Raymond Benson has done a superb job with his own Bond series,combining the modern film Bond with the classic Fleming Bond.(its a shame that it appears that he won't be doing anymore)His novels are all fast paced entertaining reads.His novelisations of the Brosnan series have almost always improved on the movies-adding alot of character moments as well as a great deal of depth and dimension to the villians.This one,however,reads like a great action movie.The pace is relentless as it is basically one giant action scene after another following a shocking beginning where we see 007 as we have never seen him before.Now as a movie this will be alot of fun to see but as a novel it seems to be over much too quickly(I finished it in a day). The character moments Benson usually puts in his own series were few and far between because of the incredible pace of the story . While this works on film you end up missing these moments on the printed page and waiting for a little break in the action.That being said,this is filled with one incredible scene after another.In fact,you end up smiling and cheering just as you would in the movies.The action sequences are all original and exciting and 007 is better than ever...coming through the most harrowing experience he has ever been through on film.If this plays out as written it will easily be Brosnans best Bond film to date.Benson captures the feelings of a "Bond movie on paper" perfectly.This may not have the depth of his original stories but it has all the fun of the movies.
If this is his last Bond novel he has gone out in style.

Raymond Benson has been a Bond fan for years. That being said, Benson took the film's script and elevated the material to a point where it at least has plausibility and some style perhaps out of respect to the memory of Ian Fleming. Also, the focus in the novel is on James Bond, not computer generated stunts (that's rather hard to do in a book any way you look at it). This is a great improvement over the various plot elements and this time out they work. I was pleased that we got something good out of this last Bond movie.

Raymond Benson returns with quite possibly some of his best writing ever! After the okay-good The Man With The Red Tattoo, he returns to write Die Another Day in a superb style of description, action and nonstop 007 adventure! Rumors are flying that he may be giving up his role as the 007 author, if it is true he leaves with a bang.

Die Another day begins with Bond in Korea to disrupt the evil Colonel Moon and his henchman Zao. They are purchasing diamonds and have a great deal of deadly machinery in his demilitarized zone. Bond infiltrates the zone to result in a explosion of diamond shrapnel scarring Zao's face and a deadly chase with Colonel Moon of hovercrafts over a minefield. Bond is captured by General Moon, (the colonel's father and is held responsible for his death. A year passes by with Bond in a tortured state being traded for freedom with Zao. M meets Bond and tells him of her dissapointment in him. Bond then searches for Zao down in Cuba and meets NSA agent Jinx. Bond discovers that Zao has been under gene therapy to alter his face in a clinic on a nearby island. Bond traces the island to a one Gustav Graves, an eccentric millionaire that owns diamonds and has a local ice palace in Iceland. Bond challenges Graves to fencing in the Blades Club, where Bond wins and meets the ultra-cool icy princess Miranda Frost, Graves personal assistant. Bond is equipped by Q and sent out to Iceland by M. While in Iceland Bond meets up with Jinx and discovers the Gustav Graves has created the ultrapowerful satellite Icarus, which canharness the Sun's power. He later confronts Graves where he makes a startling discovery that Miranda Frost(while earlier claiming to be a British agent) is now against Bond. A magnificent chase enthralls with Zao, Graves and Frost running Bond down. Jinx and Bond discover that Colonel Moon is in fact Gustav Graves the same person. Jinx and Bond find out that Graves is going to destroy his demilitarized zone with the Icarus in order for the takeover of all nearby countries to make Korea an unstoppable power. Bond kills Zao in the ice palace and rescues the stranded Jinx, where they aboard Graves plane to stop the crazy Korean. Jinx and Miranda Frost break out into a exciting thrilling fencing fight with Frost succumbing to the sword of Jinx. Bond and Graves battle on the now crashing plane, where Graves is killed by being pulled into the planes wing. Bond and Jinx escape via helicoptor aboard the plane. Meanwhile we are allowed to see thanks to the 3-D machine the ultimate fantasy of Moneypenny to love James Bond. Bond and Jinx safely land in a temple where the story ends.

Raymond Benson has truly written a masterpiece here. All bond fans will love the exciting tale of James Bond 007!

If you are in the mood for a book that espouses goodness, traditional values, and the power of real love, then look no further than this book. It is the tale of a World War Two veteran who has become a lighthouse keeper. In this book, he tells the history of himself, his true love, and of his family through the use of flashbacks. There are some sad moments in the story; however, the overall tone is one of inspiration and uplifting feelings. One of the things that I liked about this book was how it intimated that one does not have to "be religious" in order to "be spiritual." I also liked the symbolism of the lighthouse portrayed in the story. The ending was especially poignant, and will be sure to bring tears to the eyes of all who read it. I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages.

This delightful story of personal and family trials, tribulations and triumphs will appeal to all readers. James Pratt allows his readers to share his characters' lifes as he introduces the reader to Peter, Billie, Anna, Katie and Kathleen. Life is a struggle but it also has its rewards. As I was reading, I felt empathy for the characters. I laughed with them; I cried with them. I experienced their misery and I experienced their joy. Seldom has a book pulled at my heart and emotions as much as "Lighthouse Keeper" did. James Pratt has not just written a wonderful story but also a book that teaches a moral. I'm glad that i read "Lighthouse Keeper".

This is an excellent book!
It's a tale of life's lessons....some sweet and some bitter.
I had to give this book a 5 star rating because I asked myself.....Am I glad that I read this book?..Emphatic yes! Would I recommend this book?..Another emphatic yes! Would I spend the money to buy this book again?...Another yes! Would I sell this book or give it away?...No, I want it in my personal library. This story has so much more meaning to it than just a love story.
It's a wonderful historical fiction, and I learned a lot of things about WWII as well as the struggles and determination of America's immigrents.
This is a short but very deep story of faith and understanding.
I truly enjoyed the scenes involving the transition into the spirit world and heaven or "the light"
I can see where this would be a book to help a healing heart missing a loved one that has passed on.
I highly recommend this book.
Wonderful, gem of a book by a very gifted writer.

"Reengineering the Corporation" was THE management book for the early to mid 90's. Many companies, including my own, adopted the Reengineering philosophy. The book implants basic management principles of process redesign. Specifically, the book encourages business leaders to examine their core processes (e.g. the order fulfillment process). Then, starting with a clean sheet of paper, the book encourages a redesign of those processes to their maximum efficiency. A critical theme throughout the book was employee ownership of processes. In fairness to those that have been involved in process redesign, Hammer and Champy's book does not introduce new management concepts. Rather, it packages the process redesign concept very nicely. The book is a very easy read, including many examples of companies that have successfully reenginered core processes. I would recommend this book to two groups. If you are a manager unfamiliar with process redesign or Total Quality Management, I would recommend this book for you. If you are a student studying business, I would strongly recommend this book. As an MBA student, I have used quotes from this book on numerous occasions. On a final note, James Champy does admit in a later publication, that reengineering has failed in many companies (Reengineering Management). But, the concepts are sound and the examples are moving. Overall, it is a solid business tool. Reviewed by Jay A. Goklani

I have read this book first time when I did a course in Business Process Reengineering. It gave me a very good introduction to the subject, history of reengineering and how companies are affected by the three C's Customers, Competetion, Change. Then I have read Beyond Reengineering by the same author. There is no doubt , both are a must reading for every person/company who would like to survive working in today's competitive way of earning livelihood, doing business and keeping fit.

It may sound, the Middle Managers / Supervisors are the most vulnerable group who are targets for change from the operational role perspective, in a BPR exercise.

I came to know recently, that several BPR projects fail also due to lack of proper Knowledge Management in companies. Might be the authors would include effective knowledge management strategies in BPR projects in the future release of their books. Knowledge management in terms of managing tacit , explicit knowledge of a company is also important. When we are reengineering, we are also reengineering the knowledge(creation, (re)distribution, evaluation aspects of knowledge) of a company. Also aspects such as competetive intelligence is worth considering.

What ever your feelings on reengineering (dramatic process improvement or excuse for downsizing payroll) Hammer and Champy reinvigorate the topic for the new millenium in this clear revision. Learning from their mistakes (they move process to the front instead of radical in their four word description), they reintroduce the goal of making major gains in reducing wasted work and time. Their case studies read as a list of comeback stars in corporate America and show that great strides can be made and do pay off. Just as Six Sigma is trying to reengineer TQM for a new economic reality, this book once again brings process improvement to the forefront of business management conciousness.

I was mislead by the positive reviews on this book and bought this book. The title is very misleading. The author just gives pages and pages of content nothing but web services introduction and then reproduces java web services tutorial from sun site. particularly I am disappointed and don't understand the theme of this book as it does not show a concrete example of a Web services architecture.

The book got too many technical typos and grammatical errors. I am also puzzled with repeated content from Section two to Section three.

The CD is full of junk software and worthless to use. For the money you pay, this book is nothing but introduction of Web services and basic java web services tutorial. Does James Gosling really read this book ?

The vast majority of books written are either for managers or technologists but not usually both. This book manages to pull off the goal of making it easy to understand architecting loosely coupled web services. This book cuts through the hype by presenting both the advantages and disadvantages of this technology.

It seems that nearly every hardware and software vendor is touting a web services strategy. Technology presented in this book is vendor-neutral. If you are planning a web services project, you should read this book thoroughly. If you only want a basic introduction to Web Services, just read the first three chapters. If you already feel comfortable with the basics and you want specific information, you can read selective chapters.

Books such as these are bound to become classics and should be on every technologist's bookshelf.

I took the suggestion of another reviewer here and purchased a total ten copies from various online booksellers and distributed it to my direct reports so that they could develop a comprehensive understanding of how Web Services will work for solving IT issues we have been experiencing and to gain advantage over our competitors.

Coming from a non-technical background, I still felt that it added a lot of value to my understanding as to where we should be headed as an organization. This book does well in explaining concepts that I wouldn't have otherwise known about. The chapters on service oriented architectures, components and security considerations was an eye opener.

Didn't personally read the other chapters since I do not develop software but my staff tells me they are good as well. Organizations that are serious about web services would do well to buy this book for all members of their project team.

Although the authors seemed to know what they were talking about (even if they come across somewhat "preachy" by telling us what was good, what was bad, and why John Barry should have won an award for each film), I was very disappointed by...

THE GLARING ERROR!

The book states that Ernst Stavro Blofeld was last seen in Diamonds Are Forever. When I read this, I quickly turned to the section on For Your Eyes Only. John Hollis is credited with appearing as the "bald villain confined to a wheelchair." I can't believe that the authors completely missed the importance of James Bond visiting his wife's grave and then killing the man responsible for her murder!

I still gave the book two stars. The sections on each film seem to be complete with most of the women, vehicles and gadgets that were used in each. Also, the photos are excellent.

If you're a James Bond fan, you'll enjoy the book. Fortunately, it doesn't include the lame Die Another Day. The last film presented is The World is Not Enough.

This book got me hooked on the James Bond phenomenon. It goes into great detail about 007's villains, allies, gadgets, vehicles and of course, the women. It is witty and informative and looks at every film from Dr. No to Tomorrow Never Dies. The only criticisms are that the book omits minor characters and at times, the authors include too many of their own opinions which does not allow the reader to make their own mind up about the films. In summary, an excellent book worth the money with loads of colour pictures (some never seen before).

"The Essential Bond" is extremely well researched and very informative. It provides detailed information on the assignment, 007's women, 007's villains, 007's allies, vehicles, gagets & weapons, music, marketing & merchandising, and the box office in every Bond film from Dr. No to Tomrrow Never Dies. It also includes a short but sweet foreword, tribute to Albert R. Broccoli or "Cubby", a chapter devoted to the literary 007, the James Bond family, 007 and popular culture, the other James Bonds, and the 007 phnomenon. Over all this is a extremely informative book that is a must have for any Bond fan.

"Monstrum" is a clever story with various twists and turns--part science fiction, part thriller, part murder mystery, part political novel. I became one with Constantine--felt his humanity, his idealism, his pain. But Montrum is more than a story about a series of mass murders--it is a commentary on the state of the world: who is the real monstrum--the mass murder loose in Moscow's slums or those political figures who run the world? Read this book--it is wonderful on many different levels

Comparisons of _Monstrum_ to Martin Cruz Smith's _Gorky Park_ are apt. A very similar sort of thriller, Donald James' novel follows the investigation of homicide inspector, Constantin Vadim, as he searches for a serial killer operating in the rubble of war-torn Moscow, circa 2015. The future setting doesn't really give this book a science-fictional feel, but allows James to add a complicated political underpinning to his serial-killer plot. The Anarchists and the Nationalists have just stopped fighting a civil war for the soul of Russia and the clean-up and aftermath of the war only hamper Vadim's investigation, as they also make it possible for the serial-killer "monstrum" of the title to operate. The characters were very absorbing, the mystery first-rate, and James' exploration of the human condition very gripping. The conclusion did feel a bit rushed, following a long, leisurely set-up, and the book is a bit too dependent on Vadim's inability to develop political beliefs of his own, but this was, on the whole, a riveting mystery and I'd highly recommend it.

This book was such a pleasant surprise that I couldn't let go of it for weeks after I read it - and ended up going back to it at least twice since then. Donald James creates an entirely believable landscape in 2015 Moscow, and tells the possible story of the country through the eyes of his characters. I think one of the main reasons why I fell in love with Monstrum was the protagonist character, Vadim, a would-be passive police inspector who just wants to have a quiet job and a quiet apartment where he can miss his dead son and a wife who left him. Instead, through little fault of his own, he gets involved in events seemingly beyond his control. And as he stumbles through life, increasingly becoming more and more involved, making choices and searching for the truth, one can't help but ache for his fate and for the fate of those around him.

Female characters here are also especially interesting - I haven't seen such strong, complex women in many other novels.

Donald James is a historian and that is a great plus for Monstrum: he knows the shifts and spirals of history. The future he imagines for Russia (hopefully it can be avoided) is in tune at once with this country's turbulent past and its ambivalent present. I don't think even after 2015, this novel will possibly be outdated: instead it could be thought of as an alternate reality. A serial killer mystery is overshadowed here by its political connections, and that gives the writer room to go in many surprising directions.

While dark in content, it's ultimately uplifting, and wonderfully so, since after as much as the characters go through in this story, they deserve some hope at the end. This is a mystery with a heart of a romantic quest and a historic novel - and it does honor to all these genres.

I so wish he would write a sequel. There is room enough for it. I probably will be waiting hopelessly for it, but my point is...this book is too good to pass up.

I was disappointed in this book. The book left out important details that will be on the exam, had an above average number of errors, poor questions, and surprisingly, included a lot of needless information that won't be on the exam. For example, the troubleshooting chapter had very general, obvious, tips rather than recommending a certain cable tester for a sample situation, which is what will be on the test, or what is the problem if a DVM gives a certain reading? Another example, the 5 Microsoft troubleshooting steps should be listed, rather than just mentioned in one paragraph. I could go on...I would recommend the IDG books for main study and the "Nutshell" (Which do have the info you'll need in a concise format) books for review. The Microsoft Exam Readiness books are also good for practice questions. Maybe the other Exam Cram books are better...

This book is ok if you are using it to review for the test after having used another more in-depth book (sybex or the like). If you have a pretty good understanding of how networking is done you may be able to pass the test with just this book. If you don't work on a network allready, get one of the other MCSE books that more closely resemble a phone book.

Found this book to be great supplement to other more comprehensive study guides. Well organized and intuitive presentation. Used in conjunction with Syngress Net Essential study guide. Passed the exam first time. I was not at all well versed in networking concepts prior to using these study guides.

Shadows tells the story of a young Bones' marriage and divorce which influenced his decision to join starfleet. I liked getting the history of McCoy which helps explain his personality, and the idea of his meeting up with his wife again after all these years was intriguing. However, as the plot of this book developed it turned out to be a somewhat weak and predictable storyline.

I recommend the book if you're interested in getting a piece of Dr. McCoy's life story, otherwise there are probably better star trek novels out there.

I wasn't gonna write reviews today. I was just gonna read... Till I read this one. I would like to say this is my favorite Star Trek novel by my favorite author. McCoy was a trainee in a portion of this, they called him "trainee" ... so what? Some people have such strange reasons for hating novels. I agree with a previous review, the Shadows on the Sun ideal was described so perfectly. Ok, now what I thought: I love the flashback stuff, LOVED IT. The history of these characters we love so much is THE entire reason we love them. Where they came from IS who they are. This book does great in fleshing out the "trainees" (hehe) past. I love Friedman he's gutsy, would you want to take a character with a 30 year history and invent his past before the glaring eyes of millions? I wouldn't. Micheal Jan Friedmans novel is a must for McCoy fans and anyone who wants to know more about the "trainee" than they already knew. Buy it.

Star Trek: Shadows on the Sun written by Michael Jaan Friedman is a flashback novel with the primary character being Dr. Leonard McCoy. McCoy confronts his past in order to save the future, also we read of McCoy's past and why he left a wife behind.

It is refreshing to read a Star Trek book that kicks the James T. Kirk character to the back burner and highlights someone else as the lead character, is the case of "Shadows on the Sun" is just such a book.

We read about the successful young doctor McCoy with a storybook family, but McCoy is in for a betrayal from the woman he loves. Now, McCoy leaves everything he had on Earth and heads for outer space and a career in Starfleet. Everything is fine for forty years as McCoy makes a career in Starfleet, now a crises has developed on the planet of Ssan.

The Ssani have a long history of being assassins and the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew are sent to negotiate a settlement with a group of mediators aboard. As the Enterprise is on the way McCoy meets his ex-wife after forty years as she is one of the negotiaters.

Of course nothing is going right with the Ssani as a matter of course, they use assassination as a matter of fact and a way of life."Shadow of the Sun" is a Ssani saying that means Sun is the image of viewing the life cycle and Shadow is the individual life. The individual casts a shadow on the the Sun of all life.

The mediators and Captain Kirk are now taken hostage as a Civil War rages and it is upto McCoy to draw from his past to save the negotiations and save the day. The narrative moves very quickly and the prose are true to the characters and McCoy is the stand out hero of the book. If you are a Dr. Leonard McCoy fan this is your book to read as the character of McCoy get fleshed out early in McCoys career through flashbacks.

I don't want to be drawn into any sort of "jihad" here, but I really have to respond to "andy@gc-consulting.com from Greensboro." First of all, I find it somewhat ironic that your "review" is "riddled" with more errors than the Exam Cram book that you so passionately complain is "flawed!" Second, did you read ANY of my review past sentance two?!? More importantly, did you UNDERSTAND any of my review past sentance two?!? NOWHERE in my review do I advocate purchasing ONLY the Exam Cram book! In fact, I clearly recommend purchasing Sybex' Study Guide IN ADDITION TO Microsoft's own NT Server ResKit. Furthermore, I go on to recommend purchasing Transcender's practice exam material to further prepare one for Microsoft's examination procedures. Moreover, if you--"andy"--had, in fact, read the Exam Cram book, you would know that the authors CLEARLY do NOT recommend using their book as your sole study material! In fact, at the end of each chapter, they reference other sources that a reader would do well to look in on for elaboration on a particular subject. (The book's claim is "the first and last book you need to read before taking your certification exam." I don't take this at all to mean that this is the "only" book you need to buy.) The fact that you have "students" speaks volumes to me about your possible motivations for being so critical of such study material. It represents an obsticle to your profession in the sense that these types of books empower the average individual to go out on their own, study, prepare, and take MCSE exams without ever having to step foot in your "classroom" or any other classroom, for that matter. At least my review offers some valid suggestions for potential MCSEs on how to achieve their goals ON THEIR OWN. I don't see any such suggestions in your review. That said, let me say that I think that "training classes" are great if you have the $1,500 per class that many "technical schools" are charging for instruction on MCSE certification! The more preperation the better if you can afford it, I say!!! But there has to come a point where the average working stiff like myself has to say, "how can I justify paying all that money for a $100 dollar test???" Finally, to answer your question, "no," I would not "WANT an SAT or a GRE prep book riddled with errors." Who in their right mind would "want" such a book?!? But the reality is that books are man made artifacts and as such they are subject to errors like any other artifact. Use the Exam Cram book only as an additional tool in your test preperation arsenal--NOT as your ENTIRE exam prep arsenal!!! Hope this helps somebody go out there and CRUSH those MCSE exams.

Yes! Alright already!! The book has ERRORS!!! Okay! Are you nay-sayers happy now?!? (Probably not, I realize, or else you wouldn't be called "nay-sayers.") But seriously folks, this is an excellent tool for MCSE preperation that some "DOGBERT-esque" NT Sys Admins will rifle through and immediately dismiss as "trash" because of its "technical errors" and "depthless writing!" (Picture an up-turned nose with a "humph" thrown in for good disdain after that last quote.) My reply to those who are truly concerned about passing the MCSE tests is to get the "errata" from Coriolis; buy the SYBEX study guide for the Enterprise exam (Sybex is CONSISTENTLY rated well in terms of readablity and technical credibility), and pick up Microsoft's "NT Server Resouce Kit, Supplement 2" to use as a cross reference. Try reading the study guide first (cross referencing the ResKit), take a practice exam or two (Transcender's if you can afford them), apply the errata to the Exam Cram book, READ the Exam Cram book (definitely cross reference here), take a couple more practice tests, read your "cram sheets" and review notes, and, finally, go CRUSH that test! Pass all six MCSE tests this way and you too can become a pretentious "DOGBERT-esque" NT Sys Admin.

Especially negative anonymous reviews. After reading this book as well as passing the test with my highest score of all I have some advice for those reading these reviews: Beware of users who rate with 1 star - they most likely failed the tests for reasons other than the study guide being a "rushed joke". Where the book did have its share of errors, all of which were corrected on the company's web page, it was still full of a lot of good information. The Cram Sheet and the easy to find "exam alerts" through out the chapter are a must right before taking the exam. Just remember that these books WILL help you to pass the test, even if you've taken a class, read an authorized training guide, or just had strong experience with NT Server in the workplace. These books are an excellent supplement to any training (or not, depending on your technical skill :-) I highly recommend the Exam Cram series.

Please note, that these are my opinions, and I'm not in any way affilated with Amazon.com, The Coriolis Group, or the authors. I'm just a happy customer who bought 6 exam cram books (and those were the only books I used) and passed 6 MCSE tests (5 of which were with scores of 930 or higher). I also welcome anyone's comments on my review, I'm not the type to hide behind anonymity, please email me if you have questions or just need help.

Before I read Original Sin, a friend and devoted mystery lover referred to it as being somewhat tedious, and I am sorry to admit that I agree. This was one of James' novels in where the murder does not occur for the first 90 pages or so, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I found the wait intolerable, however, as the main characters did nothing but squabble, threaten, and fume to the point that I did not care what happened. The plot of Original Sin was a tad shaky, as well. While I enjoy references to WWII and what went on during that time (it should never be forgotten), it was SO far in the past that it was hard for me to fathom the murderer's hatred being sustained for that period of time. And while I'm quite sure Ms. James meant no disrespect to anyone, I was a little irked at the notion that a Jewish detective would put his job on the line just because of the murderer's tragic past with the Nazis. The downplaying of Dalgliesh is another point that I did not appreciate with this novel, but that has almost become the standard with James' more recent work. I do award Original Sin with 4 stars, however, due to Ms. James' beautifully drawn prose, as well her wonderful command of the english language. The plot was not too terribly stretched that one could overlook the shaky parts, and the writing, though over-long in some parts, is a clear example of mastery of the modern literary form.

A practical joker is afoot at Innocent House, a Venetian-style palazzo on the Thames that houses England's oldest independent book publisher, Peverell Press. This engrossing crime drama effectively plays out against the self-contained setting of Innocent House. Poison pen letters are circulating, rare illustrations are being lost, important proofs are being tampered with, and minor mischiefs abound; added to the mix is the disconcerting fact that two of Peverell Press' authors and one editor have died in less than twelve months. Then, another death occurs, this one with bizarre overtones. Is it natural death, suicide, accident or murder? Is it the work of the malicious prankster,or perhaps one or more of the various people associated with Innocent House who harbor animus against the victim? Enter Commander Adam Dalgliesh and his Special Squad.

P.D. James has written that, for her, "... one of the fascinations of detective fiction is the exploration of character under the revealing trauma of a murder enquiry." In 'Original Sin,' James deftly explores a diversity of complex characters (the directors and those among the staff at Innocent House who are central to the plot, as well as several sharply delineated secondary characters) as they undergo the sagacious questioning of Dalgliesh and his team.

Besides the splendid palazzo, James treats the reader to another strikingly effective mood-setter: the River Thames itself, arcane, enduring and somewhat sinister, the compelling secrets of its dark past forever threatening to surface before our eyes (and in one memorable scene, they do). Architectural descriptions and historical anecdotes weave seamlessly throughout the narrative, as another bonus.

Further, there is an interesting look at a small London publishing house as it evolves from the "preserve of gentlemen" (Henry Peverell and Jean-Philippe Etienne) to the present-day leadership of a 21st Century Machiavellian (Gerard Etienne).

P.D. James has expressed the view that rather than feel sympathy for the murderer, the reader should feel empathy and understanding. Here in 'Original Sin' she has provided such a murderer. It is the reader's ability to empathize that makes this murderer's motivations credible.

At its heart, 'Original Sin' is about redress. In this instance, we learn that revenge (which the killer calls "justice") is not sweet, that it sometimes requires multiple acts of murder, and that it may necessitate sacrificing the innocent. The lucky reader, however, gains this harsh lesson by way of the impeccable prose of this distinguished writer.

Original Sin provided me with further confirmation (as if I needed it) of why P.D. James is among my favorite authors. This book is well plotted and written beautifully. The book's pace is leisurely without ever being slow -- and it is this pace which allows James to develop a "classic" mystery that at the same time serves as a character study and morality play. I have always enjoyed James' use of the character study (some of the finest chapters in this book involve the inner workings of the most peripheral characters). As with A Taste for Death, the last 100 pages are perhaps the most exciting, although as soon as I read the first chapter, the prose grabbed me and I knew I was in another James work.