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Adventure | - 35 items found in your search |
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Billingham, Mark The Burning Girl
Sphere November 5, 2007 0751534897 / 9780751534894 Paperback
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com Review&newline;A contract killer is carving his way through North London's criminal underworld, leaving a bloody X on his victims' backs and taking Billy Ryan's gang down one thug at a time. Detective Inspector Tom Thorne and his team know there's a turf war going on, but who's attempting to take over Ryan's racket isn't quite clear. When DCI Carol Chamberlin comes out of retirement to work on the cold case squad and asks Thorne for help solving an old murder, the past and present catch up in what looks like a continuation of a twenty-year-old gang war. And when someone carves an X in Thorne's door, a fuse is lit that stretches from the eponymous burning girl of the title--Chamberlin's old case--to the gang war that's lighting up the London sky. It's a clunky plot that relies on telling more than showing, slowing down the pace and makeing it difficult for the reader to care about any of the principals involved--either the victims or those who seek justic for them. Billingham has written better thrillers (Lazybones, Scaredy Cat), but this one doesn't live up to their promises. --Jane Adams --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Publishers Weekly&newline;The engrossing fourth novel by British TV writer Billingham to feature London police detective Tom Thorne (after 2004's Lazybones) has a solid, traditional structure and plot, and a whiff of noir sensibility. Thorne is the solid reliable cop whom witnesses trust and colleagues appreciate. Of late, he's taken in his temporarily homeless pal, pathologist Phil Hendricks, and Billingham has fun with this odd couple (Phil is gay, messy and heavily pierced; Thorne is a Lucinda Williams-loving neatnik). Thorne's also willing to help out another friend--prickly, middle-aged ex-DCI Carol Chamberlain--who's uncovered new evidence about a case from the 1980s in which a schoolgirl was set on fire. Moral complexity clouds the picture: the man wrongly imprisoned for that heinous act is a career criminal; empathetic Thorne drifts into an affair with a key witness. A second case, equally complex, involves the murder of a Turkish video store owner, which proves to be just one of an alarming series of killings whose pattern Thorne must determine. Billingham delivers an edgy, ambitious novel with an excellent cast--just as BBC America's Mystery Monday offers a character-driven alternative to the current spate of forensics-heavy American TV police procedurals--and Morrow's betting on this one, with its hardcover-at-a-paperback-price, to break him out big. &newline;Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. 3.5 Stars
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Brown, Sandra Exclusive
Grand Central Publishing July 1, 1997 0446604232 / 9780446604239 Mass Market Paperback
From Barnes & Noble&newline;The Barnes & Noble Review&newline;BarnesandNoble.com Member Reviews Very enjoyable This was a very nice story about what could very possibly be going on in Washington DC now...corruption, murder, conspiracy. -esgoos I agree!! I belive this is her worst book. I got lost trying to keep up with all the characters pasts. I kept hoping it would get better . She should stick with her romance writing. -Chon Thank goodness I saved my money I've read several of Sandra Brown's books, so I feel I can justify my critique. Someone needs to tell her to go back to romance (which she can write) and leave the field of political thrillers (which she *can't* write). Brown commits the one cardinal sin a writer can do: absolutely none of the characters were likable. If every single person in this book had died in an airplane crash, then perhaps I would have tolerated the novel. The one character that had any personality was such a minor character she almost wasn't there, but she did have the best line of them all when she told the heroine &doublequote;You're the stupidest gal the Good Lord ever gave breath to.&doublequote; I shouted out &doublequote;Yes!&doublequote; because I felt the same way. The heroine, Barrie Travis, is so self-centered, so weak, and so *stupid*, I kept hoping someone would off her. Unfortunately, she lives all the way up to the end. The hero, what little there is of him, is as bland as his name, Gray. There's no chemistry between the two, except for a hot encounter minutes (!) after they meet, and the only reason Barrie and Gray end up together in the end is because there's nothing else left to do. The book left me with plenty of breath, my nails entact,andcomfortably seated all the way back in my chair. I'm not knocking Sandra Brown, I enjoy her romances. I'm knocking this book. Thank goodness it was checked out of the libary for free. If I had spent good money on this tripe, I would have been really mad. -Sumrall Edge of your seat...or page....action A wonderful book that despite its length can be devoured in one or two days easily. The action kept me wanting for more and the chemistry between all of the characters, not just the hero and the heroine was amazing. I would not classify this as a romance and it is not typical of Sandra Brown's previous novels, but this woman is a brilliant author. It truly does keep you guessing until the end, even if you are someone like me who all but reads the entire last chapter before you read the second. -Mindyanne The high profile use of some of the world's most famous people. This is a fabulous book if you like romance books that are not the same as the next one or the one before. This book gives you a sense of real romance as well as danger and mystery. If you are squemish this book is not for you. If you are against violence this book is also not for you. If you love a good romance book that keeps you hanging right up to the last page this book should top your TO READ LIST. -Pachis&newline;&newline;From the Publisher&newline;Barrie Travis is a damn good reporter stuck at a low-budget television station when the First Lady calls her-and offers her the opportunity of a lifetime. Stunned by the loss of her infant son, the president’s wife hints he may have been murdered. Barrie sets out to find the truth, fighting for the exclusive story with the help of Gray Bondurant, a mysterious former presidential aide. Soon they unearth White House secrets that, if exposed, could topple the presidency. And certain powerful parties want nothing more than to see the scandalous past - and a certain young reporter - dead and buried. &newline;&newline;&doublequote;Fast fun with a wild twist at the end.&doublequote; - Cosmopolitan&newline;&doublequote;A plot-wise, entertaining yarn.&doublequote; - People&newline;&newline;Publishers Weekly&newline;The newborn son of the president and the first lady has died suddenly. Was his death a tragic consequence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)-or was it murder? Brown (The Witness) pulls out the stops in this nimbly plotted political thriller that pits a down-on-her-luck TV journalist against a popular chief executive. Barrie Travis is looking for her ticket out of a second-rate Washington, D.C., TV 4.0 Stars
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Burke, James Lee Last Car to Elysian Fields: A Novel
New York Simon & Schuster September 30, 2003 0743245423 / 9780743245425 Hardcover
From Barnes & Noble&newline;The Barnes & Noble Review&newline;In Last Car to Elysian Fields, James Lee Burke (Jolie Blon's Bounce, White Doves at Morning) orchestrates the masterful return of volatile New Iberia homicide detective Dave Robicheaux to the lush and grim world of crime in the Big Easy. With vivid, enticing prose, Burke conjures offbeat but wholly believable characters who animate a rich, complex, and enthralling plot. &newline;&newline;When Dave and former partner Clete Purcel decide to help out a priest buddy who's been targeted by thugs for defying the Mob, several deadly events and schemes are set in motion. Dave becomes enmeshed with former lover Theodosha LeJeune, whose father was rumored to have been involved in the 50-year-old murder of a black blues singer -- and who now seems to be connected to the DWI deaths of three underage girls. Complicating matters further, a murderer is on the prowl for the people responsible for the girls' deaths.&newline;&newline;As in all Burke novels, the strength of Last Car to Elysian Fields lies in its breathtaking, moodily descriptive passages and in scenes that provide a perfect sense of time, place, and character. The evils of the past hold sway over the present in a particularly gut-wrenching way, as Robicheaux finds his life unraveling along with the mysteries around him. Involving, disturbing, and compelling, this novel will pluck at your nerves and refuse to let go. Tom Piccirilli&newline;&newline;From the Publisher&newline;&newline;&newline;For Dave Robicheaux, there is no easy passage home. New Orleans, and the memories of his life in the Big Easy, will always haunt him. So to return there - as he does in Last Car to Elysian Fields - means visiting old ghosts, exposing old wounds, opening himself up to new, yet familiar, dangers.&newline;&newline;When Robicheaux, now a police officer based in the somewhat quieter Louisiana town of New Iberia, learns that an old friend, Father Jimmie Dolan, a Catholic priest always at the center of controversy, has been the victim of a particularly brutal assault, he knows he has to return to New Orleans to investigate, if only unofficially. What he doesn't realize is that in doing so he is inviting into his life - and into the lives of those around him - an ancestral evil that could destroy them all.&newline;&newline;The investigation begins innocently enough. Assisted by good friend and P.I. Clete Purcel, Robicheaux confronts the man they believe to be responsible for Dolan's beating, a drug dealer and porno star named Gunner Ardoin. The confrontation, however, turns into a standoff as Clete ends up in jail and Robicheaux receives an ominous warning to keep out of New Orleans' affairs.&newline;&newline;Meanwhile, back in New Iberia, more trouble is brewing: Three local teenage girls are killed in a drunk-driving accident, the driver being the seventeen-year-old daughter of a prominent physician. Robicheaux traces the source of the liquor to one of New Iberia's &doublequote;daiquiri windows,&doublequote; places that sell mixed drinks from drive-by windows. When the owner of the drive-through operation is brutally murdered, Robicheaux immediately suspects the grief-crazed father of the dead teen driver. But his assumptionis challenged when the murder weapon turns up belonging to someone else. &newline;&newline;The trouble continues when Father Jimmie asks Robicheaux to help investigate the presence of a toxic landfill near St. James Parish in New Orleans, which in turn leads to a search for the truth behind the disappearance many years before of a legendary blues musician and composer. Tying together all these seemingly disparate threads of crime is a maniacal killer named Max Coll, a brutal, brilliant, and deeply haunted hit man sent to New Orleans to finish the job on Father Dolan. Once Coll shows up, it becomes clear that Dave Robicheaux will be forced to ignore the warning to stay out of New Orleans, and he soon finds himself drawn deeper into a viper's nest of sordid secrets and escalating violence that sets him up for a confrontation that echoes down the lonely corridors of his own unresolved past.&newline;&newline;A masterful exploration of the troubled side of human nature and the darkest corners of the hea 4.0 Stars
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Case, John The First Horseman
Ballantine Books May 29, 1999 0345435796 / 9780345435798 Mass Market Paperback
From the Publisher&newline;In the Book of Revelations, the Four Horsemen herald the arrival of the Apocalypse. When the First Horseman thunders forth, pestilence will spread throughout the land. For the First Horseman is Plague . . .&newline;&newline;The Spanish Flu killed thirty million people worldwide in 1918. Now with history threatening to repeat itself, a scientific expedition speeds toward a remote island in the Arctic Sea to recover strains of the lethal virus preserved under layers of ice. For Washington Post reporter Frank Daly, it is the story of a lifetime. But his plan to join the expedition is ruined by a ferocious storm that delays him. And when he meets up with the ship upon its return to port in Norway, it is clear something has gone wrong. &newline;&newline;Fear haunts the faces of the crew. No one will talk. And someone wants Daly to stop asking questions.&newline;&newline;Publishers Weekly&newline;Recent reports that the 1918 flu virus, source of history's most lethal pandemic, might be preserved inside the bodies of five Norwegian miners buried beneath the permafrost on the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen make this novel especially timely. Moving in dated chapters through the spring into the summer months of 1998, this tense thriller turns that story into a &doublequote;secular apocalypse,&doublequote; which begins when a North Korean medical officer flees across the DMZ to report that his isolated village was first devastated by a strange sickness, then destroyed and completely buried by the military. A team of American microbiologists, whose application to exhume the Spitsbergen bodies has been denied, suddenly finds its expedition funded by a foundation from which they hadn't even sought money. Frank Daly, a Washington Post reporter scheduled to join the expedition, is grounded in Archangel, and when he meets the icebreaker Rex Mundi on its return to Norway, he finds the pier closed and no one from the expedition willing to talk to him--a sure incentive for any true reporter to pursue the story to the death, which Daly very nearly does. Although the setup is in some ways more gripping than the action payoff of the novel's second half, pseudonymous D.C. reporter Case (The Gemini Code) breathes excitement into his topical story. Especially memorable is the microwave death of one character, leaving behind just a tiny handful of soot. (Aug.)&newline;&newline;Library Journal&newline;From the author of The Genesis Code (LJ 3/1/97) comes another page-turning scientific thriller. Frank Daly, an investigative reporter pursuing a story about influenza, has been invited to join a scientific team bound for the Arctic in order to take tissue samples from miners who died during the 1918 pandemic. A storm makes Daly miss the launch, stranding him in Russia, and when the scientists reach their site, they are met by the FBI and find that the bodies they expected to examine are gone. With vividly alive characters and intricate plotting, the story moves swiftly toward a somewhat subdued conclusion. The &doublequote;first horseman&doublequote; of the title is the villain Solange, leader of a cult called the Temple of Light. The cult aims to begin the Apocalypse by cultivating and spreading a deadly flu virus; cult members will be spared by virtue of a closely guarded vaccine. Unnerving and compelling, this will leave readers wondering for years to come about the next flu outbreak. Highly recommended.--Shirley Gibson Coleman, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI&newline;&newline;Kirkus Reviews&newline;Superchilling tale of the Spanish Flu's revival (which killed 20 to 30 million people in 1918)from the pseudonymous Case (the well-received biotech thriller The Genesis Code, 1997). Word is received by the CIA that a quarter of the population of the North Korean village of Tasi-ko has died of this flu; the other villagers, it seems, were executed just to contain the epidemic. No vaccine exists. Instead of building bombs, have the psychopathic North Koreans boiled up a batch of superflu that's gotten out of hand? Since the planet seems threatened by a global pandemic, a US medical research team is dispatched to the Norwegian permafrost to dig up five Norwegian coal miners who died of th 3.5 Stars
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Clark, Mary Higgins Pretend You Don't See Her
Pocket May 1, 1998 0671005030 / 9780671005030 Mass Market Paperback
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com Review&newline;Lacey Farrell, the heroine of Mary Higgins Clark's 15th novel, is having a bit of an identity crisis. While working as a real estate agent in New York, Lacey witnessed a client's murder, and now she's in hiding with a new name and a new life. But changing her identity doesn't completely remove Lacey from the web of danger and deceit that surrounds the crime; new clues keep popping up that suggest some kind of link between Lacey's family and the murder. Meanwhile, a new man comes into the heroine's life, further complicating an already murky situation. As any fan will tell you, Mary Higgins Clark never fails to deliver plot twists and turns that are as unexpected as they are thrilling. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Library Journal&newline;Clark's lucky 13th novel shows that falling in love is hard work when you're in the federal witness protection program.&newline;Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition. 4.0 Stars
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Clark, Mary Higgins Pretend You Don't See Her
Pocket May 1, 1998 0671005030 / 9780671005030 Mass Market Paperback
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com Review&newline;Lacey Farrell, the heroine of Mary Higgins Clark's 15th novel, is having a bit of an identity crisis. While working as a real estate agent in New York, Lacey witnessed a client's murder, and now she's in hiding with a new name and a new life. But changing her identity doesn't completely remove Lacey from the web of danger and deceit that surrounds the crime; new clues keep popping up that suggest some kind of link between Lacey's family and the murder. Meanwhile, a new man comes into the heroine's life, further complicating an already murky situation. As any fan will tell you, Mary Higgins Clark never fails to deliver plot twists and turns that are as unexpected as they are thrilling. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Library Journal&newline;Clark's lucky 13th novel shows that falling in love is hard work when you're in the federal witness protection program.&newline;Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition. 4.0 Stars
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Clark, Mary Higgins Silent Night
Pocket November 1, 1996 067100042X / 9780671000424 Mass Market Paperback
From the Publisher&newline;&newline;&newline;The Mid-Atlantic region offers travelers the country's greatest variety of settings, from the rural charm of Pennsylvania Dutch Country to the excitement of New York City. More than 275 accommodations in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., are reviewed.&newline;&newline;Publishers Weekly&newline;Clark's favored theme of endangered kids (Where Are the Children?, etc.) meshes here with a parable of faith; but, despite swift pacing, the predictability of the story line undercuts the suspense. Catherine Dornan is in Manhattan with her two sons because her husband, Tom, an Omaha pediatrician, is hospitalized there for leukemia and has just had his spleen removed. When a troubled stranger, Cally Hunter, makes off with Catherine's wallet, seven-year-old Brian Dornan doggedly pursues her because the wallet contains a St. Christopher medal that saved the life of his grandfather in WWII, by deflecting a bullet. Brian believes that the medal will save his dad's life, too, as his grandmother has predicted, and he is determined to get it back. Enter Jimmy Siddons, Cally's brother, a cop killer escaped from Riker's Island prison, who abducts Brian, holding him hostage at gunpoint as he heads for Canada in a stolen car. In the finale, as Catherine prays during Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the cops and Siddons, Brian at his side, engage in a high-speed chase, in which the St. Christopher medal becomes vital to the boy's safety. Clark blatantly, if cleverly, pulls all the sentimental strings here, but most readers will find this a heartwarming, affirmative tale of the power of faith. 750,000 first printing; Literary Guild main selection; simultaneous S&S audiotape. (Oct.)&newline;&newline;School Library Journal&newline;YA-It is Christmas Eve in New York City when Brian, a determined seven year old, follows the thief who took his mother's wallet, hoping to retrieve the St. Christopher's medal that he believes will save his father, who has leukemia, just as it saved his grandfather in World War II. However, the child is kidnapped by a vicious escaped convict who needs a hostage. The central characters come to life rapidly as the fast-moving story quickly builds suspense. Teens will appreciate the realistic, paradoxical description of the relationship between Brian and his older brother: caring, concerned, and name-calling at the same time. Although readers know that the ending will be a happy one, they won't expect the coincidences and the touching holiday details.-Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA&newline;&newline;BookList&newline;Clark's latest, a svelte 160 pages, crams lots of intensity and suspense into little space. The story is about seven-year-old Brian Dornan, whose leukemia-stricken dad is convalescing in a New York hospital. Brian, walking to the hospital with his mom, sees a woman pick up the wallet his mother has accidentally dropped. The wallet contains a St. Christopher medal that Brian is convinced will help make his dad okay again, so when the woman takes off, Brian follows. Unfortunately, the woman is Cally Hunter, sister of escaped convict Jimmy Siddons, who winds up taking Brian hostage. There's the requisite dose of what's-gonna-happen suspense and an ending that's smarmy and unsurprising, but Clark's legion of fans seem to tolerate those qualities easily. This smooth novelette is certain to be popular in spite of--or possibly because of--its tendency to sound like a cross between a Danielle Steel story and a TV movie. 4.0 Stars
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Cook, Robin Toxin
Berkley February 1, 1999 0425166619 / 9780425166611 Paperback
Editorial Reviews&newline;Amazon.com Review&newline;Just when you thought it was safe to eat a hamburger again, Robin Cook--master of medical mysteries, deadly epidemics, and creepy comas--returns with an all too likely villain drawn right from current headlines: the American meat industry. If you've ever wondered where the E. coli bacteria comes from, and exactly how it can ravage the human body, destroying everything in its path, this is the book for you. As usual, Cook delivers solid information, well-researched medical arcana, and a scathing indictment of managed health care. &newline;&newline;His protagonist, Kim Regis, is an all-too-typical ego-driven surgeon, whose arrogance and invulnerability set him up to be brought low by the deadly toxin that takes the life of his young daughter. Sparing no time and barely a paragraph to reflect on his loss, Regis goes right after the culprit, a meat-packing behemoth that brings dead and diseased animals to the slaughterhouse, breaking every health regulation in the book. The scenes set on the killing floor and in the boning rooms will make a vegetarian out of the most confirmed red-meat eater. Toxin is a heart-pounding thriller that hits very close to home. --Jane Adams From Library Journal&newline;Cook cooks up another medical thriller, with a bunch of E.coli bacteria as villain, an underdone hamburger as murder weapon, and a little boy as victim. His doctor-father soon discovers that something far more sinister than bad hygiene is the cause. A Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and Mystery Guild main selection.&newline;Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. 3.0 Stars
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Culbertson, John Operation Tuscaloosa
Ivy Books April 28, 1997 0804115656 / 9780804115650 Mass Market Paperback
From the Publisher&newline;THE MATCHLESS COURAGE OF U.S. MARINES UNDER FIRE&newline;&newline;In 1967, Operation Tuscaloosa sent 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines into the hostile Song Thu Bon valley. Their mission: to exterminate the Viet Cong. But a sandbar island in the river quickly became an island of death for the Marines who lay trapped there, pinned under merciless enemy fire. Seventeen would die. And that was just the beginning. . . .&newline;&newline;As point man for the lead squad of Hotel Company, 2/5, Marine John Culbertson tells the full bloody story of the battle that wiped out nearly an entire battalion of crack VC troops. OPERATION TUSCALOOSA gives full honors to the final sacrifice of the young Marines who made that victory possible. 4.5 Stars
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DeMille, Nelson By the Rivers of Babylon
Grand Central Publishing June 1, 1990 0446358592 / 9780446358590 Mass Market Paperback
From the Publisher&newline;Two Concorde jets take off from Lod Airport in Israel for a U.N. conference that will finally bring peace to the Middle East. Covered by F-14 fighters and accompanied by security men, the planes carry warriors, pacifist, enemies, dignitaries - and a bomb! Forced to crash-land, the men and women of the peace mission make a desperate life or death stand against Palestinian commandos. 4.0 Stars
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Flynn, Vince Term Limits
Pocket Star July 1, 1999 0671023187 / 9780671023188 Mass Market Paperback
From the Publisher&newline;&newline;&newline;In an intense thriller a former US Marine and congressman with a haunting past will reveal explosive implications of the country's future.&newline;&newline;&newline;Minneapolis Star-Tribune&newline;Term Limits is a...roller-coaster, edge-of-your-seat thriller with loads of insiders' lowdown on D.C. politics.&newline;&newline;Library Journal&newline;Adequate production values and a serviceable reading by James Naughton cannot save this audiobook from a truly awful story that tries to pass off a rightist political manifesto with Fascist underpinnings as an entertaining thriller. The silly plot focuses on our hero, a macho U.S. Congressman, who punches out the National Security Advisor in the President's presence, spouts that slain U.S. Congressmen got what they deserved, calls Congressmen who oppose his agenda &doublequote;pansies,&doublequote; and, finally, joins a plot to kill another Fed with assassins who just happen to include an old Marine buddy and the Congressman's own grandfather. The assassins are all just good Americans, demanding at one point that the President sponsor a crime bill, of all things, or else! They are noble reformers, with a dirty job to do, rubbing out corrupt politicians. This reactionary diatribe is not recommended.--Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L., Columbus, NC&newline;&newline;Kirkus Reviews&newline;An underwhelming first technothrilleržoriginally self-published. &doublequote;One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter,&doublequote; says Michael O'Rourke to his girlfriend, thus justifying the triple murder of a US senator and a pair of congressmen. They didn't deserve to live, he further insists, guilty as they were of mismanaging their country's business. In fact, virtually all politicians-Republicans and Democrats alike-are similarly guilty. Still, the assassinations are meant not merely as punishment but as a warning. Politicians had better shape up, be upright, set aside partisanship, and balance the budget. Or else. Young Michael, the hero of Flynn's dismal fable, is himself a congressman-the exception that proves the rule. He's sore at his government and has his reasons. His parents were killed in an automobile accident; the driver of the other car, it turned out, was a drunk, a repeat offender, who should have been off the streets, in jail. Due to the aforementioned mismanagement, however, the government can't build enough prisons. Nor is this mismanagement accidental; rather, itžs the inevitable result of self-serving cabals and wicked conspiracies. And as a variety of the aforesaid cabals maneuver to stop the terrorists, Michael finds himself caught squarely in the middle, very much on his own. While there are conspiracies galore here, much of the novel has an undercrafted feel to it: one-dimensional types, clumsy, often careless writing. (Flynn's heroine has &doublequote;big brown eyes&doublequote;; a &doublequote;freedom fighter&doublequote; has &doublequote;bright blue eyes&doublequote;-information delivered frequently, each time as if newly minted.) At length, the cabal is thwarted, the once misunderstood terroristvindicated. &doublequote;You're not going to believe what's on this,&doublequote; Michael says, handing over the tape that reveals the depth of the conspiracy. He's right. A sure-fire hit for readers who share Flynnžs political outlook-the government as ogre. (Author tour) 4.0 Stars
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Goldman, Joel Deadlocked
New York Pinnacle January 1, 2005 0786016086 / 9780786016082 Paperback
Editorial Reviews&newline;Product Description&newline;As a heat wave stifles Kansas City, a death-row inmate is served his final meal, makes his final confession, and uses his final breath to proclaim his innocence. For fifteen years, Ryan Kowalczyk denied having slaughtered a young couple in their car as their three-year-old lay sleeping in the back seat. But when his friend Whitney King, who also stood accused, turned against him, his fate was sealed. Attorney Lou Mason understands the pain of being orphaned, so when the victims' now-teenage son asks for his help in suing blueblood King-who got off scott-free - Lou can't turn him down. Coincidentally, Kowalczyk's mother wants to hire him for the same purpose. And things get even more interesting once Lou discovers that four of the jurors on the original case died violently...while the rest have disappeared. Now, with each sweltering day that passes, it becomes clearer that someone will do whatever it takes-from making death threats to carrying them out-to stop Mason in his tracks. The deeper he probes, the greater the danger-until the past and present collide in an explosion of deceit, corruption, and murder. 4.5 Stars
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Grippando, James When Darkness Falls
HarperCollins January 2, 2007 0060831138 / 9780060831134 Hardcover
Editorial Reviews&newline;&newline;From Publishers Weekly&newline;A tense hostage crisis in Miami propels the action in bestseller Grippando's solid sixth thriller to feature criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck (after Got the Look). Jack represents an armed homeless man known as Falcon, who takes among his hostages in a seedy motel Jack's best friend, Theo Knight, an innocent man the lawyer once pulled off death row at the last minute. Vincent Paulo, the recently blinded negotiator, has been dating the one person Falcon insists on talking with, police officer Alicia Mendoza, who also happens to be the mayor's daughter. With strands reaching back to Argentina's dirty war, the plot relies heavily on coincidence, but engaging characters, notably the blind Vincent (&doublequote;People either pity me to death and think that I can't possibly manage a minute of my life without a sighted person holding my hand, or they think I've been magically transformed into some kind of blind mystic with extrasensory powers&doublequote;), will help readers overlook the implausibilities. (Jan.)&newline;Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.&newline;&newline;From Booklist&newline;If Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck thinks his latest case is weird, he ain't seen nothin' yet. His client, a homeless man who calls himself Falcon, posts $10,000 bail in cash. That has Jack scratching his head, but when a body is found in the trunk of the abandoned car that Falcon calls home, Jack is prepared to go to the mat to defend his client--until, that is, Falcon kidnaps Jack's best friend, and Jack is propelled into an investigation that pushes his abilities to the limit. Although previous Swyteck novels have not been as compelling as most of Grippando's stand-alone thrillers, the series is solid and reliable. This one, which delves into the mystery of the Disappeared, the 30,000-plus Argentineans who (because of their opposition to the military regime) vanished between 1975 and 1983, is deeper than its predecessors. And that's good, because Grippando is at his best when he's telling a story that's more than a mere whodunit. The novel feels darker, more dramatic, than the previous Swyteck adventures, and it's by far the best in the series. David Pitt&newline;Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved 4.0 Stars
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Grisham, John The Street Lawyer
New York Doubleday February 4, 1998 0385490992 / 9780385490993 Hardcover
From Barnes & Noble&newline;The Barnes & Noble Review&newline;The Street Lawyer is Grisham's latest legal thriller, a gripping page-turner much like his earlier book The Firm. This latest outing delves into the often overlooked world of the homeless, from the perspective of an overworked young lawyer who has never ventured beyond his sheltered upper-middle-class life. His world turns upside down as he realizes, through a series of coincidences and a little homework, that the firm he has given his life to is hiding a secret that if public could ruin the firm's unstained name. &newline;&newline;Thirty-two-year-old Michael Brock is rising quickly in the competitive ranks of the Washington, D.C., law firm Drake & Sweeney. He has a society wife in medical school, the perfect address in Georgetown, and a baby - his Lexus. All bodes well for a seven-figure future (yes, six doesn't quite cut it anymore) until he looks down the barrel of a .44 and meets the eyes of a homeless gunman at the other end. Brock knows this is no joke - the gun seems 'to be working fine; the smell of its discharge was more noticeable than the odor of its owner.' The gunman, known to Brock only as Mister, takes nine hostages and holds them in a sixth-floor conference room for 12 hours, bound together with rope and lined up against a wall. And if the firearm fails to intimidate, a few pounds of dynamite are neatly strapped to the gunman's chest, handily connected to a single wire for mass detonation. &newline;&newline;Mister doesn't want money, stock options, or a Lexus - he seeks retribution. Ignored as a street bum, Mister commands attention at the firm as he turns his gun on eachofthe hostages. He demands to see the lawyers' tax returns, and as the 1050s arduously scroll out of the fax machine, Brock is sure that someone will be shot. With the assurance a loaded firearm provides, Mister reprimands his hostages for the total lack of charitable contributions on their returns. As Mister sadly pauses before delivering another barrage of criticisms, a police sniper sees a clean shot on Mister and blows his head off. Michael Brock is bathed in a fine spray of blood and sticky cerebrospinal fluid that reminds him of Mister for days after he has washed it off.&newline;&newline;Clearly traumatized by the event, Brock scours the papers the next morning for mention of the hostage situation. He learns Mister's true name, Devon Hardy, and with the echo of the man's last words, 'Who are the evictors?,' Brock tracks down Mordecai Green, a defender of the homeless and friend of Hardy who gave a quote to The Washington Post regarding Hardy's death.&newline;&newline;Brock shows up at Green's office not sure why he is there (a nagging conscience is a new thing), and begins to piece together the complex puzzle that explains Hardy's violent end. With Green's help, and the mysterious appearance of a critical file on Brock's desk, Brock discovers that money is everything to Drake & Sweeney, but nothing to him.&newline;&newline;Michael Brock, our young, for-the-people hero, quits his job, becomes a street lawyer with Green, and 'borrows' the precious file. A suspicious car accident, illegal searches of his apartment, and the odd disappearance of the Drake & Sweeney employee who may have supplied Brock with the file soon follow. What's in that file? Does Michael still have it? Can he clear his conscience by finding the truth? I suggest you read the book and find out.&newline;&newline;Does it seems unlikely that a hotshot lawyer accustomed to luxury would take a $90,000 pay cut? Yes, but this reader doesn't care. You'll be too busy wondering what will happen next. Plot inconsistencies become inconsequential in this spellbinding story of the little guy that could.&newline;&newline;In The Street Lawyer, Grisham speaks for the disenfranchised once again with perceptive and realistic depictions of the life of the homeless. Truth or consequences is what The Street Lawyer is ultimately about - Brock finds the truth, and the behemoth bad guys are socked with the consequences. Shouldn't the world always work that way? In Grisham's world it does. The Street Lawyer is a great read!&newline;&newline;From the Publisher&newline;&newline;&newline;Michael w 3.0 Stars
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Grisham, John The Street Lawyer
New York Doubleday February 4, 1998 0385490992 / 9780385490993 Hardcover
From Barnes & Noble&newline;The Barnes & Noble Review&newline;The Street Lawyer is Grisham's latest legal thriller, a gripping page-turner much like his earlier book The Firm. This latest outing delves into the often overlooked world of the homeless, from the perspective of an overworked young lawyer who has never ventured beyond his sheltered upper-middle-class life. His world turns upside down as he realizes, through a series of coincidences and a little homework, that the firm he has given his life to is hiding a secret that if public could ruin the firm's unstained name. &newline;&newline;Thirty-two-year-old Michael Brock is rising quickly in the competitive ranks of the Washington, D.C., law firm Drake & Sweeney. He has a society wife in medical school, the perfect address in Georgetown, and a baby - his Lexus. All bodes well for a seven-figure future (yes, six doesn't quite cut it anymore) until he looks down the barrel of a .44 and meets the eyes of a homeless gunman at the other end. Brock knows this is no joke - the gun seems 'to be working fine; the smell of its discharge was more noticeable than the odor of its owner.' The gunman, known to Brock only as Mister, takes nine hostages and holds them in a sixth-floor conference room for 12 hours, bound together with rope and lined up against a wall. And if the firearm fails to intimidate, a few pounds of dynamite are neatly strapped to the gunman's chest, handily connected to a single wire for mass detonation. &newline;&newline;Mister doesn't want money, stock options, or a Lexus - he seeks retribution. Ignored as a street bum, Mister commands attention at the firm as he turns his gun on eachofthe hostages. He demands to see the lawyers' tax returns, and as the 1050s arduously scroll out of the fax machine, Brock is sure that someone will be shot. With the assurance a loaded firearm provides, Mister reprimands his hostages for the total lack of charitable contributions on their returns. As Mister sadly pauses before delivering another barrage of criticisms, a police sniper sees a clean shot on Mister and blows his head off. Michael Brock is bathed in a fine spray of blood and sticky cerebrospinal fluid that reminds him of Mister for days after he has washed it off.&newline;&newline;Clearly traumatized by the event, Brock scours the papers the next morning for mention of the hostage situation. He learns Mister's true name, Devon Hardy, and with the echo of the man's last words, 'Who are the evictors?,' Brock tracks down Mordecai Green, a defender of the homeless and friend of Hardy who gave a quote to The Washington Post regarding Hardy's death.&newline;&newline;Brock shows up at Green's office not sure why he is there (a nagging conscience is a new thing), and begins to piece together the complex puzzle that explains Hardy's violent end. With Green's help, and the mysterious appearance of a critical file on Brock's desk, Brock discovers that money is everything to Drake & Sweeney, but nothing to him.&newline;&newline;Michael Brock, our young, for-the-people hero, quits his job, becomes a street lawyer with Green, and 'borrows' the precious file. A suspicious car accident, illegal searches of his apartment, and the odd disappearance of the Drake & Sweeney employee who may have supplied Brock with the file soon follow. What's in that file? Does Michael still have it? Can he clear his conscience by finding the truth? I suggest you read the book and find out.&newline;&newline;Does it seems unlikely that a hotshot lawyer accustomed to luxury would take a $90,000 pay cut? Yes, but this reader doesn't care. You'll be too busy wondering what will happen next. Plot inconsistencies become inconsequential in this spellbinding story of the little guy that could.&newline;&newline;In The Street Lawyer, Grisham speaks for the disenfranchised once again with perceptive and realistic depictions of the life of the homeless. Truth or consequences is what The Street Lawyer is ultimately about - Brock finds the truth, and the behemoth bad guys are socked with the consequences. Shouldn't the world always work that way? In Grisham's world it does. The Street Lawyer is a great read!&newline;&newline;From the Publisher&newline;&newline;&newline;Michael w 3.0 Stars
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Grisham, John The Street Lawyer
New York Doubleday February 4, 1998 0385490992 / 9780385490993 Hardcover
From Barnes & Noble&newline;The Barnes & Noble Review&newline;The Street Lawyer is Grisham's latest legal thriller, a gripping page-turner much like his earlier book The Firm. This latest outing delves into the often overlooked world of the homeless, from the perspective of an overworked young lawyer who has never ventured beyond his sheltered upper-middle-class life. His world turns upside down as he realizes, through a series of coincidences and a little homework, that the firm he has given his life to is hiding a secret that if public could ruin the firm's unstained name. &newline;&newline;Thirty-two-year-old Michael Brock is rising quickly in the competitive ranks of the Washington, D.C., law firm Drake & Sweeney. He has a society wife in medical school, the perfect address in Georgetown, and a baby - his Lexus. All bodes well for a seven-figure future (yes, six doesn't quite cut it anymore) until he looks down the barrel of a .44 and meets the eyes of a homeless gunman at the other end. Brock knows this is no joke - the gun seems 'to be working fine; the smell of its discharge was more noticeable than the odor of its owner.' The gunman, known to Brock only as Mister, takes nine hostages and holds them in a sixth-floor conference room for 12 hours, bound together with rope and lined up against a wall. And if the firearm fails to intimidate, a few pounds of dynamite are neatly strapped to the gunman's chest, handily connected to a single wire for mass detonation. &newline;&newline;Mister doesn't want money, stock options, or a Lexus - he seeks retribution. Ignored as a street bum, Mister commands attention at the firm as he turns his gun on eachofthe hostages. He demands to see the lawyers' tax returns, and as the 1050s arduously scroll out of the fax machine, Brock is sure that someone will be shot. With the assurance a loaded firearm provides, Mister reprimands his hostages for the total lack of charitable contributions on their returns. As Mister sadly pauses before delivering another barrage of criticisms, a police sniper sees a clean shot on Mister and blows his head off. Michael Brock is bathed in a fine spray of blood and sticky cerebrospinal fluid that reminds him of Mister for days after he has washed it off.&newline;&newline;Clearly traumatized by the event, Brock scours the papers the next morning for mention of the hostage situation. He learns Mister's true name, Devon Hardy, and with the echo of the man's last words, 'Who are the evictors?,' Brock tracks down Mordecai Green, a defender of the homeless and friend of Hardy who gave a quote to The Washington Post regarding Hardy's death.&newline;&newline;Brock shows up at Green's office not sure why he is there (a nagging conscience is a new thing), and begins to piece together the complex puzzle that explains Hardy's violent end. With Green's help, and the mysterious appearance of a critical file on Brock's desk, Brock discovers that money is everything to Drake & Sweeney, but nothing to him.&newline;&newline;Michael Brock, our young, for-the-people hero, quits his job, becomes a street lawyer with Green, and 'borrows' the precious file. A suspicious car accident, illegal searches of his apartment, and the odd disappearance of the Drake & Sweeney employee who may have supplied Brock with the file soon follow. What's in that file? Does Michael still have it? Can he clear his conscience by finding the truth? I suggest you read the book and find out.&newline;&newline;Does it seems unlikely that a hotshot lawyer accustomed to luxury would take a $90,000 pay cut? Yes, but this reader doesn't care. You'll be too busy wondering what will happen next. Plot inconsistencies become inconsequential in this spellbinding story of the little guy that could.&newline;&newline;In The Street Lawyer, Grisham speaks for the disenfranchised once again with perceptive and realistic depictions of the life of the homeless. Truth or consequences is what The Street Lawyer is ultimately about - Brock finds the truth, and the behemoth bad guys are socked with the consequences. Shouldn't the world always work that way? In Grisham's world it does. The Street Lawyer is a great read!&newline;&newline;From the Publisher&newline;&newline;&newline;Michael w 3.0 Stars
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Grisham, John The Street Lawyer
Doubleday February 4, 1998 0385490992 / 9780385490993 Hardcover
Editorial Reviews&newline;&newline;Amazon.com Review&newline;John Grisham is back with his latest courtroom conundrum, The Street Lawyer. This time the lord of legal thrillers dives deep into the world of the homeless, particularly their barely audible legal voice in a world dominated by large, all-powerful law firms. Our hero, Michael Brock, is on the fast track to partnership at D.C.'s premier law firm, Sweeny & Drake. His dream of someday raking in a million-plus a year is finally within reach. Nothing can stop him, not even 90-hour workweeks and a failing marriage--until he meets DeVon Hardy, a.k.a. &doublequote;Mister,&doublequote; a Vietnam vet with a grudge against his landlord--and a few lawyers to fry. Hardy, with no clear motive, takes Brock and eight of his colleagues hostage in a boardroom, demanding their tax returns and interrogating them with a conviction that would have put perpetrators of the Spanish Inquisition to shame. Hardy, a man of few words and a lot of ammunition, mumbles cryptically, &doublequote;Who are the evictors?&doublequote; as he points a .44 automatic within inches of Brock's face. The violent outcome of the hostage situation triggers an abrupt soul-searching for the young lawyer, and Hardy's mysterious question continues to haunt him. Brock learns that Hardy had been in and out of homeless shelters most of his life, but he had recently begun paying rent in a rundown building; that means he has legal recourse when a big money-making outfit such as Sweeny & Drake boots him with no warning. When Brock realizes that his profession caters to the morally challenged, he sets out on an aimless search through the dicier side of D.C., ending up at the 14th Street Legal Clinic. The clinic's director, a gargantuan man named Mordecai Green, woos Brock to the clinic with a $90,000 cut in pay and the chance to redeem his soul. Brock takes it--and some of the story's credibility along with it; it's hard to believe that a Yale graduate who sacrificed everything--including his marriage--to succeed in the legal profession would quickly jump at the opportunity for low-paying, charitable work. However, Brock's search for corruption in the swanky upper echelons of Sweeny & Drake (via the toughest streets of D.C.) is filled with colorful characters and realistic, gritty descriptions. In the The Street Lawyer, Grisham once again defends the voiceless and powerless. In the words of Mordecai Green, &doublequote;That's justice, Michael. That's what street law is all about. Dignity.&doublequote;&newline;&newline;From Publishers Weekly&newline;America's most popular author is arguably its most popular crusader as well, tilting his pen against myriad targets, including big law (The Firm, etc.), big tobacco (The Runaway Jury), big insurance (The Rainmaker) and now, in perhaps his sweetest, shortest novel, against anyone, big or little, who treats the homeless as less than human. The expected powerhouse opening involves the hostage-taking?by an armed, homeless man who calls himself Mister?of nine attorneys of a huge law firm headquartered in D.C. Among the nine is narrator Michael Brock, an antitrust lawyer who receives a faceful of blood when a police sniper blows away Mister's head. &doublequote;I'm alive! I'm alive,&doublequote; Michael cries like Ebenezer Scrooge, but, like Scrooge, this greedy hotshot is ripe for a moral awakening. The next day, Michael visits the shabby offices of Mister's attorney, Mordecai Green, who explains that Mister and others had been illegally evicted from makeshift housing on orders from a real-estate development company represented by Michael's firm. Inspired by Green and shaken by his firm's complicity, Michael volunteers at a homeless shelter. When a family he meets there dies on the street, and turns out to have been among the evictees, Michael quits his job, goes to work for Green and, using as evidence a file he steals from the firm, aims to sue his former employer on behalf of the evictees. In turn, the firm places Michael in its crosshairs, pressuring him to give up the file through legal maneuvers, having him arrested and hints of darker means. The cat-and-mouse between Michael and the firm is vintage Grisham, intrica 3.0 Stars
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Hagberg, David Soldier of God
New York Forge Books October 20, 2005 0765306220 / 9780765306227 Hardcover
From the Publisher&newline;&doublequote;My dearest mother,&doublequote; the letter from the young Saudi Arabian suicide bomber begins, as have so many before it. &doublequote;The day of joy will soon arrive. Send out presents and sweets; prepare my father and my brother for my wedding to come. My black-eyed wife waits for me in Paradise. Rejoice, o my mother, for we will meet in heaven.&doublequote;&newline;Suicide bombers are coming to America's heartland. Their targets: our most precious and vulnerable assets, our children. &newline;Following the most terrifying lead of his life, CIA Director Kirk McGarvey traces the threat to a terrorist known as Khalil. But upon further investigation he is convinced that Khalil and the Saudi playboy prince Abdul Hasim bin Salman are the same man. The White House wants nothing to do with McGarvey's assumptions; accusing a Saudi prince of such a heinous plan will surely strain the delicate political balance between the US and the Saudis, always thought to be allies as well as our major oil suppliers. But McGarvey refuses to let politics stand in the way of him stopping Khalil, even if it means that the President of the United States will call him a traitor, even if it means he must resign as Director of the CIA to pursue him, and even if it means his meddling will lead to the kidnapping and brutal beating of his own wife.&newline;From the deadly frigid Alaskan waters, to the balmy breezes of the French Rivera and finally to the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C., Mac has to unravel the latest threat from Osama bin Laden in order to save American school children from a cadre of suicide bombers willing to martyr themselves for the cause as Soldiers of God.&newline;&newline;Publishers Weekly&newline;After CIA director Kirk McGarvey and his wife, Katy, barely survive a spectacularly ruthless terrorist attack on an Alaskan cruise ship, McGarvey (last seen in last year's By Dawn's Early Light) vows to track down and kill the terrorist leader known only as Khalil. This should be a simple CIA assassination (McGarvey's forte), but there's a catch: Khalil may be Prince Abdul Salman, a billionaire playboy member of the Saudi royal family, well connected to the White House and U.S. businesses. Given information pointing to a second 9/11-scale al-Qaeda attack, the U.S. president discounts Saudi complicity in terrorism, including Salman/Khalil; McGarvey resigns and goes after Khalil on his own. Revenge drives Khalil and McGarvey both, and McGarvey's wife also has a reason to want Khalil dead. Hagberg (who also writes as Sean Flannery) makes sure that nothing is as it seems, and McGarvey begins to doubt his own conclusions about Khalil's identity. With just days until the attack, the U.S. is under martial law, Katy is kidnapped and McGarvey faces tough decisions about home and country. As much about vendettas as politics by other means (but with a chilling, well-articulated politico-economic backstory), this is a thrilling page-turner, from its violent beginning to its violent end. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.&newline;&newline;Kirkus Reviews&newline;A tireless thrillermeister evokes jihad again in his relentlessly formulaic 32nd (By Dawn's Early Light, 2003, etc.). After a one-book hiatus, Kirk McGarvey-&doublequote;the best field officer the CIA has ever known&doublequote;-comes off the blocks ready to Rambo. Good thing, too, because a certain black-hearted villain, Osama bin Laden's operations chief-known to the intelligence community by the code name of Khalil-is out for American blood. So there's Kirk and wife Katy on board the Spirit of '98, accompanied by former Secretary of Defense Donald Shaw and wife Karen, set to embark on a one-week pleasure cruise to Alaska. Suddenly, there's Khalil, accompanied by a cadre of gun-toting al-Qaeda terrorists. The mission: Kidnap Shaw and haul him before a kangaroo court in Pakistan in order to try him as a war criminal. Impeccably planned, the mission proceeds without a hitch until McGarvey's ever-dependable back hairs prickle, alerting him to danger. At this point it's all over for Khalil, though he can hardly be blamed for not realizing it, the odds being 15 armed-to-the-teet 4.0 Stars
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Hagberg, David The Kill Zone
Tor Books December 7, 2003 0812577795 / 9780812577792 Mass Market Paperback
From the Publisher&newline;&newline;&newline;From the USA Today bestselling author of Joshua's Hammer&newline;&newline;The President of the United States has appointed Kirk McGarvey interim director of the CIA while his nomination winds its way through Congressional hearings. But what should have been the culmination of McGarvey's career, has activated a twenty-year-old Russian plot sponsored by his former archenemy, General Baranov. Now, McGarvey is in the Kill Zone. He finds himself part of a plot that does know the Cold War is over, a plot that comes at McGarvey full throttle--from the grave of an enemy McGarvey had buried decades before.&newline;&newline;Step by inexorable step, the assassin-a sleeper agent for all these years-is awakened from a holding state of mind. Brainwashed by KGB doctors to pull the trigger, the killer has unknowingly waited for a signal that has finally arrived.&newline;&newline;And as the story races toward its breathtaking climax, it's becoming clearer to McGarvey and his associates that the killer is someone within his inner circle.&newline;&newline;A colleague or a friend.&newline;&newline;Somebody very close.&newline;&newline;Is there anyone McGarvey can trust when trust itself can kill him?&newline;&newline;&newline;Publishers Weekly&newline;Hagberg (Eden's Gate) resumes his CIA thriller series featuring veteran agent Kirk McGarvey with this rousing entry. Happily reunited with his wife after a separation, 50-year-old McGarvey is ready for the slow lane after a quarter-century of service with the CIA, but his work isn't over-the president nominates him for the post of interim director, which would make him the youngest man ever to serve in that capacity. He jumps at the opportunity, but his &doublequote;preternatural awareness&doublequote; warns him that something's not right. His research assistant, Otto, discovers that former KGB doctor Anatoli Nikolayev has fled Moscow with an armful of old classified documents from the Network Martyrs File, which held the Cold War plans for the assassination of key U.S. government figures. The assassination plans were developed years ago by an old enemy of McGarvey's, but have somehow been reactivated now that McGarvey has been appointed to his new post. Rigged helicopters, exploding vans, faulty car brakes and killer skis place McGarvey, his family and Otto in grave danger, and an attempt on his pregnant daughter's life throws McGarvey's wife, Kathleen, into an emotional tailspin. Otto rushes off to France to get some answers from Nikolayev, while McGarvey tries to keep it together for his confirmation hearings as a callous senator dissects his long-buried, sordid past. In reliably meaty prose, Hagberg once again delivers compelling characters, animated political intrigue and a plot that speeds along at a steady clip. (Dec.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.&newline;&newline;Kirkus Reviews&newline;With Kirk McGarvey's return to action after a one-book hiatus, old pro Hagberg (Joshua's Hammer, 2000, etc.) shows that his hand's still firm on the thriller. McGarvey is 50 now and graying at the temples, but &doublequote;the best field officer the CIA has ever known&doublequote; maintains that &doublequote;rugby player's physique,&doublequote; and, with those &doublequote;honest gray-green eyes,&doublequote; he's no less the chick magnet than ever. Also-in this 14th venture into tricky, sticky, geopolitical quagmires-he's finally reached the pinnacle of his profession. In a couple of days, Senate confirmation hearings will begin on his appointment as DCI, Director of Central Intelligence. Not that he's absolutely certain he wants the job-it's dangerous in a variety of ways and thankless in every way-but since President Haynes wants him in the post, McGarvey, patriot that he is, feels he has no choice. Roiling the waters, however, is Senator Thomas Hammond, chairman of the pertinent subcommittee, whose view of McGarvey's qualifications runs dramatically counter to the President's. Vitriolic and venomous Senator Hammond does little to hide the fact that he views McGarvey as a loose cannon, that he dislikes him personally, and that he intends-by fair means or foul-to block his appointment. And he's got company. Consider Valentin Baranov, for instance, once the evil genius behind the most vicious of KGB operation 3.5 Stars
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Higgins, Jack Bad Company
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd May 4, 2004 0007127189 / 9780007127184 Paperback
Editorial Reviews&newline;From Publishers Weekly&newline;Humdrum company would be a more accurate title. This sequel to Higgins's last, ripsnorting yarn, Midnight Runner, is mostly a by-the-numbers effort, though the numbers do speed by. The novel, the author's 35th, begins promisingly, playing to Higgins's greatest strength, WWII action. Young Baron Max von Berger, entrusted by Hitler during the last days of the Third Reich with his diary as well as the key to a vast fortune in Swiss banks, makes a daring and exciting escape from the Fhrerbunker. But once the narrative leaps toward the present, it begins to flag, with a second setup (including a nifty Saddam cameo) explaining why and how the baron inherits the wealth and power of the Rashid family, the Arab oil kingpins destroyed by Higgins's customary antihero, Sean Dillon, in the last book. Problematic is Higgins's use of von Berger and his thuggish son as villains here; they lack the evil charisma of the Rashids. To avenge the death of the Rashids, von Berger targets Dillon and his master, British black ops commander Gen. Charles Ferguson, who fights back with the help of the usual crew of &doublequote;hard&doublequote; men, including computer whiz Major Roper, White House black ops chief Blake Johnson, London tough guys Harry and Billy Salter, et al. Matters pick up a bit when von Berger's son kidnaps General Ferguson to Germany, but Dillon's rescue attempt whips by much too quickly, as if Higgins were hurrying to finish this book and get on to number 36. The author's fans will find enough gnarly action and sentiment here to make them anticipate his next, but this entry is sub par and the series as a whole could use a kick in the spine. &newline;Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist&newline;Higgins' classic novel of World War II espionage, The Eagle Has Landed (1975), was the thriller that brought him fame--and probably fortune. Bad Company, his thirty-fifth novel, also deals with WWII. As the war is drawing to a close in 1945, Hitler gives his diary to an aide for safekeeping. The diary contains an account of a meeting between representatives of Hitler and President Roosevelt at which they discussed ways to negotiate a peace treaty and then to attack Russia. The aide, Max von Berger, is now (in 2003) a billionaire industrialist and a silent partner with an international crime family. Seeking revenge for a killing, Berger vows to reveal the diary's secret that would destroy the current U.S. president. It's up to an American and a British agent to get the diary before it falls into the hands of the president's enemies. Like other Higgins' novels, the locales in this one are worldwide and include London, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, the U.S., and Iraq. (Yes, Saddam Hussein is one of the many characters.) Both the good guys and bad guys talk tough and smoke and drink a lot--Bushmills Irish whiskey, champagne, and schnapps are among their favorites. By a master of espionage novels, and certain to be requested at the circulation desk. George Cohen&newline;Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. 2.5 Stars
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