This book is great because it provides the reader with not only the numerical statistics, but also students' perspectives to their colleges. While this is not just the college-brochure type of information, it is also not overly biased because it presents both the positive and negative aspects of colleges. As a junior in high school, this book has helped me with my college research, and as I begin my college explorations, I find I agree with its opinions. I think this book will make your college search easier too!

This book is great. It not only provided me with numerical statistics on colleges, but it also gave students' commentaries on colleges. The only thing it didn't do -- and it's not a fault, but not in the scope of this book -- is explain what the basic philosophy of college education is supposed to be all about in the USA. It's what I didn't know, and I think what most people don't know. For that, I found and read an interesting book called "West Point" by Norman Thomas Remick. It was important because it saved me from making lifetime mistakes down the road when I got into the nitty-gritty of specific colleges. You should read it. Then, dig into "The Best 331 Colleges". It's definitely a five star reference guide.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is beginning his or her college search. It not only gives you the facts, but student opinions too. That combination is the best jumping off point to make your college choice. You won't need another college reference book as long as you have this one.

I have recently graduated from the college I found using this book. I probably never would have made the choices I did or attended the college I did, if it hadn't been for this book. I am completely happy with my college choice, and it has gotten me into Harvard for graduate school.

When I began my college search, I felt overwhelmed by all of my choices. After buying this book, I narrowed my search to only the colleges listed in this book. I figured 306 (a lot less in my day than the 331 of today) colleges provided enough choices, and if a school didn't make the cut for the book, it could be skipped in my search. From that point I began looking at schools that kept popping up in the lists for good things (students happy with financial aid, dorms like palaces, schools run like butter, happy students, etc). I never thought I'd attend a women's college, but after I saw all the wonderful things students had to say about their own women's colleges, I started to visit a few. In the end, I attended the school that first drew my interest in this book.

Again, with this book, you won't need any of the other books out there. This one will be the most valuable resource in your college search.

Disappointing:- very bad quality reproductions of Wllies drawings and photographs,they are blured and lose much of the detail. Many amateur drawings clearly not by Willie.Only good pics. are on the cover.

Bizarre is clearly the basis for much similar modern writing - you can see its influence in many places today. However, it is of more than historical interest; a lot of it is enjoyable reading even today, and some of the bondage pictures - even in murky black and white - are magnificent. I have been inspired and encouraged by it to lace my corsets tighter and wear shoes with higher heels. Of course, after half a century some things have changed; we would no longer encourage teenage girls to smoke or countenance cruelty to horses for example. (We might not even want to encourage the caning of children, but in modern society ill-treating horses is probably considered a worse sin!) However, if this sort of thing appeals to you, buy these books.

.... I would suggest you pick this up any way you can. As Eric Kroll says in the intro to the books, John Willie was one of the pioneers in fetish photography and drawing. Now everything comes off well, but a lot does. Even more interesting though are the letters that Bizarre received over the limited time that it was in operation. A constant source of interesting ideas and points of view....

What a timely and inspiring book. It's a practical and profound guide on how to nurture and develop the spirit at work. I particularly benefitted from the exercises and tools for implementation.

It's not easy to distill the wisdom of great spiritual teachers and make engaging and relevant examples of how to apply that wisdom at work. I highly recommend this book - whether you work for a company or not.

I am Servant Leadership Specialist in a Catholic Hospital setting in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. This health care campus is part of a 12 Hospital system. My short comments are premised upon a retreat in Vancouver with the authors for five days, their highly useful work with our staff of 600 on site a year ago, and my experience as an Ethicist and teacher of theology.

A reviewer suugested that this book's premise is yet another medal given to those who sell themselves to the institution. But this is not true: the outcome of using these thoughts and the assumptions of Servant Leadership (Robert Greenleaf Center, Indianapolis, Indiana} helps the colleagues in a really growth enhanceing environment take ownership of the relationships and policies in their own setting. If the effort is made in good faith by all, the result is a workplace that is peaceful, friendly, cooperative, and above all productive. I strongly recommend the principles developed by Klein and Izzo. They flow from their deep exprience with several of America's best and largest corporations, from their own humanity and from the most thoughtful consideration they have given to creating truly humanizing and productive workplaces.

I offer a word of caution however: if you still believe that just another set of words and ideas can give you a new result, this approach would be no more than just another 'canned program'. When you decide to recreate your workplace on honest relationships, not power, and want to create a new work system that has both power and peace, then you are ready to begin the long-term effort of rebuilding the world of work in which you live. This is a guidebook for those who have the idea of a better way to work and live. This small book is not a panacea; it is a map for a long journey. We have invested 9 years in this effort in our health care setting, and both patients and staff know and happily acknowledge that with persistence, we are growing into what is envisioned here.

A practical note: We are now at the point of attracting people who think in this manner into our most responsible administrative and service areas and we have many very long term employees. People love to work where they known, respected and part of the decision making process. We have had great and competent help from Klein and Izzo in creating a caring corporation, and in incorporating our own Christian values and Catholic traditions.

Having read Corporate Soul a while ago,I am really quite surprised by how much I continue to refer to it and be inspired by it in my work in higher ed administration. The four paths to corporate soul outlined in the book are thought-provoking. They provide a good way to organize one's thinking about how to bring greater meaning to one's work and that of coworkers. The book is also full of good stories from spiritual traditions, which are worth the read in their own right. Finally, the book is practical enough to convince a reader (well, me at least) that one can actually do something about this stuff and not just feel good about it.

Fifty - two years after Oz author and illustrator John R. Neill's death, The Runaway In Oz at last saw print for the first time in 1995. Neill had authored and illustrated one classic in the Oz chronicle, 1940's The Wonder City Of Oz, though his two books that followed, The Scalawagons In Oz (1941) and Lucky Bucky In Oz (1942), both suffered from weak plots, convoluted storytelling, and poor editing. In the early nineties, artist and writer Eric Shanower, in conjunction with Neill's family, rescued, edited, and illustrated The Runaway In Oz, and by doing so not only gave the world another fabulous Oz title, but salvaged Neill's reputation as the author of only a single great entry in the Oz series.

Everything about The Runaway In Oz is perfect. Neill wisely choose to limit his cast to a half - dozen characters, thus allowing his narrative to revolve primarily around the group's interrelationships, though there is also rip - roaring action aplenty. Neill not only chose the popular Scraps the Patchwork Girl as his protagonist, but also allowed Professor Wooglebug and Jack Pumpkinhead, two woefully under - utilized reader favorites, the honor of playing major roles in an Oz tale. Neill's own creation, headstrong style guru Jenny Jump, one of the most distinctive of all Oz heroines, is also on hand as a key player in the drama. Neill and Shanower respectfully honor established Oz history, and their attention to detail, old and new, is remarkable. The Wooglebug's 'dream castle' is literally a product of his intensely directed desires, and when tenderhearted Jack Pumpkinhead weeps, he logically sheds pumpkinseed tears. Oz devotees will be thrilled to see Jack's whimsical Shoe Orchestra from The Wonder City In Oz back for another extended series of concerts, and, as in the three earlier Neill books, every illustration of Jenny Jump reveals her with a new outre hairstyle, some that look back on twenties Dada and others that presciently look forward to seventies Punk and eighties New Wave. Readers will also learn that the Little Wizard has returned Jenny's temper to her with the understanding that she promise not 'lose it' again. The Patchwork Girl's obnoxious but previously acceptable poetry spouting habit becomes an active element of the story, as Scraps suddenly finds herself in a repulsive world in which everyone she meets seems to be an enthusiastic and compulsive rhymer.

In fact, The Runaway In Oz revolves around all aspects of Scraps' antisocial behavior. As the novel begins, Jellia Jamb, the Tin Woodman, and Jenny Jump have all grown impatient with the boisterous Patchwork Girl's thoughtlessness; feeling rejected and unappreciated, Scraps decides to run away from the Emerald City and from Oz itself. Though Scraps never gets beyond the borders of the kingdom despite her best efforts, she manages to accidentally unknot the Wooglebug's 'Castle in the Air' from its moorings, infuriate a mountaintop - dwelling witch that controls all of the world's weather, and strand herself on a shooting star high in the heavens above Oz. Along the way, Scraps makes several interesting new friends and traveling companions, including "talented and gifted" boy scholar Alexample, the leafy Popla the Power Plant, and the Twinkler, an older man imprisoned on the star and forced to polish its lights for eternity.

Meanwhile, Jenny Jump and Jack Pumpkinhead, who are eventually joined by the fretful, castle - searching Wooglebug, have set out in search of Scraps; Jenny feels guilty for having told Scraps that "no one wants to be bothered" by her "tantrums," and though Jack Pumpkinhead's motives are less clear, his behavior appears to have something to do with romantic attachment as well as human concern. The Professor, Jack, and Jenny find themselves lost for days in an enchanted orchard, where they are attacked by an army of thorn carrying quince apples, who are in revolt against being sold at market like common fruits and vegetables. By the time the two parties meet, almost everyone is furious at Scraps except Jack, and the Wooglebug is enraged at everyone.

The Runaway In Oz is great fun throughout. The narrative is smooth, streamlined, and grounded, less manic and explosive than The Wonder City In Oz, but no less hilarious. Neill's real forte as an Oz author was characterization, something Shanower seemed to fully appreciate when editing the manuscript. In fact, the depiction of Scraps here may be the best of any of the Oz titles, since her irritating qualities, always recognized by readers but only rarely by other Oz characters, are realistically acknowledged and addressed head on. The Runaway In Oz portrays Scraps as immature, callous, irresponsible, willful, and vain while simultaneously revealing her foresight, courage, intelligence, determination, concern for others, and eventual common sense and humility. If Jack Pumpkinhead is slightly more downtrodden than usual and the Wooglebug more uppity, longtime Oz fans know there are precedents for their behavior in earlier titles.

Shanower's illustrations are extremely detailed, clear, and timelessly perfect. Alexample, though an Oz citizen and apparent native, bears no resemblance to Woot the Wanderer, Ojo the Lucky, or Button Bright. Instead, he is a clean - cut, eyeglass - wearing young boy in fifties - style clothing; only his thick, black hair hints at romanticism. Jenny Jump was already a modern gal in Neill's earlier titles and illustrations, and continues to be one here. Shanower's Professor Wooglebug, a wonderful balance of erudition, pomposity, enthusiasm, and frustration, surpasses even Neill's. Shanower's weather witch is not even a fourth cousin to traditional hag Old Mombi, but a tough, capable, mature woman in worker's overalls. Popla the Power Plant is a shrub whose beautiful woman's face is hidden within her branches, the female counterpart of the European Green Man of history, architecture, and folklore. From its cover to its double-page drawings and lovely illustrated blue end papers, this edition joyously reflects Shanower's commitment that The Runaway In Oz be every bit as beautiful as the early Baum/Neill books. Highly recommended.

I first heard of "The Runaway in Oz" when I read Martin Gardner's introduction to the Dover edition of "The Marvelous Land of Oz," in which he mentioned that this book had been left unpublished due to Neill's death. At that time I had read only a few Oz books (now I have read almost all of them), but I felt deeply sorry that this book was unavailable for me to read. Now, at last, thanks to the efforts of Eric Shanower (who edited and illustrated the book), we can read this long-lost volume of Oz history. It certainly is an interesting book, and forms an exciting conclusion to Neill's four-book tenure as Royal Historian. Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, decides to run away from the Emerald City and find a new home, and the book details her adventures with the new friends she makes, as well as those of Jenny Jump, Professor Wogglebug and Jack Pumpkinhead, who go searching for her. Among her new friends is Alexample, a young boy who is TAG (Talented and Gifted); this is a highly noteworthy feature of the book, since I could count on one hand the number of other children's authors I know of who have depicted gifted children in their books, thus leaving gifted children (of whom I was one) with a paucity of literary role models. (Meg and Charles Wallace in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Trilogy and Claudia in E. L. Konigsburg's "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" were among the welcome exceptions.) Neill's style of writing is highly cinematic and visual, as might be expected from the greatest Oz illustrator; thinking back to reading this book, I feel almost as though I had seen it as a movie rather than reading it. The gorgeous illustrations by Eric Shanower contribute to this impression; Shanower certainly is the most talented person illustrating Oz books today. One slight quibble with Neill's tale concerns the characterization of the Wogglebug: in no other Oz book is he quite so unlikeable as here (although still not extremely unlikeable). Also, I must agree with "The Baum Bugle"'s reviewer, who wished Shanower had explained the extent to which he had to work on the book's text. The story's tone is somewhat more serious than was that of Neill's previous three Oz books, though that might be due to Neill's failing health while writing "Runaway" (something similar happened with Baum's last few Oz books) or to the lack of interference by a Reilly & Lee editor who, I understand, heavily revised Neill's earlier Oz books. However, one aspect of the book that is quite atypical of Neill is the excellence of its continuity. There are practically no mistakes when the book refers to characters or events from earlier Oz books, and the characterizations are almost completely consistent with the depictions of the same characters in earlier Oz books by Neill and others. Neill's other books are well-known for having the worst continuity in the whole Oz series, with such egregious mistakes as Jack Pumpkinhead remembering being enslaved by Mombi for many years (which never happened) and the introduction of Scraps' never-before-displayed propensity for punching people (which she does again at one point in this book, but that is simply an example of consistency with Neill's previous books, and otherwise her personality is exactly as depicted by Baum and Thompson). One has to wonder whether Neill's manuscript contained continuity errors which Shanower corrected. Nonetheless, the availability of this book after so many years is cause for rejoicing among all Oz fans here in the Great Outside World.

When John R. Neill died in 1943 after writing three Oz books, the manuscript of this book was left without illustrations and unpublished. Preserved by Neill's family for over 50 years, Eric Shanower finally editing it and provided his own marvelous black-and-white drawings to bring it to press. At the time of his death, Neill had illustrated all but the first Oz book and his illustrations have come to define the people and land of Oz to generations of readers. Shanower's illustrations follow in Neill's style, improving, if that is possible, on the work of the master. The story evolves around the theme of anger and its effects as Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, in a fit of anger decides to run away. Upsetting many of the people she runs into, Scraps still manages to befriend Popla, the Power Plant, who is possibly the most unusual character in a land known for its strange inhabitants. Popla is the strongest plant in the world and grows alone on a windswept mountaintop. Scraps, finding a flowerpot, takes the Power Plant, who has never left the spot where she first sprouted, on a exciting and enjoyable journey. Together they travel on Scraps spoolicle, a bicycle with wooden spools for wheels, and through their adventures a lasting friendship is created that dissolves Scraps anger. Anyone whe has ever enjoyed an Oz book will love this unique contribution to the Oz corpus.

I'm sorry I don't share the enthusiasm of previous reviewers about this book. I borrowed it at the library because I liked the cover (by the way, I looked in vain in the book for a reference to the jacket illustration) and I was intrigued to read a plot about Justinian's and Theodora's court. I found the book hard to read because it's not well written (and has many typos), it's difficult to get attached to any single one of its many characters, and the style of the descriptions really failed to put me in the picture. Three religions are "described" in the book: Orthodox Christianity, Heretic Christianity, and Mithraism, but you'll be hard pressed to know what each stands for after reading THIS book... I finished reading it only because I was hoping it would get better in the end--no such luck!

This time John must divine the cause of stylites suddenly bursting into flames. Is it a godly punishment for blasphemy or the work of sinister plotters? John, Lord Chamberlain in sixth-century Byzantium, must solve the mystery, save his friend Anatolius from execution, keep the city from being destroyed by a panic stricken populace and keep his own head from being detached from his body.

Mary Reed and Eric Mayer bring Justinian and his empress Theodora to life though John's eyes: "Caught unawares, she was simply a short attractive woman, her complexion carefully lightened by chalk, her deep set eyes accentuated by artful application of kohl, as if she depended upon enticement to work her will, rather than command." Theodora sees herself as the power behind the throne and John must step carefully as he serves Justinian and protects the empire.

As in the previous volume, the authors take us to the shores of the Bosphoros and present life in the ancient city. Philo, once John's instructor at the Athens academy, incidentally introduces a board game called shatranj: ". .. something to do with trapping your opponent's king." This sort of historical color, along with the mystery, make this series an entertaining read.

This book is an outstanding mystery with plot turns as intricate as Byzantium's court intrigue and with such seamless detail the reader cannot tell what is fiction and what history. I call it amazing because the reader is not only swept into the larger currents of life as the old gods fell to the new but also such minute detail, one is living it with the characters. The pacing is excellent for an exciting read and the sense of place beautifully crafted. I seldom read historical mysteries; I'm delighted I made an exception here. Mari Ulmer, Taos, NM

Covers the source of supply from the spiritual perspective. As such it covers the elimination of wrong ideas and attitudes and suggests ways to allow prosperity to appear in one's life. It is non materialistic in approach recognising that prosperity comes as a reaction to what is in an individual as first cause and is not determined by the world. It cautions against the use of mental tricks to attain an objective.

Emphasis is given on what attitudes, beliefs and techniques will bring about prosperity. Sound advice is given on the nature of life from the christian perspective, the importance of placing oneself in the flow of life where giving is more important than getting and the importance of the grateful heart in the recognition of the source of supply.

A good book that could be better. Some points are underdeveloped and that is a lapse in a book that is so opposite to the materialistic world view that supply is in the economy whereas the author's message is that it is within you.

An easy book to read containing thoughts to make you think. No difficult economics. Makes a lot of sense.

"Spiritual Economics" is based on the spiritual laws and dynamics of abundance. One of the key elements of this books that raise it above a lot of spiritual law type writings is how practical this book is. Eric Butterworth tackles some very complex dynamics in a very pragmatic, understandable way.

Eric's writings are based largely on the philosophy of the Unity Church (a Christian Church of a different ilk). If you have a strong mainstream Christian faith, you may find some of your current beliefs being challenged. I challenge you to meditate on those challenges and work your way through them, expanding and better understanding your faith positions. I'm currently on my second read of this book (the first read of the 230 pages only took a week!) and am amazed at how much more I'm getting out of it a second time.

One of the Quick Tips I mentioned in this issue of ACHIEVE is to ask yourself "How can I apply this to my life?". It was in reading this book that I discovered this question. To get maximum benefit out of this book, keep asking yourself this question. Integrate this material into your life and you will be amazed at how much more you can manifest.

Some of the main ideas I got out of the book are: * I am responsible for all manifestations in my life, i.e. everything. * As I evolve, so does my manifestation potential evolve. * I need to do what I can with what I have where I am to manifest my desires. * I need to build the demand before the supply will manifest. I need to have the containers in which to put the supply once it comes. I need to become the kind of person who experiences that which I want before I can truly achieve it. * If things are tight, something has to give. I need to give selflessly of myself to the Universe. I strongly urge you to go out TODAY and order this book.

I loaned out my old copy and never got it back, so just bought a new copy....does that tell you how much I like this book?

I've read my share of prosperity books, and this one is at the top of my list with Howard Caesar's audio book, "All About Prosperity".

If you're looking for some get rich quick type book, well this isn't it. I imagine that's one reason why he gave it the name he did, instead of emphasizing prosperity in the title. It's about changing your thinking about finances, health, relationships, all facets of prosperity. If you believe that changing your thinking will change your life, that we can control our thoughts and by doing so improve our over all circumstances, you'll find this book extremely helpful. Eric Butterworth comes from a very spiritual, and yet very practical level. He challenges many ideas that you might have studied in other prosperity books. Without naming her, he does challenge some of the prosperity techniques taught by Catherine Ponders and others. This is not to say that you should read him instead of her. To completely understand prosperity thinking, you should read both perspectives and then be guided by those principles that seem right to you. If you are open to a new perspective, and not bound by a fixed and rigid mind, you will find a lot of helpful material here.

on the whole this is a very good book for beginners
The last two chapters which i thought were the
most useful was RUSHED!!

The performance chapter should not have been a chapter
since it was non-existent

The most important chapter of all the bidding web site
construction, I failed to get it to work!! one error
after the other. For a book with so many authors, I
would have thought at least one of the would have had the
time to review the code for the last chapter.

I give this book a 3 but it deserves a 4.
Unless the code in the last chapter works, the last chapter
might as well not be there either

I went through this book. It is great for the beginner to ASP.Net. However, I think it is because there are many authors worked on this book. Its contents is NOT so integrated.

I felt I gain a lot from chap 1-6, however after ch7, it seems worked by another author. The concept between two of them has conflict. For example, the author ch1-6 said using ADO.net data adapter you don't need to open and close the data connection, but in ch7, the author said, you must close the connect obj after you used DataAdapter??

Their writting style are also different, after ch7, the contents is not so good and has a log of mistakes.

This one gets you up and running with database prograaming with ASP.NET in a matter of few hours. In the process, it also provides you with useful real-world tips. Great book for getting your feet wet with ADO.NET.
The treatment is to-the-point and precise.
All the sample codes work.
The pathway followed is quite logical, starting from establishing connection to database, to various ways of reading and displaying records, followed by inserting and updating records, all using ADO.NET. Each chapter builds on the previous one, and the net effect is a coherent, easy-to-follow, enjoyable book. It really takes the complexities out of ADO.NET and helps us understand the simplicity behind the model.
The later chapters on componentization, performance etc are a real bonus.
Good value for money.

We used this book to teach an introductory Java course for experienced programmers. Without exception the students didn't like the book. They felt they really couldn't learn from it--topics are covered too quickly. They wanted a text with a more step-by-step approach and one with more examples.

If you are looking to learn real java 1.1 coding then this is the book for you. Mastering java 1.1 is one of the faw books out today that will see you have to code with java to the 1.1 spec ! !

I like the book for the way the approach is organized, and all the components, and details are patiently and thoroughly studied, no assumption is made about what you know , and the plan to this complicated program is laid out in a very understandable way

I wanted to learn C# (and learn more about .Net), and I'm coming from a mostly VB and ASP background. I was happy with Wrox's "C# Programming with the Public Beta" book (co-written by Watson), but wanted something that was more complete. At close to 1000 pages, this book certainly FEELS complete. It is also smartly outlined with excellent examples and exercises at the end of each chapter (but where are the answers??). Best of all once you step through the chapters on Windows and the web, there are TWO complete Case Studies (something I love about the Wrox books), and an article about building an Online Shopping Cart Using C#.
This book is similar in quality to Ivor Horton's "Beginning Java 2" books. (Only with better examples, in my opinion).

Yep after months and months of ranting and criticizing that the red book publishers (Wrox) have lost their magic touch, just when we were about to give up on them, they return with an outstanding book, probably one of the best in their Beginning series ever, and coming back in form in such style, this is simply unbelievable - Beginning C# is all I needed.
Working as a developer in ASP for over 3 years now, but never actually having tried my hands in a real hardcore programming language, I bought EACH AND EVERY book on C# being published since the past one year, but couldn't get past the 40th page of any of the books, they were designed for hardcore programmers and for a moment I wondered if Microsoft and other authors were leaving pure ASP programmers down the drain.
Beginning C# is the answer to all the prayers if you've faced the same delima as I have.
First the drawbacks.
Someone at wrox has decided that publishing a book less than 1000pages is a crime.so I guess I can let go of that. This book has 1031 pages.
Having multiple authors at times irritatingly breaks the smooth flow of explanations from chapter to chapter. GDI+ may be understanding enough as a chapter but the manner of explanations and approach to "try it out" examples is suffocating, irritating and makes you want to tear the entire chapter out of the book.
Also some examples are NOT WORKING and THIS CAN GET YOU FRUSTRATED, so be WARNED.
The plus points.
25 chapters, precise to the point, length of each chapter kept under 25 to 30 pages. Basic aim of each chapter is to explain the topic and right away get your hands dirty with examples.Each example explained step by step.
OOP being an integral part of C# comes only on Ch#8 after you have grown sufficiently confident enough to open Visual Studio and write basic programs for Windows/Web.
This according to me is a very intelligent planning of chapters and hence non of the chapters come across as speaking to you in a foriegn language or in a manner of saying that "sorry if you don't understand us , you are an idiot"....
This book can be held at the same high teaching standards set by Beginning ASPDatabases/Beginning ASP/Beginning JavaScript.

The only other book which even comes close to this is C# By Herb Schildt. Which is another exceptionally good book for beginners, though it does not touch the wide range of topics as Beg.C#
With this book Wrox is back in form.
Simply put... An Amazing Achievement....

I would rate this book as being among the top 3 books out there on C# right now (the other two being C# and the .NET Platform by Andrew Troelsen and Programming C# from Jesse Liberty). The language is clear and each topic is succintly covered without sacrificing content. However this is not the book for advanced users given that the book does spend a good deal of time discussing programming fundamentals.

In order to get the most out of this book be sure to work on the case studies found at the end. These do a great job of tying everything together.

By now, John Sandford (the pen name of John Camp) has these things down pat. His main character, Lucas Davenport, is a three-dimensional policeman, hunting serial killers and dangerous murderers, seducing women, and cracking wise now and again. The secondary characters---other cops, the killer, his girlfriend, victims---are marvelously rendered, and you're actually sad when one meets his/her end.

This time around, the bad guy is an art professor named James Qatar, who kills beautiful women, and has been doing it successfully for years. He's an interesting and very well-drawn character, what with his obsession with clothing, and his meticulousness about the killings that he does. Davenport is looking at a particular murder, and it's discovered that a woman, missing for several years, resembles the killing in a few details. Then clues begin to build up, and the suspense builds as the plot thickens, so to speak.

I would recommend this book, though of course it's not the best (I still think Rules of Prey was in a class by itself; it should be read first) and if you haven't read other books in the series you're going to be a bit at sea about the relationships between the various characters. Still, a good book.

Colleagues respect St. Patrick University associate professor art historian James Qatar for his collective works. This includes one book and several scholarly articles published in highly regarded journals and magazines. Unbeknownst to his peers is that Professor Qater has a second life in which he hunts blondes, has sex with them, and kills them.

When an early victim is found, the police link her to photographs that are part of Qater's hobby of creating pornographic works with women he knows but who don't really know him. Being a political appointee, Minneapolis Deputy Chief of Police Lucas Davenport expects to lose his job within six months when the mayor retires. Lucas intends to use his time wisely to catch the killer.

John Sandford is one of the top authors of police procedurals due to his three dimensional characters that consistently turn the "Prey" books into great reads. The hero is a flawed individual with a complex and realistic personal life that places demands on him even as he risks everything because he believes in the value of justice for all. CHOSEN PREY is the best of a great series. The audience knows the identity of the killer early on, but watch in fascination as Lucas tries to do likewise while balancing his complex personal life.

Harriet Klausner

All of us Sandford fans deeply look forward each year for early May to come around because that mostly means the release of a new Prey novel! In "Chosen Prey," Minneapolis Detective, Lucas Davenport, along with Marcy Sherrill, Sloan, Del, and Weather (Lucas fiance), return in one of John Sandford's most interesting and exciting Prey novels that he has written. The plot: James Qatar is a prestegious history professor at St. Patrick University in Minneapolis. He has a very secretive life on the side. He enjoys playing kinky sex games with women he barely knows and ends up killing them for pleasure. He also enjoys taking pictures of women and distorting their figures to look like they are participating in grotesque sexual activities. His method of murder: a rope. James Qatar is a very sick individual that has killed over eight women in three states. None of the cops have been able to link him to the murder. When a murdered women turns up in the barren woods, close to home to Lucas Davenport, he vows to find this killer who killed this beautiful woman. After investigating for a while, and with the assistance of and out of state officer, he discovers that three other women have mysteriously disappeared in Wisconsin. All these murders/ disappearances are connected. Can Davenport and the gang get James Qatar before he claims his next victim? The twelfth novel in this amazing series is a definite success!