Category: Book Reviews

Review: Lieutenant Dangerous : A Vietnam War Memoir

Jeff Danziger, one of the leading political cartoonists of his generation, captures the fear, sorrow, absurdity, and unintended but inevitable consequences of war with dark humor and penetrating moral clarity.

If there is any discipline at the start of wars it dissipates as the soldiers themselves become aware of the pointlessness of what they are being told to do.

A conversation with a group of today’s military age men and women about America’s involvement in Vietnam inspired Jeff Danziger to write about his own wartime experiences: “War is interesting,” he reveals, “if you can avoid getting killed, and don’t mind loud noises.”

Fans of his cartooning will recognize his mordant humor applied to his own wartime training and combat experiences: “I learned, and I think most veterans learn, that making people or nations do something by bombing or sending in armed troops usually fails.”

Near the end of his telling, Danziger invites his audience—in particular the young friends who inspired him to write this informative and rollicking memoir—to ponder: “What would you do?…Could you summon the bravery—or the internal resistance—to simply refuse to be part of the whole idiotic theater of the war?…Or would you be like me?”

Review: Whirlaway

Escapees from 9-5, two guys with innate skills for adventure sail to Hawaii for the good life. Robert Wintner chronicles the sweltering challenges in the fantasy chase on a 1-way trip to the secret life some men ponder and some live to regret. WHIRLAWAY is a repellent yet fascinating parable set in a free-booting era, delivering the beauty and the balm, the headwinds and breaking waves, the love and longing of distant shores. Adventure brings wayward souls home when least expected.
WHIRLAWAY is a tale for those who fail to toe the line, who seek a different dream, who roll the bones and go for broke. Martin and Jack know what they’ve been missing. Meant for more than dead-end jobs and withering youth, adrift in fading dreams and graying horizons, they reach a point-a wall facing a yacht harbor, where they smoke a joint to facilitate a vision. A big picture of balmy weather, women and money leaves only two questions: Why not? Why work, when they could be yachting?
Martin knows a guy who wants to fit in with those who don’t. Nuel is a brain surgeon, fairy godfather with a laser wand and an itch of his own. Nuel agrees to back a loan for a sailing yacht. It’s named for a racehorse, after all. Doctors do well on racehorses, so friends might as well embark on the tropical phase of their destiny. This vision too is facilitated.
Martin and Jack never had more than the wits between them, and though they ache from liquor and drug, they surge inside, casting off for open seas and a blue-sky promise. They inherit the wind and nothing more or less.

Review: The Deep, Deep Snow

Deputy Shelby Lake was abandoned as a baby, saved by a stranger who found her in the freezing cold. Now, years later, a young boy is missing – and Shelby is the one who must rescue a child.

The only evidence of what happened to 10-year-old Jeremiah Sloan is a bicycle left behind on a lonely road. After a desperate search fails to locate him, the close bonds of Shelby’s hometown begin to fray under the weight of accusations and suspicion. Everyone around her is keeping secrets. Her adoptive father, her best friend, her best friend’s young daughter – they all have something to hide. Even Shelby is concealing a mistake that could jeopardize her career and her future.

Unearthing the lies of the people in Jeremiah’s life doesn’t get the police and the FBI any closer to finding him. As time passes and the case grows cold, Shelby worries that the mystery will stay buried forever under the deep, deep snow. But even the deepest snow melts in the spring.

When a tantalizing clue finally comes to light, Shelby must confront the darkest lie of all. Exposing the truth about Jeremiah will leave no one’s life untouched – including her own.

Review: The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm: Eragon

It’s been a year since Eragon departed Alagaësia in search of the perfect home to train a new generation of Dragon Riders.

Now he is struggling with an endless sea of tasks: constructing a vast dragonhold, wrangling with suppliers, guarding dragon eggs and dealing with belligerent Urgals and haughty elves. Then a vision from the Eldunarí, unexpected visitors and an exciting Urgal legend offer a much-needed distraction and a new perspective.

This volume features three original stories set in Alagaësia, interspersed with scenes from Eragon’s own unfolding adventure. Included is an excerpt from the memoir of the unforgettable witch and fortune-teller Angela the herbalist, penned by Angela Paolini, the inspiration for the character, herself!

Relish the incomparable imagination of Christopher Paolini in this thrilling new collection of stories based in the world of the Inheritance Cycle.

Review: Summer Frost (Forward collection)

A video game developer becomes obsessed with a willful character in her new project, in a mind-bending exploration of what it means to be human by the New York Times bestselling author of Recursion.

Maxine was made to do one thing: die. Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision—veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?

Blake Crouch’s Summer Frost is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

Review: Ark (Forward collection)

On the eve of Earth’s destruction, a young scientist discovers something too precious to lose, in a story of cataclysm and hope by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Divergent trilogy.

It’s only two weeks before an asteroid turns home to dust. Though most of Earth has already been evacuated, it’s Samantha’s job to catalog plant samples for the survivors’ unknowable journey beyond. Preparing to stay behind and watch the world end, she makes a final human connection.

As certain doom hurtles nearer, the unexpected and beautiful potential for the future begins to flower.

Veronica Roth’s Ark is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

Review: Great Illustrated Classics: Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Hound of the Baskervilles

For generations, readers have enjoyed classic literature. They have delighted in the romance of Jane Austen, thrilled at the adventures of Jules Verne, and pondered the lessons of Aesop. Introduce young readers to these familiar volumes with Great Illustrated Classics. In this series, literary masterworks have been adapted for young scholars. Large, easy-to-read type and charming pen-and-ink drawings enhance the text. Students are sure to enjoy becoming acquainted with traditional literature through these well-loved classics.

Review: The Names of the Dead

They locked him up. Now he’s out–for revenge.

Former CIA officer James ‘Wes’ Wesley paid the ultimate price for his patriotism when he was locked up in a French jail for an anti-terror operation gone wrong–abandoned by the Agency he served, shunned by his colleagues and friends, cut off from his family.

Now he is shattered by the news that his ex-wife, Rachel, a State Department analyst, has been killed in a terrorist attack in Spain. He also discovers that his young son, Ethan, is missing. But Wes didn’t know he had a son–until now.

Why was Rachel in Spain? And why did she keep his son secret from him?

Granted early release, Wes takes flight across Europe to search for the truth and exact his revenge. But can he catch the spies who betrayed him before they track him down? In order to find the answers and save his son, Wes realises he must confront the dark secrets in his own past–before it’s too late.

Review: Blue Madagascar

A candidate’s suicide. A death on the French Riviera. And a secret men will kill for.

A candidate for U.S. President, ahead in the polls and about to win the election, suddenly commits suicide. No one knows why. A mysterious woman the media has dubbed “the Invisible Woman” may hold the key.

During a botched jewel heist on the French Riviera, an American bystander is killed. This death triggers a worldwide hunt by intelligence agencies for something the dead American left behind – a secret so explosive they will let nothing get in their way.

U.S. Homeland Security Special Agent Casey Ramirez is a young woman with a troubled past. On the trail of a human trafficking ring, she uncovers a clue involving the dead American in France. The discovery catapults her into a deadly cat-and-mouse chase across Europe to find the dead man’s secret before it’s too late.

Review: That First Client: Find and Attract Your First Ideal Client

You’ve hung out your shingle “open for business,” but hear crickets. Where are your clients?
You’re an intelligent, confident woman—running a business shouldn’t be so difficult! Doubts creep in, and you begin to wonder, “Did I make a mistake?”No! You didn’t. You need a practical and easily implemented marketing strategy—and someone to guide you, cheer you on, and stop you from quitting. Filled with practical exercises and tried-and-true marketing methods, That First Client is the answer to your question: How do I get that first client? With this book in hand, you’re about to find out. And all without overwhelm!