Book Description
In The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor’s Kit, noted author and real estate expert, Thomas J. Lucier provides detailed information, step-by-step instructions and practical advice for both beginning and experienced investors, who want to join the ranks of America's real estate millionaires!
You get Tom Lucier’s lifetime of real estate investing expertise and experience in twenty-three meaty chapters. You also get all of the nitty-gritty details on five proven strategies for making money in real estate today. You’ll learn all of the fundamentals of successful investing and get the guidance that you need on these and many more vital topics:
- Choosing the right investment strategies
- Financing your deals
- Limiting your risk and liability
- Earning tax-free income from the sale of real estate
- Setting up and operating your own real estate business
- Investing in undervalued properties
- Following state and federal real estate related statutes
- Negotiating the best possible deal for yourself
- Buying properties at below-market prices
- Performing due diligence, inspections, and estimating property values
- Preparing purchase and sale agreements
The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor’s Kit is as close as you can get to a graduate degree in real estate investing without ever going to college. It arms you with the specialized knowledge that you need to compete successfully against the seasoned real estate professionals in your local real estate market. And this book comes complete with FREE downloadable and customizable forms to help you get started on the fast track.
Customer Reviews:
The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor's Kit is a Thorough Reference Book.......2007-08-04
One of the most thorough real estate investment books one can get. Lucifer covers a lot of topics with a very readable style. There was actually too much information for me to take in on the first reading of the book. I find myself going back to the book to browse sections I missed the first time through. You can read it on a need-to-know basis, like I do. If I come across something that I need more information on, I can often find the answer to what I am looking for in this book.
Of particular value is his online Resource List at the end of the book. The author has listed email addresses for many useful websites. I liked the online Property Sales Information, where I first learned about Craigslist as a great online source for finding properties for sale. I like to search specifically for homes with guest houses, and Craigslist makes it easy to do that type of "specialty" search.
I also like the fact that he recommends useful products to make our investment businesses run more smoothly. It shows that he's a down-to-earth guy who has been down the same path that we travel. For example, on page 65 he recommends the Desk Apprentice (designed by 2 participants in Donald Trump's The Apprentice TV show) to keep your office desk organized, and on page 66 the Cab Commander for your car seat office. Lucifer knows that we have to spend a lot of time behind the wheel searching for properties, conducting drive-by property inspections, and driving to appointments.
This book is packed with useful information. Many books are called real estate investment reference books, but this book truly is one.
Terry Sprouse - author of the forthcoming book, "Fix 'em Up, Rent 'em Out: How to Start Your Own House Fix-up and Rental Business in Your Spare Time."
Not Enough.......2007-07-30
When I started reading this book, I thought I was going to learn everything about how to be a profitable real estate investor. There is just no way you can cover everything this book tries to cover in 300 pages. Each chapter leaves you with too many unanswered questions. Though, I could see how this book might be a good starting point for anyone interested in investing in real estate.
If you haven't heard of Tonja Demoff, you should give her book Bubble Proof: Real Estate Strategies that Work in any Market a look. Her book is a very easy read and it's packed with information that will help you get started with the right mindset and the right information to begin investing in today's market.
Realistic Advice for Newbie Real Estate Investors.......2007-06-21
Thomas J. Lucier is one of the best real estate writers in the business today and he comes through with another winning book here. His advice is far from the "get-rich-quick" nonsense so many authors and pseudo-investors peddle in books on this site and elsewhere. As a real estate lawyer and investor for almost 25 years, I admire this man's work greatly. Lucier is a genuine real estate investor and his clear, straight-forward, easy-to-follow, and honest investment suggestions always put his books a cut above so many others out there. The best part of his writing is how he breaks complex subjects into simple-to-digest pieces best designed for newbie investors wanting to get started in the real estate business. This book in particular debunks many of the get-rich-quick so-called "creative" real estate techniques like subject-to GET THE DEED buying and offers real world reasons why you should not do it, as opposed to so many authors that base their whole careers around such dangerous nonsense. I can't praise this book enough for its clarity and practical information. There is not a single wasted page in the entire text. This is by far one the best real estate books being sold today in print.
Enlightening.......2007-06-17
Fabulous, Real Eye Opener. Everyone with a brain should read this book
One of the best!.......2007-05-12
This is the second book I've purchased from Thomas Lucier, and I wasn't disappointed by either one. He has a no-nonsense, matter of fact style that is full of usefull information without the "fluff" or other bragging other authors of real estate books seem to use to fill the pages of their books. I would recommend any of his books to the beginning or even experienced investor that wants to have a reference book handy and learn the details of how the business works. And no bull-spit!
Book Description
Pham Xuan An was a Vietnamese nationalist and member of Ho Chi Minh's army in the 1950s. Knowing that war with the United States was inevitable, the Party sent An to America to study journalism (for his cover) and observe its people and culture. He attended community college in California, worked for the Sacramento Bee and traveled across the country making friends.
Back in Saigon he worked as a reporter for Reuters and Time in the early 60s. He befriended numerous British and American journalists, including David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan and Stanley Karnow who came to regard him as a friend and trusted source. Meanwhile, he was providing intelligence to Hanoi; his early reports were so accurate that a general joked "we are now in the US war room." For twenty years An lived a lie and no one knew because he was so good at his day job, which was interwoven with his assignment in espionage.
Several years after the war, the new Vietnamese Communist government revealed that An had been one of its most effective spies. He was publicly awarded six medals and named a "Hero of the People's Army" – one of only two intelligence officers during the war ever promoted to the rank of General and Hero. But An's disaffection with the new government's treatment of their southern countrymen and his close friendships with Americans made him suspicious in the eyes of the Communist government. He was soon placed under housed arrest and to this day he is banned from leaving the country.
Customer Reviews:
You Cannot Have it Both Ways.......2007-10-01
I might not be as forgiving as some people, but I certainly would have felt betrayed by this man. He seeks to justify everything by stating that he felt the Americans did not belong in Vietnam. Maybe so. But what he did was so deceiful.To just look at the fact that he often helped those closest and known to him from suffering any harm, neglects the hundreds of thousands who died and were wounded as a result of his actions. To top it all off he sent his family to the US when the Communists came !! No doubt for a better life !!This fellow must have been of fairly limited intellect , or at least uneducated.And don't tell me was educated in the US - they let him do some courses... big deal! Did he really believe the Americans would attempt to rule Vietnam the way the French did ? Yes, they would take advantage of economic opportunities ( who does'nt), but what did he think they would have done if the South succeeded ? A good insight into blind nationalism and deceit by one of the most two faced people I have ever encountered. I still cannot understand his mindset.
the worst book to read! just a waste of time........2007-09-18
This book is nothing but full of communist propaganda. To most of the Vietnamese people, I say not including the 2% of the communist population, An is a betrayer. Don't waste your time being brain-washed by communist ideology.
Interesting, and Eerie!.......2007-09-09
Pham Xuan An was recruited by the Communist Party in Vietnam and sent to the U.S. in 1957 to learn journalism as a cover - long before the U.S. took a major role in the conflict. An quickly came to admire the U.S., did well in his studies (Orange Coast College) and internships, and was had several attractive offers for permanent work upon their completion. Yet, despite fear that he would be arrested by the South Vietnamese government upon returning to Vietnam, An returned, first reporting French troop actions, then also working for various government military figures (eg. teaching English to future VN spies; helping set up the Vietnamese spying service), and finally for various American publications - Time magazine in particular. Several times the CIA even tried to recruit An, with no success.
Early in his career An risked exposure to save the life of a Time reporter captured by the VietCong in Cambodia because he knew the reporter had saved a number of Vietnamese children's' lives from various Cambodian army massacres. This conflict between his spy role and friendship with Americans continued up to America's last day in Saigon when An helped a Vietnamese friend who had worked for the Americans escape. These actions, however, did not dull An's effectiveness - his insights and reports based on conversations and documents played key roles in VietCong/NVA tactics and strategy development. After the war ended, An was promoted to Maj. General, and collected his ten top-level medals.
An received no formal spy training - instead, he read a number of books by others who were past masters. Communications involving An were almost entirely one-way - towards nearby VietCong and much farther away NVA leaders in Hanoi. His methods were to use melted rice as invisible ink (revealed by pouring iodine over the paper), and secreting both the paper and film rolls in food materials handed off to a vendor.
An's career spanned 30 years - longer than any other spy. Consequently, after the war there was considerable suspicion by the communists that this was due to his having played both sides. He was even forbidden from leaving VN to attend a post-war correspondent's conference in NYC.
Some of the most impactful portions of "Perfect Spy" involved stories about eg. another VietCong spy who pushed the Vietnamese government to move peasants into more defensible self-contained villages. His rationale - he knew this would greatly upset the peasants and turn them against the government. An himself declared several times that the U.S.'s biggest failure was to develop a new cadre of leaders after Diem was deposed. It was also quite jarring to read details from the "other side" about so many areas that I had been to - Nha Trang, Siagon, Ban Me Thuot, Pleiku, Vung Tau, Khe Sanh.
My one wish is that "Perfect Spy" included more planning details from the VietCong and NVA side. Unfortunately, even the author (Larry Berman) sensed several times that An left much more unsaid than revealed.
Bottom Line: I was taken aback by An's working against the U.S. after having made so many friends here, how well the VietCong/NVA infiltrated U.S. planning, and how long ahead their thinking ran. The book also brings an eerie sense of wondering what is happening along these same lines now in Iraq.
Just another Communist propaganda book.......2007-07-23
It was a good read, but it just followed the line of typical Communist propaganda.
It is laughable for anyone to think An spied for his "country", that he was a "patriot", or a "nationalist" for that matter. An was a Communist through and through. Communist propaganda and the book want you to think that the Vietnam war was about fighting off foreign invaders/aggressors.
Make no mistake. An and his comrades fought for one sole purpose: put the entire country of Vietnam under Communism, and strip the Vietnamese people of freedom and basic human rights.
Hanoi successfully exploited the American involvement to justify their aggression in South Vietnam, and masked their communist proliferation campaign under a "patriotic" theme: war against foreign invaders.
It was Communist activities in South Vietnam that brought in US soldiers, and they made it looked like the American invasion of Vietnam that forced them to start the war to save the country.
An was lying when he implied that he didn't know how bad the Communists were when they took over the country. He fought for a regime that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent land-owners in North Vietnam in the late 50's during the bloody land reform campaign. He fought for a system with outdated economic (communism) theories that turned Vietnam into one of the poorest countries in the world. He fought for a totalitarian state that took away the people's basic freedom and human rights, where free-thinking was not allowed. If An had any doubt during his spying days, he just had to look to the iron curtains of the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Cuba, East Germany, ... where the people were oppressed, and all would leave if they had a chance.
As well informed as he was, An surely must have known how brutal the Communists were, and still chose to be on their side. Instead of helping to promote freedom in Vietnam, he worked hard to crush it. If An was truly disillusioned after the war, then he was a fool to fight for a system that he knew nothing about.
I am shocked and appalled that many freedom-loving Americans failed to see this, and continued to think of An as a patriot, a nationalist, and that they would probably do the same if they were An. Naive Americans.
Also, the book repeatedly mentioned An's American acquaintances admired him for being a spy without injecting any pro-communist ideas onto them. Are you kidding? That's what he was supposed to do to keep his cover. To this day, many Americans still love this guy and be fooled by his deceiving charm, buying into his Communist propaganda line that he was just fighting foreign invaders to save his country. Naive Americans.
An was responsible for thousands of American and hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese deaths during the war. After the war, tens (if not hundreds) of thousands more died in re-education camps, or during their escape journey from Vietnam.
Unification without freedom is worst than death. To this point, An helped kill his fellow Vietnamese and the country. He was a traitor!
A great read, a great man for his country and a sad commentary of our press corps.......2007-06-15
As a former Marine sniper with two straight years in the Vietnam War, the early part, I couldnt pass this book up. An, the spy, is the perfect spy and by the end of the book you can see he duped our press, his 'friends', not only in Vietnam during the war, but all the way to his recent death. He certainly played a central part in the demise of our strategy and as one soldier to another, my hat goes off to him. He was good at what he did and so were my fellow Marines and I. He fought for his country in his way and we in ours. An incredible man.
Now for my disdain. The author did an excellent job researching and writing this book. Except for his bias to continue to make the North Vietnamese out the good guys and us the bad. I understand they fought for 'their He continues to this day, forty years later for me, to herald the very pr' country and to get foreigners off their soil. But this author contuess corp that were hopefully duped by An, some probably not. They continues the US press corps position that the people in the south had no right to their way of wanting their country back. The author supports the media in their current dismantling of US efforts in Iraq. I do not believe we should have gone to Iraq, but now that we unraveled their lives, we owe it to them to see it to the end. Yet just as it outlined well in this excellent book, they are undermining US efforts to help a people who strive for freedom like the millions of South Vietnamese that are barely mentioned in this work.
This is an important work on the Vietnam War, which I have studied for my forty years since being there. It tells a compelling story of a proud warrior who did what he had to do for his country. He did it well. And it shows the dispicable US media, lead by Time magazine, and their work which ended up aiding our enemy at the time.
And then they proudly, according to the author, pull out all the stops to bring the son of this perfect spy, back to the US to educate him as we did his father. He continued perfect to the end and his great friends in the media still believe his line. We just never learn.
Book Description
As the world around us gets faster, it becomes harder and harder to keep up. The increasing demands of school, career and personal life all require that we achieve more every single day. Through the scientifically proven methods provided here, anyone can enhance learning, improve both short and long-term memory, increase reading speed and comprehension, listen better, and think more clearly. Mnemonic strategies, memory maps, and other techniques streamline your thought processes and turn learning into a treat instead of a chore. Soon, you'll pore through reading material in record time, remember more of what you've read, master new job skills instantly, train yourself to spot errors in both fact and logic, and succeed in this fast-paced world.
Customer Reviews:
Pseudoscientific claptrap.......2003-02-21
I picked this book up in a "bargain bin," so my expectations were rather low. Unfortunately, they were fulfilled.
The actual practices in the book are rather good. Some of them I've seen before and practice in my daily life. But the book itself tries to back them up with the saddest examples of cargo-cult science and unverifiable "case studies" I've seen this side of _The Peter Principle_.
One example: the author is trying to convince the reader that near-perfect recall is possible to achieve. As a convincing argument, she puts forth the fact that the average desktop computer has near-perfect recall, and scientists have stated that the modern computer is many years away from being able to emulate or compete with the human brain. Therefore, a human should be able to do anything a computer can! This kind of sad logic can be found in every chapter.
Intriguingly, the author includes a chapter on how to read critically. The fourteen techniques are all good, if not groundbreaking. The irony, to me, was that this book as a whole fails every test--from relying heavily on (flawed) analogy as noted above, to vague attribution (aside from a rather light bibliography, there are is not a single endnote backing up any of the many "scientific studies" referenced), to appeals to authority (the author likes to drop the name of Isaac Asimov as a "personal friend") and "emotionally loaded arguments" (the exuberant infomercial theme evident in the title is carried throughout the book).
All in all, if you already have a habit of reading or thinking critically, you will find this book hard to read. If you can hold your nose past the garbage long enough to read about the techniques, you may find them interesting.
Really Weak and Unhelpful.......2001-01-06
This book was very impractical and unhelpful. Stine spent most her time telling stories and describing situations instead of presenting effective techniques to actually help her reader learn "how to" memorize and utilize all the things the front cover totes. If you are wanting a book that will actually help you learn how to memorize more effectively then don't waste your money on this one.
The book has no practical information.......1999-04-06
This book was terrible. I bought it in the hopes of learning something better than the normal mneumonic techniques;however,her book showed techniques that were impractical and plain dumb. For all those out there looking for a good book on memory that will really WORK!!!! Try Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas's The Memory Book. The techniques are easy to learn, but will take time to apply to information for school. However, you will be rewarded for your efforts.
The book is helpful but not great.......1999-01-13
This book falls into the category of books that claim that a few mental exercises can make Einsteins out of all of us, that the Einsteins and Newtons of the world are not that much different than the rest of us. While I don't agree with this belief, I do believe that mental ability can be improved through exercises and I found many of the exercises to be interesting and helpful. I had a problem with the author's demonstration of how these exercises can help the reader. In the introduction, the author has the reader read a section of text and then she introduces a "Brain Power Doubler" for the reader to use while reading a second section of text. The "Brain Power Doubler" is supposed to allow the reader to read the second section of text in less time than the first section of text even though the two sections are supposed to have the same number of words. When I went back and checked the number of words in both sections, I found several times as many words in the first section than in the second section, which had more to do with the time differences than the exercise.
Finally... A well researched book without the sales pitch!.......1998-11-10
Folks.... I have wasted a good chunk of money on those memory boosters books, kits, and instant reading stuff. I wish I found this book back then. All you get in those high ticket seminars, kits and home study courses is here for less than $15.00(Tax included). I recommend this book to anyone. Scienice based facts, with none of the over hyped claims.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent book!
- Dares, Double-Dares, Dee-Double-Dares
- Double Dare
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The Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare (First Time Books(R))
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Jan Berenstain
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
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ASIN: 039489748X
Release Date: 1988-05-12 |
Book Description
Too-Tall Grizzly and his gang dare Brother to steal a watermelon from Farmer Ben's patch, and when the gang runs away, Brother is caught. Fortunately, Farmer Ben is a good neighbor, and offers Brother advice about standing up for what is right.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book!.......2006-10-07
This is such a great book to teach kids not to just "follow the leader" and to think for yourself. Brother Bear goes to get his sister's jump rope back from the school bully and they dare him to do some bad things. When Brother is dared to steal a watermelon from a friend's patch, he resists at first but then they "dee double dare" him and well, off he goes. Brother finds out that he's been found out by his friend, Farmer Ben, and Ben then tells Brother of the dangers of following someone instead of thinking for yourself. It's really interesting how they did this - Farmer Ben tells Brother that sheep will follow a leader anywhere, even off a cliff. You just have to learn not to be like sheep and think for yourself. So when Too-Tall Grizzly tries once again to get Brother to do something bad, Brother calls Too-Tall and his gang, "Sheep." It's a great lesson, one that is easily remembered and very well done. If you're interested, this one is also done on a dvd and it's great too! We love it in our house. Highly recommend!
Dares, Double-Dares, Dee-Double-Dares.......2004-01-09
This is a good book about peer pressure. My 5 year-old son enjoyed the story. Some of the life lessons we talked about while reading this story are 1) thinking for yourself, 2) friends don't call friends names, and 3) never take something that does not belong to you.
I especially liked how Farmer Ben taught Brother Bear to not allow being called names (i.e. chicken) to cause him to be misled. Farmer Ben also used a story about sheep to teach a good lesson about the importance of thinking for yourself.
Brother Bear uses the lessons learned from Farmer Ben while handling his next encounter with the Too-Tall Gang (yet another double dare). This time he is not misled because he thinks for himself, sticks with what he knows is right, and says no.
Double Dare.......1999-12-03
Peer pressure is the definition of this book. A bully, Too Tall Grizzly dares Brother to steal from a close neighbor. Brother doesn't want to be a chicken - so he does it anyway and is caught. The neighbor gives Brother great advice that he carries with him and is helpful in his next encounter.
Customer Reviews:
Double Your Reading Enjoyment.......2007-08-22
This book is a lot of fun to read. This book grabbed me in the first chapter, and later chapters pulled me along, faster and faster. The prose was nicely organized and it was very easy to keep track of the story lines. I also loved the little surprises that Priscilla Cogan included, especially those in the final chapters.
Billy Pickle is going to rob a bank. Unfortunately, the robbery begins to go sour even before Billy arrives at the bank. Once in the bank things become worse. Billy hands the teller a grocery list. After getting a rather small amount of money, Billy discovers that a group of teenage boys has slashed the tires on his getaway car.
Thinking quickly - though not cleverly - Billy takes teenage runaway Phoenix Knott as a hostage. He then forces Octogenarian Kate Aregood to be his getaway driver. The situation becomes tense as Billy continually pines for his unfaithful girlfriend Carmelita, Phoenix bemoans the lack of an iPod charger and spouts expletives with great abandon, and Kate tries to keep everyone calm.
To pass the time, the trio began reading a book titled "Double Trouble" by Felicity Dare. "Double Trouble" is nominally a romance novel, which is outside the genres I usually read, but I quickly became absorbed by the story of Daisy Hill and the DuMaurier family. I allowed "Double Time" and the novel within the novel to pull me along faster and faster, wondering what lay ahead. I was delighted to learn that author Priscilla Cogan had numerous surprises waiting for me from the beginning to the end, both in "Double Time" and in "Double Trouble."
The two novels evolve in parallel. We learn much about the Kate, Billy and Phoenix and they learn about each other as they journey across the United States. We also learn similar things about Daisy Hill. The lessons that Kate, Billy and Phoenix learn from each other and "Double Trouble" help them all.
Priscilla Cogan does tie up a lot of loose ends just a little too tidily, but I enjoyed the story so much that I was willing to overlook minor implausibilities. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and enjoy a fun book, and this book is certainly a lot of fun.
This book touches on several genres. People who enjoy romance novels may enjoy the novel in the novel. People who like stories about people discovering themselves and growing in a positive way will also like this book. People looking for an easy read with interesting twists will like the little secrets that Priscilla Cogan reveals in the final chapters.
I sometimes enjoy reading a story that easily draws me onward rather than having to push my way through a lot of heavy prose. This book was a fun, fast book to read, and other than the frequent use of expletives in places, this book is suitable for most readers down to the age of 16 or 17 years old.
Enjoy!
Hilarious from the first to the last paragraph, but with a message.......2007-07-06
If you read the first half dozen or so pages in this book of the bank robbery gone awry, the collection of a pair of the most unlikely hostages and the escape in the ancient pale blue Dodge Dart, you'll be hooked. Then as the story develops where the two hostages are reading a romance novel you find amidst the laughter that there's an underlying story of how a book (the romance novel) affects the lives of the characters in the outside novel. But within the story the humor keeps up, even until I laughed out loud at the last paragraph in the book.
This book is published by a small press who unfortunately won't have the marketing muscle to promote it to the best seller lists, but it certainly deserves to be there. I'd also call upon someone in Hollywood to pay attention to this one.
An enthusiatic/tepid recommendation........2007-06-09
This is a book that many readers will love and many will find simply a pleasant quick read. The readers who love Paulo Coehlo The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream will likely enjoy Priscilla Cogan. The two authors share the use of fiction (novels) to explicitly teach something of living life wisely and fully. They both at times place speeches in characters' mouths to make their point rather than depend upon the reader recognizing the message through the characters' actions.
Double Time interweaves two stories. The "live action" is a trip across the country of three unlikely travelers - an inept, would-be criminal driven by love; a rebellious teen running away to her father; and a wise, elderly woman. The "fictional action" is a story being read as the three characters cross the county. This story is a "romance" novel - an unhappy photographer who hires a woman to impersonate her while she spends a year traveling the world and taking photographs, a husband who doesn't know the difference, a wise old black servant ... This story has the normal romance elements - falling in love with someone unavailable, surprise identity, happy ending ... Or at least these are the elements I assume are normal romace elements. Both stories are used to encourage personal growth in the characters and the readers.
Cogan is a sufficient craftsman to make the two stories intertwine successfully and to keep the reader engaged in both stories. So if you like novels with an explicit message, you will be enthusiastic about the book. If, however, you prefer that any message about human nature and growth be expressed only through the characters' behavior, then you will have a tepid response. Either way, the book is worth the time required to read it simply to observe how well the multiple threads of the narrative interweave and strength each other.
Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun.......2007-06-03
From its implausible beginning to its clever end, Priscilla Cogan's DOUBLE TIME is a real delight to read. When hardluck schmo Billy Pickle botches a bank robbery (though he DOES get the money) and subsequently kidnaps a runaway teenager and an elderly widow, and the three take off in Matilda, Kate's (the octogenarian) car, you know you're in for an adventure. As they flee north and west, an impromptu family forms. The romance novel they read to entertain themselves on the trip, DOUBLE TROUBLE, becomes part of the fun. Like a Shakespearean comedy, the novel-within-the-novel plays on the mistaken identity of identical twins, and the comedy of the romance novel's characters spills into the "real" life of Billy, Kate, and Phoenix, the runaway.
Somebody once compared a novel to a trip, and the roadtrip that forms the essential plot off DOUBLE TIME is indeed about discovery. The conclusion comes as a surprise but one you think afterward, "oh, I should have seen it coming!" Lots of fun.
Enjoyable writing and hopeful message.......2007-05-08
In an attempt to win back his wife's love, unemployed Billy T. Pickle decides to rob a bank. Things don't go too well, as he first hands over his wife's shopping list, then finds his car vandalized and undrivable. Thinking quickly if not clearly, Billy grabs a teenage runaway as hostage, then carjacks a car driven by an elderly woman. The three of them make their escape from Washington D.C., but Billy has no idea where to go next.
Teen Phoenix Knott had enough of her single mother and had decided to run away to spend time with her father--in Seattle, completely on the other side of the country. As she is the only one of the three with a real destination in mind, ultimately the three head toward Seattle. By this time, Kate, the elderly driver, has decided she needs to help Billy out, providing frequent insights and encouraging him to re-imagine his life. Along the way, the Phoenix and Kate begin reading a romance novel about a pair of twins, mistaken identity, and true love. The novel further reinforces the lessons Billy and Phoenix are learning.
Author Prisilla Cogan creates an entertaining story with the pathetic Billy--henpecked and more a danger to himself than anyone else, the desperately seeking Phoenix, and the wise Kate bonding together over romance novels, tourist destinations, Canada and America as they make their way across the country. Cogan mixes a wry sense of humor with a touch of angst to hook the reader and keep us reading.
DOUBLE TIME's message is positive and certain to appeal, especially to young readers. More cynical readers might find it a bit simplistic and the NPR commentator's thoughts on the romance novel aspect seem quite on. Even we cynics (sadly I fall into this number) will enjoy Cogan's story of a man searching for a new dream after his old dream exploded.
Average customer rating:
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Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek
Steve Senn
Manufacturer: Avon Books (Mm)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 038062737X |
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