Oh well...that is to be expected when you become the "super cop from Dallas". The hero who solved the murder case that no one else could.

This time it wasn't a house that had burned down, nor was it even a murder, yet. But to the caller, Chip Jamison, one of Ace's college football buddies, it was every bit as important. Joseph has been kidnapped, and the kidnappers are demanding a ransom. If they aren't paid immediately they are going to harm, or worse yet, kill Joseph. And since Ace is so good at his job, Chip knows that he can rescue Joseph. Besides Jake was the one who told Chip about Ace to begin with. What better recommendation could there be!

Ace needs the money; there is no getting around that. When Chip tells him that he will pay enough money to pay off all of his outstanding bills, and set him up for a while, how can Ace turn the guy down. So off to Canton, Ace goes. Just one problem, in the entire wangling and dealing Ace forgot to find out just who in the world Joseph is.

As Ace arrives at Chip's sprawling ranch he is immediately impressed with the size and grandeur of the place. He is at also both intrigued, and amused, at the way the servants, Frank and Annie, are dressed and act. However, he soon comes to discover many other strange things in Canton. Among these things is the fact that Wanda, Chip's sister has set her eyes on him and isn't going to let go. Of course one look at Wanda and Ace isn't in any hurry to get away anyway.

JOSEPH'S KIDNAPPING is absolutely fantastic. The story is full of fast suspense, humor, and reads smoothly without a confusing plot. All told from Jake's point of view. You soon come to the last pages and don't even realize that you have been reading all that time. JOSEPH'S KIDNAPPING as with all of Rusty Rawls books, play like a movie in your head. One that you don't want to miss any of, thus you just sit glued to the pages until that last sentence.

JOSEPH'S KIDNAPPING keeps your attention with action, adventure, love, lust and murder, all wrapped in a huge package of the wittiest humor you can imagine. One minute you will be sitting on the edge of your chair as Ace finds himself facing danger, and the next wiping tears of laughter from your eyes as Ace is trying to rid his home of a very unwelcome visitor. Ace's "partners" are just the topping on the cake. Labeled as "Attack Cat's" these two certainly live up to their name, however it is usually Ace who gets attacked.

JOSEPH'S KIDNAPPING is Mr.Rawls' second Ace Edwards mystery and I totally recommend it to everyone. It is a story you do not want to miss, by an author that completely draws you in and grabs your attention so fiercely you will only want more. Mr. Rawls is around to stay for a very long time, and I don't plan to miss one word that he writes. Buy it, read, it. And then sit back and wait patiently for another adventure with Ace, and his two partners Striker and Sweeper to receive another 3 AM call, so you can again go on that adventure with the three of them. I am. Randy Rawls has become addictive. And I don't want to be cured of the addiction.

When private investigator Ace Edwards is roused by the shrill of his phone in the dead of the night, he's not thrilled to hear the voice of an old college buddy on the other end. But his buddy sounds desperate and Edwards is in no position to turn down a paying job. He's also admittedly a little intrigued, and how could he not be? The buddy wants Edwards to save his ...-- literally.

With that premise, author Randy Rawls spins Edwards on a caper bigger than the Texas landscape on which the story is placed. It's no small adventure, and at times the cowboy P.I. feels a little out of place on the sprawling ranch where he bunks while trying to separate the good guys from the bad guys. But he brings his trusty companions with him -- two cats -- and in short order develops yet another friend, this one with long legs, a husky voice, and amorous intentions as vexing as they are attractive. Her name is Wanda, and between the push-me, pull-me relationship she offers and the increasing complexities of a kidnapping that evolves into murder, Edwards has his hands full.

Not to worry. Even if Edwards doesn't always know what he's doing, his creator surely does. Rawls skillfully paints his characters in affectionate and humorous terms that makes them as comfortable as family. Put another way: You'll want to take them home with you. By the time you've finished the story, you'll also want to eat. In Rawls' world, meals are the size of Montana, which in context of Texas probably makes sense.

As for the college buddy...? Rawls might just fool you with that one. Let him. The point isn't to outwit the private eye. It's to enjoy the ride with him.

"Joseph's Kidnapping" is Rawls' second Ace Edwards mystery. It's a well-crafted story penned by a writer who clearly knows how to tweak the ordinary into something refreshingly new. Buy it, read, then pester Rawls for a third. He could become addictive.

11-19-2002
Amozon.com

Cpl. Gilhooly
Public Affairs Chief
Task Force Kabul
US Embassy/Kabul, Afghanistan

"In a Room and a Half" is Brodsky's last attempt to join his parents. Brodsky's father was a professional photographer and journalist. Something of the art of photography must have been passed on to his son. This beautiful narrative was as close as Brodsky could come to presenting a family album of photographic "takes" or "frames" which emerge in the poet's memory from his childhood days. There are forty-five photos that make up "In a Room and a Half."

You cannot possibly stand outside of this memoir as a "detached witness" once you begin to read it. It is as if you were sitting late into the night with Brodsky-the last log is burning out and he begins to tell you about something that is, under ordinary circumstances, a private and solitary affair of the heart. In this sense, we feel privileged, and we want him to go on-to keep turning the pages of his lost youth, to share whatever sacred memories he has left to share about his life with his parents. It is indeed an act of defiance that is anything but sentimental. And yet, who can read this eulogy without feeling their heart drop to the floor?

We listen, and, through Brodsky's genius, enter into these forty-five narrative photographs. We can see and touch the China that his mother saved for his wedding. We hear the sounds of a faucet, the odors from the kitchen. We see the quiet, grey light of this tiny space where father, mother and son lived out their daily activities. We walk around the room with Brodsky as he tells us about the story of his parents' cherished bed. We see a feeble table with a white, luminous tablecloth under the care of his mother's hands. We see the deep blue of his father's uniform and we reach out to touch those bright yellow buttons that remind the boy of an illuminated avenue. It is all so vividly real.

Joseph Brodsky is dead now-and there is nothing that can ever separate this family again.

In most cases, I'm convinced that it is simply better to let the Gospels speak for themselves and forego the project to wrap them all into one whole. However, Guardini has done a masterful job in this work. Some of his chapters simply read like excellent homilies on Christ and his love for man.

In preaching the Gospel through this book, however, Guardini does not lose sight of the primary goal of laying out the life of Christ in one compact (though lengthy) work of literature. The facts are there and are presented in a straightforward and understandable manner.

I believe there is only one true way to judge a book such as this. The simple standard is whether the book leads you to contemplate the life of Jesus and then reflect on what that means to you. It is certainly a subjective standard, but I believe it is the one standard that a person who is contemplating this book would use.

As for me, I've been blessed to read this book a couple of times now. This book, and Guardini himself, is well respected by protestant and Catholic alike. I can fathom no person who would not be encouraged and enlightened by this work of literature.