Harry Bennett, a professional failure, has to be one of the more depressing heroes of all time. He has no confidence, few social skills, and not one yearning desire to better himself. He glumly concludes he is not worthy of success. His stylistic sense is so poor; his rumpled appearance causes comment in even an average restaurant. The late Carroll O'Connor could play the part to perfection. On Harry's watch, the young and fragile Heather Mallender disappears while they are hiking up sinister Profitis Ilias Mountain in the Greek Isles. Predictably, Harry has petered out slightly below the summit and elects to wait for Heather to complete the climb. And that is the last he sees of Heather.

The rest of the novel recounts Harry's painstaking search for Heather. Harry is nothing if not persistent, and even his wrong turns forward his search. Nothing is quite as it seems, even Harry. Mr. Goddard has given us a story laced with irony. As in a previous Goddard novel "Caught in the Light," I had a good idea "who" was the main villain; I just had no idea "why." This is a finely crafted novel, and the characterizations are delightful. A very satisfying read.

But I'm disappointed that the publisher didn't update the quotes and hymns to reflect where children are today, perhaps a more "sprightly, conversational"* translation and choruses the kids might hear most Sunday Schools? (* a quote from back cover describing this book)

I'm sure we'll still be able to reap much of what was sown by the author for our children, by paraphrasing the KJV verses and singing simple choruses.

Whither thou goest, let thy buyer bewareth.

It begins with Part One: Looking for God, and Part Two: God is Very Great. Each "part" consists of about 5-8 individual lessons on the subject, using people from the Bible to learn from, in how God uses them. Then we are taken through the introduction of sin, God's law, what Jesus did for us, prayer, and several others, ending with Part Fourteen: Things That Are to Happen. Each lesson includes "something to talk about" (questions for the children to answer about the lesson), a related Scripture from the Bible, suggested Bible reading, a hymn to sing that relates to the lesson, and a prayer to say, asking the Lord to help us with those things we learned that day in our lesson.

Needless to point out here, I can't say enough about this devotional. It is a wonderful way to teach your children about God in a thorough and consistant way, and help them to love learning about the Lord and his nature, and what he does for his children. You'll love going through it with your little ones and watching their love and understanding for God grow.

The fact that the encyclopedia is that complete is not necessarily its biggest asset. The reviews which compose the book do not simply provide summary, a quick line or two of evaluation, and a useless star rating a la Leonard Martin. Instead, each review examines its subject in relation to other similar works by subject, studio, director, actor, etc. It refuses to provide star ratings, favoring a more detailed explanation of a film's strengths and weaknesses. Also, and this pleases me the most, many films are examined through a critical lense, looking at how the film explores gender, culture, politics, economics, etc.

Combine these strengths with the inclusion of just about every horror film ever made and you have a book horror fans will leave by their bedside.

This encyclopedia treats the horror film genre as it should be treated, an important and vital field of art with a history and voice to be heard. Any causal or serious student of horror films must own this book. It will deepen and enlive their enjoyment of horror, from the absurd and esoteric, to the classic and mainstream.

Still, it's a great book, and I'm not beiing sarcastic. As a reference guide for the horror fanatic it's second to none. I have certainly never read anything with as much information on each individual film as this, as I mentioned before there is sometimes too much information, ruining twist endings and giving away key plot elements before you have had a chance to discover them for yourself, but you just have to be careful how you read it. I've owned this book for a few years now, and have read it through about twenty times and I am still picking it up often and going over old ground and discovering new information. Any horror fan must own this, no two ways about it.

There are, of course, characteristics that can be found in most IT professionals. I'd say it's even remotely possible that all MBAs share a pencil tick or two in common on the Myers-Briggs. But to lump all people who in any way interface with computers into one group, and label them with an insulting name, is indicative of a small-mindedness not at all appropriate to any kind of leadership.

I don't believe any offense was meant, but the tone was extremely insulting. No matter how many times the authors protest that these are "intelligent and creative" people they're writing about, they're still making sweeping generalizations and advancing offensive stereotypes. These factors tend to overwhelm what useful advice may wait within.

This book should be read by both new and seasoned managers and supervisors that have or will be managing technologists, scientist and engineers. Leading Geeks has clearly illustrated why I have succeeded/ failed in managing geeks in the past and given me new insight into what makes them tick.

(Each chapter is concluded with a summary and Key Ideas. Read these first for a Chapter Road map.)

While I was expecting a masterpiece along the lines of Henning Mankell's criminal investigator Wallander this book did certainly not live up to my expectations. The stories are very fragmented, the sudden shifts from one story to the other are deliberate but destructive to the reader. I did not get hooked onto the book at all - because of its fragmentation it totally lacks suspense. It is hard to relate nowadays to the social problems of the time and they seem to overshadow the story lines in many instances. I concluded for myself that I could not get interested because of too many contemporary references, which will not make this mystery a classic of its genre. While Martin Beck fills the role of an interesting inspector he is pushed to far into the background even though he is supposed to be the novel's hero.

The Locked Room is somewhat unique to the series, in that the authors frequently shift their focus to the minor characters and criminals, in omniscient narrator style, giving the reader more perspective than is usual. The novel involves two crimes, a bold bank robbery in which a bank customer is killed, and the discovery of a retired man's decomposed body in his apartment, which appears to be locked from the inside. Beck, who recently returned to the force after recovering from a shooting, is assigned the locked room case and we see him trying to fit the pieces together of a seemingly impossible crime to solve.

A NY Times critic has recently praised the grim realism of these novels; if Beck drinks too much coffee on an empty stomach, his gets sick. After a broad daylight bank robbery, the police get starkly different eyewitness accounts, leading to a morass of seemingly unrelated clues, some of them way off. The reader is constantly reminded that in the real world, this is how crimes are really solved by big city police forces.

Some readers are a little put off by the Socialist leanings of the authors, which rises to the surface occasionally as they discuss current events of Stockholm 30 years ago including strikes, poor health care/benefits for workers, etc. However the rantings never seemed to me to get in the way of their story, and the novels are all written in a lean, sparse style with few wasted scenes or verbal flourishes. I recommend the series highly, beginning with the great Roseanna.

Although the authors begin to get a little too heavy-handed in their social commentary, this is still one of the better Beck novels (in fact it is regarded by many as the best, though I think its predecessor is better.) The dual plot structure and the improbable connection between the crimes make for a great thriller. The characters are engaging, and the ending is wonderful. Read it.

This book is quite fascinating, showing the joys and dangers in the life of an immigrant to the United States in the Nineteenth Century. Kirsten is adorable, and yet teaches the young reader. As an added bonus, the book contains a final chapter that provides a great deal of information on the experiences of immigrants in that time. As always, Renee Graef's illustrations are plentiful and beautifully done, adding greatly to the story. My nine-year-old daughter loves these books, and I must admit that reading them with her has kindled my own interest in my Swedish ancestors. This is a great book!