The Drop by Michael Connelly

 Harry Bosch is back and stiff neck as usual.  Once again this lone ranger rides against both crime and politics.

Harry Bosch has a slogan everybody counts or nobody counts.  His personal code of ethics once again gets him into trouble.  You have to admire the integrity that this man exhibits.   Harry finds himself playing a political game in spite of his adverse reaction to anything political. 

Harry shows some surprising soft sides such as his feelings for his daughter and his willingness to be more flexible in relationships with others.  Once again Connelly writes a fast moving, entertaining and sometimes horrific story.
I recommend it.

Body of  work of Michael Connelly</a>

Web site: http://www.michaelconnelly.com/

The Gray Zone by Daphna Edwards Ziman

This was a sobering story about the corruption of the foster care system.

Ms. Ziman is a foster care improvement advocate.   This does not in anyway decrease the power of her story.   The protagonist is a chameleon like victim of a corrupt and morally bankrupt program of victimizing the most defenseless members of our society.   Foster children frequently bear the brunt of budget cuts and foster “parents” whose goal is to game the system to enrich their pockets as opposed to enriching the life of a child.

The story is bracing in it’s description of the futility of opposing deep pockets and the inequity of justice in a profit driven system.   There are a lot of messages in a story that remains a good mystery with provocative overtones. 

I recommend the book.  

Body of work of Alan Dean Foster

Web Site: http://daphnaedwardsziman.com/

Wall of brass by Robert Daley

This book was a little different than the regular cop novel. This is more about political intrigue and unchecked ambitions. Murder and mayhem ensue.

Bert Farber appears to be a cops' cop. Starting in the trenches he ends up as Chief of Detectives responsible for 3000 cops. He has faith in the system and loves being a cop but is not a very good politician. Bert is a deeply reserved man. Face with the death of an old acquaintance he has difficulty sharing the facts of the case. The sheer number of people who have good reason to want Harry Chapman dead is daunting.

Bert's tenaciousness forces him to discover the man he shared a squad car with was not the same man he once knew.

The book shows that police are no different than the rest of society in their hopes and ambitions.

The author does an excellent job painting characters with a deep and colorful brush.

I recommend the book.

Body of work of Robert Daley

No web site found.

The Sword of the Lady by S. M. Stirling

I’m beginning to think it is the never ending story. Don’t get me wrong, I love the books but I’m careless about checking the author’s site to determine if this book is finally the culmination of the story. Through trials and tribulations Rudi Mackenzie finally claims his legacy in Nantucket. Along the way, Rudi’s personality and charisma have earned him allies to armor against his implacable foes.

Once again I have to admire the way Stirling stirs the soul. He creates likeable characters and despicably depraved villains. I normally read three or four books simultaneously probably due to my limited attention span. I find it nearly impossible to put down one of Stirling’s books once I start it. My only beef is that the time between books is painful. I want to read more. Once again the book intersperses intense action with in depth human interaction leavened with philosophic pondering.

I highly recommend the book.

Body of work of S. M. Stirling

Web Site:

The Scourge of God by S. M. Stiriling

The gods have tasked Rudi Mackenzie with a task. He must claim a sword across the country in Nantucket and return home. He and his companions set out across a hostile countryside, facing wasteland lands and the fanatic cutters.

Stirling stirs the soul. I find his writing captivating and enthralling. His hero’s embody both realism and astounding strength of character. The modesty and self depreciation of Rudi is contrasted with the self centeredness of Odard. Even Odard appears to be coming less odious. Ingolf is battling his personal demons and still manages to maintain his self respect and personal restraint when faced with the tantalizing Mary. Heroism does not escape unscathed. Stirling does not hesitate to kill off characters or maim them to further the story line. Considering I am generally reading at least three books simultaneously, Stirling is able to enthrall me to the point of charging through his work. Not many authors do that to me. This is the second of an excellent saga of the Change a post-apocalypse society. (or 5 of a continuing story) This book gives some incite as to what caused the fall of society as we know it.

I highly recommend the book.

Body of work of S. M. Stirling

Review:


Web Site:

I,Alex Cross By James Patterson

Alex Cross faces yet another threat to his family. Set in the real world of political intrigue and back stabbing, Alex faces the seamy side of Washington D.C. that directly impacts his family.

Alex Cross loves his family passionately. I like that aspect of his character. He jumps in with both feet and treads where angels would fear to tread. Alex bows to no authority, none whatsoever. In this book he faces political pressure beyond belief and stands solid. A foe he can’t face attacks one of his most beloved relatives and he sits on the sidelines watching others fight that fight for him. The mystery was intriguing with plenty of disturbing action. This was a masterful and classic Patterson.

I highly recommend it.

Body of work of James Patterson

Review of the book:
Site:

Pollen And The Ring of Harmony by Francis T. Perry Williams

Pollen is a message of hope. Earth is depicted as the worst of Al Gore’s nightmares with a cynical attitude toward the environment. Pollen is an enlightened being who hopes to determine if Earth is worth saving from destruction.

In some ways this book seemed a simplistic rehashing of the “green” politics. I don’t think it is positioned as a Young Adult novel but it would work well with that age group. I found myself chuckling over the author’s sense of humor. A logger named Saul Runyan is a good example of William’s humor. The points Williams wants to make are painted with a very broad brush. There is no subtlety to the message. Considering that our environment is in a sorry state, perhaps it is too late for subtle and we need to get hit in the head to see reality. Williams also clearly shows he has a strong faith in the humanity of his fellow man. I liked the story, the interaction between the characters and the message. Pollen has the ability to bring the best out of a motley bunch.

I’m afraid that the message may be seen as pure science fiction rather than a needed wakeup call to the golden rule in human interaction and the environment.

I recommend it.

Body of work of Francis T. Perry Williams

Review: http://www.bookreview.com/$spindb.query.listreview2.booknew.17871

Web site: http://www.pollengreenarmy.com/

Pentagon by Allen Drury

Drury’s book came off very dated. I guess I expected more. I found it pedantic and not terribly compelling. Seeing Pulitzer prize winner makes you think you should like the book. I didn’t. It is probably me not the book so read the review and decide for yourself.

Body of work of Allen Drury

Web Site: None found

Review: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_/ai_4589391

Tyrant by David Drake & Eric Flint

The Tyrant is number eight in the General Series. First, I love these guys! I haven’t read anything by Drake or Flint that I haven’t enjoyed. I also am highly appreciative of their efforts to get free books online at Baen, their publisher. This series has been great. It is a post galactic apocalypse novel. The galaxy is in a downward spiral. A lonely, relatively undamaged battle computer adopts a pseudo barbarian and helps him unite his planet. The goal of the battle computer is to prevent mankind from sliding into a eon long dark age. Several planets later, the computer is working with an AI of the long dead general helping other planets unite in hopes of preventing civilization’s decline. The characterizations are great, you enjoy them, you are appreciative of the political aplomb of the protagonists and most of all you have a great time reading about them. I highly recommend the book and the series.

Body of work of Eric Flint

Body of work of David Drake


Web Site: http://www.david-drake.com/
http://www.ericflint.net/


Review http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Drake

Deathstalker Rebellion by Simon R. Green

Simon R. Green may be an acquired taste. Apparently I haven’t acquired it yet. I was lukewarm on Deathstalker and not even that excited about this book. Oddly enough I am experiencing the same disinterest in the Turtledove Darkness series. There seems to a common theme of let’s not spend more than a page or two on each event and then move along. It is difficult to get attached to a character when you get so little to sink your teeth into and then onto a different and sometimes new character. It is almost like Green has written in sound bites. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that many of us have an attention span longer than two pages. What really annoys me is that I anticipated I would like the series and didn’t start it until I acquired 10 out of the 11 books of the series. I am stopping now, I guess if I can’t get interested in 780 some pages, it just isn’t going to happen.

Body of work of Simon R. Green

Review: http://www.sfsite.com/10a/reb18.htm

Site: http://www.bluemoonrising.nl/
This site is a tribute site, well done but not owned by Simon R. Green

Act of War by Dale Brown

One thing you have to give Dale Brown is the action theme. There is great action in this book. Brown takes snippets of military gossip and extrapolates them into full blown novels. His imagination creates plausible situations, sometimes implausible solutions in an easily digested format. One of the many things I like about his books is that his characters are often believable. He doesn’t make the assumption that a hero has to have bulging muscles, low intellect and brash behavior. He allows ordinary seeming characters to aspire to heroic and often brash behavior. This book deals with current fears of terrorist activities, corporate greed and military technology. The dismaying aspect is that some parts are entirely too believable.

Body of work of Dale Brown

Review of the book: http://www.militaryspot.com/act-of-war.htm

Site: http://www.megafortress.com/index02.htm

Toe the line, or else!

I sent an email today to Kathleen Parker, a conservative columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group. She wrote a column that was critical of Sarah Palin. Today’s column dealt with the reaction she got from writing that column. She has written columns for over 20 years and she was shocked at the tone of her mail. It was not just negative; it was “vicious and threatening”. The rest of today’s column dealt with her feelings on the demise of civil and intelligent public discourse.

Parker a conservative apparently shocked her less flexible supporters who no doubt felt betrayed when she responded negatively to the current conservative heroine. Regardless of what you feel about Kathleen Parker or Sarah Palin, it is difficult to conceive of the necessity of writing a columnist threatening mail because of their opinion.

Why, pray tell, am I discoursing on this on a blog devoted to books. Perhaps the same narrow minded, hate spewing, mail writing individuals are the same “well read” book banners we see at school board meetings trying to remove classic literature from our libraries.

Literacy is not the answer to everything but if our children are exposed to different ideas and thoughts through the books they read, perhaps they will grow up with a greater tolerance for those who disagree with them. Our nation was founded on freedom, freedom of speech and expression. The lack of civility, of politeness is despairingly common.

The next time you feel an urge to work over Bill O’Wrongly as he shouts over his guests, or to spill beer on an opposing sports fan, consider for a moment that behaving as a boor seldom prevents a boorish response.

Righteously assuming that if you are reading a book blog, you are literate and based on literacy, reasonably intelligent and open minded; please do what you can to promote reading with your kids, your peers and your community. We must not become a society of illiterate boors, spewing hate, banning books and running rough shod over anyone who disagrees with our opinions.

As I stopped above, it occurred to me that wasn’t a particularly hopeful blog. On a note of hope, look at the number of people who are blogging on books. Look at the number of sites promoting books. The barbarians have not overrun us yet! There are still huge numbers of good people wishing and working for a better life and better society. The frequency of kind words and good thoughts I see on the book swap sites I peruse help me to realize that we still have peers of good note, who are working to make a civil society.

The Thousand Cities by Harry Turtledove (Book III of The Time of Troubles Series)

The third book in the Time of Troubles Series which deals with a Byzantine Empire time period goes back to the point of view of the Makuran’s general Abivard. In the first book Abivard’s viewpoint as one of the barbarous hill people looked at the Empire and the nomadic tribes. The second book was written from the perspective of the Videssos Empire. Turtledove shows how perspective so clearly shows who is right, who is wrong, who is good and who is evil, from their own perspective. To carry this a step further one might suspect that Turtledove is trying to make a point that there are two sides to every conflict and the ability to see another’s point of view might help in conflict resolution. Of course, it may just be a good story. The political intrigue, the erratic nature of the rulers all make for an interesting read.

Body of work of Harry Turtledove

Site: http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/turtledove.html

Review: http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/1000.html

Treaty at Doona by Anne McCaffrey

A sequel to the Decision at Doona, I enjoyed this book more. The main characters are the sons of the two main characters from Decision. The interplay and political intrigue is similar. A new alien species is introduced to complicate matters and fires the paranoia of the xenophobes of the home planets. Worth reading but not one that will keep you up at night trying to finish it.

Body of work of Anne McCaffrey

Review of the book: I didn’t find a good one.

Her site: http://www.annemccaffrey.org/index.php

Decision at Doona by Anne McCaffrey

Anne McCaffrey is quite prolific. Her Pern series was one of my all time favorites. This book isn’t exactly a page turner. It is worth reading but it’s age is showing. McCaffrey definitely improved as she aged. I guess I liked it well enough that I am currently reading the sequel and frankly the sequel seems like a distinct improvement and reading this is definitely important prior to reading the sequel. Too much political intrigue for my taste, I guess because that part of it seems so darn realistic.

Body of work of Anne McCaffrey

Review of the book: I didn’t find a good one.

Her site: http://www.annemccaffrey.org/index.php

Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn

If you are into Old Testament justice, you will love Vince Flynn’s work. In an action laden format, set as about as current as you can get in today’s world, Mitch Rapp is an “out of control” CIA operative who takes terrorism very, very personally. Flynn’s Mitch Rapp makes John Wayne look like a reticent sissy. He believes in himself and his country and hates politicians. This is a very sobering book on the intricacies of the Middle East political arena. I have read Flynn, I have been able to find. I have enjoyed them all, this is no exception.

Body of work of Vince Flynn

Review: http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/9780743270410.asp


Web Site: http://www.vinceflynn.com/protectanddefend.html