Review of Camilla's Roses (Hardcover)

Camilla's Roses, Bernice McFadden's latest release, is told in three parts:the present day when Camilla's husband discovers a lump in her breast, a flashback to the haunting past that she would rather erase, and a return to present day to face reality and her future.Camilla's middle name is Rose and all the women on her maternal side share the same middle name honoring a one-of-a-kind rosebush that only prospers and blooms on her great-great grandmother's land in Southern Georgia despite being stolen and clipped many times over the years.

Camilla suffers from an identify crisis and abandoned her family ten years ago.However, after learning about her childhood, one can understand her self-imposed exodus.Raised in a house full of cousins by her maternal grandmother (Velma Rose) and great aunt (Maggie Rose), Camilla seldom saw her heroin-addicted parents (Audrey Rose and Leroy Brown) and when she did, the results of the visits were disappointing and heartbreaking.Her childhood experiences causes her to develop an identity crisis that leads to serious skin bleaching and lying - to her friends about her family situation and to herself which proves to be most damaging.

With her usual flair, McFadden cuts to the core of humanity and deals with raw pain, loss, and suffering.This book deals with a multitude of issues: breast cancer, the affects of drug addiction, abandonment, self-hate, infidelity, etc.Every character is fully developed with a rich history and strong role in the plot - making it a well told story.The subject matter is dark and harrowing, but there is a silver lining embedded between the lines -- despite the despair, like the rose bush planted so long ago, Camilla and her "Roses" are made with a strong constitution and we are left with a glimmer of hope that they will be all right.

(...)



Click Here to see more reviews about: Camilla's Roses (Hardcover)

Review of The Etruscan Chimera (Archaeological Mysteries, No. 6) (Hardcover)

I loved this book, it is exciting, well-plotted and very well written.I was surprised that this book didn't get more attention because it is as rivetting as The DaVinci Code, maybe even more.Lyn Hamilton is quite skilled at developing a sense of place, I have wanted to visit every locale she writes about. You won't be disappointed with this mystery either, it is as good as any Hitchcock had in his best days.



Click Here to see more reviews about: The Etruscan Chimera (Archaeological Mysteries, No. 6) (Hardcover)

Review of Uncharted (Hardcover)

As we begin this read we become familiar with the lives of six people who were college friends at one time, but now have parted to live their own lives.
One of these friends dies and the rest travel out of respect to his funeral.All have had a dream or vision of their departed friend before they knew he had died.Why?What did this mean?
Was it a warning and will they heed his frantic cries? The answer will surprise you.

It is somewhat difficult to review this work without revealing the shocking ending.I will say this; the remaining friends find themselves on an uncharted island after an accident.What they discover there about themselves and their lives will shake you up; cause you to rethink your own life and hopefully make some changes. This work has an outstanding storyline, great character development and quite an emotional ending.I give it a five star and a thumbs-up review.
This is a wonderful book, not only a great read but one that has eternal heartstrings attached to it that you will remember for a long time to come. Don't miss this one.




Click Here to see more reviews about: Uncharted (Hardcover)

Review of Calder Born, Calder Bred (Calder Saga's) (Mass Market Paperback)

Out of all the calder series, I love this one the best.Jessy is the woman all of us would love to be....feminine, tough, ladylike, loyal, beautiful in the way the land needed, not just "prissy". Ty needs someone to stand with him, not to be a "trophy". The loss of Maggie is so difficult; Chase just isn't the same without her; I love seeing Cat grow up and the changes in all the characters.I have even learned to like Culley. The love he has for Maggie and Cat is wonderful and touching.I have been through 2 copies already and will choose this one when i want a real look at the calder's.What a wonderful way to escape.....

Product Description

Ty Calder was a stranger to the mighty empire that was his legacy -- the ranchlands that rose to meet the Montana skies. He learned the ways of ranch life from young Jessy, who knew the landher own heart.

But Ty worshiped dark, glamorous Tara, scion of the new "corporate West," of vast power and big money. Tara lured Ty on, greedy to be mistress of the Calder kingdom. Yet when her world rushed in to plunder the fortune beneath the prairies, it was Jessy who fought for Ty, defying death to save a birthright that was Calder Born, Calder Bred.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Calder Born, Calder Bred (Calder Saga's) (Mass Market Paperback)

Review of Calder Born, Calder Bred (Calder Saga's) (Mass Market Paperback)

Out of all the calder series, I love this one the best.Jessy is the woman all of us would love to be....feminine, tough, ladylike, loyal, beautiful in the way the land needed, not just "prissy". Ty needs someone to stand with him, not to be a "trophy". The loss of Maggie is so difficult; Chase just isn't the same without her; I love seeing Cat grow up and the changes in all the characters.I have even learned to like Culley. The love he has for Maggie and Cat is wonderful and touching.I have been through 2 copies already and will choose this one when i want a real look at the calder's.What a wonderful way to escape.....

Product Description

Ty Calder was a stranger to the mighty empire that was his legacy -- the ranchlands that rose to meet the Montana skies. He learned the ways of ranch life from young Jessy, who knew the landher own heart.

But Ty worshiped dark, glamorous Tara, scion of the new "corporate West," of vast power and big money. Tara lured Ty on, greedy to be mistress of the Calder kingdom. Yet when her world rushed in to plunder the fortune beneath the prairies, it was Jessy who fought for Ty, defying death to save a birthright that was Calder Born, Calder Bred.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Calder Born, Calder Bred (Calder Saga's) (Mass Market Paperback)

Review of Passing Strange: A Novel (Hardcover)

I love debut novels, the books that took years to write, that have the culmination of the best ideas a writer has saved for a decade or a lifetime.Because it isn't long before the publisher asks them to squeeze out a book a year and the writing gets bland.In that capacity, I loved Passing Strange, a superb debut novel.

Strange is the story a young woman blessed with a perfect body and a highly imperfect face.Her body has enough to draw the eye of a young socialite who convinces her to marry him-and get plastic surgery post-marriage.But once she agrees and she has the face to match the body, her world changes and she begins to views others (specifically the black community near and within her home) as the disenfranchised group to which she used to belong.The story moves and is written with a beautiful and clever voice in our narrator.

The only place the book came up short, which is why I only gave it four stars, is the ending.I almost feel that Sally MacLeod had started writing the book but forgot how she would end it.The story goes down a path and gets stuck there (the murder of her husband) and seems to abandon the writing and voice of the earlier chapters.

That said, it is still worth a read, and worth a purchase.This is an excellent debut novel overall and I will be keeping my eye on her next novel.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Passing Strange: A Novel (Hardcover)

Review of The Love Book (Paperback)

These stories of sex and death, attraction and repulsion, men and women, start out in a gritty mode, exposing the less pretty realities of some of life's unfortunates. One triumph of The Love Book is the tenderness Wohlrob reveals in the course of writing each relationship, a raw and recognizable humanity he brings to the surface in places the reader least expects: Compassion for just the characters with whom I was most uncomfortable crept over me in absorbing Wohlrob's deft and distilled prose. The stories in The Love Book are never veiled autobiography, but add up to an original vision all Wohlrob's own, one that has been piercingly and wisely lived, felt, and imagined.

Product Description
Five gritty, absurd and darkly comic tales. Five characters at a crossroads in their lives. While recovering in a New Jersey motel room, an obese female pro-wrestler is confronted by the demons of her past, as old memories she long ago wanted to bury keep surfacing. An Italian man who has a fetish for Asian women meets his match when he starts dating an Asian woman with a fetish for Italian men. A woman who loses her right arm in a car accident tries to return to normal life and subjects herself to the horrors of online dating. A man obsessed with time has recurring dreams that he is always late for odd events and struggles with his psychiatrist to figure out the source of his fixation. An epidemic of suicide hits a retirement community in Ohio and one couple begins to question the value of their final days together. These are very modern fables, with a great heart, a very biting sense of humor, and fully-fleshed out characters that you can sink your teeth into. Hear the audio version at www.kenwohlrob.com.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Love Book (Paperback)

Review of Momma's House (Kara's Eyes) (Paperback)

I am an avid reader. Books, words are my greatest passion.This book grabbed me from the first page!I found myself waking up in the middle of the night wanting to read more.The characters are so real, so much so that I felt I knew them and wanted to see how things turned out. I became totally involved.The main character Kara is fascinating, being so young and so determined, I found myself actually rooting her on!
I cried, I laughed, I was enraged. Momma's House is an emotional rollercoaster.I am recommending it to all my girlfriends as a must read!

Product Description
Set during the mid-1960s through the early 1980s, Kara, a girl of multi-racial, multi-culturalbackground, has taken on the task of caring for her family despite her tender years. Blessed with a genius IQ and street smarts. Kara struggles to survive in a household governed by a violent, domineering andphysically abusive mother with an interest in the occult and a chronically alcoholic and self-loathing father. The inner turmoil of Momma's house is in sharp contrast to the outer appearance of the family's seemingly picturesque life.Kara must contend with the horrors of molestation, rape and modern day slavery with a resolve that belies her young years. With an innate sense of God and purpose, Kara is determined to "bend but NEVER break,"Kara's sense of strength is constantly reenforced by her friendship with her one true friend and seemingly guardian angel, herblack German Shepherd Prince, and the only love she's ever truly known or recognized; that of her older sister Dee Dee.Due to necessity of creating something fromvery little to nothing, she discovers a connatural ability and passion for cooking! Many view Kara as an "old soul" in a young body, perhaps it is this possession that enables her to realize that life is about choices and one can either choose to be a victim or not!

From the Author
This is a story about one young girl's struggle to exist; it's her life as seen through her eyes. Narrated in a mature voice, one has but to peel off the many layers that conceal in order to discover or see the child within the child. Although graphic at times, it is a poignant piece about determination, the quest for love, self-acceptance, and the strongest instinct of all, to survive!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Momma's House (Kara's Eyes) (Paperback)

Review of Going Coastal (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this author's previous book Smothering.I was eagerly looking forward to this one.

Going Coastal is about our main character -working in a diner and hating it - or so she thinks.

Basically, this book is about finding yourself and what you truly love.There are many wacky characters as you would imagine in the diner and our main heroine has some hilarious interactions with most of them. The writing style is fun and breezy and although there is a "morale" to this story, the overeall tone is about being who you should be.

While this book wasn't as "sweet and innocent" as Smothering, I still enjoyed it thoroughly.Great chick lit reading.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Going Coastal (Mass Market Paperback)

Review of Remind Me Again Why I Need A Man (Hardcover)

I just finished this book two days ago, and, though I was a bit irritated with the ending, it was worth the ride. It took reading the first two pages for me to be very intrigued and buy it.

Amelia is like many women - smart, forward-motion hard-working and after the big bucks, until 37 hits and she is sick of being alone. Her circle of friends is a major reason for the aloneness - it's eluded to several times, but she never really grasps that - some sweaters can be knitted so tight that water (men) can't be poured through - that's Amelia & her friends.

Anyway, she takes a Harvard marketing-based course to get married in a year, keeps doodling herself in a Vera Wang with a faceless groom, and the ride through her past loves is really fantastic - it seems you really couldn't make this stuff up, yet each character is developed and 'real' to the reader, you can't wait to see what went wrong in each of the past relationships.

I loved the format and would recommend it as great summer reading or to lighten-up a winter's eve.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Remind Me Again Why I Need A Man (Hardcover)

Review of No Entry (Hardcover)

NO ENTRY has moments of real brilliance. If you care anything at all for hell for leather story telling, put your money down and take this book home. In the traditon of Harry Crews , NO ENTRY is both a black comedy and a deeply spiritual novel of the modern South. Rex Dupree, an over the hill All American Florida Gator linebacker, living the sleaze of an souless life, is put on the path of Parsifal's journey to discover the Holy Grail of compassion and to the heart of true manhood. He is stripped of all his bourgois connections by the trial by fire in court by a demented judge, and using the method of Jungian psychology, is reduced to soul dust, and makes his descent and rise as the pheonix. NO ENTRY is peopled by extremes- an eccentric judge, a hapless lawyer,a lustful proctologist, a hypocritical minister - sad and funny examples of the American ruling class, who conspire to undermine Rex Dupree, and in doing so, unwittingly provide him with the means to save himself.

Product Description
A former college football star watches his life quickly decline when all of the important people in his life turn against him, and having lost everything, he discovers the freedom of starting over with a clean slate. IP.

Click Here to see more reviews about: No Entry (Hardcover)

Review of The Norbert Chronicles, Volume I (Paperback)

My family and I all enjoyed Norbert. We laughed out loud alot. You already know Norbert whether you have been in his shoes(and are wondering what is going on around you) or you come across some of the same characters that he does ( and are still wondering what is going on around you). Great book that's easy reading when you want a quick scenario or want to lose yourself in Norbert's world for a while.

Product Description
Norbert. He's bewildered. He's befuddled. He's frightened. He's flatulent. He's on a quest to seek enlightenment, but he has to stop off at Dunkin' Donuts first. He hitches up his underwear when no one is looking, and toddles along to Cubicle City, dragging a pail lunch and a brick-pak of Hawaiian Punch. He's fighting the corporate system for the return of his soul; he's leaving his pee cup in the wrong window. He's dreaming big dreams, while stuck in a cubicle-infested nightmare. Along with Smelly Larry, Tonia Murkwater, Mr. Babaganoush, Madame Fu-Fu the Tarot Card Reader and Hinkelmeyer the Nerd Shaman, Norbert has high hopes that life will someday be better. Or at least, a lot less perplexing. ******* From the wild mind of Louisa StrongBear, comes the book you've all been waiting for: the unabridged, uncensored, and completely unprecedented NORBERT CHRONICLES!! Herein lies the untold true story of Norbert Dortmunder, Nerd Extraordinaire, who toddles into his cubicle each morning and ends up in an alternate realm free of corporate dogma and his butt-compressing cube chair. There Norbert can be a hero, become enlightened, or get pelted with lard, all depending upon where he lands in the otherworld. Join Norbert as he leaves no stone unturned in his quest for answers. But first let him remove the wedgie he has caught in his Bermudas, okay? Norbert Dortmunder: Cubicle City's favorite nerd!

About the Author
Louisa StrongBear is a shaman, poet, clairvoyant medium, teacher, artist and witch, all at the same time, and in no particular order. She loves chocolate, as was mentioned in her first book, as well as the beach, books, the colors yellow and gold, all kinds of animals, thunderstorms, cemeteries & other spooky stuff, dancing & singing & laughing as often as possible. Louisa is also known as "Louisa the Psychic" and does clairvoyant readings. The Norbert Chronicles is Louisa's second book. Her first is: Journey By Night: A Solitary Journey, which is told as a shamanic journey, and does not contain any lard or fart stories.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Norbert Chronicles, Volume I (Paperback)

Review of The Darkening (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a bit of a hybrid when it comes to a horror novel. It reads more like a tom clancy with supernatural players in it not to mention some Lovecraft.The story centers around a man named Dylan that is plagued by awful dreams that he can't remember and he wake's up in a different part of his house not knowing how he got there.The other central character is Lucy who feel's as if she is missing something but doesn't know what.

The villains in this book are none other than lovecrafts old ones and the cult that worship them. Opposed is a group called rex deus who try to thwart them at every turn. Both groups want to get there hands on lucy and dylan. The old ones are trying to break through and only lucy and dylan can put a stop to them.

This novel is good but lacks genuine scares and relies more on action. Not that that is a bad thing but when i read a horror novel i want to be a little creeped out so that is my main complaint. Also the ending was abit of a let down when you consider where your being led throughout the book. I reccommend to most out there and i look forward to reading some more by this author.

Product Description
IT BEGINS WITH A BLACKOUT.

All electrical power ceases to run. Even the sun seems a little dimmer. Cities come to a halt. And then their inhabitants vanish.

But a small, clandestine group of warriors has been preparing for this moment for centuries. Their hopes rest on two strangers, a thousand miles apart, who hold the keys to the world's salvation: Dylan Barnes, a martial arts instructor who teaches his students the art of inner balance but is plagued by shadows only he can see and voices muttering in a language only he can hear; and Lucy Devereau, a private investigator who earns a living by prying into the lives of others but is haunted by her own birthright-and the mystery of her true parents.

The world around them-our world-is slipping into darkness. Now, as fate and blood push them to the front lines of an extraordinary battle, Lucy and Dylan must stare into the face of something ancient, something impossible, something that has come to blot out the light-forever.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Darkening (Mass Market Paperback)

Review of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

Filled with suspense, intrigue, and memorable descriptions of the sea's beauty, and her treachery, Norm Harris's 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' launches US Navy surface Captain Egan Fletcher and JAG lawyer Commander Faydra Green on their individual star-crossed careers in an outstanding nautical yarn. This is a book with a great premise and a book with all the tension of a really good suspense novel. It's one of those on-the-run stories that features both appealing officers and lower-echelon military personnel for whom God, duty, honour, and country are not just words but credos.

The plot is complex but tightly knit and well controlled, with devastating subplots erupting in, of all places, a quaint (?) little third world nation know as Chosun (actually North Korea -today's powder keg). Naturally, the book bristles like a raging sea battle with intricate military hardware, from ghost ships to top-secret spy planes - like the Aurora, which the US Air Force still denies exists. Trailing in the wake is a whole bundle of intrigue and even a touch of romance that floats just below the surface, like a submarine waiting to rise when the moment is right. And when it did finally break out it happened with such suddenness and with such tenderness that I found myself reaching for a tissue (metaphorically, of course! I'm a doctor - I'm used to these things!)

Don't go away with the impression that this is a Clancy lookalike (though it's difficult to avoid the similarities in a novel of such depth and accuracy). In 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' author Harris sets his own course and spins his own tale of piracy, deception, high treason, and murder - though maybe Clancy will be forced to step aside soon and make way for some younger blood.

A great story with a great plot. You shouldn't miss it.

Product Description
When a young Navy SEAL is savagely murdered in a Seattle alley, presumably by a Marine Corps war hero,Navy lawyer Faydra Green is ordered to investigate. Although this is her first homicide assignment, it doesnot take Faydra long to decide the accused man is innocent.

Someone wants her investigation to quietly disappear, but Faydra is determined to clear the accused man'sname, discover why she has been made an accessory to a cover up, and find out who is responsible. Butshe will need all her wits about her to unravel the intricate web of lies and deception that stand between herand the answers she seeks.

Faydra's quest for the truth launches her on a heart-pounding voyage across the world in a desperate raceagainst time. Along the way, she will contend with the murky backwaters of governmental dirty deals andinternational intrigue, follow every lead, and risk her life in a bid to halt a catastrophic conflict that has threenations on the brink of war.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

Review of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

Filled with suspense, intrigue, and memorable descriptions of the sea's beauty, and her treachery, Norm Harris's 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' launches US Navy surface Captain Egan Fletcher and JAG lawyer Commander Faydra Green on their individual star-crossed careers in an outstanding nautical yarn. This is a book with a great premise and a book with all the tension of a really good suspense novel. It's one of those on-the-run stories that features both appealing officers and lower-echelon military personnel for whom God, duty, honour, and country are not just words but credos.

The plot is complex but tightly knit and well controlled, with devastating subplots erupting in, of all places, a quaint (?) little third world nation know as Chosun (actually North Korea -today's powder keg). Naturally, the book bristles like a raging sea battle with intricate military hardware, from ghost ships to top-secret spy planes - like the Aurora, which the US Air Force still denies exists. Trailing in the wake is a whole bundle of intrigue and even a touch of romance that floats just below the surface, like a submarine waiting to rise when the moment is right. And when it did finally break out it happened with such suddenness and with such tenderness that I found myself reaching for a tissue (metaphorically, of course! I'm a doctor - I'm used to these things!)

Don't go away with the impression that this is a Clancy lookalike (though it's difficult to avoid the similarities in a novel of such depth and accuracy). In 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' author Harris sets his own course and spins his own tale of piracy, deception, high treason, and murder - though maybe Clancy will be forced to step aside soon and make way for some younger blood.

A great story with a great plot. You shouldn't miss it.

Product Description
When a young Navy SEAL is savagely murdered in a Seattle alley, presumably by a Marine Corps war hero,Navy lawyer Faydra Green is ordered to investigate. Although this is her first homicide assignment, it doesnot take Faydra long to decide the accused man is innocent.

Someone wants her investigation to quietly disappear, but Faydra is determined to clear the accused man'sname, discover why she has been made an accessory to a cover up, and find out who is responsible. Butshe will need all her wits about her to unravel the intricate web of lies and deception that stand between herand the answers she seeks.

Faydra's quest for the truth launches her on a heart-pounding voyage across the world in a desperate raceagainst time. Along the way, she will contend with the murky backwaters of governmental dirty deals andinternational intrigue, follow every lead, and risk her life in a bid to halt a catastrophic conflict that has threenations on the brink of war.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

Review of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

Filled with suspense, intrigue, and memorable descriptions of the sea's beauty, and her treachery, Norm Harris's 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' launches US Navy surface Captain Egan Fletcher and JAG lawyer Commander Faydra Green on their individual star-crossed careers in an outstanding nautical yarn. This is a book with a great premise and a book with all the tension of a really good suspense novel. It's one of those on-the-run stories that features both appealing officers and lower-echelon military personnel for whom God, duty, honour, and country are not just words but credos.

The plot is complex but tightly knit and well controlled, with devastating subplots erupting in, of all places, a quaint (?) little third world nation know as Chosun (actually North Korea -today's powder keg). Naturally, the book bristles like a raging sea battle with intricate military hardware, from ghost ships to top-secret spy planes - like the Aurora, which the US Air Force still denies exists. Trailing in the wake is a whole bundle of intrigue and even a touch of romance that floats just below the surface, like a submarine waiting to rise when the moment is right. And when it did finally break out it happened with such suddenness and with such tenderness that I found myself reaching for a tissue (metaphorically, of course! I'm a doctor - I'm used to these things!)

Don't go away with the impression that this is a Clancy lookalike (though it's difficult to avoid the similarities in a novel of such depth and accuracy). In 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' author Harris sets his own course and spins his own tale of piracy, deception, high treason, and murder - though maybe Clancy will be forced to step aside soon and make way for some younger blood.

A great story with a great plot. You shouldn't miss it.

Product Description
When a young Navy SEAL is savagely murdered in a Seattle alley, presumably by a Marine Corps war hero,Navy lawyer Faydra Green is ordered to investigate. Although this is her first homicide assignment, it doesnot take Faydra long to decide the accused man is innocent.

Someone wants her investigation to quietly disappear, but Faydra is determined to clear the accused man'sname, discover why she has been made an accessory to a cover up, and find out who is responsible. Butshe will need all her wits about her to unravel the intricate web of lies and deception that stand between herand the answers she seeks.

Faydra's quest for the truth launches her on a heart-pounding voyage across the world in a desperate raceagainst time. Along the way, she will contend with the murky backwaters of governmental dirty deals andinternational intrigue, follow every lead, and risk her life in a bid to halt a catastrophic conflict that has threenations on the brink of war.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

Review of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

Filled with suspense, intrigue, and memorable descriptions of the sea's beauty, and her treachery, Norm Harris's 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' launches US Navy surface Captain Egan Fletcher and JAG lawyer Commander Faydra Green on their individual star-crossed careers in an outstanding nautical yarn. This is a book with a great premise and a book with all the tension of a really good suspense novel. It's one of those on-the-run stories that features both appealing officers and lower-echelon military personnel for whom God, duty, honour, and country are not just words but credos.

The plot is complex but tightly knit and well controlled, with devastating subplots erupting in, of all places, a quaint (?) little third world nation know as Chosun (actually North Korea -today's powder keg). Naturally, the book bristles like a raging sea battle with intricate military hardware, from ghost ships to top-secret spy planes - like the Aurora, which the US Air Force still denies exists. Trailing in the wake is a whole bundle of intrigue and even a touch of romance that floats just below the surface, like a submarine waiting to rise when the moment is right. And when it did finally break out it happened with such suddenness and with such tenderness that I found myself reaching for a tissue (metaphorically, of course! I'm a doctor - I'm used to these things!)

Don't go away with the impression that this is a Clancy lookalike (though it's difficult to avoid the similarities in a novel of such depth and accuracy). In 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' author Harris sets his own course and spins his own tale of piracy, deception, high treason, and murder - though maybe Clancy will be forced to step aside soon and make way for some younger blood.

A great story with a great plot. You shouldn't miss it.

Product Description
When a young Navy SEAL is savagely murdered in a Seattle alley, presumably by a Marine Corps war hero,Navy lawyer Faydra Green is ordered to investigate. Although this is her first homicide assignment, it doesnot take Faydra long to decide the accused man is innocent.

Someone wants her investigation to quietly disappear, but Faydra is determined to clear the accused man'sname, discover why she has been made an accessory to a cover up, and find out who is responsible. Butshe will need all her wits about her to unravel the intricate web of lies and deception that stand between herand the answers she seeks.

Faydra's quest for the truth launches her on a heart-pounding voyage across the world in a desperate raceagainst time. Along the way, she will contend with the murky backwaters of governmental dirty deals andinternational intrigue, follow every lead, and risk her life in a bid to halt a catastrophic conflict that has threenations on the brink of war.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

Review of Chief Executive Officer (Paperback)

Mark Hanson's Chief Executive Officer is an unorthodox novel about two men who, disillusioned with the roles they have played so far, switch identities in hope of improving things for the better. An urbane, business-savvy CEO dares to run a miners' union with numerous thugs and knuckle-breakers, while a labor leader who once fought in the Vietnam War struggles to do something about a rapidly failing 16-billion dollar insurance corporation. Unprepared and caught in totally unfamiliar environments, each leader must adapt to change not only to survive, but to succeed where the other has failed, until ultimately their paths cross once again - as business antagonists at the negotiation table. Chief Executive Officer is a highly intriguing, unforgettable read about being caught in the Fast World and struggling to run just as fast as you can to keep up.

Product Description
Having a bad day at the office? How would you like to be CEO of a rapidly failing, 16 billion- dollar insurance corporation and you haven't a clue about what to do? Why? Because you are there by mistake. Your real life has been that of an angry, over-the-edge labor leader with a history of battling copper mine owners with unconventional skills learned in Vietnam. What about the urbane, Madison Avenue business fellow who is supposed to be CEO of the corporation? He is up in Montana trying to do your job running a large miners' union filled with thugs, torpedoes, and other assorted knuckle-breakers.

Chif Executive Officer is the story of these two men, disillusioned with their own lives, making a stealthy switch and trying to run organizations for which they have neither training nor experience. In alien environments they battle to hold their jobs and keep their secret while facing hostile challenges ranging from computer crime to investigative reporters. Finally, an unexpected series of explosive events pit the two men against each other across the bargaining table in a struggle that can have only one victor.

About the Author
Mark Hanson is a Fulbright Scholar and Professor of Management at the University of California, Riverside. As an international consultant, he has worked on projects for the World Bank, the United States Information Agency, UNESCO, the United Nations Development Program, and the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Chief Executive Officer (Paperback)

Review of Amnesia (Paperback)

Imagine how your world would change if you were to witness your sister's murder, unable to aid her in any way, and that the man responsible got away clean.Then imagine that you have been given the opportunity to set things right.Suppose you have prepared your entire life in order to do so, but instead of bringing the murderer to justice, you find yourself involved in a plot so bizarre and unlikely you suspect you may have gone crazy?

This is the conceit of David Best's latest thriller, "Amnesia".The title is apt, as it deals with the mysteries of human memory, the way we store and process information and, possibly, the ways we may lose it.

Marti Segerson is the young girl, now grown and a psychiatrist
in rural Tennessee.Having taken a job with the asylum where Vernon Odessa, the madman who killed her sister, is incarcerated, she aims to prove Odessa did the deed and ensure that he is punished.The only problem?If Odessa did it, he can't remember.And Marti's memory is starting to develop more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese.

Having previously enjoyed David Best's "The Judas Virus", I was excited to read this one.I am pleased to report that "Amnesia" is even better.The characters are sharply drawn and individual enough to be believable but without the unbelievable quirks that some freshman authors add as a substitute for characterization.Marti is resourceful and smart, but vulnerable and wounded by her childhood trauma.Her neighbor and landlord, Clay, might be a tad on the superguy side, being a rodeo rider and volunteer fireman, but these traits may be forgiven by his understated demeanor and self-effacing humor.

The plot is laid out like a fine tapestry, with seemingly insignificant occurrences carrying greater weight as the story unfolds.The story is literally plotted like a roller-coaster, with Best bringing us to the point of revelation again and again, only to let the reader slide away in a rush, until the final plunge into the breathless resolution.

This is a fine book, a terrific commute or beach read that will keep you turning the pages.Enjoy!



Product Description
What brings psychiatrist Marti Segerson to the isolated asylum in rural Tennessee? The madman who killed her sister years ago. Marti never forgot the horror--or her need for revenge. But in this strange institution, something else is happening--mind games that cross the line between illusion and reality. And not even murder is what it seems.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Amnesia (Paperback)

Review of The Wrong Side of Brightness (Paperback)

A fast-paced, well plotted, and hip treatment of a believable contemporary moral dilemma and how it is resolved.



Click Here to see more reviews about: The Wrong Side of Brightness (Paperback)