Jan Burke's new thriller, "Nine," is a complicated suspense novel with so many characters and such a dense plot that it may confuse the casual reader. After finishing the book, I went back to the beginning to figure out exactly what had happened and why.

"Nine" deals with vigilantes who have decided to kill all of the suspects on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. They methodically track down these felons, then torture and kill them. Many people across the country applaud the vigilantes, since they are catching dangerous criminals who have thus far eluded the FBI's dragnet.

However, Los Angeles Homicide Detective Alex Brandon does not applaud the vigilantes; he considers them to be criminals, not heroes. As Alex gets more deeply involved in the case, he finds to his horror that the perpetrators may be targeting not just wanted felons, but him, as well.

Although Burke is a talented writer who knows how to build suspense, "Nine" has some glaring weaknesses. The vigilantes are cardboard characters whose motivations and behavior are implausible. Most of the dialogue is stilted and the plot becomes more far-fetched as the book lumbers on to its melodramatic conclusion. At almost 400 pages, "Nine" is too long, and it goes off in too many directions. Tighter editing might have helped the book flow more smoothly. Although "Nine" does provide thrills and gore galore, I did not find it realistic or truly entertaining.

Edgar and Agatha award winner Jan Burke has done it again with this exciting tale of serial killers who are applauded as heros because they systematically torture and kill some of society's worst criminals. Always one step ahead of the police, a band of villains take out even worse villains in particularly gruesome ways. Along the way, we meet Kit Logan, who killed his stepfather who was brutually murdering women in the same way the FBI's most wanted criminals are being killed. Kit, who has never psychologically recovered from his abusive childhood ,is on the trail of his long time friend Gabe, on the FBI list for suspected murder. Not only does Kit want to protect Gabe but also his beautiful sister Meghan, who Kit is secretly in love with. Meanwhile Sheriff Alex Brandon, in charge of the case, finds very few clues until Kit tips him off on connections leading to the murderers. As loved ones of both Alex and Kit are put in harm's way, the clock ticks away valuable time while the killers are making their final grandstand.

The characters of the good guys Kit, Meghan, Kit's ward,Spooky, Alex, and his nephew and uncle are well drawn; we come to know and like them. On the other hand, we don't learn much about the bad guys and their motives--why are they doing this and what are they trying to achieve. Nevertheless, Nine is an exciting story and I postponed several activities so I could find out the ending, which has a great buildup and a surprise twist.

This is my first Jan Burke book and I really enjoyed it. I found it to be suspenseful and entertaining. I hope she writes more adventures for Alex Brandon!

I had mistakenly thought that Wrox books were held to a higher standard. First getting a taste for them going through both of Rob Vieira's two SQL Server Programming books and regarding them as the finest technical books I've ever seen. However this Professional SQL Server 2000 XML is a disappointment. Part of the problem lies with having 12 different authors because it seems a bit jumpy. I think I'll really try to limit my future purchases to single source efforts. Also, no care was taken with the code examples that you can download from the Wrox website. The book shows the source but there is really no way of really matching the example to the source other than guessing the name. Often I've needed to open up all 15 or so files in the directory to realize that the particular example is not included. I'm picking my way through but it is not pleasant.

It is a good book as far as explaning what SQL Server has to offer regarding XML capabilities but it should have covered the case studies fully with the .Net Framework. Also, it covers very good the IIS configuration, and how to manage XML Templates, XPath and Schemas. The book has a migration example from ASP to ASP.Net which does not cover ADO.Net. If you want a rich source on how to integrate SQLXML and the .Net Framework THIS IS NOT THE BOOK.

I looked at two other SQL Server 2000 XML books, but found this one to be the best - covering almost everything on SQL Server 2000 XML. Very well written, nice examples help understand the technology better. The chapter on Updategrams is very useful. I wanted to learn updategrams and this chapter covers it nicely to get started using them in production.

While I read Goodnight Irene and enjoyed it, this novel was just a little too long and just a little too confusing. There were too many characters. I had trouble keeping track of brothers, in-laws, nephews, etc. I found myself trying to finish this book as a pain, not a pleasure. I think I will read the next "Bones", hoping that Burke has tightened up her act a little. Don't give me 400 pages when 350 would do just as well. Karen Kirsch - Novi, MI

Still recovering from incidents in Hocus and Irene's injuries from a previous accident, Frank and her are working on having a normal life with no unusual happenings. After her sister Barbara calls ranting and raving about a new grave next to there's parents, Irene goes to talk to Aunt Mary. During this conversation she learns about long lost relatives and family feud that started two decades ago. After some sleuthing at the
deceased' s house she locates her cousin Travis. The rest of the book is about Irene learning the truth about things that happened during her parent's marriage and why her mother and aunt was deceased. At some point I gave up on this plot, it just another tired family saga of who did who wrong. The mystery was just
there to give the book a purpose which it failed miserably. I thought after Hocus Burke was hitting her stride as a writer who spins page turning stories. Sadly she returned to the lackluster style of Remember Me Irene. Many times I found myself thinking why am I still reading this and the answer is Frank. If he in
the forefront of the stories then it has meat and I want to read more. When she sends him off on a wild goose chase the book doesn't hold my interest.

Jan Burke is an author I found by lucky accident...I'm now going back through all her books. She's got a great crew of well-developed characters and is developing fun and suspenseful plots...LIAR proved to be a great effort! Bravo!