book so far in Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" series.

Jack's a loner, and it is fitting that he's back on the road again after trying unsuccessfully to settle down. He's in hot, dry, west Texas (and Child really makes you feel as though you are there - you're thirsty throughout the story!) where he's enlisted himself to help an abused (?) wife, Carmen Greer, and her daughter, Ellie. Greer's tale is fraught with lies, and, if I were Jack, I would have given up on her. She's not able to escape her husband, Sloop, and his secretive pack of friends that
have a past that leads to bloodshed.

The pace bogs down from time to time, and it is difficult to root for Carmen. The ending is a lot more transparent than anything Child has given us previously. Worst of all, Child gets bogged down in his own descriptiveness, a problem encountered in his earlier works, where it was more forgiveable and did less to hurt his characterization and his pace.

Not giving up on Jack, because he is the most refreshing hero of the past few years, but one more average work by Lee Child will send me scurrying for some new authors!

Lee Child's 'Echo Burning' succeeds in giving main character Jack Reacher's fans what they're always looking for - a great, fun read. Child's fans know that anytime they pick up a new Reacher novel, they can expect:

1 - Great action
2 - A tightly wound plot
3 - A feeling of suspense, knowing that Reacher is going to kick someone's butt at least a couple of times in the book...it's just a matter of when and how hard.

'Echo Burning' finds Reacher hitchhiking in West Texas. He's picked up by a woman who definitely needs help. Her abusive husband (whom she helped send to prison) is coming home soon, and not to treat her with tender loving care. The husband's family (who hates the woman because she is Mexican) is also anxious for his return and is, of course, on his side. But is the woman telling Reacher the truth? Is there more to the story than what she's telling?

'Echo Burning' is not a great story, but it's good. Child's description of the West Texas heat and atmosphere get a little old and repetitive, but you can overlook that. As mysteries go, 'Echo Burning' is not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Last year, when I read RUNNING BLIND, I gave it a somewhat scathing review, stating that Lee Child hadn't produce a really exciting book since THE KILLING FLOOR, promising myself that I'll never buy another "Jack Reacher" novel in hardback for as long as I lived. As far as I was concerned, Mr. Child had three strikes against him and had struck out with me as a fan. Well, I broke the promise to myself with the publication of ECHO BURNING, and I'm glad I did. This novel turned out to be a winner in every sense of the word and represents the sheer craftsmanship that Lee Child is capable of bringing to his work. In his newest book, Jack Reacher once again returns and finds himself caught up in a game of lies, abuse and murder. While hitchhiking out of Lubbock, Texas in an attempt to escape the wrath of the law, he's picked up by Carmen Greer, a beautiful, married Latino woman who's driving a luxurious white Cadillac. Mrs. Greer is looking for someone to kill her abusive husband, Sloop, who's due to get out of prison, and she thinks that Reacher would be the perfect person to take care of her little problem. Since Reacher doesn't consider himself to be a cold-blooded killer, he politely refuses her kind offer. He does, however, agree to go back to the ranch where she and her daughter, Ellie, live with Sloop's family and to act as a protector for her. This leads to our hero finding himself in the middle of a really large domestic dispute. Except for Carmen and Ellie, nobody in the Greer family likes having his presence at the ranch, and they attempt to do everything within their power to force him to leave. When Sloop get out of jail and returns home, only to be murdered on the night of his arrival, it looks as though Carmen decided to take matters into her own hands. No one believes that she is innocent, except for Reacher, and he's not absolutely sure himself. As he attempts to find out who the real killer is, Reacher suddenly becomes the focus point of a three-person "hit" team, and he must find a way to stay alive long enough to finally get to the truth. ECHO BURNING is a taut, suspenseful thriller that displays the brilliant writing that Lee Child is capable of penning. He captures the heat and isolation of the Texas landscape perfectly, while giving us characters filled with either an outright meanness or a hidden evil. Though Reacher is able to read people, judging how good or bad they might be, he may have just met his match with the Greer family. There are so many lies and half-truths being told by, and about, the family that our main character won't know whom to believe, and neither will the reader. Is everything that Carmen Greer told Reacher a lie so that her husband could be murdered, or is the Greer family really a nest of vipers, ready to kill to protect its own? In this novel, Mr. Child touches the inner core of what evil really is and how it hides behind the masks of ordinary people. Jack Reacher, however, shines at his best as he decides to take on a whole town, if necessary, to do what he feels is right, meeting violence with violence, and handing out death to those who want a piece of him. ECHO BURNING is one tough novel that gives us a deeper look at the character of Jack Reacher and the essence of humanity in him that reaches out to help those who are being preyed upon. This is definitely the kind of person you want covering your back when the bad guys are closing in. For those of you who loved THE KILLING FLOOR, Mr. Child has written another book that equals, if not surpasses, the quality of his first novel. It's one I'm proud to highly recommend!

Why bother with a bio of hipster Terry Southern?Author tries a tongue in cheek run, but that does not work . Southern, by this account , was an alcoholic who made his living scribbling lines for B movies. Check that the author is a Canadian who does not have the slightest idea of what life was like in Terry Southern's haunts.Read this only if you wish to see what low grade stuff publishers are shoeveling onto the market these days .

I happen to agree with the sentiments espoused by Harold Leffingwell (see review above). Poor Lee Hill was disserved by his editors, who permitted him to compile a 'Terry Southern and his times' tome that is chock-a-block with cliches and party lists, and lacking in critical focus of the man. It tries to be both cultural history and biography, and fails on both counts. However, this is the first and badly needed biography of a man who brought fame and fortune to dozens of other people, and Hill deserves to be commended for his years of spade-work.

Hill has no feel for American culture. He is apparently a Canadian who spent some time in London and is primarily a film historian. His sense of cultural history in a broader scale is ludicrously third-hand, delivered in broad generalities on the order of, "America was in the grip of repressive McCarthyism in the early fifties," or "Many well-meaning people were concerned about the plight of the negro."

Paradoxically, Hill titles his book 'A Grand Guy,' although his lack of feel for modern American cultural history makes it impossible for him to tell us where Terry Southern's 'Grand Guy' persona came from. The 'Grand Guy' act, a compound of heartiness, mock-haughty superciliousness, and college-humor hyperbole, was a standard persona for those of Southern's generation. Many of Southern's contemporaries (from Gore Vidal to Bill Buckley and even Norman Mailer) played the same notes on their fiddles. This act was a continuation of the tongue-in-cheek snootiness you find in the early years of the Luce publications (where Time letter writers would be accorded a put-down caption on the order of, "Let Subscriber Brailsford Mend His Ways!") as well as The New Yorker (think of Peter Arno's captions or E.B. White's snotty captions for squibs pulled from local newspapers). This was the accepted "hip" idiom for the 20th Century Quality-Lit man, and it reached its full effulgence in the Esquire of the 1960s, when an unrelenting, over-the-top mockery of sacred cows became the mark of sophistication. Southern's tragedy, perhaps, is that he got stuck in what was essentially a passing style of ephemeral journalism, and he was unable to grow beyond it, and he had no friends to encourage him to grow beyond it. Thus, by the early 70s, his output was reduced to self-parodying letters to his friend and imitator at the National Lampoon, Michael O'Donoghue.

excellent and direly-needed bio in these irony-free days. a great picture of the swinging 60's too.

Chinese American Writer Gus Lee explores an important area of criminal abuse in this new legal thriller. But Lee, author of four fine novels, experienced deputy district attorney, Army judge advocate, FBI trainer, and executive of the California state bar forgot to review his notes on how the system works. Lawyers and politicians will probably hate this drama. Readers will turn the last page knowing the law is not handled this way, yet will appreciate his passion for what is right, and his love for children and family. His window into the human soul saves this tangled story. A little polish would have helped as Lee creates great sentences in difficult paragraphs and confusing chapters.

This book is engrossing despite its flaws. Josh Jin's career and his personal life are slipping away due to his emotional collapse caused by the death of a daughter. Resulting mistakes caused him to lose respect and position. Jin is forced into a case in which he finds himself conflicted from grief, loss of status, ugly politics and morals, cultures, and outrage. A 13-year old rape victim refuses to talk. There is no physical evidence. He has nobody's confidence and no professional support. The accused ex-con may not be the one. Worse, his legal adversary is a powerful ex-girlfriend he once jilted who knows how to pull his chain. He cries in court and colleagues think he is without hope.

Jin struggles back from the edge while pulling another from disaster. The reader learns a bit about the Chinese-American culture and very real child sexual abuse, accurately rendered. As the story unfolds, there are surprises aplenty.

This BOMC alternate is awkward but remains a page turner. It is a complex crime story based on what is really happening, though a bit overplotted. A tale of lives in crises, untidy politics, horrifying crime, sleazy judges, shoddy legal work, messy lives, committment and personal salvation. Lee toys with the reader right up to the last few words. This is a book of passion dotted with clever observations and characters that resonate. Readers will think about this book for a long time despite it's rather unbelievable legal, political core. Gus Lee could do better and has done so(Honor and Duty) than this sometimes confusing book, but "No Physical Evidence" remains a worthwhile read.

The story tracks the lives of many wonderfully developed characters all revolving around the horrendous rape of a 13 year old girl. The book reaches deep into your emotions as the author relates the efforts of district attorney Joshua Jin to save the girl, his marriage and the very fabric of the California legal system. This is a must read by anyone who loves a good Follett or Grisham tale. Placing this book in a particular genre would be almost impossible as it covers: love, detective, mystery, suspense, courtroom drama. The unabridged audio reading is superb.

Gus Lee scores again in this fast-paced and evocative legal drama with some characters you love to hate, and an unlikely hero you love to love. Unlike most writers, Lee creates a central character who, in the middle of his life, is overcome by personal tragedies that have depleted him, and as the book progresses, we can cheer him on as he rises from the ashes. It's refreshing to see a hero who feels not only his own pain, but also the pain of all the other hurting people around him. I love a book like this that combines great character development and a compelling story line into a wonderful morality play. If you like crime dramas with a human interest twist, you'll love this book. It will keep you guessing until the end when you're left marvelling at the Hitchcock-ian twist!

RUNNING BLIND, the newest novel by Lee Child, continues the saga of ex-military policeman and drifter, Jack Reacher. But wait! Reacher has settled down in this book. He now owns a house, a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and has the undying love of attorney, Jodie Garber, who fans will remember from TRIPWIRE. Is this our hero? Is this the life he was cut out for? Maybe not. Anyway, things kind of get disrupted in Reacher's life when the FBI suddenly pull him in for questioning with regards to the deaths of three ladies, each of whom was mysteriously murdered and left in a bathtub of green paint. The ladies had two things in common with each other. All three were involved in sexual harassment cases while still in the Army, and each knew Jack Reacher. One of the FBI agents, Julia Lamarr, thinks that the killer's profile matches Reacher to a T. If he isn't the serial killer, then it is someone like him with a military background. The FBI believes that the killer will continue his spree of perfect crimes, unless Reacher agrees to help. The only problem is that when Reacher finally joins the hunt, the Feds choose to ignore his advise. He doesn't think that it is a soldier, but they don't want to hear that. When another lady dies, Reacher knows that he must find the killer himself, or it simply won't get done. While he is visiting crime scenes and talking to potential victims, Reacher is also trying to decide the future of his relationship with Jodie. Does he want to remain a "settled" individual, or does he want to get back on the road again? The first half of RUNNING BLIND started off like a heat-seeking missile, but by the last quarter it kind of fizzled out for me. If the reader follows Reacher's advise about looking for motive and who has the most to gain, they will figure out who the killer is long before the FBI does. Mr. Child does throw a number of "red herrings" into the mix, trying to redirect the reader's attention from who the real killer is. One of the "red herrings" more or less appears from out of nowhere, then disappears, and is never fully explained to my satisfaction. It was something I didn't appreciate on Mr. Child's part. Also, I didn't quite buy the method the killer uses to murder his victims. I have heard of death occurring in that particular manner, but I just couldn't see using it to kill four different people. It seemed far-fetched to me. Finally, I felt that RUNNING BLIND didn't have enough action on Reacher's part, and that the ending was a simply a little too weak. Now, I'll say this. Mr. Child's first book, KILLING FLOOR, was one of the best debut novels I have ever read, and I still highly recommend to friends and strangers. His last three books, however, have not been in the same league as the first, which I find disappointing. DIE TRYING, TRIPWIRE and RUNNING BLIND are good reads, and I know that Mr. Child is certainly trying to write as good a novel as possible with each succeeding one. I wish he could just write another one as "GREAT" as KILLING FLOOR.

I love Jack Reacher...I would however, love him more if he bathed more often. The man sleeps in his clothes with no more luggage than a toothbrush!In the past, Jack has been a larger than life hero and in "Running Blind", he becomes a larger than life slob, vigilante and all around disgusting bully. He is handsome, smart and has powerful connections with the military, and I find it demeaning the way he resorts to solving all problems by either denial or violence. The way he treats Jody is obscene!I think Mr. Child was out of line in his portrayal of the FBI. I would like to think Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity still mean what they used to.I enjoyed the book, but, figured out the killer and the "how" very early on. I want Mr. Child to clean Jacks' act up a bit and bring him back to the character that he has the potential of being.Definitely a book to be read, I just want "Jack" back!

Lee Child's "Running Blind" is a novel about the FBI's efforts to find a sadistic and malevolent serial killer. The main character is Jack Reacher, a macho ex-military man, who is as sharp mentally as he is quick and capable with his fists. Reacher lives by a unique moral code and pretty much does as he likes. He has no job, has little respect for authority and doesn't play by society's rules. The FBI enlists Reacher's help when their best investigators are stymied by the aforementioned killer who is murdering women without leaving any obvious clues. Reacher is a brilliant investigator who thinks creatively and makes mental leaps that are helpful in solving difficult cases. "Running Blind" is fast-paced and action-packed, and Reacher is an appealing, if rough-edged, hero. Child would have us believe that Reacher owns one set of clothes and wears them all the time! That is a bit much to swallow. Another quibble that I have is that Child uses too much misdirection to fool the reader and I feel that he sometimes does not play fair. However, "Running Blind" does have sharp dialogue and many unexpected twists and turns. It is a page-turner and I doubt that anyone will be able to put it down in the last ten pages. I recommend "Running Blind," since it is a clever police procedural that keeps the reader guessing until the end.

This was obviously written by someone who has read Lee Smith's work closely and cares deeply about it. But unlike so many of the other excellent books in the Twayne series, this one seemed to have an agenda all its own. While the ideas discussed were very interesting (a sort of new age, feminist perspective) I didn't feel it was quite right for something like Twayne, which has always been more of an overarching perspective of an individual writer's work.

I felt that I was reading someone's thesis -- a well written one, but something that was about the micro, not macro themes and ideas behind Smith's work.

This book is out of date...It's great if you are a manager contemplating the purchase of HP Openview...but you can get that from HP for free!..It is pitiful if you are trying to implement Openview from a technical standpoint....save your money. I can't believe that there are no other books out there on implementing HP Openview...

you are defineately better off reading the HP manuals on OpenView. They should have titled this book a buyers guide to network management products.

This book is merely an overview of the suite of Openview products. It is NOT hands-on and has little more than one can expect from sales literature. I am not sure what purpose the book serves

Cider with Rosie existe-t-il en francais