DWD's Reviews

Strong start for a first novel Published in 1997. This surprisingly strong first novel concerns a group of 5 high school friends who are being killed off nearly 20 years after graduation. Four members of this group are extremely successful (Congressman, Olympic medal winner, Big-time college basketball coach, billionaire entrepreneur) and the FBI believes the unsuccessful one is killing his former buddies in a fit of jealous, psychotic cold-blooded, calculating rage. The story mostly concerns the last two surviving friends (coach and billionaire) and the extraordinary steps the FBI takes to protect them while the coach's team is progressing through the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament field. If you like basketball, then the well-described basketball action is a nice addition to the mystery. Most of the action is set in and around the fictional University of Northern Indiana, which is located in West Lafayette, Indiana. For those familiar with Indiana, you know that tha...

Fascinating. Published in 2000 by University of California Press. The title of Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? pretty much tells it all - it is an academic exploration into the people who deny the Holocaust ever happened and their motivations for making this claim. Of course, you may be wondering why someone would make a claim like this, despite the film footage of newly-liberated camps, eyewitness testimony from both victims and perpetrators, the population records that show that, indeed, some 6 million Jews did not survive World War II and damning circumstantial evidence from Hitler and members of his inner circle that alludes to a "Final Solution" to the "Jewish problem". Well, the deniers are a motley lot. Some are educated and well-spoken and others are not. Some feel that Germany has become a martyred nation to the cause of eradicating racism. Others are pro-fascist in politics and want to get rid of the tai...

Solid Prequel. When the Tripods Came is a prequel to the YA sci-fi trilogy known as the Tripods Trilogy. In the original trilogy, an alien master race rules the earth around the year 2100. The aliens are never seen and travel the world in giant tripods with prehensile legs (I often think of the Tripods when I see water towers in small towns). The aliens use mind control techniques to control the human population which lives in a low tech feudal type society. Every year young people are brought to the Tripods to be "capped" - a process that involves having a metallic cap attached to the skull that facilitates the control of humanity.  John Christopher The original series was published in 1967 and 1968. The prequel was published in 1988. The prequel tells how humanity first encountered the Tripods when the Tripods landed on earth and seemed bent on destruction. The Tripods were quickly defeated militarily so the aliens pulled back and began using cartoon sho...

Published in 2010. Painted Ladies is Robert B. Parker's latest offering in the long-running Spenser series. Parker died in January 2010 and this book was already in the pipeline waiting to be published (he has one more coming out called Sixkill ) . According to my count, this is number 37 in the Spenser series. Painted Ladies  is a solid novel. It is nowhere near as good as the best of the series (in my opinion, that would be Looking for Rachel Wallace and the ones created at about the same time in the late 1970s and early 1980s) but it is not an embarrassment like Potshot , either. The plot revolves around the theft of a piece of art called Lady with a Finch . Someone has called with an offer to return the painting for a ransom and Spenser is hired to protect Ashton Prince, the art expert who will deliver the ransom to the kidnappers during the exchange. Spenser ultimately fails as a bodyguard as the painting is booby-trapped with a bomb and Ashton Prince is vaporized right ...

An entertaining read W. Hodding Carter covers plumbing from the Ancient Indians, Greeks and Romans to modern day Japanese badet toilet in  Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization , a meandering romp through sewers, both past and present. Carter's light-hearted writing style makes it a fun read. He meanders all over the world of bathrooms, pipes and open-pit sewers but the trip is a fun one. There are a lot of detours, but it's fun and informative. W. Hodding Carter That being said, there are a couple of stumbles. On page 30 he claims the Hellenistic Age is named for Helen of Troy, which is ridiculous. Chapter 8 "Blame It On the Christians" is an equally ridiculous attempt to blame all of the Western world's issues with defecation and urination (mostly cutesy names like poo-poo and the desire to defecate alone) on Christianity. He quotes Francis of Assisi to make his case that Christianity made using the bathroom and being physically clean a "d...

Good, but predictable Audio version originally published in 1986 by Random House Audio Multicast performance with sound effects Duration: 55 minutes. I like Louis L'Amour. His descriptions and conversations are top notch. However, his plots are predictable so I really am grading this on a curve. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings I am also rating the audio version of  Riding for the Brand  which is interesting because it is told by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash. It was quite enjoyable to hear the four of these men work together - they were all quite good, especially Kristofferson and Nelson. This audio edition has features that most don't, including special effects and a music soundtrack that was sometimes reminiscent of Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns and sometimes reminiscent of Silverado . The inclusion of the special effects did speed the plot along (you don't have to describe th...

A solid sci-fi story saddled with a fantasy genre name Published in 2000 by Baen Books. Just seeing the title of this book you would assume that David Weber's first solo novel is all about ogres, witches and elves. The cover shows differently, of course. The Apocalypse Troll   is an action-packed bit of sci-fi that includes time travel, a threat to planet earth and a lovely lady. Here are the plot basics: an alien race from the future lands on earth in an effort to destroy it and humans from the future arrive in an effort to stop them. But, their defense was less than successful so current day humans are left to fight on with the advice of a surviving human from the future. And this story works. Mind you, this is not "great" literature - but it is a romp through space and time with plenty of military action, a truly evil villain and lots of snappy dialogue. Be warned, there is not a lot of character development and the reader really doesn't know the enti...

Originally Published in 2007 An odd and interesting bit of history from the Pacific Front in World War II The Airmen and the Headhunters: A True Story of Lost Soldiers, Heroic Tribesmen and the Unlikeliest Rescue of World War II   is a well-researched telling of the story of two sets of American fliers (one Army and one Navy) who were shot down over Borneo by the Japanese. The survivors end up living with the Dayaks, the famous headhunters of the highlands of Borneo. Borneo was largely unmapped and unknown to the West. It was, and still is, one of the remotest locations on earth. Most of Borneo's interior is like the old line, "You can't get there from here." Well, you can if you jump out of an airplane. The author, Judith Heimann doing research in Borneo The author, Heimann, does a good job of giving the reader a feel for the Dayak way of life, but the shortage of maps makes the story of the soldiers being moved from village to village for their protection a...

Michael Tait and Toby Mac continue their look at history and faith In Under God Toby Mac and Michaet Tait continue to the exploration of faith and history that they began as members of the musical group DC Talk with books like Jesus Freaks: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus, the Ultimate Jesus Freaks. The main themes of the book are faith, civil rights and political freedom. Many of these same themes were explored in DC Talk's best-selling Jesus Freak album with such songs as "Colored People" and "What Have We Become." For me, Under God was both a great book and a frustrating book. As a history teacher, I applaud any attempt to encourage people to learn our history. Mac and Tait do not sugarcoat the failings of our country and our Founders. But, they also are sure to point out when those same people got it right.  Toby Mac Under God is a beautiful book with a wraparound cover, jagged edge pages and faded illustrations that are oftentimes se...

Audiobook 7 CDs 8.5 hours Read by John Bedford Lloyd The Poacher's Son is the first in a series of books about Mike Bowditch, a rookie Maine Game Warden. Bowditch is settling into his job, losing his long-time girlfriend, dealing with the locals that have bad interactions with the local wildlife and rude out-of-state tourists that flaunt Maine's laws. Bowditch's life is turned upside down when a local deputy is killed while escorting a timber company executive (who was also killed) away from an unsuccessful attempt to cool local passions about the timber company's long term plans for the area. It seems that the number one suspect is Bowditch's estranged father, a local poacher, hunting guide and bar brawler well-known for his bad attitude and violent nature. Bowditch is sure his father is innocent. He has no illusions about his father's nature, but he cannot figure out a motive for his father. He gets involved despite repeated warnings from his super...

An interesting ride, but not told as clearly as it could have been. Published in 2006 The premise of Mad Dogs is a winner - picture an insane asylum just for spies that have been pushed beyond the breaking point. There are victims of torture, people who have compromised cherished values, lost loved ones in the line of duty or have just seen things that no one should have to see. Now, imagine that 5 of these patients have a doctor that they love - he pushes them, challenges them and makes progress with them. And, he gets murdered right in the room where they do their "group" time, making it look like one of them had done it. James Grady So, this group of misfits decides to flee from the frame job and find the root of the conspiracy that killed their doctor. Each of them resurrects their skills and works together to escape, find clues and follow the scant trail back to the source. Sounds great, right? Kind of like a hard-edged version of the Michael Keaton...

I liked this book a lot except... ...the last 1/3 of it got bogged down in too much technical detail and repeated information that had been previously stated. That is too bad because the first 2/3 was well-written and informative. The Great American Gun Debate: Essays on Firearms and Violence  really is an interesting book - one that should burst some bubbles of the anti-gun crowd. The writers painstakingly analyze the statistics and the motivations of some of America's biggest gun control lobbies, including the Centers for Disease Control (did you know that they use bogus data to label handguns as a public health threat? They quote FBI data that literally does not exist - they cite the document but it does not have the statistics that they use as a justification to lobby against guns. The document doesn't even report that type of statistic!) Don't let my comments about the last 1/3 of the book deter you from reading the rest of it - it really was worth the time and...

Published in 2004 . This is a typical Spenser book. I happen to like a typical Spenser book quite a bit. I think I've read them all and usually I am pleased. Bad Business was a keeper. Robert B. Parker Oh, to be sure, there's the required comments about Spenser and Susan's relationship and why they don't want to get married. There's the required comments about Spenser and Hawk's relationship and how they'd die for each other, etc. There's the required comments about Spenser's checkered career in law enforcement. It's a formula to be sure, but I like the formula. Spenser's comments and observations are pure gold and the case was interesting because it (sort of) explains what happened to Enron. I guess I'm over the fact that Spenser never ages. Parker must have been hearing comments because he includes a NY Times review that excuses this fact inside the dust cover at the beginning of the synopsis. It doesn't bother me with J...

I enjoyed it but would a young adult who has never heard of the Spenser books? I've read just about everything Robert B. Parker has written. I'm a huge fan of the Spenser series and I really did enjoy Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel , a look at the frequently alluded to but never before fleshed out childhood of Spenser in "West Flub-dub", somewhere out west. Fans of the series will enjoy it. It consists of Spenser and Susan talking about Spenser's childhood (with plenty of psycho-analysis thrown in) interspersed with flashbacks to Spenser as a young man in a series of "coming-of-age" stories). Robert B. Parker Will Young Adult (YA) readers care? The weakness of the book for YA's is the modern talk between Spenser and Susan. New readers will wonder who they are and not get the references to Spenser's hyper-developed sense of self - Parker spent years developing these characters. The regular reader will have no problem with the...

A surprising little book What do I mean by surprising? I already knew how much of a role faith played in the founding of our country, so I was not surprised by that aspect of Forged in Faith: How Faith Shaped the Birth of the Nation 1607-1776 . Rather, I found myself thinking that Gragg was slanting the facts to make a point and leaving out crucial details, only to find, when I turned the page, that he addressed those details and addressed them fairly. For example, he extols the virtues of the religious liberties enshrined in Massachusetts Colony's legal system in Chapter 5 (p. 57). I found myself thinking - "Yeah, but what about the Quakers?" It is addressed briefly on page 60 and again on page 73 (it turns out, some of the Quakers were quite annoying when promulgating their religious beliefs, including one woman who walked naked through a Puritan church service while haranguing the pastor about the need for simplicity in one's life!) Gragg makes his point ea...

More of a portrait, less of a traditional movie Monte Walsh is not a plot-driven movie so much as it is a portrait of that moment in time when the Old West was disappearing and the men who made the Old West what it was had to adjust, die or just fade away. It is beautifully shot and there is a lot of attention to detail. If one is looking for a ton of action, this is not the western you are looking for. But, if you love cowboy movies this one is a real treat. It would make the watcher wistful for those days when the horse ruled the west, except that you know that Monte Walsh would have none of that pointless sentiment. No living actor looks more like a cowboy should than Tom Selleck and I'd be thrilled if he focused on those movies for the rest of his career. I rate this movie 4 stars out of 5. This movie can be found on Amazon.com here: Monte Walsh . Reviewed on October 4, 2004.

Good story but not terribly original, but fun nonetheless. Read by Boyd Gaines Approximately 3 hours I heard Vespers as an abridged audiobook and I will talk about that aspect at the end. If you saw any of Hollywood's animal disaster B movies (Giant ants, snakes, bugs, etc. that attack humanity) than you get the idea behind this book. Normally placid bats are attacking people and gathering in a murderous swarm above New York City. Meanwhile, something else - something very large - is killing people in the subway tunnels. Will the animal expert and the rough cop be able to save the day? Even though the plot is formulaic, I still found myself wanting to know what happened next. I couldn't wait to pop the tape in the player as soon as I got in the car! The audiobook is read by Boyd Gaines who does a phenomenal job. Every character has a unique and distinct voice in accent. 5 stars for him, if I could. I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. Reviewed on September ...

Great twists. Good book. Abridged version leaves some things out. Published by Brilliance Audio Read by Dale Hull Duration: About 3 hours Abridged Just to let you know, I heard The Pied Piper as an abridged audiobook. I will discuss specific issues about the audiobook aspect of it later. This was a scary, sad thriller. Children are being abducted from their bedrooms across Seattle and, in reality, all across the country and Seattle's finest are out to stop the kidnappings. Obstacles in their path include very poor teamwork with the FBI and there's another kidnapping very close to home...but I won't spoil it for you by telling you who. Good police work ensues and it is satisfying to go along with the police as they slowly amass their clues and get closer and closer. Once the reader finds out the truth, there's still quite a bit of work to do to wrap it all up - including a cross-country chase. Its a good, good thriller and I would have given it 5 stars but ...

Good thriller set against a series of coincidences Margolin comes through with The Last Innocent Man , a book that keeps the pages turning but at times I wondered about the series of incredible coincidences that linked all of the characters together (I won't go into them here, for fear of revealing too much of the plot for those who have not yet read the book). Are you looking for a book that leads the protagonist through a series of difficult choices until finally everything is forced to come to a head? Than this is your book. However, be aware that you'll be forced to suspend your sense of disbelief from time to time as well. I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Last Innocent Man .  Reviewed on September 10, 2004.

Good thriller plot overcomes other issues Originally published in 1999. Read by Benjamin L. Darcie Duration: 14 hours, 44 minutes Unabridged Just so you'll know, I am reviewing Cuba as an audiobook - I listened to it as an audiobook and as an audiobook it was pretty good, meaning that I never really wondered if there was something else on the radio that was better. As to the plot - I found it to be especially interesting to have the book focus on the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Cuba, considering our situations in Iran and North Korea and the famed search for WMD in Iraq. The descriptions of the power of these weapons and the reasons that tin-pot dictators and superpowers possess them was informative. As always, Coonts writes wonderful action sequences. His characters are sometimes a bit stiff, especially with his American cabinet officials. Quibbles I have with the book: -Sometimes there's so much tech-speak that it bogs the story down. At tim...