Stevens writes from the all sides of the story. Everyone should read this book it tells more of the story of the civil war. History teachers should make this required reading. Couldn't put it down. Makes learning more interesting.

I have read many Civil War histories including McPherson's, much of Foote's trilogy (I am working my way through it), Bruce Catton's two trilogies, etc. So much happened on different fronts that it takes a lot of reading and study to become familiar with it in great detail. This marvelous book is a great contribution to putting order to the understanding of the war.

Having read numerous biographies and histories of the period, it is hard for me to judge how this book would be rceived by a novice to the Civil War but, my guess is that since it is so well written, it would be a good read for someone encountering the subject matter for the first time. The year 1863 started with the Emancipation proclamation shortly after the Confederate soundly defeated the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg. The Confederate prospects looked good as the Union forces became bogged down in the mud march fiasco.

After a change in command to Gen. Hooker, Union hopes were further dashed as his poor generalship led to a terrible and inexcusable defeat at Chancellorsville as Lee and Stonewall Jackson took advantage of Hooker's paralysis. Furthermore, a naval effort at Charleton was repulsed by P.G.T. Beauregard. Then the tide turned with Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg. In the West, Gen. Bragg for the Confederates and and Gen. Rosecrans for the Union were both indecisive and timid. However, after Bragg's victory at Chickamauga, Rosecrans was replaced and Grant, Sherman and Thommas successfully defended Chatanooga by capturing Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Basically, the defeatist Bragg gave up those strongholds without much of a fight.

Thus, the year which started out brightly for the Confederates ended just as brightly for the Union forces. Stevens captures this in a clear, understandable manner which puts these multitude of events into context. Lest we forget, there were also many important political events, such as the New York Draft Riots. Stevens covers these events well also. By breaking down this complex war into a study of just one pivotal year, Stevens makes the war more understandable. This book is a great effort by the author and I recommend it to veteran Civil War buffs and neophytes alike.

It was 1863 - some might say the best of times, or the worst of times. In his progression from January to December of that year, Joseph E. Stevens has gone above and beyond the call of duty in this gripping, fascinating historical book. While most authors concentrate on the wide view of events that may span a whole conflict, touching briefly on each point along the way, Stevens has chosen to discuss only one year - 1863. In doing so, he is able to give the in-depth examinationg of not only the events, but more interestingly, the people of the war. There was Grant and his "drinking problem", the insubordinate Longstreet, "retreat is my middle name" Pemberton, and so on. Through this display of not only the events, but the people that went through them, Stevens has managed to create a book that actually holds your interest for hundreds of pages on one year! Go ahead and set some time aside, because once you buy this book, you'll never put it down....

No other Kennedy book that I've read (and I've read 'em all, I think) gives the in-depth yet balanced coverage found here with regard to the war years. This book covers ALL aspects of the Kennedy family during WWII. Renehan has included not just PT-109, but also Kick Kennedy Hartington's unique story of love and loss and redeption, and one of the most brilliant studies of Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. ever penned. What is more, the portrait of Ambassador Kennedy and his appeasement (what amounted very nearly to pro-Nazi lobbying at Whitehall and in DC) is both stunning and frightening. Renehan has done a great deal in the way of original research, using heretofore unavailable letters and diaries, and interviewing a number of Jack and Joe and Kick's surviving contemporaries (those few that still survive). I found this book to be a VERY good read, and I recommend it highly.

I picked this book up Sunday morning after reading a rave review (written by former RI governor Bruce Sundlun, who is a vet of WWII) in THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL. Nearly three-quarters of the way through, I find it delivers a refreshing and engagingly-written view of the Kennedy family during those troubled and tragic days of war. PT 109 forms only a tiny slice of the really epic story Renehan tells here. There is also Joe Jr.'s troubled life and martyrdom. There is Kathleen Kennedy's troubled coming of age and her young (nearly instantaneous) widowhood. And there is the disaster of JPK Sr.'s years at the Court of St. James's. I respectfully disagree with those who say Renehan has not done much in the way of original resarch. The sections on JPK Sr.'s ambassadorship, for example, seem (from a glance at the footnotes) to be thoroughly grounded in diplomatic correspondence at the FDR Library and in the Cordell Hull Papers, etc. Likewise Renehan has done fresh interviews with vets of the Solomons campaign, etc., etc. Renehan even interviewed the last surviving member of the PT-109 crew, who died last summer.

I came away impressed with Mr. Renehan's prose-style, which engages one immediately and makes one sail through the book. This is, as they say, a "real page-turner." I also came away impressed with the many new sources Renehan has unearthed: aged contemporaries of Joe Kennedy Jr. and Jack who have yielded a great trove of previously-unpublished tales. But the story doesn't stop with Jack and PT-109 or Joe Jr. blowing up with his Liberator bomber over the British coast. No, Mr. Renehan also digs deep into previously unpublished correspondence between the old man, Ambassador Kennedy, and Secretary of State Cordell Hull to document the Ambassador's power-play with Hull and FDR over Chamberlain's policies of appeasement. Mr. Renehan further renders the touching, tragic story of Kick Kennedy and her brief marriage to Billy Hartington in quite a tender and wonderful manner. This book is neither hagiography nor character-assasination. Renehan is not the Kennedys' prosecutor, nor is he their lawyer. He is just a first-class historian, digging up great new information and telling the story straight, as it ought to be told. I recommend THE KENNEDYS AT WAR very highly.

I was prepared to like this, but didn't finish it. I even loaned it to a friend who couldn't finish it, as well. Ms. Joseph does a good job of researching her topic and it shows, but the characters come off as one-dimensional and under developed. I actually found them to be obnoxious. Oh well, to each its own. Perhaps Ms. Joseph needs to write about something closer to her heart as I get the impression that she is not that fine-tuned to her characters' predicaments.

Dr. Sheri Joseph's first book will present you with a good warm read. You will get intertwined within all the characters lives and I loved the fact that book is presented in a nonlinear way. In the beginning of the book you will be sent back and forth in time much more than you are in the end of the book. The ending of the book deals more with "the now" and this kind of bothers me. I know by this point I am familiar enough with the characters to not need background information anymore to make "the now" understandable--but because I had grown accustomed to hearing about "the past" mingled with "the now," I still wanted more of that.

As a reader, when time was limited for me, I felt I could just read a chapter and be satisfied with that for awhile--and then go back to it later. Each chapter felt like a separate story that could live on its own. In the beginning of the book I felt as if every word meant something--that no filler words were added and I could tell that the the book had been edited in a way so that every word should count--like in a poem. During the last 1/3 of the book I didn't think this happened as much but that didn't bother me so much. I did feel I wanted to hear more about Marcy and how she was related to the story. I think I enjoyed the narrative voice of Marcy the best--although at times some of the other voices seemed to mingle together for me. In the end I didn't want to leave the characters, I wanted to stay with them and know what happened next. So, Sheri did a good job of getting me inside the character's heads! I was a little reluctant to buy that Curtis was beginning to accept Paul's homosexuality . . . I was looking for more of a very stubborn toleration from Curtis than anything else.

I believe this is a great debut for Dr. Joseph and when her next book is released I will be one of the first in line to snatch up a copy. I hope the characters that appear in this book will reappear in future novels by Joseph.

I read a rave review that made me run out and buy this one, and I was not disappointed. I can't remember when I've read such an impressive book by a first-time writer. It's told in multiple voices and moves freely over time, in a way that leads to a surprisingly round, lush understanding of the lives of the characters. I fell in love with Paul, an utterly convincing gay teenager trapped in a backwater Georgia town. Though he struggles with prejudice and an internalized religious shame, he never questions who he is or suffers through any predictable angst over sex. He's flawed: selfish, bold to the verge of promiscuity, capable of hurting people who care about him. But Joseph shows that these are necessary defenses in his unsheltered world, and that Paul does the best he can to create himself from scratch and survive without guidance. His struggle is deeply affecting. Other characters take the stage more briefly but convey memorable glimpses of the larger narrative while letting us in on the fascinating, sometimes hilarious, stories of their own obsessions and foibles. The prose is meticulous, melodic, varied to fit each character in the collage. This is a talented young writer. I can't wait for her next book (and I really hope she will revisit some of the same characters because I miss them already!).

Mr.Danner asked me to read his novel, described as a novel about a woman doctor at a primitive hospital high in the Himalayas, based on the experience of the author and his wife one winter at a similar hospital. His hope was that I would share this find with my book group; I truthfully thought it would be 'Tom Dooley Goes to the Mountains.' Was I ever wrong! I read this slim novel in one day; I could not put it down! Every chapter brought a new surprising twist or emotion. This is true literary fiction, touching many genres: mystery, romance, travel, humor, social commentary, suspense. Suffice to say that this doctor wasn't a typical missionary and her little corner of these mystical mountains housed characters that will engender interest, empathy, disgust, and tenderness in many readers. This first time author takes his readers on an emotion packed ride with many curves and twists, just like the roads to the top of the Himalayas.

We read this book AND were fortunate enough to meet the author and his wife, who lived much of the story...this book is an amazing experience! There was so much to talk about. My favorite parts were the beautiful characters. I loved all of them by the book's end, even the creepy ones. They'll haunt you forever. Also loved the education on religious practices and Indian Gods...treat yourself to this book! Don't pass it by! If you've ever wanted to travel or immerse yourself in another culture, this is your chance.

Let me say up front that I know Craig Danner and this book well--I'm his sister-in-law. But I'm also an avid reader, and this is an unforgettable book that demonstrates a rare understanding of women's experiences and a dazzling sense of place. The central character is Doctor Mary, who flees Baltimore after her husband's untimely death for a remote Indian village high in the Himalayas. As she struggles to make sense of her new life and her past experiences, Mary finds herself intertwined with a diverse cast of characters--the waiter in the local dhaba (cafe), a lonely and insecure British traveller, a desperate and aging addict, the unpredictable hospital nurses--and as they change her life, she influences theirs as well. The way Craig writes about Mary's emotions and experiences shows his deeply felt insight into women's lives, and is one of the strongest aspects of a compelling book. Craig knows from whence he writes. He spent more than a year working in India as a medical care provider, and his book resonates with the authenticity of a writer who has been there. His descriptions of the dynamics of village life, of the Himalayan tourist trade, and of the conflicts that occur when people of different cultures live and work together, all ring true. "Himalayan Dhaba"'s sense of place is lyrical and haunting, with gorgeous descriptions that make you feel like you're there as the story unfolds. "Himalayan Dhaba" is a story that will draw you in and stay with you long after you've put the book down. The characters are finely drawn and memorable--they're flawed, human, struggling and hopeful. The setting is exotic, yet the story sounds universal themes of human hope and triumph, and reminds us all of the beauty in everyday life. Don't miss this book!

With all the unrest in our world today such as the challenges in health care, education and politics, this book comes along and gives hope for a great future. It's time for a paradigm shift and this book is written to show us new ways of thinking about our culture. Some of our greatest contemporary writers and teachers contribute their wisdom in this great book. Thank you Marianne Williamson for having the vision to put together this inspiring book!

This is a great book, that is doubly-powerful (no TRIPLY, no QUADRUPALLY powerful!) because so many inspiring thinkers are in it: from Deepak Chopra to Neale Donald Walsch, from James Redfield to Anne Lamott. And these thinkers come from all sectors of society: from John Robbins, a whistle-blower of the food industry, to the actor Peter Coyote; from Eric Utne, founder of the Utne Reader, to educator Dee Dickenson. What Marianne Williamson has assembled is a collection of ideas covering all sectors of society representing the viewpoints of very unique individuals each with differing backgrounds. And the beauty of this diversity is that all the contributors are unified in fundamental ways, all visualizing a more accepting, more loving, more grounded future that can truly celebrate the individual. It is a vision of what can WORK given our true natures, and given the tuggings of our soul for a more love-based world. Everyone in the world ought to read this book! If you're skeptical, go ahead and buy it and try it out. You'll be glad you did, even if it provides fodder for a time for all the reasons you dislike new-agey spiritual types. And for all of you who like me are already new-agey spiritual types, or compassionate open-hearted types, go ahead and check this book out, because you're going to love it!

For anyone who, like me, has gobbled up the works of writers like Deepak Chopra, Neale Donald Walsch, Thomas Moore, Caroline Myss, James Redfield and Barbara Marx Hubbard, this book is a must read. It includes essays by each of these authors and many more of equal stature. In the essays, the writers take the ideas and principles they have developed over the years and apply them in answering the question: "In the realm of highest possibilities, what could America look like in 50 years?" The result is a comprehensive, readable, light-filled blueprint for America's future. Some of the essays are poetic, lyrical. Others are grounded in hard hitting facts and statistics that will blow your mind. (See Paul Hawken's essay) Make no mistake. These are not airy-fairy essays recycling the previous works of these writers. They are clear, disciplined, thoughtful responses to the question posed. In fact, I believe the essays in "Imagine" may very well be the best work of many of these writers. I was blown away by what they delivered in this volume. Hats off to the editor, Marianne Williamson for assembling this phenomenal group of writers and for her skill in weaving these beautiful essays together.

As a fable on the Holocaust, the book reaches many levels of meaning. The living murdered Jews in the book, and the main character Chaim Skibelsky are testimony to the fact that we can die many deaths. Their wandering in the forest, frequently a symbol of confusion, their one night rescue in a fantasy hotel, and their ultimate redemption are powerful reminders that reality is not the only sense of life.

With the return of the lost moon, the sacred cycles of life for Jews can resume.

The details of the murder are devastating, and the life of the dead are told with great humor. For any one familiar with Hasidic tales, A Blessing on the Moon will be a contemporary masterful addition to that literature. For those uninitiated to its magic realism, you are in for a treat.

I recommend reading The Far Euphrates in conjunction with this book.

Joseph Skibell has written that rare book that I couldn't put down. Telling the story from the viewpoint of a Jew shot to death in the Holocaust who must roam the earth dead before going to the World-to-Come, "A Blessing on the Moon", while a story of the agony of the Jews in the Holocaust, is at times funny, sardonic, tender, horror-filled--there just aren't enough adjectives. This Christian found it to be more revealing to me of the Jewish mind, religion, and the atrocities committed against the Jews than any other book I've ever read. The only thing that made me sorry was my lack of understanding of some of the Yiddish words and expressions. However, I will read this book again and again, and recommend it to anybody who appreciates well-crafted writing.

It is nothing short of magic to be swept inside a book. `A Blessing on the Moon' captured both my heart and my imagination. Starting from the point where most stories of the holocaust end, Skibell takes the reader into a spiritual world mixed with realism and fable, warm humor and the ugliness of hatred and ignorance. Within the first few lines of the book, the main character is killed. But Skibell does not end the character's life there. That is where the story is just beginning. Skibell takes the character and the reader on a journey of the soul. It's an exploration into compassion and grief, love and the depth of hate. I didn't want to put the book down and when I did, I found myself thinking about and worrying about the characters. They seemlessly worked their way inside me. Brilliant and insightful writing. Thank God for a book that is imaginative, intelligent and that offers hope in the worst of despair.

You can pass your exams if you rely only on this book, but you won't have a comfortable margin. The performance tuning section is the stronger of the section, and would give it 5 stars. I didn't find errors, and did pass the performance tuning exam with 58 out of 59.

The network section is why I gave the book an overall rating of three stars. There are errors (like explaining how to use connection pooling with connection concentration), typos, wrong commands, obvious -if- you knew the material. If you didn't know the material, the errors were confusing. There were also errors in the test sections. One or two errors may not seem like a big deal unless it's the difference between passing the test or not. I got the impression that the person who wrote the networking section didn't really know the nuts and bolts of networking. For networking I'd recommend The Exam Cram Book; accurate, to the point, easy to understand, written by someone who knew her stuff. I passed the networking exam, 55 out of 59, but reading the Exam Cram and reviewing the Oracle documentation would have been sufficient.

I scored 54 out of 57 on the 8i Performance and Tuning exam using this book. The explainations in that section are better than in any other book I've used. I also used the Self Test Software and some notes I found on-line to get fully prepared.

The Network Admin portion of the book is good too, but there seems to be a lot more errors in that part. Also some of the examples confused me, but perhaps that was due to the errors, I don't know. Better supplement this book with another reference, just in case.

This book is heavy and bulky, so it isn't something I'd want to tote around. Wish they didn't bundle two books together. On the whole it is a great book; if not for the errors in it, I'd have given it 5 stars.

I passed the performance tuning exam with 48 out of 57 and studied for just 46 days. I read through this book first and then found a copy of the Instructor Lead Training (ILT) book. I found that Oracle documentation was much more difficult to read. When taking the bonus exam, manually write the answer on a piece of paper and check each answer while you are going through the test because when you click the grade button, that answer sheet is WRONG. I used this book to tune two databases at work because the material is very well presented. Regarding the exam, there were 20 very, VERY easy questions and 20 questions that were very difficult.

W. C. Feurtado, MCSE, MCDBA, and OCP-DBA wannabe (4 down, 1 to go) ...

If you want to read about Jack Kennedy and his dad, with a little more information about Joe Jr., then this is a book for you. Mr. Leamer never delivers the promise his title suggests. This is not to say the book fails to be interesting, but it paints a rather incomplete picture of the Kennedy history. He spends a great deal of time on Joe Sr, and goes through a fairly deep analysis of the relationship between Joe Jr. and John, but we se only fleeting glimpses of Ted as he runs for senate. We only see detail on Bobby when he becomes his brothers AG. We never see the depth of information on Bobby, who played such a significant part in JFK's life.

The book also fails to give a complete picture of any of the men by failing to explaing the relationship that occurred with Rose. We are shown that she tolerated her husband's indiscretions, but we see hardly any interplay with her sons at all. Any decent psychologist will tell you that you can't understand a man without understanding his relationship with his mother. We never see it at all.

Although I found the information delivered to be interesting, I also found it to be quite one-sided, as though it had been written by a strong fan. It gave a good amount of information into the events the Kennedy men lived (and died) through, yet left out much of the day to day information that would have filled out the image. Bottom line; interesting read, but not a detailed analysis...not by a long shot.

I read The Kennedy Women a few years ago and found it to be one of the most impressive biographical works that I had ever encountered. I was most impressed with Leamer's ability to fully chart the lives of so many diverdse characters.

I eagerly awaited the Kennedy Men. If I had not read his previous work, this probably would have seemed better. I felt that the Kennedy Women had a broader scope dealing with a longer (and earlier!) time frame and more individuals. This started, really with Joe Kennedy and didn't focus on too many others. A very minor complaint, is that the Kennedy women had a comrehensive time line in the beginning. It would have been useful to include one here as well.

Otherwise, this is an extaordinarily well rearched volume. What I enjoyed most was the conversational approach taken by Leamer. It is a pleasure to read. I wish that the final chapter "Requiem for a President" was slightly more detailed, but this was a chance to learn not about invididuals, but about complex family relationships and bonds.

I am glad that I read it and look forward to volume 2!

When the next Kennedy tragedy or triumph occurs, make sure this book "The Kennedy Men" is nearby, because it anticipates today what will probably become headlines tomorrow. The author Laurence Leamer tells the real truth about the accomplishments and the failures of the Kennedy family and their charismatic male leaders. This is an accurate and well-researched account of the power-driven Kennedy men, beginning with the Patriach, Joe Kennedy whose leachery and treachery in business, politics, and sex has never been more accurately researched than in this work. Leamer exposes new, shocking and valuable information about John F. Kennedy, his Presidency, and his brothers Joe Jr.,Bobby and Ted. We learn that JFK ordered napalm to be dropped on Cuban citizens during the Bay of Pigs invasion. Few Americans know how extensively JFK taped personal and telephone conversations until Leamer describes them in detail the conversations. This book documents how sorely afflicted JFK was by medication, injury, and emotional stress. By the time the bullets strike JFK in Dallas, the reader sighs with relief that the President is finally out of lifelong physical pain and severe emotional stress, and sexual dysfunction. Leamer shows the bad and the good in the Kennedy clan, much of it unreported or uninterpreted before. Secret files from the CIA, FBI, and Secret Service files are revealed in this book to document both the acheivements and glory of Camelot. Every glamorous accomplishment and detail about JFK, Jackie and Kennedy family members is well researched in these pages, just as are the dirty little secrets of petty jealousies and passions that racked the Kennedy men as they live out their spectacular lives of high drama as America's unofficial royal family. Open this book to any page and be hooked into one of the best told and most fully researched biographical histories about the Kennedy men you can find. You will need it for tomorrow's headlines!

What a joy to read a book that is set within traditional spiritual setting of angels, and reveals the blatantly obvious fact that gay people are also loved by God. How a God that created a billion star systems in this galaxy alone could care less if a man loves another man (rather than a woman) is beyond me, and speaks to the ignorance and narrowness of certain fundamentalist Christians. I see from reading the reviews here that at least 2 are represented, spouting the typical "off the shelf" religious belief systems of hatred and revulsion for gays, probably boistering such bigotry by claiming being gay MUST be a CHOICE (since, how else do you possibly rationalize it as a sin and something to discriminate and legislate against?). The book sets such people on edge, and they (as usual) miss the point of God's love. As an inner voice said to me in a Quiet Time session "Fundamentalist Christians can never understand the meaning of the word 'ineffable'." yet, I've found all my life as a gay man who loves God and is loved in return to be wonderfully ineffable, except for the social persecution, which I have used as much as possible to grow and transcend social programming.

This book is a wonderful affirmation of God's Love. The superstitious blathering that these angels are really Satan's demons in disguise would be laughable, if so many Americans were not at that level of spiritual consciousness that they believe such things. Well, if that were true, it must have backfired totally, since the output of the book is a love for God and other people. Oh, but I forgot: fundamentalist Christians find love wrong and immoral except in very limited circumstances. Happily, such people can never have a copywrite on the real God, just the meanspirited projection of their psyches. How such people deal with the fact that Jesus wandered around the countryside with men, and did not "settle down" and live a married Family Values life in a Jerusalem suburban tract house is also beyond me....their own idol would not meet the standards of their recent right wing platform. Ironically, that allows me to love him even more.

That leaves the rest of us to learn love, freedom, and compassion.

Best selling author G.W. Hardin takes you on a ride that weaves the mixed lives of eight souls and an Angel together, with each person finding a new path to follow. If you have ever wondered about your life and where it's going, read about these people as it will inspire you to reach further and realize that "Teach only Love" is a true answer.

If anything in this book touches you, the "Book of Bricks", a book within the book, should. I have never been touched as much by something as that portion of the book has touched me.

Joe Crane's story is one that is totally uplifting and confirms what so many of us already have suspected. That's it's all about teaching Love and not getting hung up on the dogmas of the religions. If we could only take a fraction of this book and work with it, this planet would be a much better place to live in. The beautiful messages by Angel Michael can be taught on a worldwide basis for they permeate the boundaries of any language...when will we ever "get it" as a planet that it's all about love and respect and that God loves us more than we can even imagine. That he is not a punishing God. This book will take you to another level of spirituality. I strongly recommend it to everyone and if I could afford to, I'd have it published in every language! It speaks the truth and confirms that many in this world are indeed having angels appear to them and we all can't be crazy! Bravo Joe and Gary for your incredible courage to write this! Angels DO exist, that I can assure you.

"The Defense," by the same author, was riveting, and "The Prosecution" has some of the same qualitites that made the former book so engrossing. Joe Antonelli is a fine protagonist and the book has sharp dialogue and a brisk pace. The problem is the last quarter of the book. The resolutions to the crimes are too convoluted and unrealistic. In an attempt to keep the reader off balance, the author throws in too many twists and turns. He is game playing, which does not make for good plotting. Buffa should have reduced some of the plot complications at the end, and he should have attempted to make the characters' motivations and actions more realistic. This book had the potential to be first rate, but it missed because of the over-the-top ending.

If you like legal thrillers set in courtrooms, then who better to read than an author who has been a defense attorney for ten years. Buffa isn't your run-of-the-mill attorney turned author. His characters are a step above the rest and his storylines keep you guessing. While reading his books, you are as unsure of a guilty/not guilty verdict as are the attorneys prosecuting and defending the cases.

In this book, Joe Antonelli, who was a defense attorney in Buffa's first novel "The Defense", resurfaces -- this time as a prosecuting attorney. Those of us who left Joe off, after reading The Defense, weren't sure if he would ever return to practicing law. He was so disenchanted by the events surrounding his last case, that he went into retirement. Fortunately for the reader, he is convinced to reenter the courtroom by another mentor and friend, Judge Horace Woolner. Since this case is so close to home for the Portland D.A.'s office, Antonelli is brought in as a special prosecutor. It turns out that Woolner has received information that could implicate the city's deputy district attorney in his own wife's death. Up until the verdict is given by the jury, you're not sure which way it's going to go. Of course, you'll have to read the book to witness one of the best legal minds out there today.

And, just when you think that this one case may just put Joe over the edge again, he is asked to defend Horace's wife who has now been arrested in connection with the death of a member of a prominent Portland family, who also happens to be her "good" friend.

Buffa gives us two mysteries in one in The Prosecution. I read his first book The Defense a few years ago and was immediately drawn to the main character Joe Antonelli. He's ruthless yet sensitive, educated but not overbearing and very, very vulnerable at this point in his life. I look forward to entering the courtroom once again with Joe Antonelli in the future. If I could give him one piece of advice, after reading these two books, it would be to pick better mentors and friends!!!

Buffa is a terrific writer and this book, the second in a series, is a great read. I really enjoy the characters in these novels and through the authors skill, I felt close to them and cared about them. Grisham wishes he could write this well. Don't read this book until you have read the author's "Defense" novel. You'll understand this one much better after the complete setup that occurs in that book. I read this book and then turned around and read it through again. I don't believe I've ever done that before. Enjoyed it both times.