Book Reviews

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Comment by L.Nolan-Ruiz 22 hours ago

Min, That is what I am trying to understand. You said "sound terrible" but we don't know who you were talking to, or what you were talking about. I was talking to Clark about something and when you came in the middle of the conversation, both Clark and I got confused...

Comment by min 1 day ago

so what you all talk here

Comment by L.Nolan-Ruiz 1 day ago

Hah! Idon't know what Min's talking about, but you said something about having ameeting, needing more reviewers or rather, teaching reviews, perhaps?

Look over your posts, you'l see what I mean.
L. (What the heck you talkin about Min?)

Comment by Clark Isaacs 1 day ago

I am a bit confused.

What sounds terrible?

Also, what meeting and status?

Comment by min 1 day ago

sound terrible....

Comment by L.Nolan-Ruiz 1 day ago

WHAt's the story & status on the meeting, CLark?

L.

Comment by Eileen Thornton on August 6, 2009 at 2:59am

(5 Stars) Has the Ripper come to Brighton?

The Legacy of The Ripper
By
Brian L Porter

The story begins with Jack Reid confined to a psychiatric hospital, having been found guilty of copycat killings of Jack the Ripper. The killings took place in Brighton, a seaside resort on the south coast of England. In his defence, Jack tells the police he is innocent and that he had been drugged and framed for the crimes. Only when one of the detectives on the case decides to investigate further, does the true story emerge.

This is another thrilling story penned by Brian L Porter. Following on from his masterpiece, A Study in Red – The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper, Porter goes on to tell what happens when Jack Reid inherits the secret papers left to him by his late Uncle Robert. Set in the present day, the author cleverly leaves the reader on a cliff-hanger at the end of each chapter, as he tells how Detective Inspector Holland and Sergeant Wright set about discovering, who is brutally killing young women on their patch. Like A Study in Red, this is another gripping novel and I found I was unable to put it down. Well done Brian L Porter.

Eileen Thornton, author of The Trojan Project.

Comment by Norman Applegate on June 26, 2009 at 10:41am

Impressive. This is the mystery suspense novel done right!

North Korea, China, assassination, and world threat, Hagberg’s timing couldn’t be better with today’s fractured world of North Korea’s chessboard maneuvering of espionage and game playing. David writes a fast flowing, gripping adventure mystery that reads like a white-knuckle thriller should. Immediately, you start to wonder with a story this good, if Hagberg has an inside seat during the CIA and foreign government briefings. The story is set up perfect, characters flushed out, realistic, and the plot unfolds with a reading experience that moves like a bullet. The ending of this novel sets America up for a nightmare, and knowing Hagberg’s novels...we’re in for it. I’ve got to know where his next book takes us. Excellent read!

Comment by Martha A. Cheves on March 24, 2009 at 4:48pm

Irretrievably Broken - Irma Fritz, Author

Of all the books I’ve read over the years, Irretrievably Broken is one of the few that has made me really stop and think about my life, both past and present.

The story starts out with a mother (Ruth), her daughter (Nora) and her granddaughter (Bettina) taking a cross-country trip from Seattle to DC. They stop along the way to pick up an old friend (Mary).

Ruth is of German descent and lived through the Holocaust. During her childhood she befriended a girl (Frieda) who was Jewish and helped her escape sure death at the hands of the Nazis.

Nora grew up during the Viet Nam War with its protests of which she became a participant in. After college she took a summer off to travel around Canada, living off the land.

Bettina is the daughter of Ruth’s son who fell in love with and married an African American woman. They moved to Germany and when Bettina’s mother died she came to America to live with her Aunt Nora.

Mary is an old friend of Bettina’s mother and father as well as Nora.

These are the characters. All have deep secrets that have been kept for years. These secrets are revealed throughout the trip. The stories about Ruth living in Germany during WWII are heart wrenching. She talks about how she rescued Frieda and at what expense it was to her as well as her brother who was in love with and planned to someday marry Frieda. Nora reveals the hardships of living off the land and how she was rescued by an Indian (Max) after a bear approached her. Her stories of Max becoming her soul mate, their hardships, marriage and finally divorce are painfully beautiful. Bettina is a lost young girl looking for family and family connections. Her hopes and dreams of finding at least one relative from her mother’s side of the family will bring you to tears. And then there is Mary. She joins up with the trio with plans to continue on to Germany to meet up with Bettina’s father Adam. Mary has a secret too but doesn’t want to disclose it to anyone other than Adam.

This book has taught me that life is like a chain. Everyone we meet becomes a link in our chain. Some links may be weak, but the strong ones keep the chain from breaking. And as memories and secrets are shared with those strong links, they become even stronger.

This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend.

Comment by Martha A. Cheves on March 22, 2009 at 6:03pm

The Chosen Few - Matthew Simon, Author

I do love a good mystery and that’s what I found in The Chosen Few.

The setting is in Boston, a place I’ve never been but after reading The Chosen Few I feel as if I’ve just gotten back from. Through this book you’ll find humor with the characters Cyrus the cat and the gar that refuses to eat normal fish food. So what does it eat and what happens when you put a cat and a fish in the same house?

Simon’s main character Max Lovely is a PI who is hired to find his client’s x-husband David. In doing so he finds himself coming face to face with a mob hit man who was hired to kill David. As I read I kept asking myself “Who would put out a hit on David and why?” “Who are The Chosen Few and what do they have to do with David?” And the big question – “Will Max get to David before it’s too late?”

You will have to read The Chosen Few yourself to find the answers to these questions. But I will tell you that Simon’s way of writing makes for easy reading but still keeps you spellbound all the way to the end.

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