This book hooked me from the first page. It's a terrific page turner. Do yourself a favor and order Time Release at the same time because when you finish this, you'll want to read more by Martin J. Smith.

Martin J. Smith has penned a second book that tops his explosive debut TIME RELEASE. Psychologist Jim Christiansen, a memory expert, is called in to help investigate the attempted murder of a powerful grande dame of a wealthy political family who has Alzheimer's. She has been shoved off a cliff but survived the fall. Now he must sift through the shattered pieces of her memory to find the truth -- as her son runs for office in state government. An intriguing, gripping tale of murder that works on many levels, and has an explosive, satisfying ending.

In Pittsburgh, police are investigating the apparent unsuccessful suicide attempt of an Alzheimer's patient, Floss Underhill, a member of a prominent political family. Because of physical evidence and an eyewitness statement, law enforcement officials are looking into possible foul play by Floss' husband and primary caregiver, former Gov. Vincent Underhill. The family hires highly regarded defense attorney Brenna Kennedy to provide them legal protection, advice, and a defense, if necessary.

Brenna's mate is psychologist Jim Christensen, who is studying how Alzheimer's patients communicate through drawings. Jim and Brenna work closely together to insure that the Underhills have the best legal (and medical) defense possible even as the team has private doubts about what is actually the truth.

SHADOW IMAGE is a great mixing of elements from the legal thriller with that from medical novels (a la Cook), a blend that makes this work one of the best books of the year. The characters are all top rate with their motives very obvious, especially the lead protagonists and the Underhills. However, it is the premise of the story line -- that our legal system is built around the faulty memories of the victims -- that is brilliantly portrayed. This reviewer strongly recommends this novel and Smith's previous work, TIME RELEASE, for some mind-boggling stories.

This volume presents skills from very basic to very complex which will be used in a variety of clinical settings. This volume is probably not something a novice would snap up because of the price, but it a reference that every practicing nurse would want on the shelf - novice or expert. The pictures include current equipment. The steps of the procedure are detailed and include safety tips and equipment needed. Good idea for the student's special Christmas present or the nurses' station.

I really enjoy reading this book and looking at the pictures of procedures being done on patients. I am entering an LPN program soon and I feel that this book will be a great asset to me during my studies and throughout my career. Much recommended to anyone interesting in the nursing profession.

This book recognizes the way blacks are treated in the military and the book was masterful. I sleep with it at night its that good!

This book comes out of the same Sheffield University politics department as did the True Blues survey of Conservative Party grassroots members' views. It concentrates on assessing events after 1975 and in particular the impact of the Thatcher years on John Major's premiership. The key question addressed is the extent to which the Thatcherite inheritance has been protected or diluted by a return to a more consensual Conservatism. The issues which interest the co-editors are: whether the Thatcher revolution has survived the sacking of its leader, and whether Major has been able to develop a distinct programme of his own? More pressing for Conservative party members they ask - "What state is the party in?" They consider the varying assessments of the Thatcher inheritance: that Major is constrained by the Thatcher agenda; or that Major has re-jigged the Conservative philosophy to meet the circumstances of the present day; or that Thatcher was not the radical she is made-up to be and that Major is following her example of governing by conservative statecraft. The various chapters inform us that: the average age of party members is 62 years; Thatcherism effected a "substantial ideological shift"; the Parliamentary party remains socially exclusive; the MPs' rebellion over Maastricht was widely supported, if not followed; New Right thinking influences the structure of government; "selective interventionism" has been hidden by the rhetoric of a free-market approach to policy; and, the "heroic" promise to roll back the state has been replaced by "the more mellow promise of greater choice". In their concluding chapter Ludlam and Smith present a powerful analysis of contemporary British conservatism. The situation is so bad that by the mid-1990s: "The basis of its electoral triumphs was visibly weakening, its membership and funding were falling alarmingly, and its reputation for unity in defence of the British state lay in tatters as it divided from top to bottom over Europe and national sovereignty". So how has the Thatcher legacy been dealt with by Major? They suggest that in being constrained by the economic and political inheritance, Majorism's political change is "more style than substance". Although, the remarkable thing about his premiership, they go on to argue, is that: "... it has been precisely in those areas where Thatcherism was incomplete that Major has remained most faithful to the Thatcher project". Further: "Major's direction has been one of implementing Thatcherism rather than challenging its key precepts. In policy after policy area, Major has maintained the Thatcherite agenda." Their final remarks of all address the issue at the core of contemporary Conservative politics; Britain's relationship with the European Union. Forthrightly they express the opinion that: "... contemporary Conservatism has not yet discovered how to reconcile the party's deep-rooted and popular tradition of defending the sovereign British Parliamentary state with active membership of the EU", adding: "By the mid-1990s fundamental issues of national sovereignty raised by European integration and unresolved since the 1950s could no longer be evaded; they produced almost unmanageable divisions inside Parliament, the government and the Cabinet, and threatened to overwhelm Major's disunited party". The European fault-line may yet manage to bring the "broad" church crashing down. This is a book which those involved in the study and practice of Conservative politics should welcome, and it easily fulfils its aim to constitute a good general reader for non-specialists. More pertinently for the participant it offers an outsider's assessment of their party's recent performance, and discusses possible future directions - a key introduction for those wishing to understand the main themes shaping Contemporary British Conservatism.

The title of Time Release gives a clue to its story. First, it concerns a killer who used pain relief capsules, as well as other techniques, to set off a series of poisonings. Second, it focuses on repressed memories and if, when and how they will come out. The author does a credible job with both themes, though I would have liked to have seen a little more interaction between Sonny and Christiansen in earlier therapy sessions, which would have provided a few more clues to the behavior of Sonny's family. Without this explanation, the climax came a little bit out of left field for me. The detective's confession to Christiansen came suddenly too, without much reason. These quibbles aside, the book was entertaining, with the major characters nicely drawn.

I stole moments wherever I could find them to finish reading this book. The characters are well drawn, imperfect (like life is imperfect), but you also get involved with them, and want to know what happens to them. I could heap more praise on this book like everybody else has and repeat the same old words to describe it, but suffice to say that this is an excellent thriller. One that will hold your interest to the end. I've already bought his second book because I have to see what else this man can do with words.

If you like the TV series "Homicide," you'll want to read this book. The complex, unorthodox plot is told from the perspectives of three men--a washed-up cop, a troubled pyschologist, and the stoic son of a serial-murder suspect--each of whom harbors his own terrible secret. The three are locked in a desperate psychological tug of war, and only two of them will survive it. The characters are unglamorous, at times awkwardly imperfect, and utterly believable. Perhaps the best thing about "Time Release" is the sense of place. In the author's hands, the hard-edged gloom of rustbelt Pittsburgh becomes an oddly beautiful setting, and an apt metaphor for the torturous inner landscape of the protagonists.

I met Martin Smith at Marnalplaw, KNU headquater near the Thai Burma border. He interviewed rebel leaders and obtained the information he wanted. I am an ethnic Karen people of Burma, so I understand his hard work. It is a very good book for historians, students and politicians to understand morer about Burma.

This would be one of the few truly objective accounts of politics and ethnic insurgence in Myanmar/Burma. So many books on this country are biased by emotion and ambulance vehicles for the strong marketing of the democratic movement. This one stands out above all the latter. Having spent considerable time in Myanmar/Burma researching its modern history, I would have to say that Smith gives the most in depth, accurate and objective account. This book is a must for anyone who is interested in the political modern history of Burma/Myanmar.

No book about Burma's civil war quite rivals this for its detail and scope, nor has the author an equal for the depth of his research and his grasp of the war's ethnic complexities. It is an astonishing achievement.

There are two main plotlines to this story:

#1 there appears to be a serial killer on the loose, whisking away young girls and leaving not a single trace. ex FBI Agent John Zandt is on his trail, vengeance fuelling his hunt. Two years ago, his daghter became one of the lost.

#2 Ward Hopkins' parents are dead. their car crashed on a german highway, and both were killed. Then, when he goes to their house to sort out their now ownerless belongings, he finds a message - "We are not dead" - that sends him off on a quest that will bring into question everything he thinks he knew about his life, and the lives of his parents.

Sadly, this is one of those books that don't quite live up to the myriad praise they get. Sure, the writing quality and prose style is absolutely great, and the characters and their relationships are all well-developed and interesting. Each individual plot is also really fascinating to read about. Indeed, i enoyed the actual process of reading this book very much indeed. It was fast, but not too fast, interesting, well-written, interesting, thought-provoking, and all the rest.

But, when the two plots come together it all falls apart. Marshall certainly ties them together extremely well, but that being said, for me they ust didn't fit. In fact, the final solution just seemed daft to me, and way too OTT. In trying to make it original, for me it was just blown out of the water by its...wackiness, is the only word i can think of. the craziest conspiracy i've ever heard of comes into play. unfortunately, i cant really get across my feelings about it without actually telling it, which i obviously shan't do. To find out you'll just have to read it yourself (and i do advise that you do...ater all, every step o the way is enoyable. but the bigger picture o the plot spoils it at the end, is all). But, as everything was finally explained to me, identity o the killer/killers, etc etc, i just thought,

"huh?"

I liked the first book in the memory series, "Time Release," a lot, and the second, "Shadow Image," a bit less(though it's still easily better than 90 percent of the mysteries published). In "Straw Men" the author returns to the exquisitely intricate plotting and tormented, morally ambiguous characters that made the first book so great. There's a nice plot twist reminiscent of "L.A. Confidential" (the movie version, not the book), and a subtle but ever-present erotic tension simmering beneath the surface of the story. Jim Christensen is one of the few protagonists in mystery genre who really comes off as an authentic ordinary person. Smart, but not too smart, and far from masterful. He's a genuine soccer dad with coffee stains on his tie who struggles to cope with with the perplexing mysteries of everyday life, as well as the occasional crime.

The most important clue from this fabulous piece of suspense was right in front of me, and I never saw it 'til I put the book down after staying up way too late to finish it.

When Teresa Harnett was savagely attacked eight years ago, one of the casualties was her memory. Painstakingly reconstructing it over the following years with the help of her husband, it all starts to come unraveled when the man convicted of that assault, DellaVecchio, is released pending a hearing based on new DNA evidence. The man's voice she hears is no longer the same as the voice whispered in her ear the night of the attack. So she approaches Jim Christensen, a psychologist who testified as an expert on memory at the original trial - and the same man who was now living with the attorney in charge of the defense for DellaVecchio.

Tensions mount as the three weeks before the hearing tick off. Clues are revealed through counseling sessions, reviews of testimony, questioning of key characters, and even present-day events. When I thought it was all figured out, there were still a few niggling details that didn't quite fit, and the attacker almost gets away with it... again.

Marty Smith pulls us along with the investigation, sometimes piecing together the puzzle only moments before the characters. The stunning climactic scenes left me turning pages faster than I could read them, only to have me turn them back to savor the mounting anticipation. A dazzling good read.

Perhaps no American memory is as deeply engraved as the one showing Japanese bombers destroying most of the Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In the background is a memory of seemingly dishonest negotiations with Japanese diplomats in Washington, D.C. while the Japanese fleet got ready for its sneak attack.

But equally strong memories must exist among Japanese who were in Japan at the time, as their nation was in the process of starting the great Pacific war. Martin Cruz Smith does something that's almost impossible. He takes us to the Tokyo of December 6, 1941 and lets us perceive what was going on in the minds of the Japanese as their Imperial expansion began its final, unsuccessful phase. Even more remarkable, he creates a character who's part American (by birth, tradition and family heritage) and part Japanese (by experience, friendship and preference).

Inevitably, readers will be reminded of Casablanca's Rick waiting in Paris as the Nazis march in, planning to catch the last train with his new love. But our Harry is planning to get on the last plane out instead, and alone. He's got some complications to deal with . . . including an angry mistress who doesn't want to be left behind, the Japanese authorities looking into irregularities, a samurai with a grudge, and criminal interests on the look out for themselves. Like Rick, he's a saloonkeeper with an eye to the main chance . . . as well as a keen sense of survival. You'll see a seamier side of Tokyo than most tourists did, so the book is not for those with delicate tastes.

You probably won't read a book this year that will shift your orientation as much as this one. The story's fascinating, the culture's strange but attractive, and the moment will be burned in your mind . . . just like the Day of Infamy itself.

If you liked Gorky Park, you will probably find many of the same sorts of appeal here as we see the all-to-human side of our once bitter enemy . . . and now firm ally.

After you finish this story, I suggest that you think about what benefits countries would gain from having more citizens who find themselves able to operate and live comfortably in either land. How can you become one of those citizens? What benefits can you provide?

Sayonara.

I ate up "December 6" by Martin Cruz Smith. Smith is the author of "Gorky Park" and "Polar Star" with the Inspector Arkady Renko of the Moscow PD character. I'm a fan of the Renko series.

"December 6" is a historical, intrigue novel set in 1941 Tokyo days before the Pearl Harbor attack. The main character Niles is an American expat club owner who grew up in Japan. He is neither totally American or can ever be Japanese, but he loves Japan and the Japanese. Think Rick in "Casablanca" and you have most of the character. The whole story takes place in about four days (with flashbacks for background) as Niles tries to get out of Dodge, avoid his enemies, and help his friends. No good deed goes unpunished should be the subtitle.

I'm a sucker for historical novels. I found the pre-war Tokyo and China setting to be very interesting having been to Japan and read a bit on the political history of the period. However, I believe the author verges on histrionics in his explanation of the embargo as the cassus belli.

Recommended.

Martin Cruz Smith has set his newest novel, DECEMBER 6, in Japan on the eve of Pearl Harbor. He tells the story of Harry Niles, the American son of missionaries who left him to grow up on the streets of Tokyo. Now a 30-year-old man, Harry owns the Happy Paris, a tearoom he transformed into a "...bar stocked with scotch instead of sake and a red neon sign...," in Tokyo's "Azakuza" district. The saloon is a hangout for Western journalists, a meeting place for expatriates, and a watering hole for those on the move through Japan.

Harry, had a tough time growing up in the "Hell's Kitchen" area of Tokyo. Always a gaigin (a foreigner) among his schoolmates, he was never really accepted and was the target of the samurai and Shinto games they played. He calls himself a philosopher and says, "My talent is speaking more Japanese than most Americans and more English than most Japanese. Big deal."

He is neither a Westerner nor is he Japanese. But Harry is an expert con man. He has his own business, he is part of a network of acquaintances and loves his mistress, Michiko. His life is full, and he is as content as anyone who lives the nightlife on the fringes of any society.

Everyone Harry knows believes that Japan and the United States will go to war. The only question for them in December, 1941 is when. And although Harry thinks he has a plan to prevent an attack by the Japanese on Americans, he also has a ticket in his pocket for the last plane out of Tokyo. "Well, it may be petty of me," Harry declares, "but I still want to come out of this war alive."

In alternating narratives of Harry the boy juxtaposed against Harry the club owner, Smith paints an extraordinary picture of life in Japan before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and captures the essence of that strange, exotic country on the brink of war. For the verisimilitude of DECEMBER 6 Smith says, "I was able to visit Japan with a guy I met who lived there during the time of the story...[and for his research he] reads newspapers of the time and memoirs of people who lived through the era [he is] writing about."

Smith lives up to his reputation for presenting readers finely wrought suspense-thrillers. And, in DECEMBER 6, he goes over the top. His deft interweaving of an historical abomination with the romantic tale of a man without a country is both moving and thought provoking.

Fans and newcomers to Smith's work will not be disappointed in this, his best novel to date.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

A good book of letters should bring its subject to life for the reader. This book is dry to the point of being brittle. At no time time during the reading of this book did I get any sense of what Oppenheimer was feeling or experiencing. Oppenheimer was involved with one of the pivotal events of this century and the whole experience comes off like a trip to a neighborhood store. The recollections mentioned in the title are not those of Oppenheimer but of friends and family. Like the rest of the book their thoughts and memories add little to the understanding of Oppenheimer's life and work.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was better at keeping himself hidden than most people, and you won't learn a lot about him from these letters, but it does a give a rare, patial glimpse of a very mysterious person.

This book is not meant as general reading. For more colorful writing, see Smith's _A Peril and a Hope_. Letters and Recollections is, however, an incredibly valuable resource for those of us researching the time period and Oppenheimer. There were letters, interviews, and insights that I simply could not have obtained anywhere else. Smith has a personal connection with Los Alamos, and that shows in her writing and sources. She gives an side to Oppenheimer like no other book I've read (and trust me, I've read a lot of them). Thank you, A.K.S.!