 09 17, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0399161562 | TChris | [
32,
33
] | If you readGod, No!, you know what you're in for with Penn Jillette's new book. Penn rambles. Digression should be Penn's middle name. He can't talk about Christmas songs without launching into an analysis of the lyrics to the "Theme from Shaft." The books are nonetheless noticeably different. Where God, No! has a... | 4 | Funnier than God, No! | 1,352,851,200 | 11 14, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0399163743 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | John Knox and Grace Chu meet their handler, a fellow named Dulwich, inside the secure Red Room at Rutherford Risk to receive their latest assignment. Knox needs money to pay for medication that helps his brother's emotional disorder. The mission he reluctantly accepts involves the delivery of stolen art to Istanbul, fo... | 3 | The third Risk Agent novel (3.5 stars) | 1,404,000,000 | 06 29, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0399164987 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | The Flight of the Silvers is the sort of offbeat science fiction that Robert Jackson Bennett or Tom Holt might write. Both of those writers, like Daniel Price, have used the multiverse theory as a basis for letting their imaginations soar. The Flight of the Silvers is perhaps a bit more conventional, the story more lik... | 4 | Engrossing (4.5 stars) | 1,402,790,400 | 06 15, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0399165967 | TChris | [
7,
8
] | Deep Winter is a character-driven crime novel. The crime is secondary to the impact it has on the characters. The story has a Cormac McCarthy feel in its exploration of troubled and isolated lives. Few of the characters feel they have any ability to control their destinies. Events overtake them and they don't cope well... | 5 | A character-driven crime novel | 1,392,854,400 | 02 20, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0425033767 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | There are more ideas in The Stars My Destination -- profound ideas about human potential -- than you're likely to find collectively in the next dozen novels you read. The Stars My Destination begins as a tale of obsession and vengeance. The protagonist is an anti-hero, not the sort of person for whom a reader would nor... | 5 | Hope and glory | 1,351,382,400 | 10 28, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0425086569 | TChris | [
10,
10
] | The Man in the High Castle is a skillful blend of abstract and concrete, of political theory and the impact of fascism and colonialism on a formerly free people. The novel is many things at once: a story of personal growth; a meditation on the nature and purposes of art; a deconstruction of political doctrine; an exp... | 5 | Philip K. Dick's alternate history masterpiece | 1,327,363,200 | 01 24, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0425137457 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Expelled from law school for streaking, Archy McNally joined his father's Palm Beach law firm as an investigator. Archy refuses to take life seriously -- he blames most of society's troubles on an excess of seriousness -- and his whimsical attitude is showcased in the McNally novels. McNally's Secret is the first. Lawr... | 4 | The first McNally novel | 1,366,329,600 | 04 19, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0441004768 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | There are a number of similarities between Illegal Alien, published in 1997, and Robert Sawyer's more recentCalculating God. In both novels, aliens who are apparently amiable travel to Earth. In both, crazy humans make trouble for the aliens. And human and alien characters in both discuss evolution and debate the li... | 4 | A science fiction courtroom drama | 1,315,440,000 | 09 8, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0441008356 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Revelation Space is ambitious. My sense is that Alastair Reynolds tried to write an epic novel, but "epic" means something more than "long." At bottom, Revelation Space is an action-adventure story -- a good one, but not much more than that. Maybe that's all Reynolds intended, but given the novel's heft, I suspect he w... | 4 | A long novel that is short on revelations | 1,313,193,600 | 08 13, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0441012175 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Alex Benedict, an antiquities dealer, must solve a mystery passed on to him by his deceased uncle, an archeologist. The mystery turns into something like a treasure hunt, the treasure having been lost or hidden in an interstellar war that ended two centuries earlier. The novel follows Benedict's painstaking research,... | 4 | A Talent For Storytelling | 1,282,867,200 | 08 27, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0441020674 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | With only light foreshadowing of the horror to come, the first 40 percent of Those Across the River is devoted to atmosphere. Frank Nichols is a former history professor and recent transplant to depression-era Georgia, having moved into a house bequeathed to him by his aunt. Frank left Ann Arbor with Eudora Chambers, w... | 4 | An admirable first novel | 1,312,934,400 | 08 10, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0441148786 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | "Deprogramming" -- kidnapping someone who has supposedly been brainwashed by a religious cult and coercing their abandonment of the cult's belief system -- was in the public mind during the 1970s. Tim Powers (one of the most underrated writers of speculative fiction) grabbed hold of the concept in his 1985 classic Dinn... | 4 | Post-apocalypic deprogramming | 1,382,313,600 | 10 21, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0441288375 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Part One of Gilpin's Space originally appeared as a story in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It is told from the point of view of Geoffrey Cormac, general manager of a shipyard owned by Laure Endicott. A shipyard employee, Saul Gilpin, has invented a new drive that permits travel through the universe at un... | 4 | Not terribly original, but well done | 1,290,470,400 | 11 23, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0441686974 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | In his introduction, Richard McEnroe explains that the science fiction anthology series Destinies (edited by Jim Baen and published in paperback by Ace between 1978 and 1981) purchased a number of stories that it didn't use, supposedly because Destinies came to be identified with hard sf and the stories didn't fit into... | 3 | A 3 1/2 star collection of sf stories from the 1980's | 1,290,556,800 | 11 24, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0445203188 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Rogue Moon is built on a great idea: to explore a newly discovered construct on the moon -- a thing that keeps killing those who enter it -- scientists make a duplicate human who is kept on Earth while the original enters the construct. The original and duplicate stay in a sort of telepathic contact until the origina... | 4 | A great idea, less than perfectly executed | 1,286,409,600 | 10 7, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0446364037 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Anvil of Stars is a mildly disappointing sequel to the mildly disappointingThe Forge of God. With the help of friendly aliens, a group of survivors of the cataclysm described in the first novel begin a quest to hunt down the unfriendly aliens who caused that catastrophe. Most of the novel describes the factions and i... | 3 | A mildly disappointing sequel | 1,285,113,600 | 09 22, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0446403121 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | Barton Heslip has had a good day, repossessing three cars for his employer, DKA. Back at the office, he calls his friend and co-worker Larry Ballard, then steps outside to collect some paperwork from his car. Someone emerges from the shadows and hits him with a sap. Now Heslip is in a coma, having been pulled from a... | 5 | A classic | 1,290,211,200 | 11 20, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 044651912X | TChris | [
0,
0
] | After a friend introduced me toShellamany years ago, I began reading and enjoying Andrew Vachss' novels. But I've been a fan of the Batman for much longer -- since the 1960's, when I was a kid reading Detective and Batman comic books (sadly, I stopped reading them during the mid-1990's when my real life intruded). St... | 4 | An enjoyable homage that doesn't fully succeed | 1,293,580,800 | 12 29, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0446530999 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | I have a more favorable impression of The Book of Fate than some other reviewers at this site. I guess I was fortunate to have no expectation of the novel's nature: I ordered it after readingThe Tenth Justice, believing Meltzer has some potential as a storyteller (an opinion I still hold). I didn't see the novel's c... | 4 | Fun but flawed escapist fiction | 1,294,617,600 | 01 10, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0446539848 | TChris | [
19,
21
] | More than ten years after Robert Ludlum's death, the Ludlum Industrial Complex continues to churn out novels featuring his name on the cover, often in a larger font than that given to the actual author. In this case, the largest font is reserved for Jason Bourne's name, although this isn't a Jason Bourne novel. The J... | 4 | The ninth Covert One novel | 1,347,408,000 | 09 12, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0446561916 | TChris | [
39,
42
] | At one point in Satori, the word satori is defined as "to see things as they really are." It's easy to see the novel for what it really is: an old school thriller. It isn't sophisticated or terribly imaginative, but its throwback plot is fun. Satori begins in 1951 with the release of Nicholai Hel (the protagonist i... | 4 | An old school thriller | 1,299,196,800 | 03 4, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 044656446X | TChris | [
37,
39
] | "She took another long drag from her cigarillo, which emitted smoke like a just-fired pistol." If this is the kind of sentence you love to read (and I can't believe it is), The Bourne Imperative is the book for you. It is packed with similar silliness.Jason Bourne fishes a fellow out of the water who speaks multiple ... | 3 | Entirely too dependent upon coincidence (2.5 stars) | 1,338,854,400 | 06 5, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0446564486 | TChris | [
11,
12
] | (This is a review of the entire novel, not just the free 5 chapter preview.)The largest name on the cover of The Janson Option is Jason Bourne even though this is not a Bourne novel. The second largest name is Robert Ludlum even though Ludlum has been dead for more than a decade. The Ludlum factory continues to churn o... | 4 | Better than most factory-produced thrillers | 1,395,100,800 | 03 18, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0446572985 | TChris | [
106,
120
] | As The Innocent opens, Will Robie is carrying out a mission for his Agency masters. He assassinates a man (and his four ultra-evil bodyguards) who is planning a military coup in Mexico that will create a government hostile to American interests. This is followed by the rather improbable assassination of a Saudi princ... | 4 | Tough assassin meets tough 14-year-old girl | 1,334,620,800 | 04 17, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0446602930 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The world known as the Farther Kingdom was founded during the Slow Burn. Many members of the Islamic faith emigrated to the Farther Kingdom to avoid a drastic fate, including some of Katmer Al Shei's ancestors. Al Shei is the Chief Engineer of a mail packet ship called the Pasadena, which she owns in partnership with... | 4 | Freedom, war, and the Artificially Intelligent | 1,378,339,200 | 09 5, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0451131282 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | To pursue his theory concerning the assassination of JFK, Paul Christopher resigns from the spy agency that employs him, and with the tacit approval of his boss begins an investigation that takes him to Italy, France, and Vietnam, among other places. What he learns may seem a little far-fetched, but McCarry writes con... | 4 | A different take on the Kennedy assassination | 1,287,619,200 | 10 21, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0451147669 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | K.W. Jeter has sometimes been compared to the incomparable Philip K. Dick, who was Jeter's close friend. While Dick's influence on Jeter's work is not always apparent, in the case of The Glass Hammer, the comparison is apt. The story has the religious overtones that characterize Dick's later novels. The novel's present... | 4 | Invites favorable comparison to Philip K. Dick | 1,282,694,400 | 08 25, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0451156161 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Is there life after death? Hamilton Felix, the main character in Beyond the Horizon, is troubled by that question, as well as one that is equally large and related: What is the meaning of life? Heinlein's novel tackles a simpler question: Are these questions answerable only by faith, or are they the proper subject ... | 4 | Big questions | 1,287,100,800 | 10 15, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0451197429 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | The Disappearance is a low octane novel. Although J.F. Freedman assembled the elements that characterize strong legal thrillers -- a troubled lawyer, a shocking crime, a dramatic trial -- dull moments and lackluster writing detract from the reading experience.Fourteen-year-old Emma Lancaster is apparently abducted from... | 4 | Strong plot, lackluster execution (3.5 stars) | 1,372,982,400 | 07 5, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0451235657 | TChris | [
30,
31
] | A woman who claims to be Cyril Tyler's wife tells private detective Leonid McGill that her wealthy husband is responsible for the deaths of his first two wives. She wants McGill to save her from becoming his next victim. In need of money, McGill accepts the case but soon suspects that the woman is not in fact Chrysta... | 5 | A complex thinker worries about a pedestrian world | 1,299,542,400 | 03 8, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0452296366 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | This Is Where I Leave You is one of those amusing life and love stories of the sort popularized by Nick Hornby and Tim Perotta, except funnier and with more substance. I had a laugh out loud experience on nearly every page. The story, told from the point of view of Judd Foxman, follows Judd and the other members of h... | 4 | A funny story about a not-quite-dysfunctional family | 1,283,731,200 | 09 6, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0452297907 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | The Keeper of Lost Causes imagines that Denmark has created a new department for the investigation of unsolved crimes. Homicide investigator Carl Mrck seems the perfect choice to head Department Q, in part because he will be working with only one other person, a mysterious Syrian named Hafez el-Assad whose chief duty ... | 5 | A wickedly imagined mystery | 1,314,316,800 | 08 26, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0452298733 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Before finishing the first page, the reader learns that The Underside of Joy will be about a life-changing event. Something will happen to cause the narrator to learn that her three years of "doing backflips in the deep end of happiness" were transitory, that "the most genuine happiness cannot be so pure, so deep, or s... | 4 | Deft handling of a family drama | 1,326,326,400 | 01 12, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0525952233 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | The Paradise Prophecy pits angels against demons. In this corner we have the demons (or dark angels), with Belial orchestrating the fight for Team Lucifer; her teammates include Beelzebub (in the guise of an LA club owner), Moloch and Mamman. In the opposite corner we have Belial's brother Michael (a fallen angel who i... | 2 | Unfocused plot, mediocre writing | 1,311,379,200 | 07 23, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0525952373 | TChris | [
6,
7
] | Children of Paranoia begins with a murder: an efficient strangulation. We soon learn that Joe, the murderer, is a professional killer, part of a group of assassins who carried out a series of murders that same day. Their motivation, revealed in an early chapter, is linked to the novel's premise: a clandestine war i... | 4 | A promising start to a trilogy | 1,323,734,400 | 12 13, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0525953108 | TChris | [
30,
32
] | Enemy of Mine does what an action novel needs to do: it delivers action. Along the way, it tells a surprisingly intelligent, carefully plotted story.The prologue to Enemy of Mine begins with a nightmare (always a bad start to a novel) as Pike Logan dreams about the murder of his wife and child four years earlier. Th... | 4 | An impressive action novel | 1,358,467,200 | 01 18, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0525953116 | TChris | [
12,
12
] | When writers churn out novels with the speed that Brad Taylor has been adding to the Pike Logan series, there's usually a noticeable decline in quality from book to book. Surprisingly, Taylor's books are getting better. The Widow's Strike might be the best of them. It's exciting, intelligent, action-filled, and fast-mo... | 4 | The fourth Pike Logan novel (4.5 stars) | 1,373,932,800 | 07 16, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0525953493 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Detective Katarina (Kat) Donovan's friend Stacey signs Kat up for an online dating service and who should come up as the perfect match but Kat's former fiancé Jeff Raynes, who is now a widower and raising a child. Well, after all, it's been 18 years since Jeff left her and disappeared so it's not surprising that... | 4 | Surprising and satisfying | 1,395,360,000 | 03 21, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0525953973 | TChris | [
27,
32
] | Reading a Taskforce novel is an adrenalin rush. While that could be said of many action novels, Brad Taylor's Taskforce novels have the additional virtue of being intelligent. Taylor has a clear, cliché-free writing style that helps the story move swiftly. Plentiful action scenes contribute to the pace, but Tayl... | 4 | The fifth Pike Logan (Taskforce) novel (4.5 stars) | 1,389,657,600 | 01 14, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0525954015 | TChris | [
8,
8
] | The difficulty with revenge, particularly when served cold, is that people change. What seems like just retribution may turn out to be a harsh judgment visited upon a repentant transgressor who seeks (and deserves) forgiveness. The lesson of The Purity of Vengeance is that revenge is a dish best not served.Between 1923... | 5 | The fourth Department Q novel | 1,388,448,000 | 12 31, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0525954600 | TChris | [
27,
30
] | Dan Goodman is a blocked writer who long ago spent the advance on a new book that has just been cancelled. A step away from financial ruin, Goodman can't pay his daughter's private school tuition, much less the cost of the class trip to Italy. His divorced wife (Abby's mother) died from cancer, Abby's step-father has n... | 4 | Predictable but enjoyable | 1,401,148,800 | 05 27, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0544003462 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | As much a work of philosophy as fiction, Asunder is an impressive examination of the search for meaning in a solitary life. On one level, it is a love letter to art museums and their contents, the works of art and the humans who admire them. On another, it is a story of entropy, and of one woman's struggle to resist it... | 5 | Craquelure and entropy | 1,386,806,400 | 12 12, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0544196376 | TChris | [
4,
5
] | Ward Just is skilled at conveying emotions, at making the readers feel what his characters feel, and that is the greatest strength of American Romantic. It tells of the long life of Harry Sanders, in all its fullness as well as its thinness, and allows the reader to feel the highs and lows alongside Harry.Harry starts ... | 5 | The missing pieces of a life (4.5 stars) | 1,397,088,000 | 04 10, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547242166 | TChris | [
79,
85
] | Any "best of" collection will succeed or fail -- in the reader's judgment -- according to how closely the editor's taste aligns with the reader's. Of the twenty stories in this volume, I think about half undeniably merited inclusion, and the other half aren't bad (although I suspect I might have chosen a different ten... | 4 | A diverse but uneven collection of stories | 1,317,686,400 | 10 4, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547339100 | TChris | [
26,
29
] | The Tin Drum is one of my favorite novels and, I think, one of the great novels of the 20th Century. It is profound and mysterious, funny and disturbing, innovative and original. Grass created the epitome of the unreliable narrator, yet the story he tells reveals fundamental truths about human nature: about love and be... | 5 | One of the great novels of the 20th century | 1,289,606,400 | 11 13, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547364644 | TChris | [
7,
8
] | On behalf of a foreign affairs think tank, in the aftermath of 9/11, twenty-four-year-old Paul Crane agrees to interview ninety-one-year-old Thomas Jefferson Danforth in the belief that Danforth can provide insight into the terrorist attack. Crane is vexed by Danforth's failure to come quickly to the point of the meet... | 5 | Multiple layers of intrigue | 1,308,268,800 | 06 17, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547382634 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Bradford Morrow is an excellent writer, one whose style I greatly admire. In The Diviner's Tale, he brings a literary sensibility to what is essentially a genre novel ... although defining the genre is difficult. The Diviner's Tale is story of the supernatural that has elements of a thriller and the flavor of a family ... | 3 | Interesting, well written, but not compelling | 1,297,296,000 | 02 10, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547419899 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | There is little need to summarize the plot of Cain because anyone with a passing knowledge of Genesis is familiar with much of it, although perhaps not with José Saramago's twisted (and infinitely more entertaining) version. Saramago imparts all sorts of useful information omitted from the original, including wh... | 4 | Irreverent humor | 1,321,056,000 | 11 12, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547428499 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is very different from the other two Sara Gran novels I've read --Come CloserandDope-- but like those novels it is quirky and engaging. This novel is playful where the other two were serious. If you're looking for a straightforward detective story, keep looking: this isn't it. ... | 4 | It ain't no place for happy endings | 1,306,281,600 | 05 25, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547500602 | TChris | [
7,
8
] | If you read this book expecting it to be a murder mystery that will be solved by boy detectives, you're likely to be disappointed. The story does open with a murder, and young Harri and his friends make half-baked attempts to solve it, but like boys around the world, they're easily distracted. These aren't the Hardy ... | 4 | The universal experience of childhood | 1,310,169,600 | 07 9, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547504195 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | I give this unusual, meandering novel credit: I had no idea where it was going yet it held my interest throughout its circuitous journey. More than that, it made me think. What starts as a story about a wealthy rogue at the end of the Nineteenth Century segues into a World War II-era story about a young man who invi... | 4 | An intriguing, meandering novel about perspective and memory | 1,298,678,400 | 02 26, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547564511 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Solid writing, intense action, strong characters, and a vividly detailed setting make Red Flags a winning hybrid of war story and espionage thriller. The book also offers a nice history lesson in some lesser known aspects of America's involvement in Vietnam.Erik Rider, an investigator with the Army's Criminal Investig... | 5 | Excellent military espionage thriller | 1,323,388,800 | 12 9, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547576714 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | James Lasseter and his soon-to-be-wife Kate are living the good life in Austin when Kate, newly pregnant, is fired from her job. The economy has gone south and James, a freelance writer, can't get an assignment. James and Kate move to a mountain in Northern California where they can stretch their meager savings while... | 3 | Ordinary | 1,320,624,000 | 11 7, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547577451 | TChris | [
20,
22
] | The Artist of Disappearance consists of three long stories (billed as novellas). Stories of this length deserve to be rated independently.A young civil servant in training, stuck in the backwaters of India, must decide how to respond to a request for government support to preserve a private museum and its surprising c... | 4 | Three novellas | 1,323,129,600 | 12 6, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547577532 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The story that underlies The Prague Cemetery is told, for the most part, by Simone Simonini, a forger who thrives on hatred -- of Jews and Germans, Jesuits and Masons, the French and Italians (although he is half French and half Italian), artists and women, his parents and God -- a man whose motto is "I hate therefore ... | 5 | Hateful character, brilliant novel | 1,320,710,400 | 11 8, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547904770 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Every voice that ever made a sound still lingers, waiting to be heard if only you know how to listen. The patterns of flowing river waters make a sound that can unlock the mysteries of the universe. These, at least, are the insights and beliefs of certain characters in The River and Enoch O'Reilly, characters who may b... | 5 | The river speaks | 1,385,856,000 | 12 1, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0547939949 | TChris | [
6,
6
] | The best stories illustrating the hardship and suffering of war are personal, and that's how All the Light There Was begins. For Maral Pegorian's family in occupied Paris, the war is about hunger, curfews and boredom. When Maral's Jewish neighbors are being rounded up by Germans, Maral's family -- survivors of the Arme... | 3 | An Armenian family in occupied Paris (3.5 stars) | 1,363,392,000 | 03 16, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553238531 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Shattered Stars is an old fashioned space opera. There's nothing very original in the novel's components, but McEnroe assembles them effectively, creating a fun story that pits good guy underdogs against a bad guy telepath who seeks to increase his already immense power.Moses Callahan, an independent freight haule... | 4 | Formulaic fun | 1,288,137,600 | 10 27, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553241214 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Flight of Honor is the second novel in the short-lived Far Stars and Future Times series. Its predecessor,The Shattered Stars, is a space opera in the classic vein. Flight of Honor is a more ambitious undertaking, a novel of political intrigue and alien culture that is reminiscent of C.J. Cherryh's work. The two nov... | 4 | Questions of honor in a brisk action novel | 1,288,310,400 | 10 29, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 055324597X | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Skinner is the third (and, apparently, the last) novel in Richard McEnroe's Far Stars and Future Times series. There is an ad in the novel's back pages for a fourth book titled Chains of Knowledge, but it isn't included in McEnroe's bibliography and I've found no evidence that it was ever published.Skinner begins on t... | 4 | A fine mix of politics, economics, and action | 1,288,742,400 | 11 3, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553254162 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | A.J. Lewinter, a physicist specializing in ceramics who does military research on missile nosecones, defects to the Soviet Union (the novel was published in 1973, when the Soviet Union still existed). His knowledge of ceramics isn't likely to be helpful to the Russians, but Lewinter may have obtained accurate knowledge... | 4 | Spies playing games | 1,370,044,800 | 06 1, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553278746 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | In a post-apocalyptic future, Gordon Krantz is something of a nomad, drifting from village to village, acting out one-man plays in exchange for food and shelter. While evading bandits he stumbles upon an old postal truck. Krantz takes the dead letter carrier's uniform and, helping himself to the mailbag, begins playi... | 5 | An icon of heroism | 1,286,409,600 | 10 7, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 055338466X | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Is philosophy dead? Stephen Hawking thinks it is. In his view, philosophy hasn't kept pace with science. According to Hawking, the ability to answer the big questions in life -- why we exist, why there is something rather than nothing -- resides in physics rather than philosophy (sort of an odd position, given the e... | 5 | Physics and philosophy | 1,337,299,200 | 05 18, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553568914 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | When a book is basically a series of one-liners, the one-liners need to be consistently funny to make the book a success. Friedman has some comedic talent, but the humor was wearing thin by the end of this novel. Some of it was downright lame. The pace is quick but Friedman litters the book with redundancies (he's endl... | 3 | Inconsistent humor | 1,283,558,400 | 09 4, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553578774 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Kent Anderson was a Special Forces sergeant during the Vietnam War, an experience that informed his first novel,Sympathy for the Devil. When he returned to civilian life, he took a job as a police officer. That experience is reflected his second book, Night Dogs. The novel tracks a short period in the life of a Viet... | 5 | A powerful story about a complex man | 1,283,990,400 | 09 9, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553591630 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | In 2049, prisons have been replaced by facilities that house prisoners in hibernation tanks. The private corporation that runs them has hidden some tanks in the middle of each facility that are used to house Russian mafia types and political prisoners who never receive a trial. Why these folks aren't just killed rath... | 3 | Check your common sense at the door | 1,285,113,600 | 09 22, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553592173 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Terese Drajeske, a former guardian of the saints, is called back to active duty. The saints do good works on the planets comprising the United World Government. The guardians endeavor to keep the peace without killing anyone (usually by gluing people to walls). Drajeske goes to the Erasmus System to circumvent an att... | 4 | A nicely crafted blend of action and politial intrigue | 1,285,113,600 | 09 22, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553593803 | TChris | [
15,
16
] | In the real world, when they aren't stating the obvious, criminal profilers are wrong about as often as they're right. In thriller world, profilers have a miraculous ability to understand the criminal mind. That is certainly true of Keye Street, the former FBI profiler turned private investigator who stars in The Str... | 4 | The first Keye Street novel | 1,314,662,400 | 08 30, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553808087 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | My reaction to Stranger in the Room is similar to my assessment of The Stranger You Seek: an enjoyable read that falls well short of greatness. In common with the first Keye Street novel, the story occasionally has an engaging, playful quality and the characters are fun. When it tries to be a serious thriller, however,... | 4 | The second Keye Street novel | 1,345,766,400 | 08 24, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0553808095 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | A sheriff in rural Georgia hires Keye Street to consult regarding two abductions and murders of 13-year-old girls that occurred about ten years apart. Of course, the detectives and deputies who work for the sheriff resent her presence. Sadly, that's not the only plot thread in this novel that has been done before.A sur... | 3 | The third (and worst) Keye Street novel | 1,404,345,600 | 07 3, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0575088885 | TChris | [
8,
10
] | As you might suspect from the title, the story told in The Quantum Thief involves a thief. The thief's current identity is Jean le Flambeur (his past identities are something of a mystery, even to him). The novel opens with Jean escaping from a Dilemma Prison, busted out by Mieli (with an assist from her artificially i... | 5 | A hard sf exploration of freedom and privacy | 1,300,147,200 | 03 15, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0586070796 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | This 1986 novel, set in 2010, probably worked better in 1986 than it does in 2010, but it's still kinda funny. Sixteen year old Melanie, dreaming of the idyllic suburban life of the 1950's, moves out of the Chrysler Building commune because she can't abide the dirty, elderly pot smokers who want to listen to the Gratef... | 3 | Dated sf comedy | 1,288,915,200 | 11 5, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0618945199 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | To fulfill a requirement of her English honors class in existential philosophy, and having rejected the other options as "new age malarkey," Tina is keeping an "existential diary" that is designed to help her understand who she is and who she is becoming. She considers the project worthy while confessing that she does... | 4 | A 15-year-old girl's take on existential philosophy | 1,325,635,200 | 01 4, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670022810 | TChris | [
35,
36
] | The premise of Rebecca Makkai's entertaining first novel is farfetched. Librarian Lucy Hull takes an unintended road trip with ten-year-old Ian Drake, son of fundamentalist parents who have enrolled Ian in classes held by the notorious Pastor Bob, a "formerly" gay man who conducts classes designed to turn gay kids stra... | 4 | Farfetched but entertaining | 1,307,577,600 | 06 9, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670023213 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | "It's as though Matt Damon really were Jason Bourne" says one of the characters in The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen. That pretty well sums up the plot.The novel begins with the shooting of a banker by a credit card holder who is understandably miffed by the bank's unconscionable 30 percent interest rate. The true mo... | 3 | The spy who lacked intrigue (2.5 stars) | 1,326,153,600 | 01 10, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670023272 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Carter Darling is a principle in a money management firm called Delphic. His daughter Merrill is married to Paul, recently hired as Delphic's general counsel. One of Delphic's hedge funds is heavily invested in an outside fund managed by Carter's friend, Morty Reis. When Reis apparently commits suicide, Paul's ex-girlf... | 5 | The merger of family and Wall Street intrigue | 1,367,020,800 | 04 27, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670023299 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | Clawback refers to "the mandatory return of compensation paid on a deal that later goes bad." Silas Cade collects clawback from hedge fund managers and other bigwigs of the financial world who might not otherwise be inclined to pay. His logo, if he had one, would be "a green eyeshade crossed by a 9 mil." When Cade's... | 4 | "A green eyeshade crossed by a 9 mil" | 1,330,560,000 | 03 1, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670023744 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Now that Norah Vincent has Thy Neighbor out of her system, perhaps she will apply her talent to a more meaningful project. The novel's protagonist, Nick Walsh, is such a caricature of an immature male that I wondered whether Vincent modeled him after someone she felt the need to ridicule. Nick's friend Dave is just as ... | 2 | Stylish prose wasted on a pointless and unconvincing story | 1,343,952,000 | 08 3, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 067002600X | TChris | [
4,
4
] | Whether The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards is a novel (as the title advertises) or ten connected short stories (plus versions of a preface and epilog) isn't entirely clear -- the structure (each story has its own title and is complete within itself) and the changing names of the characters suggest the latter, while the... | 5 | Truth versus fiction in the life of a writer | 1,363,824,000 | 03 21, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670026042 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | I had never heard of April Wilder before reading this collection of her stories. I am now a devoted fan. The characters in her stories are trying to decide what they want from life. They are forming and readjusting their understandings of relationships and families. They are quirky and lonely and usually a little messe... | 5 | Stories about life | 1,391,126,400 | 01 31, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670026123 | TChris | [
17,
18
] | About a third of Rage Is Back is an excruciatingly irritating mix of ultra-hip cultural references and D-list celebrity name dropping. I was indifferent to another third. The remaining third approaches brilliance. Stray sentences, random thoughts, sometimes entire pages shine like polished platinum.Kilroy Dondi Vance i... | 4 | Enjoyable when it isn't irritating | 1,358,035,200 | 01 13, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670026247 | TChris | [
76,
84
] | The most distant of the Channel Islands from the coast of California is rain-soaked, wind-swept, and populated by sheep. In San Miguel, T. Coraghessan Boyle tells the stories of three women who made the island their home. While fans of character-driven historical fiction featuring strong women should be pleased with ... | 4 | Three women struggle with the isolation of island life | 1,347,926,400 | 09 18, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670026409 | TChris | [
12,
15
] | White Dog Fell from the Sky begins with a startling scene. A hearse stops on a dusty road. Isaac Muthethe's body is removed from a coffin and laid on the ground. When Isaac revives, a white dog is sitting next to him. He is relieved to discover that he is in Botswana. Formerly a medical student in South Africa, Isaac b... | 3 | A three star novel dominates a five star novel (3.5 stars) | 1,357,171,200 | 01 3, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0670026727 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | I was prepared to abandon The Burning Air in its early stages, thinking the story was the sort of clichéd family drama that just doesn't appeal to me. I'm glad I stuck with it. The plot is anything but clichéd, and the drama is both powerful and convincing.Lydia has a tumor and expects to die soon, a fact... | 4 | Slow start gives way to intelligent, absorbing thriller | 1,361,491,200 | 02 22, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0679733787 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Sand takes on a life of its own in Kobo Abé's disturbing novel, The Woman in the Dunes. An entomologist spends his vacation scouring remote sand dunes in the hope that he will find a previously unknown beetle. As night falls, he accepts an invitation to stay in a villager's home. Since each village home is built... | 5 | The sand never stops | 1,331,510,400 | 03 12, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0679766634 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | The Burke series was losing some of its energy by the time Footsteps of the Hawk came along. Andrew Vachss used the Burke books as message novels, but readers got the message early on. Vachss' narrow focus on the damage done by child predators left Burke without much room to grow, and that's a deadly flaw in a series... | 4 | The eighth Burke novel | 1,352,505,600 | 11 10, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0679772936 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | False Allegations isn't the best of the Burke novels but it might be the most interesting. Taking on the serious problem of false allegations of sexual assault, Vachss provides a mountain of evidence to establish that accusations of sexual assault are too often false, that false accusations are incredibly destructive ... | 4 | An informative novel | 1,290,470,400 | 11 23, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0718178122 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Rosie Project is written in the first person using a stuffy, intellectualized voice that is perfectly consistent with the stuffy, intellectualized narrator, Don Tillman. If you've seenDoc Martin, you have an idea of what Tillman is like. Not many novels make me laugh out loud, but the Tillman character in The Rosie... | 5 | A funny book about love that is easy to love | 1,403,740,800 | 06 26, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0739344307 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | In 1868, the navigational instruments on every ship in foggy Boston Harbor go haywire at the same instant, causing a disastrous series of shipwrecks. Soon thereafter, all the glass along a Boston street liquefies. The baffled authorities, fearing that "the darkest reaches of science and mechanical arts" are responsib... | 4 | Harvard vs. MIT | 1,330,041,600 | 02 24, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0743217101 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | New York City, 1945. A prominent judge is murdered in his home. Jake Downing and Jimmy Finn are the detectives assigned to the case. By the time they arrive at the murder scene, the police commissioner and Manny Troy are already there. Troy is "the boss of the city's Democrats." He makes sure that Downing and Finn... | 3 | A competent but familiar mystery | 1,295,913,600 | 01 25, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0743257405 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | This thin novel skates by on the amusement it delivers. Ellery Pierce makes robotic contraptions that a movie like Jurassic Park might use. Having had little luck with women, he uses his talent (and workshop) to craft one of his own design. Perhaps he made her too well, because she has little use for him while pursu... | 3 | A bit thin | 1,285,200,000 | 09 23, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0743289242 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Eldon Chance is a forensic neuropsychiatrist who makes his living serving as an expert witness in civil or criminal cases involving brain injuries. Despite a healthy income he is bleeding money, in part because his wife is divorcing him, in part because he owes a huge debt in unpaid taxes. Chance is forced to sell his ... | 4 | Bad doctor vs bad cop | 1,396,310,400 | 04 1, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0747401373 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Peter Cunningham is an extraordinary writer of moving family dramas, including the Monument novels, set in rural Ireland during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has also written more than a half dozen thrillers, including The Snow Bees.The Snow Bees is a standard story of drug cops battling drug lords with a ... | 4 | A dated, conventional drug thriller that retains the ability to excite | 1,343,347,200 | 07 27, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0749397462 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Edith lives in a building that is getting old, hasn't been cared for, and is falling apart. The roof leaks, the plumbing doesn't work, repairs are never made. The building could be a metaphor for Edith's life: she hasn't taken care of herself, sacrificing her happiness to care for a mother who constantly criticized ... | 4 | A portrait of malaise | 1,289,001,600 | 11 6, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0751541184 | TChris | [
24,
25
] | The measurement of time, Mitch Albom's parable tells us, distinguishes man from other animals. Man alone measures time, and man alone fears time running out. Every parable has a moral, and Albom's is this: we should replace fear of losing time with an appreciation of the time we have. It is a worthy lesson, even if... | 3 | Appreciate the time you have | 1,346,716,800 | 09 4, 2012 |
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