The story is a rather straightforward telling of gang murders and Batman solving the crimes. Some violence, but little complexity. I apologize for the mediocre rating -- it reflects my personal tastes but doesn't lessen the fact that I'd recommend this to Batman fans and fans of the medium. Grant Morrison writes a tight plot here, but there's really nothing new. As for the art, Klaus Janson has a jerky, rough style, but I really admire his composition if not his rendering. I had him as an instructor for graphic storytelling, and this guy really has depth to his storytelling -- every pane is a thoughtful and complex solution to a communication problem. Also - an inside scoop - in one of the panes, Batman appears with 6 fingers!

I personally consider the earlier stories in the "Legends of the Dark Knight" ongoing series the better ones, and this one (which collects #6-10) is no exception. Bruce Wayne is being plagued by a lot of nightmares about when he was a young boy lately. Each night he wakes up from a nightmare about his father to which he can relate no meaning. Meanwhile a man who calls himself 'Mr.Whisper', a man with no shadow, is rapidly killing off underworld members in brutal ways. The crime-leaders are heavily frightened and ask Batman for help, trying to make a deal. Batman refuses and tells them they're getting what they deserve. Back home he puts some things together for himself and realizes there may be a connection between Mr.Whisper and his nightmares. Because of that he decides to do some detective work after all to find out who this Mr.Whisper is. From there on a highly paranormal (which is quite extraordinary for a Batman book, but quite a trademark of Grant Morisson) story unfolds which leads Batman through memories of his days in private school and even to an eerie Austrian monastry, which he learns is the subject of an occult Austrian legend.

People who are into listening to scary 'true' stories by the campfire will probably like this a lot. It's like one of those stories you heard of which you just KNEW they weren't real, but gave you the chills anyway. That's also the case here. You go through the story asking yourself if what's going on is the legend being forfilled or if there's a more down-to-earth thing going on. Grant Morisson does what he does best, he's giving clues without giving it away, keeping the reader on his toes. Klaus Jansons art is suitable for the story and especially the way he draws the architectural backgrounds deserve some credit. I don't think many people who are into Batman comics will feel disappointed after reading this.

I'm a huge fan of all of Grant Morrison's work, from Zenith to the Invisibles. His work will make you think in a way that you never have before. If you're a fan of his work like I am, you should check out Brian Caldwell's novel, We All Fall Down. It's the Biblical Apocalypse done right- full of sex and violence and an angry young man who smokes and swears too much. I mention all of this here because the Antichrist in the novel has the peculiar name of Richard Grant Morrison, and when he begins talking about how humanity has to realize that they are five demensional creatures growing in the soil of space/time, you'll realize that that name isn't a coincedence. Check it out after you've read all of Grant's stuff.

I have always enjoyed Michaels books, but this last one was not one of his better efforts. It was boring next to his other novels. I wish he would bring back Branco & Nicole in a big way. These are great characters that I miss. The book is a good read, but not as much as his older ones.

Although I am a fan of Grant Michaels' Kraychik series, I must admit that this one (Dead As A Doornail) left me a little hammered. The writing was filled with its wonderful wit and bite, but I felt the actual mystery was a bit befuddled. The characters were not as interesting as in past novels, and the "whodunit" was kind of a "who cares." This is not said to discourage the established Kraychik fan. Rather, to alert those about to join the club to read the earlier novels first (and in order) before picking up this title. All in all, it is a good read. But I hope Grant Michaels finds the spark from the first three titles and makes another bonfire.

Being from the Boston area and having gone to college in Boston, I could identify with all the places and the storyline. I especially like the guessing who did it. I have enjoyed all of Grant Michaels' books. I am eagerly awaiting the next one.

This is one of the best action books I've read in a while. Devlin is the best. Talk about a creepy killer. I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK HIGHLY TO ANY ACTION FAN. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN.

Retibution, was a great book, if you like action movies, you'll like this book. Its a great book, with action, sex, violence and a mystery worth solving.

This was a wonderful book, combining the drama of a dedicated terrorist out to kill the CEO of a major corporation, with the efforts of an ex-NYC cop who has taken the job as Director of Security for the corporation. The drama rises as the bad guy tries to blow up the CEO at the annual shareholders meeting while the Director of Security races to get high-tech security measures installed in the company HQ. I recommend it highly - and am looking for his other books.

This book is trying to give an overview of each of the twelve Roman Caesars. Overall I was looking for more of an exciting telling of the story with some action, suspense, and maybe a little decadence thrown in for good measure. What I got was a textbook best suited for a college campus. The writing was so labored I wondered why the author chose this line of work, recipes have more punch and creativeness in the writing. I truly struggled to get to the half way point of the book before I gave up. Now let me add that this is not a main interest topic for me so maybe my review is not reflective of a person that is really into the Roman's.

I don't think this book is out of print anymore because I recently bought the hardcover edition (new) at a big chain store. You can get it used as well. Anyway, I finally finished this thing. It took awhile to read because I found myself cross referencing a few of the chapters with Grant's recommended reading list and I ended up reading three other books while I was reading this one. Overall a very good volume and an easy one to read if you are a novice in classical history. Grant has always done a great job with somehow making a complex topic easy to read for the masses. He covers the first twelve emperors adequately, but to get more out of each one you really need to purchase a separate book on each of the emperors. I liked this book because it gave a good overview of each of them and I was intrigued enough about the lives of a few of them to go out and buy an additional book. If you want a good overview of the emperors without much detail then this is a great book, but it lacks depth into the time period for obvious reasons. You could not cover everything in a volume this size. It is a good book to get you started and to find out what aspect of ancient Rome you are interested in.

Conspiracy, suspicion, power, corruption, poison, conquests, marauders, murders and more murders. Such is the history of Roman Empire. Then again there are copious examples from every nation's history of such dastardly acts to grab power, from Egyptians pharos, to Bourbons, to Indian Moguls, to British royalty. Human nature has changed very little in two thousand years. Now instead of murdering opponents, we vilify them to such an extent that populace loathes and discards them in the garbage bin. Grant discounts Lord Acton's polemical quote "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Later Lord Acton had modified in saying that too much responsibility coupled with intense fear of life corrupts absolutely. It is very hard to imagine for us, normal souls, with two thousand years separation, what would we do if we were given absolute power over everybody and every thing. But would we resort to killing our own mother like Nero, or have sexual relationships with sisters, like Caligula. It is quite possible if Nixon were the Roman Empire and Watergate exploded on the stage, he would not have hesitated in having few senators, congressmen dispatched in due haste. If there are any good emperors, the vote should go to Augustus, starting from nothing, except, Julius Caesar's adopted nephew, to emerge as victor, after defeating all his rivals, one by one including Mark Anthony and his beloved Cleopatra. Vespatian can also be called a hero to come up the ranks from an ordinary family to start a dynasty and consolidate Rome after bitter civil war.

Aggripina the younger stands out among all the women ,( if one can discount Livia, Augustus wife in Graves incomparable "I, Claudius", where he portrays Livia as villai) who is married to aging Claudius, the fourth emperor. She runs the kingdom in his name and manages to bypass Claudius own son and places her son, Nero on the throne. How does Nero reward her? He lets her go out on a faulty boat to drown. What are sons for?

Few emperors, imperators were tyrants, megalomanias and sadists and most of them were murdered by conspiracy. Why any body wanted to be one is puzzling as no doubt they all knew the history so well. So Lord Acton is right. It is human nature to lust for Absolute power.

The Roman history is fascinating read of human nature, ambition, treachery, power and above all its glory.

It's the splashiest period of all ancient history... a near Jerry Springer opera of lust, betrayal, and tawdry affairs. And yet, Michael Grant makes it about as dull as he possibly can.

He presents a very factual and well-researched account, though I take exception to several of his assertions and theories, including the one where he asserts that Octavian wanted Cleopatra to commit suicide because he was afraid the Romans would want to free her as they did her sister Arsinoe. Arsinoe was just one random Egyptian princess who defied Julius Caesar. Cleopatra was the occidental temptress who had ensnared and ruined two of Rome's best men. She was probably the most vilified and hated of all Rome's enemies in history, for with Cleopatra, it was intensely personal. The very idea that the bloodthirsty Romans would have a sudden sentimental streak towards her is pretty laughable.

But on the whole, his theories are soundly researched and well justified, even when I disagree with them. The book has some lovely portraits and a more in depth examination of Cleopatra's forebearers than is usually presented in her biographies. Moreover, he has an excellent perspective on the supposed 'inevitability' of Cleopatra's loss, and how the world may well have been different had things gone another way.

It's a reasonable and scholarly work that makes a fine addition to my collection. If you're looking for something to move you, you may prefer Margaret George's "The Memoirs of Cleopatra".

Cleopatra is a fascinating figure... renowned as a patron of arts and learning, a gifted linguist, and a canny politicians, she is too often remembered as a sex kitten. Grant cuts thru the myths, pro- and anti propaganda to deliver what is probably the best biography on Cleopatra. Writen by one of the marquee lights of classical history, the book is written in academic style, although for the most part it is highly readable. To be honest, I found the first preliminary chapters to be somewhat slow going, but once the story begins it takes off like a grand soap opera. Not as splashy as some other works on the great queen, this is *the* place to go for a detailed, comprehensive look at Cleopatra.

When it comes to ancient history, Michael Grant is the greatest! I've read several of his other books and he never fails to amuse and inform. His book on Cleopatra is informative as well as entertaining. Cleopatra was a Greek Macedonian ruler of Egypt with a deep love for culture and powerful men. Her liaisons with Caesar and Antony are very well described, as are her achievements as queen. Mr. Grant is truly the greatest!

I had always been impressed by this whole hairdresser turned sleuth thingummyjig. However, I'm afraid I cannot say the same for this sorry excuse of a mystery novel. Don't get me wrong. I had read all of the other books written by Grant Michaels (they were FABULOUS!), and this one somehow .....just plain stinks.

The whole story dwelled way too much between the love affair between Stan and Rafik. What the hell happened to the lovable sassy hairdresser we all knew and loved in A Body To Die For and Love You To Death? Stan was reduced to an insecure,lovelorn bumbling idiot. ALL of us know that yeah yeah Stan loves Rafik blablabla. It became sickening when Stan began spouting flowery prose about Rafik's beauty, their love for each other, etc etc etc every few pages or so. Like ENOUGH ALREADY!

Moreover, the ending was so lame that it needed crutches. Whoopde doo. Like I was SO surprised when the killer was revealed in the end. So much for intrigue.

Honestly, I am glad that the author decided to kill Rafik off in the later books. Good riddance, I'll say.

Stani is a Gay Poirot, a funny, smart, flesh & blood character. Nice mystery plus gay erotica makes a good mix. Very moving "grand finale". A very enjoyable novel.

Stan Kraychik is one hell of an amateur sleuth. And Grant Michaels is one hell of a writer!! The Kraychik novels will surely define the best of gay writing for a generation.

Stan solves murders much like a Jessica Flecher would: dogged determination and a mind which can focus on details. Read ALL the Kraychik mysteries in order: A BODY TO DIE FOR, LOVE YOU TO DEATH, DEAD ON YOUR FEET, MASK FOR A DIVA, TIME TO CHECK OUT, and his latest, DEAD AS A DOORNAIL. You will fall in love with the characters in the books.

I've enjoyed this series....it's fun and amusing. It's not great plotting (a little baroque and over-blown), but the characters carried me through. Worth a look.

This was my first reading of a Grant Michaels mystery, but I'm ready for more! His hero, hair dresser Stan Kraychick, is known as Vannos when he works at Snips, but when he's out catching murderers, he's just plain good! Great characters, enough tension to keep me reading, and guessing who killed who!

Grant Michaels knows how to write the murder mystery. His "Nancy Drew" character, Stan is someone you can admire and respect, even if you don't normally go for the hair dresser type (whatever that is). Stan breaks down the stereotypes and does a fair job at determining the facts. Of course, solving the mystery and staying alive are mostly a matter of luck. For anyone who is a murder mystery fan, I'd recommend it. Since this is a gay novel there is one fairly explicit sexual situation but it's well done and very well placed and the book wouldn't be the same without it.

"Gentle Giant" is, in part, a loving and often funny account of a young man with autism who was clearly as gentle as the title suggests. If nothing else, it gives a very strong sense of how exhausting coping with an autistic child can be.

Yet there were also aspects of the book that I found saddening, even worrying. Wendy Robinson states at many points her faith that there was a normal child somehow "trapped" inside her autistic son, that the autistic boy was just a shell, not the real Grant. In some ways, her quest for a "miracle cure" seems to involve a rejection of the autistic son she describes so well and so affectionately. She praises a number of treatments, such as facilitated communication and holding therapy, which have been claimed to liberate the normal child supposedly trapped inside the autism, without mentioning that both of these have not only been scientifically discredited but also criticized as potentially extremely damaging to the autistic child and their family.

Many high-functioning people with autism such as Temple Grandin have made it clear that there is no normal person inside, and written movingly about their need to be accepted as they are. However difficult and sometimes frustrating living with an autistic person can be, rejecting them in favour of an imaginary normal child inside them is no solution.

Gentle Giant is a wonderful book about the life of an autistic boy, Grant. With an autistic brother myself I was moved both to tears and laughter by Grant's exploits. I would urge anyone with any link to autism to read this amazing book. It was so wonderful to read about all the things I knew and loved about my brother, Niall. I know my parents both felt the same and my mum was moved so much by this book that she wished to express her thanks to Wendy Robinson.

Good read, truthful and concise. A bit out of reach for most parents in terms of funding. UK seems to be much more liberal and accessable than parts of the USA. Wendy (the Mom) received incredible amounts of support form her community and seemed not to have issues with asking for help, or freely discussing her son's condition with anyone showing interest. After reading many medical books (I have a 6 yr old son that autism took 4 years ago) this was a shot in the arm as well as a much needed tear or two. Inspiring to say the least, I recommend it to any parent of an autistic child.

Michael Grant has written some wonderful books about the ancient world. Although this book is informative and very readable, the depth of this book is not great. It is mostly a summary of the life of the gladiator, and how these brutal games evolved. Many pictures in this 128 page book. If the reader is looking for something more substanial, they best look elsewhere. For those looking for a brief explanation, this is the book.

Michael Grant, in his concise summation of the Roman games in "Gladiator," covers the origins of the gladiatorial shows during the Republic until their final end in AD 404 under the emperor Honorius. In this brief work, which consists of many vivid illustrations and citations from classic texts, Michael Grant expounds upon the nature of the Gladiators from their general social origins and stand in society, to their vocation, training, and combats within, or even, outside the amphitheater. The accomplished classical scholar Michael Grant also furnishes a short discourse on the views that philosophers such as Cicero and Seneca--and other prominent figures--had on the games. He also discusses how these spectacles were ultimately forbidden. And finally, he provides a few theories on just how the people of Rome showed such unabashed toleration for these sanguinary spectacles. This work will be a highly informative, quick read, which will be of profound interest for anyone enthralled by the world of classical antiquity.

Published 1995 by Barnes & Noble Books, USA. 124 pages of good info. Many photographs. Michael Grant explains the profession, the types of gladiators and the procedure of the arena. He looks at their position in society and the attitudes of rulers, spectators and writers towards gladiators. Easy going language makes exciting reading. A fine piece of work.

If you're looking for a book that doesn't test you one whit, something you can easily consume on the beach and forget about on the car ride home, this is your book. Jaffe's trio of characters are all underwritten and his attempt to create a dynamic family that shatters under the weight of its "sins" fails in every attempt. His characters are transparent non-entities not because he spends so little time with any of them. He tries to give the reader each character's point-of-view rather than focusing on one character and how growing up with a mother who ran an abortion clinic (at some indeterminate moment in time) shaped his/her life. Instead, Jaffe skips through the lives of these characters as if they were little more than points on a classroom agenda intended to illustrate what happens to people over time, but he spends none of his writing on what happens to any of the characters and why they react the way they do. The writing is passable, even if Jaffe tends to use some "odd" words too frequently. The story moves along briskly enough, but, if you're looking for something with depth, this is not your story.

Michael Grant Jaffe's honorable and thought-provoking "Skateaway" treats the theme of growing up in unusual family circumstances with sensitivty, compassion and anger. The three Boone children, Clem, Garrett and Samantha, yearn for a normal, invisible childhood. Instead, they are compelled to confront the invasive abuse of anti-abortion protestors who regularly disrupt their home life out of anger at the childrens' mother, Mercer, who provides abotion services to the blue-collar town of Lukin, Ohio, in addition to serving as a conscientious OB/GYN. If that weren't enough, the children's unstable father, Kendall, slowly and inexorably slips into insanity. Thus, the three children never experience the delight of family tranquility or the stablity of relative anonymity.

Jaffe's significant talents find best expression when exploring the psychological consequences of growing up in an environment which permits neither ease or coherence. Despite learning, at an early age, the notion of social responsibility, the children "had rubbed against things too sharp for the hands of the young. They'd been spittoons for words of terrific cruelty, they'd felt the sting of noses turned bloody. Awfulness that usually began in defense of things they didn't completely understand: their mother's work or their father's mind."

In addition, the author skillfully interweaves Mercer's anxieties about the ramifications of her life's work on her children's safety. "...This is what worried Mercer most: someday, intelligently, one or more of her children might come to the decision that their mother had placed them all in trouble's way for a belief they did not share." Kendall's increased instablity further isolates the Boones from a neighborhood steeped in hypocrisy and isolated anger. Jaffe's subtle depiction of the Boones' neighbors is superb. Lukin seethes with intolerance, disdain and fear at the Boones, a family that simply does not fit in with the truncated hopes of a working-class community. After Kendall's institutionalization, the neighborhood heaves a sigh of relief, however guiltily, that at least one detriment to community stability has been removed.

As the children age, their realizations mature. Garrett "accepted the parallels in his parents' lives: one needing protection from others, one needing only protection from himself." Not until young adulthood does Clem have a serious conversation with her mother about Mercer's decision to provide abortions, and the mother's measured response is one of the most eloquent defenses of the right to choice imaginable. "'I'd imagine no one wishes there weren't a need for abortions more than the doctors who perform them...But I can't just hide my eyes and hope it'll disappear. The only satisfaction - if that's even the word - I can take from doing abortions is knowing I gave the patients the best medical care I was capable of. A proficient set of hands.'"

"Skateaway" is not without its flaws. Written in three distinctive parts -- childhood, adolescence and adulthood -- the novel never fully coheres. Jaffe also has difficulty with the narrative; constant flashbacks tend to interfere with understanding rather than enchance it. The writing tends to be uneven as well; some pages have lyrical beauty while others are mundane. Nevertheless, the strengths of the novel far outweigh the weaknesses. A devastating conclusion reaffirms the undercurrent of fear swirling in "Skateaway." Jaffe poses very troubling questions and does not flinch in attempting to provide thoughtful and compelling answers. His characters' unique personalities and utterly believable means of responding to their unusual home circumstances elevate the importance of this novel.

I AM NOT A MAJOR BOOK READER, BUT DO ENJOY BOOKS LIKE THIS. FOUND IT TO FLOW WELL. LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE FROM THE AUTHOR