The first book that I ever read by Piccarilli was Hexes, and remember saying to myself, in near shock, "this guy can actually write!" Since then, I've read all of his available books and have not yet found any of his works which did not live up to the first impression. His prose is good enough to be enjoyed just on its own, never dull or hackneyed, and most of his stories, even the most horrific, are spiced with malicious wit and dark humor. Piccarilli certainly does write terrific stories, and he has that rare ability to endow his characters with flesh and blood in only a few well chosen lines. So we've got great stories, excellent prose , humor and wit,and utterly real characters. What more do you want? You could ask for versatility, which is another facet of Deep into That Darkness Peering. The stories, which are as elegantly structured as fine architecture, range from thrillers to out and out blood and guts horror to sensuous prose poems. And then there are the Self stories, which alone are worth the price of this book. You simply have to read these, they are so amazingly original, and so....I'm searching for adjectives here...let's just say that you will believe them. Absolutely. The Necromancer is real, and so is Self. This is probably the best collection of horror stories by one author I have encountered since those by Lovecraft and Derleth . And, if anybody in the film business is reading this, take note: there are several stories in this volume which would make much more interesting movies than most of the thriller/horror movies I have seen recently.

I read a lot of horror short fiction but this has got to be the BEST collection I've ever come across...and it's huge so you really get your money's worth. Very dark, great atmosphere. Stories that stay with you long after you've finished reading. I especially love the section of short stories with his nameless necromancer and Self the demonic familiar, these stories alone would make the book worth the cost. (Mr. Piccirilli says in the interview on the last pages that he's working on a novel with these two charachters and I can't wait!)Mr. Piccirilli has such a poetic voice so it's no suprise there's a few of his poems included here. I can't recomend this book highly enough.

This is a very insightful book in describing the challenges, obsticles and long road Van Chancellor has faced in advancing the world of women's professional sports. It is a must read for any WNBA fan and especially those of the Houston Comets.

After changing from First Grade to Fourth Grade I needed a good book on classroom management for the older age group and I found it in this book by Tom V. Savage. This book honors the feelings and conditions of both teachers and their students. It is very down to earth and explains the feelings that students have towards their ability to learn, school, their friends, and their teachers.I feel this new understanding of the student's feelings will make me a better teacher. This book is organized well and it is research based. The insights into the different types of personality characteristics I found to be very helpful. The first part of the book covers setting up the classroom environment, sharing the power with the students, giving them choices and ownership of their room and their discipline problems. It also covers lesson plans and how to flow through the day maintaining motivation and discipline. It asks questions and spells out the ways that teachers may need to change. The second part of the book continues with preventing problems as it explains how to deal with discipline problems using low-profile intervention methods and increasing the intervention with the severity of the problems. The book guides the teacher through a series of steps and questions to ask the students. The book stresses respect for the students and how it can help to prevent problems. The goal of the book is to teach students ways to grow in self-control without violence and making better choices for success. The book covers conflict resolution and the social problems of cheating, stealing, vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse. It gives keys to identifying causes of violence in schools and against teachers. This inservice text covers important material with lots of graphic organizers and questions for reflection. This book is easy to read and it doesn't waste the readers time, and it has the added bonus of not being a stuffy or boring textbook. I enjoyed the quick explanations and reasoning behind the methods. I recommend this book to all teachers.

With the movie-adaptation of this novel preparing to rear its head in a few weeks, and finding myself with a bit of time to spare, I purchased this work to see what the fuss was about. It didn't take long to finish, nor to decide I could've spent my time better somewhere else.

I'll admit, the story was fun. You could see it spilling out before you, and with a bit of imagination, could guess what was around the next corner. I liked the "Elements" angle (as I've always been a sucker for a serial-killer with a motif), and quite enjoyed the character of Detective Barney Fleck. Victor DiMorta was well-rounded, and I was surprised by one of the "twists" at the end.

However, it all just seemed a bit flat. It didn't appear to be anything we hadn't seen before, and well... it just left me asking, "Is that it?"

If you're looking for a quick, fun read - this is your book. But I have to agree with some of the other reviews and admit, if you're looking for something with a bit of depth; this won't be your cup of tea.

For the one reviewer asking about the character of Max, sorry. There wasn't a single character in the novel named such. Pick up the book and read it, you might enjoy the *possible spoiler* "neat" ending.

I'll tell you what this was the best book I've read in a while suspense with an absolute twist! Jill Talbot is a succesful writer good career and the man of her dreams, Mysteriously a few weeks before Valentines Day she starts to recieve letters from an apparent fan. This book is a definate page-turner. My advice I read the book a few weeks before the movie came out and then I went to the movie the movie didnt follow anything in the book besides a mysterious Valentine,that was out to get even.I garantee if you dont cheat and look at the back of the book youll be suprised and you wont be able to guess just how close "Valentine" really is.

When four girlfriends play a horrible practical joke on a young man on Valentine's Day, they don't realize the pain and murder that will be afflicted upon them in years to come

The victim of the joke goes crazy...killing his family. While serving his prison term, with his hatred of the girls building up every day, he plans his revenge.

A new face, and a new name will give the opportunity to enact his revenge, thus begins the tormenting game of VALENTINE!

"Valentine" is EXCELLENT; the kind of thriller that will have you UP ALL NIGHT reading, and then telling all your friends about it the next day.

I read this book many years ago and decided to read it again(since it is being made into a movie), and it is still as suspenseful as the first time I read it.

Tom Savage has written several books, all of them really good, but none as good as this one! Every chapter contains a cliffhanger, and the ENDING...what a shocking ending.

A MUST read!!!

Nick Gonnella

I really wanted to like PRECIPICE, but no matter how hard I tried I just did not like it. Most of the characters are not whom or what they claim to be and we know that the protagonist is portraying someone she is not. All it did was confuse me more and more and made it hard for me to enjoy it.

The only other book written by Savage that I have read is VALENTINE. That novel really kept me guessing and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. (I, however, am not interested in seeing the 'movie'). I have SCAVENGER in my pile of books to read and hopefully I will like that one better.

Having already read Tom Savage's previous books, Valentine & The Inheritance, I picked this up recently and from the first page was capitivated by this mystery that takes place in St. Thomas, VI. Tom Savage develops his characters very well and this is the kind of book you have a hard time putting down for long. If you like intriguing, fast moving suspense, Precipice is the book for you. Why this was never turned into a movie is beyond me, it has all the right ingredients. Very highly recommended.

Once again Tom Savage has got me hooked. Even though this was his first book written I read it last. I was hooked after I read Iheritance, then Valentine. Which led me to this book. My next adventure will be reading Dance of the Moongoose that I just found out about and I am still waiting for his fourth book to come out. Tom Keep up the great work. You never have to get of the Thrill Seeking Ride when your with Tom.

Former travel agent, Holly Smith has recently discovered that she is the heir to the Randall fortune. When she was a baby she was put up for adoption and now her grandfather wishes to leave all his fortune to her after his death. She is unaware of the circumstances of her adoption but once she comes to live at Randall House she will learn the truth. Holly's other relatives are not happy with her appearance since she now owns most of the Randall Estate. They want her dead and make it look like an accident in order to get their hands on the money.

If you have not read any of Tom Savage's novels you are in for a treat. Things are not what they seem. This book has its requisite twist and turns with a surprise ending. Unfortunately most of his novels carry the same formula. If you have never read his novels you will enjoy this one, if you read him before the surprise will be lost on you.

I read this book in a matter of 2 days, which is good for me seeing how many books I have that have a bookmark somewhere in them where I either got bored or just quit reading. I thought the story moved well and you will get used to the fact that it's being told in first person. Don't worry, you find out who drowned the lady in the beginning and all the other questions you have throughout the book will be answered. I thought the last page of the book made the entire story. In fact, I covered it with a post-it so that the next person who borrowed it from me wouldn't cheat. I doubt it would make sense even if they did read it, but you never know. In fact, about 8 people have borrowed my now tattered book whose cover is long gone and all have loved it as much as I did and yes, the post-it note is still covering that last page and everyone agrees to just leaving it that way! ;)

I loved this book! Tom Savage kept me guessing up until the last page. The character's were well-defined, the story was incredibly solid, and the ending (I usually guess these things!)had me totally snowed. I read this book non-stop on a cross country flight and enjoyed it so much that when I finished I gave it to a fellow mystery-loving passenger. I have no doubt he was just as hooked as I was. Read this book and pass it on.

In SCAVENGER by Tom Savage, the protagonist (Mark Stevenson/a.k.a. Matthew Farmer) has just written a best-selling novel that is based somewhat on the exploits of a real serial killer known as "The Family Man." Thirteen years before, the Family Man went on a two-year killing spree across the United States, wiping out entire families on special holidays, cutting off heads, dressing up the corpses in elaborate costumes to depict the holiday that they were killed on, and he was never caught. Mark's parents and siblings were one of the families, and he used his inside knowledge of the murders to create a fictional account for his novel as a means of finally dealing with the tragedy that changed his life forever. Now, someone who calls himself the Scavenger has just finished reading Mark's book. He knows that the novel is based on "The Family Man" killings, and he also knows who the Family Man really is and why he mysteriously stopped killing. The Scavenger decides to play with Mark, promising to reveal the killer's identity if the author will go on a scavenger hunt for glues, visiting the different crime scenes around the country. All will be revealed at the end of the hunt. It's impossible for Mark to say no to this proposal. He has to find out what information the Scavenger has and is willing to risk just about anything to get the answers to his questions. Mark agrees to play the game, not knowing that a lot of people are going to die and that he is being set up for a very dangerous fall. SCAVENGER is a smoothly written novel with the plot twists perfectly arranged to keep the readers glued to the pages. The antagonist in the book is a know-all killer who seems to be in several places at once, keeping the lead character, as well as the reader, guessing as to what will happen next. I wish Mark Stevenson had been a smarter character, equal to the genius of the Scavenger. He does some things in the novel that seem silly, if not outright stupid. Also, Mr. Savage has set up the novel with an unexpected ending that is supposed to shock or surprise the reader, but I actually felt cheated by it. I understand what the author was trying to do and applaud him for attempting to be creative; still, I felt set up much like the character of Mark Stevenson. That doesn't make SCAVENGER is bad read. I did enjoy the book, but thought the potential was there for it to be so much more.

Mystery writer Mark Stevenson receives critical acclaim for his apparent bestseller Dark Desire, a fictional account of the deadly serial murders perpetrated over a decade by the "Family Man." The real killer, who was never caught, would kill entire families. Before leaving his grisly scene, the murderer would then pose his victims in some sort of domestic tranquillity scenario.

Mark wrote the novel to attain some closure as a surviving member of one of the family victims of the notorious killer. Instead, someone called THE SCAVENGER leaves a computer disk on the door of Mark's Manhattan apartment. The disk contains a clue to the identity of the "Family Man." The Scavenger has challenged Mark into a deadly scavenging hunt that takes the author all over the country and places him in one dangerous situation after another.

Though a bit predictable at times and requiring leaps of faith, SCAVENGER is an exciting, adrenaline pumping serial killer tale. The story line never slows down as Mark and his opponent play a deadly game of cat and mouse. Author Tom Savage cleverly explains Mark's motives to participate, but that of the mass murderer falls short in comparison. Still, fans of action, especially serial killer thrillers will want to read Mr. Savage's latest, very entertaining story.

Harriet Klausner

Many years ago I read Agatha Christie's novel THE DEATH OF ROGER ACKROYD. This book shocked me in the sense that the reader takes everything they read at face value but then are proven wrong. Tom Savage uses a similar plot device in SCAVENGER.

Mark Stevenson is a novelist who just published a thin-veiled account of The Family Man murders. This serial killer murdered complete families that fall a certain criteria. He killed five families all over the United States and then stopped. Twelve years later, people are still wondering what happened to The Family Man. 'Scavenger' knows what really happened and he wants Mark Stevenson to play his little game to find out the truth of The Family Man.

The story is very well-executed and had my full attention. The cat-and-mouse game gets to be a bit intense but that is what makes it fun. The ending really caught me off guard and I never saw it coming. Any author who can do that earns my respect. I enjoyed this novel as well as VALENTINE (the book, didn't care to see the movie). I wish him success with his next work.

An extremely poorly written book. There are numerous grammatical errors, poorly written sentences, and worst of all, no string of plot running through the book. It seems a jumble of ideas written down. The author appears to know his subject, but he cannot prove it with this book.

The back of this book gave me high expectations. It seemed that mystery, intrique, and some laughs were all rolled into one within. Well, they very well might be, but I wouldn't know since I couldn't finish the book. I rarely stop reading before the end (I even finished Military Blunders by Coffee). It reads more like a boring television script, than an interesting collection of tales and facts. Save your money and pass on this one.

For someone first reading or researching the area of covert military and government operations this is a good "mood" book. It will get you in the mood to read more books about the subject, but in and of itself is a poor example of a historical account of actual operations carried out by the OSS and similar units. The main problem is that Moon focuses on re-telling, from a thrid person perspective, accounts of Carl Eifler's life in the OSS. This style of writing, especially for this genre of book, lends itself to the reader thinking how much of this is true and how much is "legend". As a former member of the US Army Rangers, "lengedary" accomplishments run rampant in the services, about 10% of the time the accounts are true. If we believe Moon, Eifler is responsible for most of the OSS's success and all of it's legendary status. I'll agree that Eifler was paramount to the creation and operations within South East Asia, however Moon's appearant hero worship of Eifler greatly takes away from the overall theme of the book. If you'd like to learn specifically about Carl Eifler through the eyes of a devoted service member that served for a brief period of time then this book is for you. Eifler would have done much better writing a book about his own experiences in the OSS. One fatal flaw of these types of books is that often times the author who claims membership to a specific unit, oft times skirted the actual operations of a given unit and now would like to believe he served so galantly with his subjects. Moon does not do this, he makes no false claims of his own service, but telling battle stories about someone else is not only bad taste, but rings of a civilian writing about military adventures for the purpose of selling a book. If Moon did serve in the OSS, he should focus his attention on detailing his own operations and experience. As far as his own experiences being "too traumatic" to write about, any military member who has experienced the facets of warfare will either talk (write) about it or they will never speak of it...they WON'T write a book about someone else's experience. One final note on the actual "flow" of the book. It seems as if it were never edited, Moon interjects personal anitcdotes and stories with no congruity or relevance to the subject at hand. There are points in the book that read like someone's personal note book, just a bunch of ideas and concepts seperated by punctuation and thrown down on the page. It's not as difficult a read as Tsun Tsu's Art of War, which is more like a textbook, but it is not one that you will find difficult to put down. There's much better books on the OSS, CIA and covert military operations. I would suggest looking elsewhere if you're looking for first hand, historical accounts of these operations.

This book is not for those who have experience in the social studies, or experience in working in classrooms.

It presents a lot of vague theory and not many concrete ideas on how to get subject matter taught to your students. YOu had best hope if this book is a required text that your professor has a passion for social studies,and has ideas on how to convey all that social studies really has to offer.