Supreme Justice: A Novel of Suspense by Phillip Margolin

Originally published in 2010.
Published in 2011 by Harper.

A death row case, the Supreme Court and Homeland Security politics come together in Supreme Justice. The central question of the death row case is does the government have the right to withhold information deemed to be important to national security in a murder trial? In the case featured in the story, Sara Woodruff is a police officer on death row for killing her former lover. She denies any involvement and points the finger at suspected connections with the CIA and Homeland Security. She is sure he was kidnapped from her apartment and executed and the government's refusal to talk is going to cost her her life..

The Supreme Court building

If the story had been told from the point of view of Woodruff's defense team this book may have been quite suspenseful, entertaining and informative. Instead, it is told from the point of view of a set of ongoing Margolin characters: Dana Cutler, Brad Miller and Keith Evans. Miller works at the Supreme Court as a clerk and the justice he clerks for is interested in Woodruff's case. When there is an assassination attempt on the justice, Miller and the justice begin to suspect that there may be something about the Woodruff case that itself that caused the attempt.

Sadly, the book just never seems to take off and too many coincidences start to pile up to make the book a lot less dramatic than it could have been. Rather than building up to the suspected conspiracy, we short-circuit all of that and just start at the top. Throw in a twist that was telegraphed more than 100 pages from the end and a professional woman who does not know how to operate a modern day smart phone (hint: if you take pictures of legal documents that are not supposed to exist, you should e-mail them right away to your partners!) and I just was not impressed as a I have been with other Margolin books.

Not Margolin's best effort.

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Supreme Justice: A Novel of Suspense.

Reviewed on February 17, 2013.

Deer Hunting With Jesus: Dispatches From America's Class War by Joe Bageant

Published in 2007 by Crown Publishers

Just to get it out of the way, Joe Bageant (1946-2011) and I differ politically despite sharing similar roots. We both grew up in rural America near a working class town. We both were educated in the local public schools and left to go to college and never really went back except to visit (although do I live in a working class neighborhood in a city). Admittedly, his town (Winchester, Virginia) is a little more poor and run down than mine but I may be remembering my home with rose-colored glasses and he may be intentionally focusing on the worst aspects of his.

But, Bageant did return to Winchester in order to write Deer Hunting with Jesus. He returned to be a foreign correspondent of sorts. His aim is to explain white working-class America ("...that churchgoing, hunting and fishing Bud Light-drinking, provincial America...the people who cannot, and do not care to, locate Iraq or France on a map - assuming they even own an atlas." [p.2]) to the left-leaning, college-educated urban wine and cheese set.

Bageant's prose is interesting and lively, but prone to exaggeration, much like a liberal version of P.J. O'Rourke or like the overwrought rantings of stand up comics like Dennis Leary or Lewis Black or Dennis Miller. His points are there and based on real situations but he takes liberties to make his point or to get a good punchline so take everything with a grain of salt. For example, he argues that Presidents don't come from modest beginnings in a rather nice rant but since FDR they all have except for JFK and the Bushes (and maybe Carter, but the other two families were far, far richer than his).

Sometimes his devotion to a certain line of thought leads him to contradictory comments. For example, he deplores the way social security does not take care of widows very well and how it does not pay enough to really take care of a retired worker. But, he rants against any sort of privatization of Social Security over and over again (you may remember that Bush43 tried to reform Social Security right after he re-election) even though the proposed reforms were modeled after programs that let workers pass on the proceeds of their investments to their widowed spouses or even their children.  See page 236-242 for the longest rant on this topic.

Clearly, Bageant does not seem to grasp the religious aspect of Winchester. He does not completely belittle religious belief but he does not understand it. I was struck by an incident early on in the book. He does not grasp the profound generosity of a small congregation of relatively poor people that buys an old pickup truck for a couple that lost theirs to repossession. The congregation has little money and yet they pool what little they have together to  give two of its members an expensive gift (even an old truck costs several hundred dollars). I find that to be a remarkable act of Christian charity. Instead, he dismisses the whole thing with a single comment.

Bageant does a fabulous job of explaining guns, gun rights and notes correctly on page 129 that beginning in the 1960s the left was "arrogant and insulting because they associated all gun owners with criminals but were politically stupid."

Generally, I found the book to be very entertaining, full of interesting commentary but incorrect in almost all of its conclusions.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Deer Hunting with Jesus.

Reviewed on February 16, 2012.

Rise of the Guardians: Movie Novelization (audiobook) by Stacia Deutsch

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 2012
Read by Keith Nobbs
Duration: 2 hours, 33 minutes

Based on the William Joyce book series Guardians of Childhood,

Rise of the Guardians

was a very pleasant surprise when we took the kids to go see it a few months ago. I was not expecting much and came away very impressed with a complex story with plenty for adults to think about but light enough for kids to be entertained. It also has a balance of scary and funny and avoids the all too easy bodily function-type jokes.

The premise of the story is that the Guardians are defending the children of the world against an onslaught by the Boogeyman, who goes by the name Pitch Black. Pitch Black revels in causing fear and nightmares and destroying the best aspects of childhood. The Guardians are the Sandman (Guardian of Dreams), the Easter Bunny (Guardian of Hope), Santa Claus (Guardian of Wonder) and the Tooth Fairy (Guardian of Precious Memories). They have been called together by The Man in the Moon. The Man in the Moon has also called Jack Frost to be a Guardian but no one, including Jack, can figure out why. The story is the story of Jack Frost and how he figures out his own past and how he can help The Guardians, if he even wants to help them, that is.

This adaptation is faithful to the movie, even using the best and most memorable lines. This is good, but also a bit disappointing since I was hoping for a bit more background information.

This book is completely appropriate for any child that is old enough to sit and listen to an audiobook.

Keith Nobbs read the audiobook. He did a solid job of covering the wide variety of over-the-top accents that were present in the movie version (American, Russian, English and Australian).  His reading style should be very approachable for younger listeners without being patronizing.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here:  Rise of the Guardians Movie Novelization

Reviewed on February 14, 2013.

Note: This audiobook was provided to me free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

American Chronicles: The Vietnam War (audiobook) by NPR

Published in 2013 by HighBridge Audio

Multicast performance

Duration: 3 hours, 40 minutes

In American Chronicles: The Vietnam War, NPR has collected 24 stories that were originally broadcast over their radio network concerning the Vietnam War. All of the stories are high quality productions. Some are quite moving. All are informative.

The collection starts with a look at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. followed by a story about a Washington, D.C. anti-war protest that was broadcast on NPR’s very first day (May 3, 1971). As the collection goes along the listener is treated to stories of Red Cross workers, orphans of the war, the analyst that leaked “The Pentagon Papers”, two stories by Walter Cronkite, actual tapes of Lyndon Johnson discussing how to present the war to the American people, the My Lai Massacre, refugees who fled the North Vietnamese conquest of South Vietnam, pilots and sailors that saved those refugees, the Kent State shootings and so much more.

South Vietnamese helicopter being pushed
 off the deck of the USS Okinawa to make
room for incoming refugees during
the evacuation of Saigon

The collection has a weak spot, however. There is little discussion as to the beginnings of the war and almost nothing said about the rationale behind it. There are multiple stories about protesters and not much about why the war started in the first place.

However, the last CD of this three CD set is very moving. It focuses on the end of the war, including audio spliced in from “letters” that were sent home on audiotape describing the chaos of the evacuation of Saigon as the South Vietnam collapsed in the face of the final push by North Vietnam. Some of the stories are depressing. One is a great testament to the U.S. Navy and its commitment to help as many of the refugees as possible. Perhaps the most moving of these audio letters is from the man whose name is the last name on the Vietnam War Memorial – the literal last man to die in the war (and its little side wars in neighboring countries).

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: American Chronicles: The Vietnam War.

Reviewed on February 12, 2013

Note: This audiobook was provided to me free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Two for Texas (audiobook) by James Lee Burke

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 prison (led by the surviving evil French brother) that is pursuing them. They decide to hide by joining General Sam Houston’s fledgling army as war between Mexico and Texas erupts.

Veteran actor Will Patton did an outstanding job with this book. He covered a wide variety of accents making them all unique. But, his best performance was reserved for the character of Hugh. Hugh’s smart comments, bad attitude and ability to tell the most elaborate lies at the drop of the hat make him a memorable character. Patton’s raspy characterization makes every scene with him pop.

Note: The book’s description on the back of the box claims that Hugh and Holland join the Texas Rangers and fight in the Battle of the Alamo. Rest assured, they do neither.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Two for Texas

Reviewed on February 12, 2013.

Note: This audiobook was provided to me free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

North S*A*R: A Novel of Navy Combat Pilots in Vietnam by Gerry Carrol

Published in 1991 by Pocket Books

North S*A*R is the first novel by a high school friend of Tom Clancy concerns two U.S. Navy pilots named Mike Santy and Tim Boyle who are best friends serving during the late stages of the Vietnam War. They serve off of the coast of North Vietnam. Santy is a pilot of an A-7 Corsair attack bomber and regularly flies bombing missions over North Vietnam. Boyle flies a Sikorsky HH-3A Sea King Combat SAR helicopter. His job is to rescue downed pilots, both in the water and in North Vietnam.

The book is a pretty typical war story novel featuring pilots reminding me quite a bit of Stephen Coonts' earlier novel Flight of the Intruder. The story is solid. There is plenty of detail and jargon but not so much that the reader is overwhelmed. The story is paced a bit slow at first, but the end is very strong, assuming that the reader can overlook the overwhelming coincidence the brings the two buddies together at the climax of the story.

Sikorsky HH-3A Sea King Combat SAR
helicopter during the Vietnam War

Tom Clancy put a blurb on the front of this book saying that "this is the best first novel I have ever read." That's an overstatement, considering how many fantastic first novels there have been, such as The Hobbit or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Big Sleep or Frankenstein.

So, how do I rate this first novel?

I was going to rate this book 3 stars out of 5 but when I realized that I read through the final big moments of the book and nearly made myself late to work I had to bump it up to 4 stars. After all, it drug me into another world and wouldn't let me go - isn't that what a good book does?

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: North SAR: A Novel of Navy Combat Pilots in Vietnam

Reviewed on February 4, 2013.

The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (audiobook) by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

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 out feelers and discovered that Hoover was still willing and able to help. Together, they set up the ground rules for this "club." Hoover was tapped by Truman to get food to Europe at the end of World War II (Hoover did this at the end of World War I as well) and to help re-organize the Executive Branch.

Gibbs and Duffy discuss how each President interacted with his predecessor and his successor and even other presidents (for example, Nixon interacted with every President from Truman to Clinton). Gerald Ford had a similar lengthy history. They also discuss how the "Club" grew and shrank over the years. During Bill Clinton's presidency, there were as many as six members (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush41 and Clinton). At one point in the Nixon years, there was only Nixon.

The current "Presidents Club" membership:
George H.W. Bush (41), Barack Obama,
George W. Bush (43), Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

If you are a political junkie or a fan of modern American history, this anecdote-filled book is a must-read. It gives a different feel for the men, their personalities and their legacies. For example, I was surprised at how often Johnson reached out to Eisenhower for advice and reassurance concerning the Vietnam War.  I was even more surprised at how often Johnson was out hustled politically by Richard Nixon. I know Johnson was a world class politician, but Nixon maneuvered him and manipulated him throughout 1968. Johnson fared no better in his post-Presidential years.

Nixon comes off as talented but very deeply flawed. The authors quote longtime advisor to multiple presidents, Brent Scowcroft, calling Nixon a "shit" and former President George H. W. Bush (Bush41) referred to him as "a first-rate intellect but also a third-rate person." However, you do have to admire how Nixon calculates how to get to the forefront of American politics again and again and again. Reagan comes off surprisingly cold. Carter, as an enigma. Gerald Ford comes off as principled and maybe even heroic for his decision to pardon Nixon and destroy any chance he had to be elected. The Clinton-Bush41 friendship was a joy to learn about and the source of some of the best stories.

Leadership lessons abound in this book. Every president had his own style in office and some even managed to exert a large influence long after they left office. Some Presidents chart the general path and expect their subordinates to follow it. Others are intimately involved in so many decisions that they are spread too thin. Some are charmers. Some intimidate. Some scheme and plan every move. No matter the president, Gibbs and Duffy take the reader behind the scenes and give a sense of the times and the way their administrations worked.

I found this audiobook to be thoroughly enjoyable. Bob Walter's narration was excellent. He varied his rate, read with a lot of emphasis and made a 22 hour long audiobook fly by. I particularly enjoyed his very slight inflections he put in his quotes. For example, his LBJ quotes had a small amount of Texas twang and his Reagan quotes had his characteristic tone to them (If you were alive during the Reagan Administration, think about his famed "Well...").

I rate this audiobook an enthusiastic 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Presidents Club.

Reviewed on February 1, 2013

Note: This audiobook was provided to me free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I honestly thought this was an exceptional audiobook.

Under the Wire: Bestselling WWII Memoir of an American Spitfire Pilot and Legendary POW Escape-Artist by William Ash and Brendan Foley

Re-published by CreateSpace in November 2012.

Despite the fact that this will be the third posting of the year for me, Under the Wire was actually the first book that I read in 2013 and it may very well be the best book that I will read all year.

95 year old World War II veteran William Ash and his co-author Brendan Foley have created an immensely readable, very enjoyable story. Young Bill Ash was an American who joined the Brits in fighting the Nazis by flying a Spitfire (a fighter plane) before America even joined the war.

Ash begins his story by telling about the difficulties of growing up in the Great Depression in Texas. Somehow, he managed to get a college degree, even though there were no jobs to be found for this new college grad. So, he hit the road, riding trains, traveling the country and living in hobo camps. One day he heard that the Canadians were looking for fighter pilots to send to England and they would even take Americans who renounced their citizenship.

The last operating Spitfire to survive The Battle of Britain.
Photo by Adrian Pingstone in 2008.

Ash's reasons for joining are a rather vague mishmash of looking for adventure, wanting a steady paycheck, wanting to fly and wanting to fight the Nazis, but that's okay. The story has been good so far and it only gets better as Ash talks about the joys of a full belly and learning to fly. Soon enough, he's off to England and set up in a Spitfire, England's hotshot iconic fighter plane of the war.

Ash's description of this plane and the way it handled makes you love it and appreciate the skill of Ash and all of his comrades. Eventually, as indicated by the lengthy title of this book, Ash is shot down over France. The story of how he hides for weeks from the Germans and eventually ends up in a POW camp is told in an entertaining and suspenseful manner.

In fact, the book is quite remarkable - it somehow manages to keep a sense of tension alive throughout the book even though the reader knows how it all ends after reading the three page foreword. Bill Ash survives the war despite being shot out of the sky and being kept in multiple POW camps. He makes an incredible number of escape attempts, trying for a "home run" (a successful run all of the way back to Allied territory). But, Bill's sense of humor shines through and you just keep rooting for this crazy character who starts plotting his next escape as he sits through the solitary confinement he received as punishment for attempting his last escape.

The story can be heartbreaking, often gritty and matter-of-fact about abuses he and his fellow prisoners endured. I was struck by the descriptions of how they dug tunnels under the fence. If you have seen the movie The Great Escape, you know the basics of how it was done but Ash and Foley's re-telling is so vivid and visceral that it caused me to have a claustrophobic panic attack (I suffer from claustrophobia). I had to put the book down and then I picked it up and finished that section so I wouldn't have to go through two panic attacks. It is that good.

But, none of this detail would matter if you just didn't love Bill Ash, his sense of humor and his ever-hopeful personality.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Under the Wire.

Reviewed on January 21, 2013.

Note: I received a copy of this book from one of the authors, Brendan Foley, in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, this is a fantastic read.

Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves (audiobook) by Henry Wiencek

Published by HighBridge Company in 2012
Read by Brian Holsopple
Duration: 11 hours, 5 minutes.
Unabridged

I am a history teacher. My favorite area of study is the American Civil War but the American Revolution comes in at a close second. I cannot even count the number of books that I have read about the Revolutionary Era and I thought that I had a pretty solid handle on Jefferson - until I read Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves.

I had always pictured Jefferson as a Unitarian (who was willing to go "more" religious for political reasons) who wrote eloquently about freedom and tyranny but somehow compartmentalized this in his own life when it came to slavery. Or, was unable to free his slaves due to crushing debts incurred because he was a philosopher and not a businessman.

The debts are always mentioned, usually in conjunction with the renovations to Monticello, reinforcing the impression that the philosopher was happily spending his way to oblivion for the sake of beauty and architecture, thus adding an air of tragedy to Jefferson. Poor Mr. Jefferson, he wanted to free his slaves but his profligate spending on esoterics caused him to have to compromise his ideals and keep his slaves. Poor Jefferson, he always wanted to free his slaves, but he could never get the law changed to make him do it. Poor Jefferson, circumstances made him look like a hypocrite.

Poor Mr. Jefferson, indeed.

Weincek looks at Jefferson's plantation records, the archaeological record, Jefferson's own writings and what other slave-owning planters did to fight slavery or make it more humane. The picture of Jefferson the slave-owner has forever been changed in my mind thanks to this book.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
giving his "I Have a Dream"
Speech in 1963.

Note: I will always revere Jefferson for his ability to point the way, even if he had no intent of going that way, especially in his older years. After all, Jefferson's soaring prose in the Declaration of Independence is America's mission statement and was the catalyst of so much good work. For example, take this line from MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech:

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 

Clearly, Jefferson inspired this and so much more.

But, back to this book. Wiencek goes into sometimes laborious detail into what Jefferson was up to at Monticello. He looks into his plans to grow his plantation into much more than a glorified farm. Instead, it was becoming a self-sufficient economic unit that actually created and sold manufactured goods to the outside world. My impression was that Jefferson moved from being an idealistic anti-slavery agitator to a feudal lord who outright owned his slaves rather than having to depend on serfs.

Jefferson encouraged his slaves to breed (their population grew at 4% per year, meaning their numbers would double every 18 years). The slaves were worth more than gold - after all, gold does not reproduce itself and does not literally work for you. Slaves would make more slaves, work for you and serve as collateral so that he could borrow money to expand his operations.

The last third of the book or so is devoted to the Sally Hemings controversy. Did Thomas Jefferson have children with her or not? Wiencek thoroughly covers this topic, but I think he oversteps what can be completely known by declaring Jefferson the father of Sally Hemings' children. The DNA evidence shows that a Jefferson did it and Wiencek eliminates the alibis that would exonerate Jefferson. But, I think that the best assertion that can be made is that Thomas Jefferson probably is the father of her children. However, the topic has to be included in the book because it is about Jefferson and his slaves and the Hemings children were clearly treated differently than the other slaves.

I was particularly interested in learning about Edward Coles and how he freed his slaves. His correspondence with Jefferson is illuminating and is a study in Jefferson's ability to be publicly  for something (ending slavery) but doing nothing to achieve it and even working actively against it.

Brian Holsopple's narration was very good in that I really did not notice it - it was clearly delivered and his reading of the text was free of insinuation, even when Jefferson's hypocrisy was at its most obvious. He played it straight and let the text speak for itself, which should be the goal of every reader of histories.

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. I thought hard about this and I just cannot sanction the outright naming of Jefferson as the father of the Hemings children. This is a tremendous book in all other aspects, though and I highly recommend it.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Master of the Mountain.

Reviewed on January 20, 2012.

Tough Guys and Drama Queens: How Not To Get Blindsided by Your Child's Teen Years by Mark Gregston

Published in 2012 by Thomas Nelson

Mark Gregston brings his expertise and experience gained from working with troubled teens for nearly 40 years to a book full of practical advice about how parents can prepare themselves and their teens for the dreaded teen years.

Gregston discusses parenting techniques that don't work (basically, don't be a helicopter parent and don't let your kids fend for themselves too early) and emphasizes the most important thing that keeps teens and their parents connected is a strong relationship. The relationship is key, especially in a larger culture that may not share your values.

Keeping that relationship strong requires lots of quality time and requires parents to not create a stifling environment that makes teens feel like a prisoner in their homes (We all know they are not prisoners, but the book's title does make a point about drama queens).  Gregston includes lists of rules he recommends, lots of examples of when to be firm and when to back off and what to do when your teen makes a mistake.

This book is highly readable and provides a lot practical advice, even if I didn't agree with it 100%.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Tough Guys and Drama Queens.

Reviewed on January 18, 2013.

I received this book for free as part of Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze program in exchange for an honest review.

Lightning Rider [Kindle] by Rick Mofina

Published in 2011 by Carrick Publishing

This short story does a great job of creating a vivid cast of characters. The setting is in an armored car that collects from Las Vegas casinos. The crew is headed up by Elmer Gask, a mouthy sexist racist who is one week from retirement. He is very proud to have never been successfully robbed and is looking forward to getting a reward of $22,000 for 22 loss-free years of carrying millions of dollars every day.

His crew today consists of Latino Gil Perez and Native American Jessica Scout. They are frequent targets of Gask's abusive tongue-lashings, although Scout seems to be a special target because not only is she a minority, she is also an extremely beautiful young woman.

But, as Gask finds out, today will not be a normal day in the armored car...

I rate this kindle book 4 stars out of 5 due to the clunky ending. But the rest of the story is quite good.

This story can be found on Amazon.com here: Lightning Rider

Reviewed on December 31, 2012.

Backlash: A Novelette [Kindle Edition] by Nancy Fulda

Published in 2013.

This kindle short story clocks in at about 31 estimated pages. It is a truly interesting bit of sci-fi. My only complaint is that it felt like the story was just getting started and then it ended. I hope that someday this book is expanded into a full-fledged book.

Eugene Gutierez is a former anti-terrorist agent having dinner with his college-aged daughter and her latest boyfriend. He cannot imagine what she sees in him. Soon the evening collapses when his fortune cookie comes with this message: "Eugene Gutierez. Activation code: pupae." He assumes this new boyfriend has made a cruel attempt at a practical joke and he does not appreciate it. Gutierez suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - he gets powerful panic attacks and flashbacks, described as "that gasping feeling as the world sp[ins] out of control."

Gutierez's world will truly spin out of control in the next few hours as time traveling secret agents desperately try to utilize the skills of his former life and he discovers that his daughter is involved in things that could not have imagined...

I rate this short story 5 stars out of 5.

This novelette can be found on Amazon.com here: Backlash: A Novelette

Reviewed on December 31, 2012.

The 1940s: A Brief History [Kindle Edition] by Vook

Published in 2011 by Vook.

Vook is a publisher of e-books enhanced with video clips (Video + Book = Vook). This history is short (Amazon estimates it would be about 32 pages on paper) so it is unlikely to satisfy a history purist. It is very lightweight due to its short length but very readable.

The result is about the same as if you read the chapter on World War II and the 1940s in a standard high school world history book. The broadest of outlines are there but if this is all you knew about World War II and the beginnings of the Cold War you would be one un-educated person indeed. At best, this is an introduction to the topic. Considering how long of a shadow World War II and the Cold War have cast, this is too short and too shallow to be of much value.

The Chapter titles are:

-"The Greatest Generation"
-The Cold War
-Boom Times
-Making Military Technology Civil
-Hurray for Hollywood
-Breaking the Race Barrier
-40s Pop Culture
-Everyday People

I rate this kindle book 2 stars out of 5.

This e-book can be found online at Amazon.com here: The 1940s: A Brief History (Enhanced Version)

Reviewed on December 31, 2012.

Eyes Wide Open by Andrew Gross

Published in 2011 by Harper Fiction

Andrew Gross just keeps on cranking out solid escapist thrillers. This is not life-changing literature but it sure is a book that can make you late for work in the morning because you just can't put it down!

In Eyes Wide Open we follow Jay Erlich, a New York surgeon. His brother, who lives in Morro Bay, California calls and tells him that his nephew has climbed the giant rock in the bay and fallen to his death from it and the police are ruling it a suicide. Erlich's brother and his nephew both suffer from mental illness but his brother is sure that it is not a suicide. Erlich rushes out to comfort his brother and his sister-in-law and help them figure out what happened.

When he arrives, he discovers that there are a lot of unanswered questions and things look suspicious. The more Erlich digs, the more he discovers that there may be a connection between his nephew's death and a long-forgotten connection between his brother and a Charles Manson-type cult that his brother refuses to discuss...

Morro Bay City with Morro Rock in the background.
Photo by K.J. Kolb

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Eyes Wide Open

Reviewed on December 30, 2012.

Old Librarians Never Die They Jump Out of Airplanes: Adventuring Through the Senior Years by

Good advice for all people, not just older folks

Published in 2012 by Hawthorne Publishing.

Marie Albertson found herself an empty nester widow in Plymouth, Indiana after helping raise four children and then taking care of a husband with Parkinson's. What does she do? Go to the local Senior Center every Tuesday and sit home and watch TV?

No. Albertson continues what she always has done - what no one expected. She had already earned a college degree one class at a time having to pay for it herself because her husband thought it was a waste of time for her to get one. (note: she worked at the Plymouth Library which I am familiar with, having lived in Plymouth from 1990-1993). Albertson took her degree and her library experience to Indianapolis and worked for the Indiana State Library and make a new life for herself - at age 63!

Indiana State Library

Not only that, she has determined to go and do all sorts of new things - and that's what this book is all about. Her travels, her willingness to learn new things and do new things and just refuse to sit still. She even suggests running for political office, something she has done twice.

Clearly, Albertson is blessed with good health and has enough financial independence to travel the world, including trips to China and Egypt, a horseback camping adventure in California and riding in gliders in Indiana and Arizona. But, to her credit, she offers other ideas and local options that are not very expensive but would provide a similar experience. She also provides other travel tips as well.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Old Librarians Never Die They Jump Out of Airplanes.

Reviewed on December 30, 2012.

The Steel Deal by James Blakley

Published in 2010 by Inkwater Press

Sonny Busco is a down-on-his-luck 55 year old private detective who is broke. He is so broke that he works more for a security guard company than he does as a private detective. He is so broke that he owes money to loan sharks and he is behind on his payments. He is so broke that he's not sure if his car will start and if it does if it will even get him there. He is so broke that he pawned his gun! 

But, Busco gets the offer of his life - just carry a briefcase to Santa Fe, New Mexico for enough cash to get him out of debt to the loan shark. When Busco borrows a car to meet his new client things fall apart very quickly. Soon he's racing across town in a borrowed car trying to figure out what is really going on and most importantly, keep himself alive in the process.

The Steel Deal starts out very strong. Blakley creates a very detailed world for Sonny Busco. Busco is a likable guy with a great set of friends and connections who support him, even if they are getting a little tired of Busco's hard luck ways. I was reminded of The Rockford Files and Magnum, P.I. and how those characters are always asking their friends for favors and that it was often a team effort, albeit a reluctant one. Busco is that sort of character.

But, to go back to the television detectives again, Busco leaves the more realistic world of Rockford and Magnum once his case starts and enters a surreal world much like that of the old Batman and Get Smart television shows. The characters have matching names like Pixy and Bambi, Sage and Savante, Hans and Franz and Bramble and Thorne, just like the Joker and Catwoman used to do with their henchmen. The story keeps getting odder and odder. Imagine Jim Rockford wandering around in a Batman episode and that's how lost I felt at times.

To me, this was like two different books - one is a gritty noir novel about a down-on-his-luck detective looking for a big score and the other is surrealistic and campy. Both kinds of books are fine and this book did them both well - I just did not enjoy the mixing of the two.

Would I come back for another read if Blakley writes another detective book? Yes, there's lots to like in this book. Blakley shows some skill, especially in character creation in the grittier parts of the book. I especially liked the character Zen, a middle-aged overweight woman in spandex from the gym who carts Busco around throughout the middle of the book in her SUV trying to figure out what's going on while he tries to lose her without hurting his feelings or getting her killed. She shows Busco's desperation but also his decency.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Steel Deal.

Reviewed on December 29, 2012.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. The author writes a very nice e-mail and has some of the neatest handwriting I have ever seen (really, it's like a font).

Shatner Rules: Your Key to Understanding the Shatnerverse and the World at Large (audiobook) by William Shatner with Chris Regan

Published by Penguin Audio in 2011
Read by the author, William Shatner
Duration: 4 hours, 27 minutes
Non-fiction, biography

If you are a fan of William Shatner, Shatner Rules is a must-read, or a must-listen if you prefer to listen to the audiobook version like I did.

Shatner is unique and if you do not appreciate his odd blend of storytelling, self-promotion and urge to stroke his own ego then please skip this book. But, if you think a little self-promotion (actually, a lot of it) is okay and are willing to tolerate Shatner's ego trips for the sake of a good story than this short audiobook should please.

Most of the book covers the last 5 years or so of his career under the guise of explaining several rules that he  has followed throughout his career. The most important rule and the most consistently followed is his admonition to say yes to opportunity. Throughout the book he talks about the positives that he has had in his career due to his willingness to say yes, including a rather long convoluted story about how his willingness to make the almost universally panned The Transformed Man album in the late 1960's led to his getting the part of Denny Crane and receiving two Emmy Awards in the 2000's.

By and large, though, this book could easily be considered a tongue-in-cheek promo for William Shatner, Inc. He talks about his roles on The Twilight Zone , Star Trek , T.J. Hooker , The Practice , the Star Trek movies, his TekWar books, his current cable shows, his disputes with other members of the Star Trek cast and his part in the Vancouver Winter Olympics closing ceremonies.

I enjoyed it although I could have done without the 5 minutes and 20 seconds of narration in the made up language of Esperanto (he made a movie filmed entirely in Esperanto in 1965). I suggest the audio version so you can get the full Shatner experience.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Shatner Rules.

Reviewed on December 29, 2012.

Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher #11) by Lee Child

Published by Dell in 2012.
Originally published in in 2007 by Delacorte Press

I must live under a rock. I had not read any Jack Reacher novel until I read this one and I had not even heard of the series until last summer when a fellow blogger was excitedly talking about the latest release.

So, what did I think?

First of all, you do not have to have read any of the rest of the series to follow what is happening in this story. Jack Reacher is a drifter and he has been since he retired from the U.S. Army in 1997. In the military he led an investigation squad of the military police. Like Clint Eastwood's famed "Man WIth No Name" character from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Reacher says little, keeps his own counsel and does what he thinks is best, follow his own sense of justice and drifts from place to place.

Lee Child

In Bad Luck and Trouble, Reacher receives a message from a former member of his unit. He tracks her down and discovers that another former member was murdered - dropped from a helicopter in the desert outside of Los Angeles. The re-assemble as many members as they can and soon discover that four former members are missing, presumed dead. They vow to discover who did this and get revenge.

This is an action-packed book and I blew right through it. This is not deep literature, but it is solid escapist story-telling. The characters are under-developed and I got a little tired of the Jack Reacher personae (ultra-stoic tough guy). I appreciate tough guy stories but I really like them to have an abundance of personality like Robert B. Parker's Spenser or Robert Crais's Elvis Cole. Reacher's lack of personality (or, perhaps, an over-abundance of focus on the problem at hand) scream for someone to lighten the mood from time to time.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher, No. 11)

Reviewed December 28, 2012.