DWD's Reviews

Published in August 2013 by Thomas and Mercer This is my 1,000th review on my blog. I have several good books that are already read and just waiting to be reviewed, but only one could be my 1,000th review. This is the best of that small bunch of books and it is really quite good. This is the fourth book in a series of books about married San Francisco homicide detectives Jane Candiotti and Kenny Marks. I had not read any books in the series until this one and the reader does not have to read them in order to join in. Candiotti and Marks are called in to a nasty murder scene in a fast food restaurant. Six strangers are massacred in the basement storage area right after the lunch rush. They have nothing in common except for the way they died. To make everything much, much worse, one of the victims is Marks' nephew. The San Francisco Police Department starts to sort through the clues and work through the pasts of all of the victims looking for a motive and their search leads ...

Published by HighBridge Audio in 2009. Performed by the guests and cast of  Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Duration: 2 hours and 29 minutes. If you have not discovered NPR's weekly radio show  Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!   ,  then I pity you. This clever show is truly one of the funniest shows on radio or television or just about anywhere and this collection is promoted as a distillation of 12 of the best visits from a very funny crop of celebrity visits. They truly are all funny. Even the people who I had never heard of like Philippe Petit and Michael Pollan were funny and interesting. Other, more well known personalities (at least to me), like Carrie Fisher ( Star Wars ), Jane Curtin ( Saturday Night Live, 3rd Rock from the Sun ) , Neal Patrick Harris ( Doogie Howser, How I Met Your Mother ), and Leonard Nimoy ( Star Trek ) were as funny or funnier than I expected. This audiobook focuses on a part of the show - the "Not my job" segment. In this segment a cele...

Originally Published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in September of 2010. Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novelette. Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette. I found this unique science fiction short story by Eric James Stone with my kindle, one of those happy accidents you sometimes get when you surf around on Amazon. That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made is about a funds manager for CitiAmerica who is stationed at the sun. Actually, just inside of the sun (but not too far in, that would be dangerous!). Stars are used to create interstellar portals - those portals require so much energy that only stars can provide them. So, our fund manager, Harry Stein, is located at the sun because he gets the news from other systems about eight-and-a-half minutes before funds managers on Earth (news can only travel as fast as the speed of light). Harry is a Mormon and is the "branch president" of the Sol Central Mormon congregation. He has six human members and fo...

A Very Moving True Story Published in April of 2013 by Zondervan The hardest book reviews to write are for the books that truly touch you. A Dream So Big had me spellbound from the first and I cannot even attempt to write a proper review. If you have ever had the scary meeting with a "genetic couselor" at the OBGYN office than you can feel for the Peifer family. In my family's case, the meeting was unnecessary - our daughter was born with no complications. For the Peifer family, this was not the case. Their son was born with severe disabilities and only lived a few days. Peifer describes the devastation to his family and how he and his family come to join the faculty at a boarding school for the children of missionary families. He describes how a one year gig has become a mission to feed and educate as many Kenyan children as possible. Peifer's good humor is visible throughout the book and he is a natural self-deprecating storyteller. He balances his t...

My new favorite Stephen King short story Published by Simon and Schuster in 2010 Read by Holter Graham Duration: 2 hours, 20 minutes Normally, I am not a fan of short stories - they end just about the time I get comfortable with the story. But, Stephen King has a gift for short stories. He is able to get the reader comfortable with the characters very quickly and pack in a lot of weirdness very quickly. I can get tired of Stephen King in the novel format, especially in audiobook format where they books can last longer than 50 hours! But, Simon and Schuster's decision to issue his short stories as short audiobooks is perfect for me. UR  is the story of a small college Literature professor named Wesley Smith who decides to buy a Kindle after experimenting with a student's kindle. When this book was written, the only choice in Kindles was the Kindle 2. It came in off white, had no color and 5 years ago it was top of the line cool technology and I have one. The author ...

Kids Book, but still an interesting read for Indy 500 fans Published in 1980 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Johnny Rutherford: Indy Champ is a short biography aimed at elementary/middle school aged readers. It has 123 pages of text and 2 pages of end notes and is part of the extensive series of sports biographies known as the Putnam Sports Shelf. Rutherford (by rear wing) and his car at the 1975 Indy 500. Even though I am long past the targeted audience for this book, I found it to be entertaining and informative. Higdon's roots as a magazine writer shine throughout the book - the text is lively throughout. For those who do not know, Johnny Rutherford is a three-time winner of the Indy 500 with wins in 1974, 1976 and 1980. He was known as a hard luck driver until he broke through and finally started to win. His wins are even more remarkable when you consider he raced and won against all three four-time winners of the Indy 500 (A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Sr. and Rick Mears) and ot...

A Total Joy  Published in 2011 by Simon and Schuster Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of the Indy 500. I have been to every 500 since 1986 and I live within earshot of the track. I have whiled away many a day at the track watching qualifications, practice or just going through the gift shop during the winter when the track is silent. Charles Leerhsen's recounting of the first few years of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an interesting, fun and controversial book. What is interesting? An ad from a San Francisco newspaper bragging that the Marmon Wasp won the Indy 5000. Note the inclusion of the riding mechanic even though Harroun did not have one. Leerhsen tells the story of early 1900s Indianapolis, the beginnings of America's automobile culture, auto racing and the construction of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a nearly seamless manner so that it all becomes one large story. It is a story of inspired (crazy?) businessmen, a fascination with what is ...

Great Near-Future Sci-Fi Military Action! Published by The AudioComics Company in 2012. Multicast performance Duration: 1 hour, 28 minutes Unabridged. Titanium Rain  is a near future military adventure story about a group of physically enhanced American and British fighter pilots and their missions against an Imperial Chinese government over mainland China. This AudioComics production of Titanium Rain is an adaptation of the 2010 publication of volume 1 of a graphic novel series of the same name by Josh Finney. Finney adapted the graphic novel for this multicast performance done in the style of the old-time radio show, complete with multiple actors, top-notch special effects and a soundtrack especially written for this production. The listener discovers that China has suffered a military coup thanks to their Communist leader being killed by an Islamic terrorist. The general who took over China has proclaimed himself to be a new Emperor, has started a de-Westernizatio...

Inspired by a true case of abuse of power by the EPA Published March 12, 2013 by Putnam I really enjoy C.J. Box 's Joe Pickett series but I freely admit that I, sadly, just sort of forget about these great books. There's no reason for that because this series is every bit as good as the ones I never forget about (Michael Connelly and Robert Crais) but I just do. Breaking Point is an excellent addition to the series. The book features a local landowner and his family who are told by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that they need to stop construction on their property in a subdivision at the edge of Saddlestring, Wyoming because it is a "wetland" even though there is no water and no spring on it. They are given a few days to return the property to its pre-construction condition or face stiff fines ($70,000 per day). The property owners are given no way to appeal the decision and no one will discuss the problem with them from the EPA. When the family...

Adapted from the graphic novel series by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven Published by GraphicAudio in 2013 Multicast performance Duration: Approximately 6 hours. NOTE: This review was written before the Marvel Studios movie of the same name was released. Clearly, this comic series inspired the movie. For me, this novelization is superior to the movie. I am a huge fan of the work that GraphicAudio has done over the years with its adaptations of DC Comics graphic novels. They promise “A movie in your mind” and they have never failed to produce high quality audio dramas that sound like old-fashioned radio plays with better sound effects, special music and usually more than twenty actors plus a narrator. The fight scenes are amazing, the sound effects are always top notch. Two or three years ago, I was asked on a message board if GraphicAudio ever performed anything by Marvel Comics. I confidently said that they did not and probably never would because DC and Marvel are like P...

"That's the trouble with a situation like this - you just don't know who is who." Published by Highbridge Audio in 2012 Read by Ray Chase Duration: 11 hours, 35 minutes. Unabridged. Thomas H. Cook's Streets of Fire is set in Birmingham, Alabama in the spring of 1963 during Martin Luther King's famed "Birmingham Campaign" that featured the Children's March, "Bull" Connor, boycotts and fire hoses being turned on demonstrators. Sergeant Ben Wellman is called away from taking detailed notes on Martin Luther King's speeches at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (one of many policemen that were used as spies who filled notebooks and turned them in to their superiors) to investigate a dead body found in a shallow grave in an abandoned ball field in Bearmatch, a black neighborhood. Generally, the all white Birmingham police department didn't do much investigating into murders in this working class Black neighborhood - they ar...

Published  in 2012 by Smart Pop I discovered Robert B. Parker's Spenser about 20 years ago. In a way, that is sad because I could have been enjoying Spenser for a lot more years. But, in a way it was fantastic because I had so many Spenser books to read to catch up and there were new ones coming out regularly. For years I was able to read or listen to his books as quickly as I wanted. But, eventually I caught up and had to just wait for the new ones. Sadly, in 2010 Parker died so all of his series came to an end. In Pursuit of Spenser is an attempt to honor the long and noteworthy career of Robert B. Parker. Editor Otto Penzler has collected 14 essays by such writers as Lawrence Block, Loren D. Estleman and Dennis Lehane (and one work by Parker himself that explains Spenser) in a must-read for any fan. Although the focus is on Parker and Spenser, many of the other of the dozens of characters that  he created are covered as well. His role in re-invigorating the detective ...

Published in 2013 by HarperCollins Read by Peter Ganim Duration: 11 hours, 11 minutes. Unabridged. Dick Wolf is best known as the producer and creator of the many different TV series in the Law and Order franchise. The Intercept is his first attempt at fictional book writing (he has considerable experience at screenplay writing). So, how was this first attempt? I liked it. I liked it a lot. The story revolves around Jeremy Fisk, a detective with NYPD's counter-terrorism squad. New York City has an extensive counter-terrorism unit because New York City has been such a frequent target of terrorism. Fisk is fluent in Arabic and is frequently a contact person between NYPD and the FBI or CIA. A terrorist tries to commandeer an airplane headed to America from Sweden by holding a stewardess hostage. Five passengers rise up to fight the terrorist and they succeed in saving the stewardess with only the one of the rescuers suffering the relatively minor injury of a broken forear...

Originally published in 1991. I read the 1992 Vintage Books paperback edition. Dated but still has teeth. P.J. O'Rourke goes after the ridiculousness that is the federal government with his trademark irreverent style in this 1991 book. Some of the commentary is dated (lots of talk about the forgettable 1988 presidential election with Republican George H.W. Bush going against Democrat Michael Dukakis. Also, the first one I voted in) but some of it is incredibly relevant. For example, the story of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) looking into the mystery of suddenly accelerating Audis 1n 1986 was reminiscent of the same problem with Toyotas that filled the news channels in 2009 and 2010. Perhaps O'Rourke's most famous line comes from this book: "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." (pg. xvii in the preface) This sentiment is pretty typical of the book as a whole and one that I...

Read by Will Patton Published by Simon and Schuster Audio 2013 First published in 1982 Duration: 5 hours, 23 minutes James Lee Burke is a prolific writer with more than thirty books, most set in New Orleans and Texas.  Two for Texas takes place in both places. Son Holland is the main character. He has been falsely accused of being involved in a crime ring and sentenced to hard time in a Louisiana penal camp by the French gentlemen that control the city. While in this camp, Holland meets Hugh, a loud-mouthed, opinionated, walleyed older man who engineers a chance to escape to Texas. But, when they escape they end up killing one of the two downright evil French brothers that run the camp. This is 1834 and Texas is a foreign country – technically still a part of Mexico but certainly preparing to rebel and create the Republic of Texas. Sam Houston (1793-1863) Hugh and Holland live among Indians, dodge the Mexican Army and flee the posse sent after them from the p...

Very Interesting History of the Modern Presidency Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 2012 Read by Bob Walter Duration: 22 hours, 1 minute Unabridged Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, both editors at Time , have delivered a very listenable, fascinating look at each American president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. No matter their political persuasion, their life experiences or their qualities as a human being, all 12 of these men share one thing: they were once President. This is an exclusive club and it seems that just about every president has looked to a former president for a shoulder to lean on, advice or even as a personal envoy sent to convey a sense of urgency to the message. The Presidents Club is told in a rough chronological order starting with Truman. When Truman was President there was only one other member of the Presidents Club: Herbert Hoover. Yes, the same Hoover that Truman and FDR disparaged for 12 years. However, to his credit, Truman sent ou...