The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel (Joe Pike Novels)

Book Description

The city was hers for a single hour, just the one magic hour, only hers.

Larkin Conner Barkley lives like the City of Angels is hers for the taking. Young and staggeringly rich, she speeds through the city during its loneliest hours, blowing through red after red in her Aston Martin as if running for her life. Until out of nowhere a car appears, and with it the metal-on-metal explosion of a terrible accident. Dazed, Larkin attempts to help the other victims. And finds herself the sole witness in a secret federal investigation.

For maybe the first time in her life, Larkin wants to do the right thing. But by agreeing to cooperate with the authorities, she becomes the target for a relentless team of killers. And when the U.S. Marshals and the finest security money can buy can't protect her, Larkin's wealthy family turns to the one man money can't buy -- Joe Pike.

Pike lives a world away from the palaces of Beverly Hills. He's an ex-cop, ex-Marine, ex-mercenary who owes a bad man a favor, and that favor is to keep Larkin alive. The one upside of the job is reuniting with Bud Flynn, Pike's LAPD training officer, and a man Pike reveres as a father. The downside is Larkin Barkley, who is the uncontrollable cover girl for self-destruction -- and as deeply alone as Pike.

Pike commits himself to protecting the girl, but when they immediately come under fire, he realizes someone is selling them out. In defiance of Bud and the authorities, Pike drops off the grid with the girl and follows his own rules of survival: strike fast, hit hard, hunt down the hunters. With the help of private investigator Elvis Cole, Pike uncovers a web of lies and betrayals, and the stunning revelation that even the cops are not who they seem. As the body count rises, Pike's biggest threat might come from the girl herself, a lost soul in the City of Angels, determined to destroy herself unless Joe Pike can teach her the value of life...and love.

Customer Reviews:

Pretty good.......2007-10-17

I like Pike, but prefer Elvis as the protagonist. But all in all, this was an enjoyable read.

I'll keep reading him because he's great but . . ........2007-10-15

but THE WATCHMAN is so over the top I found myself smirking at every new twist. I just can't get away from the image of Paris Hilton, to whom Robert Crais has sworn the kind of devotion Sir Walter Raleigh gave to Queen Elizabeth I. Here disguised as "Larkin Conner Barkley" (always with the three names, as if she were Ivy Compton Burnett) and topped with a sultry mane of Lindsay Lohan's red hair, Paris Hilton has Joe Pike under her thumb from page one. At first she's devil may care and puffed up with paparazzi attitude, but as the pages go on and she's forced to live "The Simple Life" on the run with Joe and, to a lesser extent, Elvis Cole, she gets to appreciate the big guy's Marine Force Recon experience and even to love Elvis' quirky sense of humor same as we all do.

Joe opens up his heart to her--they begin to touch covertly--never anything erotic--just a pat here, a hand slithering down a knee there. All in the background of a truly confusing case I couldn't make any sense of.

I like Paris Hilton too but I don't write books about her claiming that she has the immortal romanric depths of Cathy in WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Robert Crais, you are whipped boy!

And worse, you have made John Chen into a total laughing stock. We always thought his "I'm in it for the tang" complex was amusing but he is now a total Pike slave and will do anything for the man. C'mon, Crais, read some post-colonial theory! Why is John Chen the total Kato to Joe Pike's Green Hornet? Get your houseboy somewhere else,

I like Joe's back story, the part in italics, these flashbacks help build up the picture we have heard in previous novels of Joe being abused by a stern dad and that's why he's now "the Watchman."

Will Paris Hilton--I mean "Larkin Conner Barkley" return in future novels? Maybe she'll bring Nicole Richie with her this time so that Elvis can have a new love affair. I'll keep reading Robert Crais because he's so great but this book is a gigantic celebrity love letter.

The Watchman.......2007-10-12

One of Robert Crais best. I couldn't stop once I started listening. Joe Pike really did his job this time.

Righteous Thriller.......2007-10-01

The Watchman is a superior thriller that kicks off as if you're in the middle of a tension-filled scene, and doesn't let up on the thrills and suspense until the very last pages. Crais knows how to keep the dialogue light, the action lean, and still sprinkle the whole book with healthy doses of humor.

Read the other reviewers' plot summaries if you want. I'm keeping this review lean, mean, and to the point. Like Joe Pike.

Recommended.

Highly.

DIVING INTO ADVENTURE IN THE PIKE POSITION.......2007-09-22

Joe Pike, silent partner in the Elvis Cole Detective Agency, takes center stage in this well orchestrated offering from Robert Crais, with Elvis Cole stepping into an important albeit "supporting role". For those who have followed the "strong, silent, mysterious Pike" through various Elvis Cole books.....we are finally offered a glimpse at Joe's military experiences, his time as an L.A.P.D. cop, and his relationship with his father. Joe may not be a guy brimming with emotion, but his quiet nature is perfectly fitted for this compelling character.

Recommended by his old police force partner Bud Flynn, Joe is hired to protect Larkin Barkley, the beautiful, spoiled and largely ignored daughter of a real estate tycoon. Joe must utilize all of his accumulated training and experience (as well as his Colt Python and Kimber) to keep both he and Larkin out of the reaches of assassins as well as government agents.

During the first few chapters of the book, I was so aggravated with the shallowness of the Larkin character, that I could have killed her myself.....or at least slapped the daylights out of her. (Crais must have used the antics of Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan and Brittany Spears for inspiration when developing this character). As the book progresses, Larkins behaviour is modified and the reader, like Pike and Cole, begins to relate to her. Larkin aside, I loved the pace, plot structure and language of this novel. It's an edgy thriller filled with enough action, plot twists, and body count to satisfy all lovers of suspense and daring exploits. Pike's appeal is his uncanny ability to anticipate the actions of his foes, and then out-plan and out-maneuver them.

Fact of the matter is that Crais talent with the written word creates vivid pictures in your mind that would translate beautifully onto the silver screen. I can see any number of actors as Joe Pike. Bruce, Harrison and Arnold are getting a little "long in the tooth" for this sort of action, but how about Daniel Craig, Gerard Butler, or Clive Owen? Check out The Watchman and see if you don't agree? If not, do your own casting......it's a free country and your entitled to your opinion too.

Average customer rating:

A Phenomenal Read!
Great adventure from east to west coast.
A fun ride, but lots of negatives
A slow start grows into an engrossing, richly detailed book
Appealingly impossible novel

Heyday: A Novel
Kurt Andersen
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375504737
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Book Description

Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tale of America’s boisterous coming of age–a sweeping panorama of madcap rebellion and overnight fortunes, palaces and brothels, murder and revenge–as well as the story of a handful of unforgettable characters discovering the nature of freedom, loyalty, friendship, and true love.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, modern life is being born: the mind-boggling marvels of photography, the telegraph, and railroads; a flood of show business spectacles and newspapers; rampant sex and drugs and drink (and moral crusades against all three); Wall Street awash with money; and giddy utopian visions everywhere. Then, during a single amazing month at the beginning of 1848, history lurches: America wins its war of manifest destiny against Mexico, gold is discovered in northern California, and revolutions sweep across Europe–sending one eager English gentleman off on an epic transatlantic adventure. . . .

Amid the tumult, aristocratic Benjamin Knowles impulsively abandons the Old World to reinvent himself in New York, where he finds himself embraced by three restless young Americans: Timothy Skaggs, muckraking journalist, daguerreotypist, pleasure-seeker, stargazer; the fireman Duff Lucking, a sweet but dangerously damaged veteran of the Mexican War; and Duff’s dazzling sister Polly Lucking, a strong-minded, free thinking actress (and discreet part-time prostitute) with whom Ben falls hopelessly in love.

Beckoned by the frontier, new beginnings, and the prospects of the California Gold Rush, all four set out on a transcontinental race west–relentlessly tracked, unbeknownst to them, by a cold-blooded killer bent on revenge.

A fresh, impeccable portrait of an era startlingly reminiscent of our own times, Heyday is by turns tragic and funny and sublime, filled with bona fide heroes and lost souls, visionaries (Walt Whitman, Charles Darwin, Alexis de Tocqueville) and monsters, expanding horizons and narrow escapes. It is also an affecting story of four people passionately chasing their American dreams at a time when America herself was still being dreamed up–an enthralling, old-fashioned yarn interwoven with a bracingly modern novel of ideas.
"In this utterly engaging novel, the author of Turn of the Century brings 19th-century America vividly to life . . . While this is a long book, it moves quickly, with historical detail that's involving but never a drag on the action; the characters are beautifully drawn. A terrific book; highly recommended." –Library Journal
"Heyday is fuled by manic energy, fanatical research, and a wicked sense of humor.... It's a joyful, wild gallop through a joyful, wild time to be an American." -Vanity Fair

Customer Reviews:

A Phenomenal Read!.......2007-09-20

This novel is educational, exciting and well-written. Kurt Andersen is a talented author who has certainly done his research, and beautifully combines history with fiction. Read this book!

Great adventure from east to west coast........2007-09-03

This is a long book but worth it. Be prepared to commit yourself to this. You won't want to miss the ending. Great characters, interesting history. Books written in this era are always so fun to read. You won't be disappointed if you enjoy epic, romantic adventure filled stories.

A fun ride, but lots of negatives.......2007-08-21

I was torn between giving this book 4 stars or only 3. There are lots of negatives that distracted me from really enjoying this book, but, when I got to the end, I realized that it was worth the read.

I won't describe the plot - plenty of others have done that, and the book's summary is sufficient. Suffice it to say that the plot itself is one of the book's weaknesses: other reviewers mentioned the coincidences that forced me to suspend disbelief over and over again, but I think, as the book progresses, you get so used to these coincidences that it doesn't matter. In the end, the book is a kind of fairy tale, and coincidence is essential for such stories.

What bothered me most, however, is the author's need to flex his historical muscles at every turn. He clearly did lots of research, and wants to make sure you know it. He almost uses Tom Swifties - bits of exposition that go overboard to explain what he's presented - when tossing around "authentic" elements from the time. Inventions, clothing, food, and anything else he can present, Andersen keeps reminding us that he did his homework. Yet this ends up more distracting than if he simply mentioned these things in passing, or, rather, _didn't_ mention them all.

I read a lot of 19th century fiction, and Heyday does fit well into that style (though clearly it is contemporary, ie 21st century, 19th century fiction.) It's a fun read, full of interesting characters, and only a few tics mar its overall effect.

A slow start grows into an engrossing, richly detailed book.......2007-08-02

This is a loooong novel (640 pages), and as the editorial review from Publishers Weekly notes, one with a "slowish" beginning. The book opens in April 1948 with young Englishman Ben Knowles' arrival in America. On his first day in the new world, he encounters two of the other main characters, the beautiful actress Polly Lucking and her firefighting brother, Duff (the fourth main character, Timothy Skaggs, is introduced a bit later). However, the timeline then reverts back to six months before, when Ben has traveled to Paris to visit a friend. Although the events that occur in Paris are integral to the story that follows (including the introduction of another major character, Sergeant Drumont), I think that the author's use of a flashback here is the reason the first 100 pages or so of this novel tend to drag somewhat.

Once the book returns to the present time, however, the story begins to pick up. Author Andersen provides a fascinating glimpse of life in the mid-1800s, from dietary staples to the newspaper boom to brothels and bathroom habits. He's clearly done his research--for example, he often makes a point of incorporating more colloquial terms in describing "modern" life at that time. Andersen also uses several major historical events as vehicles for his plot, such as France's "February Revolution" and the California gold rush. Major historical figures appear as well--Charles Darwin, Walt Whitman, and others are actual characters in the book, while Abraham Lincoln and similar famous personage receive prominent mentions.

Each of the four main characters--Ben, Polly, Duff, and Skaggs--is afforded with plenty of time and a point of view voice. Early on, the focus is more on Ben's experiences in France and Polly's checkered history, but as the novel progresses, we learn more of Duff's secret past and Skaggs' aspirations; Drumont's perspective is given as well. Heyday is a book is full of both tragedy and humor, although with more of an emphasis on the latter. At the novel's conclusion, I felt that my extended stay in the nineteenth century was time well-spent, and I believe that you will too.

Appealingly impossible novel.......2007-07-30

"Heyday" presents the reader with a totally impossible plot, in the sense of one filled with outrageous coincidences plus main characters that somehow manage to meet almost every prominent figure and participate in every major event or historical movement on two continents in the middle of the 19th century. The resulting incredulity almost turns the story, despite the intense violence and mayhem, into a comedy.
Then there are the characters themselves, as flat and static as can be. They move around a lot, but they do not evolve, regardless of the monumental challenges with which are are constantly faced.
The book's sole strength--and it's a good one--is in the details of everyday life of the time. The author has done his homework! What luxurious descriptions of life in Paris, London, New York City, the Midwest, and California during the Gold Rush, including numerous titillating details about sexual habits and instruments!
But in the end, the book is just too long to sustain interest in detail alone

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Average customer rating:

This would make a great movie!
Great guy gift.
the way the world was eaten
Incredible Alternate History Story!
Great Book - Serious Topic

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Max Brooks
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0307346609
Release Date: 2006-09-12

Book Description

“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.

Eyewitness reports from the first truly global war

“I found ‘Patient Zero’ behind the locked door of an abandoned apartment across town. . . . His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he’d rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds. . . . He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was ‘cursed.’ I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy’s skin was . . . cold and gray . . . I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse.” —Dr. Kwang Jingshu, Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China

“‘Shock and Awe’? Perfect name. . . . But what if the enemy can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologically can’t! That’s what happened that day outside New York City, that’s the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The fact that we couldn’t shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us! They’re not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid!” —Todd Wainio, former U.S. Army infantryman and veteran of the Battle of Yonkers

“Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of number, let alone combat it? . . . For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth.” —General Travis D’Ambrosia, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe

Customer Reviews:

This would make a great movie!.......2007-10-19

What struck me most about this book, other than the sometimes graphic imagery and frightening realism, was the way Max Brooks was able to capture the human spirit: the good and the bad. The book is filled with stories from people all over the world, from all walks of life, in every stage of the Zombie War. It shows how people can come together and help one another survive, but it also shows how selfish and ugly people can be: how we take advantage and exploit others only for our gain.

Read this book. It made me cry, cringe, and hope to God that a zombie war doesn't happen in my life time.

I can't wait for his next book.

Great guy gift........2007-10-09

I bought this book for my boyfriend, (a zombie lover) and he says it's a great book for guys like him. It's written very well a very interesting read, unlike any other book you'll buy.

the way the world was eaten.......2007-10-02

Brad Pitt's production company has bought the rights to this book but how he plans on doing the individual stories justice I don't know. This book impressed the hell outta me. It was so well done in the mock-u-mentary style that it had me planning on boarding up the windows if I ever saw someone even slightly limping thru my yard! It had great ideas if you have your zombie survival kit ready and at hand just waiting for the zed's to rise.

Incredible Alternate History Story! .......2007-10-01

I must begin this review by saying, I had no idea what to expect when I picked this book up!! It was recommeded to me by a friend, that knew I'm a sucker for a good zombie story! The subtitle of this book is "An Oral History of the Zombie War". And that's exactly the way it's written. A few years after the Zombie World War, a UN postwar Commission Report was written. The author (unnamed) was upset because the report he submitted was not the report that was presented. All the "human" element was removed. This book is a compilation of that human factor. Divided into sections detailing different aspects of the war, the author gives us a look at what happened through interviews with survivors. We learn a little about the initial outbreak of the Zombie epidemic that started in China and spread rapidly worldwide. We hear horror stories from survivors of the "great panic", and what each had to do in order to be telling the tale today. We learn about different countries and how they chose to turn the tide of the war. And we learn about heroes worldwide and how they stepped up to help their fellow man survive an attack like the world has never seen.

It's hard to review this book, because there are no central characters, no plot lines, no big finishes. It is written as if it is a documentary, detailing events and people all the way down to little footnotes of "historical" fact. And it is indeed chilling. Early on, I had expected this to be a funny book, taking a stab at the paranormal genre. What else would you expect from the son of Mel Brooks, but something of a parody?? World War Z isn't like that at all. It is a well-thought-out and carefully plotted book, that goes into such detail, it's hard to believe World War Z is just fiction!! Each little "interview" tells it's own little story, and Brooks ties them up nicely in his presentation. Not too much drama, but just the facts. Brooks also throws in a lot of political references in how he perceives the world would change if such a catastrophe occurred. Can you imagine a world in which Cuba is the new commerce capital? And yet, he does it so smoothly and believably, it's really hard to see it as fiction! Kudos to Brooks for such a unique and down-right fascinating book!! If there ever IS a Zombie epidemic, I know who's doorstep I'm going to show up on!! Max Brooks can lead us to Victory!!

Great Book - Serious Topic.......2007-09-27

For those of you thinking this will be a tongue in cheek ironic laugh of a book, let me tell you that this is not the case. It is writen in a serious, insightful and journalistic style, perfect for the topic. He has great ideas about how all this might take place, and there are some truly moving parts of this book, as well as the horrible and violent. Do you like end of the world scenarios? Grab this book!

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq

Average customer rating:

Ricks tells it from the inside.
Fiasco - "All Over Again"
Good outline on what's going on in Iraq today
war mismanagement
Brings it all together

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
Thomas E. Ricks
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Iraq | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 159420103X

Amazon.com

Fiasco is a more strongly worded title than you might expect a seasoned military reporter such as Thomas E. Ricks to use, accustomed as he is to the even-handed style of daily newspaper journalism. But Ricks, the Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post and the author of the acclaimed account of Marine Corps boot camp, Making the Corps, has written a thorough and devastating history of the war in Iraq from the planning stages through the continued insurgency in early 2006, and he does not shy away from naming those he finds responsible. His tragic story is divided in two. The first part--the runup to the war and the invasion in 2003--is familiar from books like Cobra II and Plan of Attack, although Ricks uses his many military sources to portray an officer class that was far more skeptical of the war beforehand than generally reported. But the heart of his book is the second half, beginning in August 2003, when, as he writes, the war really began, with the bombing of the Jordanian embassy and the emergence of the insurgency. His strongest critique is that the U.S. military failed to anticipate--and then failed to recognize--the insurgency, and tried to fight it with conventional methods that only fanned its flames. What makes his portrait particularly damning are the dozens of military sources--most of them on record--who join in his critique, and the thousands of pages of internal documents he uses to make his case for a war poorly planned and bravely but blindly fought. --Tom Nissley

Making a Fiasco

Thomas Ricks spent five tours in Iraq during the war, reporting for the Washington Post and researching and writing Fiasco. Like many of the officers he most admires, when he wanted to understand what was happening as American troops encountered stronger and longer-lived resistance to the occupation than expected, he turned to recent and classic accounts of insurgencies and counterinsurgencies, from the U.S. occupation of the Philippines through the lessons of Vietnam, and he reports on his favorites for us in his list of the 10 books for understanding Iraq that aren't about Iraq. You can also get a glimpse into his writing process with a much different list he has prepared for us: the music he listened to while writing and researching the book, from Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell to Ryan Adams and Josh Ritter. And he took the time to answer a few questions about Fiasco:

Amazon.com: As military correspondent for the Post, you have made five trips to Iraq over the last four years. How has it changed over that time?

Thomas E. Ricks: It has been markedly worse each time, in terms of security. On my first trip, in April-May 2003, we would walk out on the streets of Baghdad at night, albeit with caution. Even on my second trip, in the summer of 2003, I would feel comfortable hopping in a car and driving 100 miles north from Baghdad to Tikrit. To do either of those things now would be suicidal. In January and February of this year, Baghdad felt worse to me Mogadishu did when I was there in 1993 or Sarajevo did when I was there a few years later. It appeared to me that there was no security, except what you provided for yourself with armed men and careful planning. One Army major described the city to me as being in "the pure Hobbesian state" in which everybody is fighting everybody.

By the way, contrary to what I see asserted occasionally, most reporters don't live in the Green Zone, the walled-off area in central Baghdad that is the headquarters of the American effort in Iraq. Reporters live out in the city, and I think generally have a better feel for what is going on than do people living in the Zone or on big American military bases. In the area of Baghdad I stayed in, I constantly heard gunfire and explosions. Yet an American colonel told me that my neighborhood was deemed "secure." I think that really meant that U.S. troops could drive through it while heavily armed--say, with a .50 caliber machine gun atop a Humvee--and usually not be attacked.

I worry that what the Americans measure are threats to U.S. troops and the killings of Iraqis. That neglects a huge spectrum of other significant activities--rapes, robberies, kidnappings, acts of extortion, and, most importantly, acts of violent intimidation.

Amazon.com: You cite many strategic errors in the planning and execution of the war, but perhaps the central one is that the U.S. military leadership failed to recognize that they were fighting an insurgency, and their methods of fighting in fact helped to create that insurgency. Can you explain those methods, and their effects?

Ricks: The U.S. military that went into Iraq in 2003 was the best military in the world for fighting another military. But it was woefully unprepared for the task at hand. For example, U.S. military culture believes in bringing overwhelming force to bear. Yet classic counterinsurgency doctrine calls for using only the minimal amount of force necessary to get the job done. U.S. soldiers and their commanders, untrained and unschooled in the difficult art of counterinsurgency, tended to improvise. So in the summer of 2003, some soldiers in Baghdad decided that the best way to deter looters was to make them cry--and they sometimes did this by threatening to shoot the children of looters, and even conducting mock executions.

More broadly, the Army in the fall of 2003 fell back on what it knew how to do, which was conduct large-scale "cordon-and-sweep" operations. These missions scarfed up thousands of Iraqis, most of them fence-sitting neutrals, and detained them. U.S. military intelligence officials later concluded that 85% of those detained were of no intelligence value. The detention experience frequently was humiliating for Iraqis, a violation of another key counterinsurgency principle: Treat your prisoners well. (Your readers who want to know more about this should read a terrific little book by David Galula titled Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice.)

Not every unit was ineffective or counterproductive. I was struck at how successful the 101st Airborne was in Mosul in 2003-04. And some units showed remarkable improvement--the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment had a mediocre first tour of duty in Iraq, but when it went back in 2005 for a second tour, it did extremely well. Col. H.R. McMaster, the regimental commander (and author of a very good book about the Vietnam War, Dereliction of Duty) told his troops that, "Every time you disrespect an Iraqi, you are working for the enemy." I was especially struck by how his regiment handled its prisoners--it even had a program called "Ask the Customer" that quizzed detainees when they were released about whether they felt treated well. This recognized the lesson of past wars that the best way to end an insurgency is to get its leaders to put down their guns and enter the political system, and to get the rank-and-file to desert or switch sides. But it will be harder to discuss the sewage system with the new mayor next year if your troops beat him in his cell when he was your prisoner last year.

Amazon.com: But today's military leadership was formed in Vietnam, when all of those lessons of counterinsurgency were supposedly learned before. Why didn't that experience translate into a preparation for the current conflict?

Ricks: Military experts, such at Andrew Krepinevich (The Army and Vietnam) and Lt. Col. John Nagl (Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife) say that after that war ended, the Army washed its hands of the entire experience and essentially concluded that it was never going to do anything like that again. It was almost as if the very word "counterinsurgency" was banned from official Army discourse.

In Iraq, there was a tiny minority of American soldiers early on who understood how to win the occupation. These generally were civil affairs officers and other Special Forces types. But their wisdom often was disregarded. "What you are seeing here is an unconventional war being fought conventionally," one Special Forces lieutenant colonel glumly commented one day in Baghdad.

Amazon.com: You've been writing about the military for the Post and the Wall Street Journal for years now, and Fiasco is built from the testimony of a remarkable array of sources up and down the chain of command, some off the record but many more on the record. Can you talk about your sources? Is this level of public criticism of a war from within the military precedented??

Ricks: Yeah, reporting the book was a pretty emotional experience. Even having covered this war as it unfolded, I was taken aback by the rage that some officers felt toward the Bush Administration, and especially toward Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. And also toward Paul Wolfowitz, who was then the no. 2 guy at the Pentagon. I think the rage is probably like what the military felt about Robert McNamara during the Vietnam War. What is unprecedented, I think, is that many officers had doubts about the wisdom of invading Iraq, especially in the way we did it.

The emotions also hit me pretty hard at times, especially when I was writing my chapter 13, about how widespread abuse was by American soldiers in 2003-04, often because they hadn't been trained for the mission they faced. I have spent more than 15 years covering the military. I tend to like and admire these people. So when I learned about a 4th Infantry Division soldier shooting an unarmed, handcuffed Iraqi detainee in the stomach, and the investigating MPs saying the soldier should be charged with homicide, and instead the commander simply discharged the soldier from the Army--well, that bothered me.

Another thing that struck me with sources was the mountain of information that was available. I read over 30,000 pages of documents for this book. At the end of one interview a guy gave me a CD-ROM with every e-mail he had sent to Ambassador Bremer, who ran the civilian end of the first year of the occupation. Other people showed me diaries, unit logs, official briefings, and such. Also the ACLU did a great job of obtaining and releasing piles of official U.S. military documents related to abuse--so I could see the time stamp on an e-mail in which an intelligence officer stated that "the gloves are coming off" in interrogations, and one soldier recommended blows to the chest while another wrote back recommending low-level electrocution.

Unfortunately the Army wouldn't release the details of citations for valorous acts by soldiers, which means that the Pentagon made it easier for me to learn about the sins of soldiers than about their acts of bravery. The Marine Corps did give me those "narratives" that support the bestowing of medals, which I really appreciated. Those documents really brought home to me the fierceness of the two Battles of Fallujah, in April and November 2004--probably the toughest fighting American troops have seen since Hue and Khe Sanh in the Vietnam War.

Amazon.com: In the last section of the book, you project a variety of possible scenarios for the next 10 years in the Middle East, mostly grim ones, and just in the past two weeks the sudden violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is leading to talk of a wider regional conflict. Where do you think those events are leading us?

Ricks: We are really in unexplored territory. We are carrying out the first-ever U.S. occupation of an Arab nation. This is also almost the first time we have engaged in sustained combat ground war with an all-volunteer force. (I think the suppression of the Philippines insurrection might count as a small precedent.)

Even more significantly, I think the Bush Administration doesn't really like "stability" in the Middle East. In its view, "stability" has been the goal of previous administrations, but pursuing it led to 9/11. It is not the goal, it is the target. So they are for rolling the dice, both in Iraq and in Lebanon. I think the big worry is those wars spilling over borders. Fasten your seat belts.

Book Description

The definitive military chronicle of the Iraq war and a searing judgment on the strategic blindness with which America has conducted it, drawing on the accounts of senior military officers giving voice to their anger for the first time.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondant Thomas E. Ricks's Fiasco is masterful and explosive reckoning with the planning and execution of the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq, based on the unprecedented candor of key participants.

The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster.

As many in the military publicly acknowledge here for the first time, the guerrilla insurgency that exploded several months after Saddam's fall was not foreordained. In fact, to a shocking degree, it was created by the folly of the war's architects. But the officers who did raise their voices against the miscalculations, shortsightedness, and general failure of the war effort were generally crushed, their careers often ended. A willful blindness gripped political and military leaders, and dissent was not tolerated.

There are a number of heroes in Fiasco-inspiring leaders from the highest levels of the Army and Marine hierarchies to the men and women whose skill and bravery led to battlefield success in towns from Fallujah to Tall Afar-but again and again, strategic incoherence rendered tactical success meaningless. There was never any question that the U.S. military would topple Saddam Hussein, but as Fiasco shows there was also never any real thought about what would come next. This blindness has ensured the Iraq war a place in history as nothing less than a fiasco. Fair, vivid, and devastating, Fiasco is a book whose tragic verdict feels definitive.

Customer Reviews:

Ricks tells it from the inside........2007-10-10

Author Thomas Ricks finds the key players, in Washington and in Iraq, and allows them to have their say. By their own words, Bush, cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Powell, and others in the hierarchy indict themselves for their poorly conceived warmaking. Catching them in the field and post-retirement, Ricks faithfully reports the disappointment and outrage of those who knew from the beginning what Bush and crew refused to recognize; that to counter an insurrection you engage the population rather than abuse them. Ricks refrains from personally accusing anyone. By their actions and words, our megalomaniacal fools for leaders make it unnecessary.

Fiasco - "All Over Again".......2007-10-09

Fiasco is an outstanding account of our excursion into Iraq. It should be required reading for every politician and military officer.

We seem to repeat our history as opposed to learning from our mistakes. How much of our youth and treasure are we willing to sacrifice for a misguided and misdirected war?

David W. Blackmon, Ph.D.
Hartsville, SC

Good outline on what's going on in Iraq today.......2007-10-02

Thomas Rick's book _Fiasco_ moves the reader through the whole history of the US war in Iraq, starting from the first Gulf War in 1991 until about the middle of 2006. The book does a decent job of documenting what happened, although the intelligence blunders (WMD? Where?) that got us into Iraq in the first place are glossed over a bit. Once in Iraq, military tactical mistakes, clashes between the military and the "Coalition Provisional Authority", and a general lack of understanding/respect for Iraqi culture contributed to the seemingly intractable mess that the US is in today.

We find out who was really pushing for this war (not so much Bush and Cheney, at least in the early days of their Administration, but folks like Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and Chalabi). Again, its not made clear what motivated Bush and Cheney (other than a reference to Cheney's heart condition). The role of Congress, and the formation of the "Coalition of the Willing" is also kind of rushed through.

There is good detail about the Abu Ghraib prison, though. (A little graphic, as is some of the other sections about the roadside bombs)

While not perfect, I recommend this book for anyone who wants to go beyond the TV news and talk radio, and start to gain a deeper understanding about Iraq and the US presence there.

war mismanagement.......2007-09-27

excellent book on the details of the mismanagement of the iraq invasion by all elements of american authority: white house, military, state department and others. no preparation for the reality of fact on the ground, no proper reaction to failed plans with new tatics or mission, continuation of deliusional mission of forcing "democracy" on folks whose religion abhors that notion, failure to seal the borders, decision to fight another limited war thus dooming our brave soldiers to a slug out urban war without end. book is an eye opener and all congressmen should be made to read it. the april,2007, update on surge effects is timely.

Brings it all together.......2007-09-22

We have been hearing bits and pieces about the problems with the Iraq war since it started and they were shocking enough. In Fiasco, everything is laid out in chilling detail. The most frightening thing is that, but for indifference and/or stupidity again and again, it could have turned out very differently. The depth of detail in this book is truly amazing but it is not a boring read.

Average customer rating:

vivid story telling
back to the good stuff
Good Book
Beware the conspiracy
Another great addition to the Aldenata series

Yellow Eyes (Posleen War Series #8)
John Ringo , and Tom Kratman
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1416521038

Book Description

The Posleen are coming and the models all say the same thing: Without the Panama Canal, the US is doomed to starvation and defeat. Despite being overstretched preparing to defend the US, the military sends everything it has left: A handful of advanced Armored Combat Suits, rejuvenated veterans from the many decades that Panama was a virtual colony and three antiquated warships. Other than that, the Panamanians are on their own. Replete with detailed imagery of the landscape, characters and politics that have made the jungle-infested peninsula a Shangri-La for so many over the years, Yellow Eyes is a hard-hitting look at facing a swarming alien horde with not much more than wits and guts. Fortunately, the Panamanians, and the many veterans that think of it as a second home, have plenty of both.

Customer Reviews:

vivid story telling.......2007-10-17

Really enjoyed the attention to detail and character devolepment,and The tactics and logistics presented in an easy to understand form. the graphic battle scenes are not for the faint of heart. very interesting developement of ai personalites with the battleships ai,s. I would say this book is second only to watch on the rhine in readability
I jones

back to the good stuff.......2007-09-16

Is it just me who finds the whole Posleen series a teeny bit confusing. i mean i like the whole concept, well done the Nazis on the Rhine and all that, but when are we actually going to kick the Posleen's butts, get rid of them off the earth and stop mucking around with the political metaphores. Now that said (and as a european, who other than the ex-Nazis are obviously all left wing tree huggers) i actually enjoyed this one. It's a good story and a good book, thank God Cally was not in it, but unfortunatley she is back in the next one. By the way Amazon, why can't you make it easier to get the information on Boook 1 of X, Book 2 of X stuff presented to those of us who stuggle to follow these things.

Anyway i digress. If you enjoyed the first two Posleen books and the Wactch on the Rhine one, then you will enjoy this one. My hopes for the future are 1) no more Cally, 2) a story that shows either the death of the earth or victory 3) and whichever that the authors remeber that the EU can actually fight and so can the Russian and Chineese, and might despite the lefties make a decent go of it.

Good Book.......2007-09-04

I enjoyed this entry to the Aldenata series, although Watch on the Rhine was better. If you liked the other books in the Aldenata series, get this book you will not be disappointed.

Always remember, "You can get anything on E-Bay"!

Beware the conspiracy.......2007-08-20

Well another rollicking read. The good guys get to kill millions of Posleen, the bad guys are anyone who isn't very politically conservative (somewhere to the left of Franco) and that's that.

One thing, John and friends have slipped over the edge here a bit by dusting off the old world government thing, somehow there is this vast conspiracy of people who want to take over the world and the only way to save them is by killing everyone who isn't a real American or a hard drinking Panamanian, or a computer simulation of a blond who has immense breasts. Real Americans in John's view are a tad conservative, likely live in the mountains of Idaho and are heavily armed at all times.

The Posleen seem to be less effective than before and that is interesting but if you change the place names from any other Posleen book to Panama you will have this book.

As to World Government (The Transies) well anyone who pays attention to the overall effectiveness of governments should not be scared of the UN, etc. and what they might do, because they are about as inept as one can imagine.

That is one reason I have never been too concerned about the black helicopter folks, the main fear of that is they will get lost, crash and maybe hurt an innocent person, as to actually taking something over? Get serious.

John, stick to stories, leave politics alone

Another great addition to the Aldenata series.......2007-08-15

When John Ringo wrote A Hymn Before Battle (Posleen War Series #1) he continued the great tradition of stories of the Mobile Infantry began by Robert Heinlein in Starship Troopers. Ringo brought something new to the party - his experience as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division and his keen sense of how to tell a story that is gripping, entertaining and witty.

When Tom Kratman began working with Ringo in Watch on the Rhine (Posleen War Series #7) he also brought something to the party - a sharp military mind and his own insightful political observations. Working together on Watch on the Rhine they produced one of the best books yet in the Aldenata saga. But, Kratman and Ringo have topped Watch on the Rhine in this novel.

There is the To Be Expected great battle scenes and interesting characters. But in this book they will make you love a ship and feel sorry for the Posleen. What more could you want?

Average customer rating:

Perfect Catalytic & Summative Work for Our Time
Why the Celestine Prophecy is a wonderful novel
How I lost 10 lbs. reading the Celestine Prophecy
Interesting reading
Mistitled

The Celestine Prophecy
James Redfield
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446671002

Amazon.com

Find out for yourself why virtually everyone you know has this book, described as an "adventure in pursuit of a spiritual mystery", on their coffee table. In the tradition of Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan.

Book Description

Find out for yourself why virtually everyone you know has this book, described as an "adventure in pursuit of a spiritual mystery", on their coffee table.In the tradition of Carlos Castaneda'sThe Teachings of Don Juan.

Customer Reviews:

Perfect Catalytic & Summative Work for Our Time.......2007-10-07

This is a remarkable book that was given to me as a gift by a Dutch entrepreneur who has himself been exploring the potential for higher energy and good intentions among individuals and groups. Although it has no bibliography, the story that it tells is quite remarkable and quite valuable as illumination and explication of the only viable path for a sustainable future for mankind, diverse species, and the planet.

I list other books below, in several categories (limited to ten hot links by Amazon, sorry), but would hasten to add that if I had to go back in time and read only one book to clarify for myself both the misguided negative energy path I have been following, and the ease of adopting an open good intentions energy sharing path, this is that book.

The bottom line on this book is that faith, blind faith, is not empowering, it is merely a panacea. Consciousness is the real experience; achieving higher consciousness is what the scriptures mean when they say "the truth shall set you free." At the end of it all, this book encourages all well-intentioned individual to "lead the many to righteousness."

I will summarize the nine insights to help those who might be skeptical of the value of this book, and would emphasize there is no substitute for "being there" with the book in hand, digesting its message page by page (very well presented by the publisher).

#1 Critical Mass. While the title emphasizes the number of individuals who are reaching critical mass (Cf. Cultural Creatives), the insight is about one's becoming conscious of coincidences that are not really coincidences, they are good intentions becoming manifest.

#2 Longer Now. This title naturally reminds us of Stewart Brand's Clock of the Long Now but is more pointedly about thinking in time in millennium terms, and more specifically, the fall of grace when the church was abandoned for science, and science led to secularity, and neither proved capable of understanding, much less managing, complexity (See also Collapse of Complex Societies).

#3 Matter of Energy. This insight focuses on the need to learn to perceive invisible energy (quantum physics at core, universe is pure energy). See also the DVD, What the *Bleep*). I especially liked the zen-like aspect of this chapter, on the energy that is generated from perceiving beauty in all its vividness, on seeing mini-environments, and on understanding that the physical universe is responsive to our intentions and expectations (See also The Social Construction of Reality, for a more academic approach).

#4 Struggle for Power. At the intermediate stage of development, humans compete for energy rather than realizing that collaborative or collective intelligence can create infinite energy, infinite wealth. Violence results, negative energy undermines the confidence and capabilities of groups (e.g. the five billion poor). This is where most of us are now.

#5 Message of the Mystics. Here the author emphasizes the role of mystical experiences in helping individuals make the leap from the past (see next item) and into a future of high consciousness that is inherently positive, forgiving, open, and engaging. The ability to receive and to give energy in a catalytic way, rather than draining energy in competition, is emphasized, as is the reality that love gives energy, and all forms of love are to be nurtured. The chapter emphasizes that the universe can provide all the needed energy to all without scarcity or competition, provided that mankind evolves to this higher consciousness of collaboration and sharing.

#6 Clearing the Past. In an unexpected twist, this chapter focuses on the family and the eras of parental control over children with good and bad results, generally emphasizing the bad as the parents competed in shaping the child. The author emphasizes the need to clear out the past, recognize the "dramas" that one plays out, and finally, in reconciliation, discover that inner direction and good intentions in accomplishments are all that are required to "live" righteously and happily.

#7 Engaging the Flow. Consciousness allows engagement, empowerment, and interactive evolution, the need to enjoin the negative, recharge often, stay full of energy, and stay in love with all things.

#8 The Interpersonal Ethic. Following up on 7, this insight opens by stating that love keeps us healthy, and that the relationship between stress or lack of love and disease cannot be underestimated. (Side note: I have noticed with interest that the Catholic Church is now teaching that sex after children and menopause is a form of co-evolution of man and wife, and not something to be denigrated simply because children are no longer possible.) This is the most complex and lengthy chapter of the nine. My notes include the need to recognize that fear and hate are based on misunderstanding. The chapter cautioned on becoming addicted to any single source or object of love, and to avoid at all costs treating children as anything other than young adults--eschew the myths and the adult entertainment, and go straight to the truth with children on all things. The chapter concludes by focusing on the need for every person to be fully in touch with both their masculine and feminine side, and emphasizes that love is at its best when both partners are complete in and of themselves, and sharing their completeness with one another. How we approach other people determines how quickly we evolve. Excluding anyone is negative. TRUTH is the common factor for common advancement.

#9 The Emerging Culture. In this final chapter, there is a sense of hope, an emphasis on slowing down, the thrill to be had from intentional interactive evolution (what Stewart Brand long ago recognized as Co-Evolution). This chapter focuses on the critical mass that are now enjoying their first deep intense introspection, on the emergence of the gift economy of abundance, and of full employment as necessary jobs are filled by multiple individuals. Most significantly for me as a proponent of public intelligence (decision support) in the public interest, "Constant exchange of information is our new economic orientation. Stewardship of the Earth will become integral to us all, and we can and should create Heaven on Earth. This chapter concludes that when we succeed, all religions will be clarified and de-conflicted and we will all become "one."

Recommended books (see also my lists):

Hope
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
Imagine: What America Could Be in the 21st Century
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility
Escaping the Matrix: How We the People can change the world
All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents)
One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Building a Knowledge-Driven Organization

History
Landscape of History
Fog Facts
Lost History
Cheating Culture
Missing
Voltaire's Bastards

Religion
Left Hand of God
Dowd on Evolution
Faith-Based Diplomacy
Other by Johnston

Wealth
Infinite Wealth
Wealth of Networks
Wealth of Knowledge
Revolutionary Wealth

There are so many others I could list. Let me end by emphasizing that this one book brought everything together for me, and is the first light on my new path toward helping the five billion poor learn and create wealth "one cell call at a time."

Why the Celestine Prophecy is a wonderful novel.......2007-09-07

So I've read a lot of the reviews on this site, and I must say I'm completely shocked at how low the star ratings are. I'm not even going to go into why I love this book, I'm just want to explain why those low star rated reviews are rubbish. Just looking at the statistcs on this book you can see how loved and important this novel is. Since 1993 The Celestine Prophecy has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 34 languages..You just don't sell that many copies of a book if it's not good! Also for the people that didn't like the way this book was written, I have to agree with you that Redfield is not master novelist but that's not the point of the book. The point is for him to get a across a message, to everyone. I was 13 when I first read this book. The lanuage is designed so that everyone can understand its message.

How I lost 10 lbs. reading the Celestine Prophecy.......2007-09-04

After reading the first 75 pages of CP, which I purchased full price at the request of a friend, I had to come to Amazon and read the reviews. Why? Because I found myself raising my voice at the book -- pouring out my best negative energy onto it -- saying things like, "This is s**t." And "WTF [my friend] did this to me."

Was I the only one upset about this awful book?

*Heck* no: enter the one-star reviewers. If there is anything 'meant to be' about this book, it is its inspiration of first-rate comedy writing by folks who wish they had back their time and money. Just read on, and you may find yourself doubled over with laughter. I was in tears at times. I've got ripped abs as a result as well.

Highlights include:

1. The guy who read the book to impress a girl (it didn't work).
2. The guy who reminds us that all of us here on earth experience the same moon phase, no matter where we are located on said earth.
3. Multiple folks who get pissed about Mayans placed at Machu Picchu.
4. The guy rolling around laughing with his friend reading various passages from the book while on tour in Peru.
5. The guy who uses the 9th insight to disappear at parties.

I recommend reading some of the book -- certainly do not pay for it, tho -- prior to reading the reviews.

To all who think the critics of this book are closed-minded or "the problem," quit looking for your higher self for sec and laugh at some of these reviews.

Interesting reading.......2007-09-01

Great book to share and discuss. Makes you think about your own life and why things happen as they do....

Mistitled.......2007-08-29

Why didn't the author discard the pretense and title this "Sweet Valley High's Spiritual Retreat"?

Average customer rating:

HOR-RI-BLE!!!
NEEDED COFFEE
Walking with Enemies
Penthouse personals
Loved it!!

Sleeping with Strangers
Eric Jerome Dickey
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0525949992
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Book Description

From Thieves' Paradise to Drive Me Crazy to Chasing Destiny (which reached #6 on the New York Times list—his eighth bestseller), Eric Jerome Dickey has captivated audiences with his edgy, steamy books.

Dickey's fans will be delighted by this fast-paced, deadly, and sensual read that gives them the chance to catch up with some of their favorite characters while introducing a great new bad-boy narrator: a hit man who goes by the name of Gideon. He's a man who lives off the grid, drifting along while making love on the run as he works as a hit man—enacting the revenge of the broken-hearted . . . for a price.

With a supporting cast of grifters and killers, broken-hearted squares and streetwalkers, and three very different women who each want to become Gideon's leading lady, this is a world that thrives on the darker passions of revenge and desire.

Get ready for another scorching hot read full of twists and surprises from an author who keeps climbing higher on the bestseller lists with each new book.

Customer Reviews:

HOR-RI-BLE!!! .......2007-09-26

I was misled by the reviews of this book. I am mad I bought it. This book is horrible! Too much unneeded information. I had to skip to the end I was sick of hearing about British people and how they live and what they're saying who cares! Stick to the story! Not a good one Eric, very disappointed.

NEEDED COFFEE.......2007-09-24

I love EJD, but this was not his best. This book bored the living daylights out of me. It took forever for it to get going? The plane ride was too long. I'm glad that a friend let me borrow this book(she didn't like it either!!!! Won't read or buy the 2nd one.

Walking with Enemies.......2007-09-21

This book is hot, hot, hot. Very unpredictable and fascinating, I give it 2 thumbs up!!!!!!! Mr. Dickey you are the best.

Penthouse personals.......2007-09-17

Apparently I was supposed to guess that SLEEPING WITH ENEMIES was the first of two novels along with WAKING WITH ENEMIES and that if I wanted to know the ending of the first I had to read the second. I don't see any reason why a resolution would take more than a hundred pages. The book is rather short as is.

Unfortunately, that's not the only thing wrong with the book. Most authors skirt the issue when dealing with sex scenes, or come at them from a different angle. Not so with Eric Jerome Dickey. His rival those in the Penthouse personals. By the time we get to the third one, they've lost all the luster they might have once had.

Otherwise, this is not a bad novel. Dickey tries to show us why his contract killer is the way he is. His mother was a prostitute for one thing, and she was the one who started him on the road to perdition. She also sexually abused him, and he wants to see her dead. There are also some likable characters, especially Lola, the motormouth woman he meets on the plane to London and Mrs. Jones, who just won't stop crying. Of course, he beds both of them.

The other plot line is that Gideon (He got the name from a hotel Bible) is himself being hunted by another hit man as part of a clean-up operation from Gideon's involvement in the murder of The Big Bad Wolf, a rapper at war with another hiphop artist named Sledgehammer. There is an especially gruesome flashback, where we see Gideon dispose of The Big Bad Wolf and his posse with a sledgehammer.

Dickey is also adept at describing London. For one thing, I had no idea there were still red light districts in the city. It sounds a lot like Amsterdam, another city Dickey takes us to in flashback.

Perhaps it's my own fault for not reading the Amazon synopses, but I don't plan on ordering the second book. By the time I'd get around to reading it, I would've forgotten about the first one.

Loved it!!.......2007-09-06

This book was excellent. Intrigue, mystery, sex, lost love, etc. It has a fast pace and I couldn't stop listening (had it in the audio version). I can hardly wait for the sequel. It's already ordered.

The Hunters (A Presidential Agent Novel)

Average customer rating:

Don Juan Does it again!
Another W.E.B. Griffin Classic
Another good Griffin read
Dissapointing
Want more books in the Corps series

The Hunters (A Presidential Agent Novel)
W.E.B. Griffin
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0399153799

Book Description

Delta Force Major Charley Castillo returns in the third crackling adventure in Griffin's #1 New York Times-bestselling series.

The first two novels in W. E. B. Griffin's exciting new Presidential Agent series, By Order of the President and The Hostage, immediately raced up the bestseller lists-The Hostage debuting at #1. Told in "punchy prose that connects like a right hook" (Chicago Tribune), they were further proof that "Griffin just keeps on getting better" (Booklist).

The Hunters picks up right where The Hostage left off. Two brutal murders and millions of missing dollars in the growing UN/Iraq oil-for-food scandal have lead Castillo and his team to an estancia in Uruguay, where, to his shock, the man they are seeking is himself murdered right before their eyes. Who is responsible? Most likely, the people higher up in the money chain, those willing to risk anything to keep their secrets from being revealed. They've left just enough of a trail, though, for Castillo to pick up the scent, and, with carte blanche from the president, to follow it wherever it takes him, he ends up . . . well, not exactly where he expected . . .

Brimming with rich characters, strong action, and cutting-edge drama, this is Griffin writing at the height of his powers.

Customer Reviews:

Don Juan Does it again!.......2007-09-06

This was another great read by Griffin. I hope he plans to continue the series as I am still getting over the end of The Corps. and needed this new thriller.

Griffin uses his ability to take people from extraordinary backgrounds and make them seem almost plausible. Carlos/Karl goes from being an orphan to multi-millionaire stud pilot/special operator/ presidential fix it man. Amazing.

The ending of this one was kind of open ended and I thought flatter than the other two. In By Order of the President (1st book in the series) the ending was conclusive. Book II, The Hostage, was less so. This was OK as you knew there was a sequel and the purpose of The Hostage was clearly to set the stage for the third and final book, The Hunters. Understanding this, I was a little disappointed at the ending of The Hunters and wished it had been more developed. Over all though, still a great read!

Another W.E.B. Griffin Classic.......2007-08-28

Another novel in the series from the master story teller of military and special operations branches. A must have for the fans of Griffin, Clancey, Higgins and Walter j. Boyne.

Another good Griffin read.......2007-08-03

It would be nice if he could just bring us up to speed once, at the start of the book, to refresh our memory of where we left this set of characters. Then he would not have to keep going over it as the story progresses.

The action is pure Griffin and much better than that in the books he writes with his son.

Overall, hard to put down - plan on some late nights of reading as you get involved with the plot.

Dissapointing.......2007-07-15

After really enjoying the first two books in this series, The Hunters is a big let down. I stopped reading it half way through because I was tired of both Griffin summarizing the previous 2 books for those readers who hadn't read them, and I was tired of Castillo continuing to fill every new character in on the "presidential finding." It is as if Griffin is so proud of his Castillo character and his nifty lifestyle that he has to continue to pound it into the readers skull how special he is. WEB: we don't care, we want some action, and action does not involve reading for the 18th time how Castillo does indeed hold dual citizenship, answers only to the president, and flys around the world in a G3. Good lord there was no reason to turn the pages accept to hope that the author would actually start putting some suspense in the story as opposed to a grocery list of people that Castillo had to fill in on the story. Did I mention the book is repetitively dull?

Want more books in the Corps series.......2007-07-13

Mr Griffin -- I hope you see this and think about it. Some of us would like to see a continuation of the Marine Corps series. They were the best. I liked them because they usually featured obscure but interesting tidbits of history. Good stuff!

Average customer rating:

Berry could make better use of his knowledge and skill
just too implausible to work....
A 21st CENTURY TSAR...
Finally! A book that's hard to put down.
Good pseudohistorical thriller

The Romanov Prophecy: A Novel
Steve Berry
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345460065
Release Date: 2005-04-26

Book Description

Ekaterinburg, Russia: July 16, 1918. Ten months have passed since Nicholas II’s reign was cut short by revolutionaries. Tonight, the White Army advances on the town where the Tsar and his family are being held captive by the Bolsheviks. Nicholas dares to hope for salvation. Instead, the Romanovs are coldly and methodically executed.

Moscow: Present Day. Atlanta lawyer Miles Lord, fluent in Russian and well versed in the country’s history, is thrilled to be in Moscow on the eve of such a momentous event. After the fall of Communism and a succession of weak governments, the Russian people have voted to bring back the monarchy. The new tsar will be chosen from the distant relatives of Nicholas II by a specially appointed commission, and Miles’ job is to perform a background check on the Tsarist candidate favored by a powerful group of Western businessmen. But research quickly becomes the least of Miles’ concerns when he is nearly killed by gunmen on a city plaza.

Suddenly Miles is racing across continents, shadowed by nefarious henchmen. At first, his only question is why people are pursuing him. But after a strange conversation with a mysterious Russian, who steers Miles toward the writings of Rasputin, he becomes desperate to know more–most important, what really happened to the family of Russia’s last tsar?

His only companion is Akilina Petrov, a Russian circus performer sympathetic to his struggle, and his only guide is a cryptic message from Rasputin that implies that the bloody night of so long ago is not the last chapter in the Romanovs’ story . . . and that someone might even have survived the massacre. The prophecy’s implications are earth-shattering–not only for the future of the tsar and mother Russia, but also for Miles himself.

Steve Berry, national bestselling author of the phenomenal thriller The Amber Room, once again delves into rich historical fact to produce an explosive page-turner. In The Romanov Prophecy, the authentic and the speculative meld into a fascinating and exceptionally suspenseful work of fiction.

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Ekaterinburg, Russia: July 16, 1918. Ten months have passed since Nicholas II's reign was cut short by revolutionaries. Tonight, the White Army advances on the town where the Tsar and his family are being held captive by the Bolsheviks. Nicholas dares to hope for salvation. Instead, the Romanovs are coldly and methodically executed.

Moscow: Present Day. Atlanta lawyer Miles Lord, fluent in Russian and well versed in the country's history, is thrilled to be in Moscow on the eve of such a momentous event. After the fall of Communism and a succession of weak governments, the Russian people have voted to bring back the monarchy. The new tsar will be chosen from the distant relatives of Nicholas II by a specially appointed commission, and Miles' job is to perform a background check on the Tsarist candidate favored by a powerful group of Western businessmen. But research quickly becomes the least of Miles' concerns when he is nearly killed by gunmen on a city plaza.

Suddenly Miles is racing across continents, shadowed by nefarious henchmen. At first, his only question is why people are pursuing him. But after a strange conversation with a mysterious Russian, who steers Miles toward the writings of Rasputin, he becomes desperate to know more-most important, what really happened to the family of Russia's last tsar?

His only companion is Akilina Petrov, a Russian circus performer sympathetic to his struggle, and his only guide is a cryptic message from Rasputin that implies that the bloody night of so long ago is not the last chapter in the Romanovs' story…and that someone might even have survived the massacre. The prophecy's implications are earth-shattering-not only for the future of the tsar and mother Russia, but also for Miles himself.

Steve Berry, national bestselling author of the phenomenal thriller The Amber Room, once again delves into rich historical fact to produce an explosive page-turner. In The Romanov Prophecy, the authentic and the speculative meld into a fascinating and exceptionally suspenseful work of fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Berry could make better use of his knowledge and skill.......2007-10-06

I have to agree with the more negative reviews. There's just too much implausibility. Miles Lord is impossibly naive - for a capable lawyer - and also ridiculously lucky at dodging massive sprays of gunshots. Wouldn't happen, folks. Then, the vaguely supernatural theme of Rasputin's prophecies fulfilling themselves is not attacked as it could be. You'd like to see at least some kind of examination or rationale of how such things could be.

It's a pity, because Steve Berry clearly has lots of in-depth knowledge of Russia, both historical and present-day. Also mostly good writing skill. (Hey, I finished it, even while wishing it was better.) I loved the crisp description of Rasputin: "His blue silk blouse and velvet trousers reeked of alcohol, which tempered his usual stench, one her court ladies had said reminded them of a goat." (And goat-like he was, apparently, in many ways.)

There are some sloppy errors and oddities here and there. Miles is forced to pay a traffic fine of forty roubles, but a few seconds later the officer is pocketing his "forty dollars." Seeing a MacDonald's, the golden arches "harked of safety." Harked?? And "...once the new tsar was coronated" ..."coronated" is a non-word: should be "crowned." Coronation is just the noun matching the verb "to crown."

Some Romanovs are in the country, safe because "no-one beyond courtesans in St. Petersburg knew their faces." Hey, it's probably not their faces that "courtesans" would recognize....He means courtiers, obviously. Odd vocabulary ignorance, unexpected in the generally capable use of language. He thanks one Laura Jorstad for being an "eagle-eyed copy editor." Guess the eagle blinked a few times.

just too implausible to work...........2007-09-24

I just finished The Romanov Prophecy and while it held my interest enough to finish it (mainly because I like novels with some history in them), it's a bit of a let-down. There are too many incredulous escapes for one thing. A major flaw is we never know why the hero is targeted for assassination at the beginning of the novel before he really discovers anything and is in a good and communicative relationship with the villain. Once he discovers a secret, then assasinating him makes sense. Also how thick are you that you can't begin to suspect that you are being betrayed...for all the hero's smarts, he can't at least suspect that someone is giving his location away...and how stupid is it to go to a foreign consulate when your life has been threatened so many times and you don't know whom you can trust (anyone would meet in a public place). And how do those Russian goons get to travel so freely to and in the United States? I'm sorry, Mr. Berry....you need to be a little more logical in your thinking and you would have had a book approaching the Da Vinci Code.

A 21st CENTURY TSAR..........2007-09-15

This is an interesting and enjoyable work of fiction. As with all of the author's works, there is a historical thread that runs through it. Here, the Russian people, sick of its weak post-communist governments, have boldly decided that is time to restore the Romanovs to the throne. Yes, it is time to bring back the tsar.

Having made this monumental decision, the Russians, through a duly selected Tsar Commission, are going to choose their tsar from the distant blood relatives of Nicholas II, the last Romanov to so rule, he and his family having been massacred in 1918. American lawyers, Miles Lord and his boss, Taylor Hayes, are in Russia as advisors to the Tsar Commission, which is charged with interviewing claimants for the throne. The leading contender for selection by the Commission is Stefan Baklanov. Miles Lord is charged with doing a background check on Baklanov, who has connections with many western businesses, many of which are clients of his law firm, to ensure that there is nothing that will impugn his claim to the throne.

In his search, Lord discovers a cryptic prophecy by Rasputin that would seem to imply that the world had not seen the last of the Romanovs. Tantalizing clues in archival material spur Lord to discover more. It seems that there may be a well-guarded historical secret that has the potential to challenge and even derail Baklanov's claim. Many will stop at nothing to keep it from being discovered, which is why Miles Lord now finds himself targeted for death. As he races around Russia, gathering bits of information here and there, the body count mounts with Lord only narrowly avoiding a meeting with the grim reaper. It is, however, only a matter of time before the Romanov prophecy is fulfilled.

This is another action packed page turner by the author. There are many twists and turns in this plot driven book, although it falls somewhat short in terms of character development. Still, the historical details are well-researched. Those who like historical thrillers will find much to enjoy in this book.

Finally! A book that's hard to put down........2007-09-13

I've been searching for a long time for a book that's so intriguing that it's impossible to put down. The last book that did it was Da Vinci Code (note: not to compare these two) and I haven't found another book since. Thank God I found this book at the Borders in Washington Dulles airport. It accompanied me during the 5.5 hour ride and the next day. It's fast-paced, entertaining, and maybe the reason I love it -- full of historical details. I've always loved history and this one is no exception. I'll definitely be checking the author's other books.

Good pseudohistorical thriller.......2007-08-13

"The Da Vinci Code" made popular the pseudohistorical thriller genre. Steve Berry's "The Romanov Prophecy" is set in the near future in a Russia that has elected to bring back the tsar. It looks as if a distant relative to tsar Nicholas II is about to get elected when Miles Lord, an african american lawyer uncovers some papers, including a prophecy by Rasputin, and a letter from Lenin. Before long, Lord is hunted by russian hitmen and, with the help of a beautiful Russian acrobat, needs to find out why, and stop the conspiracy that is about to elect a tsar that will be a puppet for the mafia and international business interests.

In reality, bringing back the tsar may not seem like a good idea, but the story is still interesting. The pace is quick most of the time and the book offers lots of interesting alternate history, albeit (like the Da Vinci Code) based on old ideas.

This is the first book by Steve Berry that I've read and I will probably check out his other books.

Average customer rating:

Timothy Zahn fills the gap
Constrained and Unexceptional - Zahn's worst Star Wars Novel
More Adventures in the Star Wars Universe
I give this one a solid 3.5
A Refreshing Idea

Allegiance (Star Wars)
Timothy Zahn
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0345477383
Release Date: 2007-01-30

Book Description

Never before has the incendiary mix of action, politics, and intrigue that has become Timothy Zahn’s trademark, been mmore evident that in this new Star Wars epic. On the heels of the stunning events chronicled in Star Wars: A New Hope, the newly minted heroes of the Rebellion–fledgling Jedi Luke Skywalker, smuggler turned reluctant freedom-fighter Han Solo, and Princess Leia Organa, a bold leader with a world to avenge–must face the harsh realities of the cataclysmic conflict into which they have so bravely plunged. From this point forward, legends will grow, treachery will abound, and lives will be irrevocably altered, in the long, hard fight to counter the fist of tyranny and restore hope to a galaxy too long in darkness.

The destruction of the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance was a decisive blow against the Empire, but Palpatine and his monstrous enforcer, Darth Vader, are no less of a threat. The brutal extermination of Alderaan not only demonstrated the magnitude of their murderous power, but served as a chilling testament to their resolve to crush the Rebel uprising. Standing against them, Skywalker, Solo, and the Princess remain uncertain opponents. Luke is gifted and brave, but unschooled in the power he possesses. Han has doubts about waging someone else’s war–and his contentiousness is one more burden for Leia to bear as she struggles to help keep the Rebellion alive. The three have been sent to mediate a dispute between Rebel Alliance factions in Shelsha Sector–agitating matters by forcing Han to deal not only with pirates, but with his more dreaded enemy, politics. At the same time, Mara Jade–all of eighteen and years away from her fateful meeting with Luke–is serving her evil master, Palpatine, well in her role as the Emperor’s Hand: tracking suspected treachery in the Empire to what may be high places–while trying to stay out of Darth Vader’s way.

But the Rebels will prove to be only one of the Empire’s concerns. For Imperial Stormtrooper Daric LaRone, his faith in the Empire shaken by the wanton destruction of Alderaan, will commit a sudden and violent act of defiance, and take four other enforcers with him, in a desperate bid to elude their masters’ wrath.

Each of these fateful actions, whether sanctioned, secret, or scandalous, will expose brutality and corruption, spur upheavals destined to shake the Empire to its core, and shape momentous events yet to come.

Customer Reviews:

Timothy Zahn fills the gap.......2007-08-31

Timothy Zahn is my absolute favorite author so when I saw this book about Mara Jade in the Empire era I jumped.

Plot:
There are three plots that intertwine towards the end. LaRone, a stormtrooper, accidentally kills an ISB agent. He and four other stormtroopers desert and run to the nearest planet where they begin an investigation into pirate activities.
Mara Jade was sent to investigate a Moff's possible embezzlement. This leads to a pirate consortium.
Han, Luke, and Leia are originally sent to investigate a possible way to win the war. With pirates threatening supply lines, Han and Luke (along with Chewie) are diverted to investigate and Leia is sent to accomplish the diplomatic mission by herself.

Good:
Timothy Zahn does amazing things with the characters. Han Solo in his books is Han Solo from the movie: cocky, independent, and self-absorbed. Luke Skywalker is the apprentice Jedi, experimenting with his talents, naive, and unsure of who he is. Leia Organa is absolutely perfect: the independent woman who is able to mediate between differing factions.