VIGILANTE (Jessica Daniel #2) by Kerry Wilkinson

Published in July of 2013 by Thomas and Mercer

Kerry Wilkinson has done what almost all of Amazon's self-published authors have dreamed of - he has published a Kindle e-book, outsold the established names and got the attention of mainstream publishing houses and won himself a publishing contract.  While this series is not life-changing literature, I found it to be better than the latest offerings that I have read by much more established authors such as Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson.

In the second book of this series Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is searching for a serial killer. But, there are people who don't seem to care too much if she actually catches this murderer since the only people he kills are criminals. While vigilantes are officially discouraged, more than one police officer notes that this murderer is making their jobs easier.

The DNA results make everything all the more confusing because the results point to a man who would be a great suspect except that he is already serving a life sentence in prison. As Jessica Daniel and her colleagues begin to investigate they just generate more questions than answers. Soon, Jessica Daniel is becoming more and more sure that the vigilante just might be someone who is supposed to be upholding the law, not taking it in their own hands...

The dreaded sophomore slump is a real danger for artists of all sorts. Vigilante suffers a little when compared to the first book. It tends to plod at times and the ending came out of nowhere, so that I felt like I really had no chance to figure it out for myself. That being said, I do like the Jessica Daniel character and I enjoyed reading more about her.

Note: I was sent a review copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review through the Amazon Vine program.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.
Reviewed on December 7, 2013.

JACK IRISH (Set #1) DVD

This will be of interest to fans of brooding mysteries

Guy Pearce (the villain in Iron Man 3) plays Jack Irish in this Australian mystery show. Jack Irish is a former prosperous defense lawyer who lost his wife when a past client came to his office to argue about how his case was defended in court. Jack Irish tells his wife to leave the office and head for the car and he will meet her after he and his client talk a bit. Instead, the client follows his wife out to the car, shoots and kills her and then kills himself right in front of Irish.

Irish's life goes into a tailspin. Now,he spends his time woodworking, drinking,doing a bit of bill collecting and gambling. But, sometimes the right case comes along and he gets motivated to really care about something that matters again...

I was honestly not impressed by Guy Pearce in Iron Man 3, but I thought he hit all of the right notes in his portrayal of Jack Irish. His new (and seedy) friends are there to help as well and there is the alluring promise of new romance for Irish.

This DVD contains two 90 minute full-length episodes plus a 17 minute behind-the-scenes bonus feature.This show would be rated R in the United States due to language and nudity.

I rate this DVD 4 stars out of 5.
Reviewed on November 26, 2013.

STAR WARS: JEDI ACADEMY by Jeffrey Brown

  A Unique Entry Into an Crowded Field


Published by Scholastic in August of 2013.

If you have read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid or the James Patterson Middle School series you get how this book is designed. The twist is that Roan Novachez is a middle school student from Tatooine who really wants to get into Pilot Academy Middle School (much like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode IV). If you were trying to place this book in the timeline of the Star Wars movies it would be about 200 years before the events of Return of the Jedi based on Yoda's stated age.

Anyway, Roan does not get into the Pilot Academy but Yoda extends a special invitation for him to come to the Coruscant Jedi Academy. He is the newest student and has the traditional new student problems at a middle school (finding friends, figuring out your teachers, finding your classrooms and so on) plus he has additional problems such as trying to understand what his Wookie gym teacher is saying and figure out how to actually move things using the Force.

My kids (ages 8 and 13) loved this book (my 8 year old just took it from me and started reading it for the second time), I liked it quite a bit but did not love it. It has some funny bits and is a quick, light read. Of course, things work out well for Roan but it's fun to read how he does it.

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.
Reviewed on November 26, 2013.

RUSH REVERE and the BRAVE PILGRIMS: TIME-TRAVEL ADVENTURES with EXCEPTIONAL AMERICANS (audiobook) by Rush Limbaugh

Published by Simon and Schuster in 2013.
Read by the author, Rush Limbaugh.
Duration: 4 hours, 31 minutes

This is bound to irritate some listeners of Rush who may not read any more than the simple fact that I was not impressed by this book. Let my establish my bona fides right off. I have been a semi-regular listener to Rush since 1991 when I heard his parody song about Ted Kennedy called "I'm a philanderer" to the tune of Dion's "I'm a Wanderer." I have read Rush's books. I remember his TV show, if you look at my reviews you will see that I'm fairly well-read in Conservative literature and I even have a subscription to National Review.

That being said, I cannot say that I was a fan of this book. I am a history teacher and I really have no problem with the history Rush presented. The book is about the Puritans, the Mayflower, their trip across the ocean and their first year in the New World. It was a bit simplistic and did not go into much detail except about Puritan beliefs and how they differed from the official Church of England line. Also, Rush ends the story before he gets to the utter deterioration of Puritan-Indian relations and the awful wars that ensued. But, his real point is to detail the personal bravery of the Pilgrims in the face of long odds and terrific adversity and he does that, even if he leaves other parts of the complete history out.

What he does go into is an excessive amount of detail explaining how Rush Revere and his horse Liberty are

The Mayflower Compact, 1620 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris 

able to travel back and forth in time to interact with historical figures. The book is sort of a mix between the Magic Tree House series (traveled back in forth in time) and the Magic School Bus series (crazy field trips with the teacher) except the horse is the magical thing. He can talk, travel back and forth in time by creating a time portal, turn invisible and even stop time. But, Limbaugh spends so much time explaining the premise behind this book while setting down the ground rules for what he hopes will be a series of books focusing on American history that it just gets boring.

Even worse, Rush does just a so-so job of reading the book. If you are a frequent listener to Rush you know that he has a rule against listeners reading from prepared remarks when they call in. Reading does not sound as good as just talking with the host or even telling a story. You may have heard someone reading an article from the paper or instructions for a piece of do-it-yourself furniture out loud and they rush it. Well, ironic as it is considering his name, Rush rushes this reading and gets the pacing all wrong. On top of that, he does almost nothing to create voices or anything else to individualize the characters so it just sounds like a non-stop near-monotone of Rush rushing through his story. It is very odd that a man who spends 3 hours a day using his voice just missed the mark here. Don't get me wrong, it's not like he's not understandable, it's just not a high-quality audiobook performance.

So, in short, I am going to take what would have been a 4 star book and take off a star for the poor reading and another star for the slow pace of the book.

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5.
Reviewed on November 25, 2013.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher through Audiobook Jukebox's Solid Gold Reviewer program in exchange for an honest review.

THE LIBERTY AMENDMENTS: RESTORING the AMERICAN REPUBLIC (audiobook) by Mark R. Levin

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in August of 2013.
Narrated by Jason Culp. Opening and closing chapters read by Mark R. Levin.
Duration: 6 hours, 54 minutes.

For the past several years Conservative commentator Mark R. Levin has been laying out his arguments that demonstrate the government is over-reaching its Constitutional limitations in a series of books. He has discussed the Supreme Court in Men in Black, the roots of statist politics in Liberty and Tyranny and pointed out the ongoing actions of statists in Ameritopia.

Now, in The Liberty Amendments, Levin details how he would address the problem using a series of Constitutional amendments.

Since it is unlikely that the current crop of Senators and Representatives would vote to amend the Constitution and limit their power, Levin urges the states to initiate the process by calling for a national convention.

Mark R. Levin

His proposed amendments include:

-Term limits for Congress (12 years);

-Repeal the 17th Amendment (direct election of Senators) and let states legislatures choose them (the way most states did it before the 17th Amendement);

-12 year term limits for members of the Supreme Court;

-An amendment to limit the amount the government can borrow;

-An amendment limiting the percentage of GNP the government can spend;

-An amendment to limit the rule-making ability of the federal bureaucracy;

-An amendment to let the state governments overrule a Supreme Court decision if enough of them vote to do it.

I found Levin's suggested amendments to be well-explained as was the rationale behind them. But, sometimes Levin gets a little too dedicated in making his arguments and he quotes multiple lengthy passages from the Founding Fathers that make for tedious listening. There was nothing that veteran reader Jason Culp could have done to make those passages more interesting and since I am reviewing both the content of the book and its experience as an audiobook I have to deduct a star for those tedious passages.

NOTE: I was sent a copy of this audiobook by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.
Reviewed on November 22, 2013.

OVERTIME in the WOODS (short story) (kindle) by Ryan Sean O'Reilly

Published in 2013 as an e-short story in kindle format.
Estimated length: 29 pages.

This short story follows Rich Lacey, a private investigator who often works for insurance companies and investigates people who claim to have been physically disabled at work  but who are actually just fine. He is tracking a man named Rufus Stumford in the back woods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula who is suspected of faking a back injury claim. Usually, Lacey works in the city, but Stumford case looks so obvious. The problem? He lives out in the real wild country - well out of cell phone range and out of Lacey's comfort zone.

But, Lacey has a case to prove, even if has illegally placed a homing device on Stumford's truck and has illegally trespassed to get good pictures of Stumford at work at his cabin - splitting and hauling wood.
But, what happens when Lacey actually meets Stumford makes him question the justice of what he does for a living...

This short story was well done - it had a good amount of tension and an interesting bit of mind games between Stumford and Lacey. 

I rate this short story 4 stars out of 5.
Reviewed on November 12, 2013.