Overall, this book was pretty good. It started off to be very interesting, but slowed down in the middle. When the plot focused on The Horridus, I.R. Shroud, and CAY it was engrossing. However, all the extraneous stuff about the main character's personal relationships with women was just tedious reading. The story again speeds up at the end and I found myself reading through the last few chapters very quickly. It was well written and a pretty good read, but I don't understand those who say they couldn't put it down. Maybe they were referring to the last few chapters. If you are from Orange County in California, you will enjoy reading all the references to real life locations. It helped bring the story to life for me.

It's been well over ten years since I read T. Jefferson Parker's LAGUNA HEAT. I remember that it was a good book. For whatever reason, I didn't follow up on Mr. Parker's other works as he continued to write. That was my mistake! Thankfully, I've rediscovered him. I just finished WHERE SERPENTS LIE and though the novel was written over two years ago, I have to place it on my list of best books that I've read so far in the new millennium. The story deals with Sergeant Terry Naughton, head of the Crimes Against Youth Division of the Orange County Sheriff Department in Southern California, and his hunt for the Horridus, a man who preys on young children. Two years before, Terry suffered the lost of his five-year-old son, Matt, in a swimming accident. He still feels the immense pain of the tragedy, not to mention the sense of failure and regret he experienced when he and his wife could no longer live together after what happened. Terry now pours all of his energy into trying to save as many children as possible from the human monsters out there, who secretly hunt, sexually abuse, and kill these innocents as a means to fulfilling their sick desires. There is one man who calls himself the Horridus, and he's the worst of the monsters. His pleasure comes in the form of kidnapping the children right out of their homes, then using them to complete his dark fantasies before feeding them to his thirty-foot long python. Now, in my opinion, this is definitely a guy you want to do a "Dirty Harry" on. Terry feels the same way. His one goal is to put this predator down the hard way, hopefully before he kills again. As Terry gets deeper into the hunt, he's suddenly sidetracked when mysterious pictures of him having sex with a minor are discovered by members of his department while checking out a crime scene. Terry knows that he is innocent, but few others seem to believe him. The question is who's setting him up for the big fall? Who has the most to gain? Is it the Horridus, or is it possibly one of the members of his department? Terry quickly finds himself on suspension while an investigation is started into the incriminating pictures. He refuses, however, to just sit back and wait, especially while the Horridus is still kidnapping children. With or without the help of his department, he's determined to nail this guy. He simply has to do it before he finds himself in jail on false charges. WHERE SERPENTS LIE will surprise you again and again. Just when you think you know where it's going, there will be a twist that takes you in a completely different direction. You may at times feel sick as Mr. Parker delves into the hideous side of human nature, but at no point will you stop rooting for our hero to put down this evil specimen of humanity. The writing is taunt and the suspense is relentless. Mr. Parker has created a hero with a tormented soul in the character of Terry Naughton, and your heart will go out to him at the ending when he's forced to look at himself and the people around him, realizing that monsters can come in many different disguises. This is certainly the kind of book you will try to read in one day. Don't rush it. Savor the anticipation and excitement of each page, and take your time. Allow yourself at least two days of delightful enjoyment. I'm now getting ready to start Mr. Parker's next novel, THE BLUE HOUR. From the blurb on the back cover, it appears to be every bit as good as this one was.

Orange County has some terrific mystery authors who have produced some extraordinary mystery books. John Shannon's Orange Curtain, Kent Braithwaite's Wonderland Murders, and Carol Lachnit's Janie's Law immediately come to mind. T. Jefferson Parker is the top of the class, and his Where Serpents Lie is one of his darkest and most haunting books. I loved Mr. Parker's mastery of his detailed setting and his capturing the Orange County lifestyle. The reptile store featured in this novel really exists! His plot was fresh. I enjoy the way Parker creates new characters for almost every book. Where Serpents Lie is a dark book. It is well-written. I'm glad I read it.

This story features characters from the movie MONSTERS, INC. Sulley is the top Scarer at the Scare Factor in the monster world. However, he finds his job in jeopardy when he finds a little human girl, Boo on the Scare Floor. Sulley doesn't know what to do and hurries home to consult his good friend Mike. Mike comes up with a plan to get rid of the girl and what follows is lots of laughter and chaos.

Many children are familiar with the movie and if they are they will enjoy reading this book. However, even if they are not, the book is a self-contained unit and with characters like Sulley, Mike, and Boo, they will probably enjoy reading it anyway. Since the story contains monsters, it's a nice tale to read at Halloween.

EVERYTHING you need to know is broken down in an easy to read, organized, precise manner containing the most relevant needed information on a topic.

This book is excellent, very comprehensive. It was used as the textbook for my teaching elementary music class. I will keep it in my library forever, lots of valuable information for the early music education of young students.

It is perhaps unfortunate that my reading of 'Touched' followed hard on the heels of reading Isabelle Holland's 'The Man without a Face'. The latter is acknowledged as a classic among the small category of books about a relationship between an adolescent boy and an older male. It possesses all the subtlety and literary coherence which the other book lacks, firmly placing it on a level with, for instance, the novels of Mary Renault.

'Touched' is unambiguously descriptive of the kind of 'abusive' relationship which has become in recent times the focus of attention by the media and social authorities alike. It is a topical subject which everyone knows about, a subject which continues both to fascinate and appal a media-driven public. It may thus offer a commercial opportunity for a writer to explore in fiction what is relatively uncharted territory. A good writer, however, treats his subject creatively, avoiding sensationalism and pandering to popular taste.

I note that a number of reviewers give credit to the author for introducing some complication in the delineation of the characters as, for example, in the suggestion that the 'perpetrator' is not without redeeming qualities, or that the 'victim' cannot be seen - in spite of his youth - as entirely innocent. Such observations are correct if simplistic -surely, for the author to do otherwise would render the narrative sterile and incapable of development? To be fair, both to the writer and his admirers, it is worth stating that the nature of the subject matter (the wilful seduction of a young boy by an adult) excludes the possibility - in popular perception - of justification or even understanding on a human level.

My question is whether the writer succeeds in conveying meaning beyond the predictable story lines and emotional upheavals. Does he add anything new to the familiar rituals of outrage, discovery, tortured emotion and court drama? The ploy of seeing through the minds of the four principal characters - including the boy as an adult - might well have worked if less space had been devoted to biographical background of doubtful relevance to the main theme. Part three (by Jeanette, the 'perpetrator's wife), reads perhaps more naturally than the rest in spite of excessive detail about the three daughters - why three? - and probes if briefly deeper questions: 'even if society had no problems with it, it's a love that's doomed from the start...'

Seen as a whole, however, this is a very ordinary book in which interest is sustained only by the use of shock devices and a theme which becomes more lurid in the telling. The language is unremarkable and often banal: imagery is crude (where it exists at all) and no more so than in the clumsy symbolism attempted in the 'touched' metaphor. There are lengthy descriptive passages which would find a place in any novel on whatever subject. The essential elements - the behaviour of the boy (the circumstances and manner of his 'revelation'), his brother's explosive reaction, the manner of the initial physical contact (the 'romantic' kiss) and the incongruous nature of the sexual acts described to the lawyer and court - are strangely unconvincing. Could it be that the writer has no genuine interest in the subject, or has failed to research it in depth: the remaining impression is that he has had to draw only on material and information from the popular press, official documentaries and legal records?

Whatever one's personal feelings, the subject (as any other social issue of our times) deserves dispassionate treatment which seeks to dismantle stereotypes rather than reinforce them. In spite of its pretensions as a psychological novel, this book sadly makes no positive contribution to the understanding of an important if controversial area of human experience.

Before actually reading "Touched" I expected to have the usual reactions such as pity for the victims and laothing for the perpetrator. Instead I found myself noting how some of the victims, the boy's parents and molester's wife, were partially at fault also. At times I actually sympatized with the molester which is a very uncomfortable place to be. The book made me realize how no one is completely innocent or completely evil. Scott Campbell does an excellent job of showing all sides of the issue and that this is a mental illness, not a malicious act.

Touched is without a doubt the best book I have read this year. The honest manner in which Campbell relates a disconcerting story makes it a brave and compelling page turner. His ability to write the thoughts of a woman is brilliantly astute(like Lamb, but better). The plot had me totally engrossed from page one.

The novel is insightfully psychological in a completly non-pretentious manner that will move and touch you. Told in four parts, from four perspectives, I believe that everyone will find something in this novel that they can identify with. Overall, a perfectly wonderful and highly recommended read.

This is probably an excellent book. Barker tackles more personal issues involving homosexuality and AIDS and the conflicts between men and women and the union of the two genders. Barker's writing is elegant as always, he has a strongly identifiable voice, which is, like with Stephen King's writing, undeniably his own. But this book lacks that Clive Barker "edge" that made The Books of Blood, Weaveworld and Imajica so astonishing. After an interesting beginning the story becomes bogged down in detailing Will Rabjohns' life. It starts to pick up again near the end but the conclusion is a bit of a let down as well. The House of the World is not nearly as imaginitive as Imajica's First Dominion, and it seems Barker tries to bring up ecological and environmental issues but abandons them in the end for issues involving the relationships between homosexuals and the relationships between men and women. Still the parts involving the characters of Jacob and Rosa are good, but Will Rabjohns is a bit of a bore, except when he's getting attacked by a polar bear, but everyone's interesting when they're getting attacked by polar bears, aren't they?

This is the book that made me a Clive Barker fan. The way it combines fantasy elements (the Nilotic creature as a tangible manifestation of the human desire for spirituality) with social/environmental commentary (AIDS as a metaphor for the continuing extinction of rare species and vice versa) turns a standard "man's perversion of nature" (i.e. Frankenstein!) story into something relevant, poignant and breathe-takingly creative.

Sacrement has all the traditional visceral horror elements (the polar bear attack is the most frightening sequence I've ever read in any book!) to please any horror fan. But it goes a step further than most horror novels to provide the reader with one man's experiences (both mundane and fantastical) that leads him to such a dark, fantastical place.

In books like Weaveworld and Imajica, Clive Barker created new a new mythology and reinvented the religious parable, respectively. Now, in his most ambitious and creatively daring book thus far, Barker departs from the tried and true of the world of dark fantasy and delves deeper into the human condition than he has previously explored. As admitted by the author, Sacrament contains just enough autobiographical detail to allow his readers further insight into his philosophies, which this time around are far more reality-based and less abstract than previous ventures. In telling the story of Will Rabjohns, a famous wildlife photographer who has gained recognition through capturing dark images of nature at its most disturbing and violent, Barker relates a parable on the value of life, human and otherwise. The antagonist of the story, Jacob Steep, is representative of human nature at its most distructive. As a creature that has learned to be a man by watching men, he carries the belief that man holds dominion over beasts to the point that he has created a mission for himself to destroy the last of every species of creature on the earth, to know God by playing God. At the same time, Will Rabjohns personifies both the good and bad in human nature: while he eventually discovers the value of all life and the connections involved in the cycles of birth,life, and death, at the same time he experiences the same bloodlust as Steep when he is young and it is this same type of lust for violence that drives him to the corners of the world to capture his photographic images. Another, even deeper layer runs through the book as Will watches friends and loved ones in his adopted home of San Francisco fall to the twin curses of disease and excess. Ultimately, Sacrament is a moving, intelligent, and deeply satisfying novel of hope, renewal, and enlightenment.

Omega is a chilling medical thriller that immediately caught my attention. It tells about a multi-resistant,fatal bacteria that has taken control of Los Angeles. The story makes you start to wonder about how something as simple as a sore throat can become a nightmare. The story centers around the life of surgeon Marcus Ford. Ford is your average forty something year old going through a mid-life crisis. And not only does he have the stress of a doctor who can save a life one day and not be as lucky the next time,but he's also widowed. And he is having problems trying to understand the nature of his ever-changing, teenage daugther. One day he makes a speech and meets two new people, from that day on his life would never be the same. Before he knows it, his life is out of control.But he must take control of it once again for the sake of his fatally ill daugther.He is Sunny's only hope and he has to struggle against time to get Omega,a drug that may not even exist! I think "Omega" is and outstanding book that can feel so realisic and possible sometimes that it's freightning. I personally read in just hours and I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a book with a great plot and subplots full of twists and turns!

I picked this book up at the airport desperate for something to take my mind off the horrors of the transatlantic read-eye. As it turned out, I chose wisely. From the book's jazzy streetwise opening to its deeply troubling conclusion I was utterly absorbed - and quite reluctant to get off the plane - definitely a first for me. If I had to say what I loved most about this book I would say its simply the writing. Lynch's characters sparkle with wit and every one of them stands out in their own right. You simply can't say that about 9 out of 10 other thrillers, even the well-plotted ones. I'm on the look-out for Mr Lynch's work from now on. Great stuff.

Set in a racially-divided and cash-strapped city of Los Angeles 'Omega' follows trauma surgeon Marcus Ford as he races to uncover the truth behind a revolutionary new drug that is only rumoured to exist. At stake are the lives of a fast-growing number of trauma patients and - ultimately - that of his own daughter. The twists and turns of Ford's story make for brilliant (if at times traumatic!) entertainment, but what is most impressive about this book is the way it seizes on what seems to be a genuine crisis: namely, that we may be heading for a medical dark age because our old armory of drugs has been rendered obsolete by anew generations of bacteria. The arrival in the USA just this month of a seemingly invinincible superbug shows just how on-the-money Lynch is. Riveting, original and deeply alarming

I happen to be a pretty big fan of Wes Craven films-- I think he makes horror into something funny and smart-- no mean accomplishment. I suppose it's only natural that I'd be disappointed by his first attempt at a novel, given that my expectations were pretty high.

_Fountain Society_ is based on the idea of amoral scientists deciding to extend life through cloning experiments and a love affair trying to survive through all the associated horror. The book begins *very* slowly and is full of clunky cliches and most of the major plot points are easy to guess. It did start to redeem itself by the end-- Craven started to get more of a feel for his characters and express more of the complexity that makes him such a good filmmaker. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough to save the novel as a reading experience.

I *will* read a next novel, should there be a next novel, but I'd definitely take a miss on this one.

I didn't hold out much hope that Fountain Society would be anything other than an amusing, yet generic, thriller. In that respect I was not at all disappointed. Fountain Society is a cookie-cutter thriller. There's nothing about the novel that distinguishes it from hundreds of others. The plot is decent and interesting but nothing special. The characters are fairly two-dimensional and their dialogue is nothing special. In fact, one of the few things I found unique about the novel was the setting.

Don't get me wrong - Fountain Society is not a BAD novel. It's just not overwhelmingly impressive either. It's entertainment. Nothing more.

I have finished almost every book I've ever started. Call it Obsessive/Compulsive or blame it on my English degree, but once I start a book, I have to finish it. I put down Fountain Society after chapter two only to find it later with a year's coat of dust. All I could think as I trudged through it again was "This would make great movie." There was just enough violence (imagine how Wes Craven would produce a scene with a guy being sucked out a plane window), just enough sex, and just enough plot--for a movie. Fountain Society wasn't a bad book--I've read much worse--but it would have made a better movie.

I hated this book. Yah, yah, the prose is good; but the promise on the cover of a "morally devastating novel" is not good. There are two parts to the book. In the first, 15-year-old Michael Berg begins an affair with Hanna, a woman in her mid-thirties. That part of the book is good. The writer seems to capture the logic and emotions of a 15-year-old boy quite realistically. In the second part, Michael is a grown man watching the trial of his former lover. This is the part that really fails. There is no sense that Michael has matured in any way. Also, the final message is not morally devastating nor even believable. I wonder about those who've written that the book made them change the way they look at the Holocaust. What, they never thought that ordinary, mostly decent people participated? They never thought that many of the perpetrators were caught in events from which they saw no escape? For a better discussion of these issues, read Hannah Arendt, not Bernhard Schlink. If the book weren't so hyped, I'd probably give it three stars, but I feel like there needs to be a leavening influence here.

Bernhard Schlink's novel starts slowly, but gradually pulls you in. It is an incredibly subtle work. The reviews on the back of the book make you all too aware that this is a Holocaust novel. The narrator strikes out any stereotypical images though, and conveys the various ways in which history treats its survivors. Displayed in 'The Reader' is the contrary, agonising human nature of the perpetrators and their survivors. Above all, this is a novel about an extraordinary love affair, which is powerfully erotic. The characters are portrayed extremely well: their tragedies become your tragedies. You cannot help but feel for them, and walk around in their shoes. Although this story mostly concerns death, it is highly vibrant, with an exceptional ability to move. It is also quite timely, for war wages in Europe yet. As we now see all too familiar atrocities, and wonder how people could do such things, and how we could let them, 'The Reader' brings a timely message from the past of what the future might bring. It's the best novel I've read this year.

This book was first introduced to me, in Germany, by a German girl who had to read it for school. Having read the book first in German and then in English, I found the English translation to be as elegantly translated as it was written in German.

The secret romance, of a 15 year old boy and a woman in her late thirties, starts off as a novel accident. But their relationship deepens, as the boy discovers love, and the woman discovers a person willing to open the portal of literature to which she has no access. She's illiterate. But the boy doesn't find out until she disappears one day, and is accidentally found years later while he is a law student witnessing her to be on trial for having been a Nazi camp guard...

To enjoy the beauty of Schlink's style, one has to truly read it in German, titled _Der Vorleser_. But its stylistic beauty survives in English.

The book goes beyond the microcosm of two people, into the psyche of post WWII generations. The audience to profit most from this book are current German youths whose connection to their Nazi past has been only through their textbooks and their aging grandparents. To understand this book, you have to be familiar with the internal conflict between responsible guilt and disassociation that all Germans have to confront. And I can see why others, who probably have not probed deep into modern Germany can miss the crucial theme in this book.

After finishing this book in German, I found this book to be good. After finishing it in English, I understood why it is now being taught as a modern classic in Gymnasium (equivalent of high school).

I have read other Margolin books but this one is the best I have read. It started a little slow and the main character, Peter Hale, made mistakes a lawyer should not make reguardless the field of law he is in. Hale has been sent to Oregon because he has messed up where he is. He is caught up in the middle of a murder case involving a mentally retarded man. Did the man murder the woman? All things point to him doing in at first. But there are many differnet things involved. As Assistant DA who will stop at nothing, legal or not. A brother-in-law, who is also an attorney, that just does not seem right about the case. If the retarted man is convicted can Peter safe him before he is sentenced? Who really is the killer? You will be surprised, at least I was. A book I did not want to put down. I wanted to read faster and faster to see if Gary, the retarted man, would be saved. I could not believe he would be convicted. I thought if I read faster the crime would be solved faster, I guess. Was there an undercover cop? If so which one. If you like legal mysteries you will like this one.

Phillip Margolin is becoming one of my favorite authors, his characters are developed well but not to the extent they are boring. He establishes good continuity and makes you feel that you are part of the story. If you enjoy legal thrillers this is the book for you.

Reading a book was usually challenging for me to do, I could never get myself motivated and ready to read a book such as The Burning Man. This book took a few pages for me to get into it, but after a while I found myself not being able to put it down.The book was a well-written murder mystery, with many different twists in it.
It starts out with Peter being a lawyer in a big time company, which is his dad's law firm. After an incident with his father, Peter thinks he can win the case for his dad's client. Soon after that though his father disowns him in a way. After the stunt he pulled his dad basically disowned him. Peter's first couple nights that he was in the small town of Whitaker were lonely; he wanted a woman around so he tried to meet a few girls since he was in the college town. He finally got to meet with whom he would be working.
His name was Amos Geary, but soon he left him when he met his friend Steve who was a lawyer in the small town also. Peter got a chance to erase his past when he was offered a case that involved a murder suspect. The murder suspect was Gary; he was the son-in-law of Steve. Gary was also mentally handicapped. For some reason Steve wanted Peter to take over this case, which shows why later in the book. Gary was the only suspect, which seemed to be strange at the time. With Steve's wife Donna helping Peter on the case it seemed to open up different leads in the book. With two drug addicts who show up through out the book it seems they could be involved with the murder. Steve was trying to get a big loan for apartments, which would serve as a place for people to stay if they were to represent the Olympics. When plans fall through with the loan, and also new evidence appears it makes for a twist like you could never believe. Though out the story Peter and everyone involved with helping Gary wasn't sure if Gary's brain could think of such a thing as this. In a small town like Whitaker it showed that secrets between high people may pay off in the beginning but with a small atmosphere things will leak out.
The experience I had with this book was good; in other books I could just have put them down and not worried about it. But, this book was different having many different plots to each character made the book more interesting and suspenseful. With many different characters it was hard to keep track of who was who. The author though made a back round for every character and a description of them that helped in the realistic aspect of the book. This was a realistic book I thought for being a fiction book. The case was real and what happens though out the book with people and what they end up doing just seems it could happen anywhere. The language was good at points with swearing happening at the high points in the book, it seemed to fit what would be said in a real situation. This book along with being a murder mystery and a legal thriller, it also had kind of a love story between it. The nice thing about the love aspect of it, it keeps you thinking till the end of the story when it all comes together. All the points in the book don't tie together right away which makes it a good thriller.
If you like books that keep you on the edge of your seat, and keep you wondering though out the book this is the book for you. If you are someone who reads books and tries to figure out the ending before you get there this is definitely the book for you. This will leave you guessing the whole time. I recommend this book to anyone who just wants a good book to read. Take it from me I don't read much and I wanted to read the whole thing. That should give a hint on how good this book is.